2024: The Year of Consequential Elections

As the 2024 U.S. presidential election comes into sharper focus, much of the political punditry has focused on the potential rematch of Joe Biden versus Donald Trump. In recent weeks, the American press has reported extensively on former President Trump’s ongoing court cases and Special Counsel Robert Hur’s characterization of President Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Although Americans should expect an avalanche of news related to the presidential election over the next 10 months, it is important to remember that other offices besides the presidency will also be on the ballot ?” including 34 U.S. Senate seats, all 435 U.S. House seats, 11 governorships, and legislative seats in 44 states. The results of these elections will have massive consequences for years to come.

The United States isn’t the only country engaging in national elections this year: at least 64 other countries will be choosing leaders as well. Already, millions of people have voted in elections in Bangladesh (January 7), Taiwan (January 13), Finland (January 28), El Salvador (February 4), Pakistan (February 8), and Indonesia (February 14). In the coming months, citizens in many other nations will cast ballots.

As Christians, we recognize that participating in elections is a stewardship and an opportunity to love our neighbors in a practical way. Since the outcome of these elections will affect the rights and livelihoods of so many people, Christians ought to pray that those participating in the political process make wise choices.

Africa

South Africa will hold its general election on May 29. Observers expect it will be the most competitive election in that country since the end of Apartheid. Additionally, many analysts predict that the governing African National Congress will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994. With unemployment and poverty on voters’ minds, incumbent president Cyril Ramaphosa faces a challenging re-election campaign.

Other countries with elections include Togo (legislative, April 13), Ghana (general, December 7), Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, and Somaliland.

Asia

This spring, voters in India will decide whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be elected for a third term. Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is popular and holds the most seats in the Indian Parliament.

On April 10, South Korea will hold legislative elections that will determine the composition of the 300-seat National Assembly. President Yoon Suk Yeol (elected in 2022) is hoping his conservative People Power Party, currently the second largest party in the National Assembly, will wrest control from the more liberal Democratic Party of Korea.

Americas

On June 2, Mexican citizens will participate in a general election to pick a new president and legislature. Incumbent president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is ineligible for a second term, has endorsed former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum as his successor. Sheinbaum is a member of Mexico’s more liberal party and is competing against Xóchitl Gálvez, the leader of a center-right coalition.

Other countries with elections include Panama (general, May 5), the Dominican Republic (general, May 19), and Uruguay (general, October 27).

Europe

The European Parliament, the legislative body of the European Union (EU), will hold its quinquennial election on June 6-9. All 720 seats are up for election. With an estimated 400 million eligible voters, the election will be the largest transnational election in the world. It will also be the EU’s first parliamentary election since the United Kingdom’s exit in 2020. Many pollsters are predicting a strong showing by conservative parties, an outcome that would dramatically affect the EU’s political landscape.

European countries with elections this year include Portugal (legislative, March 10), Slovakia (presidential, March 23), Lithuania (presidential, May 12), Georgia (general, November 5), Croatia (general, TBD), and Romania (presidential, TBD).

Expected Elections

In addition to these confirmed elections, other nations expected to hold elections in 2024 include Austria (legislative), Jordan (legislative), Moldova (presidential), Syria (legislative), and Uzbekistan (legislative).

Worth noting is that Russia is also scheduled to hold a presidential election in March, although observers expect President Vladimir Putin to win upwards of 90% of the vote in an election a Kremlin spokesman conceded “is not really democracy.” Additionally, it is possible that the United Kingdom will hold its general election this fall, with polls indicating the ruling Conservative Party may lose 10 Downing Street to the Labour Party for the first time in 14 years.

In short, 2024 has already proved itself to be a consequential election year. By the year’s conclusion, nearly half of the world’s population will have seen a national election take place in their country. As hundreds of millions of people participate in these elections, Christians should commit to praying for voters as well as the leaders who will take office.

In an interconnected world, what happens in one country inevitably affects another. Elections matter because people matter, and the 2024 elections will undoubtedly affect an untold number of people. Thus, until King Jesus returns, Christians should pray, vote, and engage with politics, remembering that faithfulness, not results, is how we will ultimately be judged.

FRC intern Natalie Spaulding contributed research for this article.

AUTHOR

David Closson

David Closson is Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Islamic Republic of Iran: State-backed Security Officials Raped 16-year-old Protester before Murdering Her

The security officials were proceeding on the basis of clear Islamic principles.

The hijab is required for women so that men don’t get tempted. If men are tempted nonetheless, it is the fault of the woman.

This is why rape victims are sometimes imprisoned in Pakistan and other Muslim countries.

And proceeding from those assumptions, the imprisoned protesters in Iran are raped, so as to humiliate them and to ensure that they will be in hell after they die, for even then they will face punishment for allowing men to be tempted.

Document Shows Iranian Protester Raped Before Murder

Iran International, February 21, 2024:

A recently unveiled document has revealed that 16-year-old Nika Shakarami was raped by state-backed security during the Women, Life, Freedom protests.

The document, circulating on social media and seemingly discovered among a trove of files accessed after a hacktivist group breached the servers of the Iranian judiciary on Tuesday, contains evidence confirming that Shakarami had been subjected to rape amid a state sanctioned campaign of sexual violence as documented by rights groups.

The trove of documents obtained by the hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali covers a wide range of sensitive topics, spanning from internal discussions within the National Security Council following Mahsa Amini’s death to efforts aimed at curbing unauthorized VPN vendors, protests against the 2020 employment examination, and cases related to economic corruption.

Abbas Masjedi Arani, head of the Forensic Medicine Organization has sent the “very confidential” letter to the Supreme National Security Council, explicitly stating, “In the genital examination, signs indicating assault or rough sexual intercourse were evident.”

Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old, was abducted and murdered by security forces during the anti-regime protests which swept Iran in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody….

Read full article.

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Media Attack Florida’s Surgeon General for Defying Science but the ‘Pharmacology of Vaccines is Deceptive’

“The Washington Post and media in general know their bread is buttered by pharma but some sources say pharma and its industry professionals offer deceptive benefit for symptoms with adverse reaction risk.” — Dr. Richard Ruhling, MD, board-certified in Internal Medicine.


In contrast to ‘authorities’ who make a living in that industry Ruhling says people should know both sides and let parents decide what’s best for their child, as Dr. Ladapo said.

My background includes a Master’s degree in Public Health and a course in Epidemiology that most MD’s do not get.

For example, epidemiology looks as people who don’t get a disease like autism and populations that do get it—tiny babies that get so many shots. Japan waits a year and they have less. It’s not the vaccine, but the mercury that’s added to multi-dose vials as a preservative. Mercury is a neurotoxin and its symptoms can cause symptoms of autism that has become an epidemic in most of the U.S., but not in Quaker or Mennonites who don’t vaccinate.

I and my wife had a couple kids and adopted four more. None of them had any vaccinations and they all grew up healthy with one daughter featured on the cover of a health and fitness magazine.

The former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Marcia Angell, MD, wrote The Truth About the Drug Companies—How They Deceive UsIt’s a book title that sounds so much like the apocalyptic warning from the Bible where pharmakeia (Greek word in Rev 18:23) “deceives all nations” but it’s badly translated sorcery.

