Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a security and defense tour in the Golan Heights, near the Northern Israeli border with Syria. April 11, 2016. (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Arab League, U.S., Germany Reject Israel’s Golan Heights Affirmation
“And this shall be your north border: from the Great Sea ye shall mark out your line unto mount Hor.” Numbers 34:7 (The Israel Bible™)
The Arab League has denounced Israel’s “escalation” over control in the Golan Heights, while Germany and the United States also rejected Israeli claims on the strategic territory.
Israel’s cabinet held its weekly meeting in the Golan on Sunday to affirm the Jewish state’s sovereignty in the area.
“Israel will never come down from the Golan Heights….In the 49 years Israel has controlled the Golan, it has been a place of peace and prosperity. Israel today is the solution, not the problem,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
On Monday, Arab League General-Secretary Nabil al-Arabia said Netanyahu’s comments marked “a new escalation that represents a brazen violation of international law.”
At the same time, Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Monday said that Israel’s decision to unilaterally maintain control over the Golan Heights would violate international law. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said it is “a basic principle of international law and the U.N. charter that no state can claim the right to annex another state’s territory just like that.”
The U.S. State Department also said that the American position on the Golan Heights has not changed, and that it does not recognize the territory as part of Israel.
Following Netanyahu’s comments, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad said his country would “retake the Golan Heights by any means necessary, including using military force.”
According to recent reports, a negotiated deal on the Syrian civil war that is being worked on by world powers would declare the Golan Heights as Syrian territory.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet conference, held in the Golan Heights, Northern Israel on April 17, 2016. (Photo: Effi Sharir/POOL)
Israel gained control of the strategically important Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. After Israel briefly lost territory during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel and Syria established a United Nations-monitored cease-fire line in the region, with Israel taking the western two-thirds of the territory. Amid the ongoing Syrian civil war, the territory continues to play a strategic role for Israel. Iran, Hezbollah, and the Islamic State terror group all have a presence in Syrian territory near the Israeli border.
A fourth great wave of the Holy Spirit is preparing to let loose. (Flickr )
For a few years I have been meditating on the principles of "catching and surviving every wave of the Holy Spirit" while yet staying grounded in the main and the plain of the doctrines of the historical church.
There have been numerous movements of the Holy Spirit through out our wonderful church history: The Great Reformation, the First and the Second Great Awakenings, the Pietism and Holiness Movement, the Student Volunteer Movement, the Pentecostal Outpouring, followed by the Sign and Wonders Movement, the Latter Rain and Healing and Deliverance Movements and even in more recent times, fresh grace of God upon the Evangelical and charismatic movements and many others.
Every wave of the Holy Spirit has restored truths to the larger body of Christ and often even birthed entire new denominations and ministries. The first mention of the Holy Spirit is that "He moved upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2). So going by the Law of First Mention in Biblical Interpretation, we can say it is the "nature of the Holy Spirit to move and keep on moving."
I have seen or experienced the following expressions of the Christian faith in my own span of 60 years: Evangelical, charismatic, Jesus People, Discipleship, Word of Faith, Third Wave, Global Worship and Prayer emphasis, then shifting into the Prophetic Movement and the New Apostolic Reformation. Within each of these tidal waves there have been the contributing revival peaks such as the Korean Church Growth, Argentine Outpouring, the Chinese Underground Church movement, the Cell Church explosion with its many expressions, the Toronto Blessing, the fire of the Brownsville Revival and numerous other contributing tributaries of God's purposes.
In recent years we have seen some amazing shifts and trends. In the heart of Africa in Nigeria there are all night prayer watches with over one million believers present. In the United States alone we have seen a shift from a handful of 24/7 Houses of Prayer to now over 10,000. Today we have the church getting out of the box into the box office making a relevant impact in the arts, entertainment and media for Jesus sake!
