Tag: donald trump

No Kings!! Second Verse, Same as the First.

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

The first verse in this chorus can be seen here. Below is the second.

Today, 3/28/2026, was “No Kings” day in Missoula, in conjunction with multiple like events all over the country. I attended the local protest along with a few of my friends and had a relatively good time, talking with passers-by, none of whom could be bothered to get into in-depth conversations, and would-be politicians, all of whom were making a show of concern, letting the public know that they were, of course, not Donald Trump. I would estimate the crowd as numbering at least 5, 000, but there may have been twice that many there. Good turnout, but then this is a deep blue city in a red state, so I’m not really surprised at the size of the crowd.

I tried to get a video of the participants as they paraded past, chanting their slogans and holding their signs, all of which were designed to show opposition to Trump. Unfortunately, my phone shut down in the middle of the take and I lost everything, so I can’t give you that. What I can show you are the signs I had printed up specifically for this occasion, which got a fairly decent reception, a lot of thumbs up, and head nods.

The main problem I have with people like these is that they are inconsistent with their professed creed–No Kings! What they are really saying is that we don’t want Donald Trump to be the king. The whole shebang, nationwide, was not a protest against rulers in high places but a massive show of TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome. I think it is a fairly safe bet that if Kamala Harris had won the Oval Office in 2024, there would not be anything of this nature cropping up, at least not from the left side of the bed. The fact of the matter is that most, probably an extremely large percentage of the crowd, would be considered leftists, progressives, and liberal. In other words, Democrats, who would be completely happy to serve a king (or a queen), as long as he (or she) had no connection to Trump. It’s not that they don’t want a king, they just want one they agree with.

Caitlin Johnstone recently wrote about this phenomenon and, while I disagree with quite a lot of her political philosophy, she was dead on the mark here.

Trump is not some freakish aberration; he is the product of the same American political status quo as his predecessors. He became president the same way they did, and the powers he now wields were given to his office via mundane executive, legislative and judicial decisions and precedents before he was ever elected.

But because the “No Kings” protests are organized by liberal defenders of that same political status quo, the demonstrations cannot address any of this. The whole thing is designed to be as large and inclusive as possible while also ensuring that it doesn’t disrupt the established order in any meaningful way. They make no real demands. They coordinate the demonstrations with police and government officials. Protesters show up for a few hours with their brunch signs and their orange guy shirts, and then they go home without inconveniencing anybody.

They are not protesting against the US empire. They just want a more polite, photogenic empire.

For a couple years during the Covid years (2021-2022), a small number of us spent a lot of Saturday afternoons on the streets and sidewalks of Missoula demonstrating against the “regime” of the time. It is quite probable that many of the people who were protesting “NO KINGS!” today hated us, flipped us off, shouted obscene remarks, etc., and refused to treat us decently because we were proclaiming a different message than what they wanted. It is not far-fetched to believe that, if they had had the control of the state then, we might have spent more than a few days in the county jail, yet here they are telling anyone who will listen that they don’t want to be ruled…by anyone. Especially Trump. And, to further make the connection, there was then virtually no unified, significant outcry over the Covid thing, in the same way that there is no real protest over the Iran war. As long as Covid and its ramifications didn’t touch daily lives, people ignored it, and, until the war “collateral damage” starts hitting close to home, people will ignore it.

I can’t be bothered, let the king handle it.

This is not a question of “kings vs. no kings”. It is a question of which king or whose king. A question of who will be king. Kings speak of authority and the concept of authority is inescapable. There will always be an authority figure, always someone who will exercise authority over others. Whether they are called kings or presidents (as Johnstone points out) is irrelevant. You could call them Smokey the Bear or the Grand Ayatollah and it wouldn’t matter. Persons in positions of power, from parents of children to leaders of great nations, have authority and they use it to advance and further their agenda. Unfortunately, sometimes this authority is used to harm those who are subject to it and, in this, even parents of young children are not exempt, because they can (and do) abuse it to the detriment of their children who are unable to defend themselves. The greatest abuse of this power is, in my opinion, that “freedom” known as a woman’s right to choose, a.k.a., abortion, in which an unborn human being is destroyed forever simply because she decided to kill it. Authority, but perverted and lethal.

The slogan I presented, “No law but love, no kings but Christ”, is a paraphrase on the popular saying from fifty or so years ago, “No law but love, no creed but Christ”, which, like every other popular fad and fashion flared for a little while, then died away. The principle, however, remains as true today as it was then: If we, as individuals truly lived in the way that Jesus taught, “Love your enemies” and “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”, then there would be no need for a political king to force everyone to subject themselves to his rule. If we were to acknowledge Jesus as our King, which He is, and live according to the truths that He spoke, then we would love our enemies and our neighbors as He loves us. There would be no need for a political king because society would be made up of self-controlled individuals who did no harm to their neighbors. This would be an enormous change from the world of today in which most people are out to get whatever they can for themselves and they are willing to take it from someone else. We operate in a world, based not on love, but selfishness, greed, and hate.

This will go on and on until people quit looking for a savior to impose their desires on the world, but find a Savior who works miracles in the human heart and transforms the sin nature we all possess into one conforming to the Spirit of God. This is not done through political action nor is it done through ritualistic practices of religion, but is accomplished only through a continual surrender to the Spirit and constant repentance of our sinful lifestyles. This, rather than depending on the whims of a “king”, is the only way to freedom and liberty, and, because it requires a radical change from the way we are means that it is usually discarded out of hand.

“…wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” — Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:13

This is the political solution. Choose a leader, make him responsible, and then, when you don’t like him, agitate for a replacement. And it never works. Never.

America’s Moral Obligation to Defend the World and Attack Iran

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

I can remember discussions with my father when I was young and learning to form and assert my own opinions. In one of those, he brought out the argument that America had a responsibility to police the world because the US was the premier power of righteous morality (or something to that effect) and if we didn’t keep things in order, the world would soon end up in a chaotic maelstrom of Communist rule, headquartered in Moscow, Russia. At the time, as I recall, the Viet Nam war (Domino Theory) was still in full swing and, due to his experiences during WW21, it is understandable why he might be of that opinion.

Just the other day, a local chat group I participate in blew up into an intense, mildly rancorous debate because one of the members said that Donald Trump had to attack Iran and the main reason given for the “required” action was that 40, 000 Iranian citizens had been killed in the recent street protests. Needless to say, his viewpoint was severely questioned and the argument raged for some time with no clear resolution of the issue. Given that “Jeff” is a conservative Christian Zionist, it is understandable why he might think that way.

The US had a responsibility to make the world safe. The US had to attack Iran to stop the government there from killing its own citizens. These are nearly identical positions which bespeak that America has some (nebulous, unproven) God-given duty to ensure that the rest of the world behaves itself and to “straighten it out” if necessary, like a young boy facing a whipping for some misbehavior. Fifty years apart, they only prove that deeply held beliefs across a wide spectrum of society take a long time to change.

That line of thinking is dying out in America and it is fairly evident that most of the rest of the world has kicked it to the curb. Today, the US is widely seen, not as a shining knight on a white steed administering justice, liberty, and the American way, but as an overbearing, monstrous, murderous bully, intent only on getting its way, pushing its way into arguments which do not concern it, and beating the living daylights out of small, weak countries. Because, we can. Because, as Donald Trump famously said when asked if there were any limits on his actions as President, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law.” Because, his Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth openly states about the war, “Death and destruction from the sky all day long…This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.” Because, as Michael Ledeen put it twenty some years ago, “Every now and again the United States has to pick up a crappy little country and throw it against a wall just to prove we are serious.”

“I define my own limits.” “Kick them while they’re down.” “Beat up somebody smaller and weaker than you are so others will notice.” These are the attitudes which rule American foreign policy today. Morally righteous behavior has nothing to do with it. God-given authority has nothing to do with it. In fact, the current administration has made it quite clear that it will no longer be held accountable by the standards and norms (internationally accepted) which ruled the interactions between countries. Supposedly ruled, I should say, since strong countries like the US have always forced the issues and never hesitated to use violent force whenever it was deemed “necessary”. From here on out, it’s the Law of the Jungle, and woe betide anyone who gets in the way of the rampaging 800 pound gorilla. Power exercised for the sake of power, and the collateral benefit is that great wealth is gained thereby.

As professing Christians, believers in the gospel of Jesus the Christ, disciples of His teachings, obligated to follow and obey His commands, it should be apparent that waging war by an ungodly State (US) goes against everything we are expected to adhere to, especially when said war is in the “service” of an anti-Christian, atheistic, murderous regime (Israel) which is absolutely opposed to Christian belief and actively persecutes those Christians (along with believers in other religious orders) who live within its jurisdiction. There is nothing Christian at all with the popular policy that “We have to kill them over there, so that we don’t have to kill them over here.”

For those who would disagree with this (and they are legion), I ask this. Where is it written that we MUST employ violent force to destroy anyone who gets in the way of “national interests”? Where is it written that “service” to our country overrides our obligation to the Prince of Peace? Where is it written that we are given the option between the way of the world and the narrow way to life? Where is it written that the US is an exceptional nation simply because we have been blessed materially with a scope of riches and power which history has never seen before? Where is it written that we can, like Donald Trump said, do whatever we want. Where is it written that we will never be called out for our behavior and reap the consequences of our actions?

In the current situation, there is a blatant hypocrisy which causes extreme discomfort and cognitive dissonance in those who refuse to face the truth. Enormous outrage is vented against Iran for killing 40, 0002 people, its own citizens, and action is demanded to impose “justice”. Yet, nary a peep is heard from these same people about the ongoing genocide in Gaza which has demonstrably and visibly slaughtered at least 75, 000 persons, most of them women and children. In addition, nothing is ever mentioned about the “sanctions” imposed on the Palestinians (Iraqis, Cubans, etc.) which have (and will) result in the deaths of many, many more due to lack of food, good water, and adequate health care. In fact, many of those who express anger at the Iranians for their “crimes against humanity” often, at the same time, profess to believe that the State of Israel, as the chosen people of God must be supported, idolized, and excused without restriction or accountability.

The teaching of Jesus simply does not matter in our world and can be relegated and confined to the weekly show known as “church” which passes for holiness today. “Thou shalt not kill” is relative. “Love your enemies” is conditional on how we feel about them. “Do good to those who hate you” means that we do “good” to them, but do it first. Kick them while they’re down.

Where is the concept of sacrifice for others out of a spirit of love, as exemplified by Christ and taught in the New Testament? How can we square the order of the true Commander-in-Chief3 with the way we live according to our own word? When will this change to better conform with what we profess to believe? Why do we continue to hold onto this contradiction and refuse to acknowledge it, except that we, again like Donald Trump, cannot bring ourselves to admit we are wrong and to repent of our sins?

Think about it.

  1. He was stationed on a light cruiser, USS Helena, which was sunk somewhere in the South Pacific. Incidentally, he and all four of his brothers were in active combat operations and all of them came home without serious injury. I take that as a REAL blessing of God. ↩︎
  2. This is an unproven claim which has been broadcast widely by the mainstream news, but is almost certainly inflated from the real number. It has been reported that many of the deaths which occurred, both civilian and law enforcement, were due to random sniper fire at riots which may have been orchestrated by Israeli (Mossad) and US (CIA) intelligence. ↩︎
  3. Not Donald Trump, BTW, who only holds that title as relates to the military. It does not transfer over to civilians. ↩︎

Trump’s War: Escalate or TACO

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

Can Iran actually sink a US aircraft carrier? Well, maybe. Simplicius says no and explains why here. Fifteen minutes of detailed information to make his case. This video, on the other hand, lays out a different viewpoint. An interesting thirteen minutes why we might be finding out soon which theory is correct, and who loses the most.

https://youtu.be/Gr5DMqDPCQk

What really connected with me are the multiple references in the video to the US striking Teheran’s power generation system which would plunge the city of ten million people into darkness for weeks, perhaps months, with many more times the number of deaths due to the outage than from the original strike. Yet, this is exactly what the West has constantly lectured Russia about with respect to Ukraine’s power system, calling the Russian strikes on the grid vicious and barbaric, designed to starve and freeze the civilian population into surrender. We don’t wage war on civilians, do we? Now, we are in the same boat and…crickets.

Why does this matter so greatly? Because Donald Trump is caught between a rock and a hard place1, where every move he makes is going to be wrong. He can’t bomb Teheran’s power grid into “obliteration” without risking the destruction of the USS Gerald R. Ford and the loss of 5000+ personnel. He can’t back down because that will be seen by the Irani leadership and the rest of the world as capitulation to threats. If the carrier is sunk, he would have to choose between all-out war with the potential use of nukes and the risk of Russia and China becoming directly involved or calling off his dogs of war and slinking home with his tail between his legs. Either way, no matter which way, Trump loses. There is no “Art of the Deal” here. It is highly unlikely that he has never been in this position before in his entire life.

Which explains why he appears to be increasingly rattled and unhinged.

Oh, did I mention that he postponed the long-scheduled meeting in China with Xi Jinping for a month? Seems he needs to be in Washington to administer the war, his war, which was originally slated to last for only two days–between the stock market close on Friday and its opening bell the following Monday. Now he’s telling us that it will go on for at least another 30 days.

Hmmmmm. The best laid plans of mice and men…

I’ve given up trying to guess what he’s going to do next. I don’t think anyone knows for sure. Probably he doesn’t. Whatever it is, though, I am sure that it is not going to be good and pleasant for either America or the rest of the world. When I wrote a year ago that Trump was an orange-haired wrecking machine, I was putting it mildly. Today, it’s not looking quite as nice, neat, and tidy and, if I was to rewrite that article, it would have considerably more bite.

  1. His situation is even worse than George W. (Dubya) Bush’s war in the same region, when he was caught between Iraq and a hard place, and the US spent more than a decade trying to figure out how to escape the situation. ↩︎

Wars begin. And they end.

Roger Mitchell1 Comment

Ho hum! Yawn! Another week of killing them over there so we don’t have to kill them over here.

It’s beginning to look like The Man, Mr. Donald J. Trump himself, is desperate and flailing about for any means of extricating the US from this ill-conceived and extremely stupid conflict he got himself into. Reading alternative news sources (not the Major Media Machine) gives me the understanding that the war is not going at all the way it was intended to when Trump and Older Brother Benjamin started it. A quick in-and-done result is long gone and Iran sounds resolute about not stopping until the menace of future attacks is completely obliterated and never to be attempted again.

Never is a very long time.

  • Strait of Hormuz passage subject to Iranian consent, none given to ships with US and/or Israeli ties.
  • Despite very public “begging”, many EU members have refused to join Trump’s “coalition of the willing” to reopen the Strait. Coalition of the Willing, of course, is a throwback to George H.W. Bush’s drive to wreak havoc on Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War.
  • Why have 5000 Marines been ordered into the region? Boots on the ground? But, to effect a successful ground invasion would require multiple times that pitifully small number, perhaps on the order of 500, 000, which the American public will not tolerate without just cause, such as, a mushroom cloud rising over an American city. Shades of the Iraq war in 2003 under Bush’s son, Dubya.
  • US Navy ships pulling back beyond the range of Iran’s missiles for no apparent reason, although rumor has it that one aircraft carrier has been struck.
  • Oil refineries throughout the region burning. Oil prices spiking daily. The world is beginning to feel the effects as evidenced by Denmark’s driving population encouraged to stop driving. Just stop, will you?
  • Trump sounding more and more erratic, not only in speech, but also on his own Truth Social.
  • Scott Bessent summoned abruptly to the Oval Office while in the middle of an interview, returning two hours later appearing very shaken and incoherent. One possible reason why:
  • Rumors flying around that Netanyahu has been killed in the heat of battle. Brought down by a random shot. No official confirmation at this time, but speculation is growing. If this proves to be true, that would be reminiscent of another of Israel’s leaders being taken out in the same manner, but 3500 years or so earlier: Ahab.

Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” The battle increased that day; and the king was propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians, and died at evening. The blood ran out from the wound onto the floor of the chariot. Then, as the sun was going down, a shout went throughout the army, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his own country!” So the king died… (1 Kings 22:34-37a)

History, it is said, does not repeat but rhymes, and it would be ironic (and rhythmic) if the war was ended because Dear Leader Bibi was indeed killed. Which brings us to the quote by Machiavelli seen at the top. Wars start whenever at the discretion of the leaders. They end when they end and usually for reasons unknown, unforeseen, and unanticipated at the initiation of the action.

When the first shot of battle is fired, the plan goes out the window.

Random Thoughts about the World Situation

Roger Mitchell1 Comment

https://www.slow-journalism.com/delayed-gratification-magazine/eight-years-stuck-on-the-suez-canal

Remember the Ever Given? The massive cargo carrier, which became stuck on a sand bar in the Suez Canal in the spring of 2021, completely blocked traffic through the canal and forced other carriers to make the long trek around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, adding thousands of miles to their journey, driving shipping costs sharply higher, and causing considerable discomfort among the shopping public in Europe.

https://www.reuters.com/world/ever-given-container-ship-set-leave-suez-canal-2021-07-07/

Here’s a little bit of speculation.

Full Disclosure: This is nothing more than a consideration of the possibility of such an event and is not an endorsement, encouragement, instruction, incitement, nor support. It is only speculation which may get me into trouble for exercising my right to free speech. Heck, I wouldn’t even know where to start to bring that about and don’t have the necessary funds to make it happen. If I am investigated and prosecuted for mentioning this potential, well, it is what it is, and I will consider it an honor to be persecuted for speaking the truth.

Just suppose that, during the Fog of War in the conflict between Iran, Israel, and the US, another very large cargo carrier (or even an oil tanker) was suddenly and without warning struck by a missile and sunk in the narrowest portion of the canal. Not damaged, not disabled, sunk. Deep-sixed. Sent to Davy Jone’s locker. Considering that it took six days of strenuous effort by an army of workers to refloat the Ever Given, it would be reasonable to expect at least six months to clear the wreckage, during which time all ship traffic through the canal would be halted. That is, ALL traffic. For an unknown period of time.

How does anyone protect against that?

It has also been bandied about that the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, will be hit by an errant missile, destroying it. Situated on the so-called Temple Mount, supposedly the location where Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrificial offering to Yahweh and, also supposedly the location where the prophet Mohammed was translated into Heaven. In other words, a very holy place in the minds of millions of people.

This has a high chance of happening, whether by an errant missile or by design–coordinates or false flag. It doesn’t matter. What is important is that the State of Israel ought to be everything it can to protect the site, to the detriment of the rest of the country because, if the mosque is destroyed, then nothing stands in the way of building a new third temple–except 1 billion upset, angry, and raging Muslims, many of them willing to die “martyr’s” deaths for the cause of their ideology.

Think about it. One percent of one billion Muslims is ten million persons, far more than the entire population of the entire state of Israel, including the non-Jewish part.

There’s more of them than there are of them. This is an existential problem for Israel.

Think about it. How do you get around that?

If, and I stress if, Donald Trump loses this war and has to retreat to the White House to lick his wounds, how would he react? My guess: Shift direction and beat up someone else who simply does not have the means to defend themselves, namely, Cuba. 90 miles off the southern tip of Florida, in our own back yard, emaciated and devastated by decades of socialist rule and suffocating sanctions, Cuba would be a cake walk compared to Iran. Land 100,000 Marines on its shores and let them do their worst. Marco Rubio would be issuing Executive Orders from the presidential palace within a week and Trump’s reputation would (might) experience a significant rebound.

Or, perhaps, initiate a military tyranny over the citizens of the US itself. “You didn’t like what I was doing there and didn’t support me, so we lost. Well, you’re going to pay, and pay dearly. Take that, you ungrateful wretch.”

China. OMG, we have completely forgotten about China!! How would the US Empire react to a Chinese naval blockade of Taiwan, the primary source of high-tech computer chips upon which the rest of the world depends. Imagine a scenario where any ship or air traffic from Taiwan is blocked. Total stoppage. No exceptions.

Darling, in my wildest dreams…1

And, at the end of it all, the Epstein Files. Still there, still relevant, still a threat.

  1. Who ever decided that Pat Benatar was classic rock? ↩︎

Trump Tells the Truth–Finally

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

At last! Something honest from the man who cannot tell a lie.

“We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise, yet, if you read the Failing New York Times, you would incorrectly think that we are not winning. Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth. We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today. They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116219996530067941

“I…am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!”

This was posted March 12, at 10:33 p.m., and by 7:00 a.m. the next day it had already gained over 17, 000 likes.

“Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.” —  Jean Rostand

I suppose I should not be shocked at anything Trump says anymore, but this statement has hit a new low. I simply cannot countenance anything like this and wonder at the control which evil exercises over his mind and mouth. Not only does he brag about killing people who have done him no harm (little schoolgirls, etc.) but he considers it an honor. No, no, it is a great honor, as if the act itself ought to be applauded vigorously by a “civil” society. What makes this even worse, however, is the fact that in 8-1/2 hours, in the space of one night, more than 17, 000 followers, presumably Americans, hit the Like button to show their support for his efforts. Presumably, they are also of the mindset that it is honorable to kill others whenever you can.

How low can you go?

“One man must not kill. If he does it is murder. Two, ten, one hundred men, acting on their own responsibility, must not kill. If they do, it is still murder. But a state or nation may kill as many as they please, and it is no murder. It is just, necessary, commendable and right. Only get people enough to agree to it, and the butchery of myriads of human beings is perfectly innocent.” Adin Ballou (1803–1890) American minister

Kill one person, you are a murderer. Kill one hundred persons, you are a sick, perverted psychopath. Kill one million persons, you are esteemed and held up for great honor. I suppose this is the reason why so many people worship the ground that George W. Bush walks on. Probably right-wing Christians, for the most part, who really ought to know better considering the clear message in Scripture about killing and idol worship. More than likely, many of these also give Trump the adulation he seeks.

But, then, this has been the pattern of America for a long, long time. From the very beginning, America’s MOD (Mode of Operation) has been to kill anyone who stands in its path or who makes life inconvenient. From native Americans (Indians) who were only trying to defend their property and way of life to unborn children in the womb, the prevailing attitude has been to kill them because they are inconvenient and causing trouble. Magnified manifold, this is exactly why America, The State, has been so successful at killing populations worldwide…and, seemingly, gotten away with it. In reality, the State is nothing more than the individual writ large and, since the individual is bent on murder, so also the State.

Today, however, we are captive of (or captivated by) a man who openly celebrates and exalts the murder of those less fortunate…and we are extremely uncomfortable with the idea. Is this because his words and actions mimic the temptations within our own souls? The temptations which we (presumably) control but which we allow to fester because they fit the worldview we have adopted and embraced? The idea, which is completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus the Christ, that it is perfectly acceptable to murder those you consider to be your enemies while claiming love for them? The cognitive dissonance which we experience because we know this is wrong, yet make excuses for it anyway?

How low can you go?

If…if God gives us what we deserve, then we deserve Donald Trump. What, me worry?

My God! We should be terrified!

John Maynard Keynes, the father of inflationary financial politics said that, “In the long run, we are all dead.”, yet in the short run, we are still here and still subject to the vicissitudes of life, including those imposed on us by our “Dear Leaders”, chief of whom acts exactly as we would if we were sitting in his chair in the Oval Office, surrounded by sycophants, groupies, and ass-kissers who only tell us what we want to hear.

We have no one to blame except ourselves.

With a Flick of the Wrist

Roger Mitchell5 Comments

In the movie, The Three Musketeers (1993), starring Chris O’Donnell as D’Artagnan, there is a scene in which Cardinal Richelieu (Tim Curry) made a pass at his beautiful, but seductive spy, Milady de Winter (Rebecca de Mornay) and, when she responded by pressing a dagger point into his ample girth, he made a comment. “With a snap of my fingers, I could put you back where you were before I rescued you.” Or something to that effect. Her immediate response, which he nervously laughed off, was far more sinister. “With a flick of my wrist, I can change your religion.”

Ah, yes. A simple flick of the wrist. In an instant.

“Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.” (Revelation 18:10b)

Did you get that? Flick of the wrist! In one hour the entire world system has been overturned. How close are we to that actually happening?

I am American, born and raised in the United States of America. Most of the people who read this article will be in the same situation. We are Americans. I have lived my entire life in the dominance and sway of the American way and, if I believed the narrative pumped into everyone from nursery school onward, I would not understand why things are as they are. WTF is the matter with the rest of the world anyway? Can’t they see that our way, the American way, is so much more superior than everything else? And, why do they not embrace it wholeheartedly as an improvement on what they now hold to be true? How in the world can anything be any better? WTF is the matter with them, those heathens, those unbelievers, anyway?

Unfortunately, this attitude is prideful and arrogant and goes against the Spirit of God, which stresses humility before God and service to others as the only proper method of operation. America is not good at this, no matter the propaganda. God opposes the proud (James 4:6)1 and is the REAL kingmaker (Daniel 2:21, Daniel 4:17, Psalm 75:7, Romans 13:1). Donald Trump, contrary to his opinions and beliefs, is nothing more than a tool in His hand.

I look at Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu as modern-day, real life clones of the villainous cardinal in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Three Musketeers. Out of pure hubris, arrogance, and a lifetime of exercising power to get whatever they want, they are basically saying to anyone who opposes them, “We can send you back where you came from, back to the Stone Age2, or, even better for us, to Hell itself.”

Iran is basically saying, “With a flick of my wrist…”

Now, if only it were that simple. We laugh at the incident and move on to the next scene. But God…3 God is the one who decides how the situation works out and it is quite possible, increasingly likely, that events unfold in which we see the current political and financial world system upended and destroyed almost instantly, virtually overnight, in one day, so to speak. If that happens, there will be millions and billions of people who will be shocked and in despair at the speed of the implosion.4

“Alas! Alas! Oh, Babylon, Babylon, where art thou?”

And many will have to change their religion because the Beast they worshipped is no more.

  1. I wrote about this just a few days ago. See here. ↩︎
  2. Without saying so, they are following the example set by Richard Armitage, a top official at the State Dept. during George W. Bush’s run-up to the Afghanistan invasion. Armitage is alleged to have told Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, that the country would be “bombed back to the Stone Age” if Musharraf didn’t get with the program and allow the US access. Armitage, of course, denied that he ever made the threat. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/09/paki-s27.html ↩︎
  3. Used in conjunction, this is one of the most profound and powerful phrases in the English language. ↩︎
  4. To get the full impact of this, read Revelation 18: 9-24, then use your wildest imagination. ↩︎

Note to readers: I have reached a milestone at Poor Roger’s Almanac. This article is #300 in a line of posts stretching back to 2012. I have made a lot of progress–spiritual, emotional, and literary in that time. Nothing is denied, held back, nor paywalled. It never will be. This is my mission in life and I am grateful to have the opportunity to share it with you.

God! What Do I Do Now?

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

This is a recent photo taken at the White House which has been spread far and wide in the also-recent revelation that members of the military have been subjected to “religious” persuasions and pressures from superior officers, presumably following the example and advice of the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth. It reminded me of the painting which showed George Washington and Abraham Lincoln praying over George W. Bush while laying their hands on him. But, I guess that’s what warmongers do for each other.

The controversy began after an anonymous non-commissioned officer contacted the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) on behalf of several soldiers in a unit stationed outside the Iran combat zone. The individual wrote that a commander urged personnel to view the war as “all part of God’s divine plan,” while citing passages from the Book of Revelation. According to the complaint, the officer told troops that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.” — The Cradle

I am not concerned whether this is true, although it certainly would be in keeping with the character of the head honchos who have visited the latest military destruction on Iran. Understanding so-called Biblical “prophecy”1 from a Zionist, evangelical, and dispensational point of view, it is not hard to believe that Earth is indeed “in the last days” as foretold by Revelation, just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who will rule and reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years, forcing everyone to bow and scrape to His authority on pain of being bopped by a Rod of Iron for disobedience, rebellion, and disbelief. Days of peace, indeed!

If, a big IF, Donald Trump has been set up in the Presidency by God Himself to usher in Armageddon and “light the signal fire” so that Jesus can find His way here, then he is certainly holding up his end of the responsibility. It makes me wonder, however, if this isn’t the wrong way to look at the situation. More than likely, instead of showing Jesus the way, Trump, his coterie of sycophantic yes-men and women, Lindsey Graham and his neoconservative ilk, and the world’s foremost arch-criminal, James Moriarty Benjamin Netanyahu and the entire leadership structure of Israel, are manipulating the actual sequence of events, literally forcing an appearance by Jesus to put an end to the fighting lest all mankind be killed and the Earth destroyed forever. And, if Jesus should somehow not show up, well, they win by default and take His place.

Shall we do evil so that good may come? Yeah, for sure, as long as the good comes to me.

Of course, that might be a little too far-fetched, so I’ll rescind the assertion and apologize to anyone whose feelings were hurt and whose beliefs were bruised. It is far more plausible to see things as Alexander Dugin explains in a well-written expose of Zionist thought.

“…Zionism is Judaism’s heretical rebellion where Jews declare themselves God, seize the Holy Land by force, and plunge tradition into apocalyptic upheaval.“

Well, Donald Trump hasn’t yet declared himself God, but he thinks of himself as The Supreme One. It wasn’t long ago that, in answer to a question about restraints on his behavior, he replied,

“…Trump insisted, just “one thing” that can curtail his desire for global supremacy: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” — from an article on People

Add to that, his statement that, as President of the US, he can do whatever he wants, and you get the idea that he really thinks he is above the law, not just international law, but the Law Itself. The Highest Law. The one which says, “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie, unless you’re on the campaign trail or at war.”

All this is to raise a question, however. Who or what were those people, including Donald Trump, praying to as shown in the photo above? If he cannot be stopped by anyone once his mind is made up and if he can act in any manner he wants, then why does he feel the need to seek guidance from a “higher” authority? Considering that he also is rumored to have said that he is not a Christian, that he hates his enemies, and that he has no compunction nor regrets about destroying others for his own sake (unarmed, hard-working fishermen in the Caribbean, e.g.), I am confident in stating2 that he does not worship the same Prince of Peace that I (and millions of other Americans) do. Maybe he recognizes and serves some other nefarious character who encourages him to indulge his god-like powers, you know, kill, steal, and destroy. I’d be willing to bet that all of the people in that photo think of only one thing–power and how to gain more of it, which is about as far from true Christianity, selfless sacrifice in the service of others, as anyone can get.

One of the ironies of the American War between the States, the War of Northern Aggression, the Civil War as some call it, is that the people on both sides of the conflict, both Union and Confederacy, believed that they were right, that their cause was just, and they prayed to the same God to give them victory over their enemies–the others, those over there. The same god, the same religion, the same belief structure, yet they expected God to pick and choose sides, to favor one while hurling lightening bolts at the other. Kind of like the internecine wars the Greek gods on Mount Olympus would involve themselves in and with just about the same results–a lot of dead people and widespread destruction.