I think Florida gets negative press on this issue because of DeSantis’ stand against the covid shot, and in retrospect, evidence is mounting that supports DeSantis. In January, Cambridge University reported 25% of folks who got a shot for covid now have VAIDSVaccine Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

This is further explained by the FDA post that media never reported—maybe Biden’$1 Billion to promote the shot was a factor, but those who got the shot have higher risk for dozens of health problems suggested by the FDA—Readers can check this out on page 16 https://www.fda.gov/media/143557/download.

©2024. Richard Ruhling, MD. All rights reserved.

Preserving Freedom in the Face of Challenges

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think and act anew.” — Abraham Lincoln


America, the land of liberty, has long been a beacon of hope and opportunity for people worldwide. Its founding principles – liberty, freedom, and justice – have shaped its identity. This foundation, laid by the framers, has come to be known as American Exceptionalism.

However, in the face of evolving challenges, it is imperative that we not only understand the concept but actively work to preserve and strengthen it for future generations.

When asked what kind of government the delegates had created, Benjamin Franklin famously replied, “A republic if you can keep it.” These words hold even greater significance as we confront a crucial juncture in our country’s history.

The slogan “Make America Great Again” is not merely a catchphrase; it embodies a call to action, a commitment to uphold the values that have made America exceptional. In recent years, however, these values have come under attack. The Obama/Biden administration failed to deliver its promises, leaving many Americans disillusioned and disheartened. To the leftists, failure is not only acceptable but expected.

Since Donald Trump announced his candidacy, the Democrats have launched one failed hoax after another in an attempt to derail his presidency. Their efforts, driven by fraudulent claims and partisan agendas, have only sought to erode the genuine efforts of a president with good intentions.

But now is not the time for despair. Our highest priority must be the preservation of our nation’s freedom. We have faced challenges before and emerged more robust, and we must do so again.

The threats we face today are manifold: encroaching Islamism, socialism, Marxism. These ideologies seek to undermine the very foundations of our society, threatening our individual liberty and prosperity. But we cannot afford to succumb to fear or complacency.

To combat these threats, it is crucial to articulate clear policy proposals that uphold American values. This includes:

It is strengthening educational programs that promote an understanding of American history, values, and the principles of democracy.

We are advocating for policies that support the free market and individual freedoms, thereby countering the collectivist ideologies that seek to undermine these principles.
Promoting international cooperation and alliances that support the spread of democracy and the rule of law, thereby countering the global reach of authoritarian ideologies.

Freedom, in all its forms, is our greatest legacy. Throughout history, brave men and women have fought and died to protect it. From the battlefields of Europe to the jungles of the Far East, Americans have made countless sacrifices to safeguard our way of life.

In the not-too-distant past, we confronted and defeated the forces of Nazism, Fascism, and Communism. We stood firm against tyranny and oppression, refusing to waver in adversity. And now, we must once again rise to meet the challenges of our time.

The insidious threat of leftism, socialism, Islamism, and Marxism looms large, but we cannot afford to shrink from the fight. We must meet these challenges head-on, with courage and determination.

Now is the time to stand up and be counted. We cannot give up or give in. We must be willing to do whatever it takes to preserve our nation’s freedom and ensure a bright future for generations to come.

This will require unity, resolve, and a steadfast commitment to our core principles. We must be willing to defend our freedoms against all who seek to undermine them, whether foreign or domestic.

But we cannot do it alone. We need the support of every patriotic American who believes in the principles that make this country great. Together, we can overcome any challenge and emerge stronger than ever before.

For those who are concerned about the direction of the country, there are practical actions that can be taken to support the preservation of American values:

Vote in elections, and this is a must.

Participate in local community activities and public discourse to influence policy and public opinion.

Educate yourself and others about the principles of American exceptionalism and the importance of defending these values.

Defending America against all enemies is not just a slogan but a solemn duty that falls on everyone. We must be willing to stand up for what is right, defend our freedoms, and ensure that America remains a shining beacon of liberty for the world to see.

Now is the time to rise to the occasion, embrace the challenges before us, and reaffirm our commitment to the principles that have made America the greatest nation on earth. United, we will prevail.

These profound words from John F. Kennedy still resonate deeply: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

©2024. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

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History’s Best-Selling Book Supports Trump As Next!

History’s greatest person who divided BC from AD said, when asked about the end of the world, to under-stand the book of Daniel. Daniel’s vision “at the time of the end” was a conflict between political cartoons of a ram pushing from the Middle East that angers a goat that flies from the west to stomp a militant Muslim ram in Daniel 8. The horns represent the kings of Media and Persia (verse 20), areas that are now Iraq and Iran—it’s easy to understand whose interest in retirement is current events, Bible prophecy.

He cites Isaiah 46 to say that God “declares the end from the beginning.” In the book of beginnings, Abraham was tested over his willingness to sacrifice his son that was spared at the last minute by a ram caught by its horn in a bush in Genesis 22. George Bush caught the first horn and Saddam is dead.

Muslims say the son spared was Ishmael and they are entitled to the land occupied by Israel. The Bible says Isaac, the father of Israel, was spared.  What’s happening in the Middle East is support for the Bible as the true holy book. “The time of the end” is when the ram’s higher horn gets broken. Iran has been funding the war against Israel, also supported by  Zechariah 14.

Returning to Daniel 8, the goat’s great horn is the first king of Grecia, verse 21. It was Alexander the Great who conquered the Medes and Persians, but “history repeats” for “the time of the end,” verse 17. The US has a Greek educational system that emphasizes the mind and plays down the practical aspects like learning a trade or physical work and college fraternities and sororities are designated by Greek letters.

Daniel 8 shows a great horn on the goat that breaks the ram’s horns and the goat becomes great in verse 8.

In Bible times, horns were used to make trumpets, and the great horn may prove to be the great Trump who makes America great before the great horn is broken.

Alexander died a premature death and Trump could die prematurely as forces favoring New World Order  would be glad to see him dead. Biden “hopes to imprison his rival until he dies.”

By contrast, Trump says, “I don’t care about revenge. My revenge will be success.”

People like leaders who have positive attitudes, but Trump may be assassinated for his success in making America great by the “Deep State” that is pushing U.S. toward a UN New World Order. That’s the pope’s road to world supremacy and the way to regain what was lost in the Old World when Protestants fled persecution and risked death at sea, from Indians or starvation in a brave new world but they forged a Constitution that was the basis of greatness.

The goat horn as Trump might be stretching the imagery, but since the first ram horn was caught in a bush (George Bush), we could logically conclude the 2nd horn (Iran) will be broken by the great horn (Trump).

Scripture says he is the 1st King of Grecia. Kings are not elected. They just take the power and many if not most of the US think Trump has it coming. Perhaps the devil has tried hard to derail this picture, but may God bless America one more time before he goes.

For more information, readers may visit https://HealthHappinessDestiny.com

©2024. All rights reserved.

In ‘La La Land’ Dreams, Dance and Choices Echo

Disappointed, it took me six years to grasp that this was not a movie or musical. This was a masterpiece.

