Trump is outmaneuvering everybody. It looks like all those people pushing the Russia hoax are going to have to pay. This week we’ve learned that Obama was calling the shots. He may be immune from prosecution, but the others? I have a feeling they’re lawyering up. You know, those guys we hoped we’d never see again. Apparently they’ve got some liabilities. We don’t look forward to their arguments. 

The media says Trump is losing his base, but you’d never know it by watching him. He doesn’t seem to worry much. They pepper him with questions about Epstein, and he never blinks. It seems that some notables went to the island dozens of times. The Media writ large had Dan Bongino resigning and maybe Kash Patel would go with him. They wish! Turns out it was speculation by the mainstream.

They say we’ve got a situation never before contemplated. We’re sending more illegals out than are coming in, and the fear of deportation always hangs over their heads. That’s as it should be. Who ever heard of a country that lets in all comers? You cannot go anywhere In the world without the proper papers. And falling into the hands of some third world system couldn’t possibly turn out good.

You still see an article feeling sorry for the immigrants. But we can’t afford their upkeep. What? Is it our responsibility to make sure everything’s fair and everybody’s happy? There are places that a border-jumper would be anything but happy. There are some absolutely beautiful places on earth, but you wouldn’t want to live there.

It looks like Putin is satisfied with the way things are going, and, for now has no intention of calling the whole thing off. It looks like that is driving Trump back into the arms of Zelensky. It’s very complicated now. Trump keeps saying that the war never would have started if he’d been president. But now, it’s a whole different matter.

If you read the mainstream, you’d never know about things that are about to go ballistic. But these other characters! We’re going to be caught in the details of everything they’ve been pushing. I don’t ever want to see some of them again. But we’re going to have to suffer through their machinations. It looks like they’re all going to surface again whether we like it or not. But they made their bed.

A lot of famous names are in trouble. They don’t have Obama’s immunity. So we’re going to have to see them again. One of them better cut an immunity deal, or all of them are going down, save Obama.

Finally the deportations are taking hold. The left is freaking out. After all, these people are only trying to take care of their families! So see how far that line of logic goes anywhere else on earth.                                                           

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – July 25 2025  first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Things are already happening fast and it’s not even January 20^th yet.  The last of Trump’s “criminal” cases was closed today, but not without giving the media something to crow about.  The charges stand even though Trump doesn’t have to do anything, they can still call him a felon.  Let’s see if they dare.

If you haven’t seen the video of Trump cracking up Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral you should. Lip readers have been trying to figure out what was said, but none of it makes sense to me. The point was that Trump was joking around, making Obama laugh, and Kamala, sitting in front, was none too pleased. I’m sorry that Jimmy Carter died, but where are you going to see Trump making Obama laugh?

We’re all in a laughing mood. It looks like the nation is going to change direction, but not before near destruction.

The fires in L. A. are breaking out randomly. I grew up in Pasadena, and well remember the Santa Ana winds. They blew all the smog away.  But they’ve been whipping up fires this year, some of which may have been set by arsonists. There’s some video that would lead you to that conclusion.  If somebody went around starting fires in the wind… And it appears somebody did! You don’t suppose we have people who don’t love the country?  

Destruction like this has ever happened before in L. A., whole neighborhoods burning down. The winds come every year, but they’ve been so busy saving the planet and some little fish, that the fire hydrants have no water. They’re worrying about people’s pronouns instead of fires. That’s all about to change. Maybe not in L. A. right away, but the crowd not doing their jobs is about to be out of work.  

Some neighborhoods look like Hiroshima after the bomb. Who knows if they’re insured, but there’s enough damage to break insurance companies. I imagine people who lost their homes aren’t too happy. It’s enough to make you cry. They’re worrying about all the wrong things at the fire department.

You notice, we’re not hearing all kinds of preaching and caterwauling about fairness and equality these days? The next generation is going to look back on this time and wonder if we were all crazy. How dare we not speak up? We are among the few who have spoken up about all the craziness that they’ve tried to foist upon us. We’ve always rolled our eyes at this stupidity.  

But maybe our prayers have been answered. Makes you wonder how close we have to come to losing it all before making a change. We almost did. The left was about to cram everything down our throats to make their point. If they only had a point.                                           

It appears God has looked down in His great mercy and decided it’s not time. I’ve been hearing about the “gun lap” since the late ‘60s. It looks like we’ve got more time to get things right. We should be more than thankful.      

