MEDIA SILENT AS TRUMP TRIUMPHS AT UN SUMMITS

     President Trump visited the United Nations today, and had an extremely profitable day for the American people. The first stop was hosting a summit with representatives of 31 nations to work out global strategies for suppressing the international narcotics trade. 

     The Summit was in response to the President's Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem, issued last month. Although the proposal was then ridiculed by the Corporate Media and Hollywood nitwits, Trump's initiative was well received by the world leaders in attendance. The ultimate goal is to set up a law enforcement infrastructure on an international scale similar to the model that Jeff Sessions has employed so successfully here on a domestic level. 

     "The call is simple," the President said, "Reduce drug demand, cut off the supply of illicit drugs, expand treatment, and strengthen international cooperation. If we work together, we can save the lives of countless people in all corners of the world. And when I say 'countless', I mean millions of people."

    Trump was roundly applauded, and the President of Colombia was among the first to announce his country's participation in the program.

     Trump wasn't finished though. After a working lunch with Mike Pompeo and John Bolton; the President met in a long conference with South Korean President Moon. The result of which was the signing of the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement. The new agreement---really monumental in its implications---was aimed at reducing the US/ROK trade deficit. South Korea agreed to lift trade restrictions on American automobiles, a variety of agricultural products, and medical supplies. Automobile exports to South Korea alone will double next year. "We are now going to be sending products to Korea for a change." Trump quipped. The President also announced that another meeting with North Korea would be announced soon. 

     To all of this positive news, the first question asked by an American reporter at the Joint Press Conference was: "Do you have any response to allegations made against Brett Kavanaugh?" Sigh. What can you say? The American Media is an international embarrassment. 

     Tomorrow, Trump is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Sisi. Trade and anti-terrorism are preliminary items on the agenda. 

      
      

DEATH TOLL IN IRAN TERROR ATTACK RISES

    Friday was a holiday in Iran, much like Veterans' Day in the US. Every city and town was holding ceremonies, parades, and celebrations honoring those who served, and those who lost their lives, during the 1980s Iran-Iraq War. In the town of Ahvaz, however, these festivities ended in tragedy after four men opened fire on the crowd; indiscriminately gunning down everyone in their path. 

     The police reacted bravely; but by the time the attackers were subdued, 16 people were killed and around 60 critically injured. 8 more of the injured have since died from their wounds. 

       It appears that the gunmen were disguised in IRGC uniforms, and had hidden their weapons along the parade route. Preliminary indications are that a Wahhabi/Salafist terror group called Al-Ahvazyah was responsible for this dastardly crime. The terror group is largely comprised of Arab refugees (like the ones in the US and Europe) and are funded by Saudi and other Gulf State regimes. 

      Around the world, countries have condemned the attack. President Putin was among the first to reach out and offer assistance, followed shortly by the Pakistani Government. Supreme Ayatollah Said Ali Khamenei issued this statement to the people:

"In the Name of God, the Exalted:

    "The tragic and heartrending incident of the martyrdom of a group of our dear people in Ahvaz at the hands of the mercenary terrorists has once again exposed the atrocity and viciousness of the enemies of the Iranian nation. These hardhearted mercenaries who open fire on innocent women, children and men are the dependents of the same bogus and duplicitous advocates of human rights. Their spiteful hearts cannot bear to see the manifestation of national sovereignty during Armed Forces parade. Their crime is a continuation of the conspiracies by the US-backed regimes in the region which have aimed at creating insecurity in our dear country. However, to their dismay, the Iranian nation will persist on the noble and prideful path they have taken and will—like before—overcome all animosities.

    "I hereby express my solidarity and sympathy with the families of these dear martyrs and I ask God for patience and divine calm for them as well as the elevation of the heavenly ranks of the martyrs. The intelligence sectors must swiftly and meticulously track and prosecute the purveyors of these criminals and hand them in to the powerful judiciary." 

     And sadly, the Ayatollah has a point. The US has, for the last several decades, winked and looked the other way at the extremism perpetrated by the Saudi Regime and its satellites the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain. All of these countries are State Sponsors of Terrorism; yet the US acts in complete servility to them. Meanwhile, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and the Houthi Freedom-Fighters in Yemen are treated as international pariahs. All four of those entities have done more to fight radical Islamic terrorism than all of the Western Powers combined.

     American subservience to the Wahhabi-run Gulf States is so pronounced that the blatant involvement of these countries in the 9/11 Attacks has gone ignored and unpunished. Yes, we did overthrow them in Afghanistan; but we took no action whatsoever against the regimes upholding and funding the Taliban. Saudi Arabia was the only country not bordering Taliban-era Afghanistan which officially recognized its government.

