Daily Verse | 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Tuesday’s Reading: 2 Corinthians 6-9
Happy Tuesday, the last day of November 2021. Hogwash isn’t just a tub in my barn.
I had an utterly surprising experience yesterday. I had gone to my local gas station to fill up my gas tank prior to taking one of my kids to the airport after she spent Thanksgiving here. As usual, I was standing outside my vehicle scrolling through my phone, killing time while liquid gold pumped into my tank at $3.35/gal. (“I did that” — Joe Biden.)
I was vaguely aware that another car had pulled up on the opposite side of the pump I was using but, like being on an elevator with strangers, the social rules of engagement state that there is to be no looking around or talking. After all, what do you have in common with a complete stranger who is just there to fuel up and move along with their day?
But that’s when I heard a friendly, “Good morning.”
Startled, I looked up to see a black woman, probably in her late thirties, walking alongside the passenger door of her car on the way to her side of the pump. She wasn’t looking at me and I didn’t see her say it, but the voice came from her direction.
I couldn’t tell if she was talking to someone on the phone or if she had greeted me specifically. So I asked her: “Was that for me?”
She smiled and said that it was and I returned her greeting with my own “good morning.”
We ended up having a little chat during which we inquired about each other’s Thanksgiving celebrations (she had a nice Thanksgiving, her first in four years downtown with her family). I also learned that she will never move back to the city, she’s so glad to be out.
By this time the pump had done its job and snapped off at $57.47. I collected my receipt, wished my new friend a good day, and drove home to pick up my daughter.
Why was I so surprised at her overture to me?
First, she broke the unwritten social rule that you don’t start conversations with strangers at the gas pump.
Second, given the current political and racial climate in our country, she broke the narrative that blacks hate whites and vice-versa. I am about as stereotypical as it gets: a late-middle-aged white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male. Yet she broke the ice with me in spite of my alleged privileged white supremacy.
I don’t know who she was. Didn’t get her name or why she was being personable at the gas pump. But I sincerely appreciated her willingness to bridge the divide. I came away not only surprised, but grateful I had the chance to talk with her. It gave me the rare opportunity to demonstrate my embrace of all people, not just those who look like me.
Daily Verse | 1 Corinthians 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
Monday’s Reading: 2 Corinthians 1-5
Happy Monday, my friends. I hope you all tryptophaned the light fantastic over the Thanksgiving holiday.
A quick update on me: I am feeling better most mornings, but still find that my energy drains in the afternoons. So many people I’ve talked to who have had the Asian Contagion have said the same thing: the after-effect of Covid-19 hangs on in the form of fatigue — in some cases, for a long time.
Now we have the new scare — the Omicron Variant. It never ends. We’ll be fighting this thing forever and every time there’s a new variant, the government will shriek about the threat and start ordering masking and lockdowns and a new vaccine.
I stopped listening to Faux-Chi a long time ago. He’s a political bureaucrat who has gotten rich off the American taxpayer while he lies to Congress about funding the Wuhan Institute where these viruses were most likely developed. It’s not known yet if the new strain of Covid-19 is worse than the original or Delta or Omega strains. “There is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with Omicron are different from those from other variants,” says the WHO.
The South African doctor who first sounded the alarm on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus said that its symptoms are “unusual but mild” in healthy patients — but she’s worried the strain could cause complications in the elderly and unvaccinated.
[…]
She called South Africa’s vaccine advisory committee on Nov. 18 after a family of four all tested positive for the virus with symptoms that included extreme fatigue.
[…]
“It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well,” Coetzee told the paper. “So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home.”
Does Faux-chi’s “ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING” sound proportionate to you?
As I’ve said before, I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV, but color me skeptical of anything our gub’mint says at this point. Disease is a part of life and while our political leaders can play a role, they should not be in charge of people’s health. And that’s what they’re doing with this (literally) manufactured crisis. They are attempting to herd all of us into a government-mandated program of vaccinations based on sketchy “science” and questionable statistics.
