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
TED Talks have taken the world by storm, with experts doling out facts and knowledge on a plethora of subjects. But what would it look like if Jesus were to give one of these informative speeches today?
That’s a question that fascinated Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, as he pondered what it would look like to hear Christ deliver one of these 18-minute speeches.
“I thought to myself, ‘If Jesus were to come back today and give a TED talk, what would He talk about?’ And then it hit me: we already have His TED Talk. It’s called the Sermon on the Mount.”
Jeffress said readers could consume the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount in 18 minutes but, despite its brevity, Jesus’ talk contains so many essential elements to the human experience.
“Though it’s brief, it touches on the subjects we care about most,” he said. “Straight talk from the Savior about your money, about your sex life, about prayer, about your eternal destiny, about how to deal with your enemies.”
Listen to Jeffress break down the importance of the Sermon on the Mount:
Despite the notoriety of the Sermon on the Mount, Jeffress said he believes many people don’t fully grasp the power and pertinence of Christ’s message.
“I’m going to make a confession to you: I’ve preached for over 40 years and I have never, until recently, preached a series on the Sermon on the Mount. Because one reason: I thought it would be boring,” he said. “The trap I had fallen into came from my seminary training. I was told in seminary that the Sermon on the Mount has no application for today. It’s the constitution for the Millennial Kingdom. It’s how we’re going to behave in the Millennium or how we’re to behave in heaven.”
But Jeffress said he came to understand how Christ’s words were timeless and also apply to the world we live in today.
“I came to understand the Sermon on the Mount isn’t just for the hereafter; it’s for the here and now,” he said. “It’s a radical way of living, yet people who live according to this plan can have unshakable joy in this life, and unending happiness in the next life.”
Jeffress said people’s quality of life would improve if they follow Christ’s advice in the Sermon on the Mount — something that’s desperately needed in our chaotic culture.
In describing what happened in Jonathan Edward’s Northampton, Mass., church in 1734, observers said, “It pleased God ..to display his free and sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time, turning them from a formal, cold and careless profession of Christianity, to the lively exercise of every Christian grace, and the powerful practice of our holy religion.” [1] That’s about as clear a definition as we’ll ever get! During a spiritual revival, God supernaturally transforms believers and nonbelievers in a church, locale, region, nation or the world through sudden, intense enthusiasm for Christianity.2 People sense the presence of God powerfully; conviction, despair, contrition, repentance and prayer come easily; people thirst for God’s word; many authentic conversions occur and backsliders are renewed.
Revival and awakening are, generally, synonyms. The larger the geography a revival covers, the greater the tendency to call it an awakening.
America has a deep, rich history of revivals and awakenings.
Spiritual Revival in America: A Well-Travelled Road
The Great Awakening, 1734-43. In December 1734, the first revival of historic significance broke out in Northampton, Mass., where a young Jonathan Edwards was pastor. After months of fruitless labor, he reported five or six people converted—one a young woman. He wrote, “[She] had been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town.”3 He feared her conversion would douse the flame, but quite the opposite took place. Three hundred souls converted in six months—in a town of only 1,100 people!4 The news spread like wildfire, and similar revivals broke out in over 100 towns.5 Starting in Philadelphia in 1739, George Whitfield’s dramatic preaching was like striking a match to the already-underway awakening. An estimated 80 percent of America’s 900,000 Colonists personally heard Whitfield preach.6,7 He became America’s first celebrity.8
The Second Great Awakening, 1800-1840. In 1800, only one in 15 of America’s population of 5,300,000 belonged to an evangelical church.9 Presbyterian minister James McGready presided over strange spiritual manifestations in Logan County, Ky. The resulting camp meeting revivals drew thousands from as far away as Ohio.10,11 Rev. Gardiner Spring reported that for the next 25 years not a single month passed without news of a revival somewhere.12 In 1824, Charles Finney began a career that would eventually convert 500,000 to Christ. An unparalleled 100,000 were converted in Rochester, N.Y., in 1831 alone—causing the revival to spread to 1,500 towns.13 By 1850 the nation’s population exploded fourfold to 23,000,000 people, but those connected to evangelical churches grew nearly tenfold from 7 percent to 13 percent of the population—from 350,000 to 3,000,000 church members!14
The Businessmen’s Revival of 1857-1858. In 1857, the North Dutch Church in New York City hired a businessman, Jeremiah Lanphier, to be a lay missionary. He prayed, “Lord, what would you have me do?” Concerned by the anxious faces of businessmen on the streets of New York City, Lanphier decided to open the church at noon so businessmen could pray. The first meeting was set for September 23—three weeks before the Bank Panic of 1857. Six attended the first week, 20 the next, then 40, then they switched to daily meetings. Before long all the space was taken, and other churches also began to open up for businessmen’s prayer meetings.15 Revivals broke out everywhere in 1857, spreading throughout the United States and world. Sometimes called The Great Prayer Meeting Revival, an estimated 1,000,000 people were added to America’s church rolls, and as many as 1,000,000 of the 4,000,000 existing church members also converted.16
The Civil War Revival, 1861-1865. The bitter dispute over slavery thrust our nation into the deadliest war we’ve ever experienced. By the end, 620,000 Americans lay dead—one out of every 50 of the 31,000,000 people counted in the 1860 census. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, it seemed as though the soldiers for both sides had left their Christianity at home and gone morally berserk. By 1862, the tide turned, first among the Confederate forces. An estimated 300,000 soldiers were converted, evenly divided between the Southern and Northern Armies. 17,18
The Urban Revivals, 1875-1885. Young businessman Dwight L. Moody participated in the Great Revival of 1857 as it swept Chicago.19 Moody later conducted revivals throughout the British Isles where he spoke to more than 2,500,000 people. In 1875, Moody returned home and began revivals in America’s biggest cities. Hundreds of thousands were converted and millions were inspired by the greatest soul winner of his generation.20 At this time, the general worldview of Americans was shifting away from a Christian consensus. Darwinism and higher criticism were gaining traction, and Moody became the first evangelist to come under attack—accused of making religion the opiate of the masses.21
By the turn of the 20th century, the mood of the country was changing. Outside the church, it was the era of radio, movies and the “Jazz Age.” World War I led to a moral letdown and the Roaring Twenties. When that era came to an abrupt end on October 29, 1929, followed by the Great Depression, there was surprisingly little interest in spiritual revival.22 Inside the church, a half-century long battle raged between evangelicalism and theological liberalism, which had penetrated major denominations.23 The effect was that 20th-century revivals were more limited in scope, and lacked the broad impact on society of earlier awakenings.24
The Revivals of 1905-1906. Word of the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905 spread to Welsh-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania in late 1904 and revival broke out. By 1905, local revivals blazed in places like Brooklyn, Michigan, Denver, Schenectady, Nebraska, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Taylor University, Yale University, and Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky.25 Billy Sunday, who became a key figure about this time, preached to more than 100,000,000 people with an estimated 1,000,000 or more conversions.26
The Azusa Street Revival, 1906. In 1906, William J. Seymour, an African-American Holiness pastor blind in one eye, went to Los Angeles to candidate for a pastoral job. But after he preached, he was locked out of the second service! He began prayer meetings in a nearby home and the Spirit of God, which they called “the second blessing,” fell after many months of concerted prayer. Eventually, the interracial crowds became so large they acquired a dilapidated Methodist church at 312 Azusa Street where daily meetings continued for three years. The resulting Pentecostal Movement and the later Charismatic Movement, which both exploded worldwide in the 20th century, both trace their roots to this revival. [27,28,29]
The Post-World War II Awakening. After World War II, in 1947 and 1948, Pentecostals experienced two strands of an awakening, one the Latter Rain Revival and the other the Healing Revival. Large numbers of evangelicals also experienced revival resulting in many conversions. It was at this time that a great generation of Christian leaders emerged. Bill Bright began Campus Crusade for Christ. In 1949, Billy Graham’s distinguished career, which popularized evangelical Christianity for a new generation, exploded on the scene during his Los Angeles crusade sponsored by the Christian Businessmen’s Committee.30,31 An estimated 180,000,000 people attended his nearly 400 crusades, and millions more viewed on television.32 College Revivals started as early as 1946, but when the prayer-based Wheaton College Revivalof 1950 achieved national publicity, it sparked other college revivals throughout America.33
The Charismatic Renewal and Jesus Movement. During the late 1960s and early 1970s more revivals of national scope developed. The first strand was the Charismatic Renewal, which spread far beyond Pentecostal and Holiness churches to college campuses, the Catholic Church and mainline denominations.34 The second strand, the widely publicized Jesus Movement, emphasized turning from drugs, sex and radical politics to taking the Bible at face value and finding Jesus Christ as personal Savior.35 Not surprisingly, this revival spread to college campuses, most notably the 1970 Asbury CollegeRevival in Wilmore, Ky. Within a week the revival had spread throughout the entire country.36 In 1976 America elected a born-again president, and evangelicalism has continued to prosper from then to now.
