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
The chief priests saw clearly what would result from the spread of this Faith in Jesus. They declared that the preaching of the Apostles was meant to “bring this man’s blood upon us.” Some urged that all the preachers be slain. But one good and learned doctor of the law, Gamaliel, argued against it, saying that of themselves these ignorant men could do nothing, whereas if their preaching came of God, “Ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”
Swayed by Gamaliel’s solemn warning, the priests set the Apostles free, after again commanding them to cease preaching. Moreover, the twelve were all severely whipped, as disturbers of the peace who incited rioting. This beating was the first public assault upon the Faith, the beginning of the fulfillment of Christ’s warning to His followers of all they were to suffer at the hands of men. The punishment was accepted by the Apostles in the high spirit which roused all the later martyrs. “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”
Of Gamaliel’s later career, tradition tells us that he was the teacher of Paul before the latter’s conversion, that he out of pity buried on his own land the body of Stephen, the first martyr, and that ultimately he became a Christian.
It shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. (Hosea 1:10)
Sovereign grace can make strangers into sons, and the Lord here declares His purpose to deal thus with rebels and make them know what He has done. Beloved reader, the Lord has done this in my case; has He done the like for you? Then let us join hands and hearts in praising His adorable name.
Some of us were so decidedly ungodly that the Lord’s Word most truly said to our conscience and heart, “Ye are not my people.” In the house of God and in our own homes, when we read the Bible, this was the voice of God’s Spirit in our soul, “Ye are not my people.” Truly a sad, condemning voice it was. But now, in the same places, from the same ministry and Scripture, we hear a voice, which saith, “Ye are the sons of the living God.” Can we be grateful enough for this? Is it not wonderful? Does it not give us hope for others? Who is beyond the reach of almighty grace? How can we despair of any, since the Lord has wrought so marvelous a change in us?
He who has kept this one great promise will keep every other; wherefore, let us go forward with songs of adoration and confidence.
15:5 Accepts correction means one listens attentively and obeys (see “keep” at 4:4).[1]
15:5 See 1:8; 6:20; 12:15; 13:1, 13, 18. Humble teachability is the mark of the wise.[2]
15:5A fool will despise the instruction of his father The fool is characterized by rejection of instruction and correction. See 1:7 and note; compare vv. 20; 23:22.[3]
15:5 The description of a fool who despises his father’s instruction is complemented by that of v. 20 and the foolish man who “despises his mother.” In Proverbs, the nature of one’s response to wise parental instruction is representative of and formative in the paths of wisdom or folly, respectively (cf. 1:8; 4:1; 6:20; 13:1). Note also the related references in this chapter to how a person responds to reproof (15:5, 10, 12, 31, 32).[4]
15:5 The truly wise person profits from instruction. The term for the prudent in the second part of this proverb means “to be shrewd.” Shrewdness can be evil, but here it has the positive sense of “street smarts” (1:4).[5]
15:5 We have met this fool before. He considers his father outdated, his ideas old-fashioned, and his instruction worthless. The wise son receives parental correction and benefits by it. He is prudent and becomes even more so.[6]
15:5. If a son refuses to learn from his father’s discipline (mûsār; see comments on 1:3) he is a fool (’ěwîl, a coarse and hardened fool; see comments on 1:7). Also he is stupid (12:1), a mocker (13:1; 15:12), and self-hating (v. 32). He will die (v. 10). To follow parental correction is wise. Shows prudence translates the verb ‘āram, “to be shrewd” in a good sense (also used in 19:25), similar to the noun ‘ormâh (in 1:4; 8:5, 12) and the adjective ‘ārûm (12:23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). Heeding the advice of one’s parents brings honor. (Cf. similar concepts in 12:1; 13:1, 13, 18.)[7]
15:5. A young man who rejects his father’s correction may consider himself too clever to need it, but really he is a fool. It is the one who takes reproof to heart who becomes truly shrewd (sensible), having the capacity to “maneuver his way through life to his best advantage” (Fox, Proverbs 10–31, 590).[8]
15:5parent’s discipline. Precisely, “the discipline of his father.” The image of the wise parent advising offspring on the paths of life is reminiscent of the Prologue of chs 1–9. There, Yahweh is revealed as the one who adopts the wise as his “sons,” and with him they enjoy the fruit of the tree of life (3:12, 18). Here, Yahweh observes the good who embody the healing properties of the tree of life (Rev 22:2) and the evil who despise the father’s discipline (15:3–5). God-centered rhetoric characterizes this part of the strophe.[9]
5. A fool despiseth his father’s instruction—whether through carelessness, sloth, or love of pleasure or gain. A father is instanced as representative of monitors of every kind, on account of his special authority, as also because of the love which prompts a father’s ‘disciplinary instruction’ (so the Hebrew). [10]
Impatience of criticism
Cf. 13:1, 18, and subject-study: Wisdom, 2 (2), p. 36. In the second line, the last verb can mean either is prudent (av, rsv) or, ‘becomes prudent’ (cf. rv). The Heb. of 1 Samuel 23:22 justifies the former, which makes a sharp antithesis to the knowingness of the fool; but Proverbs 19:25 shows that the latter translation is equally tenable.[11]
Ver. 5.—A fool despiseth his father’s instruction (ch. 10:1): but he that regardeth reproof is prudent (ch. 19:25). The son who attends to his father’s reproof dealeth prudently, or becomes wiser. Astutior fiet, Vulgate; πανουργότερος, Septuagint. The Vulgate has here a distich which is not in the Hebrew, but a similar paragraph is found in the Septuagint. Thus Vulgate, “In the abundance of righteousness virtue is greatest; but the imaginations of the wicked shall be rooted up;” Septuagint, “In the abundance of righteousness is much strength; but the impious shall be destroyed from the very root.” The addition seems to have been an explanation of the following verse, which has been foisted into the text here.[12]
15:5 / Antithetic. The parallelism is not perfect (no mention of the mother; cf. 10:1), but the point is clear: the wise person is teachable, docile.[13]
15:5. A fool rejects his father’s discipline, But he who regards reproof is prudent.
A common theme in Proverbs is one’s response to correction, in general, and a child’s response to his father’s discipline, in particular. To reject paternal discipline identifies one as a ‘fool.’ The word used here was introduced in Proverbs 1:7 and has been used often since. Such a person is thick-headed and stubborn. He is not mentally deficient, but spiritually impaired. In his rejection of all authority, he has developed a resolute outlook on life. He does not fear the Lord and is not interested in truth. He refuses the counsel of others (Prov. 1:7; 10:8; 12:15). He mocks at sin (Prov. 14:9). Apart from the grace of God, he is almost certainly headed toward ruin (Prov. 27:22).
What such a person is said to reject is paternal ‘discipline.’ The word describes a process of instruction that takes place through correction. A fool leaves no room for learning by failure. He refuses to believe that anyone else may see things more clearly than he. He is determined to prove to the world he needs no one.
