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
Deception is spiritually deadly because at every point that you believe lies you cannot believe truth, and it is the truth that sets us free and by which we are sanctified.
Have you ever noticed how many times and how many ways the Bible warns of being deceived? By clear admonition as well as by graphic example God repeatedly calls us to be on our guard against believing lies. That’s what deception is–believing what is not true. It is one of the great works of the enemy of our souls. So the Lord repeatedly warns us about it in Scripture:
Luke 21:8, Jesus warned His disciples: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am [He],’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them.”
Romans 7:11, Paul describes the role of deception in his spiritual bondage: “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed [me].”
1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul identifies “cheap grace” with deception: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”
2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Galatians 6:7, Paul warns those who think that they can get away with sin: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
2 Timothy 3:13, This is a problem that will constantly threaten us in this life: “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Titus 3:3, It is the very condition out of which we have been converted: “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”
James 1:16, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”
Revelation 20:8,10, It is the devil’s design to “deceive the nations.”
This is a mere sampling of the Bible’s warnings. Deception is spiritually deadly because at every point that you believe lies you cannot believe truth, and it is the truth that sets us free and by which we are sanctified (John 8:32,17:17).
If deception is dangerous, self-deception is disastrous. When you have been deceived by another, that person shares the blame for your condition, but when your deception is self-imposed, you alone are accountable. Further, self-deception is perniciously destructive. It is hard to detect and harder to eliminate.
Think about it. Have you ever met a person who admitted to being self-deceived? The very nature of self-deception is that there is no conscious awareness of believing lies. Self-deception emerges from living on a self-referential basis. Such people measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves to themselves and, Paul says, “are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12).
The very nature of self-deception is that there is no conscious awareness of believing lies. Self-deception emerges from living on a self-referential basis.
This is the problem that Jesus exposed to the church at Laodicea. They were self-deceived. Their evaluation of themselves was radically different from Jesus’ evaluation of them. Their self-assessment went like this: “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” But Jesus’ assessment of them was this: “[You] do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). They believed lies. Their press reports on earth were completely opposite of their record in heaven. In this regard their condition was the same as that of the church at Sardis, to whom Jesus said, “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1).
Can you imagine a more spiritually dangerous position to be in? To have a reputation of being alive–written up in denominational newspapers as a model church–and yet, in the eyes of the Lord, to be dead! To think that all is well when in fact, according to Jesus, all is rotten!
The mere possibility of falling into this kind of deadly trap ought to be enough to breed extreme humility in the most experienced believer and most accomplished church. It ought to call us to radical commitment to measuring our lives by what the Scripture calls us to be and do and by nothing else. It ought to make us willing to listen to criticism–even criticism from those who openly oppose us (in this regard some of my strongest opponents have served me best because had no interest in sparing my feelings, as friends sometimes do, and therefore have spoken honestly, if harshly, about my faults).
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Finally, the ever-present danger of self-deception should keep us running to Jesus Christ as the great Shepherd of our souls. We desperately need Him to secure our standing and our walk. We need His protection and provision at every step of our journey. Our only hope and our certain supply is His righteousness and His sacrifice which is ours through faith and faith alone.
So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. (Psalm 58:11)
God’s judgments in this life are not always clearly to be seen, for in many cases one event happeneth alike to all. This is the state of probation, not of punishment or reward. Yet at times God works terrible things in righteousness, and even the careless are compelled to own His hand.
Even in this life righteousness has that kind of reward which it prefers above all others, namely, the smile of God, which creates a quiet conscience. Sometimes other recompenses follow, for God will be in no man’s debt. But, at the same time, the chief reward of the righteous lies in the hereafter.
Meanwhile, on a large scale, we mark the presence of the great Ruler among the nations. He breaks in pieces oppressive thrones and punishes guilty peoples. No one can study the history of the rise and fall of empires without perceiving that there is a power which makes for righteousness and, in the end, brings iniquity before its bar and condemns it with unsparing justice. Sin shall not go unpunished, and goodness shall not remain unrewarded. The Judge of all the earth must do right. Therefore, let us fear before Him and no more dread the power of the wicked.
Our granddaughters, Mercedes (age five) and Tia (age three), were having dinner with us. They were wiggly and giggly just before my husband prayed before the meal.
“Settle down girls,” I said,
“Grandpa is going to talk to God.”
“Talk to God?” asked Mercedes, her big, brown eyes wide open.
“Grandpa is talking to God?”
That was new concept to her. She knew how to “pray” but didn’t realize that praying was actually talking to God.
Vonette Bright, the co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, International, was the person who first modeled spontaneous prayer for me. Talking to God anytime and anywhere. When we were driving from one city to the next, she would suddenly start talking to God about the subjects we were discussing. When we passed a car accident, she would begin praying for the well being of the people in the cars involved in the accident. When she was packing her clothes in garment bags, she would thank for Lord for His provisions.
It is very satisfying to pray spontaneously.
We pray for our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We pray for staff team, about the subjects of our conversation, for our friends and acquaintances, the state of the world, for unbelievers, new believers and much more.
When someone asks you to pray for them, do it right then, either person to person, on the phone or email. They will be blessed; you will be blessed. When the Lord brings names of people or situations to mind, pray for them.
Always keep on praying. Prayer is talking to God – talk to Him.
Father, what a privilege it is to talk to You. You are always there, You are always listening. You always hear us. You care! You like to talk to us. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
“Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results” James 5:1
“I can take my telescope and look millions and millions of miles into space,” said the great scientist Sir Isaac Newton , “but I can lay it aside and go into my room, shut the door, get down on my knees in earnest prayer, and see more of heaven and get closer to God than I can assisted by all the telescopes and material agencies on earth.”
Among many other things, the carnal Christian is characterized by a poor prayer life. The spiritual Christian, on the other hand, is characterized by an effective fruitful prayer life.
Prayer is simply communicating with God by listening as well as talking. The acrostic ACTS is helpful in recalling the various components of effective prayer, though the order is not necessarily rigid.
“A” is for adoration – worship of God, first for who He is; and second for all of His benefits. He alone is worthy of our adoration and praise.
“C” stands for confession. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Sometimes this component should take priority, especially for the unbeliever and the disobedient believer, because God does not hear the prayers of the disobedient until they confess. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” Psalms 66:18 (KJV).
“T” is for thanksgiving – gratitude to God for His blessings.
“S” represents supplication – expressing our petitions to God for individuals and specific things and events.
Action Point: I will claim great power and wonderful results for supernatural living by a righteous life and by giving priority to prayer. I will remember to bring my adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication to God throughout the day.
Oedipal rage against “Bibi” and what he represents What is oedipal rage? It’s an emotion that can engulf one’s entire sense of being—a red hot feeling that can dismiss all rational thought and genuine self-interest. For years we have had to endure a lynch atmosphere in which all of the media seem to be like an endless series of firing squads all aimed in the direction of Benjamin Netanyahu. What is it that has created this relentless politics of rage and hatred? What can explain this “kill the beast” atmosphere in our streets among demonstrators?
Emmanuel Macron Defies United States Warning And Authorizes Sending SCALP Long-Range Missiles To Ukraine In Fight Against Russia French president Emmanuel Macron said Paris would provide the SCALP surface-to-air missile system to strike targets further inside Russian-occupied territory. Emmanuel Macron is out in front, leading the pack of nations and forcing them to play ‘catch up’ with him. This time it’s surrounding sending next-level firepower to Ukraine in the form of SCALP surface-to-air long range missiles.