The Mid-1990s Revivals. Despite the widespread secularization of society since the Cultural Revolution that began in the late 1960s, in the mid-1990s God once again brought a series of revivals, mostly to Charismatic and Pentecostal groups. In 1994 it was The Toronto Blessing, and 1995 ushered in the Melbourne Revival on Florida’s Space Coast, the Modesto Revival, and the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Fla., which recorded 100,000 conversions in two years.37 College Revivals swept across America, starting at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, under the preaching of Henry Blackaby, a Southern Baptist.38
The Promise Keepers Revival, the most publicized of the mid-1990s Revivals, began in 1991 when 4,200 men descended on the University of Colorado to be challenged to live up to their faith. In 1993, 50,000 men assembled from every state and 16 nations. In the following years, stadium events were conducted in cities throughout the United States. A spirit of revival and transformation swept across America as millions of men attended. The revival reached its zenith on October 4, 1997, as 1,000,000 or more men gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. By the close of 2000, Promise Keepers reported 5,000,000 had attended 100 conferences. An additional 1,000,000 men have been impacted since.39
10 Characteristics of Spiritual Revival
Each revivalor awakening leaves its own heat signature; in 1740 youth led the way, in 1857 businessmen and prayer took center stage, and the 1906 Azusa Street revival was decidedly interracial. Yet all share common themes. What are the most frequently mentioned characteristics of revivals and awakenings in literature?
1. TIMING: Revivals emerge during times of spiritual and moral decline, which leads to intense prayer.40
2. PRAYER: God puts a longing into the hearts of many to pray for revival.41
3. THE WORD: The preaching or reading of God’s Word brings deep conviction and desire for Christ.42
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit takes people to a spiritual depth they could not achieve on their own.43
5. CONVICTION: Affected sinners are inconsolable except in Christ.
6. GLORY FOR GOD: God receives praise, honor and glory for bringing revival.
7. REFORMATION AND RENEWAL: Revival produces lasting fruit. New ministries are founded and society experiences a reform of morals as more and more people convert.44,45,46
8. MANIFESTATIONS: Manifestations like fainting, groaning prayer and miracles vary by culture and denomination.47
9. MESSY: Revivals are messy—controversies swirl about miracles, abuses, excesses, suspicions and theological disputes (to name but a few).48
10. CYCLICAL: Revivals inevitably crest and decline.49,50
Is America Ripe for Spiritual Revival Today?
A majority of Americans believe our country is going downhill. Yet church attendance as a percent of population has held steady since 1990, and probably since 1940.51 America added 50,000 new churches in the last 20 years of the 20th century to total 350,000.52 The number of born-again Christians has grown steadily to 46 percent of adults today.53 Given the state of moral and spiritual decay, how is that possible?
The answer is simple. Today, Christianity is prevalent but not powerful. The solution is spiritual revival and awakening.
We’ve not had an awakening in America of historic proportion for a long time. With such a great tradition of revival and awakening, a great base from which to start, and a great need to counteract the increasing moral and spiritual decline, our nation appears ripe for a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit.
But history tells us that national revivals and awakenings cannot be manufactured. They are sovereign acts of mercy and grace by God Himself, when He supernaturally achieves in a short span what seems otherwise impossible. However, God loves to respond to the prayers of His people (e.g., 2 Chronicles 7:14).
While the decision belongs to God alone, He gives us the privilege of hastening the day through humble repentant prayer. Let us pray…
1 Jonathan Edwards, “A Narrative of Surprising Conversions,” Jonathan Edwards on Revival, Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, first published in 1736, p. 2.
2 Keith J. Hardman, Charles Grandison Finney 1792-1875, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987, p. 9.
3 Edwards, p. 12.
4 Frank Grenville Beardsley. A History of American Revivals. New York: American Tract Society, 1912, pps. 25-27.
5 Beardsley, pps. 28-31.
6 Beardsley, pps. 36-40.
7 Class Notes, Reformed Theological Seminary, Church History, June, 1998.
8 Harry S. Stout, The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991, p. xiv.
9 Beardsley, p. 211, and U.S. Census data.
10 Peter Marshall and David Manuel, From Sea to Shining Sea, Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1986, pps. 60-66.
11 Hardman, pps. 6-7.
12 Beardsley, p. 104.
13 Beardsley, pps. 142, 150, 161.
14 Beardsley, p. 211, and U.S. Census data.
15 J. Edwin Orr, The Event of the Century, Wheaton: International Awakening Press, 1989, pps. 52-56.
16 Orr, pps. 320-321.
17 Keith J. Hardman, Seasons of Refreshing: Evangelism and Revivals in America, Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1994, p. 184-191.
18 Beardsley, p. 249.
19 Hardman, Seasons, pps. 197-198.
20 Beardsley, p. 287.
21 William g. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978, p. 141-142.
22 Hardman, Seasons, p. 242.
23 Hardman, Seasons, pps. 238-242.
24 Richard M. Riss, A Survey of 20th Century Revival Movements in North America, Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1988, p. 3.
25 Riss, pps. 44-45.
26 Hardman, Seasons, p. 236.
27 George Waugh, Flashpoints of Revival, North Charleston: BookSurge Publishing, 2009, p. 41.
Patrick Morley’s mission is to help men grow as disciples and disciple makers–starting at home. In 1991, he founded Man in the Mirror, which consults with churches in all 50 states to help them more effectively disciple their men. He teaches a weekly men’s Bible study to 10,000 men and is the best-selling author of 20 books, including “The Man in the Mirror.” Learn more at http://www.ManintheMirror.org and http://www.PatrickMorley.com.
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For more information about the impact Jesus and His followers had on history, read Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible. This unique and innovative book makes a case for the historicity and Deity of Jesus from history alone, without relying on the New Testament manuscripts. It contains over 400 illustrations and is accompanied by a ten-session Person of Interest DVD Set (and Investigator’s Guide) to help individuals or small groups examine the evidence and make the case.
That’s an excellent question because so much is at stake in the Christian faith in terms of the truthfulness of Scripture. The Bible is our primary source of information about Jesus and about all of those things we embrace as elements of our faith. Of course, if the Bible isn’t true, then professing Christians are in serious trouble. I believe the Bible is true. I believe it is the Word of God. As Jesus Himself declared of the Scripture, “Your word is truth.” But why am I persuaded that the Bible is the truth?
