Sunday, May 23, 2021
The Left’s Big Lie Is Consuming America
The people fleeing socialist Venezuela and eating out of dumpsters are only escaping their fate to come to a country that is just beginning to descend into the same madness.
The Left says the “Big Lie” is any suspicion about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. President Trump and his followers, upset over the way the 2020 election was conducted, were caught up in a swirling vortex of Trumpian lies, they tell us. Pay no mind to things like the strange stopping of the count in the middle of the night in battleground states and their reopening, hours later, with giant surges for Biden. Pay no mind to the eyewitness testimony of shenanigans like out-of-state ballots disappearing, ballots being scanned through counters multiple times, and Republican poll watchers banished from watching ballot counting. Pay no mind, either, to states that completely ignored or, at the last minute, changed their election laws citing COVID-19 concerns. That’s all conspiracy theorist paranoia.
Repeating the charge of the “Big Lie” is intended to mock and intimidate the tens of millions of downhome rubes in the country who dare to question the outcome of the recent election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Republican NeverTrumpers, such as Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) utter this insult frequently and call the subsequent patriotic protest on January 6 an “insurrection”—as if justifiably angered American citizens have no business questioning the outcome of an extremely suspicious election. Meanwhile, the only person actually killed on that day was an unarmed female veteran.
Recently, in an effort to cast off Big Tech’s muzzle himself, former President Trump launched his own website platform and declared, “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”
His obvious wish is to twist the Left’s words around so that they point to the actual culprits. Naturally, this only fueled more derision and mockery of the Trump base from the Left. Even so, his supporters understood what Trump was saying and know they have been fed “the big lie” for much longer than just the 2020 election. The past several years have punctuated vast cultural differences between those on the Left and those on the Right.
With Big Tech, Big Media, most universities, most programs on television, many movies, and nearly all Hollywood celebrities and music icons spewing constant social commentary from the Left’s social justice warrior space, even a person with a traditional American upbringing and strong moral values has little chance to avoid their animated, if uninformed, wokeness. It seeps into everything, as we have watched our children become much more versed in wokeness than math or science, our shared culture brutally dividing, and our cities burning . . . over what? Of that, nobody is quite sure.
It looks suspiciously like a bullet train to oligarchic rule where the burden to carry the responsibility of fueling the economy for the rest of the country rests solidly on the backs of the same country bumpkins the Left so despises.
With migrants overtaking our border and cartels using the distraction to flood our country with cheap drugs to further corrupt our culture, a pipeline hacked into and ransom paid to Russia, and the Middle East on fire again after some real peace was found by the last administration, the Democrats in charge do little and distract much. They hope dropping the mask mandate will help reassure the country that “something is being done” so no one notices the further destruction of America as they spend more money than we can ever hope to pay back. Meanwhile, we produce generation after generation of low-information citizens and voters who easily can be made to feel good for the moment if it suits the interests of our would-be masters.
As some of us watched a flood of Venezuelan families pour over the border in the past week or so, the irony was not lost. Those poor, tired people fleeing the socialism of their home country and eating out of dumpsters are only escaping their fate to come into a country that is just beginning its journey into the same kind of socialism that destroyed their own. They are coming into a country that is about to be consumed by the actual “Big Lie.”
Belarus 'diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist', says opposition
A Ryanair plane flying from Greece to Lithuania has been diverted to Minsk, with Belarusian opposition figures saying it was done so a journalist on board could be arrested.
The opposition Nexta channel on Telegram said its ex-editor Roman Protasevich had been detained.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, beaten by Alexander Lukashenko last year in polls widely denounced as rigged and now living in exile, demanded his release.
Belarus has not officially commented.
Since August's election the 66-year-old Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994, has cracked down on dissenting voices, with many opposition figures either arrested or fleeing abroad.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda tweeted that Belarus was behind an "abhorrent action"
The diversion of Flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius on Sunday was carried on the flightradar124 website, showing the plane turning east to Minsk shortly before it reached the Lithuania border. Ryanair has not yet responded to a request for comments.
