By Romelo Wilson

Proud Boys stand back and stand by, said President Trump in the debate with former Vice President Joe Biden. When Chris Wallace, the moderator, asked the president if he would condemn white supremacist groups, the response was every attempt to avoid directly answering the question. I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing, said President Trump. Appearing as if he didnt know the name of any white supremacist group, he refueled the popularity of the Proud Boys by refusing to condemn them at the moment.

A couple of days later, he clarified his disapproval of all white supremacists on Sean Hannitys Fox News show. On the same day, George Takei, best known for his role in Star Trek, tweeted, What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys. I bet it would mess them up real bad. #ReclaimingMyShine. Since the organization doesnt have an active presence on Twitter after getting their account banned in 2018, the hashtag was overtaken by thousands of images of the LGBT+ community showing their pride.

As stated by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group of western chauvinists that adamantly oppose political correctness, was created in 2016 during the presidential election. Their political beliefs lean far-right, declaring that theyre not a white supremacist group but instead an opposition group of Antifa. However, their actions dont match their statements. After the groups Twitter page was banned in 2018, the Proud Boys moved to an app called Parler, which is popular amongst conservatives, according to Forbes. On Parler, members of the far-right organization posted memes that support white nationalism, anti-Muslim rhetoric, and homophobic comments.

After Takeis tweet calling out for the overtaking of #proudboys on social media, the Canadian Armed Forces joined the movement by posting a picture of two male soldiers kissing. The caption was simply #ProudBoys, with the Canadian and pride flag right alongside. A screenshot of this tweet was posted on Parler, where the right-wing members expressed their disgust of the picture. Cant stand gay peopleshould be illegal, said @Ryanha5150. This is the type of diction that represents the values of the Proud Boys.

The group claims to be against bigotry, but their claims are disproven by their history. In the past, members have organized gatherings like the Unite The Right rally that brought together other hate groups like the KKK. This is the same group that was told by the president to stand back and stand by. The night after the presidential debate, Google Trends show that the search of the term proud boys jumped from 1 to 100. In effort to curb this sudden boost in popularity of the organization, Takei called upon the LGBT community.

Other celebrities decided to join the call for action such as Bobby Berk from Queer Eye and Andy Cohen. Of course, members of the Proud Boys were angered by this, as some the people they targeted with their speech and now taking recognition away from them.

In the beginning, some were skeptical of the hashtag takeover. This movement was compared to the #BlackoutTuesday social media campaign where users posted black squares in an attempt to support the Black Lives Matter movement. However, in reality they pushed informative posts to the bottom of the tag #BlackLivesMatter. The difference with the overtaking of #ProudBoys is that the posts that are being pushed to the bottom are not beneficial to the progression of this country. This takeover drowned out posts from a group that promoted separation and was replaced with photos of LGBT+ couples expressing how proud they are of their love.

The goal of Takei and other LGBT members was to strip the hashtag of its negativity and connection to the far-right group, and fill it with images of compassion, something that the country desperately needs at the moment. In the end, the movement was a success, but the presence of the Proud Boys still remains

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LGBTQ+ Community Taking Over Proud Boys - Minaret

By Chang Kuo-tsai

Media have reported that a number of private Taiwanese universities signed one China agreements with Chinese educational institutions, pledging not to engage in activities that promote one China, one Taiwan, two Chinas or Taiwanese independence during academic exchanges.

With the Ministry of Education citing university autonomy and the schools citing freedom of expression, the ministry has failed to take action and these institutions have escaped punishment.

University autonomy seems to have become a shield that allows these reckless schools to flout the law, while freedom of expression has been twisted to allow people to voice support for Taiwan being an inseparable part of Chinas sacred territory, but not for one China, one Taiwan, two Chinas or Taiwanese independence.

The low birthrate and the excessive number of local universities directly challenge private universities survival, but for them to survive, Taiwan must survive.

Should the government allow them to sell out Taiwan and sign such agreements on behalf of Taiwanese without thinking twice?

