Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, AUGUST 28

by A. Joseph Lynch

THE BRIEF

KABUL: BIDEN'S SAIGON

PRIDE COMETH BEFORE THE FALL

The utter collapse of Afghanistan in a mere matter of days is a stunning rebuke not only of America's cultural imperialism but also of the nation's totally incompetent ruling class. It proves Joe Biden was never fit to be president, Kamala Harris - who claimed to be the last one in the room when planning America's exit from Afghanistan - is not ready for the spotlight, Biden's cabinet is filled with nitwits, and the US military is too distracted by critical race theory and chasing down fake insurrectionists at home to stop real insurrections abroad. 

What has taken place in Afghanistan is worse than Saigon. The South Vietnamese capital fell roughly two years after America exited the region. Withdrawing our air support and air logistics from our Afghan allies, removing the troops necessary to protect our civilians in the country, and last month's mid-night abandoning of the strategic Bagram Airbase all meant that the Afghan army would rapidly collapse and American civilians would have no protection from a Taliban assault. 

General Petreaus called the results "catastrophic," and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair labeled Biden's actions "imbecilic". 

Not long ago Biden told reporters that there would be no repeat of Saigon - no choppers hovering over our embassy as the enemy closed in. Sadly we saw just that. And then some. Biden went on vacation and allowed the unthinkable to happen. Not only has the entire Afghan government and military collapsed, but the Taliban now controls more territory than it did on 9-11 and is much, much, better equipped (curtesy of the US military). 

Biden soon gave a speech in which he said "the buck stops here," yet went on to blame Trump, the former president of Afghanistan, and the Afghan military. Not once did he take any responsibility for his own actions. It was Biden who abandoned the May 1 peace deal negotiated by Trump. It was Biden who left tens of thousands of American citizens and Afghani allies behind to die. It was Biden who failed to leave our people air support and an adequate military presence to remove them safely from harm's way. No one besides the braindead neocons are blaming Biden for pulling out of Afghanistan, but Americans had every right to be immediately enraged, both at the humiliating disgrace he's brought about and by the fact that he went on vacation as Americans were left at the hands of the Taliban. 

As Biden claimed that "no one wanted to leave Afghanistan," Americans were horrified to see images of Afghani civilians clinging desperately to American aircraft preparing for take off - only to watch them fall to their deaths from midair. We saw the lifeless body of a man caught in the landing gear of an American evacuation plane. We heard that civilians were being run over by our airplanes on the runway. The administration did an about-face, now giving Afghanis access to evacuation aircraft ahead of American citizens (who account for less than 10% of those evacuated). Few are being vetted as they board, and its hard to tell how many ISIS terrorists could now be headed to America. In what would have been deemed treason under a Trump Administration, Biden dispatched the head of the CIA to beg the Taliban for more time while giving up the names of missing Americans and Afghan allies. The time extension was denied, and what the Taliban does with the list Biden handed over might very well be a death sentence to thousands. Then came the bombings that claimed the lives of over a dozen American soldiers and countless civilians. It was America's deadliest day in Afghanistan since 2011. Needless to say, this has not been an orderly withdrawal. Biden spoke to the nation again but offered no apology for the death and destruction his incompetence wrought. What he did tell us was to be ready to accept that many, many Americans would soon be left behind as he cut and run from Afghanistan.

According to the USA Today, Biden's approval rating has sunk to 41% (with independent support down to an astonishing 31%), and that was before Thursday's bombings that gave the nation's military its bloodiest day in over a decade.

The person who was most spot on concerning America's defeat and utter humiliation in Afghanistan was Tucker Carlson. Echoing D'Souza's "The Enemy At Home" (read our review), Carlson points out that our liberal agenda of abortion and sodomy don't sell well in Islamic nations like Afghanistan. And that is really the heart of America's failure in Afghanistan. President Bush thought that toppling the Taliban and establishing democracy would solve the landlocked nation's problems. His plans were co-opted by President Obama, who sought to remake Afghanistan along the lines of a Western, secular-liberal democracy. Setting quotas for the number of women in the Afghan parliament, handing out women's studies degrees at a Kabul university, and flying the gay rainbow flag from the US embassy didn't sit well in an Islamic nation where 99% of the population believes in following Sharia law. The religiously tone-deaf Obama-Biden plan for Afghanistan was doomed to fail. President Trump saw this and decided to negotiate with the Taliban for a peaceful exit. Biden threw out Trump's Taliban deal and exit plan then botched everything because of his total blindness to the situation, the people, and the religion of Afghanistan. The liberal penchant for ideological arrogance and pride led to this disaster.