Since, as human beings created in the Image of God, aren’t we all one big family? Brothers and sisters? Related to each other? Yet, in this current war which Trump and Netanyahu deliberately started, whose god is going to triumph? The stronger side? The more resilient force? The ones who don’t run out of ammunition first? The one who punched first or the other who punched back? Far be it from me to predict how God is going to act, but I am sure of this.

“God resists the proud…” (James 4:6)

Interestingly, I typed this exact phrase into my Brave browser which produced this response.

God resists the proud — a declaration rooted in Scripture, most directly found in James 4:6, which states, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” The Greek word used, antitasso, conveys a military image of deliberate, strategic opposition — God actively arranges circumstances to confront and humble those who exalt themselves. 

This resistance is not arbitrary but a response to pride rooted in self-reliance, arrogance, and a refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty.  As seen in Proverbs 3:34 (quoted in James), pride leads to divine opposition because it excludes God from one’s life. Psalm 10:4 describes the proud as those who “make no room for God,” and their self-sufficiency blocks true relationship with Him. 

Yet, the message is not only warning — it is an invitation. God’s resistance is not final rejection, but a call to humility.  Those who humble themselves, acknowledging their dependence on God, receive His grace. As James 4:7-10 urges: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” 

In essence, God opposes the proud to bring them to humility, so they may receive His grace and be restored.

Not bad for AI. Wouldn’t it be ironic if Iran was playing the role of antitasso?

  1. I have a close friend who calls it profit-cy, which, for those who make money off other’s misery, fits far better. ↩︎
  2. “By their fruits you will know them.” — Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:20) ↩︎

The Deceit of Tremendous Wealth

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

Not that there is anything wrong with being extremely wealthy. I wouldn’t mind trying it out for a day or two just to see how it fit. The problem arises when the accumulation of wealth and the power that grows with it become more important than the condition of one’s own soul. Or the condition of a nation’s soul.

“To “subdue” is also not to dominate–and all claims to the contrary be damned. The divine continually opposes the tyrant (as in Exodus 7-14) and warns against even seemingly benevolent kings (1 Samuel 8:10-18)…To subdue is, therefore, not to control and command but to put everything in its proper place–to give everything its subordinate value or due; to order everything, hierarchically, so the the priorities of attention and action can be established; and to place things to that the world is no longer mere potential or disorder.” — Jordan Peterson: We Who Wrestle with God, 2024, page 10

“Unwise societies (think Ninevah) take the fact of their traditions and accrued resources for granted. They live unconsciously on the wealth of the past, narcissistically and destructively consuming more than they earn; even irresponsibly destroying the very spirit whose activity gave rise to the wealth in question. We can regard the wealth offered to us by past and nature alike as our entitlement, even our earned due, and act far too casually and carelessly in consequence, despising our birthright and its source: privilege. — ibid, page 478

It is highly unlikely that Donald Trump has ever read Peterson’s book. It is unfortunate if he hasn’t.

Substitute America for Ninevah. It is accurate to say that America has been practicing exactly what Peterson describes–living on the wealth built up in the past, living as if we were the only ones, living far above our means, expecting everything to be given to us because we deserve it, careless of the consequences of our actions, thoroughly destroying the spirit which gave rise to the country. In short, we despise our privilege. We hold in contempt what we have been given. We exemplify the parable of the rich man in Luke 12: 15-21.

And He said to them,

“Take heed and beware of covetousness,
For one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. .
And he thought within himself, saying,
‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’
“So he said, ‘I will do this:
I will pull down my barns and build greater,
And there I will store all my crops and my goods.
And I will say to my soul,
“Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years;
Take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ‘

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you;
Then whose will those things be which you have provided?”
So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

What shall I do since I have no room to keep the stuff which I have accumulated? Ah! I’ve got it! I will rent a larger storage unit, twice the size of the one I currently have, at the new complex just completed down the road and move my possessions into that where they can live until I have need for them. Sounds facetious, no? However, in my neck of the woods, one of the most active forms of construction is the building of storage units and it appears that there is no end to the demand for them. Is this because housing units are not providing sufficient space or is it because we have gone overboard with the consumer mentality of keeping up with the Joneses? Or both?

Regardless, the parable quoted above can refer just as easily to Donald Trump as it does to America, in that it seems that he can never be satisfied with what he has. More! More! More! And it also seems to be that he has no compunction (nor do millions of Americans) about aggressively destroying what we already have (or that other people have, more especially what other people have) for the sake of building bigger and better and making our own situation easier and more comfortable in the present.

Notice also, that this parable is intensely personal. I, I, I, my, my, I, my. Numerous times, this rich man drew attention to himself, his possessions, his accomplishments, his plans, much like Trump does today. “I made America great again. I restored America to its former glory. I am the only one who could do these things. I am the only limit to my conscience and actions. I ended umpteen wars in the first 30 days of my second administration which has been the greatest time in history since my first administration which was just as good. No one else can do the things I can.” And on, and on, and on, and on…

Yes! Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Well, let’s worry about that tomorrow, shan’t we? In the meantime, there’s a war to win.

Bigger barns. Always bigger barns.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream: A Modern Parable

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

“These were the visions of my head while on my bed:

I was looking, and behold,
A tree in the midst of the earth,
And its height was great.
The tree grew and became strong;
Its height reached to the heavens,
And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.
Its leaves were lovely,
Its fruit abundant,
And in it was food for all.
The beasts of the field found shade under it,
The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches,
And all flesh was fed from it.”
(Daniel 4:10-12)

Sounds great, right? Such a nice dream to have. Peace, prosperity, and plenty for everyone. “Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies…” But, wait, as the TV commercials blare incessantly, there’s more.

“I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven.
He cried aloud and said thus:

Chop down the tree and cut off its branches,
Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruits.
Let the beasts get out from under it,
and the birds from the branches.
Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth,
Bound with a band of iron and bronze.”
(Daniel 4:13-15a)

Whoa! Wait a minute! What happened to the nice, pleasant picture I was seeing? This is ugly and I don’t like it.

“In the tender grass of the field,
Let it be wet with the dew of heaven,
And let him graze with the beasts
On the grass of the earth.
Let his heart be changed from that of a man,
Let him be given the heart of a beast,
And let seven times pass over him.”
(Daniel 4:15b-16)

Him? Who’s him? And what has he done to deserve this? Well, I’m glad you asked.

“All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying,

‘Is not this great Babylon,
That I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power
And for the honor of my majesty?‘”
(Daniel 4:28-30)

And, boom! Just like that, in fact, as the next verse says, “While the word was still in the king’s mouth…”,

The entire chapter tells the story. You’ll have to read it yourself to get the full report, but, in a nutshell, Nebuchadnezzar apparently went crazy insane and, within an hour, he was driven out of the palace, away from the city and civilization into the open fields where he spent the next seven years without any of the comforts of home, eating grass like an ox, completely senseless. The good part, however, is that after his ordeal, his right mind was restored, he gave credit where it was due, and he returned to his throne and picked up the affairs of the kingdom where he had left off seven years earlier.

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor
the King of heaven, all of
whose works are truth, and
His ways justice. And those
who walk in pride He is
able to put down.”
(Daniel 4:37)

Now, I’m going to take this at face value. I see this as an historical account of an event that actually happened. I’ll leave it up to the scholars, historians, and argumentative skeptics to sort it out as to whether there’s more to the story than is recorded here. However, actual or imaginary, the lesson remains: proud, arrogant men (and women) can be taken down and humbled. This speaks volumes to the current phenomenon known as Donald John Trump, President of the United States, who, like Nebuchadnezzar, cannot resist bragging about himself and lifting himself higher and higher on the pedestal of his own vanity. I fear for him. If the story of Nebuchadnezzar is true and given to us as a lesson and a warning not to get too big for our britches, then The Don is skating on very thin ice.

When Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind, the world continued on as before with other leaders stepping in to fill his place. This would, of course, happen if Trump was taken out. The continuity of succession guarantees that JD Vance immediately becomes president and the system carries on. However, unfortunately for the rest of us, Americans and the rest of the world, Trump has access to weapons which Nebuchadnezzar could not have even dreamed about and may have the same mentality as Israel does with its Samson Option–if we’re going to lose, we do it bigly, no matter who or what we have to destroy. Suicidal madness is not restricted to “lone wolf” gunmen who shoot up schools, rock concerts, or nightclubs. It might be, just possibly might be, that Trump would resist the humbling process so strongly that nuclear weapons would be unleashed with devastating, world-wide consequences. All to avoid having to admit making a mistake and confessing to a sin of pride.

On the other hand, perhaps all this is the result of my own fevered imagination, by reading too much into the situation, and by taking too much Scripture on too much faith to mean that it means what it says. For instance:

“I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.” (Psalm 37:35-36)

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)1

“Try as much as I can, I am unable to call to mind anyone at present who does not spread himself more than Donald Trump. When it comes to calling attention to himself, he has no equal. In his world, there is only One and He knows it. Reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar, who was also compared to a tree and was cut down to size. See Daniel 4 for the story.”2

The war against Iran which Trump and Netanyahu have unleashed may well become the straw which finally breaks the camel’s back. We would be wise to contemplate the possibility. Selah. Pause. Consider.

  1. See also–Isaiah 14 and Genesis 11 for similar pronouncements ↩︎
  2. https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2025/07/10/officially-confirmed-epstein-didnt-kill-himself/ ↩︎

Bay of Pigs II?

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

I have written before (here and here) about Donald Trump’s penchant for blowing fishing boats in the Caribbean Sea out of the waters with Hellfire missiles, killing (or attempting to kill) all the men aboard. His #1 assistant in this diabolical practice has been Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of War, who, on hearing that two of the men aboard one of the boats were still alive and clinging to the wreckage, gave an undisputed totally illegal order to shoot them until they were dead. Which order was dutifully obeyed because: “Just following orders! Sir!”. The rationale given to these extra-judicial killings was that the boats were smuggling drugs into the US and needed to be stopped for the safety of the country. It didn’t matter that there was no evidence of drug running nor any other justification for using lethal violence against the boats. We were just told to trust that Trump was doing the right thing.

“I say that the boats are running drugs. I say that hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to die if they succeed. I say that the only moral restraint on my behavior is myself. I say, kill them all. Let God sort them out. Who are you going to believe–me or your own damn lying eyes and ears?”

All’s fair in love and war. Right?

Which brings us to this. Apparently, a Florida-registered speedboat with ten men in it were intercepted barely a mile offshore of Cuba by a government patrol boat. According to the Cuban Embassy, the crew of the speedboat opened fire on the patrol boat, resulting in a firefight which left four Americans dead and the others wounded to some degree. See here for more information.

Now, I can’t say with 100% certainty that this actually happened and I am quite confident that, if it did happen, the story has been stretched, manipulated, and distorted to some extent. There are always at least two sides to every argument and no one has an absolute lock on truth. Nevertheless, I have to take it on face value that this event did occur more or less as reported and that the fallout is predictable. Namely, the US government will use it as justification to ramp up its already suffocating hold on Cuba and may trumpet the need for military “intervention” (read that assault) on the island to protect American citizens, even if they were stupid enough to put themselves in harm’s way. After all, consider this immediate response:

“The dictatorship in #Cuba has just attacked a boat from Florida & murdered those on board. This regime must be relegated to the dust bin of history!” — https://twitter.com/RepCarlos/status/2026737976907067395

My! How the tables have turned. As you give, you receive. When you blow up fishing boats in international waters without respect for due diligence, just cause, and human life, then you risk getting your own boats being fired upon. With due diligence and for good reason by the Cuban government, I might add, if the event happened as reported.

ZeroHedge raised an important question.

“What armed men aboard the Florida-registered speedboat were doing inside Cuban territorial waters remains a very open question at the moment.“

Well, yes. Exactly. Why did a boatload of armed men venture inside the territorial limits of Cuban water? What was their goal? What did they hope to accomplish? Did they realize the risk they were running? Did they care? Who were these men, anyway, and more importantly, who were they working for?

It is entirely possible, not likely, but possible, that the ten men on the boat were nothing more than Rambo-type, hot-headed hotshots who were stupid enough to try something like this and got more than they bargained for. After all, there are a lot of incredibly dumb people on this earth who act first out of emotion without ever rationally considering the possible consequences. This is not out of the question, but, as I said, not likely. The most plausible explanation is that they were on the payroll of an unnamed entity which was attempting to smuggle a heavily-armed crew into Cuba to stir up trouble in the hopes of further destabilizing the current government and potentially starting an uprising among the “campesinos nativos”. If that was the case, then it recalls the Bay of Pigs debacle, which became a black mark against the John Kennedy administration forever as an example of official incompetence.

This episode will probably be stonewalled and any involvement by the US government in it will be denied until the spokespersons are blue in the face from lack of breath, but it won’t put to rest the suspicions. As the saying goes, never believe anything the government tells you until it is explicitly denied. Vehemently explicitly denied. When Donald Trump says that the US absolutely had nothing to do with it and attacks someone else for asking questions, then we can be pretty sure that his fingerprints are all over it. On the other hand, being the type of person he is, he might just come out and admit that he ordered the project and, “What are you gonna’ do about it?”

Who knows? And who can comprehend what damage might ensue as a consequence? And who will be blamed while the dust is settling?

The answer to that last question is obvious and will be brought out immediately–“Not I. Look over there!”

Update to this story: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/foiled-armed-infiltration-cuba-kills-four-aboard-heavily-armed-us-linked-speedboat

When Johnny Goes Marching Off to War, Hurrah! Hurrah!

Roger Mitchell7 Comments

The title for this article is derived from the old song longing hopefully for the safe return of soldiers from the carnage of the American War between the States1 (1861-1865). What is usually not mentioned nor remembered is the fervor and celebration of just a few years earlier with which Johnny marched off to war and his family and friends, both North and South, cheered him on, gave parades in his honor, showered him with adulation, flowers, and kisses. “Hurrah! Hurrah! We’ll teach those scoundrels (Yankees, Rebs) something they won’t ever forget! Go get’m, Johnny! We’re behind you all the way.”

This, as I recall, was the atmosphere in America immediately after 9/11. It seemed that everyone couldn’t wait to go out and kick some a$$ for the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, and, to be perfectly honest, it didn’t really matter whether the actual perpetrators were brought to “justice” or not, as long as someone paid. The administration, George W. Bush presiding, took full advantage of the situation and launched two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq, which were only ended years later, without ever resolving the question of “whodunit?”. Not that it mattered too much, anyway. The American public is driven by emotion rather than common sense and Congress is repeatedly admonished to “Don’t just sit there, do something.”, with the unspoken implication that it is better to do anything, even if it is wrong, than to contemplate their actions, consider the consequences, and make good choices.

Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the “day which will last in infamy”, was no different, except that there was no question about who had initiated the attack: Japan, the Rising Sun empire, and America lost no time in ramping up to a wartime footing in a massive spirit of revenge and retaliation, intent only on the destruction of those who dared to slap the face of Uncle Sam. Nothing was held back by the public, no sacrifice was too great, no cost was too much to bear for The Cause of total victory.

That was then, this is now.

Today, even as I write this, the tension in the Middle East is at a fever-pitch and rapidly escalating. The US may have already attacked Iran by the time you read this. Donald Trump is ramping up his threats and bullying tactics against Iran, demanding that the government undergo a regime change, that it Cease and Desist from any nuclear program, and that it immediately disarm by getting rid of its long range missiles. Basically, complete and abject surrender on Trump’s terms which, of course, the mullahs who lead Iran have rejected without any equivocation. What is Trump going to do if Iran doesn’t bow and scrape? Sign the order to attack? Or, TACO? We’ll know soon.

