Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

KANYE WEST - THE MOST COMPELLING PRO-LIFE ADVOCATE ON THE WORLD STAGE

Note:  A transcript can be found below the video.

From Breitbart.com:

CARLSON: At this moment, the most compelling voice against abortion and Planned Parenthood is not a Republican. The most widely heard Christian evangelist in America is not ordained.

Instead, he is a rapper married to a Kardashian, who by the way, everyone says is crazy. Kanye West is running for President. But that’s not really the headline. The headline is that on core conservative issues, not political issues like legislation before the Congress, but on foundational questions about life and children, and what happens when you die. No one with a national platform has been more honest or sincere or effective than Kanye West has been, maybe in generations.

It’s all pretty shocking, really, talk about an unlikely messenger. But it’s real.

Check out West’s Twitter feed if you haven’t seen it. Not everything he says is conservative, far from it. Not everything he says is even intelligible.

But when West talks about his faith and about the gift of human life, you start to ask yourself, why aren’t there any elected Republicans who sound like that? They say they believe the same things. But if they actually do, why don’t they talk like Kanye West does? And the answer, of course, is because they’re afraid to.

But West is not afraid. He doesn’t have to be. He is too famous. He has made too much money. He sold something like 150 million albums over the past 20 years. And really, it’s hard to cancel a guy like that.

NORWEGIAN FLAG MISTAKEN FOR CONFEDERATE FLAG

There doesn't seem to be an excess of knowledge among many people in the United States.  Kristinn  Taylor reports:

A couple in St. John’s, Michigan recently took down the red, white and blue flag of Norway displayed on the porch of their bed and breakfast after receiving continuous complaints by ignorant liberals who accused the couple of flying the Confederate battle flag.  (Video)

The Nordic Pineapple, run out of a mansion built in 1861 by a Union general, was started two years ago by Greg and Kjersten Offenbecker. The couple flew the flag of Norway from a pillar opposite the American flag to honor Kjersten’s Norwegian heritage (her grandfather immigrated from Norway.) Both the U.S. and Norway flags were taken down last week by the frustrated couple as the complaints intensified in recent months as woke liberals have embarked on a campaign of violence and intimidation against public reminders of the Confederacy, even razing tombstones of soldiers.

An ironic twist in the story is that the couple adopted two black children, boys aged 12 and 15.  (more...)

"VERDICT WITH TED CRUZ" - ERIC METAXAS INTERVIEWS SEN. TED CRUZ & MICHAEL KNOWLES

I found this interview vastly entertaining.  It's a great introduction to the Cruz/Knowles podcast.  It lasts only 17 minutes.    

"Verdict with Ted Cruz" on YouTube

EXCELLENT SUCCINCT (5 MINUTE) CHRISTIAN EVALUATION OF "CRITICAL THEORY"

"What Do We Do with Critical Theory?"

Racism, White Privilege, and Christianity    07/27/20  

John Stonestreet (with Shane Morris) for Breakpoint -

Podcast

The question most central to defining a worldview, other than “Who is God?” and “What does it mean to be human?” is “What’s really wrong with the world?” It’s a tricky question, because there are a lot of things wrong with the world. The question is, what is the core problem that needs to be addressed in the world, the root cause of evil and human suffering, and what solution can be offered to fix it?

For example, we should want to see justice flourish and racism of all kinds come to an end, especially in light of our nation’s history and evidence that our African American neighbors are not treated equally before the law. But not everyone who talks about ending racism and creating justice means the same thing.

For a growing number of people, including some Christians with good motives, these goals are shorthand for an ideology that divides instead of reconciles, that sees people as either oppressed or oppressor rather than as divine image bearers created from “one blood.”

The ideas of Critical Theory, especially since the horrific killing of George Floyd, have become a central part of our national conversation. Once largely limited to the academy, these ideas have trickled down, the way ideas do, to the media, through popular culture, and into the cultural imagination. Even those not familiar with the term “critical theory” will likely recognize its central tenets.

Critical Theory originated with a group of political philosophers who applied Karl Marx’s ideas about economics to society as a whole, especially across additional categories of class distinction, such as race, sex, and gender identity. The result was an all-encompassing worldview that purported to reveal hidden power structures behind society’s problems and institutions, by dividing people along the lines of oppressed and oppressor.

As Colson Center Senior Fellow and historian Glenn Sunshine explained in a recent episode of The Theology Pugcast, Critical Theory, like the classical Marxism it borrows from, views human beings in purely materialist terms. So, according to Critical Theory our race, sexual orientation, gender identity aren’t mere aspects of who we are, they are our defining characteristics. In each of these areas, we are either part of oppressed groups or we are oppressors.

According to critical theory, the oppressed group automatically has moral authority, while the oppressor group does not. Someone who is a racial minority or a sexual minority of some kind is automatically a victim of oppression and has claims against oppressors and the unearned privilege that makes their life easier (and this part is critical) at the expense of their oppressed neighbors.

Report: China Forcing Poor Citizens to Trade Faith for Welfare Checks

Gabrielle Reyes reports for Breitbart - 

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is leveraging economic restraints caused by the coronavirus pandemic to coerce increasingly desperate, low-income Chinese Christians to renounce their faith or lose welfare benefits, human rights magazine Bitter Winter reported on Friday.

The economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic has hit China’s low-income households hardest, many of which rely upon state-funded welfare benefits to survive. In recent months, the CCP has reportedly forced Christians across the country receiving state-funded welfare benefits to remove religious symbols from their households and replace them with images of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong; some are told to renounce their faith altogether. If Christians refuse, the state cancels their welfare payments, according to the magazine.