I’m not at all saying we shouldn’t be cautious with the new variant—I just came through a battle with some form of Covid-19 and 5 million people have died from it. I’m saying that we should be cautious about letting the government step into the role of doctor, telling all of us what we should be doing in response to the disease.
Think for yourself while you still have the freedom to do so.
Daily Verse | 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.
Thursday’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 9-11
It’s the fourth Thursday of November and the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving in 1621. I hope you are able to spend some time reflecting on the meaning of this day (see yesterday’s post) and draw a straight line from the brave men and women who sailed to the New World, endured hardship that we can’t imagine in our 21st century, and paved the way for “a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.“
Given the anti-American gyrations of the cultural Marxists who intend to destroy our history based on warped leftist moral judgments like the discredited (yet still influential) 1619 Project, the expungement of Founding statesmen like Thomas Jefferson, and the twisted attacks on Thanksgiving, it is more important than ever that patriotic Americans find their voices and model a healthy reverence for our history to their children, extended family and neighbors.
Consistently countering lies with the truth over a sustained period of time in your local context is one of the most effective ways of protecting our culture and values.
That means you need to know our country’s history, which means you may need to take some time to learn our country’s history yourself. May you be motivated to do it.
I wish you and yours a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
Daily Verse | 1 Corinthians 2:2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Wednesday’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 5-8
It’s Wednesday and thanks for joining me for today’s Daily Broadside. I’m finding that eating a clock is very time-consuming.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. The holiday is based on the fact that the Pilgrims held a three-day festival sometime between late September and early November, 1621. The festival was to celebrate their first harvest, having arrived a year earlier and enduring a brutal winter, then being saved from starvation by Squanto, an English-speaking Indian who taught the Pilgrims how to plant and fish.
Of the 102 passengers who made the crossing from Europe, only 53 survived to celebrate in the fall of 1621. We know about that celebration from two colonists who wrote personal accounts of the feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The first is from William Bradford, the governor, who wrote in his book, Of Plymouth Plantation,
“They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.”
The second is from Edward Winslow writing in Mourt’s Relation,
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”
So the feast was held to celebrate their good fortune and to specifically thank God for his bountiful provision of their very first harvest in the New World.
These days Thanksgiving is mostly a secular holiday that is all about the fixings, like turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and football. Those of us who have faith in God will try to make a meaningful connection between that first Thanksgiving and our own modern-day feast, which may or may not reflect a “so plentiful” harvest. Nonetheless, we are grateful and thankful for the provision that God does make in our lives.
This year is a milestone year to celebrate the first Thanksgiving — 400 years ago. This would be a good year to share the story of the first Thanksgiving with your family and to be thankful for what you have in a similar way. Here’s a couple of good sites to use for the background:
Daily Verse | Romans 12:16 Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.
Tuesday’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 1-4
Happy Tuesday my friends. We have to do something about shredded wheat, but what?
I came across this article while I was getting caught up with the latest news stories online. It describes how Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich gave props to the source of his strength after a monster win over the Buffalo Bills this past Sunday: Jesus Christ.
In the video he speaks candidly about his faith and particularly about where he gets his strength.
“The reason I’m doing that here and now is because almost 30 years ago after a really big game right down the hall in a press conference I shared the lyrics to a song that meant a lot to me,” Reich said.
“It really spoke to where I get my strength from. The song is ‘In Christ Alone,’ and it’s written by Shawn Craig. … It might encourage someone who’s climbing their own mountain right now.”
Reich went on to recite the lyrics of the chorus, which read, “In Christ alone I place my trust, and I find my glory in the power of the cross. In every victory, let it be said of me that my source of strength and my source of hope is Christ alone.”
He said his personal favorite line came from the song’s second verse and says, “I seek no greater honor than just to know him more.”