And as we look back to the US embassy flying the gay rainbow flag in Kabul during "Pride" month not long ago, we are reminded of the biblical truism: "Pride cometh before the fall."

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CHRISTIAN AFGHANS TURNED BACK: Afghan Christians, all qualified for evacuation under US policy in Afghanistan, are being turned away by Americans at the Kabul airport. This comes as less than 10% of all evacuated are Americans and thousands appear likely left behind. Meanwhile efforts by Glenn Beck to rescue Christians are also being blocked. This stands in stark contrast with the fall of Saigon, in which thousands of Catholic Vietnamese were rescued by Americans leaving the country. This is but the newest indication of the religious and cultural incoherence of the Leftists leading the executive branch and the US military.

BRIZALIAN BISHOP ON CAMERA: Brazilian Bishop Tomé Ferreira da Silva has been sacked by Pope Francis after leaked camera footage of him masturbating was made public. In 2015 the same bishop was accused of having a sexual relationship with his chauffeur. 

MARY AND MICHAEL BANNED: Cardinal Cupich has banned the recitation of the Hail Mary and/or the St. Michael Prayer at the end of archdiocesan Masses. More from Taylor Marshall.

II. AMERICAN POLITICS

CUOMO'S RESIGNATION: We all thought Cuomo would fight tooth-and-nail to remain in office. IT was even rumored he'd not seek another term if his fellow Democrats put off impeachment proceedings. Why did he go? We've heard he was threatened with a more "expansive" impeachment that would include and investigation into New York's nursing home deaths - thus it appears he was dodging a serious jail-time bullet. But the real reason he was targeted in the first place was because he's a threat to Harris in 2024.

RECALL FRAUD FIASCO - PRINT-AT-HOME BALLOTS AND MORE: Speaking of Harris threats, Gavin Newsom is in trouble in California's recall efforts, yet more voting shenanigan's could keep him in office. The new tactics: print-at-home ballots. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right? And if that's not enough to help Newsom, a California man was found passed out with hundreds of recall ballots while two women were caught on camera stealing mail-in recall ballots.  And if that's not enough, holes have been intentionally placed in mail-in ballot envelopes in such a way that one's vote could be seen through the hole. All this raises grave questions about this recall election.

PFIZER VACCINE APPROVED? Vaccine madates are sure to spread with the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine now approved by the FDA - or was it approved? According the FDA, the "Comirnaty" vaccine, made by Pfizer, has been approved. But this vaccine is not available on the market. Instead, those seeking vaccination must get the legally different "Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine". The two vaccines are virtually identical, but the Comirnaty vaccine is approved yet shelved for lawsuit reasons. All this points to the FDA playing a partisan political game intended to give cover to a likely slew of vaccine mandates.

EVICTION BAN STRUCK DOWN: In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court has blocked Biden's illegal order to ban evictions during the pandemic. Biden had previously been told to end the ban but his illegal actions led the court to return to the matter, once again ordering the ban to end. It is likely the decision will lead to renewed calls to pack the court. Had the ban been allowed to continue, the Democrats and their allies in big business would have used the ban to wipe out small landowners and enrich the corporations while handing out COVID checks to tenants who refused to pay their rent.

BARRETT'S SURPEME FAILURE: Amy Coney Barrett continues to disappoint. In her latest action, Barrett refused to allow Indiana students bring their case against vaccine mandates before the court. The move comes as questions emerge concerning the actual number of vaccine deaths - which recently claimed the life of a BBC presenter.

III. THE NATIONS

TALIBAN TROLLS BIDEN, BIG TECH: The Taliban have not only won a striking series of military victories, but they've also won on the PR front. When asked about censoring Afghani citizens under a new Taliban regime, Taliban officials simply asked Western journalists to talk to Big Tech companies like Twitter and Facebook about censorship. And as the Taliban has inherited millions of dollars worth of US military equipment - including uniforms and infantry gear - they staged a mocking Iwo Jima-style flag raising. Clearly the Taliban are outmaneuvering their American and Western opponents at every turn.

NORD STREAM 2 PIPELINE: Russia has been busy building it's "Nord Steam 2" natural gas pipeline via the Baltic Sea to Germany - thus cutting the Ukrainian middle man out of the profits. The results will see Ukraine lose nearly 20% of it's revenues once Russia stops sending gas through the eastern European nation. Ukraine is livid, Germany is glad it's winter heat will no longer be endangered by a Russian-Ukrainian war, and Russia still has the ability to use its gas supply as leverage over the Germans. Putin scores again. Meanwhile the US, which needs help from the Germans and the Russians in Afghanistan, have angered both by announcing new sanctions over the pipeline.

