From my friends at Power Line Blog:
Monthly Archives: August 2024
A Problem With Priorities
On Thursday, CNN reported that the U.S. Army had rebuked President Trump over a recent incident at Arlington National Cemetery. They might have done well to be quiet considering what they have stirred up. The Army never rebuked anyone for the disastrous planning of the exit from Afghanistan where the thirteen service members were killed. No one was fired or relieved of command. And now they are rebuking a former President because he chose to honor the thirteen. Wow.
The article explains how horrible the families were and how horrible President Trump was. There is nothing in the article paying honor to the thirteen servicemen who were killed.
The families asked President Trump to attend and gave permission for his crew to attend. It was not a campaign event–it is rather routine to record a President visiting Arlington–there are many videos of President Biden visiting the cemetery. This is simply another attack by the left on President Trump. In the mind of many politically left-leaning Americans, President Trump is guilty of breathing while being Trump.
Can you imagine the reporting if the families had asked President Trump to come and he had refused? It doesn’t really matter what the press is outraged about–they just want to be outraged about anything involving President Trump.
Relocating The Blame
Any uninformed voters in America are going to have a hard time with the current election campaigns. The lies are getting so thick you could cut them with a knife. One of the more recent lies from the Harris campaign is that President Trump is to blame for the border crisis. That’s a stretch even bigger than a size 20 women fitting into a size 8 dress.
Ann Coulter posted an article on Substack giving some details about the claim.
The article reports:
The biggest problem Democrats have this year is the mess they’ve made of the border. No matter how many cartwheels the media do for Kamala Harris, immigration remains a top issue for voters — and they blame the Democrats. (I have a theory as to why: Probably because Democrats intentionally flung open the border and let in 10 million illegal immigrants.)
The media-Democratic Party complex has tried all manner of lies to hide the crime, but those deceptions crumbled on the slightest examination. (Kamala was NOT the “border czar”!)
Apparently, the lie they decided to stick with is the one about Trump ordering Republicans to oppose AN INCREDIBLY TOUGH BORDER BILL! Why, it’s draconian! The harshest immigration bill this century! But Trump opposed it only so that he could keep the border as a campaign issue. What a cynical, heartless bastard.
As Harris put it in her acceptance speech:
“Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. … But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security. And here is my pledge to you: As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law.”
Well, the bill didn’t actually secure the border–it provided for thousands of illegals to cross the border daily.
The article notes:
But according to the media’s telling — that is, the lie — this bill was sailing through Congress until Trump bigfooted it. After all, why would it bother any Republican that it required Americans to accept at least 1.8 million illegal aliens every year, would grant asylum to anyone who asked for it, provided even more free benefits to illegals and funneled billions of dollars to the NGOs helping illegals into our country, while doing absolutely nothing to strengthen our border? Forget a wall — this bill did nothing.
It was a bad bill designed to provide cover for the Democrat party on immigration. Fortunately it did not pass. The idea that the surge in illegal immigration is President Trump’s fault is one of many lies we can expect to hear in the next two months.
A New Level Of Pettiness
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has suspended his campaign for President. He has not technically withdrawn from the race and is still on the ballot in several states. However, he has asked his supporters to vote for President Trump. The Biden administration has decided to end his Secret Service Protection.
On Tuesday, Breitbart reported:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who sought Secret Service protection for months and finally had it granted after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, had his protection pulled because he suspended his presidential campaign, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.
Kennedy confirmed in an interview with Tucker Carlson this week that his Secret Service protection was pulled following his suspension announcement and endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
“I’m technically still running for president. I’m running for president in 40 states. I did not terminate my campaign,” the Democrat-turned-independent told Carlson when asked about Secret Service pulling protection.
Secret Service typically protects presidents, vice presidents, their immediate family members, former presidents, former first ladies, children of former presidents, visiting heads of state, and top presidential candidates. If a candidate drops out of a race, the agency usually scales back its protection, but can also terminate it altogether, the New York Post noted.
Considering the Kennedy family history and the recent assassination attempt on President Trump, this is foolish and petty. The decision on Secret Service protection is made by the Department of Homeland Security; however, I seriously doubt the Presient was unaware of or in disagreement with the decision. It is typical of the behavior of the petty, angry man we currently have as President and his administration.
The article notes:
President Joe Biden notably ordered Secret Service protection for Kennedy following the assassination attempt on Trump. Biden’s decision came hours after Trump demanded Secret Service protection for Kennedy in a post to Truth Social.
Before the attempted assassination of Trump, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had allegedly previously denied Kennedy’s request for Secret Service protection six times, causing his campaign to spend millions on private security, a Kennedy staffer told the National Review. Kennedy had, again, requested protection in early June, on the anniversary of his father’s assassination, Axios reported.
Both Kennedy’s father and uncle were assassinated. Kennedy’s father, Robert Kennedy, was shot on June 5, 1968, after winning the Democrat primary in California, and died the next day. Kennedy’s uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated on November 22, 1963.
After Trump was shot through the ear while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, Secret Service has faced heavy backlash. The agency’s response to the shooting has been seen as the biggest Secret Service failure in four decades.
The hyper-political atmosphere of Washington needs to end.
