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
From the forty-ninth chapter onward, the Book of Isaiah again takes up its wondrous vision of the Messiah. The marvellous redeemer is here discerned with broader view than before; he is promised not only for the Hebrews, but for all the world. “And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
The tragedy of the Redeemer’s life is also foreshadowed, and his partial rejection by an ignorant people. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: vet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Where is God when we really need Him? Many lose what faith they have and give up on God altogether. Believers across the ages have experienced loss and devastating trials. In this message from Hebrews 11, we unpack four facts about faith in God in any circumstance. No matter what, we can trust Almighty God.
Do you feel that your prayer life has dried up and you’ve lost your joy in talking to the Lord? Have you lost your joy in going to church, singing, praying together, listening to the word of God and giving? If so, then more than likely you need a fresh encounter with God. Dr. Stanley explains how to renew your life with Christ.
The Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. (Judges 4:9)
Rather an unusual text, but there may be souls in the world that may have faith enough to grasp it. Barak, the man, though called to the war, had little stomach for the fight unless Deborah would go with him, and so the Lord determined to make it a woman’s war. By this means He rebuked the slackness of the man, gained for Himself the more renown, and cast the more shame upon the enemies of His people.
The Lord can still use feeble instrumentalities. Why not me? He may use persons who are not commonly called to great public engagements. Why not you? The woman who slew the enemy of Israel was no Amazon but a wife who tarried in her tent. She was no orator but a woman who milked the cows and made butter. May not the Lord use any one of us to accomplish His purpose? Somebody may come to the house today, even as Sisera came to Jael’s tent. Be it ours not to slay him, but to save him. Let us receive him with great kindness and then bring forth the blessed truth of salvation by the Lord Jesus, our great Substitute, and press home the command “Believe and live.” Who knoweth but some stout-hearted sinner may be slain by the gospel today!
My family has a tradition at dinner time. We normally sing the Doxology as a prayer before we eat, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” This is a special and appropriate way to end each day, praising God and reminding each other of how He provides for us. In a similar way, the Book of Psalms ends with a rousing call to praise. In Psalm 150, the Psalmist commands the congregation to “Praise the Lord” twelve times! Normally, praise psalms not only call people to praise God but also provide reasons to do so. Psalm 150 is unusual in this regard. It does not give any reasons to praise God. Perhaps this is because in the concluding psalm, the Psalmist knows that reasons galore have already been provided throughout the Psalter. We have come a long way since our journey through the Psalter began. We know that life is not always easy. There have been many laments in this book which describe the problem of enemies, sickness, sin, and turmoil. However, throughout the Psalms we see the stabilizing presence of God. He is the one who created us, cares for us, hears our prayer, and works for our salvation. It is appropriate then to be reminded of all that God has done and will do at the end of this book. In some ways, this ending foreshadows the ending of the Bible in Revelation. After all the trials and tribulations that the people of God will go through, Revelation also ends on a rousing note of praise, “Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” (Rev. 19:6–7). >> When we praise God today, we not only recount all that He has done for us in Christ but also look forward to His Second Coming when all things will be made new. Revelation reminds us, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). Hallelujah indeed!
“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’” Jeremiah 31:3
God loves you with an everlasting, all-powerful love. His love is unconditional, unlimited, and extended to all people. The Bible describes a kind of love that goes far beyond what is considered humanly possible. The Hebrew word for everlasting in Jeremiah 31:3 is olam, which means “eternity” and is used to describe an unending time span.
When you read the prophet Jeremiah’s words about God’s love, you can be encouraged that it can bring hope and restoration to your darkest days. His everlasting love is incomprehensible, immeasurable, unconditional, and unchanging. C.S. Lewis stated, “Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.”
God demonstrated his love for us by sacrificing his Son in order for our sins to be forgiven. Sin was a barrier that stood between God and us. It had to be removed, and that is exactly what Jesus did. He was bound to the cross by love and crucified in order to grant all humankind the opportunity for forgiveness, mercy, and new, everlasting life. Jesus defined eternal life for us in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Take great comfort in knowing that God loves you with an everlasting love, and that his love forgives, protects, hopes, and rejoices in the truth. Be assured of his extravagant love and that he is always working in your life in love.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your great love for us. It makes a difference. Help me to lean into your love because you first loved us. I’m so grateful for your everlasting love and the amazing life you give us because of your love. Help me, Lord, to have fellowship with you so that the results of your presence become clearly visible to those around me. Amen.
Write down the ways God has shown he loves you so far this year. Ask him to reveal those ways to you, then be open to “hear” his response as things come to mind over the next few days.
The forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah begins an address to Cyrus, the great Persian conqueror, who is summoned to the storming of Babylon. “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gales; and the gates shall not be shut.” This conquest over Babylon, this bursting in of her gates, Cyrus actually achieved in the year 538 B. C. He seems thereafter to have acted somewhat as the protector of the Jews.
A prophetic chant prefigures the desolation of Babylon by addressing the mighty city as a woman who must hereafter sit in sorrow in the dust, while men make mock at her. “Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt now know from whence it riseth; and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.”
The Bible doesn’t just describe God as holy. It says He is “holy, holy, holy” (Isa. 6:3). Today, R.C. Sproul examines this attribute of God that is elevated to the highest degree.
US National Guard planning ‘cooperation’ with Taiwan military – President Tsai The United States is planning on “cooperation” between its National Guard and Taiwan’s military, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, deepening security ties in the face of what Taipei’s government complains is a rising threat from China.
Mastercard CEO: SWIFT Payment System May Be Replaced By CBDCs In Five Years Miebach, participating in a panel on Central Bank Digital Currencies at the WEF and hosted by the Global Blockchain Business Council, was one of the few participants that was willing to suggest that the SWIFT system, long dominated by western interests, might be made obsolete along with the proliferation of digital currencies among central banks.
Climate Activist Smashes Cake Into Mona Lisa At Louvre An attention-seeking climate change activist was filmed attacking the Mona Lisa inside the Louvre Museum on Saturday. The incident stunned nearby onlookers, who filmed the vandalism of the priceless Leonardo da Vinci famed masterpiece. A man reportedly entered the museum disguised as a wheelchair-bound elderly woman, complete with a wig. Some speculated that he could have been trans. The vandalism attack started when he rose from the wheelchair, then jumping toward the Mona Lisa and threw a full-sized cake on the painting.
Libyan Muslims turning to Christianity despite persecution All across the Middle East and North Africa, people are turning away from Islam and following the risen Jesus. But in Libya, new believers often face hostility both from authorities and from their families. Why would they risk persecution to follow Jesus?
Taco Bell presents nationwide ‘Drag Brunch’ tour featuring men dressed as women Taco Bell has been presenting … “drag queen” events at select cantina locations during the month of May, with additional events scheduled for June. Each brunch is hosted by drag performer “Kay Sedia” (quesadilla) and features local men and women who lip sync to songs while dressed as the opposite sex. There is also a segment dedicated to the It Gets Better Project, a homosexual, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.
Taiwan jets scramble as 30 Chinese aircraft enter air defense zone Taiwan on Monday reported the largest incursion since January by China’s air force in its air defense zone, with the island’s defense ministry saying Taiwanese fighters scrambled to warn away 30 aircraft in the latest uptick in tensions.
