GERMANY THIRD BIGGEST MILITARY POWER

The boost in defense spending comes after the public circumspection of former German defense leaders who have said the military is unprepared for the challenges confronting European security after Russia invaded Ukraine. (https://www.dw.com/en/germany-commits-100-billion-to-defense-spending/a-60933724)

According to al-Jazeera, after Germany spends the additional $100 billion on rearming, it will be the third biggest military power in the world. Even if al-Jazeera is wrong, the conclusion is a reflection of Germany’s growing military strength.

The German government is planning coercive measures to downscale German companies’ business activities in China. According to reports, the German Ministry of Economics is not only preparing to severely restrict the usual government guarantees for foreign business ventures for business in the People’s Republic. Introducing compulsory notification for investments in China is also in discussion – with the possibility of rejection. Similar measures in the USA serve as a model. Berlin is reacting to the fact that it has not yet succeeded in downscaling business activities in China. According to a recent study, German investments in – as well as exports from – the People’s Republic have reached all-time highs in the first half of 2022. This has resulted from German companies not discontinuing, but rather “localizing” their activities in China, to make them crisis-proof. The People’s Republic is considered an indispensable market of the future. The coercive measures being pursued by Berlin, particularly by the Green-led ministries, are likely to drive German industry into decline.   (German Foreign Policy, 8/29/2022)

Germany’s north-south divide flares up over energy crisis – The war in Ukraine has enflamed north-south rivalries among the German states, as Bavaria and Lower Saxony swap barbs over energy policy.  Upcoming regional elections have heightened the political stakes.  (Deutsche Welle, 28 Aug 2022)

Sky News reports today, Tuesday, August 30^th, that Germany is to reopen a number of coal mines, closed years ago for environmental reasons.  This is due to Russia’s turning off the gas to Germany.   Germans will need heat during the coming winter.  Coal is the world’s dirtiest fuel.

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BRITAIN UNDER SIEGE

In 1941 the English Channel proved very effective in preventing an invasion by Adolf Hitler’s Germany, but it has proved much less effective in 2022 in deterring an invasion of illegal migrants from North Africa and the Middle East.

On one day last week almost 1300 of these migrants reached the English coast in 27 boats. These took the total number of arrivals for the eight months of this year to almost 23,000, close to double the number who had crossed the Channel by the same time last year.

All of these arrivals presumably will claim asylum as political refugees in Britain, thereby sparking legal proceedings that will take many years to determine, if ever. What they know is, once they have landed in Britain, the overwhelming likelihood is they will never be forced to leave. They are, of course, not political refugees but economic immigrants.

This is an issue of sovereignty. Britain has left the EU but is still subject to a court in Strasbourg, France. Why the British government is prepared to accept such a situation is difficult to answer.

The problem with the 1951 Geneva Convention on the status of refugees is that it defines a refugee as a person who has left their country because of a well-founded view of being persecuted in that country by reason of race, religion, nationality, membership of a political social group or political opinion. It no doubt was thought in 1951 that there would be individuals from time to time in this category but no one envisaged a situation where millions of people in some regions wanted to leave their countries and move to more attractive ones.

It also was assumed in 1951 that refugees would seek asylum in the first country in which they arrived after leaving their own unsafe regime. But, as in the case of those crossing the Channel, it is now possible to move. (“Britain besieged by economic migrants,” Michael Sexton, The Australian, 8/30/2022)

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SWEDEN’S CRIME WAVE

• Sweden has in just two generations gone from being one of the safest countries in the world to being one of the most dangerous countries in Europe. During the same time, mass immigration has dramatically altered Sweden’s population. 1.2 million of those eligible to vote in the elections in September 2022 were born outside Sweden…
• Basem Mahmoud is an imam operating in the heavily Muslim-dominated area of Rosengård in Malmö. He has called Jews “the offspring of pigs and apes,” said he was “only quoting the Koran,” and is looking forward to “the great battle” when all non-Muslims will be forced to submit themselves to Muslims.
• In a sermon in February 2022, Mahmoud went on the attack against Swedish schools and social services and stated that Muslims are taking over the country. “Sweden is ours,” he said. “It is ours, whether they [Swedes] like it or not. In ten to fifteen years, it is ours.”
• Sweden has one of the world’s worst recorded rape rates. In 2018, the state broadcaster SVT revealed that 58% of men convicted in Sweden of rape and attempted rape over the previous five years were born abroad. Some of the most brutal rape cases have involved Muslim or African immigrants.  (Peder Jensen, Gatestone, 8/25/2022)

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FRANCE

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

• Comparing only the weekly frequency of Friday prayers in the mosque and Sunday Mass in the church, the future is clear: 65% of practicing Catholics [in France] are over 50 years old. By contrast, 73% of practicing Muslims are under the age of 50.

• “[A] mosque is erected every fortnight in France, while a Christian building is being destroyed at the same rate.” — Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatory of Religious Heritage in Paris; Catholic News Agency, May 4, 2021.   (Gatestone, 8/28/2022)

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A DOUBLE STANDARD

“If Pelosi and Biden see the world struggle as between autocracy and democracy, a question arises:  As leader of the democracy camp in this world struggle, why do we not insist that our allies in places like Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, the UAE and Oman begin to hold regular elections to bring to power legitimate democratic rulers, rather than the autocrats that currently occupy the seats of power?”  (Pat Buchanan, 8/23/2022)

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TO THE POINT

• Liz Truss has been accused of “running scared” after she pulled out of an interview with the BBC. Just weeks ago, the foreign secretary agreed to a prime time interview with Nick Robinson on BBC One. However, she has now cancelled. Rishi Sunak, her Tory leadership rival, has already been quizzed by Robinson. “Ms. Truss’s team say she can no longer spare the time to appear on Our Next Prime Minister,” said the BBC. “We regret that it has not been possible to do an in-depth interview with both candidates despite having reached agreement to do so.” (The Week, 8/30/2022)

• The planning minister in Pakistan said early estimates showed that devastating floods have caused at least $10bn (£8.5bn) of damage. Pakistan received a $1.1bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund yesterday, intended to help the cash-strapped economy avoid defaulting on its debts. All four of the country’s provinces have been hit by unusually heavy rains, with more than 30m people affected. (The Week, 8/30/2022)

• Ukraine has broken through Russia’s first line of defence in the occupied Kherson region. Officials said military operations to retake Russian-held areas of the south are underway, with a source telling CNN that Ukraine’s troops had taken back four villages near the city of Kherson. The BBC said the development appears to form part of a “long-awaited counter-offensive” being launched by Kyiv in an attempt to retake the country’s south.  (The Week, 8/30/2022)

• Drinking tea could be associated with a lower risk of mortality, a study has found. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health found that compared with those who do not drink tea, people who consumed two or more cups each day had between a 9% and 13% lower risk of death. Last year, The Guardian reported that drinking coffee or tea may be linked with a lower risk of stroke and dementia, according to the largest study of its kind.  (The Week, 8/30/2022)

• Palestinian Islamic Jihad Official Bassam Al-Agha: Arab Schools Should Teach The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion; Students Should Learn How The Jews Think (MEMRI, 8/30/2022)

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FINAL THOUGHT

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is turning out to be a major game changer.

It has led Russia to ally itself with China, Iran and North Korea.    Also included in the latest military exercises are India and Mongolia. 

The West has imposed economic sanctions on Russia.   Russia is now imposing their own sanctions on western countries, denying them sales of natural gas and gasoline.

Europe, meanwhile, has never been so united.   Virtually all the countries on the continent are now members of NATO and are pledged to help each other in the event of a Russian invasion.  Ukraine has applied to join the EU.

Germany has decided to increase military spending by $100 billion.   It’s taken 77 years for Germany to overcome its reluctance to rearm following World War II.

It could still be a few years before we see the ten nations come together in a closer union.

“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”   (Revelation 17:12-14 NKJV: New King James Version)

But we are seeing Europe come closer together – and all because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

ZAMBIA NOW IN CHINA ORBIT

Zambia’s New Debt Reveal Tells Us About the ‘China Debt Trap’ Theory —
Photo credit: https://thediplomat.com/2021/10/what-zambias-new-debt-reveal-tells-us-about-the-china-debt-trap-theory/

Zambia’s creditors, led by China, will give the cash-strapped African country enough debt relief to unlock a $1.3 billion IMF loan it desperately needs to get back into the black. It’s the first time that Beijing has coordinated with other governments to restructure the debt of a low-income country instead of collecting on its own. This is good news not only for Zambia but also for other nations that owe a lot to China such as Sri Lanka, which has already defaulted, and Pakistan, which could be next. Zambia, the first country to default after COVID struck, is often cited as a glaring example of China’s so-called debt trap diplomacy. But President Hakainde Hichilema, elected in late 2021, has successfully leveraged the country’s vast copper reserves to reassure both the IMF and China (the latter wary of the bad optics of squeezing African countries). The deal also puts pressure on private creditors to give more breathing room to heavily indebted nations grappling with high inflation and a strong US dollar. But there’s a catch: private investors will have to agree to at least as much debt relief as public creditors.  (Gzero Signal, 8/1/2022)

ONGOING UKRAINIAN WAR

Russia’s war in Ukraine escalated on multiple fronts over the weekend, particularly with heavy shelling in the southern city of Mykolaiv that killed businessman Oleksiy Vadatursky. The death of Vadatursky, head of one of Ukraine’s top grain exporting companies, came before grain shipments finally resumed Monday from the country’s Black Sea ports. Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed it killed dozens of Russian soldiers near Kherson, crucial for the Kremlin’s supply lines in the Donbas region. But Kyiv had to play defense as well, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered the mandatory evacuation of civilians in the eastern Donetsk province, indicating that fighting is likely to get even more intense there. Finally, Russia was forced to cancel Navy Day in Crimea after a drone attacked its Black Sea Fleet from inside the Russian-occupied peninsula. President Vladimir Putin had earlier announced a new security doctrine with global maritime ambitions and declared America as Russia’s greatest enemy.  (Gzero Signal, 8/1/2022)

DEATH OF DEMOCRACY IN COUNTRY THAT STARTED THE ARAB SPRING

Last week, the birthplace of the Arab Spring took a sharp turn away from democracy as voters in Tunisia passed a constitutional referendum granting President Kais Saied wide-ranging powers, weakening the country’s parliament and sidelining its judiciary.

The vote represents a “symbolic end to the Arab Spring”, said NPR. The pro-democracy revolution that began in Tunis in 2010, before spreading to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Syria once stirred hope in millions of people across the Arab world. A decade later, those democratic dreams have been almost entirely dashed.  

In Egypt, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi bears an increasing resemblance to Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian ruler the Arab Spring ousted; Saudi intervention in Bahrain has long since overturned the revolution there; Libya has suffered ten years of war since Nato-led air strikes helped rebels overthrow and kill Colonel Gaddafi; and across the Middle East, “disasters have replaced hope”, said the New Statesman.

For over a decade, Tunisia was the one outlier – the last hope for reforming how politics was done in the Middle East. No longer.   (The Week, 8/1/2022)

The US has ordered non-essential staff and their families to leave Mali and urged visiting Americans to be vigilant, because of a heightened risk of terror attacks. “Terrorist and armed groups continue plotting kidnappings and attacks in Mali. They may attack with little or no warning, targeting night clubs, hotels, restaurants, places of worship, international diplomatic missions, and other locations frequented by Westerners. Attacks may target Malian government offices, infrastructure, or locations frequented by Westerners,” an updated US State Department travel advisory warning said. The warning comes a week after an attack on an army base near the capital, Bamako.  (The Week, 8/1/2022)

THREAT OF WAR WITH CHINA

The UK’s national security adviser has warned that a “breakdown of communication” is increasing the risk of nuclear war between the West and China or Russia.

Stephen Lovegrove argued that the erosion of backdoor channels between rival superpowers has created a higher risk of “rapid escalation to strategic conflict.” 

• “During the Cold War, we benefited from a series of negotiations and dialogues that improved our understanding of Soviet doctrine and capabilities, and vice versa,” Lovegrove said in a speech in Washington D.C. “Today, we do not have the same foundations with others who may threaten us in the future – particularly with China.”
• The warning comes amid “growing concern in Western capitals that China is pulling ahead in the race to develop the next generation of weaponry,” The Times reported. Tensions are increasing after Beijing warned of “serious consequences” if US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi goes ahead with a reported plan to visit Taiwan.
• And warning from Kim Jong Un that North Korea is “ready to mobilise” its nuclear weapons in any future clash with the US or South Korea has further increased fears of a global war. (The Week, 8/1/2022)

ANOTHER THREAT

If there is any benefit to be realized from the collision between China and the U.S. over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proposed trip to Taiwan, it is this: America needs to reflect long and hard upon what it is we will fight China to defend in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.

China, after all, is a nuclear-weapons nation with a manufacturing base larger than our own, an economy equal to our own, a population four times ours and fleets of warships larger in number than the U.S. Navy.

An air-naval-and-missile war in the Western Pacific and East Asia would be no cakewalk.  (Pat Buchanan, 8/2/2022)

GERMANY AND CHINA

Berlin is considering an intensification of its confrontational policy toward the People’s Republic of China. This is apparent in a strategy paper recently presented by the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The proposals in the paper include an intensified interference in the domestic affairs of China, “public campaigns,” accusing Beijing of “disinformation and propaganda,” as well as attempts in Africa to alienate China, as a cooperation partner. At the same time, the “resilience” of the domestic population must be strengthened – for example, with “a strategic media and information policy in Germany and the EU.” To weaken the People’s Republic’s position in the global economy, the CDU’s foundation suggests that the globally anchored WTO be replaced by a new alliance merging the G7 with the OECD (“WTO of the West”). The foundation points out, however, that Chinese resistance and massive damage to German enterprises are to be expected – at a time when Germany’s economy is already beginning to suffer heavily under the war of sanctions against Russia.

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TO THE POINT

• Therefore, Berlin’s best move would be to assume a much more autarkic, proactive, and assertive role on the world stage in accordance with the full weight of its national power. Otherwise, it will fade into oblivion as its fate is determined by external stakeholders. Being at the mercy of others is obviously dangerous for any rational state, particularly in times of trouble. Hence, the Germans will probably soon experience a rude awakening whose consequences will be felt for generations to come. The clock is ticking.  (Geopoliticalmonitor)

• Thanks to the assassination of the former Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, a couple of weeks ago, Japan has come under some scrutiny.  Whereas the US had 45,000 deaths by guns in 2021, Japan had one.  The Japanese population is 127 million.  Mr. Abe’s assassin made his own gun at home. 

• The party of diversity is led by people who strongly prefer to live in all white neighborhoods.  – Tucker Carlson.