Three Recognized Waves in the 21st Century
The Third Wave is a term was coined in the early 1980s to describe the recent historical working of the Holy Spirit in the global body of Christ. It is part of a larger movement called the "neocharismatic" movement. The Third Wave involved those Christians who have received Pentecostal-like experiences; however, those who identified with this movement often claimed no association with either the Pentecostal or the previous charismatic movements.
The "First Wave" occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century with the rise of the Pentecostal movement, arising in Topeka, Kansas in 1901 with Charles Parham and shifting to the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 with William Seymour, Frank Bartleman and others. This gave birth to many classical Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God, Church of God, Four Square, Church of God in Christ, Pentecostal Holiness, Open Bible and various other Pentecostal streams.
Other revival movements came on the shores in various parts of the earth as in Wales under young Evan Roberts, Shantung, China with Bertha Smith, and the Hebrides Islands with Duncan Campbell and many other lands.
The "Second Wave" occurred during the 1960s as the charismatic movement spread throughout mainline protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic Church. The Full Gospel Business Men's, Women's Aglow International, the Discipleship and Word of Faith movements were also expressions of this massive global wave.
A parallel movement, based on the West Coast of the United States, was the birthing ground of the Jesus People Movement with the signs and wonders of Lonnie Frisbee and teacher Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel. Contemporary music had its debut with Maranatha Music leading the way with a host of other expressions following in its amazing trail.
The "Third Wave" occurred during the mid-1980s and into 1990s and was associated with leaders such as John Wimber of the Vineyard Movement along with others such as Peter Wagner of the Church Growth Institute and Fuller Seminary, James Robison among the Baptist Fullness Movement, many significant voices of integrity with sound theology such as Jack Deere, Jack Taylor and many, many others.
Movements In Our Life Time
In 1960 in Van Nuys, California, the modern charismatic movement began in an Episcopalian Church (St. Mark's, with Dennis Bennett as rector). There was an outburst of tongues speaking in this church. This event was so significant that bothTime and Newsweek covered the story. After that, the movement spread like wildfire in the Episcopalian and Anglican Church and then among Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists and other main line denominations as well.
At the time of spring vacation in 1967, there were in the Notre Dame area about 30 zealous Catholics who had received the "baptism of the Holy Spirit." In 1970, the increase was more spectacular. Almost 1,300 attended the conference, including Catholics from Canada. In 1973, 22,000 Catholic Charismatics met together at Notre Dame, including Catholic participants from at least 10 foreign countries. By 1974, the Notre Dame conference was attended by 30,000 people. It simply grew and grew.
The Charismatic Conference on Renewal in the Christian Churches was held in Kansas City in the summer of 1977. I was a young leader in the Jesus People Movement in attendance at this grand event. I will never forget the spontaneous praise that broke out for over 20 minutes as Bob Mumford declared, "I looked at the back of the Book, and guess what? We win!" It was an electrifying moment!
All three wings of the Pentecostal movement were present: (1) Classical Pentecostals; (2) Protestant Charismatics; and (3) Catholic Charismatics. This was the biggest and most inclusive gathering of "baptized in the Spirit believers" in modern history. There were nearly 50,000 participants in this 5-day historic conference.
The Signs and Wonders Movement
The Fuller Seminarian C. Peter Wagner first coined the term "Third Wave" in 1983: "I see historically that we're now in the third wave. The first wave of the moving of the Holy Spirit began at the beginning of the century with the Pentecostal movement. The second wave was the charismatic movement, which began in the fifties in the major denominations. Both of those waves continue today. I see the third wave of the eighties as an opening of the straight-line evangelicals and other Christians to the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that the Pentecostals and charismatics have experienced, but without becoming either charismatic or Pentecostal. I think we are in a new wave of something that now has lasted almost through our whole century"(Peter Wagner, "The Third Wave?" Pastoral Renewal, July-August 1983, pp. 1-5).
