Can Honest Journalism Ever Make a Comeback?

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I recently visited the studio of political talk-show host Chris Ingram of WWBA-AM 820 Tampa. We talked on a wide range of topics regarding current events, but he said something interesting that caught my attention, namely, “There is still journalism in this country, but no HONEST journalism,” meaning our news media is more interested in sensationalism than in facts.

In the last few months alone, the press has shot themselves in the foot on more than one occasion:

First, there was the Covington Catholic incident in Washington, DC where a student wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat was falsely accused by the media of trying to provoke a fight with a Native American activist. This resulted in a $250-million lawsuit against the media by the student.

Then there was attorney Michael Avenatti who represented adult-film star Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against President Trump, which she lost and was forced to pay the president’s legal expenses. This suit elevated the attorney’s exposure and he became the darling of the main stream media where he was given an enormous amount of television coverage to bash the president, which the media relished. There was even talk of having him run against President Trump in the 2020 election as the candidate for the Democrats. Recently though, Mr. Avenatti was accused of trying to extort $15-25 million from Nike, suddenly making him persona non grata with television journalists, and quickly torpedoing his political career.

Finally, we have the conclusion of the Mueller Investigation. For nearly two years, the main stream media was preoccupied with reporting leaks and innuendos from the probe and publicly insisted President Trump was guilty of collusion. When the investigation was finally concluded, and the president was found innocent of such charges, the media and the Democrats refused to believe it and continued to insist he was guilty.

In none of these three high-profile instances, has the press come clean and issued an apology for misleading the public. Instead, they insist their actions were correct. To illustrate, as Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” tweeted on March 26th (@morningmika), “The President and his corrupt team continues to spread lies — we will continue to follow the truth.” This typifies the media’s response to the Mueller report by the press. Instead of being happy the president was found innocent, they continue to condemn him, and this will go on regardless of the details contained in the full report.

The Washington Times reports 90% of the media’s coverage of the president is still negative (and 88% negative of Republicans in general). This means the president is not getting a fair shake from the news media. This is supported by a recent report by Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz claiming he was banned by CNN as he didn’t push the network’s contention of Trump-Russia collusion.

The media would ultimately like to see “Russia Gate” go on forever as sensationalism is good for selling advertising. So, No, do not expect the media to apologize for their actions any time soon. They will continue to defy and push back in order to defend their position. There is just one problem with this though, they have lost the trust of the American public. They simply will not learn how damaging their position is, not just to the country, but to their profession as well.

A Gallup/Knight Foundation survey on “Trust, Media and Democracy” found, “that most Americans believe it is now harder to be well-informed and to determine which news is accurate. They increasingly perceive the media as biased and struggle to identify objective news sources.”

There are many eye-opening conclusions in the report, but among them:

  • 1 percent overall “trust all news organizations”; 0 percent of Republicans, 0 percent of independents and 2 percent of Democrats agree.
  • A majority of U.S. adults consider “fake news” a very serious threat to our democracy.
  • Less than half of Americans, 44%, say they can think of a news source that reports the news objectively. Republicans who can name an accurate source overwhelmingly mention Fox News, while Democrat responses are more varied.

As to this last point, this explains why Fox News continues to dominate cable television. Following the release of the Mueller report, AdWeek reported:

Basic Cable Top 10 – Total Viewers (Prime Time)

1. Fox News (2,473,000)
2. TBS (1,947,000)
3. TNT (1,722,000)
4. MSNBC (1,721,000)
5. HGTV (1,298,000)
6. History (1,208,000)
7. USA (1,186,000)
8. Investigation Discovery (1,048,000)
9. truTV (1,046,000)
10. Discovery (1,020,000)
(13. CNN)

Such a commanding lead by Fox News may suggest the chances of President Trump’s re-election in 2020 is very good.

The Achilles’ Heel of the news media is their belief they are somehow smarter than everyone else. This is reflected in their smarminess on camera and their sophomoric witticism’s which the far-Left may find amusing, but the rest of America does not. In other words, they lack the professional discipline of their predecessors, such as Edward R. Murrow, Chet Huntley–David Brinkley, Howard K. Smith, John Chancellor, Walter Cronkite, Roger Mudd, and the like. There is simply no comparison between this crowd and today’s class of biased anchors.

Not surprisingly, this is why President Trump is at odds with the main stream media. As he tweeted on March 26th (@realDonaldTrump):

“The Mainstream Media is under fire and being scorned all over the World as being corrupt and FAKE. For two years they pushed the Russian Collusion Delusion when they always knew there was No Collusion. They truly are the Enemy of the People and the Real Opposition Party!”

People are plain and simply tired of the feud, but tend to blame the news media more than the President as evidenced by their sagging ratings.

So, can honest journalism ever make a come back in this country? Certainly, but it begins with instituting journalist ethics, integrity and discipline. They must remember people follow the news to be informed, not to be entertained, which is something news executives have difficulty grasping, and explains why the public no longer trusts the news.

Unfortunately, I’m betting they will continue in their ways, thereby trying to stir up political intrigue in order to sell advertising. However, they better make their money while they can. As CNN’s ratings indicate, the end may not be far away.

Keep the Faith!

EDITORS NOTE: This Bryce is Right column is republished with permission. All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Who Is Your Doctor?

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In Arizona, law enforcement officers in tactical gear broke down the door to a home where children were sleeping, entered with guns drawn, and took three little children away from their parents. The stated reason: the mother had decided not to follow a doctor’s advice to take her two-year-old to the emergency room for a fever, because the fever broke and the child got much better soon after leaving the office.

People used to know who their doctor was. His name and phone number were on the wall or the refrigerator next to the telephone. He was there for you and could manage most of your problems.

When I was about 13, my mom took me to our pediatrician for belly pain. He was on his way out the door, but he stopped to take care of me. He diagnosed appendicitis based on history and physical examination. He called his favorite surgeon (“Billy,” a Tucson legend), who came from the golf course to meet me in the emergency room. Within hours, my red-hot appendix was in a jar. My parents paid the hospital bill ($150—10 days’ pay for a construction laborer) as I was discharged a few days later.

Today, the patient with abdominal pain could wait for hours to see the ER provider—possibly a nurse practitioner or physician assistant who had never seen a case of acute appendicitis. She’ll probably get a CT scan, after another wait. Eventually, Dr. On-call may take her to the operating room, hopefully before the appendix ruptures. And the bill will be beyond the means of ordinary people.

I used to be able to direct-admit patients from my office and send them with a set of orders to the hospital admitting office. For years, this has been impossible. The hospital is decidedly unfriendly to independent doctors. There’s now a gatekeeper in the emergency room, and most patients are under the control of a hospitalist.

This hospital, still Catholic at least in name, is now owned by a huge national conglomerate. Recently, it thwarted all efforts to keep it from dehydrating a patient to death despite lack of an advance directive or permission from next of kin. The patient’s mother disputed the diagnosis of brain death. The gastroenterologist of her choice was willing and able to place a feeding tube, needed in order to transfer the patient to a skilled nursing facility, but the hospital would not permit it. An outside physician whom the mother had called on was removed from the patient’s room by security, when she was merely praying with the mother. The mother could not get a phone call returned from an attending physician. Who was the doctor? Apparently, the hospital system.

Recently, a physician called me about her mother, who was seemingly a captive in a world-renowned hospital. She was concerned about her mother’s nutritional status and falling oxygen level. She could not speak to the attending physician. “They play musical doctors.”

Largely driven by government policy, the System is increasingly in control. A new level of intrusion is being proposed in California in a bill (SB 276) that would outlaw all medical exemptions for vaccines, unless a public health officer approves each one, based on the very narrow list of contraindications accepted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Doctors traditionally swore an oath not to harm patients, and are liable if they do. But government officials are immune from liability, even if they overrule a physician’s judgment that a particular patient faces an unacceptable risk of harm from a vaccine.

