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
All Israel was aroused by the Levite’s passionate summons. The people gathered at Mizpeh in a great assembly to decide what should be done to avenge him. There the Levite told his terrible story; and the entire assembly vowed as one man to go up to Gibeah and destroy its evil inhabitants. They pledged themselves to one another by a solemn oath, that they would not even return to their homes for preparation, “but now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel.… that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.”
Thus began the murderous civil war against Benjamin. That tribe, to which Gibeah belonged, had not come to the general assembly. Therefore the other Israelites knew not how the absentees might act in the matter. Messengers were sent throughout Benjamin entreating that the men of Gibeah be handed over to vengeance. But the other Benjamites stood by their kindred, and refused to surrender them.
I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.
Isaiah 44:3
Our dear children have not the Spirit of God by nature, as we plainly see. We see much in them which makes us fear as to their future, and this drives us to agonizing prayer. When a son becomes specially perverse, we cry with Abraham, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee!” We would sooner see our daughters Hannahs than empresses. This verse should greatly encourage us. It follows upon the words, “Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,” and it may well banish our fears.
The Lord will give His Spirit; will give it plentifully, pouring it out; will give it effectually, so that it shall be a real and eternal blessing. Under this divine outpouring our children shall come forward, and “one shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob.”
This is one of those promises concerning which the Lord will be inquired of. Should we not, at set times, in a distinct manner, pray for our offspring? We cannot give them new hearts, but the Holy Spirit can; and He is easily to be entreated of. The great Father takes pleasure in the prayers of fathers and mothers. Have we any dear ones outside of the ark? Let us not rest till they are shut in with us by the Lord’s own hand.
4:1 In the first nine verses, Solomon rehearses the sound teaching which his father had passed on to him, and urges his children to spare no effort in gaining true insight. The book of Proverbs teems with earnest exhortations to the young to listen to instruction from a wise father.[1]
Ver. 1. The instruction of a father.—A religious home:—
I. The love of a religious home. Two kinds of love for the offspring.
1. The natural love.
2. The spiritual love, which has respect to the spiritual being, relations, and interests of the children.
II. The training of a religious home.
1. The parent’s teaching is worth retaining.
2. The parent’s teaching is practical.
3. The parent’s teaching is quickening to all the powers, intellectual and moral.
III. The influence of a religious home.
1. The susceptibility of childhood.
2. The force of parental affection. Religious homes are the great want of the race. (David Thomas, D.D.)
Paternal exhortation:—
Doctrine and law form the staple of this appeal. By “law” understand “direction,” for life is an ever-bisecting course, and full of points that must bewilder inexperienced travellers. Do not venture upon great sea voyages without proper instruments and without being taught how to use them. So in life. Be enriched with doctrine or wisdom, and cultivate that tender filial spirit which gratefully yields itself to direction. It is at once wise and lovely for youth to consult the aged, and to avail themselves of accumulated experience. Any other spirit is vain, self-conceited, frivolous, and unworthy. Why should the father be anxious to instruct and direct the son? Because he has seen more of life, more of its mystery, its peril, its tragedy; therefore his heart yearns to preserve the young from danger. The father’s position is one of moral dignity and supreme benevolence. Having suffered himself, he would save his children from pain. (J. Parker, D.D.)
Attend to know understanding.—Knowing understanding:—
I. Young men have need often to be called upon to get true knowledge.
1. Because of their own backwardness to the work.
2. The impediments and diversions from attaining true wisdom.
3. There are many things to be believed, beyond the power of corrupted reason to find out.
4. There are many practical things to be learned, else they can never be done.
5. There are many faculties of the soul to be reformed.
6. There are many senses and members of the body to be directed to many particular actions, and each to its own. Uses:
1. To blame young men that think their parents and teachers over-diligent.
2. To urge children to attend to their parents instructing them in piety.
3. To persuade parents and teachers not only to instruct, but also to incite to attention.
II. Every young man has need to be called on to look after true knowledge.
1. Because there is no disposition to this wisdom in the best by nature.
2. There is much averseness, because the principles of faith are above nature, and of practice against nature. (Francis Taylor, B.D.)
