Trump orders voting districts to exclude people in U.S. illegallyWASHINGTON/NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday that would prevent migrants who are in the United States illegally from being counted when U.S. congressional voting districts are next redrawn, triggering swift rebukes from Democrats and at least one promise of litigation.U.S. census experts and lawyers say the action is legally dubious, and not easily executed in practice. In theory, it could benefit Trump’s Republican Party by eliminating the largely non-white population of migrants in the United States illegally, creating voting districts that skew more Caucasian.It could also cause populous states with large immigrant contingents to lose seats in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives, including big left-leaning states like California – currently with 53 seats – and New York, with 27.The process of drawing voting maps for federal congressional districts is known as apportionment.“Including these illegal aliens in the population of the state for the purpose of apportionment could result in the allocation of two or three more congressional seats than would otherwise be allocated,” the memo said.Redistricting, in which voting districts are redrawn to reflect changes in the population, is next slated for 2021, after the results of the 2020 U.S. census are in.Each state will be given a share of the 435 congressional seats based on population. Historically, the distribution of seats has been based on total population, regardless of immigration status. Trump’s memo would exclude those not in the U.S. legally.RELATED COVERAGETrump signs memo aimed at excluding illegal migrants from redrawn districtsU.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a statement the measure was “unlawful” and was “designed to again inject fear and distrust into vulnerable and traditionally undercounted communities, while sowing chaos with the Census.”‘WHOLE NUMBER OF PERSONS’From a legal standpoint, the move is far from a slam-dunk.Proponents of citizens-only voting districts argue each vote should carry the same weight. If one district has far fewer eligible voters than another, they say, each vote there has more influence on election outcomes.But, while the U.S. Supreme Court has left the door open for citizen-based voting maps for state legislatures, experts see it as a long shot at the federal congressional level.That is because the U.S. Constitution explicitly says congressional districts must be based on “the whole number of persons” in each district, as counted in each decennial U.S. census.Dale Ho, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, vowed litigation, saying in a statement, “We’ll see him in court, and win,” referring to the president.Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Trump was “trying to scare” undocumented people from participating in the ongoing 2020 census.In the memo, Trump said the word “persons” “has never been understood to include … every individual physically present within a state’s boundaries.”In fact it has, census experts say: Multiple federal laws have reinforced that apportionment must include everyone, and U.S. Supreme Court precedent has endorsed that view, said Joshua Geltzer, a constitutional law expert and professor at Georgetown Law.‘ANTI-GRAVITY’Some see the order as mainly theater – especially because it is unclear how Trump would gather the data necessary to identify – and exclude – people in the United States illegally.In 2019, the president signed an executive order calling on states to provide his administration with government records, such as driver’s license databases, that could be used to determine the non-citizen population. Other surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau provide estimates of the non-citizen population.But those data are incomplete and unreliable, demographers have argued.“There is no count,” said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, in Los Angeles, and former U.S. Department of Justice official under then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat.“It’s as if (Trump) has ordered the National Basketball Association commissioner to implement rules for the use of anti-gravity boots,” Levitt said. “(The commissioner) says anti-gravity boots shall be permitted or shall not be permitted — but they don’t exist.”Trump’s memorandum could prove popular with the president’s base as he tries to generate enthusiasm for his re-election in November, Levitt said.Trump has spent much of his presidency seeking to limit the number of migrants who illegally enter the United States.His past efforts to use the U.S. census to identify and limit the political power of undocumented immigrants have faced roadblocks.In 2018, the administration said it would ask respondents to the 2020 census whether they were citizens, a move ultimately nixed by the Supreme Court.Following the defeat, Trump issued an executive order in July 2019 aiming to determine citizenship status through a trove of administrative records. The order is still facing litigation from immigration advocates including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.Reporting by Nick Brown and Mica Rosenberg in New York, and Mimi Dwyer in Los Angeles.; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Alexandra Alper in Washington and Kristina Cooke in Los Angeles; Editing by Ross Colvin, Matthew Lewis and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles

Mysterious ‘ghost attack’ fires and explosions continue to plague Iran

By Susan Keating

‘They’re happening too much to be a coincidence,’ exiled Iranian says.

As “ghost attack” fires and explosions reportedly continue within Iran, outside observers and the Tehran regime are speculating on who is behind the mysterious events.  

Since last month, blasts and blazes have been reported at Iranian sites, including an explosion that killed 19 people at a medical clinic on June 30, plus fires that ravaged a shipyard and Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility earlier this month. 

The incidents continued through the weekend, when an explosion wracked a power plant in Isfahan province, and fire consumed a cellophane factory in Tabriz. 

“They’re happening too much to be coincidence,” Iranian exile Amir Rad, who lives in Europe, told Just the News. “Someone is behind all of this. But who?”

While Tehran has maintained that the incidents were accidents or the result of wear and tear on facilities, sources have been cited in the western and Middle Eastern media as blaming various culprits: Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency; the United States; and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).

Following the July 2 explosion in Natanz, focus centered on two potential sources, the MEK and Israel.

The MEK was not involved, the group’s spokesman told Just the News.

“This was not carried out by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran,” Shahin Gobadi wrote in an email.

An Israeli government official expressed unease about Iran while on an official visit to Hungary on Monday.

“I expressed our concern to the Hungarian Foreign Minister about Iran’s incessant violations of its nuclear commitments,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi said in a statement. 

Ashkenazi did not, however, address charges and rumors that Israel is the “ghost” wreaking havoc in Iran.

