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
Are you 1 out of 25? According to Barna Research, only 4% of Americans have a biblical worldview.
Since 1988, more than 125,000 Christian high school students and faculty, as well as youth groups have taken Nehemiah Institute’s assessment called the PEERS Test. Now, anyone can take the test online!
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Leviticus 26:1-4 — As a follower of the historical-grammatical method, I want to know what the biblical authors meant when they wrote the text. To do that I need to understand what their challenges and situation was. Moses is warning the Israelites how they are to behave in the land.
The Israelites are:
Prohibited from making idols
Mandated to keep the sabbaths, and
Promised that God would bless with rain, increase, and fruit.
They had a choice (Joshua 24:15) between Baal and the LORD. Interestingly, Baal was the god of fertility and rain. The Israelites would be tempted to worship Baal for fertile crops, but God would withhold the rains creating a famine, until the prophets of Baal were slain (I Kings 18).
Interestingly, Baal’s fertility came in seven-year cycles. But the LORD says if you trust Him with observing the Sabbaths (both the seventh day of rest, and the seventh year of rest), He will give you rain, increase, and fruit, so much that “you shall eat your bread to the full.” Not only will they have physical blessing, but “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.”
Leviticus 26:14, 18, 21, and 27 — Obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings judgment. As the old hymn goes:
When we walk with the Lord, In the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way; While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, For there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.
Mark 10:34-41 — Jesus unveils His master plan – His trial, death, and resurrection. But His disciples are busy planning on where they’re sitting when the Kingdom comes, and they get upset with each other for not asking first.
Mark 10:46 — Another gospel song is based on this verse:
One sat alone beside the highway begging His eyes were blind the light he could not see He clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows Then Jesus came and bade his darkness flee
When Jesus comes the tempter’s power is broken When Jesus comes the tears are wiped away He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay
Psalm 45:6 — This verse is quoted in Hebrews 1:8 as applying to the Son. In verse 2 of this psalm, God is referred to in the 3rd person, while in verse 6 He is referred to in the 2nd person.
Proverbs 10:22 — A great comfort to those who need comfort and provision.
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On the Lord’s Day evening since about Thanksgiving at Bethany we’ve been spending time going through what the Reformed believe about the sacraments. It’s not so much that we are special in what we understand them to be, but that the mechanics of how we go about honoring Baptism and the Table testify to something very important about the way the Scriptures teach us about feeding on Christ in the bread and the cup and benefitting from the waters of Initiation. It cannot be emphasized enough that our church confesses, as the WLC makes clear, that these acts of eating and drinking and the pouring of water over the head are neither bare memorials nor the kind of things we do because we are supposed to. We commune and receive the fullness of God in a way we do not in any other portion of the life granted by our Creator. The sacraments must maintain their special place in our hearts. Yet meditation upon them often alludes our busy schedules and we rush into taking them without right due consideration as to what we’re doing.
It can be a struggle sometimes to keep fresh in the means of grace. As we walk through the catechism questions today I want to take the time to really think through what we gain in these covenantal signs of mercy and grace given to us by our Heavenly Father in His Son and through the application of that blessing in the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Everything we do in the Christian life must not only be done exclusively by the expressed command of our Lord, but it needs to be acted upon with a right heart and mind.
Merely going through the outward motions leaves us in a state of spiritual starvation as we gain none of the nutrients of faith promised in the sacraments. So, what can be done about it?
Here’s are the Q/A’s for this week:
Q. 163. What are the parts of a sacrament?
A. The parts of a sacrament are two; the one an outward and sensible sign, used according to Christ’s own appointment; the other an inward and spiritual grace thereby signified.
Q. 164. How many sacraments hath Christ instituted in his church under the New Testament?
A. Under the New Testament Christ hath instituted in his church only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s supper.
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, holiness unto the Lord, (Zechariah 14:20)
Happy day when all things shall be consecrated, and the horses’ bells shall ring out holiness to the Lord! That day has come to me. Do I not make all things holy to God? These garments, when I put them on or take them off, shall they not remind me of the righteousness of Christ Jesus my Lord? Shall not my work be done as unto the Lord? Oh, that today my clothes may be vestments, my meals sacraments, my house a temple, my table an altar, my speech incense, and myself a priest! Lord, fulfill Thy promise, and let nothing be to me common or unclean.
Let me in faith expect this. Believing it to be so, I shall be helped to make it so. As I myself am the property of Jesus, my Lord may take an inventory of all I have, for it is altogether His own; and I resolve to prove it to be so by the use to which I put it this day. From morning till evening I would order all things by a happy and holy rule. My bells shall ring—why should they not? Even my horses shall have bells—who has such a right to music as the saints have? But all my bells, my music, my mirth, shall be turned to holiness and shall ring out the name of “the happy God.”
Pay attention to your communication cues today. They have power to build up or to tear down. You choose.
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” Ephesians 4:29-30a
Disapproval is a deadly thing that can creep into your relationships without you even realizing it. From simple things such as how a child does a task that doesn’t quite meet your expectation, to looks and attitudes of general displeasure with those around you, daily disapproval can wear a relationship down. Over time, disapproval can completely derail it.
Sighing, rolling your eyes, shaking your head, and withdrawing warmth in your own attitude all convey annoyance when your expectations have not been met in the way you think they should be.
People aren’t perfect. There will be times when issues are important to discuss – but at the right time and in the right way. It’s the issues that aren’t so important that often blow into winds of disapproval stemming from simple annoyance or your own need to control.
Let God’s wisdom guide you in being aware of when you are projecting disapproval. It truly is deadly in its quiet erosion. Listen to your words as you interact. Pay attention to what your non-verbal cues are portraying.
Ask God to help you understand the needs of the other person and then to consider those before your own. This is not easy; yet when disapproval has become a cycle in your relationships it needs to be broken. Take the first step and choose to be a builder.
Heavenly Father, Please forgive me for grieving You with the negativity I can too easily portray. Help me to hold my tongue when I want to be accusing, whiny, or defensive. Help me to choose communication, both verbal and by my actions, that build up the relationships I want to cultivate. Help my own defenses to come down as I allow You to work in me to dissolve disapproval in my responses. Thank you that Your power is available to me to choose to be a builder. When issues do need to be addressed please help me to do it in a wise and loving way. Thank you for Your wisdom. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Listen to your words today. Pay attention to the non-verbal cues you are giving. Be honest with yourself and determine to derail disapproval before it derails you.
“The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4
Thought
Words are powerful. Communicators know this. Negotiators know this. Deep down, you know this. Words have blessed you and words have devastated you. The healing that comes from a kind and tender word is precious. The destruction of a cruel taunt or a well-told deception is crushing. To have such power is amazing. To use this awesome power found in our speech is an awesome responsibility. Words do have the power to give life, hope, and peace when offered in love to honor Jesus. Let’s speak that word today!
Prayer
O Father, I want my words to be a blessing today. I want them to reflect your grace. I want them to bring healing to the hurting and comfort to the grieving. I want them to be tender with the broken. I want them to be honorable and truthful in difficult circumstances. I want them to be upright when the language around me is crude. Through your Spirit, use my speech to bless others and bring you praise. In the name of Jesus, your ultimate Word, I pray. Amen.
Hamas leader Sinwar reportedly satisfied with course of war, confident civilian deaths will force stop Despite Israel’s steady progress over four months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, the leader of the terror organization Hamas in the enclave, Yahya Sinwar, is still confident that his group will win the war, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The fighters of the al-Qassam brigades, Hamas’ military arm, are doing just fine and were prepared to face Israel’s expected ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the message said.
