RELIGION, NATION, MARRIAGE: THE LOYALTIES OF MEN
PRAY, WORK, STUDY, PROTECT: THE DUTIES OF MEN


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Saturday, February 12, 2022

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

FR. STU TRAILER: Devout Catholics, Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson, star in Fr. Stu, a film based on the remarkable story of an unlikely man's journey to priestly ordination. Fr. Stu comes out at Easter and we recommend you check out the new trailer.  

ATHEISM AND THE WEST: Over on Religion, Sex, and Politics, our own A. Joseph Lynch has posted a video presentation on the rise of atheism as a foundation of Western Civilization. It's a unique take on the topic, and one worth checking out.

RESURGENCE OF RELIGION: Dr. Steve Turley mostly comments on politics, but he is a huge champion of global Christianity and the rise of religion the world over. In this video he introduces us to Japan and the centrality of Shintoism. Japan is a living example of a nation that is both scientific and religious. The two are not opposed.


II. AMERICAN POLITICS

BIDEN KILLS MORE KIDS: Biden's hit on an ISIS leader in Turkish-occupied Syria feels very similar to the botched American bombing in Kabul which killed an innocent Afghan family. The administration attempted to blame the deaths of women and children on the leader's suicide bombing, yet questions remain about how the women and children were killed in the latest attack.

EDITS TO SUCCESS? A former clerk of a black woman contender for the coveted position on the supreme court took extraordinary - and in our opinion, disqualifying - steps to ensure success. The clerk, Matteo Godi, not only began editing the Wikipedia page of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in order to make her look better, but she also edited the pages of Jackson's opponents in order to make them look worse. Is petty behavior like this really what we want to see from the clerks of our supreme court justices?

SPYING ON CONSERVATIVE CONGRESSMEN: The Capitol Police are embroiled in yet another scandal. The police unit - the only US law enforcement body not under the executive branch but rather under Congressional leaders - is now accused of spying on a conservative congressman. The Capitol Police claim they entered Congressman Troy Nehl's office only because his door was left wide open - but a video released by Nehls clearly shows the door is self-closing. It's time for serious reform of the Capitol Police. 

INFLATION AT 40 YEAR HIGH: Inflation is now at its highest point since 1982, a full 40 years ago. Yet the inflation in 1982 was declining from the highs set by Jimmy Carter. Joe Biden appears eager to break his predecessor's record. According to reports, gas is up 40%, utility gas up 24%, furniture up 20%, eggs up 13%, and chicken is up 10%. Another report says that Americans had to pay an extra  $3500 in 2021 to buy the same products they purchased in 2020. It's no wonder why on 24 hours after the bombshell numbers came out that Biden began telling the world a Russian invasion of Ukraine was imminent. Can anyone say wag the dog?  


III. THE NATIONS

PUTIN AND XI MEET: As China's year of the Black Water Tiger begins, the Tiger and the Bear - Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin - met in person for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak. The two discussed the state of their alliance, with Russia defending China's claims on Taiwan and China defending Russia's security demands in Europe. The two nations are now in lockstep - and with the Ukraine quagmire ongoing, the US "pivot to Asia" gets more and more difficult with each passing day.

ARGENTINA AND RUSSIA - AND CHINA: Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez travelled to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin in hopes of building a stronger relationship between their nations. Fernandez publicly stated his hopes for Argentina to be a gateway for Russia into Latin America while noting his nation's dependency on the United Sates has not been beneficial - in fact, he blamed the relationship with the US for Argentina's debt woes with the IMF. As the US continues to anger potential allies, isolate itself from the nations, and pick fights with powers it cannot defeat, Russia continues to win victories. It also turns out that China is involved in the new deal as well, with Argentina joining China's Belt and Road Initiative. The American hand is getting weaker.

INDIVISIBILITY OF SECURITY: Russia has long decried the US and NATO failure to keep their word concerning the expansion of NATO following the fall of the Soviet Union. This alone has given Russia cause to demand legally binding security guarantees. Despite this, Russia has made a legal argument against the expansion of NATO. This argument may be dubbed "the argument from the indivisibility of security" - and it's legal basis lies upon the foundations of the Istanbul Declaration of 1999 and the Astana Declaration of 2010. These declarations, binding upon the members of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), rejects the idea of security as a zero-sum game - i.e. increasing my security at the cost of yours. Instead security is defined as "indivisible" - and as such any expansion of NATO towards Russia's borders violates the principle of the indivisibility of security which America and NATO have agreed to. And while the aforementioned declarations do state that nations have the right to choose their alliances, such an argument cannot be applied to any Ukrainian desire to join NATO as NATO's own charter does not allow nations to simply join NATO. Instead, NATO itself must pursue new member states and may only invite a nation to its ranks through a unanimous vote by all current NATO member states. In other words, Russia has a tight legal argument behind its demands.

COORDINATING WITH RUSSIA'S MILITARY: The US revealed it coordinated its recent attack in Turkish-occupied Syria with Russia. Was Turkey in the loop? And why was the leader so close to Turkish units without Turkey knowing? Sounds a lot like bin Laden in Pakistan. And speaking of coordination with Russia, Syrian and Russian aircraft made their first coordinated patrol of Syria's borders along the Golan Heights - a clear sign to Israel that Russia will not tolerate its aggressive airstrikes on its Syrian ally. 

UKRANIAN RESISTANCE: Despite widespread claims that an invasion of Ukraine would be costly to Russia, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, told Congress in a closed door briefing that should war break out, 15,0000 Ukrainian soldiers would die and Kiev would fall in 72 hours while Russia would suffer a meager 4,000 causalities. Congress was also warned that war would also result in thousands of refugees flooding westward. While the neocon-laden State Department tells itself that Ukraine can be a new Afghanistan for Russia, it's clear the Pentagon sees Ukraine as another Afghanistan for America; a debacle we cannot win. Lucky for Ukraine, Russia has no intention of invading. 


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

GOFUNDME INVESITIGATIONS: GoFundMe is under fire over its handling of the Freedom Convoy. Recall that GoFundMe had no problems fundraising for the CHAZ - a real insurrectionist and occupation of Seattle back in 2020 that led to murder and mayhem.  

TEACHER BURN OUT: A new survey reveals the pandemic burn out affecting America's teachers as more than half say they are looking to quit

RACIST APOLOGIES: In other classroom news, a teacher and school district have come under fire for segregating white students and forcing them to apologize for being born white.  

DEMOCRATS WATCH TUCKER: As CNN continues its freefall, Tucker Carlson is dominating cable news. What's more, he's even drawing in the Democrats. Right now more Democrats watch Tucker than watch CNN or MSNBC. Tucker is the best thing FoxNews has ever had on its airwaves.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21

by A. Joseph Lynch

THE WEEKLY BRIEF
NON-IMPEACHMENT IMPEACHMENT

We now know the House Democrat's impeachment strategy was a kind of non-impeachment impeachment. The news tells us that Trump was impeached on two counts, yet Noah Feldman, a pro-impeachment Harvard professor and Democrat witness during the investigation, explains that impeachment is a process, not a vote. Impeachment, in other words, does not take effect until the two articles of impeachment have been sent to the Senate for trial. Trump is not impeached until the House tells the Senate he is impeached. It is now uncertain that this will take place.

Despite what Pelosi says, Trump has not officially been impeached.

The fact of the matter is that the Democrats have now fired everything they have at President Trump. From the "bullets" of their pundits to the "missiles" of the Leftist mainstream media - and now the "nuclear bomb" that is impeachment. The Democrats have nothing left to fire on the President.

Yet Trump's approval has risen and his advantage against Democrat presidential candidates grows.

If Pelosi refuses to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, Trump will call impeachment "fake news" while McConnell in the Senate will continue to call Democrats "chicken" with cold feet. And if Pelosi makes impeachment official, the coming Senate trial will reveal the emptiness of the charges while derailing the candidacy of many Democrat presidential candidates from the Senate (who will be silently locked away in the Senate for six days a week during the trial). If questions emerge about Hunter Biden and Ukraine, it could also prove irrevocably damaging to Joe Biden's campaign.

