PENTECOST: The Spirit fills the Apostles who draw the Jews into the Church who draws humanity into the Trinity.

[first published June 8, 2014]

"The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost."      (Pope Leo XIII, 1897)

                           

David Pence writes:

St. Augustine said the coming of the Holy Spirit – exactly ten days after the 40 days of Christ’s risen presence – signifies that the Spirit fulfills the Law (Ten Commandments) in Christ. The obligatory presence of adult males in Jerusalem for the Jewish Pentecost crowded the city square with men speaking the different languages of the nations, but sharing the unified liturgical memory of Israel.

"For as of old on the fiftieth day after the sacrifice of the lamb, the Law was given to the Hebrew people on Mount Sinai – so after the sacrifice in which the True Lamb of God was slain on the fiftieth day after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and those who believed." [from a 5th-century sermon of Leo the Great]
                               

The Holy Spirit is the Soul of the Church, the Giver of Life, and the great binder of communions. He animates matter with life, draws the living to the Church, and indelibly configures the baptized to the Body of Christ. He was a co-conspirator with Christ throughout his life on earth, as they plotted to confound Satan in the desert and build the Kingdom of God on earth. The presence of the Spirit was activated on Pentecost, as it is sacramentally for us in Confirmation. That distinct Catholic sacrament of initiation “confirms in the Spirit” the soul of the Christian to the physical liturgical presence of the Bishop as the local head of the Apostolic Church. Like baptism, confirmation orders the soul with a permanent seal of character in ecclesial communion with Christ. After confirmation there is no such thing as a vocation to the single life. Baptism in one sense, and confirmation in a deeper way, calls each of us out of the single life into a new communal identity as a practicing Catholic.

In the days before Pentecost, the Twelve had been corporately restored by the election of Matthias (the opening chapter of the Book of Acts.) On Pentecost the Spirit filled the apostles, and their shouts of praise were heard in the tongues of many nations (second chapter of Acts.) An early bishop, when questioned why he couldn't talk so foreigners could understand, replied that by baptizing men of  many nations and languages, it is the Church now through her converts who speaks in tongues understood by all the nations.

It was Peter – surrounded by his apostolic brethren constituting the restored twelve tribes of Israel – who formally addressed the “Men of Judea” gathered in their holy city. He announced that the Messiah promised to them as Jews had come to deliver them from their enemies, but had been killed by those He came to save. He offered them repentance and incorporation in the new Kingdom under Christ the Lord. The universality of the Church’s Kingdom message to the nations, the fact that the Messiah was not another human prophet but the God of nature become man, and the mystery that God is One in Three Persons: these three truths became the reflections of Pentecost Sunday sermons down through the ages. Like all of us, the 3,000 baptized Jews of that day did not fully appreciate the extent of the miraculous events that engulfed them. The developing realization that this coming of the Spirit was the action of a distinct Person of a triune God gave a name and special time for reflection to the octave Sunday of Pentecost: Trinity Sunday.

May 30 MEMORIAL DAY: Masculine Publics and Family Weekends

[first published May 30, 2014]


by Dr. David Pence



May 30th was a day once designated to honor the war dead of the nation. It was an interruption of our normal routines – to remember in a public religious way on a specific date the fact that both our commercial productivity during the week and our familial enjoyment and church worship on the weekend were purchased by the blood of our soldiers. It was not a day dedicated to those who died in natural disasters or nursing home accidents. It was not a familial day to grieve our particular relatives.

It was a day with a specific purpose – for a nation to reflect on the blood sacrifice that forged our communal identity and insured our liberty. This time of spiritual reflection was meant to be an interruption of the daily rhythm of our lives, just as the life cycles of young men were interrupted by their sacrificial response to the unplanned threats against our country through the ages.
                                   

