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
This sermon was given by Dr. Tom Ascol on May 17, 2020 at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL and is a part of his sermon series on Romans: The Grace of God in the Gospel.
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For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
A moment under our Father’s anger seems very long, and yet it is but a moment after all. If we grieve His Spirit, we cannot look for His smile; but He is a God ready to pardon, and He soon puts aside all remembrance of our faults. When we faint and are ready to die because of His frown, His favor puts new life into us.
This verse has another note of the semi-quaver kind. Our weeping night soon turns into joyous day. Brevity is the mark of mercy in the hour of the chastisement of believers. The Lord loves not to use the rod on His chosen; He gives a blow or two, and all is over; yea, and the life and the joy, which follow the anger and the weeping, more than make amends for the salutary sorrow.
Come, my heart, begin thy hallelujahs! Weep not all through the night, but wipe thine eyes in anticipation of the morning. These tears are dews which mean us as much good as the sunbeams of the morrow. Tears clear the eyes for the sight of God in His grace and make the vision of His favor more precious. A night of sorrow supplies those shades of the pictures by which the highlights are brought out with distinctness. All is well.
“They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.” Psalm 34:5 NKJV
We’ve heard it said many times, “There are two sides to everything.”
Our frame of reference comes from a variety of circumstances and situations: upbringing, environment, health/wellness, family unit, economic status, culture, safety, tragedy, disasters and the list goes on. How we judge or measure things can be influenced by any combination of these kinds of things.
Some may view a glass of water as half full, others as half empty. It’s about perspectives. Everyone’s situation is different and personal. Our background influences how we view life.
Yet many overcome their own circumstances, in spite of unfortunate backgrounds, and rise above difficult situations to benefit others giving them hope, encouragement and inspiration.
But Jesus is our everlasting hope! He encouraged everyone whose life He touched. He filled their cup with mercy, grace and love.
“They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.” Psalm 34:5 NKJV
He offered them freedom from burdens and sin. They each had a new lease on life from a whole new perspective, released from all that had gone before. Think how the blind, lame, leprous, demon-possessed and those who were shunned and outcast must have felt with new-found hope Jesus brought to them.
Jesus still provides this to us today. By placing our trust in the Lord as our Savior we have the assurance of a full and better life on earth and in heaven. Hope in God and praise Him!
“Put your hopeinGod, for Iwillyetpraisehim, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:11 NIV
“Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’” Luke 10:23-24 (ESV)
Truly those who wanted to see and hear were blessed. The question is why did so many not see and not hear? There are many reasons and today we are going to look at two of them.
The first we find in Luke 10: 19-20, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
We love to focus our attention on the big show going on and can often miss the roots of a situation. In biblical times even those who were sent out to cast out demons and spread the Gospel were caught up in the power they possessed in the name of Jesus. They were so focused on this power that they were missing why they had the power and why Jesus had come. Notice Jesus says do not celebrate that you can cast demons out in my name but rather celebrate that your names are written in Heaven.
We see this happening now in our present society. We often celebrate the fireworks and not what we truly have – a relationship with our Father. We can take for granted that the Holy Spirit is living in us, forgetting that for thousands of years, many had dreamed and prayed to experience what we have in our relationship with our Father in Heaven.
The second issue is that many do not believe what they cannot see. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39, ESV)
Jesus goes straight to the core of our humanity – how the love of flesh is greater than our the love of faith. We often love our relationships more than our God. We put stock in what people think and feel more than what our God tells us we should think and feel. We put ourselves or other people first and God second.
When God tells us to take up our cross it means surrendering everything in this life to Him. Only God can be first in every aspect of life. By seeking the cross we do not find death, we find a new life. Blessed are those who see and hear.
Father, we pray today that we may truly see and hear You in our lives. With Your help, let us experience more of You in our lives. Lord, help us not to be distracted by fireworks and people. Forgive us for the things we put before You. I want to be in Your presence all the days of my life. Thank you Jesus. We love you. Let me choose to walk with You today and not on my own. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Is there something in your life that keeps you from seeing and hearing God? What does it mean to really surrender everything to God?
Outgoing US Ambassador approved nearly $1 million to support delegitimizing Israel Citing documents the America First Legal Foundation received in a Freedom of Information Act request, Kredo reported that Nides approved the U.S. State Department to provide $987,654 for organizations accusing Israel of human-rights abuses. A congressional investigation last year centered on these tax-payer-funded monies with critics claiming that it fit hand-in-glove with the BDS movement’s tactics and objective.
Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano erupts in Iceland Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano began erupting on Monday 10 July after strong earthquake activity was detected in the area nearby. The volcano is based in the Reykjanes Peninsula, and is near to the Island’s capital city: Reykjavik.
House Weaponization of Gov’t Committee Takes Aim at Biden, Big Tech Over Online Censorship A recently released report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has revealed shocking new details about the government’s involvement in online censorship operations and the Biden administration’s collusion with Big Tech to silence free speech – both of which Democrats and the mainstream media previously insisted were “conspiracy theories.” The 36-page document unveiled late last month zeroes in on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a shadowy entity within the Department of Homeland Security.
Does This Look Like ‘Respect’? 10 Times Biden Lashed Out at Americans, the Press Joe Biden’s aides reportedly claim that when the commander in chief yells at one of his subordinates, that might be a sign of respect. According to an Axios report revealing “Biden’s private fury,” aides describe experiencing the president’s rage as an “internal initiation ceremony.” Axios reported that Biden is prone to yelling and verbal degradation based on what current aides have to say about their boss.
Iran’s president: homosexuality will end ‘generation of human beings’ “The West today is trying to promote the idea of homosexuality and by promoting homosexuality they are trying to end the generation of human beings. “ He added “The Western countries try to identify homosexuality as an index of civilization, while this is one of the dirtiest issues.”
Did aliens prevent nuclear war? Former NASA astronaut claims they did Mitchell, the sixth man to set foot on the moon, was interviewed back in 2016, where he admitted to being convinced of the existence of aliens and extensively spoke about claims that aliens have visited Earth. In that conversation with the Daily Mirror, he raised the astonishing claim that aliens were responsible for preventing a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union during the peak tension of the Cold War.
Jared Kushner testified before grand jury probing ex-president Trump Testifying at a federal courthouse in Washington last month, Kushner, a former White House adviser to Trump, said it was his impression Trump truly believed the 2020 election was stolen, the Times reported, citing a person briefed on the matter.