The invitation:—
I. Let our own children receive instructions. This charity must begin at home.
II. Let all young people take pains to get knowledge and grace. They are in the learning stage.
III. Let all who would receive instruction come with the disposition of children. Let prejudices be laid aside. Let them be dutiful, tractable, and self-diffident. (Matthew Henry.)[2]
Ver. 1.—Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father. This exhortation is identical with that in ch. 1:8, except that the address, “ye children,” indicating a new departure, is now used instead of “my son,” which has been hitherto employed (see ch. 1:8; 2:1; 3:1, 21), and “of thy father” is altered to “of a father.” The verb is the same, occurring here, of course, in the plural number. The appeal is evidently intended to rouse attention. Attention is especially necessary to secure a knowledge of Divine truth. Ye children (bhânîm). This address occurs again twice in the second group of admonitory discourses—in ch. 5:7 and 7:24, and also in the appeal of Wisdom personified in ch. 8:32, and, with these exceptions, nowhere else in the Proverbs. It is used by David, and it is possible that when the teacher penned these words he had in mind Ps. 34:11, “Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” The similarity in the address serves to connect the teacher of wisdom with David, and thus to identify him with Solomon, while it also leads to the conclusion that the advice which follows in vers. 4–19 is in substance that which David had given his son. On “instruction,” see ch. 1:8. Of a father (âv). It is difficult, owing to the want of the pronominal suffix, to determine accurately whether the teacher is referring to himself or to his own father in the expression. The following verse (2) would indicate that he is speaking of himself in his capacity as a teacher or instructor of youth. But it is quite possible that he may be referring to his own father, whose advice he had received, and which he is now about to lay before others in vers. 4–19. Though attention to paternal advice in general, i.e. instruction given by any father to his children, is not intended here, still the passage may be regarded as embodying the principle that attention to parental advice is incumbent on children, and a disregard of it is the mark of ingratitude and depravity. Rabbi Levi understands the phrase as referring to our heavenly Father. Attend (hakshivu, hiph. imperative of kāshāv). On the force of this verb as signifying “earnest, absorbed attention,” see ch. 1:24. To know understanding (lâdāāth bînâ); i.e. in order that you may know or gain understanding. The infinitive marks the design or object of the attention (cf. the Vulgate, ut sciatis). The expression corresponds with lâdāāth khokmah in ch. 1:2, and just as this signifies “to appropriate to yourself wisdom,” so the one before us has the same force, and signifies the gaining or appropriation of understanding, i.e. the faculty of discernment or discrimination. Hitzig renders, “to know with the understanding;” i.e. to know intelligently, but this does not seem to be the meaning of the phrase.[3]
4:1. Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding,
This chapter falls out into three sections—each an exhortation to acquire wisdom and each marked off by a call to listen from father to son (vv. 1, 10, 20). The call we meet in this verse is very much like the other familial calls to wisdom we find in the book of Proverbs (e.g. Prov. 1:8; 3:1; 5:1, 7; 7:24), yet it is distinctive in that it is in the plural (but see also 5:7; 7:24; 8:32).
Debate has raged over this uniqueness, some suggesting that this refers in a metaphorical way to a teacher/disciple relationship rather than a literal father/son relationship. Such debate, however, is unnecessary, for many a father has more than one son. The mention of ‘mother’ in verse 3 also lends to an understanding of this in a familial sense (cf. Prov. 1:8; 6:20). While the literal familial relationship of father and son is surely the meaning here, the wider application may extend to such teacher/disciple relationships and even to that of God the Father over us, His children.
There is not much new material presented in this verse. The ‘instruction’ and ‘understanding’ spoken of here have already been introduced in Proverbs 1:2. The call to ‘give attention’ is also familiar (Prov. 1:24; 2:2; 4:20; 7:24).
