Just Pick a Time Already!

 

In a rare showing of long-overdue bipartisanship to solve an issue which has become a non-issue, the House of Representatives just passed the Sunshine Protection Act to make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent. This latest legal battle has been raging for the last few years. It started during the Biden Administration, incidentally enough, but it never made it to his desk. Who knows if he would have signed it, since he wasn’t signing much of anything, right?

With Trump back in office, he has lobbied for an end to the time chances. Trump’s signature on this wonderfully bipartisan piece of legislation would be another win and a great addition to his welcome legacy.

I am all for getting a uniform time system in place. No matter what the reasons were in the past, the country should finally settle on a uniform time system, one that won’t require the changes twice a year—and all the health problems that come with it. To summarize, DST causes disruptions to Americans’ circadian rhythm, which can unleash all sorts of negative consequences. Every time the time changes, there’s a sudden burst of heart attacks, strokes, and other problems. Let’s end this.

Besides, the change is government-imposed will from previous demands, most of which were temporary when they started. Congress needs to get this micromanaging out of our lives for good and focus on other substantive issues, ensuring a brighter future for our country, no matter how much sunlight is shining in the sky.

Of course, all of this clock-switching and wrangling over daylight saving brings up the question:

Why does the United States have this strange chronological two-step every year in the first place?

It’s all about war, and it didn’t start with us, incidentally enough!

To be accurate, sections of Canada began experimenting with the daylight time changes for farming and other purposes long before any war broke out. Those efforts remained very local, though. During World War I, Germany was the first country to implement DST. Starting in 1916, the Central Power wanted to prolong daylight to save fuel for the war effort by reducing the need for artificial lighting. The U.S. followed suit in 1918 with Congress’s Standard Time Act for the same reason… but the time change was repealed after World War I. No one died when Standard Time was restored. It wasn’t the end of America. Everyone went about their business, including big business, agricultural interests, and everyone else.

Daylight Saving Time resurfaced when World War II broke out, and our country needed as much light as possible for the same resource reasons as in World War I. We won that war, and the federal DST regime was repealed; the United States reverted the power to states (and even local regions) to do what they wanted, going with Standard Time or DST as they pleased.

Time waits for no man, however, and uniform standards are essential for understanding and planning when different sections of the country are in different time zones. Planes (they came soon enough), trains, and automobiles faced all kinds of problems navigating the different states with their unique times and time zone preferences. Radio broadcasts found the lack of uniformity disconcerting, as well.

To solve this problem, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966 (one of the few good things accomplished by Lyndon Baines Johnson), which standardized DST for the whole country, and also legislated when daylight saving time would begin and end throughout the year.  Finally, Congress solved the standardization problem. However, the health issues and the general disruption of changing clocks twice a year would continue for everyone (Except Arizona and Hawaii, but that’s another story).

Americans have endured fifty years of this springing forward and falling back. I’m sick of it. It’s like some old relic, all coming from wartime, an anachronism proving yet again that government intervention knows no bounds. Times have changed, agricultural methods have improved, and everyone has technology to light their way, whether driving to work or getting to school. The United States has never been more energy dominant and independent, so concerns about fuel costs and availability don’t matter anymore.

To go with Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time is now a matter of preference. Lots of interest groups are going to be happy or unhappy either way, so let’s put aside their discomforts.

The frustration for me ultimately comes down to the simplicity. For centuries, Americans—colonists then citizens--didn’t complain about the rhythm and availability of sunlight from season to season. Americans managed; they made it work; they lived their lives in line with nature. For what it’s worth, I don’t recall General George Washington losing any battle with the British or President Abraham Lincoln trying to harness the sun’s power for war, playing with Father Time or Mother Nature to ensure military victories.

If they could manage, so can we.

Now that different sections of the country have gotten used to a certain rhythm, though, they simply don’t want any disruption. I must admit that the opponents of making Daylight Saving Time permanent have a point: do we want children to go to school in the morning when it’s still dark outside? Then again, those same kids went to school when it was dark, and there was no daylight saving time for them for decades before. Are we saying that the kids can’t handle the change today? We have better technology, more sophisticated methods for keeping kids safe. The United States is not facing an energy crisis, even while contending with our worst global enemy, Iran. Trump made sure of that.

