🍷🎉 Sound of Freedom crosses the 150 million dollars mark

 

Source: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/sound-of-freedom-breaks-150-million-despite-facing-resistance/

The movie “Sound of Freedom” has reached a major milestone, earning over $150 million at the box office in the four weeks since its release.

The anti-human trafficking movie Sound of Freedom starring Jim Caviezel is close to collecting $150 million at the US box office defeating all odds. The budget of the movie is nearly $15 million. pic.twitter.com/POrjnjqj9G

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) August 2, 2023

The movie tells the story of Tim Ballard, an American anti-human trafficking activist who founded Operation Underground Railroad. Ballard had served 12 years in the Department of Homeland Security, but decided to quit after he was told to stand down while trying to free kids from human traffickers in South America.

After leaving the DHS he stayed in Columbia in order to conduct a dangerous mission to rescue a group of kids who were being held captive by child traffickers.

The movie itself had concluded filming and was a finished product in 2018, and was then bought by Fox entertainment. However, after Disney bought Fox entertainment, the film was shelved and not released until the distribution rights were sold to Angel Studios years later.

The movie was released on July 4th, 2023 by Angel Studios which states on their website that their mission is to build a “home for stories that amplify light.”

With a total budget of $14.5 million, and very limited marketing, the movie surpassed expectations and as of Saturday has made $158,640,670 according to BoxOfficeMojo, more than ten times its budget.

The movie has seen tremendous success even though it has yet to be released internationally, being only released in the United States and Canada so far.

With almost no marketing for movie, which currently boasts a 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the studio implemented the pay it forward method because of their belief in the strong message that it delivers, and to get as many people to view it as possible.

Their goal was to have audiences across the country pay for extra tickets on the studio’s website so that others, who cannot afford to buy a ticket, are able to claim them and view the film as well.

The goal was to have two million tickets available for the public. As of Saturday, the website currently has 14,526,355 tickets available to be claimed.

45th President Donald Trump also supported the film, and hosted a free screening at his private golf club in New Jersey in July. The screening was attended by Ballard, the actor who portrays him, Jim Caviezel, and the movie’s producer, Eduardo Verastegui.

The Slave 2 Nothing foundation, created by In-N-Out’s owner Lynsi Snyder, which also works against human trafficking and assists individuals with substance abuse, has decided to support the film and is hosting six free screening of the movie throughout August at various movie theaters in California, Texas, and Nevada.

The registration forms for the screening are on the foundation’s website, which states that “tickets are free on a first come, first served basis.”

Although being attacked as a “QAnon conspiracy theory movie,” the film, which also has a message for the audience from Caviezel at its conclusion, has seen tremendous success largely due to the audience and word of mouth, along with Caviezel’s dedication to bring awareness to the movie and the crisis of child trafficking.

When asked about his dedication and motivation to work on this film, Caviezel replied by saying that “God’s children are not for sale.”

And we Know and Badlands Media- August 5

 

What I saw last night and today with the Writers Guild was this: Their so called 'leadership' value their own egos and demands over the safety and well being of their own members. Instead of resuming negotiations with the studios, they would rather continue to make inflammatory accusations, make hidious demands that would make everyone suffer, and of course, refuse to negotiate and say that the studios themselves refuse to negotiate with them!

So yes, they would all rather drag themselves, and every member of their union to Hell fighting a losing battle for unreasonable demands that can't be met, and they bloody don't care how many shows and movies get cancelled and how many people lose their homes over their selfishness!

I'm done with those assholes, and I'm done with SAG as well since their 'leadership' is as rotten as well. If they wish to go bankrupt and have every show cancelled because they bloody refuse to act like adults and negotiate with the studios fairly, then so be it! Nobody with a brain will feel sorry for them if they do.

If all this nonsense ends because of mutinies breaking out in the unions, or with the networks breaking away from the streamers and waivering all their shows, then the unions only have themselves to blame for refusing to play fair. They could've all prevented this if they had just taken the first deal the studios offered them, instead they have chosen the wrong path, and they refuse to get off it.

