There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Witnessing to Neighbors by an Amiable Life Psalm 107:1–2; Isaiah 12:4–5; Matthew 28:18–19; Acts 2:46–47; 1 Peter 2:11–12
Have you no desire to see others converted by the gospel? Would you steal to heaven alone, and carry none of your neighbors with you? Now, how will you win them into a good opinion of the gospel, but by such an amiable life as may commend it to their consciences? It was a charge long ago laid upon Christianity that it was better known in leaves of books than in the lives of Christians; hence it is that many are hardened in their wickedness and prejudice against the gospel.
WILLIAM GURNALL
Ritzema, E., & Vince, E. (Eds.). (2013). 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
The Church Is Always a Visible Society Galatians 3:26–28; Hebrews 10:25; 1 Peter 2:9–10; 1 John 1:3, 6
For preservation of Christianity there is not anything more needful, than that such as are of the visible Church have mutual fellowship and society with one another. In which consideration, as the main body of the sea being one, yet within diverse precincts has diverse names; so the Catholic Church is in like sort divided into a number of distinct societies, every of which is termed a Church within itself. In this sense the Church is always a visible society of men; not an assembly, but a society.
RICHARD HOOKER
Ritzema, E. (2013). 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 39:18)
Behold the protecting power of trust in God. The great men of Jerusalem fell by the sword, but poor Ebed-melech was secure, for his confidence was in Jehovah. Where else should a man trust but in his Maker? We are foolish when we prefer the creature to the Creator. Oh, that we could in all things live by faith, then should we be delivered in all time of danger! No one ever did trust in the Lord in vain, and no one ever shall.
The Lord saith, “I will surely deliver thee,” Mark the divine “surely.” Whatever else may be uncertain, God’s care of believers is sure. God Himself is the guardian of the gracious, Under His sacred wing there is safety even when every danger is abroad. Can we accept this promise as sure? Then in our present emergency we shall find that it stands fast. We hope to be delivered because we have friends, or because we are prudent, or because we can see hopeful signs; but none of these things are one-half so good as God’s simple “because thou hast put thy trust in me.” Dear reader, try this way, and, trying it, you will keep to it all your life. It is as sweet as it is sure.
Fill in this blank. I’m not …………. enough. What word did you insert? I’m not good enough? Clever enough? Tall enough? Thin enough? Popular enough? Rich enough? Happy enough? When our identity is defined by what we’re not, it’s no surprise if we feel empty. How do we find a full and fulfilling identity?
The theme of Colossians is Christ is enough, therefore I am enough. That’s why the devil is so focused on cultivating Christless Christianity and why Paul was so focused on cultivating Christ-full Christianity in Colossians 2:8-10. He starts by warning about the dangers of Christless Christianity.
As the JD Greear, Ed Litton sermon PLAGIARISM scandal SERMONGATE escalates into the secular media like Newsweek and Washington Times, a darker reality emerges. Today pulpits in America are filled with carefully crafted language and talking points to move the church toward affirmation of sin.
“Incoming Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton, center left, talks with outgoing President J.D. Greear, center right, at the conclusion of the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting, Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn.” AP story (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Rev Thomas Littleton
Just one week into the reign of newly elected SBC president Ed Litton, a youtube video of sermon clips showing his and outgoing president J D Greears sermons on Romans 1. Both use the same introduction, cheesy as it was, along with several illustrations and phrases which exactly match each other. Greears sermon was a year in advance of the Litton sermon but Greear is not credited in the quotes. Litton and Greear both issued statements to cover their rather exposed hinder parts but the they fall short of explaining away the concerns and the charges of plagiarism. By SBC’s own seminary standards on plagiarism both preaches are offenders.
Still the greater reality is not being focused on by most in this brewing disaster is the content of the sermon and its willingness to assert that “The Bible whispers about sexual sin especially homosexuality.” The real issue here is not just that the sermon is copied but that it is making a totally false assertion.
As Litton and Greear and departed ERLC president Russell Moore make MUCH of their assertions of racism and sex abuse / coverups – they and others in church have been on a steady set of false talking points from imbedded activist to minimize the issues related to LGBTQ agenda and its targeting of children and families at every level of society.
STRANGE mixture of focus is it not? And too many in the pews today are willing to let these men get away with what they are doing because they have not zealously embraced a love of the Truth and POWER OF THE GOSPEL. We dare not be robbed -for the sake of all sinners (all of us fallen creatures) of the true promise of transforming power of salvation through the blood of Jesus. Whisperers lose everything and steal it from us when they attempt to mute the truth of God.
WHISPERERS IN THE PULPIT ARE A CURSE FROM GOD
A BIT OF WARNING TO GREEAR AND LITTON FROM JEREMIAH 23
30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lord, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the Lord.”
ROMANS ONE :THE VERSES IN QUESTION
What does the text of Romans 1 really say? Below is the full text which Greear/ Litton and a host of affiliated modern day pulpit jockey’s outfitted with canned and regurgitated sermons calling them “God Whispering “.
REMEMBER THE WORDS AND CATCH PHRASES OF GREEAR AND LITTON ARE NOT THEIR OWN -BUT THE WORD OF GOD STANDS ALONEAGAINST THEIR FOLLY.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the [j]men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
LGBTQ ACTIVIST IN ORGANIZATIONS LIKE HRC CALL ROMANS 1 A”CLOBBER VERSE” WHILE THE OUTGOING AND INCOMING PRESIDENTS OF THE SBC CALL IT A “WHISPER “.
Sad to say that LGBTQ activist organizations have a better grasp on the reality of the scriptures strong denunciation and keen focus on homosexual sin, describing it and the consequences of it in unmistakable detail than do two SBC presidents trained in SBC seminaries. So organizations like the Human Rights Campaign have gone to great lengths to persuade Christians that the Bible is “wrong” or “wrongly interpreted” while at the same time shying away from the ultimate “Clobber Verse” Romans 1.
EXAMPLE OF HRC FALSE TALKING POINTS
(False narrative from Human Rights Campaign’s “resource on faith”.
“One of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible say about attraction to someone of the same sex?”
“Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the term homosexual wasn’t even coined until the late 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.”
“Before we can jump into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity,”
GREEAR AND LITTON SOUND MORE LIKE ACTIIVST WORKING FOR THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY TO SALVE THE “COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY CONSCIENCE” THAN TO SPEAK THE WORD OF THE LIVING GOD.
But in a sobering reality check leaders from the SBC and other denominational groups like the PCA have all but TURNED TO MUSH since at least 2009 when HRC / LGBTQ leaders joined “Conservatives” like the SBCs CEO of the Executive Committee Frank Page in the Advisory Counsel of the Obama White House Faith Based Neighborhood Partnerships.
By 2010 a major shift to advance the false narrative of HRC and the APA on “Sexual Orientation” has taken place among evangelical organizations like the Lausanne Movement and The Gospel Coalition – both of which heavily influence the SBC and many other groups.
The real message of Romans 1 is completely overlooked by both of these pulpit whisperers Greear and Litton.
THE CHAPTER REVEALS POWER FOR TRANSFORMATION BY FAITH
-VS- WRATH FOR THE REJECTION OF THE TRUTH.
The revelation of the power of God unto salvation :
The Just Live by Faith
16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
The warning of God’s wrath revealed :
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”
TRUTH IS – FALSE PROPHETS WILL NOT SPEAK THE TRUTHAND COORDINATE THEIR FALSE WORDS.
Like the false prophets of Baal during the time of Ahab and Jezebel -modern day pastors and leaders who appease, bow the knee, and kiss the image of modern day idols are kept well by those whose agendas they serve. Men like JD Greear and Ed Litton are not prophets but cowardly activist too ashamed to own their real goals to move the church ever closer toward affirming sin by saying the Bible “Whispers” about it. Tim Keller, Albert Mohler, Russell Moore and many others in this herd of change agents working to secure the interest of cultural outsiders within the churches faith are the worst kind of false prophets .They are willing to hide in orthodoxy while dancing with the devil and playing word games with the Word of God.
God will not put up with such men or their deceit in His house for long.
Jeremiah 23:
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the [g]dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”
18 For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.
23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “And not a God afar off? 24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 27 who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.
28 “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord. 29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
MAYBE IT IS TIME FOR ANOTHER SHOWDOWN ON THE MOUNT OF GOD.
1KINGS 18
“Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
20 “So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. “
Our capacity to actually dwell in Christ’s presence is based upon knowing the true nature of God. If we see Him as a loving Father, we will draw near; if He seems to be a harsh judge, we will withdraw. Indeed, everything that defines us is influenced by our perception of God.