The important point now is to stop the clock changes altogether. It’s to get uniformity without the arbitrary time changes. Widespread support for the current bill should shut down further discussion. US Senator Tom Cotton, however, wants to block the bill, sharing concerns about the darker mornings in winter.

We should note that this year’s legislative attempt would not be the first time that the country scrapped the time changes in our recent past. Because of yet another energy crisis (the OPEC oil embargo), President Richard Nixon signed a law, making DST permanent for the country. However, there was widespread outrage (as expected) over the change. From dark commutes for the adults, to long dark waits for kids going to school, to farmers' complaints about shifting their agricultural operations, Nixon and Congress realized they had a problem on their hands—plus they didn’t save that much energy to begin with!

The DST changes went back into effect, and then Congress added a few more weeks in 2007 with the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The American people have adapted to change before, and we really should end this time-switching. It’s time to move into the 21^st Century. Cotton is wrong, and he should shut up about the whole thing. Congress should pass the Sunshine Protection Act. Hey, I wouldn’t mind if the powers that be changed the bill to Permanent Standard Time, but the point is to make the change. Sure, there will be some grumbling, but probably not as much, and everyone will get used to it.

Just pick a time already!

Fukuyama's Follies (The End of Globalist Hysteria)

 

Irrelevant, failed social scientist Francis Fukuyama took to social media recently to do what irrelevant failed social scientists do when they are desperate to re-establish a modicum of renewed relevance: He bashed President Trump.

All the goodie-goodie talking heads who want a seat at the diminishing corporate media table do this. It’s like virtue-signaling, especially for Never-Trumpers and globalist-leaning political architects who were content to see the United States diminished into a mere “one among many”, ignoring its citizens, opening the borders, pushing a neutralized politics that turned profit into the only nominative value a citizen could have.

Fukuyama’s specific gripe focused on President Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping. He claimed that President Trump got rolled in the trade talks, and that his treatment at the Beijing summit was lined with subtle insults, disparaging the President and forcing his entourage to submit to quiet indignities.

But first, let’s reflect on why Fukuyama is irrelevant.

In 1989, euphoric like many policy wonks and pundits who witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of a strong (although globalist-aligned) United States, Fukuyama declared “The End of History” had come, even though he added a question mark to the title for respectability (Just asking questions, perhaps?). Liberal democracy overcame autocracy and dictatorship. No political apparatus could conjure up a better system for governing a country and its people. All the other formulas: corporatism, fascism, communism, had clearly failed.

It’s important to recall that Fukuyama served in the Bush 41 administration, the same President who presided over the denouement of Soviet Communism. He would then announce the launching of a “New World Order,” one which countered the importance—even necessity—of different borders, languages, and cultures.

War in Iraq, the rise of radical Islam, and the resurgence of communist yearnings in Western countries all signaled that intellectuals’ heralding a world with free markets and democratic governments as the cure was premature.

In truth, like many intellectual second-hand dealers in other people’s ideas, Fukuyama was riding the coattails of inscrutable philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, the German Enlightenment thinker who did more to occlude philosophical discourse than enlighten. Hegel’s major claim to fame was expanding Immanuel Kant’s theory of mind (we perceive reality and cause as a fusion of analytic and synthetic propositions) to the cosmic order. All of history, religion, culture, everything could be understood via the Dialectic of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

Of course, such musings eviscerated distinctions of right and wrong. Historians trafficking in outlining large themes and systems to explain a supposed Weltgeist working throughout History (note the capital letter!) have come up short, too.

Hegel announced The End of History with the Battle of Jena in 1806, in which the liberalizing forces of Napoleon and the French Empire crushed the Germanic Holy Roman Empire, defined by its sclerotic autocracy and tradition. Liberalism was the worldwide winner, and no system of thought would improve on this victory.

Fukuyama expanded on Hegel’s argument to suggest that the collapse of the Soviet Union affirmed this  “End of History” theorizing.

However, Hegel conveniently ignored Napoleon’s aristocratic and dictatorial tendencies, plus his insistence on imposing French rule and custom on the continent.  So too, Fukuyama did not consider the overarching concerns that trouble heads of state and their people. Human beings are not just citizens of a polis. They have familial ties, ethnic backgrounds, cultural heritages that define them. These larger measures of meaning determine the values and vision of countries far more than how they buy and sell goods and services, and whom they elect to serve as their leaders.

