#1996 (6/30) "Numbed by Video Games - Anesthetic for the Male Soul?"

"NUMBED BY VIDEO GAMES - ANESTHETIC FOR  THE MALE SOUL?" - by: John Stonestreet & G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, June 26, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/06/breakpoint-numbed-by-video-games/?utm_source=Colson+Center+Master+List&utm_campaign=106dd168f7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_84bd2dc76d-106dd168f7-6541173 [AS I SEE IT: Years ago, I was surprised to walk into a youth group room at a church and find all the boys engaged in playing video games. Of course, they eventually took a break for the "Bible lesson" but then they were right back to playing their games. Was it a great way to draw in boys who might not have ordinarily come to a "church meeting" or was it wrongly emphasizing activities that we should not be affirming in our youth? Me? I'm old fashioned; I've only played a video game once (got beat by an 8 year old girl at a friend's house) and would rather read a good book than even watch that rare DVD movie that's stimulating. - Stan]  

Are video games worthy of all the time and attention they get from young men these days? One writer thinks so. But he’s wrong.

If there is a stereotype that lives up to reality these days, it’s the unemployed, disaffected, twenty-something American male who haunts his parents’ basement, addicted to World of Warcraft. In the year 2000, 35 percent of young men without bachelor’s degrees lived in their parents’ homes. Today a majority do, and among the unemployed, that number is a staggering 70 percent. According to University of Chicago economist Erik Hurst, these men are spending the overwhelming bulk of their time playing video games.

Since 2000, writes Hurst, young men of prime employable age have increased their leisure time by an average of four hours a week. The vast majority of that time goes to video games. In total, the time these guys spend on computers and consoles has nearly doubled. Hurst admits of his own 12-year-old son, “If it were up to him, I have no doubt he would play video games 23 and a half hours per day…I am not sure he would ever eat.”

The sheer scale of all this has led to an unprecedented social transition: millions of young men, unable or uninterested in finding employment, are simply choosing instead to unplug from society and immerse themselves in digital distraction.

But in a recent piece at Reason magazine, Peter Suderman argues that it’s actually not bad news.  “Video games, like work,” he writes, “are basically a series of quests comprised of mundane and repetitive tasks.” Playing them is like having a job, he assures us, one in which “the game is your boss.”

Of course, games don’t provide paychecks, eye contact, a better world, relational security, or produce anything of lasting value. But, Suderman assures us, these young men are actually happy! Gaming offers a kind of psychological anesthetic—a job substitute that numbs the pain of unemployment and keeps young men from taking their frustration out in less socially acceptable ways. These digital opiates provide what he calls “a baseline level of daily happiness,” “serving as a buffer between the player and despair.” As one game designer put it, they fulfill a fantasy of “work, purpose, and social and professional success.” Video games, concludes Suderman, “offer a sort of universal basic income for the soul.” Suderman, himself an avid gamer, even goes further: “Should young men work more and play games less?” he asks. “What obligation do people have to work, raise families, or be conventionally productive in their lives? I won’t try to answer [those questions]. I’m not sure anyone can.”

Well, Mr Suderman, I’ll give it a shot. As someone who’s worked with young men for years, it’s not okay. Habitual video game use is not a substitute for real work or, for the young wives I’ve spoken with who married video game addicts, neither is it a substitute for real relationships. We’re not created for distraction.

As Russell Moore once observed, the “fake war” of video games parallels another epidemic: the “fake love” of Internet pornography. Both “simulate something for which men long,” Though games—unlike porn—are fine in moderation, they share a tendency to become addictive substitutes that sap users of their desire for the real thing.

Young men today don’t just lack employment; more and more they lack vision—of the good life, of direction and purpose for being. That’s why my co-author Brett Kunkle and I dedicated more than one chapter in our new book A Practical Guide to Culture to this epidemic of distraction by the glowing rectangles all around us.

One of the most important things parents can give their children, especially young men, are boundaries when it comes to games and distractions. But even more important, a sense of their God-given calling to actively engage the world around them. Pick up a copy of “A Practical Guide to Culture” by visiting our website, BreakPoint.org.

 [bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES - Encourage the young men you know to be engaged in the activities of real life. For practical suggestions to strengthen relationships and self-motivation, pick up a copy of “A Practical Guide to Culture,” available at the online bookstore.
A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's World
- John Stonestreet, Brett Kunkle | David C. Cook Publishers | June 2017 - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/product.asp?sku=2191_9781434711014
"Video killed the radio star" - Erik Hurst | Chicagobooth.edu | September 1, 2016; http://review.chicagobooth.edu/economics/2016/article/video-killed-radio-star
"Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs. That's OK. (For Now.)" - 
Peter Suderman | Reason.com | July 2017; http://reason.com/archives/2017/06/13/young-men-are-playing-video-ga#comment
"The Number of Young Men Not Working Has Doubled in 15 Years" - Robert Donachie / July 05, 2017; http://dailysignal.com/2017/07/05/the-number-of-young-men-not-working-has-doubled-in-15-years

#1995 (6/29) "Congress’ Inaction on Trump’s Agenda Costs America Nearly 1,000 Jobs Per Day"

"CONGRESS' INACTION ON TRUMP'S AGENDA COSTS AMERICA NEARLY 1,000 JOBS PER DAY" - Ed Feulner / June 27, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/06/27/the-high-cost-of-waiting-to-drain-the-swamp

After years of ever-expanding government control and regulation, the economy dropped off a cliff in 2008. (Photo: Dimitrios Manis/Zuma Press/Newscom)

“Drain the swamp!” It was the battle cry of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Many Republican members of Congress echoed that call as well, riding it to victory—and control of both legislative chambers. The American people rallied around the cry because it reinforced their impression of what Washington had become: a swamp infested with special-interest groups and power-hungry bureaucrats.They rallied, too, because it held the promise of getting our country back on track—by reforming the tax code, repealing Obamacare, cutting spending, and eliminating the needless red tape that stifles entrepreneurship and innovation.

But more than five months into the new Congress and the new administration, precious little draining has occurred. The delay in action is not only frustrating, it’s expensive: With the promised reforms, the U.S. could have created as much as $5 billion per day in economic output. If nothing changes, the swamp will end up costing more than 2 million prospective jobs over the next decade.

Elites argue that piles of regulations and special rules keep everyone safe. But most Americans understand that these policies serve mainly to enrich special interests and keep upstart entrepreneurs from gaining a foothold. All the regulation keeps new businesses from offering innovative goods and services at lower prices.

All too often, these regulatory schemes not only fail to protect consumers—they create huge problems, like financial crises and housing busts. And then the elites point to the problems as proof of the need for even further governmental intervention. The bailouts lead to new programs and federal agencies and, of course, even more rules.

But most Americans don’t want more government. Rather, they want relief from big government so that they can make their own decisions and improve their own communities.There is plenty of evidence that people thrive more under limited government than under a vastly more intrusive government. Had the U.S. economy simply stayed on the same trend during the Obama years that it had followed over the previous 25 years, gross domestic product per person would be nearly 10 percent higher than it is now.

Instead, after years of ever-expanding government control and regulation, the economy dropped off a cliff in 2008. Just getting back on the previous trend would be great, but Americans can do much better. At least three major reforms are now possible that can unleash the power of the American economy.

•Repeal Obamacare: A study by the National Center for Policy Analysis estimates that repealing Obamacare would provide a boost to real GDP of more than 1 percent per year over the next decade. Based on these projections, personal income would increase by hundreds of billions annually, and the economy would add nearly 1 million jobs by the end of the decade.
     A simple division by the number of days suggests that the cost of inaction is nearly $500 million per day in lost output. In terms of jobs, this could translate into as many as 250 lost jobs per day (a relatively small number unless one of those jobs is yours).

