There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Are you stressed, anxious, and/or burdened by something? I think all of us—if we’re honest—can answer “yes” to that in one degree or another. There’s always something to be stressed about, something to make us anxious, something to be burdened by. That comes with life, and life is simply difficult at times.
The Apostle Peter writes that we ought to “cast all our anxieties” on God because “he cares for [us]” (1 Peter 5:7). Do we know the magnitude of this?
It doesn’t matter what you’re suffering. Whether it’s cancer, criticism, persecution, or the like, God cares and is there for you. He’s not a distant deity; He’s not a capricious tyrant; He’s not unconcerned about the affairs of His children. He cares about you and loves you more than you will ever understand.
I try to explain to my little girls how much their daddy loves them. They will never truly understand how big my love is for them. But anytime I tell them that, I also explain, “But be amazed at how much more God loves and cares aboutyou!” Neither of them have the best capacity to understand God’s love and what that means within the confines of the gospel, but I want them both to at least understand we serve and worship a God who cares, who is there, and who loves us. If I, as an imperfect daddy, love my girls so much, how much more does the perfect, holy God love them?
The same is true when we sit wondering about God’s love for us. We ponder if God really cares, if Hereallyloves us. We think His love might run out after thatlastsin. We doubt His affection for us and dismiss His lovingkindness. But if we were to truly believe what the Bible teaches, that would changeus.
Think about it: it’s like what David asks, “what is man that you are mindful of him” (Psalm 8:4)? The God of the universe—the One who created the heavens, the stars, the sea, the trees, animals, and humans—stooped down to our level in the person of Jesus to show us He cares. Of course, there’s more to it than that. The gospel message is far more than “God cares about you” —but it’s not less! This is on display wonderfully in John 3:16. Remember: God didn’t send Jesus to die on our behalf in order that He could love us; no, He sent JesusbecauseHe loves us.
Christian, God cares about you. He cares even when you don’t care about yourself. So . . . cast your worries and anxieties upon Him. Humble yourself and let God worry for you. Do you struggle with giving your worries and cares to God? Perhaps that’s the sin of pride on your part.
John Piper wrote,
Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties. Or that we can’t take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are unmanagable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting someone else who is wiser and stronger.
Pride reveals itself in obscure forms. When we refuse to cast our cares onto God, we’re being prideful in that 1) we think we can handle it ourselves, and 2) we don’t really believe God cares for us. So not only is it prideful, but a form of unbelief. Many times when we askDoes God really care about me?the answer is not so much about God as it is about us. The Bible is clear: Of course God cares. Do we really believe that? Do we trust that, no matter what we’re going through, God is with us and for our good? If so, then we must trust Him even when life is hard. We must believe Him even when stress, anxiety, and worry ramp up in our hearts.
When we meditate on God’s care for us, our cares melt away.
2 The praise of God consists in meditation on and proclamation of the works of God in behalf of his people. His acts are “great” in the sense of marvelous and awe-inspiring (cf. 106:21–22; Dt 10:21; Rev 15:3). All of his acts from creation (136:4–9) throughout the history of redemption are “great” and are, therefore, wonders (cf. Job 5:9: “wonders”; lit., “great things”). They bear further investigation, not for the purpose of comprehending them fully (cf. Job 5:9), but to “ponder” (dāraš; cf. Ecc 1:13) and to “delight in” (ḥāpēṣ) them.[1]
2. Every thing which tends to display the grace and goodness of God, in nature and providence, is worthy to be well regarded. But what displays hath Jehovah made in Jesus, and his great salvation! And Reader! think what blessings open to the view of that redeemed soul, who is conscious of a personal interest in them. Oh! what pleasure, what joy unspeakable, will that soul find in the blessed study![2]
2. In the Psalms, the Lord’s works (maʿăśîm) are sometimes his deeds, as in verse 6, but more often the things he has made (e.g. the heavens, 8:3; 19:1; 102:25; and the populous earth, 104:24). Because these are made ‘in wisdom’ (104:24 again) they repay research, as recent centuries of rigorous study have shown us abundantly; and this verse was well chosen to grace the entrance of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, the scene of some fundamental physical discoveries. But while this verse is well taken as God’s charter for the scientist and artist, verse 10 must be its partner, lest ‘professing to be wise’ we become fools, like the men of Romans 1:18–23.[3]
Ver. 2. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.—The greatness of the works of God:—
Greatness, when attributed to the works of man, is a relative term, and it is only correct in one direction. Our works can only be great in comparison with the works of other men; they can have no greatness in relation to Gad, or to His operations. Our utmost skill cannot go beyond new combinations, or new discoveries of existing things; we can neither create nor preserve. Our knowledge results from creation; when correct it agrees with its works; but with God, creation results from knowledge—the prototype of it existed in the eternal mind before He began to work (Acts 15:18).
I. The greatness of the works of God.
1. Their immensity. What a wonderful incomprehensible work was it to produce the matter which forms our globe! Yet our planet is but a small part of the solar system: there are spheres many times larger than our world, revolving at immense distances round the same sun. The sun itself is but one among millions of suns, which in boundless space enlighten other worlds, and are the centres of other systems. We are at once lost in the vastness of creation, in the immensity of being God has called into existence; and are oppressed with an overpowering sense of the magnitude of His works.
2. Their variety. The water affects the land, the land affects the water, an endless diversity of influences of different substances on each other are perpetually producing specific and well-ascertained results. Beings possessed of life were created from inanimate substance: by the infinite power of God the sea and land brought forth abundantly, the vegetable and animal kingdoms were called into existence by the Creator’s voice, and the tribes of land and ocean proclaim the magnitude of His work.
3. The preservation and government of the world. Cause and effect is not a necessary but an ordained connection; the energy that works is not that of the instrument but that of God; substances operate upon one another in a natural way, by which we mean an habitual, ordinary manner; but it is God who causes them so to operate; whatever is the instrument its efficacy is from God.
4. His moral government over voluntary and accountable beings. What a vast work must it be to educe order out of the chaotic workings of human minds; to maintain a system of operation and government over myriads of beings, who live as they list, preserving their own schemes of aggrandizement and gratification, without any reference to the will of God: and yet the mightiest of men can accomplish nothing but what God permits, and frequently they are working out, though contrary to their own intentions, the purposes of the Eternal Mind.
5. His greatest work is redemption. It unveils the whole character of God. In the natural world we behold manifestations of His power and wisdom; in His providential government we may learn something of His justice and goodness; but neither of these perfections is so gloriously exhibited as in the Gospel of His Son, where His love and mercy shine with unclouded lustre.
II. Successful inquiry is in proportion to the deep interest we take in the works of God. We must love truth, and justice, and mercy, before we can in any degree estimate the expression of Divine love and justice in saving sinners by the gift and death of the Son of God. (S. Summers.)
The works of God, in nature, providence, and grace:—
I. In nature. Every clod of earth teems with animation; every drop of water swarms with animalculæ. Surely curiosity might induce us to seek out the works of God even if we had no other motive than mere inquisitiveness and curiosity. But we cannot examine these things as we ought without feelings of lively gratitude, that through the life-giving power of Jehovah everything ministers either to the necessities or to the convenience of man. But there is a still more familiar manifestation of the works of God which we should meditate upon. I wish you to turn your reflections upon yourselves. Contemplate the human body; observe the union of its several parts, and their fitness for the particular purpose for which they are designed; mark the composition and appearance of the whole; what incomparable workmanship is perceptible in the whole frame.
II. In preservation.
III. In grace. We look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Since, then, all things are yours if ye are Christ’s, whether the world, or life, or death, or things present or things to come, let us call to mind that we have them as the subject matter of privilege; as the subject matter of improvement here, and as the subjects of praise throughout eternity. (H. F. Fell, M.A.)
The works of the Lord:—
1. Consider—
(1) The variety and multiplicity of the objects that constitute the earth and the creatures that dwell on it. How varied is the form of its surface! What an alternation of enormous ridges with summits of different heights, of hills and plains, of spacious, open fields, and of impassable, impenetrable forests, of continents and seas, rivers and lakes! What diversity and what riches in various kinds of precious gems, stones, ores, minerals, lie concoaled in its bowels I What a world of wonders is enclosed in its fathomless abysses!
(2) Their beauty—no less great and admirable than their variety; consider the outline, the form, the hues, the infinitely blending shades of colours, the delicate texture, the artificial structure, the arrangement and composition of the several parts of every herb, every flower, every leaf, every tree, every plant, every greater and smaller, visible, and invisible, animal.
(3) The accurate and admirable connection that subsists between the several parts and creatures of the earth, causing them all to promote one grand design, the greatest possible welfare of the living.
(4) The gradual progress of all things to higher perfection. See how the plant, the tree expands, grows, flourishes, arrives at maturity, bears fruit, propagates and multiplies, from a seed so small as to be indiscernible to thy naked eye; how the crawling maggot rises into a butterfly; how every animal gradually acquires and communicates to others his agility, his powers, his habitudes; how the infant grows into the stripling, the youth into the man, and the man into the citizen of another world.
(5) The magnitude and inexhaustibility of the energies which animate and actuate all nature; those energies which operate so uniformly and silently, and yet so powerfully and irresistibly in all and through all; those energies which are in perpetual exertion through all successive evolutions, renovations, transformations of the whole innumerable host of creatures, and through all their efforts and effects, and in such various methods; those energies which, from what appears to be confusion and strife, produce the fairest harmony—from what we term death and destruction, incessant life and action.
2. Having considered these things, ascend in thought to the original, eternal energy, from whence these powers are derived—to the original, eternal fount of life, from whence these several kinds of life and efficacy flow—to the Supreme Dispenser of all that joy which fills the capacity of thy soul—to that God who predisposed, accomplished, and called them into being, who bears, upholds, connects, enlivens, and rejoices all, who through them all reveals Himself to His intelligent creature—man—speaks to him by a thousand voices, appears to him in a thousand varied forms, and in all and by all as Author, Benefactor, Father. (G. J. Zollikofer, D.D.)
