Saturday Shorts (Sunday edition) – 5-7-17

Posted on May 7, 2017

sshorts5-31-14

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
More evidence dating Shroud of Turin to time of Christ ~ I’ve always been fascinated by “The Shroud.” Despite exhaustive analysis, and ever-more sophisticated methods of examination, the relic has yet to be proven anything but authentic ~

(A)n expert on ancient Roman coins has discovered more evidence that the burial cloth could have been used to cover the body of Jesus.

 
Chuck Schumer, de facto president ~ Bryan Fischer with more on the GOP budget betrayal ~

We gave Republicans everything they said they had to have to get things done in DC. In return we get a shameful capitulation to Democrats on virtually everything of vital importance – and Senator Schumer inaugurated as the new king of the hill.

 
‘I consider myself trans-species’: Fantasy fan transforms himself into an ELF with £25,000 of plastic surgery including full body hair removal, skin bleaching and eye colouring ~ Yet another tragically-deluded soul (although someday soon it will be considered a vicious attack to actually point that out) ~

‘I consider myself trans-species, in the same way transgender people feel, I need to become how I feel inside, I don’t expect people to understand but I ask they respect it.
 
‘The fantasy genre makes me happy and because I didn’t have many friends when I was younger I submerged myself into it.’

 
Flashback – one year ago this week: Ted Cruz Unloads on Trump in Indiana: “I’m going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump.” (VIDEO)~ Prescient, but the Trump juggernaut was on the move, and no one wanted to hear it ~

Donald will betray his supporters on every issue. If you care about immigration, Donald is laughing at you. And he’s telling the moneyed elites that he doesn’t believe what he’s saying, he’s not gonna build a wall – that’s what he told the New York Times, he will betray you on every issue across the board.

 
Couples are turning extra IVF embryos into jewellery ~ If this story doesn’t make you nauseous nothing will. Belinda Stafford (NSW, Australia) can now wear her dead babies around her neck every day ~

“Donating our embryos wasn’t an option for us and I couldn’t justify the yearly storage fee.
 
“I’d heard others had planted them in the garden but we move a lot, so I couldn’t do this.
 
“I needed them with me.”

When you’re this self-centered, there really is no hope.

 
Navy SEAL killed near Mogadishu. What are US troops doing there? ~ We’re suddenly “advising” the Somali National Army on how to fight Al-Shabaab?

(G)iven that Somalia hardly has a functioning government, it’s hard to see how American efforts in the country will pay off in the long term. Additionally, Somalia is one of the least free countries on the planet. Skeptics have challenged the wisdom of an American government picking a winner in a semi-failed state that does not have the ability to defend either its borders or its people.

 
Bill O’Reilly, Fox News, and the pornification of conservative media ~ Like frogs in boiling water, we’ve grown so used to Fox’s objectification of women we’ve hardly noticed how it’s permeated their entire network. And when that sort of sleazy environment is aggressively promoted, it shouldn’t be surprising when harassment charges surface ~

Whether O’Reilly himself is guilty or not, the only thing surprising about the revelation that some of the male leadership at Fox may have sexually harassed female employees, is that so many people are surprised by it.

 
Bill Nye’s Ice Cream Cartoon Condemns Monogamous Heterosexual Sex as Unnatural and Immoral ~ I’m not going to link to Nye’s outlandish cartoon (you can find it on YouTube), it’s beyond offensive. Ben Shapiro’s commentary tells you everything you need to know ~

(T)he song is a lie. Billy Nye is definitely not about making a choice about how you govern your own sexuality. That is not what he wants. What he does want is a world full of people getting their freak on with multiple partners of every conceivable gender. Bill Nye wants a world filled with loveless sex, unbridled lust, and orgies. And in order to convey that deadly message to your children, the sinister Nye uses a cartoon featuring ice cream cones.

 
Deliberately mocking those of us who still believe that sex is a sacred act that God meant to be shared between a man and women who have made a life-long commitment to one another ~

He is not even subtle. (In Nye’s cartoon), the “Vanilla Cone,” is a Christian who believes in monogamous heterosexual sex and converting those who do not. In the end, however, it is Vanilla who is converted, who finally loosens up and discovers true joy as a slut eager to have sex with everything and everyone.

 
Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers Working With ANTIFA Terrorist Group ~ Anarchists-of-a-feather ~

(Ayers’ group) “Refuse Fascism“, a fascist organization that wishes to inhibit and deny the speech of conservatives, is partly funded by George Soros. It has organizers like Bill Ayers and is targeting youth across the country with the intention of indoctrinating and brainwashing individuals who nascent politically. We know Ayers was associated with Barrack Obama and is a big supporter of various socialists and communists as well as violent terrorists.