I also had the honor of crossing over into this Third Wave emphasis after being a participant in both the charismatic and Jesus People ripples, as I had the honor of being a part of the leadership of Metro Christian (later Vineyard) Fellowship led by Mike Bickle in the Heartland of the U. S. It was a time of the mingling of the anointing of "compassion and worship" of the Vineyard with the "prophetic and intercession" of the Kansas City Prophets. Multiple streams of the prophetic movement emerged quickly in many locations and continue to flourish to this day. Bishop Bill Hamon with Christian International has possibly activated more people into a prophetic gift than any person in church history. Rick Joyner with Morningstar, Cindy Jacobs with Generals, the late John Paul Jackson with Streams and on and on it goes! Praise the Lord!
This in turn has been and is being succeeded by another step of restoration that some refer to as the New Apostolic Reformation with many diverse global networks, applications and expressions. In addition, we now have the prayer and mission's streams converging to see every people group reached with the gospel message of Jesus Christ. I thank God for the days in which we live! I thank the Lord for diversity in the body of Christ! Let's celebrate it – not tolerate it!
The Beginning of the Fourth Wave
In the spring of 2011, I was given a vivid dream in which John Wimber was the central figure. This great Third Wave leader had though already graduated to his heavenly reward in 1997. This musical minister was one of the greatest statesmen who moved in authentic power in recent church history. In this prophetic dream, the Holy Spirit used John Wimber as a representational voice of the Third Wave. I was told that the purpose for that movement was now subsiding and that it was time for another wave to roll in upon the scene of global church history.
A conversation with the Holy Spirit unfolded and it was explained to me that the previous waves included renewal, revival and empowering of the Holy Spirit and aspects of restoration. It was shared with me though that there was a "fresh movement" once again emerging on the world scene that would include all of the previous ingredients of the earlier movements. It is a time of the "convergence of the ages." I heard the following word spoken to me in the dream, "It is time for the Fourth Wave to crash upon the course of history."
This Fourth Wave would be one marked by understandings and expressions of transformation. In the past, by writing and public speaking, I have shared how in July 2012, I was given a vision showing California as a womb for the body of Christ in my encounter called "Come Again Holy Spirit."
Please note, that the previous three waves of the Holy Spirit came from or had great influence in southern California. So would it also be with this new Fourth Wave. It is and will have great impact the West Coast but will be global in nature. Some of our older leaders in the body of Christ would now be free to graduate to their heavenly reward while others with youthful and teachable hearts would be invited to be the fathers and grandfathers and mothers and grandmothers as "reformational architects".
This Fourth Wave emphasizes societal change by channeling these empowered believers to impact the seven Cultural Mountains of Religion, Government, Education, Business, Family, Media, and the Arts and Entertainment. Fresh intercessory strategies will now arise for effective ministry in the marketplace. The supernatural power of the Holy Spirit will not be able to be contained within the "four walls of the church" but rather explode into every sphere of life.
Today we have new Apostolic hubs as centers of equipping the saints budding in numerous cities of the earth, such of Bethel Church in Redding, California, Hillsong in Sydney, Australia, Gateway and Glory of Zion in Dallas, Texas, and on and on it goes once again. Do they look and act the same? Thank God, NO! Each are emerging with distinct spheres of influence but each one releasing rippling effects of God's glorious presence.
For now, I will push a pause button and then later I will bring what is burning in heart from an unfolding vision of the future called "The Door to the Harvest" in another installment. But let it be known, from the desk that I sit from, the "Fourth Great Wave" is already here!
Dr. James Gollis the founder ofEncounters Network,Prayer Stormand helps carry on the work of Compassion Acts. For information on his online school visit:geteschool.com. James continues to live in Tennessee and is a joyful father and grandfather today.
Dr. James Gollis the founder of Encounters Network, Prayer Storm and helps carry on the work of Compassion Acts. For information on his online school visit:geteschool.com. James continues to live in Tennessee and is a joyful father and grandfather today.