In contrast, ‘he who regards reproof is prudent.’ The word translated ‘prudent’ can mean ‘shrewdness’ in a negative sense (1 Sam. 23:22), but is used in Proverbs positively (Prov. 19:25). It is related to a noun so used in Proverbs 1:4; 8:5, 12 and an adjective used similarly in Proverbs 12:23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12. The verb may be translated either ‘is prudent’ (1 Sam. 23:22) or ‘becomes prudent’ (Prov. 19:25). It seems more likely that the latter is the point being made here. Not that listening to parental correction reveals a heart of shrewdness, but, rather, it helps to create such a heart.
For further teaching along this line, see Proverbs 6:23; 10:1, 17; 12:1; 13:1, 18; 15:10, 31, 32; 19:20; 25:12.[14]
5 The introductory educational proverb motivates youth to memorize and accept the parents’ reproving instruction (see 1:8) by labeling whoever rejects it a fool and whoever heeds it prudent. In its chiastic antithetical parallels the subject of verset A, a fool (ʾewîl; see p. 112-113), is parallel to the predicate of verset B, is shrewd (see p. 95), and the predicate of verset B, spurns [see 1:30] his father’s instruction (mûsar ʾābîw; cf. 1:2, 8) is parallel to the subject of verset B, whoever heeds (šōmēr; see 2:8) correction (or rebuke, tôkaḥat; see 1:23).[15]
5Discipline, wisely heeded. How well one responds to discipline reveals character. The contrast here is between the fool who spurns it and the prudent individual who heeds it. The latter shows good sense (see also v. 20; 13:1, 18).[16]
[1] Stabnow, D. K. (2017). Proverbs. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 975). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Pr 15:5). Lexham Press.
[7] Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 937). Victor Books.
[8] Finkbeiner, D. (2014). Proverbs. In M. A. Rydelnik & M. Vanlaningham (Eds.), The moody bible commentary (p. 924). Moody Publishers.
[9] Schwab, G. M. (2009). The Book of Proverbs. In Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (p. 553). Tyndale House Publishers.
[12] Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. (1909). Proverbs (p. 291). Funk & Wagnalls Company.
[13] Murphy, R. E., & Carm, O. (2012). Proverbs. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (p. 74). Baker Books.
[16] Ross, A. P. (2008). Proverbs. In T. Longman III, Garland David E. (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Proverbs–Isaiah (Revised Edition) (Vol. 6, p. 139). Zondervan.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4
Are you looking out for the interest of others? When was the last time you shared Christ’s message with a stranger? Time and time again people are open to having conversations about Christ simply because his humble followers cared enough to serve and share. You can make God’s love known to others by praying for them, comforting the grieving, encouraging those in their trials and tribulations, gently guiding the straying and simply just listening.
Jesus charged his disciples to preach the gospel to all people. His desire and heart is consistently revealed throughout the Bible. We are reminded of this great truth in 1 Timothy 2:4,
“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
Many times, we are hesitant to share the gospel because we feel inadequate, but those feelings are from the enemy. As you begin to share, the Holy Spirit will give you the words and the ability to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:17). Apart from the Holy Spirit, we have no power to influence people for Christ.
Be humble; allow yourself to be used and trust that God is working through you. Developing a genuine interest in others’ needs without any strings attached and remaining consistent. Your consistency will show others that your heart is in the right place and offer additional opportunities to share Christ’s love with others.
There are countless opportunities to exemplify the love of Jesus to others and to give a reason for the hope that is in you. Will you be his ambassador and seek the best for others today? As you do this, don’t be surprised if the Holy Spirit uses your heart of service to lead people to Jesus Christ.
Dear Lord, help me to seek what is best for others. Please forgive me when I do not take the time to share your love and biblical truths with others. I pray for your hand to guide me. Please give me the right words and specific opportunities to be an effective instrument for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Ask the Lord to show you who in your life you can humbly walk alongside. Pray that he would give you opportunities to connect with them, hear their story and share Christ’s love with them
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” – Matthew. 5:14
Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount along the shores of the Sea of Galilee in the shadow of the highest mountain in Israel on which is located the town of Safad. Because of its height, the lights of the city can be seen from miles away.
He used the city to drive home a point, saying: Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a lamp stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. Matthew 5:15
Jesus proceeded here to show them that the very reason why they were enlightened was that others might also see the light, and be benefited by it. When people light a candle, they do not conceal the light, but place it where it may be of use. So it is with religion. Religion is given that we may benefit others. It is not to be concealed, but to show itself, and to shed light on a surrounding wicked world.
This passage sets forth instructions regarding the Christian’s light, or influence, in the world: (1) Christ forbade hiding it under a bushel, that is, permitting business and commerce to obscure one’s influence for the truth. (2) He warned against hiding it under a vessel, that is, permitting cares, duties, and obligations of life to take precedence over faith. (3) He prohibited hiding it under the bed of licentiousness, laziness, or idleness.
What then should be done with the light or influence of the Christian’s life? It should be placed upon “the stand.” And, what can this be? It is nothing less than the church of Jesus Christ, namely, the local congregation.
How bright does the light of Jesus burn in your life and in your congregation that others may see the light? The light of Jesus illumination from us is the essence of discipleship.
Do you let the duties of the day to take precedence over our sharing the light? Pray that the light of Jesus may shine brightly in your life so that others may see the essence of the Gospel.
By John Grant Used by Permission John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
So many miracles, especially of healing the sick, continued to be performed by the Apostles that “multitudes” were turned to the new Faith, not only in Jerusalem but in all the surrounding country. Crowds followed after Peter as once they had followed after Jesus. The sick were laid in the pathway of the new teacher in confidence that even his passing shadow would make them whole.
The chief priests, astonished and afraid because even their express command had not checked the preaching of the Apostles, now seized upon the entire twelve and cast them into prison. Another miracle followed; for the twelve were that same night liberated by an angel. When in the morning the jailers came to drag them before the council of the priests, their cells were empty; and the twelve were found in the Temple, once more preaching to the people.
At command of the soldiers the Apostles went readily before the council. But when they were again and with threatenings forbidden to say aught of Jesus, they refused, declaring that they must “obey God rather than men.”
Orwellian Moments Abound The timing of any possible invasion or use of force has moved closer. Still unlikely and not the base case for most of the GIG, but a risk that has become more real over the past few weeks. The economic and political pressure points that China has with Taiwan will be used even more aggressively to shift behavior. Even without the prospect of war, I can confirm that more people are revisiting discussions with Academy regarding our supply chain theories.
The Hot Pagan Nights of August “On summer nights, star of stars, Orion’s Dog they call it, brightest, of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat, and fevers to suffering humanity,” Homer lyrically described it in The Iliad. The ancient Greeks believed that heat waves were caused by heat from Sirius: the dog star. We postmoderns don’t believe in any silly superstitious nonsense like that knowing all too well that the ‘dog days of summer’ are caused by Styrofoam containers and a lack of carbon taxes. Postmoderns are also too smart to believe in the Bible or the story of G-d creating the world. Global warming is the old pagan climate religions,
War & World Economy Spark Mass Tech Layoffs while the scope of layoffs is not yet clear, this announcement makes the corporation another one in a long line of tech firms and startups countering rising inflation and a domestic development bordering on a recession by reducing their workforce.
