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
Is Sexual Sin Ruining Your Life? | WRETCHED TV Episode 2444
Todd Friel unpacks the biblical purpose of intimacy, highlighting its role in procreation, pleasure, and as a picture of the Gospel. He emphasizes how intimacy reflects our relationship with Christ and warns of the spiritual and emotional damage caused by distorting it through through sin, including pornography and sexual immorality, which not only degrade the purpose of sex but also rob individuals of joy and spiritual growth. This episode serves as a crucial reminder of the sacred nature of intimacy and its greater purpose, encouraging viewers to align their understanding with God’s design.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (4:31–32)
The final change Paul mentions is from natural vices to supernatural virtues and amounts to a summary of the other changes.
Man’s natural tendency is to sin, and the natural tendency of sin is to grow into greater sin. And a Christian’s sin will grow just like that of an unbeliever. If not checked, our inner sins of bitterness and wrath and anger will inevitably lead to the outward sins of clamor, slander, and other such manifestations of malice.
Bitterness (pikria) reflects a smoldering resentment, a brooding grudge-filled attitude (see Acts 8:23; Heb. 12:15). It is the spirit of irritability that keeps a person in perpetual animosity, making him sour and venemous. Wrath (thumos) has to do with wild rage, the passion of the moment. Anger (orgē) is a more internal smoldering, a subtle and deep feeling. Clamor (kraugē) is the shout or outcry of strife and reflects the public outburst that reveals loss of control. Slander (blasphēmia, from which we get blasphemy) is the ongoing defamation of someone that rises from a bitter heart. Paul then adds malice (kakia), the general term for evil that is the root of all vices. All of these, he says, must be put away from you.
These particular sins involve conflict between person and person—believer and unbeliever and, worse still, between believer and believer. These are the sins that break fellowship and destroy relationships, that weaken the church and mar its testimony before the world. When an unbeliever sees Christians acting just like the rest of society, the church is blemished in his eyes and he is confirmed still further in resisting the claims of the gospel.
In place of those vices we are rather to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven us. These are graces God has shown to us and they are the gracious virtues we are to show to others. God did not love us, choose us, and redeem us because we were deserving, but purely because He is gracious. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.… While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:8, 10). If God is so gracious to us, how much more, then, should we be kind, … tender-hearted, and forgiving to fellow sinners, especially to one another.
Being unconditionally kind characterizes the Lord, as Luke 6:35b shows: “For He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” Paul speaks of “the riches of His kindness … that leads you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). We are to be like our heavenly Father, says Christ, and are to “love [our] enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and [our] reward will be great, and [we] will be sons of the Most High” (Luke 6:35a).
Tender-hearted has the idea of being compassionate, and reflects a feeling deep in the bowels, or stomach, a gnawing psychosomatic pain due to empathy for someone’s need. Forgiving each other is so basic to reflecting Christlike character that it needs little comment. The most graphic illustration of forgiveness is in the parable of Matthew 18:21–35. When Peter asked about the limits of forgiveness, the Lord told him a story of a man with an unpayable debt who was forgiven by his creditor, the king. This was a picture of salvation—God forgiving a sinner the unpayable debt of unrighteous rebellion against Him.
The forgiven man then went to someone who owed him a small amount and had him imprisoned for nonpayment. He who eagerly accepted a massive, comprehensive forgiveness would not forgive a small, easily-payable debt of another person. The incongruity of his action shows the heinousness of a believer’s unforgiving heart, and the man was severely chastened by the Lord for his wicked attitude.
Paul has this same relationship in mind as he calls for believers to forgive just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Can we who have been forgiven so much not forgive the relatively small things done against us? We, of all people, should always be eager to forgive.
The parallel text to this passage, found in Colossians 3:1–17, forms a fitting summation to Paul’s teaching here.
If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in Glory.
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.1
32 Now Paul moves, at least for the moment, to the positive side of the ledger—to several of the virtues believers must “put on” (recall v. 24; cf. Col 3:12). In contrast to the preceding, they must become kind or benevolent (chrēstos, GK 5982) to one another. (The word is also used of God’s kindness in 2:7; cf. Lk 6:35; Ro 2:4.) They must also be compassionate or tenderhearted (eusplanchnoi, GK 2359). This word’s only other use in the NT occurs in another list of virtues (1 Pe 3:8). It speaks of the need to have tenderhearted feelings toward others in the body of Christ, which naturally leads to the third virtue—forgiveness. Again God is the standard: they are to forgive as God has forgiven them “in Christ.” The corporate body in Christ forms a forgiven people. The word charizō (GK 5919) can mean “to give freely” or “to forgive freely,” but the close parallel in Colossians 3:13 points to the sense of “forgive” here. (Other uses with this sense include 2 Co 2:7, 10; 12:13.) Motivated by God’s incredible generosity (recall 2:7) toward his people in granting them complete forgiveness, they are to extend that to one another.2
32 The converse to the unlovely attitudes of v. 31 is now recommended: a kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving spirit. All these graces, with others closely related, the readers of Col. 3:12–13 are urged to “put on.” “As the Lord forgave you,” says Paul to the Colossians, “so do you also forgive.” It may be asked whether “the Lord” in Col. 3:13 is God the Father or Christ, although Pauline usage suggests that Christ is meant. In practice it does not matter: in the whole work of redemption the Father and the Son act as one. But here the situation is stated unambiguously: “God in Christ forgave you.” It is in Christ that God has given his people their “redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of their sins” (Eph. 1:7), just as it is in Christ that God was “reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). The KJV rendering, “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you,” goes back to Tyndale, from whom it was taken over successively by Coverdale and the Geneva and Bishops’ Bibles; it expresses a most important part of the apostolic meaning, but not quite all of it.
As so constantly in the teaching of Jesus, the free grace of the Father’s forgiving love is the pattern for his children in their forgiveness of one another.3
4:32 / This verse provides a striking contrast to the previous one by emphasizing the virtues that should characterize believers in their interpersonal relationships. Instead of those negative and destructive qualities, believers are admonished to be kind and compassionate to one another. Both of these virtues promote a spirit of acceptance, tolerance, and patience within the congregation.
Beyond that, the readers are to be continually forgiving each other. The word for forgiveness (charizomai) is also the word from which grace (charis) is derived. Within this context, believers are to respond to each other with the same grace, forgiveness, and generosity that they have experienced from God: hence forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Christians have been forgiven by Christ (echarisato, past/aorist tense), but they are to go on forgiving (charizomenoi, present tense) one another on the strength of the example that Christ has provided.4
32. The eradication of evil words and actions depends ultimately on the purification of the thought life. So speaking positively, the apostle says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted … The parallel Colossians 3:12 says, ‘Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience.’ Three of these Paul has spoken of in this chapter in verse 2; here he dwells on the others. Kindness, used of God in 2:7, is urged here as a fundamental Christian virtue. It is love in practical action; as Barclay puts it, it is ‘the disposition of mind which thinks as much of its neighbour’s affairs as it does of its own’. In adding tenderhearted (eusplanchnoi), a word used elsewhere in the New Testament only in 1 Peter 3:8, the apostle makes sure that he cannot be understood as requiring acts of kindness without a heart of sympathy and love prompting them (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1–2).
He knows, however, that the obstacle to kindness and compassion is often the sense of wrong done to one, or a grievance nursed; so he goes on to speak of forgiving one another. The word can have the wider meaning of ‘dealing graciously’ with one another, but this includes forgiveness, which is probably the dominant thought here. In Colossians 3:13 the addition ‘if one has a complaint against another’ makes this meaning quite specific. The supreme example and motive for all Christian forgiveness is God’s own forgiveness. God in Christ, the rsv rightly translates (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19), forgave you. He has done this once and for all and completely. Therefore in love and gratitude to him men and women must forgive. The gospels indeed emphasize that God’s forgiveness cannot be received by the heart which is itself unforgiving (see e.g. Matt. 6:12, 14–15; 18:21–35). But the word as (kathōs) means more than ‘because’; there is to be a real likeness between the forgiveness of God and the Christian’s forgiving. The Christian’s forgiving of others is to be as free and complete as that of God, who puts away a person’s sins as far as the east is from the west, and holds them against him no more.5
32. In contrast to bitterness and malice, the community should display positive virtues: Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. Here we have a series of virtues that reflect a bearing up of one another tied to the example of what God did in Christ as the standard for response in the community. It is a powerful base from which to give the command.