Red States, Blue Cities: Who’s To Blame For America’s Homicide Crisis The answer is that it’s not a red vs. blue state debate, but rather a red vs. blue city one. And when you look at America’s homicide hotspots, the vast majority are run by blue leadership and they have been for decades. The evidence is overwhelming.
Where Is Everyone? Disney World “Just About Empty” Disney World in Orlando is suffering – here it is nearly mid-July, schools are out, families are on vacation, and the streets at Disney are just about empty!
Biden’s pick for top US general warns on Republican blocking promotions Biden’s nominee to become the top U.S. general warned on Tuesday that a Republican senator’s blockade of military promotions could have a far-reaching impact across the U.S. armed forces, affecting troops and their families.
Vermont capital submerged in floodwaters with dam on verge of capacity MONTPELIER, Vermont, July 11 (Reuters) – A dam upstream from the Vermont state capital was holding at maximum capacity on Tuesday after “catastrophic” flooding shut down roadways leading out of Montpelier and trapped people in their homes. The Wrightsville Dam, which forms a reservoir four miles (6.4 km) north of Montpelier, neared the point at which a spillway would need to release water into the North Branch of the Winooski River, city officials said.
Dalai Lama says Chinese officials want to contact him over Tibet issues Tibet’s foremost spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has revealed that Chinese officials have sought contact with him, either “officially or unofficially” to discuss Tibet issues. “I am always open to talk, and Chinese officials have now realized that Tibetan people’s spirits are very strong, so in order to deal with Tibetan problems they want to contact me. I am also ready,” he said.
Fmr. Putin navy commander assassinated on street In a chilling turn of events reminiscent of Cold War-style cloak and dagger tactics, former Russian submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky was gunned down during an early Monday morning run in the Russian city of Krasnodar. According to the New York Post, Russian authorities believe that Rzhitsky’s killer used the popular Strava fitness app to track the ex-captain’s jogging routes, leveraging the power of digital tools to a fatal end. The 42-year-old Rzhitsky, was murdered near Krasnodar’s Olympus Arena shortly after dawn. The assassin shot him four times using a Makarov pistol. Rzhitsky succumbed to his wounds at the scene.
King Charles III And His Climate Doomsday Clock: The False Predictions Designed To Deceive Despite the lengthy history of planet Earth, King Charles III apparently knows to the second how much time we have left before the doom of civilization due to global warming. Amazing! He emphasizes “global renewables,” however, the means of capturing such sources of energy are not renewable. They are subject to weather conditions and highly toxic to the environment when their usefulness expires.
Inferno, thy name is Cleon: Israel braces for a heatwave Israel is bracing for one of the most intense heat waves in its existence with the arrival of Cleon expected later this week. As of Tuesday, temperatures will gradually rise and by Cleaon will make its full force felt, in a prolonged wave that is expected to persist into the following week. Temperatures will exceed 30°C (86 °F) throughout the country, and reach upwards of 40°C (104°F) in the south and east. …
‘They Can Kill Me If They Want, But The Score Was 11-1:’ Pittsburgh Synagogue Killer’s Chilling Message to Psychiatrist According to Dietz’s diagnosis, Bowers does not suffer from psychosis, schizophrenia or any form of mental delusion. He noted that Bowers started planning the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting six months in advance and quoted the killer’s regret that “there wasn’t dozens and dozens more” potential victims at the synagogue. He testified that Bowers told him he had aimed at “the best target I had available” and that he had selected the Tree of Life Synagogue to “get the most bang for his buck.”
Trump blasts Biden over cluster munitions to Ukraine “Joe Biden should not be dragging us further toward World War III by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine — he should be trying to END the war and stop the horrific death and destruction being caused by an incompetent administration,” Trump said.
Russia launches drone attack on Kyiv 2nd night in row Russia launched a wave of drone attacks on Kyiv and its region a second night in row, with air defense systems engaged in repelling the strike, a Ukraine military official said. “The air raid alert is on! Air defense systems engaged in the region on approach to Kyiv,” Serhiy Popko, head of the military administration for the Ukrainian capital said on the Telegram messaging app.
In a warning to nuclear Iran, US and Israel air forces prepare with another joint military drill The American and Israeli air forces launched a joint military exercise on Sunday in an apparent warning to the Iranian regime and its nuclear facilities. While Iran was not mentioned explicitly, Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that the drill included Israeli Air Force planes simulating strikes against “strategic targets in the depth,” which is allegedly a reference to Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
Over one million Israelis visit UAE since Abraham Accords signing When considering this number, it should be taken into account that this period marked the height of the pandemic travel restrictions. But over half a million Israelis traveled to Dubai in 2022, with over a quarter of a million visits in the last quarter alone, making the UAE a leading tourist destination among the Israeli public.
He opined about “building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not trickling down.” He said he came to office wanting “to change the economic direction of this country.” He teased about opponents calling his program “Bidenomics” and instead embraced and attempted to redefine the term. Despite supposedly overcoming even the doubts of “some on my own team,” he declared, “Our plan is working.”
Boy howdy is it working — and that’s terrible for the country.
To be sure, not everything’s bad. We’ve somehow avoided sustained recession. The stock market is on the upswing. Unemployment is very low. Gas prices are stable. The rampant inflation of the last two years is slowing.
But to redirect Barack Obama’s infamous comment to Joe Biden: “You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
That somebody else, frankly, is Donald Trump. To oversimplify things, he signed economy-spurring tax cuts into law early in his presidency and deregulated government to get it out of the way. The lasting effects of the subsequent stellar growth helped us survive COVID and even, so far, the pandemic of Biden’s socialist-light policies.
Think we’re being too partisan? Well, Biden and his staff are out there claiming credit for creating the jobs that all existed during Trump’s administration. They’re not putting it that way, of course, instead dishonestly framing it as Biden’s doing. “Over 13 million new jobs since I’ve been elected to office,” Biden said, “more jobs than any president has ever created in their first two years.”
Our Douglas Andrews aptly explained why Biden’s boast is a lie, but for now suffice it to say that even if presidents created jobs, people going back to jobs they lost isn’t “creating” jobs.
Biden and his lackeys are doing the same thing with inflation. “What is Bidenomics?” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pretended to answer. Well, for one thing, she said, “Inflation cut in half.”
It’s easier to cut something in half if you exponentially increase its size first. And inflation is still rising, not falling.
Don’t miss the importance of this context when reading misleading headlines about today’s 3% inflation report. When Biden came into office, annualized inflation was 1.4%. The moment he and his party rammed through the American Rescue Plan, pouring trillions more special-interest tax dollars into an already overheating recovery, inflation began soaring. The annualized rate nearly doubled between March and April 2021 and continued rising for well over a year, topping out at 9.1% in June 2022. Since then, the annualized rate has gradually fallen to 3.0% last month, the lowest level since March 2021. That still means prices are rising, and remember, the Federal Reserve’s goal is that prices rise “only” 2% every year.
More importantly, cumulative inflation is over 16% since Biden took office, though even that’s not quite a full picture of the devastation brought to family budgets since Biden “rescued” us.
Is anything less expensive than it was when Biden took office?
Bought a fast-food combo meal recently? It might have been 50% more expensive that it was in 2020. Purchased a car (if you could find one)? Again, probably 30% to 50% pricier than it used to be. Gas prices are stable, but when Trump left office, the national average price was $2.39 a gallon. Today, after receding from a high of $5.02, it’s still $3.54.
