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
There are many different ways in which people claim to hear the voice of God, and there are different ways to interpret the phrase “hear God’s voice.” Many Christians have reported the sensation of “hearing God” in their hearts. This is very subjective, but it seems to be an inner sense or intention, right and wrong. I can’t speak on their experiences, but I can speak of my own. I have experienced what I would call ‘hearing God’s voice” on a few occasions. There have been times when I could tell there was not just me “sensing” something. It was “other than me.” I believe it was God. Now, this is not normative. It is rare. In my life, it’s happened maybe 2 or 3 times. And I remember each one distinctly. But this is just a subjective experience. Nevertheless, what are some of the ways to hear God’s voice?
Read God’s Word
This is the most obvious and straightforward way to hear from God. TheScripturesare the word of God (2 Tim. 3:16), and by reading it, you can understand precisely what God is saying. This is basic in the Christian faith. Read God’s word to become familiar with what He says and teaches. That way, anything that you think is coming from God can be subjected to the Bible. Hopefully, that way, you will not be misled by the subjectivity of experience.
Pray
Though this is also subjective, there is a sense of the presence ofGodin prayer. When we pray, we open our hearts and speak to Him. In a very real way, He moves our hearts to be more like Him as we seek His will, intercede for others, and ask to understand the Scriptures. So, pray and ask God to speak to you whichever way He decides.
Conviction of sin
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins (John 16:8). This is a form of hearing the voice of God. When this happens, we feel grief in ourselves because of something we did wrong. It’s painful in a spiritual sense, and it guides us. It is a real movement of God in us. So, listen to it and examine Scripture to learn what to do, how to forgive, ask for forgiveness, and treat others.
The preaching of the word of God
When you go to church and listen to a preacher proclaim the word of God in a sermon, you hear the word of God. It is an examination and explanation of Scripture – and we need it. One person said preaching the word of Godisthe word of God. So, go to church and hear God’s word preached. It is a great way to hear from Him.
Circumstance
God can work through circumstances to answer prayers. He can close the door and open a door. He directs us through the circumstances of our life, whether it be the Godly council, a job loss, an accident, a blessing at work, great advice from a friend, etc. He is the sovereign King who can speak to us through circumstances, and He often does. Praise God.
Dreams
Though this is another very subjective way of hearing from God, the Scriptures definitely teach that God spoke to people in their dreams. But once again, we must be sure that everything we think might be from God in a dream must be subject to the Scriptures. Always study God’s word and never let your subjective experiences overpower the truth of God as revealed in the Bible.
1 Kings 3:5, “In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish me to give you.”
Matt. 1:20, “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
Conclusion
So there you have several ways in which God can communicate with us and where we can, so to speak, hear the voice of God. But once again, I must repeat that the Scriptures are the final authority. If you think you hear from God, then subject it to Scripture. If it does not agree with God’s word or contradicts it, then dismiss it.
Although the priesthood had all these detailed instructions as to how they were to respond in the case of a healed leper, they never had the opportunity to put these instructions into effect, because from the time the Mosaic Law was given, no Jew was ever healed of leprosy. As a result, it was taught by the rabbis that only the Messiah would be able to heal a Jewish leper …
The three Gospel accounts that tell us about the healing of a leper are: Matthew 8:2-4, Mark 1:40-45 and Luke 5:12-16. Matthew and Mark merely state that the man was a leper, but Luke, who by profession was a medical doctor, gave more details.
To find out what Dr. Luke said about this leper, what the priests did with the leper, and how that influenced their response to Jesus’ teaching – read the rest of the article!
Mark 6:31 — We’ve read earlier about the sinfulness of wasting time, but that doesn’t mean all time has to be busy. Time does need to be stewarded, though – there are times that you need to relax, times you can invest in recreation with a friend, or times you should spend with your spouse. Make sure that you are the master of your time, and that time doesn’t run out on you before you can accomplish what God has for you!
Mark 6:48 — “… and he saw them toiling …” – Jesus sees you when you are toiling, struggling, ready to give up. Jesus may not be visibly present, but He is there! Interesting that if the disciples had not called out to Him (even out of fear), they may not have had His provision of relief!
Psalm 40:1 — The Northern Lights recorded a song based on verses 1-3.
Proverbs 10:11 — Is your mouth full of righteousness or wickedness?
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
The Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. (Acts 23:11)
Are you a witness for the Lord, and are you just now in danger? Then remember that you are immortal till your work is done. If the Lord has more witness for you to bear, you will live to bear it. Who is he that can break the vessel which the Lord intends again to use?
If there is no more work for you to do for your Master, it cannot distress you that He is about to take you home and put you where you will be beyond the reach of adversaries. Your witness-bearing for Jesus is your chief concern, and you cannot be stopped in it till it is finished: therefore, be at peace. Cruel slander, wicked misrepresentation, desertion of friends, betrayal by the most trusted one, and whatever else may come cannot hinder the Lord’s purpose concerning you. The Lord stands by you in the night of your sorrow, and He says, “Thou must yet bear witness for me.” Be calm; be filled with joy in the Lord.
If you do not need this promise just now, you may very soon. Treasure it up. Remember also to pray for missionaries and all persecuted ones, that the Lord would preserve them even to the completion of their lifework.
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:4
People try so hard in life — to change, to be successful, to impress others, to stay in control.
Many feel like they never measure up; they are disappointed in themselves.
The Christian life is union with Christ. Jesus explains this mystery in John 15 — that He is the vine and we are the branches and that apart from Him, we can do nothing. It doesn’t matter how much effort or focus we muster up or how many self-help books we read; our fruitfulness only comes from our intimate connection with Christ.
Breathe a sigh of relief. Being fruitful isn’t about trying harder. It’s all about abiding in Christ: relying on His word, depending upon His power and strength, obeying His voice and instructions, and most of all, remaining in His love.
Rather than pushing ourselves to change or to be more fruitful, the effort we are called to make is to feed on His word and to love and obey Jesus. He is the Gardener. He prunes our lives so we can be more fruitful. He is committed to remaining in us. He knows that apart from Him, we can bear no fruit. He is committed to bringing much fruit from our lives for the Father’s glory! We are loved just as much as the Father loves Jesus.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9).
Jesus proved His love for us by giving His life on our behalf. He calls us His friends. He has chosen and appointed us to bear fruit that will last.
Lord, thank You for calling me friend, for choosing and appointing me to bear much fruit for the Father’s glory. Help me to remain in and abide in You. Feed me with Your word, fill me with your life-giving power, transform me from the inside. Make me more like you. Have your way; help me to love You by obeying You! Amen.
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth.” Isaiah 50:1-2a
In this passage, the Prophet Isaiah seeks to comfort the people of Israel. So, he begins with a plea: If you want to pursue a good and holy life, then listen to me. Pay attention to the One from whom you were created, and to the wise patriarchs from whom your identity was shaped.
Isaiah’s words are poetic and beautiful, but what does it mean to listen to God? How might we listen to Him today?
Recently I chatted with experts in listening attentively and empathetically to callers who suffer from depression, loneliness, or various life hang-ups. I asked, “What does it mean to listen to God? More than that, how do we listen to God?” The responses came quickly:
1. Get still, and undistracted. 2. Pray and commune with God’s Spirit. 3. Read the Word and consider its meaning for you. 4. Seek counsel from godly people you trust. 5. Spend time in the grandeur of creation.
As follow-up, I asked another question. “What gets in the way of listening to God these ways?” One person smiled and said, “Just ignore the list above!” Upon further reflection, others offered that hindrances included busyness, computer screen time, worry, and not planning to listen.
Perhaps it is time to pause, get quiet, and listen for God’s still small voice in silence of prayer, His Word, observing His creation, or in an intentional conversation with a respected and godly friend. But, if we do that, will we listen?