If we do not believe God cares about us, we will be overly focused on caring for ourselves. If we feel insignificant or ignored by God, we will exhaust ourselves by seeking significance from men. However, once we realize that God truly loves us, that He desires we draw near to Him, a door opens before us into His presence. Here, in the shelter of the Most High, we can find rest and renewed power for our souls.
God’s love is not a reality distant from our needs. The Bible reveals that Lord is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” Hebrews 4:15 (KJV). He feels the pain of what we experience on earth. He participates in the life we live, for “in Him we live, and move and have our being” Acts 17:28( KJV). He is not removed from our need; we are His body. He is one with us.
The truth is, we are not alone in our battles. However, if we believe we are alone—if we accept the lie that God does not care—our darkened thinking will isolate us from the loving commitment of God.
Beloved, even in our times of rebellion, the heart of God is not far. Consider the Lord’s relationship with Israel. Though Israel had sinned and was suffering oppressive consequences, the Lord wasn’t far. We read that when the Lord “could bear the misery of Israel no longer” He raised up deliverers Judges 10:16. God wasn’t distant; He was with them, actually bearing their very misery!
At Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus wept. Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus; He knew it six days before He called Lazarus back from death. He wept because they were weeping.
Do you know that the Spirit of God actually feels our heartache? He is with us in our conflicts and near us in our fears. At the tomb of Lazarus, some would suggest that Christ’s weeping was really over the unbelief of His disciples. I think not. When the Lord wept over Lazarus, those who saw Christ saw a man touched by the sorrows of others. They remarked, “Behold how He loved him!” John 11:36.
Our healing comes when we behold how He loves us. We are raised from the dead when He comes to our tomb and calls us by name out of death.
We must personalize God’s love. He gave His Son for my sins, His word for my guidance and His Spirit for my strength. If the Almighty is for me, who can be against me?
Dear friend, with wide-eyed wonder, let us behold how He loves us, and be healed of our isolation.
If you don’t know God and his forgiveness and would like to start living a life where he is at your centre, you can start that journey today with a prayer:
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I want to trust you from now on. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life. Make me be the person You want me to be. Thank you for enabling me to trust you in these uncertain times. Amen.
There are numerous things that have moved me to tears. Most recently, it was my cancer diagnosis on March 9th. However slight or significant a situation may be, something can waken me to sob. While the length of my lamentation is irrelevant, the humanity of those moments aren’t.
That’s why today’s verse, albeit brief, captured my attention in a way never before done. As many times as I have read the account of Lazarus and his restoration, I couldn’t ignore the awesome reality of Jesus’s reaction to the one he loved (John 11:36).
Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, showed himself as Jesus the man, stirred to weeping. The Divine became starkly relatable. Not just in the story, but also in me. This all too impactful narrative washed over me with a fresh sobriety.
My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, became more tangible in my faith walk through revisiting Lazarus’ story and, especially, hearing my cancer diagnosis. His powerful presence inside the confines of the doctor’s office embraced my collapsing composure. My Savior wasn’t repulsed by my ‘ugly’ cry as the news sunk in. Instead, he held me in his arms and cried similar tears.
As followers of Christ, we need not be reserved when life blindsides us. Just as we cling to Jesus for strength and courage, we can also find solace and safety within his protective walls to be unapologetically grief-stricken. Christ will never shame us for shedding tears. Instead, he will share in them. May we never be afraid to show our humanity to Jesus or others.
Precious Jesus, thank you for always being there for me whenever my world falls apart. That I never have to be reserved in my reaction to heart breaking news and can cry as much as needed, for as long as needed. I know you share those moments with me and soothe my heart when I’m all cried out. You are amazing and I love you. Praise your mighty name. Amen.
Please pray for Melissa today as she faces her cancer treatment. Invite the Lord into areas of your life that grieve you or make you sorrowful. Read through Psalm 13 which is a lament psalm to guide you.
Despising the New Birth John 3:3; 1 John 3:9; 5:1, 4, 18
Let them pretend what they please, the true reason why any despise the new birth is, because they hate a new life. He that cannot endure to live to God will as little endure to hear of being born of God.
JOHN OWEN
Ritzema, E. (Ed.). (2012). 300 Quotations for Preachers. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Adversity Shows What a Person Is 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13; 10:25
There is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough. Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.
THOMAS À KEMPIS
Ritzema, E., & Brant, R. (Eds.). (2013). 300 quotations for preachers from the Medieval church. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
“Justification by association is a doctrine that has developed as a result of fuzzy theology. Fuzzy theology is not dogmatic, and it is not established by the unchanging Word of God; rather, it consists of theology formulated by compromise. Fuzzy theology has a fundamental principle: We can believe whatever we want to believe as long as what we believe does not offend anyone, as long as it affirms nice things about Jesus, and as long as it doesn’t divide.”
(Burk Parsons – Ligonier Ministries) Over the past few years I have grown increasingly concerned about the state of evangelicalism. There has been a rapid decline of doctrinal integrity, and evangelical churches throughout the country have lost their theological bearings, especially regarding the doctrine of justification….
According to the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, justification is the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls. If Luther was right, and indeed he was, many churches have fallen by the wayside. No longer do such churches preach justification by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone; rather, they preach justification by association. View article →
“Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families.” —Benjamin Rush (1773)
The pallor of our Founding Fathers was too much for a taxpayer-funded task force on racism.
Douglas Andrews
Trigger warning: The United States of America was founded by white men, and no amount of wokeism, critical race theorizing, or armchair quarterbacking from two and a half centuries hence can ever undo that inconvenient truth.
Nor can they undo the truth that one of those men, Thomas Jefferson, the tall guy in the middle of the picture above, was the author of our Declaration of Independence and perhaps the most brilliant and talented American who ever lived — yes, even more brilliant and talented than Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, or Ibram X. Kendi.
And, yes, Jefferson was a slaveholder — an enigmatic man who wrote that “all men are created equal” while he himself enslaved more than 600 people during his life. But an accurate rendering of history will also note the following:
Throughout his entire life, Thomas Jefferson was publicly a consistent opponent of slavery. Calling it a “moral depravity” and a “hideous blot,” he believed that slavery presented the greatest threat to the survival of the new American nation. Jefferson also thought that slavery was contrary to the laws of nature, which decreed that everyone had a right to personal liberty. These views were radical in a world where unfree labor was the norm.
This last sentence is critical. Jefferson lived in a world where slavery was the rule rather than the exception. He understood the evil nature of the institution, though, and he and his fellow Founders laid the rhetorical groundwork for successive generations to abolish the practice on the North American continent — even while it continued to flourish in Africa and elsewhere around the globe.
The pallor of our Founding Fathers, though, was apparently too much for a taxpayer-funded National Archives and Records Administration task force on racism, which recently released a 105-page report on the subject.
As The Daily Signal’s Jarrett Stepman writes, “The report, which was critical of the Founding Fathers, claimed that the Rotunda — which houses the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — is an example of ‘structural racism’ because it ‘lauds wealthy White men in the nation’s founding while marginalizing BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and other People of Color], women, and other communities.’”
The report goes on to highlight such leftist mainstays as “white privilege,” “systemic racism,” and “equity,” and it cites the New York Times’ dubious and debunked 1619 Project, as well as the aforementioned Ibram X. Kendi, the notorious antiracist racist who infamously wrote, “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”
Apparently, two wrongs make a right on the Left.
House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, slammed the report as “radical” and “nothing more than progressive propaganda seeking to erase our nations’ history.”
Comer continued: “America should be celebrated, not reviled — especially by our own federal government. This report is a prime example of government waste. Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund a woke agenda seeking to revise America’s history.”
Indeed. The Left seems hell-bent on wrecking the story of our nation’s founding and on teaching our children to be ashamed of their country.
“Is it even possible,” Stepman wonders, “to simply acknowledge both the flaws and accomplishments of the heroes of our past without treating them as villains at this point? Apparently, they must be torn down and their achievements portrayed as no more than a conspiracy to oppress others.”
The National Archives Museum is a beautiful structure, and the artifacts within it are awe-inspiring. It’s a just a low-down dirty shame that a bunch of America-loathing leftists are running the place.
The land of fruits and nuts bans official travel to five more states over the “transgender” sports debate.
Thomas Gallatin
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced this week that five more states have been added to the state’s list of banned destinations for official travel. “When states discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans, California law requires our office to take action,” Bonta said, highlighting Assembly Bill 1887, passed by California’s Democrat legislature in 2016. “These new additions to the state-funded travel restrictions list are about exactly that.”
How very “inclusive” of California’s leftist officials to shun those who don’t agree with their political agenda. That they don’t see the blatant hypocrisy may explain why they also deny scientific reality — that biological males are not really female just because they identify as such.