 
Lessons Unlearned From the ’92 LA Riots ~ On the 25th anniversary of the LA riots, Star Parker looks at progressive failure and Barack Obama’s squandered opportunity to help heal America’s racial divide ~

We all should look to the words of Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural, “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds…”

 
Why do people who eat lots of apples live longer? ~ Just a friendly health tip. Think I’ll go buy a bag 🙂

Posted in Everything Else | Leave a comment

Trump’s EO on Religious Freedom? Thanks for the symbolism

Posted on May 5, 2017

President Trump’s executive order on religious liberty may have been good for a photo-op – but that’s about the extent of it.
 
trumpsReligiousLibertyEO 
Ben Shapiro calls the EO “milquetoast hogwash.” David A. French at National Review recommends that he “tear it up, not start over, and do the actual real statutory and regulatory work that truly protects religious liberty.”
 
What’s the problem? French explains ~

(T)he order has three main components: 1) a promise to “protect and vigorously promote religious liberty,” 2) a directive to “ease restrictions on political activity by churches and charities,” and 3) an order to “federal agencies to exempt some religious organizations from Affordable Care Act requirements that provide employees with health coverage for contraception.”
Those directives are respectively 1) meaningless, 2) dangerous, and 3) meaningless.

 

1.) The first component is a nice sentiment but, it doesn’t do anything “vigorously,” and it doesn’t “protect” anything at all.
2.) Regarding the second part, an executive order cannot repeal a statute, and legal restrictions on political activity by churches are statutory. (The Johnson Amendment prohibits non-profit organizations from participating in, or intervening in a political campaign.)
3.) The last component is far too vague; Just as executive orders can’t overturn statutes, they also can’t overturn regulations, and the contraception mandate is on the regulatory books.
 
French offers some helpful advice for the Trump regime if they’re truly interested in shoring up the First Amendment ~

The administration can right now begin the rulemaking process to change the contraception mandate. Congress can right now begin the lawmaking process to repeal the Johnson Amendment. Congress can right now work to pass statutes that protect free speech and rights of conscience. That’s the real work of government. Anything else is fluff, a symbol at best.

 

