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
…Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 CORINTHIANS 6:20
As Christian believers, we must practice living to the glory of God, actually and determinedly, for Paul’s exhortation to “do all to the glory of God” is more than pious idealism!
It is an integral part of the sacred revelation and is to be accepted as the very Word of Truth. It opens before us the possibility of making every act of our lives contribute to the glory of God. Lest we should be too timid to include everything, Paul mentions specifically eating and drinking. This humble privilege we share with the beasts that perish. If these lowly animal acts can be so performed as to honor God, then it becomes difficult to conceive of one that cannot.
The New Testament accepts as a matter of course that in His incarnation our Lord took upon Him a real human body, and no effort is made to steer around the downright implications of such a fact.
The Lord Jesus lived in that body here among men and never once performed a non-sacred act! His presence in human flesh sweeps away forever the evil notion that there is about the human body something innately offensive to the Deity.
God created our bodies, and we do not offend Him by placing the responsibility where it belongs. He is not ashamed of the work of His own hands!1
God is a good paymaster; he pays his servants while at work as well as when they have done it; and one of his payments is this: an easy conscience. If you have spoken faithfully of Jesus to one person, when you go to bed at night you feel happy in thinking, “I have this day discharged my conscience of that man’s blood.” There is a great comfort in doing something for Jesus. Oh, what a happiness to place jewels in his crown, and give him to see of the travail of his soul! There is also very great reward in watching the first buddings of conviction in a soul! To say of that girl in the class, “She is tender of heart, I do hope that there is the Lord’s work within.” To go home and pray over that boy, who said something in the afternoon which made you think he must know more of divine truth than you had feared! Oh, the joy of hope! But as for the joy of success! it is unspeakable. This joy, overwhelming as it is, is a hungry thing—you pine for more of it. To be a soul-winner is the happiest thing in the world. With every soul you bring to Christ, you get a new heaven upon earth. But who can conceive the bliss which awaits us above! Oh, how sweet is that sentence, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” Do you know what the joy of Christ is over a saved sinner? This is the very joy which we are to possess in heaven. Yes, when he mounts the throne, you shall mount with him. When the heavens ring with “Well done, well done,” you shall partake in the reward; you have toiled with him, you have suffered with him, you shall now reign with him; you have sown with him, you shall reap with him; your face was covered with sweat like his, and your soul was grieved for the sins of men as his soul was, now shall your face be bright with heaven’s splendour as is his countenance, and now shall your soul be filled with beatific joys even as his soul is.1
HOLY men of old spake as they were moved by the Spirit.
1, 2 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
4–7 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Former judgments are the sure proofs that present sin will also meet with punishment.
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15, 16 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20, 21 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. (The apostles were most anxious that believers should persevere, and therefore they cautioned them as to the dire results of apostasy. These frequent warnings should make us watchful, and lead us to cry mightily to him who alone is able to keep us from falling. Only divine grace can preserve us from the seducing spirits which abound on all sides.)
We only have two books left in the Old Testament and a few chapters left in the New Testament! We’ve done Psalms already and are almost through it a second time! Only one chapter left in Proverbs! Congratulations to those who’ve been with us from the start, and welcome to those who are joining us lately!
Zechariah 1:1 — This prophecy came between Haggai 1:15 and Haggai 2:10.
Zechariah 1:3 — Are you calling yourself a follower of God but feel that He is distant from you? Want the LORD to be closer to you? All you have to do is turn to Him by turning away from your sin (Zechariah 1:4).
Zechariah 1:12 — This is the seventy years that Jeremiah foretold (Jeremiah 29:10), the Chronicler recorded (2 Chronicles 36:21), and Daniel counted down (Daniel 9:1-2).
Zechariah 1:14 — Jimmy DeYoung believes that this is a theophany, i.e. the angel of the LORD is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus.
In verse 14 the Lord says He is “jealous for Jerusalem”. The Hebrew flavor for “jealous” is “aggressively possessive”. The Lord has chosen Jerusalem for His eternal abode, the place to dwell among His people, the Jewish people, forever. Therefore, He is “aggressively possessive” of the city.
Revelation 12:1 — John Walvoord explains the meanings:
As many commentators have noted they are seven in number: (1) the woman, representing Israel, (2) the dragon, representing Satan, (3) the man-child, referring to Christ, (4) Michael, representing the angels, (5) Israel, the remnant of the seed of the woman, (6) the beast out of the sea, the world dictator, and (7) the beast out of the earth, the false prophet and religious leader of the world.
Revelation 12:6 — 1,260 days is three and a half years. Many think Petra will be the place where the woman will be protected. Petra is surrounded by high cliffs.
You can also take a 3D tour of Petra courtesy of the Smithsonian:
Revelation 12:7 — Michael the Archangel was the one who helped the messenger get to Daniel (Daniel 10:13), contended with the devil (Jude 1:9), and will lead the angels fighting against Satan (Revelation 12:7).
Revelation 12:10 — What does it mean that Satan is the accuser of the brethren? A similar tactic is found in Job 1. Satan’s job is to tear us down. But we can overcome by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11)!
Revelation 12:17 — We are in a war. We won’t end up with a truce where Satan has half the world and Jesus has half the world. One side will win, and one side will lose. We’re not the generals – we’re the foot soldiers that have the privilege of serving in the army of the Lord. So let’s make sure that we know our Commander (“have the testimony”) and we keep His commandments. Here’s a song from Patch the Pirate about our responsibility in the Army!
Psalm 140:1 — The Psalmist knew about the war. He knew that his hope was in the LORD (Psalm 140:4, 6, 8).
Proverbs 30:17 – A visual depiction of the 5th Commandment.
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.1 Samuel 17:37
This is not a promise if we consider only the words, but it is truly so as to its sense; for David spoke a word which the Lord endorsed by making it true. He argued from past deliverances that he should receive help in a new danger. In Jesus all the promises are “Yea” and “Amen” to the glory of God by us, and so the Lord’s former dealings with His believing people will be repeated.
