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
Marks of Sound Teaching – Pastor Patrick Hines Reformed Presbyterian Christian Podcast
From the church website:
We subscribe to the Westminster Standards as our doctrinal statement. It consists of the following documents:
The Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Larger Catechism The Westminster Shorter Catechism
We also believe that Christian Worship is to be regulated and defined by God’s Word, the Bible.
Our worship services are designed to please and honor the Triune God of the Bible. We place Scripture reading and the preaching of the word of God at the center of worship along with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are God’s gifts to His church and ought to always be at the center of Christian worship. We are a congregation that loves to sing God’s praises, recite His Word back to Him, and actively engage in hearing and learning from God’s Word.
We embrace and promote a comprehensive Christian world and life view.
There is no area of life which is not under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is to God and His law which all people, including governments and civil rulers, will answer. The Word of God embraces and informs the way we view marriage, the family, children, education, politics, worship, law, government, war, the church, missions, evangelism, and worship. In the world today there is a battle of opposing worldviews. There are basically only two positions: God’s Word and man’s ideas. We stand positively for Biblical truth and negatively against man’s ideas which are opposed to Biblical truth.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for mankind.
Because all men fall short of obeying God’s law, all men everywhere are in need of divine grace and salvation from God. This salvation is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for sinners, was buried, rose again, and is alive today seated at God the Father’s right hand.
We Worship God Together as Families.
We offer nursery during the morning worship service for newborns and infants but encourage people to keep as many of their children as they can with them for morning worship. The audio of the service is in the nursery via speakers. There is also a crying room with a video screen and audio of the sermon. We offer Sunday school classes for all ages, but worship together as families. We do not offer “children’s” church. Children need to be in morning worship as soon as possible so they can learn how to participate as active worshipers of the Living God which includes the singing of His praises and listening actively to sermons.
COMMUNION.
Communion is served monthly. All who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and are members of an evangelical church are cordially invited to participate with us in the Lord’s Supper.
Job 12:2 — Job is quite sarcastic by this point. While much of the wisdom literature genre of this book can be hard to follow, this line seems like one of Shakespeare’s witty retorts!
Job 13:3 — Job echoes the plea that many have, “I desire to reason with God.” We won’t hear from God audibly when we suffer; interestingly, Job didn’t hear from God either about why he suffered.
Job 13:5 — Oftentimes wisdom is found in holding your peace!
Job 13:15 — Here is one of the key verses of Job. It clearly reveals the attitude of one who has suffered financial, family, and physical pain. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job unfortunately continues on, “I will maintain my own ways before him.” Job remains the righteous example that God pointed to, but Job still wants to argue with God.
Job 14:1 — Job seems to be foreshadowing the book of Ecclesiastes!
Job 15:16 — Eliphaz makes a good point – man is abominable and filthy, full of iniquity. Yet, how was Job “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1)?
God forgives iniquity (Numbers 14:19-20, Psalm 65:3). But how do we achieve forgiveness?
Knowing who to seek forgiveness from – we all need forgiveness from God (Mark 2:7). Which ‘deity’ are you seeking forgiveness from? Only the LORD (Isaiah 45:5)?
Confessing (identifying) our sins is an important component of seeking God’s forgiveness (Psalm 51:3, 1 John 1:9).
Repenting (turning) from our sins (Psalm 51:10, Acts 3:19). If we don’t turn from our sins, it’s not that we’re not forgiven, it’s just that we’ve restarted the loop of sin (Luke 11:24-26).
Turning back to the LORD
Job 1:1 – fear the LORD and eschew evil
Joshua 1:8 – meditate on God’s Word and avoid sin
Job 1:1 – fear the LORD and eschew evil
Joshua 1:8 – meditate on God’s Word and avoid sin
Yes, even though man is filthy and though his sins be as scarlet, they can be as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18)! Job’s friends don’t want to acknowledge that anyone can be righteous. They feel more comfortable declaring that everyone is as wicked as they are. We just have to keep trying to be righteous through religious rituals. But righteousness comes not through religious rituals; it comes from a relationship with the Redeemer!
1 Corinthians 15:32 — Was Paul fighting as a gladiator against the wild beasts? From the Pulpit Commentary:
Not literally, for in that case he would have mentioned it in 2 Corinthians 11. as one of his deadliest perils, and it must have been recorded by St. Luke in his full account of St. Paul’s life at Ephesus. A Roman citizen was legally exempt from this mode of punishment. The word points to some special peril incurred in resisting the hostility of the worshippers of Artemis (Acts 20:19), but not to the tumult in the theatre, which did not happen till after this letter was dispatched (1 Corinthians 16:8, 9). The metaphor is not uncommon. Thus in 2 Timothy 4:17 St. Paul alludes to Nero (probably) as “the lion.” David often compares his enemies to wild beasts (Psalm 22:21, etc.). When his jailor informed Agrippa of the death of Tiberius, he did so in the words, “The lion is dead.”
1 Corinthians 15:51 — We shall be changed! What will it be like, Paul?
It will be different (1 Corinthians 15:37)
It will be unique (1 Corinthians 15:38)
It will be incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:42)
It will be glorious (1 Corinthians 15:43)
It will be powerful (1 Corinthians 15:43)
It will be spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:44)
It will be instantaneous (1 Corinthians 15:52)
It will be immortal (1 Corinthians 15:53)
Thus death is no longer painful to contemplate, the grave is no longer the victor! (1 Corinthians 15:55). So keep on fighting! We Shall Rise! (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Psalm 39:5 — “… verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” So, what is our calling? We must wait for the LORD. He is our hope!
