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
Description:Prior to the New Testament days of Jesus, the Temple of God had been destroyed during the invasion of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. We know this because God told the prophet Jeremiah that it would come to pass as divine judgment on His people. In light of that, how should we interpret the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D.? Was that an act of divine judgment? Was there a prophet to foretell that event? In this message entitled “The Destruction of Jerusalem,” Dr. Sproul introduces us to one of the best attested historical events in ancient history as it relates to redemptive history.
It’s been called the largest Christian event in Egypt’s history as more than 17,000 attended a Gospel crusade and more than 7,800 people made a decision to put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Dr. Michael Youssef’s Leading The Way ministry held the evangelistic event in Cairo last month and told CBN News he is praising God for the thousands who came forward seeking hope, healing, and change.
“It was an amazing experience,” he recalled. “Past midnight, people did not want to leave and said, ‘We just feel the Holy Spirit here’ and it was a foretaste of Heaven. Just praising God.”
What consolation can Christians find in times of suffering and adversity? From one of our live Ask Ligonier events, Stephen Nichols reminds us to look to the goodness of God.
The way is slippery and our feet are feeble, but the Lord will keep our feet. If we give ourselves up by obedient faith to be His holy ones, He will Himself be our guardian. Not only will He charge His angels to keep us, but He Himself will preserve our goings.
He will keep our feet from falling so that we do not defile our garments, wound our souls, and cause the enemy to blaspheme.
He will keep our feet from wandering so that we do not go into paths of error, or ways of folly, or courses of the world’s custom.
He will keep our feet from swelling through weariness, or blistering because of the roughness and length of the way.
He will keep our feet from wounding: our shoes shall be iron and brass so that even though we tread on the edge of the sword, or on deadly serpents, we shall not bleed or be poisoned.
He will also pluck our feet out of the net. We shall not be entangled by the deceit of our malicious and crafty foes.
With such a promise as this, let us run without weariness and walk without fear. He who keeps our feet will do it effectually.
“God wants your life. Not one hour a week, not 10% of your income, He wants you.”1
“Natural man’s sin is precisely this: He wants the benefits of God without God Himself.”
“Repentance is something that is brought about in the human heart by the work of God the Holy Spirit.”
“We do not segment our lives, giving some time to God, some to our business or schooling, while keeping parts to ourselves. The idea is to live all of our lives in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and for the honor and glory of God. That is what the Christian life is all about.”
“Advice to aspiring ministers: Get in the Word. Stay in the Word. Master the Word. And for heaven’s sake, preach the Word!”
“If God is the Creator of the entire universe, then it must follow that He is the Lord of the whole universe. No part of the world is outside of His lordship. That means that no part of my life must be outside of His lordship.”
“Here then is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.”
“Though sin often brings immediate pleasure, it gives no lasting joy.”
“God is not going to negotiate His holiness…in order to accommodate us.”
“The only works of righteousness that serve to justify a sinner are the works of Christ.”
“The promises of God for tomorrow are the anchor for believers today.”
“The sin of fallen man is this: Man seeks the benefits of God while at the same time fleeing from God Himself.”
“The grand difference between a human being and a Supreme being is precisely this: Apart from God I cannot exist; apart from me God does exist. God does not need me in order for Him to be. I do need God in order for me to be. We are dependent. We are fragile. This is how we differ from God.”
“If you don’t delight in the fact that your Father is holy, holy, holy, then you are spiritually dead. You may be in a church. You may go to a Christian school. But if there is no delight in your soul for the holiness of God, you don’t know God. You don’t love God. You’re out of touch with God. You’re asleep to his character.”
“God’s grace is not infinite. God is infinite, and God is gracious. We experience the grace of an infinite God, but grace is not infinite. God sets limits to His patience and forbearance. He warns us over and over again that someday the ax will fall and His judgment will be poured out.”
“By His life, death, and resurrection, our Savior has conquered our enemies, and by His Spirit He has granted us to share in the victory.”
“The complaint that church is boring is never made by people in awe.”
“To be known by God is the highest goal of human existence.”
“If you are of the truth, if you have learned the truth, if you see the sanctity of the truth, then speak truth. We are not called to be deceivers or liars. God is a God of truth, and His people are called to have an enormously high standard of truth.”
“Anyone who takes his faith seriously and speaks in behalf of Christ and His kingdom will be accused of fanaticism at some point.”
“Burning hearts are not nourished by empty heads.”
“God’s grace is so powerful that it has the capacity to overcome our natural resistance to it.”
“If you’re not accountable in life that means ultimately that your life doesn’t count.”
“People need a consistent explanation of the cross of Christ and what it accomplished. Christ’s atoning work is the centerpiece of the gospel and the only solution for humanity’s estrangement from our Creator.”
“Once we are reconciled to God, the estrangement is over, the hostilities have ended, and the peace is sealed for eternity.”
“If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” John 8:6-8
Merle is dead. Someone sent an email to let me know. I felt really bad that day. I had known Merle for several years. She was a seamstress and had done many alterations for me.
I hadn’t known where she was spiritually and tried to talk with her about God on several occasions, but realized that she didn’t want to talk, so I gave her a few things to read, prayed for her when she was sick and just loved her when I went to see her.
One day, she opened up and told me her story. A very sad story of how a religious body had harshly condemned her, shunned her, and said God was punishing her when her baby died. I could see and hear how this condemnation and shunning affected her – even after many years. I have never seen a thinner woman. She was so fragile that when she got the flu she didn’t have the strength to fight it, she was in the hospital frequently, but this time it took her life.
After I got the news of her death, I thought about the power of the spoken word and deed. You can never take them back. They are like feathers floating through the air – they are not retrievable.
Even though we have all experienced the pain of being condemned or shunned at various times in our lives, let’s focus today on what we have done to others. Is there someone you have judged, harshly condemned or shunned? Pray that the Lord will give you a chance to show His love to them – to ask forgiveness for harsh words and deeds. Pray for their restoration.
Father, when I think of Merle’s life and the damage that was done to her by harsh judgments rather than love, I pray that You will help us ask forgiveness from the people where we have been judgmental and harsh instead of loving. Amen.
Europe in recession, no engines of growth The latest GDP figures show that the eurozone contracted in the third quarter and looks like it will do the same in the last three months of the year falling into a continent-wide recession, Oxford Economics said in a note on December 8. “Final figures confirmed eurozone GDP contracted 0.1% in the third quarter. What’s more, the detailed breakdown showed the European economy has no engines of growth at the moment. Although private consumption posted a small gain over the previous quarter, the near-term outlook still looks dire,
Supreme Court weighs limits on Congress’ power to tax corporate wealth The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard a conservative challenge to Congress’ broad power to tax corporate wealth — a case that could shield wealthy Americans who invest their money overseas. During two hours of argument, most of the justices said they wanted to resolve the tax dispute narrowly without making major changes in the law. But they also revealed a deep disagreement over the federal government’s taxing power.
California Facing Record $68 Billion Deficit, Potential ‘Fiscal Budget Emergency’: Legislative Analyst Because of a “severe revenue decline,” California is facing a $68 billion budget deficit that could accumulate to more than $155 billion over the next five years, according to the most updated projection released Dec. 7 by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. Budget problems arose after income tax collections dropped 25 percent in the fiscal year 2022–2023—which ended June 30
Affiliate ACLU Members Revolt After Left-Wing Group Agrees To Represent NRA Several of the ACLU’s affiliates, such as the ACLU of Montana, the ACLU of North Carolina, and the New York Civil Liberties Union, wrote on X that they disagree with the ACLU’s move to provide legal representation to the NRA.