IDF approves new Jewish community in Judea The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday gave its approval for the establishment of a new Jewish community in Judea, Mishmar Yehuda, located near Kedar in northeastern Gush Etzion. OC IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox signed the paperwork setting the boundaries of the town on Tuesday night. “This is an enormous gift for the residents of Gush Etzion,”
Ex-Foreign Minister: ‘Give up on Saudi normalization if price is a PA state’ “The United States is a great friend of Israel and we have seen this throughout the war. At the same time, even among friends, there are also different opinions. The Biden administration believes in the two-state solution, and we tell them, especially after October 7, that a Palestinian state will not be established. Just as no one thought of giving a state to Al Qaeda after September 11, it is impossible to offer a state to the Palestinians after October 7.
Reuters, AP sued by Nova festival victims’ families Families of Nova festival victims filed a lawsuit against Reuters and AP: “Those journalists infiltrated Israeli territory alongside Hamas operatives. Nothing can justify someone documenting a heinous crime in real time.” Five families whose children were murdered at the Nova party on October 7th, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday at the Jerusalem District Court against the Reuters and AP news agencies,
Explosions rock Damascus in apparent Israeli airstrike Explosions were heard in and around the Syrian capital city of Damascus Wednesday night, following an apparent Israeli airstrike. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the explosions were heard in Damascus and Rif Dimash, and resulted both from missiles launched by Israeli aircraft and from Syrian anti-air missiles.
Hamas won’t be part of new Palestinian Authority government, says PA foreign minister While Shtayyeh said that the new PA government would seek to form a government with the Hamas, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told a press conference at the sidelines of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva Wednesday that Hamas cannot be part of the new “technocratic” government which will be formed.
Can scientists predict the pre-Gog and Magog earthquake? The Israeli government has become increasingly concerned about catastrophic earthquakes. In 2019, Israel’s EEW system (Earthquake Early Warning) went active. It should also be noted that massive earthquakes in Israel are also part of the prophesied end-of-days. These earthquakes will be so severe as to cause geographic changes in the Temple Mount, requiring the construction of an entirely new city.
The US pro-Hamas fifth column intends to kill people when I read that a man named Aaron Bushnell had committed suicide by setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington while shrieking, “Free Palestine.” I was neither shocked nor surprised by the news. It was inevitable from the moment the pro-Hamas fifth column in the United States began its pro-terror campaign. The instant the genocidists took to the streets, it was obvious that behind all the screaming and slogans was nothing more than an inchoate murderous rage.
Exploring Goliath’s city: Archaeologists shine new light on Philistine religious rituals During a recent digging operation within the temple precincts of the lower city of Gath, a group from Bar-Ilan University, under the guidance of Professors Aren Maeir (archaeology) and Ehud Weiss (expert in archaeobotany), has managed to research and restore the flora associated with Philistine ceremonial practices. Distinguishing Philistine archaeological sites from those of the Canaanites and Israelites is relatively straightforward. Pigs’ bones are ubiquitous, pottery styles differ distinctly, and the names inscribed in epigraphy are non-local, especially in the early stages of their presence in the Levant. Furthermore, modern archaeologists can now distinguish Philistine ancient DNA from that of other ancient peoples in the region.
War Cabinet revokes Ben Gvir’s authority over Temple Mount during Ramadan to prevent escalation Israel’s War Cabinet decided to revoke the authority of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to limit the entry to the Temple Mount during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to prevent the escalation of tensions there, … The national security minister reacted with outrage to the reports and demanded the prime minister to deny them in a post on X.
Justice Alito slams dismissal of Christian jurors as unfit to hear lesbian’s lawsuit Alito warned that the case ‘exemplifies the danger’ he foresaw in Obergefell v. Hodges, that the government will persecute Americans who oppose homosexuality as ‘bigots.’ The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take a case out of Missouri in which jurors were barred from hearing a case involving a lesbian plaintiff due to their Christian beliefs on homosexuality, which Justice Samuel Alito called a realization of what he warned would happen after forcing same-sex “marriage” on America.
BREAKING: Mitch McConnell announces resignation as Senate Republican leader The 82-year-old Kentucky Republican, who has held his Senate seat since 1985 and his party leadership position since 2015, added that he intends to serve out the remainder of his term as a mere senator, which lasts until January 2027, and that the decision was unrelated to his health. Last year, he suffered a concussion and later froze during a pair of public speaking moments, but doctors found no evidence of stroke or seizure.
Smokehouse Creek Fire rapidly grows to second-largest wildfire in history of Texas The Smokehouse Creek Fire started on February 26, 2024, in Hutchinson County, Texas, amidst adverse weather conditions, and has rapidly grown over the next 2 days to the second-largest wildfire in the state’s history. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared a disaster in 60 counties in response to the wildfire, which has only been 3% contained.
Series of devastating wildfires hit Texas Panhandle, causing evacuations, temporary closure of critical nuclear weapons facility, U.S. A series of out-of-control wildfires swept through the Texas Panhandle on February 27 and 28, 2024, prompting tens of thousands of residents to evacuate, causing widespread power outages, and forcing the temporary shutdown of the Pantex Plant, a critical nuclear weapons facility. The disaster, affecting numerous homes and prompting a disaster declaration in 60 counties, saw the Smokehouse Creek Fire rapidly grow to Texas’ 2nd largest wildfire in history.
The Rapture: Perhaps The Most Important Piece Of Prophecy For Us To Understand The Rapture is perhaps the most important piece of prophecy for us to understand since it could very well impact us personally. This [article] will help you examine what the Rapture is, defend it biblically, and explain its personal and practical importance.
Media Blackout: 67 ‘Prominent’ Muslims in Minnesota Arrested in Biggest U.S. Pandemic-Era Fraud Scheme, Many Attempt to Flee to Islamic Countries Amid $250 Million Scandal Scores of prominent Islamic migrant figures, most with deep ties to the Democratic Party and including donors to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s reelection campaign, alongside a celebrated left-wing journalist, business owners, and government workers, stand accused of wire fraud, money laundering, bribery, and conspiracy to commit those crimes. They allegedly funneled millions of federal dollars, earmarked for feeding underprivileged children, into personal luxuries, ranging from lavish homes and high-end cars to even a beach resort in Kenya.
UK medicines regulator puts patients at serious risk, MPs say The All-Party Parliamentary Group (“APPG”) on pandemic response and recovery, an influential group of Members of Parliament (“MPs”), has raised “serious patient safety concerns.” It has claimed that “far from protecting patients,” the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) operates in a way that “puts them at serious risk.”
“If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.” —Samuel Adams (1772)
Fellow Patriots, it’s Leap Day. The odd added day of the year dates back to 45 BC when Julius Caesar replaced the Roman Empire’s many moon-based calendars with a single one based on the sun cycle. That’s why we have 365 days with a “leap” day added every fourth year. —Mark Alexander
Democrats opened the border and welcomed all comers. Law enforcement released the killer three times. Kelly Girtz says he’s not responsible.
Nate Jackson
The brutal murder of Laken Riley by an illegal alien on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens has put a face on the human cost of Joe Biden’s open border. It’s revealed the utter insanity of “sanctuary” policies that protect illegals at the expense of the safety and lives of American citizens. It shows that Democrats, from Joe Biden to the mayor of Athens, have blood on their hands.
No wonder Biden is heading to the border today. A relatively quiet section with few illegal crossings, mind you, but the old fella has to pretend he cares about the crisis (he created).