Proverbs 21:31 — Where is safety found? The horse? No, the LORD!
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.
New ways to say ‘I love you,’ social media’s impact and depression epidemic, the vital role of dads in promoting happiness through discipline—all in today’s episode!
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time. (Isaiah 60:22)
Works for the Lord often begin on a small scale, and they are none the worse for this. Feebleness educates faith, brings God near, and wins glory for His name. Prize promises of increase! Mustard seed is the smallest among seeds, and yet it becomes a treelike plant, with branches which lodge the birds of heaven. We may begin with one, and that “a little one,” and yet it will “become a thousand.” The Lord is great at the multiplication table. How often did He say to His lone servant, “I will multiply thee!” Trust in the Lord, ye ones and twos; for He will be in the midst of you if you are gathered in His name.
“A small one.” What can be more despicable in the eyes of those who count heads and weigh forces! Yet this is the nucleus of a great nation. Only one star shines out at first in the evening, but soon the sky is crowded with countless lights.
Nor need we think the prospect of increase to be remote, for the promise is, “I Jehovah will hasten it in his time.” There will be no premature haste, like that which we see at excited meetings; it will be all in due time, but yet there will be no delay. When the Lord hastens, His speed is glorious.
It’s no secret that many “Christians” are divided about politics: One argues, “How can Christians vote for Trump?” Another shoots back, “You can’t be a Christian and vote Democrat!” And yet another grumbles, “How can you vote for either one?”
To truly understand the division, we must remember three things:
1) Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian.
2) Many Christians have quenched and grieved the Spirit for so long that they lack discernment.
3) When we fail to make Scripture the final authority, we view politics through different lenses based on experience, ethnicity, faith, priorities, etc.
When it comes to understanding the divide, three groups stand out:
Christians for Kamala
These people are often liberal, and although they claim that they are personally against abortion, they don’t think it is the government’s job to interfere. I doubt that God agrees with this position. They also claim that “loving your neighbor” means opening the border. But what about loving your family enough to protect them?
This group claims that they supposedly put character over policy. “Trump is a felon!” is their constant mantra. However, those supporting Trump point out that if he was a Democrat, none of this would be happening because the Biden family criminal allegations (all of which are worse than Trump’s charges) are being completely glossed over.
Conservatives for Trump
This group understands that God uses imperfect people. As to the charges against Trump’s “character,” they realize that they are not electing a Pastor-in-Chief but a Commander-in-Chief. This group doesn’t buy into media spins and false narratives. They know that Trump is not a racist or a real felon and that he is exposing the Left’s wickedness.
They believe that Trump’s character is not as important as the Left’s approval of killing the unborn, allowing men to enter women’s locker rooms, and turning a blind eye to trafficking children. They say, “Although character traits should be considered, we are not following people, we are endorsing policy to protect and to defend the nation.”
This group also looks at the solid Christians that Trump surrounds himself with versus Kamala, who supports drag queens.
Angry MAGAs
This group shares the same concerns as the conservatives, but they can be more filled with anger than the Spirit. Most are simply tired of the Left’s rhetoric, such as, “Trump will destroy democracy and go after his political opponents.” Ironically, that’s exactly what the Biden administration did and is doing to Trump.
Like conservatives, they know that the nation is in serious trouble and that something must be done. This group understands that America is weak and woke and that we are drowning in a cesspool of moral filth. And if something isn’t done soon, the hope of regaining lost ground is over. This is where Trump comes in — from securing our borders to protecting us from attacks.
The Silent Minority
To those who say we should stay out of politics, we must remember that God has given us the political process to make change. If there were no people making a difference, we would be no different than North Korea.
Yes, obviously, God is our help, but He often calls us to take action, hence, the political process. We need to thank God for those who are making a difference rather than shaming them. God gave every King a prophet in the Old Testament for this very reason … to try and make a difference in the land.
We All Compromise to Some Degree
All sides are guilty of wanting their candidate in office so much so that they will overlook their shortcomings. For instance, a black Republican pastor I know who is voting for Trump told me that he must remain silent about his views or he’ll lose his congregation.
He added, “My members elect those who are best for ‘our people.’” But, shouldn’t we vote for the one who is best for “all people”? And are you certain that voting for the Left is the best for “your people”?
Approval of the Apostates
None of us has perfect political views, myself included, but from my experience, it seems that most people in the Christians for Kamala group are either quenching the Spirit because of compromise or not looking at things through a biblical lens.
In this group, many are not genuine believers. They have never repented of their sins and surrendered to Christ. The Bible refers to them as “apostates,” especially the pastors who support abortion and the LGBTQ platform.
Second, Peter 2:2-3 says that “many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (e.g., think drag queen story hour and rainbow flags on churches). And, “In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.”
Peter concludes, “Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” God will not be mocked. We will reap what we sow.
Religion, not Relationship
The other two groups also have unbelievers in their midst who have religion but not a relationship. They, too, must repent and genuinely seek God. This is the MAIN reason we are divided — we are not united with the Spirit.
God may be allowing this divide so we can apply His Word to our daily lives: “Quick to listen” and “slow to speak,” as well as being gracious in our words and actions. Political views bring out the best and the worst in us. I know I’m a work in progress myself.
Jesus warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand. We are witnessing this very thing happening in America. Christians must repent of their pride and anger, and the church must unite in submission to God before our country faces devastating damages from which it may never recover. The message of the prophets applies to us today: “Return to Me, and I will return to you.”
