BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS:U.S. drought biggest since 1956, climate agency says

(CNN) -- The pool is closed in Warrenton, Missouri. Cattle ponds are drying up in Arkansas. Illinois is in danger of losing its corn crop.

Even the mighty Mississippi River is feeling low amid what the National Climatic Data Center reported Monday is the largest drought since the 1950s.

The center said about 55% of the country was in at least moderate short-term drought in June for the first time since December 1956, when 58% of the country was in a moderate to extreme drought.

The hot, dry weather in June, which ranked as the third-driest month nationally in at least 118 years, according to the center, made the problem worse. The portion of the country suffering from severe to extreme short-term drought dramatically expanded in June, up to nearly 33% from 23% the month before.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn called it a "natural disaster of epic proportions."

"We've never see a drought like this and we have to make sure we do something about it," he said, calling on Congress to expedite passage of the farm bill. Quinn said seven more counties will be designated Monday as disaster areas, in addition to 26 already on the list, and farmers can apply for federal relief funds.

In Arkansas -- where the National Drought Mitigation Center reported that ranchers are having to haul water for cattle because ponds have dried out and wells can't keep up with demands -- 83-year-old retired farmer Don Hudson said this is about the worst he's ever seen it.

"It's very brown right now, ain't no grass at all," he said. "We're still feeding hay because the cows aren't even going out to graze."

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Treaty a threat to 2nd Amendment, says gun group

A non-profit lobbying organization that aims to preserve and defend the Second Amendment says the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty currently under debate is "extremely dangerous."

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs says many governments have voiced concerns about "the absence of globally agreed rules for all countries to guide their decision on arms transfers" -- thus the negotiations on an arms trade treaty. "A robust arms trade treaty can make a difference for millions of people confronted with insecurity, deprivation and fear," states the website for treaty conference.

Erich Pratt of Gun Owners of America (GOA) sees the treaty quite differently. "We think this treaty is extremely dangerous -- not only to our American sovereignty but to the Second Amendment," he tells OneNewsNow. "Registering gun owners and their firearms is one of the key threats in this treaty."

Proponents of the treaty say it is about controlling international gun trafficking. Pratt's reaction?

"When you listen to the official delegates at these conferences, you see that what they're really after is our firearms," says the GOA spokesman. "In fact, that was stated very clearly by the Mexico delegate this month during one of the sessions. He said that individual rights, like our Second Amendment freedoms, are not a reason to keep them from imposing restrictions upon those rights."

Organizations like Amnesty International USA claim this treaty would rein in unregulated weapons that they say kill an estimated 1,500 people a day globally. Still, Pratt says that is not the fault of the tens of thousands of responsible gun owners.

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UK Hotel Replaces Gideon Bibles With Pornographic Novel 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

Best-selling novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" by British author E.L. James may be outpacing the Bible in popularity, as one British hotel manager has decided to chuck Gideon bibles traditionally stocked in guest rooms for copies of the racy novel.

 

Wayne Bartholomew, General Manager of Damson Dene Hotel in Cumbria, Northwest England, says he got the idea to swap out copies of the holy book for the otherwise unholy one after a discussion with fans on Facebook.
James' "Fifty Shades Grey" 2011 novel is the first in an erotic trilogy that explores the sexual relationship involving bondage and sadism between college student Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, described as "a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control." The series, wildly popular among many women, has sold more than 20 million copies and promises to "obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever."
"Fifty Shades of Grey is all that people are talking about at the moment, but I know that some are too shy to buy it for themselves. I thought it would be a special treat for our guests to find it in their bedside cabinet and that includes the men. They are as desperate to get their hands on a copy as are the women," Bartholomew, reportedly a choir member at his local church, told the News & Star publication.
The Daily Mail claimed in a report that there was "outrage" over Bartholomew's decision in relegating copies of the Bible to the front desk, but did not provide any specific comments to that effect.
However, some of the more than 3,200 followers on the Damson Dene Hotel's official Facebook page expressed disagreement with the change.

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We Need More Voices to Stand Against the Obama HHS Mandate

Recently, on July 4th, America celebrated its independence – one built on upholding key foundations of liberty, such as our right to religious freedom. However, the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the ACA means that the radical Department of Health and Human Services mandate will go into effect.
The mandate will force religious institutions to provide coverage for services that violate their faith has trampled on an ideal that we as a nation hold dear. The mandate has caused a serious rift between the Democratic Party and Catholics – of which I am both. Sadly, this unthinkable move threatens a long and proud relationship, one in which many Boston Democrats have been honored to be part of.

 In 1998, I was invited to the President Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Marist College in Hyde Park, New York, to participate in a two day conference about the role of Catholics during the World War II years. Many distinguished scholars, historians, journalists and political and religious people attended and participated in the remarkably informative conference. Much of what we discussed is now part of recorded history that has been written about extensively in numerous books and publications.
But one aspect of that FDR Library Conference which was most revealing to me was the extraordinary close political relationship that President Roosevelt had with Catholics and the Church. The closeness between the Democratic Party and Catholics was telling. Catholics were an important and significant part of the President and the Democratic Party’s political base in America at the time.
Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the prominent historian and advisor to the late President John F. Kennedy and I spent considerable time discussing this topic publicly and privately. We read speeches and papers that FDR had read and authorized in his name. We studied his close relationship with Edward Flynn and Jim Farley of New York City as well as so many other well-known Catholic political operatives. FDR spoke to them regularly and relied on them for advice. It was unthinkable for most Catholics not to vote the straight Democratic ticket. That’s exactly how I remember it growing up in Irish Catholic South Boston. We all knew of the close personal friendship that the Kennedy family had with our neighbor Richard Cardinal Cushing and so many other Church leaders. Especially in time of trouble to many Irish immigrant families in those days, it was both the Church and the Democratic Party who were always there to help, if needed. They were working for better and safer work conditions on the docks, medical care, educating kids and helping the poor. People in those days were loyal to the Church and the Democratic Party.

