35 thoughts on “News/Politics 3-15-24

  1. Corrupt judge makes his corrupt ruling….

    Like

  2. Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.

    A 6 minute long rolling list of victims. The toll is devasting families, and it shouldn’t be happening. Biden and Dems have a lot of blood on their hands.

    “This is a list (not everyone) of Americans allegedly killed by someone in our country illegally. If you think it’s because of a war, it is. Biden has essentially declared war on America and its people for votes. Only when politicians family members show up on these lists or Trump is re-elected will anything be done to stop it”

    Like

  3. No fraud here…. 🙄

    Like

  4. Like

  5. Not sure why Republicans are running with the illegal immigration scare tactics. A immigration reform bill written by an Oklahoma senator was dead on arrival in the House. The Republicans have no interest in solving the migrant “crisis”, Trump just wants to win the election. The Democrats will run hard on this and Republicans are just laying the ground work.

    The only thing Republicans managed to accomplish is to punish TikTok (not quite ban). And now Mnuchin has announced he wants to buy it just after Congress has wrecked its value. Not hard to connect the dots here.

    If they want to win, Republicans need to stop wasting resources on the 2020 election. Money is scarce at the RNC especially after Lara Trump has taken control and will use what little money the RNC have on Donald’s legal fees. To win an election you need a ground game to get out the vote and that requires money, which they don’t have.

    HRW

    Like

  6. There is officially no more Republican Party, HRW. It’s now been literally and completely taken over. They probably need to start working on a new name.

    Our politics are broken.

    • dj (no horse in this horrible predicament or “race”)

    Praying for the republic, it’s all we can do.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. HRW,

    Biden could end the invasion tomorrow by reinstating the 92 Trump rules that kept it in check which he rescinded. Americans know it’s Biden and Dems responsible, twice this week dems voted against deporting illegals who commit crimes in the US. Spin all you want, the polls show America sees thru it.

    Also, since taking over the RNC donations are once again climbing now that the RINOs have been purged.

    Like

  8. “Praying for the republic, it’s all we can do.”

    Well, that and actually vote. One side is clearly better than the other, and you know it, as the post at 3:12 shows. One side stands for perversion in all its forms, the other fights against it. Vote accordingly.

    Aj

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Over four years, that’s a general inflation rate of 4.5%.

    Currently, the US has one of the lowest inflation rates in the world at 2.8%. In the post-covid supply chain breakdown and subsequent corporate profit taking inflation did go up but it’s done. By November, central bank rates will have dropped and wages will start to recover. The last thing the Republicans will want to run on is the economy – the US has one of the strongest economies in the world right now. Interestingly, one of the worst OECD economies is Argentina which is now carrying out the policies of a right wing populist Trumpian president.

    AJ – your solution to immigration is for Biden to issue executive orders as opposed to the Republicans passing their own legislation? The legislation is there, the Republicans wrote it, and they can pass it – but somehow conservatives want stronger authority for a Democrat president to get it done? Weird.

    Fear of pervision is the issue of last resort? That won’t work. In a secret ballot, Americans will vote for pornhub over shutting down IVF services. The last few elections have demonstrated the unpopularity of strict abortion laws. The Alabama decision will pop up on Democrat literature over and over again. Running on a pro-choice ticket will help the Democrats. As I’ve said before, Americans are pro-life and pro-choice – they want to be able to choose life not be told to do it by their government.

    Like

  10. “largest digital weekend fundraising since 2020” is pretty specific. The truth is the Republicans are broke especially in Michigan and Pennsylvania (which are the key states). In 2023, Republicans only raised 87.2 million, the lowest since 2013 and that’s before inflation adjustments. And no matter how much money Lara Trump raises, if she spends it on her father-in-law’s legal costs, the Republicans will be broke. The RNC has become the Trump piggy bank. Why would anyone donate to a party so a trust fund baby can have his legal bills paid?

    Like

  11. our court system has become a travesty of justice. How many people have been denied speedy trials (and I am not talking J6) and are incarcerated. How many people who ought to be incarcerated are out again creating mayhem. Trump’s “legal problems” are a tiny microcosm of our broken system. People are noticing. Most seem to be giving up hope. But our hope remains on God and His justice.

    mumsee

    Liked by 1 person

  12. A financial loan officer friend told us yesterday, and another friend who is in banking agreed, that the interest rate will not come down this year. Our friend said 50% of the brokers in his office have left the business and he hasn’t earned much, if anything, in two years.

    Meanwhile food prices are through the roof. I don’t know where people live where inflation is only 4.5%. Electricity costs are out of control in California–where the governor insists we need to go all electric and buy electric cars even though we don’t have a robust enough power grid to sustain what’s going on now.

    We’re working on our vegetable garden now.

    But–hope in God, for I will yet praise him.