Mark

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – January 10, 2025 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Today is the day the mainstream has been dreading.  In actual fact, the abortion issue has been handed back to the states.  The 1973 ruling was invalidated as a matter of law.  The idea that the U. S. Constitution handed some sacred “right” to women was a fantastic reach in the first place.  Finally, nearly 50 years later, it’s been overturned.  Some “crowds” (to be charitable) have been parading, banging drums and chanting in front of the homes of Supreme Court Justices.  Who are these people?  Are they wearing masks outdoors for fear of COVID, or to hide their identities?

If the hard left gets its way, there will be all kinds of mayhem.  Nobody seems interested in prosecuting those trying to influence the decision, a crime though it may be.  They seem to be doing the dirty work we were promised.  Will it set off riots?  Maybe looting and burning?

It’s Trump’s fault, of course.  Him and his ultra-maga supporters.  Biden is mad,  Maxine Waters says they’re going to be out protesting in their thousands, or millions.  “We are going to make sure we fight for the right to control our own bodies.”  (Where was she during the mask mandate?)  They’ll defy the Supreme Court.  How, other than causing a ruckus, we’ll see.

Obama says the court has curtailed our freedoms.  Michelle is heartbroken.  It is a “horrifying decision.”  They’re both calling on people to join protests and give Planned Parenthood support.  The Justice Dept. says it will “use every tool at our disposal to protect reproductive freedom.”  It’s hard to know what that means, but the weeks ahead should give us some idea.   AOC is shown with her mouth wide open, talking about “birthing people” and  chanting with protesters.  I guess this is supposed to let us know she thinks men can get pregnant.  But sure enough, some states are announcing that abortion is illegal, as of today.

World leaders are appalled.  Especially Justin Trudeau of Canada.  He’s horrified and can’t imagine the fear and anger that it will cause.  Even Boris Johnson is bent out of shape.  Just when the whole world was seeing the light and liberalizing laws governing abortion.

It’s the second time this week they’ve seen the court rule against their  beloved philosophy.  First it struck down New York’s gun law.  So they were already ticked.  The abortion ruling though, just might drive them over the edge.  The police caught a guy who said he’d come to “kill Kavanaugh.”  No big deal, according to the mainstream media.  Hardly worth reporting.  But all bets are off as we wait to see how crazy the protesters will get.  This may well justify riots and looting.  Even if the rioters and looters don’t know what they’re mad about.  Riot police are staging outside the Supreme Court, just in case.  But not everybody is down in the dumps.  Some are celebrating.  Trump says to God be the glory.

What ever happened to Ukraine?  It’s not in the news much lately.  The last thing we heard was that we were going to send billions of dollars and more.  Apparently Russia has had to call in troops that were stationed in other hot spots.  Some are worried that this thing may drag on and that other countries may get involved causing an escalation that may get out of control.  We hope they’re wrong.

Meanwhile UN officials are warning of food shortages.  The pope is hinting at resignation.  Maybe he’s done enough damage.  The American economy is reeling from inflation being driven by the  pretend administration’s war on oil.  They want you to know there’s nothing more they can do.  But at least something’s gone right today.    Have a great Sabbath.

Mark

P.S. The new Feast brochures are printed and will be going out with the next letter, probably Monday or Tuesday.

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 24 June 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Justice is fallen in the streets.  I guess you heard about the acquittal in what looked like a slam-dunk case.  It has political overtones, but it threatened to answer most of the questions that were obvious to those watching.  If it had gone the other way, it would have been fun to see how the mainstream handled it.  If the truth ever spills in to the mainstream we’re going to find out a litany of things that we already knew but the mainstream will never report.  Is that it?  All these years of investigations and the only case brought goes down in flames?  Oh there’s more, lots more.  We’re just wondering if any of it will ever see the light of day.  So far it looks like the goon squad may get away with what they did.  They used the power of government and some agencies in particular to carry out operations against their perceived enemies.  Will it ever get straightened out?  It’s looking doubtful.