Dear God, thank you for your presence. May I take steps today to slow down, become aware of your prompting, meditate on your Word, and listen well to a wise person, so I may hear your voice of comfort and conscience. Amen.
The Year Of Cascading Crises it looks like 2024 might be a year in which the crises do cascade. And the crises will not be natural disasters (although that could happen) but more like social and political disasters. Here’s what might play out over the next 10 months and the reasons why:
Exclusive: Iran Sends Russia Hundreds of Ballistic Missiles, Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, six sources told Reuters, deepening the military cooperation between the two US-sanctioned countries. Iran‘s provision of around 400 missiles includes many from the Fateh-110 family of short-range ballistic weapons,
When will IDF finish high-intensity combat phase of war? The Israel Defense Forces will likely begin maneuvering in Rafah, southern Gaza—the last Hamas stronghold—towards the end of February, and could complete the high-intensity phase of its war against Hamas by early May, a senior former Israeli defense official says.
IDF eliminates terrorist who launched mortars into Israel Several mortar shell launches were identified from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory on Wednesday. The launches fell in an open area and no injuries were reported. Some minutes after, IDF troops identified the launch point in the area of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. An aircraft eliminated the terrorist and struck the launcher from which the mortar shells were fired.
Document reveals: Hamas leader promised Hezbollah would join 7/10 attack Yahya Sinwar was certain that Hezbollah would begin attack on northern Israel parallel to October 7 massacre in southern Israel, documents found in Khan Yunis show. The IDF has found new documents in Khan Yunis, proving that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was certain that Hezbollah would open a battlefront in northern Israel parallel to the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
‘Keep God’s Land’ Movement Launches Anti-Two State Campaign at NRB The 76th annual National Religious Broadcasters national convention will be held for four days in Nashville Tennessee beginning on Tuesday. On Thursday, the convention will also see the launch of “Keep God’s Land“: a joint movement of Jews and Christians passionately devoted to upholding Israel’s sovereignty over its ancestral heartland, Judea and Samaria.
Northern Front Israel strikes Hezbollah weapons caches deep inside Lebanon after drone attack near Sea of Galilee Israeli aircraft destroyed two weapons caches of the terror group Hezbollah in the town of Ghaziyeh, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, in what the IDF on Monday described as retaliation for an earlier drone attack deep inside Israeli territory. Since it began its daily attacks against Israel last October, Hezbollah mainly attacked targets near the Israeli border in the Upper Galilee.
A 2,000-year-old ‘widow’s mite’ coin found by 11-year-old boy near Dead Sea A young Israeli boy recently discovered a coin over 2,000 years old near his hotel in the Dead Sea area, the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced. The tiny bronze coin was minted under the Hasmonean King and high priest Alexander Jannaeus during the 1st century B.C. The coin was minted during the zenith of Hasmonean power.
Gantz: Israel preparing for Rafah operation, will happen during Ramadan if no hostage deal War cabinet minister Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity party, issued a statement during a press conference Wednesday evening, saying that Israel is preparing for an operation in Rafah after it evacuates the civilians from the area. The minister also claimed that unilateral international recognition of a Palestinian state, without bilateral agreements, “a tailwind for terrorism.”
German taxi driver who converted from Islam fined over Bible quote sticker ‘Jesus is the best thing I could recommend to anyone because He changed my life. That’s why I have the sticker on my car for anyone who is interested to see,’ Jalil Mashali said. Jalil Mashali was threatened with a fine of up to 1,000 euros in October due to a small sticker on his taxi car that displays a cross and reads, “Jesus – I am the way. The truth. And the life,”
Bloomington police chief slams release of two women convicted of murder Megan Christine Cater, 25, of Lakeville and Briana Marie Martinson, 27, of Prior Lake, each pleaded guilty in 2018 to an amended charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder to avoid jury trials on a charge of first-degree murder against each of them.
Feds Seize LockBit Ransomware Websites, Offer Decryption Tools, Troll Affiliates Dubbed “Operation Cronos,” the law enforcement action involved the seizure of nearly three-dozen servers; the arrest of two alleged LockBit members; the unsealing of two indictments; the release of a free LockBit decryption tool; and the freezing of more than 200 cryptocurrency accounts thought to be tied to the gang’s activities.
NMC issues Orange alert for severe cold, China Severe weather warnings have been issued across China, with temperatures set to plummet in the south and Beijing experiencing snowy conditions. The National Meteorological Center (NMC) has renewed an Orange alert, indicating significant temperature drops of 6 to 12 °C (10.8 to 21.6 °F) in southern regions and more than 20 °C (36 °F) in some areas. Beijing saw up to 4.1 cm (1.6 inches) of snow, affecting traffic and pedestrian safety. In Xinjiang, a new record low of -52.3 °C (-62.14 °F) was set, breaking a 64-year-old record.
The 7 Other Planets In Our Solar System Will Form A Line As The Path Of The Great American Eclipse Of 2024 Crosses America The Great American Eclipse of 2024 is truly going to be a once in a lifetime event. A few days ago, I wrote about how this eclipse will pass over 7 locations named “Ninevah” as it moves across our country. Since I wrote that article, I have also learned that the eclipse will go over a location in Texas named “Jonah” too. That is pretty incredible, but what I have to share with you today is even more amazing.
Israeli Jets Attack Damascus Apartment Building, Killing Two Several presumed Israeli airstrikes rocked a residential area of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday. A wave of initial strikes reportedly activated Syria’s anti-air defenses, but there was at least one direct hit on an apartment building.
Fmr Navy Intel Cmdr Reveals Biden Suppressed Info on Previous Chinese Spy Balloons Remember the Chinese spy balloon over Montana? We’ve had hints that it was only the tip of the iceberg and we know that the Biden administration attempted to cover it up until a viral civilian’s photo made it a national issue. But now there’s confirmation that the Biden administration was aware of multiple spy balloons.
South Florida Muslim Federation Finds New Venue for Its Pro-Hamas Conference In a dramatic turn of events, the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), an umbrella group for South Florida’s radical Muslim outfits, has secured a new venue for its pro-Hamas conference…The Sheraton Suites Fort Lauderdale at Cypress Creek – also a Marriott affiliate – has agreed to allow the group to use their premises to further the spread of hatred and incitement.
Biden’s Anti-Faith Climate Has Made It Open Season On Christians—At Home And Abroad …An astonishing 436 churches in America were victims of criminal attacks in 2023, according to a new report from Family Research Council — more than double the number in 2022. From shattering stained glass and spray-painting relics to lighting five-gallon drums of gasoline on fire and riddling altars with bullet holes, houses of worship have become an increasingly dangerous target.
Does Pope Francis Have All The Markers Of An Apocalyptic Figure? I am cautious about “pinning the tail” on the Antichrist and the False Prophet. We cannot know ahead of time who these personalities are; however, Pope Francis comes close to “filling the bill” on the False Prophet. Or he may be but a “type” of that man just like there are many “types” of the Antichrist throughout history.
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” —Thomas Jefferson (1809)
On this day in Patriot history in 1732, one of the nation’s foremost early Patriots, George Washington, was born. He led the American army to victory in the war for independence against all odds, presided over the Continental Congress that produced our Constitution, and served as the first and greatest president under that Constitution. He set an example of character that too few leaders heed. —Mark Alexander
As you can imagine, the pro-death Left is calling this another version of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Emmy Griffin
In vitro fertilization is a sensitive subject. It is hotly disputed even amongst conservatives. One the one hand, many believe it is an excellent way to help struggling couples conceive a much-desired child. On the other hand, IVF has a very dark side that traffics in the buying and selling of these young souls, particularly through the practice of surrogacy.
