In the latest installment of politicians speaking recklessly about musicians they know nothing about, failed Presidential candidate and Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee voiced his opinion on music’s royal couple Jay Z and Beyonc・ In his new book coming out titled God, Guns, Grits and Gravy, Huckabee not only has a chapter where he mocks prison rapes, but he also concludes the veteran Brooklyn rapper has taken on misogynistic gender roles by exploiting his wife Bey as a “sex object. Huckabee’s opinion of the dynamic duo was sparked by their performance of “Drunk In Love” at last year’s Grammy award ceremony. Read the excerpt from his latest book posted by U.S. News & World Report on Thursday.
“…Beyonce is incredibly talented – gifted, in fact. She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer – without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom. Jay-Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?”
So according to Huckabee, Beyonc・can’t think for herself and Jay Z preys on his wife for financial and sexual gain. Jay didn’t take too well to people talking about his daughter, so speaking negatively about his wife is bound to ignite a not-so-pleasant reaction.
Does anyone else think Mike Huckabee has completely lost his marbles?
Deu 4:8
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Lam 4:1
How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
French law enforcement officers have been told to erase their social media presence and to carry their weapons at all times because terror sleeper cells have been activated over the last 24 hours in the country, a French police source who attended a briefing Saturday told CNN terror analyst Samuel Laurent.
Amedy Coulibaly, a suspect killed Friday during a deadly kosher market hostage siege, had made several phone calls about targeting police officers in France, according to the source.
It was one of a flurry of developments Saturday, including reporting in a French-language magazine that brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi had been under watch by the French, but despite red flags, authorities there lost interest in them.
L'Express national security reporter Eric Pelletier shared with CNN details of his story, for which he talked to multiple French officials.
Tipped off by U.S. intelligence agencies that Said Kouachi may have traveled to Yemen in July, France placed him under surveillance in November 2011 but terminated the scrutiny in June 2014 when French security services deemed him no longer dangerous, officials told Pelletier.
The surveillance of his brother Cherif terminated at the end of 2013 when his phone calls suggested he had disengaged with violent extremism and was focused on counterfeiting clothing and shoes.
A U.S. official told CNN's Barbara Starr that Said Kouachi's 2011 travel lasted three or more months and that he is believed to have trained with al Qaeda in Yemen during that period.
French intelligence officials believe there is a strong probability Cherif Kouachi also traveled to Yemen for a short trip in 2011, separately from his brother, Pelletier's sources told him.
A Yemeni journalist and researcher, Mohammed al-Kibsi, told CNN that he had met and spoken with Said Kouachi in Yemen in 2011 and 2012.
But al-Kibsi, who said he met the man twice, said Said Kouachi was in Yemen most of 2011. Kouachi first went there in 2009 and stayed until mid-2010 before leaving briefly and returning at the end of that year, according to al-Kibsi.
Kouachi entered Yemen multiple times with an officially issued visa, a senior Yemeni national security official told CNN.
"Said was not being watched during the duration of his stay in Yemen because he was not on the watch list," said the official, adding that, at the time, Yemen's Western allies had not raised concerns about Kouachi. The official did not specify when the visits took place.
Kouachi, who was studying Arabic grammar, and underwear bomber Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab previously were roommates for one to two weeks in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, living in the same small apartment, al-Kibsi said. AbdulMutallab is serving a life sentence for trying to bring down a Northwest airlines flight over Detroit on Christmas in 2009 with an underwear bomb.
Kouachi's residence was very near to the famous Al-Tabari School and he and AbdulMutallab used to pray together there, said al-Kibsi by telephone Saturday. It wasn't clear when they were roommates, but AbdulMutallab was arrested after the 2009 bombing attempt.
There has been no official confirmation of the claim that he and AbdulMutallab were associates.
The Kouachi brothers, who authorities say carried out Wednesday's deadly attack in the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, were killed Friday in a shootout with French security forces outside of Paris.
France, meanwhile, continues to cope with three days of terror that left 17 people dead. Thousands gathered on the streets for vigils Saturday and hundreds of thousands were expected at massive rallies Sunday, along with heads of state and other dignitaries.
Suspect's significant other reportedly in Turkey
The alert came amid word that the lone remaining suspect wanted in connection with a terrorism spree -- Hayat Boumeddiene -- entered Turkey on January 2, a Turkish prime ministry source told CNN.
Boumeddiene was tracked by Turkish authorities to a location near the Turkey-Syria border, according to an official in the Turkish Prime Minister's office.
Boumeddiene arrived at the Istanbul airport on a flight from Madrid with a man. During routine screening of passengers, the couple were flagged by Turkey's Risk Assessment Center and a decision made to maintain surveillance on their movements, the official said. The official in the Turkish Prime Minister's office would not elaborate as to when Boumeddiene was tracked to the border province.
That means Boumeddiene may not have been in France at the time of Thursday's deadly shooting of a policewoman in Paris, as authorities originally believed. Authorities offered no immediate explanation of the discrepancy, but have said she is wanted in connection with a terrorist attack.
