It was a moment of reckoning for the Biden family in Washington D.C.
this week when Hunter Biden’s business partner, Devon Archer, made his
way to Capitol Hill for a closed door interview with the House Oversight
Committee. Heading into the day, there was much speculation about what
he would say, given how closely he worked with the Bidens and how much
he knew.
After a few hours, it was evident the testimony went poorly for
Democrats when Adam Schiff protege Dan Goldman rushed to the cameras in a
frantic attempt to drive a new narrative by moving the goal posts on
Joe Biden’s participation in dozens of calls – on speaker with Hunter’s
business associates listening in.
Sweaty and nervous, a rare state for the usually confident and
arrogant congressman, Goldman insulted the intelligence of any American
paying attention to the story and tried to argue Hunter Biden created
the “illusion” of access to his father.
“There were niceties. And there was a hello. And [they] talked about
the weather or whatever it was,” Goldman said. “But it was never any
business.”
Before meetings at the White House, Robert Biden – Joe’s brother –
encouraged Devon Archer to buy a burner phone. As we all know, burner
phones are typically used for discussions about the “weather.”
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Attempting to spin, Goldman then claimed it was “preposterous” to think Joe Biden wouldn’t speak to his son about business.
“He [Joe Biden] never said that he has never spoken to
anyone. He said that he had nothing to do with Hunter Biden’s business
dealings,” he continued. “It’s kind of a preposterous premise to think
that a father should not say hello to people that the son at a dinner
with – the son is at dinner with, and that is literally all the evidence
is.”
But it was Joe Biden who set the “preposterous” standard by
repeatedly lying to the country and maintaining he “never” spoke to his
son or Hunter’s business partners about their deals. There was never an
“illusion” of access. The access was real, and the Biden brand landed
millions of dollars in a number of bank accounts and shell companies.
Joe wasn’t only in business with his son, he was the business.
Joe’s denial has always been a laughable claim, and a pile of
evidence has disproved it for years. Hunter’s other business partner,
Tony Bobulinski, exposed Joe Biden’s involvement during the 2020
presidential election. A media with intentions to protect the Bidens was
not curious about Joe Biden being “the big guy” who got 10 percent. The
FBI was also uninterested in accusations of bribery.
Archer made it clear then-Vice President Joe Biden had Ukrainian
prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired because he was sniffing around Burisma’s
corruption and making their aspirations of an initial public offering in
the U.S. harder to attain. And while Archer’s testimony was focused on
Ukraine, Hunter’s laptop shows his father was engaged with deals in
China too.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to
understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” a text
message from Hunter Biden to a Chinese fund management company CEO
states. “Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before
it gets out of hand. And now means tonight. I will make certain that
between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my
ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my
direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
Not to mention the recently released FBI-1023 form, which accuses Joe Biden of bribery.
“The FBI’s Biden Bribery Record tracks closely with the evidence
uncovered by the Oversight Committee’s Biden family influence peddling
investigation. In the FBI’s record, the Burisma executive claims that he
didn’t pay the ‘big guy’ directly but that he used several bank
accounts to conceal the money. That sounds an awful lot like how the
Bidens conduct business: using multiple bank accounts to hide the source
and total amount of the money,” House Oversight Committee Chairman
James Comer said about the document.
I won’t say the walls are closing in, because on Democrats, they
never do — but at least the truth is out in the open and Americans can
make up their minds about whether Biden sold out the country to make
himself rich.
As for the weather, the heat is on, a storm is brewing, and impeachment is in the forecast.
The world we live in today is in a tug of war led by
the loudest, reactionary nationalist and authoritarian movements I’ve
ever witnessed in my lifetime. These movements have emerged on both the
right and the left in various nations.
More specifically, Christians and other devout religious communities
are often confronted by uncompromising hard-left and hard-right
political movements, with many individuals feeling forced to choose
between two bad options.
The critical challenge for Christians today is to refrain from
joining these extremist, nationalist movements to achieve their own
goals. Instead, Christians ought to be demonstrating an alternative path
that refuses to succumb to polarization.
In the West, political leaders and pundits are not shy to attack
mainstream Christian values and the basic freedoms we have harnessed
over the centuries. For example, if one doesn’t ascribe to far-left
cultural goals, they are mocked in the public square, shunned from their
social circles, and sometimes even violently attacked.
More specifically, the pressure of the transgender agenda on minors
seems uncompromising, with its activists embracing a type of
fundamentalism. To be a biological female – and to refer to yourself as
one – has somehow become controversial in our world today. What’s more,
if one challenges the tenets of the sexual revolution, and argues that
in many ways it has demeaned and exploited women instead of liberating
them, they’re considered a bigot for even pursuing that debate.