That brings us to Democrat Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz, who held a press conference yesterday to address Riley’s murder and deflect blame from himself and his party. We’ll start with the biggest whopper:
“I caution against conflating immigration and crime. The data demonstrates that the two are not connected.”
That’s a BIG lie for a couple of big reasons. First of all, any alien who crosses the border illegally has committed a crime as his or her first act on American soil. Girtz weaseled around this by not using the word “illegal.” Second, the only reason Girtz can spout such nonsense about data is that there is no real database at any level of government linking crime to immigration status. In fact, as Mark Alexander has written, “The Biden administration has deliberately prohibited any national database of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens he has invited into our country.”
The Leftmedia had a field day “fact-checking” Donald Trump for asserting a connection between illegal immigration and crime, and they repeatedly pointed to a lack of data.
PolitiFact began the charade before Trump was even elected in 2016: “There is no national database or study tracking how many people have been killed by undocumented immigrants or the nationality of the victims.” Therefore, PolitiFact concluded that Trump’s assertion was “half true.”
NBC News was less charitable with a 2017 headline and story: “Fact Check: No Evidence Undocumented Immigrants Commit More Crimes.” The “no database” fact was used against Trump again. Likewise, in 2019, ABC News cited “no national database,” which makes it “difficult to confirm or dispute the president’s numbers.”
Where’s the fact-check on Girtz for asserting no connection when there’s no database?
U.S. Customs and Border Protection does keep some criminal noncitizen statistics, but that’s not the same as linking crime with legal status. And Democrat sanctuary jurisdictions actively thwart FBI efforts to collect full data on crime.
In the case of the Venezuelan illegal alien charged with Riley’s murder, the Border Patrol apprehended him in 2022 but released him. The New York Police Department arrested him in September 2023 for endangering a child (no restraint or helmet on a moped) but then released him before ICE officials could take custody. He soon ended up in Georgia, where he was arrested in October for shoplifting and then released. We sense a pattern.
Most offensively, Girtz held the press conference to discuss the murder of a young American citizen by an illegal alien. According to charging documents, the killer caused “great bodily harm with an object,” “seriously disfiguring her body” and “disfiguring her skull.” He dragged her body to a secluded area to conceal the crime. She would be alive today if the border were not open.
What in the world made Girtz think that was the appropriate venue to get into misleading statistical arguments?
The answer is politics. Girtz went on to slam Donald Trump for “speaking in the most vile terms about people who are foreign-born.” No, Trump said unkind things about criminals who flout our laws, and he worked hard to secure our border. Joe Biden’s border dereliction is not Trump’s fault.
“This is my 18th year as a local government policymaker,” Girtz said, “and my work has overlapped with four U.S. presidencies and numerous iterations of Congress. All of them failed to reach an agreement on how to handle immigration.”
He added, “There is no legislation from this [city] government that’s created sanctuary city status.”
The clear message: This was not my fault. In fact, he implies, as Biden does, that blame lies with Republicans for blocking legislative compromise.
Press conference attendees sure didn’t buy his snake oil. Several of them loudly interrupted him, with one saying: “You’re a liar! You’re the one who is guilty and got blood on your hands for this murder, sir!” He added, “You need to resign!”
As for Athens, no, it’s not technically a sanctuary city. Georgia law has banned such policies for the last 15 years, albeit not without resistance from Atlanta and some other cities. But the Athens City Council did unanimously pass a resolution in 2019 stating its goal “to foster a community where individuals and families of all statuses feel safe” so that “all people, including those without documentation, feel welcome and comfortable interacting with local law enforcement, their local government, and all services provided by such.” Girtz has been a key figure on that welcome wagon.
Few residents should feel safe knowing that authorities release violent illegal aliens.
“Responsibility for this crime rests solely upon the perpetrator,” Girtz asserted. Notice that Democrats never say that about crimes committed with guns. He is right that everyone is responsible for their own actions. He’s wrong to deflect blame for the circumstances here. The difference between this and gun crime is that the Republican Party does not advocate releasing criminals onto the streets.
“The blood of Laken Riley is on the hands of Joe Biden, Alejandro Mayorkas, and the government of Athens-Clarke County,” asserted GOP Representative Mike Collins, whose district encompasses the Athens area. “The Venezuelan suspect in Laken Riley’s murder is one of millions of illegal aliens that the Biden administration has released into this country to be welcomed with open arms by Democrat-run sanctuary jurisdictions.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued a stern rebuke of Biden, demanding answers. Kemp declared, “Because of the White House’s failures, every state is now a border state.”
The unfortunate truth for Kemp and Georgia Republicans is that, as of 2021, only six states are “home” to more illegal aliens than the Peach State. There’s obviously some cleanup to do. The lives of American citizens depend on it.
No one is more responsible for the conservative makeup of the Supreme Court than Mitch McConnell, but the demands of leading the GOP’s Senate conference have long since passed him by.
Douglas Andrews
If Mitch McConnell were freshness-dated, he’d have long since been yanked off the shelf. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work in Washington.
For proof of this, we need only consider the image of a clueless and utterly incapacitated 90-year-old Senator Dianne Feinstein being around the Capitol in a wheelchair. Or being gently told by a colleague in the Senate chamber to stop soliloquizing and simply say, “Aye.”
And yet yesterday, there was McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in history, announcing that he’d be stepping down from his position as the Republican Party’s Senate minority leader.
But not until November.
“As the top Senate Republican since 2007,” reports The Wall Street Journal, “the Kentucky lawmaker wielded brass-knuckled tactics to install conservatives on the Supreme Court, defeat campaign-finance measures and see through the passage of major tax cuts in 2017. But as former President Donald Trump, a McConnell critic, marches toward the 2024 GOP nomination, the Senate leader has fallen out of step with major elements of his conference, most recently over his support for aid to Ukraine and his backing of a muscular U.S. role abroad.”
One man’s “muscular” is another man’s “globalist.”
Indeed, McConnell’s troubles in recent years were summed up aptly by the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board:
The GOP leader’s influence in his own conference is waning. His support for aiding Ukraine — and for American leadership abroad — is no longer the zeitgeist in the Republican Party. The recent bipartisan border bill imploded on contact with Donald Trump’s campaign priorities. The sharks have been circling to pressure Mr. McConnell to depart, and Mr. Trump has never forgiven the leader for his speech condemning Mr. Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6.
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents,” said the 82-year-old McConnell in the well of the Senate, “is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter. So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”
It would be uncharitable to say, “Good riddance,” but time and need have clearly passed Mitch McConnell by. When a man has trouble holding a press conference without slipping into catatonia, it’s time.
“As I have been thinking about when I would deliver some news to the Senate,” McConnell continued, “I always imagined a moment when I had total clarity and peace about the sunset of my work. A moment when I am certain I have helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe. It arrived today.”
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, and his announcement yesterday led to immediate speculation about who’d replace him. Some of the names being thrown around include South Dakota’s John Thune, Wyoming’s John Barrasso, and Texas’s John Cornyn, but these three Johns only because they’re part of the McConnell wing of the party. Three far better — and far younger — options, in our opinion, would be Arkansas’s Tom Cotton, Texas’s Ted Cruz, or Missouri’s Josh Hawley.
Of course, much of what happens between now and the presidential election in November will determine the Senate’s next Republican leader. If Trump wins, we’ll likely see a Senate leader more to his liking. But if Trump loses, we’ll likely see one more to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s liking.