We’ve been grappling with what to do with the next WATCH magazine cover.  No, I’m not going to give it away.  But it’s looking like the government can do whatever they want to beat down and impoverish the citizens, and nothing is their fault.  It’s Putin’s fault.  The gas prices?  Yep, Putin.  Food shortages?  They’ve been predicted, now it looks like all the stops will be pulled out to make that come true.  Oh, that’s the corporations.  Corporations that are determined to play government ball at any cost.

We’re drowning in crises.  Well, crises to us anyway.  The politicians are strutting around like they’re saving the planet.  Gas has gone over budget, way over.  Food is following suit, and we haven’t seen anything yet.  That will be Putin’s fault too, wait and see.  The only silver lining is that America-haters have to buy gas and groceries too.  They’re going to react when they figure out they’ve been slapped back a peg or two.  They’ll probably get some government handout to ease the pain.  Maybe their student debt will be canceled.  Yeah, the people who work can pick that up.  The government is spewing money as fast as they can print it, in spite of roaring inflation.  But act like they don’t have a clue.

You can’t have missed the monumental amount of military aid for Ukraine.  So what’s the goal?  There is no plan?  You mean…  Who can stand it?  Apparently they’re cleared to make life miserable for citizens, and they couldn’t be any happier.  Who’s they?  They’re at the microphones telling us how proud they are.  You can’t miss them.  You’d think Ukraine was attached to government somehow.  You’d be right.  The same lame-brains are trying to put us all back in masks, those that ever wore them.  The cancellation of the “mandate” for airlines is being appealed.  Never mind that Europe has canceled theirs.  Since when have the nations of Europe ever been a model for us?  We’re not who we thought we were, not since the pretender and his handlers started calling the shots.  Obama is so jealous?  No, Obama is taking the stairs two, maybe three at a time.  He had to pretend to be on our side.  The pretender doesn’t.

Not to alarm you, but a Russian TV show is talking about how easy it would be to take out the eastern seaboard of the United States.  Putin apparently is getting treated for some ailment, maybe cancer.  It probably wouldn’t pay to play chicken with him, having nothing to lose and all.  That would spell tribulation all right, and it’s the last thing we’re rooting for.  Pray that we get through this intact, and emerge as the nation we were intended to be.  Sounds like a long shot, but it is our hope.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 3 June 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Biden will face impeachment under a Republican majority for border crisis: GOP lawmaker first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

BERLIN — On the last Saturday in February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gathered with his top advisers in his vast, glass-walled office and read aloud a speech condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — remarks that would transform his nation’s security and defense policy.

As he queried particular phrases in the draft, his advisers proposed alternatives. Scholz, 63, who has known his nation only at peace, was desperate to avert a third world war, said a senior German official who, like others close to the chancellor, spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount private discussions. Initially, that concern made Scholz reluctant to speak of armaments, above all sending weapons to Ukraine.

But when aides presented the chancellor with the question of arming Ukraine directly or simply releasing German-made weapons purchased by partner nations, a request being weighed the same day, he approved both — assessing that sufficient support existed within his government and party to jettison Germany’s long-standing aversion to exporting weapons into conflict zones.

In the course of the deliberations that day, the chancellor also resolved to make explicit how Germany would develop its arsenal to guard against a widening conflict. The country, whose wars of conquest in the previous century had made the projection of military power verboten, would in effect become the world’s third-largest military spender, not only bolstering NATO deployments but strengthening the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, with procurements including new armed drones and fighter jets.

“He’s aware of what that means,” said an aide involved in the discussions. “That with growing abilities will also come growing demands and expectations.”

The challenge remained to find the words to announce these policies without alarming the public, recalled Scholz advisers. “We are also doing this for us, for our own security,” the chancellor said in the final version of the speech, which he delivered that Sunday to the German parliament. He declared Russia’s invasion three days earlier, on Feb. 24, a “Zeitenwende,” or “turning of an era.”

As over 100,000 rally for Ukraine, Germany announces vast defense spending increase that may upend European security policy

Scholz’s carefully crafted speech signals his approach to taking the reins of government in a crisis — cautious and calculating, constrained by history. The test is whether the same approach can steer his country through a national security transformation and into a more active and confident role on the world stage.

“Scholz sleepwalked into the crisis, seemingly never thinking it would actually happen, but has now brought about Germany’s most significant U-turn since 1989,” said Peter Wittig, a former German ambassador to the United States, referring to the fall of the Berlin Wall. “The chancellor said, ‘Germany needs hard power.’ ”

But decisions made in crisis can be difficult to sustain, Wittig said. Already Berlin is facing intensifying criticism from Ukrainian officials for not doing enough to export arms. And some in Scholz’s party say his security commitments are unrealistic.

