The Legal Fight Over TWU’s Law School Grads Continues on East Coast

The latest skirmish in the war on Christianity

Shane Woodford

Trinity Western University is in court in Nova Scotia Wednesday morning, fighting to allow graduates of its controversial school of law to work in the province.

The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society is arguing the school’s covenant, forbidding sex outside the traditional marriage of a man and a woman, is discriminatory.

The Society has already lost a court battle and is appealing a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge’s ruling, that it exceeded its authority in banning TWU grads from working in the province.

In court, the Barristers Society says the covenant means LGBTQ students aren’t being given equal opportunities at the university.

Lost in this absurdity is that fact that there are almost certainly no LGBTQ students at Trinity, nor are there ever likely to be any. Trinity is a Christian school and very few LGBTQs have any desire to be around Christians.

Then there is the fact that there are dozens of other places to get a law degree, one does not need to attend Trinity Western.

The Law Societies are clearly biased toward LGBTQs and against Christians, some of which we have brought on ourselves with un-Christ-like behaviour, and some is simply bigotry.

Wednesday is the first of three days of court proceedings.

Here in B.C., the Law Society is appealing a similar ruling.

It too doesn’t want to give TWU law school grads accreditation, due to the community covenant.

A date for that appeal has not been set yet.

Christians, please be praying for the courts to see the bigotry and absurdity of the Law Society's position.

Climate Change Not the Only Reason Greenland is Melting

Another crack in Climate Change hysteria

Underground ‘hot spot’ may melt Greenland’s icy heart – research

The northeast coastline of the Greenland ice sheet is seen in an image from NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) field campaign from an altitude of about 40,000 feet (12,190 meters) taken March 26, 2016 and released March 29, 2016. © NASA / Reuters

A 1,200-kilometer-long, 400 kilometer-wide geothermal “hot spot” located under Greenland’s glacier could cause the three-kilometer-thick layer of ice covering the central-northern part of the massive island to melt, scientists say.

The study, carried out by an international team of geoscientists, suggests that almost half of central-northern Greenland’s ice-covered area is melting from below. The anomaly is caused by a “hot spot” in the Earth’s core, or mantle, which is also responsible for triggering volcanic activity in Iceland.



The water flowing from the “hot zone” has also formed rivers that accelerate the ice’s 750-kilometer flow into the North Atlantic, according to the study published in Nature Geoscience magazine.

“This study demonstrates an unexpected link between hotspot history and ice sheet behavior,” said Dr. Alan Vaughan, a research associate at Trinity College Dublin, who took part in the study.

“It shows that the influences on ice sheets span a huge range of timescales from the month by month changes of the ice cover to the multi-million year epochs over which the Earth’s mantle and tectonic plates evolve.”

The scientists used computer models, seismology, gravity measurements, ice-core samples, and radar in their study, as well as airborne, satellite, and ground-based measurements. The study was conducted in order to shed more light on the opening history of the Arctic Ocean, as well as to provide better understanding of climate change.

“The geothermal anomaly which resulted from the Icelandic mantle-plume tens of millions of years ago is an important motor for today’s hydrology under the ice sheets and for the flow-rate of the ice,” Irina Rogozhina from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, who also led the research team, said in a press release.

“This, in turn, broadly influences the dynamic behavior of the large ice sheets and must be included in studies of the future response to climate change,” she added.

Gay, Atheist Student from Malaysia has Refugee Claim Accepted

Only in Canada, eh

Hazim Ismail declared a 'protected person' by refugee status hearing panel in Winnipeg

CBC News 

An openly gay and atheist University of Winnipeg student who feared for his life if he was sent back to his home country, Malaysia, will be allowed to stay in Canada, as his claim for refugee status has been accepted.

Hazim Ismail's partner, friends and supporters hugged him after an Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada panel in Winnipeg announced its decision following a 20-minute hearing on Tuesday morning.

"It was overwhelming and I feel really, really, really loved and appreciated," Ismail said as he thanked everyone who has supported him.

Ismail said he was still trying to process the decision, which came after months of preparations and anxiety about possibly having to return to Malaysia, where homosexuality is punishable by law and 60 per cent of the population is Muslim.

"Hazim walked in as a refugee claimant and he is walking out as a protected person … which means he cannot be deported back to Malaysia," said Bashir Khan, his lawyer.

"This is one of those cases where the evidence is strong, my client is very credible and he has got tremendous public support, and all of that came together and he won his claim without too much struggle at the hearing room today."

Khan said Ismail will receive a written version of the decision in the next three to six weeks. With that document in hand, he can apply for permanent resident status in Canada — a process that Khan estimates can take 10 to 13 months.

Disowned by family

Ismail said his family, who are Muslim, disowned him and stopped paying for his education last year after learning he is gay and an atheist. His story became public after a GoFundMe campaign was launched in December to help pay his tuition for the rest of his semester.

