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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Friday, June 26, 2020
Dems Not Party to Solutions on Police
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: It was a floor speech for the ages. But someday, when history looks back on Senator Tim Scott's (R-S.C.) emotional words, the greatest tragedy will be that he had to deliver them at all. Like a lot of Americans, Tim assumed the other side of the aisle was serious about having a conversation on police reform. And, like a lot of Americans, he assumed wrong. Turns out, Democrats aren't here to fix our problems. In this crisis, they are the problem.
When Senator Scott came to his chamber with this plan, he was coming as a man who'd lived the discrimination people talk about. He understands what it's like to be followed around stores because he's black, or to be questioned by the Capitol police about "where he got that Senate pin." Lives like his, Democrats say, should matter. But his pain and his experiences, apparently, do not. Liberals walked away from the table, turning their backs on the best shot at rebuilding Americans' trust.
It wasn't that his bill didn't leave room for compromise. It did. Republicans were so determined to make this a bipartisan effort that they agreed to allow as many amendments as Democrats wanted (a far cry from Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., debate, where the GOP was given none). "If you don't like what you see, make it better," Tim urged. "Don't walk away." But the problem, the senator said later, "is not what's being offered. It's who is offering it" -- a black man in a party that liberals will not tolerate reaching out to African Americans.
Despite all the work Republicans have put into criminal justice reform, opportunity zones, and job creation, Senate Democrats still can't stand the idea of the Republican Party making a positive difference for the black community. At the end of the day, liberals in Congress will always care more about keeping their grip on the minority vote and winning elections than healing the divides in our nation. If that weren't true, Senator Scott argued, Democrats would be flying home this month with 70 percent of what they asked for on this bill -- not zero. And African Americans wouldn't be wondering why Congress is playing politics when people are dying in the streets.
"Communities of color, young Americans of all colors, are losing faith in the institutions of authority and power in this nation, because we're playing small ball. We're playing for those in the insulated chambers. We're playing for presidential politics. Playing the big boys' game," Scott said, "is playing for the kids who can't represent themselves." Not hiding behind empty slogans and African scarves.
And at the end of the day, what are these minorities getting for their loyalty to the Democratic Party anyway? "Black men and women are being slaughtered in cities and communities of color around the country in numbers that can only be compared to war zones in Iraq and Syria," FRC's Ken Blackwell argues. "And every single one of those cities have been run by liberals, and in most cases, by Democrats. We have to begin to deal with this." And by "dealing with this," we can't just run to this excuse that America is irreparably racist. "The fact of the matter is that in 242 years, we've gone from the institution of slavery to -- whether you liked it or agreed with him or not -- to electing a black man president of the United States." Are there still incidents of racist behavior? Yes. But it's not systemic, Ken insists. "Not every problem in the black community can be attributed to slavery and Jim Crow."
But if you want to guarantee that these problems get worse, he says, go ahead and dismantle the police. Then you'll be throwing "peace-loving, progress-seeking African-American men and women and children to the wolves." The reality is, Ken went on, you can't paint every law enforcement officer with a broad, prejudiced brush. "The facts don't bear that out. But what we've seen borne out by facts is that these local leaders have found some comfort in the status quo. They have embraced a narrative that pushes the blame from their incompetence to the boogey man of systemic racism, which doesn't exist."
Meanwhile, President Trump has done everything he can to stop America from burning to the ground. But as strong and supportive as he's been, he can't manage the policing of our streets from the Oval Office. Proposals like Tim Scott's would have brought more energy, resources, and training to the local level and helped build bridges between the communities and police. But the media and Left "can't give Senator Scott any credit, because this debate spoils their narrative."
So maybe it's time for a new narrative. "E Pluribus Unum," Ken suggested. "From the many, one. It's based on the reality that in 242 years, America is the most diverse, the most prosperous society in all of human history. Are we perfect? No. As Lincoln said, we are not perfect, but we are perfectible." And in times like these, that may be all that matters.
----------------------- Tony Perkins (@tperkins) is President of the Family Research Council . Article on Tony Perkins' Washington Update and written with the aid of FRC senior writers. Tags:Tony Perkins, Family Research Center, FRC, Family Research Council, Dems, Not Party, to Solutions, on Police, Ken Blackwell, Senator Tim ScottTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
. . . The left is going to riot in November no matter who wins the presidency.
William L. Gensert
by William L. Gensert: Leftists have established by precedent the premise that "mostly peaceful" rioting, arson, assault, and rampant property destruction are not only acceptable, but necessary in order to purge our nation of imagined original sin.
George Floyd was merely a stroke of luck for the left; if it were not for his murder, they would have needed to conjure up another excuse for the studied and deliberate anarchy we are experiencing today.
Having failed at winning the election and then again with their efforts to depose President Trump through investigation and impeachment, Democrats have concluded that revolution is necessary, and one cannot prosecute a revolution without practice.
What we are seeing today is Antifa, the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party, and BLM, the propaganda arm (in conjunction with mainstream media) of the party, practicing for the "big show." They understand that their coup failed because their nefarious plot against President Trump was strangled in its crib by a constitution that works when followed. And they cannot allow that again.
Revolution is the way...
This has been coming for some time, certainly before Trump ever descended that escalator to announce his candidacy. It is what "cancel culture" is about: stealing agency from anyone who does not toe the line.
The movement to make people apologize to black people for their privilege and for the slavery and bigotry that no country has done more to address and eliminate is a means to create an acceptance culture among people who otherwise might object to the coming revolution.
Forbidding particular statues, wrong words, cultural appropriation, and borrowed slang, are all about establishing boundaries that shall not be crossed to create limits to potential dissent from their incipient rebellion.
People think that the Obama administration's debasing of the constitutional protections afforded to the accused with respect to sexual assault accusations in the nation's colleges was about pursuing justice for the women who should "always be believed."
It was not. It was a means of getting people to understand that going forward, the left will not allow the presumption of innocence. And if they can cancel that, they can cancel anything.
It was also a starting point.
It was initially Confederate statues that were overturned, but now it is any statue, because they want us to know that they are in control and we should, as we are doing now, stand down when they try to overthrow the government in November.
It is all a test to see if America will accept the negation of the values inherent in our constitution. With the slogan "black lives matter," they mean to force us to accept that the aphorism "all men are created equal" is outdated, because black lives are more equal and matter more than any others.