This repetition, however, is not useless in the least. This teaches us a basic principle of pedagogy: we learn best by repetition. The way of God with His children is still ‘precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line’ (Isa. 28:13, kjv). In an age that chases that which is new and different, we dare not lose the value of reminder (Rom. 15:15; 2 Tim. 1:6; 2 Pet. 1:12, 15).[4]
1 The indefinite and plural address, sons (bānîm), is unique in the introductory admonitions of the prologue’s eleven lectures (cf. 1:8[10, 15], 2:1; 3:1, 20; 4:10, 20; 5:1; [6:1], 20; 7:1), but not without analogy within the lectures and addresses (5:7; 7:24; 8:32; cf. Ps. 34:11[12]). Although it must be admitted that the vocative plural of bēn never occurs in Proverbs with the pronominal suffix, raising questions about the force of the indefinite construction, the pronominal suffix is used with the vocative in 1 Sam. 2:24; 2 Chr. 29:11; Isa. 43:6. If this argument is valid, the indefinite a father’s instruction (mûsār ʾāb; see 1:2, 8) points to the kind or class of instruction as that of a father to a son, not as typically the identity of the father as the one addressing his son (cf. 1:8; 6:20; 13:1). Ultimately the father’s instruction derives from God (see 2:1–6). Fox comments, “Parental authority is a channel for communication of God’s will. The two sources of authority reinforce each other, and in places where only one is mentioned, the other is not thereby excluded.” The speaker is the father, not the mother, because the “I” of 4:2 identifies himself as a son in v. 4. These two indefinite constructions suggest that the pl. “sons” is diachronic (i.e., a reference to the lineage of sons), not synchronic (i.e., a reference to the contemporary sons of a father). That notion suits this lecture, which pertains to inheriting the good and reliable sagacity of the fathers. Newsom observes:
There is always a measure of identification between father and son, so that a son understands and thinks “when I grow up, that’s what I will be.” The father-status already exists as a potentiality in the son. That identification is, of course, vital in negotiating the intergenerational division of patriarchal society.… Chapter 4 speaks of the transformation of the sons into the fathers in the chain of tradition. The male subject is to a certain degree apportioned between father and son.
And pay attention (wehaqšîbû; see 2:2) is a synonymous parallel to šāmaʿ. To “know” knowledge that gives insight (ledaʿat; see 1:2) is better than “to know knowledge” because the noun daʿat is a better parallel to mûsār “instruction” than the verb, and because hqšb is always followed by a noun referring to the words of teaching, never by a verb (2:2; 4:1, 20; 5:1; 7:24; 17:4; 29:12).[5]
1 The first discourse begins with a double call, stressing the importance of receiving the teaching. The “instruction” (mûsar) is the moral instruction introduced previously (cf. 1:2); it adds self-control and guidance to wisdom.
The significant feature of this discourse is that the teaching is traditional. The plural “sons” suggests that disciples (pupils) are in view and that the father is a teacher (Toy, 84). But the use of “mother” in v. 3 and the fact that the teacher-pupil relationship was modeled on the parent-child relationship suggest that a father-children relationship is indicated. Alden, 45, perhaps goes too far in identifying David and Bathsheba as the parents.[6]
[6] Ross, A. P. (2008). Proverbs. In T. Longman III, Garland David E. (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Proverbs–Isaiah (Revised Edition) (Vol. 6, pp. 70–71). Zondervan.
It has been said, the more things change the more they stay the same. As this New Year unfolds, much of the regular routine of life will stay the same. And while regular routine is a blessing from the LORD, brokenness within our routines is not.
The book of Ecclesiastes speaks to our brokenness. Life apart from God is vanity and meaningless. Solomon sought to find meaning in his work, in pleasure seeking and in wisdom itself, but came to the same conclusion—that life’s activities when they are not rooted in God’s purposes have no abiding value. With weariness of heart, Solomon observes the effects of the repetitious enduring activity in God’s creation from generation to generation. It is all the same. Nothing is new under the sun and nothing will be remembered.