COP28 UN Climate Summit: The Ruse Behind The Elite’s Unsatiable Quest For Power Do not let the elite powerbrokers of our day deceive you; there is no climate emergency. This is one of many deceptions that Jesus said would characterize the last days (Matthew 24:4). The purpose of COP28 is about furthering the ruse that the globalists believe will enable them to gain control of all the nations.
Hezbollah launched rocket ’20 meters’ from UN compound Hezbollah fired a rocket just 20 meters from a United Nations compound in Southern Lebanon on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday. In doing so, Hezbollah endangered the lives of UNIFIL soldiers and continues to systematically violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which bans Hezbollah from operating in Southern Lebanon.
The Jewish aspect of the destroyed Great Mosque in Gaza Hamas, in their desire to erase every trace of Jewish features in Gaza, erased the historical embossment in the mosque with the painting of the temple menora, shofar and the four species, as well as the inscription ‘Hanania bar Jacob’. Their murderous attacks meant that all the pillars of the mosque are now destroyed. During the war in Gaza, last week the great mosque in Gaza al-Masjid Ghazza al-Kabīr, also known as ” al-Masjid al-ʿUmarī al-Kabīr “, “the Great Omari Mosque”, was almost completely destroyed.
Former Gaza minister to Shin Bet: Hamas are ‘lunatics,’ no one supports Sinwar In interrogations by the Shin Bet, Hamas’s former communications minister, Yosef Almansi harshly criticized the terror organization, and painted their leader, Yahya Sinwar, as an unpopular despot who has only brought harm to Palestinians, according to a statement by the agency on Sunday.
‘Don’t die for Sinwar, surrender now,’ Netanyahu tells Hamas “The war is still ongoing but it is the beginning of the end of Hamas,” Netanyahu said as he urged the terrorist group’s fighters not to sacrifice themselves for their leader Yahya Sinwar.
Gaza in chaos as Palestinian anger against Hamas grows A Gaza resident, who bravely expressed his opinions on the radio, voiced his message to Yahya Sinwar and his accomplices. The interviewee, journalist Muhammad Mansour, boldly stated, “May Allah curse you, Hamas leadership. Sinwar, you are the offspring of a despicable creature. Allah will avenge the destruction you have inflicted upon us.”
Hamas chief fled northern Gaza on humanitarian convoy at the beginning of the war Hamas terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar fled northern Gaza in the first days of the war on a humanitarian convoy headed south to Khan Younis, according to an anonymous official familiar with the matter, as reported by Kan. Precise information about the type of vehicle has not been made available, but it’s clear it provided “humanitarian cover” for the terror mastermind behind the October 7th massacre to get away.
In Minnesota, 25 Jewish schools receive bomb threats Someone emailed threats of bombings and shootings to schools and Jewish communities across Minnesota. On Wednesday, police received word of the intimidation at such Jewish organizations as Rochester’s B’nai Israel Synagogue, ultimately finding no evidence of danger. So far at least nine Jewish groups and 25 schools received threats. Investigators say they used almost identical language and characterized them as “swatting” wherein someone seeks to harm their target by triggering an unnecessary deployment of a SWAT team.
UPenn President Liz Magill steps down after controversial testimony on antisemitism University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has resigned Saturday after widespread public outrage over her testimony to Congress on antisemitism. The announcement came after days of intense pressure from Penn alumni and elected officials following Magill’s botched Capitol Hill testimony earlier in the week.
Destructive tornadoes strike Tennessee, leaving six dead and widespread damage, U.S. A series of destructive tornadoes swept through Tennessee on December 9, 2023, hitting areas including Nashville and Clarksville. At least 6 people have been killed, including two adults and one child in Montgomery County, and more than 23 people were injured. The tornadoes caused extensive property damage, downed trees and power lines, and led to widespread power outages, affecting thousands of residents across the state.
Netanyahu: Hamas terrorists surrendering by the dozens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night confirmed the authenticity of photos and videos showing dozens of Hamas terrorists surrendering to the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip.
The Satanic Temple sets up public display inside Iowa Capitol building: ‘Very dark, evil force’ A satanic altar has been set up at the Iowa State Capitol. The Satanic Temple erected the public display, depicting a ram’s head with mirrors covering it, propped by a mannequin in red clothing, according to KCCI Des Moines. Co-founder of The Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, told the news outlet that the display represents the group’s right to religious freedom.
Human Trafficking Kills: 1,000 ‘Unmarked Graves’ on EU Migrant Routes A report in the Guardian newspaper on the growing phenomenon of unmarked graves across Europe highlights the exceptional danger migrants are put in by callous people smugglers, who grow rich on human suffering and hollow promises.
To Make Them Cheaper The Biden administration has proposed a new rule that would let the government seize the patents of expensive drugs developed with federal funding.
NHS Under Fire: Whistleblower Claims Patients Were Unjustly Euthanized to Falsely Inflate COVID Pandemic Toll An NHS whistleblower, who wishes to remain anonymous, has come forward with allegations that the NHS hospitals were not overwhelmed during the Covid-19 pandemic, as was reported by authorities and the mainstream media. The whistleblower also confirmed that the little care given throughout the pandemic amounted to negligence, and that the government and NHS bosses essentially instructed staff to let people die, or in some cases kill them through the ‘End of Life Care’ programme and falsely label the deaths as being due to Covid-19.
“People Have Spoken”: Elon Musk Restores X Account Of Alex Jones After User Poll “The people have spoken, and so it shall be,” Elon Musk posted on X in reply to a poll on Saturday asking users whether to reinstate Alex Jones’ account. “Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform?” Musk asked. Nearly two million X users voted, with more than 70% voting in favor of Jones’ return.
“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” —Patrick Henry (1775)
Fellow Patriots, on this day in 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt became the sixth and final pair of American astronauts to land on the moon; Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans remained in orbit above them. —Mark Alexander
Last week’s congressional testimony by three elite university presidents was a watershed moment.
Douglas Andrews
One down, two to go. That’s the status of the battle between civil society and Ivy League Jew hatred.
The good news is that University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill rightly resigned under pressure on Saturday for her failure to protect Penn’s Jewish students. The bad news is that Harvard President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth are still clinging to their jobs, still hoping that our collective attention-deficit disorder will cause us to move on from their disgraceful appearance on Capitol Hill last Tuesday.
The trio of women testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where they tried to defend their lack of adequate response to incidents of anti-Semitism on each of their campuses. Neither Magill nor Gay nor Kornbluth could summon the decency to say that the calls on their respective campuses for the genocide of the Jews were a violation of their schools’ code of conduct or their anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies. And New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik held their feet to the fire for it.
“It is a context-dependent decision,” said Magill, who with those six words revealed both the moral cowardice and the anti-Semitic rot that now infects what were once our nation’s finest universities.
Gay, too, tried to fall back on the “context” excuse. “Calling for the genocide of Jews violates the Harvard code of conduct, correct?” asked Stefanik, herself a Harvard graduate.
Gay’s smug, smirking reply? “It depends on the context.”