God help them, and all their members who are stuck being dragged down with them if they don't want to.

Biden Admin Planning to Evade Congress with Secret New Nuclear Deal with Iran

The agreement includes major U.S. concessions with reportedly little given in return

by Fred Fleitz for American Greatness

Question: How can the Biden administration implement a new nuclear agreement with Iran that is far more dangerous than the Obama administration’s 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement and avoid criticism of the agreement from the American public and Congress?

Answer: Negotiate a secret, oral nuclear agreement with Iran so there is nothing for the American people and Congress to see.

Several press outlets, including Haaretz, Axios and The Jerusalem Post, have confirmed this secret nuclear deal. The agreement reportedly is a set of unwritten “understandings” and is the result of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran that began in May, with Oman serving as a mediator. 

Although Biden officials have repeatedly denied holding talks with Iran to reach a new nuclear deal, they also have criticized Israel for leaking details of the talks to the press. 

The new nuclear deal has been described as an interim agreement but includes major U.S. concessions to Iran. They include “freezing” Iranian enrichment of uranium to 60% uranium-235, a dangerous concession that puts Iran two weeks away or less from producing weapons-grade uranium. Iran also will keep its nuclear infrastructure, including advanced uranium centrifuges, and would be permitted to continue to develop this technology. 

Iran reportedly has agreed under the deal to stop its proxy groups from attacking U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq and to cooperate with IAEA investigations of its nuclear program. There were discussions of Iran halting military sales to Russia, but The Jerusalem Post reported on July 20 that this probably would not be part of the agreement. 

The new agreement may include a U.S.-Russia prisoner exchange that would actually be U.S. ransom payments to Tehran to win the freedom of three American hostages – Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz – who are serving prison sentences on fabricated espionage charges. The prisoner release may not be part of the final agreement due to resistance from Iran. 

In exchange for agreeing to the above requirements, Iran will receive over $20 billion in sanctions relief, which would come from the U.S. dropping its opposition to Iran accessing its frozen assets held in foreign banks. The U.S. also reportedly has agreed not to impose new sanctions on Iran.

Although it is unclear whether the new nuclear deal has been finalized, Iran already received partial sanctions relief under the agreement when the U.S. issued a sanctions waiver in mid-July, allowing Iraq to pay Iran for electricity via non-Iraqi banks. The U.S. stipulated that Iran could only use these funds for humanitarian purposes. However, since money is fungible, this restriction is meaningless. 

Several factors appear to be behind the new secret, unwritten nuclear deal with Iran.

First, the Biden administration refuses to give up its obsession with reversing President Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the deeply flawed JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran.

Second, its efforts in 2021 and 2022 with European states, Russia and China to revive the JCPOA failed due to Iran’s refusal to negotiate in good faith.

And third, the formal written nuclear agreement that lifts most sanctions on Iran that Biden officials were seeking in 2021 and 2022 is no longer politically viable because of a surge in Iran’s belligerent behavior over the last 18 months, including major advances in its nuclear program that Tehran refuses to give up; Iran’s brutal, nationwide crackdown in response to mass protests over the killing of Mahsa Amini; selling attack drones and other weapons to Russia for its use in the Ukraine war; and attacks on almost two dozen oil tankers and other commercial ships since 2021.

So, to implement an agreement that would be both highly controversial and unpopular in the U.S., Biden officials are using deception to hide this agreement from the American people.

This subterfuge not only defies congressional oversight of U.S. foreign policy, it is a clear violation of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), which requires that any nuclear agreement with Iran or agreement to lift U.S. sanctions on Iran be submitted to Congress for review. INARA also allows Congress to vote to disapprove any new nuclear deal with Iran. 

There have been strong Congressional reactions to the secret, unwritten nuclear deal.

