Important Takeaways:
- Leonard Peltier, the 80-year-old activist and “remorseless killer” who has been in prison for just shy of 50 years in connection with a 1975 ambush shooting that left two FBI agents dead on a South Dakota reservation, is headed home.
- In one of his last moves in office, former President Joe Biden granted Peltier clemency over fiery objections from both former FBI Director Christopher Wray and the FBI Agents Association.
- Wray wrote to Biden just 10 days before the former president granted clemency. “I want to make sure our position is clear: Peltier is a remorseless killer, who brutally murdered two of our own – Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Granting Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence is wholly unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law.”
- Peltier was serving two consecutive life sentences for his role in the slayings of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. He received another seven years on top of that for an armed escape attempt.
- A last-minute presidential pardon from Biden declared he should be freed Tuesday.
- “[Peltier] executed the two agents when they were wounded on the ground – no mercy or forgiveness,” Ed Mireles, the first FBI agent to receive the bureau’s Medal of Valor after a deadly gun battle with two suspected killers in 1986, told Fox News Digital previously. “No mercy or forgiveness for Peltier.”
- But he was more than just an activist at the time of the FBI slayings at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota – he was the subject of an active arrest warrant for the attempted murder of a police officer in Wisconsin.
- Both had been injured in the ambush and died from execution-style wounds to the head from a .223-caliber bullet. Peltier was the only person on scene carrying a weapon that could have fired those rounds, according to the FBI – an AR-15 rifle.
- “For nearly 50 years, no fewer than 22 federal judges, multiple parole boards, and six presidential administrations have evaluated the evidence and considered Peltier’s arguments,” Wray wrote to Biden over the summer. “Each has reached the same conclusion: Peltier’s claims are meritless and his convictions and sentence must stand.”
- Biden countered that Peltier’s support outweighed the courts and the concerns of Coler and Williams’ families and colleagues.
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Important Takeaways:
- A total lunar eclipse – the first to grace our skies since 2022 – will happen in March, and it will bring us a Blood Moon that will appear tinted a reddish-orange to our eyes.
- The total lunar eclipse will start late on the night of March 13 and will end in the early hours of March 14, according to NASA. An eclipse like this happens when the Moon, Earth and Sun all align so that the Moon is passing into the Earth’s shadow.
- NASA explains it this way: “In a total lunar eclipse, the entire Moon falls within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra. When the Moon is within the umbra, it appears red-orange. Lunar eclipses are sometimes called ‘Blood Moons’ because of this phenomenon.”
- “During a lunar eclipse, the Moon appears red or orange because any sunlight that’s not blocked by our planet is filtered through a thick slice of Earth’s atmosphere on its way to the lunar surface. It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.”
- During this lunar eclipse, the phase of totality will last for just over an hour. Then we’ll see the moon begin to emerge from the shadow.
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Important Takeaways:
- The initial phase of the ceasefire deal, which includes a 42-day truce and the return of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, has remained on track despite a series of setbacks and accusations of violations that had threatened to derail it.
- But negotiations over the second stage, aimed at securing the release of the remaining 64 hostages, are expected to be tough, because they include issues like the administration of post-war Gaza, where there are large gaps between the sides.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said “We will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organization in Gaza”
- But he added that if the negotiations are constructive, Israel will remain engaged and may prolong the ceasefire.
- “If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this time-frame work longer,” Saar said.
- So far, 19 Israeli hostages have been returned in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. If the six living hostages and four bodies are returned this week, as announced, four more would remain. Based on information from Hamas, all four are thought to be dead.
- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday he will set up a new unit in his ministry dedicated to facilitating the exit of Gaza residents who want to move to a third country, after reviewing an initial plan for it.
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Important Takeaways:
- Fifty years of anti-abortion laws in Missouri have been struck down as unconstitutional over the last two months, culminating Friday with a Jackson County judge blocking clinic licensing requirements.
- Three days later, Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists gathered outside Planned Parenthood locations across the state to say they have no intention of retreating.
- “I’m here to tell you the Missouri supermajority of Republicans will not stand for this,” said state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican and one of the architects of the legislation that made Missouri the first state to outlaw abortion in June 2022 after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
- “There will be another option to vote,” she predicted Monday, “so that people understand this is not going to continue in the state of Missouri.”
- A Planned Parenthood clinic in Kansas City on Saturday performed the first elective abortion since voters overturned Missouri’s abortion ban by passing Amendment 3 in November.
