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
President Biden facing fierce scrutiny for spending 16 days at the beach as the nation battles various crises. Fox News’ Mark Meredith reports the latest. #FoxNews
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
ROMANS 2:16
What is your concept of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Judge?
If the “ten-cent-store Jesus” that is being preached by a lot of men, the plastic, painted Christ who has no spine and no justice and is pictured as a soft and pliable friend to everybody—if He is the only Christ there is, then we might as well close our books and bar our doors, and make a bakery or garage out of the church!
But that Christ that is being preached and pictured is not the Christ of God, nor the Christ of the Bible, nor the Christ we must deal with.
The Christ we must deal with will be the judge of mankind—and this is one of the neglected Bible doctrines in our day!
The Father judges no man. When the Lord, the Son of Man, shall come in the clouds of glory, then shall be gathered unto Him the nations, and He shall separate them.
God has given Him judgment, authority to judge mankind, so that He is both the Judge and Saviour of men.
That makes me both love Him and fear Him! I love Him because He is my Saviour and I fear Him because He is my Judge.
God Almighty is never going to judge the race of mankind and allow a mistake to enter. The judge must be one who has all wisdom. Therefore, I appeal away from St. Paul; I appeal away from Moses and Elijah; I appeal away from all men because no man knows me well enough to judge me, finally! Only Jesus Christ qualifies as one who is able to be the judge of all mankind.1
Precious Lord Jesus! and was it needful that thou shouldst die, that the rich legacies of thy will might be paid thy children, and thy spouse, the Church? Was the testament in thy blood of no force until thou hadst finished redemption by expiring on the cross? And hast thou now confirmed the whole, by this gracious act of thine, when dying “the just for the unjust, to bring us to God?” Sit down, my soul, this evening, and ponder over the unequalled love of thy dear Redeemer. Jesus died, and thereby gave validity and efficacy to his will. Now, therefore, it is of force. Now the large estate of an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and which fadeth not away, which Jesus hath purchased by his blood, is eternally and everlastingly secured. Yea, the will hath, since his death, been proved in the court of heaven, and Jesus is gone thither to see every legacy paid; yea, Jesus becomes the executor and administrator of the whole, and ever liveth for this express purpose. So that it is impossible for any of his poor relations, and their claims by him, ever to be forgotten or overlooked. Pause overt his view of this most interesting subject. Shall the great ones of the earth, the rich and the mighty, be so anxious over their legacies from one another, as never to lose an estate for want of inquiry, when their rich relations die; and wilt not thou, my soul, now thy rich Relation is dead, and liveth again, and hath left thee the most blessed of all inheritances, wilt not thou seek after it, and be anxious for the full possession of it? Dost thou know thyself to be indeed a part of Christ’s body, the Church, the Lamb’s wife, and by adoption and grace, a child of God, and a joint-heir with Christ; and wilt thou not see that thy legacy be fully paid? Surely thou hast already taken out a probate of thy Lord’s will from the chancery of heaven, the book of life, and therefore mayest well look for all the testamentary effects. Precious Lord Jesus! I hear thee speak, and well do I remember the words: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you!” Oh! the unspeakable mercy of being thus related to the Lord Jesus Christ! by which, my soul, thou hast every legacy needful for thy present peace paid in part; and the whole reversionary interest of that immense estate in heaven shall be fully paid when thon comest of age, and thou shalt enter upon the possession of it, in the presence of thy Lord, and sit down with him in the everlasting enjoyment of it, for ever!1
It is a common-place thought, and yet it tastes like nectar to the weary heart—Jesus was tempted as I am. You have heard that truth many times: have you grasped it? He was tempted to the very same sins into which we fall. Do not dissociate Jesus from our common manhood. It is a dark room which you are going through, but Jesus went through it before. It is a sharp fight which you are waging, but Jesus has stood foot to foot with the same enemy. Let us be of good cheer, Christ has borne the load before us, and the blood-stained footsteps of the King of glory may be seen along the road which we traverse at this hour. There is something sweeter yet—Jesus was tempted, but Jesus never sinned. Then, my soul, it is not needful for thee to sin, for Jesus was a man, and if one man endured these temptations and sinned not, then in his power his members may also cease from sin. Some beginners in the divine life think that they cannot be tempted without sinning, but they mistake; there is no sin in being tempted, but there is sin in yielding to temptation. Herein is comfort for the sorely tempted ones. There is still more to encourage them if they reflect that the Lord Jesus, though tempted, gloriously triumphed, and as he overcame, so surely shall his followers also, for Jesus is the representative man for his people; the Head has triumphed, and the members share in the victory. Fears are needless, for Christ is with us, armed for our defence. Our place of safety is the bosom of the Saviour. Perhaps we are tempted just now, in order to drive us nearer to him. Blessed be any wind that blows us into the port of our Saviour’s love! Happy wounds, which make us seek the beloved Physician. Ye tempted ones, come to your tempted Saviour, for he can be touched with a feeling of your infirmities, and will succour every tried and tempted one.1
OUR Lord gave his disciples warning as to the destruction of Jerusalem, so that they might escape from the slaughter.
Matthew 24:15–35
15, 16 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains: (This advice the disciples followed, and as soon as the armies surrounded Jerusalem, they escaped to the little mountain of Pella while the inhabitants of Jerusalem were slain by the Romans.)
17, 18 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. (They were not to linger to save their property, but flee for their lives at once.)
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20–22 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
23–25 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders: insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (So far our Lord spoke of the siege of Jerusalem. After this he referred to the last great day.)
29, 30 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
This is the glorious appearing of our Lord at the last. No sun or moon will be needed when he shines forth; his glory will be brighter than the sun in the heavens. He will find the nations still unsaved, and horror will be their portion. If he were to come now, should we have to mourn, or could we meet him in peace?
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (They shall be saved from the terrible destruction, and as soon as they are removed, wrath shall break forth on the ungodly.
Our Lord then returned to speak of the overthrow of Jerusalem, and gave his disciples warning to watch the signs of the times.)
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
For the magistrates, the judges, and justices of peace in the several counties and corporations.