Sometimes It May Not Be Wise To Run As Part Of A Current Administration
Vice-President Harris is attempting to run her campaign as someone who will come into the White House and fix everything that is currently broken. Unfortunately for her, she has been working as part of the White House for the past three and a half years. It has also become apparent that the current President has probably not been making a lot of the decisions. That doesn’t help her case.
On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article about the idea that Kamala Harris represents a change from the current administration.
The article notes:
JD Vance is torching the Harris-Walz campaign over this simple fact: they’re the incumbent party. It’s become a laughable exercise regarding how Harris’ campaign and the media treat her as if she isn’t in the White House right now. Every aspect of Harris’ agenda is Joe Biden’s; the reversals don’t count. We all know what type of politician Kamala Harris is at heart. Yet, the media is doing everything they can to make her not seem like she’s part of the current administration. The most brazen attempt was by Politico, which had this headline: “Our corrupt leadership’: Vance tries to tether Harris to Biden during Michigan rally.”
The screenshots of Tweets in the article are quite entertaining:
The article concludes:
This ill-fated attempt at interference is probably one of the funniest chapters in the media’s concerted effort to cast Harris as some outsider. She’s not. This election is there for Trump’s taking—but he needs to tighten things up a bit on the messaging.
The entire Harris-Walz campaign is stating that they will fix things on day one. Both have been involved in politics for years. Why haven’t they fixed things before?
You Probably Won’t Hear This In The Mainstream Media
There evidently was a dust-up between a photographer with President Trump and some cemetery workers at Arlington National Cemetery this week. The press (of course) is blaming President Trump. Evidently that is not entirely accurate.
On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about the incident.
The article reports:
Families of American servicemembers who were killed during the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan revealed that they had given “approval” for photos and videos to be taken at Arlington Cemetery on Monday.
In a joint statement, Darrin Hoover and Kelly Barnett, the parents of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover; Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee; Misty Rose Fuoco, Gee’s sister; and Cheryl Juels, Gee’s aunt, explained that they had given the approval for Trump’s “official videographer and photographer” to attend the ceremony.
The statement from the family members of the fallen servicemembers comes after NPR released an article claiming that Trump campaign staff had gotten into a “verbal and physical altercation” with a cemetery official who had attempted to prevent them from taking videos and photos.
A source informed the outlet that cemetery officials had supposedly “made clear that only cemetery staff members are authorized to take photographs or film” in Section 60.
“We had given our approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event, ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever,” the families said in the joint statement.
The article notes:
The families added that they were “deeply grateful” that Trump had taken “the time to honor” their children and “for standing alongside” the families as they dealt with their grief.
“We are deeply grateful to the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief, offering his unwavering support during such a difficult time,” the families added in their statement. “His compassion and respect meant more than words can express.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung issued a statement in response to the allegations, and noted that “there was no physical altercation.”
“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said in his statement. “The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.”
In a post on X, Cheung shared a photo that stated “only” Trump could “have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool.”
Our taxes support NPR. I think it is long past time for that to end. They are not honest reporters of the news.
Protecting Election Integrity
On Wednesday, Breitbart reported that Texas Governor Greg Abbot has removed more than one million people from the Texas voter rolls. The people who were removed were considered to be ineligible to vote because they had moved, died or were not American citizens.
The article reports:
Newsweek reports the removal of 1.1 million people from the voter rolls, which include those who have moved out of state, are deceased, or aren’t American citizens, came since the signing of Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) into law in September 2021.
At the time, the law was seen as one of several efforts driven by Republican-led states to ensure voter integrity following the 2020 presidential election.
According to Abbott’s office, among the people removed from the Texas voter rolls are over 6,500 noncitizens; over 6,000 voters who have a felony convictions; over 457,000 deceased people; over 463,000 voters on the suspense list and over 134,000 voters who responded to an address confirmation notice that they had moved.
Another 65,000 voters who failed to respond to a notice of examination have been ruled out along with over 19,000 voters who requested to cancel their registration.
The article concludes:
“Voter fraud is real. Especially in Houston,” the governor posted on X. “The court has found that 1,430 illegal votes were cast in the race for the 180th District Court.”
The ruling was sparked by Republican candidate Tami Pierce who filed a legal challenge against the results after narrowly losing to Judge DaSean Jones (D). Jones won by only 449 votes.
There will be serious cheating in the 2024 elections. From what I understand, the Republican party is taking preemptive actions to limit the amount of cheating. The expression “too big to rig” will have real meaning this year. Remember, according to the vote totals, in 2020 President Biden got more votes that President Obama had received after campaigning from his basement.
Remembering August 26
August 26th was the day of the disastrous withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Thirteen American servicemen were killed on that day. Somehow most of the media chose to ignore that anniversary. August 26, 2024, was the day that President Trump went to Arlington National Cemetery and laid a wreath in memory of the servicemen who died that day. The families invited him to come, but because of the pettiness in Washington these days, it took the Speaker of the House to intervene in order for the President to go there.
On Wednesday, The Daily Caller reported:
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had to intervene to get former President Donald Trump into Arlington National Cemetery for the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal with Gold Star families, a family told the Daily Caller.
The Gold Star families, who lost their children during the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, invited Trump to Arlington National Cemetery. He laid a wreath there for the 13 servicemembers who were killed serving their country in Afghanistan. However, a Gold Star family told the Caller that Arlington National Cemetery was trying to make it difficult for the former President to appear for the ceremony to honor their children, something the families requested.