The core virtues that should reflect the image of the church are kindness, compassion and forgiveness. Colossians 3:12–13 adds mercy, humility and gentleness. These virtues describe what it takes to walk in love (Eph. 5:2). The term chrēstos (kind) communicates the idea of benevolence and mirrors the attribute of God (Luke 6:35–36; 2 Cor. 6:6; Gal. 5:22; 1 Pet. 2:3). The idea of eusplanchnos (compassionate) speaks to an ability to identify with another from the ‘gut’, since the term splanchnon refers to the intestines (Acts 1:18). The term points to tender or sensitive feelings and is a quality members of the body are to possess (1 Pet. 3:8). Forgiveness is the core divine attribute that brought us into God’s community (Eph. 1:7; Col. 3:13). Christ’s willingness to take on that which we deserved cleared a fresh path to a new life. The present participle (forgiving) looking back to a present imperative (be …) points to the continuing character of this forgiveness (cf. Matt. 18:21–22; Luke 17:3–4). Built into the idea of being forgiving is being gracious to one another. We are to show these same attributes to those around us. Galatians 6:10 speaks of doing good to all, especially to those of the faith. Although the term is not present, these virtues together reflect a deep love (John 13:34; 1 John 4:10, 19). When Paul spoke of the new man being renewed in the likeness of God (4:24), it was these relational traits that were partly in mind. Forgiveness is so central that Jesus taught about it in detail, making it a point of the prayer he taught the disciples (Matt. 6:12; Luke 11:4) and teaching a parable on the theme (Matt. 18:23–35).
Theology
So what does the walk of this new way in Christ look like? It is not like the world’s walk. It sheds the hostility and selfishness that are common in the world. It does not pursue paths of self-destruction. When the Ephesians came to Christ, they took on a new life and a new allegiance. Their connection to Adam and his ways was severed as the dominant force in their lives. They became a people who now had put on and were to represent God and his character—and the same is true for all believers. So lying, anger, stealing and negative speech, along with all forms of bitterness, are to be abandoned. Instead, there is to be integrity, an avoidance of that which divides, labouring with open hands to help others, and speech that builds up. In place of bitterness and malice there is to be kindness and grace, a willingness to forgive. Our new identity in Christ and loyalty to it is to drive this different way of living. We represent him wherever we go, and are to live accordingly. All of this is possible because our acceptance by God means we have nothing to earn from anyone else.
This section is highly relational. The example is that provided by God in Christ. Believers are never to forget where they came from and how it was God who brought them there. They are to treat others in a similar way. Love, kindness and graciousness are to drive our responses. Our speech is to reflect that core, all of which is rooted in the Spirit who resides within us.6
1 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians (pp. 189–191). Moody Press.
2 Klein, W. W. (2006). Ephesians. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians–Philemon (Revised Edition) (Vol. 12, p. 133). Zondervan.
I will set Egyptians against Egyptians: Isaiah prophesies a coming civil war in Egypt, which was indirectly the hand of God’s judgment against them. “Not many years after this time it was divided into twelve several kingdoms, between whom there were many and cruel wars, as is related by the historians of those times.” (Matthew Poole)
Isaiah 19:18 — There is a possible historic fulfillment and a probable future fulfillment of this prophecy (Jimmy DeYoung). Likely it refers to both. Here’s Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible:
There would even be an altar erected unto Jehovah (Isaiah 19:19) in Egypt. Such an altar was erected by a Jewish high priest named Onias in the reign of Ptolemy VI; and this was an earnest of the later conversion of Egyptians to Christianity. And God here promised to send them a savior (Isaiah 19:20). Historically, this was first fulfilled when Alexander the Great freed the oppressed peoples from their yoke of Persian submission; but in the higher dimension, it stands for the coming of the divine Savior who would free them from their sins.
Regarding this temple (including an altar, of course) that Onias built in Alexandria, Josephus has this:
This Onias resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt like that in Jerusalem and might order Levites and priests out of their own stock. The chief reason why he was so desirous to do this, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah who lived about six hundred years earlier and foretold that there was certainly to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt.
Isaiah 19:25 — Israel was God’s chosen people, but here God is saying that Egypt is His people as well. Isaiah is foreshadowing when under the next dispensation God will be revealing His love for the world (John 3:16).
Isaiah 20:1 — At the University of Chicago you can see the giant lamassu (winged bulls) from Sargon’s palace. His famous son Sennacherib declared war on Hezekiah.
Isaiah 20:3 — Three years Isaiah walked naked? Does this mean that God repealed his recommendation of clothing (Genesis 2)? The Pulpit Commentary lends some guidance:
The supposed “impropriety” of Isaiah’s having “gone naked and barefoot” for three years arises from a misconception of the word “naked.” which is not to be taken literally (see the comment on ver. 2). The costume adopted would be extraordinary, especially in one of Isaiah’s rank and position; but would not be in any degree “improper.” It would be simply that of working men during the greater part of the day (see Exodus 22:26, 27).
Isaiah 21:9 — We’ll read something similar in Revelation 18:2.
Poole on according to the year of a hired man: “An exact year; for hirelings diligently observe and wait for the end of the year, when they are to receive their wages.”
Galatians 2:1 — We didn’t read about these fourteen years in Acts. Where do they fit? From Redeemer Church PCA:
Paul’s purpose in recalling the timeline is to defend himself against the accusations of the false teachers, which most likely sounded something like this: “Paul was a disciple of the Apostles, such that his gospel is dependent upon theirs – yet, he has changed it without their authorization! Therefore, Galatians, don’t listen to him… Listen to us instead – we are preserving the true gospel.” Against their charges of him preaching a gospel with a dependent origin on the Apostle’s, and divergent content from the apostles, Paul is establishing the independent origin of his gospel from the Jerusalem apostles (it came directly from Jesus), along with the consistent content of his gospel with theirs (when they finally examined his gospel they did not correct him or add anything to it). His gospel isn’t his gospel at all, nor a gospel from any human but directly and immediately from Jesus Christ. So, it must be held to as such.
Paul plants the churches of Galatia during his first missionary journey (Acts 13-14). False Teachers enter Galatian churches sometime after Paul’s departure. Paul writes the letter to the Galatians around 48 AD, prompted by this news of false teaching.
Flashback of Paul’s Story in the letter to the Galatians:
Paul’s conversion (Galatians 1:12-17; Acts 9)
Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:18-24; Acts 9:26-30)
Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-10; Acts 11:27-30)
Paul’s confrontation with Peter in Antioch (Galatians 2:11-14; not recorded in Acts)
Galatians 2:15 — Peter, regarded by some as the father of the Roman church, was confronted by Paul correctly. Peter got the Gospel wrong, and Paul had to remind him three different ways that it’s not by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16).
Psalm 59:16-17 — Three times the Psalmist says he is going to sing. Let’s sing of God’s power!
Proverbs 23:13-14 — Solomon is not talking about child abuse in this passage (beating a child uncontrollably resulting in damage), but about corporal punishment or “to sting the child with the spanking so as to administer a physical response to disobedience” (Calvary Chapel Jonesboro).
The Bible also provides us with a negative example of father who did not discipline his sons at all. This is found in the account of Eli the high priest. Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phineas, who followed their father’s footsteps in serving as priests at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. But both of them were evidently not disciplined when young and they grew up to be wicked priests, who abused their privileges and took advantage of worshippers who came to the Tabernacle to worship the Lord. The sad thing is that their father, Eli did not have the heart to stop his sons and discipline them, although he was grieved by their sins. The awful result is that God judged the house of Eli: 1 Samuel 3:13 “For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.”
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.
I typically don’t feature two videos in a week, but I thought this discussion between astrophysicist Hugh Ross and philosopher William Lane Craig was worth highlighting. Philosopher and theologian Kenneth Samples did a great job moderating as the participates discussed “the three realms of reality, the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics, and whether Christian theism provides the best explanation for the cosmos.”
Francine made landfall in Louisiana as Category 2 hurricane, leaving almost 400,000 without power Making landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday, September 11, Francine battered the state with gusts reaching 169 km/h (105 mph) and torrential rainfall. The storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and prompted rescue operations in the flood-ravaged New Orleans metro area.
California Just Set A Very Alarming New Record For Earthquakes California just set a very alarming new record for earthquakes in a single year. In addition, the number of acres that wildfires have burned in the state this year is about three times higher than last year…. Of course, it isn’t just the state of California that is experiencing an unusual number of natural disasters. As I have been warning for a long time, our entire planet is becoming increasingly unstable.