Context, eh? Okay, we’ll bite: Give us an example — any example — of a situation in which a student calling for the genocide of the Jewish people is in accordance with their school’s code of conduct and with its anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies. We’ll wait. Likewise, give us an example of a situation in which the acceptability of a student calling for the enslavement of black people would be context-dependent.
As New York Times lefty Maureen Dowd put it over the weekend, “Not since Bill Clinton was asked about having sex with Monica Lewinsky and replied, ‘It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is,’ has there been such parsing.“
Magill’s comments ultimately proved to be a fireable resignable offense, but it came too late to preserve a gift worth around $100 million from Ross Stevens, a Penn undergrad alum and founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management. As Stevens’s attorneys put it in a letter to Penn, “Its permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews … would violate any policies or rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge.”
Easy come, easy go. Adding insult to injury, the GOP-led House has launched an investigation into all three schools. As Stefanik noted in a subsequent Wall Street Journal op-ed: “The Penn, Harvard and MIT presidents’ refusal to identify these calls for violence as policy violations is revealing, and their attempt to justify it with feigned concern for free speech is insulting. Just this year, Harvard placed dead last among 248 universities on the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s College Free Speech Rankings, receiving the only score of zero out of 100.”
“I am sorry,” Gay told the Harvard Crimson on Thursday in a naked effort to save her job. “Substantively, I failed to convey what is my truth.”
Can we be honest for a sec? The only reason Gay hasn’t been kicked to the curb like UPenn’s Magill is the color of her skin. Gay’s exchange with Stefanik was every bit as embarrassing, every bit as disgraceful as Magill’s, and yet somehow she’s being allowed to keep her job. That Harvard hasn’t given her the heave-ho is in itself a form of discrimination — that which former President George W. Bush once rightly called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
In essence, Harvard is saying: Yes, what she said was awful and inexcusable. But she’s black. And we can’t fire our first black president.
As for Kornbluth, she deserves to get the gate, too, but she’s Jewish, and MIT’s board of trustees is probably wrestling with the optics of firing a Jewish president for her failure to protect the school’s Jewish students. This shouldn’t be a tough decision though. There’s such a thing as a self-hating Jew, after all. If the trustees doubt this, they might look into the career and the voluminous writings of MIT professor emeritus Noam Chomsky.
The great Charles Murray — he of The Bell Curve and Losing Ground and Human Diversity — had a fine suggestion for sussing out the sincerity of presidents Gay and Kornbluth when it comes to free speech: “Invite me to give a lecture on race and sex differences, using material from Human Diversity. I’m happy to do them pro bono. Albeit with adequate police protection.” Given Murray’s experience, that’s a reasonable request.
“Faced with an epidemic of anti-Semitism,” writes Victor Davis Hanson, himself a college professor, “university administrators now claim they can do little to curb the hatred. But privately they know should the targets of similar hatred be instead blacks, gays, Latinos, or women, then they would expel the haters in a nanosecond.”
He’s right, of course. And so is columnist Michael Brendan Dougherty, who adds: “These institutions are breeding a profoundly unfit leadership class that will bring civil strife and ruin to this country. … The Ivy League is producing an idiotariat; everyone could see that this week. Asking it to change is not hypocrisy. It’s the bare minimum of civilizational self-defense.”
Stefanik has noted that the congressional testimony of Magill, Gay, and Kornbluth is now the most-viewed in American history. If the latter two are forced to follow the former, it will also be among the most fruitful congressional testimony in history.
A final note: As if we didn’t already know that the sad clowns at “Saturday Night Live” are nothing but an unfunny bunch of wokescolds, they watched Stefanik’s evisceration of the college presidents and concluded that the one ripe for mockery was — wait for it — Stefanik. Ya can’t make it up.
Leftists are worried that Republicans might win the White House again via our constitutional election system.
Nate Jackson
Just weeks after Donald Trump took office in 2017, The Washington Post for the first time in its 140-year history chose a motto: Democracy Dies in Darkness. It was an obnoxious and pretentious political move for a self-proclaimed unbiased media publication. The once-great paper’s activist-journalists have clearly become unhinged concerning Trump — to the point that four of them are now oblivious to the irony that they’re advocating killing our system of government.
Dies in darkness, indeed.
In a four-byline article attacking the Electoral College, the Post’s quartet preys upon the population’s woeful civic ignorance perpetuated by leftist-controlled public schools. Unfortunately, the Post’s scribes and executives are themselves ignorant — the United States is not a democracy, though too many people do use the word as a synonym for “freedom.”
Our Founders established a Republic, not a democracy, and John Adams explained why: “Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
As part of that Republic, our Founders thoughtfully established the Electoral College for electing presidents and split power in Congress between a House based on population and a Senate based on the equality of states. The objective was to diffuse power and protect the minority by preventing a handful of population centers from becoming echo chambers and then dictating to the rest of the country how things would happen.
To that point, Mark Alexander recently noted, “In the 2020 election, there were more votes cast in Los Angeles County than the vote totals in 38 states.” Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by seven million votes nationally — five million in California and two million in New York.
Oh, and by the way, Alexander said, “More than 80% of LA votes were bulk-mail ballots.”
The civic geniuses at The Washington Post, however, are mad that their team lost two presidential elections in the last couple of decades despite winning the national popular vote. In 2020, Biden avoided the fate of Hillary Clinton and Al Gore by the narrowest of margins — about 43,000 votes in three states, which was smaller than Trump’s winning margin in 2016. The Post is sounding the alarm that a Republican (worst of all, Trump) could win again in 2024 thanks to the “antiquated” system “handed down from the nation’s founding fathers.”
The title and subtitle say it all: “Small segment of voters will wield outsize power in 2024 presidential race. The electoral college system empowers a sliver of the U.S. population in a diminishing number of battleground states. And the majority may not even prevail.”
Instead, they fret about how we don’t use “the principle of ‘one person, one vote’ that governs legislative races,” so “the ballots of undecided swing-state citizens” outweigh “the other 150 million or so Americans who are expected to vote next year.” Worse, “the system increasingly distorts the democratic process as partisan divisions grow along geographic lines.”
It’s true that Americans are increasingly moving to like-minded states, and that presidential campaigns target fewer battleground states as a result. Our divisions also feel increasingly heated and problematic, which we suppose is bound to happen when, for example, one side starts denying basic biology while, without evidence, accusing the other side of hateful bigotry.
But those divisions are not because the system is flawed.
What’s almost amusing is that the Post’s screed is part of a series in which the paper explores those divisions. In another article in the series, the Post complains about Trump’s “relentless attacks … on the legitimacy of the election process based on lies and distortions.”
Which is precisely what the Post is doing by attacking the Electoral College, the constitutional system for conducting elections.
Why the urgency? Well, it’s simple: Leftists at the Post and elsewhere are terrified that the cognitively disabled architect of Bidenomics might just blow it in 2024. Unlike in 2020, when hardly a single poll taken at any time during the 2020 cycle showed Trump leading Biden, numerous polls this time have the former president ahead. The latest is a Wall Street Journal poll that has Trump up by four points.
The heretofore biggest argument against Trump was that he’s so unpopular he couldn’t possibly win. If you trust the polls, that may no longer be true. Then again, Biden is unlikely to be the Democrat nominee, which would totally change the game. Either way, leftists are sowing distrust in advance if Democrats lose.