Yet it is not that they care one whit for black lives who perish in unimaginable numbers at the hands of other black lives; what they want is to establish a regime where the people of the United States accept that what they say matters.
Having established the policy, it is a small step to abrogating all of anyone's rights at any time. All that will be needed to destroy one's constitutional protections is for the left's allies in media to sell it to an uninformed populace as righteous and justified.
After all, who is not anti-rape, anti-racism, and pro-fairness?
The canceling, forced apologies, the looting, and the arson are all part of getting America ready to accept the rebellion the Democrats are planning for post-election.
And the destruction will not be "rebellion" or "revolution"; it will be peaceful protest.
The left acts under the premise that only leftists are right and just. This false assumption gives them both license and good reason to commit whatever despicable deed they must to eradicate opposing ideas. And if we have seen anything these last weeks, it is that Democrats have no aversion to using violence to get what they want, because when you believe that you are riding "the arc of history," breaking a few bones and burning down a city bend toward justice — as Barry would say.
The riots, the arson, the defund police movement, assaults of public figures, the canceling of people who drift astray of the left's orthodoxy — all are designed to inure people to the violence that will befall the nation immediately before and after 11/03/20.
We can expect the left to show little mercy, for cancel-culture leftists lack grace when the smell of blood inflames their nostrils. After all, they are mere victims striking out against oppressors, which we have allowed ourselves to be categorized as by our silence.
Knocked off their feet with the destruction of Chairman Hillary Mao in 2016, they reached into the mire within which they were ensconced to grab whatever excrement they could to throw at the president, and it did not work.
Their "Plan B" is to overthrow the system, and the widespread anarchy and destruction we have seen in recent days is merely prologue as preview.
Should Trump win, there will be widespread calls for negating the election because...this, that, or the other thing was used by the president to steal the election. That will be the justification for them to unleash the Kraken*.
If Biden wins, they will riot to consolidate their gains and push their agenda. This will include gun confiscation and destruction of the 1st Amendment — just to start.
Yes, we all know what will happen in November. We have been witness to the arrogant display of slow-motion revolution for weeks now.
The more frightening question is, how can it be prevented.
* The kraken is a legendary cephalopod-like sea monster of gigantic size in Scandinavian folklore. According to the Norse sagas, the kraken dwells off the coasts of Norway and Greenland and terrorizes nearby sailors.
----------------------- William L. Gensert (@williamlgensert) also shared this article on The American Thinker. Tags:BLM/Antifa Violence, Prelude, for November, William L. Gensert, The American Thinker To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Patrick Buchanan: If Biden emerges, then he will have to answer why all these institutions where his party and people are predominant — the media, Hollywood, the academic community, public schools, big-city governments, the big foundations, the federal bureaucracy — are apparently shot through with systemic racism after decades of Democratic dominance.
Some polls now have Joe Biden running ahead of Donald Trump by 10 points and sweeping the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. This vindicates the strategy Biden’s advisers have adopted:
Confine Joe to his basement, no press conferences. Trot him out to recite carefully scripted messages for the cameras. Then lead him back to his stall.
This enables Biden to avoid the blazing questions that are dividing not only Democrats and Republicans but liberals and leftists. And most of these issues touch on the explosive subject of race.
Consider. California’s legislature just voted to put to a statewide ballot in November a return to the racial preferences that were banned as discriminatory in a statewide referendum, 25 years ago.
The proposal would reverse the 1995 constitutional amendment, approved by 55% of voters, which outlawed “preferential treatment” based on “race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.”
If the measure carries, California returns to a racial spoils system.
Race preferences are being pushed because they are needed to bring about greater representation of Blacks and Hispanics in the student bodies of elite schools of the state university system like UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley.
Asian students are today “overrepresented” in these prestigious schools, because of their superior test scores.
Where does Biden stand on anti-Asian discrimination?
Earlier this June, the California Assembly voted to establish a task force to make recommendations for reparations for slavery.
Now, California did not enter the Union until 1850, and slavery was outlawed in the state constitution, though several thousand slaves were brought there during the 1849 Gold Rush.
Where does Biden stand on reparations for slavery?
Many of the recent protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death have involved the desecration and destruction of monuments.
What does Biden think about tearing down statues of Christopher Columbus and Robert E. Lee? Where does Biden stand on destroying statues of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Grant and Theodore Roosevelt?
What did Biden think of the removal of the statue of Caesar Rodney, Delaware statesman and slave owner, who, despite a grave illness, rode to Philadelphia to sign Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and cast his lot with the American Revolution?
Understandably, Biden would prefer not having to choose between Caesar Rodney and BLM.
Black men are arrested and incarcerated more often than whites because of the systemic racism of law enforcement officials, we are told.
Does Biden believe white cops are congenital racists?
In the great cities where the killing of Black men is today all too common, the regimes that have ruled them for decades have been almost wholly Democratic.
Does Biden believe there is systemic racism in the ruling circles of all these Democratic-run cities?
Over the last month, there has been an explosion of shootings and killings. In Chicago, over Memorial Day, 84 people were shot, 24 mortally.
Last weekend in Chicago, 106 people were shot and 14 killed. New York City is experiencing the worst shooting violence in a quarter century.
Is there systemic racism in the police departments of our great cities? Again, who has been running those cities, if not Democrats?
Is there inequality in wealth between Black and white America because of systemic racism? If so, why did that inequality persist through two terms of our first Black president, with Biden as his VP?
Does Biden believe, with Elizabeth Warren, in wealth taxes on the rich and wealth transfers to close the Black-white wealth gap?
Is there systemic racism in American media?
Our dominant media institutions include The Washington Post, New York Times, ABC, CBS and NBC. All are controlled by liberals.
Is there systemic racism in our great universities and colleges? Yet, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and the rest of the Ivy League have long been run by an entrenched liberal elite.
Is our huge federal workforce permeated by racism?
Though African Americans are 13% of the U.S. population, they occupy 18% of all federal jobs.
Is there systemic racism in our public schools? Who controls the teachers unions? Who fills almost all of the teaching positions?
Is there systemic racism in California? If so, who is at fault? The governor, both senators, both houses of the legislature, all statewide offices, and 46 of 53 U.S. House seats in California are held by Democrats.
If Biden emerges, then he will have to answer why all these institutions where his party and people are predominant — the media, Hollywood, the academic community, public schools, big-city governments, the big foundations, the federal bureaucracy — are apparently shot through with systemic racism after decades of Democratic dominance.
And, more precisely, what he intends to do about it.
