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
But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
Men are often as devoid of reason as of faith. There are with us still “unreasonable and wicked men.” There is no use in arguing with them or trying to be at peace with them: they are false at heart and deceitful in speech. Well, what of this? Shall we worry ourselves with them? No; let us turn to the Lord, for He is faithful. No promise from His Word will ever be broken. He is neither unreasonable in His demands upon us nor unfaithful to our claims upon Him. We have a faithful God. Be this our joy.
He will stablish us so that wicked men shall not cause our downfall, and He will keep us so that none of the evils which now assail us shall really do us damage. What a blessing for us that we need not contend with men but are allowed to shelter ourselves in the Lord Jesus, who is in truest sympathy with us. There is one true heart, one faithful mind, one never changing love; there let us repose. The Lord will fulfill the purpose of His grace to us, His servants, and we need not allow a shadow of a fear to fall upon our spirits. Not all that men or devils can do can hinder us of the divine protection and provision. This day let us pray the Lord to stablish and keep us.
“He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals His thoughts to mortals… the Lord God Almighty is His name.” Amos 4:13
Perhaps you are familiar with Jesus’ words about the relationship between faith and moving mountains.
But have you ever heard about a mountain moving a person?
That is exactly what happened recently to a woman we will call Sarah.
Sarah is from an Eastern European country and was visiting family who had immigrated to the United States. Although a God-honoring and traditionally religious person, she didn’t understand what it meant when her family tried to describe the reality of trusting personally in Christ. Sarah is attractive, well-educated and has a well-deserved reputation in her country as an outstanding musician. She has studied with some of her country’s most talented musical elite and is known far beyond the borders of her nation. In spite of all this, Sarah could not quite grasp the concept of the grace and grandeur of a loving God who desired a relationship with her.
Wanting Sarah to experience much of the beauty in this part of the world, they traveled with her to some of this area’s most famous sites. She was thrilled to see wildlife coming into urban neighborhoods, deep gorges cut through centuries of granite-like rock, blue skies with mountain peaks piercing the clouds. Each Sunday they visited a different church so Sarah could glimpse the wide variety of Christian worship.
And then one afternoon Sarah’s family drove her up to one of this country’s highest peaks, over 14,000 feet high. Expecting her to surely enjoy the experience, they were unprepared for her stunned response as she stood in the silence of the peak, gazing at clouds both above and beneath her, at the valleys far below. She suddenly spread out her arms and cried, “Oh, this is the God you’re talking about!”
Later conversation revealed that at that moment on the mountaintop, God lovingly revealed Himself to her in a way that spoke uniquely to her soul and she opened herself to all that He wanted to be for her. God used a mountain to move her into relationship with Himself.
I just can’t get enough of the view of the mountain.
Every morning when I get up it is the first thing I look for. Some days it is hidden in the clouds but this morning it was there. The fog spread across the valley floor but rising above it are the snow-capped peaks of Mount Baker. A reminder that even though I don’t see it all the time it is still there in all its’ splendour.
My prayer for you
“I pray that you are trusting in the Lord, making you like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever because as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds you now and forevermore. I ask the Lord to be good to you, for you are good and upright in heart.” Amen. Psalm 125:1-4
As Plain As It Gets: The Bible Is Clear On The Rapture… So Why All The Debate? First Thessalonians 4 says, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air….You might say, “Wait a minute, I didn’t read the word rapture in that verse.” That’s because you’re not reading the right translation. In the Latin Vulgate, the word rapio is there, from which we get our word rapture, which means to seize, carry away instantly, or snatch or take.
Australia sets a date to achieve the first goal of The Great Reset – nationwide digital IDs Australia has become the latest country to delve head-first into the first goal of The Great Reset, which is to digitize its citizens. When digitized identities get matched with central bank digital currencies, it’s game over for freedom of thought, movement, etc. All human behavior will be monitored, assessed and scored 24/7.
‘So oddly blatant’: Satanic tapestry featured at World Economic Forum The world’s richest people, whose who travel by private jet burning up fossil fuels from resort home to resort home all the while complaining that the “‘people” don’t want to buy expensive and unreliable electric vehicles to “save” the planet, do things differently.
POISONING THE BLOOD: Surge in Syphilis Amongst Women and Babies. America is seeing a surge in syphilis, including a sharp rise among women. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures for 2022 show a 19.5 increase percent in female syphilis cases, accounting for around a quarter of cases overall — up from less than 15 percent five years ago.
Israel-Hamas Deal Is Dead As Netanyahu Dismisses ‘Delusional’ Terms, War To ‘Expand’ Statements currently coming out of both sides strongly suggest the much anticipated Israel-Hamas truce is simply not going to happen. This despite a series of ambiguous statements out of Qatar over the last week of ‘positive’ developments. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has on Wednesday called Hamas’ demands “delusional” (see below for Hamas’ said list of truce terms). This is according to Axios:
Medvedev Warns Russia Has ‘No Choice’ But To Unleash Nuclear ‘Apocalypse’ If Attacked By NATO Not for the first time, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has warned that a direct war between Moscow forces and NATO would lead to nuclear apocalypse. The current deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council issued the warning on Telegram Wednesday, in response to recent statements and reports that some European leaders are telling their populations to ‘prepare for war.’
