Archaeologists Believe They Found Location Where Jesus Christ Taught

Archaeologists in Israel believe they may have uncovered the location where Jesus Christ taught and preached.

The discovery was made in the ancient town of Magdala -- thought to be the hometown of Mary Magdalene -- on the western shore of the sea of Galilee.

Jesus is believed to have spent most of his life in the area.

The Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic organization, bought land in the area, planning to build a hotel. An ancient temple was uncovered among the ruins in 2009.

Five years later, archaeologists are convinced that Jesus taught here, with relics seeming to support that theory. Among the historic treasures are a main hall with an elaborate mosaic floor; a limestone block carved with a menorah, the oldest ever found on stone; and Jewish ritual baths.

Father Juan Solana, founder of the Magdala Center, a spiritual center run by the Legionaries of Christ, said Jesus’ interactions in the area bolster the possibility that he taught at the site.

“Jesus was traveling many times with the boat, the fishermen and for sure I think he taught in that synagogue,” Solana said. “We can see Jesus surrounded by the people sitting on the benches of the synagogue, reading the Torah.”

Some of the artifacts were taken for the pope to see, the archaeologists said.

Work continues at the site, with 12 acres of the ancient city left to excavate.

Credit to ABC

Merry Christmas America: Appeals Court Affirms MERS Right to Steal Your Home

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Dismissal of Minnesota Counties’ Lawsuit

Because of Robo signers, and at the present rate, it will not be long until private home ownership will become a rare event.

MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. is well known for being an organized criminal enterprise. Their assets should have been seized and its corporate officers along with the minion robo signers should all be in prison. However, Americans are increasingly living in a country with no rules for it was announced yesterday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the ruling by the District Court of Minnesota that there is no mandatory recording requirement under Minnesota law and this led to the the dismissal of the complaint by 87 Minnesota counties against MERS for failing to legally file titles upon resale or transfer.

On several occasions, I have interviewed Dave Krieger, the author of Clouded Titles. He asserts that MERS must present a chain of custody pertaining to the title of home which follows every sale your title. The popular phrase which surfaced five years ago “Show me the note” was reflective of the belief that before a bank, or a title company could legally repossess your home, the bank/title company must show a complete chain of custody of the note in a court of law. Krieger has provided “inservices” for various District Attorneys around the country on these points of law.

In the case of The County of Ramsey and the County of Hennepin, v. MERCORP Holdings, Inc., Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems., et al., the two counties, on behalf of eighty-seven Minnesota counties, filed a class-action suit alleging that the Lenders’ use of  MERS System deprived the Counties of recording fees for mortgage assignments by allowing parties to bypass recordation with the Counties causing the loss of statutory recording fees and creating gaps in chains of title. The counties assert that they are being denied revenue from the failure to file each and every home mortgage following a sale. More importantly, this practice leaves homeowners, who may be current on their mortgage payments or may have totally paid off their home mortgage, to being vulnerable to having their home seized because they might be paying the “wrong” mortgage company.  In other words, America, when you write out your mortgage check, you cannot be sure that the company that you are writing the check to really holds the note to your home.

Ray Charles could see that this practice is wholly illegal and fraudulent. EVERY SINGLE HOMEOWNER IN AMERICA IS NOW VULNERABLE TO THIS HEINOUS PRACTICE!

The Eighth Circuit also declined to certify a question to the Minnesota Supreme Court as requested by the Counties of Minnesota. The Circuit Court erroneously ruled that, “ … because we believe Minnesota case law establishes that Minnesota law imposes no duty to record a mortgage or a mortgage assignment with the county recorder…”

This is where the ruling gets interesting and casts the court in the light of being a criminal accomplice after the fact. The Circuit Court amazingly cited a number of Minnesota Court cases interpreting the Recording Act that find that recording is permissive. (See e.g., Jackson v. MERS). The Court proclaimed that the district court held that the wording “shall be recorded” in the Recording Act does not require recordation of land transfers, but instead informs parties where they should record their instrument if they desire the benefits of recording the security instrument, namely providing notice of the lien and its priority. In other words, it is now legal to steal and to commit conspiracy in hiding the fact that the bank/title company is engaged in theft.

To add insult to injury, the Eighth Circuit held that a county did not and cannot state a claim for unjust enrichment or public nuisance against MERS “when there is no duty under state law to record mortgages or subsequent assignments.” In other words, it is legal for MERS and their related criminal enterprise organization are permitted to reap benefits from this criminal racketeering system.

Understandably MERS was thrilled with the ruling; “We did not believe the claims behind this case had merit,” said MERSCORP Holdings Vice President for Corporate Communications, Janis Smith. “The appellate court’s ruling, once again, confirms the legality of MERS and its business.”  Legal to steal? Thank you Ms. Smith, you are setting a fine example for your friends and children with your twisted view of ethics, morality and justice.

This case begs the question, where do Americans seek relief from injustice?

