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
I have been writing a lot lately of the great outcomes that can be achieved when two powers come together: people power and divine power. The massive freedom marches this past month in Australia with hundreds of thousands of people – many of them Christians – have been inspiring to behold. And more are planned.
I mentioned in one piece about how the Berlin Wall came crashing down in November 1989. That was the result of people power coupled with divine power: so many were both praying as well as marching. I featured a picture of this momentous event in that article on freedom: billmuehlenberg.com/2021/11/28/the-vital-importance-of-freedom/
It was a defining moment in human history. Freedom matters, and when God is at work behind the scenes, amazing things can happen. It is worth writing more about all this. There were obvious political and economic reasons as to why the Soviet Union and Communist Eastern Europe eventually fell. Socialism just does not work, and the Soviet economy was simply unsustainable.
And when Reagan put cruise missiles in Europe, backed by Thatcher, that really helped to shift things. Indeed, Reagan, Thatcher and Pope Paul II – along with others, including Lech Walesa – were key players in all this, as I discuss here: billmuehlenberg.com/2014/11/08/commemorating-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/
But what is often not so well known is the fact that many brave Christian leaders and churches had a major role in the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe. Various large scale resistance movements arose from these Christian quarters, with remarkable results.
Two of them come to mind, one in Leipzig, Germany, and one in Timisoara, Romania. As to the former, it took place a month before the wall came down. It has been discussed often, and is in fact referred to as “the miracle of Leipzig”. As one writer says:
Many factors have been credited with creating conditions for the collapse of East German communism: Mikhail Gorbachev’s new policy of openness (perestroika) in Russia, Ronald Reagan’s unrelenting hard line in the US, Pope John Paul II’s encouragement especially in Poland. All played a role.
But another vital factor was the courage of ordinary Christians, especially those who met each Monday at Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche, where Bach played the organ 275 years earlier. It started with a couple of dozen meeting for dialogue and prayer in the early 1980s and swelled steadily in 1989, filling and overflowing the church despite the presence of Stasi (secret police).
Their faith and courage was the more pronounced because East Germans were well aware of what happened at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June, and many expected a similar response from Erich Honecker’s regime.
When, on October 9, 70,000 people of Leipzig gathered at the church demanding peaceful revolution, the government ordered some 8000 troops to open fire. But, in what is known as “the miracle of Leipzig”, they did not – and that was the end. Within a month the Berlin Wall was down, and the regime was over.
“There were two feelings,” the Nikolaikirche’s Lutheran pastor, Christian Führer, said later. “One was tremendous relief that there was no Chinese solution. The other was that if 70,000 could go their own way … then East Germany was no longer the same country it had been that morning.” http://www.smh.com.au/national/faith-the-miracle-of-leipzig-20191030-p535tl.html
As to Timisoara, the town in question had been a part of the kingdom of Hungary until taken over by Romania after WWI and by the Soviet Union after WWII. Christians rose up however under the long reign of Nicolae Ceausescu (1965-1989). Life was horrible under his dictatorship, but the churches survived as they endured hardcore persecution.
Some of you know about the courageous evangelical leader in Romania Richard Wurmbrand who endured horrific imprisonments under the Communists. He told his story in various books, including the 1967 best-seller Tortured for Christ. He and his wife received amnesty in 1964 and fled to the West, but returned in 1990 to set up the Voice of the Martyrs in Bucharest to help the persecuted church.
What occurred in Timisoara has been recounted in various places, including in the 1992 book The Body by Charles Colson. There he devotes an entire chapter to this remarkable story. Here I draw upon an abbreviated excerpt from that chapter:
Ruling from a kitschy Versailles-style palace in Bucharest, Ceausescu brutally plundered Romania and reshaped it in his own sick image. Romania’s soil has been called the most fertile in Eastern Europe, yet the Ceausescu government starved its people. While citizens shivered in long lines to buy bread laced with sawdust, the government shipped most of Romania’s food abroad. Meat, butter, sugar, oil and flour were strictly rationed. Vegetables were scarce, citrus fruits nonexistent….
Laszlo Tokes, a large, handsome man with deep, compelling voice, had become pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in the center of Timisoara in 1987. Tokes quickly gained immense popularity, not only with the elderly in his congregation, but also with students from the university.
While the Communists weren’t particularly concerned about the old people, they did care about the students. Religion should have been irrelevant to this generation coming of age in the last decade of the century of Lenin.
Tokes mourned for his town and his country. The secularism of the atheistic regime had bitten deep into the hearts of the people. Still, he knew the church could help set those hearts on fire. His Reformed faith had given Tokes eyes to see what could happen when the church understood its identity….
There was no place for this passionate Christian faith in Ceausescu’s Romania. The methods of the Securiate were anything but subtle. They threatened members of Tokes’ church, and parishioners had to run a gauntlet of secret police just to enter the building each Sunday. Once the service began, agents would stand in front of the church cradling machine guns in their arms or dangling handcuffs in front of them. Merely attending church services became a silent act of protest.
Meanwhile, Tokes was denied his ration book; without it he was unable to buy bread, fuel, or meat. Parishioners, who by now had learned the real meaning of fellowship, shared from their own slim resources, smuggling firewood and food to the pastor and his family….
On December 15, 1989, the secret police came to take Laszlo and Edith. They brought a moving van for the Tokes family’s belongings, but they never got to load the truck. For massed protectively around the entrance to the church building stood a human shield. Heeding their pastor’s call, members of the congregation had come to protest his removal….
It was past one o’clock in the morning when Tokes opened the window of his apartment a final time before he went to bed. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Light from hundreds of candles pierced the darkness. Hands, cupped close to the people’s hearts, sheltered the flickering flames, and the flames lighted their faces with a warm glow.
The extraordinary demonstration continued throughout that night and into the following day. Then, late in the afternoon, the people took the protest a step further than a show of solidarity for Laszlo Tokes. For the first time in their lives, Romanians shouted their secret dreams aloud: “Liberty! Freedom!”
[Tokes was then arrested and brutally beaten.] With their pastor gone, the crowds moved from the Hungarian Reformed Church to the central square of Timisoara. By now armed troops, shields, dogs, and tanks filled the streets. But even with the army in place, the people did not retreat. For this had become a full-scale protest of Timisoara massed in a city square, shouting and singing….
The Communists responded with the brute force they had always employed when threatened by freedom seekers. They ordered their troops to open fire on the protestors….
In the confusion of the crowd and the darkness, the savage gunfire claimed hundreds of victims, but the people of Timisoara stood strong. Though shocked at the cost of their stand, they knew there was no middle ground. They had decided to stand for truth against lies, and stand they would.
