Shocking Report Shows How Democrats Protected Biden

OK, I left the Democrats in 2016 when they ran Hilary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. It would be nice if more people looked into third parties to get some change in the political landscape. 

Whose side are you on?

 This is for the Christians who ignore the Arabic members in their family of faith. The ones who don't condemn the persecution of the Palestinian Christians:

This carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed, and takes the form of a lullaby sung by mothers of the doomed children. 

Appropriate given that the majority of victims of the current genocide are children.

Stop talking about the sanctity of life if you are not doing what you can to try and stop this.

Merry Palestinian Christmas

 There is a segment of the Community which claims to be Christian and "Bible believing" that needs a serious refresher course on the subject of the nativity. You will get more than your share if you hang around Palestinians. So, let's begin with Amer Zhar, who is a politician, comedian, lawyer, and vocal advocate for Palestinian rights:

 And a little more of Rev. Munther Isaac:

 And uncivilized.media for how this plays out:

 Unfortunately, the supporters of the Zionist state neglect how much the Levant is the cradle of the Chrisitian faith. They also ignore that Christians are being driven out of this land despite their long connections to it (like, from the beginning).

A message from Father Issa Thaljieh, Greek Ortodox priest at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Occupied Territories @fatherissathaljieh  

Let's not forget the Pope, who is far more aware of the situation in this regions than most Western Politicians.

And so I leave you with this Christmas Wish:

A question to ponder this Christmas

 A good question: What exactly is it that the Christian Zionist are really supporting? 

I keep seeing great material that is worth sharing, like this joint message from A joint message from Rev Dr Munther Issac and Dr Husam Zumlot @hzomlot.

 

Learn more about Palestinian Christians here: https://www.pcap-us.org/tas

As churches look toward Advent and the town of Bethlehem, Christians in the Holy Land are lighting their candles, hoping for a Christmas miracle and urgently asking for our help.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14.


 

How is Christmas celebrated in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ?

 

 This is normally one of the most joyous times of the year for the Palestinian community, regardless of faith. For the second year in a row, Christmas in Palestine will be spent in mourning. This is because of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and escalating violence in the West Bank, churches in Bethlehem—the birthplace of Jesus Christ—has canceled Christmas celebrations.

The Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac will be leading a sermon from his Church in Bethlehem, Palestine.

 

"If you are not appalled by what is happening in Gaza, if you are not shaken to your core, there is something wrong with your humanity. And if we as Christians are not outraged by the genocide, by the weaponization of the Bible to justify it."⁠ ⁠ 

This Friday, 20 December at 10am ET and 5pm in Jerusalem, the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac @munther.isaac will deliver a sermon live from Bethlehem: "Christ is Still in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Sumud."⁠ ⁠ 

Red Letter Christians is joining forces with @globalimmerse @christatthecheckpoint @churchesformep @elcasumud and Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in solidarity to simulcast a live worship gathering at Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem where we'll be calling for an end to occupation of Gaza, an end to this genocide, and calling out the church on its silence. ⁠ ⁠ 

Join us live on the Red Letter Christians Facebook page and register at the link in our bio.

This next clip is film maker, Rolla Selbak. She is a Sundance alumna, and a writer/director of film and TV, with TV projects most recently in development at 20th Century Fox and Sony. She imprints her fresh point of view as a Palestinian American, having moved to the U.S after the first Gulf War, and often focuses on socially topical issues that unite audiences. 

 

Christ is still in the rubble!

I wish that I didn't need to post this stuff, but once again the Christians in the Middle East are being abandoned by those who claim to share their faith in the west. The following post is from the Red Letter Christians.

 This Advent, while global Christians prepare to commemorate the arrival of the Prince of Peace, our Palestinian kin in Gaza suffer unthinkable violence – again. Their cries for deliverance, echoing those of two millennia ago, seem to be falling unheard in the United States for the second year in a row.

To see their pain and hear their cries, US Christians must move beyond information to transformation…from webinar to worship.