Christians, however, live under the Son. And we are thankful that by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Jesus alone, we are made new creatures. That puts life in perspective. Our routines have a direction as we prepare ourselves for the New Jerusalem to come. Divine blessings are to be enjoyed day by day, but never forget we must all be prepared for divine judgment. How are you preparing?
Suggestions for prayer
Acknowledge your brokenness and testify to your need. Thank God for routine and ask God to help you keep life in perspective.
Rev. Peter Vellenga is presently serving as itinerant preacher waiting upon Lord for continued assignment.
We may wonder what God’s plan is for our life, but we can be certain it includes our spiritual development
Many Christians today want to find God’s plan for their life but, sadly, often overlook the one place it’s revealed—the Bible. His overall goal for each of us is that we would bring Him glory, and He uses both His Spirit and Word to accomplish this.
Today we’re going to focus on three ways we glorify God.
With our behavior. Righteous living stands out in stark contrast to lifestyles of the world around us. Godliness shines like a light pointing others to Christ and bringing glory to the Father.
With our character. God’s purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son. As the Spirit’s fruit is produced in us, we display Christ’s likeness in our attitudes and responses to people and situations.
With our obedience. Scripture reveals what God has commanded and how He wants us to live. When we do what He says, we glorify Him.
We usually focus on finding God’s plan for our life with regard to circumstances, relationships, and other practical matters. But the Lord’s priority is our spiritual development. When we obey what His Word reveals to be His will, He’ll sovereignly direct our path in every other matter.
The tragic fate of the Levite’s wife had of course been far more terrible than anything he had imagined possible. Even when he saw her body on the doorstep, he could not believe her dead. “And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered.” When he realized the full truth, he was like a madman. Hastily saddling an ass, he laid the woman’s body upon the animal and hurried wildly forth from the horrible city. He was determined to summon all Israel to aid him in his vengeance.
Reaching his home in Ephraim, he divided the dead body into twelve parts and sent one to each of the twelve tribes, that they might see for themselves the wrong that had been done. “And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt.” The message which the Levite sent out with his grim tokens, was that all men should “consider of it, take advice, and speak.”
“It isn’t surprising that liberal theologians would take a traditional Christian doctrine, turn it inside out, and make it support some contemporary preoccupation. That’s what liberal theologians do. That’s what liberal theology is.”
(Gene Vieth – Patheos) What God do you worship? For Christians, the object of their faith is the one God in Three Persons, the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
After being downplayed or denied in mainline liberal theology, the Trinity is back in vogue in those circles. But not in the sense of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, which teach, for instance, that the Son is “of one substance with the Father.”
The Church Fathers explained the Trinity in terms of “being,” with the related concepts of “essence” and “natures.” But modernist philosophy, particularly the existentialism that has greatly influenced modernist theology, has gotten away from those concepts, which has led to the relativism and subjectivism of postmodern thought. View article →
An attack on Ukraine in the near future is unlikely, the country’s defense minister said
Despite increased fears over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is no indication that Moscow is planning to launch an offensive in the near future, the defense minister in Kiev said on Monday.
Speaking to Ukrainian TV channel ICTV, owned by billionaire businessman Victor Pinchuk, Aleksey Reznikov dismissed the possibility of an impending Russian offensive.
“As of today, the Russian Armed Forces have not formed a strike force that would suggest that they will go on an offensive tomorrow,” he told the news channel, also rejecting suggestions that Moscow will invade on February 20, the day the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics end, calling the chances “not high.”
“There are risky scenarios, and in terms of the future, some are possible,” Reznikov continued, explaining that the country’s General Staff have plans for a wide range of possible situations.
“But as of today, there is no such threat,” he said.