• “Why would we risk our own peace and security for Taiwan’s freedom and independence, when we would not risk our own peace and security for the freedom or independence of Hong Kong?” (Pat Buchanan, 8/2/2022)

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FINAL THOUGHT

As I write, Nancy Pelosi has just arrived in Taiwan, for a brief visit that has truly angered China.

It’s quite a contrast to Newt Gingrich’s visit 25 years ago.   Mr. Gingrich visited Taiwan immediately following his visit to China.   The Chinese seemed to accept this.

Both Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Gingrich at the time of their visit were Speaker of the House, making them third in the hierarchy of the US government.

The difference has nothing to do with the American visitor.  But it has a lot to do with American decline, relative to China.

We’ve come down considerably, while China has risen.

China, with 1.4 billion people, has a bigger military than the US.    It also has a great deal of clout around the world.  Projects around the world have given them a number of allies.

The Bible says that:

“. . . He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding (Daniel 2:21).”

When it comes to foreign policy,  President Biden has suffered many set-backs (Afghanistan,  the Middle East, and now Taiwan).   The rest of the world sees all this happening and concludes that the US is in decline.   But, at present, there is nobody to take over her leadership role.   Over 70 years ago, as the British Empire went into decline, America was able to take over as the world’s policeman.

Another power will arise to replace the US.  It’s not likely to be China.  

But God is truly “removing kings and raising up (new) kings.”

COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2022 in Kigali Rwanda. (Photo credit: https://thebridge.rw/commonwealth-heads-of-government-meeting-opens-in-kigali/)

This week leaders from across the Commonwealth meet in Rwanda for their first summit for four years and the first in Africa since 2007.The normally biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) hasn’t taken place since 2018 because of the pandemic, but leaders will convene in Kigali on 24 and 25 June for talks “to reaffirm their common values and agree actions and policies to improve the lives of all their citizens.”The CHOGM puts Rwanda under the spotlight again, after the UK government’s initial flight of asylum seekers to the nation was thwarted by a European court ruling last week, Anjam Sundaram, who spent five years as a journalist in Kigali, is among the critics arguing that Rwanda’s human rights record is being “whitewashed” by events such as CHOGM. “Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, is using this elite gathering – where Kigali will doubtless be presented at its best, polished to perfection – to burnish his international image and conceal his dictatorship,” he claimed in The Telegraph today.  (The Week, 6/23/2022)(https://dennis.slgnt.eu/optiext/optiextension.dll?ID=gKLgNIpvMriUSl5B_1uh5w85EShiEZOrykhtKNFHKkWEdvq2pZaZpGOjDEAXCs6r6ouZhNfgtDi_TtCBvC0HEjORJKIo2)

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Germany moves closer to gas rationing as Russia chokes supplies. Economy minister says cut in deliveries is ‘economic attack on us by Putin’ by Philip Oltermann in Berlin, The Guardian (UK), 23 June 2022

Germany has moved one step closer to gas rationing, after the country’s economic ministry on Thursday warned of a high risk of long-term supply shortages due to Russia systematically choking off gas deliveries.  Economy minister Robert Habeck announced the second of three energy emergency plan phases, which enables utility firms to pass on high gas prices to customers and thereby help to lower demand.

Russian gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline continue to remain at the low level of 40%.   . . . “There’s no point pretending – the throttling of gas deliveries amounts to an economic attack on us by Putin,” the minister for economic and energy affairs said. “Putin’s strategy is blatantly to stir insecurity, to drive up prices and to drive a wedge through our society. “Even if it doesn’t feel like it yet, we are in a gas crisis,” he added.  “From now on, gas is going to be a scarce good.”   (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/23/german-announces-emergency-plan-as-russia-chokes-gas-supplies)

Germany must become ‘leading power’ on world stage after ‘80 years of restraint’, says Scholz ally.  Berlin is pouring billions of euros into rearmament in response to Ukraine war by Rory Sullivan, Independent (UK), 23 June 2022

Germany must ‘normalise’ relationship with military, says SPD co-leaderLars Klingbeil says country should take leadership roleas it relaxes pacifist stance following Ukraine war by Philip Oltermann in Berlin @philipoltermann, 21 June 2022,  Guardian (UK)

Germany needs to “normalise” its relationship with the military and learn to take a leadership role in Europe after “almost 80 years of restraint,” the co-leader of the governing Social Democratic party (SPD) has said.  In a speech marking a further point in Berlin’s slow pivot from a broadly pacifist foreign policy agenda since Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine, Lars Klingbeil said it was important to recognise military force as a legitimate political measure for a government striving for peace.  “It is the last measure, but it has to be clear that it is a measure,” the centre-left politician told a security congress in Berlin on Tuesday. “We are currently seeing that in Ukraine.”  “My wish is that we as a society develop a new normality in our dealings with the Bundeswehr.”  Germany’s pacifist foreign policy instincts, coupled with a history of expanding economic ties with Russia, have come under intense scrutiny in recent months, both domestically and among the country’s Nato allies.. . . In his speech on Tuesday, Social Democrat co-leader Klingbeil said Germany’s newly boosted defence budget would not only mean its army would eventually grow to become the largest in Europe, but that the country needed to learn to become a “leading power” – a term long considered a taboo among German politicians for fear of evoking ghosts of an aggressive past that would alienate its neighbours. “Germany needs to hold itself to the standard of a leading power,” Klingbeil said. “After almost 80 years of restraint, Germany has a new role in the international system. Over the last decades, Germany has earned itself a great amount of trust. With this trust come expectations. …We should meet these expectations.” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/21/germany-must-normalise-relationship-with-military-says-spd-co-leader)

Chaired by Germany, the G7-summit, which will begin on Sunday in Elmau (Germany) plans to prepare new measures in the West’s economic war against Russia.  According to these plans, Washington is seeking to reach an agreement on projects, which would facilitate lowering the price of oil, at Russia’s expense.  The high price of gasoline can impact the chances of the party of the US president in the midterm elections in November.  In addition, the G7 is seeking to woo five states, invited as guests to Elmau, into joining the anti-Russia sanctions, which are still supported by only a quarter of all countries worldwide.  The invited guests include Senegal and Indonesia, which are publicly calling for lifting the sanctions. India and South Africa, both members of the BRICS alliance, will also be present, as well as Argentina which is planning to join that alliance. BRICS, of which Russia is a member, criticized the sanctions policy and positioned itself as a counterweight to the West at its summit yesterday.  (German Foreign Policy, 6/24/2022)

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Italy is Europe’s soft underbelly, and Putin knows it  by Stash Luczkiw – a US-born journalist based in Italy, Kyiv Post, Ukraine, 23 June 2022

It should be clear to all observers by now that Vladimir Putin’s goal has always been, at the very minimum, to rewrite the post-Cold War international order. 

One of his main tactics has involved sinking wedges into European unity and undermining Transatlantic alliances – above all NATO.

Putin understood that although Germany was key to gaining a stranglehold over Europe, Italy was the continent’s soft underbelly. Germany could be coerced and choked through gas. The knock-on effect would be to have the EU’s largest economy beholden to Gazprom. This was a very obvious tactic. More subtly, he recognized that by entering Europe’s lymph through its southern membrane – Italy – it could gain entrée into the continent’s hearts and minds.

. . . Although Draghi has won this battle, he faces constant pressure from a deeply rooted pro-Moscow front in Italy. This pressure comes from many directions: from influential industrialists who have long had business interests in Russia as well as from grassroots Russophilia, covering the gamut from extreme right-wing fascination with Putin as a strongman to residual left-wing nostalgia for the Soviet Union’s support of the once-thriving Italian Communist Party.

. . . In the shifting sands of Italian politics, Draghi has played his hand well. He is once again proving himself to be an authoritative figure in a European landscape suffering from a dearth of leaders. Ultimately, Draghi may be Europe’s – and Ukraine’s – best hope for maintaining a united front against Russia.(https://www.kyivpost.com/article/opinion/op-)

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Russian Troops in Ukraine Face ‘Extraordinary’ Casualty Rates:  U.K. Intelligence – As the war in Ukraine finishes its fourth month, Russian losses appear to be reaching unsustainable levels as Western officials fear a grinding, bloody war of attrition  by Paul D. Shinkman, June 22, 2022, US News

Figures published last week by the Donetsk People’s Republic, part of the self-declared pro-Putin autonomous region in eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, claimed that more than 2,100 of its forces had died since operations began and nearly 9,000 had been wounded. The casualty rate equals roughly 55% of its total force, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense, “which highlights the extraordinary attrition rate Russian and pro-Russian forces are suffering in the Donbas.” 

The losses of men and material have come at a staggering rate since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began Feb. 24 and immediately encountered a stiff resistance from local forces backed with Western munitions and financial resources. The number of Russian deaths are a closely guarded secret. Moscow in March placed the death toll at 1,351, but even then there was reason to believe it was far higher. A British estimate in April put the number around 15,000 – more than were killed in the Soviet Union’s nine-year war in Afghanistan – while other estimates project that as many as 40,000 have been injured. * 
The Institute for the Study of War, citing the BBC’s Russian service, noted that new Russian recruits receive only three to seven days of training before being sent to “the most active sectors of the front.”

The casualty counts have appeared similarly grim for Ukraine. U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted last week that public assessments of as many as 100 killed-in-action every day align with the Pentagon’s assessment  of the battlefield carnage, combined with as many as 300 wounded-in-action every day.  (https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2022-06-22/russian-troops-in-ukraine-face-extraordinary-casualty-rates-u-k-intelligence)

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U.S. Supreme Court gives States green light to ban abortion, overturning Roe: The bombshell decision is set to upend races across the country as governors, attorneys general, and other state and local leaders gain new powers to decide when abortion will be permitted by Josh Gerstein and Alice Miranda Ollstein, POLITICO, 24 June 2022, 11:03 AM EDT

The Supreme Court on Friday revoked the constitutional right to an abortion that has been in place for half a century — overturning Roe v. Wade on a 5-4 vote, clearing the way for dozens of states to swiftly ban the procedure and throwing the country into uncharted political, legal, social, and medical territory. The bombshell decision is set to upend elections across the country as governors, attorneys general, and other state and local leaders gain new powers to decide when abortion will be permitted, if at all, and who should be prosecuted and potentially incarcerated when bans take effect. The high court’s vote to overturn nearly five decades of court rulings upholding a right to end a pregnancy won the support of five of the court’s six conservative justices while Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices opposed overruling Roe. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, hewed closely to the draft version obtained exclusively by POLITICO and published in early May.

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FRANCE HELPED RUSSIAN MILITARY

A French investigative news site has revealed that France has secretly armed the Russian military between 2015 and 2020, in breach of sanctions created after Russia’s annexure of Crimea.

Disclose is a not-for-profit non-government organisation engaged in investigative journalism. The NGO reported on March 14 that classified documents that had come into its possession showed the French government had issued 76 export licenses to Russia for the export of almost $AUD250 million dollars of military equipment.

The sales have been confirmed in a public report to the French parliament which details the dollar amount of French military exports to Russia. The classified documents Disclose has come from the Secrétariat Général de la Défense et de la Sécurité Nationale and details the nature and quantity of military equipment exported to Russia.

The sales appear to be in breach of a European Union embargo on arms exports to Russia from member countries established in 2014.

The claims challenge the orthodox reporting of a Europe united against Putin’s aggression. The prevailing analysis is that the US, the European Union, and NATO have been as one in establishing hard economic sanctions on Putin’s Russia as well as stepping up arms supplies to Ukraine and commitments to increase military spending across NATO members, including long term recalcitrant, Germany. (The Australian, 3/16/2022)

TO THE POINT

• The Charity Commission is to investigate whether Prince Charles’s acceptance of a suitcase containing €1m (£860,000) in cash broke rules. The Sunday Times reported that the Prince received three separate cash payments from a former PM of Qatar, totaling more than £2.5m. Clarence House said the donations were “passed immediately” to his charity. A Charity Commission spokesman said last night:  “We will review the information to determine whether there is any role for the Commission in this matter.”  (The Week, 6/27/2022)

• Kyiv was struck by four Russian missile strikes yesterday for the first time in three weeks. The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said two residential buildings had been hit in an attempt to “intimidate Ukrainians” before the G7 meeting and a NATO summit in Madrid. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to call for a delivery of heavier armoury when he addresses the G7 group of wealthy nations later. He said yesterday that delaying arms deliveries was “an invitation to Russia to strike again and again.”  (The Week, 6/27/2022)

• Our local council sent a letter to every home in the township asking us not to mow our lawns for one whole month.   This would help the bees thrive.    Bees are necessary for one third of our food production.  I drove around the area on Monday and found that every lawn was mowed, including ours.   People are more concerned about the outward appearance than they are about our food supply.  We’re in trouble!  (Note from indignant wife:  it was not the appearance that drove us to cut it – it was the fact it was knee high and you needed a machete to get to the front porch!  And mosquitoes were thriving in the moist parts.) 

• “A gunman opened fire in Oslo, Norway’s nightlife district, killing two people and leaving more than 20 wounded in what the Norwegian security service called  “an Islamic terror attack” during the capital’s annual LGBTQ festival.   Investigators said the suspect, identified as a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen from Iran, was arrested after opening fire at three locations in downtown Oslo.”  (Lansing State Journal, 6/26/2022)

• “Rising food costs.  Soaring fuel bills. Wages that are not keeping pace.  Inflation is plundering people’s wallets, sparking a wave of protests and workers’ strikes around the world.  This week alone saw protests by the political opposition in Pakistan, nurses in Zimbabwe, unionized workers in Belgium, indigenous people in Ecuador, hundreds of US pilots and some European airline workers.  Sri Lanka’s prime minister declared an economic collapse Wednesday after weeks of political turmoil.”  (Lansing State Journal, 6/26/2022)

FINAL THOUGHT

Abortion has been in the news this past week as the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision.  Predictably, those supporting abortion are far more vocal than those against.  I don’t remember mass demonstrations when the decision was made in 1973.

It’s ridiculous to keep on saying that abortion is a constitutional right.  Let’s look at it in a historical context.   1607 was the year in which the first Europeans settled here.  From 1607 to 1973 is 356 years.   That’s 356 years there was no legal abortion.   There followed 49 years when abortion was legal.   One thing is for sure – the men who wrote the constitution never intended abortion should take place.  Planned Parenthood makes the ridiculous claim that abortion was allowed in the first century after the US constitution was written, as there was no law in any state against it.

There are so many different forms of birth control available, the question must be asked, “why do some think abortion so essential?”  It isn’t.  It’s purely for convenience.

And it’s murder.   The Bible tells us to do no murder (Ex 20:13).    The same book shows us that life begins at conception.  Psalm 139, a psalm of David, says: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.