The order and beauty of the visible creation:—
I The grandeur and simplicity of the works of God. How low and contemptible are all the proudest works of men compared to those of God! Could we suppose a person in full maturity of sense and understanding, but who had never seen the light of the sun and the face of nature, presented on a sudden with an ample prospect of the sublime canopy of heaven, the blazing sun, the illumined atmosphere, and the florid earth diversified with its various landscapes; how would the appearance astonish and transport him, stamp at once on his mind the new ideas of grandeur and beauty, and excite his veneration of the wisdom and power of God!
II. The uniformity and variety which appear in the works of creation. The heavens above, and the earth beneath, continue the same from age to age; yet afford a diversity of successive spectacles: the clouded, the clear, the parti-coloured sky; the nocturnal darkness, the meridian light. If we examine carefully the minuter productions of nature, the smallest insects, or the leaves, flowers, and fruits of plants, we find a wonderful mixture of the various and the uniform, that strikes the mind with a pleasing idea of order and beauty.
III. The perpetual circulations discernible in the world. The sun, moon, and stars perform their appointed courses with a stated unerring motion. What is it that unholds and directs them? How come they to know their seasons and courses? What enables them to travel incessantly with the same unremitting force? Why they never fall to the earth? Or wander through the pathless desert of the sky? In a word, why they never err?—These questions will necessarily turn our attention to the unerring wisdom of the Creator.
IV. The regular proportions observable in the several parts of the world, are a further evidence of creative wisdom in the structure of the whole. For as in the fabric of every plant and animal, the several parts bear a due proportion to each other and to the whole, so it is of the world in general: the parts were all formed by rule and measure, proportionate to each other and to the whole system.
V. The multiplicity of effects in nature flowing from the same cause; and the combination of a multitude of causes to the same effect. The single principle of gravitation, pervading the universe, at the same time gives solidity to the land, stability to the mountains, and fluency to the rivers; binds the ocean to its bed, and the whole earth to its orbit; maintains the due distance of the heavenly bodies; and retains everything through universal nature in its proper situation. Similar to this is the single principle of benevolence in the moral world: which in like manner is diffused through human nature, and produces, according to its different modifications, various beneficial effects: hence parental care; relative union; combination of friends; public spirit; good government of superiors; fidelity of inferiors; and it is this which retains every individual in his proper sphere, cements human society, and contributes to all virtuous actions, honourable pursuits, and innocent delights. How should it excite the inquisitive understanding, and affect the religious temper, of every considerate person, to find the whole world framed and disposed, and all the elemental parts of it contending and co-operating in a perpetual motion, to please and benefit the human race! (S. Bourn.)
On seeking out the worlds of the Lord and praising Him:—
“The works of the Lord are great;” yet, great as they are, they cannot be understood nor perceived by those who are absorbed in earthly ideas and pursuits. The works of the Lord must be “sought out”; that is, they must be mindfully and diligently observed, in order to their being adequately understood: nay, if we would know anything of their vastness or their excellency. We must be in the constant habit of connecting the ordinary operations and occurrences of life with a higher power, with the counsel and government of heaven; a gracious promise is given, that “all things shall work together for good to them that love God”; and we must be always endeavouring to trace this working, and observe the striking manner in which this effect is produced. Nor can any, but the pious and faithful servant of God, find delight in this holy and profitable exercise; and the longer he lives, the more clearly he perceives the hand of the Almighty in everything; in discomforting the evil and blessing the good: he sees and admires the wonders of grace, as well as the wonders of providence, vouchsafed to others as well as himself; to the Church in all ages. In all the good he receives or does, and all the evil he escapes or prevents, he traces the power and mercy of his God: “Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto Thy name be the glory and the praise.” Thus he imitates the conduct of the psalmist, recorded in the text, “I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart”: all the power of his understanding and all the affections of his soul are employed in magnifying the majesty and loving-kindness of the “Author and giver of every good gift.” And the grateful Christian imitates the psalmist yet farther; he does not hide the sense of God’s goodness within his own bosom; but declares it openly as opportunity serves. (J. Slade, M. A.)
New interest in God’s works An American poet tells us, in one of his letters, how he once met an aged French priest on the Pacific Railway. The priest told him that he was on a journey round the world, and that he had been put up to that by a dream. He dreamed that he had died, and he met the good God, who asked him how he liked the world he had come from. He was obliged to confess that he had not looked at it very much: for the whole time he was there he had been busy getting himself ready to die, and getting other people ready to die—as if getting ready to die were the chief end of man here below. When he awoke he resolved that, old as he was, if the good God would only let him stay on in this world a little while longer, he would take a good look at it before he was summoned to pass another such examination. So he had furnished himself with some little books in physical geography and the like, and was reading, and looking, and thus preparing for the other world by trying to get all the real and Divine good he could out of this earth. (John Hunter, D.D.)[4]
2. “The works of the Lord are great.” In design, in size, in number, in excellence, all the works of the Lord are great. Even the little things of God are great. In some point of view or other each one of the productions of his power, or the deeds of his wisdom, will appear to be great to the wise in heart. “Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” Those who love their Maker delight in his handiworks, they perceive that there is more in them than appears upon the surface, and therefore they bend their minds to study and understand them. The devout naturalist ransacks nature, the earnest student of history pries into hidden facts and dark stories, and the man of God digs into the mines of Scripture, and hoards up each grain of its golden truth. God’s works are worthy of our researches, they yield us instruction and pleasure wonderfully blended, and they grow upon, appearing to be far greater, after investigation than before. Men’s works are noble from a distance; God’s works are great when sought out. Delitzsch reads the passage, “Worthy of being sought after in all their purposes,” and this also is a grand truth, for the end and design which God hath in all that he makes or does is equally admirable with the work itself. The hidden wisdom of God is the most marvellous part of his works, and hence those who do not look below the surface miss the best part of what he would teach us. Because the works are great they cannot be seen all at once, but must be looked into with care, and this seeking out is of essential service to us by educating our faculties, and strengthening our spiritual eye gradually to bear the light of the divine glory. It is well for us that all things cannot be seen at a glance, for the search into their mysteries is as useful to us as the knowledge which we thereby attain. The history of the Lord’s dealings with his people is especially a fit subject for the meditation of reverent minds who find therein a sweet solace, and a never failing source of delight.[5]
[1] VanGemeren, W. A. (2008). Psalms. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms (Revised Edition) (Vol. 5, p. 818). Zondervan.
1 Samuel 24:1 — En Gedi is a must see on your tour of Israel. The area contains a lot of dry cliffs, but the occasional waterfall amazes the senses!
1 Samuel 24:6 — Even when your cause seems justified – it’s never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right. Let God be judge (1 Samuel 24:15).
1 Samuel 25:18 — We’ve been reading in Proverbs about what wisdom looks like, now we see it in action. A wife interceding to save her husband by appeasing a wrathful adversary. God even delivered her from her unwise husband (1 Samuel 25:38). David waited until God dealt with Nabal. If only he did the same with Uriah …
John 10:28 — Want eternal life? Go to the Giver of Eternal Life!
Psalms 116:12 — What indeed! What is our reasonable service? Romans 12:1!
Psalm 116:15 — When an elderly relative of mine was about to pass away, one of the pastors who was with us reminded us of this verse.
Proverbs 15:21 — Relaxation and recreation are fine – but do you get your joy from folly?
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.
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. (John 3:16)
Of all the stars in the sky, the polestar is the most useful to the mariner. This text is a polestar, for it has guided more souls to salvation than any other Scripture. It is among promises what the Great Bear is among constellations.
Several words in it shine with peculiar brilliance. Here we have God’s love with a “so” to it, which marks its measureless greatness. Then we have God’s gift in all its freeness and greatness. This also is God’s Son, that unique and priceless gift of a love which could never fully show itself till heaven’s Only-begotten had been sent to live and die for men. These three points are full of light.
Then there is the simple requirement of believing, which graciously points to a way of salvation suitable for guilty men. This is backed by a wide description—”whosoever believeth in him.” Many have found room in “whosoever” who would have felt themselves shut out by a narrower word. Then comes the great promise, that believers in Jesus shall not perish but have everlasting life. This is cheering to every man who feels that he is ready to perish and that he cannot save himself. We believe in the Lord Jesus, and we have eternal life.
National Day of Prayer (NDOP) and the Global Go Day.Local groups are meeting across the country as well as online on Zoom. NDOP runs from 10 am until 4 pm (AEST).Click here to register!
Intention
To be still and attentive to God in prayer, asking for salvation across the nations, and intentionally going with the good news.
Scripture
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
– John 10:27
Reflection
Today is the Australia National Day of Prayer. It is also Go Day, when believers across the world take the good news of Jesus out to a dying and lost world.
For this NDOP, our focus is onbeing still before God(Psalm 46:10). Why? Because this will aid us in being more fruitful in sharing the gospel and making disciples of Jesus. As we tune ourselves into God, He will help us be in tune with others as we share Jesus with them.
But what exactly is a disciple?
To be a disciple means to be in sync with the voice of the Shepherd, to stay close to Him (be known by Jesus), and to obey His word (follow Jesus). Jesus reveals all this to us in John 10:27.
To be a disciple-maker is to help others hear Jesus, know Him, and obediently follow Him.
Being Jesus’ disciple is not a momentary task. Rather, it is a relational journey as we walk with Him in His power, presence, and purpose. It involves being attentive to God in listening prayer. Through this process, we become increasingly aware of His loving, unconditional acceptance of us. Jesus knows us intimately, and He will continue to reveal the Father’s love for us.
Making disciples of Jesus is also a relational journey. As we experience more of God’s transforming love, we will naturally grow in our love for the world. This dynamic will draw us to actively engage with others. We can’t help but desire to share the good news of salvation.
