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
Published July 29, 2022Twenty five years ago a famous preacher in NYC made the expression “idols of the heart” ubiquitous. There is another idol of the heart that needs to be added to the list.
If one values winning the culture war over the purity of the gospel, one is an idolater. If one cares more about “saving America” than the “pure preaching of the gospel” (Belgic Confession art. 29) then one is an idolater. The gospel is not “in by baptism, stay in by cooperation with grace.” That is the very corruption of the gospel rejected in the Protestant Reformation. The Westminster Confession brilliantly articulated the Reformation consensus:
Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness, by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.
2 Samuel 19:13 — David invites Absalom’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Amasa, to join him. David was interested in a speedy reconciliation, not a vindictive punishment. It was similar to Abraham Lincoln’s vision for a post-Civil War America.
2 Samuel 19:15 — Gilgal … where Joshua built a monument (Joshua 4:20), where the Angel of the LORD started in Judges 2:1, where Samuel had a circuit stop (1 Samuel 7:16), where Saul was made King (1 Samuel 11:14), where Elisha and Elijah worked (2 Kings 2:1, 4:38).
2 Samuel 19:23 — David followed the teaching of Proverbs 19:11 in order to spare Shimei. He “split the baby” so to say between Ziba and Mephibosheth and rewarded his true friend (Barzillai). David would not forget Barzillai’s kindness (1 Kings 2:7), and Barzillai is even recorded in the post-exilic records (Ezra 2:61, Nehemiah 7:63).
2 Samuel 19:37 — Barzillai wanted the king to bless Chimham instead. The king agreed (2 Samuel 19:38), and brought Chimham with him (2 Samuel 19:40). From Easton’s Bible Dictionary:
… probably the youngest son of Barzillai the Gileadite (2 Samuel 19:37-40). The “habitation of Chimham” (Jeremiah 41:17) was probably an inn or khan, which is the proper meaning of the Hebrew “geruth”, rendered “habitation”, established in later times in his possession at Bethlehem, which David gave to him as a reward for his loyalty in accompanying him to Jerusalem after the defeat of Absalom (1 Kings 2:7). It has been supposed that, considering the stationary character of Eastern institutions, it was in the stable of this inn or caravanserai that our Savior was born (Luke 2:7).
(W)hether this was owing to the remissness of Amasa, or the unwillingness of the people to serve under him, who had been Absalom’s general in the late rebellion, or not having time sufficient allowed him, is not certain.
Either way, Amasa met a bloody end (2 Samuel 20:12).
According to some writers, Peter felt a presentiment of the coming of his Lord under scenes identical with those of his first call (Luke 5:1-11). According to others, Peter exhibited some of the heart-sickness of deferred hope. On either supposition we see a new illustration of, and testimony to, the character of the man who was so conspicuous an initiator.
John 21:17-19 — Peter, who so boldly said he would die for the LORD (Matthew 26:35, Mark 14:31, John 13:37) but denied Him three times (John 18:17, 25, 26), is now distraught as Jesus questions his love. But Jesus says, “I have a plan for you: feed my sheep … follow me.” And someday, this same Peter who wanted to die for his LORD, would die glorifying the Lord!
Psalm 120:1 — A great promise! “In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me.”
Proverbs 16:16 — Television ads are filled with people hawking gold and silver. Usually, they can afford their marketing budget because they sell it at a 50% markup (yes, if you buy gold at a 50% markup, that means that even if gold jumps 50%, you have now officially broken even). Solomon, 3,000 years ago, realized that the demand for gold and silver was just as obsessive as it is today. But better than gold is wisdom. Better than silver is understanding. Interesting that Solomon’s father David uses the same analogy – Psalm 119:127 – the commandments of God are better than gold, and the Law of God is better than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Psalm 119:72).
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Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)
This is our hope. He to whom we have already looked as coming once to bear the sins of many will have another manifestation to the sons of men; this is a happy prospect in itself. But that second appearing has certain peculiar marks which glorify it exceedingly.
Our Lord will have ended the business of sin. He has so taken it away from His people and so effectually borne its penalty that He will have nothing to do with it at His second coming. He will present no sin offering, for He will have utterly put sin away.
Our Lord will then complete the salvation of His people. They will be finally and perfectly saved and will in every respect enjoy the fullness of that salvation. He comes not to bear the result of our transgressions but to bring the result of His obedience; not to remove our condemnation but to perfect our salvation.
Our Lord thus appears only to those who look for Him. He will not be seen in this character by men whose eyes are blinded with self and sin. To them He will be a terrible Judge and nothing more. We must first look to Him and then look for Him; and in both cases our look shall be life.
US-British airstrikes leave at least two dead in Yemen: Houthi TV The British defence ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons. The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported at least two deaths and 10 injuries from strikes against a radio building in Hodeidah’s Al-Hawk district.
Stockholm says Iran using Swedish gangs to target Israel, others “The Swedish Security Police notes that the Iranian regime is using criminal networks in Sweden to carry out acts of violence against other states, groups or people in Sweden that it considers a threat,” the intelligence service, commonly known as Sapo, said in a statement.
Amir Tsarfati: If The World Was United Against Evil, This War Would’ve Ended Long Ago My region of the world never takes a holiday. And it hasn’t been “business as usual” in the Middle East. Things are continuing to escalate. Egypt exchanged fire with the IDF. The IDF has made its way into the heart of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The Hague revealed its true colors. Europe is recognizing a Palestinian state. What’s next?
Hamas says no talks until war ends Islamist terror group issues statement demanding an end to the fighting before agreeing to return to negotiations for the release of hostages; Egypt, US attempt to reach an agreement on the administration of the Rafah border crossing including with the PA
How Iran’s Terror Network Is Targeting Jews and Israelis in Europe Ahead of the Olympic games in Paris, France this summer, Israeli intelligence services — Mossad, Shin Bet, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Intelligence, and the National Security Council — on Thursday exposed Iranian sponsorship of terrorist activity targeting Jews and Israelis across Europe.
Smotrich: ‘Israel must go to war in Judea and Samaria’ Our mission is not how to stop the shooting until the next ‘drip’, but as a state and as a government, we are committed to your security, to eliminate the threat, and to let you live in safety. This is our job and this is what will be, any other option is a failure.”
Iran Supreme Leader’s Direct Message to US College Students Sparks Fury Iran’s Supreme Leader released a message of support for American college students who have participated in pro-Palestine protests. “Dear university students in the United States of America, you are standing on the right side of history,” Ali Khamenei wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. His comments sparked fury on social media, with several people suggesting that having support from the authoritarian leader was not a good thing.
Nearly two-thirds of Israelis think Jewish state will achieve war aims Nearly three quarters of Israelis say that the Jewish state’s military operations against Hamas in Gaza have been appropriate, with 39% saying they have been “about right” and 34% saying that the IDF has not gone far enough. About one fifth (19%) say that Israel has gone too far.