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On April 9, 2016, which was also the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival, our generation was inaugurated into a new era. Lou Engle and TheCall, in partnership with Bethel Church in Redding, California, hosted over 65,000 people in an event called Azusa Now. (Courtesy/Jennifer Miskov)
This Is the Tipping Point for the Next Great Awakening
Can thousands of people gathered together for one purpose shift a generation into the next Great Awakening? What if the date and location of this gathering tapped into one of the deepest wells of revival we've experienced over the last century?
On April 9, 2016, which was also the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival, our generation was inaugurated into a new era. Lou Engle and TheCall, in partnership with Bethel Church in Redding, California, hosted over 65,000 people in an event called Azusa Now. People from all around the world gathered together in the rain at the Los Angeles Coliseum to make the name of Jesus famous once again. The day was filled with worship, prayer, healing, miracles, prophetic acts, and signs and wonders. During the week preceding this event, Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, Circuit Riders, Youth With A Mission, Iris Global, and many other ministries sent out armies of Jesus lovers to flood L.A. with the love and power of God. Deaf ears were opened, people got up out of wheelchairs, many were welcomed into the family of God, and signs and wonders were released.
Because of the prophetic words and impossibilities connected to the Azusa Now story, it is important to pay attention. This was not just another Christian worship event. Deep wells of the Azusa Street Revival, which birthed over half a billion Christians and has spread to nearly every country in the world over the past century, were accessed on Saturday. At Azusa Now, many different streams of Christianity came together in unity for one purpose. Profound reconciliation occurred. Worship filled the stadium. Ripple effects that will impact the world and eternity will result from what was poured out at Azusa Now.
We Walk by Faith Not Sight
Something powerful and profound happened at Azusa Now whether we see and understand it now or not. Many stepped out in great faith to see God's kingdom come to this generation. If all of this was done and only one person got saved or healed, it would have been worth it. However, we know that many entered into God's kingdom and many others were restored, healed, and set free that day. We don't know how many lives these ones will touch in the future but these will be the inheritance of what was poured out at Azusa Now.
In the evening session at Azusa Now, evangelist Daniel Kolenda shared how God marked him at TheCall D.C. over ten years ago. He was impregnated with a hunger and passion to see souls saved. He has since brought thousands into the kingdom of God. The impact of what was released when he attended TheCall D.C. might not have become visible the next week or even the next year, but something significant happened that later contributed to the momentum of hundreds of thousands being led to the Lord. Whether we see profound results today or in the next ten years from what happened at Azusa Now, we said yes to what God asked of us. That is something to celebrate. We need to trust Him with the results as we continue to dive even deeper into His presence.
Healing on the Streets
When I was doing my Ph.D. on revival history while living in England, I helped my church set up Healing on the Streets in the city square where many youth gathered. We set up chairs in the middle of the square and put up a flag that said Healing. Anyone walking by who wanted prayer would sit in a chair and we would pray for him or her right out in the open. We did this every month and saw many miracles take place: legs grew, depression lifted, cigarettes disappeared, and people even grew taller. However, there's one story I want to share that will help demonstrate the unseen impact Azusa Now will have in the future.
One time when we were out on the streets, we met a teenager named Ben. He had been hit by a car and his leg was in a cast. He was a rough looking kid but had allowed us to pray for him. As our team laid hands and prayed for him in the middle of the town square, the presence of God fell on him powerfully. However, when he left, he hobbled away, still on crutches with no visible sign of healing. Did we fail? Did we not have enough faith to bring him into his healing? I think not. I believe that every Holy Spirit-led act of faith is something to celebrate. Our job is to obey God. He is in charge of the results.
The next month we went back to the same spot and saw Ben running out to greet us. He shared how a week after we prayed, he was totally healed and even went out jogging!!! We hadn't seen the effects in the moment we prayed, but God was working behind the scenes. Furthermore, one year after Ben got healed, we were all drinking coffee in a Starbucks and sharing testimonies after our ministry time on the streets. I noticed the Holy Spirit was doing something in Ben so I asked him what was going on. His grandmother had just passed away and he heard her favorite song come on which made him emotional. We prayed for him right there in the Starbucks and he began to weep. Then he said to me, "Jen, I never told you this before but a year ago when you all prayed for me, I had so much anger and rage inside of me that I was going to beat someone up that day. After you all prayed for me, that anger left and I have never been the same." We found this out one year later!