In April, the government of a town administered by Linfen, a city in northern Shanxi province, ordered officials from all local villages to “remove crosses, religious symbols, and images from the homes of people of [Christian] faith who receive social welfare payments and replace them with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping. The officials were instructed [by the CCP] to annul the subsidies to those who protest the order,” Bitter Winter reported.   [more . . .}

WHY SOME PEOPLE HATE COPS (AN EX-CON EXPLAINS)

I doubt you will find a more illuminating, insightful talk anywhere on the subject of police conduct than this one by David Wood.   Wood grew up on the wrong side of the tracks with barely any family life, was convicted of various felonies, and several times wound up in prison.   His experience taught him that police and correction officers  fall into one of five categories.  The fifth category generates the hatred.  He knows it firsthand.   Some readers may recognize Wood as the man who roomed with  Nabeel Qureshi in college.  As a result of their dialogs, Qureshi wrote the book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.    I urge you to take the time to listen.  It will be well worthwhile and you will discover that the minutes fly by!   (Wood's suggestions for needed reform begin at the 48:33 minute mark)

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS

**  Is Attorney William Barr President Trump's lap dog?  No.   The accusation stems from the incessant anti-Trump propaganda campaign.   See:  "AG Barr does hand-to-hand combat with NPR"

**  Good News: AG Barr is investigating the domestic terrorists.

**  Bad news from China:   China Trying to "Rewrite the Biblc, Force Churches to Sing Communist Anthems.

** Hypocrisy!   Minneapolis city council members who voted to defund police are getting taxpayer-funded private security.

** Black Lives Matter leader:  "If America doesn't give us what we want we will burn down this system."

** "Teen Vogue Magazine Pushes Marxism on Its Young Readers"

**  Horrible News for Democrats:  After a Month of Leftist Rioting, Looting and Arson Trump's Approval with Black voters Remains at 28%

**  Black Lives Matter Rally with no black people.   A black Republican couple look on from a distance and laugh.  

SEATTLE IS DYING

Video from March, 2019.  Things aren't getting any better, as you might have heard.

JUNE 12, 2020 - MARK STEYN SUBSTITUTES FOR RUSH LIMBAUGH

The brilliant Mark Steyn again substituted today for Rush Limbaugh who is battling cancer treatments but will be returning to his radio microphone next week.   Steyn is, of course, the best substitute imaginable.   He can hardly utter a sentence or two without displaying his unique wit, irony and biting humor.  He calls this week's activities, The March of the Morons.   I post this not only out of appreciation for Mark, but also for the convenience of having it available to catch a couple segments that I earlier missed!   111 minutes

"HONG KONG IS FINISHED!"

An Australian perspective:

RMIT University Professor Joe Siracusa says “there’s no doubt about it, Hong Kong is finished”.  A proposal by the Chinese Communist Party to impose national security laws on Hong Kong is the most significant attempt yet to enforce the mainland's will on the international city. “These national security laws finish off the political freedoms the people in Hong Kong have,” he told Sky News. “Hong Kong in terms of political freedom is dead man walking, they’re finished and they know they’re finished.”

Three days ago the Wall Street Journal reported on China's new "Wolf Warrior" aggressive new foreign policy stance. Excerpts below:

ROYAL CHORAL SOCIETY -- HALLELUJAH CHORUS IN ISOLATION - 2020

The Royal Choral Society performed the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah virtually this Good Friday, continuing a Royal Albert Hall tradition that has been going for 144 years – broken only by the Blitz in 1940/1.

Following the cancellation of this year’s annual performance due to Covid-19, members formed a virtual choir to allow audiences everywhere to enjoy this Easter institution. The choir invited the public to join them in singing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ at 4:35pm (BST) on Good Friday 10 April 2020.

82 members of the Royal Choral Society filmed themselves singing in their own homes, and the videos were then stitched together, and shared as part of the Royal Albert Hall's #RoyalAlberHome series. Conductor Richard Cooke joined from his garden, with Richard Pearce – regular organist for the Last Night of the Proms – providing accompaniment.

AYAKO ISHIKAWA - "AMAZING GRACE"

I came across this last night and want to listen to it again and again.

PERSPECTIVE

From World Magazine:

"A PLACE IN THE CHOIR"

Time for some fun!  A friend sent me the following video which delighted me no end!  Enjoy!

 

This family rendition, with children participating, might inspire other families to join in the fun, too!

ALISTAIR BEGG - "THE GOD OF HOPE"

Alaister Begg is the pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio.  I thought this message delivered March 29, 2020 inspirational and timely.   May God fill us with His presence and hope during this challenging experience of the Coronavirus disease.   2.3 billion people are currently in lockdown across the world.  

 

ALMA DEUTSCHER - YOUNG PRODIGY PRODUCES BEAUTY TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY

   A couple days ago my attention was captured by a Wall Street Journal article highlighting the musical accomplishments of a young 15 year old musical prodigy, Alma Deutscher:   a piano sonata at 6, a piano concerto for violin and orchestra at 9, a full-length opera by 12 and a complete concert at Carnegie Hall last December (age 14) with herself as both violin and piano soloist.   I went online to see if I could find any videos.  Oh my!  For the next two hours I sat stunned, mesmerized, and enraptured as I listened to her performances and interviews. 

Before the concluding performance of her Carnegie Hall program, she explained to the audience the odd beginning of her "Siren Sounds Waltz" which transitions from the cacophony of Viennese traffic sirens into music utterly celestial.  Watch as she explains:

In case you didn't catch all she said in introducing the music, here is a partial transcript:

"Some people told me that nowadays melodies and beautiful harmonies are no longer acceptable in serious classical music. Because in the twenty-first century, music must reflect the ugliness of the modern world. Well, in this waltz, instead of trying to make my music artificially ugly in order to reflect the modern world,  I went in exactly the opposite direction! I took some ugly sounds from the modern world - and I tried to turn them into something more beautiful through music.

Following are a few additional videos:

WHY THIS NOBEL LAUREATE PREDICTS A QUICKER CORONAVIRUS RECOVERY: "WE'RE GOING TO BE FINE"

Joe Mozingo of the Los Angeles Times reports:

While many epidemiologists are warning of months, or even years, of massive social disruption and millions of deaths, Levitt says the data simply don't support such a dire scenario — especially in areas where reasonable social distancing measures are in place.

