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
38:4laying the foundation of the earth In ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the earth was thought to be supported by pillars sunk into the sea (e.g., 1 Sam 2:8; Psa 104:5).[1]
38:4 — “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”
It is good to remind ourselves that the Lord is God and we are not. He is the Creator; we are the created. He is the Original; we are the image. He is our Friend, but absolutely not our peer.[2]
Ver. 4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?—
Ignorance of the world’s origin:—
God would impress on Job his utter ignorance of the world in which he lived, and his incompetency to interpret His moral administration. The moral is this—Be concerned, Job, for a moral trust in My character, rather than for a theoretical knowledge of My ways. In the text there is a Divine challenge in relation to the when and how of the origin of the world.
I. The when. His ignorance as to when He began His creation. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth?”
II. The how. “Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?” Conclusion—The subject serves—
(1) To rebuke all disposition to pronounce an opinion upon the ways of God.
2. To suggest that our grand effort ought to be to cultivate a loving trust in the Divine character, rather than to comprehend the Divine procedure. Comprehend Him we never can.
3. To enable us to appreciate the glorious services of Christianity. The question, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” confounds and crushes me. I feel powerless before it, it overwhelms me with a sense of my own insignificance. Christianity comes to my relief. It tells me that although I am insignificant, I am still a child, a beloved child of the Everlasting, and that it is not the will of my Father that any, even of His “little ones,” should perish; nay, that it is His good pleasure that I should have a kingdom. (Homilist.)
The insignificance of man as a creature:—
I. What is thine intellect to Mine?
II. What is thine age to Mine?
III. What is thy power to Mine?
IV. What is thy independence to Mine? He is—
1. Independent in being.
(2) In action. This subject serves—
3. To enable us to appreciate the glorious service of Christianity. (Ibid.)
The creation of the world:—
I. Some leading ideas respecting the Divine work of creation. Notice—
1. The hoary and venerable antiquity of the work, and its entire independence of the power and wisdom of man. Many an upstart of yesterday imagines himself capable to investigate and define every subject. The questions of the text lead us to contemplate the creating work as mysterious and unsearchable.
II. The manner in which meditations on this work of creation may be most profitably conducted. Philosophers will afford delightful aid to the more studious observer of the universe. The grand philosophy is in the Bible, where resounds the voice of God Himself, describing His own operations. But there is still needed the specially illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit of God. This influence is to be sought by prayer, while the proper means are diligently used.
III. The important ends and uses to which meditations of this kind ought to be directed and applied. The agency of the Spirit is particularly manifest in sanctifying devout meditations to their proper end. By meditations properly conducted, a habit of spirituality is acquired, and an ability to bring the mind close to the contemplation of Divine things. Here is the porch of the temple of wisdom. There is the foot of the ladder, whereby the soul at length ascends to heaven. Nor is the utility of such meditations confined to the infancy of religious wisdom; it follows us up to the very gates of heaven, yea, into heaven itself. (J. Love, D.D.)[3]
Ver. 4—Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Wast thou present? Didst thou witness it? If not, what canst thou know concerning it? And if thou knowest nothing of creation, what canst thou know of deeper things? The metaphor, by which the creation of the earth is compared to the foundation of an edifice, is a common one (Ps. 102:25; 104:5; Prov. 8:29; Isa. 48:13; 51:13, 16; Zech. 12:1; Heb. 1:10, etc.), and is to be viewed as a concession to human weakness, creation itself, as it actually took place, being inconceivable. Declare, if thou hast understanding. That is, if thou hast any knowledge on the subject (comp. ver. 18).[4]
4 Since Job has doubted that God consistently rules the world in righteousness, Yahweh queries him as to whether he has the understanding necessary to know fully (yāḏaʿ bînâ) the inner structure of the created order. Heb. bînâ refers to both the faculty of understanding and the object of knowledge. As the object of the verb yāḏaʿ, “know,” it means “endued with understanding.” Job is asked to make known his knowledge of the initial stages of the creation of the world as though he were the primordial man who had witnessed the laying of the earth’s foundation (cf. 15:7). From an OT perspective, however, wisdom was God’s sole companion present at creation (ch. 28; Prov. 8:22–31). Therefore, since Job lacks this essential knowledge, how could he expect to dispute successfully with God?[5]
[1] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Job 38:4). Lexham Press.