Jeremiah 1:5 says:   “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Nancy Pelosi accused the Supreme Court of hypocrisy.  She should look in the mirror.   She’s a Catholic and should not support abortion.  Yet she enthusiastically does so.  The same goes for President Biden, who’s also Catholic.   He said that the Supreme Court’s decision set the country back 150 years.   I don’t know where he got that from.  150 years ago there was nobody standing up for abortion.   They knew life was precious.    Too many children were born dead or died in infancy.

Richard Weikart, in his excellent book “From Darwin to Hitler,” shows the direct connection between the theory of evolution (1859) and the change in thinking that occurred in western countries.  “The famous bioethicist Peter Singer and his compatriot James Rachels argue that because Darwinism effectively discredits the Judeo- Christian conception of the sanctity of human life, therefore abortion, euthanasia and infanticide can be morally justified.”  (“From Darwin to Hitler,” 2004, page 2).

Those who have had abortions can repent of their sin.   But the sooner we put abortion behind us, the healthier our society will be. 

We have been told time and time again since the Supreme Court decision that this puts us at odds with Europe.  The US is also at odds with Europe on gun control.   We have never let that bother us.  Why should an anti-abortion stance?   We must do what we believe is right and that does not permit any more abortions.  

The Supreme Court has at last heard the cries of the innocents.

NEUTRAL SWITZERLAND MOVES CLOSER TO NATO

As Finland and Sweden are about to join NATO, Switzerland is preparing to draw closer to the western military pact. Switzerland is seeking “new forms of cooperation” with NATO, Defense Minister Viola Amherd declared. This would be possible despite the country’s official neutrality. Concrete proposals for expanding the cooperation will be submitted in September. Notwithstanding its neutrality, Switzerland has been cooperating with NATO since the 1950s, mainly informally, at first, and formally only after joining the Western alliance’s Partnership for Peace program in 1996. “Common tactics, techniques and procedures for missions” have long been established, as was noted on the occasion of the participation of a Swiss fighter squadron in a current air force exercise of NATO member countries. The purchase of F-35 fighter jets, decided by Bern in the summer 2021 – which is being met with protests – also serves to draw the country closer to NATO. The Ukraine war facilitates legitimizing the rapprochement to NATO.  (German Foreign Policy, 5/19/2022)

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San Francisco Bishop Bans Pelosi from Communion

The archbishop of San Francisco told U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that she is barred from receiving communion over her support for abortion rights, the archdiocese said in a letter released Friday.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in the letter that he had previously asked Pelosi to “publicly repudiate your advocacy for abortion ‘rights’ or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion” – or face the consequence of being denied access to the rite.

“As you have not publicly repudiated your position on abortion, and continue to refer to your Catholic faith in justifying your position and to receive Holy Communion, that time has now come,” the archbishop said.

“I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance,” he added.

“Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months,” Cordileone wrote. “Just earlier this month she once again, as she has many times before, explicitly cited her Catholic faith while justifying abortion as a ‘choice,’ this time setting herself in direct opposition to Pope Francis.”  

Pelosi, a lifelong Catholic from California, said she would work to pass a law to confirm women’s continued right to abortions after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed access to the procedure nationwide.  (Newsmax, 5/20/2022)

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WATER SCARCITY SPREADING

The amount of water on Earth has been more or less the same for the past 4.5 billion years. But today, a growing number of the world’s people don’t have access to enough of it. In fact, nearly half of the world’s population lives in places that face water scarcity for at least one month every year. And more than 1.2 billion people lack regular access to clean water altogether.

For many of them, the situation is getting worse by the day, as climate change causes more frequent droughts or conflicts prevent people from getting to freshwater sources. The lack of access to clean water for drinking, cooking, and crops can cause illness, starvation, and death.

Small wonder, then, that water scarcity is one factor behind some of the world’s most intractable conflicts: Israel-Palestine, India-Pakistan, and now Russia-Ukraine.

The desperate search for water also has millions on the move. The UN warns that water scarcity could force some 700 million people from their homes in the coming years, in mass migrations that will test governments, humanitarian organizations, and societies alike.  (Gzero Signal, 5/22/2022)

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US WILL GO TO WAR TO DEFEND TAIWAN

“Yes, that’s the commitment we made.” With those few words, Joe Biden has today set himself on a collision course with Beijing that could redefine – or at the very least reaffirm – Asia’s security landscape. 

The president’s comments were not the first time he has hinted that the US would come to the defence of its allies in Taiwan should China launch an invasion. In August, a senior Biden administration official was forced to point out that Washington’s long-held position of “strategic ambiguity” had not changed after the president suggested he would launch a defence of the democratic island. But no such clarification followed today’s intervention.

Speaking in Tokyo after announcing a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations, Biden went further than ever before in outlining his commitment to defending Taiwan from Beijing’s mounting aggression. His resolve is “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said. “America is committed to a One China policy but that does not mean China has the jurisdiction to use force to take Taiwan.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was quick to outline Beijing’s “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to Biden’s comments, warning that “China has no room for compromise or concessions on issues involving China’s core interests such as sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“China will take firm action to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests, and we will do what we say,” he warned.    (The Week, 5/23/2022)

A FEW HOURS LATER

President Joe Biden this morning said, in answer to a reporter question, that the US military would intervene to defend Taiwan from any attack from China. The comment was walked back by the White House officials later who said Biden simply meant the US would provide equipment rather than troops should China invade. The US has long held a policy of “strategic ambiguity” towards the island. Biden, who is in Asia for meetings with allies, had earlier boosted the offshore yuan when he said he will review Trump-era tariffs imposed on China. It seems likely that any goodwill with Beijing gained from that move was quickly extinguished by the Taiwan comments, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin saying the US should “avoid causing grave damage to bilateral relations.”   (Bloomberg, 5/23/2022)

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TRAVEL SPREADS MONKEY POX TO US, UK and CANADA   

Cases of suspected and confirmed Monkeypox are being investigated in a number of European countries, the US, Canada and the UK, according to health authorities and local media reports.

The latest new cases were reported in France, Italy and Sweden.  It follows the confirmation of cases in the US, Spain and Portugal on Wednesday, as well as the investigation of 13 suspected cases in Canada.

Monkeypox is most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa.  Cases of the disease outside of the region are often linked to travel to the area.

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection which is usually mild and from which most people recover in a few weeks, according to the UK’s National Health Service.  (BBC, 5/19/2022)

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TO THE POINT

• Germany’s Scholz wants Western Balkans in EU – BERLIN, May 19 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he will travel to the Western Balkans before a meeting of the European Council takes place next month, bearing the message that the region belongs in the European Union. The six Western Balkan countries with EU membership aspirations – Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo – have been engaged in years-long reform process, Scholz told lawmakers in Berlin on Wednesday. (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germanys-scholz-wants-western-balkans-eu-2022-05-19/)

• German intel chief says espionage at Cold War levels – The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, Thomas Haldenwang, president of the BfV intelligence agency, says levels of espionage now are as high as during the Cold War, if not significantly higher.  (Associated Press, 19 May 2022)
  (https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-intel-chief-espionage-cold-war-levels-84829615)

• The number of people admitted to hospital with eating disorders in England has surged by 84% in the last five years, according to an analysis by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. There were 24,268 admissions for illnesses such as bulimia and anorexia in 2020/21, up from 13,219 in 2015/16. Tom Quinn, from the eating disorder charity Beat, said he was “very concerned” about the rise, which has been seen across all age groups. Experts say the Covid pandemic has made an already growing problem even worse.   (The Week, 5/19/2022)

• Western officials have accused Vladimir Putin of “weaponising” global food supplies by stealing grain and destroying agricultural equipment during the war in Ukraine. The officials fear Moscow has embarked on a “deliberate policy” of disrupting food supplies, causing a global crisis and putting people in developing countries in danger of starvation, The Telegraph reported. The UN estimates that 1.7 billion people in more than 100 countries are being affected by the surge in food, energy and commodity prices.  (The Week, 5/19/2022)

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FINAL THOUGHT

A great deal of attention is being given in the UK to the high cost of living brought about by recent and on going challenges.    It seems to dominate Sky News which is a 24/7 news channel based in the UK.  

In a desperate attempt to bring down (and reduce taxes) it was announced that 91,000 civil servants would be laid off.  This is the same 91,000 hired since 2016.  (Why were they hired in the first place?)   Understandably, people are very upset.   That’s the equivalent to, in America, 455,000.   But, somehow, the government has got to cut spending.

At the same time, Members of Parliament (MPs) are being given a pay rise of 2,200 pounds  (a pound buys roughly $1.25).    Insensitive, to say the least.

Sky went to Blackpool, a holiday resort in the NW of the country, which, apparently, is the poorest city in the UK.   Their report on poverty was spoiled a little by an interview with the local vicar who was holding a Starbucks in his hand. 

Signs on the sea front were for fish and chips/ burgers and chips for 5.99.    Somebody must be buying them.

Concern was expressed about ethnic pay differentials – that should certainly be highlighted:  why are Indians more successful than other ethnic groups?  Of course, it wasn’t the Indians who were profiled.   The Treasury in the UK is run by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, a native Indian and a very successful businessman.   His wife is also a millionaire in her own right.   His wife took advantage of a British tax loophole which enabled her to make her millions without paying any UK income tax.

The problem is that the UK seems to be back to pre-Thatcher days, obsessing over living standards and the cost of living.

Jesus said “the poor you have with you always.” (Mark 14:7)  No matter what a country does, there will always be poor people.  No matter how successful the economy.

Yes, decisions can be made that relieve the burden on the poor, but the government’s responsibility lies with giving everybody the opportunity to be successful, to make more money to ease their plight.

Boris Johnson has many faults, but in this his gut instinct is right.  Give people the opportunities to make more to take care of themselves. It’s going to a tough period through this economic nightmare (other countries will follow).

THE ONE-PARTY STATE

“The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest of causes.” — THOMAS PAINE

America has become a de facto one-party state.   Consider the following:

>>The media no longer represents the people.   There are many issues that cannot be discussed (race, abortion, LGBTQ issues).   Gradually, freedom of the press has died.  Almost all papers support the Left.  Every TV station does, except for Newsmax and OAN (One America News).   Most people are unaware of their existence. Fox News retains some conservative anchors (Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity).

“The aggressive censorship conservatives face was foreseeable.  Communities and cultures are built on common values. The culture of the left is no longer compatible with our Constitutional Republic and conservative culture.  It was inevitable this day would come.”  (Codias, 1/9/2021)

“The only security of all is in a free press.”  Thomas Jefferson

>>The Democrat- controlled House has arranged for 25,000 National Guardsmen to protect the Capitol in the days leading up to Joe Biden’s inauguration.  This is the most troops Washington DC has seen since the Civil War, over 150 years ago.  It’s more than five times the number in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.  Our democracy seems to have turned from freedom to oppression!  Additionally, troops are being screened to ensure they have no sympathies for outgoing President Donald Trump, which risks politicising and dividing the military.

>>Nancy Pelosi addressed the troops yesterday, as if she were Commander-in-Chief.

>>The President has been impeached for a second time.   If the trial goes against him, he will not be allowed to run for office again.  The Democrats will have effectively ended Trump’s political career.   Whatever you may think of Donald Trump, silencing the opposition is a tactic of a one-party state.

“Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says no-one can hold office if they’ve engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States.

And if you’ve been paying close attention, you’ll notice that’s the same phrase used in the impeachment charge that was passed this week.”

“House Democrats want veto power over whom Republicans can nominate. And this is the crowd that does not cease to bray about its devotion to “democracy.””  (Pat Buchanan, 1/14/2021)

>>The Washington Post is, like almost all newspapers, pro-Democrat.   Only 19 minutes after Trump’s inauguration four years ago, the paper carried the banner headline:

“Campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.”  That’s been the plan for four years.

>>There are calls for the children of conservatives to be sent to re-education camps.

“Prominent leftists are talking of reprogramming Trump supporters. Reprogramming seems to include vilifying Trump staff members to destroy their careers. In some cases, Trump backers could loose banking privileges and other discriminatory actions including depriving them of access to air travel. A now infamous Project Veritas video captured one suggesting the children of Republicans be taken away from their parents and sent to reeducation camps. These, by the way, are the same leftists who accused immigration officials of separating families.” (Laura Ingraham).

>>Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets have banned Trump.  (Today’s news says they have lost $51 billion off their share value as people have stopped using them, in support of the president.)   Apple and Microsoft have dropped the Parler app which still carries Trump’s messages.

>>Lockdowns throughout the country have shut down businesses, destroying the economy.  According to AFP tonight, almost twenty million jobs have been lost since March. One million jobs were lost in the first week of the new year.

>>A policy of the new Biden Administration will encourage illegal aliens and new immigrants to seek citizenship, thereby securing more Democrat votes.  It’s estimated that 70% of immigrants vote for the Democrats.

>>Accusations that “white supremacists” were present at the Capitol were untrue, but the accusation has stuck.  Race was not a factor in what happened on January 6^th.

>>In Michigan, former Republican Governor Rick Snyder is to be tried for “neglect” causing the deaths of nine people during the Flint water crisis.

>>The Michigan legislature has banned guns (open carry) from the legislature.

>>(President Trump) stands accused of incitement, obstruction of justice, “high crimes and misdemeanors,” sedition, and treason.

>> On January 6, Trump even exhorted his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” and begin “marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”  (“Democracy more at risk with no brake on Biden,” Salvatore Babonas, The Australian, 1/14/2021)

>>In the Detroit News January 7^th appeared the following: “the difference between the way the police handled Wed’s events with BLM in the summer; a heavier police presence for BLM.”    Why was the police presence so small at the Capitol following on from 9/11?

>> “In this day and age of threatened terrorist attacks against vital US institutions, you can be sure that security around Capitol Hill would have long ago been prepared to repel an attack by a highly trained, armed enemy force. And “they” are trying to tell us that a bunch of unarmed hooligans could break into Congress. Do “they” think we are totally stupid?!  It had to be an inside job designed to make DJT look bad.”   (ARM 1/10/2021)

>>The Democrats are losing support amongst blue-collar workers, African-Americans and Hispanics.   This may explain their attempt at establishing a one-party state.

>>Two thirds of Republicans, in a weekend poll, still believe the election was rigged. There has been no serious attempt to look into this.

>>“It is only a slight overstatement to say that, while the mob’s coup against Congress ignominiously failed, big tech’s coup against Trump triumphantly succeeded.”  (Niall Ferguson) “Trump is not merely being denied access to the channels he has used throughout his presidency to communicate with voters.  He is being excluded from a domain the courts have for some time recognized as a public forum.”

