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
After recounting John’s incredible birth, the biblical record quickly moves forward to the beginnings of his ministry. He lived much of his life in the obscurity of the Judean desert before the word of God came to him initiating his prophetic ministry when he was about thirty years old (Luke 3:2). At that time, he suddenly “appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Romans 16:20 This promise follows well upon that of yesterday. We are evidently to be conformed to our covenant Head, not only in His being bruised in His heel but in His conquest of the evil one. Even under our feet is the…
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (NLT)
My old self— How I lived without Jesus…my old way of thinking, of choosing, of doing…me at the center, not Him; my will being done, not His; my pleasure being pursued, not His.
Has been crucified with Christ— Not something God will one day do, but something He has already done…When Christ died, my old way of living died with Him. Past tense…“has been”…my old self is a “has been”…thank God it is so!
It is no longer I who live— The old way of living is over…not improved upon, patched-up, painted over, or made better…all things have become new…there is nothing about my old (selfish) self that is worth bringing into my new life in Christ.
But Christ lives in me— Christ…not an “ideal” I try and live up to, but a person who is alive IN me. He participates IN my life as Lord, and I participate in His life as His servant; He participates IN my life as the vine, and I participate in His life as the branch; He participates IN my life as the Light, I participate in His life as the one who reflects His radiance; He participates IN my life as the Shepherd, and I participate in His life by placing my trust in His leading and wholly following Him.
So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me— I have never been so fully alive, free, fresh …new wine, new joys, new purpose. My trust is in Him, not my resources; my confidence is in Him, not my abilities; my victory is in Him, not my accomplishments. I can trust the one who loves me…who gave Himself for me…the one who gives and gives, over and over again.
Buried with Christ and raised with Him, too, What is there left for me to do? Simply to cease from struggling and strife, Simply to walk in newness of life. —T. Ryder
“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me’” John 14:6
What is truth? This morning I read an article in the daily newspaper reporting supposedly the “real” truth about an incident that happened recently. Was it? Or was it another opinion?
Some people lie out rightly or only tell some of the facts. Some withhold information and give a false impression. Sometimes, nothing is said when the truth should be told. Can we believe anyone anymore? And, if we are honest, we must confess that at one time or another, we too are guilty of telling lies.
In his book What is the Father Like?, Philip Keller writes that what God says is absolutely true because He is the embodiment of all truth, and all truth through all time has its source in God.
This reminded me that truth is constant and unchanging. God’s truth remains the same from age to age, generation to generation, no matter how things change. God’s truth will set us free, if we act upon it. If we ignore it, our lives can be wrecked — broken hearts, hopes, homes, and even countries.
If our lives are centered in God’s truth, He is able to renew our minds, calmly guide our emotions, and activate our will to tell the truth. His presence brings truth and can bring a magnificent, purifying influence into our lives.
The Lord Jesus, the Truth, can restore our soul, heal our diseases, preserve us in peril, and make us live in peace. To live life not believing in absolute truth robs us of the stability He seeks to give to us. We can trust God to be absolutely truthful — He cannot lie. The more we are centered in Him, the more we will become like Him — more truthful.
We sometimes wonder if what we are told by others is the truth. With God, we never have to wonder. He is Truth.
Father, You alone are absolute truth. You cannot lie. Your Word is Truth, and we can rely on it. Cause our lives to be centered in You and make us more like You — the Truth. Amen.
Terrorism in Israel rose by over 300 percent in 2022, IDF figures show For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. Proverbs 4:16 There have been 280 terrorist incidents in Israel so far this year, compared with just 91 in 2021, according to figures revealed by the Israel Defense Forces on Monday. A further 500 attacks were thwarted by Israeli security forces during the same period, according to Military Intelligence assessments.
‘Life no longer as we know it’: war in space would have devastating effects, military experts say It would no longer be “life as we know it” if a space war destroyed the satellites that the world now relies on, space commanders have warned, and China and Russia have demonstrated that they’re capable of doing just that. Senior military leaders from the US and Canada are in Sydney for an Australian Strategic Policy Institute conference on space as the new frontier in “commerce, industry, competition and war”.
Canadian Fashion Firm Releases Ad Celebrating “Beauty” Of Assisted Suicide The prominent Canadian fashion and home decor retailer Simons is coming under fire for glorifying suicide as a marketing ploy. The company recently produced and released a three-minute film which celebrates the planned assisted suicide of Jennyfer Hatch. More recently, after the project was completed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation confirmed that “The 37-year-old died on Oct. 23 and chose medical assistance in dying (MAID)
Lawyer To Private Equity Billionaire Dies Of Self-Inflicted Gunshot On Eve Of Tax-Fraud Trial You may know billionaire Robert F. Smith, 59, founder of private equity giant Vista Equity, as the richest black man in the U.S with a net worth of $8 billion. You may also know him for his escapades with the US Treasury which accused him of hiding tens of millions in income from the IRS and then using the untaxed money to buy up expensive homes in California, Colorado and France
Studies reveal there are now 1 million followers of Jesus worldwide of Jewish descent Online video testimonies of Jewish people explaining why they believe Jesus is Messiah have topped 240 million views. A great spiritual awakening is underway in the Jewish community worldwide, but particularly in the United States. It’s not being reported in the Jewish press. Nor is much of the Christian media aware of it, or reporting on it.
Elon Musk: Twitter in ‘battle for the future of civilization’ Amid Elon Musk’s measures to protect free speech on Twitter, including the elimination of its COVID “misinformation policy,” the White House is promising to keep “a close eye” on the social media platform. The new Twitter owner made it clear he believes the stakes are high. “This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead,” he tweeted Monday.
‘Straight up evil’: Top paper hammered for praising pedophile film as ‘brilliant’ The Washington Post is taking a beating after promoting a play about pedophiles and their actions over the weekend with the comment that it is “brilliant.” Fox News explained a “drama critic” from the Post called “Downstate,” a play about pedophilia, “brilliant.” “They are really going to try to normalize this, aren’t they? Straight up evil,” Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe responded.