• Shrink Regulation: Admittedly, this is a herculean task. The federal government has been burdening people with innovation-killing rules for decades, and it is difficult to estimate the economic effects of a broad deregulation effort. Two Heritage Foundation scholars have estimated the economic impact of reducing just one of the likely effects of Dodd-Frank: excess borrowing costs. 
     Their study projects that removing these excess costs would grow the GDP by more than 1 percent per year for the next decade, and boost capital stock by nearly 3 percent per year. Inaction on Dodd-Frank costs another $500 million per day.

• Reform the Tax Code: Estimates of tax reform benefits vary widely because there are so many ways to improve the U.S. tax system, but several plans are currently taking shape.
     The Tax Foundation studied the House Republican plan and found that it would increase the long-run size of the economy (in terms of GDP) by more than 9 percent. It also projected that the Rubio-Lee plan would grow the economy by 15 percent over the long run.
     Trump’s plan is not fully detailed yet, but a decent guess is that the benefits would be somewhere near these projections. The increase in jobs, wages, and wealth from growing the economy through these types of tax reforms would be enormous. The cost of waiting on just tax reform can be conservatively estimated as approaching $2 billion per day in lost output. 

Repealing Obamacare, rolling back the regulatory state, and implementing pro-growth tax reform would be a big shot in the arm to the U.S. economy. Over the next decade, the cumulative effect of making just those three reforms could boost GDP anywhere from $8 trillion to $18 trillion. That translates to a cost of between roughly $2 billion and $5 billion for each day that Americans are denied these reforms. In terms of lost jobs, waiting costs nearly 1,000 jobs per day.

Some have said that because any legislative action taken this year wouldn’t take effect until at least Jan. 1, 2018, it doesn’t matter if it happens now or in September. False: The sooner investors and entrepreneurs can see the changes on the horizon, the quicker they can begin taking actions that benefit the economy.

A filled swamp is expensive to maintain. The American people are waiting for Congress to drain it. And they should expect their elected representatives to stay in Washington and make the real changes they were elected to do.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Edwin J. Feulner’s 36 years of leadership as president of The Heritage Foundation transformed the think tank from a small policy shop into America’s powerhouse of conservative ideas. Read his research.

#1994 (6/28) "Supreme Court Victory for Trinity Lutheran - And a Major Win for Religious Freedom"

"SUPREME COURT VICTORY FOR TRINITY LUTHERAN - AND A MAJOR WIN FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM" -  John Stonestreet & Roberto Rivera, Breakpoint.org, June 27, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/06/breakpoint-supreme-court-victory-for-trinity-lutheran/ [AS I SEE IT: This and other great decisions handed done by the Supreme Court earlier this week happened with the help of the conservative justice appointed by President Trump. You can be sure it would not have happened if we had a President Hillary. This is just more evidence that what the person we elect will do when in office DOES make a difference! - Stan]

Okay, so government cannot “establish religion.” But can it discriminate against religion? The Supreme Court has decided no.

[On Monday, 6/26], the Supreme Court gave religious freedom advocates a major victory. By a 7-2 vote, SCOTUS ruled that denying a church “an otherwise available public benefit on account of its religious status,” violates the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution. The decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer is great news—and it may be only the beginning.

Here are the basic facts of the case: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri, operates a licensed pre-school and day-care facility. Its facilities include the type of playground that you and I played on as kids—in other words, scrapes, bruises, broken bones, perhaps a lawsuit waiting to happen. Fortunately for Trinity Lutheran, the state of Missouri has a program, “Playground Scrap Tire Surface Material Grants,” which provides “funds for qualifying organizations to purchase recycled tires to resurface playgrounds.”

Trinity Lutheran applied for the grant, seemingly meeting the qualifications. But the state of Missouri informed them that such a grant would, in Trinity’s case, violate a provision in the state constitution that “no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, section or denomination of religion.” That provision is one of 36 so-called “Blaine Amendments” in state constitutions. These amendments were originally aimed at Catholic schools and born of the now-incredible belief that public schools were a principal instrument in safeguarding America’s Protestant Christian character.

Yes, that’s just a tad ironic.

The church sued the state government, claiming that this kind of singling out of churches violated the Free Exercise of Religion. After all, whatever else the free exercise of religion means, it should, at minimum, mean that you can’t be denied a government benefit available to similar organizations solely on account of your religion.But remember, the First Amendment reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” So while Trinity Lutheran argued the “prohibiting the free exercise thereof” part, the state emphasized the “establishment of religion” part.

In his majority decision, Chief Justice Roberts came down squarely on the side of Trinity Lutheran. He wrote that Missouri law left Trinity Lutheran with a choice: It could “participate in an otherwise available benefit program or remain a religious institution.” While it was free to continue being a Church, “that freedom comes at the cost of automatic and absolute exclusion from the benefits of a public program for which the Center is otherwise fully qualified.”

Inasmuch as the “Free Exercise Clause protects against ‘indirect coercion or penalties on the free exercise of religion, [and] not just outright prohibitions,’” the Missouri law could only be justified if it served a compelling governmental interest in the least restrictive manner. The state of Missouri failed to meet that standard. As Justice Roberts concluded, “the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.”

Not only is this decision great news for religious freedom, the Court also agreed to hear the case involving Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, which ran afoul of my state’s anti-discrimination laws by refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. A successful outcome in this case would be an even bigger victory for religious freedom.

So let’s pray for that outcome. And let’s not forget to thank God for the Trinity Lutheran victory. As Chuck Colson would remind us, the battle for religious freedom is far from over.

[bold, italics, colored and underlined emphasis mine]

RESOURCES - Thank God for this particular Supreme Court ruling. Continue to pray that God grants the justices wisdom in all of their decisions, especially those involving religious liberty cases. Click here to read the ruling in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer.
The Gospel & Religious Liberty - Russell D. Moore, Andrew T. Walker | B&H Publishing Group | June 2016 - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9781433690471
The Liberty Threat: The Attack on Religious Freedom in America Today- James Tonkowich | Saint Benedict Press | July 2014 - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9781618909855
"Trinity Lutheran Wins! Supreme Court Rules Missouri Engaged in Religious Discrimination" - Sarah Kramer | ADFlegal.org | June 26, 2017; http://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2017/06/26/trinity-lutheran-wins!-supreme-court-rules-missouri-engaged-in-religious-discrimination

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"Playground Ruling Stops Slide of Religious Hostility" - Tony Perkins, Washington Update, June 26, 2017; http://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20170626/playground-ruling-stops-slide-religious-hostility
"Supreme Court: Government Can’t Exclude Christian Groups From Programs Just Because They’re Christian" - Steven Ertelt, JUN 26, 2017; http://www.lifenews.com/2017/06/26/supreme-court-government-cant-exclude-christian-groups-from-programs-just-because-theyre-christian/ 

"Religious Liberty Scores a Win at the Supreme Court" - Elizabeth Slattery / June 26, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/06/26/religious-liberty-scores-win-supreme-court

#1993 (6/27) "Seattle Hiked Its Minimum Wage. Here’s How It’s Impacting Low-Income Workers."

"SEATTLE HIKED ITS MINIMUM WAGE. HERE'S HOW IT'S IMPACTING LOW-INCOME WORKERS." - "Jarrett Stepman / June 26, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/06/26/seattle-hiked-its-minimum-wage-heres-how-its-impacting-low-income-workers" 

The study's findings could be a critical blow to the “Fight for $15” minimum wage movement. (Photo: David Ryder/Reuters /Newscom)

Helping the “forgotten man” was an important and successful message for President Donald Trump in his election campaign. He tapped into the anxieties of many Americans who are struggling to find work and are watching as traditional industries disappear or are gobbled up by automation. While some of this development has been natural, much has been artificially created by bad policies. In particular: the minimum wage.

A bombshell report was released Monday about the impact of minimum wage hikes in Seattle, Washington. The study, conducted by economists at the University of Washington, showed that minimum wage laws significantly decreased employment for lower-income workers. Additionally, the report found that average hours for low-income employees had also declined since Seattle’s $13 minimum wage law began being implemented in 2015.