Or an advantageous photo-op.
 
~~~~~~~~~~
Related:
New EO on religious liberty takes aim at HHS, Johnson amendment
How Should We Respond to the President’s Executive Order on Religious Liberty?

Posted in Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Welcome to the Tea Party Mr. Dreyfuss!

Posted on May 4, 2017

Whoa! Has one of Hollywood’s reliably-Left celebrities actually discovered the genius of America’s founding documents? Yes, it seems Richard Dreyfuss has had an epiphany – “I am a Constitutionalist!”
 

Last Friday, Tucker Carlson had Dreyfuss on his Fox News show to discuss the out-of-control 9th Circuit Court and California’s sanctuary cities. He was pleasantly surprised when the actor passionately addressed the critical need for civics literacy in our public schools ~
 

 
It’s wonderful that you’re finally seeing the light Mr. Dreyfuss. We conservative Tea Party types have realized since we first picked up our signs and rally flags that collective ignorance of our founding documents it the primary obstacle to restoring liberty in this land. If we can’t educate future generations about America’s unique values and her legacy, America will cease to be.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Posted in Timeless Principles, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

The Middle East’s Courageous Christians

Posted on May 3, 2017

It’s really amazing but, despite the ongoing persecution in the Middle East, Christianity is spreading rapidly there. A recent video from CBN News shares the good news of thousands of Muslim conversions.
 

“More Muslims have come to faith in Christ in the Middle East in
just the last 10-15 years than in all of the last 14 centuries!”
 

 

8Thirty8 ~ Lift them up in prayer ~
 

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~ Romans 8:38-39

Posted in Comfort & Joy, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Elections no longer have consequences

Posted on May 2, 2017

dem-rep-NOdifferanceIt’s official. Elections really don’t matter anymore. Some time last year, our two-party system completed its final metamorphosis; we now have one homogenous, autocratic, government leviathan. Any further appeals to the beast are pointless.
 

When the Democrats are this smugly satisfied with the new Republican federal budget – a $1 Trillion Spendathon that includes funding for everything most of the Republicans ran against (Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, sanctuary cities, the Iran Deal – but NOT “the wall”) – you know it’s pretty much game-over ~

Democratic leaders touted the agreement as a victory, claiming to have blocked 160 “poison pill” Republican policy riders and stymied many of Trump’s priorities, especially on border enforcement
 
“We have eliminated more than 160 Republican poison pill riders, ranging from undermining a woman’s right to reproductive health to dismantling Dodd-Frank’s vital Wall Street consumer protections,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “The omnibus does not fund President Trump’s immoral and unwise border wall or create a cruel new deportation force.”

 
As Rush Limbaugh asked Mike Pence today ~

If this is what happens, Mr. Vice President, why vote Republican? What is the point of voting Republican if the Democrats are going to continue to win practically 95% of their objectives, such as in this last budget deal?” […]
 
Why is the president now suggesting a budget shutdown in September-October. If it’s no good now, why is it good then? You guys were sent there to drain the swamp, there’s a clear Trump agenda that just isn’t seeable, it’s not visible in this budget, and some people are getting concerned that there’s more concern for bipartisanship and crossing the aisle to work with Democrats than there is in draining the swamp.” […]
 
Why is anybody voting Republican if this is what happens when we win. We won the House. We won the Senate. We won the White House. And the Democrats thwarted everything we supposedly said we were going to do with our victory.”

[For his part, the vice president touted the increase in military spending and repeated the ususal “we’ll get ’em next time” mantra]

 

Those of us who voted to drain-the-swamp (especially we conservatives who initially supported an inspiring candidate who vowed to break up the Washington Cartel), must finally come to terms with the depressing fact; we-the-people are now at the mercy of an insatiable, entrenched oligarchy.
 
Note sure where we go from here.. Although, here’s a thought.

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:
Levin tears into Republican ‘liars’: ‘They want Obamacare’ ~

“We’ve been waiting … for thirty years,” Levin said of Republicans promising to make good on their statements in favor of free market legislation. “They don’t want to repeal Obamacare,” he explained.
 
“The Republicans buy into this propaganda,” he added of the congressional legislators’ unwillingness to repeal the main tenets of Obamacare. “They want Obamacare, even though it’s unsustainable.”
 
“We have liars. Deceitful, dishonest men and women who get your votes” and don’t follow through on any of their promises, the CR editor-in-chief said, disgusted by the behavior of the Republican establishment.

 
Updated 5-4-17:
Ann Coulter: ‘There’s No Point To Vote For A Republican Again’ ~

“Republicans’ idea is always to surrender this time, in hopes that their gentlemanliness will be rewarded by their mortal enemies next time,” Coulter wrote. “Then, next time comes, and Republicans again surrender in hopes of currying favor with the Democrats and the media for the next time.” […]
 
“We’re not winning. We’re losing, and we’re losing on the central promise of Trump’s campaign,” Coulter wrote. “How would Trump, the businessman, react if an underling charged with developing a new golf course could never break ground?”

Posted in Mendacity, Unvarnished | 1 Comment

Putting a happy face on communism

Posted on May 1, 2017

marx-engels-lenin 
Just in time for May Day, MIT press is out with “Communism for Kids,” a sugar-coated primer on the deadliest ideology in human history ~

(The book) written by a German author (Bini Adamczak) who specializes in political theory and “queer politics,” [which explains a lot] was released last month. The thesis of the children’s book is that communism is “not that hard,” but has not been implemented in the right way.

 