IDF: Hamas stole $100 million from Gaza banks The Hamas terrorist group last month stole some $108 million from banks in the Gaza strip, the Israeli military revealed on Wednesday. Last month, France’s Le Monde reported that armed groups in the Strip with suspected links to Hamas looted $70 million from branches of the Bank of Palestine, a leading Palestinian financial institution.
Fmr. Rep. Michele Bachmann asks God to raise up 20,000 US college students to study in Israel and learn truth Speaking to nearly 400 Evangelical and Jewish leaders from 40 countries today, former U.S. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann delivered a passionate prayer asking God to move supernaturally in the midst of this brutal war. A devout Evangelical Christian, and the chair of the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast, Bachmann asked the Lord to: ……………..
Biden Goes All-In With War on Coal The Biden administration’s war on coal came out of the shadows recently, with the release of a new series of regulations that have the clear intent of locking up millions of acres of federal land from coal mining and drilling for oil and natural gas, as well as shutting down the nation’s remaining coal-fired power generation fleet.
CA LGBTQ Caucus Pushes Bill With Similarities To Child Sexual Grooming Definition The California Senate recently approved Assembly Bill 1955 (AB 1955), a measure that would eliminate the requirement for parental notification when students seek to transition gender in public TK-12 schools. This bill also aims to enhance parental support for LGBTQ pupils by providing additional resources. The move has sparked contention between state leaders and parental rights advocates.
The World Has Accumulated A $315 Trillion Mountain Of Debt, And Global Events Will Soon Bring It Crashing Down I suppose that congratulations are in order. It is no small feat to pile up a debt of $315,000,000,000,000, and we will never see a mountain of debt of this magnitude ever again after it comes crashing down. Even though delinquency rates are rising all over the world, as long as conditions remain at least somewhat relatively stable the game will be able to continue.
Von der Leyen thinks citizens of EU countries should be vaccinated against wrongthink Speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit earlier this month, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen suggested the audience think of information manipulation as a virus and then said it’s better to vaccinate than treat the infection.
Why No One Wants to Win Britain’s General Election Neither Labour nor the Conservatives want to win the coming UK General Election. Why? Because, Dr. Vernon Colman says, the money has run out and no one wants to be in charge when Britain finally collapses.
47 African nations make their own Pandemic Treaty proposal to WHO On Tuesday, the 47 member states of the African region submitted their own proposal regarding a Pandemic Treaty to the World Health Assembly. Unlike the US proposal, Dr. Meryl Nass says, the African nations’ proposal uses clear language, and the ask is simple.
Numbers At Giant Truck Lender BMO Show Worsening Credit Conditions Provisions for credit losses at BMO climbed to $41 million: that marks the seventh consecutive quarter in which that important benchmark figure has risen, and it is easily the highest figure in the history of the BMO data going back to 2015.
“The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all citizens.” —Thomas Jefferson (1816)
Fellow Patriots, on this day in 1918, Lt. Douglas Campbell shot down his fifth German aircraft, making him the first American pilot to achieve ace status. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for aerial combat bravery on May 19, 1918. Campbell won his sixth victory on June 5 but was severely wounded by an exploding artillery shell. He was sent to the U.S. to recover, though he continued to participate in the war efforts, returning to his squadron as the war was drawing to a close in November 1918. —Mark Alexander
The Democrats got the verdict they wanted in the six-week show trial of the former president. Or did they?
Douglas Andrews
“The real verdict is going to be November 5th, by the people. And they know what happened here.”
So said a defiant Donald Trump late yesterday afternoon, immediately after a Manhattan jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records some eight years ago. Apparently, the statute of limitations applies to everyone except Donald Trump, who thus becomes the first American president to ever be convicted of a crime.
Shortly after the verdict, a surge of donations to Trump’s campaign website crashed its online fundraising page. From the time the verdict was announced late Thursday afternoon until mid-morning Friday, the Trump campaign reported raising $34.9 million in donations. No doubt anticipating this, the Biden-Harris campaign went money-grubbing: “Donald Trump’s supporters are fired up and likely setting fundraising records for his campaign … so while the MAGA Right comes to the aid of Trump, Joe Biden — and those who care about democracy — need you.”
That’s rich, isn’t it? The party that interferes in elections by prosecuting its political opponents and keeping them tied up in court is panhandling for people “who care about democracy.”
Team Dumb-and-Dumber also did some demogoguing: “The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater,” they intoned. “He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator ‘on day one’ and calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain and keep power. A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms, and fomenting political violence — and the American people will reject it this November.”
I’m not so sure. In fact, I think the Democrats have good reason to be freaking out about their electoral prospects. Take deep-blue New York itself, which Biden won by 23 points in 2020. That lead continues to evaporate, as a new Emerson poll has The Decrepit One leading Trump by just seven points, 48-41.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg gloated about his big day in court. “I did my job,” he said. “And while this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial, and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors: by following the facts and the law, and doing so without fear or favor.”
So this case was just like “every other case,” except that Bragg declined to prosecute it years ago, as did his predecessor in the Manhattan DA’s office. And there was no “fear or favor,” except in the way Demo-donor Judge Juan Merchan upheld practically every objection from the prosecution while denying practically every objection from the defense. Nope, no fear or favor there.
As for an appeal, Trump’s legal team has 30 days to file it. Some are calling for him to bypass the usual appeals process for an expedited Supreme Court ruling, but this doesn’t seem wise. In fact, it seems like exactly what the Democrats want. Think about it: If the Republican-controlled Supreme Court overturns this verdict, Biden’s campaign team will be able to attack not only Trump but also the “right-wing” High Court. On the other hand, if Trump went through the normal appeals process, the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division would have 10-15 reversible errors from which to choose. And a reversal by that politically neutral court would have a legitimacy that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision would lack.
Here’s how NYU Law School’s Brennan Center sees the appeal process: “His case would be heard by the First Department of the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, and it could potentially be appealed again to the New York State Court of Appeals, which is New York’s highest court. Notably, that court just overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 sex crimes conviction. The majority’s ruling in that case rested almost entirely on what the majority viewed as critical errors by the trial judge in allowing prejudicial testimony.”
Critical errors? Merchan made plenty of them. This case, though, is a self-inflicted wound. It revolves around a hush-money payment made to a porn star. But, as former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy notes, “This was a historic trial of a former president of the United States by his partisan adversaries. Whatever you think of the results, it’s inconceivable in New York that anyone other than Donald Trump would ever have been indicted in this way.”
True that.
Asked whether he thought his client got a fair trial, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said, “No, I don’t think so. I mean, we’ve been saying for over a year that we couldn’t get a fair trial in Manhattan … and it played out in lots of ways, exactly as we expected.”
“The jury was unanimous in its lack of unanimity,” said former Republican congressman and federal prosecutor Trey Gowdy, referring to the prosecution’s failure to define the essential “predicate” crime upon which the whole case hinged. This flew in the face of the Supreme Court’s 2020 Ramos v. Louisiana decision in which Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said, “There can be no question either that the Sixth Amendment’s unanimity requirement applies to state and federal criminal trials equally.”