If you want to experience a cinematic masterpiece that seamlessly blends music, dance, and emotion, “La La Land” is the film for you. Its visually stunning scenes, innovative storytelling, and deep emotional narrative create an unforgettable cinematic experience. But if you’re looking for a traditional plot-driven film with predictable storytelling, no more of it.

So, what makes “La La Land” stand out and offer a unique cinematic experience? The dreamlike atmosphere throughout the movie is created and aided by the amazing score.

While the dazzling choreography grabs our attention, the film’s more profound exploration of individual pursuits and their bittersweet consequences genuinely makes “La La Land” stand out. The film isn’t just a visual spectacle; it’s a poignant reflection on the sacrifices we make for dreams and the impact on the relationships that hold us dear.

Mia and Sebastian’s unwavering pursuit of their dreams reflects a harsh reality: individual success often comes at the cost of shared experiences and personal relationships. Their journey is paved with sacrifices for success, forcing them to confront the difficult choices that ambition demands. The film doesn’t shy away from portraying the bittersweet ending – they achieve their dreams, but their paths diverge, leaving a void where their shared future once resided.

This isn’t just Mia and Sebastian’s story; it invites us to consider our choices and their consequences. The film encourages us to ponder the trade-offs we make to pursue dreams, prompting a reflective look at our personal and professional aspirations.

But amidst the struggles, glimmers of hope shine through. Their mutual support and growth, evident in their encouragement of each other’s dreams, reminds us of the importance of companionship in achieving anything.

Yet, the film doesn’t sugarcoat the challenges. The sacrifice of their relationship is a stark portrayal of the complexities of balancing personal dreams and shared aspirations. It leaves us with a reflective ending, prompting us to contemplate: do their choices lead to fulfillment or regret?

Despite the challenges, naive optimism flickers within them. Fueled by this optimism, their resilience and determination reflect the spirit required to chase dreams. This spirit isn’t confined to individuals; the collective spirit of Los Angeles, captured in the opening number, reminds us that we’re all dreamers, united by the city’s promise of opportunity and ambition.

But dreams aren’t without shadows.

As we move from the city to Mia and Sebastian’s personal journeys, the personalization of dreams deepens. This shift allows us to explore the emotional costs and rewards of chasing dreams on an individual level. The atmospheric growth reflects this change, becoming more intimate and passionate as we dive into their struggles and the delicate dance of their relationship.

The tension between their ambitions and shared dreams hints at the conflicts they will face. This narrative technique, shifting perspectives between Mia and Sebastian, highlights their differing priorities and foreshadows the inevitable clashes.

But their connection isn’t defined solely by conflict. The progression of interaction from playful banter to an intimate dance symbolizes their deepening relationship. The classic dance style evokes a sense of synchronicity and harmony, capturing a moment of joy and understanding. As the dance progresses, their growing affection, reflected in their movements, underscores the hope for a future together.

But this hope is tinged with fear of separation. The interruption by Mia’s phone call serves as a stark reminder of the sacrifices they might have to make. The irony in the lyrics, contrasting the hopeful dance with a doomed relationship, further highlights the complexity of their emotions.

This complexity transcends words, capturing the essence of their shared dreams, struggles, and the flicker of hope for a future together. It reminds us that even the most beautiful dreams can be accompanied by costs.

Ultimately, the film offers a complex exploration of love, dreams, and sacrifice, reflecting the harsh realities of life and the challenges of achieving dreams.

The impact on tone with moments of hope and optimism offers a respite from the film’s predominant cynicism. This shift enhances emotional connection, allowing us to feel the characters’ emotions deeply. It also encourages the characters and prompts viewers to reflect on their lives, enabling them to maintain hope and optimism despite challenges.

“La La Land” doesn’t just entertain; it innovates. The film pushes boundaries within the musical genre, blending traditional elements with contemporary storytelling techniques. This musical innovation resonates with modern audiences, offering a fresh take on a beloved genre.

The film’s use of symbolism in colors further enriches the storytelling. The vibrant hues, often changing with the characters’ emotional states, reflect the highs and lows of their journey. The memorable soundtrack, featuring original songs like “City of Stars,” becomes an integral part of the film, enhancing the emotional resonance and staying with audiences long after the credits roll.

“La La Land” doesn’t just pay homage to classic Hollywood musicals; it reinvents them. It’s a cinematic homage that appeals to nostalgia and modern sensibilities, creating a unique and captivating experience.

Overall, “La La Land” stands out as a cinematic experience beyond visual spectacle and catchy tunes, leaving viewers with a lasting reflection on our choices and paths. It’s a film that stays with you, prompting you to consider your own dreams and the sacrifices you’re willing to make to achieve them.

©2024. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

Negotiate, you fools!

For the first time since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the possibility of negotiations has emerged on the horizon.

Both Putin and Zelenskiiy have indicated in recent interviews that they are now open to negotiations. In his two-hour history lesson to Tucker Carlson, Putin recalled the Istanbul negotiations in March-April 2022. “We were ready to sign it and the war would have been over long ago,” Putin said, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson swung by and told Zelenskiiy to hold off.

In his interview with FoxNews host Bret Baier that aired on Thursday night, Zelenskiiy poured cold water on the notion that an agreement had been at hand in Istanbul in 2022, but said he was ready to talk with Putin today. Clearly the near-encirclement of Ukrainian forces at Avdiivka, and the heavy losses they took in their hot withdrawal, helped focus his mind. So has the reticence of Republicans in Congress to write Kyiv another blank check.

Exactly how, and under whose auspices those talks take place is another story. Since Zelenskiiy is understandably demanding great power guarantees, that will mean buy-in from the U.S., France, and Germany as well as Russia.

Ironically, the party most reticent to come to the table is Joe Biden. Just this week, he doubled-down yet again on his “Putin the murderer” rhetoric (aided, for sure, by the apparent murder of dissident Alexei Navalny in a Siberian jail). But like the Chekist he is, Putin didn’t take offense at Biden’s words, telling a Russian journalist Russia would deal with anyone the American people elected president, but would prefer Biden because he was more “predictable” than Trump and a known quantity.

Meanwhile, the rumors of expanded war in Europe intensified this week. Putin’s deputy, former president Dmitry Medvedev played bad cop and said that Russia needed to change the government in Kyiv and probably occupy the Ukrainian capital, to prevent “encroachments” on Russian land.

And in Moldova, the Russian breakaway region of Transnistria hinted it would call a referendum to approve Russia’s annexation of the territory, possibly as soon as February 28, with a Putin speech already planned for the next day.

As I explain in this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend, Transnistria is a narrow strip of land on Ukraine’s southwest border with Moldova. If it fell under Russia control, this would add yet another front to the war. But as It is completely landlocked, and not contiguous with the Russian front lines, resupply would be a challenge.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sketched out his vision for the future of Gaza this morning, and it fell pretty much in line with what I previously surmised in my white paper, “Israel’s War of Survival and the End of the Two-State Solution,” released by the America First Policy Institute last month. Gaza must be completely demilitarized, with Israel in control of security, and local Palestinians with no prior ties to Hamas or other terror groups in charge of civilian affairs.