Neither official impeachment nor non-impeachment impeachment are winning strategies. And in the battle for political power, the Democrats just ran out of ammo. 2020 looks to be a good year for President Trump and America.


I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

FRANCIS AND MARY: Pope Francis has a deep devotion to Mary, in particular Mary as the Untier of Knots. Francis was blasted by conservatives this week after he rightly called the addition of new Marian dogmas "foolishness". As we wage war against the dark forces operating in the world, it is highly unlikely that we will rally our Protestant brethren to our cause by declaring Mary the Co-Redepmptrix or Mediatrix of all Graces, much less declare her the "quasi-Incarnation" of the Holy Spirit. Such unnecessary dogmas will create more knots that untie the many that confront us.

NO MORE SECRECY: Pope Francis has abolished the use of "pontifical secrecy" in its investigations of sexual predation among the clergy. More work remains, but this is a good move towards transparency.

QUO VADIS, HANNITY? FoxNews host Sean Hannity has officially left the Catholic Church. Hannity had questioned Church teaching the past, but has sadly now allowed the conservative assault on the Holy Father to drive him out of the arms of Mother Church.

THERE THEY GO AGAIN: Another Minnesota bishop is in the hot seat for covering up a homosexual predator priest. More from Church Militant.


II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

IG REPORT: Some viewed the IG report as a bit of a mixed bag for conservatives, yet the Horowitz had a more limited scope and could not prosecute crimes. The report, however, was nevertheless damning. The fact that John Durham, who is in the middle of a much larger investigation with prosecutorial powers, publicly disagreed with some findings in the report, is a sign of things to come. Durham is now requesting the CIA for all communications records of former CIA head John Brennan, including Brennan's communications with former FBI Director James Comey. Brennan could face prosecution for lying to Congress after the IG report contradicted his testimony that the Steele dossier was not used during the Trump investigation. Last Sunday Comey faced off with a surprisingly fierce Chris Wallace. The IG report may not have had everything conservatives wanted, but there was enough there to brace us for what will come later this year in the Durham investigation.

DEMOCRAT FLIP: The Democrats in the House have gone so far to the Left, that they've officially forced one of their members - Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey - to join the Republicans. With all but two "moderates" voting to impeach, do they really expect to keep the House next year?

HARD LEFT "MODERATES": A smaller and whiter pool of Democrat presidential hopefuls debated this week. So-called "moderate" candidates Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg argued respectively for the destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the name climate change and for $2.2 trillion in reparations to illegal immigrants. If these are the moderates, who can beat Trump?

CHRISTIANITY TODAY: Founded by Billy Graham, the Evangelical magazine is calling for Trump's removal from office. This has sparked quite a reaction from conservative Evangelicals, including Graham's son, who has declared his father indeed voted for Trump. Although it is shrinking there is still some fight left in the conservative "Never Trump" movement.


III. THE NATIONS

SAUDIS AND PAKISTANIS OPT OUT: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were noticeably absent from a large gathering of Islamic leaders in Malaysia this week. It is said that Pakistan's prime minister, who played a large role in organizing the meeting, was pressured by the Saudis to pull out of the meeting at the last minute. While other Muslim nations seek to address Islam in the world the Saudis refuse to share the stage with rivals and continue on their own path of Wahhabi radicalism.

INDIA AND RELIGIOUS IMMIGRATION: As Muslims met in Malaysia, the Indian government moves forward on its religiously-based citizenship legislation. Despite accounting for less than 15% of the total population, India is now the third largest Muslim nation in the world. India's new law has been criticized for not extending citizenship to Muslim migrants, yet it must be noted that Muslim migrants in India have Pakistan and Bangladesh bordering India - both are in the top five largest Muslim countries in the world. For the Christian migrant - in many cases persecuted by Muslims precisely in Pakistan or Bangladesh - where's the nearest Christian nation? We should applaud India's move to extend citizenship to those religiously persecuted with no where else to turn.

BREXIT MOVING FORWARD: After 847 days of campaigning against Brexit, the Brit known as "Stop Brexit Man" has officially given up. After clearing Parliament this week with a massive 124-vote majority of 358 for Brexit to 234 against, Brexit is set to take effect January 31. We hope other European nations will follow suit.


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

MEN'S ROOM TAMPONS: The ACLU is demanding the defense of "menstrual  justice" by ensuring access to tampons in men's restrooms. Another reason why we need laws protecting gendered bathrooms.

SANTA'S GENDER: Liberals demand an end to "Father" Christmas.

FLAG BURNER GETS 15-YEAR SENTENCE: No, he didn't burn an American flag. That's "protected free speech". He burned a gay pride flag. The inversion of justice continues.

MORMON'S ARE OUT: Around 400,000 Mormons are in the process of leaving the Boy (and not Girl) Scouts. The number accounts for about 18% of the organization's membership. Member dues are now set to nearly double next year. None of this bodes well for the "diversifying" organization.

HOMELESS DIRECTOR RESIGNS...: ...after hiring a transsexual stripper to perform at a conference on homelessness. We can't make up insane stories such as this. 

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30

by A. Joseph Lynch

THE WEEKLY BRIEF
IS THE END NEAR?

Impeachment is failing. Time for Plan B. Don't take it from AoA; that's the headline from Left leaning, The Week. The hard-Left outlet, The Washington Post, hasn't had much better to say with their piece entitled, the Democrats' impeachment obsession is backfiring, which opened by saying their obsession with impeachment "could prove to be the biggest political blunder in modern times." In more news from the hard-Left news site, Mother Jones is admitting, "Yep, Impeachment Is a Yawner," and reporting that "the impeachment hearings appear to be a bust." During Thanksgiving week, Congressional Democrats from Trump districts were hammered by anti-impeachment ads and slammed at town hall meetings.

While the impeachment boondoggle is becoming an anvil around the necks of Democrats, it has become a boon for GOP fundraising and for Trump in particular. Congressional fundraising reports revealed that - no surprise - celebrity Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised the most money of any congressional Democrat. At $1.42 million this past quarter, Cortez out-raised Nancy Pelosi ($1.26 million) and Adam Schiff ($1.14 million). Yet many Republicans congressmen out-raised Cortez. It's reported that Steve Scalise ($3.45 million), Devin Nunes ($2.6 million), and Kevin McCarthy ($1.6 million) all out-raised the Democrats' biggest celebrity in Congress. With Trump out-earning Obama at the same period of their respective presidencies, we might soon see a repeat of 2004 and 2016, when the GOP swept the House, Senate, and Presidency.

Impeachment is becoming a no-win scenario for Democrats.

If the Democrats can muster enough impeachment votes from Trump district Democrats the Senate trial will not bode well for them. The GOP will now set the rules. After rejecting testimony based on hearsay, virtually every witness called by Schiff will be dismissed outright while Republicans will undoubtedly call the so-called whistle blower, Adam Schiff, and the seemingly corrupt father-son Biden duo to testify. The timing of course will also be terrible. While destroying the Biden candidacy, the trial will certainly keep the presidential contenders from the Senate - Booker, Harris, Warren, Sanders, and Klobuchar - tied quietly to their Senate season and off the trail during the heart of the campaign season. In the end, Trump will be found innocent and the Democrats - along with the Left wing media - will look like fools. Swing district Democrats - who ran on fixing America's problems - will certainly face a swift and terrible backlash at the ballot box come November.

The Democrats could instead opt not to vote on impeachment in the House and instead censure President Trump. The time for censuring, however, is past. As one columnist put it: A censure is "[n]ot happening. If Democrats walk away from impeachment now, Schiff and his enablers will not just have egg on their collective faces, they will have an entire omelet."

