‘Climate arson’ and other wildfire nonsense
THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE COLUMBUS STATUE IN BOSTON AND MAYOR MARTY WALSH
THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE COLUMBUS STATUE IN BOSTON
AND MAYOR MARTY WALSH
The Italian American ALLIANCE is not fooled by Mayor Walsh’s recent actions concerning the Columbus statue,
For starters, the Mayor broke his word to the ALLIANCE.
In a private ZOOM meeting between Mayor Walsh, and the ALLIANCE — which took place shortly after the Columbus statue was vandalized –the ALLIANCE gathered residents of the North End and Donors of the statue to participate in the meeting. During that meeting, Mayor Walsh was very emphatic about several points.
1. The statue’s head had been smashed into 7 pieces and would take time to repair. However, he pledged to have it repaired.
2. He asked for time He said that in the present climate, it was not the right time to make a decision. He said he would listen to a variety of opinions before making a final decision – AND THAT HE WOULD HAVE A SECOND MEETING WITH THE ALLIANCE BEFORE ANNOUNCING IT.
3. He asked us to keep the meeting confidential and out of the press – which we did with some misgiving and reluctance.
WE ARE DISAPPOINED AT THE OVERALL PROCESS AND ARE CONSIDERING LEGAL OPTIONS.
While some cautioned us not to trust Walsh, we did. It now appears that our trust was a mistake. However, there’s no other way of saying it. The Mayor did not keep his word.
There are significant questions as to whether all the donors of the statue were ever consulted about Walsh’s decision. There’s a need to review the terms of the gift to the city. There’s a need to know WHERE THE STATUE WILL BE PLACED. There’s also a need to know where the North End Council will pledge to develop substantial security around the statue and whether it INTENDS to meet the costs of carrying sufficient insurance for costs of repair should the statue be vandalized again.
In the end, there are serious questions concerning the overall process taken by Walsh which the ALLIANCE intends to pursue.
We are now creating a BOSTON COLUMBUS STATUE COMMISSION. Please let us know if you would like to get personally involved. Email us at Frankwrote@aol.com
MAYOR WALSH MAY THINK SO – BUT THIS IS NOT OVER !
Dr. Frank Mazzaglia,
Italian American Alliance
A Report on Camp Constitution’s 1st Annual Ladies Retreat by Kathleen LaBonte LoFaro
Camp Constitution’s 1st Annual Women’s Retreat was held October 2-4, 2020, in the beautiful and quiet 135-acre woodland setting of the Singing Hills Christian Camp in Plainfield, N.H. It was a weekend full of glorious fall foliage delight for the eyes, and sunshine to warm 15 women’s hearts, but nothing lifted the spirits and bonded our souls in friendship more than the fellowship and prayer sessions, artistic and life skill preservation activities, and breaking bread together where we closed the distance of acquaintance, close friends, and honored guests, and became family…sisters. Deuteronomy 12:7 “And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.”
We all felt blessed to have found our way to this extraordinary event, and we were completely joyful and delighted in all that had been so carefully planned for us by four talented active Christian patriotic “friends” of Camp Constitution: Edith Craft, who led us in devotionals; Kathy Mickle and Roberta Stewart, who organized delightful arts and crafts activities, with a vision that we continue the “no-sew” small blanket as a community service project; and Maura Shurtleff for teaching her secrets in creating a beautiful holiday wreath. From those four main organizers, Keiko Bernardi jumped in with morning exercises before breakfast; Catherine White took us out on the shooting range to try our skills with a rifle and Nancy Copeland with the air gun, with everyone successful under their tutelage. Catherine also lend her artistic side leading us in stories and songs around the nightly campfire; and Bonnie Manchester, a public education teacher, gave an hour presentation on her life journey from a car accident that almost took her life, to current state of public education, and why many parents are making the decision to homeschool.
All in attendance were gifted one way or another, and shared their giftedness without hesitation, but the cherry on the top of this most delightful weekend, was keynote speaker Barbara from Harlem, a Minister and Author of “Escaping the Racism of Low Expectations,” and her daughter Bebe Diamond. Together they have launched a radio show called “Our Urban Story” where they discuss political issues and concerns about the state of America. We look forward to continue annually what we were calling the “Christian warrior ladies” retreat – Children of God, Women of Faith, Warriors for Christ, and growing in many more friendships and memories together. Next year’s Ladies Retreat will take place October 1-3 at Singing Hills.
The Importance of Monuments by Dr. Peter Hammond
The IMPORTANCE of MONUMENTS
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The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
In the 5th century, Greek Historian, Herodotus, described the seven wonders of the ancient world. These were known for their size, material, engineering, beauty and symbolic power. The seven Wonders of the Ancient World included: The Great Pyramid of Chephren at Giza; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus; the Colossus of Rhodes; the Pharos (Lighthouse) of Alexandria; the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
Potent Symbols
From ancient times, temples, statues, towers, markers, tombs and other structures have defined public places, extoled ideals, characterized societies and symbolized who we are. Monuments can express the collective goals, joys and sorrows of a society.