Foreign Fighters Are Becoming Battle-Hardened, and Dying, in Ukraine Many were wannabe soldiers with no combat or military experience, while others were hardened veterans of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But both of these camps encountered vicious fighting like they’d never seen before. nearly six months into the war, the foreign fighters who once complained about being used as cannon fodder have solidified a reputation as an important part of the Ukrainian war effort. Some have been killed or captured, including several Americans, while others are making an impact fighting alongside the most elite soldiers in the Ukrainian military.
Whole Cities Are Under Siege by Narcos in Mexico Over the past four days multiple Mexican cities faced an onslaught of attacks from drug cartel militias, showing the government’s continued inability to stop criminal groups from causing chaos in some of the country’s largest cities. The western states of Jalisco and Guanajuato were under siege for around 10 hours on August 9 reportedly after Mexican authorities busted up a meeting between several important leaders of factions of the hyper violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG. The cities of Guadalajara, Irapuato, Celaya and Leon saw numerous cars and buses engulfed in flames to block off traffic arteries, while a reported 25 convenience stores were also set on fire.
Potent Nor’Easter to Visit Northeast in Coming Days It appears a potent nor’easter will visit portions of the northeastern U.S. in the coming days, bringing soaking rains to an area dealing with very dry or drought conditions. Computer forecast guidance is beginning to depict the possibility that a coastal storm will form during the middle of the week, lashing parts of the northeast with wind-whipped rains. However, not everywhere in the northeast will see precipitation from this storm system.
FBI, DHS warn US law enforcement of threats after Trump search Among concerns cited in the memo was “a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI Headquarters and issuing general calls for ‘civil war’ and ‘armed rebellion,’” CBS reported.
Putin says Russia, North Korea to expand bilateral relations Vladimir Putin told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the two countries will “expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts,” Pyongyang’s state media reported on Monday.
Iran’s IRGC had contact with man charged with stabbing Rushdie The suspect arrested for stabbing prominent author Salman Rushdie, Hadi Matar, had been in contact with the US-designated terrorist organization, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), prior to the nearly lethal assault on the writer, news organization VICE reported on Sunday.
Religious soldiers walk out after women sing in IDF ceremony Jewish law does not permit men to listen to the singing of women who are not their first-degree relatives. female singers from the military band ascended the stage, and soldiers from seven platoons of yeshiva students stood up and walked out. “The yeshiva students walked out spontaneously.
Trump letter gave go-ahead to annex Judea and Samaria In a three-page letter from then-US President Donald Trump, obtained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly received a green light to annex parts of Judea and Samaria. The letter was dated January 26, 2020, two days before Trump presented his Vision for Peace in the White House. In the letter, the president summed up some of the plan’s details. These included that Israel would be able to extend sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria, as outlined in the map included in the plan. The land was to be annexed if Netanyahu agreed to a Palestinian state in the remaining territory on that map.
Public buildings in Germany to be heated to 19° Celsius – econ minister BERLIN (Reuters) – Public buildings in Germany should be heated to a maximum of 19 degrees Celsius (66.2°F) under planned legislation to save energy, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted the economy minister as saying on Friday.
Minneapolis teachers union contract calls for layoffs of white teachers first A Minneapolis teachers union contract stipulates that white teachers will be laid off or reassigned before “educators of color” in the event Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) needs to reduce staff.After the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) and MPS struck a deal on March 25 to end a 14-day teacher strike, the two sides drew up and ratified a new collective bargaining agreement complete with various proposals.
Why Solar Power Is Failing Amid Record-Breaking Heat Solar panels work optimally at around 25oC. (77 F) This summer brought record-breaking heat, with temperatures reaching as high as 40oC in the UK. (104 F) Solar panels become less efficient as temperatures rise.
Europe’s Newest Gas Pipeline Could Come Online Within 9 Months Another natural gas pipeline could soon become operational in Europe to connect Spain and France, and the new link could start operations in around nine months, according to Spain’s energy minister. “This new interconnection, this gas pipeline could be operating in about 8 or 9 months on the southern border side, that is, from the Pyrenean to Spain,”
“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?” —Thomas Jefferson (1781)
If not for double standards, Demos would have no standards.
Mark Alexander
On the initial execution of the Biden/DoJ warrant at the Florida home of Donald Trump last week, ostensibly to recover classified materials that may not have been properly declassified, I noted, “If this raid was based only on a warrant for National Archive material, then it will serve as another hit to the FBI’s widening credibility gap with the public.” That would be a credibility gap with FBI leadership, not rank-and-file agents, who are now the lightning rod for corrupt leadership.
Predictably, it turns out the warrant was to recover National Archive material that may not have been properly declassified, and the language was very broad, specifying, “All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation” of federal statutes related to records, and, “Any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021.” I would note this language, and the references to Espionage Act violations, which lit the Leftmedia’s hair on fire, is all boilerplate language included in such warrants.
A review of the inventory removed from Trump’s home included 11 sets of classified documents. I suspect the media talkingheads and scribes will have much more to churn in the coming weeks from strategic “leaks” about the documents designed to, déjà vu, imply Trump was a Vladimir Putin operative all along.
As for Team Biden’s claims that neither he nor his staff were notified in advance about the raid, McCarthy notes: “I can think of a million things they might have done short of a search warrant. But I can’t think of a single scenario in which, if the facts are as government sources claim they are, Biden would not have been in the loop.” Of course, Joe and the “smartest guy” he knows, Hunter Biden, are on vacation this week at a wealthy retreat island in South Carolina, so don’t expect to hear from him.
Clearly, Biden’s AG Merrick Garland has boldly weaponized the Department of Justice.
According to Trump: “Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request… ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK. The bigger problem is, what are they going to do with the 33 million pages of documents, many of which are classified, that President Obama took to Chicago?”
There are likely legitimate questions about proper declassification of those docs, and reports that negotiations for the return of the materials had stalled.
Trump asks a good question about Barack Obama’s presidential papers. But a much more relevant question pertaining to any prosecutable offenses would be one of double standards.
Recall all the classified “Top Secret” information Hillary Clinton transmitted on her personal email accounts and maintained on servers hidden in her residential closet, which she had her staff “wipe” ahead of the 2016 election to hide her communications from any future public scrutiny. I covered those actions in detail in “Clinton’s Secret Communication Subterfuge.”
Recall also that in July 2016, ahead of the presidential election, then-FBI Director Comey reopened the FBI investigation into Clinton’s coms, then took the unusual step of exonerating Clinton from any prosecutable offense under 18 U.S. Code § 793 in a public statement. He did so despite the fact he knew then that Clinton’s unsecured coms and servers had been compromised by foreign intelligence hackers — likely Russian.
According to Comey, Clinton set up and used “several different [private] servers and administrators of those servers during her four years at the State Department, and used numerous mobile devices to view and send e-mail on that personal domain.”
But here is the key to Comey’s justification for exonerating Clinton: He also said that “any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.”
Let’s be clear: Maintaining hard copies of some documents in a secured area of a former president’s house, which is protected by the Secret Service among other law enforcement security personnel, is a minuscule national security risk compared to transmitting and storing highly classified information electronically in an unsecured residence.
Of course, any objective observer knew that Comey’s higher loyalty was to Clinton’s campaign. Further, Comey then provided the layup for the fake “Russian collusion” investigation of Trump, which took three years to totally debunk by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — but the intended damage to Trump’s agenda was done.