Perhaps it’s better to shelter in place in the basement.
-------------------- Patrick Buchanan (@PatrickBuchanan) is currently a blogger, conservative columnist, political analyst, chairman of The American Cause foundation and an editor of The American Conservative. He has been a senior adviser to three Presidents, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and was the presidential nominee of the Reform Party in 2000. Tags:Patrick Buchanan, conservative, commentary, Biden’s Basement Strategy, Just Say NothingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Still Standing, Media Bias, More Infections, Biden's Blunders, CUFI Virtual Summit
Gary Bauer
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Still Standing
A small crowd of demonstrators marched to the Emancipation Monument in Washington's Lincoln Park last night. There they found a fence around the monument and law enforcement officers guarding it. The mob retreated.
The Emancipation Monument is still standing . . . for now. The demonstrators promised to try again today. We'll keep you posted.
While we're on the subject of tearing things down, read this article about the primary author of the 1619 Project. That's the anti-American history curriculum the New York Times is pushing in many schools right now. It's attitudes like hers that explain why so many young Americans are attacking the country of their birth.
In related news, we reported yesterday that the Justice Department is prosecuting more than 70 rioters on charges ranging from arson to murder.
Attorney General William Barr also acknowledged that there are 500 active investigations underway, and that he is "committed to holding accountable" the thugs and vandals who terrorized their communities during the riots.
Finally, the Republican National Committee has released a hard-hitting ad that exposes the radical left and clarifies the stakes this November.
Media Bias
Here's a good example of what happens when the media don't even try to be fair and balanced.
Wednesday, the Senate Republican police reform bill was brought to the floor for consideration. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina drafted the measure and incorporated a number of Democrat ideas into his legislation. It had President Trump's support and could have been become law.
Incredibly, Democrats, who had demanded immediate action in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, refused to even debate Scott's bill. They filibustered it, meaning they prevented any discussion, debate or amendments on police reform legislation. They just shut it down completely.
On the evening news Wednesday night, no major network reported the honest truth that Senate Democrats blocked the police reform bill.
Yesterday, House Democrats took up their much more radical version of police reform and rammed it through without any Republican amendments. Predictably, the evening news broadcasts gleefully reported last night that House Democrats had passed "sweeping" and "wide-ranging" law enforcement reform over the near-unanimous opposition of Republicans.
And for Americans who get their news from the mainstream media, that's all they will ever know.
More Infections
As you know, the media are panicking over the rising number of Covid infections right now. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield added to the alarm yesterday when he said that "for every [Covid] case reported there were actually 10 other infections."
Just to be clear, Dr. Redfield is not saying that tens of millions of Americans currently have coronavirus. He's saying that many more people have already had the virus than known tests would suggest. We reported weeks ago on various studies indicating that was likely the case.
What that means is that based on current figures of 2.5 million confirmed cases, as many as 25 million people have already had the disease.
We currently have 126,000 confirmed Covid-related deaths. Based on 25 million cases, that gives you a death rate of 0.5%.
The bottom line is that the disease is very contagious, which is why it periodically surges in a particular area. But the percentage of people who become so ill that they require hospitalization is comparable to the annual flu.
Meanwhile, the economic devastation that is being inflicted upon global economies is almost incomprehensible. Tremendous progress has been made in recent decades in alleviating extreme poverty around the world, but much of that is being undone right now due to various pandemic restrictions.
Biden's Blunders
Joe Biden raised eyebrows last night when he said 120 million people have died from coronavirus. As head-scratching as the latest Biden blunder may be, this was not just an isolated slip of the tongue.
Back in February, Biden claimed that "150 million people have been killed by guns since 2007."
Everyone slips up from time to time. But so many times? Sadly, the evidence is growing that Biden is suffering from mental decline. Either way, he's simply not fit to lead our country in these perilous times.
Worse, the media are all in on hiding him from the public so that disgruntled voters, frustrated with Covid and a weak economy, will think that Biden (or his running mate) is a credible alternative.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin
Israeli Minister of Defense Benjamin Gantz
Pastor John Hagee
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Ambassador David Friedman
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Mark Levin
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And many, many more.Register now!
------------------- Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer) is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Still Standing, Media Bias More Infections, Biden's Blunders, CUFI Virtual SummitTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Supreme Court Ruling on Illegal Immigration a Victory for Trump
A 7-2 ruling by the Supreme Court Thursday allows the Trump administration to continue
doing what the executive branch is supposed to do: enforce the laws passed by Congress.
by Hans von Spakovsky and Charles “Cully” Stimson: In a victory for border security that will help the federal government regain control over the immigration process, the Supreme Court has upheld commonsense rules used by the Trump administration to effectively deter illegal immigrants from making false asylum claims.
The 7-2 ruling by the high court Thursday allows the Trump administration to continue doing what the executive branch is supposed to do: enforce the laws passed by Congress.
In Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam, the Supreme Court tossed out a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed an illegal immigrant to file a writ of habeas corpus asking a federal court to overturn the denial of his asylum claim by the Department of Homeland Security.
Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam was caught entering the U.S. illegally in 2017, just 25 yards inside the southern border. The Sri Lankan claimed asylum, saying that he had once been “abducted and severely beaten,” although he said he had no idea who had done it or why.
Thuraissigiam did not claim that he had been persecuted—or feared persecution—because of his race, religion, political opinions, or any of the other valid reasons that federal immigration law provides for granting asylum.
The Supreme Court noted that in 1996 Congress had approved “a system for weeding out patently meritless [asylum] claims and expeditiously removing the aliens making such claims from the country.”
This expedited removal process limited the ability of those seeking asylum to petition federal courts to review decisions made by the Department of Homeland Security on the validity of their claims.
Claimants can, however, avoid the expedited removal process by demonstrating a “credible fear of persecution.” In that case, they are entitled to “full consideration” of their claim in a full-blown removal hearing presided over by a federal immigration judge.
Even if an illegal immigrant’s “credible fear” claim is rejected by an asylum officer, it is still reviewed by a Department of Homeland Security supervisor and may then be appealed to an immigration judge. But the law says courts can’t review the determination by the Department of Homeland Security that an applicant lacks a credible fear of persecution.
In Thuraissigiam’s case, a Department of Homeland Security asylum officer rejected his claim, which was based solely on his assertion that he had been beaten by unknown assailants. This is not a valid ground for receiving asylum. A supervising officer agreed to reject the asylum claim and an immigration judge affirmed that decision.