Springfield, Ohio, City Hall Evacuated, Residents Told to Avoid Area The city hall of Springfield, Ohio, was closed Thursday morning after a bomb threat was received. In a statement, a city representative said the threat was contained in an email that was received at about 8:24 a.m., according to WHIO. The threat prompted an immediate evacuation.
Leaked Army Advisory Warns of Migrant Gang Violence in Major Cities. A threat advisory issued by the U.S. Army to Department of Defense (DOD) personnel across the country warns the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has established a significant foothold in multiple American cities and poses a serious danger to local, state, and federal law enforcement.
A Tale of Two Countries in One Land Be Lions, not Sheep! “Last night’s “debate” between Donald Trump and his three opponents, Kamala Harris, David Muir, and Linsey Davis, clearly shows that the United States has been divided into two countries, the sheeple programmed with Trump Derangement Syndrome, and those who live in reality.”
Labour Party decides to freeze pensioners to boost Net Zero Except for one, all Labour MPs voted to push through the Government plans to cut winter fuel allowances. All Members of the UK Parliament who voted to freeze pensioners to death are cowards and murderers. And the ones who merely abstained from voting are little better, because they didn’t have the guts to vote against Starmer’s plan to kill old people.
Czech Republic: Some Moderna covid vaccine batches are 9 times more deadly than others Batch analysis of the Czech Republic data comparing one-year post-injection all-cause mortality rates shows some Pfizer batches are 3 times deadlier than other batches from the same manufacturer when given at the same time to the same 5-year age group. And a Moderna batch can be 8 times or more deadlier than a Pfizer batch given at the same time to the same age group. This cannot happen if the vaccines are safe, Steve Kirsch writes.
“As riches increase and accumulate in few hands, as luxury prevails in society, virtue will be in a greater degree considered as only a graceful appendage of wealth, and the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard. This is the real disposition of human nature.” —Alexander Hamilton (1788)
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Lawfare
AG Garland’s latest sanctimony: Maybe Attorney General Merrick Garland felt the troops needed bucking up. Or maybe he felt that the sting of a similar harangue he issued three months ago had worn off. In any case, the bitterest non-justice in Supreme Court history was at it again yesterday, decrying the unkind treatment that’s been leveled at his Department of “Justice” in recent months and vowing that his legion of 115,000 employees would remain free from partisanship and innocent of accusations of two-tiered justice. “Our norms,” he said, “are a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon. And our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics.” Garland also railed against the “conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, [and] efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants.” Woe is the poor, poor, pitiful little DOJ colossus, with all the criticism being heaped upon it from those nasty Trumpers.
Security
The Secret Service failures are even worse than we thought: Yesterday, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe briefed members of both the House and Senate in a closed-door session about the July 13 assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. But any sense that the agency has been forthcoming, or that its failures that day were simply a perfect storm of little things that added up to a near catastrophe, were quickly disabused by Connecticut Democrat Senator Dick Blumenthal, who told reporters after the meeting that lawmakers “will have a report very, very soon that I think will absolutely shock the American people about the lapses and lags in protection that was afforded that day and the breakdown in communication, failure, and responsibility.” Blumenthal is a partisan and a Trump-hater, so for him to say such things should indicate the seriousness of the lapses. Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley indicated that the Biden-Harris team doesn’t even want to get to the bottom of all this. Hawley says a whistleblower tells him “the Department of Homeland Security is pressuring the Secret Service not to comply with document requests by Congress about the Trump assassination attempt.”
Don Lemon mocks Melania Trump: A recent video featuring Melania Trump speaking about the assassination attempt against her husband evidently triggered former CNN host and leftist social media pundit Don Lemon. He played a clip of the video with Melania specifically questioning how the assassination attempt was allowed to happen. “The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience. Now, the silence around it feels heavy. I can’t help but wonder, why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?” she said. “There is definitely more to the story, and we need to uncover the truth.” Lemon responded by superimposing a video of himself reacting to Melania, rolling his eyes multiple times, scratching his head, and ending the clip by facepalming. After posting his video on TikTok, Lemon was quickly and repeatedly slammed for his “sick” response. As conservative commentator Paul Szypula posted, “Can you have empathy for a human without considering politics for once in your life?”
Putin threatens war as Western allies near deal on missile strikes in Russia (More)
China able to spy on U.S. with intelligence-gathering devices on seaport cranes (More)
Politics & Policy
Former top Clinton adviser calls on ABC to launch internal probe into whether debate was rigged (More)
“There will be no third debate”: Trump ends talk of rematch with Harris (More)
Two Georgia charges against Trump dismissed: Two more charges in Georgia’s election interference case against Donald Trump have been tossed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The judge had previously dismissed three other charges against the former president and his codefendants. Trump now faces eight remaining charges from the original indictment, but all of them are of a significantly lesser degree and likely more difficult for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to get a conviction. McAfee rejected a motion by the defense to throw out the case, but he left the door open for considering the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity and its impact on the case, saying that it has “not been fully briefed or argued by the parties.”
Trump adds overtime to no-tax ideas: Kamala Harris has done her best to keep up with Donald Trump, stealing his ideas here and there to make herself appear more moderate and more palatable to the broader electorate. A few weeks ago, she appropriated his “no taxes on tips” idea, and now she has another opportunity. Yesterday, at an event in Tucson, Arizona, Trump told those in attendance, “I’m also announcing that as part of our additional tax cuts, we will end all taxes on overtime. The people who work overtime are among the hardest-working citizens in our country. And for too long, no one in Washington has been looking out for them.” Trump added, “That gives people more of an incentive to work. It gives the companies a lot.” Add to these two tax-cutting pledges Trump’s promise to get rid of taxes on Social Security, and folks might be able to keep more of what they earn. Now, if we as a nation can only cut back on our profligate spending, we might be able to stave off economic ruin.
Culture
Staff searched for wrong student after frantic call from mother of alleged Georgia school shooter Colt Gray (More)
Data backs up Trump on crime increase under Biden/Harris: Remember that moment during Tuesday’s presidential debate when ABC News “moderator” David Muir performed a real-time “fact-check” on Donald Trump regarding the crime wave that we see all around us? Remember when Muir said, “As you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country”? Well, as it turns out, that was a false fact-check. As The Washington Times reports, “Crime rates remained elevated last year under President Biden, according to Justice Department data released Thursday that challenges a prevailing media and White House narrative. The data comes from a massive annual government-run survey of crime victims. It found 22.5 of every 1,000 residents reported being the victim of a violent crime in 2023, and 102.2 per 1,000 reported facing a property crime.” Said researcher John Lott: “Violent crime increased by 37% under the Biden administration, compared to a drop of 17% under the Trump administration.” So much for “fact-checks.”
California governor signs bill bringing back harsh penalties for smash-and-grab robberies (More)
NYC embraces reparations: On Thursday, the New York City Council passed legislation that enacts a reparations program in the city. It establishes a Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation Commission, including a reparations task force that would “establish facts about slavery in New York City and its ongoing legacies, protect and acknowledge affected persons and communities, and recommend changes for government and institutions to prevent the perpetuation and recurrence of injustices from the legacy of slavery.” In other words, it is the official promulgation of more DEI. As one of the bill’s cosponsors, councilmember Farah Louis, asserted, this is a “crucial step towards justice and equity.” It’s funny how the woke Left promotes more racism today as the solution to racism in the past. Joseph Borelli, minority leader on the city council, voted against the bill, stating, “I’ll move before I’ll pay.” He added, “If they can introduce me to one New Yorker who owned a slave, I’d be happy to consider it. But until then, I am not paying a dime as a reparation for a harm I did not cause, nor condone, nor once participated in.”
Kamala’s late-term abortion lie: During their first (and likely only) debate on Tuesday, Donald Trump challenged Kamala Harris over her extreme pro-abortion position. He correctly noted that under Roe, late-term abortions were allowed, to which Harris responded, “Not true.” When ABC moderator Linsey Davis asked Harris if she would support any restrictions on abortion rights, Harris responded by dodging the question: “I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade.” She added, “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening. It’s insulting to the women of America.” Really? What’s insulting is being lied to. The fact of the matter is that thousands of late-term abortions are performed each year. In 2021 alone, over 6,250 abortions were late-term. The reason Harris didn’t answer the question of whether she would support restrictions on abortion is because she does not. And that is an extreme position.
