Category: US News

Citizens across the country celebrated World Down Syndrome Day Friday. President Trump and Vice President Pence met with some individuals affected by Down syndrome at the White House.

After the event, the president shared his support on Twitter.

“Today we celebrate the lives and achievements of Americans with Down syndrome,” tweeted Trump. “@VP and I will always stand with these wonderful families, and together we will always stand for LIFE! #WorldDownSyndromeDay”

Trump has been a strong advocate for people with Down syndrome since taking office. In 2017, he released a statement during Down syndrome Awareness Month showing his deep support.

“Sadly, there remain too many people – both in the United States and throughout the world – that still see Down syndrome as an excuse to ignore or discard human life. This sentiment is and will always be tragically misguided,” he wrote. “We must always be vigilant in defending and promoting the unique and special gifts of all citizens in need. We should not tolerate any discrimination against them, as all people have inherent dignity.”

“The approximately 250,000 Americans with Down syndrome truly embody the great spirit of our Nation.  They inspire joy, kindness, and wonder in our families, our workplaces, and our communities,” he added. “We will always endeavor to make sure that their precious gifts are never maligned or taken for granted.”

A battle over abortion has been at the forefront of the Down syndrome advocacy movement. Just recently, Utah lawmakers approved a measure to ban aborting babies born with Down syndrome. The measure is now at the desk of pro-life Gov. Gary Herbert.

“A Down syndrome diagnosis shouldn’t be a death sentence,” Pro-Life Utah said in support of the bill. “Selective abortion, for any reason, is the very definition of eugenics. History warns us that this is a very dangerous road to take. Utah needs to draw a defining line in the sand and declare loudly to the world, ‘We will not go there!’”

Across the globe, numbers of abortions for babies with Down syndrome are alarming. In Denmark, 98 percent of the babies aborted, and in the US, at least 67 percent are aborted.

Did you know? Of the babies diagnosed with Down syndrome:100% are aborted in Iceland, 98% are aborted in Denmark, 67% are aborted in the US,” stated Lila Rose, president of Pro-Life Group Live Action. “Our world is being stripped of love, joy & beauty. This lethal discrimination must end.#WorldDownSyndromeDay.”

Christian evangelist Joni Eareckson Tada also released a statement showing support for the preservation of life.

“Over 25 years ago when I served on the National Council on Disability, we responded vehemently against a report from the National Institutes on Health which listed abortion as a ‘disability prevention strategy’,” Tada said. “All 15 bi-partisan council members strongly advised the NIH to remove any reference which used abortion as a tactic in eliminating disability.”

“Each individual, no matter how significantly impaired, is an image-bearer of our Creator God. And people with Down syndrome are arguably some of the most contented and happy people on the planet. From them, we learn unconditional love and joyful acceptance of others who appear different. Now, even that is in jeopardy of being eradicated,” she added.

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WASHINGTON – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro came to America to tell President Donald Trump he not only admires him but is also a friend of the United States.

“It is time to overcome old resistances and explore the very best potential between Brazil and the United States. After all, it is fair to say that today, Brazil does have a president who is not anti-American,” Bolsonaro said during a press conference in the Rose Garden Tuesday.

discussed how to work together to end the upheaval in Venezuela.

President Trump said Bolsonaro’s historic election win marked a new day in Brazil and a new era of friendship with the United States.

“I want to congratulate you again on your tremendous election victory last October. It was an incredible feat and really a truly incredible challenge and the end result was something the whole world was talking about,” Trump said.

By all accounts, Bolsonaro’s inauguration as Brazil’s 38th president was a significant milestone in the world’s 5th largest country.

After years of leftist rule, the 63-year-old former paratrooper-turned politician is the first conservative president in Brazil’s democratic era.

“My campaign didn’t have a lot of money; almost all the media in Brazil were against us, so it was a huge miracle that we won,” said Bolsonaro.

Just 78 days into his presidency, Bolsonaro is already shaking-up Brazil’s political establishment.

Unlike previous administrations that pursued an aggressive anti-American and anti-Israel foreign policy, Bolsonaro is pushing for stronger ties with the United States and Israel, even announcing shortly after winning the presidency that he intends to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”

Following his meeting with President Trump, Bolsonaro sat down for an exclusive interview with CBN News at Blair House, located steps from the White House.  Blair House is used for visiting dignitaries and foreign heads of state.  Bolsonaro told CBN why moving Brazil’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is so important.