Reznikov’s comments come as tensions between Russia and Ukraine remain at an all-time high. In recent months, Western media outlets and politicians have accused Moscow of concentrating 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, allegedly with a view to launching an offensive in the near future.
Earlier on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the US-led NATO bloc of escalating tensions in Ukraine, suggesting that rumors about invasion and planned attacks are “information hysteria.”
On Saturday, in an interview with British newspaper The Times, the commander of Ukraine’s United Forces operation in Donbass Alexander Pavlyuk suggested that Russia would invade on February 20, theorizing that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not want to overshadow Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Olympic Games being hosted in Beijing.
TRIUMPH: Conservatives leaving Woke churches according to former SBC President.
In rant against politics, J.D. Greear claims Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Rachel Maddow are discipling church members more than pastors.
Former Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear expressed frustration that Christians are leaving Woke churches. Greear seemed baffled while churchgoers would forsake churches promoting a Woke, Social Justice agenda despite years of ministry. Greear attributed this not to errors on the part of his and similar churches. Rather, Greear blamed politics and political commentators like Tucker Carlson.
In a chapel message delivered at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), Greear attacked Christians to his Right who were upset because “they could not bear to have their political idols challenged,” and whose primary identity was “political.”
Greear then admitted Christians are leaving Woke megachurches—something conservative discernment bloggers, conservative pundits, and conservative theologians have urged over the last four years. While Greear laments this—it is good news. Christ is taking His people out of these centers of Leftist indoctrination.
“We know that because a lot of church people left their church (not just Summit Church) because of some disagreement over a relatively small political disagreement, at least small in light of the Gospel and in light of eternity,” Greear said.
Greear detailed all the reasons he is orthodox in terms of his beliefs and then lamented how people would leave the church after years and going through struggles together.
“I married your children. I walked with you through the tragedy of the death of a loved one and now you are leaving because you disagree that we said too much, too many things about George Floyd,” Greear said.
Greear then seemed baffled at how Christians can bash Cancel Culture but then leave Woke churches.
“We Christians say we hate Cancel Culture but it was amazing to me how many of us Christians canceled our church,” Greear said.
Greear then lamented the influence political news programs like Tucker Carlson Tonight have on church goers.
“Pastors get to disciple our people about one hour a week and Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow get them for three hours a night,” Greear said. “When the church gets in bed with politics, the church gets pregnant, and the offspring does not look like our Heavenly Father. It looks like the Synagogue of Satan.”
This is an interesting analysis by Greear that probably should apply to his promotion of Woke issues; however, Greear seems oblivious to this application and instead seems intent on promoting a Third Way between Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity on the Right and Rachel Maddow on the Left.
As so often is the case, the Third Way is often the wrong way. As Historian Marc Bloch warned academics trying to find a middle course, “There are in the world scholars whose good nature has worn itself out in seeking a middle ground between antagonistic statements. They are like the little chap who, asked for the square of the number two, when one neighbor whispered, ‘four’ and the other ‘eight,’ thought he had hit the mark in answering ‘six.’”
As the vaccine narrative is falling apart, there are all kind of admissions coming from different quarters of the vaccine industrial complex.
One of the most jaw-dropping comes the World Health Organization (WHO). It was made by Dr. Soumya Swaminathan who is the Chief Scientist at that corrupt institution.
This is what Dr. Swaminathan had to say last week:
“There is no evidence right now that healthy children or healthy adolescents need boosters… no evidence at all.”
Do we hear her? There is no evidence at all!
What Dr. Swaminathan means there is no medical or scientific justification for giving children boosters.
None… zero… nil.
Even though Dr. Swaminathan did not say it, exactly the same thing was true for the initial shots that youngsters received.
In other words, there was never any justification whatsoever for mass injecting healthy children and young people with the Covid-19 vaccines.
The reasons for this were always very obvious:
Healthy children are at virtually no risk of severe Covid;
The vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission (or even serious Covid);
The vaccines carry a substantial risk of severe side effects.