The original proposal was for a $15 minimum wage—which has been a benchmark for national minimum wage advocates. If the study is accurate, one would imagine a further $2 wage minimum would have even more drastic effects. 

Employers, burdened by the newly imposed expenses, are cutting hours and cutting payroll. Under these conditions, many Americans are struggling to find work, or are underemployed when they do. A toxic brew.

One of the more explosive findings was that the “wage increase to $13 reduced hours worked in low-wage jobs by around 9 percent, while hourly wages in such jobs increased by around 3 percent. Consequently, total payroll fell for such jobs, implying that the minimum wage ordinance lowered low-wage employees’ earnings by an average of $125 per month in 2016.”
So low-income employees earned, on average, $1,500 less per year. This is a big deal for someone already living on a tight budget.

Let’s also note that this took place during an economic boom in Seattle. While critics of the study have taken this as a reason to doubt its findings—the argument being that booming economies tend to squeeze out low-income workers—it should be nonetheless significant that while Seattle was undergoing explosive growth, those at the bottom of the income spectrum were getting squeezed out.

The result of the minimum wage hikes shouldn’t be surprising. As The Heritage Foundation noted in 2016: "Companies hire workers when the additional earnings their labor creates exceeds the cost of employing them. Starting wages of $15.00 per hour mean full-time employees must create at least $38,700 a year in value for their employers. Such a high hurdle would make it much harder for less experienced and less skilled workers to find full-time jobs." Even some supporters of minimum wage concluded from the research that the minimum wage rates may at least be too high, even if they agree with them on principle.

The findings could be a critical blow to the “Fight for $15” movement. This group’s national agenda had already suffered a setback when a separate study found a significant number of middle-tier restaurant closures occurred after an increased minimum wage came into effect in San Francisco.

But now there is more hard evidence that minimum wage laws both fail to accomplish the ends they were created for and in fact create more burdens for those they are intended to benefit. Continuing on this path will be enormously destructive for our country.Minimum wage policies have been billed as a boon for the poor, but the University of Washington study shows how these well-meaning policies can pave the road to unemployment and misery. Few situations are more destructive to individuals and society than the lack of meaningful work for large swaths of the population—as even a low-paying job is better than no job or opportunity at all.

When President Abraham Lincoln was asked by a friend what the most important value was in carving out a successful career, he responded: “Work, work, work is the main thing.” Lincoln saw the “opportunity society” and reaping the fruits of one’s labor as fundamental to the growth and underlying goodness of America. It was one of the many reasons he so fiercely opposed slavery.

Barriers to employment will naturally push more Americans out of work and on to the welfare rolls, sapping the skills and dignity of Americans who may already be struggling. Increasing the obstacles for people trying to find a job perniciously turns the country into what political scientist Walter Russell Mead called a “warehouse” society of mass unemployment, an all-encompassing public dole, and no future. This is an outcome that for millions of Americans would destroy “independence founded on achievement, on the human dignity that comes from doing work.” 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist David Autor called this a “canary in the gold mine” moment—and we must heed this warning.

It’s one of many harbingers for how America—renowned for its dynamism—can descend on the stultifying path of decline that Europe has already sailed.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Jarrett Stepman is an editor for The Daily Signal.

"Data Show These 6 Big Cities Aren’t Faring Well After Minimum Wage Hikes" - 
Leah Jessen / January 20, 2016; http://dailysignal.com/2016/01/20/data-shows-these-6-big-cities-arent-faring-well-after-minimum-wage-hikes/
"Raising Minimum Starting Wages to $15 per Hour Would Eliminate Seven Million Jobs" -James Sherk, July 26, 2016; http://www.heritage.org/jobs-and-labor/report/raising-minimum-starting-wages-15-hour-would-eliminate-seven-million-jobs
"But Reality Isn't Fair" - Ben Shapiro : Jun 28, 2017; https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2017/06/28/but-reality-isnt-fair-n2347369

#1992 (6/26) "If a Trump Supporter Had Shot a Democrat"

"IF A TRUMP SUPPORTER HAD SHOT A DEMOCRAT" - Dennis Prager / June 20, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/06/20/trump-supporter-shot-democratic-congressman

An anti-Trump member of the left fired upon Republican members of the House and Senate during a baseball practice June 14, prompting calls for unity and civility. (Photo: iStock Photos)

What would have happened if a Trump supporter had shot a Democratic congressman and other Democratic Washington officials? The answer is obvious.

The New York Times, the rest of the left-wing media, and the Democratic Party would have made the shootings the dominant issue in American life. It is not possible to understand the left—and, therefore, the media and the current state of American life—without understanding how the left uses and relies on hysteria. Hysteria is to the left as oxygen is to biological life.

From the moment Donald Trump was elected president, America has been drowning in left-wing hysteria, all fomented by the media and the Democratic Party. 
      The charge of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign is hysteria. The claim that the president engaged in obstruction of justice is hysteria.
      As I have pointed out, the charge of Trump’s election unleashing hate and anti-Semitism, which dominated American media for months, was hysteria.

If Democrats had been shot by a Trump supporter, all you would be hearing and reading about is how much hate the Trump election has unleashed in America, how his election is threatening our democracy, and how he is unleashing fascism.
     But it was a not a Trump supporter who attempted to murder a Democratic congressman, Capitol Police officers, a House GOP aide, and a lobbyist. It was a Trump-hating leftist who attempted to murder a Republican congressman and other Republican officials. And, for that reason, what would have been the dominant issue in America today is already a nonissue.
     The shooting took place on Wednesday, June 14. On Friday, June 16, the only article about it on The New York Times front page was about the “harmony” engulfing Democrats and Republicans in the wake of the shooting. By Saturday, there was nothing about the shooting on the front page.

The “harmony” issue is worth noting. As sure as the sun rises in the east, had a Trump-supporting fanatic shot Democratic officials, the Democrats would not have said a word about the need for “harmony,” or the need to lower the temperature in American political discourse.
     On the contrary, they would have greatly raised the temperature of their already blistering rhetoric. They would have attributed the shooting entirely to Trump’s “hateful” rhetoric having permeated conservative and Republican America.
     But it was a leftist who attempted to slaughter Republicans, so it was Republicans who had to respond. And they did so by calling for harmony and lowering the temperature of political differences. In other words, Republicans reacted with complete conciliation, whereas, the Democrats and their media would have gone ballistic against the right.
     Now, why is that?

One reason is that Republicans have accepted the post-shooting narrative of there being some sort of moral equivalence between right-wing and left-wing hate. That they have reinforces my belief that the great majority of Republicans and conservatives, whether in politics or in the media, do not appreciate how rotten the left is (the left—not traditional liberals).
     Many really believe that calls for “harmony” and “unity” with Democrats and the left are meaningful. But the only reason Democrats talked about harmony for a few days after the shooting was one of theirs was the shooter.

Even during the three-day “harmony” period, the left was busy furthering the falsehood that there is quantitative and qualitative equivalence between right-wing and left-wing hate.

As evidence, a New York Times editorial said:"Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl. At the time, we and others were sharply critical of the heated political rhetoric on the right. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map that showed the targeted electoral districts of Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs." A Republican putting crosshairs on vulnerable Democrat districts is the worst the Times could come up with.

And that is apparently equivalent to all the hate directed at Trump: calling opposition to him “resistance,” as if Democrats were the French resistance and Trump were a Nazi; Kathy Griffin holding Trump’s mock severed head with blood gushing out; Stephen Colbert saying on his TV show that Trump’s mouth would make a good “c— holster” for Russian President Vladimir Putin; and so much more unprecedented hate.

The difference between what has happened after these shootings and what would have happened had a right-winger shot Democratic officials is, in a nutshell, the moral difference between the left and the right—and between Democrats and Republicans.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio show host and creator of PragerUniversity.com
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"Death Spiral Watch: As Democrats Attack, the System They Built Keeps Imploding" - Guy Benson: Jun 23, 2017; https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/06/23/meanwhile-obamacare-is-absolutely-imploding-n2345329

#1991 (6/25) SUNDAY SPECIAL: "The Continuing Triumph of Faith - The World Is Becoming More Religious"

"THE  CONTINUING TRIUMPH OF FAITH - THE WORLD IS BECOMING MORE RELIGIOUS" - Eric Metaxas & Roberto Rivera, Breakpoint.org, June 22, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2015/07/west-family-big-picture/

Ever hear the old saw that religious people are on the wrong side of history? It isn’t true. Turns out, we’re on the right side of the future as well. 