>>US screens troops for riot sympathizers:   The US army and secret service are carrying out background checks on National Guard troops in a bid to weed out extremist sympathizers ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Thousands of part-time soldiers are being sent to Washington D.C. to stand guard as the new president is sworn in next Wednesday.   (The Week, 1/14/2021)

>>DW news tonight said: “extremist right-wing groups, supporters of Donald Trump, have called for a civil war in the US.”  Such statements will only increase support for the Democrats and take it away from conservatives.   There are calls for Texas to secede.

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OF INTEREST

• FYI Nancy Pelosi wore the same dress on Wednesday as she wore at Trump’s first impeachment.  This was not due to a lack of money to buy a new dress.

• Former UKIP and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage decried lockdown restrictions that could see elderly people fined by police for resting on park benches, along with legislation in Parliament that could allow authorities to recruit teenagers as stool-pigeons against their own parents.  (1/13/2021 James Tweedie, Sputniknews)

• Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, a Muslim, has asked the government to close down places of worship in the UK capital.

• Brexit exempts Brits from speeding fines — British drivers will escape most speeding fines in EU nations because the UK’s departure has ended deals governing several motoring offences in the bloc. French officials say that following Brexit, the EU’s cross-border enforcement directive no longer applies, ending arrangements for sharing information about drivers caught on speed cameras. The Times says the news puts British drivers in the “fast lane.”  (The Week, 1/13/2021)

Stay focused.  We could be in for a rough ride.  Remember Matthew 6:33:  ^“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

(Credit for top cartoon picture goes to Pat Buchanan)

:

BIDEN TO BETRAY BRITAIN

REJECTED, ISOLATED, CUT OFF AND PLAGUED BY THE VIRUS, BIDEN THRUSTS IN THE DAGGER

President-elect Joe Biden has dashed hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and US when he succeeds Donald Trump in January. As he outlined his vision for his first few days in the White House, the former vice-president confirmed it does not involve a trade deal with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Instead, Mr. Biden has said he will adopt a similar “America First” policy as US President Donald Trump, fighting “like hell” to invest in US firms and employees.  (Daily Express, 12/18/2020)

CHRISTMAS ABOLISHED IN UK

For the first time since 1643 England has basically banned Christmas.   Then, it was the Puritan influence that banned it because of the wild parties and sensuality that surrounded it.  The ban remained until the Restoration of the monarchy that followed Cromwell’s death, in 1660.  Now, it’s because of a new strain of the coronavirus, which is spreading alarmingly.   The government has told people they must stay in place, in their own homes, isolated from others.   Travel has ceased between the UK and many European countries as well as nations further away.  

On the website “Historic England” is the following:

“On 19 December 1643, an ordinance was passed encouraging subjects to treat the mid-winter period ‘with the more solemn humiliation because it may call to remembrance our sins, and the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this feast, pretending the memory of Christ, into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights’. The rejection of Christmas as a joyful period was reiterated when a 1644 ordinance confirmed the abolition of the feasts of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun. From this point until the Restoration in 1660, Christmas was officially illegal. Although Cromwell himself did not initiate the banning of Christmas, his rise to power certainly resulted in the promotion of measures that severely curtailed such celebrations. Nevertheless, the Puritans’ prohibition of Christmas proved very unpopular, and pro-Christmas riots broke out.”  

Note especially the words” “Pretending the memory of Christ.”

THERE REALLY WAS A WAR ON CHRISTMAS, MR. PRESIDENT.  IT WAS WAGED BY CHRISTIANS.
The Washington Post, 23 Dec 2020, by Gillian Brockell 

It’s that time of year again. No, not Christmas. The War on Christmas. And the war on the claim that the War on Christmas even exists.

President Donald Trump invoked the alleged war yet again this week after signing an executive order giving federal employees the day off for Christmas Eve. “This is a HUGE victory in the Democrats’ pathetic WAR ON CHRISTMAS, and I want YOU to be a part of it,” Trump announced in a fundraising letter.

One 16th-century Anglican bishop complained that “men dishonor Christ more in the twelve days of Christmas than in all the 12 months besides,” Christmas misrule was largely tolerated.  After all, the birth of Jesus had been tacked onto pagan traditions that had existed for centuries. 

(https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/There-really-was-a-war-on-Christmas-Mr-15824044.php)

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Buckle up for the ugliest election Israel has ever known – analysis
Two big differences from the previous elections will set the tone for the rhetoric we are going to hear over the next few months. Jerusalem Post, 22 Dec 2020

The first difference is that Benjamin Netanyahu is facing for the first time two strong adversaries to his right.  While Benny Gantz put up a formidable fight over the last three elections, it was mostly from the Center-Left. He had very few right-wing voters, and it was fairly easy for Netanyahu to depict him as weak and as a “leftist,” messages that played well with his own Likud voter base.  This time, though, not only has Naftali Bennett built up a strong following – mostly due to his championing of small businesses during the coronavirus crisis – but there is now a party led by former longtime Likudnik Gideon Sa’ar that is looking more and more like a newer and cleaner version of Likud. 

According to polls, the two parties could bring in as many as 33 seats in a future Knesset, more than the Likud’s 28. Matched with partners from the Center, that could be enough to deny Netanyahu a return to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The second difference is Netanyahu’s trial, which is set to shift into high gear in February when the Jerusalem District Court begins to hear testimony in the three cases against the prime minister for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.  Netanyahu will likely try to use the election to get the court to delay proceedings. But if he fails and the court insists on starting, the public will see its prime minister in court on almost a daily basis, not exactly the images Netanyahu will want circulating just weeks before an election.  Because of this, Netanyahu will go as negative as possible. He will, of course, play up his success in bringing vaccines to Israel (he does deserve a lot of credit for that), and he will want those vaccines to be what people remember when they vote. More>>  https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/buckle-up-for-the-ugliest-election-israel-has-ever-known-analysis-652926)

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Swedish king says nation has ‘failed’

Sweden’s king has added his voice to the growing chorus of criticism of the country’s Covid response, telling his people that “I think we have failed.”

Addressing the nation as part of an annual TV review of the year, King Carl XVI Gustaf said that the Swedish people had “suffered tremendously in difficult conditions.”  (The Week, 12/18/2020)

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CHINA “WINNER IN CORONA CRISIS”

German government advisors see China as the “winner in the Corona crisis” and call for a “strong and consolidated stance by the EU” in relationship to the People’s Republic. With “effective crisis management,” Beijing has enhanced its global economic and political influence, according to a recent analysis published by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Having long been accustomed to dominating international politics, the West must now expect China to play a more “assertive” role, the SWP writes. The People’s Republic has, in fact, been successful in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic at home, thus laying the groundwork for the economic recovery that is now enhancing its clout vis à vis the EU and the USA. With its Covid-19 vaccine supply, it can now also strengthen its position in various Asian, African and Latin American countries, whose plight has widely been ignored by the like-wise pandemic-stricken Western powers. The new free-trade RCEP agreement is also perspectively helping to shift the center of gravity of the global economy toward Asia.   (German Foreign Policy, 12/18/2020)

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FRANCE UNDER ATTACK

“If nothing changes, in a few decades, France will have submitted to Islam, and Islamic violence will probably be even greater than today. It is already almost impossible for the country’s leaders to react. They are hostages of a Muslim population that is less and less integrated and whose anger they do not want to arouse. They are under the gaze of groups that immediately denounce any criticism of Islam and under pressure from many countries in the Muslim world that France does not want to offend.” — Alan Wagner, “L’Europe face à l’islam,” interview on Tepa, August 2, 2020

“For Muslims, Islamic law has God as its author. Any other legislator is illegitimate.” — Mohammed Hocine Benkheira, historian, Le Point, March 21, 2016 

“France still does not understand the reality it is facing. It believes that it has been struck by terrorists . . . but it is suffering a guerrilla war that is gradually gaining momentum . . .” — Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, lexpress.fr, October 18, 2020.

(“France is still under attack,” Guy Milliere, Gatestone, 12/6/2020)

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HUNGARIAN BORDERS TO REMAIN INTACT

“Hungary will only be a Hungarian country as long as its borders remain intact. Therefore, not only our thousand-year-old statehood but also the future of our children obliges us to protect our borders.” — Judit Varga, Hungarian Justice Minister, December 17, 2020.   (“Hungary:  “Europe’s borders must be protected,” Soeren Kern, 12/18/2020)

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This is a deeply religious message that not all Christians would agree with. I have included it in this blog because it has been neglected by the media. Religious sentiment is not something they would understand. It does help you understand the mind of the outgoing president.

Trump thanks God for sending Jesus to ‘redeem the world’ 
‘At Christmas, we give thanks to God and that God sent his only Son to die for us  and to offer everlasting peace to all humanity’
16 Dec 2020, Lifesite

At a time when some politicians would deem it politically incorrect to say “Merry Christmas” in public and would certainly not dare to speak about Jesus in the public square, Trump not only boldly wished Americans a “very, very Merry Christmas,” he went on to speak about the true meaning of Christmas in eloquent words that many Christians would be hard-pressed to hear from the pulpit.   Here’s what Trump said:

“To every family across our nation, the First Lady and I want to wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas.

“For Christians, this is a joyous time to remember God’s greatest gift to the world. More than two thousand years ago, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. He said, ‘Do not be afraid, you have found favor with God.’ The angel told her that she would give birth to a baby boy, Jesus, who would be called the Son of the Most High. Nine months later, Christ was born in the town of Bethlehem. The Son of God came into the world in a humble stable.

“As Christians everywhere know, the birth of our Lord and Savior changed history forever. At Christmas, we give thanks to God and that God sent his only Son to die for us and to offer everlasting peace to all humanity. More than two millennia after the birth of Jesus Christ, his teachings continue to inspire and uplift billions and billions of people all over the globe. His Divine word still fills our hearts with hope and faith. And, Christians everywhere still strive to live by Jesus’ timeless commandment to his disciples, ‘Love one another.’

“Above all, during the sacred season, our souls are full of thanks and praise for Almighty God for sending us Christ His Son to redeem the world.

“Tonight, we ask that God will continue to bless this nation. And we pray that He will grant every American family a Christmas season full of joy, hope, and peace.

“On behalf of Melania and the entire Trump family, Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for a very, very great and happy new year. Thank you.”

For some reason, Trump’s message is not available at the White House and can only be found with difficulty using Google’s search engine.

(https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trump-thanks-god-for-sending-jesus-to-redeem-the-world-in-powerful-christmas-message-thats-gone-viral)

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TO THE POINT

• A cartoon in our local paper showed a man visiting his public library asking for something by Charles Dickens.  He was directed to “Current Events.” 
• Three hundred and seventy years ago, between 1645 and 1660, Parliamentarians completely outlawed Christmas. The Government imposed a festive vacuum each December which was underpinned by the Puritan belief that the Catholic celebration was a sinful extravagance fueled by immorality.   (Dec 19, 2019)
• Matthew Syed, reviewing the British papers on Sky News on Saturday evening made an interesting comment.  He said that in the western world we each compare ourselves to other western countries; that the number of people in a million who have died of Covid-19 is basically the same in the UK, Germany, France and the US; but we should take a look at Eastern nations like Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam, where the numbers are a lot lower.   Taiwan has only lost seven people.   Why?
• UK INFLATION SINCE 1950:  The pound had an average inflation rate of 5.19% per year between 1950 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 3,349.22%. This means that today’s prices are 34.49 times higher than average prices since 1950, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index. (Dec 12, 2020)
• “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”  — Benjamin Franklin
• “Whites are at the back of the queue when it comes to vaccinations”  — official policy.
• “In announcing the $900 billion stimulus bill to deal with the pandemic, Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not mention that the gifts for her distressed countrymen and women at Christmas would have been twice as large had she taken President Trump’s offer of $1.8 trillion in October . . .   Rather than let Donald Trump take credit, Pelosi stiffed millions of Americans.”  (Pat Buchanan, 12/22/2020)
• Speaking of the stimulus package, this is just a portion of the “pork” . . .

• A year ago, President Donald J. Trump declared he would name Mexican Cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. He paused his decision, and then tabled it, based on assurances from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and a reported wave of resistance from his own cabinet.   The incoming Biden administration has the cartels virtually “high-fiving” each other — they know a Biden administration will do nothing to stop cartel dominance and control of the US-Mexico border.  (“Drug Trafficking,” Chris Farrell, Gatestone, 12/23/2020 .

There will be no blog next week. My next blog will be posted on January 7th

DEMS OPPOSED TO VOTING MACHINES

“He said, she said.

“It turns out that your opinion about Dominion Voting Systems depends not only on who you are but when you’re asked.  If you zip way back to December 2019, then, if you are Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, or Amy Klobucher, you are very worried about their security.

“Back then, these high-minded public servants wrote letters warning that these widely used voting systems were “prone to security problems.”  “We are particularly concerned,” they wrote, that “voting machines and other election administration equipment, ‘have long skimped on security in favor of convenience’.”

“That was in December of last year – the good old days when NBC, for example, warned about “Chinese parts” and “hidden ownership” of the machines.

“Chinese manufacturers,” they noted, “can be forced to cooperate with requests from Chinese intelligence officials to share any information about the technology and therefore pose a risk for US companies,” not to mention “the concern of machines shipped with undetected vulnerabilities or back doors that could allow tampering.”

“As I say, that was a year ago.

“Today, post Nov 3, 2020, you don’t hear the Democrats worrying out loud about the security of the machines that counted (not to say manufactured) the votes that led to Joe Biden’s apparent victory.

“On the contrary, to raise questions now about Dominion Voting Systems and the software that powers them, as Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and others have done, is to obstruct “democracy” and promulgate “conspiracy theories.”

“Zip back to 2006, and you find CNN running stories about how vulnerable electronic voting systems are to interference and hacking.  Back then, the watchword was “Democracy for sale.”

“It was all especially worrisome since the machines are used in some 2000 counties across 30 states.”  (“Recounts needed to settle Dominion’s Role, and the Election.” Roger Kimball, The Epoch Times, 11/25/2020).

The 2020 presidential election is unlike any before and requires unprecedented measures to protect it, our republic, and our future.

The degree and scale of voter fraud was unprecedented. In swing states, President Donald Trump had large leads on election night.  Then, late at night counting was stopped while election observers were ushered out.  And then, huge, statistically impossible vote dumps occurred, giving Joe Biden the lead.