U.S. Allots $15 Million to Help Islamic Nation that Hates America Fight Climate Change A South-Asian Islamic country well known as a recruiting ground for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is getting $15 million from the Biden administration to combat climate change. The money will flow through a program called Enabling Environment for Climate Resilience Activity (EECRA) launched by the United States government specifically to create long-term systemic shifts in Bangladesh’s climate resilience.
All the talk about misinformation is to justify censorship In recent years, there has been an upsurge of concern about online misinformation and disinformation, with efforts to thwart it. In many cases, claims about false information serve to justify censorship. To better understand what’s going on, it’s useful to examine assumptions underlying the anti-misinformation enterprise.
From Digital Domination to Global Governance: The Dystopian Shift of Bill Gates In the global tapestry of influential figures, few threads are as prominently woven as that of Bill Gates, a titan whose legacy was initially forged in the digital corridors of Microsoft. Beyond silicon and software, Gates has embarked on a journey that extends his reach into the realms of global health, education, and environmental activism.
“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. These rights cannot well be separated.” —James Madison (1829)
Fellow Patriots, on this day in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was founded in Washington, DC. The BSA reached its peak at more than four million members in 1973. In recent years, the Left has caused significant rot in the organization, and there are now just over one million members. It’s been a sad decline for a once-great and worthy organization. —Mark Alexander
Maybe because fixed expenses like car insurance are up 26% this year.
Nate Jackson
If the Donald Trump era brought about the infestation of Leftmedia opinion screeds disguised as “fact-checks,” the Joe Biden era has caused a new genre of “journalism” to flourish. We might borrow from the “LEGO Movie” for an appropriately pithy name: Call it the “Everything Is Awesome” genre.
Last October, we marveled that Biden blamed his allies in the media for sour public opinion about the economy. As cross-examination, we presented a whole list of condescending media articles repeating essentially the same line: “The economy is awesome; why don’t you believe it?”
Well, maybe because everything is not awesome.
Nevertheless, they persisted. The Wall Street Journal’s news desk produced the latest in this media genre this week, an anecdote-heavy article titled “Why Americans Are So Down on a Strong Economy.” We read the whole 2,500-word article so you don’t have to, and we’ll summarize it this way: Other than some high prices, the economy is awesome, but people just have a bad gut feeling and worry about the future, which won’t help Joe Biden in November. Go figure.
To be fair, the article doesn’t go to the usual Leftmedia extreme of browbeating Americans for not believing media narratives. But the underlying assumption is the same.
While the Journal found some everyday Americans in different walks of life and different states to explain why they feel uneasy, we’ll point to some hard numbers in the news just this week.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that collective credit card debt has reached $1.13 trillion. That debt has soared since 2021 when it was $770 billion, and it’s risen $50 billion in the last three months alone. Why? CNBC says, “Higher prices have largely caused consumers to spend down their savings and lean on credit cards to make ends meet.”
Not to worry, blared a CNN headline, “Another shockingly good jobs report shows America’s economy is booming.” Except wages are just now barely keeping up with inflation, the unemployment rate is higher than it was a year ago as more people try to find work, and one out of five jobs created is with — drumroll please — the government.
Four years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. This Sunday, the two teams will once again play for the NFL’s championship trophy. The big difference? Price hikes anywhere from 20% to 65% over four years ago on your favorite Super Bowl party snacks. Oh, and the average ticket price to actually attend the game in Las Vegas is a mind-blowing $9,500.
But fixed prices present a far bigger problem than chips and cheese dip.
“Car insurance rates jump 26% across the U.S. in 2024,” reports CBS News. Homeowners insurance isn’t much different.
“Auto insurance rates have been rising at a breakneck pace,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate. “And though the pace of increases will eventually slow, that doesn’t mean premiums are coming down.” That’s a key point — a new, higher fixed expense.
Well, except for those lucky drivers in Wyoming, the one state where premiums dropped … by a whole $1. Don’t tell drivers in Missouri, where rates are up 40%.
While consumers can buy fewer eggs or less milk, anyone who owns a car or a home is stuck with astronomically higher expenses just to keep the thing they already own. And that goes a long way to explaining the worry among consumers interviewed by outlets like The Wall Street Journal.
Insurance rates are simply chasing material prices. Homes and cars have drastically outpaced the overall inflation rate in recent years. “[Joe Biden Wrecked the Car (Market),” we said last August. That same month, we noted that “Bidenomics Sends Mortgage Rates Soaring.”
A 26% hike in car insurance can mean an annual bill that’s hundreds of dollars higher. The same goes for a mortgage bill when homeowner’s insurance and property taxes rise. Suddenly, your asset just blew a giant hole in your monthly budget. And it’s not like selling in favor of something else will fix the problem. Houses and cars are, again, vastly more expensive than they were three years ago, and interest rates are more than double what they were, making for a double whammy when financing that purchase.
It’s not that groceries aren’t a persistent problem, but the skyrocketing fixed cost of maintaining ownership of an asset is enough to drive anyone to despair, no matter how many “Everything Is Awesome” stories Democrat media propagandists churn out.
Now that overall cumulative inflation is up 17% since January 2021, we’ll leave you with this not-so-prophetic exit quote from Joe Biden in July 2021: “There’s nobody suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way — no serious economist.”