A year ago, National Geographic told readers that “religion is rapidly becoming less important than it’s ever been, even to people who live in countries where faith has affected everything from rulers to borders to architecture.” But as Rodney Stark documented in his recent book, “The Triumph of Faith,” that statement is wrong. In fact, it’s the opposite of the truth. According to Stark, “The world is not merely as religious as it used to be. In important ways, it is much more intensely religious than ever before . . .” 

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. For years, Chuck Colson, John Stonestreet, and I have been telling you about the explosive growth of Christianity around the world, especially in what is called the “global south.” We’ve told you about what’s happening in places like sub-Saharan Africa, and even China, which, by some estimates may have more Christians than any other country by the middle of this century.

But the story that Stark tells goes beyond these two examples. The growth of Christianity in Latin America is, in many respects, just as amazing as its growth in Africa. That might sound strange, since Latin America has been ostensibly Christian since the sixteenth century. But until the mid-20th century, it was largely a nominal kind of Christianity. As recently as the 1950s, only between 10 and 20 percent of Latin Americans were “active in their faith.”

The arrival of Protestant missionaries, especially Pentecostals, changed this. Not only did they succeed in turning nominal Christians into practicing ones, they also forced the Catholic Church to, as they say in sports, “up its game.” This, in large measure, took the form of the Charismatic renewal. Today, Charismatic Catholic rallies fill the same stadiums as Pentecostal ones. And the result is that in large parts of Latin America, sixty percent or more of the people attend church on at least a weekly basis.

Another largely untold story is what’s happening in India. The son of a BreakPoint colleague recently traveled to India. One Tuesday, he went to Mass. When he arrived, he was stunned to see that the church was full—so full that the worshippers poured out onto the street. On a Tuesday.

Late last year, Christianity Today ran a story on “Incredible Indian Christianity.” Since 1980, the number of pastors sent out by the Delhi Bible Institute has grown from 100 per year to nearly 7,600 in 2015. As CT tells us, part of India’s so-called “tribal belt,” which runs across central and northeast India, is becoming India’s “Bible belt.”

But even in Europe and the United States, the rise of secularism has been overstated, if by “secularism,” you mean “denying the supernatural.” For example, sociologists consider Iceland to be one of the most secular nations on Earth. Yet, here’s a list of things that a significant percentage of Icelanders believe in: reincarnation, elves, gnomes, fairies, fortune tellers, and Spiritualism. You find similar results across so-called “secular” Europe.

Here in the U.S., the same period that witnessed the rise in the religiously unaffiliated did not witness a decline in church attendance or an increase in atheists. The increase in the so-called “nones” was a function of people who rarely, if ever, attended church finally admitting as much.

Those who claim that people of faith were “on the wrong side of history” have it exactly backwards. Religion, especially Christianity, is not in decline. It’s going from strength-to-strength. You just need to know where to look, or, in this case, what to read.

[bold,italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Resources - Get a balanced perspective on religion in the world. Take a break from reading the National Geographic and pick up Rodney Stark’s book “The Triumph of Faith.” It’s available at the online bookstore.

The Triumph of Faith: Why the World Is More Religious Than Ever- Rodney Stark | Intercollegiate Studies Institute | November 2015 - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9781610171380
"Incredible Indian Christianity: A Special Report on the World’s Most Vibrant Christward Movement" - Jeremy Weber| Christianity Today | October 21, 2016; http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/november/incredible-india-christianity-special-report-christward-mov.html
"Unbroken in China: The Growing Chinese Church" - Eric Metaxas | BreakPoint.org | August 15, 2016; http://breakpoint.org/2016/08/unbroken-in-china/
"Aslan Is on the Move: Christianity Is Growing in the Muslim World" - Eric Metaxas | BreakPoint.org | June 10, 2015; http://breakpoint.org/2015/06/aslan-is-on-the-move/
"The West, the Family, and the Big Picture: Which Side of History is the U.S. On?" - Eric Metaxas | BreakPoint.org | June 16, 2015; http://breakpoint.org/2015/07/west-family-big-picture/

#1990 (6/24) PRO-LIFE SAT: "Trump Admin Strongly Opposes UN Resolution Supporting Abortion"

"TRUMP ADMIN STRONGLY OPPOSES UN RESOLUTION SUPPORTING ABORTION" - Steven Ertelt, June 22, 2017| http://www.lifenews.com/2017/06/22/trump-admin-strongly-opposes-un-resolution-supporting-abortion/ [AS I SEE IT: Thank God that President Trump continues to affirm that America is effectively turning away from the pro-abortion policies of the past 8 years. Let's pray that the President continues to do everything possible to protect unborn life in America and around the world.  P.S. - Did anyone hear anything from the mainstream media about the President's action on this, and if so without attacking it? Oh yeah, they had all those "scandals" to report on. Sheesh! - Stan]

In a huge change from the pro-abortion regime of Barack Obama, the Trump administration is taking pro-life values to the United Nations.

The United States rejected a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution today because it included the sanctioning of abortion. The decision was praised by leading pro-life advocates. Advocates of abortion on demand have worked for many years to insert abortion rights language into every conceivable UN document, treaty and statement, regardless of whether those instruments address the care of unborn children and their mothers. Today’s resolution addressed violence against women particularly in the context of war. It called for access to abortion for women and girls.

U.S. First Secretary to the UN in Geneva Jason Mack articulated the Trump administration’s position, which excludes abortion and abortion funding from international agreements. “We do not recognize abortion as a method of family planning, nor do we support abortion in our reproductive health assistance,” Secretary Mack said to the Council. He added that the U.S. “strongly supports the spirit of this resolution and joins other members of this Council in condemning all acts of violence against women and girls.” Pro-life leaders were excited about the move.

“The United States has rightly refused to support an effort to treat abortion as family planning,” says Scott Fischbach, Executive Director of MCCL GO. “MCCL GO fully supports the U.S. decision to oppose abortion as a legitimate ‘treatment’ for women.” “MCCL is encouraged by the Trump administration’s support of the right to life of unborn children,” says Fischbach. “There is no right to abortion under international law. In fact, a foundational document of the UN, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, explicitly protects the right to life.”

Following adoption by the Human Rights Council of a resolution by Canada that focused on the elimination of violence against women, A/HRC/35/L.15 : Accelerating efforts to eliminate violence against women: engaging men and boys in preventing and responding to violence against all women and girls, an explanation of position was read by U.S. First Secretary to the U.N. Jason Mack.

The statement confirmed U.S. support for “the spirit” of the anti-violence resolution and that the U.S. joined other the members of the Human Rights Council “in condemning all acts of violence against women and girls and in calling for the elimination of all forms of sexual and other forms of gender-based violence, including sex trafficking of women and girls”.
But then, the U.S. took a giant pro-life step and declared “the U.S. ‘must dissociate from the consensus’ specifically on access to safe abortions.”

PNCI Director Marie Smith reacted to the US action in an email to LifeNews.“The statement by the U.S. is welcomed by all those who respect life from its very beginning and who object to the seemingly endless promotion of abortion by activists at the U.N. It is our hope that the overwhelming majority of countries at the U.N. that ban or restrict abortion will be encouraged and inspired by the strong pro-life position taken by the Trump administration and will join the U.S. in standing up for the world’s most at-risk population-children in the womb.”

The U.S. opposed section 9 (d) which included “safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law” in the list of “health care services” that are needed to ensure “the promotion and protection of the human rights of all women and their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights”. The US explained that there is no international right to abortion and that the US does not support access to abortion in reproductive health assistance, affirming President Trump’s Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, the expansion of the Mexico City Policy.