As for the Biden/Demo ulterior motive for the raid?
As I have stated previously, whoever the Demo presidential nominee will be in 2024 (and I assert again it will not be Biden), Democrats absolutely want Trump to run again. Despite their “Br’er Rabbit” strategy of insisting they don’t want Trump to run, they are in fact baiting him to do so, certain they can win on the hate and division they can foment against a Trump candidacy — as they did in 2020.
Kabul fell to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, and it’s been downhill ever since.
Nate Jackson
One year ago today, Kabul fell to the Taliban. The loss of the capital of Afghanistan to the very enemies Americans spent untold blood and treasure to defeat was incredibly demoralizing and disastrous, even if few people could articulate why American troops should remain on the ground there. Losing Afghanistan was a blow to U.S. national security and credibility, and the blame for that shameful surrender and retreat, as well as the fallout of the last year, lands on the desk of Joe Biden.
As Biden’s former boss, Barack Obama, so artfully put it, “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*** things up.”
Today, we can clearly see that predictions have come true. The Taliban is brutally oppressing the Afghan people once again. Al-Qaida jihadis are back in their old safe haven, even if Biden did approve a strike that killed al-Qaida cofounder and leader Ayman al-Zawahiri earlier this month — no doubt timed to offset the political damage he knew was coming.
That strike, however, is also a grim reminder that after 13 U.S. service members and nearly 170 Afghans were killed in a terrorist attack during the withdrawal because Team Biden relied on the Taliban for security, all Biden did in retaliation was kill a civilian aid worker and a bunch of children.
The evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies was likewise riddled with incompetence and horror stories. According to The Washington Times, a new GOP report even reveals that “first lady Jill Biden’s office went outside the normal channels and begged veterans groups to help find a way to evacuate people having trouble navigating the process.” That speaks volumes.
The GOP report recounts numerous instances in which Biden misled or straight-up lied about the effects of his withdrawal.
It wasn’t just people left behind but billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment — equipment the Taliban used in a victory parade. It was al-Qaida and Taliban members imprisoned by the U.S. and released by the re-empowered Taliban.
Since then, “Afghanistan has quickly become a humanitarian tragedy, first and foremost for the Afghan people,” says Jeff Smith of The Heritage Foundation. “This was entirely predictable, despite the Taliban’s repeated pledges to form an inclusive government that would respect the rights of minorities and women.”
“Many of us, myself included,” Smith added, “were very concerned that as soon as the Taliban seized power, Afghanistan would again become a safe haven for international terrorist groups, including al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, which is a particularly dangerous and bloodthirsty faction of the Taliban, and one that was responsible for several high-profile attacks on the United States and its personnel in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.”
As Smith noted, the Afghan people (especially women) are suffering. According to a report from Amnesty International — not exactly a bastion of conservative thought — the Taliban built “a system of repression that discriminates against women and girls in almost every aspect of their lives,” and this “suffocating crackdown against Afghanistan’s female population is increasing day by day.” Joe Biden is responsible for allowing it to happen.
The Afghanistan economy, corrupt and ineffective as it was, has collapsed and the nation was thrown right back into the seventh century. The UN says roughly half the population is “experiencing high and critical levels of acute food insecurity.” Joe Biden is responsible for allowing it to happen.
Team Biden doesn’t admit that, of course, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken did acknowledge that the situation is far worse than before. “Since the Taliban took over a year ago, they’ve reversed a great deal of the openness and progress that had been made over the previous decades,” Blinken said. “They’ve silenced civil society and journalists. In March, they banned independent international media like Voice of America and BBC from airing in Afghanistan. They continue to intimidate and censor Afghan media outlets.” So, basically, it’s like the American Leftmedia’s chokehold on free speech. Blinken added, “They stifled the free practice of religion for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.” He added: “Perhaps most notably, they failed to respect the human rights of women and girls. … Under the Taliban, women and girls have largely been erased from public life.”
There are efforts afoot to pin the blame for this debacle on Donald Trump for the deal he struck with the Taliban. Biden certainly acted as if he were bound by that deal — strangely the only thing Trump did that supposedly bound Biden. We had our issues with Trump’s deal, but anybody who’s got one lick of sense should know that there’s no way the former president would have allowed events to proceed as Biden did.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates once said that Biden had been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Nowhere is that more painfully obvious than the disaster he caused in Afghanistan.
The world’s most notable champion of free speech was nearly assassinated on Friday in New York.
Douglas Andrews
Let’s start with a backhanded compliment to our friends on the Left: When they’re hell-bent on silencing speech they don’t like, they tend to merely shame or censor it rather than try to stab the life out of it. And that’s the big difference between a 24-year-old assailant from New Jersey and the speech suppressors in Big Tech, Big Media, and the Democrat Party.
The knifeman (to borrow the Left’s formulation for guns), though, appears to have failed in his attempt to assassinate award-winning author and alleged blasphemer of Islam Salman Rushdie on Friday, but not for lack of effort. Rushdie, who’s long been the world’s most recognizable advocate of free speech and free expression, has been a marked man ever since the publication of his book The Satanic Verses in 1988. Indeed, a year after the novel’s release, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwah calling for Rushdie’s death — a fatwah that has never been lifted. His assailant is not Iranian but is reportedly “sympathetic to the Iranian government” and to “Shia extremism more broadly.” That’s how the borderless Jihadistan works.
Meanwhile, just last week, the Justice Department announced charges against Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for allegedly offering $300,000 to hire someone to murder former National Security Advisor John Bolton and another $1 million for a future “job,” which is believed to be a hit on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
It’s hard to know how this Iran-caused mayhem will affect Joe Biden’s efforts to restore that disastrous Iran nuke deal from the Obama era. But the Iranians are clearly paying attention. “Iran denied any involvement Monday in last week’s attack,” reports The Washington Post. “In its first public reaction to the stabbing, Iran said Rushdie and his supporters were to blame for the attack, more than three decades after Tehran issued a directive for Muslims to kill Rushdie because of … ‘The Satanic Verses.’”
Why the fuss over a work of fiction? Some Muslims believed Rushdie “insulted the Prophet Muhammad by naming a character Mahound, a medieval corruption of ‘Muhammad,’” as the AP reports. “Another sequence includes prostitutes that share names with some of Muhammad’s nine wives. The novel also implies that Muhammad, not Allah, may have been the Quran’s real author.”
Needless to say, religious tolerance isn’t a towering strength of radical Islam. Accordingly, one Iranian religious institution put a $2.8 million bounty on Rushdie’s head — a bounty that it increased to $3.3 million in 2012. We should recall, too, how deadly this fatwah has been, even if it hasn’t yet claimed Rushdie. As the Spectator’s Alexander Larman writes: “[The fatwah] began a tidal wave of violence that included Rushdie’s Japanese translator being murdered, his Italian translator being seriously injured and his Norwegian publisher being shot. There was even a massacre in Turkey, resulting in the deaths of 37 people, and the intended target, Rushdie’s translator Aziz Nesin, only escaped death because his would-be assailants were unable to recognize him.”