Arlington National Cemetery told gold star families that they could only be there for a specific time that did not work for everyone’s schedule and were also told the president could not join them at their children’s gravesites, the family told the Caller.
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Michael McCaul explained to the Caller that he was contacted by Gold Star parents Darin Hoover and Kelly Barnett, the parents of SSGT Taylor Hoover. Hoover and Barnett told him that Arlington Cemetery was giving the Gold Star parents of the U.S. servicemembers killed at Abbey Gate a hard time about coordinating a ceremony with Trump on the anniversary of their deaths.
McCaul immediately reached out to Johnson to ask for his assistance with the matter and the Caller is told he continued to track it until it was fixed.
The article concludes:
The Caller reached out to the Biden White House for details on why these families were having trouble with Arlington National Cemetery on agreeing to terms for a Trump visit. The White House referred the Caller to Arlington National Cemetery, saying: “This is a matter between the Arlington National Cemetery and the Trump campaign, not a White House matter.”
The Caller also contacted Arlington National Cemetery about these claims. The cemetery did not immediately respond.
The pettiness of the Biden administration is unbelievable.
Sea Temperatures Cooling
I am not claiming to understand what I am about to report, but I do find it interesting.
On Wednesday, wattsupwiththat posted an article about surface ocean temperatures are cooling–not warming. No one seems to understand why.
The article reports:
Surface ocean temperatures are plunging rapidly around the world with scientists reported to be puzzled at the speed of the recent decline. Less puzzlement was to be found when the oceans were ‘boiling’ during the last two years. Plebs flying to Benidorm for an annual holiday and causing ‘global heating’ was a favourite explanation, although mainstream media put it in marginally more polite terms. For almost two years, this boiling ocean trope has been a reliable standby for every alarmist spiv promoting the Net Zero insanity. But expect the scare to be parked for a while along with coral reefs, polar bears and Arctic sea ice. It is a very good bet that nobody in mainstream media is going to report the oceans are cooling at what are remarkably dramatic rates. Few fear-mongering points will be on offer for drawing attention to this inconvenient news.
The article includes this graph:
This year the temperature shown by the black line flatlined until April compared with the substantial rise in orange for 2023. It then fell more sharply than last year and is now 0.2°C lower.
In the Atlantic, the turnaround has been even more dramatic. Temperatures have cooled quickly since May and in the central equatorial region are up to 1°C colder than average for this time of year. The American weather service NOAA notes that the high SSTs at the start of the year were the strongest warm event since 1982. The rapid transition from warm to cold SST anomalies (current temperatures compared over a longer past trend) was said to be remarkable. “Never before in the observed record has the eastern equatorial Atlantic swung so quickly from one to another extreme event,” observes NOAA.
The article concludes:
The recent El Niño was powerful although the natural distortion in the centigrade anomaly record was not as large as those produced by a previous El Niño around 2015-16. Over the last 25 years, all of the global temperature boosts – apart from those retrospectively added by state-funded compilers – have occurred at around the same time as El Niño formations. Strong oscillations have been recorded in 1998, 2016 and 2024. As we have seen, alarmists have taken full advantage of the changes wrought by the latest El Niño effect, particularly the warmer ocean temperatures that have arisen. As with most natural variation, that process is being reversed – what goes up, usually comes down.
According to NOAA, SSTs in three of the four locations around the Pacific used to determine the presence of an El Niño are now below the long term trend. Temperatures have also dropped considerably in many parts of the Pacific down to 300 metres as the graph below for the central and eastern area shows.
Meanwhile, spare a thought for narrative-driven messengers such as the BBC’s Georgina Rannard. Last August she claimed that while scientists have known that the sea surface would continue to warm up because of greenhouse gas emissions, “they are still investigating exactly why temperatures have surged so far above previous years”.
What a difference a few months makes in the climate alarmism business.
The bottom line here is very simple (even though the article isn’t). The earth goes through cycles. Man is not significant enough to impact these cycles to any great degree. We need to keep our air and water as clean as possible, but we also need to allow for economic growth.
From my friends at Townhall:
They Are Already Putting Out The Roadblocks
On August 27th, The Daily Caller posted an article about the roadblocks the Biden-Harris is putting up in case President Trump is elected this year. The deep state wants to make sure that he cannot fully enact his policies and agenda.
The article reports:
The Biden-Harris administration has deployed a little-known hiring mechanism to staff key divisions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) ahead of the 2024 election, according to documents provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT).
Hundreds of people, primarily lawyers and judges, have been appointed to the Environmental and Natural Resources (ENRD) and Antitrust and Immigration Review divisions of the DOJ using its “Schedule A” hiring authority since President Joe Biden took office, documents shared with the DCNF by PPT show. Schedule A hiring does not require appointments to be made on the basis of merit and appointments do not expire at the end of the current president’s term, meaning these bureaucrats will stick around even if former President Donald Trump takes office in 2025, according to the Office of Budget and Management.
The hiring process is intended to benefit people with “intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities or psychiatric disabilities” but it can also be used to staff specialist positions as chaplains, scientists, and attorneys or to fill critical hiring needs, according to federal regulations.