Then there are house prices. Younger prospective buyers are being priced out of the market because home prices are so much higher and because interest rates are more than double what they were two years ago — and the Federal Reserve isn’t done raising them. That makes the long-term price of a house literally hundreds of thousands of dollars more than under Trump.
High valuation also jacks up homeowners’ insurance and property taxes, which many people pay in mortgage bills that are suddenly hundreds of dollars more expensive every month. The same goes for the insurance cost of owning automobiles — especially the vastly more expensive electric ones Biden wants to force everyone to drive.
Speaking of out-of-touch buffoons, Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s labor secretary, took to the pages of the UK Guardian to wonder, “Why aren’t Americans happier about the economy?” Indeed, he marveled, “Why do so many Americans continue to think the economy is awful?”
It’s true that we should all count our blessings, but there’s a simple answer to Reich’s condescending question: We literally can’t afford Biden’s economy. As the RNC recently summarized, “Savings are down, real wages are down, and economic confidence is down.”
In fact, Reich answers his own question by directly rebutting Biden’s assertion that his plan is “working everywhere.” Reich says, “The rich get richer, the poor grow poorer, and the working middle is under worsening siege.”
Not to worry. Biden’s reelection theme is that he needs to “finish the job,” and he says Bidenomics is just the way to do it.
Ukraine and NATO, outgoing Obama targeted Trump, $1 trillion a year in interest, and more.
Thomas Gallatin & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
Ukraine in NATO? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke at NATO’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday in his ongoing effort to appeal to the members to accept Ukraine into the alliance. A day prior, Zelensky was fuming over NATO members’ “unprecedented and absurd” resistance to Ukraine’s candidacy. But his tone on Wednesday was more measured as he stated: “We understand some [of our partners] are afraid of talking about our membership now. Nobody wants a world war.” On Sunday, Joe Biden rejected NATO membership for Ukraine right now by explaining: “If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.” And Biden is right on this front — accepting Ukraine into NATO during its war with Russia would effectively be a declaration of war by the U.S. and the rest of NATO.
It’s official: Outgoing Obama targeted Trump: The plot to torpedo Donald Trump’s presidency may have arisen from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, but it was the Obama administration that took the ball and ran with it. A National Security Agency record of correspondence during the final month of the Obama administration, obtained by The Daily Signal via a Freedom of Information Act request, confirms it. Of significance is the record of “unmasking” requests by Obama officials and those specifically targeting Michael Flynn, whom Trump had chosen as his national security advisor. It appears that Flynn was targeted to prevent him from uncovering the plot behind the Trump-Russia collusion hoax. In short, if it wasn’t for the Obama administration’s involvement, the Trump-Russia hoax might have been DOA.
U.S. sub fleet operating at just over 60% The maintenance backlog of U.S. Naval submarines currently has nearly 40% of the fleet out of commission. This backlog is an increase over last year, which saw 33% of subs out of commission, when the best practice target should be only 20%. The raw numbers seem a bit less alarming. Currently, 18 of the U.S. Navy’s 49 attack subs are out of commission, which is two more than last year at this time. In any case, what’s causing this backlog? The primary culprit, explained Government Accountability Office spokesman Chuck Young, is aging shipyards’ “old facilities and inefficient layouts.” He noted that the Navy is currently five years into a 20-year plan to redesign four shipyards. With China rapidly expanding its navy, this news is disconcerting.
Last U.S. chemical weapons arsenal destroyed: In 1997, the Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international agreement that prohibited the development, production, stockpile, and transfer of chemical weapons. Following ratification, the U.S. began the tedious task of destroying our stockpile of chemical weapons, and last Friday the task was finally completed. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Kingston Reif explained, “The United States destroyed over 30,000 metric tons of declared chemical agent contained in nearly 3.5 million chemical munitions, over 22,500 one-ton containers containing chemical agent, and over 50,500 bottles and containers containing chemical agent.”
$1 trillion a year in interest: This is what happens when the government spends money like a drunken sailor. The debt the U.S. government has accumulated and added to especially since the COVID pandemic has grown astronomically. As a result, this year, for the first time in U.S. history, the federal government will spend $1 trillion in taxpayer money on interest on the national debt. That is the equivalent of the entire value of Apple effectively up in smoke. To make matters worse, every year Congress keeps adding more to the ballooning debt. Will Americans ever be free from this debt our government has and continues to accumulate?
Another House COVID report: House Republicans have released another report on COVID. This one focuses on Dr. Anthony Fauci’s efforts to suppress the lab leak theory by pushing researchers to produce a paper to “discredit” it. That paper, known as the Proximal Origin paper, was produced clearly out of geopolitical concerns rather than dispassionate fidelity to the science. For example, one of the paper’s authors, Andrew Rambaut, expressed worry in a draft paper over the “s**t show that would happen if anyone serious accused the Chinese of even accidental release.” That motivation “was antithetical to science,” Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) observed. “The authors of Proximal Origin ultimately took a one-sided educated guess … [and] wilfully ignored evidence of a lab leak,” he added. “Science doesn’t follow a narrative, but fosters debate.” That the lab leak origin for COVID is now the prevailing theory accepted by most federal government agencies only goes to further expose that political and not scientific considerations were the driving force behind much of the COVID narrative.
Headlines
U.S. forced to walk back comments Biden made about military (Daily Wire)
Justice Sotomayor’s staff “prodded” libraries and colleges into buying her books so she could earn $3.7 million (Not the Bee)
FBI worked to censor Americans for Russian-infiltrated Ukrainian intelligence (Just the News)
FBI director to face harsh critics at House Judiciary oversight hearing (Roll Call)
Spanish climate minister flies on private jet to eco-conference, gets out of limo a hundred yards before venue to ride bike for the cameras (Not the Bee)
Humor: Obese man explains to doctor he’s just fighting far-right extremism (Babylon Bee)
Humor: Miss Netherlands “champing at the bit” to compete in next beauty pageant (Babylon Bee)
A new House Republican bill offers some solid steps toward election integrity.
Douglas Andrews
Very little seems to be going right for the Democrats these days, but they have surpassing confidence in one particular American institution: our voting system.
Why? Because most Republican voters think it’s broken. And when people sense that something is broken, they tend to not use it. Here’s how the Appropriated Press spins it:
Few Republicans have high confidence that votes will be tallied accurately in next year’s presidential contest, suggesting years of sustained attacks against elections by former President Donald Trump and his allies have taken a toll, according to a new poll.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds that only 22% of Republicans have high confidence that votes in the upcoming presidential election will be counted accurately compared to 71% of Democrats, underscoring a partisan divide fueled by a relentless campaign of lies related to the 2020 presidential election. Even as he runs for the White House a third time, Trump continues to promote the false claim that the election was stolen.
Those are stunning numbers. And that’s a mind-boggling differential: One in five Republicans is confident in the current electoral system, while nearly three in four Democrats are.
Why are the Democrats so confident? It’s simple: The current system works for them, and it works smashingly well.
And did you catch the AP’s implication in all this? Republicans are simply being irrational. They’re being fed “a relentless campaign of lies” by Donald Trump, and that campaign has eroded confidence in today’s clean-as-a-whistle Election Day Week Month Season.
Nope, nothing to fear here. Just because France banned mass mail-in voting in 1975 doesn’t mean it’s risky. Just because a bipartisan 2005 report from the Commission on Federal Election Reform — a commission chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker — concluded that absentee ballots “remain the largest source of potential voter fraud” doesn’t mean anything’s out of whack with our current electoral system.
