Missionaries who fall ill from deadly diseases in other countries Should ‘Suffer Consequences’ ,Says Donald Trump

Missionaries who fall ill from deadly diseases, such as the American doctor who contracted the Ebola virus in West Africa, should not return to the United States and should have to “suffer the consequences,” Donald Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Monday…report by Newsmax

Dr. Kent Brantly, who had been treating Ebola patients in Liberia, West Africa, flew to Atlanta on Saturday for treatment at Emory University Hospital after he contracted the disease. While missionaries who served in other countries were “great people,” Trump said the United States had enough problems without having the threat of the spread of Ebola.

“They’re tremendous people. But they have to suffer the consequences. They go and they try and help other people, but things like this happen,” the real estate and entertainment mogul said. “Our country’s in trouble. We cannot afford to have another epidemic in this country.”

Trump created a firestorm when he shared the sentiment on Twitter. While admitting on Monday that “on a humanitarian basis” he didn’t like taking the position, he said some people were “strongly in favor” of his tweets, while others opposed them.

On Aug. 1, Trump tweeted: “The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences!

On Aug. 2, he tweeted: The same day, he tweeted:
To deal with the situation, Trump suggested the United States should send doctors “to West Africa to take care of our people.” He said a further threat came from people fleeing Africa for the United States to avoid the disease.

“We should end flights coming in from West Africa and Liberia. We should certainly do that,” he said. “How many of those people have Ebola? And it’s going to be a problem.”

Trump called the employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “great people,” but described the problem the agency had when it was revealed in July that lab workers might have been exposed to samples of the infectious disease anthrax.

“I watched the head of the CDC talking about Ebola [saying], ‘We can control it. We think we can control it.’ They couldn’t control their own labs a month ago. So what would they know?” Trump said.

Complete and Original Post by Newsmax

Jihadists Plans for America

WASHINGTON — Before Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became what many consider the world’s most powerful terrorist, he was in U.S. custody.

U.S. forces released Baghdadi from an Iraqi prison in 2009 after four years in captivity. His reported parting words to American troops? “I’ll see you guys in New York.”

Baghdadi now leads a terrorist army of some 10,000 jihadists, known variously as ISIS or the Islamic State, that has conquered vast amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria.

And his repeated threats to attack America have not gone unnoticed.

“You will have a hard time finding any senior U.S. counterterrorism or intelligence official who won’t say right now that the Islamic State, or ISIS, is the biggest threat that we’re facing at the moment,” said Matthew Levitt, director of the counterterrorism program at the Washington Institute.

Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury Department and FBI analyst, told CBN News the large influx of Western Muslims into ISIS’s ranks — from places like Britain, France, and Denmark — poses a unique danger.

According to some estimates, up to 3,000 Western Muslims have traveled to Syria to join the jihad.

“They are recruiting a very large number and attracting, really, a very large number of foreigners, including Americans,” Levitt told CBN News. “At least 100 or so have gone to fight, some with ISIS, some with Jabhat al Nusra in Syria.”

“And also Europeans,” he added, “and many of the Europeans that are being recruited are from European countries that have visa waiver programs with the United States.”

Passport to Terror?

The fear is that these “holy warriors” will use their Western passports to return home and carry out attacks.

One French Muslim who had fought alongside ISIS did exactly that in May when he killed four Jews at a Brussels museum.

Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a U.S. citizen and Florida resident, took a different route. He blew himself up in a suicide attack against the Syrian military earlier this year.

Abusalha was not fighting for ISIS. But as the group expands its caliphate, or Islamic state, and becomes richer and more powerful, it becomes ever more attractive to Western recruits drawn to its success and social media savvy.

“What makes it such a threat to us is its intent and its ability to carry out attacks abroad, the fact that it has recruited and drawn into it so many foreigners, some of whom already have gone home,” Levitt told CBN News.

“And some of their leaders, including al-Baghdadi, have articulated an intent to carry out attacks abroad, possibly even inside the United States,” he said.

