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
112:1 The one who fears the Lord honors, trusts, worships, and obeys him.[1]
112:1 in his commandments. The righteous person receives the law as a testimony of God; they are a joy, to be kept in love and gratitude for His great salvation.[2]
112:1Blessed. See note on 1:1. man. As with 1:1, the Hb. word is masculine, and the psalm uses a particular man as a pattern of godliness, inviting women and children to make the necessary adaptations to their own circumstances (see Introduction to Proverbs: Literary Features, on concreteness). fears the Lord. This links with Ps. 111:10 (see note there) and shows that the two psalms belong together. greatly delights in his commandments. This shows that the “fear” is not craven terror but reverent love (cf. 1:2).
112:1 Christ is the supremely righteous man (Acts 3:14), and in him we too receive the reward for righteousness (Eph. 1:3–14). See note on Ps. 1:1.[3]
112:1 who fears the Lord. This psalm begins where 111:10 ended and links the two together.[4]
112:1Praise the Lord: Like Ps. 111, this psalm begins with the Hebrew word hallelujah. It then picks up where Ps. 111 left off. Blessed, a word meaning “one who is manifestly happy,” is the same term with which the Book of Psalms begins.[5]
112:1 There is a close correspondence between this Psalm and the preceding one, both in its acrostic form and in its spiritual teaching. It takes up where Psalm 111 leaves off—with the man who fears the Lord and who practices wisdom. Several of the things that are said about the Lord in the first are applied to the godly man in the second. We see the Sun of Righteousness shining in all His glory in the 111th; here we see the believer, like the moon, reflecting that glory. By beholding the beauty of the Lord, the believer is changed into the same beauty by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).
“Praise the Lord!” These words frequently expressed the psalmist’s sentiments, and he has left a good example for the rest of us.
Who is the happy man? It is the one who reverences and submits to the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments, and proves it by obeying them. He reaps the benefits that flow from a life of practical godliness. Such[6]
112:1. Building on the end of the previous psalm, this verse says that one who fears the Lord and delights in His Law is blessed (cf. 1:1–2). On praise the Lord (halelû-yāh), see comments on 104:35.[7]
1. “Praise ye the Lord.” This exhortation is never given too often; the Lord always deserves praise, we ought always to render it, we are frequently forgetful of it, and it is always well to be stirred up to it. The exhortation is addressed to all thoughtful persons who observe the way and manner of life of men that fear the Lord. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, the Lord should have all the glory of it, for we are his workmanship. “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord.” According to the last verse of Psalm 111, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”; this man, therefore, has begun to be wise, and wisdom has brought him present happiness, and secured him eternal felicity. Jehovah is so great that he is to be feared and had in reverence of all them that are round about him, and he is at the same time so infinitely good that the fear is sweetened into filial love, and becomes a delightful emotion, by no means engendering bondage. There is a slavish fear which is accursed; but that godly fear which leads to delight in the service of God is infinitely blessed. Jehovah is to be praised both for inspiring men with godly fear and for the blessedness which they enjoy in consequence thereof. We ought to bless God for blessing any man, and especially for setting the seal of his approbation upon the godly. His favour towards the God-fearing displays his character and encourages gracious feelings in others, therefore let him be praised. “That delighteth greatly in his commandments.” The man not only studies the divine precepts and endeavours to observe them, but rejoices to do so: holiness is his happiness, devotion is his delight, truth is his treasure. He rejoices in the precepts of godliness, yea, and delights greatly in them. We have known hypocrites rejoice in the doctrines, but never in the commandments. Ungodly men may in some measure obey the commandments out of fear, but only a gracious man will observe them with delight. Cheerful obedience is the only acceptable obedience; he who obeys reluctantly is disobedient at heart, but he who takes pleasure in the command is truly loyal. If through divine grace we find ourselves described in these two sentences, let us give all the praise to God, for he hath wrought all our works in us, and the dispositions out of which they spring. Let self-righteous men praise themselves, but he who has been made righteous by grace renders all the praise to the Lord.[8]
112:1. Praise the Lord
After an opening call for the congregation to worship God, the psalmist confers a blessing on the wise person (similar to the opening of Ps. 1), defined as those who fear the Lord (see commentary at 111:5 and 10). Those who fear God will not only pay attention to God’s law (commands), but will delight in it (see Ps. 1), because they know it expresses his will and his best for his people as they live in the world that he created. In addition, one who fears God will have no room to fear other people or situations. The noble woman in Proverbs 31 is one who is to be praised because she ‘fears the Lord’ (v. 30).[9]
1. The opening verses are unclouded: an idyllic picture of piety and prosperity which calls to mind the beginning of the book of Job. The fact that this person is a man of character, not merely of property, will emerge chiefly in the later verses, but already his godliness shows itself as an enthusiasm rather than a burden. There may be an echo of the previous psalm in the word delights (1b), which is the verb behind the phrase there, ‘all who have pleasure in them’ (111:2). To this man God’s word is as fascinating as are his works to the naturalist; and the term used for it, his commandments, implies that his interest is practical. What grips him is God’s will and call.[10]
Ver. 1.—Praise ye the Lord. Again a “heading,” or “introduction” (see the comment on Ps. 111:1). Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. Connect this with Ps. 111:10. The closing thought of Ps. 111. is taken up and expanded in Ps. 112. That delighteth greatly in his commandments (comp. Pss. 1:2; 119:16, 17, 24, 70, 77, etc.). “True obedience can only come from pleasure in the commandments of God” (Hengstenberg).[11]
1. To whom shall we direct our view for the character here described, but to the ever-blessed Jesus? Of him alone, in strict truth, can the things here spoken of, be said. Jesus did indeed say, and Jesus alone could say it: I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart: that is, as the margin of our old Bibles have it, in the midst of my bowels, folded up in my very nature: indeed the whole nature itself. For that holy thing, as the angel called him before his conception, was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. And all this, remember, Reader, is spoken of Jesus in his human nature; which human nature is united to the uncreated Word; and both form one Christ. Oh! the unspeakable joy for a poor conscious sinner to contemplate his Saviour, his Surety, his Jesus, thus holy; and that this holiness is his, in which he always appears before God, and is thereby always accepted in the Beloved. Reader, pray turn to those blessed scriptures in confirmation: Psalm 40:8. Luke, 1:35. Heb. 7:26. John, 1:14. Ephes. 1:5, 6.[12]
112:1 Praise the Lord. Like Psalm 111, this psalm also begins with “hallelujah” (NIV: “Praise the Lord!”; see the comments on 111:1).
Blessed are those. The phrase here is the same as that in 1:1, with the exception of the definite article before “man” in 1:1 (“Blessed is the man,” 1:1 ESV; the NIV has pluralized the terms in 112:1 to make the translation more gender inclusive). In fact, the first and last words of Psalms 1 and 112 are identical (’ashre, “blessed,” and to’bed, “perish”; see the comments on 112:10).[13]
112:1 / Like the preceding psalm, this one is an acrostic, where each line begins with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The opening Praise the Lord, however, lies outside the acrostic (which begins with Blessed is) and was probably added when the psalm was collected with Psalms 111 and 113, both of which also begin with “Praise the Lord.” Since it is now a part of the final form of the psalm, the whole psalm must be seen in a new light. It is not only a blessing for the benefit of the Yahweh-fearer; it also becomes a call to worship Yahweh himself.
The acrostic opens with the pronouncement of a blessing, and the rest of the psalm unpacks the nature of that blessing. The chief characteristic of its recipient is that he is one who fears the Lord. As is typical of Hebrew parallelism, the second line is more specific. It provides a concrete example of such character: he finds great delight in his commands. “Fearing” and “delighting” may strike us as incongruous—even ambivalent—attitudes and emotions, but according to biblical psychology they define a healthy person. This “fear” is not trepidation or dread; it is awe and reverence. And this “delight” is not self-indulgence or amusement; it is joy. The parallelism of “the Lord” and “his commands” does not reduce relationship with Yahweh to legalism. “His commands” relate to all of his instruction, not merely to formal commandments or laws. The one who truly reveres and respects Yahweh himself is one who gladly follows his counsel about living.[14]
1. The Blessing of Fearing the Lord (v. 1)
Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands (v. 1). The familiar ‘Hallelujah’ commences the psalm and sets the tone, before a description is given of the true God-fearer. The language is reminiscent of Psalm 1:1–2, though the idea is developed in line with Psalm 111. Fear of the Lord calls forth the proclamation of a blessing on such a person, whose main distinguishing mark is his delight in God’s requirements. Reverence for God and joy in him flows into obedience to him.[15]
1a The first words of Psalm 112 mark it as one of the “Hallelujah” psalms of Book Five (see the commentary for Psalm 111).
1b The acrostic body of Psalm 112 opens with the word ʾašrê (content), rendered in most English translations as “happy” or “blessed.” The verbal root, which most likely is ʾāšar, means “go straight, advance, follow the track.” ʾašrê is used twenty-six times in the Psalter and very often signals that the reader is entering the sphere of Israelite wisdom teachings. The translation “blessed” brings to mind the Hebrew word bārûḵ, which carries cultic/sacred connotations. “Happy” does not convey the full depth of the root ʾāšar. The translation content connotes a sense of peace and feeling settled that seems to come closest to the root meaning of ʾašrê. Content, coupled with two other words in the verse, ʾîš (“person”) and ḥāp̱ēš (“delight”), recalls for the hearer the opening words of the Psalter, “Content is the person who does not walk in the path of the wicked … but whose delight is in the tôrâ” (Ps. 1:1–2).
NRSV translates the word ʾîš (“person”) in v. 1 as “those,” but the noun is singular in Hebrew and is purposely singular to emphasize the importance for each individual hearer to observe the torah and the commandments (miṣwōṯ).
