https://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/20/cuba_raul_castro_peter_kornbluh
https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/the-us-indicted-raul-castro-for-deterring
The recent indictment by the Trump Justice Department of Raul Castro relies on a false narrative. Basically they're asserting that these innocent humanitarian planes were shot down over international waters and as such Castro is guilty of conspiracy and murder. If it only it were that simple.
And why is this indictment being handed down now?
https://www.propublica.org/article/paul-newby-north-carolina-supreme-court
There are enough stories like this to fill a book shelf. Christians believing they are serving God by wielding power and yet oblivious to their own corruption or willing to explain it away. Ignoring what the Bible says about power, money, ethics, and integrity they wage culture war and seek to transform America's Enlightenment Liberal society into the Kingdom of God. The result is a sham, a counterfeit and yet another occasion in which the name of Christ is besmirched.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/28/support-dissolves-as-jair-bolsonaro-starts-jail-term
It would seem Jair Bolsonaro grew desperate and attempted to remove his tracking anklet which resulted in the judge insisting that (since his appeals were exhausted), he immediately begin serving his 27 year jail sentence.
https://www.creators.com/read/judge-napolitano/04/25/taking-easter-seriously-78f98
Napolitano would have us take Easter seriously and then proceeds to make a mockery of it. I found this to be in keeping with most of his commentaries. We would do well to identify these errors and reflect on them. Have they influenced our own thinking? To what degree do they shape the thinking of Christians around us?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/erik-prince-trump-immigration-enforcement
I suppose this article got little attention in Christian circles because few would find it newsworthy. They support Trump's anti-immigrant agenda and the fact that so-called Christians like Erik Prince would want to promote and profit from it - is not worth talking about. Undoubtedly most of them would do the same if they had the means to do so.
I was recently spending some time with an older man from a nearby town that I've known for many years. I've mentioned him before in other articles. He's one of those old blue-collar types that really has only one religion - America. He worships the flag, troops, firefighters, and law-enforcement. When I first knew him back in the 1990's, he liked Bill Clinton and supported Gore in the 2000 election. He's lax when it comes to morality in terms of things like homosexuality and abortion and yet takes a pretty hardline view when it comes to work ethic, foreign policy, and the like. He's pro-union if that even matters any more.
Meloni's policy has mostly been to tack toward the centre, which has given her great credibility and standing within the EU Establishment. But as the article points out, there's still a very ugly Right-wing side to her domestic policy. Politically it's brilliant as it doesn't allow domestic rivals like Matteo Salvini to outflank her, but I think it's also indicative of her true colours and the nature of her political pedigree.
This story is fascinating on several levels and yet there's something rotten about it. Even after reading the 43 page indictment, it doesn't add up.
If facing resistance from the Senate, the incoming Trump administration has indicated it would like to utilise 'recess appointments' for incoming cabinet members - a provision granted in the Constitution. The new Senate majority leader John Thune has signalled he may be willing to facilitate this by taking the body into recess for no reason other than allowing Trump to push his cabinet nominees through.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is a case of confused thinking and confused jurisdictions, the result of the institutional mindset that affects the heirs of the Magisterial Reformation.
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.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/honduras-president-arrested/
The death of Alexei Navalny received around-the-clock coverage and it was simply assumed that Putin ordered it and yet when someone like Berta Caceres of Honduras is killed, virtually no one in Western (and certainly American) media seems to care and suggestions of American involvement are met with scoffs.
A few weeks ago the Christian and Right-wing media-spheres blew up over comments made by Politico's Heidi Przybyla in which she seemed to suggest that Christian Nationalists are those who believe rights are derived from God as opposed to the state.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/court-rules-against-42-churches-trying-to-leave-the-umc.html
Ostensibly these congregations wish to leave the apostate United Methodist Church. But then in the process of making their moral stand they violate Scripture and drag the Church into the secular courts.
The story has already faded from the news cycle but it struck me how vigorously the Right was going after the obviously corrupt New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez.
And yet how is Menendez any different from Clarence Thomas?
Or for that matter someone like Donald Trump?
As October 2023 winds down, there have been significant developments in the case against Trump et al. in the state of Georgia. After Sidney Powell flipped and took a plea deal, the Trumpian edifice began to crumble.