We need to ask a broader question first. How do we know that anything is true? We’re asking a technical question in epistemology. How do we test claims of truth? There is a certain kind of truth that we test through observation, experimentation, eyewitness, examination, and scientific evidence. As far as the history of Jesus is concerned, as far as we know any history, we want to check the stories of Scripture using those means by which historical evidence can be tested—through archaeology, for example. There are certain elements of the Scripture, such as historical claims, that are to be measured by the common standards of historiography. I invite people to do that—to check it out.
Second, we want to test the claims of truth through the test of rationality. Is it logically consistent, or does it speak with a “forked tongue”? We examine the content of Scripture to see if it is coherent. That’s another test of truth. One of the most astonishing things, of course, is that the Bible has literally thousands of testable historical prophecies, cases in which events were clearly foretold, and both the foretelling and the fulfillment are a matter of historical record. The very dimension of the sheer fulfillment of prophecy of the Old Testament Scriptures should be enough to convince anyone that we are dealing with a supernatural piece of literature.
Of course, some theologians have said that with all of the evidence there is that Scripture is true, we can truly embrace it only with the Holy Spirit working in us to overcome our biases and prejudices against Scripture, against God. In theology, this is called the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. I want to stress at this point that when the Holy Spirit helps me to see the truth of Scripture and to embrace the truth of Scripture, it’s not because the Holy Spirit is giving me some special insight that he doesn’t give to somebody else or is giving me special information that nobody else can have. All the Holy Spirit does is change my heart, change my disposition toward the evidence that is already there. I think that God Himself has planted within the Scriptures an internal consistency that bears witness that this is His Word.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm37:4)
Delight in God has a transforming power and lifts a man above the gross desire of our fallen nature. Delight in Jehovah is not only sweet in itself, but it sweetens the whole soul, till the longings of the heart become such that the Lord can safely promise to fulfill them. Is not that a grand delight which molds our desires till they are like the desires of God?
Our foolish way is to desire and then set to work to compass what we desire. We do not go to work in God’s way, which is to seek Him first and then expect all things to be added unto us. If we will let our heart be filled with God till it runs over with delight, then the Lord Himself will take care that we shall not want any good thing. Instead of going abroad for joys let us stay at home with God and drink waters out of our own fountain. He can do for us far more than all our friends. It is better to be content with God alone than to go about fretting and pining for the paltry trifles of time and sense. For a while we may have disappointments; but if these bring us nearer to the Lord, they are things to be prized exceedingly, for they will in the end secure to us the fulfillment of all our right desires.
I once heard of a little boy who refused to say his evening prayers one night; not out of defiance, but simply because he couldn’t think of anything he wanted.
He didn’t see much point in praying when there wasn’t anything to ask for. When his mother heard his dilemma, she suggested he give thanks for all the things he had instead.
So the little boy got on his knees and thanked the Lord for everything he could think of – from his favorite toy to the fact he wasn’t blind like the boy down the street. His evening prayers were longer that night, because he was thankful for more than he wanted.
We often have the opposite dilemma.
We find it hard to pray; not because we don’t have anything to ask for, but because we’re too disheartened to pray.
Our prayers seem to hit a stone ceiling; our prayers go unanswered for years; or we simply don’t receive the peace we used to enjoy in times of prayer.
But maybe we can’t pray, because we’ve forgotten to be thankful.
Like this little boy, what if we took some time and turned our prayers into words of only thanks?
When you pray today, don’t ask for one single thing. JUST give thanks.
While you drive to work, list one thing after another you’re grateful for. And thank the Lord ONLY.
When you have a few quiet moments, think of things you know are gifts. And ONLY thank the Lord.
When you can’t pray . . . give thanks. Your prayers might be longer than usual, because you find yourself thankful for more than you want.
“With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 4:6-7
If you think you know God but do not live your life in gratitude before Him, it is doubtful that you really knew Him in the first place. A thankful heart honors God. Too often when we say we “know God,” what we actually mean is we know facts about God. But we should ask ourselves, “Do I truly know Him?”
Paul warns that just knowing doctrines about God is not enough to enter eternal life. He said,
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:20-21).
Even though we may know God, c When we are in that hardened, ungrateful state of mind, every word we speak is a spark lit by hell, set to destroy the quality of our lives (James 3:6).
H. W. Beecher said,
“Pride slays thanksgiving . . . a proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” We should be thankful that we do not get what we deserve!
When God gives us less than we desire, it is not because He is teaching us poverty; what He is teaching us is thankfulness. You see, life — real life — is not based upon what we amass but on what we enjoy. Even in difficult circumstances God still gives us much to appreciate. We fail to see what the Lord has provided because our hearts are wrong.
Someone once said, “When I see a poor man who is grateful, I know if he were rich, he would be generous.” A thankful spirit is akin to a generous spirit, for both appreciate and receive the riches of God. When we are thankful with little, God can entrust us with much.
Reenactment of the Water Libation held to prepare for the Third Temple On Tuesday, a full-dress reenactment of the water libation as it was performed in the Temple was held in Jerusalem with several hundred participants led by Kohanim in priestly garb, accompanied by Levites playing musical instruments.
Judicial Watch releases bombshell documents exposing deep state’s involvement with media in the biggest propaganda campaign in history thanks to reams of new information obtained by the public-interest group Judicial Watch, we know that those who resisted the vaxx resisted the biggest, most expensive, most comprehensive global propaganda campaign in world history. I can’t imagine what would even come in as a close second in terms of the scope of this operation. This was a technocratic full-court press. “It seems as if the entire entertainment industry was an agent for the government!”
War in Ukraine ‘could be over by Christmas;’ Putin in fear of coup A senior former U.S. general said that Russia could be defeated by the end of the year based on his assessment of the success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Others have echoed his claim. Meanwhile, Urkaine’s intelligence officials claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed the special ODON unit of the Russian National guard to arrest soldiers in fears he could be deposed in a coup.
Putin’s New Ukraine Commander Dubbed “General Armageddon” For Ruthless Track Record Following the past weeks of a rapid roll-back of Russian positions in Ukraine’s east, President Vladimir Putin sacked two of his senior military commanders and appointed General Sergey Surovikin to lead the next the next phase of the war effort in Ukraine, which began with Monday’s major escalation in airstrikes on over a dozen cities, which was a response to the Kerch Bridge bombing. Surovikin has been hailed as a “legendary” commander and as the country’s “most competent” general. According to a brief review of his rise through top echelon ranks
Trans-Pacific Shipping Rates Plunge 75% As US Retail Demand Falters Another way to track actual retail performance without price inflation obscuring reality is to examine shipping volume and shipping rates. In the summer, import volumes to the US began dropping off a cliff, indicating that consumer demand was indeed being affected by inflation/stagflation. Now, trans-pacific shipping rates have also plunged at least 75%.
Russian foreign minister says Erdogan, Putin to meet in Astana this week The Russian and Turkish presidents will meet in the Kazakh capital of Astana this week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Tuesday. The minister called “lies” statements of US politicians that Russia refuses to hold peace talks with Ukraine, reminding that it was President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who said “no talks with Russia as long as Vladimir Putin serves as its president.” Lavrov added that Zelenskyy’s decision was not independent and if the US orders him to take a seat at the negotiating table, he will do it.
They’re going to freeze, then starve’: Deaths in forecast thanks to globalists An energy crisis manufactured by the globalist agenda to rapidly transition from oil and natural gas to green energy will lead to famine and freezing across Europe, warns a veteran international journalist. Michael Yon, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, pointed out in an interview Monday that the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline has exacerbated shortages that already have spiked the costs of energy and of nitrogen-based fertilizers that together drive up the cost of food while threatening the ability of families to heat their homes and cook their meals. “We’re actually beyond the precipice at this point,” Yon told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily. “We’re falling. It’s too late.