McConnell has clearly lost a few steps. Earlier in his career, he seemed to be playing 3-D chess to the Democrats’ checkers. He was the Road Runner to their Wile E. Coyote. But lately, he’d been getting rolled. And, indeed, McConnell had years ago assumed the role of “Least Popular Person in Washington.” And it wasn’t even close.
McConnell had also become more vindictive with age. His decision in 2022 to pull campaign funding from the likes of Senate candidates Blake Masters in Arizona and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and instead spend it on the single worst Republican senator in the entire caucus, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, was unforgivable. Murkowski might’ve been a loyal McConnellite, but she was also a RINO who voted against confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and who votes with Joe Biden a sickening 67% of the time.
Despite all this, McConnell’s legacy must include the judiciary. And for his dogged and determined work there, we must be eternally grateful. No one is more responsible for the conservative makeup of today’s Supreme Court than Mitch McConnell. No one. Think about it: He almost singlehandedly kept Merrick Garland off the High Court during the Obama years. For that alone, we conservatives should cut him serious slack. That was Antonin Scalia’s seat, after all, and it now belongs to Brett Kavanaugh. Beyond the High Court, McConnell is also largely to thank for confirming a slew of Trump-appointed judges and justices. But it’s time for new Republican leadership in the Senate. And it’s long past time for McConnell to go.
But, again, why wait until November?
For what it’s worth, Joe Biden says he’s “sorry to hear that [McConnell is] stepping down.” And why might that be? Oh, sure, both men are among the dwindling ranks of Ukraine funding hawks, and McConnell has been easier for Democrats to work with in recent years. But perhaps more important is that McConnell’s decision to step down from leadership illustrates — at exactly the wrong time — that maybe some people are too old for certain jobs.
SCOTUS takes up Trump’s immunity claim, Illinois judge threatens democracy, Hunter Biden gives deposition, and more.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
SCOTUS takes up Trump’s immunity claim: In response to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Donald Trump for “election interference” (read: trying to win) in 2020, Trump has made the argument that he should be immune to prosecution due to presidential privilege. The DC Circuit Court rejected Trump’s immunity claim, but on Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court accepted his appeal. The Court will hear Trump’s immunity claim in April and will provide an expedited decision, likely coming near the end of June. In the meantime, the case has been stayed. This decision may help Trump, irrespective of the Court’s final decision on his immunity claim, because it pushes back a potential trial date likely until after the 2024 election. Should Trump win the election, a Trump Justice Department could then quickly move to dismiss the special counsel and the case entirely. In short, this is a win for Trump because it grants him more time.
Dem Illinois judge threatens democracy: Donald Trump got more legal news on Wednesday as Democrat Illinois State Circuit Court Judge Tracie Porter ruled that the State Board of Elections “shall remove Donald J. Trump from the ballot for the General Primary Election on March 19, 2024, or cause any votes cast for him to be suppressed.” Ah, saving democracy by suppressing votes. Porter based her ruling on the false Democrat claim that Trump was guilty of engaging in insurrection via the January 6 Capitol riot. Porter cited the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding office to justify her decision, even though Trump has never been charged with insurrection, much less found guilty of it. Illinois has joined Colorado and Maine in Democrat-led efforts to keep Trump off the ballot, blatant acts that threaten the nation’s democratic electoral process. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering Colorado’s case, which will have a direct impact on both Maine’s and now Illinois’s attempt to thwart democracy.
Hunter Biden gives closed-door deposition: The president’s wastrel son was on Capitol Hill yesterday to set House Republicans straight, telling them that he didn’t involve the Big Guy in his business dealings and denouncing them for their “partisan political pursuit” and impeachment inquiry into his dad. The meeting was closed, as noted, but the witness and his lawyers were kind enough to share a prepared statement in advance of the proceedings. “I am here today,” Biden said, “to provide the Committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business. Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never.” Welp, we guess that settles that. Time to move along. Or perhaps not. “The Bidens and their associates raked in over $30 million dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania, and Democrat donors,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in an effort to pre-bunk Biden’s testimony. He added, “Ten members of the Biden family, including Joe Biden, either participated or benefitted from the family influence-peddling schemes.” This was a friendly venue for Hunter because the American people weren’t able to watch the proceedings and therefore weren’t able to shout “Drink!” every time he said “I don’t recall” in response to a tough question. But that will change soon enough, as Comer notes that the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden will include public testimony from Hunter.
SCOTUS hears bump stock case: The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday challenging the legality of the ATF’s 2018 regulation that banned bump stocks. During the Trump administration, the ATF acted to create the bump stock ban following the 2017 Las Vegas massacre that killed 58 people and left hundreds more wounded. The perpetrator used bump stocks on several rifles in order to increase his rate of fire into the crowd. The ATF justified its bump stock ban by citing the 1934 Firearms Act, which banned “machine guns” or automatic firearms. That statute defined “machine gun” as a firearm that fires multiple rounds “by a single function of the trigger.” While bump stocks do have the effect of increasing the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle by allowing for the rapid pulling of the trigger, they still require a single trigger pull for every single shot fired. In other words, bump stocks do not change the firing mechanism of a rifle; they don’t create a “machine gun.” The argument could be made that bump stocks violate the spirit of the law, though last year the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 1934 Firearms Act “unambiguously fails to cover non-mechanical bump stocks.” Ironically, the late anti-gun Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein had it right when she argued in 2017: “The ATF lacks authority under the law to ban bump-fire stocks. Period. Legislation is the only answer, and Congress should not attempt to pass the buck.” The crux of the bump stock issue is that of a separation of powers.
Government shutdown averted, again: Whew. To the great relief of the American people, Congress yesterday managed to avoid the unmitigated disaster of a government shutdown. We’re being facetious, of course, but congressional leaders did unveil a stopgap bill Wednesday that would keep the federal government up and running beyond Friday, when its funding will ostensibly run dry for certain agencies. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has been working feverishly to live up to his promise and do things the right way — which is to draft and vote on specific individual spending bills rather than a single omnibus abomination. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “Congressional leaders have spent months trying to complete the 12 bills that split up funding among U.S. agencies, which need to pass in both chambers and secure a signature from President Biden.” As of yesterday, congressional negotiators had agreed in principle on six bills — those that fund the departments of Agriculture, Justice, Interior, Veterans Affairs, and other federal agencies — but there’s still plenty of work yet to be done. Florida Republican Byron Donalds, for one, says he’ll be a “No” vote, explaining, “This town always needs more time to come up with deals that are not in the best interests of the American people.” On the other hand, a statement signed by Johnson as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put forth a show of unity, at least for now: “We are in agreement,” they said, “that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government.”
Another illegal kills another American kid: When we refuse to enforce our immigration laws and instead allow millions of illegal immigrants to stream across our southern border, we’re bound to get a few bad apples in the mix. Such has been made painfully clear of late — from the bird-flipping lawlessness of cop-stomping gang members in New York City to the animalism of the 26-year-old illegal from Venezuela who bludgeoned to death 22-year-old Laken Riley, an Augusta University nursing student who was out for a jog on the University of Georgia campus last week. And now we have yet another outrage, this one perpetrated against a toddler. As National Review reports: “An illegal alien with a long rap sheet, who was supposed to be deported more than a year ago, has been arrested for allegedly murdering two-year-old Jeremy Poou Caceres. The Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland has charged El Salvador native Nilson Noel Trejo-Granados with first and second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and attempted first and second-degree murder.” This is yet more blood on Joe Biden’s hands for his refusal to enforce our immigration laws and for inviting millions of unknown and undocumented foreigners to “surge” to our southern border.