Wow. And these are not the only two episodes of people power coupled with divine power that helped to overthrow evil regimes and resulted in the restoration of freedom and democracy. But they are important episodes that deserve to be told and retold, especially as we face the new rise of despotism in the West.
Indeed, the story of Timisoara should sound eerily familiar today: church closures, people considered to be enemies of the State unable to get access to basic goods and services, etc. The heavy-handed lockdowns, health fascism and two-tiered societies we see everywhere in the West are just so similar to what has happened before.
But the good news is, the mass protests, cries for freedom, the huge surge of people power, combined with a huge surge in Christians marching and praying, also seems so much like what has happened before. If all that could bring down the powers that be in Leipzig and Timisoara and Berlin and elsewhere, it can work here as well – even in Dictator Dan’s Peoples’ Republik of Victoria.
To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/135/29 Using David’s heartbreaking story in 2 Samuel 12, Adrian Rogers shares five principles of the law of the harvest.
Joseph’s purport with his device of the cup had been to see if his brothers would desert Benjamin, and be glad of his misfortune. When they returned with the prisoner, he assured them they might all go free but Benjamin. Yet they would not go. Judah, as their leader, threw himself at the vizier’s feet in an impassioned speech of pleading, one of the most beautiful portions of the Bible. He told of Jacob’s love for Rachel’s sons. Of the loss of Joseph, and of the certainty that Benjamin’s loss would now kill their father. Finally he offered to give himself as a slave in Benjamin’s place.
Joseph could withhold himself no more. The remorse and loyalty of the brothers were fully proved. The longings of twenty years swelled up in the exile’s heart. Hurriedly he cried to all his attendants to withdraw; and he revealed himself to his brothers. At first they could not believe. Then they feared the injured man’s revenge upon them. Joseph had to assure them repeatedly both of himself and of his forgiveness. Only Benjamin had no distrust. “And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.”
“And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” – John 12:23-24
It is a bizarre episode in the life of Elisha. That statement is actually inaccurate. It is a bizarre episode after the death of Elisha. What does this quick end to a funeral teach us?
First, whatever we accomplish is done by the power of God. Elisha is dead and God still works, without human cooperation. This is a fitting capstone to Elisha’s ministry. He was just the instrument; God was the power. Elisha can leave the scene, but God can still work.
Second, God restores. The body was thrown into the grave, like Israel would later be thrown into exile. Just as the body was restored, Israel would be too. What an encouragement to them and to us who feel so strongly sin’s devastation. God can restore.
Third, God is preaching the gospel here. There is life through Jesus’ death. Death is defeated through Jesus’ own death. Or think of it another way. Exile from the garden was the punishment for Adam and Eve’s sin. Exile from the Promised Land was the punishment for Israel’s sin. Exile from the presence of God was the punishment Christ received for His people’s sin. He was exiled, but then raised to life. In His death and resurrection is our life and salvation.
How do you receive the benefits of the gospel? Through contact with the Prophet of the Lord. The man touched Elisha’s bones and sprang up and revived. The woman touched the hem of Jesus’s garments and was healed. For us, the point of contact is faith in the Lord Jesus.
Suggestions for prayer
Thank God for the willingness of Christ to enter into our exile that we might know the restoring grace of God. Pray for grace to be willing to be an instrument of His power.
Reverend John van Eyk has served as Senior Pastor of Trinity Reformed Church (United Reformed) in Lethbridge, Alberta since 2017.
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4
Oh, that these happy times were come! At present the nations are heavily armed and are inventing weapons more and more terrible, as if the chief end of man could only be answered by destroying myriads of his fellows. Yet peace will prevail one day; yes, and so prevail that the instruments of destruction shall be beaten into other shapes and used for better purposes.
How will this come about? By trade? By civilization? By arbitration? We do not believe it. Past experience forbids our trusting to means so feeble. Peace will be established only by the reign of the Prince of Peace. He must teach the people by His Spirit, renew their hearts by His grace, and reign over them by His supreme power, and then will they cease to wound and kill. Man is a monster when once his blood is up, and only the Lord Jesus can turn this lion into a lamb. By changing man’s heart, his bloodthirsty passions are removed. Let every reader of this book of promises offer special prayer today to the Lord and Giver of Peace that He would speedily put an end to war and establish concord over the whole world.
Weeds greedily invade a garden. If we don’t root them out, they’ll destroy the flowers or vegetables we carefully planted. Coveting can similarly consume our hearts and destroy relationships. Learn how to weed it out, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. Listen…
Father, Thank you for the assurance that I won’t have to face a day without you.
“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:9-10
Thought
I guess for those who find themselves in places they shouldn’t be, the abiding presence of God might be a bit terrifying. But I find great comfort in knowing that no matter where I go, from the moment of my conception to the day of my death, God is always there. He is there to guide me and sustain me. Even when I’m in places I am not supposed to be, doing things I am not supposed to do, he is still there. I can turn to him in repentance and receive his grace. I can turn to him in need and receive his strength. I can turn to him and know I am not alone.
Prayer
Thank you, Father for loving me and personally knowing me. Thank you for the assurance that I won’t have to face a day without you. Thank you for the comfort of knowing that I will never face my sorrows alone. Thank you for being the strength that sustains me when I don’t have the strength to go on. Thank you that when tomorrow dawns, I will be with you no matter what happens during the night. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
A common issue many people face is a feeling of loneliness. Whether they are physically isolated or socially isolated, many find themselves in a pit of deep despair.
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
A common issue many people face is a feeling of loneliness. Whether they are physically isolated or socially isolated, many find themselves in a pit of deep despair. I too, have experienced this in a very real and raw way. Grinding through life, wrestling with difficult circumstances, and wondering if I was the only one struggling. Unfortunately, many times when we find ourselves in these circumstances we begin to believe the lie that God is not a loving God if he allows us to go down these lonely roads. Do not fall into this trap. Christ’s gift to us at Calvary paid the price for our sins, but did not guarantee us a pain-free or worry-free life. We often face challenges that are meant to draw us closer to him or help others through similar experiences. If you are experiencing loneliness, try to appreciate the lonely path Christ walked to pay the ultimate price for your deliverance, and attempt to discover the many ways you can comfort others in their time of need, which ultimately brings glory to God.
One of the most beautiful and impactful fictional illustrations of God’s presence never leaving us is portrayed in episode 2 of season 2 of the television drama “Chosen”. (The Chosen is a television drama based on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and is the highest grossing crowd-funded TV series or film project of all times.) In this episode, Nathaniel is introduced as an architect who designs buildings; but after a project he is developing collapses and severely injures several workers, his dreams are shattered, and he feels abandoned, let down, and all alone. Eventually, he finds himself sitting all alone under a fig tree and in a moment of desperation sets fire to his architectural plans representing his life’s work and cries out to God, pleading for help (Psalm 145:18). At the end of the episode, Philip introduces Nathaniel to Jesus who says, “I was there with you under the fig tree. I saw your face.” It is a climactic moment in the episode as Nathaniel immediately recognizes that he is in the presence of the Messiah. It is a reminder that Jesus is always with us, even at our weakest and loneliest moments, reassuring us that “he will never leave us or forsake us.”