This is the nature of civic liturgy. Like religious acts recalling heroic sacrifice, this communal act of remembrance is meant to be formative. The public assembly bestows public gratitude and honor to encourage the living to emulate the dead. The specific deaths we remember on this day were overwhelmingly young and male. The willingness of these young men to participate in the warrior bond of civic protection was not incidental to their maleness. The American socialization strategy since our first colonial militias has been to identify masculine maturation with a willingness to bear arms for the local, state, or national group and risk death in the performance of that duty. This pattern of gender-bound duty is as ancient as circumcision and as current as male-only draft registration.

On this day we impress on young males the deadly seriousness of that honor code. The Taps we hear this day resonate with the heartfelt brotherhood known in sports teams, Boy Scouts, work crews, and local police and fire departments across our land. Patriotism is a kind of masculine ecology: a shared love of men for the habitat that feeds and shelters us. That homeland is sacralized in the burial ceremonies of those fallen in her defense. The patriot, the fatherland, a brotherhood from sea to shining sea, the sons of liberty, the band of brothers—all of these expressions evoke the inter-generational masculine fraternity of duty that forms the sacred sinews of every nation from ancient Israel to Singapore to America. Submerging the masculine public military character of this day into extended family weekends diminishes our understanding of the national brotherhood of duty which safeguards our nation. Losing a vigorous public sense of masculine protective duty has imperiled our cities, feminized our campuses, filled our prisons, and demoralized our public life in work and politics.

This denigration of the "male bond" has rippling consequences, for the male military bond is meant to serve higher bonds than itself. The sacral bonds of marriage and religious worship both depend on the protective military ethos we remember on Memorial Day. The flattening pacifism of our churches and the shrinking de-gendered selfishness of our families are eating away at the masculine character, which protects them both. This spreading defect in public masculine character robs our adolescents looking for boundaries, and our elderly and widows looking for protection. Sexual confusion among adults allows the predators a hundred unprotected alleyways, city streets, suburban strip malls and apartment buildings to ply the sex trade. In a certain way, all our children become orphans and all our women widows, without the comforting tranquility of masculine agreement.

Let us allow our family and work schedules to be interrupted. Let us once again remember May 30, Memorial Day. Let us salute that half-mast flag, and remember the duties and protective sex roles that have bound us since the beginning.

UPDATE: Here is a moving tribute to our fallen soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.  May they all rest in peace.

In 2009 Dr. Pence gave this Memorial Day speech.

2017 Secretary of Defense Mattis at Arlington-a warrior's testament.

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, MAY 23

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

"HE'S A GOOD LIAR": Church Militant has uncovered more homosexual predation and cover-ups in the SSPX. This time their reporting goes all the way up to Bishop Fellay, the former superior general of the SSPX.

MISSISSIPPI BURNING: A Mississippi church fighting against state's coronavirus restrictions was burned down on Wednesday. The burning is being investigated as arson after a sign was left that read: "I Bet you stay home now you hypokrits."

TRUMP - OPEN CHURCHES: President Trump has now declared churches essential and threatened to override governors who continue to keep them closed. Many Catholic churches plan to defy the Democrat governor and begin reopening. They should now have some help from President Trump should issues arise.

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

VOTER FRAUD: As the nation prepares for elections, lawmakers must balance voter safety and voting integrity. It now appears that there might have been voting irregularities in Nevada's recent vote-by-mail. Meanwhile a former elections judge admitted to stuffing ballot boxes in south Philadelphia.

BURR-FEINSTEIN INVESTIGATION: Senators Burr (D) and Feinstein (D) are coming under FBI scrutiny for possible insider trading. Both sold off stocks after coronavirus briefings. Insider trading, cronyism, and careerism are aspects of a swamp filled with creatures of both political parties.

RED WAVE? Republicans are sweeping national, state, and local special elections. Last week Republican House candidates won in Wisconsin by 14 points and California by 12 points. The shocking California win is the first flipped House seat by the GOP since 1998. In swing state Pennsylvania, the GOP was three-for-three in special elections for the state House. In Virginia, the GOP flipped two key city councils. More from Dr. Steve Turley. Another election observer has said that if these elections signal a national trend, then states like Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia, and Biden's home state of Delaware, would tilt Trump in November.