Pray Ukraine War will not become nuclear war – Moscow Chief Rabbi “We have to pray for peace and for the end of this terrible war; we have to pray that this war will end soon and not escalate into a nuclear conflict which can destroy humanity,” said Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt at the gala event of the annual conference of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) in Munich, Germany.
Iranian media publishes list of targeted Israelis Iran’s Fars news agency published on Sunday the names of five Israeli businessmen it claimed are “in hiding” because they are known to Iranian intelligence agencies. The publication comes as Iran threatens to retaliate for the assassination of an IRGC commander last week.
A sickness in once Torah-loving America Where once the Hebrew Bible’s value system was our guiding light…all of our early presidents knew and revered the Hebrew Bible…today we take orders from AOC, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
1st hurricane of 2022, Agatha heads for Mexico tourist towns The first hurricane of the season formed off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast Sunday and rapidly gained power ahead of an expected strike along a stretch of tourist beaches and fishing towns as a major storm.
Why Does Boston Buy Natural Gas from Russia? Europe is vulnerable and needs our natural gas; prices are absurdly high and going higher. Yet, everyone in the oil and gas industry is afraid to invest any money, even if they have financing available. Who wants to start a 10- to 20-year natural gas project, whether it’s a gas field, pipeline, or LNG (liquified natural gas) terminal, when the current administration is saying it will shut you down in 10 years?
Blackouts This Summer: 1 Billion At Risk The ruling classes of the globe are continuing to warn that the power grids all across the globe will be stretched thin this coming summer. There will not be electricity worldwide to meet the soaring demand for more energy, which is threatening more than one billion people with rolling blackouts.
Monkeypox Weaponized In Deep State Labs The twitter hashtag #BillGatesBioTerrorist was trending for a good part of the day Saturday after people in America and around the world put 2 + 2 together and realized Gates recently warned of a ‘pox‘ outbreak being the next big deal to come at the world, right before Monkeypox broke out in the West.
Mastercard Launches Next Step In Evolution Of Biometric Payments Now Allowing You To Use Your Face Or Fingerprints To Buy And Sell In The Metaverse Day by day, and byte by byte, big tech is encroaching further and further into your body, and they’re doing it with your full consent. The ultimate destination, of course, is a human implantable device that will be located in the back of your right hand, and/or inside your forehead. For now, like a seemingly disinterested cat watching the ducks go by, they’re quite content with face scans and fingerprint ID, right up to the moment they pounce and take the whole thing.
Texas Shooter Was An “INCEL” And Police ALLOWED Him to Kill As Many Kids As Possible!!! The Uvalde Texas school shooter Salvador Ramos was an INCEL aka someone who is “involuntarily celibate” who was already known to police and who had been making violent threats against women online. Police were already aware of Ramos after being called over disputes with his family and the Uvalde police had an active AI program designed to detect this kind of online activity.
You Have Probably Been Far Too Distracted With Fake News Media Nonsense To Notice The Stunning Rise Of Chrislam Social Media and its fake news media sister are designed to keep you in a perpetual state of disguised anticipation, you don’t know what’s coming next but something’s coming so you better just “stay tuned” so you don’t miss it. Algorithms on Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook are written to steer your attention away from the truth and towards whatever nonsense they want you to be focused on instead.
The Rise of the Five Eyes and Canada’s Intelligence Agency This month the Task Force on National Security at the University of Ottawa published a white paper which lays out a plan for a major re-organisation of Canada’s intelligence agencies to better deal with the “intense global instability when the security of Canada and other liberal democracies is under growing threat.”
Mask Mandates Caused MORE COVID Deaths, Study Alleges. Mask mandates caused higher COVID-19 death rates, according to the bombshell claims made in a new medical journal report analyzing fatality rates across the state of Kansas.
“If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude.” —Thomas Paine (1791)
His handlers wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed casting blame and claiming credit for the present economic malaise.
Nate Jackson
Think back to last summer when Joe Biden’s administration was crowing, “The cost of a 4th of July cookout in 2021 is down $0.16 from last year.” That was when inflation was still just “transitory.” Yesterday, as every American was paying through the nose for burgers and hot dogs on Memorial Day, even Biden was so painfully aware that inflation’s here for the long haul that his handlers wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal to tell us why he’s doing a great job and will clean up this mess.
The essay began with the usual lies. Biden blamed Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump for his woes, while taking credit for the fact that the economy was already recovering from the government’s COVID shutdowns — though he claims “the recovery had stalled” when he took office. In fact, he went on, “The U.S. is in a better economic position than almost any other country,” and he gave several reasons why we should all just be more thankful for his outstanding stewardship.
Reality is, of course, far more inconvenient.
The first clue that the economy is in rough shape and everyone is feeling it is the very existence of this op-ed. Does anyone think Biden would have taken to the conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal to wave his hands up and down while yelling “everything is fine” if it was really fine?
So, to his plan. “I ran for president because I was tired of the so-called trickle-down economy,” he wrote. “We now have a chance to build on a historic recovery with an economy that works for working families. The most important thing we can do now to transition from rapid recovery to stable, steady growth is to bring inflation down. That is why I have made tackling inflation my top economic priority.”
The pre-COVID economic picture was one of a roaring engine of American growth. Wages were up, unemployment was at historic lows, and working families were thriving. Biden acts as if the opposite was the case, all while he has created conditions in which the vast majority of Americans are being squeezed by inflation and wages that aren’t keeping up.
And the only reason inflation is his “top economic priority” — quite the contrast from last summer’s repeated utter denial that it was even a problem — is that the polling tells him to care.
Biden’s plan has three points: It’s the Federal Reserve’s job, “we need to take every practical step to make things more affordable,” and “keep reducing the federal deficit.”
[Pause for hysterical laughter here.]
The Fed: He mentions having “appointed highly qualified people from both parties to lead that institution.” Both parties, eh? Back in March, we noted the truth: Among the 780 economists across the entire Federal Reserve System, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 10 to one. On the Board of Governors, that ratio is an appalling 48.5 to one. The Democrats running the Fed bear a huge part of the blame for the current mess, and Biden wants you to believe they can lead us out of it.
The cost of stuff: Team Biden waxes eloquent for two long paragraphs about energy and supply chains and so forth, but it boils down to meaningless bromides. He might as well have saved time and channeled a little Kamala Harris: We need to lower costs by lowering costs, so I’ve told companies to lower their costs and they tell me that my plan will lower costs.
Of course, everything he’s done over the last 16 months has raised costs.
Reducing the deficit: His “keep reducing” boast is, as we have noted previously, an accident of timing. Biden took office after most COVID spending had already been approved. After tacking on an additional $1.9 trillion to that, the deficit has “gone down” since the day after that spending. Not that he wanted it to, mind you. Remember, he tried to shove through his Build Back Better boondoggle last fall. He can lie about it costing “zero dollars” all he wants, but that would have added trillions to the national debt this year and every year going forward.
Biden also talks out of both sides of his mouth on revenue. He takes credit for record federal revenue this year because “my economic policies powered a rapid recovery.” But while current tax rates yield record revenue, he also tacitly blames the 2017 Republican tax cuts for benefiting only the wealthy. He then insists on punitive tax hikes based on envy — tax hikes that would hamper economic growth and reduce the very source of revenue he touts.
