Thank You God, For Men. Real Men.


Posted originally on the CTH on June 18, 2023 | Menagerie 

This is a re-post of something I wrote several years ago for Father’s Day. I think this Father’s Day weekend is a good time to share it again, and now is a good time to celebrate and appreciate God’s gift of manhood.

47 years ago tomorrow I was blessed to marry the most wonderful man in the world. From the time I met him, just before I turned 18, he became the yardstick I measured all men by. He’s never failed to keep that bar high.

He inspired this post. I love him with all my heart. He has my respect, my loyalty, my admiration. He deserved the best of wives in return, but never complained about settling for me.

26 God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.’

27 God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

I had an experience this weekend that made me think about men, about masculinity. It seems manhood is under attack these days from many directions. Indeed, in my opinion, a part of what so offends so many people about President Trump, especially liberals and sissy Never Trumpers is his unapologetic masculinity. He is a man who knows his power and embraces it.

That being said (and I can’t believe I put it in here, knowing where it could lead) please don’t make this another political free for all. My point here is broader. I’m asking you to take your politics to the presidential thread. I’ll trash any off topic conversations or the whole post if needed.

To all you guys out there, tough guys, whether you express that inner strength clad in a business suit or well worn jeans and work boots, please accept the appreciation and approval of those of us who celebrate who and what you are, and what you do. Every day in ways large and small, you go out and just get the job done. You don’t ask for approval, thanks, or cheers, because it just wouldn’t occur to you, and you are too busy getting things done to stop for recognition.

Lots of feminists have a problem with men. I believe they throw around terms like patriarchy, which they probably never looked up in their Funk and Wagnalls. Some humans with an X chromosome, and a few without one, appear to be threatened by the reality of masculinity.

Get a grip chicks, if you are really okay with who and what you are, men are not a threat, but a gift, not competition, but complementary. If your “feminine power” must be derived from the destruction of the epic event of God’s creation, you are pathetic already and men have nothing to do with that failure, you own it.

I’m not even going to waste breath here encouraging men to not allow women to define their masculinity. He who does that is already beyond my poor advice.

All ages, sizes, colors, and other assorted variations. You were different from the moment of conception, and thank God for that. As a child you were faster, stronger, dirtier, and louder. You were often fearless while I stood beside you weighing the odds and assessing the situation. You climbed the tree while I looked for the ladder. You snuck out with the family car while I was cajoling dad for the keys.

In my day, back in the Dark Ages, as we grew into teens and young men and women, some of you actually appreciated my femininity and rewarded me with attention and admiration. Many of you were kind enough to open doors for me, walk alongside the curb beside me, and lift heavy objects before I tried to. You paid the bill for our dates, and if you ever wanted another one, you walked me to the door.

Because God is good, and loving, and gives us abundant graces and good things, in the early days of my womanhood, I fell in love with this wondrous creature God made from dust and clay. That right there ought to be a hint to us, man from dirt, earthy, strong, fundamental. But, I digress.

I married a man. A for real and not apologizing for it man. He has muscles and strength and brawn and intelligence and toughness, a toughness that nothing in this world has ever even come close to breaking. Not even a little crack. Not once in all our years (47 Monday) has he ever even paused in the face of terrible trials and hardships. Now, I know him. I know that he isn’t a robot and he isn’t superman. Sure he’s had doubts, fears, and moments of desperation.

He never once, not one time, not ever, considered giving in to them. On his shoulders landed the burdens that would have crushed me and our family without him. God alone knows the weight he bore. His faith was apparent and he led our family to church, led us in faith and worship. The kind that isn’t really so much talked about as lived.

So today, as we honor fathers, I just wanted to throw out a little appreciation for men. I pray that as the world turns and we learn from our mistakes, someday it is popular and honored for men to be men again. Soldiers, sailors, welders, business men, salesmen, teachers, pipefitters, mechanics, electricians, truck drivers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, preachers, rabbis, priests. Fathers, husbands, sons.

Thank you, God, for making men. Thank you for making them in your image. Thank you for all the wonderful men you gifted us with, especially your Son. Thank you for fathers who tirelessly protect and defend families, and not just their own. We pray that you sustain them each day and reward the fruits of their labor with strong families fit to handle the terrible troubles we face.