We don't always know or see the results of stepping out in faith, worshipping in unity, or doing prophetic acts led by the Spirit, however, in due time, these will surface. Azusa Now may or may not have been what we all imagined. We may have seen incredible miracles and salvations or we may not have seen what we were hoping for. However, something powerful was released either way that will impact generations. We must be content knowing that heaven is celebrating us each and every time we step out in faith to follow the leading of the Spirit. Yes, many people got saved, healed, and delivered which is incredible. However, Azusa Now was just the beginning of more to come.
The Rudder of Our Ship Has Shifted
The prophetic act of thousands of people worshipping together in one place, in one city, and on the anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival synergized and shifted us into a new era. What we did that day is like shifting the direction of a rudder on a large ship. Our generation may or may not recognize the radical change and the momentum that will carry on for generations from now from what was released at Azusa Now. However, even the slightest of changes on a rudder will redirect the course of that ship. Over time, that ship will arrive at a completely different destination.
We are now going in a new direction, even if ever so slightly. This change will take us to a greater reality than any could ever have hoped, dreamed, or imagined. The New Jesus Revolution has already begun. Sometimes this happens in the smallest of ways. Never underestimate the power of Jesus working even in one small shift, one great decision made, or one person saved. Remember and record what happened in your life on Saturday April 9, 2016 and celebrate each seed of hope that was released. This is only the beginning. These seeds will one day grow and emerge into giants as they are saturated by more of the Holy Spirit.
I close by quoting a song by Bob Dylan. I encourage you to imagine God singing it over you and our generation:
"The storms are raging on the rolling seas
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain't seen nothing like Me yet
I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel My love"
God has already gone to the ends of the earth to make you feel His love when He sent His Son Jesus. I pray that in this new era, your eyes are opened more than ever before to see and to receive a fresh revelation of the Father's great love. I pray that you become a target for His blessing, favor, and presence. May your heart increase in capacity to be able to receive the great love God is pouring out and to overflow it to others. May you be apprehended by God's extravagant and unceasing love like never before. Hang on tight, we're in for the wildest ride of our lives!
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The annual #OpIsrael assault by the hacker group Anonymous was likely responsible for the recent shutdown of Israel Today's website. A tweet by Israeli Elite Force, a private Israeli hacker group that is fighting back, noted yesterday that "'Anons' got exposed by @Buddhax private hackersclub."
The Facebook page for Madsec Security LTD further clarified that the "Israeli Elite Force group managed to steal sensitive information and screenshots of some Anonymous operators who participated on #OpIsrael operation against Israel earlier this month. According to the tweet, some Anonymous hackers fell into [Buddhax's] 'trap' as part of the attack against Israel on this day. Inside the PDF file, we find live screenshots from their personal webcams, desktop screenshots, sensitive information related to terrorism (ISIS, Syria) and even usernames and passwords to personal and sensitive accounts."
The Israeli hacker known as Buddhax was able to expose the faces, names and addresses of eight hackers who participated in the latest attack on Israeli websites. Specifically targeted by #OpIsrael were the websites of Yad Vashem – Israel's Holocaust Museum, the Israeli Ministry of Education and Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.
The eight #OpIsrael hackers are from Indonesia, USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Turkey and Lebanon. According to Mako portal, Buddhax claims that the Lebanese hacker is son of an official at Lebanon's Institute of Middle East Studies. This hacker was using the family computer to which other family members were connected. Buddhax used this breach to hack the website of the Lebanese institute.
Already a year ago Israeli Elite Force released a YouTube video warning Anonymous of the outcome of their planned April 2016 cyber attack.
