Democrats: The George Costanza of Politics

Oh, what might have been! The stunning escapade of events that have plagued the Democrat Party the past several weeks could’ve largely been avoided if only Democrats trafficked more frequently in the truth. For example, if the passionate cascade of calls for Joe Biden to exit the presidential race had occurred this time last year, the Democrat Party likely would not now be stuck with one of the two holdovers from what has been a disastrous presidential administration.

With Joe Biden quitting the race, the democrats are almost certainly stuck with Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee. Shortly after his announced departure from the 2024 presidential race, Biden endorsed her. Not long after that, the Clintons endorsed her. Nancy Pelosi has now endorsed her, and as Byron York points out,

[O]nce Biden withdrew, there was a stampede to Harris. By Sunday evening, a majority of House Democrats, a majority of Senate Democrats, a majority of Democratic governors, and all of the state party chairs had committed to support Harris… by Monday morning, Harris was well on her way to securing the Democratic nomination.

As of this writing, CNN reports that Harris has now secured enough delegates to win the Democrat nomination. Nevertheless, as Mr. York also notes, Kamala Harris “is a provably terrible candidate, possibly the worst candidate Democrats could field in their situation.” Because too many democrats are obsessed with identity politics—especially race and gender identity—they are likely stuck with Harris as their 2024 presidential candidate. Again, it did not have to be this way.

Go back one year, or even just eight months or so ago: if the Democrat Party and their apologists had then been honest with only themselves about the shortcomings of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and their “accomplishments,” they could’ve almost completely avoided the disaster in which they now find themselves.

The only thing democrats really needed at that time was for Joe Biden to say he wasn’t going to seek a second term. If he stubbornly refused (as he indeed did!), then you have the party leaders and the media put the pressure on him that we just witnessed. If this was accomplished with enough time to spare before primary season, then you have a real Democrat primary.

Of course, this hypothetical primary would almost certainly include Kamala Harris. However, as we saw in 2020 (when she had to run in a real primary), because she is a terrible candidate, Harris would almost certainly not be the Democrat nominee. Thus, the Democrat party could’ve had a viable candidate that was neither Biden nor Harris.

There are countless democrats more capable of running a presidential campaign than Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, but rampant democrat lies—including lying to themselves and their own—prevented this from happening. They lied about Joe Biden’s mental and physical health. They’ve lied about his accomplishments. They’ve lied about inflation. They’ve lied about the border. They’ve lied about Harris’s abilities, and so on. What’s more, a democrat not named Biden or Harris could’ve distanced themselves (somewhat) from the disaster that is the Biden administration.

Sure, Trump and the GOP would’ve have claimed—not incorrectly—that any Democrat candidate for President of the United States would be beholden to the agenda of the radical left and would produce results similar to Biden/Harris. However, this hypothetical democrat could, if a capable non-DEI candidate, subtly and skillfully make the case that their administration would be different and better than Biden/Harris and even give some specifics as to why.

This would especially be the case if this hypothetical democrat came from outside the Biden administration. For example, one of the Democrat governors, or a suitable Senate or House democrat. Tragically, nearly 40% of America is going to vote for virtually any democrat for President. Thus, the non-Biden/Harris candidate would only have to win over the necessary swath of independent and never-Trump voters. This would not be an insurmountable task.

Yet, because they so easily and eagerly lie, the democrats now find themselves in the political mess they so richly deserve. Democrats are the George Costanza of politics, nearly incapable of telling the truth. Joe Biden was almost as effective at pretending to be President as George was at pretending to be an architect!

Just as George’s “whole [fictional] life was a lie,” the Democrat Party is filled with lies and liars. The platform of the Democrat Party is a mountain of lies. They lie about life in the womb. They lie about sex. They lie about marriage and family. They lie about economics. They lie about the climate. They lie about energy. They lie about elections. And of course, they lie about democracy and Donald Trump.

Perhaps democrats should try doing the opposite. 

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

“Democracy” Means Little to Those Who’ve Made a god of Government

Say it ain’t so! Old, slow Joe is no mo’! At long last—a mere 107 days from the election—the Democrats have abandoned democracy and have concluded that their “party leaders” (Barack Obama’s words) will decide who will be their presidential candidate in 2024. It turns out the dastardly Democrat Party is a dreadful steward of democracy. Of course, this should surprise no one.

The idea that democrats are the “defenders of democracy” is as much a charade as was the notion that Joe Biden is “far beyond cogent” and “better than he’s ever been.” This would all be hilarious if it weren’t so fraught with peril. Having Joe Biden dodder around the White House, stumble across the country, and wander-off throughout the world for three-and-a-half years has proved a disaster for the United States. Americans are quite lucky (blessed!) that things are not far worse in our nation.

Things will get worse if a more capable Democrat gets the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Because, again, it’s not Joe Biden’s lack of physical and mental acuity that have proved most disastrous for the U.S. His party’s policies are the biggest threat, and if a younger, more energetic, more enthusiastic Democrat replaces him and wins in November, we will spiral further and faster down the proverbial drain.

Joe Biden was simply the most electable tool for the democrats in 2020. He is no longer that, so “party leaders” decided he had to be replaced. As the past several years have well demonstrated, Joe Biden’s health was never a problem for his apologists. It’s not really a problem for them now either.

Make no mistake about it, if Joe Biden was looking like he was going to beat Donald Trump, the democrats would be happy to continue with his sham of a presidential campaign. (They still plan to continue with his sham of a presidency!) Running cover for a dreadful debate is light work for those who belong to the “father of lies.” But, since Biden looked like a sure loser in November, and since keeping the power of the U.S presidency is paramount for the Democrat Party, “party leaders” have decided their primary no longer matters.

Political power of any sort is vastly important to those who’ve made a god of government, and the pinnacle of political power in the world is the presidency of the United States. By and large, democrats across the U.S. have put their hope and trust in the things of this world. Thus, efforts at achieving political power in this world is where so many democrats focus their time, energy, and financial resources.

Donald Trump is a threat to this power, but efforts at removing him have proved fruitless. (Even for would-be assassins!) Therefore, democrats turned towards attacking (politically) a weaker, more vulnerable man, and if “democracy” had to be sacrificed to make sure this attack succeeded, then so be it.

(See this post at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

Of Course Joe Biden Won the Rigged Democrat Primaries

In an effort to stave off the calls for him to drop out of the race for U.S. President, in a letter to congressional Democrats, Joe Biden boldly declared,

We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I received over 14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominating process. I have nearly 3,900 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin.