The Lies That Steal Your Joy—and How to Reclaim It with Conrad Mbewe | WRETCHED TV Episode 2373
In this episode of Wretched TV, Todd Friel explores the profound joy that Jesus intends for His followers. Many Christians inadvertently replace this joy with duty, guilt, or the superficial happiness the world offers. Together with Conrad Mbewe, Todd reveals how true joy is found not in temporary pleasures but in a deep relationship with Christ. Learn practical ways to restore your joy by focusing on Jesus and embracing the means of grace that God has given.
President Donald Trump will visit the border today to inspect Comrade Kamala’s ongoing destruction of the US way of life.
President Donald Trump will visit the open US border with Mexico today during a stop in Arizona.
Trump will visit the Mexican border with Cochise County, Arizona, and inspect the damage Comrade Kamala has wrought on this country.
Border Czar Kamala Harris presided over the greatest mass migration in world history.
In October it was estimated that more than 10 million people had reportedly illegally entered the United States since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. This is the greatest number in history and of any administration.
The new illegal alien migrants total more than the individual populations of 41 states.
Recently, new numbers from the the US Customs and Border Patrol found that Border Czarina Kamala Harris quietly smuggled nearly one million illegal aliens into the country in the past 4 years using the Fast-Pass entry phone app.
As reported earlier – Joe Biden flew nearly 90% of the fast-pass applicants to Florida or Texas. Wicked Joe Biden flew most of the illegal aliens in his secret migrant flight program to Florida and Texas – to punish the red states with a crushing amount of new illegal aliens.
Biden sent 90% of the illegals in the secret flight program to Florida and Texas.
Biden is importing a crushing amount of illegal aliens into the red states to crash their social welfare system.
Trump’s Thursday visit to the border will be aired live on Newsmax, RSBN, RAV, and Trump’s Rumble Channel.
Massive landslide strikes East Sikkim, impacting 18 homes and 510 MW Teesta V project, India A significant landslide struck Dipu Dara near Singtam in East Sikkim at approximately 07:30 LT on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, causing substantial damage to the Teesta Stage V hydroelectric project and several residential structures. This hydroelectric project was already under reconstruction following damage sustained during a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in October 2023 when at least 40 people were killed and 70 others went missing.
Shut Out In Chi-Town: Jewish Groups Blocked From Marching During The DNC This week, citizens will gather in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention to voice their support for Israel and protest the abuses of Hamas. However, this largely Jewish gathering will not be marching. Instead, they will gather on a small private lot blocks away from the convention as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march through the streets.
UN exhibit memorializing terror victims completely ignores Jews, Erdan says “But what’s missing?” Erdan asked. “There’s not a single mention of any attack carried out by Palestinians against Israelis,” he said. “We are about to mark one year since the massacre and the largest terrorist attack against Jews and Israelis since the Holocaust. Yet the U.N. doesn’t think it needs to be displayed on its walls.”
Hostage families received threatening messages from Hamas Hamas has sent threatening phone calls and messages to relatives of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, according to a report on Tuesday by N12. ‘Fight the government or lose your loved ones’ The messages included warnings such as: “If you don’t fight the government, you won’t see your loved ones return.”
11 Examples That Show That We Are Truly Living In Very Strange Days Every day, we are literally being bombarded by news stories that indicate that the world that we live in is going completely nuts. We are constantly having to deal with unprecedented political chaos, economic turmoil, escalating global conflicts, frightening pestilences and historic natural disasters…The following are 11 examples that show that we are truly living in very strange days…
The link between childhood vaccines and the increased cancer rates in children The explosion of childhood cancers correlates with the increase in vaccination schedules for children from the 1990s up to today. When you dig deep enough, you find that vaccine toxins disrupt cellular metabolism and could quite possibly be responsible for the surging rate of childhood cancer.
WHO wants money to implement its regional plan for its PHEIC (“fake”) declaration for mpox The World Health Organization’s recent declaration of a mpox (aka monkeypox) public health emergency of international concern (“PHEIC”) allows for the extension of recommendations from the previously declared mpox PHEIC in 2022 and the issuance of new ones, along with facilitating the granting of emergency use listings for monkeypox vaccines.
Kamala Harris wants to ban price gouging to tackle inflation. Here’s how economists rate her plan Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is vowing to enact the first federal law against price gouging from food suppliers and grocery stores as part of her wide-ranging economic plan to bring down the cost of living. But many economists say they are skeptical that the policy would lead to lower food costs for consumers.
Growing the Surveillance State: Drones, Facial Recognition, AI Enlisted to Fight Crime, but at What Cost? Gone are the days when “Robocop” and “Skynet” were just dystopian ideas for Hollywood blockbusters. The dark, distant future those films portrayed is now a present reality. In classic problem-reaction-solution fashion, NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD are preparing to deploy surveillance drones to stop lawlessness in Central Park.
“Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state.” —Alexander Hamilton (1790)
ON THIS DAY in 1996, Bill Clinton signed welfare reform that ended federal guarantees of lifetime benefits. Income redistribution still takes up the lion’s share of the federal budget.