Almighty God, thank you for granting us the courage to trust you in our times of loneliness. Give us the strength and confidence to know that you will never leave us. Fill us with your presence, teach us from your loving Word and let us live lives that bring glory to you, so that we too can comfort others in need. Amen.
Whenever you feel lonely, alone, or in need, remember that God himself lives in you by his Spirit and is offering you all the comfort, companionship, strength, and faith you need to persevere.
When it was evident that Benjamin was really alive, and had not been injured by his brothers’ jealousy, as Joseph himself had been, the young vizier was very happy. He felt that his brothers had repented and grown to be better men than of old. Yet he had learned caution, and he resolved to test them further. Without revealing himself, he summoned the brothers to a feast in his palace, and there gave Benjamin every preference over the others, serving to him “five times so much” as to any of the rest. Still they exhibited no jealousy. Joseph resolved on a further test. He allowed them to purchase their grain, and go; but secretly he had his own gold cup slipped into Benjamin’s sack. Then he sent his steward after the Israelites with soldiers, to accuse them of stealing the cup.
Naturally they denied all knowledge of the matter, opening their sacks readily for inspection. Imagine their astonishment when the cup appeared in Benjamin’s sack! Imagine also their dismay! How might they return to their father without his beloved? Judah especially had pledged his word. Without Benjamin he was resolved not to see his home again. Slowly and sadly the entire party trooped after the steward as he led the apparent culprit back to the palace of the offended vizier.
“No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.” —James Madison (1788)
A federal judge issued an injunction against implementing the COVID vaccine mandate for medical workers.
Thomas Gallatin
On Monday, a federal district judge issued an injunction temporarily halting Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for healthcare workers affiliated with Medicare and Medicaid. The Missouri district judge, who is a 2019 Donald Trump appointee, explained that his decision would “ensure that federal agencies do not extend their power beyond the express delegation from Congress.”
The temporary injection applies to Missouri, which brought the lawsuit, and nine other states that joined — Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, New Hampshire, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is pulling back on implementing penalties against federal workers who have not yet complied with Biden’s vaccine mandate deadline until after the holidays. The OMB office tried to brush off the massive cave by conflating the mandate with a “goal,” saying: “The Federal employee vaccination requirement is to protect Federal workers, not to punish them. Last week’s deadline was not an endpoint or a cliff. We are continuing to see more and more Federal employees getting their shots.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki similarly played off the backtracking on enforcement as nothing to see here,stating, “Nothing has changed on our deadline or our approach to the federal employee vaccine requirement.”
But that was clearly not the take from American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley. “The administration has done the right thing by listening to federal workers, taking their concerns seriously, and giving those who haven’t yet gotten vaccinated some peace of mind this holiday season,” he responded. “While we applaud the policy that defers suspensions and removals, we continue to encourage all our members who are able to obtain one of the FDA-approved anti-COVID vaccines as soon as they possibly can.”
The real question is whether the Biden administration sees the writing on the wall with this vaccine mandate, both legally and with public opinion. Furthermore, if the Biden administration did indeed follow through on its vaccine deadline, even with 92% of federal workers vaccinated, the impact of suspending or firing 8% of the federal workforce would have a significant negative impact on the workings of government, resulting in more negative numbers for Biden and only serving to further highlight his abysmal policies that are exacerbating the supply chain issues and rising inflation.
Americans want to be done with the COVID hysteria, and Biden’s foolish vaccine mandate has only politicized the issue and created more division. Freedom-loving Americans are simply not keen on authoritarian diktats, and it’s showing in Biden’s continued negative popularity slide.
Joe Biden touts his work to “fix” things, but his policies are doing just the opposite.
Nate Jackson
“All right,” began Joe Biden yesterday. “If I can get my pages unstuck here, we’re ready. I’m going to take my mask off when I speak here.” It is with such confident leadership that the president launched remarks about his plan to fix the nation’s supply chain in time for Christmas. Teasing aside, the supply chain is a problem, but a man who’s occupied Washington, DC, for 50 years and knows only of swampy ideas for the economy is not the man to fix it.
Part of the modern American presidency is theater to show what great effects policies are having. Yesterday was no different, as Biden was flanked by Food Lion president Meg Ham (a delightful name for the head of a grocery chain) and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who both praised the president for, as the White House headline put it, “His Administration’s Work to Move Goods to Shelves.”
Biden introduced them by saying, “I want to hear your ideas on how the federal government can continue partnering with you all to keep shelves stocked so American consumers can get what they need.”
Translation: Tell me what a great job I’m doing.
The federal government can get out of the way. State governments can get out of the way. The free market will figure out how to get goods on shelves without government “help” because, well, selling stuff is the whole point of the market.
Instead, governments at various levels completely upended the economy last year in response to a virus. Yes, that virus has been deadly — more than 777,000 Americans have died of or with COVID. But the vast majority of people are at far less risk. After all, there have been 48.1 million documented COVID cases in the U.S. How many more were so mild as to not even be confirmed?
Hindsight is 20/20, but the better response in March last year would have been to more selectively protect at-risk individuals while allowing the economy to continue operating as normally as possible. With few exceptions, that is not what government officials did.
Government policy knee-capped a roaring economy. One-size-fits-all lockdowns cost tens of millions of Americans their jobs. Biden disingenuously boasted yesterday that “4.5 million more Americans than last year had the dignity of a job.” That is some serious cherry-picking worthy of a “fact-check” smackdown that the Leftmedia will never bring. The truth is that, compared to February 2020, there are nearly five million fewer Americans with the dignity of a job. According to National Review, “The labor-force participation rate was 61.6 percent in October, down from 63.3 percent in February 2020.” Government did that.
So when CEOs of giant companies show up to glad-hand with the president over all the supposedly fabulous work he’s doing on supply chains, just remember that it was government policies that broke the supply chain in the first place.
Here were are, at the end of November 2021, dealing with the consequences of decisions made in March 2020. The employment picture has completely changed, because people were either laid off or began working from home. Millions still work from home or don’t work at all because they’ve been paid more to not work. Job hopping is a prevalent phenomenon — August and September saw some nine million people quit their jobs, presumably to take something else. Biden’s vaccine mandates are part of that equation. That’s an awful lot of economic upheaval.