This was a process open to anyone who wanted to run. Only three people chose to challenge me…

As a follow-up to that letter, on Monday morning, July 8, Biden called in to one of his favorite Democrat shills, Morning Joe, and told Joe Scarborough and his meager audience,

Well look — Democrats — Joe, let me say it this way, the reason I’ve been on the road so much, all over the country, while Trump is riding around in a golf cart, filling out his golf cart before, golf cart before he even hits the ball — but anyway, he hasn’t been anywhere in 10 days, I’ve been all over the country, No. 1. And I’ve gone over the country for several reasons, one, to make sure my instinct was right about the party still wanting me to be the nominee. And all the data, all the data shows that the average Democrat out there who voted, 14 million of them who’ve voted for me, still want me to be the nominee, No. 1. [Empasis mine.]

In other words, Joe Biden is telling his Democrat critics to “back off” because he won. And he’s not wrong! As Mary Rooke at the Daily Caller points out,

All fifty states have voted in party primaries. The Democrats chose President Joe Biden, and the Republicans voted in former President Donald Trump as their candidate. At this point, while still an important part of the official process, the party conventions are merely a formality. But that is not stopping the Democrat Party from attempting a coup against its voters to install their preferred candidate, who is no longer Biden.

Yes, Joe Biden won the 2024 Democrat primaries. However, what he is—and most others are—failing to point out is that he won a largely rigged process. As early as February of 2023, astute observers of the political scene were aware of the Democrat Party’s efforts to ensure it was Joe Biden who was their nominee for the 2024 election. On February 5, 2023, the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), penned “Rigging the Primaries for Biden.” They wrote,

The Democratic National Committee voted Saturday to revise the party’s nominating calendar to put South Carolina first in line, upending a half century of tradition. The Iowa caucuses, which have been first since 1972, will be relegated to the back of the bus. After South Carolina’s primary on Feb. 3, 2024, the new order will be: New Hampshire and Nevada both on Feb. 6, followed by Georgia on Feb. 13 and Michigan on Feb. 27.

All of this is being done at the request—please don’t say orders—of the Biden White House. South Carolina rescued Mr. Biden’s candidacy in 2020 from defeat by Bernie Sanders, and black voters in that state and Georgia make up a large part of the Democratic electorate and Mr. Biden’s core support. Michigan’s primary was held on March 10 in 2020 and is another state where he won.

The DNC pushed Iowa and New Hampshire back in their primary calendar because those two states were perceived as likely not giving Biden necessary political momentum. As the WSJ put it,

The main benefit of the early New Hampshire and Iowa contests is that they give voters a chance at close-up vetting, and they give long-shot candidates a chance to elevate an issue or emerge from obscurity. The winners don’t always go on to be nominated, much less take the White House, but they are a different kind of candidate test than debates and TV advertising.

The risk for Democrats is that by greasing the wheels for Mr. Biden they will miss such a signal from the electorate. The polls are showing that even most Democrats prefer another nominee in 2024.

In June of 2023, ABC News wrote a piece detailing how Democrats were going to keep Biden from primary debates. Former CEO and co-founder of Twitter (now X) Jack Dorsey was quoted as saying, “Open the Democrat primaries and debates. This isn’t fair to anyone.” The same ABC News piece also noted, “When asked by Politico in August 2022 about how they might deal with a primary challenge, DNC executive director Sam Cornale put it bluntly: ‘We're with Biden. Period.’”

So as early as 2022, the DNC had made up its mind about Biden. Just this week, NBC chief political analyst Chuck Todd said that a “senior cabinet member” told him two years ago that they don’t think Biden can continue as President. Two years ago was 2022. The DNC had to have had this information as well, or they sure should have! Yet, they chose to go with Joe Biden.

In September of 2023, liberal publication Vox felt the need to explain “Why Biden isn’t getting a credible primary challenger.” Also in September of 2023, for the WSJ, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote “The Democratic Party Rigs the Primaries.” In January of 2024, The Washington Post (see here to avoid a paywall) ran “How the DNC challenger-proofed the primaries for Biden” by Jim Geraghty.

There were significant accusations in 2020 as well that the Democrat Party rigged their primaries to favor Joe Biden. Now just who is it that is the real “threat to democracy” in America?! The Democrat Party has no one to blame but themselves when it comes to the position they are now in with Joe Biden. Though they regularly hail themselves as “defenders of democracy,” it should come as no surprise that the political party who has little issue with election rigging now wants to engage in more election tampering and install a chosen candidate to replace Joe Biden.

And never forget, the cover-up of Joe Biden’s significant health issues by the drive-by media is also a means of election rigging. The drive-bys also share the blame for a mentally and physically disabled man now serving as President of the United States. 

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

The Main Reason Joe Biden Should Not be President

It didn’t work. Joe Biden’s friendly 22-minute interview with George Stephanopolous did little to nothing to quell the calls from Democrats that Biden should drop out of the race for U.S. President. Of course, this should come as no surprise. For anyone who was willing to see it, it has been quite obvious that Joe Biden has been in a frail and declining mental and physical state for years now. This was clear well prior to the 2020 election.

The Trump campaign ran an ad in August of 2020 that highlighted Biden’s mental decline. No doubt this is one of the reasons why the drive-by media refused to cover Biden’s numerous health issues. They sacrificed the truth because none of them wanted to be seen as aiding Trump, or even giving any credibility to his campaign. In other words, they lied about Biden simply because they hated Trump.

And never forget, this is not merely about Donald Trump. Trump was once a media darling. They now hate him because he is a big obstacle—not the only obstacle—to the perverse leftist agenda. Now that Joe Biden has also become an obstacle to the left’s political goals—simply because many Democrats now believe he can’t beat Trump—he, like Trump, now draws their ire.

Though they want him gone, the left can’t seem to stop praising Biden over his “accomplishments” as U.S. President. One of the first big voices to call for Biden to leave the Presidential race was The New York Times editorial board. On June 28, just hours after the Trump-Biden debate ended, they declared,

Mr. Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a range of long-term challenges, and the wounds ripped open by Mr. Trump have begun to heal.

Just days after his disastrous debate, David Strom at HotAir revealed that a common refrain from Democrats and their media apologists was in the works: “The real line I keep seeing coming from Democrats big and small is ‘Joe Biden is the most accomplished president in my lifetime,’ or some minor variation of that.”

