(cont'd from above) But seemingly, the Trilateral Commission’s drive to begin reforms is more immediate than four years into the future. Amidst supposed authoritarian regimes and the breakdown of the international order, they believe themselves to be ideally placed to deal with ‘global ills‘: The Trilateral Commission is well-poised to play a vital role in this revitalization effort, and seeks to once again become an analytical home for assessing the stresses on the advanced democracies, offering solutions for dealing with them, and catalyzing cooperation among these countries on global economic, political, and security matters. As noted in the brochure, one of the purposes of creating the Trilateral Commission back in 1973 was to ‘buttress a beleaguered trading order.’ When considering the rise in political protectionism, trade is at the forefront of the discussion. As well as the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU, and the ongoing trade conflict between the U.S. and China, there is now the added element of the Coronavirus which threatens to restrict global supply chains. Taken together, it is a melting pot of developing crises. Not surprisingly, the Commission considers itself ‘uniquely well-suited to address the many challenges that are common to advanced democracies and to spur greater cooperation across them‘: It is the only organization to bring all the affected countries together in this trilateral structure, positioning it well to connect experts, institutions, and other entities to diagnose what is straining these democracies and to prescribe steps to shore them up. By coincidence or otherwise, in detailing how the international structure of the Commission is capable of meeting ‘pressing global problems‘, one of the examples given for this is in dealing with pandemics. Nuclear proliferation, climate change and protectionism are also recognised as problems. As I have written about previously, the roots of the Commission stem from the field of banking. Founder David Rockefeller used to be the chairman of Chase Manhattan bank, and at one time eight members of the board at Chase were members of Rockefeller’s Commission. A look at the membership list for 2020 shows that the Commission remains largely populated by corporate interests within the banking, oil and media sectors. You will also find as part of the membership former Prime Ministers and members of national parliaments. In the UK one of the most notable examples is Keir Starmer, who is currently running to be the next leader of the Labour Party. Michael Bloomberg, who is running to be the Democrat candidate in the U.S. election, is also a member. What began as an elitist organisation remains so today given that is remains dominated by the CEO’s, chairmen and representatives of the some of the biggest corporations and political jurisdictions on the planet. At a special event in 1998 to mark 25 years of the Trilateral Commission, a list of financial supporters from 1973 to 1998 was published to show names such as Exxon Corporation, AT&T Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, The First National Bank of Chicago, Morgan Stanley & Co and Goldman Sachs. A list for the present day is not readily available. Putting that to one side, in devising a ‘new, more focused mission‘, the Trilateral Commission has identified a handful of themes in which it plans to return to regularly. One of these is populism. If the Commission are signalling that populism will be a leading theme of theirs going forward, it suggests that the resurgence in nationalism and protectionism still has some way to run. When you read between the lines they are anticipating that the ramifications of populism will see the fracturing of the international based order, and so will require the rejuvenation of global bodies e.g. greater centralisation of powers, to deal with. Another interesting statement made by the Commission is that they are ‘also identifying issues that can be advanced by its mix of policy and business leaders and do not necessarily require the adoption by national governments to have an impact.’ Tied into the whole narrative of the breakdown of the ‘rules based global order‘ is how national administrations risk becoming impotent in meeting international challenges. This passage may be suggesting that in the future the traditional model of government legislation – often maligned for not being decisive or willing enough to combat issues such as climate change – could be bypassed in favour of global governance. A world where corporate interests in step with reformed global institutions become in effect an international legislature. This theory is perhaps further reinforced when the Commission states that they will now ‘focus on tending to the strains that compromise the abilities of today’s advanced democracies to collectively tackle global dilemmas.’ It is my belief that without these ‘strains‘, the Commission does not have sufficient grounds to be able to justify advancing their sphere of influence. The brochure leaves us in no doubt that the Commission is ‘remaking itself‘. One of the ways it wants to do this is through ‘injecting new, innovative prescriptions into the national debate and governmental process‘ to achieve ‘better domestic and foreign policy outcomes.’ With numerous global media outlets represented on the Commission, along with significant corporate interests, they appear well placed to begin fashioning these ‘prescriptions‘ and directing future public discourse through the mediums of the national press and social media. After all, within the membership are journalists from the UK, Europe and the U.S., a link that makes disseminating information from the Trilateral level down to the general population a much easier task. This will not be the last example we learn about of global institutions seeking wide scale reforms amidst rising geopolitical instability. The greater level of chaos that is inflicted upon nation states will only strengthen the hand of the Trilateral Commission and others to supersede national sovereignty in favour of globally devised solutions. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trilateral-commission-using-crisis-opportunity-reform
Violent Maduro Socialists Open Fire On President Juan Guaidó During March in Venezuela – 16-Year-Old Boy Suffers Gunshot Wound Violent armed groups of Maduro Socialists opened fire the caravan of President Juan Guaidó in Barquisimeto, Venezuela on Saturday. A 16-year-old boy, Yorvis Lucena, was injured with a shot in the leg during the attack in Lara state. As published by @VzlaAutonoma, they fired on the truck where the president loaded Guaidó was transported by orders of the regime governor Carmen Meléndez. Human Rights defender Tamara Suju reported that the responsibility for the attack lies directly on the Maduro regime. The perpetrators were paramilitaries that are part of the PSUV Socialist Party, together with SEBINagent. On other hand, the President Guaidó said seeing the dictatorship point at me and our people neither scares me nor scares us. Guaido added, “When I entered this I knew what I was exposed to.” Venezuelans maintain a permanent struggle against Maduro’s socialist regime. Therefore, violent attacks and intimidation are part of the obstacles the opposition faces to get the tyrant out. Socialism as an idea today travels the streets of the world trying to influence the citizens of other countries with the intention of destroying peace and people’s freedoms. Also, the President Donald Trump at CPAC on the policies of the US left: “They want to turn the US into a large-scale Venezuela. We will never let it happen.” Finally in a publication @jguaido warned the dictatorship that killing him will not stop this fight. I placed my life at the service of this cause. Said Guaido, “If something happens to me, someone would take my place and Freedom will find its way.” https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/20...ezuela-16-year-old-boy-suffers-gunshot-wound/
Saudi Arabia right now Saudi authorities used pesticides to protect plants, but ended up poisoning 10,000 camels who ate the plants, killing 100s of camels. While locust problem continues https://t.co/AXHjxdkTp9 (https://twitter.com/Souria4Syrians/status/1231327494348951553?s=03)
https://www.businessinsider.com/nav...practice-convoy-operations-in-atlantic-2020-2 For the first time since the Cold War, the Navy is practicing to lead a convoy across the Atlantic Christopher Woody Feb 29, 2020, 9:27 AM The Defender-Europe 2020 exercise will be the largest deployment of US-based forces to Europe in 25 years, with some 20,000 soldiers deploying from the US to join another 17,000 troops from 17 other countries. The exercise will take place in April and May, and to get some of those soldiers and their gear to Europe, the US Military Sealift Command cargo ship USNS Benavidez, US-flagged merchant vehicle carriers MV Resolve and MV Patriot, are already sailing across the Atlantic, escorted by guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf. Convoys are nothing new for the Navy, but it's something the service hasn't focused on since World War II. Now, as the US military reorients toward a potential clash with another sophisticated enemy, it's flexing that muscle again. "We obviously would practice this a lot in World War II. After that, not so much, but we still did practice it," Cmdr. Troy Denison, director of current operations for US 2nd Fleet, told reporters on a phone call Friday. "But the last one we did was in 1986, so this is really the first time in quite a while that we've conducted a convoy operation." A US Army armored personnel carrier is loaded on to Military Sealift Command's