‘Millions of jobs’ at risk if U.S.-Mexico border closes, Sen. Ted Cruz warns

‘Millions of jobs’ at risk if U.S.-Mexico border closes, Sen. Ted Cruz warns(Source usatoday.com) Sen. Ted Cruz joined other congressional Republicans representing border states Wednesday in warning President Donald Trump against closing the U.S.-Mexico border, saying such a move would be “devastating” to Texas. 

“Of course, we should secure the border. We must. Our broken immigration system and years of unwillingness to secure our southern border has produced a security and humanitarian crisis,” Cruz said a statement. “But the answer is not to punish those who are legally crossing the border. The answer is not to punish Texas farmers and ranchers and manufacturers and small businesses,” he said. “Closing legal points of entry would harm American commerce and legal transit between Mexico and the United States, and leave coyotes and human traffickers to roam free in the wilderness of our unsecured border.” He said “millions of jobs” depend on trade with Mexico and that “the federal government shouldn’t do anything to jeopardize” those workers.  Trump has threatened to close the southern border several times in response to Mexico’s inability to stop the flow of migrants into the U.S., but he ramped up the rhetoric in a series of tweets Friday. And on Sunday, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney indicated the president was serious about this threat. 

Are You Observing the Right Day of Worship?

Are You Observing the Right Day of Worship? (Source thetrumpet.com) Most professing Christians observe Sunday as their weekly day of worship. Do you know why? Have you ever looked into it? Most people have not. If they did, they might be surprised by what they find. Sunday has been considered the first day of the week throughout human history. Yet the Bible commands a seventh-day Sabbath.

Luke 4:16 tells us that Christ observed the Sabbath day “as his custom was.” The word custom means “your regular practice or habit; your regular routine.” It was His regular habit to keep the seventh-day Sabbath; it was part of His routine.

A Christian is one who follows Christ. Christ set the perfect example in all things, including His Sabbath observance. So isn’t it amazing that most people who call themselves “Christian” observe a different day of worship than Christ Himself did? Shouldn’t a true Christian seek to follow the example Christ set in this matter?

Christ taught that we must live by every word of God (Matthew 4:4). The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. You can read these yourself in Exodus 20. Verses 8-11 say, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work … For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

U.S. isolated at U.N. Security Council over Golan decision

U.S. isolated at U.N. Security Council over Golan decision (Source Reuters) In a letter requesting Wednesday’s meeting, Syria described the U.S. decision as a “flagrant violation” of council resolutions, while ally North Korea issued a statement backing “the struggle of the Syrian government and people for taking back the occupied Golan Heights.”
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move the 15-member U.N. Security Council declared “null and void and without international legal effect.”
British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce told the council that the U.S. decision was in contravention of that 1981 resolution, while Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said Washington had violated U.N. resolutions and warned it could fuel instability in the Middle East.
The European members of the council – France, Britain, Germany, Belgium and Poland – on Tuesday also raised concerns about “broader consequences of recognizing illegal annexation and also about the broader regional consequences.”
Trump, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking over his shoulder during a visit to Washington, on Monday signed a proclamation officially granting U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier on Wednesday that Washington’s decision would help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by removing uncertainty.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait on Tuesday criticized the U.S. decision on the Golan Heights and said the territory was occupied Arab land. Iran echoed the comments.

Kremlin rejects Trump’s call for Russia to pull out of Venezuela

Kremlin rejects Trump’s call for Russia to pull out of Venezuela(Source Reuters)

Russia said on Thursday it had sent “specialists” to Venezuela under a military cooperation deal but said they posed no threat to regional stability, brushing aside a call from U.S. President Donald Trump to remove all military personnel from the country.

Trump said on Wednesday that “all options” were open to make Russia pull troops out of Venezuela after two Russian air force planes landed outside Caracas on Saturday carrying nearly 100 Russian troops, according to media reports.

As Venezuela has descended into political turmoil this year, Russia has emerged as a staunch backer of President Nicolas Maduro while the United States backs the country’s opposition and has imposed sanctions. “The presence of Russian servicemen in Venezuela is linked to the discussion of cooperation in the military-technical sphere,” Jose Rafael Torrealba Perez was quoted as saying.

Speaking at a weekly news briefing on Thursday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the arrivals only as “Russian specialists”. “Russia is not changing the balance of power in the region, Russia is not threatening anyone, unlike (officials) in Washington,” she told a weekly news briefing. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s specialists were in Venezuela to service pre-existing contracts for the supply of Russian arms. Russia and China have backed Maduro, while the United States and most other Western countries support opposition leader Juan Guaido. In January, Guaido invoked the constitution to assume Venezuela’s interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

Maduro, who retains control of state functions and the country’s military, has said Guaido is a puppet of the United States.

Pentagon says it won’t rule out nuclear first strike, because allies wouldn’t trust it otherwise

Pentagon says it won’t rule out nuclear first strike, because allies wouldn’t trust it otherwise (Source rt.com) A Pentagon official has said that the US will hold on to the right to carry out a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack. A ‘no-first use’ policy would erode US allies’ belief that they are protected, he said. Washington has no plans to reverse its policy of “no-first-use” of nukes, which means it can bomb its adversaries with nuclear weapons under “extreme circumstances,” Deputy Under Secretary of Defense David Trachtenberg said in his prepared remarks to the Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on Thursday. Trachtenberg claimed that if the US changes its take on the issue, which he described as “constructive ambiguity,” it “would undermine US extended deterrence and damage the health of our alliances because it would call into question the assurance that the United States would come to the defense of alliance in extreme circumstances.” This uncertainty might prompt these countries to arm themselves with nuclear weapons, he said.

The hawkish Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) commissioned by President Donald Trump in 2018 lists a long range of circumstances under which the US might consider to strike first, such as significant strategic attacks on the US, allied or partner civilian infrastructure, forces, their command and control as well as warning and assessment capabilities with conventional weapons. That clause represents a major shift from the previous US nuclear doctrine, and has drawn strong criticism from Moscow, which accused Washington of lowering the nuclear threshold and exacerbating the nuclear arms race.

Oil seen flowing onshore in Jamaica

Oil seen flowing onshore in Jamaica (Source upi.com)

Oil was found flowing naturally for the first time ever onshore in Jamaica at two locations in what could be a door opener in the Caribbean, companies said. Two companies, the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica and CGG GeoConsulting, said oil was found flowing at two sites during petroleum field work. “This significant find marks the first documented occurrence of ‘live’, or flowing, oil from onshore Jamaica and will be of particular interest to oil explorationists focused on Central America and the Caribbean,” they said in a joint statement. Jamaica is considered frontier territory for oil and gas explorers. Tullow Oil, a British company that focuses in part on pioneer opportunities, has a licensethere from 2014 in shallow waters on the south of the island nation.