Of all the psalms perhaps Psalm 23 is the most beloved. I remember my mother telling me that they used to recite this psalm in public high school in the 1930’s in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Sadly, now if you try to recite this psalm in public school you might get expelled!
Psalm 23 is a wonderful psalm that is all about God’s relationship with us. Several years ago, I read the following analysis of this psalm. I don’t remember the source but it deeply impacted me. I pray it will also bless you.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd – That’s Relationship
I shall not want – That’s Supply
He makes me to lie down in green pastures – That’s Rest
He leads me beside quiet waters – That’s Refreshment!
He restores my soul – That’s Healing
He guides me in the paths of righteousness – That’s Guidance
For His name’s sake – That’s Purpose
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death – That’s Testing
I fear no evil – That’s Protection!
For You are with me – That’s Faithfulness!
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me – That’s Discipline!
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies – That’s Hope!
You have anointed my head with oil – That’s Consecration!
My cup overflows – That’s Abundance!
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life – That’s Blessing!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord – That’s Security!
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.Zecharaiah 4:7
At this hour a mountain of difficulty, distress, or necessity may be in our way, and natural reason sees no path over it, or through it, or round it. Let faith come in, and straightway the mountain disappears and becomes a plain. But faith must first hear the word of the Lord—”Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” This grand truth is a prime necessity for meeting the insurmountable trials of life.
I see that I can do nothing and that all reliance on man is vanity. “Not by might.” I see that no visible means can be relied on, but the force is in the invisible Spirit. God alone must work, and men and means must be nothing accounted of. If it be so that the Almighty God takes up the concerns of His people, then great mountains are nothing. He can remove worlds as boys toss balls about or drive them with their foot. This power He can lend to me. If the Lord bids me move an Alp I can do it through His name. It may be a great mountain, but even before my feebleness it shall become a plain; for the Lord hath said it. What can I be afraid of with God on my side?
“Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” Hebrews 12:15
When I engage in conversation with people I don’t know very well, it usually does not take long to figure out who is holding onto bitterness in their life. This always saddens me because holding on to bitterness does so much damage to the person who cannot find a way to let go. Bitterness is like a thorn left in one’s flesh causing a deep untreated wound.
A hard and deep bitterness allowed to fester will grow a deep root whose tentacles will spread a poison to every aspect of one’s life. It will derail us. Stop us. And eventually, we will find ourselves going backwards.
Lingering bitterness will lead us to justify, rationalize, and reason that we have every right to feel this way until we even convince ourselves that we have made peace with living with this bitterness in our life.
This is a dangerous place to be. God does not give us permission to live a life rooted in bitterness. He warns us against this because He knows the damage it will do to our life, and to our testimony. It truly is God’s will for us to allow no place for bitterness in our lives. Ephesians 4:31-32 “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
Simply put, there is nothing like bitterness to make a life bitter. But there is good news…
We can remove the thorn. It does not have to remain. We can let it go. We can remove the thorn and heal, and breathe the fresh air of a life free of bitterness.
Where there is bitterness
There is brokenness
Where healing should be
Can be
Will be
When the bitterness is gone
Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32
Picture a man hunched over a chemistry set, adding a pinch of this and a dash of that to the unpleasant green fluid before him. He is thinking of someone who harmed him, replaying all the perceived slights and hurts, and is concocting a poison to repay the offender.
His work finished, he breathes a sigh of relief and takes the beaker in his hands, marveling at what’s been created. “This will show him,” the man says, and then drinks the bitter brew himself.
That’s a surprising twist, to be sure. Yet there is a good chance you’ve essentially done this very thing at one time or another.
Bitterness is a poison that we prepare for someone else but then drink ourselves. It is something we often carefully nurture and grow over the years. If someone hurts us—whether intentionally or unintentionally—and we begin to fantasize of a thousand and one ways to get payback, all we are doing is destroying our own heart and mind. Thankfully, our faith presents a better way to live. Rather than nurture hate, we can “turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” Psalm 34:14.