While being the third Democrat congressman to call for Biden to exit the race for President, Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton boldly concluded that, “I think President Biden has done an amazing job for America. He's been a great president. And he'll go down in history as a great president.”

In an X post in support of Joe Biden, Democrat Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee declared “President Biden has done a great job…” Axios recently reported that “Many Democrats believe Biden has been an excellent president.” Most recently, Democrat Senator John Fetterman told CNN, “Joe Biden has been a great president ... and I'm not going to chuck him for a rough debate.”

Of course, as was the case with his obvious declining health, this is all just more propagandic spin from the democrats and their media stooges. On Biden, Republican Senator Tom Cotton nailed it when he announced, “But even if he were 20 years younger and sprightly and energetic, he’d still be a failed, weak president because his ideas are failures.”

Likewise, on Howard Kurtz Fox News show MediaBuzz, Mollie Hemingway said,

It’s not that people don’t think that Joe Biden is old. They do. They have repeatedly said that for years. But the reason why Joe Biden has favorability in the thirties—prior to the debate—is because of his policies. They don’t like inflation. They don’t like what he’s doing with foreign policy. They don’t like domestic policy. And you have not heard the media talking about the actual reason why Americans don’t like Joe Biden. Instead, they’re just doing all this about his health.

Yes, Joe Biden is physically and mentally unfit for the office of U.S. President, but even if that were not the case—and the drive-by media has spent years pretending it wasn’t—his, and his party’s, policies are not popular with the American electorate. Joe Biden’s economic policies are unpopular, his immigration policies are unpopular, his foreign policy is unpopular, his crime and policing policies are unpopular, and so on.

Very recent polling (post debate) finds that registered voters approve of Donald Trump’s job performance as President over Joe Biden’s job performance as President, 51% to 41%. Additionally, the same poll found voters trust Trump over Biden on handling the economy, 54% to 40%. Likewise, voters trust Trump over Biden on immigration, 53% to 40%, and on national security, 52% to 42%.

In other words, Democrats are in serious danger in the upcoming election not merely because of Joe Biden’s body and brain, but because of how democrats, led by Joe Biden, have governed over the past three-and-a-half years.

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

The American Left Has Long Been Littered with Lies and Liars

The day after Joe Biden turned in the horrific debate performance that many of us knew was coming, and after countless Democrat apparatchiks finally had to admit what many of us have long known—that Joe Biden is unfit to serve as U.S. President—Biden got out on the campaign trail and declared,

Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. 

Prior to this, immediately after the debate, and just after treating her husband like a five-year-old who had just finished his tee-ball game, Jill Biden led the faithful in declaring Donald Trump a liar. As Joe Biden continues to resist calls to drop out of the race (though, that could change soon), the American left is clinging to two particular refrains when it comes the race for the White House: Donald Trump is a liar and a “threat to democracy.”

The “threat to democracy” accusation is getting democrats virtually nowhere. In a richly hilarious bit of irony, a recent Washington Post poll found that Trump beat Biden by double digits (44% to 33%) in who would best protect America from “threats to democracy.” (Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for the Democrat lackeys at the Washington Post to publish these results?!)

Even more absurd is the Democrat Party touting their candidate—Joe Biden, or whoever it turns out to be—as an agent of truth. When it comes to the most important moral issues of our time, few entities have been on the wrong side of the truth more often than has the Democrat Party and their apologists.

The democrat platform has long been a mountain of lies. On everything from abortion to “universal health care,” the Democrat Party has lied repeatedly, for decades. Since at least the early 1970s, in order to justify killing the most helpless and innocent among us—the unborn—the American left has continuously dehumanized the unborn. They have told countless lies about the consequences of killing a child in the womb. They have even gone so far as to attempt to justify what could only be described as infanticide.

The numerous lies surrounding abortion were born from the left’s lies on sex. With devastating consequences, the left has preached to generations of Americans the pagan principle “Do as thou wilt” when it comes to matters in the sexual realm. Thus, millions of Americans have been deceived into believing that they can have sex whenever they like, with whomever they like, without consequence. And, of course, if an unwanted child results, the left demands the “right” to kill it.

Likewise, the evil LGBT agenda was born out of the left’s lies on sex. Among much other wickedness, the LGBT agenda has resulted in the perverse lie that is same-sex “marriage” along with the absurd lie that, through mutilating their bodies, human beings can change their sex.

In the name of more power and control over our lives—just as we saw with COVID—the left continues to promote the lie that man-made global warming climate change threatens the planet. This lie has become the “new religion of first world elites.” This lie also demands trillions of dollars in a foolish and ineffectual “energy transition,” that the use of fossil fuels must stop, and that we should eat bugs instead of beef.

The left’s lies on police and crime have led to pervasive and enduring lawlessness in numerous American cities. Of course, this resulted from the widespread effort to “defund the police” in democrat-controlled cities and states. Because the left can’t tell the truth about crime, Democrat-run cities are also littered with the homeless, squatters, and drug users to the point that millions of Americans are fleeing these liberal hell-holes.

In an attempt to “Make America Mexico Again,” or to import more democrat voters, the left continues to lie about their desire for open borders and the devastating consequences of this destructive, intentional policy. The Biden administration alone has lied over-and-over again about the crisis at our southern border. Unsurprisingly, the attempt to bolster this lie with virtue-signaling “sanctuary city” policies has backfired big time on Democrats.

One of the most lucrative lies for the left is the idea that “systemic racism” still plagues the U.S. This is a rather effective lie as well, as three-fourths of Joe Biden voters believe that America is a racist nation. Of course, it makes it rather easy to paint a nation or an individual as racist when almost everything that exists can described as “racist.”

For example, according to the left, merely wanting peace and quiet is now “white supremacy.” Similarly, being fit is racist, the Electoral College is racist, math is racist, and even being born white is racist.

And who can forget the left’s repeated lies on Trump-Russia collusion and the Hunter Biden laptop? What’s more, the left has long lied about guns and gun violence, education, the economy, and even the nature of truth itself.

The left lies as if it were its native language. For many years now I have said that one of the greatest tools of Satan in the world today is the Democrat Party. In John 8:44, speaking of Satan, Jesus declares, “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Given how frequently and demonstrably the left lies, it seems my claim is spot on.

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

Debate Night, 2024: Trump's Real Advantage is Biden's Incompetency

"You can't fix stupid," the saying goes, but, I would add, you sure can beat it in a debate! I don't mean to imply here that Trump is going to win tonight's debate merely because Joe Biden is a not-very-smart individual, though President Biden has never been widely regarded as a particularly smart man. Recall that his 1988 presidential campaign was derailed in-part because he lied about his academic prowess/credentials. Smart people don't need to lie to try and convince you they're smart. 

