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President Trump had a busy schedule at the end of May 2019, which included a return trip to Japan.
This time it was a State Visit.
As he and First Lady Melania would be out of the country on Memorial Day weekend, they visited Arlington Cemetery before their departure:
On May 25, the first day of the State Visit to Japan, Trump met with that nation’s business leaders, too many to list here:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie hosted the Trumps for dinner that night. Abe had not forgotten his guest’s favourite dessert:
Abe was delighted to welcome back his friend:
The next day, the two world leaders played golf:
Their wives toured the Mori Building Digital Art Museum:
The QTree explained the significance of the following day’s welcome by the new Emperor and Empress of Japan — a first for both couples:
… our President and FLOTUS become the first guests of Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Imperial Palace.
There are three components to the state visit: (1) The guest arrival and formal greeting by the Emperor and Empress. (2) The ceremonial anthems of both nations and the presentation of the imperial guard. (3) A “state call” or discussion of diplomatic matters between the Emperor, Empress and their honored guests.
During the official state call component there is an exchange of gifts.
1) Formal greeting by the Emperor and Empress …
2) The ceremonial anthems of both nations and the presentation of the imperial guard.
The ‘inside palace’ greeting and introduction was not covered by international media. However, due to the significance of the visit (first of imperial era of Reiwa) it was broadcast on local Japanese media (below).
Body language and facial expressions can’t be faked. They are all VERY PLEASED AND HONORED to meet one another. Such a proud moment for both nations.
(3) A “state call” or discussion of diplomatic matters between the Emperor, Empress and their honored guests in video below.
Then, there was the customary exchange of gifts. The Japanese emperor is an accomplished violin and viola player, as evidenced below in this video from 2007:
The accompanying press pool report states (emphases mine):
The President presented the Emperor an American-made viola in a custom case and a signed photo of American composer Aaron Copland. This vintage 1938 viola was handmade in Charleston, West Virginia. The President also presented the Emperor with a signed and framed photo of the President.
The First Lady presented the Empress with a custom White House desk set featuring a pen made of Harvard tree wood. The Empress herself studied Economics at Harvard. This fountain pen was handcrafted from a red oak tree that still stands in Old Harvard Yard. The First Lady also presented the Empress with a signed and framed photo of the First Lady.
The Emperor presented the President with a traditional Japanese pottery and porcelain bowl as well as a signed and framed photo of His Majesty the Emperor.
The Empress presented the First Lady with an ornamental Japanese lacquer box with traditional design as well as a framed and signed photo of Her Majesty the Empress.
Note: It is long-standing custom of the Imperial Palace that their Majesties the Emperor and Empress exchange signed, framed photographs with their guests on the occasion of a State Visit.
Afterwards, Trump and Abe held discussions on trade and security:
Their wives attended a cultural presentation:
Upon his return, Trump tweeted:
While the Trumps were in Japan, on May 25, actor Jon Voight tweeted:
The president faces the same threats as Lincoln did. He is in danger every day from people who desperately want to remove him from office, either by death or by impeachment. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says Trump belongs in prison.
The Mueller Report left the door open to more scheming by Democrats.
The coup is not yet over.
Therefore, on May 30, the Revd Franklin Graham issued a national appeal for prayer for the president on Sunday, June 2:
That day, another friend of the president’s explained to Fox News that this appeal had nothing to do with politics but the real fight of good versus evil:
Other pastors on social media had to remind their detractors that they had prayed for past presidents, too:
On Friday, May 31, a mass shooting took place in Virginia Beach. After golfing on Sunday, June 2, the president visited the Revd David Platt’s McLean Bible Church in Virginia, where he joined congregants in praying silently for the victims of the shooting.
The New York Post reported:
While he did not talk during the service, Trump stood behind pastor David Platt as he offered a prayer for the 12 killed in Friday’s mass shooting.
The president was there to “visit with the Pastor and pray for the victims and community of Virginia Beach,” said Judd Deere, the White House’s deputy press secretary.