PROMOTING UNEMPLOYMENT: Fears among some members of the GOP were seemingly prescient as many Americans can make more money (via the CARES Act) being laid off than by going to work. A Phoenix restaurant, for example, has over thirty job openings yet are receiving few applications despite a 20% unemployment rate. Helping individual Americans by killing off the nation's small businesses is no help in the long run. The Democrats who want to keep the $600 weekly unemployment bonus going through 2021 will only incentivize higher unemployment while killing off what is left of small businesses. Thankfully Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, says that workers who refuse to return will not qualify for unemployment.

INFECTING NURSING HOMES: Governor Cuomo of New York chose Mother's Day (May 10) to reverse the head-scratching decision to send over 4,300 recovering coronavirus patients to nursing homes during the height of the pandemic. It appears that 5,800 New York nursing home residents died after Cuomo put the state's most vulnerable population at risk.

III. THE NATIONS

COVER UP THE COVER UP: Last year we informed our readers of whistleblower, Ian Henderson, who led an international team of investigators from the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria. In his report, which was left out of the official report and later leaked, Henderson said that there is “higher probability that both cylinders were manually placed at those two locations rather than being delivered from aircraft”. In other words, Assad was innocent. In January Henderson testified before the UN that no government-led chemical weapons strike took place. Leadership at the OPCW has since tried to discredit Henderson, but documents reveal Henderson's background and leadership role within the Syria ground investigation.

AL QAEDA IN FLORIDA: Last December a Saudi national was responsible for the killing of American soldiers in Pensacola. Saudi Arabia is the home of Wahhabism, the radical wing of Islam that is responsible for nearly every act of Islamic terrorism - including 9/11. We were not surprised to learn this week that the terrorist had been in communication with Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda was led by bin Laden, another Saudi. If America wants to protect its soldiers and citizens, it would do well by reassessing its relationship with Saudi Arabia, the home of Wahhabi ideology and its financier abroad. 

MACRON LOSES MAJORITY: As President Macron's approval rating slips to 43%, the French continue to sour on his presidency. Defectors have now cost his party their majority in the French parliament and protests are increasing. The French supreme court is also rebuking Macron, calling for an end to the lock down on French churches.

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

PP GETS PPP: Planned Parenthood affiliates received $80 million from the Paycheck Protection Program. Not only is this against the president's wishes to see the nation's leading abortion provider receive federal money, but the national organization is clearly not included within the protections intended for small businesses. While the government is seeking the return of the money, twent-seven senators have asked AG Barr to investigate.

UN GOES SOUTHERN: It comes as no surprise that the UN is embracing gender neutral, politically correct terms. American's in the Deep South, however, might be happy to hear that the UN has called for using "ya'll" instead of "ladies and gentlemen". Who knew Southern shorthand salutations would be internationally seen as more genteel than the time immemorial ladies and gentlemen.

ROE V. PRO-LIFERS: According to a new documentary, Norma McCorvey - the eponymous "Roe" of Roe v. Wade - seemingly renounced her 1995 pro-life conversion shortly before her death in 2017. While this news would not surprise AoA, we invite readers to see Lifesite News' reporting on the scandal.  

ASCENSION THURSDAY: Thus began “his participation, in his humanity, in God's power and authority.” The Restoration of Patriarchy

[first published on May 29, 2014]

"Yea, angels tremble when they see 

how changed is our humanity; 

that flesh hath purged what flesh had stained, 

and God, the flesh of God, hath reigned."

                                 

Doc Pence writes on this feast of the Ascension:


An old nun reflecting on the Ascension said it had always been her least favorite mystery of the rosary. "We wait two thousand years for the Messiah.  He comes. He is killed, but he conquers death and rises victorious from the dead. He is back for just forty days and then He’s gone again—and we call that a joyful mystery?"