IDF eliminates terrorists exiting terror tunnel in Gaza IDF identifies, eliminates, group of terrorists in building; eliminates terrorist exiting Gaza tunnel. The IDF continues to strike terror targets in Gaza, and on Saturday killed terrorists exiting a terror tunnel in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
Lapid: Yahya Sinwar is the new face of evil ‘Yahya Sinwar is the new face of evil, he is the current day’s bin Laden and he is a dead man walking,’ former PM Yair Lapid says.
Iran warns of ‘far-reaching consequences’ if Israel not stopped “If the Israeli apartheid’s war crimes & genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences — the responsibility of which lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end,” the post read.
Hamas top secret documents discovered on bodies include detailed plans to massacre, capture children NBC on Saturday released documents found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists revealing detailed plans to target children from the religious Kibbutz, Sa’ad in southern Israel. One Israeli defense source shared with NBC the meticulousness of the plans, noting, “the level of specificity would cause anyone in the intelligence field’s jaw to drop.” The papers, which were discovered by first responders and labeled “top secret,” contained comprehensive information, ranging from maps pinpointing the positions of kindergartens and schools, strategies on the number of children to murder or hold captive,
GOP Selects Speaker Nominee After Secret Ballot House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan won the House Republican Conference’s nomination to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Friday, after his primary competitor, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, dropped out of the race.
Red Cross refuses to help Israeli hostages “Where is the Red Cross?” Darshan Leitner asked in the video. “Since the Israeli hostages were seized by the Hamas terrorists on Saturday morning, no one knows of their conditions or whereabouts. We have no information of who was murdered and who remains alive. Authorities are not even sure of the numbers of captive involved.” “The Red Cross is tasked with tracking those being held captive in times of war and ensuring they are being treated humanly and provided appropriate medical care. “So the Red Cross is actually there,” Darshan Leitner said. “They are in Gaza. They’re just turning a blind eye to the plight and conditions of the Israeli hostages.
Israel planning largest Gaza operation in 15 years, ground invasion imminent after evacuation order “Around the Gaza Strip, Israeli reserve soldiers in formation are getting ready for the next stage of operations,” IDF Foreign Media Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said at a briefing for foreign media. The operation is expected to be the IDF’s largest ground campaign since Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 through January 2009.
Sponsor of Kansas born-alive law: ‘I personally saw a baby survive an abortion attempt’ The sponsor of a Kansas law requiring basic medical care for newborns who survive botched abortions says he knows such legislation is necessary because, contrary to the the abortion lobby’s narratives, he personally witnessed a baby survive an abortion attempt.
IDF Scores Major Win, Eliminates High-Value Hamas Target Israel announced that it has killed Ali Qadi, a Hamas commander who spearheaded the mass terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday. “Ali Qadi led the inhumane, barbaric October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel. We just eliminated him,” the IDF said in a statement on social media Saturday. “All Hamas terrorists will meet the same fate.”
Vladimir Putin Compares Israel’s War with Hamas to Nazi Campaign “Casualties among civilians will be absolutely unacceptable. The Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip is unacceptable and is like the Nazi siege of Leningrad,” Putin said according to a translation of his words posted on X
Iranian-Backed Terrorists Claim Responsibility for Israel Attacks Skirmishes flared along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon on Friday and Saturday as the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization claimed responsibility for some attacks. Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, is based in Lebanon. Hezbollah Deputy Chief Naim Kassem said Friday that it is ready to support Hamas, which massacred 1,300 people in a raid into Israel last Saturday, in what would turn out to be the catalyst for the burgeoning Israel-Hamas war.
Microsoft closes $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard after lengthy regulatory review The deal was put through a hefty regulatory review and has finally gained a favorable ruling from a U.S. district judge. It’s Microsoft’s largest deal in its 48-year history and comes after the company quelled concerns about competition from U.K. and European regulators and gained a favorable ruling from a U.S. district judge.
Bolaven will impact Alaska and have downstream impacts on US Bolaven, by some measures the second most powerful storm the planet has seen so far this year, could cause a ripple-effect in the atmosphere, resulting in profound impacts on the weather in the U.S. next week.
WATCH: Orban Says EU Has ‘Raped Poland and Hungary’ by Forcing Migration Pact. …Despite opposing EU border states’ policy of allowing boat migrants to land in Europe in large numbers, often facilitated by nonprofits funded by the German government, Poland and Hungary will now be required to take a share of the migrants, take over examining their asylum claims, or make “financial contributions” to provide for them.