Trump arrived at about 2:20 p.m. and his motorcade left a little over 15 minutes later.
DeWayne Craddock, 40, slaughtered 12 at Virginia Beach’s municipal building Friday — just hours after quitting his job as a civil engineer.
In turn, Platt prayed for the president:
I do not know where Platt stands on his stance of private redistribution of wealth he was promoting back in 2012, but I am grateful that he prayed for President Trump.
Considering the prayers, the threats that the president endures daily and Jon Voight’s comparison of him with Lincoln, it was amazing that he and the first lady went to Ford’s Theatre that night for an awards presentation. Ford’s Theatre was the site of Lincoln’s assassination:
I am very glad I was out of the country at the time. Otherwise I would have been worried about his safety.
Yet, thankfully, God continues to watch over President Trump, who flew to London that night with the first lady and his family (apart from Barron).
More on that trip tomorrow.
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On Wednesday, May 15, 2019, the governor of the State of Alabama signed a new, highly restrictive abortion law:
This is the gist of the law:
LifeNews has more (emphases mine):
Lawmakers approved the ban on a 25-6 vote and it now heads to pro-life Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican. The legislation will take effect six months Governor Ivey gives the bill her signature unless court stops it. The Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted 74-3 in favor of the proposal.
Although abortion activists claim the bill targets women, the language of the bill makes it clear that’s not the case: “This bill would provide that a woman who receives an abortion will not be held criminally culpable or civilly liable for receiving the abortion.”
ABC News explains:
Alabama’s state Senate voted and approved one of the most controversial and restrictive abortion laws in the country.
The ban prevents women from seeking abortions by making any abortions a felony for the doctor who performs them, making this different than the so-called “heartbeat” bills that have passed in other states recently, like Georgia. Those bills point to the detection of a fetal heartbeat as the point at which an abortion is banned, but the Alabama ban goes further.
The Alabama measure does not provide any exemptions for cases of rape or incest, meaning that the women or children who are victims in those cases would have to carry a pregnancy to term. The only exception allows for abortions in cases where the woman’s health is at risk.
So, no, the bill does not punish women. It prosecutes physicians performing abortions:
The debate was heated in Alabama’s Senate. This is a must-watch video:
It is highly likely that this law will be challenged in the courts.
It will be interesting to see how this law plays out in the years to come, not only in Alabama but also in influencing other American states’ abortion legislation.
Fox’s Empire, the show no one ever heard of, which used to star someone we’d never heard of — until a few months ago — comes to an end in 2020.
Who can argue with this assessment?
Jussie Smollett, who played Jamal Lyon, was reportedly paid $60k per episode.
These days Smollett is likely sitting at home, because of his hoax crime in Chicago.
Vanity Fair summarises the situation well (emphases mine):
Smollett’s troubles began in late January, when the actor was hospitalized following what he claimed was a racist, homophobic attack. Police initially investigated the incident as a possible hate crime, but eventually set their sights on Smollett, arresting him on 16 counts of disorderly conduct. Weeks later, the charges were abruptly dropped—though Smollett and his legal team have continued to battle lawsuits from multiple parties, including the city of Chicago. In the midst of all of this, Smollett’s character was written off of the last couple episodes of Empire’s fifth season.
Deadline explains that Smollett’s character could be written back into the show’s sixth — and final — season, but there are no plans at present to do so:
… Fox Entertainment and now Disney-owned 20th Century Fox TV “negotiated an extension to Jussie Smollett’s option for Season 6.”
However, with Jamal already written out of the final two episodes of Season 5 months ago as the situation around him grew more convoluted, the network and the studio added on April 30 that “at this time there are no plans for the character of Jamal to return to Empire.”
Now there are no more plans for Empire to return to Fox beyond its next upcoming cycle, a fact that would have seemed absurd just a few years ago. In its first and second seasons, the blockbuster drew big number from almost every facet. In fact, breaking the status quo of steady decline, for a while Empire was on a winning trajectory of growing almost every week in the ratings to hit new highs.