A revival in East Texas and a warning about lost souls As far as Jaclyn Horine and Friendship Baptist Church, revival broke out after the East Texas congregation witnessed their pastor’s wife humbly admit she was a lost sinner in need of Jesus.
Biden admin says ‘keeping an eye on’ Elon Musk’s Twitter; Musk responds President Joe Biden’s administration is “keeping an eye on” Twitter, his press secretary said as the social media site’s new billionaire owner Elon Musk ramps up his drive for free speech. Musk reacted to the exchange on Twitter, asking: “Why are so many in the media against free speech? This is messed up.”
Under the Great Reset you’ll be a robot or a ‘useless eater’ Harari wants people to be put in their place. An extreme materialist, he rejects romantic notions of the soul. In his transhumanist future, individual responsibility will be replaced by digital decision-making. As argued by Alex Jones in The Great Reset and the War for the World, published last month, totalitarians use bureaucracy to deploy unthinking functionaries:
China’s Increased Military Activity Near Taiwan a ‘New Normal’ Says Pentagon China is aiming for “a new normal” of increased military activity around Taiwan, a senior defense official said ahead of the release of the latest edition of the Pentagon’s China Military Power report, which highlights ambitious military-modernization plans for 2027, 2035, and 2049.
NATO commits to Ukraine membership in the future NATO chief says Finland and Sweden will soon join alliance and paves the way for Ukraine to join in the future. NATO committed itself on Tuesday to offering membership to Ukraine in the future.
ZOA: Trump still deserves award, no hint of antisemitism in his actions In response to a question about whether the ZOA still believed Trump deserved the award after meeting with the two antisemites, it stated: “Absolutely, yes. He earned it and deserves it because of his fabulous, unparalleled beneficial policies toward the Jewish State of Israel and toward the Jewish people”. “It’s quite clear that there’s not a hint of antisemitism in President Trump’s actions or beliefs. He clearly loves Israel and the Jewish people.” the organization added.
Face-off with Iran? American and Israeli armed forces prepare for war The two-day drill will commence on Tuesday and take place over the Mediterranean Sea and Israel. Fighter jets from both countries will simulate long-range flights and striking distant targets, increasing readiness for combat scenarios with Iran.
Controversial energy official charged with stealing woman’s luggage at MSP Brinton, one of the first “openly genderfluid individuals in federal government leadership,” was charged with felony theft last month after allegedly stealing a woman’s luggage at MSP Airport. The MIT grad went viral earlier this year when he announced his new role as the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the U.S. D of Energy.gage-at-msp/
Live Updates Severe Weather Tornado Threat Southern US A “particularly dangerous situation” tornado watch has been issued for Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi as more than 40 million people are at risk for some form of severe weather Tuesday.
See tornadoes rip through Mississippi, lightning bursts in the night sky A dangerous severe weather outbreak is underway Tuesday evening in parts of the South, where numerous strong, long-track tornadoes, destructive hail, damaging winds and flash flooding will all be serious threats into the overnight hours.
In a message commemorating November 29th as the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that he was “deeply saddened by the growing number of Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives in the spiral of violence engulfing the occupied West Bank.”
Very bright fireball explodes over southern Brazil A very bright fireball was seen entering our atmosphere over southern Brazil and exploding over the state of Rio Grande do Sul early Monday morning, November 28, 2022. The meteor had a duration of 1.8 seconds and a magnitude of -12.
Most Crucial Industrial Fuel Faces Global Shortage A perfect storm in global diesel markets is unfolding. Refining capacities are tight, and stockpiles are being depleted as the Northern Hemisphere cold season begins. Supply crunches could jeopardize critical transportation networks since the industrial fuel powers ships, trucks, and trains. The fuel is also used for heating homes and businesses, as well as a power generation source for utilities.
Police robots may get license to kill in San Francisco The San Francisco Police Department is seeking permission to deploy lethal robots against human suspects, according to a policy proposal sent to city officials. While the SFPD’s robots are primarily designed for bomb disposal and surveillance, police say they can be used as a last-resort “deadly force option.”
Many have suspected that the U.S. government’s “security assistance” to Ukraine — which as of November 15, 2022, had surpassed $98 billion1,2 — is a money laundering scheme to somehow ensure its own security, perhaps relating to questionable activities involving American biolabs in Ukraine.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario ‘Suggest’ Drugging Unvaccinated People British Columbia (BC), Canada: Bill 36, which was drafted in secret, will give the BC Minister of Health the ability to appoint College Boards that are required pass bylaws mandating vaccines for any illness the government chooses as a condition of keeping professional licenses…The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario suggested that any unvaccinated patients should be put on psychiatric medication.
At an International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) seminar last month, IMF’s Deputy Managing Director and former deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Bo Li, spoke about the “programmability” of central bank digital currencies (“CBDCs”):
…New Zealand’s reserve bank hiked the cash rate by 0.75% this week which is set to drive up mortgage rates and send many already beleaguered homeowners to their bank manager cap in hand. Default and repossession loom for many next year.
4 things to know about the Respect for Marriage Act A bill codifying a right to same-sex marriage into federal law has rehashed a passionate debate in American politics and civil society as a final vote in the U.S. Senate looms. The upper chamber voted Monday to advance a religious freedom amendment to the “Respect for Marriage Act,” with a vote on other amendments and the bill’s passage possibly coming
“It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.” —Benjamin Franklin (1777)
Why does the world’s most valuable company keep appeasing Communist China’s repressive regime?
Douglas Andrews
These days, we wonder whether Apple CEO Tim Cook wishes he could stuff his company’s iconic 1984 television ad down the memory hole.