Civilizational states have become the guiding factor in post-Cold War politics, not a globalist assent to turn every tongue, tribe, and nation into a composite of consumers and companions.

Fukuyama was wrong, and he was naively wrong. Fukuyama was wrong, and President Trump is the Grand American repudiation of his wrong beliefs. 

Now, let us explore key errors in his latest critique of President Trump:

It was both painful and humiliating to watch the media coverage of Donald Trump's recent visit to Beijing because it amply demonstrated America's decline as a great power relative to China. Prior to the summit, expectations were very low. Trump was in a weakened position, beset by inflation and declining popularity, while seeking Chinese help in getting out of the Iran trap that he had created for himself. 

Granted, Trump is in a tough spot. He took on Iran. He fulfilled a pledge that previous Presidents had discussed but never accomplished. Rationing and lack of exploration defined American energy policy in the 1970s and 1980s. President Trump’s drive for energy production and independence has placed the country on better footing for a protracted war with Iran.

The worst part of the visit was Trump's constant sycophancy, exclaiming that Xi was a great leader, really a friend, someone from central casting. He effused again and again about how beautiful and impressive China was.

 

President Trump is a deal maker. He says nice things about people (even Putin!), but then turns the screws on them afterwards. Trump took down Maduro. He’s squeezing Cuba of its communist tendencies. He has forced NATO to pay up, and he’s withdrawing American troops from Europe since they refused to assist his war efforts in Iran.

 

His failure to say anything about Taiwan's security stood in sharp contrast to Joe Biden's clear assertion that the United States would act in the defense of that country.

 

This comment is particularly egregious. How can Fukuyama foist any praise on the Biden Administration? The same Joe Biden who forced American armed forces to flee Afghanistan, with their tail between their legs? The same Joe Biden who communicated nothing but weakness during his failed tenure, which enticed Russia to invade Ukraine and encouraged Hamas to terrorize Israel? This is an unserious critique.

Donald Trump is a politician who is unable to see the world in anything other than personal and self-interested terms.

Fukuyama faulted Trump’s aggressive negotiations with Europe regarding NATO. He complains about Trump’s intent on acquiring Greenland. He suggests that “the United States has become something of a rogue state that is contributing to global instability and disorder as well as something of a laughingstock.”

This is Fukuyama’s festering bitterness, nothing more. Has the former Bush bureaucrat visited Washington DC in the last week, a city once mired in graffiti, trash, waste, rampant homelessness, and crime? In the last year and a half, Trump has restored our capital to greatness. He has presided over a secure border, higher wages for American workers, complemented by increased remigration of illegal migrants to their home countries. He has decommissioned entire federal departments and slashed the federal workforce to LBJ levels. Murders are at historic lows in this country. He cares about America, and he is making America great again.

Not Trump, but rather Fukuyama is projecting his own failed worldview on the President and the United States. Throughout his latest diatribe, “The End of History” pontificator goes on and on about decline, decline, decline. President Trump has demonstrated that American decline is a choice, one which has not only avoided by reverted for the betterment of the country.

.

Fryin' Ted: Rep. Lieu Confronted, Triggered Over Charlie Kirk Resolution Vote

Fryin' Ted Gets Triggered

 

Well, this is something you don't see every day.

The Left in Los Angeles are aggressive in their tactics. They will attack Democratic politicians every chance they get because they are not sufficiently left-wing.

The abusive, violent Left celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk. But Congressmen in Washington have to present some level of decorum. It's bad politics to vote against a resolution commemorating Charlie Kirk and condemning his assassination.

House Resolution 719 praised Charlie Kirk and his tireless defense of Christ, America, and freedom of speech.

The Resolution issued condolences to the family of Charlie Kirk, praised law enforcement for their efforts in apprehending the assassin who murdered Kirk, and condemned all political violence.

The insane, evil Left cannot stand any emotions or show of love, support, grace, or care to anyone on the Right or anyone who is conservative.

Yet Democrats were in a tough spot:

1. If they voted against the Resolution, they would be viewed as heartless miscreants who endorse political violence, thus damaging their already tattered political brand.