Senate GOP sinks bad border bill, special counsel done writing report to absolve Biden, five Marines die in crash, and more.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
Good news: Senate Republicans sink bad border bill: By a procedural vote of 49-50, the border bill that was chock-full of problematic provisions that would have effectively made the illegal immigration problem worse failed to reach the needed 60-vote threshold to advance. After weeks of wrangling, the majority of Republicans abandoned the bipartisan legislation that would have also provided more aid funding for Ukraine and Israel than our own border. The Republican-controlled House had already stated that the bill would be dead on arrival, so it would have been a work of futility even if the Senate had passed it. That said, Joe Biden and the Democrats are angling for more political fodder against Republicans for refusing to consider a bipartisan border bill after years of complaining about the border crisis and after their failed attempt to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Thankfully, the majority of Republican senators abandoned the legislation after senators like Ted Cruz blasted GOP leadership for supporting this bad bill. “Here’s really what’s accomplished: It is all about political messaging,” Cruz said. “This enables Chuck Schumer, it enables every Democrat running for reelection and enables Joe Biden to, number one, to not secure the border, to leave the crisis exactly as it is. But number two, to say, ‘Well, we wanted to secure the border, but the Republicans stopped us.’ This is all about giving political cover for Democrats.” Exactly.
Biden special counsel is done writing report to absolve him: Robert Hur, the Justice Department special counsel handpicked by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate and clear his good friend Joe Biden, has completed his inquiry into the president’s “mishandling” of classified documents, and Hur’s report should soon be released to Congress and the public. We say “should be” because, of course, Team Biden needs to take a look at the report first to make sure it doesn’t say anything too critical of the corrupt pathological liar who’s currently ensconced in the White House. As the AP reports, AG Garland “did not detail the conclusions of the report from special counsel Robert Hur, but said he was committed to disclosing as much of the document as possible once the White House completes a review for potential executive privilege concerns.” According to Biden mouthpiece Ian Sams, that process “is expected to be completed by the end of the week,” just in time for a Friday afternoon news dump. The fundamentals of the case aren’t in dispute. We all know that the Big Guy had classified documents in his possession, that he had them in boxes in the garage next to his classic Corvette, and that the Walking Security Risk himself, Hunter Biden, would’ve had easy access to them. Interestingly, though, as former Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway noted: “In the Trump White House when the Mueller Report came out, we did not have advance notice. … We found out when the rest of the world found out. They should not get a heads-up.” Oh, but they are getting a heads-up, Kellyanne, because that’s the way these people operate.
Biden kills a jihadi: Finally, one of Joe Biden’s retaliatory airstrikes following the Iranian-backed militia’s drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan last month has claimed a high-ranking jihadi commander in Baghdad, Iraq. A U.S. drone strike delivered on Wednesday evening killed three members of a militia called Kataib Hezbollah. Wissam Mohammed “Abu Bakr” al-Saadi, who was in charge of the group’s operations in Syria, was killed along with two other militants in a car they were traveling in. U.S. officials believe that the drone strike that killed the U.S. troops was directed by Kataib Hezbollah. After three Americans were killed in Jordan, as well as after 13 Americans were killed in Afghanistan, Biden’s initial retaliation killed civilians rather than enemy fighters.
Five Marines die in helicopter crash: The sketchy news reports from yesterday morning were ominous, and today’s news — sadly, tragically — confirms them. Five U.S. Marines from Air Station Miramar were killed late Tuesday night when their CH-53E Super Stallion rotary-wing craft went down in bad weather in the mountains east of San Diego. The Marines were returning from training at Creech Air Force Base northwest of Las Vegas. “It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that I share the loss of five outstanding Marines from 3d Marine Aircraft Wing and the ‘Flying Tigers,’” said Major General Michael J. Borgschulte, commander of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, in a statement. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Training for war is deadly business, and though our warriors understand these risks, we’re no less grief-stricken by their loss, whether Marines in the mountains of Southern California or Navy SEALs in the Arabian Sea. “To the families of our fallen Marines,” said Borgschulte, “we send our deepest condolences and commit to ensuring your support and care during this incredibly difficult time.”
Young Chiefs fan sues for “blackface” defamation: Deadspin better hope for a good lawyer because the Leftmedia rag is going to need him. The lefty sports commentary site has been hit with a lawsuit on behalf of the young Kansas City Chiefs fan whom it defamed for allegedly appearing in blackface at the Chiefs-Raiders game on Thanksgiving weekend. As our Nate Jackson noted at the time, the Deadspin reporter in question, Carron Phillips, “decided to bully a young kid with a racist screed based on a misleading screenshot at the top of the article showing the fan turned sideways to show only black paint on his face under the Chiefs headdress.” This is despite a view of the boy’s full face showing that the other half was painted in an unmistakable shade of “Chiefs” red. “Soon after the story was published,” reports National Review, “Deadspin was contacted by conservative sports site Outkick about issuing a retraction, but Deadspin opted for a Dan Campbellesque doubling down. That decision may end up being ruinously expensive.” Let’s hope so. And let’s hope this kid’s lawyers have already been in touch with the legal team of the Covington Catholic kids.