“Each country has the right to decide where its own capital is, and the capital of Israel became Jerusalem, therefore we are studying the possibility of making that decision at the right time. When Trump took over, it took him almost 9 months to make that decision, I’m now in my third month,” the president said.

Like President Trump, Bolsonaro believes the mainstream media is fiercely opposed to his presidency and agenda. Bolsonaro also regularly uses social media to connect directly with his supporters.

“To a large extent, I support what Trump does; He wants to make America great, I also want to make Brazil great. I also have concerns about the indiscriminate entrance of foreigners without any criteria. But beyond this, we are both Christians and we are God-fearing men,” he explained.  Bolsonaro’s middle name is “Messias”, Portuguese for “Messiah”.  He’s a Catholic and his wife, Michelle, is a protestant evangelical who attends a Baptist church.

An assassination attempt by a knife-wielding attacker a month before the election almost cost Bolsonaro his life. He says it is nothing short of a miracle that he’s alive today.  “Doctors who attended to me said that for every 100 stabbings of the kind I endured, only one person survives. So, I am a survivor and owe my life to God. It is was His will for me to live.”

The attack became a turning point in his campaign as the populist candidate went on to win, promising to tackle Brazil’s rampant corruption and violence. Two months into his presidency, Bolsonaro is shaking Brazil’s political world, even standing up to dictators like Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.  Both Bolsonaro and Trump refused to say whether military plans where on the table to intervene in Venezuela.

“I discussed this matter with Trump and obviously that conversation will remain private. Trump says all possibilities are on the table, and I in large support decisions of the American government.”  Bolsonaro has surrounded himself with well-known Brazilian evangelicals, like pastor Silas Malafaia, who regularly visits and prays with Bolsonaro. Malafaia told CBN News that he believes Bolsonaro is God’s chosen man to lead Brazil.

“Even though Bolsonaro is not an evangelical, he always defends the principles that we evangelicals have defended namely: he is against abortion, he is against the privileges of the LGBTQ movement, he recognizes the greatness and importance of Israel, defends the family and wants to fight corruption and restore our economic,” said Malafaia.  On his first official day as president, Bolsonaro promised to make Judeo-Christian principles a top priority in his administration.

It’s a promise that stands in the face of decades of leftist rule in Brazil.  “The ideology of the left has taken over the universities and also the journalists of Brazil. The impact has been the worst possible, and one of the main goals is to erode family values,” said Bolsonaro.  It was this kind of message that drove the majority of Brazil’s evangelicals to support Bolsonaro.

“The evangelicals of Brazil are equivalent to a third of the population and are growing. I had massive support from them because until recently they had no one to support who shared their values and faith.”  Bolsonaro’s motto is “Brazil above everything, God above all.” He believes it is a powerful statement about the importance of truth in politics.  “I have been a congressman for 28 years and I saw that in politics the truth almost never existed, and my feeling is that our people are thirsty to know the truth,” he explained.

His favorite Bible verse is John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

“Just like in a marriage between a man and a woman, if you don’t have the truth, the marriage ends quickly. In politics, if you don’t have the truth the government ends quickly,” said Bolsonaro.  After the interview, President Bolsonaro met with a group of prominent American evangelical leaders. Among them, the Christian Broadcasting Network’s Dr. Pat Robertson and Gordon Robertson and evangelist Reinhard Bonnke.

The American delegation prayed for Bolsonaro and promised to stand with his administration as he fights to protect Brazil’s Christian heritage and family values. They also pledged to help Brazil provide humanitarian relief for those suffering in Venezuela.

When asked why this meeting is important, Bolsonaro said, “I recognize the work evangelicals do in my country, which is no different to what they do around the world — sharing the Word of God and strengthening family values.”

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The plans await approval from the Russian Orthodox Church before ground can be broken.

The city of Vladivostok, the largest city in far eastern Russia, would like to erect an enormous statue of Jesus Christ atop a hill that was once set aside for a monument to the Soviet communist leader, Vladimir Lenin. Although the construction has not yet been authorized by the Russian Orthodox Church, the prospect of a large statue of Christ overlooking the Pacific Ocean has many of the Russian faithful excited.

In 1972, Soviet officials ordered the construction of a 98-ft-tall bronze statue of Lenin to be placed on the site, with the second statue of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin planned for a neighboring hill. Difficulties with the planning, however, caused the projects to be postponed repeatedly until they were ultimately scrapped around 1990. Since then the hills have been left bare.