2. If they voted for the Resolution, they would invite the fury of their left-wing base and progressive voters and donors.

Rep. Ted Lieu voted for the Resolution.

William of "Film the Police LA" confronted Lieu at the Mann Chinese Theater during a political press conference yesterday:

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Congresswoman Judy Chu took the questions in stride, pointing out that she voted for the resolution because she condemns political violence.

Congressman Ted Lieu became violent himself when he was confronted about this vote.

William of "Film The Polic LA" refused to let up. He blasted Lieu for supporting "racist" Charlie Kirk, because of his supposed criticism of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Act. Those conversations are much more complex and nuanced than Mr. Film the Police would like to admit, but seeing him make Rep. Lieu uncomfortable is quite entertaining!

And why is Lyin' Ted turning into Fryin' Ted under the pressure?

The Left understands this fundamental rule about politics: you hit your own team harder, demanding that they step up and follow through on every promise and plank in the political platform. Congressional District 36 is very left-leaning, so Lieu has little to fear from Republicans or conservatives. However, if the liberal voters think that Rep. Lieu is selling out his supposed progressive principles and giving into Republicans, they will not only eat him alive, but support a more leftist primary challenger to remove him from office! Many California Democratic Congressmen are facing stiff AOC-style primary challenges for Election 2026, and the last thing they want is to appear as though they are caving to Trump and the Republicans, not fighting aggressively enough against the MAGA agenda.

That's why Lieu's goose is getting cooked--and it's fun to see!

I can't wait to see how else left-wing activists began harassing and confronting these horrid politicians. It's time for them to get a taste of their own abusive medicine for once. 

Desperation of the LA County Democratic Party

 Now, check this out.

The Democratic Party actually claims that they are "cleaning up a mess."

Seriously?

This is just sad!

Dear Arthur,

 

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

I'll tell you who should... Kash Patel. RFK Jr. Tulsi Gabbard. Pete Hegseth.

Trump's cabinet appointments are insults to the American people who rely on the services and departments operated by these appointed officials. 

And, guess who is left cleaning up the mess they will so kindly make of our country?

WE ARE.

Every step that the Trump administration takes is pulling our society further back in time. The new cabinet members are going to make it worse, with their complete lack of qualifications, empathy, or common sense. 

I, for one, prefer my Health and Human Services Secretary to not have worms in his brain. And my Director of National Intelligence to NOT spread Russian propaganda.

I guess that's too much to ask from a Trump cabinet. Who are being paid OUR tax dollars. 

It is our job as Americans, and as Democrats to take note of injustice and take every action we can to stop it, and that is what we are doing here at LACDP.  But the work does not stop with us, it starts with YOU. Now more than ever, we must come together to fight the ongoing climate of hate in our country, fueled by these Republicans.

LACDP is fighting for our community. We are looking after our neighbors. Our focus is at the top level; we need YOUR help to change the policy that allows injustices like this to happen. 

We need all hands on deck to connect our community to their elected officials, and to help elect good leaders to local office to keep our community safe, healthy, and strong.

---

                              

 

 

In Solidarity,  

Shanna Ingalsbee

LACDP Corresponding Secretary 

Get Out of the United Nations

 President Trump deserves applause for getting the United States out of one agency after another within the United Nations.

But these efforts are all too piecemeal.

It's time to get out of the UN entirely, and defund the whole wasteful enterprise.

 

URGENT; ACT NOW: President Trump has signed an executive order mandating a review of U.S. membership in all international organizations and treaties — and his administration is required to “provide recommendations as to whether the United States should withdraw from any such organizations, conventions, or treaties.” This comes as Trump already withdrew from the World Health Organization, Paris agreement, UN Human Rights Council, and other international bodies. Now’s the time for Congress to restore U.S. sovereignty by actually getting us out of the entire UN system. Urge your U.S. representative and senators to reintroduce and support legislation to restore U.S. sovereignty in the current, 119th Congress.

The United Nations is one of the greatest threats to U.S. national sovereignty and the God-given freedoms of Americans. It is imperative that Congress enact legislation to fully withdraw the United States from the UN and all its associated entities.