“The Biden-Harris administration and its allies have already signaled their intent to hamstring their successor and prevent a future president from reversing their agenda,” PPT director Michael Chamberlain said in an advance copy of a press release shared with the DCNF. “Exploiting non-competitive hiring authorities to fill career civil service positions could be just another component of this scheme. It’s no wonder that the public’s trust in its government has all but disappeared.”
The DOJ used Schedule A to hire well over 100 immigration judges for its Immigration Review division, per the documents. Immigration judges are responsible for deciding “whether a noncitizen may remain in the United States or must leave the country,” according to the DOJ.
If you want a country you recognize in four years, your only choice is to vote for President Trump.
Christians and Government: Should We Engage The Political Arena in America?
Author: Pastor Daimon – CCTA Chairman
My wife and I recently returned from Washington, DC from the Faith and Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference. I was invited to be a speaker and co-host for the Invitation Only Pastors Roundtable with the African American Voices of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. It is Faith and Freedom Coalition’s biggest event of the year with this year’s event having 75 speakers. Just to name a few, we had Faith and Freedom Coalition Founder and Chairman Ralph Reed, Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Josh Hawley, Keri Lake, NC Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, Senator James Lankford, Senator Tim Scott, Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Kristi Noem, Dr. Paul Brantley, President Donald J. Trump, Pastor John Hagee, and many, many more. It was, to say the least, a great time and an honor indeed.
So, what was my topic of focus? What important contribution could I have made with all those big named speakers, most of them being Christians, as well as Conservatives and Republicans? I simply spoke on – “Christians and Government: Should We Engage the Political Arena in America?”
This seems to be a hot topic within the Christian community that hasn’t be taught by church pastors to their congregations. There are a lot of Christians that believe that being a Christian has separated us from any responsibility or commitment to our elected offices. Many Christians believe that their only role is to pray for those who hold these offices. A good number of believers believe that their only position is to vote. Then, there are the few that understands that there is no limit to the depths of our engagement with Government. I am of the understanding of the latter, nevertheless, as a Pastor, my responsibility is to teach and educate the church, the body of Christ, what the Bible says on this issue. Yet, all believers have a responsibility to engage in at least two of these areas: prayer and voting. Let’s se if we can get some help from the Bible on this subject.
When God created man, He set mankind to have dominion on the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). Since that was God’s ordination to all mankind, what part of dominion did we get released from once we received Christ as our Savior? In fact, because of the transgression in to sin taking us out of God’s presence, Jesus Christ came to restore us back into the Presence of God, thus restoring dominion to those who believe.
This gets even more real to us in Genesis chapter 9, verse 6 when God told Noah, who was a man of righteousness, that, “If man shed man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” This was the institution of magistrate and human government. And, in whom did the LORD God impute this dispensation? Noah, a man of righteousness. If this doesn’t give us enough answers, let’s take a look at David.
David, a man after God’s own heart, was a king hand-picked by God to operate in authority in His nation of Israel, while also writing at least two-thirds of the Psalms. If this one individual doesn’t convince Christians that God’s desire is that His believers engage government, then my next question is…who do you believe should be in authority? Unbelievers? People who do not know God?
Proverbs 29:2 tells us, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” Well, we are the righteous according to II Corinthians 5:21. We are also to pray for all kings and for in authority according I Timothy 2:1-2, and that will yield God’s hand turning the heart of the king/president toward his will for His people (Proverbs 21:1). Romans chapter 13 let’s us know that human government was ordained of God and is His agent to ward of evildoers on the earth.
Remember this, there are a few Books in the Bible, Judges, I Kings, and II Kings, to remind us to get involved so that our Father’s earth is rightfully governed.
Neglecting Our Own. Why?
On Friday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article about a taxpayer-funded scheme that grants benefits to illegal aliens but not to American citizens.
The article reports:
Oregonians have reacted angrily to a taxpayer-funded scheme that doles out $30,000 for non-legal migrants to buy homes, but excludes US citizens.
Hacienda Community Development Corporation, a Latino-led group in Portland, says in a promotion that it will give first-time home buyers up to $30,000 to get on the property ladder.
The scheme is ‘only for people who are not American citizens.’
It is instead open to refugees, asylum seekers, Green Card holders, and those who arrived in the US illegally as children, the post says.
It should be noted that Oregon has a Democratic trifecta and a Democratic triplex. The Democratic Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature. So the Democrats have seen the value of home ownership. It’s a shame that they are not willing to share that value with American citizens. At the same time the Democrats in Oregon are offering money to illegal aliens, their party on the national level is discussing a tax on ‘unrealized capital gains’ which if applied to homes would force most Americans to sell their homes. Since home ownership is one source of generational wealth, the contrast between how the illegal aliens are being treated and the potential for taxing Americans into poverty is interesting.
The article concludes:
Since October 2021, over 10 million migrants have crossed into the US, according to federal statistics — straining the federal agencies that handle migrants and bringing border communities, like El Paso, Texas, to its knees.
Since January, the Mexican government has stepped up efforts to stop mostly South and Central American migrants traveling through its country on their way to the US.
Pressured by the Biden Administration, Mexican officials have set up checkpoints to find migrants on northbound buses and trains and return them to the Mexico-Guatemala international boundary.
In June, the White House announced changes how migrants could seek asylum at the border.
Any migrant who did not legally enter the US would be removed and not allowed to seek asylum.