Putin tells newspaper: I offered Wagner fighters chance to join army Putin, interviewed by the Russian daily Kommersant, said this was one of several offers he made at a meeting with around three dozen fighters and their founder Yevgeny Prigozhin late last month, five days after Wagner staged the abortive revolt against Russia’s military hierarchy. Under the offer, the fighters would stay under their current commander, who the newspaper identified only by his call sign of “Grey Hair.”
Defense Minister Gallant reveals that Iran has plotted more than 50 terror attacks globally against Jews “Iran has led an unprecedented worldwide campaign of terror, targeting Israelis and other Jews across the globe,” Gallant said in an address at the end of a visit to Azerbaijan. “There have been over 50 attempts in recent years, the majority of which already were on the verge of being executed before they were thwarted at the last minute,” he said.
Republicans double down on Israel support, Democrats become even more anti-Israel A ruler who listens to lies, All his ministers will be wicked. Proverbs 29:12 As the 2024 race for the White House is beginning to heat up, the partisan nature of support for Israel on both sides of the political spectrum has been brought into focus this week. This was emphasized as Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, came out against Israel at every possible opportunity, and Republicans, led by Donald Trump, came out in support of the Jewish state.
Microsoft-Activision deal moves closer as judge denies FTC injunction request A federal judge in San Francisco has denied the Federal Trade Commission’s motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft from completing its acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard. The deal isn’t completely in the clear, though. The FTC can now bring the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and the two companies must find a way forward to resolve opposition from the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom.
We Are Starting To Experience The Apocalyptic Weather Of The End Times Have you noticed that we are being hit by an endless series of weather emergencies? Here in the middle of 2023, farms in the Midwest are being devastated by a seemingly endless drought, massive dust storms are happening as far north as Illinois, residents of Vermont just experienced the worst flooding that they have seen in nearly 100 years, and the Southwest is being baked by unprecedented heat.
New storm threat for Vermont in wake of severe historic floods, U.S. Just as Vermont starts to recover from its worst flooding in nearly a hundred years, the storm system that triggered tornadoes in Chicago on July 12, 2023, is moving eastward, threatening the region with another deluge. As the state’s residents and officials brace for the impending downpour, there are fears that the additional rainfall will exacerbate the already dire situation.
New storm threat for Vermont in wake of severe historic floods, U.S. Just as Vermont starts to recover from its worst flooding in nearly a hundred years, the storm system that triggered tornadoes in Chicago on July 12, 2023, is moving eastward, threatening the region with another deluge. As the state’s residents and officials brace for the impending downpour, there are fears that the additional rainfall will exacerbate the already dire situation.
Over 100 lives claimed by record monsoon rains in northern India In a week marked by record monsoon rains, northern India faced severe flooding that resulted in over 100 deaths, extensive property damage, and widespread disruption. The worst-hit region was the mountainous Himachal Pradesh state, where floodwaters claimed at least 88 lives and injured more than 100 people.
Multiple tornadoes touch down in northeastern Illinois, disrupting air travel On Wednesday, July 12, 2023, the greater Chicago area was hit by a series of tornadoes and thunderstorms, causing significant disruption to air travel and damaging homes in several counties. The severe weather forced the temporary halt of all air traffic at O’Hare and Midway airports and prompted the evacuation of their control towers.
China Has ‘Aggressively Penetrated’ Whole of UK Economy, Admits Govt. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has successfully penetrated every sector of the United Kingdom (UK)’s economy as a result of the government’s willingness to accept Chinese money without asking questions, so says the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee in a report published Thursday.
Germany to Scrap Up to 200 Million COVID-19 Vaccines. Germany has thrown away 83 million vaccine doses and is preparing to scrap another 120 million at a cost of around €4 billion ($4.5bn) after the number of Germans willing to get “boosters” has plummeted.
Biden Orders 3,000 Army Reservists Ready for European Deployment. President Joe Biden issued an executive order late Thursday that orders ready 3,000 U.S. army reservists in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which “provides rotational deployments of combat-credible forces to Europe” especially related to the 2014 Russia invasion of Crimea.
Four in 10 Brown University students claim they’re LGBTQ, confirming massive leftist social contagion and brainwashing When the “LGBTQ” movement began in earnest a few years ago, the globalist left ensured that it infected every corner of Western civilization and society, and now, their effort to tear away huge chunks of traditional values has proven successful. This is especially true on college and university campuses, where fads like this become all the rage and infect entire student bodies.
China Bosses Biden, Restricting Mineral Exports to Dominate on Semiconductors. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s decision to restrict the West’s access to the crucial metals gallium and germanium demonstrates the party’s willingness to use its dominant control over mineral resources to disrupt Western supply chains, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The UK Online Safety Bill poses grave threats to free speech, House of Lords “A wide range of policy analysts, civil rights groups, academics, lawyers, free speech campaigners and industry representatives have [suggested] ways of mitigating some of the grave threats to free speech in this Bill … I have, at times, felt that those concerns were batted away with a certain indifference,” Baroness Claire Fox told the House of Lords on Monday. “I hope the Government will listen and consider how to avoid the UK ending up having the most restrictive internet speech laws of any Western democracy,” she said.
CDC is caught fraudulently altering Death Certificates to hide COVID Vaccine Deaths An investigation of official death certificates has found that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been committing fraud by refusing to assign the correct International Classification of Diseases code for Covid-19 vaccine side effects as the cause of death when they should have done so. In other words, the CDC is actively engaging in a huge cover up of deaths due to Covid-19 vaccination.
“Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you.” —Thomas Jefferson (1785)
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John Kerry is the gift who keeps on giving, and he gave generously this week.
Douglas Andrews
One day, we in our humble shop won’t have John Kerry to kick around anymore. But until that day arrives, we’re fortunate to have him as our personal pigskin.
Did you know, by the way, that he served in Vietnam? That he, ahem, earned as many Purple Hearts as Audie Murphy? That he once spent Christmas in Cambodia? It’s true, honest. He has the hat to prove it.
All kidding aside, we here in our humble shop owe His Haughtiness a debt of gratitude. He’s the gift who keeps on giving, the Botox beta-tester who lets us love our crow’s feet, the French-looking climate czar who on an otherwise slow news day gives us something to write about.
And so it was this week, when all the world’s attention was focused on Hunter Biden’s bag of blow, John Kerry was preparing to meet with representatives of Chinese President Xi “Don’t Call Me Dictator” Jinping, there to discuss a climate deal.