It seems to me (and polls regularly bear this out) that the mood of the country is against starting another war, especially one in the Middle East. People are genuinely tired of the “forever wars” and Trump capitalized on that sentiment when he was on the campaign trail, promising to end them. Political reality reigns supreme, however, as he conveniently forgot what he had promised to the voters only a short time earlier and started aggressively going after other countries, all smaller and weaker than the US. To date, in the first year of his second term, he has literally bombed ten countries, more than any of his predecessors. One of those was Iran at the end of the 12-day war with Israel last summer when he supposedly destroyed (obliterated was the word he used) Iran’s nuclear capabilities completely. I say supposedly, because, if that was the case, then why is there so much concern about Iran’s current nuclear program? Something doesn’t add up here and can be seen for what it is–a bald-faced lie.

Events like this which have occurred over the years wherein The Powers That Be have run roughshod over the interests of the common people do not build trust within society. Without that trust, institutions fail and when a society’s institutions fail, the society collapses. The ongoing Epstein scandal and the recent Covid scam have created an enormous (and growing) distrust among the populace which will not be reversed if Trump goes to war against Iran and gets the pants beaten off him. The only reason that trust and faith might be restored would be if he achieves complete and total victory immediately, without question, for the whole world to see and understand. Of course, once the victory laps, backslapping, and grandstanding were done, we’d be off to the next conquest, the next enemy which needed to be taken out as a matter of “national security”. Any guesses as to which one that would be? You get three and the first two don’t count, but I’ll give you a hint. It starts with an R, ends in A, and has six letters.

God help us!

If he is not immediately successful and Iran closes the strait of Hormuz to shipping, the price of oil will go through the roof, the financial Jenga tower known as derivatives will collapse, the Federal Reserve printing presses will be pushed to the limit resulting in hyper-inflation, and the world-wide system of fiat money will be scrapped in favor of a different one–the Great Reset, which we’ve all heard about. Probably something along this line of thinking will happen, that is, if Trump does not achieve complete and total victory with the first strike. Probably. It might happen if he does succeed. I’m only speculating.

Or, perhaps that has been the plan all along. Who knows?

In an article posted on Forum Geopolitica, Scott Ritter had this to say about the situation.

“A war on Iran will result in a disaster for all parties involved. There is no guarantee of success on the part of the United States and Israel, or failure on the part of Iran. There is a huge risk that this war will result in massive disruption of critical energy production capability in one of the most critical energy production regions in the world, triggering a massive energy security crisis that could collapse regional and global economies.

So, the key question is why Donald Trump, a man who ran on a platform of peace, willing to risk losing his political base on the eve of critical mid-term elections by betting on the successful execution of a short war with Iran that achieves the regime change outcome desired?

The simple answer is because he simply has no choice.”

Ritter goes on to explain why he thinks Trump has no choice and I can’t say that he’s wrong. The extremely high sunk costs of the military buildup almost guarantee that an action of some type will be taken, if for no other reason than to recoup some of the expense incurred. The greater reason, though, is that Trump’s ego, prestige, and reputation will take an enormous hit if he “chickens out” this time. Given the polling numbers on his sinking approval rating, it would likely lead to a loss by the Republican Party to the Democrats in November, virtually ensuring that impeachment hearings would be resurrected, this time with a fairly good chance of “throwing the rascal out”. Of course, if he does initiate the war and loses, the same scenario presents itself. In short, Trump is caught in a lose/lose situation. Heads I lose, tails you win, and there’s not much that he can do about it.

If Trump wins, he will be insufferable. If he loses, watch out. Either way, the American public will pay the price and my guess is that cheering Johnny as he marches off to war will become a highly unpopular act. As it should. Wars have a nasty habit of biting the hands which feed them.

  1. Technically speaking, not a civil war as the Confederate States were not trying to take over the existing government, but wanted to split from it and set up a separate one. It should more properly be called a secessionist movement which was put down by force. ↩︎

Turning Our Heads Away so We Don’t See

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

“How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?”—Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind”

I’m starting this blog post exactly the same way that John and Nisha Whitehead started theirs a few days ago because I wonder about the same thing which Bob Dylan did, and I simply cannot comprehend the amount of stretching of neck muscles and blinking of eyelids which must accompany that. But, then, this is nothing new. People see what they want to see and close their eyes to the rest.

We live in a time when moral boundaries have been distorted to the point of near-total erasure, recalled only when it is to one’s benefit to remember them. The Whitehead article focused on the hypocrisy of those who completely abhor the destruction of unborn children in the wombs of their mothers, but applaud and encourage the murder of those who have managed to live beyond the first nine months of life IF it is politically convenient. On the other hand, there are those who think nothing at all about destroying infants before they are born (and even call it empowering), yet are aghast that innocent children are blown apart by bombs because they live in the wrong part of the world.

Human life, if it is to be honored and held sacred, should be and must be equally recognized regardless of age and/or development and/or decline. To do otherwise is to play games with God which cannot be won. This phenomenon, this aspect of human nature, however, encompasses all of life. Evil is everywhere rampant today, yet how many are there who will call it out wherever it shows its face, regardless of its composition and character.

Let’s call a spade a spade, shall we? As Christians, believers in Jesus Christ as “…the way, the truth, and the life…” are required to “…be innocent of evil…” and many of us pride ourselves on keeping ourselves squeaky clean in that respect. “We don’t smoke, drink, or chew, and we don’t go out with girls that do.” Yet, as Bob Dylan wrote, we turn our heads away from rampant, vile evil and pretend that we see nothing at all.1 More importantly, if we do notice, we ignore it by pretending that it doesn’t exist, at least in our circles and neighborhoods. Furthermore, if it did occur close to home, we would find some reason, some excuse, to do nothing at all to counter it, usually, at least in Christian circles along the lines of, “It’s the end of the world. Jesus is coming to rescue us out of the mess we have created. Besides, Donald Trump is working on our behalf to set things right.” Kind of like financial “experts and leaders” kicking the can down the road hoping that the sure reckoning can be postponed at least until they are safely ensconced in a fat pension-supported retirement.

Shades of King Hezekiah!2

The thing is, we know that procrastination on fiscal matters will eventually come to an end, yet prefer to “turn our heads and pretend not to see.” We know that making threats of violence and war against other countries will eventually result in wars with disastrous consequences, yet we turn our heads. We know that continual decline of morality will eventually destroy our society from within, yet we pretend not to see. We know that killing unborn children is wrong, yet applaud when fishermen on small boats, who are doing nothing more than trying to provide for their families, are blown out of the water. We vigorously protest the slaughter of Gazan women and children as an abominable crime, yet celebrate when our political opponents are the ones led to the guillotine. We know, oh, yes, we know, but it is easier to pretend than it is to act on the information.

We are hypocrites. Shameful hypocrites. And we say nothing, nothing at all, as if the evil among us does not exist. As if, by keeping quiet, the evil will go away.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” — Albert Einstein

“The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth” – Aldous Huxley

“It is an eternal truth that those who practice genuine faith in the presence of the cowardice and derisive fatalism of the mob will be persecuted for their temerity rather than merely ignored. This is part of the pattern of destruction of the ideal characteristic of the descendants of Cain. None of this excuses failure to stand up and be counted when the time comes.” — Jordan Peterson, We Who Wrestle With God, page 433. (Emphasis mine.)

  1. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan, in which the Pharisee who was squeaky clean with respect to The Law nevertheless went around the badly wounded man on the road and did not stop to help him so as to keep his clothes and hands untainted. It is also likely that he didn’t want to tarnish his reputation. ↩︎
  2. 2 Kings 20:19. “Well, that’s not so bad, really. At least it won’t happen in my lifetime.” ↩︎

America loves war. Just admit it.

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

“The Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war. Congress, representing the weakest of the three branches of government, has refused to follow its obligation since WWII. The Senate has shown a bit of backbone here, with the Democrats (and five Republicans) voting on a War Powers resolution to limit what Trump can do in Venezuela. Trump will undoubtedly veto it. Congress loves war as much as the people who keep voting them back in office do.” — https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/the-gangsters-of-manifest-destiny

Hoo, boy! Isn’t that the truth? But, just to make sure everyone understands the statement clearly, let me rephrase it.

The people who keep voting the politicians into office love war as much as Congress does!

Ahhhhh! Now we’re getting somewhere. And there is no better example of that assertion than the continual and long-standing re-election of uber-hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, who has never seen heard about a war he didn’t love, especially those which wreak havoc, death, and destruction on people and societies which are, supposedly, the “enemies” of the self-righteous, so-called Christian community of the state he hails from and the “national interests of the US. Whatever that means.

Compassion for the poor, down-trodden, hungry masses of foreign peoples outside the “respectable” circles of the Pharisaical confines of the most-segregated community in America today, the Christian church1, is not considered. What is more important is the constant and constantly increasing flow of “blessings”, read dollars, to the industries and services which are a large part of the economy of South Carolina (and every other state as well), from the bellicose machine known as MICIMATT, of which the US Department of War is its very public face, and for which the president (Donald Trump being the latest example) is the main cheerleader.

Hip, hip, hooray! Let’s go kill some despicables today! Kill them over there so we don’t have to kill them over here! Yeah, you know, because we’re a Christian nation and they’re not, except for Venezuela, of course, which is also Christian, but just happens to be full of oil which it was selling to “our” adversary, China. Thank God that “our” modern-day Herculean hero, Mr. Donald John Trump, was given power to put a stop to that bullshit. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank the President!

War is the health of the State, Randolph Bourne told us a century ago, and that is no less true today than it was when he penned the words.

“…the nation in war-time attains a uniformity of feeling, a hierarchy of values, culminated at the undisputed apex of the State ideal, which could not possibly be produced through any other agency than war. Other values such [as] artistic creation, knowledge, reason, beauty, the enhancement of life, are instantly and almost unanimously sacrificed and the significant classes who have constituted themselves the amateur agents of the State are engaged not only in sacrificing these values for themselves but in coercing all other persons into sacrificing them.” — https://www.panarchy.org/bourne/state.1918.html

Sadly, this prevailing attitude is directly opposed to the teachings of another famous person, who may or may have never written anything down for posterity to read, but who fundamentally changed the world–Jesus Christ.

  1. “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.” — Luke 6:27
  2. “Blessed are the peacemakers2, for they shall be called the sons of God.” — Matthew 5:9
  3. “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” — Matthew 26:52
  4. “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” — Luke 23:34

Etc., among many others, and there is also this order from the Ten Commandments, which bears repeating: “Thou shalt not steal.” — Exodus 20:15. Stealing, of course, is an involuntary taking of something, anything, from someone else which belongs to them, whether by force, fraud, or law. Taking the life of someone else would fall into this category.

Donald Trump, at the very least, is honest with his principles. He has stated that he is NOT a Christian, which can be seen in his actions,3 which he makes no excuses for, and which he does not try to hide. (Except for anything which might be exposed in the full and complete release of the Epstein files, if there’s anything there.) Not so for the millions upon millions of skin-deep Christians who claim to worship the Prince of Peace as the King of Kings, but who harbor a deep reverence and love toward the militant State which constantly practices deceit, theft, and murder on a world-wide scale.

“There is a moral order. Beware of unintended consequences when it it violated.”4

    1. Segregation of churches according to skin color is a prominent part of Christianity in the Christian church today, especially in the South. This is a dirty shame and may be a reason why the Church in America has no power today. ↩︎
    2. Peacekeepers, as commonly understood today, are not identical to peacemakers. Peacekeepers use the threat of violent force to maintain an artificial truce between warring factions while they discuss and negotiate the methods by which they might live in a state without overt war. On the other hand, peacemaking is the process by which war itself, is completely eliminated from the community of individuals/nations and is accomplished by voluntarily submitting to the will of the Prince of Peace Himself and loving your neighbor (enemy) as you love yourself. ↩︎
    3. “By their works you will know them.” — Matthew 7:16 ↩︎
    4. Jordan Peterson, We Who Wrestle with God, Penguin Random House, 2024, chapter 3.8. ↩︎

    Honesty, Finally. For the Whole World to See.

    Roger Mitchell2 Comments

    “…there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” — Jesus Christ, Luke 10:26

    In a bitterly ironic way, Trump’s reckless arrogance is to be welcomed. Because he is inadvertently exposing the Western system for what it is – a criminal imperialist regime with absolutely no respect for international law, human life, and peaceful coexistence. He has discarded the Western mask of duplicity and pretense, which at least makes it clear what the Western system is all about. What we see is something barbaric and ugly, like the fascism of former times. — https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/01/09/trump-turbo-charged-rogue-regime-exposes-pathetic-european-vassals/

    Donald Trump has spilled the beans, knowingly or not. America has finally gone rogue without any trappings of respectability or any effort made to preserve its so-called “sanctity” built up over the decades and centuries about democracy, the rule of law, justice, and liberty. No, that carefully constructed and long maintained edifice artifice has just been exposed for the whole world to see and “our” man in the White House has been very direct and open in proclaiming the message. Frank Zappa’s long-standing prediction has arrived.

    “The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”

    This is not entirely a bad thing. There are no longer any reasons for anyone to make excuses for his actions, just call them for what they are–naked, raw power manifestations. No one, except those who are willfully blind, can justify what is happening according to an ethical moral code unless they also share in Trump’s desire for power over others, for the power to determine what is right and wrong, for the power to create their own “values” and to say, with Trump, “We can do whatever we wish.” Jordan Peterson has addressed the motivation this way.

    “This is the elevation of narrow self-will to the highest conceivable place, in the guise of ultimate freedom. (“I can abide by whatever values I choose”–something that almost immediately deteriorates into “I can do whatever I want” or, more accurately, “Whatever impulse grips me rules.”) This is simultaneously the presumption of subjective omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. (“I have the capacity to determine the very definition of right and wrong, valuable and contemptible, good and evil.”)1

    Trump has explicitly stated this before (see here), his sycophantic staff and advisors parrot the same line (see here), and the authority has even been expanded to the police who can now “do whatever the hell they want”. Somewhere, somehow, the man has gotten the idea that because he was elected selected to hold down the cushy chair in the Oval Office, there are no limits on his behavior and that no one can tell him to “stand down”. There are millions of Americans, many of them so-called Christians who ought to know better, who cheer him on and virtually worship him as, if not God Himself, then as representing God because they have themselves embraced a violent religion of power and control. They are subject to the idol they have raised up.

    Unfortunately, this attitude does not guarantee righteous success, but instead drives the already low moral status of the United States even lower. If the President can do anything he wants and get away with it, then, as one of his subjects, I can also act that way and, hopefully, escape any judgment and punishment myself. When Trump acts in an immoral manner as the representative of the people, it does not mean that he is immune to consequences, instead it shows that the moral character of the populace at large is degraded and rotten. These points (“I’m the President. I can do whatever I want.”) and (“If the president is free to act any way he wants, then so am I.”) are symbiotic and feed off each other, making excuses for all sorts of behavior, refusing to take responsibility, and blaming others for the fallout.

    What is to be done by the average person in the US who is appalled by the goings-on?