If you disagree with your private doctor, you can fire him or simply decline to follow his advice. But what if the government is your doctor?

In Arizona, law enforcement officers in tactical gear broke down the door to a home where children were sleeping, entered with guns drawn, and took three little children away from their parents. The stated reason: the mother had decided not to follow a doctor’s advice to take her two-year-old to the emergency room for a fever, because the fever broke and the child got much better soon after leaving the office. The main concern seemed to be that the child was not vaccinated.

Americans need to defend their right to have an independent physician, to choose their physician and type of care, and to give or withhold informed consent to medical treatments. Otherwise, their “doctor” will be a protocol in a system staffed by interchangeable automatons. Treatments will be inaccessible or required, tailored to meet the needs and beliefs of the system.

If the government is the ultimate authority on your “health care,” remember that its tools for checking whether a child has a life-threatening disease such as meningitis include battering rams and assault rifles.

Dems’ POW Flags Still AWOL

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If Friday was National Vietnam Veterans Day, Democrats had a funny way of celebrating it. While the Defense Department and other agencies stopped to honor the nine million Americans who served, liberal congressmen, apparently, couldn’t be bothered. They were too busy pulling the POW/MIA flags out of their stands to make room for the baby blue and pink banner of the transgender movement. It’s “Transgender Visibility Week,” some tried to explain. But when it comes to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) party, isn’t every week?

Thanks to the Washington Free Beacon, who first noticed the swap, Americans got another good look at the Democrats’ utter disregard for our troops. When FRC’s government affairs team was on the Hill for meetings last week, they were astounded at just how many hallways were littered with the pastel-colored displays. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, the flags were delivered to “EVERY member of the Congress, from every party.” Some members, like California’s Linda Sanchez (D), tacked them over the doorways, so that visitors almost had to duck to miss them. But now that the media is running with the story, ducking the message liberals are sending will be even harder.

When word leaked out that everyone from Pelosi to Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) were more concerned about showing pride in a radical sexual fringe than our missing men and women, the American Legion didn’t pull any punches. In a blistering statement, Commander Brett Reistad had this to say about LGBT fanaticism replacing the sacrifice of our troops.

“According to several media reports, some members of Congress replaced POW/MIA flags that were displayed outside their Capitol Hill offices with Transgender Equality banners. We take no issue with members of Congress honoring additional groups, but it should be in addition to rather than instead of our heroes, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. These servicemen and servicewomen went missing while defending all Americans. Their flags should not go missing as well. The American Legion urges that every member of Congress honor these heroes by ensuring the POW/MIA flag is properly and permanently displayed outside their offices.”

The message from the Democratic Party is even more offensive when you consider that taxpayers have already wasted almost $8 million dollars “treating” troops who identify as transgender — while our veterans die waiting for something as simple as a colonoscopy. While we prioritize the care of the military’s tiny LGBT population, America’s heroes still face “months-long delays” to see a doctor. If they wanted faster care, I suppose they should have identified as transgender. After all, that demographic has had no trouble getting the government to finance 161 surgical procedures, 9,321 prescriptions for hormones, and 22,992 psychotherapy visits since 2016.

It’s a sad commentary on our country when gender confusion entitles you to better care than most of the people who served. But then, that’s the preference of most progressives these days. Look at the 2020 Democratic candidates. Four of them lined up to publicly salute “Transgender Visibility Day,” proving to everyone where their true allegiance lies. “Being yourself takes bravery,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tweeted. Then in a gratuitous swipe at the president’s transgender military policy (which the majority of troops happen to support), she went on, “Serving your country takes bravery. Demeaning and discriminating against trans Americans — including service members and students — is just cowardice. Trans rights are human rights. We will defend them as such.”

Fellow hopefuls Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) laid it on just as thick. Yet not one of them could spare 240 characters on Friday for a tweet about Vietnam Veterans Day. (Although Harris did make time to lobby for a ban on talk therapy for people struggling with their sexuality and Gillibrand found room for a post about the ridiculousness of protecting unborn life.)

If you want a snapshot of the Democrats’ priorities, there isn’t a better one. By June’s LGBT Pride Month, who knows? They might just take down Old Glory altogether.

For more on the rationale behind the president’s transgender policy, check out Peter Sprigg’s detailed papers: “Should Individuals Who Serve as Transgender Be Permitted to Serve in the Military?” and an in-depth look at the Pentagon’s research, “Department of Defense on Why Those with Gender Dysphoria’ Are Disqualified from Military Service.”

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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EDITORS NOTE: This FRC column is republished with permission.

Smollett and the Deep State: We Deserve Justice

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Outrageously, Chicago State’s Attorney Kim Foxx dropped all charges against Jussie Smollett. Smollett is the black actor who staged a fake hate crime, claiming he was brutally assaulted by Trump supporters wearing MAGA caps.

Smollett paid the two guys he hired to stage his bogus attack with a $3000 check. Closed circuit TV caught Smollett’s hired attackers buying the MAGA caps and other materials needed to stage the fake hate crime. Smollett intended for his fake attack to be videoed on cc TV. Thank God the camera in the area Smollett selected malfunctioned. Had Smollett been successful, fake news media would have gleefully aired the video 24/7, probably igniting massive race riots and violence on Trump supporters.

After Kim Foxx dropped all charges, Smollett addressed the media, outrageously lying and presenting himself as a victim of police corruption. Smollett said,

“I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I’ve been accused of.” 

Does this guy think we are idiots? Dude, you lied about being attacked. Idiotically, you paid your fake attackers with a check. There is video of them buying the props. And yet, Smollett has the audacity to sell the lie that he is yet another innocent black man abused by racist police. Sadly, I suspect most of fake news media will help to sell Smollett’s lie which sets up our brave men and women in blue for more assassinations by Black Lives Matter disciples.

Many have forgotten the ambush of uniformed Texas Deputy Darren Goforth who was shot multiple times in the back while pumping gas. Deputy Goforth’s black assassin was inspired by Black Lives Matter. Forty-seven year old Deputy Goforth left behind his wife Kathleen, his 12 year old daughter Ava and his 5 year old son Ryan.

Do you remember NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu who were ambushed and killed while eating lunch in their police car? The enraged black shooter said his motivation was revenge for cops supposedly murdering blacks. 

Officer Ramos’ 13 year old son Jaden posted the following on Facebook.

“Today I had to say bye to my father. He was their for me everyday of my life, he was the best father I could ask for. It’s horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops but they are the people that they call for help. I will always love you and I will never forget you. RIP Dad.” 

I could go on and on with examples of police ambushed and assassinated because of the evil politically motivated lie that cops routinely abuse and murder blacks. Democrats nurture this heinous lie because it keeps blacks voting for Democrats to protect them from nonexistent massive police and white American racism.

So here is race-baiter Jussie Smollett all over national media, disgustingly claiming he is a hero for civil rights. Please excuse me while I barf. This evil man sought to generate more hate and violence on Trump voters who courageously wear MAGA caps.

While in Walmart, I saw a wheelchair-bound elderly white gentleman wearing a white MAGA cap with gold stars on it. I said, “I like that hat.” With a grin, he stuck-out his hand and said, “You’re alright partner!” We enthusiastically shook hands. His wife pushing his wheelchair smiled.

All charges were dropped against Smollett because his insidious hoax furthers leftists’ mission to demonize police, Trump and Trump voters. From Hillary Clinton’s serial lawbreaking to Obama, the FBI, the DOJ and others silent coup against an elected president, the deep state feels free to break laws to remove Trump from office. 