This humble publication tends to lean more toward the perspective that IVF, for all its promises to help families that are struggling with infertility, is a practice that has more cons than pros. This is particularly true when one considers that fertility doctors often extract and fertilize a plethora of eggs, but couples only use the “most viable” ones, leaving the rest either on ice or to be destroyed. If one believes that life begins at conception/fertilization, then the destruction of these lives is murder.
This is precisely the conclusion that the Alabama Supreme Court came to in a landmark decision. James LePage and Emily LePage, et al v. The Center for Reproductive Medicine was a case in which several parents sued because their frozen embryos (read: babies) were killed due to negligence on the part of the fertility center, which had failed to secure the room where the children were stored. A patient entered that room and removed five of the children from their cryogenic baths, killing the babies instantly.
These parents were seeking punitive damages against The Center for Reproductive Medicine for failing to safeguard the lives of their children stored in the cryogenic nursery. What the Alabama Supreme Court had to determine was if those babies who were killed counted as humans and were thus protected under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act since they were not implanted in a mother’s womb at the time.
The court did not say that one can no longer receive in vitro fertilization or that one cannot freeze fertilized eggs. It said that the fertility clinic should be held responsible for the loss of life under its watch.
The Left, predictably, had a conniption. The New York Times quoted an outraged Dr. Paula Amato, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, who predicted that “young doctors would stop going to Alabama to train or to practice medicine in the aftermath of the ruling, and that doctors would close fertility clinics in the state if operating them meant running the risk of being brought up on civil or criminal charges.”
Washington Post associate editor Ruth Marcus decried the ruling as ushering in a “theocracy” because the court called the little babies created in the image of God. She then quoted the Constitution: “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Here, one must point out the obvious: Many of the Founders were Christian. This clause only applies to establishing state religions — i.e., you can’t make Catholicism the official religion. What the Alabama Court did was use the morality of the Bible by which our Constitution was guided and upon which our country was founded. Oh, and then there’s the science.
These ghouls missed some important facts in the ruling: “All parties to these cases, like all members of this Court, agree that an unborn child is a genetically unique human being whose life begins at fertilization and ends at death. The parties further agree that an unborn child usually qualifies as a ‘human life,’ ‘human being,’ or ‘person,’ as those words are used in ordinary conversation and in the text of Alabama’s wrongful-death statutes. That is true, as everyone acknowledges, throughout all stages of an unborn child’s development, regardless of viability.” That means both the grieving parents and the fertility clinic agree these frozen babies are human lives. The disagreement was over whether or not these children were protected under existing Alabama law.
The rights of these children and the rights of these parents are being ignored by the howling scribblers in the Leftmedia. Children were killed because this fertility clinic didn’t secure the door and safeguard their lives. Now, their parents can pursue justice. Even more importantly, this ruling gives these children their rightful status: That of human beings whose lives (even though they may be short) have value.
James Biden circles the wagons, appellate court strikes down NYC’s noncitizen voting law, Ford’s DEI buyer’s remorse, and more.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
James Biden circles the wagons: How are we to tell when a Biden is lying? Simple: We check to see whether his lips are moving. And so it was with James Biden, who was on Capitol Hill yesterday to testify that his big brother, President Biden, “has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest” in his business ventures. It was a closed-door deposition for Joe’s younger brother, who delivered a prepared opening statement to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. But we have to wonder whether James elicited any guffaws among the congressmen when he said this about his relationship with the Big Guy: “Because of my intimate knowledge of my brother’s personal integrity and character, as well as my own strong ethics, I have always kept my professional life separate from our close personal relationship.” But beyond the comic relief, the witness also contradicted himself. As Fox News reports: “The president’s brother initially said he was not part of a deal with his nephew Hunter Biden and business associates Rob Walker, Tony Bobulinski, and James Gilliar, according to a source familiar with the interview. But when presented with an agreement with his signature on it, Biden changed his story, saying he did not recall signing the agreement.” Florida Republican Matt Gaetz might have summed things up well when he told reporters, “There are a lot of things that Mr. Biden is saying that are directly contradicted by documents.”
Shrinkflation or inflation? Joe Biden has been fruitlessly attempting to convince Americans that the economy is good. Yet Americans aren’t buying it because everything they buy costs more. While the rate of inflationary growth has eased, that doesn’t mean things have gotten cheaper, and that’s especially so when it comes to food. The cost of food is at a 30-year high, with Americans now spending 11.3% of their disposable income on food, which nearly matches the 11.4% of disposable income households were shelling out in 1991 to feed themselves. While Biden blames shrinkflation on greedy companies, the reality is that, thanks to sustained high inflation, the cost of not only raw goods but also labor has risen. Last year, the price of meals at restaurants rose an average of 5.1%, and grocery costs have risen 1.2%. Biden blaming “greedy” companies for having to raise their prices due to his own fiscally irresponsible policies may deceive some folks, but it will do nothing to actually reduce the cost of food.
Good news: Appellate court strikes down NYC’s noncitizen voting law: New York City’s attempt to enfranchise some 800,000 of the city’s noncitizen legal residents was struck down as unconstitutional by New York’s Appellate Division’s 2nd Department. By a 3-1 majority, the court upheld a lower court’s ruling against the law, a decision Mayor Eric Adams and the city council had appealed. Writing for the majority, Judge Paul Wooten observed, “Article IX provides that the elected officials of ‘local governments’ shall be elected by ‘the people,’ which incorporates by reference the eligibility requirements for voting under article II, section 1, applying exclusively to ‘citizens.’” Wooten further reasoned that if noncitizens were allowed to vote, then they should also be allowed to run for mayor. Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) praised the court’s decision, noting, “There is nothing more important than preserving the integrity of our election system, and in today’s age, the government should be working to create more trust in our elections, not less.”
Ford’s DEI buyer’s remorse: If quality is still Job 1 for the Ford Motor Company, its leadership has sure had a funny way of showing it. In recent years, the automaker seems to have been more committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion than making the best vehicle it can make. Last week, CEO Jim Farley seemed to admit as much, telling Automotive News, “I wish I had the same laser-focus on transforming our industrial system,” adding: “The capability atrophy in engineering, supply chain and manufacturing at Ford … needed a much more fundamental reset than I had realized. I think we all have regrets, and that’s a big one for me. It’s a humbling thing.” Farley didn’t come out and blame the company’s focus on DEI as the reason for it having taken its eye off the quality ball, but he didn’t need to. PJ Media’s Athena Thorne points to the “insidious internal effect that prioritizing ‘diversity’ can have on a company,” noting that it wastes money on annoying wokeness, squanders staff time on divisive indoctrination, and prioritizes “meaningless immutable characteristics over competence when hiring and promoting employees, resulting in a less effective workforce.” Ford began buying into DEI back in 2018, and it has the recalls to prove it. But Farley says he’s now focused on returning to a merit-based system. Better late than never.
No charges for Riley Gaines incident: Remember when, last April, those Rainbow Mafia thugs assaulted women’s rights champion Riley Gaines and held her for ransom after she spoke at San Francisco State University about her experience competing against male swimmer Lia Thomas? At the time, we noted that the grueling pre-dawn practices, the six hours in the water every day, and the endless laps in the pool had no doubt prepared Gaines for battle against the most vicious of foes in a cause of surpassing consequence — the foe being the cult of transgenderism and the cause being women’s athletics. Upon her escape, Gaines let SFSU have it: “The campus police did nothing. The dean of students was there and did nothing. There will be no repercussions unless I have something to do with it. I will be pursuing legal action. These people need to face repercussions.” As to that legal action, Fox News now reports, “The San Fransisco State University Police Department has suspended its investigation into women’s sports activist and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines’ hostage incident and assault last year, saying the alleged charges are ‘unfounded.’” We guess the video evidence of Gaines’ assailants turning off the lights, physically attacking her, shouting a stream of obscenities at her, and chasing her into a room where she was barricaded for three hours is all just “unfounded.” Shame on San Francisco State University. And shame on its gutless “police” department.