Happy Father’s Day guys, from the Treehouse to all of you.

US Voters Want Economic Growth over Equality


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jun 7, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Inflation has hurt everyone. It is no surprise that a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports indicates that US voters are now prioritizing economic growth of equality. The latest survey found that 64% of voters favor policies that contribute to economic growth, while only 27% said they prioritized economic fairness. In 2019, before the last election, only 50% of respondents to the same poll believed that growth mattered more than equality.

Voters have not indicated that they would prioritize economic growth so strongly since 2013, when the US was emerging from the Great Recession. The US economy was strong under Trump; inflation was low, the market was high, and unemployment was low. The coronavirus turned the entire world upside down, and it seems that many associated that economic downturn with the Trump Administration rather than lockdowns. Biden ran on the Build Back Better platform filled with empty promises of free handouts. He prolonged lockdowns, artificially lowering employment data, and then claimed his administration created jobs once the lockdowns were lifted.

The mask has fallen, and Americans are realizing that their quality of life is steeply declining due to the cost of living. Biden and Harris discuss transexuals more than the economy and have only exacerbated the problems we face by opening our borders and sending a blank check to Ukraine. Fairness sounded nice on paper, but then Biden began robbing the middle class through taxation, and the people realized that Build Back Better was merely a trojan horse for socialism. The majority wants America to be a strong capitalistic nation again.

Pentecost, The Birth of the Church


Posted originally on the CTH on May 28, 2023 | Menagerie | 10 Comments


Reading I

Acts 2:1-11

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
“Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God.”

Gospel

Jn 20:19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the Apostles all the gifts they needed to go out and preach the Gospel to the world. Ultimately, all of them except John would die as martyrs.

Pentecost occurs 50 days after Easter Sunday, ten days after the Ascension. Mary and the Apostles prayed together continuously after the Ascension, and this is where we Catholics get our tradition of the novena, nine days of dedicated prayer.

Once, when I was struggling with an especially difficult spiritual battle, a wise priest reminded  me to call upon the Spirit when I prayed, to guide me and help me, but also to deliver my prayers perfected to God. Those words helped me to see the might, power, love, and completeness of the Advocate, and truly brought home to me all the gifts God makes available to us.

Too often we forget to use them. Those words of wisdom from my priest first brought me through a spiritual roadblock I was stumbling around. Since then, they have enriched everything from my understanding of Bible verses and  sermons to my prayer life. Not to mention temptations and struggles in everyday living.

And still, too often I forget to give to the Spirit my internal, inexpressible groanings.

GOP Hopeful to Challenge 26th Amendment


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted May 12, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Potential GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is proposing to amend the Constitution, which in itself does not fall within party lines. The Constitution is not a suggestion but a standard for life in this nation. The 26th Amendment allows all adults over the age of 18 to vote for their representatives. Ramaswamy believes that only people over the age of 25 should have the right to vote, with a few exceptions.

There is a “long-standing tradition in our country, tying civic duties to the privileges of citizenship,” Vivek stated. On this premise, he proposes allowing adults under 25 to vote if they have served in the military for a minimum of six months or work as first responder as a police officer or firefighter. Others under the age of 25 could take a civics test, similar to the test provided to naturalized citizens if they’d like their voice to be heard. Well, the problem is you then cannot draft them to die in foreign wars with no right to vote. Rome use to have a requirement that you had to be a property owner to even serve in the military. The idea was if you had something to lose, you would defend the country.

Some young students understand politics in greater depth than older generations. The youth may tend to vote blue, but that should not give any GOP candidate permission to silence their voices. These young adults will still be expected to pay taxes and adhere to laws implemented by their government leaders. Yet another reason why it is absurd to tax teens under the age of 18 who have no say in their representation. This policy would open the door to blocking out the votes of other demographics. Should the elderly reapply for voting rights? Should everyone be required to take a civics test? Politicians already have to beg the people to show up on election day.

The young 37-year-old candidate could have appealed to the youth in other ways. I have no problem critiquing candidates on both sides of the aisle since half of them are swimming in the same swamp. Taking away rights and amending the Constitution to tilt the election is a poor proposal.