You can get an idea of just how dangerous these vaccines are for children (as well as everybody else) from this webpage that lists over one thousand scientific studies from peer-reviewed journals that discuss the serious side effects of the vaccines.
And yet despite this, millions of children around the world have been injected with these hazardous and ineffective substances.
Scores of those children have either died or suffered serious adverse reactions. You can watch some of their parents speak here.
The deaths and injuries of those unfortunate healthy children were completely unnecessary. The injuries and death inflicted on them constitute a grave crime.
The primary perpetrators of this crime are the vaccine manufacturers, politicians and public health authorities who authorized these unsafe experimentals for use in children and young people.
Watch Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging children to book themselves appointments to get needled with the Covid vaccines. This is what Trudeau told Canadian youngsters:
“You’re going to be able to get your vaccine as soon as you turn five. And I know you’re excited and I know that you are eager. In some places across the country, you can even start making your appointment now for shortly after your [fifth] birthday…”
How can Trudeau “know” that five-year-olds are eager to receive the injections? Does not Trudeau have children of his own? Has anyone ever seen a child who is happy to get a needle into their bodies?
It is well worth watching the fifteen second video clip of Trudeau to see the vaccinators’ insidiousness as they smilingly urge 5-year-old children to receive dangerous and ineffective substances that they absolutely do not need. Trudeau’s words and demeanor are sheer evil as he incites children to undergo an unnecessary medical intervention from which some of them will die.
Justin Trudeau’s demagoguery was matched by that of US President Joe Biden who said this in his White House address on November 3 of last year:
“Today is a great day for American parents, American families, and American children. We’ve taken a giant step forward to further accelerate our path out of this pandemic. After months of rigorous and independent scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration — the FDA — authorized and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the CDC — recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 11… So, parents of children ages five and older, please get them vaccinated… This vaccine is safe and effective. So, get your children vaccinated to protect themselves, to protect others, and to stop the spread, and to help us beat this pandemic.”
This is another instance of mind-boggling evil whereby a sitting US president urges parents to have their five-year-olds needlessly hit with dangerous, insufficiently tested substances. Contrary to what Biden claimed, we now know that these vaccines do not prevent infection or stop the spread. These vaccines were “approved” through a rushed and shadowy process by corrupt officials at the so-called public health agencies that are controlled by pharmaceutical companies via the gambit called regulatory capture.
Paradoxically, in the same speech Joe Biden asked America’s seniors to take boosters for the vaccines he was pushing on American children. In other words, the original vaccines – which were initially claimed to be 95 percent effective – had failed to protect the adults and yet the vaccinators were eager to inject 5-year-olds with the same.
Ernesto Ramirez, a healthy 16-year-old died of a heart attack 5 days after receiving Pfizer vaccine (see his father’s Twitter feed for updates).
The perpetrators of this travesty against our children must be held responsible so that nothing like this ever happens again.
The US Senate will soon vote on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s nomination to a second term. One of the senators opposing Powell is Elizabeth Warren. I don’t often agree with Senator Warren, but I do agree with her assessment that Powell is “dangerous.” However, Warren actually doesn’t understand what makes Powell, or any Fed chairman, intrinsically dangerous to liberty and prosperity.
Warren thinks Powell is dangerous because she thinks he will not be supportive enough of imposing her desired new regulations on banks and other financial institutions. Senator Warren, like most progressives, clings to a fantastical notion that regulations benefit workers, consumers, and small businesses. The truth is most regulations benefit large corporations by imposing costs that big businesses can easily absorb, but that their smaller competitors cannot.
Powell is a threat to the American people. Under his tenure, the Fed has kept interest rates at or near zero. The Fed’s balance sheet has grown to over eight trillion dollars. This has caused prices to climb at a rate America has not seen in several decades.