We wonder this because the Apple of 2022 isn’t the Apple of 1984. Not even close. In fact, today’s Apple has morphed from the hero of that remarkable one-minute ad to its villain. Indeed, today’s Apple is just the opposite of the young, athletic, independent, and liberty-loving heroine who winds up and heaves that sledgehammer into the giant screen-rendered image of Big Brother, there to strike a blow against his message about “the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives” and how their “unification of thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth.”
That Apple was bold and fresh. It was smallish, plucky, and innovative. Today’s Apple is grim, gray, massive, and malevolent. Today’s Apple is Big Brother.
We say this because today’s Apple seems to continually side with the powerful and the totalitarian.
In 2019, Apple removed an app from its App Store that helped freedom protesters in Hong Kong track the whereabouts of the Communist Chinese security forces. As The New York Times reported, “Apple said it was withdrawing the app, HKmap.live, from its App Store just days after approving it because the authorities in Hong Kong said protesters were using it to attack the police in the semiautonomous city.”
Got that? Apple wanted its critics to believe that the unarmed protesters were attacking the heavily armed police. Uh-huh.
Now let’s skip ahead to present-day China, where Apple has removed its AirDrop feature from the country’s iPhones. As the Washington Examiner’s Zachary Faria writes:
With protests spreading across China over Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID strategy, Apple has restricted the use of AirDrop on iPhones and Apple devices in the country. Protesters use AirDrop to bypass the communist regime’s censorship of the internet and communicate directly with other protesters by “forming a local network of devices that don’t need the internet to communicate,” according to Quartz.
Apple’s new iOS update, released on Nov. 9, restricts that feature. Now, users can only set up their AirDrop to accept messages from everyone for just 10 minutes, whereas previously it could be permanent. Now, protesters would have to go into their phones every 10 minutes to reset their AirDrop settings to continue to communicate. There would be reasonable explanations for this iOS change if it was uniform, but, according to Quartz, the change only applies to iPhones sold in mainland China.
All this is happening at the same time as speech-suppressing “journalists” are trying to pressure Apple into dumping the world’s most influential free-speech app from the App Store, Elon Musk’s Twitter. Why? Because they’re afraid of free speech, and they’re afraid of Musk, and they’re afraid he might share some of the dirty little secrets that Big Tech has been using to suppress speech and control the marketplace of ideas.
“Sunlight,” said former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “is the best disinfectant.”
Apple products have revolutionized human life, often for better, but occasionally for worse. And by and large, the company has been driven by profit motive rather than politics. But the two are often inseparable, and when they come into conflict, companies like Apple tend to take the path of least resistance — and that path is almost invariably either a leftist path or a statist one.
In this case, the company is feeling the considerable heat of the Communist Chinese, who not only entice American companies with a market of 1.4 billion people but also hold a massive manufacturing and supply-chain hammer (and sickle) over their heads. Cross the ChiComs by siding with freedom-fighting Hong Kongers or COVID lockdown dissidents, and it could be very bad for the bottom line.
Today’s Apple is the world’s most valuable company, with revenues of $378 billion, net income of $100 billion, and a market capitalization of $2.65 trillion. It didn’t get that way by standing up for free speech, freedom of expression, religious liberty, and other human rights. It got that way by bending its knee to the rapacious, murderous, freedom-crushing Communist Chinese.
We should remember this going forward, and we should use it to filter every utterance that comes out of its sanctimonious CEO’s mouth.
The last two months of each year are the most critical for the team here at The Patriot Post. In that short time span, we must raise more than half of the funding required to keep our operations on track into the new year. For the first time in many years, the campaign is tracking behind where it should be at the end of November. Help us stand strong going forward — we rely completely on your generosity to remain a voice for Liberty. Please make your gift today. Thank you for your support. —Christy Chesterton, Director of Advancement
Newly reinstalled CEO Bob Iger made some important comments about the company’s direction. However…
Nate Jackson
Disney didn’t fear the Right or even just the Middle like it feared the Left — until recently. That’s one takeaway from newly reinstalled CEO Bob Iger’s remarks to employees.
Asked by an employee about Florida’s parental rights law that opponents falsely smeared as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, Iger signaled a significant shift for Disney. While he promised to continue promoting “inclusion,” he also suggested a little bit of … humility: “When you tell stories, there’s a delicate balance. You’re talking to an audience, but it’s also important to listen to an audience. It’s important to have respect for the people you are serving, that you are trying to reach, and not have disdain for them.”
Who knew that good business practice is to avoid deliberately angering half the country? Especially the families with kids who watch Disney movies and go to Disney parks.
“Do I like the company being embroiled in controversy? Of course not,” Iger continued. “It can be distracting, and it can have a negative impact on the company. And to the extent that I can work to kind of quiet things down, I’m going to do that.”
By “negative impact,” of course, he means losing money. Disney’s stock dropped significantly in recent months, which is one of the key reasons Iger was brought back last week to replace his successor and now predecessor Bob Chapek. The company watched as its new woke cartoon, “Strange World,” totally bombed at the box office over Thanksgiving weekend (along with the rest of Hollywood). The film could lose $100 million, and that follows the terrible performance of the likewise woke “Lightyear” earlier this year. Disney+ is raising prices to offset a $1.5 billion loss in the fourth quarter alone.
It’s also not clear how much money Disney lost after its battle with Florida over the aforementioned law and then the company’s special tax status in the state, but there’s no question that Iger is learning a lesson from all this.
“I was sorry to see us dragged into that battle,” Iger said of the Florida fiasco. “The state of Florida has been important to us for a long time. And we have been very important to the state of Florida. That is something I’m extremely mindful of and will articulate if I get the chance.”
Conservative cultural commentator Christopher Rufo puts Iger’s comments and plans in the “win” column. “The conservative strategy was to damage Disney’s brand, make the company pay a political price, and force the company to declare neutrality,” he wrote. “So far, it appears that strategy is working.”