Trump will be sentenced on July 11, just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention. He faces up to four years for each of the 34 counts. But unlike the violent thugs who rule New York City’s crime-ridden streets, Trump has no priors, and state law says that the maximum sentence for this level of felony is 20 years, so he’s got that going for him.
As for that sentencing, former federal prosecutor Brett Tolman was less than optimistic: “The rules are out the window. Who knows what this judge will do? I predict that he will give him some jail time. I think he will fine him. He’ll give him a stern lecture, and then he’ll promptly plan his retirement in a book deal.”
Imagine Donald Trump being locked up in New York instead of on stage in Wisconsin to accept the presidential nomination of his party.
Tollman also had some friendly advice for milquetoast Republicans who simply shrug their shoulders at the Democrats’ use of lawfare: “I support the gloves coming off,” he said. “I support conservatives that are in office punching back and punching hard.” Tollman rightly noted that a bully doesn’t stop until you punch him in the nose, “until you prosecute some of these political people from the other side of the aisle and they think twice about using this kind of tactic in the future.”
They were no doubt popping champagne corks over at the cartoon network called MSNBC, where we got a glimpse of the different world in which they dwell. Take, for example, this bit of legal “analysis” from disgraced Mueller-prober and inveterate Trump-hater Andrew Weissman, who couldn’t stop slobbering about the guy in the black robe: “With respect to Judge Merchan, I mean, I am, I am like now, you know, I have like a man crush on him. He is such a great judge that it’s hard to see that the jurors wouldn’t have the same impression. I mean, it’s just, you just keep on thinking, if you looked in the dictionary for ‘judicial temperament,’ that’s what you’d get.”
Gross.
“What we saw today was an absolute travesty of justice,” said Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz. “This was not law. This was not criminal justice. This was politics. This was a political smear job. This was an attack job. This is what you see in banana republics. I am both furious and heartbroken at the same time. I’m furious at what we saw, but I’m heartbroken for the rule of law. I’m heartbroken for our justice system.” Cruz continued:
Now, you look at the rulings from this judge, this partisan judge. They were so biased, I’m going to tell you right now, the chances that this decision is overturned on appeal are one-hundred-point-zero. … This is all about politics and influencing the election, and it is a disgrace. … We have 51 Democrats in the Senate, and not one of them has the guts to stand up and say, “This is wrong.”
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio’s parents fled Cuba when they saw the ill winds of Castro’s communism on the horizon. He’s thus familiar with this sort of thuggery, and he says that the only chance Biden and his fellow Democrats have in the upcoming election is to keep Trump tied up in court. He adds:
We cannot become one of those countries where people, when they leave office, are targeted through the court system by their political opponents. That’s what happens in Brazil, that’s what happens in Peru, but we can’t let it happen here. And that is the direction we are headed right now with what’s happened here today. … Trump’s going to win this election, but we’ve got to make sure this never happens to anyone else ever again.
Seven years ago, Trump ostensibly mislabeled a check. Now he’s “guilty” of 34 felonies.
“Great damage was done today,” said constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, referring to the judicial system that he once revered. “When I was in the courtroom, and the verdict was being read, and the word ‘guilty’ was stated 34 times, I was really shocked by how gleeful some people were. … Regardless of how you feel about this case, that’s a sad moment for our country.”
Sad, that is, unless your Trump derangement blinds you to the awful precedent that this case sets. “You know what this verdict won’t change?” asked former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. “It won’t make Joe Biden any less 81 years old, and it won’t make Kamala Harris any more appealing.”
Former Assistant Attorney General and Fox News host Mark Levin kept it pithy: “No crime, no jurisdiction, no due process. Conflicted judge, Soros prosecutor, Manhattan jury.”
Upon hearing the verdict yesterday, I was inclined to say that it won’t change a single vote. But I’d have been wrong. “I’m a Libertarian,” posted an obscure Montanan named Liam McCollum. “I opposed Operation Warp Speed, I opposed Trump’s war in Yemen, and I criticized him a lot. But when his enemies falsely frame him as a Russian asset and convict him as a felon in a sham trial, I can’t help but like him.”
Similarly, an independent state senator from Maine, Eric Bakey, said of Trump: “I was undecided, but today’s events have convinced me. I am voting for Trump.”
Fox News cites numerous other examples of the blowback that Democrats are likely to face as a result of this injustice.
“Our country is at a crossroads,” said Reverend Franklin Graham. “What we saw today has never happened before, and I think for the majority of Americans, it raises questions about whether our legal system can be trusted. Pray for our nation, for God’s guiding hand that this republic will be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
Stefanik files complaint against hack Judge Juan Merchan: New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik smells a rat, and his name is Judge Juan Merchan. Merchan, the Biden donor whose daughter is president of a “progressive” political consulting firm whose clients include inveterate liar and Trump-hater Adam Schiff, always seems to be in the right place at the right time when it comes to being behind the bench during Trump trials. Stefanik has filed “an official misconduct complaint with the New York State Unified Court System related to the ‘random’ assignment of Acting Manhattan Justice Juan Merchan … to criminal cases against President Donald J. Trump, his companies, and his allies.” As Stefanik notes, Merchan has been assigned to not one, not two, but three separate criminal cases involving Trump and his associates. What are the odds, right? “If justices were indeed being randomly assigned in the Criminal Term,” says Stefanik, “the probability of two specific criminal cases being assigned to the same justice is quite low, and the probability of three specific criminal cases being assigned to the same justice is infinitesimally small.” Yet Merchan gets all three. Go figure.
Roberts rebuffs Dems’ Alito flag flap: Taking advantage of a dubious assertion by The New York Times that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is compromised by partisan politics due to his wife having flown a U.S. flag upside down and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, Democrat Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse called on Alito to recuse himself from any cases involving January 6 or Donald Trump. Alito wisely refused, so the senators went over his head and demanded a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts. The chief justice, however, didn’t fall for the Democrats’ gambit to unconstitutionally assert congressional control over the Court. On Thursday, Roberts sent a letter to Durbin and Whitehouse rejecting their call for a meeting. “Separation of power concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence counsel against such appearances,” Roberts said. “Moreover, the format proposes — a meeting with leaders of only one party who have expressed interest in matters currently pending before the court — simply underscores that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable.” In other words, Roberts, maybe too politely, told the senators that they were way out of their lane and to go pound sand.
GDP malaise: Joe Biden and the Washington establishment wonder why Americans think the economy’s bad. Leftmedia outlets struggle to reconcile the supposed positive economic data and yet consistent negative polling. The result is that both Biden and these elites sound like they are completely out of touch with the experience of the average American. Indeed, The Washington Post sounds downright condescending, pointing to positive job numbers and a bull market and then arguing that Americans don’t get how good it is. They even point to inflation, saying it has “come down” or “cooled off” from its previous 40-year high as if slower inflation somehow means the lost value of the dollar has been returned. Furthermore, they dismiss the sustained high cost of food, fuel, energy, housing, etc, as the “new normal” as if that should make people feel fine about their loss of spending power. Meanwhile, even “good” economic news is subsequently revised down later. On Thursday, it was reported that the U.S. economy grew less than previously thought in the first quarter. The previous estimate was 2.5%, but that has been revised down to 1.6%. Simply put, the U.S. economy is not booming like it was under Donald Trump no matter what Biden and Leftmedia outlets keep insisting.