Judge strikes down North Dakota’s abortion ban and rules that access is protected (More)
Economy
Boeing union workers reject contract; 96% vote to strike (More)
Gas price decreases continue at the pump as 13 states have prices under $3 per gallon (More)
Under scrutiny, Wall Street says it’ll limit hours (More)
Most of us listen to music because the artist is talented. We see movies because we want a distraction from reality. We watch sports because we love seeing athletes do things we all wish we could for our hometown or chosen team.
Most Americans would say, probably vigorously so, that we don’t want politics to sully such things. Yet, it keeps happening. Why?
I think there are two reasons. One is that celebrities of whatever genre often mistake our adoration of their talent for our interest in their thoughts on politics. Marinated as they are in the Democrat-dominated echo chamber of the entertainment industry, they must think something like this: If these commoners love my music or my team, why wouldn’t they want to know what I think about the election? Besides, maybe I can change the world.
Two is that, despite our protests to the contrary, we do care. Which political team doesn’t shout from the mountaintops about a celebrity endorsement? Who doesn’t absolutely love it when their favorite singer or quarterback endorses their political views? Heck, I’m still cheering Hulk Hogan’s shirt-ripping performance at the Republican National Convention.
‘Merica!
(Yes, that’s correctly spelled with an “e” and not a “u.”)
All of that brings me to Taylor Swift and Patrick Mahomes, two popular young celebrities on top of the world.
I’ve been a Chiefs fan since before Swift was born, so her dating Travis Kelce, the team’s star tight end and Mahomes’s favorite receiver, has little bearing on my rooting interest.
My wife and daughters are also big Swift fans, even saving up and shelling out for nosebleed seats at one of her concerts last year. She’s an incredibly talented entertainer, and I will neither confirm nor deny that I have a song or two of hers on my playlist. If you must, please feel free to condemn my evangelical Christian family for our supposedly Satanic choices in the comments section, but we’re fans, not cult members.
Anyway, who cares which presidential candidate she likes?
Millions of people, that’s who. The world’s first billionaire musician didn’t issue an utterly predictable Instagram endorsement of Kamala Harris immediately after Tuesday night’s debate because her 284 million followers want her to shut up about politics and sing. Some do, certainly, but probably not most.
Despite a handful of Democrat endorsements, Swift is actually rarely political, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s all we hear from her about this election. Yet, her announcement was so precisely timed that it’s hard to think it wasn’t coordinated with the Harris campaign. She didn’t disparage Donald Trump’s supporters, but she clearly doesn’t care much about losing a few fans by picking a side.
Here, I’ll pause for a hat tip to The Babylon Bee: “A singer who has made her entire career out of writing songs detailing her horrifically bad choices has announced her choice for President: Kamala Harris.”
Mahomes, on the other hand, just wants to win more football games. He and his wife Brittany were born and raised evangelical Christians in east Texas. In contrast to Swift’s sordid romantic history, they were high school sweethearts who married young. She recently “liked” a social media post about Trump (which he gladly bragged about before and after Swift’s Harris endorsement), and it’s a safe bet that the Mahomes are not left-wingers.
Asked to respond to Swift’s endorsement, however, Patrick gave what I wish was the answer every celebrity gave: “I don’t want my place and my platform to be used to endorse a candidate,” he said. “I think my place is to inform people to get registered to vote. It’s to inform people to do their own research and then make their best decision for them and their family.”
He praised his wife, noting that she “does a lot in the community,” adding that when he’s with other people, “I’m not thinking about their political views or anything like that; I’m thinking about the people and how they treat other people.” He concluded, “In political times, people are going to use stuff here and there, but I can’t let that affect how I go about my business every single day and live my life and try to live it to the best of my ability.”
What simple but profound thoughts.
By contrast, the Leftmedia buzz after Brittany’s “like” on social media was about whether it would ruin her friendship with Taylor. How could Swift even be seen with her now? they all wondered.
Ask Elton John. Media figures were shocked and dismayed when the “Rocket Man” singer said Trump’s “Rocket Man” nickname for Kim Jong-un was “hilarious.” Worse, he elaborated. “I laughed. I thought that was brilliant,” John said. “I just thought, ‘Good on you, Donald.’ … Donald’s always been a fan of mine, and he’s been to my concerts many, many times. So, I mean, I’ve always been friendly toward him, and I thank him for his support. When he did that, I just thought it was hilarious. It made me laugh.”
He’s also not endorsing anyone, saying of his fans, “It’s none of my business how they vote.”
Such controversy is nothing new for John, who sang at Rush Limbaugh’s 2010 wedding. That’s not an endorsement of Elton John. It’s just to say he’s a human treating other humans like humans.
As for other celebrity endorsements, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson isn’t giving one. “I think it’s between me and the ballot box,” Johnson said. Neither is Grammy-winning artist Usher, who told the ladies of “The View” that while he supports Harris, “voting is an individual choice.” And neither is WNBA star Caitlin Clark, who merely said she was just “encouraging people to register to vote” and to do their own research.
How quaint.
Many years ago, basketball GOAT Michael Jordan was asked why he wasn’t more politically outspoken. His response should’ve paved a behavioral pathway for the glitterati going forward: “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
Hello, fellow Patriots. I’m Grassroots contributor Caleb Nunes. Born in 2004, I often find myself reflecting on the shifts in our national culture. Many of you experienced America before the 1990s — a time that I feel carried a distinct and powerful identity. I’d like to tap into your memories and perspectives to better understand what America was like through your eyes.
I invite you to share a short paragraph about the America you grew up in. Here are some questions for you to consider: What do you love or miss most about it? What do you remember and love about growing up in America? What traditions, history, and aspects of America did/do you feel most connected to? Do you still feel connected to the America you grew up in?
Please send your submissions to calebryaun@gmail.com. Submissions will be accepted through September 20, 2024. In your submissions, I recommend including the year you were born and the city in which you grew up, though this is certainly not required.
I will read all the submissions and share my favorite ones in a future column. Your insights will help me explore how American culture has evolved and what values and traditions we should aim to preserve today.
MORE ANALYSIS
Emmy Griffin: Kamala Harris’s Fracking Lie — The wannabe president is only saying what she thinks voters want to hear. All you have to do is look at her track record.
Brian Mark Weber: Kamala and the Court — If she’s elected president, Kamala Harris will dismantle the conservative Supreme Court in a novel way.
Douglas Andrews: The Continuing Toll of the 9/11 Attacks — Often lost amid our remembrance of the 2,977 who died that day is the ongoing plight of those who worked on rescue and recovery.
Mark Alexander: Profiles of Valor: LCDR Dan Crenshaw (USN) — “Fortitude means having the courage to stand up for what is right, even in the face of overwhelming adversity.”
Ron Helle: Probed — As soldiers of the cross, we can be sure that our enemy is probing us for weaknesses in our defenses.
RNC: Kamala Can’t Keep Prices From Climbing Higher — Americans can’t afford gas or groceries, yet Kamala Harris vows to double down on the Democrat policies that sent prices soaring.
The Business of Race Hustling — “Am I Racist?” star Matt Walsh and director Justin Folk discuss what their film exposes about the business of race hustling.
PopCon #61: ‘Reagan’ — “Reagan,” starring Dennis Quaid, has moviegoers loving it while film critics write scathing reviews. Can this dichotomy be anything other than political?
SHORT CUTS
The BIG Lies
“On that day [January 6], 140 law enforcement officers were injured. And some died.” —Kamala Harris
“Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression…. Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” —Kamala Harris
“Trump the candidate has said in this election there will be a bloodbath if … the outcome of this election is not to his liking.” —Kamala Harris
Lack of Self-Awareness Awards
“Federal prosecutors and agents may never make a decision regarding an investigation or prosecution for the purpose of affecting any election or the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.” —Attorney General Merrick Garland
“Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon, and our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics.” —Merrick Garland
Dumb & Dumber
“In the two years since he bought Twitter, now X, Musk has transformed it into a primary source of false election rumors, both by spreading them on his own account, which has 197 million followers, and lowering some of the site’s guardrails around misinformation.” —The Washington Post
“Experts say Musk is uniquely dangerous as a purveyor of misinformation because his digital following stretches well beyond the political realm and into the technology and investment sectors, where his business achievements have earned him credibility.” —The Washington Post
Village Idiot
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for [Harris] because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate [Walz], who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.” —singer/songwriter Taylor Swift
Upright
“I don’t want my place and my platform to be used to endorse a candidate or do whatever, either way. I think my place is to inform people to get registered to vote. It’s to inform people to do their own research and then make their best decision for them and their family.” —NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes
“Educate yourself with the candidates that we have, the policies that they’re supporting. I think that’s the biggest thing you can do, and that’s what I would recommend to every single person that has that opportunity in our country.” —WNBA player Caitlin Clark
“I don’t get too deep into politics. … I think voting is an individual choice.” —Usher
For the Record
“[David Muir and Linsey Davis] sought to warp a debate, disgraced their network, and offered a good reminder why such media ‘moderators’ should never be allowed anywhere near presidential debates.” —Victor Davis Hanson
And Last…
“I don’t know if it’s true that pets are being killed in Springfield, Ohio by Haitian migrants. I do know these claims have more corroboration than Christine Blasey Ford ever did.” —Mark Hemingway
A couple months ago, everyone agreed: Kamala Harris was the worst VP in U.S. history. Yet that all changed the moment Joe Biden bowed out of the race. Suddenly, Harris became the most beloved politician in America.
