SocietyWatch

The lawyer who ruled a city

In March, Detroit became the largest city in American history to be placed under the supervision of an emergency manager. On March 14, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Kevyn Orr as the city’s financial manager. Governor Snyder told the media the state was intervening in Detroit because the city’s finances had reached “a true crisis point.” Orr is a bankruptcy lawyer who helped one of Detroit’s automakers, Chrysler, restructure its finances after it went bankrupt in 2009. In his new role, Orr has the power to control all city spending.

Detroit was once synonymous with wealth and prosperity. About a century ago, it boasted the fourth-largest population of any city in America. That figure has dropped from the millions to only 700,000—40 percent of whom live in poverty. Automakers and other manufacturers have left the city, along with jobs and citizens. Over the past decade, 25 percent of the city’s population has fled. But Detroit’s crises have not just been economic; its families have been obliterated. By some estimates, three out of every four Detroit families have only one parent. This social wreckage has contributed to an unbelievable state of affairs in the city. Nearly half of all Detroit adults are functionally illiterate. In about one in three households, no one has worked a job in the last 12 months.

Detroit is an indication of what is ahead for cities across the country. American families are already disintegrating, and social structures are crumbling. The Bible prophesied this would happen due to rampant sin. It also forecast the next step: American cities experiencing financial collapse, social upheaval, violence, riots and burning.

Farrakhan to gangs: Protect us

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stated on February 24 that Chicago’s gang members could serve a better purpose by training to become soldiers to protect his group’s assets. “[W]e know you love to shoot, but you’re killing yourselves,” the controversial leader said. “All your weapons are illegal, and you’re using them like savages.” Instead of fighting other gangs, Farrakhan suggested that gang members are “natural soldiers” who could be instructed in “the science of war” to protect the Nation of Islam’s property and assets. Such violent rhetoric is pushing the nation toward a period of violence and intense racial strife.

Unclaimed corpses online

For the first time, the Cook County medical examiner’s office in Chicago has posted photos of unclaimed bodies on its website in an effort to identify them. As drug cartels and street gangs spread throughout the city, the death toll has risen to a point where it is becoming hard to identify all the dead. The program is generating controversy because of the graphic images, but for the sake of people whose loved ones are missing and have been murdered, officials believe the ends justify the means. It is a chilling picture of the sad state to which one of America’s great cities has descended.

Food stamps for everyone!

Thanks to the Obama administration’s drive to get more citizens enrolled in the food stamps program, more Americans are now receiving this aid than ever. On March 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released new statistics showing that throughout 2012, the program averaged 46,609,072 people enrolled each month, with a record-breaking 47,791,996 drawing benefits in December.

At the end of the Clinton administration, only 1 in 16 Americans needed food stamps; now the number is almost 1 in 6. U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady and others insist that the growing number of recipients are “forced to subsist” on the handouts. That claim is undermined by the fact that the Obama administration is actively encouraging more Americans to sign on to the program—even paying for advertising to boost participation. It makes no economic sense, especially for a cash-strapped government, but this administration is doing its part to increase government dependency.

That’s one way to cut the budget

In anticipation of looming budget cuts, the Department of Homeland Security has started releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants held in local detention centers. In Pinal County, Arizona, Sheriff Paul Babeu said on February 26 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had released more than 500 detainees in his county alone. Though numbers have been disputed, a spokesman for Babeu claimed that immigration officials plan to release nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants. This unexpected influx of illegal immigrants will likely fuel a rise in crime. The biblical book of Isaiah foretells a time when foreigners burn the cities of end-time Israel.