The designs for the Christ statue — published by Russian media outlets — show that it would stand 125 feet high, which is the same height as the Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio de Janeiro. The statue would actually rise higher than its Brazilian counterpart, as it would also stand atop a 98-ft-tall pedestal, bringing the total height up to 223 feet.

In an interview with Russia’s Govorit Moskva radio station, Gennady Tsurkov, the head of the Vyatsky Posad center, said the statue had been inspired by Iliy, an influential monk who is the spiritual adviser to Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“He really wants to put up a statue of Jesus Christ as a protector of our Russia from the east,” Tsurkov said. “He says, ‘we need to make it higher (than the statue in Rio).’”

Turkov went on to explain that the majority of funding for the project would come from private investors, but the total cost has yet to be evaluated. Oleg Kozhemyako, regional governor who presides over Vladivostok, added that a modestly sized chapel, which could accommodate up to 30 faithful, is planned to be built within walking distance of the monument.

Religion News Service notes that online opinions of the project are overwhelmingly negative, with many people questioning whether the money would be better spent on state infrastructure. However, as the funds will come from private sources, it does not seem likely that the money would go to the state if the project were not undertaken.

 

Colorado has joined 11 other states and the District of Columbia in pushing legislation that will require their electoral votes to be assigned to whichever presidential candidate wins the nationwide popular vote.

On Friday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed the popular vote bill into law. However, the law will only take effect if enough states adopt it. Collectively, states representing at least 270 Electoral College votes — the amount required to win the presidency — need to sign on to the legislation; the states that have adopted the bill so far represent 181.

In addition to D.C., this includes California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. If New Mexico were to join — the state Senate approved the legislation on March 14 — it would bring the total electoral votes represented to 186. Delaware also appears poised to adopt it.

Given Republican-led states have yet to adopt the legislation (some have shown support in the past, such as Oklahoma), its success is far from guaranteed.

A video shot at a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall shows dozens of undocumented immigrants squeezing through a breach in the metal fence and running north into California.

YouTuber Andy Martin, aka ‘Mexican Andy,’ shot the video at California’s Border Field State Park, on the border between San Diego and Tijuana, Thursday at about 4pm.

In the dramatic clip, dozens of migrants can be seen gathering next to the border fence, waiting as someone appears to saw through the chain link fence behind the bollards. People can then be seen kicking at the chain link in an attempt to widen the gap enough for bodies to fit through.

As soon as there’s a big enough gap, the undocumented migrants squeeze through the hole and then run into the town of Imperial Beach, past a white Border Patrol truck that has its sirens blaring.

According to US Customs and Border Patrol San Diego, which tweeted out their own version of the video, the Central American migrants were able to ‘exploit the saltwater corrosion at the bollards’ to cut through the chain link fence.

Border Patrol officials said that there were actually two groups of migrants that crossed the border at the same time, from different ends of the state park, 10 News reported.

When the border patrol agent started to pursue one group, the other group pushed through. Additional agents were then called in to help round up the people who crossed through the border illegally.

Authorities said that 52 of the migrants — who hailed from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — that made it through the fence were captured following a two-hour foot chase involving multiple agents. Once in custody, they all claimed asylum.

The migrants included 27 families, 24 adults and one unaccompanied child.

Authorities believe that they caught everyone who breached the fence during the incident.

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The number of wealthy households in the U.S. reached a new high last year, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Sweden or Portugal. More than 10.2 million households had a net worth of $1 million to $5 million, not including the value of their primary residence, according to a survey by the Spectrem Group. That’s up 2.5 percent from 2017.

Ultra-high net worth households — those with assets between $5 million and $25 million — increased 3.7 percent to about 1.4 million in number, while those in excess of $25 million grew by about 0.6 percent to 173,000, according to the survey. The number of Americans in the wealthiest category has more than doubled since the Great Recession.

Spectrem’s results were based on interviews with more than 2,300 mass affluent households, 4,450 millionaire households, and 1,850 ultra-high-net-worth investors. The survey has a 4 percent margin of error.

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House Democrats set vote for overturning national emergency declaration; reaction and analysis from ‘The Next Revolution’ panel.

Nearly every House Democrat on Friday opposed a measure condemning voting in U.S. elections by illegal immigrants, as part of a sweeping election reform bill.

The GOP-backed measure would have added language to the “H.R. 1” election proposal stating that “allowing illegal immigrants the right to vote devalues the franchise and diminishes the voting power of United States citizens.”

Federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting in elections for federal office. But the GOP motion referenced how San Francisco is allowing non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, to register to vote in school board elections.