Allowing deep state operatives to feel emboldened to freely break laws to get rid of Trump is extremely dangerous as we move toward the 2020 presidential election. We must not allow deep state operatives to be above the law.

I pray that Sen Lindsey Graham will follow through with his promise to investigate all the arrogant corrupt players in the deep state’s 679 days bogus Trump-colluded-with-Russia investigation.

My fellow Americans it is time that we stop allowing anti-American enemies-within to get away with criminal and treasonous behavior. Jussie Smollett’s feet should be held to the fire. We the People deserve justice.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Hate Crimes of Jussie Smollett

RELATED VIDEO: Chris Rock: Jussie Smollett, You Don’t Get No Respect From Me | Image Awards – TV One.

Trump Shakes Up Cabinet Again, Turns Left

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MAR-A-LAGO CLUB, FL (UP) 1 Apr – In a stunning reversal of his first two years of his administration, President Trump today announced he has had a change of heart and now embraces the socialist platform. This was followed by several new cabinet nominations, including long-time opponent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), replacing Alex Azar.

In a surprise move, former CNN Chairman Jeff Zucker was appointed press secretary, replacing Sarah Saunders. “I relish the opportunity to work closely with the President in this capacity.  He and I have had a close personal relationship for many years.  I trust his judgement and I’m confident he feels likewise.”

Other notable changes include:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Treasury Secretary, replacing Steven Mnuchin.  She is expected to change the tax structure to force increased payments by the upper class, estimated to be as much as a 1000% increase on people making more than $70,000.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke as Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, replacing Joseph Goebbels.  He will be making a series of presentations standing on coffee tables in restaurants where he will be articulating the new Socialist Manifesto.

Sen. Kamala Harris as Reich Minister for Labour, replacing Franz Seldte.  The Senator will be responsible for building welcome centers along our southern border and providing guidance to immigrants for voting in the 2020 election.

Rep. Ilhan Omar as Ambassador to Israel, replacing David Friedman. She will be residing in East Jerusalem.

And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the newly created Department of What’s Happening Now where she will be asked to speak regularly on television news talk shows, discussing the administration’s embrace of the New Green Deal.  She will be slightly delayed in assuming her new responsibilities as she has major periodontal surgery planned.

The president tweeted, “I look forward to working with these people.  They are just what the people want right now.  I can finally sit back, relax, and let them run the country for me.  I’ll now be able to spend more time playing golf with my old friend Vladimir Putin.  I can’t wait for my term to end so I can turn the keys over to Joe Biden, a true intellectual.”

He also tweeted, “April Fool!”

EDITORS NOTE: This Bryce is Right political satire column is republished with permission.

Wetwork: A Review of “Unplanned”

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Brad Miner on a remarkable, if uneven, pro-life movie that makes clear why abortion is “wetwork,” a loan word from the Russian mokroye delo: meaning murder.

My anti-abortion views solidified in 1976 when I bought a copy of Esquire magazine. There was something in it by or about George Plimpton that I wanted to read, but thumbing through the pages I came to an article titled “What I Saw at the Abortion” by Richard Selzer, M.D.

I’d been a Catholic for about three years and knew what I was supposed to believe about abortion. I’d recently read Humane vitae for the first time and been deeply impressed by its clarity: “all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, [is] to be absolutely excluded.” But it was when I read Dr. Selzer’s article that my view was forever set.

What knocked me for a loop was Selzer’s reference to a “flick,” a resistance, the fetus defending itself against its murder. Read it for yourself (The Human Life Review has reprinted it here), but here’s the good doctor’s conclusion:

I am not trying to argue. I am only saying I’ve seen. The flick. Whatever else may be said in abortion’s defense, the vision of that other defense will not vanish from my eyes. What I saw I saw as that: a defense, a motion from, an effort away. And it has happened that you cannot reason with me now. For what can language do against the truth of what I saw?

So, it seemed to me before I watched the new movie, Unplanned, that the defining scene would have to be just such a moment, one in which Abby Johnson (played by Ashley Bratcher) witnessed the abortion that changed her life. (The film is based on her book of the same title.)

That moment is set up nicely in an earlier scene in which Abby, the youngest clinic director at Planned Parenthood, banally counsels a young woman not to worry: “The one thing that all experts agree on is that, at this stage, the fetus can’t feel anything.”

But then she witnesses a “procedure” during which she sees (via ultrasound) the child “twisting and fighting for its life” against the abortionist’s cannula, which causes her to look anew at her participation in the 22,000 abortions that happened during her tenure. This begs the question of how one could ever not have known what the hell was going on, but that’s life, I guess. We must suppress what we believe we must not accept.

As the Psalmist says (34: 14-15), “Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” And that’s what Abby Johnson did, a change of heart and mind, however, made more difficult for her because she’d had two abortions herself.

The scenes in which Ashley Bratcher acts through Abby Johnson’s descent into abject misery and ascent into pro-life glory are very fine indeed.

Yet Unplanned is sometimes sluggish, partly because of flashbacks and narration, and occasionally it’s preachy. It also goes further than it probably should have in showing, specifically, a bloody abortion gone wrong, and, generally, the blood associated with a Planned Parenthood clinic.

It’s shocking to watch, and that’s clearly what directors Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon intended these scenes to be. But it’s also why their film received an MPAA rating of R and not PG-13. The implications of this at the box office could be grave, although I hope not. And some churches may decide not to screen it, especially to teenagers, and that would be a shame, especially since a drop of blood can be effective. And anyway the point is the potential crises in abortion: perforated uterus, falling blood pressure, and the pallor that comes from blood loss. You don’t have to dwell on the effusion of blood and fetal tissue.

It reminded me of Signal 30, the driver’s ed video we were shown in high school that depicted, in gruesome detail, the consequences of recklessness behind the wheel. It was repulsive without, I’m afraid, actually being an effective deterrent.

I’m sorry to dwell on this, but the ultrasound image in Unplanned of the vacuum aspiration of a fetus – graphic but not bloody – was sufficient; its impact far greater than the billows of crimson.

Still, abortion is what, in intelligence-military jargon, is called “wetwork,” a loan word from the Russian mokroye delo, meaning murder or assassination.

But I must say that Unplanned makes its arguments cogently. And arguments are still necessary, since the idea that the “products of conception” are not a human being still clearly rules in Federal law and dominates thinking and policy in one of America’s political parties, the party of Herod.

And this is another reason why the gore in Unplanned is unnecessary. Many medical procedures spill blood and some go sideways. Audiences are used to that, and I suppose if a pro-abortion advocate saw this movie, she might say, “The fact that sometimes things get messy isn’t an argument for restricting a woman’s reproductive rights. It’s her body!”

In the end, Unplanned, though far from a failure, is shallow. The motif in the film is the fence around the Texas Planned Parenthood facility where most of the action takes place. On one side are the abortionists, who are portrayed either complacent or evil; on the other side are the pro-life demonstrators from 40 Days for Life, are of whom all virtuous.

It’s not a propaganda film, although a final scene, in which the My Pillow founder, Mike Lindell, operates a bulldozer to knock down the Planned Parenthood sign at Abby’s former clinic, threatens to make what went before seem like an infomercial. I’m sure the producers were grateful for the million dollars Mr. Lindell put into the film. “I don’t get into things for the money,” Lindell told the Hollywood Reporter, “I get into them if the message is right.” Okay, Mike, but do you have to actually get into the movie itself?

Meanwhile, Ms. Bratcher gave a remarkable interview on the Fox News Channel that you’ll want to watch before you see Unplanned. And, please, see it.