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
DNC
Clinton and Pelosi debase Day 3: In what we can only hope will be their last appearances at a Democratic National Convention, both Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi took to the lectern. Bubba the Rapist talked about Father Time: “I have no idea how many more of these I’ll be able to come to,” he said. “Lord, I’m getting old. Let’s cut to the chase. … Two days ago, I turned 78, the oldest man in my family for four generations.” And then this: “The only personal vanity I want to assert is I’m still younger than Donald Trump.” To which we can only reply: Humans clearly age at different rates. As for San Fran Nan, she reflected on January 6. Referring to Trump, Pelosi said, “Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on January 6. He did. But let us not forget who saved democracy that day. We did.” We’ll give her credit for chutzpah.
AWOL Harris lends credence to bad blood: Is it just us, or is it kind of weird that the now-official Democrat nominee for president wasn’t even there in Chicago on Tuesday night to accept that nomination in person? Indeed, Harris did so from nearly 100 miles away at a watch party in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, as Democrat delegates in Chicago completed the symbolic roll-call vote. Why wasn’t Harris in Chicago? If we had to speculate, we’d say it was optics. “It is confounding,” posted former Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, “that Kamala Harris would counter program her own DNC on the evening when the two most popular Democrats spoke.” Those two “most popular Democrats,” Barack and Michelle Obama, were lukewarm on Harris’s candidacy and were conspicuously late to endorse her. But they were also instrumental in defenestrating Joe Biden, and that’s where the rift is. As Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich noted, “A source familiar with DNC planning … says that choice was made out of sensitivity and respect to Joe Biden. ‘Obamas are still not on the White House good side,’ a source familiar with the situation said. ‘It would not be helpful to their relationships.’”
Democrats gaslight the border: No one ever went broke betting on the stupidity of Democrat voters, and no one knows this better than the choreographers at the DNC. Why else would they have given a no-name New York Democrat congressman, Tom Suozzi, such a nice speaking slot yesterday? Recall that Suozzi flipped a Republican-held district in a special election earlier this year, and he likely did so because he called for tougher immigration laws. “Let’s be clear,” said Suozzi, “the border is broken,” adding that Harris “joyfully accepts the challenge to work across party lines, to secure our border, to treat people like human beings.” Border Czar Harris, of course, has had more than 1,300 days to “secure our border” and has failed both miserably and intentionally. If low-information Democrat voters can’t grasp this, and if their elected representatives can’t do any better than blaming Donald Trump for our border catastrophe, then they truly deserve each other.
Maggots at the DNC: No, that is not redundant. Humor aside, the FBI is investigating maggots’ presence in the morning breakfast of hotel guests attending the Democratic National Convention. According to a spokesperson for Fairmont Chicago Hotel, “We can confirm that a group of individuals caused a disruption at a DNC-related breakfast event at our hotel.” The incident is believed to be the work of several activists, yet there is no word on who may be responsible. This action is similar to a stunt at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, last month, prior to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit. Furthermore, given that anti-Israel activists have been protesting outside the DNC this week, it would appear there may be a connection between the two “maggottings.”
Trump tries to upstage Harris convention limelight with southern border visit (Washington Examiner)
Since Kamala won’t highlight any of her policy positions on her own website, Trump made a website and did it for her (Not the Bee)
Humor: Joe Biden found in dumpster behind DNC convention center (Babylon Bee)
Politics
RFK Jr. plans to drop out and endorse Trump: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s campaign was hit with a significant setback when he was removed from the ballot in New York, which is threatening to snowball in his removal from other states. Ergo, he’s reportedly ready to throw in the towel and endorse Donald Trump. Kennedy’s long-shot campaign running as an independent after he ended his effort in the Democrat primary succeeded in getting him on the ballot in 25 states until he was ruled ineligible by a New York judge. Facing shrinking election odds, Kennedy is looking to expose the fact that the real threat to America’s democratic electoral process is the supposed Democratic Party. “It’s Bobby’s decision,” stated his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, on Tuesday. “I came into this supporting him wholeheartedly to win this election. I have to say there’s only one party that has obstructed a fair election for us, and unfortunately, it was the Democratic Party.” On Wednesday, JD Vance acknowledged, “There’s been a lot of communication back and forth between RFK, between the campaign, between this campaign.” Furthermore, it is rumored that by endorsing Trump, Kennedy would be given a place in his administration.
Fifty GOP congressional vets excoriate AWalz: When the traitorous John Kerry infamously saluted and said he was “reporting for duty” at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he put his thumb in the eye of all those American warriors who’d served our nation honorably. And the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth let him know it. Perhaps with this in mind, a group of 50 congressional Republican veterans have signed a letter condemning the lies of deployment-dodging, valor-stealing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. The House and Senate lawmakers were led by Congressman Brian Mast, a retired U.S. Army staff sergeant and former bomb-tech who left two legs in Afghanistan. “You have lied your way through a political career launched on the foundation of a title you did not earn and combat deployments you did not take part in,” the letter charged. So far, Walz has courageously managed to run away from these tough questions.
Security
Trump shooter had encrypted messaging accounts in Belgium, Germany, New Zealand (NY Post)
Biden-Harris Department of Energy official calls for “queering nuclear weapons” as part of radical DEI agenda (Fox News)
First biolab in South America for studying world’s deadliest viruses is set to open (Nature)
Ukraine moves to encircle Russian troops in Kursk and digs in for long fight (WSJ)
October 7 mastermind and Hamas leader Yaya Sinwar reportedly adds new demand for ceasefire deal: Don’t kill me (NY Post)
Culture
MIT enrollment post-Affirmative Action ruling: Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against institutions of higher learning using race as a metric for enrollment consideration. The ruling effectively ended Affirmative Action in admissions. The impact of that decision is now apparent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the university has seen a significant drop-off in the number of black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander students enrolled at the school. MIT’s enrollment for the incoming class of 2028 shows that roughly 16% of the new students fit those profiles, whereas in prior years, the baseline percentage was 25%. Meanwhile, the number of Asian American students enrolled at MIT has increased from 40% of the class in prior years to now 47%. Students for Fair Admissions sued the school over its race-based admissions, and its founder, Edward Blum, responded to the report by stating, “Every student admitted to the class of 2028 at M.I.T. will know that they were accepted only based upon their outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements, not the color of their skin.” Exactly.