AUSTRIALIA'S COVID CAMPS: Many people were called conspiracy theorists for venting fears of future COVID concentration camps. Sadly these fears are becoming reality in Australia as a Queensland regional quarantine facility is now under construction. Our advice to Australians: Do not comply when officials tell you to board the train cars. We've seen this before - it never ends well for those who board the trains to the camps or the gulags. New York City's draconian passport rules - which appear to  disproportionately affect minorities, especially blacks - is not far behind the Australia. Some suspect California would be as bad were it not for the Governor Newsom's recall threat.

DUTERTE AS VICE PRESIDENT: President Duterte of the Philippines will not retire in the face of partisan-induced trumped up criminal charges after he leaves office. Instead, the term-limited president will prop up an advisor in the next presidential election while running alongside him as vice president. It's a bold move, one that echoes Putin's role as Russia's prime minister from 2008-12, but one that Duterte needs to take in order to continue his policy initiatives and avoid political persecution. 

CHINA THREE-CHILD POLICY: China is realizing it's facing a demographic crisis. Back in 2015 it began "allowing" couples to have two children - but has now increased that number to three. Some experts believe the number may soon increase to four. At what point will China come to its senses and end its limits on the family altogether?

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

RETURN OF JIM CROW? Despite the left blaming America's low vaccination rate on conservatives, studies reveal that minorities are well behind whites in terms of the coronavirus vaccine. Now that places like New York City are essentially requiring ID to enter any public building, the policy will unfairly target blacks and other minorities. It was Democrats who created Jim Crow, and it appears they're in the process of bringing it back.

RULES FOR THEE, NOT FOR ME: Obama threw himself a large birthday party and from what information has leaked about it, the party was mask-free, social distance-free, and for many, vaccine-free. A NY Times reporter dismissed conservative criticism of the event because the crowd was "sophisticated". Meanwhile Fauci denounced an outdoor gather of bikers at Sturgis while remaining utterly silent about the Obama party and the spike of cases it brought to Martha's Vineyard. All this is not to mention the reported influx of narcotics to the island ahead of the party and the three DUIs made from partygoers afterwards.

JUSTIFED ANTI-VACCINE STANCE? MSNBC host Joy Reid says it was okay to be anti-vaccine in 2020 because Trump was president. In her head Trump was evil and thus the government couldn't be trusted. It makes one wonder if the situation today would be reversed were Trump still in office, with Democrats unvaccinated and Republicans lining up for the shots. 

NO MORE "MASTER" BEDROOMS: A civil rights lawyer is under fire for praising the gradual elimination of the term "master" bedroom from use in Minnesota due to its supposed connection to slavery. Of course, the term "master" bedroom has its origins in the 1920s, decades after the destruction of slavery in America. If the absurdity continues American's will have to phase out terms like "master's
 degree, "master" key, and "master" plan. 

"RACIST" ROCK REMOVED: The University of Wisconsin has removed a rock after declaring it a "painful symbol of racism." This is what we call Racial Pareidolia.

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, AUGUST 7

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

LATIN MASS CANCELED? Get the whole story behind Francis' Traditionis Custodes from the newest video over at Religion, Sex, and Politics.

MCCARRICK CHARGED: Theodore McCarrick has been charged in Massachusetts regarding an accusation child sex abuse. The state was able to charge the defrocked ex-cardinal because the statue of limitations went on hold upon his departure from the state following the incident. Church Militant recently did some excellent digging into McCarrick's past and uncovered many more mysteries surrounding him and other clerics within the Church.

BENEDICT ON GERMAN CHURCH: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI recently spoke out on the German Church, especially accusing the German clergy of lacking religious faith. More from EWTN.

FR. KAPAUN HONORED: South Korea's Catholic president, Moon Jae-In, awarded the Korean War-era military chaplain, Fr. Emil Kapaun, with the nation's highest honor. Fr. Kapaun died in a North Korean prison camp during the war and is on the path towards canonization in the Church. The nation's honor Fr. Kapaun presents the Christianizing nation with a model of heroic virtue, both in faith and in civic duty.

INITIATION DENIED: Weak episcopal leadership over the past decades in Ireland have led to a massive revolt against the nation's historic faith. As abortion spreads, the government now seeks to halt initiation into the Catholic Church by citing the coronavirus in a bid to end First Communions and Confirmations. Many Catholic priests and bishops are rejecting the order. All this reveals how anti-Catholic politicians have weaponized the virus to enact their own partisan and anti-religious agendas.