The states added to California’s expanding list include Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia, raising the total number to 17 states. We’re beginning to think California doesn’t like much of the rest of the country.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey forcefully criticized the ban. “The economic coercion demonstrated by California is an affront to the dignity of other co-sovereign states and amounts to legislating across state borders in an effort to force the radical worldview of large states onto those living elsewhere,” the Republican AG explained. “Federalism works best when individual states can pursue policies supported by their own constituents, and in West Virginia our office will defend the state’s efforts to protect the integrity of women’s sports.”
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who is running for governor, responded similarly via social media: “California’s ‘woke’ law prohibits state-funded travel to Arkansas. Our state is on the forefront of the fight for American values & just as I have done for over 6 years as AG, I will always protect our traditional American & Arkansas values as Governor.”
The clear issue here is one of protecting women’s sports, which numerous recent examples demonstrate are under direct assault. Irrespective of how California officials dubiously paint the issue, none of these states prevent individuals from identifying as they chose; rather, they protect the rights and spaces of actual biological women from being subordinated and subjected to the declared desires of gender dysphoric men and boys. To turn a popular leftist phrase, California is simply and clearly on the wrong side of history with this issue, and no amount of browbeating and self-righteous declarations will change that reality.
But there might be a silver lining. California officials banning state-funded travel to red states will at least keep these science-denying leftists from officially promulgating their twisted identity ideology in person.
The Supreme Court upheld the CDC’s power-grabbing eviction ban.
Nate Jackson
Whatever happened to that 6-3 conservative Supreme Court majority? The one that was supposed to sweep in and restore Rule of Law? As with all things in Chief Justice John Roberts’s Court, it’s not that simple.
“The court on Tuesday rejected a plea by landlords to end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moratorium on evicting millions of tenants who aren’t paying rent during the coronavirus pandemic,” reports the Associated Press. “Last week, the Biden administration extended the moratorium by a month, until the end of July. It said then it did not expect another extension.”
Some seven million households are not caught up on rent, and the plaintiffs in this case allege $13 billion in unpaid rent per month, which is causing serious economic damage to many of the nation’s 10 million landlords.
U.S. Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington had previously struck down the CDC’s power grab, though she issued a stay while appeals were filed. The DC Circuit Court upheld the moratorium. Five of the nine justices did likewise.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion, and while he said he agreed with Friedrich, he ruled the opposite way “because the CDC plans to end the moratorium in only a few weeks,” and the additional time will allow more taxpayer rental assistance to be distributed.
Perhaps, one might argue, Kavanaugh, Roberts, and the Court’s three leftists were displaying judicial restraint. They were merely allowing the political branches leeway in addressing a once-in-a-century pandemic the best way they saw fit.
But this was a critical opportunity for the Court to declare that exceeding authority is not acceptable. As a simple matter of law, either the CDC has this authority, or it does not. Even Kavanaugh acknowledges it does not, yet he still deferred for … reasons.
Elected officials and faceless bureaucrats alike have used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse for all manner of tyrannical diktats. “Just another month,” they say. And then what happens next month when the CDC decides to repeat that refrain because of “new variants” in the virus or whatever the excuse might be?
The moratorium was supposed to end in December. And then January. And then June. Now July. Kavanaugh insists “specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary” to extend it further. We’ll see.
Judge Friedrich was exactly right: “Under its reading, so long as the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] can make a determination that a given measure is ‘necessary’ to combat the interstate or international spread of disease, there is no limit to the reach of his authority.”
The pandemic isn’t fully in the rearview mirror, but nearly two-thirds of American adults have had a least one shot, and confirmed cases of COVID are down a whopping 96% from January. This is not the emergency the CDC says it is.
Regardless, does the CDC really have the constitutional authority to order landlords to host tenants for free? Whatever happened to property rights? Or does Congress have the constitutional authority to pay the rent bill — effectively with a landlord’s own tax dollars? Is this really the Republic our Founders bequeathed to us?
Millions of Americans found themselves suddenly unemployed last spring because of the emergency diktats of government officials. No one wants to see tenants turned out onto the streets, or left to congregate in shelters when a highly contagious communicable virus is on the loose. But one-size-fits-all orders from a federal bureaucracy in Washington, DC, are not how such things should be addressed. State law should determine this, and while there may be an argument for government money to pay for the cost of government lockdowns, churches and other civic organizations should be providing aid. Instead, everyone’s content to outsource such difficult decisions to the Beltway, and Liberty suffers as a result.
Just remember that rolling blackouts and “flex alerts” are what Democrats want for the whole country.
Michael Swartz
Since Hollywood loves sequels so much, perhaps it’s fitting that the Golden State is being set up to once again be the Blackout State this summer thanks to an electricity shortage of its own making.
You may recall that last summer, amid the pandemic lockdown and a heat wave unseen in California for the last 70 years, the state was wracked by rolling blackouts thanks to an overstressed electrical grid and not enough power in the system to address the demand. Ironically, the problem tends to be that there’s too much of a good thing: an overabundance of solar-produced energy during the early afternoon causes fossil fuel suppliers to the grid to shut down or curtail their plants. Unfortunately, these plants have difficulty ramping up when needed to address the shortage in the late afternoon and evening when workers are returning home and wish to crank the air conditioners back up.
The situation got so bad earlier this month that the state of California alerted those with electric cars to avoid charging them during peak times. While the meme that sprung from this alert exaggerated the claim to some extent, even the good leftist soldiers at Snopes couldn’t deny there was some truth to it.
While Uncle Sam has spent billions of your tax dollars over the last couple of decades subsidizing the buildup of the renewable energy industry, it hasn’t made a dent in addressing two critical facts: the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun sets at night. The intermittent and capricious nature of wind and solar energy make it difficult for those who run the electrical grid to balance the supply and demand, and the California situation is even worse because the state has repressively mandated zero-carbon electrical generation and carbon neutrality by 2045. This doesn’t even count a wish list item of 1.2 million new electric car charging stations in the next decade — even as no one knows from where that electricity will come.
Thanks to those green energy mandates, California’s lone nuclear plant at Diablo Canyon is slated to go offline in 2025 and natural gas plants are being decommissioned decades early. Meanwhile, efforts to build even more wind turbine farms are running into resistance from local residents. Is it any wonder, then, that California residents may need to take out a second mortgage just to pay their “absolutely exploding” power bills?
In the previous era, inflation was pretty much kept in check and power prices leveled off for most thanks to a nationwide surge in fracking and industrywide conversion to natural gas, but even then Californians endured a 39.5% increase in electricity costs from 2010-2020. They could see another 47% jump in the coming decade. Moreover, the policies are driving a wedge between two key Democrat constituencies: environmentalists, who have never met a green energy scheme that they felt taxpayers couldn’t subsidize, and the Latino community that makes its home in California far away from the coastal elites. They fear higher energy bills will slow down their progress in achieving their economic goals of building nest eggs and attaining home ownership.
Meanwhile, insufficient power reliability seems to be moving east (along with thousands of Californians) into Texas. That state’s electricity woes over the winter revealed the vulnerability of its grid, which like California’s depends heavily on wind power. It’s a fact picked up by the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which evaluated the Texas situation: “A big problem is that subsidies and mandates have spurred an overdevelopment of renewables, which has resulted in gas plants operating at lower levels or even idle much of the time. Keeping standby units in top condition is hugely expensive. So when plants are required to run all out to meet surging demand or back up renewables, problems crop up — as they did this [month].”
There could come a point at which the technology of energy storage will catch up to the potential of renewables like solar and wind, but after subsidizing and creating mandated carveouts for these means of generation since the “first” Carter administration, one would think we would have advanced a lot more on that front. Perhaps it’s just an expensive dead end, particularly at a time when we have plentiful oil and natural gas and other nations around the world have taken great advantage of nuclear power — a fuel source we have all but ignored for 40 years since Three Mile Island.
We’re all for conserving energy, but it should be a choice and not something forced on us by a “flex alert” or — worse — a rolling blackout. Luckily, most of us aren’t in places like Texas or California, where the choices will be limited thanks to the folly of believing government policy can save a planet that has proven over eons to be able to take care of itself just fine.
The top-rated Fox News host levels a troubling claim at our nation’s intelligence services.
Douglas Andrews
In the least surprising revelation of the week, Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson said Monday night that Joe Biden’s intelligence services are spying on him. He said he’d been told by a whistleblower that the National Security Agency (NSA) had accessed his personal email and text messages. Why? To get him off the air. He’s the Democrats’ bête noire, after all — the hard-hitting, high-profile conservative critic for whom they have no answer.
“The Biden administration is spying on us,” Carlson asserted. “We have confirmed that.”
We say Carlson’s claim is unsurprising simply because we wouldn’t put anything past a Democrat administration. Their party and their principles are rotten to the core, as they made clear when the Obama administration and its intelligence services spied on the Trump campaign before and after he became president, while lying to obtain FISA warrants and concocting a fantastical “Russian collusion” ruse to enable it.
