Presented by Ligonier Ministries (Youtube):
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What is saving faith? This question is as important today as it was during the Prostestant Reformation. In this message, R.C. Sproul examines the three elements of saving faith that were articulated by the Reformers, pointing us to the benefits that we enjoy as sinners who have been reconciled to God.
Rather than opposing Scripture, the historic creeds and confessions of faith can help Christians stand unwaveringly on the Word of God. Today, Burk Parsons explains the necessity of sound doctrine for faithful Christian living.
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— Read on renewingyourmind.org/2024/02/26/i-believe-doctrine-and-life
TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Leviticus 20:22-22:16
Mark 9:1-29
Psalm 43:1-5
Proverbs 10:18
Leviticus 20:24 — God will give the Israelites another nation’s land, flowing with milk and honey, and in return He asks obedience (Leviticus 20:22). God is in the middle of teaching His people that the land will be a gift (Exodus 6:4, 6:8, 12:25, 13:5, 13:11, 33:1; Leviticus 14:34, 23:10, 25:2, 25:38). So, when He asks for the firstfruits (Exodus 22:29), it is the product of the land that He gave them.
Similarly, when God asked for an offering of gold and silver (Exodus 35:5) – where did a band of former slaves get their gold and silver? From their former masters, the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35). Why would the Egyptians give gold and silver to their slaves? The LORD changed their heart (Exodus 12:36). Even more amazing – the LORD told Moses He would give them gold and silver earlier (Exodus 3:22). So, when God asked for the gold and silver, He was merely asking for some of what He had given them.
Which is part of why God was angry with His people over the golden calf. This was not their personal property that they had labored for and deserved. He had given gold and silver to them, and just asked for part, but they used His gift to make an idol (Exodus 32:2-4).
The gold and silver was not the Israelite’s, it was God’s. He took it from another and gave it to them, and He only asked for a portion back. The land was not the Israelite’s, it was God’s. He took it from another and gave it to them, and all He asked was for the firstfruits to be given back to Him. So, when the LORD asks you to give of your time, talent, and treasure to accomplish the Great Commission, all He is asking for is a portion of what He has already given to you.
To be fair, the gold, silver, and land were not the Egyptians or the Canaanites – Psalm 24:1 tells us that the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.
Leviticus 21:9 — There are only two Mosaic statutes that contain as a penalty human immolation, and both are sexual crimes. In Revelation 18:8, Babylon the harlot will also be burned with fire.
Leviticus 22:10 — We have been told who can eat of the holy thing and who can’t eat of the holy thing. However, there was a “loophole” that allowed David’s men to eat of it (I Samuel 21:3-6). Jesus used this action (while not lawful, was not totally illegal – there wasn’t a corporal or capital punishment assigned) as a proof for His actions (Matthew 12:3-4).
Mark 9:6 — If you don’t know what to say, you’re better off saying nothing!
Psalm 43:5 — More promises for the hurting soul. Sometimes you need to give a “pep talk” to yourself: Hope in God!
Proverbs 10:18 — More warnings about the fool – may we avoid hatred, lying, and slander!
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For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)
When we know the Lord, we receive the forgiveness of sins. We know Him as the God of grace, passing by our transgressions. What a joyful discovery is this!
But how divinely is this promise worded: the Lord promises no more to remember our sins! Can God forget? He says He will, and He means what He says. He will regard us as though we had never sinned. The great atonement so effectually removed all sin that it is to the mind of God no more in existence. The believer is now in Christ Jesus, as accepted as Adam in his innocence; yea, more so, for he wears a divine righteousness, and that of Adam was but human.
The great Lord will not remember our sins so as to punish them, or so as to love us one atom the less because of them. As a debt when paid ceases to be a debt, even so doth the Lord make a complete obliteration of the iniquity of His people.
When we are mourning over our transgressions and shortcomings, and this is our duty as long as we live, let us at the same time rejoice that they will never be mentioned against us. This makes us hate sin. God’s free pardon makes us anxious never again to grieve Him by disobedience.
“And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 29:42-43
He had been found guilty of a heinous crime of the murder of a young girl.
He was said to have found Christ while in prison and was seen on his knees asking for forgiveness. Only God knows how sincere he was, but his last statement was Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The point is that it is never too late nor a life too filled with sin to accept salvation. A major turning point in Christian history occurred when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. The result was the end of persecution of Christians and the beginning of Christendom.
Now I am not suggesting that one live a sinful life and then plan on a deathbed conversion. I am reminded of the old bumper sticker: “If your plan is to turn to God at the 11th hour, pray you don’t die at 10:30”
At the end of his life, blind and humbled, Samson finally realized his utter dependence upon God. He was blind, but now he could see. No matter how far you’ve fallen away from God, no matter how big you’ve failed, it’s never too late to humble yourself and depend on God. Ultimately, through his sacrificial death, Samson turned his miserable mistakes into victory. Let Samson’s example persuade you; it’s never too late to turn to God.
The most high-profile deathbed last-minute conversion to Christ in the Bible is the case of the criminal crucified alongside Jesus (Luke 24:39-43). Only moments before his own death, this criminal had been an unbelieving mocker of Christ. However, at the last moment the criminal repented and acknowledged Jesus as the heavenly King. The Lord gave him the blessed promise, “_Today you shall be with Me in Paradise_.”
Some people say they have sinned too long and too bad to ever be accepted by Christ. Don’t you believe it. Your sin is never too great and the hour is never too late, but why take a chance? Besides, living a Christian life on this side of heaven is a joyous experience that you don’t want to miss.
None of us can go back and make a brand new start, but anyone can start from where they are and make a brand new ending.
by John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
• It’s Never Too Late – by Fab Batsakis
• Never Too Old – by M. Jantzen
• Better Late Than Never– by Terrie Todd
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The post It Is Never Too Late can be found online at Daily Thoughts about God.
Do any of those describe how you are feeling? Has your bucket of joy, peace, and faith been drained and now you’re looking for an answer, a refill?
You say to yourself, “What’s missing?”
So, you begin to search for that elusive “something” to fill up your bucket. You decide to go on vacation in search of “it.” Maybe “it” is in the soothing sands of the beach, with the ocean’s gentle waves lapping at the shore. But the remedy doesn’t work. When you return home, all the vacation drains out of your bucket. You’re still empty. “It” was not in the vacation.
Next, you buy a new car, thinking “it” will pump up your ego. But that does not fill your void. Your bucket is still empty. “It” was not in the car.
You purchase a new house to inflate your pride, but the house just cost you more money and didn’t fill your bucket. “It” was not in the house.
Then, you go after a higher paying job because you need more money. You think the power of your new job will appease your empty bucket. But now, you work late every night to pay off the car and the house you couldn’t afford, which only causes more problems in your marriage. Your bucket remains empty. Work was not “it.”
So, you begin to bar hop. All the drinks do not contain “it” until you meet a lovely young thing or a handsome young hunk. That pumps you up libido, for a while. But all the air escapes from your balloon one night when you come home from your tryst and find that all your family has moved out.
Then, the words of the old song hit you in the face, “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” And your bucket seems even emptier. An affair was not “it.”
So, you find yourself upon your bed, in tears, wondering where it all began, where you went wrong. Reaching back into your memory box, you pull out the memory of you on your knees beside your bed, saying your prayers.
You slide off the bed and onto the floor, with knees popping and creaking from years of not bending. You bow your head and begin to sob as you seek the One True Answer…Jesus. The One you have so long ignored. The One you have been searching for and didn’t even know it. The One Who loves you more than anything, enough to die for you.
You pour out your heart to Him. He comes and kneels beside you, wrapping His loving arm around your heaving shoulders and whispers in your ear…
“What you needed was not to be found in your vacation, nor in your new car or new house, or all the other things you used as a substitute, for what you needed was My Love.
“I’ve been here all along, kneeling by your bedside, night after night, waiting for you to kneel and find Me once again. Now, you’ve recognized your need.
“Let’s get rid of all that stands in the way between us, separating us from that special companionship you so desperately need and I so desire to have with you. You have found your Answer. “It” is Me, the Lover of your soul. I am your dwelling place. Never leave My side again.”
You fall at His feet in praise and say as David did, “You have shown me the way of life, and You will fill me with the joy of Your presence.” (Acts 2:28 NLT quoted from Psalm 16:11)
Whatever you have been through or are going through right now, I pray that your bucket be filled and runneth over with faith, hope, joy, and love in Jesus.
By Lynn Mosher
Used by Permission
• The Walk of Obedience – by Mary Pinckney
• Blessed Obedience – by Idelette McVicker
• God Requires Risky Obedience – by Jon Walker
The post Is Your Bucket Empty? can be found online at Daily Thoughts about God.