Ham said herself that the upheaval extended to “how customers do their grocery shopping and what customers are buying when they do do their grocery shopping.” Not just groceries, but everything. How many fast food restaurants near you don’t allow dine-in because they don’t have enough workers? How many retail stores still have “Help Wanted” signs up? How many small businesses are operating shorter hours because they can’t compete with huge retailers offering big signing bonuses?
We haven’t even hit all those container ships sitting in the Pacific Ocean waiting for union workers to unload them. When they’re unloaded, there are too few truckers to drive those goods where they need to go.
The market needs time now to sort out all the changes brought about by government policies. It will, but it’ll take a lot longer if Biden keeps meddling with more government policies.
Just yesterday, in fact, Biden’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional director Lisa Y. Henderson ordered a new election at a Bessemer, Alabama, Amazon facility, despite workers there overwhelmingly rejecting unionization back in April by a 71-29 margin. Henderson’s rationale was based entirely upon the unbelievably flimsy excuse that local Amazon managers installed a new mailbox before the election. The real reason is that the union wants to keep voting until it wins.
But you can depend on Joe Biden to “fix” the economy.
One is a mega-millionaire and a woke primadonna; the other is a freshly minted and deeply grateful American citizen.
Douglas Andrews
We live in an Age of Entitlement — an age in which the blessings of American Liberty and the benefits of American stuff and the privilege of American citizenship seem free for the taking to millions of illegal immigrants. And given the often-sorry state of affairs in their native lands, it’s hard to blame them for breaking our laws. This is what happens when we offer people free stuff and then open our borders to them.
But then there are those who come to our country the right way, the legal way; those who invest themselves in the detailed and time-consuming process of American citizenship. These folks must sometimes feel like suckers. And, again, who can blame them if they feel disillusioned, even bitter, upon considering that so many millions of others didn’t play by the same rules?
Turkish-born Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter might naturally have belonged in this “bitter” category, but he chose not to be. And, as of yesterday, Kanter is a grateful and naturalized American citizen. Not only that: He officially changed his name to Enes Kanter Freedom. He even posted a brief video of himself taking the Oath of Allegiance, after which he picked up a small American flag and waved it back and forth to a round of applause from those in attendance.
What with the name, you ask? Judging from the way he comports himself, “Freedom” is who he is and what he stands for. As Fox News reports: “The name change comes as Freedom has spoken out on geopolitical issues concerning China’s human rights abuses, as well as Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan’s fight for freedom. Freedom was born in Turkey but was later exiled over his support for Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish religious cleric living in exile in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.”
Freedom is a multimillionaire. As such, he could live a life of peace and quiet and luxury. But, again, he’s chosen not to. Four years ago, he began receiving death threats for having spoken out against Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He had his Turkish passport canceled because of it.
More recently, he’s spoken out against one of the world’s most famous athletes — an athlete whose geopolitical ignorance and surpassing sense of entitlement stand in stark contrast to Freedom’s thoughtfulness and gratefulness.
We’re speaking of His Royal Wokeness, LeBron James, about whom National Review’s Rich Lowry writes, “The grotesque hypocrisy of the Nike-NBA industrial complex and its biggest star, LeBron James, has been underlined in recent weeks by Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter, who has been on a one-man crusade against the Chinese Communist Party and those too cowardly or greedy to call it out.”
Freedom, then, is the anti-James. And if that were ever in doubt, he made it clear with one of the most devastating social media posts ever undertaken. “Money over Morals for the ‘King,’” he said. “Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice. They really do ‘shut up & dribble’ when Big Boss [China] says so. Did you educate yourself about the slave labor that made your shoes or is that not part of your research?”
Freedom also wears his beliefs on his sneakers, and even there he doesn’t spare King James. On the side of one such shoe is printed, “Hey [King] still researching and getting educated?” which is a direct swipe at James and his mealy-mouthed excuse-making for his brutal benefactors in communist China.
Here at The Patriot Post, dedicated Americans like me fight tirelessly for Liberty. Since 1996, our team has been standing on the front lines, doing this crucial work. We’ll never stop defending Liberty for future generations, but we need your help.
The platform has pernicious effects on young people and states are investigating.
Emmy Griffin
Several states have organized a bipartisan effort to investigate the troubling research showing Instagram’s negative effects on young teens. This comes on the heels of the Facebook “whistleblower,” the documentary “The Social Dilemma,” and Facebook’s lack of cooperation in releasing research on how Instagram (owned by Facebook) affects teens.
Eight states have joined the cause, and the attorneys general are deeply concerned with the algorithms Instagram uses to attract and sustain teens’ attention. This would potentially violate consumer protection laws if Facebook knowingly used such manipulation to entrap teen users.
How does Instagram affect teens?
“Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” This was declared by researchers as early as March 2020. Instagram has a way of allowing users to manipulate the timing and angles of the camera to make people appear more athletic or fit than they really are. Instagram also has realistic-looking filters that magically erase imperfections. Teens across the board reported that Instagram was the root of their anxiety and depression.
Why won’t Instagram take definitive steps to remove children from the platform?
Children and their data equal profit. They are the targets of Instagram’s surveillance advertising. The Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” illustrates this concept by having an avatar of a teen boy user become more and more intelligent and curated the more he uses the app. Several groups worldwide have banded together to insist Facebook stop.
But Facebook has no motivation to stop since teens are such an easy commodity. The makers of Instagram have even played with the idea of making a version of the app targeting preteens. This was thankfully shot down in September, but ideas like this have a bad habit of cropping up again later.
Instagram poses a significant risk for these vulnerable children. It merely accelerates the issues that older teens are struggling with such as poor body image, mental health issues, anxiety and depression, and gender ideology. The platform is also rife with child predators, not to mention it’s used for the purposes of cyberbullying. Even teens are emotionally and cognitively too immature to handle regular Instagram; for preteens it would be devastating.
Facebook has proven time and time again that it is not interested in listening to the concerning stats on the effect its platforms have on teens. Even if it were motivated to make a change, it may not really be capable of policing tens of millions of people. The issues are simply too large and too widespread. Maybe this time, though, state attorneys general can forestall more tragedy and put sanctions on Instagram that could help alleviate the problems it causes for teens.
Grassroots Patriots know exactly what they are hearing and seeing.
Harold Hutchison
Some refrains are so common, grassroots Patriots are tired of hearing them. One of the most common is that we should not be assuming the worst about the Left, especially regarding a lengthy list of abuses of power. One of the persistent questions that also emerges is why we’re willing to believe the worst.
There is a simple response: Have many in the media heard how leftists talk about us? When we rebutted David French’s false claims that some on the Right were lying about left-wing hatred, your Patriot Post team compiled lots of evidence. You can see more just by watching MSNBC on a semi-regular basis.