Indiana parents lose custody of trans kid: We’ve come to expect the legal attacks on parents of “transgender” kids in the blue states because that’s the home turf of the cult and its cultists. But Indiana? There, in that deep-red state, a Catholic couple is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to “hold the state accountable for keeping their child out of their home after they declined to use his chosen name and pronouns.” In the case of M.C. and J.C. v. Indiana Department of Child Services, Mary and Jeremy Cox say they were investigated by state officials for refusing to refer to use their son’s preferred name and pronouns, both of which are inconsistent with his biological sex. Pursuing the case on behalf of the Coxes is Becket, a nonprofit legal organization committed to religious liberty for all faiths. The state, meanwhile, says that the real reason it took the Coxes’ child was an “extreme eating disorder” that had gotten worse due to the family’s gender dysphoria disagreement. As Indiana’s Republican Attorney General, Todd Rokita, put it: “We always protect parental rights and religious liberty. Neither we nor the Indiana courts believe that the State can remove a child because of a parent’s religious beliefs, views about gender identity, or anything of the sort.” SCOTUS: Waiting on you.
California’s reparations bills: California’s Legislative Black Caucus introduced a package of 14 reparations bills on Wednesday in its effort to seek to have Golden State taxpayers foot the bill for making restitution for America’s past history of slavery. Never mind the fact that California never allowed slavery. None of the bills includes cash payments. As the caucus’s chairwoman, Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, explained: “While many only associate direct cash payments with reparations, the true meaning of the word, to repair, involves much more. This year’s legislative package tackles a wide range of issues, from criminal justice reforms to property rights to education, civil rights, and food justice.” In short, the list of bills amounts to little other than an effort to infuse race-based welfare socialism into the California law code.
Good news: Fired TX biology professor reinstated: Dr. Johson Varkey, a professor of biology at St. Philips College’s Joint Base San Antonia-Lackland for 20 years, got his job back after he successfully sued the school for wrongful termination. Varkey was fired a year ago after the school received complaints over his teaching the biological reality of human binary sexuality. Varkey was accused of “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter” in his biology class, but no evidence was submitted to substantiate the dubious claim. What Varkey believes triggered the complaint was his statement that “sex was determined by chromosomes X and Y,” after which four students walked out of class. Varkey was represented by the nonprofit First Liberty Institute, which noted in the lawsuit that he was fired “based on nothing but unsubstantiated complaints” and that administrators “accused Dr. Varkey of an ethics violation and acted with animus toward Dr. Varkey’s religious beliefs.”
Headlines
House GOP leaders jettison promise to vote on 12 individual spending bills (Fox News)
Presidential historian reveals Jill Biden is the reason Joe ran again: “She likes power,” wants “revenge” (Daily Wire)
Biden’s dog has attacked Secret Service dozens of times during presidency (Daily Wire)
FBI reportedly investigating controversial Democrat mayor who schmoozed with Biden last month (Fox News)
9/11 fire commissioner blasts Jamaal Bowman as imbecile for peddling conspiracy theories (Washington Free Beacon)
SCOTUS declines high school affirmative action case; Alito, Thomas issue scorching dissent (RedState)
In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, former State Department official and censorship expert Mike Benz tells an alarming and infuriating tale.
Douglas Andrews
Until now, you likely haven’t heard of Mike Benz, nor visited his website, nor seen him on X. But if you watch Tucker Carlson’s recent hour-long interview with Benz, you’ll have a hard time getting him off your mind.
But don’t take our word for it. Here’s The Federalist’s normally sober-minded John Daniel Davidson: “If you didn’t see Tucker Carlson’s interview last week with Mike Benz, you need to take an hour and watch the whole thing. In a mind-bending narrative about the emergence of what Benz calls ‘military rule’ through an online censorship industry in the U.S., he lays out in startling detail just how corrupt and tyrannical the U.S. defense and foreign policy establishment has become.”
Benz, as his biography notes, “is a former State Department official with responsibilities in formulating and negotiating US foreign policy on international communications and information technology matters.” So he knows of what he speaks.
As Carlson noted in his introduction, our nation is great because of its First Amendment. “But that right,” he says, “that foundational right that makes this country what it is, that right from which all others flow, is going away at high speed.”
Carlson says that the censorship we’re experiencing isn’t being conducted by the private sector alone. As the Twitter Files made clear last year, the government has a heavy — and, we think it’s fair to say, unconstitutional — directorial hand in all this.
“How does censorship happen?” Carlson asks. “What are the mechanics of it?” Mike Benz, he says, is “the expert in the world on how this happens.”
The Internet, according to Benz, worked wonderfully from 1991 until around 2014 as “an instrument of statecraft.” During this period, he says, Internet freedom was a sort of rapid-response free-speech tool for use by our State Department and our NATO allies to help overthrow totalitarian regimes. But it reached its high-water mark with the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2012, during the so-called Facebook revolutions that occurred across the Arab world.
All that changed in 2014, when a coup in Ukraine was followed by a counter-coup. The former was favorable to the U.S. and its NATO allies, but the latter was unfavorable and resulted in the breaking away of Crimea and the Donbas region from Ukraine to Russia. Shortly thereafter, the Crimean annexation vote also went Russia’s way, and, as Benz puts it: “That was the last straw for the concept of free speech on the Internet in the eyes of NATO. As they saw it, the fundamental nature of war changed at that moment.”
The result of the Crimean vote was NATO’s adherence to the Gerasimov Doctrine, which was a Russian general’s assertion that a nation needn’t necessarily win land wars to influence nations and thereby take territory. Instead, the focus should be on control of the media — and especially social media — because that’s what decides elections.
That’s how this modern-day “Department of Dirty Tricks” — this hybrid warfare conducted across State, Defense, and the intelligence services — was born. From there, as Benz notes, it wasn’t much of a leap to go from using social media to fight Russian propaganda in Europe to using it against Donald Trump with Crossfire Hurricane, and four years later with the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, as well as fighting COVID apostasy in 2020 and beyond.
Since then, the Internet has done a 180 on free speech and has instead become a tool for speech suppression. Since then, the Internet has been used by our military in collusion with the State Department to censor Russian propaganda and also the communications of right-wing populist groups in Europe, which were growing in power and fury due to the crisis of runaway immigration from the Middle East and Africa. Then came Brexit in June 2016 and the fear that it would be followed domino-like by populist uprisings across Europe. And that’s when the Censorship Industrial Complex crossed the pond to the U.S.
Benz says that some 60 universities — including Stanford and the University of Washington — now have federally funded analysis organizations within them whose main focus is to monitor social media for trending language that threatens the approved narrative. From there, these organizations build “code books” of certain words and phrases, which they then use to censor tens of millions of social media messages with a few lines of code. Diabolical, no?
When a slack-jawed Carlson stopped Benz to ask whether the Defense Department was involved in censoring American citizens during and around the 2020 election, Benz nodded and said, “The two most censored events in human history, I would argue, to date, are the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
That the 2020 election was rigged for Joe Biden should deeply trouble the masses, but by now it shouldn’t shock anyone. What Benz reveals, though, are the blueprints. This “pre-censorship” regimen, says Benz, was conducted across 15 social media platforms and hundreds of millions of posts. He said flagged messages were “scanned and banned,” “throttled,” or had “frictions” attached to them in the form of “fact-checks,” which made it more difficult to share them.
“What I’m essentially describing,” says Benz, “is military rule.”
Thus, the rise of democratic populism became a call to arms for the Censorship Industrial Complex. As Benz puts it:
The whole push after the 2016 election was to completely invert everything we’ve described as being the underpinnings of a democratic society in order to deal with the threat of free speech on the Internet. And what they essentially said was, “We need to redefine democracy from being about the will of the voters to being about the sanctity of democratic institutions.”