‘Renewal of our minds’: Church features drag queen in kids’ sermon During its children’s sermon, a United Methodist church in Florida featured a drag queen in a slit sequin dress who goes by “Ms. Penny Cost.” “We have a special guest,” Oliver told the children. “Are you always dressed up like this?” the pastor asked. “I wish!” replied the drag queen, Isaac Simmons, who is undergoing the process to become ordained in the United Methodist Church.
Pfizer exec confesses vaccine never even tested on stopping transmission Undermining the premise for mandates and “passports,” a Pfizer executive admitted to the European Parliament on Monday that her company’s vaccine was never tested during clinical trials for the ability to prevent transmission of COVID-19. “This is scandalous!” he said. “Millions of people worldwide felt forced to get vaccinated because of the myth that you do it for others.” That claim, he said, has “turned out to be a cheap lie.”
Efforts to regulate ‘killer robots’ are threatened by war in Ukraine International attempts to regulate the use of autonomous weapons, sometimes called “killer robots”, are faltering and may be derailed if such weapons are used in Ukraine and seen to be effective. No country is known to have used autonomous weapons yet. Their potential use is controversial because they would select and attack targets without human oversight.
Boston Dynamics leads call to stop arming robots – will anyone listen? A group of robotics companies including Boston Dynamics has pledged not to add weapons to their devices and to push back against attempts by other people to do so. But how big an effect will it have if other firms will be developing robots with military applications?
Tulsi Gabbard quits Democratic party, attacking ‘elitist cabal of warmongers’ The former congresswoman and 2020 presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard has announced her departure from the Democratic party, calling it an “elitist cabal of warmongers”. she said: “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic party that is under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism.”
Victory for Temple Mount activists as court slams police for ‘illegal’ bans “The court has once again ruled that banning Jewish ascenders from the Temple Mount is illegal,” said NGO advocating for Jewish freedom of worship at the holy site. Activists who encourage Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount won a legal victory on Friday, after a Jerusalem court ruled that a police order banning a Jewish woman from the compound was illegitimate and ordered that she be paid compensation for being kept away from the site.
Over 800 Ancient Monuments Found in Polish Forest with LiDAR! One of the last primeval forests in Europe, Białowieża forest in Poland, is the subject of a fascinating new LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) survey. It has yielded a vast and incredible array of hidden treasures from prehistory all the way up until World War II, including 577 ancient burial barrows, 246 charcoal kiln sites, 54 tar plants, 19 complexes of ancient farmlands, 51 semi-dugouts and 17 war cemeteries.
King Charles III coronation to take place on May 6 The King’s coronation will be held on Saturday, May 6, it has been confirmed, putting plans for the public to enjoy an extra bank holiday into doubt. The coronation will see King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey at the weekend, Buckingham Palace has announced. The date was chosen after consultation between the palace, Government and Church of England, and falls eight months after the death of the late Queen and the new King’s accession.
England’s summer heat waves linked to record excess deaths among elderly England’s scorching summer that sent temperatures to record-breaking highs has now been linked to a record number of excess deaths among the elderly. England recorded 2,803 excess deaths among those 65 and older, according to a recent analysis by the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Office for National Statistics. The government agencies said that was the highest figure among the elderly since they started tracking heat-related deaths in this way in 2004.
Lapid ignored Attorney General’s recommendation for Lebanon deal Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Thursday recommended at a Cabinet meeting that the maritime agreement with Lebanon be brought for a Knesset vote. Baharav-Miara explained that it would be worthwhile to bring the agreement for the Knesset’s approval due to the fact that the current government is a caretaker government, and the agreement is irreversible. She added that the Knesset’s vote would strengthen the government’s position against appeals submitted to the Supreme Court against the deal.
Hezbollah stands with the Lebanese leadership’ Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah made a statement concerning the impending agreement between Israel and Lebanon regarding the maritime border between the two nations. “Hezbollah stands with the Lebanese leadership, and what interests us is that Lebanon will be able to produce gas,” the terrorist leader added.
Biden admin: Trans women must register for draft; trans men don’t have to According to the Selective Service System website, nearly “all male US citizens and male immigrants, who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service.” The website states that all biological males must register for the draft, including “U.S. citizens or immigrants who are born male and have changed their gender to female.” The website also notes that “Individuals who are born female and have changed their gender to male” do not have to register.
What is in the Israel-Lebanon maritime border agreement? Israel will receive written guarantees from the US, the source involved in the negotiations said, including that Washington is committed to Israel’s security and economic rights in case Hezbollah or anyone else challenges the signed agreement.
Massive landslide hits Venezuela, leaving at least 30 people dead and 54 missing A massive landslide hit the town of Las Tejerías, Venezuela on October 9, 2022, leaving at least 30 people dead and 54 others missing. The town is loaded 87 km (54 miles) SW of Caracas. This is one of Venezuela’s biggest landslides in decades.
Child rapist and murderer lauded as ‘feminist’ and ‘advocate’ for LGBTQ Rights Patricia Elaine Trimble, a biological male who raped two 9-year-old girls and who murdered a developmentally disabled cell mate while incarcerated has been recently celebrated in left-wing media as “a transgender woman, feminist, and activist.” Trimble has been spending their time in prison advocating for the rights of “the incarcerated LGBTQ+ community.”
Biden’s Secret Promise To OPEC Backfires In 2020, Democrats blocked Trump’s proposal to buy American oil at $24 a barrel. Yesterday, a Biden official disclosed a secret offer to buy OPEC+ oil at $80 a barrel.
Biden’s politicized FBI now hiding Chinese infiltration of U.S. election software as crucial midterms approach …Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips of True the Vote, have since made another alarming discovery that they say is being covered up by the Biden regime: Namely, that China has managed to infiltrate a major U.S. election software company in a way that could alter the outcome of yet another round of elections, the November midterms.
Unsettling Research Links COVID Vaccine to Parkinson’s The list of complications, conditions, and diseases resulting from the COVID shots is nearly endless and can affect any organ system in the body. Pfizer knew. Here’s their document.
Utility Pumps Customers’ Smart Meter Data To Police Without Warrant Police are routinely breaking the law to enforce the law, which is patently absurd. Smart meter data is on electricity usage is sent via WiFi to the utility company, recording detailed activities within the home or business. Thus, there is no longer expectation of “sanctuary” within your own home. Detailed surveillance has been a key plank of Technocracy since its original creation in 1932.
Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden Are All Talking About The Coming Countdown To Armageddon President Joe Biden said last Thursday the risk of nuclear ‘Armageddon’ is the highest it has been for 60 years after Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed his threats as his military retreats in Ukraine. “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” he said, offering his bluntest comments about the use of nuclear weapons since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Immediately, Emmanuel Macron stepped in to ‘correct the record’.
“We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.” —John Adams (1797)
What are the odds that this snafu was all just another innocent mistake?
Douglas Andrews
It was an honest mistake, of course. Could’ve happened to anyone.
As it happens, though, it happened to Colorado’s Democrat secretary of state. Just prior to a crucial midterm election. That secretary of state, Jena Griswold, says her office “mistakenly” sent postcards to about 30,000 noncitizens (read: fellow Democrats) encouraging them to register to vote in next month’s midterm elections.
Helpfully printed in both English and Spanish, the postcards read: “A message from Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold … Our records indicate that you or your household may be eligible to vote, but do not appear to be registered at your current address.”
Just spit-balling here, but if we wanted to institute a statewide system of bulk-mail ballot fraud, a scheme like this would come in pretty handy — especially if we were trying to attract the votes of recently arrived Spanish speakers.