That’s the same, old, tired excuse true believers always roll out whenever skeptics ask why the promised utopia has yet to materialize; our theory is perfectly workable – it just needs some tweaking (and bigger piles of dead bodies). The truth is, communism in one form or another has been tried – and failed – in over 40 countries (Look no further than Venezuela today). That is, if your definition of “failed” is immeasurable human misery, suffering and death.
 
In any event, the very attempt to indoctrinate children with such a grievance-based, bankrupt philosophy is appalling. The People’s Cube featured an illustration from the book (I think that’s an iron they’re destroying) ~

The little girl’s armpit hair is especially disturbing. I understand it must be a nod to feminism, and far be it from me to dictate rules of body hygiene to any women and their consenting partners.
 
commiekids 
The reason it’s disturbing is because little girls don’t have armpit hair.
 
So the book’s authors either have never had children themselves and forgot their own childhood, or they are perverts who fantasize about a world where little girls have armpit hair or where adult women with armpit hair look, dress, and behave like little girls and break things they don’t or won’t understand.
 
All options are bad and I don’t know which one is worse.

 

Satire aside, Adamczak neglects to mention a century of brutal dictators such as Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, Mao Tse Tung’s “Great Leap Forward” in China, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Cuba, who collectively are responsible for the deaths of millions. And let’s not forget the North Korean menace.
 

Instead, according to “Communism for Kids,” it’s capitalism that is evil, unfair and creates misery. Which really means equal opportunity is evil, unfair and creates misery. Or more fundamentally, real life must be evil, because – as we all learn pretty quickly – life itself clearly is unfair. It’s just not fair that any one is smarter, stronger, faster, prettier – or works harder – than anyone else.
 
Communism is an infantile philosophy, that’s why Adamczak is pitching it to kids. The impossible idea that society can be completely restructured to make everything fair and equal, appeals to a child’s keen sense of justice.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Give me four years to teach the children
and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”
~ Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A few years ago, Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh spoke at the “Survivors of Communism Summit” in Alexandria, VA. She dedicated the talk to her father, who died in a Romanian prison in 1989 after being denied food, medication, and water for 30 days

“My dad died and the more than 100 million dissenters who fought against the ideology of communism because they disagreed with the Marxist ideology, they protested the confiscation of their homes, their land, their guns, their personal possessions, and they objected to the lack of food, heat, water, proper medical care, medications, and the decent treatment as human beings,” Paugh said.
 
“I know because I lived there for 23 years,” she said.
 
“We did have equality,” she said. “Equal misery, equal suffering, equal maltreatment, equal poverty, equal beatings.”

 
Harsh at they may be, these are the lessons our children need to hear about communism and its tragic legacy. Humanity has suffered enough from these evil utopian fantasies.

 
Someone should write The Gulag Archipelago for Kids. But it would give them nightmares – it did me.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:

‘Communism for Kids’ Turns Deadly Ideology into a Fairy Tale
Another socialism fail ~ Another attempt at collectivist paradise runs into the wall of reality; a Michigan restaurant tries and fails to fabricate equal outcomes for all

The Spider and the Fly ~ The false allure of communism

Baptizing May Day: How St. Joseph was Enlisted to Defeat Communism ~ Back when the west took the Red Menace seriously ~

The chasm between the totalitarian communist ideology and Christianity was so obvious to Pope Pius XII that by 1949 he issued a Decree Against Communism, which threatened to excommunicate anyone who continued to propagate “the materialistic and anti-Christian teachings of communism.”

 
Updated 5-2-17 ~ May Day Protests Erupt In Violence As Anti-Trump Rioters Assault Cops, Trump Supporters
Despite century of failure, commies celebrate century of failure ~

“The definition of insanity,” the old, pithy adage says, “is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.” By that standard, our fellow citizens taking to the streets today in at least complicit commemoration of suffering, despotism, and starvation are nothing short of certifiably insane.

Posted in Fruits of Their Labors, Good vs.Evil, Unvarnished | 3 Comments

Indonesia’s version of Islam doesn’t look so “moderate” from here

Posted on April 30, 2017

“Indonesia’s tradition of moderate Islam,
frankly, is an inspiration to the world.”
Vice President Mike Pence

How’s that again?
 

On the Trump administration’s first official visit to Indonesia, the vice president made that statement in Jakarta on Thursday – ironically, a day after the capital’s Christian governor was ousted in an election fraught with religious tension. (Following his loss, “Ahok,” the now ex-governor was quickly charged with “expressing hostile feelings or hatred towards a particular group,” see below*)
 
indonesia-46Yes Mr. Pence, unfortunately – if the last year or so is any indication – it seems Indonesia’s brand of Islam is just as susceptible to radicalization as any other. According to Open Doors, the country currently ranks 46th in Christian persecution ~

Claims that Indonesia would be unaffected (by) Islamic State (ISIS), due to its special brand of moderate and diverse Islam, were shattered when an attack against a café in Jakarta in January 2016 claimed seven lives.
Radical Islamic groups continue to pose serious challenges, especially when connected to international movements. Most citizens are not interested in issues of religion or minorities (as was demonstrated by a poll published in May 2016), instead they are more concerned about quick economic improvements.

 
And this doesn’t exactly scream “tolerance” ~

A children’s learning center run by doctor and mission worker, Wandi and his wife, (not their real names) in a poor community in Indonesia was recently forced to close down. The couple was accused of Christianizing Muslim children by teaching Christian songs to the children.
 