After seeing all this, among other things, many grassroots Patriots perceive a discomforting pattern and connection. If words have consequences, something the Left asserts from January 6 and Trump’s use of a certain phrase to describe COVID, then there is a logical question to ask in response.
This isn’t an academic question. The year before The Patriot Post launched in 1996, John Lewis compared Republicans trying to fix a broken welfare system to Nazis. That’s two decades before Trump took the escalator ride to announce his first run for president. But more importantly, it means that this rhetoric has been going on for more than a quarter-century. What can we conclude?
At the very least, the Left is engaged in yet another double standard when it comes to its own conduct across many domains, including recounts/audits. That is being charitable, but there comes a time when common sense must overrule that.
The fact of the matter is that the Left’s words have consequences. One of those consequences is that the Left no longer will get the benefit of the doubt when something questionable takes place, and there is a lot of stuff that is being questioned. We also have the right to make assumptions about how leftists view us — as being unworthy of the full panoply of rights.
How else to explain the effort to shut down conservative media, the expansion of Silicon Valley’s censorship, or the way that the threat of a mob is wielded? Leftists have nobody but themselves to blame for this skepticism, nor can any reasonable person deny that the most convincing evidence is the words from leftists’ own mouths.
The Christian charity’s new guidebook on racism promotes CRT ideology.
Thomas Gallatin
We see them every year around this time, people standing outside storefronts with their bright red kettles, ringing a bell and wishing every passerby a Merry Christmas as they collect donations for the poor. The Salvation Army, an explicitly Christian organization, was founded on the good work of helping those suffering from poverty by providing for both their physical and spiritual needs.
In fact, so ubiquitous has The Salvation Army become with its red kettle campaign that one can know it’s the Christmas season when these happy bell-ringers show up all across the country.
So, it comes as a bit of a shock that the organization’s leadership, which for decades has stood strong on its biblical principles, would suddenly acquiesce to the modern leftist spirit of wokeness and embrace Critical Race Theory. Sadly, that’s what has happened.
The Christian charity recently released a new guidebook titled “Let’s Talk About Racism” in which are advocated the basic tenets of CRT. The guidebook includes its “International Position Statement on Racism,” wherein The Salvation Army “acknowledges with regret, that Salvationists have sometimes shared in the sins of racism and conformed to economic, organizational and social pressures that perpetuate racism.” This is an ironic statement given the organization’s leadership is now bending to the very social pressures for which it now claims to be apologizing.
For example, the guidebook promotes CRT by declaring that “colorblindness” — the racial equality ideal promoted by such racial justice advocates as Martin Luther King Jr. — “ignores the discrimination our Black and Brown brothers and sisters face and does not allow us to address racism properly.”
The guidebook also pushes the idea of white people being responsible for perpetuating racism via their “unconscious bias.” This bankrupt concept comes straight from the racist ideology of Ibram X. Kendi, the CRT-peddling academic who insists that white people are irredeemably racist and who says that reverse discrimination is the only just response.
“The subtle nature of racism is such that people who are not consciously racist easily function with the privileges, empowerment and benefits of the dominant ethnicity, thus unintentionally perpetuating injustice,” the guidebook states. This wide net includes “devout Christians who naively use racial epithets or a well-intentioned Sunday School curriculum that only uses white photography and imagery.”
Like all CRT advocacy, the Salvation Army’s guidebook actually promotes blatant racism. One example is its claim that “structural racism … is the overarching system of racial bias across institutions and society,” all of which “give privileges to White people resulting in disadvantages to [Blacks].”
Why would The Salvation Army, a Christian organization that has a long history of standing against racism going back to even 50 years prior to the civil rights movement, suddenly now be embracing wokeness, an ideology that actually promotes racism? Christian apologist and radio talk-show host Greg Koukl recently suggested, “In my estimation, CRT is a Trojan horse taking in well-intentioned Christian enterprises that — because they care about justice and oppose oppression — naively promote the most serious threat to biblical Christianity I have seen in 50 years.”
Recall that just two years ago, Chick-fil-A, bowing to pressure from leftist woke bullies, pulled its financial support for The Salvation Army. Now it appears that SA’s leadership is succumbing to those same social justice warriors.
The SA USA responded to the controversy by issuing a statement claiming that “some individuals and groups have recently attempted to mislabel our organization to serve their own agendas.” That said, SA has pulled the guide, which is now no longer available for public view. The statement goes on to say that the “International Headquarters realized that certain aspects of the guide may need to be clarified” and that the SA’s “International Social Justice Commission has now withdrawn the guide for appropriate review.”
The SA International Headquarters also issued a statement that was much more measured: “Elements of the recently issued ‘Let’s Talk About Racism’ guide led some to believe we think they should apologize for the color of their skin, or that The Salvation Army may have abandoned its Biblical beliefs for another philosophy or ideology. That was never our intention, so the guide has been removed for appropriate review.”
Finally, for those many local SA volunteers and their great ministry to the poor, we say keep supporting them. They indeed do good work and continue to maintain their colorblind advocacy in helping those in poverty.
Catherine Mortensen: Biden’s Shameful Blame Game — The Left’s default position is always to blame the private sector and look to government for a solution.
Federal judge properly halts vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in 10 states (National Review)
Federal workers who don’t meet vaccine mandate won’t face discipline until January (The Hill) | Here’s why: Largest federal employee union applauds guidance on discipline (AFGE.org)
Whew! Joe Biden says “no new lockdowns” if everyone wears a mask and gets vaccinated (Post Millennial)
Reality check: Omicron variant spreading fast, but scientists call it mild and warn not to panic (Washington Times)
Politics
Jen Psaki gets grilled over her boss’s hypocrisy on “xenophobic” travel bans (Post Millennial) | Media hit for “sophomoric and ridiculous” take on travel ban after calling Donald Trump’s restrictions racist (Fox News)
Twitter CEO and scoundrel Jack Dorsey stepping down (Fox Business) | New CEO says Twitter is “not bound by the First Amendment” (Post Millennial) | How Parag Agrawal might make a poisonous platform worse (The Federalist)
CNN host Chris Cuomo used his media sources to find out info on his disgraced brother’s accusers, records show (CNBC) | Apathetic CNN says it will have “conversations,” seek “additional clarity” (Fox News)
Ultra-rabble-rouser Ilhan Omar hangs up on semi-rabble-rouser Lauren Boebert after tense phone call (Fox News)
Security
Build Back Better Act would give amnesty to 6.5 million illegal immigrants, CBO says (Washington Examiner)
What could possible go wrong? Kamala Harris-led Space Council faces challenges from Russia and China (Washington Examiner)
Culture
Waukesha parade massacre suspect faces new homicide charge after child dies (Washington Examiner)
Prosecutors tell jury Ghislaine Maxwell was “dangerous predator” who “served up” minors to Jeffrey Epstein for sexual abuse (Daily Wire)
Defense dubiously claims Jussie Smollett was “real victim” as hoax hate crime trial begins (National Review)
Enabling a destructive lifestyle: New York City opens nation’s first government-sanctioned drug injection sites (National Review)
Smash-and-grab crime wave spreads across Democrat cities (Washington Times)
Profiles of Integrity Award
Enes Kanter Freedom: NBA star changes name to celebrate U.S. citizenship (BBC)
Notables
Cyber Monday online sales drop 1.4% from last, falling for first time ever (CNBC)
Migrants come for jobs, not fleeing violence or climate change: Major study undercuts Biden explanation for surge in illegal immigration (Washington Times)
Brett Kavanaugh could cast the swing vote that overturns Roe v. Wade (Free Beacon)
Closing Arguments
Policy: “History is clearly on the pro-life side”: ADF counsel Erin Hawley breaks down upcoming Supreme Court abortion case (Daily Signal)
Satire: Biden says African Americans should be able to shop on more than just “Black Friday” (Genesius Times)
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Fact-Blockers — Facebook and its so-called “fact-checker,” Science Feedback, censored former NYT reporter John Tierney for daring to say that masking kids can do harm.