One way or another, the end of impeachment is nearing.

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

THANKSGIVING: Don't call it Turkey Day. Another article about the Puritans from Trevor Thomas.

EX-NFL PLAYER'S ANTI-CATHOLICISM: Ex-NFL star Larry Johnson took to social media to reject celebrating Christ's birth on December 25. Johnson repeated a tired myth (refuted by apologist Jimmy Akin) that the Catholic Church is pagan, commemorating Christ's birth on date common to paganism.

THE FAITH OF CHILDREN: Scientific research indicates belief in God is built in.

LIFE COMES FROM LIFE: You can't give what you don't have - biological life cannot exist without spiritual life preceding it.

POPE FRANCIS IN JAPAN: Pope Francis is the first pope in nearly forty years to visit Japan. Read our book review of Silence, a Catholic novel about 16th century persecution of Catholics in Japan.

FEAST OF ST. ANDREW: Read and reflect on the Apostle and the monks of Mt. Athos.


II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

HURD'S BOGUS WARNING? Retiring Never-Trumper, Will Hurd, is warning the GOP that it must diversify if it is to survive. When the fellow Never-Trumper, Mitt Romney managed to win only 6% of the black vote while President Trump is currently polling at 34% approval among blacks, we can all tell where the diversity deficit can be found.

RECORD MARKET: The markets closed for their 100th record high under President Trump. If markets predict elections, Trump is looking very good for 2020.

IS ANYONE WATCHING? As liberal politicians, along with CNN, MSNBC, and the broader left wing media continue to cry wolf - first in the Russia hoax, and now in the Ukraine hoax - their loss of credibility is leading to a loss of viewers. Viewership of the impeachment inquiry dropped day by day while viewership of the latest Democrat debate hit another low of only 6.5 million viewers. Axios is reporting that the hit character "Baby Yoda" from the new Star Wars TV series is beating every 2020 presidential contender combined with the exception of President Trump.

THE FART HEARD AROUND THE WORLD: One Democrat member of the House Intel Committee let it slip that impeachment really is a bunch of hot air.


III. THE NATIONS

SYRIA FALSE FLAG: Last June we covered false flag allegations behind the chemical weapons attack in Syria. More allegations have been made and largely left uncovered - with the exception of Tucker Carlson (FoxNews' best newsman).

NO GAY MARRIAGE IN CHINA: Last May Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalize gay marriage. Meanwhile China recently affirmed it's adherence to traditional marriage. Why are we defending Taiwan again?

HINDU-INDIAN POLITICS: Modi of India continues to press home a Hindu nationalist agenda with particular animus to it's old enemy Pakistan and its Islamic population. He is now moving to extend citizenship to non-Muslims immigrants in India as a census is prepared that might undercut Muslim representation and lead other Muslims to expulsion from the predominantly Hindu nation.

NATIONALIST WINS SRI LANKA: A Buddhist nationalist has been elected to lead the tiny island nation off the coast of India. Dr. Steve Turley explains this results and the nature of Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka.

BREXIT TO WIN BIG? The Brexit party has evaporated as the Brexit vote is falling behind Boris Johnson's conservatives - who now hold a 19 point edge in the polls ahead of next month's elections. The numbers indicate the biggest win for British conservatives since Thatcher.

"BRAIN DEAD" NATO: Macron of France recently declared NATO "brain dead." Pat Buchanan concurs.


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

HAIDT ON RITES OF PASSAGE: Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains the needs for initiation rites, especially for males.

BINGE DRINKING UP, BIRTHS DOWN: Binge drinking among childless women in their 30s and early 40s has doubled in the past ten years. Meanwhile the US fertility rate hit an all time low in 2018. Other reports have shown that wealthier zip codes have markedly lower birth rates. Careers and houses come at a cost more terrible than money.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL DEMOTED: Lieutenant General - make that Major General - Lee Levy was demoted and discharged after making comments he'd make to any other male officer... except it was to a female officer. Our language should change when speaking to ladies, but is the US military the appropriate place for "ladies and gentlemen" language or is the place where men learn how to speak to other men?

CRYING FOWL: Cambridge has removed the 17th century painting, The Fowl Market, after its depiction of butchered animals offended vegan students. If university is meant to help us prepare to enter the world, pulling down the fine art is not helping these students one iota.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

SEPTEMBER 11: Remember, Reconsider, Redirect

by David Pence




It has been 18 years since 3,000 Americans died in the attacks of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The New York firefighters and the passenger citizens who prevented the hijacker goals on Flight 93 remind us that a fighting citizenry and local police and firemen are always the primary defense in this asymmetric form of war. The natural response to an attack is for a people to assemble in natural protective relations to safeguard the group. This religious war will be fought by a religious people organized as a nation of protectors in every city and state. A return to God as a people and a renewal of our American national identity are essential elements in our defense. Reversing the asexual modern socialization patterns of young males is just as necessary. Our civc/political failure to link male maturation and patriotic protective duty has spawned, some effeminate and others thuggish, hyper-individualized and ungrateful young males. The 9/11 attacks did bring an outpouring of gratitude and honor toward the soldier, policeman, and fireman -- the traditional male citizen protectors. Our young males need such clarity. Male maturation has nothing to do with color; it is about entering an adult male group united by religious and protective duty. Adolescents think they know it all but real men submit to spiritual authority. Boys are protected by women; grown up men protect women. To effectively protect, we must bond together as a fraternity of fathers. Reversing the cultural lessons of the sexual revolution by reasserting the spiritual meaning of manhood and national brotherhood is another essential response to 9/11.

From the beginning the US governmental response to the attack has misunderstood the religious animus that still motivates our enemies. This has led to strategic incoherence in picking our allies and isolating our enemies. The shock of 9/11 has misguided our tactics as well leading to a skewed emphasis on protecting airplane flights before securing our water supply and electrical grid. We have argued that we must understand the role of religion and nations in framing this conflict. We think there is much to be learned from both Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisor (scroll down for interview with Ben Rhodes within this link). They came to understand the failure of our own foreign policy establishment and the mistake in demonizing Shiite Iran when we are fighting a branch of Sunni Islam fostered by Saudi Arabia. This understanding has been deliberately obfuscated by Israeli and Saudi forces who wish to turn the war on terror into a war against Iran. A significant reinforcement  of their narrative is the US Marine memory of Oct 23, 1983. For many soldiers  the Iran/Syrian/ Hezbollah inspired bombing of Marine barracks in Beirut was the "real beginning of global Islamic terrorism." The event was part of the 1982 Lebanon, PLO, Israeli war in which US troops were inserted with no definitive military goals for the forces themselves. There is a great lesson to learn from our soldiers' deaths in Beirut. That lesson is not that Iran is the chief exporter of terrorism in the world.    

The war in Afghanistan is a different theatre than the struggle in the Mideast. But like the fight against ISIS in the Mideast, we will need Iran and Russia as well as India and China in helping bring negotiated peace in Afghanistan. (Scroll to Islam and Mideast in this link for good review of Afghanistan conflict).

The war of the Saudis against the Houthi of Yemen has weakened our fight against AQAP in Yemen. This is directly analogous to our long involvement in aiding jihadist Sunnis against the Assad government in Syria. Our country is an ally in the religious persecution of Shiites which animates so much of Muhammed bin Salman's new more aggressive Saudi foreign policy. This aggression is part of the young Crown Prince's effort to win favor with the Wahhabi clergy in pressing his claims for succession to the throne against his more competent elder kinsmen. The Crown Prince is also the force behind the anti-Qatar campaign (scroll to new Crown Prince). The strategic goals of the US have been obfuscated by confusing them with the goals of our traditional allies. Pakistan in South Asia, as well as Saudi Arabia and Israel in the Mideast have different goals and different enemies than the U.S.