No two-state solution after Oct. 7, David Friedman tells religious broadcasters
As the Biden administration repeatedly pushes for a “two-state solution,” which more than half of Israelis oppose, David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, unveiled his plan for peace at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tenn. Given how so many countries are turning on the Jewish state, it is untenable to do nothing about the Palestinian issue, but a two-state solution is unrealistic, Friedman said at the Feb. 22 event. “Give up all the fantasies,” he said. Jerusalem, Washington and Abraham Accord countries would lead the plan, with Israel retaining sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
Attacks On Churches Spike Nearly 800 Percent As the Left Pushes Its Anti-God Narrative On Americans
According to a Family Research Council (FRC) report, attacks on churches spiked 800 percent in less than six years, noting that they all had political overtones, with at least 12 including satanic imagery or symbols. The report highlighted 915 instances of violence in churches in the United States, … Between January and November of 2023 alone, 436 acts of violence occurred in churches nationwide.
Ukraine floats possibility of inviting Russia to peace summit
Ukraine and its foreign partners could invite Russia to a future peace summit to discuss an end to Moscow’s two-year-old invasion on Kyiv’s terms, a senior Ukrainian official said on Sunday. Switzerland will host a summit to discuss a vision for peace by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which could be handed to Russia during a second meeting at a later date, said Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
Precision strikes on Iranian, Hezbollah assets in Syria send stark warning to Tehran
In 2024 alone, 35 members from Hezbollah, IRGC and pro-Iran militias eliminated in Israel-linked strikes on Syrian soil; IDF also found two stone structures within Israeli borders near Syria
Dozens of Nukhba terrorists who participated in 7/10 massacre arrested in Khan Yunis
on Sunday evening …. dozens of Nukhba terrorists who participated in the massacre on October 7 were arrested yesterday in a refugee camp in western Khan Yunis. According to the report, sixty terrorists were arrested in the military operation, including many who were involved in the imprisonment and captivity of Israeli hostages in the southern Gaza Strip.
Arab peace activist: From the river to the sea means mass murder of Jews
Alshareef said, “I would like to say one thing to Hamas sympathizers, ‘I am really sorry to disappoint you in your mission to prove that the enmity between Arabs and Israelis, Muslims and Jews is eternal. It is not and peace is the only way forward and the Abraham Accords have proved that.” “When I see the flag of Israel, I don’t see a flag of a country that is 75 years young, 3,000 years old. I see a flag that has heritage for prophets and kings,
Inside the pressure cooker: Terrorists eliminated in standoff with IDF
The terrorists had previously taken up a defended position inside a building being used as Hamas infrastructure and fired at IDF troops. The following battle dragged into a prolonged siege
Palestinian Authority gov’t could resign by Tuesday – report
Arab media reported Sunday that a new, technocratic Palestinian government may be formed as soon as this week that could run Gaza after the war as well as the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) territory in Judea and Samaria.
Israel to hammer Hezbollah if Gaza ceasefire reached – Defense Minister
Israel will ramp up operations against the Hezbollah terrorist organization in southern Lebanon if Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire deal as part of an agreement to secure the release of hostages, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday. “We are planning to increase the firepower against Hezbollah, which is unable to find replacements for the commanders we are eliminating,” Gallant said.
Israel will be just ‘weeks away’ from ‘total victory’ over Hamas after Rafah operation, says Netanyahu
Israel’s ground operation in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of a major breakthrough that will lead to the end of the current war in a matter of weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview aired on Sunday.
EXPERT: Star of Jacob will appear on Friday, September 27
The Zohar describes an unmistakable sign that heralds the appearance of the Messiah: the Star of Jacob first described in the Bible by Balaam. The Zohar gives a precise day and date that this pre-Messiah astral body will appear and recently, astronomers confirmed that on that precise date, a comet will appear in the heavens.
Solar eclipse of Biblical proportions will transverse the continental United States
On April 8, a total solar eclipse will transverse the continental US, passing from the southwest California border with Mexico and crossing to the northwestern United States. While skeptics claim this astronomical phenomenon has no spiritual significance, others note that the last eclipse that transversed the United States ushered in a catastrophic ……
Unusual US request of Israel: ‘Don’t harm Hamas police officers’
The U.S. government has demanded that Israel stop targeting Hamas policemen, claiming they are “the only option to escort humanitarian aid convoys,” Israel, however, does not intend to change its strategy and plans to target any Hamas terrorist regardless of his position.
In effort to ease tensions with Egypt, Israel will present plans for impending offensive Rafah operation
Israel intends to present Egypt with its expected military operation plans against Hamas forces in Rafah to reassure the neighboring country that it will not be negatively affected by the fighting. On Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the operational plans for its impending ground operations in Rafah would include the evacuation of civilians.
Israeli Messianic and Christian leaders call for 3 days of prayer and fasting
A group of Christian and Messianic faith leaders in Israel has called for three days of repentance, fasting and prayer for the nation this week, beginning Sunday, Feb. 25. “Our nation is passing through, what could be, the most critical hour that we have faced in our history since our establishment as a modern State in 1948,” begins the statement explaining the background and the reasons for the nationwide call. Israel is facing war on multiple fronts, within and without, and has suffered “great losses and casualties,
Soaring temperatures could shatter over 300 temperature records this week
An unseasonable warmup will continue to spread throughout most of the U.S. this week, with high temperatures from Texas to the Midwest feeling more like May than the end of meteorological winter.
Powerful storm could bring blizzard conditions to West, severe weather to Midwest
The FOX Forecast Center is tracking a powerful cross-country storm expected to begin Sunday in the West, bringing heavy mountain snow and possible blizzard conditions to higher elevations before continuing to push off to the east, where millions in the Midwest will be at risk of severe weather.
Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis among 48 million at risk of severe weather
A powerful cross-country storm is expected to begin impacting the U.S. with heavy mountain snow in the West starting later Sunday, but as the storm advances off to the east, it will bring the risk of severe weather to major cities in the Midwest like St. Louis, Chicago and Indianapolis by Tuesday.
Tucker Carlson Poses an Unexpected COVID Vaccine Question
Rancourt and his fellow scientists conducted an in-depth, post-vaccine analysis, looking at over a dozen countries. What they found is that that all-cause mortality increased every time the COVID-19 shots were deployed.
New York Elementary School Hands Out ‘Black Lives Matter’ Coloring Book Promoting Transgender Affirmation
A New York elementary school is handing out Black Lives Matter coloring books promoting transgender “affirmation” to children in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Drought worsens in Mediterranean; Barcelona struggles with water shortages
A severe drought in parts of Spain, Italy and North Africa may get even worse with forecasters warning hot and dry months lie ahead.
New report details atrocities of persecution in Nigeria with 8,000 Christians killed last year alone
A new report detailing the atrocities of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria reveals that more than 8,000 Christians were killed in 2023 by Islamic militants in a bloodbath that international watchdogs are calling an ongoing genocide.
Texas Celebrates Taking Island Back From Cartel After Military Operation
Texas officials are celebrating the seizure of an island near the United States-Mexico border described as a “safe haven” for cartel drugs and weapons.
Google Gemini is accused of being racist towards white people: Users claim the AI bot refuses to create images of Caucasian people – after asking for photos of Popes, Vikings, and country music fans
Google Gemini is accused of being racist towards white people: Users claim the AI bot refuses to create images of Caucasian people – after asking for photos of Popes, Vikings, and country music fans
Doctor warns WHO pandemic treaty includes ‘gain of function’ data sharing
The infamous WHO Pandemic Treaty being pushed by left-wing globalists includes provisions for “gain of function” data sharing between nations, a move that would make it impossible to trace the source of future biolab leaks, should any occur, warns a medical doctor writing under the pen name “A Midwestern Doctor.”
Mercenaries or Volunteers? American Citizens Are Fighting for Both Russia and Ukraine
During these two years of war in Ukraine, people from all over the world felt compelled – either by ideology, compassion, or expectations of monetary gains – to head for the theater of hostilities to engage in combat for one of the warring sides.
Enemy Within: U.S. Charges Two Foreign Nationals for Trafficking Iranian Oil to Fund Islamic Terrorism
Curiously, despite the high-profile nature of this case and the serious charges levied against Shaoyun Wang and Mahmood Rashid Amur Al Habsi, it appears no U.S. agency or news outlet has released any photographs of the alleged terrorists.
Great Replacement: EU Spokesperson Claims ‘Arabic is a European Language’ on ‘Mother Language Day’
Luis Miguel Bueno’s controversial claim that Arabic is a ‘European language’ on Mother Language Day sparks heated debate over the Great Replacement theory.