For those who wonderfully accept God’s love shown to them in Jesus, we have the great privilege of helping them hear His voice, know Him, and obey His word. We will make disciples, who will then make more disciples.
By living out our faith and loving authentically, we become instruments of God’s grace and love. We reveal the beauty of Jesus in this broken world. It is His work, and as we abide in Him and He abides in us, His love will explode in Australia, releasing Christ’s glory everywhere.
Today is about being still before God.
The following prayer guide can help you as you come before Him in listening prayer.
Prayer Guide: W.A.L.K.
Wait andworshipin God’s presence. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”.
Align with God’sagenda. “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
Loved by God andloving others. “Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”.
Known by God andmaking Him known. “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”
Video
Prayer
Gracious Father, thank You for Your extravagant love. We listen attentively to Your voice to discern Your ways. As we gather in prayer and as we scatter to make disciples, may You do much more in Jesus’ name than we are imagining or asking.
Fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may be bold in our witness. We ask for divine appointments today where those we meet will receive the word, turn, and follow Jesus. May our lives be a witness to Your manifest presence, drawing others to follow Jesus.
Strengthen us, O Lord, to walk in loving obedience with humility, knowing that it is through Your power that we are able to participate in Your mission as we follow Jesus who leads us to love the lost.
We ask for a fresh move of the Holy Spirit as we build momentum in prayer and action. Teach us to be still and know You are God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You will be exalted among the nations. You will be exalted in the earth.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Author Bio
Mike Hey is a member of the Australia Prays Executive Team, and he serves with OM as a global missions and leadership mentor. He and his wife, Ann, spent many years in India, on the OM ships, and in Asia in leadership as catalysts for unity, prayer, evangelism, disciple-making, and church planting.
Prayer Points and Purpose for GO Month 2024
To worship Jesus and give extravagant praise to God.1 Chron 16:23–31.
To pray for revival, repentance and deliverance for Australia and for millions to find Christ.Acts 2:1–41.
To pray for five people by name to find Christ and share the gospel with those five in May.Matt 28:18–20.
We invite you to support this prayer campaign to multiply prayer in Australia for revival and see millions come to Christ. Every donation to the Canberra Declaration helps us promote prayer and make a stand for family, faith, freedom, life, and the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ His Son.
A call for people worldwide to stand with Japan against WHO’s public health dictatorship On Monday, a press conference was held to launch a Japanese national movement against WHO’s pandemic plans. Organisers also announced a protest against WHO’s plans to take place on 31 May, the second last day of the World Health Assembly meeting to adopt the amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) and the Pandemic Treaty.
Aligned Council of Australia holds a press conference about WHO’s Pandemic Treaty Last week, the Aligned Council of Australia held an international press conference to discuss the World Health Organisation’s proposed pandemic instruments that are due to be voted on at the 77th World Health Assembly being held at the end of this month.
Million Texans Without Power As Storm Topples Transmission Towers Powerful storms tore through eastern Texas on Thursday evening, decimating transmission towers and plunging over a million residents into darkness. “Severe thunderstorms moving across the Houston metro area have a history of producing damaging winds! This destructive storm will contain wind gusts to 80 MPH! A tornado is possible!” the National Weather Service of Houston wrote on X.
Bonds sold and stocks meander on day after CPI- Newsquawk US Market Wrap REAR VIEW: Soft housing data; Jobless claims fall, just above expectations; Hot import/export prices; Fed’s Williams said April CPI was positive, policy in a good place; Mester notes inflation risks have moved up; Barkin thinks it will take more time for inflation to come down; Israel says additional forces will take place in Rafah op.; Strong WMT earnings; Aussie unemployment rate
Over 100K demand KC Chiefs release Harrison Butker over speech A petition circulating online has amassed over 100,000 supporters calling for the release of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker after the practicing Catholic referenced abortion, LGBT issues and President Joe Biden during a recent commencement speech critics deemed “discriminatory remarks.”
Only 2% of Evangelicals define ‘Evangelical’ in political terms: study A new survey finds that only 2% of Evangelical Protestants in the U.S. believe that the term “Evangelical” should be defined in part or fully by political views, while a large portion of Protestants who fit the theological definition of the term don’t identify with the label.
Bird Flu Jumps From Cow to Human in The US: Experts Confirm First Case It’s now official: the highly pathogenic bird flu A(H5N1) that’s been spreading across the globe since 2020 has now been passed from a cow to a dairy farmer in the US, the first confirmed cow-to-human transmission of this virus on record.
“The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism.” —George Washington (1796)
Fellow Patriots, tomorrow is Armed Forces Day, which we set aside each third Saturday in May to honor our Patriots in uniform. Not only that, but as I wrote Wednesday, please remember to say “thank you” to the spouses and family members of service personnel, who likewise make immense sacrifices so we remain the land of the free.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ devout Catholic kicker gave a stirring commencement speech, and the woke Left went ballistic.
Douglas Andrews
I’m not a Kansas City Chiefs fan. But I just became a Harrison Butker fan.
Butker, the star placekicker for the repeat Super Bowl champion Chiefs, was asked to give the commencement speech at tiny Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas. And give it he did.
“I’m on this stage today,” he said, “and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I’m beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school [pauses, gathers himself, continues with voice cracking] would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker [stirring ovation].”
That was the most moving moment of his speech, but it wasn’t the most muscular. That was reserved for Joe Biden. “Our own nation,” he said, “is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the Sign of the Cross during a pro-abortion rally. He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I’m sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice.”
Butker’s message was perfectly suited to his audience, but it was too much for the woke Left, whose adherents headed to Change.org to create a petition calling for the Chiefs to release their kicker “for discriminatory remarks.” As of 6:00 ET this morning, the petition had amassed more than 170,000 signatures, or one signature for every 2,000 Americans.
More disturbing than a meaningless petition, though, were the actions of the city where he makes his home. As Fox News reports, “The city of Kansas City, Missouri, has apologized after posting a message on social media revealing the residence of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker after the Super Bowl champion came under attack following his faith-based commencement speech at Benedictine College over the weekend.”
That’s right. Some dirtbag civil servants doxed not only Butker but his wife Isabelle and their two young children. “We apologies [sic] for our previous tweet. It was shared in error,” the follow-up post read. Uh-huh. Missouri Attorney General Andew Bailey wasn’t amused, and he wasn’t buying the “error” explanation, either. In response, he said that his office is “demanding accountability,” adding, “I will enforce the Missouri Human Rights Act to ensure Missourians are not targeted for their free exercise of religion.” Good for him.
The speech was refreshingly free of the usual progressive bromides, and The Washington Post’s Cindy Boren was indignant. Butker, she wrote, “branched out from football over the weekend, taking aim at ‘diabolical lies told to women’ and ‘dangerous gender ideologies’ as well as gay pride and President Biden’s stance on abortion.”
The speech has been cut, pasted, and excerpted context-free all over the media, but here’s the whole thing. It’s well worth a listen.
It’s easy to see why the perennially aggrieved might be outraged. But the truth sometimes hurts. “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg, though, understood. “I like when people say what they need to say,” she said. “He’s at a Catholic college. He’s a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs, and he’s welcome to them.”
Here’s something I never thought I’d say: Good for you, Whoopi.
But bad for you, Roger Goodell. Goodell, the weak-kneed, kowtowing, money-grubbing NFL commissioner, just couldn’t stare down the thin-skinned Rainbow Mafia, who were no doubt incensed by Butker’s failure to genuflect when he mentioned “Pride” Month in his speech. Instead, Goodell had the appropriate underling fire off a sternly worded statement.
“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” said Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
Inclusion, eh? They must mean inclusion except for devout Catholics and others with a reverence for traditional motherhood.
Christian actor Kevin Sorbo’s response was a throat-punch: “Just so we’re clear: NFL players can beat their wives or girlfriends, drive drunk, and do hard drugs, but we draw the line at them saying ‘Christ is king.’ Got it.”
Much to Goodell’s chagrin, Harrison Butker jerseys — both men’s and women’s sizes — are now outselling those of his infinitely more famous teammate, all-pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Benedictine is a Catholic liberal arts college, and Butker had strong advice for its young men as well as its women:
To the gentlemen here today, part of what plagues our society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities. As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction, and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see around the nation. … Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy. You might have a talent that you don’t necessarily enjoy, but if it glorifies God, maybe you should lean into that over something that you might think suits you better.
Butker also spoke at length, and eloquently so, about the Traditional Latin Mass, thereby putting the lie to those who’ve tried to characterize his speech as some sort of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, anti-woke screed. It was instead a thoughtful and elegant address, and it was enthusiastically received.
Fox News’s Laura Ingraham summed things up this way: “The powers that be here mean to make an example out of people like Harrison Butker and [women’s sports champion] Riley Gaines. Dare to challenge their twisted worldview, where men can be women and mothers and fathers are fungible, and they will try to denigrate you, isolate you, cancel you, and ultimately silence you completely. Be not afraid.”
In closing, Butker stressed that some things are more important than money and more important than any particular job. “Cost of living,” he said, “must not be the only arbiter of your choices, for a life without God is not a life at all, and the cost of salvation is worth more than any career.”
Then this: “Make no mistake: You are entering into mission territory in a post-God world, but you were made for this. And with God by your side and a constant striving for virtue within your vocation, you, too, can be a saint. Christ is King. To the heights.”