Come, then, let us recall the Lord’s former lovingkindness. We could not have hoped to be delivered aforetime by our own strength; yet the Lord delivered us. Will He not again save us? We are sure He will. As David ran to meet his foe, so will we. The Lord has been with us, He is with us, and He has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,” Why do we tremble? Was the past a dream? Think of the dead bear and lion. Who is this Philistine? True, he is not quite the same, and is neither bear nor lion; but then God is the same, and His honor is as much concerned in the one case as in the other. He did not save us from the beasts of the forest to let a giant kill us. Let us be of good courage.
Free Christmas Playlists and much more! – Home for Christmas Channel: https://bit.ly/4hUnIK9
Message Description:
Only sixteen verses in the entire Bible refer to Joseph by name, yet God selected him from all the men on earth to be Jesus’ father. Dr. David Jeremiah sheds light on this forgotten man of Christmas.
Since the time of the Reformation, some Christians have wondered whether Christmas Day should be celebrated at all. Today, Sinclair Ferguson brings thoughtful and biblical principles to this question. Hear more from Things Unseen with Sinclair B. Ferguson: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30acyfm60fWgA8zL6TjP3KtLhRFNHfxi
Job 1:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 January 31, 1892) was a British Reformed Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as the “Prince of Preachers.” In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around 10,000,000 people, often up to 10 times a week at different places. His sermons have been translated into many languages. Spurgeon was the pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London for 38 years. In 1857, he started a charity organization called Spurgeon’s which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon’s College, which was named after him after his death.
Spurgeon was a prolific author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, a commentary, books on prayer, a devotional, a magazine, and more. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime. Arguably, no other author, Christian or otherwise, has more material in print than C.H. Spurgeon.
“There are relatively few atheists among neurologists and brain surgeons and astrophysicists, but many among psychologists, sociologists, and historians. The reason seems obvious: the first study divine design, the second study human undesign.”1
“Trying to fill the God-sized hole in our hearts with things other than God is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with marbles.”
“Our culture has filled our heads but emptied our hearts, stuffed our wallets but starved our wonder. It has fed our thirst for facts but not for meaning or mystery. It produces ‘nice’ people, not heroes.”
“We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love.”
“The national anthem of Hell is ‘I did it my way.’”
“If your life is Christ, then your death will be only more of Christ, forever. If your life is only Christlessness, then your death will be only more Christlessness, forever. That’s not fundamentalism, that’s the law of non-contradiction.”
“We are all insane. That is what original sin means. Sin is insanity. It is preferring finite joy to infinite joy, creatures to the Creator, an unhappy, Godless self to a happy, God-filled self. Only God can save us from this disease. That is what the name ‘Jesus’ means: ‘God saves.’”
“Pilate’s skeptical sneer ‘What is truth?’ was addressed to Truth Himself, standing there right in front of his face. The world’s stupidest question was three words; God’s profoundest answer was one Word.”
“Conscience is thus explained only as the voice of God in the soul.”
“I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those…prayers were destined to affect…we would be so paralyzed with awe…that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.”
“Gratitude is the seedbed of joy.”
“A saint isn’t somebody who tries harder, but someone who trusts more.”
“You see, God just will not let us flunk out of His school of love. He insists on remedial lessons until we get it right. For this whole world is a school set up by Love Himself to teach us to love.”
“God gives us not only the truth but also the ability to believe it; not only the new thing to see but also the new eye to see it with.”
“Our life here on Earth has as its purpose precisely to prepare for our eternal happiness. This world is a large womb. It is a ‘test’ as all opportunities are tests.”
“Remembering the facts of death and Heaven gives us an even more pressing reason to learn to pray: We do not have an infinite amount of time. We are one day nearer Home today than we ever were before. I guarantee you that after you die you will not say ‘I spent too much time praying; I wish I had watched more TV instead.’”
“To God each one of us is His favorite. God’s love comes to all, but it comes to all as each, not to all as some anonymous aggregate.”
“Christ is the Word of God in person. The Bible is the Word of God in writing. Both are the Word of God in the words of men. Both have a human nature and a divine nature.”
“If you place [your bet] with God, you lose nothing, even if it turns out that God does not exist. But if you place it against God, and you are wrong and God does exist, you lose everything.”
“You have to say no to something else, in order to make time to pray.”
“The church is: a conspiracy of love for a dying world, a spy mission into enemy occupied territory ruled by the powers of evil; a prophet from God with the greatest news the world has ever heard, the most life changing and most revolutionary institution that has existed on earth.”
1All of the following quotes are from the websites below:
In my latest read of Newton’s book, I was struck by his reflection on the “seemingly fortuitous circumstances” in his early life that he assigned no great meaning to at the time, but that, looking back, he could clearly see had been intricately woven together in a pattern that would ultimately lead to his salvation and a fruitful life for God—including circumstances resulting from his own sin:
I was governed by present appearances and looked no further. But he, who is eyes to the blind, was leading me in a way that I knew not.
Now I am in some measure enlightened, I can easily perceive that it is in the adjustment and concurrence of these seemingly fortuitous circumstances, that the ruling power and wisdom of God is most evidently displayed in human affairs. How many such casual events may we remark in the history of Joseph, which had each a necessary influence in his ensuing promotion! If he had not dreamed, or if he had not told his dream; if the Midianites had passed by a day sooner or a day later; if they had sold him to any person but Potiphar; if his mistress had been a better woman; if Pharaoh’s officers had not displeased their lord; or if any, or all these things had fallen out in any other manner or time than they did, all that followed had been prevented: the promises and purposes of God concerning Israel, their bondage, deliverances, polity, and settlement, must have failed; and, as all these things tended to, and centred in Christ, the promised Saviour, the desire of all nations would not have appeared; mankind had been still in their sins, without hope, and the counsels of God’s eternal love in favour of sinners defeated. Thus we may see a connection between Joseph’s first dream and the death of our Lord Christ, with all its glorious consequences. So strong, though secret, is the concatenation between the greatest and the smallest events. What a comfortable thought is this to a believer to know, that amidst all the various interfering designs of men, the Lord has one constant design which he cannot, will not miss, namely, his own glory in the complete salvation of his people; and that he is wise, and strong, and faithful, to make even those things, which seem contrary to this design, subservient to promote it.