President Trump Releases Policy Statement on Homelessness, Drug Addicted and Dangerously Deranged


Posted originally on the CTH on April 18, 2023 | Sundance 

President Trump delivers a T47 policy video covering the topic of homelessness, drug addiction and dangerously deranged. [Direct Rumble Link]

For a small fraction of what we spend upon Ukraine, we could take care of every homeless veteran in America. Our veterans are being treated horribly.” ~ President Donald Trump

Current Polling Status According to Morning Consult – Ron DeSantis Heads to DC Looking for Establishment Help


Posted originally on the CTH on April 18, 2023 | Sundance | 317 Comments

Not much change in the last week according to the Morning Consult polling [DATA HERE]:

[Source Link]

The next two weeks are critical for the non-Trump team consisting of Ron DeSantis handlers, multinational corporations, GOPe professional political class, most elements of the RNC and the 2024 spearhead institution of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).  DeSantis handlers have him scheduled in Washington DC today, in an effort to circle the DeceptiCon wagons and fend off the MAGA insurgency.

However, as the DeSantis team call everyone trying to stop MAGA advancements, Florida Rep. Greg Steube became the fifth member of the sunshine state’s 20-member Republican congressional delegation to endorse former President Donald Trump for 2024.  [Details Here]

(Via Politico) – Steube’s endorsement came last night on Newsmax, and while campaign endorsements don’t win elections, they can feed a narrative about who’s up and who’s down. He contended Trump “is the only person that can reverse on Day 1 all these disastrous policies of the Biden administration. … We need to right all the wrongs that happened under this administration.” The southwest Florida representative added that Trump is “widely supported in my district, widely supported in Florida.”

Steube’s decision to endorse happened after reports came out that those in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ orbit reached out to GOP members of Congress last week. That outreach came in the wake of rumblings that several were poised to endorse Trump. Steube’s endorsement also comes on the eve of a DeSantis visit to Washington, D.C., where the likely presidential candidate is doing a meet and greet hosted by several Republicans, including two House members who have endorsed him — Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

When asked about DeSantis, Steube noted that he just got reelected and said he hoped that he would continue “to concentrate” on his job as governor. “I hear from constituents all the time that want him to finish out his term and support President Trump,” Steube said on Newsmax. Steube then even took a bit of a swipe at DeSantis, noting his pending trip to D.C. and South Carolina while the Florida Legislature is in session. “His focus should be in Florida. Floridians want to be focused on Florida. That’s what he signed for his job for reelection to do.” (more)

Wall Street and the Sea Island billionaires backing DeSantis are all-in to stop Trump and the working-class coalition of supporters.   DeSantis has around $500 million in corporate dark money already on the SuperPAC books, and access to another estimated $500 million in the next three months.  That buys a lot of support from the professional political class and the grifting influencers.

Get ready, 2024 is MAGA burning the ships behind us.  This one is for all the marbles. This is not a place where tepid half-measures and gentlemanly pastels will suffice.  Get right with God, put on the armor, absorb the focus of fighting like the third monkey on the ramp to Noah’s ark and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Our ally is anyone who stands beside us, right now. Our enemy is anyone who doesn’t.

The new sons and daughters of the revolution are going to look completely different.  The Green Dragon Tavern may be a church, a picnic table or a tailgate.  Our assembly is not focused on the labels of the assembled.   The mission is the purpose… The fight is wherever it surfaces…. Delicate sensibilities must be dispatched like a feather in a hurricane.

President Trump Delivers Remarks at NRA Convention in Indianapolis – 4:30pm ET Livestream


Posted originally on the CTH on April 14, 2023 | Sundance 

President Trump departs New York today heading to Indianapolis, Indiana, to deliver remarks at the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention.  The speech will be livestreamed via Rumble on both the Trump campaign channel and RSBN.  Anticipated Start time 4:00 to 4:30pm ET, livestream links below.

Trump Campaign Rumble Livestream – RSBN Rumble Livestream Link

President Donald J Trump Speaks at the NRA Annual Meeting, LIVE from Indianapolis. 4/14/23

LIVE: President Trump Delivers Remarks at NRA Annual Meeting


The Trump Doctrine – President Trump Responds to Question About Nordstream Pipeline and Frames the Status of Current Global Threats


Posted originally on the CTH on April 12, 2023 | Sundance 

Tucker Carlson played the full interview excerpt where President Donald Trump answered the question about who blew up the Nordstream pipeline. {Direct Rumble Link}.  Within the answer, President Trump doesn’t want to undermine the Biden administration, yet we know who was responsible.