Atlanta is a squatter’s paradise: There seems to be a common and undeniable connection between rising crime and Democrat leadership. Most of America’s largest cities are run by Democrats, and the criminal problems that ensue just seem to get worse. Atlanta is one of those Democrat-run cities facing a worsening litany of crime problems. One example of this is the growing problem of squatting in the city. More than 1,200 homes are occupied by squatters in Atlanta. Entire neighborhoods have been taken over by squatters, and, as one home-cleaning company manager put it, “I’d be terrified in Atlanta to lease out one of my properties.” The problem has gotten so bad that, in some instances, property owners have bribed squatters to leave. How has it gotten so bad? Well, as Atlanta-area resident editor and columnist for PJ Media Chris Queen observes, “Certain parts of metro Atlanta — the areas under total Democrat control — are looking the other way when it comes to crime, so it’s no surprise that criminals are getting bolder and more creative.”
Disney’s DEI double-down: Suffice it to say that The Walt Disney Company is not a learning organization. Otherwise, it would have looked at its balance sheet and its long-sorry stock price and made the necessary adjustments. If only it had done so — if only it had sworn off the ruinous and divisive policies of so-called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — it wouldn’t have attracted the attention of the anti-woke warrior who buys his ink by the terabyte. “An anonymous source just sent me this from Disney,” posted Elon Musk on Tuesday, “It is mandatory, institutionalized racism and sexism!” The subject of Musk’s post was a leaked document that spelled out Disney’s “Inclusion Standards” for General Entertainment Content. Not content with that single broadside, though, Musk let loose with an additional salvo: “Here is the full racist, sexist, etc discriminatory set of laws enforced by Disney’s DEI Gestapo.” And another one, after which Musk noted the, er, challenges that this sort of woke dogmatism presents to the creative process. “No wonder most of their content produced over the past several years has sucked.” Indeed, no wonder.
Biden EPA’s new rule will kill manufacturing jobs: On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a new stricter air pollution standard that promises to impact America’s manufacturing industry negatively. The new air pollution rule lowers the legal limit for particulate matter (PM2.5) by nearly 25%, from 12 micrograms per cubic meter down to nine micrograms. According to a 2023 study by Oxford Economics, the new strict PM2.5 regulation would result in a loss of between $162.4 and $197.4 billion in economic activity and cost nearly one million Americans their jobs. “Tightening the NAAQS PM2.5 standard will grind permits to a halt for a large portion of our country,” contended Marty Durbin, senior vice president for policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “EPA’s new rule is expected to put 569 counties out of compliance and push many others close to the limit, which threatens economic growth.” It’s not just Bidenflation that has been negatively impacting the economy; it’s also been Biden’s regulatory czars.
Headlines
Supreme Court hears arguments about whether Trump can be on 2024 ballot in landmark case (New York Post)
Yellen dodges on whether Treasury Department moved to surveil Americans’ legal purchases (Fox Business)
Marianne Williamson ends 2024 campaign after Nevada loss to Biden (Washington Examiner)
Biden mixes up Kohl and Merkel in second gaffe this week (The Hill)
Fast foodies are getting fed up with price hikes at the drive-thru (NBC News)
Trans people are happy so shut up you bigot: Survey of over 90,000 trans people shows vast improvement in life satisfaction after transition (NBC News)
“Convinced by the data”: Dartmouth College reinstates SAT requirement (College Fix)
Netanyahu rejects Hamas cease-fire demands, vows to fight until “absolute victory” (AP)
Humor: Biden urges Congress: “Make me president so I can finally fix the border” (Genesius Times)
The former MMA fighter and “Mandalorian” actress takes on Disney and Lucasfilm for wrongful termination.
Emmy Griffin
Gina Carano built a successful career in entertainment. First, she was a professional mixed martial artist. Later, she turned to acting and landed the role of Cara Dune in the Disney+ Star Wars spin-off “The Mandalorian.” That is until 2021, when Disney and the woke elites that run it decided to ruin her career.
At the time, our world was in the thick of cancel culture chaos, pandemic madness, and election malfeasance. Carano was one of the lone celebrity voices on social media who was even trying to question what was going on. She used her free speech rights to voice some conservative-leaning views, like pointing out that the 2020 election was rigged, that masks were dumb, and that transgender activists were bullies.
The post that finally got her canceled by Disney and Lucasfilm was one on Instagram. It was a repost of a Jewish woman running in the street after being brutally assaulted by her neighbors in Germany. The caption of the post read: “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…. even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
Carano did not make the post herself; she was merely promoting it. But Disney and Lucasfilm decided to make an example of Carano. After her firing, Lucasfilm stated: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Ironically, Disney and Lucasfilm were illustrating the very point that the post was making. If you dehumanize someone you don’t like, you can manipulate a culture into that very same evil. Leftists hate conservatives and their ideas so much that they will lie, bully, and manipulate public opinion to ensure that they can persecute a conservative victim without much consequence. Carano was able to join The Daily Wire’s fledgling film company, but that unjust firing continued to haunt her. How could she tackle these industry giants for blatant discrimination and violation of her free speech rights?
Less than a year later, Disney, under Bill Chapin, stepped on the rake that exposed just how deep Disney delved into woke ideology. Ever since then, the mega company has lost the trust of American families, suffered significant revenue drops in their films and theme parks, and has become the butt of many a joke about what happens to woke companies.