How did we get here?
How did America suddenly forget all of Harris’ failures and radicalism? How is she now tied or leading in the polls?
The Daily Caller’s new documentary, “Cleaning Up Kamala,” shows that one doesn’t just become a warm, joyful “Momala” overnight. It takes a whole billion-dollar media effort.
“Cleaning Up Kamala” is available exclusively for Patriots subscribers. Catch a first glimpse below.
“Cleaning Up Kamala” takes on the corrupt corporate media establishment that built a new presidential candidate, their candidate, out of whole cloth. The Daily Caller’s investigative team sat down with a host of Washington insiders to figure out just how they pulled it off.
In the words of Tucker Carlson, Harris is “purely a media creation.”
All we have to do is look back a few short months to real Kamala, before the media declared her Savior of the Republic. This Kamala had failed miserably in her role of “border czar.” She was wildly unlikable, both with staffers who fled her reign of terror and the American people who gave her a record low approval rating. Her frequent gaffes and awkward word salads were so bad that even outlets like The New York Times had to admit she’s just not very good at this. Less than a year ago, politicos were calling for Biden to drop Harris and pick a new and improved veep.
And then there was all the California radicalism. As a Senator, Harris supported out-of-touch policies like the Green New Deal and Defund the Police that alienated average people. She ran into a buzz saw with high profile fumbles like supporting the “Minnesota Freedom Fund,” pledging to abolish private healthcare and giving taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries to illegal immigrants. This was enough to earn her the title of “second most liberal” senator in America, but that didn’t mean the far-left supported her. No, because she once served as California’s Attorney General, they still called her a “cop.”
It’s no wonder Americans left, right and center wanted nothing to do with her and she flamed out early in the 2020 Democratic primaries. She couldn’t even win her home state.
So the media had their work cut out for them when she ascended to the top of the 2024 ticket. First, they had to convince the American people that everything they saw and understood about Harris these past four years was a lie. Then, they had to manufacture and sell an entirely new “truth.” Yet so far, they’ve been succeeding beyond their wildest dreams.
Media lies are a whole different animal than the little white lies we all tell in our daily lives. These sweeping lies — that Harris is competent, likable and moderate — work by using “semantic backdoors” to piece together technical truths into broad, false narratives that often invert reality entirely.
They’ll fact-check something Donald Trump never said about Harris in order to call him a liar. Or they’ll contort Harris’ own words to make it seem as though she stands for the opposite of what she actually said. They’ll play with tenses and selectively edit context, all to support a new “truth.” The media, fact-checkers, government groups and even the dictionary — they’re all in on it!
The result is a hall of mirrors, where endless lies get laundered through these legacy institutions over and over until they become simply “common sense.” Speak the truth — that Kamala Harris is shrill, incompetent and dangerously radical — and you’re the one who comes away sounding like a liar. Yet by carefully deconstructing each and every micro-lie, the Daily Caller’s investigative team shows just how precarious this new consensus on Kamala Harris really is.
With hilarious commentary and insightful interviews, “Cleaning Up Kamala” takes a sledgehammer to this hall of mirrors. Watch now to see it all come crashing down.
The Daily Caller’s documentary productions are made possible by our faithful Patriots members, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without them. To watch “Cleaning Up Kamala” and to help support future investigative documentaries, please consider subscribing.
Screenshot from YouTube, “Trump vs Harris LIVE | Donald Trump LIVE | Kamala Harris LIVE | Presidential Debate Highlights | US”, Hindustan Times, September 11, 2024.
Kamala’s debate performance is being praised by the left, but they ignore her destructive economic policies. Bidenomics has already done permanent damage to the economy, and “Kamalanomics” would take it further, pushing full socialism. The Biden-Harris administration has lowered the standard of living for the average American, and Harris would make it even worse if she became president.
The reduction in living standards is driven by stagnant economic growth, lack of wage growth, and high inflation. These problems stem from excessive government spending, rising debt, money printing, and handouts. The solution to inflation is high interest rates and cutting back on spending. However, Joe Biden chose to spend even more with the Inflation Reduction Act and other programs, where the government borrowed and handed out cash, aiming to secure votes. This approach runs completely counter to what first-year economics students would have advised.
Democrats and liberals want you to believe that despite what you see and feel in your wallet, you’re better off now than you were under Trump. Complete nonsense! Under Biden, cumulative inflation has hit 20%, and that doesn’t even factor in the soaring costs of essentials like gasoline, housing, and education, many of which have risen by more than 20%.
The mainstream media criticized Trump for saying we had the worst inflation in history under Biden. He may have misspoken slightly, but it’s still the worst inflation since the early 1980s. Is this really the defense Kamala wants to use? Will her slogan be, “Worst inflation in forty years, not EVER!”?
Some mainstream media suggested that Kamala should answer whether Americans are better off under Biden-Harris than under Trump by focusing on three metrics: health insurance, income, and poverty. However, these metrics don’t account for job creation, which is closely tied to health insurance. Most of the jobs the Biden-Harris White House claims to have created were simply people returning to work after the lockdowns were lifted. Among the roughly 30% of jobs that were actually created, nearly half were part-time. This means Americans who lost their full-time jobs, along with health benefits, are now working part-time without health insurance.
In terms of income, Americans still haven’t reached pre-pandemic, Trump-era levels. Even if they had, it would still be a loss, as it would reflect zero growth under Joe and Kamala for four years. No president has ever run on the slogan, “I promise four years of zero growth.”
Furthermore, the three metrics they advised her to focus on ignored inflation. So, even if income had stayed the same or experienced the typical 2.5% annual growth, the average American would still be worse off than under Trump. To put it simply, prices are 20% higher now, while incomes are slightly lower than they were in 2019. This is a clear decrease in the standard of living—there’s no other way to frame it.
On the poverty metric, Biden and Harris are taking a victory lap because they handed out trillions during the pandemic, equating these giveaways with poverty reduction. The reality is that the poor remain in poverty because they don’t earn enough money. Handing out free money doesn’t change this fact—they’re still poor. Additionally, giving away free money is unsustainable. It’s absurd for a president to claim they improved the economy by simply giving away cash.
What’s also troubling is that giving away free money leads to inflation, as mentioned earlier. The free money given to the poor to supposedly lift them out of poverty caused prices to rise, meaning the poor could afford fewer goods and services, keeping them in poverty. Yet, Biden-Harris supporters use statistical tricks like measuring in nominal dollars, ignoring inflation, and disregarding where the money came from. Before the pandemic, the poor had an income of X, but Biden-Harris gave them an additional $5,000. Now, their income is X + $5,000, which technically moves them out of the poverty bracket, but only on paper.
In addition to causing inflation, handing out money is also a way of buying votes. The sitting president and vice president are essentially giving checks to people who will then vote for Kamala in the next election. Joe and Kamala are basically using your tax dollars to fund her campaign, allowing her to further erode your standard of living.
What in the world is happening in California? The state just keeps getting hit by major disaster after major disaster, but we are all supposed to pretend that this is perfectly normal. Of course the truth is that what we are witnessing is not normal at all. As you will see below, California just set a very alarming new record for earthquakes in a single year. In addition, the number of acres that wildfires have burned in the state this year is about three times higher than last year. So please don’t try to convince me that this is normal. Of course it isn’t just the state of California that is experiencing an unusual number of natural disasters. As I have been warning for a long time, our entire planet is becoming increasingly unstable.
