15 November 2024

The Christian Right's Fantasy Realm of Reagan-Land

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/reagan-moviea-great-reminder-of-what-a-president-should-be.html

The myths and legends were emerging even before his death in 2004. Now twenty years later they've blossomed into full-blown fantasy. This latest film (praised by Richard Land) is undoubtedly an exercise in both hagiography and revisionism.

12 November 2024

Heresy in Oklahoma

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/09/oklahoma-amends-request-for-bibles-that-initially-appeared-to-match-only-version-backed-by-trump-00182997

The original request made by Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters was for Bibles that included the Pledge of Allegiance, Constitution, and Declaration of Independence. The scandal in the media played up the fact that this seemed to be an order for Trump Bibles.

11 November 2024

Smoke and Mirrors: Al Jazeera and Euroscepticism in the Balkans

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/8/31/the-danger-of-pro-eu-euroscepticism-in-the-western-balkans

Parties and politicians formerly aligned with Eurosceptic elements have accumulated a great deal of power and now stand near the pinnacle of the EU hierarchy. They're not there yet and they remain divided but were these Right-wing nationalist groups to come together - Brussels could be theirs.

10 November 2024

Censorship and AI: Colson and Anderson

Even though this story is but a theological and ethical commentary on a well established story that ran in mainstream newspapers and is further supported by testimony under oath, Google's Anti-Intelligence (AI) software has chosen to flag it - undoubtedly due to the fact that it perceives some kind of controversy or conspiratorial angle, suggesting I might be misleading the public or promoting some kind of dangerous idea. Or perhaps Google is simply concerned about the reputation of Chuck Colson - but I doubt it. Welcome to the future people - the age of of AI is upon us and already it's wreaking havoc in the world of banking, insurance, and many other spheres. We can only hope its failures and inadequacies will become self-evident and the project (mostly driven by greed) will be abandoned. Here's the story that was censored:

06 November 2024

The Church and Election Subversion

 https://www.cpr.org/2024/10/03/tina-peters-former-mesa-county-clerk-prison/

I don't believe in the American system. I've made this very clear but it continues to baffle me how these Evangelicals (and others within the orbit of the Christian Right wave their flags and step over each other to display their patriotism) have (in the Trump era) turned to actions that fundamentally undermine the system they profess to love and believe in. Everything they do testifies to the fact that if it means they lose - they don't believe in it either.

05 November 2024

Sacralist Jurisprudence and Evangelical Syncretism

https://reformedforum.org/podcasts/ctc877/

I've been listening to Christ the Center since about 2009. An interesting podcast most of the time, this episode was an exception. After realizing the guest was a law professor at Liberty University, I almost turned it off. I struggle to take anyone associated with Liberty seriously, but I decided to give it a listen.

03 November 2024

Washington and the Banderites

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/09/13/czgh-s13.html

It had been a few years since I picked up Russ Bellant's Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party, the 3rd edition published in 1991. The scandals he reports surrounding World War II-era fascists and the Nixon, Reagan, and GHW Bush administrations have been all but forgotten. And yet it was the Ukrainian angle that drove me to revisit the work - and it revealed some interesting bits of information.

01 November 2024

The Wilson-Moscow Mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1ckd_Jx_obk

https://clearlyreformed.org/on-culture-war-doug-wilson-and-the-moscow-mood/

It's been a year since Doug Wilson released his 2023 No Quarter November/Thanksgiving video. I saw it at the time and followed some of the responses to it. I thought DeYoung's comments were fairly astute but missing one important element regarding the 'mood' - Donald Trump.

30 October 2024

NPR on Trump: The Threat of Authoritarianism Challenged by the Imperial Establishment

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/nx-s1-5155005/trump-threatens-to-use-the-military-and-doj-to-go-after-those-who-are-disloyal

It's enough to make you take to your bed. The media storm has become such a morass, such a realm of chaos. It's often case of liars calling out liars and answering distortions with what can only be described as manipulation.

To make sense of this story or exchange it helps one to think of clash between the Roman Empire under the Late Republic and the threat of Sullan Dictatorship. Both were evil entities and yet the political winds are noteworthy and applicable. Lives were affected as was the course of subsequent history. That's no less true today. As Christians we live in this society and even though we're strangers and pilgrims it behooves us to understand what is happening.