What you notice again from the totality of President Trump’s responses and worldview is the unique nature of the honesty.   In the most consequential of ways, President Trump was the single most consequential foreign policy president in a generation.   We forget that during Trump’s term in office, the headlines about North and South Korea were not about conflict, but rather about the possibility of unification on the Korean peninsula.

Two large elements played out when Trump was in office.  First, economic security is national security.  Second, “peace is the prize.”  Through both elements the Trump Doctrine was born and the effectiveness, while downplayed and ignored, was unmistakable.  WATCH:

♦President Trump’s foreign policy approach brought North and South Korea together away from the table of conflict.  ♦President Trump’s foreign policy approach brought Serbia and Kosovo together away from the table of conflict.  ♦President Trump’s foreign policy rallied the Gulf Cooperation Council to stop Qatar’s support for Islamic extremists via the Muslim Brotherhood. ♦President Trump’s foreign policy brought Turkey and the Kurdish forces together away from war and conflict.  ♦President Trump’s foreign policy created a ceasefire to stop the bloodshed in Syria.  President Trump mediated a cessation of hostilities between India & Pakistan in the Kashmir region. ♦President Trump’s foreign policy brought Israel and the UAE together… and then Bahrain… and then Sudan in the Abraham Accords.

President Trump executed a clear foreign policy, a unique doctrine of sorts, where national security is achieved by leveraging U.S. economic power. It was a fundamental shift in approaching both allies and adversaries; summarized within the oft repeated phrase: “economic security is national security.”

The Trump Doctrine of using economics to achieve national security objectives was a fundamental paradigm shift.  Modern U.S. history provided no easy reference for the effective outcome.

The nature of the Trump foreign policy doctrine, as it became visible, was to hold manipulative influence agents accountable for regional impact(s); and simultaneously work to stop any corrupted influence from oppressing free expression of national values held by the subservient, dis-empowered, people within the nation being influenced.

There were clear examples of this doctrine at work. When President Trump first visited the Middle East, he confronted the international audience with a message about dealing with extremist influence agents. President Trump simply said: “drive them out.”

Toward that end, as Qatar was identified as a financier of extremist ideology, President Trump placed the goal of confrontation upon the Gulf Cooperation Council, not the U.S.

The U.S. role was clearly outlined as supporting the confrontation. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates needed to confront the toxic regional influence; the U.S. would support their objective. That’s what happened.

Another example: To confront the extremism creating the turmoil in Afghanistan, President Trump placed the burden of bringing the Taliban to the table of governance upon primary influence agent Pakistan.

Here again, with U.S. support. Pakistan was the leading influence agent over the Taliban in Afghanistan; the Trump administration correctly established the responsibility and gave clear expectations for U.S. support.

If Pakistan doesn’t change their influence objective toward a more constructive alignment with a nationally representative Afghanistan government, it was Pakistan who will be held accountable.

Again, the correct and effective appropriation of responsibility upon the influence agent who can initiate the solution, Pakistan.

The process of accurate regional assignment of influence comes with disconcerting sunlight. Often these influences are not discussed openly. However, for President Trump the lack of honesty is only a crutch to continue enabling poor actors. This is a consistent theme throughout all of President Trump’s foreign policy engagements.

The European Union is a collective co-dependent enabler to the corrupt influences of Iran. Therefore, the assignment of responsibility to change the status was placed upon the EU.

The U.S. would fully support the EU effort, but as seen in the withdrawal from the Iran Deal, President Trump would not enable growth of toxic behavior. The U.S. stands with the people of Iran, but the U.S. will not support the enabling of Iranian oppression, terrorism and/or dangerous military expansion that will ultimately destabilize the region.

President Trump made the policy clear, then held the EU accountable for helping to influence change. Again, we saw the Trump Doctrine at work.

Perhaps the most obvious application of the Trump Doctrine was found in how the U.S. administration approached the challenging behavior of North Korea. Rather than continuing a decades-long policy of ignoring the influence of China, President Trump directly assigned primary responsibility for a DPRK reset to Beijing.