     The reason for this is because Saudi Arabia and its confederates have an economic choke-hold on the denizens of the Deep State. The Wahhabi Gulf States have massive holdings of American Media stocks as well as stocks in the corporations advertising with them. These governments also pour lobbying cash into the hands of the Swamp RINOs who advise Trump on foreign policy. Iran, meanwhile, is prohibited from investing in the United States.

    The DNC gangsters also bow and scrape before the Wahhabi Sheikhs. It's well-known that the Arabian Peninsula is one of the world's largest hub for trafficking in narcotics, white slavery, and weapons. We saw from the Fat Leonard Scandal that US officials were involved in such traffic. Iran, in contrast, is the world leader in combating these criminal activities, and has been for the last nine years. 

   

     The Reagan Administration's policy of isolating Iran and reinstating the Shah made geopolitical sense during the 1980s. Iran's government was unstable and in real danger of falling to a Communist or Soviet-backed group. This would have extended Soviet hegemony in Western Asia from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River. It would have been a threat to the oil-rich Gulf States as well as US allies, Israel and Turkey. At the time, this was a far greater threat to world peace than the still-nascent danger of the Wahhabi and Salafist Cults. 

     The consequences of following the same policy today are graphically seen in the photos of the Ahvaz attack. Today, international crooks and cultish fanatics are the threat. The Trump Administration needs to accept this fact and change our policies accordingly, as President Putin has done. 

  

      

BLOGGER 'ZIPPY CATHOLIC' PASSES AWAY

     Sadly, there's been another death in the family (metaphorically speaking). A long-time blogger who went under the name of Zippy Catholic was killed in a cycling accident earlier this week. This news came to us via Zippy's colleague, blogger Mark Shea. It's unknown how old he was, but he left a wife and three children.

     Zippy was linked here on our blogroll since we began in 2016. His posts were typically pithy and to the point. It was in the comments and discussions sections that the debates really went on. Zippy was a Catholic layman and, by his own admission, wasn't a formal scholar. Many of his views were controversial and he was somewhat given to neologisms and inductivism. Nonetheless, his views always squared with Catholic teachings as he understood them. He was one of the few bloggers who would call out fake Conservatives and Alt-RINOs. And one thing I always admired about him: he'd stand up for his beliefs without apology.

     Shea also notes that Zippy was a pilot. It's a shame that we know so little of his aviation and other adventures aren't better known, because I'm certain there were a lot of them.

     Somewhat off-topic, but reading the comments at Shea's site was an exercise in patience. A few Left-Wing trolls have infiltrated the discussion; and their hateful statements under such circumstances are utterly revolting. I'm certain that if Zippy were with us, he'd remind us all that such persons represent exactly what we're fighting against. 

       

DALROCK'S CULTISH CONUNDRUM

     Blogger Dalrock---one of the shamans of the Manosphere's 'Game' ideology---encountered recently a problem that cult leaders occasionally face. A new reader of his site, who's apparently sympathetic to the Red Pill but hasn't been sufficiently brainwashed and thus still retains a shred of Reason, asked a good question:

     "I’ve read many of your archived articles, I struggle to understand your actual positions on issues. Because you’re so skilled with pointing out the various errors you see in modern Christian perspectives (such as the errors with complementarianism, courtly love, etc.) I think I understand your alternatives, but I’m never quite sure. In short, you frequently oppose a position but I can rarely figure out what your actual position is. I’m interested in the positive principles and positions that you teach your children."

     Questions like these put hypocrites like Dalrock in a most uncomfortable position. Answering a question like this honestly exposes the weakness of Dalrock's theories; while answering it in too much detail could start a dangerous process of thinking among his disciples. So Dalrock prudently slithers out of it by recommending his recruit to e-mail him for some one-on-one mentoring.

     Nonetheless, Dalrock has to say something lest he appears less than omniscient. So he states:

    "This isn’t a simple question to answer because the Bible and/or the church (if Orthodox or RCC) doesn’t always offer specific scripts we should follow on (for one example) how Christians should court for marriage.  We know that fornication is prohibited, and that if a person burns with passion they should marry and not deny each other sex...

    "Other times the Bible is quite clear on what we should do (for example headship and submission), but because of the corruption we are repulsed by what it clearly tells us we should do.  Either way, the crucial first step is to recognize the corruption both in general and in specific, and root out the specific false teachings we have unknowingly adopted.  As we do this, the specific expressions of non cucked Christianity will vary, but this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bother working to root out the corruption in the first place."

     The first paragraph is factually wrong: we're taught that we are to court those out of mutual love for one another and a shared love of a mutual faith. We become "one flesh" for creating a family to glorify God. Thus marriage is not about 'burning with passion' and forcing each other to have sex. Dalrock's idea of marriage is a strictly carnal and sensual understanding of marriage's purpose. 