28 October 2024

Gülen Coverage and Lies of Omission

https://theworld.org/segments/2024/10/21/turkish-cleric-accused-of-orchestrating-a-coup-attempt-dies-in-pennsylvania

I caught this story the other day on PRX's The World. It more or less typifies what's wrong with shows like this. Twenty-five years ago I was excited to have access to this show as international news was hard to get. The show frequently carries interesting stories but there's a terrible pro-Western bias in all its coverage and this story was no exception.

27 October 2024

The Twisted Attempts to Sanctify a Stunt

It's all over Christian media - two protesters shouted 'Christ is King' and 'Jesus is Lord' at a Kamala Harris rally. Though the nature and context of her response is disputed, she replied by telling them they were at the wrong rally. They were (like all protesters) removed by security. The two men proceeded to hit the interview circuit and have been making as much hay as possible out of all this - insisting they were verbally and physically abused. The narrative is meant to imply persecution.

We all know that 1 John 2 says that anyone who denies the Son is antichrist - therefore (it's argued or implied) Harris is antichrist.

26 October 2024

Media Coverage of Israel: Two Examples of Smoke, Mirrors, Deception, and Ignorance

https://theworld.org/segments/2024/10/23/northern-gaza-sees-intense-fighting-between-hamas-and-israel-as-civilians-forced-out


The other day I caught Robby Price on the Family Life Network express surprise (even irritation) at the notion that the US was spying on Israel. This was in reference to the leaked plans of Israel's coming attack on Iran - which is now underway. The US had satellite data and other intelligence tracking just what Israel was putting together for the attack - that is assuming it wasn't a deliberate and misleading leak. Of course the American's are privy to this information anyway and have sent one hundred US troops to Israel with missile defense batteries in preparation - yet another escalation of the growing Middle Eastern War.

24 October 2024

Europe's New Black Nobility and America's Christian Right

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/13/alito-supreme-court-far-right-ties

If you follow Right-wing politics in Europe or even Traditionalist Catholic politics then you're sure to encounter Gloria von Thurn und Taxis. The Guardian article in question provides a quick overview of the circles she inhabits which overlap with those of Samuel Alito. Her activities are not illegal - the article is focusing primarily on the corruption within the US Supreme Court and the ever expanding circles of Right-wing Catholicism.

23 October 2024

Cheney May Oppose Trump but is still Loyal to the Right

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/liz-cheney-ginni-thomas-january-6-investigation

Since opposing Trump, participating in the January 6 investigation, and be ousted from office, Liz Cheney is often presented as some kind of moderate. In reality she remains a Far Right member of the Republican Party and an advocate of the Neo-Conservative policies championed by her father. She rejects Trump and his movement but this does not make her a centrist. One might argue that right or wrong she retains some principles and convictions as opposed to the raw fascistic power-grab represented by Trumpism. It's a case of Bush-era Far Right politics vs. outright fascism.

18 October 2024

The Lack of Scandal Surrounding Open CIA Recruitment

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3280854/cia-boosts-online-recruiting-efforts-china-iran-and-north-korea

Imagine the vitriol that would be expressed in Western Mainstream media if the Chinese MSS, Russian SVR, Iranian VAJA, or North Korean RGB openly advertised online to recruit agents - agents specifically tasked to target the United States, NATO, and nations like Japan and South Korea.

16 October 2024

Washington's Latest Moves Against Beijing

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/21/quad-leaders-meet-in-bidens-hometown-amid-growing-china-competition

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-testing-us-all-joe-biden-caught-on-mic-telling-quad-leaders-101726970216499.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/biden-proposes-banning-chinese-vehicles-us-roads-with-software-crackdown-2024-09-23/

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/09/economist-calls-trumps-threat-to-tariff-countries-that-shun-the-dollar-a-lose-lose.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-keeps-missile-system-philippines-china-tensions-rise-tests-wartime-deployment-2024-09-19/

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3279516/us-typhon-missile-system-philippines-has-china-facing-more-tense-security-situation

At the end of September, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or QUAD met in Delaware. This is the most comprehensive of the new network of alliances created by Washington to combat China. The Quad is comprised of India, Japan, Australia, and the United States. This is in addition to AUKUS which has a more robust security element. What's important about the Quad is that it incorporates India and as such is critical to the US 'Indo-Pacific' framing of geo-politics and strategy vis-à-vis Beijing. AUKUS has more teeth but the Quad has the potential to be more important.