The position paper explained that the US remains committed “…to the commitments laid out in the Beijing Declaration and International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action” but that it objected to pro-abortion claims regarding a ‘right to abortion’.

The U.S. stated, “As has been made clear over many years, there was international consensus that these documents do not create new international rights, including any “right” to abortion. The United States fully supports the principle of voluntary choice regarding maternal and child health and family planning. We do not recognize abortion as a method of family planning, nor do we support abortion in our reproductive health assistance. The United States is the largest bilateral donor of reproductive health and family planning assistance.” 

The US in opposing the pro-abortion language in the resolution undermines the pro-abortion tactic that hijacks valid measures to protect women and girls from acts of violence in order to promote the violent and deadly act of abortion that ends the lives of countless unborn children and in the case of sex selection abortion, targets the youngest of females for elimination.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

#1989 (6/23) "How Trump Could Change the Country’s Direction With These Court Vacancies"

"HOW TRUMP COULD CHANGE THE COUNTRY'S DIRECTION WITH THESE COURT VACANCIES" - Genevieve Wood / June 22, 2017 / http://dailysignal.com/2017/06/22/this-could-be-the-greatest-legacy-of-trumps-presidency/ [AS I SEE IT: Let's be in prayer that President Trump will continue to appoint justices at all levels of our court system who will truly uphold the Constitution and affirm policies that strengthen our country for many generations to come. - Stan]

There is likely no political issue more important to either side of the ideological spectrum than who controls the Supreme Court. Rumors are building that another justice is going to retire this summer. The odds-on favorites are two members in their 80s: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal justice, and Anthony Kennedy, the notorious swing vote. If either retire, President Donald Trump’s next nominee could determine the balance of the court for decades—and the fight over that justice will be a battle royale.

But as enticing as such prospects may be, is it possible that Trump’s appointments to lower courts are just as important? The often overlooked reality is this: Whether it’s blocking travel bans or redefining marriage, the Supreme Court only hears cases that lower courts have already heard and voted on. And many of those cases never even reach the Supreme Court.

Take a look at these numbers.
     There are 94 federal district courts across the country with 670 judges. In 2014, the number of cases filed in those courts was over 390,000.
     Then there are the all important 13 courts of appeals with 179 judges. In 2014, the number of cases filed in those courts was over 55,000.
     Now consider the fact that each year, the Supreme Court only chooses to hear approximately 70 cases.

Needless to say, from property rights and environmental regulations to state laws on abortion and voting rights, the vast majority of legal cases are decided by judges you’ve never heard of.
And just like the Supreme Court, federal judges are lifetime appointments.

Before President Barack Obama took office, only one, just one of the 13 courts of appeals—the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—was considered liberal. Following Obama’s two terms, nine of the 13 are now controlled by Democrat appointees.
     And the rulings of one circuit court can make a huge difference. For example, the Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went from reliably conservative pre-Obama to reliably not conservative once Obama was able to appoint four justices to its bench. Over the past year, that appeals court overturned North Carolina’s voter identification law and sided with a transgender teenager over a battle to use a boys’ restroom.
    In 2014, it was the 4th Circuit that upheld the legality of tax subsidies under Obamacare—it was that case, King vs. Burwell, that the Supreme Court then took up and confirmed.
    And it was the 4th Circuit that just last month upheld a Maryland district judge’s ruling blocking Trump’s executive order suspending travelers from certain countries.
     One could say that Obama got a lot of bang for his policymaking buck with his four appointments that flipped the judicial philosophy of that court.

This is why, despite all their other actions, a president’s judicial nominees may be where they make their biggest long-term impact. And, this is why, today, with over 120 vacancies scattered across the federal courts, Trump has the opportunity to shape the judiciary—and therefore the third branch of government’s impact on society—for years to come.

Based on the approximately 20 such nominees Trump has sent to the Senate thus far, conservatives should be encouraged.
     Two of his appeals court nominees come from the list of 21 Supreme Court contenders he published before the election—all of which conservative legal experts considered excellent candidates.
     Another nominee is a former law clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
     And many of his nominees are in their 40s, which means, if confirmed, they will be influencing the federal courts for the next 30 years.

Most of them will never become household names but to a great extent, it will be these judges who determine which liberties Americans enjoy—and which ones they don’t.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Genevieve Wood advances policy priorities of The Heritage Foundation as senior contributor to The Daily Signal. 

#1988 (6/22) "Michelle Carter and Doctor-Assisted Death - Mixed Messages about Human Value"

"MICHELLE CARTER AND DOCTOR-ASSISTED DEATH - MIXED MESSAGES ABOUT HUMAN VALUE" - by: John Stonestreet & Roberto Rivera, Breakpoint.org, June 21, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/06/breakpoint-michelle-carter-doctor-assisted-death/

The recent, disturbing criminal trial of Michelle Carter not only tests new legal boundaries, it’s a mirror held up in front of our society.

On June 16th, a Massachusetts judge found Michelle Carter guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy. Because Carter wasn’t with Roy when he committed suicide, many legal analysts found the verdict surprising. In 2014, Conrad Roy met Michelle Carter while on vacation. As New York magazine put it, theirs was a “thoroughly modern teenage romance: texting, telling each other their secrets, saying they loved each other, but only meeting in person, as far as his family knows, a couple of times.”

Roy had a history of psychiatrists call “suicidal ideations,” which were the subject of many of the text exchanges between him and Carter. But instead of urging her boyfriend to get help, Carter encouraged him to take his life, often asking him “when are you going to do it?” And in the most damning exchange, Carter reproached Roy: “You keep pushing it off and you say you’ll do it, but you never do. You just have to do it.”

Finally, Roy did it by filling his truck with carbon monoxide, while on the phone with Carter. When he tried to get out of the truck, Carter, as she told a friend in a text, told him to get back in.
Transcripts of the texts are now public. And while legal experts debated whether Carter’s actions were actually a crime, the court of public opinion has been unanimous: her actions were heinous.

But lost in the outrage and debate over Carter’s action is an appreciation of the irony at the heart of this story: Carter’s messages were only an exaggerated and specifically directed version of the messages our culture—including policy and media leaders—send already to fragile and vulnerable people all the time.

The most obvious example is physician-assisted suicide. As Wesley J. Smith has said, our “society broadly accepts the agenda of killing as an acceptable end to human suffering . . . We eliminate suffering by eliminating the sufferers.” And to an extent that few people understand, that suffering is mental not physical. “Only 22 percent of patients who died between 1998 and 2009 by assisted suicide in Oregon . . . were in pain or afraid of being in pain, according to their doctors.”

As Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the architects of Obamacare, wrote in the New York Times, “Patients [who request physician-assisted suicide] say that the primary motive is not to escape physical pain but psychological distress; the main drivers are depression, hopelessness and fear of loss of autonomy and control.”“In this light,” Emanuel continues, “physician-assisted suicide looks less like a good death in the face of unremitting pain and more like plain old suicide.” Despite this, two-thirds of Americans believe that physician-assisted suicide should be legal.

And the media, in Michelle Carter-like fashion, is also guilty of encouraging suicide by glamorizing it. A recent episode of The Daily, the New York Times podcast with Michael Barbaro, told the story of a Canadian man choosing the time of his death on his own terms surrounded by friends and family. The episode, which told nothing of doctors who have recused themselves from the procedure because of regret or families who wish their loved ones had chosen life instead of death, ended by telling us how much we can learn about dying from such a beautiful story.

What Carter did was reprehensible, perhaps even criminal. But while her actions were extraordinary, her belief that suffering is best dealt with by eliminating the sufferer isn’t. Our culture is largely clueless about what gives life value and what gives us dignity. Because we don’t know what a life worth living looks like, we don’t know what a truly good death looks like, either.

