With all that was said in the previous post, while the clowns appear to be influentially running the circus, they're not in charge. We live in a time where both major political parties are failing us. However, at present, it is the Republicans who are currently in the driver's seat. So why are they not steering their president's agenda? Why so many impediments? Why is everything bogging down in the Senate?
Ignoring the behavior for a moment (and we'll get to that), a common assertion among the established polity is to remind everyone that they don't have a supermajority. So, after being told for years that 'we need the House...oh, now we need the Senate...oh, now we need the Presidency,' now there's another oh moment as we have to endure the droning chant of "filibuster, filibuster!" Never mind that when Harry Reid controlled the Senate, he also controlled discretion on when and when not to use this invention of the Senate (not the Constitution) to pass his president's agenda. But it's obvious that Mitch doesn't have any similar notion or drive to do likewise for his constituency, much less his commander-in-chief.
With all his lieutenants from the Corkers to the McCains, it is one Mitch McConnell who continues to be a major impediment in blocking progress towards not just the president's agenda, but an overall more conservative direction. And it is to this vital point precisely why such a caricature needs to be escorted out of the leadership role in the U.S. Senate...
CR: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has a stunning dearth of knowledge when it comes to the Tea Party.
President Donald Trump and McConnell gave a joint press conference in the Rose Garden [last] Monday, in which McConnell doubled down on his support for establishment candidates. Conservatives simply cannot win general elections, the senator from Kentucky said.
McConnell sorely needs a history lesson on the Tea Party, and LevinTV host Mark Levin was happy to oblige.
“Winners make policy and losers go home,” McConnell said.
Marco Rubio. Mike Lee. Rand Paul. Ted Cruz. These are but a few winning Tea Party candidates that were opposed by the establishment but are now key figures in the Republican majority, Levin reminded.
“His mentality is that conservatism can’t win,” Levin said. “This is why McConnell must go. The United States Senate is not going to move. It’s not going to embrace conservative principles. It’s not going to embrace the Constitution. It’s not gonna deal with the debt. It’s not gonna deal with the border. The United States Senate is not going to move from its current position unless Mitch McConnell is thrown out.”
But by all means, PLEASE, take the lackluster lieutenants with him! Their disastrous records speak for themselves. Finally, some of these RINOs are jumping ship. Unfortunately, this is allowing them the levity to disgrace themselves, their party and any semblance of principle on the way out...
CR: LevinTV host Mark Levin started his radio show Tuesday evening tearing into retiring Senators Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., two officials who have consistently done great obstructionist harm to the conservative agenda.
“As a result of being exposed, they choose not to seek reelection,” Levin said. Both currently retain an "F" Conservative Review Liberty Score.
“It is their own constituents for whom they have utter contempt,” he added, pointing out that both were long shots for reelection.
Levin ripped Flake for insulting the conservative grassroots and reminded of Corker's central role in helping Barack Obama pass the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
And I'd be remiss without saying more about this nonsense. We understand the Democrats' tantrums...Hillary didn't win, so they rage. However, for these entrenched Republicans, the criticism (something that's always shockingly more severe towards their ally than their adversary) appears to be about a citizen-politician being elected president under a party they were convinced they solely owned and operated...
McConnell, McCain, Corker, Flake...a cabal of the most malicious RINOs on Capitol Hill who, mark my words, are planning to stifle anything of substance or accomplishment from happening over the next year, be that from Trump or the handful of conservative senators. For all intents and purposes, they're obstructionist Democrats for the remainder of their terms, something that should already be recognizable with the ever-increasing visibility and voice the lib press grants them. In other words, useful idiots.
And speaking of accomplishments, as well as broadly returning to records, beyond the Gorsuch nomination, this McConnell-led Senate's benchmark goals have been nihil. Well, actually, there is one significant achievement (along with the House), but it's definitely not one to boast over...
CNSNews: Real federal spending in fiscal 2017, which ended on Sept. 30, was higher than in any year in the history of the United States other than fiscal 2009, which was the year that President Barack Obama’s $840 billion stimulus law was enacted.