To be blunt, the ministry has adopted an ostrich policy by emphasizing the separation between education and politics, respect for academic freedom and university autonomy.

For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), political correctness is the only means of survival and political correctness is to do whatever the party says.

In such an environment, private Taiwanese universities are prone to surrender to the Chinese, swapping freedom for survival but, naturally, this only leads down a dead-end street.

The Chinese media must publish whatever the CCP says, and entertainers must curry the favor of the CCP and Chinese President Xi Jinping () by expressing the partys political stance as their own.

How can universities survive if they do not follow the partys every whim or curry its favor?

For example, Huadong Taiwan Businessmans School is operated in China by retired army general Chen Ting-chung (), a former commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Army who recently said that he is Chinese, calling it a symbol of pride.

Could his school for Taiwanese students allow them to build an awareness of their Taiwanese identity? Does it teach a Chinese or Taiwanese identity? Does it shape students into Chinese or Taiwanese? The answers to these questions are obvious.

The ministry pays Chens school an annual NT$60 million (US$2.07 million) subsidy.

In response to his praise of China and insult to Taiwan, the ministry simply said that his remarks were inappropriate, but drew no correlation between the remarks and the subsidy the ministry keeps paying the school, kidding itself and refusing to stop.

Regardless of the purpose of the subsidy, the ministry should stop daydreaming and deceiving itself.

Chinas Confucius Institutes have used education as an excuse to do political work around the world or as the Chinese saying goes: Hanging a sheeps head while selling dog meat.

After Beijings political trick was finally exposed, many Confucius Institutes were forced to close in the US, Germany and Sweden.

Ironically, the ministry continues to pay a school operated in China for Taiwanese students.

Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired associate professor at National Hsinchu University of Education.

Translated by Eddy Chang

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

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University autonomy is not total indulgence -

Lewinsville Road, McLean: Vandalism photo taken on Oct. 1. Photo by Nicholas Kalis

Unfortunately, in McLean, this is what passes for "dialogue." It seems that among many Democrats and the left wing media, prayer is at the altar of dialogue. Actually their purported calls for dialogue really mean they talk and we listen. Two recent incidents of vandalizing Trump signs on Lewinsville Road illustrate well what seems to be replicated on a national level.

I get it that the left lives in an echo chamber - they are convinced that only they are right and everyone else's opinions are wrong. Here in McLean, they seem to feel that their being right gives them license to trespass and destroy. Many media outlets reinforce this notion that their views are the correct ones - after all, "political correctness" has entered the national vocabulary as a well understood term.

Is there any correction available? Moving on to a larger arena or topic, if the left - who are often well-educated people are so intolerant, why can't they take some action to check themselves? Alcoholics often avoid bars. Why does the left not hire ombudsman for their media outlets so that opposing views can be heard on a regular basis?

Nicholas Kalis

McLean

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Opinion: Letter to the Editor: Vandalism As 'Dialogue' in McLean - Virginia Connection Newspapers

How soon we forget!

Donald Trumps main campaign promises in 2016 were: Drain the Washington swamp. Stop ISIS terrorists beheadings of reporters, Christians, and Americans. Appoint pro-life conservative judges. Build a wall on our border with Mexico. And rebuild Americas military and the economy.

President Trump has kept most of those promises and hes working on the rest.

The liberal swamp press has fought to annul the 2016 election for four full years. Indeed, the cheerleaders of the swamp mob namely, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, and their ilk, have refused to give President Trump credit for anything and they blame him for everything. They were still all-in with Speaker Pelosis House vote to impeach Mr. Trump up to-and-thru February 2020 -- even as our president and his scientific advisers were working to prevent the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Even now, the swamp media reports chaos and anarchy as peaceful protests while spinning and weaving whole wardrobes of "Emperors Clothes news" for its gullible viewers and hiding its sleazy affair with socialism behind their lib-speak.