What's more, Biden has had a near five decade political career to prove himself smart. It's safe to say that he's failed in that effort. Though, with democrat voters, he has proven himself electable! 

Trump is almost certain to win tonight's CNN presidential debate, not only because of Biden's mental shortcomings, but rather because of Joe Biden's repeated incompetence as a politician. And repeated incompetence simply makes one appear not very smart. Add to that Biden's age, clear frailty, and poor speech habits, and it becomes even more clear that Joe Biden seems wildly overmatched when it comes to holding his own in a debate against most any capable politician. But, back to his incompetence.

The list of Joe Biden's political incompetence is quite long, especially from his time as U.S. President. On everything from the economy and inflation to immigration policy, energy policy, foreign policy, education policy, crime, and Title IX, Joe Biden has failed to produced competent results. Thankfully, the results he has produced are quite unpopular with the American people. 

As noted recently by Gallup, immigration and economic issues (the economy in general and inflation) are the top issues when it comes to the "most important problem" facing America today. Gallup pre-debate polling released just today reveals that, by a 12 point margin (49% to 37%) Americans say they agree with Trump over Biden on "issues that matter most" to them. A headline in today's released Gallup polling tellingly declares, "Six in 10 Americans Disagree With Biden on Key Issues." 

Gallup's polling piece released today is entitled "Age, Issues Working to Trump's Advantage Pre-Debate." The "issues" aren't merely working in Trump's advantage because of the current mood of Americans, but rather, the "issues" are to Trump's advantage because Joe Biden has simply shown himself unable to produce sound results when it comes to these "issues." 

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

Why Nutrition Science is Almost Entirely Unreliable

From coffee and eggs to milk and vitamin E, Dr. Vinay Prasad explains why you can trust virtually NOTHING your hear and read on nutrition science, ESPECIALLY what you hear and read from the mainstream media!

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

This is How You Handle "Transgender" Apologists in the Media

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis again demonstrates how one should handle the drive-by media. Recently, a liberal, activist judge--U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle--ruled that the Florida law protecting children from "gender affirming care" (e.g., genital mutilation, dangerous hormone treatments, and the like) was "unconstitutional." At a press conference yesterday (6/12), DeSantis was asked about appealing the ruling. The reporter asking the question wanted to know why tax payer dollars should go towards such an effort. DeSantis' reply is masterful:

Reporter question from today's press conference: "Your office told us that you plan to appeal the gender-affirming ruling from yesterday. So my question today, since we're talking about the budget of taxpayer dollars, why should taxpayer dollars go to this case for the appeal?"… pic.twitter.com/e7WuCdD1bM

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) June 12, 2024

Some of the text of Gov. DeSantis' comments:

Because it's wrong to mutilate minors. It is wrong to perform a sex change on a 16-year-old. You're not allowed to get a tattoo, but somehow, you can have your privates cut off? Give me a break. This is wrong, and I would also say, this has already been decided by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. They upheld Alabama's law, which was almost identical to Florida's law. This will be reversed, there's no question it will be reversed.

Think about it. When the Founding Fathers were creating the Constitution, and when the First Congress passed the Bill of Rights, or even when they passed the reconstruction amendments in the 1860s, do you think a single person involved in that thought that there was a constitutional right to do this genital mutilation? It's ridiculous. Of course, a state can protect children.

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

Again: “Pride” is Nothing to Celebrate

(This is a re-post of my "Pride" column from last year (2023).) 

In his seminal work Mere Christianity, the great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis describes “pride” as “the Great Sin,” “the essential vice,” “the utmost evil.” Lewis concludes,

Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil; Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Thus, I suppose it is rather fitting that the “official” celebration of the evil LGBT agenda is called “Pride Month.” Few things today more encompass the wretched display of pride than what is exhibited when those under the throes of the LGBT agenda are unashamedly and boldly “out of the closet.”

Why was it—as this is typically no longer the case—that those with homosexual attractions had to come “out of the closet?” It was because to act on those attractions was often illegal, and—or at least—typically frowned upon by society at large. Why was homosexual behavior so stigmatized? Because it was once largely (and rightly) viewed as “unnatural” and immoral. 

It is important to note that things are not—or should not be—immoral because they are illegal, they are—or should be—illegal because they are immoral. And this is not to say that all immoral things should be illegal. The biggest achievement of the LGBT agenda has not been the reversal of U.S. laws that deemed homosexual behavior illegal, but rather a sea-change in the views on homosexuality in the American culture at-large. 

As was the case with all of the rotten and perverse fruit of the “sexual revolution,” this was largely accomplished by appealing to the pride of those who wanted to go their own way in the sexual realm. As C.S. Lewis noted, “pride leads to every other vice.” Homosexuality, pornography, promiscuity, and the like, are all born of the desire to ignore our Creator and write our own moral code.

It is telling that, before the LGBT agenda took root in America, pornography, promiscuity, sexually explicit displays throughout media, the “hook-up” culture, abortion (yes, abortion is a sexual issue), and so on, were being promoted and widely embraced across the U.S. Thus, no one should be surprised that once heterosexual immorality became entrenched in our culture, widespread acceptance of homosexuality would soon follow. Immorality breeds immorality.

It is also telling that, the sexual revolution that infected America flourished once those devoted to such a perverse agenda gained power. U.S. courts, politicians, academics, influential media personalities—and most tragically, even those within the church—alike all played a role in the pervasive spread of the sexual revolution. Power and pride go hand-in-hand, “For, of course, power is what Pride really enjoys,” writes Lewis. He adds,

There is nothing that makes a man feel so superior to others as being able to move them about like toy soldiers. What makes a pretty girl spread misery wherever she goes by collecting admirers? Certainly not her sexual instinct; that kind of girl is quite often sexually frigid. It is Pride. What is it that makes a political leader or a whole nation go on and on, demanding more and more? Pride again. Pride is competitive by its very nature; that is why it goes on and on.

Many were duped into believing that those promoting the LGBT agenda merely wanted to “live and let live.” However, as I’ve often noted, “live and let live” has never really been a trait of the LGBT agenda. Because of their desire to use their power to not only push their agenda, but to exact revenge upon those who stood in their way, the left’s Pride warriors have enthusiastically gone “on and on” targeting their opponents.