All this is a lot to process and digest, but it’s about our right to speak freely, and it’s thus critical to the survival of the American Experiment. As The Federalist’s Davidson puts it, the essence is fairly simple:
Those who have power don’t want to be held accountable by the unwashed masses, by “populism,” and certainly not by the results of free and fair elections. They will not tolerate anyone, not even a duly elected president, going against the “interagency consensus” — that famous phrase of Alexander Vindman’s from the first Trump impeachment. They don’t think the people have that right, and they intend to use every tool they have to protect their power and privilege.
How does the world’s foremost champion of free speech, Elon Musk, fit into all this? Benz says the censorship industry and the national security state have him in their sights. He says they’re trying to “induce, I think, a sort of corporate regime-change through … a sort of death by a thousand paper cuts. I think there are seven or eight different Justice Department, or SEC, or FTC investigations into Elon Musk properties that all started after his acquisition of X.”
Benz says the censors are hitting Musk in Europe first, where the EU, which he says is a proxy for NATO, has conveniently banned “disinformation,” and where X has 450 million users, far more than the 300 million it has in the U.S.
We know Musk has the world’s deepest pockets. For the sake of free speech, both in the United States and abroad, we hope he also has some really good lawyers.
The White House is pressuring Israel to prevent its forces from advancing on the city of Rafah in its ongoing war with Hamas.
Thomas Gallatin
One would be hard-pressed to find anyone who could argue that the current state of the Middle East is better than it was when Joe Biden first took office. By almost any objective measure, the region has gone downhill under Biden’s watch.
Of course, that reality should come as little surprise since the Biden administration has made woke ideology the guiding principle behind nearly all of its policy decisions. The latest evidence of this is a memo signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning against using gendered language such as “brave men and women” or using terms such as “manpower,” “ladies and gentlemen,” “you guys,” or “mother/father.” These terms “can be problematic” because one could be “misgendering” someone.
That’s right: The Middle East is on fire, but Blinken has time to worry about the pronouns his employees use to communicate with each other. When did the State Department become a kindergarten? Does Blinken really believe that using woke “transgender” language will foster greater respect from our friends and, more importantly, strike fear into the hearts of our enemies?
Maybe this is why the foreign policy efforts of Biden, Blinken, & Co. are repeatedly blowing up in their faces. Maybe this is why not only do our enemies not respect us, but neither do our allies. Why should Israel, for example, respect us?
Biden has made it clear that domestic concerns for the increasingly racist and extreme leftist elements of his own party matter more than maintaining a firm commitment to our closest Middle East ally. And he has never been willing to stand fully behind Israel in its effort to stamp out Hamas. Instead, Biden has pushed back on every Israeli effort to that end.
Now, as Israel is poised to make an offensive push into the Gazan city of Rafah to root out more Hamas jihadis, the Biden administration is acquiescing to the anti-Israel contingent within his own party and the United Nations as he is looking for a way to push Israel into a ceasefire.
In the past, when a U.S. president put such pressure on an ally, that ally would have quickly responded. Not this time. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brushed off the White House’s objections as little other than insignificant political posturing from another country.
As The Wall Street Journal observes, “The growing clash between the two governments over Rafah underscores the Biden administration’s waning leverage over Netanyahu as his military continues to hammer Gaza, even as pressure grows inside the U.S. government to rein in Israel.”
Got that? The Biden administration’s goal is to “rein in” Israel — as if America’s ally has gone rogue. In truth, for the Biden administration, it’s all about politics back home. Team Biden worries that if Israel is allowed to continue and eventually crushes Hamas, it will hurt Biden’s reelection chances, specifically in Michigan, with its significant Arab-American population.
What would be good for both Israel and the truly innocent Palestinian people is the elimination of Hamas and its fellow jihadist groups from Gaza. Peace would then be a real possibility. Unfortunately, the Biden administration doesn’t seem interested. After all, there’s an election to win.
A funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral was disgraceful theater meant as sacrilege.
Samantha Koch
In a recent piece, columnist Gary Bauer observed, “Nothing infuriates people more than when a team or an athlete cheats in a sports contest.”
Well, Gary, the trans “community” seems to have taken your words as a challenge in its most recent hold-my-beer moment.
In recent years, there has hardly been a single aspect of American life that has avoided being force-fed the sexuality-focused philosophies and activism of the LGBTQIA “community.” Schools, government buildings, businesses, flag poles, libraries, restaurants, parks, and every kind of public space or building you can imagine — all of them have been decorated with Pride and trending the “transgender” flag du jour.
It’s becoming nearly impossible to find children’s cartoons without messaging about sexuality imposed somewhere in the dialogue of animated characters. Business owners and their employees are often expected to display some kind of symbol or engage in training that instills activism in the very fabric of their organization and forces them to show their allegiance to LGBTQIA issues or face boycotts, cancellation, and all types of threats.
This movement of supposed “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” has repeatedly exposed its agenda loud and clear: No space, building, business, or family is safe from participating in their chants, cheers, and ideology, and no one will escape without publicly celebrating its latest fetish or perversion.
Churches, sadly, are no exception, as one particular stunt showed. While scheduling funeral services for the prominent and recently deceased New York prostitute, drag queen, and Gender Equity Consulting founder Cecilia Gentili, local rainbow activists decided that the only site that would suffice for these funeral services would be one of the nation’s most famous churches, midtown Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Though there are claims that Gentili was baptized as a Catholic, it has been noted in several articles that his belief system had since turned to atheism.
The event attracted more than 1,000 of the city’s arguably most perverse inhabitants, which was evident by what seemed the extra effort made by many in attendance to wear outfits as far removed as possible from what might reasonably be expected for weekly Mass services.
The crowd showed up in “daring outfits,” said The New York Times. Attendees wore “glittery miniskirts and halter tops, fishnet stockings, sumptuous fur stoles and at least one boa sewed from what appeared to be $100 bills.”
The conduct during the event was about as indecent and unholy as the clothing choices. In place of prayers and silence were shouts, cheers, and literal screaming, accompanied by pleas to whoever was listening for “community” and to be “loved and understood.”
The blasphemy continued through a series of eulogies provided by a few of the guests, which included references to Gentili as the “Mother of all Whores” and similar terms of endearment.
As this story made its way across social media, many were understandably baffled as to how this event could have been allowed in St. Patrick’s at all. The answer came when it was discovered that upon booking the funeral, many important factors about this person’s identity and practicing beliefs were withheld, and that the only information provided was that he was a Catholic.
It would be safe to assume that the organizers intentionally hid the identity of the one they were honoring in order to gain access to a place that had not yet been desecrated by their signature public displays of debauchery and depravity. By doing so, they achieved their goal of defiling one of the more beautiful expressions of American history and values while doing everything they could to drive God out of it.
Dishonesty and trickery are just tools within the transgender toolbox. Their attempts to assure us that all they want is to feel loved and accepted is nothing more than a manipulation tactic, an effort to appeal to kindness and humanity that is common amongst those who believe in and worship God.
Indeed, they will use whatever doors they can open as a gateway to overhaul every decent and moral aspect of American society.
The details are more complicated, but Donald Trump has made inroads with blue-collar voters.
Nate Jackson
Most labor unions have been Democrat strongholds for decades. You could argue that unions were the original super PACs, using the dues of their members to donate heavily to Democrats and Democrat causes. A crack in that facade has appeared in the form of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters giving $45,000 to the Republican National Committee.
The gift marks the first time the Teamsters have given to the RNC since making a $15,000 donation in 2004. It doesn’t mean the union has switched allegiance, though. Unlike most other major unions, the Teamsters have yet to endorse Joe Biden, but the union did give the Democrat National Committee $135,000 in December. The RNC donation is also earmarked for use at the national convention in Milwaukee this summer, which may mean the union simply hopes to recoup that money with union labor.