But it really is such a glorious feast. We should stop the work week and devote this 40th day after Easter to contemplate this very good news. For Christ finally brings Adam where he was meant to be – in communion with the Father through the Son. "The nature of our Humanity in Christ was raised above all the Hosts of heaven, over all the ranks of angels, beyond the height of all powers, to sit with God the Father," said Leo the Great (d. 461). Christ the alpha male who configures humanity into a single organism shows humans our heavenly place in the divine Plan. We will be the Body of Christ at the right hand of the Father.  

The netherworld of Death has been lit up. The Prince of this world witnessed the greatest prison-break in history, as the King returned and claimed as his own not only Abraham and Moses but Adam and Eve -- the Chosen People and the human race. Christ took back the nether-world -- all that space and time where man enters the land of the dead is now a place not to be imprisoned by the Devil but to encounter the risen Christ. 

One kind of earthly absence allows His Sacramental Presence everywhere else. One Divine Person goes behind a cloud and the host, while the Person of the Spirit becomes more prominent.

There has been a righting of the spiritual universe with the Son entering the Divine Sanctuary providing a Way for humanity's theosis.  The Beloved Son has obeyed.  Humanity has been returned to the Father. Filial Piety has restored us to the Patriarchy. Christ now is returned to the right hand of the Father with these new "creature persons" allowed to participate in their Divine Communion. This restoration of the Beloved Son to the Father after His great battle creates a huge magnetic field penetrating the biosphere where men are meant to form ourselves into the patriarchal fraternity of the apostolic church. This will create a central protected space for the Marian Church where virgin mothers receive the Holy Spirit and live the works of mercy.

Christians need to keep acting even as we exalt in our new elevated status as sanctified humanity.  St. Augustine in his Ascension Day sermon reminded us: "Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but He still suffers all the pain that we the members of His body have to bear. He showed this when He cried out from above,  'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' and when He said, 'I was hungry and you gave me food'."

The angels (who seem to appear whenever a ladder is extended from Heaven for them to ascend or descend) have the final word. As they assured Jacob that his descendants would be blessed and restored to their Promised Land, they designate the Apostolic Church as the site of the Lord's Return:

"Men of Galilee...This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven."

                     

by Benvenuto Tisi (1481-1559)

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, MAY 16

by A. Joseph Lynch

THE WEEKLY BRIEF
USING FLYNN TO OVERTHROW TRUMP

We at AoA were never terribly attached to General Michael Flynn. As Dr. Pence wrote on February 18, 2017:

General Michael Flynn is very much like Rudy Giuliani. He was a necessary and important part of the war that was the Trump campaign. But he is not suited for the kind of coalition building necessary to replace our bellicose foreign policy with a consort of great powers.  His press briefing "Putting Iran on notice" was a much worse offense than talking sanctions in December with the Russians. His not coming clean with Vice President Pence was inexcusable.  President Trump is a good judge of character and competence. He knows when someone doesn’t quite fit. Flynn was unjustly framed but  his own character faults led to his departure. The good patriot was properly let go after being improperly accused.   Flynn, Giuliani, Palin, Gingrich - good campaign warriors but no longer good for governance. The problem remains with the so called deep state (those elements of government that do not change with elections but often make policy through their own long term relationships). This was not a moral whistleblower but an act to subterfuge the ability of the elected executive to conduct foreign relations.  

Although we noted that the "problem remains with the so called deep state," we didn't know exactly how Flynn's take-down was an essential part of the deep state's plan. We now have much more information.

On December 22, 2016, Michael Flynn spoke with the Russian ambassador Kislyak while drinking on the beaches of Mar-a-Lago. Their call was recorded by the FBI. Due to laws protecting Americans from domestic spying Flynn's name was redacted from the transcript. It has been revealed this week that a host of political appointees within the Obama administration - like the ambassador to Italy -  requested the unmasking of Flynn. The phone call was later illegally leaked to the press and helped spin the Russian collusion narrative that launched the sham investigation of the president.