How many millions of small decisions in the lives of Joseph and the people around him determined the overall direction of his life! Without each one, the line of Abraham would not have been preserved, the Messiah would not have come, and God’s promises would have failed. We think of God as being sovereign over the big things, forgetting that it’s the little things that add up to the big things in the end. It all matters to God. He is always working.
Maybe things in your life aren’t going the way you would like them to go. Maybe you failed significantly this year. Maybe you feel like you’re wandering in a purposeless wilderness. But don’t be “governed by present appearances”! The truth is far better: God “works all things after the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). You can’t mess up his plan. And there is a plan, even in the small things, even when you can’t see it, even in circumstances caused by your own sin.
It took Newton many years to recognize how carefully and purposefully God had orchestrated his life—just as it took Joseph many years. Just as it takes all of us many years. And there are many things we won’t see until God shows us at the end of time. So, for now, we look at God’s historical record—at the lives of people like Joseph and Newton and at our own past—to remind ourselves that God’s words in Ephesians 1:11 are true. And we will see for ourselves someday that, as Newton said, “He is wise, and strong, and faithful, to make even those things, which seem contrary to this design, subservient to promote it.”
Learn how Mary’s ancestry connects to Abraham, David, and even Adam, highlighting her significant role in biblical history. We also explore the connection between Mary and Elizabeth, and what this means for understanding Jesus’ divine heritage. In this video, Pastor Nelson answers your question: What was Mary’s lineage? *** Source Article: https://www.gotquestions.org/mary-lineage.html *** Check o
In my new book, God’s Crime Scene: A Homicide Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe, I make a comprehensive case for the existence of God from eight pieces of evidence in the universe. In Chapter Three (The Origin of Life: Does the Text Require an Author?), I describe the futility scientists have experienced when trying to identify the location in the universe where life might have originated without the intercession and involvement of an Intelligent Designer. The origin of life requires the emergence of pre-biotic molecules (amino acids and nucleotide bases). Where could this have happened? Could life have originated from “inside the room” of the natural universe? If so, where, and is there a better explanation for the origin of life “outside the room” of the universe? (For more on this “inside the room” or “outside the room” investigative analogy, please refer to the Opening Statement of God’s Crime Scene). Naturalistic scientists have repeatedly failed to identify an evidentially reasonable location for the origin of life, despite a concerted effort over many years. Here is a very brief summary of the failed attempts to locate a reasonable naturalistic point of origin:
Could Life Have Started in the Atmosphere? You may remember the famous 1952 Miller-Urey experiment from your high school or undergraduate biology class. Stanley Miller and Harold Urey mixed ammonia, methane, water vapor, and hydrogen and passed an electric charge through the circulating gases. Within a week, they found several types of amino acids had been created. This experiment later became the “poster child” for a naturalistic explanation of the basic building blocks of life. Many believed it proved amino acids could be formed naturally in the atmosphere of the early earth. But with the evidence we now have about the conditions of the early atmosphere, we know the gases used by Miller and Urey were not present in the quantity or proportion they used. While this experiment may have some historical significance, it does not prove life could originate in the atmosphere. In fact, scientists now believe the early atmosphere simply could not produce amino acids at any significant or necessary level.
Could It Have Started in Water? Like the Miller-Urey experiment, the concept of an ancient “primordial soup” is an iconic fixture in most entry-level biology textbooks. Soviet biologist Alexander Oparin first proposed the idea in 1924, arguing “chemical evolution” took place in the Earth’s early waters, resulting in the formation of amino acids, then primitive proteins. But aside from the fact we have no physical evidence to support the existence of a “primordial soup,” we now know the “chicken and egg” relationship between proteins and polymer chains (DNA) makes their simultaneous appearance in water extremely unlikely (to put it mildly). In addition, the absence of significant sources of phosphate for the early formation of DNA, RNA or ATP is prohibitive in this environment. Worse yet, there would be no way to limit the proportion of left and right “handed” amino acids, nucleotides and sugars in the “primordial soup”, making the formation of DNA and RNA molecules exceedingly difficult.
Could It Have Started On Land? Some researchers have proposed a scenario in which local terrestrial conditions, such as those occurring in clay, might capture water on occasion, allowing the necessary molecules to form and interact. But when trying to recreate these conditions in the laboratory, scientists have come to realize the impossibility of stabilizing the environment to allow for the formation of the necessary cellular components.
Could It Have Started In the Earth? Some scientists have proposed an underground location for the origin of life where molecular formation would be protected from water and atmospheric interference. But the underground locations available in the early earth would have been incredibly hostile to the formation of bio-chemical precursors, proteins and RNA. Just as problematic would be imagining a scenario in which these primitive forms of life could then transition from their underground origin to their eventual homes above ground.
Could It Have Started In Space? Some scientists, frustrated with the lack of progress locating a reasonable earthly source for pre-biotic molecules, have turned their attention to outer space. But even if the basic building blocks for life, amino acids, were delivered to earth in a meteorite, this would still fail to explain how the simple molecules formed into the more complex proteins and nucleic acids necessary for life, given the “chicken and egg” problem (refer to Chapter Three of God’s Crime Scene). And if these more complex organic elements came to us from space, how did they originate there and how could they survive the entry into earth’s atmosphere?