French authorities on Saturday asked security officials in Spain to look into the possibility that she transited through Spain on her way to Turkey, a source close to the Spanish officials said.
'Nation relieved'
The attack at the Paris office of the Charlie Hebdo left 12 dead and shocked France.
"The nation is relieved tonight," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after the two standoffs concluded.
But the French government's work is not over.
There's still a lot of healing to do, and questions to answer on how this happened and how to prevent future attacks. Meanwhile, police continue the hunt for Boumeddiene, Coulibaly's partner.
France will remain at a heightened security as investigations continue, Cazeneuve said after an emergency security meeting.
All necessary measures will also be taken to ensure the safety of people who attend a massive unity rally planned in Paris on Sunday, he said. Extra steps will also be taken to protect religious institutions.
Cazeneuve and other officials outlined the extraordinary security measures, including snipers, plainclothes and anti-terror officers as well as parking and transit restrictions, that will be in place for the rally.
European leaders including Britain's David Cameron, Germany's Angela Merkel and Spain's Mariano Rajoy will join French President Fran輟is Hollande at the unity march. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will attend, according to Russia's Foreign Ministry and Turkish semi-official news agency Anadolu.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will take part in Sunday's march, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.
Jordan's King Abdullah II and Queen Rania will participate, Jordan's Embassy in Washington said. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to France for the event, according to his office.
In a statement, Netanyahu said he spoke by phone with Celine Shreki, who was a hostage at the kosher market Friday.
"To Celine and all French Jews, and to all European Jews, I would like to say: The State of Israel is not just the place to which you turn in prayer. The State of Israel is also your home," the statement said.
A total of 1,100 French troops are currently deployed in the Paris region, alongside police forces, to increase security following the attacks, the Defense Ministry said. An additional 250 soldiers will be on duty Sunday for the march, the ministry said.
Altogether, nearly 1,900 French troops will take part in providing additional security across the country as part of the France's security alert system, known as Vigipirate.
The precautions may help to ease the nerves of a country left on edge by the wave of violence.
The targeting of the kosher grocery store has shaken Jewish communities in particular. And amid the heightened security concerns, the Grande Synagogue of Paris was closed Saturday for the first time since World War II.
Rabbi Jonas Jacquelin, who serves in a different synagogue, told CNN that an attack on one member of the Jewish community was felt by everyone else.
But, he said, it was important for his synagogue to stay open to demonstrate that the community is not afraid. "We have to show to the world, we have to show to our enemies that all of us are continuing to pray today as we are doing every week and every Shabbat -- nothing can disturb us," he said.
Two sieges
Friday's deadly events started in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where the Kouachi brothers took refuge in a print shop in an industrial area after two days on the run.
Hours later, after a major police operation locked down the town, the brothers were dead and a man who'd been hiding out in the building was freed unharmed.
At the scene of the other violent siege that capped an uneasy week in Paris, Jewish and Muslim leaders gathered to pay their respects to the four people who died there. They held hands and left flowers and spoke of unity amid tragedy.
The deadly kosher grocery store standoff unfolded in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris.
Four hostages were killed, officials said. Coulibaly was killed after police moved in to end the siege.
The four victims were identified by the French Jewish publication JSSNEWS as Yohan Cohen, 22, Yoav Hattab, 21, Philippe Braham and Francois Michel Saada.
Israeli government sources told CNN that Hollande told Netanyahu that 15 were rescued. The four hostages were killed by the gunman before police stormed the market, sources said.
One of the hostages, identified only as Marie, told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the gunman was heavily armed -- and that she was very happy to be alive.
"As soon as he got inside, he started shooting. He scared us because he told us: I am not afraid to die and he said either I die or I go to jail for 40 years. He knew this was his last day," she said.
Hollande called the Porte de Vincennes deaths an "anti-Semitic" act and urged citizens not to lash out against Muslims.
"Those who committed these acts have nothing to do with the Muslim religion," he said. "Unity is our best weapon."
On Saturday, Hollande and Cazeneuve met with several police officers injured in the raid on the Kosher market.
Ties to Islamist extremists?
While Said Kouachi is suspected of links to al Qaeda in Yemen, Cherif Kouachi has a long history of jihad and anti-Semitism, according to documents obtained by CNN. In a 400-page court record, he is described as wanting to go to Iraq through Syria "to go and combat the Americans."
Cherif Kouachi was a close associate of Coulibaly, a Western intelligence source told CNN.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for orchestrating the Charlie Hebdo attack, the founder of the magazine The Intercept, Jeremy Scahill, told CNN. CNN has not independently confirmed this claim.
A man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly, the hostage-taker at the Paris grocery store, told CNN affiliate BFMTV that he belonged to the Islamist militant group ISIS.
The Western intelligence source said Coulibaly lived with Boumeddiene, his alleged accomplice in the police shooting.
Boumeddiene exchanged 500 phone calls with the wife of Cherif Kouachi in 2014, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. The wife told investigators that her husband and Coulibaly knew each other well.