Of course, the typical response by many Christian groups to these
radical movements is less than satisfactory. Many Christians sadly rely
on a system that confuses the truth with the law. The truth and grace
Jesus embodied demonstrated a recognition of the immense complexity of
life. Jesus met people where they were, considered the context of
culture, and pursued the whole counsel of God as he sought to restore
their souls. He showed us how to foster a multidimensional understanding
of the truth, and speak the truth in love, rather than a harsh and
strictly linear approach that tends toward legalism. We see the latter
in right-wing Christian movements today, unfortunately.
Another example of uncompromising, polarizing movements is unfolding
here in India. Where we used to be able to boast of our diversity of
faiths and constitutionally protected religious freedom, we are now
witnessing an alarming rise of a hard-right Hindutva faction. Their
propaganda and ruthless tactics demonize and persecute Muslim and Christian minorities alike. Ethnic strife in the State of Manipur in northeast India has led to the systematic destruction of hundreds of churches in Imphal and neighboring towns.
This will not be the last time ethnic cleansing takes place against
demonized communities in India. And this crisis is certainly not
isolated to India. Hatred of the “other” is the new currency of social
discourse worldwide. Extremists appear to have taken their foothold
everywhere.
We look further east to China and see that nation sliding further
into their old ways of ruthless communism and secular nationalism. The
CCP continues to force devoted Christian communities to subscribe to
communist philosophy and compromise their genuinely held doctrinal
beliefs. Uighurs continue to face persecution and ostracization as well,
yet these Chinese Muslims continue fighting bravely for their rights as
their mosques are routinely torn down.
Decades ago, Francis Shaefer wrote of how Christians should respond
to and live among those seeking to undermine our values. He called for
active engagement and non-violent struggle in our quest to create an
orderly world with Judeo-Christian values as our foundation. His wisdom
ought to be considered again.
Living as people of faith who keep our Christian witness will not be
easy, especially as evil manifests in new shapes and sizes.
Authoritarian thinking has taken root not only in government but in
smaller social circles as well, where freedom of thought and expression
aren’t a priority, and religious convictions are treated as irrelevant.
There’s no easy answer as to how we respond to these struggles.
Nevertheless, we must find a way to remain steadfast on our
principles, strive for the Kingdom of God over the kingdom of secular
dogmas, while also respecting those who believe differently than we do.
It would be foolish to mimic the tactics of those who seek to force
cultural revolutions on those who disagree with them. We have to avoid
the temptation to return the favor.
We must also resist the path of least resistance, where we allow
ourselves to be relegated to the outskirts of society, quietly
submitting to those in power out of fear for our safety. Put simply,
while not compromising their faith, Christians must resist the voices
pushing them towards Christian nationalism and instead just remain
Christians. We must remain the type of Christians Paul describes in his
letter to the Corinthians, “Hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck
down, but not destroyed.”
In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah asks us, “What does the Lord
require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your God?”
Our mandate is still the same today.
In our attempt to preserve our faith convictions and restore cultural
norms, our Christian character must not waiver, even though the flames
burn hotter.
Oh Boy, This is going to be a long one and I wont even touch on half
the stuff I want to touch on. I could write a book about this right now.
I’m going to briefly touch on a couple of YouTubers I am a HUGE fan
off, but I will let their videos speak for themselves for the most part.
I will include links to their channels at the end so please check them
out. but here goes
Video game collecting is fast becoming one of the most popular past
times around. Almost everyone will say they love video games, and those
who don’t, well, they are either lying or haven’t really tried it. From
the mind exercising puzzle action of Tetris, to the faced paced
platforming of Sonic the hedgehog, From the non stop action of call of
duty to the more laid back exploration of world of Warcraft, and from
the epic story driven Assassins Creed, to the real world simulation of
driving fast cars that is Forza, video games have something to offer
literally everyone. Whether you’re into sports, board games, education,
fantasy, gritty crime solving TV drama, or anything else, there’s not
one or two games directed at you, there’s an entire genre of games.
So with a whole medium that crosses the same level of production as
Hollywood blockbuster movies, with an active immersive experience that
you just don’t get with film, its no surprise that video gaming is one
hell of an industry. With developers receiving budgets to rival marvel
franchise movies, some of the greatest directors, writers, artists, and
musicians being highly invested in the works, and the advent of mobile
gaming on our phones, you can see why I believe that video games are set
to replace television and movies in much the same way that television
and movies once replaced theatre as the number one entertainment medium.
