Watch Checks That Told More Than the Time

Few acts are more mundane that checking one’s watch.  I used to do that a lot.  Now I check my phone.  My, how technology advances.  But before I get distracted by my phone again, my point is that people checking their watches is hardly the stuff of history.  

Or is it?

No, I cannot think of a time when someone checking their watch changed the course of history . . . yet.  But I can think of watch checks that revealed a lot about history before it was history.

 

October 15^th, 1992

During the Second Presidential Debate with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, President George H. W. Bush checked his watch at the beginning of a question of how the recession affected him.  That told more about him and about his re-election campaign than about what time it was, namely:

1. His disinterest in debating and campaigning, that in contrast with Bill Clinton, who clearly enjoyed it.  The mercurial Ross Perot also enjoyed barnstorming on a good day.  Bush wanted it to be over with. He admitted as much:

Bush later suggested that his gesture may, in fact, have revealed something about his discomfort with the debate. "Was I glad when the damn thing was over?" he said to PBS Newshour anchor Jim Lehrer. "Yeah."

It would be very much over soon.  Bush’s disinterest while Clinton oozed empathy assisted in that.

2. His sense of superiority and overconfidence.  He was a Bush after all.  He was better than that blowhard Perot and that young playboy Governor of Arkansas, of all states.  

It was not just the President who felt that way.  His campaign was hampered by overconfidence that surely he would not lose to Bill Clinton of all people.  Heck, the only reason Clinton got the Democrat nomination was because bigger names did not want to run against Bush.  Adding to the misplaced confidence was that Republicans had won the last three presidential elections and four of the last five.

So it wasn’t just Bush who was ready to get the campaign done with and won.  And it wasn’t just this then Republican Precinct Chairman who did not see the result coming.

 

March 30/31^st, 2013

Elected earlier that month, Pope Francis was in the Vatican presiding over his first Easter Vigil as Pope.  For those unfamiliar with Easter Vigils, they are not services to be done with in less than an hour so one can rush home or to the pub.  The Easter Vigil on Easter Eve is the most solemn occasion of the church year for many traditional Christians.  At their best, they are evocative, glorious, and definitely not rushed.  One of the most memorable services I’ve ever attended was an Easter Vigil at St. Matthias Anglican Dallas in 2005; it lasted well over two hours, and I would not have it a minute shorter.

But Pope Francis apparently did not feel that way about his first Easter Vigil as Pope.  Bishop of Rome only for days, he had already acted to shorten the service.  But it wasn’t short enough apparently.  During the service, he checked his watch, just as he checked his watch during his installation service on March 19^th.

Twenty years older and somewhat wiser, I knew immediately there was something profoundly wrong with Francis long before many whom I respect caught on.

Why? Unless one is hinting to an overly loquacious preacher to wind his sermon up, a priest just does not look at his watch during a service.  It’s not in the rubrics; it doesn’t have to be.  It sends the wrong message to the congregation and to God as well.  For a pope to check his watch during one of the more solemn services of the year . . . .  It was unthinkable . . . before Francis.

Thus in the first month of his pontificate, those with eyes to see could already see Francis was a man of impious priorities who had little respect for the liturgy, for the need of solemn and traditional celebrations of even the Resurrection of our Lord.

The slow motion disaster of the pontificate of Francis should not have afterward surprised anyone, particularly his attempted vandalism of the Lord’s Prayer and his attacks on the traditional Latin Mass.  Early on, his watch check foretold his attacks on catholic worship.

 

Sunday August 29^th, 2021

Joe Biden stands at Dover Air Force Base to receive the bodies of 13 service people killed in the Kabul bombing, an attack enabled by the shambles of his withdrawal from Afghanistan.  As he ends a salute, he quickly checks his watch.  It was so quick that perhaps he caught himself, realizing how wrong that was.  But he checked his watch nonetheless.  (And some reports have him checking his watch additional times during the ceremony.)

At this point, it is unclear just what this watch check tells.  Perhaps it tells that Biden’s cognitive decline is worse than most think.  One system of dementia is socially inappropriate behavior.  But I am not his doctor, and it would be wrong for me to presume that is what is happening.  

Perhaps he did not want to be there at Dover AFB and thought he had better things to do.  He surely wants to move on from his Afghanistan disaster.  Perhaps he was so detached from reality, he did not realize the solemnity of his role.  