There’s a reason why scientists are so divided over the location of life’s origin: None of the proposed environments offer a viable, reasonable explanation. Share on X
There’s a reason why scientists are so divided over the location of life’s origin: None of the proposed environments offer a viable, reasonable explanation. Arizona State Cosmologist Paul Davies agrees: “Origin-of-life researchers cannot identify any location on primordial Earth suitable for production of pre-biotic molecules.” Every effort to stay “inside the room” of the natural universe to explain the origin of life simply fails:
An Illustration from God’s Crime Scene
Every good detective learns the importance of simple investigative questions that start with “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and “how”. Scientists investigating the origin of life simply cannot answer the “where” question, but that isn’t the only question they can’t answer. In God’s Crime Scene, I also describe their inability to answer the “when,” “why,” and “how” questions. One reason these questions are so difficult to answer may simply be there refusal to ask another important investigative question beginning with “who”. The impersonal laws of physics and chemistry cannot account for the origin of life. There is, however, a personal force who better explains the existence of life in our universe. A personal, all-powerful Creator God best explains the incredible, otherwise inexplicable presence of life in our universe.
This brief blog post (excerpted from my book) really doesn’t do justice to the evidence I’ve described. For a much more thorough description of this evidence, please refer to God’s Crime Scene, Chapter Three – The Origin of Life: Does the Text Require an Author?
Israel fears Iranian plans to make Kingdom of Jordan its new tentacle after losing Syria Jordan fears Iranian meddling and Islamist rebellion could topple the king. Against the backdrop of the unclear situation in Syria and fears that the Iranian regime will now turn its gaze on Jordan after suffering defeats in several other arenas, high-ranking Jordanian and Israeli officials reportedly met for secret talks last Friday to discuss the next steps.
Did Assad send Israel a target list in exchange for safe conduct? Rumors around Assad’s flight continue to swirl Maybe the most dramatic of these stories was recently reported by the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet and echoed by Russian news outlet TASS. Before fleeing Syria, President Bashar al-Assad is said to have shared classified military information with Israel in exchange for assurances he wouldn’t be targeted during his flight. Assad reportedly handed over documents containing target lists of weapons stockpiles, missile launchers and military hangars, which were then used by Israel in its massive operation to destroy Syria’s military capabilities. A statement attributed to Assad asserts that he never intended to flee
‘The danger is already here’ – Israeli ambassador to UN says Iranian regime threatens world peace “The Islamic regime of Iran is a danger to the entire world. The recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear progression, alongside the recent letter from the UK, France and Germany, highlighting Iran’s, and I quote, ‘significant non compliance,’ were cries for immediate action,” Danon argued. “This is not about a hypothetical future. The danger is already here, looming on the horizon,”
Former Mossad agents will reveal secrets behind Hezbollah beepers on 60 Minutes Former Mossad agents who were involved in the “exploding beeper” operation that devastated Hezbollah several months ago will reveal secrets of the mission for the first time on ABC’s 60 Minutes on Sunday. The program will discuss previously unreleased information about the operation that was years in the making.
Iran eyes Sudan to choke Israel’s economy with Russian backing Israel’s sustained attacks on its proxy force Hezbollah in Lebanon have forced Iran to turn its attention to Sudan in an effort to destabilize maritime security and shipping routes critical to the Jewish State’s economy. Both Russia and Iran have held high-level talks in recent months to establish military bases in Port Sudan. …what really caught the attention of security experts are satellite images revealing the presence of Iran’s Mohajer-6 drone at Sudan’s Wadi Sayyidna air base.
IDF jets strike targets in Yemen Israeli Air Force fighter jets and aircraft flew nearly 2,000 kilometers overnight and struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen. (watch)
IDF, ISA eliminate Iran-funded Tulkarm Terrorist Network leader In a joint IDF and ISA activity earlier today (Thursday), one of the heads of the Tulkarm terrorist network, Tarek Doush, was eliminated in a strike by an IDF aircraft. Over the past year, Tarek recruited numerous terrorists, armed and funded by Iran and by Lebanese terror operatives with relations to the Maqdah family, to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israelis.
The unique brutality of Yemen’s Houthi intelligence services – exclusive The report, which The Jerusalem Post exclusively obtaining a copy of the report prior to its publication, names some of the top Yemen Houthis intelligence officials which could also lead to new sanctions against some of those individuals. Also, the report uncovers how the Yemen Houthis have “laundered” some of their officials into their Foreign Ministry in order to continue to sabotage and siphon off humanitarian aid after global powers started to notice the intelligence ministry was undertaking such illegal activities. “they chew the qat plant, which adds a narcotic high to their violent and extreme ideology and character.”
Syrian Kurdish commander: Non-Syrian Kurdish fighters to leave if total truce agreed with Turkey Kurdish fighters who came to Syria from around the Middle East to support Syrian Kurdish forces will leave if a total ceasefire is reached in the conflict with Turkey in northern Syria, the commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces told Reuters on Thursday. The withdrawal of non-Syrian Kurdish fighters is one of the major demands of neighboring Turkey, which deems Syria’s dominant Kurdish groups a national security threat and is backing a new military campaign against them in the north.
As College Students Are Arrested with Weapons, The Washington Posts Offers Extremists a Helping Hand There’s a growing problem with violent extremism in the United States. American college campuses have been proven to be an incubator. But mainstream media outlets have also played an essential role, often whitewashing extremism that they find ideologically acceptable. The Washington Post is foremost among them.
Putin Denies Russian Defeat in Syria, Says Israel Is the Main Winner In his first public comments on the subject, he said he had not yet met Assad since the former president fled to Moscow earlier this month, but that he planned to do so. Putin played down the damage to Moscow from the fall of Assad, saying its military intervention in Syria since 2015 had helped prevent the country from becoming a “terrorist enclave.” He said Israel was the “main beneficiary” of the current situation.