For a discussion of the translation reverence for yārēʾ, see the commentary on Ps. 111:10.[16]
1. Blessedness of Those Who Delight in Wisdom (112:1)
Commentary
1 Those “blessed” (ʾašrê; see 1:1) by the Lord show themselves to be in active pursuit of godly wisdom. They begin with the fear of God and end with finding “great delight in his commands.” As an expression of nomic wisdom, the psalm sets forth wisdom as a pattern of behavior based on the revealed will of God. In the previous psalm the inspired author has prepared the reader for the importance of observing God’s law by demonstrating that the law is a reflection of God’s nature. The precepts are “trustworthy,” “steadfast forever and ever,” and expressive of “faithfulness and uprightness” (111:7b–8). As a reflection of God’s nature, the commands take on a different quality. They reflect “grace and truth” as exemplified by Jesus (Jn 1:14). The child of God who loves God is also desirous of doing God’s will on earth. He or she is a wise child, who has “good understanding” (111:10) and not only ponders the works of God with great delight (111:2) but applies himself or herself with equal delight to know God’s will (1:2; 119:24, 77, 92, 143, 174).[17]
[1] Warstler, K. R. (2017). Psalms. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 918). Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Ross, A. P. (1985). Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 875). Victor Books.
[13] Bullock, C. H. (2017). Psalms 73–150 (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.; Vol. 2, p. 310). Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group.
[14] Hubbard, R. L. J., & Johnston, R. K. (2012). Foreword. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Psalms (pp. 421–422). Baker Books.
[16] deClaissé-Walford, N. (2014). Book Five of the Psalter: Psalms 107–150. In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 844). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
[17] VanGemeren, W. A. (2008). Psalms. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms (Revised Edition) (Vol. 5, p. 825). Zondervan.
My apologies for going long here – but we are covering one of the most fascinating centuries in the Bible in one day! Buckle up and let’s go!
2 Chronicles 35:1 — Josiah kept the Passover. Why is this detail included? This and Hezekiah’s Passover (2 Chronicles 30:1) are the only two Passovers mentioned in 2 Chronicles. Keep in mind, this is the 18th year of Josiah’s reign. The boy King is now 26 years old. It has been 20 years since Manasseh presumably held a Passover, and 75 years since Hezekiah held a great Passover. The Post-Exilic people who have returned to the land will have held the first official Passover in the land in over 70 years as well. Though we stray from the LORD, the LORD will hear us when we call to Him!
2 Chronicles 35:3 — For those who are curious where the Ark is today, here’s another mystery: where was the Ark before Josiah moved it back into the Temple?
2 Chronicles 35:7 — Josiah gave 33,000 bullocks. Compare Hezekiah’s gift: he only gave a thousand bullocks (2 Chronicles 30:24). Perhaps that’s why the Chronicler says it was the greatest Passover since Samuel the Prophet (2 Chronicles 35:18).
2 Chronicles 35:25 — Why did Jeremiah weep? Because in less than twenty-five years the Southern Kingdom of Judah would be no more. The next chapter will go quickly through many names. But add up the dates; within one generation Josiah’s great Kingdom will collapse.
2 Chronicles 36:3 — Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, quickly becomes prisoner in Egypt (2 Chronicles 36:4). Eliakim, the second son of Josiah, is Egypt’s puppet until Nebuchadnezzar takes him to Babylon in chains along with the temple vessels (2 Chronicles 36:6-7). This is the king that cut up the scroll and burned the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:23).
Interesting that Pharaoh changes Eliakim’s name from El-iakim to Jeho-iakim. The prefix changes from “El” (generic name for a god, translated in the KJV as “God”), to “Jeho” (short for Jehovah, translated in the KJV as “LORD”, the personal name of God). This is especially interesting because Eliakim/Jehoiakim did evil in the sight of the LORD. Eliakim’s son, Jehoiachin, joins his dad shortly in the Babylonian captivity with more temple vessels (2 Chronicles 36:10).
2 Chronicles 36:11 — Zedekiah, Josiah’s grandson by Eliakim, rejected Jeremiah’s warnings. Zedekiah also imprisoned Jeremiah in the jail in the king’s house (Jeremiah 32:2) because the king would not repent and wanted to “shoot the messenger.”
2 Chronicles 36:13 — God takes vows very seriously (Ecclesiastes 5:4-6, Deuteronomy 23:21-23, Numbers 30:2, Psalm 76:11), but Zedekiah didn’t and violated his vow. From Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers:
When Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah vassal-king of Judah, he would naturally make him swear fealty to himself by the God of his fathers. The fact is not specially recorded in Kings; but the prophet Ezekiel makes it the point of a prophecy against the king and his grandees (Ezekiel 17:11-21; comp, especially 2 Chronicles 36:17, “mine oath that he hath despised.”)
2 Chronicles 36:19 — Four hundred years of the Temple, and now it comes to an end. Just 19 chapters earlier we read how God threatened to destroy Solomon’s offering, the Temple, and make it a byword (2 Chronicles 7:20). Now it has happened.
2 Chronicles 36:21 — Depending on how you count, the Sabbath of the land had only been royally observed four times since Samuel anointed Saul as king. The laws each king had to copy (Deuteronomy 17:18) included the command to give the land the seventh year off (Leviticus 25:1-7). There was specific punishment of exile if they did not (Leviticus 26:34-35). But how many kings decided to prove the promised miracle of triple-abundance (Leviticus 25:21)? Most commentators simply say “70 years of rest” or 70 X 7 = 490 years. However, the year of Jubilee was a second year of rest. Thus, we would go back 442 years from the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC to 1028 BC. Subtracting 1028 BC from 1050 BC (anointing of Saul) would imply that the “Sabbath of the Land” had been kept only 3 or 4 times from when Samuel anointed Saul and passed the duty to keep the Sabbath to the king. Seventy years pass after the period at the end of verse 21.
2 Chronicles 36:23 — The Book of 2 Chronicles ends at the start of Ezra. Compare 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 with Ezra 1:1-3. The people are returning to build again the House of the LORD that was burned. The House of the LORD was defiled by Jewish kings, burned by Babylonian kings, but will be rebuilt by a Persian king! The Priests will need to organize themselves, but we read already how Josiah had to do that as well (2 Chronicles 35:2). They will need to keep a Passover that hadn’t been kept in a hundred years, but this wasn’t the first long gap between Passovers. God allowed bad foreign policy to end the life of good King Josiah and hasten the destruction of the Temple by pagan kings. Now God commanded a pagan king to fund the reconstruction of the Temple!
1 Corinthians 1:7 — We too are waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! “What if it were today?“
Proverbs 20:21 — Solomon is contrasting the inheritance that is normally connected with a blessing, with an inheritance that is not blessed. Reminds me of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:12).
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As we saw in our post on Monday, bodily resurrection is an essential element of our future in heaven. Believers will enjoy eternity in the presence of God in glorified, perfected bodies. But what do we know about those bodies? How will they function, and what will they be like? The apostle Paul gives us some insight in 1 Corinthians 15:35-49…
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:35, 36
The power of persistence accomplishes great things.
I witnessed this in my fourteen-year-old granddaughter Miriam.
For Christmas she had been given a jigsaw puzzle. It had come to her home in Africa in a plastic bag without the box and without a picture. As she dumped 1,000 pieces onto a card table, I wondered how long she was going to keep at it. No picture to copy. No pattern to follow. Just a pile of pieces looking surprisingly similar.
As I watched my granddaughter bent over the pieces, sorting, grouping, and turning each piece over for a possible fit, I marveled at her persistence. And her faith. She believed that this jumble would make sense in the end; a picture would emerge. And buoyed by that knowledge, she kept at it day after day. Because Miriam persisted, she was rewarded with a beautiful Victorian Painting.
Is your life like a jumbled jigsaw puzzle? You’ve been told that God has a wonderful plan for your life, but right now, all you see is broken pieces—broken dreams, broken health, broken relationships. A pattern? No, it looks more like a mess.
Perhaps you’re tired and discouraged. Come to God in your weakness and tell Him, “I depend on you to see me through this.” God is with you to be your strength. He knows the pattern and will guide you to it. However, you must also do your part.
You need to persevere in faith and in obedience to God’s Word. Keep depending on Him to give you daily strength. He has a good plan for your life and one day you will see what He was doing.
Successful people are people who have known their share of brokenness but they’ve refused to give up. They’ve not thrown away their confidence but have kept on believing that, in time, their faith in God’s goodness will be rewarded.
Father, even though I don’t understand, I trust you to give me daily strength to keep on believing until I finish.
July 2023 sets record as Tampa’s hottest month ever, Florida In July 2023, Tampa, Florida experienced the warmest month ever recorded, with average high and low temperatures peaking at 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above the norm. The lack of expected summer rainfall is a significant contributing factor to the record heat.
Intense earthquake swarm in Noto Peninsula linked to ancient or hidden magmatic activity, Japan An intense earthquake swarm that began around the end of 2019 in the northeastern Noto Peninsula, Japan, has been tied to fluids released by ancient, or possibly unknown modern, magmatic activity. This finding, published in JGR Solid Earth, challenges previous assumptions that such seismic activity could not occur in areas devoid of volcanic activity for over 10 million years.
Historic rainfall in Hebei displaces 1.2 million people — more than a year’s worth in a couple of days, China The remnants of Typhoon “Doksuri” battered northern China from July 29 to August 1, 2023, unloading an entire year’s worth of rainfall and triggering devastating floods. The worst affected were Beijing and Hebei’s Zhuozhou where more than 1.2 million people were evacuated. At least 30 people have lost their lives and more than 30 remain missing.
China-linked Bio Lab Discovered in Fresno Co, California – Had Over 900 Mice “Genetically Engineered to Catch and Carry the Covid-19 Virus” On March 3, an illegal bio lab was discovered in a believed-to-be vacant building in Reedley, California in Fresno County. City code enforcement stumbled upon the building in December 2022 when they discovered a garden hose running up into the building through a hole in the wall. In March, they obtained a warrant to inspect the property, and in April, the Fresno County Department of Public Health ordered an inspection of the facility.
iVerify – the UN’s Sinister New Tool for Combatting ‘Misinformation’ The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has quietly announced the rollout of an automated anti-disinformation tool, iVerify, this spring. The instrument, initially created to support election integrity, centres a multi-stakeholder approach spanning the public and private sectors to “provide national actors with a support package to enhance identification, monitoring and response capacity to threats to information integrity”.