AOC blames Trump for Hamas attack: In the world of the Trump-deranged Democrats, is there any onerous event that Donald Trump isn’t somehow responsible for? From Joe Biden’s Afghanistan debacle to mass shootings to hate crimes to the malaise of Bidenomics, it’s all Trump’s fault. And now, according to former barkeep and current New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Trump administration’s highly successful Abraham Accords between Israel and certain Arab nations four years ago are “absolutely” responsible for the October 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists. As National Review reports: “The progressive lawmaker made the comment last week on a Twitch stream with progressive political commentator Hasan Piker, who, like Ocasio-Cortez, frequently accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians. On the Friday livestream, the pair reacted to former president Donald Trump’s May 23 Bronx rally, where he claimed Israel would not have been attacked if he were still in office.” According to Piker, the Hamas attack was a “direct consequence of the Abraham Accords and many of Jared Kushner’s and Donald Trump administration’s actions like moving the embassy to Jerusalem,” to which AOC responded, “10,000%.”
Fetterman tears off his Harvard collar during commencement speech at Yeshiva U: Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is no conservative, but he certainly appears to have cast off the “progressive” label that had endeared him to so many leftists. Indeed, his call for better border security and his support of Israel in its existential war with Hamas are decidedly un-Democratic positions. On Wednesday, Fetterman gave us yet another example of his independence, telling Yeshiva University graduates at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens that he was “profoundly disappointed” in Harvard’s “inability” (or is it unwillingness?) to address the Jew hatred on its campus. He then yanked off the ceremonial crimson Harvard academic hood of his alma mater. As the New York Post reports, Fetterman “expressed his disapproval of the Ivy League school during his commencement address at the private Orthodox Jewish university, which bestowed on him its ‘Hero of Israel’ award, the institution’s highest honor.” Said Senator Hoodie: “I have been profoundly disappointed [in] Harvard’s inability to stand up for the Jewish community after October 7.” Good for him. Now, if we can only get him to caucus with Senate Republicans.
BLM’s missing money: You hate to see it, but there’s a civil war on the Left, and it’s casting the Marxist money-grubbers of Black Lives Matter in an even more sleazy light. If that’s possible. As The Washington Free Beacon reports: “The left-wing dark money giant Tides Foundation raised more than $33 million on behalf of the national Black Lives Matter group during the George Floyd riots in 2020. Now, Black Lives Matter is suing Tides over its refusal to hand the funds back. There’s just one problem — nearly $9 million of those funds have seemingly disappeared.” Nine million, eh? Has anyone checked BLM’s real estate portfolio lately? The Free Beacon continues: “From 2020 through 2022, Tides transferred $8.7 million from the fund to Black Lives Matter Grassroots,” but that organization is now telling the IRS that it never received those funds. Since bookkeeping violations are all the rage these days, we’d expect an IRS investigation and some massive fines to be in the offing, but move along; nothing to see here.
$1B for “green” buses: In the name of fighting “climate change,” the Biden administration is justifying spending nearly $1 billion on another “green” tech boondoggle. The EPA is dolling out $900 million in taxpayer funds across 47 states to help fund the purchase of “green” school buses. Some 90% of the funds have gone to EV buses, while the remaining has gone to propane-powered buses. These are not cheap buses; for example, the Blue Bird All American Type D electric school bus retails at $400,000, whereas a new diesel school bus costs $200,000. Furthermore, the advertised range of Blue Bird’s EV bus is 120 miles on a single charge, which takes three to eight hours to recharge. The average range for a new diesel-powered school bus on a single tank of fuel is 510 miles. On a purely economic basis, diesel buses make more sense, but it runs contrary to Joe Biden’s anti-fossil fuel agenda, so more taxpayer is wasted.
Labor Dept. supports “menstruators”: What is a woman? Well, the Biden administration, in an effort to promote the notion that the term lacks any definitional quality and can be assumed by males based purely on their feelings, has gone to ridiculous levels to avoid calling women “women.” Recently, the Department of Labor posted on its social media account the following message: “Menstruation affects half the U.S. workforce but talking about it at work can be taboo. For #MenstrualHygieneDay, here are 5 easy actions employers can take to help menstruators thrive at work” [emphasis added]. The post included a link to an article titled “5 Ways Employers Can Make Workplaces More Menstruation-Friendly.” The craziness just getting crazier.
Headlines
Retiring West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin leaves Democrat Party, files as independent (National Review)
Biden allows Ukraine limited use of U.S. arms to strike inside Russia (Reuters)
Vermont becomes first state to enact law charging oil companies for climate change damage (National Review)
Negro Leagues’ statistics incorporated into Major League Baseball’s historical records (USA Today)
California Democrat blasts her own party for protecting sexual predators (Daily Wire)
UK announces temporary ban on puberty blockers (Hot Air
Satire: Donald Trump found guilty of being Donald Trump (Babylon Bee)
A unanimous Supreme Court smacked down a NY bureaucrat for trampling the First Amendment.
Nate Jackson
Just as Democrats were working furiously to discredit the Supreme Court through the ridiculously silly flap over Justice Samuel Alito’s flag, the Court unanimously ruled in favor of the First and Second Amendments, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing the opinion. It’s hard to dismiss a majority of 9-0 as political.
The Supreme Court case at hand was NRA v. Vullo, which dealt with the state of New York — a two-dimensional villain of a state these days — targeting the National Rifle Association, squelching the Second Amendment organization’s First Amendment rights through a process some call debanking. Specifically, former NY Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services Maria Vullo coerced financial institutions to refuse business dealings with the NRA.
It was so obviously a violation of the First Amendment that the American Civil Liberties Union stopped assailing civil liberties long enough to take on the case and represent the NRA.
Sotomayor pointed to the 1963 Bantam Books ruling, saying its precedent “stands for the principle that a government official cannot directly or indirectly coerce a private party to punish or suppress disfavored speech on her behalf.” Given that Vullo “had direct regulatory and enforcement authority over all insurance companies and financial service institutions doing business in New York,” Sotomayor reasoned, her actions “could be reasonably understood to convey a threat of adverse government action in order to punish or suppress speech.”
It wasn’t theoretical, either. Insurance companies canceled contracts with the NRA, and banks wouldn’t even provide basic depository services, producing tangible harm to the organization.
“While a government official can share her views freely and criticize particular beliefs in the hopes of persuading others, she may not use the power of her office to punish or suppress disfavored expression,” Sotomayor said. “Nor does her argument that her actions targeted ‘nonexpressive’ business relationships change the fact that the NRA alleges her actions were aimed at punishing or suppressing speech.” She added, “Although Vullo can pursue violations of state insurance law, she cannot do so in order to punish or suppress the NRA’s protected expression.”