A large, 4.7-magnitude earthquake rattled parts of Southern California early Thursday, according to the US Geological Survey.
The quake struck the Malibu area around 7:28 a.m. with an initial magnitude of 5.1, officials said. It has since been downgraded to 4.7.
The epicenter of this quake was in Malibu, but people living all over the Los Angeles area could feel it…
The 7:28 a.m. quake was centered in the Malibu area. Shaking from the earthquake was reported in Malibu, Hermosa Beach, La Mirada, Anaheim, the Hollywood Hills and parts of the San Fernando Valley so far.
I even saw one report that indicated that the earthquake could be felt all the way down in San Diego.
Following the initial quake, there were over two dozen aftershocks.
By itself, this latest earthquake wouldn’t be that big of a deal, because very little damage was done.
What makes it important is the larger pattern that we have been witnessing. According to USGS seismologist Lucy Jones, the number of “magnitude-4 sequences” that we have seen so far this year is the highest ever recorded…
In a televised Q&A just after the temblor, USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said: “We have had more than the average [number of] magnitude-4 quakes in Southern California this year — the average being about eight magnitude-4 sequences, that being sequences of at least one magniture-4 … So far we’ve had 14 in Southern California; the largest previous year was 13.”
So what does all of this mean?
Is all of this seismic activity in southern California building up to something?
If you ask one scientist you will get one answer, and if you ask another scientist you will get another answer.
But pretty much all of them agree that “the Big One” is way overdue.
When “the Big One” finally arrives, life in southern California will never be the same again.
At the same time that all of this shaking is taking place in southern California, wildfires in the region are burning tens of thousands of acres.
Firefighters are battling three major wildfires at this moment, and it is being reported that the Bridge Fire has now “exploded” and has become “the largest active fire in the state”…
A raging wildfire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties has exploded to almost 50,000 acres, forcing residents to flee in a hurry and destroying dozens of homes.
The Bridge Fire has set over 51,000 acres ablaze and is 0% contained, officials said Thursday. Its rapid growth made it the largest active fire in the state, surpassing the Line Fire, which is also burning in San Bernardino and has scorched another 37,000 acres with 18% containment.
One evacuee described a harrowing scene on Tuesday as flames reached a neighborhood atop California’s Mt. Baldy. Looking at the mountain from afar, “it looked like a nuke went off, nothing but smoke,” Liz Wenzel said.
Can you imagine looking back at where your home once stood and seeing that it looks “like a nuke went off”?
What a tragedy.
You may be thinking that there are wildfires in California every year, and you would be quite correct.
But what we are witnessing this year is particularly horrible.
We are being told that the state has already “seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023″…
California is only now heading into the teeth of the wildfire season but already has seen nearly three times as much acreage burn than during all of 2023. The wildfires have threatened tens of thousands of homes and other structures across Southern California since they accelerated during a triple-digit heat wave over the weekend.
Just think about that for a moment.
The number of acres that has burned in California is already three times higher than all of last year, and we are just now entering the heart of wildfire season for the state.
Of course we are also seeing lots of very unusual things happen elsewhere around the world too.
For instance, the number of hailstorms in Europe appears to be increasing at an exponential rate…
Having analysed the European Severe Weather Database, Chaucer said that the number of hailstorms has jumped 104% to 11,808 storms last year (year-ending June 30th 2024), up from 5,785 in 2022/23.
After a mountaintop collapsed into the sea in Greenland, a ‘mega-tsunami’ as tall as a skyscraper shook the Earth for nine straight days, baffling scientists around the world.
No one was injured by the landslide or resulting tsunami, but the 650-foot-tall wave destroyed roughly $200,000 worth of infrastructure at an unoccupied research station on Ella Island.
We all live on a giant space rock that is hurtling through space at 67,000 miles per hour.
All throughout history, the giant space rock that we live on has been unstable, but now things seem to be getting a lot worse.
I am entirely convinced that we are entering a time when we will see cataclysmic geophysical events that would have once been absolutely unthinkable to most people.
In other words, if you have always wondered what it would be like to be inside an epic Hollywood disaster movie, you are about to get your chance.
So buckle up and hold on tight, because a tremendous amount of shaking is ahead of us.
Alex Newman is an award-winning international freelance journalist, author, researcher, educator and consultant. He is Senior Editor for The New American. He is co-author of Crimes of the Educators, author of Deep State: The Invisible Government Behind the Scenes, and author of Indoctrinating Our Children to Death. He is the Founder of Liberty Sentinel.
Today’s program comes as a warning. The book of Ezekiel in the Bible speaks of the watchman’s responsibility to sound the alarm if a threat is approaching. That’s what Crosstalk is doing today; we are sounding the alarm.
Communist China is a threat. Communist China is advancing its influence and infiltrating America. It’s not just the acquisition of farm land in strategic places, though that is occurring. The infiltration of China is happening on many levels including university campuses with Confucius Institutes, technology, government offices, products made in China, and the theft of intellectual property.
Who is orchestrating all of this? Is it the President? Is it China’s leaders? Is it those that donate money? Alex Newman answers this question for us.
Today’s program is troubling, but let’s keep our trust, hope and confidence in our Lord. He is already victorious.
Alex Newman’s podcast, Behind the Deep State, airs on TV30 and VCY.TV beginning the week of 9/15 at the following times: Tuesdays 9:30pm, Fridays 9:30am, and Saturdays 2pm. (All Central time)
Former Clinton advisor Mark Penn called for an investigation into ABC News for rigging the presidential debate against Trump.
Trump and Kamala Harris faced off for their first presidential debate on Tuesday.
It was 3 against 1. The debate moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, fact-checked Trump at every turn yet and they ignored all of Kamala Harris’s lies.
Kamala Harris told over two dozen lies and dodged questions but the moderators did not fact-check her.
Former Clinton advisor and pollster Mark Penn said there should be an internal investigation into ABC for debate rigging.
“I actually think they should do a full internal investigation, hire an outside law firm. I don’t know how much of this was planned in advance,” Mark Penn told the “John Solomon Reports” podcast.
“I don’t know what they told the Harris campaign. I think the day after, suspicion here is really quite high, and I think a review of all their internal texts and emails really should be done by an independent party to find out to what extent they were planning on, in effect, you know, fact-checking just one candidate and in effect, rigging the outcome of this debate. I think the situation demands nothing less than that,” he added.
Contrary to what the pundit class would like you to believe, President Trump’s debate performance against Kamala Harris on Tuesday was one of his best – particularly in terms of the outcome it yielded. The chosen location city of Philadelphia was more than just ceremonial; Philadelphia is the largest city in the most pivotal battleground state of Pennsylvania, which boasts 19 electoral votes – more than any other of the seven “key” swing states. Thus, the President went into the night with the task of appealing to undecided and Independent voters, situated particularly in Pennsylvania and adjacent rustbelt battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin.
If there are a group of three states that will decide the election, it would be these – much as they did in 2016. And Pennsylvania, the largest of the three, is for various reasons the most important. Thus, President Trump’s repeated appeals to being the pro-fracking, pro-manufacturing candidate, combined with his strong rhetoric against illegal immigration was the ideal one-two punch to target directly this all-important constituency.
Alas, our do-nothing pundit class – the likes of which include the New York Times’ Editorial Board, cable news networks like CNN and MSNBC (and Fox News, whenever Neil Cavuto hosts a show) – displayed, once more, their woeful ignorance of all things political. These are the folks who chastised President Trump’s debate performance the most. Their criticisms, however, expose an ignorance about the issues that most resonate with voters. Part of this has to do with the fact that these networks are composed of out of touch elites, who run their mouths all day long about all sorts of nonsense, utterly disconnected from the harsh on the ground realities that average Americans face daily. These harsh realities include the financial burdens of record-setting inflation, high mortgage rates, skyrocketing costs on everything from groceries to car insurance – all downstream of policies brought to you by Democratic lawmakers.
They also include the challenges, enacted by mostly Democratic politicians, that have transformed America into increasingly something that resembles a third world nation. Migrants, like the Haitians assimilated in Springfield, Ohio, bring barbaric practices to our homeland – practices that no longer just include foreign languages, religious customs, or diseases – but extend to cultural practices, like eating pet animals, that have absolutely no place in any civilized nation. These are unavoidable problems that objectively make life worse, much worse, for everyday Americans – and are directly traceable to Democratic policies like Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s open border, which has brought untold millions of illegals onto these shores, with impunity.
