Important Takeaways:
- The suicide rate among Americans, which has risen steadily over the past 18 years, has reached its highest point since 1941, preliminary data for 2022 shows.
- The suicide rate per 100,000 people in 2022 was 14.3, according to a report from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention released early Wednesday. The rate was 15 in 1941.
- An estimated 49,449 people died by suicide in 2022, the CDC said. That’s an increase of 2.6% over the 48,183 suicide deaths in 2021.
- The rate for males was 23.1 and 5.9 for females in 2022.
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘An Extraordinary Life’: Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Dead at 100
- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died Wednesday at the age of 100.
- His consulting firm said he died at his home in Connecticut.
- A towering figure of diplomacy who will always be remembered for his thick glasses and deep, gravelly voice, Kissinger forged U.S. foreign policy during critical moments in American history ranging from relations with China to the Vietnam War.
- His family fled Nazi Germany as Jewish refugees in the 1930s when he was a teenager. He later became a U.S. citizen while serving in military intelligence in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he attended Harvard and received his Ph.D. in 1954. He remained on the Harvard faculty for 15 years with appointments in the Government Department and the Center for International Affairs.
- Kissinger served first as a national security adviser and later as secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, but his influence continued long after he left office.
- Kissinger initiated the Paris negotiations that ultimately provided a face-saving means — a “decent interval,” he called it — to get the U.S. out of a costly war in Vietnam. Two years later, Saigon fell to the communists.
- He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in negotiating a cease-fire in Vietnam in 1973.
- In his later years, Kissinger cultivated the reputation of a respected statesman, giving speeches, offering advice to Republicans and Democrats alike, and managing a global consulting business. He turned up in President Donald Trump’s White House on multiple occasions.
- Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in the Bavarian city of Fuerth on May 27, 1923, the son of a schoolteacher. After his family left Nazi Germany and settled in Manhattan, Heinz changed his name to Henry.
- Kissinger had two children, Elizabeth and David, from his first marriage to Ann Fleischer whom he married in 1949. They divorced in 1969. He is survived by his wife Nancy whom he married in 1974.
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Important Takeaways:
- Nobody wants U.S. Treasury bonds
- Elementary economic forces — too much supply and not enough demand — have collided to create the worst stretch for U.S. government bonds since the Civil War. The government keeps borrowing to cover its budget deficits, while once-reliable buyers of that debt, both at home and abroad, have pulled back.
- The result: Investors are demanding the steepest yields since 2007. Auctions of fresh bonds that were once routine are now going terribly. And bond portfolios are getting absolutely hammered. The longest-dated Treasury bonds are in a bear market worse than the dot-com bust and almost as bad as 2008.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hospitals across China, the nation where the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged about four years ago, are grappling with a significant surge in respiratory illnesses among children. This primarily is being seen in Beijing and the northern regions.
- The rise in cases has been making headlines in China and raising concerns internationally, as Chinese doctors are working overtime to care for a huge flood of small patients.
- But health experts say there is no immediate cause for international concern regarding the surge in respiratory illnesses, which include pneumonia. The new cases are not on the scale of the initial COVID-19 outbreak and are not due to any new or unusual diseases, according to scientists.
- “Due to the arrival of the winter season, the increasing trend in respiratory illnesses is expected,” it added.
- Zuo-Feng Zhang, chair of the epidemiology department at UCLA, said “the pandemic 2.0 is not there yet,” despite concerns about a new major outbreak.
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Important Takeaways:
- A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck near the eastern Caribbean Island of Barbados on Tuesday. No immediate damage was reported.
- The quake occurred some 30 miles south-southwest of the capital of Bridgetown at a depth of 24 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
- There was no risk of a tsunami, according to Barbados Meteorological Services.
- Earthquakes are relatively infrequent in Barbados, with only an average annual of 13 tremors greater than magnitude 2.5, according to the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center.
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Important Takeaways:
- An earthquake measuring a 5.6 magnitude rocked several islands near Alaska on Monday night.
- The tremors were felt across the Fox Islands in the volcanic Aleutian Islands chain at 9:13 p.m. local time. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), a government agency, shared the details on its website giving the time of the earthquake in Coordinated Universal Time as 6:13 a.m. UTC.
- In terms of landslide estimates, the agency said “little or no area [is] affected” and “little or no population exposed.” The agency stated that it had issued a “green alert for shaking-relating fatalities and economic losses,” adding: “There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.”
- Some of the cities exposed to the quake were Akutan, Dutch Harbor, and Unalaska, the USGG said on its website
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Important Takeaways:
- HANDS, FACE, SPACE China brings back masks & social distancing in chilling echo of lockdown over mystery outbreak 4 years on from Covid
- Alarming footage has emerged of mask-wearing crowds inside Chinese hospitals as fears of a new pandemic sweep across the globe.
- Areas in the north of the country such as Beijing and Liaoning have been hit the hardest, with reports emerging last week that hospitals are being overwhelmed with sick children.