Clearly, something needs to be done. The question is: What?
Wisconsin Republican Brian Steil, who chairs the Committee on House Administration, has an idea. On Monday, he and his fellow House Republicans introduced an election reform bill, the American Confidence in Elections Act, which they tout as the “most conservative election integrity bill to be seriously considered in the House in over 20 years.”
That may be so, but just because the House might pass an election integrity bill doesn’t mean it has a snowball’s chance in Chuck Schumer’s Senate. Still, we’re willing to hear out Steil and his colleagues because the alternative is the status quo. And the status quo is a disaster.
The bill “focuses on the importance of strong election integrity reforms that meet the moment by bolstering voter confidence in our elections while respecting the Constitution, federalism, and conservative principles,” as its summary statement puts it. “Further, the ACE Act continues to address disappointing challenges faced by military and overseas voters and makes the biggest legislative effort in a generation to protect political speech in a climate where Democrats are doing everything in their power to determine ‘truth’ and silence conservative voices.”
As the Washington Examiner reports: “The bill would put restrictions on election practices that have been the target of conservative scrutiny. It would require states to preserve election materials for 22 months, allow states to use federal funds on audits, and restrict ballot harvesting.”
Further, in an op-ed in the Examiner, Steil describes the bill:
The ACE Act has three main pillars: equipping states with election integrity tools, implementing election integrity reforms in Washington, D.C., and protecting political speech and donor privacy. … The primary section of the bill is focused on providing states with tools to improve voter confidence. We will remove outdated policies that stand in their way and provide access to information held only by federal agencies.“
This seems to us a good start because it’s an attempt to return the power of elections to its rightful home: the states. Which is exactly the opposite of what the Democrats want to do with their race-baiting abomination of an elections bill.
Among the many infuriating anomalies we’ve often noted about the 2020 election was that Basement Joe Biden lost 18 of 19 “bellwether” counties and won a smaller percentage of counties nationwide than any winning president ever — and yet he still got more population-adjusted votes than the “articulate and bright and clean” and wildly popular Barack Obama did in 2008.
In fact, Biden won just 16.7% of counties in 2020, which shattered the previous record low of 22% set by Obama in 2012, which broke the previous record low of 28% also set by Obama in 2008. So, in 2020, Donald Trump won 2,547 counties to Joe Biden’s 507, and he hauled in a whopping 13 million more votes than he did in 2016, and yet he lost the election by seven million or so votes.
But, no, as the AP insists, there’s nothing wrong with our electoral system. You’re just being fed “a relentless campaign of lies.”
We’re not sure what, legitimately, can be done about electoral reform without control of both houses of Congress and the presidency, but if we allow a replay of 2020 in 2024, we’ll get the government we deserve.
And we’ll get it good and hard.
As Steil concludes in his op-ed: “The Left is already attacking the ACE Act, just as they attacked Georgia’s election integrity law. But protecting our elections is too important to back down. Today’s introduction of the ACE Act is the first step in this fight.”
Mothers’ mental health outcomes are worse, not better, if they have an abortion.
Emmy Griffin
The Charlotte Lozier Institute recently conducted a peer-reviewed study in which it analyzed the data of women receiving Medicaid. It looked at 4,800 women’s claims over a 17-year period (1999-2015). The choice to use Medicaid claims and not self-reporting was a pointed one. Self-reporting is fraught with low participation and unreliable narration issues that affect the quality of the data. The study also analyzed only the data from states that used taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. There were seven states in all from all regions of the country.
The findings were astonishing. Women whose first pregnancy was ended by an abortion had a higher instance of needing mental health services compared to women who chose birth. They were 3.4 times more likely to need further outpatient visits, 5.7 times more likely to need inpatient hospital visits, and 19.6 times more likely to have an increased number of days in the hospital.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute is a pro-life organization. However, its research findings align with other findings in Germany, Italy, Finland, China, and Korea.
Lead author James Studnicki, Sc.D. sums up the findings: “Some researchers insist that any limits on abortion to protect mothers and children create ‘mental health harms’. Our study using years of claims data adds to an extensive body of international, peer-reviewed science showing the opposite — abortion itself has a significant negative impact on several measures of mental health.”
With abortion being such a hot-button political issue in the U.S., pro-abortion institutions such as Planned Parenthood love to spread the lie that women need to abort their children because not doing so will give them a higher likelihood of mental health struggles. Pro-abortion institutions also like to further the lie that crisis pregnancy centers don’t care about mothers and children post-birth.
However, it is places like Planned Parenthood where two people enter and only one leaves alive. Abortion is a clinical, dehumanizing, painful, and raw experience. Many times these women feel immense pressure to abort their child. That pressure may come from their significant other, their family, or even the Planned Parenthood workers. After the abortion, these abortion mills provide little to no follow-up with the women they deprive of their children. There is no compassion. These women and their children are just quotas and paychecks to them.
It is crisis pregnancy centers that offer community and support for mothers in need. They are the ones providing free birth classes; setting up baby boutiques for mothers to get what they need for their children; sponsoring charity drives for diapers and other necessities; offering post-birth follow-ups and classes and community; providing healthcare services and counseling throughout; and even having compassionate post-abortion-care classes available. These pro-life volunteers care about both mother and child, their stories, and their future.
Abortion is fundamentally a dehumanizing act. It reduces the child in the womb to a clump of cells and a woman to dollars and cents. Regardless of the euphemisms used to hide the truth, women know that they have destroyed a life created within them. That is very difficult to reconcile and the data lines up with that.
If you know someone who is having a pregnancy crisis or is struggling with the aftershocks of abortion, please consider contacting your local crisis pregnancy center. Helping mothers is what they do.
The nation’s ostensibly leading agency for medical science says men can safely “chestfeed” babies.
Samantha Koch
Once a credible government health organization, the CDC has come out of the closet to affirm its true identity as a political activist establishment.
The agency was previously known for publishing current and relevant health information regarding vaccines and diseases, as well as public health protocols and guidance on numerous health-related issues that concern the public. However, since its questionable edicts were imposed on society during the COVID pandemic, it has become apparent to most that politics plays a greater role in the decision-making process than actual science.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, and former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky became the most well-known names associated with dubious standards and protocols set during COVID. Their mask recommendations and policies seemed to be backed by those with the most to gain by tying our freedom to compliance rather than being based on whether masks could protect us from a virus. Mandates for the vaccines were likewise not based on whether they were actually effective.
Not all of that was determined by the CDC, but it was the CDC’s blatant dismissal of reality while promoting senseless public protocols that led to a substantial decline in trust. And it appears as though the CDC believes that the path of decreasing trust is the option that best suits its newfound identity as a political organization.
Walensky began her stint as CDC director in 2021, and her political biases in her medical recommendations for COVID protocols became abundantly clear when the guidance she provided seemed to conveniently align with the demands of another leftist organization, the American Federation of Teachers, and its president, Randi Weingarten.
In a recent hearing with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Walensky was asked about the decisions that were made at the time and what her communication with Weingarten had been regarding school closure policies. It was discovered that the two women had each other’s private contact information, and when pressed, Walensky struggled to answer the question of whether any of their communication had been about determining mandates for schools or if she had deleted any texts from their conversation.
Ironically, Walensky has repeatedly warned against politicizing medicine. Even in an outgoing interview in preparation to leave her role as CDC director, she said in the Wall Street Journal’s paraphrase, “Be on guard against misinformation and the politicization of science.”