National Review’s David Harsanyi isn’t surprised either, though he’s more measured in his condemnation: “My initial instinct should be to dismiss conspiratorial claims about domestic espionage,” he says. “As it happens, though, I’ve been alive for the past two decades. And history tells us it is wholly conceivable that intelligence and law-enforcement agencies would spy on a television personality. They spy all the time. They do it illegally. They do it for partisan reasons. They do it to lawmakers. They do it to journalists.”
It’s unsettling, isn’t it? That a forceful critic of the current administration could be targeted and ultimately silenced? Harsanyi notes that James Clapper, Barack Obama’s director of national intelligence, lied to us all under oath when Democrat Senator Ron Wyden asked him, point blank, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions, or hundreds of millions of Americans?”
“No, sir,” Clapper said — a lie that was later exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
As Carlson reminded his viewers: “Spying on opposition journalists is incompatible with democracy. If they are doing it to us — and again, they are definitely doing it to us — they are almost certainly doing it to others. This is scary, and we need to stop it right away.”
It is scary and it needs to stop. Carlson’s claims compelled the NSA to tweet out a remarkable denial. For what it’s worth, it reads in part:
Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air. NSA has a foreign intelligence mission. We target foreign powers to generate insights on foreign activities that could harm the United States. With limited exceptions (e.g. an emergency), NSA may not target a US citizen without a court order that explicitly authorizes the targeting.
Joe Biden’s paid liar, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, also denied Carlson’s charges — again, for what it’s worth.
Last night, Carson provided an update on his claims. He called the NSA’s statement of denial “an infuriatingly dishonest formal statement — an entire paragraph of lies written purely for the benefit of the intel community’s lackeys at CNN and MSNBC.”
Carlson said that his staff had tried to contact NSA Director Paul Nakasone yesterday, but to no avail. He said Nakasone is “a highly political left-wing four-star general” and that an NSA receptionist had refused to connect his team to the director.
“Did the Biden administration read my emails?” Carlson asked. “NSA officials refuse to say. In a very heated follow-up conversation 20 minutes ago, they refused even to explain why they won’t answer that simple question.”
Last night, a guest on Carlson’s show, civil rights attorney Harmeet Dhillon, said she was “not surprised” by the NSA’s response. “In the last 20 years since 9/11,” Dhillon said, “I and other civil libertarians have been screaming about the Patriot Act and other laws. But dating back to 1947, the law said spying may only be on foreign and not on American citizens, and our government regularly flouts that.”
She, too, pointed to the Snowden revelations as proof that the agency “has been gathering and storing American telephone calling records for years.”
Carlson believes the message the NSA is sending him is this: “We can do whatever we want. We can read your personal texts and emails. We can send veiled threats your way to brush you back if we don’t like your politics. … Orwellian doesn’t begin to describe the experience.”
She was given immunity for testimony against an eco-terrorist, but only after helping him.
Thomas Gallatin
Joe Biden has not deviated from backing his nominee for leading the Bureau of Land Management, Tracy Stone-Manning, despite the fact that evidence was recently brought to light of her past support for eco-terrorism.
Fox News uncovered court documents that revealed a disturbing truth: “In 1993 … Tracy Stone-Manning was granted legal immunity for her testimony that she retyped and sent an anonymous letter to the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of John P. Blount, her former roommate and friend.” The letter in question alerted the Forest Service to 500 pounds of spikes in trees that had been marked for sale, stating that the warning was given so that “no workers would be injured and so that you a—holes know that they are spiked.” It continued, “The majority of the trees were spiked within the first ten feet, but many, many others were spiked as high as a hundred and fifty feet.”
The letter concluded with the following statement: “P.S., You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could get hurt.”
Tree spiking is a form of eco-terrorism, wherein metal spikes are driven into trees in an effort to prevent them from being cut down — a saw blading hitting a hidden spike could cause significant damage or injury, including death.
Back in 1989, Stone-Manning admitted she’d sent Blount’s letter after retyping it. Blount was later convicted of spiking trees and sentenced to 17 months in prison.
During her previous questioning before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Stone-Manning claimed that she had never been part of a federal, state, or local criminal investigation. That claim appears to be a lie. Furthermore, Stone-Manning never noted that she had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.
Upon learning of Stone-Manning’s past, Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso called for Biden to withdraw her nomination. “She worked with extreme environmental activists who spiked trees, threatening the lives and livelihoods of loggers,” he said. “While she was given immunity from prosecution to testify against her companions in court, her actions were disgraceful. This clearly disqualifies her from serving as the next director fo the Bureau of Land Management.”
Idaho Republican Senator James Risch also weighed in: “Now she’s nominated to lead the largest land management agency in America. We cannot ask Bureau of Land Management employees to serve under a director who aided those who endangered the land users they work on behalf of each day.”
Not only did Stone-Manning act in support of eco-terrorism, she has also expressed radical views such as advocacy for population control as a means for protecting the environment. “The origin of our abuses is us,” she wrote in her 1993 graduate thesis. “If there were fewer of us, we would have less impact. We must consume less, and more importantly, we must breed fewer consuming humans.” It’s not clear that she’s ever repudiated these views.
What is clear is that Stone-Manning is a radical whose extremist views on the environment and her antagonism toward humanity and industry should have long ago disqualified her from getting anywhere near the halls of government power. Instead, the White House insists she’s a “dedicated public servant” who’s “exceptionally qualified” to fill the post. It’s just another display of Biden’s “unity.”
Dumb and dumber: State Department to allow passport applicants to select gender without medical documentation (Washington Examiner)
President Biden won’t (even though he should) be denied Communion at his DC church (Washington Examiner)
Economy
Home prices rise at 14.6% — the fastest annual pace ever (Breitbart)
Thanks, Biden: Gas prices hit seven-year high ahead of July 4 (NY Post)
Only about 10% of job seekers say they’re actively and urgently looking for work (Axios) | Employers desperate for workers turning to signing bonuses (Washington Examiner)
National Security
Venezuelans are crossing the U.S. border in record numbers (Axios)
U.S. troops come under fire in Syria after strikes against Iran-backed militias (Reuters)
Top U.S. general says security in Afghanistan deteriorating (Washington Times)
Russia secretly launched a new ICBM around time of Biden-Putin summit (AMN)
Around the Nation
We’re shocked — shocked! Board of Elections botched NYC mayoral primary results by including “test” run (NY Post)
Oakland to divert $17.4 million from police budget (The Hill) | “This will make it tougher”: Oakland police chief laments reallocation of police funding (Bay City News)
Pacific Northwest bakes under once-in-a-millennium heat wave (CBS News)
Closing Arguments
Policy: Using CARES Act funds for worker reemployment (AEI)
Policy: Positioning America’s public health system for the next pandemic (BPC)
Humor: Athlete so oppressed by America that she’s representing America in the Olympics (Babylon Bee)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.
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The Right to Bear Arms — The Supreme Court will soon decide whether the government must let residents carry guns.
China, Universities, and Climate Change — China is pumping billions of dollars into America’s elite academic institutions, a lot of which goes to “research” the “climate crisis” narrative.