This pattern, which occurred only in the states where Biden had to reverse the results, and hadn’t occurred in previous elections, points to a coordinated effort to steal the election.   (The Epoch Times, 12/14/2020)

“Who was not stunned to learn that as Trump seemed to be pulling ahead in the voting count on Nov. 3, suddenly, around midnight, the vote counting appeared to stop in the crucial swing states, and we were told it would begin again early the next morning? Why the halt?”  (Pat Buchanan, 12/11/2020)

“Can a nation so distracted, so divided, so at war with itself continue to meet all of the duties, obligations and commitments that are ours as the self-proclaimed ‘leader of the free world’?”  (Pat Buchanan, 12/15/2020)

The federal government’s distribution of COVID relief funds over the past year has been disastrous. As Bloomberg reported in October, the Small Business Administration (SBA) “gave out $10,000 grants to almost anyone who asked.”  From fraudulent applications to identity theft, billions of dollars are believed to have been stolen.  However, criminals were not the only ones to benefit from governmental incompetence; federal COVID relief has also helped prop up extremist organizations with long-held ties to violence. The amounts may be small, but the examples are shocking.   (MEF, 12/7/2020)

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BENEFITS OF FURTHER MIDEAST PEACE – Jared Kushner scores late-term wins for Israel, upending expectations.

President’s son-in-law was widely mocked in the US but made historic breakthroughs in the Middle East, with four Arab countries recognizing the Jewish state within months
by Shaun Tandon and Francesco Fontemaggi, 13 Dec 2020, Times of Israel

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United Arab Emirates is getting top-of-the-line fighter jets. Morocco is winning recognition for decades-old territorial claims. And Sudan is coming off the US terrorism blacklist. The Arab nations are suddenly achieving long-sought goals after agreeing to normalize ties with Israel, in a last-minute triumph for the unorthodox diplomacy of outgoing US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Widely mocked for more than three years as a boyish lightweight, who was best known for his famous wife, troubled property deals and his father’s stint in prison, Kushner is scoring historic breakthroughs lauded by Trump’s base with four Arab nations since.

. . . Veterans of Middle East diplomacy agree that Kushner moved nimbly after the United Arab Emirates first signaled its willingness to recognize Israel. “He had the authority; he was smart enough to develop personalized relations. I think he clearly deserves some credit for taking advantage of what the landscape showed was possible,” said Dennis Ross, who served as Bill Clinton’s Middle East envoy. (MORE — https://www.timesofisrael.com/jared-kushner-scores-late-term-wins-for-israel-upending-expections)

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POTENTIAL SECURITY SCANDAL INVOLVING US CONGRESSMAN ERIC SWALWELL

This scandal involves a Chinese spy named Fang Fang (aka Christine Fang) who posed as a student in the San Francisco area and raised money for Swalwell’s first campaign for Congress, was placed as an intern in his Washington office and had a personal, possibly romantic, relationship with him. 

The FBI became so concerned about Swalwell’s ties to Fang that they gave him a “defensive briefing” on her in 2015. Shortly thereafter, Fang fled the U.S. for China after she learned she was being investigated by the FBI. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Swalwell have tried to downplay this story.  Swalwell says it happened many years ago and he severed all ties to Fang in 2015 after the FBI briefing.   (Fred Fleitz, Foxnews, 12/14/2020)  (See article “Afterthought” at end of blog.)

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BREXIT END GAME

“As an uncompromising Brexiteer, I believed from the very start that the only true Brexit was a no-deal Brexit.

That’s because iron logic always meant that any deal the UK might strike with the EU would keep the UK tied to it in some way. 

The reason for that is the premise upon which the EU is based. In essence, it is a protectionist bloc which, acting as a European super-state subsuming its 27 member countries, will resist anything that puts it at an economic disadvantage. 

It is therefore particularly sensitive to competition, particularly since it is itself so vulnerable. That’s because it’s trapped by its regulations, laws and bureaucratic rigidity into a permanent state of economic sclerosis and inability to respond flexibly to any shocks to the system — of which there are plenty. Its internal economic pressures are therefore dire and its long-term future unsustainable. In short, it’s an economic basket-case.

By contrast, the UK is innately nimble and flexible. It has the ability to adjust its financial and monetary levers to respond to shocks to the system. Its deep commitment to true liberty, so poorly understood in continental Europe, means it is far less regulated and therefore more entrepreneurial and potentially dynamic. And it commands the supreme global advantages of the English language, and in the City of London the world’s pre-eminent financial hub. 

Without minimizing the UK’s undoubted weaknesses, all these advantages mean that, unshackled from the EU, it stands poised to become a supreme competitive threat to its neighbors just across the English Channel — a threat that the EU has explicitly recognized and sworn to negate.

As indeed it must. That’s why it was always the case that the EU would never make any concessions to the UK that would place the EU at a disadvantage. That’s why it was always the case that the terms of any such deal would always be to the UK’s disadvantage. 

And that’s why the words that must strike deep dread into the heart of every true Brexiteer are “A deal now looks more likely . . . ”   (“The Brexit end-game,” Melanie Philips, 12/11/2020)

Scotland can’t afford to remain part of the Union from The Spectator magazine UK:  21 Nov 2020 by Andrew Wilson:  a former SNP MSP & author of the party’s recent ‘Growth Report’

Tony Blair’s biggest achievement was delivering a referendum that unified Scotland behind devolution and gave all parties a stake in its success. Boris Johnson is wrong to say it was ‘a disaster,’ but in being wrong is helping precipitate the logical next step: independence. The opinion polls that show a growing majority for Scottish independence will mystify those who believe the lazy, metropolitan idea that independence is an emotional fantasy — all Braveheart, Bannockburn and bagpipes. How, they ask, could a band of Caledonian romantics ever convince the canny Scots to opt for such a thing?

But what if the case for independence was a highly sophisticated position advocated by one of the most popular political leaders in the world? It is now supported by 64 per cent of those aged under 65, according to one of the latest polls. The Spectator, while founded by a Scot, has never supported the idea of his homeland’s independence. But its readers rightly pride themselves on reading different points of view. I seek not your support but your understanding as I try to explain what is really going on here.

The problem for Scotland is that it cannot afford to remain on the UK’s glide path. Staying in the Union is riskier than independence. Voters can see that.

In his outstanding book The Levelling:  What’s Next After Globalisation, the Irish author Michael O’Sullivan points out that in 1924 Argentina was three times wealthier than Japan but is today half as rich. His point is that countries can make colossal strategic errors. The UK has been in a slow descent for some time now. It used to be the richest country on Earth, but currently sits in 21st position in the IMF rankings, and Brexit is hastening the drop. Why should Scotland now buckle in and continue to not enjoy the ride?   (“Scotland can’t afford to remain part of the Union,” Andrew Wilson, a former SNP MSP, The Spectator, 11/21/2020)

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FIGHT AGAINST ISLAMIC SEPARATISM

On October 2, President Emmanuel Macron delivered a “Fight Against Separatism” speech to the French parliament, announcing stricter measures to crack down on the growing influence of what he called “radical Islamism” among France’s Muslim minority, proportionally the largest in Western Europe. This ideology, he said, has “a proclaimed, publicized desire, a systematic way of organizing things to contravene the Republic’s laws and create a parallel order, establish other values, develop another way of organizing society which is initially separatist, but whose ultimate goal is to take over [the Republic] completely.”

Macron’s proposals include abolishing home-schooling, closing down independent schools, devoting more resources to policing and courts, bringing community language teaching under the control of the state, restoring policing in Muslim-majority zones, which he acknowledges has been let slide, reversing ghetto­ization, preventing radical takeovers of Muslim organizations, and rolling back sharia creep, such as the public cafeterias which now offer only halal-compliant menus, and the separation of sexes in public swimming pools.

(Mark Durie is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum, founding director of the Institute for Spiritual Awareness, and a senior research fellow of the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam)

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CHINA ASSERTING ITSELF IN CARIBBEAN

• China also seems to have a military agenda in the Caribbean region . . .  Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe already is on record expressing China’s willingness to deepen military cooperation with Caribbean countries. Of more concern to US security interests is the ongoing seaport expansion project in the already commercially important port at Kingston, Jamaica, as well as the port at Freeport, Bahamas, China’s possible new base of operations 90 miles off the US coast.

• China is clearly not a government that honors its agreements . . .  The US can ill afford any Chinese drive to place under threat any Western Hemisphere country, much less the United States.

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SWAZI LEADER DIES OF COVID

Ambrose Dlamini:  Eswatini’s (Swaziland) PM dies after testing positive for Covid-19

The government of Eswatini says Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini has died, four weeks after he tested positive for coronavirus.  A government statement said Dlamini, 52, died on Sunday afternoon in hospital in South Africa.  No cause of death was mentioned, but Dlamini had recently been receiving treatment for Covid-19 in South Africa.  Dlamini had been prime minister of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, since October 2018.  The tiny landlocked country in southern Africa is one of the last absolute monarchies in the world.

With a population of about one million, the country has recorded 6,768 coronavirus infections and 127 deaths linked to the pandemic, according to the health ministry.  Dlamini announced he had tested positive for coronavirus on 16 November. At the time, he said he was asymptomatic and was feeling well.  A few weeks later, on 1 December, the Eswatini government said Dlamini had been moved to a hospital in South Africa, with the aim of fast-tracking his recovery.  But on Sunday the government said Dlamini died “while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa,” without giving more details. “Government in collaboration with the family will keep the nation informed of subsequent arrangements,” Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said in the statement. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55297472)  

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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

ELECTION 2016

In their infinite wisdom, the United States’ Founders created the Electoral College to ensure the STATES were fairly represented.  Why should one or two densely populated areas speak for the whole of the nation?  The following list of statistics has been making the rounds on the Internet.  It should finally put an end to the argument as to why the Electoral College makes sense. 

Do share this.  It needs to be widely known and understood. 

• There are 3,141 counties in the United States. 
• Trump won 3,084 of them. 
• Clinton won 57. 
• There are 62 counties in New York State. 
• Trump won 46 of them. 
• Clinton won 16. 
• Clinton won the popular vote by approx. 1.5 million votes. 
• In the 5 counties that encompass NYC, (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Richmond & Queens) Clinton received well over 2 million more votes than Trump.  (Clinton won 4 of these counties; Trump won Richmond) 
• Therefore these 5 counties alone, more than accounted for Clinton winning the popular vote of the entire country. These 5 counties comprise 319 square miles. The United States is comprised of 3,797,000 square miles.  When you have a country that encompasses almost 4 million square miles of territory, it would be ludicrous to even suggest that the vote of those who inhabit a mere 319 square miles should dictate the outcome of a national election. 
• Large, densely populated Democrat cities (NYC, Chicago, LA, etc.) DO NOT and SHOULD NOT speak for the rest of our country! 
• And . . . it’s been verified and documented that those aforementioned 319 square miles are where the majority of our nation’s problems foment. 

PILGRIMS NO FUN

“James I had thrown his weight behind Anglicanism, which in tone, vestment, and ritual was modeled closely on Rome. Down at the other end of the Protestant spectrum lay the gloomy Puritans, straitlaced and austere, rabidly opposed to any form of religious ostentation, convinced that pleasure was the invention of the Devil.   Fun-loving James despised them and would, he gloated, harry them out of the land.  Many, most notably the Pilgrims Fathers, took him at his word and abandoned England to settle in the New World.”   (“Great Feuds in history,” Colin Evans, 2001, page 29.)

1949 LETTER FROM ALDOUS HUXLEY TO GEORGE ORWELL

“Whether in actual fact the policy of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely seems doubtful.  My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power, and these ways will resemble those which I described in Brave New World.  Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.”  (Letter from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell – 1949)

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TO THE POINT

• Eton College teacher loses dismissal appeal — An appeal panel has ruled that Eton College’s dismissal of a teacher was justified. The headmaster of the institution said that there are “limits to the freedoms that teachers have.” Will Knowland, an English teacher at the prestigious school, was sacked earlier this year for gross misconduct after recording a lecture in which he questioned “current radical feminist orthodoxy”.  (The Week, 12/15/2020)
• Campaigners call for reusable face-masks – Calls are rising for a switch to reusable face coverings after it emerged that more than 100 million disposable masks are binned in the UK every week. Research for the North London Waste Authority found that nearly 70% of those who wear disposable masks are unaware they are single-use plastic. “Whether they are binned or littered they will damage the environment,” a spokesperson for the NLWA said.  (The Week, 12/15/2020)

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LESSON FOR THE US FROM A CENTURY AGO

1936 was a long time ago.       

Before the American president became the “leader of the free world”, the King of England held the most important position on the planet.    The British Empire was at the height of is territory and the king was Head of State.

It had been almost a thousand years since England had three kings in one year, yet it happened in 1936.   “The year of the three kings” began with King George V on the throne.  His death at the end of January saw his son David become king as “Edward VIII”.   Before the year was out David would abdicate in favor of his brother, George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II.

Abdication is such a rare event that many books have been written on the abdication.    The circumstances made if quite different from the last time there were three kings in one year (1066).  This is because the abdication was about a woman, an American divorcee (twice) from Baltimore.  Her name was Wallis Warfield Simpson.   The king is Head of the Church of England.  At the time, the church did not allow divorce.

In hindsight, a lot more is known.   Mrs. Simpson was having an affair even when dating the king, which might have compromised national security.  But, worse still, the king had definite Nazi sympathies, and would likely have compromised the nation’s security at a time when Germany posed a major threat to the United Kingdom.

The famous entertainer Noel Coward suggested at the time of the abdication that “a statue should be erected to Mrs. Simpson in every town in England for the blessing she has bestowed upon the country” (Great Feuds in History, Colin Evans, page 146). 

As I said, the abdication was a very long time ago.  But there’s a serious lesson here for Americans.  Just as England had a king who was a Nazi sympathizer, is it possible that the US could have a president working for communist China? 

Joe Biden seems to have extensive ties with the Chinese.  His son Hunter has been involved in questionable business activities with the Chinese and other foreign powers.  Certainly, on his salary of the last 50 years (he entered Congress in 1972), he could not afford the 10,000 square foot house he lives in.   

As it says in I Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”   He would not, of course, be the only member of Congress tempted by money.

Betrayal at the highest level is not inconceivable.

IS A LASTING PEACE POSSIBLE?

President Donald Trump walks to the Abraham Accords signing ceremony at the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)AP

It’s not just the giddying signs that other Arab states may now follow suit and thus transform the prospects of a durable peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.  Even Saudi Arabia, the epicentre of the Sunni Muslim world and without whose approval the agreement would never have happened, may also openly “normalize” its relationship with Israel.

The Palestinian cause, supposedly the sticking point for the Arab rejection of Israel, is now receiving merely lip-service from Arab moderates, if that.  Saudi writers are being allowed to write openly against the Palestinians.  Hitherto suppressed truths are now being told in the Arab world in a way that was previously unthinkable.

Arab writers are saying they were wrong to believe that Israel was the aggressor in the region since it’s clearly Iran and Turkey that are guilty of aggressive expansionism.  These writers are saying that peace and co-operation with Israel will bring them great benefits in terms of modernity and development.