Make those who rule over my nation just, ruling in the fear of God; 2 Samuel 23:3(ESV) and let those who judge remember that they judge not for man but for the LORD, who is with them in giving judgment, that therefore the fear of the Lord may be upon them. 2 Chronicles 19:6-7(ESV)
Make them able men and trustworthy, men who fear God and hate a bribe, Exodus 18:21(ESV) that justice may run down like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24(ESV)
Enable my nation’s magistrates to defend the weak and fatherless, to maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute, to rescue the weak and the needy, and to deliver them from the hand of the wicked; Psalm 82:3-4(ESV) and let governors never be a terror to good works, but to the evil. Romans 3:14(ESV)
Jeremiah 4:22 — Take note of the phrasing “wise to do evil … to do good they have no knowledge.” This is in contrast to Paul in Romans 16:19 who wishes the Romans to be “wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.”
Jeremiah 4:23 — Where else have we read this? Genesis 1:2. God created the earth, and there will be a time when God will destroy the earth (Jeremiah 4:27).
Jeremiah 5:15 — Is it fair for God to use a wicked nation to judge His chosen people? It is just because God does it since He is just (Zephaniah 3:5). Paul speaks against those who make a “fair shew” (Galatians 6:12). Reminds us that “fair speeches deceive” (Romans 16:18), and Solomon says to believe not him who speaks “fair” (Proverbs 26:25).
Jeremiah 5:19 — The LORD says, “… as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”
How did it become their land? The LORD gave it to them (Genesis 12:7, Genesis 13:5, Genesis 13:7, Genesis 15:7, Genesis 15:18, Genesis 17:8, Genesis 24:7, Genesis 28:13, Genesis 35:12, Genesis 48:4, Exodus 6:4, Exodus 6:8, Exodus 12:25, Exodus 13:5, Exodus 13:11, Exodus 20:12, Exodus 32:13, Leviticus 14:34, Leviticus 20:24, Leviticus 23:10, Leviticus 25:2, Leviticus 25:38, Numbers 13:2, Numbers 14:8, Numbers 15:2, Numbers 20:12, Numbers 20:24, Numbers 27:12, Numbers 32:7, Numbers 32:9, Numbers 33:53, Numbers 34:13, Numbers 36:2, Deuteronomy 1:8, Deuteronomy 1:20, Deuteronomy 1:25, Deuteronomy 1:35, Deuteronomy 1:36, Deuteronomy 2:31, Deuteronomy 3:18, Deuteronomy 3:20, Deuteronomy 4:1, Deuteronomy 4:21, Deuteronomy 4:38, Deuteronomy 5:16, Deuteronomy 5:31, Deuteronomy 6:10, Deuteronomy 6:23, Deuteronomy 7:13, Deuteronomy 8:10, Deuteronomy 9:6, Deuteronomy 9:23, Deuteronomy 10:11, etc.) – well over 100 times God said He gave the land to them.
In the Book of Genesis, God swore to give them the land. In the rest of the Torah, God reiterates His covenant of the land. In Joshua, the gift is possessed. In the Historical books, we see the warning that they may be thrown out of the land.
The land would not be taken from them, but they would be taken from the land.
Jeremiah 5:25 — A great verse to memorize: “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.”
I will make them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.Ezekiel 34:25
It is the height of grace that Jehovah should be in covenant with man, a feeble, sinful, and dying creature. Yet the Lord has solemnly entered into a faithful compact with us, and from that covenant He will never turn aside. In virtue of this covenant we are safe. As lions and wolves are driven off by shepherds, so shall all noxious influences be chased away. The Lord will give us rest from disturbers and destroyers; the evil beasts shall cease out of the land. O Lord, make this Thy promise good even now!
The Lord’s people are to enjoy security in places of the greatest exposure: wilderness and woods are to be as pastures and folds to the flock of Christ. If the Lord does not change the place for the better, He will make us the better in the place. The wilderness is not a place to dwell in, but the Lord can make it so; in the woods one feels hound to watch rather than to sleep, and yet the Lord giveth His beloved sleep even there. Nothing without or within should cause any fear to the child of God. By faith the wilderness can become the suburbs of heaven and the woods the vestibule of glory.
BEING THANKFUL FOR THAT WHICH COVERS ALL INIQUITIES
ROMANS 3:10-20
As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
FATHER, Your Word proves that the entire world is guilty before You.
If left to ourselves, we would perish, as we deserve.
We are fallen human beings,
and we therefore could never achieve righteousness through the law.
What the law does teach us is how how vile sin is,
how hopelessly in bondage to evil we are,
and how miserably worthy of judgment our sins have made us.
Holy God, we understand Your hatred for sin.
The law clearly manifests Your holy nature,
leaving us stripped, barren, and guilty
so we can only run to You for mercy.
But Your Word bids us come boldly,
and it reveals You to be a God of boundless compassion
and unfathomable grace
who eagerly forgives all penitent, believing sinners.
Having been forgiven, we come before You now in prayer to adore You.
First we want to confess
that although we are free from condemnation, we are still sinful.
We know that even our sins of thought,
evil desires, and other secret sins
are not hidden from Your face, but are fully seen
by Your all-penetrating omniscience.
We utterly abhor and renounce those evils.
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity?
What compassion You have had on us
in treading all our iniquities under foot
and casting them into the depths of the sea!
We thank You, Lord, that the blood of Jesus Christ
continually, faithfully, and justly cleanses us from our sins.
Multiply Your grace in our lives.
Restrain our feet from evil;
keep our lips from speaking falsely,
and enable us to obey Your Word.
Set us free from slavery to corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
We know, Lord, that You have begun a good work in us
and are faithfully continuing that work,
which You will complete when we see our Lord Jesus face-to-face.
We eagerly await that day.
Even so, Lord, come quickly!
Make us sensitive to the approach of sin and temptation.
Increase our loathing of all that is evil.
Heighten the godly fear that restrains our fleshly tendencies.
Overwhelm our hearts with the purifying power
of Your Word and Your Spirit.
Fill us with compassion.
Perfect Your love in us.
Arouse in us a thirst for holiness.
Kindle a passion to serve You.
And lift us to higher worship.
May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts
be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.
God is holy and unchanging (Ex 3:1–15). We trust him unreservedly. We walk in truth (Ps 26:1–8) as we take up our crosses, follow Christ (Mt 16:21–28), love one another and repay evil with good (Rom 12:9–21).