In this new era for Germany, marked by the return of land war to Europe, the past casts a long shadow. When Scholz led his Social Democratic Party to victory in last fall’s elections, he inherited the mantle of German chancellors with complex ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Angela Merkel, a fluent Russian speaker raised in Germany’s former communist east, was a frequent interlocutor for Putin, pressing him on issues ranging from migration to human rights. She also steered the Normandy Format talks — among France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia — that helped broker a 2014 cease-fire agreement in the contested Ukrainian region of Donbas.

Scholz, who had been finance minister and vice chancellor in Merkel’s final coalition government, positioned himself as her natural heir. She was among those he consulted in preparing to meet with Putin in February.

Now, Merkel’s legacy is coming under new criticism. The center-right chancellor supported the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, bucking U.S. recommendations and deepening her country’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels. She also favored dialogue with Putin over more forceful measures. She counseled President Barack Obama against sending lethal aid to Ukraine when he sought her advice in 2014 and 2015, according to current and former German diplomats familiar with the conversations.

Germany, urged to ‘stop Putin’s war machine,’ resists embargo on Russian energy

At the same time, Merkel “had no illusions about Putin’s ruthlessness,” said a former German diplomat.

That sets her apart from Gerhard Schröder, the chancellor before her, whose refusal to relinquish board seats on Russian energy companies has made him persona non grata in Scholz’s party, which he twice led to victory, in 1998 and 2002. His deference to Putin has also threatened to discredit Germany’s broader policy of Ostpolitik, the normalization of relations with the East, pioneered by the Social Democrats in the 1970s.

Schröder’s access to strongmen in Eastern Europe and Western Asia has at times proved useful to his government. In 2017, he helped persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release a detained human rights activist, said Ulrich Brandenburg, a former German ambassador to Russia. But the 77-year-old’s trip last month to Moscow yielded no results, according to German officials, who said he is acting independently. In a speech last month, Schröder spoke of “many mistakes on both sides.”

The legacy of his predecessors is hard for Scholz to escape, said Pavlo Klimkin, a former Ukrainian foreign minister and ambassador to Germany. “Under moral and political pressure, Scholz is clearly trying to exit this friendly mentality to Russia,” Klimkin said.

What you need to know about Olaf Scholz

The chancellor’s mentality already differed from that of his predecessors, his allies say.
Scholz, a onetime vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth who criticized the “aggressive-imperialist NATO,” increased Germany’s defense budget when he served as finance minister in Merkel’s cabinet. In 2018, his role in selecting a new foreign minister caused blowback in his center-left party when his pick took a tough line on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of defining itself in opposition to the West. Scholz and others faced internal recriminations, associates said, for advocating what one person called a “Europe First” agenda.

Some within Scholz’s party are still skeptical of such an agenda. Ralf Stegner, a Social Democratic lawmaker and member of the foreign affairs committee, said security in Europe is possible only “with Russia, not against Russia.”

Philipp Türmer, deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party’s youth organization, said a better-equipped military is a necessity. But “abstract aims of military expansion,” including the NATO commitment of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense, “don’t make sense,” said Türmer, who holds the same position at the youth organization, called Jusos, that Scholz once did.

In the short term, “the party will remain united around Scholz and this goal,” said Nils Schmid, a lawmaker and foreign policy spokesman for Scholz’s Social Democrats in parliament. Then, he said, the chancellor will have to “spell out exactly which projects and which purchases are needed.”

The path is uncharted in a country without a national security council or a well-supplied military. Germany’s army chief took to LinkedIn in the early hours of Russia’s invasion to warn that the country’s armed forces were “more or less powerless.”

Power is what Scholz decided his country needed, after diplomacy failed to bring Putin back from the brink.

During his February visit to Moscow, the chancellor accepted sparkling wine from his Russian counterpart. But when Scholz asked the Russian president, “Mr. Putin, can you assure me that once I leave Moscow, that’s not the moment your fighter jets start to invade Ukraine?” Putin gave no answer, according to someone briefed on the conversation.