Russian media quoted the Minsk airport press service as saying the plane had made an emergency landing following a bomb scare.
Belta, the state-owned news agency in Belarus, said Mr Lukashenko had given the order for the plane to land at Minsk and that a MiG-29 fighter jet had been despatched to accompany the Ryanair plane.
Nexta said no bomb was found on board and the passengers were searched, after which Mr Protasevich, 26, was detained.
In a series of tweets, Ms Tikhanovskaya accused the Belarus government of forcing the plane to land to arrest Mr Protasevich, who she said faced the death penalty as he has been categorised as a terrorist.
She said Mr Protasevich had left Belarus in 2019 and covered the events of the 2020 presidential election with Nexta, after which criminal charges were filed against him in Belarus.
Western leaders have backed Ms Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory in the election before she was forced to leave Belarus for Lithuania. She had become a candidate after her husband was jailed and barred from running.
Tens of thousands of protesters thronged the capital Minsk for months last year, furious at Mr Lukashenko's declaration of victory. There have been numerous cases of police brutality and some 2,700 prosecutions this year alone.
What's Behind Black-on-Asian Hate Crime? 'White Supremacy,' Claims Colorado Professor
Thought you’d seen and heard it all? Welp, pull up a whoopee cushion and try this one on for size: According to an Asian American critical race studies and ethnic studies professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, black-on-Asian hate crime in America is solely the product of… wait for it… white supremacy. Shocked? Me neither.
It occurred to me as I began to write this op-ed article that not all that long ago, this sucker could’ve been right out of The Onion or The Babylon Bee — although this particular beauty is more pathetically misguided than satirically funny.
Here’s Professor Jennifer Ho, as reported by The Washington Times:
“Anti-Asian racism has the same source as anti-Black racism: White supremacy. So when a Black person attacks an Asian person, the encounter is fueled perhaps by racism, but very specifically by White supremacy. White supremacy does not require a White person to perpetuate it.”
Let’s rewind that last part of the tape:
“White supremacy does not require a White person to perpetuate it.”
There it is, fellow white people.
Not only were you a racist white supremacist before you were even born (see: “critical race theory”), but the magnitude of “white supremacy” is so powerful within you that you don’t even need to perpetuate it or be involved in its manifestation in any given “racist white supremacist” incident: it’s still your —and my — fault.
Why, that’s damn near a super power, ain’t it? [sarc]
More racist CRT bilge from Ho:
“It is a belief that to be white is to be human…
[by whom, Ho? Exclusively, I mean?]
and invested with inalienable universal rights and that to be not-white means you are less than human
[same question, professor]
— a disposable object for others to abuse and misuse.”
“It is a belief.” Nonsense. Anyone can say “it is a belief” about anything, and as long as the fool saying it believes it, the fool is technically correct.
And a final, silly shot:
“It’s not black people whom Asian Americans need to fear. It’s white supremacy.”
Um, Ho? You wanna tell that to the elderly Asian man who was randomly, brutally, and repeatedly stomped on the head to the point of unconsciousness by a black thug in New York City, last month? Or perhaps you’d like to watch the video? Or this one from this week, with three black women?
Or maybe you’d rather check out the story of Black Lives Matter activist Christopher Haines, also last month, who was charged in two separate violent incidents against three Asian women — one day after he denounced hate crimes against Asians?
Or perhaps the Asian American NYC City Council candidate who in March was brutally attacked in a random crime by a black person — and was afraid at first to report the assault to the police for fear of recrimination?
Then again, we could talk about black Nikole Hannah Jones, founder of the controversial and historically ridiculously inaccurate 1619 Project, who has a habit of tearing into Asian Americans at every self-created racist opportunity.
I could continue, Ms. Ho. The list is long. And growing. About the only thing missing from any of the examples I’ve just cited are white people spewing hateful white supremacy racist-y kinda stuff. You know, like you. But as so “eloquently” spewed, white people are to blame, regardless.