In a June 15, 2023, letter to President Biden, Congressman Michael McCaul, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, warned Biden officials against attempting to evade congressional oversight of a new nuclear deal with Iran and INARA and said, “any arrangement or understanding with Iran, even informal, requires submission to Congress.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said on June 15, “I’m sorely disappointed at Biden admin. for their willingness to continue working on a behind-closed-doors deal with Iran. It’s abhorrent if they’re releasing dollars to Iran which we know will go to violent extremist organizations.”

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about the reported secret nuclear deal with Iran in a July 31 Newsmax TV interview, he said, “I think that any deal with Iran that doesn’t set back Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is basically not worth it because it means nothing. They basically take what you give them, but they don’t set back. They don’t roll back the capacity to produce nuclear weapons or the components of nuclear weapons. So, you really get nothing for it.”

For President Biden’s critics, the secret, unwritten Iran nuclear deal is consistent with many other examples of his administration ignoring the law and Congress to achieve its policy objectives. This instance is much more serious since it locks in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program at a high level and will provide Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief that it is certain to spend on supporting terrorism, missile and nuclear programs, and meddling in regional conflicts. At the same time, the agreement reportedly will do nothing to stop Iran from sending weapons to Russia to use in the war in Ukraine. 

This naïve agreement is another sign of national security malpractice by this administration that will weaken American security and embolden our enemies. It is imperative that Congress act immediately on a bipartisan basis to stop President Biden’s secret, unwritten nuclear deal with Iran. 

America’s Debt Rating Downgrade Shows Washington Is Still Building Back Bankrupt

Presidents and politicians have ignored the serious fiscal problems within our nation — and we will soon face a reckoning.

Christopher Jacobs reporting for The Federalist

While the press and the American people focused on the Justice Department’s latest indictment of President Trump, another no less significant event was taking place on Tuesday afternoon. Specifically, Fitch Ratings announced it had officially downgraded the United States’ credit rating.

The action by Fitch comes a dozen years after Standard and Poor’s downgraded the federal government’s debt rating, meaning that two of the three credit rating agencies have stripped Washington of its vaunted “AAA” status. 

It is but the latest indication of how presidents and politicians from both parties have ignored the serious fiscal problems within our nation — and yet another warning of the reckoning we will ultimately face as a people.

Storm Clouds Ahead

Fitch’s statement said that “the rating downgrade … reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance … over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions.”

The objections to “standoffs and last-minute resolutions” seems off-base, seeing as how Congress only pretends to care about fiscal reform in the face of an imminent deadline. None other than Joe Biden himself admitted back in 1984 that Congress “should be focused on taking on the tough measures” to lower spending “when you have to raise the debt ceiling again.”

But when it comes to the deterioration of the nation’s fiscal position, Fitch is bang on the money in highlighting the depth of our problems. With regards to general government deficits — which include those incurred by state and local governments — Fitch estimates they will rise from 3.7 percent of GDP last year to 6.3 percent this year, 6.6 percent next year, and 6.9 percent of GDP in 2025.

This significant increase in deficits comes at a time when (thus far at least) the economy continues to grow at a moderate pace, and unemployment remains at historically low levels. If governments are incurring this amount of debt in comparatively good economic times, what will happen if the nation faces another severe recession?

Rising Debt

The accumulated deficits of the past several decades have led to sizable growth in the national debt. Consider that when S&P downgraded the federal credit rating in 2011, the federal debt stood at roughly 65 percent of GDP. Now, 12 years later, it has risen to nearly 100 percent, and estimates suggest it will continue to rise sharply higher.

Fitch noted that with respect to general government debt (which again includes that incurred by state and local governments), the United States is projected to have a debt ratio over three times higher than the median country with an “AAA” rating, and over 2.5 times the median country with “AA” credit by 2025.

In many respects, therefore, the question isn’t why Fitch selected this time to downgrade our debt, but why it took so long to do so.

Tax and Spend

In a statement disagreeing with Fitch’s decision, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen among other things claimed that governance had improved under President Biden, due in part to the passage of legislation to “invest in infrastructure, and make other investments in America’s competitiveness.”