Iran Covertly Ramping Up Nuclear ‘Weaponization’ Work, Dissident Group Reveals “The Iranian regime is covertly working on the weaponization aspect of its nuclear project to build a warhead, effectively obstructing verification through deceit,” said Soona Samsami, a representative for NCRI in the US. According to NCRI, the regime has ramped up activity in the Center for Research and Expansion of Technologies on Explosions and Impact (METFAZ), which is part of the country’s bomb-making operation,
The Big Story Of 2024 That Nobody Is Talking About Something doesn’t cease to exist just because you can’t see it anymore. The world doesn’t vanish when you close your eyes. The Great Reset is still the plan. It’s still happening. It’s just distributed now. A compartmentalized strategy uploaded to the cloud, everywhere and nowhere. A million nanobots working a million angles to change a million tiny rules and build a million tiny cells.
‘Make America Healthy Again’ caucus launched by Sen Marshall after RFK Jr meeting Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., is launching a new caucus in the Senate on Thursday, named the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) caucus, to support the joint mission of President-elect Donald Trump and his choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Marshall, a medical doctor who has practiced for more than 25 years, will lead the caucus
2015 nuclear deal no longer relevant, Iran close to bomb, IAEA chief says He said Iran has been significantly developing its nuclear capabilities. The new regime under President Masoud Pezeshkian is creating an opportunity for new negotiations but they would have to be on a different basis than the talks that led to the original JCPOA signed in 2015. The IAEA must play a central role, he said, and there must be serious cooperation between the UN agency and the world powers.
Astounding’ government failures, House GOP report on Jew-hatred says The Republican staff report, which is based on seven months of committee investigations, describes “astounding” failures on the part of federal government departments and agencies. The report, which was released on Thursday, states that universities across the country likely violated the civil rights of Jews in their handling of anti-Israel campus protests. “It’s our intent to take this report, its recommendations, and act,” Johnson stated. “We’ll use what’s in here to continue protecting our Jewish brothers and sisters from discrimination and violence. But make no mistake, we will continue these efforts in the next Congress, and anytime antisemitism rears its ugly head, the House will shine a light on it and take action.”
A Year Of Chaos: Does A Shocking Magazine Cover Reveal What The Global Elite Have Planned For 2025 Every year, a magazine known as “the Economist” publishes an issue that is dedicated to what is coming in the year ahead. Unfortunately, it appears that the cover for this year’s issue could be previewing some very alarming events that are coming in 2025. The ownership list of the magazine includes prominent families such as Rothschild, Cadbury, Agnelli, Schroder and Layton… It is truly a magazine by the elite and for the elite. Right next to Trump, you can see a very tall white missile, and right beneath Trump there is something that looks like a mushroom cloud. In addition, there are a couple of other symbols on the cover that are related to nuclear war. This sort of imagery should deeply alarm all of us. Are they trying to warn us that we are getting dangerously close to nuclear war? many are warning that 2025 is going to be a very hard year.
More ATACMS, Storm Shadow Missiles Launched At Russia As Putin Threatens ‘Missile Duel’ With US The Kremlin on Thursday revealed that the day prior Ukraine’s military launched six US-made long-range ATACMs missiles and four British-made Storm Shadow missiles against Russian territory. The projectiles targeted the southern Rostov region, with Russia’s military saying its anti-air defense systems were able to intercept all four ATACMS missiles and three of the four Storm Shadows.
TruGO: Liberal Canadian Lawmakers Revolt, Demand Regime Change In Ottawa Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing a mounting political crisis within his own Liberal Party, with an increasing number of party members voicing their desire for his resignation ahead of the scheduled 2025 election. This internal discontent has gained momentum after the shock resignation of Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau’s finance minister and a key ally.
Putin Says ‘Ready’ To Meet Or Talk To Trump At Any Time Russian President Vladimir Putin in fresh Thursday remarks has emphasized that he is ready for a direct conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump at any time and agrees to meet with him when the US side is ready.
Billionaire DOGE Insider Teases Musk’s ‘Really Bold’ Plans To Drain Swamp: ‘A Lot of Stuff Ready For Day One’ Billionaire entrepreneur and investor Joe Lonsdale expressed strong optimism for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative … DOGE team is already hard at work on strategic priorities. With over 100 people on board, the team is preparing to enact immediate changes, including staff removals and regulatory rollbacks.
The Big Story Of 2024 That Nobody is Talking About …the important story of 2024 was The Great Reset. Remember that? It was this pan-global supranational plan to tear down and then rebuild society in a “sustainable”, “inclusive”, “fair” and “secure” way that would – totally accidentally – eradicate civil liberties and individual freedom for every single person on the planet.
There Were 436 Attacks on Churches Last Year, Joe Biden Didn’t Prosecute a Single One The Biden-Harris administration did not prosecute a single one of the hundreds of attacks against churches that took place last year under a 1994 law designed to protect houses of worship, a congressional hearing established on Wednesday, citing research from Family Research Council. Even as violence and vandalism against churches and pro-life centers skyrocketed over the last two years, 92% of Biden administration cases using that law targeted pro-life advocates.
“17 Military Bases Adjacent To Chinese-Owned Farmland” Have Been Swarmed By Mystery Drones, And This Phenomenon Goes Back For At Least A Year …It appears that many of the drones that people are seeing may be of foreign origin after all. In recent years, the Chinese have made historic breakthrough after historic breakthrough when it comes to drone technology, and now it is being claimed that they are using that technology to spy on us and test our defenses. According to the New York Post, “17 military bases adjacent to Chinese-owned farmland” have been swarmed by mystery drones in recent weeks…
Where did the UFO and alien Psyops begin and who was behind it? In recent years, there has been a surge in corporate media coverage of unidentified flying objects (“UFOs”) and alien disclosure, with government agencies, intelligence services, and space organizations actively discussing the topic. The coordinated messaging across media and government agencies has raised questions about whether this is part of a larger agenda.