The video game collectors market has blown up in recent years, with
companies like Nintendo, Capcom, Square Enix, and more pushing their
IP’s to new levels and refreshing them for the next generation of
gamers, its not hard to see why. When Square Enix promotes its latest
Final Fantasy game and gamers fall in love with it they look at the
franchise, they read the reviews and hear the hype of the previous
games, in this case they will read about Final Fantasy VII, often cited
as not only the greatest Final Fantasy game, but the greatest JRPG of
all time. If you love this game and that one is better… its a no brainer
that you’re going to want to buy an original PlayStation and give it a
go.
This is where the issues come in. Now if you want a copy of Final
Fantasy VII, Or the original Silent Hill, Metal gear solid, Resident
Evil, or whatever it is that has you drooling for the classics, its
going to hit you where it hurts. Your pocket. For a decent playable
boxed copy of one of these games you are going to be paying about the
same amount as a brand new retail copy of a game for the current
generation of systems. This wont hurt you, if you were going to spend
that money on video games anyway, but this DOES hurt the game
manufacturers. A copy of Final Fantasy VII for instance may have been
passed around a lot since it was first bought. The Developers may have
made, say £20 profit on the original sale, but if its been sold 4 or 5
times passed between collectors and people wanting to play it in the
intervening 20 years, well that could mean that over £200 has exchanged
hands on this one copy of the game and the developers have seen nothing
from it.
No problem you may think, but really, yes. Big problem. The more
people want to play a game that’s out of print, the more the price on it
goes up, its the basic rules of supply and demand. For a highly revered
game the interest in it will only ever increase as the gaming market
expands, and new gamers find out about the old classics. Ad to that,
time, decreasing the amount of limited numbers of the games available
and you have an ever increasing price, often putting the games out of
the price range of your average gamer. Oh you want to play Earthbound on
the SNES? Good luck with that. This isn’t even a rare game, however its
so amazing that everyone who hears about it wants to give it a go. And
lets not forget that once you have the game you need a machine to play
it on. And time isn’t kind to electronic devices. The more that break,
the harder they are to find, the more expensive they become.
So here is where we see the issue. Video game collecting has now
become far too expensive for the majority of people. And for no good
reason. There are two kinds of collectors, Those who genuinely love a
game from their childhood and would love to own a copy again, and want
it for the nostalgia, for the memories and for the appreciation of the
game as an entity, they love their games, and they couldn’t care less
about the value currently attached to them. This is video game
collecting in its purest form, For this, Take a look at YouTube, The
Happy Console Gamer Johnny Millennium, Pete Dorr, and the enigmatic
AlphaOmegaSin are but a few of the more popular channels of people who
fit this category. Listening to them talk about their passion its hard
not to feel the love they have for their games and they are bound to
stir nostalgic cravings for your childhood. Johnny Millennium has a
boxed copy of Earthbound sitting right behind him on the shelf and its
currently worth over $1000, but he doesn’t give a shit. Its his game and
he loves it and you’ve got more chance of getting AlphaOmegaSIn to stop
swearing than you have of getting Johnny to part with his Earthbound.
The second kind of collectors are profit turners. They have no love
for the games. They don’t care about gaming. Most of them don’t even
play half the stuff they pick up. They trawl retail stores, Facebook,
Flea markets, boot sales, eBay, Craigslist, Garage sales. Buying up
anything and everything for the lowest price possible, and then they sit
on it. They wait until it will fetch a profit and throw it up on EBay
for a ridiculous sum. The biggest example of this in recent times was
the release of the 20th anniversary PlayStation 4 Limited
edition model. The PS4 currently sells for about £300 brand new. And
people got a chance in 2014 to buy a very limited edition anniversary
edition of the PS4, its no different from a regular model, it does
nothing special, the only difference is that its not black, but is the
classic grey colour of the original PSone. The PlayStation logo is also
in full colour just like the original one. This item was sold, not for
an inflated price, but for just a little over the retail value, it was a
collectors edition, something for the fans who love the system. But who
bought them? Guess.
Within days of these limited edition systems shipping, they began
appearing on ebay and as of the moment I write this they are fetching as
much as £3000. That’s right, you could buy 10 PS4 systems brand new, OR
just one in a different colour. And here is the thing, there isn’t just
one or two for sale, there are LOADS. In the UK alone there are
currently 79 listed on ebay. And since only 12,000 were made world wide,
America and Japan being by far the largest markets we can assume that
only a small chunk of this went to Europe. And in Europe Germany and
France would likely have the lions share. Even at conservative estimates
that puts around 10% of all the PS4 Limited editions in the country
currently unopened and listed on eBay for ridiculous sums of money.