Insight: “Can the real Constitution be restored? Probably not. Too many Americans depend on government money under programs the Constitution doesn’t authorize, and money talks with an eloquence Shakespeare could only envy. Ignorant people don’t understand The Federalist Papers, but they understand government checks with their names on them.” —Joseph Sobran (1946-2010)
Observations: “Staying safe has become a religion. ‘Safetyism,’ as it is sometimes called, like all religions, places what it values — in this case, being safe — above other values. Safetyism explains the willingness of Americans to give up their most cherished values — including liberty — in the name of safety for the last year and a half. … You can live a safe life. Or you can live a full life. You can’t live both.” —Dennis Prager
Upright: “What is difficult to understand … is how on one hand, you can protest America for injustice, while at the same time representing America on the world stage. Activists like [Gwen] Berry have no problem representing the nation when it’s convenient for their career path. It seems lost on them that the nation which gave them room to flourish is the very thing that they’re spurning. To represent the United States of America is an honor, not a platform. Abusing such an honor for a display of contempt shows unfitness for that honor, no matter how physically fit an athlete might be otherwise.” —Tony Perkins
The bottom line: “Fatherlessness is one of the most debilitating domestic issues confronting our country. Almost 20 million children in America live in fatherless households. Approximately 40% of all live births in our country are to single mothers, and 90% of welfare recipients are single mothers. To make matters worse, children of single mothers are five times more likely to grow up in poverty than those of married couples. … Government welfare checks have all but eliminated the dignity of work. Worse yet, it is a way of life passed from generation to generation. Rather than solve poverty, welfare perpetuates it. That’s because most welfare programs discourage marriage. … If ‘progressives’ really want to reduce gun violence, child abuse, drug abuse, sexual abuse and youth suicide, they can start by reducing fatherlessness.” —Oliver North & David Goetsch
For the record: “A recent Pew Research Survey on Twitter use concluded just 10% of users produced an astonishing 92% of all tweets, and nearly 69% of those highly prolific users are Democrats. That alone should put to rest the idea that anything that happens on Twitter represents the real world.” —Salena Zito
Re: The Left: “Everybody knows it was Democrats who started this crazy, radical, extremist move to defund police. All the big city mayors that defunded their police, whether it’s New York, Los Angeles, Chicago — they’re all Democrats. … Speaker Pelosi just recently called police ‘stormtroopers.’ [Y]ou had one of her top lieutenants in Congress [say] police are inherently racist and need to be abolished. Now they’re seeing the dumpster fire they created. … They never admit they were wrong. They’re just going to try to blame somebody else.” —House Minority Whip Steve Scalise
The BIG Lie: “Republicans want to do what no political party has ever tried to do: get to decide if your vote counts. It’s outrageous. We’re going to fight like hell to make sure that doesn’t happen.” —Joe Biden
Lack of self-awareness: “We hear about AI standing for artificial intelligence. [Republicans] are putting another kind of AI out — artificial insanity. They’re putting out messages that create an alternate reality.” —Al Gore
Grand delusions: “Crime is not out of control in our city. In fact, crime is on the decline.” —Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot
And last… “I guess Nike’s attitude towards genocide in China is ‘Just Do It.’” —Senator Tom Cotton
‘Mega comet’ 60 miles wide is about to fly through the solar system Scientists announced a strange object approaching Earth from the farthest region of the solar system, the Oort Cloud. At first glance, scientists believe it to be a massive comet. It is estimated to be between 60 and 230 miles wide, which could make it the largest comet ever discovered,
More wild weather in Europe as streets turn into rivers Portions of southern Germany were pummeled by damaging hailstorms that also triggered widespread flooding Monday as an active stretch of severe weather continued for western Europe. This round of severe weather comes after severe weather produced hail, damaging winds and tornadoes from France to Poland last week.
Khartoum says no to planned 2nd filling of Ethiopian mega-dam When it comes to the negotiations between Sudan and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), it is one step forward and one step back. Despite indicating last month that it would be open to a partial agreement with Addis Ababa over the GERD, Khartoum completely rejected Ethiopia’s plan Sunday for the second filling of what will be the largest hydroelectric dam on the continent.
New York City Mayor’s Race “Plunges Into Chaos” As 130,000 ‘Test-Run’ Votes Lead To Unprecedented “Discrepancy” Wtih the New York City Mayoral race “plunged into chaos” (as the NYT puts it), journalist Bob Hardt now reports that the Board of Elections counted 130,000 ‘test-run’ votes, which would account for most of the ‘discrepancy’ reported earlier. Hardt added that the BoE will now head ‘back to the drawing board’ to produce corrected ranked-choice numbers tomorrow. Hours after the New York City’s Board of Elections released an updated ranked voting tally for the Democratic Primary which showed frontrunner Eric Adams’ lead shrinking considerably, BOE officials acknowledged a ‘discrepancy’ in the ballot count.
NSA denies claims it was spying on Fox’s Tucker Carlson The National Security Agency (NSA) denied on Tuesday claims by Fox News host Tucker Carlson that it was monitoring his show’s electronic communications in an attempt to take the show off the air. While Carlson, known for spreading conspiracy theories, admitted that he would usually be “skeptical” of such a “shocking claim,” he said that the whistleblower knew information about a story Carlson was working on that he says could have only come from his texts and emails. “There’s no other possible source for that information, period,” said Carslon.
Tri-Lightning F-35 drill comes to an end The international Tri-Lightning 2 exercise with F-35 aircraft from the Israeli Air Force as well as US Marine Corps and British Air Force ended on Tuesday. The drill saw the pilots practice various aerial scenarios including dogfights, dealing with advanced surface-to-air missile systems as well as attacking targets deep in enemy territory and combat scenarios over enemy countries.
Supreme Court says no right to hearing for some illegal immigrants The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the government can indefinitely detain certain immigrants who say they will face persecution or torture if they are deported to their native countries. the court held 6-3 that the immigrants are not entitled to a hearing about whether they should be released while the government evaluates their claims. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court that “those aliens are not entitled to a bond hearing.”
Huge Sandstorm Swallows Mongolian City Worldwide weather appears more volatile than ever … “On the afternoon of June 28, strong sandstorms occurred in the Urad Rear Banner and Urad Central Banner of Bayanzhuoer, Inner Mongolia,” The report was confirmed by Sky News, who said, “A huge sandstorm has hit Inner Mongolia, … .
Macron to host French nuclear test legacy talks A high-level roundtable on France’s nuclear legacy in French Polynesia will be held in Paris this week, aimed at ‘turning the page’ on the aftermath of the weapons tests. Between 1966 to 1996, France carried out 193 tests in the South Pacific, yet 25 years later there are still outstanding claims for compensation and the test sites remain no-go zones monitored by France.
MIT and Harvard engineers develop face mask that detects COVID-19 Researchers … have demonstrated a cutting-edge biosensor technology by developing a face mask that can detect SARS-CoV-2 in a wearer’s breath within just 90 minutes. The sensor technology can be programmed to detect any kind of virus or toxin and is small enough to be integrated into clothing fabrics.
Biden administration turns to UNRWA in its rush to rebuild Gaza I will curse those who curse you Genesis 12:3 The administration is funneling money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In April, it had announced it was restoring $150 million to the U.N. agency. “UNRWA is a case study of the client hijacking the service provider because the majority of UNRWA employees are Palestinians.” “The international [employees] who come in — they are indoctrinated by the local employees, and if they don’t buy into the dogma and the orthodoxies of the agency, they’re pushed out or fired,”
Lapid inaugurates Israeli Consulate in Dubai: ‘We created the incredible’ Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated Israel’s Consulate in Dubai on Wednesday, on the second day of the first trip to the United Arab Emirates by an Israeli minister since the countries established diplomatic ties. “We are starting to get used to making history,” Lapid quipped, noting that he had inaugurated the Israeli Embassy in Abu Dhabi the day before.
WATCH: Rafael unveils Seabreaker, a new missile with 300 km range Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled a new precision missile that can be launched from ships at sea or ground-based launchers and hit targets at a distance of up to 300 kilometers. Called “Seabreaker” the missile is a naval and artillery unit “force multiplier, designed to overcome the challenges of the modern warfare arena,” Rafael said in a statement.
Israel digs in heels on Gaza, demands captives’ release In three high-level meetings this week, Israel has insisted on linking the rehabilitation of Gaza with the return by Hamas of the remains of two soldiers and the release of two captives. President Reuven Rivlin raised the matter with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday in New York and with US President Joe Biden on Monday in Washington.
Pro-Iranian forces claim they shelled Americans in Syria In the late afternoon, around dusk, reports emerged that pro-Iranian groups had shelled areas in eastern Syria across from Deir Ezzor, ostensibly targeting US forces near the Omar oil fields. This is an important and strategic area and US forces who support the Syrian Democratic Forces, have been reported to have a facility or base in this area.
Supreme Court denies bond hearings for illegal immigrants who return after being deported The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that illegal immigrants who reentered the U.S. without authorization after already having been deported are not entitled to bond hearings. A 6-3 decision split between the court’s conservative and liberal justices held that a federal statute requiring detention for non-residents who have already received an administratively final removal order applied…
General who fired Space Force commander rebuked by judge for illegalities The general who fired a Space Force commander for trying to rid the military of Marxism was himself castigated by a military judge…for intentionally violating the constitutional rights of a serviceman. Last month, Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting of the U.S. Space Command relieved Matthew Lohmeier of his duties overseeing missile defense based on a judgment that informing the public about Marxist ideology in the military was dangerous.
Ethiopia Tigray conflict: Rebels build on capture of capital Rebel fighters in the Tigray region of Ethiopia are continuing to gain ground after recapturing the regional capital Mekelle from government forces. The rebels have now entered the town of Shire, about 140km (90 miles) to the north-west, according to UN officials. Eritrean troops backing the Ethiopian army had earlier abandoned the city.
Afghanistan: US military ‘days away’ from completing pull-out The US military could complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan within days, reports say, amid increasing Taliban battlefield gains. US officials told Reuters some US forces were expected to stay to protect the US embassy and Kabul airport. The reports came as a top US commander warned the country risked sliding into civil war as the last US troops leave.