We also now know that an investigation was conducted into what was said in the phone call, which cleared Flynn of wrongdoing with a planned shut down of the investigation on January 4. The disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok was the one who kept the case open by coming up with charging Flynn for violating the Logan Act, a defunct 1799 law that prohibited American's from illicitly representing the nation in foreign negotiations. Strzok brought this law to FBI director Comey who then presented it to President Obama, Vice President Biden, and other members of the administration's team the very next day, January 5. At this meeting a plan was made to interview Flynn.

Comey sat on the interview, however, until January 24 - less than 24 hours into Flynn's tenure as Trump's national security advisor. During this time a meeting was held between Comey and disgraced deputy director McCabe regarding the goal of the interview: get Flynn to lie or get him fired? Neither the former - entrapment - nor the latter - partisan politics - justified the interview. Furthermore, the fact that the FBI recorded the call also meant no interview was necessary. If there was something to charge Flynn for, charges could be brought. Yet we know that there was nothing improper in the phone call, which is why the case was set to close on January 4.

The Flynn interview, however, went forward. Comey bragged about how he took advantage of the new administration to skirt standard procedures and sent Strzok and another agent to the White House to interview Flynn. Flynn was never told he was being investigated, never asked to have a lawyer present, and never warned his words could be used for prosecution should he lie. The media later said Flynn was "grilled" - yet as far as Flynn knew he was helping the FBI out in an investigation of Kislyak in a very laid back interview.

It turns out that Flynn never lied to the FBI. When questioned about aspects of the conversation that could violate the Logan Act, Flynn spoke of his beach drinking during the call and that his memory was someone hazy. Flynn did later plead guilty to lying, but only after he was financially ruined and the FBI threatened to trump up charges on his son. Flynn was innocent. He knew it, Jim Comey knew it, Obama and Biden knew it, yet they all colluded to bring him down in hopes of derailing the Trump administration before it began. By eliminating Flynn, who knew how to purge the deep state in the national security "blob" (which played a huge role in the Trump impeachment), and forcing a recusal from Jeff Sessions' at Justice, Trump found himself without armor in the war that soon followed.

While AoA does not seek a return of Flynn to the White House, we do hope for justice - both for Flynn and for President Trump. The deep state took a stab at the president, we now hope its actors are soon revealed and prosecuted so that the president can win a second term and accomplish his full set of policy goals by 2024.

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

HAND OR TONGUE? Amidst the coronavirus outbreak Taylor Marshall hosted a good discussion of Communion in the hand versus on the tongue. Bishop Stika of Knoxville has already declared he opposes Church law - and USCCB coronavirus policy - and threatened banishment to those who attempt to receive on the tongue. Thankfully another bishop tempted to ban Communion on the tongue had a change of heart.

PEORIA CO-ADJUTOR: Bishop Jenky, who has tirelessly fought for Fulton Sheen's canonization, will soon be replaced by a Chicago priest whose ties make him seemingly less likely to fight for Sheen. More from Church Militant.

CHURCH IN COURT: Two federal judges ruled against the Democrat governor of Kentucky, ruling that his ban on church gatherings lacks a "compelling reason" to deny citizens an "essential" part of their religious faith, the protection of which is guaranteed by the first amendment. God love the Baptists who filed suit and brought about the ruling.

PELL'S TROUBLES CONTINUE: If Pell has any evidence against the corrupt in the Vatican, he made need to speak up quickly. His enemies are already plotting against him.

II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE: Biden continues to tell questioning voters to vote for someone else. He has now told those who believe he assaulted Tara Reade "probably shouldn't vote for" him. As Biden bungles coronavirus numbers and fails to connect with voters from his basement, is it time to dump Biden? Perhaps the real Democrat strategy is to keep him around until the convention in August and then nominate someone else in hopes Trump wasted too much campaign dollars attacking Biden while cutting short the time on GOP opposition research on the new candidate. Time will tell.

TRUMP WINNING: A new CNN poll - which CNN conveniently buried - shows Trump beating Biden in fifteen battleground states, including the typically blue states of Minnesota, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The president also tied his highest approval rating as president.