Not surprisingly, Fox Entertainment’s CEO did not discuss Smollett. From The Independent on Tuesday, May 14, 2019:
“We are turning the final season of Empire into a large television event,” Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier told a teleconference on Monday.
“One of the great benefits of announcing a final season is that you actually allow the fans to lean in and have the ending they deserve.”
Collier dodged questions about Smollett’s future in the show. Earlier this year, the actor was accused of allegedly staging an attack in which he said two masked men beat him, hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, doused him with a chemical substance and put a rope around his neck.
The hoax was difficult to believe from the start. First, it took place on the coldest night in recorded weather history. Secondly, no one would ever describe Chicago, a city full of Democrats, as ‘MAGA country’. Stupidity on stilts.
On Tuesday, May 14, 2019, Zogby Analytics published a poll showing that President Trump’s popularity continues to rise:
Even the British noticed:
Larry Elder posted the link to Zogby’s findings:
Zogby’s article says, in part (emphases mine):
A new Zogby Poll® of 852 likely voters nationwide in the U.S., conducted from 5/2/19-5/9/19, with a margin of sampling error of +/-3.4 percentage points, shows President Trump’s job approval rating at its best since we’ve been tracking the figure …
President Trump’s job approval rating has seen a post Mueller report boost! We called it a few weeks ago. But that’s not the complete story as to why the president has reached a peak in his job approval rating. Trump is also riding high on positive economic news-a record high stock market, low unemployment, and solid GDP growth at home. At the moment President Trump’s approval rating is higher than Obama’s at the same point in his presidency-Zogby Analytics had President Obama at 48% approve/52% disapprove on 05/09/2011.
Also:
One of the demographics to give Trump a very good job performance rating were self-identified social networkers (59% approve/40% disapprove-people who engage with social media). Trump has a huge following on Twitter and often utilizes his Twitter account to frequently get his message across to the public. The president also made strides with college educated voters (55% approve/45% disapprove), and saw support increase slightly with non-college educated voters (47% approve/50% disapprove).
Great news for 2020!
When I was growing up, Chips Ahoy! made its debut on supermarket shelves.
Outside of my mother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies — the absolute best — Chips Ahoy! were my favourite commercial ones.
Mondelēz now own the brand. They also own Cadbury.
On April 16, 2019, CNN reported:
Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies recalled due to ‘unexpected solidified ingredient’
Errgh. Sounds awful.
Fortunately, the culprit is cornflour (emphases mine):
“In some instances, the cornstarch in our Chewy Chips Ahoy! recipe did not fully incorporate in the mixing procedure and solidified in the baking process,” company representative Elisabeth Wenner wrote in an email.
The announcement said there have been reports of possible adverse health effects.
Mondelēz said the recall extends throughout the country and pertains to Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies with a “best when used by” date of September 7, 8, 14 and 15. These dates can be found on the top left side of the package, near the lift tab. The packages have a retail UPC of 0 44000 03223 4.
“The vast majority of consumers have not reported adverse events with respect to the product in the four code dates recalled. However, a small number of consumers have reported gagging, choking or dental injury, but none of these reports have been confirmed at this time,” Wenner said. “We issued this voluntary recall as a precaution, as the safety of our consumers is our top priority.”
No other Chips Ahoy products are affected by the recall.
The cookies should not be consumed, according to Mondelēz. For more information about the recall, contact the company at 1-844-366-1171.
Their advertising has also taken a turn — away from treats for children to more adult themes, such as this one for Mother’s Day in the US last Sunday:
This tweet, which includes one from the person featured, gives one a better insight. Sorry, it’s too crude to feature in full.
The Chips Ahoy! Twitter account has some interesting tweets:
And this:
And this, which was no doubt just a bit of fun, but perhaps not so good for promoting healthful eating with regard to children:
Hmm. I was never allowed cookies until after school. They were also rationed.
Sweets have their place in this world. So do advertising themes.
Eat — and advertise — responsibly.
Thankfully, Abby Johnson, upon whose life the film Unplanned is based, is a staunch pro-life advocate.