And just to be clear, 30,000 votes is a lot of votes in a purplish state like Colorado. Heck, that many votes during a presidential election could easily flip a swing state like, say, Arizona or Georgia or Wisconsin; it could easily swing some congressional seats; and it could easily salt away a crucial Senate seat like the one being defended by Democrat incumbent Michael Bennet, who’s leading hard-charging Republican challenger Joe O’Dea by just six points.
Griswold, ever the good Democrat foot soldier, manned up and blamed the error on, uh, “a database glitch related to the state’s list of residents with driver’s licenses,” while reassuring us that none of those Democrats noncitizens will be allowed to register if they dare try.
Get a load of how the Associated Press tells us that there’s nothingtoseeheremovealong: “The news comes at a time of widespread skepticism — often unfounded — of voting integrity following the 2020 presidential election and as Griswold, who has touted her role as a national advocate for secure elections, seeks reelection in the November midterms.”
Yep, concerns about voter integrity are “often unfounded.” And there’s nothing to be skeptical about when Basement Joe “81 Million Votes” Biden wins a presidential election despite losing 18 of 19 bellwether counties and despite winning a smaller percentage of counties, 16.7%, than any winning president ever. No, nothing to be skeptical about when decrepit ol’ Joe can’t draw flies to a campaign rally and yet somehow inspires more population-adjusted citizens to vote for him than even rock-star Barack Obama did in 2008.
Colorado Public Radio first reported the incident, but there’s no word about who exactly alerted CPR to the matter. According to its reporting:
“The Department has become aware that approximately 30,000 EBU [Eligible But Unregistered] postcard mailers were incorrectly sent to ineligible Coloradans,” said a spokesperson for the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. “The office is undertaking an internal review of the incident and will take any corrective action that is warranted.”
The office said the problem occurred when the state compared a list of potential unregistered voters from a multi-state group Colorado belongs to, with local DMV records. The DMV data included people who hold non-citizen driver’s licenses — which were created to allow people without legal residency to drive legally — but a formatting error caused the system not to flag them as ineligible.
Noncitizen driver’s licenses, eh? What could go wrong?
“Two years ago,” CPR’s reporting continues, “the same type of mailing also brought controversy, after it was alleged some postcards went to people who had died or were not citizens.”
But, again, it was an honest mistake.
The culprit here is ERIC, a.k.a. the Electronic Registration Information Center, which we warned about back in August. Created back in 2012, it’s the brainchild of hard-left activist David Becker and the left-leaning Pew Charitable Trusts. ERIC was sold to states as a quick and easy way to update their voter rolls and is supposed to be run by the member states themselves. But public records show that Democrat operatives are working overtime under the cover of this deeply embedded effort to drive Democrat voter turnout.
Currently used in 31 states — including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin — ERIC is ostensibly responsible for tightening a state’s voter rolls. But it actually inflates those rolls.
Indeed, while ERIC was responsible for the purging of just three million ineligible voters from the nation’s rolls in 2020, the system identified 17 million new voters. And you can be sure that that trove of new voters didn’t come from rural areas or the evenly divided suburbs; it came from urban areas like Atlanta and Milwaukee and Phoenix.
Again, what could go wrong? And what on earth are Republican-controlled states doing with this system managing their voting rolls?
OPEC decreased production instead of increasing, and it’s largely a snub of a woefully inept Joe Biden.
Nate Jackson
On his first day in office, Joe Biden began his crusade against American-produced fossil fuels. He canceled the Keystone pipeline and leases on federal lands and waters. As predictable as the sunrise, gas prices spiked. A gallon was $2.39 on his first day, hitting $5.02 this past June. Today, it’s $3.92 and rising again.
When Biden realized this far-reaching economic catastrophe presented a polling problem, he began flailing. He blamed greedy oil companies. He blamed Vladimir Putin. He released tens of millions of barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, depleting it for no good reason. He went hat in hand to OPEC, begging for more production. In August 2021, OPEC told him to pound sand. This summer, he tried again, even fist-bumping Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). OPEC cut production by two million barrels per day, disregarding Biden’s plea that the announcement be delayed a month — conveniently until after November’s elections.
“No one f***s with a Biden,” the president was caught saying on a hot mic last week. Well, except the Saudis and OPEC, who know political election shenanigans when they see them.
The administration steadfastly insists this has nothing to do with American politics, but rather is a problem for world oil markets. “It’s categorically false to connect this to U.S. elections,” huffed Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman. “It’s about the impact of this shortsighted decision to the global economy.”
Moreover, Team Biden is threatening Saudi Arabia for the snub. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warned Tuesday that the administration will “take a look to see if that relationship is where it needs to be and that it is serving our national security interests.”
Tough guy Biden talked even tougher a few hours later. “There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done with Russia,” he groused last night. “I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be consequences.”
You know what has consequences, Mr. President? Deliberately making the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil. Donald Trump worked with energy companies to make the U.S. energy independent and a net exporter for the first time in decades. Due to Biden bowing to his party’s ecofascists and succumbing to Trump Derangement Syndrome — whatever Trump did, do the opposite — here we are paying a ton more for gas and diesel and for everything shipped anywhere in the U.S.
The inflationary consequences of Biden’s climate crusade cannot be understated, and yet Democrats want even more ecofascism.
Their own culpability hasn’t stopped them from joining in Biden’s threats. “Let’s be very candid about this,” Senator Dick Durbin said. “It’s Putin and Saudi Arabia against the United States.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Ro Khanna promised legislation cutting arms sales to Saudi Arabia. “I would do more than reevaluate. I would act immediately,” Blumenthal argued. “He has been misled and double-crossed, and I don’t think he should or will take lightly to it.”
The problem is Biden’s policy, both foreign and domestic. We’ve covered the domestic side, but regarding Saudi Arabia, Biden has called it a “pariah state,” foolishly making the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi a focal point of U.S.-Saudi relations. It’s not that the murder wasn’t reprehensible but that, for one thing, Khashoggi was a sympathizer and boyhood friend of Osama bin Laden. He wasn’t exactly an American Patriot but was instead a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporter of establishing an Islamic state. Biden went out of his way to make it known to his pals in the American press that he took MBS to the woodshed over a murder the CIA says he ordered.
Aside from personally insulting the Saudi crown prince, Biden is courting the Saudis’ enemies in Tehran, stubbornly trying to resurrect Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal and criticizing Saudi efforts to fight Iranian proxies in Yemen.
Did Biden somehow expect poor policies to not have … consequences? At a bear minimum, someone who’s bragged about his IQ as much as Scranton Joe has should know that his treatment of the Saudis and handling of Middle East policy more generally would never motivate them to do him any favors. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The maddening part is that we’re all paying for Biden’s colossal failures.
Joe is so “proud” of Hunter, the cost of Biden’s EOs, railway deal rejected, and more.
Thomas Gallatin & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
Joe is so “proud” of Hunter: Hunter Biden may soon be facing criminal charges related to tax evasion and lying on an ATF form to purchase a gun. In 2018, federal investigators first began their investigation into Hunter’s foreign business dealings, and in 2020 the discovery of Hunter’s laptop left at a computer repair shop — a story conveniently suppressed by the mainstream media — served to shine more light onto Hunter’s illicit activities and behavior. On Tuesday, Joe Biden addressed the possibility of his son being criminally charged. “Well, first of all, I’m proud of my son,” Biden stated. “This is a kid who got — not a kid, he’s a grown man — he got hooked on, like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that. He’s established a new life.” When questioned as to whether he believed the U.S. attorney in Delaware would act and charge Hunter, Biden said he’s not concerned: “I’m confident that what he says and does are consistent with what happens. I have great confidence in my son. I love him, and he’s on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple years now, and I’m just so proud of him.” If the U.S. attorney in Delaware, Biden’s home state, does not choose to raise charges against Hunter, the obvious question it will raise is, “What did Joe do to stop him?” In other words, that would be another scandal in and of itself.