14 October 2024

The Balochistan Insurgency and Opposition to the BRI in Pakistan

https://dialogue.earth/en/business/pakistan-and-china-pursue-corridor-dream-despite-financial-security-risks/

The article began relating events surrounding the Balochi insurgency in southwest Pakistan but as it progressed I realized it was an anti-China piece critical of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the larger Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The port of Gwadar has been an object of interest for some time and tangible evidence of the breakdown of US-Pakistani relations. India is also less than keen on the project.

12 October 2024

Israel, Gaza, and the Lies of Stonestreet

https://www.breakpoint.org/the-horrific-attacks-of-october-7-a-year-later/

Stonestreet never disappoints. If you're looking for distortion and Evangelical perversions of Biblical doctrine, ethics - and reality, look no further. This disciple of Charles Colson consistently labours to outdo the mendacity and deception of his mentor and this piece on the October 7 attacks is no exception.

Consider his opening:

One year ago, on October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas terrorists entered Israel and attacked civilians, killing some 1,200 Jews, the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. Among those killed were soldiers and civilians, men and women, children and adults. They were killed simply because they were Jews.

08 October 2024

Kadyrov's Chechens in the Ukraine War

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/russian-special-forces-halt-advancement-of-ukrainian-troops

I've written many times about Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the son of a rebel leader who turned into Moscow's faithful satrap. Usually when Kadyrov's name comes up, it's in reference to his corruption, authoritarian rule, or the hunting down of Chechen rebels abroad - men that would consider him to be a traitor and thus he's proven quite zealous in pursuing these men.

05 October 2024

Francis, the Synod on Synodality, and the Roman Episcopate in China

https://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/the-bishop-of-mindong-among-the-new-synod-fathers-named-by-francis/78274/2

Francis has given his critics more fuel to pour on the already raging fire surrounding his papacy. Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu, the Bishop of Mingdong is a Beijing appointee that was originally ordained in a CCP-sanctioned rite in the year 2000. Viewed as illegitimate, he was excommunicated by the Vatican, a move that was revoked in 2018 when Francis signed the accord with Beijing. Zhan Silu was one of seven Beijing-appointed bishops embraced by the Vatican - a move that many Traditionalists found repugnant.

03 October 2024

Hauerwas on Kuyper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BcZlxGt3xs

Since he was named by Time Magazine as America's Best Theologian in 2001, Stanley Hauerwas rightly raises some eyebrows. He's at his best when he's applying New Testament ethics and yet his theology is bankrupt. Sadly those sacralists and Right-wing adherents who oppose New Testament teaching can use Hauerwas' theological liberalism as a vehicle to discredit and dismiss what he says about ethics - even if it reflects apostolic teaching. This is why he's always frustrated me a bit. I have not found his books to be helpful and I never recommend them and yet he often makes decent standalone statements and has plenty to offer in the way of historical and cultural commentary.

Since I've been reading and writing about Abraham Kuyper as of late this interview clip caught my eye.

02 October 2024

Humanitarian Imperialism and Sudan

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/13/sudan

The war in Sudan is tragic and like all Africa stories in the West, it gets little attention or traction. To most people the wars in Africa are just repeating loops of video showing fighters in pick-up trucks with AK-47's and suffering women and children in refugee camps. The politics are beyond most people's ability to understand - and they're not going to take the time to look into them. And while Western leaders speak out, levelling condemnations and offering aid - nothing much seems to change.

28 September 2024

Expanding AUKUS Declares Hostility to China

https://thedefensepost.com/2024/09/17/canada-aukus-alliance-china/

Even as Justin Trudeau's government is on the ropes, the Canadian Establishment is moving to bring Ottawa into the growing Pacific alliance. The UK's membership is rooted in historical interests and the fact that it is America's essential ally. Or perhaps it should be worded the other way around? Australia has gone through a stream of scandals and failed governments to finally come to the right conclusion that Washington wanted all along - membership in a military alliance against China. Japan has now made moves to join and South Korea and New Zealand have expressed interest.