China held, and holds, all influence upon North Korea and has long treated the DPRK as a proxy province to do the bidding of Beijing’s communist old guard.

By directly confronting the influence agent and admitting openly for the world to see (albeit with jaw-dropping tactical sanction diplomacy) President Trump positioned the U.S. to support a peace objective on the entire Korean peninsula and simultaneously forced China to openly display their closely guarded influence.

While the Red Dragon -vs- Panda influence dynamic was quietly playing out in the background, the benefit of this new and strategic approach brought the possibility of peace between the two Koreas’ closer than ever in history.

No longer was it outlandish to think of North Korea joining with the rest of the world in achieving a better quality of life for its people.

Not only was President Trump openly sharing a willingness to engage in a new and dynamic future for North Korea, but his approach is removing the toxic influences that have held down the possibility for generations.

By leveraging China (through economics) to stop manipulating North Korea, President Trump was opening a door of possibilities for the North Korean people. This is what I meant when I said Trump was providing North Korea with an opportunity to create an authentic version of itself.

What ultimately came from the opportunity President Trump constructed was lost in the 2020 U.S. election outcome.  However, the opportunity itself was stunning progress creating a reasonable pathway to prosperity for the North Korean people.

Chairman Kim Jong-un had the opportunity to be the most trans-formative leader within Asia in generations; but it was always only an ‘opportunity’ that could exist if President Trump remained in place to provide it.

Whether Kim Jong-un could embrace openness, free markets and prosperity was never seen. But we saw the opportunity that was nonexistent without Trump’s guiding hand to create it.

♦The commonality in those foreign policy engagements was the strategic placement of responsibility upon the primary influence agent; and a clear understanding upon those nation(s) of influence, that all forward efforts must ultimately provide positive results for people impacted who lack the ability to create positive influence themselves.

One of the reasons President Trump was able to take this approach was specifically because he was beholden to no outside influence himself.

It is only from the position of complete independence that accurate assignments based on the underlying truth can be made; and that took us to the ultimate confrontations – the trillion-dollar confrontations.

A U.S. foreign policy that provides the opportunity for fully realized national authenticity was a paradigm shift amid a world that had grown accustomed to corrupt globalists, bankers and financial elites who have established a business model by dictating terms to national leaders they control and influence.

We had/have our own frame of reference with K-Street lobbyists in Washington DC. Much of President Trump’s global trade reset was based on confronting these multinational influence agents.

When you take the influence of corporate/financial brokers out of foreign policy, all of a sudden, those global influence peddlers are worthless. Absent of their ability to provide any benefit, nations no longer purchase these brokered services.

As soon as influence brokers are dispatched, national politicians become accountable to the voices of their citizens. When representing the voices of citizens becomes the primary political driver of national policy, the authentic image of the nation is allowed to surface.

In western, or what we would call ‘more democratized systems of government‘, the consequence of removing multinational corporate and financial influence peddlers presents two options for the governing authority occupying political office:

♦ One option was to refuse to allow the authentic voice of a nationalist citizenry to rise. Essentially to commit to a retention of the status quo; an elitist view; a globalist perspective. This requires shifting to a more openly authoritarian system of government within both the economic and social spheres. Those who control the reins of power refuse to acquiesce to a changed landscape.

♦The second option is to allow the authentic and organic rise of nationalism. To accept the voices of the middle-class majority; to structure the economic and social landscape in a manner that allows the underlying identity to surface naturally.

Fortunately, we are living in a time of great history, and we had multiple examples surfacing around the world.  Prior national elections in Poland, Hungary, Italy, Brazil and right here in the U.S. via Donald Trump highlighted responses to dysfunctional multiculturalism and financial influences from corrupt elites within the institutions of globalist advocacy: The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Two specific reference points played out in real time.  One was the U.K. and voices of the British people who voted to Brexit the European Union.  The second was Mexico, and the July 1st, 2018, election of Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (aka AMLO), a nationalist.

In the U.K. we saw the government turning more authoritarian and distancing itself from the voices of the majority who chose to rebuke the collective association of the EU. Initially, the U.K. government took a harsher approach toward suppressing opposition, and as a consequence oppressing free speech and civil liberties. [Insert the example of Tommy Robinson here – there are many others.]