Cohen clobbered in cross-examination, Garland held in contempt, fired California teacher wins settlement, and more.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
Cohen gets clobbered in cross-examination: A day that promised to be disastrous for Donald Trump’s persecutors actually exceeded expectations thanks to the worst prosecution witness in the history of prosecutions. Pathological liar and former Trump fixer Michael Cohen was eviscerated by defense counsel yesterday. As for the “Perry Mason Moment,” as it were, the New York Post reports, “Michael Cohen was actually whining about a 14-year-old prank caller when he claimed to have had a key conversation with Donald Trump about the hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the ex-president’s attorney argued during a fiery moment in court Thursday.” Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, masterfully exposed this most consequential of Cohen’s lies and, in doing so, destroyed Cohen’s credibility regarding a key component of the prosecution’s argument: that Trump ordered the hush-money payment to hide the scandal from voters. No less a Trump-hater than CNN’s Anderson Cooper understood the gravity of the moment: “I think it’s devastating for Michael Cohen’s credibility on this one particular topic,” he said. On this one particular topic?
AG Garland held in contempt by committees: On Thursday, in party-line votes of 18-15 and 24-20, two Republican-led House committees, Judiciary and Oversight, voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over his refusal to turn over the audio recordings of Joe Biden’s interviews with Special Counsel Robert Hur related to his classified document investigation. While the committees had been given the transcripts of those interviews, Republicans wanted the audio recordings, contending they would provide a more comprehensive view of the interviews. Clearly loathe to hand over the tapes, Biden dubiously invoked executive privilege and therefore claimed that Garland cannot be prosecuted for contempt of Congress. Republicans had subpoenaed the DOJ, but Garland refused to comply. “Transcripts do not capture demeanor evidence,” argued Dan Bishop (R-NC). “Transcripts are often imperfect, especially to convey the timing of question and answer and disfluencies of a witness, or hesitations, among other things. All of that is demeanor evidence.” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has not yet committed to bringing the contempt referral to the full House floor.
Border crossings up nationwide … except in Texas: The number of illegal border crossings into the U.S. has risen over the first three months of this year in every southern border state except one. Texas saw a 37% drop in 2024, which followed a 51% drop in 2023. Meanwhile, illegal border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border are up 10% overall, primarily due to increases in Arizona and California. What makes Texas different is due to the actions Republican Governor Greg Abbott has taken to tackle the border crisis. Since launching Operation Lone Star back in 2021, Abbott has sought to use all the tools at his disposal to control and close down Joe Biden’s open border. It has been a battle, but Texas is seeing results. For example, illegal crossings at Eagle Pass, which once numbered 5,000 a day, have dwindled to just a handful now. It turns out that hardening Texas’s southern border with walls and razor wire, as well as arresting people who enter the country illegally, actually serves to dissuade people from coming.
Are EVs making people sick? As the number of Americans driving and riding in EVs has increased, many are reporting having experienced motion sickness, which they did not have trouble with in gas-powered cars. The reason is twofold. One culprit is regenerative braking. EVs, especially Teslas, use one-pedal driving, where a throttle release slows the vehicle. The car’s immediate slowing or braking can produce a jerking action for the driver and passengers, resulting in a sickening effect. The other issue has to do with sound. Due to EVs having no internal combustion engine, the noise associated with acceleration and deceleration are nearly nonexistent. That lack of auditory input can cause people to experience motion sickness. A recent study from Vrije University in the Netherlands found that “being able to anticipate upcoming motion is known to potentially mitigate sickness resulting from provocative motion” and that the “average illness ratings were significantly lower for the condition that contained informative auditory cues, as compared to the condition without informative cues.”
Squadster Ayanna Pressley is “so tired of white men failing up”: What should’ve been celebrated as a rare bipartisan House grilling of an incompetent bureaucrat instead was overshadowed by the racist comments of one of the committee members. Republicans called on FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg to resign over his stewardship of “widespread sexual misconduct and harassment at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.” That’s when hard-left Massachusetts Democrat and “Squad” member Ayanna Pressley went on an unhinged racist tirade. “I am so tired of white men failing up,” she ranted. “This lack of accountability is shameful, inadequate, and deeply unsatisfactory, and it is retraumatizing.” It’s indeed traumatic to hear about Pressley’s retraumatization, but we wonder: What would’ve happened if a white Republican congresswoman had said the exact same thing about black men?
Good news: Fired CA teacher wins settlement: In 2022, the Jurupa Unified School District of California fired gym teacher Jessica Tapia after she refused to use a student’s “preferred pronouns.” Tapia cited her religious beliefs as the reason for her refusal to lie to students and their parents. Following her firing, Tapia, represented by Advocates for Faith and Freedom, sued the school district for religious discrimination. On Tuesday, the school district agreed to a $360,000 settlement with Tapia. While the settlement let the school district avoid any admission of wrongdoing, Tapia’s attorney, Julianne Fleischer, contends that the “settlement serves as a reminder that religious freedom is protected, no matter your career.” She added: “Jessica’s story is one of faithful courage. She fought back to ensure her school district was held accountable and that no other teacher has to succumb to this type of discrimination.”
More good news: Folks keep voting with their feet for limited government: It’s been said that people vote with their pocketbooks, but they also vote with their feet. Such has been the case lately as residents of red states and blue states continue to sort themselves out. As The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman writes, “Another round of census data shows more movement toward limited government.” Freeman was referring to a Census Bureau press release whose headline reads, “South Continues to Lead the Way With Largest and Fastest Growth.” The Palmetto State is, of course, a red state, and this news was part of a trend. The report added, “Thirteen of the 15 fastest-growing cities were in the South, with eight in Texas alone.” Freeman then notes something of a reciprocal arrangement: “On the flip side,” he writes, “a report from a coastal metropolis that has had its share of progressive policy misadventures reckons with a population that used to be booming but is not anymore. Seattle Times columnist Gene Balk writes: ‘Seattle was the nation’s fastest-growing big city of the 2010s. New data shows we’re not even in the Top 10 anymore.’”
Still more good news: Texas Governor Abbott pardons soldier who shot BLM thug: We wish this story were entirely good news, but it isn’t. As Breitbart reports: “Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a pardon to U.S. Army Sergeant Daniel Perry, citing the state’s Stand Your Ground laws and the right of self-defense. Perry was convicted by a Travis County court in April 2023 for shooting and killing Garret Foster during a Black Lives Matter protest.” Where, you ask, is the bad news in all this? As the Daily Mail reports, “Perry faced up to 99 years behind bars as prosecutors painted him as a racist unhinged army soldier who planned to kill rioters, including bringing up text messages where he told a friend he ‘might go to Dallas to shoot looters.’” The bad news, then, is that a Texas jury — albeit a “progressive” Austin jury — saw fit to discount the fact that Foster had pointed his AK-47 at Perry before being shot. Ultimately, Perry got a life-wrecking 25 years in prison, which prompted Abbott to ask the state parole board to review the Perry case. So justice prevailed, but just barely. And not before putting a soldier through hell.
Headlines
An illegal border crosser — probably Jordanian — tried to force his way onto a U.S. Marine base. Why isn’t this a bigger story? (NY Post)
Trump will see son Barron graduate high school today after judge approved request (Fox News)
Harvard was unresponsive to anti-Semitism, House committee finds (WSJ)
Pro-Palestinian “anarchists and communists” claim responsibility for vandalism at University of California president’s office (National Review)
Sonoma State president put on leave for “insubordination” for supporting Israel academic boycott, divestment (LA Times)
Columbia faculty back “no confidence” motion against President Minouche Shafik (National Review)
Households earning $300K+ a year are biggest beneficiaries of new student debt “cancellation” plan (FEE)
Almost 50% of small businesses say they likely won’t survive a second Biden term (Just the News)
Former NIH director admits lab-leak theory of COVID origin is not conspiracy theory (Washington Examiner)
NBC to promote “LGBTQI+ tolerance” by bombarding audiences with gay animal sex (Daily Wire)
UK tells schools not to teach “gender identity,” set to enforce new sex-ed guidelines (Fox News)
Satire: “Harrison Butker does not reflect our values,” says league of woman beaters (Babylon Bee)
He effectively said it’s Congress’s problem, but the result is the growth of unaccountable bureaucracy.
Nate Jackson
In 2010, in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, the Democrats who controlled all of Washington passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It was sold as a plan to make sure “too big to fail” never happened again, but, as usual, it really only empowered Washington bureaucrats to sink their claws deeper into the economy.
One of the new things Dodd-Frank established was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has the authority to do things that have little to do with protecting customers or their finances. Congress also did what it has increasingly done in recent decades — designed a law so as to avoid its own accountability for how things play out. Members of Congress have decided life is far easier when they can campaign for or against something the executive or judiciary did than face accountability for the ways laws are written.
This cedes constitutional authority from the first branch among equals for crass political gain.
That’s the overarching takeaway here. But the particulars prove the point.
A 7-2 majority said that the CFPB’s funding structure isn’t a problem, overturning the Fifth Circuit Court with the ruling. A group of payday lenders (perhaps not the most sympathetic plaintiffs) argued that the CFPB’s funding structure — which allows it to draw from the Federal Reserve outside the normal appropriations process — violates the Constitution, which says, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
The majority disagreed. “The Bureau’s funding mechanism does not violate the appropriations clause,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority. “Specifying the source and purpose [of funds for an agency] is all the control the Appropriations Clause requires.” Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Sonia Sotomayor joined him.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissent for himself and Neil Gorsuch that explains some big problems. “Elements that are safe or tolerable in isolation may be unsafe when combined. In the case of the CFPB, the combination is deadly,” Alito said of the CFPB’s funding structure and its sprawling authority to effectively rewrite laws. “And it is likewise clear that this assemblage was no accident. Rather, it was carefully designed to give the Bureau maximum unaccountability.” Congress ceded authority.
“In the last several months alone, the Bureau has announced plans to effectuate not one, but three major changes in consumer protection law,” Alito added. “These may or may not be wise policies, but Congress did not specifically authorize any of them, and if the CFPB’s financing scheme is sustained, Congress cannot control or monitor the CFPB’s use of funds to implement such changes.”
In other words, the CFPB effectively operates without oversight. It can legislate, and Congress abdicated its power of the purse. The CFPB is the deep state, and congressional Democrats deliberately designed it that way. Now, it has the Supreme Court’s stamp of approval.