indonesia-kidsschool 
Although the parents protested the trumped up accusations, saying that it has been a blessing for their children to be educated, the city mayor insisted that the center closes its doors. A government official said, “Christians are not worthy of teaching Muslims.”

[Who cares about the welfare of our children! We’ve got a holy war to wage!]
 

Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch lists numerous examples of recent Indonesian immoderation that Mr. Pence may not be aware of. Here are several ~

• Sharia vigilantes beat gay couple, then turn them over to religious police
• Sharia: Woman gets 100 lashes for sex outside marriage
• “Moderate” Indonesia gives “messiah” five years in prison for “blasphemy”
• Aceh province lashes 339 people with cane in 2016 for violations of Sharia
• 150,000 Muslims demand arrest of Christian governor for “blasphemy”
• Muslims firebomb church, injure four children
• Muslim with ISIS flag stabs priest, tries to blow up church during mass, police search for motive
• Muslims call for closure of churches in Sharia province
• Police open fire on church, kill 15-year-old boy

 

In the following video from Open Doors, a former terrorist exposes the ideology of Indonesia’s radical Muslims ~

“To die and even to kill is God’s way in the Koran, it’s a joy, it’s a pleasure, it’s an honor.”
 
“Fighting against the Cross in Indonesia will never end until Sharia law is implemented.”

Then he contrasts his former anger and fanaticism that with the true joy and peace of mind he feels as a believer in Jesus Christ ~

 

 

Meanwhile, our vice president seems to harboring the same delusions that far too many in the west have about that benign “Religion-of-Peace” ~

 
indonesia-Pence

“In your nation, as in mine, religion unifies — it doesn’t divide. It gives us hope for a brighter future, and we are all grateful for the great inspiration that Indonesia provides for the world,” the vice president added. “Rest assured, under President Trump, the United States welcomes all who share our values and strive for that brighter future.”…

 

Mr. Pence, you really seem like a decent guy, though perhaps a bit naive. With all due respect, Indonesia appears to be under siege from radical Islam. Pretending otherwise isn’t going to help anyone – except the jihadis. As that former terrorist explains, the only unifying they have planned is under Sharia.

 
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Related:
Pence Visits Mosque, Declares Indonesia’s Moderate Islam ‘an Inspiration to the World’
*Ex-Governor Ahok Standing Strong through the Storm ~

Basuki Cahaya Purnama “Ahok,” a Christian and ethnic Chinese, and Jakarta’s first non-Muslim governor in 50 years, lost re-election on April 19. The next morning, his blasphemy trial continued with the prosecutor demanding a sentence of 1 year imprisonment and 2 years’ probation.
 
What is surprising in this development is that the prosecutor did not use the original charge of blasphemy, which had resulted in mass protests against Ahok for several weeks. Instead, he is now charged for “expressing hostile feelings or hatred towards a particular group.” In this case, the particular group refers to his political opponents.

 
I love this guy! ~

“God gives the authority and so God alone can take it back,” said Ahok to his supporters after the quick count which confirmed his loss. “No one is allowed to rule without God’s permission. I once lost in the governor’s election in 2007, but then I still became Jakarta’s governor. So, don’t be sad. God knows best.”

Posted in Good vs.Evil, Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Saturday Shorts – 4-29-17

Posted on April 29, 2017

sshorts4-28-12

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
First, a couple sites I recently discovered that are well worth checking out:
Farm Girl Fresh ~ Healthy, wholesome, homegrown recipes and advice from two Christian “farmgirls”
Men of the West ~ Not just for guys, but with a decidedly male focus. Their mission is inspiring ~

… to clarify the issues of the day and build a community of like minded men who worship Jesus Christ. To unify them across Christendom to steel them against the barbarians who are either at the gates, or already inside them. We will celebrate, defend, and expand Western Civilization and the values and traditions that created it.

 
The Papal Propagandist for Islam Heads to Egypt ~ Past popes combated the errors of Muhammad. Francis praises them. How can the head of the Catholic Church not believe in transcendental truth? John 14:6.

 
Judicial Watch: Soros Using U.S. Funds to Help Overthrow Macedonian Government ~ Obama leftovers in DOJ and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have actually been helping Soros pursue his evil goal of global chaos; subverting legitimate governments! According to Judicial Watch ~

USAID, working with radical elements inside the DOS (left over from the Obama administration), have disbursed $5 million to Soros-backed groups in Macedonia through Soros’ Open Society Foundation-Macedonia, with another $9.5 million due to be disbursed over the next several years. The USAID, according to its own website, has served as a pipeline of American monies “on topics such as freedom of association, youth policies, citizen initiatives, persuasive argumentation and [the] use of new media.”
 
This differs significantly from what one Macedonian official says, according to Judicial Watch: The pipeline funds the “Soros infantry,” consisting of dozens of front groups that radicalize and organize young people, create media outlets dispersing propaganda and organize violent street protests “designed to undermine the institutions and policies implemented by the government.”

 
Under Socialized Medicine, The State Owns You ~ A tragic tale of state-sanctioned murder from the UK’s NHS; the government actually decreed that a child die.

 
The Handmaid’s Tale Is Hate Speech ~ In case you were wondering whether to waste the time watching. Don’t ~

The new series from Hulu paints pro-lifers and Christians as sex-obsessed fascists

 
Reporters Without Borders: Turkey Is ‘World’s Biggest Prison’ for Journalists ~ As I said last week, under Erdoğan, Turkey is rapidly devolving into another islamo-fascist state like Iran ~