BLAMING CHINA: Trump has done a masterful job in laying out the narrative on who's to blame for the coronavirus. He has not attacked local Democrat mayors, governors, or legislators, though in many cases they were inept at the virus' outset. He also didn't blame the partisan impeachment proceedings, though he certainly had cause to say it was a huge distraction during the outbreak's onset. Instead he has kept his eye on his policy endeavors. China is to blame. China pressured the WHO to hold back information about human-to-human transmission and locked down Wuhan while allowing international flights from Wuhan to continue. Once again the president is entirely in sync with the American people, 73% of whom also blame China. The war Trump wants to fight is not a partisan blame game but a war to bring jobs back to America from China. Hammering home China's fault in the pandemic will do just that.

GOP WINS BIG: Republicans flipped their first California House seat since 1998, decisively winning the seat by 12 point while winning a 15-point blowout in Wisconsin. Meanwhile Nebraska Democrats have nominated a far Left candidate, Kara Eastman, to run for the state's 2nd congressional district making it much more likely that the GOP will be another seat towards retaking the House in November.

III. THE NATIONS

VE DAY AT 75: Commemorations of the seventy-fifth anniversary of VE Day were significantly muted by the coronavirus pandemic. As tensions with Russia and China continue to mount, we recommend our readers re-read Dr. Pence's article on the twentieth century. Here is an excerpt on the what took place following VE and VJ Days:

Soon after VE and VJ days, the alliance that won WWII was seared... Communists had paid their dues in the wars against the fascists. The Soviet has suffered the most and killed the most Nazis. The Chinese had suffered the most from the Japanese. It seemed to the Soviet and Chinese Communists  that the imperialist capitalists-America, France and Britain were rebuilding the fascist countries of Japan and Germany to make a new cross national integrated ruling class. Communism  presented itself as the scientific road to modernity for the colonized in their wars of national liberation. Americans presented themselves  alternately as a religious people standing for the soul of the individual against the totalitarian state and free market advocates for the good life of capitalist consumerism. The battle in the post colonial world would be over who would speak for the new emerging nations in Africa and Asia.

CHINESE NATIONALISM: Nationalism can be a force for peace and limitations of power projections beyond one's own territory. But what to do when a territory perceived as one's own has broken away? With the coronavirus keeping the US Navy - especially her carrier forces - on the mend, a nationalist fever in China is driving calls for an invasion of Taiwan.

SAUDI TAX HIKE: With oil prices in steep decline, the Saudis are looking for ways to generate revenue and cut costs. The state recently announced plans to triple taxes on basic goods and cut $26 billion in spending. This certainly gives the Saudis some pressure to end their brutal - and costly - war in Yemen. Thankfully a ceasefire deal has been reached and progress is being made for a truce as the coronavirus hits the region. In other hopeful news, disputes between the US and the Saudis over oil production have led the US to pull two anti-missile weapon systems from Saudi Arabia.

INDIA VICTORY IN KASHMIR: India has successfully killed its second leader of Islamic rebel forces in Kashmir. As the coronavirus locks many Indians in their home, the counter-terrorist victory is sure to raise the morale of Indian citizens across the country.

CASPIAN REPORT: The YouTube Channel, Caspian Report, offer a wealth of information on geopolitics, history, and geography. It recently posted videos on Portugal's planned territorial expansion at sea, the geopolitics of Jordan, and the geopolitics of the Black Sea.

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

FATHER-SON ARREST: The killing of Ahmaud Arbery is making headlines this week after a father and son were arrested for his death. Despite calls to investigate the killing as a hate crime, recent updates call into question early reports surrounding Arbery's death. It is said Arbery was jogging, yet he was ten miles from his house. Arbery was killed after being caught trespassing a home under construction - a site he's been recorded rummaging through several times in the past at it appears thousands of dollars of equipment, along with a handgun, was stolen. It turns out that the local police gave the home owner the contact information of the now arrested father and retired police officer, Greg McMichael, for help should the trespassing continue. The end result was tragic, but obviously clear that the McMichaels should never have been arrested.