When Donald Trump directly confronted Kamala on the border crisis, she characteristically deflected and avoided the problem altogether. Thus exemplifies the difference between the pundit class, which tends to attach much more value to their view of a so-called “polished” debate performance, than the real issues affecting regular Americans, which ultimately decide elections. On the latter, President Trump won hands down – because most voters are intelligent enough to recognize that Kamala Harris is the one currently in power, she caused these problems currently wrecking our country, and she has the ability right now to fix them – if she wants to.
That she was not able to articulate a reason, repeatedly, why she failed to deliver policies that would benefit native-born Americans, and strengthen our economy and society overall, is something that voters could easily detect through her canned answers and disingenuous cackles, which reeked of the worst sort of political inauthenticity.
President Trump won not just on substance, but on style also. While it’s true that his responses were not the products of rote memorization, they were authentic – and voters crave, more than anything else, authenticity from their political leaders. Indeed, it was this authenticity that endeared President Trump to the masses in 2016, and it’s what continues to separate President Trump from the pack, making him the most beloved politician in our generation.
Of course, the talking heads on MSNBC will never understand why President Trump delivered a stellar performance in that debate – because they incorrectly equate “good” with buttoned-up, politically correct, fine-tuned answers, the sort of reflexive response associated with Harris. One that mouths a lot of words despite saying little of anything truly substantive.
President Trump, as not only a skilled communicator but visionary entrepreneur, knows in the end that talk is cheap, actions matter. In politics, especially, the actions of a political leader are what distinguishes the average leader from a great one. In that vein, President Trump displayed a great deal of wisdom on that debate stage when he implored Kamala to end the debate right then and there, go off to Congress, and put together a deal to, for example, close the southern border.
That Kamala looked utterly befuddled by the suggestion displayed her ignorance and incompetence. It was ignorant because no wise leader would brush off a call to action with such callous, almost haughty, indifference. Wise leaders understand the value and priority of actions over words, and thus do not react to a plea to take action with Kamala’s feline snark and derision. It also was demonstrative of Kamala’s incompetence: for she clearly does not grasp the principle that presidential debates are largely, to quoth the Bard, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” In her head, she thinks simply performing well in front of her handlers at ABC is all that it takes to “become President.” Why does she really seek the job? She doesn’t have convictions, meaning she has little of anything to say in terms of original thoughts. Since she outsources her thinking to others, she is likely seeking higher office because others are telling her to do so. Those others, whomever they may be, is what makes her so dangerous — because she is an empty vessel for subversion.
We live in an age oversaturated by new media and countless podcasts (the overwhelming majority of which say little), by cable news and tweets. Lost in that noise is the genuine skill set required to get things of importance done. Donald Trump understood this better than anyone when he admonished Washington’s political class in 2016 as being “all talk, no action.” That principle rings louder today, particularly with a candidate like Kamala Harris, whose track record betrays a woman who knows nothing about getting things done in the real world, constructively and for the greater good of society. Her failures are on display all throughout her public career – from district attorney, to senator, to vice president, and now presidential candidate — where she has always been an empty suit, a mere plaything to be exploited by more powerful actors. That has been her casting call for the last thirty years.
Fortunately, Americans have historically been great bs-detectors. Their penchant for nonsense-detection has been vindicated in all the reliable post-debate polling. For example, when undecided voters across the seven crucial battlegrounds this cycle were asked which of the two candidates they would vote for, Donald Trump won handily among the sampled group: the 45th President’s prospects improved by three points overall after his debate performance.
These figures are consistent with RCP polling generally, whereby the President maintains leads in crucial battlegrounds such as Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. He also maintains a formidable 20% advantage in the electoral college forecast, according to the rigorous prediction model of polling guru, Nate Silver. Other reputable polling corroborates these sentiments and has the President leading in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada, too.
The President’s grip over the electorate remains so strong that even left-leaning Time Magazine was forced to concede in the aftermath of the debate that, “[i]n RealClearPolitics’ national poll of polls, [Kamala’s] still trailing Trump by 1.3 points – within the margin error.” And that, “[g]oing back 20 years, eventual losers of presidential contests at this point were, on average, down 2.6 points in the RCP average. Harris is only faring a bit better than that.”
So, all told, the data comports with the theory that President Trump won the debate. And he won in the way that is most important: by appealing directly to his core constituents on the bread-and-butter issues that matter. This cycle, immigration remains the preeminent issue – much as it did, though to a lesser extent, in 2016. It is an issue that has ravaged so many American communities, in blue states and red states alike, from coast to coast. It is also one that is proving to be Kamala’s Achilles’ heel, where she has been forced to walk back some of her radical, open-borders views, given just how radical and unpopular her administration’s policies have been.
But whatever she might tone down in terms of rhetoric, she cannot erase the real-world effects of those destructive policies. For good reasons, Donald Trump is the perennial favorite on virtually every single policy this cycle, and no amount of evasion on Kamala’s part can dislodge her from the perilous record that she shares with Joe Biden, the most unpopular president since the advent of modern presidential polling.
Legacy media wants President Trump to “stay on script” – which is a code word for not speaking openly and honestly about the issues, the lodestar to his 2016 victory. But they do not know how to win elections. Indeed, with each debate, they further reveal their ignorance about politics overall, their alleged specialty. All they know how to do is talk and talk and talk, utterly delusional to the harsher realities of life in a declining Empire. The delusions and distractions are being driven by a political class and commentariat who, if it were up to them, would rather talk the world out of meaningful action, even if such action is precisely what is needed to save the country.
This is a massive scandal! The State Department, who legally can’t operate in the US, has been funding US fact checking since 2015! Yes, it’s earliest days!
The news orgs that operate under the IFCN flag, such as the Washington Post, do the leg work. Which then results in posts on Facebook etc being labeled and the algorithms throttling the post.
This official International Fact Checking Network is also partnered with Google. Poynter’s IFCN was funded by the CIA linked, State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy and Omidyar grants.
Recall Google initiated the first ever US censorship program and expanded it globally by using the First Draft Consortium. First Draft also worked hand in hand with the IFCN. Poynters Politifact was in the First Draft network.
Here’s more on the recently discovered US government-funded censorship programs.
Here is the timeline of events.
April 2015 – First Draft Consortium started by Google
June 2015 – Official First Draft Announcement comes out. Along with its Google News Lab partnership announcement (obviously)
Aug 2015 – Google News Lab partners with Poynter
Sept 2015 – IFCN is launched by Poynter
Oct 2015 – Poynter launches IFCN with State Dept NED funding
Oct 2017 – Google news lab partners with IFCN specifically
Dec 2018 – Poynter acquires Politifact
Next I’ll list some key quotes from IFCN’s beginnings:
Oct 21, 2015 – “Today marks the online launch of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter. This informal network, a forum for fact-checkers from five continents, is born out of the desire to study and discuss fact-checking as a journalistic instrument worldwide.
The IFCN is supported by grants from the Omidyar Network and the National Endowment for Democracy.”
“Poynter’s partnership with Google is the institute’s first major alliance with a digital technology company.”
Now showing US links is easy.
“Led by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at the Poynter Institute, FactChat is the first collaborative project to unite U.S. fact-checking organizations with two major Spanish-language news broadcasters to fight mis/disinformation during the 2020 presidential campaign.”
“Facebook users in the US and Germany can now flag articles they think are deliberately false, these will then go to third-party fact checkers signed up with the IFCN.
Those fact checkers come from media organisations like the Washington Post and websites such as the urban legend debunking site Snopes.
Another warning appears if users try to share the story, although Facebook doesn’t prevent such sharing or delete the fake news story. The “fake” tag will however negatively impact the story’s score in Facebook’s algorithm, meaning that fewer people will see it pop up in their news feeds.”
“Alexios Mantzarlis at first led the IFCN:
Then he moved to GOOGLE NEWS LAB. And is now Principal, Google Trust & Safety Intelligence. As Director of the IFCN, he helped draft the fact-checkers’ code of principles and shepherded a seminal partnership between fact-checkers and Facebook.”
Now let’s head into Brazil:
– Cristina Tardáguila, NED FELLOW, Founder of Agência Lupa and was at Brazil misinfocon with Zommer. Both were GDI advisors. Cristina Tardáguila is the IFCN Associate Director.
– Laura Zommer is Zommer isn the board of the IFCN and Género & Numero from Brazil. She’s also the Executive and Editor-in-Chief at Chequeado, the first initiative of fact-checking and verification of public discourse in Latin America.