COLUMN BY

Brad Miner

Brad Miner is senior editor of The Catholic Thing, senior fellow of the Faith & Reason Institute, and Board Secretary of Aid to the Church In Need USA. He is a former Literary Editor of National Review. His new book, Sons of St. Patrick, written with George J. Marlin, is now on sale. The Compleat Gentleman, is available on audio.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. Video by Fox News Channel Fox & Friends. © 2019 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

Two Ways Our World Resembles “1984”

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hen I took 1984 with me on vacation recently, I didn’t expect to read it. Unlike the two other books with me—Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life and Matt Ridley’s The Rational Optimist—I had already read Orwell’s classic work. Or had I?

It had been at least 25 years. Most of what I remembered seemed to be fragments of quotes and cliches my brain had absorbed from internet articles and pop culture. Truth be told, I had always been more partial to Brave New World. Perhaps because Huxley’s dystopia had always seemed lighter and less malevolent. Less gritty.

I’m not sure which book I prefer now, but I will say reading 1984 today was a very different experience. To a teenage mind, 1984 is basically an allegorical prophecy of the modern police state. Big Brother is watching. Telescreens are everywhere. Children spy on their parents and report them to Thought Police.

I don’t mean to diminish these themes. Orwell, a one-time socialist who soured on its ideology once he got a good look at it, was prescient to observe how totalitarian surveillance states would operate. (Bear in mind, 1984 was published two years before the Stasi was formed.)

What impressed me reading 1984 today was Orwell’s grasp of the philosophy behind Big Brother, or, rather, its lack of philosophy (beyond Nihilism). Truth, we see, does not exist in Oceania, the totalitarian nation-state that serves as the setting of 1984.

The absence of truth is shown at various times in various ways, but it most famously is depicted when Winston Smith, the book’s protagonist, reflects that it’s only a matter of time before the Party would insist that two plus two makes five.

“It was inevitable that they should make the claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it,” Smith tells us. “Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense.”

It’s not just that Big Brother is hostile to truth, logic, or facts (though it is). It’s that truth, logic, and facts will at certain times inevitably conflict with its sole goal: control.

This brings us to a second observation about Oceania. It’s a land steeped in politics. It’s force-fed to people. They consume it, whether they wish to or not. It is pumped out of telescreens day and night. It comes from indoctrinated children and neighbors. Some of the people reciting the Party’s cliches believe it, others may not. But there is no escaping the Party’s dogmas.

At no point in the novel is this more thoroughly demonstrated than when Winston Smith reveals that even sex was polluted by politics. Here is how he described his initial act of love with Julia, the woman who becomes his lover:

In the old days, he thought, a man looked at a girl’s body and saw that it was desirable, and that was the end of the story. But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory.

It was a blow against the Party. It was a political act.

We see in 1984 a world in which politics has consumed life’s most intimate actions. I wouldn’t compare the United States to 1984. But I believe parallels exist.

Politics, few today would deny, saturates most aspects of our lives. It’s in our school systems and colleges. Football games, blockbuster films, and America’s churches. This was not always the case, and the development is not a healthy one.

And then there is the matter of truth. Last year the Rand Corporation published a report. It essentially said our civilization is suffering from a strange condition: Truth Decay.

Truth Decay is defined as a set of four related trends: increasing disagreement about facts and analytical interpretations of facts and data; a blurring of the line between opinion and fact; an increase in the relative volume, and resulting influence, of opinion and personal experience over fact; and declining trust in formerly respected sources of factual information.

Truth decay might help explain why many people—even intelligent sensible, grounded ones—seem to feel like Alice after she tumbled down the rabbit hole.

“We are living in an era when sanity is controversial and insanity is just another viewpoint,” the economist Thomas Sowell recently stated.

Few Americans today would deny, I think, that truth is under assault. It’s one of the few ideas on which Left and Right can agree. The disagreement arises over who are the greater transgressors of truth.

This is not a trivial matter. As FEE president Lawrence Reed recently observed, truth and freedom are inseparable.

“The first casualty on the slippery slope to tyranny is the truth,” wrote Reed. “If you wish to live in freedom, you must first commit yourself to truth in all things.”

Our future need not be as bleak as that of 1984. The first step to making sure it is not is to reclaim the cherished principle of free speech, and not strictly in a legal sense. Rather, we must remember that the free expression of ideas is essential to and inseparable from the search for truth.

The great American writer Walter Lippmann once explained why freedom of discussion is essential to not just freedom, but truth itself.

“…if we truly wish to understand why freedom is necessary in a civilized society, we must begin by realizing that, because freedom of discussion improves our own opinions, the liberties of other men are our own vital necessity,” wrote Lippman, one of the founding editors of The New Republic. “This is the creative principle of freedom of speech, not that it is a system for the tolerating of error, but that it is a system for finding the truth.”

If our age is suffering a truth crisis, perhaps it’s because we don’t esteem truth enough. Our society seems more interested in suppressing and hiding from ideas than wrestling with them, which is what an earnest pursuit of truth demands.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote that truth “has nothing to fear from” conflict. But the truth will not prevail in a world that prevents the conflict of ideas by suppressing speech.

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four,” Winston Smith tells us. “If this is granted, all else follows.”

When I read this line 25 years ago I didn’t understand what Orwell was saying. Now I do.

COLUMN BY

Jon Miltimore

Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has appeared in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Washington Times. Reach him at jmiltimore@FEE.org.

EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column is republished with permission.

Is it Time for the Tea Party to Rise Again?

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The Mueller Report exonerated President Trump of claims that he colluded with Russia to steal the election from Hillary Clinton. In essence, Nancy Pelosi said screw Mueller’s Report. Her minions will continue seeking to create evidence of Trump/Russia collusion to impeach him.

Fake news media will continue its lies and deceptions to keep their “Trump colluded” lie going. Thirty-four people were indicted or plead guilty in Mueller’s Trump collusion investigation. Fake news media claims this is proof that Trump is guilty of collusion. The truth is the indictments and guilty pleas have nothing to do with Russia collusion. Many were found guilty of process crimes.

My wife Mary asked, “What is a process crime?” One example is investigators repeatedly ask you the same questions on different occasions. If you do not give the exact same answer each time, they can charge you with lying; a process crime. Suddenly, you find yourself in prison for a crime unrelated to the original investigation. Mary said, “Oh my gosh, given my short memory, you would be visiting me in prison.”

For over 2 years, Democrats and fake news media claimed there was solid evidence that Trump and Russia stole the election. Consequently, 40% of Americans absurdly believe Russia tampered with votes to cause Trump to win. 

Since Mueller failed to find Trump/Russia collusion, Democrats and fake news media are demanding that Trump be charged with obstruction of justice. Every time the deep state loses a battle to get rid of Trump, their insane rage becomes more out-of-control. Their lawlessness, lies, deceptions and violence becomes more extreme. These people are evil and dangerous.

What gets me is all the deep state scoundrels in the FBI and DOJ who attempted a silent coup to reverse the 2016 presidential election are still arrogantly walking around with their noses in the air and chests poked out. They boldly continue their treasonous plot to take down Trump in plain sight. These traitors should be prosecuted. Sen. Lindsey Graham seeks to investigate alleged FISA abuses. 

My fellow concerned Americans, is it time for the Tea Party to reemerge to publicly rally behind our president? We know that our anti-America and anti-Trump enemies within are going to unleash a tsunami of all kinds of unlawful craziness on our country between now and the 2020 election. Fake news media will provide cover for America’s enemies within by calling them peaceful patriots. Fake news media will claim that everything is horrible and Trump must be removed to save America.

A highly visible Tea Party supportive of our president would help to counter the lies. There have been 533,074 articles claiming Trump colluded with Russia, filled will bogus accusations, deceptions and lies. 