We must start treating ourselves and our children as wonderful creations of God
…the spiritual battle that has raged throughout history but became very evident during the covid “pandemic”. Early on, in March 2020, we observed not only the shutdown of most of society but, perhaps most striking was, what happened with our churches. We were told it was too dangerous to gather together and worship God. Imagine that. The God who tells us we have nothing to fear and these so-called church leaders folded like a cheap suit when called to close by political leaders.
Israeli Navy carries out ‘extensive’ drills in preparation for potential war in north
The Israeli Navy’s fleet of missile boats carried out “extensive” exercises over the past week, the IDF said on Friday, as the military prepares for potential war in the north while Israel warns that its patience for a diplomatic solution is running out.
MK Ohad Tal: ‘Establishing Palestinian state would endanger Israel’
Netanyahu: Total victory in Gaza will be ‘weeks away’ once Rafah operation launched
Israeli Forces Will Move Into Rafah, Cease-Fire Deal or Not, Netanyahu Says
PM says ceasefire would only delay ‘somewhat’ Israeli military offensive in Rafah
Jake Sullivan says U.S., Israel have agreed to ‘basic contours’ of a cease-fire deal
Netanyahu: ‘Delusional claims’ from Hamas stopping cease-fire deal, ‘They’re on another planet’
IDF presents plan for evacuation of Rafah, gets approval for aid to south Gaza
Gaza death toll set to pass 30,000, as Israel prepares assault on Rafah
Report card: Israel to file compliance update to ICJ over genocide charges
Hagari: Hamas deeply embedded among civilians, stages attacks from humanitarian zones
IDF Captures Terrorists Hiding Among Gaza Civilians Fleeing Combat Zone
Talks on Gaza hostages, truce deal said to resume in Qatar amid cautious optimism
With Israel’s team headed for Qatar, Smotrich opposes deal, PM Netanyahu said toughening stance
British Palestinian ‘received death threats’ for advocating peace with Israel
US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli embassy in Washington
Tuesday’s Democratic Primary in Michigan Becomes Referendum on Biden’s Gaza War Stance
French lawmakers demand ban on Israeli flag, anthem at Paris Olympics
In rebuttal of Lula, Brazil’s ex-leader Bolsonaro waves Israeli flag at mass rally
Massive Crowd Protests Socialist Brazilian President Lula Over Targeting Trump Ally, Israel Stance
Gallant: Israel will increase strikes on Hezbollah even during potential Gaza truce
Two Hezbollah members killed as Israel allegedly strikes Syria-Lebanon border
Hostile aircraft siren activated in Golan Heights
US says Houthis fired ballistic missile at tanker in Gulf of Aden, but missed
Burkina Faso church attack leaves at least 15 dead in a Burkina Faso village
Gunmen Kill 15 Christians Who Were Gathering for Prayer
Is democracy dying in Africa? Senegal’s slide into chaos bodes ill in a year of key elections
Putin critic Alexei Navalny was ‘cold tortured’ before death, claims humanitarian group
Zelensky says 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed since war began 2 years ago
Western Europe No Longer Dependent on Russian Oil
NATO Chief Says Ukraine Will Join the Alliance
The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin
Former NATO commander says Biden sanctions must ‘target Putin personally’
Ukraine Needs Congress to Approve Aid within a Month, Zelenskyy Says
Biden adviser says Putin ‘major beneficiary’ if Speaker Johnson fails to have Ukraine aid vote
Schumer and Johnson brawl over federal spending as deadline nears
Federal government to begin the formal process of preparing for partial shutdown – again
Lincoln’s pardon of Biden’s great-great-grandfather draws comparison to current family legal trouble
CPAC Poll: Biden Won’t Be the Candidate, Michelle Obama Replacement
Ex-NBC reporter says Trump supporters under ‘toxic delusion in a toxic cult,’ Biden shouldn’t run
Billionaire-backed Koch network halts Nikki Haley campaign funding after South Carolina loss
Nikki Haley says ‘I have a duty’ to stay in race despite latest loss to Trump
SpaceX May Be Withholding Satellite Internet in Taiwan, Congressman Contends
5.6 magnitude earthquake hits near Pelabuhanratu, Indonesia
5.2 magnitude earthquake hits near Pelabuhanratu, Indonesia
Popocateptl volcano in Mexico erupts to 22,000ft
Ruiz volcano in Colombia erupts to 22,000ft
Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupts to 14,000ft
Santa Maria volcano in Guatemala erupts to 24,000ft
Semeru volcano in Indonesia erupts to 15,000ft
Reventador volcano in Ecuador erupts to 14,000ft
Marapi volcano in Indonesia erupts to 12,000ft
Mexico City: One of the world’s biggest cities may be just months away from running out of water
‘They’re Giving Apartments to Illegals’: Hecklers Disrupt AOC’s Green New Deal Town Hall
Arizona one step closer to making some fentanyl-related deaths into possible murder charges
Bishop Strickland: Separation of Church, State ‘Weaponized’
Disney’s New X-Men ’97 Cartoon Will Feature ‘Non-Binary’ Character
“Blueprint” Reveals How Radicals are Infiltrating Government to Push Abortion, Transgender Agenda
Gov. Whitmer: ‘Reproductive Freedom’ Is at Risk in Second Trump Term
Newsom: GOP Wants National Abortion Ban, It’s a ‘War on Women’
Gavin Newsom launches red-state abortion ads over ‘war on travel’
Alabama IVF ruling divides devout Christians: ‘Fewer children will be born’
Abbott Backs IVF, Notes Texas ‘Is a Pro-life State’
Pro-life states consider abortion exceptions in cases of fatal fetal anomalies
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.
“Strive to be the greatest man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself.” —Benjamin Franklin (1747)
| Fellow Patriots, on this day in 1993, Islamofascist terrorists detonated a bomb in the garage of the World Trade Center, killing six. A few years later, more jihadis would take down both WTC towers, killing thousands. The U.S. has faced these threats for decades and must remain vigilant. —Mark Alexander |
The GOP is still incredibly divided, however, and that may not bode well for November.
Nate Jackson
For some time now, the question has not been whether Nikki Haley would lose the GOP presidential primary in her native South Carolina but by how much. We got the answer Saturday in the form of a 20-point drubbing at the hands of Donald Trump.
It’s bad enough for any presidential candidate to lose his or her home state, which usually signals that it’s time to pack up the tents and go home. But beyond winning 59.8%, Trump’s win was a blowout in a key metric — because of South Carolina’s structure for awarding delegates, he won 47 of the state’s 50 delegates. Haley, the former two-term governor of the Palmetto State, won 39.5% of the vote but only three delegates from the Charleston-based 1st Congressional District.
There are other fascinating numbers. Exit polls showed that more voters think that the 77-year-old Trump has the stamina for the presidency than the 52-year-old Haley, even though her youth and energy compared to two old men is a central plank in her candidacy. More South Carolina Republicans think Trump will beat Joe Biden than think Haley will, though electability is also central to her rationale (she does, in fact, lead Biden by a larger margin than Trump does). Perhaps most telling are voters’ views of the 2020 election: By overwhelming margins, Trump’s supporters think he actually won, while Haley’s backers think Biden did. That’s a major disconnect.
Undeterred, Haley promised to continue the race. “I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” she declared.
As for the primary contests, “I’m an accountant. I know 40% is not 50%,” she said. “But I also know 40% is not some tiny group. There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative.” Only four states have voted so far, and Michigan’s primary is tomorrow. “In the next ten days, another 21 states and territories will speak,” she added. “They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate. And I have a duty to give them that choice.”
Ever since Trump announced his third presidential bid just after the 2022 midterms, he has been effectively running as the incumbent. He has the most devoted followers in all of politics, and the entire narrative coming from everywhere is that he is Inevitable™. Yet even his big primary victories are with 50-some-odd percent of the vote, not 80% or 90% as an incumbent ought to expect.
That cuts both ways. Would the Republican Party still be divided if Haley had just read the writing on the wall, graciously bowed out, and got behind the former president? Then again, would the party be so divided if Trump showed more interest in wooing skeptical voters than coercing a coronation?
“I don’t care about a political future,” Haley said before the primary. “If I did, I would have been out by now.” Does she care about the party? At some point, the two sides of the GOP are going to have to reconcile if there’s to be any shot of beating the goose-stepping Democrats in November. Virtually the entire establishment has lined up behind Trump. A lot of voters have not.
Meanwhile, as expected, Ronna McDaniel announced her resignation from the Republican National Committee after years of failing to deliver winning results and after Trump pointedly criticized her for it. (Pop quiz: If someone asked who the head of the Republican Party has been for the last few years, would you answer McDaniel or Trump?)