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50 Christians burned to death in pastor's home

Fifty members of a northern Nigerian church were burned to death in their pastor’s house.
The attack by armed gunmen was only the first in a 12-village spree of violence that left over 100 dead in northern Nigeria’s Plateau State, a region that had previously been outside Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram’s operational area and is the largely Muslim Fulani tribesmen’s homeland.

Yet Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks and threatened even more violence.
Open Doors, USA spokesman Jerry Dykstra says the recent wave of attacks is rapidly turning Nigeria into a deadly religious battlefield, where Boko Haram is declaring Christians must convert … or die.
“Nigeria is truly becoming the new killing field for Christians. Hundreds of Christians have already been brutally murdered – including women and children – by the Boko Haram,” Dykstra said. “The Boko Haram earlier this week said that all Christians need to turn to Islam or ‘they would never know peace again.’ Their goal is make all of Nigeria a country run and dominated by Shariah law.”
Church of Christ of Nigeria officials report that all of their denomination’s church buildings were burned to the ground in the 12-town rampage.
Plateau State is home to the nomadic and largely Muslim Fulani tribesmen, the group that some Nigerian security officials say was originally blamed for the attack.
Nigerian criminal justice consultant Innocent Chukwuma is reported as saying the logistics suggest that Boko Haram could not have acted alone.
“I don’t think that Boko Haram could, out of nowhere, have raided these villages. They couldn’t do that without local support and collaboration,” Chukwoma said according to the report.

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Cross-Bearing Texas Teen Arrives In D.C. After Monthlong Journey

Brazil's 'March for Jesus' Makes History

Two-Year-Old Bible Study for Homeless at McDonald's No Longer Welcomed

Christian ministry leader Dawn Martinez was told she could no longer hold the twice-a-week Bible studies she has taught for homeless people for the last two years inside a McDonald's in Camden, N.J. A night manager at the fast food restaurant told her last week that a customer had filed a complaint. Martinez wonders if it could have been because of the topic briefly discussed at one point last Monday – the Muslim faith.
The 33-year-old, who began the ministry to transients and drug addicts two years ago, describes the Bible study group's last meeting on Monday.
"It was a very powerful night. We had one woman join our prayer circle at the table and she was weeping and crying, but that was nothing unusual for our meetings," Martinez told The Christian Post. "I gave the Bible study. We talked about Isaac and Ishmael. I began to give the history on the descendants of Ishmael and the differences between the Christian and the Muslim faiths because the Muslim faith believes the descendants of Ishmael are the chosen people.
"It was real brief and nothing unusual happened. We had the Bible study. We prayed and we left."
On Wednesday, Martinez was told the bad news by the manager right as the small group was about to sit down at the table.

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Horrifying: Gunmen Allegedly Beat, Rob, Rape Members of Youth Church Camp in Mexico

(The Blaze/AP) — A gang of about a dozen armed people stormed into a church youth camp-out near Mexico City and went on an hours-long rampage of beatings, robberies and rape, authorities said Saturday.

Seven girls were raped during the Friday attack and several campers were beaten, according to the state prosecutors office in Mexico State, which surrounds the Mexican capital.

About 90 youths sponsored by a church group known as the Chains of the Holy Trinity were camping at an eco-park on the eastern outskirts of Mexico City, in a hilly area that is close to the lower flanks of the Popocatepetl volcano. Prosecutors did not say what church the group is affiliated with, but the camp-out appeared to have been a sort of spiritual retreat.

The office said that the attack lasted for hours, and that when the attackers left they stole two vehicles and other articles from the campers.

(Related: Drug Smuggling Tunnels Gave Mexican Cartels Virtually Unlimited Access to Arizona Strip Mall)

The office said investigators were pursuing two lines of inquiry, but did not reveal what they were.

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The Communist Part II: Why Obama’s Mentor Went From Republican to Devout Marxist

Last Friday, The Blaze provided you with a first look into Paul Kengor’s soon-to-be released, provocative book published by Mercury Ink, entitled, “The Communist,” which closely examines the life of President Obama’s longtime mentor, Frank Marshall Davis.
After establishing why presidential mentors have, historically, been of great import and consequence, Kengor goes on to explain how this devout Marxist actually began his political path as a Republican, often stumping for GOP presidential contenders on their respective campaign trails. Of course, especially at the time, the GOP represented the party of Lincoln while Democrats comprised the Southern racists so reviled by black Americans.
Oddly, Davis took a turn for the hard-left after being duped into believing that the racism he experienced as a black youth growing up in Kansas, and, later on into adulthood, was the product of a diseased Capitalist system, and that only the Soviet Union had managed to crack the code of equality, thus creating a racism-free utopia for all.
Yes, you read that correctly. Frank Marshall Davis became a card-carrying member of the Communist Party U.S.A. after being successfully indoctrinated by a clever Soviet-led propaganda campaign that targeted members of the American black community. The former USSR achieved this seemingly impossible feat by manufacturing what were known as Potemkin villages (or Potyomkin villages). These stage props were created to showcase an “ideal” agrarian society flourishing under the banner of Marxist-Leninism.
In the Potemkin, workers appeared thrilled with their positions in life, homogeny fostered “tolerance,” agricultural output was bountiful, and majestic birds soared on high through perpetual skies of blue. Indeed, on the surface, it seemed Mother Russia had successfully birthed a picture-perfect existence.

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