I’m reminded of Chief Justice Roberts’s contortions to save ObamaCare, though in that case, he did it by ruling that the law’s penalty was a tax — precisely the opposite of what congressional Democrats said it was. At least Thomas and his fellow justices allowed Congress the latitude to legislate in this case. In both cases, the justices argued that it’s not their job to save Congress from itself.
The irony in this case is that the legislature created an executive agency that can also legislate while being accountable to no one.
It seems the only thing that’s too big to fail is the CFPB.
Joe Biden’s handlers and their Leftmedia minions are desperate to downgrade the successes of the Trump presidency.
Brian Mark Weber
Mention the name Donald Trump, and you’re sure to get a lot of opinionated responses. He’s a polarizing figure, even within the Republican Party.
Whether you consider yourself part of MAGA or if you’re in some other wing of the party, there’s no denying Trump is sailing toward the nomination at this summer’s GOP convention, assuming he’s able to escape a series of legal troubles.
Trump’s poll numbers are strong, so it’s no wonder Biden and his Leftmedia mouthpieces are hell-bent on scaring you.
Sure, over the years, Democrats have always resorted to the tired strategy of frightening moderates and conservative stalwarts that voting for the Republican candidate would be the end of freedom as we know it. And don’t think a moderate Republican candidate would send the Left’s wolves back to the den. Remember, they even painted the milquetoast Mitt Romney as an extremist back in 2012.
But there’s something about Trump that sends the Left into convulsions: He just keeps fighting, no matter what they try. More importantly, Trump had a pretty good record on many issues that matter to the American people — something that wasn’t fully appreciated until Joe Biden moved into the White House.
With no record of their own to brag about in the present, Biden and the Democrats are bringing up the past.
The Associated Press “reports”: “Biden frequently highlights Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and how he stood by when supporters violently stormed the Capitol as Congress met to certify his loss to Biden. He also points to Trump separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border, tax cuts the Republican pushed through that benefited corporations and the wealthy and his repeated efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act.”
Those are all serious distortions of Trump’s actual record — distortions that make Biden appear “reasonable” by comparison.
Biden and his allies also continue pushing the idea that Trump has close ties with Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. They’ve also resorted to name-calling and taking cheap shots. This is a sign of desperation, as many polls show Trump widening his lead over Biden.
And that really gets the Democrats’ goat.
They just can’t figure out how a man they portray as a dictator — a man who they claim will “end democracy as we know it” — is so popular. Even RFK Jr., no supporter of Trump, thinks Biden is more of a “threat to democracy” than the golden-haired billionaire.
Polls indicate none of the legal shenanigans going on in New York City matter to voters. What matters is the America they remember under Trump before COVID-19: secure borders, a stronger economy, lower inflation, clear foreign policy, and an unwavering commitment to our allies.
Biden’s CNN super PAC reports, “Biden is facing extreme pressure to do more to remind voters of the turmoil of Trump’s single term, which ended amid his erratic leadership in a once-in-a-century pandemic but that now appears to some voters to have largely been a time of economic stability.”
A recent CNN poll found that “more than half, 55%, of all Americans say they see Trump’s presidency as a success, while 44% see it as a failure.” As for Biden’s presidency, “so far, 61% say it’s a failure, while 39% see it as successful.”
Some might conclude that Trump’s support merely comes from his strong base, but they’d be wrong.
“Many of Mr. Trump’s key constituencies, such as white voters without a college degree, are particularly likely to have a fond view of his time in office,” according to The New York Times. “But a broad swath of the country — including Hispanic voters, voters over 30 and most lower- and middle-income voters — now see Mr. Trump’s years in office as more good than bad.”
That’s a big problem for Biden to overcome.
As our own Mark Alexander wrote back in 2021: “Despite all the handwringing about political divisions on the Right, that split is over support for Trump the personality. There is no split over support for the Trump administration’s considerable policy successes.” Nothing’s changed today.
And that may be enough to push Trump over the edge in 2024. By taking advantage of Biden’s poor record on just about every issue that matters, Trump’s presidency and all the baggage that came with it is vastly preferable to the daily dose of news about unchecked illegal immigration, rampant crime, soaring inflation, feckless foreign policy, and violent anti-Semitic protests on college campuses.
With Trump largely off the campaign trail and behind the closed doors of a Manhattan courtroom, Biden’s failed presidency remains center stage. For now, that’s a winning combination that might just pay off this November.
This socially conservative country is where gender-confused Dylan Mulvaney went to find safe haven for a spell.
Emmy Griffin
Peru, home of Machu Picchu and the Incas, has just classified transgenderism, identifying as nonbinary, or claiming intersex status, as a mental illness. This decree was signed on Friday, May 10, by President Dina Boluarte. The reasons, according to the Peruvian health ministry, are to ensure full medical coverage for this community.
The Peruvian government came to this conclusion based on the Mental and Behavioral Disorders chapters of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which still correctly maintains that gender identity disorder is a mental illness. Today’s social contagion aspects of transgenderism for women and autogynephilia-tinged transgenderism for men still fall under that category, though the original disorder generally afflicted only males and had a very early onset in young childhood.
Despite what could be considered a “win” for the gender-confused — full medical coverage by insurance — the trans activists in Peru are not having it. Jheinser Pacaya, director of Outfest Peru, declared: “100 years after the decriminalization of homosexuality, the [government] has no better idea than to include trans people in the category of mental illnesses. We demand and we will not rest until its repeal.” Perhaps being told that they are mentally ill hurts their pride.
Peru has been called socially “super conservative” by critics of this decree.
Ironically enough, Peru was the place chosen by Dylan Mulvaney — TikTok celebrity and gender-confused activist — as a safe haven retreat last year. Mulvaney had a series of ad partnerships with various companies. The one that finally caused Americans to say “Enough — your brand is something we are not interested in” was his partnership with Bud Light.
Mulvaney later disclosed that he felt betrayed by Anheuser-Busch for not standing by him amidst the backlash. This is ironic, considering that the whole reason that the Bud Light boycott is continuing is because the company is refusing to meaningfully apologize to its customer base for using Mulvaney as a sponsor. Mulvaney also said this of his critics: “It’s so sad because everything I try to put out is positive. It’s trying to connect with others that maybe don’t understand me. It’s to make people laugh, or to make a kid feel seen.”
Mulvaney is a consummate victim and a disingenuous one to boot. This past March, he released a single in which he once again displayed his contempt for women. This self-proclaimed “bimbo” wants to make kids feel seen by distilling womanhood to “walks of shame,” “retail therapy,” and “breakdowns in the bath.” He also calls this “girlhood,” which is extra disturbing if he means a minor. He isn’t a great role model or mentally healthy.
Now Peru has classified transgenderism as a mental illness. Coincidence?
“The Medal of Honor stands for the highest degree of heroism; its recipients risked their lives [for] freedom, liberty, and the lives of their fellow soldiers.”
Mark Alexander
I recently profiled World War II Army MSG Roddie Edmonds, 106th Infantry Division, 422nd Infantry Regiment. Edmonds and almost 20,000 other Americans had been taken Prisoners of War after Adolf Hitler launched his “Battle of the Bulge” counteroffensive in December 1944.
On the evening of January 17, 1945, Edmonds was the senior noncommissioned officer in the German POW camp, Stalag IXA, when the Nazi camp commandant demanded that the next morning he identify all the Jews among his men so they could be segregated and likely murdered. On the cold winter morning that followed, Edmonds, a devout Christian, rallied his 1,292 American POWs and ordered them to turn out in defiance of the commandant’s orders. When confronted by the commandant, he declared, “We are ALL Jews.”
Edmonds did so at great risk to his life and was recommended for a Medal of Honor, but his actions were in a POW camp rather than in the midst of combat and, thus, did not meet the combat criteria. As I noted in a previous profile of SGT Fred Mayer, though his actions against the Austrian Nazi regime in 1945 reflected “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” like Edmonds, Mayer’s actions were not in combat.
However, he was recognized with the title of “Righteous Among the Nations,” Israel’s highest award for non-Jews who risked their own lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Global War on Terrorism: Christopher Celiz (Sergeant First Class, USA)
American Jews have served our nation from its earliest days, including as militiamen during the American Revolution. Francis Salvador was the first Jew who died fighting for independence.
During the War Between the States, four Union general officers were Jewish: Brigadier General Frederick Salomon, Brevet Brigadier General Leopold Blumenberg, Brevet Brigadier General Frederick Knefler, and Brevet Brigadier General Edward S. Salomon. The first official Jewish chaplain in the U.S. Army was Jacob Frankel. Of the 150,000 Jews in the United States at the time, about 10,000 served, 7,000 with the Union and 3,000 with the Confederacy. It is estimated that 600 Jewish soldiers were killed in battle.
During World War I and World War II, there were a combined 650,000 Jews among the enlisted and officer ranks, the most well-known of WWII officers being Connecticut native Major General Maurice Rose, killed in action in March 1945 while commanding the 3rd Armored Division.
Notable WWII scientists were the Manhattan Project’s Albert Einstein, Leó Szilárd, and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
More than 150,000 Jewish Americans served during the Korean War and 30,000 during the Vietnam War.
To the 18 Jewish Medal of Honor recipients and many others who demonstrated heroic actions in combat: Your examples of valor — humble American Patriots defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty, and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal. “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
PopCon #44: The BSA Is Dead — In 2025, the Boy Scouts of America will officially change to Scouting America, driving the inevitable last nail into the coffin.
Harrison Butker’s Commencement Address — The Kansas City Chiefs player has incurred the ire of the Left for speaking the truth and voicing his Catholic convictions in this commencement address at Benedictine College.
Harry Truman: Containing Communism — Truman led America to victory in WWII, but a new challenge was looming: the spread of communism across the globe. Would America’s 33rd president retreat into isolation, or fight the new threat head-on?