Trump endorsed North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley to succeed her, along with his handpicked co-chair — his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who conveniently argues that the RNC ought to help pay Trump’s mounting legal fees and that Republican voters would support such a move. Based on Trump’s solidifying support in the face of all of his legal travails, she’s probably right. “That’s why people are furious right now,” she said. “And they see the attacks against him. They feel like it’s an attack not just on Donald Trump but on this country.”
For his part, Trump pointedly didn’t say anything about Haley in his victory remarks Saturday, focusing instead on Biden. “We’re going to look at Joe Biden,” he said, “look him right in the eye, ‘Joe, you’re fired. Get out, get out, Joe, you’re fired.”
That most certainly needs to happen, but strangely enough, it’s not going to be easy.
Venezuelan illegal arrested for murder, NY AG gets her pound of flesh from NRA, massive cyberattack hits U.S. healthcare system, and more.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.
Whether the vehicle is Artificial Intelligence or TV advertising, the Left is intent on pushing a racial reality that doesn’t exist.
Douglas Andrews
Ask Google’s brand-new Gemini AI project for an image of a Founding Father, and it spits out a black guy with a powdered wig in a Continental Army uniform. Ask for an image of a Nazi, and it serves up yet another black guy — or maybe an Asian woman in gray Wehrmacht gear. Anything but a blond-haired, blue-eyed master-racer. Ask for an image of the pope, and you might just get the world’s first female pontiff of color.
What an abject embarrassment for the company that long ago jettisoned its “Don’t Be Evil” motto.
And this is all because Google is an evil, hard-left company, and, more specifically, because its Gemini Experiences Senior Director of Product Management, Jack Krawczyk, is an anti-white racist clown. “White privilege is f***ing real,” he once shrieked on Twitter. “Do your part in recognizing bias at all levels of egregious.”
Talk about egregious. Krawczyk seems bent on disappearing white people in much the same way today’s TV commercials have done it. But now that he’s been exposed, he’s scrambling: “We’re working to improve these kinds of depictions immediately,” Krawczyk said. “Gemini’s AI image generation does generate a wide range of people. And that’s generally a good thing because people around the world use it. But it’s missing the mark here.”
You’re telling us. Gemini, Google says, is thus paused until further notice.
This brings us to the broader question of social engineering: Why does the Left insist on creating a reality that doesn’t exist? To be sure, it isn’t just Google. Anyone who’s paid attention to television advertising during the past 30 years or so has seen this same effort at work. Do corporate advertisers and their agencies believe that by overpopulating their ads with black actors, they can somehow atone for the sins of slavery and segregation and Jim Crow Eagle? Are they terrified of being called out as racists? Is this some sort of mad over-correction from that year when someone noticed that there were no black actors or movies nominated for the Oscars?
Why, for example, does Jake Version 2.0 from those tiresome State Farm commercials behave like a late-1980s “Cosby Show” reject? Where’s the hip-hop? Where’s the authenticity? Are these advertisers insistent on ramming “diversity” down our throats?
In a word, yes.
Why does every TV ad featuring a friend group of more than two people absolutely positively have to have a black person in it? What are the odds that a white guy’s two best buddies are a black guy and an Asian guy?
And why does every other couple in a TV ad have to be biracial? Are white people who marry other white people to be looked down upon? Are they less virtuous for having fallen in love with another person who happens to be white? According to the U.S. Census, the nation’s percentage of interracial or interethnic households grew from 7.4% to 10.2% from 2000 to 2012-2016. So why don’t TV commercials reflect this ratio, this reality?
Why is it that seemingly every other couple is interracial rather than every tenth one? It seems to us that this is — aside from a socially engineered effort to depict a world that doesn’t exist and isn’t necessarily any better or worse than the one that does exist — racial discrimination against white actors and actresses. Where’s the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when we need it? We thought it was responsible “for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex,” and on and on and on.
Here’s what Mr. Racial Jungle You Ain’t Black Gonna Put Y’all Back In Chains himself had to say about it in June 2021, when he was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to pander to blacks and shame whites at the 100-year anniversary of a notorious racial massacre:
Although I have no scientific basis for what I’m about to say, but those of you who are over 50, how often did you ever see advertisements on television with black and white couples? Not a joke. I challenge you, find today when you turn on the stations, sit on one station for two hours, and I don’t how many commercials you’ll see, 8:00 to 5:00. Two to three out of five have mixed race couples in them. That’s not by accident. They’re selling soap, man. Not a joke. Remember old [Democrat pollster] Pat Caddell used to say, “You want to know what’s happening in American culture? Watch advertising.” Because they want to sell what they have.
Astonishingly, Biden is right about the desire of advertisers to sell their wares — whether they be burgers and fries or homes in retirement communities. As then-Power Line blogger Paul Mirengoff wrote at the time: “Biden is telling the truth here. And that truth is inconsistent with the falsehoods of BLM and critical race theory. Sure, virtue signaling accounts in part for the number of interracial couples in commercials. That number, by the way, is ‘inequitable’ because interracial coupling, though not uncommon (a good thing), is far less prevalent in real life than in commercials. Commercials as a whole don’t ‘look like America.’”
Mirengoff continues: “But, as Biden says, advertising is still about selling. If America had an ‘implicit bias’ problem, you wouldn’t see so many ads with black/white couples. You would hardly see any. So too, if America had a ‘systemic racism’ problem or, indeed, a serious problem of ordinary racism.”
And that’s the key point, isn’t it? When it comes to racism, we butt up against an economic incongruity — which is why hate crimes are, far more often that not, found to be fake, especially on college campuses. When it comes to racism, the demand for it far outstrips the supply.
And yet, despite this encouraging economic reality, the cultural Marxists will continue to make their Long March through the institutions. Because if America isn’t the white supremacist hellhole that the Left makes it out to be, the Racial Industrial Complex has no reason for existing.
That’s a big number … but does it actually do anything?
Emmy Griffin
President Joe Biden announced over the weekend plans to impose hundreds of new sanctions against President Vladimir Putin and Russia for the death of Alexei Navalny. It is the second round of such a large number of sanctions at once since Russia invaded Ukraine. Navalny was the last remaining opposition to Putin’s regime in Russia.
Navalny was an anti-corruption activist who had uncovered the dark underbelly of the oligarch’s methods of obtaining vast riches while the ordinary Russian lives on just under $15,000 a year. Putin had tried to kill Navalny in 2020 when Russian agents used the Novichok nerve agent to take him out. Navalny actually called the FSB (the modern iteration of the KGB) and got it to admit to the attempted murder.
In spite of these clear and obvious threats to his life, Navalny returned to Russia in 2021, where he was arrested and sent to an Arctic prison. Biden, in the advent of Putin’s imprisonment of his political opposition, warned the dictator that should Navalny die, there would be repercussions that would be devastating for Russia.
Navalny served out his sentence probably with the knowledge that his days were numbered, though it took a couple of years for that to come to fruition. A day before his death, Navalny appeared before a judge and was the picture of health. After his death, Russian authorities claimed that Navalny died due to a “sudden incident.”
What has followed after that for Navalny’s family has been horrific. Putin issued an arrest warrant for Navalny’s brother. Alexei’s mother was bullied by FSB agents wanting to force her to hold a private funeral. Navalny’s body has reportedly been turned over to his mother, but it remains to be seen if we’ll ever know the true cause of death. For those still confused about Vladimir Putin, no, he is not a good guy. He has been exploiting what he perceives as a weakening of the West — Navalny being part of the puzzle and a more successful offensive in Ukraine being another.
The new sanctions that are being brought against Putin would target the Russian financial and defense sectors. As Biden stated: “These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents. They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.”
However, like all of Biden’s “shows of strength,” it’s all symbolic; there is no real bite to them. The sanctions will likely only have a short-term impact and nothing like the devastation he promised.
If one were to believe The Wall Street Journal’s interpretation of why the sanctions are little better than rubber teeth, it’s because the House won’t pass the foreign aid bill that would give Ukraine $60 billion and Israel $14 billion, along with other various pork including aid to Gaza (which can really be understood as aid to Hamas).
Like most things in foreign policy, it’s never as simple as sending money. Money might help the Ukrainians further weaken Russian troops, or those funds might disappear into the pockets of the Ukrainian elites before they make a tactical retreat should the war go south for them. There is a fundamental weakness in the Biden administration’s approach to addressing enemies, both foreign and domestic. In fact, on the domestic front, it confuses ordinary moms with domestic terrorists. So it’s hardly surprising that this large number of sanctions isn’t actually going to do much to chasten Putin.
