Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Why Do Leftists Shout for Democracy While Operating Through Coups?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns coups being used by Leftists in politics. We hear Leftists shout for and fake fighting for “democracy,” but they operate behind the scenes through coups. Victor Davis Hanson discussed three Leftist coups taking place in the past four years as Democrats sought for and used power. 

Hanson’s first coup took place in March 2020 when “all the major Democratic primary candidates abruptly, mysteriously, and in near unison withdrew from the presidential race, ceding the nomination to Joe Biden.” It did not seem to matter that “Biden had lost the first three races in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada – and only won his first victory in South Carolina. It also did not seem to matter that Biden was already displaying “obvious symptoms of serious cognitive decline” that “seemed to mount through the 2020 campaign” and “dementia continued to accelerate during his first three years as president.” Biden and his family “enjoyed the ceremonial functions of the presidency.”

The second coup took place when former President Barack Obama and his family stayed in Washington, D.C., rather than going home to Chicago or elsewhere. The coup took place when the Biden administration outsourced “the real operations to former Obama administration officials, consultants, and advisers.” When the puppet master could no longer hold up the puppet (Biden), something needed to be done.

The third coup took place because “Polls revealed an impending Trump landslide victory in November – and a massive Democratic loss of Congress.” The Democrat “machine” of “party bosses, megadonors, and Obama puppeteers went into action for yet a third time.”

There are rumors that the “machine” threatened to take away all campaign funding and even “raised the specter of invoking the 25th Amendment to end his presidency. Biden was forced to suddenly withdraw from the presidential campaign and to endorse his Vice President Kamala Harris “as his surrogate on the ticket.”

In one moment, the choices of nearly 15 million Biden primary voters were vitiated. No delegates were consulted. No other alternative Democrat candidates were even considered.


Biden was dethroned; Harris was coronated – without much public input or even knowledge of how or why.


Democrat grandees stopped smearing Biden’s conservative critics, who had worried over his dementia. Instead, they now trumped opposition criticism of Biden’s decline.

Yet Biden most certainly did not resign his presidency. Instead, he promised to serve out his remaining six months in office.


So Democrat insiders not only removed their leading candidate, who for the prior six months had won all the 2024 primaries and almost all the delegates but insisted that Biden keep Democrats and himself in power – but only if he agreed to quit the race.

In other words and according to Hanson, a “cabal arbitrarily decided that Biden might well lose the Democrats the White House and the Congress.” Hanson continued, “So, they reversed course, now claiming his dementia was so acute as to destroy their prospects Nov. 5.” Even though Biden could not campaign well enough to win re-election, “his decline was not severe enough to imperil the American people” while he serves as President until January 20.

In addition, the machine chose Kamala Harris, a person who had not entered any primary and “never won a single delegate.” In addition, Harris “never captured a single delegate” when she ran for president in 2020.

Hanson claimed that the “same operators” ran all three coups. They used Biden until he became a liability. However, they insist that “he was still fit enough to keep the Left in power” until Harris can be inaugurated.

The most amazing fact of all the coups is that the very people conducting the coup “sanctimoniously lectured America that ‘democracy dies in darkness.’”

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Can Never Trumpers Become Trump Supporters?

There are many Republicans who have been Never Trumpers, but their ranks are thinning. Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox recently said that he would not vote for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Then a 20-year-old attempted to assassinate Trump. The near-death experience caused Trump to change his speech for the Republican National Convention, and Cox was impressed with the words and the delivery.

The day after the RNC ended, Cox announced that he will both endorse and vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election. In his monthly press conference on Friday morning, Cox stated that he would “do everything I can to help” Trump win the election and unify the country.” According to Samuel Benson, this is the way that Cox explained his change of mind: 

During his news conference, Cox detailed his thinking on Trump and the 2024 election. The hinge point, he said, was Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump. “I spent (Saturday) night distraught, worried about our nation and what we’d become and who we are,” he said. He spent the next day “in contemplation: and “prayed a lot,” and decided to write a letter to Trump detailing his thinking.