Carano has just decided to put the cherry on top of Disney’s disgrace. She is accepting Elon Musk’s offer to prosecute employers that used social media posts to pervert free speech protections and fire employees based on those posts. Musk, an entrepreneur and owner of the social media platform X, had his lawyers reach out to Carano, and she is now suing Disney and Lucasfilm for wrongful termination.
Carano has written a long form on X explaining precisely what led to her decision to pursue legal action. She was fired for publicly expressing political views that diverged from her employers. Her words were neither racist nor denigrating toward people of different cultural and religious identities. They were questioning the authoritarian diktats of the leftist elite.
Musk’s lawyers believe she has a case, so they are moving forward with the suit.
Disney just had a lawsuit tossed after trying to tussle with Florida and reinstate its “special district” privileges. The company also has been trying to bully Musk by pulling its advertising from X, claiming that Musk made the site “less safe.” Media Matters, a leftist organization that was in part responsible for this cry to boycott X, has since been named in a lawsuit by Musk. Media Matters stands accused of manipulating the platform to reinforce its viewpoint. This suit is ongoing.
As for Disney and Lucasfilm, there are consequences for destroying a beloved American icon — The Walt Disney Company — and making it a hollow shell of its former self. There are consequences for betraying fans, parents, children, stockholders, and business associates.
Gina Carano is just the latest bad news for the Mouse House.
A surprisingly candid NYT opinion piece conceded that some kids who thought they were trans actually grew up to realize they weren’t.
Samantha Koch
A recently published opinion piece in The New York Times sparked a glimmer of hope that perhaps those on the Left might finally be making their way to the center on one particular issue: that of restricting “gender-affirming” medical treatments for individuals under age 18.
The author of the article, columnist Pamela Paul, laid out several points that parents, most vocally those on the Right, have been contending for years while being called “transphobic” for doing so.
One of the first concepts Paul asked her readers to consider is a person’s developmental stage, particularly when not yet an adult. As illustrated by numerous stories shared throughout her writing, there are young teenagers being ushered through the “gender-affirming” model of care (which instructs medical professionals to trans now and ask questions later) who are growing out of the childhood discomfort with their bodies and, with time and maturity, are realizing that they were improperly diagnosed. And it’s not as rare as Paul and many others have been led to believe. Clarity about identity is coming to these patients after years of relentlessly being fed the false idea that transitioning was the only option to resolve their issues — often after irreversible damage had already been done. These people are discovering too late that time and maturity was the real cure after all.
This an idea that most on the Right did not need to learn from the disastrous trend of allowing children to dictate their own medical plans. Paul raises a valid concern: how the ostensibly non-controversial issue of whether kids are mature enough to make life-altering decisions about their bodies has inhibited our ability to find common ground in the care of these struggling young people.
Paul, though, couldn’t resist the leftist default of fueling political division by bringing up the name of the former president, Donald Trump, thereby communicating her leftist fealty even if she appears to be leaning right in a quest for civil conversation. “While Donald Trump denounces ‘left-wing gender insanity’ and many trans activists describe any opposition as transphobic,” she writes, “parents in America’s vast ideological middle can find little dispassionate discussion of the genuine risks or trade-offs involved in what proponents call gender-affirming care.”
Among several other points that Paul makes, she allows victims to tell their stories in detail, exposing her audience to the fact that many of these teenagers were fed misinformation about their diagnoses, the harmful and life-long effects of the drugs that they were almost immediately prescribed, and the deep regret they have for unnecessarily destroying their once-healthy bodies.
To her credit, she also includes comments and concerns from medical staff who have worked in this field and have witnessed firsthand the explosion of children seeking treatment for gender dysphoria — despite having had no history of discomfort in their bodies prior to their first doctor’s visit. These medical professionals also confirm that the fight against trans activists even to allow their experiences in practice to be shared on a public platform has been harrowing and frightening.
Oregon marriage and family counselor Stephanie Winn treated mentally struggling children with immediate use of the “gender-affirming” model, as she’d been trained to do. In 2020, however, she came across videos of young adults who once believed that they, too, were transgender but had returned to their biological sex and respective pronouns. Winn had been told that this was rare, and she thus started to doubt the approach that she had been told was the best way forward for her own patients. It was her questions, not her compliance in permanently altering children’s bodies, that nearly resulted in the loss of her medical license. This caused her to stop treating minors in her practice entirely and to lay low instead.
In her own words, “I don’t feel safe having a location where people can find me.”
As a result of the backlash, it has been difficult for parents to get the pros and cons to better navigate this minefield with their own children.
Pamela Paul outlines a long list of points. While many of us on the Right have heard all of these things repeatedly, many of Paul’s readers are likely hearing these stories for the first time. They are being asked to consider that perhaps the science is not settled and that not all doctors agree.
So, we will take the concessions as slowly as they may come, especially if it keeps even one child’s healthy body off of the medical chopping block.
By opting for two national anthems, the woke NFL is segregating black Americans from the rest of us and tarnishing a singular sporting event.
Douglas Andrews
This Sunday, some 115 million of your fellow Americans will tune in to watch a sporting event so big, so spectacular, that advertisers will cough up an average of $7 million just to run a 30-second commercial during its four-hour time slot.