Only in an administration led by someone who once famously claimed that “we gotta go spend money to keep from going bankrupt” could an official claim with a straight face that making “investments” will somehow reduce our growing deficits in debt.

In fact, a Goldman Sachs report issued in March concluded that the green energy subsidies included in the Inflation (Reduction) Act will cost $1.2 trillion — more than three times the original Congressional Budget Office cost.

Of course, Yellen and Biden have company in their spendthrift ways. When drafting bills this summer, even House Republicans, who claim they want to eliminate the Covid-era binge still present in Congress’s annual spending bills, couldn’t help but include thousands of earmarks — er, I mean, “community project funding” — to bring the bacon home to their districts.

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the character Mike Campbell, when asked how he went bankrupt, responded, “Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly.” Hemingway’s quote provides an apt metaphor — and warning — to Washington politicians who keep whistling past our fiscal graveyard.

The first phase went on for decades. The latter could well be arriving far sooner than anyone thinks.

Watch: Kamala Harris Piles on the ‘Bidenomics’ Cringe During Speech in D.C.

Sister Toldjah reporting for RedState 

Throughout the entirety of Joe Biden’s presidency so far, the microscope has been put on Kamala Harris‘ performance as vice president, not because she’s a woman (though her fans would disagree) but because Biden is 80 years old and questions about his age and health have persisted since 2019.

But if current polling trends are a reliable indicator, a majority of Americans continue to be unimpressed by Biden’s veep, something that is entirely understandable considering her penchant for awkward moments and cringe word salads that even her supporters sometimes have trouble deciphering.

Case in point, Harris’ appearance during an event Friday in Washington, D.C., where she gave a speech on the “Impacts of Bidenomics and Announcing Increasing Support for Small Businesses.”

There were problems throughout Harris’ speech, however, as the dreaded Kamala Cackle made an appearance multiple times, including one where she urged the audience to clap in a scene that was reminiscent of Jeb Bush’s infamous “please clap” moment during his failed 2016 presidential campaign.

Watch:

At one point, Harris even cackled when she talked about being “very proud” of Bidenomics as though not even she could get the words out with a straight face.

Watch:

As far as the Biden-Harris administration is concerned, it would be great going into 2024 if most Americans were also laughing about Bidenomics. Unfortunately for them, however, the polls indicate most people don’t find anything remotely funny about it – and that they blame Joe Biden for their current financial predicament.

Last but not least, no “cringe Kamala” post would be complete without a clip of Harris making a food purchase from a local vendor. Here, we see Harris chatting up a cheesemaker about what pairs good with cream cheese. Her response to the answer was straight out of LOLsville.

“Quite decadent!”

Watch:

And to think that this is who Democrats want to present to the American people as ready, willing, and more than capable to lead in the event Joe Biden retires at the end of this term or, God forbid, has a health issue that requires the Vice President to step into his place. Sadly for his reelection team, Kamala Harris continues to demonstrate that their narratives about her will, like Joe Biden himself, have an uphill climb in terms of selling them to fed-up voters who have had just about enough of both of them — and for good reason.

Amending the Constitution: A Proposal

posted by award Clark at RedStateVIP 

To that end, I’d like to propose a few amendments to the Constitution, to hopefully help to unscrew the Charlie Foxtrot the Federal government has become. Bear in mind that I have absolutely no illusion that these will ever come to fruition; this is purely a pie-in-the-sky wish list of things I would implement were I granted my druthers.

So, without further ado, here they are. You’ll note that I’m not presenting these in legalese but in plain English; I’m a big fan of being concise and to the point.

Amendment 28 – Term and Service Limits

Text

The President is limited to one six-year term. Senators are limited to one six-year term. Representatives are limited to three, two-year terms. Following the allowed terms, all such persons are forever prohibited from holding elected, appointed, or hired office at the Federal level, nor shall any such persons receive any benefits or pensions once leaving office, except in the event of a service-connected permanent injury or disability.