Attacking the Electoral College isn’t new ground, of course. The Washington Post’s editorial board called for its elimination in the wake of the 2020 election. And the Left has been building a National Popular Vote initiative for years.
The bottom line is that leftists demand power, and anything that stands in their way must be eliminated. That explains a seemingly contradictory reality: Leftists are wrecking elections by denying the legitimacy of results they don’t like, all while besmirching their opponents for sounding the alarm about that undermining of integrity.
The Washington Post dubiously seeks to uphold the false view that white people don’t experience racism.
Thomas Gallatin
Teach people to believe they are victims of racial oppression, and — lo and behold — they see racism everywhere. That is effectively the real takeaway from a recent poll conducted by YouGov showing the perception of the experience of racism by different racial and political demographics in the U.S.
Perception doesn’t equate to reality. Everyone used to know this. But apparently for the journalists/activists at The Washington Post, this principle can be applied only to Republicans. Ironically, those folks at the Post never question their own biased perception of Republicans’ supposed motives and beliefs. And based upon this stereotype, the Post’s scribes created a caricature of their fellow Americans so as to malign them as at best backward idiots or at worst Nazis.
In one sense, the issue is definitional, and the term being defined is “racism.”
Historically, racism has long been defined as the negative judgmental prejudice against individuals based solely upon their race. Most Americans used to recognize this definition. Indeed, combating this fundamental definition of racism — and its practice in the public square — was the driving force behind the civil rights movement.
As Martin Luther King Jr. declared in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, he hoped his children would “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
But that definition runs counter to the doctrine of today’s leftists, who have imbibed the neo-Marxist ideology of critical race theory, a view that is itself fundamentally racist, as it advocates judging individuals not by the content of their character but by the color of their skin. Furthermore, it justifies this racism by erroneously asserting an oppressor vs. oppressed dichotomy that essentially erases all individual volition and, based upon race, assigns individuals to one or the other category.
When Republicans of any race hear things like “whiteness prevents white people from connecting with humanity,” as “anti-racism” race hustler Ibram X. Kendi recently espoused, they correctly identify such thinking as expressing actual anti-white racism. Imagine someone saying “blackness prevents black people from connecting with humanity”; the Left’s response would be predictable.
When white Republicans perceive more racism being directed toward themselves as white people, they are not simply reacting to a perceived loss of political power, as leftists love to assert. Rather, they are simply accurately pointing out a growing reality that has become commonplace across much of the public square — in schools, mainstream media, entertainment, and politics. Public school teachers, TV talkingheads, celebrities, and even the president of the United States incessantly lecture white people about their privilege and oppressive racism, not because of any bad behavior but merely because of the melanin level in their skin.
Leftists like those at the Post, however, appear absolutely blind to this reality. Instead, they have seemingly uncritically adopted a belief that to be Republican is to embrace racism. The irony is that nothing could be further from the truth.
Finally, one could ask a question: Why do black Americans in particular, based on YouGov’s poll, claim to experience racism at the highest rate of any other group? The Post doesn’t dare to question whether their perception matches with reality, even as the paper eagerly dismisses any white Americans’ claims of experiencing racism. Why? Because racism against minorities and especially blacks is leftist dogma. It’s the woke narrative. And to question the woke narrative, especially if one is white, is to out oneself as a racist.
Senate Democrats block a subpoena to release flight logs for the pedophile’s “Lolita Express.”
Emmy Griffin
What would you do if you were fairly certain you wouldn’t get caught?
That seems to be a calculus that Jeffrey Epstein used when accruing his network of the rich and famous while preying on hundreds of young girls. On top of being a predator and human trafficker, he was a blackmailer and a conman. He was a man entirely without moral scruples. But his activities were not conducted in a vacuum.
Even after his “suicide” — which many speculate was actually a hit job — his flight logs haven’t been released. Epstein’s black book was released but heavily redacted. The names and numbers in that book really only indicate how well-connected he was, which isn’t necessarily incriminating. Yet this lack of transparency and obvious silencing by those in power are yet more indicators that the rot Epstein wrought is part of a much bigger ring of predatory behavior on the part of elites in power.
Earlier this year, our Brian Mark Weber wrote, “Those who knew Epstein are pretending they didn’t, and those who want answers are being silenced.” Weber was noting a circumstance where Peter Flaherty, chair of the National Legal and Policy Center, was trying to block Warren Buffett from becoming the next CEO and board chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Flaherty’s reason was that Buffett had questionable connections with Epstein. Flaherty was arrested after the shareholder meeting seemingly as a direct consequence of that reference.
Flaherty is a small fish compared to many of the other public figures who have dared to bring up Epstein as a dubious connection or attempted to garner information on who his accomplices were.
Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn recently attempted to subpoena the flight logs from Epstein’s estate. Of particular interest are the flight logs from the most infamous of his private jets, a Boeing 727 nicknamed the “Lolita Express.” (“Lolita” is reference to the book with that name about a pedophile lusting after and sexually grooming a 14-year-old girl.)
At the time of Blackburn’s attempt, Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee were attempting to subpoena Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas in their continued campaign to undermine the authority and legitimacy of the highest court in the land. To which Blackburn countered: “Since we’re in the business of issuing subpoenas now, here are a few more that I’ve filed. A subpoena to Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to provide the flight logs for his private plane.” The hearing ended abruptly after that.
Democrats leading the Senate Judiciary Committee later claimed they blocked Blackburn’s subpoena ostensibly because Republicans were filibustering earlier business. This excuse seems pretty hollow in light of all the suppression surrounding the flight logs historically. Even in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, those records were not made public — though there was enough “there” there to garner her a conviction. Maxwell was Epstein’s erstwhile lover and accomplice in his human-trafficking schemes. Besides Epstein, she is so far the only person to face some justice for associated crimes.
Senator Blackburn did not remain silent about the Democrats blocking her efforts to unveil these records that are of intense public interest. She correctly asks the question that is on all of our minds: “What are Democrats trying to hide?”
Though there may be many a political name revealed on those logs, the more interesting information is how many celebrities and elites would have their names show up as well. Those people are probably the single biggest reason their names have not been made public.
We already know some of the names associated with Epstein because of testimonies from survivors and even one of his former pilots. They are names like the UK’s Prince Andrew, former Presidents Bill Clinton (there is actually a picture of Clinton on Pedophile Island) and Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and most recently Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
RFK Jr., a 2024 presidential hopeful, admitted to Fox News’s Jesse Waters last week that his name would appear on a couple of Epstein’s flight logs. Both times, according to RFK Jr., he had his children with him and was never alone with Epstein.
Like Epstein’s black book, some of the names we already know are merely evidence of Epstein’s cultivation of the rich and famous. But what the American people want to know is just how many of these contacts were involved in his human-trafficking ring and pedophilia.
The fact that these names and flight logs aren’t made available to the public is a perfect example of the two-tiered system of justice that has been cultivated by the elites in power. Their names can only be hidden for so long. Eventually, the truth will come to light.
It will take a lot more than indicting the president’s son for obvious tax fraud to erase that idea that we have a rigged system of justice in this country.
Hans von Spakovsky & Charles “Cully” Stimson
Well, it’s about time. The Justice Department finally has obtained a serious indictment against Hunter Biden, one that charges him with nine felony and misdemeanor violations of federal tax law.
Noticeably absent from the salacious, 56-page indictment issued Thursday evening are any charges related to the failure of President Joe Biden’s son to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, known as FARA.