Tony “war criminal” Blair is spreading his digital ID propaganda around the World Tony Blair is a multi-millionaire former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom with a track record of lying and was convicted in absentia as a war criminal. He was also named in the Pandora Papers in 2021. Despite all of this, on 31 December 2021, the Queen announced that Blair would be given the most senior knighthood. Now he’s travelling the world trying to resurrect and peddle his digital IDs.
“Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence.” —Joseph Story (1833)
Fellow Patriots, on this day in 1790, Congress authorized the Revenue Cutter Service, which would become the U.S. Coast Guard. Happy Birthday and Semper Paratus! Speaking of early American history, the U.S. Women’s National (Soccer) Team could use a bit of remedial history courtesy of Hillsdale’s 1776 Curriculum.
Devon Archer’s testimony transcript isn’t as clear cut as it could be, but it’s damning nonetheless.
Nate Jackson
Another day, another story about Joe & Hunter Biden Corruption Inc. Fatigue can set in over the constant drip of such news — we get it. But it’s awfully important when it comes to exposing the corruption of the sitting U.S. president.
Democrats know they have a big problem. Joe Biden is non compos mentis, barely able to mumble what he reads off a teleprompter, unable to climb the full staircase into Air Force One. On top of that, he’s corrupt, sitting at the center of a lucrative influence-peddling operation.
No wonder Democrats really, really want Donald Trump to be the news focus, dropping one bogus indictment after another — especially when they need to distract from news of Biden’s corruption — to gin up outrage and make sure he’s the GOP presidential nominee.
On Monday, Hunter Biden’s business associate Devon Archer gave closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee about Joe’s involvement in the family business. Democrat Congressman Dan Goldman rushed out to the first available microphone to declare that Archer’s testimony “completely absolves Joe Biden of any involvement in Hunter Biden’s business world.” Hunter was just creating the “illusion of access,” he claimed.
Goldman added that Joe and Hunter might have spoken on the phone during 20 or so of Hunter’s business meetings, but it was only about “the weather” and other mundane things.
What is this? Bill Clinton’s tarmac meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to talk about grandkids while the FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton’s illegal email server?
Humor aside, Goldman walked right into a trap. Oversight Chairman James Comer released the transcript last night, and let’s just say “the weather” wasn’t the point. And “illusion of access” was Goldman’s choice of words, not Archer’s.
Comer and others had already indicated that Archer made plain what any rational observer would understand about such phone calls: Hunter Biden was selling the Biden “brand,” making clear to his associates how valuable immediate access to the then-vice president really was. Indeed, that’s what the transcript lays out in even more detail. When Joe picked up the phone, Archer told the committee, “there was brand being delivered.”
“People send signals,” Archer explained, “and those signals are basically used as currency.” Literally, in the Bidens’ case.
As for why Hunter would secure a highly paid seat on the board of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy giant, Archer said, “It’s pretty obvious if you’re, you know, you’re the son of a vice president.” Especially the vice president who served as point man for U.S. policy on Ukraine.
To be sure, Archer said, “to my knowledge” Hunter didn’t specifically ask his father for official favors in his hearing. But Archer noted that he was “left out of everything” that involved truly consequential discussions with Joe Biden. That means he couldn’t testify regarding damning specifics like coercing bribes from Burisma, but it also means the Bidens knew exactly what they were doing in covering their tracks wherever possible.
Archer was certainly clear that Hunter’s access to Joe helped Burisma. “I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it,” Archer asserted. Why? “Because people would be intimidated to mess with them … legally.” Remember that Ukrainian prosecutor Joe Biden is on video bragging about getting fired? That was the brand and intimidation at work, and for a corrupt company like Burisma, operating in a corrupt country like Ukraine, that’s real value.
Representative Andy Biggs asked Archer to clarify that everything was really about Joe Biden. “When you say ‘Biden family,’” he began, “you aren’t talking about Dr. Jill or anybody else. You’re talking about Joe Biden. Is that fair to say?”
“Yeah, that’s fair to say,” Archer replied. “I don’t think about it as, you know, Joe directly, but it’s fair. That’s fair to say. Obviously, that brought the most value to the brand.”
It wasn’t just a few phone calls, but in-person dinners as well. Archer told about a 2014 dinner Joe attended with Hunter and other business associates, who funneled money — $142,300 in this case — to one of the Biden family’s numerous shell companies. “It was for a car,” Archer explained. “Hunter’s car.” Either a Fisker or a Porsche, Archer couldn’t exactly recall, but it was “an expensive car.”
The House Oversight Committee has uncovered more than just vague references to the Biden “brand” and expensive cars. A series of emails between Hunter Biden and Archer make clear that then-Vice President Joe Biden’s official April 2014 visit to Ukraine was all part of the plan.
In fact, during that visit, Biden made remarks about gas that were clearly meant to boost the value of Burisma. “Imagine where’d you be today if you were able to tell Russia: Keep your gas. It would be a very different world you’d be facing today,” Biden said. “It takes some difficult decisions but it’s collectively in your power and the power of Europe and the United States. And we stand ready to assist you in reaching that.”
Archer replied to Hunter excited for that opportunity “to make sure this rag tag temporary Government in the Ukraine understands the value of Burisma to its very existence.” In other words, Burisma not only didn’t go out of business but benefited thanks to the Biden “brand.”
Unfortunately, if you get your news from the wagon-circling Leftmedia, you get headlines like The Washington Post’s “Hunter tried to sell family name but Joe Biden never talked business, says ex-associate.” Or NBC’s “Hunter Biden business associate testifies he has no knowledge of wrongdoing by Joe Biden.”
The vast majority of news consumers read only headlines, meaning they’ve just been served a heaping bunch of misinformation.
That a corrupt man like Joe Biden presides over the country — and the political persecution of his most likely election rival — is not quite the steady hand and unity he promised.
Just keep one thing in mind. In August 2019, Biden insisted, “I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period.”
That lie continues to crumble with each new revelation.
Democrats are systematically dismantling the constitutional foundations of the United States as we once knew them.
Victor Davis Hanson
Two sets of laws now operate in an increasingly unrecognizable America.
Consider the matter of unlawfully removing and storing classified papers.
Donald Trump may go to prison for removing contested White House files to his home.
So far, Joe Biden seems exempt from just such legal jeopardy.
But as a senator and vice president with no right, as does a president, to declassify files, Biden removed and, as a private citizen, kept for years classified files in unsecured locations.
Biden’s team strangely revealed the unlawful removals after years of silence.
It did so because the Biden administration found itself in the untenable position of prosecuting the former president for “crimes” that the current president committed as well — albeit far earlier and longer.
Impeachable phone calls?
Donald Trump was impeached by a Democratic House for delaying foreign aid until the Ukrainian government guaranteed that Hunter Biden and his family were no longer engaged in corrupt influence peddling in Kyiv.
In addition, the Left charged that Trump was targeting Joe Biden, his possible 2020 rival.
Yet Biden, with impunity, bragged that he had fired a Ukrainian prosecutor looking into his own son’s schemes by promising to cancel outright American foreign aid.
And the Biden administration’s Justice Department is now targeting Trump, currently the front-running challenger to Biden in 2024.
Election denialism?
Trump was indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith, in part for supposedly conspiratorially “unlawfully discounting legitimate votes.”
Will Smith then also indict Stacey Abrams? For years Abrams falsely claimed that she was the real governor of Georgia. She toured the country in hopes of “discounting” the state vote count.
Or maybe Smith was referring to the conspiracist and former president Jimmy Carter.
He alleged that Trump in 2016 “lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”
Will Smith charge Hillary Clinton?
She serially libeled Trump as an “illegitimate” president.
Clinton hatched the Russian collusion hoax, and bragged she joined the “Resistance” to continue her attacks on an elected president.
Or maybe Smith meant the Hollywood crowd.
Lots of actors cut commercials after the 2016 election — begging viewers to pressure the electors to ignore their constitutional duties to honor their states’ popular vote and instead swing their ballots to Hillary Clinton.
Was not that “insurrectionary?”
Or was Smith thinking of January 2005?
Then 32 Democratic House members and Sen. Barbara Boxer tried to nullify the legally certified vote in Ohio — to thereby elect the loser John Kerry.
How about destroying evidence?
Trump was also indicted for allegedly attempting to erase video material from his own security cameras in his own house.
Yet Hillary Clinton with impunity eliminated subpoenaed communication devices and thousands of emails.
Violations of security? Trump was indicted for supposedly loosely talking about classified material to visitors at his home.
So, will prosecutor Smith’s indictments also extend to Hillary Clinton? She sent classified documents illegally over her unsecured private server.
FBI Director James Comey memorialized a confidential president conversation.
Then he deliberately leaked what properly was a classified document to the media. It was all part of Comey’s Machiavellian gambit to prompt the appointment of a favorable special prosecutor.
What about subversion of the electoral process?
Donald Trump was indicted for supposedly undermining the election of 2020 by questioning the integrity of the balloting.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign illegally hired two foreign nationals Christopher Steele and Igor Danchenko to compile falsehoods about her opponent Trump.
Clinton hid her payments behind three paywalls.
Her team, along with the FBI, helped leak the counterfeit dossier to the media and high officials to undermine her opponent — and thus subvert the election itself.
Lying and perjury?
Two Trump aides and Trump himself are indicted for supposedly stonewalling federal investigators by claiming either amnesia or ignorance.
That tact is exactly what James Comey did 245 times while under oath before Congress.
What do former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Director of the CIA John Brennan, and former interim FBI Director Andrew McCabe all have in common?
All three admitted they flagrantly lied either under oath to Congress or to federal investigators.
The three were never indicted for their false and perjurious testimonies.