On 20 December 2024, a number of organizations – Christ at the Checkpoint, Christmas Lutheran Church, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), Global Immersion, Red Letter Christians, Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, Samud Initiative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) – are joining forces in solidarity to simulcast a live worship gathering guided by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac and the team at Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem.

Last year, Rev. Dr. Muther Isaac's "Christ in the Rubble Sermon" became phenomenon in Christian communities and the world thanks to the service’s prophetic message calling for justice in Palestine.

This year, Christ is Still in the Rubble, and Rev. Dr. Isaac will again deliver an Advent message to the world – live from Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem.

Join us via livestream at 10 AM ET / 5 PM Jerusalem on Friday, 20 December 2024 to hear his words. The worship service will be in Arabic with English captions and Rev. Dr. Isaac’s sermon will be delivered in English.

Registration is encouraged: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgyrcylg4_NGF4luRVzt53mkSyBhfQnMb6HY-w20U_aBO5ng/viewform

Join us live on Red Letter Christian's Facebook page to watch the livestream.

Sign up for the Red Letter Christians Advent Devotional:
https://redletterchristians.org/advent-2024/

Got him!

 OK, while I believe that a lot of things in the United States need reform, healthcare in particular, using violence is totally counterproductive. I wonder how Jill Stein and the Greens would have fared in the last election if this clown had used his talents toward her campaign instead of a senseless act of violence.

He was caught. Not as quickly as I had thought he would be. He was also caught because of technology: CCTV in this case. The "surveillance state" isn't just big brother. It's also the mom and pop shops and homeowners.

He was a 21st century Leopold and Loeb. Smart kid who thought he could commit a crime. Unlike Leopold and Loeb who tried to commit the perfect crime, this guy was a total bozo. He was way too obvious and didn't cover his tracks.

And there was the "ghost gun". For all the experts guessing what type of gun it was: it appears to have been a 3D printed ghost gun. He wasn't a pro--the gun was a POS. I personally wouldn't use a gun I made from scratch. And I definitely wouldn't mess with one printed in plastic (polymer). I know what it takes to handmake a firearm and 3D printing is not it.

No sympathy from me for his killing someone.

I would have been more sympathetic if he had told his story as a reason for voting Green. Or to get the debate onto healthcare reform instead of which candidate is worse.

Constructively channel your hate for the Healthcare industry.

  I kept talking about voting for Jill Stein and third parties in the last election. There's a reason for that: LIke Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein had medicare for all as part of her platform. Sure fake progressives whose names aren't worth mentioning talk about it, but they don't do anything. 

But the duopoly is not home to progressives.

That should be obvious if you are actually paying attention. The media is also part of it since how often have you heard the term "medicare for all" used on it? There's a reason Bernie Sanders was popular when he went on that Fox Townhall.

I wonder what would have been the outcome had the clown who killed Brian Thompson put his energy into supporting the Green Party? Would we have the much needed break in the duopoly control of US politics? 

Don't wish the execs dead: wish for the end of the duopoly control of US politics. Having strong third parties is the only way issues will be addressed in a serious manner



Better yet, work for for the change.

Why facial recognition alone may not be able to identify health care CEO suspe...

OK, this goes on the possibility of the image not being in the database, which isn't that much of a stumbling block.

It ignores that DNA phenotyping. That'e the technology where they can create images of what a person could look like. Combine that with facial recognition. You get the picture.

But the real point is that generating an image isn't the sum total of the evidence. It only provides possible suspects. Or why you shouldn't worry about this technology: unless you are the criminal.

He wasn't a pro since he did it in public. There is a witness standing between the shooter and the victim. And definitely not if its true the gun was something used by veterinarians.

More CCTV, less crime.

Yes, this is a dig at John R. Lott because if one can show that a premise can be shot down if there may be other reasons for a trend. In this case, CCTV providing clues and evidence which lead to prosecution in crimes.