Why, it’s an event so huge that it calls for the singing of twice as many national anthems as normal.
We’re talking about Super Bowl LVIII, of course, in which the AFC’s Kansas City Chiefs will play the NFC’s San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and viewers around the globe will be treated to stirring renditions not only of our national anthem but, for the third year in a row, the so-called black national anthem.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a uniquely American song, a beautiful spiritual written more than a century ago by author, poet, and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson. As such, it deserves better than to be made a political football. Because if “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is the black national anthem, does that mean that “The Star-Spangled Banner” is the white national anthem?
What could be more divisive than a segregation of national anthems? What could be more Marxist than an effort to divide our nation, black from white, rather than unite it under a patriotic common purpose?
The NFL’s decision, as Commissioner Roger Goodell and his fellow race-obsessed proponents will tell us, is an appropriate effort to acknowledge the racial balance of the league, which is around 70% black.
As columnist Larry Elder observes: “It appears we’ve come full circle since the 2004 Democratic National Convention when then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama said: ‘Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us … there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America — there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. … We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.’”
If only we lived in a country where folks were judged not by the color of their skin but by the … er, never mind.
The NFL is lucky. Its appeal is so strong, and its brand so powerful, that most of its fans will simply shrug off this pathetic racial overreach.
Elder, himself a black man, reminds us that our nation has come a long way. He writes: “There was a time when black quarterbacks were a rarity. White coaches and owners assumed blacks lacked the intelligence, leadership ability and fan base appeal to lead teams as quarterbacks. Black would-be coaches faced the same bigotry and discrimination. Today, the league and the public would not tolerate anti-black racism, and many a career — whether player, coach or broadcaster — has been damaged, if not ended, over racist comments or comments perceived as racist. This is not your grandfather’s America.”
Have we, though? If we’re placating — or are we patronizing? — blacks with their own separate national anthem, have we really come a long way racially?
Another wise columnist, Dennis Prager, says that there are two big lessons here. The first is an effort by the Left “to destroy America as we have known it,” as we also have noted. “Playing two ‘national anthems’ has no other goal than disuniting Americans. … There is a black America and there is the rest of America.”
Prager’s second lesson, though, is the larger one — the one he repeats with regularity: “The Left destroys everything it touches. High schools, elementary schools, universities, journalism, the nuclear family, young Americans’ mental health, male-female relations, religion, our borders, love of country, medicine, and medical schools — the list includes every noble institution and ideal in our country.”
And, yes, including that great American institution known as the Super Bowl.
“E Pluribus Unum is dead,” says Prager in conclusion. “For the Left, another touchdown.”
The Democrat senator from Pennsylvania is proving to be less of a hard-left radical than many had assumed.
Thomas Gallatin
John Fetterman has been quite the character. From a cognitively debilitating stroke during his Senate campaign to a months-long stint in Walter Reed National Medical Center for clinic depression to a surprising emergence as a Democrat maverick, the hoodie-wearing Fetterman is not your typical lawmaker.
Early on, conservative media pundits hammered Democrats for staying with Fetterman after his stroke had clearly harmed him cognitively. He struggled to understand what people said to him in interviews, resorted to reading questions off a teleprompter, and couldn’t string coherent sentences together. Indeed, many wondered if he was fit for the job.
Well, as they say, time heals all wounds. And in Fetterman’s case, that adage is true. So much so, in fact, that any lingering questions as to whether he’s physically and mentally fit for office have effectively dried up.
Indeed, Fetterman sounds downright normal when compared to many of his Democrat colleagues. And for as much as we criticize the political opposition, we genuinely celebrate the fact that Fetterman’s health has improved so remarkably. As much as politics can be a bitter fight between rival views and ideologies, it is important to see our political opponents as fellow human beings who, on occasion, deserve our compassion.
That said, one wonders if Fetterman’s improved condition has many of his fellow Democrats wondering whether he will start causing problems for their increasingly hard-left agenda.
Two glaring examples may have some of them ruing his return to good health: Fetterman’s staunch support for Israel, and his call for better border security and stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
“I’m not a progressive,” Fetterman said in response to criticism over his positions on Israel and the border. “I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.”
Unlike most Democrats, Fetterman acknowledges the difference between legal and illegal immigration. “It’s a reasonable conversation — until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about,” he noted. “To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania.”
Wow. Here, Fetterman sounds like a Republican — or a Democrat from 10 years ago. In other words, Fetterman actually recognizes the importance of maintaining border security to ensure the security of American citizens.
While Republicans can agree with Fetterman on support for Israel and border security, there are few other areas of agreement. Fetterman is essentially another Joe Manchin. The longtime West Virginia Democrat senator may break with his party on specific issues such as energy policy, but he ends up voting with the party more than 90% of the time.
The value of Fetterman is that he serves as a policy marker of sorts by showing how far left the Democrat Party has moved in just the last decade alone — and how far the Overton window has shifted.
Fetterman’s value to Republicans is that he is willing to break with his party on certain issues and possibly work with Republicans. However, as noted above, he’s no conservative. Rather, he’s a Democrat who still holds to some of the party’s policy positions of yesteryear that have now become problematic.