We have now serially devolved from the 2016 election “Russian collusion” hoax, to the 2020 election “Russian disinformation” laptop hoax, and down to the 2024 election weaponized indictments.
Out of pathological hatred or fear of Donald Trump, the Left has crafted one set of laws for themselves, and another for all other Americans.
They smugly believe their own moral superiority grants them such a right to apply laws unequally — or to ignore them altogether.
To retain power at all cost, and to destroy a political rival, left-wing Democrats are systematically dismantling the constitutional foundations of the United States as we once knew them.
Trump arraigned, Bidenomics doesn’t poll well, Bud Light staggers, and more.
Thomas Gallatin & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
Trump arraigned: Donald Trump was arraigned in Washington, DC, yesterday on four charges related to his response to the 2020 election results. Trump pleaded not guilty and the two sides agreed to a “speedy” trial. After leaving the court to fly back to New Jersey on his private jet, Trump commented, “This is a very sad day for America” because this is the government’s “persecution of a political opponent.” He added, “This was never supposed to happen in America.” If convicted on all charges, Trump would face a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison.
Bidenomics doesn’t poll well: The Biden administration’s effort to gaslight the public on his economic record, which they’ve dubbed “Bidenomics,” is failing. According to a recent CNN poll, 51% of voters believe the economy under Biden is getting worse. In fact, just 20% believe the economy is improving, with another 28% saying it has stabilized. More bad news for Joe Biden is that a majority of voters (54%) trust Republican lawmakers over him (45%) on economic issues. Most voters know playing name games won’t turn the economy around.
Bud Light staggers, falls: The parent company of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch, reported a nearly $400 million loss over the second quarter as the fallout continues over its toxic brew partnership with “transgender” activist Dylan Mulvaney. Bud Light has hemorrhaged so much of its customer base that it has fallen from a decades-long run as America’s top-selling beer. Industry analysts are beginning to think the brand is “permanently impaired.” Bars and stores are now shrinking the space once occupied by Bud Light, replacing it with better-selling competitors like Coors Light and Miller Lite. It would appear that the King Queen of Beers has been dethroned.
Asylum rules can stay: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the Biden administration’s version of the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” asylum rule can remain in place. The rule requires asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the country they are first entering on their way toward the U.S. In most instances, this would be Mexico. Failure to follow this rule in most cases would prevent the granting of asylum within the U.S. There are exceptions such as a child traveling alone.
Sex ed in the states: New Jersey is ensuring the promulgation of the Left’s gender-bending ideology in K-12 schools. The Garden State’s Department of Education passed a series of equity requirements that includes a new rule for sex education classes that are separate for boys and girls. Students are to be assigned their gender-specific classes based on their declared gender identity and not their biological sex. What could possibly go wrong? Meanwhile, the Sunshine State is aggressively reining in this gender-bending lunacy. The Florida Department of Education on Thursday restricted the inclusion of an AP Psychology course from the College Board due to the course’s promotion of leftist gender and sexual ideology. The College Board claims it was being directed to “censor” certain content in the course, which it refused to do. Florida’s Department of Education noted that it “didn’t ban the course,” rather “just one week before school starts, the College Board is attempting to force school districts to prevent students from taking the AP Psychology Course.” The Education Department further noted that International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) advanced psychology courses do not run afoul of Florida law and will be offered.
Tennessee Three make a comeback: The two Democrat representatives in the Tennessee state House who were expelled for breaking the chamber’s rules when they led a mob of anti-Second Amendment protesters onto the floor of the legislature while it was in session have regained their seats. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson won their respective special elections on Thursday. Both represent deep-blue districts in a deep-red state. The third Democrat representative making up the infamous “Tennessee Three” was not expelled by the legislature.
Headlines
Dianne Feinstein, 90, cedes power of attorney to daughter — but still serves in Congress (NY Post)
Facebook Files 2.0 reveal White House pressured Facebook to censor “true” content (The Federalist)
Biden’s DOJ may be working with leftist group to silence parents again (Daily Signal)
Tech company moves against parental rights group after SPLC attack (Daily Signal)
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in July, fewer than expected (CNBC)
The U.S. Women’s National Team isn’t as formidable, and their women don’t especially love America.
Emmy Griffin
This writer is a huge soccer fan and has been watching games and following teams all her life. But after the last Olympics, I was particularly turned off by the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) and have strategically avoided watching their games during this year’s Women’s World Cup Tournament. There has been a distinct change in the team’s demeanor that was somewhat evident in the 2019 World Cup but was made abundantly clear at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The U.S. women’s team was the strong favorite to win the 2023 World Cup, though after Tuesday’s 0-0 tie with Portugal — barely making it out of group play — fans and critics alike are not as certain of this U.S. team from a formidability standpoint.
Former USWNT player Carli Lloyd, who was one of the greats from the 2015 and 2019 squads, had thoughts on the team’s performance. Her valid concerns are as follows:
Winning has taken on a different meaning. It is no longer: “We want to win because we want to win. No, we want everything that comes with winning, and we think we can just roll out and win games.” Teams see that. They see the arrogance in the U.S. and see that they’re not this unstoppable team.
They see that they’re able to be broken down and beaten. It just hurts me. It hurt me at the end of my career, those last couple of years to see the change and the shift in that culture and in that mentality. That hurt me to leave seeing what was coming.
The culture for me is what the culture has been on the national team since the inception. All of those [past] players, they brought a fight. They brought a hunger. They brought a desire. They brought mentality. They brought a never-say-die attitude. They brought finding a way, whether it’s the 91st minute, to get a ball in the back of the net. That has slowly dissipated from 2015 on.
The USWNT have been blessed with success, which consequently has brought money, fame, and other drugs into the picture. To keep their cool, famous friends and to fit in to the elitist culture, players like Megan Rapinoe have decided to make the national team — and its platform — their own personal group of social justice activism. Rapinoe supports men in women’s sports and also was the instigator for kneeling in the Olympics. This World Cup has been only slightly different in that, instead of kneeling, only a handful of players have deigned to show patriotism during the playing of the national anthem at the start of the games. Pride and arrogance and an inflated sense of importance have clouded the vision and purpose of the team.
The Equal Pay Nonsense
CBS News and Y!Sports are quick to point out that even though the U.S. is lackluster on the performance front, at least they scored a victory last year and secured “equal pay.” This is as if to say, The team can be complacent now because it’s still going to get paid.
That is not the only or even the biggest problem with the “equal pay” narrative. As this author wrote at the time, equal pay is a huge misnomer. Women’s soccer (and women’s sports in general) just aren’t as much of a crowd draw as the men’s sports. The men earn more because more people watch them and pay to go see them.
The answer should not have been robbing Peter to pay Paul. The correct answer should have been to make the team or sport as successful as possible. This could be achieved by having a narrative that drives people to want to watch women’s soccer. You’ll garner more support and earn more money naturally that way. Instead, this team has alienated a significant portion of its audience by being arrogant, unpatriotic, entitled, and complacent. It’s a far cry from the 1999 World Cup team’s contagious hunger; those players placed the love of the game and the love of country above their own political views.
Here it might be worth saying that if Rapinoe has her way about gender-confused males being allowed to play in women’s sports, the whole pay gap complaint becomes even more laughable. As previously stated, these faux-oppressed wealthy athletes are paid to spout leftist nonsense more than they are to play soccer. This pay gap dispute is icing on that cake.
Now From a Soccer Player Perspective
As much as this writer agrees with Carli Lloyd’s statements about the team and their showing thus far, it would be unwise to write off this team just yet. They did survive group play and still have quite a mountain to climb. This team is one that seems to be going through a building season. This happened for the women’s team back in the 2000s, and it took three World Cups to come back to dominance. The old guard is leaving/has left and new people are feeling out their place on the team. Rapinoe, who has been a fantastic player for the USWNT in past tournaments, has mostly been riding the bench this World Cup. It prompts one to wonder if her purpose there is mostly as a mascot for the LGBTQ agenda.
It would also be wise not to throw out the baby with the bath water. Perhaps the criticism and skepticism from longtime soccer fans will be enough to give the USWNT a fire in their bellies and spur them on to victory. Some athletes thrive on the feeling of being the underdog.
All in all, the USWNT have abandoned their storied tradition. They are no longer inspirational Americans who we want to cheer on. Theirs is largely an attitude of pride and arrogance and fake oppression. We want fighters, not wimps. We want Patriots, not America-hating radicals. Until all U.S. athletes who are masquerading as social justice warriors figure this out, fewer people are going to want to watch them play. This is not the fate we would like to see for women’s sports.
The battle for the minds of our children is difficult, but it is far from lost.
Brian Mark Weber
We’ve all heard of the New York Times’s 1619 Project, the subsequent book, and the curriculum spreading throughout our schools. And we know the project is rife with errors, exaggerations, and outrageous claims that portray America’s founding as fraudulent and inherently racist.
There have long been political leaders, academics, writers, and social theorists peddling ideas (or should we say ideology) as part of a movement to delegitimize the principles and institutions that our country is founded upon while trying to teach young people that everything they’ve learned about America is a lie.
Fortunately, people are finally starting to take note and reconnect with the miracle of 1776 that sparked a wave of freedom and prosperity that we all enjoy today.
Back in 2020, President Donald Trump’s administration set up the 1776 Commission on Patriotic Education, partially in response to the deadly, violent, and destructive Black Lives Matter riots that swept across the country earlier that year. The commission also sought to address leftist education programs in K-12 schools, including 1619, until President Joe Biden terminated the project via executive order.
Fortunately, that doesn’t mean the battle for our kids’ minds is lost. For example, Hillsdale College in Michigan continues moving forward with its objective of teaching about the ideals and triumphs of America’s great founding by offering a wide range of courses for students and the public far beyond its own humble campus.
Hillsdale has launched the 1776 Curriculum to bring this education to students in elementary through high school. This didn’t start as a knee-jerk reaction to woke history, though. Far from it. Hillsdale’s The Collegian notes that the groundwork for the curriculum took place more than 40 years ago.