It wasn’t until Thuraissigiam’s lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition with a federal court that he started claiming he feared persecution based on his Tamil ethnicity and political views. The district court threw out his habeas corpus petition, complying with the federal immigration provision limiting its ability to review the claim.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—one of the most liberal appeals courts in the country, with a long record of misapplying or ignoring federal laws it doesn’t like—reversed the district court. The appeals court held that the federal immigration provision violated the Constitution’s Suspension Clause and its Due Process Clause.
The Suspension Clause of Article I, Section 9 holds that the “Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment says that you cannot be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
But the Supreme Court disagreed and, once more, overturned the 9th Circuit’s holding.
In an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court said the habeas doctrine provides a means for someone being held illegally by the government to seek release. But Thuraissigiam wasn’t asking to be released from detention; he was asking for a second chance to ask a federal court to approve his asylum claim. Therefore, the expedited removal provision does not violate the Suspension Clause, the Supreme Court ruled.
It’s important to recognize that illegal immigrants don’t have the same due process rights as citizens. For more than 100 years, the Supreme Court has held that the only due process to which illegal immigrants are entitled is what Congress gives them through federal immigration law.
As Alito noted: “The decisions of executive or administrative officers, acting within powers expressly conferred by Congress, are due process of law.” That means that illegal immigrants don’t have to be given access to the courts.
Even liberal Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg concurred in the judgment, although they limited their opinion just to the facts of this particular case. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, saying that the courts should have the ability to review asylum decisions that are arbitrary and capricious or contrary to governing law.
The Supreme Court decision does not interfere with the ability of Congress to change our immigration laws, but makes clear that as long as the laws are on the books it is the job of the federal government to enforce them.
----------------------------------- Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform—as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative. More ARRA News Service articles by or about Hans von Spakovsky. Charles “Cully” Stimson (@cullystimson) is a leading expert in national security, homeland security, crime control, immigration and drug policy at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and the Center for National Defense. Tags:Hans von Spakovsky. Charles Stimson, Supreme Court, ruling, Illegal Immigration, Victory for President TrumpTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Bill Donohue: Protesters can take to the streets, some violently, and that is okay by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo—the mob does not have to abide by social distancing rules—but religious New Yorkers cannot congregate in their houses of worship lest they imperil the public health.
Well, the jig is up.
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe issued a preliminary injunction on June 26 saying that de Blasio and Cuomo (as well as Attorney General Letitia James) exceeded their authority by putting restrictions on people of faith while simultaneously condoning the protests.
By allowing the protests, they were “encouraging what they knew was a flagrant disregard of the outdoor limits and social distancing rules.” In doing so, de Blasio and Cuomo “sent a clear message that mass protests are deserving of preferential treatment.”
Two Catholic priests and three Orthodox Jews sued and won.
The Catholic League encourages people of faith to ignore all future restrictions placed on them by de Blasio and Cuomo. They exposed themselves as frauds when they gave the green light to thousands of protesters who took to the streets, night after night, while imposing draconian restrictions on the faithful. And they did nothing about those who totally ignored their responsibility to peaceably assemble.
De Blasio and Cuomo have lost the respect of practicing Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, and those of every other religion. They got creamed in court, which is exactly what they deserve.
----------------------- Bill Donohue (@CatholicLeague) is a sociologist and president of the Catholic League. Tags:Bill Donohue, Catholic League, De Blasio, Cuomo, Get Creamed, In CourtTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Caroline Glick: The silence of the Jews of America in the face of rising anti-Semitism is stunning.
Over the Shavuot festival on May 30, members of Black Lives Matter, (BLM) carried out a pogrom in Fairfax, the oldest Jewish community in Los Angeles, largely populated today by ultra-Orthodox Jews. They vandalized five synagogues and three Jewish schools. Most of the Jewish businesses on Fairfax Avenue were looted.
As Daniel Greenfield reported at Frontpage, Allyson Rowen Taylor, a co-founder of StandWithUs shared an account of the riots in which they chanted, “F**k the police and kill the Jews.”
Aryeh Rosenfeld, whose store was looted, told the Jerusalem Post that when he came to defend his store there were people driving through the streets screaming, “effing Jews,” at the Jewish store owners.
Greenfield revealed that the Jews were not incidental victims in a larger night of “anti-racist” rioting by BLM. BLM in Los Angeles is led by outspoken anti-Semites with intimate ties to the virulently anti-Semitic Nation of Islam.
Over the past several years both the BLM-Los Angeles head Melina Abdullah and her daughter Thandiwe Abdullah who is the co-founder of the BLM Youth Vanguard have racked up long records of anti-Semitic rants and fawning praise for Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan. Farrakhan who has praised Hitler, recently called Jews “termites,” and obsessively rails against Judaism and Jews.
As its charter makes clear, BLM itself is structurally anti-Semitic.
While accusing Israel of committing “genocide,” BLM blames Israel for the U.S. war against militant Islam. Its charter states, “The U.S. justifies and advances the global war on terror via its alliance with Israel and is complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people.”
According to the BLM charter, U.S. military aid to Israel is the foundation of America’s problems. Because of U.S. military aid to Israel, BLM alleges, “every year billions of dollars are funneled from U.S. taxpayers to hundreds of arms corporations, who then wage lobbying campaigns pushing for even more foreign military aid. The results of this policy are twofold: it not only diverts much needed funding from domestic education and social programs, but it makes U.S. citizens complicit in the abuses committed by the Israeli government.”
In other words, Israel is the root of America’s troubles at home and abroad.
The charter accuses Israel of being an “apartheid state,” and supports the anti-Semitic boycott, sanctions and divestment campaign against Israel. It calls for local, state and federal action against Israel. Among other things, BLM demands that the U.S. military budget be cut by 50 percent, “which will lead to the closure of over 800 U.S. military bases in the U.S. and around the world, and the elimination of the sale of weaponry to violators of human rights, reduces the use and stockpiling of nuclear weapons and return all troops back from the current theaters of war.”
So for BLM, anti-Semitism isn’t a bug. It is a feature. Hatred of Israel and the Jews is part of its DNA.
This brings us back the pogrom over Shavuot in LA.
Two aspects of the Shavuot pogrom expose the increasingly problematic nature of the relationship between the American Jewish community and the American left.