President Trump has advocated an 'America first' foreign policy. Now we need citizens, journalists, scholars -- but most of all the US Senate -- to debate fully what that means. We owe clarity of strategy to our dead, our military, and the young men we are socializing to continue the protection.   This must include trying to resolve the almost 40-year-old Iran/Israeli war which is being confused with the global war against salafist jihadists. (See this excellent summary of Israel's geopolitical stance in which ISIS as a buffer is preferred to a stabilization of Shia-led governments in Iran, Iraq or Syria.)

We now (2018) hear officials and some newsmen say that 9/11 was caused by "radical Islamic terrorism." That is true and that is an advance but that is not enough. That brand of radical Islam which attacked us had a launching pad in Afghanistan but they had a home base as well. The Islamic radical movement which struck us comes from a particular school of Islamic law. They have a territorial  address. But after 7 years under President Bush, 8 years under President Obama, and 3 years under President Trump, we have not given them a proper call back yet. Let us remember, let us reconsider, let us redirect.

{Our extended 18,000 word essay published on Sept 11, 2018 places our arguments about 9/11 in the historical context of the 20th century. It is a long illustrated piece-our culminating synthesis.}

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, AUGUST 3

by A. Joseph Lynch
& Past Commentary of Dr. David Pence

THE WEEKLY BRIEF
DEMOCRAT CONTENDERS DEBATE 

Democrats just held their most recent round of presidential primary debates. Absent was any reference to Vladimir Putin, the Russia collusion hoax, and the disastrous Mueller testimony on obstruction of justice. Instead, they practically spent more time criticizing former president, Barack Obama, than they did President Trump. This is understandable as the far Left has pushed the liberal agenda so far that even Obama, the most liberal president in American history, is now seen as too conservative (see this video that shows college students mistaking Obama on immigration for Trump).

The biggest headliner, however, was Tulsi Gabbard's take down of Kamala Harris saying that as a prosecutor Harris "put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana... she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California." It was quite a moment for Gabbard and we hope it is reflected her future poll numbers. Gabbard, however, is seen as too close to Trump in terms of foreign policy and is now facing attacks from the mainstream media for her attack on Harris. Twitter refused to acknowledge her trending after the Kamala take down. She is especially detested for meeting with Assad in 2016. Although it seems like the deck might be stacked against her, we wish Gabbard well in her presidential pursuits. Here is what Dr. Pence had to say about Gabbard after her meeting with Assad, and later President-elect Trump, in November 2016:
"The natural allies for Mr Trump’s foreign policy position should be antiwar Democrats. Representative Gabbard is Hindu and understands the radical Sunni nature of the sources of terrorism (think Pakistan as well as the Sauds). There will definitely be a tilt toward India in a Trump administration. Her being a Hindu is treated as an esoteric curiosity in the diversity conscious strategically clueless mainstream media. Anyone who understands the Pakistan-India world was not surprised at the Hindu nationalist support for his candidacy. One wonders where the antiwar left was in the Democratic primary. Rep Gabbard switched to Bernie Sanders after he lost South Carolina because she was so opposed to the Clinton/Weekly Standard foreign policy. The rest of the antiwar Democrats were in hiding, supporting the hawkish Mrs Clinton as they feared for their places in the pecking order of the brave new Clinton world. Mr. Trump is going to be aggressively opposed by Senator John McCain and insulted by Lindsey Graham as he changes our course in the Mideast. He needs to develop a solid base of Democratic senators and representatives who will help him pull away from war with Russia and assemble the forces (Russia, Syria, Iraq, and Iran?) which can crush ISIS. When it comes to who are our allies and who will be against us,  Rep Gabbard is a good trade for Lindsey Graham."

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

OPUS BONO SACERDOTTI: The small non-profit group has been supporting accused clergy for nearly twenty years, operating from un-marked buildings across rural Michigan. Although not "officially" tied to the Church, it was supported by the late Fr. John Neuhaus (d. 2009) and Avery Cardinal Dulles (d. 2008), both known conservatives in the Church. The group has also formed a spin-off group to "assist" accused priests called Men of Melchizedek, or "MOM" for short. How fitting. More from Crux.

CHURCH OF THE APOSTLES: Archaeologists have discovered the ancient church built upon the home of brothers St. Peter and St. Andrew on the northern shores of Galilee. It is also believed that this was the location of the biblical town of Bethsaida. More discoveries are expected in the season to come.


II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

DAN COATS OUT: Effective August 15, Dan Coats - the director of national intelligence - is leaving his post. This a very good turn of events for the President as he needs more like-minded men facilitating his nationalist vision for America's foreign policy. Rumor has it that Bolton will soon leave as well, another positive development if true. We invite readers to re-read our February 2 post that includes our take on the 2019 threat assessment, partly presented by Coats. Here is an except of what Dr. Pence had to say:
Comey, Brennan and Clapper are gone. The deep state remains. It is not all powerful - it is ever present in its careerism but incestuously small in its grasp of events. There seems no comprehension that the Trump nationalist agenda of meeting with leaders of large influential nation-men can break up the most dangerous scenario of all: Russia and China leading African nations allied with Sunni Turkey and Shiite Iran vs the globalist West led ideologically by feminist Sweden and militarily by a dispirited NATO. If Haspel, Coats, and Wray are now considered "the adults in the room", the baby boomer project of first coarsening, then feminizing, and finally infantilizing American public discourse has been completed.
DEAL WITH GUATEMALA: President Trump reached a deal with Guatemala on immigration. In a huge win for his presidency, Guatemala agreed to a safe third country deal with the US. This now means that asylum seekers who pass through Guatemala, on Mexico's southern border, en route to the US must seek asylum in Guatemala first. The Trump Administration is working on similar arrangements with the two nations on Guatemala's southern border, Honduras and El Salvador. We invite readers to look at our post on mapping Central America to get a better sense of the region and map that might help explain the geographic importance of the agreements being reached.

EXODUS AT THE DCCC: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is seeing a rather large turnover as white leaders and their support staff begin to exit because they have the wrong skin color. Outgoing chairwoman, Cheri Bustos, said in her departure that the DCCC needs "a staff that truly reflects the diversity of our Democratic caucus and our party." Many who have left led the effort to re-take the House from the GOP in 2018. It remains to be seen who effective the new leadership will be in 2020. What's more, will this decrease odds of the two white men leading the pack of presidential contenders, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders? And will all this further alienate white and moderate voters going into the 2020 election? Time will tell.

MAGA HAT WEARER BEATEN: After a minority American who wore a MAGA hat was brutally beaten in NYC for supporting President Trump, liberals on social media said he deserved it, adding that he shouldn't dress that way. The media, which gave around the clock coverage to actor Jussie Smollett when he made the false accusation that MAGA-wearing attackers beat him for being gay, have paid no attention. Instead, they've focused coverage on a Trump supporting throwing a punch at a protester in Kentucky. While there is certainly anger on both sides, we should all be troubled that the media fails to cover it on the Left while liberals on social media attempt to justify violence so long as it's directed towards the Right.

NEW DEFENSE SECRETARY: Mark Esper is the new Secretary of Defense.


III. THE NATIONS

NEW UK PRIME MINISTER: Boris Johnson has won and becomes the UK's new prime ministry - but his Tory majority is holding on to power by a thread. It remains to be seen how this will this impact the October 31 Brexit deadline.

NEW GREEK GOVERNMENT: Dr. Steve Turley on the new Greek government defending its borders and the Orthodox Church.

TURKEY-US RELATIONS: Relations between the Turks and Russians have come a long way since the Turks shot down a Russian fighter in 2015. In buying Russian air defenses, the US cannot sell the Turks the F-35. Pat Buchanan comments as NATO cracks and Mideast tensions continue. 


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

THE GENDER PAY GAP: ...is a myth.

MARIO LOPEZ SCANDAL: Mario Lopez found himself in hot water for making a common sense statement regarding transgenderism and three-year-old children. The fact that he had to apologize is indicative of how extreme the sexual Left is pressing itself in our culture and on cultural figures and celebrities.