25 September 2024

Democracy in Crisis

https://theworld.org/segments/2024/09/18/democracy-is-under-strain-across-the-globe

Advocates for democracy are concerned. The once seemingly inevitable and unstoppable 'progress' of their system seems to be struggling. Some would say it's under strain, others would put in more stringent terms and simply say that democracy is in a state of crisis. They would point not just to the rise of authoritarian regimes but the strain on democracy within Europe and the evident fragility of the American system - supposedly the very nexus of modern democracy, the nation upon which the narrative depends.

24 September 2024

Kyiv Moves to Ban the Historic Ukrainian Orthodox Church

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-parliament-legislative-ban-ukrainian-orthodox-church-539e0f3a6d657277aa4fa93b8ec53505

We're told the Zelenskiy regime in Ukraine stands for freedom and liberal democracy. In the United States the First Amendment is often invoked as the foundation from which all the other freedoms spring. This would include the freedom of religion and nations like Russia and China are frequently castigated for denying these rights and freedoms. And yet, we see the Zelenskiy government (which embraces the fascist remnants and permutations of the World War II era) denying these basic freedoms to large sections of its population. Kyiv has intervened and has banned expressions of religion that it does not approve of - those elements of Orthodoxy that retain historical and liturgical ties to Russia. Though the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (UOC) denounced the 2022 Russian invasion and has broken formal ties with the Moscow Patriarchate, this is insufficient in the eyes of the Zelenskiy government. Because the UOC was part of the Moscow Patriarchate it must be eradicated.

21 September 2024

The Dominionist Ziklag

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.

17 September 2024

China, the Monroe Doctrine, and the American Empire: A Proxy Struggle in Ecuador

 https://thegrayzone.com/2024/08/29/secret-chats-decade-us-meddling-ecuador/


There's evidence of US meddling in the politics of Ecuador. Personally I did not find any of these revelations to be shocking. While the explicit evidence wasn't always there, these types of machinations are well known to those who have been paying attention. Wikileaks also played a role in bringing some of these things to light and by some reckonings, they're not all scandalous but are simply descriptive of how governments work with and relate to one another. It's often something other than what people think.

14 September 2024

Homeschooling: The Good and the Bad

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/children-deserve-uniform-standards-in-homeschooling/


Homeschooling has exploded, especially in the aftermath of Covid and it is sending up red flags among the Establishment. There have been numerous articles as of late critical of the movement and for every one of these there are multiple responses issued from the Christian community - which by all accounts dominates the homeschool spectrum.

10 September 2024

Orban's Habsburg Dreams in Hungary and Europe

https://www.politico.eu/article/habsburg-empire-viktor-orban-patriots-for-europe-hard-right-european-parliament-hungary-austria-czech-republic/

https://apnews.com/article/viktor-orban-hungary-romania-eu-3ea649669de75d13b0ba3585c0e83239

The lead article alludes to the Habsburg Empire but then proves less than accurate in some of its historical statements. Orban does indeed have Habsburg allies but the article isn't really about the Habsburgs. The article touches on his grand vision, the supposed reconstitution of the Habsburg realm, but the story is really in the numbers. These reveal the rightward shift that's taking place in Europe and (I think) sheds light on Orban's more immediate machinations. It's clear he's thinking a couple of steps ahead, preparing for the next European Parliamentary election in 2029.

04 September 2024

Armenia's Shift to the West

https://eurasianet.org/russia-rages-over-us-military-exercise-in-armenia

These military exercises signal Yerevan's shift to the West and yet another Western incursion on the borders of Russia, another invasion into its historical sphere.

01 September 2024

Coveting Serbia's Lithium

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3274031/thousands-protest-lithium-mining-serbia-officials-call-it-coup-plot?module=top_story&pgtype=subsection

This author and many others have been writing for years about the tug-of-war in Serbia. The Atlanticist plan in the 1990's was to break up Serb-dominated Yugoslavia and bring all the pieces into the EU and NATO orbit. This largely succeeded except with Serbia itself which remains outside the bloc and friendly to its historical ally in Moscow.