Wars And Rumors of War: Setting The Record Straight There is much disinformation, misinformation, and outright lies going around about the conflict in the Middle East—who took whose land, who the aggressor is, and why the hatred? Much of this ignorance comes from the universities and the media. A short history is warranted to set the record straight.
How the US WWII nuclear weapons programme became Operation Warp Speed In the last three years, Paula Jardine has carried out a forensic historical analysis of how and why we got to where we are now with the covid ‘pandemic’ and the drive for universal vaccination. This includes how the World War II Manhattan Project evolved into Operation Warp Speed to produce the covid mRNA injections.
Here are just SOME of the harmful ingredients present in routine vaccines …Dr. David Cartland, who has been a courageous example of a doctor standing up for truth and patient safety in the last few years, tweeted a copy of it to help raise awareness and encourage people to do their own research…African Green Monkey Kidney Cells – Can carry the SV40 cancer-causing virus that has already tainted about 30 million Americans. Acetone –Can cause kidney, liver, and nerve damage. E.coli – Yes, you read that right. DNA from porcine (pig) Circovirus type-1. Human embryonic lung cell cultures (from aborted foetuses)”
Maher rejects media’s Israel-Hamas equivalency: Israelis ‘always had the moral high ground and they still do’
“Real Time” host Bill Maher rejected the liberal media’s push of Israel-Hamas equivalency following last week’s terrorist attacks, declaring the Jewish State has the “moral high ground.”
Maher kicked off the panel discussion on Friday night by acknowledging the “shocking amount of support” for Hamas and called out the media for portraying Hamas and Israel as being “both guilty equally.”
“I think the Israelis have always had the moral high ground I think they still do,” Maher said…
The HBO star then railed against the “American left” for staunchly aligning itself with people whose values differ than the ones the U.S. and Israel share.
“Religious tolerance – that doesn’t exist in Gaza. You’re either a Muslim or an infidel and you better be a Muslim,” Maher said. “Female freedom, free and fair elections, free speech, gay rights – I see these ‘Queers for Palestine.’”…
“I’ll agree for the sake of being positive here that it’s a minority who believes it, but I don’t think it’s a minority on elite campuses, which is the mouth of the river from which most of this nonsense flows. And they’re very influential, and those are the people who graduate and become the a–h—s in society.’”
Watch the video below, this is pretty good:
It’s truly amazing that leftists can call conservatives Nazis on one day and then march in support of an organization that wants to kill Jews on the next day.
And for whatever reason, they don’t understand how completely insane that looks to most people.
Israeli soldiers removing civilian bodies who were killed days earlier in an attack by Hamas militants on this kibbutz in Kfar Aza, Israel.Alexi J. Rosenfeld via Getty Images
Slain victims of the Hamas terrorist attacks have signs of abuse and torture, Reuters reports.
Forensic teams in Israel discovered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people and a child beheaded.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared Hamas to ISIS, notorious for its beheadings.
The gruesome task of identifying Israel’s dead and the circumstances in which they were killed has fallen to military forensic teams at an army base in central Israel.
Most of the bodies have been transported to an army base in Ramla and stored in refrigerated containers. Specialized teams are examining the remains, Reuters reports.
A reserve warrant officer known by her first name, Avigayil, recounted finding maimed bodies, per Reuters. Multiple cases of rape were also discovered during forensic examinations.
“We’ve seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded,” Avigayil told reporters.
Captain Maayan, a military dentist involved in the identification process, said he’d seen gunshot wounds and clear signs of torture. No photographs or medical records were presented by Israel’s military overseeing the process, Reuters reports.
Rabbi Israel Weiss, a former army chief rabbi, confirmed the bodies showed signs of rape and torture. Approximately 90% of the military casualties have been identified, per Reuters. Efforts to identify civilian victims had reached the half way, the rabbi said.
The attack by hundreds of Hamas militants, some on motorcycles, on October 7, breached barriers surrounding Gaza, after hi-tech observation towers were knocked out by drones and a huge rocket barrage was unleashed on Israeli towns and cities.