Maybe. We hate being type cast as Debbie Downer, but there’s always a “but.” Yes, Disney learned a lesson. Yes, Iger said some good things. But will he and the company’s brain trust abandon their woke project entirely? Don’t count on that magic spell lasting past midnight.
For one thing, Iger was key to starting the company down the woke road when he took over in 2005. He’s hardly the only one responsible for this radical leftward shift, either. From the front office to the production studio to the cast members at parks, Disney is full of left-wing activists and gender-confused individuals who would rather recruit kids to their cause than make agenda-free entertainment. Mothers and fathers who still want to teach traditional values to their young children are going to take a back seat to the groomer agenda at Disney, even if Iger wants to “quiet things down” a bit.
Iger even said so. First, he rejected the idea that even though some subjects “have been branded political,” the company should stay out of those areas. He also explained what that means: “One of the core values of our storytelling is inclusion and acceptance and tolerance, and we can’t lose that. We’re not going to make everyone happy all the time, and we’re not going to try to.” He added, “We’re certainly not going to lessen our core values in order to make everyone happy all the time.”
Translation: It’s still going to be a Woke World after all.
RNC’s self post-mortem: With the midterm elections failing to generate the anticipated red wave, the Republican National Committee decided to hire outside help to determine what went wrong and how to remedy it for the future. The RNC has formed the Republican Party Advisory Council to accomplish this task. “As we assess the midterms and plan for 2024, we are gathering a diverse range of respected leaders in our movement to join together and help chart a winning course in the years to come,” explained RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel. “I am thrilled that this talented group of Republicans will be shoulder to shoulder with us as we work to grow our party, hold Democrats accountable, and elect Republicans.” Among the group of outsider advisers the RNC is bringing together is Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and former Donald Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway. Another adviser is recently defeated Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters, who lost a tight election to Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly. Masters advised that Republicans need to avoid “one-size-fits-all strategies,” arguing, “Our party needs to modernize. We’re fighting against Big Tech, the media, and now, the Democrats’ GOTV early voting machine.” The council is expected to deliver its findings and recommendations early next year. In the meantime, Mike “MyPillow Guy” Lindell is also running for RNC chair.
Senate passes marriage redefinition bill: Twelve Republican senators crossed the aisle to side with Democrats in passing the disingenuously named “Respect for Marriage Act.” The legislation seeks to codify the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that redefined marriage to include homosexual partnerships. Several Republican senators sought to include religious liberty protections amendments to the bill, but those amendments failed to gain the needed majority to be included. The Heritage Foundation’s Roger Severino observed, “Members of Congress who voted for this bill and claim to support religious liberty are either naïve or don’t understand the laws they are passing.” He also warned, “As a result, the tax-exempt status of religious schools and nonprofits is now up for debate. Additionally, the Left will try to use the bill to sue faith-based adoption agencies and contractors to drive them out of business as they have done in multiple states and localities already.” The legislation now heads to the House, where Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy vows to oppose it because it would “betray our country’s commitment to the fundamental right of religious liberty.”
Fraudulent voter sentenced to 15 years: A Georgia man, William Chase, was recently convicted of voter fraud, as he illegally voted twice in the same election, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The 62-year-old was caught when a voter who had requested an absentee ballot contacted the county elections office after noticing that her husband’s ballot had been received but hers had failed to arrive. It was soon discovered that her absentee ballot had in fact been sent in but the signature on the ballot was not hers. Following an investigation, which included fingerprint analysis, it was conclusively determined that Chase had intentionally stolen her ballot and cast her vote while also casting his own during the 2021 Senate run-off election in Georgia. What this serves to show is just how vulnerable mail-in balloting is, and especially so when ballots are sent to voters without their request. The problem of voter fraud is exponentially increased with mail-in voting, and if this voter had never followed up with the election board regarding her ballot, it is likely that Chase would have gotten away with fraud.
Headlines
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries expected to be elected Democrat leader (CBS News)
Senate passes Respect for Marriage Act, bill heads to House (Daily Signal)
Congress prepares to take up bill preventing rail strike (Associated Press)
Democrats have doubled GOP spending on Georgia runoff ads (NBC News)
Hollywood bombs at box office over Thanksgiving weekend; worst non-COVID since 1994 (Daily Wire)
Chinese police tracking down COVID protesters after days of unrest (Washington Free Beacon)
China Used Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal to Score Propaganda Points, Pentagon Finds (National Review)
China on pace to match U.S. nuclear stockpile by 2035, Pentagon warns (Washington Times)
Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin dies at 96 (Fox News)
Netherlands to close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU climate rules (Telegraph)
Missing Texas toddler reunited with family 51 years later (The Hill)
Humor: Tim Cook says he’s ready to pull Twitter from App Store once President Xi gives the order (Babylon Bee)
The U.S. has committed billions in military aid to the besieged country, but what about the threat from China?
Lewis Morris
As winter approaches and the war in Ukraine grinds on into its tenth month, Russia’s hopes for a quick victory have long since evaporated. So have Ukraine’s hopes that an international coalition would somehow force the invader back across the border from whence it came.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was his latest bid to rebuild Czarist Russia in his own image. The timing seemed right. The U.S. was preoccupied with domestic issues and its feckless president would, Putin believed, go soft when challenged — he showed as much in the disgraceful retreat from Afghanistan. Europe was equally squishy about confrontation and beholden to Russia for much of its energy. China was a fair-weather ally that would not stand in the way of Putin’s imperialist expansion.
What Putin didn’t count on was that the Ukrainian people would be so resilient, or that his beloved military wouldn’t be ready for a war that many Western experts assumed would be over in days or weeks. America, along with its European and Asian allies, came to Ukraine’s aid. The U.S. kicked things off with a $40 billion aid package shortly after the war began, including emergency items for civilians and military personnel. Then came the equipment, and more food, clothing, and assorted matériel.