French media outlets AFP, iTele and Le Point reported that police released Hamyd Mourad, 18, who turned himself in Wednesday after seeing his name on social media in connection with the Charlie Hebdo attack.
What's next for the magazine?
Charlie Hebdo plans to go on even without its leader and cherished staffers. It's set to publish many extra copies of its latest edition next Wednesday.
On Friday, Charlie Hebdo staff held their editorial meeting at the Lib駻ation newspaper offices.
"I don't know if I'm afraid anymore, because I've seen fear. I was scared for my friends, and they are dead," said Patrick Pelloux, a columnist for the magazine.
He and many others are defiant.
"I know that they didn't want us to be quiet," Pelloux said of the slain colleagues. "They would be assassinated twice, if we remained silent."
Job 24:17
For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
Job 27:20
Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
Dallas, Texas is home to many minorities. It is also home to Stephen Broden, the pastor of Fair Park Bible Fellowship Church. Broden is urging his church, as well as all local African-American megachurches, to stand against the Planned Parenthood abortion facility that is making its way into the community.
Broden believes that the abortion facility has been strategically placed among young, black families for a reason—to entangle young women in a lifestyle of death and defeat. It stands in order to make young women fail and kill their children before they ever have a chance of even being born.
Eight feet of cold, hard stone surrounds the large abortion facility. The walls defy the essential values of the Christian community and the God that they serve. Broden seeks to rally Christian leaders and their congregations in a fight against the atrocities of abortion. He understands that in order to preserve God’s people, the local megachurches must take action. The pastor is determined to see that the community of Christ-followers takes on their responsibility for the well-being of unborn life. He believes that they must understand and engage their young members, even if they’ve just been conceived.
The pastor is in the middle of a hotbed political issue. Many feel that Planned Parenthood sees struggling black families as soldiers in their agenda to abort unborn children. They also feel that the organization works over time to make sure that black babies are believed to be better off dead than to be born in struggling families.
Pastor Broden is calling for young people to see their responsibility to raise and cherish the children of their community, just as he has seen his own responsibility to blow the trumpets among the megachurches. Thirteen places of worship are located within a five mile radius of the abortion facility. Broden urges these churches to keep their hands clean of the inevitable blood-shed that will take place among African-Americans at the facility. In other words, he believes that the children in his community should have an opportunity to live.
ISAIAH 13:
2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
1 MACCABEES 2:
9 Her glorious vessels are carried away into captivity, her infants are slain in the streets, her young men with the sword of the enemy.
10 What nation hath not had a part in her kingdom and gotten of her spoils?
BERKELEY, Mo. – A prominent black Christian leader who works with youth says that our nation needs to stop pointing fingers at the police and start preaching the gospel following the second shooting in the Ferguson, Missouri area, which resulted in the death of an armed teenager.
At approximately 11 p.m. Tuesday night, a police officer with the city of Berkeley—just two miles outside of Ferguson—arrived at a local Mobil on the Run convenient store after receiving a report of theft.
The officer, who has not yet been identified but is described as a 34-year-old white male, met and spoke with two young men outside, one of which was 18-year-old Antonio Martin. According to the St. Louis County Police Department, Martin had been arrested three times over the past year for armed robbery, assault and the illegal use of a weapon.
Moments into the discussion, according to police and video surveillance from the scene, the teen pulled a gun on the officer, who then fired three shots. One of the bullets struck Martin, who died from his injuries.
Violent protests broke out the same night with approximately 300 area residents gathering outside of and across the street from the convenient store. Reports state that some of the protesters threw bricks at the officers who arrived to keep order, while others screamed at or assaulted the police. One officer was taken to the emergency room after a protester lit fireworks, and another was injured after being hit by a brick or rock. A fire was also started down the street but extinguished.
“Our hearts certainly go out to the family, but bad choices were made,” Col. Jon Belmar, chief of the St. Louis County Police Department, said in a statement Wednesday. “This individual could have complied with the officer, he could have run away, he could have dropped the gun. Things did not have to end with him approaching an officer with a 9mm pistol in his hand.”
Jesse Lee Peterson, a California pastor, president of the organization BOND (the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny), and leader of the BOND Leadership Academy for youth told Christian News Network that he agrees with the police on the issue and does not see the incident as being racially motivated.
“When he made that decision [to pull the gun on the officer], he made the decision that he was ready to die, because you don’t pull guns on cops and think that you’re going to get away with it,” he opined.
Peterson said that instead of the crowds placing the blame on police officers for these incidents, they should be more concerned with the lifestyle choices that are leading youth to their death in the first place.
“God is not in the hearts of these young boys and girls, and accusing the officers of being racist is not going to solve the problem,” he stated. “If anything, it’s going to encourage these boys and girls to do what they’re doing—to confront the cops even more so.”
“This is not a racial thing going on; this is due to a lack of moral values,” Peterson asserted, contrary to the messages of protesters and statements from black leaders. “Sin doesn’t care how old you are or how black or white you are. It doesn’t care if you’re a male or female; it will destroy anything that gets in its way. … It’s not about color. It’s about good versus evil, right versus wrong.”