The first is the media’s indifference to the anti-Jewish violence. Aside from a few Jewish reporters and Orthodox websites, the Shavuot pogrom was largely ignored. And when it was reported, the deliberately anti-Semitic character of the attacks was either downplayed or ignored altogether.
The media’s refusal to cover the pogrom make clear that most U.S. media outlets have accepted the limits on freedom of speech dictated by the left. Identity politics now dominate the left in America. BLM controls identity politics.
BLM considers Jews oppressors, not victims. So attacking them is not an act of bigotry. Jews — particularly Israeli Jews, Zionist Jews and Jews who dress in ways that identify them as Jews – are fair game. After all, if Zionism is Nazism and apartheid, then Israelis, Zionist Jews and “Jewy” Jews are racists. The graffiti on Beth El synagogue in Fairfax told the tale. “F**k Israel, Free Palestine,” they wrote.
The media’s subservience to the identity politics mob was exposed earlier this month by the forced resignation of New York Times’ op-ed editor James Bennet and his deputy for the thought crime of publishing an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton calling for the riots to be quelled – by military force if necessary.
This week the Times announced their replacements. Charlotte Greensit from the Intercept will be associate op-ed editor and managing editor of the Times.
Greensit is a member of the mob. As such, last month she participated in the left’s newest blood libel that Israel is responsible for the alleged systemic racism of American law enforcement agencies when she tweeted, “Israeli security forces are training American cops despite history of rights abuses.”
The Times, which has long peppered its news stories with anti-Semitic undertones can be expected to double down on its anti-Jewish slant with Greensit in place.
The second aspect of the Shavuot pogrom that bears consideration is the low-key responses it generated from the Jewish community. Aside from a pro-forma statement by the Anti-Defamation League’s Los Angeles office, the Jewish organization that proclaims itself the go-to place for calling out and fighting anti-Semitism has been mum. Even the modern Orthodox communities in Los Angeles failed to condemn the attack on their ultra-Orthodox neighbors.
Greenfield reported that while the modern Orthodox synagogues quickly removed their Torah scrolls from their prayer halls to protect them from possible looters, the modern Orthodox communities refused to condemn the rioters even as they quickly removed their Torah scrolls from their synagogues to protect them. Rather than condemn the BLM rioters targeting their community and expressing solidarity with the victims and the police who stopped the riots from spreading, local modern Orthodox leaders told their communities to support BLM bigots and atone for their own imagined racist crimes. Only the ultra-Orthodox cheered the police and thanked them.
The silence of the Los Angeles Jewish community and the national Jewish organizations in the face of the assault against it isn’t unique. In New York, Jews have marched against anti-black racism while their community is subjected to repeated anti-Semitic assaults by their black neighbors. Few and far between have been the condemnations of Mayor Bill DeBlasio despite his repeated acts of anti-Semitic targeting and discrimination.
Last week DeBlasio sent police to padlock a playground in the ultra-Orthodox Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn for coronavirus distancing violations. As the police physically blocked ultra-Orthodox Jewish children from entering the park, non-Jewish children played happily in neighborhood parks throughout Brooklyn and the rest of the city.
DeBlassio wasn’t available padlock the playground himself because he was busy participating in a mass protest with BLM in another section of Brooklyn.
Needless to say, New York Jews not only didn’t riot in response to the city’s bigotry against Jewish children in Williamsburg. When local Jewish leaders broke the locks on the playground in Williamsburg to let the children play, Jews from Park Slope and Manhattan didn’t join them. They were alone.
This is the context in which Cong. Elliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent and the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee was defeated in his primary race for reelection. Engel was long one of the staunchest supporters of U.S.-Israel ties in the Democratic Party and a very liberal Democrat.
Jamaal Bowman, Engel’s victorious primary opponent supports the BLM charter’s call not to legislate curbs on BDS operations. He supports conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel on Israeli concessions to the Palestinians. Bowman ascribes to BLM’s racist view of Israel, saying that as a (racially oppressed) African American, he identifies with the Palestinians. Both Bowman and the media that supported his campaign, (particularly Greensit’s colleagues at the Intercept) focused on Engel’s support for Israel. The undertone of their focus was clear – and anti-Semitic. They communicated the message that Engel the Jew is more loyal to Israel than to the voters of his district.
Instead of decrying Bowman and his supporters for their bigotry, many progressive Jews supported Bowman. As Peter Joseph argued in the progressive Jewish newspaper Forward, “Jamaal Bowman’s candidacy asks our community to return to its formerly broad-based concerns, and demands that we recognize how urgent it is to address and repair the social, economic, and racial suffering in our nation.
“As this election pits a sixteen-term white Jewish incumbent offering more of the same against a younger Black voice offering a response to this moment in America, Jewish voters should express their aspirations for a better future.”
In other words, Engel was too tribal and of course, too pro-Israel.
Why are American Jews refusing to stand up for themselves? Three explanations present themselves. Either they are afraid to speak up, or they are unaware of the danger, or they are part of the problem.
Like their non-Jewish counterparts, many Jews whose businesses were looted by BLM expressed the support and concern for their attackers. While some of them may actually sympathize with the people who destroyed their income source, no doubt many are too terrified to criticize them. They don’t need any more trouble. And in the current atmosphere of mob rule, where the police charged with defending them are themselves under attack, caution may be the better part of valor.
The ignorant are a product of their environment. Most American Jews are Democrats and most Democrats get their news from the very news organizations that, as members of the identity-politics dominated left, are not reporting what is happening. Large organizations and liberal synagogues are openly supporting BLM. How are average Jewish Democrats supposed to know what is happening?
This brings us to the Jews that are part of the problem.
This week, a group of far-left Jewish groups published an open letter to the community demanding that American Jews pledge allegiance to a “new covenant” based on seven new principles. The first principle: “Explicit endorsement that Black Lives Matter. Recognizing that Black Lives Matter is a statement that is inherently true and should be accepted without caveat or qualification.”
The other six principles are extrapolations and expansions of the first.
So not only is the community not dealing with BLM’s structural anti-Semitism, radical groups now demand that the rest of the community make supporting these anti-Semites and embracing their anti-Semitic cause the first principle of a “new covenant” for American Jewry.
So far, Hillel International, the Reconstructionist movement and the San Francisco Jewish Federation among others have written letters of support for the “new covenant.”
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal called on members of the political left to wake up and oppose the thought policemen of identity politics. Sadly, it appears that the Jewish victims of those police will be the last to hear or heed the call.