Since Biden launched “the most robust recovery in modern history,” Americans are paying more for everything and in many cases bringing home less of it, which hurts lower-income folks the most. Unemployment is low again, but worker shortages mean many summer attractions are closed — which might be just fine since many Americans are scrapping vacation plans since they can’t afford the gas. The stock market is tanking, robbing millions of their retirement savings. Fears are growing of a recession after GDP declined in the first quarter.
But Biden still wants you to think he’s doing an amazing job.
During times of crisis, the right of self-defense is most essential — and most in peril.
Douglas Andrews
Joe Biden will ultimately fail in his bizarre effort to redefine 9mm pistols as “high-caliber weapons,” but we can’t blame the guy for trying.
After all, it’s what Democrats do — especially in times of crisis. For example, “facts” are now disinformation, “global warming” is now climate change, “riots” are now peaceful protests, “court packing” is now unpacking, “infrastructure” is now child care, and the Obama-era “detention cages” on our southern border are now reception facilities.
“They said a .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out — may be able to get it and save the life,” said Joe Biden outside the White House yesterday upon returning from Uvalde, Texas. “A nine-millimeter bullet blows the lung out of the body. So, the idea of these high-caliber weapons is, uh, there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting.”
Far be it from us to question the president’s ballistics expertise, but firearms are meant to be lethal weapons, not non-lethal ones. As such, they’re meant to have stopping power. But perhaps Biden would rather his kinder, gentler Secret Service detail be armed with pea-shooters instead.
“Remember, the Constitution was never absolute,” he railed.
Really? We wonder: What part of “shall not be infringed” was never absolute?
“You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed,” Biden falsely asserted. “You couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weaponry.”
One thing about Joe Biden: He won’t allow a resounding fact-check to get in the way of a deceitful narrative. Otherwise, he wouldn’t keep repeating that ridiculous Revolutionary War “cannon” canard in the face of a two-year-old repudiation from left-leaning PolitiFact.
This suggestion of a ban on 9mm pistols is bold even for Biden, but it comes at a predictable time: in the aftermath of an unspeakable massacre. As we’ve noted before, the Left politicizes everything, and guns are no exception.
Perhaps our president has been on the phone with the gun-grabbing tinpot socialist up north, who’s already taking steps to freeze Canada’s handgun ownership and institute a buyback of “assault-style firearms” [sic]. When an American president follows the lead of a Canadian socialist, we’re in dangerous times.
But here in the U.S., where Joe Biden’s vice president has already called for a ban on “assault weapons” [sic], the anti-Second Amendment backlash goes beyond just the types of firearms that law-abiding citizens are allowed to own. It also includes an effort to enact “red flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders, which allow judges to seize a person’s guns without a trial based solely on a written complaint that the person might be a danger to himself or others. All a judge needs is “reasonable suspicion.”
As Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and Executive Director for the Crime Prevention Research Center Nikki Goeser note:
It has always been possible to take a dangerous person’s guns away. All 50 states and the federal government have involuntary commitment laws that go by various names. … They all require a mental health expert to testify before a judge, but hearings can occur quickly in urgent cases. … But red flag laws remove all these due process protections. Based only on a written complaint, which could come from a relative, friend, neighbor, or police officer, a judge decides whether to take away a person’s guns. There is no ability to challenge claims or to offer testimony from a mental health care expert. … We don’t want a world where police make unannounced predawn raids or people lose their fundamental right to self-defense without a judicial hearing. For some, it’s a matter of life and death.
Indeed, the right of self-defense is the first civil right. Without it, no other rights matter. Likewise, the Second Amendment is the constitutional right that guarantees all others. It’s “the palladium of the liberties of the Republic,” as James Madison’s Supreme Court appointment, Joseph Story, wrote in his landmark Commentaries on the Constitution. (If Madison was the Constitution’s author, Story was its foremost judicial interpreter.)
What to do, then, to protect our children? First, we must harden our schools, which are the softest of soft targets. Think about it: We use firearms to protect every other institution and entity. Why are we unwilling to protect our precious children with the same determination?
Nancy Pelosi’s husband arrested for DUI, NRA forges ahead with convention in Houston, 47 shot in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, and more.
Thomas Gallatin & Jordan Candler
Top of the Fold
Nancy Pelosi’s husband arrested for DUI: Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband Paul was arrested in Napa, California, over the weekend on suspicion of driving drunk. Paul crashed his 2021 Porsche into a Jeep around midnight on Sunday evening. No injuries were reported. Nancy, who was on the East Coast at the time of the incident, released a statement saying that she would not be commenting on this “private matter.” Paul likely faces misdemeanor charges but was released after he posted bail. Beyond the allegation that he was driving drunk, Paul’s advanced age might mean it’s time for him to stop driving and hire a driver. With their tens of millions, there’s no doubt the Pelosis can afford it, and Nancy could finally claim credit for creating a job.
NRA forges ahead with convention in Houston: Less than a week after the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, the National Rifle Association pressed on with its scheduled annual convention in Houston, despite a number of significant figures dropping out of the event. One noted individual who refused to bow to the anti-gun pressure groups was Senator Ted Cruz, who delivered a stirring and timely speech in defense of Americans’ right to self-defense. Immediately following the convention, the NRA board announced, predictably, that it had reelected Wayne LaPierre as CEO. Notably, after Mark Alexander wrote critically about the NRA’s self-inflicted wounds, including suggesting it’s time for new leadership, he was flooded with responses from grassroots folks of all ages — former NRA members and some previously major benefactors — who vowed not to return until LaPierre is gone. Not one single commenter supported LaPierre.
Forty-seven shot in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend: The all too predictable pattern of violence continued over Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, where the number of individuals shot surpassed last year’s total of 37. This year, 47 individuals were shot, with nine people dying from their wounds. Domestic and gang-related disputes were responsible for most of the violence, with innocent victims unfortunately caught in the crossfire. Sadly, this is nothing new for the Windy City; the weekend prior, 32 people where shot. Meanwhile, prior to the holiday weekend, Mayor Lori Lightfoot changed a citywide youth curfew from 11 p.m to 10 p.m. Clearly, that change had little effect in stopping the violence.
Headlines
Justice Department will review Uvalde response as furor mounts over law enforcement actions (Texas Tribune)
Border Patrol agent who killed shooter got gun from barber, sped to school after getting text from wife who was inside (Daily Wire)
Michael Sussmann trial goes to jury after former Clinton attorney declines to testify (Daily Wire)
A firsthand account of the war from an American combat veteran in the mix.
Charles Paige
Having spent a significant chunk of 2021 in Ukraine, I followed the Russian invasion closely. When an opportunity to return to the embattled nation popped up earlier this spring, I jumped at the chance and was anxious to see for myself what was really happening.
Having been here a little more than a month this time around, I don’t claim to have the definitive take on the situation, but I’ll go ahead and make my not-as-bold-as-it-would-have-been-in-March prediction: The Ukrainians will eventually push the Russians back to their borders, retaking Donbas; Crimea is literally a bridge too far, though, and will remain under Russian control unless the international community takes steps to force them out.