Yet Donald Trump met with Teamsters chief Sean O’Brien in January and came away saying he had a “good shot” at receiving an endorsement. It is, after all, the first time the Teamsters have held interviews with the major candidates before issuing an endorsement. O’Brien acknowledged that “there’s no doubt” many of the union’s 1.3 million members are Republicans. Moreover, the Teamsters endorsed Ronald Reagan twice and then George H.W. Bush before backing every Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992. Endorsing Trump wouldn’t come completely out of the blue, pun intended, though it’s been a while.
Why give to the RNC now?
Trump seems poised to win the GOP presidential nomination, but he also has forced RNC chair Ronna McDaniel to announce her coming departure after several election cycles of failure. Last year was the worst fundraising year for the RNC since 2013 after Mitt Romney choked in a very winnable election the year before.
If big changes are coming at the RNC and perhaps the Oval Office, the Teamsters want to have a seat at the table.
Why does this matter?
Well, for one thing, Biden calls himself “the most pro-union president in American history,” even heading to the United Auto Workers picket line for 12 minutes to get some pictures last September. The UAW endorsed him last month, and the nation’s biggest union, the AFL-CIO, did so last June. Several others have done likewise because, again, unions tend to be Democrat strongholds. O’Brien also said the Biden administration has “been great for unions.”
Union leaders certainly love Democrats. Union members, however, are not blind to economic reality, and the Teamsters may feel this more acutely than others. Trump understands this, saying, “I don’t know if the top people will support me — we’re gonna have to find that out — but within the union itself, I have tremendous support.”
He’s not wrong. “Union members tend to vote Democratic, with 56% of members and households backing Biden in 2020,” reports the Associated Press. That’s not exactly overwhelming support for the Democrat.
A lot of truckers are Teamsters, and they know perhaps better than anyone the economic malaise brought about by Biden’s policies. We don’t often write about diesel, but we did note in May 2022 that one consequence of Bidenomics was record prices for diesel. When Trump left office, it was $2.63 a gallon, on its way back up from pandemic lows but lower than the roughly $3 average in 2019. Under Biden, diesel prices reached a record high of $5.81 in June 2022 before settling back to $4.10 today, still about 55% higher than in January 2021. #InflationIs3%
(Note: If you’d prefer to trust the “fact-checkers” at USA Today circa March 2021, “Joe Biden isn’t to blame for rising diesel prices.” No president goes out and changes the numbers on gas station signs, but policies matter.)
Record diesel prices caused supply chain disruptions because truckers simply couldn’t afford to take loads of goods from Point A to Point B. It’s little surprise that their union might be thinking twice about four more years of Biden finishing the job.
For similar reasons, there’s been a reorienting of sorts with the two major parties. Whereas the GOP was once considered the party of big business while Democrats were for the working man, that’s no longer true. Precious few large companies are headed by Republicans these days, having been commandeered by highly educated woke leftists instead. And non-college-educated blue-collar folks make up a larger share of the GOP electorate these days. To overgeneralize, the Democrats own the wealthy elites and the very poor; Republicans thrive in the middle.
Michigan and Pennsylvania could be in play in November, and union workers are a big factor. If they vote based on economic conditions, look out, Joe.
Latest PodcastPopCon #32: Where Have All the Villains Gone?An unnerving trend has arisen in modern films: the lines between good and evil have been blurred, and the villain has become more relatable and often even lovable.
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.
Navy Lowers Standards Amid Recruiting Crisis — The Navy’s decision to eliminate its high school diploma or GED requirement for recruits is a troubling indication of a widespread recruiting crisis.
The Gospel of Fani Willis — Examining her embarrassing testimony as well as the multiple churches that seem to be praising her to the point of sacrilege.
“Our assessment is that Iran doesn’t seek a wider regional conflict. … But they do support these militia groups that attack our forces.” —Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh
Can’t Fix Stupid
“Our colleagues just start chanting: ‘Russia hoax! Russia hoax!’ Well, what’s the hoax? … What exactly is the hoax they’re talking about?” —Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD)
“It now appears as if the House Republican majority is being used by Russia to interfere in the 2024 election on behalf of Donald Trump.” —Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY)
“The Republicans are willing to be used as assets of Russian intelligence, just like Donald Trump was in 2016 and throughout his presidency.” —Dan Goldman
“House Republicans have been acting as an agent or an asset of Russian intelligence for Vladimir Putin.” —Dan Goldman
The BIG Lie
“This whole Burisma thing was debunked during the first impeachment investigation in 2019.” —Dan Goldman
Dumb & Dumber
“In terms of President Biden, he’s got an incredible track record of success. And we just have to connect that track record of success with his vision for the next four years and make it clear that the things that he has presided over have been extraordinary.” —House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
“Joe Biden is definitely the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump.” —Hakeem Jeffries
For the Record
“Many governments around the world are using this war to push for the creation of a Palestinian state… This new state would be created because of the war that broke out after Hamas massacred more than 1,000 Israelis. So, in this circumstance, Biden thinks it’s a really good idea to reward Hamas for its terrorism. But let’s say this tragedy happens and a Palestinian state is created. It won’t be ‘Palestine.’ It will be ‘Hamastan,’ and it won’t take long for that state to attack Israel, calling additional land in Israel ‘occupied territory.’ … It seems that Joe Biden is increasingly willing to sacrifice the people of Israel if it will get him reelected.” —Gary Bauer
“It should not need to be said that the impetus for the establishment of a Palestinian state by international fiat cannot be the massacre, rape, and abduction of thousands of Israelis.” —Noah Rothman
Re: The Left
“While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats are back-filling the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes for the presidency.” —Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN)
“The homosexual lobby succeeded in redefining the meaning of marriage, which many Americans thought was just a matter of ‘fairness.’ But now this movement is redefining normalcy. Now it is telling you what language you must use. Now we have men and boys invading girls’ and women’s bathrooms and girls’ and women’s sports. As a result, athletic records set by girls and women are falling like dominoes. Girls are also being cheated out of college scholarships, their hopes and dreams are being crushed.” —Gary Bauer
Having been born again, Christians belong to God’s family and receive new brothers and sisters in the Lord. Today, Sinclair Ferguson describes how brotherly love in the church is vital for bearing witness to Christ in the world.
ONE YEAR AGO:On Feb. 22, 2023, MinistryWatch reported that Saddleback Church, the megachurch long led by Rick Warren, was ousted from the Southern Baptist Convention for naming a woman to its pastoral team, against SBC teaching. Delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meetingaffirmedthe decision in June.Read more here.
TWO YEARS AGO:On Feb. 24, 2022, MinistryWatch reported about a newly released report on the internal culture at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, which found leaders at the ministry were blinded by loyalty to the founder, overlooked Zacharias’ misconduct for years, used ministry funds to sue an abuse survivor, and misled the public. Read more here.
FOUR YEARS AGO: On Feb. 19, 2020, MinistryWatch reported that two executives associated with Olivet University and The Christian Post pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering. In 2023, California’s Attorney GeneralchargedOlivet with 14 violations of education regulations and threatened to revoke or suspend its approval to operate.Read more here.
TEN YEARS AGO: On Feb. 27, 2014, MinistryWatch reported that Bill Gothard would go on “administrative leave” from the ministry he founded. He later resigned amid allegations of sexual abuse. Read more here.
During his “My Take,” Thursday, “Varney & Co.” host Stuart Varney explains how President Biden is in “deep political trouble” and is pivoting on his policies to make himself “look good” ahead of the March 7th State of the Union address. The show host argues that the address will mark a reset to his 2024 re-election campaign.
STUART VARNEY:Two weeks from today, March 7th,the Presidentdelivers the State of the Union address.