House committee drops subpoena on Columbia as part of anti-Semitism probe (Washington Free Beacon)
Andrew Tate held overnight after police raid homes in Romania (BBC)
Satire: Oh no! Man at DNC thinking he was in line for food truck accidentally gets vasectomy (Babylon Bee)
Yellow Journalism
PBS host Woodruff apologizes: PBS got caught peddling fake news about Israel. On the media outlet’s Monday evening “PBS NewsHour,” host Judy Woodruff stated, “The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign.” The problem is there is absolutely no evidence to back up this claim, and after Woodruff’s report, both Donald Trump’s campaign and Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denounced the report as “a complete lie.” Trump stated, “Judy Woodruff … needs to retract her statement — if she has any, I don’t know, integrity as a journalist — that Donald Trump is actively working with Bibi Netanyahu to somehow delay or tank a hostage deal for political reasons. That is false, it’s ridiculous, and by the way, Netanyahu — don’t take it from me or the campaign — Netanyahu’s office has absolutely denied it.” Following the blowback, on Tuesday, Woodruff admitted her reporting “was a mistake and I apologize for it.” She then claimed, “I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister. In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it.” Well, this is the result of relying on Leftmedia sources.
Misc.
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell dead at 87 (The Hill)
Fifteen states sue Biden-Harris administration for enrolling noncitizens in ObamaCare (The Center Square)
California advances zero down, no payment home “loans” for illegals (The Center Square)
Canada’s railroads lock out 9,000 employees as labor talks break down (WSJ)
“Since Vice President Harris and I took office, our economy has created nearly 16 million jobs,” tweeted someone using the @POTUS handle on X. That was Tuesday, August 20. One day later, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued a massive correction, revising downward a year’s worth of “jobs created” numbers by a whopping 818,000. It was the largest revision in 15 years, and it marked one heck of an “oops!”
Maybe it’s just the Labor Department taking up Kamala Harris’s mantra: “What can be, unburdened by what has been.”
Kidding aside, the problem is simple but profound, as we noted yesterday in reporting that revision: As is the case with all such corrections, for every 10 people who’ve heard about the millions of jobs created under Joe Biden’s swell economy, only a small fraction of them will hear about this, er, correction.
Case in point is Biden’s own commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, just last night. Asked by ABC News correspondent Kayna Whitworth to comment on Donald Trump’s remarks about the revision, Raimondo initially deflected, saying, “When I hear that, first of all, I don’t believe it because I’ve never heard Donald Trump say anything truthful.”
Surprisingly, Whitworth didn’t let her get away with it, immediately asserting, “It is from the Bureau of Labor.”
A clearly flustered Raimondo then stuttered, “I’m not familiar with that.”
She might have been familiar with it if she had watched ABC News, which was the only network to report on the number — albeit for all of 19 seconds. Again, that proves the point that relatively few people hear about corrections.
Interpreting Raimondo as simply being ignorant also assumes that she’s telling the truth. However, it’s highly likely that, as a top economic official in the Biden administration, she did know about the report and hoped a Leftmedia hack would help her get away with deflecting to Trump.
Others find something even more sinister at play — a government effort to falsely inflate Biden/Harris success in order to help win the election. “It really isn’t a revision — it is a total lie,” Trump argued. “They wanted it to come out after the election, but somehow it got leaked. The Harris/Biden administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating jobs statutes to hide the true extent of the economic ruin that they have inflicted on America.”
The Leftmedia (and some in conservative media) will be all too happy to “fact-check” Trump’s claim, as if that’s the point instead of the fraudulent Biden/Harris economic record. No, it wasn’t a “leak,” and BLS didn’t get “caught.” BLS revisions are routine. Just don’t lose the forest for the trees: This was a major revision on a key plank of the Biden/Harris (and now Lyin’ Tim Walz) campaign.
We may never know if there was a cabal of left-wing deep-staters plotting to deceive America about jobs reports to help Democrats in power. But if you’ve been alive for the last eight years, that doesn’t sound so crazy, does it?
We do know that the revision will put pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates before the election, which would also help Harris.
Biden has been trumpeting the “millions of jobs created” line for years already, and the Leftmedia has gladly parroted him. He said it in his late-night convention rerun Monday, except, as USA Today’s transcript records, he misspoke and touted a “record 60 million new jobs.”
Joe Biden’s record is Kamala Harris’s record, and both of them are gaslighting about their economic “achievements,” which brings me to another key point.
We’ve noted many times that a large portion of the jobs created under the Biden/Harris administration, especially early on, were simply people going back to work after the pandemic lockdowns. Tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs in 2020, though the V-shaped recovery had already begun that same year under Trump.
Biden loves to share a particular graph showing how impressive “his” jobs numbers are, but the pandemic makes for a significant asterisk. Even the Newsweek fact-checkers are on it. “At the start of his presidency, about 143 million Americans were in non-farm employment. As of July 2024, there are now 159 million employees. However, pre-pandemic employment was around 152 million.”