Artificial Intelligence will change and shape culture. The question is how.
George Wilson
In essence, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the use of computer systems to simulate human cognitive functions. Computers are programmed to think and learn like humans so that they can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Such tasks include recognizing speech, making decisions, and identifying patterns.
The notion of intelligence is hard to define, and experts in AI distinguish between strong AI and weak AI. Strong AI is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that can perform tasks that it has not been specifically trained for. It’s capable of understanding, learning, and applying knowledge, just like human intelligence. This is the kind of AI we generally think of in movies such as “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Terminator.”
The fear and apprehension that people have for AI is due to the concept of Strong AI. However, this is still a theoretical concept and not a realized technology.
The recent advancements in the field of AI with Large Language Models (LLM), where humans interact with machines using natural language (OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot), have renewed people’s fear of Strong AI, as these interactions truly feel like you are conversing with an intelligent machine. Yet these are still a very long way off from being truly sentient machines.
Weak AI, or Narrow AI, is more limited in scope and is a simulation of human intelligence applied to a very specific problem. This is not general intelligence or consciousness. This is the AI that we’ve encountered in our daily lives. Some examples of Weak AI are:
The essence of AI lies in Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL). Machine Learning stands as a technique that empowers computers to assimilate knowledge from data and, subsequently, make predictions or take decisions. This process does not rely on explicit programming for each distinct task but rather on the ability of algorithms to learn from data and improve over time.
Deep Learning, a sophisticated subset of Machine Learning, is characterized by its use of artificial neural networks. These networks are structured in layers and designed to process data in a hierarchical manner. Each layer computes outcomes from the data it receives, which then becomes the input for subsequent layers, somewhat akin to the cognitive processes of the human brain. This architecture enables Deep Learning models to recognize intricate patterns and nuances within large datasets.
The distinction between the two lies in their depth and complexity. While Machine Learning can handle tasks that involve data prediction and classification, Deep Learning is particularly adept at handling tasks that involve unstructured data like images and speech.
The significance of these technologies cannot be overstated, as they underpin many of the rapid advancements in various fields, such as computer vision, natural language processing, and autonomous vehicles. By harnessing the power of vast datasets and computational strength, AI is able to perform tasks that once required the intricate understanding and decision-making capabilities of human intelligence.
Machine Learning and Deep Learning represent the core of AI’s ability to mimic and potentially surpass human cognitive functions in complexity, efficiency, and scalability. As we continue to refine these technologies, the potential applications and advancements they can bring to various sectors of society are enormous.
Where did AI come from?
Ancient History and Philosophy
The roots of Artificial Intelligence are deeply embedded in ancient history and philosophy, far preceding the advent of computers and modern technology. This fascination with creating life-like intelligence through artificial means can be traced back to ancient myths and tales. Cultures around the world dreamed of animated statues, golems, and automata, which were believed to possess intelligence or consciousness bestowed by their creators. These stories reflect an early desire to understand and replicate the essence of human intelligence and consciousness.
Philosophers played a crucial role in this journey, laying the philosophical and logical foundations necessary for the development of AI. Aristotle, one of the most influential figures in this narrative, introduced formal logic, which would later evolve into the computational logic that underpins AI. His work on categorization, syllogisms, and deductive reasoning offered the first steps toward creating systems that could simulate aspects of human thought and decision-making processes.
The interplay between ancient myths and philosophical thought provided the foundation for the growth of AI. It was the combination of humanity’s imagination, as seen in the stories of artificial beings, and the rigorous logical structures provided by philosophers like Aristotle that set the stage for the eventual emergence of AI as a scientific discipline. These early concepts and speculations about intelligence and consciousness outside of the human mind laid the groundwork for centuries of progress, leading to the computational and algorithmic approaches that characterize AI today.
Mid-20th Century
The mid-20th century ushered in a transformative era in the realm of science and technology, marking the inception of AI as a new discipline. This period was characterized by the convergence of visionary scientists and mathematicians whose collective curiosity and innovative thinking laid the groundwork for AI. Among these pioneers, Alan Turing stands out as a seminal figure. His work not only pushed the boundaries of mathematics and computing but also introduced a philosophical dimension to the discussion on machine intelligence.
The creation of the first computers during this time, though primitive by today’s standards, was nothing short of revolutionary. These machines, capable of performing calculations at unprecedented speeds, opened up new possibilities for research and application in various fields, including AI. Turing’s contribution was particularly significant; his Turing Test provided a simple yet profound criterion for evaluating a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from that of a human. This concept not only challenged existing notions of intelligence but also set a benchmark that continues to influence AI research and development.
Turing’s ideas on machine intelligence, coupled with the advent of digital computing, created a fertile ground for AI as a scientific discipline. The mid-20th century thus represents a crucial turning point not just in the technological advancements it brought about but in the philosophical and ethical questions it raised regarding the nature of intelligence and the potential of machines to emulate human thought and behavior. This era laid the foundation for the explosive growth and diversification of AI research in the subsequent decades, shaping the trajectory of modern computing and significantly impacting society at large.
The Dartmouth Conference of 1956 stands as a pivotal moment in the history of AI, marking its inception as a distinct field of scientific inquiry. Held at Dartmouth College, this seminal event was convened by John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon, who were pioneers in the nascent domain of AI. Their collective vision was to explore the possibility of machines not just calculating at unprecedented speeds but actually mimicking the nuanced processes of human thought.
The conference proposal, authored primarily by McCarthy, held that every feature of learning or any other manifestation of intelligence could, in theory, be so precisely described that a machine could be made to simulate it. This bold assertion laid the groundwork for the field’s ambitious objectives, focusing on the creation of machines capable of learning, problem-solving, and self-improvement.
Although the conference itself did not produce immediate breakthroughs, it succeeded in galvanizing interest and investment in AI research. It also established a community of researchers dedicated to advancing the field, fostering collaboration and exchange of ideas that would fuel decades of innovation.
The Dartmouth Conference’s legacy is profound, setting the stage for the development of AI technologies that have become integral to modern life. It symbolizes the moment when AI transitioned from the realm of science fiction and philosophical speculation into a legitimate scientific endeavor focused on understanding and replicating the cognitive capabilities of the human mind.
AI Summers and Winters
The journey of AI has been characterized by alternating periods of rapid advancement and stagnation, known as “AI summers” and “AI winters,” respectively. After the initial excitement in the mid-20th century, the AI field saw significant advancements, including the development of machine learning algorithms and natural language processing. These innovations promised to revolutionize the way machines interacted with the world and processed information, mirroring human capabilities to an extent previously deemed impossible.
However, the ambitious expectations set for AI led to periods known as AI winters, the first of which occurred in the mid-1970s and again in the late 1980s to early 1990s. These were times of reduced funding and skepticism from both the public and the research community, driven by the realization that AI had not yet lived up to its lofty promises. The complexity of replicating human intelligence was far greater than anticipated, and the limitations of existing technology became apparent.
Despite these setbacks, AI winters were not devoid of progress. They were times of reflection, theoretical development, and laying the groundwork for future advancements. Researchers focused on refining algorithms, improving computational efficiency, and understanding the theoretical underpinnings of AI, which would later enable the resurgence of the field. The quiet progress made during these winters set the stage for the AI renaissance in the late 1990s and early 21st century, fueled by increased computational power, the advent of the Internet, and large datasets.
Late 20th and early 21st Centuries
The resurgence of AI in the late 20th and early 21st centuries speaks to the transformative power of technological advancements. This period marked a significant shift in the capabilities and applications of AI, driven by two key developments: the exponential increase in computing power and the widespread adoption of the Internet.
The advent of more powerful and affordable computing resources meant that researchers could process and analyze data at scales previously unimaginable. Simultaneously, the Internet facilitated unprecedented access to vast amounts of data and enabled global collaboration among AI researchers and practitioners. Deep learning and neural networks, in particular, emerged as pivotal technologies during this resurgence. These factors combined to create a fertile environment for innovation in AI.
This era of AI has been characterized by rapid advancements and the practical application of AI technologies in everyday life. From virtual assistants and recommendation systems to autonomous vehicles and advanced healthcare diagnostics, the impact of AI is evident across various sectors, heralding a new era of innovation and technological integration.
The resurgence of AI has not only propelled the field into a new era of research and development but has also raised important questions about ethics, bias, privacy, and the future of work. As AI continues to evolve, these considerations will play a crucial role in shaping its trajectory and ensuring that the technology benefits society as a whole.