-------------------------- Caroline Glick is the Senior Contributing Editor of Israel Hayom and the Director of the David Horowitz Freedom Center's Israel Security Project. For more information on Ms. Glick's work, visit carolineglick.com. Tags:Caroline Glick, Israel Hayom, The Silent, American JewsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
10 Takeaways from the Anti-Police Brutality Protests
by Larry Elder: No. 10: CNN’s Chris Cuomo believes people have a right to engage in violence. About the anti-police protests, some violent, CNN’s Chris Cuomo said, “And, please, show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful.” It’s called the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble (emphasis added), and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
No. 9: Democratic politicians and the media focus like a laser on the rare occurrence of unarmed blacks shot and killed by white cops. When do the protests start over the approximately 2,600 blacks killed by blacks each year? And this is likely an understated number. About the FBI’s annual crime data, U.S. News & World Report wrote in 2016: “The most detailed racial data have limits: They are confined to cases in which one person was killed and one person did the killing, eliminating about 17 percent of homicides. Also, police have to know and provide the backgrounds of not only the victims but the perpetrators, too — meaning that thousands of cases left unsolved and with no description of the person who committed the crimes are discounted. In total, about 61 percent of the 15,696 homicides committed in 2015 are excluded.”
No. 8: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2015, there were 53.5 million police/civilian contacts. Of those police/civilian interactions, over 10 million result in arrest and charges. Annually, between 50,000 and 60,000 officers are assaulted. Yet, despite all of these interactions — arrests, charges and officer assaults — “only” about 1,000 civilians are killed each year by the police. That is .002% of all of the police interactions.
No. 7: Where were the “defund the police/redirect the money” advocates during the eight years President Barack Obama was in office? The Rev. Al Sharpton visited the Obama White House 72 times in Obama’s first six years, and Obama was close to the Congressional Black Caucus. What, the subject never came up? Did the “systemic, structural, institutional police oppression against blacks” take an eight-year holiday when Obama was president?
About the Obama Department of Justice, in 2014, the left-of-center Politico wrote a piece called “A Lame Civil Rights Record”: “Indeed, a comprehensive review of all available records shows that the nature of the cases brought by the (civil rights) division has not differed much from the Bush administration. In some areas the number of filings in traditional civil rights cases appears to be down — in some areas down significantly. … But much of the time, the vaunted Obama-(Eric) Holder civil rights division has been reactive — responding to complaints filed by outside parties, rather than initiating investigations on its own.”
No. 6: Perhaps at some point, “black leaders” might suggest: “Comply. You won’t die.” Yes, every black child — every child, for that matter — has heard what has been described as “The Talk,” where he or she received parental instruction on how to behave in an encounter with the police. My parents told my brothers and me: “Be polite. Cooperate fully. If you feel you’ve been mistreated, get a badge number or a name, and you’ll be alive to do something about it.” Did we miss the part where our parents added, “Violently resist, and, whenever possible, run”?
No. 5: During the Obama administration, the following black suspects were either killed by the police or died in police custody: Trayvon Martin (by neighborhood watchman) Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Laquan McDonald, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile and Tamir Rice. Obama’s Department of Justice filed no civil rights charges against any of the cops. In the case of Garner, the Obama DOJ left the decision to the Trump administration, which declined to file civil rights charges against the NYPD officers involved in Garner’s death.
No. 4: Consider the following fact pattern about a recent shooting and killing of an “unarmed” suspect Rayshard Brooks by the Atlanta police: (Black) suspect resists, takes (white) cop’s taser, points it at cop and gets shot and killed. Put the question of whether the man should’ve been shot and killed aside for the moment; had the suspect been white and the cops black, would the outcome have been any different?
No. 3: Can we fast-forward to the part where those who looted and burned later accuse victimized businesses of “racism” should they choose not to rebuild?
No. 2: Thomas Sowell sees a massive gap between the reality of racism and the perception of racism: “We have now reached the point where virtually everything that serves black ‘leaders’ — dependency, grievance-hunting, racial hype and paranoia — are major disservices to the cause of advancing blacks, at a time when their opportunities have never been better.”
No. 1: The continuing anti-police abuse protests are a combination of cabin fever from weeks of the coronavirus shutdown, Trump Derangement Syndrome and the “cancel culture,” more accurately described as the revenge culture. The revenge culture demands reparations from those who were never slave owners to be given to those who were never slaves.
-------------- Larry Elder (@larryelder) is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host, an American lawyer, writer and radio and television personality who is also known as the "Sage From South Central." To find out more about Larry Elder. Visit his website at LarryElder.com for list of other articles. Tags:Larry Elder, 10 Takeaways, Anti-police, Brutality ProtestsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
. . . The Marxist-stream media are ignoring the violent mobs rioting across the country claiming it’s a mostly peaceful protest. It’s no longer about George Floyd
Tags:Editorial Cartoon, AF Branco, Mostly Peaceful Riots, The Marxist-stream media, ignoring the violent mobs, rioting across the country, claiming, mostly peaceful protest, It’s no longer about George FloydTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Michael Barone: White college graduates have emerged from the last two decades of elections as an increasingly large and cohesive political bloc -- and one that poses problems for both political parties.
Back in the pre-COVID-19 era, their numbers augmented by recent products of woke campuses, they seemed the dominant force in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
They flitted from one candidate to the next, tilting toward Sen. Kamala Harris after she whacked Joe Biden for opposing school busing in the 1970s, luxuriating in Sen. Elizabeth Warren's stentorian assurances that, on every issue, she had "a plan for that," swooning for the assured articulateness of former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
In retrospect, they seem to have been frivolous in their affections, especially when they acquiesced meekly in the elevation of Biden after his endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn and his 44-point margin over Sen. Bernie Sanders among black voters in South Carolina.
The Democratic Party, from its beginnings in the 1832 campaign to reelect Andrew Jackson (whose statue, at this writing, still stands in Lafayette Square across from the White House), has been a coalition of out-groups, sometimes at odds with one another, sometimes united to form a national majority.
Historically, each of its constituencies wanted something concrete out of politics. In midcentury America, blacks wanted desegregation; labor-union members wanted (in Samuel Gompers's word) "more"; ethnic groups wanted support of their confreres abroad.
But one group sought something more abstract: an opportunity to "participate" to advance "a conception of the public interest," as the young political scientist James Q. Wilson wrote in his 1962 book, "The Amateur Democrat."