    1. Recognize that you cannot change Donald Trump nor the way he thinks. This is God’s prerogative, however, you can ask God to work a miracle.
    2. Recognize that you may have such tendencies within yourself and, if so, confess them, ask forgiveness, cleansing, and healing, then change the way you think and act.
    3. Recognize that you do not have the authority nor the power to determine what is right or wrong. That was fixed a long time ago and is immutable. It cannot be changed, adapted, amended, added to, or altered. It can only be obeyed and adhered to, or disobeyed and ignored at your own risk and those who follow after you.
    4. Make a difference for righteousness in your own sphere of influence, your family, church, neighborhood, community.2
    5. Refuse to support the evil which is pervasive throughout this society. Call it out whenever it appears, beginning within your own soul. Eliminate every evil! If this means you have to change your politics to fit your belief structure, then…well? Do I need to draw you a picture?3
    6. Prepare yourself for what is coming4. Other nations have been here before. Where are they now? Why should we expect to receive different treatment?

    As average, everyday Americans, we do not have much influence, hardly any at all, over the machinations of the powers-that-be who own and run the government. That does not let us off the hook. When the shit hits the fan full force, as it will, we are going to be held responsible for the part we played in the shaping of our society. It does no good to claim ignorance nor to say that we are blameless.

    “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him will they ask the more.” — Luke 12: 47-48

    As the common saying in jurisprudence says, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Whether we acted deliberately or ignorantly, we are going to be beaten. Truly, a day of reckoning is due America and, as the society which has been given more than any other in history, the stripes will be proportionate.

    Live not by lies! It may save your skin.

    1. Jordan B. Peterson, We Who Wrestle with God, Penguin Random House, 2024, chapter 2.5 ↩︎
    2. Glen Campbell put it this way. We need to take the message to heart. ↩︎
    3. One of my father’s favorite questions. ↩︎
    4. See Psalms 2. If you listen closely, you can almost hear God laughing uproariously. Or, maybe He has done and is wiping the tears out of His eyes. Either way, not good for our future. ↩︎

    Is Trump Trying to Start a War? Why Would He?

    Roger Mitchell3 Comments

    Remember the Epstein files? How much have you heard about them recently? Where are the millions of “recently discovered” documents which the government has always had in its possession, yet only now acknowledged. What is in them which has not been revealed? Will it be revealed or will we be treated to more of the same old, same old? “Move on. Nothing to see here.” And to make sure that nothing is seen, will they be redacted so heavily that there really is nothing of any importance shown?

    Donald Trump is like a zucchini plant in late summer–the gift which keeps on giving. Those who have experience with zucchinis, whether growing them or having neighbors who grow them, will understand. If you don’t, then I recommend you familiarize yourself and, perhaps, even try your hand at growing some yourself. They are an amazingly prolific vegetable which can outproduce the appetite anyone might have for them. Check out this website for a tip which I was not aware of but plan to implement this spring.

    But…back to Donald. The man is truly an intensely productive machine, a hyper-active over-achiever in many senses who excels at getting things done which he wants done. With respect to that, he has my respect.1 I trail far behind. However, he does so many things that I do not like nor approve of that I cannot keep up with all of them. They simply are ignored, overlooked, forgotten, or put on the back burner until later, which means that they are ignored, overlooked, and forgotten.

    Nevertheless, the big news gets my attention and the big news of the moment is that the US Coast Guard has recently boarded and commandeered an oil tanker in the North Sea between Iceland and England–far, far away from the coast of the US. Ummmm, isn’t the Coast Guard supposed to patrol the American coast and leave the “enforcement of US Law” on the internationally recognized, deep blue high seas to the Navy?

    This comes less than a week after the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a lightening fast raid on Caracas on January 3, 2026. He has since been transported to a federal court in New York City and indicted on numerous charges, most of them totally ridiculous, but virtually all of which will be upheld, and by which he will be found guilty, flogged in the public square, thrown into prison with Manuel Noriega, tortured until he confesses his sins, and eventually executed by a bullet to the back of the head2, after which his body will be drawn and quartered, then burned to ashes which will be consigned to Davy Jones’ locker alongside the remains of Osama bin Laden, who was officially “buried at sea”, never to be heard from again. [For those who are gullible enough to believe everything they read, know that this prediction is pure sarcastic satire and is meant only to draw attention to the ridiculous claims which the State has made about these, and other, matters.]

    Not to mention that Trump is breathing heavy threats against the Danish “claim” that Greenland belongs to them and that it would be better for everyone all around if the US simply took it over (militarily, if necessary) and made it the 52nd, 53rd, or 54th state, depending on how you count. (Canada, of course, is the 51st.) Or, maybe, he will have compassion on the entire population there by giving them a cool million dollars each of your hard-earned, easily inflated money, so long as they agree to sell the land-locked iceberg to him.3

    It makes my head spin. As Lenin is supposed to have said, “There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.” Or, if you prefer to beat up on Christopher Columbus as the spark which ignited all the wrongs visited on the New World,

    “There are centuries in which nothing happens and years in which centuries pass. Fourteen ninety-two is a year of centuries,”4

    Hoo, boy! What is next? Who the heck knows?

    The more important questions to ask, however, is these. Why is Trump doing all this now? Is he deliberately trying to start a “serious” war? And, probably most important of all, what is he trying to hide by distracting the populace with grandiose, Fourth of July style events? Would his efforts possibly have something to do with the fact that America, the Empire, is on its last legs? The fact that the country is financially broken beyond redemption? The fact that the rest of the world is moving in its own direction which does not coincide with his Israel America First vision? The fact that his poll numbers are plunging deeply and that many of his die-hard followers are starting to question his tactics, policies, promises, and maybe even his sanity? Or, perhaps most importantly, would it have to do with the “soon-to-be released” heavily-redacted files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case, which will not die a normal death, and, like the zucchini plant, just keeps on giving. And giving. And giving.

    What is Trump trying to hide and will we ever learn the truth about it?

    In times like these, there is only one place to go for reassurance–the Word of God, specifically Luke 10:26, in the words of Jesus Christ himself.

    “Therefore, do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”

    We have a choice. See what is happening around us and be afraid because we cannot see what is going on behind the curtain OR to trust that the dark places, the hidden things, will have the light of truth shone upon them and will be exposed for what they are. This is about as plain as I can make it.

    “Therefore, do not fear them.” Words worth repeating.

    1. Credit where credit is due. Even Adolf Hitler loved his dog. BM, add this to your list. ↩︎
    2. Or given enough rope to hang himself in the manner of Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in spite of guards sleeping next to his cell, video cameras which malfunctioned at the “most inopportune time”, and a slew of other fantastic coincidences which are almost too unbelievable to be believed, but that’s what we’ve been told to believe. [Note: I don’t watch much TV, but I did see this on the Internet, so I know that it’s true.] ↩︎
    3. In mentioning this, Trump has made it clear that he has no compassion for the heavily-burdened citizens of the United States. They are only a cash-cow to be milked for his benefit. ↩︎
    4. Attributed to Mexican poet Homero Aridjis. https://www.csmonitor.com/1991/1011/11101.html ↩︎

    The Narrative is Shifting: Foreign Policy Course Corrections Ahead

    Roger Mitchell3 Comments

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/regenerative-farming-just-went-mainstream-heres-why-it-matters

    Whether you are a “farmer” growing food or not is not important. The underlying message in this article is that significant changes which become known do not usually happen overnight but occur as a result of hard work over a long period of time by dedicated individuals. The author explains the process quite well.

    This can be favorably related to Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) recent bill introduced into the House to require the US to withdraw from NATO. A companion bill, S2152, by Mike Lee (R-UT) can also be seen in this light. Slow, gradual progress is the order of the day, eventually producing enough weight and momentum to push the idea forward to success.

    A society, large or small, rarely changes direction dramatically and sharply as a discontinuous event. Instead, like a supertanker or aircraft carrier, the change of course begins with the unseen turning of a rudder, overlooked by nearly everyone until the new direction becomes obvious.

    The very fact that these two bills, along with the recent release of the National Security Strategy (NSS) by the White House detailing foreign policy changes show that there is some significant movement underway which most people will not see nor recognize until it bursts onto the scene, perhaps in a cataclysmic manner, akin to a dam bursting and the subsequent release of a large amount of water resulting in the destruction of everything downstream caught in its path.

    The system we have lived with and under for decades is giving way and a new one is about to be implemented. It is important to keep in mind that neither of these above-referenced bills are guaranteed passage, however, both add to the weight and pressure building on the existing structure which is trying to maintain the status quo.

    Do not discount the significance of Massie’s bill.

    The Ghost of Jeffrey Epstein Lives!

    Roger Mitchell2 Comments

    When I got up from my late-afternoon nap a little while ago, I pulled up ZeroHedge to see what was going on in the world and was shocked, shocked, absolutely stunned, I tell you to see this article pronouncing that both the House (expected) and the Senate (completely out of character) had approved the release of the Epstein Files, and sent it on to The Donald for his long, drawn-out signature. What really blew my mind, however, were the margins in the votes, 427-1 (House) and unanimous (Senate).

    Naturally, being the sort of person I am, I immediately started ruminating on the meaning of these lop-sided decisions and, being the suspicious, skeptical sort of person I am, latched onto the idea that one of two things had just happened:

    1. The Federal Government, as exemplified in its two august bodies, had just had a “coming to Jesus” moment and, henceforth, would be working for truth, righteousness, and the American Way.
    2. The American people were just snowed…again.

    I have to hand it to Thomas Massie, a republican representative from Kentucky, who along with Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, has been pushing and pushing for months to get this “list” published. Massie, for his efforts, has been subjected to serious “trouble” from the White House, but has emerged victorious. I think. Maybe. We’ll see. No telling what this will lead to. Nevertheless, take your victory lap, Mr. Massie. You have earned it.

    On July 10, 2025, I posted an article, https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2025/07/10/officially-confirmed-epstein-didnt-kill-himself/, which included the paragraphs below.

    “There is one other similarity between JFK and Epstein. The case is closed. Closed. Officially closed. There will be no more investigation, no more fact-finding ventures, no more questioning, no more publicity, no more “conspiracy theorizing”. The administration of Donald Trump and Co. has issued its last report and there will be no release of any files pertaining to the matter. In due time, it will all be forgotten….Except that it won’t be. There is simply too much about this that doesn’t pass the smell test. Anyone with a sense of reason, common sense, and a nose for the truth can discern that we have been lied to…again, this time with vehemence, bigly, as Trump would say.”

    Which, once more, brings up the question: Are we being snowed again? Suspicious minds want to know.

    • While on the campaign trail, Trump vigorously promoted the promise that the files would be released as soon as he became president.
    • In February, 2025, barely a month after Trump took office, his AG Pam Bondi, declared that the “list” was on her desk, impatiently waiting for her review and release.
    • In July, 2025, barely four months later, the White House held their famous (infamous?) press conference during which it was averred, avowed, and aggressively asserted that “there was no there, there”. The List had somehow vanished, the evidence had been mysteriously flushed down the toilet, there were no witnesses to the alleged crimes, the whole thing was a hoax (a Democrat hoax to get Trump, mind you), and on, and on, and on…
    • In July, Massie and Khanna introduced their resolution named the Epstein Files Transparency Act, seeking to gain 218 co-signers which would force the House to take up the measure. Around that time, Trump declared war on Massie, vowing to “primary” him in 2026 with someone more “suitable” and unleashing a virtual river of vicious invective against him.
    • In early August, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girl Friday, was transferred from a high-security prison in Tallahassee, FL, to a low-security Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, where she has received preferential treatment. Around the same time, it was revealed that Donald Trump had never, ever, done anything wrong with Epstein. Not even once.
    • Initially, Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House, resisted the EFTA resolution and refused to bring it up for a vote until it became apparent that it was going to happen, at which time he allowed it. It is noteworthy that Johnson also kept the House in a state of recess for months so as to avoid seating Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who was elected in a special election in August and who had sworn to sign on as the last needed co-sponsor.
    • Claiming “we have nothing to hide”, Trump caved in on Nov. 17 and gave his “blessing” to the vote, which was apparently the last straw on the camel’s back.

    Something here is not right. It stinks to high heaven. Either there was nothing there to begin with OR there is something which TPTB are desperately trying to cover up. Considering that Trump and Team have been bouncing back and forth between two opinions, depending on who they are trying to please, it is not hard to believe that some VERY SERIOUS SHENANIGANS did actually happen, that Epstein had something to do with them, and that it will cause some extreme embarrassment on the part of some VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE should the truth about the whole sordid affair come out. Larry Summers is only the first one to fall.

    Final Answer: Let the truth be told and the chips fall where they will.

    The Stones are Crying Out. Can You Hear Them?

    Roger Mitchell1 Comment

    It has been reported that the toll from Donald Trump’s self-declared “war” on Caribbean fishing boats has now reached a total of 18 attacks, with at least 70 persons losing their lives because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even though some (that is, a few) members of Congress are demanding that the attacks end (that is, until Congress itself can declare them official), there is no sign that Trump and his gung-ho henchmen (Rubio, Hegseth, etc.) will stop voluntarily. It is more than likely that the killings will escalate and multiply until the end goal of the neo-con White House and its puppet-masters is reached: a full-blown war against near or distant “enemies” who are unable to stand up against the military might of the US Department of War (that is, the highly profitable business model known as the “military-industrial complex).

    In my lifetime, I have read a few books which have left a lasting impact, which I cannot forget, overlook, or ignore: Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, Roth’s Choosing Against War, Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, et al. There are pamphlets, essays, polemics, articles too numerous to mention, which have shaped my thinking in so many ways, bringing me to the point I am at today. When it comes to Trump’s “Fisherman’s War”, however, one stands out as extremely relevant and sounds a clear warning. The excerpt below is taken from it.

    “Today, the stones still cry out. Every story of victims—whether nonviolent prisoners like those Steve Bannon met in jail, or casualties of wars we fuel in Israel-Gaza or Ukraine-Russia—haunts our collective conscience. Jesus tied the stones’ cries to Jerusalem’s fall in 70 AD, when Israel’s zeal for violence mirrored Rome’s and left both exposed as complicit in the same sin. America stands at a similar crossroads. Our politics, like Caiaphas’, justifies flesh-and-blood victims for “national security” or “progress.” We cheer Barabbas-types—leaders promising strength through exclusion or war—while ignoring the Lamb who redefines polis not as the victors’ club but as the refuge for the least of these.” — https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/04/david-gornoski/the-stones-still-cry-out-holy-weeks-political-reckoning/

    Caiaphas-type politics which demand that someone die. Barabbas-type leaders who prey on weak, insignificant countries, societies, and persons. Pilate-type rulers who could stop the carnage but are politically inclined to “go along to get along” and, therefore, impotent and useless. And, of course, there are the “huddled masses” which obediently provide the necessary background noise and support for such actions, all in the delusion that somehow blowing boats out of the water without just cause will make America safe and their own lives personally better and more prosperous. Oh, yes, the collective zeal for violence at the mainstream level does mirror that in Washington and, like the crowd which screamed out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”, urge and hector our own Caesar-like “leaders” to increase the tempo and pressure because all would be lost if we relented for even a moment. Whether our collective conscience haunts us or not is debatable.

    And still, the stones cry out!

    Well, yes, this is an obvious reference to the devastation and killing fields in Gaza, not the waters off the coast of Venezuela, but everything I have described above applies to this as well. This ought to raise the question which everyone has heard at some time or another: WWJD? What would Jesus do, indeed, about the situations in both locations where the powerful and mighty rain down violence, death, and destruction on the poor and helpless? Actually moving from theory to consequence, probably negative, is to rephrase the question. What will Jesus do? What will be Heaven’s response to these not-so-isolated instances of theft, murder, and injustice, all of which are occurring on our watch and often with our complicity and consent, both vocal and silent.

    Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” — Psalm 2:1-3

    And, the answer.