“Dozens of journalists have been imprisoned without trial, turning Turkey into the world’s biggest prison for media personnel,” notes RSF. “Those still free are exposed to other forms of arbitrary treatment including waves of trials, withdrawal of press cards, cancellation of passports, and seizure of assets. Censorship of online social networks has also reached unprecedented levels.”

 
On the other hand, maybe Sweden Has Turned a Corner ~ Very interesting assessment from an inside observer. Perhaps the Swedes have finally figured out they’re facing an existential threat from the very “refugees” they naively welcomed with open arms. Sure hope he’s right.

 

Former Obama Official: Bureaucrats Manipulate Climate Stats To Influence Policy ~ You mean they really did have an agenda? Who knew? ~

Former Energy Department Undersecretary Steven Koonin told The Wall Street Journal Monday that bureaucrats within former President Barack Obama’s administration spun scientific data to manipulate public opinion.
 
“What you saw coming out of the press releases about climate data, climate analysis, was, I’d say, misleading, sometimes just wrong,” Koonin said, referring to elements within the Obama administration he said were responsible for manipulating climate data.

 
Trump Selling Out Religious Conservatives? Betraying the key demographic that put him in the White House? Not good ~

The most absurd example of progressive pathology during Obama’s reign was arguably the legal assault on the Little Sisters of the Poor. “Jumping the shark” called, and it thinks making criminals out of chaste women because they won’t pay for other women to have recreational sex is just begging for some karmic justice.
 
But sadly, it may be the nuns’ turn to get kicked in the teeth once more. Because elections have consequences, or something.
 
According to LifeSiteNews, the Trump administration has asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for 60 more days to continue the Obama administration’s bullying of religious institutions. This is after several of them, including the Little Sister of the Poor, had found at least temporary relief in multiple courts from fascism masquerading as feminism.

 
Heroin in the Heartland: The Christian Solution to America’s Epidemic ~ Video report from CBN News details the opioid-herion crisis and potential solutions

Posted in Everything Else | Leave a comment

On the Fence

Posted on April 28, 2017

If there was one universal message the president’s enthusiastic voters had for then-candidate Trump last year it was “Build the Wall!”
 
buildthewallcollage 
And, ever the showman and populist, he was certainly happy to pledge to do just that. It was a promise he boldly repeated at every rally ~

“We will build a great wall along the southern border,” he said to cries of “build the wall” from the boisterous crowd. “And Mexico will pay for the wall.”
 
He later said the wall would be “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful.”

 
But now? Not so much. And Ann Coulter, long one of Donald’s staunchest supporters, is not pleased – especially with the GOP surrendering to the Dems’ threat to “shut down the government” ~

The government’s No. 1 job is to protect the nation.
 
This has always been true, but it’s especially important at this moment in history, when we have drugs, gang members, diseases and terrorists pouring across our border. The failure of the government to close our border is the definition of a government shutdown.
 
This isn’t like other shutdowns. Democrats can’t wail about Republicans cutting Social Security or school lunches. They are willing to shut the government down because they don’t want borders […]

 
As commander in chief, Trump doesn’t need Congress to build a wall. The Constitution charges him with defending the nation. Contrary to what you may have heard from various warmongers on TV and in Trump’s Cabinet, that means defending ourborders — not Ukraine’s borders.
 
Building a wall is not only Trump’s constitutional duty, but it’s also massively popular […]
 
Republicans are both corrupt and stupid, so it’s hard to tell which one animates their opposition to the wall. But the Democrats are bluffing. They’re trying to get the GOP to fold before they show us their pair of threes.
 
Now that Trump has capitulated on even asking for funding for a wall, the Democrats are on their knees saying, “Thank you, God! Thank you, God!”
 
No politician wants to have to explain a vote against the wall. What the Democrats want is for Trump to be stuck explaining why he didn’t build the wall.
 
Then it will be a bloodbath. Not only Trump, but also the entire GOP, is dead if he doesn’t build a wall. Republicans will be wiped out in the midterms, Democrats will have a 300-seat House majority, and Trump will have to come up with an excuse for why he’s not running for re-election […]

 

No one voted for Trump because of the “Access Hollywood” tape. They voted for him because of his issues; most prominently, his promise to build “a big beautiful wall.” And who’s going to pay for it? MEXICO!
 
You can’t say that at every campaign rally for 18 months and then not build a wall.
 
Do not imagine that a Trump double-cross on the wall will not destroy the Republican Party. Oh, we’ll get them back. No, you won’t. Trump wasn’t a distraction: He was the last chance to save the GOP.
 
Millions of Americans who hadn’t voted in 30 years came out in 2016 to vote for Trump. If he betrays them, they’ll say, “You see? I told you. They’re all crooks.” […]
 
It would be an epic betrayal — worse than Bush betraying voters on “no new taxes.” Worse than LBJ escalating the Vietnam War. There would be nothing like it in the history of politics.

 
He’s the commander in chief! He said he’d build a wall. If he can’t do that, Trump is finished, the Republican Party is finished, and the country is finished.

You can read the entire rant HERE.
 

Coulter doesn’t pull any punches, and she’s pretty much right on target with this one. A majority of Americans – not just Trump supporters – are in favor of a border wall.

 
And almost unanimously, those on the front lines of border enforcement, believe that a wall – while not the only answer – would most certainly help. This video from CBN News highlights the ongoing problems with our porous southern border ~
 


 
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Today at an NRA Leadership Forum in Atlanta Trump was again renewing his commitment to build a wall ~

