Thousand year Rain, ISIS Kills Culture

Biblical: More than 20 inches of rain have fallen on parts of South Carolina since last Thursday, flooding streets and roads and leading to a handful of deaths. Some houses have water in their first floor. “We haven’t seen this level of rain in the low country in a thousand years,” Gov. Nikki Haley told reporters Sunday. “That’s how big this is.”

The Coast Guard has found a massive debris field believed to have been left by the missing container ship El Faro, lost in Hurricane Joaquin. The objects includes Styrofoam, wood, a cargo door, and 55-gallon drums.

Power Struggle: Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffitz announced his bid to become Speaker of the House, challenging current Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California. It’s a sign that the House Republicans have no strong parental figure to keep the children from fighting over the cookies.

Chaffetz said on Fox New Sunday, “you don’t just give an automatic promotion to the existing leadership team. That doesn’t signal change.” A small-government, anti-Hillary Republican, Chaffetz has led the charge against the Secret Service and Planned Parenthood.

World: The US and 11 other countries have reached agreement on the Trans Pacific Partnership, the trade deal that President Obama had hoped to make one of the legacies of his presidency. He still faces a fight in Congress and the deal will be a target in the presidential race.

Permawar: Doctors Without Borders pulled its people out of Kunduz, Afghanistan after their trauma hospital was hit in an American bombing raid. The hospital’s emergency rooms and intensive care unit were heavily damaged. The death toll rose to 22 patients and staff after three people died of their wounds. The Pentagon says it is investigating why the hospital was hit.

Culture War: Islamic State militants have blown up the Arch of Triumph built by the Romans in the ancient city of Palmyra about 2,000 years ago. The arch is reported to have been “pulverized.” The arch and adjacent arches stood at the head of a log row of columns. ISIS has already destroyed two ancient temples in Palmyra as it wages war against both religions and cultures they don’t share.

The Prize: The Nobel Prize for Medicine has been awarded to three scientists from three countries who made breakthroughs in treating parasitic disease, including river blindness and malaria. The three are William C. Campbell of Drew University; Satoshi Omura of Kitasato University in Japan; Youyou Tu of the China Academy of Traditional Medicine in Beijing.

Business Page: American Apparel, the “Made in America” disposable fashion chain that ousted its troubled-genius founder Dov Charney, is filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in an effort to keep its 130 stores open. The filing wipes out shareholders, including Charney, who had about $8.2 million worth of stock, and gives control to the company’s creditors.

The Obit Page: Henning Mankell, the Swedish crime writer whose gloomy, soul-searching police inspector Kurt Wallander investigated hideous murders in novels that sold 40 million copies around the world, has died at age 67. Wallander is a study in the troubles of socialist Sweden; the opera-loving detective is divorced, dealing with a troubled daughter, and an irascible father who has painted the same landscape 7,000 times. The author, Mankell, was married to Eva Bergman, the daughter of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman.

Political Roundup: Hillary Clinton is expected to announce plans for gun control measures as she campaigns today in New Hampshire. Following the Oregon college shooting, she has said she wants to start a “national movement” to push back against the National Rifle Association …. Republican Donald Trump said, “Let me tell you, if you had a couple teachers with guns in that room, you would have been a hell of a lot better off.” Trump also said he supports Russia “bombing the hell out of ISIS” …. Marco Rubio, the Republican 12-year-old, says Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “a gangster and a thug” and President Obama isn’t standing up to him. “We are barreling toward a second Cold War,” Rubio said. “The more our current president fails the test of leadership against Putin, the more important it becomes for our next president to pass it. And I will pass that test if I am given that opportunity.”

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It's Been Said

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

  • Donald Trump courting the vote of the Christian right

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