In one recent video, ISIS called America the “Protector of the Cross” and warned that the United States “shall soon be forced to be in direct confrontation by the permission of Allah, and the sons of Islam have been waiting for this day.”

ISIS vs. Al Qaeda

Al-Baghdadi’s claim to lead the world’s Muslims has not set well with al Qaeda. Long considered the world’s most notorious terror group, al Qaeda had a bitter falling out with ISIS earlier this year.

“I still think that al Qaeda is the bigger threat,” Thomas Joscelyn, with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CBN News.

“Because al Qaeda has a much more capable, deeper international network, the A-listers of the jihadi world have remained with al Qaeda. And that’s a big cause for concern,” he said.

Al Qaeda and its allies continue to expand their reach. The group now covers more territory than it did on 9/11, from Pakistan to Somalia, to Sinai, Libya, and beyond.

The al Qaeda branch that most worries U.S. intelligence officials is based in Yemen. It’s been behind several plots against the U.S. homeland and has also recruited a number of Westerners.

“There are a small number of people in Yemen and Saudi Arabia who are making very ingenious bombs and very much have the intent to try to deploy them directed at the United States,” Levitt said.

Iran and Hezbollah

Although al Qaeda and ISIS may now be rivals, there has been no such breach in the relationship between the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and its most lethal proxy.

“Iran and Hezbollah have been involved in so many plots over the last few years that according to the director of National Counterterrorism Center, there have been times when the daily threats that are being briefed to the president are not all or primarily about al Qaeda or ISIS,” Levitt explained. “The top one or two or sometimes even three have been Iranian or Hezbollah plots.”

Levitt wrote a book called Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God , which details the group’s international footprint.

In recent years, Hezbollah and Iran have attempted or carried out attacks against Jewish targets in Bulgaria, India, Thailand, and elsewhere.

U.S. authorities stopped a 2011 Iranian plot to blow up the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, meaning Iran and Hezbollah have yet to strike on U.S. soil — although they have killed American citizens abroad.

“It’s very hard to say if and when they decide that they want to target U.S. interests,” Levitt observed. “That they have the capability is very, very clear.”

That capability would only increase if and when Iran acquires nuclear weapons — an achievement that would embolden Iran’s radical leaders and leave the world an even more dangerous place.

Complete and Original Post by CBN News

Ebola Causes Mormon Missionaries to leave West Africa

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Church officials say 274 Mormon missionaries are being transferred out of Sierra Leone and Liberia due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa…report by Cache Valley daily

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Friday the missionaries are being reassigned to other countries.

So far, there are no reports of missionaries being sick with Ebola. The transfers are precautionary. The church says missionaries have been asked to remain in their apartments in recent weeks to prevent getting sick.

The church is the latest organization to move people out of the region. More than 300 Peace Corps volunteers have been evacuated from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

Complete and Original Post by Cache Valley

White House Condemns Hamas’ Violation of Ceasefire

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(Photo: Christian Post/Reuters/ Baz Ratner)

Hamas claimed responsibility on Saturday for a deadly Gaza Strip ambush in which an Israeli army officer may have been captured, but said the incident likely preceded and therefore had not violated a U.S.- and U.N.-sponsored truce…report by CP

Palestinian officials say 1,653 Gazans, mostly civilians, have been killed. Sixty-three Israeli soldiers have been killed, and Palestinian shelling has killed three civilians in Israel. Israel launched a Gaza air and naval offensive on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas, later escalating into ground incursions centred along the tunnel-riddled eastern frontier of the enclave but often pushing into residential areas.

A 23-year-old Israeli soldier, who was allegedly taken prisoner by the Hamas in Gaza Friday, has been declared dead by Israel’s military, and the White House has strongly condemned Gaza militants for violating a ceasefire as “barbaric and outrageous.”

“This is an outrageous action and we look to the rest of the world to join us in condemning it,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken told MSNBC.