The cost of Biden’s EOs: Joe Biden has been in office less than two years, and yet during that span he has issued 99 executive orders, a number exceeding the rate of both of the last two presidents. In four years Donald Trump issued a total of 220 EOs, and over an eight-year span Barack Obama signed 276. But it’s not merely that Biden has issued more first-year EOs than any president since the 1970s; it’s also the astronomical cost to the American taxpayer those orders have incurred. Those 99 EOs have cumulatively socked taxpayers for $1.5 trillion. Indeed, one order in particular accounts for nearly $1 trillion of that total, and that was Biden’s order eliminating student loan debt up to $20,000. Of course, these orders also directly impact the inflation rate, and not in a good way. Congress was given the power of the purse, but increasingly through the use of EOs presidents have increased the spending rate of the federal government, and Biden has put this practice into overdrive. Meanwhile, Biden’s latest EO, a new rule on gig workers to ensure that they are covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act, will only serve to hurt small business as well as negatively impact freelancers, though it is a boon for the big unions.
Biden’s railway deal rejected: Almost a month ago, Joe Biden boasted that he had worked out a deal with the railroad workers unions to avert a strike. It was “an important win for our economy and the American people,” Biden said in touting his supposedly brokered deal. “I thank the unions and rail companies for negotiating in good faith and reaching a tentative agreement that will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy.” Well, on Tuesday, one of the larger unions, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters, rejected the deal, as 56% of the union’s members voted against the five-year proposal, though they agreed to continue negotiations through the middle of November. BMWED President Tony D. Cardwell explained, “They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness.” The deal included a 24% pay increase by 2024 and $1,000 annual bonuses for all workers with at least five years on the job. Biden’s negotiating skills appear to be sorely lacking, as he has now fallen flat with both the Saudis and now Teamsters. Maybe Biden could pick up a copy of Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal and learn a thing or two.
Headlines
Inflation hotter than expected in September in producer price index (Washington Examiner)
Pfizer exec tells EU lawmaker COVID jab was never tested to show it blocked transmission (Daily Wire)
FBI offered Christopher Steele $1 million to corroborate Trump allegations in dossier (Fox News)
Apartments owned by Raphael Warnock’s church evict “homeless” tenants while senator receives hefty housing stipend (Fox News)
Alejandro Mayorkas was told no Haitian migrants were whipped hours before pushing narrative anyway (Fox News)
The mRNA COVID vaccines were always a gamble, and too many folks are invested in suppressing questions.
Emmy Griffin
Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, released a study on Friday that focused on cardiac-related deaths in people 18 years and older following a 25-week period after an individual took the final COVID vaccine shot. The findings were not so good for young men 18-39.
This demographic was at an 84% increased chance of death via cardiac-related incidents post-vaccination. This information, though unsettling, had long been suspected by the general public. Story after story kept emerging about the COVID vaccine and the link between it and heart issues like myocarditis.
There is, of course, skepticism amongst other health professionals who have looked at Dr. Ladapo’s findings and worry that it is reckless to present them to the public. According to NBC’s West Palm Beach affiliate, doctors like Ethan Chapin and Jessica Steier mention that this study has red flags. Their biggest complaints about the study are its small sample size and the fact that the study excluded patients who had a COVID infection or died from COVID. This last point is an interesting one. To quote Dr. Steier directly: “The fact that they kind of glossed over that in this study, that could have been a contributing factor, and the author should have looked at medical records to ascertain COVID status because we know that COVID itself, the virus itself, can lead to those outcomes. That’s a major methodological flaw.”
Twitter briefly blocked Dr. Ladapo’s post with the study’s findings. Twitter had this to say as justification: “Our current misleading information policies cover: synthetic and manipulated media, COVID-19, and civic integrity. If we determine a Tweet contains misleading or disputed information per our policies that could lead to harm, we may add a label to the content to provide context and additional information.”
The tweet was restored on Sunday.
For his part, Dr. Ladapo was happy to have started this conversation amongst his colleagues, saying: “I love the discussion that we’ve stimulated. Isn’t it great when we discuss science transparently instead of trying to cancel one another? I’m going to respond to the more substantive critiques.” Then he proceeded to address the critiques on his social media thread.
Dr. Ladapo represents many who have been critical of the largely untested mRNA vaccine. Hindsight being 20-20, the vaccine should have been administered to the elderly and the immunocompromised primarily. The young and healthy should not have been strong-armed into getting it. The vaccine became a politicized weapon, a virtue signal, and a method to weed out the non-compliant in the ranks of society.
It’s still being used in that capacity to this day. As recently as October 6, NBC News reported that COVID deaths were higher among Republicans than Democrats. The states used to conduct this study — sponsored by Yale School of Public Health and Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University — were Ohio and Florida. The article concluded that this must be due to vaccine hesitancy and a more prevalent refusal to mask and social distance in red states. It comes to that conclusion because after the vaccine requirement, deaths went down.
But if you look at the chart, the downward trend actually coincides with the increase in less dangerous variants. Furthermore, Florida’s population tends to be an older demographic — a risk factor that would skew the data.
More studies will continue to emerge about the mRNA vaccine, and perhaps the further we are from the necessity of the vaccine being used as a political weapon, the more accurate and honest the science will become.
A handful of tight races in the upper chamber will determine whether Republicans can take total control of Congress.
Douglas Andrews
By now, most prognosticators are picking the Republicans to retake the House. That’s a safe bet. Much more uncertain, though — and no less important — is the Senate. But even there, with each passing day, Republican prospects continue to improve.
It would sure help, though, if Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney would get on board rather than actively working to sabotage their party’s chances.
For example, why is Minority Leader McConnell not pumping money into the campaign of Arizona Republican Blake Masters? It’s a rhetorical question. Masters has criticized McConnell and is endorsed by Donald Trump, and McConnell’s Trump derangement continues to get the best of him. Masters has closed the gap with incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly to the point where Fox News now considers it a toss-up, and he mopped the floor with Kelly in last week’s debate.
In addition, Masters recently picked up the endorsement of Mike Pence, even though Pence supported Masters’s opponent in the Republican primary. All this makes McConnell’s unwillingness to funnel money into Arizona seem even more spiteful. The goal is to win, right? The goal is for McConnell to trade places with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, right? A Masters win would be a huge pickup for the GOP, and it’s there for the taking.
Sadly, the 48th state isn’t the only one where McConnell’s TDS is showing. The 49th state, Alaska, has a weird ranked-choice voting system that in this case will practically ensure a Republican wins, but it might not be RINO incumbent Lisa Murkowski, who now trails Trump-endorsed challenger Kelly Tshibaka by double digits. Here, though, McConnell is promoting a civil war by pumping $9 million into the campaign of an old establishment colleague, Murkowski, who’s been in the Senate for 20 years and has generally been an unreliable vote. All because Trump has backed a more compelling candidate. Just imagine what that $9 million might do for Blake Masters in Arizona.
Then there’s Utah, which would seem to be as safely red as any state, but whose junior senator, failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is refusing to endorse his Republican colleague Mike Lee, who’s up for reelection in a weird race in which the Democrats chose not to run a candidate but to instead prop up a phony Trump-hating “independent” and 2016 presidential candidate named Evan McMullin. A recent poll has the whip-smart and supremely conservative Lee ahead of McMullin by only four points, 41-37, with an uncomfortable number of undecided voters, and with millions in out-of-state Democrat cash flowing into Utah to support McMullin. And here again, a Trump-hating Republican, Romney, seems intent on wrecking the party’s chances to secure a Senate majority. Could it be because Lee refused to vote to convict Trump in either impeachment trial?