If only she had followed that advice.
Recently, the CDC published guidance for transgender individuals, both male and female, on how to breastfeed or “chestfeed” newborn infants. The guidance covers females who have had their breasts completely removed under the idea that they can become male. Bizarrely, it also covers men who are trying to unnaturally force the growth of breast tissue by taking powerful drugs to feminize their bodies in misguided attempts to live as women.
There is no other way to describe this recommendation other than being deeply consumed by political beliefs. There is no scientific data or sane doctor with a valid argument for whatever the substance that is secreting from a male’s synthetic, drug-induced breast tissue being anything close to not only breast milk but any type of nutritional material that could safely be ingested by any living organism — let alone a newborn infant — without severe side effects.
Dr. Miriam Grossman is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist who has been vocal about the immeasurable damage being done to children and teens through the gender ideology movement. She gave an interview in which she excoriated the CDC for making such dangerous, irresponsible, and unfounded health proposals.
“This is just an unbelievably egregious position,” she said, “saying that men living as women can be given these drugs for off-label use — for example, they might treat schizophrenia or other medical illnesses. They have this adverse effect called galactorrhea. … It means that a man’s breast tissue begins to secrete a substance. That substance is not breast milk. Furthermore, that substance that is going to be given to these infants has chemicals in it. Those chemicals are going to be absorbed by the infant. That’s the CDC these days.”
It is common knowledge that a woman who is breastfeeding an infant has to be very careful about the medications — both over-the-counter and prescribed — that she puts into her body. She has to be careful about the foods she eats, as dairy, vegetables, or any number of things can upset her baby’s digestive system. She is advised to avoid alcohol or caffeine. These legitimate, science- and data-based instructions are provided to a nursing woman because everything she eats or ingests will go directly into the baby’s system.
There are also certain foods that mothers are warned not to give their babies before the age of one. The options for pain and cold medicines for babies and toddlers is severely limited because their systems are not developed enough to safely process even child-safe remedies. It’s not until the ages of four to six when the choices in treating a fever or a runny nose expand drastically.
Allowing infants to drink milk — or, rather, nipple discharge — that is highly contaminated with potent chemicals strong enough to induce life-altering, permanent changes in an adult could and likely will lead to harmful effects in their own vulnerable and developing bodies, minds, and systems.
Of course, feelings are now the most important guiding factor in society. So, whether these infants develop severe side effects from the egregious act of being nursed by the secretions of a delusional individual is apparently a risk worth taking and a sacrifice babies need to make to preserve the feelings of the severely mentally ill.
The question is who or what will the activist CDC blame for babies who end up suffering serious side effects?
At this rate, the baby himself will likely be criticized for rejecting trans-milk and not affirming the identity of his “chestfeeder” by accepting feelings as a legitimate source of nutrition.
The best safeguard against those repercussions would actually be to internalize Walensky’s parting warning to be on guard against misinformation and the politicization of science.
Biden’s DOD is violating the law, and the senator from Alabama is the only one standing in his way.
Thomas Gallatin
Back in September, just a few months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the question of abortion law to the states, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new rule change.
The new rule change, which the Biden administration touted, effectively would make abortion available — at taxpayer expense — for any veteran irrespective of any state’s laws that may ban or severely limit abortion.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends its medical regulations to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and establish exceptions to the exclusion on abortions in the medical benefits package for veterans who receive care set forth in that package, and to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and expand the exceptions to the exclusion on abortions for Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) beneficiaries,” reads the Biden administration’s rule change.
Republicans were quick to object. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville introduced a resolution to prevent the Biden administration from unilaterally imposing a new rule that explicitly reversed the prior rule.
Tuberville argued that taxpayers should not be paying for abortions, calling it illegal prior to a Senate vote in April on a resolution that failed to pass. “We’re going to vote to overturn it because it is illegal, it is wrong, and it abuses taxpayer dollars,” he said. “In September, the VA announced they were going to start performing abortions. The VA had never done abortions before.”
He’s right. “Congress banned abortion at the VA 30 years ago,” the senator explained. “It was unanimous. One of the senators who voted for that bill was Joe Biden. We have never repealed this law. It is still on the books, and the administration needs to follow it. The administration doesn’t get to change the law without a vote in Congress.”
The one Democrat senator to agree with Tuberville and vote with the Republicans was West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, who argued that tax dollars aren’t supposed to pay for abortion. “The Hyde Amendment was that protection,” Manchin observed. “It was that buffering that we weren’t forcing your dollars to be used for an abortion that you deeply, deeply disbelieved in.”
Importantly, Manchin further articulated the immediate problem: “If this has to be changed, it should be voted upon. If the legislation that the president wants to do and this administration, then bring it before in a piece of legislation, and let’s go through the process.” Precisely.
But as has repeatedly been the case with the Biden administration, the Rule of Law only matters if it supports Biden’s political agenda. And abortion on demand anywhere and everywhere is the “good Catholic” Biden’s policy position.
Well, following that failed Senate vote, Tuberville could have admitted defeat and moved on. But saving the lives of the preborn is too important. And the former college football coach effectively embraced the famous words of Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones: “I have not yet begun to fight!”
Like an Alabama tick, Tuberville has dug in. Ever since that failed vote, Tuberville has drawn a line in the sand, withholding his vote on all Pentagon appointments, which require a unanimous vote in order to avoid a time-consuming individual vote, until the Biden administration reverses course on its abortion rule.
Tuberville’s action has singlehandedly prevented hundreds of Pentagon nominations from being approved. This has resulted in the headline-grabbing story this week of the U.S. Marine Corps currently being left without a commandant for the first time in 164 years. To be clear, this has not left the Marines without a top officer, despite the impression given by the White House and Leftmedia.
Former Commandant General David Berger has relinquished command to current Acting Commandant General Eric Smith, even though Smith is not officially recognized as the official commandant.
Of course, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could call for an individual vote on Smith, which would likely mean a quick and easy confirmation. But the issue here is all about the politics of abortion for Democrats and the Biden administration. They want to get Tuberville to bend on abortion.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is attempting to use the issue of military readiness and national security to pressure Tuberville into giving up his stand. It enlisted calls from several former and current Pentagon leaders to urge him to end his boycott.
Tuberville’s answer is a resolute no. “I continue to reiterate my stance and my position over the last, almost, four months now, about my opposition to this policy,” he said. “Now, the burden is not on me to pass legislation to stop this illegal policy, the burden is on the administration. The burden is on the administration to stop breaking the law. And so let me just say this one more time — because I keep getting asked the same question over and over again. I will keep my hold, I will keep it on, until the Pentagon follows the law or changes the law. It’s that simple. Those are the two conditions that would get me to drop the hold. So, until these conditions are met, I object.”
Let the objection continue. This is not only an issue of abortion; it’s also an issue of Rule of Law. And Tuberville is standing on the right side of both of these issues.
‘Americans Love Abortion’ — Yes, that is the reprehensible advice given to Joe Biden for success in 2024. What does one say in response to that?
Axel Kaiser: How the Left Destroyed My Country — Native Chilean Axel Kaiser witnessed a Marxist revolution overtake his beloved homeland in Latin America, reversing decades of prosperity the country once enjoyed thanks to a free market and leaders who enforced the rule of law.
The GOP Is Finally Trying to Disarm Federal Bureaucrats — Whether it was the DHS, IRS, SSA, USPS, or EPA all arming up, it’s easy to hear echoes of George Washington and other Founders who warned against standing armies.