    He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure… — Psalm 2: 4-5

    My belief, informed by history and the warnings (both implicit and explicit) laid out in the Holy Bible, is that it will not be pretty nor comfortable. Many of us will probably express regret that we allowed the stones to cry out because it was easier than to raise a fuss ourselves.

    Murder on the High Seas: Coming Soon to a City Near You–A Hypocrisy of the Most Personal Order

    Roger Mitchell2 Comments

    It has only been a few weeks since the cold-blooded murder of eleven crew members on a fishing boat in the Caribbean by the US military machine, headed up by none other than Donald Trump who gave the order, essentially pulling the trigger himself. Between then and now, there have been two other instances in which the same action has been taken, with three men killed in each event, thus bringing the total killed in an extra-judicial action to seventeen persons.

    Supposedly, these men were running drugs from Venezuela into the United States with the intent to destroy American society, but there is no proof that this is the case, and no legal precedent for the action taken to prevent that from happening. Instead, Trump and his henchmen, beginning with Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio, simply decided unilaterally that they were going to blow the boats out of the water without ever referring the matter to the Dept. of Justice (I use that term loosely) for criminal prosecution.

    This sort of behavior reminds me of The Mouse’s Tale in Alice in Wonderland. “I’ll be judge, I’ll be jury, said cunning old Fury. I’ll try the whole cause and condemn you to death.”

    The American Experiment has come full circle and now this deadly attitude is being practiced openly without any attempt to hide or excuse it. Judge, jury, executioner. Because we can. Because the president can do anything. No longer is anyone deemed to be innocent until proven guilty and convicted by a jury of his peers (not that this was ever really a valid concept, but at least it presented a moral face). Today, all that is necessary for me, you, or any other person, to be “eliminated” is to cross the path of The Decider and engage his ire. As Donald Trump put it in his own words truthfully spoken, probably among the few truthfully spoken words of his life,

    “He did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them,” Trump said, before breaking from his prepared remarks to add: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them, I’m sorry.”

    Yes, he sure is sorry. A sorry sight, indeed. Knowing how he treats those who oppose him, it would be a good idea to watch your back if you are one of those. And the crowd of adoring, hero-worshipping, fanatical followers who call themselves “Christian” cheered and applauded, hating his (and presumably their own) opponents as well, even though the action goes against every principle taught by Jesus the Christ.

    The hypocrisy of those who claim to be good and against evil is staggering and reeks to high heaven. Or the high seas, whichever is closer. Consider this.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-ups-pressure-control-disputed-waters

    Just a few days earlier, China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time while still undergoing sea trials ahead of expected commissioning later this year. Japan’s military also reported spotting the Fujian near the disputed Senkaku Islands on Sept. 11, sailing with two destroyers.

    Beijing claimed the carrier was en route to the South China Sea for training and scientific tests, insisting the transit was routine and not aimed at anyone. However, the move carried symbolic weight as the CCP asserts its claims over both the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan.

    Around the same time, the U.S. destroyer USS Higgins and the British frigate HMS Richmond transited the Taiwan Strait, prompting sharp warnings from Beijing, which condemned the move as undermining regional stability and deployed naval and air forces to monitor them.

    Washington and London countered that the operation was lawful and routine under international law, stressing that the strait lies beyond the territorial waters of any state and that freedom of navigation must be upheld.

    Did you get that? Freedom of navigation beyond the territorial waters of any state MUST be upheld, that is, as long as it is not Venezuelan fishing crews or Chinese aircraft carriers who are doing the navigating. Donald Trump (who stands in for God and the Deep State) forbid that anyone except “our” national interests be allowed to sail with impunity, whether in the bathtub of the Caribbean or halfway around the world in deep waters near their own homeland. Such shenanigans are not to be tolerated and steps will be taken to enforce “the rule of law”, as we see fit. We, of course, meaning the ones who wield the power in the halls of Washington, D.C.

    International law? Pffffttt! WTF is that?

    Murder, the aggressive, unjustified killing of another person(s), has become accepted as normal in American society. We used to be shocked and outraged at the senseless slaughter of innocents, but have now become inured to it. Murder is increasingly seen as the means to advance and achieve one’s own goals and if that happens to cross over the line of traditional morality, so what? As long as I can get what I want, who cares, even if someone else has to die for it? If I have the power, as Trump does, to determine who shall live and who shall die, then why shouldn’t I be allowed to use it?

    Well, for starters, once this type of thinking becomes pervasive throughout society, then no one is safe. Once murders happen because…(you fill in the blanks), then there is no protection from any unexpected assault, whether it be from a knife (Iryna Zarutska), a rifle (Charlie Kirk), or a Hellfire missile (Venezuelan fishermen). The really sad thing about all this is the immense number of (alleged, supposed) Christians, those who profess faith in the teachings of Jesus Christ on love for others, who wholeheartedly and fervently express their support and adoration of Donald Trump. After all, he is fighting on our behalf and will shortly reconstitute and resurrect America from the absolute mess it became at the hands of decades of liberal, progressive policies orchestrated by unhinged, lunatic, deranged Democrats and Communists!

    Right? Of course, right. Which is the mental attitude fostered and believed by so many who claim to be disciples of the King of Kings, yet cannot fathom their own misguided faith in a system which promotes and encourages chaos, mayhem, and murder. As long as Trump is the Executioner, we are OK with it. He is one of us. God damn the evil Russkies and the transgenders! Revive and defend the moral code according to our own lights and truths, and let us write it on tablets of stone, if that becomes necessary!! Just so that everyone knows who is handing down the decrees from on high.

    We have a problem.

    “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me…” — Exodus 20:5b

    Donald Trump, who can do anything, hates his opponents, especially the One Who rules international law. We have been warned.

    The Wages of Sin is Death–Official or Not

    Roger MitchellLeave a comment

    In the last few weeks, there have been three high-profile instances of deliberate murder in which those killed had no warning that they were going to die. Life was good, until all at once it was over.

    1. Eleven crew members of a small Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean which was destroyed by a Hellfire missile.
    2. A 23 year old woman, Iryna Zarutska,1 stabbed in the neck repeatedly by a man behind her while riding home from work in Charlotte, NC.
    3. Charlie Kirk, shot in the neck while speaking at a rally at a Utah university.

    Other than the fact that they were completely unexpected, do these murders have anything in common? It could be argued, I suppose, that the boat’s crew members were “known to the State of US” to be violent gang members running drugs, therefore the takeout was justified. It could be argued that Charlie Kirk brought it on himself by opposing the “woke”, progressive, liberal agenda and being extremely vocal about his beliefs. It could be argued that Iryna’s murder was caused by decades of insane policies of refusing to treat criminal cases harshly without any serious consequence for the perps.

    Yet, during his first term in office, Donald Trump gave the order to assassinate an Iranian general2, Qasem Solemani, while he was traveling to a peace conference in Iraq, done without warning solely because it was possible. While Barack Obama was president, numerous persons were simply killed via drone strikes3 because they happened to get on the wrong list, including an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, and his 16 year old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki. How many innocent people have been killed because of the aggressive wars waged by the American State and society? It is safe to assume that they number in the tens of millions and probably most of them were not aware that they were in imminent danger until it was upon them.

    We have a problem and it is not going to be easily solved nor overcome. America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, has always been a practitioner of violence, often deadly. We still are, and there does not seem to be any groundswell of movement on the part of the grassroots population to bring the official killings to an end. Instead, if the Venezuelan State sank one of the US Navy ships in the area, citing defense, this country as a cohesive unit would issue a full-throated roar for vengeance and destruction, regardless of who started the whole mess or whether it was legal or right. We love our violent Hollywood movies and PlayStation video games in which we can vicariously “live” the victorious life. Or die trying, except that we get to come back another day and fight again.

    “Kill them all. Let God sort them out.”

    Why are we shocked when something like Charlie Kirk’s assassination or Iryna Zarutska’s cold-blooded murder occur, but pooh-pooh any notion that the killers were only following the examples set by their own government? Why is murder excused, even lauded and honored, when it is practiced by a government for political purposes, but individual murders cannot be tolerated, even though they might be done for political purposes? Why do we tolerate “black on black” murders which constitute the largest part of the killings in the US and try to justify “black on white” murders as, well, “correcting racial imbalances”? Why do we treat “white on black” murders as worse than any other, especially if a police officer is the one doing the killing?

    Why? Why? Why? These are the hard questions we need to honestly explore and try to answer in order to make some sense of the situation, and the first place to start is with ourselves, in our own innermost being, the one which drives and defines everything we are. Am I a supporter of government led and sponsored wars and extra-judicial “executions”? Do I think it is right for my government to declare war on other countries without cause? Would I join the military and kill some person I never knew simply because someone else told me to? Do I hate my neighbor and wish evil on him? And on, and on, and on…

    We are at this point in history because, as a nation and a people, we have either explicitly abandoned the moral imperatives of God or made light of them, ignoring them when convenient, and/or trying to substitute our own man-made rules which seem right and just to us. Today, and increasingly so in a rapidly disintegrating future, we are (and will) reap the consequences of our actions and behaviors. The only way out is to seek forgiveness for our own sins and change the way we think, which will change the way we act. This is called repentance…and it works. It is the only thing which will work. Everything else is nothing more than a Band-Aid® slapped over a blood-gushing wound.

    More to come…and it ain’t looking good. Murder is murder is murder, and it’s past time to recognize this fact. Time to raise our sights to a higher plane, one where the injunction, “Thou shalt not kill” still holds true.

    1. Notice that Wikipedia does its dead-level best (no pun intended) to mask the fact that the killer was a black male who had 14 convictions on his record and was still walking the streets. ↩︎
    2. To justify this action and call it “lawful”, read this. I do not agree with the conclusion. https://www.jagreporter.af.mil/Post/Article-View-Post/Article/2539536/the-killing-of-qassem-soleimani/ ↩︎
    3. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/holder-weve-droned-4-americans-3-by-accident-oops/ ↩︎

    Jeffrey Epstein or Beating Up on Venezuela

    Roger Mitchell3 Comments

    Donald Trump, America’s peace-loving, peace-making president, is acting presidential again. No, he has not got the war in Ukraine settled after almost nine months of overtures, empty threats, and broken promises, one of which was that he would stop it in twenty-four hours as soon as he took office. Nor has he reined in the Insane Beast of the Middle East, Bibi Netanyahu and the Israeli State, on their wild, murderous rampage through Gaza. Neither has he stopped threatening Iran over its refusal to bow down and worship “the god that be”, that is, the puppet-masters and heavyweight policy-makers of the Western realm.

    Instead, probably with the blessings and direction of his controllers (whoever they might be), he has virtually, unilaterally, declared war on Venezuela, a small, oil-rich country on the northern coast of South America. In fact, on Tuesday, September 2, following Trump’s direct order, a boat was fired upon by the US Navy off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, killing eleven crew members. This was done without warning, without any attempt to stop the vessel, any effort to arrest the crew and bring them to a court in the US where they could be tried and convicted of their crimes against humanity and receive “justice”. Note the quotation marks.

    All on Trump’s say-so. Yes, very presidential, if I may say so myself. In this, at least, he was consistent with his own words, “I’m the president. I can do whatever I want.” Well, now he’s a murderer…on several counts, as are the men and women who colluded with him and those who actually pulled the triggers. Now, in response to Venezuela’s response in which two of its warplanes buzzed a US destroyer, Trump has just issued another threat. “Don’t do that anymore or I will shoot you down.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-warns-any-venezuelan-plane-threatening-us-ships-will-be-shot-down

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-deploys-f-35s-puerto-rico-airfield-after-pair-venezuelan-jets-buzz-us-warship

    Supposedly, the boat which was fired upon was running drugs from Venezuela to…somewhere, and those drugs were guaranteed to find their way onto the streets of Miami, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, or points between and further afield. Supposedly, the drug runners were members of the “notorious” gang known as Tren de Aragua, vicious rapists and killers all, whose only goal was to degrade and destroy the fine, upstanding citizens of the above-named communities and points between and further afield. Yes, it is certain that, if Trump had not acted “presidentially”, the streets of America would have been thrown into chaos, confusion, degradation, and death, but today the people who live there can sleep peacefully at night, knowing that a heavily-armed SWAT team is not going to smash their front door in and shoot up the place, because there are no drugs inside. What a relief!

    Yeah, we have to fight them over there, so that we don’t have to fight them over here.

    OK, let’s cut to the chase here. This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. The land of innate human rights backed up by the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. All of us know this and we repeat it monotonously and mindlessly whenever the government, represented by the president (currently Trump), overrides The Supreme Law of the Land and tramples and abuses the citizenry. But, but, but…that’s not constitutional. That’s not allowed. That’s illegal. OK, tell that to your Congressperson or Senator the next time you see them…if you ever get a chance to see them, which isn’t likely unless they’re in your district stumping for re-election, at which time they will tell you anything to get you off their back AND get your vote in the upcoming election.

    1. Donald Trump, representing the US government, declared the crew members “criminal” and not worthy of life.
    2. Donald Trump, taking matters into his own hands, ordered them killed without recourse to any of the legalities which Make America Great.
    3. The boat was destroyed in international waters, on the high seas. This makes Trump a pirate, a modern-day one, to be sure, but absolutely no different in principle than other pirates throughout the ages.
    4. Trump has, in effect, declared war on Venezuela and its people, some of whom probably are vicious rapists, killers, and drug-runners. However, the highly-revered and worshipped Constitution insists that Congress must declare war and the president is bound by it. Despite this impediment, none of America’s wars since WW2 have been lawfully declared, they just somehow happened, usually because the president and his henchmen decided that they could do anything they wanted…and did, to the detriment of an enormous number of people world-wide, including Americans. Oh, and BTW, Congress which should have stepped in and stopped it, did nothing at all.

    If Trump sends the troops and gunboats into Venezuela to “arrest and neutralize” the drug-runners, especially the top dog, Nicholas Maduro, it is likely to immediately resemble the situation in Viet Nam during the “war” (undeclared) there. Venezuela is an ideal spot for a protracted guerilla war with rough, mountainous terrain, steaming rain forests, huge rivers, and a poverty-stricken population which might conclude they have nothing to lose except their lives in the battle against an invading hegemonic power. Even though the US would quickly gain air superiority and maintain control of the coast with its warships, the place is not suited for tank warfare nor would it be easily overrun by large armies, which the US cannot afford to lose.

    The best that Trump, representing the government, could hope for is that the Maduro regime (don’t you love that word, always used against our enemies, never our friends) would be destabilized and run out of town (or, better yet, into a maximum security prison in El Salvador), giving the US the opportunity to install a puppet government to its own liking, a proxy which would act as it was told to and would speedily sign over Venezuela’s vast mineral rights (oil) to ExxonMobil, Shell, and the like.

    It would be wise, however, to remember that Venezuela’s neighboring country, Colombia, suffered from a decades-long struggle which pitted a weak, centralized government against dedicated opposing guerillas, until they finally were able to come to an agreement and end the fighting. Would Venezuela be any different? Would ExxonMobil or Shell care? Would The Powers That Be who have unleashed Trump and sicced him onto a “crappy little country” which is only fit to be picked up and thrown against a wall? Would Trump himself care?

    What is really going on? I can think of three things without ever breaking a sweat.