Wilson's amateurs were well educated, relatively affluent and scarce on the ground in an era when most college grads voted Republican. They included Ed Koch, the future New York mayor running for Greenwich Village district leader; a single Chicago alderman (out of 50) representing the Hyde Park university district; and a few West Los Angeles lawyers active in California Democratic Council clubs.
They aspired to run the Democratic Party and sometimes snagged key staff positions. But demographically, they were just a sliver of the electorate, even in Democratic primaries.
Now their numbers are legion. White college graduates have been trending Democratic since the 1990s. The inrush of millennials marinated in political correctness and the emergence of the devil figure in Donald Trump have made them overwhelmingly Democratic -- and numerous enough to outnumber both blacks and blue-collar whites in party primaries.
They remain as abstract in their concerns -- as frivolous, one might say -- as Wilson's midcentury amateurs. A Pew Research Center poll showed 49% of white Democrats and 49% of college graduate Democrats saying it bothered them that "the likely Democratic nominee is a white man in his 70s." But only 28% and 30% of Black and Hispanic Democrats, respectively, were similarly bothered.
"The 'white left,'" writes Stanford political scientist Hakeem Jefferson, quoted by The New York Times' Thomas Edsall, "can sometimes look more 'progressive' than black folks because the white left has the luxury of approaching questions that bear on marginalized people's lives with a kind of reckless abandon" -- he might have said frivolousness -- "that many others don't have."
This reckless abandon is apparent in the posture of leading Democrats, draped with kente cloth, kneeling in atonement for the sins of Americans past. It's apparent in the convenient forgettery of those who scoffed at President Trump's accurate 2017 prediction that those tearing down Confederate statutes would target Washington and Jefferson next. Now they're under threat; a Jackson statue has been attacked; and in Wisconsin, "protesters" pulled down statues honoring an abolitionist and women suffragist.
The flakiness is apparent in politicians, not least Biden, who insist on enforcement of social distancing except for those engaged in mass protests and (what they try to avoid mentioning) violent rioting. There's not even a pretense here of avoiding a double standard.
It's also apparent in Biden's promise that his vice presidential nominee will be a woman. And in Sen. Amy Klobuchar's statement, published when she withdrew her name from consideration, that it must be a "woman of color." That leaves a very small field of choices for a position whose holder would have a good actuarial chance of succeeding to the presidency.
Democrats may argue that Republicans and Donald Trump engaged in frivolities of their own, and there's some basis for such charges. But it's not an excuse for their own frivolous conduct.
---------------------- Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics. Shared by Rasmussen Reports. Tags:Michael Barone, Rasmussen Reports, The Frivolous DemocratsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: I idly wonder who cooks up the initialisms for the big federal legislative packages ("laws") -- you know, like the recent "CARES Act" that distributed $2.3 trillion conjured out of thin air . . . and the faith and credit of a wobbly reputation. CARES stands for "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security," and I say "idly" because I am not googling this.
If I can resist searching for (as I am instructed to do daily) "any three numbers and 'new cases,'" I can let others do that initialism research.
Whoever it is, though, does a pretty good job. Usually. Good P.R. But they missed the boat a bit on CARES. It should have been CORPSE, standing for "Coronavirus Overpayment, Relief, Prodigality, Stupidity and Eeeeek!" Act.
For, you see, $1.4 billion was sent to dead people.
More than a million of them.
At least we can be thankful that the IRS wants that money back.
Well, "wants" is a funny word to use for a bureaucracy. Especially since the IRS has no current plan "to notify ineligible recipients on how to return payments." According to the General Accounting Office.
I would say it makes for fascinating reading, but it doesn't really. This is the same-old/same-old. The Department of Kludge and Fubar, you know, which would be a better name for most government bureaus.
The Reason piece call the CARES Act "unprecedented emergency spending," but I think we could find plenty of precedents.
If we googled.
This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
------------------ Paul Jacob (@Common_Sense_PJ) is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacob is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service. Tags:Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Precedented Payments To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Lloyd Marcus : Outrageously, cowardly and traitorous politicians are allowing Black Lives Matter, a racist hate group to engage in an “Everything Must Go” fire-sale against America. BLM is literally pulling down monuments and demanding that large portions of our history be removed from the records. They are burning down homes which dare fly the U.S. flag. They are taking control of portions of cities, absurdly claiming it as their new country. Why is BLM behaving like spoiled-brat bullies on America’s playground? The answer: Because they are allowed to do it.
My stomach turned watching Tucker Carlson on Fox News cite a Rasmussen poll which says Black Lives Matter has 62% popularity, more than President Trump. I remembered a bit of wisdom my brother gave me years ago. He said whenever something shocking happens, before you respond, stabilize your emotions. Despite the depressing poll, over a million people sought tickets to attend Trump’s rally in Tulsa. Also, a Rasmussen poll says 40% of likely black voters approve of Trump’s job performance.
Fake news media is so despicable and obviously agenda driven. Here’s a NYT headline, “Trump’s Rally in Tulsa Could Spread Virus.” Meanwhile, the NYT and the rest of fake news media are encouraging anarchists to flood our streets with protesters with zero concern about spreading the virus.
What is so frustrating is that BLM is an extreme racist and anti-American hate group. Years ago, BLM declared war on cops and white people. They marched down a NY street chanting, “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!”
Folks, how can any American in their right mind support these haters, paid to assassinate cops and whites and destroy our country? Long before the George Floyd incident, BLM was paid $150 million by George Soros and various anti-American liberal corporations and foundations.
“Accessory before the fact” is a legal term referring to a person who incites or assists someone to commit a crime. BLM is physically destroying businesses, assaulting, and murdering people. Can victims of BLM file lawsuits against major corporations who are eagerly donating millions to the domestic terrorist hate group?
Hateful extreme leftists are dominating the airwaves with intellectual sounding nonsense in praise of BLM. They claim America always has been and always will be irreversibly racist. They say the solution is to tear up and rewrite the U.S. Constitution. Folks, this is hogwash!
Given that blacks are only 13% of the population, Christians and decent whites had to play major roles in ending slavery and empowering blacks. And yet, leftists’ get away with pretending that every achievement made by blacks throughout American history was made despite white America.
Historian David Barton has done tremendous research exposing how Christian whites and blacks fought side-by-side to liberate black Americans.
Leftists do not give a rat’s derriere about black empowerment or black lives. They view blacks as useful idiots towards transforming America into their socialist/communist utopia in which anything goes sexually.