With Psalm 121 playing in the background, a synthetic voice tells the Anonymous branch group "Anonghost":
"One year ago [2013] you have declared war by starting the first OpIsrael. An operation that has failed miserably. Not only did you lie to your own followers about the outcome of the operation, but you have also made yourself an enemy which you cannot defeat. One year ago we took down your own website and the main site of OpIsrael. One year ago you have lost in a war that you yourself started. One year ago we have won … we are the Israeli Elite Force, and thou shall not mess with the best."
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Corporations Are Defaulting On Their Debts Like It’s 2008 All Over Again
April 19, 2016 - Michael Snyder The Economic Collapse Blog
The Dow closed above 18,000 on Monday for the first time since July. Isn’t that great news? I truly wish that it was. If the Dow actually reflected economic reality, I could stop writing about “economic collapse” and start blogging about cats or football. Unfortunately, the stock market and the economy are moving in two completely different directions right now. Even as stock prices soar, big corporations are defaulting on their debts at a level that we have not seen since the last financial crisis. In fact, this wave of debt defaults have become so dramatic that even USA Today is reporting on it…
Get ready to step over some landmines, investors. The number of companies defaulting on their debt is hitting levels not seen since the financial crisis, and it’s not just a problem for bondholders.
So far this year, 46 companies have defaulted on their debt, the highest level since 2009, according to S&P Ratings Services. Five companies defaulted this week, based on the latest data available from S&P Ratings Services. That includes New Jersey-based specialty chemical company Vertellus Specialties and Ohio-based iron ore producer Cliffs Natural. Of the world’s defaults this year, 37 are of companies based in the U.S.
Meanwhile, coal producer Peabody Energy (BTU) and surfwear seller Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) this week filed plans for bankruptcy protection. Shares of Peabody have dropped 97% over the past year to $2 a share and Pacific Sunwear stock is off 98% to 4 cents a share.
A lot of big companies in this country have fallen on hard times, and it looks like bankruptcy attorneys are going to be absolutely swamped with work for the foreseeable future.
So why are stock prices soaring right now? After all, it doesn’t seem to make any sense whatsoever.
And it isn’t just a few bad apples that we are talking about. All across the spectrum, corporate revenues and corporate earnings are down. At this point, earnings for companies on the S&P 500 have plunged a total of 18.5 percent from their peak in late 2014, and it is being projected that corporate earnings overall will be down 8.5 percent for the first quarter of 2016 compared to one year ago.
As earnings decline, a lot of big companies are getting into trouble with debt, and we have already seen a very large number of corporate debt downgrades. In recent interviews, I have been bringing up the fact that the average rating on U.S. corporate debt has now fallen to “BB”, which is already lower than it was at any point during the last financial crisis.
A lot of people don’t seem to believe me when I share that fact, but it is absolutely true.
One of the big reasons why corporate debt is being downgraded is because a lot of these big companies have been going into enormous amounts of debt in order to buy back their own stock. The following comes from Wolf Richter…
Downgrades ascribed to “shareholder compensation,” as Moody’s calls share buybacks and dividends, have been soaring, according to John Lonski, Chief Economist at Moody’s Capital Markets Research. The moving 12-month sum of Moody’s credit rating downgrades of US companies, jumped from 32 in March 2015, to 48 in December 2015, and to 61 in March 2016, nearly doubling within a year.
The last time the number of downgrades attributed to financial engineering reached 61 was in early 2007. It would hit its peak of 79 in mid- 2007, a few months before the beginning of the Great Recession in Q4 2007. At the time, stocks were on the verge of commencing their epic crash.
When corporations go into the market and buy back their own stock, they are slowly cannibalizing themselves. But we have seen these stock buybacks soar to record levels for a couple of reasons. Number one, big investors want to see stock prices go up, and so big investors tend to really like these stock buybacks and will generally support corporate executives that wish to engage in doing this. Number two, if you are a greedy corporate executive that is heavily compensated by stock options, you very much want to see the stock price go up as well.