chartered vehicle carrier MV Resolve in Beaumont, Texas, February 20, 2020. US Navy/Bill Mesta Military Sealift Command ships and US-flagged merchant vessels will move 1.3 million square feet of US Army equipment to the exercise. "In any sort of contested scenario or wartime scenario, over 90% of the combat power, the cargo, that gets from the United States over to the theater of operations is taken by sealift ... controlled by the Military Sealift Command, both through its organic assets and contract and commercial assets," Kim Harriss, supervisory marine transportation specialist with Military Sealift Command Atlantic, said on the call. Sailing ahead of the Vella Gulf, Benavidez, and the cargo ships were the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its strike group, with P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft and a US submarine, which "cleared the maritime battle space," 2nd Fleet said in a release. The whole exercise is meant to "simulate an opposed transit, testing the fleets' abilities to safely cross the Atlantic while testing new ways of conducting a convoy in today's environment," the release said. "An opposed transit is essentially a transit where you're likely or possibly going to encounter the enemy," Denison said. "In this particular case, there are stimulated and real enemy assets out there that the Benavidez and the Vella Gulf will encounter as they transit across the Atlantic," Denison added, using "real enemy" to refer to live opponents rather than real-world threats. "There is an anti-submarine warfare aspect to it as well as an anti-surface warfare aspect of it," Denison said. Contract workers secure A1 Abrams tanks inside the USNS Benavidez in Beaumont, Texas, in support of DEFENDER-Europe 20, February 22, 2020. Kimberly Spinner/Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command The Eisenhower strike group sailed a few days ahead of the convoy to "sanitize the area" and "ensure no submarines or surface units were there to interfere with the convoy," Denison said, adding that the the simulated enemy was then reset "so the convoy could also have an encounter with them ... and react." The Eisenhower strike group "went into the simulated operating environment in which there were air, surface, submarine forces that were arrayed to attack the strike fleet," Capt. Andrew Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the Vella Gulf, said on the call. "That whole scenario was such that they were to clear the area for the sea lines of communication to be open and available for Vella Gulf and the two MSC ships to transit through safely," Fitzpatrick added. The Vella Gulf and the cargo ships it's accompanying "are prepared to thwart any sorts of aggressive behavior that we're confronted with, whether they're aircraft, surface ships, submarines, and other types of attack, which does include cyber warfare," Fitzpatrick said. Shaking the rust off Military Sealift Command's roll-on/roll-off ship USNS Benavidez in the Atlantic, February 17, 2020. US Navy/MCS 3rd Class Jordan R. Bair That reorientation toward facing a sophisticated enemy — Russia and China — is part of "great-power competition," which the 2018 National Defense Strategy named as the primary concern in US national security. An element of that competition is what Adm. James Foggo, commander of US Naval Forces in Europe and Africa, has described as the "fourth battle of the Atlantic," referring to the environment that NATO navies share with an increasingly active Russian navy. Russia's navy isn't what it was during the Cold War, but US commanders have repeatedly expressed concern about its submarines, which are getting quieter, gaining longer endurance, and, with sub-launched missiles, are increasingly able to strike at European capitals and vital infrastructure, like ports. Because of those subs and other Russian ships, Navy officials now see the Atlantic as contested. "Our ships can no longer expect to operate in a safe haven on the East Coast or merely cross the Atlantic unhindered," Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander of US 2nd Fleet, which oversees the western and North Atlantic, said this month in Washington, DC. US Transportation Command, which oversees Military Sealift Command, spends a lot of time thinking about this "complex environment," its commander, Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, said in January. US soldiers and contracted mariners assigned to USNS Benavidez guide an M1 Abrams tank into a cargo hold, February 21, 2020. US Navy/MCS 3rd Class Jordan R. Bair "How that crisis would evolve would definitely affect how we would approach that, but we're working a number of initiatives, frankly, and key is the full integration of the logistics warfighting function," Lyons said at an Atlantic Council event. "In the Defender 20 exercise that's coming