Fiscal 2017 also saw the second highest real federal individual income tax totals of any year in U.S. history, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today.
Total federal tax revenues were the third highest in U.S. history.
While it was collecting the third highest total tax revenues in U.S. history, the federal government ran a deficit $665,712,000,000 because of its high total spending.
Republicans have controlled the House of Representatives since 2011, after winning a majority of seats in the 2010 election. They have controlled the Senate since 2015, after winning a majority in the 2014 election. In fiscal years 2016 and 2017, a Congress in which the Republican Party controls both houses was responsible for enacting all federal spending legislation.
Highest spending since Obama...what a record. To be fair, we all know Democrats have been equally abysmal, if not more so over shorter periods of time and in conjunction with the current spending spree. Nonetheless, I'm absolutely certain this isn't the results Republican voters were promised. It's time to right the ship before they wreck it, folks. It starts with tackling McConnell and his lieutenants. Guys like Levin and many others are obviously a great help on the national level, but it's time for grassroots efforts to kick in as well. For their constituencies in Arizona, Tennessee and Kentucky, start lining up conservative replacements, while simultaneously demanding they relinquish attacks on their own and do the work they were sent to Washington to do. Demand they drive a conservative agenda forward! For everyone else, request that your senator not sign on with these turncoats nor kowtow to them, but assist the effort in curtailing their defiance of principled advancement. Email, fax, text, call, melt their phones, make them feel it.
"We live in an age where the false tweet gets 10,000 retweets and the correction gets 100. No one cares about facts, just resistance fan fiction. If it sounds true and makes the President look bad, it is, whether or not it happened." ~ Erick Erickson
...I wanted to talk briefly about something the media coverage has shown this week. Mainstream media personalities, “journalists,” and organizations suffer from a complete lack of intellectual curiosity. They are locked into a worldview and won’t follow stories out of it. ... Intellectual incuriosity is a cancer in the news media.
Well, this week is pretty much every week. But how better to describe them when we have four dead soldiers in Niger, but the media would rather exploit the situation to once again attack their not-my-president (you know, because Hillary didn't win), thus participating in a dishonoring of these special forces members' lives. Oh, and they completely ignore European reports that we're crushing ISIS in Syria, because that might make Trump look good. Tabloid methods, folks.
And they've all but abandoned the Russian collusion story now because turns out it's about the Clintons and Obamas, not about Trump!
Whoever is in charge of this social media account should really send out a memo reminding CNN staff of this simple truth. An apple is an apple, and a banana is a banana.
CNN should really explain to Playboy that Mr. Ines Rau cannot turn a banana into an apple. Playboy can say, “Look, an apple!”, but that doesn’t make it an apple. Everyone knows it’s still a banana!
Playboy is a desperate, flailing magazine run by a group of crazy, degenerate Leftists. It’s an indication of how dwelling in sin takes people down a slippery slope into ever greater sin. Soon, nothing seems strange or wrong. Logic disappears. And any rationale can be used to explain the insanity. Eventually, facts no longer matter, and people insist a banana is an apple.
It's all enough to roust Jimmy Carter out of a left bound oblivion!
One thing after another after another as the media in this country become an increasingly louder mouthpiece for the liberal, social justice, progressive left and their relative, subjective notion of truth. This collective has morphed from resentment, resistance and anger into full-blown rage. However, it'd be a mistake to think it simply limited towards Trump...
A rage which has manifested itself into physical violence against those who disagree, judicial violence against the constitution, and immoral violence against centuries of our closely held and cherished Judeo-Christian ethic. ...
... It is a gross oversimplification to cast this as an anti-Trump thing. The White House changes hands every eight years, and we’re all accustomed to that change, in fact we expect it.
I believe this rage emanated from the hope based on the previous presidency. Former President Obama attempted to fundamentally change America as we know it. He made no secret of it, he bowed to foreign leaders, he fomented racial and class divides, his administration flouted the rule of law and the constitution in a myriad of ways, not the least of which was open borders, and socialized medicine.