“One of the Dirtiest Secrets of Urban America”
Asian American writer, policy expert, and conservative intellectual Ying Ma recently observed:
“The people on the left who are so eager to talk about racism against Asians during the COVID pandemic…these people have been nowhere to be found in the past…particularly when the perpetrators are non-white.”
Ying Ma was right — on multiple levels.
In an op-ed published on the Washington Examiner website, earlier this month, titled An overdue conversation about black-on-Asian violence, Ying Ma wrote:
The frequency and brutality of anti-Asian violence have made “Stop Asian Hate” a popular hashtag and protest slogan this year. Still, America has yet to grapple with a core part of the problem: black-on-Asian crime and racism.
She related multiple examples of horrendous, black-on-Asian crime, including this one:
In January 2010, six black male teenagers kicked and beat 83-year-old Huan Chen after he disembarked at a light rail bus stop in San Francisco. They bashed his head to the ground and fled the scene laughing as Chen laid bleeding. He died two months later.
A survey conducted by the San Francisco Police Department in 2008 revealed that 85% of the city’s violent crimes were black-on-Asian, a figure officials in this notoriously liberal city confronted with “squeamishness.”
Almost always, bystanders of all colors, including Asians, look away in silence, but the racism on public display makes it crucial to conduct an inquiry about racial intent in black-on-Asian crimes committed with no profit or other apparent motive.
“Too many leaders have refused to engage [black-on-Asian crime and racism],” Ying Ma wrote.
Today, America must not only inquire but engage in a long-overdue, honest conversation about the prevalence of black crime and the existence of racism among nonwhite Americans.
The goal is not to vilify an entire race for the crimes of individuals, nor is it to absolve individuals of other races who commit racist acts. It is to find a pathway to reconciliation and possible solutions for preventing the tragedies that befell, Chen, Yu, and far too many others.
Which Leads Us Back to Jennifer Ho
In the more than a year since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, we have seen — ad nauseam — radicalized ideologues so consumed by hatred that they are incapable of seeing and accepting reality. Critical Race Theory (CRT) programming, for example, has all but destroyed the left’s ability to engage in real critical thinking about racial issues in America.
As a result, radicalized groupthink is now the official language of the (self) white-loathing left. That is factual, regardless of how it sounds. Jennifer Ho is one of those people; so consumed by CRT that she is incapable of rational thought — even about horrendous hate crimes committed against other Asian Americans.
Drunk on CRT and consumed by racism, Ho pushes a dangerous and false narrative. She, like others, is hellbent on peddling the false narrative that white Americans — simply by their existence — are to blame for the wrongs of others, be those wrong racist actions, failure to succeed in life, or anything else.
Ho and people like her truly believe that “white supremacy” was to blame for the elderly Asian man in NYC stomped unconscious. That white supremacy was to blame for the kicking and beating death of 83-year-old Huan Chen who lay bleeding from a gash to his head, as six, black male teenagers fled the scene laughing.
Ying Ma is a courageous hero at a time desperately in need of courageous heroes. Jennifer Ho, on the other hand, is a disgrace to the Asian American community for whom she claims to speak. And she is not alone.
Asian, black, white, purple, or polka dot, the Jennifer Hos of America are determined to destroy us — and themselves, in the end.
The Babylon Bee Guide To Gen Z Slang
The best way to deal with Gen Z slang is to ignore it and tell them to shut up. But sometimes, if you're a youth pastor or teacher or something, you might actually have to engage with this dumb generation. Unfortunately, it's hard to even understand what they mean nowadays, since they keep changing the English language, torturing it until it begs for mercy. English should be unchanging, gosh darn it!
Anyway, yeah, here are some popular Gen Z phrases and what they actually mean, as far as we can tell:
Yeet - We think this means throw. But in some contexts it might also mean "advanced automotive repair" or "to butter one's toast" -- it's really unclear.