In the previous, 118th Congress, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) sponsored legislation (S. 3428 and H.R. 6645) to Get US Out! of the UN. When he introduced the bill in the Senate, Sen. Lee said:

At the UN’s inception in 1945, President Truman presented a choice between international chaos and the establishment of a world organization for peace. Yet, despite the UN’s existence, chaos abounds. Adversaries leverage their UN positions and the goal of peace is overshadowed by the ambition for supranational governance. The true hope for a peaceful world lies not in such global institutions but in the strength of our national sovereignty and the use of the strength of forge and continue to foster bilateral relationships around the world.

Furthermore, in a previous interview with The New American, Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) also made a strong case for terminating U.S. membership in the UN:

First of all, I don’t think we should be in the United Nations. It’s a collection of dictators, and you give them all a vote in the organization. I’m a sponsor of a bill to get us out of the United Nations, and to get the United Nations out of the United States [and] some related world associations, [such as the] World Trade Organization [and the] World Health Organization.

The World Trade Organization has been hostile to the United States. They are the ones who … “forced” Congress to take off the country of origin labeling for beef and pork. Obviously, they only forced the ones here who have weak minds … to get rid of those labels — but that came from the World Trade Organization. The World Health Organization has redefined things like the definition of “vaccine” and “herd immunity.” And then our own CDC is following suit and trying to redefine these terms.

It is Orwellian in the sense that they’re trying to control thought by controlling the language that we use. And for Joe Biden to throw in with all of that, it’s that we have a president like that.

— U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (2021)

It is imperative that Congress reintroduce and enact legislation to Get US Out! of the UN. Please contact your U.S. representative and senators, and urge them to so just that. Failure to act could mean the total loss of our Constitution and our God-given freedoms.

 

GET US OUT! of the UNITED NATIONS

Thank you,

Your Friends in The John Birch Society

             

Sassy Massie Takes on MAGA Meltdown Mike Johnson

A lot of pundits and establishment (or American First-lite) talking heads are grousing and condemning fiscal hawks in the House of Representatives for not going along with Speaker Johnson's re-election bid for Speaker of the House.

I agree with them.

There is no way that the current conference is prepared to deliver on the promises that Trump outlined in his 2024 campaign.

It's bad enough that Trump has a mixed record from his first term. Will he double down on half measures, or will he get the job done?

At any rate, there are typical talking points abounding that the whole effort to prolong the Speakership battle is a waste of time, will embarrass the GOP conference, could lead to a more liberal Speaker, and could even delay President Trump's inauguration because if the House is not organized, they cannot tally the Electoral Votes to award President-elect Trump and VP-Elect Vance their offices.

I am skeptical of all this fearmongering, of course.

The Speakership race is essential for the true conservatives, America First in Word and Deed, to make their case and put their mark on the House.

Rep. Thomas Massie provided a sound set of arguments to push back on the MAGA-Establishment fearmongering and shame-blaming:

Challenge accepted.

First let me note that the “vote for Mike” camp is not trying to make the case that Mike Johnson is endowed with the qualities necessary to lead our conference. Even you have limited yourself here to procedural justifications for his speakership rather than…

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 31, 2024

As I provide his above statement in full, I will add my commentary:

First, let me note that the “vote for Mike” camp is not trying to make the case that Mike Johnson is endowed with the qualities necessary to lead our conference. Even you have limited yourself here to procedural justifications for his speakership rather than telling us why he is a good or capable leader.

I appreciate this angle of the criticism. Johnson is kind of a MAGA-Yes Man when everyone sees him on social media. When it comes to actually governing, figuring out what can be done, making every effort to reconcile the different factions within the caucus, he doesn't even try.

Apparently, shortly after becoming Speaker, the intelligence apparatus confronted him about key issues, like extending the abusive surveillance state, ongoing funding for Ukraine, and maintaining the rest of the bureaucracy.

And he went along with it. Part of strong leadership is knowing how to push back on the lobbyists, the corporatists, and the bureaucrats who clamor for more funding ... or else! Most politicians just don't know how to say "No" once they have the power to say "Yes."

Johnson has shown himself not to be an effective leader, and Massie explains why.

Even if Mike’s entire goal is to do everything Trump wants without debate or question (which I would argue is not healthy for the institution of Congress), he’s not going to be good at it. He already demonstrated this month that he won’t tell the President what is achievable and what is not achievable in the House, and he lacks the situational awareness himself to know what can pass and what cannot.