“The Israelis, of course, are reporting this morning that that ceasefire was broken,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN. “Apparently, Hamas individuals used the cover of a humanitarian ceasefire to attack Israeli soldiers and even to take one hostage. That would be a rather barbaric violation of the cease-fire.”

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and another soldier, identified as 23-year-old Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, was allegedly abducted after Hamas militants emerged from a tunnel in Gaza on Friday. Israel then launched fresh attacks on Gaza, killing at least 47 people.

Goldin died in combat, Israel’s military has said.

“A special committee led by the Israel Defence Forces Chief Rabbi, announced the death of the IDF infantry officer of the Givati Brigade, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, who was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday, August 1, 2014,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

A three-day ceasefire, which was announced by the U.S. and the UN and began late Thursday, wasn’t honored, and both sides blamed each other for it.

The Palestinian death toll stands at more than 1,660 and about 440,000 people in Gaza have been displaced, according to Sky News. Israel says 63 soldiers and three civilians have been killed in the fighting.

The White House says Hamas must be brought to the terms of a truce.

“We would encourage the international community to respond to this and condemn it in the strongest possible terms, and we would encourage those who have influence with Hamas to get them back on to the terms of a cease-fire and to get them to abide by the agreements that they struck,” Earnest said.

The U.S. Senate as well as the House approved a $225-million support for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has traveled to Egypt and France to help forge an agreement between Israel and Palestinian militants to end the fighting, which began on July 8 after Israel started its attack in Gaza in response to an increase in cross-border rocket strikes by Hamas militants.

Blinken brushed aside criticism that the United States has caused confusion by involving Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.

“The reason for going through Turkey, going through Qatar, is they have a relationship with Hamas. They need to use their influence with Hamas,” he said. “The Egyptians had an initiative. The Israelis signed up to it repeatedly and that was a good basis for trying to move forward.”

Israel has said it is targeting terror tunnels and other targets that pose a direct threat to its people. It has also blamed Hamas for the civilian casualties, saying that the militants are using people as human shields.

Complete and Original Post by Christian Post

America Should Save Iraq’s Remnant Christians

The Arabic “nun” symbol, or N, which stands for Nazarene and refers to Christians, ominously began appearing, stamped in red, on Christian homes in Mosul, Iraq, two weeks ago…report by CP

By mid-July, it was accompanied by another statement, painted in black, “Property of the Islamic State.” And with that, the Christians found their worst fears confirmed.

On July 19, ISIS, the Sunni Muslim insurgent group declaring itself the Islamic State, carried out unabated and unabashed religious cleansing against Christians and the non-Sunni Muslim communities. Today, in this place of Nineveh of the Bible, the ancient heart of Iraqi Christianity, there’s not a single Christian left. All have been stripped of their possessions and deported.

In recent years, Iraq’s Christians have experienced relentless persecution by various extremist groups, and, along with a civil conflict in which the Christians remain neutral, it has taken a hard toll on their numbers. In 2003, Iraq’s Christians, at 1.4 million, were among the region’s most robust Christian communities. Since then, more than a million of them have fled. Their banishment from Mosul is irreversible.

Whether these newly displaced people, among the last Christians to speak Aramaic, Jesus’ own language, will be able to remain in the region at all is likely to depend on America’s response.

Remarkably, after their mass deportation, the Iraqi government did nothing to help Mosul’s Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, even while the Iraqi Army failed to protect them, allowing ISIS to handily capture Iraq’s second largest city on June 10. Baghdad, however, did manage to send planes and bus convoys to evacuate the Shiites among the exiled minorities. Iraq’s government facilitated the resettlement of Mosul’s Turkmen and Shabak Shiite communities in Najaf and elsewhere in the south, reported Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana with the Christian Aid Program. (ISIS did not target Turkmen and Shabak Sunnis.)

Left to fend for themselves were the Christians and a few remaining Yezidis (a dozen Yezidis recently in their home province of Sinjar had their eyes gouged out and were then killed by ISIS for refusing to convert to Islam).