On specific policy issues, Republicans might be able to work with Fetterman, but he’ll likely prove to be an adversary on a majority of others. Time will tell, but with seemingly few reasonable-minded Democrats left in the party, Fetterman might be one of the few with whom Republicans can work.
Latest PodcastPopCon #30: Spy Games, Football Games, Video GamesAn update on Dr. K and his run-in with Chinese spies, Taylor Swift with her anti-MAGA NFL season, and Ubisoft’s “you will own nothing and be happy” proclamation. It’s all fun and games till somebody loses an eye… Join Thomas, Sterling, and Andrew as they dive in to the pop culture games everybody is playing.
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.
Why Critical Thinking Is Dead — For 10 years Peter Boghossian was a professor of philosophy at Portland State University but resigned following the college’s response to “the grievance studies affair.”
Satire: Satan Announces Early Retirement Thanks to TikTok — Despite his 6,000-year career of spreading evil and hatred across the globe, he has come to terms with the fact that he just can’t keep up with the output of filth and vitriol found on TikTok. Sad.
“[François] Mitterrand from Germany — I mean, from France — looked at me and … said, ‘What would you say, Mr. President, if you picked up the paper tomorrow in the London Times, and London Times said, ‘A thousand people break through the House of Commons, break down the doors, two Bobbies are killed in order to stop the election of the Prime Minister’?” —Joe Biden in a bizarre G7 Summit ghost claim that he had a conversation about the January 6 Capitol riot with Mitterrand, who has not been president of France since 1995
“Helmut Kohl of Germany looked at me and said, ‘What would you say, Mr. President, if you picked up The London Times tomorrow morning and learned that 1,000 people had broken down the doors, the doors of the British Parliament, and killed some [people] on the way in [to] deny the prime minister to take office?’” —Joe Biden in a bizarre G7 Summit ghost claim that he had a conversation about the January 6 Capitol riot with Kohl, who has not been chancellor of Germany since 1988
Demagogues
“We want [Republicans] to pass the border bill, and if they vote against [it], America will know who is for fixing the border and who is not.” —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
“It’s incredible to me that instead of extreme MAGA Republicans pivoting to working with us in a commonsense way to solve real problems for the American people, their focus is on, ‘How do we get Steve Scalise back to Washington so we can continue to do the bidding of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump and impeach Secretary Mayorkas?’” —House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
Race Bait
“When you talk about impeachment, a White House official pointed out that in the impeachment report, it says, ‘The committee, through these articles of impeachment, begins the process of deporting Secretary Mayorkas from his position.’ You know, I think it’s not subtle the fact that Secretary Mayorkas is the first immigrant … to serve as a DHS secretary.” —CNN’s Phil Mattingly
A Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day
“You’re getting migrants beating up policemen in the streets of New York. … We’re looking every day at the invasion of migrants.” —Al Sharpton
Belly Laugh of the Day
“Actually, Joe Biden at his age is so — he has a big vision for our country. He brings the wisdom, the knowledge, the judgment of age, as well as experience. He knows how to get things done. He’s a legislator, not a person to hold things up. And he has a big heart of empathy for the American people.” —Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Useful Idiot
“How … can the United States condemn Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Ukraine as a war crime, and yet fund Netanyahu’s war machine which has killed 1000s of children?” —Senator Bernie Sanders (VT)
“[The U.S.] criticize[s] the terrible human rights records in China, Iran, and other authoritarian countries, but ignore[s] the human rights of Palestinians.” —Bernie Sanders
For the Record
“When [Ronna] McDaniel took over [at the RNC], Trump was about to be inaugurated, there were 52 Republican senators and 246 Republican members of the House, and 4,205 of the 7,383 state legislative seats (almost 57 percent) were held by Republicans. Today, Biden is president, there are 49 Republican senators and 219 Republican members of the House, and 4,022 of the 7,383 state legislative seats (54.4 percent) are held by Republicans. Filings with the Federal Election Commission indicate that the RNC begins 2024 with just over $8 million in cash on hand, the lowest since 1993, adjusted for inflation. The Democratic National Committee begins the year with $24 million on hand.” —Jim Geraghty
“For years, liberal presidents have informed a recalcitrant public that they hold unitary power to impose the latest progressive scheme — to establish equity, legalize Dreamers, reduce climate change, or any of a dozen other left-wing goals. Yet suddenly, when the southern border is overwhelmed, when cities are filled with homeless migrants, when drugs and gangs and individuals on the terror watchlist are entering the United States, the president is helpless. A wreck. He needs Congress to bail him out. Odd.” —Matthew Continetti
“Things are becoming so strange, so surreal, so nihilistic in contemporary America that the chaos can only be deliberate. Chance, incompetence, and accident could not alone explain the series of disasters we now daily witness that are nearly destroying the country.” —Victor Davis Hanson
And Last…
“The security guard we hired to protect our home has been letting people inside the home to loot our stuff. He just came to us and demanded a raise and if we give him one, he promises to let fewer people in to loot our stuff. That’s the border bill.” —Jesse Kelly
“So you guys talk a lot … about how the border wouldn’t to be such a big deal if Congress would have just passed the immigration bill on day one. Who was in charge of Congress on day one?” —journalist Peter Doocy to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
There is much buzz about Tucker Carlson’s interview this week with Russia President Vladimir Putin, footage of which has not yet been aired. Many Americans who tune in will likely be surprised by what they hear from the Russian political leader who has relentlessly been painted as the personification of evil in propaganda targeting Americans.