II. AMERICAN POLITICS

JANUARY 6 FAUX INVESTIGATION: The House of Representatives has launched its faux investigation of the January 6 riots. Not one GOP-approved Representative is part of the panel. RINOs Kinzinger and Cheney volunteered against the wishes of GOP House leadership. Whether or not efforts to expel them are successful, they will both soon be primaried out of office. As not a single rioter has been charged with insurrection, the big picture question remains, why are Democrats still clinging to January 6?

THEY'RE LISTENING: Be careful not to spread "misinformation" about the pandemic or vaccinations as big brother might be listening in. Control of Big Tech wasn't enough, now the government seeks to get telecommunication companies involved in the censorship.

BIG TECH, THE ADL, AND "CANCEL" CULTURE: Cancel culture plans to grow as the Anti-Defamation League partners with "big tech" companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Google to ensure that anyone deemed deplorable and booted from one platform be removed from all platforms. What's more, the online payment company PayPal is also joining in, thus ensuring that targets of big tech are financially removed participation in the online economic community. Expect to see an increasing number of Americans to not only lose first amendment protections but also any ability to participate economically in the increasingly left-wing authoritarian state where "big tech" and "big government" work hand-in-hand. Or as The Hill is reporting, America is on the brink of imitating China's "social credit system." Meanwhile Apple has announced that it will scan all iPhones in search of evidence of child abuse. Should parents who have family photos of their baby's in the bathtub start worrying? And if Apple can scan your phone for this, how else might it collude with the government to access your private data, "cancel" you, or even get you arrested on fraudulent charges? 

ILLEGAL EVICTION BAN: After being rebuked by the Supreme Court and after stating he lacked the authority to continue a ban on evictions, Joe Biden went ahead and illegally extended the ban until October. This ban, combined with the never-ending unemployment checks keeping people out of work, have incentivized many American's to take tax payer money and not pay their rent. Biden is already being sued by landlords across the nation who soon risk losing their property to large vulture corporations. This is yet another example of the coronavirus being weaponized for partisan gains from those in "big government" while "big business" wipes out the middle class.

LAMDA AND THE BORDER: As variants of the coronavirus emerged in different parts of the world, the politically correct talking heads began identifying them with Greek letters rather than with their place of origin. Hence the "India" variant became the "delta" variant, the "UK" variant became the "Alpha" variant, the "South Africa" variant became the "beta" variant, and the "Brazil" variant became the "Gamma" variant. Now a new variant from Peru - known as the "lambda" variant - spreading like wildfire - and the vaccines seem unable to combat it. With Biden losing all control of America's southern border lambda is spreading into our nation. What cost the country pay in order to keep the open-border policy of the Democrats? What's more, in one case of the Democrat alliance with Catholic bishops and Catholic organizations - a financial alliance that allows bishops to get around the need of lay donations -  infected illegal immigrants are being released into the hands of Catholic Charities in southern Texas.

III. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

ABHORRENT DESECRATION OF LIFE: Allegations are swirling that the University of Pittsburg has become a hub of fetal tissue as the university targeted black unborn babies, often late term, for organ removal while their hearts were still beating. If only the Democrats really believed that black lives matter. We hope the university's federal funding is lost and arrests are soon made.

AMA AND GENDER: The American Medical Association - which should be dedicated to the science behind health - has clearly been taken over by the far left as it is calls on the removal of gender from birth certificates. We can only hope that average Americans awake to the insanity running rampant in our institutions.

HOMESCHOOLING SURGE: Between the pandemic and the battle over critical race theory in schools, homeschooling is surging.

TRIBAL WARFARE: While the left correctly rejects white supremacy, little is being done to curb the spread of tribalism among minority groups. In one recent example, a black man stomped on the head of an elderly Asian man in order to retaliate against a group of Koreans who attacked him. This is where critical race theory and leftwing racial identity politics takes us. 

GAY AZ DEMOCRAT ARRESTED: As Arizona continues its audit of the 2020 election, a state senator is under arrest for predatory homosexual pederasty. This comes as New York Governor Cuomo is under criminal investigation for sexual harassment and California's Governor Newsom faces a recall election. The gay state senator had played a significant role in the gay movement in Arizona. His actions further reveal the pederastic practices of too many homosexuals in America - particularly among Catholic priests (and even bishops like McCarrick). Too many sexually mature males, not prepubescents children, are being preyed upon by older homosexuals. 

PATRIOTIC WRESTLER: American Olympic wrestler Tamya Mensah-Stock won her nation a gold medal in Tokyo, speaking of her father and thanking God while wrapped in the flag. Unlike the examples of so many other American Olympic participants, it was amazing to see one who loved her God and her country.