This cluelessness, and the evil it begets, will be with us long after we forget the name “Michelle Carter.”There is no mixed message about life and its worth from the Creator of all life–as human beings we are made in God’s image and for a purpose. All life is precious and of infinite value, to be protected and not destroyed.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Resources

Life's Worth: The Case Against Assisted Suicide - Arthur J. Dyck, Dennis P. Hollinger, Francis J. Beckwith| Eerdmans Publishing Company | November 2002; http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=0802845940

"Four Myths About Doctor-Assisted Suicide" - Ezekiel J. Emanuel | New York Times | October 27, 2012; https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/four-myths-about-doctor-assisted-suicide/?_r=0

"Euthanasia Still Acceptable to Solid Majority in U.S." - Gallup Poll | May 4-8, 2016; http://www.gallup.com/poll/193082/euthanasia-acceptable-solid-majority.aspx

#1987 (6/21) "How Does Growing Apostasy Prove That Christians Are Getting Closer to the Truth?"

"HOW DOES GROWING APOSTASY PROVE THAT CHRISTIANS ARE GROWING CLOSER TO THE TRUTH?"- Michael Brown : Jun 19, 2017; https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2017/06/19/how-does-growing-apostasy-prove-that-christians-are-getting-closer-to-the-truth-n2342898

There’s a bizarre argument I’m hearing these days which basically goes like this. “Look at how many churches are embracing homosexual practice. This proves we’re getting closer to the truth.” To the contrary, all it proves is that more and more churches are apostatizing. The logic behind this argument is as wrongheaded as it is unbiblical.

First, to argue that greater acceptance of homosexuality by churches is proof of spiritual growth is like arguing that greater acceptance of obesity by doctors is a proof of medical progress. The reverse is actually true.

Second, the Bible often warns us against compromise and apostasy, both moral and creedal. And in every generation, there have been heretics who have departed from the faith. Should we therefore celebrate every heretical doctrine and practice as proof of our spiritual maturity?

Jesus warned His disciples, saying “See that no one leads you astray” (Matt. 24:4). He also said, “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:11-13).

What is to be celebrated, then, is not apostasy but faithfulness, not deception but steadfastness, not moral laxity but moral firmness. And while the words of Jesus may have more specific application to certain times in history, there is certainly a general application to our day, in which “lawlessness” has greatly increased. Today, just about anything goes, and that is not something to celebrate.

Last month, the gay activist organization Faith in America announced its plans to call on the Southern Baptist Convention to remove homosexual practice “from the sin list.” “Ultimately,” they said, “we at FIA believe LGBT people should be removed from the sin list. We know interpretations and new revelations come to light. We believe the Church will one day stop diminishing the lives of those who are LGBT and we strive to help this come to pass. We are optimistic people and see the glass 75% full!”

So, they are encouraged by what they have seen in recent years, as more and more churches in America and Europe are dropping homosexual practice “from the sin list.” Soon enough, they believe, the whole Church will follow suit. To paraphrase (but in my words, not theirs!), “We’re encouraged by the increasing apostasy we see in the Church, and we’re expectant that one day, the whole Church will be completely apostate.”

The facts are as follows.
     First, as I’ve stated repeatedly, “no new textual, archeological, sociological, anthropological, or philological discoveries have been made in the last fifty years that would cause us to read any of these biblical texts differently. Put another way, it is not that we have gained some new insights into what the biblical text means based on the study of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Instead, people’s interaction with the LGBT community has caused them to understand the biblical text differently.” The truth, then, hasn’t changed. Instead, some professing Christians have departed from God’s unchanging truth because of personal relationships and cultural decline.
     Second, most church groups that have removed homosexual practice from the sin list are in numerical and spiritual decline. In contrast, most church groups that are holding to biblical truth and practice, especially overseas, are growing numerically and spiritually.
     Third, the embrace of homosexual practice cannot be separated from the larger cultural embrace of the sexual revolution. This includes an increase in sex out of wedlock, babies born out of wedlock, pornography, and divorce, along with the embrace of all kinds of sexual perversions. That’s why the same society that celebrates same-sex “marriage” is increasingly celebrating polyamory, polygamy, and consensual adult incest. (I’ve documented this in many articles and several books. See - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6FRZK2?ref_=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1&qid=1497835854&sr=8-1&keywords=outlasting%20the%20gay%20revolution&pldnSite=1)
This points to spiritual and moral regress, not progress.
     Fourth, the idea that the whole Church will one day embrace homosexual practice is as certain not to happen as the idea that the whole Church will one day deny Jesus. Forget about not holding your breath. Don’t even think about holding your breath.

It’s certainly possible that, in some locations, increasing parts of the Church will fall away, and this will be marked by numerous moral and spiritual compromises. But the notion that the whole Church will fall away is completely self-contradictory, since if there is a true Church, it has been established by Jesus Himself. And it was He who said that He would build His church and that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

But it is not only theologically ignorant to imagine that the Church worldwide will one day embrace homosexual practice. It is also missiologically ignorant, since wherever the Church is growing worldwide, it is growing with a conservative message and morality.

I truly believe that the leaders of groups like Faith in Action mean well and believe they are doing God’s work. That makes their self-deception all the more tragic.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

#1986 *(6/20) "Why Are We So Divided?"

"WHY ARE WE SO DIVIDED?" - John C. Goodman:Jun 17, 2017; https://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2017/06/17/untitled-n2342352

      A deranged Bernie Sanders supporter opens fire on a group of Republican congressmen at baseball practice and would have killed them all but for the unusual presence of two Capitol Hill police officers.
      A version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar features the assassination of an actor who, instead of wearing a toga, is dressed to look like Donald Trump.
      A comedienne for CNN appears ISIS-like, holding the image of Donald Trump’s severed head – dripping with fake blood.
      On college campuses throughout the country black students insist on separate, black-only graduation ceremonies and at one institution black students insisted that everyone who was white leave the campus for a day.
      An increasingly-hostile atmosphere prevents conservative thinkers from even appearing on college campuses; and, in some cases, the resistance leads to violence, personal injury and property damage.

Since Donald Trump’s name figures prominently in each of these events, is the president to blame? Remember, Trump is not a traditional Republican or even a traditional conservative. In the past he gave money to Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and other Democrats. So why are Trump’s critics going through the emotional equivalent of the St. Vitus dance? To answer that, look at the critics, not at Trump.

Liberalism without Ideas. During the last election, Donald Trump raised a number of issues – some of which were unusual in presidential politics. Uncontrolled, illegal immigration. A changing labor market that is leaving behind blue-collar workers with no college degree. A tax system that is making us uncompetitive in world markets. An education system that is failing inner city, minority youths. Environmental policy that is preventing the construction of roads, bridges, pipelines and just about every other infrastructure project. A health reform that is self-evidently imploding.

Some of Trump’s solutions were standard Republican fare. School vouchers and a flatter, fairer tax system, for example. Most conservatives don’t think he had very good answers on some other issues, however. But here is the important question: Can you say with any confidence what Hillary Clinton proposed to do about any of these problems? I bet you can’t. As for Bernie Sanders and the left wing of the Democratic party, there seem to be some concrete proposals. But I can’t think of one that is different from what the left was saying back in the 1930s.

The left in America is intellectually bankrupt. And this is a worldwide phenomenon. For most of the 20th Century the ideological left controlled the policy agenda. But in the last quarter of that century, they experienced a complete intellectual collapse. Ronald Reagan was elected. So was Margaret Thatcher. The world saw a surge in privatization and deregulation. Eastern European countries turned to the flat tax. More than 30 countries either fully or partially privatized their social security systems. Sweden adopted a national system of school vouchers.
      On reflection, the left was wrong about everything. They were wrong about communism. They were wrong about socialism. They were wrong about the welfare state. Given that history, why would they want to talk about ideas?

A Party Without Ideas. You’ve heard the old saw. Some people talk about people, while others talk about ideas. It applies here. Bereft of any credible policy proposals, politicians have little else to do but focus on identity politics. Throughout the 20th century, the Democratic Party was always the party of division. In the South, Democratic politics was the politics of race. In the North, Democratic politics was the politics of class, envy and ethnicity. Still, there were real issues at stake.