He agreed that many today have lost their respect for those that God has placed in authority over them—and have no fear of God Himself.
“They absolutely have no fear of authority anymore,” Peterson said. “They have no fear of their parents because most of them are coming from single parent homes, [and] at some point, the mothers and grandmothers can’t do anything with them. … They don’t respect God and the values of God and the love of God. They’re not afraid of God because they’re not being taught how to love God and believe in Him.”
“They don’t respect the authority in the public school system. They have no respect for their teachers, their principals,” he continued. “They don’t respect the police officers because they have no respect coming from the homes, so they don’t respect the authority of the officers.”
“If they don’t respect God, if they don’t respect the authority of their fathers and mothers, they are not going to respect authority once they walk out of their home,” Peterson stated.
He said that the answer to the problems the nation is facing in Berkeley, Ferguson and in cities around the world is the gospel.
“We need to preach the gospel to these children, get them to repent [and] turn away from their wicked ways and to God,” Peterson explained. “Because if you don’t change their hearts by getting them to repent, nothing is going to change with them.”
He noted that change needs to begin in the home as well.
“We need to rebuild families,” Peterson advised. “We need to encourage single people to wait until marriage to have sex because sex brings on children and it’s difficult for single mothers to raise children on their own. They need God’s order. They need a father and a mother, and Christ needs to be the head of the family.”
Peterson opined that many churches are also to blame for the condition of today’s youth because they are not endeavoring to seek and save the lost.
“Many, if not most, of the churches have allowed secularism to creep in, and they’re too afraid to tell the truth. They’re afraid to be honest with the men and women who need to repent,” he said. “They’re afraid to rebuke because they don’t want the congregation to leave; big churches are more important to them than salvation itself. And since the churches are failing, the families are [also consequently] failing.”
“We need the Church to turn back to God and go back to being honest and strong and showing these people real love [by] pointing the way to God,” he said.
ZECHARIAH 11:
5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
PROVERBS 28:
9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
A new petition has been circulating in response to a young woman who is now being called the “female Eric Garner.” The petition is demanding that the federal and state governments investigate the death of Sheneque Proctor. The 18 year old young woman died in police custody at Bessemer City Jail after she was arrested on November 1st.
According to Proctor’s relatives, she was at a hotel attending a party with friends when police arrested her for disorderly conduct.
Proctor is reported to have complained to the police that she had problems with asthma but her words allegedly fell on deaf ears. The next morning, she was found lifeless in her jail cell.
Bessemer City Attorney Shan Paden commented, “I know the case. I know we had a death in the jail. Erring on a conservative side, not to protect the city but to protect the rights of an 18-year-old, the city of Bessemer will not disclose any information.”
On Monday, a Change.org petition was created and it explained the circumstances surrounding the young woman who’s life has now ended.
According to Proctors family, she suffered from asthma and the police were violent with her during her arrest.
The day after her arrest, Proctor was found dead and her family says that Bessemer authorities will not answer important questions and will not tell them exactly what happened. A spokeswoman for authorities has only told them that the case has been referred to the State Bureau of Investigations and they are “looking into the case.”
The petition emphasized that the young woman’s family deserves to get their questions answered and that “Her life mattered and still matters to her family.” It also says, “They deserve answers from the State Bureau of Investigations and the FBI.”
Proctor’s family is asking that people sign the petition so that they can get some answers about their beloved daughter.
ISAIAH 32:
9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
JEREMIAH 9:
16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
With cops on edge following the assassination of two patrol officers on a Brooklyn street, many officers have started turning a blind eye to some minor crimes, sources told The Post, while a union mandate that two patrol cars respond to all police calls has led to slower response times to non-emergencies.
“I’m not writing any summonses. Do you think I’m going to stand there so someone can shoot me or hit me in the head with an ax?” One cop said Sunday, referring to the Dec. 20 slayings and another recent attack on the NYPD.
“I’m concerned about my safety,” the cop added. “I want to go to home to my wife and kids.”
An NYPD supervisor noted, “My guys are writing almost no summonses, and probably only making arrests when they have to — like when a store catches a shoplifter.”
And the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association directive for cops to respond with at least two patrol cars has resulted in a manpower shortage that’s delaying response times to non-emergencies — such as burglaries or car crashes without injuries — to as much as four hours, sources said.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton predicted a long, cold war between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD’s rank and file Sunday, while admitting that morale among cops was so low, the problem could no longer be denied.
Bratton said cops across the country also “feel under attack,” including from “the federal government at the highest levels.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Bratton said he was hoping to sit down with police union leaders this week, but conceded that tensions between cops and de Blasio weren’t likely to ease soon.
“I think it’s probably a rift that is going to go on for a while longer,” he said.
Bratton also bluntly said that “morale in the department at this time is low.”
“There’s no getting around that. That’s the reality,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Bratton condemned the thousands of cops who turned their backs on a live video feed of de Blasio’s eulogy for slain Officer Rafael Ramos during his funeral Saturday in Queens.