It is hard to think that his watch check revealed shear callousness toward the fallen soldiers and their families.  But he has already greatly endangered Americans and allied Afghans.  How much of that disaster is from incompetence and how much from callousness, we do not know. 

In any case, what Biden’s watch check this past Sunday reveals is not good.

----

So the trivial act of checking one’s watch revealed much about these three men and their times, although exactly what was revealed in Biden’s case is not yet clear.  Did the checks also have consequences?

In the elder Bush’s case, probably not.  Yes, it was part of his lackluster debate in his lackluster campaign.  But it was the campaign and the recession and perhaps Ross Perot that brought about his defeat, not a watch check.

In Pope Francis’ case, it had virtually no consequences whatsoever before men.  Just about everyone was too eager to think hopefully about the new Pope.  The consequences before God are another matter best left to Him.

I doubt it will have lasting consequences for Biden either.  But I see similarities with Bush’s watch check in that it reveals traits that will have political consequences.  Bush’s disdain for actual campaigning, partly revealed by his watch check, assisted his defeat.  Whatever the mix of incompetence and darkness revealed by Biden’s watch check, that mix may and should lead to the downfall of his presidency as well.

There is a significant difference with Biden’s watch check.  Bush’s check, though revealing undesirable traits, was not awful or disgusting.   Biden’s watch check is disgusting and adding to widespread disgust with him – as it should.

I will not pray for a “President” Biden.

After two months of prayer and deliberation, I have decided I will not pray for a “President” Biden, especially in the context of public worship.  Yes, I can pray for those in authority.  I can pray for enemies as in the Litany.  But I will not be praying for “the President of the United States” as such after January 20^th for four years.

Among the consequences of stealing an election through fraud and other illegality should be that the thief should be regarded as illegitimate by significant numbers and in significant contexts.  That goes double if the thief was aware of the election fraud.  And what appears to be the biggest Freudian Slip in history indicates that Biden knew.  Biden knew, in his own words, about "most extensive & inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics."

So I cannot conscientiously in private or public worship lend legitimacy to a “President” Biden by praying for him as President.  I can certainly pray for those in authority, e. g. for “all Christian Rulers and Magistrates.”  I, of course, can pray for our country.  But I will not join the pretence that Biden will be a legitimate President of the United States by praying for him as such.

Yes, a case can be made for praying for him as POTUS anyway, and I have no problem with those who do (although I will not join them).  An obvious argument is that St. Paul urged praying for the Emperor even when he was a rather nasty man.  The difference here is that the highest secular authority in the United States is not a man, as in the Roman Empire of Paul’s time, but the Constitution.   And the Constitution was run over roughshod to steal the election.  Bypassing state legislatures to tear up election laws to steal the election is a prominent example of that.

The Founding Fathers wisely set up this country to be under the Rule of Law, not the rule of emperors or kings or tyrants.  And as long as the Constitution remains, even if only theoretically, there is no obligation under God to treat an illegitimate President as legitimate.  (Whether it is wise to do as a practical matter is another question.)

So although I respect those who respectfully disagree, I have made my decision.  

Now for those wondering about the rubrics, if I read them accurately, there is no requirement in my jurisdiction to use any prayer that specifically mentions the President of the United States.  There is one exception that I am aware of: the Litany includes a prayer for God “so to rule the heart of thy servant, the President of the United States, that he may above all things seek thine honour and glory.”

So if I make a “mistake” while praying the Litany, let the reader understand.

And after the events of yesterday, I will add that refusing to recognize the legitimacy of a “President” Biden should be non-violent.  The violence perpetrated by some of the protesters yesterday was not only wrong, it was stupid.  With Trump’s speech and with numerous objectors to the Electoral College in Congress, yesterday was well on the way to spotlighting the election fraudsters as the bad guys.  But because of the violent foolishness, the day ended up making Trump and his supporters look like the bad guys and completely distracted from the villainy of the stolen election.  Thus it was not only wrong and harmful, it was stupid and self-defeating as political violence generally is.

And numerous and manifold non-violent ways to oppose the coming fraudulent Biden regime remain.  My refusal to recognize him as President in public and private worship is only one modest example.

No Evidence?!?