Ultimately, though, we can set aside arguments over what Mark Twain called “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The economy has less to do with what the stats show than how people feel. That’s why there have been so many media stories in recent years telling us that everything is awesome.
Both campaigns are hoping to paint a picture for voters. Trump says his record as president was one of historic economic prosperity, and he’ll bring that back if reelected. Harris promises to fix inflation (with Soviet price controls) and restore the middle class (with job-killing corporate tax hikes), implicitly denying that she’s been vice president for the last three and a half years.
According to a new survey, more people than ever are afraid of becoming unemployed in the next four months. Pair that with the massive revision in jobs numbers and ask yourself: Does it feel like the Biden/Harris economic plan is working? Or would more Americans prefer the prosperity of 2017-2019?
Douglas Andrews: Tim Walz’s Litany of Lies —The Democrat VP nominee wowed the faithful last night at the DNC, but he has a serious problem with the truth.
Thomas Gallatin: Why Would Walz Lie About Infertility? — This time, Tim Walz falsely claims that if it weren’t for IVF, he and his wife would not have any children.
Gary Bauer: We Know Who She Is! — We don’t need fresh interviews to know what Kamala Harris believes.
Caleb Nunes: Douglas Murray: Speaking Truth to Power — He’s considering the implications mass migration has for the continued existence of Britain as a British nation.
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Editor’s Note: Each week we receive hundreds of comments and correspondences — and we read every one of them. Click here for a few thought-provoking comments about specific articles. The views expressed therein don’t necessarily reflect those of The Patriot Post.
Latest PodcastPopCon #58: Woke Religion Flails Against the FirstThere is a clash between free speech and modern censorship. True to form, Facebook has rejected ads for the upcoming “Reagan” movie, claiming the biopic could influence the next election. Meanwhile, there’s a lawsuit involving Elon Musk, JK Rowling, and others accused of cyberbullying; British authorities are threatening legal action against Americans for online speech; and, to top it off, there’s a Secret Service scandal involving an agent caught nursing during a Trump rally. Join Thomas, Sterling, and Andrew as they explore the battle between woke ideology and the First Amendment.
BEST OF VIDEOS
Democrat Humiliates Herself Over Jobs Report — Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo is corrected after dismissing a negative jobs report correction as Donald Trump spouting misinformation.
Why California Is Such a Mess — Michael Shellenberger explains how political elites have become disconnected from ordinary Americans and why populism has found more success within the Republican Party in recent years.
Kevin Sorbo: How I Got Blacklisted by Hollywood — Having been forced out of mainstream Hollywood for his Christian, conservative beliefs, Kevin now produces movies with a positive message.
“Even if we would not make the same choice as our neighbors, we respect them because we live by that golden role: Mind your own d*mn business.” —Democrat VP pick Tim Walz
The BIG Lie
“Democrats want to cut taxes for everyday people.” —Illinois Governor JB Pritzker
Shot/Chaser: Part I
“This manufactured border crisis they talk about now. … I don’t see rapists and murderers and invaders. They’re not invading our nation.” —UAW President Shawn Fain
“U.S. authorities, under Biden and Harris, are not really checking anybody. If they let a man wanted for 23 murders through, they’ll let anybody through. And indeed, they do.” —Byron York
Shot/Chaser: Part II
“One of Kamala Harris’ most controversial policy proposals is a ban on grocery price gouging — critics are conflating the idea with Soviet-style price controls, and calling the plan ‘Kamunism.’ … Price gouging is not the same thing as ‘price controls,’ where a government sets prices for certain goods.” —Axios’s Emily Peck
“The same author called it ‘price controls’ when the UK proposed voluntary caps on grocery store profits. Axios called it ‘price controls’ when it was proposed to limit how much Russia could profit off oil in a time of crisis.” —X Community Note
Political Futures
“After she was handed the nomination without a single primary vote, it’s hard to deny that Kamala Harris has enjoyed the easiest campaign in the history of campaigns.” —Ian Haworth
For the Record
“It is one thing to demand that Americans vote for a candidate for the presidency on the basis of her policies, or even on the basis of her opponent’s supposed unworthiness. It is another to demand that we feel the joy. It reeks of authoritarians of the past, all of whom suggested that the failures of their policies were not failures of leadership, but failure of the people to change their hearts of stone for hearts of flesh. … Authoritarians demand emotional fealty, not merely political fealty.” —Ben Shapiro
“Democrats have controlled the White House for 12 of the last 16 years, and for all of the talk about division and the problems of the country and people are hurting, Democrats have mostly controlled this country. … And somehow, it’s still all Trump’s fault.” —Republican strategist Scott Jennings
And Last…
“If you have a policy debate for president, he wins. Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election. … Policy is the key to the White House.” —Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has revealed that it is backing radical plans to offer citizenship to illegal aliens.
The DNC’s 2024 platform endorses a bill that would create a “pathway” for illegal aliens to become “lawful” voters.
Democrats will push for illegals to become “lawful prospective immigrants” who would be issued IDs and Social Security numbers.
The move will ensure that foreign nationals who illegally cross the border will be able to vote in America’s elections and join the U.S. military.
The Democratic Party’s 2024 platform declares support for the U.S. Citizenship Act
The bill would empower the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary to “adjust the status of a lawful prospective immigrant to that of a lawful permanent resident.”
To qualify, a foreign national must live as an illegal alien in the country for five years, without absences longer than 180 days.