GILLETTE - GET WOKE, GO BROKE: Do you remember this advertisement from Gillette accusing men of toxic masculinity? On YouTube it's received twice as many thumbs-down votes as thumbs-up. It's now cost its parent company 8 billion dollars. Insulting your customer is probably not the best way to make sales. P&G said "it was worth it." Was it really?

DECLINING US BIRTH RATE: Demographers are fearing a demographic time bomb if US birth rates continue to decline. 2.1 children per woman is required to maintain the current population, and the US is now down to 1.76. This puts us ahead of Italy's 1.33 and the UK's 1.75 but behind Russia's 1.82 and France's 1.85. All are behind the top ten (all African) nations whose birth rates are between 5 and 7 children per women (see all national birthrates here).

FARMER'S MARKET SHUT DOWN: The mayor of Bloomington, Indiana shut down the city's farmer's market for two weeks after protesters came to decry a vendor, Sarah Dye, with a privately-held conservative viewpoint. How much has this cost other vendors? Will Dye be allowed back?

DANCING, GENDER, AND WAR: An intriguing take on the origins of dancing and its relation to mate-selection and war.

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday May 11

                                               by A. Joseph Lynch and Dr. David Pence

                                                                   WEEKLY BRIEF
 Senators Run for President:Abandoning their Post while the Nation Veers Toward War
The United States has no reason to go to war with Iran(see arguments below). Both Israel and Saudi Arabia for their different reasons desire lethal hostilities between the US and Iran.  The US Senate is the constitutional institution which declares war for our republic. It might even be called a "constitutional crisis" that our Senators are not asserting their deliberative role in debating this pending war. The  media and partisan hatred toward President Trump is preventing serious criticism of his alliance with the venomous hatred of the Wahhabi Saudis for all things Shiite.
We need a foreign policy debate about the US and Iran and Israel far more than an examination of  the Byzantine world of the President's past taxes. Senators who distinguish themselves in a real foreign policy debate might offer themselves as candidates for the Presidency arguing a counter strategy.  But for too many of our public officials, the purpose of being a Senator or a Secretary of State is to add a bullet point to a resume in order to run for a  higher office. The next career step is a far stronger magnet than the present duties of office. Careerism and partisanship has replaced the noble profession of politics. In fact politics which means acting as a CITIZEN( a man of the city or body politic) has become the dirty word which  we should reserve for the infighting and backbiting of "factions" or careerists. Our federal government is populated at every level by power couple careerists.  Washington DC and New York City however have social networks of much more accomplished men than the Marco Rubios and Chuck Schumers of nightly news soundbites. The  global megacities are the hunting grounds of aggressive men of other countries like Britain, Israel and Saudi Arabia who are functioning with national interests in mind. These nation men like leading corporate executives who work in the same stratosphere are very good at manipulating the narrow concerns of partisans and careerists for the bigger goals of their own institutions. Our pygmies are no match.
An experienced British patriot spy like Christopher Steele played our agency heads (Brennan, Comey and Clapper) like Kim Philby played our CIA after WWII. It is true that  Philby helped the USSR while Steele opposed Russia but in both cases British intelligence officers sabotaged our country's interests while promoting their own.  British foreign policy supports an Anglo alliance of the white countries of the British Empire (The Five Eyes consortium). As a national policy they are against a revitalized Russian-US alliance. There are more agents than Christopher Steele who wanted to bring down Donald Trump. Remember they are acting in concert not as careerists or because they got money from the DNC. They are acting as British patriots trying to stop an American Scotch frontiersman from going rogue.
Saudi Arabia wants the US to fight Iran and the Shiite Houthis of Yemen.  Israel wants weak and divided neighbor states. President Trump wants a nationalist foreign policy with strong nations keeping order in  their respective territories. He is opposed by globalist careerists who don't think like nationalists and he is staffed by neoconservatives who are bellicose for "Western Judaeo-Christian values". That is actually another form of globalism with the US military fighting and Israeli intelligence directing the project of saving "the West". The Saudi royal family supplies money and a Muslim cover. This is not American nationalism.
50 years ago the Democratic Senator from Minnesota was Eugene McCarthy. He ran for president to debate the war in Vietnam and the approach of the US to the post colonial wars of national  independence. He first used his Senate seat with other Senators to debate the policy of the war. Debating the role of America among the nations was even more important to him than constituent services. In this era the Democratic Senator from Minnesota is Amy Klobuchar. She too is running for President. Her office is remarkably adept at constituent services even if she must tyrannize her staff to keep her friendly, available, next door neighbor image intact. Like a lot of feminist careerists, who are already in an office that dwarfs them, she sees moving one more rung up the career ladder as her next logical step. She has taken the path of Hillary Clinton when Minnesotans needed another  Eugene McCarthy. America needs a public discussion of war and peace.  Journalists and citizens can all help focus this serious conversation but in the end it is our Senators who must do their duty.


I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

POPE ISSUES MOTU PROPRIO ON ABUSEThis short clear reform mandates a reporting and investigative mechanism in every diocese as well as the use of metropolitans (the archbishop of an ecclesiastical province which includes adjacent dioceses) in the reporting chain for complaints against bishops of that province. This is a stunning and necessary decentralization of governance for abusive clerics. We have advocated establishing a "promoter of justice" in every diocese as the basic mechanism of reform. This initiative describes what is needed in many less words than we used.  All Clergy are obligated to report offenders (mandated reporters in civil law - this is a huge expansion of eyes and ears). Laymen have a new and ready instrument where we can send our own investigations and reports. Clerics are mandated reporters; laymen are invited reporters. This is a sea change from the old clerical culture that argued that since only a pope could depose a bishop only the Vatican could  initiate investigations of bishops and cardinals.  Abuse of sisters and seminarians is included as reportable in the same category as crimes against minors - that will offer an important path for reform  against the McCarricks, Nienstedts and Maradiagas of the Church.
 The Pope's first emphasis is, "I desire that this commitment be implemented in a fully ecclesial manner..."  His emphasis is like the American military officers who refused the advances of feminist Senators who tried to establish a civilian commission to judge military officers in cases of sexual harassment.  The generals argued this would destroy the military chain of command. The Pope has saved us from American hysteria about "lay reform" that would have compromised the priestly character of the Church.  The Pope has left open wide use of lay staff members and lay initiative in reporting clerics, but the policing is with the consecrated priesthood and flows from the diocesan bishop. This is in the true spirit of Vatican II which was very much about an ecclesiology centered on the Eucharistic office of the local bishop. The Eucharistic office includes Christ washing out Judas on the night before He died. His insistence on the personal authoritative duty of local bishops to rule is a major part of his approach to annulments as well.
Putting 60 and 30 day time limits on responses from  Vatican dicasteries is also revolutionary. The definition of minors is reestablished at 18 after the craven maneuvering of Pope Benedict's man at CDF - Cardinal Levada. Levada, part of the San Francisco contingent of the American bishops' lavender mafia,  reversed the Pope John Paul II definition of minors as younger than 18. He inserted "younger than 14" in the definition of child pornography on computers. This brazen act has been unnoticed and unreported by the mobs so busily filing their briefs against Pope Francis and the many very bad men at his side. ( Scroll down this link and readThe Levada Loophole)

These new mandated local reporting and investigative agencies can easily become diocesan offices of "promoters of justice" which at a later date could add clerical consensual homosexuality as a reportable punishable offense. The Pope has acted. Now let bishops, metropolitans, and national conferences respond. Let a thousand investigative offices arise! We should not let our knowledge that there are so many corrupt bishops misdirect our efforts to abolish the apostolic priestly character of Church governance. The Catholic Church is "a holy nation, a royal priesthood". The pastor of Rome has resisted the mob and reinforced the ruling functions of the Shepherd Bishops. His battle against the shroud of clericalism is not a war against priestly identity. The sacred fraternity in every diocese finds their identity as shepherds when they act out their protective and punitive duties of spiritual fatherhood. The Pope has has given every diocese a new book of matches. We will see who responds  by burning off the old wood of clericalism to cleanse the stone altars where priests celebrate the Holy Mass.