A Bahraini activist wrote:  “There is growing awareness among many in the Arab world that the Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in the Land of Israel, they are part of this land, and part of our region . . .”  (“Healing the ancient fracture,” Melanie Phillips, 9/18/2020)

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ISRAEL INDISPENSIBLE TO STAND AGAINST IRAN

“Recognition of Israel by the UAE and Bahrain will, it is predicted, be followed by recognition of Israel by Oman and other Gulf states, perhaps even Saudi Arabia.  But the idea that peace is at hand appears to be, as Mark Twain said of reports of his death, premature.

“Indeed, the Gulf Arabs could be signing up to recognize Israel because they see the Jewish state as an indispensable ally in the Arab Sunni clash with the larger and more powerful Shiite Iran.”   (PB, 9/18/2020)

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WHAT PUTIN FEARS

“Nothing is as inspiring as seeing people take to the streets to demand their freedoms – and nothing is as terrifying for the dictators they are defying.  In Belarus, among scenes that recall the revolts of 1989, people are turning out in their hundreds of thousands after a blatantly rigged election, heedless of the threat of state violence.  In the Russian city of Khabarovsk tens of thousands march week after week to protest against the arrest of the local governor and the imposition of Moscow’s rules.   Vladimir Putin is rattled.   Why else is Alexei Navalny, an anti-curruption crusader and Mr. Putin’s greatest popular rival for the Russian presidency, lying poisoned in a Berlin hospital bed?

“Regimes that rule by fear live in fear.    They fear that one day the people will no longer tolerate their lies, thieving and brutality.   They try to hang on with propaganda, persecution and patronage.  But it looks increasingly as if Mr. Putin is running out of tricks, and as if Alexander Lukashenko, his troublesome ally in Minsk, is running out of road.  That is why, despite the Kremlin’s denials, they are falling back on the truncheon and the syringe.   And it is why, as the protests roll on, they must be wondering whether state violence can secure their regimes.”    (“What Putin fears,” The Economist, 8/29/2020)

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AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE CONCERNS

THE head of Australia’s powerful Intelligence & Security Joint Committee has called for the reinstatement of National Service as Australia’s strategic position continues to deteriorate.  With rising concerns about a “strategic miscalculation” within the region, Committee chairman Andrew Hastie warned the risk of conflict was also increasing.   And rebuilding Australia’s Reserves was vital.  (Politico, 9/22/2020)

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DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF THE WEALTHY INTELLECTUAL ELITES

The Democrats are currently spending ten times as much money as the Republicans on advertising.  Their support comes mainly from the intellectual elite who are on high incomes, plus celebrities.  Yet many people still believe the Dems represent the common man.   Joe Biden was shaking his head at a town hall meeting when a medical worker said he is paid less than $15 an hour.   (In comparison, Mr. Biden could have reminded people that his son Hunter, was paid $50,000 a month when he sat on the board of a Ukrainian company.)   In an interview with Harvard professor Michael Sandel, Mr. Sandel explains how the Democrats lost the support of the working class. — editor

They (the Democrats) should have shown more humility.  Think of Hillary Clinton’s use of the word “deplorables.”  She used it in the last election campaign in reference to Trump voters, blue-collar workers. It showed an arrogance toward the less educated.  Obama spoke of people who “cling to guns or religion.”   The liberals emphasize rising based on merit.   But we don’t live up to the meritocratic principles we proclaim.   Of course, you have to pass difficult entrance exams to get into Harvard, but some people are groomed for it throughout their childhood and youth, with hockey lessons, piano lessons, foreign language classes, and their parents pay for it.  Other parents can’t afford it at all.   So, good performance depends heavily on family background and a good deal of luck.   By realizing this, we can develop a sense of humility and identify more easily with those less fortunate than ourselves.   (Der Spiegel interview with Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel, interviewed by Susanne Beyer, 9/18/2020)

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PELOSI AND BIDEN – NO FRIENDS OF UK

Biden warns the UK over Northern Ireland and Brexit — 
Democratic nominee Joe Biden says he will not allow peace in Northern Ireland to become a “casualty of Brexit” if he becomes US president.   He said any UK-US trade deal had to be “contingent” on respect for the Good Friday Agreement in final Brexit arrangements. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also applied pressure on the issue, saying he trusted the UK to “get this right.”  (The Week, 9/17/2020)

Both Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are Catholic and sympathetic to Irish republicanism.   It should be noted that they are not very good Catholics, supporting US abortion laws.   –– editor

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 ON ABORTION

It’s difficult to understand Christians saying anything positive about Ruth Bader Ginsburg (see following):

“RIP to the more than 30 million innocent babies that have been murdered during the decades that Ruth Bader Ginsburg defended pro-abortion laws,” Collins tweeted.  “With @realDonaldTrump nominating a replacement that values human life, generations of unborn children have a chance to live.”   (GOP Rep Doug Collins)

The numbers of COVID-19 related deaths are announced each day.   They are now up to 200,000 in the US alone (which is disputed).   During the same six months that people have been allegedly dying from the coronavirus, 650,000 babies in the US have been aborted.  That’s three times as many deaths, most of which were solely for convenience. — editor

BBC SHOWS CLEAR BIAS – Katty Kay, BBC’s anchor on Monday evening, wore a very formal black outfit.  I’ve never seen her in black before.  One can only assume she was mourning the death of RBG. — editor

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ARABS ARE LEARNING THEY NEED THE JEWS

Emirati writer Salam Hamid, founder and head of the Al-Mezmaah Studies and Research Center in Dubai, published an article titled “The Cost of the Expulsion of the Arab Jews” in the UAE daily Al-Ittihad, in which he lamented the expulsion of the Jews from the Arab countries following the establishment of Israel in 1948.  This expulsion, he said, was a grave mistake, since the Arab countries thereby “lost an elite population with significant wealth, property, influence, knowledge, and culture,” which could have helped them, including against Israel, and lost the potential contribution of the Jews in many spheres, especially in the financial sphere.   The Arabs, he added, should have learned a lesson from the expulsion of the Jews of Spain in 1492, and from Hitler’s expulsion of the Jews of Europe, which eventually harmed the countries that lost their Jews. He stated further that antisemitism, which is deeply entrenched in Arab societies, stems from the books that teach Islamic heritage, studied in schools throughout the Arab world, and therefore called for an overhaul of the curricula in order to strengthen tolerance and banish extremism.  (MEMRI # 8939)

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EU-CHINA TRADE TALKS

The EU and China intend to reach an accord on a bilateral investment agreement before the end of the year.   This is the main result of yesterday’s video conference between the European Union’s leaders and China’s President Xi Jinping.   The bilateral negotiations, therefore, have been making significant progress and their conclusion before the end of the year seems realistic.   German enterprises, in particular, are very interested in the treaty.   Unlike media reports to the contrary, the majority of these enterprises are not leaving the People’s Republic of China due to current political tensions, but in many cases are even “strengthening” their presence, as the European Chamber of Commerce in China notes.   Whereas EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell warns against “Chinese expansionism” and demands that the EU close ranks against Beijing, the Minister of State in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Niels Annen, pleads for “maintaining dialog” with China:  independence from the USA should be preserved in the conflict with Beijing.   (German Foreign Policy, 9/17/2020)

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US DEBT EXCEEDS GNP

The federal government is about to hit a regrettable post-World War II milestone, as government debt will meet, or exceed, the size of the entire U.S. economy.  The last time U.S. government debt was bigger than U.S. GDP was 1946, as the nation wrapped up its war-time spending surge.

This time around, the rapid debt rise is due to three main factors: a massive economic contraction resulted in falling tax receipts.  But government spending reached unprecedented levels to avoid even more economic pain.     (http://forliberty.news/2020/09/03/federal-government-reaches-ugly-post-ww2-milestone-debt-bigger-gdp-rs-nl/)

“As of July, the public debt of the United States was $26.48 trillion, up $4.45 trillion from the previous year.  Americans credit card debt is nearly $1 trillion, a record high.  Some 43 million adult Americans carry a combined student debt of $1.5 trillion.”  (“Thrift and Simplicity:  a Pathway to Happiness,” The Epoch Times, 9/9/2020).

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IMPERIAL REDUX

BEST ARTICLE ON SLAVERY – “The Real reason our statues are under attack”, by Richard Palmer.  (9/20).  “The slave trade was incredibly profitable.  A slave in the Americas would sell for about eight times the price he cost in Africa.  And in 1805, Britain became the undisputed master of the world’s oceans after winning the Battle of Trafalgar.  The stage seemed set for Britain to profit more than ever from this evil trade.

“Instead. The opposite happened.   In March 1807, Britain outlawed the slave trade.  In his book “Empire” Niall Ferguson called it an “astonishing volte-face.”    “Towards the end of the 18th century, something changed dramatically,” he writes, “it was almost as if a switch was flicked in the British psyche.”

“It is not easy to explain so profound a change in the ethics of a people,” he continues.   “It used to be argued that slavery was abolished simply because it had ceased to be profitable, but all the evidence points the other way:  In fact, it was abolished despite the fact that it was still profitable. “Instead, Britain had a “collective change of heart.”

“But Britain did more than simply stop participating in this trade. It used its diplomatic clout to ensure other nations ended slavery . . .  No other nation was going around the world cajoling other nations to end the slave trade . . .

“But abolishing the slave trade didn’t free the slaves already at work.  Thus, Britain’s anti-slavery campaigners pushed on.  In 1833, the United Kingdom passed the Slavery Abolition Act, outlawing the practice within British colonies.  When this law came into effect, 800,000 slaves were freed.

“To pass this law through Parliament, it had to be “compensated emancipation,” meaning slave owners were paid for the slaves they had to free.  Many on the left criticize this today.   But the fact is, uncompensated emancipation would have taken much longer.  The reformers chose to be pragmatic and freed the slaves as soon as they could.  Britain had to take out a loan so massive that it only finished paying it off in 2015.

“The UK, alone in all nations of the world, put forth a huge effort to shut this trade down.  In 1808, during the Napoleonic War, with the nation still fighting for survival, Britain set up the West Africa Squadron.  It patrolled the sea of Africa’s west coast looking for slave ships.

“Britain’s naval dominance was now assured, and so “for the first 30 years of Victoria’s reign, the Royal Navy’s chief task was the interception of slavers.”  (Heaven’s Command, Jan Morris)

“In theory, Britain was leading a multinational effort; but in practice, no one else made any significant contributions.”  (The Philadelphia Trumpet)

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BARBADOS TO BECOME A REPUBLIC

Not a US style republic, but an Irish one, where the Queen is simply replaced as Head of State by an appointed president.   The people will not have a say in this.  They have been talking about a republic for twenty years.   When my wife and I visited the country in the year 2000 local radio was discussing the issue.  One young, black Barbadian, told us she was very concerned about a potential loss of freedom when the Queen is removed.  The Barbadian Labour Party controls all but one seat in parliament.   A simple two thirds majority is required to approve the change.  This  makes dictatorship much easier.  A republic always gives more power to politicians.

There is also speculation that China is behind the move, as its ties to Barbados are growing.

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German Development Bank earmark R96 million for Cape Town     by Marvin Charles, Cape Town

The Republic of Germany and the German Development Bank announced they would give the City €5 million (R96 million) for relief aid, for identified communities within the metro.  The German Development Bank, KfW, has sent a written request to mayor Dan Plato, outlining the offer to support communities within the City.

The City said the funds would not be disbursed to the City, and will not be incorporated into the City’s budget, in the conditions laid out as part of the agreement signed by the City and the German ambassador.  KfW’s Silke Stadtmann and Peter Weinert said in a letter to Plato:   “Through these emergency measures, about 25000 families and pregnant women in need could be supported with a digital food voucher worth about R600 per month, for about three months.

”The focus of the aid would be families and single parents with children under the age of seven “as well as foreign families who do not qualify to receive government support grants.”

The areas that would be receiving relief include Khayelitsha, Hanover Park, Manenberg, Gugulethu and Nyanga and, if funds are still available, Bonteheuwel.  KfW said some of the money would be used to support informal businesses, such as urban vegetable gardens and early childhood development centres.  In a report that was tabled by the mayoral committee, the City said the relief was the latest development in a successful relationship with the German Development Bank, which had seen 15.5m contributed since 2007.  The money went into a programme called Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading, which aims to prevent crime through environmental design, as well as social programmes.

Further comment was sought from the City but they were unable to respond to questions by the time of publication.

* €1 is equivalent to R19.34 as of 19 September 2020. (by Marvin Charles, IOL, Cape Town)

(https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/germany-german-development-bank-earmark-r96-million-for-city-of-cape-town-f632ca19-3835-46d8-a8b6-b3cc1564bfca)

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TO THE POINT

• EU SUMMIT CANCELLED – as President Charles Michel has to self-isolate.
• Pubs in England face 10pm closing time:   Pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England will have to close at 10pm from Thursday, as the UK’s Covid-19 alert level moved to four.  The upgrade in severity means the risk of transmission is now “high or rising exponentially,” with Boris Johnson set to announce the new measures in the House of Commons before addressing the nation in a live broadcast at 8pm this evening.  (The Week, 9/22/2020)
• STRENGTHENING TIES BETWEEN CHINA, RUSSIA AND IRAN: China’s defense ministry announced Friday it would conduct the “Caucus 2020” military drills alongside Russia and Iran.  According to China’s state-run The Global Times, Beijing hopes to use the joint drills with Russia as a way to strengthen diplomatic and strategic co-operation between Moscow and Beijing.   The military drills that are causing anxiety in the West will run throughout next week.  (Daily Express, 9/20/2020)
• LOSS OF FREEDOM:   PETER HITCHENS:  “Most people have far too readily accepted limits to their lives which the world’s tyrannies would once have hesitated to impose on their citizens. Well, have you had enough yet? ”  (Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail, 9/20/2020)
• LANSING POLICE MORE LIKELY TO ARREST BLACK KIDS – a front page headline in the Lansing State Journal on Sunday.  ‘Blacks are about 28% of youth, but 70% of arrests.”   Not mentioned in the article is the comment made by African-American writer Shelby Steele last week, that 75% of black children do not have a father living with them.   Could that be the reason African-American teens are more likely to get into crime?   And consequently more likely to be arrested?
• TWISTED THINKING — Iranian Preacher Condemns Charlie Hebdo:  The West Spreads Islamophobia, Westerners Will Be Annihilated; Iranian Ayatollah:  Why Is Insulting The Prophet Considered Free Speech While Europe Executes People For Investigating The False Holocaust?  (Memri #8288)    It should be noted that no western country executes people for “investigating the false Holocaust.”  Except for some states in the US, the death penalty has been abolished in every western nation. — editor

 

COVID NOT SO DEADLY?

Taken from CDC website.