The Washington Free Beacon sets the stage: Back in 2014, under a newly installed Xi, “China unveiled a plan — to much fanfare from the American press — to cap its annual coal consumption at 4.2 billion tons by 2020. China’s commitment to lower emissions, former president Barack Obama said at the time, ‘shows what’s possible when we work together on an urgent global challenge.’ Today, the Chinese have blown past that number and burn more coal than the rest of the world combined.”
What a useful idiot, that Barack Obama. After all, when it comes to hammering out an emissions agreement with the lying, thieving, live-organ-harvesting ChiComs, what’s not to trust?
As it turns out, nothing’s not to trust — at least not for a diplomat as sharp and seasoned and set on selling us down the river as John Kerry is. As the Free Beacon continues: “Kerry has nonetheless argued that, in the case of the Chinese, words alone are proof of climate ‘progress.’ He has lauded the genocidal dictator for using the term ‘climate crisis’ and for pledging to cut emissions as part of an ‘ecological strategy.’”
Xi must be thanking his lucky yellow stars for the good fortune of being able to negotiate with a pantywaist like Kerry instead of men like former President Donald Trump and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.
Trump seemed to embrace the advice of the intrepid Hong Konger who once warned him of the sphincter-like qualities of the Red Chinese.
As for Pompeo, he could’ve advised Kerry on China with a single word: reciprocity. “If the Chinese can buy land near our military facilities,” he said back in January, “we should be able to buy land near their military facilities. … If they can use propaganda on the telephones of our children, we should be able to put our propaganda on the phones of their children. … The theory of the case is, we’ve let them have one set of rules, and we’ve bent the knee and kowtowed to them and had an entirely different set of rules, and that can’t continue.”
On the other hand, Kerry has a history of dastardly diplomacy. As our Nate Jackson wrote back in 2018, shortly after Kerry had been caught undermining our nation’s foreign policy by conducting secret meetings with the Iranians: “One thing that displays this haughty self-importance is his habit of taking on foreign-policy negotiations without the authority to do so. From his treasonous negotiations with the North Vietnamese in 1971 while still an officer in the U.S. Navy to private negotiations with the Palestinians last January, Kerry thinks his foreign policy trumps America’s.”
Kerry insisted this week that such “shadow diplomacy” is just fine, “depending on what it does.”
How can we trust this guy to negotiate a nuke deal with the mad mullahs? Clearly, with Joe Biden as president, we’re getting the foreign policy we deserve. And we’re getting it good and hard.
But wait. There’s more. Yesterday, Kerry appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability. At one point, Kerry spouted off indignantly in defense of his means of travel: “I just don’t agree with your facts, which began with the presentation of one of the most outrageously persistent lies that I hear, which is this private jet. We don’t own a private jet. I don’t own a private jet. I personally have never owned a private jet. And obviously it’s pretty stupid to talk about coming in a private jet from the State Department up here. I just honestly— if that’s where you want to go, go.”
Florida Republican Michael Waltz, himself a former Green Beret, had heard about enough, and his grilling of Kerry is good stuff:
As Power Line’s Scott Johnson quipped: “My vocabulary of opprobrium is insufficient to do justice to Biden administration climate czar John Kerry. There is no leftist bromide he can’t spout with suffocating self-regard.”
True that. Or, as the girls back in Saigon used to say, He so haughty.
Business as usual at Drug White House, Biden’s cringeworthy NATO performance, student loan forgiveness 2.0, and more.
Thomas Gallatin & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
Business as usual at 1600 Pennsylvania Drug House: In what amounts to little other than a shoulder shrug, the Secret Service informed members of Congress in a classified briefing yesterday that it had not discovered the person responsible for leaving the cocaine in the White House and likely would not find them, which effectively ends the investigation. The Secret Service also informed lawmakers that on two prior occasions last year small amounts of marijuana were found in the White House, but similar to this cocaine incident, no one was held accountable. In those cases, the rationale given for not seeking to arrest anyone was the small amount of the illicit drug and the fact that marijuana has been decriminalized in DC. That said, marijuana is still classified as an illicit drug on federal property.
Biden’s mobilization and cringeworthy NATO performance: On Thursday, Joe Biden signed an order allowing the Pentagon to call up to 3,000 reserve troops for Operation Atlantic Resolve. Part of America’s response back in 2014 to Russia’s annexation of Crimea was to create Operation Atlantic Resolve, which “provides rotational deployments of combat-credible forces to Europe to show our commitment to NATO while building readiness, increasing interoperability, and enhancing the bonds between ally and partner militaries.” Why the DOD needs these reserve troops now has not been explained. Meanwhile, the day before, Biden was at the NATO summit in Lithuania looking every bit his age. He doddered around on a gaffe-parade, including at one point referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “Vladimir,” which of course is Russian President Putin’s first name.
Student loan forgiveness 2.0: Apparently, Joe Biden couldn’t care less about being slapped down by the U.S. Supreme Court for his clearly unconstitutional student loan cancellation gambit, as his administration is at it again. This time Biden seeks to put taxpayers on the hook for $39 billion in student loan debt for upwards of 804,000 “low income” borrowers. This latest plan for student debt cancellation sets a repayment threshold of 20 or 25 years that a borrower must make income-adjusted payments. Based on an individual’s income level, these payments could be as low as $0. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona defended the plan by claiming, “This Administration will not stop fighting to level the playing field in higher education.” Making those who did not take out the loans in the first place now responsible for paying off the debt for those who did may “level the playing field,” but it is anything but fair or just.
Biden admin falsely claims stimulus not “real cause” of inflation: In an effort to deflect responsibility for the record-high inflation Americans have endured under Joe Biden, his administration has been claiming that the $1.9 trillion stimulus spending is not the “real cause” of inflation. To do this, the Biden administration engaged in a game of smoke and mirrors by pointing to other countries that saw inflation rise during the pandemic. What the Biden administration is attempting to do, however, is deny basic monetary reality. Printing more money so the government can spend more money devalues the currency. The result is that the price of goods goes up. Meanwhile, people’s savings and paychecks didn’t match the rate of monetary devaluation, therefore Americans became poorer in the last two years. Biden’s spending policy did this, but of course he doesn’t want to own it, so out come the lies. On top of this, the cost of servicing the U.S. debt has risen by 25% this year, which bodes ill for the future.