What Netanyahu did not say, however, was how Israel would find such a rare breed of Palestinian. As I write in And the Rest is History: Tales of Hostages, Arms Dealers, Dirty Tricks, and Spies, Israel has been trying for decades to find such Palestinians, and when they do, the other Palestinians (i.e., the PLO or Hamas) murder them.

©2024. Kenneth R. Timmerman. All rights reserved.

Biden has U.S. on the Brink of World War III

Joe Biden is too old and very dangerous

The President of the United States of America is way too old for heavy work. Being President of a large country with a large military in an unstable world, is top heavy.

We are at the brink of World War III because of this.

But Biden keeps on provoking Russia anyway.

After the Cold War, agreements were signed between NATO and Moscow, that said that NATO would not expand eastwards.

But now, NATO is doing all it can to destroy the Russian Federation!

Putin should be applauded for staying calm and only fighting back against the Kiev regime in a defensive way.

The responsible wise leaders on the World stage are President Xi of the People’s Republic of China and President Putin of the Russian Federation right now. Macron, Sunak, Rutte and Silly Old Joe are the irresponsible warmongers.

If the Western leaders would get it their way; the whole world would turn Woke and all traditional cultures would be gone! That would be the end of humanity.

Please follow me on Facebook, X, Truth Social and Linkedin.

©2024. Matthys van Raalten. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Negotiate, you fools! 

After Male Basketball Player Injures 3 Female Players, Team Forfeits Game

J.K. Rowling, the famous author of the “Harry Potter” series, has received vehement backlash from LGBT activists over her belief that men who identify as women should not be held in women’s prisons. “If you support putting violent and sexually predatory men into women’s prisons, you are knowingly forcing those women to live in fear of, and, in some proven cases, to suffer abuse that many of them will have endured pre-incarceration,” she wrote on X Tuesday.

She concluded, “Women have the basic human right not to suffer cruel and unusual punishment.” And while Rowling’s grievances centered on trans-identifying men in women’s prisons, her sentiments reflect what many fear within the realm of women’s sports, namely, girls getting hurt by physically stronger boys.

Since the presence of trans-identifying men in women’s competitions have increased, the number of women winning first, second, and third has decreased. The women and girls in swimmingtrack and fieldgolfvolleyballdancecross country, and other sports, are repeatedly defeated by men. For some, this alone is enough to demand a change. But when women losing to men isn’t enough to spark change, many are asking if women being hurt by men, which has happened repeatedly over the last few years, will prove to be the final straw.

Footage from a girls’ high school basketball game earlier this month is raising a lot of questions about the safety of trans participation. In a viral video from a game between Massachusetts Collegiate Charter School of Lowell and KIPP Academy, a large, male figure (who reportedly is six feet tall and has facial hair) from the KIPP team throwing a female player from the charter team to the ground as he seized the ball from her — a move that resulted in the girl gripping her back in pain. But this wasn’t the only incident.

A total of three injuries resulted from the play of this trans-identifying athlete, all of which happened before halftime, and with only five players able to play, KIPP chose to forfeit because they couldn’t afford to have any more girls get hurt.

Allegedly, the male athlete was competing among girls to reflect “the school’s commitment to ‘inclusivity and safety.’” Riley Gaines, a former NCAA All-American swimmer, posted on X, “A man hitting a woman used to be called domestic abuse. Now it’s called brave.” She added, “Who watches this [and] actually thinks this is ‘compassionate, kind, and inclusive?’”

Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, expressed her concern to The Washington Stand. “As a former Division I basketball player at one of the top women’s basketball programs in the country, at practice, I competed against men every day.” She said this was common for Division I women’s basketball teams, because it gave the women a chance to practice against men who were “stronger, faster, and quicker.”

However, Szoch emphasized that the male players were instructed “to be humble enough to know they are there to help the women’s team become better — not to use their physical advantages to humiliate or hurt a player.” Szoch added that men, on average, are stronger and better at sports when competing against women, and “when we don’t recognize this, women get hurt. … [A]nd deep down, everyone knows this.” But it’s a truth that “people don’t want to acknowledge … because they are afraid of being called a bigot.”

FRC’s Meg Kilgannon also commented to TWS, “It seems abusive to make the girls endure this situation.” However, she added that “seeing girls on the opposing team physically injured by ‘inclusive’ athletic participation policies is only half of the story.”

“We have to also consider the girls on the team with the male player, who have to share a locker room with him, change clothes in front of him, and pretend that he is ‘just one of the girls,’” she pointed out. “I can’t say which situation is more abusive, but both are intolerable.” For Kilgannon, it seems evident that “Massachusetts public schools, charter or not, don’t protect the educational interests or rights of women and girls, but rather advance the interests of men and men who identify as women.”

Kilgannon insisted, “This story is all the more enraging because we knew it would happen, we tried to prevent it, and now girls are getting hurt.”

Szoch added that, ultimately, “telling a biological male that he is a female and allowing him to play women’s sports doesn’t help anyone — least of all the man.” She concluded, “As a former athlete who now has a daughter, I am hopeful that the presence of men playing women’s basketball will be a wake-up call for our country. Women deserve a chance to compete on a fair and safe playing field.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Fixing Congress’ Worst Problem

And you’ve likely never even heard about it!

Do you know what is the worst fixable problem Congress has?

I’m willing to bet that I can tell you: 1) what Congress’ most substantial problem is, and 2) have it be something they’ve never heard of (!), and 3) have a simple, low-cost, elegant solution for it!!! I suspect that some people would be willing to bet against me…

Since we are daily deluged with political news from hundreds of sources, is it possible that alert citizens are unaware of Congress’ worst fixable problem? I say YES, so I could make good money if I went around making such a bet.

To appreciate the scope of the #1 Congressional problem, we need to understand how our representatives make decisions. In other words: how do they decide on what to vote for or against; how do they decide which issues to champion; how do they decide which laws to propose; how do they decide exactly what to say in any proposed law they put into the hopper; etc., etc. Do you know the answer (singular)? Consider:

Fact One: there are dozens of major issues (from election integrity to energy) clamoring for our representative’s attention every day.

Fact Two: in our current society, almost every one of these issues is moderately or extremely complicated.

Fact Three: it is very rare that any member of Congress is a bonafide expert in even one of the dozens of issues on their plate.

Fact Four: each member of Congress is solicited every day by lobbyists giving them advice as to what to say or do about one or more of these numerous complex issues.

What does a competent, conscientious representative do?

Nearly 100% of the time, the answer is to rely on their aides. Every Congress person has a staff of aides, plus a Chief of Staff, etc. Let’s take energy as an example, as most members of Congress have an “Energy” aide. We’ll call this their E-aide.

It is the E-aide’s first responsibility to be a buffer between lobbyists (also the public), and the member of Congress. For example, when an appointment is made to discuss wind energy legislation, in most cases it is the E-aide who meets with the lobbyist, citizen, etc. (An exception might be for a repeat visit, a VIP, a major donor, etc. Then the member might also be at the meeting. Note that the E-aide is usually still very involved.)

Typically, the member of Congress heavily relies on the E-aide’s advice regarding the support that should be given to what is requested, the priority of it, how to specifically handle it, who else to communicate with, etc., etc. After that, the E-aide stays actively involved with what happens (e.g., drafting a proposed law).