Purpose:

No more ‘political class,’ obviously. No more lifetime pols suckling at the taxpayer-funded governmental teat for life. A true citizen legislature: you spend some time in office, then go back and live in the mess you made. No more growing monstrously rich on the Biden Graft Plan.

Amendment 29 – Qualification of Voters

Text

The franchise is limited to those citizens of the United States who have attained the age of 18 on the day of the election, who possess a government-issued photo ID and present the ID at the polling station, and who have filed a tax return on the year previous to the election showing a net payment of taxes at the Federal level. Retirees must show a net payment of taxes in their last full year of employment. All votes shall be cast in person at a designated polling station. Ballot harvesting and mail-in voting, excepting requested absentee ballots, are prohibited.

Purpose:

No skin in the game? You don’t vote. Add a healthy dose of election integrity to that; the 29th Amendment wouldn’t make cheating impossible, but it would make it a lot harder. There’s probably a more appropriate way to handle retirees who have been productive but who are enjoying being employment-free; but I’m having a hard time parsing the language. That would have to be a part of Amendment 29, though.

Amendment 30 – Constitutional Tribunal

Text

A fourth branch of government is established, the Constitutional Tribunal, consisting of three Tribunes from each State: One elected by the eligible voters of the State, one appointed by the State legislature, and one selected at random from the rolls of eligible voters. The purpose of the Tribunal is to determine the Constitutionality of all new laws and regulations, as defined in Amendment 31.

Purpose:

In our current system, career pols freely pass laws that cannot and should not pass Constitutional muster. Unfortunately, someone with “standing” has to challenge those laws to get them tossed out, and the people who passed those laws face no consequences. So let’s have a new branch of government that does nothing else but determine the Constitutionality of new laws and regulations, and let’s have the selection of the members be split among various groups with differing priorities. This leads us to…

Amendment 31 – Constitutional Challenge of Laws/Regulations

Text

All new laws and regulations from any source at the Federal level are considered to be potentially unconstitutional and shall not take effect until approved by a two-thirds vote of the Constitutional Tribunal. In the event of a law or regulation being determined to be prohibited by the Constitution, any elected officials who authored, sponsored, or co-sponsored the legislation, or any appointed or hired officials who authored the regulation in whole or in part, shall be immediately removed from office and henceforth prohibited from any elected, appointed, or hired office at the Federal level.

Purpose:

As noted above: Consequences. Pass a law or write a regulation that you haven’t absolutely determined is in concord with the Constitution? No soup for you! You are out on your butt and proscribed from ever holding such a position of authority again. I did not include, but am willing to consider including, any President who knowingly signs an unconstitutional bill into law.

Note that none of these proposed amendments can be or should be done by statute. These things will fundamentally change the nation, which means changing the Constitution. That’s difficult by design, and it’s good that this is so. But that shouldn’t stop one from kicking around the idea; a man’s reach, after all, should exceed his grasp.

A Non-Pretending Discussion About Barack Obama

Every once in a while, you stumble upon an article that is insightful and valuable. This outline is intended to draw everyone’s attention to one of those articles.  ~ SEE HERE

Writing in Tablet Mag, David Samuels outlines his discussion with very well-respected historian David Garrow about Barack Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King, but mostly about Obama.

It is an intensely interesting albeit very long read, much of it drawn from a transcript of the conversation initiated by Samuels about the research Garrow did for his 2017 book on Obama called “Rising Star.”

The type of intense, deeply cited and granular research that David Garrow did for his book, is the type of research historians 50-years from now will be citing as they outline the legacy of President Obama.  This is also the type of research and non-pretending analysis you will never see approved for conversation by those who currently maintain the false pretense of the subject.