    1. Trump and the West have lost the war (excuse me, Special Military Operation) in Ukraine. The Russians have won it. There is no stopping it without submitting to Vlad Putin’s demands, all of which have been known publicly for years.
    2. The war in Gaza (excuse me, Special Military Operation) is going badly for Israel and its constantly attentive, muscular, sycophantic groupie, the US State. Every day that Israel beats up, shoots down, tortures, rapes, and starves innocent people, mainly women and children, is another day in which world opinion increasingly turns against it. Like Ukraine, the war is lost but it cannot be admitted and will not be quit nor surrendered until the bitter end.
    3. Jeffrey Epstein. Ahhhhh! You thought I would never get there, didn’t you? It’s OK, you can exhale now. Yep, good ole Jeff is reaching out from beyond the grave (if he is actually dead which is not certain for sure) and causing havoc, panic, and consternation among the power-brokers who think that they had control of the narrative on this sordid affair. Do you believe that there is no list? Do you believe that Donald Trump is on that list? Do you believe that Ghislaine Maxwell is telling the truth? Do you believe that all the young girls who were supposedly seduced and manipulated willingly cooperated and that there were absolutely no victims among them? Do you believe that Thomas Massie is going to give up on his efforts to expose ALL the records held by the government?

    What is more probable is that Trump and the cronies around, beneath, and over him are scared to death, terrified of being exposed, and doing what they do best to distract the public by creating a diversion, the best diversion, the one most guaranteed to turn the attention of the public away from the issue–war. A war which will accomplish its purpose, meant to take the heat off the current crisis which is threatening severe consequences on people who have acted with impunity for decades, believing like Trump, that they can do whatever they want.

    Psalms 2 tells what happens when kings, rulers, and nations get too big for their britches. It’s not a good place to be.

    The Smell of Blood Money

    Roger MitchellLeave a comment

    Whoohoo! Happy days are here again.

    Europe To Spend $100BN It Doesn’t Have, To Buy Weapons America Doesn’t Have, To Arm Soldiers Ukraine Now Lacks

    This is the headline of an article on ZeroHedge which attempts to explain what happened in Washington yesterday between Donald Trump and the seven dwarves of Europe1 in their discussion of the situation in Ukraine.

    Here’s what Trump had to say after the meeting.

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    I had a very good meeting with distinguished guests, President
    Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron,
    of France, President Alexander Stubb, of Finland, Prime Minister
    Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United
    Kingdom, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,
    Friedrich Merz, President of the European Commission, Ursula
    von der Leyen, and Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, in
    the White House, which ended in a further meeting in the Oval
    Office. During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for
    Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various
    European Countries, with a coordination with the United States
    of America. Everyone is very happy about the possibility of
    PEACE for Russia/Ukraine. At the conclusion of the meetings, I
    called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a
    meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin
    and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will
    have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.
    Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been
    going on for almost four years. Vice President JD Vance,
    Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve
    Witkoff, are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine. Thank you for
    your attention to this matter!

    Yes, he should be happy and quite proud of himself because, just a few minutes later he said this in response to a question from a reporter.

    “We’re not giving anything. We’re selling weapons,”

    Spoken like a true hero and peacemaker, a very compassionate, loving way to make the stakeholders of the military-industrial complex (MIC) extremely happy. And richer than ever. Yes, the sale of weapons is really what counts in this matter. BLM! Bottom Lines Matter! The war in Ukraine can eventually be brought to an end–someday–AFTER we have milked this cash cow for as much as we can get out of it. Did it ever cross his mind that while he’s raking in the dough along with his cronies (partners-in-crime) that average, everyday people in Ukraine are being mercilessly slaughtered?

    The fact of the matter is that Donald (Colonel Bombast) Trump could end the war in Ukraine in one day, just as he promised he would while on the campaign trail. All he would have to do is to declare that the US would no longer write any more checks to Ukraine, it would no longer allow US weapons to be transferred to Ukraine (whether they were given or paid for), it would no longer use its intelligence “services” to coordinate and work with Ukraine, it would immediately drop the sanctions imposed on Russia, and demand that the EU follow in lockstep with his directive.

    Boom! End of war. But he won’t do that. We all heard that, right? “We’re not giving anything. We’re selling weapons.”

    Ain’t it grand?

    1. Starmer (UK), Macron (France), Merz (Germany), Meloni (Italy), Stubb (Finland), Rutte (NATO), and the smallest of them all, Ukraine’s own, Vlad Zelenskiy, plus the fairy godmother, Ursula von der Leyen, the head honcho of the European Commission, who can’t resist the temptation to keep the war going at any cost. ↩︎

    Colonel Bombast: “He Shouldn’t Have Said That.”

    Roger Mitchell4 Comments

    “AND I’M GOING TO SLAP HIM SILLY BECAUSE HE DID!”

    On Friday, August 1, Donald Trump stated that he had ordered two US nuclear submarines to be “repositioned in the appropriate areas” as a response to a statement made by Dimitry Medvedev, one of Vlad Putin’s close advisors and a former president of the Russian state.

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-nuclear-submarines-repositioned-medvedev-f8e9b870fa107f6b6209e7a22f8ada43

    This is high-stakes theater at its most hilarious, or it would be if it wasn’t also extremely dangerous for the entire world.

    So, really what did Medvedev say and why did Trump feel the need to respond so forcefully, not only with his rhetoric but also with the action described above?

    “Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10… He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war,” –Dimitry Medvedev

    To which, of course Trump couldn’t resist answering.


    “…tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” — Donald Trump

    All this culminated with his announcement that he had ordered the subs into position. What a joke! What a farce! What a circus! The comedy of this exceeds even that of the recent 12-day “war” with Iran which ended with the US strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities and Iran’s subsequent strike on al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, all of which were given advance notice so as to not let the situation escalate out of hand. Blow for show, in other words, akin to the ridiculous “sport” known as professional wrestling.

    The only problem is that we might all be blown to smithereens if something goes horribly wrong.

    1. Trump ordered two nuclear subs into the “appropriate area”, just in case. Well, just in case, what exactly?
    2. Are these subs nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed? This is a big difference and highly crucial. Nuclear-powered subs with conventional weapons are not the same as nuclear-armed subs which can take out an entire country with one salvo.
    3. Did the Pentagon actually send these subs to their new coordinates or was this “order” simply ignored because wiser heads decided not to follow it and only played along with the game, stroking Trump’s ego so he could feel like he’s really in control?
    4. Has Russia responded to Trump’s “repositioning” by doing some of their own? Did they already have subs in position somewhere off the eastern seaboard of the Atlantic Ocean, say, 500 miles east of New Jersey, ready at a moment’s notice to take out Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston? Is this a legitimate possibility?

    Trump, for all the good he has done in educating the average American about the dangers of being subservient to the Deep State, sounds like he has taken his own words to heart, believing that all he has to do is issue ultimatums, threats, and veiled insinuations at which everyone else, including his own closest enemies, will repent of their sins with fear and trembling. “B’God, those pesky Russians, especially Medvedev, had better shut their potty mouths and start listening to me. Or else!”

    The major problem with this is that he has offered up so much bullshit in the past that he has no credibility left on the world stage when he speaks. Remember that he promised to end the Ukraine War in twenty-four hours once he had gained the Oval Office? Yeah, well, things aren’t quite as simple as they appeared when he was playing to throngs of adoring audiences on the campaign trail.

    Trump, in my opinion, is increasingly seen as someone who can be ignored and sidelined. He is not consistent, does not act diplomatically, refuses to hold to his word even when it hurts, bluffs constantly, and does not hesitate to change course politically if he thinks it will benefit him. Compared to this, Vladimir Putin comes across as reasonable, calm, logical, unmoving, and steadfast.

    But, then, what should I expect? After all, I did compare Trump to a wrecking ball, appointed only to destroy what already is to clear the way for what will be. With all due respect to that, I am not disappointed. It is happening. In real time. And we get to watch it unfold.

    Hang on to your life. Trump isn’t going to.

    Face it, MAGA! The Man lied to You.

    Roger MitchellLeave a comment

    And you still act like a groupie?

    I am really confused. Why did Donald Trump spend so much time and energy on the campaign trail talking about releasing the Epstein files and then refusing to actually do it when he had the power to make it happen? Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are both small potatoes and it’s obvious that someone or something scared them s*itless. But Trump? He’s as big as they come and should have seen the way the wind was blowing, yet continued on with his endless, mindlessly bloviating promises to his supporters who ate them up like red meat thrown to a mad, ravenous pack of wild dogs. Something doesn’t add up, in my opinion. I don’t know what. Two things come to mind, though:

    1. Trump was completely clueless when he was on the trail and no one bothered to set him straight even though it was plainly evident he was going to triumph “bigly” over Kamala Harris and sweep into Washington with a huge, cohesive mandate to clean house, only to find out later, after the fact, that he couldn’t say anything at all, could not expose any of the putrid rotting stench emanating from the scandal, or,
    2. He understood all along what was going on and simply misled his followers (true believers, all), telling them what they wanted to hear, a.k.a., itching ears syndrome, knowing full-well that he would abandon them as soon as he could and do it in such a fashion that there would be no question about walking it back.

    I find it difficult to believe the first option. If he didn’t know, he should have. Trump has been in bed, so to speak, with the muckety-muck, high-powered, extremely wealthy, movers and shakers all his life. He had the overt backing of Miriam Adelson, an ardent Zionist, to the tune of $100 million tossed into his campaign budget. He was closeted with numerous other Zionist proponents and made his intentions toward Israel plain, earning himself the derogatory nickname, “Zion Don”. To say that none of these well-connected persons, among many others, had an inkling about Epstein’s (alleged) connections to Mossad and did not caution him to tone down the rhetoric is unlikely. Either they knew and kept quiet or they were also clueless.

    Given my opinion of government and political leaders, it is easier for me to assume, without proof, mind you, that he blatantly flat-out lied to gain votes and backing. Part of the game, you know. Anything goes. The end justifies the means. After all, the man does not have a reputation for honesty or honest dealing and has shown his utter contempt for anyone who dared to show even a smidgeon of resistance over his actions. Thomas Massie, for instance, the embodiment of America First, whom Trump has declared persona non grata over their differences on a budget bill. Or the millions of MAGA men and women he casually jettisoned when the notice on Epstein was given because they became upset at the news. Or the hundreds of J6’ers and their families that he let twist in the wind because it was convenient when he could have laid down the law and turned them loose forthwith.

    No, I have no problem at all saying that Trump deliberately lied to “his” people, the very ones whom he rode into the White House for the second time, or maybe the third, depending on who you ask. The only thing that adds a jarring, discordant note to my theory is that he appeared to be visibly agitated and angry (watch Marco Rubio’s eyes speak volumes while he says nothing at all) at the hearing which broke the news that Epstein had no client list, that there was no evidence of pedophilia, no blackmail, and that there would be no more investigations on the subject. “It is finished”, thundered the verdict, sealing the box closed forever, much as the Romans hoped to do when they rolled a massive stone over the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid after his crucifixion. (Note: see here for more similarities between Jesus Christ and Jeffrey Epstein)

    Why was Trump so angry? Why did he lash out at the reporter who dared to ask him a simple question about the files? If he was complicit with the scheme all along AND if he was an accomplished liar as I have asserted, it would seem logical that he would have simply blown this all off with a practiced air of aplomb and sangfroid. He most definitely was not as “cool as a cucumber” under the pressure. I cannot decide if his moral conscience was bubbling up to the surface and struggling to be let out or if he was truly livid at the fact that his word was being questioned and that the issue refused to die. Probably the second. If his name was Greta Thunberg, his response would have been “How dare you?”

    If he didn’t know, he was incompetent. If he did know, he was complicit. Either way, he deserves to be turned out of office and relegated to the “dustbin of history”. Officially, this would happen after the 2026 elections IF the Democrats manage to scrape together a majority of Congress, but this is not certain because it appears they are actively trying to collectively commit suicide and destroy the party. Constitutionally, it could happen IF J.D. Vance were to depose him with the strong support of Trump’s cabinet via the 25th Amendment, Section IV, which we were introduced to during the waning days of the Biden Administration. It does look, at least to my untrained eye, like he has visibly changed and grown old in the last few months and his speech and actions increasingly seem to be schizophrenic and erratic.

    Regardless, public trust in the federal government has been broken, probably irrevocably, and Epstein’s List may loom large in the history books as the straw that broke the camel’s back. I tend to agree with Charles Hugh Smith who seems to think so.

    “Perhaps when we look back on the Epstein Affair, we’ll understand that it broke the back of Americans’ faith in their political and law enforcement institutions. A great many Americans are not party loyalists; they voted for Donald Trump as the independent “outsider” who vowed to clean house, an independent who used one of the parties as a convenient platform.”

    “If even an “outsider” is incapable of cleaning house, then it’s hopeless, and if the two parties have failed us, then where do we turn? That is both an open question, and a taboo, for the corporate media is already churning out narrative control about the 2028 election being a “contest” (heh) between flimsy cardboard cutouts of failed ideological covers for systemic corruption.”

    “America’s elites aren’t above the law; there is no law. But don’t say it out loud; it’s an unbreakable taboo.”

    No, don’t say anything out loud. Just sweep it under the rug and hope that no one notices.

    Face it, MAGA. You’ve been lied to. And you took it.

    Jesus, Jeffrey, and Existential Paranoia

    Roger Mitchell3 Comments

    I have read that one of the reasons why Jeffrey Epstein’s (non-existent) list of wealthy, powerful men and women will not be released is that it would cause so much turmoil and chaos that the entire Western system of government could collapse. Under such a scenario, the Pullers-of-Strings who now control the corridors of power would be exposed to public ridicule, scorn, and hatred on such a level that they would be deposed and someone else would take their place, thus upending the entire apple cart.

    God forbid! We can’t have that! This is America, after all, the land of the fraudulent and the home of the buffoons.

    Well, bring it on. I’m down with that.

    “It is preferable that one man should die than that the whole nation should perish.” — John 11:50

    Two thousand years ago, the high priest Caiaphas used this argument to persuade his fellow priests and Pharisees that it would be better for the Jewish nation if Jesus Christ were to die, thus creating the rationale which they immediately pursued with single-minded zeal.

    “Then from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.” — John 11:53

    In this sense, Jeffrey Epstein and Jesus Christ are alike and Donald Trump is acting like Caiaphas, trying his dead-level best to quell an uprising which might very well cause the overturning of the nation, the death of the current power regime. If only Epstein would just die and be dead and go away forever, everything would be MAGA for all eternity. In Donald’s view, that is. The rest of us might beg to differ.

    The only problem is that Epstein, although being dead (?) for more than five years, simply won’t stay that way and his “resurrected presence” haunts The Powers That Be (whoever they might be, Trump is only a puppet on a string) to this day. Jesus was dead for three days and His resurrection and Presence have created consternation, worry, and fear among rulers and tyrants ever since.

    The truth cannot be buried forever. Sooner or later, it will be brought to life and the agents of death have no power to stop that from happening. In fact, the more they try to suppress it, the more pressure is brought to bear on the issue. Eventually, all will be known. No telling how long it will take, but Jeffrey Epstein will “out” and the world will finally know what is actual and real about his “little black book”, whose names are written therein, and what their deeds amounted to. My guess is that once Epstein’s List has been made fully public, JFK, the USS Liberty incident, and 9/11 will follow soon after.

    Like that of Jesus’ day, the world paradigm is changing. Trump, like Caiaphas, is fighting a losing battle.

    There are a lot of “conspiracy theories” wandering around about Epstein’s cadre of associates, all of whom plausibly deny that they had sex with any of his girls, many of whom were under the legal age of consent. Take your pick. I’m not going to regurgitate them more than I already have (see the opening paragraph above). What I am going to mention is that someone, arguably more powerful than Trump, got to him and his staff in some “yuuge” way, enough so that they lied through their rattling, clattering, clacking teeth about the issue. Just watching their body language and the way they reacted to comments or questions was enough to convince me. The real question is “whodunit”? I don’t think it was a coincidence that Trump did a 180 turn as soon as he walked Bibi Netanyahu out the door of the Oval Office and kissed him goodbye. There are no coincidences in politics. Draw your own conclusions from that.