OK, you’re probably thinking, I knew most of that. It makes sense that members of Congress extensively rely on their staff. After all, there are only so many hours in a day, and certainly, we would not expect any member of Congress to be an expert on more than one or two topics. So what’s the substantial problem?

The answer is: the aides. Who are these sources of knowledge, and how do they work? I’ll keep it simple, only outlining some of the major problems with the current system.

Problem #1: Most of the aides are energetic youths in their early twenties — i.e. wet behind the ears. Few of them have any real-world experiences. For example, a typical E-aide has rarely visited a nuclear plant, hydroelectric facility, or wind project. If they did, it was a show-and-tell, not for serious discussions.

Problem #2: It’s extremely rare that an aide will have an advanced degree (e.g., a PhD) in their assigned field. (People with PhDs can make more money elsewhere.)

Problem #3: Much of what aides know about their assigned field, actually comes from what they are told by lobbyists — people they see daily. Clearly, listening to lobbyists is NOT a successful way to have a comprehensive and objective understanding of anything.

Problem #4: These youths are products of some of the worst education our country has ever provided anyone. For example, these energetic young people have been heavily propagandized with Left-wing ideology. Worse, they have not been taught how to think critically — but instead have been schooled to defer to authority [e.g., re Climate], to follow (without questioning) what is politically correct [e.g., re COVID], etc., etc.

Problem #5: The troublesome relationship between lobbyists and aides gets worse. All the players know that the aide is in a temporary job. (For example, their employment would end if their boss did not get re-elected.) Some lobbyists leverage this uncertainly to their advantage, by letting the aide know that if things work out well now, a cushy gig awaits them when they are looking for a job in the future.

Problem #6: The net result of the above is that we now have a lobbyists-run legislative system. Citizens are often perplexed as to why their elected representatives rarely act in the public’s best interest — that’s the answer. The public interest and the lobbyist’s client interest are almost never the same.

Some of the times when we see a Republican Congressional member take RINO actions, it is due to the fact that lobbyists and their own aide have consciously (or otherwise) ganged up against our representative — and our elected member does not have the expertise to be able to counter their undue influence.

I could go on here, but I promised to keep it simple. Hopefully, you can see that we have a horrifically troubling political system that is putting many of the key decisions about our country and its future in the hands of inexperienced, miseducated, Left-indoctrinated aides, very susceptible to being inappropriately influenced by powerful and sophisticated lobbyists.

So the second part of the bet was that you’ve never heard about this profound weakness of our legislative system. If you think otherwise, show me where it has been adequately discussed and publicized…

Part 3 of my bet was that I could come up with a reasonable solution. Here it is…

Members of Congress should have most of their key aides be seniors and/or retired people. Amazingly, each and every substantial deficiency of the young people aide system is fixed by switching to a mature people system. Consider (using the same numbering as above) the major benefits of making this one easy change:

Benefit #1: Senior aides have a wide variety of real-world, life experiences.

Benefit #2: A good number of the senior aides will have an advanced degree in a relevant field or equivalent job experience.

Benefit #3: The senior aide’s knowledge would have come from their job history, so they would not need to listen to salespeople (lobbyists).

Benefit #4: Their education was during a time when the US education system was much less politicized, and actually taught us things like the Scientific Method!

Benefit #5: These retirees would not be looking for a future job, so would not be susceptible to this inappropriate lobbyist enticement.

Benefit #6: The net result of the prior five items, is that lobbyist influence over our legislative process would be substantially reduced. That would mean that citizen-oriented laws would become the norm, rather than the exception: a Very Big Deal!

In other words, EVERY one of the serious problems inherent in the current system would be fixed by this simple change.

Would it be hard to find such people? I doubt it. Seniors are not only some of the most patriotic citizens, but many of them are very keen on having their experiences put to good use.

So do I win the bet?

If you think otherwise, please tell me where I’m wrong.

If we agree, then why isn’t this happening, today?

PS — It should be obvious that the same reasoning applies to State Legislator aides. State Legislators have fewer aides than their Federal counterparts do, so it makes even more sense for them to have their smaller staffs predominantly mature citizens.

©2024. John Droz, Jr. All rights reserved.

American Values 2024 Responds to the DNC’S Botched Attempt to Smear Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

NEW YORK/PRNewswire/ — American Values 2024 (AV24), the super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s candidacy for president, responded to the latest DNC attempt to smear Kennedy in Michigan and disenfranchise voters with billboard advertisements running in nine locations throughout the state.

Click to view:

American Values 2024 Billboard

DNC Billboard

Last week, the DNC and Biden campaign strategists declared that AV24’s Super Bowl “Kennedy Jingle” television ad was “bought and paid for by Trump’s largest donor, Tim Mellon,” when in reality, the ad’s idea, funding, and execution came primarily from Nicole Shanahan, a Democratic donor who contributed to Biden’s 2020 campaign and as the New York Times reported, considers herself a “progressive through and through.”

“President Biden’s sinking approval rating and plummeting polling numbers nationally and in key battleground states like Michigan have triggered unprecedented panic in both the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee,” said Tony Lyons, Co-Founder of AV24.

Precedent speaks volumes. As exemplified by Deleeuw v. State Board of Canvassers in Michigan, a case firmly upheld by the Supreme Court, “the act of collecting signatures and submitting them on behalf of a candidate is not just a civic duty but an exercise of First Amendment rights.”

“The DNC’s FEC complaint, the billboards in Michigan and NY, and the unprecedented and repeated denial of secret service protection to Kennedy, show a pattern of corruption aimed at vilifying Bobby Kennedy while attacking the super PAC’s donors,” said Lyons.

About AMERICAN VALUES 2024 (AV24)American Values 2024 (AV24) is a super PAC committed to educating and mobilizing voters to elect candidates who will restore and protect the soul of democracy in the United States. Our long-term vision is to build a movement starting at the local level to create a national groundswell to address the critical issues our country faces. Today, AV24 supports Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s presidential campaign. AV24 is co-founded by Mark Gorton (Chairman of Tower Research Capital) and Tony Lyons (President of Skyhorse Publishing).

©2024. American Values 2024 (AV24). All rights reserved.

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The Presidents and Faith

Since we celebrated Presidents’ Day recently, I thought it might be interesting to reflect on the faith of the first six men who held that office.

Most of them were believers in Jesus and were not ashamed to say so. Several of these instances are not politically correct, but they are historically accurate.

In 1779, ten years before he became the first president under the Constitution, George Washington was asked by Delaware Indian chiefs for advice on the education of three of their sons.

Washington told them, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.”

John Adams, our second president, said in his Inaugural Address in 1797 that he considered “a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service.”

Our third president Thomas Jefferson was a church-going man whenever it was available to him, generally in the Episcopal tradition. As a young man, before he entertained some private doubts of core Christian doctrines, he helped found an evangelical church. This was in 1777, a year after he wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.

That church was the Calvinistical Reformed Church of Charlottesville, and Jefferson wrote up its by-laws and donated more money than any other parishioner. He said in the charter for this church that they started it because they were “desirous of…the benefits of gospel knowledge.”

