Saturday, December 18, 2021

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

EU IDEOLOGICAL COLONIZATION: The European Union can't help but impose the sexual revolution on the Christian nations of eastern Europe. It's top court has ruled that Bulgaria must accept immigrating homosexual "parents" and their "children" into the nation. The European "rights" body has told Hungary that it's ban on homosexual propaganda in schools is yet another "rights" violation. Poland has lost billions of EU cash because it dares argue that its national judiciary should be independent of EU courts. All this is what Pope Francis calls "ideological colonization." The atheistic nations of western Europe are colonizing once more, but this time they are colonizing eastern Europe - not with troops or settlers but with their radical ideology. Viktor Orban of Hungary understands this. When will Poland, Bulgaria, and the nations of the Bucharest Nine alliance wake up and see that they have a clear enemy to resist - and that enemy is not Vladimir Putin.

NO CLARITY ON HOMOSEXUALITY: As one Catholic diocese in Michigan has announced it cannot dispense sacraments to unrepentant homosexuals, the Vatican apologized for temporarily removing a link to a pro-gay advance website from its own website. Where's the clarity in Church practice concerning homosexuality? 

POPE FRANCIS TURNS 85: Pope Francis has reached the age of 85 - the same age as Benedict XVI was when he retired. Though Francis appears to running strong, how much longer can he hold up as Pope?


II. AMERICAN POLITICS

BIDEN'S ENERGY WAR: The cost of energy is skyrocketing in America, yet few remember Biden's own admission during the 2020 campaign that he planned to destroy the US energy sector. And that's exactly what he's doing. In less than one year he's driven up energy prices by shutting down the Keystone Oil pipeline as he considers closing another, he's pushed for high costs on oil and gas companies, and banned fracking on public lands. We're not suprirsed to hear that US shale producers are venting frustrations at Biden's destructive energy 

LOSING HISPANIC VOTERS: Panic can only be sinking in among Democrats as they lose support from Hispanics nationwide. It appears that ethnic demography may not work in their favor after all. More from Dr. Steve Turley

ECONOMIC WOES: The US economy is in shambles. In an effort to boost a recovering economy last winter, Biden pushed more money into the system and drove up inflation. We're now seeing inflation hit points unseen in four decades. How will the Democrats fix it? Print and spend more money than ever before. 


III. THE NATIONS

PUTIN'S DIPLOMACY: Putin is a serious leader intent who understands that the United States and its allies would see his nation reduced to third world status at best or, at worst, partitioned and destroyed.  In some ways Putin is a microcosm of Russia's reemergence, having himself gone from moonlighting as a taxi driver to now the nation's powerful leader. And as a man who is used to playing weak hands, he's masterfully playing his much stronger hands. In recent weeks, he personally went to India to strike major deals with with Hindu nation, held a summit with Xi Jinping, made further diplomatic moves in the Mideast, and is now making demands on the US and its allies concerning NATO. The US and its allies, however, still act as though it was the 1990s when they had all the power. The skillful actions of Russian and Chinese leaders have undermined the status quo for good and its time America and its allies wake up to the new reality on the ground.

GERMAN POLITICS: As we mention last week, Germany has a new leader - the liberal Olaf Scholz. Scholz has in his first days in office overseen a delay in the approval of the Nordstream 2 pipeline (sending energy prices through the roof) while pledging support for Ukraine as a Russian gas transit state, encouraged more immigration to Germany, and is allowing German students to be bullied and shamed over their vaccination status. The only work being done in the German legislature, was a rearrangement of seating so that center-left party didn't have to sit next to a conservative party. We expect little from the new German regime.

BRITISH POLITICS: Boris Johnson might soon be out of a job following a shocking conservative loss in an off-year election. This comes amid reports of Johnson's staff joking about a Christmas party they held as the rest of the nation was in lock-down. The prime minister is also reportedly suffering from drinking problems - which reminds us of another national leader named Boris. Aside from Brexit, Johnson has done little to forward a conservative agenda in Great Britain. He's locked down the nation amid the pandemic, thus upending its fragile economy following Brexit. He's failed to protect its borders from immigrants crossing the channel while sending support to "protect" Ukraine's borders. He's angered the Russians and Chinese - while annoying Washington - by sending military vessels into Russian and Chinese waters. He's even overseen a UK contribution to the war on Christmas. We're not surprised to hear that he may soon be facing a vote of no confidence in the UK parliament. Time may be running out for Mr. Johnson.