"What we need is to control the panic," he said. In the grand scheme, "we're going to be fine."

Michael Levitt, a Nobel laureate and Stanford biophysicist, began analyzing the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide in January and correctly calculated that China would get through the worst of its coronavirus outbreak long before many health experts had predicted.

Now he foresees a similar outcome in the United States and the rest of the world.  [More...]

** Note:  Worth reading is theologian Dr. Ron Sider's short article, "Finding Strength in a Time of  Pandemic"   It expounds beautifully the reality of Easter morning and its meaning for all believers.

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS CONTINUES WORLDWIDE

One could fill blog post after blog post with stomach-turning accounts of persecution of Christians.  Gary Lane of CBN News reports:

Transcript:   [Bolding is mine]   . . . Two thousand years after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, Christians face more danger than ever before. Around the world, each day 260-million Christians suffer for their faith and the persecution is steadily getting worse. 2,983 Christians died for faith-related reasons last year and nearly 9,500 churches were attacked.

North Korea topped the Open Doors Watch List of worst offending countries. 

There are 60,000 Christians in labor camps for owning a bible and many of them died there," said Open Doors USA President and CEO David Curry.

THE PATH TO TOTALITARIAN AMERICA - WE ARE WELL ON THE WAY

Rod Dreher has been doing yeoman work tracing the conditions that gave rise to the totalitarian Communist and Nazi regimes.  He is studying the social and ideological conditions that incubated and fostered these movements.  In September Dreher will publish the results of his research in a new book, Live Not By Lies.  [Note:  Many will recall Dreher's 2018 book that stirred great interest, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.]

In a current blog post, Dreher writes:  Last year, I spoke to a Soviet-born scholar who teaches in an American public university. . . .   This morning, she sent me this e-mail, which I reproduce here with her permission:  [my emphases]

I know from your blog that the work on your new book is going well and I’m glad because, boy, it’s so needed. I’m observing some disturbing developments on my campus, and we are really not one of those wokester schools for spoiled brats one normally associates with this kind of thing.

 

This academic year I’ve had an opportunity to work with some early-career academics. These are newly-minted PhDs that are in their first year on the tenure-track. What’s really scary is that they sincerely believe all the woke dogma. Older people – those in their forties, fifties or sixties – might parrot the woke mantras because it’s what everybody in academia does and you have to survive. But the younger generation actually believes it all. Transwomen are women, black students fail calculus because there are no calc profs who “look like them,” ‘whiteness’ is the most oppressive thing in the world, the US is the most evil country in history, anybody who votes Republican is a racist, everybody who goes to church is a bigot but the hijab is deeply liberating. I gently mocked some of this stuff (like we normally do among older academics), and two of the younger academics in the group I supervise actually cried. Because they believe all this so deeply, and I’d even say fanatically, that they couldn’t comprehend why I wasn’t taking it seriously.

 

The fanatical glimmer in their eyes really scared me.

AMERICA'S SHOCKING CORPORATE COLLUSION WITH CHINA

Tucker Carlson's report is shocking!   American greed and betrayal has enabled China's ascendancy, and  it continues! 

Excerpts from Carlson's monologue:

Carlson:  . . . China is no longer simply an economic rival of the United States. It’s becoming a dangerous enemy, but instead of protecting us from this threat, an existential one, our leadership class collaborates with the other side.

Why do they do that? Simple. They’re getting rich from it. This only became clear to many people a few months ago when the most American of all sports, professional basketball, a game literally invented in a gym in Springfield, Massachusetts ripped off the mask and showed the world who really controls the league.

NBA General Manager, Daryl Morey, you’ll remember wrote a tweet supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and the resulting backlash, the NBA and Morey both apologized for daring to criticize China’s fascist regime.

And then LeBron James weighed in and explained to us that actually, freedom of speech in America is vastly overrated.

PRESIDENT TRUMP HONORS RUSH LIMBAUGH WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM

President Donald J. Trump awarded Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his State of the Union message on February 4, 2020.  As a long-time listener to Rush Limbaugh, I completely agree with John Nolte's tribute essay, Rush Limbaugh is Irreplaceable.

Along with so many others, I am deeply saddened by Rush's disclosure on Monday (2/3/20) that he is now dealing with advanced lung cancer.   I pray the Lord will heal and restore Rush in answer to the prayers of millions, mine among them.

Update: 2/8/20 - Rush reveals the back story to his invitation to the State of the Union and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom (with video)

ROD DREHER AND THE STATE OF OUR TIMES

It's important to keep reading Rod Dreher.  I do not have time to offer additional or better comments on the three posts listed below, but perhaps I can do so at a later time.  Each is important reading.

 --  Here is a post on Trump's evangelical support and it's pervasive pessimism -- which reflects my own thinking.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/evangelicals-trump-shield-2020/

--  See also this on the religion of the New York Times:  https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/new-york-times-editorial-staff-meeting-racism-oberlin-faculty-senate/

And this on progressive education in California - https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/california-to-become-yugoslavia-ethnic-studies/

THE CHARLOTTESVILLE LIE

A few moments ago I wrote the following to some friends:

The Leftist media willfully and maliciously lie.   That the "Charlottesville lie" keeps getting repeated (again today by Joe Biden!) is utterly disgusting and unconscionable.  Dante has a well-deserved circle in hell for shameless perpetrators of falsehoods such as this.

From the video:  "The scandal of Charlottesville is not what President Trump said about neo-Nazis, it is what the media said President Trump said about neo-Nazis."

- See also Dennis Prager, "America is Drowning in the Left's Lies About Trump."

Excerpt:

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, never said there were "fine" Nazis or Ku Klux Klansmen.