He said he once thought of returning to Malaysia and trying to live undercover there, but his case has since attracted media attention in his home country, along with homophobic comments and even threats from some members of the public there.

"If you had asked me like back in December, I would've been like, 'Ah, well, maybe I can go back.' But now, like, this was me backed into a corner," he said.

"I'm trying to fight for survival because Malaysia's not welcoming of homosexuals."

Ismail added that as recently as last week, he received an email from someone claiming to be doing research on apostates — people who no longer subscribe to a certain religious group — in Malaysia.

In Islam they are called infidels.

That person "wanted me to reveal the names of apostates who have come out to me in private," he said.

"It's one thing to come out to a family that's not receiving it very well, but to be outed to thousands of strangers, it's not something that I don't feel anybody could be prepared for, so it has been really stressful."

A bad precedent

While I feel for Ismail's predicament and agree with the decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board that his life would be in danger in Malaysia and therefore should be protected, I do have some problems with this precedent.

First of all, it is a precedent and is likely to be used in future hearings.

Second, Ismail chose to be both homosexual and atheist. I know that's not what most liberal-minded people believe, but homosexuality is a choice. It is definitely difficult for some to choose otherwise, and is progressively more difficult to remove oneself from the lifestyle the longer you are in it, but it is, nevertheless, a choice. 

Third, the combination of the two above facts make it very easy for anyone from an Islamic country to apply for refugee status by claiming he/she is atheist and gay, whether they are or not. It could even be used by jihadists to enter Canada. 

White House Accused of Censoring French President Mentioning ‘Islamist Terrorism’

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with French President Francois Hollande (R) at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington March 31, 2016.© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

The White House has been accused of censoring the French president at a Nuclear Security Summit press conference, after he used the term “Islamist terrorism” to describe the global threat from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) which has roots in Syria and Iraq.

Both US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande made remarks at Thursday’s meeting, which mainly focused on global terrorism. A video and transcript of the comments made were uploaded to the White House website. 

According to the Media Research Center, a self-described media watchdog with conservative leanings, the White House pulled the video shortly after publishing it online only to post it again but with some of the interpreter’s audio removed, reverting instead to Hollande’s French.

The audio in question was at the exact moment Hollande said that “Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and in Iraq,” a phrase Obama has not used, which his critics have branded as “political correctness”.

The removed comments, as per the transcript, are in bold: 

“We are also making sure that between Europe and the United States there can be a very high level coordination. But we're also well aware that the roots of terrorism, Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and in Iraq. We therefore have to act both in Syria and in Iraq, and this is what we're doing within the framework of the coalition. And we note that Daesh [Arabic name for IS] is losing ground thanks to the strikes we've been able to launch with the coalition.”

Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz told Fox News that the "administration have been sound bound up by political correctness that they have refused to acknowledge what is it is we are fighting, refused to even name it."

"After every one of these attacks, the president does a national TV conference where he refuses to say the words 'radical Islamic terrorism,'" said Cruz. "Instead he lectures Americans on Islamophobia. Well, enough is enough."

The White House have denied the accusation of censorship, however, claiming that it was due to a “technical issue with the audio during the recording of President Hollande's remarks” that “led to a brief drop in the audio recording of the English interpretation.”

An updated video with the audio restored was then posted to the White House website and YouTube channel, with both versions now online.

Many of those commenting beneath the video have not accepted the “technical issue” excuse though with one user saying the White House had been “called out” while another commented that it was “a technical issue my ass.”

“You think so little of the public's intelligence,” wrote user kobee while user Jay Dillon wrote that it was a “treasonable offense”.

EU Has 900 ‘No-Go’ Areas Because of Migrants, Hungary Says

More than 900 ‘no-go’ places with large numbers of illegal migrants are concentrated in EU capitals, such as Paris, Stockholm, Berlin and London, the Hungarian government says, adding no one knows how many terrorists arrive undetected.

“The "no-go" areas can’t or almost can’t be controlled by the authorities. In European cities such as Paris, London, Stockholm or Berlin, where there is a high number of immigrants, more than 900 of these "no-go" zones exist,”says the website, launched this week by the government ahead of a referendum in Hungary on the EU quota plan.

© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

“The mandatory European quotas increase the terrorist risk in Europe and imperil our culture,” the website says.

“Illegal migrants cross the borders unchecked, so we do not know who they are and what their intentions are. We do not know how many of them are disguised and may be terrorists.”

The website also showed a ticking clock representing an asylum seeker arriving in the EU every 12 seconds.

Those who come to the EU illegally “do not respect our laws and do not want to share common cultural values,” the website says.

“If we do not act, we will not recognize Europe in a few decades.”

The Hungarian government has long rejected a mandatory quota for the resettlement of migrants and refugees. To tackle the crisis, it argues the EU should secure its external borders.