It will be a campaign speech, and because he’s in deep political trouble now, he is beginning to pivot.
He’s trimming failed policies and expanding giveaways. He wants to look good.
He probably won’t make a big deal about that in his speech, because the “greens” don’t like it, but he’ll make up for it with claims that he’s the most climate-friendly president to date!
The State of the Union speech marks a reset for the Biden campaign. He needs one because he’s underwater on almost every major issue.
Credit card debtis now at record levels, and interest rates on those cards have soared. The result is that delinquent balances on debts, in general, and credit cards, specifically, are skyrocketing, and a rising number ofAmericans
are now trying to find a way out as the US faces a credit card crisis.
While the chart above looks most problematic for people in their 30s and 40s, an age group that touches bothmillennials and GenX, Thomas Nitzsche of MMI noted they are most worried about people in their 20s, Gen Z and younger millennials.
This group represented the fewest counseling cases in early 2022 but has recently effectively matched people in their 50s and only trail people in their 30s and 40s.
“We’re especially concerned with the increase among young adults in their 20s,” Nitzsche told Business Insider. “We expect this to continue as student loans come back online, interest rates and balances are elevated, and the cost of living remains high.”
The US is facing a credit card crisis
It should come as no surprise that the number of people worried about their debt is rising.
According to theFederal Reserve Bank of New York, total household debt in the US has risen more than 24% since before the pandemic in 2019 and now sits at $17.5 trillion.
Of that total debt, credit card balances are growing the fastest. Americans owe a record-high $1.13 trillion on their credit cards. That total increased by 4.6% in the third quarter of 2023 —the ninth straight quarter with a rise— even before the holidays, and faster than the overall debt growth rate of 1.2% in that period.
According toa Fortune calculationusing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Q2 of 2023, the average credit card balance was $5,733 per cardholder, while the average for those who do not pay off their balance every month is much higher.According to a Bankrate survey in November, only 49% of Americans carry a credit card balance month-to-month.
Americans are also struggling to pay their credit card bills on time more than other types of debt.According to the Fed, more than 6% of all credit card balances are in serious delinquency, more than double the rate seen just two years ago and still rising.
According to Ginger Chambless, the head of research for JPMorgan Chase, this represents a shift from mortgage delinquencies to credit cards.
“In the 2005-2010 period, there was a lot more delinquencies in mortgage debt, which is about 65% to 70% of overall household debt,” Chambless told Business Insider. “In recent years, mortgage delinquencies have stayed very low as they are largely locked in at low fixed rates.”
This can be seen in the chart below. During the subprime housing crisis, from roughly 2007 through 2010, mortgage delinquencies, and hence total delinquencies, rose faster than credit cards and even fell slower after the peak.
We are now seeing the same trend in credit cards, with delinquencies rising much faster than overall debt.
While this could create a parallel between today’s credit card crisis and the mortgage crisis of 15 years ago, there are a few important differences today. Employment is strong and real wages have risen in recent years. Additionally, failing to pay a credit card bill will not likely result in losing your home and the years of equity you’ve paid into it.
Still, the rise in credit card debt and delinquencies could point to cracks in the strength of Americans’ spending power.
Interest rates are not helping
What makes the credit card situation worse is that not only is debt soaring, but so are interest rates.
The Federal Reserve started hiking rates in March 2022 to get inflation under control. Credit card interest rates, already at their highest level since the mid-1990s, started soaring even higher.
Based on current balances and interest rates,which have exceeded 30% in some cases, the average American spends $1,140 every year, or about 2% of their pre-tax income, on credit card interest and fees alone.
And all of this still doesn’t consider the growing “phantom debt” of buy now, pay laterpayment plans. Americans are increasingly turning to these plans over credit cards, but we don’t know the full extent of this burden on the American consumer since these loans are often not reported to credit agencies.
ADecember report from Wells Fargofound that buy now, pay later balances were about 2.5% the size of credit cards in 2021, up 1,000% from 2019.
The use of buy now, pay later soared even more this past holiday season.According to Adobe, which tracks online sales, buy now, pay later plans use was up 47% on Black Friday and 43% on Cyber Monday.
Many people are confident that the US economy has successfullyavoided a recession— althoughsome are still worried. But while a credit card crisis may not weigh as heavily as the mortgage crisis of the late 2000s, there are signs that the soft landing could be rougher than hoped.
Are you struggling with credit card debt or taking on extra jobs to pay your bills? Contact this reporter atcgaines@businessinsider.com.
Today’s 20-min top headline news brief includes:
[1:33] -Greg Kelly reacts to arrest of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov “I can’t believe it.” [Greg Kelly Reports]
[5:15] -Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison : “What kind of circus is going on at the FBI?” [Newsline]
[7:11] -Former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik: “The left is trying to intimidate people from coming forward in the Biden investigation.” [Newsline]
[8:26] -Chairman Comer says Joe Biden’s brother “was the least believable of all the people we’ve interviewed.” [Eric Bolling The Balance]
[13:37] -Tony Marino: What about Joe Biden’s other brother?
[14:57] -Newsmax host Rob Schmitt: Liberals want every state to look like California. [Rob Schmitt Tonight]
[17:55] -Matt Schlapp, Chairman of CPAC, speaks with NEWSMAX about President Trump’s potential VP picks. [National Report]
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy joins ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto’ with the latest on President Biden shifting focus to student loans, gun control and climate change heading into the 2024 election.
Fox News contributor Tulsi Gabbard discusses former President Trump saying she’s on his VP shortlist and the DOJ indicting an ex-FBI informant on ‘Jesse Watt…
It seems odd to talk about 2021 as “the good old days”, but the truth is that the cost of living was far lower just three short years ago. Earlier today, I did an interview with Sam Rohrer of Stand In The Gap Today in which we discussed how food prices have gotten wildly out of control. One example that I brought up was the fact that a Big Mac “value meal” can cost up to 18 dollars in some parts of the country. There is no way that I would shell out 18 bucks for a burger, some fries and a drink at McDonald’s. But this is the economic environment that we live in today.
Has your income gone up by more than a thousand dollars a month over the past three years?
If not, you are falling behind.
According to economist Mark Zandi, the average U.S. household is now shelling out an additional $1,019 a month just to purchase the exact same goods and services that it did three years ago…
The typical U.S. household needed to pay $213 more a month in January to purchase the same goods and services it did one year ago because of still-high inflation, according to new calculations from Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi.
Americans are paying on average $605 more each month compared with the same time two years ago and $1,019 more compared with three years ago, before the inflation crisis began.
In the old days, I actually enjoyed going to the grocery store.
But now it has become such a painful experience.
I am sure that many of you can identify with that statement.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal published an article that explained that George H.W. Bush was in the White House the last time Americans were spending such a high proportion of their incomes on food…
The last time Americans spent this much of their money on food, George H.W. Bush was in office, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was in theaters and C+C Music Factory was rocking the Billboard charts.
Do you remember what life was like in 1991?
It was a good year for me, but it was so long ago…
According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans were spending 11.4 percent of their disposable incomes on food in 1991, and in 2022 that figure was sitting at 11.3 percent…
In 1991, U.S. consumers spent 11.4% of their disposable personal income on food, according to data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. At the time, households were still dealing with steep food-price increases following an inflationary period during the 1970s.
More than three decades later, food spending has reattained that level, USDA data shows. In 2022, consumers spent 11.3% of their disposable income on food, according to the most recent USDA data available.
I can already tell what a lot of you will be thinking when you read that.
2022 was two years ago.
Food prices have continued to soar since that time, and so how high would that number be today?
Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Americans are now spending 15 percent of their disposable incomes on food.
But if you think that is bad, just wait until it gets into the 30 or 40 percent range eventually.
Because that is where things are heading.