So the name of the game is greed, and stock buybacks have been fueling much of the rise in U.S. stock prices that we have been seeing recently.
However, the truth is that nothing in the financial world lasts forever, and this irrational bubble will ultimately come to an end as well.
Earlier today, I am across an article that included a comment from Michael Hartnett of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He believes that there are a lot of parallels between what is happening today and the period of time that immediately preceded the bursting of the dotcom bubble…
Back then, as could be the case today, a bull market & a US-led economic recovery was rudely interrupted by a crisis in Emerging Markets. The crisis threatened to hurt Main Street via Wall Street (the Nasdaq fell 33% between Jul-Oct 1998, when [Long-Term Capital Management] went under). Policy makers panicked and monetary policy was eased (with hindsight unnecessarily). Fresh liquidity combined with apocalyptic investor sentiment very quickly morphed into a violent but narrow equity bull market/bubble in 1998/99, one which ultimately took valuations & interest rates sharply higher to levels that eventually caused a “pop”.
Like Hartnett, I definitely believe that a major “pop” is on the way, although I would like for it to be delayed for as long as possible.
Someday we will look back on these times with utter amazement. It has been absolutely incredible how the financial markets have been able to defy economic reality for so long.
But they can’t do it forever, and according to a brand new CNN survey Americans are becoming increasingly pessimistic about where the real economy is heading…
In a new CNNMoney/E*Trade survey of Americans who have at least $10,000 in an online trading account, over half (52%) gave the U.S. economy as a “C” grade. Another 15% rated the economy a “D” or “F.”
This gloom persists despite the fact that the stock market is on the upswing again. The Dow topped 18,000Monday for the first time since July 2015.
If some Americans think that the U.S. economy deserves a “D” or an “F” grade right now, just wait until they see what is in our immediate future.
Personally, I give our economy an “A” for being able to maintain our unsustainable debt-fueled standard of living for as long as it has. Somehow we have managed to consume far more than we produce for decades, and the largest debt bubble in the history of the planet just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Of course we are very much living on borrowed time at this point, but I truly hope that the bubble economy can keep going for at least a little while longer, because nobody should want to see what is coming afterwards.
*About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled “The Rapture Verdict” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.*
The BDS Movement continues to build steam on college campuses, prompting pro-Israel groups to turn to statehouses to slow its advance. (Reuters photo)
Now BDS Battle Is Moving to State Capitols
Close observers of the anti-Israel Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement have long kept a weather eye on California. But that attention has mostly focused on university campuses, including the prominent 10-school University of California system.
Now, the Golden State is the latest battleground in a nationwide effort to draft and pass anti-BDS laws in U.S. state capitols, and pro-Israel advocates hope that success on the state-government level will curb the boycott movement's momentum on campus. At a Los Angeles conference on fighting BDS that was hosted earlier this month by the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs, California Assemblyman Travis Allen had a message for the movement's proponents: "Boycotting a trade partner of ours doesn't make sense."
A Republican from Huntington Beach, Allen has styled himself as an early adopter of a trend now sweeping state legislatures to bar companies that boycott Israel from contracting with state governments. That trend inspired not one, but two bills that have been introduced in the California Assembly since January, the first by Allen and another by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, a Santa Monica Democrat.
Allen has since become a co-author of Bloom's bill—which, unlike Allen's similar measure, enjoys the support of the California Jewish Legislative Caucus. Bloom's measure, Assembly Bill (AB) 2844, won approval on April 12 from the Accountability and Administrative Review Committee, the first of two legislative committees set to review it.
"I am very pleased that others have now joined in support of the effort, and it looks like we will now get a substantive law that will affirmatively state that California won't support the boycott of Israel," Allen said in an interview.