The program is now being embraced and implemented in schools around the country. And the Leftmedia is taking note.
“Amid national battles over what children should learn in public schools,” reports NBC News, “Hillsdale is working to export this vision by setting up charter schools in over a dozen states and publicizing its 1776 Curriculum, which emphasizes American exceptionalism. The college says over 8,400 administrators and teachers have downloaded the curriculum, and a growing number of state and local policymakers are also seeking Hillsdale’s guidance.”
The 1776 Curriculum covers the period from Colonial America through the modern era and does not mandate the teaching of American history in any particular way — unlike the 1619 Project, which forces teachers to frame all lessons and activities around radical race-based theories. 1776 does not overlook America’s mistakes and failures, but those subjects are not taught through an ideological prism. Instead, students learn how the principles of our nation served as a catalyst to overcome these obstacles.
Indeed, the statement in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” obliterated the centuries-old assumption that our rights can only be parceled out by a monarch or other authoritarian ruler. This new belief enabled progress toward making the Declaration’s ideas a reality for millions.
How anyone could oppose such an idea seems unfathomable, especially now that we have nearly two and a half centuries of proof that it works in powerful ways.
But the Marxists and socialists who contributed to the 1619 Project do oppose the words in the Declaration because their vision for humanity requires subservience to a powerful elite, submission to tyranny, and a surrender of individual rights. Then, and only then, will they be able to build a “new” society that takes us back into the oppressive past.
If they think America’s founding documents and history left out some groups of people, imagine if those groups didn’t have these rights to hold onto during the darkest times in our history. Indeed, the ideas of 1776 are what make America an exceptional nation.
In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.”
Even King knew that the words and principles of our founding in 1776 challenged all of us, empowered all of us, to work toward making them a reality for all people. And thanks to the 1776 Curriculum, students across America will soon be learning real American history again.
Mayor Eric Adams’s gun control partner was arrested on gun and drug charges.
Mark Alexander
Michael Rodriguez headed one of the top alliances working with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to implement more gun control initiatives — what Adams framed as his “Blueprint to End Gun Violence.” Rodriguez was director of the group Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence.
After a two-year investigation that began shortly after Adams took office, police raided Rodriguez’s Yonkers home as part of a roundup of 15 suspects charged in a drug conspiracy case. Investigators reportedly recovered drugs, more than $165,000 in cash, and a stash of illegal handguns. Rodriguez has been charged with first-degree criminal possession of firearms, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, and second-degree conspiracy.
According to DA Hoovler, “There are still those who think that they can sell narcotics with impunity if they insulate themselves through the use of intermediaries.”
By intermediaries, I presume he means Rodriguez’s association with Adams. Apparently, Rodriguez assumed if Hunter Biden could operate illegal enterprises with impunity because of his high-profile association with “The Big Guy,” then surely a New York City drug thug could avoid criminal charges because of his association with the mayor. Rodriguez found out the hard way that, unlike the DOJ’s suppression of the Joe and Hunter Biden corruption case, there is still some justice in New York.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark declared: “The allegations of drug trafficking and gun possession against Michael Rodriguez are shocking and disturbing, especially since he has attended anti-violence events and peace marches portraying himself as someone who cares about stopping the violence in our community. These charges are the exact opposite of the good work cure violence groups are doing.”
A spokesperson for the Rodriguez “gun violence” group responded to the charges: “We are aware of the investigation and the charges that have been made. While we work to learn more, our primary focus remains on the communities we serve and our programs that are helping to keep them safe.”
Right.
For the record, as you know, violence is not a “gun problem” but a culture problem, and I have outlined in detail the politically inconvenient truth about the connection between race and violence that leftists mayors like Adams will never say out loud.
Bottom line: The reality Demos would most like to avoid is that violence is, in fact, highly correlated with their most loyal constituency and is the direct result of a Demo-induced culture problem spawned primarily by generations of failed socialist policies — resulting most notably in the disintegration of families. That is particularly true given the common denominator that most violent offenders grew up in fatherless homes.
Some Republican somewhere probably needs to figure out a way to convince Trump voters that to save Trump and the nation, they must let him go.
Erick Erickson
A friend recently told me that a person cannot be reasoned out of a position they did not reason themselves into. Making logical arguments and reasonable cases does nothing for someone grounded in emotion. But one’s emotions can lead a person down a path they later regret. Thus we arrive at the third indictment of former President Donald Trump with a fourth indictment in Georgia most likely coming before the end of the month.
People who support Trump do not do so based on logic and reason. They support him emotionally. He has their back. He is their champion. He scratches certain itches for people who have been put down by parts of the country that derisively conclude all Trump voters in “flyover country” are bigots, racists, homophobes, uneducated and unsophisticated. Those people abhor Trump. He gets under their skin. His voters love it. For a time, he also got results.
That time, however, may be running out. The former president could not “stop the steal” in 2020 and now cannot stop the Democrats financially bleeding him dry with indictment upon indictment upon indictment. His campaign funds, replenished by the poor and middle class, now fund lawyers battling lawsuits. His campaign trail appearances have turned into courtroom appearances. He has a loyal base of voters and a diametrically opposed brigade of suburban voters who disdain both the current and former president but would prefer not to vote for a man on his third perp walk.
Undoubtedly, Republicans will circle the wagons around the man who lost to President Joe Biden once and who still maintains the election was stolen. His polling will rise with Republicans and not gain back any of those who abandoned him in 2020. His fundraising will soar, but his expenses will soar more. He must defend himself in New York City; Palm Beach, Florida; Washington, D.C.; and soon, Atlanta. Judges will not suspend trials so he can shake hands and kiss babies on the campaign trail.
The former president’s supporters are loyal. The current president’s supporters are only loyal because he is who stands between them and the former one. That real loyalty to Trump is stronger than the superficial loyalty to Biden. But that loyalty can also be the end of Trump and everything he represents.
In 2020, I predicted that Democrats would interpret any Biden win as a mandate for radical progressive change. They have done just that. From boys in girls’ bathrooms to bans on gas stoves, water heaters and gas-powered cars, the Democrats are racing to fundamentally transform America. Enough Republicans were so turned off by Trump and his candidates in 2022 that they either stayed home or voted Democrat.
Now, going into 2024, Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas are not getting any younger. The regulatory state is coming for our cars, air conditioners, appliances — and our children. Donald Trump is now shackled to criminal prosecutions. It is increasingly likely a vote for Trump in 2024 will give Biden four more years to radically transform America. But Trump’s voters will not be reasoned with. They did not reason their way into support for Trump. Emotion is powerful.
That emotion, however, might turn toward letting Trump go to save him. Four more years of Biden and repeated prosecutions will end not just Trump, but Trumpism. His brand of populism will be shut out by regulators, legislators and litigators. Four more years of Biden gives the Left time.
Some Trump voters are convinced Biden will just turn his prosecutors on any other Republican. But Trump, frankly, was sloppy and made it easy. To save Trump, his voters might have to choose another Republican nominee. Unfortunately, some will decide that Trump trumps everything else and it must be him or defeat. That nihilism and fatalism is exactly what Democrats hope will happen.
Perhaps four indictments will make obvious what is happening. Trump believes the 2020 election was stolen. Not only does he have no plan to stop another steal, but he also cannot stop the Biden administration from prosecuting him. Some Republican somewhere probably needs to figure out a way to convince Trump voters that to save Trump and the nation, they must let him go.
PopCon #7: Oppenheimer, a Hero? — Thomas, Sterling, and Andrew examine Christopher Nolan’s new movie “Oppenheimer” for its cultural significance, search for any “woke” themes in the movie, and ask the question — was Oppenheimer a hero?
Why Are TV Dads So Dumb? — There is a trend on television over the past few decades in which shows depict the father characters as goofy and incompetent. This is very common in Disney shows and other children’s shows.
Biggest Presidential Upsets — Patrick Bet-David discusses the biggest presidential upsets and why the underdogs almost always win.
“We’re beginning to see the results, and I think as those results become more evident to the American people and as we talk about how consequential this president has been, his [poll] numbers will improve.” —Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA)
Belly Laugh of the Week
“[Biden] really wants to unify this country. He wants to bring people together. … That’s who he is as a person.” —Ro Khanna
Non Compos Mentis
“When I first learned about the [Trump] indictment, I had a long conversation with a friend of mine … and I told him how proud I felt to be an American at that moment. Much in the way that I did when I learned that our military had killed Osama bin Laden. I just felt incredibly proud. … I believe they’re comparable. … Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who committed a horrific act against American people and against our republic. And I believe that Donald Trump is a terrorist who committed horrific acts against the American people.” —CNN analyst Michael Fanone
Observations
“It’s not a crime to tell gigantic lies that lead people to commit acts of blinding stupidity. If it were, the entire media and Democratic Party would be in prison for life.” —Ann Coulter
“If recklessly lying to voters were a crime, most everyone in D.C. would be serving life in solitary confinement at Supermax. But in a liberal democracy, as frustrating as it often is, political misconduct is settled by voters and elections, not partisan prosecutors or rioters.” —David Harsanyi
“Donald Trump and Mike Pence had a tremendous four-year run as the America First team. The accomplishments the two achieved together were incredibly impressive and vastly more than good enough to merit a second term. That the two men are now so very far apart and haven’t even spoken to each other in two years is a terrible shame. … The former president and his right-hand man are at an impasse that in a way is a microcosm of the Republican Party.” —Nate Jackson
“Unless you think the Democrats are too dumb to foresee the obvious consequences of their actions, their strategy is evident: keep Trump in the limelight, freeze the other Republican candidates out of news coverage, do everything they can to make Trump the Republican nominee, and then crush him in the general election.” —John Hinderaker
“When polls show a majority of Republicans and Democrats are dissatisfied with the front-runners for president, perhaps it’s time to create another way to select presidential candidates.” —Cal Thomas
Re: The Gender Cult
“What is truly confounding is the muddled state of the discourse surrounding women’s identity. Women, throughout history, have fought countless battles for recognition and rights. And now, we’re embroiled in a debate questioning the very definition of what constitutes a woman. … The fundamental issue is this: The intensity of your feelings, however genuine they may be, cannot change reality.” —Armstrong Williams
Friendly Fire
“Don’t pretend that you love migrants so much and then when [border states] send them to you, you don’t like them. … You liked them when it wasn’t your problem because you’re not a border state. And then when they show up in Chicago, in New York, you’re like … ‘What are we going to do with these people?’” —Bill Maher
Insight
“The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to prevailing superstition or taboo.” —H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
The long-awaited and much hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive has, so far, not yielded any significant territorial gains, and furthermore has led to the destruction of heaps of military equipment and to massive human losses.