THE RISE OF CHINESE NATIONALISM: An excellent short video on traditional Confucian nationalism emerging in China from Dr. Steve Turley.


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

NASA SHIFTS FROM SPACE: Anyone who remembers the space race, studied the history of NASA, or watched movies like Apollo 13 can't help but have an enduring respect for NASA. Yet gone are the days when the men of NASA took man to the moon. What has NASA become? What is it up to now? According to one new outlet, NASA will spend more time focusing on climate change than space. How the might have fallen.

VIGILANTES NEEDED: The drug war in Mexico continues to rage - and a new force is rising to resist the cartels: armed vigilantes. One town in Mexico received 500 such men, armed and ready to protect it from the cartels. Far from "vigilante justice," this act of protective fraternity is an image of republicanism at its finest. When armed men of their nation rise up as a patriarchal fraternity to protect it, only good can come.

NO JUSTICE FROM CRIMINAL JUSTICE? "Catch and release" no longer refers to illegal immigrants apprehended and let go. The phrase can now be said about lefist DA's running most of America's cities. The alleged Waukesha killer, Darrell Brooks, was released on $1000 bail after it was said he attempted to commit vehicular homicide, only to plow through a crowd of innocents during a Christmas parade. We've now heard about a New York man who committed armed robbery, but was released by the DA and promptly found a new victim shortly thereafter. And let us not forget the Antifa member who used a weapon to attack the office of a conservative state legislator, who not only was released by the DA but given his weapon back. All this comes as liberal judges throw the book at pathetic, groveling January 6 rioters. It seems as though the more contrition the rioters show, the longer their sentences are. It's high time these DA's are held accountable and the hypocrisy in our justice system ends. 

BIG TECH PUNISHES TRUTH-TELLERS: According to Twitter, those who say that the vaccine does not prevent transmission of the coronavirus will be punished. We somehow doubt, however, that Twitter will be punishing the CDC, the NIH, or Dr. Fauci, all of whom say exactly what Twitter is now banning.

CHRIS WALLACE LEAVES FOXNEWS: Good riddance to the Trump-hating Chris Wallace, who leaves FoxNews and heads to... CNN. Wallace follows Jonah Goldberg and Chris Hayes as yet the most recent neocon, Never Trumper to leave the network. The best news is that the departure of neocons from FoxNews points to the emerging dominance of Tucker Carlson, the best voice on cable news today. 

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

FRANCIS DEFENDS CHRISTMAS: Pope Francis called out the secularists in the European Union who are attempting to remove "Christmas" from the season's vocabulary. He cited his term, "ideological colonization" - the idea that secularists are the new colonizers - and called the war on Christmas "anachronistic" because it's been done many times in the past (Which is the same argument Vladimir Putin made against "progressivism" in terms of race and sexuality. What we're trying now, the Soviets tried - and failed - in the past.). Francis was also very strong in how he considers the nations within the European Union. He rejects uniformity between the nations, the destruction of national sovereignty, and an EU that can force its policies top-down on member nations. Here are his full remarks on the subject: 
"You refer to the European Union document on Christmas... this is an anachronism. In history many, many dictatorships have tried to do so. Think of Napoleon: from there... Think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist one... it is a fashion of a watered-down secularism, distilled water... But this is something that throughout hasn’t worked.
"But this makes me think of something, talking about the European Union, which I believe is necessary: the European Union must take in hand the ideals of the founding fathers, which were ideals of unity, of greatness, and be careful not to take the path of ideological colonisation. This could end up dividing the countries and [causing] the European Union to fail. The European Union must respect each country as it is structured within, the variety of countries, and not want to make them uniform. I don't think it will do that, it wasn't its intention, but be careful, because sometimes they come, and they throw projects like this one out there and they don't know what to do; I don't know what comes to mind... No, each country has its own peculiarity, but each country is open to the others. The European Union: its sovereignty, the sovereignty of brothers in a unity that respects the individuality of each country. And be careful not to be vehicles of ideological colonisation. That is why [the issue] of Christmas is an anachronism."
JUDAISM AND HINDUISM: If you haven't watched, don't miss out on the livestreams over at Religion, Sex, & Politics from our very own A. Joseph Lynch. The past two weeks Lynch hosted a livestream on Judaism and another on Hinduism. The presentations are part of a series that not only examine the major religions of the world, but also place these religions within the context of geopolitics and the plan of divine providence.