The bill would also allow deported illegals to return if they had lived in the United States for at least three years.
The “Expanding Legal Immigration & Deterring Illegal Immigration” section of the DNC platform states:
“The legal immigration framework was last updated in 1990 and does not reflect the needs of our country in the 21st century.
Harris has flip-flopped on many issues, but she’s been consistent on her desire to spend more of your money.
Who is Kamala Harris? What does she believe?
It’s hard to know.
She won’t take questions from reporters.
Instead, she reads from a teleprompter and gives the same speech again and again.
So, as she gets the nomination, mynew videolooks at who Harris really is.
She’s eager to spend other people’s money.
As the Biden administration spent America further into debt, Vice President Harris cast tie-breaking votes to spendmore.
Last election, Stossel TV compared the candidates’ proposed spending. We were surprised that the biggest spending plans came from Harris.
Trump proposed spending $267 billion more. Biden, $297 billion. The socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders wanted to spend an astonishing $3.976 trillion! But Harris was even worse! $4.162 trillion in new spending.
Biden’s big spending ignited nasty inflation. Imagine how much prices would have increased had Democrats selected Harris back then.
Last week, in her first policy speech, she proposed $1.7 trillion in new spending.
At least that’s not as bad as what she wanted during COVID: She thought government should give every American $2,000 a month. That would have cost taxpayers $21 trillion! Her love for big government dominates her thinking.
A few years ago, she endorsed eliminating private health insurance—having government take it over completely.
Now her campaign says she “no longer supports [entirely government-run] health care.”
Who is the real Kamala Harris?
In 2019, she said she wanted to ban fracking.
Now that Harris needs votes in Pennsylvania, where fracking provides jobs, her campaign claims she won’t ban fracking, and Republican claims that she would are “false…an obvious attempt to distract.”
But what’s false? She told CNN, “I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
She also wanted to force gun owners to sell their guns to the government. Now, a Harris spokesperson says, “the vice president would no longer require this.”
She used to brag about being a tough prosecutor, even taking pride in “prosecuting parents for truancy.”
But then, when progressives criticized harsh policing, she flip-flopped. During the George Floyd riots, as people looted and set fires, Harris tweeted, “help post bail for those protesting.”
Now the policing pendulum has swung back. Harris again brags about locking people up.
During a Democratic presidential debate in 2019, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard pointed out her hypocrisy: “She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
Harris had no answer. Shortly after that, she dropped out of the presidential race.
Today, legacy media protect Harris, because they hate Trump so much.
For years, the supposedly “nonpartisan” website GovTrack ranked senators on a liberal/conservative scale. They labeled Harris the most liberal.
But once it looked like Harris would be the nominee, GovTrackdeletedtheir page. They suddenly decided they didn’t have sufficient data “to create a reliable portrait of the activity of legislators.”
Harris needs this media cover, because she says radical things, like wanting “equity” over equality and equal opportunity.
“There’s a big difference,” she says in ananimated video. “Equality suggests everyone should get the same amount. Equitable treatment means we all end up at the same place.”
Everyone must end up at the same place? So, we need evenmoregovernment redistribution?
Harris is a big-government, flip-flopping opportunist.
It’s upsetting that the main presidential contenders are a cackling, economically ignorant big spender and a crass, self-absorbed bully.
Even Trump supporter Ann Coulter calls him an “awful, awful man.”
Although most of his policies would be better than hers…
The best news is that America’s founders wisely created checks on executive power.
Foolish people often say the president “runs the country.” Thankfully, that’s not true.
We the people run the country.
The president runs only one of three branches of government. Each is designed to be able to stop the other from imposing tyranny.
The founders wantedlimitedgovernment because they’d seen the damage oppressive rulers did.
If our next president must be Trump or Harris, I’m sure glad there are limits on their power.
In a recent segment on The News Nation, Chris Cuomo laid bare the hypocrisy of political elites who claim to fight corporate greed while indulging in the very excesses they condemn.
Cuomo’s candid remarks highlighted the growing influence of money in American politics, calling out both Democrats and Republicans for their cozy relationship with wealthy donors.
Cuomo didn’t hold back as he painted a vivid picture of the disconnect between the political elite and the average American.
He pointed to the VIP sections at events like the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which cost a staggering $500,000 or more. “These are the soldiers. These are the men and the women that go back to their constituencies and their communities and they fight,” Cuomo said, acknowledging the hard work of grassroots politicians.
But he quickly shifted focus to the harsh reality: “There’s another reality that is literally looking down on them… Those suites start at 500 grand. You think there’s like a teacher group up in there? You think it’s like the Cub Scouts of Columbia County, South Carolina, that’s up in those boxes?”
Cuomo’s criticism wasn’t reserved for one party. He made it clear that the problem of big money in politics is bipartisan. “This is not unique to Democrats. There is a game of money. When people talk about uni party, we are strangled by the money,” he said. He exposed the charade of politicians promising to crack down on corporate greed while their biggest donors sit in luxury boxes at their events. “They are literally looking down on the faithful and being told, yeah, yeah, we’re going to break down on them. We’re going to make them pay their share. They paid 500, 700, a million, a million and a half to have those seats.”
Cuomo pointed out that this isn’t just a problem for Democrats. “The same thing is true with the Republican side, and they’re going to take them down. They’re going to change how it is they are looking down from on high at the people who make the difference in their communities. And that is the reality of politics.”