“We’ll build the wall,” he continued. “Don’t even think about it. Don’t even think about it. That’s an easy one. We’re going to build a wall. It’s the final element. We need the wall. And it’s a wall, in certain areas where you have massive physical structures, we don’t need, and certain big rivers and all, but we need a wall. And we’re going to get that wall.

 
So now, he’s back on the build-a-wall side of the fence, bigly. But tomorrow? Trump’s credibility is really beginning to fray.
 
His biggest supporters always touted the fact that their guy was an outsider. Seems he’s turning into a typical inside-the-beltway politician more and more every day. Promises to the rubes are only made to be broken…
[Every Promise President Trump Has Broken That Candidate Trump Made]

Posted in Unvarnished | Leave a comment

Death count rises in Venezuelan protests

Posted on April 27, 2017

Updated 4-28-17: (Because I forgot to include a couple links 😳 )
 
Our mainstream media apparently doesn’t care – probably because it would reflect negatively on their preferred form of government: socialism – but so far at least 31 people have been killed in the month-long protests against President Nicolas Maduro and his failed policies ~

 
venezuela-1_4-17

The latest series of protests began after the Supreme Court took over powers from the opposition-controlled National Assembly on 29 March.
 
It reversed its decision three days later, but opposition protesters were already on the streets in large numbers, seizing the opportunity to strike against Mr Maduro’s government.
 
The opposition wants early elections and the release of politicians arrested since the president took office in 2013.

Source: BBC

 

Never mind that Venezuela is facing a healthcare crisis, that its people are starving, the tyrants aren’t backing down. In fact, in a country where the average citizen has been stripped of their right to bear arms, the government is actually passing out weapons to their supporters ~ Socialist Venezuelan Leader Steps Up Arming of Supporters After Outlawing, Confiscating Civilian Guns ~

The socialist leader of Venezuela announced in a speech to regime loyalists his plan to arm hundreds of thousands of supporters after a years-long campaign to confiscate civilian-owned guns.
 
“A gun for every militiaman!” Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro said to uniformed militia members outside the presidential palace, Fox News reported on Tuesday. The Bolivarian militias, created by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, already number in the hundreds of thousands and are being used to supplement the regime’s armed forces. Maduro is boosting the number of armed supporters in hopes of keeping control over the country from what he labels “imperialist aggression.”

 
venezuela-3_4-17
 

Deliberately distancing themselves from their nominally-democratic neighbors, and furthering their descent into a full-fledged dictatorship, Venezuela has now stated its intention to withdraw from the Organization of American States (OAS), accusing the US-based grouping of meddling in its internal affairs ~

The government made the announcement after the OAS voted to hold a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the spiralling crisis in Venezuela.
 
The OAS, headquartered in Washington DC ~
• Was founded in 1948 as a body to promote regional solidarity and co-operation
• Has 34 participating member states in the Caribbean and North, Central and South America
• Current secretary general is Uruguayan former Foreign Minister Luis Almagro
 
Tensions in the organisation – and among Venezuela’s neighbours – have grown over what is seen by several member states as the government’s disregard for democracy amid mounting unrest.

 

Even more ominous, and an indication that Maduro is only becoming more committed to continuing his despotic rule ➡ New Venezuelan Vice-President Has Ties to Hezbollah and Transnational Crime ~

In a move to protect his totalitarian regime and subjugate the Venezuelan people, President Nicolas Maduro appointed Tareck El Aissami as his vice-president and successor.
 
This appointment, made on January 4th, is not coincidental. It comes at a time when the Venezuelan government is facing a huge crisis of legitimacy that can no longer be denied. Starvation, violence, and chaos now characterize Venezuela. Even the Vatican supported the call of the Venezuelan Church for civil disobedience and rebellion. The Vatican quoted the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas who gave validity to sedition in the case of a government that is evil and does not deserve to hold power.
 
As Maduro made the announcement, he pointed out that the reason why he brought El Aissami is because he is concerned about “citizens’ security”. Speaking directly to El Aissami, Maduro said “Get heavily involved, day and night, in the issue of citizens’ security and the need to purge local and regional police. Be ready terrorists, we are coming strong”.
 
This means that El Aissami is coming not to restore citizens’ security but to eliminate the last bastion of resistance to the powers that challenge the tyranny of the Maduro government. El Aissami has been the governor of Aragua state for the last several years; the most violent state in the country. Restoring security is not really his forte.

 
Last week, in a move that Stalin would have appreciated, Venezuela seized a General Motors plant in Valencia as property of the state ~

GM’s Venezuelan operation was already pretty much at the point of stagnation. Productivity was approaching zero because their currency had collapsed and they couldn’t order parts to keep the lines running. Also, the domestic market for cars wasn’t exactly booming because their potential customers have money which is basically worthless and they’re mostly too busy looking for scraps of food to worry about a new set of wheels.
 
If nothing else, this incident will provide an enlightening, educational moment for the rest of the world. It’s a given that this is bad news for General Motors, for the workers there… let’s just say it. This is bad news for everyone except Maduro and his cronies. But it also serves to further pull away the mask, allowing the rest of the world to see what’s actually going on. So gather around, kids, because we’re not only seeing how socialism ends (and it always ends this way) but also how the socialist machinery operates through the various phases of its life cycle.