Politics is the Art of the Possible, not just the probable or the desirable. Leadership means having to tell some of your most ardent supporters that "We just don't have the votes." At the same time, leadership finds a way to get the necessary votes for key goals. Sadly, Democrats have been much better power players when it comes to twisting arms to get their way. I have read stories about Nancy Pelosi aggressively confronting members of her caucus who were wavering on a vote, and confronting them in the bathroom!

Rahm Emmanuel harrassed one of the Democrats from New York in the Congressional shower over votes. While I don't want anyone's natural rights violated, political leadership needs to find means for strong leverage to get the entire caucus in line.

1. “What do we hope to gain?”

A competent Speaker who has the will and the ability to capitalize on this once-in-a-decade opportunity. Johnson is not up for this task. Also, we want a Speaker who inspires the public and who can make our case in the media, so we can keep the majority for the second half of Trump’s term. Johnson nearly led us to the minority in what was a banner year for Trump. He is certain to lose us the majority in 2026.

The Speaker of the House is the chief fundraiser and promoter for the caucus. He not only wants to ensure that the entire conference keeps their seats in the next cycle, but he must work to expand the conference. Massie is right on here: Johnson failed. Republicans lost seats in California and New York, although the GOP did an incredible job in Pennsylvania and Michigan. What happened to the fifty-state strategy?

Johnson has already flubbed on national television, too, such as when he talked about the need for 'immigration reform' on Laura Ingraham's show. That was a red flag remark right away, and Ingraham pounced on it, since that phrase conjures up past betrayals for amnesty.

Also, he has little experience as a floor leader. Aside from chairing one small committee, Johnson has not worked all the angles of the conference the way that a leader needs to work.

2. “No one can get more votes.”

It’s somewhat ridiculous to assert that Mike Johnson is the only member of Congress electable to Speaker. He was only electable the first time because he hadn’t held any type of leadership position, nor had he ever fought for anything, so no one disliked him and everyone was tired of voting. He won by being the least objectionable candidate, and he no longer possesses that title.

Great point! Former Congressman Matt Gaetz pointed out that deposed Speaker Kevin McCarthy was frequently whipping votes against replacement speaker candidates every time another name was brought forward as another consensus candidate. Then Congressman Mike Molinaro said "Well, since Emmer failed, who was next in line? Let's just advance him!" That was Mike Johnson, and Gaetz jumped on that proposal to help rush Johnson to a floor vote, by which time there was no chance for McCarthy to whip against Johnson.

That's how we got MAGA Meltdown Mike.

3. “Risk crippling Trump’s win.”

This is argument is a scare tactic, meant to stampede the masses, plain and simple. There is no legal or parliamentary argument for nullifying the national election if a speaker is not in place on January 6th.

I agree. This is an empty scare tactic. The GOP Conference elected McCarthy after about a week of balloting. They will get this done before January 20th, 2025. Just like McCarthy, Johnson has not been meeting with key leaders in the GOP Conference about their concerns. Victoria Spartz declared on national television that Johnson has not put forward any plan to move forward Trump's agenda, for example.

Will he keep any promises? He didn't keep the ones he had made when first elevated as Speaker of the House. Why should anyone trust him now?

4. “They are allies of the democrats”

Actually, it is Mike Johnson who routinely passes major legislation (Ukraine, Omnibus, FISA spying) with only a minority of Republicans, and relying on most Democrats. He also owes his current speakership to the Democrats. Here’s the roll call for the motion to table the motion to vacate last summer. Pelosi and Jeffries teamed up to save Johnson:

https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2024/roll188.xml 

The Democrats are basically running the show, once again. Why? Because Republicans are divided between those who actually want to drain the swamp, cut the spending, and get the country's fiscal house in order, and those Congressmen who owe their elections to big business, big military, and big labor donors who want their handouts.

Of course, the problem goes deeper when one considers that too many voters are not making larger, louder demands on their representatives to stop the spending, to put the needs of Americans first, and to honor and fulfill their oath of office to the United States Constitution! If you don't like what you see in Congress, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself: "Am I contributing to this mess? Am I still voting for the same people who promise me one thing, then go to Congress and break their promises again and again, only then to come back during election season and scold me with 'If you don't vote for me, the other guy will win, and he will be worse!'?"