The motion was voted down 228-197. All but six Democrats in the House voted against it. Just one Republican opposed it.

Lauren Fine, a spokeswoman for House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, pointed out that an identical resolution was adopted by the House last September. But on Friday, 41 Democrats flipped to oppose the latest measure.

“These 41 Democrats must now answer to voters why they were against illegal immigrants voting in elections six months ago, but are suddenly in favor of it now,” Fine said.

The House on Friday later approved the Democrat-backed election bill. It would institute public financing of congressional campaigns, require presidential candidates to disclose tax returns and make Election Day a federal holiday. But the measure is dead on arrival in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has blasted the bill.

The “H.R. 1” measure has been criticized by civil libertarians and Republicans over First Amendment concerns.

The American Civil Liberties Union, in a recent letter to Congress, encouraged lawmakers to vote against the proposal because of “provisions that unconstitutionally impinge on the free speech rights of American citizens and public interest organizations.”

“They will have the effect of harming our public discourse by silencing necessary voices that would otherwise speak out about the public issues of the day,” the ACLU wrote.

One concern of civil libertarians is the bill’s inclusion of the DISCLOSE ACT, which would require all organizations that spend money on elections to disclose donors.

The ACLU said it supports making organizations report spending for public communications like TV ads that expressly call for the election or defeat of a candidate for office. But it worries the DISCLOSE ACT goes beyond that.

“These standards are unclear and entirely subjective, which will lead to confusion and, ultimately, less speech,” the ACLU said.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

CARACAS (Reuters) – As Venezuela’s five-day power blackout left homes without water, Lilibeth Tejedor found herself looking for it on Monday in the last place she would have imagined – a drain pipe feeding into a river carrying sewage through the capital, Caracas.

Tejedor, 28, joined dozens of people who had flocked to the Guaire river, which snakes along the bottom of a sharp ravine alongside Caracas’ main highway, to fill up a four-gallon (15 liter) plastic container.

Unlike the fetid liquid flowing through the Guaire river, the water emerging from the pipe was at least clear. Those who gathered to collect it said the water had been released by local authorities from reservoirs.

They added, however, that it was being carried through unsanitary pipes and should only be used to flush toilets or scrub floors.

“I’ve never even seen this before. It’s horrible, horrible,” said Tejedor, preparing to carry the container on a small hand cart back to her home in the neighborhood of San Agustin.

Tejedor, who works at a computer technology store, has a two-year-old daughter and takes care of two nieces.

“The ones that are most affected are the children, because how do you tell a child that there’s no water?” she said.

The lack of water has become one of the most excruciating side effects of the nationwide blackout that the government of President Nicolas Maduro has blamed on U.S.-backed sabotage but his critics call the product of corruption and incompetence.

The blackout has worsened the situation of a country already facing a hyperinflationary economic collapse that has spurred a mass migration and turned once-basic items like corn flour and toilet paper into unaffordable luxuries for most people.

After five days without electricity to pump water, Venezuelans from working-class neighborhoods to upscale apartment towers are complaining of increasingly infrequent showers, unwashed dishes, and stinking toilets.

Caracas needs 20,000 liters of water per second from nearby watersheds to maintain service, said Jose de Viana, an engineer who ran Caracas’ municipal water authority in the 1990s.

Last week that had fallen to around 13,000 and since Thursday’s blackout it has halted completely, he said.

‘KILLING US’

Many worry about the spread of disease. The lack of water compounds the inability to buy soap due to soaring prices or chronic shortages.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who in January invoked the constitution to assume the interim presidency after declaring Maduro’s re-election a fraud, led the country’s legislature on Monday in declaring a “state of alarm” overpower problems.

Maduro is facing an unprecedented political crisis and the United States, which backs Guaido, has levied crippling oil industry sanctions meant to starve the government of its sources of foreign revenue.

Up the road from where Tejedor stood, hundreds of angry residents blocked the highway on Monday to demand that local authorities deliver a 20,000-liter cistern to supply water to the neighborhood of La Charneca.

“They’re killing us with hunger and thirst,” said Gladys Martinez, 52, a homemaker, who joined the demonstration that blocked two lanes of the highway, snarling traffic and drawing dozens of police and National Guard troops to the scene.

Along the riverbed, teenagers and children accompanied their parents to help carry water. As two children began stomping in the sewage, a woman warned them: “That water’s dirty! Don’t start playing around because remember there’s no medicine.”