Now, as 2022 nears an end, the conflict has transitioned from a blitzkrieg to a war of attrition, one for which Republicans do not want to continue footing the bill.
Incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy indicated before the midterms that the “blank check to Ukraine” might come to an end once Republicans are in charge. Democrats and members of Washington’s foreign policy community caught a case of the vapors at hearing McCarthy’s words.
There is, however, still support for Ukraine within the GOP. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas is a full-throated advocate for aid, as is Michael Turner of Ohio, the current ranking member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
But the winds are shifting. An October Wall Street Journal poll revealed that 48% of Republicans said the U.S. was doing too much for Ukraine, up from 6% in March.
Republicans and many voters still possess a moral desire to support Ukraine, but sending endless money to a notoriously corrupt country for open-ended conflict doesn’t sit well with the American public. There’s also the practical matter of what the U.S. can do for Ukraine. Our nation is not in a position of great strength thanks to Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who frittered away America’s strategic advantage by shrinking and awokening our military machine. We can’t fight Russia and contain China at the same time.
If it comes down to a choice, the U.S. may have to pick either protecting Ukraine or Taiwan. In Ukraine, we may have already proved the debilitated state of the Russian military, which is being bled dry in its failed war of conquest. This escapade can’t have done Putin’s domestic popularity any favors, either, though he still manages to keep his hold on power. Our NATO allies could also contribute more, since they have far more at stake in the short term than the U.S.
Asia is a different story, however. China is a much more powerful player than Russia — especially economically — and the U.S. will need to focus the bulk of its finite resources deterring ChiCom aggression against Taiwan and our other Pacific allies. Ukraine still deserves our support, but only what we can afford to spare after our primary strategic imperative is addressed.
The UN’s collection of despots and thugs attacks freedom of speech.
Thomas Gallatin
While many Americans may take it for granted, our First Amendment right to freedom of speech is a uniquely recognized and protected right when compared to history and the rest of the world. For much of the world, the right of any individual citizen to express ideas and opinions without fear of government retaliation is nonexistent. Of course, the inability to freely express one’s opinions and ideas necessarily restricts and limits the ability of the development of thought, both for individuals and for entire communities and nations.
Authoritarians hate free speech because it exposes them to not only criticism, but also challenges or reduces their authority. Throughout the COVID pandemic, this reality of the authoritarian mindset was on full display, as those in power sought to shut down the space for the airing of contrary opinions regarding their draconian decisions, such as lockdowns and masking mandates. They defended this abuse of power as all self-labeled “do-gooders” do, arguing that all they were doing was looking out for the people’s best interests.
Increasingly, as the radical Left has gained ground in governments throughout the West, the right to freedom of speech has become a problem they wish to remove. Hence the campaign not only to stop “hate speech” but also, even more dubiously, the Left’s latest aim to stop “misinformation.”
In this vein, the United Nations, an organization that, ironically, exists to protect and further human rights, recently jumped aboard the Left’s anti-free speech train. The UN posted a social media message ridiculously declaring that “words can be weapons.” The post advertises a new campaign against “hate speech,” further asserting, “Hate speech online can lead to cruelty & violence in real life.”
There are two degrees of separation, if not more, between words and actions. Furthermore, the legal standard for inciting violence is a clear and direct call to action, not merely the expression of “controversial” or even genuinely offensive opinions. Voicing objections to an individual’s chosen lifestyle, such as homosexuality, does not necessarily equate to hate. Refusing to celebrate such deviancy is also not an expression of “hate speech,” no matter how much the Left asserts otherwise.
Even indefensible speech, such as the racism spewed by many on the radical Left these days, is not necessarily violence. Neither was the racism of the Democrat Party of 50 years ago.
What the UN should be concerned about is the rising authoritarianism among liberal democracies in the West. Attacks on the individual right to free speech is a massive red flag that should have the UN crying foul from the top of its ivory tower. Unfortunately, the UN has repeatedly demonstrated that it is a feckless organization that caters to the whims of the self-assigned intellectual elites. Nowadays, the best that can be said of the UN is that it does little other than offer vacuous virtue signals to appease the self-righteous woke.
In a do-or-die match, Team USA put its politics aside for 90 minutes and barely bested Iran.
Douglas Andrews
It was win-or-go-home yesterday for the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team, and they won. Just barely. The Great Satan™ beat Iran 1-0, much to the chagrin of the mad mullahs who rule that rogue nation.
The game’s lone goal came at the 38-minute mark of the first half, and it was scored, perhaps fittingly, by a man named Christian — Christian Pulisic, the longtime face of American soccer.
Some soccer goals are ugly, but this one was beautiful, coming off two perfectly placed passes — the first a looping entry pass from midfielder Weston McKennie and the second a header into the middle of the box from fullback Sergino Dest, which found a charging Pulisic. As The Wall Street Journal reports: “The goal that saved America came off Pulisic’s right foot, giving his team a 1-0 win over Iran and sending the U.S. to the knockout stage of this World Cup. He finished a play the team had been meticulously practicing before the game. But after Pulisic poked home the score that instantly joined the somewhat limited annals of iconic U.S. men’s soccer moments, he celebrated by writhing on the ground.”
Pulisic left it on the field. He sustained an abdominal injury when he collided with the Iranian goalkeeper, and he was taken to a local hospital for a scan. There’s no word yet on his availability for future matches.
Speaking of the three-match round-robin portion of the tournament, Team USA coach Gregg Berhalter said, “It’s the first time in 92 years that we’ve had two shutouts at a World Cup. So the boys are doing something right.” Indeed, Team USA began the tournament by tying Wales 1-1, then tying heavily favored England 0-0 and setting up the must-win final game against Iran. Yes, the Americans have advanced despite scoring only two goals in three games.
Here’s how The Washington Free Beacon’s headline amusingly put it: “USA Barely Beats Iran in Meaningless International Competition.” The Beacon’s subhead was even better: “Warning: Contains graphic descriptions of soccer that some may find offensive.”