Hollywood on strike: For the first time since 1960, Hollywood is experiencing two of its biggest unions striking together. As of midnight, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has joined the screenwriters in their months-long strike against the studios. The primary issue has to do with royalty payments and concerns with how studios may soon be using AI to generate an actor’s likeness without compensating the actor. A number of A-list actors sent a letter to the studios warning that they were “prepared to walk” if a deal was not worked out. A strike is “going to be tough for our actors, for 160,000 actors; nobody wants a work stoppage,” said Matt Damon. “But if our leadership is saying our deal isn’t fair, then we got to hold strong until we get a deal that’s fair for working actors.” If this goes on long enough, Americans may have to embrace reading again.
It’s “people of color,” not “colored people”: Evidently it matters a great deal whether the adjective comes before or after the noun. On Thursday, Republican Representative Eli Crane (AZ) was blasted after he referred to black Americans as “colored people” during his promotion of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. This amendment “has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or black people or anybody can serve,” Crane explained. “It has nothing to do with color of your skin.” Congressional Black Caucus member Joyce Beatty (OH) took offense and hammered Crane for “setting us back.” She added, “On this floor on both sides of the aisle we have people of color, we have people who have served.” A debate then erupted on the House floor, with cries of racism dubiously launched. The great irony here is the very existence of the NAACP, which the Congressional Black Caucus has long held in high esteem. That acronym, of course, stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Such silliness.
Headlines
DOJ spied on Devin Nunes staff during Russia hoax, subpoenas show (The Federalist)
Democrats unveil new effort to rescue the Equal Rights Amendment (ABC News)
California advances child-trafficking bill after Newsom urges Democrats to revive legislation (Washington Examiner)
Government officials were stunned by “startling” spike in Chinese donations to UPenn after Biden think tank opened (Free Beacon)
A new Biden administration rule violates a campaign promise and takes away health insurance options from consumers.
Nate Jackson
“If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.” Barack Obama repeatedly promised that when selling the snake oil of ObamaCare. When that bill of goods became law and Americans across the country lost their health insurance plans, Obama’s phony promise became PolitiFact’s 2013 “Lie of the Year.”
Joe Biden, who likewise pledged during his campaign, “If you have private insurance, you can keep it,” is determined to keep proving that it’s a lie.
It’s really for the same reasons, too. The primary cause for people losing their health insurance plans after ObamaCare’s one-party enactment was the onerous requirements of the law. To put it simply, a plan must cover X, Y, and Z or it doesn’t qualify as health insurance. Plans were grandfathered, but if you changed anything, you lost everything.
Donald Trump and a Republican majority in Congress failed to repeal ObamaCare as promised, though Trump did in 2018 authorize short-term health insurance plans that were exempt from some of ObamaCare’s requirements like maternity and pediatric care or mental health services. Millions of young people venturing out on their own for the first time found these 12-month plans attractive because they didn’t want to pay extra for coverage they didn’t need, and they could extend the plan for up to 36 months.
Too bad for you, says Uncle Joe.
Deriding such plans as “junk insurance,” the Biden administration recently issued a regulation limiting such plans to three or maybe four months with no renewal. Why? Because in order to spread rising costs so as to mask them a little better, young and healthy people must be forced into the pool with older and sicker people.
“Here’s a definition of Bidenomics you won’t hear from the White House,” the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board aptly summed up. “Forcing Americans to buy expensive products they don’t want or need. Behold the President’s plan to limit short-term health insurance plans in order to jam more consumers into the heavily subsidized and regulated ObamaCare exchanges.”
The glaring irony is that the people hurt worst are the college graduates trying to pay back their student loans.
Another legal challenge is almost certain, though Biden will always get to play the part of the guy trying to help those potential voters against Republicans who just want to “take money away.”
Back to health insurance, the results of Biden’s move are predictable: higher premiums for everyone (especially when Inflation Reduction Act subsidies sunset in 2025) and more young people with no health insurance.
If anyone was really interested in fixing healthcare in this country, it would be to expand plans that include Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Only an estimated 36 million Americans have such plans, but reducing restrictions and raising contribution limits while enrolling millions more would actually make insurance more available and affordable while controlling runaway costs for healthcare services. Seems like a win-win.
Clinging to the “book ban” lies in order to undermine parents is one of the last tools leftists can wield to break down the family.
Emmy Griffin
The Washington Post recently published a diatribe against parents “banning” children’s books, particularly picture books.
Picture books are generally used as teaching tools in preschool and elementary school classrooms. We’re talking three-years-olds to 10-year-olds — the most vulnerable and impressionable period for children. Kids in this age range will generally believe anything you tell them.
The article goes on to lament the various reasons parents objected to these books for their children’s consumption. The top three reasons for book challenges were because the content was LGBTQ+, inappropriate, or anti-police.
Let’s unpack the flawed thinking behind this perspective of The Washington Post. Most importantly, there is a distinct difference in challenging books versus a book ban. Those challenged books can still be sold at any bookstore or borrowed from many libraries. The challenges are more focused on the wisdom of introducing topics and ideas to children at inappropriate ages in their schools — an arena where teachers and administrators choose the material. Granted, some books that have made their way onto classroom shelves are not appropriate for any age. However, calling these active and concerned parents “book banners” is a massive overstatement.
The WaPo author takes for granted that readers will immediately agree with her political leanings and is completely obtuse to parents’ legitimate concerns. It prompts one to ask: Why are leftists so eager to have books in the classroom that introduce ideas like LGBTQ+ lifestyles, critical race theory, or gender theory? Because planting ideas into young children’s heads is a way of brainwashing them into an ideology. Radical gender ideology (which includes transgender ideology) and critical race theory, in particular, promote a Marxist worldview whose ultimate goal is to destroy the family. This is grooming of an underlying political ideology.
There is also an element of actual sexual grooming mixed in, particularly with the LGBTQ+ stories. Gender Queer illustrates a sexual act and Lawn Boy describes a sexual act between a man and a child. Introducing children to sex and sexuality is actually grooming in the predatory sense. Learning about these sexual concepts and their deviations too early warps children’s brains and makes them more vulnerable to predators and risky behavior.
Also, not all behaviors are morally equivalent. There is a significant moral and cultural difference between books that portray a mother, father, and children (the nuclear family) versus any other kind of family. The nuclear family is the norm and is also the one most likely to foster human flourishing.
Finally, the WaPo article implies throughout that a one-party, “certain type” of parent flags and reports these books. This is incredibly disingenuous. There are plenty of parents on both sides of the aisle who are against the political and sometimes sexual grooming that these books are promoting. Just look at Virginia, for crying out loud. It was precisely critical race theory and gender ideology that flipped the Commonwealth blue and won Republican Glenn Youngkin the gubernatorial race.