Insight: “Rogues are preferable to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.” —Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)
“Jack Dorsey stepping down as Twitter CEO. Whoever replaces him will have some BIG stories to block.” —Jimmy Failla
Dumb… “What we’re doing is we are reconnecting people who may have been disconnected or divided by discriminatory decisions in the past. … The point is not to make America feel guilty. The point is to make America better and more equitable and more effective in moving people to where they need to go. The point of transportation is to connect, so if a transportation [sic] was ever used to divide, we have a responsibility, a moral one but also a very practical one, to fix it.” —Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (“No amount of government spending can undo the past. Big government is the default solution for Democrats, whether the problem occurred 20 minutes ago or 50 years ago. But no massive spending bill is going to solve the problems that can only be solved by changing hearts and minds. That’s what Buttigieg really gets wrong.” —Chris Queen)
… and dumber: “Families who own that [electric] vehicle will never have to worry about gas prices again.” — Pete Buttigieg (“Because electricity is generated by good vibes.” —David Harsanyi)
Roger that, Uncle Joe! “If people are vaccinated and wear their mask, there’s no need for lockdown.” —Joe Biden
Lack of self-awareness: “I think we’re really on the precipice … of seeing people, particularly in the Republican Party, but not only there, who truly just want power — power to impose their views, power to exploit financial advantage, power to implement a religious point of view.” —Hillary Clinton
Braying jenny: “You know, a lot of people got, oh, I think kind of frustrated looking at the messy process of legislation, and they … didn’t really appreciate that within a year, the Biden administration has passed two major pieces of legislation through both the House and the Senate. They passed another major piece through the House that will soon be in the Senate. By any measure, those are extraordinary accomplishments… But because of the way we are getting our information today and because of the lack of gatekeepers and people who have a historic perspective, who can help us understand what we are seeing, there is a real vulnerability in the electorate to the kind of demagoguery and disinformation that, unfortunately, the other side is really good at exploiting.” —Hillary Clinton
Non compos mentis: “I have a high tolerance for inflation in this kind of economy because I think we need it as a society to heal.” —New York Times columnist David Brooks
And last… “Biden banned travel from South Africa because of the new Covid variant. Immigrants have recently been apprehended crossing our border illegally from South Africa. Biden is doing nothing to stop immigrants from South Africa entering illegally. Pure politics and hypocrisy.” —Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Reenactment of anointing the High Priest to be held on last night of Hanukkah On Monday, December 6, a reenactment of several Temple ceremonies will be held in Mitzpe Yericho. The reenactments will include a demonstration of the anointing of the High Priest, and the lighting of the Temple menorah. A new altar will be dedicated for use on the Temple Mount. Each ceremony is an essential element of the Temple service and practical efforts such as these are intended to prepare for the Third Temple.
Bishop warns about Biden’s ‘so-called Catholics’ In this situation, he was commenting on Biden’s moves to revoke waivers for faith-based child welfare groups that allowed them to follow their faith. Those changes are coming from Xavier Becerra, a radical abortion promoter who was named Human Services secretary by Biden. “More brokenness from so[-]called Catholics,” Strickland, of Tyler, Texas, told Fox News. He added that “maybe we should send him a Catechism.” That lays out doctrine for those who are Catholic, and it explains religious liberty is a “natural right.”
Did donations dry up? Salvation Army pulls U-turn on ‘guidance’ for whites Just as the famous red kettles of the Salvation Army are appearing nationwide for the international charitable organization’s major fundraising effort, the organization abruptly has withdrawn a controversial “guidance” that warned white Americans racism is “systemic” and Christians would “evaluate” their racist practices.
Biden sending 1,000 Nat’l Guard troops to Africa Biden is sending 1,000 Virginia and Kentucky National Guard troops to the horn of Africa, the services announced on Saturday. The deployment marks the largest single-unit mobilization of Virginia’s National Guard since World War II.
Six new vents tear open on erupting Canary Islands volcano sending lava racing into previously untouched areas at 20ft per minute new volcanic vents have opened up on the Spanish island of La Palma, releasing new lava that is speeding down a ridge and threatening to widen the damage to evacuated land, roads and homes, authorities said last night. The molten rock coming out from the main new vent was very fluid and was advancing at a speed of 20ft per minute towards areas unspoiled until now, said María José Blanco, a spokeswoman for Spain’s National Geographic Institute.
Weather snow forecast UK – School closures TOMORROW & power cuts to continue following brutal -10C ‘coldest night’ SCHOOLS across the country have been forced to close today due to severe weather conditions at the weekend – and will likely remain shut on Tuesday. It comes as wind gusts of almost 100mph caused transport disruption, power cuts and damage to buildings, while heavy snow led to lorries getting stuck and ploughs being used in a number of areas.
Leaked Docs Reveal Germany Is Urging Congress To Thwart Biden Admin Sanctions On Nord Stream 2 Germany has been quietly urging the United States not to sanction the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, even as geopolitical tensions between Europe and Russia have been on edge over the past month given recent allegations the Kremlin is building up troops near Ukraine for a possible near-future offensive. The report details documents obtained by Axios wherein Congressional members are warned that fresh Biden admin sanctions would “ultimately damage transatlantic unity” and leave Washington’s credibility weakened.
Media Says Rise In Soccer Players Suddenly Collapsing Is Just A “Coincidence” The media has responded to the recent spate of high profile football players suddenly collapsing with heart problems in the middle of games by concluding that it is just a “coincidence.” Yes, really. This prompted German newspaper Berliner Zeitung to publish a report seeking to answer why an “unusually large number of professional and amateur soccer players have collapsed recently.”