ISIS has set out to erase every Christian trace.

Following these events, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Sako registered the “shock and pain” of all Iraq’s church leaders, emphasizing their sense of raw “injustice.”

“How much the Christians have shared here in our East specifically from the beginnings of Islam. They shared every sweet and bitter circumstance of life … .Together they built a civilization, cities and a heritage. It is truly unjust now to treat Christians by rejecting them and throwing them away, considering them as nothing,” the patriarch effectively eulogized.

The eradication of the 2,000-year-old Christian presence from Mosul is indeed shocking. The recent release of several kidnapped Orthodox nuns and orphans had given some hope that, influenced by local Sunnis, ISIS would eschew the barbarism that is its stock and trade in Syria.

One Mosul Muslim, law professor Mahmoud al Asali, did speak up for moderation, but was then murdered. A Baghdad gathering of Muslims wearing “I am a Christian” signs in solidarity was ignored. No such mercy was to be had.

Unless they converted to Islam or paid protection money, the Christians were told, they would get “nothing but the sword.” It was now clear, the 30,000 to 50,000 Christians who fled Mosul over the last decade wouldn’t be able to return, and the several hundred still remaining there this month needed to get out fast. (Iraqi Christian parliamentarian Younadam Kannan said at least five Christian families too sick to leave renounced their faith for Islam “to stay alive,” though one of their daughters did flee.)

Before casting out the Christians, Shiites and Yezidis, Caliph Ibrahim, as ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi now is called, made certain to take all the possessions of the “unbelievers.”

Cars, cellphones, money, wedding rings, even one man’s chicken sandwich, were all solemnly declared “property of the Islamic State” and confiscated. A woman who gave over tens of thousands of dollars was also stripped of bus fare to Erbil.

With temperatures in the area reaching 120 degrees, the last of the exiles left on foot, carrying only the small children and pushing the grandparents in wheelchairs. Those who glanced back could see armed groups looting their homes and loading the booty onto trucks.

ISIS has set out to erase every Christian trace. All 30 churches were seized and their crosses stripped away. Some have been permanently turned into mosques. One is the Mar (Saint) Ephraim Syriac Orthodox Cathedral, newly outfitted with loudspeakers that now call Muslims to prayer. The 4th century Mar Behnam, a Syriac Catholic monastery outside Mosul, was captured and its monks expelled, leaving behind a library of early Christian manuscripts and wall inscriptions by 13th-century Mongol pilgrims.

Christian and Shiite gravesites, deemed idolatrous by ISIS, are being deliberately blown up and destroyed, including on July 24, the tomb of the 8th-century B.C. Old Testament Prophet Jonah, and the Muslim shrine that enclosed it.

Before fleeing, the Vatican reports, the Orthodox Christian community did successfully spirit away the relics of Thomas the Apostle who, it is said, introduced Christianity to Nineveh.

The last of Mosul’s Christians, those some 5,000 professors, doctors, lawyers, mechanics and their families that left between June 10 and July 19, find themselves suddenly destitute and homeless because of their faith. Some went to the nearest Nineveh Christian villages, temporarily sheltering in schools and churches. These villages would be vulnerable to ISIS attacks, too, but for their protection by the Kurds, who are, themselves, Sunni Muslim. Water and electricity have been cut off for some by ISIS, who told one Christian town official, “You don’t deserve to drink water,” reported Archdeacon Youkhana. The residents are desperately digging wells.

Many more have fled to Kurdistan, where there are ancestral Christian villages and big cities.

On July 19, the Kurdish Regional Government issued a statement welcoming the Christian exiles. It pledged the KRG to continue its “efforts and abilities to help those displaced” and called on the Kurdish people “to give all they can to aid the displaced Christian families.” It notes the Iraqi government “did not assume its responsibilities toward the displaced persons living in Kurdistan.”

ISIS control over Iraq’s territory presents an enormous threat to the region.