“This MAGA majority on the [Supreme] Court has gutted affirmative action, blocked student debt relief for millions of Americans, and greenlit discrimination against the LGBTQ community. … Congress has clear authority to oversee the federal judiciary.” —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Hot Air
“In every aspect of life, it is now being affected by the climate crisis. But again I say: This is not something where everybody has to go, ‘Oh my God, I don’t want to do this because it’s scary as hell and because we’re not gonna live the way we did.’ No! We will have a better quality of life!” —climate czar John Kerry
“We have two choices: you either capture the emissions, or you don’t create them in the first place.” —John Kerry
Keen Sense of the Obvious
“This issue of transportation is fundamentally about just making sure that people have the ability to get where they need to go. It’s that basic.” —Kamala Harris
For the Record
“Tommy Tuberville is the hero we need right now. The Defense Department can’t repair their subs, can’t figure out supply chain logistics for weapons, but will use all its money to pay for abortions. Good for Tuberville for standing up to the insanity.” —Erick Erickson
“Don’t buy the Left’s deception. Tuberville’s stand against unlawful abortion facilitation in the military does not affect national security or military readiness. The bigger issue: why are Democrats desecrating the rule of law to push abortion in the military?” —Tony Perkins
Insight
“Government power must be dispersed. If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. If I do not like what my local community does, be it in sewage disposal, or zoning, or schools, I can move to another local community, and though few may take this step, the mere possibility acts as a check. If I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations.” —Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
And Last…
“Topless trans-women on the lawn… Cocaine in the West Wing… Is this the ‘dignity’ that Democrats said would return to the White House?” —Tim Young
“Biden is twice as irritating as he believes himself to be, and half as intelligent into the bargain.” —Charles C.W. Cooke
Fox News contributor Joe Concha discusses the optics of Biden’s shortened work week and media reports pushing back on several of his key campaign narratives. #FoxNews
“Rather than focusing on Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as testified by a multitude of reliable witnesses and written in advance throughout the Scriptures, many Christians today have chosen to proclaim a different gospel entirely. This new and improved gospel is The Story of Us. This story is one that is perceived to be much more credible and effective than the story of Jesus, because, unlike the story of Jesus, it can’t be refuted. The end result is that we’ve inverted Paul’s statement in 2Cor 4:5—we preach not Jesus, but ourselves.”
(Shane Rosenthal) In her book, Spirituality for Dummies, Sharon Janis writes, “In a nutshell, spirituality relates to your own personal experience and relationship with the divine…Dogma can muddy the waters of a spiritual path.” Similarly, in his book Conversations with God, Neale Donald Walsch writes that “leaders, ministers, books, and even the Bible itself are not authoritative sources.”…
In fact, he claims that God specifically directs us to, “Listen to your feelings…Listen to your experience. Whenever any one of these differ from what you’ve been told by your teachers, or read in your books, forget the words. Words are the least reliable purveyor of truth.” Madonna apparently agrees with this advice. In her song, “Bedtime Story,” she sings, “Words are useless, especially sentences. They don’t stand for anything. How could they explain how I feel?” View article →
Volodomyr Zelensky got the bad news in Vilnius — notwithstanding lip service from some of the NATO members — the United States and Germany are refusing to let Ukraine join the club out of fear of broadening the war with Russia. Make no mistake — NATO is at war with Russia, but the West is cognizant of its military weakness and is not willing as an organization to risk taking steps that would provoke direct fighting between Russian and NATO forces.
However, France and the United Kingdom, acting independently of NATO, made a foolish and dangerous promise — they are going to provide Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles that can strike inside Russian territory. We have reached the point in this war where the West is struggling to come to grips with the fact that its gift of tanks and weapons to Ukraine have been a total bust and panic is setting in.
I encourage you to view the Wall Street Journal video that Andrei Martyanov posted (I can’t figure out how to post it in Word Press). At least two American Generals (retired) who have been some of the most ardent cheerleaders and spinmeisters for the Ukrainian offensive are admitting grudgingly that the operation is a bust. That is putting it mildly. The Ukrainian troops, along with their equipment, are being smashed.
Russia is no longer crouching in a defensive posture. It launched its own counter offensive and is enjoying success in pushing Ukrainian forces back:
Fighting continues on the frontline. In the #Starobelsk direction, the RF Armed Forces were able to advance in the area of the Zhuravka Balka and the vicinity of #Torskoye, and also foiled a massive attack near #Dibrova. In the #Bakhmut sector, Russian troops conducted a counterattack near #Kleshchiyevka and also repelled an enemy attack in the vicinity of #Berkhovka.
Fierce clashes are taking place in the #Vremyevka sector. Ukrainian marines are trying to advance in the area of #Priyutnoye and Grushevaya Balka, where they had previously managed to gain a foothold in plantations. At #Rabotino, the enemy unsuccessfully attacked north of the settlement, losing armoured vehicles supplied by the West.
In the #Kherson direction, Russian units continue to fight Ukrainian saboteurs who have landed on the islands and under the #Antonovsky Bridge. According to some reports, a railway bridge was blown up north of #Alyoshki.
I anticipate that Russia will intensify its attacks on Ukrainian positions at key locations along the 800 mile line of contact in the next two weeks. While NATO is scrambling to provide Ukraine with actionable intelligence to try to damage the Russian capabilities, Zelensky and his Generals confront a harsh reality that first class intelligence is useless if you do not have the manpower or equipment to make a major dent in Russian defenses. Ukraine’s military grows weaker with each fruitless attack.
I agree with Andrei that the promised escalation by France and the U.K. is likely to provoke a Russian response. It is one thing to covertly provide more sophisticated lethal weaponry to Ukraine. Recall that the Soviets did it to the Americans in Vietnam and that the United States did it to the Soviets in Afghanistan. Both the Americans and the Russians quietly agreed to live with those actions without risking escalation into a direct conflict. They continued to have normal diplomatic contacts and negotiated arms control agreements in spite of the covert proxy wars. Each side knew what the other was doing but each side also took steps to try to hide their actions.
What France and the U.K are proposing is an open provocation and, if carried out, represents a direct attack on Russia. Putin and members of his national security team have signaled clearly that there will be a response. This means we are entering a very dangerous phase in this war because the frantic desperation of the West is leading it to entertain military operations that will elicit retaliation. Russia is not going to consent to being a punching bag. At some point I anticipate that Putin will order the Russian military to start shooting down sophisticated U.S. and NATO ISR drones and disrupt, if not eliminate, the Elon Musk’s Starlink network. Russia also is likely to attack and destroy Joint and Tactical Operation Centers in Ukraine as part of its overall effort to degrade Ukraines ability to carry out offensive operations.
Russia reportedly hit Odessa’s port yesterday (Monday) with a missile strike as a prelude for ending the grain deal and asserting its control of the Black Sea. That will be a blow to Ukraine and Turkey and there is little the West can do in response without creating a casus belli for Russia to hit targets where NATO advisers are located.
It looks like the Biden-McCarthy “Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023” will rival the Inflation Reduction Act (Green New Deal) in its Orwellian meaning and outcome. Just five weeks after the deal was hatched, the Treasury has issued over $1 trillion in new debt!