(George Wilson is a member of our National Advisory Committee and was integral in the launch of The Patriot Post in 1996. He has been on the leading edge of technology for his entire career, including leading the IT departments for one of the world’s largest companies. His primary interest is the dual-edged impact of technology on our lives — both its potential to enhance our world and the challenges it presents.)
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is gaining some critics even on the left side of the political spectrum.
Brent Ramsey
Conservatives understand DEI as the practice of critical race theory (CRT). CRT derives from Marxism. Karl Marx advocated class warfare between owners and workers. CRT/DEI creates class warfare between minorities against whites. Instead of eliminating unlawful racism under the law that has existed for decades (Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1967), DEI promotes racism based on skin color.
Consideration of race in admissions was ruled unlawful in two recent Supreme Court cases, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina. Up until June of last year, colleges and universities were allowed to discriminate in favor of blacks and Hispanics over whites with better qualifications. That is now banned. Therefore, it is hard to understand how DEI can stand, as it expressly discriminates against whites. This has been extensively covered by hundreds of articles in conservative media, proving its negative impact on the military, just as one example. Articles by this author describing in great detail the harmful effects of DEI on the military can be found at STARRS.
There is a growing chorus of noted liberals who are also sounding the alarm about DEI.
Bari Weiss was an opinion editor and writer at The New York Times up until 2022. She left the NYT, citing bullying by colleagues and an “illiberal environment.” She and others formed the Free Press, a popular and growing free speech platform on Substack. She says: “We have been seeing for several years now the damage this ideology has done: DEI, and its cadres of enforcers, undermine the central missions of the institutions that adopt it. But nothing has made the dangers of DEI more clear than what’s happening these days on our college campuses — the places where our future leaders are nurtured. It is there that professors are compelled to pledge fidelity to DEI in order to get hired, promoted, or tenured.”
Bill Maher is a famous liberal comedian whose show “Real Time with Bill Maher” has been on HBO for 22 years. In his show, he has taken on wokeness in our society, the numbers of DEI staff at colleges and universities, the suppression of free speech on campus, the nonsense of San Francisco’s “crazy” racial reparations, racial quotas for airline pilots, and equity versus equality in his classic humorous and mocking style.
Andrew Sullivan is a prominent liberal intellectual and has come out vigorously against DEI. “We’ve got an enormous problem with DEI,” he says. “It goes completely against what all of us seek when we need the best surgeon to operate on us, the best engineer to design a new bridge or the best pilot to safely fly us home. Even though we all know this, many of us have been afraid to say this lately. It is entirely rational and humane to seek out the best qualified people to fill jobs. Full stop. Although it is often a challenge to decide who is the best qualified person for the job, there is no close competitor to basing our decisions on merit.” See his recent article at Dangerous Intersection.
Elon Musk, owner of Twitter (now X), was quoted in Forbes on the subject: “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are a form of discrimination and must end, billionaire Elon Musk said … in his latest tirade against political correctness and ‘woke’ culture.”
Glenn Loury is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University. “I’ve spent a lot of time picking apart the hollowness and cynicism of university DEI programs on my show and in this newsletter,” he wrote at Substack. “I can see the damage DEI has done to the university’s mission, but usually the planning stays behind closed doors. There’s a reason for that. With the ballooning presence of DEI programs in university org charts, the diversity industry has taken on a life of its own. It employs many, many thousands of people, and a lot of them are handsomely remunerated. There’s money in DEI. And where there’s money, there’s a vested interest on the part of DEI officers, consultants, deans, and many others in keeping the project going, keeping the dollars flowing, and keeping the paychecks coming.”
Jason Hill is professor of philosophy at DePaul University and the author of the groundbreaking What Do White Americans Owe Black People: Racial Justice in the Age of Post-Oppression. He says: “It has been more than fifty years since the Civil Rights Act enshrined equality under the law for all Americans. Since that time, America has enjoyed an era of unprecedented prosperity, domestic and international peace, and technological advancement. But the dominant narrative, repeated in the media and from the angry mouths of politicians and activists, is the exact opposite of the reality. They paint a portrait of an America rife with racial and ethnic division, where minorities are mired in a poverty worse than slavery, and white people stand at the top of an unfairly stacked pyramid of privilege.”
Bill Ackman is a lifelong liberal, a billionaire, a graduate of Harvard, and a huge Harvard donor. He is also an opponent of DEI and its foster-child anti-Semitism. He posted a 4,000-word criticism of DEI to X, and it says in part, “Under DEI, one’s degree of oppression is determined based upon where one resides on a so-called intersectional pyramid of oppression where whites, Jews, and Asians are deemed oppressors, and a subset of people of color, LGBTQ people, and/or women are deemed to be oppressed.” Furthermore, “DEI is racist because reverse racism is racism, even if it is against white people (and it is remarkable that I even need to point this out).”
Prominent liberal thought leaders are laying bare the evil nature of DEI. Let us discard DEI to the dustbin of history.
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.
The BIG Lies
“Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest in those activities.” —James Biden
“[The student loan bailout] is also helping you who don’t go to college.” —Joe Biden
“As I walk out of meetings, a head of state will find an excuse to come up close … and say, ‘You’ve got to win.’ Not because I’m so special. ‘You’ve got to win because my democracy is at stake if the other guy wins.’ Nine heads of state have done that with me.” —Joe Biden
Pot Calling the Kettle Black
“Time and again, Republicans show they are the party of chaos and division.” —Joe Biden
Grand Delusions
“As demonstrated by our administration’s record over the past three years, there are few leaders as committed to bipartisan collaboration than Joe Biden.” —Kamala Harris
Braying Jenny
“The only blemish on the great country of America worldwide is, in fact, Donald Trump.” —former Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
“I move that every newspaper in America quits doing any fact-checks on Joe Biden until they fact-check Donald Trump every morning on the front page. It is ridiculous that The New York Times fact-checked Joe Biden on something.” —Claire McCaskill
More Fake Russian Conspiracy Nonsense
“I don’t know what [Putin] has on [Trump], but I think it’s probably financial.” —Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Leftmedia Lob
“The thing that unites them as Christian nationalists — not Christians, by the way, because Christian nationalists is very different — is that they believe that our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don’t come from any earthly authority. They don’t come from Congress. They don’t come from the Supreme Court. They come from God.” —Politico’s Heidi Przybyla
For the Record
“The political theory of the American Founding is that man is made in God’s image and that we accordingly possess certain rights that no other man or ruler can deny. This is not ‘theocracy.’ It is basic American history — basic historical literacy.” —Josh Hammer
“The ‘Christian nationalism’ hysteria is not a matter of leftists sincerely fearing the advent of a theocracy or having concerns that fundamental freedoms may be lost forever; it is rather a matter of two religious beliefs battling for supremacy over the Western world. One of those religions upholds the slaughter of the unborn, sexual decay, and narcissistic selfishness as its proudest tenets; the other preaches life, love, forgiveness, repentance, self-sacrifice, and salvation.” —S.A. McCarthy
“We are entering a dangerous era in America. Ideology and party affiliations increasingly determine guilt and punishment. Opponents are first targeted, and then laws are twisted and redefined to convict them. The left is waging lawfare with the implicit message to political opponents: either keep quiet or suffer the consequences.” —Victor Davis Hanson
Double Standards
“Anyone who dares to suggest the United States push Ukraine to negotiate a settlement with Russia is framed as a democracy-hating Putin shill. Yet, before we even knew exactly how many Israeli women and children had been murdered, raped and kidnapped by Hamas, Democrats were demanding Israel negotiate with Palestinians to create a potential three-front Iranian-proxy terror state on its border.” —David Harsanyi
Belly Laugh of the Day
“BREAKING: After an impressive interview, Google Gemini has been chosen as the new president of Harvard.” —Charles C. W. Cooke
For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union.
For more of today’s cartoons, visit the Cartoons archive.
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss his reaction to the Palestinian prime minister’s resignation and the latest on the war in Gaza as negotiations for a possible cease-fire continue. #FoxNews
— Read on www.youtube.com/watch
The Babylon Bee Headline Forum is a great place to find news the mainstream media refuses to cover. For instance, I’m sure you have heard about the $354,000,000 verdict against Trump in New York City, a bastion of judicial fairness and reasonable property values and a haven for developers who aren’t running for president as a Republican. But did you know Trump’s debt has been forgiven? There is so much more news that only the Babylon Bee and the members of the Bee Headline Forum are brave enough to report. All week, the esteemed Beeple of the forum have been posting astonishing news and diligently upvoting the most interesting headlines to share with the outside world. Enjoy!