There are many things infuriating about this massive fraud being perpetrated on the American people.  (And I intend to address how to respond.  But, please, nobody do anything stupid.  And remember Christ still rules.)  One of those things is the ignorant or hackish saying there is no evidence of massive fraud in this election.

Oh really?  Project Veritas alone has presented a lot of evidence of late mail-in “votes” being given Election Day postmarks after Election Day.  At least three whistleblowers from the USPS have testified to that.  The latest is from Pennsylvania, of course.  (And Biden has just fraudulently gone ahead in Pennsylvania.)  Yesterday, two days after Election Day, the Pennsylvania whistleblower revealed:

“All these ballots that were coming in--today, tomorrow, yesterday—are all supposed to be postmarked the third,” said the postal service employee, who works out of the USPS General Mail Facility here.

The Project Veritas Insider said the supervisors are collecting the ballots and making sure they are postmarked.

“They're getting these ballots in and they're getting, they're taking them from us,” he said. 

“We have to separate out the ballots and give them directly to the supervisors,” he said. “They're postmarking and they're at the office and taking them directly to the ballot box.”

This is just one whistleblower.  There are at least two other USPS whistleblowers in other states.  That begs the question of how much postal fraud do we not know about.

Especially in Pennsylvania, where Democrat hack judges are allowing mail-in ballots to count even if they come in late and even if signatures do not match, this Pennsylvania whistleblower alone just revealed the commission of fraud.  Backdated postmarks alone are fraudulent.  The only question is how massive the fraud is.

So don’t give me the crap that there is no evidence of serious fraud in this election.  Just don’t.

To the Victor Belongs the . . . Poison

I am not going to go over the details of the Democrat attempt to steal this election.  It would make for a long and laborious post, and I have been posting a lot of details on my twitter account.  I will say that I told you so about Pennsylvania.  

And I am not going to argue about it here.  Maybe another day and place I will.  But if you disagree that Democrats are trying to steal this election, I will be charitable and recommend you acknowledge at least the perception of an attempt to steal the election and read on.

I will say, as I have warned, that the move to mail-in voting invited this mess even if I am wrong (and I’m not) that there is a Democrat attempt to steal this election.  From personal experience I know mail-in ballots can be impossible to verify.  The shift to mass use of mail-in ballots alone practically guaranteed fraud even if Democrats did not choose to pile more fraud on top of that.

But leaving that aside, this situation has so poisoned the chalice of the presidency that this Trump supporter does not know what would be worse, Trump or Biden “winning.”  Whoever wins will be perceived as illegitimate by at least a third of the country. And that third will be angry.  Hatred of Trump runs deep no matter what he does, and many would (wrongly) think he stole the election. And Democrats have already well earned the hatred of Americans towards them with their refusal to respect the 2016 election, their serial election fraud, their extremism, their disdain for the Constitution, and you don’t want to get me started on all that.

Combine these divisions now becoming worse for the next president with the difficulties he will face with COVID, the economy, and who knows what else, and “winning” the presidency has the seeds of destruction for whichever party wins it.  I predict right now that if Biden “wins,” the 2022 mid-term election will be a bloodbath with Republicans taking the House and more.  Then Republicans will take back the White House in 2024.  And if Trump wins, the next two elections could be just as bad for Republicans, particularly since Trump fatigue is likely.  Hey, I love the guy, but I can see people getting really tired of him.

When I step back from the present, I wonder if God is allowing this mess in order to give the country enough of a taste of Democrat rule so that we come to our senses and cast out the Democrats and force them to reform or else.  Maybe that is wishful thinking, and we certainly neither deserve God’s providence and mercy. But God does act “in strange ways” as the old saying goes.

In any case, the chalice of presidential victory has now been so thoroughly poisoned that I am not that sure I want Trump to succeed in pulling this out (even though I very much support his efforts to thwart the fraud).  That even though I think a Biden/Harris presidency will be awful for the country. 

Pray.

A Time for Clarity Not Muddy Waters

I think we can already call who will lose this election – the church, especially The Evangelical Church of What’s Happening Now.

With notable exceptions, even supposedly orthodox church leaders have utterly failed their people and the country this election.  The Trump is a Messiah guys have failed us.  The Woke Church crowd has failed us, to say the very least.  

But it is not only these churchly extremes that have failed us.  There is an element that has muddied the waters with nuances and moral equivalencies when clarity is called for.  Sadly, this video from the ACNA Diocese of Christ Our Hope is an example of this failure.