In the letter, Cox said: “I believe in our better angels, Mr. President, and I believe you are capable of being that kind of leader for this troubled nation. It is a huge burden to be placed on any person,” Cox continued, “but I want you to know that I pledge my support and I know that millions of others will rally to that kind of leadership.”


Cox expressed sympathy toward the former president in the wake of the attempted assassination. “My wife Abby and I watched in disbelief as we saw the images of the attack on your life,” he wrote. “In that moment you represented the best of America at one of our very worst times. Bloodied but not bowed. Courage – literally – under fire.”


Cox noted that Trump’s statements after the shooting showed “a side of you most of us have not seen, and it gave so many of us tremendous hope for the future of our country.”

Instead of lashing out with “hate” and “violence,” Cox counseled, Trump has the chance to “unify and save our country.”


“I fear that America is on the precipice of unmitigated disaster,” Cox wrote. “We need to turn down the temperature and find ways to come together again before it’s too late.

Cox noted that he and Trump “have some differences, and you probably don’t like me very much. And that’s OK. … I’m not writing this letter looking for a position in your Cabinet or a role on your team.”


Instead, Cox is looking for him “to do something that people have said is impossible,” he wrote:

“You have a chance to build a coalition of support that our country has not seen since Ronald Reagan. And you don’t have to compromise on a single conservative policy in order to do it. By treating President Biden with basic human dignity and respect and by emphasizing unity rather than hate, you will win this election by an historic margin and become one of our nation’s most transformational leaders. By extending an olive branch to voters who are open to persuasion and ignoring the extremists, you can solidify a legacy as one of the most important presidents in our nation’s 250-year history. You can make your success, in leading our country to a new era of peace, unity, and prosperity, the greatest way to silence your critics.”

Benson explained as follows how Cox sent the letter to Trump: he sent the letter to Rock Bordelon and Keith Mark. The two men are “leaders of Hunter Nation, an outdoor recreation and advocacy group that counts Donald Trump Jr. among its board members.” The three men were to meet at an event in Wisconsin on Monday afternoon. “Trump Jr. then hand-delivered the letter to his father, according to Don Peay, who learned about the logistics firsthand.”

Mark gave a statement saying that Cox is “a great governor” – “A man of faith, like in Biblical times. We can and are seeing a mighty change of Heart.”

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

What Happened During Second Congressional Hearing on Assassination?

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are attempting to discover why security for former President Donald Trump failed on Saturday, July 13, 2024. After the first day of grilling, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned, something that she declared for nine days that she would not do. At last, she understood the situation clearly when both Democrats and Republicans were calling for her resignation.

Today was the second day of inquiry, but Cheatle resigned earlier in the day, and other top Biden administration officials did not show up. However, Col. Christopher L. Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, did show up, and he provided answers to most of the questions from the committee. Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, also provided answers to the committee. Fred Lucas at the Daily Signal had the following takeaways from the second congressional hearing. 

1. Dismissing ‘Sloped Roof’ Excuse

Paris, head of the Pennsylvania State Police, dismissed the notion that the rooftop used by 20-year-old shooter … had a dangerous slope and was too unsafe for Secret Service agents to secure….


2. Plea to ‘Reconsider’ Bill Denying Protection to Trump

Green asked the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to withdraw his bill pulling Secret Service protection from Trump should the former president be sentenced to prison….


But later in the hearing, Thompson defended his legislation, saying that “the bill doesn’t mention former President Trump.”


In April, after Trump had been indicted in four separate criminal cases but before he was convicted of 34 felonies in the “hush money” trial in New York, Thompson introduced a bill that he called the Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable Former Protectees Act, which the Mississippi Democrat also dubbed the DISGRACED Former Protectees Act.


If passed and [signed] into law by President Joe Biden, the legislation would terminate Secret Service protection for someone who has been sentenced to prison following conviction for a federal or state felony….


