Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Covenant With Many

Trump leaps into Middle East fray with peace plan that Palestinians denounce - Reuters
Reuters reports: "U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed creating a Palestinian state as part of a Middle East peace plan, drawing Palestinian condemnation for imposing strict conditions and agreeing to let Israel maintain control of long-contested West Bank settlements."

Comment: Before this peace plan was announced, the Palestinians rejected it. Can you imagine? I think it's pretty clear they are not interested in peace. I've actually been convinced of this for some time. When they rejected Bill Clinton's peace plan in 2000 (a very generous plan) it became clear that the Palestinians did not want peace with Israel, they wanted peace without Israel.  Nothing has changed in the intervening years to convince me otherwise. Thank you President Trump, you tried. Now it's time for Mideast peace to return to the back burner and for life to go on as usual until the appointed time.

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Covenant With Many

Trump's Mideast peace plan will be 'historic': Netanyahu
AFP reports: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said he expected US President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Middle East to be 'historic' ahead of a trip to Washington. [...] Trump on Thursday said he will release his long-delayed plan before meeting Netanyahu in Washington. 'It's a great plan. It's a plan that really would work,' Trump said."

Comment: Every American president in recent history has released a Mideast peace plan and now it's Trump's turn.  What can Trump do that would be any different than his predecessors? Judging by his behavior, the answer would seem to be, a lot. Can't wait to read the details of this new plan for bringing peace to the Middle East.

Pestilence

Factbox: Latest on the coronavirus spreading in China and beyond - Reuters
Reuters reports: "The coronavirus outbreak that began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan has killed 42 people in China and infected more than 1,300 globally, most of them in China. The virus has caused alarm because it is still too early to know how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. And because it is new, humans have not been able to build any immunity to it."]

Ancient never-before-seen viruses discovered locked up in Tibetan glacier | Live Science Live Science reports: "For the past 15,000 years, a glacier on the northwestern Tibetan Plateau of China has hosted a party for some unusual guests: an ensemble of frozen viruses, many of them unknown to modern science. Scientists recently broke up this party after taking a look at two ice cores from this Tibetan glacier, revealing the existence of 28 never-before-seen virus groups."

Comment: Two reports that tell us something very important. New virus strains are dangerous because we don't have immunity to them. But there are also OLD viruses locked in the ice that we also don't have immunity to and those viruses may be released into the environment as the ice melts. 

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Pestilence

CDC confirms first case of coronavirus in Seattle - UPI.com
UPI reports: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the United States' first case of coronavirus in a traveler who returned from China."

Comment: This is a worrisome development. With modern travel it is likely that this outbreak could spread very quickly. 

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Earthquakes

6-magnitude aftershock rattles Puerto Rico - UPI.com
UPI reports: "A magnitude-6 aftershock rattled Puerto Rico on Saturday morning, days after temblors caused widespread damage and power outages on the island, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The earthquake was one of dozens to shake the U.S. territory this week, beginning with a 5.8-magnitude earthquake Monday and a stronger 6.4-magnitude one Tuesday."

Comment: Praying for the people on the island, for their faith and resiliency.