This is what people get after allowing lawyers and atheists to run their country for 60 years.

The anti-God swamp news media are leading the spiritually blind over a cliff. The lower their swamp drains, the worse it smells and the louder swamp creatures scream.

Those who study Bible prophecy understand the present pandemonium. Mainstream America has rejected the Holy Bible and rebelled against God. Through this COVID 19 epidemic, God has shown the spiritually naked masses that He is ultimately in charge.

Those who bought the "Emperors Clothes" have been suckered into believing that they dont need God, there is no God, and that Thou shalt not kill does not apply to living babies in the womb, nor to women, doctors, or lawyers.

Too many Christians have become enchanted with the voodoo tailors clothing which skews their vision to believe it is more righteous to hate President Trump than it is to protect the lives of unborn babies or to honor the Sabbath Day.

The hilarious scuttlebutt over de-funding the police that Americans are witnessing right now, is exactly what you get when you drain the swamp.

Who, in his/her right mind -- besides those wearing "Emperors clothes" -- would believe the swamp psychiatrists will leave the safety and sanctity of their $250-per-hour practices to replace local cops at scenes of 9-1-1 domestic violence calls?

I predict they wont do it. Because psychiatrists know who the crazies are and they know how crazy they are -- even if they cant share that knowledge with the rest of us because their swamp-speak/diversity-correct, political-correctness wont allow it.

Those who knowingly wear "Emperors Clothes" rail against the God who provides the very oxygen they breathe because they hate the outsider who won the oval office in 2016 more than they love their own children.

Im with God. Im with the Bible. Im with the "Most High God who rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He will". (Daniel 4:17)

Im praying that Americas voters and the "Most High" will grant President Trump four more years and bless America with three more young, pro-life Supreme Court justices (after Judge Amy Barrett) who honor the Constitution -- so that Trump can finish draining the swamp and get rid of the stink.

It wouldnt be the first time. In 841 B.C., God anointed an unrefined and violent man named Jehu, to clean up the swamp created by evil King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel. And He can do it again.

It only takes five minutes to read all about Jehu in II Kings, chapters 9 & 10.

Herman Myrick is a resident of Belmont.

Excerpt from:

Letter: God bless Donald Trump and America - Opinion - Gaston Gazette

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

With less than three weeks until Election Day, President Donald Trump abruptly pivoted from his closing campaign message that Osama Bin Laden is actually still alive to praise US Marshalls for killing a murder suspectin Oregon last month.

Trump, speaking at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon, described the death of Michael Reinoehl, an antifa activist who had been suspected of shooting a Trump supporter in Portland in late August and was confronted by US Marshalls a few weeks later. What exactly happened in that confrontation is still unclear, but there are significant reasons to be skeptical of the official government narrative; the New York Times reported last month that [i]n interviews with 22 people who were near the scene, all but one said they did not hear officers identify themselves or give any commands before opening fireand killing Reinoehl.

I said, What happened? Well we havent arrested him,' Trump said, recalling his conversations with local authorities.

Two days, three days went by, we sent in the US Marshalls, took 15 minutes it was over. Fifteen minutes it was over, we got him, Trump continued. They knew who he was, they didnt want to arrest him, and 15 minutes that ended.

Fifteen minutes, that ended.

Theres not really any way to spin it: Trump is describing the killing of a suspect like it was a mob hit that he ordered. He thinks its great what happened. This isnt some pablum about bravery-in-the-line-of-duty and all that. Hes praising the principle of itthe efficiency with which a suspect was removed (to use Attorney General Bill Barrs phrasing). Fifteen minutes, over and done with, nice and cleanas if he were discussing the Bin Laden raid or the hunting of a bear. Who needs a trial, when you can end it in 15 minutes?