Now That’s What I Call Biden! (Vol. 1) — An historic compilation of your favorite songs about your least favorite president, Joe Biden, sometimes referred to as Sleepy Joe.
“[Biden’s] making the point that the factors that caused inflation to climb to 9% were in place when he took office.” —Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jared Bernstein
“The point that [Biden] was making is that the factors that cause inflation was [sic] in place … when he took office.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
Appropriated Press
“White House blocks release of Biden’s special counsel interview audio, says GOP is being political.” —Associated Press
For the Record
“Celebrations are about to erupt across the country to praise the countless gender-confused identities of those who have normalized some of the most vile behaviors in society while they simultaneously express their solidarity with a group of people who would throw them off a building for pedaling their nonsense. It’s quite the moment in history.” —Samantha Koch
“Civilization is more and more a race between education and catastrophe, and the latter is winning because education has been diverted into drivel.” —Armstrong Williams
Political Futures
“Just 2% of voters say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be the most important issue in deciding their vote in The New York Times poll, and 4% of voters age 18-29. … In other words, in fishing for voters who are small in number and outside the mainstream, Biden has further discredited himself and his leadership with his equivocation.” —Rich Lowry
“Biden is not so much an octogenarian as an unhealthy and prematurely aging 80-year-old. It is America’s irony that he is fit for almost no other job in the country other than the presidency, which apparently allows for a three-day-a-week ceremonial role while others in the shadows run the country.” —Victor Davis Hanson
“We have one candidate whose doctors don’t want him walking, and one whose lawyers don’t want him talking.” —Dan McLaughlin
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
“Is there anyone who believes that allowing the Trump tax cuts to expire at the end of next year will cause politicians to suddenly become responsible about spending should they gain additional revenue?” —Cal Thomas
A Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut
“I like when people say what they need to say. He’s at a Catholic college. He’s a staunch Catholic. These are his beliefs and he’s welcome to them.” —”The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg, of all people, defending Harrison Butker
And Last…
“Just so we’re clear: NFL players can beat their wives or girlfriends, drive drunk, and do hard drugs, but we draw the line at them saying ‘Christ is king.’ Got it.” —Kevin Sorbo
President Joe Biden bizarrely argued during an interview earlier this week that his economic policies were successful even though prices for the most necessary consumer goods have spiked 25–30 percent since he took office.
“We got to be steady, stay the course, and continue to produce these incredible jobs, and the job — and by the way, pay for the jobs are — are outpacing the inflation rate they’re paying. We’re — we’re going to — we’re going to be able to deal with this. Gonna take a little more time. We’re just focused on it,” Biden claimed.
The president’s collective economic policies have been coined “Bidenomics,” but according to several polls, a majority of Americans find their personal finances are among their top concerns heading into the 2024 election.
“Inflation cooled slightly in April, but even the slower price increases revealed this week still added to a tally that is perhaps the Biden campaign’s most intractable economic challenge in the 2024 campaign season. Prices as measured by the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI) are now up over 19.4% in the three-plus years since Biden took office,” Yahoo! Finance reported on Wednesday. “For comparison’s sake, prices rose just under 7.8% during the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency.”
WATCH:
The New York Post editorial board also weighed in, claiming that Biden is “gaslighting” the country on the economy:
Good news: Inflation eased a tiny bit in the latest Consumer Price Index numbers. Bad news: Most other indicators suggest more trouble, not less, ahead.
CPI for April came in at 3.4% higher than a year ago — easing from March’s 3.5% spike. But we’re still at levels well above what Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell wants.
And the Producer Price Index for April saw a 0.5% rise, above economists’ 0.3% prediction — and PPI generally indicates where CPI is headed, since producers have little choice but to pass higher costs on to consumers.
The board went on to note that consumer confidence is now the lowest it has been since July 2022, when the inflation rate was 8.5 percent. And current interest rates for mortgages and auto loans, among other lending, are at 23-year highs, with the Fed chairman not promising they will go down anytime soon.
The current economic situation leaves the working and middle class squeezed, accumulating more debt. Americans have already exhausted their pandemic savings while credit card balances soar. Meanwhile, job growth slowed last month, with most new jobs in government and health care (a sector heavily influenced by government), indicating stagnant private-sector employment. The specter of stagflation looms large, the board noted.
“By every metric, Bidenomics has miserably failed Americans; prices are now up an average 20% over Inauguration Day 2021,” the board wrote.
“The president’s response? Lie outright, insist you have the money to cover your soaring grocery bills and hope enough people believe him that he can get voted in for Round 2 in November. Gas prices may be up, but Joe Biden’s gaslighting keeps getting cheaper,” the board concluded.
As Biden and his administration continue to try and convince Americans that their lives are better under his economic policies, the reality for a growing majority is that no, life was much better under former President Donald Trump. And in fact, a damning new statistic is likely to further endanger Biden’s reelection chances.
“Many people of all races, and especially younger voters, are dismissing President Joe Biden’s claim that ‘they have the money to spend,’ with some revealing that they went without food one day last month,” the Washington Examiner reported Friday, citing a new poll.
“In an unusual survey that tapped into the hurt many feel from inflation, minorities, young voters, and those with just a high school education suffered from food “insecurity,” Zogby Analytics said,” the outlet reported. At least 14 percent of respondents said they went at least a day without food in April.
Blacks, a reliably Democratic voting bloc that has increasingly shifted to Trump and that Biden is attempting to hold together have been especially hard-hit by his Bidenomics, which has produced record-high and sustained high foot prices.
The United Hospital Fund, a research and analysis organization, has released a report titled “The Ripple Effects of the Adolescent Behavioral Health Crisis” which apparently reflects survey data on substance use, mental health issues, and treatment (or lack thereof) among adolescents in the U.S., New York State and New York City. Based on this report, it appears that nobody is getting better.
This forty-page report spews so many numbers it’s hard to comprehend just how bad the mental health problem is for any given age group. But the report has bigger problems. For example, the smartest guys in the room who put together this report made a fatal error, and the report should be used as confetti. One only need review the survey used to collect the data to see that the highfalutin analysts apparently have failed to ask those surveyed whether or not they had been on prescription psychiatric drugs, when, what kind and for how long. Why? Where are the “fact checkers?”
How is this possible unless the goal of the data collectors is to create a behavioral health problem where one does not exist? And, perhaps, if one were to see the numbers of those surveyed, complaining of thoughts of suicide and depression, were actually on prescription psychiatric drugs, maybe the public might understand the role those drugs are playing in the increased numbers of suicide, depression and other mental health conditions.
Can one really accept that these respected analysts just decided not to separate which adolescents were on prescribed psychiatric drugs for “treatment” of a mental illness and those who are not on a psychiatric drug? Clearly those numbers would reflect totally different data. It actually becomes embarrassing trying to accept that such respected organizations would leave out important prescription drug data. But maybe the reason for the missing data is reflected in the associations for those producing the data.
The United Hospital Fund, a nonprofit that claims to have no ties to big pharma has partnered in producing this report with Boston Consulting Group that has a division devoted to servicing biopharma. It doesn’t take much to realize that pushing “unmet” needs equates to swaying the funding of massive behavioral health and big pharma with taxpayer dollars. This massive billion-dollar industry has created a survey that leaves out the most important question… Are you currently on, or have you been prescribed in the past, behavioral health medications?
This is important information in today’s world. Too often the behavioral health community cries that more resources (money) are needed. But those cries are based on incomplete data like what is provided in this recent report. What appears to be happening is that the mental health community does not want the world to know, that despite decades of mental health intervention (prescription drug use) NO ONE IS GETTING BETTER.
More importantly, a large portion of these prescribed psychiatric “treatments” carry black box suicide warnings that increase the likelihood one will commit suicide and, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even taken as prescribed these drugs can be addictive. One can only wonder why those putting the surveys together don’t want to capture and separate behavioral health medication data in the targeted population to determine whether the drugs are helping or actually contributing to the increased suicides and continual poor mental health of the US population. One thing is perfectly clear. Despite decades of prescribed psychiatric drugs to “treat” those suffering from mental health diagnoses, the problems get worse, and nobody is getting better. That’s a problem.
For centuries, the Vatican has been carefully guarding their most precious secrets. In recent years, that has been especially true regarding what they know about UFOs, aliens and the mysteries of the universe. So why have they chosen this exact moment in history to publicly talk about these things? The press conference at the Vatican on Thursday is the very first time that the Vatican has held a press conference about UFOs, aliens and “apparitions” since 1978. So this is a really big deal. It is being reported that the Vatican has decided to issue new guidelines “on aliens and how it will deal with potential encounters in the future”…
The Vatican has announced that it is set to hold a press conference on “supernatural phenomena” tomorrow, and it will touch on aliens and how it will deal with potential encounters in the future.
According to a notice on the Vatican’s website, it will kick of at noon tomorrow, and will feature three prominent Vatican members.
Being held to “present the new provisions of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for discerning between apparitions and other supernatural phenomena,” it will be led by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandex, Messenger Armando Matteo and Daniela Del Gaudio.
If the Vatican feels a need to issue guidelines about how to “deal with potential encounters in the future”, that seems to imply that they believe that there will be “potential encounters in the future”.
The last time the Vatican’s doctrinal office issued norms for evaluating alleged apparitions and reports of supernatural events was in February 1978.
At the time, the prefect, Cardinal Franjo Seper, said the norms were necessary given how news of alleged apparitions spreads rapidly thanks to the mass media.
What has changed between then and now?
One thing that has changed is that the current pope seems to be quite interested in the topic of aliens.
In comments that he made near the end of 2023, Pope Francis seemed to suggest that aliens could actually be baptized…
However, Pope Francis did touch on aliens at the end of last year, when he was talking about how early Christians discussed associating with “Jews and Gentiles” – which, for some reason, he compared to aliens.