Scholz says response to Russia will be ‘united and decisive’ if Ukraine is invaded

A week before Russia’s invasion, when the leader of an allied nation asked Scholz on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference what he thought the probability was that Putin would give the order to attack, on a scale from 1 to 10, the chancellor refused to make a prediction, according to a person familiar with the exchange. Scholz also demurred when pressed to counter early Russian hostilities, most notably resisting calls to halt Nord Stream 2 — before reversing course and preventing certification of the controversial project.

Scholz has told associates since his Feb. 27 speech that German power means not only national defense but also economic prosperity and the cultural factors that make Germany an attractive place to live.

A majority of the public backs sending arms to Ukraine, according to recent polling, a reversal from earlier this year during Russia’s military buildup, when surveys showed that most Germans still opposed weapons deliveries.

But public confidence is at a low ebb. Only 19 percent of Germans are optimistic about the near future, the lowest share since 1949, according to a March poll by the Allensbach Institute. “The population is in shock,” wrote the institute’s managing director.

Scholz’s calls with Putin since the invasion have been carefully coordinated with European allies, the United States and Ukraine. “It is the Ukrainians that need to call the shots,” said the senior German official, so no one will “betray them, even accidentally.”

Ukrainian assessments of German leadership are already laced with a sense of betrayal, especially after evidence of civilian massacres emerged from Bucha. Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, said last weekend that Scholz “finally has to take on this leadership role” and advance tougher sanctions.

In Bucha, the scope of Russian barbarity is coming into focus

Norbert Röttgen, a lawmaker from Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, accused Scholz of pursuing a “policy of deliberate halfheartedness.” Scenes from Bucha demand the chancellor make good on his language about a new era, Röttgen said.

“A ‘Zeitenwende’ requires much more than just a defense fund,” said the lawmaker, a former chairman of the foreign affairs committee. “The government has to deliver on its promise that everything fundamentally has changed.”

In a Wednesday appearance before lawmakers, Scholz defended his government’s arms shipments, saying Germany was sending everything it could. He stressed that shipments were being coordinated with NATO, in response to questions about a Ukrainian request for 100 German infantry vehicles. That request was relayed to Scholz and his team by Wladimir Klitschko, the Ukrainian celebrity and former professional boxer, during a visit to Berlin last week, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. A Ukrainian official declined to comment.

Ukraine presses NATO for immediate aid: ‘Weapons, weapons, weapons’

Despite the decision to send arms into a conflict zone, said a senior German diplomat, “our history doesn’t go away. You will see a careful approach in foreign policy.” The foremost task, according to the diplomat, is to “hold Europe together.”

And that falls to Scholz. “He is the center of power, even in a parliamentary system,” the diplomat said.

Parts of the German media doubt he has what it takes. The chancellor, wrote a columnist in the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, embodies his country’s problems: “weak in leadership, self-centered and helpless.”

That assessment, say Scholz’s allies, is contradicted by his success in overturning decades of foreign policy consensus in a single weekend, and bringing his three-party coalition government along with him. “He’s proactive and pushy,” said Schmid, the lawmaker and foreign policy spokesman. “He wants to see things implemented.”

At 5 feet and 7 inches, Scholz is not an imposing presence. When he was mayor of Hamburg, from 2011 to 2018, he used to row before cabinet meetings on Alster Lake. Now, he uses an indoor water rower — or else runs two times a week. Despite his serious manner, he has a mischievous, high-pitched laugh, say associates, and aides address him with the informal pronoun “du,” instead of the professional “Sie.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, a longtime advocate of greater European military cooperation, has staked out a more high-profile role rallying the continent behind the Ukrainian cause. Biden went to Warsaw to proclaim a new “battle for democracy.” Scholz is less comfortable standing at a lectern than he is sitting at a conference table. “He’s someone who knows his briefing book,” said the senior German diplomat.

After call with Putin, Macron convinced that ‘the worst is yet to come’ and that Russia wants to take all of Ukraine

That attitude also shapes Scholz’s engagement with fellow leaders. He feels especially aligned with Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the senior German official, who added, “Olaf Scholz is not the guy who bonds in a way that they’re best buddies and drinking, but I think they all click politically.”

Scholz’s advisers have benefited from strong ties with Biden’s team, said senior officials in Berlin.