up here shortly, there's a concerted effort ... to work inside the maritime component, even though it's largely a land exercise in Europe, to synchronize our efforts with 2nd Fleet and 6th Fleet to facilitate the sealift move across the transatlantic," Lyons said. Sixth Fleet oversees naval activity around Europe. "Those are skills ... [that] are probably a little rusty, right?" Lyons added. "We just haven't done that in a long time, so we're integrating it into our exercises. We're getting better fidelity on how our adversaries see the mobility enterprise, and there's a full-court press on in this particular area and how we would anticipate contested environments." Ensuring good coordination between 2nd and 6th fleets is one of the larger goals of the exercise, but it's also focused on interoperability between ships, Fitzpatrick said — "working through and identifying challenges, not just operating with Navy ships, Military Sealift Command ships, and contractors, but also being able to communicate ... so if we actually have to execute this in a real-time event that we're better prepared to do that." A standing goal for military sealift command is getting equipment to port on time, Capt. Hans E. Lynch, commodore of Military Sealift Command Atlantic, said on the call. USS Vella Gulf, right, MV Resolve, center, and USNS Benavidez in the Atlantic, February 28, 2020. US Navy/MCS 3rd Class Andrew Waters For this exercise, Lynch added, "just doing the planning with larger Navy was one of our primary goals, and then execution, that's also key," as is "identifying the critical gaps that we have in either our planning process or our equipment." One of the hurdles military sealift ships face is talking to those around them. "It can be very challenging for us to even communicate with ships that are right next to each other," Lynch said. "We're relying almost entirely on commercial services for our communication. We don't have nearly the same robust communication" as Navy ships and have to use iridium phones or other networks with less bandwidth, Lynch said. "Right now, it's relatively fragile infrastructure that we're using to the best of our ability, and so far, we think that we'll be able to properly [command and control] the forces, but we have a lot more individual effort by our watch standers than what you would normally have on ... a US Navy ship," Lynch said. Finding those gaps in its planning, materials, and people is the main concern for Military Sealift Command, and it's something it's already been able to do. "I think that we're already there in a lot of ways," Lynch said. "Whether or not we're found by opposition forces ... is almost in a way secondary for us at MSC."
https://apnews.com/9a1b50c60545ae703817aa5a8fef730f US says Chinese ship fired laser at American aircraft By LOLITA C. BALDORFebruary 27, 2020 WASHINGTON (AP) — A Chinese Navy ship fired a laser at a U.S. surveillance aircraft flying over the Philippine Sea west of Guam, the Navy said Thursday, acknowledging the incident more than a week after it happened. The Navy said the People’s Republic of China naval destroyer lased the American P-8A Poseidon aircraft in an act the U.S. deemed unsafe and a violation of international codes and agreements. The statement from U.S. Pacific Fleet said the laser was detected by sensors on the aircraft, but was not visible to the naked eye. “Weapons-grade lasers could potentially cause serious harm to aircrew and mariners, as well as ship and aircraft systems,” the Navy said. The incident took place about 380 miles west of Guam. The Poseidon crew is deployed to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. The squadron conducts routine operations, maritime patrol, and reconnaissance in the Pacific Fleet area.
K., The destruction looks horrible. Prayers for those who were in the tornado's path. Prayers for those injured or killed by it and their families.+ Edited to add:
My wife and daughter's school was destroyed in the tornado. Our neighborhood was spared (still without power), but there's definitely a lot of destruction around.
Very sorry to hear but glad they are safe. I heard the Church of the Assumption was badly damaged. Was sad to hear as that was our go to church on our trips up to Nashville. Prayers for the souls lost
Kyle, I'm so sorry about the destruction but so thankful that you and your family are ok. Thank God! +
Satan exposed . . . “I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price!” — Chuck Schumer at a pro-choice rally near SCOTUS as the court hears arguments about Louisiana’s abortion Laws.
Chilling isnt it. Lord Jesus may these threats and curses boomerang back on those hurling them. May they fall into the pits they have dug. May your Precious Blood cover Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh. Through Mary's Immaculate Heart we pray in Jesus's Holy Name.