- Missouri Republicans have filed three dozen bills seeking to either repeal or rein in Amendment 3. So far, the House has prioritized a proposed constitutional amendment that would reinstate an abortion ban but create exceptions for survivors of rape and incest, as long as they report the crime to police.
- Senate Democrats have threatened to filibuster any effort to overturn the voter-approved amendment legalizing abortion.
- “This is the real agenda of Planned Parenthood, to put the destruction of human life over the safety and well-being of women,” Brian Westbrook, executive director of Coalition Life, told reporters as about half a dozen anti-abortion protesters stood behind him. “They are not fighting for women. They are fighting to remove every possible check on their harmful, deadly business.”
- Westbrook said Monday kicked off a 6-day “intense prayer and fasting vigil” outside the St. Louis clinic. Coalition Life also restarted its sidewalk counseling efforts, partnering with Women’s Care Connect, a pregnancy resource center in Maryland Heights that he said also provides “abortion pill reversal.”
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Important Takeaways:
- President Trump wants to create a defensive iron dome over America, similar to the one used by Israel to defend itself against Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks.
- Under a new executive order from the president, the Pentagon was given 60 days to come up with an initial plan for defending the country against a wide range of missile attacks.
- “We protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourselves. When Ronald Reagan wanted to do it many years ago we didn’t have the technology, but now we have phenomenal technology,” Trump said in January during a speech at the House Republican Retreat in Florida.
- The order focuses on potential threats, including ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles plus other next-generation aerial attacks. Trump also specified the need for deploying new space-based sensors that would identify, track, and intercept missiles.
- Deterrence is one of the primary goals of the new system – missile defenses that would make enemies question whether their first strike could hit its mark.
- While cost would likely be one of the biggest roadblocks, several Republican lawmakers are already working on a funding package, and Coates points out that freeing up money for projects like this is a big benefit of the work being done by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
- President Trump is calling for all components of this defense shield to be American-made.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hamas on Tuesday said that it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest people held by the group, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.
- The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached during negotiations in Cairo for “four slain hostages” to be handed over on Thursday and “six living hostages” to be released on Saturday.
- It added that “four additional slain hostages are expected to be handed over to Israel next week.”
- It is clearest indication that the Bibas children – who were just nine months and four years old, respectively, when they were kidnapped in October 2023 – are indeed dead.
- Israel has not yet confirmed their deaths and has not yet commented on Hamas’ announcement.
- Hamas’ announcement came on the day Israel said it would begin talks on the second phase of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire agreement.
- Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said negotiations could begin “this week” following discussions with “our American friends”.
- He committed to aiming to reach an agreement by the 42nd day of the truce, as stipulated in the original deal, and said the possibility of a longer-term agreement was an “option”.
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Important Takeaways:
- The victory that Christ has won is now ours.
- There is a backstory to the Bible. Behind the scenes of Scripture, a cosmic battle is being waged between God and Satan…
- …Isaiah gives us a glimpse of what happened before time as we know it began. Lucifer, the beautiful angel of light, became the angel and prince of darkness and was removed from the heavenly hosts, along with one-third of the angelic beings, who joined him in this rebellion. This is when the war of the ages was launched (Isaiah 14:12-14).
- …The devil “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He comes to kill, steal, and destroy, and his name means slanderer or accuser. Stu Weber says, “Know it or not, like it or not, you and I are in a war, and we need to begin living as if we were in a battle for our lives, because in fact we are.”
- The New Testament is filled with scriptures that warn us of this war, not to scare us but to prepare us to fight spiritual battles. The most well known of these passages is Ephesians 6:10-12: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
- We Christians are commanded to be soldiers in God’s army, strong and courageous and victorious in spiritual battle. Our strength for the battle is not our own, but God’s mighty power at work in us.
- We’ve been given spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare and are equipped to win. We’re to put on the whole armor of God and take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).
- Hebrews 4:12, which says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
- Satan’s tactics
- The word Satan means “adversary” or “oppressor.” Satan hates and attacks everything and everyone God loves. He is deceptive and dangerous, and he means to destroy you, your family, your faith, and your friends. He inflicts pain and suffering and unleashes hate and hell upon the world. He uses doubt, disappointment, and deceit, and he “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
- As Christians, we must take this ruthless enemy and our spiritual warfare seriously.
- Never forget that the Bible is both trustworthy and authoritative. As you wield the sword of the Spirit (the Bible) in spiritual warfare, you can be sure that “no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed” (Isaiah 54:17). You have the mighty power of God’s word at your disposal. For the weapons of our warfare are not human (2 Corinthians 10:4); the word of God in connection with the Spirit of God is your superpower.