Because Democrats are protected by fake news media, most Americans do not know the Democratic Party has sunk to new levels of crazy and evil. The Tea Party could sound the alarm about Democrats wanting to murder babies even after they are born. We could let the public know that the Democrats have become the party of rabid antisemitism. Democrat congresswoman Ilhan Omar boldly expresses her hatred of Israel. Democrat presidential contenders gave Jews their middle finger by refusing to attend AIPAC. 

The Tea Party could expose the economy-killing insanity in the Democrats’ Green New Deal. In the next 10 years, Democrats want to end air travel, ban fossil fuels, mandated that every new job be unionized and close nuclear plants. Absurdly, Democrats demand that every building in the US must be rebuilt for state-of-the-art energy efficiency. Democrats also want to fund those who are irresponsible and lazy. 

Yes, there was a divide in the Tea Party during the presidential campaign. I campaigned for Ted Cruz. I praise God that Trump won. While doing an amazing job for We the People, Trump has been a one man wrecking ball demolishing the way our best interests have not been served in Washington DC.

The Tea Party movement was founded upon restoring America to her divinely ordained position as the shining city on a hill. Real Tea Party folks have jumped aboard the Trump Train because they know he is swiftly moving the ball in that direction. Trump has been relentless in keeping his campaign promises. We must keep this strong patriot warrior in the Oval Office.

From the beginning of the Tea Party movement, I toured the country on several Tea Party Express bus tours. I spoke and performed my “American Tea Party Anthem” at over 500 Tea Party rallies nationwide.

Evil CNN intentionally falsely branded the Tea Party a bunch of redneck racists protesting America’s first black president. As a proud American who happens to be black, I can testify first-hand that the Tea Party had nothing to do with Obama’s skin color. We simply opposed his plan to transform America into a Godless socialist nation.

My late dad was a fan of CNN’s Don Lemon. Dad believed the Tea Party was racist because CNN said it was. I said, “Dad, the Tea Party is not racist.” Jokingly, I said, “They even let me ride upfront on the tour bus.” I added, “I ride in the back lounge because of the huge flat-screen TV. I can watch football to my heart’s content.”

The Tea Party is a grassroots movement made up of salt-of-the-earth hardworking decent Americans who love their country. Period.

My fellow Trump supporters, perhaps it is time for us to create public spectacles across America; Tea Party rallies of positive, upbeat and lawful Americans waving US flags, adorned with “Keep America Great” and “Trump 2020” caps. As I stated, anti-Trump deep state henchmen will behave unhinged between now and the 2020 election. The Tea Party should be their highly visible, righteous and legal opposition.

Collusion

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David Warren: Religion is what separates America’s political parties. Some on both sides will claim to be devout, but their priorities prove otherwise.

Well, if the Trump administration was not in collusion with Russia, with whom WERE they in collusion? My own guess is the voters in the Red States, but I’ve already heard other theories.

It has been more fun following politics (in a desultory, Lenten way) in your country than in mine. Up here in the freezer-section north, we have a Liberal government that was caught by a naïve and apparently principled young member of its own cabinet, doing something criminally corrupt on a huge scale. But it promptly used its majority in a Parliamentary committee to prevent an investigation. Canadian media are now helping them “turn the page” on the issue, as there will be a general election in the autumn, and Canadian media are about as subservient to our Liberal Party as American media to your Democrats.

Or so say I; gentle reader may disagree. One of my motives for opposing union with your United States is purely charitable. It would saddle you with ten more Blue States, and all the expenses that go with that. It is not my only reason, however. For I am not a Republican, myself, but a Monarchist. (At least we still have the Queen.)

Politics, without religion, is a cruel farce. So is politics WITH religion, as one discovers from reading a little history, but there are checks upon it in the form of human conscience. It is wise in a polity to preserve at least the possibility of collusion with the angels; unwise to limit collusion to the contrary, demonic forces.

By the latter, I allude to “the end justifies the means.” It has been, recently, too openly on display, as the very standard of profane political action.

I don’t know whether this view is controversial; I can’t remember the last time I heard it expressed. No one wants to risk the charge of mixing church and state. But note my implied distinction between genuine religion (that changes a person’s behavior), and false.

As Voltaire said, among his elite friends, it is all very well for them to be atheists, but they should not speak of it around their servants. When the peasants lose their fear, of God and of Hell, they will start cheating and pilfering things. This was not the only instance when Voltaire was perspicacious.

Membership in a “liberal” elite traditionally confers two advantages. The first is, you can lie, cheat, and steal, yourself. The second is that you can rely on the “simplicity” of the unwashed masses, to avoid punishment for it. Today, however, thanks to such as the media, even those simples think they are Voltaire.

The scholastics, no simpletons they, were aware of the dangers of democracy. Rather than unifying a society (“One Nation under God, indivisible. . .”) it divides the people into factions.

Of course, there will be politics under any regime. Men (and women) of eminent station will jockey for place and power. But in representative democracy we have politics within politics – politicians jockeying within every party, giving demagogues their chance.

“The peeple,” as I like to spell them, cannot be so well informed as their jockeys, and can be fooled by the manipulation of so-called “facts.” I am sometimes astounded by the extraordinary nonsense otherwise sane people spout in, e.g., public bars. This includes the notion that “liberty” and “equality” are interchangeable goods. Or that perpetual deficit spending can end well.

But let me return to this question of God. And here I am not speaking of true faith, but mere belief. It is sometimes said that democratic capitalism, or socialism, or any other ideological principle, “would work if men were angels.” I oppose this cliché. I do not think they would work with angels, either.

Here is where the Christian – and the Catholic Christian, par excellence – must be on his guard. The obedience he has promised is not to a cause. It is rather subjection to TRUTH, on which topic there can be no voting. And that truth can belong to no faction. It can only belong to – guess Who?

Yet even in our world of political factions, truth is not equally shared. One party will not be as religious as the other. Let me express this more plainly.

In every polity in which I have lived – and I have lived in several – there is the usual two-headed monster. One party, or more, will be colloquially regarded as “to the right,” one or more “to the left,” with a fiery shifting trench between them.

Yes, there are “independent voters,” who swing most elections, but these are invariably the least informed. Those with any brains to use, by environment or heredity, will long since have decided which side they are on. Those between are clueless.

But here is the interesting thing. This divide is essentially religious. While there may be some self-consciously “devout” people on both sides (until comes the revolution) – their ultimate priorities will not be the same.

Historically, in the West, one easily spots the division. Take Olde England, where the Tory faction was from the beginning labeled as the “church party,” against the Whigs who considered themselves to be “emancipated.” The latter were a monied, aristocratic party, the more profane and at ease with “enlightened self-interest,” less patient with “tradition.”

A heritage comes from that, not only in the English-speaking countries. The instinct to be more conservative, to resist change, is pitted against an instinct to be more liberal and change things. Of course, personal self-interest is, as we are all human, seldom neglected on either side.

I am not under the illusion that your Trump gentleman is a devout Catholic, though it interests me that in his position, he makes ever more explicitly Christian noises. They are “dog whistle” from his enemies’ point-of-view. But even a tiny fraction of sincerity let him come out of the Mueller investigation, politically intact.

Truth will out, eventually.

COLUMN BY

David Warren

David Warren is a former editor of the Idler magazine and columnist in Canadian newspapers. He has extensive experience in the Near and Far East. His blog, Essays in Idleness, is now to be found at: davidwarrenonline.com.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2019 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

If Our House Be On Fire — The Somali Invasion of North America

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The Somalian pirates have once again sailed into North American waters.  But instead of kidnapping coastal dwellers for slavery or taking bounty to enhance their wealth, from the 16th century onward (and again in the 2000s), they are here to continue the process of taking land, America from Americans for Islam and Israel from the Jews for the self-proclaimed “Palestinians.”  For centuries, the legacy of Muhammad’s raids  has been the acquisition of land and booty/wealth (Maal-e-Ghanimat), gizya (extortion/tax) from the conquered people, and modern-day welfare, such as the annual £25,000 ($33,009) received by Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary in Britain, who urges other “jihad seekers” do the same.