The Supreme Court thus sent the lawsuit back to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which had previously thrown it out.
In essence, what Vullo did was part of the Democrat strategy to destroy what they euphemistically call “democracy.” Our Republic stands on the Rule of Law and equal treatment under fair laws. Democrats hate that, of course, and undermine it at every turn.
Hillary Clinton didn’t like Donald Trump, so she paid her law firm to pay some “investigators” to pay a spy to concoct a dossier about Trump being a Russian agent. You might say it was a bookkeeping crime to influence an election. Subsequently losing the election in part for having committed other crimes, Hillary turned it over to her fellow Democrats to weaponize the law against Trump through the FBI and then George Soros-funded hacks like Alvin Bragg.
Is it any wonder that a power-tripping state official like Maria Vullo would essentially take the same tack against the NRA? Especially given that New York Attorney General Letitia James won office on a promise to stick it to Trump and the NRA. James promised to “dissolve the [NRA] in its entirety.” Vullo was just part of the plan.
Fortunately for the Rule of Law, this plan was rebuked for the tyrannical farce that it is. Unfortunately for everyone, Vullo began her work in 2017, and the NRA first filed its complaint in 2018, meaning Democrats got away with it for seven years before the situation was rectified, though even now, the NRA can only continue its litigation.
Looking forward, this decision could be a good sign for an arguably even more important case — Murthy v. Missouri. That case was argued before the Supreme Court on the same day, and it dealt with the Biden administration’s pressure campaign against social media giants to suppress free speech about COVID.
The flag had proudly flown there for 60 years, but now it’s a political tool being used against a Supreme Court justice.
Emmy Griffin
“And where the Body of the People, or any single Man, is deprived of their Right, or is under the Exercise of a power without right, and have no Appeal on Earth, there they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven, whenever they judge the Cause of sufficient moment.” —John Locke
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” —John Adams
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.” —George Washington
“Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit — appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free.” —Joseph Warren
Symbols have meaning. The “An Appeal to Heaven” or “Pine Tree” flag’s meaning stems from the Revolutionary War. Commissioned by George Washington and designed by Colonel Joseph Reed, this simple flag emblazoned with the resilient evergreen was adopted as a naval flag in 1775. Its meaning was clear: Only God would save the nascent American colonies from the tyrannical whims of King George III.
Almost 250 years later, its meaning hasn’t changed. Only God can preserve the American people from tyrants. That’s why this noble and historic flag has flown over government buildings nationwide, even in deep-blue places like San Francisco. At least that was true until leftists used the flying of that flag at Samuel Alito’s vacation home as a political tool to intimidate the Supreme Court justice.
Leftist hacks (a.k.a. The New York Times) decided to spin the narrative that since the flag was flown by rioters on January 6, it’s a symbol of insurrection and the “Stop the Steal” movement. It’s an ignorant and cynical attack. As Justice Alito rightly quipped, “The use of an old historic flag by a new group does not necessarily drain that flag of all other meanings.”
That did not stop San Francisco bureaucrats from removing the flag from city hall this past weekend. The flag had proudly flown there for 60 years and represents an important moment in our nation’s history. Its removal is a cowardly act.
As The Federalist points out, this is a two-pronged attack: one against a conservative Supreme Court justice, and the other against our American heritage. I would even argue that it’s a three-pronged attack, the third being an attack on Christianity and its role in the shaping of our country.
Americans should not allow anti-American leftist radicals to take any more of our country’s symbols and pervert them for their own political pursuit of power. They have torn down statues representing historical figures and Founding Fathers. They have defaced other statues in the name of anti-American causes (see the pro-Hamas protests). Let this be the line in the sand. Perhaps, as The Washington Stand suggests, the right response to this latest attack is for all of us to fly the “An Appeal to Heaven” flag along with Old Glory.
Leftists happily and gleefully tear down American history in an attempt to paint the country as the worst. And in the smolders they construct their new secular religion of anti-America and anti-Judeo/Christian values. But make no mistake: When practiced, the Left’s utopian socialistic pipe dreams quickly go up in smoke.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg keeps crying “Wolf!” about climate change, but folks aren’t listening.
Brian Mark Weber
Since the 1980s, we’ve been told that global warming would leave American cities underwater within decades, droughts would leave us starving, and melting ice caps would leave polar bears and seals without a home.
Indeed, back in 2006, former vice president and climate change zealot Al Gore predicted we had 10 years to save the earth. Ten years later, though, the oceans didn’t rise, and Rush Limbaugh reminded the public that Gore’s outlandish prediction didn’t pan out as planned.
Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” turned out to be a very convenient lie for Gore and the climate propagandists who’ve scammed governments and their taxpayers out of billions of dollars for green initiatives that do nothing for the environment. Unfortunately, after years of indoctrinating school kids into thinking the planet is on life support and pushing scare tactics to the rest of us on TV, in movies, and on social media, millions of Americans still believe it.
Few seem to remember the fact that in the 1970s, these same fear merchants in the media and scientific community were pushing global cooling, warning of an ice-covered globe if we didn’t give up cars, refrigerators, and capitalism.
But facts don’t matter when you’re more interested in brainwashing the masses than in saving the planet. Whether they call it global cooling, global warming, or climate change, it’s all the same fraudulent scheme.
It doesn’t take much work to look beneath the thin veneer of the climate cult to see there’s nothing of substance there. Take Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, for example. His record is embarrassing, to say the least. As PJ Media’s Matt Margolis reports, “Buttigieg’s tenure as Transportation secretary has been marred by incompetence and scandal. Typically, most people wouldn’t even know who the U.S. Transportation secretary is, yet Buttigieg has been repeatedly thrust himself into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. His decision to take paternity leave during the supply chain crisis, his pledge to invest $1 billion to address ‘racist’ highways, the Southwest Airlines fiasco, the FAA outage, the Chinese spy balloon incident, and his poor handling of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the subsequent environmental disaster were all huge black marks on his record.”
Buttigieg probably thinks he’s getting away with it all; otherwise, he wouldn’t go on to peddle ridiculous claims like climate change being responsible for airline turbulence.
He’s constantly bloviating about the threat of rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions, so it’s no wonder he’s in favor of phasing out fossil fuels and forcing everyone to drive EVs. But while he’s trying to take your gas-guzzling SUV, Pothole Pete’s flying first class on a carbon-spewing jet.
A couple of years back, Tucker Carlson wrote, “If you’re yapping about carbon emissions and climate and then flying private, what you’re really doing is hoisting a screaming middle finger to the country, to the plebs below in their SUVs.”
And if there’s really a climate emergency like we’ve been warned about ad nauseam, then Buttigieg should be rolling out electric vehicle charging stations like nobody’s business.
Back in 2022, Buttigieg sounded full of confidence: “Wherever you live, wherever you’re headed, you can be as confident about filling up your EV as somebody is today driving a gas-powered vehicle. This is a classic example of good policy that can drive good environmental outcomes.”
Yet after the Biden administration set aside more than $7 billion to build a half-million EV charging stations by 2030, there are only eight — not 800 or 80, but eight. And Pete thinks that’s good policy?
