USA - Gone are the days when US consumers looked to the nightly news and print media as a trusted source of information, and especially if they hold conservative views, according to a new poll by the Columbia Journalism Review. Things are going from bad to worse for the US legacy media as its trust credentials have reached an all-time new low, as if that were possible. It has even achieved a lower trust rating than lawyers and members of Congress. Indeed, the cynicism on the street should have every mainstream media purveyor in a state of absolute panic. A whole new business model built on trust is desperately needed. But can the media deliver such a product? Nothing less than its survival depends upon it.

ISRAEL - A group of Israeli activists are calling on the government to establish a synagogue on the Temple Mount and open it for Jewish prayer. According to Asaf Fried, a spokesman for an association of organizations dedicated to Jewish rights on the Temple Mount, more than 50 leaders from across the religious spectrum gathered on Sunday to discuss the situation on the Temple Mount, known as Har Habayit in Hebrew. Participants included Rabbi Yehudah Glick (Likud), Baruch Marzal (Otzma) and members of the Rabbinate. Jews believe the site – venerated as holy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike – is where the Beit Hamikdash used to sit. Fried said he believes that this time the goal can be accomplished because Israel is in an election period and politicians who can effect change will want to appear responsive.

EUROPE - One hundred and sixty-eight. That’s the number of pirate attacks there were in the Gulf of Aden in 2008. That number dropped to just three in 2014, thanks to Operation Atlanta, which was recently extended to the end of 2020. Behind this vast naval operation to secure shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa lies the European Union. “Despite what one might be led to believe, the European Union already conducts military operations, apart from Operation Atlanta, over thirty operations have taken place, notably in Africa,” explains Delphine Deschaux-Dutard a European defense analyst at the Centre for International Security and European Studies (Cesice). For her, things are straightforward: “Europe is an army politically and militarily.”

VATICAN - Pope Francis told a group of young people Sunday that the devil is not a fairy tale but truly exists, and that he is their “biggest enemy.” In a meeting with children and young people from Saint Crispin’s parish in Viterbo, the pope said that the devil is “the ruler of the pagan spirit” and “the lord of evil,” while urging them to resist his wiles through prayer and recourse to Jesus. In a spirited dialogue with the group, Francis asked question after question regarding the devil and how he attempts to separate us from God. “Yes, he exists, it’s true, and he is our biggest enemy,” he agreed with them. “He is the one who tries to make us slip up in life. He is the one who puts bad desires and bad thoughts in our hearts and leads us to do bad things, many bad things in life, ending with war.” Pope Francis has often spoken of the devil during his 6-year pontificate, insisting that he is not a myth and must be combatted.

CHINA - A building splurge in this impoverished pocket of rural China ended in half-finished projects and a trail of angry investors from some of the country’s wealthiest areas. On a recent winter workday, investors and representatives from private fund companies in Shanghai and elsewhere descended on Sandu, a county in the deep south where tens of thousands of locals live on less than a dollar a day. After taxi rides from the high-speed rail station that took them past incomplete buildings and a gigantic golden statue of a man on horseback, they sat in government offices, demanding repayment.

USA - Representative John Shimkus once issued a forceful rejection of climate science at a congressional hearing, invoking the Bible and declaring that “Earth will end only when God declares it’s time to be over.” Last month, in a turnabout, the Illinois Republican signed onto a letter with the top Republican of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that said “prudent steps should be taken to address current and future climate risks.” “It’s just not worth the fight anymore,” Shimkus said in an interview when asked about his changing stance on climate change. “Let’s just see what we can do to address it and not hurt the economy.” Shimkus is among a number of Republicans who — after years of sowing doubt about climate change or ignoring it altogether — are scrambling to confront the science they once rejected. It remains to be seen whether they are sincere or whether they are just starting to engage in deceitful rhetoric.

USA - Now that the Dirty Dems are openly pushing socialism, it’s a good time to address the most misused word in the dictionary:  right.  It’s a word that’s pretty much synonymous with entitlement.  The subtle difference between the two is that right has a much stronger moral connotation to it than entitlement.  It’s very official sounding, as though it were handed down from on high, while an entitlement suggests victimization, which connotes weakness.