Credit to Common Sense

This Will Be the Big One

It's A Wonderful Lie of the Federal Reserve

Russia says NATO turning Ukraine into 'frontline of confrontation'

Russia said on Wednesday NATO was turningUkraine into a "frontline of confrontation" and threatened to sever remaining ties with the Atlantic military alliance if Ukraine's hopes of joining it were realized.

The Kiev parliament's renunciation of Ukraine's neutral status on Tuesday in pursuit of NATO membership has outraged Moscow and deepened the worst confrontation between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.

"NATO countries pushed Kiev to this counterproductive decision, trying to turn Ukraine into a front line of confrontation withRussia," Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov told the Russian news agency Interfax.

"If this decision in the future takes on a military character (accession to NATO), then we will respond appropriately. Then there will be a complete severing of ties with NATO, which will be practically impossible to repair," Antonov said.

It is likely to take years for Ukraine to meet the technical criteria for accession to NATO and, even then, there is no certainty that the alliance is ready to take on such a political hot potato.

Yet Russia has made clear it would see the NATO membership of such a strategic former Soviet republic with a long common border as a direct military threat.

A NATO official, who asked not to be named, said it was solely up to Kiev to decide on its foreign policy.

"Should Ukraine decide to apply for NATO membership, NATO will assess its readiness to join the alliance in the same way as with any candidate. This is an issue between NATO and the individual countries aspiring to membership," the official said.

NATO has already boosted its military presence in eastern Europe this year, saying it has evidence that Russia orchestrated and armed a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukrainethat followed the overthrow of a Kremlin-backed president in Kiev.

Moscow denies supporting the rebellion, and is currently trying, along with Kiev and the rebels, to renew efforts to find a political solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

A so-called "contact group" is expected to meet in Minsk on Wednesday to try to reinforce a shaky ceasefire and de-escalate the conflict, in which more than 4,700 people have been killed.

A truce agreed in September has been regularly flouted by both sides, but violence has lessened significantly in December.

The rebellion began shortly after Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea fromUkraine in March.

Credit to Reuters

Russia on Verge of Junk

Russia may lose its investment-gradecredit rating for the first time in a decade after Standard & Poor’s said it’s considering a cut amid the country’s worst economic crisis since the 1998 debt default.

There’s at least a 50 percent chance that Russia will be lowered to junk within 90 days, S&P said in a statement as it put the country on negative credit watch. Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings rank Russia one step higher than S&P, which lowered the rating one level in April to BBB-.

The move “stems from what we view as a rapid deterioration of Russia’s monetary flexibility and the impact of the weakening economy on its financial system,” S&P said.Oil prices at a five-year low and sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine have pushed the world’s biggest energy exporter to the verge of recession. The central bank in Moscow has spent one-fifth of its international reserves and increased benchmarkinterest rates six times since March, when Russia came under international sanctions after it invaded Crimea.

While the ruble strengthened for a third day as the government told state-run exporters to sell foreign currency, it’s still lost 40 percent against the dollar this year, the second-worst performer among more than 170 currencies tracked by Bloomberg after Ukraine’s hryvnia.Photographer: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

The ruble remained higher following S&P’s announcement, trading at 54.7005 per dollar as of 1:34 p.m. in New York, up 2 percent from yesterday. Dollar-denominated bonds fell, sending yields on notes due 2030 up 0.11 percentage point to 6.24 percent. Yields touched a five-year high of 7.64 percent Dec. 16.

Banking System
The costs to insure Russia’s debt against non-payment for five years more than doubled this year to 4.21 percentage points, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with 4 percentage points for Lebanon, which is rated B- at S&P, or six levels below Russia.

The S&P warning comes as Russia tries to avert a banking crisis. The central bank put National Bank Trust, the country’s 15th-biggest lender based on retail deposits, under its control yesterday, the first bailout since the currency crisis started.

Lawmakers rushed legislation through the lower house of parliament today allowing the Deposit Insurance Agency to buy stakes in banks before they face bankruptcy proceedings to keep the system stable.

The penalties imposed by the U.S. and its allies have locked Russian corporate borrowers out of international debt markets and curbed investor appetite for the ruble, stocks and bonds.

Capital Outflows
The central bank raised the key rate to 17 percent from 10.5 percent in the early hours of Dec. 16, the biggest increase since 1998.

The economy may shrink as much as 4.7 percent next year, the most since 2009, if oil averages $60 a barrel under a “stress scenario,” according to the central bank. Net capital outflows may more than double this year to $134 billion.

Investors often disregard ratings companies’ credit grade and outlook changes.France’s 10-year yield, which was 3.08 percent when S&P removed its top rating in January 2012, tumbled to a record-low 1.339 percent on Aug. 15 this year.

Moody’s cut Russia’s credit score one level to its second-lowest investment grade in October, citing concern that the sanctions will hurt its economy. The continued erosion of Russia’s foreign-exchange reserves because of capital flight, low oil prices and borrowers’ lack of access to credit were also cited by Moody’s.

Credit to Bloomberg