Only 6 percent of Americans whose deaths were attributed to the China Virus actually were caused by the virus with no contributing conditions, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

This means that 94 percent of deaths attributed to the “pandemic” may have died due to some other cause.

Excerpted from wgntv.com:

The CDC says provisional death counts may not match counts from other sources, such as numbers from county health departments, because death certificates take time to be completed, states report at different rates, it takes officials extra time to code COVID-19 deaths, and because other reporting systems use different definitions or methods for counting deaths.  (Daily Kenn, 9/1/2020)

Directly from the CDC website Aug 26, 2020, under the heading “Comorbidities” —  “Table 3 shows the types of health conditions and contributing causes mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned.“

(https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm?fbclid=lwAR2PcFrRYmWibcz886GrQnZPmjqSswslV9mXkhTkip14YaTRC-8qSfGLxpw)

Face Book wouldn’t allow me to post this as it was shot down by their “fact checkers.”  So, to be fair, here is what they said Dr. Fauci had to say about it:  “He noted that the 6% figure includes cases where COVID-19 was listed as the only cause of death. “That does not mean that someone who has hypertension or diabetes who dies of Covid didn’t die of Covid-19.   They did,” Fauci said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.  “So the numbers you’ve been hearing — the 180,000-plus deaths — are real deaths from Covid-19.   Let [there] not be any confusion about that,” Fauci said.

But there IS confusion.  Did all those people die OF covid or did they die WITH covid (did they just test positive?)?   Add to that the many false positive tests results and that so many who test positive have no sickness or symptoms.  I’m a senior citizen and there are many things I could catch that could trigger one of my comorbidities – does that mean I died of that or the covid?  If I fell down a flight of stairs (the injuries of which I could possibly survive) and it triggered a heart attack (which I didn’t survive), what did I die of – a fall down the stairs or a heart attack?  Flu (or covid, or other viruses) can trigger a bad heart or a number of conditions that could kill me.  If I test positive at the time of death for covid, is that a covid death?  I am not playing down all the deaths, here, just wondering how to categorize them.  Statistics – I suppose they are right when they say you can prove anything from them.  It is, if nothing else, NOT clear here.

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Nancy Pelosi is branded a hypocrite for breaking COVID rules to get a blowout (wash and blow dry) at a closed San Francisco salon – and is filmed walking around without a mask on after pushing for a nationwide face-covering mandate.  (Daily Mail headline, 9/2/2020)

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MENTAL HEALTH AFFECTED BY COVID

“A bucket of worries – spurred by anxieties related to job security, financial instability, grief from death, or loneliness – are plaguing an increasing number of Americans living amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its shutdown measures.

“Among 5,412 Americans surveyed at the end of June, 41 percent reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, according to an August 14th Morbidity and Mortality report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   The number is higher among younger adults between the ages of 18 and 24, with 75% of respondents reporting experiencing at least one condition.

“Just over 10% of adults reported seriously considering suicide in the previous 30 days before June, the CDC said, approximately twice the number reported in 2018.”

(“Shutdowns spur Mental Health Crisis in US, Experts Say,” Bowen Ziao, Epoch Tmes,  8/26/2020)

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PRESSURE ON BELARUS

The EU should “exert pressure for new elections” in Belarus, demanded a veteran leading politician of the German Green Party. The EU is not offensive enough in the Belarusian power struggles, according to Ralf Fücks, the former president of the Green Party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation, and since 2017, managing director of the transatlantic think tank “Zentrum Liberale Moderne” (Center for Liberal Modernity). German foreign policy-makers are recommending systematic support for Belarusian “civil society.” Thus, millions of euros could help to promote pro-western circles in a country that maintains close ties to Russia.   Berlin has already been engaged in this for decades.  Germany and other western powers have been promoting subversive attempts in Belarus since President Alexander Lukashenko led the country into a union with Russia in 1999 and intensified cooperation with Moscow.   Fearing over dependency on its neighboring country, Lukashenko had recently begun to cooperate more closely with the West – including participation in joint military exercises with NATO countries.(German Foreign Policy, 8/26/2020)

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SOUTH AFRICA

Why don’t more homeless people go to shelters?                                        26 August 2020, GroundUp, by James Stent

Most are full, say homeless people in response to City of Cape Town.

There’s an increase in the numbers of homeless people refusing to go into shelters, says the City of Cape Town.   GroundUp talked to some people living on the streets to find out why.   On 6 August Zahid Badroodien, Cape Town’s Mayco Member for Community Services and Health, said in an interview with Lester Kiewit on KFM, that more and more homeless people are refusing social assistance and refusing to enter shelters.  He also said the City was conducting a review of its “Street People Policy,” to be completed by 10 October 2020.   A wide range of people and organizations are to be consulted in the process, to be led by Melene Rossouw, executive director of the Women Lead movement and Lorenzo Davids, CEO of Community Chest.

. . .  Sauls and Kammies say they would live in a shelter if they had a room of their own.   “A bed, a key, and a kassie” in a building that they didn’t share with current substance abusers, says Sauls.  The couple were set to be married at the civil court in the week that lockdown regulations were announced in March.   One day, they would like a marital home.  (https://www.groundup.org.za/article/why-dont-more-homeless-people-go-to-shelters/)

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JAPANESE PM RESIGNS

Japan’s prime minister announced his resignation today, citing ill-health.   Abe Shinzo will continue to carry out his duties until the ruling Liberal Democratic Party holds a new leadership vote.   His abrupt departure has thrust the country into a period of immense uncertainty.   Ulcerative colitis, a chronic intestinal disease, helped end Mr. Abe’s first stint as prime minister in 2007; he said that another flare-up of the disease spurred his second early resignation. The LDP will likely choose a successor in the coming weeks.   The leading candidates are said to be Ishiba Shigeru, a former defence and agriculture minister; Kishida Fumio, the LDP policy chief; Aso Taro, the deputy prime minister; Suga Yoshihide, Mr. Abe’s Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Kono Taro, the defence minister.   Whoever wins inherits a full plate: managing the pandemic, but also leading Japan as it grapples with a shrinking population and a rising China.  (The Economist , 8/28/2020)

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MUSLIMS MAY HOLD BALANCE OF POWER ON ELECTION DAY

DAILYKENN.com — With full participation, Muslims could tip the popular presidential vote in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan and Connecticut.

That is the opinion of Robert McCaw, director of government affairs for The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

If the assessment is accurate, we could conclude that the hate group that took down the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, could take down the entire nation and hand it to the far-left Democrats.

Islam is the world’s largest, oldest, and deadliest hate group with over 1.8-billion adherents.  (Daily Kenn, 8/30/2020)

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BLM’S LINK TO THE OCCULT

In an interview posted to social media, Black Lives Matter (BLM) Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors, along with BLM Los Angeles Co-Founder Melina Abdullah, discussed the “spiritual” component of the movement, explaining the practices and “rituals” performed to remember and “invoke” the spirits of deceased African Americans.

“We speak their names … [and] you kind of invoke that spirit, and then their spirits actually become present with you,” Abdullah, a professor at California State University, stated during the discussion hosted by Fowler Museum at UCLA.

Cullors outlined that she was raised Jehovah’s Witness, and “ancestral worship became really important” as she got older.   She said that she felt a responsibility to honor the deceased politically and spiritually.

“In my tradition, you offer things that your loved one who passed away would want, whether it’s honey or tobacco or things like that,” she said, referring to the creation of an “ancestor altar,” which is sometimes practiced in African cultures.   “It’s so important, not just for us to be in direct relationship to our people who’ve passed but also for them to know we’ve remembered them. I believe some of them work through us.”  (Christian News, 8/30/2020)

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BERLIN REJECTS DECOUPLING

US aggression against China, increasing almost on a daily basis, has accompanied Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Europe, which ends today.  Wang is holding talks today in Berlin.  He is seeking to prevent a transatlantic concerted front against Beijing and has warned during his trip against “a new Cold War.”   The Trump administration has significantly expanded its sanctions against Huawei and threatened Chinese Internet companies with a ban on their business activities in the USA.  It has recently also imposed sanctions on subsidiaries of the state owned CCCC construction company, nicknamed the “Huawei of infrastructure” by US politicians.   CCCC is playing an important role in construction projects within the framework of the New Silk Road.   The USA is also increasing its military provocations.   Berlin has just reaffirmed its rejection of the “decoupling” from Beijing, demanded by Washington.   Wang’s visit in Europe has also been accompanied by systematic orchestrated protests intended to hamper cooperation, with German Greens playing a key role.   This can only favor US aggression.  (German Foreign Policy, 9/1/2020)

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‘Biggest Crowd In German History’ Rises Up Against Bill Gates and Big Pharma in Berlin

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke to what organizers called “the biggest crowd in German history” on Saturday, as more than a million Germans joined forces to protest what Kennedy Jr. referred to as Bill Gates’ “bio-security agenda, the rise of the authoritarian surveillance state and the Big Pharma sponsored coup d’etat against liberal democracy.”

“The pandemic is a crisis of convenience for the elite who are dictating these policies,” said Kennedy Jr., who praised the huge Berlin crowd for being on the frontline of the fight against global totalitarianism.

“Fifty years ago, my uncle John F. Kennedy came to this city.   He came to this land, because Berlin was the frontline against global totalitarianism.   And today again, Berlin is frontline against global totalitarianism,” said Kennedy Jr. to a roar of approval from the crowd.

During his opening remarks, Kennedy Jr. said that the corrupt American mainstream media are telling people he came to Berlin “to speak to about five thousand Nazis.“

“But I look at this crowd and I see the opposite of Nazism. I see people of democracy.   People who want open government.  People who want leaders who are not going to lie to them.   People who want leaders who will not make up arbitrary rules and regulations to orchestrate obedience of the population.

“We want health officials who don’t have financial entanglements with the pharmaceutical industry, who are working for us, not Big Pharma.”

“I look at this crowd. I see all the flags of Europe.   I see people of every color.   I see people of every nation.   Every religion.   All caring about human dignity, about children’s health.   About political freedom.   This is the opposite of Nazism.”  (Baxter Dmitry, 8/30/2020)

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IMPERIAL REDUX

“And his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”  Genesis 48:19

“(King) Thibaw had ascended the throne two years earlier, at the tender age of 19.  His reign had begun with a time-honored Burmese tradition:   the extermination of all potential rivals to the throne.  Over 80 royals, including eight of his brothers, were tied up in large velvet bags and clubbed to death in the palace grounds while a court orchestra played to drown their screams.   The corpses were trampled into enormous trenches  by elephants.

“Scott had arrived in time to witness an ancient royal dynasty in its death throes.  Thibaw was descended from the bellicose and bloodthirsty King Alaungpaya, who in the eighteenth century initiated a series of campaigns in Thailand so brutal that many Thais still despise the Burmese for them today.   But the warrior blood of Alaungpaya ran thin in young Thibaw’s veins – where it was also diluted with gin, of which it was said the young king had grown overly fond.   Effete, decadent and fatally introspective, Thibaw would rule only long enough to set his fragile kingdom on a collision course with the mighty British Empire.”      (The Trouser People, Andrew Marshall, 2002, pages 41-42).

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TO THE POINT

• Copy Sweden, says WHO special envoy:   A top World Health Organization (WHO) official has praised Sweden’s coronavirus response and suggested that more countries should follow the Nordic nation’s lead.   Dr. David Nabarro, one of the UN health agency’s six special envoy on Covid-19, acknowledged “serious problems” in Swedish care homes, which led to a high mortality rate early in the pandemic, but said the country had showed how “you can go about life while having the virus in your midst.”   (The Week, 9/1/2020)
• GERMANY:   A century on, former colonies are now demanding reparations, placing mounting pressure on the federal government.   More than a century since Germany’s colonial empire committed numerous atrocities on the African continent, the federal government is being forced to contend with its past head on.   (Deutsche Welle, 30 August 2020)
• UK:   Tory MPs are warning Rishi Sunak that a proposed £30bn tax grab to recoup the costs of the coronavirus crisis will stifle the country’s economic recovery.   The chancellor is reportedly considering what the Daily Mail describes as a “huge fiscal raid” in the Budget in November, after emergency spending to tackle the pandemic sent Britain’s public debt crashing past the £2trn mark for the first time.  But the plans have “provoked anger among Tory backbenchers, many of whom are in mutinous mood following multiple recent policy U-turns”, reports the inews site.  (The Week, 9/1/2020)
• SA Reserve Bank must be nationalised without compensation to end white capital domination, argues [Malema-led EFF’s] Floyd Shivambu.  (https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-08-26-sa-reserve-bank-must-be-nationalised-without-compensation-to-end-white-capital-domination-argues-floyd-)
• A 16-year-old boy was shot dead in Johannesburg, South Africa.   This was because he did not obey the police.   The boy turned out to be autistic.   Autistic kids are unlikely to respond like normal people.   So how can they be protected when they come up against trigger-happy policemen?   Should they carry a sign around their neck?
• The Democrats are out-spending the Republicans ten to one.   They remain the wealthier party, representing highly paid intellectuals and celebrities.
• Britain is being invaded by thousands of migrants, arriving by sea.   Eighty years ago they were able to stop the German Navy from invading.  Why do they have so much difficulty stopping a few rubber dinghies?

IS TURKEY ABOUT TO LAUNCH A RELIGIOUS WAR AGAINST ISRAEL?

The site is now one of Turkey’s most visited tourist attractions – GETTY IMAGES

The sixth century Christian church, the Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, is about to be converted into a mosque.  Turkey’s religious government is increasingly hardline Islamist.  It compares the Hagia Sophia to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and is a call to “liberate” Jerusalem from the Israelis.  “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ” (Luke 21:20)

Has Erdogan Launched a New Age of Religious Wars?                             by Jonathan S. Tobin / JNS.org

 In a statement, Erdogan said that the reimposition of Muslim worship at the Hagia Sophia is “the harbinger of the liberation of Masjid al-Aqsa [the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount].”  That’s a call for throwing Israel out of Jerusalem and the spot holiest in Judaism. 

That this incendiary comment came during the period when religious Jews begin the period of mourning for the destruction of the ancient Temple culminating on Tisha B’Av [evening to evening 29-30 July 2020] is probably coincidental but still chilling.

(Tisha B’Av is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon’s Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem. Wikipedia)

What happened in Constantinople was hardly unique.  Invading Muslims did the same thing everywhere that they triumphed during the period when they spread their faith by force of arms from India to Europe.  And, to be fair, Christian forces repaid the favor when they reconquered Spain and the Balkans by converting mosques into churches.