That “really big game” he mentioned was the greatest comeback in NFL history, when Reich led the Bills from 32-points down to beat the Houston Oilers in overtime, 41-38.
With all the junk going on in our country and across the globe, it’s refreshing to hear a humble NFL coach give praise to the One he follows.
Instead of using the Colts’ biggest win of the season to heap praise on himself and his leadership, he turned the praise back over to the Lord.
Good for him and I always try to promote a coach or player who seems to have a humble faith. That seems to be what Reich does here, as does Kirk Cousins over at the Minnesota Vikings.
Enjoy the video and the courage of Reich to state plainly where he gets his strength and where he places his faith. And cheer for Colts as they play through their season so that Reich might have a bigger platform.
Daily Verse | Romans 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Monday’s Reading: Romans 12-16
Happy Monday, dear Broadside readers. Shiplap is just barn wood pretending to be dignified.
I’m still in recovery mode, but making progress. I’m hoping to blog every day this week, even Thanksgiving Day. Thanks for the prayers and personal notes of encouragement.
So the jury found Kyle Rittenhouse noT gUiLTy on all charges, the absolute best outcome he could have had. And while I applaud the jurors who deliberated and delivered Kyle his freedom, I still can’t believe that the charges were brought and Rittenhouse was forced to defend himself against what amounted to a political show trial.
I don’t know the intricacies of how the legal system works, but the State of Wisconsin had no case. None. Every video showed that Kyle was under attack, that he sought to remove himself from harm by retreating, and that those he shot were the aggressors. The prosecution basically questioned why he was carrying a gun and why he didn’t take the beating instead of taking the shots.
This is a complete inversion of what our moral order has traditionally been: if you’re being attacked you have a right to defend yourself. No one has a right to attack you and expect that you will submit to the beating.
But over the last year, we’ve seen that our moral standards are being inverted by the Left, who cheer Soros-backed prosecutors like St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner (prosecuted the McCloskeys for brandishing weapons on their own property), Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (dismissed case against Jessie Smollet), and San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who promised to dismantle mass incarceration by reducing sentences or releasing convicts early.
San Francisco has been struggling with a surge in crime this year as it reopened during the pandemic. In the Central district, for example, larceny and theft incidents are up almost 88% from a year earlier, and overall crime is up almost 52%, according to police statistics.
These prosecutors have turned our justice system upside-down by letting criminals get away with crime, based on a misguided belief that the criminals are all oppressed victims and those being robbed somehow deserve it because white supremacy or something.
This is all of a piece, as the social Marxists seek to destabilize our society through their irrational, misinformed beliefs. To give you an example of what I mean, here’s a hot take by some twidiot (H/T Ace of Spades HQ):
“It only cost him three black lives.”
“#WhitePrivilege.”
He’s not the only one who seemed to consume the lies of the media and the progressive grapevine. Either that or he just assumed that it was “three black lives.” Never mind that the facts of the case are one hundred percent different.
We live in a society that no longer values the truth or the rule of law. It runs on sound bites and emotion.
So while the jury reached the right decision, proving that at least in Kenosha, WI, some semblance of sanity still exists, We the People are finding the rule of law and our historic moral code under attack. There is and will continue to be unrelenting pressure brought to bear on traditional American culture until the aggressors hit an immovable object.
We’re going to have to find our reasons to not just resist, but eventually stand firm and not back down. Not sure what it’s going to take, but that time is coming. Maybe the jury in Kenosha felt the same.
Maybe.
But don’t take any chances. Arm yourself and buy ammo.
Daily Verse | Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Friday’s Reading: Romans 6-8
Hello and thanks for joining me this morning on the Broadside. I think that most home foyers are under-utilized.
It’s Friday and I wanted to get at least one more post out there before the weekend. Not sure if you noticed but Resident Joe Brandon’s poll numbers are cratering, even among the hard left progressive pollsters like The Washington Post which recently conducted a poll with ABC News.