“A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the objects of the government; secondly, a knowledge of the means, by which those objects can be best attained.” —Joseph Story (1833)
Douglas Andrews, Thomas Gallatin, & Jordan Candler
Government & Politics
House scrambles to do a deal, avoid a shutdown: It’s “lather-rinse-repeat” in Washington, where House Republicans are at this hour attempting to pull together a temporary budget deal that would fend off a looming government shutdown. If an agreement isn’t reached, the shutdown will take place at midnight tonight. You won’t feel it, of course, but it’ll happen. As for the continuing resolution, as it’s called, we can point to progress of a sort: The original 1,547-page abomination was trimmed down yesterday to a Trump-approved 116 pages, but even that bill failed to pass the House last night. Word this morning was that a temporary deal had been reached — one that keeps the government funded while punting on raising the debt ceiling until after the holidays — and that a vote would take place at 10 a.m. ET. But no dice. Democrats, of course, want a shutdown because it allows them to claim that Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans can’t govern. And, to a point, they’re right. Budgeting is one of the fundamental duties of Congress, and the Mike Johnson-led House can’t seem to herd the Republican cats as well as iron-fisted Nancy Pelosi led her goose-stepping Democrats.
Biden transfers another $4.5B in student loans to taxpayers: It pays to be a government worker in more ways than one. Joe Biden just trotted out the latest entry in his massive debt transfer scheme by moving some $4.8 billion in student loan debt from 54,900 public workers onto the backs of taxpayers. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona touted the action by stating, “Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered.” This latest action brings Biden’s total student debt transfer to almost $180 billion from nearly five million borrowers. With such actions, is it any wonder the U.S. government is in debt up to its eyeballs?
Will Harris take book-deal cash and burn Biden? What is Kamala Harris’s future? While many Democrat political pundits have insisted that her future political prospects are bright, the truth is that she’s a two-time loser, with both her 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns going down in flames. That said, her future financial outlook is not so dim. Indeed, some top publishers have reportedly offered her a $20 million advance for a tell-all book on Joe Biden’s presidency. As an executive at one of New York’s top leftist publishers stated, “More than anyone in the Biden White House, Kamala … knows all the secrets, knows where all the skeletons are buried.” Another literary agent based in Washington echoed similar sentiments, saying, “Kamala needs to forget all the campaign bulls**t that was spewed on her side, and honestly tell everything about the true nature of her relationship with Biden, and what role, if any, she played in forcing him to drop out of the race.” Of course, if Harris agreed to publish a behind-the-scenes tell-all book, it might be a bridge-burning decision that spells the end of her political career. If she takes such a deal, we will know that she’s decided to be unburdened by what has been.
SHOCKER: Networks’ Trump transition coverage is 96% negative: Even left-leaning polls have consistently showed a majority of Americans approve of the way Donald Trump is preparing for his transition to the White House, but you wouldn’t know it if you’re one of the hundreds of consumers of network news in recent weeks. “The coverage by broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC has been almost uniformly negative,” reports NewsBusters. “In addition to a whopping 96 percent negative tilt across their flagship evening newscasts, these networks also appear to have paid the most attention to cabinet nominees who appeared to have the highest chances of sinking.” The study covers ABC, CBS, and NBC’s evening newscasts from December 1-14. As for the apparently inverse relationship between what they’re reporting and what the American people are feeling, it’s hard not to draw a conclusion about the increasing irrelevance of network news.
CNN finishes year with smallest audience in network’s history (Washington Examiner)
Planned Parenthood funding at SCOTUS: On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up Kerr v. Edwards, a case that promises significant ramifications for Planned Parenthood and government funding. The case deals with South Carolina’s efforts to prevent Planned Parenthood facilities in the state from receiving any Medicaid funding. The question the justices will consider is whether Medicaid allows beneficiaries to choose care at the qualified provider of their choice, irrespective of any state law. Back in 2018, South Carolina excluded abortion providers from receiving any Medicaid funding. Planned Parenthood sued, claiming it fits within Medicaid’s designation of “any qualified provider.” If SCOTUS were to side with Planned Parenthood, then it would effectively force states with abortion restrictions to allow government funding of abortions.
Republicans target FACE Act: Few laws have been used to target ideological opponents in a more one-sided manner than the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Passed in 1994, the law has been used primarily as a legal apparatus to go after pro-life advocates who protest outside of abortion facilities. During the Biden administration, the use of the FACE Act has been one of the more obvious examples of the weaponization of government against Americans. Biden’s Justice Department used the FACE Act a total of 24 times against 55 defendants — and against pro-life activists in every instance. Furthermore, as Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) notes, “To this day, the FACE Act has never been used in defense of the church since it was passed. And when the DOJ does prosecute pro-abortion activists, the vigor with which they pursued and penalized these individuals pales in comparison to the penalties faced by pro-life advocates.” This is why Roy recently introduced HR 5577, a measure to repeal the FACE Act. It’s time for Congress to repeal this abusive law that’s a blatant violation of the First Amendment.
Security
Border arrests hit four-year low as 7.6 million illegals roam free: We just knew the Biden administration could do it with a little effort. Sure enough, as the Washington Examiner reports, “The number of immigrants arrested after attempting to enter the United States from Mexico has dropped to the lowest levels in more than 50 months, part of a continued decline since the White House took decisive action to deter illegal migration in June.” Alas, this was too little, too late to save the open-borders Biden-Harris administration. How much damage, you ask? One metric would be the 7.6 million illegals that the Biden-Harris administration caught and then released into the U.S. over the years and is now failing to track. As The Washington Times reports, “The latest numbers … show a department struggling to monitor them all, much less make new arrests inside the country.” For comparison, that ICE figure was just 3.3 million before Biden came into office. As it turns out, border enforcement works, and elections have very real consequences.