That is helping to sink the popular support for the Nazi-friendly Kiev regime in the Western nations that are sustaining the brunt of the financial effort for this war.
Now, as Ukraine decides to abandon the NATO-taught strategies of attack, serious dissent is starting to play a part in their relationship with the Western handlers.
“Equipped with advanced American weapons and heralded as the vanguard of a major assault, the troops became bogged down in dense Russian minefields under constant fire from artillery and helicopter gunships. Units got lost. One unit delayed a nighttime attack until dawn, losing its advantage. Another fared so badly that commanders yanked it off the battlefield altogether.
[…] Now the Western-trained Ukrainian brigades are trying to turn things around, U.S. officials and independent analysts say. Ukrainian military commanders have changed tactics, focusing on wearing down the Russian forces with artillery and long-range missiles instead of plunging into minefields under fire. A troop surge is underway in the country’s south, with a second wave of Western-trained forces launching mostly small-scale attacks to punch through Russian lines.”
The brief training in complex Western battle maneuvers was no match in the face of the formidable Russian defenses and the overwhelming artillery power.
“Ukraine’s decision to change tactics is a clear signal that NATO’s hopes for large advances made by Ukrainian formations armed with new weapons, new training and an injection of artillery ammunition have failed to materialize, at least for now.”
One cannot help but question the validity of the fast and superficial training that the Ukrainians received from Western countries.
Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “Arguably, the problem was in the assumption that with a few months of training, Ukrainian units could be converted into fighting more the way American forces might fight, leading the assault against a well-prepared Russian defense, rather than helping Ukrainians fight more the best way they know how.”
The Russians are doing what they excel at: they fight a war of attrition, much as they did to overcome Napoleon and Hitler. Were it not for the historical level of military and economic aid to Ukraine, they’d have won a long time ago, after having destroyed all Ukrainian capabilities.
Even with all that help, while Ukraine was doing a valorous job at defending itself, when it came to launching offensive actions, their shortcomings became increasingly clearer.
Ukraine’s relationship with its international partners is now facing inevitable tensions and differences of opinion. The west pledged to support Ukraine untill the end, “whatever it takes.” But will it?
“Most recently, tensions have emerged over Ukraine’s military strategy and demands on NATO. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is said to have angered some allies ahead of the most recent NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July, when he described the lack of a timetable over the thorny issue of alliance membership, and “conditions” that needed to be met before an invitation to join was issued, as ‘absurd’.”
That was too bold a statement. Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, was driven to say that the UK ‘was not an Amazon warehouse’ to supply endless weaponry to Kyiv when it was given a ‘shopping list’.
U.S. officials were so annoyed that they considered watering down what Kyiv would be offered at the summit.
Jamie Shea former deputy assistant secretary general at NATO: “The Ukrainians are in a difficult situation. Obviously, they’re playing for their existential survival, they’re always going to be unsatisfied in terms of needing more and more more the whole time. [Meanwhile] the West will always consider that it’s doing its best. … The key thing is to manage that [discrepancy] and prevent it doing lasting damage, and I think the Vilnius summit at least managed to prevent it doing lasting damage.”
Besides the lack of appreciation, there’s also the lack of coordination of the military tactics.
Kyiv is also exasperated the U.S. when it decided to continue to submit some of its best troops to the ‘meat grinder’ in the futile defense of Bakhmut.
Konrad Muzyka, military intelligence specialist:“The Americans were encouraging, to put it mildly, the Ukrainians not to fight certain battles in the way that Russia wanted them to fight, as it could have long-term consequences in terms of manpower losses and artillery ammunition expenditure. However, for Kyiv, Bakhmut was more than a city. It was a symbol of Ukrainian defiance even though its strategic value was questionable.
[But] the result is that they’ve lost a lot of men, and very experienced personnel as well. They expedited a lot of artillery munition, which would otherwise be used for this counteroffensive, and lastly, they burned out a lot of barrels for their guns, meaning they are unable to fully support their forces in the Bakhmut area.”
The UN declares we have entered the era of global boiling as the ABC cheers more restrictions on our freedoms.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has declared we are now living through Global Boiling!
The comments came after scientists confirmed that the past three weeks had been the hottest since the ABC and The Guardian began records more than 50 billion years ago.
The extreme temperatures were exacerbated by Teal MP Monique Ryan’s 27 business class flights during her first year in office, and by Justin Trudeau’s 27-vehicle motorcade attending a climate conference.
Also, some Victorian climate deniers are still using gas cooktops.
Guterres told a press conference on Thursday that:
“Humanity is in the hot seat.”
… which was very clever, since “hot seat” means to have full responsibility for something, but in this case it has a double meaning because he’s saying we are responsible for the hot weather. So we’re in the hot seat. Do you get it?
His material really is underappreciated. But moving right along, he had this to say:
“Climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”
Well, that’s awkward. I’ve still got my Global Warming decorations up!
And did I sleep through Global Simmering?
I remember, as a kid, saying during summer that it was “boiling”.
But that was just a turn of phrase. I never imagined that we would actually be literally, for real, not metaphorically, truly, seriously boiling.
The sea is so hot that fishermen are catching pre-cooked fish, complete with chilli and cabbage, along with a side of lemon.
What’s next? Global Steaming?
Personally, I like the sound of Global Barbecuing. Global Sautéing is also good.
Anyway, I fear that if the climate elites don’t keep flying all over the world warning the rest of us about the dangers of flying all over the world, then we will soon move from Global Boiling to Global Incineration.
If we don’t stop eating beef and start eating bugs soon, as we have been told to do, then surely we are headed for Global Instantaneous Vaporisation.
Global boiling is just another inane cliche to add to my already vast collection of inane climate change cliches.
If the UN says it’s so, it’s likely not so.
But the world’s news media loved it.
Journalist Nick Webster of The National News fired off an article headlined:
“Global Boiling: What is it and should we be worried”
Webster wrote that the mean global temperature on July 6 was 17.18ºC.
He helpfully explained:
While that number is well below the scientific boiling point of 100ºC that turns water from liquid into gas, “global boiling” is a term recently used to underline the severity of climate change.
Oh my days! Where would you be without Nick Webster and the National News!
“How to talk about climate change in the era of global boiling”
The host asked,
How did you respond to this news today? How did your children respond? Were you full of anxiety? How do we respond to such alarming news as this without becoming paralysed? You might like to join this discussion. How did you feel in your guts?
I wanted to phone in and say I responded with uncontrollable laughter! Global boiling? Seriously? What’s next? Global Microwaving?
Then the host cited a study that found many young couples are choosing not to have children because of climate change. The guest, Dr Rebecca Hunt, agreed that this was a “logical” response.
But don’t worry. It’s not all gloom and doom!
Dr Hunt told listeners:
Often when I look at the bad news around climate I always look at the great news. So the other thing that happened today is that the Victorian Government has decided that no new buildings will have gas!
Whenever I feel sad about the planet burning, I just think about how much more control my socialist friends have over the population, and I’m happy again!!!
Somebody give everyone at the ABC clown hats and flower water squirters.
When António Guterres says we are in the era of Global Boiling, what he really means is that ‘despite our best communist efforts, capitalism still exists. We are therefore redoubling our efforts to destroy the fuel that powers it’.
Global Boiling is the UN’s latest desperate bid to get their mitts on that 100 billion dollars a year that they demanded nations tip into their coffers to fix the weather.
The UN’s chief clown ratchets up the rhetoric that then emboldens his clown friends in federal, state and local governments to place further restrictions on everything from what we drive to how we cook the few remaining things they permit us to eat.
Chorus Line
And all the while, the clowns at our national broadcaster cheer them on.
Right on queue here in Australia, SBS published an article on ways you can fight “global boiling”.
They suggested three things:
Reduce meat intake
Stop driving cars
Cut down on flights
“You might want to reconsider your travel habits,” the SBS article helpfully advised.
America’s societal decline appears to be accelerating. Hordes of predators are roaming our streets, drug addiction has risen to unprecedented levels, and crime is completely out of control. Some of the things that I am about to share with you are deeply disturbing. But we must face what is happening to us as a society, because we are in danger of losing everything. America is literally disappearing right in front of our eyes, and it is being replaced by a horror show.
Sadly, I am not exaggerating one bit.
A 29-year-old man named Negasi Zuberi recently kidnapped a woman in Seattle and took her 450 miles away to his house in southern Oregon…
A Klamath Falls man is in custody after a woman escaped from a makeshift cinder block cell in his garage, the FBI of Portland says.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation 29-year-old, Negasi Zuberi (aka Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi), traveled from his home in Klamath Falls to Seattle on July 15. Once in Seattle, Zuberi posed as an undercover police officer and paid the woman for sex.
The victim told police that Zuberi pointed a taser at her, put her in handcuffs and leg irons before putting her in the back of his car.
This literally sounds like a plot from a horror movie.
“According to the complaint, this woman was kidnapped, chained, sexually assaulted, and locked in a cinderblock cell. Police say, she beat the door with her hands until they were bloody in order to break free. Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare,” says Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Stephanie Shark with the FBI Portland Field Office.
The victim was eventually able to break down the door to the cell when Zuberi was away, took a gun from his car and escaped the home. She then was able to flag down a passing driver who called 911.
Obviously Zuberi had all of this well planned out in advance.
And the victim should be so glad that she escaped, because otherwise she probably would have ended up dead after Zuberi was finished with her.