“Romney and Lee have been on the opposite sides of several major votes,” reports Utah’s Deseret News, “including the Donald Trump impeachment trials, infrastructure bill, and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
Romney, for his part, claims that he hasn’t endorsed his fellow Republican because he considers both Lee and McMullin to be friends of his. Some friend.
Last night on Tucker Carlson’s show, Lee implored Romney to do the right thing: “It’s not too late, Mitt,” Lee said. “You can join the party. I’d welcome you to do so because otherwise you’d be stuck with two more years of Chuck Schumer being the leader and two more years of Joe Biden having unfettered rule over the United States Senate without any Republican backstop.”
Elsewhere in key Senate races, Nevada and Georgia represent the Republicans’ best chances for flipping seats. Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is quietly poised to knock off incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, against whom he’s opened up a small but remarkably consistent lead in every recent poll. As Newsweek notes, “President Joe Biden won [Nevada] by about 2.4 percentage points — but Cortez Masto is seen as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat.” Indeed she is, and Laxalt, the son of onetime Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt, is a strong candidate. In the Peach State, Republican Herschel Walker is, despite his recent troubles, and despite the Democrat smear machine and its out-of-state millions, running neck-and-neck with hard-left, spouse-abusing, homeless-evicting Rafael Warnock. Here, another runoff election may be in the offing, as a third-party candidate might keep both Walker and Warnock from getting to 50%.
In Wisconsin, incumbent Ron Johnson has opened up a small but consistent lead over hard-left Democrat Mandela Barnes. This should comfort the GOP, because Johnson has won previous elections even though he’s been behind in the polls right up until Election Day. This shy Johnson vote is likely a shy Republican vote generally, so Wisconsin polling should be adjusted accordingly. Remember: Just one week before the 2020 election, a clownish ABC News/Washington Post poll had Joe Biden beating Donald Trump in the Dairy State by 17 points. The actual margin was half a point, and only that much due to rigging.
Next come three Republican retirements in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio
In Pennsylvania, Republicans are trying to hold onto the seat being vacated by Pat Toomey, with retired cardiothoracic surgeon and TV personality Mehmet Oz going up against hoodie-wearing, criminal-coddling, trust-fund slacker John Fetterman. Our Thomas Gallatin delved into the unfitness of Fetterman, whose physical health in the wake of a serious stroke calls into question his ability to serve effectively — and it appears that Pennsylvanians are taking notice. So is NBC News. Fetterman has refused to debate Oz, and what was once a double-digit lead for Fetterman is now a statistical dead heat. But given that early voting started weeks ago in the Keystone State, we have to hope that enough persuadable voters refrained from doing so.
In North Carolina, Republicans are defending the seat of retiring Senator Richard Burr, and their candidate — Trump-endorsed businessman and three-term Congressman Ted Budd — has been holding a tiny lead over Democrat Cheri Beasley, whose radical positions are starting to find their way to the voters. In their only televised debate, which took place on Friday, Beasley did her best to run away from Biden, while Budd reminded everyone that her policy positions are the same as the president’s. This race has been largely under the radar, but it’s just as crucial as any other.
Finally, in Ohio, Republicans are defending yet another seat — that of outgoing Senator Rob Portman. There, it’s retired Marine, Yale Law graduate, and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance going up against Democrat Congressman Tim Ryan. A recent poll has Vance up by two points, but that margin might grow a bit if enough Ohioans tuned into the first of the candidates’ two debates, which took place in Cleveland Monday night. To put it bluntly, Vance smoked Ryan. But don’t take our word for it; see for yourself.
No wonder Democrat candidates across the board have been reluctant to debate their Republican rivals. They’re on the wrong side of nearly every issue that matters to the American people: inflation, jobs, crime, gun rights, illegal immigration, unchecked spending, education, wokeness, transgenderism, religious liberty, the IRS, etc.
The Democrats? They think they have abortion. That’s it.
With 26 days until the election, we’re no longer hearing the giddiness, the optimism of the Democrats and their mainstream media water-carriers. That brief Biden boomlet has subsided, and the president has since reverted back to form, back to his approval rating in the low 40s, back to being on the sidelines while Democrat candidates across the country try to defend the indefensible.
“When the now-traditional midterm wave hits the Democrats,” writes National Review’s Jim Geraghty, “why does it always seem worse than expected? Probably because so many media voices spend October telling Democrats that it won’t be that bad.”
We think it’ll be bad for the Democrats — bad in the House, and bad in the Senate. Still, none of this prognostication matters. Only voting does.
‘Slight Recession’ — Biden says: “I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession — that is, we’ll move down slightly.”
Muslim Parents Reject Woke Agenda — Hundreds of protesters packed a Michigan school board meeting Monday night and shut it down with cries of anger over certain LGBTQ books.
Who Is Ron DeSantis? — Casey DeSantis knows who he is better than anyone. In this ad, she shares how the governor fights for Florida the same way he fights for his family.
“The tendency of taxation is to create a class of persons who do not labor, to take from those who do labor the produce of that labor, and to give it to those who do not labor.” —William Cobbett (1763-1835)
Observations
“In 2015, YouGov found that 25 percent of those polled believed polyamory to be ‘morally acceptable.’ A 2020 YouGov poll found that ‘one-third (32 percent) of U.S. adults say that their ideal relationship is non-monogamous to some degree.’ According to what definition of morality? The two-parent, male-female home has been the bedrock of societies. Some traditions have lasted because they work. When social mores are individually rejected, school shootings, street violence, and anti-American ideology can be the result. Ancient Rome and other licentious societies collapsed from within because of their indifference to moral restraints. What makes Americans think we can avoid a similar fate?” —Cal Thomas
“In the U.S., government spending since COVID has risen by $6 trillion to $7 trillion — above the normal already obese $5 trillion-a-year budget. Across the planet, government ‘stimulus’ spending in 2020 and 2021 is estimated at — are you sitting down? — $21 trillion. Trillions more have been borrowed and spent and paid for with money printing this year. Government spending in many countries, including the U.S., exceeded 50% of the entire national gross domestic product. In other words, we fought a war against COVID, and socialism won. … The virus that threatens the world today in almost every nation is runaway government spending and debt. It is the match that has lit the forest fire of runaway inflation. It doesn’t matter how much Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell raises interest rates (which he must do to tame inflation). The stagflation of high inflation and slow growth won’t end until politicians start taking a chainsaw to their out-of-control budgets.” —Stephen Moore
Friendly Fire
“A lot of these consultants think if all we do is run abortion spots that will win for us. I don’t think so. It’s a good issue. But if you just sit there and they’re pummeling you on crime and pummeling you on the cost of living, you’ve got to be more aggressive than just yelling abortion every other word.” —Democrat strategist James Carville
Braying Jennies
“We get criticized, frankly, sometimes for being woke. I’m not sure what woke means. … But first of all I would say, if woke means, you know, we are not focused on war fighting, we are not focused on readiness, that doesn’t reflect what I see at installations all around the country or overseas when I go and visit. But I think, you know, we do have a wide range of soldiers in our Army, and we’ve got to make them all feel included. And that’s why a lot of our diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are important.” —Army Secretary Christine Wormuth
“We are watching Republicans not just destroying democracy in the dark, breaking into election officers [sic] and plugging stuff in, we’re watching them do it from rally stages. Debate stages. That’s where they’re doing it. … Do you think it requires, you know, a democracy commission? Should President Obama ask Chris Christie and Ben Ginsberg to sort of man a democracy hotline the way, you know, people used to man other crises — I mean, what should we do?” —MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace
“When you see our kids, and I truly believe that they are our children, they are the children of our country, of our communities, I mean, our future is really bright if we prioritize them and therefore prioritize the climate crisis.” —Vice President Kamala Harris
Non Compos Mentis Award
“America is facing a diaper crisis, and the anti-abortion movement is making it worse.” —Yahoo Finance editor Sandra Salathe
Demagogue
“Every single Democrat voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. Every single Republican voted against it.” —President Joe Biden (“Good on Biden for tweeting that every single Republican voted against The Inflation Reduction Act. In these divided times it’s nice to see him praising Republicans for their intelligence.” —Jimmy Failla)
“I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession — that is, we’ll move down slightly.” —Joe Biden
“You may not like what I got done, but the vast majority of the American people do like what I got done.” —Joe Biden
And Last…
“Kamala [Harris] accuses Republicans of ‘dereliction of duty’ on the border that she hasn’t even visited as the actual BORDER CZAR. This is like OJ calling you a bad husband.” —Jimmy Failla
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the report, Biden downplaying possible charges against his son Hunter, and the Pennsylvania Senate race. #FoxNews
Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker weighs in on the latest information emerging from the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden as the case continues to escalate. #foxbusiness
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, discusses the highly anticipated midterm elections along with the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden and his laptop on ‘Mornings with Maria.’ #foxbusiness
The growing trend of anti-Semitism in America, particularly on some college campuses and social media; “Why are you banging on my door?” – video reportedly showing arrest of 55-year-old pro-lifer by armed agents at his home surfaces, and 11 pro-lifers indicted by Justice Department for protest at a Tennessee abortion clinic, raising questions about the Department possibly targeting anti- abortion activists; President Biden defends his son Hunter, who’s facing potential federal charges, in a CNN interview; former Congresswoman and 2020 Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard leaves the Democratic party, calling it “elitist” and “driven by cowardly wokeness;” how Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet service could help protesters in Iran; Israel develops new military technologies to defend itself – and shares knowledge with its allies; Gospel singer Jokia is now also an actress- and she talks to CBN’s Studio 5 about the life story behind her music; and speakers are reciting the Bible out loud from memory at “The Great Recital” at the Institute for Creation Research’s new Discovery Center in Dallas.
