Truth Counts

What I am Reading Tonight From the Iranian side of the house. Why did Brent crude oil futures suddenly drop from $126, its highest price in the past four years (during the Corona period), to around $114? The recent drop in oil prices had two main and behind-the-scenes reasons: 1. End-of-Month Rollovers: At the end of each month, major oil traders must settle their futures contracts or roll them over to the next month. This capital movement causes severe fluctuations, traders take profits, and as a result, a temporary drop in prices. 2. Japan’s clever intervention and manipulation: The second reason, which is much more interesting, was the direct entry of the Japanese government into the market to save its national currency (the yen). Since Japan is a net importer of energy, expensive oil causes a lot of dollars to leave the country and the value of the yen to fall sharply (which recently reached 160 yen against the dollar). Japan made an unprecedented intervention to prevent this disas...

Pedophilia as a "Cultural Misunderstanding" What a moment of Enlightenment!  Pedophilia as a "cultural misunderstanding". https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15778967/Camaro-child-abduction-Ontario-Canada-Manoj-Govindbalunikam.html Pedophiles generally target the trust of the adult guardian or that of the minor child.  In the case of my husband and myself, our trust was assaulted first - but we recognized the dynamic prior to our child being harmed.   Our church was exploding with growth, and one of the first mega-churches in the nation.  Hence, the need to begin an earlier worship service but with a less desirable time for families. We had spilled over from Sunday at 10 a.m. to a second service on Saturday night.  Now, we were ready to launch another option. Since I was a pivotal leader in women's ministry, our family was asked to join a group for prayer thirty minutes prior to the beginning of the eight o'clock service. This was not a one time commitme...

And the Operative Phrase is, "History of Mental Ilness" It is pathetically predictable now.  If there is a stabbing attack against Jews, a priest with his throat slit, a teacher beheaded on the streets of Paris, or little girls stabbed to death during their dance class we will learn the suspect had a "history of mental illness" long before we learn it is a Muslim terrorist.  The news below barely made a blip in the news cycle.  And why was it such a quick dash across the internet?  Why have I not seen several articles which address what happened in logical and cogent terms? You know why.  I do not need to lead you about by the nose.  It is vitally important that individuals raised with a tradition of Enlightenment not be stirred to action and make reasonable demands of their cowardly Parliamentarians. It is vitally important that the rational man never consider what Prophet Muhammad spouted off about the Jews which made it into the Qur'an (after being downl...

Strategic Commercial Bypass Routes What is posted below was cross-pollinated from Arabic to land on another micro-bloggers page whose location is shown below.  I am not attaching any particular narrative - rather merely noting that it is a brave new world. الجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية https://services.laits.utexas.edu/ "Pakistan has officially announced the activation of six land crossing passages with Iran, through which more than 3000 containers are currently being transported, in a step that constitutes a structural breach in the American sanctions system. The six official passages: Gwadar ← GPB Karachi/Port Qasim ← Lyari ← Ormara ← Pasni ← GPB Karachi/Port Qasim ← Khuzdar ← Dalbandin ← Taftan Gwadar ← Turbat ← Hoshap ← Panjgur ← Nokkundi ← Besima ← Khuzdar ← Quetta ← Dalbandin ← Nokkundi ← Taftan Gwadar ← Lyari ← Khuzdar ← Quetta ← Dalbandin ← Nokkundi ← Taftan Karachi/Port Qasim ← Gwadar ← GPB The strategic importance transcends the economy: These passages grant Iran...

Tonight's Bedtime Stories Mr. Waddle invites the Russian Minister of Defense to check out the new War Trophies Museum in Pyongyang. I may be a classic TechTard, but I am not sure why we worry so much about isotopes when this new toy can also produce some serious, major damage to the environment.  

Our Magnificent Constitution: Part II It is a document which guarantees opportunities for citizens to pursue individual dreams and passions. But it is also a document which stands guard against the harmful personal aspirations and whims of the people.  It is a treatise of the human spirit and a window into the soul of man.  But more than anything else, it is a body of law which has stood the test of time during the seasons of great tumult within our Republic.  It is almost as if our forefathers threaded an optic nerve into the  parchment - a product fittingly made from treated animal skins.  These men looked not to the season but toward eternity. They strongly desired that America - would last forever. It is the primary difference between dreams and vision .  This document was crafted from the skin of man which was endowed by the Creator, and something  which still stands today as the dominant witness upon the parchment. It is the triumph of a consciou...

Our Magnificent Constitution: Part I Although quite active in politics prior to 9/11,  I had never thoroughly examined our United States Constitution nor compared it to other documents produced... churned out... or duplicated using aspects of our national treasure. After 9/11, I pulled my oath of office off the wall, verbally took the oath again, and got to work. But to understand our law, I also needed a deep dive into Islamic law and the intellectual battlespace in which the best scholars resided. One of the best books in my library is "Freedom for the Thought that We Hate:  A Biography of the First Amendment" by Anthony Lewis (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize).   I have read it twice now.  Also gracing my shelves and a tremendous resource is a book which weighs as much as a newborn baby - which seems appropriate. It is "Constitutional Law" by Gerald Gunther and Kathleen M. Sullivan  (Thirteenth Edition in the University Casebook Series).  Nothing compar...