30 August 2024

28 August 2024

Meloni and the Dilemmas of Liberalism

https://www.politico.eu/article/giorgia-meloni-italy-press-journalists-watchdog-media-eu-politics-rule-of-law-report/


Narrative driven political forces willing to play fast and loose with the law inevitably end up with media problems. They don't like being challenged and called out. And there are other times in which such leaders will utilize this constant irritation as an excuse to detract from other pressing problems. So it is with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

26 August 2024

VCY-CrossTalk has Forgotten and Replaced God

The VCY radio network posted the essay below back in June - the author is the host of the misnamed 'CrossTalk' programme which is basically a shill for the John Birch Society. The Birchers make regular appearances on the show and it provides a kind of Evangelical (and sometimes Fundamentalist) vehicle for Bircher ideology. Some readers may want to scroll down and read it and then return to these comments. Others may choose to read the essay in light of this commentary.

23 August 2024

Answers in Genesis and The Servant Foundation: Agents and Mouthpieces for Wall Street

 https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/see-how-answers-in-genesis-finances-its-creation-museum-and-publishing-operation

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.

21 August 2024

Lausanne Movement Evangelicalism and the Redefinition of Godly Character

https://lausanne.org/podcast/demonstrating-godly-character-in-the-u-s-air-force

As a Christian who turned my back on the US military my expectations for this podcast were pretty low. In some respects Jerry White was refreshing in that he thinks through his actions more than a lot of people do, and yet I still cannot agree with his reasoning.

18 August 2024

Athletes from Russia and the 2024 Paris Olympics

The Paris Olympics have ended and yet in the final days I caught a video clip of a Russian athlete who of course is not allowed to represent Russia and should he win, the anthem of his country won't be played. This is due (we're told) to the various doping scandals surrounding Russian sports. They must compete as 'neutral' athletes and as such there were only a dozen or so at the games.

15 August 2024

Evangelism Explosion (EE) Remains Faithful to the Legacy of D James Kennedy

https://julieroys.com/evangelism-explosion-sponsors-conservative-political-summit-washington-dc/

While looking up something in reference to D James Kennedy, I came across this article from September 2023.

Evangelism Explosion (EE) was all the rage at one time and this article compelled me to take a few minutes and reconsider it once again. The end assessment is the same that I had almost thirty years ago.

11 August 2024

Campus Uproar and Mohler's Latest Episode of Moral and Epistemological Meltdown

https://wng.org/opinions/americas-campus-meltdown-1713993199

Southern Seminary president Albert Mohler assumes the immorality of opposing Israel but it must be granted he's right in that many 'Left' protesters are privileged. I find them absurd because they challenge the system even while they only wish to appropriate it and somehow put a humanitarian or progressive spin on the empire and its evils.

10 August 2024

The Da Vinci Drag Display in Paris

As the Olympics wind down I felt compelled to offer a comment in relation to the scandal regarding the sodomites in the opening ceremony.

09 August 2024

The BBC and the Manipulation of Moldovan History

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg330w2x7g3o

As previously stated in other pieces (linked below) - Moldova cannot join the EU unless Transnistria issue is solved. You can't have an unsettled border and join the EU or NATO.

06 August 2024

The Pentagon, Vaccines, and Geopolitical Games that Kill People

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/6/20/pentagon_china_vaccines

This story reminded me of how America is a moral beacon to the world. Because the United States didn't want China to make money and earn standing they pushed a disinformation campaign - the sort of campaigns that we're daily told are being conducted by the likes of China and Russia.

04 August 2024

The Sacral Nature of Evangelical Support for Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/22/trump-christians-president-religion

This article is already outdated and if anything the realities expressed here have been sharply amplified by the assassination attempt and the way in which the Christian Right has cast these events in theological terms. The event has been turned into a kind of epoch or watershed, a marker in American redemptive-history, an episode in the passion of Trump as it were. None of this is thought out or made explicit as it quickly strays into blatant heresy. But even its restrained and nuanced forms already are guilty of such doctrinal crimes and aberrations.