Today, identity politics is all there is. In the last election, Hillary Clinton asked women to vote for her because they are women. Blacks because they are black. Hispanics because they are Hispanics. Gays because they are gay. Her race baiting at the Democratic National Convention last year was shameless, including putting on the stage the mother of Treyvon Martin, whose death was parlayed into a fake racial incident in order to spark racial resentment and drive black voters to the polls.
     This is the new racial politics and it’s been going full throttle for some time. For example, the eve of the 2000 election the NAACP ran radio and television ads trying to falsely convince black listeners that Texas Governor George W. Bush favored leniency for three white racists who dragged a black man to death behind a pickup truck.  All of this was ignored, of course, by the main stream media.
     An unfortunate consequence of identity politics is that the political becomes personal. Hillary voters tended to see her not as someone who was going to deliver the goods, but as someone who would protect their personhood. That implies that the opposing candidate is a threat to their personhood.

Donald Trump campaigned for the votes of out-of-work steel workers and coal miners and blue-collar workers everywhere. But he never appealed to them based on sex or race or personal identity. He appealed to them as ordinary Americans. As political scientists Matt Grossman (Michigan State University) and David Hopkins (Boston College) point out in Asymmetric Politics, Republican and Democratic candidates campaign in very different ways.
      Donald Trump may have been crude and rude and ill-considered, but there is nothing in his history to suggest he is anti-black, anti-gay or any of the other anti’s. His voting results bear that out. Palm Beach is historically considered the most discriminatory resort community in the country. When Donald Trump opened Mar-a-Lago, he ruffled more than a few feathers by welcoming everyone.
     As for women, no political couple in US history has been more abusive to them than Bill and Hillary Clinton. But if you think your personhood is on the line, emotion tends to trump clear thinking – no pun intended.

Campuses Without Ideas. Historically, colleges and universities in this country represented fountainheads of free inquiry. They were places where the free exchange of ideas was permitted and encouraged. Important public policy proposals historically have come from the academic world.
     But no more. As I wrote in my last post, our campuses are increasingly infected by the idea that people have rights and responsibilities based on their genes. Or their ethnicity. Or their sex. Or their sexual preferences. Instead of debating whether vouchers would help liberate poor minority kids who are attending bad schools, for example, some campus protestors are claiming that even hearing the case for vouchers “marginalizes” black students. Ditto for welfare reform, or just about any other reform proposed by someone who is right-of-center.
    Further, we are increasingly told that speech itself is a form of violence. So, physical violence is justified to silence speech that is “offensive.”
     Anti-intellectualism is so consuming campus life that even a slight deviation from political correctness on questions of identity can provoke scathing condemnation. In one case, an assistant professor of philosophy published an article on “transracialism,” comparing the choice of people of mixed race to choose to be black rather than white (or vice versa) to transgender choices. “Society,” she concluded, “should accept such an individual’s decision to change race the same way it should accept an individual’s decision to change sex.” Unfortunately for the professor, she is white. An open letter signed by more than 800 academics called for the article to be retracted. The professor’s life hasn’t been the same since.

A Culture Without Ideas. What is happening on college campuses is a barometer of what is happening in elite culture as a whole. Writing in the New York Times, Kenan Malik reports that: "Hal Niedzviecki, editor of Write, the magazine of the Canadian Writers’ Union, penned an editorial defending the right of white authors to create characters from minority or indigenous backgrounds. Within days, a social media backlash forced him to resign. The Writers’ Union issued an apology for an article that its Equity Task Force claimed “re-entrenches the deeply racist assumptions” held about art.
     Another Canadian magazine editor and an editor for CBC television were demoted for expressing similar thoughts.
     There is more: When New York’s Whitney Museum picked for its Biennial Exhibition Dana Schutz’s painting of the mutilated corpse of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American murdered by two white men in Mississippi in 1955, a petition was organized to have the work destroyed because Schutz is white.
     When a protest developed in response to sculptor Sam Durant’s piece “Scaffold,” honoring 38 Native Americans executed in 1862, the artist atoned by dismantling his own work, and making its wood available to be burned in a Dakota Sioux ceremony.
      Then there is Hollywood. “I’ve thought a lot about blowing up the White House,” says Madonna. “I’d like to punch [Trump] in the face,” says Robert De Niro. The 15 worst examples of such intemperate rhetoric are listed at Breitbart. 

Bottom line: having lost all interest in ideas (because basically they have nothing to say) the political left has turned to identity culture – asserting that people have rights and obligations based on their genes or their ethnicity or their gender. If you disagree with them, they will not debate the merits of the case. They will instead attack you as an enemy of the groups for whom politically correctness requires sympathy. And they will encourage members of those groups to lash out against you – violently in some cases – because in the world of the mindless, brute force is the only thing left.

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

#1985 (6/19) "Tim Tebow vs. Harvard - Virtue and Vice on Display"

ATTENTION:  SCROLL DOWN  to get t today's article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. And PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed AFTER the posted article. They deserve  your intercession. THANK YOU.

BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION 

(...because ALL Babies Matter! - http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/01/why-do-unborn-babies-matter-just-because-they-are/ 

: Go to: LIFE Training Institute - http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-11/  

Be Prepared TO ENGAGE WITH THE PC CULTURE:

Go to:"Tactics" - 

http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/04/29/tactics-n2154983
"Don't Argue the Exceptions - Beating Bad Arguments For Abortion and Transgenderism" - by John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org, May 25, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/05/breakpoint-dont-argue-exceptions/
MUSLIM MONTH OF RAMADAM - May 27 - June 25
Please be in prayer that as Muslims world-wide focus on times of prayer and fasting, God will reveal Himself to them through dreams and visions and cause tens and hundreds of millions to turn from the false teachings of Islam to faith in Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Personal Update 6/2 - Check out the JOURNAL section in the column on the right side of this blog page. And THANK YOU for your continued prayers for me.

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"TIM TEBOW VS. HARVARD - VIRTUE AND VICE ON DISPLAY" - by: John Stonestreet & Roberto Rivera, June 13, 2017; http://breakpoint.org/2017/06/breakpoint-tim-tebow-vs-harvard/ [AS I SEE IT: On this [June 19th], my 66th birthday, I'm happy to present this story of one of my modern day heroes. For me, a hero is not necessarily one who runs into a burning building to rescue someone. A hero is that person who commits his/her life to doing their best every day to honor God and BE JESUS in every way they can. There are few people in the public eye who do this better than Tim Tebow. Please read this article to learn what it is to be a man with a "chest," something Tim has without question. - Stan]

Even with all of our modern devotion to moral relativism, people still know virtue—and vice—when they see it.

Chuck Colson liked to quote Karl Barth’s observation that Christians should do theology with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Now I’m not sure what Chuck would have thought of podcasts, but Barth’s quote came to mind while listening to a recent episode of the Tony Kornheiser Show.

In the final segment, Kornheiser and his guests talked about two stories in the news. The first was an article in the Washington Post about Tim Tebow playing in baseball’s Single-A minor league after his stint in sports limelight. Tebow was a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at the University of Florida. And while his NFL career wasn’t nearly as successful, he still had great moments.

But what has long set Tebow apart, of course, is his Christian faith. It’s drawn millions of people to love him. It’s also why he has been the object of what George Weigel called “irrational hatred,” despite his many charitable efforts and the fact that he doesn’t force his faith on anyone.

Recently, the Post’s Barry Svrluga spent a day in Hagerstown, Maryland, watching Tebow in action. And he admitted that his initial skepticism (maybe even cynicism) quickly changed when he saw Tebow interact with fans, some of whom had driven hundreds of miles to see him. He talked about Tebow’s “prom experience for kids with special needs” called “Night to Shine.”

Svrluga had this to say to those who are cynical or dismissive about Tebow’s decision to now play minor league baseball and to question his motives: Before you form your opinion about Tim Tebow, “Talk to the people who made the pilgrimage here,” he said, “and look at the smiles in right field in the early evening.”