The cost of running for office has skyrocketed in recent years, with presidential campaigns expected to cost $10 billion in 2024, compared to just $300 million in 2000. Cuomo highlighted this alarming trend, noting, “In 2000 they spent $300 million on presidential campaigns. 24 years later, you know what they’re expected to send, spend? 10 billion. Do you know how much money Harris has raised in the last couple of weeks? Hundreds of millions. And that’s success.”
Cuomo also took aim at the influence of legal contributions, allowed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. He argued that these contributions are among the most dangerous in politics, stating, “A lot of it’s small donor, a lot of it isn’t. The most dangerous money in politics is now legal money to go to Citizens United. You’ve got to know this.”
Cuomo’s message was clear: the promises politicians make to fight corporate influence are often undermined by their reliance on big money donors. “The idea that they can fight against it is almost laughable,” Cuomo said. He urged viewers to be skeptical of these promises, whether they come from Democrats or Republicans. “I don’t care what they promise you, not here tonight, not at the RNC, not that Trump knows them, not that they don’t own them.”
As Cuomo wrapped up, he left no doubt about the harsh reality of politics today. “He did one of the biggest fundraisers I’ve ever heard of in my life, out where I live, millions of dollars a plate. That’s the reality of politics.”
This piece was written by LifeZette News Staff on August 22, 2024. It originally appeared inLifeZetteand is used by permission.
It’s obvious that abortion is one of the central pillars of the Democratic Party platform. It’s not like they’re subtle about it: Not only do they cheer the nationalization of abortion, they have a demonic abortion bus parked outside the DNC right now that (to date) is responsible for at least 25 murdered babies.
Biden-Harris’ Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, has come under fire for her outrageous dismissal of the latest job statistics that expose the Biden-Harris administration’s deceitful narrative regarding job creation.
During an interview at the DNC convention in Chicago, Raimondo was confronted with these revelations but shockingly responded with disbelief. When asked about the BLS admission regarding nearly 1 million non-existent jobs, she stated: “No, when I hear that, first of all, I don’t believe it because I’ve never heard Donald Trump say anything truthful.” When pressed further by an ABC reporter about the legitimacy of the BLS report, she weakly replied, “I’m not familiar with that.”
In response to her blatant ignorance or possible dishonesty, the Trump campaign fired back: “Either Gina Raimondo Is Stupid Or She’s a Liar.”
This comes after a report revealing that nearly 1 million jobs claimed to have been created in the last year were nothing more than smoke and mirrors, the Trump campaign is rightfully calling out this blatant ignorance.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a staggering downward revision of 818,000 jobs, equating to 68,000 fewer jobs per month than previously touted by the Biden administration.
This includes significant losses in key sectors: 115,000 fewer manufacturing jobs and 45,000 fewer construction jobs. This marks the largest downward revision in employment figures in 15 years.
Trump responded emphatically to this news:
“MASSIVE SCANDAL! The Harris-Biden Administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating job statistics to hide the true extent of the economic ruin they have inflicted upon America. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the administration PADDED THE NUMBERS with an extra 818,000 jobs that DO NOT EXIST, AND NEVER DID. The real numbers are much worse than that, and if Comrade Kamala gets another four years, millions more jobs will VANISH overnight, and inflation will completely destroy our country. YOUR LIFE SAVINGS WILL BE WIPED OUT. With a TRUMP VICTORY, we will once again have the Greatest Economy in History. MAGA2024!”
The Republican National Committee (RNC) echoed these sentiments:
It’s not a “revision” — it’s another Harris-Biden LIE being exposed.
Illegal aliens, meanwhile, are still thriving, with 1.2 million native-born Americans losing employment over the last year as 1.3 million foreign-born workers found jobs.
It’s more confirmation of the Harris-Biden economy’s weakness — and further heightens concerns of an economy in freefall as unemployment rises and economists warn the U.S. may be careening towards a recession.
Of course, the Harris-Biden spin on jobs was always a complete fabrication. Two-thirds of the jobs Harris-Biden claim to have “created” are actually jobs recovered from the pandemic. In fact, labor force participation was far stronger under President Trump.
Americans, grappling with the Harris-Biden economic destruction every single day, see right through Democrats’ lies.
President Donald J. Trump led a Great American Comeback once before — and he’ll do it again.
‘The Five’ co-hosts react to a study on the media’s positive coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris compared to negative coverage of former President Trump. #foxnews #thefive
BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Jennifer Lopez, star of the 2002 box office thriller Enough, filed for divorce from husband Ben Affleck after just two years, earning herself another punch on her divorce punch card, reportedly leaving her just one punch away from earning a free husband.
“I’m getting so close!” witnesses heard the singer/actress say as she handed her punch card over to a courtroom clerk.
Jennifer Lopez, or J-Lo as no one likes to call her, first received her Divorce Loyalty Card from a local Subway in 1996, shortly before marrying her first husband Ojani Noa. The punch card can be redeemed for either a free husband or a foot-long Cold Cut Combo at participating Subway locations.
A spokesperson for Lopez has denied allegations that the actress is intentionally running through marriages just so she can get a free husband. “This is not accurate. Though Ms. Lopez is excited about the prospect of a free husband, she knows that that marriage could also lead to divorce; a divorce that would not earn her a punch on her punch card, which I think we can all agree would be tragic.”
At publishing time, Ben Affleck wistfully looked at his own punch card, ashamed to have only accumulated two punches on it.
Watch how a D.E.I. consultant magically turns a video game into… well, something else entirely.
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