At his nomination hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell reiterated the Fed’s intention to fight inflation by reducing its monthly 120 billion dollars purchase of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities. Powell also stated that the Fed is planning to increase interest rates this year. However, even if the Fed follows through on this, interest rates will remain at historically low levels.
Powell, like Elizabeth Warren and other progressives, dangerously believes that the Fed should go “woke.” However, Powell is still not “woke” enough for progressives who lobbied President Joe Biden to replace Powell with Fed board member Lael Brainard, the biggest supporter of Elizabeth Warren-style regulations on the Fed board. Brainard is more committed than Powell to using monetary and regulatory policies to advance the “woke” agenda. President Biden did end up nominating Brainard to become vice chairman at the Fed.
A Powell-Brainard Fed would likely use “social and climate justice” as a justification for expanding the Fed’s easy money policies. President Biden has recently nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Fed board, who also has advocated for the Fed to use its power to fight climate change.
A central bank committed to the social justice and climate change agendas will inevitably increase the Fed’s “inflation tax.” Contrary to the claims of some progressives, lower-income Americans are primary victims of this hidden and regressive tax.
Powell prefers to push his rather zealous and extremist philosophies behind the scenes. Thus, not surprisingly, he is a leading opponent of Audit the Fed. Powell claims that bringing transparency to the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy would somehow jeopardize the Fed’s independence. Powell’s claim is truly fake news. There is nothing in the Audit the Fed bill giving Congress or the executive branch any new power over monetary policy.
Any group of individuals given the power to manipulate the money supply, and manipulate the interest rates that are the price of money, poses a threat to our liberty and prosperity. The solution is not to replace Powell with a “better” Fed chairman, or to force the Fed to follow a “rule” that still allows it to erode the dollar’s value. The only way to protect the people from dangerous individuals like Jerome Powell, Lael Brainard, and the rest of the Fed board is to audit and then end the Fed.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—After 12 straight months of collapsing popularity, President Biden finally saw an uptick in his approval rating after his mean comment to a journalist reminded Americans what it was like to have a real president.
“The President is up across the board according to multiple polls,” said political analyst Carlos Del Rove. “Cursing at a journalist on a hot mic was probably the most presidential thing he has done since he was sworn in, at least according to everyday citizens. Voters’ memories are shorter than a common gnat, but it’s very clear that many people long for the days of low gas prices, real patriotism, and super mean tweets.”
Biden staffers pounced on the opportunity to improve Biden’s popularity by granting him access to a Twitter-enabled phone so he could tweet mean things like a real president, but sources close to the President say he just ate the phone.
Upon hearing the news that the President said a mean thing to a journalist, CNN’s Jim Acosta and Jake Tapper were reportedly asking around for the date and location of the unfortunate journalist’s funeral services.
It was his very first day on the job, Inauguration Day, when President Biden laid down the law about treating people nice. He was so serious about it that he threatened to fire the new staffers he was swearing in if they violated the code.
A vial of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.Rick Bowmer/AP Photo
OSHA will stop requiring large companies have their employees get vaccinated or test for COVID-19.
The emergency temporary standard will be withdrawn as of Wednesday, according to court documents.
The Biden administration is working on a permanent vaccine standard, OSHA wrote.
OSHA announced on Tuesday that it will stop requiring large employers to have their employees get vaccinated or test for COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, the emergency temporary standard will be withdrawn, according to court documents seen by Insider.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s previously implemented vaccine mandate for large companies, saying it could not be enforced while challenges from multiple Republican-run states worked their way through the court system.
According to the OSHA notice to the court, the Biden administration is working to set a permanent standard for vaccine statements based on the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The emergency temporary standard was initially adopted by OSHA on November 5, 2021, and called for all businesses with more than 100 employees to implement a vaccine mandate or require their employees to regularly rest for COVID-19.
Despite their withdrawal of the emergency temporary standard, OSHA still strongly encourages all workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the court documents.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced Tuesday it will formally withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private businesses with 100 or more employees on Wednesday. The agency issued an announcement in the Federal Register that it will withdraw its rule, known as an emergency temporary standard (ETS), which required companies to make employees either get a COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing while wearing masks in the workplace.