Decades ago, this sort of story would have been front page news for weeks.
So why hasn’t this case gotten more attention from our national news networks?
It is because cases like this have become extremely common in our day and age.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are 917,771 registered sex offenders in the United States and its territories.
As I stated earlier, hordes of predators are roaming our streets, and it gets worse with each passing year.
The FBI recently took a break from persecuting conservatives to conduct a two week effort known as “Operation Cross Country”, and they were able to arrest quite a few predators that were involved in child sex trafficking…
Known as “Operation Cross Country,” nearly every FBI field office was involved in the annual two-week operation that led to the arrest of 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking offenses, and 68 suspects of trafficking were identified or arrested.
The bureau and its local partners found 59 minor victims of child sex trafficking and sexual exploitation and another 59 children who had been reported missing.
“Human traffickers prey on the most vulnerable members of our society, and their crimes scar victims — many of them children — for life. The FBI’s commitment to combatting this threat will never waver, and we will continue to send our message that these atrocities will not be tolerated,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
I suppose that we should be thankful for what the FBI was able to accomplish, but why can’t they be working on this all year long?
And the truth is that they only put an extremely small dent in the overall problem.
Much more work needs to be done.
Meanwhile, other forms of crime also continue to rise.
A large group of young people, mostly juveniles, ripped through the South Loop on Sunday evening, looting a convenience store, storming a Dunkin, and fighting as they ran through the streets. It was the second time in days that groups of teens targeted the area along Roosevelt Road.
Chicago police supervisors, in a departure from previous “large group” situations, encouraged cops to lock people up. They did. A total of 40 people, including 37 juveniles were taken into custody during the incident, according to a CPD spokesperson. Officers seized three firearms from the arrestees.
At this point, I don’t understand why anyone would still want to live in the Windy City.
Of course the same could be said for Oakland. According to Newsweek, the city is facing a major crime emergency right now…
Oakland—a liberal stronghold that has a Democratic mayor, state senator and U.S. congresswoman—recorded a 52 percent increase in motor vehicle theft in the year to July 30.
The OPD data, provided to Newsweek by the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, also includes a 44 percent rise in robberies involving a knife and a 22 percent increase for robberies of any kind.
Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, told Newsweek: “The public safety situation in Oakland, fueled by rising crime and a revolving door justice system, is exacerbated by too few cops struggling to keep up with the surge in criminal activity and increased calls for help from our residents.”
All over America, theft has become an enormous problem.
It is being projected that theft will cost U.S. retailers more than 100 billion dollars in 2023, and many are responding by literally “locking up items”…
Running errands isn’t as easy as it used to be. Businesses have been reducing operating hours, locking up items and threatening to shutter stores completely.
The reason for many of these shifts, according to retailers? A spike in theft.
Companies like Target, Walmart, Dollar General and Home Depot have been sounding the alarm on retail theft in recent months. Missing inventory was talked about more during this previous quarter’s earnings call than any quarter on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
But apparently our politicians have decided that the chaos in our streets is not yet bad enough, because they continue to leave our borders wide open and they continue to bring in vast hordes of new migrants.
Sobering video shows dozens of migrants sleeping on cardboard outside the iconic Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Monday morning — as the makeshift processing center for asylum seekers hit capacity this weekend.
The slumbering newly arrived migrants could be seen filling the sidewalks surrounding the historic hotel at 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, stretching from the hotel door up East 47th Street.
The group slept shoulder-to-shoulder across three full blocks while waiting to be processed at the site, which also houses migrant families, as NYPD officers monitored the situation.
Of course more new migrants continue to arrive with each passing day.
In a desperate attempt to address this crisis, city leaders are actually thinking about turning Central Park and Prospect Park into giant migrant camps…
The Depression-era shantytowns known as Hoovervilles, are about to make a triumphal return smack in the middle of New York’s Central Park.
Amid a relentless influx of illegal immigrants that has exposed liberal NIMBY hypocrisy in the quote-unquote Sanctuary City that is New York, Bloomberg reports that officials are considering housing migrants in Manhattan’s Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as part of a plan to find new sites for some of the more than 95,000 asylum seekers who have arrived in the past 15 months.
We already have millions of deeply impoverished people that are extremely angry, and now we are bringing lots more in.
If our leaders had made different decisions, we would have gotten different results.
Unfortunately, our leaders just continue to make self-destructive decision after self-destructive decision, and we are all going to pay a very great price for their unwise policies.
Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends. Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible. I have also started a brand new Substack newsletter, and I encourage you to subscribe so that you won’t miss any of my articles. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
A U.S. vice president, a Russian oligarch’s widow, and a Greek Orthodox priest walk into a cafe.
That’s not the opening line of a joke; it’s part of the story told from the transcript of Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, in a closed-door interview with members and counsel of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
The transcript is 141 pages and covers much of his answers previously reported about what Archer said of the “brand” that then-Vice President Joe Biden lent to son Hunter’s various business ventures.
Here are some key takeaways from the transcript.
1. ‘Signals Are Basically Used as Currency’
Archer said at several points in the testimony that the Biden “brand” was sending “signals” to business partners.
“There are particular, you know, objectives that Burisma was trying to accomplish,” Archer said. “And a lot of it’s about opening doors, you know, globally in D.C. And I think that, you know, that was the, you know—and then obviously having those doors opened, you know, sent the right signals, you know, for Burisma to, you know, carry on its business and be successful.”
At one point, Biden defender Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., asked Archer: “The scope of what he [Hunter Biden] can and cannot do and that he cannot intervene directly with domestic policymakers and needs to abide by FARA [the Foreign Agents Registration Act] and any other U.S. laws in the strictest sense across the board. Was that your understanding of both his approach and Burisma’s understanding, as well?”
Archer replied: “The first part of the statement, yes, I think Burisma was constantly looking for more, and it kind of speaks a little bit to that other email that we used as an exhibit earlier where it’s, like, we’re going to use my dad’s thing and take credit for it. There was an element that he was always trying to avoid that but at the same time trying to prove value. So, it was this element of, like, signals.”
At another point in the interview, the committee’s counsel pressed him on how much influence Hunter Biden had on federal policy.
“I have no basis to understand what his father and his conversations were about policy in Ukraine,” Archer said. “But, as you can see, that seems pretty familiar, that, you know, he can’t influence it but take credit for it. I mean, that was—it’s literally the back and forth between the last exhibit and this exhibit. That’s what goes on. People send signals, and those signals are basically used as currency.”
2. ‘The Brand’
Archer routinely said that Joe Biden was “the brand” that allowed Hunter Biden to haul in investors.
Jacob Greenberg, the oversight committee’s majority counsel, asked, “You keep saying ‘the brand,’ but by ‘brand,’ you mean the Biden family, correct?”
“Correct,” Archer said.
Later, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., interjected, “When you say ‘Biden family’—sorry to cut in here—I just want to get a clarification. You aren’t talking about Dr. Jill [Biden] or anybody else? You’re talking about Joe Biden. Is that fair to say?”
Archer replied, “Yeah, that’s fair to say.”
He followed with, “Listen, I think it’s—I don’t think about it as, you know, Joe directly, but it’s fair. That’s fair to say. Obviously, that brought the most value to the brand.”
3. Burisma Survival and ‘Intimidation’
Archer told the committee that Burisma likely wouldn’t survive without the Biden brand.
“My only thought is that I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it,” Archer said. “That’s my, like, only honest opinion. But I have no basis for any—never heard any conversations.”
According to an FBI form, FD-1023, Burisma executives told a confidential informant they paid a $5 million bribe to the then-vice president and another $5 million to Hunter Biden.
Goldman, the New York congressman and staunch Biden ally, followed with: “But that’s different than Joe Biden’s action.”
Archer said, “Right.”
Goldman said, “You’re just talking about that Hunter was on the board.”
Archer replied, “Right. And I think that’s why it [Burisma] was able to survive for as long as it did.”
Goldman asked, “Because of additional capital or—”
Archer corrected him, “Just because of the brand.”
Goldman seemed to become snippy, replying, “Well, I don’t understand. How does that have an impact?”
Archer told the New York Democrat, “Well, the capabilities to navigate D.C. that they were able to, you know, basically be in the news cycle. And I think that preserved them from a, you know, from a longevity standpoint. That’s like my honest—that’s like really what I—that’s like how I think holistically.”
Goldman asked, “But how would that work?”
Archer answered, “Because people would be intimidated to mess with them.”
Goldman asked, “In what way?”
Archer answered, “Legally.”
As far as a legal matter, in 2018, Biden boasted during a speech that he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine unless the government fired Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma at the time. Biden has argued that Shokin was a corrupt prosecutor.
The counsel asked about a dinner at the Four Seasons with Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma.
During this meeting, at a time when the company was under investigation by Shokin, they asked Hunter Biden to make phone calls.
“The request was I think they were getting pressure and they requested Hunter, you know, help them with some of that pressure,” Archer said.
“What pressure?” the majority counsel asked.
“Government pressure on their—you know, government pressure from Ukrainian government investigations into Mykola, etc.,” Archer said. “But it was not—it wasn’t like a specific—not a specific request. It was just we were sitting there at the Four Seasons having, you know, coffee and there was—there was Mykola, there was one of the managers for the Four Seasons who managed that property, Vadym.”
Archer said that Shokin wasn’t the only concern, as the company was facing problems with Britain, the United States, and Mexico.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked, “The request from Mr. Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym to Mr. Biden and/or if you said it was to you, the request for help from whom to deal with what pressure?”
Archer answered there wasn’t a specific “the big guy can help” reference.
Joe Biden has become known as “the big guy” in several Hunter Biden communications.
“The request—you know, basically the request is like, can D.C. help? But there were not—you know, I’m not going to—there were not—it wasn’t like—there weren’t specific, you know, can the big guy help? It was—it’s always this amorphous, can we get help in D.C.?”
Biggs later asked, “Why do you think they were asking Hunter Biden for D.C. help?”