But this indictment came about for three reasons:
First, because brave IRS whistleblowers testified under oath, at great expense to their careers, that the government was going easy on Hunter Biden.
Second, because an earlier sweetheart deal fell apart when a federal judge uncovered DOJ’s shady plea agreement with Hunter.
And third, because ongoing congressional oversight and public outrage pressured DOJ to get to the bottom of this sordid affair.
The titillating indictment was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, where Hunter Biden, 53, is a resident despite his forays and stays at the White House and his father’s home at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. The indictment illustrates not only the tawdry, sordid lifestyle of the president’s son, but his indifference to his obligations to pay income taxes and his intentional lying about business expenses.
The indictment alleges that the younger Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million” in federal taxes owed for 2016 through 2019, including filing “false returns” in 2020 for the 2018 tax year.
During that time, he received “more than $7 million in total gross income” to “fund his extravagant lifestyle,” a polite term for describing the money that Biden spent, according to the indictment, “on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his own taxes.” The list includes a Porsche, a Lamborghini, and a “lavish house on a canal in Venice Beach.”
The lurid details in the indictment, some of which are taken directly from Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” were used by the Justice Department to show that he was fraudulently claiming business expenses for things such as paying an entourage of “thieves, junkies, petty dealers, over-the-hill strippers, con artists, and assorted hangers-on.” In 2018, when he supposedly was engaged in business affairs, Hunter Biden actually was using crack cocaine “twenty-four hours a day, smoking every fifteen minutes, seven days a week.”
There is really nothing new in the indictment that hasn’t been previously disclosed. It’s just that DOJ finally has done what it should have done years ago with the evidence prosecutors developed then.
But here’s the rub. If the Justice Department had indicted Hunter years ago, there would have been more felony charges because of his failure to pay taxes in 2014 and 2015 (at a time when he was earning money by selling access to his father, who was then the sitting vice president).
Which leads a normal person to ask: Why did DOJ allow the statute of limitations to expire for those years? Could it be that politicos there didn’t want to bring further scrutiny to any connections between Hunter and his daddy?
The indictment alleges that the younger Biden violated provisions of law (26 U.S.C. §§ 7201, 7203, and 7206) against evading a tax assessment, failing to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return. Two statutes are felonies that subject a criminal defendant to up to five years in prison and a maximum $100,000 fine, while the third is a misdemeanor that could lead to one year in prison and a maximum fine of $25,000.
What is missing from this indictment are any charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires individuals who engage in political activities on behalf of foreign entities, including influencing government officials and policies, to register with the Justice Department.
Hunter Biden was selling only one thing for the millions of dollars he was being paid in China, Russia, Ukraine, and other foreign nations — the Biden brand. He monetized the brand.
There is a plausible, if not strong, argument that FARA applies to him because of the myriad “business” activities he was engaged in overseas. The indictment outlines the foreign entities he was representing, including a “Ukrainian industrial conglomerate [Burisma Holdings] and a Chinese private equity fund [CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd.].”
Is DOJ going to allow the statute of limitations to lapse on these charges, too? Or is special counsel David Weiss going to seek an indictment under FARA in another federal district?
This indictment certainly will influence Hunter Biden’s congressional testimony, set for next Wednesday. He has refused a closed-door deposition by the House Oversight and Reform Committee and demanded a public hearing.
The president’s son no doubt wanted a public spectacle where he could defend his father and embarrass the committee by giving speeches expressing outrage at the panel’s investigation. That’s something he couldn’t do effectively during a nonpublic deposition in which he would be cross-examined, Perry Mason-style, over false or evasive answers.
Now, if Hunter Biden is compelled to appear before the House committee, he likely will invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Given the facts alleged in this indictment, no one would want to be questioned, under oath, for this conduct. Furthermore, the president’s son certainly would refuse to answer questions about payments, loans, or monies he gave to others, especially his father.
The kid-gloves treatment that the younger Biden has received over the past several years has engrained a belief among Americans that receiving justice depends on who you are in the political world.
This indictment is a first step in providing a full reckoning for Hunter Biden’s criminal misconduct. But it will take a lot more than indicting the president’s son for obvious tax fraud to erase that idea that we have a rigged system of justice in this country.
Big Porn groomers, Holocaust denial, Air Force is desperate, Christmas tree inflation, and more.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
The conservative family model is a winner: Who knew that conservatism, in addition to being a far more effective and sustainable governing philosophy than progressivism, is also good for young people’s mental health? It’s true, according to a new study from Gallup and the Institute for Family Studies. As the study’s author, Jonathan Rothwell, writes: “After a decade of surging adolescent mental health problems and suicide, the nation’s leading public health authorities have declared an emergency. Unfortunately, the solutions proposed by organizations like the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics … do not meet the challenge and ignore what are likely to be the most important causes. Adolescent biology hasn’t changed.” Rothwell continues: “The findings are clear. The most important factor in the mental health of adolescent children is the quality of the relationship with their caregivers. This, in turn, is strongly related to parenting practices — with the best results coming from warm, responsive, and rule-bound, disciplined parenting.” As David Bass summarizes in The Carolina Journal, “In contrast, liberal parents are more likely to have a permissive parenting style and ‘are the least likely to successfully discipline their children.’” The Big Takeaway? “Conservative parents enjoy higher quality relationships with their children, characterized by fewer arguments, more warmth, and a stronger bond, according to both parent and child reporting.”
Big Porn groomers: The undercover journalism outfit Sound Investigations recently released secretly recorded videos of conversations with two employees of Aylo, the parent company that runs multiple online pornography sites including Pornhub. In the videos, the employees claim that the company seeks to “convert” children and straight men to homosexuality and transgenderism. They say Pornhub can help children who are “still figuring out [their] sexuality, maybe even [their] gender,” and that it does so by steering them toward such content on the website. One of the employees, a senior script writer at Aylo, explained: “The thing is, like, when you write for [Aylo-run website and studio] Sean Cody, which is primarily gay-targeted, when you write for TransAngels, which is trans-female-presenting-targeted, you also try to see how much you can take of that and bring it to mainstream, vanilla content. Because, like, Brazzers and Reality Kings [both Aylo-owned production companies] is predominantly for ‘straight’ men but you try to, like, push the envelope as much as you can.” Meanwhile, 10 different human-trafficking lawsuits have been raised against Aylo.
California mandates gender-neutral toys: Beginning January 1, any store of 500 employees or more that sells toys will be required to include a gender-neutral toy section. Clearly, the Golden State’s leftist government is really focused on tackling society’s biggest problems. If stores such as Walmart fail to include gender-neutral toy sections in their toy departments, they will face a $250 fine for the first-time offense and $500 fines for any subsequent violations. That’s an insignificant amount of money, but the reason this ridiculous law exists is all thanks to state lawmakers bowing to the Rainbow Mafia and its constant demand for special rights and that the rest of society be forced to recognize these special rights. Hence California’s effort to fight the “patriarchy” and the age-old social normative practice of marketing toys based on gender.
