Halloween Compromise

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/christians-this-is-our-night

This article is making the rounds. It's the same argument Evangelicals have been making for years.

Evangelicalism and its 'desire' to be relevant is a creature and vehicle of worldly compromise. This article represents scripture manipulation at its finest but somehow manages to ignore the point... what is the argument against Halloween? The article never bothers to interact with the notion. It instead assumes the Dominionist line about conquering and redeeming the culture and it hides its cowardly compromise by pretending to have a robust theology.

The Citibank Revelation

For all the coverage the Clinton email leaks are receiving 'the' story is not getting that much attention.

The real revelation came with the Citibank emails. This wasn't even so much about the corruptions of the Clintons as it was the compromised nature of the system itself.

Bearing the Cross in Southern Chile

http://evangelicalfocus.com/blogs/1705/Why_are_churches_burning_in_Chile

This article is interesting for many reasons but I post it here because of a line near the end...

Christianity, they argue, has brought many to leave the defence of their social rights.

The Mapuche people are angry because of their social situation and view Evangelical converts as traitors.

The Cambridge Spy Ring: Unfinished Tales

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/name-of-seventh-cambridge-spy-cannot-be-revealed-says-judge/story-29733173-detail/story.html

For anyone who is an espionage buff, this article references a still unfinished chapter from one of the great stories of the Cold War. The story contains so many layers it's hard to take it all in.

Mainstream Media, the Yemen Conflict and Social Consensus

This article provides an excellent summation (with numerous examples) of how the Mainstream media protects the Establishment. The Right-Left divide is largely fictitious. The differences are located within the pro-Wall Street, pro-Pentagon, pro-Imperial consensus. This is true from FOX to MSNBC and everything else in-between.

Also exposed is the rank hypocrisy on the part of US media and US officials regarding civilian casualties, weaponisation of conflicts etc...

Russian State Persecution, Western Money and the Heritage Foundation

There are a growing number of reports regarding Russian state harassment of Evangelical groups. They're being bullied about property, registration and in some cases fund raising. The state is making it clear that they're not particularly welcome and they're being watched.

These actions are starting to garner attention from Evangelical leaders and ministries. Of course this also dovetails nicely with the US Establishment's propaganda campaign directed at Moscow and the march to war.

John McCain's Concern for the Indiscriminate Bombing of Civilians

John McCain was recently in the news again calling for US intervention in Syria. Never one to shy away from warmongering and ever the champion of American militarism, McCain decried Assad's 'indiscriminate bombing' of civilians and blamed him for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

I was left spluttering.

The Investiture Controversy in China

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-vatican-china-deal-idUSKCN12L031

I have no stake or real interest in Catholic ecclesiology or geopolitics but this move by Francis should rightly be decried as a sell-out. In seeking peace for Roman Catholics in China he has all but capitulated to Beijing's demands. This will not earn him many friends among Catholics in China and certainly not among them in the United States.

A Candid Admission Regarding the Christian Right

http://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-meeting-evangelical-leaders-end-of-the-christian-right-165473/

I'm not an admirer of Michael Farris, HSLDA or Patrick Henry College but this short article is worth a few minutes of your time. It contains a very candid and compelling admission. While I reject much of what Farris stands and fights for I appreciate his honesty on this point and his admission that the Christian Right has lost its way.

Homeschooling Extremes

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/oct/11/unschool-children-monitor-home-schooling-education

As negative as this piece might seem to be, it's actually fairly upbeat regarding the Unschooled. I've seen some real disasters result from this method.

Trump and Taking Social Stability for Granted

The media is suddenly making a big deal about Trump's refusal to commit to the election results. This is a surprise? He's indicated this all along, but suddenly they seem to be paying attention.

Ecuador Under Pressure and Hillary's Desire to Drone

Ecuador has cut Julian Assange's internet access. What's going on here? Is Ecuador under serious pressure from the United States? We know that's the case, but it has been for some time. So why now?

Right-Wing Terror and Sovereign Citizens

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/10/15/it-will-be-a-bloodbath-inside-the-kansas-militia-plot-to-ignite-a-religious-war/?utm_term=.ab97d31308ed

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/militia-terror-plot-fbi-kansas_us_58014995e4b0162c043c1e90

This case breaks with the all too common FBI provocateur urging on and entrapping some misguided fool. These men look to be the real thing.

There's actually a lot of this type of Right-wing terror going on but the media (generally speaking) is not making a great deal of noise about it.

Switzerland's Loss of Neutrality

https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/26/swiss-public-back-law-expanding-surveillance-powers/

http://lenews.ch/2016/09/25/25-september-2016-swiss-referenda-results/

Terrorism is being used as justification to break Swiss neutrality. The All-Seeing Eye wants access to every secret, every byte and bit of data. Switzerland is autonomous but dependent, reliant on a symbiotic relationship with global finance.