Ironically, Rushdie was at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York to speak on the topic of “the United States as a safe haven for exiled writers” when he was set upon by the assailant, who rushed the stage and stabbed him repeatedly before finally being subdued. It speaks poorly of the security posture there that an assailant was able to get to the author as easily as he did.
Rushdie was treated there on the blood-spattered stage before being airlifted to a hospital in nearby Jamestown. He was removed from a ventilator on Saturday and is now able to talk. Literary agent Andrew Wylie said that although Rushdie’s condition is “headed in the right direction,” the AP report notes that the 75-year-old author’s recovery “would be long” because he “suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and in an eye that he was likely to lose.”
We on the Right have very little in common with Rushdie, who, like most artists and literary personalities, is a committed liberal in every sense of the word. But our beliefs intersect in the most important area of all: free speech. And that makes Rushdie more of a classical liberal than the speech-suppressing progressives of today. “Though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humor remains intact,” said Rushdie’s son Zafar on behalf of the author’s family. The statement also expressed gratitude for the “audience members who bravely leapt to his defense,” as well as police, doctors, and “the outpouring of love and support.”
As the Spectator’s Larman concludes, the attack is “a salutary reminder that acts done out of extremism continue to plague the world, and that this latest high-profile outrage is both terrifying and deeply sad in what it portends.”
Now more than ever, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who support free speech, and those who attempt to suppress it. And that’s why Salman Rushdie matters.
Congress passes Biden’s tax-and-spend bill, government sneakily taking over health insurance, Baldwin did pull the trigger, and more.
Thomas Gallatin & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
House passes Biden’s tax-and-spend bill: On Friday, House Democrats passed Joe Biden’s tax-and-spend “green energy” boondoggle, deceitfully named the Inflation Reduction Act. The Senate passed the bill two weeks ago, thanks to Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (WV) doing an about-face and dropping his opposition to such spending and tax-raising during a recession. In the House, the bill also passed on strict party lines by a vote of 220-207. Biden will now sign the legislation, which includes $80 billion in new spending to nearly double the size of the Internal Revenue Service, raising the specter of increased tax audits against middle-class Americans. The expansion is expected to increase tax revenue by at least $20 billion from those earning less than $400,000 annually. Another aspect of this bill is the expanded EV tax credit, which pushes more Americans into purchasing more expensive electric vehicles with the promise of what effectively amounts to a tax break in name only.
Government sneakily taking over health insurance: According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the number of uninsured Americans hit an “all-time low” early this year. There are now fewer than 5.2 million uninsured, which HHS is celebrating as a milestone. But, ironically, this milestone has been reached while the cost of health insurance has increased. Since the pandemic, the number of Americans on Medicaid has increased by 24 million (or 34%). The total number of Americans now enrolled in Medicaid now exceeds 75 million. The question is, given that the U.S. unemployment rate has once again reached near-record lows, how are so many Americans still eligible for Medicaid? It all has to do with Joe Biden’s continued declaration of a public health emergency, which prevents people from being booted even though their income exceeds the qualification threshold. Furthermore, the Democrats expanded the ObamaCare exchange subsidies in March 2021, ensuring that millions more Americans would not be paying higher premiums. Meanwhile, since the start of the pandemic, Medicaid and ObamaCare spending has increased by roughly $230 billion, all on the taxpayers’ dime.
Baldwin did pull the trigger: An FBI investigation into the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the film “Rust” determined that the gun in question, a .45 Long Colt F.lli Pietta single action revolver, “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger,” contradicting Baldwin’s claims. In a news interview last year, Baldwin claimed that he pulled “the hammer as far back as I could without cocking” it and then “let go of the hammer [and] bang, the gun goes off.” He further asserted that “the trigger wasn’t pulled… I didn’t pull the trigger.” “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them,” Baldwin emphasized and then charged that “someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.” Thus far, no charges have been brought against anyone, though Baldwin and several members of the production crew are facing lawsuits. This latest finding certainly doesn’t help Baldwin.
Cartel mayhem in Mexico highlights the need for a secure border: Over the weekend in Tijuana, Mexico, mayhem erupted as a drug war between rival cartels spilled out into the street. Police assisted by hundreds of Mexican Army and National Guard troops sought to squelch the violence. With several vehicles set on fire amidst the violence, the U.S. ordered government employees at the consulate in Tijuana to shelter in place. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel had issued a warning: “Be ware. As of Friday at 10 p.m. through Sunday at 3 a.m. we’re going to create mass chaos so the [expletive] government frees our people. We’re the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, we don’t want to hurt good people but it’s best they don’t go outside, we’re going to attack anyone we see on the streets on these days.” The violence in the city that borders the U.S. once again served to underscore the need for maintaining a secure border.
Headlines
Trump under investigation for violating Espionage Act, search warrant reveals (Washington Times)
New twist in FBI raid: Trump had “standing order” to declassify documents taken to residence (Just the News)
Louisiana Supreme Court denies appeal challenging abortion ban (Fox News)
Arizona bucks Biden admin, begins filling in huge border wall gap on its own (Daily Wire)
Pompeo says China’s Xi senses “weakness” emanating from White House (Washington Times)
Biden admin launches federal investigation into Southern Baptist Convention (Daily Wire)
Inflation costing the average American $717 a month (Fox News)
Palestinian shooter wounds eight in Jerusalem attack (BBC)
Policy: Teachers unions, not parents, politicized U.S. schools (FEE)
Humor: AOC says it’s dumb for Republicans to call U.S. a Banana Republic since it’s more like a Forever 21 (Babylon Bee)
Satire: Jeffrey Toobin departing CNN to expose himself to new audiences (Babylon Bee)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.
Last week it was announced that the British Tavistock gender clinic — infamous for being the go-to facility in the UK for “gender-affirming” therapy and the largest of its sort in the world — was shutting its doors for good. The reasons given were that it wasn’t meeting medical standards of therapy and it was pressuring healthcare providers to only use gender affirmation instead of getting to the root of exactly how child patients were struggling.
Now, a lawsuit is being brought against the clinic. According to The Daily Caller, 1,000 families are suing the clinic for rushing their children into puberty blockers. They are rightfully claiming medical negligence. Puberty blockers — as much as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Richard “Rachel” Levine likes to claim otherwise — have long-term, irreversible side effects. “We are roughly 10 years into this large-scale experiment and already we have reports on issues with cognitive development, bone mineral density, and fertility,” said Irish psychotherapist Stella O’Malley. “All the up-to-date evidence shows that puberty blockers are neither safe nor reversible.”
The U.S. is not learning from what’s going on over in the UK. The Biden administration’s Department of Justice, Department of Education, and Department of Health and Human Services) are putting into place policies, “guidances,” and orders to dissuade healthcare providers, teachers, and parents from pursuing other options when it comes to gender identity issues. They have even manipulated the American Academy of Pediatrics into their cult-like adherence to gender ideology.
Pediatricians who have launched valid criticisms and protests against the pushing of puberty blockers and gender-affirmation therapy have largely been silenced. It has come to light that the AAP has changed/gotten rid of Resolution 27 — a proposal to conduct “rigorous systemic review” of the 2018 gender-affirming policy — and did not allow commentary about the changes. Pediatricians were outraged. Several declared that they don’t trust the AAP anymore, while others demanded a scientific and unbiased (i.e., non-political) review of the removed resolution.