Salafi scholar Abu Ishak al Huweini lamented, “If only we can conduct a jihadist invasion at least once a year or, if possible, twice or three times, then many people on Earth would become Muslim.” He added that if they could not confiscate the wealth, they would kill the men and kidnap and enslave their women and children.  American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki instructed that the disbelievers’ property is never rightfully theirs, and may be forcefully “retaken” for Islam, a belief system that supports the Islamic right to anything they want – Europe, America, and Israel, home to the Jews for more than 3,000 years.  Islamists continue to disregard the Jewish kingdoms, sovereign Jewish state, and continuous Jewish presence in the land, Biblically documented and archaeologically verified.

It was therefore not surprising, except to those who failed to notice the sharia-compliant hijab and oath of office sworn to Allah on the Qur’an, that Somalian-born Ilhan Omar (D-MN) can so boldly deny Israel’s historic and legal rights to exist.  And if she can make headway in Congress while also undermining the American government and people’s inalienable rights, so much the better.   Her recent proposal, bound to be superseded by yet another jab before this goes to print, was, “We must acknowledge that [Israel] is also the historical homeland of Palestinians.”  That is not the case.  There is absolutely no evidence of a Palestinian history before 1967 AD!  Those who assumed this false identity were the Egyptian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Jordanian and Syrian squatters who went in search of work in the flourishing Israel and who were ill-advised to vacate the land by the invading Arab armies, expecting to return after the Jews were annihilated.  They were to be disappointed.  Weakened and isolated as pawns in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, they began an unceasing political, psychological, and propagandist war of conquest in the court of world opinion.  While such attempts at land acquisition may differ from country to country – from Africa, India and the Middle East, to Europe, Australasia and America – let us not delude ourselves into thinking they’ve suddenly amended their 1400-year-old ideology.  They have not.

The Four Stages of Islamic conquest have been delineated, and it might be prudent to take a moment to review them now, as each stage reveals the clear pattern of their strategy.  The list unmistakably shows that we Americans are deeply entrenched in Stage #2, identified as the Consolidation of Power, including, for our purposes here, revisionist efforts to Islamize history – with a foothold into Stage #3.

Ilhan Omar has been dedicated to criticizing Israel and attempting to inspire compassion for Palestinians who, she suggests, are suffering the same “inhumanity and suffering” seen in the Somalian civil war.  Certainly not, as those “unspeakable horrors” are Muslim against Muslim.   Palestinians have eschewed peace, consistently rebuffing Israel’s every offer of permanent peace, even when they were offered 97% of the land they wanted.  Rather, they bind their children in explosives, teach their children to hurl missiles and incendiary balloons, and wield a sword for beheading, instead of engaging in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness enjoyed by Israelis.  Palestinian suffering is self-imposed.

Islam is responsible for 34,751 terrorist attacks since 9/11, and 25 attacks (149 killed) in 12 countries during one week in March, 2019 alone.  There is not a shred of evidence that Palestinians could live peacefully next to Israel, since their children are immersed and engaged in jihad beginning with their toddlerhood.

Omar further rued, “Without a state, the Palestinian people live in a state of permanent refugeehood and displacement,” yet it is their own brethren and leadership who placed and kept them in refugee status for Western sympathy, they who have refused statehood and peace, they who continue to wage war against Israel, they who sorely mistreat even their own, particularly girls and women.  They show no sign of interest in reverting to democracy where even their own people might live harmoniously.  The threat against regional peace comes from those who carry out the will of Allah and Mohammed, as well as from the diminutive, ungracious and hostile Omar, who thinks nothing of denigrating the President of the one country that granted her refuge and comfort, America.  And so we have Stage #3: Open War with Leadership and Culture, which reflects on the combined efforts of Islamists and the left.

The characteristics of Stage 3 are open violence to impose sharia and associated cultural restrictions; rejection of the host government; subjugation of other religions and customs.  Some are already in effect:

  • Intentional efforts to undermine the host government and culture.  Academia continues Islamic teaching/antisemitism, removing our history, students whitewashed.  Government positions infiltrated; oath-taking changes; deliberate acts to change our system of representation, to pack the supreme court, to encourage alien invasion to ensure an election outcome; to demoralize our president’s efforts to keep the country safe; to destroy our energy independence; to increase taxation and restrictions against companies and individuals.  Work to disarm and diminish our population, by birth control, deteriorating healthcare, and euthanasia.
  • Acts of barbarity to intimidate citizens and foster fear and submission.  Conservatives shut down and attacked for political differences, MAGA hats; physical attacks against Jews.  Violence to property – stores,  historic monuments, burning cars.
  • Open and covert efforts to cause economic collapse of the society.  School personnel and Muslim Student Associations (MSA) engaged in boycotts against Israel; working to increase taxes and regulations; the economically devastating Green New Deal.  Flooding our nation with dependent non-productive aliens; continued socialized medicine.
  • All opposition is challenged and either eradicated or silenced.  The FBI’s manuals purged of all Islamic references, thwarting police forces; information withheld by the media; visiting speakers denied on campuses; Islamic tea party outreaches to convince their religions are alike.
  • Rejection and defiance of host society secular laws or culture.  Pockets of Muslim residents ruled by shari’a; demanding food and prayer accommodations to shari’a.
  • Destruction of churches, synagogues and other non-Muslim institutions.  Desecration of synagogues and churches; defilement of cemetery headstones.  Historic monuments toppled.
  • Women are restricted further in accordance with Shari’a law.  Muslim patrol cars now evident on the streets in some cities, to ensure that shari’a is followed, including women’s dress.

Stage #3 also includes removing influential personalities from the media (Glenn Beck, Judge Jeanine Pirro).  Islamic militias formed for widespread ethnic cleansing; large groups of able-bodied men assembled in any of the more than 2,000 mosques, of which 80% (1700) are known to be preaching hate and violence against Jews, serving as jihadist recruitment and training centers – and as armories.  Also listed are large-scale population destruction, assassinations, bombings; usurpation of government’s political power, imposition of shari’a, mass execution of Muslim intellectuals who do not support Islamization.

Thomas Jefferson, the first to encounter the Somalian pirates, said, “It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war.  But if it shall actually take pace, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves.  If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.”

Later generations will not thank us for letting the fire take hold.

Trump Puts U.S. On The Moral High Ground In The Golan Heights

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On Monday, while flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald J. Trump reversed decades of foreign policy by declaring that the United States was recognizing Israel’s autonomy over the Golan Heights. Like so many of his decisions regarding Israel, Trump’s position is one that is as positive as it is bold — and one that is long overdue.

In fact, not only is it standing with our only free, democratic ally in the region, it actually is a moral imperative.

It’s imperative to understand the historical context that you will never, ever get in the media coverage.

The plight of the Jewish people and their relationship with the land adjoining the Mediterranean Sea dates back to the antiquities. Before the 8th century B.C., there was a Kingdom of Israel. In the 8th century B.C., it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, thus ending Jewish self-rule in the area. The region exchanged hands numerous times between the Persians, the Romans, the Arabs, and the Crusaders, among others. However, through it all, the Jewish people never abandoned their faith, and they never abandoned their ties to the land.