Earlier this month, Tehran reportedly challenged the Israel theory, discounting claims that Tel Aviv launched a cyber attack that caused the facility to catch fire.

“The reports about cyberattacks on energy stations in the country are false,” and no intentional damage was caused to the sites, Iranian power industry spokesman Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi told a local news agency.

I find this interesting. Hope you do as well.The Geopolitics of the Middle East are amazing.

An Unsettling Feeling

I may not the the most positive person in the world. Because of my Christian faith I firmly believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and as a student of that word and one who sees and somewhat understands current events, not only in Biblical ways, but also political or secular ways I have had an unsettling feeling in my heart. Many times I see what could go wrong while still having a profound faith that God is in charge, regardless of what chaos is going on in our little world. At the same time I know one of God’s firmly established laws is the Law of Reaping and Sowing. One always reaps more and later than when we sow. Even taking the moral aspect out of the equation we all realize that we are reaping years of immorality and greed, as well as ideological ideas that are detrimental to our founding principles. In many ways we have been and are in at the present time in a philosophical civil war of astonishing proportions. We are also in a division not seen in this country since we fought the Civil War. Let us pray this does not escalate to that level.

I know with certainty that President Trump was elected for a profound reason. Part of his mission, which I think is God blessed is to wreck havoc like an Old Testament Prophet, not mincing words or playing nice but getting to the root of the problem. That is what we need! All of hell has come against this man and I fear it is not over by any means. I guess my foreboding stems from the fact that once is never enough for the radical left. If they lose this election in November, they will never stop to try to overturn the will of the people. They have already shown that riots and anarchy are the calling card of the radical leftist.

Just a warning, be prepared for the worst. Nothing is beyond what they may attempt. Just remember that the FBI, DOJ, CIA were all working together to bring the downfall of a duly elected President of the United States. Vote like your life, and your way of life depends on it. Freedom vs Tyranny!!

If you are a person of prayer, please spend time in your prayer closet for America.

May we in America rise to the high calling God has placed on us.

Was America’s secretive ‘ninja’ missile used again in Syria?

Other recent uses of the “ninja” weapon include a July 18 strike, June 20 and June 15 strike.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN   JULY 20, 2020 20:34

The secretive “flying ginsu” or ninja missile was used against in Syria on Monday, according to reports. It struck and killed a car allegedly used by a terrorists near Azaz in a Turkish-occupied part of northern Syria.Many extremist groups with ties to ISIS and Al-Qaeda operate in areas Turkey controls in Syria. There was discussion online about whether the impact on the vehicle showed signs of an explosion and may have been another secretive type off warhead. America’s drones officially only carry several types of munitions, but many suggest that they can be equipped with weapons that are still classified.

The vehicle struck by the so-called “ninja missile” looked to be a small white truck and several people were said to be killed. It happened near Ikhtaimlat. This road is about 25 km from the Turkish border town of Kilis. The secretive R9-X is similar to a Hellfire missile which is about 1.6 meters long, similar to the size of a person. The R9-X replaces the usual Hellfire explosive warhead with “swords” that pop-out like blades and cause the target to be crushed and mashed.It is designed to kill people such that only one or two individuals in a care are killed and others survive. In this case the missile penetrated the drivers side and what was left of the driver was found near the truck. Blood smatters could be seen. These scenes are usually gruesome.The name of one of the dead men was given as Shuja’a Muhammad born in 1987. But the ID of the person whose body parts were found may not be the real person who was killed because sometimes people use fake identification. Videos showed civil defense volunteers, known as White Helmets, picking up parts of the corpse.Other recent uses of the “ninja” weapon include a July 18 strike, June 20 and June 15 strike. Subsequent to that some images of pieces of the missiles were shown off on June 14 and the missile was used around December 4, 2019 also. The missile first came to the public’s attention in May last year.

Large fire at oil pipeline in South Iran

Video circulating in local and social media Saturday night show a large fire blazing at an oil pipeline in southern Iran’s Khuzestan Province/ It comes after a series of devastating explosions and fires at Iran’s most sensitive nuclear and other military sites, the latest being fires on seven vessels at the Iranian port of Bushehr. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

There is a lot going on in Iran the past couple of weeks. Not sure who if anyone is doing the damage. The Middle East is the “always on”, hot spot of the world. Iran is coming to the forefront as the nation to watch at the present time. Trouble will always brew in that region. Debka File

Chicago Threatens To Bulldoze Churches If COVID Mandates Not ObeyedGeorgette 50 STATES POLITICS. Conservative Daily Post

In Chicago, two churches have been threatened by city officials with complete destruction if they fail to obey the arbitrary edits issued by the city concerning COVID restrictions. They said the buildings would be demolished.

Although statistics prove that the virus is no more deadly than the flu, and that fatalities have dropped in massive numbers, somehow, the war against Christian Americans, small businesses and freedom is ramping up.

The lawyer for two Chicago churches has reported that city officials informed his clients that they would consider bulldozing their facilities if they do not comply with COVID-19 edicts.

Matt Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said on Wednesday that the city is classifying his clients as “public nuisances.” He said they were issued a letter declaring that the city “has the power and duty to cause all nuisances affecting the health of the public to be abated.” The letter threatened a “summary abatement,” which would mean the destruction of the facilities without due process.

Staver said during an appearance on the “Todd Starnes Radio Show” that he is seeking an emergency injunction and hopes to take the case to the Supreme Court. The motion for the injunction is headed to the desk of SCOTUS Justice Brett Kavanaugh right now.