Western officials and media have spent months claiming that Russian troops stationed near Ukraine are making preparations for an “imminent” invasion. Moscow has vocally denied these allegations and accused NATO of artificially inflating tensions to justify beefing up its presence in Eastern Europe and slapping Russia with new sanctions.
The US military said it continues to closely track the movement of Russian forces along Ukrainian borders
USofficials appear to have backtracked on claims that Moscow could be on the verge of ordering an invasion of neighboring Ukraine, while warning that the risk of escalation remains high.
Speaking to reporters at a press briefing on Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that “obviously we’re mindful of things that the Russians could do that would potentially give us indications of some sort of imminent incursion.” However, he went on, “we’re not there yet, but we are watching for those indicators very, very closely.”
At the same time, the official reiterated Washington’s assertions that Russia is seeking to “threaten its neighbor further and potentially violate further Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
“It’s very clear that the Russians have no intention right now of de-escalating,” Kirby went on, adding that Washington wants to deter Moscow from attacking.
The Pentagon has placed around 8,500 troops on higher alert on Monday in response to the tensions in Eastern Europe, while NATO simultaneously announced that it had put more forces on standby and sent additional ships and jet fighters to the region.
The US, UK, and Australian embassies in Kiev were advised to evacuate non-essential staff and family members over the weekend as NATO continues to accuse Russia of gearing up to invade its neighbor. Moscow has repeatedly denied planning to attack Ukraine, with the Kremlin insisting that it forces are no threat.
Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov also appeared to downplay the risk of a larger conflict earlier this week. “As of today, we don’t see any grounds for statements about a full-scale offensive on our territory. It’s even physically impossible,” he said on Monday. Danilov added that Kiev was tracking the movement of Russian forces. “Maybe, [seeing Russian troops] is an oddity to our foreign partners who finally saw that there are Russian forces and they move a certain way,” Danilov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed a similar message in a televised address, urging the public not to panic.
The comments come after US President Joe Biden warned during a press conference last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin could “move in,” adding that “he has to do something.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hit back at the claims, saying Russian forces have never threatened Ukraine.
Moscow held separate talks with the US, NATO, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) earlier this month, and Lavrov met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Geneva, Switzerland last week, all without a tangible result.
Moscow has branded Western military infrastructure along its borders as a threat and is seeking legally binding assurances that NATO will not expand further eastward. The US-led bloc, meanwhile, has refused to abandon its open-door policy of accepting new member states, potentially including Ukraine.
Sen. Ron Johnson moderates a panel discussion, COVID-19: A Second Opinion. A group of world-renowned doctors and medical experts provide a different perspective on the global pandemic response, the current state of knowledge of early and hospital treatment, vaccine efficacy, and safety, what went right, what went wrong, what should be done now, and what needs to be addressed long term.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky continues to press Dr. Anthony Fauci for answers on the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) gain-of-function research funding.
“We will get through this. I sincerely believe that we can break through the effects of the madness of crowds, the mass formation, the effects of the legacy media and big tech promoting fear and psychological manipulation which has deeply distorted public health policy.”
(Debra Heine – American Greatness) Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of mRNA vaccine technology, had a very sobering message Sunday for parents who plan to have their children injected with the experimental COVID vaccines.
“If they’re harmed by these genetic vaccines, YOU are the one that will have to take care of them, and you will carry the burden for the rest of your life—and theirs,” Malone said in his speech at the “Defeat the Mandate March” in Washington DC.
Thousands of people turned out for the event, which started at 11:30 am at the Lincoln Memorial, to protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates. View article →
A central bank committed to the social justice and climate change agendas will inevitably increase the Fed’s “inflation tax.” Contrary to the claims of some progressives, lower-income Americans are primary victims of this hidden and regressive tax.
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