The liberal mindset coming into the 2016 election cycle was one of a predetermined path for our country. Hillary would win, and would continue the America leftward movement, would continue to build upon the liberal’s hostility to conservatives, and use a heavy hand to protect any and all liberal gains.
Liberals believe they are better then conservatives and the common citizen. They believe we are a bible-thumping, football loving, tobacco chewing basket of deplorables who lack the intellect to understand what is best for us. They burn with white-hot anger over losing power, and the privileges that go with it. Their belief in central government is all-encompassing, and they believe we ought to trust their hand at the helm of the federal ship. Which means the following:
"Their rage is understandable once you realize their God is the federal government. They bow down to the alter of an all-knowing, all-seeing federal seat of power upon which their Queen Bee was supposed to reign."
It wasn’t and isn’t President Trump the person, it is President Trump the Destructor. It is Justice Gorsuch tilting the court to the right, it is Tillerson reforming the State Department, it is Scott Pruitt completely revamping the EPA, Rick Perry righting the Energy Department ship, Betsy DeVos championing charter schools, and Jeff Sessions’s insistence on the rule of law and a secure southern border.
The liberals see their gains in abortion, and gay and trans rights being thwarted in legislation and in the courtroom, they understand fraud at the ballot box is being challenged, and they no longer have access to the easy money Obama illegally provided via the Treasury Department.
It is as if a crowd has thrown a rope over the statute of their god and has toppled it to the ground. Make no mistake, they hate us for this rebellion against their god. They bubble over with a malevolent rage, and will stop at nothing to stem the conservative populist tide before its too late.
Yes, this is why Antifa is allowed to thrive regardless of their thuggish violent activities, and why Hillary was so protected and worshipped even though she and Bill are so very flawed, and also why Democratic leaders continue to appease the fringe left even though poll after poll shows that to be a losing solution. But here's the crux of the matter (and don't overlook the embedded antidote to our societal ailment)...
You see, the people’s rage, and the devising of futile and empty schemes isn’t new. When through several generations, a people trade respect for God’s law and His church, and a genuine sense of shame, for a false god and overt lawlessness; this rage is inevitable. ...
Yes it’s true, we are in an age of rage. But we don’t have to succumb to that same destructive rage. We can be angry and yet have hope and love. We can demand change and yet have patience. Also, and most importantly, we can preach truth to power and still have love.
It would be far better to have civility in our political discourse, sadly though for now, the people rage.
I've held onto this one for two weeks now, as to avoid the need for spoiler alerts. However, I will say that if you still haven't seen the new Blade Runner sequel, then this might motivate you to do so...
Being an avid fan of the sci-fi genre, I'm constantly astounded with Hollywood's ability to create incredible cautionary tales of dystopian societies that one might surmise a turning away from, only to witness an inability to heed their own warnings. Instead, we are constantly bombarded by the all-too-often lurch towards the very mechanisms that perceivably enable such dystopias by so many of our coastal brethren, be it creators, actors or related mediaites.
Be that as it may, I thought it a worthwhile change of pace to highlight a positive message discovered in a contemporary piece of science fiction entertainment. Whether purposefully or not, Blade Runner 2049 (and less explicitly in its predecessor) touches on a profound message that's quite rare these days in film (and particularly among Hollywood circles)...that is the message of LIFE.
TheResurgent: There are also a great many ideas floating around here, not the least of which is the intrinsic value of life. In the first film, animals have become so rare that realistic facsimiles of them are among the most prized—and expensive—of possessions. The replicants, meanwhile, realize that their allotted lifespan of four short years is running out, so in desperation they come back to Earth to find a way to extend that time. “I want more life,” Roy Batty, the leader of the rogue replicants, demands of his creator. And in the end, Roy spares Rick Deckard even though he could have killed the Blade Runner sent to kill him. “I don’t know why he saved my life,” Deckard says. “Maybe in those last moments he loved life more that he ever had before. Not just his life—anybody’s life. My life.”