A more recent example came from Georgia, where State Representative Mesha Mainor declared that she was switching parties from Democrat to Republican. In a social media post, Mainor wrote: “I represent a blue district in the city of Atlanta so this wasn’t a political decision for me. It was a MORAL one.” In an interview, Mainor went on to explain: “For far too long, the Democrat Party has gotten away with using and abusing the black community. For decades, the Democrat Party has received the support of more than 90% of the black community. And what do we have to show for it?”
The Left understands that if it can control the books, it can control the minds of the next generation. Leftists have already shown they are willing to change the meaning of words to fit their own ends (see racism and femininity). When we can’t even agree on a common language and words, how can we have a functioning society? Answer: We can’t. And perhaps that is the ultimate goal.
For leftists, clinging to the “book ban” lies in order to undermine parents is one of the last tools they can wield to break down the family. Their stake in this game is power, but for these parents it is the hearts, minds, and innocence of their children.
Fifty years after the end of the draft, our once-vaunted military is now beset by weak and woke Democrat leadership.
Brian Mark Weber
Since 1973, when the military draft came to an end, the American people have had the luxury of relying on an all-volunteer force to fight our wars. By and large, it’s worked out well.
Since that time, the military has enjoyed steady numbers in part due to its marketing efforts and its attractive benefits, such as healthcare and retirement benefits, VA loans, and of course the generous college tuition benefit of the Montgomery GI Bill. And as a result of the resounding military success and the patriotic fervor that swept the nation during the 1990-91 Gulf War and immediately after 9/11, young people were lining up to defend the red, white, and blue.
But now the appeal of military service is wearing off due to a variety of factors. As a result, only 9% of Americans would now consider joining the Armed Forces, according to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth.
Last year, the Department of the Army said in a memo that the recruitment challenge is “driven in part by the post-COVID labor market, intense competition with the private sector, and a declining number of young Americans interested in uniformed service.”
In some cases, the stark realities of war have played a role as well. “After the patriotic boost to recruiting that followed 9/11, the U.S. military has endured 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan with no decisive victories, scandals over shoddy military housing and healthcare, poor pay for lower ranks that forces many military families to turn to food stamps, and rising rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal adds: “The Navy expects to fall short by as many as 10,000 of its goal of nearly 38,000 recruits this year, and the Air Force has said it is anticipating coming in at 3,000 below its goal of nearly 27,000. The Marine Corps met its target last year of sending 33,000 to boot camp, and expects to meet its goals this year, but its leader described recruitment as challenging.”
In what can only be seen as a scathing indictment of the current state of affairs, veterans themselves want their children to look at other opportunities besides military service due to concerns over what are perceived to be endless wars, injuries and suicide rates, low pay, and a tough labor market. And, of course, a belief that our current military leadership no longer takes warfighting seriously and has compromised our readiness.
Yet another challenge is that the number of eligible Americans is dwindling.
As Jason Dempsey and Gil Barndollar write at the reliably left Atlantic: “The stark fact is that most young Americans can’t currently serve and even fewer want to. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, just 23 percent of Americans ages 17–24 are eligible to enlist without a waiver. Obesity, medical and mental-health issues, or a history of substance abuse prevent most of their peers from being able to serve.”
The Council for a Strong America addressed the issue in a report published earlier this year in which they called on policymakers and school boards to promote healthy eating and physical exercise in order to prepare the next generation of service members.
Recognizing they have a problem, the secretaries of the Army, Air Force, and Navy wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal mentioning the military’s need for scientists, coders, and engineers while promising that the military can offer unique skills not found in the private sector.
But they’ve got a tough sell. To make matters worse, the military under its current commander-in-chief is contributing to its own tarnished reputation.
Sixty-five percent of active-duty personnel were concerned about the politicization (read: wokeness) of the current military, according to the Report of the National Independent Panel on Military Service and Readiness. This is a self-inflicted wound of the Biden administration and the Obama administration before it, with a brief respite of military renewal during the Trump years in between. And this spring, a group of retired generals, admirals, and other senior military officials penned a letter to members of Congress warning of DEI’s threat to America’s military readiness.
Another concern with the enlisted and potential recruits is finances. Each year, the Blue Star Families publishes its Military Family Lifestyle Survey, and the 2023 results show that service members and their families are concerned about affordable housing, relocation costs, military pay, and other factors.
One way the Armed Forces are hoping to attract and retain recruits is through bonuses, some of which include a $100,000 retention bonus for select special warfare sailors and nearly $5 million in bonuses and incentive pay in the Space Force. Meanwhile, the Air Force is requesting more than $600 million in bonuses and retention efforts for 65 specialty positions.
Financial incentives are one solution, but money alone can’t make up for the perception among many service-minded young people that our politicians are playing woke war games. If high school graduates see more financial benefits or a higher quality of life in starting a business or going to college, they’re going to walk right past those recruitment offices. And under the current administration, who can blame them?
America’s Armed Forces need to be ready to tackle threats from abroad, and the fact that our political and military leaders have acknowledged the current recruiting problem is the necessary first step toward recovery.
Unfortunately, the second step — which is to honestly assess why we have a recruiting problem — will likely have to wait for a new administration.
By burdening your life, driving up your costs and inconveniencing your family, the Left hopes you travel less, eat less and have fewer kids.
Erick Erickson
Inflation numbers are out. The costs of living are trending down, but that does not mean things are cheaper. It just means things are not getting more expensive as quickly as they were. The cost of living is still high, and rental and mortgage prices continue to rise. During these times, the Biden administration has found a new target for their ire: airplane bathrooms.
Over the past few years, morbidly obese and mentally ill TikTok “influencers” have raised a ruckus on airplanes because the aisles are not wide enough, the seats are not big enough and the bathrooms are not expansive enough for them. In the past few years, airlines have made bathrooms uncomfortably small. But they did so for a specific reason: They need more seats.
Every seat added to a plane is a reduction in price for travelers. In the ‘70s and early ’80s, only the rich and business travelers could afford to fly. People dressed up. Meals were served. It was an experience, and one that cost a pretty penny. Today, thanks to former President Ronald Reagan’s deregulation plans, air travel has democratized. It is more cramped. It is more crowded. It has few amenities. But a family of four can now take a trip without taking out a second mortgage. The trade-offs have reduced ticket prices.
The Biden administration, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the frontwoman, want to mandate larger bathrooms for the small contingent of inconvenienced TikTok influencers of America. Doing so will price the middle class out of air travel. It is all part of the plan. The Biden administration and the Left, in general, are at war with the middle class.