Of course grocery prices are already at absurd levels. On a very popular Internet forum, one user recently complained that his grocery bill for the week has now hit $250…
$100 used to be the total, when we really stocked up or picked some extras.
Prices started climbing and we trimmed the extras, it hit $120-130.
At $150 we started bitching.
A month ago it hit $180. Hell it may have only been two weeks since we hit $180.
Today it was $250 and we didn’t even get everything.
Actually, if you can get out of the grocery store for just $250, you are doing really well.
For many others, a grocery cart full of food can run a lot higher than that.
And major companies are openly warning us that more price hikes are on the way…
Oreo maker Mondelez said in January it would continue raising prices on some of its products this year, largely because of cocoa prices, which earlier in February surged past a 46-year record. Hershey said this month it expects more expensive cocoa to cut into the company’s profit this year. Kraft Heinz said inflation is moderating but that its costs are still higher, driven in part by pricier tomatoes and sugar.
The commodities analysts said some forecasts suggest the cost of cocoa in New York could reach as high as $10,000 per ton.
What’s imminent is the West African cocoa shortage will be felt across supermarkets worldwide.
If you love chocolate, you should try to hoard as much as you can while prices are still relatively low.
I am quite serious about this.
Because chocolate prices are going to accelerate quite rapidly from this point forward.
Sadly, car insurance rates are going up even faster than food prices are…
If you think your food bill is high, take a look at your car insurance.
The average cost of full coverage car insurance increased by 26% to $2,543 in 2024, up $529 from a year earlier, Medora Lee reports. That’s six times faster than overall inflation and more than any food item at the grocery store, including eggs, over the past three years.
I honestly don’t understand how most people can afford to pay such exorbitant rates.
Just making it from month to month has become such a struggle for tens of millions of Americans.
Needless to say, things are particularly rough for young people that are just starting out in life.
A video in which one young woman complains about how oppressive the cost of living is has already been viewed more than 18 million times…
“Why is it that I have to work 40 hours a week just so I can have a place to live?”
A young woman’s TikTok video, in which she makes a now familiar complaint about young people having to spend most of their time working for just a sliver of free time which they then have barely enough money to enjoy, is now going viral.
“40 hours a week makes me $2,000 a month and my rent is $1,660,” the woman continued in a video that has amassed 18 million views on Twitter. “So I work 40 hours a week so I can have a 2 bedroom apartment and an extra $300 a month that doesn’t cover my phone or my internet or food.”
But what she doesn’t understand is that what she is going through right now is the direct result of literally decades of incredibly bad decisions.
Of course many of our politicians want to strangle our economy even more. For example, Barbara Lee actually wants to increase the minimum wage to 50 dollars an hour…
Despite liberal media cheerleading and Biden’s assurances of a strong economy, Americans feel much different. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), a U.S. Senate candidate, complained in a recent debate about the “affordability crisis” in her state. She referred to a survey that showed “$127,000 for a family of four is just barely enough.” While she is right about the “affordability crisis” facing Americans, her solution is ludicrous. Lee proposes a minimum wage of $50 per hour.
Such a minimum wage would create massive unemployment as companies would lay off non-essential workers. It would also lead to higher prices for consumers and an even higher inflation rate, which has been a persistent problem during the Biden administration.
Why don’t we just raise it to 100 dollars an hour?
Then everyone would be swimming in money, right?
Unfortunately, that is not the way the real world works.
More money is not the answer, and more debt is definitely not the answer.
What we need is a productive economy that makes stuff of real value.
Getting people to consume as much as possible will not lead to anywhere good.
But getting people to produce at a high level will lead to lasting wealth.
The historic debt bubble that we have been enjoying has created an illusion of short-term prosperity, but now it has almost reached an end.
Everyone knows that a crash is coming, and that crash is going to create a tremendous amount of chaos throughout our society.
It appears that Jeff Bezos understands that things are about to change, because he has been selling off tens of millions of Amazon shares…
Jeff Bezos has been busy this month selling a massive amount of Amazon stock.
The Amazon founder and executive chairman’s sales have occurred in three separate sales and involved nearly 36 million shares to date, filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed.
The shares in the e-commerce giant were collectively worth $6.15 billion after Bezos sold them at a range of prices across six different days.
Why would he do that if he thought that bright days are ahead for the U.S. economy?
I understand that things are not good for many of you right now, but it won’t be too long before economic conditions become much more harsh than they are at this moment.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. You can connect with Michael on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and sharing his articles on your own social media accounts is definitely a great help. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds calls out the failures of the Biden administration, ranging from border security to the Green New Deal, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Vladimir Putin and Russia are facing withering Western criticism and threats following the death of a Russian political dissident, Alexey Nalvani, and the arrest of dual Russia/American citizen Ksenia Karelin, a ballerina. Silly Putin. He apparently has failed to grasp that all he has to do is declare these folks MAGA supporters and then he can do what he wants to them and the West will cheer him on.
Okay. Enough sarcasm. Let’s deal with the reality. In my opinion, Alexey Nalvani was considered the leading Russian political dissident by Western pundits and politicians, but at home he was a nobody. Hell, Marianne Williamson may have more support in the United States than Nalvani had in Russia. Nalvani’s only “political” message was to hurl accusations at Putin as a corrupt enabler of oligarchs. Nalvani offered no political vision. His social media accounts rarely delved into political philosophy nor did he offer a vision of something along the lines, Make Russia Great Again.
When Nalvani did take time to record his political views using a video platform, his message was shocking and disquieting. He described Muslims — all, not just some — as cockroaches that needed to be exterminated. Think about that for a moment and ask yourself, “What the hell are the Western politicians who are heaping praise on Nalvani thinking?” I thought all of these wokesters are supposed to be against racists. Yet, here they are mourning the death of an ultra-Russian nationalist who enthusiastically embraced the most vile racist beliefs. Not the first time that Joe Biden has lamented the passing of a racist — remember his remarks about the late Senator Robert Byrd, the former head of the Ku Klux Klan in West Virginia?
Take time to read Scott Ritter’s excellent piece describing the real Alexey Nalvani. You can find it here. Nalvani, in short, was a tool of Western intelligence. I do not know if he was witting or unwitting, but he served Western interests eager to see Russia dismantled and Putin destroyed.
As far as tiny dancer Ksenia Karelina is concerned, she is a law breaker. She donated $50 to the Ukrainian Army. So what? Why should that be a crime? So let’s explore that question from a Western perspective. Is it okay for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to contribute money to ISIS? Would it be okay for a dual Israeli/Jordanian citizen to give dollars to Hamas? Of course not. Providing financial support to groups or persons who murder your own citizens is morally unjustified. But here is the big difference — Russia passed legislation and it was signed into law by Vladimir Putin prohibiting the provision of financial support to the Ukrainian military. Looks like the Russian judicial system actually believes in the principle of enforcing laws.
The United States no longer has any moral authority to lecture or hector foreign countries about persecuting political opponents. We now know that the CIA and the FBI, along with the Department of Justice, were weaponized to attack and try to destroy Donald Trump. He still faces the threat of being put in prison for challenging a fraudulent election. An election that was rife with outside interference. Only it was not the Russians nor the Chinese — it was the Deep State intelligence and law enforcement bureaucracy in the United States.
So far over 1,200 American citizens have been arrested and charged with crimes for the simple act of walking into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Washington establishment continues to push the lie that these people attacked and bludgeoned Capitol Hill police. That is bullshit. The only ones who did any killing that day were the law enforcement personnel and none have been held to account.
Before the United States says one more word of condemnation about political oppression in Russia, it needs to get its own house in order and put an end to its relentless persecution of Donald Trump and his supporters. Otherwise, Uncle Sam should just shut up.
This is the foundation of what I presented in the following video.
Truth2Freedom's Blog 