Everyone on the show agreed. Kornheiser, who’s Jewish, even joked that if he had spent a few more minutes with Tebow he might have ended up converting. He and his guests could not say enough good things about Tim Tebow.

Then the conversation turned to a very different subject: Harvard’s rescinding of at least ten offers of admission to members of its incoming freshman class. Harvard took this highly unusual step because of a Facebook group created by members of that class. Their posts contained “offensive jokes about school shootings, the Holocaust, [sexual perversion] and the death of children and minorities.” And these are just the ones we can mention on this commentary. All the guests on the Kornheiser show agreed—and so do I: Harvard did the right thing.

But it’s the juxtaposition of the Harvard story with Tebow that brought to mind what C.S. Lewis said in “The Abolition of Man”: “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”

The kids on that Facebook group represent the pinnacle of American educational achievement: They got into Harvard. Their problem is not a lack of “digital literacy” as the New York Times suggested. It’s a lack of any governing sense of right and wrong, what Lewis called the chest. The problem isn’t that they lacked discretion; it’s that they lacked decency.

But we know that no one will ever say that about Tim Tebow. Listening to the Tony Kornheiser podcast it’s clear that for all the cultural devotion to moral relativism these days, people still know virtue when they see it. The Bible calls this the law written on our hearts, and it underscores to Christians who think that all is lost—it’s not. God’s world is still deeply embedded with God’s moral laws. And a life well-lived still stands out.

Now sometimes the reaction will be admiration and sometimes it will be scorn, even mockery. But that doesn’t change the fact that the difference between virtue and vice is unmistakable, no matter how much our culture wants to deny it.


[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

Further Reading and Information - Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
Shaken: Discovering Your True Identity in the Midst of Life's Storms- Tim Tebow, A. J. Gregory | Waterbrook Press Publisher | October 2016; http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=9780735289864
Renewing Virtue, series on flashdrive- Chuck Colson, T. M. Moore | Colson Center - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=2191_VIRTUE
"On a Sunday in Hagerstown, Tim Tebow is a major star living a decidedly minor league life" - Barry Svrluga | The Washington Post | June 4, 2017; https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/on-a-sunday-in-hagerstown-tim-tebow-is-a-major-star-living-a-decidely-minor-league-life/2017/06/04/1500ef88-4968-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?utm_term=.a123e77c4ffe
"Harvard Rescinds Acceptances for At Least Ten Students for Obscene Memes" - Hannah Natanson | The Harvard Crimson | June 5, 2017; http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/6/5/2021-offers-rescinded-memes/
The Abolition of Man- C. S. Lewis | HarperOne - http://www.colsoncenterstore.org/Product.asp?sku=0060652942]

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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world." - Karl Barth; "Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory." - Stan 

PRAY FOR AMERICA: THANK GOD for His many blessings on America throughout it's history. May we then ask that AMERICA once again be a blessing TO GOD, by once again submitting to HIS will in our affairs - both personal and national - that He may truly "heal our land." (2 Chron. 7:14) Short of that, we should not be saying "God Bless America"but instead "God be merciful towards America!"
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS:  1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will  only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.
SUPREME COURT: PRAY that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.

World-Wide Prayer Requests:

5/26 - IT'S HAPPENED AGAIN! - "Egypt's Christians Come Under Attack When Gunmen Storm Bus, Killing 26" - Leah Barkoukis: May 26, 2017; https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2017/05/26/egypt-attack-n2332074

 This is a photo of 3 of Asia's daughters holding a picture of their imprisoned mother.

4/26 UPDATE: PAKISTAN. The Pakistani parliament has agreed to stop the ongoing misuse of the blasphemy law.  Pray that it will stick to its word and give the mater priority.  Many innocent people have been killed under this law for a crime they never commi6ed.(ASSIST News Service)

A Christian Mother's Mandatory Death Penalty Could Be Overturned. PRAY and Sign the Petition Now! - https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution? 

5/12 - Just hours ago, I (Jay Sekulow, ACLJ) met with President Trump at the White House to discuss the case of Pastor Andrew Brunson - a U.S. citizen - who languishes in a Turkish prison because of his Christian faith. Pastor Andrew's mom says, "For 23 years, I saw him love and serve the people of Turkey. He has been in prison 7 months, and having visited him there, I have seen the tremendous struggles he is experiencing. I wake every morning with a deep sadness."The one gift she wants this Mother’s Day weekend is the safe return of her beloved son.

4/26 UPDATE: PAKISTAN. The Pakistani parliament has agreed to stop the ongoing misuse of the blasphemy law.  Pray that it will stick to its word and give the mater priority.  Many innocent people have been killed under this law for a crime they never commi6ed.(ASSIST News Service) A Christian Mother's Mandatory Death Penalty Could Be Overturned. PRAY and Sign the Petition Now! - https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-mom-asia-bibi-from-execution 

5/12 - Just hours ago, I (Jay Sekulow, ACLJ) met with President Trump at the White House to discuss the case of Pastor Andrew Brunson - a U.S. citizen - who languishes in a Turkish prison because of his Christian faith. Pastor Andrew's mom says, "For 23 years, I saw him love and serve the people of Turkey. He has been in prison 7 months, and having visited him there, I have seen the tremendous struggles he is experiencing. I wake every morning with a deep sadness."The one gift she wants this Mother’s Day weekend is the safe return of her beloved son.
2/7 American Center for Law and Justice: American Pastor Andrew Brunson still languishes in a Turkish prison. He’s one of 19 prisoners in a 10-person cell. He’s the only Christian. Pastor Andrew has been falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” He has served and loved the people of Turkey for more than two decades. Now this U.S. citizen is in extreme danger – falsely charged for his Christian faith. We are representing his family and have launched an aggressive global campaign demanding that Turkey – a fellow member of NATO – release him immediately. We’re working on Capitol Hill with our nation’s leaders, through our international offices, and around the globe to secure the release of Pastor Andrew. Now, we are preparing to send a critical legal letter to Turkey’s president in the next few days. Time is of the essence. Sign our letter before we send it. Join the fight. Be Pastor Andrew’s voice. He needs it now more than ever.Sign Our Petition: Free American Pastor Andrew Brunson.https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/free-american-pastor-andrew-brunson 

12/13- American Center For Law and Justice: On trial for their faith, two Christian pastors in Sudan face death. Christian Pastors Hassan Abduraheem and Kuwa Shamal have been brutally imprisoned for nearly a year – 359 days – in deplorable conditions. Their trial has been delayed time and time again.Their churches miss them. Their families need them. They face possible death sentences because they are Christians. At the ACLJ, we've launched a massive international legal advocacy campaign for their freedom. We're preparing critical legal letters to Sudan, raising their case with world leaders, and preparing action at the U.N. They could be sentenced to hang for their faith if the world is silent. Christian Pastors Hassan and Kuwa need your voice now. Time is of the essence, as the trial continues. Our silence could be their death.Other Christians facing death in Sudan are now free because you spoke out. Demand Sudan free Pastors Hassan and Kuwa now. Sign Our Petition: Save Christian Pastors from Death...https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/save-christian-pastors-from-possible-death

Learn about Christian Persecution; Check out the World Watch List:

http://live.opendoorsusa.org/wwl/?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=content-banner&utm_campaign=may-2016

PRAY for the ON-GOING crisis now happening in IRAQ/SYRIA.  Pray that coalition forces will be able to destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS.

*For families struck by terror— to receive the care and rest that they need to physically and emotionally heal from this horrific ordeal.

*For those who executed the attack. This act was full of evil and hate, but no one is too far from God’s saving grace. May God convict their hearts today of the evil act they did — in direct rebellion to Him and His Word. May He save them miraculously, just as God did with Paul, while he was persecuting the church.

*For believers in Syria and in this region as they navigate so much uncertainty. May they remain faithful to God through these most difficult times as He sustains them with peace and endurance. May the gospel be ever-present in their minds.