A popular joke here is that in January Russia had (or at least was perceived to have) the second-most powerful army in the world; now it has the second-most powerful army in Ukraine. No one outside Ukraine gave the Ukrainian military much chance of making an effective stand against the Russians, but anyone who has paid attention has been inspired by their will to fight and resourcefulness. Will is a difficult variable to measure until armies are actually in combat, which is why Ukraine’s combat power was underestimated and Russia’s was so badly overestimated.
As I’ve watched and interacted with Ukrainian military counterparts, I’ve been impressed by their humility, adaptability, and innovation. The Ukrainians acknowledged their poor performance after the initial Russian invasion in 2014 and have essentially rebuilt their entire military since. They welcomed Western trainers (primarily from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, and Baltic States), soaked up the tactics, techniques, and procedures, then adapted them to suit their culture and understanding of their enemy. Even now, while still in the midst of a difficult fight, their demand for training exceeds the limited capacity of my organization (which receives no support or funding from any government, including the U.S.) to provide it by a factor of 10 or more.
After years spent working with Global War on Terror (GWOT) partners who were often disinterested and had a limited sense of what Americans would think of as patriotism — nation before self — it’s been refreshing to work with Ukrainians who have put personal interests aside and ask insightful questions and think outside the box as they go through similar training. The Ukrainians don’t see Russian troops as misguided brothers (as Afghan President Karzai once described the Taliban), but as bloodthirsty, amoral demons, and their determination to improve their tactical performance and push the Russians out of their country reflects it.
My favorite anecdotes demonstrating the Ukrainians’ ability to adapt and innovate involve their use of drones. They’ve made great use of the Turkish Bayraktar drones they purchased, to include taking out 1) an air defense system, 2) a landing craft loaded with a replacement air defense system, and 3) a helicopter landing special operations troops, all on the infamous Snake Island, which itself has become a powerful symbol of Ukraine’s refusal to the bow to Russian aggression.
They’ve also adapted commercial drones — identical to ones you or I could buy online — for military use. One video — filmed by the drone’s camera — shows a grenade modified with Ukrainian-developed 3D-printed tail fins being dropped through the sunroof of a car being used by RF soldiers (NSFW). There’s no shortage of memes noting the Ukrainians’ return on investment from using drones that cost a few thousand dollars to destroy armored vehicles that cost the Russians hundreds of thousands.
After a slow start, the U.S. and other Western governments have delivered a steady stream of lethal aid that has been a key element in Ukrainian success. Despite attrition (which is hard to gauge thanks to the Ukrainians’ lock-down operational security measures), the Ukrainians’ capacity (quantity) and capability (quality) continues to improve, while the Russians’ pre-war numerical advantage is dwindling rapidly. And sanctions will limit the Russians’ ability to replace what’s been lost. Observers noted Russia’s movement to the front earlier this week of T-62 tanks that entered service with the Soviet Army over 50 years ago, while the Ukrainians recorded the first-ever kills (of much newer Russian tanks) with U.S.-provided Switchblade “kamikaze drones.”
The Ukrainians have performed well and continue to exceed expectations. They’ve eliminated the threat of Russian ground forces in and around the capital of Kyiv; they’ve pushed the Russians back — out of artillery range and almost back across the Russian border — from the second-largest city of Kharkiv; and they’ve mostly held the line in Donbas, where most of the fighting is currently taking place. They’ve got a lot to be proud of, but it’s come at a very high human and financial cost.
There is still much work to be done to restore the territorial integrity of their country. If current performance is an accurate predictor of future results, I believe the real question isn’t whether the Ukrainians will eventually prevail but what it will cost to achieve that victory.
The former president has continued to take an active role in shaping the future of the Republican Party.
Lewis Morris
Most ex-presidents are happy to parlay their White House tenure into millions of dollars on book deals, speaking engagements, and high-level corporate advisement and investing. They may engage in backstage political string-pulling from time to time, but in public they act as though they’re above politics and have moved on pleasantly into their emeritus years.
Not Donald Trump. The trappings of being a presidential retiree never attracted him.
He was a millionaire to begin with and always a bigger celebrity than any former president. He has the energy and verve of a much younger man. He never tires of the spotlight, and deal-making is in his blood. All these factors, including his well-documented love affair with himself, will not allow him to sit on the sidelines while he still believes he can effect change.
More to the point, though, Trump’s got something to prove. He wants to set the record straight on 2020 and its aftermath. He left office under a cloud — being tied to January 6, a show-trial second impeachment, and his refusal to concede the shady 2020 election. He wants to reclaim what he feels was stolen from him and from the American people — his rightful shot at a second term.
The most effective way for Trump to remain a viable political commodity is through endorsements of other candidates. Helping to get the right people elected in the right places demonstrates that Trump still has juice. It will also help him build an effective national support network should he choose to run in 2024.
So, how’s he doing?
Since taking office in 2017, Trump has practiced what can only be called the Art of the Endorsement. He got heavily involved in federal and statewide elections when he became president. He recognized early that Democrats and the media were out to sabotage his presidency, so he bypassed the usual channels and went straight to the public.
Trump did more than seek like-minded candidates in key districts and states. He chose high-profile races and candidates to send a message to the media and the national electorate. With these endorsements, though, came the risk of high-profile stumbles and gleeful media attacks about his diminished political clout. But Trump persevered.
Throughout his four years in office, Trump issued 305 endorsements in congressional, statewide, and special elections. His win record in the regular season was 200-87, which included mostly incumbents and a few safe bets, but 63 of those wins were in open elections or elections in which Republicans challenged the incumbent. Notably, Trump’s presidential endorsement record in special elections was 13-5. Special elections are traditionally an area where presidents are reluctant to get involved. These contests generally draw more national attention than they deserve and are often framed by the media, fairly or otherwise, as referendums on a president’s performance. Here, Trump’s desire to jump into the fray certainly paid off.
Trump’s post-presidential endorsements have been closely watched, and with good reason. If his candidates do well, then his 2024 presidential run is all but assured. The mainstream media, still suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, has trumpeted Trump’s waning influence after last week’s primaries, particularly in Georgia, where his candidate for governor, former Senator David Perdue, got walloped by the incumbent, Brian Kemp.
Karl Rove is one of the most astute political strategists of our time, but he too is afflicted with TDS. His take on the Ohio and Georgia primaries was that Trump’s impact was either hollow or a net drag on the Republican Party.
What Rove fails to mention is that Kemp’s victory in the gubernatorial primary was a foregone conclusion. Trump’s endorsement of Purdue was never going to move the needle, but he felt compelled to make a statement because he believed that Georgia was one of the states in which electoral malfeasance cost him reelection. Call it ego, call it hubris, but Trump may have known from the start that Purdue couldn’t deliver.
Politico likewise has tried to mute Trump’s political impact, reporting after last week’s primaries that “his win-loss record took a hit.” Well, it wasn’t a big hit. Of the 101 endorsements Trump has made in primaries that have already taken place, his record is 94-7. Again, a majority of those were for incumbents and in safe districts, but it’s hardly a signal that the bloom is off the rose.
There are many more primaries ahead, and of course the big test of Trump’s political clout will come in November. The bottom line is that Donald Trump is still a powerful force to be reckoned with, despite the best efforts of Democrats, the Never-Trump wing of the Republican Party, and the mainstream media. He still manages to communicate his message and keep his brand alive, even though all the major social media outlets have conspired to silence him. The news media plays up his few defeats and chooses to ignore his multitude of victories.