As Dennis Prager rightly noted, “pride is not about tolerance—it is totalitarian.” One only has to examine those targeted in the marriage debate for evidence of this. However, the “transing” of America provides most of the recent and most egregious examples of LGBT totalitarianism. (For a chronicling of these efforts, see here.) 

As I noted at the beginning of this piece, few things display the pride of humanity than unabashed displays of LGBT behavior. This is because, few things are further from the truth than the legal redefinition of marriage, and the absurd notion that one can change their sex. Again, almost nothing in the realm of truth is older than what is marriage, and what is a male and what is a female. This is because, “in the beginning” God revealed these foundational truths to us.

Of course, it is hard—if not impossible—to hear God when one is filled with pride. And if we’re not hearing God, then we are likely clueless as to what is sin. “Treason doth never prosper,” wrote English poet John Harington. He asks, “What’s the reason?” He concludes, “For if it prospers, none dare call it treason.” Likewise, sin “doth” never prosper. Why? Because if it prospers, none dare call it sin. This is where we are in America, instead of calling sin what it is, and dealing with it appropriately, we celebrate it, and misery ensues.

Again, C.S. Lewis was right:

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began…Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison— you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

The ultimate message of Pride Month is that God—if He exists at all—is a liar, and that you can do whatever you wish in the sexual realm without consequence. This is why no Christian should have any part of it. (This is especially the case when you are telling the world about The Chosen.)

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

20 Minutes From 2020: Never Forget the Hunter Biden Laptop Deniers

The X-post below says it all: 

The FBI just admitted in court that Hunter Biden's laptop is real.

Here are 20 minutes of Joe Biden, U.S. intelligence officials, and the American media claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop was "Russian disinformation."

The FBI has had possession of Hunter's laptop since… pic.twitter.com/5lzQaXitwq

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) June 5, 2024

For clarity, the entire post reads:

The FBI just admitted in court that Hunter Biden's laptop is real. 

Here are 20 minutes of Joe Biden, U.S. intelligence officials, and the American media claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop was "Russian disinformation." 

The FBI has had possession of Hunter's laptop since December 2019. 

Leading up to the 2020 election, Twitter and Facebook censored the Biden laptop story because the FBI warned them of a potential hack-and-leak operation targeting Hunter Biden. 

The FBI knew that Hunter's laptop was real the entire time. In October 2022,  @MarcoPolo501c3 published a 640-page Report on the Biden Laptop that meticulously documents 459 crimes involving the Biden family and their associates. 

The report provides evidence of Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations, money laundering, and tax fraud found on Hunter's laptop. 

It also exposes how federal law enforcement agencies, influenced by politics, protect the Biden family from prosecution while targeting President Biden's primary election opponent, Donald Trump. 

Shame on all of these people for lying to the American people, rigging our elections, and destroying the integrity of our nation.

Are the lying Democrats and their shills in the drive-by media capable of shame here? I doubt it. 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com 

COVID Vaccine Truth Continues to Come Out

The video below is with Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC Director under President Trump, and Chris Cuomo. This is an excellent clip and well worth three-and-a-half minutes of your time.

Dr. Robert Redfield was CDC director under Trump.

He was known to be a covid Vaccine truthteller, even back then.

This is a fantastic clip with Chris Cuomo.pic.twitter.com/7DCCvpXmQP

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 5, 2024

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com 

Failed Apocalyptic Climate Predictions From 42 Years Ago (Featuring (Who Else?!): Dan Rather and Al Gore)

Two of our lifetime's most notorious merchants of fake news--Dan Rather and Al Gore--were peddling their garbage climate alarmism 42 years ago! Watch:

1982 CBS News report—featuring a 34 year old Al Gore—predicts the "widespread disruption of agriculture", and 25% of Florida ending up underwater, "due to the burning of coal and oil". pic.twitter.com/X6FXW7aQyo

— T (@Rifleman4WVU) May 25, 2024

Of course, the thing to note here is that NONE OF THIS HAPPENED! NONE. OF. IT! (Sea levels around the world are stable; Antarctic ice has not significantly melted; Florida has lost virtually none of its coastline; U.S. crop production hit record levels in 2023.) Yet Al Gore and his ilk are still treated as serious minds with serious opinions and informed facts when it comes to the climate change scam. Climate change is the perfect grift for Big Government apologists like Rather and Gore. This is because it is the world-changing "crisis" that is always just around the corner, requiring immediate government action! And Democrats like Rather and Gore can virtually "never let a crisis (even a repeatedly ever-looming one!) go to waste!" 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com 

Winston Marshall Educates the Global Elites on Populism

At the Oxford Union recently, the UK's Winston Marshall--former lead guitarist of Mumford and Sons--gave an excellent, very public thrashing to the global elites, including including the Democrat Party and Nancy Pelosi, who was present at the debate. Mr. Mumford defended populism and called out the real threats to democracy worldwide. 

Below is the video of Mr. Mumford's remarks. A full transcript of his speech is below the video.

This is outstanding. Nancy Pelosi waltzes into Oxford Union Debate and gets a populist spanking from Winston Marshall.

Nancy interrupts several times.pic.twitter.com/4JoXYKBbXe

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 11, 2024

Transcript: 

Winston Marshall: Ladies and gentlemen, words have a tendency to change meaning. When I was a boy, woman meant someone who didn’t have a cock. Populism has become a word used synonymously with racist, we’ve heard ethnonationalist, we’ve bigot, with hillbilly, red neck, with deplorables. Elites use it to show their contempt for ordinary people. This is a recent change, not Not long ago, Barack Obama, while still President at the North America’s Leaders Summit in June 2016, he took umbrage of the notion that Trump be called a populist. How could Trump be called a populist? He doesn’t care about working people. If anything, Obama argued he was the populist. If anything, Obama argued Bernie was the populist. It was Bernie who’d spent five decades fighting for working people.

But with Trump… Something curious happens. If you watch Obama’s speeches after that point, more and more recently, he uses the word populist interchangeably with strong man, with authoritarian. The word changes meaning it becomes a negative, a pejorative, a slur. To me, populism is not a dirty word.

Since the 2008 crash, and specifically the trillion dollar Wall Street bailout, we are in the populist age. And for good reason, the elites have failed. Let me address some common fallacies, some of which have been made tonight. If the motion was that demagoguery was a threat to democracy, I would be on that side of the If the motion was that political violence was a threat to democracy, I’d be on that side of the House.