"Two hundred images, or more, have been gathered of the suspected gunman," CBS News law enforcement contributor and former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Rich Esposito told CBS News New York, "It's not easy to escape surveillance, especially in Midtown Manhattan where you have hotels, retail stores, lots of places with private cameras throughout the area."

Facial recognition software is pretty sophisticated, which this AI loathing Luddite will concede. So far, the best way to avoid being picked up by facial recognition is to avoid cameras. But that task may soon become near impossible.According to Cynthia Rudin, Gilbert, Louis, and Edward Lehrman Distinguished Professor of Computer Science; Departments of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Statistical Science, Mathematics, and Biostatistics & Bioinformatics; Duke University:

I think you could not realistically change your face to fool state-of-the-art facial recognition. I think during the pandemic they changed the systems to rely heavily on the shape of people’s eyes, because so many people were wearing masks over their noses and mouths. I don’t honestly know how people could realistically change the shape of their eyes to fool these systems. If you wore sunglasses and then did something to your face (maybe wear a mask or crazy dramatic makeup) then it would be harder to detect your face, but that’s cheating on the question—that’s not changing your face, that’s just hiding it!

But let’s say you did something dramatic to change your face—something really, really dramatic—so that a face recognition system wouldn’t recognize you. Perhaps it would be some kind of plastic surgery. Well, then what? As soon as your face ends up on the internet with your name (think of a friend tagging you on social media or you giving a lecture that appears online), then all the facial recognition systems that look for people on the internet will be able to identify you anyway.

And now your face won’t match your driver’s license or passport, so traveling will be really difficult for you. So, honestly, why bother? In any case, I’m glad you asked this question, because it shows how futile it is to avoid other people capturing our biometrics. Asking our governments to create laws to protect us is much easier than changing our faces dramatically all the time.

So, while Brian Thompson's killer thinks he may have been clever wearing something covering his face, he left his eyes uncovered. Toss in there are now a couple of pictures of his whole face showing. LE has a pretty good idea of his movements.

My point is that LE can use surveillance technology to track criminals' movement. Get pictures of the criminal's movements. Toss in DNA for good measure and it gets harder and harder to commit the "perfect crime".

Guns are superfluous.

See:
https://gizmodo.com/how-much-do-i-need-to-change-my-face-to-avoid-facial-recognition-2000533755

Brian Thompson's killer will be caught.

I'm not a cop, but I've spent a lot of time working with them. Toss in that I have been involved with foresnsic technology for forty years.

First off, there is the video surveillance which is pretty common. My house cameras are registered with the police and have been used to provide evidence in a few crimes. Not all CCTV is run by big brother. Get used to it if you go into public places, you are being watched. 

And you have no right to privacy in a public area.

As for the people who get upset about facial recognition being used to solve crimes: would they rather a rapist or murderer was running around on the streets? It's like the people who ignorantly screamed "defund the police".

No, you don't want them defunded. You want them well funded and properly trained so that they do not immediately go into violent actions. You want them trained to deescalate the situation. You wan them trained so they can effectively enforce the law and keep the peace.

But the bottom line here is that police are a necessity in a civilised society: whether you like it or not. And the legal system is the place for redress. So, you hope that the justice system is transparent and accountable.

But, back to forensics.

Leopold and Loeb thought they were smarter than everyone else and decided to commit the perfect murder. They spent seven months planning everything, from the method of abduction to the disposal of the body. Unfortunately, they missed a few details. The victim, Bobby Franks, was someone they knew: a neighbour and a distant cousin of Loeb. 

Police found a pair of eyeglasses near Franks' body. Although the prescription and the frame were common, they were fitted with an unusual hinge, which was only purchased by three customers in Chicago, one of whom was Leopold. Leopold tried to say he may have lost them earlier.

The point? Criminals are arrogant and dumber than they think they are. Leopold and Loeb appeared to be whiz kids, but they were too clever for themselves. They thought they could outwit the police, but even the plods were able to break their alibis.

Brian Thompson's killer believed he could use a mask to hide his face. But he let it down later on, which was caught on camera. Toss in the amount of CCTV coverage in a city is more than just the authorities. There are non-governmental cameras which are the militia of the law enforcement community: called in to serve when needed.