This is one of the two great lies of our time — the other being that all Trump supporters are racists — and perhaps in all of American history. I cannot think of a lie of such significance that was held as truth by so many Americans, by every leading politician of one of the two major political parties and disseminated by virtually the entire media.

The major news media need to understand these are important reasons that half of America considers them frauds. And we get no pleasure from this fact. The reason we don't recoil when the president labels the mainstream media "fake news" is that we know the charge is true. Has one major media news outlet yet apologized to the American people for preoccupying them for nearly two years with the lie of "Trump collusion" with Russia? Has one Democrat? Of course not. Because with regard to the Trump-Russia collusion issue, the news media were never driven by a pursuit of truth; they were driven by a pursuit of Trump.   [more . . .]

DENNIS PRAGER - THE LEFT RUINS EVERYTHING

Excellent video currently available on YouTube but in case it gets censored,  you can watch it on PragerU’s website

 

JOHN DI DOMENICO IMPERSONATES PRESIDENT TRUMP ON THE ERIC METAXAS SHOW

I thought John Di Domenico did an incredible  job impersonating Trump.  I don't know how Metaxas could keep a straight face.  Enjoy!   

 

SENTENCES ENCOUNTERED TODAY

--  “Abortion is never safe,” she said. “At least one person is guaranteed to die. The other is left wounded, at best.”

-- We live in a hollow culture. 

--  The non Christian world rather likes a non Christian Jesus. 

--  It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.

--  She often ushered the vulnerable into her doubts and championed wrong ideas.

TWO MINUTES ON THE MUELLER REPORT AND SOME PREDICTIONS

If your time is short, listen to the  2:52 - 4:32 segment of Joseph DiGenova's take on the Mueller report.

If you have a little more time, you will want to hear DiGenova boldly predict trouble ahead for the government conspirators against Trump.  I am sure a particular Trump-despising friend of mine will fume and fuss and maybe explode at the very thought that there could be trouble ahead, but that of course, would be to prejudge the future.   We must wait and see. 

Former CIA director John Brennan made numerous calamitous predictions that Trump would be found guilty of "Russian collusion" which kept the Left wing media excited, but which fizzled and bombed and thoroughly discredited Brennan as a commentator and prognosticator.  

Now former United States Attorney, District of Columbia, Joseph DiGenova has mounted the stage and has offered predictions of his own.  (Predictions begin around the 11:02 mark.)  Let's see what the future brings.  My bet is that his predictions concerning Brennan, Comey, Struck, and McCabe will turn out eerily accurate and come as a bombshell to the Leftist media.  And if it can be demonstrated, as DiGenova is convinced, that former President Barack Obama was in on the plot to discredit and remove Trump from the beginning, the Left wing media will need to crank up its spin machine to a level it has  never been cranked up to before.

Update 4/23/19:  I sent an email version of this blog post to a friend who replied affirmatively: 

Trump and his campaign WERE bugged by the FBI during the campaign. Based on standard procedures, this could not have been done without Obama’s knowledge. So it is fair to say that Obama was part of the plot, if not central to it. It was a concerted attempt by a sitting president and his justice department and FBI to prevent the election of Donald Trump and, after he was elected, to subvert and overthrow his presidency. That is the very definition of treason.

ON THE SUBJECT OF TRUMP'S LIES...

Sheryl Atkinson turns the tables on the media with her article, "50 Media Mistakes in the Trump Era: The Definitive List."   She writes:

We the media have “fact-checked” President Trump like we have fact-checked no other human being on the planet—and he’s certainly given us plenty to write about. That’s probably why it’s so easy to find lists enumerating and examining his mistakes, missteps and “lies.”

 

But as self-appointed arbiters of truth, we’ve largely excused our own unprecedented string of fact-challenged reporting. The truth is, formerly well-respected, top news organizations are making repeat, unforced errors in numbers that were unheard of just a couple of years ago.

 

Our repeat mistakes involve declaring that Trump’s claims are “lies” when they are matters of opinion, or when the truth between conflicting sources is unknowable; taking Trump’s statements and events out of context; reporting secondhand accounts against Trump without attribution as if they’re established fact; relying on untruthful, conflicted sources; and presenting reporter opinions in news stories—without labeling them as opinions.

 

What’s worse, we defend ourselves by trying to convince the public that our mistakes are actually a virtue because we (sometimes) correct them. Or we blame Trump for why we’re getting so much wrong. It’s a little bit like a police officer taking someone to jail for DUI, then driving home drunk himself: he may be correct to arrest the suspect, but he should certainly know better than to commit the same violation.

 

So since nobody else has compiled an updated, extensive list of this kind, here are: 

 

50 Notable Mistakes and Missteps in Major Media Reporting on Donald Trump

1. Aug. 2016-Nov. 2016:

The New York Post published modeling photos of Trump’s wife Melania and reported they were taken in 1995. Various news outlets relied on that date to imply that Melania—an immigrant—had violated her visa status. But the media got the date wrong. Politico was among the news agencies that later issued a photo date correction.

 

 2. Oct. 1, 2016:

The New York Times and other media widely suggested or implied that Trump had not paid income taxes for 18 years. Later, tax return pages leaked to MSNBC ultimately showed that Trump actually paid a higher rate than Democrats Bernie Sanders and President Obama.    Keep reading . . . 

PAKISTANI WOMAN IMPRISONED 9 YEARS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN

Shamefully, Asia Bibi remains in prison!  Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. writes: 

On Tuesday Asia Bibi will complete her ninth year of imprisonment for her Christian faith after being arrested for blasphemy in 2009 and sentenced to death by hanging in 2010.

In June 2009, Pakistani police arrested Asia Bibi on charges of blasphemy following complaints by Muslim women backed up by an Imam, who claimed she had insulted the prophet Muhammad.

The accusations followed on a row between Bibi and a group of Muslim coworkers. She had been harvesting berries in a field with a group of Muslim women who grew angry with her for drinking out of the same metal water bowl as them, insisting that as a Christian she was unclean.

