Saturday, December 19, 2020

Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

LET US DREAM: Pope Francis has released a new book entitled Let Us Dream. One book review labels Francis as the holy father of "fraternity" - a topic which seems to be at the heart of both this book as well as his recent encyclical. 

VATICAN UPHOLDS BAN: The bishops of Knoxville's decision to temporarily ban Communion on the tongue has sadly been upheld by the Vatican. Most dioceses permit the practice but ask priests to clean their hands after. Some research, however, suggests that Communion on the tongue properly practiced is safer than in the hand. It is certainly more reverent.

CHURCH-GLOBALIST UNION? Pope Francis has become the moral voice behind the Council for Inclusive Capitalism - a union of some of the world's largest business organizations. More from Francis skeptic, Taylor Marshall.


II. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

SCOTUS LET DOWN: All three Trump justices sided with Roberts and the liberals to reject the Texas election lawsuit by hiding behind standing. While there are other election-related cases pending, it seems likely the courts will stay out and leave it to Congress to act.

DUELLING ELECTORS: Seven states have sent votes of dueling electors to Congress for the January 6 election certification. It will only take one Representative and one Senator to throw the certification into chaos - but Mitch McConnell has turned his back on the president and asked all senators to refrain from fighting. Of course, VP Pence will run the show that day - and he could very well refuse to certify the results. 

BARR RESIGNS: Bill Barr is out but his replacement is a Barr hire. Barr's reluctance to act on voter fraud, his slow-walking the Durham investigation, and the fact that he kept hidden a years long investigation into Hunter Biden meant he had to go. 

MACHINE ANALYSIS: A judge ordered the release of an independent forensic analysis of the Dominion voting machines used in a Michigan county - machines that brought about a 68% error in the vote. According to the report, there was intentional fraud at play with the Dominion machines. The report concluded: "However, based on the preliminary results, we conclude that the errors are so significant that they call into question the integrity and legitimacy of the results in the Antrim County 2020 election to the point that the results are not certifiable. Because the same machines and software are used in 48 other counties in Michigan, this casts doubt on the integrity of the entire election in the state of Michigan.”


III. ISLAM AND THE MIDDLE EAST

SECOND IRAN ASSASSINATION: Israel is suspected of making it's second drone strike assassination of an Iranian in the span of a week. This time the hit came on the Syria-Iraq border and the target was a senior member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Recall that it was the Revolutionary Guard that led the Islamic fight against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria yet Israel and her allies have worked tirelessly to fight them.

SAUDI DEATH SQUAD: It's being reported that the Saudis requested diplomatic immunity for a Khashoggi-style death squad it planned to send to Norway as it searched for a Saudi critic. Thankfully the Norwegians turned them down - but it shows the ruthlessness of the Saudi regime which fights for itself rather than the Salafism it spreads abroad. The former hides behind international treaty while the later is condemned - yet both are forms of international terrorism.

ISRAEL & THE ARABS: Israel is making further inroads with the Arab world. This week Morocco has joined the growing list of Arab states to enter ties with the Jewish nation. More from Caspian Report about the developing relationships. 


IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

HUNGARY DEFINES PARENTS: Hungary boldly revised its constitution to define parents as one man and one woman. More on this as well as other insight on Christian Hungary from Dr. Steve Turley.

LINCOLN EXPELLED: San Francisco plans to remove the name of Abraham Lincoln - the president who freed black slaves - from a city high school because "he did not demonstrate that black lives mattered to him." This week Trump appointed the members of the 1776 Commission, which aims to promote patriotism in our schools.

SOCIAL MEDIA WALK-BACK: With the election behind us social media giants Twitter and Facebook are pulling back changes they made which benefited Biden. Twitter, for example, announced: "We're switching back. You can now choose to Retreat or Quote Tweet the way you did before." They got what they wanted, now they're walking back the changes.

INDIANS NO MORE: Cleveland is giving up it's 105 year old baseball team name after next season. Why "Indians" is so offensive is apparent to no one. Perhaps they'll change it to the Cleveland "Native Americans" for the 2022 season.

No comments:

Post a Comment