Fast forward to the nineteenth century AD. Many Jews had been kicked out of their land and were living throughout Europe. The 1800s saw the growth of the Zionist movement by the diaspora (Jews living away from the homeland), called for a renewal of Israeli independence and self-rule.

In 1894, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, a French Jew, bought a large tract of land in Golan for settlement.  When the Jews tried to settle it, hostility from surrounding Arabs frustrated their efforts.

In 1918, the League of Nations adopted the Balfour Declaration heralding the support of a Jewish state in lands then held by Palestine. Many Jews responded by moving back to the area known as Israel.

After the First World War, Golan became part of the French mandate of Syria, and in 1941 it was passed to independent Syria. WWII saw the unprecedented slaughter of Jews by Nazi Germany, which led to the swelling of the Jewish population in Palestine.

In 1947, following the end of World War II, the United Nations recommended that the area east of the Mediterranean Sea be partitioned into independent Arab and Jewish states. Although the Jewish Agency was elated, Arab elements were adamantly opposed to the idea. In 1948, David Ben-Gurion, head of the Jewish Agency, declared the creation of a Jewish state, and on that same day, the United States of America recognized the provisional Israeli government as the State of Israel. The announcement was met with immediate hostilities from Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq, and the Arab-Israeli War began. Finally after fighting for its existence, in 1949, the State of Israel was admitted into the United Nations, officially validating its existence. But Israel’s relationship with its regionals neighbors was not to be a peaceful one.

Enter the Golan Heights again.

Almost immediately, the emerging State of Israel was attacked by the Palestinian Fedayeen, and in 1967, hostilities from Syria and Egypt led to the Six-Day War of 1967. That war saw Israel take the Golan Heights. They won that area like so many other countries had gained territories before them; they fought for it and kept it.

Never, in the history of the world has there been a situation where a country forcefully annexed a territory only to have the rest of the world attempt to renounce its claim. It is interesting that Israel should be the lone example of such diplomatic hostilities.  Regardless, between 80,000 and 131,000 Syrians fled from the area.

The attacks would continue upon Israel. During the 1970s, it fended off multiple attacks from the newly established Palestinian Liberation Organization, which quickly devolved into a fomenter of terrorism. And in 1972, the world reeled in horror when Jewish athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympic games in Munich, Germany.

The conflicts would not cease — but were not started by Israel.

In 1973, the year after the horrific attack on innocent Israeli athletes, the Yom Kippur War began with Egyptian and Syrian armies launching an invasion into Israel. In one of the most brilliantly executed military responses in history, Israel repelled the attackers inflicting significant losses upon its vastly superior enemies while minimizing its own casualties.

The 1980s saw continued attacks from surrounding countries and terrorists upon Israel while Iraq worked to develop a nuclear reactor while Iran worked to develop a nuclear arsenal. In response, in 1981 Israeli military planes attacked and destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor. The following year, Israel responded to continued attacks by the PLO by destroying its bases in Lebanon.

As Israel forged into the 1990s, Iraq, under the control of Saddam Hussein, launched countless missile attacks upon Israel. Eventually, the United States would invade Iraq and unseat Hussein, while Israel stayed away from the hostilities.

An attempt was made to address the controversies regarding the West Bank and the governance of Palestinians living in Israeli territories through a negotiated solution with the signing of the Oslo Accords with the PLO in 1992, implementing self-rule by Palestinians living in portions of the West Bank.

But perhaps no more poignant a moment occurred in Palestinian-Israeli relations than when Yasser Arafat unilaterally walked away from the table without a commitment after being offered almost unbridled concessions by the Israeli Prime Minister, Erud Barak. The failure of the Camp David Summit led to the displacement of Prime Minister Barak by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who, in 2001, still unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip.

But these actions would not lead to a peaceful Israeli existence. Instead, another terrorist organization, Hezbollah, largely supported by Iran, carried out open hostilities against Israel, which have continued to this day.

Today, Israel continues to be harassed and threatened by organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas, with support from Iran, and although the State of Israel has grown into a strong independent nation and a regional power, its security is not guaranteed under the open hostilities from neighboring countries voicing their intent to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. Through this time, Israel maintained control of the Golan Heights because it gave such a military advantage to its enemies who could see and attack most of northern Israel from it.

So why didn’t the United States recognize Israel’s jurisdiction over the Golan Heights?

When Israel took control of the Golan Heights in 1967 and subsequently annexed them in 1981, its actions were met with condemnation from Egypt, Syria, and other Arab nations. Not a single country recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights. Instead, most nations, the United States included, and the United Nations claimed that they preferred a peacefully negotiated solution to the issue, and opted not to choose sides on the matter. Consequently, for more than 35 years, Israel has stood alone on this issue, the object of active hostilities from its neighbors who would use the Golan Heights to attack Israel again.

The fact is that the Golan Heights are of fundamental importance to Israel and its security. It acts a buffer against one of its mortal enemies, Syria. With its high topography, the Golan Heights serves as an excellent reconnaissance venue under Israel, and a strategic value launching site under its enemies. And not to be dismissed. the Golan Heights provide 30% of the nation’s water supplies.

Moreover, to pretend that a negotiated peace agreement regarding this strip is even possible is a nonsensical position and one that flies in the face of reality; a reality that for thousands of years has represented only aggression against Jews and their homeland.

So given all of this history and current reality, President Trump was absolutely correct in discarding the deceitfulness of political correctness that has thus far enveloped America’s position regarding Israel. Indeed, Israel is our greatest regional ally and the United States should unabashedly stand behind it in the world stage.

If the Golan Heights is important to Israel, then it is important to the United States. President Trump’s proclamation on Monday merely affirmed an unmistakably obvious fact — and an undeniably moral position.

RELATED ARTICLE: Recognition by the US Administration of Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights: Political and Security Implications

EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission.

Race Relations: If Democrats Would Get Out of Our Way

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To keep blacks feeling like victims in an forever racist America, Democrats keep the flames of racial division burning. Blacks are only 12% of the population. This means white voters gifted the first black president two terms. Despicably, Democrats continue to tell blacks, “Keep voting for us to keep racist white America off your backs.” Contrary to Democrats’ lie, we have come a long ways baby in race relations in our country. Living, working and playing together, a majority of Americans work out their racial issues. We need race-baiting Democrat politicians to get out of our way.

In 1952, Dad was among a handful of blacks who broke the color barrier to become Baltimore City firefighters. Dad was stationed at 6 Engine. Filled with hate and resentment over his presence, the white firefighters humiliated Dad at every turn.

Outrageously, Dad was assigned separate eating utensils, bathroom and sleeping area. Dad kept a jar of Sanka instant coffee because he was forbidden to drink from the same coffeepot as the white firefighters.

Dad was also the assistant pastor of an east Baltimore storefront church. To escape the constant harassment by the white firefighters, Dad retreated to the firehouse storage room to pray and study his Bible. Sarcastically, the firefighters named the storage room “Marcus’ Chapel”.

One day, Dad could not find his assigned spoon. He grabbed a spoon and placed it in his coffee and went to get cream. When Dad returned, John was holding the spoon from Dad’s cup of coffee. Angrily, John ordered, “Keep your black hands off our spoons”. Then, John threw the spoon into the sink. Dad let the incident go.

On another occasion, John verbally attacked Dad for putting his foot on the edge of a chair to shine his shoes. This was the last straw for Dad. He challenged John to settle their differences outside after work. The captain caught wind of the scheduled duel of fists. He ordered both men to go home after their shift.

Dad told me that he went to the storage room and prayed about John. He prayed, “God give him to me.”

After two years, a new young white firefighter was assigned to 6 Engine. He came upstairs to Dad’s bunk and invited Dad to have coffee with the other firefighters. It was Dad’s first coffee from the main coffeepot.