Denver’s mile-high stupidity: And here we thought Denver was struggling to accommodate some 40,000 illegal immigrants who’ve made their way to the Mile High City. But how bad could things be? After all, the city is now warning its hourly workers that they may soon be pink-slipped due to a budgetary shortfall. As for the manpower solution they’re considering to meet this crisis, would you believe hiring illegal immigrants to work for the city instead? As The Daily Wire reports: “A spokeswoman for Denver mayor Mike Johnston [says] the budget crisis was caused by illegal immigrants being unable to work, causing them to be a drain on taxpayer dollars. The idea was to solve that by having them work directly for the city, she said. She said that a full-time salary funded by taxpayers was ‘not necessarily’ more costly than social services.” The spokeswoman added that the city “has considered the plan but at the moment is not pursuing it because it is high-risk, since it is likely illegal.” Really? Since when have concerns about illegality ever stopped Democrats from kowtowing to illegal immigrants?
Trump’s real financial bind: Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump does not have the cash on hand to shell out $454 million in the ridiculous judgment rendered against him in the New York civil fraud case. Furthermore, his request to post a $100 million bond while appealing the ruling was rejected by a New York appellate court. If Trump is unable to put up the $454 billion, plus interest, by March 25, then New York Attorney General Letitia James will start seizing his assets. Trump did get some good news, however, as the appellate judge did issue a stay on the judgment that prevents Trump from seeking bank loans in New York. Trump will now be able to apply for loans to pay the judgment while the appeals process runs. Of course, that means he’ll have to find banks willing to loan him the cash.
Headlines
KJP says Biden’s physical didn’t include cognitive test because he “doesn’t need” one (Washington Free Beacon)
Justice Jackson says bump stocks can fire “800 rounds a second or whatever” during pivotal SCOTUS hearing (Not the Bee)
WaPo says Biden’s border invasion has the economy “roaring” (PJ Media)
“A refresher course on communism”: Progressive House Dems made secret “human rights” trip to Cuba amid worsening border crisis at home (Fox News)
Home prices hit a high in 2023. Limited supply continues to fuel gains. (MarketWatch)
AP hit piece attacks Live Action’s educational film on fetal development “Baby Olivia” (Live Action)
Indiana’s ban on transgender medical services for minors can take effect, court rules (Daily Wire)
Humor: Presidential physical off to rocky start after Biden eats knee kick hammer thingy (Babylon Bee)
Anti-Second Amendment lawmakers in the Centennial State introduce legislation that amounts to a backdoor tax on gun owners.
Thomas Gallatin
If a recent piece of legislation is any indication, Colorado Democrats want to turn Second Amendment rights into a liability — literally. HB24-1270 represents the latest effort by anti-Second Amendment activists to smuggle in a bill that steps all over Americans’ right to bear arms under the dubious guise of compensating victims of “gun violence.”
The Colorado bill is similar to legislative attempts in California and New York in that they all seek to tax firearm ownership. HB24-1270 would mandate that all gun owners in the state be required to purchase liability insurance for simply owning a firearm. Gun owners who failed to procure liability insurance would face fines of $500 and $1,000, respectively, upon their first and second offenses.
One of the bill’s three sponsors, State House Representative Steven Woodrow, asserts that the legislation would encourage responsible gun ownership, and he pointed to a dubious study that claimed firearm-related deaths and injuries cost the state roughly $12 billion annually.
Beyond this bill being an outright violation of Coloradans’ Second Amendment rights, it’s also a violation of their Fifth Amendment guarantee of innocence until proven guilty. The law effectively applies legal culpability for the criminal use of a firearm on all gun owners simply for owning a similar tool to the one used in the commission of a crime.
Or, as we’ve noted many times before, this bill effectively criminalizes firearm ownership, which is precisely the end objective of the anti-gun lobby.
As the Denver Gazette’s editorial board observed: “[HB2401270] seeks to solve a nonexistent problem — uncompensated damages incurred by firearms — as a cover for its true aim of creating another hurdle to legal gun ownership. In other words, it’s gun control by another name. It also amounts to a gun tax (as well as a boon to the insurance industry).” Exactly.
Despite the fact that Democrats control Colorado’s legislature, the chances that this legislation would actually pass — and survive a veto by centrist Democrat Governor Jared Polis — is highly unlikely. Just last year, Polis’s opposition to a bill that would have banned semiautomatic firearms likely led to the bill’s failure to pass the legislature.
The Gazette further noted that should the bill pass and become law, roughly 2.5 million Coloradans would be on the hook for purchasing liability insurance. This might make certain insurance companies happy — those that dare to cross the anti-gun lobby and offer liability coverage.
Democrats in Maryland in January introduced similar legislation that would require gun owners to hold at least $300,000 in liability insurance in order to carry a firearm. That ridiculous bill’s sponsor called it “another effort at common sense gun legislation.” Clearly, these Democrats don’t know what common sense is.
Blaming the innocent for the actions of the criminal is the very definition of injustice. And isn’t that what these anti-Second Amendment activists claim to be fighting against?
The Ivy League university intends to do nothing to protect its Jewish students from the genocidal hate of the pro-Hamas students and professors.
Emmy Griffin
About a month ago, this author reported on Harvard’s dubious nomination of Derek Penslar as co-chair of the anti-Semitism task force, which also addresses “Islamophobia.” The critique of his appointment at the time was that Penslar was clearly biased against the Jewish people living in their ancestral homeland. Moreover, in another one of his writings, he stated that the “veins of hatred run through Jewish civilization.” It’s not too much to assert that this particular co-chair may not be an appropriate choice for an anti-Semitism task force.
Lo and behold, this seems to be exactly the case. Over the weekend, business professor Raffaella Sadun abruptly resigned as the other co-chair for this task force. She is the second to take such an action. The first was Rabbi David Wolpe, who objected to the very framework under which the task force was operating. The oppressor/oppressed dynamic placed Jews in general and Israel in particular as the evil oppressor and Hamas and the Palestinians as the oppressed.
Sadun allegedly resigned because no one on the task force was interested in actually addressing the very real and dangerous Jew hatred that infests Harvard’s campus — from its academic staff all the way to its students. In other words, the task force is content to do nothing, just as Harvard was initially intent on leaving Claudine Gay in place as Harvard’s president even after she testified before Congress that calls for genocide against Israel were only subject to disciplinary action based on the “context.”
In doubling down on a harmful Racial Marxism idea that puts Palestinians as the oppressed people and Israel as the oppressor, Harvard has flipped good and evil on its head. Interestingly, Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard Law School, recently wrote in Time magazine: “In each iteration, antisemitism reflects the ideological preoccupations of the moment. In antisemitic discourse, Jews are always made to exemplify what a given group of people considers to be the worst feature of the social order in which they live. … Because antisemitic ideology isn’t accountable to real-life facts, its content can be altered and changed as a society’s worries and moral judgments shift. Antisemitism’s capacity to keep its familiar character while also channeling new fears is what confers its stunning capacity to reinvent itself.”
This very apt summation of the anti-Semitism problem on American college campuses should give reasonable people pause about sending their children to be indoctrinated in this new form of evil disguised as social justice.
Harvard represents what was once considered the very best in U.S. academia and has deservedly gotten a lot of criticism for its Racial Marxism and moral equivalence that’s blinding it from protecting its students. However, it’s hardly the only school that has this problem.
UC Berkeley had an event on its campus in which Jewish students invited an IDF soldier to speak. The students were forced to flee as a mob of protesters made up of professors and other students broke windows and threatened them.