FR. HESBURGH - AMERICAN PRIESTA great interview with Fr William Miscamble, the Holy Cross priest author of the new biography of the Notre Dame legend. Fr. Hesburgh was a prototypical American - "Let us get enough of the right people in a room together and there is no problem we cannot solve". This fascinating profile by an astute historian reminds us that Fr. Hesburgh always was a priest first in his own mind. Did he interrupt his jet setting for daily Mass? "Everyday of his life but Good Fridays." Try to listen to this interview in the critical but fraternal spirit of the author. There is lots to learn about this man with a spine(especially during the student protests of the late sixties). He   sought the recognition of the Rockefeller class in elevating Notre Dame as a Catholic institution of the highest academic order. He made a deep fundamental error in where he sought social recognition. But Fr Hesburgh did something very difficult and very noble  for his Protestant country and his Catholic Church.  What a gentleman scholar priest is Fr. Miscamble! Something very holy and strong  will come from the Notre Dame which housed both other Hesburgh and Fr Miscamble.

POPE ON FEMALE DEACONSThey are not part of the sacramental ordained priesthood. But let the study continue for there is not full agreement. There are female roles in history and the present where women have a special charism. The service of women did not lead to the altar. He closes the discussion with his praise and thanks for the religious sisters he encounters as the living motherhood of the Church. {The obsession of the "Westerners" with an ordained role for women downplays the beautiful multifaceted feminine love found in religious orders throughout the world as they live out every spiritual and corporal work of mercy in their distinctive communities.}

SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CHURCHA messy debate not totally clarified here.


II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA



III. THE NATIONS

WHO WANTS WAR WITH IRAN? Pat Buchanan agrees with Iranian security advisors that there is a B-Team: Bolton (John of US national Security) Benjamin (Netanyahu of Israel) and Bin Salman (the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia with his father's blessings) who want war. The fact that the US sent a carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran because of a tip from the Israelis should not give US citizens much comfort. Every target listed in this article as a potential place where the US considers Iranians to be threatening our interests consists of armed Shiites who wish to defend and govern their own lands. Religiously, Shiite rule is anathema to the Salafist Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia. Iran and Hezbollah are strategic problems for Israel. American nationalists will not be harmed if Iran and Lebanon are strong nations with allies in Iraq and Syria. These are the best nationalist defenses against the radical jihadist form of Sunni Islam now ruling the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. Islam has been warped by the Salafists of Mecca and Medina in league with the Saudis. Idi Amin found refuge in the Kingdom but they are not true friends of Christianity, the American nation, or most Muslims. US policy at the highest most dangerous level is being swayed by foreign interests - they aren't Russians. Americans are blinded by partisan hatreds that are preventing us from seeing our national interests. Hatred of President Obama by conservatives has prevented us from understanding the strategic breakthrough of his Iran initiative. Hatred of President Trump has prevented his initiative with Russia that would help us withdraw from Afghanistan and Syria as well as see the international landscape with new eyes.
(AOA on bandwagoning with the big powers vs the "three encirclements").

IRAN AND IRAQ: Iran moves missles into Iraq. The US moves a battle group into the Gulf. War with Iran could involve the US or Israel in bombing Iraq. A US War with Iran is the hope of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Persia is 90 million strong. They are making a new alliance with Pakistan, the one Sunni power with serious nuclear weapons. Pakistan's greatest ally is China. Iran's ally has been Russia. John Bolton has to understand he is no longer at a think tank making tough statements to the blondes at Fox News showing how conservative men are much tougher than Barack Obama.

CHINA-INDIA-PAKISTAN & NUCLEAR WEAPONSThe pro Pakistan-Chinese strategy is an old oneIndia labels a terrorist in Pakistan. China doesn't veto.

SOUTH AFRICANew players in elections.

RUSSIA AND CHINACivilizational states.




IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

DRESSED TO MODELHalima Aden is a beautiful Minnesota woman ethnically Somalian born in a Kenyan refugee camp. Her breaking boundaries by wearing clothes for Sports Illustrated is something beautiful. William Kilpatrick is the go-to writer on all things Muslim for Catholic neocon sites Crisis and Catholic Thing. Here is his embarrassing take on the Hijab. We reviewed Mr. Kilpatrick's very interesting, very worthwhile, very flawed book on Islam, Atheism, and Christianity.

THE MEDAL OF FREEDOMA short history of Presidents and their recipients. One interesting cultural observation is that President Eisenhower elevated honor to God on our currency and in our pledge while JFK found a way to elevate "freedom" in the status code.

HOMOSEXUAL BULLY GOES AFTER PRO-LIFE WOMENBrian Sims is an elected official - he sees praying pro-life protesters as scum. He is a man of action. Do Christian men really owe "respect" to the death cult of sodomy and abortion? It seems respect is the last thing we owe them. This is where the culture war begins and ends - Who shall we honor? Who shall we shame?   

THE COMMON GOOD AND SEXUAL MORALITY BY ANTHONY ESOLEN: The  Dean of American Catholic letters is Professor Anthony Esolen. Here is more proof. An excerpt:
"It is a contradiction in terms to suggest that one can have a private sexual morality, because sex by its very nature is social, as is morality. You can no more have your privilege in that regard than you can have a private language or a private culture. Sexual morality is biologically for the begetting and raising of children, and the protection of families and groups of families. That protection is enabled in large part by the teamwork of male groups, undistracted and unconfused by the eros of buggery, formed to get difficult and dangerous things done; and with all our sophisticated tools, we still depend ultimately upon construction workers, road crews, truckers, fishermen, farmers, miners, quarrymen, linemen, soldiers, lumberjacks, longshoremen, masons, and so forth, and this is true even of the well-paid feminist professor driving her man-made automobile powered by man-drilled petroleum products and shaped by man-mined metals over man-laid roads to teach in man-raised buildings about the wickedness of men who make her job possible."

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: Saturday April 27

                                                   by A. Joseph Lynch and Dr. David Pence

THE WEEKLY BRIEF

COMPOUND INTELLIGENCE MISDIRECTION: 
The same officials who missed the role of Saudis in 9-11-2001 fabricated
the role of Russians in the 2016 election   





The American intelligence services for two decades were misled by American political correctness and Saudi Arabian officials about the Islamic roots of the Salafist Sunni movement which was the mother's milk for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. That Sunni movement today remains the ideological font of worldwide terror (including ISIS, Boko Haram and al Shabaab). It is based in Mecca and Medina promulgated by Wahhabi clerics and protected  by the guardians of the holy places - the Saudi royal clan. Inside Saudi Arabia, none of these groups are tolerated because military leadership stays in the hands of the Saudis. Ideologically they are bedmates but they will kill each other over who should lead the jihad. Think Stalin, Trotsky, and Communism.

When Donald Trump ran for President, many of the same American officials who missed the ideological home base of Islamic terror were misled by anti-Russian British intelligence officials about Donald Trump. These ambitious American careerists were religious illiterates. They shared the coastal elite's animus toward Trump. Once again they were manipulated by stronger men of different countries with clear views of their own countries' strategic interests. Both the prolonged Russian investigation and the Mueller era FBI non-investigation of Saudis and 9/11 came from agency careerists trying to win favor in the Washington DC baby boomer culture. That culture is enveloped by careerist power couples and blind to religion, male groups, and nations as the driving agents of history.