From the outset Ms. Bibi has vehemently denied the charges of insulting the prophet. She claims that when her coworkers made derogatory statements about her faith, she merely answered: “I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Muhammad ever do to save mankind?”

In November 2010, Bibi received the death sentence by the lower court in Nanka district and four years later the Lahore High Court confirmed the verdict. She imprisoned in the Multan female prison.

Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) said last week that Bibi has been the victim of intense persecution for comparing Christ’s sacrifice with the prophet.

“She spoke about the wonderful sacrifice Christ made of his life for us and asked the simple question, ‘What has Muhammad done for you?’ For that, this torture, this beating, this isolation, attempts to assassinate her,” he said. 

TRUMP'S MEETING WITH KIM JONG-UN: A TURNING POINT OR A DEBACLE?

Time will tell.  Ben Shapiro devoted 30 minutes of his daily podcast to analyzing the meeting.   Like everyone, he hopes for the best but itemizes his disappointments and reservations.  Here Shapiro appeared on Fox & Friends (6/12/18) and expressed his concerns:

-- The editors at  National Review offer a sober, judicious commentary with which I am in total agreement.

-- Jonah Goldberg is skeptical and offers the quote of the day: " . . . There’s good reason to believe that if Kim were sincere about getting rid of his nukes, his own regime would kill him. The nuclear program is a unifying tool of state propaganda, celebrated and mythologized in grade schools and everywhere else in Korean society. Expecting them to get rid of them is like expecting the Hell’s Angels to forswear motorcycles in favor of minivans.

-- The Family Research Council rightly focuses on the issue of religious freedom -  President Trump: “We . . . brought it up very strongly.” This issue “did come up, and things will be happening,” the president continued, recognizing that Franklin Graham has focused on this issue and has “got it very close to his heart.” 

-- See the article "North Korea's Chamber of Horrors: Oppression, Slavery and Starvation."

A huge volume of prayer has been going up around the world regarding North Korea.  Let us continue praying.

SHOULD AMAZON TRIBES BE ALLOWED TO KILL THEIR OWN CHILDREN?

Short version -- Deadly Cultural Relativism: Leftists Oppose Laws Protecting Indigenous Children From Being Murdered

Full version below:

(Right:  photo of Marcia and Edson Suzuki with their adopted daughter Hakani.  See story below)

John Daniel Davidson writes in The Federalist: [my bolding]

A post at Get Religion caught my eye yesterday with the title, “Should Amazon tribes be allowed to kill their young? Foreign Policy editors aren’t sure.” It linked to a story in Foreign Policy magazine from April 9 about a handful of indigenous tribes in Brazil that engage in the ritual killing of infants and children—namely, those with a disability, twins, and the children of single mothers, all of whom are considered to be a bad omen—and the legal efforts underway to end the practice.

One would think that the answer to the question posed by the subtitle to the Foreign Policy article—“Should Brazil keep its Amazon tribes from taking the lives of their children?”—would be a resounding, “Yes.” Surely no one would argue these tribes have a right to kill unwanted children. Surely even the most committed multiculturalist would not condone such barbarity. Right?

But to assume that would be to underestimate the force of cultural relativism on the Left. If our friends on the Left encountered, in the present day and in real life, the ritual human sacrifices of the Aztecs or the fires of the Canaanite god Moloch, more than a few would insist that we not pass judgement on these indigenous cultural practices, and would probably denounce those who tried to do so as racists and imperialists.

WATCH: ISRAEL'S NETANYAHU OFFERS TO HELP PEOPLE SUFFERING IN IRAN'S DROUGHT

From the Daily Wire 6/11/18:

On Sunday, in an extraordinary message to the people of Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the severe water shortages in Iran and not only offered to help the Iranian people with words, but actions. He announced the creation of a Farsi webite that will show how Iranians can recycle their wastewater and Iranian farmers can save their crops and feed their families.

The Daily Wire again:

As The New York Times reported in January, at one point Iran suffered a drought for 14 consecutive years. The Times noted that after the 1979 revolution that brought the Iranian mullahs to power, the government urged farmers to plant wheat throughout the country, giving farmers inexpensive electricity and favorable prices, which stimulated more planting and the extraction of more and more groundwater. Claudia Sadoff, who created a report for the World Bank on Iran’s water crisis, stated, “25 percent of the total water that is withdrawn from aquifers, rivers and lakes exceeds the amount that can be replenished” by nature.

 The text of Netanyahu’s message follows::

NORTH KOREAN DICTATOR KIM JONG UN THE SAME HEIGHT AS PRESIDENT TRUMP?

The strange photo below was posted on Breitbart.  It strikes me as laughably distorted.  Kim Jong Un has been made to look as tall as President Trump.  See the video below for a true perspective of their relative heights.

 

 

 

HOME "FOR SALE" SIGNS COMING DOWN IN CONNECTICUT TOWN (VIDEO)

For sale signs a bit tacky?  Give the wrong impression of a town?  Unneeded because people search for homes online?  For all of the above reasons and more, the town of New Canaan, Connecticut is experimenting with a six month ban on "For Sale" signs in front of homes.

But I think the most important reason may be the following:

They don’t want people to know how many people are fleeing high tax areas like Connecticut. While Massachusettes may be the worst state in terms of raw state taxes, when you add up the total state and local tax burden for residents, it’s actually barely in the top ten of the worst. New York and Connecticut hold the top (or actually bottom) spots, with 12.7% and 12.6% of residents’ income being vacuumed up respectively. (Alaska, Wyoming and South Dakota are the least taxed by that standard in case you were curious.) This is no doubt a contributing factor to Connecticut’s place on the list of states where the most people are leaving. They come in fourth, trailing only Illinois, New Jersy and New York.

WHY IS IT THAT TRANSGENDER "GIRLS" ALWAYS WIN?

I think I know.   From the Daily Wire:

You wonder how the other runners may have felt.