Columbia University, which also has had incident after incident of anti-Jewish, anti-Israel protests and intimidation, has now given a professorship to a man who is openly pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah, and pro-Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Islamic scholar Mohamed Abdou joined the staff on January 16, and to give you an idea about who Abdou is as a professor, The Washington Free Beacon reports: “Abdou teaches a weekly class on ‘Decolonial-Queerness & Abolition,’ where his students discuss ‘transnational feminist discourses’ and ‘queer of color critiques.’ The self-described ‘Muslim anarchist’ has also emerged as a friend to Columbia’s anti-Israel community.”
If this is the state of our elite universities, run mainly by the radical Left, then one is left asking the American Jewish community: Why are you still voting for this?
By spreading falsehoods about the meaning of a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling, leftists are scaring those who most need guidance and reassurance.
Samantha Koch
After the embryos from three couples who were undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments in order to conceive were accidentally destroyed due to clinical negligence, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are children under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
The ruling should help prevent such carelessness. However, the narrative from both the Left and the Right has been rooted in fear, hysteria, and false claims about the purpose of this ruling and its potential impact on both the patients and the IVF clinics.
During a press conference on the matter, Illinois Democrat Senator Tammy Duckworth did not hold back, as she dishonestly led her audience to believe that this decision would land couples already sensitive to this issue behind bars if they sought help through an IVF clinic. Using her own painful experience with infertility and miscarriage to appeal to her audience, she then made completely inaccurate assertions of what the bill would mean for others in the same position: “It’s a little personal to me when a majority male Court suggests that people like me who are not able to have kids without the help of modern medicine should be in jail cells and not taking care of their babies in nurseries.”
Those propagating these erroneous messages count on the fact that the vast majority of people do not read most pieces of legislation or court rulings, and they largely rely on reporting from the media and government officials to shape their opinions.
Even more frustrating is that many on the Right, including former President Donald Trump, seem to be shaping their own responses to address the Democrats’ false narrative by reassuring the public of their support for IVF treatment rather than addressing the lies that are being spread.
Trump took to Truth Social to assure voters that he does not support limiting the availability of fertility treatments — something the Alabama ruling does not do — or the act of threatening providers who offer it. “Like the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans,” Trump declared, “including the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby. Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama.”
Choosing to counter a dishonest take on this sensitive subject did little to offer reassurance. Instead, it furthered the lie that this is what the Alabama ruling suggests.
Unfortunately, because Duckworth’s report on this matter is false, and because Trump’s misguided consolations back the most common version of the story that is making its way across the Internet, it is virtually impossible to rein people back in. And it’s the reaction to the narrative that is causing the most harm to both clinicians and hopeful parents.
The facts of the ruling are simple: By recognizing embryos as minors under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act and the accidental destruction of said embryos as a “wrongful death,” the ruling gives couples who lose their embryos in this way legal recourse similar to that of a parent who loses a child due to malpractice in any other medical setting.
If the embryos are not recognized as human beings, however, then there is no basis for wrongdoing and no foundation for legal action.
This ruling is a protection for every IVF couple, and it serves as reassurance for all parties involved — including the embryos, which should be respected and treated as children because that is what they are. Rulings such as this encourage IVF couples to make decisions throughout their fertility journey as if they were giving care directives for a child of any age, and they ask providers to reassure their patients that the treatment of the embryo means as much to their clients as would a child in a hospital bed.
Medical providers who take on these cases already understand the risks of doing so, and if they are confident in their practices and security protocols, then they have nothing to worry about.
The rational response to this decision should be for medical providers to redouble security, tighten their policies (particularly regarding the ability for random patients to wander the halls and gain access to secure areas), and reassure their patients that they have their best interests at heart.
But we are an increasingly irrational society, and the response has been as such. The University of Alabama at Birmingham was the first to put a halt to its in vitro fertilization services, quickly followed by Alabama Fertility Services. These organizations must have been amongst the audience for Duckworth’s scaremongering speech because they, too, are now under the false impression that even offering IVF as an option automatically puts them at risk of criminal charges.
Of course, as it is with all deceptive narratives these days, once those at the top have benefited politically, it is innocent people who deal with the fallout of the power struggle after the dust has settled.
Those most affected are couples who desperately want children of their own. The access has not been limited by a court ruling but rather by fearmongering and by power-hungry politicians who can’t help but exploit even the most sensitive challenges for their own personal gain.
A bonus “win” for Democrats would be to convince those on the pro-life side that perhaps their advocates are taking things too far, thereby pulling some of our own to the middle of the fight or even to the left side entirely.
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Latest PodcastPopCon #33: Not All Oppressed Groups Are Created EqualOppressor vs. oppressed groups are a hallmark of Marxist ideology. Join Thomas, Sterling, and Andrew as they dig into how this idea has been permeating Western culture at an alarming rate.
Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.
Sanctuary City ‘Liar’ — In the wake of Laken Riley’s murder by an illegal alien, protesters call out the mayor of Athens, Georgia, for denying the fact that the city has declared itself a “sanctuary” city.
New Yorkers Trash Harris and Biden — New Yorkers were not afraid to express their “gratitude” for the migrant crisis and the lack of action from Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.
‘That’s Not True for the Baby, Is It?’ — Sen. John Kennedy relentlessly grills a pro-abortion witness and snaps at Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse for cutting him off.
A Never-Before-Seen Look at Human Life in the Womb — From a single-celled human to a baby with a beating heart, brainwaves, fingers, and toes, Olivia shows the remarkable beauty of a unique life within the womb.
Biden Informant Held Without Bail on Re-Arrest — In a very unusual move, the DOJ re-arrested the former FBI informant accused of lying about Biden-Burisma bribery and now has locked him up indefinitely.
“I caution against conflating immigration and crime. The data demonstrates that the two are not connected.” —Athens, Georgia Mayor Kelly Girtz
“We believe in order to deal with what’s happening at the border, you need a legislative solution.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
“In order to make the changes, the fixes to border security, you got to have new legislation.” —National Security Council spokesman John Kirby
“Republicans, in order to win an election, say we need to hermetically seal the border when they know … that is economic self-sabotage to the U.S. economy, and they are saying let’s do it anyway. And to compensate for the negative effects, we’re gonna allow and throw people’s kids into factories. That is what they are doing in rolling back child-labor laws while being as xenophobic and anti-immigrant as they are, and while ginning up … this false narrative about this being a crisis.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
For the Record
“[Laken Riley] would be alive today if we had a secure border. Period.” —Clay Travis
“When someone dies in a school shooting, the Left works to take away guns from everyone, including law-abiding citizens. But when a young, 22-year-old is murdered by an illegal immigrant that their policies let into the country, their first inclination isn’t to deport all of the migrants who pose a danger to Americans — it’s to dismiss it as random. Their outrage is obviously selective, based on their preferred political narrative of that moment.” —Suzanne Bowdey
More BIG Lies
“I did not involve my father in my business. … Never.” —Hunter Biden
“For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad. You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism — all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face. You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any.” —Hunter Biden
“What [Joe] got in return for being a loving and supporting parent is a barrage of hate-filled conspiracy theories that hatched this sham impeachment inquiry and continue to fuel unrelenting personal attacks against him and me.” —Hunter Biden
“What we are seeing is just a complete and inappropriate expedition into the president’s son and for matters and subjects that are completely unrelated to an impeachment investigation. And I think it is extremely disturbing to see the lack of professionalism, the lack of grounding, and the abuse of public resources, an abuse of public power.” —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“There is a very understandable, coherent business explanation for every single thing that they ask for. And now that all of this China stuff or Romania or Kazakstan is clearly, clearly baseless and bogus, the only thing that the Republicans have left are these Burisma allegations.” —Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY)
Can’t Fix Stupid
“The Republicans have become synonymous for Russians at this point.” —Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX)
Well, She’s Not a Biologist
“The function of this [bump stock] trigger is to cause this kind of damage — 800 rounds a second or whatever.” —Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Dezinformatsiya
“We gotta jump on this abortion issue. We gotta jump on this book-burning issue. Run ads on these Nazi hags at school board meetings trying to ban Rosa Parks.” —Democrat strategist James Carville
“Self-immolation was … seen as a sacrificial act committed by Christian devotees who chose to be burned alive when they were being persecuted for their religion by Roman emperor Diocletian around 300 A.D.” —Time magazine (“They did not ‘choose to be burned alive.’ These Christians held so steadfastly to their faith that even an excruciating death did not dissuade them.” —Nate Jackson)
Village Idiot
“Black people can’t be racist.” —former WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes
The Bottom Line
“Shrinkflation is a symptom of inflation, not a cause. And to the extent it is fooling anyone about higher prices, it is helping Biden, whose economic record has been blighted by persistently high prices, especially for food. A company that is raising its prices can either charge more or reduce the size of its product. What Biden is suggesting is that the former is the best option and companies should always increase their sticker prices.” —Rich Lowry
And Last…
“Joe Biden is very old. He was born closer to the Battle of Gettysburg than the 2024 election.” —Eric Levitz
The White House referred to illegal immigrants as “newcomers” in a Thursday brief urging Congress to pass a bipartisan bill on border security and asylum restrictions.