January sixth has been mentioned, a dark day for America indeed. I’m sure Congresswoman Pelosi will agree that the entire month of June 2020, when the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, was under siege and under insurrection by radical progressives, those two were dark days for America. Yes?

Nancy Pelosi: It’s not. There is no equivalence there. It is not like what happened on January 6th which was an insurrection…

Winston Marshall: So you don’t agree. It’s fine. You don’t agree…

Winston Marshall: So you don’t agree. But you’ll condemn those days. My point, though, is that all political movements are susceptible to violence and indeed, insurrection. And if we were arguing that fascism was a threat to democracy, I’d be on that side of the house. Indeed, the current populist age is a movement against fascism. I’ve got quite a lot to get through. Populism, as you know, is the politics of the ordinary people against an elite.

Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. And why else have universal suffrage if not to keep elites in check? Ladies and gentlemen, given the success of Trump, and more recently, Javier Mallet taking a chainsaw to the state behemoth of Argentina’s bureaucratic monster, you’d be mistaken for thinking this was a right wing populist age. But that would be ignoring Occupy Wall Street.

That would be ignoring Jeremy Corbin’s For the Many, Not the Few. That would be ignoring Bernie against the Billionaires, RFK Jr. Against Big Pharma, and more recently, George Galloway against his better judgment. Now, all of them, including Galloway, recognize genuine concerns of ordinary people being otherwise ignored by the establishment.

I’m actually rather surprised that our esteemed opposition, Congressman Pelosi, is on that side of the motion. I thought the left was supposed to be anti-elite. I thought the left was supposed to be anti-establishment. Today, particularly in America, the globalist left have become the establishment. I suppose for Ms. Pelosi to have taken this side of the motion, she’d be arguing herself out of a job. But it’s here in Britain where right and left populists united for the Supreme Act of democracy, Brexit. Polls have shown the number one reason people voted for Brexit was sovereignty for more democracy. Thank you. What was the response of the Brussels elite?

They did everything in their power to undermine the democratic will of the British people, and the Westminster elite were just as disgraceful. As we’ve heard, David Cameron called the voters Fruitcakes, Loonies, and Closet Racists. The liberal Democrats did everything they could to overturn a democratic vote. Kirstama(?) campaigned for a second referendum.

Elites would have us voting and voting and voting until we voted their way. Indeed, that’s what happened in Ireland and in Denmark. Let’s look at some of the other populist movements. The Hong Konger populist Revolt is literally called the Pro-Democracy Movement. The Pharma Revolt, from Netherlands to Germany, France, Greece to Sri Lanka, are taking their tractors to the road to protest ESG policy that’s floated down to us from those all-knowing infallible elites of Davos. 

The trucker movement in Canada became anti-elitist when petty tyrant Prime Minister Justin Trudeau froze their bank accounts, not the behavior of a democratic head of state. The gilets jaunes in France, Ulez in London, working people, protesting policy that hurt them. And how are they treated? They’re called conspiracy theorists. They’re called far-right by the mayor as well. Ladies and gentlemen, populism is the voice of the voiceless. The real threat to democracy is from the elites. Now, don’t get me wrong, we need elites.

If-when President Biden has shown us anything, we need someone to run the countries. When the President has severe dementia, it’s not just America that crumbles, the whole world burns. But let’s examine the elites. European corporations spend over €1 billion a year lobbying Brussels. U.S. corporations spend over €2 billion a year lobbying in DC.

Two-thirds of Congress receive funding from pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer alone spent €11 million in 2021. They made over $10 billion in profit. No wonder then that 66% of Americans think the economy is rigged against them for the rich and the powerful. And by the way, we used to have a word for when big business and big government were in cahoots. 

Let me read you some mainstream media headlines:

• The New Yorker the day before the 2016 election, “The Case Against Democracy.”
• The Washington Post, the day after the election, “The problem with our government is democracy.”
• The LA Times, June 2017, “The British election is a reminder of the perils of too much democracy.”
• Vox, June 2017. “The two eminent political scientists say the problem with democracy is voters.”
• New York Times, June 2017. “The problem with participatory democracy is the participants.”

Mainstream media elites are part of a class who don’t just disdain populism, they disdain the people. If the Democrats had put half their energy into delivering for the people, Trump wouldn’t even have a chance in 2024. He shouldn’t, he shouldn’t have a chance.

You’ve had power for four years. From the fabricated Steele Dossier to trying to take him off the ballot in both Maine and Colorado, the Democrats are the anti-Democrat Party. All we need now is the Republicans to come out as the pro-monarchist party. 

Ladies and gentlemen, populism is not a threat to democracy, but I’ll tell you what is. It’s elites ordering social media to censor political opponents. It’s police shutting down dissenters, be it anti-monarchists in this country or gender critical voices here, or last week in Brussels, the National Conservatives Movement.

I’ll tell you what is a threat to democracy. It’s Brussels, DC, Westminster, the mainstream media, big tech, big pharma, corporate collusion, and the Davos cronies.

The threat to democracy comes from those who write off ordinary people as deplorable.

The threat to democracy comes from those who smear working people as racist.

The threat to democracy comes from those who write off working people as populists.

And I’ll say one last thing. This populist age can be brought to an end at the snap of a finger. All that needs to be done is for elites to start listening to, respect it, respecting, and, God forbid, working for ordinary people. Thank you.

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com 

Antonin Scalia Got It Right on The Holocaust

Below is the transcript of the speech Justice Antonin Scalia gave to the U.S. Congress on Holocaust Remembrance Day, 1997. (Watch the video of the speech here.) The speech can be summed up with this: Knowledge, power, riches, and "culture" mean nothing without virtue. In other words, modern "progressivism" does not equal progress. If an individual, a group, or a nation wants real and lasting success in this world, then they must do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. 

Distinguished members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives; members of the Diplomatic Corps; survivors of the Holocaust; ladies and gentlemen:

I was profoundly honored to have been invited to speak at this annual ceremony in remembrance of those consumed in the Holocaust. But it is not, I must tell you, an easy assignment for a non-Jew to undertake. I am an outsider speaking to an ancient people about a tragedy of unimaginable proportions that is intensely personal to them. I have no memories of parents or children, uncles or cousins caught up in and destroyed by the horror. I have not even that distinctive appreciation of evil that must come from knowing that six million people were killed for no other reason than that they had blood like mine running in their veins.