Holocaust denial grows among the young: John Adams once said that our Constitution was suitable “only for a moral and religious people.” He might’ve added “a historically literate people,” but perhaps that went without saying. Today, however, an alarmingly large share of young people are deeply misinformed about one of the most consequential events of the 20th century: the Nazis’ systematized effort to eradicate the Jews of Europe. According to an Economist/YouGov poll, 20% of Americans aged 18 to 29 agreed with the statement, “The Holocaust is a myth,” while 30% neither agreed nor disagreed with that statement. Most troubling of all is that only 43% of that age group strongly disagreed, even though the Holocaust is one of the most thoroughly documented events in recorded history. Here, it’s worth noting that a key communication strategy of the world’s Jew-haters is to deny the historical fact of the Holocaust. They do this to undercut one of the most compelling reasons for having a Jewish nation. The most compelling reason, of course, is a matter of ancient history.
SHOCKER: The Air Force is desperate for pilots: From the law of unintended consequences comes this unsettling news about our woke military, which under Commander-in-Chief Joe Biden has consistently failed to meet its recruiting numbers. The Air Force says it will offer up to $600,000 in bonuses over the next 12 years in an effort to address a pilot shortage. As Fox Business reports, “The bonuses range from $15,0000 to $50,000 per year for contracts ranging from three to 12 years of additional service, the Air Force said in a Nov. 30 press release.” Not surprisingly, that press release doesn’t dwell on our military’s well-documented unreadiness, nor does it mention our recruiting shortfall or the obvious reason for the bonuses — only that the bonus program “builds upon the previous years’ offers to deliberately shape and retain experienced rated officers to meet Air Force retention, training, and mission readiness requirements to maintain the lethality of the force.” Good luck with that.
More trends for Trump: As his Republican challengers vie for the favor of the Republican electorate in an increasingly toxic debate environment, Donald Trump continues to sit back and observe the goings-on. And in doing so, he puts himself above the fray. The fruits of this strategy are becoming increasingly apparent: He now leads Joe Biden for the first time ever in the latest Wall Street Journal poll, 47-43. Polls have become increasingly unreliable in recent cycles, but the trend toward Trump and away from Biden since 2020 is unmistakable. For comparison, that same poll had Trump trailing Biden 52-42 just before the 2020 election. In addition, Trump picked up the endorsement of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. As National Review reports: “McCarthy also said he’d be willing to serve in a second-term Trump cabinet in ‘the right position’ and if he’s ‘the best person for the job.’ He continued, ‘I worked with President Trump on a lot of policies. We work together to win the majority, but we also have a relationship where we’re very honest with one another.’”
Christmas tree inflation: One of the most popular expressions for celebrating the Christmas holiday season is purchasing, setting up, and decorating the family Christmas tree. Yet thanks to Bidenflation, that event has gotten costlier for American families. According to the National Christmas Tree Association and the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA), trees are 10% more expensive than last year, with the average between $80 and $100. And before you’re tempted to run out and purchase an artificial tree, the price on those fake evergreens is even worse. “According to our 2023 survey,” observed Jami Warner, ACTA executive director, “52 percent of artificial Christmas tree owners purchased their tree for under $200, and 27 percent paid $200 to $400.” To add perspective on Bidenflation’s impact on the holidays, the calculation of the cost of 12 days of Christmas has set a new annual record, totaling $46,729.86, up 2.7% over last year. The fun of calculating the cost of the gifts from the popular song began back in 1984, when the total cost came in at $20,023.57. Despite inflation, the Christmas spirit remains strong. The vast majority of Americans are still committed to celebrating, and 94% of those surveyed said they still plan on buying at least one Christmas tree for their homes this year.
American Spirit from a 103-year-old vet: WWII veteran Sam Avolicino recently celebrated his 103rd birthday. Asked what explains his long life, Avolicino credits his “wonderful wife.” He said, “The greatest thing in my life is that I was able to be married for 72 years with my same wife.” Born in southern Italy, Avolicino immigrated to the U.S. with his parents when he was just three months old. He grew up in Oakland, California, and has lived in the Bay Area his entire life. He volunteered for the Army Air Force when the war started and became a drill instructor training the troops because he “could lead a yell.” He explained, “Every day we had training and we had drills, and I taught them some yells and some songs and things like that.” He eventually made it to France “one day before the war was over.” He was soon “reassigned to special services and my CEO assigned me to the Nuremberg Opera House to entertain the troops while we waited to be shipped home.” While running the opera house, he welcomed the likes of Bob Hope and Mickey Rooney to entertain the troops. Avolicino’s advice to younger generations is to invest in faith and family. “I recommend all children pick up on God, start to believe in the hereafter, and go to church. Pray every night. God’s been the most important person in my life. Respect your parents and listen to your parents. Don’t let outside influences get to you, which is very difficult today.”
Headlines
Embattled Harvard president now under fire for alleged plagiarism (Daily Wire)
CAIR director says he was “happy” on October 7, Israel “does not have right to self-defense” (Fox News) | White House quietly scrubs CAIR from anti-Semitism strategy (RNC)
Dem senators, ministers bash OPEC letter rattling COP28 summit (Axios)
EPA shielding how groups spent Biden’s cash bonanza for environmental justice (Washington Times)
Five thousand illegal immigrants being released daily into the U.S. (Washington Examiner)
Texas police arrest illegal immigrant in teen cheerleader’s murder (Blaze Media)
Suspected Los Angeles serial killer got $700K settlement from Santa Monica before shooting spree (Fox News)
Sheila Jackson Lee loses Houston mayor’s race to tough-on-crime state senator (Politico)
Argentina’s President Javier Milei immediately cuts number of government ministries in half after taking oath of office (Not the Bee)
Hamas terrorists lose contact with Gaza leaders, surrender to IDF (Jerusalem Post)
Satire: Ousted UPenn President Liz Magill lands new gig at Hamas Institute of Technology (Babylon Bee)
America’s Thug Mayor — The first female mayor of Dolton, Illinois, becomes a warlord and holds the town hostage.
Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week (Vol. 72) — It was an unusually slow week for Joe Biden. Perhaps his handlers are finally starting to listen to all the leftist panic about the president’s rock-bottom approval rating.
DINKs Are Taking Over TikTok — A couple brags about how they’re able to go out to eat every night and never need to hire babysitters. Why this philosophy of glorifying childlessness is so hollow.
The Pop Culture Contrarian Podcast: Napoleon — Does Ridley Scott appropriately capture the depth of Napoleon’s character and strategic brilliance? Is the film historically accurate? Join us and find out.