A huge elephant in the room is how long will the white majority tolerate being repeatedly poked in the eye with a hot poker of racial hate by BLM; demanded to kneel in worship to blacks? While claiming to be against racial hate, leftists are intentionally generating such hate. They believe voters will blame Trump and vote against him in November.
Evidence that leftists are lying about America being eternally racist is everywhere for anyone willing to see it. Eager to heal our nation from the wounds of slavery and racial discrimination, white America excitedly allowed a black man to bypass the usual vetting process for a presidential candidate. They gifted Obama two terms in the White House. Naive whites believed electing a black president would usher in a new era in which they could never be called “racist” again. Democrats and fake news media used Obama’s skin-color as a bludgeon to beat Republicans into submission, giving Obama free rein to implement their agenda to transform America into a socialist nation.
Here’s another example of the good-hearted nature and generosity of the American people. Fake news media and Democrats promoted the lie that Republicans and white America did not care about the victims of hurricane Katrina because they were mostly black. The truth is U.S. donors opened their hearts, giving $4.2 billion to victims of Katrina which is believed to be the highest amount ever.
Formerly of the CIA, Buck Sexton has been ranting in his articles and tweets that we need to rally around the concept of “wartime conservatism.” Buck says the left is kicking our butts. He also called out conservative billionaires. Why aren’t they purchasing media platforms and funding our cause?
The GOP is asking people to donate at https://takethehouse.com/, which is a good thing. However, everywhere I turn, I see people afraid, angry and frustrated because they feel like the GOP is doing nothing to push back against ANTIFA and BLM running wild in our streets.
I would love for the Tea Party buses to roll again. Frankly, thus far, the funding is simply not there. Yes, I have been contacted by concerned Americans who are eager to donate. However, a tour needs a major donor to get the ball rounding.
While we struggle to find funding for a bus tour to inspire and encourage Trump’s base, BLM has a war-chest of mega-millions to destroy America and block Trump’s reelection. There is something terribly wrong with this picture.
Another thing causing my head to explode is all of the pandering to BLM, an evil and demonic hate group. In compliance to BLM, pastors are telling their white congregations to own up to their white privilege. My response is, “Stop it! Stop falling for leftists’ bogus guilt-trip.”
For crying out loud! America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to purse their dreams. Anything else is a lie!
----------------------- Lloyd Marcus (@LloydMarcus) is an "Unhyphenated American" and an internationally renowned conservative columnist, singer/songwriter and author. He Chairs of the Conservative Campaign Committee Political Action Committee. He is a prominent voice of the American Tea Party movement and the singer/songwriter of the ”American Tea Party Anthem.” Marcus has been on Fox News, CNN, PJTV and the ARRA News Service. Tags:BLM, Buck Sexton, Christians, David Barton, Lloyd Marcus, racial hate, unhyphenated AmericanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Tags:The Democrat Boot, Police Reform. Editorial Cartoon, Michael RamirezTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Mario Murillo Ministries: “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there: in her fertile land, and boundless prairies, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great” (Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835).
Comte De Tocqueville was one of the brightest minds of his time: a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, and historian. He cut through the veneer and identified preaching as the prime source of our genius. Think of that. He pinpointed the fire in our pulpits as the source of our greatness!
Our recent blog, about the feeble response of Christian leaders to the present madness in America, was widely accepted by believers, and just as widely rejected by leaders—celebrity leaders. Perhaps Tocqueville’s quote may help you understand why I hold them responsible for our national debacle. My severity toward them is not because I have a low opinion of pastors, it is because I have a high opinion of preaching. Like Alexis de Tocqueville, I believe anointed preaching to be the true source of our greatness, and bad preaching to be the true source of our weakness.
Preaching was never supposed to be like this, but it has been shallow for the last 25 years. It was supposed to convict, convince, equip, and launch disciples into secular society. Instead, modern preaching echoed what the world was already saying. Instead of bringing powerful Christians to a hurting world, these preachers brought the dysfunction of the world to believers. Modern preaching did not equip, but instead, it enabled. It did not utterly denounce sin—it negotiated with it, creating birth-defective converts.
The American church de Tocqueville encountered in 1835 had fire in the pulpit. It is because we do not have that fire in our pulpits today, that we have fires in our streets. Because preachers choose to tell soothing stories instead of proclaiming Truth, our young people believe lies and honor truly stupid ideas and follow truly evil leaders.
1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” Was there ever a hope, in our current church climate of creating sanctified hearts who could give answers?
I stand accused of being too hard on American preachers. I am rejected for placing too high a responsibility for our current disaster on their shoulders. Some of their whining baffles me. Celebrity preachers cannot have it both ways. They are the ones who accepted the lofty praise, superstar status, and wealth. Like athletes who got the big contract—these preachers were expected to perform. But when it came to saving a nation from wickedness, they were a bitter let down. You don’t call yourself “the anointed vessel for this hour”—and then fizzle, in this, America’s darkest hour.
Charles Finney wrote, “Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.” (The Decay of Conscience, 1873)
Perhaps the only cure for such preaching is to depopularize it and defund it. Perhaps the fault lies as much with the fans of these preachers. In my book, Vessels of Fire and Glory, I wrote about the Contaminated Crowd. They are described in glaring detail in 2 Timothy 4:2-4, “Proclaim the Word. Keep your sense of urgency in season and out of season. Reprove, admonish, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not tolerate sound instruction, but having ears itching (for something pleasing), they will gather to themselves teachers chosen to satisfy their own lusts, and will turn aside from hearing the Truth and wander off into man-made myths.”
There is a reason that so much preaching today is festooned with props, smoke, emotionalism and entertainment. Small wonder that the slightest manifestation of the Spirit is touted as a miracle. It is no surprise that repentance is seldom if ever called for. The devil has seen to it that the American Church was totally unprepared for the multiple onslaughts unleashed against it in 2020.
And yet, there is a glorious sign on the horizon! There is a hint that actual preaching may return. There are young men and women displaying dangerous tendencies, such as reading revival history. Young leaders are disenchanted with the attraction-church model. They are asking threatening questions, desiring old ways—the ways that dislodge devils and release true signs and wonders.
God is stirring hearts, disrupting plans and driving young leaders to the kind of fire we need—the fire that can make America good and great, once again.
--------------------------- Mario Murillo is an evangelist Mario Murillo, minister, blogger. Tags:Mario Murillo, Ministries, Why, True Preaching, Matters, Now More Than EverTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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