MIDDLE EAST - As Jared Kushner toured the Middle East this week in order to promote his mysterious plan for regional peace, a new political war broke out among Israeli right-wingers. Hayamin Hehadash leader Naftali Bennett went on the attack, warning that Kushner and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were going to create a Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank following the April 9 election. Right-wing voters who wanted to avoid such a scenario, Bennett cautioned, should vote for his party. In response, Netanyahu’s Likud went after Bennett, emphasizing that only Netanyahu will be able to withstand international pressure.

UK - Images of a demonic chicken lady are stoking panic across the globe, with warnings of a dangerous “suicide game” that targets children on social media. But behind the hysteria linked to the so-called “Momo challenge” is an issue far more revealing: This urban legend is likely little more than a hoax fueled by media reports and parents’ fears about their kids’ online activity.

UK - To save the Conservative party, Theresa May must resign as Prime Minister. To save Britain, Theresa May must resign as Prime Minister. Everyone understands this. It’s the simple solution to all our problems. But there’s just one wrinkle in the ointment. Can you guess what it is? Theresa May does not want to resign as Prime Minister. But really at this stage it’s our only hope. Over the next few days, Britain is in danger of signing what future historians will surely recognise as the worst deal in history. The “deal” — as was always the intention of the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier — is so bad that most of the people who voted Leave will wish they had never bothered because, amazingly, it will actually leave Britain worse off than if it had remained a member of the EU. That’s certainly the view of Daniel Hannan — Member of the European Parliament, co-founder of the European Research Group, and one of the architects of Brexit ...

USA - I know that the title of this article is controversial, but the scientific research that has been done in this area inevitably leads us to some conclusions that are inescapable.  Our current cell phone technology produces electromagnetic radiation that damages male fertility, and the radiation produced by the new 5G technology will be much more powerful and therefore much more dangerous.  But most people don’t know about this.  Instead, most people are greatly looking forward to the rollout of 5G technology because it will be up to 100 times faster than our current 4G technology, and who wouldn’t want that? 

UK - A primary school that taught pupils about homosexuality as part of a programme to challenge homophobia has stopped the lessons after hundreds of children were withdrawn by parents in protest. Parkfield community school in Saltley, Birmingham, has been the scene of weekly protests over the lessons, which parents claim are promoting gay and transgender lifestyles. On Friday about 600 Muslim children, aged between four and 11, were withdrawn from the school for the day, parents said.

USA - 2019 sure has been a weird year so far. On Wall Street, everything has been coming up roses for investors up to this point. Stock prices have risen more than 10 percent year-to-date, and the horrible crashes of late last year are quickly fading from memory. Meanwhile, the real economy is literally falling to pieces right in front of our eyes. Debt delinquencies are at unprecedented levels, bankruptcies are soaring, retail stores are closing at a record pace, this is the worst economy for farmers since the early 1980s, exports are plummeting and a brand new real estate crisis has now begun.

GERMANY - Germany could still tumble into recession as the threat of a no-deal Brexit and trade wars smash Europe’s biggest economy, experts have warned. A source close to the German government said Berlin is scheming to “pull something out of the hat” if the feared “double whammy should materialise”. The senior official confided finance minister Olaf Scholz is mulling over plans to bend Germany’s strict debt rules to mitigate the worst-case scenario.

USA - California Democrat spills the beans, says “gun confiscation” is the ultimate goal to “prevent all gun violence” … but who will carry it out? Shall not infringe. Shall not infringe. Shall not infringe. How many times do the gun-grabbing Democrats in Congress need to hear these three simple words before they get it through their thick skulls that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects and guarantees Americans’ God-given right to bear arms, is non-negotiable? Apparently a few more times, as House Democrats are busy scheming up legislation that would make it much more difficult for the people of this country to rightfully buy, sell, and possess firearms. And their ultimate end game, as openly admitted by California Democrat Mike Thompson during a recent press conference, is to eventually confiscate everybody’s guns.