The Gram - Refers to illicit drugs, which are sold by the gram. "Did you see the picture of my dog on the gram?" could be code for "Please sell me drugs."
Fam - A reference to your traditional nuclear family with a mom, dad, and siblings. "Dear, would you set the table for us please?" "I got u, fam."
Stan - Drugs?
No Cap - A phrase used when you're in a hurry leaving the house and your hair is messy and you didn’t have time to grab a hat. "Hey bro, your hair is messy, no cap!"
Basic - The unpaid or freemium version of a service. "Hey man, do you have Spotify Premium?" "Nah, I just have the basic to save on my monthly expenses."
Big yikes - Said in response to something you even slightly disagree with. "I like tacos." "That's a big yikes, chief."
Tea - Also maybe drugs.
I'm dead - "My heart has stopped beating and I am no longer breathing. Please call 9-1-1 immediately."
Sus - Means "Cool," "tight," or "dope." "That guy is lookin' preeeetty sus, fam."
Sending me - Used when someone is shipping you a package -- possibly with drugs in it. "Did you get the tea?" "Yeah it's sending me."
Ghosting - Short for "good hosting," used when a chivalrous boyfriend treated you with respect on your last date. "He totally ghosted me." "Awesome!"
Ship - Used when two people are a good couple. It refers to the classic film Titanic, in which Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet fell in love on a "ship."
Drip - Definitely drugs.
Boomer - Anyone older than 25.
Catch these hands - Raising your hands in worshipful praise to Jesus.
Netflix & chill - An innocent time of watching family-friendly films on Netflix and "chilling," or hanging out. Nothing to worry about if your teen texts this.
Lowkey - Used when you drop your car keys, so they are on the ground, hence "low key." Example: "Aw man, I dropped my keys again, lowkey!"
TFW - Trade for weed. If you see this your youngsters are trying to secure some marijuana in trade for goods or services. So, once again, when in doubt, it's drugs.
This ain't it, chief - An expression used when you are telling the leader of an indigenous tribe that he is mistaken about the identity of an object. "Is this my peyote?" "Nah, this ain't it, chief."
Does that all make sense? We hope so! Now go out there and yeet anything you see that's sus, fam! Big yikes!
Royal Caribbean: We expect all cruise guests to be vaccinated
One of the world's biggest cruise companies says coronavirus vaccinations will be needed to get on its ships.
Richard Fain, chief executive of Royal Caribbean, told the BBC "we expect all of our guests who are eligible for a vaccine to have it".
Cruising is a global industry that, before the pandemic, was worth $150bn and supported about 1.2 million jobs.
The US is the biggest market for the industry which has been almost completely closed down by the pandemic.
In 2019, of a record 29.7 million people who went on a cruise, 46.5% embarked at a US port
Safer than home?
Mr Fain is hopeful that customers will be encouraged to return soon by a range of new safety measures, including reduced capacity, social distancing and enhanced cleaning processes.
"The combination of the vaccines and testing and contact tracing, all these kinds of protocols really helps us reach our objective, which is to make cruising safer than in your home community".
"We want you to be more comfortable walking on board a ship than walking down Main Street."
The Centre for Disease Control (CDC), which is the US federal public health agency, has been working closely with the industry to restart sailings.
It stopped them in March last year after deadly outbreaks on ships such as the Grand Princess and the Diamond Princess made international headlines.
In the past few weeks the CDC has laid out detailed instructions on how cruise operators can hold trial runs to test their coronavirus protocols. Alternatively it says sailings can resume if 98% of crew and 95% of passengers are vaccinated.
In a statement, it said it was working towards "the prospective resumption of passenger operations in the United States by mid-summer".
It adds that the "CDC acknowledges that it is not possible for cruising to be a zero-risk activity for spread of Covid-19".
Virus risk
There have been outbreaks on some of the few cruises that have run around the world since the pandemic began. Royal Caribbean has hosted more than 150,000 passengers during the pandemic, and reported just 21 cases of coronavirus.