Jury Selected In Ghislaine Maxwell Sex-Trafficking Trial The jury in the sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell has been seated for the British socialite’s trial, where six men and six women will decide if she trafficked underage girls for sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and pals. Is there another giant Epstein bomb about to drop?
Walgreens, Walmart and CVS Pharmacies Contributed to Opioid Epidemic, Ohio Jury Finds A federal jury in Cleveland on Tuesday found that the companies owning CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies were liable for contributing to the opioid epidemic in two Ohio counties—the first, potentially influential verdict among many lawsuits targeting pharmacy chains.
PSYCHO-BIO-WARFARE: OMICRON hysteria is a virus of the mind with no basis in physical reality… it’s all a mind game to drive people to vax suicide The dreadful-sounding “Omicron” variant is the latest chapter in the globalist psycho-bio-warfare attack on humanity. The “psycho” part refers to the psychological terrorism inflicted by the complicit media and its attempts to drive everyone into widespread fear. The “bio” weapon is the vaccine itself, which was engineered from the start as a depopulation bioweapon designed to cause mass fatalities over the next decade (from cancer, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disorders, etc.).
South African Doctor Who Raised Alarm About Omicron Variant: ‘Symptoms Were So Different And So Mild’ As I reported on Friday, the Biden administration is restricting travel from eight African countries beginning Monday, after a new “variant of concern,” known as omicron, was detected in South Africa. While there have been some extreme reactions..the symptoms appear to be “so different,” and “so mild.”
Australia Lockdowns – Concentration Camps Australia Lockdowns have escalated to Australia’s Indigenous Taken to Covid Quarantine Camps – Just Another Conspiracy Theory Come True.
The new African virus mutation: right on time; a kindergarten covert op for the ignorant There are no variants. Because there is no virus. SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t exist. I’ve spent the past year and a half proving that. But fantasies do exist. So do covert ops with intentions to deceive. Thus, the “scientific world” is agog over the new South African variant, named B11529 (aka Omicron, Botswana). Woo. The ghost is coming out of the closet. Beware. COVID cases are rising…
Glenn Beck Drags Barack Obama Out Of Hiding Just as the Creator’s Stars come out at night, The Truth—no matter how powerful those squatting on and suppressing it—will always and ever find its way out. The Truth is writ large in the 153-page Confidentiality Agreement between the Barack Obama Government and Big Pharma Moderna from 2015, of which masterful researcher Glenn Beck has a copy. “
Symptoms of the Omicron Variant Used To Cover Up Effects of Covid Vaccines Recently the Botswana Government announced that a new variant of Covid had arisen from the Vaccinated. One of the symptoms listed of the new Omicron Variant of Coronavirus; includes the following: A number of heart-related complications may occur, including heart failure, arrhythmias, heart inflammation, and blood clots
From California eastward, US courts keep ruling against President Biden’s attempt to force Americans to take the experimental virus shots. And the President has been forced to quietly back off of his threat to fire Federal workers who refuse the jab. Is freedom winning? Also today, leading expert says new variant may spell the end of Covid-19 altogether! Watch today’s Liberty Report:
CNN is reviewing material released Monday that showed host Chris Cuomo was not truthful to viewers when he told them in August that he did not speak to fellow media members about the scandal that engulfed his brother Andrew Cuomo.
“The thousands of pages of additional transcripts and exhibits that were released today by the NY Attorney General deserve a thorough review and consideration,” CNN said in a statement.
“We will be having conversations and seeking additional clarity about their significance as they relate to CNN over the next several days,” the news outlet added.
Speaking on his show earlier this year, Chris Cuomo claimed that he “never made calls to the press about my brother’s situation.”
In one case, Chris Cuomo was tasked by Melissa DeRosa, at the time a top aide to Andrew Cuomo, with gathering “intel” about a looming story by New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow.
Chris Cuomo was successful, telling DeRosa in a text message on March 15 that Farrow’s story “not ready for tomorrow.”
In another message, Chris Cuomo appeared to signal that he spoke directly with Farrow.
He also checked into rumored stories by other outlets, including Politico.
Other texts showed the CNN host drafted entire statements he hoped the New York gubernatorial office would release and attribute to Andrew Cuomo, who was governor at the time.
Chris Cuomo has not responded to requests for comment.
He told investigators during a deposition that he did not try to affect any reports.
“If I had tried to influence any of the reporting at CNN or anywhere else, I guarantee you, you people would know, and so would a lot of others,” he said.
“So the idea of one reporter calling another to find out about what’s coming down the pipe is completely business-as-usual.”
Experts have told The Epoch Times that Chris Cuomo’s behavior violates journalism standards and questioned CNN’s lack of transparency regarding the situation.
It is unethical for a journalist to use their position, contacts, and influence to help a family member or friend involved in an investigation by law enforcement,” Rebecca Aguilar, president of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), said in an email.
“The SPJ Code of Ethics clarifies the rules: Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived, minimize harm and be accountable and transparent,” she added.
ATLANTA, GA—CNN has announced that they will bring back Chris Cuomo to host a new addition to their evening lineup of shows, titled To Shield a Predator.
“After news broke about Chris Cuomo using his sources to protect his predator brother Andrew, we thought we’d have to fire him and lose literally dozens of viewers,” said CNN producer Bob Scoop, “Then we realized Chris was the perfect host for a show about using positions of power to shield predators from justice by helping locate, influence, bribe, even threaten their accusers.”
The CNN anchor himself was excited about hosting To Shield A Predator, citing his vast experience sexually harassing coworkers, silencing opposing voices, and being a hypocritical blowhard.
“We’re already in contact with Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, man—this is going to be such a great show,” said Chris Cuomo, adding wistfully, “I only wish Jeffrey Epstein were still alive.”
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul weighs in on Dr. Fauci’s latest claim that he ‘represents’ science, the effectiveness of wearing masks, and the supply chain crisis. #FoxNews Subscribe to Fox News! https://bit.ly/2vaBUvAS Watch more Fox News Video: http://video.foxnews.com Watch Fox News Channel Live: http://www.foxnewsgo.com/ FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service delivering breaking news as well as political and business news.
The administration has repeatedly issued statements and reports that could automatically castigate citizens who distrust the federal government. We may eventually learn that the new Biden guidelines spurred a vast increase in federal surveillance and other abuses against Americans who were guilty of nothing more than vigorous skepticism.
Biden is Nixon on steroids
The Biden team is expanding the federal Enemies List perhaps faster than any time since the Nixon administration. In June, the Biden administration asserted that guys who are unable to score with women may be terrorist threats due to “involuntary celibate–violent extremism.” That revelation was included in the administration’s National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, which identified legions of new potential “domestic terrorists” that the feds can castigate and investigate.