OPENING PRAYER: Proper 17
O God, whose ways are all mercy and truth, carry on your gracious work, and bestow, by your benefits, what human frailty cannot attain; that they who attend upon the heavenly mysteries may be grounded in perfect faith, and shine forth conspicuous by the purity of their souls; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Leonine Sacramentary
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Exodus 3:1–15
Reflections from the Church Fathers
God Is the Only Cause of Existence. Eusebius of Caesarea: Everything that has ever existed or now exists derives its being from the One, the only existent and preexistent being, who also said, “I am the existent.” … As the only being and the eternal being, he is himself the cause of existence to all those to whom he has imparted existence from himself by his will and his power and gives existence to all things and their powers and forms, richly and ungrudgingly from himself. Proof of the Gospel 4.1.
To Be Is Most Characteristic of God. Hilary of Poitiers: It is known that there is nothing more characteristic of God than to be, because that itself which is does not belong to those things which will one day end or to those which had a beginning. But that which combines eternity with the power of unending happiness could never not have been, nor is it possible that one day it will not be, because what is divine is not liable to destruction, nor does it have a beginning. And since the eternity of God will not be untrue to itself in anything, he has revealed to us in a fitting manner this fact alone, that he is, in order to render testimony to his everlasting eternity. On the Trinity 1.5.
Existence and Goodness Derive from God. Augustine: He is the first and greatest existence, who is utterly unchangeable and who could say most perfectly, “I am who I am, and you shall say to them, He who is has sent me to you.” On Christian Teaching 1.32.35.
PSALM OF RESPONSE: Psalm 26:1–8
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Romans 12:9–21
Reflections from the Church Fathers
Let Love Be Genuine; Hate What Is Evil. Origen: I think that any love without God is artificial and not genuine. For God, the Creator of the soul, filled it with the feeling of love, along with the other virtues, so that it might love God and the things which God wants. But if the soul loves something other than God and what God wants, this love is said to be artificial and invented. And if someone loves his neighbor but does not warn him when he sees him going astray or correct him, such is only a pretense of love. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.
Hold Fast to What Is Good. Chrysostom: If you have love, you will not notice the loss of your money, the labor of your body, the toil of your words, your trouble or your ministering, but you will bear everything courageously. Homilies on Romans 21.
Christ Died for the Ungodly. Origen: It happens that we hate things we ought not to, just as we love things we ought not to. We are ordered to love our brothers, not to hate them. If you think that someone is ungodly, remember that “Christ died for the ungodly.” And if you think that because your brother is a sinner you do not have to love him, remember that “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.” But if he is righteous, then he is much more worthy of love, for “God loves the righteous.” Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.
Feeling Compassion. Chrysostom: Paul wants us to be penetrated with the warmth of friendship. This is why he goes on to say that we are not merely to bless but that we are to feel compassion for their pains and sufferings whenever we happen to see them fall into trouble. Homilies on Romans 22.
God Resists the Proud. Ambrosiaster: To be haughty is pride, which is how the devil fell.… Solomon says that “God resists the proud.” Put pride aside and make other people’s cares your own so that you might be acceptable to God. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
Never Avenge Yourselves. Ambrosiaster: Paul warns us to avoid anger, especially because so often anger is the chief cause of sin. Someone who is motivated by wrath will demand more than the cause of the sin merits or will put himself out to do more harm while seeking revenge.… In the end he will destroy someone when he could have corrected and restored him instead. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
Interior Freedom. Theodoret of Cyr: Revenge is mean-spirited. True victory is returning good for evil. Interpretation of the Letter to the Romans.
GOSPEL READING: Matthew 16:21–28
Reflections from the Church Fathers
Get Behind Me, Satan! Chrysostom: Therefore, the rest being troubled and in perplexity, Peter again in his ardor alone ventures to discuss these things. And he does not discuss them openly but only when he had taken him aside. Having separated himself from the rest of the disciples, he says, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” What is happening here? The very one who had obtained a revelation, who had been blessed, has now so soon fallen away, so as now to fear the passion of the Lord, and thereby his faith has been overthrown. It is remarkable that Peter, who had not yet been fully instructed in the course of revelation, should come up with these responses. The larger picture had not yet been revealed to Peter, and he was confused and overwhelmed. Peter had learned that Christ is the Son of God. But he had not learned of the mystery of the cross and the resurrection.… Do you see how correct Jesus was in forbidding them not to declare his identity publicly? For if it so confounded the disciples, who were being made aware of it, who knows what the response of others might have been. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 54.5–6.
The Disciples’ Human Weakness. Cyril of Alexandria: Since the disciples had not yet received power from on high, it was perhaps not unnatural that they should fall occasionally into human weaknesses and, thinking something of this sort, say “How shall someone deny himself? Or how can someone, by losing his own life, save it?” Fragment 195.
Israel’s Ground Operation Against Hezbollah Gains Support from U.S. Defense Secretary U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed American support for Israel’s limited ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon during a call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday. The operation, aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s attack infrastructure along the northern border, is seen as crucial to preventing future large-scale assaults on Israeli communities.
Ahmadinejad Claims Mossad Penetrated Iran’s Own Anti-Mossad Unit Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed in an interview with CNN Turkey that a unit established to counter Israeli intelligence operations was itself infiltrated by Mossad agents. Ahmadinejad alleged that the Mossad, Israel’s top security agency, had placed one of its agents in charge of the very unit tasked with combating its activities.
Results of Iran’s attack: Damage to 100 houses and a school, 3 Israelis wounded, one Palestinian killed in Jericho As dawn rose over Israel on Wednesday, the morning after the unprecedented missile assault by the Iranian regime, the scope of the damage wrought by the attack became clearer. Three Israelis were lightly wounded by shrapnel, while the only fatality from the attack was a Palestinian man from Gaza who was killed when a large piece of an intercepted rocket fell on him in Jericho.
The shofar’s call amid Israel’s first Rosh Hashanah at war As Rosh Hashanah approaches, many wonder what this holiday truly represents. In Israeli tradition and under rabbinic influence, Rosh Hashanah, literally meaning “Head of the Year,” marks the Jewish New Year. It serves as a cornerstone of the Jewish faith and traditions, signifying the start of the High Holy Days in the fall, marking the fifth annual Feast of the Lord. Rosh Hashanah is regarded as a time of deep introspection, repentance and prayer.
Israel’s new missile alert system activated during Iranian attack During Tuesday’s Iranian attack on Israel, a new missile alert system was utilized in Israel for the first time. The new “Personal Message” missile alert system sends messages directly to the phones of people within a given area that is under threat.
Hand of God protects Israel from massive Iranian ballistic missile attack This marks the second direct attack by Iran against Israel. On 13 April 2024, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) sent around 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles toward Israel. Approximately 99% of the incoming weapons were destroyed by air defenses before entering Israeli airspace.
These are the days of Elijah These are the days of Elijah1. It’s the title of a wonderful worship song composed by Northern Ireland’s Robin Mark. It’s a call to recognise that the Lord’s return is near, and it surely applies now more than ever. Malachi, the last of the prophets to speak before the coming of Messiah 400 years later, concludes by saying that Elijah will precede “the great and dreadful day of the Lord”
Anti-Israel activist courted by Kamala Harris’s campaign praises slain Hezbollah leader as ‘hero’ A Michigan activist courted by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign to shore up support from Muslim voters in the battleground state hailed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “hero” at a rally last week, days before the terrorist was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike. Osama Siblani, the publisher of the Arab American News, saluted Nasrallah at a “Stand with Lebanon” rally in Dearborn on Sept. 25,
US concerned about Iranian revenge after IDF message to Tehran The Biden administration fears that Iran is planning an attack in the wake of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and is working together with Israel on “defense,” a U.S. official told CNN Monday.
First-ever teleportation of logical qubit using fault-tolerant methods A team of engineers and physicists at quantum computing company Quantinuum has conducted the first-ever teleportation of a logical qubit using fault-tolerant methods. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes the setup and teleportation methods they used and the fidelity achieved by each.
Last Time Iran Attacked, the Biden-Harris Admin Held Back Israel’s Response. This Time, the Jewish State Will ‘Not Be Deterred.’ Israel’s war cabinet met Wednesday to plot its “harsh response” to Iran’s recent ballistic missile barrage, all but solidifying an impending—and significant—retaliatory strike on Tehran. The Jewish state, under pressure from the Biden-Harris administration, refrained from executing such a strike in the wake of Iran’s April attack. This time, it will not be deterred, a U.S. official briefed on the matter told the Washington Free Beacon.
Post-Debate: Vance Vanquishes ‘Knucklehead’ Walz & Muting Moderators Vance’s dominant debate performance earned him rare praise from some liberal media outlets. A majority of columnist and contributors, nine out of thirteen, surveyed by The New York Times said Vance won the debate. CNN’s @ScottJenningsKY on the #VPDebate: “It’s pretty clear Vance outclassed Walz tonight. I mean, I was watching this and all I could think of was — man, Walz is so in over his head. I mean, can you imagine this guy sitting in the White House Situation Room
200+ fmr. generals, admirals endorse Trump In a letter released on Monday by Flag Officers 4 America, more than 200 retired military leaders announced they were endorsing Trump for president, claiming he is “a proven leader who will secure our border, repulse our adversaries, revitalize our economy, and keep America safe and strong.” The retired military leaders described the upcoming November election as the “most important election” since the founding of America.
Hurricane “John” claims at least 29 lives in Mexico Hurricane “John” has claimed at least 29 lives since its landfall as a Category 3 Hurricane in the Mexican state of Guerrero on September 24, 2024. The system brought significant rainfall to the region with parts of Guerrero receiving around 950 mm (37 inches) of rain due to the storm.
Drone video shows Chimney Rock destroyed by massive flood, U.S. Hurricane “Helene” wreaked havoc in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, from September 25 to 27, 2024, dumping approximately 360 mm (14 inches) of rain and causing severe flooding. During this period, the Broad River overflowed, destroying the community of around 125 people.
Months After Becoming a Major Abortion Provider, Struggling CVS May Have to Dismantle Company There is absolutely no joy to be had when news breaks that more people could be facing joblessness under the Biden/Harris administration. But there is absolute joy to be had when news breaks that it could become that much harder to murder unborn children. Many Christians and pro-lifers are caught in that emotional tug-of-war after the latest news about drug store chain CVS.
California passes law allowing Dutch-style cannabis cafes Starting next year, diners in the western US state of California can smoke cannabis at certain restaurants, thanks to a new law allowing for “cannabis cafes” akin to those popularized in the Netherlands.
US Closes $1.5 Billion Loan to Resurrect Shuttered Michigan Nuclear Power Plant The world was abuzz two weeks ago when we learned that the notorious Three Mile Island nuclear power plant – site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history – would restart to power Microsoft data centers. As we said at the time, that was only the beginning, as the staggering electricity needs of the coming AI revolution – which we dubbed “the next AI trade” earlier in the year, meant that much more nuclear capacity will have to be either built from scratch or reopened.
Netanyahu: ‘Iran made a big mistake … and it will pay for it’ “The forces of light in the world must unite and work together against the ayatollah’s dark regime, which is the source of terror and evil in our region,” said the Israeli prime minister.
3 Major Problems Which Are Looming Over the U.S. As The Month of October Begins I have a feeling that October is going to be one of the most tumultuous months that we have seen in a really long time. Ports all along the East Coast and all along the Gulf Coast are about to shut down, and that could throw U.S. supply chains into a state of chaos for an extended period of time. Meanwhile, vast areas of the South are just starting to recover from a “once in a generation storm” that has done about 100 billion dollars in total damage.
Is It Just a Coincidence That The “Comet of The Century” Is Flying Through the Sky As “The Biggest Middle East War” Suddenly Explodes? All of a sudden, everything has changed. Israeli troops have entered southern Lebanon, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles into the land of Israel, and it appears that all-out war has arrived. This war doesn’t seem to have a commonly accepted name yet, and so I am just going to start calling it “the Biggest Middle East War” until somebody out there comes up with something better. Is it just a coincidence that this war has suddenly exploded as the “Comet of the Century” is flying past our planet?
63 central banks are implementing Basel III, which includes the widespread practice of “bail-ins” to rescue failing banks – The Expose Basel III includes wide acceptance of bail-in as a way of rescuing failing banks. Unlike a bailout, which involves external assistance (often from taxpayers), a bail-in restructures the bank’s liabilities internally, which includes taking the money you have on deposit and in savings accounts, as these form part of the bank’s liabilities, and converting them from cash you can use into something else, e.g. shares in the bank.
Godfrey Bloom: The whole wind turbine game is a SCAM A 2-megawatt wind turbine requires 200 tonnes of steel, which needs 300 tonnes of iron and 170 tonnes of coking coal. The coal and other raw materials have to be mined and transported by hydrocarbon-powered transport. Until it is no longer working, a wind turbine could spin for years, and it still wouldn’t replace the energy that was used to manufacture it.
Psychological Bioterrorism: The use of fear about pandemics to manipulate and control populations Psychological bioterrorism is the use of fear, often about infectious diseases, by entities like governments and pharmaceutical companies to manipulate people and control populations. The historical example of the 1918 Spanish Flu and the current narrative surrounding bird flu illustrates how fear is strategically employed and amplified, even when the actual threat might be different than what is portrayed.
“It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled. It must be the combined virtue of the rulers and of the people to do this, and to rescue and save their civil and religious rights from the outstretched arm of tyranny, which may appear under any mode or form of government.” —Mercy Warren (1805)
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Politics
Slappy second “gentleman” makes a #MeToo moment: Former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently interviewed Doug Emhoff and gushed about the way he’s “reshaped the perception of masculinity.” If the new masculinity is embodied by knocking up the babysitter and slapping around the girlfriend, we’ll take a hard pass. “Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband assaulted his ex-girlfriend,” the UK’s Daily Mail reports. Emhoff “allegedly struck the woman in the face so hard she spun around, while waiting in a valet line late at night after a May 2012 Cannes Film Festival event in France.” This seems newsworthy, no? So why did it take a UK-based paper to break the story? And why is the Leftmedia lauding this guy as the new American male? Kamala Harris’s hubby is literally a girlfriend slapper. He’s the Forrest Gump character who apologizes to Jenny and blames it on “that lying sonofabitch Johnson.” As it turns out, the #MeToo movement was rooted in a kernel of truth: From Harvey Weinstein to Doug Emhoff, many leftist men really arescumbags.
Biden and Harris finally show up for post-hurricane photo ops: Hurricane Helene is one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history, with at least 191 people dead amid a path of destruction across the Southeast. Word of this calamity seems to have finally reached Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the former having been on the beach over the weekend while the latter was hobnobbing in Hollywood. As the AP reports, Harris “handed out meals, embraced a shaken family and surveyed Hurricane Helene’s ‘extraordinary’ path of destruction through Georgia on Wednesday as she left the campaign trail to pledge federal help and personally take in scenes of toppled trees, damaged homes and lives upended.” Biden, meanwhile, visited North Carolina, where he said, “We have to jump-start this recovery process.” He added, “People are scared to death. This is urgent.” Better late than never, we suppose. But remember how the Leftmedia pilloried President George W. Bush for his so-called Katrina flyover? Where’s the outrage for this current AWOL administration? Biden and Harris are certainly mindful of the bad optics, which is why they’re now in phony photo-op mode.
Politico defends Walz’s wild eyes: They’re not wild, they’re “passionate.” One of the most telling aspects of the vice-presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz was the stark difference in demeanor between the two — evident in each candidate’s body language and particularly their eyes. While Vance portrayed a steady confidence and command of the situation, Walz exuded the opposite. He looked nervous, flustered, and even fearful, which was especially communicated by his wild-eyed look. Enter Politico to run damage control. “Eye-popping can sometimes be a sign of surprise, but for Walz, it simply revealed his emotional intensity,” Politico wrote. “Early humans would have made such facial gestures to communicate strong emotions, like ‘danger is close.’ For Walz, it gave extra weight to his feelings and held our gaze.” One of the issues Walz was supposedly most passionate about was abortion. Meanwhile, Politico criticized Vance’s facial hair: “Voters see beards as (surprise, surprise) more masculine. That can be positive to some, reading as strength and competence. But to others, especially women, it can be negative, conveying aggression and opposition to feminist ideals.” Call us crazy, but we’ll take bearded confidence over wild-eyed radicalism.
The VP debate had the expected impact: If a Republican cleans a Democrat’s clock but no one saw it, did it really happen? While the overwhelming consensus is that JD Vance whipped Tim Walz in Tuesday night’s VP debate, he apparently did so before a relatively small audience of about 43 million viewers. That’s quite a bit fewer than watched the 2020 debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. Vice-presidential picks rarely move the presidential needle, and that’s especially true when just a tiny sliver of the electorate is still undecided. Caveats apply, but a CNN survey says, “Of those who watched the debate, only 1% said it changed their minds about whom to vote for, and 13% said it made them reconsider who they would support but did not change their minds. The vast majority of debate viewers, 86%, said it would not affect their choice for president.” Do we wish more folks had tuned in? Sure. But winning even a poorly attended debate is a lot better than the alternative. And news of this will continue to trickle out and shape opinions in the days ahead.
Humor: Walz clarifies that he meant the “Tiananmen Square Chinese Buffet” in Omaha, Nebraska (Babylon Bee)
Humor: Eight more historical events Walz has claimed to be at (Babylon Bee)
Meet Montana’s next U.S. senator: With so much attention being paid to the presidential race, we tend to give short shrift to the important stuff that’s happening down ballot. Such is certainly the case in Montana, where retired Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy is 5.8 points ahead of Democrat incumbent Jon Tester in the RCP average, and Sheehy just whipped him in a debate, so Tester is toast. “Well, Senator Tester knows all about backroom meetings,” said Sheehy in one of the debate’s most memorable moments. “He’s been taking them for 20 years as the number one recipient of lobbyist cash. The number one recipient of lobbyist cash in the whole country! Of all candidates, number one! So if you want to talk about backroom meetings, while I was fighting in Afghanistan, he was eating lobbyist steak in DC.” Ouch. Sheehy’s performance means that with the virtually guaranteed pickup of West Virginia’s Senate seat, where former Governor Jim Justice is 30 points ahead of his Democrat challenger to replace retiring Democrat Joe Manchin, Republicans will take the Senate. Good news on a Thursday.
Gun sales have increased since Harris replaced Biden: Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz like to claim they are gun owners and are therefore pro-Second Amendment. It’s a transparent effort to blunt their call for disarming Americans of certain firearms and banning so-called “assault weapons.” Despite their phony boasts, it appears that many Americans see them as a threat to their Second Amendment rights. This is borne out from data showing an increase in the number of firearms purchased since Harris replaced Joe Biden on the Democrat ticket. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the number of background checks for gun sales has increased 1.3% since last September. Justin Anderson, the marketing director for Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina, observed that gun owners don’t trust Harris. “Vice President Harris is the worst type of gun owner,” he contended. “She believes in her right to own a gun but wants to fully control and restrict other American citizens’ rights. That belief hasn’t been lost on the gun-buying public.”
Culture
Transing doc also a pedophile: Who could have seen this coming? In the United Kingdom, the leading psychologist at Britain’s infamous Tavistock “transgender” clinic for kids has been fired after he pleaded guilty to pedophilia. His guilty plea let him avoid prison time. Dr. Ross Canade, who had been entrusted with youth mental health at the clinic, was caught grooming a schoolboy for sex in a park. As we have previously noted, sexual deviancy is one of the leading factors behind gender-bending proclivities. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that those engaged in sexual deviancy, such as pedophilia, would also be promoting sexual deviancy to young people. What makes this story even crazier is that although Canade has been fired from his job, he has not been suspended from his child psychologist profession.
“Rubbing salt on 1,200 wounds”: Maryland leaders react to ruling that UMD students can hold October 7 vigils (WUSA)
Homeschooling continues to increase across the U.S. post-pandemic (Christian Post)
Security
Russia captures key eastern Ukrainian town: Russia’s war of attrition against Ukraine continues to grind on, and on Wednesday, Russian forces raised their flag over the key town of Vuhledar in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. Vuhledar, which once boasted a population of roughly 14,000, has effectively become a ghost town. Ukrainian forces pulled out of the town after they were under “threat of encirclement.” Taking this town represents a significant victory for Vladimir Putin’s aim of taking full control of the entire Donbas region. Vuhledar was strategically important from a geographic standpoint because it occupies the high ground in that area, allowing for greater control of the battlefield. With Ukraine’s forces being outmanned and outgunned, maintaining geographically strategic locations on the battlefield has been key to their ability to continue the fight. With the loss of Vuhledar, Ukraine has lost a potential bargaining chip for negotiating a settlement to end the war.
Feds charge five Michigan college graduates from China found near military site (Just the News)
Biden says he would oppose Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites (Just the News)
IDF announces eight soldiers killed by Hezbollah during Lebanon ground operation (Jerusalem Post)
Hezbollah was ready to invade en masse after October 7; IDF covertly raided 1,000 sites (Times of Israel)
Misc.
Biden sends 1,000 Army troops to North Carolina for Helene response (USA Today)
Federal judge rules deepfakes are protected under First Amendment in blow to California law (Just the News)
Politico’s “journalists” must’ve woken up in a cold sweat over the need to warn the nation of “The Coming Trump Revenge Tour.” In their telling, Donald Trump might — gasp — weaponize the Justice Department against his political opponents.
That was Monday. Fast-forward all the way to Wednesday, and the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris Justice Department reminded everyone how it has already been weaponized against Trump and why he might just want to rectify things.
Here’s how it happened. U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Tanya Chutkan, who is clearly antagonistic to Trump, unsealed Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 165-page court filing in the case against the former president for contesting the results of the 2020 election. While the trial against Trump isn’t going to happen before the 2024 election, Democrats get to smear him with the charges in the court of public opinion to influence this election while people are already voting. Call it the October Non-Surprise.
Specifically, Smith says, “When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office. With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost.”
“Overturn” and “legitimate” are doing an awful lot of work in that sentence, and I’ll come back to that.
First, let’s remember that Smith’s very appointment is constitutionally suspect. He’s also technically not the DOJ. He’s “independent” — you know, like those “third-party fact-checkers” Facebook pays to be “independent” speech suppressors. But anyone who’s ever heard a speech by Joe Biden or Kamala “The Prosecutor” Harris knows that Smith is doing to Trump exactly what the Democrat playbook says: Target the former president with lawfare to ensure he’s the GOP nominee and then beat him in court and at the polls.
Smith’s real job isn’t enforcing the Rule of Law but weaponizing the courts against the Republican presidential candidate to ensure that Democrats win.
After the Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity essentially torpedoed much of the Democrat lawfare against Trump, Smith regrouped and argued that Trump’s “scheme was fundamentally a private one” and, therefore, subject to prosecution. As legal analyst Jonathan Turley noted, “He is trying to thread the needle in this filing to get around the Supreme Court immunity decision. Notably, Smith removed evidence from the new indictment but kept the same claims, including conduct that seems to fall within protected areas.”
By now, of course, The Narrative™ is well established; Smith is just retelling it. Trump lost fair and square but illegally schemed to steal the election and incited an insurrection to help him do it.
That brings me back to the words “overturn” and “legitimate” because those speak to motive.
The same Democrats who’ve contested every presidential election they’ve lost over the last two decades insist that the 2020 election was the most secure in the history of the planet and that there’s no possible way any fraud happened at all. Without evidence, Smith assumes that as an established fact in his indictment.
As I have written before, though, just because the fraud in 2020 was legal doesn’t make it legitimate. The bulk-mail ballots alone are enough for any reasonable person to think 2020 was not legitimate. An astounding 66 million ballots were cast by mail in 2020 — 43% of the total — and signature verification in most states is pathetically insufficient. The idea that every last one of those ballots was totally legitimate is preposterous. Even Jimmy Carter warned of the potential for mail ballot fraud in 2005.
That’s also to say nothing of the other shenanigans in 2020, which included Leftmedia and Big Tech censorship of Biden family corruption. That suppression likely changed the outcome all by itself because, had voters known about the influence-peddling scheme being run by Joe Biden’s drug-addled son Hunter before the election, fewer of them would have voted to bring that kind of “decency” and “integrity” back to Washington. One might argue that such suppression amounted to election fraud.
Again, though, Smith just assumes that the 2020 election was “legitimate” for the purposes of charging and smearing Trump.
He also argues that Trump tried to “overturn” the election — as if the autocratic tyrant was destroying democracy, just like Biden said. Yet Trump genuinely thought he won. He was taking any and every action through the legal process to contest the results he considered fraudulent. That some of those efforts were far-fetched and eyebrow-raising doesn’t necessarily make them illegal.
Besides, does Trump’s (admittedly embarrassing) failure to prove his case in court in a matter of only a few weeks mean he was wrong? Is every court verdict the right one just because it was a court verdict?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think Trump’s post-election behavior was sometimes reprehensible — especially his treatment of his most loyal lieutenant, Mike Pence. I also think Democrats chose their opponent well because someone like Ron DeSantis would be leading Kamala Harris by 10 points. But none of that means Trump is a criminal, and the Democrats’ use of the legal system as a campaign tool against their chosen opponent is the real afront to our Republic.
Will Smith’s filing sway any voters? It probably won’t change any minds, but Smith is clearly hoping it might discourage some reluctant Trump voters from casting a ballot for him.
Finally, to circle back to the idea of weaponizing government, that can work both ways. Just as Smith is carrying out Justice Department wishes by colluding with a sympathetic judge to tarnish Trump just before the election, the DOJ says the National Archives has delayed the release of records related to the aforementioned Biden Crime Family. Good thing Kamala Harris has barely even heard of Joe Biden, right?
Douglas Andrews: Dems Wish Joe Would Just Go Away — Joe Biden still has nearly four months left in his presidency, but you wouldn’t know it from the way his party has kicked him to the curb.
Emmy Griffin: Mike Johnson Pitches a Better Road Forward — The House speaker wants to get the federal deficit under control should Republicans sweep the national elections.
Samantha Koch: Not Parody: Babylon Bee v. California — Gavin Newsom has outlawed parody political ads on social media, but the satirists at The Babylon Bee are fighting for free speech.
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Reader Comments
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 #64: Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Pop StarsWhat’s done in the dark shall be brought to the light, and that’s exactly what has happened to Sean Combs, a.k.a. “Diddy.” Combs is having his #MeToo moment with charges ranging from racketeering to sexual assault. What does any of this have to do with Justin Bieber and Mozart? Join Thomas, Sterling, and Andrew as they explain why you shouldn’t let your kids be pop stars.
“I’ve become friends with school shooters.” —Tim Walz
The BIG Lie
“No one’s trying to scaremonger and say we’re taking your guns.” —Tim Walz
A Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut
“I’m a knucklehead at times.” —Tim Walz
Friendly Fire
“JD Vance came to this debate to land a bunch of punches, and he did. … Tim Walz did not seem prepared for it.” —CNN’s Abby Phillip
“Harris has a big deficit on the economy. Harris has a big deficit on immigration. And Republicans were happy tonight and Democrats a little bit nervous that on those two issues, Vance carried it.” —CNN’s John King
“I think the lack of interviews that [Walz] has done with national media, with local media, it showed.” —CNN’s Dana Bash
“Walz did seem unsteady and, frankly, what I saw in Walz is somebody who has not faced questions on a national stage. … In contrast, JD Vance was very smooth.” —ABC News’s Jonathan Karl
“JD Vance needed to come away as that humble, likable guy from Hillbilly Elegy — it seemed like he did.” —ABC News’s Linsey Davis
“JD Vance was more effective in presenting a version of his party’s ticket that might broaden its appeal. He made Trumpism sound polite, calm and coherent.” —The New York Times’s Binyamin Appelbaum
“For Vance, it was a commanding performance. For Walz, it was a nervous ramble.” —The New York Times’s Ross Douthat
“Vance nimbly reframed questions to his advantage, sounded deeply concerned about ordinary Americans and managed to appear forthright even when sidestepping or dissembling. Vance ran circles around Walz.” —The New York Times’s Megan K. Stack
“Who Won The Debate? A Crisp Vance Fends Off Walz.” —The New York Times
“In debate, Walz struggles to answer question on his time in Hong Kong.” —The Washington Post
“Malpractice that Walz didn’t have a sharp, succinct answer to the Tiananmen Square question ready to go.” —The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta
“Vance is going home tonight with Walz’s wallet. Vance didn’t even have to snatch it, Walz just handed it over, along with a bunch of unearned compliments to Vance’s fine character.” —The Atlantic’s David Frum
“At one point, Vance wanted to correct something about how Haitians got into this country. And he was right. And the moderators wouldn’t let him correct it.” —NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo
“I was getting texts from Democrats panicked, quite frankly, who were saying, ‘Wow, [Vance is] really moderating himself on a lot of these issues. He’s the most likable he has ever been.’” —NBC News’s Kristen Welker
For the Record
“MSNBC really is like North Korean propaganda today insisting Walz had a great debate performance. Not even Democrats think he had a great debate performance.” —Erick Erickson
“Vance is turning in the best debate performance we’ve seen in a long time.” —Rich Lowry
“I’ve never seen a national candidate look as nervous as Tim Walz when he’s not speaking.” —Rich Lowry
“Tim Walz looks like he’s going to vomit on himself.” —Meghan McCain
“Now I see why they aren’t letting Walz do one on one interviews…” —Meghan McCain
Belly Laugh of the Day
“In terms of [the debate], what can you say? You saw the difference between truth and trust in terms of Walz and con and slick in terms of [Vance].” —Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Useful Idiot
“The answer is no.” —Joe Biden when asked, “Would you support an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites by Israel?”
Faux Pas
“The Biden administration’s strategy has put the United States in a much stronger geopolitical position today than it was four years ago. … We increased diplomatic pressure and strengthened the U.S. military’s force posture to deter and constrain Tehran.” —Secretary of State Antony Blinken (“The op-ed hit the web just a few hours before Iran launched ballistic missile strikes against Israel.” —Nate Jackson)
Baghdad Bob
“This administration has not lifted a single sanction on Iran. We cannot forget that. Rather, we continue to increase pressure. That’s what we have seen. Our extensive sanctions on Iran remain in place, and we certainly will continue to enforce them.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
Trump transition team member Tulsi Gabbard pans the Biden-Harris administration’s response to Hurricane Helene on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’ #foxnews #fox #theingrahamangle
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas warning that FEMA doesn’t have enough funding for hurricane season. #FoxNews
The billionaire accused the US Democratic Party of trying to censor citizens under the guise of fighting hate speech
Tech mogul Elon Musk has accused the US Democratic Party of trying to stifle free speech in the country by claiming to combat hate speech and misinformation.
The billionaire made the comment following Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate between Democratic candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, where they discussed a number of issues, including free speech and censorship.
Walz stated during the debate that he does not believe that hate speech, threatening language or misinformation is protected under the First Amendment, which grants US citizens the right to free speech.
“You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, that’s the Supreme Court test,” Walz said, referring to a 1919 quote from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Writing on X on Wednesday, Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, warned that “the Democratic Party openly wants to take your freedom of speech under the guise of what THEY deem to be ‘hate.’”
During the debate, Vance argued that censorship, which was being carried out by Big Tech companies and supported by Kamala Harris and US President Joe Biden, was a “much bigger threat to democracy than anything we’ve seen in the last four years,” including the January 6 Capitol Hill riots, which the Democratic Party has repeatedly cited as proof of the threat to democracy posed by Trump.
“We do have a threat to democracy […] It’s big technology companies silencing their fellow citizens, and it’s Kamala Harris saying that rather than debate and persuade her fellow Americans, she’d like to censor people who engage in misinformation,” Vance said.
The Republican VP hopeful also accused the Biden-Harris administration of trying to get Americans banned from platforms like Facebook for criticizing government mask mandates for toddlers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“That’s not yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, that is criticizing the policies of the government, which is the right of every American,” Vance argued.
Back in August, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden administration had pressured Facebook to “censor” some Covid-19 content, and that the FBI had ordered the platform to suppress a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in the lead-up to the 2020 election.
Prominent Evangelical pastor and author Ray Ortlund decided to “go for it” on the weekend, tweeting out his conviction of “Never Trump. This time Harris. Always Jesus,” resulting in a bucketload of backlash that ended in Ortlund deleting his whole account.
After being asked how he could justify voting for Harris, Ortlund offered:
“Abortion is a horrible evil. But the evils on the other side have risen to levels that jeopardize the foundational rule of law in our country. I am thinking long-term and voting for us to have a national renewal in the future”
Unfortunately, no one was able to press him on the fact that if anyone is seeking to “jeopardize the foundational rule of law in our country,” it’s the Democrats.
Yet rather than gamely engage with his critics and justify such a view (at the very least, he could have said “Never Trump, Never Harris,” but didn’t), Ortlund deleted his entire X account, shutting down all future conversations on the matter.
Ortlund later revealed on his Threads page that he was “being misinterpreted,” even though he clearly wasn’t. When asked how he was being misinterpreted, he refused to say other than to insist that “answering your question could risk reversing my decision to delete.”
Leave it to the Biden admin to send $2.4 Billion to Ukraine when the East coast is literally under water and in desperate need of assistance due to Hurricane Helene.
Of those cleared by ICE, 13,099 have convictions for homicide, and another 1,845 were facing criminal charges. Some 9,461 have convictions for sex offenses (not including assault or commercialized sex), and 2,659 face pending charges. The convictions include other crimes such as assault (62,231), robbery (10,031), sexual assault (15,811), weapons offenses (13,423), and dangerous drugs (56,533).
About 7.4 million noncitizens are in the “national docket data,” so 662,776 is 9% of the total, and if one extrapolates the numbers to the homicide rate in this country, it strongly indicates that the government is letting migrants into this country who commit murder at a rate 50% higher than the rest of the U.S. population.
And these numbers clearly underestimate the crime rate of these noncitizens. The noncitizens in the “national docket data” turned themselves in to border agents for processing or were caught. Those who don’t turn themselves in are obviously far more likely to have something to hide from those doing the processing, so-called “gotaways,” who are observed illegally entering the U.S. but not caught or turned back.
These figures coincide with other data from the Arizona prison system and show illegal aliens commit crime at much higher rates than Americans or legal immigrants.
Under the Remain-in-Mexico policy, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did background checks on immigrants’ cases, including contacting the country that the immigrant is from before they are approved to come to the U.S.
ICE agents cannot access the same databases to check on the immigrants, and they didn’t contact the immigrant’s home country. Plus, the massive inflow of immigrants has overwhelmed the system. The Deputy Director for ICE blames the “enormous workload” agents face, so they haven’t been able to do even the limited background checks they are doing. There are so many coming in that the government can’t house these immigrants until their backgrounds are properly checked.
ICE processed these criminals as they entered the country, but it didn’t identify them as criminals, so it released them into the country. Now, they are just walking around freely in the United States, and no one knows where they are.
It took over six months for the Biden administration to finally respond to a congressional request for these numbers. The deputy director for ICE “apologized” for the delay.
As bad as these numbers are, the reality may be even worse. The Biden-Harris administration is cooking the books to make the border crisis not look as bad as it is. For example, in mid-September, retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke testified how the Biden-Harris administration ordered him not to publicize the arrests of illegal border crossers identified as having ties to terrorism.
Democrats quickly pointed out that some of these criminals came in before the Biden administration. But the administration’s letter to Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, didn’t provide a breakdown of how many came through under Biden-Harris. The administration policy, with its limited background checks and overwhelmed agents, has a much higher error rate compared to Trump’s Remain-in-Mexico approach. Background checks are ineffective if officials don’t even contact the immigrant’s home country.
Even if illegal immigrants weren’t committing crimes at higher rates than the general population, the American people have a right to expect those entering this country to be screened in order to prevent more murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and thieves from entering the country. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have the authority to call for expedited extradition for criminal illegal aliens in the U.S., but they have only moved to make extradition more difficult.
John R. Lott Jr. is a contributor to RealClearInvestigations, focusing on voting and gun rights. His articles have appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, USA Today, and Chicago Tribune. Lott is an economist who has held research and/or teaching positions at the University of Chicago, Yale University, Stanford, UCLA, Wharton, and Rice.
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