In response to the attack, Israeli forces have unleashed a campaign of airstrikes and artillery bombardment on the Gaza Strip for days. According to Reuters, the retaliatory offensive killed 2,383 Palestinians and 10,814 injured on Sunday morning, according to Palestinian health ministry sources, and destroyed thousands of buildings.
Documents obtained by NBC indicated plans to “kill as many people as possible,” seize hostages and transport them to Gaza, and target elementary schools and a youth center. Insider could not independently determine the veracity of the documents.
According to a UN statement on Saturday, almost one million people have been displaced.
A man checks the interior of a house damaged in the October 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas terrorists on kibbutz Beeri near the border with Gaza, on October 14, 2023. Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, after Hamas militants entered Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip enclave on October 8. | THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images
Newly uncovered documents reveal that Hamas terrorists were directed to kill as many people as possible, with a specific focus on elementary schools and youth centers. These meticulously rehearsed attacks resulted in a death toll exceeding 1,300 in Israel alone, according to official sources.
Israeli officials say the attacks were not a byproduct of military action but rather a central objective, as can be concluded from the documents recovered from the bodies of dead militants at the sites of the attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Written orders carried by Hamas explicitly directed them to maximize human losses and take hostages, the Journal said, citing one set of orders that specifically targeted the farming community of Alumim, instructing militants to “achieve the highest level of human losses.”
Another set of orders focused on Sa’ad, a 670-person collective farming community, with the directive to “take control of the kibbutz, kill as many individuals as possible, and capture hostages.”
Details in the recovered documents also indicate that elementary schools and youth centers were among the primary targets.
Plans for attacks on communities like Kfar Aza and Nahal Oz were very specific, down to points of entry and modes of transportation for the attackers. For instance, in Kfar Sa’ad, one unit was assigned to “contain the new Da’at school,” while another was to “collect hostages” and “search the Bnei Akiva youth center.”
Hamas even conducted a public dress rehearsal of its attack on Israel, according to a propaganda video the group posted on social media on Sept. 12, The Hill reported.
The video displayed fighters using explosives to breach a replica of the Gaza-Israel border gate and going through a mock-up of an Israeli town, the Hill said, adding that the actual attacks took place by air, sea and land, targeting various towns and military posts near the border.
Those attacks are considered a significant intelligence failure for Israel, according to Bradley Bowman, a former U.S. Army officer and now senior director at the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who suggested that there were signs that should have been detected to prevent the attack.
These findings contradict Hamas’ statements, which claimed that women and children were not to be targeted. The Israeli Defense Forces and local communities discovered a trove of documents proving otherwise.
“The level of specificity would cause anyone in the intelligence field’s jaw to drop,” the New York Post quoted a source in the Israel Defense Forces as saying.
Israeli officials pointed out that Hamas had accumulated a significant amount of intelligence about its targets. Some documents included aerial views of communities and detailed attack plans outlining local security arrangements, such as the volunteer guard force in Sa’ad, which could be reinforced by Israeli army units.
One recurring element in the attack plans was the instruction to herd hostages into community dining halls. This strategy was not just a theoretical directive; it was executed in the town of Be’eri, where residents were later rescued by Israeli troops.
Survivors of the Hamas attacks recently shared their experiences during a webinar hosted by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement.
Michal Rahav, a resident of kibbutz Nirim, recalled rushing her children to a safe room in their home, ready to defend their lives as gunshots and alarms filled the air. Galia Sopher, another survivor from kibbutz Mefalism, was camping with her daughters when the attack commenced; without a shelter nearby, she shielded her children with her own body.
As gunshots and explosions came closer, families were left to fend for themselves. Rahav’s husband patrolled their house with a weapon while she readied her children to fight back. Sopher and her family remained trapped in a hot, dark shelter, listening to the sound of gunfire outside.
Both women described a sense of unexpectedness and horror, stating that they had no prior indications that such a devastating attack was imminent. They also recounted feeling utterly alone and isolated during the attacks, with Rahav even resorting to posting on Facebook for help as terrorists roamed her home.
Both families were eventually evacuated, although not before enduring hours of anxiety and terror. Rahav later found her home “broken and shattered,” an apt metaphor, she said, for their current reality.