However, it was not always that way.
Many people know that Johnson worked for Planned Parenthood — and, as a local clinic director, was their Employee of the Year — until she had to assist with an abortion herself.
What most of us do not know is that Johnson actually had two abortions before being employed by Planned Parenthood. These episodes are covered in the film.
After reading a Christian Post article by Brandon Showalter, ‘”Unplanned” movie will cause men to repent for mistreating, abandoning women and shift the culture’, I was amazed that any woman who went through two traumatic abortions would even want to work for Planned Parenthood.
One cannot help but think that God was trying to send her a message. When the first one did not reach her psyche, He seemed to have tried again. Incredibly, that one also failed.
These, quite possibly, involved Johnson’s two abortions, both of which involved her boyfriend, then husband, Mark.
Showalter tells us that Johnson’s first abortion took place while she was in college and partying quite a bit with Mark. The inevitable happened, and Mark offered her a lift to an abortion clinic to ‘take care of it’. He couldn’t afford to pay for her abortion, so:
Abby applied for her first credit card to pay for it herself.
Unplanned shows Ashley Bratcher, who plays Abby:
being handed a few crackers as she’s seated alongside several other dazed and traumatized women dressed in pink hospital gowns as they’re herded in and out of the procedure room at the clinic like cattle.
Abby’s father warned her about Mark, but she went ahead and married him anyway. A year later, on Valentine’s Day, he was cheating on her. She filed for divorce, then found out she was eight weeks pregnant with his baby. She went to the Planned Parenthood clinic which later employed her as its director. Perhaps she worked there to improve standards, because this was her experience (emphases mine):
… she’s told that because she’s only eight weeks pregnant she qualifies for a chemical abortion that she can perform by herself at home.
Actress Ashley Bratcher turns in a stunningly convincing performance as Abby Johnson. She fully inhabits the role. And in my view, the most unforgettable scene was how she portrayed the grisly, excruciating night of desperation that a young, panicked Abby endures as she bleeds out and discards the pieces of her second pregnancy. One can palpably feel her anguish as she writhes in intense pain, sobbing all alone in the fetal position on her bathroom floor.
Her ordeal was followed by several weeks of severe abdominal cramps and blood clots, health risks Planned Parenthood never warned her about when they gave her the RU-486 abortion pill couched in professional-sounding assurances that she’d be just fine.
Wow.
So she went to work at a place that could have killed her. She also encouraged, even indirectly, other women to have abortions there.
Thankfully, the Lord got through to her mind and heart in the end.
Fortunately, everything ended well. Showalter elaborates:
It’s extra hopeful in that she was fortunate to find a good man in her second husband, Doug, a stay-at-home dad who I interviewed in the latest CP podcast, and with whom she’s now expecting their eighth child.
The one thing Showalter does tell us is that his reaction to the abortions portrayed in the film — Abby’s and the one in which she had to participate — is not unusual for other men who have also seen Unplanned:
The film’s promoters told me that my visceral response to the movie was something they’d seen from many men at other prescreenings around country. If that’s true, then I dare say we are on the cusp of a massive shift in the national conversation about abortion. And it won’t just be about this or that legal restriction and the usual toxic politics we have trained ourselves to tune out or compartmentalize as just another issue.
Go see “Unplanned” this weekend. Take several friends with you. I’d advise taking a box or two of tissues. This one is not to be missed.
Make sure your sons, nephews and their friends see Unplanned. Just because it’s about abortion does not mean it’s ‘only’ a ‘woman’s’ film.
Unplanned, the movie based on ex-Planned Parenthood Employee of the Year Abby Johnson’s experience, premiered a week ago on Friday, March 29, 2019 and came in fourth out of new releases. It even showed in fewer theatres than those films:
And it has an R rating because of the abortion scene — not sex:
Even more amazing about Unplanned‘s success is that major television networks refused to allow adverts for it:
NewsBusters reported that family networks also refused to air the advertising. Oh, the irony! Emphases mine below:
Several mainstream channels like HGTV, Lifetime, and Hallmark have straight up rejected advertising for Pureflix’s new movie, so if you’ve been wondering why you’ve only seen ads for the film on Fox News Channel, the promotional fix is in. Oddly enough, this is coming from channels that we regularly consider as providing wholesome, family friendly material.