There may be elections when such videos would be helpful.  This is not one of them.  What we are facing is too awful, too destructive, and too difficult to reverse should the electorate (augmented by election fraud) make the wrong choice.  What is at issue is not policy differences that good people can disagree on, but the destruction of our American society itself.

Yes, that may sound alarmist.  But it is a time for clarity, for reality checks, not for excuses and high-sounding fig leaves for evil.  So some reality checks:

1. His “bi-partisan commission” cop-out aside, Biden refuses to disavow calls to pack the Supreme Court, i.e. to increase the number of Supreme Court justices and appoint Constitution-tearing Leftists to the new open spots not unlike Hugo Chavez.  The Constitution would then be a dead letter.

2. Democrats have been open about other plans to turn us into an unconstitutional Leftist One-Party State should they gain the White House and the Senate.  Combine statehood for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, open borders, and amnesty and eventual citizenship for illegals, and the electorate would be so changed that Democrats would control the White House and the Senate for decades to come.  Again, you can kiss America and the Constitution good-bye if that happens.

Really these two reality checks alone make voting for Biden and the Democrats either grossly disloyal to this country or grossly ignorant, hardly acceptable in a Christian citizen.  I mean, really, if a “Christian” hates America that much, they should do the right thing and leave.  (Or if they are that ignorant, they either should not vote or should get informed before voting.)  One doesn’t have to love America to be a Christian.  But a Christian should not vote to destroy the society and the Rule of Law that gives him the freedom to be a Christian in relative peace.

But that’s not all.

3. It is now quite obvious that Biden and his family have sold influence to China, Russia, the Ukraine and God knows who else.  Biden literally sold us out to China.  It is criminal and beyond.  If you haven’t seen the details, then may I suggest reading the New York Post or watching Tucker Carlson rather than the New York Times, CNN, and the rest of the Democrat Fake News media.

I could give many more reality checks, but most would pertain to policy.  I will give one obvious one.

4. Biden and Kamala Harris (spit) are baby killers.  They want open season on the unborn for all nine months of pregnancy, no doubt paid for by taxpayers.  Yes, I am well aware that such despicable “Christian” prevaricators such as the AND Campaign are trying to justify Christians voting for baby killers.  They and the baby killers will have a lot to answer for in the Judgement.  

But even if it wasn’t for reality check 4, for Christians who wish to be good American citizens, a vote for Biden or for most Democrats for that matter is not a viable choice.  Democrats are pretty open now about what they have secretly wanted to do for some time - trash the Constitution, turn the Supreme Court into their rubber stamp, import an un-American electorate, and turn America into a Leftist One-Party State.  Under these circumstances, voting for Democrats is profoundly disloyal and destructive.  

(No, you don’t have to vote for Trump although I have.  If you find both major choices unacceptable, a vote for a Third Party sends that message honorably and well.)

Again, if you hate America so much as to vote to destroy America, then instead do the right thing and leave or at least remove yourself from politics.  But cut it out with using the name of Christ to support such evil or to deceive the sheep like the AND Campaign or to muddy the waters like the ACNA Diocese of Christ Our Hope.  You are harming both church and country.

Shameless: Biden Blames Trump for Michigan Plot

Yesterday I mentioned the plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan as an illustration of what Psalm 37 teaches us not to do.  Little did I know the accused are a bunch of strange anarchists, at least one of whom hates Trump.  

I have to admit even I was thinking we finally had a violent plot of significance from Trump-supporting “right-wingers.”  I was wrong.  The remarkable record of non-violence from Trump supporters in the face of grievous provocations continues. 

But that did not stop Joe Biden from using this episode to smear and blame Trump.  He keeps pushing that “both sides” myth, so what do you expect from such a shameless liar?  Thank God Robby Starbuck has captured video of one of the ringleaders denouncing Trump in no uncertain terms.  (Sorry I had to link that tweet instead of embedding it, but embedding is not working for some reason.) 

This has gotten to be par for the course from Joe BigLie.

On the Edge of a One-Party State

How about that debate? :D

Sorry. I know last night’s debate was not pleasant viewing.  I don’t know who said shut up more, Biden at Trump or me at my television.  And, like many, my IQ may have decreased last night.  So forgive me if this post is not my most eloquent. 