“I doubt that in the long run, Obama’s foreign-policy failures are going to be seen as the most important part of his legacy. I think future historians are going to look at the Obama presidency and see it as the moment when this new oligarchy merged with the Democratic Party and used the capacities of these new technologies and the power of this new class of people, the oligarchs and their servants, to create a new apparatus of social control. How far they can go with it, what the limits are … you see them trying to test it out every week or so.”  ~ David Samuels

Garrow and Samuels both discuss Barack Obama in a way that is extremely accurate; as a result, antithetical to the populism that surrounds the former President.  People who have followed political events will bathe in the truthfulness of the discussion.  Obama, a man created by his own intent and purpose, to present himself and his transitional identity to a select audience of affluent white liberals.  This audience would help Obama achieve his narcissistic life goal to have a “valet and private plane”, while simultaneously assuaging their white guilt.  The plan worked swimmingly.

Samuels talks about the curiosity of President Obama maintaining his residence in the nation’s capital, an often-visited command center in Washington DC, where important members of the current administration assemble at times, and secret service vehicles are often spotted coming and going. Yet, for some odd reason, the DC media network who are directly responsible for tracking and outlining the comings and goings of those in power, are seemingly incurious about this home/headquarters.

[…] Samuels: “The easy explanation, of course, is that Joe Biden is not running that part of his administration. Obama is. He doesn’t even have to pick up the phone because all of his people are already inside the White House. They hold the Iran file. Tony Blinken doesn’t.”

[Garrow interjecting] “Rob Malley was the guy on that.”

Samuels: “Rob Malley is just one person. Brett McGurk. Dan Shapiro in Israel. Lisa Monaco in Justice. Susan Rice running domestic policy. It’s turtles all the way down. There are obviously large parts of White House policymaking that belong to Barack Obama because they’re staffed by his people, who worked for him and no doubt report back to him. Personnel is policy, as they say in Washington.

Which to me is a very odd and kind of spooky arrangement. Spooky, because it is happening outside the constitutional framework of the U.S. government, and yet somehow it’s been placed off the list of permitted subjects to report on. Which is a pretty good indicator of the extent to which the information we get, and public reactions to that information, is being successfully controlled. How and by whom remain open questions, the quick answer to which is that the American press has become a subset of partisan comms.”  (link)

There is a perspective of genuine historically correct discussion between Samuels and Garrow that is very interesting.  Factually, there are a lot of reference citations in the Obama tenure that reconcile well with how Garrow outlines the process inside the mind of Barack Obama.

You might remember, the day after the Sept 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, a seemingly detached Obama hops a flight aboard AF1 that morning at 6:00am to go west campaigning and collecting donor checks in Nevada and California.  The ego legacy superseding the potential for damaging political consequences.

In addition to Garrow outlining the lack of deep consequential relationships in the life of Obama, a man perpetually unmoored from any roots or familial guidance, able to morph himself to the framework of an image he also was responsible for creating – there are a lot more events in/around the era of Obama that reconcile.

I am going to draw attention to one such example, because this is the first time I have seen anyone, other than myself, connect the dots of the new surveillance state to the intents and purposes of Obama’s tenure in office.   As noted during the conversation, David Samuels says…

….”So Obama starts out as an eloquent opponent of the Patriot Act, etc., etc. By the end of his presidency, his people are unmasking intercepts of his political opponents every day, and the FBI is spying on Donald Trump.”… 

The response from Garrow is as succinct as it is accurate, “that’s right!”

This is my happy place.  I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to see an article that drops all of the pretending and starts to talk about the reality of our situation.  If we stop pretending we unite as a country, because we all start to accept the same baselines.

The fraud that has been purposefully deployed as a tool for fundamental change, can only exist if people pretend that fraud and corruption does not exist.  Stop pretending, and the sunlight of commonality begins to unite our nation.

This weaponized national security state will be the legacy of President Obama.

While future historians may reference the obvious failures in almost all of Obama’s foreign policy, specifically the events in the Middle East and ISIS manifest, the core of what will be attributed to President Obama will be the weaponized surveillance state using all the tools created, fine-tuned and deployed during his time in office.

All of that machinery within the, DHS, NSA, FBI, DOJ-NSD, ODNI, is still running on autopilot – massively controlling the mechanics of communication and social media, thanks to the pathways, networks and systems President Obama authorized.

More to follow…