The fact that the question of gender identity and gender dysphoria are considered a political weapon for politicians and regular citizens alike should prompt one to really consider why.
Why is the government pushing this gender ideology? There are several motives at play.
There is the financial motive: Getting children hooked on puberty blockers or giving them gender-affirming surgery essentially makes them lifelong dependents on the medical and pharmaceutical industries.
There is the privileged class motive: “Transgender” is under the LGBTQ+ umbrella and, as such, gender dysphoric individuals are oppressed. The current push by the radical Left capitalizes on people feeling victimized to further their narrative that the institutions are broken and systemically bad (ironically, the Left runs all the major institutions, but we digress).
There is the Marxist motive: This ideology is a very effective way to divide children from their families and make them dependent on the government.
Finally, there is the groomer motive: Some people want to justify their ideology by indoctrinating the next generation. Sadly, this one is the most devastating of all. Many of the individuals who are pushing this agenda the hardest are making the news for actually hurting children (sexual predator behavior).
Clearly, the UK clinic closure and the American pediatrician pushback are good signs. Perhaps it is not too late to turn the tide and protect our children by stopping this dangerous and medically bad ideology from ruining their lives.
“In some important ways, our speech has never been more highly regulated.”
Lewis Morris
We hear a lot about the lack of free speech on college campuses. And we’re likewise aware of brazen actions to silence public dissent generally. Nationally, we have arcane campaign finance laws that favor incumbents and make it increasingly difficult to challenge the status quo. But what about the states?
The Institute for Free Speech (IFS) recently released its Free Speech Index, which analyzes laws that restrict political speech in all 50 states. The index rates states based on 10 categories that include laws governing political committees, grassroots activity, electioneering, campaign law enforcement, and false statement laws.
Founded by election and campaign finance attorneys, IFS is an independent organization committed to protecting political speech rights. But judging by the findings in its report, it has its work cut out for it.
Going by the same scale as most schools, with a grade of 60% being the minimum needed to pass, only three of the 50 states did so according to the report: Wisconsin scored 86%, Michigan 77%, and Iowa 75%. Every other state received a failing grade. Three deep-blue states brought up the rear: Washington was at 22%, followed by Connecticut at 18%, and New York at a rock-bottom 15%.
With one of the most corrupt state legislatures in the country, New York earned its dubious distinction with heavy regulation of free speech around elections and unclear and seemingly arbitrary definitions of campaign expenditures.
We’re disappointed to report that there wasn’t a lot of daylight between Republican-led and Democrat-led states. Florida ranked 43rd for low-dollar spending thresholds that trigger registration rules. According to the report, 45 states “have statutes that are of questionable constitutionality and would not likely survive if challenged in court.”
Nineteen states have laws protecting against false political speech, which is of course determined by politicians and regulators with a vested interest in protecting incumbency. And despite the widespread legal acceptance of independent expenditure-only political committees commonly referred to as super PACs, 22 states still have unconstitutional laws that fail to recognize these groups.
“In some important ways, our speech has never been more highly regulated,” wrote IFS’s chairman and founder, Bradley A. Smith. “Though campaign speech is often portrayed as a ‘wild west’ with no rules, in fact, arcane campaign finance regulations govern the minutiae not only of almost every campaign, but of what ordinary citizens and the groups they belong to can say and how and when they can say it.”
The complex web of laws and regulations, which grew over the years either by design or incompetence, places a heavy burden on candidates who aren’t both well financed and thoroughly schooled in campaign finance law. Many of the laws the index identified are unconstitutional and could be successfully challenged in court, but few candidates or private citizens have the resources to mount such challenges.
IFS offers a section in the report on how states can improve. First and foremost among these tips is to follow the Constitution, which seems easier said than done these days. Prioritizing citizen privacy and speech is also key. And if we could add our own two cents, we’d encourage folks not to elect people to public office who don’t respect the Rule of Law.
Thomas Gallatin: Atheism Leads to Authoritarianism — Is atheism dead? Some conservatives may ask this question in earnest, but unfortunately the answer is “No.”
RNC: Bidenflation Isn’t Zero — After transitioning the economy from recovery into recession, Biden is still raising prices, supersizing the IRS, and lying about it.
“The choice facing the nation is between two totally different ways of life. And what a prize we have to fight for: no less than the chance to banish from our land the dark, divisive clouds of Marxist socialism and bring together men and women from all walks of life who share a belief in freedom.” —Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013)
Observations
“Like rest of media, I don’t know what was in documents taken from Mar-a-Lago on Monday or in June. But when you think about Trump and classified documents, it’s usually right to think that at the bottom of it all is the Trump-Russia investigation. Law enforcement and Intelligence Community used classification, secrecy against Trump in the long-running ‘collusion’ fiasco. Drove him nuts. He repeatedly ordered lots of documents to be declassified. Some were, some weren’t. If this is really a dispute over classified documents, look deep into the roots of it and you’ll probably see the Trump-Russia mess.” —Byron York
“Just to get this straight, we’re now supposed to believe that the material Trump had stored in his house was nuclear content so sensitive the FBI waited a year and a half to go get it and used the National Archives as a prop to do so?” —Ben Shapiro
Lack of Self-Awareness Award
“You would think there would be an adult in the Republican room that would say, ‘Just calm down; see what the facts are and let’s go for that,’ instead of instigating assaults on law enforcement.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Déjà Vu
“Let’s get this [Inflation Reduction Act] passed and then we’ll see how the mechanics and all of that’s going to work.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (“We have to pass [ObamaCare] so that you can find out what is in it.” —Nancy Pelosi, 2010)
Braying Jenny
“[The Inflation Reduction Act] is historic, it’s transformative, and it is really a cause for celebration. We’ll always put the people over politics, in stark contrast to [the] position of the Republicans with their extreme MAGA Republicans criminalizing women’s healthcare, planning to end Social Security and Medicare … and attacking democracy.” —Nancy Pelosi
“Mother Earth gets angry from time to time, and this legislation will help us to address all of that.” —Nancy Pelosi
Non Compos Mentis Award
“Inflation is like a theoretical word that economists use, but what families feel every day is the up or down of costs.” —Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
Veep Thoughts With Kamala
“It is critical that we work together to understand where we are, to recognize and have the courage to speak truth about what is obsolete, and then to partner to ensure that we are speaking the same language with the same motivation, inspired by the opportunity of it all, but then doing the work of updating how we have been talking and thinking about our exploration in space.” —Vice President Kamala Harris
“Equity as a concept says recognize that everyone has the same capacity, but in order for them to have equal opportunity to reach that capacity, well, we must pay attention to this issue of equity.” —Kamala Harris
His latest achievement is called “2000 Mules,” which was released back in May.
Critiques like the New York Times accuse “2000 Mules” of simply “repackaging … Trump’s election lies.” But that is an unfair oversimplification and accusation. Dinesh is a much greater intellectual than to produce a documentary in such regurgitating terms.