This did not come as a surprise to those who follow the arc of history when the collective global elite are challenged or rejected. Globalism can only thrive amid a class structure where the elites, though few in number, have more controlling power over the direction of government.

It is not accidental the EU has appointed officials and unelected bureaucrats in Brussels as the primary decision-making authority.  By its very nature the EU collective requires a central planning authority who can act independent of the underlying national voices.

As the Trump Doctrine clashed with the European global elite, the withdrawal of the U.S. financial underwriting created a natural problem. Subsidies are needed to retain multiculturalism.  If a national citizenry has to pay for the indulgent decisions of the influence class, a crisis becomes only a matter of time.

Wealth distribution requires a host.

Since the end of World War II, the U.S. had been a bottomless treasury for EU subsidy. The payments have been direct and indirect. The indirect have been via U.S. military bases providing security, the NATO alliance, and also by U.S. trade policy permitting one-way tariff systems. Both forms of indirect payment were being reversed as part of the modern Trump Doctrine.

Similarly, in Mexico the Trump Doctrine extended toward changed trade policies, this time via NAFTA.

The restructuring of NAFTA into the USMCA disfavors multinational corporations and financial holdings who have exploited structural loopholes that were designed into the original agreement.

With President Trump confronting the NAFTA fatal flaw, and absent of the ability of corporations to influence the direction of the administration, the trade deal ultimately presented the same outcome for Mexico as it does the EU – LESS DOLLARS.

However, in Mexico, the larger systems of government were not as strongly structured to withstand the withdrawal of billions of U.S. dollars. The government of Mexico is not in the same position as the EU and cannot double-down on more oppressive controls. Therefore, the authentic voice of the Mexican people was more likely to rise.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is a nationalist, but he is not a free-market capitalist. AMLO is more akin to soft-socialist approach with a view that when the central governing authority is constrained, and operates in the best interests of its citizens, equity can be achieved.

The fabric of socialism runs naturally through the DNA strain of Mexico, and indeed much of South America. This is one of the reasons why previous Mexican governments were so corrupt. Multinational corporations always find it easier to exploit socialist minded government officials.

When bribery and graft are the natural way of business engagement, the multinationals will exploit every opportunity to maximize profit. Withdraw the benefit (loophole exploitation) to the financial systems, and the bribery and graft dries up quickly. A bottom-up nationalist like AMLO, is the ultimate beneficiary.

The authentic-sense of the Mexican people rises in the persona of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador – who actually does personify the underlying nature of the classic Mexican class-struggle.

Thus, we saw two similar yet distinct outcomes of the Trump Doctrine. Within a highly structured U.K. parliamentary government the leadership becomes more authoritarian and rebukes the electorate; and in Mexico a less structured government becomes more nationalist, more prideful, and embraces the underlying nature of the electorate.

It is not accidental the historic nature of the U.K. is a monarchy (top down), and the historic nature of Mexico is populist (bottom up). Revolution notwithstanding, both countries responded to the Trump doctrine by returning to their roots.

REMINDER April, 2018  – SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Moon Jae-in said U.S. President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, a South Korean official said on Monday.

“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to a presidential Blue House official who briefed media.

Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday pledged at a summit to end hostilities between their countries and work toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula.

It is remarkable to contemplate what might have been….

The Harrowing of Hell


Posted originally on the CTH on April 8, 2023 | Menagerie | 67 Comments

From an unknown Russian icon painter

From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday.

What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: ‘My Lord be with you all.’ And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

‘See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.

`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.

“The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages.”

The Angels Hovering Over the Body of Christ in the Sepulcher” (1805)
Medium: pen, ink, and watercolor on paper, 42.0 x 32.4 cm
Artist: William Blake (1757-1827)
Location: The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

h/t Lucille at Stella’s Place

President Trump Shares New 2024 Campaign Video Against Backdrop of Malicious Legal Persecution


Posted originally on the CTH on April 6, 2023 | Sundance

President Trump shared a new 1-minute campaign style video via Truth Social.  “We have to take back our Country and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Part of the video shows President Trump walking through the street in Manhattan just before reaching the courthouse. A pretty intense ‘the boss is pissed‘ look upon his face. Direct Rumble Link HERE – WATCH: