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
▶️ Communion Preparation Service for Zion Presbyterian Church. The sermon will likely go live around 7:00pm Eastern Time.
Examining Our Love for the World – Pastor Rom Prakashpalan Sermon
1 John 2:15-17 – Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Rom is married to Maegan and they have four children. Rom was raised as a Hindu and became an atheist early in life. The Lord called him to faith through hearing the gospel in 2009 (Romans 10:17). Soon after, he felt a call to gospel ministry. He graduated from the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) in 2020 with an MDiv. He was first ordained and installed as a ruling elder at DRPC in March 2015 and then a teaching elder in July 2020 by the Midwest Presbytery of the RPCNA. He is now the Resident Supply for the Zion Presbyterian Church in Fredericksburg, VA – a congregation of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing).
…That your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment…that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.
PHILIPPIANS 1:9, 10
I am in disagreement with many when I insist that the flaw in current evangelism lies in its humanistic approach. It struggles to be supernaturalistic but never quite makes it. It is frankly fascinated by the great, noisy, aggressive world with its big names, its hero worship, its wealth and its garish pageantry.
In this quasi-Christian scheme of things God becomes the Aladdin lamp who does the bidding of everyone that will accept His Son and sign a card. The total obligation of the sinner is discharged when he accepts Christ. After that he has but to come with his basket and receive the religious equivalent of everything the world offers and enjoy it to the limit.
Those who have not accepted Christ thus must be content with this world, but with the view held by many today the Christian gets this world with the one to come thrown in as a bonus!
This gross misapprehension of the truth is back of much of our present evangelical activity. It determines directions, builds programs, decides the content of sermons, fixes the quality of local churches and even of whole denominations, sets the pattern for religious writers.
This concept of Christianity is little more than weak humanism allied with weak Christianity to give it ecclesiastical respectability. It may be identified by its religious approach. Invariably it begins with man and his needs and then looks around for God; true Christianity reveals God as searching for man to deliver him from his ambitions!1
AFTER these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. (It was well to keep together and enjoy the communion of saints. Good society makes good men better.)
3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. (As they had as yet no directions to go upon their spiritual business, they acted commendably in following their daily callings, for nothing is more dangerous than indolence.)
4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. (Everything tended to remind them of their old times with their Lord. Fishing in the old place, the old failures, the old miracles, and the old repast, would all help them to identify their Master. But what a new light was over all!)
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught,
11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. (“Be of use! Forward! To Christ!” These were the watchwords of Peter, and should be ours.)
12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. (Jesus here showed himself to be what he still is the Provider, the Host, the Husband of his Church.)
15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? (The Greek word means in this third question more than before, and might be rendered, “Lovest thou me dearly?”) Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (He had three times denied, and he must three times avow his Lord.)
18, 19 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God (namely, by crucifixion). And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Thus was erring Peter fully restored. How mightily would that word “follow me” ring in his ears and influence his whole future. Follow me in doctrine, follow me in practice, follow me in sufferings, follow me in death, follow me to glory. May the Lord say to each one of us with power, Follow Me.
My soul! thou knowest, and hast long known, from the many wounds given thee by Satan, what a cruel, insidious, and powerful enemy thou hast to contend with; and thou too truly knowest, also, how sadly unequal thou art in thyself to resist his wiles. He is a prince of the power of the air: he is by nature a spirit, and therefore invisible; thou seest not his approaches: he is a tremendous foe, full of envy, malignity, subtilty, craft, and design: and what renders him yet more formidable, is, that in the corruptions and unbelief of thy fallen nature, he hath but too many confederates in thine own heart, to aid him in his diabolical designs. Where then is thy strength to resist him? It cannot be in thyself, nor in thy best exertions. The devil would laugh at these, and all would be but as feathers to the breath of his temptations. Hear what the apostle saith: “Whom resist steadfast in the faith.” See here, where thy strength is. Faith in Jesus is the only, and it is an infallible defence against all the fiery darts of the wicked. There is nothing that Satan dreads, but the blood of the cross. There is nothing that conquers him, but faith in Jesus’s blood. Tell him of the blood which cleanseth from all sin, and he will flee from thee. This was the sole cause by which the holy armies in heaven cast down the accuser which accused them before our God, day and night: “they overcame by the blood of the Lamb;” (Rev. 12:9–11;) and the same will give thee the victory now. Faith in the blood of the cross is the grace by which we have access to God. It is by faith the soul looks to Jesus; by faith the soul is kept steadfastly resting on Jesus; by faith the devil is steadfastly resisted, in taking confidence in the full and complete redemption that Jesus accomplished on the cross. Look then, my soul, for ever to the cross, and while thy faith honours Jesus, Jesus will honour thee; and this will be the standard which the Spirit of Jehovah will lift up, when at any time the enemy cometh in like a flood. (Isaiah 59:19.) Oh! the triumphs of the cross! “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb.”1
Saul had been commanded to slay utterly all the Amalekites and their cattle. Instead of doing so, he preserved the king, and suffered his people to take the best of the oxen and of the sheep. When called to account for this, he declared that he did it with a view of offering sacrifice to God; but Samuel met him at once with the assurance that sacrifices were no excuse for an act of direct rebellion. The sentence before us is worthy to be printed in letters of gold, and to be hung up before the eyes of the present idolatrous generation, who are very fond of the fineries of will-worship, but utterly neglect the laws of God. Be it ever in your remembrance, that to keep strictly in the path of your Saviour’s command is better than any outward form of religion; and to hearken to his precept with an attentive ear is better than to bring the fat of rams, or any other precious thing to lay upon his altar. If you are failing to keep the least of Christ’s commands to his disciples, I pray you be disobedient no longer. All the pretensions you make of attachment to your Master, and all the devout actions which you may perform, are no recompense for disobedience. “To obey,” even in the slightest and smallest thing, “is better than sacrifice,” however pompous. Talk not of Gregorian chants, sumptuous robes, incense, and banners; the first thing which God requires of his child is obedience; and though you should give your body to be burned, and all your goods to feed the poor, yet if you do not hearken to the Lord’s precepts, all your formalities shall profit you nothing. It is a blessed thing to be teachable as a little child, but it is a much more blessed thing when one has been taught the lesson, to carry it out to the letter. How many adorn their temples and decorate their priests, but refuse to obey the word of the Lord! My soul, come not thou into their secret.1
16 Qohelet then evaluates the situation presented in the previous verses. Once again, he begins by giving the relative advantage to wisdom, this time over something as significant as power. (Compare, for instance, the relative advantage accorded to wisdom over folly in 2:12–16.) Yet wisdom is once again attenuated by the rest of the verse. Some interpreters believe that the reaction to the poor wise man’s advice as described in the last part of the verse indicates that he was unable to save the city because no one listened to him. This interpretation flies in the face of v. 15. The best understanding of v. 16 is that, after he saved the city, no one remembered him or paid any attention to him. Thus, Qohelet reiterates that, though wisdom is better in the short run, it makes no difference in the long run (see also 4:13–16).1
16. He applies the lesson of the parable: wisdom is often not heeded. Though wisdom may deliver from the most adverse situations, the humble circumstances of the underprivileged will tell against him and outweigh his wisdom. Strength refers to physical prowess, individual or military, and was often noted among royal achievements, as a series of allusions to Israel’s archives makes clear.2
9:16 It grieved the Preacher that though wisdom is better than power, yet the poor man’s advice was subsequently despised. As soon as the crisis was past, no one was interested in what he had to say.
This parable has a definite evangelistic ring to it. The city is like man’s soul—small and defenseless. The great king is Satan, bent on invasion and destruction (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2). The deliverer is the Savior—poor (2 Cor. 8:9) and wise (1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 2:3). Though He provided deliverance, yet how little He is honored and appreciated! Most people of the world live as if He had never died. And even Christians are often careless about remembering Him in His appointed way, that is, in the Lord’s Supper.3
I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?Isaiah 51:12-13
Let the text itself be taken as the portion for today. There is no need to enlarge upon it. Trembling one, read it, believe it, feed on it, and plead it before the Lord. He whom you fear is only a man after all; while He who promises to comfort you is God, your Maker, and the creator of heaven and earth. Infinite comfort more than covers a very limited danger.
“Where is the fury of the oppressor?” It is in the Lord’s hand. It is only the fury of a dying creature; fury which will end as soon as the breath is gone from the nostril. Why, then, should we stand in awe of one who is as frail as ourselves? Let us not dishonor our God by making a god of puny man. We can make an idol of a man by rendering to him excessive fear as well as by paying him inordinate love. Let us treat men as men, and God as God; and then we shall go calmly on in the path of duty, fearing the Lord and fearing nobody else.
In what way was Jesus less than the Father? Why would Jesus say, “The Father is greater than I.” In this video, Pastor Nelson answers your question: If Jesus was God, why did He say, “The Father is greater than I” in John 14:28? *** Source Article: https://www.gotquestions.org/father-greater-i.html
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” – James 1:13-15
This story and every sin’s saga begins with a desire. Not all desires are evil, of course. Some we should have, like the desire to be a better Christian. Some we may have, like the desire for children, though even here we must be careful if God in His grace and wisdom withholds from us what we legitimately may desire. Some desires we may not have. We may not crave what God forbids. There is no nuance here. Ahab had the wrong kind of desire. He may have had a green thumb, but he also had a green heart. He envied Naboth’s vineyard so he could turn it into a vegetable garden closer to the palace. And that desire led to death.
When righteous Naboth turns down the offer, Ahab goes home and sulks like a petulant child. By the way, how we respond to thwarted desires often can reveal whether our desires are godly. Wicked Jezebel is no help. Had she been godly, she could have encouraged him to applaud Naboth for his righteousness and to be thankful that God didn’t let him have what he sinfully desired. It is a blessing to marry well. Instead, Jezebel uses forgery, blasphemy, and perjury to steal the vineyard from Naboth.
Ahab got what he wanted, but he got more. His desire led to death. Naboth’s. But his own too. What a warning to us to kill sin before it kills us.
Suggestions for prayer
Ask the Lord to show us where we have ungodly desires so that by His Spirit we may put them to death. Pray that we would rejoice in the blessings of God to others and be content with His kindness to us.
Reverend John van Eyk began his ministry in Cambridge, Ontario as Church Planter and Minister of the Riverside Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. After 13 years there he served almost 10 years in the Tain/Fearn congregation of the Associated Presbyterian Churches in the Scottish Highlands. John currently serves as Senior Pastor of Trinity Reformed Church (United Reformed) in Lethbridge, Alberta. Get this devotional delivered directly to your phone each day via our RP App. This devotional is made available by the Nearer To God Devotional team, who also make available in print, for purchase, at NTGDevotional.com.
“Absolute Hell” – German Teacher Describes Sexism, Bullying, & Racism In Predominately Migrant School In a harrowing interview, a long-time teacher in a predominately migrant school describes a “hellish” experience that involved “knife violence, bullying, and sexism.” Her testimony is laying bare the lie that diversity is always a strength, and her experience may help explain Germany’s plummeting PISA test scores and worsening educational outcomes.
Extreme rainfall hits Ardèche Cévennes with up to 700 mm (27.6 inches) in 24 hours, France A slow-moving storm brought extremely heavy rains to parts of France on Thursday, October 17, 2024, with the Ardèche Cévennes region experiencing rainfall totals as high as 700 mm (27.6 inches). This led to widespread flooding and approximately 350 rescue operations. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition, said the region is facing a situation that is unprecedented in its scale.
NWS confirms record 15 tornadoes in one day in South Florida Florida saw a record-breaking 15 tornadoes on October 9, 2024, as Hurricane “Milton” swept through — the most ever recorded in the region in a single day. Among the 15 two were rated EF-3, causing significant damage across Palm Beach Gardens and Lakeport communities.
55 Toxic Chemicals Discovered in Current Shots, ‘Self-Amplifying’ mRNA Shots in Pipeline “We report laboratory results from high precision Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) that confirm and expand previous results by SEM-EDX. To this end, the contents of vials from different lots of the brands AstraZeneca/Oxford, CanSino Biologics, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm, Moderna and Sputnik V were analyzed. Among the undeclared chemical elements were detected 11 of the 15 cytotoxic lanthanides used in electronic devices and optogenetics.”
Legal turning point in the UK as Army veteran found guilty of thought crimes In a case that has raised concerns about freedom of thought, religion and expression, Army veteran Adam Smith-Connor has been at the centre of a controversy for almost two years surrounding his silent prayers within a “buffer zone” for an abortion clinic in Bournemouth, England. Yesterday he was found guilty. This is a legal turning point in the UK where prayerful thoughts in someone’s mind are considered a criminal offence.
Russia-China Sign “Partnership Pact” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jin Ping have just signed a “partnership pact.” Russia agrees to support China’s goals in Taiwan. China agrees to support Russia’s goals in Ukraine. Jointly they condemn the United States.
Texas AG sues doctor for violating ban on prescribing trans drugs to kids Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a complaint against a doctor who allegedly violated a state law prohibiting “gender transition” procedures for minors by prescribing irreversible puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to 21 patients.
Majority of Protestant pastors blame poor economy for negative impact on offerings A majority of Protestant pastors are blaming a poor economy for their struggling bottom lines after experiencing double-digit declines to zero improvement in financial offerings from churchgoers over the last year, data from a new study released by Lifeway Research show — but the sentiment is divided along political lines.
“To prevent crimes, is the noblest end and aim of criminal jurisprudence. To punish them, is one of the means necessary for the accomplishment of this noble end and aim.” —James Wilson (1790)
Israel greases Hamas leader and 10/7 mastermind: They poured into the streets and cheered the news in Tel Aviv, and rightly so. Whether through Providence or dumb luck, the Israel Defense Forces flushed out and dispatched Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar yesterday in southern Gaza, very near the Egyptian border. According to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, Sinwar left behind a gun and nearly $11,000. It’s safe to assume he was on the move, making his way toward safety outside of Gaza as the IDF continued to squeeze what’s left of his Hamas fighting forces. Former Bush foreign policy staffer Dan Senor captured the extraordinary nature of Sinwar’s death and what it means to the people of Israel: “He is the closest figure Israel has to Osama bin Laden. … What Sinwar and his team, and Hamas, orchestrated on October 7 was the equivalent, on a population basis, to 33 9/11s.” Justice has now been served, but only because Israel pursued a peace-through-strength approach rather than listening to the pro-Hamas voices in the Biden-Harris regime.
Leftmedia & Big Tech
Meta engineer admits election interference: The undercover journalist outfit headed by James O’Keefe has once again exposed the radical Left. This time, it’s the social media giant Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. For a long time, we, along with many other conservative media outlets, have noted Facebook’s suppressive actions against us for daring to publish conservative views and analysis. While Facebook denies it engages in any political bias, the truth is the exact opposite. In O’Keefe Media Group’s latest undercover video, a senior Meta engineer states that any anti-Kamala Harris posts on Facebook or Instagram are “automatically demoted.” He explains, “Say your uncle in Ohio said something about Kamala Harris being unfit to be a president because she doesn’t have a child; that kind of sh*t is automatically demoted.” He further notes that the individual making the anti-Harris post would not be notified that their post had been demoted. He went on to say that these individuals are then “red-listed.” When asked if this meant they were shadow-banned, he answered, “Yes.” This confirms what we have long asserted. Meta is infringing Americans’ free speech rights.
Free State of Florida sues Biden administration over voter rolls: Those of us who can remember back when Florida was a battleground state are happy to see that the Sunshine State isn’t resting on its red-state laurels. Yesterday, in the face of pre-election interference from Alejandro Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Insecurity, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody slapped the Biden-Harris regime with a lawsuit over its refusal to help the state purge the noncitizens from its voter rolls. If we didn’t know better, we’d say this is part of a pattern from the regime — especially when we consider its similar efforts to force Arizona and Virginia to keep their contaminated voter rolls rather than clean them up. “Voting,” said Moody, “is a right granted to American citizens — not illegal immigrants or other noncitizens. The Biden-Harris administration has allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country, and we must ensure that only citizens are on our voter rolls. I am taking legal action against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Mayorkas to ensure Florida is able to maintain the integrity of our state’s voter rolls.”
NYT withheld evidence in plagiarism story: Earlier this week, Christopher Rufo alleged that Kamala Harris plagiarized in her book Smart on Crime. Following Rufo’s report, The New York Times dutifully dismissed it as amounting to little other than what plagiarism expert Jonathan Bailey concluded was “an error and not an intent to defraud.” However, as Bailey has now received the full dossier, he said that his analysis was only his “initial reaction,” and “with this new information … I believe the case is more serious than I commented to the New York Times.” However, Bailey maintains, “The overarching points remain. While there are problems with this work, the pattern points to sloppy writing habits, not a malicious intent to defraud.” In other words, Harris plagiarized, but it doesn’t matter because it’s not as bad as some have played it up to be. Effectively, Bailey argues that because others have been forgiven “for much greater plagiarism sins,” holding it against Harris as anything other than simply being sloppy work is unfair. That’s what you get with a DEI hire like Harris.
CBS hit with FCC complaint over edited 60 Minutes Harris interview (Washington Examiner)
Politics
What Biden told Obama: Remember when, in the immediate aftermath of the Democrats’ coup against Joe Biden, Barack Obama dragged his feet on endorsing Kamala Harris? On Wednesday, at the funeral of Ethel Kennedy, we got a definitive sense of why. As the New York Post reports, “President Biden griped to former President Barack Obama that ‘she’ is ‘not as strong as me’ — with Obama agreeing ‘that’s true’ — in a stunning off-mic conversation deciphered for The Post by a professional lip reader.” Ouch. Joe Biden sets a pretty low bar for presidential strength and vigor, but Harris’s performance of late lends credence to his assessment. The Post continues: “Moments earlier, Obama said, ‘It’s important that we have some time together,’ in a possible reference to campaigning alongside Harris. The dialogue was translated for The Post by Jeremy Freeman, a London-based forensic lip reader who was born deaf and for 16 years has served as a University College London-certified expert witness for litigants, the police and journalists.” So, we can say with confidence that the democracy defenders within the Democrats’ high command are experiencing a serious case of buyer’s remorse.
Border Patrol resignations? Does anyone really believe the border crisis will improve under a Kamala Harris presidency? She shifts the blame to Donald Trump for the Biden-Harris open border, but everyone knows the score. Should Harris win the election, the situation will get worse given that members of the agency tasked with securing the border promise to leave the job. “I’m not doing this … again,” said one agent who described working under the Biden-Harris administration as “four years in hell.” Another stated, “Lots of guys who can retire will go” if Harris wins, but “if Trump wins, they’ll stay.” Another agent explained, “Under this administration, they’ve done everything they could to make our job as inefficient as possible. They can’t outwardly tell us not to do our job, but when you’re watching criminals come in and get released, it sucks.” While Harris promotes herself as a “border state prosecutor,” the agents that have had to live under her and Biden’s leadership know better.
DeSantis doesn’t take the climate bait: After two hurricanes hit Florida in a matter of weeks, Governor Ron DeSantis has once again demonstrated his competence as a leader in quickly responding and meeting the needs of Floridians. But that is not the story some Leftmedia reporters want to focus on; rather, they are more interested in pushing the climate change narrative. DeSantis refuses to placate this nonsense. A reporter asked, “When will the words ‘climate change’ come out of your mouth?” DeSantis responded, “The chance of me virtue signaling for people in the media is zero, so do not count on that. I don’t — I don’t subscribe to your religion.” DeSantis then went on to educate the reporter regarding the climate change agenda, stating, “I think you should be more honest about what that would mean for people, taxing them to smithereens, stopping oil and gas, making people pay dramatically more for energy. We would — we would collapse as a country. So this whole idea of climate ideology driving policy — it just factually can’t work. And so, in Florida, our energy is gonna be affordable and reliable. That’s what we’re gonna do.” Exactly.
Culture
Seinfeld slinks away from reality: Back in April, comedian Jerry Seinfeld committed a grievous gaffe — defined as an accidental telling of an inconvenient truth — when he blamed the hard Left for the death of comedy. “This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people,” he said at the time. Everyone knows this to be true, but something has happened to Seinfeld since then because he’s now walking back that bit of truth-telling. Speaking on his “Breaking Bread” podcast, Seinfeld said he “regrets” the remarks. “I said that the ‘extreme left’ has suppressed the art of comedy. I did say that. That’s not true. It’s not true. If you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain, and you’re going to make the gate. That’s comedy.” That may be true, Jerry, but skiing is a lot more interesting when the slopes are steeper and when the skiers are bolder, braver, and unafraid of missing a gate here or there.
Economy
Wealthier Americans are driving retail spending and powering U.S. economy (Associated Press)
Kmart’s blue light fades to black with the shuttering of its last full-scale US store (Associated Press)
Sex Abuse
Los Angeles Archdiocese reaches $880 million sex abuse settlement (Reuters)
Harris took credit for this inmate sex change policy as a “transitioned” murderer will serve his time in a women’s prison (Washington Times)
Under Tim Walz, Minnesota pays for kids to go on “queer” wilderness trips without parents (Daily Wire)
Report exposes top 12 US hospitals that are transing the kids (Not the Bee)
For the record, Harris led the 2020 Demo Defund the Police chorus, insisting, “For far too long, the status quo thinking has been to believe that by putting more police on the street, you’re going to have more safety — and that’s just wrong.” Foment riots and put fewer cops on the street. What could go wrong?
Curiously (said with an eye roll), in 2021, after Biden took office, the FBI and DoJ’s Department of Justice Statistics, previously the gold standard sources for crime data, altered the way crime data was collected nationwide, and that change obfuscated the real data on violent crime. I was acutely aware of this politically motivated charade because I have researched year-over-year crime data for decades as the basis for columns such as “Race and Violence: A Politically Inconvenient Truth.” The “new” crime reports basically buried or did not collect all the data.
I operate on the simple principle, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Apparently, however, the FBI, which had its integrity seriously compromised by some high-level deep state hacks during the Trump years, appears to have “fixed” the data for the Biden/Harris regime.
Ahead of this year’s already rigged presidential election, in its 2023 annual crime data report for the prior year, the FBI reported the surge in violent crime between 2020 and 2023 reversed course — a nominal 2.1% reduction. What fantastic news for the Harris/Walz ticket. Of course, that slight reduction in crime reported by the FBI is kind of like the slight reduction in the inflation rate year over year — prices have still ballooned in the years Harris has been in office, and so has crime.
Typical of the FBI’s “crime reduction” layup for Biden and Haris was this claim when promoting their gun-confiscation agenda in June before Harris booted Biden to the curb. According to Biden: “You know, the year before I came to the presidency, the murder rate was the highest increase on record. Last year, we saw the largest decrease of murder in the history of (inaudible). And those rates are continuing to fall faster than ever. Last year, we also saw one of the lowest rates of all violent crime in nearly 50 years. Murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery all dropped sharply, along with burglary and property crime.”
Well, actually, no.
Since then, Trump has challenged the repeated claims by Harris that “crime is down” much as they claim “inflation is down.”
Recall in the Trump v. Harris debate how much help ABC “moderators” gave Harris, errantly “fact-checking” Trump real-time on crime. Trump declared what we all know: “Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made. Crime in this country is through the roof.” ABC’s David Muir quickly responded, “President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country, but Vice President the…” Trump interrupted Muir: “Excuse me, the FBI — they were defrauding statements. They didn’t include the worst cities. They didn’t include the cities with the worst crime. It was a fraud.”
As we knew then and have confirmed now, you can fact-check ABC “false” and fact-check Trump “mostly true.” The FBI did not wantonly commit “fraud,” but it certainly was deceptive — and the timing certainly suggests that deception was intentional.
The fact is, as Trump noted, the FBI has not been including some of the worst data since it “fixed” the reporting process in 2021 — a point I made in the aforementioned column two years ago.
Now, as it turns out, not only is violent crime still 40% higher than it was in the year prior to the Demos’ summer of rage festivities, but the FBI has altered its 2023 report data making clear now that violent crime did not reverse its upward trend in 2022.
That FBI revision includes thousands of previously unreported crimes, including 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, more than 33,000 robberies, and more than 37,000 aggravated assaults.
And the revised assessment: Violent crime increased in 2022 by 4.5% — a 6.6% swing.
As College of William and Mary Professor and crime researcher Carl Moody kindly observed, “The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data.”
Do ya think?
So about the FBI’s latest report two weeks ago that violent crime declined 3% in 2023, the fact is only 85% of crime data was reported to the FBI in 2023. No word yet on when the actual violent crime numbers for 2023 will be updated, but don’t expect that lying Kamala Harris will stop repeating the “old data.”
Douglas Andrews: Donald Trump Takes on ‘Transgender’ Sports — While abortion animates many women to vote Democrat, Republicans are now appealing to women on the transgender sports issue.