The sailings from locations including the Canary Islands, Germany and Singapore have all been "cruises to nowhere", meaning they do not stop at other ports.
However Mr Fain think this will soon change. "Ports around the world are opening up and opening up very quickly.
"That's actually that's a very important part of cruising , the opportunity to go other places".
Mr Fain concedes more cases could occur on cruise ships as things open up. "There will be cases of Covid-19 on board ships, just as there are cases of Covid-19 onshore". It's why, he says, procedures will be in place to isolate any passengers who show symptoms.
"If it happens on the ship... you'll be treated exactly the same as you are onshore, and that will protect from this becoming a bigger outbreak."
Outside of the CDC's remit, sailings from several Caribbean islands, Greece and within UK waters are due to put the new safety protocols through a sterner examination in the next few weeks. This will mean 13 of the company's 59 ships are in operation.
Financial drain
The lack of sailings means Royal Caribbean, which has about a 25% share of the global cruise market, has lost more than $6.8bn since the pandemic began. By contrast, the company reported a profit of $1.7bn in 2019.
It has also meant raising more than $12bn from investors to keep the company going. Rivals such as Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line have felt similar financial pain.
"We think it's enough to see us through during these terrible times," says Mr Fain.
"I didn't like having to do it. But I was impressed at how quickly we're able to do it given a terrible market and a company with zero revenue."
Royal Caribbean senses financial improvements are on the horizon. Bookings are almost back to pre-pandemic levels with customers paying higher fares, something it says is a sign of strong long-term demand
Proof of vaccines
Mr Fain doesn't think that getting the industry fully up and running depends on the type of documents the airline industry is calling for.
"I don't think we're talking about a vaccine passport. I think we are talking about people who are vaccinated, and there are lots of different ways to show that".
He doesn't think that there are security issues around the paper documents issued to show vaccines have been given in countries such as the US and UK.
Asked about forgeries he replied: "We don't think many people would would even bother to do so."
"We've actually surveyed our guests and the vast bulk of the people that have booked our cruises have already been vaccinated, and they're volunteering it, they want it. And people want a place where they can go where they know they're safe."
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57202890
Kindly Stop Stealing from My Worldview
Article by David Culver Brenner
Kindly Stop Stealing from My Worldview
One of the more interesting contradictions in our public debate today is the tendency of fully secular folk to speak of the virtues of love and compassion, almost as if they invented them. Political liberals often criticize conservative Christians because they consider their religious and political beliefs woefully lacking in love. The funny thing is that, apart from a loving God, an ethical system based on "love" is as insubstantial as styrofoam peanuts or pixie dust. To reject God is to reject objective morality completely. Secular liberals are simply stealing from Christianity — and thus breaking the Seventh Commandment! — when they insist we love our neighbors and even our enemies.
I'm thinking primarily of secular liberals who dismiss the Christian God as a loving and lawgiving father and who embrace a purely materialistic cosmos. But we might also include religious liberals, who acknowledge God's existence but reject the authority and inspiration of Scripture. Such folk are practical atheists, since although they affirm God, they doubt his ability to communicate unequivocally with fallen humanity, thus leaving them no better off than an ardent atheist — stuck in a mass of moral confusion.
But, for the moment, let's limit ourselves to addressing our "atoms are the only thing" materialist friends. Think about it: you can't assert that mindless and soulless atoms — which make up everything that we can detect with our senses, including ourselves — are all there is, yet continue to insist that we love our neighbors. Matter doesn't tell us how to live; in fact, matter doesn't speak at all as regards ethical behavior. Atheists are quite right in this regard: morality is purely subjective, existing only in our minds, in a godless universe.
If the cosmos consists merely of atoms ("materialism" or "naturalism"), and life on Earth is merely the result of a radically improbable string of random events, moral language has zero validity. To assess one kind of behavior (caring for an orphan, for instance) as superior to another kind of behavior (beating an orphan, on the other hand) is nonsensical. In the neo-Darwinian view, each behavior was precipitated by molecular reactions in the brain, governed by the laws of physics.