      But the second paragraph is where we really come to the heart of the matter. Identifying his own ideology with actual Biblical teachings, he claims that 'corruption' is whatever opposes it. The first and most important thing (to him) is 'to recognize the corruption'. This is obviously cultish. He's basically saying that whatever Church teachings conflict with his Game/Red Pill-based theology should be dismissed categorically as corruption; while whatever Game/Red Pill promotes should be accepted as theologically sound---however much it might conflict with the Church. Why is this so? 

      The short answer is that there's no reason whatsoever why it should be so. The 'corruption' of which Dalrock speaks is a product of his own imagination. The original question posed by his potential convert exposes that fact clearly. As Cardinal Newman once pointed out about cults: those who propose that the Church is in apostasy should explain when this apostasy started. 

      However, this is no issue for these innovators. Dalrock's toady Rollo Tomassi asserts that the Holy Spirit Himself has departed the Church and been replaced by 'The Feminine Imperative." Which imperative, of course, is a figment of Tomassi's own imagination. Christ taught that the Holy Spirit would never leave the Church; and nothing in the Catechism nor any traditional Protestant Articles ever renounced Him in favor of some neo-Wiccan phantasm. 

       The best option, as always, is to trust in Christ and avoid the charlatans. 

  

THE OBSERVATORY SAGA CONTINUES

    Just two articles back, we wrote of the mysterious closure at the Sunspot Solar Observatory in Otero County, New Mexico. Without explanation, the FBI and various government agencies seized the facility and the local post office. Yesterday, both were reopened. The FBI has not issued a statement, but AURA, the organization managing the observatory said the following: 

  "On September 6th, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) made the decision to temporarily vacate the Sunspot Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico as a precautionary measure while addressing a security issue. The facility closed down in an orderly fashion and is now re-opening. The residents that vacated their homes will be returning to the site, and all employees will return to work this week. 

   "AURA has been cooperating with an on-going law enforcement investigation of criminal activity that occurred at Sacramento Peak. During this time, we became concerned that a suspect in the investigation potentially posed a threat to the safety of local staff and residents. For this reason, AURA temporarily vacated the facility and ceased science activities at this location. 

    "The decision to vacate was based on the logistical challenges associated with protecting personnel at such a remote location, and the need for expeditious response to the potential threat. AURA determined that moving the small number of on-site staff and residents off the mountain was the most prudent and effective action to ensure their safety. 

    "In light of recent developments in the investigation, we have determined there is no risk to staff, and Sunspot Solar Observatory is transitioning back to regular operations as of September 17th. Given the significant amount of publicity the temporary closure has generated, and the consequent expectation of an unusual number of visitors to the site, we are temporarily engaging a security service while the facility returns to a normal working environment. 

    "We recognize that the lack of communications while the facility was vacated was concerning and frustrating for some. However, our desire to provide additional information had to be balanced against the risk that, if spread at the time, the news would alert the suspect and impede the law enforcement investigation. That was a risk we could not take." 

      While we haven't gone as far as many on the Web in declaring a cover-up; we can't agree with many of the scientific and 'debunking'-type sites who claim that the whole thing was blown out of proportion. That is because AURA's statement is a completely unsatisfactory explanation of what transpired; and it leaves many questions unanswered. 

  1. AURA claims that they notified the FBI of a security threat and criminal activity. Why didn't they notify the Otero County Sheriff first? Jeff Sessions has set up a new system whereby local authorities and federal co-ordinate activities. Yet, to this date, nobody has informed the local Sheriff of anything.

   2. Relative to the last point: who sees suspicious activity and immediately thinks of calling the FBI? And when that does happen, how typically does the FBI respond by sending in a task force on somebody's say-so? It would be more reasonable to assume that if the FBI thought it credible, they'd ask the Sheriff to check it out and see if it was legitimate first.

    3. Regardless of who called the FBI, AURA has no authority to close down a post office. Post Office closures didn't even happen during the Unabomber attacks or during the 2001 Anthrax attacks. And what relationship did the Post Office have to the Observatory anyway?

    4. AURA makes the absurd claim that a public explanation would have alerted suspects and compromised the investigation---as if the presence of federal agents and attack helicopters would go unnoticed by the perpetrators. 

    5. If the crisis has now passed beyond the danger point, why not tell us what it involved?

   And, as we asked in our last article: Is the timing of this incident and the 9/11 Anniversary in any way related? This lack of transparency and co-ordination with local officials is highly uncharacteristic of the Trump Administration and the Sessions DOJ. Sessions announces routinely the smashing of narcotics rings and other dangerous organizations in great detail. He often gives these press conferences with local police who participated present and describes how the suspects were caught. The Administration's behavior here is very anomalous for how they normally conduct things. 