Blade Runner 2049 takes that idea and runs with it, extending it to the replicants being able to have children of their own. In fact, in the film, this is what defines them as human. The people running the show don’t want anybody to find out about the child, because they know it would completely upend the existing world order. Replicants would no longer be seen as slaves if they were capable of creating life themselves. As K observes at one point, to be born is to have a soul—and to have a soul is to have value.
This is a profoundly pro-life subtext. I’m not sure if this is what the filmmakers intended, but it’s definitely there—and it’s bound to make some people uncomfortable. Just as it’s more convenient for people in Blade Runner to not think of replicants as human, so is it easier for pro-abortion activists to cast unborn babies the same way. But real life, as in the film, is a lot more complicated than that. Pretending otherwise doesn’t change anything.
You know when Democratic politicians are convulsing and foaming at the mouth, there's gotta be some fairly decent news. As always, Levin covered everything and the kitchen sink throughout the week as only the Great One can, but I'd like to highlight a few presidential actions taken in lieu of a dysfunctional Senate and in spite of them...
On Thursday’s Mark Levin Show, President Trump is trying to bring down the cost and increase the options for the individual in this country regarding healthcare. Trump is doing what he can from the executive branch and the Obamacare statutes give him the leeway to do so. It is precious to hear Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer attack Trump for not going through Congress, yet they were the ones that passed the statute allowing Trump to make the changes he did on Thursday. The problem with healthcare is government’s iron fist and the politicization of it by the left. What Trump is doing is a good tiny first step and one of the few steps the President can take unilaterally. However, the left is so obsessed with Obamacare that even small steps to give individuals relief from the burdens of Obamacare are opposed. After that, it looks like Trump will decertify the Iran Deal. The next step is to kill the deal, but the left does not want the President to take the next step to drop the deal. They are trying to make it sound like it will result in a catastrophe and that Trump is reckless. Trump is in no way putting America at a greater conceivable risk by pulling out of the Iran Deal.
On Friday’s Mark Levin show, The Democrats now stand with the Islamo-Nazi regime in Iran. They stand with a terror state that threatens to destroy our country, Israel and the surrounding Arab and Gulf states instead of with the best interests of America. How many times have you heard Democrats talk about the Constitution being a living and breathing document? Yet when it comes to the Iran deal, it’s untouchable, because Barack Obama signed it. Democrats are so filled with hate and a desire for power that even when Trump does the correct thing, they can’t accept that. It is astonishing how Obama sold out the U.S. and how the Democrat Party is in support of this. This deal was secured with the evisceration of the Treaty Clause of the Constitution. The same people who were behind securing this agreement are now claiming that the President not reject what they created. Meanwhile, Congress has 60 days to fix the Iran Deal. Will Democrats use the filibuster to protect Iran? If they do they need to be called out for it. After that, Trump ended Obamacare’s illegal insurance company subsidies. Obama decided that in order to hold up Obamacare he would violate the Constitution and the ACA statute. His violation of Article 1 of the Constitution and the ACA statute was declared by a federal court, but Obama did not care and ordered the Treasury Department to issue subsidies anyway.
And finally, something that likely hasn't received the proper attention due to the politics of the day, but in the larger scope of existence is of integral importance. Speaking from the annual Values Voter Summit in D.C. Friday morning, President Trump promised a return to traditional values in America and vowed that the assaults on religious liberty would end...
So at the close of this week, yes, I'm saying, "Thank You, President Trump!" and encouraging him to follow through with THIS direction in every respect.
The Church universal...yes, we've had a few setbacks in our reunion efforts, and there's certainly no solving them all in a single blog post. However, since Faith is an integral part of American conservatism, this seems like as good a time as any to pinpoint a few problematic areas and perhaps assist towards a general course correction...
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ~ 2 Timothy 4:3-4
There's a difference between compassionately professing to a lost culture and incorporating said lost culture into the credence of the Church. When the latter is attempted, which we're seeing far too often these days, inroads of progress are not accomplished, but rather we find grave heresies abound...