Even CBS News had to ask about the lack of production. On “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan questioned Secretary Pete about the paltry numbers of EV stations. Pete’s only defense is that it’s not 2030 yet.
It’s funny how they keep moving the goalposts, but each time we reach Earth’s breaking point, there’s nothing but more scare tactics and bad policies, from carbon and mileage taxes to windmills that churn out as much power as one of those potato-powered clocks that the kids had back in the day.
So they keep the propaganda machine going, like the time Buttigieg unloaded a bicycle from an SUV to make it look like he’d biked all the way to a cabinet meeting.
It’s all about optics, but there’s nothing to laugh about.
The Biden administration is dead serious about convincing Americans to join the climate cult, sacrificing their cars and their freedom in the process. But as long as Pete Buttigieg remains one of the cult’s leaders, climate change will continue looking more like a scam than a threat.
“He was selflessly body blocking that litter team and that helicopter crew as they were loading the casualty on the bird under a tremendous amount of fire.”
Mark Alexander
Army Sergeant First Class Christopher Celiz was a native of Summerville, South Carolina. He was Junior ROTC at Summerville High School, where his leadership skills became apparent. While his future wife Katie was also a Summerville High student, they met while working in a local grocery store.
After graduation, Chris entered the Military College of South Carolina (The Citadel). Determined to serve our nation sooner rather than later, he enlisted in 2007 before graduation. He and Katie were married a year later, and they became parents to a daughter, Shannon, in 2010.
SFC Celiz was first assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, where he would then become team leader of Company C, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. He was tapped for the 75th Ranger Regiment in 2013, and he served as the battalion master breacher and engineer until 2017 when he became the Company D mortar platoon sergeant.
He deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and then twice in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. It was on his fifth deployment, July 12, 2018, that he distinguished himself in battle near Paktia, Afghanistan, earning a Medal of Honor for placing himself between enemy forces fire and a MEDEVAC helicopter under fire as it loaded his wounded men.
“As the leader of a special purpose unit comprised of partnered forces and members of the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment [SFC Celiz] led an operation to clear an area of enemy forces and thereby disrupt future attacks against the government of Afghanistan and allied forces. Shortly after his team reached their final objectives, a large enemy force attacked, placed effective fire on him and his team, preventing them from maneuvering to counterattack. Realizing the danger the attack posed to his team and the operation, Sergeant First Class Celiz voluntarily exposed himself to intense enemy machine-gun and small-arms fire to retrieve and employ a heavy weapon system, thereby allowing U.S. and partnered forces to regain the initiative, maneuver to a secure location, and begin treatment of a critically wounded partnered force member.”
“As a medical evacuation helicopter arrived, it was immediately engaged by accurate and sustained enemy fire. Knowing how critical it was to quickly load the casualty, [SFC Celiz] willingly exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to direct and lead the evacuation. As the casualty moved from a position of cover and out into intense enemy fire, [he] made a conscious effort to ensure his body acted as a physical shield to his team carrying the casualty and the crew of the aircraft. As the casualty was loaded and Sergeant First Class Celiz’s team returned to cover, he alone remained at the aircraft, returning a high volume of fire and constantly repositioning himself to act as a physical shield to the aircraft and its crew.”
“With his final reposition, [SFC Celiz] placed himself directly between the cockpit and the enemy, ensuring the aircraft was able to depart. As the helicopter lifted off, [he] was hit by enemy fire. Fully aware of his own injury but understanding the peril to the aircraft from the intense enemy machine gun fire, [he] motioned to the aircraft to depart rather than remain behind to load him. … Throughout the entire engagement, [he] significantly changed the course of battle by repeatedly placing himself in extreme danger to protect his team, defeat the enemy, and it ultimately cost him his life.”
CPT Ben Krzeczowski, pilot in command of the MEDEVAC mission that day, observed, “Courage, to me, is putting your life on the line to save the life of another, as demonstrated by SFC Chris Celiz, who died protecting my crew.”
Another member of the mission that day, 2LT Garrett White, noted: “He was selflessly body blocking that litter team and that helicopter crew as they were loading the casualty on the bird under a tremendous amount of fire. He put himself last and everybody else first.”
SFC Celiz was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on December 16, 2021, along with SFC Alwyn Cashe (Iraq, posthumous) and MSG Earl Plumlee (Afghanistan).
In 2022, Chris Celiz was awarded the second posthumous degree ever presented by The Citadel. Then-Citadel President Gen. Glenn Walters (USMC, Ret.) noted: “Chris was the guy who made everyone part of the team. His classmates wondered if he slept. All Citadel alumni knew ‘go-to’ guys in their company they could always count on. Chris was one of these in spades. He was, by all accounts, everything you wanted in a comrade and classmate.”
SFC Christopher Andrew Celiz: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot 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)
Climate Change Saves Lives — The number of people actually dying from natural disasters over the past 120 years is not rising at all; as a matter of fact, it has plummeted. So fire up those SUVs and eat more beef!
Why Blacks Have So Much Today and Are Still Poor — Thomas Sowell argues that it’s not straightforward to assign blame for the disparities faced by African American children born in inner cities today.
PopCon #46: Scarlett Johansson vs. AI — Scarlett Johansson has a voice nerds cannot resist. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is no exception, but he may soon regret that he couldn’t help himself…
“The Supreme Court tried to block me from relieving student debt. But they didn’t stop me. I’ve relieved student debt for over 5 million Americans. I’m going to keep going.” —Joe Biden
The BIG Lie
“I got involved as a kid in the civil rights movement. … In 1969, I got involved deeply in the civil rights movement.” —Joe Biden
Pandering
“On Memorial Day, I proudly stood with a black man.” —Joe Biden
“Black voters placed enormous faith in me. I’ve tried to do my best to honor that trust, staying true to the value set that we share — it got me involved as a kid in the first place.” —Joe Biden
Dumb & Dumber
“Those polls are going to turn. I’m confident of it because as time goes on and as people start to focus a little bit more about what’s at stake and start to become educated on the issues and the differences between the two men, I believe Americans are going to choose good over evil.” —Jill Biden
“In Joe Biden, we have a fighter; a leader with skill, vision, determination, and compassion; a leader who keeps his promises.” —Kamala Harris
Lawfare
“Even the most hard-bitten, cynical political operative would have been hard-pressed to imagine a way to keep an opponent off the campaign trail entirely. Rummaging through an opponent’s garbage, stealing his debate-prep materials, distorting his record in lavishly funded negative ads — all that looks amateurish compared to abusing the criminal-justice system for political ends the way Alvin Bragg has.” —Rich Lowry
“Everything in politics is timing, and the Bragg trial achieves its value by being a 2024 event. … As long as Democrats have their ‘convicted felon’ label on Trump for the duration of 2024, it doesn’t matter that there may eventually be a superseding ‘reversed on appeal’ label in 2025 or 2026, when this election will have been long decided.” —Rich Lowry
“The Deep State created a hoax to undermine a president’s administration. The Deep State censored the truth and the American people to influence an election. Parents and churches were spied on. A former president’s house was raided. A former president was criminally charged in multiple jurisdictions on trumped-up charges, and is facing jail time. Did you ever think you would see anything like this in America?” —Gary Bauer
For the Record
“Just a friendly reminder that Bill Clinton flew regularly to Epstein Island… and he was never charged with a crime.” —Tim Young
Today’s top headline news brief from NEWSMAX includes:
[1:17] -Trump vows to fight on as New Yorkers react to the guilty verdict. [Newsmax Breaking]
[6:44] -Senior counsel for the American Institute for Law and Liberty Jessie Binnall: “Judge Merchan just brought Marxism to America.” [Rob Schmitt Tonight]
[9:53] -Newsmax legal expert Alan Dershowitz thinks Trump should fire his lawyers. [The Record with Greta Van Susteren]
[13:08] -Former Acting AG Matthew Whitaker believes Trump has strong arguments for an appeal. [Newsline]
[22:10] -SC Sen. Nancy Mace says that voters see the injustice. [American Agenda]
Republicans blast and Democrats support guilty verdict against former President Donald Trump, and legal analysts say the decision could well be overturned on appeal; in Israel, War Cabinet member Benny Gantz introduces a measure in the Knesset to dissolve the government and go to new elections, but it’s not likely to succeed; Hamas may be losing support in Gaza, and Israel’s military scores a major victory; Chris Mitchell talks about the reaction in Israel to the motion to dissolve the government, Israel’s military win, why the outlook for hostage talks is bleak, and Christians show support for Israel at the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast; how Christians are stepping up to help those in need in the midst of the war in Ukraine; and evidence that God is moving around the world: hundreds baptized in Texas, and a March for Jesus in Paris.