Scholz’s closest confidant, Wolfgang Schmidt, the chancellery chief of staff who has the rank of a cabinet minister, speaks regularly to William J. Burns, the CIA director, who was in Berlin last month. Scholz’s chief economic adviser, Jörg Kukies, a former Goldman Sachs banker, works with Daleep Singh, a deputy national security adviser handling sanctions. And foreign policy adviser Jens Plötner consults with Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.

The chancellor’s advisers hope Biden’s leadership role in responding to Russian aggression might help him win over Trump supporters who crave American strength. And they’re even inclined to help. One adviser mused about Scholz and Macron, who is up for reelection this month, traveling to the United States and reaching out to American voters.

“They could go to where the F-35 is produced,” said the adviser, referring to the combat aircraft, which is made in Fort Worth and which Germany has promised to buy. “And they could say, ‘That’s your leader who made this happen.’ ”

Vanessa Guinan-Bank contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/08/olaf-scholz-germany-russia-ukraine/

The post Embracing military power, Olaf Scholz tries to lead Germany into a new era first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In trying to construct a sentence, the realization dawned that some subjects are just not fit for discussion.  Many of us will spend the remainder of our lives having to look at and hear about the heroic, historic, brilliant Judge on the Supreme Court.  Many are drawing a connection between some of the worst imaginable behavior, and the record showing that the newly confirmed Justice thinks, and has ruled, that it’s not that big a deal.  Just opening the subject is wretched. But she’s considered it several times and in her wisdom came down easy time and again.

We’ve been treated to a flood of horrific photos and stories out of Ukraine this week.  Two Fox News contributors were killed and another seriously injured.  There are information services and people working behind the scenes for the purpose of developing a narrative.  After what we’ve been through, with the news anchors pretending to believe the nonsense they’re so concerned about, who knows?  So now we’re supposed to suspend disbelief and be seriously informed?

Some things are undeniable.  The destruction of whole towns and villages is obvious, as are the testimonies of those fleeing.  The atrocities?  Apparently there are animalistic Russian soldiers if the stories are true.   When you think that this all might have been avoided, it’s all the more depressing.

It’s been played over and over, that’s how sad the video is.  The reputed world leader was wandering here and there looking for someone to talk to him in a crowded room, and coming up empty.  Just pitiful.  The descent into denials and jocular redirection has begun.  It’s all fun and games to hear the defense team.  Everything’s fine.  But it’s not.

The weeks and months ahead will be painful, for those involved and for all of us who have to suffer through it.  It’s starting to look like mental slippage is the least of the first family’s concerns.  The cat is out of the bag.  There will be revelations we’d rather not have to hear.  But we’ll have no choice.  Eventually it will be everywhere.  But there is an insurance policy.  Inappropriate cackling is something we’ve not seen behind the podium with the Presidential seal.  Nobody but nobody wants that.

We can’t even look at what’s going on with the Southern border.  How can this ever be undone?  There’s been headline news here in Texas, claiming our governor is fixing to bus all the desperate and illegal aliens to Washington D. C.  In the same breath we hear that lawsuits will be filed, and that the governor has no authority to interfere with the operations of the Feds.  Meanwhile…

Eagles are getting thrashed and killed by these “clean energy” windmills.  Whether or not they make economic sense, they’re apparently killing lots of birds.  A wind farm company has just been convicted and fined $8 million for killing eagles. University researchers are trying to solve the problem of knocking federally protected species out of the sky by the do-gooders saving the planet.  Never mind about the construction methods, or where the materials come from.  Forget about the costs involved in the transport and setup of the monstrosities.   It turns out that wind farms get permits that allow for a dozen or more dead birds.  An acceptable death toll for those saving the planet.  But nobody said anything about eagles.  Until now.  But don’t worry, most of them were Golden eagles.  They’re working on it.  Besides, there are all kinds of culprits when it comes to killing birds.  Pesticides and cats are purportedly killing them by the millions.  I doubt cats are killing eagles, in fact it’s probably the other way around, but that’s part of the zealot’s argument.  Saving the planet may not be as simple as they thought.  After all, wind energy accounts for a whopping 3% of national consumption!  Consider the source.  Even that figure has probably been tweaked.