It’s an election year. Expect to see at least cosmetic changes to the current border policy.
Are We Looking At The Beginning Of A Third Political Party?
Political parties were not part of the Founding Fathers plans for America. They didn’t like them–they felt that if political parties existed, a man’s allegiance to his political party might be more important to him than his allegiance to his country. We see their wisdom when we look at our current political situation.
On Monday, Tulsi Gabbard announced that she would be supporting President Trump during his 2024 election bid. Recently, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., joined the campaign team. President Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., are all former Democrats. All of them have been treated badly by the current Democrat party. All of them have values much more in tune with the Democrat party of the 1960’s than they are in tune with the values of the Democrat party today.
On Tuesday, The Washington Examiner reported:
Former President Donald Trump plans to add Tulsi Gabbard to his presidential transition team just one day after the former House Democrat endorsed his White House bid, according to Trump’s campaign.
Gabbard will assist the former president in implementing new policies and personnel in a possible Trump administration, although her precise role has not been made clear. The announcement comes as Gabbard has been informally assisting Trump with debate preparation over the last few months, making her support for the former president official on Monday.
“As President Trump’s broad coalition of supporters and endorsers expands across partisan lines, we are proud that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have been added to the Trump/Vance Transition team,” Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, told the Washington Examiner. “We look forward to having their powerful voices on the team as we work to restore America’s greatness.”
Kennedy announced he was also tapped to join Trump’s presidential transition team during an interview with Tucker Carlson on Monday.
There are a lot of ideas that Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have that I do not agree with. However, I give them credit for taking a step toward unity in American politics.
Good News From Israel
On August 27th, Townhall reported that Israeli forces have rescued a hostage taken on October 7th. The rescue took place near Rafah–a place where the Biden administration asked them not to go.
The article reports:
“Today, the IDF and ISA rescued the hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi, aged 52, from Rahat, who was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization into Gaza on October 7,” IDF posted on X. “He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital. His family has been updated with the details, and the IDF is accompanying them.Israeli security forces will continue to operate with all means to bring home the hostages.”
The article also notes that there are still eight Americans being held as hostages. It is believed that five of them are still alive.
The Israeli Defense Forces posted the following on Twitter:
Today, the IDF and ISA rescued the hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi, aged 52, from Rahat, who was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization into Gaza on October 7. He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital. His family has been updated with the details, and the IDF is accompanying them. Israeli security forces will continue to operate with all means to bring home the hostages.
Peace in the Middle East will not come as long as Iran is able to fund Hamas and Hezbollah. A peace treaty with Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah would not be worth the paper it was written on.
The Truth About Censorship
On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article about some recent statements by Mark Zuckerberg regarding censorship under the Biden-Harris administration.
The article reports:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter on Monday that the Biden-Harris administration repeatedly pressured his company — which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and more — to censor content that is protected free speech.
Zuckerberg made the admission in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) this week in which he said that his goal moving forward was to “be neutral and not play a role one way or another” for either any political party or ideology. He said he doesn’t even want the appearance of playing a role and will not be making political contributions.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” he said in the letter. “Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure.”
The censorship during Covid probably resulted in people unnecessarily dying from the disease. We now know that there are some serious risks associated with the vaccine–that was kept quiet. We now that ivermectin used correctly can be an effective weapon against the disease–that information was suppressed. We now know that Hunter’s laptop was real–that information was censored. How much information about the current Democrat party candidates for President and Vice-President is being censored?
The article notes:
He (Zuckerberg) said that the company made a mistake by temporarily demoting a New York Post story during the 2020 election about Hunter Biden’s laptop after officials falsely suggested that it was part of a “Russian disinformation operation.”
“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he said. “We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again – for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S while waiting for fact-checkers.”
We are living with the results of an election that was probably stolen in more then one way. Let’s not let that happen again.
The Impact of the National Debt
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D
We, the American taxpayers, need to be aware of the soaring national debt; primarily because we will ultimately suffer the consequences of this out-of-control spending. Let’s take a look at the facts. I strongly suggest that you sit down as you read this.
Much of the following data was obtained from the website www.us.debtclock.org as of the end of August 2024. The total debt is currently 35.2 trillion dollars. This debt, by far the highest of any country in history, is increasing at the rate of 1 trillion dollars every three months. This amounts to $268,000 per taxpayer. The debt to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is 122% as compared to 35% in 1980. This is comparable to an individual having a debt that is 122% higher than their total assets and income. The interest alone on the national debt now amounts to 918 billion dollars per year, which is more than the entire military defense budget. This is clearly unsustainable.
The impact of federal spending on inflation is equally alarming. Compared to the year 2000, the price of essentials is truly shocking. For example, the average price of a new home is now $406,000 as compared to $166,000 in the year 2000. New cars now average $49,000 as compared to $22,000; annual healthcare now averages $15,000 as compared to $5,000; college tuition now averages $27,000 per year compared $11,000. Contrast these dramatic increases to the increase in median annual income that is now $39,000 compared to $32,000 in the year 2000. Clearly, the standard of living of the average American, especially the young, has diminished significantly, especially when you add the $268,000 we all owe on the national debt!