They called Rev. Charles Clay as the minister. He was an ordained Anglican minister who was also an evangelical. A book I co-wrote with Mark Beliles on Jefferson’s faith or lack thereof contains two of Rev. Clay’s sermons. To our knowledge, this is the first time any of Clays’ works have been in print. They are straight forward Gospel preaching.

Clay preached some things as, “Repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are the means of the sinner’s reconciliation with God.” And Jefferson supported Rev. Charles Clay’s ministry for years.

James Madison, a key architect of the Constitution, served on the committee to appoint chaplains to the legislature. (The first non-Christian chaplain appointed was not until the 1860s, long after Madison’s death.)

Writing in his Memorial and Remonstrances in 1785, Madison, (later, our fourth president), described Christianity, as “the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin.” Madison felt the faith best served by not denying “an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us.”

Madison believed in the separation of the institution of the church from the institution of the state, but he certainly didn’t believe in separating God and government.

Madison once wrote of the correlation between morality and Christian conviction, “The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man.”

Our fifth president, James Monroe, was the last of the founding fathers to serve as president. Monroe professed to believe in Christian doctrine, although he is perhaps best known for the eponymous Doctrine, which essentially states that the European nations should not interfere with those of the Western hemisphere and vice versa.

In his First Inaugural Address, in 1817, Monroe stated that he was taking office with “my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor.”

Our sixth president John Quincy Adams (JQA) was the son of our second president. He was the only president who went on to a political career in Congress after he served in the White House.

Why? Adams was so dead set against slavery which was inconsistent with the founding principles of the United States, that he sought to remove this evil. John Quincy Adams was nick-named “The Hell-Hound of Slavery.”

While serving in Congress, he sat next to a young man from Illinois, and some argue he was able to influence that man to help end this evil. That man was Abraham Lincoln.

John Quincy Adams had a great motto, “Duty is ours. Results are God’s.”

JQA once observed, according to author John Wingate Thorton, in his 1860 book, The Pulpit of the American Revolution, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”

And we could go on and on.

In our highly secular age, we have been largely cut off from our Judeo-Christian roots. It’s time for America to rediscover the indispensable role that the Bible played in our nation’s founding.

Hat tip to Bill Federer and “America’s God and Country” for research help with this column.

©2024. All rights reserved.

Why Is It So Difficult To Define Anti-Semitism?

Even among those who condemn it, there is little consensus about what constitutes antisemitism. Is it disdain for Jews as a faith community or as a people? Is it motivated by hatred of doctrine or ethnicity?


Antisemitism has been around since the dawn of Jewish history and yet the mainstream media only found it newsworthy after October 7th. Since then, it has become ubiquitous in universities and pro-Hamas demonstrations – where progressives celebrate terrorism and demand the destruction of Israel and the Jews – and in a Democratic Party where progressive radicals demonize the Jewish State.

But even among those who condemn it, there is little consensus about what constitutes antisemitism. Is it disdain for Jews as a faith community or as a people? Is it motivated by hatred of doctrine or ethnicity?

Those who mistake it simply as prejudice against a faith do not understand the nature of Jewish identity, which is at once religious, ethnic, and national. The definition of hatred, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder.

Some antisemitism is religious to be sure, particularly among other Abrahamic faiths that must disparage Jews and Judaism to justify their pretensions to be the fulfillment of Jewish scripture and prophecy. Christians and Muslims both acknowledge the holiness of Tanakh and yet deviate significantly from it. To rationalize their divergence from Hebrew scripture, they must claim they supplanted Judaism or that the Jews corrupted their own scriptures.

Christianity

The Christian gospels, for example, are replete with anti-Jewish invective, associating Jews with darkness, evil, lies, deceit, and Satan (e.g., John 8:37-39; 44-47), blood libel and murder of the Prophets (e.g., Matthew 23:31-33; 1 Thessalonians 2), and hereditary blood guilt (Matthew 27:25). Assertions of insidious influence and control are central to the myth that the Jews compelled Pontious Pilate to kill Jesus at a time when Rome occupied Judea and the Sanhedrin had no leverage or authority to impose or even demand the death penalty. The passion narratives likewise contain demonic anti-Jewish caricatures that inspired persecution and massacres throughout Christian Europe.

Furthermore, the New Testament alters Tanakh (e.g., misstating the number of people who accompanied Yacov to Egypt and the burial place of the Patriarchs), misquotes the psalms and Prophets, and decontextualizes passages from Torah.

Islam

Despite the myth of Muslim tolerance, Islamic scripture is not much better. Indeed, the Quran is equally unflattering when it accuses the Jews of “unbelief” and murdering their Prophets (as does Christian scripture): “So, for their breaking the compact, and disbelieving in the signs of God, and slaying the Prophets without right, and for their saying, ‘Our hearts are uncircumcised’ – nay, but God sealed them for their unbelief, so they believe not, except a few…” (Sura 4:155).

It also accuses the Jews of corruption and deceit:

“And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: ‘You shall do corruption in the earth twice…So, when the promise of the first of these came to pass, We sent against you servants of Ours, men of great might, and they went through the habitations, and it was a promise performed. Then We gave back to you the turn to prevail over them…Then, when the promise of the second came to pass, We sent against you Our servants to discountenance you, and to enter the Temple, as they entered it the first time.’” (17:4-7)

Moreover, Jews are frequently accused of scriptural corruption. “People of the Book, now there has come to you Our Messenger, making clear to you many things you have been concealing of the Book, and effacing many things…” (5:15); “God assail them! How they are perverted…They have taken their rabbis and their monks as Lords apart from God.” (9:31.) Claims of textual manipulation seem necessary for explaining away fundamental discrepancies with Tanakh, for example, that Yishmael, not Yitzchak, was bound by Avraham on Moriah.

Racial and ethnic components

Christians and Muslims often misstate Jewish text, doctrine, and history. But conceding deviations from the original Hebrew would undercut their doctrinal narratives. So, both their traditions must accuse the Jews of corruption and deceit, using themes and stereotypes that have fueled Jew-hatred throughout Christendom and the Islamic world for centuries.

Historically, the aim was not merely to disparage Jewish belief, but to devalue or subjugate the Jews as a people; and this is illustrated by the persistence of antisemitism against those who submitted to Christianity or Islam (usually on pain of death). The ethnic and racial components of antisemitism are evidenced by its continuation even after the outward elimination of doctrinal differences.

Catholic antisemitism always had a racial component. On the Iberian Peninsula, for example, people of Jewish heritage were often banned from professions and public office because of ancestry, not belief. Even before the Jews were exiled from Spain per the Edict of Expulsion in 1492 (and later from Portugal), those who were forcibly baptized and designated “New Christians” were identified by their tainted blood. This was first codified in 1449 by the “Statute of Blood Purity” in Toledo; and while some church leaders denounced such enactments, the Inquisition embraced them when it infiltrated Spain in 1478, and later Portugal, Peru, and Mexico in 1536, 1570, and 1571, respectively.

Clearly, racial antisemitism existed long before the Nazis; and it also infected Protestantism.