These comments have been making the rounds on social media, but I think they have been slightly misread as Trump saying that the they who didnt want to arrest him were the US Marshalls. Its easy to get confused on that point, because the US Marshalls didnt arrest him and killed the man instead. But the they here refers to the local law enforcement authorities in Oregon. Its an important distinction, not because its in any way exculpatoryarmed agents of the state killed a man who had not been convicted of anything!but because its actually the heart of this whole standoff between the federal government and local authorities, in Portland most famously, but in New York City and Washington, DC, as well.

Trump is saying that Democratic officials are refusing to do their jobs and cowering to the anarchists, and only the strong man in the White House can cut through the political correctness to restore security. Michael Reinoehl is what you get, he is saying, and what he got was just and deserved. In doing so, he is placing the story of a US Marshall raid in the same space as Kyle Rittenhouse crossing state lines with a rifle to shoot two people in Kenosha, and of the McCloskeys waving firearms at protesters in St. Louis. If you will not act, then others will. In this case, the vigilante killers are federal law enforcement officers. This is both the nadir of law and order, and the truest definition of what it means.

There is just so much of this every day. Sometimes reading the news in the Trump era feels like driving on that highway from Twisteryou are just trying to stay on course and dodge the cows, and as a simple survival mechanism dont have time to dwell on any of it. But the crowd cheering here is chilling, and the president hailing a deadly raid by state security forces is dangerous and ominous as hell.

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Donald Trump Sounds So Happy Describing How His Government Killed a Man - Mother Jones

Well, its almost that time of year again. In a few days tobacco stalks will be making their appearance once again as tobacco striping will be in full swing. Holders Tobacco Warehouse in Hartsville is one of the few places left in our part of the world where a large quantity of tobacco will be processed. It is a big, sprawling building, a former garment factory, and still a center of activity during tobacco season.

Across the street in the parking lot, wagons piled high with tobacco stalks will soon begin to appear.

The sight of them always takes me back in time.

My first job in a tobacco barn was hauling off tobacco stalks. A small boy could handle a small load. It seemed to me a thankless job.

Anybody can carry out tobacco stalks. From the earliest days that job fell to my brothers and me. It didnt get any better as we got older. Later, we were promoted to stripping tips. That, too, is a thankless job certainly not brain surgery. You dont have to be skilled in grading tobacco to strip tips. You just strip off the last two or three leaves and thats it. And what, may I ask, do you have left? A tobacco stalk. And what is the other responsibility of the tip stripper? Hauling out the tobacco stalks. It was a job that would not go away.

After the stalks piled up on the stripping table, they had to be moved outside the tobacco barn. Sometimes we let them grow into a mountain of tobacco stalks just outside the barn. At other times they were loaded directly onto a wagon. Either way, the stalks were eventually hauled off and disposed of properly. Proper disposal usually meant being scattered on a tobacco patch.

I have scattered some tobacco stalks in my time. I found no easy way to do it.

One at a time is more fun if you are playing cowboys and Indians. A tobacco stalk makes for a great Indian spear. It is properly balanced and already sharp on the big end. I have thrown hundreds of Indian spears. The problem is: Tobacco stalks dont scatter very fast when you are throwing them one at a time.

I found the best way was to grab a big armload and spin my body around like a centrifuge as I let the stalks go. That still didnt work very well.

I usually had to walk back through the stalks I had just scattered and kick them around to get more even coverage.

Then came the year my brother John backed the manure spreader up to the barn and suggested we load it with tobacco stalks. It seemed to be a wild idea at the time. But my father gave it his blessing.

I shall never forget the scene when John pulled that manure spreader, loaded down with tobacco stalks, into the tobacco patch, which was bare of the crop just harvested. He kicked in the PTO in gear and to my amazement, tobacco stalks began to fly in every direction. Some were being hurled 20 feet in the air and scattered perfectly! It was a beautiful thing!

I have marveled over the years at how fast tobacco stalks decompose when scattered on the land. And over those years I heard people tell how tobacco stalks had brought a piece of worn out ground back to life. Many a gulley or ditch has been filled with tobacco stalks over time, and many a washed-out place has been saved by a load of well-placed tobacco stalks.