“….most people probably didn’t realize there are a couple of Latter Day Saint artists in those performers you know, and they’re some of the most beloved….”
(John Lanagan – The Word Like Fire) “So I love the fact that our communities are coming together with our celebration, our worship, and our faith,” states Brad Pelo, one of the Mormon Executive Producers of The Chosen, and the driving force behind The Chosen Christmas Special [1] (emphasis mine)
Well, there’s a memorable quote.
Remember the claim that The Chosen is not produced by Mormons?
Those who take the time to investigate know that Mormon involvement is undeniable. Of course, there are those who simply don’t want to know. These bow to that other god, the god of entertainment, and refusal to believe serves as a shield against the truth of the scriptures: View article →
Not to beat a dead horse, but most of the world has a delusional image in their head of the war in Ukraine. As I have written previously, much of the fault lies with Hollywood, which through a plethora of movies has conditioned the masses to think of war as the conquest of critical territory. But that is a misleading image when it comes to Ukraine. Yes, there are strategically important pieces of territory that must be captured or defended, but there also are vast swaths of plains (we call them prairies here in the United States) that are tactically difficult to control and, if you succeed in capturing an area of land, you create a problem of how to defend it.
Please take a look at the following video with this in mind. Although the video shows how Russia’s Wagner Group is building defensive lines, please focus on the general landscape rather than the work of the engineers:
Russia has a decisive advantage over Ukraine when it comes to battling for this territory, even though it ceded some of it a few weeks ago to advancing Ukrainian troops. Why? Because Russia’s air force is still intact and can be used to attack massed Ukrainian units. Ukraine’s air capability has been eviscerated. Russia also enjoys a lopsided advantage in tanks. In case you have any doubts, the video above shows quintessential tank country.
At the beginning of its full-scale invasion in Feb., Russia had around 3,330 operational tanks (2,840 with the ground forces, 330 with its naval infantry, and 160 with its airborne forces), according to the Military Balance 2021 database. . . .
However, Russia still has some 2,000 battle-ready tanks at hand, as well as an enormous amount in storage.
The Military Balance 2021 database says Russian storage facilities have around 10,200 tanks, including various T-72s, 3,000 T-80s, and 200 T-90s.
Tank battles on rolling plains is great grist for a Hollywood blockbuster, but the real peril for Ukraine has been on display over the last two days–Russia’s hypersonic missiles, cruise missiles and air launched rockets mangling power nodes and military headquarters throughout Ukraine. The Russian strikes in the last two days significantly degraded Ukraine’s ability to supply electricity and critical heat to its major cities. The attacks also are disrupting Ukraine’s cell phone network and its ability to move troops and equipment from the west to the frontlines in the east.
Ukraine does not have a comparable capability to counter the Russian attacks. Moreover, the Russian missile barrage has highlighter the weakness, if not absence, of Ukraine’s anti-missile defense system. It is neither a mistake nor a coincidence that Russia’s strikes in major Ukrainian cities–more than 100 missiles– caused very few human casualties, especially on the civilian side of the ledger. Despite Ukrainian claims that Russia’s strikes killed civilians, the evidence suggests otherwise–Ukraine’s own anti-missile system failed to intercept the Russian targets and then fell to earth and hit apartments and schools.
What is the United States and NATO going to do? Immediately deploy the Iron Dome anti-missile system? Unfortunately, these Western anti-missile systems are not designed to defeat the missiles Russia is launching. Then there is the logistics problem–i.e., getting those systems deployed and training personnel to operate them. This will take weeks, if not months. And Ukraine does not have the luxury of time in this regard. Making matters worse, the United States and NATO do not have the reserves to quickly resupply Ukraine:
The United States will soon be unable to supply Ukraine, as it has up to now, with the sophisticated equipment essential for its defense against Russia as its reserves are reaching their limits, especially in terms of ammunition. . . .
But US stockpiles of certain equipment are “reaching the minimum levels necessary for war and training plans” and getting weapons stockpiles back to pre-invasion levels could take years, Mark Cancian wrote in a recent analysis. of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Washington is “learning lessons” from the conflict about ammunition needs in a very powerful war, and that it is “much larger” than expected, said a US military official who requested anonymity.
Then there is the nightmare scenario for Ukraine and NATO of Russia invoking the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and Russia asking Belarus to join the fray. Russian and Belarusian troops already are gathering on Ukraine’s northern border. Whether this is a bluff by Russia or genuine preparation for opening a new front in the north, the massing of forces requires Ukraine to deploy already depleted forces to the northern border. This will weaken Ukraine’s ability to hold off a Russian offensive in Kherson and Zaporhyzhia.
I believe that the events during the next five weeks will create a crisis within NATO and the United States. If Russia seizes the initiative and moves in force against Ukrainian units, NATO will not be in a position to rescue Ukraine from defeat on the battlefield. Any further intervention by NATO will make it, in the eyes of the Russians, a legitimate military target.
Compounding the military challenges confronting the United States and NATO, there are the economic and political headwinds. Joe Biden is likely to lose control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. If this happens, he will no longer have a congressional ally eager to keep shoveling money and weapons into Ukraine. The economic conditions throughout Europe of inflation and shuttering businesses will fuel more domestic unrest and diminish enthusiasm for keeping Ukraine afloat.
When you take all of these factors into consideration, the conclusion is clear–Russia enjoys a strategic and tactical initiative that will be difficult to surmount. Conversely, NATO is in trouble.
Only laws that hold private businesses such as PayPal legally accountable for violating Americans’ constitutional rights will abolish the digital gulag.
“….most people probably didn’t realize there are a couple of Latter Day Saint artists in those performers you know, and they’re some of the most beloved….”
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