And that brings to a close the third weekly update of Bee Forum News. If you missed the first two, you can find them here and here. Do you have totally real news that needs reported? Join us! Who knows, your headline might get published or featured on the Babylon Bee homepage, or it could show up here in our re-cap of the top headlines of the week. Thousands more funny headlines were posted this week on the forum, but sadly, only Bee subscribers can read them. You did get to read a few, though, so please let us know which one of the Top Headlines is your favorite in the comments!
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— Read on notthebee.com/article/bee-forum-totally-true-news/
This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire
By Bonner Russell Cohen
Real Clear Wire
Feeling the heat from farmers dumping manure in front of government buildings across the Continent, European Commission President Ursela von der Leyen is pumping the brakes on a pillar of the European Union’s Net-Zero climate policy and withdrawing an EU-wide bill that would force farmers to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030.
With elections to the European Parliament in Brussels set for later this year, backing away from one of Net-Zero’s most radical measures is an act of political realism. Europe is being rocked by soaring energy and food prices, much of it brought on by the political class’s obsession with lowering greenhouse gas emissions from all sources, including agriculture. With peasants running amok, the “climate crisis” will just have to wait.
Blissfully oblivious to what’s happening across the pond, the Biden administration is doubling down on its own version of Net-Zero emissions, and the American public may be in for some nasty surprises. And a new report by the Columbus, Ohio-based Buckeye Institute shows just how nasty those surprises will be. The report, “Net-Zero Climate-Control Policies Will Fail the Farm,” was authored by Trevor W. Lewis and M. Ankith Reddy.
The problems start with provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and Biden administration regulations favoring EVs over traditionally-powered vehicles in the agricultural sector, the report says.
Forced Transition to EVs
“First, EVs are significantly less reliable and more expensive to purchase, repair, power, and maintain than combustion engine vehicles, making them impractical and ill-suited to working farms. Farm equipment must be durable and capable of operating in all weather conditions,” the Buckeye report points out. “Tractors and farm equipment must operate in offroad environments on poorly paved roads under constant risk of collisions that can permanently damage an electric vehicle’s sensitive parts, rendering it useless.”
“EV batteries drain faster in extreme cold and heat, and EVs lose range in the rain due to lower resistance between the car and the road and power diversion to the windshield wipers and headlights…Replacing an electric vehicle battery typically costs from $5,000 – $15,000, and general EV repairs require more labor and cost 25% more than standard vehicles,” the report adds.
“These reliability and financial concerns make EVs unattractive as farm equipment and make running a successful farm more expensive, but Biden administration rules will all but force farmers to buy or subsidize them anyway,” Lewis and Reddy note.
Reliance on Intermittent Energy
“Second, a nationwide transition to electric energy depends entirely on intermittent, unreliable zero-emission sources of electric power, namely wind and solar. Wind and solar do not produce power consistently throughout the day, and the variation in renewable power makes it harder for operators to schedule power demand, which makes energy prices volatile and ultimately more expensive,” the report says.
Easing the strains intermittent power puts on an already shaky electric grid requires bringing more natural gas power plants online, lest the country face more blackouts and brownouts. But in July 2023, the report notes, the White House Council on Environmental Quality increased the bureaucratic red tape on the approval of new natural gas projects.
“The Biden administration’s efforts to force farmers to adopt electric equipment ill-suited to farming and to replace natural gas generators with unreliable renewable energy sources is a recipe for unsustainable farming. Unfortunately, Washington’s central planners seem oblivious to that stubborn fact and remain committed to making Europe’s mistakes,” Buckeye points out.
Tracking Emissions from Farm to Table
American farmers also find themselves in the bull’s eye of ESG (environmental social, and governance) reporting requirements proposed by the Biden White House. In March 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a mandatory ESG disclosure rule that would apply to every publicly traded company. “The rule would mandate costly ESG emissions reporting for a firm’s entire supply chain, requiring large publicly traded food processing companies, grocery stores, and restaurant groups to track and report emissions from farm to table,” the report explains. “Large companies looking to reduce their overall emissions would stop purchasing food from farms with high emission rates, once again applying financial costs and pressures to the American farmer.”
“With its heavy use of artificial fertilizers and fossil fuels, livestock methane emissions, weed and bug sprays, and genetically modified crops, agriculture has been targeted by ESG fiduciaries,” Lewis and Reddy note. And now farmer Brown is being targeted by the Biden SEC.
The EU calls one of its Net-Zero agriculture programs “Farm to Fork.” But Europe’s farmers are in open revolt, and the powers that be in Brussels have taken notice. And the SEC’s power grab may also be in for some rough sledding. The Biden plan faces a stiff court challenge, with plaintiffs arguing that the SEC – under the “major questions doctrine” adopted by the current Supreme Court – lacks congressional authority to regulate an industry’s, including agriculture, entire supply chain.
Bonner Russell Cohen, Ph. D., is a senior policy analyst with CFACT.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
The post Joe Biden’s Net-Zero Agenda Spells Trouble Down on the Farm and at the Supermarket appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
One week ago on Monday, news broke that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny had died in prison in a Russian gulag north of the Arctic Circle.
Navalny leaves behind his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, and their two children.
Navalny organized anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against President Vladimir Putin and his government.
The media immediately blamed Putin for “his murder” in prison.
Nikki Haley used Navalny’s death to attack her former boss, Donald Trump. Haley is at the point where she is using anything she can to damage President Trump. That’s why Democrats and the Uniparty want Nikki to stay in the GOP primary race.
Earlier today, Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov disappointed Western journalists who asked him about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny’s death in prison in Siberia. Budanov confirmed the Kremlin’s claims that Navalny died of a blood clot. Navalny was not murdered.
Here are a few of the numerous times Nikki Haley used Navalny’s death this week to attack President Trump.
Haley demanded Donald Trump “answer for his death.” This made The New York Times.
Nikki Haley attacked Trump for not hitting Putin for Navalny’s murder.
Nikki Haley: “The only comment he’s going to make about Navalny is not hitting Putin for murdering him…Instead, he’s going to compare himself to Navalny?”
Nikki Haley on Trump’s refusal to criticize Putin: “The only comment he’s going to make about Navalny is not hitting Putin for murdering him…Instead, he’s going to compare himself to Navalny?” pic.twitter.com/YjMut9pEp0
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) February 20, 2024
Haley attacked Trump on Twitter following Navalny’s death.
Nikki Haley: Donald Trump could have condemned Vladimir Putin for being a murderous thug. Trump could have praised Navalny’s courage. Instead, he stole a page from liberals’ playbook, denouncing America and comparing our country to Russia.
Donald Trump could have condemned Vladimir Putin for being a murderous thug.
Trump could have praised Navalny’s courage.
Instead, he stole a page from liberals’ playbook, denouncing America and comparing our country to Russia. pic.twitter.com/CxAOGwIQEN
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 19, 2024
Nikki’s simple question to Donald Trump
Simple question: is Putin responsible for Navalny’s death? I say yes. What do you say, Donald Trump?
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 17, 2024
Nikki Haley also demanded that Donald Trumpanwser to whether he thinks Putin is responsible for Navalney’s death.
Nikki Haley: “Donald Trump needs to answer whether he thinks Putin is responsible for Navalny.” pic.twitter.com/nEF1E3ULm0
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) February 18, 2024
Here’s the short answer: “No.”
Someone really needs to start looking into where Nikki is getting all of her funding. Her only purpose is to spew hate against Donald Trump at this point.
Update: More from DC Draino.
Wait, so you’re telling me American warmonger politicians were trying to start nuclear WW3 with Russia over a blood clot?
That may have been caused by you know what?
That those same politicians forced upon everyone?
Insane gaslighting https://t.co/1wTjdwKdZw
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) February 26, 2024
The post Here are Several Times Nikki Haley Blamed Donald Trump for Russian Dissident Navalny’s “Murder” in Prison – Today We Found Out He Died from a Blood Clot appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
It is definitely starting to look a lot like 2008 and 2009 again. Those years were such a painful time for our country, and in many ways we still haven’t fully recovered from the damage that was inflicted upon us during that era. Unfortunately, so many of the exact same things that we experienced back then are starting to happen in our time. For example, the Great Recession brought us the greatest foreclosure crisis in the history of our nation, and now foreclosures are really starting to spike here in 2024. In fact, the number of new foreclosure filings in the U.S. just jumped 10 percent in a single month…
Home foreclosures are on the up across the US as Americans continue to battle against soaring interest rates and rising costs.
Last month, 37,679 properties had a foreclosure filing, according to fresh figures from real estate data provider ATTOM – up 10 percent from the month prior.
According to the pundits, that wasn’t supposed to happen.
But it did.
Interestingly, Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware actually experienced the fastest increase in foreclosure filings last month.