In closing, the emperor has no clothes and the entire conference knows it but few will say it. The general public knows it too. Please don’t shoot the messengers.

Final Thoughts

Thomas Sowell, and by extension Ben Shapiro, have talked about all the perverse incentive structures at work in Congress. In order to get elected, Congressmen need lots of money, lots of positive media support. Their commitment, their dependence on donor classes is so strong, that they cannot back away from sending more money to Ukraine, or they cannot say No to continuing the reckless which keeps the bloated bureaucracy affloat.

Also, many Congressmen are launching into social media profiles and joining the broad Con Inc. commentariat. They are not interested in governing, as much as they want to make videos, create podcasts, generate a lot of heat to themselves when they prepare for their next career outside of Congress.

Some institutional reforms are essential for Congress to become more responsive to the people, and more importantly to the United States Constitution. For now, the best mechanism possessed by individual members to keep the Speaker in line is to frustrate any member's ascent to the gavel at the beginning of the term. This step does not maintain the power in the hands of the membership, however, once he gets the gavel. The motion to vacate will get rid of one bad Speaker, but who will take his place? This question needs more thought, more consideration. Congressmen Massie and his other dissatisfied colleagues have supposedly discussed this matter. Supposedly.

We will see what they come up with come January 3rd, 2025.

Pastor Scott Lively: The Way Forward in 2025

 The Way Forward in 2025

The November presidential election of 2024 changed the entire world overnight, so dramatically and in so many ways that confident predictions of what comes next are next to impossible. Many critical and pivotal factors are actively in flux, plus the malign elites from whose hands the levers of power have supposedly just been ripped are actually still largely in control for a few more weeks. Will they surrender? Or will they sabotage the ship of state and then slink away in the ensuing chaos to regroup and re-strategize? Either way, God is still on His throne overseeing it all and we who belong to Him can make our own plans in total confidence of that ultimate truth. Thus, my News Year’s Resolution for 2025 is to embrace and model the power of a redemptive lifestyle, positively and pro-actively. 

These are my plans and aspirations:    

In 2025 I want to promote a movement within MAGA and the Church to get back to nature as the antidote to the artificial world and the rise of transhumanism – and to do so in a mostly positive, proactive manner that encourages political de-polarization and unity on universal values as they are understood from a naturalist viewpoint. I have been developing this “natural life” theme for twenty years as a side-line to my culture war adventures,   but now, in “retirement,” I will reverse that order and make it my primary emphasis. 

The culture war will necessarily rage on as the pendulum swings strongly back to the right, and I will participate in that as an “elder statesman” and advisor through the promotion of my culture-war books, and through some of my future columns on WND and other venues. However, increasingly as time goes on I want to use honey rather than vinegar to flavor my message and to keep my main focus on the good things we want to restore/create rather than the bad things we want to remove/destroy.  

Indeed, every “thankless task” I’ve taken on and every battle scar I’ve earned over the past thirty years on the front lines of this war has helped to force “the worm’s turn” finally, making it at least possible for those evil things to be defeated and destroyed in this new political season. But, for my own part, I am inclined to continue to scout ahead to where we go next rather than join the clearing operation now in its nascent, pre-inauguration stage. I literally created the Swamp Rangers sub-division of my ministry in 2020 to take a leadership role in that clearing operation, believing Trump would remain in the White House in 2021.

Frankly, he could have used that help against the deep state and the RINOs then, but today he’s the most powerful leader in the world, by far, served by a stunning team of populist super-heroes and backed by a massive army of MAGA foot-soldiers. My contribution as a small fish in that big pond would be minimal and redundant.

It has always been in my nature to seek out the potentially highest-impact tasks not being handled by others (like exposing the homosexual roots of the Nazi Party and taking the arrows for doing so) and so I will press on with what I think will be most beneficial effort in the months and years ahead. In this case it means fighting “conservatism” by laying out a pro-active vision for a better future and proposing the means to achieve it. We will NEVER overcome the fatal flaw of conservatism (which is to always react to today’s “progressive” initiatives and then always settle for preserving yesterday’s status quo of baked-in leftist policies) unless we learn to define our own detailed vision for a better future than we ever had in the past, and to pursue it pro-actively and persistently as a lifestyle. 