While the Israeli government has declared a “complete siege” of Gaza and initiated the evacuation of up to 1.1 million Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas has dismissed these warnings, urging residents to “stand firm.”
Since Hamas attacked Israel over a week ago, at least 1,300 deaths have been reported in Israel, including 29 Americans killed and others taken hostage. Another 2,450 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Hamas’ health ministry.
“In this heightened environment, there’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we’ve got to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The Ukrainian president reportedly told journalists not to mention the issue until the end of the Russia-Ukraine conflict
President Vladimir Zelensky has allegedly ordered Ukrainian journalists to avoid bringing up the topic of corruption instead of reporting it to the authorities, the editor-in-chief of the Zerkalo Nedeli (‘Mirror of the Week’) news outlet has claimed.
Speaking at the National Media Talk 2023, Yulia Mostovaya said that she had learned of Zelensky’s demand from colleagues who had attended an off-the-record meeting with him.
The president reportedly made the request after the Ukrainian press published reports about inflated food prices paid by the country’s armed forces.
According to Ukrainian media reports, including Zerkalo Nedeli, the Defense Ministry had been buying food and clothing for its service members at prices two to three times higher than the market price. For example, the ministry paid up to 17 hryvnia ($0.47) for a single egg and 22 hryvnia ($0.60) for a kilogram of potatoes, while the average prices for those goods at stores in Kiev at the time were about 7 hryvnia ($0.19) and 8 hryvnia ($0.22), respectively.
Mostovaya stated that Zelensky’s request to avoid the topic of corruption in media publications was something the Ukrainian press may have considered if Zelensky had presented it in a “balanced manner” and explained that reporting on such issues could affect Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities.
“We would accept these conditions if the president had said: ‘Here is a person. Here’s his phone number. If you have substantiated facts, please provide them to this person, he will immediately pick up the phone. And give us a week to respond. If there is no reaction within a week, send it to print.’”
However, no such proposal was put forward by Zelensky, Mostovaya claimed, noting that instead the president told reporters to “remain silent until victory.”
“If we remain silent, there will be no victory,” the editor-in-chief said.
The issue of corruption in Ukraine has repeatedly been brought up by journalists and officials, both within the country and in the West.
Last week, the former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, stated that Ukraine will likely be unable to join the EU anytime soon because it is “corrupt at all levels of society.” He also urged Brussels not to make any “false promises” to the Ukrainian people who are already “up to their neck in suffering.”
Ukraine has for years been seen as among the most corrupt countries in Europe and was ranked 116th out of 180 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2022.
The Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah attack on Israeli citizens is a great red line. On one side of the line are those who see the pure evil in the brutal barbarism of the Islamists who vow to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. On the other side are those who support the actions of the terrorist aggressors. Be assured, there is no moral middle ground. There is no justification. There is no “Yeah, but…” What has been done to Israelis is morally wrong.
Sadly, there are those around the world marching and protesting on behalf of the “Palestinians,” under the false and historically inaccurate assumption that these indigenous Arabs are somehow the victims of Israeli occupation of “Palestine.” But it’s about hate.
The red line becomes even brighter when reports come in that these sub-human barbarians dismembered babies in front of their parents before killing the parents; that they beheaded babies; that they not only killed citizens but dismembered them. It is wicked, hateful bloodlust.
Supporters of these immoral acts try to say that it is Israeli propaganda. No. It was the terrorists themselves who recorded their atrocities on cell phones and posted their deeds online, bragging about what they had accomplished in the name of “allah.” Imagine being a family member and seeing a young, stripped, contorted dead body in the back of a pickup truck with these terrorists’ legs propped up on it, and upon a closer look, it’s your daughter.
The red line becomes brighter now when Israeli leaders declare war and begin rooting out these satanic allah animals. The evil side claims the Israelis have killed children in their retaliation. They claim war crimes have been committed by the Israelis. They call for a ceasefire in the name of humanitarianism. And those in the news media and leaders from around the world join in like a chorus of an evil chant. World sentiment begins to change and starts pointing the finger at Israel for its brutality.
This has been the pattern. The evil animals attack, commit unthinkable atrocities, then hide behind schools and hospitals while calling for a ceasefire. It is in this manner that they get away with what they have done and get the extra propaganda push that the Israelis are killing their women and children—something they use to gain support.