Trump rose to power in the first place because the media and his political opponents underestimated him, tried to diminish him, and then bent the narrative to their own will. They don’t appear to have learned their lesson. Perhaps Trump will school them once again.
For the high crime of criticizing its new woke agenda in a public manner.
Emmy Griffin
Pathos and unbridled emotional responses, being the religious conviction of the wokesters, has led the harpies at Princeton University to oust tenured professor Joshua Katz. His crime? Disagreeing with the open letter that faculty and staff wrote to the Princeton administration in response to the death of George Floyd.
In July 2020, Professor Katz wrote an op-ed wherein he defended his opposition to signing the letter. He stated that while there are several demands in the letter with which he agreed, there are others that he adamantly opposed. His fear, should all these demands be met, is that it “would lead to civil war on campus and erode even further public confidence in how elite institutions of higher education operate.”
Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber was so distraught that one of his faculty would dare to defy the “anti-racist” narrative that he later published another article in the university’s paper, The Princetonian, denouncing Katz. This same article caught the attention of the country when Eisgruber declared that Princeton University was systemically racist.
Betsy DeVos, the Department of Education’s former secretary, launched an investigation into the university as a result of Eisgruber’s letter. After all, Princeton had been receiving Title IV federal money with the understanding that it was complying with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Interesting how this “systemic racism” was getting lost in the shuffle of the daily news churn. Perhaps with the Biden administration in office, Eisgruber feels free to espouse how racist Princeton is without fear of consequences because he is “doing something.”
Eisgruber began a witch hunt on Katz in 2020, which has now resulted in Katz being removed from his tenured position.
Primarily, of course, Katz’s situation is an example of his exercising his First Amendment rights and the powers that be silencing him. That is how cancel culture in the highest levels of academia works. But Princeton needed it to look like that wasn’t the real reason for ousting Katz.
In 2021, The Princetonian raked up Katz’s past consensual relationship with an undergraduate for which he had already been punished. The article alleged that details of the affair “remain uninvestigated and unaddressed.” This prompted another inquisition, making it a blatant case of double jeopardy and a violation of due process. Activists on campus were soon calling for Katz’s removal from the classroom to keep students out of harm’s way. Katz was found not guilty, but the dean of faculty, Gene Jarrett, eventually called for his firing. As one Spectator writer puts it, “The left rejects due process when it suits their needs and goals.” This shows students and faculty alike that the autocrats who lead the university will have no qualms about digging up dirt on anyone who gets in their way.
It’s also a travesty from an educational standpoint because of the important work this distinguished classics professor will no longer be able to do. Katz’s specialty was ancient languages. According to his wife: “Joshua was the only member of his department qualified to teach multiple such languages: Egyptian, Sanskrit, Tocharian, Syriac, Akkadian, Old Norse, Old Irish, etc. Indeed, Joshua’s earliest academic publications concerned Native American languages. His work was the least Eurocentric in the department.” In other words, Princeton has silenced a distinguished scholar whose work encompassed studying ancient languages beyond the standard Latin and Greek. No other professor is currently qualified to take over this position. It’s yet another example of woke ideology destroying scholarship.
Katz is not the first professor to fall victim to the woke mob, and he certainly won’t be the last. His story is that of a grave miscarriage of justice, another example of free speech being silenced, and a loss of a good teacher.
Princeton is still considered a prestigious Ivy League school. It counts former presidents among its alumna. It has now fallen victim to the “anti-racist” ideology that pollutes everything it touches. The university has sacrificed this well-loved professor on its woke alter. How far the great have fallen.
Douglas Andrews: $10,000 for Your Vote? — A five-figure handshake is the latest iteration of Joe Biden’s desperate and immoral vote-buying scheme.
Thomas Gallatin: AMA’s Leftist Diversicrats — America’s largest medical lobby has wholly embraced critical race theory.
In Brief: Conservatives Did Not Inflame the Culture War — Leftists push their gender ideology on children, yet conservative parents complaining about Drag Queen Story Hour are blamed.
Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.
‘We’re Failing Our Young Men!’ — The Uvalde massacre has nothing to do with guns and everything to do with the “epidemic of meaningless” our culture has given young men.
“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. Yet in their hearts there is unspoken — unspeakable! — fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts! Words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home, all the more powerful because they are forbidden. These terrify them. A little mouse — a little tiny mouse! — of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.” —Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Upright
“In an age where elites embrace defunding the police, when homelessness runs rampant, when gangs dominate entire communities, and when radical district attorneys refuse to prosecute violent crime in cities across America, rarely has the Second Amendment been more necessary to secure the rights of our fellow citizens.” —Senator Ted Cruz
“Many would still tell us that the evil on display in Uvalde or in Buffalo derives from the presence of guns in the hands of ordinary American citizens. It’s far easier to slander one’s political adversaries and to demand that responsible citizens forfeit their constitutional rights than it is to examine the cultural sickness giving birth to unspeakable acts of evil. It’s far less comfortable to ask why despair and isolation and violent hatred is so prevalent in America. It requires a sick soul to drive a truck into a crowded sidewalk, to plant a bomb at a marathon, or to fly a plane into a building. It requires a sick soul to open fire in a movie theater or in a church or in a school. A speeding automobile in the hands of a madman is deadly, as is a jet airplane. Tragedies like the events of [last] week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing. Looking at broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, social media bullying, violent online content, desensitizing the act of murder in video games, chronic isolation, prescription drug and opioid abuse, and their collective effects on the psyche of young Americans is both complicated and multifaceted. It’s a lot easier to moralize about guns and to shriek about those you disagree with politically, but it’s never been about guns.” —Senator Ted Cruz
“We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or infringing on the rights of our law-abiding citizens.” —Ted Cruz
Demagogue
“We know what works on this. It includes — let’s have an assault weapons ban.” —Vice President Kamala Harris
Race Bait
“So since no one else will ask, I will. Did those children die because most of them were Mexican American and the police didn’t give a d**n about a school [with] predominately brown kids? I mean, because it’s Texas..and if you think everyone who isn’t white is illegal.” —University of Pennsylvania professor Anthea Butler (“Critics note that Uvalde School District Police Chief Pedro ‘Pete’ Arredondo, who reportedly held officers back as 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman, is Latino, as is city Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez. Several of the local and federal officers who responded to the scene are also Latino, and many have children in the school.” —The Daily Wire)
The BIG Lies
“They said a .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out — may be able to get it and save the life. A nine-millimeter bullet blows the lung out of the body. So, the idea of these high-caliber weapons is, uh, there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting.” —Joe Biden
“A mob of insurrectionists stormed the Capitol — the very citadel of democracy. Imagine what you’d be thinking today if you had heard this morning, before you got here, that a group of a thousand people … killed two police officers.” —Joe Biden
Useful Idiot
“I don’t plan on coming out for the [national] anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country.” —San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler (“The flag and the anthem are not appropriate places to try to voice your objection. … I would never not stand up for the anthem or the flag. … You need to understand what the veterans think when they hear the anthem or see the flag. And the cost they paid and their families. And if you truly understand that, I think it’s impossible not to salute the flag and listen to the anthem.” —Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa)
One by one, the US mainstream media outlets are lining up to (finally) let a bit of truth leak out after three months of incessant propaganda: Ukraine is being destroyed in the war. How many have unnecessarily died because the likes of Boris Johnson and Biden have prohibited a negotiated settlement? Also today, US/EU sanctions on Russia have backfired. Like always. Bonus: What was Ron Paul doing this weekend?