Monuments Reflect Identity
The word monument comes from the Latin word moneo, which means to remind. A monument is anything that reminds us of a person, an event, or an idea from the past. A monument is a way in which society remembers its past and formulates its identity and future hopes.
Communication, Education and Inspiration
Monuments communicate, much like books do. Everything in a monument is significant. The scale, setting, gestures and expressions of human figures, all convey meaning. Monuments can narrate a tale, or evoke a significant historic event. Battle sites are often monuments. Monuments elicit nostalgia, pride, empathy, sorrow, compassion and respect. Even more powerfully than the written word can.
Permanent Reminders
Because monuments are generally intended to be permanent, to educate and remind future generations of values, personalities and events deemed significant, many monuments have been made of lasting material such as stone, marble, bronze, iron and steel.
Traditions and Calendars
However, monuments can also be traditions:
The fact that we have a seven-day week is a monument to the fact that God created the World in six days and rested on the seventh.
The institution of Sunday, as a day of rest, is a monument to the fact the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the First Day of the week.
The Lord’s Supper is also a memorial.
The term holiday comes from the term holy day.
The holidays a nation chooses have great cultural significance.
The farewell greeting: Goodbye, comes from the old English prayer, God be with ye.
In Austria, the greeting is Gruessgott, or Greetings in God.
Books Can Be Monuments
However, monuments are not only buildings and sculptures but also books and manuscripts. What we call Foxes Book of Martyrs, was first published in English in 1563 under the title: Acts and Monuments of these Latter and Perilous Days.
When the Temporary Becomes Permanent
However, some monuments were originally meant to be temporary. For example, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was erected for the 1889 International Exposition and meant to be dismantled shortly afterwards. However, over the years, the Eiffel Tower became synonymous with the City of Paris and so has remained a permanent structure in the physical and emotional landscape of France.
The Eiffel Tower
When Gustave Eiffel built the mammoth tower on the left bank of the Seine River, for the 1889 International Exposition, his goal was to display the potential of new industrial metals for architecture. At the time, the tower was highly controversial. Many 19th century Parisians criticized it as being “un-French” in its design. However, the Eiffel Tower survives because of its practical use as a radio tower.
Symbolism in Monuments
There is much in monuments which is symbolic:
The 49 steps up to Rhodes Memorial, symbolizes the 49 years he lived.
The 36 Doric columns of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. symbolized the number of states in the Union at the time of the president’s death.
The Statue of Liberty in New York city is personified as a robed woman standing on broken chains, representing tyranny.
Community and Nationhood
Monuments help people feel connected to their collective past, common tradition and shared experience.
Virtue
Many monuments embody the virtues that a society wants to hold dear, such as: Liberty; Justice; Freedom and Courage.
Civic Identity
Some monuments become synonymous with the cities they occupy. To many, the Eiffel Tower symbolises Paris; the Colosseum is Rome. In many cities, their public monuments define their civic identity. Many town governments depict their monuments on banners, city seals, number plates and other official objects.
The Tower of Pisa
In Renaissance Italy, bell towers were erected as symbols of the city’s wealth and prominence. When its construction began in 1174, the Tower of Pisa was intended to be just such a prestigious symbol. However, the ill-fated monument began to list to one side, even before its completion and all subsequent efforts to stabilise its weak foundations have failed. But today, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is the most famous of all the Tuscan Bell Towers, precisely because of its curious angle.
Big Ben
The famous Bell Tower, Big Ben, is dear to the hearts of Londoners and a symbol of that city. The name refers not to the tower itself, but to its largest bell which was cast by Sir Benjamin Hall and weighs over 13.5 tonnes.
Colossal Statues
The Statue of Liberty is the most famous colossal statue since the Colossus of Rhodes. The statue of Colossus was destroyed in an earthquake in the 3rd century B.C.
Mysterious Monuments
Some ancient monuments are a mystery. The Moai Statues on Easter Island were carved out of soft volcanic lava and stand over 9m. No one knows how each 16-tonne stone was moved, or erected. The local people have long forgotten the purpose of these giant stones. The significance of these imposing, compelling images remains unexplained.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge, consisting of giant megaliths in a circle, or cromlech, is orientated towards the Summer solstice. It is not clear how these ancient giant sandstones and bluestones were transported from the quarry site, which is over 200 km away.