Having said all that, there was one moment last night that disturbed me more than the whole rest of the debate, and that was Biden refusing to say whether he would end the filibuster and pack the Supreme Court:

Chris Wallace, in one of the few tough questions he posed to Biden, said this:

So my question to you is, you have refused in the past to talk about it, are you willing to tell the American tonight whether or not you will support either ending the filibuster or packing the court?

Biden refused to answer, something the Trump quickly challenged.  Here's the colloquy:

BIDEN: Whatever position I take on that, that'll become the issue. The issue is the American people should speak. You should go out and vote. You're voting now. Vote and let your Senators know strongly how you feel.

TRUMP: Are you going to pack the court?

BIDEN: Vote now.

TRUMP: Are you going to pack the court?

BIDEN: Make sure you, in fact, let people know, your Senators.

TRUMP: He doesn't want to answer the question.

BIDEN: I'm not going to answer the question.

TRUMP: Why wouldn't you answer that question? You want to put a lot of new Supreme Court Justices. Radical left.

BIDEN: Will you shut up, man?

TRUMP: Listen, who is on your list, Joe? Who's on your list?

WALLACE: Gentlemen, I think we've ended this —

BIDEN: This is so un-Presidential.

TRUMP: He's going to pack the court. He is not going to give a list.

And this is not the first time Biden has refused to answer.  I hope he does not get away with his non-answer.  Given what passes for jurisprudence from Democrat hacks-in-black, if Democrats do pack the Supreme Court, you can pretty much kiss the Constitution and the rule of law good-bye and America with it.  We would be on the road to Venezuela.

Think I’m exaggerating?  Early in the Hugo Chavez regime, the Supreme Court of Venezuela had the temerity to say no to some of his designs.  His response?  He packed the Supreme Court.  He, like the current leadership of the Democrat Party, expected judges to do his bidding regardless of trivialities like a constitution or the rule of law.   So he packed the Court and got just that.  

Should Biden get elected and Democrats win the Senate, we are in serious danger of that happening right here in the United States.  Democrats have already long demonstrated they think the purpose of judges is to do their policy bidding regardless of the Constitution and the rule of law.  Should they gain enough power to pack the Supreme Court, that is what they, and we, will get.  And we will no longer be a Constitutional republic but a Leftist One-Party State.  Why?  Because elections do not matter with Leftist Dictators in Black Robes.  If we are not wise enough to vote for untrammeled Marxism, a Democrat-packed Supreme Court will shove it down our throats . . . for “justice”, of course. 

And, also of course, should Biden be elected, he will reopen the floodgates of illegal immigration (or just make it legal) and give away amnesty and citizenship like candy on Halloween.  Democrats are not pleased with the current electorate, so they will change it by importing a more pliable, less American one.  Even if they do not pack the Court, so changing the demographics of the electorate will make us a Leftist One-Party State just like they did with California.

Democrats make even create two new states from Washington, D. C. and Puerto Rico to pack the Senate with four more Democrat Senators.  I have my doubts whether they will be able to do that in the near future.  But that is on the DemocRAT agenda as well.  And, again, you can pretty much kiss America good-bye if they succeed.

So there is much more on the ballot this year than public policy.  What is on the ballot is whether you will have much say on public policy in future elections.  For if Biden wins, we are in grave danger of being on the road to a Leftist One-Party State.  And if Democrats take the Senate as well, we are practically there.

Biden Doubles Down on His Charlottesville Lie

Largely overlooked in his Democrat nomination acceptance speech last night was Joe Biden repeating his big lie about Charlottesville:

“Just a week ago, yesterday, was the third anniversary of the events in Charlottesville,” Biden continued. “Close your eyes, remember what you saw on television. Remember seeing those neo-nazis and klansmen and white supremacists coming in a field with lighted torches, veins bulging, spewing the same anti-Semitic bile heard across Europe in the ’30’s.”

Biden went on: “Remember the violent clash that ensued between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it? And remember what the president said when asked, he said—quote—there were very fine people on both sides,” Biden lied.   “That was a wake-up call for our country.”

I took pains to expose this lie last year.  I repeat some of what I posted then:

----

Joe Biden in beginning his campaign for President saw fit to smear President Donald Trump’s statement in the aftermath of Charlottesville. He is not the first to deceive about Charlottesville and Trump’s statement for political purposes, and he won’t be the last.  So it’s time to revisit Charlottesville.