Michael Sussmann, a lawyer representing Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, has been found not guilty of a single count of lying to the FBI when he said he was not working on behalf of any client when he alleged a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.
Sussmann sits back down. His face is impassive. Judge thanks jury and dismisses them. /12
Sussmann was charged under 18 U.S.C. 1001 with lying to the FBI during a meeting with then-FBI general counsel James Baker when he came forward with what he claimed was evidence of possible covert communications between the Trump organization and Alfa, a Russian bank. Sussmann allegedly concealed that he was representing the Clinton campaign, which he billed for his efforts.
The verdict comes after a two week trial led to more than a day of deliberations… by this jury:
TURLEY: “I mean, he is facing a jury that has three Clinton donors, an AOC donor, and a woman whose daughter is on the same sports team with Sussmann’s daughter. With the exception of randomly selecting people out of the DNC headquarters, you could not come up with a worse jury” pic.twitter.com/RHqen6AMAc
Baker, who now works for Twitter, said that he likely would not have have met with Michael Sussmann if he knew Sussmann was acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign.
I don’t think I would have,” Baker said on the stand in federal court in Washington, as noted by the Epoch Times.
Knowing Trump’s opponent was behind the allegations “would have raised very serious questions, certainly, about the credibility of the source” and the “veracity of the information,” Baker said. It would also have heightened “a substantial concern in my mind about whether we were going to be played.”
The testimony bolsters a key piece of special counsel John Durham’s case against Sussmann—that knowing the sources propelling Sussmann to meet with Baker would have altered how the FBI analyzed the information, which the bureau ultimately found did not substantiate the claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank.
“Absent Sussmann’s false statement, the FBI might have taken additional or more incremental steps before opening and/or closing an investigation,” prosecutors said in Sussmann’s indictment, which charged him with lying to the FBI.
Here’s why many thought Sussmann would be found guilty:
Why Sussman is guilty as charged.
The popular leftist narrative goes “who cares what Sussman told Baker? Everyone knew he was working for the Clinton campaign.” It’s flawed because it’s asking the wrong question.
The right question is “would Baker have passed on Sussman’s data to investigators had Sussman informed him he was there representing the Clinton campaign?” The answer is no. In fact Baker said he wouldn’t have even taken the meeting.
Baker testifies that knowing whether or not Sussmann had client was important to him to assess its reliability of information. He says he would not have taken the meeting if Sussmann said he was working on behalf of Clinton camp
“Baker insisted he had a clear memory that, at the 2016 meeting, Sussmann claimed he was not bringing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client.
“I’m 100 percent confident that he said that in the meeting,” he said.
The key point overlooked by most: Sussman didn’t lie just to give himself cover. He lied so BAKER would have cover to hand the data over to Cyber Division. In fact the lie was necessary BECAUSE “everyone knew” Sussman was working for the Clinton campaign. Including Sussman.
* * *
Sussmann was found not guilty. Many of us viewed the evidence was overwhelming. Yet, the jury either believed he did not lie or that the lie was not material. https://t.co/A20o2GPhQi
We literally found out that Hillary Clinton OKed dissemination of disinformation meant to undermine trust in our presidential elections — which was spread widely by leftist media outlets (CNN being one of the worst offenders.) But sure, do your thing! https://t.co/MG3MZx8TaZ
WASHINGTON, D.C.—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put on her angry eyebrows after hearing that her husband was arrested for drunk driving over the holiday weekend.
“Yes, I am very angry, as you can see by my very expressive eyebrows,” said Pelosi to reporters. “My husband is being unfairly mistreated. He was totally fine to drive! My blood alcohol is twice the legal limit at all times and I can drive no problem! Good morning, Sunday morning!”
Pelosi was allegedly in Rhode Island at the time of the accident drinking a gallon of wine when the news broke, but was unable to make an official statement until the following day due to a massive hangover.
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi confirmed that she was “ashamed and embarrassed” that her husband was arrested because “don’t they know who I am?” In addition, her spokesperson has claimed the comically angry eyebrows are a form of peaceful protest against the Napa County police department, which Pelosi now intends to defund.
At publishing time, Pelosi scrubbed away her eyebrows after a miscommunication in which Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took one look at Pelosi’s face and thought she intended to murder her again.
In the social justice system, words are considered violence. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious attacks are members of an elite squad known as the Microaggression Victims Unit. These are their stories.
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on Tuesday was found not guilty of lying to the FBI.
Michael Sussmann was indicted last September for lying to the FBI.
According to the indictment, Sussmann falsely told James Baker he wasn’t doing work “for any client” when he asked for a meeting with the FBI where he presented bogus evidence the Trump Tower was secretly communicating with Kremlin-tied Alfa Bank.
Hillary Clinton fired off a tweet claiming Trump Tower was secretly communicating with Russian Alfa Bank.
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager Robby Mook on Friday testified that Hillary personally approved of the dissemination of the bogus Trump-Russia Alfa Bank accusations to the media.
The jury in the trial of 2016 Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on Tuesday found the defendant not guilty on a charge of providing a false statement to the FBI, after deliberating in the morning and on Friday.
The jury continued deliberations Tuesday by asking to see a couple of government exhibits.
Closing arguments in the trial in which Sussmann is accused to lying to the FBI, in connection with the Russia collusion plot, closed Friday. The jury deliberated for several hours before being dismissed for the long holiday weekend.
The trial is now in its eleventh day.
The DC courts are beyond repair after 8 years of the Obama Administration.
Earlier this month, Christopher Cooper, the Obama-appointed federal judge assigned to the trial for Hillary Clinton’s lawyer Michael Sussmann, allowed Hillary Clinton and AOC donors into the jury pool.
Judge Cooper also denied a request by prosecutors to remove a juror from the panel because her daughter and Sussmann’s daughter are on the same crew team.
Billionaire Bill Gates says there’s a 50 per cent chance the next pandemic will be caused by man-made climate change or be deliberately released by a bio-terrorist.
The Microsoft founder made the comments during an interview with Spanish news outlet El Diario.
Asserting that the next major pandemic is likely to occur within 20 years, Gates said, “It could be a virus made by man, by a bioterrorist who designed it and intentionally circulated it. That is a very scary scenario because they could try to spread it in different places at once.”
“Or it could be something that makes the leap from the natural world. The human population is growing and we are invading more and more ecosystems. That is why I calculate that there is a 50% chance that we will have a pandemic of natural origin in the next 20 years, as a consequence of climate change,” he added.
The prediction that climate change will cause a virus which will then require another global vaccine rollout is somewhat convenient for Gates given that he is heavily invested in both areas.
Gates reiterated the call made in his recent book to pump billions of dollars into researching future pathogens by creating a 3,000-strong team of specialists under the control of the World Health Organization, which would require a 25% budgetary increase.
Commenting on the recent outbreak of monkeypox, Gates said “there is very little chance” it will have an impact anything like coronavirus, although he cautioned that it could mutate into something significantly nastier.
Gates infamously warned of a coming super-virus five years before the emergence of COVID-19 during a 2015 TED talk.