He said: “That was unthinkable. If, for example, tomorrow an expedition of Martians came, and some of them came to us, here…Martians, right? Green, with that long nose and big ears, just like children paint them…And one says, ‘But I want to be baptized!’ What would happen?”
He didn’t answer his own question, but added: “It was never the ministry of the closed door, never,”
So he plans to have an “open door” for the aliens?
The documentary ‘God Versus Aliens’ is to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and reveal the Vatican’s secrets about UFOs.
The award-winning filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee says that the Vatican publishing new guidance on apparitions means that the full disclosure about the UFO phenomena is getting closer.
He said: “The Vatican has been studying UFOs for decades and even has its own Cardinal appointed to deal with first contact. From my research I believe that this new guidance on apparitions is proof that they know that UFOs are more than just physical crafts from other worlds and that they have a paranormal side to them.”
What most people don’t realize is that the Vatican has been on the cutting edge of the search for extraterrestrial life for a long time.
The Vatican Observatory in Rome is very well funded, and the Vatican also has a “research group” that uses the very high-powered equipment at the University of Arizona in Tucson…
Many people are surprised to learn that the Vatican even has an observatory. The history of the Vatican Observatory goes back two and a half centuries. During its history, there has been some turmoil and several moves to escape the light and other hindrances that large cities, such as Rome, pose to doing astronomy. Therefore, more than a half-century ago the Vatican Observatory established a research group at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona in Tucson, while the Vatican Observatory’s headquarters remained in Italy.
Needless to say, the Vatican isn’t going to tell us everything that they know right now.
But a couple of things have become quite clear.
Number one, the Vatican believes that extraterrestrial life exists.
Number two, the Vatican plans to develop a positive relationship with any “aliens” that do make contact with humanity.
Could all of this be setting us up for a great deception of absolutely epic proportions?
Why the Vatican has taken this carefully designed and deliberate course over the last few years is the greater mystery, but implies knowledge on their part of facts yet hidden to most of the world that may hold far-reaching and historic implications. It also illustrates how Rome has wittingly or unwittingly set itself up to become the agent of mass end-times deception regarding “salvation from above.” That’s because, historically, there exists a clear pattern wherein man’s psychological need of a savior is displayed during times of distress—a time like today—when people look skyward for divine intervention.
It is true.
When things get bad enough, the world is going to be looking for a savior.
And if a “superior race” appears on the scene that seems to have all the answers, many people out there will fully embrace them.
For decades, books, movies and television shows have conditioned us to expect that someday we will interact with “aliens” from another planet. 100 years ago, everyone would have dismissed such talk as nonsense, but now we have been well prepared for the great deception that is eventually coming.
Sadly, the Vatican seems to be quite ready to welcome “aliens” as their new best friends, and that is extremely unfortunate.
Fox News contributor and former FBI special agent Nicole Parker reacts to the Biden admin refusing to reveal terror watchlist nationalities and an increase in illegal Chinese border crossings on ‘Fox News @ Night.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As tempers flared among girl congressmen on Capitol Hill yesterday, all male congressmen found themselves in unprecedented agreement that the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was clearly a mistake.
Stern-faced congressmen glanced at each other in silent unity as multiple girl congressmen erupted into a shameful shouting match during a House Oversight Committee hearing, with all the men sharing the same sentiment that granting women the right to vote and hold office was a severe miscalculation.
“Yeah, the 19th Amendment was a mistake,” said Democrat Representative Jamie Raskin. “Back in 1920, I don’t think our predecessors had the foresight that this would eventually be the result. We’ve got to do something to roll things back so we can silence the hen house here.”
In a surprising moment of bipartisanship, congressmen from both sides of the aisle agreed. “There’s no point in debating it at this point, we all know the 19th is destroying the country,” said Arizona Republican Paul Gosar. “It’s time for all of us men to come together — Democrats and Republicans — to right this great wrong in our nation’s past.”
Male congressmen reportedly had their staffers hard at work making plans to meet together at a bar later to get some peace and quiet and iron out some legislation for a change. “It would be nice to get some work done,” Raskin said. “We can’t even hear ourselves think with all those dames squawking like crazy.”
At publishing time, male congressmen were preparing a new motion to have the girl congressmen relegated to a special soundproof girl congressman area.
Want proof that Jesus was a woke socialist? Look no further than these classic quotes straight from the Bible.
For an 82-year-old, Joe Biden is reasonably active, and reasonably alert. But he often stumbles when he walks slowly, and his speech is often muddled and disorganized.
Joe Biden waves to the crowd as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House photo by Adam Schultz)
For an 82-year-old, Joe Biden is reasonably active, and reasonably alert. But he often stumbles when he walks slowly, and his speech is often muddled and disorganized.
So how did he, suddenly, become “fiery” for his recent State of the Union?
“Jacked up” on drugs, states Rep. Greg Murphy.
It is theGateway Punditthat provided a transcript of the interview by Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., with a Fox News host.
Murphy is a practicing urologist.
He said, “I’ll just be very plain and simple. I was in the State of the Union address, and Joe Biden must’ve been jacked up on something that day. I absolutely believe that from a medical viewpoint, and actually have a little bit of good knowledge that that happened. He can’t stand it. He can’t stand under the lights for that long, and I don’t think he can keep a concept in his brain that long.
“It is going to be important that President Trump stays presidential, he did that during the last debate, he did not do that during the first debate. That he stays on track, that he shows the American people how much worse they are from four years ago and what this president has done to destroy this country. He just has to stay in his lane and act presidential, sometimes he can get off on a wheel, we all know that and love that about him. But Biden will falter and falter if he doesn’t have things right in front of him telling him what to do.”
Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo pinpointed the big question: “What do you mean when you say he was jacked up at the State of the Union?”
Murphy said, “I believe they gave him something to help him sustain the lights and sustain the vigor that he had. That was not Joe Biden. I was in there. He screamed for two hours. He screamed for two hours. And maybe we can talk offline and I’ll show you something that I think that proves that.”
He continued, “I think I can have some evidence that shows he was given something before that.”
He said, “Joe is 82, there’s a picture of him taken last week without his make up on. And guess what, he looks like an 82 year old. You can see his surgical scar on the back where he had his face lift, you can see that very plainly. He is being manufactured and puppeteered by the Democratic Party to be president of the United States. And I fully believe that has to do sometimes with pharmacology.”
President Donald Trump has suggested that there are occasions where Biden is “jacked up,” and others have agreed.
WND reportedwhen Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, said in a report atPJMediathe same thing.
“If you look at how Joe Biden usually is — slow and stumbling — compared to how he was during the State of the Union — fiery and angry — these are signs that are typical for someone taking Adderall or any amphetamine,” she explained.
Democrats claimed the unusually harsh and verbally strident Biden was just giving evidence he’s physically and mentally fit for office.
This, of course, is the president whose capabilities were assessed as “diminished” in a special counsel’s report after an investigation into his likely violation of federal law regarding the custody of classified documents.
Lieberman, who has not examined Biden, suggested the evidence is that Biden could have been juiced up on Adderall or another amphetamine.
She described Biden as a “word salad on speed.”
The report explained Lieberman pointed out Biden’s frequent gestures and hand movements. Then there was his slurring of words, which is expected from an octogenarian.
But, she said, his accompany speed suggests he was “psychopharmacology helped.”
Lieberman, who works with elderly dementia patients “told the Washington Times that Biden displayed behaviors indicative of stimulant usage to conceal cognitive decline,” the report confirmed.
“[Adderall]’s given to focus someone’s attention so if you give it to someone who is not focused and give it to them ahead of a big event like the State of the Union, it will improve their focus. But it’s treating the symptoms rather than boosting the brain and it’s addictive so it’s dangerous,” she said.
“He couldn’t correct his mistakes. He mentioned Moscow in a sentence where it made no sense. You could see him try to fix it, but he didn’t know how to correct himself. He couldn’t say the correct word. Anyone could trip over Laken Riley’s name but he didn’t know how to correct it. If he knew enough about her to talk about her, he would know enough to call her by the right name.”
The anger and shouting also are concerning signs, she said.
“The emotional volatility is a sign of dementia and was amped up because of the Adderall or amphetamine they gave him. He wasn’t just talking loudly. He was shouting in a room where everyone could hear him and he had a microphone.”
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — With women on the House Oversight Committee raising a ruckus and bringing a halt to legislative business, congressmen announced they had built a special soundproof Girl Congress next door for the womenfolk to go so the men could get some work done.
The smaller, cuter congress building was helpfully painted pink and has been outfitted with all the girls’ most desirable amenities, including thousands of throw pillows, wicker baskets, and Stanley tumblers to give the girl congressmen a comfortable place to screech obscenities at each other while the male congressmen tended to the business of the country.
“They’re going to love it,” said Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry. “It’s got all the things girls need. They can just go in there, do their girl things behind closed doors, and let us handle all the real congressional stuff. We even made sure to decorate it with stuff from that Joanna Gaines lady from the television. There are salads to eat. Barbies. And little kittens. Girls love little kittens, right?”
The congressmen made sure to specify that the building be fully soundproof to prevent anyone outside from hearing the constant nagging and arguing going on inside. “That was priority number one,” said Wisconsin Representative Glenn Grothman. “The noise. We had to make sure we contained the noise. With that taken care of, we can finally hear ourselves think. They can stay in their girl congress and do girl things. Braid each other’s hair and whatnot.”
At publishing time, an urgent call had come in from the Girl Congress building to have one of the male congressmen come open a jar.
Want proof that Jesus was a woke socialist? Look no further than these classic quotes straight from the Bible.
Principal Deputy Director of the NIH, Lawrence Tabak, testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has finally admitted to funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the ground zero for the COVID-19 pandemic.
This admission directly contradicts previous statements made under oath by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
During the session led by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) pressed on whether NIH had funded gain-of-function research—a practice that involves making viruses more infectious to study their potential impact. The response from the Principal Deputy Director of the NIH, Lawrence Tabak, was revelatory.