The religious cleansing of Mosul’s minorities is only part of the problem, but it is a grave crime against humanity, as well as a humanitarian catastrophe, that should no longer go overlooked in U.S. policy.

Complete and Original Post by Christian Post

Assyrian Christians in Australia Protest Persecution of Christians in Syria and Iraq

Over 6,000 Assyrian Christians gathered in Belmore Park in Australia to raise awareness of the inhumane treatment Christians receive by the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIS, in Syria and Iraq…report by breitbart

The terrorist group is raging a war against Christians and Muslims in order to establish a worldwide caliphate ruled under extreme Sharia law.

The community leaders explained to the crowd exactly what their fellow Christians endure at the hands of the terrorists. IS told Christians in Mosul to convert to Islam, pay a protection tax, or die. The group marked Christian homes with the letter N for Nazarene. IS destroyed shrines held dear by Muslims and Christians. Mosul housed one of the largest Christian communities in the world, where they lived peacefully with Muslims. For the first time in over 2,000 years, there are no Christians in the city.

IS tortured or murdered people in front of their families. For example, one man was forced to witness the brutal rape of his wife and daughter because he could not pay the protection tax. The man committed suicide. IS robbed those on the way out of Iraq, including jewelry a woman wore.

The people waved “stop genocide against our Christians” and “Stop crimes against humanity” signs. Others wore #WeAreN shirts. All of them begged the international community to help the Christians. The United Nations is just now considering adding IS to their Syrian war crimes list. Kirsten Powers wrote in USA Today the Christians are asking the world for help, but no one is answering them. Catholic and Christian websites remind people what happened in 1939 to 1945. From Catholic.org:

Decades ago, the world watched as the Jews, and many others, including a large number of Catholics, were rounded up, persecuted by Nazis. Nobody outside of the European continent believed these people were being systematically killed on an industrial scale.

The world once solemnly promised to never allow another holocaust to happen again. Yet, we have witnessed episodes of ethnic cleansing and genocide repeatedly throughout history. Time and again, the world has stood silent as whole populations and tribes were exterminated, relocated, and forced into destitution.

Today, nobody is running toward the Christians to help them. These people are on their own and they have nothing. Over 400 families have checked into refugee camps in Kurdish controlled districts in northern Iraq. Hundreds more wander in the desert and the diaspora continues.

Andrew White, a vicar in Iraq’s only Anglican church, said the end of Christianity in Iraq is “very near.” He also claimed that while the world concentrated on Israel and Gaza, IS will take advantage of the silence and “kill at will.”

Complete and Original Post by Breitbart

More Arab States Turn against Hamas and Support Israel

(Israel)—The New York Times reports that Israel has the unspoken support of Arab states led by Egypt in its war against Hamas, indicating Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have joined Cairo in backing Israel’s anti-terrorist campaign…report by Breaking Christian News

(Photo: Egypt’s President el-Sisi/via Wikipedia)

As reported in Newsmax, the Times pointed to Egypt’s “Arab Spring” as the impetus that began threatening conservative Arab leaders in the Mideast.

Martin Kramer, president of Shalem College in Jerusalem and an expert on the subject, was quoted by the Times as saying the Cairo-led Arab coalition doesn’t want to see Hamas emerge from the conflict as “the most powerful Palestinian player.”

“There is clearly a convergence of interests of these various regimes with Israel,” noted Kramer.

Another Mideast expert, David Miller, agrees. “The Arab states’ loathing and fear of political Islam is so strong that it outweighs their allergy to Benjamin Netanyahu,” he said.

According to the Newsmax report, it is one of the reasons Secretary of State John Kerry has been forced to turn to Qatar and Turkey to seek intermediaries with Hamas, rather than Egypt.

Complete and Original Post by Breaking Christian News

China Quake Rescue Efforts Complicated by Weather

China Quake Rescue Efforts Complicated by Weather

Rescue workers in China are digging through rubble looking for survivors after a 6.1 earthquake killed nearly 400 people Sunday…report by CBN News

According to the country’s official news agency, Xinhua News, the quake brought down about 12,000 homes and injured more than 1,800 people living in the impoverished Ludian County.