- A common bacterial infection called mycoplasma pneumoniae has circulated since May but is now showing ground glass opacity in lung scans – an indicator of severe respiratory illness.
- Also known as “white lung syndrome”, many parents are deeply worried and are having to wait at least a day just for emergency care.
- But China continues to insist that flu and the usual winter bugs are to blame for the latest outbreak, rather than a new virus, and can cope with the spike in sickness.
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Important Takeaways;
- We’re in a countdown to the close of the Church Age.
- The world decided that Israel became the international burdensome stone (Zech. 12:3).
- Whoever expected this new malady, Israel Derangement Syndrome, in their lifetime? We know that “the Time of Jacob’s Trouble” will be a time of Jew-hatred, but in the Church Age? And this is a hatred of a people based only on identity. A people group that has been a blessing to the world!
- Israel now longs for peace like never before.
- She will fall for Mr. Fix-Its peace plan of Daniel 9:27. She just wants to get along with her neighbors, the Arab world, the Muslim world, and all her enemies. She has had 75 years of conflict, preceded by the Holocaust. But with centuries of demonic hatred thrown at her, the Antichrist will be stunning in his deceit of a nation longing for peace and security. He will overwhelm them in his efforts.
- For a segment of society, love has grown cold.
- This is a Tribulation reference in Matthew 24, but we’re in a run-up to that. We’re watching large segments of society favor barbarians. Millions have sided with the butchers of Hamas! There are Facebook groups praising Hamas. College campuses know no shame. Jewish students are hiding in secluded areas. And much of the world, and parts of the church, shrug in indifference and seem to enjoy cursing Israel.
- Gog & Magog further align as they unite against Israel.
- One periodical reports that “Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan wants to lead the Muslim world against Israel so his country can become a great power.” Russia has pledged to come to Iran’s rescue if Israel attacks. The three power players of Ezekiel 38-39 are Russia, Turkey, and Iran. They are aligning more every day and particularly in 2023.
- The church is slipping further into apostasy.
- Many churches revealed theology that has encouraged them to remain silent during Israel’s greatest crisis since the Holocaust. Many openly sided with the so-called Palestinians. The silence of the shepherds has been staggering and devastating to many church members. Too many won’t deal with prophecy, current events, or Israel and won’t take a stand. It’s time to call out evil and to love what and who God loves. Too many churches refuse and this year exposed them.
- The Jews are coming home in greater numbers and are more open to the gospel.
- Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, there has been a 149% increase in interest to return to Israel from Jewish French citizens and an 81% increase from North American Jews. The trauma of October 7 will leave deep scars on the nation and people forever. The crisis is driving the Jews to seek God like never before in history. Many are leaving secularism, mysticism, and more to call out to the God of the Bible.
- Strong delusion (II Thess. 2) intensifies and abounds!
- The Biden Administration continues to give Iran billions. The White House expresses deep concern about Islamophobia, not anti-Semitism! Biden gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to mosques. We have seen young people praise Osama bin Laden in spite of the reality of radical Islam. The solution in the Middle East is a Palestinian state! Everywhere, evil is called good (Is. 5:20) and facts are irrelevant due to the delusions of our day. Only the righteous can see straight!
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘Vile show of anti-Semitism’: High school students mob teacher for attending pro-Israel rally
- Hundreds of students rampaged through the halls of a New York high school for around two hours after learning a Jewish teacher attended a pro-Israel rally, vandalizing school property and forcing the faculty member to take refuge in a locked office.
- The planned protest occurred last week at Hillcrest High School after a photo surfaced on Facebook of the unnamed teacher attending the rally on Oct. 9 and holding a sign that read “I stand with Israel.”
- As The New York Post reported Saturday, the students behind the riot planned it in a group chat, flooding the hallways and waving Palestinian flags.
- According to City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Queens), the NYPD also contacted its counterterrorism bureau. Police returned to the school the day after the riot to arrest an 18-year-old student, later charged with aggravated harassment, for making threatening messages inside of a group chat.
- One senior at the high school told The Post that the students had found out the teacher’s address, personal contact information and details about her family. While a source told The Post that some people made harassing phone calls to the teacher, the outlet could not confirm the report.
- In a statement to The Post, the teacher shared that she has taught in the New York City Public School System for over 20 years and has spent seven years teaching at Hillcrest High School. The unnamed teacher said that she was “shaken to [her] core” by the violence she experienced online and outside of her classroom.
- “No one should ever feel unsafe at school — students and teachers alike,” she said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel and Hamas agreed to extend the four-day ceasefire two more days, in hopes that the pause will see the release of an additional 20 hostages.
- On Monday, 11 Israelis, including 2 mothers and 9 children, returned home after 52 days in captivity by Hamas.
- Among the reunions: 15-year-old Dafna and her 8-year-old sister Ela, who are now with their birth mother. Hamas murdered their father, step-father and step-brother in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
- The White House expects more reunions
- …the White House is skeptical concerning how Hamas may use the ceasefire.
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