    Given the Sessions DOJ's track-record, we're still inclined here to give the Administration the benefit of the doubt. But we are owed an explanation of some kind from the Government---which is a little more specific and credible than what we just heard from AURA. We sympathize too with Otero County Sheriff Benny House's resentment. He is the top jurisdictional authority here and should be advised. That's not simply out of courtesy, that's a legal obligation of Federal agencies operating within his county. One of the main criticisms of the previous three Administrations was their habit of interjecting Federal officials into a given area and brushing aside local law enforcement as though they were irrelevant. 

      This story is far from over with. At the very least, something more than an ordinary crime was suspected. Trump and Sessions owe it to Americans to give us an explanation. 

KATHY GRIFFIN: COMEDIAN OF THE YEAR

     The Palm Springs Comedy Festival has decided to self-destruct in its inaugural year by awarding disgraced 'comedienne' Kathy Griffin with its first annual award. 

   Griffin's career is noted for three major events:

1. Working infomercials for toilet seats;

2. Posing with a disgusting image of a guillotined President Trump. She was fired for doing this while the media moguls who publicized the photo made millions off the publicity.

3. Retracting her apology for #2 and then shaving her head. 

   

    Paul Cruz, the Festival's director said, "It was a no-brainer to honor Kathy Griffin," without realizing the irony in such a statement. 

    In fairness to Cruz, however, consider that Griffin's competitors are people like Stephen Colbert, Sarah Silverman, and Jim Carrey.  It can't be that difficult to rise above a crowd like that. Most of what passes for comedy today is actually less funny and more offensive than what we used to laugh at as 10-year old boys in the locker-room. 

     Once upon a time, Americans were noted for their sense of humor. At some point, comedy became politicized. It's to the point now where comedians score off the anger and repressed rage of an audience. Just throw out some vulgar insults against Trump, the Church, Putin, or heterosexuals and a drug-addled audience rolls on the floor with laughter. Traditional comedy---where we laugh at ourselves as a people---is considered hateful or bigoted. It's almost today as if people need permission to laugh. 

      Fortunately Hollywood is becoming so irrelevant that events like the Palm Springs Comedy Festival are nothing but echo-chambers within the media itself. The Internet has given us Youtube and similar sites where we access vintage comedy, foreign shows, and even a few talented modern innovators. We can ignore chumps like Kathy Griffin and Paul Cruz there, and have a good time doing it besides.   

FBI SEIZES NEW MEXICO OBSERVATORY

    There's been a strange story unfolding in the little village of Sunspot, New Mexico. Sunspot is home to a large national astronomical observatory, located in the remote Sacramento Mountains in Otero County. The facility is, I believe, owned by an NGO though subsidized and regulated by various government agencies; and has some connection with New Mexico State University.

    So last week, the owners of the observatory ordered the building evacuated and closed indefinitely because of an unspecified security issue. Soon, the area was taken over by FBI agents---accompanied by helicopter gunships. Otero County Sheriff Benny House was not notified in advance, and FBI agents have not coordinated with him. Neither the FBI nor AURA (the company owning the observatory) will respond to media questions; and on Friday, the Postal Inspection Service seized and closed Sunspot's post office. 

    A few citizen-activists have shown up and been shooed away by heavily-armed guards. The Internet, and to some extent even the Mainstream Media---is buzzing with theories of all sorts. Naturally, Ufologists speculate an extraterrestrial contact of some kind. We tend to doubt it so; if alien life were making contact it wouldn't make logical sense to evacuate the observatory. Astronomers and astrophysicists would be the very kind of experts the FBI would need. Besides, the CIA, NORAD, or DHS/NSA would be in charge since the FBI is essentially a domestic police force. 

    Interesting that this should happen just as there have been some good discussions on government transparency recently on various blogs. The lack of transparency in this case is disturbing. It's actually quite uncharacteristic of the Trump Administration which has been noteworthy for coordinating federal operations with local authorities. That fact hasn't escaped the notice of Sheriff House, who's been doing considerable protesting to the local press. 

     The problem in a case like this is that we haven't all the facts. But someone who does have them has decided it best not to reveal them for now. Despite the outward appearances here, the FBI is being partially transparent. They're not hiding the fact that they're there and doing something. In a dictatorial police-state, we wouldn't know that they were there at all let alone why. 

     Generally we don't engage in speculation here. But unless this action is some kind of elaborate training exercise, the situation is likely more serious than anyone is letting on. It can't be overlooked that this incident coincides with the 9/11 Anniversary. Some may wonder what kind of terrorist attack would involve a remote observatory. If, for example, they were planning an attack involving a satellite in some way, an observatory might have the equipment to carry it out. 

     That's only a guess, though, just like all the others floating around. The only reason that we can see for the secrecy is that the FBI fears compromising an investigation. At any rate, it's probably best in circumstances like these "to trust but verify." In other words, keep an eye on the situation. Public vigilance is just as important as government transparency.