The Intercept's Clinton Email Coverage

The Intercept has been doing a tremendous job reporting on the Clinton email leaks. I've provided numerous links here. Right now they're easy to locate on the site but in another week or two it will take a lot of scrolling or searching to locate them. This list is for those who want to look into this issue at a later date... assuming the links stay active.

The Montenegrin Microcosm

There were reports that numerous websites associated Montenegrin politics were hacked today and the suggestion was that Russia was probably behind it. Montenegro is yet another Balkan country caught in the middle of Cold War II. It's a battlefield in miniature. Historically and culturally the Eastern Orthodox Slavic peoples of the region have looked toward Russia but post-1991 NATO and the EU have been determined to 'scoop up' every last nation of the former Warsaw Pact into their orbit.

The Costs and Dangers of Militarism

There is an ongoing debate in ruling class circles over the question of conscription. In recent years the Neo-Conservative wing led by figures like Donald Rumsfeld wanted a light and flexible volunteer force highly reliant on technology and sophisticated weaponry.

Sadly (for them) this was also combined with a commitment to unilateralist thinking leading to an over-taxing of US military resources. By the end of the Bush administration the US military was almost broken.

The Syria Swindle and its Dangers

Led by the State Department, elements within the US Establishment are clamouring for greater involvement within the Syria War. Putin and Assad are being accused of war crimes and the media is doing all it can to escalate the tension.

The truth is the US has been behind the Syrian 'uprising' since the beginning. It's been a mostly bogus proxy war and was instigated by the United States and key NATO allies. They have flooded the conflict with weapons, money and fighters.

And yet, it's near collapse. Their Islamist (often al Qaeda affiliated) militias are near collapse. These are the fighters (arranged under multiple structures) that have beheaded children, terrorised and murdered civilians and engaged in other deeds equally worthy of the 'war crimes' label.

Spurgeon on the Unrighteousness of War

A great quote from Charles Spurgeon. Isn't it interesting how when Bible-based Christians are not wielding political power, as indeed Non-conformists in 19^th century Great Britain certainly were not, there is no zeal for empire, for conquest, for the 'glory' of the nation. Establishment Christianity whether formal or simply the result of a contrived theological narrative is a poison to the Christian soul. How quickly does it invert the ethics of the Christian Church!

Missiles in Kaliningrad

Overshadowed by other media events regarding Donald Trump and the presidential debate (sic), reports emerged that Russia has moved missiles into Kaliningrad, a small enclave about the size of Connecticut located on the Baltic between Poland and Lithuania. Kaliningrad (formerly the Prussian city of Königsberg), was captured by the Soviets in the latter stages of WWII. During Soviet times the city and its surrounding area was contiguous with the rest of the nation as Lithuania was also part of the Soviet Union. When the USSR broke up, it became an isolated exclave, a legacy of World War II and the defunct German state of Prussia which was completely dismantled in 1947.

October Surprises: The DNC, Putin and Assange

It has been well known for some time that Wikileaks' Julian Assange was planning an 'October Surprise' for Hillary Clinton and at last it has come in the form of leaked speech transcripts. At last we have some information regarding Hillary Clinton's rather highly paid and controversial speeches to Goldman Sachs.

https://theintercept.com/2016/10/07/excerpts-of-hillary-clintons-paid-speeches-to-goldman-sachs-finally-leaked/

The analysis is hardly complete but already they reveal an 'unveiled' Hillary Clinton and more or less confirm what many already thought. She's an Establishment figure and has no qualms about taking public positions that can be contrasted with her real 'private' feelings and the policies she will pursue. Like most politicians, she's a phony.

A Note on the Constitution Party's Nativism

The anti-globalist and Nativist forces in the United States continue to fail in their understanding of how US power works. Just recently I perused a Constitution Party pamphlet left on a retail counter by a disgruntled Christian-Right Cruz supporter who refuses to back Trump.

Demonising Salva Kiir and the China Factor in South Sudan

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2016/0819/South-Sudan-government-recruited-child-soldiers-UN-says

At one time Salva Kiir was a hero in US foreign policy circles. He was the face of the South Sudan project, a long US-backed effort to wrest the southern portions of Sudan and its oil away from the control of Khartoum in the north. The new nation's genesis was a blow both to the Khartoum regime, a regional nemesis of Washington's interests and Beijing which had been heavily invested in the Sudanese oil sector.

The creation of a new state with its capital in Juba was a diplomatic and geostrategic success, a double victory that achieved both regional and global aims.

Mainstream Media's Anti-Russian Campaign

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/08/30/491898040/the-curious-deaths-of-kremlin-critics

This piece ran about a month ago on NPR and yet it is but one example among many. The US Establishment is seeking to reconstitute the Cold War and while China is one villain, the chief antagonist is Russia under Vladimir Putin.

The lies grow wearisome. Putin is hardly a virtuous character but US accusations are disingenuous, rooted in arrogance and extremely hypocritical.

The fact that the Mainstream media has embraced conspiracy theories regarding Russia tells us a great deal about their role.