TheResurgent: Karen Oliveto, the so-called lesbian “bishop,” recently gave her weekly message to those under her guidance, tutelage, and counsel, in which she:
Said Jesus struggled with bigotries and prejudices.
Implied Jesus was ignorant and confused about his mission on earth.
Separates Jesus from His divinity, undermining the notion of the Trinity.
This is what happens when a church loses its way – when it becomes enamored with the fine sounding arguments of men and embraces the spirit of the age instead of the spirit of truth.
Though it may conflict with the culture of any given time (particularly that of our modern secularized world) and consequently denied, the living truth nevertheless remains timeless. Even when biology and reason bear witness to that truth, we see so many turn away to embrace fads, emotions and worldly deceptions. So, as compassionate Believers, we're called not to debase the sinner, nor to embrace the sin, but to recognize the reality of truth, while striving to live towards that which is righteous. A common morality has always demonstrated that, and, God Willing, more will continue speaking to this truth...
LifeSiteNews: Those who doubt the existence of hell, despite Our Lady of Fatima showing its horrors to three Portuguese shepherd children 100 years ago, can nevertheless see a “living reflection of hell” in abortion, euthanasia, and homosexuality, said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.
Archbishop Cordileone made his remarks during a homily last weekend as he consecrated his Archdiocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
He recalled during his October 7 homily the great evils witnessed in the past 100 years, including the great world wars, death camps, numerous genocides, and Christian persecution.
“Who would dare to say that such barbarity is not a mocking of God?” he asked.
Cordileone listed legal abortion as one of the many genocides.
“And then there is the attack on innocent human life: Our own land has been soiled by the blood of innocent children in what has become a deadly epidemic tantamount to a genocide on life in the womb,” he said.
“And now we are increasingly witnessing the abandonment of our suffering brothers and sisters at the other end of life’s journey,” he added, in a reference to euthanasia and assisted suicide of the elderly.
The Archbishop went on to list legal homosexual “marriage,” and made a reference to Pride Parades, as ways in which God is mocked.
“And even in our own city of St. Francis, we see … the celebration and even exaltation of the vulgar and the blasphemous, mocking God’s beautiful plan in how He created us, in our very bodies, for communion with one another and Himself,” he said.
“God is roundly mocked in our very streets, and it is met with approval and applause in our community – and yet, we remain silent,” he added.
Whether it be this method of communication or another, I think we can all agree that silence is no longer an option, particularly when misguidance seen in the former falls into direct conflict with the reality of the latter.
It certainly confuses the faithful follower when those chosen to lead falsely do so. Choosing the wiser path is set apart by turning away from scripturally diagnosed sin, not relishing in it. That ideal should guide us towards honest teachings and drive us away from apostasy.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Look, we are certain to stumble many times over in our pursuit of righteousness. We are after all flawed, imperfect, miserable offenders who continuously fall short of the Glory of God; yet even so, we need never forget that we are set aside by Him as a reflection and found worthy of His saving Grace, and that makes the eternal vigilance of such a pursuit all the more worthwhile. Please, let's not simultaneously muddy things for the world's sake.
Ever since we awoke to the unimaginable news Monday morning, I think we've all been trying to make sense of what happened Sunday night in Vegas. Coping with shock, wrestling with anger. Trying to decipher the motivation driving such a senseless act of PURE EVIL inflicted on our fellow man...
My mind is clouded by doubts, and disturbing thoughts. The only words of wisdom that seem appropriate at the moment for us to ponder come from someone much smarter, more loving, and forgiving than I could ever be:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
As this Washington Post editorial explains, gun control is not the solution — not when the problem is that someone wants to commit mass murder. If guns are illegal, the mass murderer will just use illegal guns. Or bombs. Or a truck.
So, precisely what gun laws would stop someone in this particular position hell-bent on mass murder? The guy had wealth, access, no criminal record and no diagnosed mental history. Even so, even if the typical grab-bag of progressive implementations were installed, it still wouldn't occur to me that such EVIL would abide by any law imposed on a common people. Quite the contrary, those who turn to criminal behavior ignore law. What does occur to me is that a major shift needs to happen in the hearts, minds and souls to turn the culture from its progressively destructive path(s), be it left, right or whatever political persuasion one falls within.
