Today we observe Good Friday, the day of the death of Jesus. Many Christian Churches have different ways of observation, to prepare us for the coming resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday. Today, the sacrifices we have made during Lent culminate in our internalization of the great offering of Christ’s life. If we have been diligent in our Lenten preparations, Good Friday hits us with a power and force that brings us, literally and figuratively, to our knees with the grasp of what Jesus poured out for us. It becomes personal, a tiny sliver of the cross is buried in our heart. And so each year, we find that we give ourselves over to Christ just a little more through this time of penance and reflection. 

The Easter Triduum, the marking of the days of Jesus’ passion and resurrection, the  most important time of the church year, begins with the evening Mass of Holy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes on Easter Sunday evening. After preparing during the days of Lent, we celebrate these holiest of days in the Church year. (more…)

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

BREAKING: North Korea's vice foreign minister tells the AP it will conduct next nuclear test whenever supreme headquarters sees fit.

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 14, 2017

It is important to ignore the loud and panicked voices.  Very deliberate and serious people are dealing with complex issues.  Ignore 99% of what you see/hear in media.

There are very capable people who have a life of experience in dealing with all elements of international leadership.  We have excellent and capable leadership in the U.S. both visible and non-visible.

President Trump and Secretary Tillerson have smartly invested in relationship building around the N-Korean issues. Do not buy into the MSM fear mongering, or worry yourself with dark imaginings.

On March 14th Judge Andrew Napolitano said:

“Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn’t use the NSA. He didn’t use the CIA. He didn’t use the FBI, and he didn’t use Department of Justice. He used GCHQ. What the heck is GCHQ? That’s the initials for the British spying agency. They have 24/7 access to the NSA database. So by simply having two people go to them saying, ‘President Obama needs transcripts of conversations involving candidate Trump, conversations involving president-elect Trump,’ he’s able to get it, and there’s no American fingerprints on this.”

~ Judge Andrew Napolitano

On March 20th Fox News suspended Napolitano for making those remarks.  The British government and British intelligence community was furious at Napolitano and Fox News.  At the time Rupert Murdoch was attempting to purchase SkyNews, which might have aided in the severity of his response to Napolitano.

However, today CNN is confirming much of the construct for what Napolitano was previously saying:  (more…)

President Trump has expressed support for the continuation of the Import/Export bank. This has seemingly shocked a few people from conservative circles because the modern conservative doctrine has been to oppose the I/E bank.

However, Trump’s position hopefully does not come as a surprise to CTH readers because we identified a year ago how President Trump’s economic policies would seek to refocus the original intent of the Import Export Bank.

The key aspect is to return the IE to its “original intent“; not the bastardized Wall Street construct that exists today as a result of corrupt DC economic policies driven by the Wall Street’s legislative priorities purchased by multinational banks and corporations.

For more than three decades Wall Street has corrupted the economic policies emanating from DC.  The corrupted economic policy created the two economies previously discussed and the disconnected the engine of Main Street from Wall Street.  Yes, we originally shared this discussion in April of 2016, a year ago:

In 2009 the popular conservative opinion was to declare the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision a win for “our side“. Of course, the decision ultimately opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending in elections via the new Super-PAC approach.

In 2016 90% of all American’s polled believe there is too much special interest money in politics, and both political parties no longer need the financial support of the electorate. Corporate lobbyists were always problematic, but now in a post CU world they control almost every aspect of electoral politics – including who wins elections. Citizens United wasn’t a win, its consequence was a major fail.

Within that reality you find one of the synergies between candidate Donald Trump and former candidate Bernie Sanders. The popular insurgencies supporting each candidate rail against the corrupting corporate financial influence. Party leadership? Meh, not-so-much.

(more…)

President Trump met earlier today with the first-responders from the I-85 collapse in Georgia, along with Secretary of Transportation Chao.  President Trump wanted to thank the local emergency crews and the engineers who responded immediately.