First, Trump did not call white nationalists and the like “fine people.”  He did not, as Biden said, assign “a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it.”  Here is what Trump said, in context:

You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. ... I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. ... So you know what, it's fine. You're changing history. You're changing culture. And you had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the White nationalists, because they should be condemned totally — but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and White nationalists. Okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people. But you also had troublemakers, and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group.

And Trump’s statement was and is accurate.  You had peaceful people who, like me frankly, are concerned about taking down history for current political motivations.  And on the other side you had peaceful people who, also like me, oppose extremist racist ideologies.

----

But that doesn’t stop Joe Biden from telling his big lie. . . again.

What kind of man tells and retells such a vicious big lie at key moments in his campaign?

And why does no one in the “mainstream” “news” media ask him about this?

Antisemite Linda Sarsour a Speaker at Democrat National Convention UPDATED

Someone forgot to tell the Democrat Party that the antisemitism of the U.K. Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn was something to be avoided, not imitated. 

For look who is a speaker at the Democrat National Convention – Linda Sarsour, someone so antisemitic that the Women’s March booted her from leadership.

I’ve got no words, except to say that if the purpose of the DNC was to repel decent people, they are doing a good job of that.

UPDATE:
The Biden campaign NOW realizes how toxic Sarsour is and is trying to disassociate him from her.  Then why was she a convention speaker?

They are trying to have it both ways with a wink and a nod to the antisemites.

Biden: “It’s Not About Your Rights”

Joe Biden has an odd way of campaigning.  No I’m not talking about his staying in the basement for weeks on end.  I refer to him calling for an absurd and irrational face mask requirement to wear masks outside, period – and then rubbing his proposed face mask tyranny in our faces by saying, “It’s not about your rights.”

Hell if it isn’t.

Does he and Kamala really think Americans will respond well to his rubbing his absurd face mask tyranny in our faces like that?  To his trying to take away more of our freedom with so little justification and then lecturing us, “It’s not about your rights”?  I pray not!  

FWIW, I usually wear a face mask in indoor public places of late.  But wearing a face mask outside when no one else is within yards probably harms health more than it helps.  But public health is not really the point.  Our good is not the objective of Leftist tyrants as much as they say it is.  Their objective is compliance, whether that means a mask on our face or a jackboot on our necks.

Not just Biden’s face mask tyranny but this whole election is about our rights, our freedoms.  Democrats have made very clear that in their world, criminals, illegals, vagrants, and rioters have more rights than decent Americans who simply want to live their lives in peace, earn a living, go to a bar, the beach, or church (or all three in my case) and just be left alone by the Bidens, the Karens, the Kamalas and their ilk.

This election and this year for that matter is about our rights.

"If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't Black."

Yes, Joe Biden really did say that on a radio show this morning.  Here is the train wreck with some context:

Yes, incredible.  Now I could wax eloquent about how racist this is, to say that a Black person must stay on the Democrat plantation to be a good Black, a real Black even.  But there are already quite a number of Black people, among others, who are doing a better job of that than I could.

I do wonder if many of various colors who so love to use the word “racist,” I do wonder if many of them will speak out against this blatant racism of Biden.  You know if Trump had said this, the woke crowd would be oh so outraged, and I would have to agree with them.  How will they respond now?  I am watching with interest.  I’m especially watching you woke church people.  Just letting you know.

By the way, if memory serves me right, I’ve predicted Trump will get 15% of the Black vote.  If Biden is the Democrat nominee, I now think it will be closer to 20% even if Biden chooses a Black running mate, which he very well may now to try to undo the damage from this debacle.

Democrats Show They Cannot Be Trusted with Justice

This week may be one to be remembered.  I was intending to make a different post today, but yesterday, particularly the exoneration of Michael Flynn, was of such import and possible lasting impact, I put that aside. 

So much could be said – and trust that I could say a lot! – but I will hone in on one important lesson of this week: today’s Democrats cannot be trusted with justice.

Yes, that is a very broad and very partisan sounding statement.  But stay with me and note the response of key Democrats to the Flynn exoneration.  They doubled down on portraying Flynn as the bad guy in this.  And that even though the FBI Comey Cabal pursued Flynn even as lower down agents advised that they thought Flynn did not lie and were even about to drop the case.  But not only did the Comey Cabal and DOJ prosecutors go forward with their unethical perjury trap; the prosecutors blackmailed Flynn into a guilty plea by threatening his son.  