But if we must have the conversation, I actually think there's much agreement to be had across the political landscape on reasonable approaches to law. Keeping fully automatic weapons in the hands of military only? Check. Getting rid of bump stocks on the open market? Check. (I will say there's a lot of misinformation out there concerning conversion kits, because most still don't convert to full-auto; however, the few that do or simulate it, get rid of them).
Major overhaul of mental health in this country? You bet...and that's where we begin to see solutions to the actual problem...
[Of the roughly] 33,000 lives ended by guns each year in the United States ... Two-thirds of gun deaths in the United States every year are suicides. Almost no proposed restriction would make it meaningfully harder for people with guns on hand to use them.
However, the next-largest set of gun deaths — 1 in 5 — were young men aged 15 to 34, killed in homicides. These men were most likely to die at the hands of other young men, often related to gang loyalties or other street violence. And the last notable group of similar deaths was the 1,700 women murdered per year, usually as the result of domestic violence. Far more people were killed in these ways than in mass-shooting incidents, but few of the popularly floated policies were tailored to serve them. ... Potential suicide victims, women menaced by their abusive partners and kids swept up in street vendettas are all in danger from guns, but they each require different protections.
Older men, who make up the largest share of gun suicides, need better access to people who could care for them and get them help. Women endangered by specific men need to be prioritized by police, who can enforce restraining orders prohibiting these men from buying and owning guns. Younger men at risk of violence need to be identified before they take a life or lose theirs and to be connected to mentors who can help them de-escalate conflicts.
A reduction in gun deaths is most likely to come from finding smaller chances for victories and expanding those solutions as much as possible. We save lives by focusing on a range of tactics to protect the different kinds of potential victims and reforming potential killers, not from sweeping bans focused on the guns themselves.
Reasonable people throughout our vast political spectrum can find unity. It's unfortunate that all too often those voices are drowned out in today's mass media culture. But that's a whole other discussion in civility that our society should consider observing as well, particularly when acknowledging our freedom to speak & disagree, objective reporting vs. subjective commentary, politics vs. the people (essentially, First Amendment related issues), in the maintenance of all our other liberties & rights (Second included), while maintaining healthy relationships with our fellow American (which seems to be much lacking these days). It doesn't have to be 'ban it' or 'unlimit all', because there is middle ground on this. While this is a bit of a rabbit hole, it does seems to segue into a broader topic of great significance concerning mental health in our country, some of which I've already covered above.
Of course, there's sure to be disagreement here as well, but I think for far too long our society has attempted to separate mental health and instabilities from the evil that men are capable of and sometimes act on when consumed by it. I happen to think there's correlations there that to ignore is detrimental, particularly in the comprehension of free will and choosing evil...
In my opinion, the second greatest gift we have from God, after the gift of life itself, is the gift of free will. We are not slaves. We aren’t forced to conform to God’s will. We are free to choose between good and evil.
The real question is, why do so many humans choose to commit despicable acts of virtually incomprehensible evil? The real problem isn’t that an evil or insane person managed to get a gun. The problem is that an evil person wants to commit evil deeds. A gun itself isn’t inherently evil, no more than a knife or a hammer is evil. It all depends on how the gun, knife, or hammer is used. The only real and permanent solution to this problem is to beg for God’s forgiveness, ask for His mercy, and resist temptation to become evil ourselves. We can’t pretend that evil doesn’t exist anymore, because it keeps getting prevalent every day. This reminds me of the infamous quote from longtime Democrat political operative (and current major of Chicago) Rahm Emanuel:
Maybe you shouldn’t do them because it’s wrong to just do as you please.
When evil is the chosen course, the moral imperative and commandment to 'do no murder' is diminished and becomes irrelevant to the ailing mind. This is precisely where we need to focus the most attention on helping our fellow, fallen man.