THR reported that, besides FNC, “every other mainstream television outlet has declined to air the ad.” Among these, the Travel Channel, Cooking Channel, HGTV and Food Network, — all owned by Discovery — “refused to sell ad time for Unplanned due to the ‘sensitive nature’ of the movie,” Unplanned’s promoters claimed. Unplanned producer John Sullivan claimed, “We were looking to spend money, but they didn’t want to get involved.”
The Hallmark Channel and USA Network (NBC Universal) also firmly rejected the film’s ads, objecting to the controversial nature of the movie. Another producer, Joe Knapp, surmised, “Most of the networks didn’t go into detail beyond citing the subject matter of the film and that they didn’t want to get into politics.”
Yeah, maybe. Though it’s not like some of these networks have ever shied away from promoting a certain left wing bias. Lifetime for example, (owned by A&E, a Walt Disney/Hearst Communications Venture) “previously promoted an interview with Scarlett Johansson where she pitches Planned Parenthood.” Sounds about right.
Twitter proved problematic, too:
Twitter reinstated the account. Even the US ambassador to Germany noticed:
I hope this happens:
And this:
Abby Johnson, who became a pro-life activist once she saw the horrors of abortion for herself at Planned Parenthood, appeared on Fox and Friends last Saturday:
I worked at Planned Parenthood for eight years, rising through the ranks from volunteer escort, to clinic counselor to clinic director. I was awarded the Employee of the Year prize in 2008 and was one of the youngest clinic directors in the country, setting an example of how to run a clinic to churn out as many abortions – the biggest money maker – as I could. Then it all changed when I was asked to assist in an ultrasound-guided abortion …
The fetus was 13-weeks-old and I could easily see it’s head, arms, and legs. The abortion instrument – a suction tube – was on the screen as well. The baby jumped away from it but it was all for naught. The abortionist turned on the suction and I saw that baby get sucked apart right in front of me on the screen and inches from the probe I was holding.
In mere seconds, that fetus’ life ended and the screen only showed a black, empty uterus. The life that was there just a couple minutes ago was gone. In that moment, I saw for myself what I was supporting for the last eight years and it broke me.
How do you deal with something so profound that completely turns your worldview upside down? Everything I knew to be true was flipped. The lies exposed. I cannot have just seen that. I’ve been told this isn’t a baby, that it’s just tissue. How could not have known?
My life was forever changed. I walked out of Planned Parenthood a week later, after failing to justify what I had seen. I couldn’t stop thinking about that baby I saw on the screen and what had happened …
Two directors – both men – in Hollywood approached me five years ago about turning my book, “Unplanned,” into a film. It tells the story of what I saw that day on the ultrasound screen, how I started working at Planned Parenthood, and what happened when I walked away. This is my story, my voice and I was surprised that someone in Hollywood wanted to tell it. It’s not a mainstream story but it’s my story. And it’s the story of many, many abortion workers, those who have already left the industry and those who are still in it.
You won’t be able to unsee what I saw if you go see the movie, which I implore you to do. But you also won’t be able to say you didn’t know what abortion is or what happens when a woman walks into Planned Parenthood. If you are pro-life or pro-choice, you will know exactly what you are supporting.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the life story of Ashley Bratcher who plays Abby Johnson in Unplanned. Ashley was almost aborted herself — at her grandmother’s insistence.
For those in the US who would like to see Unplanned, I would suggest doing so sooner rather than later. There is likely to be a shutdown of it, just as there was with another top box office abortion film, Gosnell, in October 2018.
Do not wait. Please take sons and/or nephews with you, too — not just daughters, their friends and nieces. More to follow on men’s reactions to Unplanned in a future post.