As we face the upcoming election, we need to evaluate the impact the Democrat and Republican platforms will have on the national debt and inflation. The Democrat platform, as far as we can tell, includes price controls, $25,000 gifts to first time home buyers, increases in corporate tax rates, allowing the Trump tax cuts to expire, a tax on unrealized capital gains, transferring student loan debt to others, and a wealth tax. History shows that none of these proposals will reduce the national debt or inflation–they will only increase government spending and reduce the incentive of the average person or corporation to invest. Couple this with the money being spent to support illegal aliens, and the problem only worsens. For example, price controls lead to shortages in supplies and result in price increases. The Republican platform includes efforts to reduce the cost of energy by eliminating costly green energy programs and expanding the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power, reducing excessive government regulations, incentives to increase investments, and returning manufacturing to this country. Decreasing the cost of energy is essential to reducing inflation. The national debt crisis can only be solved by reducing the size of the federal government (e.g. abolishing the federal Department of Education and cutting the budgets of all federal agencies) and growing the economy by encouraging investment.
We have a very clear choice in the upcoming election. The fate of the economic survival of this country is on the ballot. Time to face reality.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Has Specific Issues He Wants To Target
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is an interesting addition to the Trump team. I am sure there are places where the two seriously disagree, but I suspect there are also places where they strongly agree. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has said for years that he distrusts the pharmaceutical companies who push vaccines and that is concerned about the chemicals being put into our food supply. While I don’t agree with all of his ideas on either subject, he does have some good ideas.
On Saturday, Zero Hedge posted an article about one of the good ideas.
The article reports:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent decades as an environmental lawyer fighting polluters and supported ‘green’ organizations for environmental justice. He is now setting his crosshairs on the pharmaceutical industry and cleaning up the nation’s food supply chain of ultra-processed foods and seed oils that poison consumers. He has determined that suspending his presidential campaign to team up with former President Trump will be necessary for the strongest success rate in making Americans healthier again, not through big pharma’s Ozempic shots but instead revitalizing small farms and shaking up corrupted federal agencies.
Lifelong liberals like RFK Jr. backing Trump is one of the strongest indicators of just how extreme the ticket, unoriginal Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats have become. Harris’ team recently announced their first proposed economic policy, which was rooted in communism and included disastrous price controls. It appears the far-left ticket is being advised and heavily influenced by Marxists.
The article concludes:
Mega corporations, some of which are part of the ‘green’ cult, want greater and greater control over the nation’s food supply chain. Some are even pushing insect-based diets.
The big takeaway from RFK Jr.’s support of Trump is that he believes the correct path to restoring America’s health is not Ozempic shots but revitalizing the nation’s local food supply chains by making small farms great again. He wants to reset the food supply chain system and purge it of ultra-processed foods and seed oils that are killing consumers. He also proposed shaking up federal agencies in health and food that have close ties with ultra-processed food companies.
For years, we have told readers that it’s critical to support local farmers and put the food supply chain back into the hands of the people—not corrupt mega-corps that flood store shelves with cancer-causing junk food.
Henry Kissinger famously said, “Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.”
It’s time for Americans to regain control of the nation’s food supply chains by making small farms great again. Also, boycotting the processed food industry and buying local food is critical.
If Trump wins, RFK Jr. will likely provide tailwinds for small farmers. And Europe will take note as corp/gov’ts have also waged war on small farms.
Please follow the link above to read the entire article. This would be very good for all Americans.
When Did Americans Become Second-Class Citizens In America?
On Saturday, Red State posted an article about some changes to the plan for transporting children to school in Stoughton, Massachusetts.
The article reports:
Another day, and another example of taxpayers getting hosed while illegal immigrants get free handouts. This time, it’s the Boston-area suburb of Stoughton, Massachusetts, where parents of 150 schoolchildren have been informed at the last moment that their kids won’t be able to ride the bus to school. The school district has cited “a lack of funding and a shortage of buses.” But is that really it?
The article quotes The Boston Herald:
The 150 students at Stoughton Public Schools will have to find a new way to get to school ahead of the academic year’s September 4 start date, the Boston Herald first reported. The news comes at the same time that the state has started paying for buses for the migrant students of the more than 200 migrant families that recently moved into their community.
“Unfortunately, for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, 150 secondary students who signed up to ride a bus were not able to be placed on a bus,” a letter sent to parents from Superintendent of Schools Joseph Baeta read. “Those families not receiving bus transportation were notified this week. Those receiving bus transportation will receive their bus postcards the week of August 19.”
…There is no requirement in the state of Massachusetts to provide transportation for students in grades 7-12, but the district is required to provide busing to students living in hotels and shelters, the letter said. However, according to the superintendent, the arrival of migrant families in Stoughton is not the reason for the shortage of buses.
“We are utilizing funding the state provides to the district to bus the students living in hotels/shelters,” the letter said. “The funding for these two buses does not come from our operational budget. It is inaccurate to suggest that these children receiving busing is the reason yours did not. If we were not receiving the funding from the state for the students living in hotels/shelters, we would not be able to have these two additional buses.”
The article concludes:
This, folks, is why we have school board elections – and elections in general. The Biden/Harris administration hasn’t just been bad on this issue of illegal immigration, they haven’t shown up at all. Their policy has been a non-policy, except when it comes to processing illegal aliens into the country even faster.
As for the taxpayers in Stoughton, Massachusetts, there is an old military acronym that applies: BOHICA.