On Monday, when Connecticut had its State Open track and field championships at Willow Brook Park, one person broke the State Open records for girls in both the 100 and 200-meter runs.

That person was a biological boy.

Terry Miller of Bulkeley, a transgender, won the events. In the 100 meter dash, the runner-up was Andraya Yearwood of Cromwell, also a transgender.

TWITTER CEO JACK DORSEY APOLOGIZES TO THE GAY CROWD FOR EATING AT A CHICK-FIL-A

I don't tweet.  If I did, I would seriously consider stopping using this service.  It's way too P.C. and far "Left" for my tastes. 

From the Daily Caller -

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Sunday expressed regret over eating at Chick-fil-A, because of the chicken company’s CEO’s personal views on gay marriage.

Dorsey tweeted a screenshot from his phone that showed a purchase he had made at Chick-fil-A using a mobile application. After a liberal backlash, however, Dorsey apologized for eating at the popular fast food restaurant.

At issue was Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s 2012 support for defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which he described as “the biblical definition of a family.”

Me:  This is so tiresome.  The new LGTQ fundamentalist religion calls for sinners to repent and anyone tempted to waver musst toe the line scrupulously to avoid being shamed and treated as an outcast. Corporations show craven compliance in a most disgusting way. 

-- I remember reading a few weeks ago this article: "Twitter is banning conservatives for posting facts." "... these bans come after users post 'hate facts' -- statements that are factually true, but politically inconvenient for progressives.

The most high-profile individual to be banned on this basis was Islam critic Tommy Robinson, who received a permanent ban from Twitter after he posted statistics showing that Muslims are vastly overrepresented in child grooming gangs in the U.K. Robinson is now taking Twitter to court to prove that “facts are now treated as hate.”

-- From a 5/3/18 post on this blog     -- Jamie Glazov suspended from Twitter for quoting  Islamic religious texts

Keep your eyes on twitter!  I am sadly confident we will read many more stories of Twitter censoring conservative views.

COCA-COLA ADVERTISEMENTS

These historical advertisements should warn us to be a tad skeptical about contemporary ads (of whatever sort...)

And not this from the "Cola Industry!"

 

UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES PRIZE PERKS; SHRINK FROM REFORM

Paul S. Levy - University Boardrooms Need Reform 

Writer Paul S. Levy resigned from serving as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania over Pen Law's treatment of law professor Amy Wax.  He received no support.   Levy writes:  Nobody in the university community has an incentive to speak out, and everyone seems afraid to do so.  Professors fear retaliation; students worry about social ostracism... 

Trustees and donors candidly admit in private that they do not want to jeopardize their children's chances for admission...  There's no incentive to rock the boat, and universities make sure they don't get much opportunity.  At the trustee level, the board is large and its formal meetings are entirely show and tell, with discussion severely limited and vote outcomes never in doubt.  Penn Law overseers do not vote on anything. 

Levy's conclusion: "When universities violate their values, trustees and overseers should resign, and donors should close their wallets.  Until that happens, nothing will change. 

Me:  Until students, professors and trustees develop a spine and convictions that overcome their self-regard for reputation and well being, universities will remain in the lamentable P.C. condition in which they currently wallow, a disgrace to founding documents and historic principles of intellectual debate.   

COMPARING THE GDP OF INDIVIDUAL U.S. STATES TO ENTIRE COUNTRIES!

The U.S. is an absolutely HUGE and productive country.  The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) produced the map below matching the economic output (Gross Domestic Product) of each US state with that of a comparable foreign country's GDP.   An intriguing commentary lies below the map.  [HT: econforecaster]

Read on for intriguing commentary from the AEI web posting:

It’s pretty difficult to even comprehend how ridiculously large the US economy is, and the map above helps put America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $19.4 trillion ($19,400,000,000,000) in 2017 into perspective by comparing the economic size (GDP) of individual US states to other country’s entire national output. For example:

1. America’s largest state economy is California, which produced $2.75 trillion of economic output in 2017, more than the United Kingdom’s GDP last year of $2.62 trillion. Consider this: California has a labor force of 19.3 million compared to the labor force in the UK of 33.8 million (World Bank data here). Amazingly, it required a labor force 75% larger (and 14.5 million more people) in the UK to produce the same economic output last year as California! That’s a testament to the superior, world-class productivity of the American worker. Further, California as a separate country would have been the 5th largest economy in the world last year, ahead of the UK ($2.62 trillion), India ($2.61 trillion) and France ($2.58 trillion).

SOME NEWS ITEMS NOTED TODAY

Each of the following articles are well worth reading:

   -- Vice-President Mike Pence on Prayer in the White House

   -- Dr. Robert Epstein - Google has power to flip elections in a way that can't be traced

   -- Survey - 88% of Harvard Faculty say President Trump has done a very poor job in his first year and a quarter as President  

    -- Jamie Glazov suspended from Twitter for quoting  Islamic religious texts

   -- Islam in France: troubles Macron chooses to ignore 

Macron's Washington speech, as it happened, came only days after the release of the most comprehensive study yet of Islam in France. Co-sponsored by the Sorbonne, it concluded that the country's second- and third-generation Muslims, who make up seven or eight percent of its population, are increasingly Islamized. Most have no respect for French law and culture; most approve of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Researcher Olivier Galland said his results were, “to put it mildly, harrowing” – reflective of community values in stark contrast with those of "la belle Republique. "

SCHOOL IMPERIALISM: ORANGE COUNTY, CA. REFUSES TO ALLOW PARENTS TO OPT THEIR CHILDREN OUT OF LGBT INDOCTRINATION SESSIONS

I find this unbelievable. Parents of children in Orange County, CA have been refused permission to exempt their children from LGBT indoctrination classes.  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council  writes:

It's every parent's worst nightmare: someone exposes your kids to something harmful -- and you can't stop them. That's exactly the situation in Orange County, California, where the school district has decided that LGBT lessons are too important to let families opt out.