Next up for Team USA: the round of 16, the single-elimination knockout round of the tournament, beginning with a match against The Netherlands at 10 a.m. ET Saturday.
So what, you say? Well, we’re in the same boat, given how painfully boring soccer is, and how thoroughly infected it is with fakery and floppery, and how hard this national team has worked to alienate half its potential fan base. As our Emmy Griffin noted recently, “The USMNT has redesigned the USA crest on its jerseys with rainbow colors, choosing to mar this year’s honor of making it to the World Cup by using its platform to virtue signal to Qatar and elevate the LGBTQ+ lobby abroad.”
And here we thought sports were meant to be a diversion from all the real-world awfulness all around us, instead of a reminder of it. The host country, Qatar, is predominantly Muslim and homosexuality there is outlawed. But rather than leaving politics at the water’s edge, rather than respecting the customs and culture of the hosts and its people — you know, diversity — Team USA chose to publicly embrace the Rainbow Mafia.
It wasn’t the only controversial moment for the Americans. On Saturday, the U.S. Soccer Federation had infuriated the Iranian state by including a doctored Iranian flag in two of its social media posts. The posts showed an Iranian flag stripped of the country’s official emblem and two lines of Islamic script, a move which the USSF said was meant to show support for the women of Iran during the political protests there.
The Iranians called for the U.S. to be expelled from the tournament for disrespecting Iran’s flag. Fat chance of that.
Then, during a press conference on Monday, Berhalter, the American coach, and Tyler Adams, the team’s captain, were treated rudely by the propagandists from Iranian state media, who seem to have gotten their talking points from the Democratic Party or The New York Times.
Both Berhalter and Adams acquitted themselves well — especially Adams, who, when asked whether he’s “okay to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people,” said, “There’s discrimination everywhere you go. … In the U.S., we’re continuing to make progress every single day. … As long as you see progress that’s the most important thing.”
Indeed it is. If only Adams, a 23-year-old black man who was raised by white parents, had fired back at his Iranian interlocutor, Yes, there’s discrimination everywhere you go, but at least we don’t shoot our women in the streets during political protests, and at least we don’t shove our homosexuals off of tall buildings.
Linda Moss Mines: Land of the Pilgrims’ Pride — Just mention the Mayflower and hearts begin to flutter with memories of childhood stories and elementary school pageants.
Insight: “Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that.” —C.S. Lewis
Food for thought: “I’m not sure if our problems are bigger and more numerous now than they’ve ever been, if we’re spending more time dwelling on them or if we’ve just gotten worse at coping with them.” —Teresa Mull
Political realities: “I just wish that Donald Trump could denounce Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes with one tenth of the rage, fury, disdain, and contempt that he’s denounced people and institutions such as Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, and ahem, National Review. The fact that he can’t or won’t tells you just about everything you need to know about him.” —National Review’s Jim Geraghty
Disrespect for marriage: “I love marriage. In fact, I love it so much I’ve already done it twice and am engaged for a third time. And if gay couples want to be as happily or miserably married as straight couples, more power to them.” —South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace in an op-ed explaining her vote for the grossly misnamed Respect for Marriage Act
A rebuttal: “Mace’s flippancy encapsulates a view of marriage that has become all too common. Marriage is no longer a means of harnessing the brute facts of biology into the service of children. It is purely a means to the end of the married parties’ happiness. It means whatever they want it to mean. Permanent, if you wish; exclusive, if you like; between people of the opposite sex, if you prefer. The older view of marriage was wiser.” —National Review
Political futures: “Simply put: no one likes Kamala Harris. No one even feels bad for not liking her. Her boss doesn’t like her; her aides don’t like her; even her Irish terrier doesn’t like her. … [Yet] the party faithful wanted a young, female (preferably non-binary) Person of Colour to wave their rainbow flag, but what the party establishment wanted most of all was to beat Donald Trump. The compromise solution was to keep Biden out of sight for a few years, then let him ‘make history’ by resigning. That was the only way to give America the virtue signal it desperately needed but stubbornly refused to elect.” —Salvatore Babones
Valuable question: “What would you think of a person who never asked the price of anything he or she bought? You would assume the person was inordinately wealthy. But if the person wasn’t, you would dismiss him as a fool, and you would certainly never ask this person for advice about how to spend your money. Yet, for two years, that question — ‘What is the price?’ — was avoided by virtually every political leader in the world as well as the vast majority of epidemiologists and physicians, journalists and editors, college presidents, deans, professors and K-12 teachers. They never asked, ‘What is the price?’ with regard to locking down businesses, schools and, in many cases, entire countries. That is why so many political leaders, teachers, college presidents, doctors, epidemiologists and other scientists turned out to be fools.” —Dennis Prager
And last… “Censorship determines the narrative. The narrative determines public opinion. Public opinion determines the vote. The vote determines who runs the country. We have replaced voting with battles over who gets censored.” —Scott Adams
PART III (22:30 – 22:30) No, Senator, You Cannot Dignify That Which is Against Nature: Why Same-Sex Couples Will Still Be Disappointed After the Passing of the ‘Respect for Marriage’ Act
PART IV (25:40 – 25:40) The Mormon Church and Some Evangelicals Cut a Devil’s Bargain: How Religious Groups Made Themselves, and the Larger Society, More Vulnerable By Support for the ‘Respect for Marriage’ Act
Senate passes bill giving federal protections to same-sex marriage, but fails to approve amendments protecting religious freedom; Disney CEO Bob Iger says he wants “to quiet things down” over the company’s culture war controversies, but doesn’t back away from including LGBTQ storylines in Disney productions- this as Disney’s new animated movie, “Strange World,” which features a gay teen romance, is expected to lose at $100 million; Congress working to avoid a railroad strike, which could create major problems for the economy; how the deadly drug fentanyl is flooding into the US across the Southern border- Chinese criminals are shipping it to Mexico, and from there it’s smuggled into the US; legendary Gospel singer CeCe Winans talks to CBN’s Studio 5 about her new project and book, both called “Believe For It;” and the lighting of the Capitol Hill Christmas tree, with the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy discusses the Biden administration’s plan to impose new regulations on U.S. oil and gas to prevent methane leaks. He also discusses recent tornadoes in the south that left two dead in Alabama. #FoxNews Subscribe to Fox News!