    Irritated Californian

    Liked by 1 person

  13. HRW,

    As is typical of the left, you ignore the housing and food inflation, which aren’t counted in the official numbers, conveniently.

    But for real Americans, that’s where the strain hits hardest. Ignoring it doesn’t help struggling families. Again, see post 3:12pm.

    Also, no one is talking pornhub, we’re talking about schools transing kids behind their parents backs, we’re talking the Dem party’s attempts to normalize pedophilia, we’re talking perverted men preying on girls in restrooms.

    As for abortion, there will always be a faction that supports killing their offspring. But the reality is that Dems “abortion up until birth” is vastly unpopular, even among pro-choices. Most support restrictions in some manner. That’s a fact.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. AJ (“and vote”). Ah, now that depends, doesn’t it?

    Sometimes “not” voting is, in fact, a vote if it is an intentional action based on conscience.

    And from what I hear, it sounds like I will not be alone in that come this November, the general distaste runs wide and deep. Here we stand.

    On Trump’s “VP”: Let’s hope whoever signs up as his running mate doesn’t also wind up with the hangman’s noose treatment.

    Good for Pence who has seen the light.

    • dj

    Liked by 2 people

  15. I’m a leftist but the Democratic party is not. I’m just stating simple facts.

    Food inflation in the US is 2.2% compared to Canada at 4% and the EU at 5%. Not sure where you get your housing inflation rates from but the housing values in the US are mostly flat whereas there is a decline in value in many OECD countries. And, most economists would argue that keeping housing values is a good economic indicator. The US economy is in good shape.

    Energy inflation is a problem but then look at record profits of energy companies and hopefully the connection is obvious.

    Actually Texas and numerous other states have caused Pornhub and other sites to pull the plug. The Democrats are not attempting to normalise paedophilia; no serious adult is (but Trump did party with Epstein…..and then there is Matt Gaetz among others)

    But the Republicans have no policy other than fear.

    Abortion until birth is unpopular but so is charging a guy who drops a test tube. Right now, the Democrats only have to let Republicans open their mouths and propose laws in order for the Democrats to appear sane. Again, most Americans are pro-life but they are also pro choice in that they don’t want the gov’t to come between them and their doctor. Years of propaganda against state interference in medicare will now come back to haunt the Republicans. Elections of the past few years demonstrate this fact.

    Like

  16. Contributing to a man’s legal funds when he’s been convicted of sexual harassment and tax evasion is a strange way to support trust and responsibility.

    The American (and Canadian) legal system has always been a travesty of justice for the poor and marginalised.

    The FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate) sector is bloated and unnecessary and if it’s cut back, it will help the country’s overall productivity. The interesting thing about AI is how much it will eliminate the FIRE sector’s employment needs.

    I can’t see any serious public servant and/or Republican politician wanting to be Trump’s VP. Too many Trump voters are loyal to the person not the country or even party and like Pence, the VP will have a target on his/her back if they break with the leader.

    Like

  17. Voting — in Canada, we have two major parties, Conservative and Liberal. But we also have a strong third party, the social democratic NDP. For years I lived in a riding (district) that was narrowly Liberal and was often told to vote Liberal because at least they weren’t Conservative, but I didn’t. After my separation, I bought a home in a working class riding famous for sending the most radical socialist politicians to parliament. For the first time in my life, I vote not only with my conscience but also for the winner. This would not happen if people like me who were stuck in a Liberal/Conservative district did not vote for a third party. Vote but don’t vote for the least of the worst.

    Like

  18. I’m in a deep blue state, not a swing state.

    Even so, I’d still abstain with this choice. I think it’s just not starting to hit folks that it’s come to this: Trump vs. Biden. Really?

    So yes. Prayer is quite appropriate (but it always is, of course).

    God is doing something. Always.

    And I trust in God’s Providence, but my mind in this case keeps leaning to the end game as being our “judgement.” But of course I don’t know that either.

    Still … it would seem …

    Never mind, trying to shake that out of my head. I’ll vote down ticket for everything else.

    (HRW, your left-center-right political spectrum is quite different from ours, apparently.)

    • dj

    Like

  19. And yes, we praise God for both His blessings and judgements (as judgements are so often needed, both for individuals and for nations).

    • dj

    Like

  20. And the sentence in my comment above: ” I think it’s just not starting to hit folks that it’s come to this” — meant to read I think it’s just NOW starting to hit folks …

    • dj

    Like

  21. After watching the lies my daughter got away with in court, I am even more convinced our court system is broken. Using abuse as a way to get somebody seems quite effectual. So when a high profile person who has alienated a group of people is accused by one of them, years after the “event”, I am dubious and not surprised when they win. Our country is so divided (good job on reinforcing the hate Mr President in the SOTU), that even the courts are participating in the hate.

    That aside, I do believe in redemption. God uses the most unlikely people. He has used me.

    mumsee

    Like

  22. When both “sides” are so grievously flawed — beyond the pale, in my view with these two — what do we do? It’s an honest question and not always easily answered. It does come down to the individual.