In a story that almost has to be read to be believed, Fox News's Todd Starnes reprints the policy in black and white. "Parents who disagree with the instructional materials related to gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation may not excuse their children from this instruction," the memo from the Orange County Board of Education warns.

Todd couldn't believe his eyes, so he called a district spokesman who confirmed that kids would be forced to attend the schools' LGBT indoctrination sessions. Then, in what was supposed to offer some reassurance, he went on to say that while parents may have no authority over what their kids learn in class, they had the district's approval to rebut the materials at home. "Parents are free to advise their children that they disagree with some or all of the information presented in the instructional program and express their views on these subjects to their children." You mean you'll let us make the decisions when our kids are home? How thoughtful.

TOP 10 ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES RELATED TO THE BIBLE

Crossway publishers have published a list of the top 10 archaeological discoveries with a photo and short explanation of each.   The material comes from  the ESV Archaeology Study Bible edited by Dr. John Currid and Dr. David Chapman.  Click here for short explanations of each.

1) Rosetta Stone (1798)

2) Dead Sea Scrolls (1948)

3) Tel Dan Inscription (1993)

4) Ketif Hinnom Scrolls (1979)

5) Moabite Stone (1868)

6) Lachish Letters (1930s)

7) Epic of Gilgamesh (1872)

8) Hezekiah's Tunnel (1867)

9) Crucified Man at Givat Hamivtar (1968)

10) Ugaritic Texts (1929)

JONAH GOLDBERG'S NEW BOOK: "SUICIDE OF THE WEST: HOW THE REBIRTH OF TRIBALISM, POPULISM, NATIONALISM, AND IDENTITY POLITICS IS DESTROYING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY"

Update 6/11/18 - Ben Shapiro posted a major, one-hour video interview with Jonah Goldberg yesterday.

Original article:

Goldberg launched his new book, Suicide of the West, today.  Goldberg is a syndicated columnist and author (I thought his book Liberal Fascism extraordinary), Senior Editor of National Review, and weekly opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times.  Of his new book, Goldberg, not very modestly, writes:

The book has been called “epic and debate shifting” (David Brooks, NYT), “... ambitious, engrossing, and provocative ... splendid ...”  (Commentary), ... a “fascinating” book (Russ Roberts) that is  “... an important exploration of why we’re giving up the philosophy that built the modern West” (Ben Shapiro) that “will be one of the most important books of the year” (Stephen Hayes) ...

Goldberg writes further,

Anyway, if you’ve already bought it: thank you. If you plan on getting it, today is a good day for that kind of thing. If you want to hear or read more about it, you can hear me discuss it with Russ Roberts on EconTalk here, with Bill Kristol here, with John Miller here, or Matt Lewis here. I also talked to NPR’s Steve Inskeep about it yesterday. And here’s is the excerpt adapted from the introduction from the current issue of National Review. And here’s MBD’s thoughtful essay on it.

If you, like me, have creaking book shelves and find yourself short on time and money, it can be pleasurable to watch the interviews and read the excerpt Goldberg supplies.

THE EMP (ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE) THREAT TO AMERICA

Fox News report (see for VIDEO):  Dr. Peter Pry praised the Trump administration for placing more emphasis on preventing an attack on the U.S. electrical grid, telling Mark Levin that the policy is "night and day" from the Obama administration.   [The Obama administration refused to interview the
top expert on EMPs!]

Pry, executive director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum and author of "Blackout Wars,".. . . said the U.S. would be in "huge trouble" in the event of a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, which would cause massive blackouts and threaten key infrastructure. 

Pry said he would grade President Trump with an A+ for his enhanced interest in the ongoing threat. 

"In his recent national security strategy, [Trump] was the first president to include EMP and protecting the electrical grid and other life-sustaining infrastructure from [attack]," he explained, adding there have been numerous meetings between the EMP commission and the National Security Council. 

My response:  Praise God (literally) that we have an administration that takes the EMP threat seriously.  Watch the video interview.  Some years ago I read William Forstchen's novel, One Second After, describing the event of an EMP attack.  I highly recommend the book.  

MIKE POMPEO NEEDS TO BE CONFIRMED AS SECRETARY OF STATE

Update:  4/26/18 -The Senate voted today to confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state in a bipartisan 57-42 vote. 

(Original post):  Tony Perkins of The Family Research Council lays out the case for Pompeo's confirmation:

It would be difficult not to be impressed with a man who graduated at the top of his class at West Point, earned a degree from Harvard Law, built a successful business career, served his country -- and Congress. Even the most relentless of Democrats would have a tough time poking holes in a résumé like that. But on Thursday, when Mike Pompeo sits before the Senate and defends his qualifications to be the next Secretary of State, liberals will still try.

Of course, the Democrats' problem with Pompeo isn't his credentials -- it's his convictions. From his early days in the House to his job at the CIA, Mike's opponents know that he's never been easily intimidated. When it comes to protecting America's interests or the values he cares about, Pompeo -- like the president -- is fearless. He stands up for what's right, regardless which way the political winds are blowing. And Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), for one, thinks that's exactly what our nation needs. "...Director Pompeo is clear-eyed and hard-nosed about the threats we face, and he speaks in the direct, blunt manner of a man who has no time to waste when confronting those threats," he said.

WILL NEW U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO PUSH RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ?

Tony Perkins at the Family Research Center thinks so.   [my bolding] 

. . .  But with the announcement by President Trump this morning that Tillerson is out and CIA Director Mike Pompeo is in, there is now hope for change at the agency that has few if any rivals in being at cross purposes with American values and principles.