Texas moves to stop border wall auction (Newsweek)
The hysterical drone hysterics: In an update to his analysis regarding the drone controversy in New Jersey, our Mark Alexander notes: “On December 19, in an effort to squelch the media-driven drone hysteria — and look like they are doing something in response — the Federal Aviation Administration issued a 30-day ban on drone flights over parts of urban and suburban New Jersey. Regarding the 22 TFRs (Temporary Flight Restrictions), the FAA NOTAM asserted that the “government may use deadly force against” any airborne aircraft “if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat.” (That is always the case.) It warned that pilots who fail to abide by these restrictions can be “intercepted, detained, and interviewed by the law enforcement/security personnel.” (That is always the case.) For the drone-operating agitators who violate this ban, it will be a test of just what the FAA and other agencies can do to track, identify, and prosecute those who violate the ban. Moreover, in a joint statement by DHS, FBI, FAA, and DOD, the agencies are asking “Congress to enact counter-UAS legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge.” In other words, these agencies are asserting they lack this authority now to track all Unmanned Aircraft Systems, so politicians should stop demanding answers they can’t provide.“
Iranian resistance warns regime is developing detonators for nuclear weapons (Just the News)
North Korea could send more troops to Ukraine after 100 of its soldiers die on battlefield (The Telegraph)
Culture
Retail crime up 93% from 2019: The economy and the border were issues No. 1 and 1a on November 5, but concern over crime wasn’t far behind. And for good reason, as it turns out. We’ve all seen the images of masked thugs brazenly rampaging through retail stores and stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down. These incidents reportedly contributed to a near-doubling of retail theft compared to pre-pandemic days. As The Washington Times reports, “The National Retail Federation and nonprofit Loss Prevention Research Council said this week that retailers participating in a survey reported a 93% spike in the average number of annual shoplifting incidents from 2019 to 2023 and a 90% surge in related dollar losses over the same period.” Imagine that — when you subsidize crime, you get more of it. “Retailers are working hard to provide a safe and secure shopping environment,” read a joint letter from two trade groups that introduced the grim report. “However, this is not a problem that retailers alone can solve.”
Ohio legislature passes Parents Bill of Rights (Just the News)
Idaho State Board of Education bans DEI across public universities (National Review)
Nissan becomes latest car company to walk back DEI practices (Fox Business)
Age verification law prompts PornHub to flee Florida (Washington Stand)
Male sex offender pretends to be 15-year-old girl to gain access to high school (Daily Wire)
Sam’s Club removes abortion pill from online pharmacy (Washington Stand)
Misc.
U.S. economy grows at 3.1% pace in third quarter, an upgrade from previous estimate (AP)
Ex-top aide to Eric Adams charged in corruption case (Daily Wire)
NASA astronauts stuck in space hit with another delay before return home (Newsweek)
Democrats and their Leftmedia sycophants are in hysterics (again) today over the sway Elon Musk has over what’s happening with budget negotiations in Washington. He’s the “shadow president,” they gasp. That made me wonder what DC would really be like with a shadow president. Let’s ask The Wall Street Journal.
“How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge,” blared its new headline over a thorough 3,800-word story detailing what aides, Cabinet officials, and other Democrats are now admitting about Joe Biden’s severe age-related decline over the last four years. All the while, the Journal’s subheader says, “The administration [publicly] denied Biden has declined.” They lied.
Oh.
Biden has been the shadow of a president for four years. Tell us something we didn’t know in 2020, you’re thinking. Same here.
But stick with me because the Journal’s reporting goes deep into the workings of the White House, and it illustrates why “Biden is sharp as a tack” should have been the Lie of the Year every year since 2020. Because Biden is sharp as a marble.
First, a relevant and current question: Where’s the president regarding those budget negotiations in which only Donald Trump and Co. seem to be engaged? NBC News reports, “Biden stays on the sidelines as Congress scrambles over a looming shutdown.” Fox News adds, “Where’s Biden? Lame-duck president slammed for ‘quiet quitting’ amid major government funding battle.”
Oh.
Maybe all the left-wingers hyperventilating over Trump and Musk shouldn’t have spent the last four years propping up a cognitively impaired puppet and pretending he was in charge.
Here are some not-so-shocking specific excerpts from the Journal’s report, which “is based on interviews with nearly 50 people, including those who participated in or had direct knowledge of the operations.”
To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, [aides] told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members — including powerful secretaries such as Defense’s Lloyd Austin and Treasury’s Janet Yellen — were infrequent or grew less frequent. Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president’s ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.‘s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan. …
Press aides who compiled packages of news clips for Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories about the president. The president wasn’t talking to his own pollsters as surveys showed him trailing in the 2024 race. …
There were limits over who Biden spoke with, limits on what they said to him and limits around the sources of information he consumed. …
If the president was having an off day, meetings could be scrapped altogether. On one such occasion, in the spring of 2021, a national security official explained to another aide why a meeting needed to be rescheduled. “He has good days and bad days, and today was a bad day so we’re going to address this tomorrow,” the former aide recalled the official saying.
Some people are on the record talking about how hard or infrequent it was to speak directly to the president.
Washington Congressman Adam Smith chaired the powerful House Armed Services Committee and yet got only one call from Biden in four years. “I spoke with Barack Obama on a number of occasions when he was president,” Smith noted, “and I wasn’t even chairman of the committee.”
Likewise, Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “I really had no personal contact with this president. I had more personal contact with Obama, which is sort of strange because I was a lot more junior.”
It wasn’t just congressional Democrats; it was Biden’s own Cabinet. “Over four years,” the Journal noted, “Biden held nine full cabinet meetings — three in 2021, two in 2022, three in 2023 and just one this year. In their first terms, Obama held 19 and Trump held 25.” Furthermore, “At least one cabinet member stopped requesting calls with the president.”