A reporter asked an obvious question: “Given that there’s been so much scrutiny…why not just have his doctor administer the test?”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is paid good money to lie. What happens when you get so used to lying that you can’t tell a lie from the truth? […]
Russian president Vladimir Putin told Western countries on Thursday they risked provoking a nuclear war if they sent troops to fight in Ukraine, warning that Moscow had the weapons to strike targets in the West.
“What progressives are pitching with the green agenda today is anything but progress, and their prescriptions to maintain political power are sillier and deadlier than ever. But that doesn’t stop young people, being tutored in the modern-day temples that we call universities, from offering their absolute devotion to this green doomsday cult.”
(William Sullivan – American Thinker) “At their Monday night poker game in hell,”writes Mark Steyn, “I’ll bet Stalin, Hitler, and Mao are kicking themselves. ‘It’s about leaving a better planet for our children?’ Why didn’t we think of that?”
These three evil socialists of yesteryear would certainly be green with envy at the way today’s green socialists have convinced millions of citizens to willingly surrender their liberty to the State.
“The ruling classes of the fading West are determined to save the planet by immiserating their fellow citizens,” writes Joel Kotkin. He continues:
Their program calls not only for fewer people and fewer families, but also for lower consumption among the masses. They expect us to live in ever smaller dwelling units, to have less mobility, and to endure more costly home heating and air-conditioning. These priorities are reflected in a regulatory bureaucracy that, if it does not claim justification from God, acts as the right hand of Gaia and of sanctified science.View article →
Former Utah GOP Congressman and House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz expressed his disgust at people refusing to acknowledge the alleged corruption of the Biden family as he discussed Hunter Biden testifying before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees.
“This is important. Because it’s not just rhetoric, it’s actually under oath,” Chaffetz, who chaired the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for 2 years, told Fox News’ Stuart Varney. “You can go to jail for lying before the Oversight Committee.”
“There is so much evidence,” he said. “I am sick and tired of hearing these people say, ‘Oh, is there any evidence that ties Joe Biden directly?’ They’ve got $20 million flowing into the Biden family. There are more than 80 visits from Hunter Biden’s business associates to the White House; 29,000 emails go from Hunter Biden’s business partners and associates to the White House. 29,000 of those!”
“And you have all these millions of dollars,” he continued. “You have Jason Galanis, who’s one of the associates of Hunter Biden, who told the committee in an interview that Yelena Baturina, the former mayor of Moscow, one of the Russian oligarchs, at the end of the conversation, Joe Biden comes on the phone with this Russian oligarch and says, ‘You take care of my son.’ Well, guess what? There’s $100 million real estate deal that they got, there’s diamonds that flow to the Bidens. I could go on and on and on. They already have enough evidence.”
“Now it’s time to tie Hunter Biden to the allegations and say, ‘In your perspective, did Yelena Baturina and your dad, the vice-president of the United States, have that conversation? And if he denies it, then you’ve got this interesting conflict of ‘he said, she said,’ but now let’s look at the phone records. And then that’s where the Bidens really get into trouble.”
“Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina – the wealthiest woman in Russia and then married to the former mayor of Moscow — wired the Rosemont Seneca Thornton bank account $3.5 million. Rosemont Seneca Thornton’s beneficiary was Rosemont Seneca Partners, of which Hunter Biden was the chairman,” the House Oversight Committee hasnoted.
“That was a very good idea; of all the factors that are involved here, because people get confused; you can’t follow the track all over, names and places,” Varney commented.
“How about $100,000 going into Joe Biden’s grandkids’ account?” Chaffetz asked rhetorically. “What did they do for that? And we know from the documentation, the allegation at least is that it was a thank you for opening up the doors to do business in Romania. … There’s a lot of money flowing to the Bidens.”
BROWNSVILLE, TX — Amid record-breaking illegal immigration at the southern border, President Biden arrived in Brownsville Texas to address his voters, who had crossed into the United States the previous night.
“Welcome, voters, make yourselves at home!” said Biden to a group of military-aged male Chinese nationals and a crowd of convicted felons from a maximum security Venezuelan prison. “My nurse Jill always says you people are unique breakfast tacos and I couldn’t have said it better. We’re excited for you to live here. You have plenty of great states to choose from, like Ohio, Pennsylvania, or any other crucial battleground states. I was… I… I…”
“… well, anyway.”
The confused migrant crowd was then directed to a welcome station to receive their smartphones, visa gift cards, and mail-in ballots.
Trump, who also visited the border today, was quick to condemn Biden’s speech and his handling of the border. “Biden is possibly the worst president of any country in the history of the world, or maybe even the entire universe, and maybe all the other universes as well, possibly,” said Trump to reporters. “He is going to destroy this country unless he’s stopped by people buying my new Trump sneakers. Look at these beautiful gold sneakers. They’re the greatest sneakers ever made. So, so beautiful.”
Following the Biden border visit, the White House confirmed that there is no crisis at the border. “Everything is fine and there are no illegal immigrants,” said gay black Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre. “There is no crisis and Biden is doing a great job and he’s very smart and sharp and mentally with it and you are a racist.”
At publishing time, illegal immigrant support for Biden increased another 33 points.
It’s a serious medical emergency: you’re minding your own business when you hear an opinion you slightly disagree with.
During a recent episode of the world’s most popular podcast, host Joe Rogan admitted, “We need Jesus. I think for real.”
The Joe Rogan Experience is easily the world’s most popular podcast, with an average of 11 million listeners tuning in every episode — dwarfing numbers set by even the most popular cable television shows.
It is also one of history’s longest running podcasts, with a catalogue of over 2,000 episodes, and show highlights on YouTube that have clocked 3.4 billion views to date.
What seems to keep listeners coming back is the show’s long-form style (episodes generally last between two and four hours), along with Joe Rogan’s willingness to engage with guests and topics often shunned by the corporate media.