Then through the pre-trial and trial, the prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence from Flynn’s lawyers.  It was this evidence finally being released this week, evidence that revealed FBI and prosecutorial misconduct, that prompted the Department of Justice to drop the case.

This should be a time to rejoice that justice prevailed and that an unjust investigation and prosecution failed.  Should be.

Yet not only are Democrats still portraying Flynn as the bad guy, they are attacking Attorney General Barr for doing what any ethical AG would do.  Democrats once again are demonstrating they would rather have political prisoners than justice.

In a different area note that Joe Biden this week pledged to reverse reforms by Education Secretary DeVos protecting the due process rights of college students accused of sexual misconduct.  Recall that under Obama, college tribunals tore up due process rights of the accused, including cross examination and the presumption of innocence.  They became kangaroo courts in a number of cases with predicable injustices and subsequent lawsuits.

Biden wants to go back to that.

In light of the credible sexual misconduct accusations against Biden, his message to college students is quite clear: “Due process and the presumption of innocence for me, but not for thee.”

Is that who we want appointing DOJ officials, federal judges, and Supreme Court Justices?

Yes, seeing Democrats react to real progress in justice this week makes me fear for justice should they regain power.

Now there are a number of church leaders and activists, particularly in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), who are all about “justice.”  Good for them!  Here they have an opportunity to demonstrate their concern for justice by speaking out against these Democrat attacks on justice, particularly on fair play, the presumption of innocence and due process.  These “justice” church people have an opportunity to demonstrate that their much desired “justice” isn’t just a buzzword for Leftist political agendas and Democrat victory.

I advise against holding one’s breath waiting for them to do so.

Charlottesville Revisited II: Dilbert Debunks a Hoax

This week, I did my humble part to debunk the hoax of Trump loving those Nazis just revived by Lying Joe Biden. But now Scott Adams of Dilbert fame has done better with a doggedly logical and detailed takedown of the Charlottesville Hoax.  At the same time he notes that hoaxes can be hard to kill due to the commitment of useful idiots (not his term – he is more polite than I) to believe them.

I doubt any further summary on my part can do his work justice, so get thee hence and read it for yourself.

Charlottesville Revisited

Joe Biden in beginning his campaign for President saw fit to smear President Donald Trump’s statement in the aftermath of Charlottesville. He is not the first to deceive about Charlottesville and Trump’s statement for political purposes, and he won’t be the last.  So it’s time to revisit Charlottesville.

First, Trump did not call white nationalists and the like “fine people.”  He did not, as Biden said, assign “a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it.”  Here is what Trump said, in context:

You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. ... I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. ... So you know what, it's fine. You're changing history. You're changing culture. And you had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the White nationalists, because they should be condemned totally — but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and White nationalists. Okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people. But you also had troublemakers, and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group.

And Trump’s statement was and is accurate.  You had peaceful people who, like me frankly, are concerned about taking down history for current political motivations.  And on the other side you had peaceful people who, also like me, oppose extremist racist ideologies. (Please see my note below for more.)

At the same time, there were also violent extremists on both sides.  But all we hear about are the Neo-Nazis and the like and the man who ran down protesters and killed a woman. And we should be reminded of them.  But we rarely are reminded of the role violent Leftist groups, particularly Antifa, played that day.  But a great deal of violence came from Antifa and therefore some of the violence from the other side was in self-defense.  (Obviously, the car attack was not and should be condemned without equivocation.)

Don’t take my word for it.  Here are testimonies of eyewitnesses from various sides of Charlottesville, such as this:

University of Virginia student Isabella Ciambotti: "I was on Market Street around 11:30 a.m. when a counter-protester ripped a newspaper stand off the sidewalk and threw it at alt-right protesters. I saw another man from the white supremacist crowd being chased and beaten. People were hitting him with their signs. A much older man, also with the alt-right group, got pushed to the ground in the commotion. Someone raised a stick over his head and beat the man with it, and that's when I screamed and ran over with several other strangers to help him to his feet."