“I think it was very inappropriate at that event. That funeral was held to honor Officer Ramos,” Bratton said.
One cop in the crowd told The Post he didn’t turn his back on de Blasio, explaining, “I wanted to read his body language. And I listened to his hollow words. He came off as very insincere.”
A recently retired cop who attended the funeral also noted that police from around the country joined in the stunning display of resentment toward de Blasio.
“It’s a national protest against the mayor of New York,” the ex-cop said.
“Mayor de Blasio has lost all respect from men and women of the NYPD, and he will never get it back. Anything he tries to do now is going to be perceived as phony.”
A police union source said: “You can’t blame the officers. These guys are frustrated.”
“They have no way of voicing their opinion to the mayor who, quite honestly, still hasn’t shown them support,” the source said.
Ed Mullins, head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, called on de Blasio to step up.
“This is an issue that the mayor needs to resolve, not the commissioner. These are his policies and his administration that’s causing the problems, that’s put the city in the situation it’s in,” he said.
“The message is that the mayor is leaning on Bratton to solve his problems. That’s really a lack of leadership.”
ISAIAH 30:
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
PSALMS 2:
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Security chiefs have taken the dramatic step of withdrawing Royal Guards from their high-profile posts outside palaces amid mounting fears of ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attacks.
Elite soldiers of the Queen’s Guard have pulled back from public positions at many landmarks in response to possible threats from Islamic extremists.
For the first time since the height of the IRA’s terror campaign, the soldiers are also no longer allowed on sentry duty alone, and are now accompanied by armed police.
The move to more secure positions behind gates or railings is a direct response to attacks such as the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby and the killing of a sentry by a lone gunman at the Canadian Parliament two months ago.
But the measures have been described as a ‘retreat’ for the Guards, known the world over for their bearskin caps.
Retired officer Major Iain Dalzel-Job of the Scots Guards told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I think this is a big shame.
'The reason people know we’re around is because they can see us. But I suppose the changes are necessary as there is a significant threat.’
This newspaper has confirmed the changes to the Guards’ security at sites including Clarence House, St James’s Palace, Windsor Castle and Horse Guards Parade.
For the first time since the height of the IRA’s terror campaign, the soldiers are also no longer allowed on sentry duty alone, and are now accompanied by armed police
At Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles, the guardsmen who used to stand in front of the gates on The Mall, a public road, have now been relocated, along with their sentry boxes, behind metal gates.
Tourists, who love to pose with the Guards, can now barely see them. Police officers confirmed changes had been made for security reasons.
At St James’s Palace, the London home of Princess Anne and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, two Guardsmen used to perform sentry duties beneath its famous clock tower on Pall Mall.
These guards and their sentry boxes have now been moved into a secluded courtyard inside the perimeter, leaving no visible presence at the clock tower gate.
In Horse Guards Parade, two sentries still stand guard where tourists can pose for photographs with them. But four armed police officers now guard the soldiers.
The officers carry Heckler and Koch carbine rifles, pistols and Taser guns – in contrast to the Guards, who just carry ceremonial swords.
A Metropolitan Police officer on duty there told our reporter: ‘Yes, we are a recent addition here. It’s us guarding the Guards. I think there’s a Latin phrase for that.’
At Windsor Castle, up to three armed officers now stand next to the lone sentry on guard duty on the Western side of the castle.
The tightening of security to levels unseen since the height of the IRA terror campaign comes in the wake of fanatics from the so-called Islamic State based in Iraq and Syria threatening Britain.
Al-Qaeda groups have also called on would-be terrorists to launch ‘lone wolf’ attacks against UK soldiers and police.
On Christmas Eve, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) encouraged Muslims to launch attacks in the West on their own.
It published a magazine that gave instructions for a home-made bomb, and urged its readers to use such a device to blow up an airliner or other Western target.
Former soldiers said last night that the changes were needed as sentries felt vulnerable to attack.
One Guards insider said: ‘We’re fully in favour as if an attack on a sentry can happen in Canada it can happen here. By moving behind the railings we’ve got a chance to respond, most likely saving lives.
‘The changes were introduced in response to the Canadian attack and because there’s been a sharp rise in people armed with mobile phones trying to wind up the sentries and make them lose their temper.’
Former Welsh guardsman and former Met police officer Terry O’Shea said: ‘Moving the Guardsmen back to a more secure area seems an honourable retreat given the danger posed by the terrorists.
'We have got to strike a balance between not compromising our traditions and protecting our soldiers.
‘Unfortunately this is a sign of the times and how unpredictable the current situation is.
'We’ve seen horrific incidents across the world and in our capital city, so some action had to be taken to reduce the risk, even if it can never be eliminated.
‘You could argue that there should be a defiant stand but how do you protect the soldiers on parade in a bright suit, shiny boots and a furry hat?
'Where do we draw the line? Do you allow these soldiers to be armed? I think that could cause a greater problem.