How can you blame the orphan-beater for acting in ways controlled by chemistry and physics, as opposed to a rational mind and moral conscience that were gifted to him supernaturally? Or why is the one who loves and cares for the orphan deserving of praise if such love is only the product a "lucky" series of chemical events in the brain? In short, materialism eviscerates human blame and credit.
Even words like "lucky" are prohibited if atheism is true, because they generally are not completely devoid of moral content. Wouldn't it have been just as "lucky" if the cosmos and life had never emerged? Why should the world's existence be better or worse than its non-existence? If God either doesn't exist or hasn't revealed Himself to us, all moral judgments simply reflect our subjective biases and feelings. And, absent God, such judgments would, again, result solely from electrical-chemical events in our brains. Why should we trust them?
Albert Camus, an honest atheist who understood atheism's implications perfectly, concluded that the only serious question for the atheist was whether or not to commit suicide. In other words, existence and non-existence are equally meaningless. In taking his own life, he answered the question with perfect logic.
Can Love's Utility Compel Us to Love?
Evolutionary biology offers a glimmer of hope to our atheist and agnostic friends struggling to assert that love has a superior claim to hatred's on the human heart. They can point to the emergence of cooperation and kin altruism as crucial evolutionary milestones that resulted in the success of the human species.
But while Darwinists arguably can claim "love" — expressed in cooperation — has had evolutionary utility in advancing the human species, it can never say love is intrinsically good or true. Perhaps love-fueled cooperation helped us become the dominant species on Earth by making us more adaptable and less susceptible to nature's tantrums. Consequently, if love has become embedded in our genes over time, then our "love" was programmed into our DNA to increase the odds of individual and group survival. In short, any acts of love we perform were pre-determined and essentially selfish — designed solely to keep us alive as a species. Not very romantic, huh?
A crafty materialist might argue that, since nature has blessed cooperation and altruism, nature itself inherently favors love. But why should that compel us to act accordingly? In a purely material universe, preferring "utility" and "progress" is chock-full of unsupported value assumptions. Materialism is unable to justify the idea that bugs are inferior to human beings or that complexity is any better than primitivism.
Hence, saying nature has a moral character veers right into pantheism. Sorry, but that's a religious idea, my atheist friends. Indeed, two of the world's major religions — Buddhism and Hinduism — are grounded in pantheism.
Naturally, there are psychological benefits to love as well — loving others and being loved by them makes us feel good. But heroin and crack make us feel good, too — or so I'm told. At bottom, materialistic love is merely a DNA-programmed chemical response in our brains. There is zero metaphysical grounding that assures us that it is right, good, and true.
Christianity, on the other hand, tells us that love is true, because the God of love is also the God of truth. The three-personal God not only defines and embodies love, but models love relationally — something unique among all religions. Jesus, by His life and especially in His death, showed us what love is, through His own loving obedience to the Father.
God, who can only speak truth, commands us to likewise love one another. We can say, therefore, that love is intrinsically good — it is not merely utilitarian. So "love your neighbor as yourself" is an objective moral law binding on all of us. For an atheist, the notion that love is better than hate is a weightless opinion emanating from random electro-chemical firings in the brain.
So next time an atheist friend says we should be loving, gently ask how he came to that conclusion, because materialism is no more or less partial to love than it is to hate. "True" love is rooted only in the will and character of the eternal, immutable God.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/05/kindly_stop_stealing_from_my_worldview.html
Why Are Democrats So Afraid of Election Audits?
Democrats claim election audits like the one in Arizona are an existential threat to democracy, but it’s difficult to see how—unless they reveal that our elections have been hijacked.
Democrats are positively terrified of election audits that aren’t completely controlled by the political establishment. If there’s a chance an audit might reveal meaningful information, you can bet Democrats (and certain weak Republicans) will stridently oppose it. The only audits Democrats and their allies support are the ones designed to rubber-stamp previous conclusions.