    While there are no coincidences in politics, there certainly is irony, and what I find deliciously ironic is that history, which doesn’t repeat itself, appears to be rhyming. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day were the ones who openly schemed to have Him crucified, believing that He wouldn’t be able to “stir up” more trouble if he were dead and buried. Wouldn’t it be sweet if their modern-day compadres (those who will not be named, use your imagination to determine who I mean) were the ones to stifle and suffocate Epstein to death (even though he’s (allegedly) already dead), in the vain attempt to keep him (or at least his List) from creating extreme difficulty, hardship, pain, and suffering for them and their untold, unlimited riches and power.

    The more I think about this, the more excited I get.

    “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. — James 5: 1-4

    “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure.” — Psalm 2: 2-5

    I would not want to be in their shoes. Nothing would be worth that.

    Epstein Revisited: Random Thoughts on the Debacle

    Roger Mitchell1 Comment

    “Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later.” –1 Timothy 5:24

    Jeffrey Epstein is gone, so it is said, and he has been preceded by widespread judgment about his evident sins. There are those whose sins have not yet been made evident, but their time is coming. Those sins may be covered up and secreted away for a time, but sooner or later, the evidence will be brought into the light. They cannot be hidden forever.

    How do these people sleep at night? With everything that is going on in the current Epstein saga, it would seem that they must be frantic, wondering how and when their own “sins” are going to be exposed for the whole world to see. This explains why there is so much time, effort, and expense being implemented to keep the whole affair under very tight wraps.

    Donald Trump and his administration have lit a fire which will not be easily extinguished. My opinion is that it will not be, but will burn and burn until the whole landscape is scorched and blackened. Blatantly and deliberately lying about everything to do with this does nothing except add more fuel to the fire. Refusing to allow “transparency” to do its work does nothing except make people more curious and generates what might be called a feeding frenzy. Call it the Streisand Effect.

    “The Streisand Effect, also known as the Barbra Streisand Syndrome, refers to the phenomenon where attempts to suppress, hide, or censor information result in increased public attention and dissemination of that information. The term originated from an incident in 2003 when Barbra Streisand sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for publishing an aerial photograph of her Malibu home, which inadvertently drew far more attention to the image than it would have otherwise received.”

    “The effect is often attributed to psychological reactance, where people become more motivated to seek out information that is deliberately hidden or restricted. This phenomenon has been observed in various contexts, including legal battles, online censorship, and corporate attempts to manage public perception. For example, when companies or individuals try to remove content from the internet, it often leads to the content becoming more widely shared and discussed.”

    “Other notable examples include the case of Sci-Hub, where the founder’s efforts to make academic papers freely available led to increased attention and support for the platform despite legal challenges. Similarly, attempts by organizations like the Church of Scientology to censor information about Tom Cruise resulted in greater public interest and dissemination of the content.”

    “The Streisand Effect highlights the challenges of controlling information in the digital age, where the act of suppression can often amplify the very information it seeks to conceal.” — from a Brave AI search

    No amount of frantic shoveling is going to bury this monster. Trump and his team would be better off if they just simply told the truth and let the chips fall where they would. The chances of this happening, of course, are slim to none, as these people, their associates, acquaintances, and handlers have no knowledge about the timeless wisdom which encourages people to,

    “Confess your sins to one another…so that you may be healed.” — James 5:16

    Who is the big winner in all this? Not Trump, Bondi, Bongino, nor Patel. They are tarnished forever. However, there is one person who appears (at least to me) likely to benefit greatly from this debacle and the visible rending of the MAGA movement: Thomas Massie. Remember how Trump vowed to “primary” Massie because of his resistance to the “Big, Beautiful Bill”? If Massie plays this right, he can parlay the anger, antipathy, and feeling of betrayal against Trump into another landslide victory. All he has to do is keep the incident openly in front of his constituents and encourage the “backsliders” to join with him. Between now and the 2026 primary, this will (should) play a “yuuuge” part in Massie’s campaign.

    It was only a year ago that Kamala Harris was attacked from all sides because she did not call out Joe Biden’s obvious (evident) mental deterioration and take action to remove him from the office. How long will it be before J.D. Vance is roasted for the same “sin”, because it is clearly evident that Trump is rapidly losing it. He cannot maintain a coherent narrative or program, constantly changes his story or policy for no good reason, and appears to be increasingly schizophrenic. Trump is becoming completely unhinged and Vance, for the good of the country and the world, will have to step in, sooner or later, and guide him off the stage–calmly and quietly if possible, but forcefully if necessary.

    If the Democrats regain control of Congress in 2026, impeachment proceedings against Trump will almost certainly follow and the likelihood that he will be run out of office increases dramatically. Vance, by acting pre-emptively could eliminate this possibility and set himself up in good shape for a 2028 presidential run. I have no doubt, politics being politics1, that he has considered this.

    In spite of all this, many people will continue on with their worship and adulation of Trump, believing fervently that he is The Answer to all the problems which face themselves and America. What will it take to bring them to a point where they are able to see the light, to wash the mud out of their eyes, to confess their sins of idolatry? I do not know, but I suspect it will not be pleasant nor wealth-generating.

    These are interesting times. May you prosper and succeed even as you live in them.

    1. I describe politics as the practice of getting what you want by manipulating other people and is always at their expense, to their detriment, which is an adaptation of this quote by Frederic Bastiat–“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else.” — https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2024/10/19/the-practice-of-politics-continued/ See also here. ↩︎

    Officially Confirmed: Epstein Did(n’t) Kill Himself

    Roger Mitchell7 Comments

    “Never believe anything (in politics) until it has been officially denied.”

    By this time, you probably are aware that an “official” statement has been made concerning Jeffrey Epstein, the front-man of the criminal blackmailing scheme which (allegedly) video-taped numerous high and mighty men of “elite” status engaging in sex acts with (allegedly) under-age girls. According to this memo, Epstein did not traffic any under-age (or over-age, for that matter) girls or women. He did not blackmail anyone. There are no lists of clients who availed themselves of his “services”.

    Officially, Epstein has been exonerated from all charges, rumors, insinuations, and any type of misinformation and disinformation which anyone might care to promote and expound on. Officially, he has been declared a saint and all efforts to sully his name will be squelched. Officially, that is. Actually, I’m quite surprised that they didn’t deny the existence of the “Lolita Express” which Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Prince Andrew, among others, including Trump, did not ride on.

    Most importantly, according to this report, he really did kill himself, contrary to the headline of this article. Committed suicide. By himself. With assistance from no one. This, despite all the circumstantial evidence which shows that there is a three-day dead cat in the woodpile somewhere which stinks to high heaven. Video cameras which didn’t work in a high-security prison. Video which is clipped and cropped mysteriously at exactly the moment in question. Guards who fell asleep and did not check on him every 30 minutes in flagrant violation of the rules. Cellmates which were transferred to another location the day previous to the incident. Broken bones in his neck which are more representative of strangulation by force rather than voluntary suicide by hanging.

    Nothing to see here, move on.

    Donald Trump, AG Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel and his right-hand man Dan Bongino have all come out and courageously verified what everyone knows deep down to be the truth, i.e., that THERE IS NOTHING TRUE AT ALL about the rumors and speculation surrounding Epstein and his girl Friday, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is actually serving a twenty year sentence for, get this, trafficking under-age girls for sex with powerful men who were on the list which doesn’t exist. No, there is nothing true about all this.

    Now, that last sentence is absolutely true. The whole thing is a farce, a lie, a cover-up. It ranks at least as high as the JFK assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963, in which Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman and one of his bullets changed course abruptly in four different directions. The major difference between these two instances is that there are still many people who swear by the Warren Commission report about Kennedy, while today virtually no one believes the line about Epstein, even if they do parrot the “official” narrative and carry water for those who pull their strings.

    There is one other similarity between JFK and Epstein. The case is closed. Closed. Officially closed. There will be no more investigation, no more fact-finding ventures, no more questioning, no more publicity, no more “conspiracy theorizing”. The administration of Donald Trump and Co. has issued its last report and there will be no release of any files pertaining to the matter. In due time, it will all be forgotten.

    Except that it won’t be. There is simply too much about this that doesn’t pass the smell test. Anyone with a sense of reason, common sense, and a nose for the truth can discern that we have been lied to…again, this time with vehemence, bigly, as Trump would say. Just a few days ago, Trump aggressively reacted to a journalist who asked him a question about the sordid mess. Bondi testified to a “list of clients” which was on her desk in February waiting for her attention, but somehow it vanished within three months. Patel and Bongino went into office vowing to overhaul the FBI and cleanse it of corruption, but changed their tune as soon as they were installed.

    And the beat goes on.

    The one good thing to come out of this is that people who once would have believed whatever they were told by the authorities can now see the brazen lie for what it is. A brazen lie. We know that they are lying. They know that we know they are lying. We know that they know that we know they are lying. The beat goes on. However, with each passing day, as more and more people express their skepticism and disbelief, it becomes more difficult for those in power to maintain the farce. We have been lied to so much, so many times, about so many things that no one believes them anymore. My father had a story about a man he knew who had the reputation of a liar. If he came by and said, “Good morning”, you would go to bed, thinking it was night. This is where we are at today.

    Remember Aesop’s Fable about the boy who cried, “Wolf!” and the beating he got when the townspeople finally got tired of his shenanigans? Why should we expect anything different to happen here?

    Government and its attendant institutions have lost the trust of the American citizenry. Blind faith in the system has been shattered and will never be restored. Donald Trump has shot his bolt…and missed. From here on out, he will be increasingly irrelevant until he disappears like Pam Bondi’s “client list”.

    “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold he was no more; indeed, I sought him, but he could not be found.” — Psalm 37: 35-36

    Try as much as I can, I am unable to call to mind anyone at present who does not spread himself more than Donald Trump. When it comes to calling attention to himself, he has no equal. In his world, there is only One and He knows it. Reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar, who was also compared to a tree and was cut down to size. See Daniel 4 for the story.

    Victimization: Running Out of Steam

    Roger MitchellLeave a comment

    I like to think of myself as caring and compassionate, especially toward those who are beaten down and needy through no fault of their own. I have no problem with slipping a Benjamin into the hand of an elderly widow or young mother who I am certain is not able to pay her electric bill. Yet, there are some things which simply cause me to rebel, to resist. One of these is the claim by some that they are eternal victims and that everyone must excuse their behavior because…

    Well, you know.

    Blacks in America are pretty good at this. They (or their ancestors, or perhaps only some) were made slaves by white people centuries ago and, due to that unfortunate tidbit of history, ought to have everything handed to them on a silver or gold platter today. Never mind that the ones who enslaved them (or their ancestors, or perhaps only some of them) were probably also black. Never mind that the term, Slav, which classifies a middle-European race, likely sprang from the fact that white people from that region were probably also “slaves”. Never mind that the black ancestors who were enslaved have long been dead, as have been their “masters”, and that there is no connection between myself and a black man in San Francisco or Atlanta as a result of that specific situation. Everyone knows they are victims and must be compensated.

    Enough of that! Let’s get to the real meat here.

    Earlier today, I watched a short “news” brief by ABC on the retaliation by Iran because of the Israeli strikes on that country on June 13. Friday the 13th. Exactly sixty-one days after President Donald (Cap’n Warp Speed) Trump had told the Iranians they had sixty days to conform and comply with his nuclear “negotiations”. If they didn’t, well, at least he warned them of the terror and suffering that was to come.

    Anyway, ABC had a reporter on the ground in Bet Yam, a community which had received numerous missile strikes from the Iranians. (Where the heck is Iron Dome when you need it?) One of the complaints was that children, at least two, had been killed. Let’s be real clear about this, at least two Israeli children had been killed from the missile strikes and, for that, we ought to be outraged. Yet, there was not a word about the thousands of Palestinian children who have been coldly slaughtered in the name of “security” and “Greater Israel”, even though it is (and can be) completely documented. Nothing said at all about the Iranian children who died as a result of Israel’s aggressive action.

    No! NO, NO, NO! Our children are dying!! Ours, not theirs. We ought to be the ones who are sympathized with, pitied, and something must be done about it!!!

    Pat Benatar had something to sing about this. “I’m going to harden my heart…”

    Truth is, I have trouble with ginning up any sympathy for the Israeli claim, because I know that the Israeli State is killing, has killed, an untold number of Palestinian or Iranian children. I can have pity for them, but…that’s about as far as it goes. The problem is that they have been claiming to be “victims of circumstance” for as long as I can remember, at least since the “oppression” in Egypt during the time of Moses, some 3500 years ago. How long does one have to be a victim before it becomes embedded into the DNA and bloodline?

    Remember Pinnochio? The fox and the cat?

    Is this wrong? Do I have a bad attitude? Am I in need of a readjustment in some camp somewhere?

    I can, and do, feel sadness at the violent deaths of two Israeli children, but I also recognize and understand that this is payment received for the evil, violent, murderous behavior exhibited, pursued, and acted upon, by decades of Israeli leadership and society, which knew (know) only one thing: violence for the sake of power is to be pursued to the ultimate end, which is death. All that matters is that we win, no matter how much it costs, nor how many others have to die so that we can achieve our goal, our end. If some of those who die are our own, well…collateral damage.

    “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” — Jesus Christ, as recorded in Luke 6:38.

    Elon Musk: Honest Outrage or Play-acting?

    Roger Mitchell3 Comments

    Perhaps I was too hard on Elon Musk. Perhaps. Time will tell. But, he’s a big boy and can handle a little bit of honest opinion, truthful or not.

    Nevertheless, I still think my criticism has validity and this article bears that out. Musk is a businessman who tried to operate in Washington under business-like protocols and was screwed as a result. It bears repeating–government is not a business nor can it be run like a business. I do give him credit for discovering that, however, and hope that he will continue to entertain the notion and allow it to guide his future. His outrage at the Republican version of out-of-control government spending appears to be, seems to be, heartfelt and sincere. Unlike his erstwhile boss, Donald Trump, who simply cannot resist owning it.

    “Passing THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL is a Historic Opportunity to turn our Country around,” Trump posted on social media. He urged senators Monday “to work as fast as they can to get this Bill to MY DESK before the Fourth of JULY.”

    There is nothing ambiguous about this bill. It will raise federal spending by a huge amount, increases the deficit, and raises the so-called “debt ceiling” (a misnomer which means nothing since it is ignored continually). Granted that there are some concessions (No Tax on Tips, for instance), but the fact remains that the entire spectacle is a smoke-and-mirrors show, orchestrated entirely by the Republican Party and Donald Trump, which will do absolutely nothing to slow down or stop America’s headlong plunge into the bottomless pit of bankruptcy and fiscal destruction.

    Yeah, but…! Yeah, but…!

    “And the beat goes on. The beat goes on.” — Sonny and Cher

    In my opinion, Donald Trump is like the character, Baron Bomburst, in the movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, except that I think the moniker, Colonel Bombast, would be more appropriate. It will take an enormous amount of positive change on his part to persuade me otherwise. Elon Musk, though, may have made a breakthrough with me and should he run for President in 2028 (if there is an election), I might decide to get on board.

    But, no, probably not. I’m in the process of cleaning myself up and, regardless how you might portray it, politics is dirty.