Want more news from a Christian Perspective? Choose to support CBN:
The 45th president of the United States is a convicted felon. But what does that even mean? We consulted with American attorney Robert Shapiro to learn what’s next for Donald J. Trump.
Here’s what to expect:
Fingerprinted with tiny fingerprint scanner: Because he has tiny hands.
Granted bail prior to sentencing for the amount of “How much you got?”: Convenient! That’s the exact amount of everything he has!
Given the choice of a regular cell or cell with free wifi and 6″ more legroom for a $250 upgrade fee: Maybe Biden can do something about these junk prison fees.
Workers begin to gold plate the prison bars in cell #11B: It’s the only prison cell that can hold him.
Paired up with a grizzled Mexican gangster cellmate who becomes his unlikely friend and they solve crimes together: Later, he announces Tolo Rodrigo as his running mate and they get matching teardrop tattoos.
Learns how to make delicious toilet diet coke: Zero sugar!
He fights Samurai as a schoolgirl and destroys a robot army on a train and fights a dragon with a B-25 before we find out it was all a dream sequence and he’s been given a lobotomy the whole time: Man, gotta’ watch Sucker Punch again.
Trump given opportunity to appeal case on, oh, say November 7: Hey, wait! That’s too late!
Sentenced to be confined in the Oval Office for an additional 4 years: Obviously.
And what of his remaining days? Will Trump eventually win the appeal? Will he win the election from within prison, pardon himself and emerge from his cocoon stronger than ever? Only God knows.
We asked Trump to narrate 7 more famous historic battles, and the result was tremendous and magnificent. Everyone says so.
Former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich joins ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ to discuss former President Trump’s conviction on all counts in his criminal trial and its impact.
These four words are used by homosexuals (LBGHTQ+) to attack anyone (specifically Bible-believing Christians) who opposes their purpose: practicing their deviant lifestyle freely out in the open and spreading their message of ‘sexual freedom’ (and now gender choice), especially to children. The homosexual ‘community’ still claims to be persecuted victims of unlawful discrimination. But facts show they use their political power and agenda (thru laws and liberal politicians) to silence their opponents, calling them “fear” mongers.
However, these four words have been manipulated and twisted by this ‘community’ for maximum political effect to defend their objectives which are sexual. Biblical morality is not recognized, because as modern-day pagans the Bible is not important and irrelevant. Their beliefs are based upon the foundational principle of atheistic evolution: i.e. there is no God and no absolute standards of moral right and wrong. To them, ‘truth’ is relative–if there even is any truth at all. But let’s consider an answer for each word they use in their attack arsenal.
President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, will deliver Remarks in New York, New York, on Friday, May 31st, 2024, at 11:00 a….
On Friday’s “Wake Up America,” Trump attorney Will Scharf said they will pursue every option to have Donald Trump’s conviction overturned.Watch NEWSMAX, an i…
2024 presidential candidate RFK Jr., argues the Democratic Party ‘has to win in the courts’ because President Biden ‘cannot win fair and square’ on ‘Jesse Wa…
63 years ago, on March 30, 1961, Ronald Reagan delivered one of the most memorable speeches in his lifetime.
Ronald Reagan delivered the remarks to the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.
Reagan warned Americans about the threat of totalitarianism in a free society.
Ronald Reagan: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
Ronald Reagan warned Americans about the communist threat. Today, more than any other day since then, we all understand and we all feel how these words ring true.
We are losing our freedom.
The tyrannical left is on the march.
Ronald Reagan: “Our Founding Fathers, here in this country, brought about the only true revolution that has ever taken place in man’s history. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another set of rulers.
But only here did that little band of men so advanced beyond their time that the world has never seen their like since, evolve the idea that you and I have within ourselves the God-given right and the ability to determine our own destiny.
But freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream.
The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well thought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same.
And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”
That’s where we are today in America. The Marxist left is stripping us of our freedoms. Government bodies are in full support of their tyranny.
Business mogul Elon Musk came out against the politically motivated Donald Trump show trial, saying it has done “great damage” to America’s legal system.
Trump was found guilty on all 34 charges of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment made to adult porn star Stormy Daniels in what is widely regarded as a rigged process.
Musk appeared to agree with that assessment, tweeting out his condemnation of the verdict to his over 185 million followers on the X platform.
“The first felony conviction of a former US President wasn’t for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, illegal CIA coups, drone striking weddings, or spying on Americans… It was because Trump misclassified a $130,000 payment for a porn star’s NDA,” wrote a user by the name Geiger Capital.
“Indeed, great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system,” Musk responded. “If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate.”
Indeed, great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system.
If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate. https://t.co/zrHCyIZazh
Musk will be all too aware of the risks of malicious prosecution. Since he bought the X platform and began stating his opposition to leftist ideology, various senior Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren have called for “investigations” into his companies.
Trump, meanwhile, is now the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. His sentencing is scheduled for July three days before the Republican convention.
President Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies but no one knows what crime he committed… It wasn’t disclosed!
The jury in corrupt Judge Juan Merchan’s kangaroo court found President Trump guilty of 34 felonies on Thursday afternoon. Each felony conviction could land President Trump in prison for four years.
Judge Merchan told jurors they did not have to agree on a crime. This is unheard of in US history. The jury only had to agree something bad happened. This, of course, is completely unconstitutional.