What Dinesh did in “2000 Mules” was to examine the evidence for voter fraud in the 2020 election by tracking digital device location data of “mules,” or individuals who stuffed voter drop boxes with stacks of completed ballots, especially in swing states.
Before you criticize the premise as impossible, or believe someone else’s conclusions (even mine), you should watch the documentary (available online) and examine the evidence for yourself. It contains digital, telecommunication and video evidence of ballot box stuffing occurring by the same individual in multiples areas. As I’ll share in a moment, this all makes a huge difference because modern elections are now determined by drop-box and mailed ballots.
Again, though Dinesh’s liberal critics have accused him of having “too many gaps” in his evidence, I would say to them that his evidence between the alleged “gaps” is sufficient to make a case for examination. Any fraud is too much fraud, whether it was enough to sway the election or not.
That is exactly what led a group of sheriffs across the country to question federal election integrity.
Joshua Philipp, an award-winning investigative reporter with The Epoch Times and host of EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program, reported in July how in one episode:
We speak with Richard Mack, former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, and founder of CSPOA. He explains how sheriffs have begun their investigations, the laws separating the federal government from local law enforcement, and the importance of investigating election fraud.
If the federal government will not launch an investigation into mail ballot election fraud as they have on the Jan. 6 Capitol protests, then my wife, Gena, and I are in full support of these sheriffs and encourage other law enforcement across the land to join them.
You can believe or disbelieve in 2020 election fraud; that is your American right. However, the question is: Is it possible that it really occurred in some way, shape, or form? Whether fraud contributed to the win or loss of your favorite candidate’s election is secondary compared to whether or not any form of corruption occurred in the national election.
When 16 of the largest and most influential states don’t even require identification verification when one votes (California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.!), are we really that naïve to think “identity theft” (or forging votes) doesn’t occur with ballots?
When a couple dozen other states just “request” and not “require” some form of official identification to vote, do we not think corrupt forms of “people proxy voting” occur, especially when so much is on the line with presidential elections?
When the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) published an official report based upon solid evidence that “tens of thousands of cases of possible voter fraud” occurred (including ID theft and dead people voting), shouldn’t our representatives seek election reform that at very least minimizes cheating?
For example, the PILF discovered errors in elections dating back to the 2016 presidential election:
349,773 potentially deceased voting registrants across 41 states; Michigan, Florida, New York, Texas and California account for roughly 51% of national dead registrants.
43,760 likely duplicate registrants appear to have cast second votes in 2016 from the same address.
37,889 likely duplicate registrants appear to have cast second votes in 2018 from the same address. Thousands of these apparent double votes were exclusively mail ballots.
8,360 – number of registrants apparently registered in two states and credited for voting in both states in 2018.
5,500 – number of apparently duplicate registrants credited for voting twice in the same state from two different addresses in 2018.
34,000 – number of registrants credited for voting from apparently non-residential addresses in 2018.
This kind of data is why the Heritage Foundation concluded, “The threat of vote fraud is real – and it could make a difference in a close election.” Like 2024?
Election investigation is warranted right now based simply on the fact that Joe Biden received 13 million more votes in 2020 than mega-popular Barack Obama did in 2008, when Obama set a record of votes for any presidential election before and despite Biden is the most unpopular presidential candidate and leader since the founding of our republic.
Is it plausible that the least-popular candidate in history (Biden) could beat one of the most-popular incumbent presidents (Trump) by a record-breaking 7 million votes: Biden with 81,282,916 votes compared to Trump with 74,223,369? Is it also plausible during a global pandemic that there would suddenly be an overall 7% increase in voter turnout across the country in 2020 compared to 2016?
Bottom line: Is the extensive suspicion of election fraud (held by more than 40% of Americans) really far-fetched? Are sheriffs across the country wrong for investigating voter fraud now? Absolutely not.
Gena and I thank, congratulate and commend Dinesh D’Souza in being willing to stand up for the truth, especially in the face of his own personal sacrifices and risks.
You can like or dislike Dinesh or his documentaries, or even call him jaded and a demon, but you can’t deny the core of his facts, and the right that Americans have to know the truth.
As our second president, John Adams, said, the people “have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge – I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers.”
(Again, please watch ASAP the “2000 mules” documentary – available online – and examine the evidence for yourself.)
LESS THAN A WEEK AFTER ISRAEL CONCLUDED ITS OPERATION BREAKING DAWN AGAINST THE PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD IN THE GAZA STRIP. AN ARAB-ISRAELI OPENED FIRE ON A BUS NEAR JERUSALEM’S OLD CITY WOUNDING EIGHT, INCLUDING FIVE AMERICANS. WHERE A MAJOR FIRE AT A CHURCH KILLED 41 PEOPLE INCLUDING AT LEAST 15 CHILDREN…IT INJURED 16 OTHERS. DEMOCRATS ARE CALLING ON INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS TO BRIEF LAWMAKERS ON THE NATIONAL SECURITY IMPLICATIONS OF THE DOCUMENTS SEIZED FROM DONALD TRUMP’S MAR A LAGO ESTATE. FOUR MAJOR MEAT PACKERS CONTROL 85 PERCENT OF ALL MEAT PACKING IN AMERICA AND TWO OF THOSE ARE IN BRAZIL. THAT’S A PROBLEM FOR CATTLE RANCHERS IN THE U.S. AND A POTENTIAL THREAT TO OUR FOOD SUPPLY AND NATIONAL SECURITY. A TEXAS COMPTROLLER IS INVESTIGATING A GRAPHIC DRAG SHOW TARGETING KIDS. A TEENAGER RIDING HIS BIKE HIT HEAD ON BY A TRAIN IN NEW ZEALAND MEETS THE DRIVER ONE YEAR LATER. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PITCHER LUKE WEAVER WHO WAS RECENTLY TRADED TO THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS WILL GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW OFF HIS FAITH-INSPIRED “BIBLE GLOVE” TO HIS NEW FANS.
This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
PART I (9:27 – 9:27) Decades of Fatwa and Last Week’s Attack on Author Salman Rushdie: Theology, Honor Religion, and the Headlines
PART II (16:26 – 16:26) ‘Intellectual Improvement Should Lead to Moral Improvement’: The Significance of the The Chautauqua Institution and Its Movement
PART III (22:46 – 22:46) Where Has News Reporting Gone?: Study Shows CNN and MSNBC Make Big Move Left Since 2016
Quadruple vaxxed Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla announced he tested positive for Covid on Monday.
And of course he thanked his own vaccine.
Bourla also said he started a course of Paxlovid.
“I would like to let you know that I have tested positive for #COVID19. I am thankful to have received four doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and I am feeling well while experiencing very mild symptoms. I am isolating and have started a course of Paxlovid.” Bourla said.
I would like to let you know that I have tested positive for #COVID19. I am thankful to have received four doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and I am feeling well while experiencing very mild symptoms. I am isolating and have started a course of Paxlovid.
Albert Bourla said he’s confident he will have a speedy recovery.
We have come so far in our efforts to battle this disease that I am confident I will have a speedy recovery. I am incredibly grateful for the tireless efforts of my Pfizer colleagues who worked to make vaccines and treatments available for me and people around the world.
