Anticipated Trump Mid-East Peace Plan

January 25, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will “soon” reveal his long-awaited, so-called, peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet last year, Palestinians denounced the Trump administration as an unsuitable peace broker. Yet the U.S. had been the sole peace broker of this conflict for decades. President Trump also invited to the White House next week both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief political rival and former Israeli general Benny Gantz for discussions about Trump’s peace plan.... Read more

Ryan Palmer Leads The Farmers Insurance Open and Tiger Is Back

January 24, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

Ryan Palmer is leading the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open today after two rounds at Torrey Pines, San Diego, California, by two strokes over Brendt Snedeker at ten under par. But the main talk of the tournament is that the Tiger is back. Tiger Woods is tied for 17th at four under par. This is Tiger’s first tournament of the fiscal year. After winning late last year to tie Sam Snead’s record of the most wins on the PGA Tour,... Read more

Let There Be Witnesses!

January 20, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

The Senate trial of President Donald Trump begins effectively tomorrow. It is basically a constitutional matter. Has President Trump violated his oath of office in protecting and adhering to the Constitution, which is the law of the land, by committing activities that can be judged as “high crimes and misdemeanors”? The House has said that he has by presenting two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in its inquiry. It is now up to the Senate... Read more

Are Evangelicals in a Cult?

January 20, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

After his arrest three months by the FBI as he was boarding an airplane to escape the USA, indicted American Lev Parnas–who was born in the Soviet Union’s Ukraine 47 years ago but grew up in New York with a Brooklyn accent–spoke out publicly this week for the first time saying his devotion to President Donald Trump was like being in “a cult.” Lev Parnas is being charged by the Justice Department’s Southern District of New York for conducting illegal... Read more

Landry Wins American Express

January 19, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

Andrew Landry overcame a back nine collapse today to win the PGA Tour’s American Express tournament on the Stadium Course PGA West in LaQuinta, California, today. Landry was cruising at 27-under par with a six-stroke lead over Abraham Ancer, who was in second place, early in the back nine today. Then the wheels came off. Landry bogeyed the 13th, 14th, 15th holes, and missed a short birdie putt on the par five 16th. In the meantime, Ancer snagged four birdies... Read more

Lev Parnas Repeatedly Mentions God

January 18, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, finally delivered the House’s two articles of impeachment of President Donald J. Trump to the Senate this week after her controversial decision to hold off from doing so for about the past thirty days. It appears that this decision was, again, evidence of Mrs. Pelosi’s wisdom in guiding this impeachment process, at least from the Democrats’ perspective. The reason is that it seems almost daily that evidence has been coming out publicly... Read more

Financial Firms Endeavoring to Care about Climate Change

January 15, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

For I don’t know how many years, I have been somewhat of an environmental and socially responsible investor. Large, financial firms on Wall Street have so far been resistant to the clarion call, issued especially by scientists, that the world needs to do something about man-made climate change. But it appears the tide is about to change. Wall Street’s BlackRock is the largest financial brokerage in the world, with $7 trillion in managed assets. BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink recently said... Read more

Speaking Clearly

January 11, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

Yesterday, political commentator Chris Matthews interviewed Johnathan Lemire, White House correspondent for the Associated Press, on Chris’ MSNBC Hardball television program about speaking clearly. They discussed the decision of President Donald Trump to have Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s top military general, killed a week ago with a missile strike as he was leaving the airport at Baghdad, Iraq. Lemire said Soleimani was “taken out.” Matthews interrupted Lemire, objecting to that expression. He said he didn’t like it and asked why Lemire... Read more

Trump’s Wall Scores Two Victories

January 10, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

U.S. President Donald Trump won two court victories today for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. The main one was that the Supreme Court ruled, in a close, 5 to 4, decision, that $2.5 billion in military funds could be diverted to 100 miles of new construction of this wall. This court decision was split along the conservative-liberal divide, which Trump himself has affected. The president immediately tweeted, “Wow! Big VICTORY on the Wall. . . . Big WIN for Border... Read more

Will America’s Tax-Exempt Status for Churches Last?

January 9, 2020 By Kermit Zarley

Paul Matzko is a historian of American religion and politics who has written an informative, sobering, and somewhat provocative article, at least for Christians and their churches, entitled, “The Hidden Cost of Tax Exemption,” and published in this month’s Christianity Today magazine. Matzko relates some history of America’s church-tax exemption that dates back to the formative years of the nation. He then reveals that this church privilege is increasingly coming under scrutiny in the courts in recent times. He says the... Read more