'The terrorists know that a Guardsman is a higher profile target than an ordinary soldier and they’re looking for publicity, something spectacular, so the Guards would suit their agenda.’
Although there have not been any successful terror attacks in Britain since Lee Rigby was killed outside Woolwich Barracks in May last year, intelligence services say they have foiled a number of plots this year.
Last month, police stopped an alleged plot to launch an attack on Remembrance Sunday, after arresting four men in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Also last month, police chiefs warned officers not to wear their uniforms to and from work as Islamic terrorists were looking to target officers.
In October, Muslim convert Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, shot dead sentry Nathan Cirillo, 24, outside the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Canada, then stormed into the nearby Parliament building before being shot dead by security guards.
The soldiers currently performing ceremonial duties outside the Royal palaces are drawn from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, F Company of the Scots Guards and 7 Company of the Coldstream Guards.
These Guardsmen carry rifles equipped with bayonets but as a rule their rifles are not loaded with live ammunition.
The Guardsmen may carry up to six rounds in a belt pouch and may load their rifles in event of a terrorist attack, but that would take valuable time.
The two sentries beneath the clock tower at St James’s were temporarily withdrawn during the 1980s when the IRA threat level peaked, but The Mail on Sunday understands that this is the first time they have been redeployed permanently.
Ken Wharfe, Princess Diana’s former bodyguard, said: ‘These officers are always stagnant, so an attack on them is very easy.
'Although the Queen’s Guards are there to protect the Royals, the actual security is done by the Met Police.
'But the Palace has always resisted getting rid of the Guards as they are part of the tradition. The Palace would have been consulted on this.’
Lord Carlile, the former Government watchdog on counter-terrorism, said: ‘I think the changes are measured and not an over-reaction.’
Chloe Howard, deputy editor of the popular Royal Central blog, said: ‘It is a shame, as it denies the public the chance of seeing these well-known uniforms that are part of the British identity. Some may think it is a retreat.’
Buckingham Palace and the Met Police would not comment on security matters, while the Ministry of Defence said: ‘We routinely review security arrangements.’
JOB 18:
11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
JEREMIAH 51:
58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea on Sunday criticized the United States for slapping sanctions on Pyongyang officials and organizations for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures — the latest fallout from a Hollywood movie depicting the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
An unnamed spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry, in rhetoric that closely mirrors past statements, denied any role in the breach of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files and accused the United States of "groundlessly" stirring up hostility toward Pyongyang. The spokesman said the new sanctions would not weaken the country's 1.2-million-strong military.
The spokesman told the North's official media mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency, that the sanctions show America's "inveterate repugnancy and hostility toward the DPRK," referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The policy persistently pursued by the U.S. to stifle the DPRK, groundlessly stirring up bad blood toward it, would only harden its will and resolution to defend the sovereignty of the country," the spokesman said.
The United States on Friday sanctioned 10 North Korean government officials and three organizations, including Pyongyang's primary intelligence agency and state-run arms dealer, in what the White House described as an opening move in the response toward the Sony cyberattack.
A magazine with cartoons of U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un …
The sanctions might have only a limited effect, as North Korea already is under tough U.S. and international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. President Barack Obama also warned Pyongyang that the United States was considering whether to put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, which could jeopardize aid to the country on a global scale.
American officials portrayed the sanctions as a swift, decisive response to North Korean behavior that they said had gone far over the line. Never before has the U.S. imposed sanctions on another nation in direct retaliation for a cyberattack on an American company.
There have been doubts in the cyber community, however, about the extent of North Korea's involvement. Many experts have said it's possible that hackers or even Sony insiders could be the culprits, and questioned how the FBI can point the finger so conclusively.
Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the sanctions announced Friday were "a good first step" but didn't go far enough.
Menendez told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that he had written to Secretary of State John Kerry, urging him to consider putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, "which would have far more pervasive consequences."
The 10 North Koreans singled out for sanctions didn't necessarily have anything to do with the attack on Sony, senior U.S. officials said. Anyone who works for or helps North Korea's government is now fair game, especially North Korea's defense sector and spying operations, they said.
North Korea has expressed fury over "The Interview," an anti-Pyongyang Sony comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. It has denied hacking Sony, but called the act a "righteous deed."
Sony initially decided to call off the film's release after movie theaters decided not to show the film. After Obama criticized that decision, Sony released the movie in limited theaters and online.
Questions remain about who was behind a nearly 10-hour recent shutdown of North Korean websites. The United States never said whether it was responsible, but North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission blamed the U.S. and hurled racial slurs at Obama, calling him a reckless "monkey in a tropical forest."
Such hateful comments are not new: Pyongyang has similarly attacked other U.S. officials and called South Korea's female president a prostitute.
Matthew 24:
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Joel 3:
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
BALTIMORE —Police said they have charged a repeat violent offender in connection with the shooting of a city police officer during a traffic stop near Mondawmin Mall in west Baltimore on Sunday night.