In targeting Jews through “friendship evangelism,” missionaries strenuously deny Protestant complicity in antisemitism by blaming Catholicism for the most pernicious forms of Jew-hatred. However, Martin Luther embraced the Church’s racial antisemitism and incorporated it in his vile screed, “On the Jews and their Lies,” which advocated expulsion, enslavement, and extermination. These tropes were later adopted by other non-Catholics, many of whom were complicit or complacent during the Holocaust.

Then there are doctrines like replacement theology and evangelical fronts like the Lausanne Movement. Whereas replacement doctrine seeks to displace actual Jews (defined by ancestry and their relationship with G-d) with a faith community of self-defined “spiritual Jews” who falsely claim covenantal status, Lausanne and similar movements actively engage in Jewish evangelism while claiming to love Israel and the Jews. Though antithetical to Torah, both recognize the Jews as a people, not merely a faith community.

And this recognition had parallels in the Islamic world, where forcibly converted Jews often stayed connected to their heritage, married among their own, continued observing Jewish rites and customs in secret – and remained under lingering suspicion. Like the Anusim (Conversos) of Christian Europe, many of these forced converts forgot their heritage while paradoxically maintaining it through rituals and marriage restrictions they continued to observe but no longer understood.

Xenophobia

When the fathers of European Enlightenment rejected the primacy of faith and national allegiances, they were offended by the Jews’ continuing embrace of their religious, ethnic, and national identity. The refusal to assimilate rendered them strangers wherever their migrations took them, arousing xenophobia with religious and racial overtones. And their image as quintessential outsiders was reinforced by their faithfulness to Torah, Jewish language, and ancient blood ties – all of which distinguished them from their host societies and reinforced stereotypes that continued to fester and mutate.

Denial of connection to Israel

A unique form of antisemitism today is the denial of the Jews’ history and connection to Israel. Progressives often maintain that Jewish identity is “only religious” to delegitimize it compared to Palestinian national identity. This theme is echoed in the PA Charter, which denies the Jews’ national history and deems them colonial occupiers.

The claim that Jewishness is “just a religion,” however, is contradicted by the scriptural, historical, and archeological records, which confirm Jewish ethnicity, national heritage, and origins in Israel. The record does not similarly validate Palestinian Arab identity, which is a modern political construct.

Jewish children

Whereas the roots of antisemitism are disparate, they are not mutually exclusive, whether based on religion, ethnicity, racial theory, or xenophobia; and regardless of ideology, it is exacerbated by the Jewish refusal to assimilate. Unfortunately, many opponents of antisemitism unwittingly help perpetuate it through ignorance of its historical and theological foundations.

Even Jewish children understand this.

My generation was born less than twenty years after the Holocaust. Though my family lost collateral relatives to the Nazis and their Ukrainian accomplices, many of my friends’ parents were Holocaust survivors who constituted a significant portion of our community. And they informed our understanding of antisemitism as simultaneously religious, ethnic, national, and racial – which colored our self-perceptions and even our sense of play.

I grew up in a neighborhood where the streets had storm-sewers with removeable grates that we could crawl through. While other kids played “cops and robbers,” we often navigated our way underground playing “escape from the ghetto.” And the brutal kidnapping of the Bibas family brings that “game” to life.

Clearly, even children experience existential angst, and ours was shaped by an awareness of antisemitism in all its manifestations – something adult academics, politicians, and media personalities never seem to grasp.

But then again, perhaps it takes the untainted sensibilities of a child to recognize the nuanced complexities of Jew-hatred and understand its scope.

Copyright 2024. Matthew Hausman, J.D. All rights reserved.

The New York Marxists Are Out Of Control

The unconstitutional fraud prosecution of former President Trump by the corrupt Communists and Marxists in New York have illegally fined this great American $350 million dollars.

There are no victims and no lawsuits filed against Trump and the banks were all paid back the loans on his real estate ventures. So what’s the reason for this? It’s total election interference.

In a free market capitalist economy the value placed on real estate is subject to the supply and demand of the specific functionality of the property and its location.

Plus, the owner of the property the appraisal company and the realtor all agree on a value. I am a state certified real estate agent in Florida and as such based upon my experience I can find no fraud committed by the Trump family.

The Trump properties were valued by New York state certified appraisers before being placed on the market. Thus no crime has taken place in regards to a fraud involving overinflated selling prices. Disclaimers were properly posted on all contracts.

Now a Communist U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jones appointed by former corrupt President Bill Clinton is now running Trumps business ventures.

Marxists cannot create anything but they do try to destroy what hard working American entrepreneurs have built.

The Trump family built a real-estate empire that was founded in 1927 by the former president’s father, creating thousands and thousands of jobs for Americans in New York City.

Now a communist who built nothing is running the Trumps real estate empire after it was placed in the hands of a kangaroo New York court-appointed monitor.

This is unconstitutional and has put other companies on notice in New York they too can be subject to prosecution if the government of New York feel you are making too much profit or are not politically aligned with their Marxist agenda.

Perhaps Fox News headquartered in New York City could be prosecuted and fined and the entire network taken over by U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jones because a judge thinks their advertising rates are overpriced thus giving fake news CNN an opportunity to be the sole news provider in New York.

The state of New York is a banana republic ran by criminal Marxists and corrupt republican and democrat politicians. Trump is exposing them all and they are desperately trying to destroy him.

They will fail.

Copyright 2024. Geoff Ross. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Mega-Loser State’: Kevin O’Leary Says He Will ‘Never’ Invest In New York After Trump Ruling

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CHAPTER 6: “An Unaware and Compliant Citizenry” Space Is No Longer the Final Frontier—Reality Is

Globalism is a replacement ideology that seeks to reorder the world into one singular, planetary Unistate, ruled by the globalist elite themselves. The globalist war on nation-states cannot succeed without collapsing the United States of America. The long-term strategic attack plan moves America incrementally from constitutional republic to socialism to globalism to feudalism. The tactical attack plan uses asymmetric psychological and informational warfare to destabilize Americans and drive society out of objective reality into the madness of subjective reality. America’s children are the primary target of the globalist predators.

We have discussed the weaponization of education in American schools and its sinister political objective to eliminate high literacy, individual agency, and independent intelligence. Dr. Dennis Cuddy, historian and political analyst, wrote an extraordinary article published on NewsWithViews, April 26, 2021, “An Unaware and Compliant Citizenry.”[i]

Cuddy documents the seismic shift in public education’s mission, from teaching basic skills and foundational knowledge to teachers acting as agents of social change and teaching political activism. The following are excerpts from the article:

The Clintons’ and others’ efforts to “produce an unaware and compliant citizenry” began with the National Education Association (NEA), whose President Catherine Barrett wrote in the February 10, 1973 edition of SATURDAY REVIEW OF EDUCATION:

“Dramatic changes in the way we will raise our children in the year 2000 are indicated, particularly in terms of schooling…. We will need to recognize that the so-called ‘basic skills,’ which currently represent nearly the total effort in elementary schools, will be taught in one-quarter of the present school day…. When this happens—and it’s near—the teacher can rise to his true calling. More than a dispenser of information, the teacher will be a conveyor of values, a philosopher…. We will be agents of change.”