The increasingly desperate attacks on the ongoing audit in Maricopa County, Arizona—particularly those intended to undermine the credibility of the auditors—show just how much the Democratic Party establishment fears the whole process. Their entire argument is based on sarcasm, scorn, and scare quotes.
The auditors are inspecting the paper that ballots were printed on? They must believe in a far-fetched conspiracy theory!
The auditors are checking to make sure the ballots don’t have watermarks that are not supposed to be there? They must be members of fringe online message boards!
The audit is being funded primarily by private donations? It must be an elaborate “grift” rather than a serious fact-finding effort (not to mention they need the funds to fend off the litany of lawsuits they’re facing).
By smearing the auditors as corrupt and/or inept, and the audit itself as a partisan stunt, leftists are hoping they can discredit the process and convince Americans to stop asking pesky questions about whether any laws were broken or procedural loopholes exploited during the 2020 elections. That’s the way people respond to questions when they don’t want anyone to know the answers.
It’s not just the Arizona audit, either. Democrats and their media allies are already fully engaged in a crusade to preemptively impugn the legitimacy of any audits that might be conducted in other states, describing conservative support for audits in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere as “a bid to bolster former President Donald Trump’s lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.”
If they really believe the 2020 elections were “the most secure in American history,” then they should welcome audits as a way of substantiating that claim. Indeed, they should even be celebrating audits run by Republicans, since their conclusions will carry so much more weight with GOP voters. That said, the Arizona auditors have practically been begging Democrats to participate, but the Democrats have only been interested in attacking the process from afar.
Neither should the Democrats be afraid of incompetence or chicanery. The American people are savvy enough to see through a poorly crafted deception, especially since the mainstream media are already doing everything in their power to find flaws in the audit process they can expose. And again, the auditors repeatedly have invited their critics to engage in constructive cooperation, only to be met with hostility.
Even as they attack the audits, liberals also love to argue that they’re redundant and unnecessary, pointing out that election officials in Arizona and Georgia have already conducted their own post-election audits. They always neglect to mention, however, that these were partial audits, not comprehensive reviews like the one being conducted in Maricopa County. They also leave out the fact that they were designed to validate what took place, rather than identify potential vulnerabilities in the election process that might have been exploited.
We have laws for a reason, and if laws were broken during the 2020 election, then the American people have a right to know what happened and why. Maybe there was no fraud—but watching state and local election officials pat themselves on the back for a job well done does nothing to dispel widespread public concerns.
Democrats claim that election audits like the one in Arizona are an existential threat to democracy, but it’s difficult to see how that could be the case unless they reveal that our elections have been hijacked by political partisans.
Every time you see a liberal melting down about election audits, just ask yourself: What are they so afraid of?
When America's faith shifts from God to politicians
Article by Jaso D. Bland in The American Thinker
When America's faith shifts from God to politicians
The current culture war is more than just about politics — it's about faith! Today's culture increasingly places its faith in politicians and party rather than true religion.
A Pew Research Forum article from 2019 highlighted the ongoing decline of the American Christian. This decline continues into 2021 under the ever-indulgent, narcissistic American culture built around social-media fame-seekers and a never-ending focus on me above everyone else. Ours is now a postmodern culture where truth is what you make it, no longer grounded in ethical or moral standards.
As the percentage of Christians, and religious people in general, declines, so too does the moral compass within our society. But are we surprised after decades of effort meant to undermine the authority of the Bible or the belief in a sovereign Creator?
Radical progressives continue to denigrate faith in anything other than the state. In their minds, faith should be focused on politicians, their programs, and ultimately what they give you. Faith is no longer a spiritual exercise, but rather blind allegiance to a party or idea. Think about the cult of personality built around Obama, the continued efforts to convince everyone of the effects of global warming, or the infallibility of Dr. Fauci. The left is working its hardest to shore up its acolytes and seek out new converts through its missionary efforts on the nightly news.
