https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/26/president_donald_trump_nato_iran
I was pleased to find this story touching on some larger questions that the mainstream media tends to downplay or ignore. The question of increased military budgets and militarism go hand in hand with the cutting of social services and tax cuts - some of the key economic planks of Trumpism.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-walmart-eat-tariffs-instead-raising-prices-2025-05-17/
Trump wants Wal-Mart to 'eat' the costs of tariffs and not pass the prices on to consumers. He knows this will cost him politically as the working poor (many of whom support his movement) will be hit the hardest by the price hikes.
The battle continues over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The courts in some cases resist the attempts to shut it down - in other cases the courts are facilitating its termination.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/11/05/israel-blackmail-the-presidents/
Not a few historians, analysts, and commentators wonder just who is in charge? Who is calling the shots in terms of the US-Israel relationship? At times it almost seems like Israel has the upper hand and steers the American ship - at least with regard to Middle Eastern policy.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ziklag-secret-christian-charity-2024-election
The Christian Right's fundraising and lobbying machine is a veritable labyrinth and this is by design. Money is effectively laundered and the smoke and mirrors make it all but impossible to tell where the money is coming from and where the power is located. There are certain names that always seem to appear - these are in some cases key agents or actors. Sometimes they are the powers, the 'movers and shakers', other times they are the action-arms of the powers - which are often very wealthy people or the people that manage the wealth. It's complicated.
https://vcy.com/climate-change-for-kids-and-parents-too/
I was perusing the online edition of the new 'Climate Change for Kids' book issued by Answers in Genesis and I immediately thought of some past articles I've read about the dubious finances connected with the organisation. It's clear that Ken Ham is in it for the money and is willing to tap into every resource available - including tax money to promote his Creation Museum and Ark Encounter. And he's not above threats of litigation - suing the state of Kentucky for one. His lawyer was Mike Johnson who is now the Speaker of the House.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/father-moron-dave-ramsey-disgusted-211016354.html
This is a somewhat confused report of an Instagram video in which a father and daughter share a financial scheme with the audience. Engaging in a practice known as arbitrage they are effectively borrowing money at a low rate which generates savings that allows them to lend and receive a return at a higher rate. The particular scenario isn't very convincing and certainly has some holes. As far as risk, there's always risk in such ventures.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/13/the-secret-history-of-israels-role-in-genocide-in-colombia/
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/6/12/chiquita_funding_death_squads_in_colombia
I post this must-read article because I believe it's important for Christians to have a better understanding of what has happened in Colombia and the role of US policy, the US military - and the outsourced role Israel often plays at the behest of Washington.
Boeing is too big to fail. As a member of the S&P100, the company constitutes a large and essential component within the stock market as well as the US security apparatus. Boeing builds commercial jets and does billions of dollars in military contracts. In fact it's the second biggest military contractor in the United States (and third in the world).
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/indias-pm-modi-wages-war-against-christians-with-impunity.html
Pardon my cynicism but if Trump were president I don't think this criticism would be levied with quite as much zeal and earnest as we see in this piece from the so-called Christian Post. In some respects the article was refreshing but in others ridiculous.
One is left wondering if the decision by the White House to slack up a little on Venezuela sanctions is about foreign policy strategy or simply to help out Chevron – and thus the markets. It's probably a bit of both.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/08/30/booz-allen-maryland-military-facility/
Articles about Booz Allen Hamilton always catch my eye as the
company is well-known for its contract work with the CIA. Perhaps the most
famous episode in recent years was in reference to Edward Snowden. The company
is involved in all sorts of intelligence work, analysis, IT, and other forms of
consulting and its one of those companies that straddles the military and
intelligence spheres – in fact the line with a company like Booz Allen Hamilton
is completely blurred.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/04/john-bolton-trump-nato-2024
Some in the name of anti-globalisation would be more than
happy to see the US withdraw from NATO. Others make a similar isolationist argument
by appealing to Washington's 1796 farewell warning concerning 'foreign
entanglements'. For whatever the reason there is a growing voice within
Right-wing circles that is exhibiting no small degree of scepticism regarding
NATO. For some it's simply a nationalist impulse and an unwillingness to
contemplate spending American treasure and lives to defend some European
country that most Americans know nothing about. Regardless, this sentiment
represents a sharp break within the American conservatism that emerged after
World War II.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/06/19/emergence-of-a-new-non-alignment/
A New World Order is emerging but it's not the one predicted
by George HW Bush in the early 1990's. In fact this is the order he was trying
to prevent, the nightmare scenario US power-brokers have been trying to stave
off since that time. Ironically, they brought it on themselves but that's a long
story - one that cannot be explored here.
*Updated 16 October 2024
https://theintercept.com/2023/01/18/genaro-garcia-luna-trial/
Ten days after winning the Mexican presidency in 2006, and
encouraged by the Bush administration, Felipe Calderon launched the Mexican Drug
War. Less than two decades later over 500,000 are dead and even these figures
are misleading as they don't include all of the tangential deaths involved in
connection to drugs – nor do mere numbers explain what the war has meant for
the industry, its markets, and societies ranging from South America to the
Canadian border.
Mainstream media has all but ignored Seymour Hersh's latest Substack
piece in which he states emphatically something that many of us have suspected
all along – that the Nordstream Pipelines were sabotaged by the US Navy.
Have you noticed the shift in coverage regarding China? For months Western media outlets have voiced criticism regarding Beijing's Zero-Covid policy. They referred to it as draconian and despite the fact that only a few thousand people have died within a country over a billion people – as ineffective.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/27/life-surge-conference-evangelical-money-finance
American Evangelicalism has created a fusion of capitalism
and Christian piety. Sacralism and Evangelical Dominionism place great stock in
power and status, the middle class values of respectability and security. Those
that understand this are not surprised by the so-called Prosperity Gospel. It
is but an exaggerated expression of an impulse that already exists. It may be
tacky, working class, philistine, and grossly overdone which certain cultural
contexts tend to fuel – but in the end it's the same Cultural Christianity that
produced ostentatious palaces, cathedrals in one generation and capitalist
empires in another.
This episode of Fresh Air encouraged a deluge of thoughts and
considerations. Listening to the account by the former US Attorney and his reports
of the corruption in the Trump administration and specifically of former
Attorney General Bill Barr, I could not help but immediately think of LPR's
Issues Etc.
While visiting the BreakPoint website I made another discovery which I must say initially startled me but upon reflection it wasn't too surprising. I noticed the website was promoting Eventide Mutual Funds as a form of Christian investment. That name was familiar to me. I clicked on the link and within a few seconds I had the answer.