If you want your child educated in much of America now, you must pay for private school or quit your job to home-school. At the government schools you are already paying for, the teachers unions, when not shutting them down, have filled elementary school libraries with gay pornography. Teachers are teaching gender unicorns. Gone are the ABCs and in are the LGBTQs. One plus one no longer equals two because that would be white supremacy, like proper grammar, the Founding Fathers and the United States generally. Washington politicians lament that our kids are not keeping up but are more insistent on them learning about gender transitions than sentence transitions.
At the grocery store, food costs are up. For years, the government has told us to shop the outer aisles with the least processed food, i.e., vegetables, fruit, meats and dairy. Now, the government wants to push you toward lab-grown chickens and synthetic-hemoglobin-filled plant-based “meat” — so long as you do not cook them on a gas stove.
Driving to work is more expensive. While energy prices are down year over year, they are still too high. The Biden administration intends to force everyone into electric cars by 2030. To do so, they are consciously making gas-powered cars more expensive and problematic. A large family is hard-pressed now to find a large car because the Left has advanced every incentive to keep a family small, including pricing large cars out of the market for most. A used car even costs too much now.
Like the costs of airplane tickets going up to expand bathrooms for the morbidly obese, the Biden administration plan for electric cars would force Americans to stay put. One cannot plan a week’s vacation across America when you have to add extra charging hours for the car.
Everything is more expensive by design. Everything else is more inconvenient by design. A dishwasher takes over two hours to wash the dishes. Appliances are more prone to failure. The power grid fails more often and does not even work when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine. It is all the logical and intentional outcome of progressive policy at work.
By burdening your life, driving up your costs and inconveniencing your family, the Left, via the Biden administration, hopes you travel less, eat less and have fewer kids. The kids you have will be secretly transitioned and, they hope, sterilized, to produce fewer humans. The middle class will lose, but the Left will have saved Mother Earth.
Robo Voting to Promote ESG — Representative Zach Nunn (R-IA) exposes the practice of robo voting, which is being used by activists to promote “social agendas and lower stock returns” for investors.
“We don’t own a private jet. I don’t own a private jet. I personally have never owned a private jet.” —climate czar John Kerry
“I think at some point someone called you [sic] that you were carrying a far-left, radical agenda. I have to admit to you, if anybody thinks it is radical to care about the protection of this planet for future generations, sign me up. It reminds me of Martin Luther King … when he was called a radical and an extremist.” —Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA) to John Kerry
“Climate change and its effects are a national security issue.” –Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
Hunter, Call Your Office
“If you have a piece of crack cocaine no bigger than this quarter that I’m holding in my hand … you go to jail for five years. You get no probation. You get nothing other than five years in jail. Judge doesn’t have a choice.” —Joe Biden in 1991
Nothing to See Here…
“I can’t get a bottle of water onto a Delta flight but you can get a bag of white powder into the most secured location in America and there’s NO WAY to stop it or figure out who left it. Seems totally legit.” —Jimmy Failla
“If you leave cocaine in the WH or leak a confidential SCOTUS draft to the press, you can rest well knowing every governmental investigative resource will never find out who you are. Leak classified documents on discord however and the Feds are at your front door in 35 minutes.” —Stephen L. Miller
Observations
“There was a time not too long ago when the FBI was held in the same high regard as the American military. Now the bureau is about as popular as Joe Biden. Does Chris Wray even care that he’s presiding over the collapse of this once-proud agency? If he does, he’s got a weird way of showing it.” —Douglas Andrews
“While it is true that the U.S. and much of NATO are effectively engaged in funding an increasingly expensive proxy war against Russia, at least American soldiers aren’t over there dying. If peace is the desired end, then NATO membership for Ukraine is the wrong answer.” —Thomas Gallatin
“Decades ago, leftists decided that Nazis were so universally reviled that the best way to discredit conservatives was to falsely assert that Nazis were right-wingers simply because the 20th century’s most famous fascists tended to be racist and nationalist. Of course, claiming that the National Socialist German Workers Party was on the Right is a lie big enough to make Joseph Goebbels blush. Unfortunately, thanks to public school indoctrination, it has mostly worked.” —Nate Jackson
Hunter Biden’s lawyer sent former President Donald Trump a cease-and-desist letter to prevent the president from posting rhetoric on social media that could injure the Biden family.
President Joe Biden authorized the deployment of thousands of reservists to Europe Thursday, adding to an American troop presence on the continent already totaling over 100,000.
Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of operations for the Joint Staff, told reporters, “This reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to the defense of NATO’s eastern flank in the wake of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine,” reported Politico.
Critics have suggested that the move, following the recent shipment of cluster bombs to Ukraine, takes the U.S. closer to a direct shooting war with Russia, with some claiming, “America Last strikes again!”
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah suggested that Congress consider invoking the War Powers Act and other measures to prevent Biden from “locking us into supporting Ukraine.”
The order
Biden issued an executive order Thursday, just after recommitting to NATO at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, stating, “It is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation Atlantic Resolve in and around the United States European Command’s area of responsibility.”
Accordingly, he authorized the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, with respect to the Coast Guard, to “order to active duty any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit of the Selected Reserve, or any member in the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category and designated as essential.”
The number of troops called up is “not to exceed 3,000 total members at any one time, of whom not more than 450 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve,” which consists of former active-duty or reserve military personnel.
Politico indicated that the president’s order is novel in that it designates Operation Atlantic Resolve a contingency operation for the first time, meaning the Pentagon can “call up reserve forces and implement sped-up acquisition authorities to supply those troops with equipment.”
With this designation, reservists will also be paid and supported as active-duty troops.
“This new designation benefits troops and families with increases in authorities, entitlements, and access to the reserve component forces and personnel,” clarified Sims.
Atlantic Resolve, an operation headquartered in Poznan, Poland, kicked off in 2014 under then-President Barack Obama in response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Its purpose is to buttress NATO nations’ defenses against further Russian aggression.
The Pentagon indicated last summer, “Since February 2022, DoD deployed or extended over 20,000 additional forces to Europe in response to the Ukraine crisis, adding additional air, land, maritime, cyber, and space capabilities, bringing our current total to more than 100,000 service members across Europe.”
“This included extending a Carrier Strike Group, deploying additional fighter squadrons and lift/tanker aircraft, and deploying an Amphibious Readiness Group and Marine Expeditionary Force. DoD added a Corps Headquarters, Division Headquarters, Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) battalion, and multiple enablers to the existing Corps Forward Command Post, Division Headquarters, and three BCTs already stationed in or deployed to Europe,” said the Defense Department.