In September 2015, in an attempt to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into Hungary, the government decided to erect a fence on the border with Serbia. It also introduced tough punishments of up to three years in prison for those abusing the border crossing or damaging the barrier.

However, the four-meter-high, razor-wire fence hasn’t stopped thousands of illegal migrants from forcing their way into the country.

In 2015, over one million asylum seekers arrived in Europe, according to data from the International Organization for Migration. Most came from Syria, where a civil war has claimed the lives of 250,000 people and displaced 12 million others since 2011, UN figures show. The asylum seekers also come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Eritrea, Mali and other countries.

Hamas Tries To Keep Lid on Tunnel Disaster as Death Toll Rises

Terror group blames Israel for cave-in that left seven dead and four missing

Screenshot from an Iranian TV report purporting to show a new Hamas tunnel that reaches into Israeli territory, June 28, 2015. (Screenshot/Al-Alam)

Avi Issacharoff,

Hamas on Wednesday tried to keep under wraps the details of a Gaza Strip tunnel collapse, the day after the cave-in killed several members of the terror group.

Seven people were confirmed killed and another four remain missing after the collapse, which came as heavy rains drenched the region, according to sources in Gaza.

In a bid to keep a lid on the disaster, the group, which is the de facto ruler in Gaza, prevented local media from reporting the incident, which occurred in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in northeastern Gaza City.

Hamas accused Israel of causing the collapse by opening dams to flood Gaza with water — an annual claim made by Palestinians and flatly rejected by Israel.

The nature of the tunnel in question was not immediately clear. Hamas has in the past dug cross-border tunnels into Israel in order to stage attacks on civilians and soldiers. Other tunnels are used by the terror group as part of its defensive infrastructure.

It has recently been reported that Hamas has accelerated its tunnel-digging program.

Hamas has built dozens of tunnels into Israel, many of which were used to carry out attacks during the 2014 conflict with Israel. The IDF said it destroyed over 30 tunnels at the time, but officials have expressed concern that the terror group is seeking to rebuild the infrastructure.

The Strip has been subject to a blockade by both Egypt and Israel, designed in part to prevent the terror group from importing arms and building new tunnels reinforced with concrete.

Egypt has embarked on a massive campaign aimed at stemming cross-border smuggling between Gaza and Sinai, where it is fighting an insurgency by Islamist militants. The operation has included flooding hundreds of tunnels that once dotted the border region and building a 500-meter-wide buffer zone filled with seawater.

'Save Us from ISIS or Bomb Us with Chemical Weapons,' Pleads Iraqi Woman

A woman presumably from Fallujah, Iraq, has made an emotional appeal in a Facebook video that can’t be independently verified. She says her city is starving and called on the world to save them from jihadists or just bomb the town with chemical weapons.

The video appeared on Facebook on Thursday. Though the description under the footage says the video was shot in Fallujah, it isn’t possible to independently verify the location and the date the video was recorded.

In the footage the woman claims that she and her family are starving. She is seen pointing to a tiny casserole dish, apparently containing what’s left of the food for her family.

“We are dying of hunger. The Arab states, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, think of us, think of the people of Fallujah,” she says, as translated by the Jerusalem Post.

She says that the four entrances to Fallujah “are blocked” and that the local residents have no “access to food, drinks or medicine.”

“I invite you to come to Fallujah, go to the hospital and see the distress the people have been living in,” she said, apparently addressing the international community.

“Save us from Islamic State or bomb us with chemical weapons

so we will immediately die and not have a slow, agonizing death,”

She shouts emotionally.

US history in Fallujah

Fallujah was heavily affected by the 2003 US-led invasion in Iraq, according to reports from Human Rights Watch. In the report dubbed ‘Violent Response: The US Army in al-Falluja’, the group said US authorities should investigate the apparent use of excessive force against Iraqi protesters there in April 2003. 

HRW cited local witnesses who said that US soldiers fired without provocation, killing civilians.

In 2004, the Washington Post released an exclusive report, claiming US deployed phosphorous weapons in the city. 

“Insurgents reported being attacked with a substance that melted their skin, a reaction consistent with white phosphorous burns,” the paper stated.

The city of Fallujah in Anbar province was once a prosperous place called “a city of mosques.” However, it now appears to be completely deserted since IS militants took control of it back in January 2014. Since then scores of local residents have been killed, many of them starved to death.

RT visited the besieged city in February and saw areas ravaged in the battle against IS in Iraq. Cars caught in shelling and dilapidated buildings where people once lived and prayed now look like scenes from a post-apocalyptic movie.

The main battles between Iraqi forces and IS extremists have been taking place to the northwest of Fallujah.

IS emerged in Iraq in 2013 as an Al-Qaeda affiliate. In 2014, the terror cell attacked Kurdish-held territory in the northern part of Iraq and seized territories in Iraq’s Sunni heartland, including the cities of Mosul and Tikrit. By August of 2014, IS controlled nearly a third of Iraq.