Caol55 said: Kyle, I'm so sorry about the destruction but so thankful that you and your family are ok. Thank God! Prayers for all affected! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news...efies-ban-to-say-mass-faces-prosecutors-wrath ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - An 88-year-old priest is being sanctioned for celebrating Sunday Mass as local authorities with the tacit consent of the church's hierarchy are using heavy-handed tactics to crack down on priests defying the ban on public Masses in coronavirus-hit parts of Northern Italy. Father Antonio Lunghi was reported to the public prosecutor for offering Mass in the parish church of Castello d'Agogna, a village of just over a thousand inhabitants in the province of Pavia. Sources say that the ringing of the church bells gave away the "clandestine Mass" and a number of locals reportedly complained to Mayor William Grivel. Mayor Grivel says he was forced to forward the complaint to the Carabinieri (military police) of Mortara station. The Carabinieri sent the complaint to the public prosecutor. Even though only eight Catholics were present at the 11 a.m. Holy Eucharist, the controversy erupted because both regional ordinances and diocesan regulations have banned the public celebration of the sacraments. However, a source from the region told Church Militant that the "law" that was broken is a DPCM (Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers) issued on March 1. The DPCM "is an administrative act that does not have the force of law and which, like ministerial decrees, has the character of a secondary regulatory source and is used to implement rules or pass regulations," the source explained. The March 1 DPCM orders the: suspension, until March 8, 2020, of all organized events, of a non-ordinary nature, as well as events in public or private places, including those of a cultural, recreational, sporting and religious nature, including if held in closed places but open to the public, such as, for example, major events, cinemas, theaters, discos [and] religious ceremonies. "The Conferenza Episcopale Italiana (Conference of Italian Bishops), decided to apply it by totally forbidding public Mass," the source lamented. Because it was a place of great suffering, it will be a place of great blessings.Tweet "Someone followed Christ's orders not to abandon the flock to the wolves," Catholic campaigner Dr. Silvana De Mari told Church Militant, commending the courage of Fr. Lunghi. "As long as one pastor challenges authority to celebrate Mass, a Mass at the expense of zero contagion, it means that the forces of the underworld did not prevail," she added, pointing out that "cinemas, bars and buses are open and functioning," despite the so-called prohibition. "Few believers in a very large church pose a zero risk of contagion," the medical doctor stated, hence "priests should have asked the bishops to have the Masses multiplied: the risk is reduced to zero by multiplying the Masses, one every hour, and by imposing a limited number: only 20 believers at Mass, the others in the following Mass," Dr. Mari suggested. Speaking to Church Militant, 93-year-old Holy Cross missionary Br. Harold Naudet expressed his bewilderment at the response of the Italian hierarchy in the face of the coronavirus crisis. Brother Naudet shared the experience of the Holy Cross Brothers' and Sisters' mission to New Orleans from 1849 onwards: The missionaries, along with the locals, suffered from malaria, epidemics of yellow fever, cholera and other diseases. The founder and first superior general, Fr. Basil Moreau, bore every loss as a God-given cross. Many Holy Cross priests, brothers and sisters as well as children from orphanages started by the order were struck down. The general council met with the superior general and favored pulling the Holy Cross mission out of New Orleans. "But at the end of the meeting, Fr. Moreau put his head down in his hands for a few minutes, then looked up and said that since God demanded so much from Holy Cross in Louisiana, this must surely be a sign that God planned great things for our future there," Naudet narrated. The rest at the link....
Mr. Don, This rings a bell to the warnings we were given. Before the second coming there will be Bishops against Bishops, Cardinals against Cardinals, weather and earth events most recently the plagues of locusts, the fires in Australia, the floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, blizzards all within the last three months. The coronovirus. And now churches going underground. Coincidence, or warnings?
Christina Gallagher published one or two messages from Our Lord and Our Lady some years ago saying a disease would come which would have a link to HIV. Some commentators are saying there is a link in the Corona Virus to HIV. We will have to wait and see on that one. There is a recent message from Christina Gallagher, and our Lord is saying there is worse to come. We did hear God would send more and more things until we are brought to our knees. And it feels awful like that is what is happening. Only problem is those who have turned away from God think science and the government can deal with it all. Sad. What scares me when reading about the Italians closing Churches, is it reminds me of the Akita warning that if people did not repent, the forgiveness for sin would cease. If Churches are closed and Priests warned to stay away from people, it could end up with no confession and no Mass. It is a frightening possibility if things go on as they are. God preserve us and save us.