(Reuters)—Warner Bros Discovery-owned CNN’s top boss Chris Licht informed employees in an all-staff memo on Wednesday that layoffs are underway, according to an email seen by Reuters.
The post Fake News Downsizing: CNN Boss Alerts Employees of Massive Layoffs appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
Former Southwest Baptist University President and current lame-duck U.S. Senator from the state of Missouri, Senator Roy Blunt, has voted in favor of the deceptively-named Respect for Marriage Act. The pro-sodomite legislation is expected to become law with unanimous support from the morally-compromised Democrat party and a faction of support from a number of Rinos in the Republican party. Blunt’s support was the greatest surprise, as the Missouri Republican was perhaps the most conservative of the Senators who chose to support the legislation.
Blunt, known for his relative conservatism, previously voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment, an amendment that would have legally defined marriage as between one man and one woman. The Marriage Protection Amendment was last defeated in 2006.
Blunt, who remains a Southern Baptist, defied the Missouri Baptist Convention with his vote. In an open letter, the convention urged Blunt to use his power to keep the amendment from becoming law. The Respect For Marriage Act would require states to recognize marriages from all other states, effectively opening the door for every manner of perversion in the institution of marriage and immediately nationalizing gay mirage. If one state legalized marriage that involves polygamy, polyamory, or pedophilia, all states would be required to accept those marriages from that state as legal and binding if the bill becomes law. Additionally, the amendment does not contain adequate language to protect parachurch organizations, religious schools, and Christians who have a spine from government-sanctioned civil and criminal persecution for their refusal to bend their knee to sexual perversion.
Blunt joins a growing number of turncoats in the Evangelical world, who since the Obergefell Supreme Court decision, have “evolved” or “Frenched” on their position on gay mirage. While Blunt had a pro-marriage, pro-life, conservative voting record prior to voting for the amendment, the act of unapologetically joining hands with leftists to support the Sodomite cause will undoubtedly enshrine him in the hall great Southern Baptist leftists alongside Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Men like these use their associations to beguile Bible-believing Christians into voting for them before revealing their true selves. Blunt, whose family consists almost entirely of corporate lobbyists, doesn’t have a clear motive for changing his tune on marriage. Unlike other evangelicals who make the compromise when a family member is found to be sexually compromised, the lame-duck vote from Blunt seems to be a pragmatic end-of-career move designed to curry favor with Democrats for his wealthy lobbyist family members.
Stephen H. Black, Executive Director with First Stone Ministries in Oklahoma City. Stephen has worked in pastoral-care ministry as an ordained minister in the local church and with International Ministerial Fellowship for over 25 years. His weekly podcast Freedom Realized airs every Friday at 10 AM CST, and his vitally important book is called Freedom Realized – Freedom from Homosexuality & Living A Life Free from Labels. He also serves on the board of directors for Parents and Friends of Ex-gays and Gays. Stephen has been married to his wife Robin since May of 1986. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.
We discuss how true believers in Christ can understand and respond to the rampant deception and cultural lies today regarding God, truth, and the LGBTQ ideology.
The United States Senate has just shaken its puny fist in the face of Almighty God and passed HR 8404, the DIS-Respect for Marriage Act, federally codifying protection of sodomite and lesbian “marriage” [sic]. Yea – 61, Nay – 36
God is not mocked. Whatever a man, or woman, or city, or state, or nation sows, that they will also reap.
May God be pleased to raise up a generation of faithful and obedient Christians to one day, hopefully soon, rescind this abominable piece of wicked, sinful, unrighteous, immoral, unholy legislation !
Matthew 16:18, KJV Psalm 110:1, KJV
US Senate Roll Call Vote on Passage of HR 8404 DIS – Respect for Marriage Act 61 Yeas (including 12 Republicans) 36 Nays 3 Not Voting (including 2 Republicans)
According to the latest U.S. Census, less than one percent of American households are headed by a same-sex couple. To be specific, same-sex ‘married’ couples consist of only 0.9% of American households. This is important to understand.
And yet if you listen to the (Left) mainstream media, Hollywood, Democrats, public schools, corporations, sports leagues, government, big tech and social media, the average person would think this country is overwhelmingly dominated by LGBTQ individuals and couples.
I saw a man on the street interview several years ago, and most people seemed to think between 20 and 40 percent of the entire population was gay. That’s effective marketing! That spoke volumes about who and what has been influencing the culture.
Tragically, it’s not the Christian church in America. We desperately need a moral and spiritual awakening or we will lose the culture completely.
We’re now at the point where we’re seeing the purposeful saturation of culture with all things LGBTQ. We have reached the non-stop promotion of what’s known as ‘queer all year.’
The reality is there are about 1.2 million same-sex couple households in the U.S. according to the recently released Census Bureau data. The country’s total population is over 332 million.
In addition to K-12 ‘education,’ one of the major change agents has been government. The home of most federal employees and politicians, the District of Columbia, exceeded all states for the highest percentage of same-sex couple households, 2.5%.
CNS News points out that though Washington D.C. leads the way, none of the 50 states had a number of same-sex couple households that accounted for more than 1.4 percent of their total. The average is under one percent!
It’s also interesting that “roughly 710,000 of the same-sex couple households were married and about 500,000 were unmarried.”
Wait a minute. Why aren’t the homosexual marriage numbers much, much higher? You know why. Because it was never about marriage. It was about rejecting God’s design. It’s about sex and special rights, not equality.