- When you share your faith in Jesus, when you share the gospel of Christ, you’re in a spiritual battle and are defeating the enemy. Revelation 12:11 says, “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Our testimony is the word of God and the power of his blood to save us, which is the message of the Bible.
- The battlefield for warfare is prayer, so take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17-18). There’s an inseparable connection between prayer and God’s word, which we can see in Acts 6:4 as the leaders of the early church gave themselves to the word of God and to prayer. Jesus promised, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
- When you know the Bible, you’ll be certain of the outcome of this war that has been raging for so long. God has promised us victory and has already given it to us.
- When you know the victory is complete, you can begin living with a new perspective…
- No wonder the apostle Paul, though facing execution, was able to say he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which was far better: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
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Important Takeaways:
- Minnesota has declared a state of emergency over the rise of three diseases on commercial farms.
- The state’s Department of Agriculture issued the alert due to outbreaks of three viral infections among animals in the state.
- Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) is a respiratory disease that spreads among poultry and has been triggering outbreaks in the state since 2024.
- Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and the H5N1 bird flu virus are viral infections circulating among wild and domestic birds.
- HPAI refers to several strains of bird flu that can cause severe disease in birds, while H5N1 is the name of the most concerning virus that has jumped to humans.
- Thom Petersen, the state’s agriculture commissioner, said the move was an ‘important step in helping Minnesota farmers affected by these… diseases’.
- The declaration means that the state can now offer zero-interest loans to farmers who are forced to cull their flocks or lose cattle because of infections.
- California has also declared an emergency over the bird flu outbreak.
- The outbreaks are leading to the mass culling of domestic birds which has driven up the price of eggs — with the average price now having risen 65 percent since the start of 2024 to around $4.95 a dozen.
- It comes after a farm worker in Ohio became the fourth American to be hospitalized with bird flu this weekend suffering from respiratory symptoms, with the case reported just 24 hours after another in Wyoming.
- Minnesota has detected more than 871 cases of aMPV since April 2024 — compared to the national tally of 2,355 cases over the year to August last year.
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Important Takeaways:
- China is dominating the globe as a science and technology superpower, leading the world in 37 out of 44 technology sectors examined by an Australian think tank.
- Also, according to APSI, China is home to “all of the world’s top 10 leading research institutions” and generates “nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country (most often the U.S.).”
- Among the notable areas of Chinese excellence is defense and space-related tech. These are the seven categories in which the U.S. leads China in the tracker:
- High-performance computing
- Advanced integrated circuit design and fabrication
- Natural language processing (including speech and text recognition and analysis)
- Quantum computing
- Vaccines and medical countermeasures
- Small satellites
- Space launch systems
- “Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs, and the ability to retain global talent — crucial ingredients that underpin the development and control of the world’s most important technologies, including those that don’t yet exist,” according to the report.
- The tracker bills its findings as “a wake-up call for democratic nations.”
- “The race to be the next most important technological powerhouse is a close one between the U.K. and India, both of which claim a place in the top five countries in 29 of the 44 technologies,” according to the tracker. “South Korea and Germany follow closely behind, appearing in the top five countries in 20 and 17 technologies, respectively.
- “Australia is in the top five for nine technologies, followed closely by Italy (seven technologies), Iran (six), Japan (four) and Canada (four). Russia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, France, Malaysia and the Netherlands are in the top five for one or two technologies. A number of other countries, including Spain and Turkey, regularly make the top 10 countries but aren’t in the top five.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Greece will soon set up an evacuation port on the island of Santorini to facilitate the safe escape of people in case a bigger quake hits the popular tourist destination, a Greek minister said on Monday.
- Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, has been shaken by tens of thousands of mild quakes since late January, forcing thousands of people to flee, and authorities to ban construction activity, and shut schools and nearby islands.
- No major damage has been reported but scientists have said the seismic activity was unprecedented even in a quake-prone country like Greece and have not ruled out bigger tremors.
- They have identified the main ferry port at the foot of a precipitous slope and other sites across Santorini as weak links, although they have not said they cannot be used in an emergency situation.
- Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Greece will build an evacuation port for the safe docking of passenger ferries until a new port infrastructure is in place.
- “This story is not over,” Costas Papazachos, a seismology professor, and a spokesperson for the Santorini quakes told public broadcaster ERT.
- “Both authorities and habitants should get used to a rather unpleasant situation for some time, it could be another two, three months.”
- Seismologists have said the latest seismic activity, the result of moving tectonic plates and magma, has pushed subsurface layers of the island upwards.
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