Via values clarification techniques, the values of students were to be changed to situation ethics…. In the 1980s, Hillary Clinton along with David Rockefeller, Jr. and others became Board members of Carnegie’s National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), with Mario Cuomo chairman and N.C. Governor Jim Hunt vice-chairman. The president of the NCEE was Marc Tucker, who right after Bill Clinton won the presidency in November 1992 wrote a letter to Hillary Clinton saying this would give them a chance to implement their “cradle-to-grave” plan for all Americans.

The following year, at the July 2–5, 1993 NEA’s national convention, President Clinton addressed the delegates and thanked the NEA for “the gift of our assistant secretary,” referring to long-time NEA activist Sharon Robinson, who became U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Education Research and Improvement (OERI, where I had worked in the Reagan administration). President Clinton went on to say that he believed his goals for America closely parallel those of the NEA, further stating: “And I believe that the president of this organization would say we have had the partnership I promised in the campaign of 1992, and we will continue to have it…. You and I are joined in a common cause, and I believe we will succeed.” On December 15, 1993, EDUCATION WEEK reported that “Debra DeLee, the former director of governmental relations for the NEA, has joined the Democratic National Committee as its executive director.”

During the 1990s and the Clinton presidency, Outcome-Based Education (OBE) was being emphasized. Its father was William Spady, who said OBE took three forms: Traditional (not very different from former educational practices), Transitional (where education would transition to the final goal of), Transformational Education, which emphasized changing children’s values.

As parents became more aware of what OBE was trying to do, it ran into increasing disfavor, and the planners of our future had to come up with a different tactic. Therefore in 2008, the Hunt Institute (named for formerly mentioned N.C. Governor Jim Hunt) at N.C. State University began to develop what would come to be known as the Common Core (CC) curriculum. It would not take long for parents to realize that CC was not benefiting many students, causing them to not reach proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The population would become increasingly “dumbed down” as former Reagan administration OERI member Charlotte Iserbyt called them. This has resulted in “an unaware citizenry,” which has become more and more manipulable or “compliant” (giving up some freedoms after the 9/11 attacks, and now taking COVID-19 vaccine shots apparently every year, etc.).

Education is a business, and every business has a business model. When the business of education in America functioned from its original mission of teaching basic skills and foundational knowledge, it had meritocracy as its infrastructure, competency and achievement as primary objectives, and the protection and preservation of our constitutional republic as its goal.

The weaponization of education for political gain is facilitating former president Barack Obama’s pledge to fundamentally transform the United States of America. Obama’s Marxist business model completed the shift of American education, institutionalizing government schools as the agents of change committed to transforming America from a constitutional republic to a socialist society.

The globalist social engineers in charge of America’s education business model will then use socialism’s centralized government control to move America from socialism into globalism’s totalitarian planetary Unistate, 21st-century feudalism. How will this be accomplished? The answer lies in an extraordinary unclassified report from the Defense Documentation Center for Scientific and Technical Information. The report, written by Don D. Bushnell, submitted on March 27, 1963, is titled “The Effects of Electronic Data Processing in Future Instructional Systems.”[ii] It is a stunning document and an essential reference. The report is available in its entirety online.

Please keep in mind that Bushnell was reporting on the future capabilities of computer technology for education and its potential application to change attitudes. Bushnell’s 1963 report forecast the exploitation and weaponization of American education today.

Of particular interest for our discussion are pages 3 and 4 under the heading “Effortless Learning, Attitude Changing, and Training in Decision Making”:

In 1960, Dr. S. Seshu, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Syracuse University, conceived of the penultimate teaching machine as an electronic transducer or input system which transfers factual information stored on punched cards or magnetic tape directly into human memory. This would be accomplished without preliminary processing of the information by the visual or aural senses. “All that we need to do,” suggests Seshu, “is find the input terminals in the human brain and the necessary code––the gadgetry is trivial.” His contention is that the basic trouble with the teaching machine or any modern learning method, is that the input is fed in at the wrong place. When the input to the brain arrives visually or aurally, it is often distorted or lost in the transference process. What is needed is a transducer capable of transferring information to the human memory with the same ease and accuracy of data being transferred into the memory of an IBM 7090. Recognizing the major barriers yet to be surmounted by the physiological psychologist, it is conceivable that such a machine may eventually exist. The question arises: should the effortless learning machine teach beyond the limits of factual data? IF the student can assimilate information without error, shouldn’t the teacher also steep him in the culture, train him in the proper professional attitudes, and thoroughly ground him in the scientific method as a way of life? It is difficult to know where the responsible instructor would leave off in the use of this effective tool.

Another area of potential development in computer applications is the attitude-changing machine. Dr. Bertram Raven, in the Psychology Department at the University of California at Los Angeles, is in the process of building a computer-based device for changing attitudes. This device will work on the principle that students’ attitudes can be effectively changed by using the Socratic method of asking an appropriate series of leading questions logically designed to right the balance between appropriate attitudes and those deemed less acceptable. For instance, after first determining a student’s constellation of attitudes through appropriate testing procedures, the machine would calculate which attitudes are out of phase and which of these are amenable to change. If the student was opposed to foreign trade, for example, and a favorable disposition were sought, the machine would select an appropriate series of statements and questions organized to right the imbalance in the student’s attitudes. The machine, for instance, would have detected that the student liked President Kennedy and was against the spread of communism; therefore, the student would be shown that JFK favored foreign trade and that foreign trade to underdeveloped countries helped to arrest the communist infiltration of these governments. If the student’s attitudes toward Kennedy and against communism were sufficiently strong, Dr. Raven would hypothesize that a positive change in attitude toward foreign trade would be effectively brought about by showing the student the inconsistency of his views. There is considerable evidence that such techniques do effectively change attitudes. The question arises: what is the appropriate subject material, or “attitudes,” in this instance, with which to indoctrinate the student?

One further example: At the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., a psychological research program is underway to study the problems of training a student in decision-making skills. A special purpose computer and display equipment will present the student with a series of numerical problems designed to test the student’s ability to make good decisions at maximum speed.

Admittedly, training in decision-making skills is a legitimate goal of education in this age of automation, but the problem remains––does the educator know what values to attach to the different outcomes of these decisions? What about the students whose values are out of line with the acceptable values of democratic society? Should they be taught to conform to someone else’s accepted judgment of proper values? Training in decision making is ultimately compounded with training in value judgment and, as such, becomes a controversial subject that needs to be resolved by educators before the tools can be put to use. Progress must be made not only in data-processing technology, but in our knowledge of educational requirements. Automation requires a clear, operational statement of objectives to be accomplished by the system being automated. The research must be directed toward discovering optimal combinations of instructional techniques to produce these behaviors.

Bushnell documented how computers could be used to propagandize students and teach them what to think, rather than how to think. That is precisely what is being done in schools across America today, beginning in preschool and extending to advanced degrees in graduate programs.

For sixty years the programs and algorithms have been refined to the precision instruments they are today. The computerized education students receive today is programmed to persuade them to reject Americanism and embrace socialism.

SOURCES

[i] An Unaware and Compliant Citizenry

[ii] The Effects of Electronic Data Processing in Future Instructional Systems

Copyright 2024. Linda Goudsmit. All rights reserved.

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