Finally, what’s with this Klaus Schwab dude?  We’re finding out that several current and former heads of state are graduates of his WEF global leadership program.  If you look at the people in high office, from heads of state to university positions, you have to wonder where their loyalties lie.  There are some big names involved in the global leadership of tomorrow, or whatever.  We will be looking at this.  Global leadership, especially with all the diversity and environmental considerations, is something we’d hoped we wouldn’t see.  It’ll be lots of fun when governments are more interested in all the woke sentiments and “saving the planet,” than they are the interests of their own populations.  It’s already firmly established, and it doesn’t sound good.  It looks like this outfit has plans for us that we’re not about to go along with.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 8 April 2022 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

At a news conference, Arpaio said the probe revealed that there was probable cause to believe Obama’s long-form birth certificate released by the White House in April is a computer-generated forgery. He also said the selective service card completed by Obama in 1980 in Hawaii also was most likely a forgery.

Obama’s campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt offered a light-hearted dismissal of Arpaio’s probe — he tweeted what he referred to as a “live link” to the sheriff’s news conference, but instead provided a link to a snippet of the old conspiracy-theory based TV series, “The X-Files.”

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/arizona-sheriff-arpaio-unveils-findings-of-obama-birth-certificate-probe

The post Arizona sheriff Arpaio unveils findings of Obama birth certificate probe first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“I had COVID-19 in May. My doctor tells me I’m better protected than any vaccine. What law gives this president the authority to tell my employer (an airline) to fire me next month if I don’t get vaccinated?” That question was posed this weekend while we waited for a delayed flight.

There is no law. President Joe Biden’s mendacious mandate is merely an unprecedented executive power grab. This is the kind of government coercion and socialist tyranny we explain in our book, “We Didn’t Fight for Socialism: America’s Veterans Speak Up.”

In it, we warn how government control over the lives of citizens is the ultimate goal of socialist regimes. The freedoms in our Bill of Rights and the individual liberty that is the cornerstone of our Constitution are anathema to socialists. Freedom and liberty are the antithesis of government coercion and control. When the elected officials and bureaucrats who run the government work for the people, socialist tyranny is impossible.

We also describe how socialists use “emergency situations” to take control over the lives of citizens. In 2008, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is (it’s) an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” His use of the word “you” was wrong. He meant “we.”

Apparently, then-Vice President Biden understood. He and the leftist ideologues now pulling his strings took Emanuel’s advice. COVID-19 gave them the “serious crisis” they craved.

Once government gains control over any aspect of individual citizens’ lives, it does not easily surrender such power. Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institution, in an interview with Dinesh D’Souza on Oct. 17, stated the left has “declared war” on the very idea of citizenship.

According to our Constitution, elected officials serve at the pleasure of our citizens. But to Biden and his “progressive” minions, individual citizens are but mindless chess pieces to be manipulated by government.

Emanuel admitted a crisis allows government to do things it otherwise could not do. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a president might well have been impeached for insisting employers fire pilots, flight attendants, police officers, firemen, truck drivers and heroic first responders, et al, for “violating” an unconstitutional mandate.

But, like all his socialist predecessors, Biden unleashed a powerful propaganda campaign to deceive, distort, divide and destroy opponents with fear. His pliant allies in the so-called mainstream media aided this strategy. That’s why he used an executive order instead of congressional legislation to impose his “fire them” rule.

Sadly, it’s not over yet. Our book also warns about the terrible history of socialist tyrants’ unrelenting pursuit of government control even when results are disastrous. This is most likely the case with Biden’s vaccine mandate. Today, businesses are shutting down because they cannot attract or keep a sufficient number of employees while Biden’s mandate is wreaking havoc on our already faltering economy by causing irreplaceable personnel to quit or be fired.

This is unconscionable. Americans cannot be fired for their religion, skin color, age, medical condition or sexual orientation, but Biden orders them fired for refusing the so-called COVID inoculation. This is socialist tyranny.

Oliver L. North is a combat-decorated U.S. Marine, No.1 bestselling author, founder and CEO of Fidelis Publishing LLC and Fidelis Media LLC. David Goetsch is a Marine Corps veteran, member of the Florida Veteran’s Hall of Fame, professor of business, Christian counselor, and author of 77 books.