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Don’t hold your breath that the Trump administration will do the right thing here and bring diplomatic pressure to bear on Maduro. Not only do they have their hands full with North Korea, Trump’s inexperience in international affairs has already resulted in his mishandling of the Middle East mess in Syria and Turkey.
 
The poor, suffering people of Venezuela are on their own.


Isn’t socialism wonderful?

 
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Related:
Meanwhile, in another part of the world… Living conditions in Venezuela are growing ever grimmer

Hungry Venezuelans killing flamingos and anteaters for food, biologists say Quick someone tell PETA! Maybe western media will finally pay attention to the crisis ~

There are other signs that food shortages have led to the slaughtering of animals not generally considered meat: giant anteaters, for one. The university investigators — biologists and biology students — say they have kept records to show that dozens of the slow-moving creatures, classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, also have been killed for food.
 
In the city’s dump, more evidence of hunger-driven desperation: dismembered dogs, cats, donkeys, horses and pigeons have been found since last year, all skinned or plucked, with signs of having been eaten, according to the city’s garbage teams.

 

venezuela-2_4-17 

Venezuelan Oppression – and we thought Hugo was bad

 
Just an aside, from Washington Free Beacon, as evidence that the gun banners don’t really care about reducing crime (Sort of like gun-controlled Chicago) ~

The Venezuelan government justified the gun bans and confiscations by saying they were needed to combat the country’s violent crime and murder epidemic. However, statistics reported by the nonprofit Venezuelan Violence Observatory show the murder rate in Venezuela increased from 73 murders per 100,000 inhabitants the year the gun ban was instituted to 91.8 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016. Statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show the United States murder rate in the most recent year available, 2015, was 5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

Posted in MSM Malpractice, Unvarnished | 7 Comments

April is “gAy-PRIL,” and anything goes

Posted on April 26, 2017

Once the gender-bender crowd started down the biology-free road – where one’s chromosomes no longer have to correspond to reality – they were well on the way to bizarro land. ~
 

Video from Dr. Michael Brown

 
As the identities, behaviors and fetishes grow ever more grotesque, it’s obvious what the agenda has really been all along; normalizing perversion.

 
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Updated: 4-27-17 ~
Here’s another Michael who refuses to be “gaslit” by gender relativity ~
Mike Adams: My Philosophy of Mental Illness ~

Until recently, it was understood that a man who thought he was a woman (or a woman who thought she was a man) suffered from Gender Identity Disorder, or GID. As Matt Walsh explains in his brilliant new book, The Unholy Trinity, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) was only recently pressured into removing GID from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). This was done solely for political reasons […]
 
Treatment. Back when we used to treat “transgendered folk” as suffering from GID we intuitively recognized that we were dealing with a mental illness. If someone thought he was a she we treated him. We would no more want him to have his genitals surgically removed under the guise that he was a woman than we would want them sewn onto his forehead under the guise that he was a unicorn. If you think that sounds harsh, you are wrong. Treating people who are sick with the goal of keeping them from hurting themselves is not cruelty. It is called compassion […]
 
Acceptance. When you actually accept the idea that the he is a she then you have crossed a pretty serious line. Quite often, those who say they accept the transgender delusion are lying. They just want to come across as hip or cutting edge. But if they actually accept the delusion then they are also suffering from a delusion. Put simply, if you look at the he who says he is a she and actually come to believe he is a she you have lost your sanity. It is no different than hearing a man declare that he is a poached egg and then coming to believe that he really is a poached egg. In other words, true acceptance and internalization of craziness is properly dubbed as craziness […]
 
Making identity relative is not the final goal of these so-called progressives. But with it all things are now possible. It takes a complete divorce from biological law in order to affect a complete divorce from the moral law. This, in turn, will allow these so-called progressives to eventually become gods. That is their final goal. It’s been that way since the fall of man.

Posted in Fantasyland | 1 Comment

Yesterday, in Israel

Posted on April 25, 2017

In Israel, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day took place from sundown Sunday to sundown yesterday. At 10:00 am yesterday, the entire country paused in commemoration, to never forget…

Israelis across the country paused for two minutes Monday morning in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered in Europe under Nazi rule as a siren pierced the clear blue sky in an annual marking of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

 

Citing recently released UN documents that show the Allies were aware of the scale of the Holocaust in 1942, some two years earlier than previously assumed, Netanyahu said this new research assumed “a terrible significance.”
 
“If the powers in 1942 had acted against the death camps — and all that was needed was repeated bombing of the camps — had they acted then, they could have saved 4 million Jews and millions of other people.”
 
“The powers knew, and they did not act,” he told the audience at the national ceremony at Yad Vashem.
 
In a bleak address, the Israeli prime minister said that the Holocaust was enabled by three factors: the vast hatred of the Jews, global indifference to the horrors, and “the terrible weakness of our people in the Diaspora.”

 

As we survey the rising tensions, growing anti-Semitism, civil unrest and culture clashes around the world, we can’t help but wonder… is the darkness descending again?

Posted in Good vs.Evil | Leave a comment