Next, the Journal recounted events leading up to Biden’s disastrous and revealing interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur over his mishandling of classified documents. The interview was made public in February — over administration and Democrat objections. It was immediately clear why they protested, as the interview revealed that Biden struggled to remember basic facts, such as when his son died, even within several years. Hur’s devastating conclusion was that he wouldn’t prosecute Biden because any jury would let him off as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
The Journal’s news is that it wasn’t just the interview, which could have felt adversarial and thrown off even a younger man. The Journal reports that Biden spent a whole week running “prep sessions” that “took about three hours a day.” His “energy levels were up and down” during those sessions, and “he couldn’t recall lines that his team had previously discussed with him.”
Another revelation is that even with donor events, Biden was given two or three questions in advance to control interactions. Even so, he still “made flubs, which confounded the donors who knew that Biden had the questions ahead of time.”
Again, we’ve essentially known all this — at least that Biden was unfit — the whole time. So, who cares now? Why is the Journal “breaking” this news? Why are sources talking to the press? Why do the details matter when we already knew the big picture a long time ago?
Well, when Biden first dropped out of the race was kicked to the curb in July, Democrats hailed him as being just like George Washington in his humility and self-sacrifice for the good of the country. That ridiculous hagiography lasted until it became apparent that Kamala Harris would lose the election. When she did, the gloves came off, and Democrats now feel unencumbered by any need to lie about what they really think.
In fact, they’re so angry that Trump won that they’re looking for a scapegoat. That’s Joe Biden, and they will destroy his legacy as a reckoning.
The Journal’s reporting follows one earlier this fall that initially broke some of the same ground. There may be more in the coming days from the Journal and elsewhere detailing just how thoroughly the Biden administration, virtually every Democrat, and the press corp lied about Biden’s true condition with all the righteous indignation they could muster — all while gaslighting the American people that critical observers were the ones lying and running “cheap fakes.”
The enormity of the Orwellian deception is truly astounding, and it put our entire nation at risk for four years. Indeed, the level of deceit was arguably criminal and may be the biggest presidential scandal in history.
All of that said, do you know what would be the most hilarious thing ever? Remove Biden now, install Harris as the 47th president for all of four weeks, and let the Democrats forever live with the admission that the First Female of Color™ president was literally never more than a DEI placeholder.
Emmy Griffin: The Eleventh-Hour EV Mandate — Sticking it to the incoming Trump administration, the Biden-Harris EPA just approved a measure that might destroy the car business in 12 states.
Douglas Andrews: The Agony of ABC News — The network’s $16 million defamation payout to Donald Trump has a lot of folks gnashing their teeth.
Brian Mark Weber: Grading the Dept. of Education — As the Trump administration considers how to eliminate the DOE, let’s remember its history of failure.
Fani Willis Is Out — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been removed from the Donald Trump “election interference” case.
‘Who’s Investigating the Investigators?’ — Rep. Chip Roy reacts to Rep. Becca Balint’s criticism of a witness comparing the FBI’s actions against him to the Gestapo.
PopCon #75: Mary — This Christmas season, Netflix has released “Mary” — its take on the life of the mother of Jesus.
Humor: Santa Announces His Retirement — Citing concerns about wokeness, stiff competition from Amazon, and an impossible-to-please Gen Z, Santa has announced he’s hanging up the hat and belt for good.
SHORT CUTS
The BIG Lie
“Why is Donald Trump engaged in this relentless campaign to try to silence journalists, media companies, and his political opposition? It’s because he’s trying to steal from you. … He wants to steal from ordinary Americans in order to make him and his Mar-a-Lago friends even richer.” —Senator Chris Murphy
Demagogues
“Republicans are trying to shut down the government because they want to set up massive tax cuts for the rich next year while cutting Social Security and Medicare. They know Americans don’t support that, so they’re holding the entire government hostage to try to force it.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made. House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country. House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown, or worse. An agreement is an agreement.” —House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries
For the Record
“Republicans are always terrified of a government shutdown because the media always blames them for it. Now’s a good time to remind them no one listens to the media anymore. The people are the media, and the people want a balanced budget.” —Joel Berry
“Hard truth: the only way to control & reduce government spending so we no longer have huge deficits is by addressing social security and Medicare spending. But no politician of either party will tell you this because if they do, you won’t elect them.” —Clay Travis
Double Standards
“The Left finds Elon Musk speaking out against a bloated spending bill to be a big problem. Yet, when George Soros pours millions of dollars into electing leftist district attorneys who pledge to go easy on criminals, that is somehow democracy in action.” —Governor Ron DeSantis
Shot/Chaser
“If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. … If Donald Trump’s plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into a prolonged recession. … But wait, you say, isn’t he a huge business success that knows what he’s talking about? No, he isn’t.” —Mitt Romney, 2016
“The Republican Party has become the party of the working-class, middle-class voter. And you’ve got to give Donald Trump credit for having done that, taken that away from the Democrats.” —Mitt Romney, 2024
A Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut
“When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.” —Disney spokesperson
And Last…
“We have to stop judging politicians by how expensive they can make things and start judging them by the results they get.” —Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre
“The FACE Act was ostensibly passed because of violence. But as my family knows very well, all it did was give violence the cover of law and place it in the hands of the government.” —Paul Vaughn
Christmas is just around the corner, but instead of delivering holiday cheer, the U.S. Government could be headed toward a shutdown. United Nations pressure is mounting on Israel to take care of the Palestinians. In Syria, the discovery of mass graves of tortured and executed Syrians, is evidence of the brutality Assad regime – and that’s not all. Most Israeli teenagers are drafted into the military within a year after they finish high school. Some of them spend the interim time at an army prep school. Christmas is a time for celebrating with family and friends, but not for everyone. for those in prison, Christmas can be just another day of isolation and despair.
Author and theologian Abdu Murray joins CBN’s Tré Goins-Phillips and Billy Hallowell to discuss common Christmas misconceptions and the virgin birth. Want more news from a Christian Perspective? Choose to support CBN: https://go.cbn.com/ugWBn CBN News. Because Truth Matters™
Truth2Freedom's Blog 