Police said the officer and his partner conducted the stop at a gas station in the 2600 block of Gwynns Falls Parkway around 7:15 p.m.
The incident started Sunday night when the suspect car was initially spotted by a different officer at a nearby gas station. Police said that officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car and called it in.
The car was pulled over a short time later by 27-year-old Officer Andrew Groman -- a three-year veteran of the force -- and five other officers, according to police. Surveillance video showed the car was surrounded by officers.
"They did a car stop on suspicious activity, and they walked up to the car," said Police Commissioner Anthony Batts.
Police said the driver followed instructions, but 19-year-old Donte Jones, who was in the back seat, wouldn't get out of the car and refused to show his hands.
"One officer advised him that if he didn't comply he would be tased. At some point in time, there was the discharging of the firearm, and there was the firing of the Taser. Exactly which event happened first is still under investigation," Baltimore City police Maj. Stanley Branford said. "We do know, however, that the suspect who was the only one who fired a weapon."
Three shots were fired, striking Groman once in the abdomen, just below his bulletproof vest, police said. They do not believe any officers fired their service weapons.
Jones was chased a couple of blocks away and captured by a Baltimore City and a Coppin State police officer.
Groman's partner rushed him to Sinai Hospital, where he had surgery Sunday night. Groman's family was brought in from out of state to be by his side.
"The surgery team was down immediately, and within a few minutes he was taken up to the operating room," said Sinai Hospital's Dr. Lisa Kirkland on Sunday night. "At this point, all I can tell you is he's doing well."
Police said Groman was listed in stable condition Tuesday. He hasn't yet been able to talk to officials about the incident.
"One of our officers was for no reason attacked viciously by (the gunman)," Baltimore police Deputy Cmdr. Jerry Rodriguez said.
"We have recovered the gun," Batts said.
Groman has also been a firefighter with the Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company since 2013.
Suspect due in court on other charges
City police said four people who were in the car were taken into custody, but only Jones was charged in the shooting. A city police commander said Jones is a violent repeat offender. He faces attempted murder charges in connection with Sunday's shooting, police said.
"This is a situation where had the individuals in the car complied with the officers' directions, at best, it may be a citation," Rodriguez said.
According to charging documents, Jones confessed to shooting at Groman at least twice and fleeing the scene. In court on Tuesday, Jones blurted, "I didn't make a confession." Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Jones' court records show he served time for a weapons conviction in 2013 and was on supervised probation when he was arrested on gun and drug charges in June.
"This individual is a 19-year-old member of our community who, at the age of 19, is on parole, probation and has many contacts with the police. He is a violent, repeat offender. Many of his arrests were for gun violence," Rodriguez said.
Jones, who is being held without bail, was due to be tried in court Tuesday on those drug and gun violations. He was out on $150,000 bail.
"I think this really exemplifies the risk that first responders face every day," Rodriguez said. "We will use any and all resources, and the folks of this city will know that if you come after a law enforcement officer, we will do everything we can to bring you to justice."
Batts: I wonder if this will lead to marches
Meanwhile, Batts said he hopes the shooting will get the same type of attention as the grand jury decisions in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases that have led to protests around the country.
"I'm not caught on the irony of the timing of the situation. We've had marches nationwide over the fact that we've lost lives in police custody. I wonder if we're going to have the same marches as officers are shot, too," Batts said.
One of the activists who helped lead some of those protests in Baltimore agreed with the commissioner.
In an email to 11 News, social activist the Rev. Cortly Witherspoon said all lives matter, officer or civilian. Witherspoon also applauded the mayor, commissioner and state's attorney for standing with the officer's family, but he said he hopes they share "the same level of compassion for victims of police terror."
The mayor issued a statement Monday evening, saying, "I applaud residents across the city who have joined in peaceful demonstration to make their voices heard. The characterization that I have not stood with families grieving the lives lost to violence is not supported by any measure of fact. In the past year alone, I have personally participated in more than two-dozen town halls and community forums with residents who have suffered tremendous loss and want an end to violence of all kind. In partnership, we have reduced the numbers of excessive force lawsuits and police misconduct complaints, while increasing the number of officers disciplined for acting unlawfully. Now is the time to come together as one community and continue taking action against violence. Every life in Baltimore matters to me, and I will continue working with anyone who wants to partner in making our city a safer place."
Hosea 4:6
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Jeremiah 5:25
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
The CEO of Revlon doesn’t much care for black people, Jews, or Americans for that matter, according to a recent lawsuit.
Lorenzo Delpani, CEO of the beauty company, reportedly called Americans “dirty”, said he could “smell” blacks, and observed that Jews “stick together”.
The allegations emerged after Revlon’s senior scientist Alan Meyers filed a discrimination lawsuit alleging that he was marginalized because he was Jewish.
Meyers says he was accused of raising “ghost” concerns at newly acquired Revlon laboratories.
During his time at Revlon, Meyers said Delpani, who is Italian, frequently shouted at him and made anti-Semetic remarks.
Meyers had been with the company for four years before being fired.