But DNA will seal the case. I participate in a few medical research programs where my DNA has been collected and sequenced. One of which is Harvard's Personal Genome Project (PGP). They told me I needed to remove as much personal information as possible. This is because someone can actually create images of a person from their DNA! https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/how-researchers-are-using-dna-to-create-images-of-people-s-faces-1.4118378

In 2018, investigators in Washington State unveiled an image of a suspect created from DNA in the 30-year-old murder case of young Victoria-area couple Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, and Jay Cook, 20.

The police used technology called snapshot DNA phenotyping that can determine a person's eye, skin and hair color, facial features and ancestry to create mugshots of what the suspect may have looked like at 25, 45 and 65 years old.

The profile did not account for weight, facial hair or other features like scars.

As someone who has been involved in the criminal justice systems of various countries: people put a lot of trust in DNA evidence. Far more than a lost pair of glasses. And the killer is supposed to have left a significant amount of DNA traces in the food and drink containers (saliva). Add that to the image created from that DNA being matched to the photos available of him. 

He will be found and prosecuted thanks to technology.

I doubt that there will be any movement on gun control: especially since "New York has strict gun laws". Those laws can be circumvented by going to a state with lax gun laws.

Brian Thompson's killer should have placed his efforts on working for the Green Party or someone like Bernie Sanders who proposes medicare for all instead of assassinating Brian Thompson. That would have been much more productive than the killer's prison sentence will be.

The bottom line is that this was a senseless act of violence which far outweighs any of the more meaningful message that the US healthcare industry needs reform. And that reform will not come with the current political situation.

See also:https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/just-based-on-dna-scientists-can-construct-an-image-of-your-face

Happy Saint Barbara''s day (On St.Nicholas's day--No Zwarte Piets)

The Feast Day of Saint Barbara is celebrated on December 4. Saint Barbara is a Christian saint and martyr, She originated from the region of Baalbeck in modern-day Lebanon.

About St. Barbara, It was believed that God sprouted up wheat fields to cover the tracks of St Barbara as she fled persecution. And for Palestinians, she’s extra special because her grave is believed to be in the village of Aboud just outside Ramallah where a procession celebrates her in the coming weeks. 

Christians in the levant often dress up in disguises, to commemorate Saint Barbara’s ability to escape persecution by disguising herself. They also sing songs dedicated to her, recounting her story and expressing devotion. Another cherished tradition is the passing of every house in the village, where people exchange greetings and blessings. During these visits, traditional sweets and food are shared among neighbors and loved ones. 

I need to give Mashjar Juthour credit for this next clip: especially since she has been another voice of Christians in this region.

From the land of Christianity, this Christmas, remember that Jesus’ entire life was committed to preaching against injustice.

Happy Saint Barbara’s Feast Day from the Christians of the Levant!

Atheer Yacoub on Sending Missionaries to the Middle East.

 Well, The one company called that picture of well known Yeshua (he's not Hispanic) the "Errol Flynn".

Yes, there are Christians in this part of the world. There used to be lots of them, but not since 1947.

Christ is STILL under the rubble in Gaza

An advent message from Reverend Munther Isaac who is a Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian. He preaches at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour. He is also the academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College, and is the director of the highly acclaimed and influential Christ at the Checkpoint conferences, which is also the name of his blog: https://christatthecheckpoint.bethbc.edu/munthers-blog/. Munther is passionate about issues related to the Palestinian theology.

Yes, there are Christians in the Middle East and the US's support for the state of Israel leads to their persecution. This is bizarre since the same people claim that Christians in the US are persecuted.

And just remember Christ was born in Bethlehem. There's a reason the names of these places sound so familiar, but they are being trashed by the Zionist state. With the help of Christians who support that institution.

I also hoped for change, but it is very slow in coming.

Like the Zionists who say "never again" while doing it again, the Christians who support this need to stop complaining about the persecution of Christians.