PapaD=Plant?
FBI joins investigation into fires at 3 black churches in Louisiana
Three historic black churches have burned down in a local Louisiana community, and authorities are neither ruling out arson nor that the three fires are related to one another. “But just as we haven’t connected the three in St. Landry, we haven’t connected the one in Caddo,” said Ashley Rodrigue, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal, on Friday.
Local authorities in St. Landry Parish have been coordinating with the FBI over the fires, which took place over the last few weeks. State Fire Marshal H. "Butch" Browning declined to get into specific details over the ongoing investigation at a press conference on Thursday, but did not rule out the possibility of arson or that the fires are a part of a larger plan to affect the community.
“There is clearly something happening in this community,” Browning said in the statement. “That is why it is imperative that the citizens of this community be part of our effort to figure out what it is.” "If you're going to turn to a house of God, turn to it for resurrection."
St. Mary Baptist Church in the predominantly African American community of Port Barre was the first church fire, on March 26. Then exactly a week later, the Greater Union Baptist Church also caught fire, just 8 miles away from St. Mary. A third, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, was burnt down Thursday, also in the parish, resulting in the wider investigation involving federal authorities.
Local pastors have been urging churchgoers to keep attending scheduled services, saying that these are the times when the community has to come together even stronger. The Rev. Harry Richard of Greater Union Baptist Church told New Orleans News that no one in the community should panic or overreact without knowing the full facts. “I don’t know who’s doing it or why they’re doing it, but I don’t want to be the one to inject race into it,” he said.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fbi-joins-investigation-into-fires-at-3-black-churches-in-louisiana
New sanctions just the start for Cuba over support for Venezuelan president: John Bolton
President Trump plans to intensify economic pressure on Cuba over the communist regime’s support for Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, according to his top national security adviser. “The Cuban regime has served as a primary accomplice to Maduro’s theft of Venezuela’s wealth & resources, and is complicit in Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis,” John Bolton, the White House national security adviser, tweeted Saturday. “The U.S. is prepared to hold accountable any country or company that facilitates the repression of the Venezuelan people.”
Bolton issued that warning after the Treasury Department blacklisted 34 ships that transport Venezuelan oil to the island. The Cuban regime denounced the tactics as “economic piracy,” but the U.S. officials maintain that they are stopping Maduro from providing payment for the Cuban security officials who are helping him maintain control of Venezuela in the midst of a severe political and economic crisis. “The Department of the Treasury has sanctioned companies and vessels facilitating illegal oil transfers from the Maduro regime to Cuba,” Bolton also tweeted. “This is only a first step.”
Cuban diplomats described the sanctions as “Monroeist,” an invocation of the Monroe Doctrine, a U.S. policy of opposing European efforts to colonize Latin America that ultimately came to be reviled in the region as an assertion of Washington's dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
“I denounce the escalation of #US ‘Monroeist’ aggressions against #OurAmerica and the use of scandalous lies against #Cuba," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla tweeted Friday evening. “I strongly reject the new economic piracy measures adopted by Washington to damage #Venezuela and steal its resources. They'll fail.”
U.S. officials and Cuba hawks say that Maduro is plundering Venezuelan government resources to enrich himself and buy international support. “Cuba’s foreign ministry is raging about US sanctions on the Maduro regime,” Ana Quintana, a regional expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, tweeted Saturday. “Why? Because that means less money for the Cuban colonial masters."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/new-sanctions-just-the-start-for-cuba-over-support-for-venezuelan-president-bolton
G-7 ministers reveal 'clear differences' on Middle East
DINARD, France — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations revealed stark divergences in views on the Middle East on Saturday as they wrapped up a meeting in France that opened with the goal of finding common ground on contentious global challenges but was shaken by the absence of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The diplomats in attendance projected a united front while walking side-by-side along a seaside promenade before they released the agreement from their two-day meeting in Dinard. The agreement included mildly worded joint commitments on issues such as fighting cybercrime, giving women bigger peacemaking roles, and engaging with countries in Africa's Sahel region to combat migrant trafficking.
But what was omitted from the G-7's positions said as much as what was included. The differences could set the stage for tensions at an August summit of the leaders of the G-7 advanced economies — the United States, France, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and the U.K. A European Union official expressed "regret" the document had what she considered to be several glaring omissions that conflicted with non-negotiable positions of the EU. They included "no reference to a two-state solution" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "no mention" of the U.N. Security Council resolution in favor of the Iran nuclear deal, she said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not allowed to speak to the news media, said the language used to described the G-7's deep concern over Iran's "continuing support for terrorist organizations and armed militias" was not language EU members tend to use. Four of the G-7 nations are in the European Union.
The foreign ministers' joint statement itself acknowledged "clear differences" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after "an exchange of views." The agreement included an initiative to help countries share best practices on encouraging responsible online behavior. Also, the group pledged to encourage the creation of funds to help survivors of sexual violence in danger spots, and to encourage Sahel countries to take steps to end trafficking. It also reaffirmed the G-7's "commitment to a rules-based international order."
Discord is becoming a theme for the group. Last June, U.S. President Donald Trump roiled the G-7 meeting in Canada by first agreeing to a group statement on trade, then withdrawing support from it and sending a string of negative tweets about the summit and its host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On Saturday in Dinard, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was missing from the final group photo after attending Friday's session. Combined with Pompeo's absence, Hunt's status raised questions about the G-7's relevance. U.S. officials acknowledged points of discord at the talks hosted by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, who went in Pompeo's place, said Washington would use the G-7 forum to galvanize support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, whose claim to the presidency is backed by the U.S. and about 50 other countries. But the meeting failed to change the position of Italy, the sole G-7 member state not to back Guaido. "We spoke about it. The Italian position on Venezuela is pretty clear," said Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero. "It is an extremely difficult situation, especially in light of the humanitarian emergency that weighs the most in in our hearts." Guaido has set out to topple the socialist administration of President Nicolás Maduro amid deepening unrest in the country, which has been plagued by nearly a month of power outages. Italy also has irked EU and U.S. allies by becoming the first G-7 member to sign up to a Chinese plan to build a Silk Road-style global trade network, the Belt and Road Initiative. Any reference to the contentious trillion-dollar plan was missing in Saturday's texts.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/g-7-ministers-reveal-clear-differences-on-middle-east
I agree with your assessment here. I have done a lot of reading and watching interviews he has given..it all seems to choreographed, every detail of his life right down to the sudden marriage.