School Board Elections matter and Presidential elections matter.
Imaginary People Making Real Donations
On Thursday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the funding for ActBlue. ActBlue was founded in 2009 to help Democrats in fundraising. The organization serves as a conduit for left-wing donors, with two more arms—ActBlue Charities and ActBlue Civics—funneling money to 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) clients, respectively.
The article reports:
Paging Dr. Adrienne Young, M.D.
The good doctor is listed online as an “internist” in McKees Rocks, a borough in western Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, known locally as “the Rocks.”
Campaign finance filings report Young’s practice is located on Heckel Road in McKees and list a 412 area code phone number. But her office does not appear to exist at this address and the number is not in service. Moreover, none of the receptionists attached to doctors’ offices located in close proximity to Young’s office address in McKees have ever heard of her. That’s peculiar in and of itself. But a search of campaign finance records only adds to the intrigue.
Someone identified as Adrienne Young has been making substantial contributions to a left-of-center political action committee known as ActBlue, according to Federal Election Commission records.
…Restoration News is still attempting to contact the individual listed in campaign finance documents as Adrienne Young. Records list her residing on Leet Road in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. These records show that since 2017, Young has made 17,342 in contributions to ActBlue totaling $209,670.06—which averages seven contributions per day.
Evidently the doctor is doing very well.
The article notes:
“Smurfing” involves repackaging large sums of money into smaller, individual transactions to appear less suspicious and avoid scrutiny from law enforcement officials. Is “Adrienne Young” a cover for such an operation, benefiting Democrats?
While it is indisputably the case that ActBlue is ringing the bell with hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions, it’s not evident the smaller contributions that translate over time into larger sums are coming from an individual donor.
One of the more recent contributions to ActBlue leading back to the donor identified as Young came on March 16, 2023, in the amount of $1196.50. That’s not an unusual amount for an individual, but what is unusual is folding that amount into more than 17,000 contributions made over the span of several years. The donor identified as Young was actively contributing to ActBlue at least through part of this year with a donation of $429.00 made on April 30, 2024. If a smurfing operation is underway, it may not be limited to what’s flowing into ActBlue.
Please follow the link to read the entire article. This sort of cheating needs to have serious legal consequences.
On Friday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article with the response of the Former Chief Impact Officer at ActBlue.
This is the response:
In a recent interview with an OKeefeMedia Citizen Journalist, Geri Prado former Chief Impact Officer at ActBlue, downplayed concerns about the organization’s suspicious fundraising practices. Prado attempted to brush off allegations by describing ActBlue merely as “a payment processor for campaigns, but it’s not a campaign,” and likened it to PayPal, citing credit card fees as a standard issue.
When asked about potential money laundering, Prado dismissed the concern, “No… It’s a very hard thing to do,” downplaying the likelihood of any illegal activity. However, she admits, “There are other problems,” hinting at other issues within the organization.
This comes amidst reports that Federal Election Commission (FEC) records are inaccurately reflecting senior citizens as having made donations far beyond their actual contributions.
It will be interesting to see what the current Department of Justice does with these allegations.
Every State Is A Border State
On Friday, The New York Post posted an article about a June jewelry store robbery in Denver.
The article reports:
Four Venezuelan migrants believed to have links to the notorious prison gang Tren de Aragua were indicted Wednesday in the violent armed robbery of a Denver jewelry store — including two migrants who have previously been arrested in other states, The Post can reveal.
Three of the alleged gangbangers — Oswaldo Lozada-Solis, 23, Jesus Daniel Lara Del Toro, 20, and Jean Franco Torres-Roman, 21 — were charged with armed robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced Wednesday.
The fourth migrant, Edwuimar Nazareth Colina-Romero, 18, was charged with transporting stolen goods and possession of stolen goods.
The charges stem from a June 25 robbery in which two female staffers at Joyeria El Ruby Jewelry Store were pistol-whipped and threatened with death.
No, the countries who are invading our southern border are not sending us their best.
The article notes:
Lozada Solis crossed the border into Laredo in October of 2022, according to Homeland Security records obtained by The Post. He had told border authorities that he was heading to Atlanta and was let into the country with an ankle monitor.
However, the illegal migrant cut the monitor off after about 200 days, according to the records. It is unclear when he arrived in the Big Apple.
The article concludes:
Three days after the Denver heist, Lozada-Solis, Torres-Roman and Colina-Romero were all captured at a Motel 6 in El Paso, Texas, according to sources.
The motel is “notoriously used by transnational criminal organizations in the smuggling/harboring of illegal aliens and illegal drugs attempting to make it further into the United States,” sources said.
Officers also arrested seven others at the motel believed to be tied to the same Tren de Aragua operation, including another migrant, Newman Castillo Delgado, who has a rap sheet. Castillo Delgado, however, has not been indicted in the jewelry store robbery.
Castillo Delgado was previously nabbed in Chicago for allegedly shoplifting $3,114 worth of Ralph Lauren clothing from a local department store in June 2023, according to CWB Chicago.
A judge later released him pending prosecution, the outlet reported.
Castillo Delgado then failed to appear in court after his release and a warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office.
Castillo Delgado crossed the border illegally into Texas in August 2022, when he was released by Border Patrol and enrolled in a tracking program, which he absconded around January 2023, according to Homeland Security sources.