Those who would appreciate this console for what it is and what it
represents, cant get one.
Another massive point of contention is Stadium games for the NES. A
boxed copy can set you back $30,000. A loose cart can fetch $3000. And
the thing is, its not even a good game. In fact its shit. And to top it
off, the exact same game is available easily and cheaply on the NES as
the game was recalled almost immediately and rebranded as World Class
Track Meet. So you can play the quite frankly abysmal game for cheap,
but have to sell a kidney to get it with a slightly different sticker.
So how can we fix this? How can we ensure that people who want access
to the media they want can get it for a fair price? Well, WE cant. But
There is someone who can. Nintendo can. Microsoft can. Sony can. All of
these companies now have online stores and consoles with massive hard
drives. If for instance Resident Evil or Final fantasy VII were released
on the online market, this is pretty much ZERO outlay. They could sell
the game for £5, it would sell thousands of copies. And I mean
thousands. And it would all be profit in Square Enix’s pocket. This is a
business model that has Kept SEGA alive and able to pump out god awful
bastardised Sonic game after god awful bastardised Sonic game. Since
they dropped out of the console market nearly 15 years ago there hasn’t
really been a console released that hasn’t seen a compilation of their
old games from back when they didn’t suck. Hell even the PS2, Xbox, and
GameCube got a Megadrive games compilation and those were consoles that
were actually competing with the Dreamcast.
Did you know that EVERY SINGLE Sega Megadrive game ever released fits
on to a 2GB SD card? That EVERY SINGLE Super Nintendo game fits on to a
2GB SD card? That every single Gameboy, NES, Master Sytem and Game Gear
game combined, fits onto a 2GB SD card?
And that Emulators exist?
And that these companies already have access to ALL of this. And it would take almost NO work to get this up and running?
Now many people will point to the Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy
VII remakes coming out and say “Well why would they do this when it
could hurt sales on these titles?” well the answer is, because it wont.
The new generation of consoles launched were almost immediately swamped
with Remastered HD versions of games that had been out for a while and
were still on store shelves. The Last of us and Tomb Raider being the
most notable titles, but this didn’t hurt sales at all. Likely a release
of Resident Evil 2 or Final Fantasy VII on Xbox Live and PSN would just
boost popularity and excitement for the upcoming remake while lining
the pockets of the developers so they have more to invest in future
games.
Making things like this easily available for people who want to try
these old games, means companies can continue to make money from their
old franchises and continue to have income from them to put towards new
and better games. It would also be a great way for them to judge what
franchises people are still interested in. Its been 25 years since
Konami released Sunset Riders. However amazing that game was how does
Konami know whether its something people would be interested in seeing
more of today? And more to the point, maybe if all of Konami’s amazing
classics were available this way it would generate enough money for
Konami to show interest in its gaming division again and stop pissing
their IP’s up the wall.
So that’s what I would like to see. Bulk additions to the online
stores allowing anyone anywhere access to all of these great games. It
benefits everyone from developers to consumer alike. And more
importantly will cause serious damage to the second hand value of
classic games allowing those who collect them for the love of owning the
physical games they grew up with and have a strong emotional attachment
to, to get hold of their games without having to auction off their
children to afford.
If you got this far I urge you to go check out these guys, this is
what Video game collecting should be about. not about financial gain but
about love for the whole lifestyle of being a gamer.
Johnny Millennium and Rob Man (The Happy Console Gamer Show)
AlphaOmegaSin (Warning, do not watch his videos if you are offended
by hilarious swearing rants so skilfully verbalised that make the south
park characters envious)
While in England in 1766, Franklin wrote an editorial on this attempt
of the government to “help” the poor, entitled On the Price of Corn,
and Management of the Poor. In it, Franklin articulated a principle he
held throughout his life with respect to poverty and work: “I am for
doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think
the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in
poverty but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled
much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public
provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for
themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less
was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
As a result of Great Britain’s welfare programs of the time, Franklin
made clear the result in the people they tried to help: “Under all
these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful; and do
they use their best endeavors to maintain themselves, and lighten our
shoulders of this burden? On the contrary, I affirm that there is no
country in the world in which the poor are more idle, dissolute,
drunken, and insolent. The day you passed that act, you took away from
before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry,
frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence on somewhat else
than a careful accumulation during youth and health, for support in age
or sickness. In short, you offered a premium for the encouragement of
idleness, and you should not now wonder that it has had its effect in
the increase of poverty.”
Franklin and our founding fathers wanted nothing of England’s welfare
state and high taxes. They wanted people free to earn their own way and
capitalize on their God given skills and drive to pursue and earn their
own happiness and success.