The bill was not without its opponents. Cristina Garcia, a Democrat from southeastern Los Angeles County who chairs the accountability committee, recommended rejecting the measure. But the support of the committee's three Republicans put the bill over the top, and it passed in a 5-1vote, with three Democrats abstaining.
"With unanimous Republican support, I am extremely confident that the current efforts to pass AB 2844 will be successful," Allen said.
Allen has touted the wide and diverse support for legislative efforts to combat BDS, including from members of Congress and Israeli Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. As calls to alienate Israel or its government have grown louder, anti-boycott activists have looked to state capitols to provide businesses with the political cover to reject those calls.
In addition to the state contractor bill, Allen authored another piece of legislation that would prevent state pension funds—worth hundreds of billions of dollars—from investing in companies that boycott Israel.
If California passes any of the bills, it would become the eighth U.S. state to formally legislate against BDS, according to Peggy Shapiro, the Midwest director for StandWithUs. So far, Illinois, South Carolina, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Arizona, and Florida have passed such laws, she said. Florida and Arizona have passed laws applying both to contractors and state pension funds, while the other states have done one or the other.
State legislation has become an increasingly important part of the anti-BDS arsenal, Shapiro said. StandWithUs has found "smart, willing, cooperative partners" in state capitols, working "hand in glove, reaching out to legislators, educating them about the destructive goals of BDS," she said.
Pro-Israel groups started advocating for such legislation after the European Union (EU) began discussing labeling laws for products from Judea and Samaria. Last November, the EU decided to make such labels mandatory for some goods, removing their "Made in Israel" labels.
The increasing popularity of legislative tactics to fight BDS has corresponded with a somewhat disappointing year for campus advocates of Israeli government policy, as student resolutions seen as unfavorable have passed at an increasing number of schools.
In the past, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB), a group dedicated to protecting Jewish civil and human rights, was able to keep a list of campuses where pro-BDS resolutions were likely to crop up.
"We're now at the point where, sad to say, the BDS movement has saturated the country to the extent that it is no longer so predictable—you can no longer focus on a discrete number of campuses," LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus said at the StandWithUs conference.
Part of the idea behind moving the battleground to state legislatures is to find more favorable turf for the anti-BDS message, said pro-Israel activist Noah Pollak, executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel, who has supported the nationwide legislative effort.
"You don't want to fight on your enemy's terrain," Pollak said, speaking alongside Assemblyman Allen at the conference. The "enemy," he said, "picked out campuses for a reason."
Victories in state legislatures could subsequently spread to college campuses, said Pollak.
According to Pollak, legislating against BDS tells its proponents, "While you were doing your campus antics, the grown-ups were in the state legislatures passing laws that make your cause improbable." The laws are meant to dent the morale of BDS advocates, who enjoy a number of advantages on campus, he said.
Among those advantages, the Palestinian narrative of Israeli "oppression" and "racism" holds a certain intrinsic pull for some minority communities, allowing groups like Students for Justice in Palestine to build diverse coalitions around their cause.
Roz Rothstein, the CEO of StandWithUs, admitted that when it comes to building diverse coalitions, "we're very bad at that."
"The other side is doing it to a fault—that's all they do," she said.
According to Estee Chandler, the founder of the Los Angeles chapter of the pro-BDS organization Jewish Voice for Peace, the anti-BDS bills are unconstitutional and part of a sustained effort to shield Israel from being held accountable for decades of "occupation" and "human rights abuses." She calls the bills a "misleading attempt to squelch the BDS movement, which has only grown exponentially in spite of years of efforts to oppose it both on and off of college and university campuses."
Chagrined by the state of play among student governments, some in the anti-BDS camp are hoping one group of allies—state legislators—will make the diverse coalition on the other side obsolete.
Besides, the bills have the advantage of putting Jewish organizations in a position where they don't normally find themselves: on the offensive.
"We're always on the defensive; we're always responding to pro-BDS activists," said Jacob Millner, a senior analyst at The Israel Project, a non-partisan policy and education group. "This is something we can do where we can be proactive."
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