As a generation of people place their faith in politicians, they begin to lose more and more of their own independence and freedom. They have placed their faith in government rather than a Creator who holds the answers to life's most difficult questions, so they bend to the will of the political elites, hoping and waiting for answers. They pay homage and dutifully follow the direction of their political leadership, looking for reassurance and meaning. Gone is the idea of self-thought, self-reliance, or a questioning attitude about government control meant to manage their daily lives. Instead, there is only blind faith and a regurgitation of political talking points to prove allegiance.
This misplaced faith continues to strip our cultural heritage. Faith in today's political elites means disregarding the ideas of the Constitution. Instead, they blindly trust today's political elites as more intellectually refined than our forefathers. It shows a disregard for moral authority given to us by a Creator. "In God We Trust" is no longer a motto to live by, but something to be canceled. Their trust instead lies with corrupt politicians — people who will eventually let them down.
On the other hand, those who profess their faith as Christians have been some of the most resilient people throughout the past year. Christians with a strong faith trusted God to protect and guide them through the uncertainty of COVID and cultural upheaval. They exhibited an unchanging moral foundation, a certainty about what's right and wrong, a focus on loving their neighbor and caring for one another, regardless of skin color or beliefs. People of true faith didn't cower in fear, but rather tried to live life as normal as possible.
Our culture needs true faith, not political spiritualism. People need to return to what made America special, a place where moral certainty exists, where people worship freely without fear of cancelation, where their faith is placed in God not politicians.
When the scales of life tip toward a sovereign Creator and a moral foundation, rather than fallible politicians, party, or narcissistic egoism, people will regain their true independence and freedom to live their lives. In this way, people will exhibit true faith, and once again as a society we may say "In God We Trust."
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/05/when_americas_faith_shifts_from_god_to_politicians.html
What Joe Biden Demanded of Israel in Exchange for a Cease-Fire Will Infuriate You
A tentative cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is currently holding in Gaza while tensions are high run in the region. Hamas stood on the ruins of a bombed building earlier today to declare victory, while the Biden administration is already seeking to take credit for the halt in hostilities. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the area on Tuesday for a photo-op.
Meanwhile, details are coming out about exactly what Biden demanded of Israel, and it will likely infuriate you.
Let’s take all three of these things, because they only get more and more absurd as we go. In regards to the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, those were Jewish-owned properties that Palestinians had been squatting on for decades, refusing to pay restitution. The cases were adjudicated through the courts over many years. Why should Israel simply abscond from lawful evictions because it makes terrorists mad?
Further, how is Israel supposed to lower tensions on the Temple Mount when Palestinians keep attacking Jews who go there, using the mosque as a staging area? The Temple Mount is already locked down in the sense that Jews aren’t even allowed to pray there. How much more appeasement is necessary? Of course, we know the answer to that. Hamas wants Israel wiped off the face of the map. They don’t care about “lowered tensions.”
Both of those demands are a resetting of the status quo we saw under the Obama administration, which led nowhere and only caused more violence and suffering. Donald Trump had successfully marginalized Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, leading to breakthrough peace deals between Israel and Arab nations. That’s all getting blown up now, in favor of yet more appeasement that will lead nowhere.
Yet, it’s the last demand that should really rub you the wrong way. Biden asked that Jews no longer celebrate Jerusalem Flag day, a holiday where Jews take the streets to celebrate their nation. Imagine if another country demanded we stopped celebrating the Fourth of July or Memorial Day, in exchange for them not bombing us. How well would that go over?
The entire thing is insane and what the Biden administration is doing is going to lead to worse outcomes than had they just stayed out of it. Hamas does not want peace, nor do they care about cease-fires.
What they wanted from all this was favorable press to help their cause and an excuse to kill Jews. Biden and his media allies handed them that on a silver platter, and instead of making serious demands of the Palestinians in return, it’s Israel that gets read the riot act. Some ally we are.