Prime Minister Designate of Iraq: Ali al-Zaidi   * Here is a dossier for the incoming Prime Minister of Iraq.  It is cross-pollinated from an X account that I look at every couple of days.   Shi'a Muslims are the majority population in the nation of Iraq.  Today, the Coordination Framework officially announced the name of its candidate for Iraqi Prime Minister. The name: Ali Faleh Kazim Al-Zaidi. For those who know him well — the decision is not surprising. For those who don't — the picture is much deeper than it appears. Who is the man? Born in Dhi Qar Governorate. He holds a bachelor's in law, a bachelor's in finance and banking, and a master's in the same field. He served as chairman of the board of Al-Janoub Bank, and currently heads the Holding National Company, Al-Shaab University, and the Ishtar Medical Institute. On paper: A businessman and academic. In reality: A network of interests extending into the deepest intersections of money and politics. Th...

Jimmy Kimmel The man is a bore. Not even remotely clever or funny.  But to call our FLOTUS  "an expectant widow" exposes Mr. Kimmel as an individual who lacks compassion;  someone who has spent his life minus the gift of empathy. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15769137/Melania-Trump-breaks-Jimmy-Kimmel-hateful-violent-skit-calls-ABC-fire-him.html Should he be fired for his remarks?  Nope.  Merely allow his ratings to slide,  future sponsors decline contracts for ad time and allow his stature to diminish in a gradual manner which reflects the smallness of his soul.  If he is fired, he will go out with a roar.  Let him be reduced to a pathetic whimper. There are an estimated 11.6 million widows in the United States.  https://modernwidowsclub.substack.com/p/who-is-serving-widows-in-the-united Sixty thousand children are being raised by widowed mothers in the United States.   Last month three small children from a military famil...

Additional Thoughts: White House Correspondent's Dinner First - a brief look back.  But only if you have the time and inclination to review the Curtis Culwell Center (Garland, Texas) attack.  Your time is a commodity. I try to keep my posts concise, readable, and enjoyable. I chose to attend the Draw Muhammad Exhibit in honor of the staff at Charlie Hebdo and to honor Samuel Paty for his courage. https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/2020/10/19/prophet-muhammad-decapitates-samuel-paty-on-the-streets-of-paris-part-ii/ A handful of posts regarding the attack in Garland https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/drawing-muhammad-and-ptsd/ https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/2020/05/03/draw-muhammad-event-attack-2015/ https://ibloga.blogspot.com/2015/05/urgent-breaking.html https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/attack-on-a-first-amendment-event-the-draw-muhammad-exhibition/ An image which denotes lack of situational awareness: https://www.nyt...

Iran: Law of Unintended Consequences The festering cluck (wink) started much earlier, of course.  President Donald J Trump decided to rename the Gulf of Mexico as "The Gulf of America".  The whole thing was silly, of course, because it was totally unnecessary.    UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea) allows for territorial control of 12 nautical miles from a coastal baseline with a sovereign right for regulation and use of resources.  The remainder? It is a vast network of sea lanes traversed from day to day by the global commerce necessary to sustain the world's population.  The English Channel alone, supports traffic from five hundred ships per day transiting between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Fast forward. Today, dominating by restriction along the Strait of Hormuz - we have this: United States Fleet assets. It actually is a beautiful image, isn't it? But because Iran first seized the Strait of Hormuz demanding tolls for pa...

The Wife of Shooter Cole Tomas Allen Let me make it very clear that I do not have the tools to vet any of this information. It is in the category of "interesting but perhaps fake". The name "Thomas" is spelled differently. Conspiracy theorists will love this image.  But remember that an image does not denote fact.  Facts must be carefully independently verified.  And what is a possible moment in time does not denote friendship.  I have an image of me with President George W. Bush.  I assisted with a book-signing. Most likely, I was forgotten within one nano-second of leaving the building.  smile This one is probably valid. But again - it is a strange dystopian world in an age of AI and the general gullibility of the public.

Attack on the White House Correspondent's Dinner   I was watching a movie when the texts started coming in regarding the attack.  A flash of memory.  The Garland, Texas attack.  We were kept safe.  And when I arrived home after midnight, having ride-shared in a taxi with the official photographer for the event,  I thanked God for his goodness.   Everything had been done properly.  Our press credentials were vetted before we entered the parking lot.  I placed my items in a bowl and passed through a magnetometer.  Everything was great... until it wasn't great anymore. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15766553/White-House-shooter-Cole-Allen-suspect-motive-revealed.html I remain grateful that only one member of the Secret Service team was injured.  It could have been a murderous rampage.   But this statement is incorrect: 'He failed,' Blanche said. 'Law enforcement did their jobs.'    He didn't fail. He br...