When Rex Tillerson was first announced as the president's pick for Secretary of State, I communicated my concern privately and publicly. I said that the State Department needed a strong change agent like Trump, and there was no way based upon Tillerson's record that he would do enough to roll back the harmful cultural imperialism which had been pushed in the State Department during the Obama administration, and to restore our promotion of international religious freedom to where it should be. And under Tillerson's leadership, not much did change in these areas. Religious freedom and human rights for all continues to take a backseat to the LGBT agenda as LGBT-promoting acting ambassadors remain in place around the world and our tax dollars still go to non-government organizations (NGOs) aligned with groups like George Soros' Open Society and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Now that Tillerson is on his way out, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo has been tapped to take the helm, there is hope for the United States to once again lead the world toward the promotion of religious freedom and the protection of human rights. I believe Mike Pompeo is the agent of change the State Department needs, and he has the president's ear. He cares about religious freedom, and about restoring the United States to its historically-esteemed role of human rights defender -- not cultural imperialist. And with Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Brownback also in place, the United States is perhaps better poised than any other time in recent memory to significantly make inroads in promoting religious freedom worldwide.

NEW HYMNS THAT STRIKE A CHORD WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE - INCLUDING ME! #1

 "His Mercy is More" - Matt Boswell and Boyce College Choir

Words and music by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa

Lyrics and chords can be found here.   

Verse 1

What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient all knowing He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Verse 2

What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father so tender is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest the vilest the poor
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Verse 3

What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment His life was the cost
We stood 'neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Chorus

Praise the Lord His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness new every morn
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Copyright: 

2016 Messenger Hymns (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.), Love Your Enemies Publishing

Some supporting Scriptures - Hebrews 10: 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Daniel 9:9  The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; Psalm 103:12 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Micah 7:18-19 18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Ephesians 2:4 - 5 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

NICK FOLES, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK, GOING TO BE A PASTOR

I used to follow football avidly but much less so in recent years.  But this headline from Drudge caught my eye and the article that followed cheered me greatly.   It has generated within me much greater interest in the Superbowl than I had before.  

"I want to be a pastor in a high school," Foles said Thursday. "It's on my heart. I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary. I wanted to continue to learn and challenge my faith. It's a challenge because you are writing papers that are biblically correct. You want to impact people's hearts."

Foles is part of a team that has a strong Christian brotherhood. MVP contender Carson Wentz has been outspoken about his faith and many players spend a lot of time together in prayer, studying the Bible and sharing devotionals.

Foles was one of the study leaders during his first stint in Philadelphia and has become a go-to source for younger guys. Left guard Stefen Wisniewksi also plans to become a pastor after his career ends.

"Guys like Nick and Wis can spit out scripture all day and it's awesome to take in that knowledge," said special teams ace Kamu Grugier-Hill.

Foles is passionate about helping students find their way and plans to use his experiences to inspire and encourage them. . . . 

 He was spectacular against Minnesota in the NFC championship, tossing four touchdown passes in a 38-7 win.

Foles - not Tom Brady - has the highest passer rating in postseason history for quarterbacks who've thrown at least 75 passes. Foles has completed 72 of 96 passes for 793 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions in three games for a 116.4 passer rating. . .   [more. . .]

Foles' quarterback career has been marked with a great deal of inconsistency.  I am hoping (and praying) that Sunday will prove a good day.

JARED KUSHNER'S EFFECTIVE MIDDLE EAST DIPLOMACY

Kushner's perspective and progress confounds older students of the Middle East.  He grasped certain truths quickly:

. . . First, he recognizes that Iran now matters more to the Arabs than Palestine. With Iran and Islamic militants threatening the survival of major Arab states, many Arab leaders have quietly decided to align with Israel—dialing down their interest in the Palestinian drama. . . . 

Second, Kushner realizes that younger Arab generation has a fundamentally different perspective from that of its elders. More than 60 percent of Arabs are too young to remember the 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel, and many more regard them as ancient history. . . 

Kushner is trusted by key players.    [more . . .]

PBS BROADCASTS MYTHS AND FALSEHOODS ABOUT THE CRUSADES

I am grateful to Andrew Harrod for his critique of the PBS film "The Sultan and the Saint."   I especially appreciate the links he included to many additional articles which encourage further study.  Harrod writes:

The advertising for the new film” The Sultan and the Saint “suggests it presents revisionist history in line with the modernist ecumenical agenda,” wrote in 2016 Dr. Benjamin J. Vail (OFS), an American Secular Franciscan. The finished film, shown to this author and others last April, thoroughly vindicated Vail, and is now offering hackneyed Crusade myths to the public via PBS, which broadcast the film December 26 and now offers it for online viewing.

Focusing on the 1219 encounter between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Al-Malik al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade, the film reflects popular falsehoods about the Crusades accepted even by President Barack Obama. Ignoring reality, the PBS film website declares that the “film sheds light on the crusades origins of dehumanizing rhetoric towards non-Europeans and non-Christians” that “resulted in four generations of escalating conflict.” Falsely suggesting that current global hostilities involving Muslims result from insufficient dialogue, the website declares that the film “inspires solutions for the negative atmosphere we find ourselves in today.”

PBS’ online portrayal of Fifth Crusade historical figures is equally fallacious, such as in the statement that St. Francis wanted “to oppose the bloodshed of the Fifth Crusade.” Meanwhile, crusader commander John of Brienne has base motives in PBS’ description: “Like many who were motivated to join the Crusades, John might have thought he could improve his lot and gain land, nobility and fame in the Holy Land.” At the website of the film’s pro-Islam producer, Unity Productions Foundation (UPF), Cardiff University professor and film expert Helen Nicholson cynically states that “for these people, the Crusade is a gift from God.”

Nicholson appears in the film alongside journalist Paul Moses, author of The Saint and the Sultan:  The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi’s Mission of Peace, and his prior statements clearly show his influence upon the film. In various 2013 book presentations, he presented Francis as a pacifist, as someone who “quietly opposed the Crusade,” and as someone who “never spoke in a disparaging way about Islam or Muslims.” By contrast, Francis’ era was a “time when the church had become corrupt and violent” and knew how to “cherry pick through scripture” in order to find “supposed Biblical grounds” for the Crusades.