The response
Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence under Trump, noted, “Eight of the 31 NATO countries currently pay their obligations. Germany and Canada are two of the wealthier nations NOT paying the agreed upon percentage. Joe Biden failed to press NATO this week – but then called up American reserves to active duty.”
In another tweet, Grenell, who was previously ambassador to Germany, noted that there “was no peace plan presented” at the NATO summit, “just more WAR for American men and women.”
Joe Kent, a Washington state Republican running for Congress in 2024, tweeted, “Defending America is Biden’s last priority.”
Sean Davis, CEO of the Federalist, tweeted, “Nothing to see here. Just Biden calling up the reserves in preparation for World War 3 against Russia over a tinpot puppet kleptocrat in Eastern Europe.”
William Wolfe, a former senior Trump administration official, wrote, “Biden authorizing the call for reserve troops up to active duty for operations in Europe? Does this mean Ukraine? Not good.”
Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk wrote, “Joe Biden is calling up reservists for active duty in Operation Atlantic Resolve, because apparently it can’t fill the ranks of its rainbow flag military as recruitment plummets. This is not to fortify our border, which remains wide open, but to increase our deployments near Ukraine. America Last strikes again!”
Restraining Biden’s ambitions
Sen. Lee claimed Thursday that “President Biden is arguably walking the U.S. up to the line of war and daring Russia to shoot first.”
“Since conflict with Russia and Ukraine came to blows in 2014, rotational deployments under Atlantic Resolve have been considered a backbone of deterring Russia from crossing NATO’s Eastern flank,” wrote Lee. “The active-duty activation and deployment of these additional forces is a dangerous provocation, knowing full well NATO’s Eastern Flank is adjacent to active hostilities.”
Late last year, a Ukrainian missile strayed into Poland, but was misidentified in the press as a Russian missile. Such spillover from the fighting between Ukrainians and the Russian invaders could easily and swiftly bring America directly into the conflict.
“President Biden did the same thing at the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022, massively increasing our active-duty force presence when we knew hostilities were imminent. But now it’s even more risky because hostilities are active,” continued Lee. “Not only does this run the risk of further locking us into supporting Ukraine, now the military-industrial complex will say the US military presence is THE one thing preventing Russia from crossing NATO’s eastern border & that we have to maintain such presence indefinitely.”
According to Lee, this may amount to a “long-term security guarantee. Another endless war but this time by proxy.”
The Utah senator said that “this makes me really uneasy,” adding that “we might have to invoke the War Powers Act.”
The War Powers Act states that, unless Congress has declared war, the U.S. military and members thereof cannot be “introduced in hostilities or in situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances” unless:
they are repelling an armed attack on the U.S., its territories and possessions;
they are taking “necessary and appropriate retaliatory actions in the event of such an attack”;
they are forestalling the direct imminent threat of such an attack;
they are providing protection for evacuation of American citizens; or
Lee acknowledged that a resolution passed under the War Powers Act could be vetoed by the president. To override such a veto would require a two-thirds vote from both houses of Congress, meaning it would have to be a bipartisan effort.
The Utah senator was part of a bipartisan legislative effort in 2021 to reclaim for Congress “its rightful role as co-equal branch on matters of war and national security.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said at the time that Congress had “acquiesced to the growing, often unchecked power of the executive to determine the outline of America’s footpring in the world.”
Should a War Powers resolution such as that proposed by Lee fail, the senator indicated Congress would still have the “option of defunding, but that’s tricky too because spending legislation is also subject to presidential veto.”
The large amount of carbon emissions associated with producing—and even charging—electric vehicles mean the cars might not even help the environment, according to a new report.
Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa, Simon Ateba, has consistently pushed back against the Biden Administration in the Press Room and the White House continues to threaten him to fall in line or else.
Ateba shared the most recent attempt to silence him, a letter accusing him of “disruptive” behavior in the White House press room. Further, the letter threatens, if he continues to do what reporters are supposed to do, ask tough questions, “then your hard pass may be suspended or revoked, following notice and an opportunity to respond.”
On Jen Psaki’s final day as White House Press Secretary, Ateba repeatedly attempted to get Psaki to call on him and other reporters in the back of the room.
In May of 2022, Ateba learned the price one pays for daring to try to get actual answers from the Biden administration and he was threatened with expulsion from the White House Correspondents Association. Ateba announced at the time his intention to sue the group for making false claims against him and not adhering to their own guidelines.
In May of 2023, The Gateway Pundit reported that the White House changed the rules for press hard passes with Ateba alleging that these changes were meant to target him.
Now, the Biden Administration has gone a step further to protect themselves from tough questions and sent Ateba a warning letter threatening to pull his press pass.
Ateba posted the full letter on Twitter:
BREAKING: Following @washingtonpost hit piece meant to prevent me from renewing my hard pass, the @WhiteHouse and @PressSec office just sent me 'A WARNING LETTER." Here it is:
Mr. Ateba,
We strongly support the important role that members of the press play in covering the White… pic.twitter.com/7EbS9HDpIW
We strongly support the important role that members of the press play in covering the White House. As part of that role, reporters ask tough questions of White House officials to better understand the Administration’s position on important policy matters. These questions, and the resulting exchanges, are expected elements of the back-and-forth that regularly occurs in reporting the news to the American people.
That back-and-forth only works, however, when the individuals who are part of it engage with each other in a professional and respectful manner. When members of the press impede briefings or other events by shouting over colleagues who have been called on for a question, or yelling over a White House official who is trying to respond to a question or present a briefing, all members of the press are harmed in their ability to report the news.
On May 5, 2023, the White House issued a notice to holders of hard passes to, among other things, inform them of the expectations for professional behavior on White House grounds. Those expectations include respecting your colleagues and not impeding events or briefings on campus. The notice further informed holders of hard passes that, “[a]bsent security concerns involving the United States Secret Service or other exigent circumstances, the White House will provide a written warning to you if your conduct violates these expectations. Subsequent violations may lead to the suspension or revocation of your hard pass, following notice and an opportunity to respond.”
In contravention of these expectations, you impeded a June 26, 2023, press briefing and interrupted the Press Secretary. When the Press Secretary called on another member of the press, you continued to interrupt, preventing your colleague from asking his question. You did not stop interrupting when your colleagues asked you to stop, or when the Press Secretary informed you that you were being rude to her and to your colleagues.