So when Erdogan echoes the Palestinian rhetoric of both the so-called moderates of Fatah and the extremists of Hamas about chasing the Jews from Jerusalem, he’s not just signaling his hostility to the Jewish state.  He’s also making it clear that he wishes to claim the title of the guardian of Islam from Saudi leaders that many Muslims think are now tainted by their under-the-table relations with Israel.

Unfortunately, the Hagia Sophia precedent is also helping shape the discussion about Jerusalem.

The point here is not only to bring attention to the revanchist Islamist spirit that Erdogan’s boasts represent.  Nor is it to highlight the fact that even Muslim liberals like Akyol are unable to be honest about the way Judaism’s holiest site was converted into a Muslim shrine that is inviolable in the view of world opinion.

Rather, it is to point out that the only way Jewish access to holy sites in Jerusalem, as well as that of other faiths, will be preserved is by ensuring that the city is not redivided as advocates of a two-state solution with the Palestinians insist must happen.  The only alternative to the status quo in Jerusalem is not a platonic utopia of two peoples living happily together in shared sovereignty, as envisaged by anti-Zionists like Peter Beinart, or by returning to the peace parameters embraced by the Obama administration that would split the city.   Erdogan’s revival of the brutal conqueror’s path is the only other choice.  Those who care about religious freedom and the preservation of the holy sites should draw the appropriate conclusions from events in Turkey, particularly the way it is discussed in the pages of the [New York] Times.

(https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/07/21/has-erdogan-launched-a-new-age-of-religious-wars/)

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CONFLICT INTENSIFIES IN LIBYA

The Libyan House of Representatives in Tobruk this week passed a motion approving Egyptian military intervention, should this prove necessary in the fight against the rival Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. This latest move is set to sharply escalate tensions in the divided and strife-torn country.

The decision raises the still remote but no longer unthinkable possibility of a conventional clash between Egyptian and Turkish forces on the soil of Libya.   What began as a proxy war now threatens to escalate into a direct conflict.   For now, the fighting fronts remain static around the town of Sirte. The focus looks set to return to crisis diplomacy intended to avert a direct clash over the next period.   But the escalation is very real, and reflects a dangerous combination of geo-strategic rivalries and long-standing ideological differences between Ankara and Cairo.  (Jonathan Spyer, Jerusalem Post, 7/16/2020)

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DIVERSITY TO AFFECT ELECTION

Is her racial diversity America’s greatest strength?

So we are told.   Yet, even before America becomes a majority-minority nation, 25 years from now, recent changes in the composition of the country are going to impact both parties in 2020.

According to Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, between 2010 and 2020, while America’s population grew by 20 million, our white population fell for the first time since the 1790 census.

White Americans fell as a share of the population in all 50 states, in 358 of 364 metropolitan areas, in 3,012 of 3,141 counties.   During that same decade, our Black population grew by 3 million, our Asian population by 4 million and our Hispanic population by 10 million.

What’s the significance of those numbers?   In presidential elections, Hispanics and Asians vote 70% Democratic and African Americans vote 90%.

White folks, who made up 69% of the U.S. population in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected, have fallen today to 60%.

For children under 16, the white share has fallen to less than half.

Minority kids are now the majority in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Maryland.

Whites are also the oldest Americans, with a median age of 44.   For Asian Americans, it is 37, for Black Americans, it is 35, and for Latinos, it is 30.

(Rising diversity is Joe Biden’s problem, too.  Pat Buchanan,  7/21/2020)

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US NEEDS TO UPDATE GERIATRIC BOMBER FORCE

This 4th of July, Americans witnessed flyovers of our airpower.  It was a far cry from the airpower displays over Washington, D.C., that I viewed as a boy on national holidays in the late 1950s.  Then, dozens of B-47 bombers literally cast a shadow over the viewers.   On this Fourth, only three bombers were on display­­ – a B-52 built in the Kennedy years; a B-1B built during the Reagan administration; and our “newest” bomber, the B-2, over 30 years of age.

To put the current bomber deficit situation in historical context, in 1957 the Air Force had 2,334 bombers in its inventory; in 1990 it had 411; the 2021 budget plans for 140.   Yes, times have changed, but arguably the security challenges for the foreseeable future are much more complex and challenging than ever before.   Historically under resourced and now with the likely prospect of flat or declining defense budgets in the future, the U.S. Air Force is confronting the potential of painful tradeoffs between modernization, readiness, and capacity.   However, given the outsized mission value of bombers and the fact that the bomber force is significantly undersized, looking to it for near-term budget savings risks creating a major capacity and capability gap.   Instead, the Department of Defense should increase investment in this critical mission area, fully funding bomber readiness, sustaining the current force, and ramping up acquisition plans for the new B-21 bomber.  (forbes.com  7/18/2020)

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REBUILDING WARSAW 80 YEARS ON

Several hundred members of the German Bundestag are planning major construction projects in Warsaw.   The non-partisan group of German parliamentarians – ranging from right to left – is discussing transformation plans for the Polish capital, which had been destroyed in the 1940s, when war was raging everywhere.   Warsaw could finally be embellished with historical sensitivity and German money from a “Poland Fund.”   Berlin is discussing the reconstruction of Warsaw’s huge 18th century Baroque palace, the “Pałac Saski” in reminiscence of the Kingdom of Poland, when Poland was moaning under the reign of the Saxons (“Saxony Poland”) – a serious proposal from the portfolio of Germany’s Poland institutes.   Therefore, Warsaw’s museums and libraries must also expect wide-ranging construction measures.  They would be expanded, with means from the “Poland Fund,” to make room for cultural goods from Germany, where they have been stored in greater quantities – some already for several centuries.  They had unfortunately disappeared from Poland, when “Saxony Poland” had been succeeded by quite varying regimes under German domination.   Poland’s cultural heritage had been transferred to Berlin in a cloak-and-dagger operation, supposedly to safeguard it from theft and destruction.   The Polish artifacts would, however, remain German property and only loaned out to Warsaw’s museums, as was so caringly suggested in the German capital.   (German Foreign Policy, 7/21/2020)

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COVID DEATHS INFLATED IN UK

People living in England have become increasingly concerned in recent weeks, as Public Health England’s (PHE) figures demonstrate a relentless daily toll of more than a hundred Covid-associated deaths, several days a week.   This is in stark contrast to the more reassuring recovery in neighboring regions (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), where there are days with no Covid-associated deaths whatsoever.   One reason for this is due to a statistical flaw in the way that PHE compiles ‘out of hospital’ deaths data, rather than any genuine difference between the regions of the UK:

‘Linking data on confirmed positive cases (identified through testing by NHS and PHE laboratories and commercial partners) to the NHS Demographic Batch Service:   when a patient dies, the NHS central register of patients is notified (this is not limited to deaths in hospitals).   The list of all lab-confirmed cases is checked against the NHS central register each day, to check if any of the patients have died.’

It seems that PHE regularly looks for people on the NHS database who have ever tested positive for Covid, and simply checks to see if they are still alive or not. PHE does not appear to consider how long ago the Covid test result was, nor whether the person has been successfully treated in hospital and discharged to the community. Anyone who has tested Covid-positive but subsequently died at a later date of any cause will be included on the PHE Covid death figures.

By this PHE definition, no one with Covid in England is allowed to ever recover from their illness.   A patient who has tested positive, but successfully treated and discharged from hospital, will still be counted as a Covid death, even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later.

This is why the PHE figures vary substantially from day to day.   For example, 16 new deaths were announced on 6 July, but the following day, 152 were reported – today’s figure is 66.

It’s time to fix this statistical flaw that leads to an over-exaggeration of Covid-associated deaths.   One reasonable approach would be to define community Covid-related deaths as those that occurred within 21 days of a Covid positive test result.

In summary, PHE’s definition of the daily death figures means that everyone who has ever had Covid at any time must die with Covid too.   So, the Covid death toll in Britain up to July 2020 will eventually exceed 290,000, if the follow-up of every test-positive patient is of long enough duration.

Prof. Yoon K Loke is Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia.  Carl Heneghan is Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and Director of Studies for the Evidence-Based Health Care Programmes.  This article originally appeared on the CEBM website. 

(https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-no-one-can-ever-recover-from-covid-19-in-england)

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NIKE USING SLAVE LABOR IN CHINA

In March, the non-partisan Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in a report titled “Uyghurs for Sale,” accused Beijing of forcing more than 80,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities to produce products for Nike and 82 other brands.

The report’s accusations against Nike are damning.   “A factory in eastern China that manufacturers shoes for U.S. company Nike is equipped with watchtowers, barbed-wire fences, and police guard boxes,” it noted . . .   There, people have been kept against their will in inhumane conditions.  This facility, a Nike supplier for more than three decades, produces approximately eight million pairs of shoes each year.

U.S. law provides that products made with forced labor can be seized, but those made in horrific conditions in China and elsewhere routinely are cleared through Customs and end up on the shelves of American retailers.   (Gordon G. Chang, Gatestone, 7/21/2020)

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GERMANY:  TOWARD THE COLLAPSE OF THE SEMINARIES

In 1962, the year the Second Vatican Council opened, Germany ordained 557 priests.   Almost 60 years later, in 2020, only 57 of those priests remain in the priesthood.   The German Church, stuck more than ever in the synodal swamp, is struggling to find solutions. 18 July 2020, FSSPX 

“This is an alarming trend,” worries Thomas Sternberg, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (Zdk), who explains that “last year, there was one ordination for 11 priests who left for retirement.”   A fundamental trend which does not seem likely to be reversed given the situation of German seminaries:  “the number of candidates for the Catholic priesthood has decreased from 594 in 2011, to 211 currently,” explains Msgr. Heinrich Timmerevers, Bishop of Dresden-Meissen.   A figure that reveals the collapse of the number of seminarians in formation houses.  In view of such a catastrophic situation, the fruits of accelerated secularization and the silent apostasy of a large number, the only solution would be a return to Tradition, to the Mass of all times, to the philosophy and theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which would imply moving away from the novelties which have the Second Vatican Council as their poisoned source.  Alas!  The German prelates are not ready for such a rebuff and prefer to deny reality by further accelerating the revolution.  Having sown the wind and harvested the whirlwind, the time of reckoning has come.  (FSSPX.NEWS is the communication agency of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, Paris, France).

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IS LEBANON ABOUT TO COLLAPSE?

Lebanon, one of the world’s most indebted countries, is spiraling into poverty and political chaos after decades of economic mismanagement.   Its government is seeking a $10 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the IMF insists that Lebanon must first reform its bloated and corrupt public sector.   So far, Beirut’s power brokers have resisted. Is Lebanon about to implode?

A crisis decades in the making:   While coronavirus lockdowns have exacerbated Lebanon’s economic woes, the country’s financial crisis has been deepening for decades.   Lebanon’s byzantine sectarian power-sharing system has brought the government to a standstill, while years of pocket-lining by politicians has crashed the economy and sent standards of living into freefall.   (Even before the pandemic, the World Bank predicted that 50 percent of Lebanese could be living below the poverty line if economic trends continued.)  (Gzero Signal, 7/21/2020)

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TO THE POINT

• Another white guy was shot dead by police in our community. This one likely just snapped.  He had gone into a convenience store early one morning and was told he had to wear a mask.   He refused and started stabbing the 73-year-old man who had told him to wear one.  He then fled.   The police caught up with him in our neighborhood.   He tried to attack a policewoman with the knife and she reacted by shooting him.  Once again, it was not covered on the national television news.   When it comes to the news, white lives don’t matter!
• I’m a little uncomfortable with the extradition of Prince Andrew. I have no sympathy with the man and feel that he deserves what he gets.  Being a member of the royal family does not give him any special protection from the law.  But it bothers me that the US won’t even consider the extradition of Mrs. Anne Secoolas, the lady who killed a 19-year-old young man in England when she drove on the wrong side of the road.  Until she is extradited for trial, I see no reason to send Prince Andrew to face an American court.   Laws relating to extradition and diplomatic immunity need a complete overhaul.  The double standard here is making America look like a big bully.  It hardly helps America’s image in the world.
• Joe Biden plans on big changes to the suburbs, making them at least 25% minority.  That means more violence and more tension.   Diversity doesn’t work.   Enforced mixing will only breed resentment.   And you can bet Joe Biden’s neighborhood will be exempt.
• Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s court case continues.  Were there ever two more trashy people?    Why does anyone ever listen to celebrities?
• What happens if Trump refuses to accept defeat? Donald Trump will be “fumigated out” of the Oval Office if he refuses to quit following his predicted defeat in November’s US presidential election, according to the top US Democrat.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the warning after the president failed to give a straight answer during a TV interview about whether he “might not accept” the results of the vote.   The idea of Trump attempting to cling to power may “seem far-fetched,” Politico says. “But the president’s comments have people chattering in the halls of Congress and throughout the Beltway.   (The Week, 7/21/2020)
• 25 MILLION IRANIANS INFECTED WITH CORONAVIRUS – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during a televised meeting of the country’s virus-fighting task force on Saturday:   “Up to now, 25 million Iranians have been infected with this virus.   We have to consider the possibility that 30 to 35 million more may face infection.” (Al-Jazeera)
• Iranian Spies Accidentally Leaked Videos of Themselves Hacking, by Andy Greenberg – Researchers at IBM’s X-Force security team revealed Thursday that they’ve obtained five hours of video footage from hackers working for ITG18, one of the most active state-sponsored espionage teams linked to the government of Iran.  The videos appear to be training demonstrations made to show junior team members how to access compromised Gmail and Yahoo Mail accounts to download their contents, as well as exfiltrating other Google-hosted data from victims.  The videos represent a rare, first-hand view of state-sponsored cyberspying. Victims included U.S. military personnel and State Department staff.   “This kind of thing is a rare win for the defenders,” said former NSA staffer Emily Crose.   “It’s like playing poker and having your opponents lay their entire hand out flat on the table in the middle of the last” hand.  (Wired)
• Lebanon’s Financial Collapse Accelerates – Most parts of Lebanon are receiving no more than two or three hours of electricity a day and the traffic signals in Beirut have stopped working.   These are among the latest symptoms of an economic implosion that is accelerating at an alarming pace in Lebanon – the result of decades of economic mismanagement, corruption and overspending.   Economists are now predicting a Venezuela-style collapse, with acute shortages of essential products and services, runaway inflation and rising lawlessness.   The Lebanese pound has lost over 60% of its value in just the past month. Bread is in short supply because the government can’t fund imports of wheat.  “Lebanon is no longer on the brink of collapse.  The economy of Lebanon has collapsed,” said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. (Liz Sly, Washington Post)
• 236 European Lawmakers Call for Total EU Ban on Hizbullah – 236 European lawmakers have urged the EU to ban Hizbullah in its entirety and “end this false distinction between [its] ‘military’ and ‘political’ arms – a distinction Hizbullah itself dismisses.”  (Laura Kelly, The Hill)