My appreciation of the lowly tobacco stalk runs deep. You might say we go back a long way.

Come to think of it, Ive been whipped or disciplined (Im making an attempt at political correctness here) with a tobacco stalk.

My father was a mild-mannered man, slow to anger. But when he thought one of his sons or daughter needed to be brought back in line, he would grab the nearest instrument he could find. In the tobacco barn that was a tobacco stalk or a tobacco stick. Ive been whipped with both. I prefer a tobacco stalk. If you have ever been on the wrong end of either one of them, you know why.

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Jack McCall: The right and wrong sides of tobacco stalks - Lebanon Democrat

In a rare joint statement, the Democratic and Republican parties of Cache County have united to condemn a recent rash of stolen and vandalized campaign yard signs.

CACHE COUNTY Local Republicans and Democrats are uniting to condemn a recent rash of campaign yard signs being stolen from county residents homes.

Its one thing to disagree with someones candidate of choice, according to a joint statement released by GOP County Chairman Chris Booth and Danny Beus, chairman of the Cache Democrats. But it is never okay to disrespect and/or vandalize peoples private property by taking and/or destroying signs.

Lets continue to show everyone around us why Cache County is the best place to live, the statement continues. Be respectful, be civil, be kind and, most importantly, be ready to exercise your constitutional right and vote.

The vandalizing of political signage and campaign billboards is by no means strictly a Cache County problem. Similar incidents have been reported throughout Utah and across the country as the November general election approaches. Political scientists and psychologists are suggesting the trend is a form of silent protest by Americans who feel frustrated by their inability to openly express their views due to a climate of political correctness.

A recent national survey by the conservative Cato Institute found that selfcensorship is on the rise in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive.

The share of Americans who selfcensor has increased since 2017 when 58% of Americans reported that they felt social pressure to conceal or downplay their political views.

The Cato survey found that worry about giving offense in face-to-face interactions was felt across the political spectrum. Nearly 77 percent of Republicans say they are reluctant to share their opinions, along with 59 percent of people who self-identify as independent voters and 52 percent of Democrats.

Only liberal ideologues appear to be immune to such social pressure. Regardless of their political affiliation, nearly 60 percent of staunch liberals say they feel free to unreservedly advocate for their opinions, especially via social media.

The perceived need to self-censor in public also crosses racial lines. The Cato survey found that nearly two-thirds of U.S. Latinos and Whites agreed that the current highly charged political atmosphere prevents them from expressing their true beliefs, along with 49 percent of African-Americans.

The obvious root of these concerns, experts suggest, is political polarization in America.

But Booth and Beus apparently needed no survey to reach that same conclusion.

It is no secret that our country is more divided now than in a very long time on numerous issues, they wrote. Cache County has been and should continue to be the standard (of public civility) for everyone else!

The findings of the Cato Institute were based on a survey of 2,000 Americans over 18 years of age polled during early July of this year.

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Cache political parties unite to condemn yard sign thefts - Cache Valley Daily

Democracy works best when politics dont mirror the countrys deepest social divisions, and all sides can accept defeat and a transition of government. As Trump flags replace Confederate flags on truck caravans and at Republican rallies, we are about to experience a presidential contest, perhaps the first since 1860, when it is possible that millions on each side will not find defeat acceptable.

Democrats represent a coalition held together loosely by an ideology of inclusion, a commitment to active government, faith in humanistic and scientific expertise, and an abhorrence of what they perceive as the monstrous presidency of Donald J. Trump. Republicans, with notable defections, are a party held together by a commitment to tax reduction, corporate power, anti-abortion, white nationalism, and the sheer will for power. We are essentially two political tribes fighting a cold civil war that may determine whether or not our institutions can survive the strife fomented by a pandemic, a racial reckoning, an economic collapse, the death of a transcendent Supreme Court justice, and the reelection campaign of our homegrown authoritarian president.