In a sharply divided country, Biden began his presidency with a slight majority approving of his performance, but his standing has steadily dropped since midsummer. His overall approval rating now stands at 41 percent, with 53 percent saying they disapprove. Those who say they strongly disapprove of the way he has handled his job represent 44 percent of adults. Strong disapproval peaks at 80 percent among Republicans, though 45 percent of independents strongly disapprove of Biden’s performance, as do 48 percent of suburbanites and 44 percent of White college graduates. Biden’s overall approval rating is down from 50 percent in June and 44 percent in September, although his current standing is not statistically different from two months ago.
Biden’s popularity also has slumped among his own base. In June, 94 percent of Democrats approved of the way he was handling his job compared with 3 percent who disapproved. Today, 80 percent of Democrats are positive and 16 percent are negative. Barely 4 in 10 Democrats strongly approve of Biden today, down from about 7 in 10 who did so in June.
Over at Politico, they conducted their own poll on Biden’s mental and physical health with Morning Consult and found that,
Voters have increasing doubts about the health and mental fitness of President Joe Biden, the oldest man ever sworn into the White House, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.
Only 40 percent of voters surveyed agreed with the statement that Biden “is in good health,” while 50 percent disagreed. That 10-percentage-point gap — outside the poll’s margin of error — represents a massive 29-point shift since October 2020, when Morning Consult last surveyed the question and found voters believed Biden was in good health by a 19-point margin.
In West Virginia, MBE Research found that the Mountain State disapproves of Resident Biden by a margin of 33 percent.
Significantly more West Virginia voters disapprove (65%) of the job Joe Biden is doing as President of the United States than those who approve (32%). Conversely, the Republican Governor of the State, Jim Justice, enjoys a 68% job approval rating compared to 28% who disapprove. Interestingly, United States Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, has an overall job approval rating of 60% compared to 37% who disapprove despite the President Biden’s relative unpopularity among Mountain State voters.
Among these economy-focused voters, a generic Republican leads a generic Democrat by a 2:1 margin (58%-29%).
When it comes to border security, Republicans hold an astonishing 83-point advantage, 87% Republican to 4% Democrat.
President Biden’s job approval is 42% among voters in battleground districts, while a 52% majority disapprove of the job he is doing.
Just 20% of voters strongly approve of Joe Biden, while more than double that amount (43%) strongly disapprove.
Finally, take a look at the poll published yesterday by the left-wing Quinnipiac.
You know why? In the same poll, 52 percent of Americans say Democrats have moved too far left while only 35 percent say the Republicans have moved too far to the right. As I’ve hammered home here and in other places, the Democrats are a criminal organization masquerading as a political party — and Americans are starting to wake up.
Other findings that are interesting:
The Politico/Morning Consult poll found that “Biden is losing support among the most loyal Democratic segment of the electorate: Black voters. Not only does polling show it, Newhouse said — so did a recent focus group of Black voters in a Southern state who were interviewed to discuss policy issues.”
In the Post/ABC polling they found that, “the poll’s most striking feature is the generic Congressional question: if the election for the U.S. House of Representatives were being held today, would you vote for (or lean toward) the Republican or the Democratic candidate? Among registered voters, the GOP has a stunning ten-point lead, 51% to 41%. That is the widest pro-GOP margin since WaPo/ABC began asking the question 40 years ago.“
Independents are regretting their vote for Joey Sugar Cone: “The Post-ABC poll also showcases Americans’ current pessimism: Despite a mix of economic signals — falling unemployment and rising prices —70 percent rate the economy negatively, including 38 percent who say it is in “poor” condition. About half of Americans overall and political independents blame Biden for fast-rising inflation, and more than 6 in 10 Americans say he has not accomplished much after 10 months in office, including 71 percent of independents…” In the Quinnipiac poll, Independent voters want the GOP to control the House (41-31 percent) and the Senate (44-34 percent).