NOTRE DAME DISASTER? France plans to "modernize" the historic church, which was brought to near ruin in a fire in 2019. Taylor Marshall weighs in.


II. AMERICAN POLITICS

WAR ON CHRISTIAN RUSSIA: In a short interview with retired Colonel Doug MacGregor, Tucker Carlson asks another question no one else will: Is the American-led efforts to defeat Russia based on the fact that Russia today has returned to its historic Christian roots?

TRUMP FOR SPEAKER? While unlikely, if Rep. Matt Gaetz gets it his way he'd see Donald Trump elected as Speaker of the House after the GOP reclaims its control next year. And yes, it's possible for this to happen even if Trump doesn't run for a House seat. It's a long shot, but we'd welcome it if there were prospects for the impeachment of Biden and Harris.

MANDATES ON HOLD: Biden's push to force vaccine mandates at businesses across the country has come under fierce attack from the courts. And now two Democrat in the Senate - Tester and Manchin - voted with Republicans to overturn Biden's mandate. And as Dr. Fauci says that the term "fully vaccinated" will soon be redefined to include boosters, the tide may soon be turn against the growing powers of the government as American's reject the overreach.


III. THE NATIONS

PUTIN-BIDEN SUMMIT: Despite neocons and neoliberals playing Chicken Little regarding Russia, Russia poses no threat to Ukraine. Its troops are stationed over a hundred miles away from the Ukrainian border and will only activate in response to a Ukrainian attack on the Donbas or if the US/NATO involves its troops or weapons in Ukraine. In the past week we've heard the head of NATO reject NATO involvement in Ukraine and as a result of the Putin-Biden virtual summit Biden has announced that US troop deployment to Ukraine is "not on the table." What's more, Putin brilliantly took advantage of the summit, called for by Biden, to demand a treaty that will limit NATO expansion eastward and the "Findlandization" of Ukraine. Putin and Russia clearly came out on top this week.

NEW GERMAN CHANCELLOR: The era of Merkel's Germany has ended. And with Olaf Scholz, the new Chancellor of Germany, it appears the nation is leaning further left. The NY Times asks if Scholz can advance the left across Europe.

"DEMOCRACY" SUMMIT - A RESPONSE: The US hosted a so-called democracy summit aimed at currying favor with some nations while snubbing others. China and Russia - which both practice some form of democracy - issued a joint response to the summit. It's well worth the read.


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION UNSAFE? One wonders why more Americans have died from the coronavirus under Biden's watch than under Trump's, especially when Biden has had multiple vaccines available throughout 2021. We believe the sheer amount of pressure to vaccinate, the total lack of vaccine and virus transparency, and media censorship have all contributed to "vaccine hesitancy." The latest act of censorship comes once again from Twitter, which has flagged the American Medical Association website as "unsafe" after it posted vaccine research that our big tech overlords didn't like. So much for "trust the science".

FACILITATING MURDER: John Chisholm, Milwaukee's far-left Soros-backed district attorney, had previously let alleged mass-murderer Darrell Brooks out of jail on $1000 bail after alleged attempted vehicular homicide. Why such a low bail? Thank the philosophy of critical race theory. Back in 2007, Chisholm admitted his philosophy would lead to deaths: “Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into treatment program, who’s going to go out and kill somebody? You bet. Guaranteed. It’s guaranteed to happen. It does not invalidate the overall approach.” And after two parents were charged because their son committed murder, can we see some charges on Mr. Chisholm? 

MEDIA HYPOCRISY REVEALED: We all know the mainstream media exists to protect the political establishment and their allies. This is just as much true of FoxNews on the right as it is for CNN on the left. The left, however, has taken some major beatings as Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN (a scandal which might see the downfall of Jeff Zucker, the head of CNN). And now with the guilty verdict of Jussie Smollett - who faked a hate crime to help his career - is further revealing the leftwing media as it did everything it could to give credence to his lies, particularly because they played into their anti-Trump narrative.