“I turn on ABC, ‘Face the Nation’ this morning … and they’re talking about, ‘Well, Hunter Biden’s plea deal and this, that, and the other thing and who knows what happens with James Comer, and they may find’ — are you kidding me? I mean, I really just, like, okay, we’re gonna talk about Ukraine again? Really?” —Hunter Biden
“This may not, in every aspect, be a Russian disinformation campaign, but it has literally every earmark of what the Russians did.” —Hunter Biden
Circling the Wagons
“The president has said this before … he loves his son and supports him as he continues to rebuild his life. … He’s proud of his son.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
Pot Calling the Kettle Black
“The one thing about Elon Musk that I’m certain of is there’s another very damaged human being. … He is the dumbest smart person I think that the world has ever known. … Elon Musk doesn’t care about the godd*mn First Amendment. He doesn’t care about anybody but himself.” —Hunter Biden
Non Compos Mentis
“Four years of infrastructure week, but it failed. He failed. On my watch, instead of infrastructure week, America is having infrastructure decade. Over a billion, 300 million trillion, 300 million dollars!” —Joe Biden
Useful Idiots
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on October 7. And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not free to walk in. And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense — have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense.” —Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) executive director Nihad Awad
“AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee] and its affiliates have been controlling the United States government and the United States Congress. … Unless we free Congress, we will not be able to free Palestine.” —Nihad Awad
“We can’t deal with anti-Semitism in and of itself without also addressing the issue of Islamophobia.” —Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)
Belly Laugh of the Day
“First of all, if there is anti-Semitism in Congress, it is coming from the Republican Party, not the Democrat Party.” —Jamaal Bowman
Village Idiot
“If you want fascism, you vote for Trump. If you want democracy, you will vote for Biden. It’s that simple, and it’s that real.” —actor Rob Reiner
Political Futures
“There’s a reason that President Joe Biden’s advisers keep his access to the press as minimal as they can. They don’t trust him to answer reporters in a way that helps his standing in the polls. It’s likely that he’ll lose his temper, or he’ll lie preposterously.” —Tim Graham
“Gavin Newsom is so eager to run for president that he even campaigns to insist he’s not running.” —Daniel McCarthy
For the Record
“The Civil Rights Movement was a fight for freedom. Unfortunately, too many Black Americans have used their freedom to choose the government plantation. Now this is a challenge not just for Blacks but for the whole nation.” —Star Parker
“Instead of spending money on ensuring the world’s poor have safe drinking water, we are spending billions of dollars pushing windmills and solar power. These ‘green energies’ use 10 times more land than a coal or gas plant. The landscape of America is being paved over and industrialized by our pursuit of zero-carbon policies. How is that a pro-environment policy? … The U.N.‘s latest report says more than $4 trillion needs to be spent each year until 2030 to stop global warming. With that much money, we can end global hunger and illiteracy.” —Stephen Moore
And Last…
“At the present rate, a Stanford law degree, a Harvard political science major, or a Yale social science BA will soon scare off employers and the general public at large. These certificates will signify not proof of humility, knowledge, and decency, but rather undeserved self-importance, vacuousness, and fanaticism — and all to be avoided rather than courted.” —Victor Davis Hanson
“Young people and their elders who cheer the gleeful torture and murders of Oct. 7 do not understand what true evil is like. They could get a better idea at the Victims of Communism Museum.” —Michael Barone
“Let’s clear the historical air. When Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt with Jesus, they were moving within the Roman Empire’s borders. Egypt was not a foreign entity but a part of the same imperial system as Israel.”
(The Dissenter) In our ongoing series to debunk leftist myths about Jesus, we’ve already dismantled several: from the mischaracterization of Him as a socialist, a radical environmentalist, to an advocate of modern gender ideologies. These myths emerge from a fundamental error: overcontextualizing the Gospel, leading to a reshaping of Jesus into a figure more palatable to contemporary, often political leftist, sensibilities.
Today, we address another pervasive myth: the depiction of Jesus as a refugee. This narrative is wielded by some as a theological justification for open borders and unfettered mass immigration. It’s a classic case of molding the Gospel to fit a modern agenda, rather than understanding it within its true historical and cultural context. Just take a look at this He Gets Us commercial: View article →
Emails reviewed by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project bring new scrutiny to President Joe Biden’s claims of complete separation between himself and his son’s business dealings. (The Daily Signal is the Heritage Foundation’s news outlet.)
According to the email reviewed by the Oversight Project, in 2015, then-White House official Alexander Mackler forwarded the personal cell numbers of seventeen Obama administration cabinet secretaries and senior officials to Hunter Biden’s personal email address. Meckler included contact information for high-profile individuals such as then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.
During this period, Hunter Biden was engaged in foreign business deals with companies like Burisma, which focused on natural gas exploration in Ukraine. The Oversight Project has outstanding Freedom of Information Act requests covering the same matters with multiple federal agencies.
The nonprofit Marco Polo World Foundation released this document in 2022, but it has taken on new importance since them. Previously, House Democrats have maintained that Hunter Biden’s laptop was not an authentic source of information. Hunter’s legal team sued Garrett Ziegler of Marco Polo for disclosing the contents.
Recently, House Democrats have changed tactics by abandoning denial of the laptop’s existence or authenticity in favor of using select laptop documents in their shifting defense of President Biden. Last week, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, posted an email from the laptop on X (previously known as Twitter) in a bid to refute claims from House Republicans.
And there's more. Here's an email from the laptop Republicans love talking about. It shows Hunter paying his dad back for his truck: "Ford Raptor – Reimbursement to JRB -$1380" pic.twitter.com/hv7xS9DESs
By doing so, Raskin tacitly acknowledged the laptop’s authenticity. The FBI determined that the laptop had been Hunter Biden’s abandoned property, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified. By acknowledging the laptop, Raskin brings some House Democrats to a position closer to multiple mainstream media outlets, which have independently verified the laptop’s contents. House Democrats have also reanimated evidence that directly undercuts the claims of President Biden’s defenders, who insist that the then-vice president had been insulated from any of his son’s business dealings.
Hunter Biden’s personal lawyer had previously emphasized that “unlike members of the Trump family, Hunter is a private person who has never worked in any family business nor ever served in the White House or in any public office.”
Nevertheless, this disclosure furthers the claims that Hunter Biden, who received payments from foreign businesses such as the Chinese Communist Party-connected conglomerate CEFC China Energy, operated with the benefit of political access at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
With momentum for the House’s impeachment inquiry building, it is likely that additional laptop documents will resurface and take on renewed importance.
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.
As more Hamas fighters surrender to Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu tells Hamas “It is over… Surrender – now;” from Jerusalem, CBN Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell talks about the current state of Hamas, a Politico report that the Biden Administration is giving Israel until the end of the year to keep fighting the war at the current level, his visit to the site of the Nova Music Festival massacre on October 7th, the possibility of a widening war with Hezbollah, and more; amid the controversy of antisemitism on US college campuses, CBN News investigates who’s funding anti-Israel instruction and protests; Congress is considering a bill which would put greater scrutiny on universities to show where their funding is coming from; and this year marks a special anniversary for the creation of what is now a common sight at Christmas: nativity scenes.
Have you heard of “Krampus”? I had not until this Washington Post headline caught my eye: “Krampus isn’t coming to town. HE’S ALREADY HERE.” The subtitle adds: “The demonic anti-Santa, growing popular in America, will find out if you’re naughty, then hit you with a stick.”
The article explains that Krampus is a European invention who wears a red cloak trimmed with white fur, beneath which is “the body of a hairy, horned goat-like monster, with spindly, sharp fingernails and a long, creepy, Gene Simmons-esque tongue.” For centuries, he’s been “the bad cop to Saint Nick’s good cop” who finds “naughty” boys and girls and “beats them with sticks.”
Why is Krampus becoming so popular in America? According to the Post, “Interest has grown as people celebrating Christmas look for a counterweight to all the holly jolly. In an era of climate doom and political nihilism and high-definition war beamed onto our phones, there’s something about Krampus that feels more authentic.”
A folklore studies professor adds: “There have been a lot of dire things happening in the world. So Krampus just seems like a good figure to sort of be our boogeyman during the holiday retail season.”
Following an uproar regarding her congressional testimony on antisemitism last week, Penn’s president resigned over the weekend, followed by the board chair. (For more, see my recent Daily Article Special Edition, “Should hate speech be permitted?”) However, this developing story has a deeper history.