More difficult still, I am not only not a Jew, but I am a Christian, and I know that the anti-Semitism of many of my uncomprehending co-religionists, over many centuries, helped set the stage for the mad tragedy that the National Socialists produced. I say uncomprehending co-religionists, not only because my religion teaches that it is wrong to hate anyone, but because it is particularly absurd for a Christian to hate the people of Israel. That is to hate one’s spiritual parents, and to sever one’s roots.

When I was a young man in college, spending my junior year abroad, I saw Dachau. Later, in the year after I graduated from law school, I saw Auschwitz. I will of course never forget the impression they made upon me. If some playwright or novelist had invented such a tale of insanity and diabolical cruelty, it would not be believed. But it did happen. The one message I want to convey today is that you will have missed the most frightening aspect of it all, if you do not appreciate that it happened in one of the most educated, most progressive, most cultured countries in the world.

The Germany of the late 1920s and early 1930s was a world leader in most fields of art, science, and intellect. Berlin was a center of theater; with the assistance of the famous producer Max Reinhardt, playwrights and composers of the caliber of Bertolt, Brecht[,] and Kurt Weill flourished. Berlin had three opera houses, and Germany as a whole had no less than eighty. Every middle-sized city had its own orchestra. German poets and writers included Hermann Hesse, Stefan George, Leonhard Frank, Franz Kafka, and Thomas Mann, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. In architecture, Germany was the cutting edge, with Gropius and the Brauhaus [S]chool. It boasted painters like Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer. Musical composers like Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Paul Hindemith. Conductors like Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter, Erich Kleiber, and Wilhelm Furtwängler. And in science, of course, the Germans were preeminent. To quote a recent article in the Journal of American Medical Association:

“In 1933, when the National Socialist Party came to power in Germany, the biomedical enterprise in that country was among the most sophisticated in the world. German contributions to biochemistry, psychology, medicine, surgery, and public health, as well as to clinical training, had shaped into an important degree the academic and practice patterns of the time, and clinical training and research experience in the great German clinics and laboratories had been widely sought for decades by physicians and basic scientists from around the world.”

To fully grasp the horror of the Holocaust, you must imagine (for it probably happened) that the commandant of Auschwitz or Dachau, when he had finished his day’s work, retired to his apartment to eat a meal that was in the finest good taste, and then to listen, perhaps, to some tender and poignant lieder of Franz Schubert.

This aspect of the matter is perhaps so prominent in my mind because I am undergoing, currently, the task of selecting a college for the youngest of my children – or perhaps more accurately, trying to help her select it. How much stock we place in education, intellect, cultural refinement! And how much of our substance we are prepared to expend to give our children the very best opportunity to acquire education, intellect, cultural refinement! Yet those qualities are of only secondary importance – to our children, and to the society that their generation will create. I am reminded of words written by John Henry Newman long before the Holocaust could ever be imagined.

“Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility. . . . Liberal Education makes . . . the gentleman. It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind, with noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life; – These are the connatural qualities of a large knowledge; they are the objects of a university. . . . But . . . they are no guarantee for the sanctity or even for conscientiousness; they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the heartless.”

Yes, to the heartless.

It is the purpose of these annual Holocaust remembrances – as it is the purpose of the nearby Holocaust museum – not only to honor the memory of the six million Jews and the three or four million other pour souls caught up in this twentieth-century terror, but also, by keeping the memory of their tragedy painfully alive, to prevent its happening again. The latter can be achieved only by acknowledging, and passing on to our children, the existence of absolute, uncompromiseable standards of human conduct. Mankind has traditionally derived such standards from religion; and the West has derived them from and through the Jews. Those absolute and uncompromiseable standards of human conduct will not endure without an effort to make them endure, and it is to that enterprise that we rededicate ourselves today. They are in the Decalogue, and they are in the question put and answered by Micah: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”

For those six million Jews to whom it was not done justly, who were shown no mercy, and for whom God and his laws were abandoned: may we remember their sufferings, and may they rest in peace.

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

Taking the "Alphabet Mafia" Seriously

This post is from a piece by David Strom at Hot Air. It was published this past Sunday (4/21/24) in their weekly "Sunday Smiles" section. Everything below is from Mr. Strom's piece:

Karen wrote about the Bill Maher speech that declared, among other things, that Ron DeSantis was right about kicking alphabet ideology out of schools.

It was a great rant, and I agreed with almost every word. Yet it left me angry as well as satisfied, and I will tell you why in a bit. (Language Warning!)

It turns out for pedophiles in Hollywood, "It's A Small World After All." pic.twitter.com/4qUtOhXZYL

— Bill Maher (@billmaher) April 20, 2024

Maher hit all the right notes: the entertainment industry IS filled with pedophiles, adults are sexualizing kids, kids ARE being groomed to become Queer, and Drag Queen Story Hour is perverted.

And Ron Desantis was right, and the only reason why the liberals denied it is that he is a Republican. Yep. Spot on.

So why am I still angry?

That last point gives it away: it takes Bill Maher permitting liberals to admit the obvious to get anybody to take these issues seriously, and that just isn't good enough.

Countless children have been and will be sacrificed to the alphabet gods for no other reason than liberals don't want to admit conservatives are right about anything. ...

It is a FACT that liberals will approve of pedophiles being given access to children because to do otherwise would confirm what conservatives say.

Think about how f'**ked up that is. They will let children be fondled by kiddie diddlers because admitting a Republican is right about an issue is a bridge too far.

We saw EXACTLY this when Sound of Freedom came out. There was a massive campaign to discredit the film and the idea of child sex trafficking for no other reason than Christians liked the film. It was as simple as that. We got the "Q-Anon" accusations. Suddenly, anybody worried about child sex trafficking was called a kook, despite several child sex trafficking rings being broken up WHILE THE CONTROVERSY was ongoing. 

The movie WAS BASED ON A TRUE STORY! But since conservatives liked the movie and that kids were being saved from sexual exploitation, it had to be discredited. There was a massive campaign to destroy the movie that thankfully failed.

We are a long way from alphabet ideology being driven out of society--in Blue states the momentum for it has GROWN as the rest of the world recoils in horror. ...

I have been told I am too angry, to which I say: YOU ARE NOT ANGRY ENOUGH. Horrible evils have been done. Millions stood by and enabled it, even justified it. You listened to all the "right" people, and they lied to you. Don't be angry at me; be angry at them. They did this. I tried to stop it. Get on board or get out of the way. ...

The whole piece is a worthy read. See it here. 

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

Debunking Climate Alarmism on "Earth Day!"