As we highlighted earlier this month, Gates warned that COVID was not over and that there is likely to be an “even more fatal” variant of the virus coming.
During an event at the Munich Security Conference back in February, Gates said that “sadly” Omicron is a “type of vaccine” and has “done a better job getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines” by providing natural immunity.
This is eerily reminiscent of what Steven Richards, who lived masquerading as a female for eight years starting when he was just 15, said about his former delusions. The “miserable world I escaped from,” he revealed, is one holding out the illusory promise that the next step in your “transition — a new name, a new set of pronouns, another year of hormones, another surgery,” will bring you the promised happiness. “But, as I learned,” he said, “it never can.”
(Selwyn Duke – The New American) Disney took it on the chin after getting political and opposing Florida’s parental-rights bill. Netflix recently told its employees that if they were offended by the company’s politically incorrect content, they could quit. But this hasn’t stopped Mattel from leaning heavily into the sexual devolutionary agenda and birthing a freaky first:
The toy maker has created the world’s first “transgender” Barbie doll.
How one identifies a MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, aka “transgender”) doll was not reported. Does it have have “bottom surgery” scars, a therapist, and a cross-sex hormone prescription? What is known is that this Barbie is the latest in a line of sexually confused (they call them “gender-nonconforming”) dolls that Mattel rolled out in 2019. View article →
Critics warn Biden Administration’s potential changes to Title IX could destroy women’s sports, and allow biological males who identify as females into locations meant for females, including locker rooms, restrooms, etc; funerals and visitations begin for the victims of the Uvalde school shooting; President Biden to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Powell to talk about inflation as prices hit record highs; tensions in Jerusalem between Palestinians and Israelis on Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the capture of Jerusalem by Israel, and a look at why Jerusalem is so important to Jews; foreign policy experts from both parties criticize President Biden’s decision not to send long-range missile systems to Ukraine; the impact Artificial Intelligence (AI) could have on people on faith; and mental health expert Dr Loren Martin talks to CBN’s “Healthy Living” about some of the causes of the mental health issues in America today.
Ukraine’s divisions will help Russia consolidate the territory it now controls. But there’s a lot of challenges ahead
By Alexander Nepogodin, аn Odessa-born political journalist, expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union.
The conflict in Ukraine has many frontlines. The world is mostly focusing on the hostilities, but an even more serious conflict is unfolding inside the Ukrainian camp. This standoff between Ukrainians and Russians as two political nations has been developing since 2014, but it entered a new, decisive phase after Russia began its military offensive, three months ago.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, three groups with strong identities have co-existed in Ukraine. A state which first came into being as recently as 1917, and had its current borders set by Joseph Stalin, the Georgian dictator who led the USSR until his death in 1953.
The first one, Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians (or Galicians, named after the historical region of Galicia), mostly live in Ukraine’s western and central territories. Their ethnic narrative is very clear, they consider Russians to be their enemy, and their main icon is the World War Two Nazi-collaborator Stepan Bandera.
The Galician motto is something along the lines of “if you disagree with us, there is still time – pack your suitcase and catch the next train to Russia.” They are pushing the narrative that Ukraine as a nation doesn’t depend on Russia and the Russians. This is supported by their choice of national heroes. Hetman Ivan Mazepa sided with King of Sweden Charles XII during the Great Northern War between Russia and Sweden. Symon Petliura was the president of the Ukrainian People’s Republic during Ukraine’s sovereignty in 1918–1921. The aforementioned Bandera founded and led the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists from the 1920s to the 1950s.
As for Russian-speaking Ukrainians living in central and southeastern parts of Ukraine, they never thought of Russians as strangers or enemies, before the propaganda which followed the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev. And the third group living in Ukraine consists of ethnic Russians. They are connected with the Russian-speaking Ukrainians by language and the historical narrative – both of these groups believe they fought on the right side of history when they defended the Soviet Union from the Nazis during World War II.
West Ukrainians have a rather different view, but they also believe their past to be virtuous. They say their ancestors didn’t fight for the Third Reich, but rather for an independent Ukraine, even if they were part of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (banned in Russia) which participated in the holocaust, helping to slaughter Jews.
In other words, these groups, especially the Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians and the Russians, are separated by different views of history, different languages, and different political representation. Just think of the 2013-14 “Euromaidan” when the “pro-Western” and “pro-Ukrainian” forces overthrew Viktor Yanukovych, the supposedly “pro-Russian” president (despite his years of negotiations with the EU).
That conflict had been brewing in society for many years – just look at the names people from different regions called each other. “Ragul” (a derogatory word for a farmer, a village resident), “zapadenets” for people from western Ukraine, and “moskal,”“kommunyaka,” or “colorad” (because of the colors of St. George’s ribbon, which symbolizes Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War) for those living in southeastern regions. However, before 2014, the conflict of narratives was moderate, and the balance was upset after the policy of building a national state began to dominate.
In the middle have been the moderate group – Russian-speaking Ukrainians (or, to quote Mikhail Pogrebinsky, a political analyst living in Kiev – “Russian Ukrainians”). This group has always been placed between political Russians and radical Ukrainians, drawing some of its identity from both camps but also being somewhat unique. Their attitude towards Russia and Russian culture has been a key issue since the beginning of the conflict in 2014.
Everything was clear-cut with radical Ukrainians – they always considered Russians enemies and viewed Russia as an aggressor and existential threat. Moderate Ukrainians, on the other hand, didn’t feel animosity towards Russians and even agreed to call them a “brotherly nation.” The Russian and Ukrainian cultures were deeply intertwined in their reality, so it was hard for them to separate the two. The contact line in the Donbass in 2014 separated two armies, two political regimes, two world views, as well as people. Friends, neighbors and family members found themselves on different sides.
But the more difficult issue for the majority of moderate Ukrainians has been their political stance on Russia. The Russian-speaking Ukrainians didn’t hate Russia like radical Ukrainians; they were somewhat concerned with the “Russian world” concept as some civilizational community. When the concept was used to proclaim political unity between Russia and Ukraine in 2013-2014, the idea of such unity was compromised in the eyes of many Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
The problem, however, is that Ukrainian elites started to drift to the nationalist side long before the 2013-2014 crisis. This is also the main reason why Russia’s policy in Ukraine has failed: Russia had for too long ignored the fact that virtually the entire Ukrainian elite – political, economic and cultural – were keen to act on their own, dreaming of an independent Ukrainian political project.
Back in the early 1990s, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian establishment came up with two models for the country: the Galician (nationalist) model and the Eastern Ukrainian model. The latter anticipated the formation of a multiconfessional, multiethnic, multicultural state where a nation was perceived as a civil actor. By contrast, the radical approach was based on the ethnic principle of nation-building, which was most frequently espoused by Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians from the western regions.
This concept is rooted in the idea of a monoethnic country – a “Ukraine for Ukrainians” as bearers of the Ukrainian language and culture. After 2014, those who espoused the Galician concept proved more active and influential in political processes, even though Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president in 2019 – a Russian-speaker from the Krivbass who seemed to subscribe to the Eastern Ukrainian concept. Until he took office and reality began to bite.
Initially, he tried to find a compromise with the Galician group, but after some time he became an integral part of it, not only continuing with the policy of Ukrainianization, but also proceeding to eliminate “pro-Russian” political forces entirely.