The Mueller Report, while unable to prove any active coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian government, showed they both had interests in defeating Hillary Clinton. She was the favored candidate of the military and security establishments of the Anglo-American alliance. That wasn't because she was a great leader but because she was utterly predictable and malleable by the bureaucrats. There is no discussion in the Report of the foreign manipulation by British and Australian agents. They expertly "recruited" the shared hatred for Donald Trump by John McCain and Hillary Clinton. The British as geopolitical actors were understandably against any new strategic alliance between the US and Russia. That would benefit the US but greatly diminish British importance in the asymmetrical Anglo alliance. Christopher Steele got paid but his motivation preceded requests for opposition research. Christopher Steele is in the best James Bond tradition of British intelligence.  He will take whatever pleasures and personal benefits come his way but in the end he wants to serve his country and hurt her enemies. He despises Russia and considered Donald Trump a foolish immature American who didn't understand the adult world of international alliances. The American politicians and intelligence officers he manipulated were no match for a man toughened as head of the Russian desk for M16 in London. The Russian dossier is a foreigner's disinformation campaign which had plenty of willing American megaphones. There is nothing so easily manipulated by foreigners as the small mindedness of party and government careerists - it's a bipartisan coastal elite character fault.

The Mueller report has laid out a case for impeaching the President for obstruction of justice. Mueller clearly explained he didn't indict Trump because of a Justice Department legal opinion that the way to charge a President is by articles of impeachment not indictments. He did say in a footnote that Trump could be indicted when out of office. The rebellion against the elected President continues. Mr. Mueller has never been a neutral. He has put forth the case and now the House is called on to impeach. The fact that many of us think the case is not only weak but ludicrous does not mean Mueller has not deliberately put forth an impeachment brief. The impeachment temptation may be irresistible for the Trump-haters. Even knowing the Senate would not remove him from office, the House Democrats could say the House patriots impeached but the Senate partisans covered up.

We need serious opposition to President Trump from the Congress about a foreign ally but it certainly isn't Russia. The disastrous foreign policy of the US allying with the Saudi perpetrators of 9/11 continues under President Trump. An alliance of Christian nations with Russia that could have taught Trump about the Salafists and reconfigured post Cold war international relations was sidelined by the prolonged Mueller investigation. Score one for the Brits. Add a cheer from the Saudis and Israelis. The Americans and international order are the losers. The small-mindedness of Trump's enemies in our own government and the brazenness of foreign leaders and operatives taking advantage of this situation present a stunning contrast. There are many powerful characters in this drama representing foreign national and "western-globalist" interests which are harmful to Christianity, the American nation, and our American President. Trump is more clear-sighted than the Bush brothers but he is blinded by his own inordinate hostility toward Iran and Barack Obama. He is missing the Saudi trickery partly because the Saudi hatred of Shiites dovetails with Israel's Netanyahu policy of demonizing Iran and fearing Hezbollah. There are very few American nationalists in either political party or the news media who can help sort out this confusion. It was one of the most substantial accomplishments of President Obama and his Iranian foreign policy team that he resisted "the blob" and made an opening to Iran. This was as significant as the Nixon Kissinger opening to China that was so crucial in the Cold War. But Obama's initiative has been swallowed by a bitter Republican partisanship and a blatant Israeli intervention. There are almost no American Christian thinkers who have enough of a geopolitical map in their heads to help sort this out and explain that the Shiites are our natural religious allies in this religious war.

Still we can take heart that things are much clearer today than before the Trump presidency. Robert Mueller will not do well in the light. Myopia and misdirection are the defining characteristics of Mueller's career in the FBI. Maybe it is some cosmic Karma that the FBI chief's stunning lack of interest in the Saudis after 9/11 was balanced by the Special Counsel's dragged out investigations of Russians after the Trump election. Mueller's inattention to the Saudis as FBI head in the decade after 9/11 is like Comey's whitewash of  Hillary Clinton for obstructing justice. The contrasts with how they treated President Trump make the ugly truth even more clear.

We are in a much better situation than the first years of the Trump Presidency. His calls were being leaked daily while his policies were resisted at every turn and level of the government. He was seriously thought of as a traitor. Those impugning his loyalty did so in the name of professionalism and "higher loyalties". Their own malfeasance was covered by the secrecy of the investigation.

May the light of this Easter season help us as Christians and American nationalists see clearly our natural allies - the Orthodox nations (esp. Russia), the Shia Muslim nations (starting with Iraq) and the Chinese and Hindu nationalists beset by Salafist Sunnis. We treat too many religious Muslim brothers as enemies. We treat our real Muslim enemies (who are much fewer) as friends.

President Trump has inherited a great intelligence and foreign policy failure that is much bigger than the Russia hoax. In the President's exuberance he is now driving even faster down a misguided path that the bipartisan foreign policy establishment initiated before he was elected. We owe him our loyalty and thanks and cooperation in securing our border and building our infrastructure. We also owe him our loyal opposition against collusion with Saudi Arabia. When he first announced for office he said we have to figure out "where the hell the hate is coming from." That question has not yet been answered. He is right it has something to do with Islam. He is misdirected that it is centered in Shiite Iran.

The two major sources of Salafist Sunni terror are 1) the ISIS caliphate of al Baghdadi which is now occult (thanks to Iran, Iraq and President Trump) and 2) the Wahhabi Saudi guardians of Mecca and Medina who operate in the wide open with our blessing. Our alliance with the Saudis betrays the 9/11 victims and shames our flag. We also must not forget the thousands of American men killed in Iraq after Salafist Sunnis funded largely by Saudi affiliates refused to allow a Shia majority government rule peacefully in ancient Babylon. The American removal of Saddam Hussein became the tragedy of Iraq when our major Arab ally undercut the establishment of an elected Shiite government. May we unveil the masks of the Evil One who slays Muslims at prayer in New Zealand, Christians at worship in Sri Lanka,  Shiite children at play in Yemen and Shiite men in protest in Saudi Arabia. None of this is our Father's work.     



I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH


THE LAITY AS AN ORDERThere is an important idea hereIs laicizing priests an insult?

FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY AND SCANDAL: Like almost all male religious orders the Franciscans are full of rot - this is just beginning.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH CATHOLIC JOURNALISMThe editor of Crisis uses the death of Fr James Schall (RIP) to blast Pope Francis  Fr. Schall taught my son at Georgetown. He told him he was more Roman than Greek and we Minnesotans took that as a compliment. I thought Fr. Schall was more a Greek than Roman. He stayed at our home and a group of men I recruited went on a long trip with him. He was utterly enjoyable and instructive. To this day I remember two corrections he made about my political thinking and personality which were devastatingly accurate. Like almost all "conservative Catholic intellectuals" he missed the meaning of Donald Trump. He thought at first he was the favorite of the liberal cable news people because they thought he was the only Republican Hillary Clinton could beat. Quite the contrary he was the only man who could beat her and the media. Fr. Schall always struck me as much more a man of philosophy than prayer, of speech than action. But face to face, he bore the truth to both my son and me. He once wrote on my son's paper, "too much Pence, too little Plato." He was a phenomenal teacher. May his great soul rest in peace.

Apparently the only expert on Islam at Catholic blogspots Crisis and Catholic Thing is William Kilpatrick. We critically reviewed his very good book on Islam, Christianity and Atheism: Fighting for the Soul of the West. In his most recent Easter week contribution, he concludes from the bombing at Sri Lanka that all Muslims will cheer the killers as martyrs because of the conversion and jihad mandate in Islam. This is utterly irresponsible on his part but he is safe where he writes.
 Two groups have made our fight against the jihadists so incoherent. Those who say Islam has nothing to do with the fight and those who say Islam is metaphysically our enemy. As Kilpatrick says it is precisely the good Muslims who take God seriously who are our enemies.  Kilpatrick like Robert  Spencer at Jihad Watch and the deceased James Schall and the still breathing Cardinal Burke are all in the Islam is the Enemy camp. Their preening intellectual purity puts Christians around the world at great risk. They are right that the pursuit of the "moderate Muslim" is really a search for apostates who have become Western secularists but still carry their Muslim names from their parents. There are a lot of them in the Democratic Party endorsing abortion and sodomy while decrying Islamophobia. But that is not the whole of the debate and religious men should understand the claims of other religious traditions. The great majority of Muslims do not believe that killing Christians at prayer is doing God's Will. And because they are Muslims, the question before the house must be: what is God's Will? The secularists tell us no-one knows so ask that question in the privacy of your own house. Be realists think national interests or be globalists and spread democracy and individual rights. Religious men say we must build our national communities and international relations on our honest attempts to discern God's Will and obey Him. (Our response to the New Zealand bombing of Muslims.)