EU citizens urged to apply to stay in UK now or lose rights EU citizens living in the UK have until the end of Wednesday to apply to stay or lose their rights, under post-Brexit rules introduced by the government. More than 5.6 million applications have been received, but around 400,000 cases are still waiting to be processed. Ministers say anyone who applies on time will have their existing rights protected while their case is heard.
Colombian anti-government protesters topple Columbus statue Anti-government protesters in Colombia have toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus in the coastal city of Barranquilla. The figure of the European explorer, after whom Colombia is named, was dragged from its plinth with ropes and vandalised. The demonstration marked two months since the start of a nationwide protest movement calling for social reform.
Mexico marijuana: Top court decriminalises recreational use of cannabis Mexico’s Supreme Court has decriminalised the private recreational use of cannabis by adults, calling the current prohibition unconstitutional. In an 8-3 decision, the court ruled that adults would be able to apply for permits to cultivate and consume their own cannabis. Smoking in public and in front of children is banned. The ruling does not mention the commercialisation of cannabis.
Chicago: Weekend shootings leave 5 dead, 72 wounded Between January 1-June 23, shooting incidents jumped 12% to 1,438 from 1,283 over same period a year previous Two mass shootings over the weekend in Chicago, which left at least two dead and 17 wounded, continued a pattern of increasing gun violence in America’s third-largest city.
Jason Whitlock: Dear Black America, We Are Being Lied To… We are being lied to and set up. The mainstream media, Democratic politicians, social justice activists, and perhaps even your church pastor have led you to believe America is in the midst of a racial conflict similar to the Civil War and the civil rights movement. They have pitted us against the Proud Boys, the KKK, rural militia groups, and Trump supporters in a made-for-TV race war. Just five years after Barack Obama completed two terms as president of the United States, we’re supposed to believe America has been overrun by violent white supremacists determined to reinstate segregation, Jim Crow laws, and maybe even slavery. It’s a setup. We’re being used as decoys and distractions in a war that has nothing to do with race.
India Sends 50,000 More Troops To Disputed Chinese Border In Major Escalation After a past year of continued simmering Himalayan border tensions, particularly after the deadly June 2020 incident wherein Chinese and Indian border troops were in a fierce clash, India has escalated its stance by moving 50,000 additional troops to the Chinese border.
Putin threat! Russia launches largest nuclear-capable submarine in 30 years RUSSIA has launched its largest submarine in 30 years sparking high alert in the West. The submarine will have nuclear firepower capability and will be able to sabotage seabed internet cables that could undermine other nation’s communication systems. NATO fears the submersible will be used in the Arctic and North Atlantic to guard Russia’s sovereignty claims. The giant new nuclear submarine will be used in open waters for the first time.
Costa rica volcano eruption: Outburst could be ‘the largest since the 1990s’ COSTA RICA’S authorities have raised the alarm after a volcano erupted, showing signs it could be its biggest eruption in years. The Rincon de la Vieja volcano, in the northwestern region of the country, burst into a huge column of smoke on Monday. The volcano is located in a national park in Guanacaste province some 200 kilometres from the capital, San Jose.
Hotter than the human body can handle: Pakistan city broils in world’s highest temperatures When the full midsummer heat hits Jacobabad, the city retreats inside as if sheltering from attack. The streets are deserted and residents hunker down as best they can to weather temperatures that can top 52C (126F). Few have any air conditioning, and blackouts mean often there is no mains electricity. The hospital fills with heatstroke cases from those whose livelihoods mean they must venture out. Its mixture of heat and humidity has made it one of only two places on earth to have now officially passed, albeit briefly, a threshold hotter than the human body can withstand.
The hunt for a primordial force that would revolutionise cosmology THE scale is hard to fathom. But if you zoom out far enough, the structure of the universe reveals itself: a “cosmic web” in which thread-like filaments of gas tangle around gigantic voids, connecting disparate clusters of galaxies. These are some of the most mysterious structures in the cosmos – and recent glimpses have revealed a surprising presence among them. Earlier this year, astronomers led by Tessa Vernstrom at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Perth, Australia, confirmed the detection of magnetic field lines stretching some 50 million light years between galaxy clusters.
Hurricane Enrique sweeping close to Mexico’s southwest coast The first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season swept close to Mexico’s southwestern coast Sunday, and forecasters warned of the danger of potentially dangerous flash floods and mudslides as strong winds and heavy rains hit coastal areas. Hurricane Enrique, which formed Saturday, had maximum sustained winds around 90 mph (150 kph) late Sunday as it stayed out at sea, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Shells fired at US base in eastern Syria Pro-Iranian militias on Monday evening fired several shells at a US base in eastern Syria’s Al-Omar oil field, causing damage but no casualties,
Israeli rescuer in Miami: Little chance of survivors in collapsed apartment block It is unlikely that there are any survivors left in the ruins of the Miami-area apartment block that partially collapsed on Thursday, a member of the Israeli rescue team dispatched to the scene said Sunday night. “It is an inconceivable horror,” said the member of the Israeli team. “I’m an optimistic person by nature, but I do not see how we can find anyone still alive. Nonetheless, we came here to do everything we can, and that is what we will do.”
California braces for ‘plague’ of locusts For if you refuse to let My people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts on your territory. Exodus 10:4 California and other states across the south-west are suffering a historic drought which is bringing with it all of the obvious hardships as well as a few that are unexpected. For the Biblically minded, these natural phenomena are undoubtedly divinely inspired messages.
Leaders of Jordan, Egypt, Iraq hold summit in Baghdad The leaders of Iraq, Egypt and Jordan met on Sunday in Baghdad to discuss a raft of regional issues, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to economic cooperation. “The leaders stressed the need to intensify consultation and coordination between the three countries on the most important regional issues,” the Egyptian presidency said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Iran boots international inspectors from nuclear program Iran will not extend the agreement it signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in February to monitor its nuclear program, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf told legislators on Sunday, the Tasnim News Agency reported.
17th of Tammuz : Priests train for ‘Tamid’ sacrifice offering for 3rd Temple service While Jews around the world fasted on Sunday, the 17th day of the Hebrew month Tammuz, a group of less than 50 gathered in Mitzpe Jericho to witness a dry-run of the Korban Tamid, the twice-daily sacrifice performed in the temple. The fast in Tammuz, the fourth month of the Hebrew Calendar, is mentioned by the Prophet Zechariah who predicts that in the Messianic era, it will change from a day of austerity into a day of celebration:
“They’re Everywhere” – Megadrought Sparks Grasshopper Plague In Western US A.P. News said federal agriculture officials are set to launch one of the largest grasshopper-killing campaigns in three decades amid an outbreak. The insects belong to the suborder Caelifera family and are probably the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects. These creatures survive and multiply rapidly in drought or very dry conditions and will decimate crops.
‘Heat Dome’ To Roast Northeast States Residents from the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area up to Boston will experience temperatures well above 90-degrees today through Wednesday. Temperatures will climb 5 to 10 above average, even as much as 14 degrees above normal for specific areas in the final days of June.
Milrem Robotics to apply military robotic tech to planetary rovers ESA has awarded a contract to Milrem Robotics for a series of projects to provide planetary rovers with a higher degree of autonomy by using the capabilities that Milrem developed for its line of modular military robots. Robots designed for the battlefield and those designed for space exploration may not seem to have much in common, but one thing they do share is that, as their capabilities grow, both require an increasing ability to operate without human intervention.
Temperature records smashed amid historic heat wave in Pacific Northwest Temperature records were smashed in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and western Canada amid a historic heat wave described by the National Weather Service (NWS) as “historic, dangerous, prolonged and unprecedented.” Daytime temperatures were pushed into the triple digits, triggering heat warnings from Oregon to Canada’s Arctic territories on Sunday, June 27, 2021.
On the verge of the unthinkable ..Of course this is just the beginning. If this summer is as hot and as dry as they are projecting, we could see catastrophic crop failures all across the West. And that is really bad news, because the state of California alone produces more than a third of our vegetables and about two-thirds of our fruits and nuts.
Iran’s Next Butcher President The Biden administration is moving full steam ahead to negotiate a return to the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), come hell or high water. And Iranians will continue to be living in hell after the phony “election” of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s new president.
What most people don’t yet understand is that they’re no longer living in “America.” What used to be America is now a nation under enemy occupation, ruled by authoritarian tyrants who were installed through election fraud and whose loyalty rests with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). The Big Tech corporations all work for China, too, and the censorship they pursue in the USA mirrors the anti-freedom censorship of communist China.