Moreover, in the build-up to the Supreme Court striking down all state bans on same-sex marriage in 2015, Americans were promised that’s all they wanted; it would end there.
Not so.
For decades, the godless left has pushed the limits. They realized there was such a lack of resistance to the promotion and expression of sin, perversion, and the marketing of evil that they rapidly gained ground they never thought possible.
It’s been a gradual grinding down of morality over a hundred years as haters of God carried out Antonio Gramsci’s Marxist march through the institutions.
In their arsenal of weapons, words have been most effective. Accusations and labels of hate, homophobia, intolerance, fascism, and even racism have somehow been used as a battering ram to silence into submission those who dare publicly oppose the agenda.
Few are now allowed to debate LGBTQ ideology or refute propaganda presented as fact. One would think those who believe in God and biblical values such as two genders, the traditional family, and natural marriage between one man and one woman are outnumbered. Again, not even remotely close.
And yet here we are.
The radical left has been lobbying, pridefully parading, infecting legislation and infringing on religious freedom, spreading its poison nationwide.
The Washington Stand’s Ben Johnson declares “one of the most pervasive lies insists that Americans support same-sex marriage by ever-increasing margins.” He refers to the lifestyles of those in gay relationships and notes by their own admission that the average gay couple begins having sex with other people within an average of 5-6 years.
“As decades of polls show, virtually all Americans do not respect marriages built on a foundation of perpetual, mutual adultery. (Why not simply remain single?) Indeed, nine out of 10 Americans still find any single instance of adultery “morally wrong.” Legislation compelling the American people to “respect” such marriages simply seeks to shut down opposition…”
He’s referring to the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act” which was passed by the Senate Tuesday. Attempts by conservatives to amend the new bill and protect religious freedom and rights of conscience were struck down. The Democrat’s new Act writes gay marriage into federal law and repeals key parts of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) solidifying same-sex unions and repeals natural marriage protections.
Americans clearly do not support this – at least the majority of citizens – but today’s government is no longer about the people’s business. It’s about pushing an agenda. The minority with the loudest voices and their depraved Hollywood/big tech/media allies enforce mob-rule to gain power.
But they are truly tone deaf. For example, Hollywood completely bombed at the Box Office over Thanksgiving weekend, the lowest numbers since 1994!
Disney’s “Strange World,” the children’s animated film which features an openly gay character, climate change commentary, and earned a mere $11.9 million. “Strange World cost $180 million to make and is estimated to lose $147 million dollars.
Hollywood’s first LGBTQ romantic comedy, “Bro’s” tanked dramatically at the box office in October and its writer blamed homophobia for the film’s dismal numbers. Could it be Americans are getting tired of the gay and woke agendas being shoved in their faces?
“If I want to teach my children about sex and or sexual preferences at 7 and 8 I would do it in my home. I don’t need a Disney movie to help me out with it. STOP making everything sexual, it’s unbelievable.”
Another reviewer tweeted, “First Lightyear and now Strange World. Disney and Pixar releasing woke flops, one after the other. How many box office bombs before Disney learns?”
Just like Hollywood, Disney is not going to learn. The agenda is entrenched in its brand as well as the entire entertainment industry. Back in April, I reported on the fact Disney’s depravity and moral decline have been going on for many decades. Sadly, some folks are just now finding this out.
Parents have been warned. LGBTQ activists want to force their morality upon the entire population. They demand there be no restrictions on sexual behavior and one primary goal is to destroy marriage, the most sacred and foundational institution in human history.
The forces of darkness will never stop because evil never sleeps. It will be interesting to see what they do next. We just need to be reminded these are souls needing to be saved and not every one of them is an activist. They are however, ignorant of the judgment to come. They’re lost, they’re anti-Christ, they hold and promote the wrong worldview.
Pray for the protection of children and a revival of the church.
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters)—The giant Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing announced an easing of COVID curbs on Wednesday, a day after demonstrators in southern Guangzhou clashed with police amid a string of protests against the world’s toughest coronavirus restrictions.
The post Chinese Cities Ease COVID Restrictions After Protesters Clash With Police appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
Mass videos of anti-regime protests across China have shaken the communist dictatorship’s censorship apparatus, creating what one expert calls “a decisive breach of the big silence,” the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The post Beating ‘the Big Silence’: Chinese Protesters Use Videos to Overcome Censorship appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
BURBANK, CA — As part of a new pledge to “quiet down” the company’s aggressive push for progressive themes in its content, returning Disney CEO Bob Iger has revealed the entertainment giant will cut back to including only seven LGTB characters in each children’s movie.
“This is a significant change of course from our previous policy of introducing a minimum of three dozen gay or trans characters per project,” Iger said at Disney’s town hall this week. “We’ll continue to press forward with our crusade to make every character queer, we’ll just do it at a slower pace.”
Insider reports indicate the company will proceed with its upcoming animated film The Lion Queen, in which Simba rules the animal kingdom while wearing makeup, false eyelashes, and feather boas. Conversely, Disney is said to be temporarily shelving Marvel’s Ex-Men, a reboot of the superhero team featuring a cast made up entirely of post-op gender re-assignment patients.
“Pushing alternative lifestyles and female dominance over men will continue to be a core principle across all of our intellectual properties,” said Ima Formerdude, Disney’s Chief Woke Agenda Person. “Putting all this stuff in front of as many children as possible is still a priority.”
At publishing time, the company was still rumored to be engaging in a debate as to whether or not to move forward with revealing Miss Piggy from The Muppets to be a male pig in drag all along.
Watch as a fired Twitter employee applies for her first *actual* job:
He’s even threatening that schools might “need” to be shut down again. Also today: Republicans in the House call for MORE long-range missiles to Ukraine. Finally, Liz Cheney accused of politicizing the January 6th Committee.
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