Although this written warning is specific to the June 26 press briefing, it was not an isolated episode. The following are just a few examples of times your behavior has prevented your colleagues from asking questions or prevented White House officials from answering them:
• On May 13, 2022, you repeatedly interrupted colleagues who were attempting to ask important questions about the supply of baby formula. • On December 8, 2022, you interrupted the press briefing and demanded to ask a question. When the Press Secretary tried to answer your question, you interrupted and shouted over her answer. The Press Secretary then attempted to call on one of your colleagues, but you continued to interrupt and prevented others from being heard. Your actions required the Press Secretary to end the briefing, preventing your colleagues from asking additional questions. • On March 20, 2023, you prevented the Press Secretary from introducing White House guests at a press briefing by shouting over her. Other members of the press called for “decorum” in the room. One of your colleagues apologized to the guests for the disruption before the briefing continued. Several minutes later, you again interrupted and impeded the briefing while other members of the press again asked for decorum. While you were impeding the briefing, the Press Secretary could not speak and other members of the press could not ask questions. One member of the press felt it necessary to explain how your disruptive actions had harmed all other journalists at the briefing, stating that “you are impinging on everybody in here who is only trying to do their job.” o Later that day, the White House Correspondents’ Association emailed its members, explaining that “there was an extreme breakdown of decorum in today’s Daily Briefing.” According to the Association, “[w]hat happened today created a hostile work environment for everyone in that room.” The Association explained that the breakdown caused by your outbursts “prevent[ed] a briefing from proceeding,” which “hurts the entire press corps and amounts to a violation of the collegiality called for in the WHCA’s bylaws.”
The White House recognizes that members of the press often raise their voices or shout questions at press briefings or events. Ordinarily such shouting stops when a reporter is called on for a question, and the briefing or event is able to continue. Continued interruptions are different; they prevent journalists from asking questions or administration officials and guests from responding. The Press Secretary’s only option in response to such disruptions is to stop the briefing or event, which is to the detriment of all journalists.
This letter serves as your written warning, pursuant to the May 5, 2023 Notice, that the behavior you exhibited on June 26, 2023 is unacceptable. If you continue to impede briefings or events by shouting over your colleagues who have been called on for a question, even after you have been asked to stop by a White House employee, then your hard pass may be suspended or revoked, following notice and an opportunity to respond.
We hope that you will work with us to avoid any future issues in the press briefing room or at other events on White House grounds. If you would like to comment on this letter, please reply by email within 7 days.
Christopher Wray, Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said on Wednesday that the agency receives Americans’ personal data from companies “all the time.”
Inflation is part of the problem, but we’re going beyond job creation reports and the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank. It’s a crisis that could cause all the dominoes to fall, and it doesn’t help that we have a president who gets outright exhausted after a few days of work. A looming real estate crisis threatens to nuke the whole system. The bleeding has already begun, and it could take decades for some “superstar cities” to recover, while some will tragically remain lost in the wilderness.
Office space and commercial real estate have become the Achilles heel of the economy, made even more vulnerable thanks to the COVID pandemic. Working from home exposed some companies to the benefits of not having an office, leading to cost-saving decisions to cut overhead costs. J.P. Morgan thought its office culture would return to normal once the COVID Nazis allowed us to go outside. Instead, he’s cutting his New York footprint.
In June, Dror Poleg had a lengthy piece in The Atlantic that gave an apocalyptic economic projection, breaking down this pending crisis where banks and cities are about to endure a brutal blow to their balance sheets. With interest rates rising, landlords big and small are looking to turn their keys over to the bank in strategic foreclosure. Poleg, a financial investor and author who concentrates on technology’s impact on urban economies, even quotes John Maynard Keynes regarding this trend: if you owe the bank $1,000, you’re at their mercy, but if you owe them $1 million, the roles are reversed.
You see that in San Francisco, where downtown property values have plummeted by hundreds of millions of dollars. The owners of the Westfield San Francisco Centre shopping center gave their vote of confidence regarding a potential Bay Area comeback: they left. Seeing a $558 million mortgage on their books, they opted to give up the property to the bank. And they’re not the only ones; there’s a retail exodus occurring in the city.
NATO is incapable of filling Ukraine’s shortage in ammo and manpower without dragging itself deeper into the conflict and risking a direct confrontation with Russia, Larry Johnson, a veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, told Sputnik’s New Rules podcast.
Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that “climate change is being used to control us through fear,” and he released a campaign video that clarifies his position on the environment.
The US budget deficit is more than twice as big as it was before the start of the pandemic.
scanrail/Getty Images
The US budget deficit ballooned to $2.3 trillion in the 12 months through June – that’s a 64% jump from fiscal year 2022.
That shows the government is burning cash like a “drunken sailor,” according to one expert.
US deficits appear to be on a “completely unsustainable path,” former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned this week.
The US budget deficit surged to $2.3 trillion in the 12 months through June, a 64% increase from the fiscal year 2022 that ended in September.
The latest number is more than twice as big as the shortfall before the start of the pandemic, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Last month alone. the government spent $225 billion in excess of its income.
“Policymakers should work together to get the economy and our fiscal health back on track,” the committee said in a statement. “Compared to the prior 12 months, total nominal spending is up 14 percent to $6.7 trillion and revenue is down 7 percent to $4.5 trillion.”
Financial markets expert Charlie Bilello weighed in on the latest budget-deficit figures, likening the US government’s spending habits to that of a “drunken sailor.”
“This is occurring when the economy is still in an expansion with the Unemployment Rate near a 54-year low at 3.6%. What happens to the deficit when a recession hits?” he said in a Thursday tweet.
“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary recently blamed the US government’s spending for sparking inflation in the first place. The surge in price pressures has led the Federal Reserve to pump the brakes on the economy by sharply raising interest rates – and that’s heaping pressure on small businesses, O’Leary said.
“When you turn on the spigot of government spending on either side of the aisle, that is how you get inflation,” he said. “At some point you have to stop printing money.”
Meanwhile, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned this week that the US deficits look more ominous than ever before, and are on a “completely unsustainable path.”
Spending in excess of earnings is forcing the government to borrow unprecedented amounts. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio said last month that the US was at the start of a debt crisis – where there was an worsening shortage of buyers at a time when the government was selling so much debt.
“In my opinion, we are at the beginning of a very classic late, big cycle debt crisis, when the supply-demand gap, when you are producing too much debt and have a shortage of buyers,” Dalio said.
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