Such is par for the course for Antifa, along with using excrement as a weapon.  But we don’t hear much about that (By the way, although I remember numerous reports of Antifa violence in Charlottesville, search engines are not much help digging up those reports.  Funny that . . . in an Orwellian way.) – a double standard which enables more hate and violence as I noted shortly after Charlottesville.  Distorting history has consequences.

Sadly, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has enabled and even participated in distorting the history of Charlottesville. I do not think that was the intent, but it was the effect.  The Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network (AMEN) issued a Charlottesville Statement.  There was nothing really wrong in it and much to be commended.  What it omitted is the problem.  While repeatedly denouncing racism and “white supremacy,” it did not even mention Antifa or other violent Leftists or their role in Charlottesville.   And ACNA and Archbishop Foley Beach endorsed and promoted this statement.

Such partial truths are inadequate and can be used to deceive.  We in ACNA must do better.  All Christians involved in the political sphere must strive for better.

-----

NOTE: Now one may ask how the heck can “fine people” find themselves on the same side as Neo-Nazis (and Antifa for that matter).  I will tell you how from personal experience.

Back during my college days, I joined a rally against the Greensboro shooting verdict in 1980 (or 1981, my memory of the time is fuzzy.). I saw the not guilty verdict as unjust.  But during the rally, I saw that it was really more a platform to smear Reagan and promote loony Left ideas than to protest the verdict. Eventually I had enough and walked away.

Also in my college days, I participated in Marches for Life. I noticed some, well, interesting people there.  For one thing, I was intrigued by the leaflets in the Ticked Mary genre I was handed.  But the scattered odd balls were more amusing than obnoxious.  And the main cause remained the main cause.  So I marched on.

One can certainly question the judgement of those who were not White Nationalists or the like but were there in Charlottesville to protest taking down historic statues.  But sometimes when you get involved in honorable causes, you find yourself alongside dishonorable people.

Downfall II: Biden Threatens “Executive Orders . . . Executive Action” Against Guns

When I began my Downfall series yesterday, perhaps you thought me a bit paranoid when I suggested Obama might “play the dictator in going after guns.”  But it’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you:

"The president is going to act," said Biden, giving some comments to the press before a meeting with victims of gun violence. "There are executives orders, there's executive action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet. But we're compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and the rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action that we believe is required."

And if you think I’m over the top in pointing out Obama’s totalitarian streak, then do not look at the homepage of Drudge today.

 If the shoe fits . . . 

The VP Debate Summarized

I am a bit behind on getting things done today.  So I will have to keep this brief.

I think the most important moment of the debate was Joe Biden claiming on Libya, “We weren’t told they wanted more security there. . . We did not know they wanted more security there.”

Given repeated reports and testimony that our people in Libya did ask the Obama Administration for more security, this reveals either gross incompetence or more lying . . . probably both actually.

Also important is that Biden pinned a lot of blame on supposed bad intelligence.  It would not surprise me to see more leaks that debunk that line.  For I doubt our intelligence community appreciates being thrown under the bus to cover up for Obama.

There’s a good post on those two points over at Hot Air.

As far as the debate as a whole, I cannot summarize it better than Proverbs 29:9 (ESV):

If a wise man has an argument with a fool,

the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.

Downright prophetic.

Joe Biden: A Wonderfully Bad Choice for Veep

I’m heartened to see that Barack Obama has chosen Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate. For I think this is bad tactical decision, wonderfully bad for those, like myself, rooting against Obama.

Biden has no constituency outside of Delaware as shown by his absurd runs for the presidency. He’ll bring almost no one on board the Messiah Train.

Worse, he has a long history of not shutting up, of self-destructive verbal gaffes. In fact, I advise prayer for him that he doesn’t commit one until after he’s nominated for Veep at the Democrat Convention. And I predict he’ll have a verbal gaffe during the campaign that will hurt Obama. You heard it here first.

Further, he’s a pro-abortion Catholic. That sort of hypocrisy and unfaithfulness rubs a lot of the electorate the wrong way. Cramner has an interesting take on this. And it will bring more attention to the abortion issue – a weak issue for Obama given his radical record on the subject that can only be characterized as pro-infanticide.

So I think Obama picking Joe Biden is indeed a wonderfully self-destructive decision. I suspect that one day in illustrated Bibles, beside verses saying evil men fall into pits that they themselves dig, will be a photo of Barack Obama presenting Joe Biden as his running mate.