Christ said in Matthew 7:17-20, “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
Cut down and thrown into the fire. That’s what may well happen to the resident evil of Gaza. Deservingly so.
On which side of the red line do you stand? What do you say to those who say “hate doesn’t live here” but support the “Palestinian” cause that drives Hamas and others like it to such evil?
Those protesting in support of Hamas are, in no uncertain terms, advocating evil. It is the side of the red line where we know them by their fruits. Do we want to be remembered in history like those who supported the Holocaust? I think not. Act then appropriately.
Joe Biden spoke at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner Saturday night, and the most amusing news from that event was not that he was interrupted by a pro-Hamas protester but the fact that he glitched so badly that his wife Jill Biden had to come up on stage to rescue him.
One notable glitch took place when he accused “Extreme MAGA Republicans” of “trying to undo virtually every bit of progress we’ve made,” including banning “Pride flags from flying on public lands.”
“Who the hell—” Biden started to continue, before apparently drawing a blank as to what he was trying to say.
Biden was hardly finished. He went on to make an outlandish claim that gay people are being thrown out of restaurants. He claimed, “When a person can be married in the morning and thrown out of a restaurant for being gay in the afternoon, something is still fundamentally wrong in this country — and that still exists!”
BIDEN: “When a person can be married in the morning and thrown out of a restaurant for being gay in the afternoon, something is still fundamentally wrong in this country — and that still exists!” pic.twitter.com/ZsLO3bioUD
Where exactly has this happened? The way Biden tells it, this is endemic in the United States. Curiously, there are ample examples of conservatives being refused service and thrown out of restaurants, such as Fox News’s Gianno Caldwell, who was kicked out of a restaurant in North Miami, Fla., by the owner over his conservative views earlier this year, while Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family were kicked out of a Virginia restaurant in 2018 because she was working for Trump at the time.
But I digress. Considering the crowd Biden had, no one was going to call out his lies and exaggerations.
Biden once again lost a battle with senility and the teleprompter when he tried to promote his pro-LGBT foreign policy record, declaring, “We made human rights for LGBT around the world a top priority of my foreign policy, increasing our assistance to brave activists on the ground, defending human rights in countries to pass anti-gay laws!”
BIDEN v. TELEPROMPTER: “We made human rights for LGBT around the world a top priority of my foreign policy … defending human rights in countries to pass anti-gay laws!” pic.twitter.com/45pETaxQwy
This is the same man who unfroze $6 billion in assets to Iran — a country where being gay is punishable by death. LGBT Palestinians don’t have civil rights protections, yet that’s never stopped Biden from giving them huge amounts of federal dollars either.
When it was finally time for Biden to leave, his wife Jill had to come up on stage and guide the visibly lost Biden off the stage.
The worst thing about this is that we’re supposed to believe that this guy is capable of finishing another presidential campaign, along with another four-year term.
Prophecy expert Jeff Kinley, author of the new book, “God’s Grand Finale,” believes the war in Israel is further evidence we’re potentially “living in the last days.”
Mr. Simon told CNBC in a recent interview that a series of factors—political polarization, inflation, and high interest rates—were all working together to undermine consumers and their propensity to spend.
“That sort of pileup wears on the consumer and makes them wary,” Mr. Simon told the outlet. “For the first time in a long time, there’s a reason for the consumer to pause.”
Consumer spending is a major driver of the U.S. economy, accounting for roughly two-thirds of gross domestic product (GDP).
Mr. Simon, who now serves on the Board of Directors for Darden Restaurants and Hanesbrands Inc., said that, after a long period of cheap money cut short by the Federal Reserve’s rapid rate hikes in response to soaring inflation, consumers are now beginning to buckle.
“Consumers had an incredible 10-, 12-year run,” he told CNBC’s “Fast Money” program. “Markets were buoyant. Interest rates were low. Money was available.”
But now, the music has stopped, and the party is grinding to a halt.
Faced with soaring inflation that remained persistently high despite predictions that the price spike would be short-lived, Fed officials have pushed the benchmark federal funds rate quickly from near zero in March 2022 to its current range of 5.25–5.5 percent.
Despite all the monetary tightening so far, inflation remains uncomfortably high.
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