Young adults and adolescents are suffering heart inflammation caused by Covid-19 vaccines – cases skyrocket to at least 200 TIMES MORE than “expected” by CDC Get the shot, get the shot! Wait. Never mind. Don’t get it. Vaccine “hesitancy” for young adults just turned into “just say no” because who needs to have a heart attack or a stroke at 25 or 15 years young, all to supposedly “prevent” catching a virus that barely even affects young adults or adolescents? If the chicken pox vaccine or the flu shot was causing blood clots and swollen hearts for kids, teens and young adults, would everyone still be rushing out to get it? The answer is no.
UPDATE: Scores have been left dead as record-breaking heat wave continues to grip Canada and the USPosted: 30 Jun 2021 07:02 AM PDT(Yahoo News) – Scores of deaths in Canada’s Vancouver area are likely linked to a grueling heat wave, authorities said Tuesday, as the country recorded its highest ever temperature amid scorching conditions that extended to the US Pacific Northwest. At least 134 people have died suddenly since Friday in the Vancouver area, according to figures released by the city police department and the Royal Canadian Mounted police.The Vancouver Police Department alone said it had responded to more than 65 sudden deaths since Friday, with the vast majority “related to the heat.” Canada set a new all-time high-temperature record for the third day in a row Tuesday, reaching 121 degrees Fahrenheit (49.5 degrees Celsius) in Lytton, British Columbia, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east of Vancouver, the country’s weather service, Environment Canada, reported.Continue reading UPDATE: Scores have been left dead as record-breaking heat wave continues to grip Canada and the US at End Time Headlines.
California bans government travel to 17 states that oppose transgender athletesPosted: 30 Jun 2021 06:48 AM PDT(Fox News) – California announced on Monday that its ban on state-sponsored and state-funded travel includes five additional states as a result of recently enacted LGBTQ legislation.The state’s attorney general Rob Bonta said that state-funded travel to Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia would be prohibited as of July 1.“The states are a part of a recent, dangerous wave of discriminatory new bills signed into law in states across the country that directly work to ban transgender youth from playing sports, block access to life-saving care, or otherwise limit the rights of members of the LGBTQ community,” Bonta’s office explained in a press release.Continue reading California bans government travel to 17 states that oppose transgender athletes at End Time Headlines.
Wisconsin Announces Gender-Neutral Birth Certificate Options for ParentsPosted: 29 Jun 2021 06:46 PM PDT(Newsweek) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced on Monday parents in his state will soon have gender-neutral options for identifying themselves on the birth certificates of their children.Evers, along with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), released a statement about the move, which will begin on July 1, 2021. The news release explained the birth forms used to generate birth certificates will include the new options “parent-parent” and “parent giving birth” in addition to the current “mother-father” choice for identifying parents.Continue reading Wisconsin Announces Gender-Neutral Birth Certificate Options for Parents at End Time Headlines.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ and says the Biden administration has ‘turned their backs’ on Americans during the border crisis.
The media has joined the “public health experts” in hyping the danger of the “Delta variant” of the coronavirus. Fauci warns that it is the most dangerous yet. Yet data from the UK strongly suggest that, like all viruses, it becomes weaker with each mutation. So who’s telling the truth and who is pushing a narrative? Also today: Capitol Hill Police hold open door for 69 year “insurrectionist” on Jan 6th, but she is arrested yesterday for entering the building. And…what does New York City’s botched mayoral election tell us about elections? Watch today’s Liberty Report:
We know that the 2020 Election came down to six counties in six swing states. What’s really interesting is that there were many of the same activities in these counties that were present in many of them if not all of them.
Dr. Peter Navarro, President Trump’s Director of the Office and Trade and Manufacturing Policy, provided some excellent charts in the latter days of President Trump’s first term related to the 2020 Election. In the six swing states in 2020, there were many of the same activities that occurred across multiple states.
He listed absentee ballot abuses in these states.
In addition, Navarro listed numerous other fraudulent activities that took place across multiple states.
Dr. Navarro then listed the various estimated and the actual number of ballots associated with the fraud activities embedded in the election and compared the estimated and known fraud to the margins given to Biden in the election:
Navarro’s list is excellent. Since these lists were created we identified some additional activities that appear across these swing states during the 2020 Election.
Lost, Stolen, and Suspiciously Transferred USBs
USBs were lost or stolen and suspiciously transferred between individuals during the election. In Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin before or during the election, USBs were reported stolen or suspiciously transferred during the election.
We know that legally required chain of custody information is missing in Georgia. We also know that chain of custody documentation was requested in the audit in Maricopa County Arizona and it has not been provided. It is likely that it is not available in all these states and numerous others across the country.
The following stories had the most page views at the MinistryWatch website during the month of June. We present them here in a “countdown” format, from 10 to 1. The first few sentences of each story are reproduced below. To read the entire story, click on the link. To read the Top 10 stories of 2020, click here.
Christian musician Matthew West thought he was poking fun at overprotective dads with a new song “Modest Is Hottest.” Instead, he stepped into a firestorm about evangelical purity culture. The song, which he posted on his YouTube channel, featured lyrics like “Modest is hottest, the latest fashion trend. It’s a little more Amish, a little less Kardashian,” and claims that boys really love “a turtleneck and a sensible pair of slacks.” A video of the song showed West trying to cover up his teenage daughters, who greet his efforts with a series of eye rolls. The lyrics also include a line about West grounding his daughters for wearing crop tops and a prayer asking God to make them “more like Jesus and less like Cardi B.”
In a hotly contested election decided by just over 500 votes, Alabama pastor Ed Litton was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Litton, the longtime pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama, a congregation with 3,900 members, was considered a long shot in the presidential race. Two other candidates—Georgia pastor Mike Stone, a leader among critics of current SBC leaders, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler—had been considered the favorites.
A small Christian university outside Philadelphia shuttered its highly regarded social work program partly because school officials say the accrediting agency was attempting to impose sexuality and gender values that don’t align with the university’s religious mission. According to those officials, the decision by the Cairn University Board of Trustees on May 24 had been under consideration for almost a year because of funding and enrollment concerns. They say the accreditation language was only one factor. But representatives from the accrediting body—the Council on Social Work Education—said its sexuality and gender language had not changed substantially in a recent draft accreditation, although the language addressing race and inclusion was updated.
Is a hand-designed cake a product? A work of art? An act of speech? When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Colorado baker Jack Phillips had a right to refuse to create a cake for a gay wedding, his freedom of belief and speech were key to the decision. But in June, Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones ruled that Phillips’s refusal to create a transgender-themed birthday cake was about a product, not compelled speech.
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These ministries are ranked last in their category in the MinistryWatch database. In simplest terms, MinistryWatch’s Financial Efficiency Rating evaluates how much money contributed to a ministry actually goes to ministry work. If a ministry spends more money than its peers for management and fundraising, or holds more in endowment funds, or spends more it spends on buildings, then these ministries will likely have lower Financial Efficiency Ratings. Here at MinistryWatch, we are sensitive to the argument that no rating system is perfect. That’s why we say that our Financial Efficiency Ratings should be just one of several tools donors should use to evaluate a ministry. We love to see ministries with a 5-star rating, but there are a lot of great 3- and 4-star ministries in our database. But 1-star ministries? That’s another story. If your favorite ministry has a 1-star rating, you should be asking some tough questions of them before you give.
Ed Litton, senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention during a session of the SBC’s annual meeting June 15. A relative unknown, Litton has made racial reconciliation a hallmark of his work since at least the 2014 riots after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. His election is considered a defeat for hard right conservatives in the Southern Baptist Convention’s recent battles over race, sexual abuse, and gender roles.
A former Hillsong NYC staff member has come forward with allegations that the megachurch’s former pastor Carl Lentz subjected her to “bullying, abuse of power and sexual abuse” over the course of seven years as she worked as a nanny in Lentz’s home. “I felt trapped and silenced. I also felt so ashamed and I had been told not to say anything or tell anyone,” Leona Kimes, 37, told Religion News Service via email May 30. In a statement published on Medium, Kimes, now a co-pastor of Hillsong’s Boston location, claimed Lentz abused her sexually on multiple occasions. A legal representative for Carl and his wife, Laura Lentz, responding to Kimes’ allegations, told RNS the Lentzes “vehemently deny the allegations and, in addition to that, have irrefutable proof the events did not happen as they are being described.”
The Duke Endowment, a Charlotte-based private foundation with nearly $4 billion in assets, gives millions of dollars to United Methodist churches every year through its rural church grant programs. But the anticipated progressive-conservative denominational split in the church could put the fund in a tough spot going forward. The endowment operates according to the guidelines of its founder, the 20th-century industrial and tobacco business tycoon James Buchanan Duke, who set up the trust fund a year before his death in 1925. Raised in a Methodist family himself, Duke made funding rural Methodist churches in North Carolina a core part of the endowment’s mission.