Lawrence Tabak was named the Acting Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from December 20, 2021, to November 8, 2023. He took over for Dr. Francis Collins, who has been in the post for over a decade. Dr. Tabak has served as the Principal Deputy Director and the Deputy Ethics Counselor of NIH since August 2010.
“It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research,” Tabak said, before conceding, “If you’re speaking about the generic term, yes, we did.”
WATCH:
🚨The National Institutes of Health admits to funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China🚨@RepDLesko: "Did NIH fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through EcoHealth?"
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) May 16, 2024
This confession comes after years of denials from senior health officials, including Tabak and Fauci himself, about their involvement in such controversial experiments.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and chief medical advisor to the president, has consistently denied these allegations under oath.
In a 2021 Senate hearing, Fauci clashed with Senator Rand Paul over Fauci’s involvement in funding the Wuhan lab’s gain-of-function research that led to COVID-19.
“For years, Dr. Ralph Baric, a virologist in the U.S., has been collaborating with Dr. Shi Zhengli from the Wuhan Virology Institute, sharing his discoveries about how to create superviruses,” Senator Paul said per Swarajya.
“This gain-of-function research has been funded by the NIH. … Dr. Fauci, do you still support funding of the NIH lab in Wuhan?”
“With all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect. The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” Dr. Fauci responded.
“I do not have any accounting of what the Chinese may have done and I am fully in favor of any further investigation of what went on in China,” Dr. Fauci said. “However, I will repeat, the NIH…categorically has not funded gain of function research to be conducted in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
WATCH:
.@RandPaul: "Dr. Fauci, do you still support…NIH funding of the lab in Wuhan?"
Dr. Anthony Fauci: "Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect…"
Last August 2023, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) submitted an “official criminal referral” to the Department of Justice (DOJ), accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of committing perjury—a felony.
The accusation centers around an email from February 2020, in which Dr. Fauci detailed a call with British medical researcher Jeremy Farrar, then-director of the Wellcome Trust.
The email, recently unredacted and shared by RealClearPolitics White House reporter Philip Wegmann, reveals a discussion among “highly credible” scientists, including Francis Collins, former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, concerning mutations in the novel coronavirus (nCoV).
These researchers “were concerned about the fact that upon viewing the sequences of several isolates of the nCov there were mutations in the virus that would be most unusual to have evolved naturally in the bats and that there was a suspicion that this mutation was intentionally inserted,” Fauci wrote on the email.
The email further highlights concerns over Wuhan University scientists’ work on gain-of-function experiments, a type of research aimed at understanding how bat viruses adapt to human infection. The concerns were further accentuated by the fact that the outbreak of COVID-19 originated in Wuhan.
“The suspicion was heightened by the fact that scientists in Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine the molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses adapting to human infection, and the outbreak originated in Wuhan,” Fauci added.
“This directly contradicts everything he said in committee hearing to me, denying absolutely that they funded any gain of function, and it’s absolutely a lie. That’s why I sent an official criminal referral to the DOJ,” Sen. Paul wrote.
This directly contradicts everything he said in committee hearing to me, denying absolutely that they funded any gain of function, and it’s absolutely a lie. That’s why I sent an official criminal referral to the DOJ. https://t.co/Y191SmMiIr
From the battleground in Gaza to the legal battles at the Hague, Israel is fighting on multiple fronts. The Jewish state is sending more troops into Rafah to defeat Hamas. This week marks the 70th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme court decision – Brown Vs. Board of Education. The 1954 case changed public education in America, declaring that separate was not equal and mandating de-segregation. You might have already heard the whiny-buzzing sound all around you. In parts of the United States, Cicadas are emerging from their 17-year wait underground. A statue of the late Rev. Billy Graham now stands inside the U.S. Capitol.
Should Christians get involved with politics, or should we just stay out of the way because “religion and politics don’t mix”? While some Christians have the tendency to idolize political influence, others have gone to the opposite end of the spectrum, choosing to completely shy away from engaging in public policy altogether. What does the Bible and common sense have to say about this?
This week Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council who has worked with congress and presidents for decades, joins Frank to talk about the need for Christians to take politics seriously and use it as a means to advance the Gospel by protecting religious freedom and to love their neighbors by protecting them from evil for generations to come. As a pro-life/pro-family advocate and political leader with a background in both the U.S. Marine Corps and ministry, Tony will share some valuable insights into the current political landscape, urging Christians to actively participate in shaping laws and policies. During their conversation, Frank and Tony will answer questions like:
How did Tony unexpectedly enter the realm of politics and why does he think more Christians should do the same?
How can Christians be salt and light in the government and treat it as a mission field?
What should Christians do when candidates for each party are morally compromised?
How have Christians been negatively impacted by bad policies?
What political issues can Christians disagree over?
How can Christians and conservatives make real policy gains?
A force for good in Washington, Tony will lay out just a few reasons why Christians should not only get involved in politics, but view it as a form of ministry. He and Frank will also address the latest controversy with Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, explain the distinction between imposing religion and legislating morality, and lay out some of the key platform differences between Democrats and Republicans. And don’t miss the conclusion to this eye-opening conversation as Tony returns next week for the midweek podcast!
To view the entire VIDEO PODCAST be sure to join our CrossExamined private community. It’s the perfect place to jump into some great discussions with like-minded Christians while simultaneously providing financial support for our ministry.
Biden’s keepers do not seem to care about the president’s own failing health or his dismal polls
OPINION
President Joe Biden polls at or below 40 percent approval. Historically, such unpopularity has made it almost impossible for a president to be reelected.
Biden is not so much an octogenarian as an unhealthy and prematurely aging 80-year-old. It is America’s irony that he is fit for almost no other job in the country other than the presidency, which apparently allows for a three-day-a-week ceremonial role while others in the shadows run the country.
So how does Biden become renominated and reelected, as polls show he is behind in almost every critical swing state on nearly every issue?
Answer: not by campaigning, not by championing his record, and especially not by doubling down on his neo-socialist and now unpopular agendas.
Instead, his campaign is focused on four other strategies to beat former President Donald Trump.
First, left-wing local, state, and federal prosecutors are tying Trump up in court on crimes that have never been seen before and will never be again after the election. All the cases are politically motivated, with many coordinated with the White House.
Even if Trump is not convicted by blue-state prosecutors, in blue-state courtrooms, in front of blue-state juries, he will lose critical campaigning time.
Trump may end up paying out $1 billion in legal fees and fines. At 76, the monotonous days in court are designed to destroy him financially, physically, and mentally.
Biden and his operatives know that, in the long term, they may have fatally damaged the American legal system with such judicial sabotage. But short-term, they hope to destroy Trump before the ballots are cast.
Second, in his fourth year, Biden is suddenly selling government favors to special-interest voting blocs, or hoping to bring short-term relief to voters at the expense of long-term damage to the nation.
For elite college students and graduates, there are now billions of dollars in student-loan cancellations, despite a Supreme Court ruling declaring such targeted contractual amnesties illegal.
For consumers, before the election, Biden will likely drain the last drops from the critical Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices — now sky-high due to his previous disastrous green policies.
If that is not enough, Biden has ordered Ukraine not to hit Russian oil facilities to avoid panic in the global petroleum markets before early and mail-in balloting begin.
Biden will quietly jawbone the Federal Reserve Bank to lower interest rates and reinflate the economy, despite his own creation of hyperinflation that caused interest rates to rise in the first place.
He will pander to Arab-American voters in swing-state Michigan by cutting arms deliveries to Israel, even as it seeks to destroy the killers of Oct. 7.
And if that mollification is not sufficient to win Michigan, he will suddenly slap higher tariffs on imported Chinese electrical vehicles to win back apostate union auto workers.
Three, the left learned after 2016 that the only way to beat Trump is to change the way Americans vote.
So under the cover of the COVID-19 lockdown, the left sued in critical states to reduce Election Day to a mere construct, while 70 percent of voters mailed in their ballots or voted by early, rolling balloting over many weeks.
The key was the inability to fully authenticate votes, given the old practice of showing up on Election Day and presenting an ID was declared “racist.”
Four, Biden, as he did in 2020, will outsource his campaign to the media, 95 percent of which is left-wing. Talking televised heads will claim Biden is “sharp as a knife” while focusing on Trump’s tweets, Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, and lurid but irrelevant testimonies that permeate Trump’s court appearances.
Trump will continue to hold weekend-long, massive 100,000-person rallies, even in blue states. Meanwhile, Biden’s fixers in the media, administrative state, and legal community will counter that even with no crowds and no campaigning, Biden can win through 24/7 nonstop “October Surprises” — all summer long.
So expect more false “Russian collusion,” “laptop disinformation,” and “Jan. 6 insurrection” hoaxes and their new replacements designed to smother the airwaves with salacious scandals nonstop.
Biden’s fading tenure is similar to the last sad months of Woodrow Wilson’s second term, when in 1919-20, the country was assured that a bedridden president was somehow hard at work, even as his wife, doctors, and handlers kept everyone else away.
Biden’s keepers do not seem to care about the president’s own failing health or his dismal polls. They discount his rare, anemic, and disastrous public appearances. They laugh off the huge Trump rallies.
And they certainly could care less about the bad optics of pandering to special interests at the expense of the country or the damage done to the American legal and balloting systems.
Instead, Bidenites believe they can reelect an unhealthy, unpopular, and unsuccessful president by any means necessary.
And they may be right.
Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness. He is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,” from Basic Books. You can reach him by e-mailing authorvdh@gmail.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
ike Hey is a member of the Australia Prays Executive Team, and he serves with OM as a global missions and leadership mentor. He and his wife, Ann, spent many years in India, on the OM ships, and in Asia in leadership as catalysts for unity, prayer, evangelism, disciple-making, and church planting.
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