I want to become a model of living that lifestyle personally and professionally. I want to remind everyone of the best things we had in the past, and to hypothesize/demonstrate how we can use those things as stepping stones to something even better in the future. I don’t want us to regress to what we were (an impossibility) but to progress toward what God wants us to be, to the best we can discern and implement it as a society of diverse interests and perspectives. That’s a huge challenge that will never be fully achieved until Christ rules this world in His Millennial Kingdom, but we can at least use the snap-shots He has given us in the Word (such as Isaiah 11) about what life will be like then.  

I’m obviously a futurist regarding the MK, but regardless of what eschatological camp we’ve chosen to inhabit in the present, those biblical snap-shots should be recognized as the gold standard for civilization in our future. They provide a glimpse of what God perceives as the ideal society, whether He’s going to impose it Himself from the Throne of David in an earthly Jerusalem (the pre-Millennial view), or whether He intends us, as the church, to subdue the world and impose it ourselves (the a-Millennial and post-Millennial views).  

The clear picture He lays before us is human civilization in harmony with nature as recognized best in the “universal” family and community values of the vast majority of human beings alive today on this planet. And importantly, that healing truth is the bridge to common ground between the Christian right, the Environmentalist left, and the Populist center on both sides of the divide. That island of common ground is the only place in the modern world where the satanic elites’ divide and conquer polarization strategy loses much of its power. 

Many MAGA people, fresh from victory over our Marxist polar opposites, might not and probably should not be receptive to the idea of de-polarizing our society in the short term, but in the mid-to-long term that’s the only way to de-fang the upper elites who keep us divided as a tool of social engineering. Identifying and socially prioritizing the universal values of the natural order we all were born into is the only way to effectively neutralize efforts to pit us against each other. That means first breaking the anti-family, anti-patriarchal stranglehold the Marxists have gained over our children and culture – so there’s still a civil war to be fought – but when/if we get back to cherishing normalcy as a society we can then build in safeguards to prevent the Marxist cancer from growing back.

That restoration is only possible if we actually have a clear, detailed vision for what it will look like when we’re done – something we don’t yet have. THAT is the task I want to pursue for the rest of my life: crafting and popularizing the vision of a truly family centered society in harmony with “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.” That was the cornerstone promise of our Founders when they first declared our independence: a promise which has never yet been kept in full measure. THAT must be the aspiration to which we hold tightly and teach our children to embrace. Pursuing that goal is what I will aspire to do in 2025 and beyond, along with any other persons of good will who care to join me.

Kevin Kiley: Making California Newsom Proof

 Newsom-Proof

Kamala Harris is reportedly considering running for California Governor in 2026. If she does, the governorship will be seriously in play for Republicans. In fact, the last time Kamala sought a statewide office she came within one percent of losing.

Newsom, for his part, was just in DC. He held a lightly attended lunch with House Democrats and vowed to “Trump-proof” California. The main reaction was eye-rolling. As I said on Inside California Politics, the reality is California voters have started to Newsom-proof our state.

While Newsom was supposedly here to advocate for California, he only met with Democrats. When asked why he didn't meet with Republicans – the Majority Party – he said because he's "married to one." (Fact check: he's not.)

Meanwhile, there are still nearly a million votes to count in California. Everyone in DC is asking me why, and there is no good answer. At best, it is sheer incompetence from a broken state government. In this way, it offers the rest of the country a window into Newsom’s failures.

I’ve told them: If you think California is good at counting votes, just wait until you see how great our state is at building roads, storing water, running DMVs, and processing unemployment claims. And you’ll definitely want to take a ride on our state-of-the-art High Speed Rail.

Despite the vote-counting insanity, it was a great election for California. Republicans are close to flipping an Assembly district Biden won by 19 percent. This is in addition to the 5 million vote landslide for Prop. 36, the ouster of lawless DAs, and the strong rebound in GOP registration.

The shift in voter sentiment is unmistakable. And to top it all off, a court just threw out Newsom’s attempt to stop Huntington Beach from requiring voter ID. Another win for the Coalition for Common Sense.

Help me fight for common sense

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Kevin