3. ‘Met or Exceeded All of Our Expectations’

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., asked Paris to assess local law enforcement at the Trump rally July 13, as opposed to the Secret Service.


“What do you say to those that are saying local law enforcement failed to provide adequate security at this rally?” D’Esposito asked.


“It’s my belief as I sit here, based on all the information that I have, that we met or exceeded all of our expectations for that event,” Paris replied. “Am I saying the event was a success? Obviously, it was not. Our hearts go out to those affected.”


Yoes, national head of the Fraternal Order of Police, stressed the importance of local law enforcement to back federal law enforcement.


“I would echo the fact that local law enforcement plays a huge role and must,” Yoes said. “I don’t think the federal agencies have the ability to have this event without a coordinated effort with local law enforcement.”


Earlier in the hearing, Paris explained the role of the Pennsylvania State Police the day of the assassination attempt was to “supply the Secret Service with personnel and assets that they requested.”


This involved 32 state police officers with two main responsibilities, a motorcade operation for the Secret Service’s transportation of Trump and manning and staffing security posts inside the perimeter….


He said Pennsylvania State Police are “currently conducting a criminal investigation parallel to and in concert with the FBI to identify any and all parties criminally culpable under Pennsylvania state law for the homicide and for the attempted homicides.”


4. Nagging Questions on Timeline

Later in the hearing, Gimenez asked about the timeline after law enforcement had flagged the shooter as a suspicious person on the grounds of the rally.


“From my understanding of the timeline, it’s about 20 minutes before the president came out; was that information relayed to the Secret Service?” the Florida Republican asked.


“I believe that it was,” Paris said.


“Was that relayed to the Secret Service, the team that surrounds the president himself?” Gimenez specified.


“I can’t answer that,” Paris said.


“If it wasn’t, that’s another big mess-up,” the congressman said.


Gimenez followed up by asking and answering a rhetorical question: “Who developed a plan to protect the outside of the perimeter? There’s only one agency, that’s the United States Secret Service.”

 

Monday, July 22, 2024

Who Is James David Vance?

 

2024-7-22 Who Is James David Vance?

My VIP for this week is James David Vance, otherwise known as JD Vance, the vice-presidential nominee on the Republican 2024 ticket. Vance was born James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984. After his parents divorced, his mother remarried, and his adoption by his stepfather, his name was changed to James David Hamel. He adopted his maternal grandparents’ name when he married in 2014. J. D. Vance - Wikipedia

Vance and his sister Lindsey were reared by his maternal grandparents, James and Bonnie Vance, whom they called “Mamaw and Papaw,” because their mother was a drug addict and their father was an alcoholic. His maternal and paternal grandparents moved from Kentucky’s Appalachia to Ohio, and Vance was reared in Middletown, Ohio.

After graduating from Middletown High School in 2003, Vance enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq as a combat correspondent for six months. After leaving the military, he attended Ohio State University on the G.I. Bill and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and philosophy in 2009.

Vance worked for a state senator while going to school and attended Yale Law School on a full-ride scholarship. He was an editor of The Yale Law Journal and graduated in 2013 with a Juris Doctor degree.

Vance married in 2014 and has three young children. He received an honorary degree from Centre College in 2017.

Vance is young, only 39 years old, but he has more experience than many older people have. He experienced life with grandparents who sometimes wondered if they would have enough money to pay the heating bill or purchase food. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq. He excelled in college and graduate school. He has been the junior U.S. Senator from Ohio since 2023. He is a politician, lawyer, and author. His training as an attorney and his experience in the military and as a businessman are great attributes to add to the Trump/Vance ticket.

Sunday, July 21, 2024

What Will Be the Result of Biden Dropping Out of Presidential Race?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns President Joe Biden’s decision today to drop out of the 2024 presidential campaign and to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. His decision was announced on X – rather than by personal announcement.