[Transcript] 2:26 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  Sit down, please.  Come on, get up here with me, everybody.

CHIEF BAKER:  Sir, I bring you greetings on behalf of our honorable mayor, Mayor Kasim Reed.  And our men and women of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department would like to present you with a token of our appreciation.

THE PRESIDENT:  That is beautiful.  I think I should leave it right here, right?  It fits so well.  Thank you.

CHIEF BAKER:  Thank you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  I didn’t know I was going to get such a nice — that is fantastic.  Thank you, how are you?

CHIEF BAKER:  I’m fine, sir.

(more…)

A background briefing transcript from yesterday might aid in larger understanding of White House policy and strategic objectives toward Syria, Russia, North Korea and China.

[Transcript] – SENIOR ADMINISTRATON OFFICIAL:  (In progress) — on the relationship between the leaders of the United States, our President and Premier Xi, and then applying that newly formed relationship to complex problem sets from the Middle East to Northeast Asia, and then a result in the United Nations, it helps advance our mutual interests and the interests of all civilized people.

So I think it’s difficult to portray this as anything but a really great week for our citizens and the United States.

♦  Q    Thanks so much.  Japanese media is reporting that the USS Carl Vinson is in operations with the Japanese naval forces.  As you know, they have a (inaudible.)  What happens if there is a confrontation this week between North Korean forces and Japanese and U.S. forces?  And how will you prevent this from spiraling into a broader military conflict?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATON OFFICIAL:  Well, as you heard from the President many times, we’re not in the business of trying to predict with a high degree of certainty precisely what our response is going to be.

I think what we demonstrated last week was the ability of the President’s national security team to come together, convened by the National Security Council, to look at events such as those that might occur on the Korean Peninsula, quickly analyze those events, place them in context with U.S. vital interests, establish objectives that protect American citizens and advance our interests, and then develop and present the President with options.

So we have a team that is, I think, particularly adept at doing that.  And if there were to be continued destabilizing and aggressive behavior by the North Korean regime, that’s how the national security team would respond. (more…)

You might have noticed that China halted coal imports from North Korea, specifically the type of coal used for making steel known as coking coal.   The Chinese decision was made following a meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jingping in Florida.

[…] To make up for the shortfall from North Korea, China has ramped up imports from the United States in an unexpected boon for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has declared he wants to revive his country’s struggling coal sector. (link)

That’s the backdrop for a visit today by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to Western Pennsylvania coal country.  Subtle, like a brick through a window, but still the media won’t discuss it.

SYCAMORE, Pa. – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt visited the Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., today, to meet with coal miners and announce EPA’s Back-to-Basics agenda. The agenda reinforces Administrator Pruitt’s commitment to refocusing EPA on its intended mission, returning power to the states, and creating an environment where jobs can grow.

“What better way to launch EPA’s Back-to-Basics agenda than visiting the hard-working coal miners who help power America. The coal industry was nearly devastated by years of regulatory overreach, but with new direction from President Trump, we are helping to turn things around for these miners and for many other hard working Americans,” said Administrator Pruitt. “Back-to-Basics means returning EPA to its core mission: protecting the environment by engaging with state, local, and tribal partners to create sensible regulations that enhance economic growth.”

(more…)

Today the U.S. Military carried out a precision-guided pin-prick bomb drop in Eastern Afghanistan carefully avoiding collateral damage…. LOL, JUST KIDDING..

…Trump just bombed the shit out of ISIS!

For the first time in combat, the U.S. Military dropped a 21,000 lb MOAB (Mother of All Bombs).  The official name of the weapon is the Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb, and it has never been used before in combat. It was tested by the U.S. in 2003.

The caves and tunnels in the Afghanistan province of Nangarhar have been particularly dangerous as ISIS fighters use them to nest their activity and launch attacks.  The 30 foot long, 10-ton MOAB detonates in the air and creates a concussive shock wave that blasts the ground and travels through the caves. (more…)