This is simply astounding. It took from our founding until 1980 to accrue the amount of debt that we have now added in just over five weeks. It is truly hard to overstate the magnitude and impact of this spending. Unlike in recent years, when we were servicing this debt at 1%-2% interest rates, this new debt will be serviced with an over 5% interest rate! Our debt has increased almost 50% in just four years, topping out near $32.5 trillion, but now it will have a compounding effect with higher interest rates to service it. So this notion that inflation will decrease in the long run is absurd. This debt is not just a number on the government balance sheet. It represents why middle-income Americans will not be able to afford the American dream for the foreseeable future. So no, the debt ceiling deal did not “avoid default,” it accelerated it.
There is no way to avoid the flood of inflation for the foreseeable future. The Federal Reserve will continue printing money to service the debt. The elevated cost of living induced by the money pumping will continue to create political pressure (and market forces) for the Fed to keep interest rates elevated under the ill-conceived notion that it will temper inflation, which further harms consumers, as we see with homes and cars. This, in turn, has created a level of personal household debt we’ve never seen before.
Personal credit card debt is now approaching $1 trillion, up 15% since pre-COVID and more than triple what it was before the Great Recession in 2008.
This is one of many indications that we never recovered from the interventions of Congress and the Federal Reserve since 2008, much less post-COVID. Add to that the fact that average credit card interest rates have now spiked to 22% and the personal debt situation is as bad as the public debt. Now, the conflation of endless federal money pumping creating asset bubbles mixed with relatively high interest rates (in an economy hooked on artificially low interest rates) is inevitably going to shut down the economy.
The unnatural low and then high interest rates all manipulated to service the debt have created a housing crisis. Not only did the Federal Reserve create a housing bubble in order to service the debt with mortgage-backed securities, but it also created a mortgage rate cliff. So new home buyers must pay double the rate, while existing homeowners are sitting on really low interest rates, thereby precluding them from selling their houses. This has created a housing shortage keeping prices artificially high. With mortgage rates topping 7.38%, the average monthly payment on a $400,000 home is the same it was for a $700K home when Biden took office.
— (@)
Ultimately, the only way prices will come down significantly is if there’s a recession. The good news on that front is that this might be around the corner within the next 12 months. All the constant monetary manipulation policies of the Fed that induce misallocation of resources – all to deal with the money printing scheme – will further weaken the economy.
There is such a concern about lending money to invest in the economy that we now have the longest and steepest inversion in the yield curve of U.S. Treasuries. Typically, people are willing to invest money in the short term for lower yields, but expect higher rates of return for longer-term investments. This is why, in a healthy economy, the yield on the 10-year treasury is almost always higher than the yield on the two-year treasury and certainly the three-month bond.
However, during eight periods in history, there has been an inverted yield curve whereby the interest rates are higher on the shorter-term securities. It is known in the financial world as the single best indicator of an impending recession within six to 24 months and has never been wrong. Indeed, it has predicted all eight recessions since the 1960s, including the dot-com bubble bust, the Great Recession, and the COVID recession. The indication of an inverted curve is that investors are flooding longer-term treasuries in anticipation of short-term doom, which creates more demand for 10-year bonds, thereby driving down the yield.
We’ve now been in an inverted curve since last October. As of Tuesday night, the 10-year note stood at 3.96%, the two-year note stood at 4.88%, and the three-month note skyrocketed to 5.45%. That is a 10-year to three-month inversion curve of over 149 basis points. The inversion prior to the 2008 recession was only 60 basis points. The inversion between the 10-month and two-year is the most since 1981.
Here is the 10-year to three-month inversion since October 2022.
And here is the 10-year to two-year inversion, which has now been in place for a full year.
What this means in plain English is that, absent a course correction, the credit market will lock up in the coming months. Investing works on the premise that banks will borrow in the short run to lend in the long run. So typically, you borrow at a lower rate to lend over time at a higher rate. With an inverted yield curve, it is nearly impossible to earn a profit by lending money.
Given that we’ve already been in an inverted curve for nearly nine months, historical trends would point to a recession during the spring of 2024. This is why the New York Federal Reserve now shows a 71% likelihood of recession within the next 12 months based on this leading indicator.
In other words, we are trapped in a vicious cycle of public debt, inflation, higher interest rates, more personal debt, and recession.
There’s also another problem leading to more inflation. The Federal Reserve is being forced to stew in its own trap of the interest rate cliff it created over the past 15 years. The Fed has lost over $50 billion on its balance sheet in the first half of this year, even before we look at its mark-to-market losses approaching $1 trillion as of the end of the first quarter of this year. After all, you can’t hold endless securities at near zero interest and be forced to offload them at 5% and remain solvent. But as American households and small banks go bankrupt from this inversion, the Federal Reserve will just print more money to make up the losses, which will include more – you guessed it – hyperinflation.
All of this cascading effect of carnage is to prop up woke and weaponized government and the debt it accumulates faster than you can say “bankruptcy.”
“Such high and rising debt would have significant economic and financial consequences. It would, among other things, slow economic growth, drive up interest payments to foreign holders of U.S. debt, elevate the risk of a fiscal crisis, increase the likelihood of other adverse effects that could occur more gradually, and make the nation’s fiscal position more vulnerable to an increase in interest rates.”That is essentially Bidenomics in a nutshell.
Fox News was 52 percent of cable news primetime viewership for 2020-22, 51 percent in Jan’23, and that has slid to a low of 38 percent in June’23 post-Tucker Carlson.
”Only Waters breaks two million (Monday night numbers)….
Fox News Downgraded by Major Wall Street Bank Over Viewership Issues
In June and July, the average live Fox News viewership, between the hours 8 PM till 11 PM, beats all other cable rivals including CNN, MSNBC and ESPN as well as broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC, as per Nielsen. Photo Credit: AP
A top financial services company downgraded Fox Corporation’s stock on Monday, noting issues with the network’s viewership, earnings, and content.
An analyst with Wells Fargo downgraded shares of Fox Corp. from “equal weight” to “underweight,” lowering the price target from $35 per share to $31 per share, according to multiple reports on Monday.
“Fox News is the FOXA cash cow at [around] 80 percent of our FY24E EBITDA,” Steven Cahall, with Wells Fargo, wrote, referring to the acronym for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. “Viewership is down -19% Jan-June’23 vs Jan-June’21 due to cord cutting and/or programming.”
Mr. Cahall added that “more worryingly, Fox News was 52 percent of cable news primetime viewership for 2020-22, 51 percent in Jan’23, and that has slid to a low of 38 percent in June’23 post-TC,” reported Investing.com. “[Fox News’] share of conservative news viewers has fallen from 94 percent to 84 percent.”
Fox News is worth about $11 billion, or about five times its earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), he wrote. That’s down from a previous estimate of six times, he said, noting that there are worries of a “structural decline” in overall cable news viewership across the board due to cord-cutting and demographics.
Other issues cited by Mr. Cahall included talent departure and increasing competition. “We are also not convinced that cable news works well in streaming, so our 8 percent view on annual cord-cutting presents ongoing earnings risks,” he said, Seeking Alpha reported.
There are also broader industry challenges ahead for Fox Corporation, the analyst said.
“Fox gets about 50 percent of fiscal year 2023 and 2024 estimated revenue from U.S. affiliate fees—among the highest in our media coverage universe,” Mr. Cahall pointed out. “We estimate 7-8 percent cord-cutting, with a downside bias.”
And he warned: “Fox Cable could soon go ex-growth on EBITDA like we’ve seen for peer linear nets. TV has better topline growth, but less ability to reduce costs due to sports rights.”
A few days after Mr. Carlson’s exit, Morgan Stanley on May 4 dropped its target price on Fox Corporation from $39.00 to $37.00 at the time.