Water trucks, a common sight in Caracas, are increasingly struggling to fill up because state-run reservoirs are running low.

On the northern edge of Caracas, where the city meets the El Avila national park, hundreds of people lined up to collect water from mountain streams.

Lack of water, along with the power outage, has become a major concern for hospitals – which have for years suffered from lack of equipment and supplies.

Jose Velez, 58, a security guard who also arrived at the Guaire to collect water, said the blackout had made life unbearable and wished the country’s politicians would agree on how to resolve the situation.

“I’m not interested in these politicians, they never agree on anything,” said Velez. “I want my life to go back to normal.”

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The Ark Encounter, a life-sized Noah’s ark replica located in Williamstown, Kentucky, has made international headlines ever since it opened in 2016. A stunning architectural achievement, the ark brings a key biblical account to life in a truly unprecedented way.

But while the structure is certainly intriguing, so is the personal history of its founder, Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham.

Ham — who is set to host the PureFlix.com sponsored Answering Atheist conference this Easter at the Ark Encounter attraction — recently revealed his journey from his native Australia to the U.S., and how his innate passion for helping people understand the gospel led him with many others who came alongside to create the Ark Encounter as well as the popular Creation Museum located in Petersburg, Kentucky.

“I had parents who believed God’s word — who stood on God’s word,” Ham recently told “The Pure Flix Insider,” noting that his father was “always looking at what the liberal critics were saying,” because he wanted to make sure he had well-thought-out answers.

Despite growing up in Australia — a country Ham described as “very secular” — the apologist had an upbringing that was firmly rooted in the Christian gospel.

“My father and mother would Teach us God’s word,” he said. “But not just teach us what it said, but also give us answers to what the skeptics, what the critics were saying that would undermine God’s word.”

Ham said he felt a calling to Christian ministry at a very young age. In fact, it all started when he was 10 years old and a missionary arrived with a challenge for him and fellow children.

That missionary asked if the kids would want to commit to going wherever God wanted them — a prospect Ham willingly accepted, knowing from that point on that he would devote his life to spreading biblical truth.

As time went on and Ham grew up, he became a science teacher and started to work in Australian schools. But a key moment in his journey came after two students made some comments about the Bible — critiques that left Ham truly feeling compelled to write some educational wrongs.

“One of the students said, ‘How can you be a Christian when you know the Bible’s not true?’” Ham recounted. “I said, ‘How do you know the Bible isn’t true?’”

The student responded by noting that their textbooks make it clear that evolution is the truth and, thus, the Bible cannot be valid. Then, another student said the Bible couldn’t possibly be true, as it seemed implausible that Noah could have fit all the animals on the ark.

This all deeply disturbed Ham.

“I had a real burden that I believe came from the Lord, a fire in my bones,” he said, noting that he began to wonder, “Why can’t we have a creation museum, one that teaches about creation, not evolution?”

Ham soon began to teach all over Australia and then throughout the U.S. in the 1980s. It was in 1987 that he and his wife came to America as missionaries, assuming they’d eventually return to Australia within a few years.

Flashforward more than 30 years and Ham is still in America and has become one of the most prominent creationist voices in the nation. His Ark Encounter and Creation Museum are two of the biggest Christian-themed attractions in the world; he has strategically placed them in a key location aimed at maximizing visitor attendance.

“We looked for a destination location,” Ham said of the decision to place these attractions in Kentucky. “We didn’t want to compete with the Disneys or others.”

Ham said one of the most frequently asked questions he has contended with is: “How can Noah fit the animals on the ark?” Through the Ark Encounter, he’s responding to that curiosity, showing audiences why he believes the biblical account is entirely accurate.

“It is the biggest timber frame structure in the world,” he said. “[And it was built] according to the dimensions of the Bible.”

Ham said he often finds himself in awe when he is at either the Creation Museum or Ark Encounter, as he is overwhelmed by gratitude when he hears stories of how these attractions have spiritually impacted visitors.

“It’s very humbling because you sit back and say to yourself, ‘It’s amazing to think that God would even allow us that privilege and opportunity of sharing the gospel in this way and hearing this feedback,’” he said. “We just thank Him.”

Ham is set to host a powerful event from April 17-21 at the Ark Encounter. The Answering Atheists conference, sponsored by PureFlix.com, will center around Easter and will include well-known speakers like Ham and apologist Ray Comfort.

“Not only do we need to reach atheists, but we need to equip people to know how to reach atheists,” Ham said. “They need to know how to talk to people. They need to have answers.”

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