Source: https://www.yankton.net/opinion/editorials/article_bdadf342-3860-11ec-8bd1-77fbcea83759.html

The post Biden’s Mandate Madness Is Socialist Tyranny first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

FILE – In this Sept. 18, 2021, file photo Haitian migrants use a dam to cross into the United States from Mexico in Del Rio, Texas. President Joe Biden embraced major progressive policy goals on immigration after he won the Democratic nomination, and he has begun enacting some. But his administration has been forced to confront unusually high numbers of migrants trying to enter the country along the U.S.-Mexico border and the federal response has inflamed both critics and allies. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing bipartisan criticism over its approach to immigration, the Biden administration on Thursday announced new rules that require authorities to only pursue migrants who recently crossed into the country without permission or are deemed to pose a threat to public safety.

The new guidelines replace interim rules issued in February that were initially blocked by a federal judge in August as part of a lawsuit brought by Texas and Louisiana. They break from a more aggressive approach to immigration enforcement under former President Donald Trump, who early in his presidency directed authorities to apprehend anyone who was illegally in the country.

The release comes as President Joe Biden has come under fire from allies for his reliance on a Trump-era public health authority to rapidly expel migrants encountered on the U.S.-Mexico border while also facing Republican criticism that he hasn’t done enough to counter a sharp increase in migrants seeking to enter the country.

The Biden administration has expelled about 5,000 Haitians who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at Del Rio, Texas, in recent weeks. A federal appeals court in Washington on Thursday cleared the administration to continue expelling families under the public-health authority known as Title 42. The appeals court put on hold a lower court order barring the expulsions of families hours before the ban was to take effect.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that the new policy was based on the reality that the U.S. can’t go after all people in the country without legal status and shouldn’t try because many “have been contributing members of our communities for years.”

Authorities will be directed to focus on noncitizens who have crossed recently, defined as after Nov. 1, 2020, or who determined to be a threat because of national security or “serious criminal activity.” Homeland Security includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.

Unlike the interim rules, the criminal activity is not limited to the category known in legal terms as an aggravated felony but will depend on the “totality of the facts and circumstances,” Mayorkas said. Anyone would be considered a priority if they are engaged or even suspected of terrorism or espionage, according to the memo. The new rules take effect Nov. 29.

Immigration authorities would be prohibited from arresting and seeking to deport someone in retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights, such as joining a protest or taking part in union activities.

“We are requiring and frankly empowering our workforce, critically empowering our workforce, to exercise their judgment, their law enforcement judgment,” the secretary said.

Advocates for strict immigration enforcement have criticized the interim guidelines, which were similar in intent as the newly released rules, because they were seen as a top-down approach and one that precluded low-level arrests that might yield investigative leads into bigger cases or help serve as a deterrent to illegal immigration.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on Twitter that Biden has “welcomed” the migrants who have crossed and would now promise those already in the country that “they may stay in the U.S. without repercussions” with the new rules.

Immigrant advocates, including some who have in the past called for eliminating ICE and immigrant detention altogether, welcomed limits on enforcement but are wary given the rapid detention and expulsion of thousands of Haitians at Del Rio.

“This policy is only going to be as good as the results,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, senior campaign organizer of Mijente. “If detention numbers continue to rise, as deportations continue to happen, if we still see human rights abuses at the border, this policy won’t mean anything.”

A federal judge in Texas blocked the interim rules in August, ruling that the administration did not have discretion to choose which migrants to detain, but a federal appeals court allowed the guidelines to take effect while the lawsuit proceeds.

Mayorkas said it makes little sense to pursue all of the estimated 11 million people in the country without legal status, even if the U.S. had the law enforcement capacity to do so.

“They contribute to the well-being of our country and justice requires that we exercise our discretion accordingly,” he said. “The fact that an individual is a removeable non-citizen should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them.”

Trump’s administration took hundreds of measures to restrict both legal and illegal immigration, including a zero-tolerance policy on border crossings that resulted in the forcible separation of thousands of families and requiring asylum seekers to await the processing of their cases in Mexico.

In the end, total deportations were higher under the first term of President Barack Obama, who enacted enforcement priorities similar to Biden’s, than under Trump. That was due in part to a lack of cooperation from many cities and states whose leaders opposed Trump’s immigration policies.

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Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

Source:  https://apnews.com/article/immigration-donald-trump-joe-biden-mexico-arrests-af64610730b9c603b592101e4a7ddfa8

The post New Biden rules would limit arrest, deportation of migrants first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.