Democrats are calling Biden a “hero” for putting his political party and the nation ahead of his personal desires. Republicans are calling for Biden to resign from the office of President of the United States. The reasoning behind the call is that he is not fit to remain in office if he is unfit to campaign. An opinion published in the Deseret News after the announcement made the following response. 

The statement, in other words, was presidential, remarkably so because of the pain that we all know lies under the stoic words.


To call Joe Biden a hero is aggrandizement, and unfair to the true heroes in our midst, the kind who run into buildings hit by planes and pull people out of burning cars. Biden is a politician who has enjoyed a long and prestigious career that the sun is setting on. Ask the average person on the street what Biden’s biggest accomplishment in public service is, and before today, they might have struggled to answer. Now he’s most likely to be remembered, above all, for the statement he issued today and the reasons for it: doubts about his capacity to serve another four years and to win the election.


Stepping away from power is not always a sign of defeat. Our first president, George Washington, famously relinquished power twice: first, as commander in chief of the Continental Army, and later at the end of his second term as president, at a time in which he could have been elected again.


Biden’s story, of course, is much different, and in exiting, he has bestowed on the nation the sort of thing that C.S. Lewis called a “severe mercy,” putting America out of the misery we’ve all been in, to one extent or another, since the agonizing debate June 27.


It’s often said that America is so divided that we can’t agree on anything at all. The past eight days [have] shown that to be untrue. We agreed, as the Rev. Theresa Dear wrote, that none of us want to see Secret Service agents diving on top of presidential candidates under fire. And we agreed that, no matter how well meaning a person is, no matter how beloved within their party, no matter how they have performed in the past, when the time comes to step down, we should do so with dignity, and not have to be pulled off the stage with a vaudeville hook.


You could almost feel the nation exhaling in relief as the news circulated Sunday afternoon.

Many Americans were aware that Biden had cognitive problems during the 2020 presidential campaign, and he has steadily become worse. First Lady Jill Biden and other family members have propped him up, and other Democrats and the mainstream media have covered for him. However, his condition could not be hidden from the whole nation and the entire world after he had such a disastrous debate a month ago with Donald Trump.

In my opinion, Biden is a victim of elder abuse because he has only been a puppet of those who are really running the United States government. He should not have been the candidate in 2020, and he definitely should not be the candidate in 2024. For his sake, I am grateful that this decision has finally been made – no matter who actually made the decision.

Saturday, July 20, 2024

How Is the Word of God Stronger Than the Sword?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Alma 30-31 in a lesson titled “The Virtue of the Word of God.” The lesson was introduced by the following information: 

The accounts in Alma 30-31 clearly demonstrate the power of words – for evil and for good. The “flattering” and “great swelling words” of a false teacher named Korihor threatened to bring “many souls down to destruction” (Alma 30:31, 47). Similarly, the teachings of a Nephite dissenter named Zoram led a whole group of people to fall “into great errors” and “pervert the ways of the Lord” (Alma 31:9, 11).


In contrast, Alma had unwavering faith that the word of God would have a “more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else” (Alma 31:5). Alma’s words expressed eternal truth and drew upon the powers of Jesus Christ to silence Korihor (see Alma 30:39-50), and they invited His blessing on those who went with him to bring the Zoramites back to the truth (see Alma 31:31-38). These are valuable examples for followers of Christ today when false messages are common. We can find truth by trusting, as Alma did, “the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5).

I feel impressed to discuss a principle found in Alma 31: “God’s word has the power to lead people to righteousness.” This chapter tells us of a group of people who were once Nephites but who had separated themselves from the Nephites.

It so happened that the Zoramites had moved to an area where they were located between the area where most of the Nephites were located and the land of the Lamanites. The leaders of the Nephites thought that a political or military solution was necessary to reclaim the Zoramites before they joined with the Lamanites. However, the prophet Alma thought that they should try “the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5).