How can this be the casenot in the dictatorships of Belarus, Hungary, Turkey, or Venezuela, but here in the US, during the 233rd year of the Constitution? The answers are historical and structural. A modern campaign of voter suppression conducted by one of our parties grows with warped intensity. Changing demographics and the 15 million new voters drawn into the electorate by Barack Obama in 2008 have scared the Republicansnow largely the white peoples partyinto fearing for their existence. With voter ID laws, reduced polling places and days, felon disfranchisement, voter roll purges, restrictions on mail-in voting, an evisceration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and a constant rant about voter fraud without evidence, Republicans have soiled our electoral system with undemocratic skullduggery. They are also frightened of the results of the 2018 midterm elections, when voter turnout favoring Democrats was 67 percent for ages 1829, and 58 percent for ages 3044. Nearly 30 percent of the electorate is now Black, Hispanic, Asian-American, or another ethnic minority. White nationalism and conservatism are colliding with the future. There is no Republican majority in America, except on election days. It all depends on who votes and who is allowed to vote.

President Trump frequently claims that the only way were going to lose is if the election is rigged. He also loves to milk cheers from his crowds by warning them to watch all the thieving and stealing and robbing of votes by Democrats. Every reasonably informed American knows that the only things rigged in this election are the Electoral College itself (in favor of less populated states that tend red), the decidedly undemocratic institution of the US Senate (a Republican majority represents a population smaller by 15 million than the Democrats), and the myriad ways the current administration has manipulated government agencies to influence voting.

The Republican Party has become a new kind of Confederacy. They are secessionists without taking the revolutionary step of seceding, power-obsessed rebels who fight to preserve a bygone America by gaming the system. They have managed to win the presidency twice without the most votes, maintain control of the Senate although vastly outnumbered in the national electorate, and build a majority on the Supreme Court by stealing an appointment that belonged to a sitting Democratic president.

According to the historian Stephanie McCurry in Confederate Reckoning (2010), the original Confederates of 1861 took perverse pride in being out of step with the modern world. One Southern minister saw the Confederate nation as a righteous minority of three hundred and fifty thousand white men commanding the labor of four million African slaves in the service of civilization. That nation faced colossal defeat four years later; a similar political fate may yet befall a Republican party unhinged by todays world.

This new Confederacy is partly regional and also rural (a declining population). It knows what it hates: the two coasts, diverse cities, marriage equality, certain kinds of feminism, political correctness (sometimes with reason), university elites, and liberals generally. It is racial and undemocratic. It twists American history to its own ends, substituting patriotism for scholarship and science. It has weaponized truth and rendered it oddly irrelevant. It has brought us almost to a new 1860, an election in which Americans voted for fundamentally different visions of a proslavery or an antislavery future. For now, this minority interest fights for its existence from within the union by trying to own it.

We cannot imagine the same violent result this time, even as we resolve to save our democracy from the grip of minority rule. But a preservation of our Union will not come from merely calling out moral hypocrisy, or wringing our hands over cynicism, or even from the power of numbers. Democracy has to be sustained by the same will to power that can destroy it.

Originally posted here:

Republicans: The New Confederacy | by David W. Blight - The New York Review of Books

By Wallace B. Henley, Exclusive Columnist Follow | Wednesday, October 14, 2020

The press is all in, in support of Biden, said Texas Senator Ted Cruz after the vice-presidential debate October 7.

That reality is an alert that the upcoming election is about much more than Donald Trump or Joe Biden but has serious implications for the nations long-term political and institutional freedoms.

Conservative candidates for public office must not only run against a human opponent, but also must withstand a massive left-oriented consensus establishment that weaponizes information.

Those who tell the stories rule society, said Plato centuries ago.

Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture, said Allen Ginsberg more recently.

Neil Postman, in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business(Penguin Books, 1985), argued that TV is turning all public life (education, religion, politics, journalism) into entertainment. The result is that image is undermining all forms of communication, particularly the written word.