Jesus is one such topic — and several recent guests have openly discussed their Christian faith with Rogan, including journalist Michael Shellenberger, philosopher Stephen Meyer, and singer Oliver Anthony.
Rogan on the Emptiness of Atheism and Wokeness
Rogan’s guest on his February 7th episode was injury-sidelined NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Both Rogan and Rodgers were raised in Christian families before lapsing into agnosticism as adults. However, what both also share in common is a growing sense — in recent years especially — of the need for some kind of moral and spiritual anchor in life.
It was this topic that prompted a fascinating interchange between the two.
Commenting on the corruption in politics, Rodgers mused that “there has to be some sort of field of value that can orient people” towards “right and wrong” and “morality”.
In reply, Rogan mourned that “the problem with living in a secular society and living in a society that has a lot of people that are atheists, that have no belief system at all, is you find a belief system. A lot of these people that call themselves atheists — they’ve subscribed to the religion of woke. Their God is equity and inclusiveness.”
“I think as time rolls on, people are going to understand the need to have some sort of divine structure to things, some sort of belief in the sanctity of love and of truth. And a lot of that comes from a religion,” he added.
“Unfortunately, a lot of very intelligent people, they dismiss all the positive aspects of religion because they think that the stories are mere superstitious fairy tales, that they have no place in this modern world.”
‘We Need Jesus — I Think For Real’
Rogan also panned the idea of a self-referential morality, warning that people are misguided when they think “we’re inherently good, and your ethics are based on your own moral compass, and we all have one.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” he countered.
“It’s a f——d up world we live in,” Rogan colourfully summarised, before offering a solution.
“We need Jesus,” he said. “I think for real.”
Both men laughed as the host spoke these words, but it wasn’t the laughter of mockery. Rather, it seemed to be in recognition that an idea the two had dismissed in their younger years had ultimately proven to have a ring of truth.
Continuing the conversation, Rogan added, “If he [Jesus] came back now, it’d be great.”
“Like Jesus, if you’re thinking about coming back, now’s a good time.”
“Right now. Pretty soon,” Rodgers said in agreement.
Joe Rogan’s “come to Jesus” moment did, however, reveal a crucial gap in the podcaster’s understanding of who Jesus is.
Referencing Moses, aliens and a collection of other apocalyptic ideas, he mused, “It might be, we reach a certain point where we’re so unmanageable and so chaotic that something comes down and gives us a guideline.”
Christianity’s central claim, of course, is that Jesus is the “something” Rogan is apparently still waiting for. While the Scriptures teach that Christ will come again, the gospel message is that Jesus has already answered the world’s deepest spiritual needs through his incarnation, perfect life, death and resurrection.
Even so, both Rogan and Rodgers acknowledged an openness to the person of Christ and a broad agreement with the values of Christianity.
“There is a greater power that’s above everything that controls this whole thing and keeps it all together, and there are laws to adhere to that will make for a much better life for all humans and all life on Earth,” Rogan observed.
“Everything we do matters,” Rodgers later affirmed.
“I believe there’s a seen world and an unseen world. And there [are] forces of good and forces of evil,” the NFL star added.
“There’s a purpose for all this… I’d like to get it right this time around.”
Moments ago, two things happened: Biden’s Bureau of Economic Analysis released the first revision of Q4 2023 GDP, a number which is completely irrelevant as it looks at the state of the US economy more than 2 months ago as the calendar is now just weeks away from the start of Q2 2024… and bitcoin soared above $60,000, now less than $10k away from a record high. While it may not be immediately obvious, the two events are linked. Let us explain.
First, according to the Biden admin, in Q4 GDP rose 3.2%, a modest drop from the 3.3% reported in the first estimate one month ago, and below the 3.3% consensus estimate.
While we already know this, the BEA reported that the increase in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.
The increase in consumer spending reflected increases in both services and goods. Within services, the leading contributors were health care, food services and accommodations, and other services (led by international travel). Within goods, the leading contributors to the increase were other nondurable goods (led by pharmaceutical products) as well as recreational goods and vehicles.
The increase in exports reflected increases in both goods (led by petroleum) and services (led by financial services).
The increase in state and local government spending reflected increases in both investment (led by structures) and consumption expenditures (led by compensation of employees).
Comparing the first estimate with the second, we find several notable items, the first being that Personal Consumption actually rose more than expected, growing a 3.0% QoQ annualized (vs 2.8% in the first estimate), and contributing 2.0% to the bottom line GDP of 3.21%, up from 1.91% in the original estimate. Another increase was seen in fixed investment which contributed 0.43% to the bottom line, up from the 0.31% originally estimated; finally government also saw its contribution boosted, rising to 0.73%, or about a quarter, of the final GDP. These improvement were offset by a notable drop in the change in private inventories which declined from an addition of 0.07% to a subtraction of -0.27%.
Ok, none of this matters: the numbers will be revised again next month but by then all markets will care about will be not so much Q1 GDP but rather Q2 and onward. So very stale.
But what does that have to do with the bitcoin spike?
Well, a closer look at the data revealed something stunning: a quick look at the increase in nominal GDP, which rose from $27.61 trillion in Q3 to $27.94 trillion in Q4, shows that the US economy increased some $334.5 billion in absolute nominal dollar terms.
But where did this growth come from? Why debt of course, and a lot of it. For the answer how much debt, we go to the US Treasury’s Debt to the penny website, where we find that debt on Sept 30, 2023 was $33,167,334,044,723.16 and debt on Dec 31, 2023 was $34,001,493,655,565.48.
In other words, it cost $834.2 billion in debt during Q3 to grow the US economy by $334.5 billion, or exactly $2.5 in debt for every $1 in GDP “growth.”
Which also brings us back full circle and explains why bitcoin is now trading at $60,000, the highest price since late 2021 and why it will not only surpass its all time high in just a few days, but why it will rise much, much higher, because the US is now well past the point of no return.
It’s all hands on deck to stop Texas Governor Greg Abbott from securing the southern border as tens of thousands of illegals invade the US every single day on Joe Biden’s open border invitation.
US District Judge David Ezra, a Reagan appointee on Thursday issued a temporary injunction that blocked a Texas law that gave local police power to arrest illegal aliens.
“The preliminary injunction granted by U.S. District Judge David Ezra pauses a law that was set to take effect March 5 and came as President Joe Biden and his likely Republican challenger in November, Donald Trump, were visiting Texas’ southern border to discuss immigration. Texas officials are expected to appeal.” – ABC News reported.
In December Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed a bill that gives Texas police power to arrest illegal aliens amid Biden’s border invasion.
“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” Abbott said, adding the new bill is designed to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas.”
“At the Texas-Mexico border today for a bill signing ceremony that will take #OperationLoneStar to the next level,” Abbott said on X.
📍Brownsville
At the Texas-Mexico border today for a bill signing ceremony that will take #OperationLoneStar to the next level.
Far-left ‘civil rights’ organizations such as the ACLU filed lawsuits to stop Abbott’s new law.
“Ezra wrote in his decision that allowing Texas to “permanently supersede federal directives” due to an invasion would “amount to nullification of federal law and authority — a notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War.”” ABC News reported.
Joe Biden headed to Texas to visit the southern border for a photo-op.
President Trump will also be at the southern border on Thursday.
“What progressives are pitching with the green agenda today is anything but progress, and their prescriptions to maintain political power are sillier and deadlier than ever. But that doesn’t stop young people, being tutored in the modern-day temples that we call universities, from offering their absolute devotion to this green doomsday cult.”
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