Recall, just one year ago Albert Bourla claimed his Pfizer vaccine was 100% effective in preventing Covid in cases in South Africa.
“Excited to share that updated analysis from our Phase 3 study with BioNTech also showed that our COVID-19 vaccine was 100% effective in preventing #COVID19 cases in South Africa. 100%!” the Pfizer CEO said in April 2021.
Excited to share that updated analysis from our Phase 3 study with BioNTech also showed that our COVID-19 vaccine was 100% effective in preventing #COVID19 cases in South Africa. 100%! https://t.co/E2ksTJSopU
This is the same guy who said people who dare ‘spread misinformation’ about Covid vaccines are “criminals.”
Bourla said people who circulate misinformation about Covid jabs and dare speak ill of his product are “criminals.”
“Those people are criminals,” Bourla told Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe on Tuesday. “They’re not bad people. They’re criminals because they have literally cost millions of lives.”
“Over the past couple of weeks, #LGBTdroptheT has trended on Twitter as members of the gay community are finally speaking out.”
(Matt Margolis – PJ Media) The transgender cult has been targeting our children for some time now, and as long as this has been going on, many of us have been wondering why more people in the gay community weren’t speaking out about these dangerous grooming practices. Drag queen readings, transgender closets in schools, graphic sex ed, gender transitions for little children… you don’t have to be heterosexual to see these are dangerous.
The transgender movement doesn’t just harm kids; it harms society as a whole, particularly women. The erasure of biological sex robs women of opportunities as biological males are allowed to compete against them in sports, despite their physical and biological advantages. It also robs women and girls of their privacy and dignity as men are increasingly given the okay to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms. View article →
TODAY’S GUEST isJan Markell, president of Olive Tree Views and host of Understanding the Times (UTT) radio. Jan has written many books, produced DVDs, and incorporated Olive Tree Ministries in 1982. We are blessed to partner with her ministry as we, too support Israel, Bible prophecy-oriented churches, and strive to help you understand the times as we contend for the faith.
We address the state of the American church and theologies to avoid; discuss signs of the times including an emboldened and demonic government, agendas of the WEC and global elites, takeaways from Jan’s recent conferences and UTT guests, and how the left seems to be pulling out all the stops – openly pushing godless, anti-American agendas.
The August 8 raid on Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence didn’t respond to a crime.
The Biden regime and undemocratic Dems searched for criminality by inventing one to prevent Trump from seeking reelection in 2024.
Planned and executed in breach of the rule of law, it’s how all police states operate — by their own rules extrajudicially.
What the Biden regime calls its “rules-based order” on all things domestic and geopolitical, flagrantly breaches international and US constitutional law.
The Mar-A-Lago raid is one among countless regularly occurring examples.
According to Judicial Watch president, Tom Fitton:
The FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago was a “wild abuse of power.”
He believes that dubiously charging Trump with violating the long ago outdated 1917 Espionage Act won’t hold up in judicial proceedings.
Citing an unnamed National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) attorney, “presidential possession (of government documents) presumptively makes (them declassified and) personal.”
Trump isn’t the first former US president to have government documents and related materials in his possession after leaving office.
Obama did the same thing. So did Clinton.
He reportedly kept recorded conversations with other world leaders after leaving the White House in January 2001.
And this from Fitton:
Biden regime AG, Garland, has until 5PM Monday EDT to explain in court his alleged justification for the Mar-A-Lago raid and what materials were seized.
What was taken was declassified.
The raid was “a scam…feds…looking for (nonexistent) classified material.”
Trump justifiably wants what was taken returned.
Fitton added the following:
“My guess is the FBI will have all kinds of (bogus) excuses for not behaving like a normal law enforcement operation.”
“In this case, (it) involved (a) former (US) president,” an unprecedented action in the republic’s history.
“The raid should have never happened. It was a political raid. No legitimate justification for it” existed.
What happened was planned well in advance by various Biden regime hardliners, not Garland alone.
On Saturday, White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, turned reality on its head by the following Big Lie, saying:
“No one at the White House was given a heads-up” on the raid (sic), falsely adding:
Federal agents found “top secret” (and) “sensitive compartmented information” materials at Trump’s Florida home (sic).
As a previous article explained, everything in his possession was declassified.
There was no breach of the Espionage Act or any other US law.
According to a YouGov August 9 – 12 poll, 56% of respondents called US government agencies untrustworthy or very untrustworthy.
Only one-third (33%) expressed trust in these agencies.
Commenting on Garland’s defiance of reality claim that the DOJ would have been less intrusive if possible, Law Professor Jonathan Turley said the following:
Options other than a (police state) raid “were not just possible but obvious, including use of a second subpoena.”
“(E)ven if a raid was necessary, it is not clear why the DOJ would descend upon Mar-a-Lago with such a massive show of force rather than send a few agents over with the warrant.”
And if the Justice Department and FBI “believed that there was nuclear-related information in the resort, it certainly did not seem to move with dispatch.”
“The last communication, according to the Trump team, was in June.”
“Even after securing a warrant, there was reportedly a delay in executing” it — a clear show of non-urgency.
And if the Biden regime believed that Trump had nuclear and/or other top secret material in his possession that he failed to declassify, why didn’t the White House or DOJ simply request its return.
Turley also explained that federal agents unjustifiably seized boxes with “attorney-client privileged and potentially executive privileged material” last Monday, adding:
Claiming to be “seeking potential national security information, critics alleged that the real purpose was to gather evidence that could be used against Trump in a prosecution over his (nonexistent) role in” what happened on January 6, 2021.
Pre-planned events of the day were staged by undemocratic Dems to assure that their usurpation of power would stick.
There’s just cause to hold Trump accountable for many domestic and geopolitical actions during his time in office.
A pre-planned and orchestrated January 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill by Dems — with likely CIA involvement — wasn’t one of them.
Turley noted the DOJ’s “deeply disturbing…history of…misleading or lying to courts in prior Trump-related investigations” — as well as in countless other instances.
The FBI notoriously operates in Gestapo-like fashion — proved time again by its flagrant abuses of power.
The agency colluded with the DNC and Hillary to try framing Trump for what he had nothing to do with.
At the same time, former FBI director, Comey, whitewashed Hillary’s criminality, failing to hold her accountable – serious wrongdoing enough to send ordinary people to prison with stiff sentences.
Ordinary Americans are held to one standard, privileged ones another.
So-called US justice is whatever powerful figures want it to be. Rule of law principles don’t matter.
DOJ inspector general, Michael Horowitz, earlier found evidence of FBI “willingness” to damage Trump’s presidential campaign when James Comey served as director.
In response at the time, JW’s Fitton said that clear evidence found by Horowitz “destroyed the credibility of the Department of Justice and the FBI.”
Their police state raid on Trump’s Florida residence is the latest example of how they extrajudicially abuse power with impunity.
A Final Comment
Senator Rand Paul tweeted the following:
“The espionage act was abused from the beginning to jail (legitimate) dissenters of WWI.”
“It is long past time to repeal this egregious affront to the 1st Amendment.”
Former college professor and Princeton University president, then US president, Woodrow Wilson, signed the infamous 1917 Espionage Act into law — what he should have condemned and rejected instead.
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