Rescuers were forced to travel on foot after the quake caused roads to cave in. Rain and thunderstorms were forecast for the area on Monday afternoon, further complicating efforts to deliver tents, water, food and other relief supplies to survivors.

Almost 30,000 people have been evacuated and the death toll is expected to rise.

Complete and Original Post by CBN News

Samaritan’s Purse Doctor Infected With Ebola in High Spirits

Dr. Kent Brantly, who contracted the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia while working as a Samaritan’s Purse missionary, has arrived in Georgia and is being treated at a hospital, where his condition is said to be improving. His family says he is in good spirits and thankful for prayers…report by CP

“I was able to see Kent today. He is in good spirits,” the missionary doctor’s wife, Amber Brantly, said Sunday, the day after Kent arrived in a specially outfitted jet at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We praise God for the news that Kent’s condition is improving. We can confirm that Kent was able to receive a dose of the experimental serum prior to leaving Liberia,” international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse added.

“Our family is rejoicing over Kent’s safe arrival, and we are confident that he is receiving the very best care. We are very grateful to the staff at Emory University Hospital, who have been so nice and welcoming to us,” Amber said in a statement.

Dr. Kent, who contracted the Ebola virus while treating patients in Liberia, thanked everyone for their prayers and asked for continued prayer for Nancy Writebol’s safe return and full recovery, she added.

Writebol, who works with the Christian aid group SIM, is due to arrive in Atlanta this week. She was part of the joint SIM/Samaritan’s Purse team treating Ebola patients at the Case Management Center in Monrovia.

“We thank God that they are alive and now have access to the best care in the world,” Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement Sunday. “We are extremely thankful for the help we have received from the State Department, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the National Institute of Health, WHO and, of course, Emory Hospital.”

Brantly landed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base outside Atlanta at about 11:30 a.m.

He had initially turned down the offer of a dose of an experimental serum while still in Liberia Wednesday. “An experimental serum arrived in the country, but there was only enough for one person. Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol,” Graham said. Later, Brantly was able to receive a dose of the serum.

Brantly also received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola under his care. “The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor that saved his life,” Graham added.

Dr. Bruce Ribner, an infectious disease specialist at Emory’s isolation ward, was quoted as saying that all precautions are being taken to ensure there is no secondary infections from Ebola in the United States. “The bottom line is, we have an inordinate amount of safety associated with this patient,” Ribner said, of Brantly’s arrival.

Doctors at Emory say they are “cautiously optimistic” about the two Americans’ recovery.

At the Atlanta hospital’s isolation ward, patients can see visitors through a glass window and speak to them through an intercom.

“Emory University Hospital has a specially built isolation unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases,” the hospital’s officials earlier told ABC News. “It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provide an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation. It is one of only four such facilities in the country.”

Over 700 people have died of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, as there is no cure or vaccine for the virus, which has a mortality rate of at least 60 percent.

Complete and Original Post by Christian Post

Obama Hosts African Summit

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The Ebola virus is expected to be on President Barack Obama’s agenda when he meets with 50 African leaders on Monday…report by CBN news

Topics at the unprecedented summit will also include regional security, building democracies, and business investment in Africa.

“The importance of this for America needs to be understood,” Obama said Friday. “Africa is growing, and you’ve got thriving markets and you’ve got entrepreneurs and extraordinary talent among the people there.”

“Africa also happens to be one of the continents where America is most popular, and people feel a real affinity for our way of life,” he added.

The summit is seen as an attempt to build up the president’s legacy on the African continent.

White House officials say they won’t be distracted by various crises shaking the globe, including the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, and Iraq.

“It’s the nature of the world we live in today where there are multiple crises at any time,” said Witney Schneidman, the former deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs. “But that should not paralyze us from moving forward on key areas to advance our interests.”

Complete and Original Post by CBN News