In a statement, Revlon denied the allegations, saying that Meyers “repeatedly demonstrated critical lapses in judgment and failed to perform at the high standard we demand of our employees.”
“We will aggressively fight these baseless claims and this frivolous action,” Revlon said.
Finance professor Dr Boyce Watkins says that it’s important to remember that allegations are not the same as facts, but that corporate racism is a serious problem in America and countries throughout the world.
“This is still a one-sided claim, so we have to keep this in mind,” said Dr Watkins, author of the book, “What if George Bush were a Black Man?” “However, it’s important to remember that there is very little recourse for millions of black people who experience this kind of corporate racism on a daily basis. This claim is only unique because it was leaked to the public, but how many other business executives are there who have a low opinion of black people while making hiring decisions affecting black people every single day?”
Deuteronomy 28:
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
Psalm 34:
21 Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
A car-stopping Ku Klux Klan billboard posted along a heavily traveled highway in Harrison, AR elicited tons of reactions. The ad features a little Caucasian girl accompanied by the bold and brazen words, “It’s not racist to love your people,” an ad for White pride Radio, according to Ozarks First.
Thomas Robb, the national director of The Knights Club of the KKK, the sponsors of the billboard told Ozarks First, “The message is white people have the right to be proud of who they are. Everybody else has a right to be proud and I don’t deny that.”
Yet motorists such as James Hernandez, who lives in Harrison, told Ozarks First, “It does seem to come off as pretty racist in a sense that whites are more superior.”
Then there are folks such as Yolanda Riggins, who told the news outlet, “I don’t see it as being any kind of a racism sign.”
The mayor of Harrison, Jeff Crockett, says the billboard states unwelcome sentiments and send a negative message about his town. He told Ozarks First, “I would hope more people would stand up and say this isn’t us. We’re not all about this.”
“The reflection comes back on Harrison and if we just keep quiet and let him do the speaking, it looks like we’re all like that and we’re not,” said Crockett. “Harrison is not like that at all.”
Meanwhile, Harrison which is 96 percent white and 0.3 percent black was in the news last year when Robb and his KKK organization put up yet another billboard that read, “Anti-Racist is a Code Word for Anti-White.” The billboard raised the ire of quite a few people, including students from North Arkansas College, who passed out fliers calling for a protest of the sign.
Deuteronomy 28:
28 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
Amos 3:
3 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – A Wisconsin sheriff who has been outspoken in expressing his opposition to the way that many black leaders have handled the Ferguson and New York City matters is stating that if people truly believe that black lives matter, they should protest abortion facilities.
Sheriff David Clarke has been featured on a number of news outlets in recent weeks to discuss his thoughts about the incidents and the reaction that has followed. Last week, he was interviewed on CNN about a Tweet that he sent this month to a journalist with the New York Times, which read, “If only these faux protesters were asked by media about all the black on black killing or black babies aborted in US every year.”
Clark, who is a black man himself, was asked by host Poppy Harlow if he sent the message, and what he meant by the statement.
“Yes, I did,” he replied. “When I hear these things that black lives matter, the only people who really believe that statement are American police officers who go into American ghettos every day to keep people from killing each other. Alright, so, yes I did send that and I meant it.”
“Look, the abortions?” Clarke continued. “If black lives—if they really mattered, that’s where the outrage would be that’s where we’d see protests…”
Several other black pro-life leaders have made similar statements, asking where the societal outrage is over abortion, which kills hundreds of thousands of black children every year.
“If [the media] really thought that black lives matter they would be protesting abortion on demand,” declared Alveda King, niece of renown civil rights leader Martin Luther King. “Even Planned Parenthood Tweeted support for Ferguson using the black lives matter hashtags, and yet they abort more black and Hispanic babies that any other abortion provider in America.”
“Mainstream media does everything it can to protect the most racist institution in America that actually kills for a living—the abortion industry,” said the Radiance Foundation’s Ryan Bomberger. “[H]ow sincere is the mantra that #BlackLivesMatter if the violent act of abortion and the disproportionate slaughter of unborn minority children is praised as ‘reproductive justice’?”
According to the website blackgenocide.org, published by New Jersey pastor and LEARN (Life Education and Resource Network) president Clenard Childress, since 2001, “over 8 million African American children have been killed by abortion” and that “the leading cause of death of African Americans is abortion.”
“They say that if you were to combine the top 10 leading categories of causes of death for African Americans, it wouldn’t come to half to the amount killed by abortion,” Childress said, adding “52% of all African American pregnancies end in abortion.”
In October, Childress and other black leaders held a march on Washington to speak out against the 1,786 African American children killed each day by abortion.
“This march represents an annual event that will be summoning African American churches and activist to be engaged in the civil rights movement to free enslaved children in the womb, children that are predominately African American. These are children that have been convicted and sentenced to die unjustly,” he said. “Its outrageous that we have black leaders caucusing with Planned Parenthood and endorsing legislation that would no longer require a licensed physician to perform abortions. Now that’s a war on women!”
Psalm 127:
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Jeremiah 44:
7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