Here is where an appropriate comment is, “this is looking great — but don’t get cocky.” There’s still a year to go until the 2022 midterm elections and a lot can happen in that time. But the sentiment of the country is trending more conservative, which bodes well if Biden and his junta continue to kill the economy, fixate on forcing vax mandates, keep the millions of illegal aliens invading our country and keep propping up an incompetent, racist grifter as “leader” of the free world.
We can all see and feel the repercussions of the foolish national vote that installed this morally vacuous moron and his equally idiotic clown car of an administration. You regret your vote? Good for you. Maybe in twelve months you can help fix what you imposed on us.
I still shake my head that there were enough people who voted for Biden to make it close enough to steal. Anyone paying attention knew what we were in for with him — yet here we are.
Just a quick post to let you know that I’m making gains on getting past Covid. Still some energy drain, which has been the main feature of my experience. But I expect to begin blogging again this week, starting slow and short like this, working my way back to regular posts.
Daily Verse | Acts 7:55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
Monday’s Reading: Acts 8-9
Happy Monday, my friends. Getting past the effects of Covid is like trying to walk a wet vinyl tarp in a pair of tread bare Crocs. Slow going.
I was inspired to leave you a graphic in place of a more formal written blog today after listening to Sunday’s message by Dave Mudd, our senior pastor at The Hope Collective. You can find it here, but I thought the main point was worth passing along.
Daily Verse | John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Friday’s Reading: Acts 1-4
Happy Friday and the close of the week. Short post today; I am still struggling with major deficits of energy. It’s almost like I’ve spent hours on a chain gang breaking up rocks, but the truth is that I’m barely burning any calories at all.
There’s two stories you really need to be keeping current with:
Now we have his indictment. Danchenko has been charged with false statements to federal officials during his 2017 interviews with the FBI.
According to the indictment, Danchenko lied about his contacts with “Russians,” his travels to Russia, and the identity of his sources. (Those are just some of the lies.) In John Durham’s words:
Bottom line: A Clinton advisor fed a story to Danchenko. Danchenko laundered the story through Steele. Steele feeds the story to Fusion. Fusion feeds story to media. Media accuses Trump of Russia collusion.
The whole Russia! Russia! Russia! “hoax” is a Clinton machine criminal frame up of Trump. I’ll say it again: the Democrats are a criminal organization that should be outlawed and their bosses, up to and including Hillary Clinton, should be wearing stripes and placed in solitary confinement for the rest of their miserable lives. She’s a treasonous, poisonous political hack who has done incalculable damage to our society.
The other story you should be watching is the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in Wisconsin, where he’s been charged “with six felonies and one misdemeanor, including first-degree intentional homicide. He has pleaded not guilty by self-defense.”
The FBI, again, has exonerating proof that Rittenhouse was under attack but withheld the evidence from the defense including drone footage from the air that proves conclusively Rittenhouse was being chased.
Unseen footage taken by the FBI from the night of the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, surfaced on Tuesday during day one of Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial. According to Jack Posobiec of Human Events, the FBI allegedly had an HD version of the video but never told the Rittenhouse defense it existed.
In footage obtained by Human Events, the FBI appears to have taken aerial footage of Rittenhouse and the other participants involved in the shooting. Some of the footage, which is black-and-white and grainy, was shot from an FBI surveillance drone.
The FBI footage was shown to the jury during the testimony of one of the agents who captured the footage with the drone, FBI agent Brandon Craimin. However, the FBI allegedly testified, in private, that they were in possession of another version of the video in HD that they did not supply the members of the defense, according to Human Events. When asked for a copy of the tape, the FBI allegedly denied the defense’s request, saying that the video no longer existed, according to the report.
We have a garbage government that is out of control, picking sides and winners rather than adhering to the “justice is blind” standard that has been a hallmark of American jurisprudence for most of our history. Democrats and woke Marxist mobsters in our deep administrative state need to be smoked out and stripped of their authority if we’re going to move back to the noble ideas of our founding.