This was clearly the greatest travesty of justice in American history.
So now we have a convicted US President with 34 felony counts and NO ONE knows what crime President Trump committed!
The jury never explained what crime Trump committed and was not required to explain what crime Trump committed.
Jonathan Turley spoke about this on Thursday following the verdicts.
Jonathan Turley: The instructions had that feel, I called it in a column yesterday of a canned hunt, where you actually shoot game in a cage. But in defense of some of those jurors, they may have not seen any alternative but conviction.
Keep in mind, this judge allowed the government to repeatedly tell them that it was a fact that an election violation occurred and that Trump had ordered it. Judge Mershan stayed absolutely silent during that statement. Over and over again, even though it violated his instruction.
To this day, we won’t know what the jury really decided on the conspiracy. I was in that courtroom listening to 34 guilty verdicts, but they didn’t say what the jury thought had happened. They were unanimous only that some crime, some secondary crime occurred.
Judge Mershan did not require them to reach unanimity on what that crime was. So, it’s going to go on appeal, and the appellate court won’t know any more than we have in terms of knowledge as to was this an election violation, another falsification of documents, a tax violation? That’s just simply not in the record.
Jonathan Turley is right. “Beyond a reasonable doubt” was replaced with “If the ground is wet, you can infer it rained.” This is now precedent in our American legal system.
The country may never recover from these lawfare travesties by the Marxists in power and the federal agencies that support them.
LTRP Note: The following news clips are posted for informational and research purposes.
The Epoch Times: Jury Finds Trump Guilty on All 34 Felony Charges in New York Trial – Former President Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as a jury of 12 unanimously returned its verdict on May 30 after less than two days of deliberation. With this result, President Trump becomes the first ever American president to be convicted of a crime. As the verdict was read, President Trump sat still and looked straight ahead, showing no emotion. President Trump’s attorney has previously vowed to appeal a conviction expeditiously. (Read more)
The Daily Signal: Political World Erupts After Jury Declares Trump Guilty on All 34 Counts – A Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty Thursday on all 34 charges of falsifying business records to hide “hush money” payments in 2016 to former pornographic movie actress Stormy Daniels. Upon leaving the courthouse, Trump calledthe trial a disgrace and said, “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt.” He continued: “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.” Trump faces up to four years in prison. (Read more)
The Federalist: ‘Guilty’ Trump Verdict Will Keep Good People From Running For Office – A New York jury just killed what little incentive good people have to run for office. Public jobs might come with a comfortable salary and government benefits, but now they also come with the possibility of jail time. Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony charges of financial misconduct on Thursday by a jury plucked from Democrat-dominated New York City — though nobody can quite articulate what crime was committed. (Read more)
Jewish News Syndicate: Jewish groups respond to Trump guilty verdict – “Without question, this is a political prosecution of a political opponent. It’s a weaponization of the legal system,” stated Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “The case is deeply flawed and will likely be overturned on appeal,” Brooks added. “The Democrats think this will hurt Trump, the reality is that it will likely propel Trump to victory in November.” (Read more)
(image from istockphoto.com; used with permission)
RT-2PM2 Topol-M TEL with presumably Yars system transport-launch container during the first rehearsal for the Victory Day Parade at the training ground in Alabino. Photo by Vitaly V. Kuzmin, 19 March 2012. [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), via Wikimedia Commons.
President Biden has decided to permit Ukraine to use US weapons to strike military targets inside Russia, where missiles are being launched from. This move is supported by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Until now, the US had disagreed despite Stoltenberg’s urgings, and several NATO members continue to voice their objections.
The decision is crucial for Ukraine’s chances of winning the war. However, it marks an escalation, bringing the US closer to conflict with Russia, the world’s largest possessor of nuclear warheads. A video released by the Russian government warns that by enabling Ukrainian strikes inside Russia, the West has revealed its “true motive.” The Moscow claims that these weapons are not for defense but are intended to strike civilian infrastructure inside Russia.
Putin told reporters in Tashkent that constant escalation could lead to dire consequences in Europe and the United States. He warned Western leaders that their decision was dangerous and could trigger a global conflict. Specifically, he said that sending French troops to Ukraine would be a step too far. Additionally, he ominously stated that some European countries have small landmasses but dense populations. Regardless of where one stands on the Ukraine war or whether the US and NATO should be involved, the Kremlin is correct in saying that each successive escalation brings the world closer to a global conflict.
On March 22, 2024, Russia declared war on Ukraine. While major media outlets reported this escalation, it didn’t receive the attention it deserved. A declaration of war is a critical step, changing Russia’s internal rules of engagement and allowing for broader military actions. In Russian military thinking, “war” is the most intense form of conflict, whereas “special military operations,” as the Ukraine conflict was previously classified, are seen as less intense on a spectrum of warfare. This declaration sets the stage for a stronger response to any foreign interference.
In a speech just before the declaration of war, Putin stated, “Strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness for guaranteed use.” The mention of nuclear weapons is concerning, especially now that war has been declared. The “Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence,” approved by President Vladimir Putin in June 2020, outlines Russia’s nuclear policy. According to this policy, Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction against it or its allies. However, nuclear weapons may also be used in response to conventional aggression that threatens the very existence of the state. So, the definition of a threat or the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons is both ambiguous and subjective, meaning the Ukraine war itself, direct attacks on the Russian homeland, or foreign intervention could be enough to trigger a nuclear response.
Now that the threat of nuclear war has increased, there is a heightened risk of global conflict, as the US and other Western nations are contractually obligated to become involved. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine violates the Budapest Memorandum, a 1994 agreement between Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This memorandum provided security assurances to Ukraine in exchange for its agreement to relinquish its nuclear weapons to Russia. Ukraine sought legally binding guarantees for its protection in case of invasion, but the US did not agree to such terms. Instead, the US, UK, and Russia provided politically binding assurances to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and existing borders.
The Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the Budapest Memorandum, states, “The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE Final Act, to respect the Independence and Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.”
China and France also made similar assurances but did not sign the Budapest Memorandum. On December 4, 1994, China issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. China expressed its support for the security assurances provided by the Budapest Memorandum signatories and declared its respect for the principles of the UN Charter regarding non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs. However, China has violated this promise by aiding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
France issued a similar statement on December 5, 1994, echoing the sentiments of the Budapest Memorandum. France emphasized its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and reiterated the importance of respecting international laws and principles, particularly those enshrined in the UN Charter.
The declaration of war is an escalation. The low threshold for Russia’s use of nuclear weapons could easily be triggered by increased involvement from foreign powers or by Ukraine striking the Russian homeland. This is not to say that Ukraine is wrong for defending itself or for attacking the Russian homeland, nor is it a refutation of the US, NATO, or other nations coming to Ukraine’s aid. It is simply a reminder that the US and the West must be prepared for a full-scale war with Russia, including the possible use of nuclear weapons.
In his speech to the Russian people, Putin said about the West, “Everything that they are coming up with now, how they are spooking the whole world—all this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization.”
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