It comes more than two months after the departure of popular host Tucker Carlson, which was confirmed by Fox News in a news release in late April. No reasons have been publicly given for his exit from the company.
Fox News has filled Mr. Carlson’s former timeslot at 8 p.m. ET with a program dubbed, “Fox News Tonight,” which has used a rotating cast of Fox News hosts. The program has drawn far fewer viewers than what Mr. Carlson had brought in, according to Nielsen ratings.
Late last month, Fox News said it would launch a new primetime lineup on July 17 that will include Jesse Watters during the 8 p.m. ET timeslot. Other changes include moving Laura Ingraham’s show to 7 p.m. and Greg Gutfeld to the 10 p.m. slot, while Sean Hannity will keep his 9 p.m. program.
“FOX News Channel has been America’s destination for news and analysis for more than 21 years and we are thrilled to debut a new lineup. The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will ensure our viewers have access to unrivaled coverage from our best-in-class team for years to come,” Fox News Channel CEO Suzanne Scott announced.
Mr. Cahall’s note signaled that “while the new primetime lineup could drive a rebound, we think Fox News is a Show Me viewership story,” according to reports.
After the Wells Fargo downgrade, Fox shares were slightly lower during Monday trading.
For May, coming right after Mr. Carlson’s departure, Fox News lost around a third of its primetime audience, according to Nielsen ratings. The network was still the No. 1 cable news network for the second quarter of 2023.
Also, Fox Corporation announced it had agreed to pay $12 million to settle a lawsuit by former producer Abby Grossberg, who had claimed the network promoted a hostile work environment.
Carlson Responds
Late last week, Mr. Carlson responded to a question about why the company announced it was parting ways with him.
“I don’t know why I was fired. I really don’t. I’m not angry about it. I wish Fox well,” he told podcast host Russell Brand this week in an interview that aired July 7 on YouTube.
Mr. Brand had asked Mr. Carlson about the reason behind his firing and if it had to do with Mr. Carlson’s programs that featured never-seen-before footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
“Honestly I don’t know,” Mr. Carlson also said. “They didn’t agree with me of course, I don’t think,” he said, adding that he can “only speculate” about the reasons.
The former top-rated Fox host also indicated he isn’t being paid by Twitter or its owner Elon Musk, saying that he doesn’t ever want to have a boss again. “What social media offers in the short term is an audience and a reason to write,” Mr. Carlson stated.write,” Mr. Carlson stated.
That Joe Biden is an international laughingstock and has destroyed the US on the international stage in a little over two short years? Or the fact that Democrats are so comfortable with their cheating apparatus that they are running this corrupt fool in 2024 and expect him to win in a landslide?
Joe Biden had another rough day in Vilnius, Lithuania at the NATO Summit.
Biden is mostly ignored by the global leaders. He is incapable of holding a conversation at this point.
During his teleprompter speech to reporters Joe Biden tripped over his own tongue again.
Joe Biden: “Soon NATO will be the 32nd freestanding, have free, 30 free, 32 freestanding members!”
You can hear the crowd laugh.
Biden vs. teleprompter:
"Soon NATO will be the 32nd freestanding, have free, 30 free, 32 freestanding members!" pic.twitter.com/zsS75pvCqL
Three crooks who illegally conspired against Donald Trump: Jim Comey, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
The FBI on Monday asked Americans to help them protect the country by reporting criminal activity to them at 800-225-5324.
Justice is better than revenge. You may not be Superman, but you can help the #FBI protect the country. If you have information about a federal crime, speak now. Call 1-800-225-5324 or visit https://t.co/t8G7LO4hxu to submit a tip. pic.twitter.com/kn9QhlNhGx
The FBI is the leading criminal organization in America today!
The FBI: ** Spied on President Trump based on phony information ** Lied to the American people about spying on Trump ** Hid the Hunter laptop ** Still can’t find the Hunter laptop ** Lied about the laptop ** Lied to the American public during Trump’s impeachment knowing Trump did nothing wrong ** Sent operatives to the US Capitol on January 6 ** Infiltrated the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers ** Raided homes of their political opposition ** Raided the opposition candidate’s home on junk charges ** Ignored Hunter Biden’s hundreds of crimes ** Set up poor white men in Michigan ** Ignored Biden Family treasonous deals ** Lied about investigating the criminal acts in the 2020 election
And just yesterday – on Monday – we discovered the FBI censored Americans who did not support Ukrainian War.
JUST IN: The FBI censored American citizens at the direction of Ukrainian intelligence by banning social media accounts that Ukraine determined to be a threat to their agenda.
The FBI continues to be the greatest threat to democracy in America.
There truly is no other governmental body that is as dangerous and crooked as the FBI.
The responses to the FBI tweet were lit!
I'd like to report Joe and Hunter Biden for receiving alleged bribes and kickbacks from foreign actors in exchange for policy decisions. #Ukraine#Romania#China@JoeBiden#HunterBiden
— Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad (@VictoriaTaft) July 11, 2023
You should look into FBI agents illegally censoring Americans on social media on behalf of foreign nations https://t.co/tZdruzl0NW
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and former deputy independent counsel Sol Wisenberg analyze whether AG Merrick Garland could be guilty of an impeachable offense on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’
Nationalists who conducted acts of ethnic cleansing have been lionized by Kiev as pro-independence heroes
Accountability for the mass killings of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II is essential for reconciliation between the two nations, a resolution passed by the lower house of parliament in Warsaw has said.
The document was adopted by lawmakers in the Sejm on Tuesday, as Poland commemorated the victims of wartime atrocities in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia 80 years ago. Members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the militant wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), were the main perpetrators of the crimes, which Poland considers an act of genocide.
“In the attacks by OUN and UPA units, supported by part of the local Ukrainian community, over 100,000 Poles were murdered, often in a very brutal way,” the Polish MPs said. “Several hundred thousand people fled… fearing the same fate.”
The OUN allied with Nazi German invaders in the hope of creating a Ukrainian nation state, and slaughtered groups that they deemed to be obstructing their cause.
Their victims also included Jews, Czechs and Russians, along with ethnic Ukrainians who opposed the purges, the Polish resolution noted. The ethnic cleansing campaign was accompanied by the destruction of property, including items of cultural and religious significance.
“Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, which was built over years by representatives of both nations, must also include recognition of guilt and commemoration of the victims,” the lawmakers stressed.
Many Polish officials have said they expected Kiev to make gestures of accountability during the 80th anniversary of the tragedy. The Ukrainian government considers the UPA and its leaders to be national heroes, as they were fighting for Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky joined his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda last week for a joint commemoration in Western Ukraine, but did not offer a formal apology. Kiev’s ambassador to Warsaw, Vasily Zvarych, previously advised Poland against attempts to “pressure” his nation into taking “unacceptable” steps regarding their shared past.
A Georgia lawmaker announced Tuesday she has left the Democratic Party because of its “left-wing radicalism”, “lawlessness”, and putting “the interests of illegal aliens over the interest of Americans.”
“Rather than focusing on Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as testified by a multitude of reliable witnesses and written in advance throughout the Scriptures, many Christians today have chosen to proclaim a different gospel entirely. This new and improved gospel is The Story of Us. This story is one that is perceived to be much more credible and effective than the story of Jesus, because, unlike the story of Jesus, it can’t be refuted. The end result is that we’ve inverted Paul’s statement in 2Cor 4:5—we preach not Jesus, but ourselves.”
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