Further, our bottomless appetite for TV is leading to an information glut so that what is truly meaningful is lost and we no longer care what weve lost as long as we are being amused, added Andrew Postman in his introduction to his fathers book.

Neil Postman reflected on Aldous Huxley and his dystopian book Brave New World. According to Postman, Huxley was telling us that people will come to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

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Camille Paglia says Postman saw that the young would therefore inherit a frantically all-consuming culture of glitz, gossip, and greed.

The Consensus Establishment eagerly promotes such a culture.

The Bible foresees a time when people are easily led into lies and delusion by the spirit of antichrist. (2 Thessalonians 2) We seem to be living in such an age.

As I have noted in previous columns, the Consensus Establishment consists of five elites: Information, Entertainment, Academic, Political, and Corporate. In my book, Two Men From Babylon: Trump, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Lord of History (Thomas Nelson/Emanate, 2020), I have compared this powerful conglomerate to the Chaldeans of Babylon in Daniels day. Under Nebuchadnezzar they defined and enforced Babylonian political correctness.

Today the elites of the Consensus Establishment are in agreement among themselves about how reality works and what we should be influenced and even forced to think and believe.

Woe be to those who are threats to that mighty coalition of elites. To refuse to yield to their consensus is to be cancelled.

Political correctness has thus morphed into the cancel-culture beast. Rod Dreher has this in mind in his book, Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents. (Sentinel, 2020). There he writes, I am not at liberty to thank some of those who helped me research this book, because it would put them at risk of retaliation in the workplace... None of these anonymous helpers live in the former Soviet bloc; all are Americans.

In a review of Drehers book in National Review, Daniel Flynn says that many Americans (already) cannot live out loud... because revealing oneself comes at great expense.

Dreher believes that we in the West are living already under decadent, pre-totalitarian conditions that make our society vulnerable to the totalitarian temptation to which both Russia and Germany succumbed in the previous century.

The bottom line: If Biden and Harris win in November, the left that dominates the Consensus Establishment will be in power in the United States for a long time, shaping the consensus through its powerful manipulative tools.

They will be able to perpetuate their worldview across generations, impacting not just the contemporary moment, but history itself.

We are thus living in a seriously dangerous moment. The left warns about an effort by Donald Trump to hold on to the presidency even if he loses the vote. But the American people must also keep a steady watch on the Consensus Establishment that will continue telling the stories

forming the accepted narrative and controlling the images.

Yet the answer is not for the church to lean more heavily on the right-wing. The passion for profit is as powerful as the progressivist forces that propel the left.

The only way to keep from being swept into these constricting, distorting worldviews is to focus beyond them, to Transcendent Truth.

Perhaps never has it been more important for the church to hold to the highest view of the Bibles inspiration and authority. The bottom line is that the leftward Consensus Establishment strives to direct our socio-cultural concepts away from scriptural foundations to their own value system and worldview.

The early church in first century Athens had to face elitist philosophers whose beguiling sophistries would have snuffed out the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:1-3) In Rome, the infant church had to minister in a city and empire ruled over by mighty elites eager to take the cancel idea to its fullest expression in the Colosseum.

The Bible-based church must hold its ground in this present age. She must distinguish herself from a right-wing consensus that would too eagerly abandon principle for the sake of pragmatism, and a left-wing consensus that has turned from transcendent principle to secular progressivism and idealism.

The road ahead will be hard, and the church and the people who are its living stones (1 Peter 2:1-5) must take seriously Pauls admonition to stand firm against the mighty elites and their establishments. (Ephesians 6)

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Wallace Henley is a former pastor, White House and congressional aide, and author of more than 25 books. His newest is Two Men From Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, Trump, and the Lord of History, published by Thomas Nelson.

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Standing firm in an age of weaponized information - The Christian Post

For a little diversion, a friend of mine recently reminded me that the planet Jupiter has 79 moons. (And we need only one to brighten our nocturnal lives.) They range in size from larger than the planet Mercury to the size of a stadium. Also, Saturn has been found to have 52 moons, 29 of which are awaiting confirmation of their discovery.