Archer answered, “Well, I mean, he was a lobbyist and an expert and obviously he carried, you know, a very powerful name. So, I think it was—that’s what they were asking for.”
5. Dinner Guest Joe Biden and Money Wires
Then-Vice President Biden attended dinners with Hunter Biden’s foreign business partners who wired money to various Biden family-associated companies, according to Archer.
The committee’s majority counsel asked about a spring 2014 dinner at Cafe Milano in Washington.
Archer named individuals present, which included Yelena Baturina, a billionaire and the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
“And so, this dinner takes place in spring of 2014, approximately. But then do you recall getting a wire on February 14th of 2014 from Yelena Baturina for $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton?” the majority counsel asked.
Archer clarified that it was to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, one of his business operations with Hunter Biden.
“Yes. And why I remember that is from the—from other testimony. Yes.”
The majority counsel also noted a wire transfer with Rosemont Seneca and Kenes Rakishev, a businessman associated with the Malta company Novitas Holdings, PTE Ltd.
“Why did Rosemont Seneca Bohai receive this $142,000 payment from Rakishev?” the counsel asked.
Archer replied, “It was for a car.”
The counsel followed, “For whose car?”
Archer said, “For Hunter’s car.”
The counsel asked, “Was this a Porsche?”
Archer wasn’t sure.
“It gets a little foggy here. I believe it was a Fisker first and then a Porsche. But it was—yes, it … for an expensive car, yes.”
He was also asked about another dinner at Cafe Milano the following year in spring 2015 that Joe Biden attended with Hunter Biden business associates, as well as with a Greek Orthodox priest.
“What did Joe do at that dinner? Did he have dinner? How long was he there?” the counsel asked.
Archer answered, “He had dinner. And there was—on that one, I believe the first one was, like, a birthday dinner, and then the second was—I think we were supposed to talk about the World Food Programme. So there was some talk about that.”
6. Speakerphone Meetings
Archer said that Hunter Biden “would sometimes make it apparent that he spoke to his dad, and sometimes he put him on speaker.”
“If I were to just call my dad right now and put him on speakerphone and we’re in a professional business meeting here, would that be odd to you?” the majority counsel asked.
“That would be odd, if you called your dad right now,” Archer said.
After additional questions, Archer explained about the calls, “That is a little odd. I mean, it’s not odd—I mean, it’s quite obvious what we’re talking around.”
The counsel asked, “You are talking around it, and so I’d like to get out, what are we talking about here?”
“At the end of the day, part of what was delivered is the brand. I mean, it’s like anything, you know, if you’re Jamie Dimon’s son or any CEO,” Archer said. “You know, I think that that’s what we’re talking about, is that there was brand being delivered along with other capabilities and reach … I think ‘brand’ is the best way to describe it.”
Archer went on to note that business associates in the meeting were impressed that the then-vice president joined by speaker phone.
“I think everybody remains, you know, cool and calm like it was, you know—and then probably called their friends and family and said that they spoke to him,” Archer said. “But, you know, the reaction—I don’t have any specifics of, like, people jumping up and giving high-fives, but I think it was, you know, a signal that, you know, they respected and thought it was of value.”
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Trump appeared in court yesterday after Special Council Jack Smith charged him with the high crime of questioning his election results while not being a Democrat.
“The sacred words penned in our Constitution, which I have so much reverence for, make it clear that only Democrats are allowed to question election results,” said Smith to reporters. “Trump brazenly questioned an election even though his name isn’t Hillary and he didn’t even have a fake Russian dossier to prove his case. This is a dark and dangerous day for our democracy. Hehe, alliteration.”
“We must be clear: no one who is a Republican is above the law.”
The former President has also been charged with 5 other counts, including:
Removing a USB drive without ejecting it first
Going to McDonald’s and getting a cup for water but filling it with Sprite
Wearing a National Park Junior Ranger badge without finishing the activity booklet
Pressing the ‘credit’ button on a card reader even though he was using a debit card
Clicking the box saying he had read the Terms Of Service when he really just scrolled through it
High treason against the media
At publishing time, Trump had pleaded “not guilty” on all charges on the grounds that he is actually a Democrat.
Is your wife being hysterical again? Do you need a sandwich ASAP, but the Mrs. is unreasonably upset? Watch this video for all the best techniques for calming her down.
Marc Morano manages CFACT’s award-winning ClimateDepot.com news and information service. He is the award-winning producer, writer and host of Climate Hustle feature films. Marc served as a senior advisor to Senator James Inhofe. He is author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change, Green Fraud: Why the Green New Deal is Even Worse than You Think, and The Great Reset: Global Elites and the Permanent Lockdown.
“The sky is falling!” This is the message that has been given for many decades now. We were warned about a coming ice age that never materialized. It was then changed to say that the polar ice caps would melt and islands would be swallowed up. We were told that sea levels would take homes all over the globe. “The sky is falling!”
That is virtually the message coming from the U.N. Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, as he made recent remarks at the U.N. press conference on climate change last Thursday. Apparently, we can forget about global warming as that’s over and done. Now he declares that global boiling is here and we must act now! Are humans truly destroying the planet?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a press briefing this morning, the White House praised the overwhelming success of “Bidenomics,” as the average American now has twice as many jobs as they had two years ago.
“Thanks to the President’s wonderful economic policies, most Americans have at least two jobs,” said gay, black Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to the raucous applause of hand-picked journalists in the room. “Our economists ran the numbers and found that’s twice as many jobs as people used to have just a few years ago. So many jobs! Success!”
“Wow! Thanks, President Biden!” said local barista/hardware store clerk/landscaper/drive-thru worker/Uber driver Brett Barnes. “I’m just swimming in jobs right now! Just a couple more jobs and I’ll be able to afford bread, eggs, AND milk! Bidenomics works!”
Vice President Kamala Harris also weighed in, saying: “Jobs are important. A Job is what you do for a job. Especially now, at this moment in our history, jobs are now a very important part of our history. Because jobs are what we do in history! You know what I mean? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”
At publishing, Ukrainian President Zelensky also touted Biden’s economic plan as “working pretty great.”
Is your wife being hysterical again? Do you need a sandwich ASAP, but the Mrs. is unreasonably upset? Watch this video for all the best techniques for calming her down.
Joe Biden is heading to his Wilmington, Delaware residence after hiding out at his Rehoboth Beach compound all week.
Biden has spent a FULL YEAR – 365 days of his presidency – on vacation with no visitor logs.
WATCH:
Joe Biden on Wednesday hit the beach again after taking a leisurely bike ride in Rehoboth Beach as his dirty Justice Department worked to jail his main political rival, Donald Trump.
Biden looked like a corpse.
Earlier this week Joe Biden was spotted at the beach with his shirt off as Hunter’s close friend and business associate Devon Archer testified before the House Oversight Committee on the Biden family crimes.
Biden refused to take any questions on Devon Archer’s damning testimony.
The 80-year-old rode past reporters without having to answer for his crimes.
Conservative commentator Mark Levin on Thursday denounced the indictment against former President Donald Trump and also had angry words for former Vice President Mike Pence.
Referencing comments from former Attorney General Bill Barr to CNN about the limits of free speech, Levin exploded during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
“As the indictment says, they are not attacking his First Amendment right. He can say whatever he wants, he can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen when he knew better,” Barr told CNN. “But that does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy.
“At first I wasn’t sure, but I have come to believe he knew well he had lost the election,” Barr also said.
Levin fired back, saying, “This indictment, Mr. Barr, is crap.”
Levin said “the reason they didn’t bring insurrection and seditious conspiracy is because there was no insurrection and seditious conspiracy.”
Mark Levin SHREDS Biden DOJ indictment against Trump in HALF on LIVE TV, then SNAPS at Mike Pence for turning on Trump:
Levin then turned his attention to Pence, who after the indictment was issued said, “Sadly the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear. The president ultimately continued to demand that I choose him over the Constitution,” according to PBS.
“I want to say something to Mike Pence, who has turned out to be quite the weasel. Mike Pence fought like hell. He didn’t want to testify in front of this grand jury. He didn’t want to give his notes to this grand jury. Now we know why,” he said.
“Scribbling them down in the meeting. Well, he had to give them up. Then he gives them up — now he comes out, he is like, all of a sudden, he is a drama queen, ‘I said no.’ Because his notes are in there, he flipped completely. And ‘I stopped a constitutional crisis.’ You did?” Levin said.
“This guy Jack Smith has now destroyed our electoral system. Nobody knows the rules of the game. Nobody knows when challenges can be made or cannot be made. Now they’re going to figure out what you’re thinking and what you believe and so forth,” he said.
In an extended version of Levin’s comments reproduced by Breitbart, Levin added, “What are the rules now? What now are the rules for running challenging and disputing elections and who decides? When can a candidate rely on legal advice? We have lawyers who are indicted for giving legal advice the government disagrees with. Is a president not free to discuss decisions about the elections with his vice president? The vice president is free to do whatever he [wants], as this vice president did. Is a president freely to dispute election results without being indicted? He knew he lost, but he said he didn’t lose. So what, either way it doesn’t matter,” Levin said
Levin also commented that the Democratic Party is waging what he called a “passive revolution” to transform America, according to Fox News, “where they take over the institutions of government, they take over the institutions of the culture and they impose their will.”
“You see what’s going on. You see we’re unraveling… The Democrat (sic) Party is destroying our schools, it’s destroying parental rights, it’s destroying the nuclear family, it’s destroying people of faith. It’s gone after the Catholic Church. The Democrat Party is promoting censorship in all of its departments and agencies. It’s destroying our traditions,” Levin said.
“We now have a government that’s banning household products from light bulbs to automobiles in order to control your life. We have a government that is destroying your lifestyle; driving up the cost of energy. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
He said Trump’s indictment proves the Democrats aligned against him “will use any tool they can. They don’t care about free speech. They don’t care about the Bill of Rights. They don’t care about attorney-client privilege … This is a Democrat Party that is power-hungry, and they see an opportunity right now to monopolize the government and politics forevermore.”
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