    It is always going to be a choice between the lesser of 2 evils, as we like to say. That’s a given and I’ve always known/realized and accepted that as I know most of you have.

    But there comes a time — has come a time for me and many other believers I know — where we hit a block wall and face a choice between two possibilities that are both simply just bad and even grievous (to some of us) alternatives.

    I can’t imagine voting for either one of the men being offered up before us.

    I just can’t do it. And yes, there I stand and without apology.

    So?

    While our consciences aren’t undefiled — they are flawed as we all are and I am bearing that also in mind — it’s typically the best we have to go on, assuming we are informed first and primarily by Scripture and the character traits it sets out for leaders and for all of us.

    I am also going back to Scripture more often in these days (which always is a good thing).

    All leaders are flawed, some are flawed more deeply than others.

    Because these are men we do no know personally, there’s always that distance in our judgement as well.

    But we can all observe, we all know right from wrong. We all realize the trust that is put in these people seeking our support. It is immense and affects many, many people under their rule once they are elected.

    I care too much to vote for either of these two people I believe are so far below our basic standards and what would be in our nation’s highest interest. I can see only what I can see — but either by their own very visible bad behavior, lack of honesty, or in the positions they take and seek to promote, I’m left empty.

    It is an exceptionally poor choice we are faced with and I’m sorry this is the case.

    We live in a pluralistic nation where there has been some (or a lot of) give and take, thanks to a political center (now much reviled) that may lean one way or another but that sees the necessity of compromise in a fallen world. For right now — and for the foreseeable future is my best guess — the nation is almost evenly divided and too often in very ugly ways (which really should grieve us and not tempt us to join in). We’re in something of an internal Cold War.

    But God … God is always doing something, and in these hard times, in this nation, that is no exception. We know from Scripture that he is sovereign and is always at work, in us and in the nations.

    ** And while voting is important and is a right we should never take lightly, it is God Himself, providentially and by His divine will — not we who “vote” — who is the first cause and who determines who will rule a nation. And rule either for our blessing or for our judgement as a nation. For which of those outcomes, and the why of God’s moving one way rather than the other, can’t (typically) be known or understood fully on this side. **

    May we all seek God’s guidance in what is a very difficult time in our country — and show each other some grace when we disagree as we surely do here.

    And not let ourselves get caught up in the anger or the nastiness of all of this that surrounds us right now.

    May our trust not be in horses and chariots (or presidents) but only in God Himself.

    May we remember to pray – and to always rejoice and praise Him, in good circumstances and bad. God is good and He is faithful. Always.

    • dj

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Each person is responsible for the evil they do, and God will judge. But violating your biblically informed conscience would be cowardly and/or even sinful I think.  We can help each other to be informed, but in the end we must trust the Holy Spirit to enlighten as only he can. God’s purposes will not be thwarted in the end, though how we get there does matter. Our personal choices do have impact. Sometimes we make things harder on ourselves and on others than they need be. Yet God can and does work through and redeem even bad decisions. We are not called upon to create utopias here on earth, but to love him and obey his purposes not our own.

     I always remember Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Love Romans 8:28 🙂 Thank you

    And I’ve posted this on Saturday, but good words from John Piper on the subject to voting or not voting:

    Voting is one form of doing good. It is one kind of good deed. We hope — by voting for worthy, competent, wise candidates — that the common good will come to more people. That’s our goal. But I don’t think it follows from any biblical truth that voting is an absolute duty for Christians. It is one possible good deed alongside many others, one way of serving the good of society, but there are too many other factors at stake to describe it as an absolute duty.

    One of those factors is this: when the duty to vote is elevated to the point where it overrides other Christian principles of virtue, it has been taken too far. That duty has been taken too far. At times, it happens in a fallen world that a vote for any proposed candidate is so offensive, so morally compromised, so misleading that it may be a matter of greater integrity, more faithful obedience to Christ, and a clearer witness to truth if we do not vote for any of the proposed candidates.

    It would be irresponsible to assume that a choice not to vote for some party or person on the ballot is a failure to love our neighbor, when in fact, the non-voter may be much more involved in doing socially transformative good deeds than the one who votes for a morally unfit candidate because he’s considered the lesser of two evils. Life is not simple. It is inevitable that Christians will disagree on strategies for how to do the most good with gospel words, good deeds, and Christian example-setting. We must be slow to judge the moral strategies of other well-meaning people.

    Just one more thought. If you believe, as I do, that in principle, voting is a great gift and privilege in our society, and you want to uphold that privilege, it is almost always possible to vote by writing in the candidate you think is worthy, though not on the ballot. In that way, you may uphold the precious gift of democratic self-government while avoiding the ruinous effects of supporting unworthy candidates.

    • dj

    Like

Leave a reply to hwesseli Cancel reply