CARDINAL SARA: A BISHOP'S WARNINGAn interview in preview of his new book. Excerpts:

The spiritual crisis involves the entire world. But its source is in Europe. People in the West are guilty of rejecting God. They have not only rejected God. Friedrich Nietzsche, who may be considered the spokesman of the West, has claimed: “God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him…” We have murdered God. In view of God’s death among men, Nietzsche would replace him with a prophetic “Superman.”

The spiritual collapse thus has a very Western character. In particular, I would like to emphasize the rejection of fatherhood. Our contemporaries are convinced that, in order to be free, one must not depend on anybody. There is a tragic error in this. Western people are convinced that receiving is contrary to the dignity of human persons. But civilized man is fundamentally an heir, he receives a history, a culture, a language, a name, a family. This is what distinguishes him from the barbarian. To refuse to be inscribed within a network of dependence, heritage, and filiation condemns us to go back naked into the jungle of a competitive economy left to its own devices. Because he refuses to acknowledge himself as an heir, man is condemned to the hell of liberal globalization in which individual interests confront one another without any law to govern them besides profit at any price.
In this book, however, I want to suggest to Western people that the real cause of this refusal to claim their inheritance and this refusal of fatherhood is the rejection of God. From Him we receive our nature as man and woman. This is intolerable to modern minds. Gender ideology is a Luciferian refusal to receive a sexual nature from God. Thus some rebel against God and pointlessly mutilate themselves in order to change their sex. But in reality they do not fundamentally change anything of their structure as man or woman. The West refuses to receive, and will accept only what it constructs for itself. Transhumanism is the ultimate avatar of this movement. Because it is a gift from God, human nature itself becomes unbearable for western man.

This revolt is spiritual at root. It is the revolt of Satan against the gift of grace. Fundamentally, I believe that Western man refuses to be saved by God’s mercy. He refuses to receive salvation, wanting to build it for himself. The “fundamental values” promoted by the UN are based on a rejection of God that I compare with the rich young man in the Gospel. God has looked upon the West and has loved it because it has done wonderful things. He invited it to go further, but the West turned back. It preferred the kind of riches that it owed only to itself.

Africa and Asia are not yet entirely contaminated by gender ideology, transhumanism, or the hatred of fatherhood. But the Western powers’ neo-colonialist spirit and will to dominate pressures countries to adopt these deadly ideologies.

THE OLD WOOD BURNT AWAY, THE EUCHARIST WAS SHELTERED, THE STONE ALTAR AND GOLDEN CROSS REMAINED, THE PEOPLE PRAYED AND SANG AVE MARIA:



NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL IN PARIS, FRANCE, MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK 2019


II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

BRITISH INTELLIGENCE AND THE TRUMP COLLUSION CHARGESThey admit they were stirring the waters in 2015 in this Guardian article from 2017. Nations are actors in politics. That shouldn't be a news flash. The British intelligence establishment like the Big Three agency heads in the US didn't want Donald Trump elected. The US chiefs had visceral deep domestic reasons to dislike Trump. The Brits were against his new ideas about foreign policy and Russia.

BERNIE SANDERSThe anti-Saudi candidate.



III. THE NATIONS


SRI LANKASalafist Sunnis kill over 300 Catholics at worship. Some blame "terrorists not a religion." Others blame Islam as a religion of terror. US incoherence continues in our inability to see world terror is overwhelmingly a Salafist Sunni project instigated by the Salafist Sunnis allowed to be the protectors of the Holy Sites - the real position of religious authority in Islam.

SPAINWill a nationalist win there April 28?

ISLAMIC GOALS IN PALESTINE DON'T INCLUDE TWO STATES: The founder of Islamic Jihad in Palestine was Fathi Shaqaqi. He was assassinated in Malta. His story is well told by Al Jazeera.

NATIONS OF SOUTH AMERICAFrom Unasur to Prosur.

INDONESIA: A fresh face nationalist reformer and a top Muslim cleric prove an unbeatable coalition. The biggest Muslim country (by number for Muslims) is structuring its national life more clearly as Islamic.

EL SALVADORGets a populist.

BLAME IRANCatholic Knights of Columbus CEO joins the anti-Iran chorus criticizing Iraq's choice of allies. Carl Anderson in the Wall Street Journal says even though ISIS has been removed, Iranian militias are preventing Christians from returning to traditional Christian towns in Iraq.

PAKISTAN AND IRAN - THE TWO NEW NEIGHBORS OF AFGHANISTANA remarkable new development.

SAUDI ARABIA - SAUDIS EXECUTE SHIITES33 of 37 are Shiites - Does the anti Shiite violence of Saudi Arabia count as terrorism or anti-terrorism? Jamal Khashoggi and the JewsNuclear technology to the Saudis?

WHAT THREE STATES PLAY THE LARGEST ROLE IN INFLUENCING UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY: The British, the Saudis, and the Israelis. The Russians aren't close. None of these three allies want the US to have a close alliance with the other world nuclear power. Remember that old foreign policy dictum: "No one hates a new best friend more than an old best friend." 




IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

BURNING CHRISTIAN CHURCHESSatan and Racism.

THE SACRED IN A PROFANE WORLDA discussion between Roger Scruton and Hamza Yusuf. On images and selfies and "the given things" in nature. Islam and Christianity in deep agreement.

CHINA AND HER MUSLIMSCultural education en masse.

AUSTRALIA - RUGBY STAR LOSES MILLIONS AND IS OSTRACIZEDHe condemns eight traditional sins - but one has a lobby so he is out. There are a lot of adulterers and alcoholics in the league - but respecting them is not league policy. Israel Folau takes one for the Lord.

KATE SMITH IN A BURQA OVER A SONG  PAUL ROBESON SANG BEST:

Statue of Kate Smith Covered on Good Friday 2019 in front of Philadelphia Sports Complex
In a freakish secular rendition of the Catholic practice of covering statues during Lent and Muslim practices of covering women in general, the Philadelphia Flyers have covered their statue of 1930's singer Kate Smith whose rendition of God Bless America was heard at Philadelphia hockey games (since 9/11/2001) as well as in the seventh inning stretch of New York Yankee baseball. Someone discovered (and reported to the New York Daily News) that Mrs. Smith (1907-1986) had once sung That's Why the Darkies Were Born. Funny - it was one of my favorite spirituals from previous days on the left. The black Communist Paul Robeson also saw the song as more a tribute to the working people than an ode to racism. Here is Robeson's rendition. A revealing obituary of Mrs. Smith.
          
The Beautiful Ballad:

Brothers/Sisters
When the world began, there was work to be done and it seems that someone… left it to the colored man. 
Brothers/ sisters What must be must be.  
Though the balance is wrong, your faith must be strong…. accept your destiny. 
Brothers! Listen to me.
Someone had to pick the cotton
Someone had to pick the corn
Someone had to slave and be able to sing
That's why darkies were born;
Someone had to laugh at trouble
Though he was tired and worn
Had to be contented with any old thing
That's why darkies were born;
Sing, sing, sing when you're weary and
Sing when you're blue
Sing, sing, that's what you taught
All the white folks to do;
Someone had to fight the Devil
Shout about Gabriel's Horn
Someone had to stoke the train
That would bring God's children to green pastures
That's why darkies were born