It’s clear that America under Democratic leadership is intent on
redefining what “free” means. To a Democrat, giving “free” benefits is
what true “caring” is all about. Let the suckers earn a living so we can
tax them and give their hard-earned money to every freeloader we can
subsidize. Want proof?
Even though rejected by the Supreme Court, Biden has promised that
college students, who willing took on contractual loans to attend
college, are owed $468 billion in college debt relief to be funded by
the American taxpayer. He’s working already to cancel student debt for
some.
The Keep LA Housed Coalition wants Democratic Mayor Karen Bass to
cancel rent debts or extend protections for tenants who cannot meet the
city’s Aug. 1 deadline. It’s time for them to pay the rent they owe.
Landlords who were “left powerless” against nonpaying tenants who took
advantage of a free ride during the pandemic now want the rent these
tenants owe.
New York City, once proud to be called a “sanctuary city,” has given
out flyers communicating “There is no guarantee we will be able to
provide shelter and services to new arrivals.” Mayor Adams has finally
admitted, “There is no room in New York. New York cannot take more. We
can’t.” No more “free” sanctuary!
Many cities and states are considering or already giving “free”
reparations to blacks at a local level. On a federal level, some
measures have been proposed including one by Rep. Cori Bush’s, D-MO,
that would provide $14 trillion in compensation for government policies
that she has deemed as racist and contributed to the wealth gap between
Black and White Americans.
Illegal immigrants, staging a protest in Chicago, demanded free
housing, paid job training and easy access to amenities like food,
water, and “safe” neighborhoods. One sign at the demonstration explained
it well, “You Promised Us Safe Living Conditions, But Our Rights Have
Been Violated.”
Liberals in Illinois passed a law ending the requirement that those
charged with a crime must post bail in order to be released from jail
while they await trial. Unless a judge intervenes to hold them, even a
violent perp could be assigned a court date and then be released without
payment! When New York eliminated cash bail, crime skyrocketed.
Instead of calling for protesters who threw rocks, assaulted police
officers, burned down buildings, and burned up cars to be incarcerated
and forced to pay for damages, the National Lawyers Group has issued a
class action suit demanding that the George Floyd protestors in New York
be compensated up to $10K per protestor because of police abuse. Only
in America can rioters expect to be paid instead of incarcerated.
Democrat Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has asked for residents to
volunteer their homes for “free” to host illegal immigrants “for a few
days, until longer-term accommodations can be arranged.” Why is this
necessary? The nearly 40 hotels and motels Healey has rented out across
the state, all funded by tax-payers, are completely full and even
overflowing with illegals.
Get the picture: Free rent, free food, free student loans, free job
training, free rooms, and freedom from accountability. Why work? Why
save? Just elect Democrats willing to pay for your vote. The homeless
scenes in urban America sound very much like what Franklin saw in
England. When you reward irresponsible behavior, you get more who are
willing to be dependent on government’s “free” benefits.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) accidentally proved that men claiming to women should not be changing in women’s locker rooms during Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee about the dangers of so-called “gender affirming care.”
Former college swimmer Paula Scanlan said she was mortified having to change in the same room as Lia Thomas, a biological man, during her time competing. Cohen suggested Pennsylvania State University should have put up a barrier inside the women’s locker room to appease both sides.
“I think Penn didn’t deal with your situation like they could’ve and should’ve. Putting up some barriers in the women’s area of the locker room,” Cohen proposed.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) asked Scanlan if Cohen’s idea is an appropriate way to handle the situation.
“I think by Representative Cohen admitting that we need barriers [in women’s facilities] acknowledges there are biological differences between men and women. And by acknowledging that we need to have private spaces that are separate from each other, why can’t we just use the locker rooms that we’ve always used, men’s and women’s? If you’re acknowledging that we need protection and privacy from these men, then you’re acknowledging the locker rooms we’ve always used are the correct ones,” said Scanlan.
MIC DROP: @PaulaYScanlan DESTROYS @RepCohen on biological men using women’s facilities 🔥👇
"By Rep. Cohen admitting that we need barriers [in women's facilities] acknowledges there are biological differences between men and women.
And by acknowledging that we need to have… pic.twitter.com/TzA2EewCru — Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) July 27, 2023
Here is my testimony from this morning. I ask everyone no matter your political affiliation to listen. I believe everyone deserves dignity and respect, but to suggest that my own experiences and trama need to be disregarded to protect a group that’s deemed “marginalized” is… — Paula Scanlan (@PaulaYScanlan) July 27, 2023