Nevada was second, and that was due to the large number of foreclosure filings in Las Vegas…
Nevada’s position in the ranking is largely due to foreclosure filings in Las Vegas, where many people lost their jobs when tourism crashed during pandemic lockdowns.
According to ATTOM, Las Vegas had a foreclosure filing on one in every 1,923 housing units in January.
This is a really troubling sign.
When the economy is booming, Las Vegas is booming even more.
But when hard times arrive, times are even harder in Las Vegas.
So let’s watch and see if this trend continues.
Meanwhile, it is also being reported that the number of completed foreclosures in the U.S. was up 13 percent compared to the previous month.
In Michigan, the number of completed foreclosures actually shot up by “a huge 200 percent”…
Michigan saw the fastest rise in completed foreclosures – up a huge 200 percent. This was largely down to high rates of foreclosure filings in Detroit.
I remember writing articles about how some homes in Detroit were literally selling for one dollar when things were at their worst.
Has another housing crash begun?
We are certainly ripe for one. Thanks to painfully high interest rates, buying a home has become out of reach for most of the population.
Unless interest rates go down dramatically, home prices have got to fall, and that is going to cause all sorts of problems.
Of course a horrifying commercial real estate crisis is already here.
Prices have crashed all over the nation, and now many office buildings that were once worth millions of dollars are simply being torn down.
In fact, in Los Angeles there is a plan to tear down a very large office building in order to build just 30 EV charging stations…
This is absolutely crazy…
An owner of an office building in LA is seeking approval to tear down the building and construct 30 EV charging stations
I don’t know what’s crazier…this headline or seeing office properties drop 80-90% in just a few years
The commercial real estate recession (primarily office) has gone from scary to a meltdown in many cities across the US and it seems as though the damage is permanent
If we really are heading into a major economic slowdown, we would also expect retailers to be shutting down stores all over America, and that is precisely what we are witnessing right now.
Incredibly, even Walmart reduced the number of stores that it operates by 102 last year…
Walmart last year closed 23 stores across the US, eight of which were in Illinois, it emerged this week
Overall, its total number of stores fell by 102, from 4,717 in January 2023 to 4,615 a year later.
That’s because in addition to the 23 closures, Walmart sold a combined 79 Moosejaw and Bonobos locations after selling the two retailers.
If even Walmart sees a need to batten down the hatches, that is a really bad sign.
On top of everything else, large employers continue to conduct mass layoffs from coast to coast.
Last week, many were saddened to hear that Vice Media Group is laying off hundreds of workers as it continues to spiral toward oblivion…
Vice Media Group plans to lay off hundreds of employees and stop publishing on its flagship news website, the company’s chief executive said in a memo to employees Thursday — a stunning setback for a digital media pioneer that ascended to cultural prominence more than a decade ago.
“It is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously,” Vice CEO Bruce Dixon said in the memo, which was seen by NBC News. Vice Media did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment on Thursday’s news.
Everyone knew that Vice was in dire straits, and so those layoffs are not exactly a shock.
But why has Google suddenly decided to give the axe to thousands of workers?…
Google has initiated significant layoffs across its various teams, including the Voice Assistant, hardware, engineering and ad sales teams, marking a continuation of the tech industry’s trend towards reducing workforce expenses. The layoffs have affected hundreds of employees within the Voice Assistant unit; hardware teams responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit products; and a considerable portion of the augmented reality (AR) team. This move is part of Google’s broader effort to streamline operations and align resources with its most significant product priorities.
According to The Verge, the total number is in the thousands. This comes at a time when Google parent, Alphabet Inc., reported record profits in late January. The company reported $20.4 billion in net income in Q4.
Google is one of the most successful companies in the entire world, and they are swimming in cash.
If they feel the need to ruthlessly cut workers, what kind of sign is that for the rest of the economy?
Sadly, the truth is that it has become quite apparent that big trouble is ahead.
2024 is going to be such an important turning point for the economy, and it is also going to be such an important turning point for the nation as a whole.
The state of the economy will certainly be a central issue during the upcoming election season, but there are no easy answers for the problems that we are now facing.
Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
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.
The post This Is What The Early Stages Of A Severe Recession Look Like appeared first on The Economic Collapse.
‘On Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History!’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises to finish the war in Gaza, saying “Unless we have total victory, we can’t have peace” – his statements amid talks on a hostage release deal; what falling support for Israel among young US Christians could mean for the alliance between evangelicals and Israel, and the relationship between the US and the Jewish state, as one expert warns “without the United States, Israel will not exist;” who will Donald Trump pick as his running mate?; the untold story of the Christian faith of the apparently murdered Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny; and how a Bible-reading podcast, “The Bible Recap,” from Tara Leigh Cobble, has reached more than 300 million downloads.
CBN News. Because Truth Matters™
— Read on www.youtube.com/watch
In a very unexpected plot twist, Ukraine appears to be in agreement with the Kremlin on Alexei Navalny’s death inside a far northern Russian prison which occurred on Feb. 16 and was listed by Russian authorities as officially due to “natural causes”. The dominant Western narrative has thus far been that Putin had him “murdered”.
Yet now Kiev sources are saying that the anti-Putin activist supported by the West died of a blood clot. Surprisingly, this explanation is being advanced among Ukraine media sources after none other than Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR), bluntly stated it to a group of journalists on Sunday. “I may disappoint you, but as far as we know, he indeed died as a result of a blood clot. And this has been more or less confirmed,” Budanov stated.
“This wasn’t sourced from the internet, but, unfortunately, natural [causes],” he added in the remarks which were also caught on video. The spy chief’s words were also picked up in The Daily Mail, though predictably US mainstream outlets have been slow to acknowledge the assessment.
Further, the NATO-friendly pundit Anton Gerashchenko, who also served as former Ukrainian Advisor to Internal Affairs Minister, has said the following:
Vladimir Osechkin, founder of Gulagu. Net, says that, according to his sources, Navalny was killed (finished off with a blow to the chest) after being tortured with frost.
Head of Ukrainian military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov said that according to his sources, “it was a blood clot.”
Over the weekend Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said her son’s body was finally released to the family. She has said Russian officials are seeking to pressure the family into doing a ‘secret funeral’ so as not to attract public demonstrations. “We do not know if the authorities will interfere to carry it out as the family wants and as Alexey deserves,” she said previously.
Navalny’s wife has laid ultimate blame on Putin for his death, while President Biden too and other Western leaders have said “Putin is responsible.”
“What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality,” Biden had said immediately after Navalny’s death was announced by Russian prison services. Some European leaders quickly branded Putin’s government a “rogue regime” as a result, urging that Moscow “must be held accountable”. The whole situation seems akin to the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, where there was a rush to blame Moscow, but allegation which were later quieted and walked back.
Meanwhile, Russia hawks in the US are urging the administration to go beyondlast Friday’s large round of new anti-Moscow sanctions…
Another stunning development and further plot twist has emerged via Bloomberg reporting on Monday. Navalny was supposedly very close to being releasedamid secret talks involving the US and Germany:
Alexey Navalny had been close to release in a prisoner exchange with the US and Germany shortly before his death in an Arctic prison, a top aide to the Russian opposition leader said.
“Navalny was supposed to be freed in the coming days,” Maria Pevchikh said in a video statement posted Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin was offered an assassin imprisoned in Germany in exchange for Navalny and two US citizens, she said.
Moscow has long been seeking to gain the freedom of Vadim Krasikov, who is currently serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 assassination of a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park. Krasikov is widely believed to be part of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB. Washington had reportedly previously rebuffed any prisoner swap deal involving Krasikov (related to talks in the context of the Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout swap).
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, ex-Marine Paul Whelan, and schoolteacher Marc Fogel are all still in Russian custody. Two Americans were supposed to be part of this alleged impending Navalny swap. According to more from Bloomberg, citing a Navalny family spokesperson:
Pevchikh didn’t name the two Americans involved in the deal. “Putin was clearly told that the only way to get Krasikov is to exchange him for Navalny,” said Pevchikh. Instead, he decided to “get rid of the bargaining chip” and “offer someone else when the time comes.”
Meanwhile, news of Navalny’s funeral arrangements will likely emerge in the coming days. His family has hinted at their desire to see it happen in Moscow, which could spark anti-Kremlin protests.
As for the aforementioned blood clot narrative offered by Ukraine’s military intelligence chief and possible context helping to explain why such a top level Kiev official would essentially “side” with the Kremlin on this, what’s missed in the West is the fact that Navalny had always been a fairly hardline nationalist. From a Ukrainian perspective, he wasn’t necessarily seen as an “ally” per se, even though he was anti-Putin. For more crucial context, see the below brief segment discussing Navalny’s checkered past…
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