So also were many viewers surprised several years back upon seeing footage of another American’s extensive interviews of Putin. Oliver Stone’s 2017 four-part Showtime series The Putin Interviews, which is focused on hours of interviews Stone had conducted with Putin, challenges the relentless archvillain framing of Putin in American media by allowing people to hear Putin address in his own words questions on a variety of topics.
Stone was a guest on the June 30, 2017 episode of the Ron Paul Liberty Report. There he discussed The Putin Interviews with hosts Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams. Watch the Ron Paul Liberty Report episode here:
House Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., provides an update on the Biden impeachment inquiry and says he expects they will be heading to court soon on ‘Hannity.’ #foxnews #hannity
America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani reacts to news surrounding Biden’s classified documents case, whether the former Vice President had the right to hold onto classified documents, and more on NEWSMAX’s “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE” Watch NEWSMAX, an independent news network with a conservative perspective, available in 100M+ U.S. homes.
Today’s 20-min top headline news brief includes:
[0:20] -John Huddy reports on escalating tensions in the Middle East after a U.S. drone strike. [Carl Higbie Frontline]
[8:05] -The battle over the border and funding bill continues. Florida Sen. Rick Scott: “I’m not going to support a bill unless it secures the U.S. border.” [American Agenda]
[12:28] -SCOTUS hears former President Donald Trump’s appeal to remain on the 2024 ballot. Insight from Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. [The Record with Greta Van Susteren]
[15:25] -Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake: “Nikki needs to bow out gracefully and join the push to get Donald Trump back in the White House.” [Eric Bolling The Balance]
[18:37] -Democrat Marianne Williamson announces the end of her long-shot presidential candidacy.
Joe Biden would make a fitting character for an M. Night Shyamalan sequel to the 1999 thriller “The Sixth Sense.” Remember the “I see dead people!” scene? Who could ever forget? And that Shyamalan twist… mind-blowing. Great for Hollywood. It’s not so great for Washington, DC.
In a string of dead people “sightings,” Biden told a story over the weekend in Las Vegas about meeting with former French President Francois Mitterrand and discussing January 6th in a comparative way:
JOE SPIRALS: “Right after I was elected… I went to a G7 meeting […] Mitterrand from Germany, I mean from France, looked at me, and said, uh… suh said… You know… What? Why? How long you back for?”
In September 2022, Biden held a press conference where he called out for “Representative Jackie…where’s Jackie? I (mumbles) think she was gonna be here…”
This, of course, was referring to USJackie Walorski, Representative who was killed in a car accident the month prior.
"Jackie, where's Jackie?," Joe Biden says about Rep. Jackie Walorski who died in a car accident a few months ago. pic.twitter.com/khdiesmEsx
Last month, Biden called out for US Representative Deborah Ross, claiming he “just had [his] picture taken with her.” While Rep. Ross is still alive, this suggests a continued decline in his ability to recall something that happened (or didn’t) just moments earlier.
Biden recognizes Rep. Deborah Ross: "Where's Deborah? I just had my picture taken with her … Oh, she couldn't be here, actually. That's not true. I got it mixed up." pic.twitter.com/mjxfcmoIxk
In a continuation of blunders, yesterday it was reported that Biden once again sees dead people. White House corresponded Jacqui Heinrich posted to X that Biden claimed former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was with him on his first foreign trip as US President and that the two discussed Jan 6. Not only did this not happen, it couldn’t have happened. Kohl died in 2017. Jan 6 was, of course, four years later.
Heinrich posted notes from the “second event” that read (exactly as written):
“And then Helmut Kohl of Germany looked at me and said what would you say Mr President if you picked up the London times tomorrow morning and learned there’s 1,000 broken down doors of the British parliament. Killed some (?) on the way in. to deny the next prime minister to take office. And you think, what would we think?”
Further, Heinrich said the “pool” describes this as the “2nd and 3rd event today”. During the “third event,” no one corrected him. He regurgitated the same fiction about the deceased German Chancellor. But at least this time, he got the French president correct.
It’s increasingly evident that Joe Biden, 81, is not mentally fit to serve as president, which means his handlers in the White House have been struggling to make the case that, actually, everything is just fine.
Supreme Court justices on Thursday appeared skeptical toward a judicial decision kicking former president Donald Trump off the ballot in Colorado for participating in an insurrection during the 2021 Capitol riot in a case with major implications for the Nov. 5 election.
During his “My Take,” Thursday, “Varney & Co.” host Stuart Varney condemned Democrats for trying to remove Donald Trump from Colorado’s primary ballot under the 14th Amendment for “insurrection” for inciting the January 6th Capitol riot.
STUART VARNEY: The Democrats claim to be defending democracy.
They’ve orchestrated a series of legal charges against Donald Trump designed to tie up and ruin his presidential campaign.
President Joe Biden continues to insist he is fit to run for another four years as president, but he may need some gentle reminders that if he won, it would be his second term and not his first
Fox News contributor Leo Terrell joins ‘The Story with Martha MacCallum’ to discuss the continuing shift in the political demographic across the nation leading up to the 2024 election. #foxnews
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