02 August 2024

Homosexuality in Woke Communist China

https://www.scmp.com/sport/paris-olympics-2024/article/3272119/chinas-cctv-stunned-silence-lgbtq-scene-paris-olympics-opening-ceremony


I used to enjoy watching the Olympics. Some years we'd even have cable turned on for a month so we could watch them. But at some point the debauchery (and the sundry base and vulgar ads) became too unbearable and so we gave up. I wasn't at all surprised to hear about all the filth in the opening ceremony - I did not watch it.

30 July 2024

Netanyahu Exploits the Golan Heights

Over the weekend a missile struck the Golan Heights killing about a dozen Druze children. The Netanyahu government has been looking for an excuse to escalate and expand the war and as such they've been playing up this incident.

25 July 2024

The Materialist Default

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/20/nx-s1-5013626/scientists-are-looking-for-signs-of-resilience-in-the-gut

Right-wing media is unpalatable in its assumptions and its bias and yet the mainstream media is becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate as well. From all the talk of 'people of who have babies' and the like to the overwhelmingly materialist assumptions, I find myself having to look elsewhere. Motivated by its political agenda and the corruption of money, FOX consistently lies and manipulates the truth and even the nature of reality. But the mainstream increasingly just relies on false presuppositions and when it comes to health, science, and even sociology, the materialist assumptions dominate - often leading to absurdities.

24 July 2024

Protestantism and the Judiciary in Türkiye

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Turkey,-Constitutional-Court:-Expulsion-of-Protestant-leaders-does-not-violate-freedom-of-faith-60914.html

Ankara fears these Western-connected congregations are a Fifth Column, a means of cycling subversion into Turkish society, laundering money, and the like. While mostly exaggeration or simply untrue, I don't doubt there are some instances where this is the case. It may even be that some church leaders don't quite understand who they're affiliating with and where their money is coming from.

23 July 2024

Pan-Turkism 2024

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-Turanian-World-advance-in-Central-Asia-60912.html

Neo-Ottomanism is not exactly the same as Pan-Turkism but the concepts can and often do overlap. Neo-Ottomanism is about leveraging Ankara's placement, the fact that Türkiye straddles Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Via the Black Sea and the Caucasus it is able to access the Turkish populations of Central Asia - and this is where the Pan-Turkism comes in. Ankara is able to exert itself culturally into the region and it's natural that economic and other diplomatic relations would ensue.

20 July 2024

The GOP's Sociopathic Behaviour Regarding Israel

Watching a PBS Frontline episode on campus violence the other night I fully expected to see some clips of the congressional hearing with university presidents - a dialogue that was largely misrepresented in the mainstream media. It goes without saying this was misrepresented by the Right.

15 July 2024

Narratives Surrounding the Trump Shooting

Since the Saturday evening assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania I have been rather struck by the mainstream media response as well as that of the DNC. For some odd reason they are kow-towing to the MAGA Republican line and seem almost apologetic as if they are to blame for this.

14 July 2024

Israel, Iran, and the Turks

https://eurasianet.org/israel-emerging-as-source-of-tension-in-azerbaijans-special-relationship-with-turkey

This was inevitable and I was pleased to note that others are noticing it as well. Baku has been effectively wed to Ankara since the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990's. Their cultural ties are pervasive and there are significant numbers of Azeris in Türkiye proper, and they also share a common enemy in the Armenians.

11 July 2024

Imperial Power and Central Asian Infrastructure

https://eurasianet.org/china-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-railway-project-gets-off-the-ground

The key statement this article is the reference to the Trans-Afghan corridor. This railroad and its relationship to the larger question of Central Asian infrastructure represents a strategic defeat for the US Empire.

09 July 2024

Ramsey and the Three Wise Monkeys

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.

04 July 2024

01 July 2024

Monument to a Court Prophet

https://www.christianpost.com/news/us-capitol-unveils-statue-honoring-evangelist-billy-graham.html

I'm not Roman Catholic and reject the many claims of Rome concerning its apostolic and particularly Petrine foundations. Whether Peter is actually buried beneath the Vatican or not is immaterial. I toured the Scavi back in the 1990's on one of my many stays in the city. It was fascinating but not entirely convincing. I felt like the Vatican had hijacked the history much in the same way one encounters when touring the catacombs.