5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just – yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them – therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

Alma decided to take a group of missionaries to the land of Antionum, the home of the Zoramites. The missionaries included Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Amulek, Zeezrom, Shiblon, and Corianton. The first three were sons of Mosiah, and the last two were sons of Alma.

When they arrived in Antionum, the missionaries were astonished to discover how much the Zoramites had perverted the word of God.

24 Now when Alma saw this his heart was grieved; for he saw that they were a wicked and a perverse people; yea, he saw that their hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of find goods.


25 Yea, and he also saw that their hearts were lifted up unto great boasting, in their pride.

Alma lifted up his voice in prayer. He first prayed for the Zoramites that their hearts could be softened and that they could be reclaimed. He next prayed for himself that he would be strengthened and given the power to reclaim the Zoramites. He also prayed for his missionary companions that they would be strengthened and helped to be good missionaries.

The Lord heard the words of the prophet’s prayer and provided for the missionaries that they had food to eat, liquids to drink, and clothes to wear. He also strengthened them against afflictions which were “swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:38).

Friday, July 19, 2024

What Keeps You From Attending the Temple More Often?

Families are stronger when individuals make and keep covenants. One important way to keep covenants is to do those things that renew covenants. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints renew their baptismal covenants by attending sacrament meeting and partaking of the sacrament. We renew our temple covenants by going back to the temple and being proxies so that other people can receive the ordinances. Yet, there are people who do not attend sacrament meetings often or attend the temple frequently.

I was recently in a fifth Sunday meeting in Salt Lake City, and an interesting question was asked. It was something like this, “what keeps you from attending the temple more often?” I raised my hand and said the reason is convenience. There are numerous temples within an hour from the homes of the people in that ward –Bountiful, Brigham City, Draper, Jordan River, Layton, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Orem, Payson, Provo City Center, Salt Lake, Sarasota Springs, and Taylorsville. There are more temples located within two hours, and even more temples being constructed in the area.

The fact that there are so many temples located in such close proximity could make temple seem less pressing. People may think, “I can go tomorrow” or “I can go next week.” The situation is not the same in any other area of the world. Consider the following:

·         There is only one temple in Alaska.

·         The temple was dedicated in January 1999. Previous to its dedication, the temple for Alaska was located in Seattle and required airline travel or a week in an automobile.

·         My airline travel took me home to Salt Lake City, and I always made at least one day available for temple service. My father and I would leave home early in the morning and return in time for dinner. During those hours, we did as many endowment sessions as we could fit. It was normal temple service for my father, but I tried to soak up as much temple as I could – enough to last until the next year when I traveled home.

·         The Anchorage Alaska Temple was dedicated in January 1999 and remodeled several years later.

·         This temple is closed for two weeks in the spring and two weeks in the fall with no other temples available in Alaska.

·         The temple is open Tuesday through Saturday with two sessions per day available at 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. per day except Saturday. On Saturday there are three sessions – 8:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. This makes a total of eleven sessions available per week.

·         There are currently even more restrictions on attendance because a second temple is being constructed on the site. This limits the area available for parking, which limits the number of people who can attend each session.

·         My temple day is Friday at 10:00 a.m. To make sure that I get an appointment for that time, I must make my appointment by Sunday. There have been weeks when I could not attend the temple because all the appointments were gone. In addition, I can have only one endowment session scheduled at a time.

·         To obtain the appointment that I want, I must plan my temple service a week in advance.

Thus, my comment about convenience. When there are numerous temples in the area and many sessions available, people may not have to be so diligent and have to plan their temple attendance so far in advance.

With a temple so close to my home, I feel an obligation to attend often. I feel certain that this feeling comes from being without a temple for so many years and having such limitations at the current time. People who have never been without a temple may not feel the same obligation unless they are caught up in family history.

I encourage you to examine your life to determine why you are not more regular in temple attendance. I also encourage you to gain the understanding that temple attendance helps us to keep our covenants with God.