These two guys have quite large families to keep in tow and following the right path through space. Jupiter and Saturn have been referred to as Jovian planets dont exactly know how they figured that out, optically, but they both certainly benefit from an uplifting attitude with a responsibility of such gravity. And we think the president has his problems.

A little jovial fathering is needed, here, to head them in the right direction. Political correctness aside. And, oh, I dont have a bachelors degree in gravitational mentoring from Berkeley.

Evan Tibbott

Rigby

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Letter: Jupiter and Saturn have an abundance of moons - Post Register

EDITOR:

Weve recently been treated to fawning letters of praise for the current White House occupant. Pardon me if I dont get it. This man has mocked and humiliated a disabled person, reportedly wanted disabled vets excluded from his parades because nobody wants to see that. He has mocked the grief of Gold Star families, referred to POWs and dead soldiers as suckers and losers. (I prefer men who didnt have bone spurs.) This person has cheated on each of his three wives, cheated his contractors and employees, and cheated on his taxes. (His companions say he even cheats at golf, for Petes sake.) While demanding total loyalty from those about him, he himself is loyal to no one. On the world stage, does he represent the best that America has to offer? I think not. His devotees refer often to his having done so much for this country. Like what? There is not an area of our lives that is better today because of him. Unless, of course, one was very wealthy to begin with. Neither we nor the world are in a better place today because of him. Except maybe Kim Jong Un. And, of course, Vladimir Putin.

Donald lives in a fantasy world in which he can achieve his ends by pretending it is so. Many have chosen to join him there. I have not. We have 4% of the worlds population and 20% of all the worlds COVID-19 deaths. But its okay, you see, because he feels great, and its all going to go away. How can I suspend my disbelief when we know that he has lied to us over 25,000 times in four years? How can I forget that he kowtows to foreign dictators? It was after a chat with Turkish dictator Erdogan on his personal cellphone that he suddenly withdrew our troops from Syria with no notice to our Kurdish allies, leaving them alone to be slaughtered. What country would ever come to our aid if they cant trust us to keep our commitments? After being informed by our own as well as foreign intelligence sources that Putin was paying a bounty for American deaths in Afghanistan, Trump did nothing.

I want him out of office, along with all his enablers and sycophants. I have already voted and I encourage others also to make it emphatic. If at no other time in our lives, this year we must vote straight Democratic.

Lola Johnson

Kingsford

EDITOR:

Now that ex-CIA director John Brennans handwritten notes to President Barack Obama have been released, proving that Hillary Clinton hatched the Russian hoax against Donald Trump in order to cover up her own crimes of using a personal server and destroying subpoenaed evidence (obstruction of justice), how many voters still think the Democratic Party is for the right thing? Im praying that the scales will be lifted from your eyes and the truth will fill your minds and guide you.

Of course, syndicated media Deep State propaganda will spin it into a despicable crime perpetrated on Brennan, Obama, Clinton and, no less, Biden by the Republicans who will do anything to make Donald Trump the all-powerful dictator.

If you are a Democratic voter, not a politician, I pray you dont get angry at me for telling you the truth; rather, direct your anger at the cause of all the disinformation that has confused you into thinking that Donald Trump is the enemy. The real enemies here are the people who want to turn this country into a socialist disaster and take away all your rights, brainwash your children and eliminate God from our society, along with the middle class. Biden also opposed busing for school desegregation.

Remember Darth Vaders famous words, You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. Isnt it funny how science fiction becomes reality over time? If you vote Democrat in this election, you are actually voting for the communist party in disguise. If they win, they will pound political correctness down your throat until you puke, then softly and politely say, If you dont mind, could you please hand over your guns and Bible? Thank you. Kiss you on the cheek and stab you in the back.

Brian Rose

Crystal Falls

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Two different views on Trump and what's at stake in election - Iron Mountain Daily News