Psychologist Joseph E. Davis warns that there is a crisis gripping our culture because “the social foundations for a robust sense of self have badly eroded.” He explains that in recent decades,
The world has become progressively more precarious, open-ended, and risky. The public frameworks that gave life direction and meaning—prescribed roles, rites of passage, compelling life scripts, stable occupational trajectories—continue to fade away. The defining web of institutions, norms, and social mores further erodes.
Dr. Davis concludes:
We feel empty, inadequate, and adrift because we have been thrown back on ourselves, forced to face the challenge—felt at younger and younger ages—of trying to establish an identity, make commitments, live with conviction, desire life, and find meaning without the very sources that make these things possible in the first place.
“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding”
Yesterday began the Advent week of “peace.” This week invites us to embrace the biblical invitation: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). As we do this, we are assured that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7).
Across four decades as a pastor, I have often shared this promise with hurting people. But only today did I notice the precursor that gives it evidential foundation: “The Lord is at hand;” (v. 5). Note the semicolon—the Greek grammar makes clear that this factual statement is the beginning of the sentence that follows and the basis for its exhortations and encouragements.
Some interpreters believe verse 5 refers to Jesus’ return (Acts 1:11), others to his presence now with his followers (Matthew 28:20), but many believe both are in view. Because of Christmas, we know that the God who created us (Colossians 1:16) is now “God with us” (Matthew 1:23) who dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). And we know that if he could condense his immeasurable heavenly splendor to become a tiny baby in a manger, he can certainly return in all his sovereign glory (Revelation 19:16).
Because he is with us and he is coming for us, we can find in Jesus the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), literally a peace “which understanding cannot produce.” This peace signifies being right with God, others, and ourselves. We cannot create it through human agency and effort, but we can receive it when we draw near to the God who has drawn near to us. As we practice his presence in this world and anticipate being in his presence in the next, we experience that “peace” which his Spirit produces in our lives (Galatians 5:22).
This is the source that, in Dr. Davis’s words, enables us to “establish an identity, make commitments, live with conviction, desire life, and find meaning.”
A king who abdicated his throne for you
Like flowers that begin to die the moment they are cut from their roots, our post-Christian, secularized society has been decaying for decades. The reason is simple: God cannot bless those who reject objective truth and biblical morality lest he reward that which harms us. Until we seek our peace in his presence, we will find it nowhere else. Our partisan divisions will widen; our depression will deepen; violence in our cities and conflicts between nations will escalate.
How could it be otherwise? “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
Turn today to the One who came so that “in me you may have peace” (John 16:33). Enter his presence with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4). Then practice his presence by praying through the day (1 Thessalonians 5:17), thinking biblically (Psalm 119:105), and acting redemptively (Matthew 22:39; 1 Peter 4:10). This is how we “let the peace of Christ rule in [our] hearts” (Colossians 3:15).
And it is how we show a broken and conflicted world the peace human hearts long to know (Psalm 42:1).
On this day in 1936, Edward VIII abdicated the British throne so he could marry the American socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson. If you were Wallis, considering all the king gave up for you, would you doubt whether he loved you?
The next time you wonder if Jesus loves you, return to Bethlehem. Your Prince of Peace awaits your next prayer.
FOX News contributor and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discusses the importance of putting ‘pressure’ on Hamas and Iranian forces amid further hostage talks. #FOXBusiness
You may believe that Israel’s response to October 7 is disproportionate. You may even believe that, on some level, the IDF is guilty of war crimes. But to accuse Israel of committing genocide is as preposterous as it is scandalous. Yet the word “genocide” is virtually ubiquitous these days, the most common description of Israel’s allegedly abdominal acts.
According to the Britannica website, genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race.”
The worst genocide in history was the Holocaust, where Hitler slaughtered 6 million out of 9 million European Jews in his attempt to wipe them off the map. This included the extermination of 3 million out of 3.3 million Polish Jews – more than 9 out of every 10.
In Cambodia, Pol Pot exterminated almost a quarter of his country, targeting specific parts of the population deemed unworthy to live.
How, then, can Israel be charged with practicing genocide against the Palestinians, specifically against the Palestinians of Gaza?
The Reality on the Ground in Gaza
The population of Gaza is roughly 2.1 million, and even if the figures released by Hamas are to be taken at face value, then roughly 17,000 Gazans have been killed by the IDF since Israel began its military operations in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre. That amounts to less than 1 percent of the total population.
Even if all those killed were civilians and none of them combatants, that would not constitute anything remotely near to “genocide.” Not in the slightest. To the contrary, these numbers would be typical of civilian casualties in war -tragic, agonizing, heartbreaking – but nothing comparable to genocide in the slightest.
To be sure, these are human lives, each of inestimable value, and we should mourn the loss of every one of them. I am not minimizing these deaths in the slightest, especially those of women and children. But to call such losses “genocide” is to mock the very meaning of the word and the suffering it represents.
When you add in the fact that the IDF goes to unusual lengths to avoid civilian casualties, including dropping hundreds of thousands of leaflets warning civilians to flee, along with tens of thousands of automated texts and calls, the cry of “genocide” becomes all the more preposterous.
The reality is that, if the IDF wanted to slaughter most of the population of Gaza, it could do so in a matter of days, if not hours, with virtually no Israeli losses. This alone should serve as a stark rebuke to those who dare use the “genocide” word.
Genocide? Yet the Population Has Exploded
As for the broader charge of Israel’s alleged genocide (or ethnic cleansing) of the Palestinians, consider the numerical growth of the Arab (= Palestinian) population within Israel proper, along with in the West Bank and Gaza.
The number of Arabs who remained in Israel after the War of Independence has grown from 200,000 in 1948 to more than 2 million today, representing an increase of more than 1,000 percent. This is “genocide”? Seriously?
You might say, “We’re not talking about all Palestinians. We’re talking about the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. That’s where the genocide is taking place.”
Let’s look at those numbers too.
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Using the most common estimates, the Palestinian population of the West Bank in 1967, when Israel occupied it after the Six Day War, was slightly under 600,000. Today, the Palestinian population of the West Bank is roughly 2.5 million, representing an increase of better than 400 percent.
As for Gaza, the Palestinian population when Israel unilaterally withdrew from the region in 2005 was roughly 1.3 million. Today, as noted earlier, it has grown to 2.1 million, representing an increase of a little about 60 percent in less than 20 years.
So, the Arab (Palestinian) Israeli population has grown by more than 1,000 percent since 1948, the Palestinian population of the West Bank has grown by more than more than 400 percent since 1967, and the Palestinian population of Gaza has grown by better than 60 percent since 2005.
This is supposed to be “genocide”? This is what “ethnic cleansing” looks like? The dramatic growth of a people equals their “genocide”?
In a previous article, I mentioned the interaction between a mother and her 15-year-old daughter after her daughter said that they should not eat at McDonald’s because of the company’s alleged support of Israel.
The mother said, “Tell me what Israel is doing wrong without using the word genocide.”
“But it is genocide,” her daughter replied.
The same charge was raised when I recently interacted with university students from Gaza while in India. And that same charge is repeated day and night, unthinkingly and incessantly, raised against the very people who suffered the worst genocide in human history, while university presidents cannot state that the call for the genocide of the Jews constitutes bullying and harassment.
“Let’s clear the historical air. When Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt with Jesus, they were moving within the Roman Empire’s borders. Egypt was not a foreign entity but a part of the same imperial system as Israel.” 
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