PopCon #66: Will & Harper — Thomas, Sterling, and Andrew review “Will and Harper,” a new documentary on Netflix that follows Will Ferrell and his longtime friend Harper (Andrew) Steele, who attempts to embrace a new life as a woman.
Tim Walz the ‘Everyman’ Act — Nationally syndicated radio host Dana Loesch reacts to a video of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attempting to load his shotgun.
SHORT CUTS
Kamala Word Salads and Lies
“I mean, you know what, there’s certainly a lot of, I, I feel the weight … of the moment, and my role. I feel an extraordinary weight of responsibility right now. … This is a margin-of-error race. It’s tight. I’m gon’ win. I’m gon’ win. But it’s tight.” —Kamala Harris, doing her best black female impersonation for Charlamagne The God
“My pledge is that as president, I will work on decriminalizing [pot] because I know exactly how those laws have been used to disproportionately impact certain populations and specifically Black men.” —Kamala Harris on marijuana legalization
“I will follow the law.” —Kamala Harris, lying about using taxpayer resources for “transgender” procedures
“It will be a free and fair election if we, the American people, stand up for that. You know, I see it as this. I think that the democracy has — it’s like two points of nature. One, there’s a fact about a democracy that when it is intact, it the strength that it possesses in terms of the protection of people’s individual rights and liberties.” —Kamala Harris when asked if she would accept election results if Trump is the victor
“Every moment in time, and certainly this one. To see the moment in time in which we exist and are present and to be able to contextualize it. To understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past, but the future.” — Kamala Harris
Big Tease
“For a long stretch, Americans have hungered for real leadership. We’ve yearned for a figure who was sharp, well-versed on all the tough issues on our national political scene, and not afraid to get into the details. A level-headed thinker who challenges assumptions and rejects the knee-jerk rhetoric and partisan talking points. Someone on the hunt for genuine answers to the country’s questions, with little patience for blather. Whether it’s a moment of crisis or a relatively normal evening, we just want to turn on the television and see someone talking to us who’s poised, reassuring, and direct. … The only problem is that Bret Baier isn’t running for president.” —Jim Geraghty
For the Record
“Having boys compete against our daughters is not fair.” —Ted Cruz
“The “whole-of-government equity agenda” will not yield prosperity. It will only divide Americans and stoke resentment while further degrading the nation’s finances. Policymakers must abolish the DEI bureaucracy and restore colorblind equality as the operating principle of the United States government — before it is too late.“ —Christopher Rufo
Rule of Law?
“By the way, 34 felonies. And so far, he hadn’t gotten sentenced. He got the sentence kicked back, but I want to watch that sentence.” —Joe Biden gleefully awaiting the results of lawfare against Donald Trump
And Last
“Unfortunately, Governor Walz isn’t here himself. But don’t worry. He’ll say that he was. He’s good at saying that.” —Donald Trump at the Al Smith Dinner
“I used to think the Democrats were crazy for saying that men have periods. But then I met Tim Walz.” —Donald Trump at the Al Smith Dinner
“The Democrats have been telling us Trump’s reelection is a threat to democracy. In fact, they were so concerned of this threat, they staged a coup, ousted their democratically elected incumbent, and installed Kamala Harris.” —comedian Jim Gaffigan at the Al Smith Dinner
You may have forgotten just how corrupt the Biden administration is. Miranda Devine is the world’s expert on the subject.
(0:22) Zelenskyy Campaigning for Kamala Harris (5:43) The Blob Owns The Presidency (11:30) How The Blob Is Using Ukraine to Push Transgender Ideology (20:28)… pic.twitter.com/dtvo7HHx79
Israelis celebrated across their country as news spread of the death of Oct. 7 attacks mastermind Yahya Sinwar, Prime Minister Netanyahu said it’s the beginning of the end of the war in Gaza, Israel explains how IDF soldiers killed Sinwar, President Biden talks with Netanyahu about a ceasefire, Gazans hope for the end of the fighting that has devastated their lives, and Netanyahu says it’s also time to end the war with all of Iran’s proxies; Chris Mitchell talks about the future of the war against Hamas, how Israel will respond to the expected calls for a ceasefire, how Hezbollah is expected to step up its attacks on Israel after Sinwar’s death, and the impact Sinwar’s demise will have on Iran’s plans in the region; a look at where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris stand on the crises and warfare in the Middle East, and what their policies for the region would be as President; the battle over teaching the Bible in public school classrooms in Oklahoma; and avid hiker Kawika Singson rescues three trapped hunting dogs in Hawaii.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk kicked off a campaign swing across Pennsylvania Thursday in support of former President Trump, underlining the importance of the battleground state in the rapidly nearing election.