The White House claims its new war on terrorism and extremism is “carefully tailored to address violence and reduce the factors that …infringe on the free expression of ideas.” But the prerogative to define extremism includes the power to revile disapproved beliefs. The report warns that “narratives of fraud in the recent general election … will almost certainly spur some [domestic violent extremists] to try to engage in violence this year.” If accusations of 2020 electoral shenanigans are formally labeled as extremist threats, that could result in far more repression (aided by Facebook and Twitter) of dissenting voices. How will this work out any better than the concerted campaign by the media and Big Tech last fall to suppress all information about Hunter Biden’s laptop before the election? And how can Biden be trusted to be the judge after he effectively accused Facebook of mass murder for refusing to totally censor anyone who raised doubts about the COVID-19 vaccine?
Thanksgiving weekend was rocked by reports of a new Covid mutation, quickly named “Omicron Variant,” which resulted in lockdown-happy “public health officials” across the globe pushing the panic button. Actual doctors reporting from “ground zero” in South Africa, however, report that the infections thus far from the new mutation are much more mild than the “Delta Variant.” Also today: Fauci jumps the shark, claiming that “I represent science!”
To understand the modern world, perhaps the most important rule one needs to know is this: Everything the Left touches it ruins.
This first became clear to me years ago during my radio show. I was talking about the Left’s war on the Boy Scouts (for not accepting announced gay people). It was becoming clear that this would ultimately lead to the decline of the Boy Scouts, which led me to ask: “Will the left replace the Boy Scouts with a left-wing Boy Scouts?”
Then I answered my own question: Of course not. Because the Left only destroys; it doesn’t build anything (other than government).
In support of that observation, here is a list of many of the things the Left ruins and often destroys.
No. 1: Art.
The Left long ago conquered the art world. Consequently, since the 20th century, most modern art has been ugly, meaningless and nihilistic — the opposite of what Western art had always been.
No. 2: Music.
What the Left did to the eyes in art, it did to the ears in music. As a part-time conductor, I can say with some knowledge that since the invention of atonal music (an oxymoron if there ever was one), most contemporary classical music is also ugly, meaningless and uninspiring. The people who like such music are almost all music critics and, of course, music professors. Most lovers of classical music never listen to the stuff.
No. 3: Journalism.
Journalists were once highly respected. Unless a piece was listed as “opinion,” people generally believed they were getting, to the best of a journalist’s ability, as truthful a report as possible — “just the facts.” Today, on virtually any controversial issue, they are getting opinion, not truth. The purpose of nearly every major newspaper and other “news” outlet is the same purpose Pravda had in the Soviet Union: to transmit the party line.
No. 4: Colleges and universities.
The Left has destroyed universities as places of learning devoted to seeking truth and therefore welcoming, even cultivating, diverse opinions. Virtually every left-wing idea was born at a university.
No. 5: High schools and elementary schools.
Most schools in America — private as much as public — teach children that America is systemically racist and that they are not born male or female, but at a later age will choose whether to be one or the other — or neither. And increasingly, American educational institutions deny objective truth exists, even in mathematics.
No. 6: Happiness.
You can meet happy and unhappy liberals and happy and unhappy conservatives, but you are unlikely to ever meet a happy leftist. The only question is whether the unhappy gravitate to leftism or whether leftism makes people unhappy. Both are probably true.
No. 7: The family.
People on the Left increasingly choose not to get married and not to have children — in other words, not to make families. And their welfare policies serve to disincentivize the creation of families.
No. 8: Women.
The rates of depression among young people, especially young women, are higher than ever recorded in American history. One reason is that for half a century, women have been told, as one famous feminist saw put it, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” But the fact is that the vast majority of (heterosexual) women need a man to be fulfilled, just as the vast majority of (heterosexual) men need a woman to be fulfilled.
No. 9: Childhood.
One reason young people on the Left don’t want children is that the Left doesn’t particularly like children. The teachers unions’ adamant refusal to open schools for over a year has opened many Americans’ eyes to this fact. So has the war on children’s innocence – like prematurely talking to them about sex and having schools introduce them to drag queens from the age of five.
No. 10: Black life.
Like the Democratic Party historically, the left is racist. And it is so in precisely the way the word was always used — the Left believes in black inferiority. That is why leftists advocate lowering standards for blacks. That is why they advocate policies that always result in more blacks dying at the hands of other blacks. That is why they believe the state must take care of blacks more than any other group. That is why left-wing policies, from the Great Society to today, have destroyed so much of black life, especially its family life — and they don’t care.
No. 11: Black-white relations.
According to polls and according to just about every American who remembers life from about a decade ago, black-white relations were far superior then and both groups were optimistic about relations other continuing to improve. The Left shattered that with its anti-white, “America is systemically racist” propaganda shouted from almost every major media and relentlessly pushed in almost every school and big business. The Left knows that when blacks and whites feel good about one another, the Left loses its appeal and loses elections.
No. 12: The military.
As the military gets more and more woke– recall the testimony of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testifying before Congress about the need to teach the military about white racism — soldier morale declines. Add to this the utterly gratuitous and cruel mandate that every member of the military get vaccinated or be discharged and you understand why military morale is in steep decline.
No. 13: Late-night television.
Americans who remember the titans of late-night comedy — Johnny Carson and Jay Leno — remember how their sole aim was to bring some smiles and laughter to Americans before they went to sleep. Few people had any inkling of the political views of either host. That is now history. The Left has destroyed late night comedy. It now consists of little more than angry rants against conservatives.
No. 14: Superman.
Superman was an iconic American hero. Thanks to the Left, he is no more. About a decade ago, Superman stood in front of the United Nations to announce he was renouncing his American citizenship to become a “citizen of the world.” And the Left has now changed his motto from “Truth, Justice, and the American way” to “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow.”
No. 15: Free speech.
Never before has freedom of speech been threatened as it is today. As has been true since the communist revolution in Russia, everywhere the Left has gained power — from Russia in 1917 to the university and social media today — it has suppressed free speech. There is no exception.
No. 16: Sports.
Until last year, sports was a great American unifier. It was one place Americans could go and, leaving politics behind, Left and Right, Democrat and Republican could root for the same team. No longer. The Left has ruined it by radically politicizing baseball, football and basketball.
The great American tragedy is just about every liberal knows the above is true, but nearly everyone will still vote for the Left.
Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is “The Rational Bible,” a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, “No Safe Spaces,” was released to home entertainment nationwide on September 15, 2020. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.
Weeds greedily invade a garden. If we don’t root them out, they’ll destroy the flowers or vegetables we carefully planted. Coveting can similarly consume our hearts and destroy relationships. Learn how to weed it out, on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
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