Without a doubt, the start of the special military operation has led many Russian-speaking Ukrainians to switch to the Galician concept and embrace Ukrainian nationalism, taking a radical stance towards Russia. There are quite a few examples when people from southeastern regions who had previously welcomed the reabsorption of Crimea by Russia reversed their position and took up arms – for example, by joining the ranks of the territorial defense. This was especially often the case with young people.
Those changes were brought about by a number of factors that had influenced the situation for many years: a growing aspiration to join the European Union political project; effective propaganda with restricted access to Russian TV and social networks; the Ukrainianization of education; military service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and work in government agencies. In other words, those who lived in the southeastern regions of Ukraine, the so-called “post-Soviet people,” were subject to social engineering. Russia, in turn, couldn’t offer these people any alternative, except for permanent relocation to the neighboring country. Many of them did so – unable to tolerate the Ukrainianization of education and political persecution, they left their homeland forever.
Importantly, it was the radical shift in cultural and linguistic policy after Euromaidan and the attempt to build a nation-state that actually led to the outbreak of armed conflict in 2014. Ukraine made a fatal mistake when it abandoned the policy of moderate nationalization in favor of radicalism. Under the presidencies of Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma, the country did pursue the nation-state model, but without upsetting the delicate balance of interests between all three groups.
With the loss of Crimea and the Donbass that followed Euromaidan in 2014, the status quo was finally upset, which led to a shift in the official historical memory, language policy, and relations with regional elites. The discussion of federalization and autonomization lost all legitimacy in political discourse, and politicians on both sides refused to recognize their opponents as a group with their own cultural and political rights. This was especially hard on representatives of the Russian-speaking southeast.
As for the language issue, recent years also saw an escalation in this stand-off. The total Ukrainianization of education began during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko and continued under Zelensky. Despite his earlier objections to this sort of policy.
For a third of the population, it felt like more than just the self-expression of political Ukrainians at the expense of Ukrainian Russians. It felt as though they were being demoted to second-class citizens.
The thing is that the status of the Russian language in Ukraine always remained a purely political and ideological issue rather than a practical one. Ukrainian society remained bilingual after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with people freely speaking both languages. Practically speaking, if the government wanted to achieve real equality for its citizens, it could have met all the linguistic needs of the Russian population without granting Russian the status of a regional language. Passing reasonable laws to preserve and protect it would have been enough.
The trajectory of Ukraine’s development reveals that further evolvement of the Ukrainian political nation, in the light of the current live confrontation with Russia, will be based on the political model of the nation state. It will not only be built on the estrangement of the Russian language and culture (including de-Russification and demolition of historical monuments commemorating Russian prominent figures) – it will inevitably lead to violence directed against unwelcome pro-Russian Ukrainians, many of whom have already been dubbed a “fifth column” – among them, the recently arrested journalist Yuri Tkachev and writer Yan Taksyur.
In a situation when Ukraine – the home country for the three groups of people we mentioned above, including those citizens whose national identity is still not fully fledged – refuses to represent and protect their interests, it’s hardly a surprise that they would seek representation and protection from other states, primarily Russia. So the sooner we acknowledge the fact that Ukraine will not be able to build a politically and ethnically united nation without resorting to violence, the sooner Russia will be able to set out to provide such living conditions in the territories it controls.
Although the present situation is very complicated, Russia will still have to work with the Ukrainian population. And a realistic perspective on the situation at hand implies a differentiated approach to each of the three population groups. However, the fact that the groups in question inhabit geographically defined parts of Ukraine makes this task much simpler.
One group mainly lives in the central and western parts of the country, while the others inhabit the southern and eastern regions. It is, in fact, something known as the “Subtelny line,” an imaginary split running through Ukraine and dividing it into different areas according to the ideology, beliefs and culture of the population.
Orest Subtelny was a Canadian historian of Ukrainian origin who published the results of an ethnolinguistic survey in the 1980s on the distribution of Russian and Ukrainian native speakers across the territory of the country. He concluded that there was a stable imaginary line dividing the country into two parts with different cultural, linguistic and, as it later transpired, ideological preferences. “Russian Ukraine” includes territories which have never been part of Ukraine, historically – the historical region north of the Black Sea, also known as Novorossiya, which was conquered from the Tatars and Turks under Catherine the Great; Sloboda Ukraine, or Slobozhanshchyna – a region that was part of the Russian state since 1503, the Donbass including some of the territories previously belonging to the Don Host Province (Oblast), and also Crimea. Interestingly, the results of all Ukrainian elections, opinion polls (e.g. on Ukraine’s accession to NATO) unmistakably reproduce the line Orest Subtelny drew on the map of Ukraine, confirming his idea of Ukrainian society being split into two camps.
About half of the “Russian Ukraine” is currently controlled by Russia’s armed forces and that’s where the military operations are mainly taking place now. As a result, Moscow is faced with a number of important tasks it has to accomplish in order to win the loyalty of the people living in the territories it controls. The top priorities here include revitalizing the region’s economy, filling the political vacuum (by establishing military-and-civilian administrations), helping the locals to get through the sowing season, opening the border with Russia for consumer goods, canceling debts owed by enterprises and individuals, granting benefits to small and medium-sized businesses (including tax relief), fast-tracking the procedure of Russian citizenship acquisition, restoring the destroyed infrastructure, and producing local mass media and social media content.
The main goal today is to fight for the hearts and minds of the Russian-speaking Ukrainians. In order to achieve success, Moscow will have to move the Russian identity into the foreground by boosting local patriotism, including in the areas it does not control. This won’t be too hard a task, as the people’s identity in the southeastern regions of Ukraine – the territories of historical Novorossiya – is basically the same it was 100 years ago, in many respects. And the differences that may be found are not that important in terms of deciding the future of the region.
What is much more important is that the history of Odessa, Kherson, Nikolaev and Melitopol is deeply rooted in Russian history and culture, because this is what plays an active part in molding the Russian national identity of the people living in Ukraine’s southeast, particularly the Russian-speaking Ukrainians. And Moscow can choose to use this trump card, especially given Kiev’s intolerance towards all those who think differently, political persecution and attempts to do away with the Russian language and culture. We just need to acknowledge that the process of self-determination of the Ukrainian nation is still ongoing, and to realize that the crucial battle for human minds is unfolding at this very moment.
Right now, the mainstream media is completely ignoring what might be the most important story in the financial world that nobody is talking about.
Amid the distractions caused by conflicts overseas, shortages, and inflation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently took the stage at an event called COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland to address some of the world’s most powerful people, including:
U.S. President, Joe Biden…
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson…
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau…
French President, Emmanuel Macron…
… and many more…
From the stage, Yellen called for world leaders to commit to a $150 trillion ‘global transition’ of our economy.
Since then, Bank of America has committed, along with 131 countries, 234 cities, and 695 of the world’s biggest companies.
Several billionaires, led by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have invested in this ‘transformation’ as well.
What is it that Yellen, Biden, Trudeau, Bezos and Musk are pushing for with their ‘transformation’?
And what does it mean for your money?
Investigative journalist and renowned economist, Nomi Prins, who predicted the 2008 market meltdown has followed the money…
And what she’s discovered is startling.
It has nothing to do with a market crash… a new reserve currency… or the end of fiat.
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