For years before his resignation last month as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Rev. Russell Moore was considered the denomination’s most outspoken “Never Trumper,” and when he departed for a job at Christianity Today magazine, it was considered a victory for pro-Trump SBC forces. But in a letter written more than a year before his resignation, Moore explained his troubles with the SBC’s leadership in bitterly frank terms, and Donald Trump hardly made an appearance. The root of the friction was not his opposition to Trump, Moore said, but the stands Moore had been taking on the SBC’s race and sexual abuse issues, which had raised hackles with a “small minority” that Moore does not name but can be identified as key conservatives and members of the denomination’s governing Executive Committee.
Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren on June 6 announced the church will begin the official search for his successor, signaling he will retire after 40 years in his pulpit. “That’s a big deal,” Warren said, in a moment of characteristic understatement. Saddleback Community Church, which Warren founded in 1980, is the second-largest church in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. “This is such a significant decision because I’m the only lead pastor our church family has ever had,” Warren said during Sunday’s online service.
Equity futures are in the red Wednesday morning as Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warnings about the supposedly “dire threat” posed by the Delta variant continue to be dramatically amplified by the American media.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg published the latest in a series of stories effectively re-stating the same facts: the vaccination rate in a handful of deep-red states has substantially lagged the rate in the rest of the country. The lead-in for Wednesday’s story was the fact that the gap between the most- and least-vaccinated states has continued to widen. Though even Bloomberg concedes that “on a national level, the news appears good…the country’s vaccination campaign is among the most successful in the world…”
One academic quoted in the Bloomberg story, Timothy Callaghan, who studies rural health at Texas A&M, warned that “we’re going to have counties where vaccination is rare and nowhere close to herd immunity, and others where it’s high. We could be headed toward a divided country of haves and have nots.”
They also warned that an analysis last week of COVID cases in 700 counties found that the new delta variant first identified in India (which, according to Bloomberg, is “far more contagious”) has been found more often in less-vaccinated US counties.
But is the Delta variant really “far more contagious” than earlier iterations of SARS-CoV-2?
In a recent piece published by the Blaze, writer Daniel Horowitz explains that the existing data suggests Delta isn’t any deadlier or more infectious than other strains. Horowitz described the warnings from epidemiologists and public health bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci as “panic porn dressed up as science.”
The implication from these headlines is that somehow this variant is truly more transmissible and deadly (as the previous variants were falsely portrayed to be), they escape natural immunity and possibly the vaccine — and therefore, paradoxically, you must get vaccinated and continue doing all the things that failed to work for the other variants!
After each city and country began getting ascribed its own “variant,” I think the panic merchants realized that the masses would catch on to the variant scam, so they decided to rename them Alpha (British), Beta (South African), Gamma (Brazilian), and Delta (Indian), which sounds more like a hierarchy of progression and severity rather than each region simply getting hit when it’s in season until the area reaches herd immunity.
However, if people would actually look at the data, they’d realize that the Delta variant is actually less deadly. These headlines are able to gain momentum only because of the absurd public perception that somehow India got hit worse than the rest of the world. In reality, India has one-seventh the death rate per capita of the U.S.; it’s just that India got the major winter wave later, when the Western countries were largely done with it, thereby giving the illusion that India somehow suffered worse. Now, the public health Nazis are transferring their first big lie about what happened in India back to the Western world.
Fortunately, the U.K. government has already exposed these headlines as a lie, for those willing to take notice. On June 18, Public Health England published its 16th report on “SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England,” this time grouping the variants by Greek letters.
As you can see, the Delta variant has a 0.1% case fatality rate (CFR) out of 31,132 Delta sequence infections confirmed by investigators. That is the same rate as the flu and is much lower than the CFR for the ancestral strain or any of the other variants. And as we know, the CFR is always higher than the infection fatality rate (IFR), because many of the mildest and asymptomatic infections go undocumented, while the confirmed cases tend to have a bias toward those who are more evidently symptomatic.
In other words, Delta is literally the flu with a CFR identical to it. This is exactly what every respiratory pandemic has done through history: morphed into more transmissible and less virulent form that forces the other mutations out since you get that one. Nothing about masks, lockdowns, or experimental shots did this. To the extent this really is more transmissible, it’s going to be less deadly, as is the case with the common cold. To the extent that there are areas below the herd immunity threshold (for example, in Scotland and the northwestern parts of the U.K.) they will likely get the Delta variant (until something else supplants it), but fatalities will continue to go down.
According to the above-mentioned report, the Delta variant represented more than 75% of all cases in the U.K. since mid-May. If it really was that deadly, it should have been wreaking havoc over the past few weeks.
You can see almost a perfect inverse relationship between hospitalization rates throughout April and May plummeting as the Delta variant became the dominant strain of the virus in England. Some areas might see a slight oscillation from time to time as herd immunity fills in, regardless of which variant is floating around. However, the death burden is well below that of a flu season and is no longer an epidemic.
As for vaccines, there is no evidence that somehow they provide better protection than prior infection from any other strain of the virus, nor does the Delta variant justify further use of these experimental shots. If anything, the U.K. data show that, to the extent there were deaths due to the Delta variant, there were more fatalities among those already vaccinated relative to the number of confirmed cases by vaccination status.
Again, the numbers are low across the board and there is no evidence the Delta variant is anything but less deadly for anyone. But there is certainly no evidence that somehow the vaccine is a greater imperative because of this variant. India itself appears to have achieved herd immunity – with the WHO estimating infection rates between 60% and 75% in most places – with one-seventh the death rate of England, but with one-fourth the percentage of people who have receive one dose of the vaccine.
Thus, the good news is that now that most countries have reached a large degree of herd immunity, there is zero threat of hospitals being overrun by any seasonal increase in various areas, no matter the variant. The bad news is that after Delta, there are Epsilon and 19 other letters of the Greek alphabet, which will enable the circuitous cycle of misinformation, fear, panic, and control to continue. And remember, as there is already a “Delta+,” the options are endless until our society finally achieves immunity to COVID panic porn.
That being said, the US isn’t the only country falling victim to the Delta variant hysteria. Reports published Wednesday morning claimed EU leaders including Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron were planning to hold a call to discuss more potential travel restrictions. It’s increasingly looking like anybody with international travel plans might see them dashed due to Delta paranoia. But there’s a reason why British PM Boris Johnson plans to lift the last remaining restrictions in England on July 19, when the recent extension is set to expire.
But not everybody has been fooled. As we pointed out yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul has been one of the most vocal critics of the “Delta” variant hysteria. In a tweet sent yesterday morning, he urged the public not to let the fearmongers win.
Though judging by the sea of red on Wall Street Wednesday morning, it looks like most haven’t taken his advice.
And don’t forget – like Horowitz pointed out – if this wave of fearmongering fizzles, there are still plenty of other letters in the Greek alphabet that can be used to provoke paranoia.
Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins Hospital surgeon, Fox News medical contributor, and one of the few talking heads these days displaying any sanity at all on the topic of all things COVID-19, lent a heavy dose of reality to the ongoing “fearmongering” about the Delta variant.
The newest scarient, first discovered in India, is currently on a fast track to becoming the dominant coronavirus strain in the world. It’s also becoming the latest excuse for the powers-that-be to try to keep people masked-up, in their homes, and frightened out of their wits. Except, while Delta is indeed more transmissible, no evidence exists that it’s any more deadly than previous strains. And since the elderly and vulnerable mostly have either natural or vaccinated immunity, its infection of mostly younger people so far doesn’t appear to be resulting in any significant upsurge in U.S. hospitalizations or deaths.
During a Tuesday afternoon appearance on Fox News’ “America Reports,” Makary called Los Angeles officials’ Delta-induced recommendation of indoor masking “overkill.”
You’re gonna hear a lot of fearmongering about the Delta variant, so let me break it down. It is about 40 to 60% more transmissible, but no evidence that it’s more deadly. We were told the B117 mutation was more deadly, and the research came in showing that it’s not. But because it is more contagious, we’re seeing those who are not immune, primarily the young, see more cases.
We’re also testing too many people who already have immunity. That’s in violation of the CDC guidelines. Nursing homes, hospitals are testing people already immune with no symptoms, and that’s what’s driving up some of those case numbers that look like Delta hospitalizations. So, we’re not going to see a surge in cases, but we’re probably going to see a surge in PCR tests among those asymptomatic, with colonized Delta strain in their nose, but they are not transmissible and they are not sick from the illness.
Makary went on to criticize Dr. Anthony Fauci for recently calling Delta “the greatest threat” in the U.S. Source
Father God, please help your people understand that You are greater than the rabid Fear that the Left uses to harass and punish us. Help us to stay in Your Word!
“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10).
“Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy slammed the media and the Biden administration on Wednesday following Vogue’s announcement that Dr. Jill Biden would be featured on the cover of its magazine.
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