WHO IS THE FASCIST? As more protests unfold in against Gov. Whitmer of Michigan, Whitmer has essentially called the protesters neo-Nazis for using images of swastikas. She failed to mention the use of the symbol was aimed at her for her fascist crack down on the people of Michigan while the rest of the country begins to reopen.

POLYGAMY DECRIMINALIZED: Utah has made polygamy a crime no worse than a traffic violation. 160 years after the Republican Party was founded to destroy the twin evils of slavery and polygamy, the GOP's lackluster defense of marriage has led the nation to embrace gay marriage and Utah to essentially restore polygamy.

THE PRICE IS WRONG: The classic daytime game show, The Price is Right, hosted RuPaul for a special night with a hefty donation to charity due to the coronavirus. The recipient? Planned Parenthood. Once again, out of touch celebrities work to support the causes of the Sexual Left. Meanwhile it was announced that President Trump made sure no stimulus money made it to Planned Parenthood.

BRITISH VICTORY: Britain has banned sex change surgeries for minors. Back stateside there are reports that Google has rolled back its diversity and and inclusion programs. Is the culture war beginning to turn?

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, MAY 9

There will not be Religion, Nations, and Geopolitics Review this week. The article will return next week with much to discuss. AoA will see you next week!

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, MAY 2

R&G ROUND UP

May 2, 2020

by A. Joseph Lynch 

FUNDING WUHAN LAB: As President Trump indicates he has seen evidence that the coronavirus was inadvertantly leaked from a virolgy lab in Wuhan, reports indicate the United States, under President Obama, gave around $3 million to the lab in question.

LEAKED VIRUS INTEL: We've been less than enthused by the "Five Eyes" intelligence community composed of the US with the old white dominions of the British Empire.

READE CORROBORATION: We now have infinitely more evidence to support Tara Reade's allegation againt Joe Biden than the allegation made against Justice Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford. Recall that Ford's allegation, which involved no intimate sexual contact, couldn't remember when the incident took place or where it took place, nor was there a single person who could recall her talking about until recent years. We now have evidence that Tara's mother called in on CNN to talk it Larry King about it (though the video has mysteriously disappeared from Google Play), and several other have come forward to say that Tara told them about it around the time it happened.

BIDEN ON DEFENSE: Joe Biden took to MSNBC to defend himself against Reade's allegation. The results were less than stellar. Biden refused to allow his Senate records to be examined, was utterly speachless when questioned about a limited search of the files, and then referred journalists and investigators to a place where no Senate records related to sexual assaults would be held. He had to quickly walk back a comment about believing all women until it's "proved" they are lying. The interview went so poorly that today the New York Times has called for a DNC invesitigation into the Biden allegation.

DEATH OF ME TOO: "I believe Biden" has now replaced "I believe her." We're glad to see that Democrats have finally rediscovered the need for due process. We at AoA have never supported the radical positions of the "Me Too" movement, epsecially in its disregard for due process. Even President Trump has come to Biden's defense. Yet the fact remains that this moement of Democrat hypocrisy may torpedo Joe Biden's candidacy. We hope that this brings about a return to sanity in relation to baseless sexual allegations in the future.

BYE-BYE AMBASSADOR: Ambassador Bill Taylor, whose hawkish stance on Ukraine led him to participate in the soft coup against the president, is stepping down. Given how badly Taylor's argument was dismantled by Rep. Jim Jordan in November, we're surprised this didn't happen sooner.

ITALEXIT: Italy's version of Brexit seems to be moving forward. According to Salvini, the leader of Italy's religious nationalists: “This [EU]  isn’t a ‘union.’ This is a nest of snakes and jackals.... First we defeat the virus, then we have a rethink about Europe. If it helps, we say goodbye. Without even a thank you.”

KISSINGER CRITIQUE: AoA has a great deal of respect for Henry Kissinger, especially in his work - and book - on China. Yet Kissinger has many blindspots. Pat Buchanan points out some of them.