John Stossel posted a helpful and informative ~6 minute video this "Earth Day" (see below). Climate scientists from the Heartland Institute help Mr. Stossel debunk four common climate myths perpetuated by today's earth-worshipping left.

Climate alarmists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say, “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.”

Really?

In order to get you ready for other scary “facts” you will hear on #EarthDay, 3 scientists address some climate myths: pic.twitter.com/CiQN15X3RY

— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) April 21, 2024

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

A Post Office Debacle in Georgia

Our 15-year-old son Noah is a baseball player. Baseball gear today can be quite expensive. A new (and sometimes even used!) quality bat or glove alone can easily cost several hundred dollars. For many years now, we’ve used Christmas and Noah’s birthday to provide him with a new bat or glove based on what he most wants or needs. If it’s not gift-giving time and Noah wants an expensive baseball item, he typically either waits or uses his own money (maybe with a little help from us) to purchase the item. If it’s the latter, Noah will often look for used gear. This was the case recently.

In February of this year, Noah found a used bat on Facebook Marketplace that he wanted to purchase. The bat was just north of $100 with taxes and fees. He used his own money to purchase the bat. The seller was in our state (Georgia) but was several hours away, so we chose to have the bat shipped. What a mistake!

The bat was scheduled to arrive on February 26. As of this writing, now over five weeks later, the bat still has not arrived! This would not be much of a story if ours was an isolated incident. This is far from the case!

After filing a “missing mail search request” on March 1, a few days later I began wondering if our package delay was indeed an isolated incident. I began a simple internet search and quickly discovered that many others in Georgia were also experiencing missing mail. I started seeing several news stories of missing mail and problems with a new Atlanta area mail distribution center in Palmetto, Georgia.

Much to their credit, the Atlanta NBC News affiliate, 11Alive News, has been all over this story since early March. As far as I can tell, their first report on this story was on March 6. This initial report declares,

Some metro Atlanta residents are looking for their mail, but there's one big problem -- it's either late or, worse, not showing up at all.

These postal customers are also complaining that their packages can't be traced at all. They said these issues are centered around one postal facility in Palmetto -- which is located mostly in Fulton County [Another government debacle in Fulton County!] but also partly in Coweta County.

From paychecks and legal documents to mail of all types, customers from Lithia Springs, Kennesaw, Marietta, and other cities reached out to 11Alive about their mail being delayed, but there still aren't any answers as to why.

Weeks, and dozens of news stories, later (Atlanta-area FOX and ABC affiliates have also reported on this problem) and little has changed. A March 21 11Alive news story gave a comprehensive update on “What we know so far about the Palmetto USPS mail delays.” The story begins, “11Alive has received non-stop overwhelming concerns from those experiencing delays about their missing mail over the past couple of weeks.” On “why is the mail delayed,” 11Alive reports that they have “reached out to the United States Postal Service about what is causing the delays” but 11Alive “has not received a definitive reason.”

Additionally, the Palmetto distribution center, and the USPS in general, is being very evasive or vague on what is being done—if anything—to fix the problem. Not very much (If anything!) as far as we are concerned, since we are going on six weeks without our package!

Several elected officials in Georgia are demanding answers as well, but it seems they are also yet to get results. On March 14, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff released a statement on the matter. Senator Ossoff’s statement declared,

Sen. Ossoff today launched an inquiry with USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to provide detailed answers and explanation amid growing reports of missing and delayed mail processed through the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center — impacting families’ ability to get life-saving medicine and vital mail services.

On March 21 it was announced that Sen. Ossoff, along with Georgia’s other U.S. Senator, Raphael Warnock and U.S. Congressman Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), had launched a “bipartisan inquiry with USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to provide a detailed explanation for alleged fraud at the Marietta Post Office last year.” The announcement also declared that, “According to the Marietta Daily Journal, alleged crimes committed at the post office include mail theft, forgery, document fraud, and check-washing.”

One wonders if similar issues aren’t occurring at the Palmetto facility as well. Senator Warnock and U.S. Congressman Mike Collins (GA-10) have also officially inquired about the issues at the Palmetto facility but are also getting no answers as to what is the problem and what is being done to resolve it. About a week ago, a FOX5 (the Atlanta affiliate) headline declared, “Even Congress can’t get answers on Georgia post office problems.”

Today (April 4) Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09) requested an audit and an investigation into the USPS’s “recent consolidation process in North Georgia.” Congressman Clyde’s request states,

Since the transition and consolidation of processing and distribution activities from local PDCs across North Georgia into the Palmetto facility on February 24, 2024, my office has received a nearly 90% increase in email and phone call messages from residents of North Georgia about USPS mail and package delays happening in the region.

The “consolidation process” mentioned by Congressman Clyde (and by several others dealing with this matter) is evidently part of USPS’s 10-year plan, introduced in 2021, called “Delivering for America.” The Palmetto facility, which opened on February 24 of this year, consolidated Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Duluth area processing and distribution centers. Atlanta was not the first area of the U.S. to experience this type of postal “consolidation” disaster.

Again, according to 11Alive News,

Atlanta is not the first area to experience disruption following the opening of this kind of facility. They are a centerpiece of a system-wide modernization drive within the USPS, and the first one the agency opened was in Richmond [Virginia] last year.

An audit of the metro Atlanta facility began in March, but a report won't be released until August. The report on Richmond, however, was released on Monday and gives some insights on the uneven results that followed its opening.

The report on the Richmond USPS issues can be found in the link above. It details very similar mail disruptions to what are currently happening in Georgia. In other words, the USPS should’ve learned its lesson in Virginia! But alas, the reputation of the USPS continues to worsen. Things for the Postal Service could get even worse if what has happened in Virginia and Georgia comes to your state, which is likely unless significant changes are made in these “consolidation” efforts.

When our mail was delivered today (April 4), for the first time—I’m not usually home when the mail is delivered—I got to speak with our mail carrier about our missing package. I informed her how long it’s been and so on. She pointed to the issues with the Palmetto facility, but she added that she was told that the area where we live was “caught up” on missing mail from the Palmetto facility. I assured her this was not the case. She told me she’s hearing the same from other postal customers.

How about instead of “consolidation” we just turn over mail operations in the U.S. to Amazon. They seem to be much better at delivering packages! What’s more, I’d wager the amount my son has lost on his package that Amazon could resolve whatever is the issue in Palmetto in a matter of days. Shame on the USPS for this debacle!

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2024, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com