While making the arrests at Motel 6, police found a firearm and the stolen jewelry, which the group was trying to flush down the toilet, according to sources.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, every state has become a border state.
Truth Mixed With Fiction From The Mainstream Media
On Thursday, Breitbart posted an article about how the inner circle of the Biden administration hid President Biden’s mental decline. That does lead one to wonder who exactly is running the country right now.
There are a few interesting comments in the article:
According to a Tuesday editorial discussing the octogenarian Democrat leader’s withdrawal from the 2024 race, the paper’s (Washington Post) editorial board confirmed that President Biden’s closest advisers “worked to conceal” his mental decline, a revelation that is sending shockwaves through political circles.
The piece, which primarily praised Biden for his “wisdom” and “profoundly selfless decision” to “surrender power” for the sake of the Democratic Party, noted that the president exhibited cognitive issues for a while, yet his close advisors kept the fact hidden from the public.
…“The 81-year-old had shown signs of slipping for a long time, but his inner circle worked to conceal his decline,” it reads. “He and the country would have been better off if Mr. Biden had kept his implied promise from the 2020 campaign to be a ‘transitional’ figure, perhaps by bowing out after the Democrats’ surprisingly good showing in the 2022 midterm elections.”
…Yet despite the admission, the piece still insists that Biden’s decision to “step aside” was “the toughest call he had to make in his decades in politics.”
The revelation aligns with a referenced Wall Street Journal report from June highlighting Biden’s struggles behind the scenes that was initially downplayed by the media.
I think it is generally public knowledge that President Biden did not resign as a candidate by choice. It is amazing that the people who claim to be saving democracy in America never gave the members of their party a chance to vote for their chosen candidate.
The article concludes:
Last month, a YouGov/Times survey revealed that most Americans believe Vice President Kamala Harris was a “great deal involved” in the coverup of President Joe Biden’s health.
Meanwhile, Texas Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt called for “investigations” into the circumstances surrounding President Biden’s evident cognitive decline, warning that if White House staffers were aware of the president’s “debilitating” medical condition and intentionally hid it from the public, it would be “the biggest scandal in American political history.”
When was the last cabinet meeting?
From my friends at Power Line Blog:
Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows. Or Does It?
As someone who lived in Massachusetts for 35 years (and Rhode Island for 10), I would like to comment on the addition of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to the Trump team. At first glance, it’s an odd combination, but a closer look reveals that it’s a natural fit. If nothing else, both men have been mocked, maligned, and shoved aside by the media and the deep state. This may be their chance to have the last laugh.
Let me say something about the Kennedy family. There have been a few bad apples (as is the case in most families), but the majority of them have spent much of their time trying to help those less fortunate. After his bout with drugs, Patrick Kennedy started a foundation to oppose the legalization of marijuana (something he regarded as a gateway drug). One of the Kennedys started a program in Massachusetts to provide heating oil for low-income families. Some Kennedys are involved in politics, but many of the family members have been working under the radar to help people who are less fortunate. There are some womanizing issues, but in today’s political world, that’s not even noteworthy.
So what does Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., bring to the party? John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy Senior were old-school Democrats. They represented the working people. John Kennedy lowered taxes significantly. He also supported civil rights–not quotas. Robert Kennedy went after the mob and the corruption in the labor unions. Neither John or Robert Kennedy would be welcomed in today’s Democrat party. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was obviously not welcomed. There are a lot of people today who have been life-long Democrats who do not recognize today’s Democrat party. Because Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has joined President Trump, these people have a place to go. It is also an unabashed call to unify the country under our basic Constitutional principles.
The Democrats could have had a real primary election. A primary election between President Biden, Vice-President Harris, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., would have allowed to voters to choose the Democrat candidate. Instead, the party chose to hide President Biden’s infirmity from the public (with the help of the Vice-President, the Cabinet, and the news media) and at the last moment install a candidate no one voted for. No wonder Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chose to support President Trump–his own party treated him very badly.
President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., are not in agreement about everything, but they are willing to work together on the things they do agree on. That’s an example we all should follow.
Curiouser And Curiouser
On Thursday, The Epoch Times posted an article about the person who attempted to assassinate President Trump. We have a whole lot more questions about that attempt than we do answers.
The article reports:
The man who fired shots at former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania had encrypted accounts in multiple countries, according to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives task force investigating the attempted assassination.
“We haven’t learned much about those overseas accounts,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) said at a press conference in Chicago on Aug. 21. “We do know they were in … Belgium, New Zealand, and Germany.”
Waltz is on the “Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump.”
…“Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms, not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into?” Waltz said.
He said that the question had not yet been answered.
The article concludes:
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. told Congress in July that discipline may follow once the agency finishes its internal probe into the situation.
“That roof should have had better coverage, and we will get to the bottom of if there were any policy violations,” he said at one point.
Rowe added later that he would not provide real-time updates on disciplinary measures but would “at a high level provide at least some type of statement that people are being held accountable.”
Kimberly Cheatle, who was the Secret Service’s director before stepping down after Trump was nearly assassinated, said on July 22 that the Secret Service’s initial report about rally security would be ready in 60 days.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is also conducting an investigation.
I don’t care if there were any policy violations–a President was almost killed while supposedly under Secret Service protections. Heads need to roll.