Dad won Firefighter of the Year two times. When Dad was 90, I asked him to explain how he won. A lieutenant firefighter panicked in a burning building and jumped out a window. Dad grabbed his legs and held him until help arrived. Dad passed away before telling me what he did to win Firefighter of the Year a second time.

On one occasion, the captain ordered all the firefighters out of a raging burning building. Dad’s mask malfunctioned. He could not breath or see. Dad said the devil spoke to him saying, “Everyone has to go sometime and you’re going to go by fire.” Dad prayed, “Jesus” and passed out.

Safely outside, a firefighter asked, “Where’s Marcus?” John flew back up the ladder into the inferno. Dad said he regained consciousness hearing someone yelling his name, “Marcus! Marcus! Marcus!” He saw the light of John’s flashlight and yelled, “Over here!”

John and another firefighter carried Dad out of the building. Dad said he will never forget the peace and safety he felt hearing John’s voice, “We got you. You’re okay. We got you!”

Dad’s body and clothing were so filled with smoke that the emergency room staff had to open windows. Dad made a full recovery.

Dad and John became lifelong friends. When John passed away in later years, Dad spoke at his funeral. God answered Dad’s prayer. He gave John to Dad.

Racism will exist along with every other sin until Jesus returns. Thanks to pioneers like my dad, blacks are thriving in every area of American life. We just need Democrats to stop scheming to divide us.

Watch the Countdown to Lloyd’s Dad’s Legacy.

Mueller Bombshell: Trump Turned Me Into A Newt

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According to a story by our reliable subsidiary, the Babylon Bee, former FBI director Robert Mueller ordered that Trump be weighed against a duck to determine whether the sitting president is a witch.

Because of the clearly established pattern of Russian collusion, Mueller stated that Trump may actually be an incarnation of Baba Yaga. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out he eats children,” said Mueller.

Mueller’s controversial comment has ignited a political firestorm. Indignant members of New York’s state legislature, feeling their reputations were impugned by association with Trump, wanted to make clear that they, and not Trump, are the real consumers of infants.

Unfazed, Mueller finally broke the most damning testimony yet proving Trump’s culpability regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election: “He turned me into a newt!”

A somewhat startled Christiane Amanpour blurted, “A newt!?” Appearing momentarily befuddled, Mueller seemed to recover himself and offer a rational explanation: “Well, I got better,” he said to satisfied nods among the press corps.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was deeply concerned by revelations of Trump’s magical powers. “If he has power to turn good men like Mueller into a newt, he may have power to cast spells and confuse members of our party. No wonder Maxine thought Russia had invaded Korea. It was Trump! Impeachment is definitely back on the, er, table, and we’re not ruling out military options.”

Trump, of course, denies the allegations tweeting that any speculation about him turning anybody into a newt was, in his words, “fake news.”

From Comrade Red Square:

EDITORS NOTE: This political satire column by Komissar al-Blogunov  originally appeared on The Peoples Cube. It is hilariously republished with permission.

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Democratic Presidential Contenders’ Demeaning View Of Americans

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When Democrat Sen Kamala Harris announced her run for the presidency, she vowed to be a “tireless advocate of men and women who lack power and wealth.” Sen Harris, you and your fellow Democrats are obsessed with removing power from We the People. Removing parent’s power to raise their child, Democrats implemented mandatory LGBTQ indoctrination in public school. Parents are forbidden to opt out their child.

Sen Harris, your party seeks to remove more power from the people by disarming them. Students have been brainwashed into absurdly believing law abiding gun-owners are responsible for school shootings. Democrats are pushing to lower the voting age to 16 so kids will naively vote to repeal their parent’s Second Amendment right to bear arms. 

Power to freely worship is under attack by Democrats. They want to ban the Bible, criminalize quoting the Bible and mandate that Christians betray biblical teachings. 

Sen Harris said she will advocate for those who lack wealth. Between her party’s obsession with oppressive taxation and outrageously high death taxes, everyday Americans are blocked from acquiring wealth. 

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” (Proverbs 13:22) Democrats make this biblical principle impossible. Cruelly, they rush to confiscate and redistribute children’s inheritances. Children are forced to sell their parent’s life’s work (home and business) to pay the death taxes.

Sen Harris said, “I knew I wanted to protect people. And I knew that the people in our society who are most often targeted by predators are also most often the voiceless and the vulnerable.” This exposes Sen Harris’ demeaning view of America and Americans. There are no masses of Americans supposedly targeted by predators. This is another Democrat tactic of creating an enemy which does not exist.

Former US presidents did not view Americans as weaklings, needing a president to be their parent. President John F. Kennedy believed in the strength and greatness of Americans. He said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” When I was a young black man, President Reagan inspired me to be all I could be; to proudly contribute to the greatness of my country.

Sen Harris and her fellow Democrat presidential contenders are campaigning on their standard lowbrow rhetoric; creating victims and bogus enemies. They instill entitlement mindsets, class envy and hatred for the wealthy. Disgusting. Blacks have bought Democrats’ garbage for 50 years. Blacks are still suffering in poverty stricken hellholes run by Democrats. 

As a kid living in the East Baltimore projects, Dad drove me through white neighborhoods with beautiful homes. Dad said, “If you get an education, you can live like this.” He never taught me to hate wealth or white people. Dad did not fill my head with the Democrats’ lie that white America was scheming 24/7 to prevent me from achieving my American dream. Democrats’ lies about America have crushed far too many black youth’s hopes, dreams, and ambitions.

In my late 20’s, I became a born-gain Christian. Excited, I visited prisons to share the good news of Jesus. To my surprise, most of the inmates were black. Many were gifted and talented. Their major hindrance was negative attitudes, hopelessness, victim and entitlement mindsets. Many thought, “Whitey is gonna stop me, so why even try.” Who filled these young black men heads with such destructive nonsense? The answer is Democrats. America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for “all” who choose to pursue their dreams. Period.

Tragically, dumb-down millennials believe it is morally just to punish the rich and redistribute their wealth. A disturbingly high number of millennials embrace socialism.

Here’s my parable illustrating Capitalism v. Socialism. Mary and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary over dinner. Our waiter was fantastic, enthusiastically going the extra mile to make our special occasion truly special. I rewarded him with a generous tip. Capitalism allows our waiter to pocket my tip, giving him incentive to increase his wait skills. Socialism would require him to put my tip into a jar to be distributed between all the waiters at the end of the shift. So, slacker waiter Randy who takes excessive smoke-breaks, repeatedly monitors his phone and screws up food orders would get the same amount of tip money as my excellent waiter. This is the demoralizing consequence of socialism.

In truth, every Democrat presidential contender wants to remove as much power as possible from We the People. Democrat presidential candidate Cory Booker wants to force Americans to stop eating meat. 

American families save $2,500 a year shopping at Walmart. Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to stop Americans from shopping and working for Walmart. 

Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has built her campaign on the sin of covetousness (class envy). She seeks to demonize and punish wealth. 

Every Democrat presidential contender signed on to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal which mandates that in 10 years, we must end air travel, stop using fossil fuels, every new job must be unionized, nuclear plants must be closed and every building must be rebuilt for state-of-the-art energy efficiency. AOC’s deal also demands that deadbeats receive government funding. 

Each Democrat presidential contender emits a foul odor of arrogance and superiority. They believe they are our betters, extremely qualified to dictate how we should think and live our lives. Contrary to Sen Harris’ presidential announcement speech, she and her fellow Democrats seek to remove our power by repealing our constitutional rights and block us from acquiring wealth. We are far better, much smarter and much stronger than Democrat presidential contenders think we are. We are Americans. 

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