Knight Fellow Laura Zommer started Factchequeado, a journalism and education hub to stem disinfo flows in Spanish-language platforms in the US.
Factchequeado will use innovative approaches developed by Chequeado and Maldita in Latin America and Spain – introducing a WhatsApp tipline to involve audiences in fact-checking. Factchequeado is a collaborative alliance with Latino media and fact-checking orgs.
The IFCN announced in 2015 that they were funded by the State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy.
On Tuesday, The Washington Examiner reported on how the State Department skirted the law and funded censorship groups.
An office housed within the State Department is faulted in a new congressional report with flouting its mandate to thwart foreign disinformation through its funding of groups engaged in “censorship” against small businesses in the United States.
“This interim report outlines how government agencies are working with the private sector to ensure that certain businesses do not have a fair chance to compete online,” said Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), who chairs the House Small Business Committee. “Even worse, this report uncovers how taxpayer dollars contributed to the censorship that picks winners and losers in the online marketplace.”
The 66-page report was prepared by investigators on the Republican-led House Small Business Committee. For over a year, the panel has sought sprawling funding records from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center on its programs fighting alleged disinformation and misinformation. That investigation began due to a series of Washington Examinerreports on the office bankrolling the Global Disinformation Index — a British group pressuring advertisers to defund right-of-center media outlets in the U.S.
The release of the report comes as the Global Engagement Center, which has an estimated budget of $61 million and a staff of 125, faces the potential to lose funding over GOP-led frustrations about its involvement with apparent domestic censorship groups. A provision through the annual State Department appropriations bill, which passed the House this summer and will be negotiated in the Senate, aims to ban future checks to the GEC. The office is also facing a lawsuit from conservative media outlets over the $100,000 the GEC sent to GDI and its support of a company called NewsGuard that rates the “misinformation” levels of news outlets.
Titled “Instruments and Casualties of the Censorship-Industrial Complex,” the House report argues the GEC promoted “tech start-ups and other small businesses in the disinformation detection space to private sector entities with domestic censorship capabilities.” Moreover, the report argues the National Endowment for Democracy, a State Department-funded nonprofit group that awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars to GDI, “violated its international restrictions by collaborating with fact-checking entities in assessing domestic press businesses’ admission to a credibility organization.”
Bad Kitty Unleashed also published several tweets on Google’s work in the censorship apparatus.
🔥And this is what you call bringing the baby home. Massive document found right here with Google admitting everything! Google is synonymous with disinfo work!
Google News Lab created the First Draft Coalition in April 2015. Then announced it formally in June 2015.
🔹February 12, 2018 Poynter Expands Fact-Checking Franchise by Acquiring PolitiFact.
“Though Poynter owns the Tampa Bay Times newspaper — which created the PolitiFact initiative in 2007 –the formal acquisition and relocation allows Poynter to expand its fact-check training and… pic.twitter.com/3KKnzticB6
This is just more evidence that the US Government is funding outlets to silence independent media like The Gateway Pundit and prominent online voices.
The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft is currently involved in the Murthy vs. Missouri lawsuit. The investigation continues in this lawsuit on how the government was pushing social media to silence our website and others.
** The Gateway Pundit reached out to The International Fact Checking Network to request more information on their government funding and silencing of American voices.
American politics has traditionally been a two-sided battle. Today, we have the conservatives and the liberals pitted against one another. Of course, there is a diversity of opinions in each faction, but most politically inclined Americans lean toward one of these two groups. These two political ideologies are roughly and imperfectly represented by the Republican and Democratic parties.
Americans have often been discontented by the apparent inability of the parties to represent their interests. All too often, the two parties seem to be working in lock-step to serve government interests. From funding for the war in Ukraine to the response to the pandemic lockdowns, it seems that when it gets down to brass tacks, there’s only one party after all. This is what many call the Uniparty.
However, Chronicles Magazine founder Paul Gottfried warns against the poison that the Uniparty can bring to your thinking. If you think that the two parties are ultimately the same, you will become disillusioned and disengage from politics. This is not the right approach.
Rather, Gottfried suggests we identify the differences that do exist and take every opportunity we can to fight back against the left. This includes imperfect opportunities.
Gottfried states: “Although the conservative establishment and media have relentlessly purged its right-wing members (including me), I still find the Murdoch media more informative than listening to the blah-blah on NPR or MSNBC.”
We have to take what we can get. If conservatives become apathetic about the political process, things will only get worse for them. We should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, or even the good enough. Conservatives must take every opportunity to protect traditional values and defeat the left.
“We need to know, hold to, and unashamedly teach what the Bible teaches regarding the existence of God, the origin of man, and the design of the sexes. But to take it further, to understand that we also need to know, hold to, and unashamedly teach the attributes of God, like His holiness, justice, and goodness.”
(Jacob Tanner – Clear Truth Media) The Psalmist says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1).
This text can realistically apply to many different facets of life, whether our homes, or our churches, or our schools, or our countries. Unless God builds it, it won’t be built. Unless God keeps it, it will fall apart.
After yanking Joe Biden off the ticket with a giant vaudeville cane, Kamala Harris has breathed new life into the Democratic party. Kamala opened her campaign with the “politics of joy,” replete with twerking rappers, sassy X clapbacks, and quirky Doritos videos. But, after weeks of pressure from the media, Kamala has finally posted her stance on the issues facing America, and at the debate on Tuesday night, she dove deeper into her policies than ever before. Finally, Gen Z voters have the opportunity to do what everyone least expects from them: weigh each presidential candidate from a policy perspective.
Until now, I’ve been mystified as to why my generation, usually so quick to recognize inauthenticity, was falling for Kamala’s cotton candy campaign. But Gen Z voters were immediately smitten with Kamala, whose light, albeit vapid rhetoric provided a reprieve from the political mudslinging of the last eight years. She threw concerts and posted goofy videos. Instead of engaging in contentious discussions, Kamala supporters could quip “Brat Summer” while retweeting Mark Hamill. It was light and fun, and after years of ugly politics, even her blatant pandering was a nice change.
But Kamala’s actual ideas have been forced into the spotlight. As Harris gets serious, so should Gen Z.
I’ve seen firsthand my generation’s BS detectors in action. We know when we can skip a hokey motivational speaker at a company event or skim the “required” readings. We traverse career fairs, collecting swag and acting interested as phony recruiters try to convince us that their company isn’t a pyramid scheme. In other words, we don’t drink the Kool-Aid.
Now that Harris’ policies are in the open, we should treat her with the same scrutiny. If Gen Z is really dissatisfied with the direction the company is going, per a Spring 2024 Harvard Youth Poll, then perhaps we should consider the fact that portions of her brand new “Issues” page were copied from the Joe Biden campaign site. Remember him? He’s the one who was in charge – or at least who seemed in charge – when that Harvard poll was taken earlier this year.
Additionally, 53% of Gen Z voters believe that there is a dire crisis happening on our southern border, a border that Kamala presided over as border czar. Do we really believe she’s the best candidate to solve that problem?
Another driving factor behind Gen Z’s discontent with the status quo is the economy. On that topic, Harris echoes Joe Biden’s policies. Harris proposes a $25,000 first-time homebuyer handout, doubling down on Biden’s $10,000 proposal. Harris’ policies also include expanding the Affordable Care Act, which has been the law of the land for the past 14 years (and passed while Joe Biden was Vice President). She touts her plan to raise the tax on long-term capital gains to 28% – in other words, 28% of what Gen Z makes in the stock market will go not to a home down payment but to the government. Do we really think that will help young people prosper?
I call on my generation to apply to Kamala Harris the same utility maximization we do in all areas of life. Now that she’s dropped the TikTok-and-vibes charade, we have the chance to think critically about whether Kamala represents the change to the status quo, or whether she’s just Joe Biden 2.0. It seems Kamala can buckle down to business when pressed. Can we?
Ethan Watson is a Young Voices contributor working towards a Master of Accounting degree at the University of Kansas. He holds dual undergraduate degrees in Accounting and Political Science with an eye toward law school in the near future. Follow him on X: @erwatson13.
Next I’ll list some key quotes from IFCN’s beginnings:
“We need to know, hold to, and unashamedly teach what the Bible teaches regarding the existence of God, the origin of man, and the design of the sexes. But to take it further, to understand that we also need to know, hold to, and unashamedly teach the attributes of God, like His holiness, justice, and goodness.” 
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