“I can’t emphasize enough that Pennsylvania is, I think, the linchpin in this election,” Musk said at a town hall in Folsom, Pa. “This election, I think, is going to decide the fate of America, and along with the fate of America, the fate of Western civilization.”
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has thrown his support behind Trump and said he plans to “probably do half a dozen” events across the Keystone State in the final weeks before the election to boost the former president.
At Thursday’s town hall, Musk emphasized the state’s upcoming voter registration deadline, urging attendees to register and encourage their families and friends to register by Monday.
“The next, basically, three days are essential,” Musk said. “I think we see that this election will be decided in Pennsylvania by, it could be 10,000 votes, it could be 1,000 votes, it could be 10 votes. It could be some very tiny number, so every incremental person is a huge difference.”
Here are some clips:
Elon Musk from his Pennsylvania town hall
“We obviously want secure borders, we want safe cities, sensible spending so that we don’t have crazy inflation, we want freedom of speech, we want the Constitution to be upheld. I’m being told these are rightwing values. I’m like,… pic.twitter.com/aXKmLMTyzb
Elon Musk finished his Pennsylvania Town Hall by saying this will be the LAST election if Kamala Harris wins because she will proceed to legalize all the millions of illegals she has imported and turn every state blue.
Jim Gaffigan repeatedly took shots at Vice President Kamala Harris and fellow Democrats during Thursday night’s glitzy event in Manhattan after she opted to skip the Catholic charity bash.
Meta’s senior software engineer recently admitted to an undercover journalist at O’Keeffe Media Group that Facebook censors conservatives.
BREAKING: Senior Meta Engineer Reveals Anti-Kamala Posts Are “Automatically Demoted,” Admits Shadowbanning Tactics
“Say your uncle in Ohio said something about Kamala Harris is unfit to be a president because she doesn’t have a child, that kind of sh*t is automatically demoted,”… pic.twitter.com/4DSkvzvKmO
Jeevan Gyawali added that those who oppose Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in their posts would see their accounts shadowbanned and their posts demoted.
“Say your uncle in Ohio said something about Kamala Harris [being] unfit to be a president because she doesn’t have a child. That kind of s**t is automatically demoted,” he said.
Gyawali also claimed that the person “would not be notified” about what happened, meaning his account would be shadowbanned. During the conversation with the undercover journalist, he also mentioned Meta’s “Integrity Team,” a team that censors content through “civic classifiers,” a system meant to shadowban those who disagree with the status quo.
“That means if anything is related to political content, it’s automatically not shown,” he said, explaining what he meant by “civic classifiers.” “There is a SWAT team that’s already set up since April… just to think about all the scenarios of how the platform could be abused.”
Gyawali also admitted that Meta can influence the 2024 election, just like they did in 2020. He also claimed that founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg supports the censorship of conservatives.
James O’Keefe also published another video in which he called Gyawali to inform him that the woman who he thought was just his date was an undercover journalist.
James O’Keefe contacted Jeevan Gyawali to request comment regarding hidden camera footage in which Gyawali discusses Meta’s censorship practices. Upon hearing the details, Gyawali responded, “Ah, f*ck,” before quickly ending the call.
Donald Trump has previously stated that he would put Zuckerberg behind bars if he illegally influenced the 2024 election.
After that, Zuckerberg tried to do everything possible to restore his reputation in Trump’s eyes, even telling Trump that he would never vote for a Democrat this election cycle.
“I knew Zuckercuck was just trying to save face by pretending he was sorry for all the censorship last cycle. Trump needs to follow through and throw him in prison,” @ExposeDarkDeeds wrote.
I knew Zuckercuck was just trying to save face by pretending he was sorry for all the censorship last cycle. Trump needs to follow through and throw him in prison. pic.twitter.com/tAxrhh6YNw
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