The Sphinx
The Sphinx, erected about 2,500 B.C., stands majestically alongside the great Pyramids of Gisa in Egypt. The Sphinx is apparently the oldest colossal structure to survive from the ancient world and depicts a giant hybrid beast with the body of a lion and the face of a man.
Triumphal Arches
The Romans erected triumphal arches throughout their territories to celebrate military victories. Napoleon Bonaparte sought to emulate his ancient predecessors by erecting the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, to stir patriotism at home by symbolising military victories abroad.
Nelson’s Column
Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square in London, stands 44 metres high. It commemorates the great Naval victory of the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805.
The Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China and Hadrian’s Wall are monuments to attempts by civilisation to protect its people and possessions from foreign attack. Built in the 5th century B.C., the Great Wall of China spans 2,414 km across the Asian continent.
Hadrian’s Wall
Hadrian’s Wall, built by the Romans, stretches 129 km, separating England from Scotland.
The Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate was originally erected in Berlin in 1791, as a symbol of peace. For years, it symbolised the Cold War, the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, separating Communist enslaved Eastern Europe from the West, flashpoint of the conflict between totalitarianism and freedom. Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it has again become a symbol of freedom and resistance to oppression.
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, depicts American presidents: George Washington; Thomas Jefferson; Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The granite Mount Rushmore monument depicts 60-foot high faces, some 500-feet above the ground.
Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest relief sculpture in the world, commemorating Southern Leaders, General Stonewall Jackson; Robert E. Lee and President Jefferson Davis. Stone Mountain, completed in 1972, sits 400-feet above the ground and measures 90 by 190-feet.
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
In Berlin, the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche remains as a reminder of the destruction of the bombing of Berlin by the remaining bomb-scarred bell tower standing next to the new cathedral.
Hiroshima’s Peace Park
The Peace Park in Hiroshima, in Japan, commemorates the victims of the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city, 6 August 1945. The shattered Dome of the Hospital which was the epicentre of the A-bomb explosion remains as it was at the time of detonation.
Bethel
In Genesis 28, we read that after Jacob’s encounter with the Lord, he declared: “…How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven!” Genesis 28:17. Then Jacob arose early that morning and took the stone that he had used to rest his head on and set it up as a pillar and anointed it with oil, declaring: “…If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my Father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house and of all that You give me, I will surely give a tenth to You.” Genesis 28:20-22
God Commanded Joshua to Build a Monument
In Joshua 4, we read that, after the people of Israel had crossed the Jordan River, the Lord commanded Joshua to select 12 men, one from every Tribe of Israel, to take up a stone from the midst of the Jordan and to use them to erect a monument close to the River. “that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’…And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:6-7
Jacob’s Well
In John 4, we read of our Lord coming to Sychar, in Samaria, where He witnessed to the woman at Jacob’s Well. It is recorded that: “…our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” John 4:12. That is an acknowledgement that well over 1,800 years later, the people still remembered and acknowledged it as Jacob’s well.
The Voortrekker Monument
The Voortrekker Monument outside Pretoria, 40-metres high, with a base of 40m by 40m. It contains the largest marble frieze in the world. This frieze consists of 27 marble relief panels depicting the history of the Great Trek, the life, struggles and fervent Christian Faith of the Voortrekkers. In many ways the massive marble frieze depicts the vision, journeys, sufferings and achievements of the Voortrekkers, paralleling the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.
The Centrality of God’s Word
The Greek Cross floor plan reflects the fact that the New Testament was revealed in Greek. The centrality of the Word of God is emphasized. The monument’s huge upper dome was designed to draw the visitors’ eye upwards, towards God, who is our Creator, Sovereign Lord and Eternal Judge.
Nature and History
As God communicates in General Revelation through nature and Special Revelation through Scripture, the architect determined to focus on the Word of God and the works of God, both in history and in nature.
The Creation Mandate
The beautiful garden of indigenous flowers, plants and trees surrounding the monument, reflects our duty to fulfil the Cultural Mandate. The 3,4 km² area around the monument was declared a Nature Reserve in 1992. Zebra, Blesbuck, Mountain Reedbuck, Springbuck and Impala flourish in this Nature Reserve.
Duty and Destiny
The Bible presented by the English-speaking 1820 Settlers, to the departing Voortrekkers is prominent in the marble historic frieze, emphasising the importance of the Great Commission. God has placed us at the foot of Africa to take the light of the Gospel of Christ throughout Africa.
Consecration for the Great Commission
From a distance, the Voortrekker Monument resembles an altar, symbolising the Afrikaans peoples’ determination to be consecrated to God, for the fulfilment of the cultural mandate, to care for God’s creation and to develop civilisation in the wilderness and a commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission throughout Africa.
It Is Not the Critic That Counts
Theodore Roosevelt observed: “It is not the critic that counts – nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled; nor whether the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and; who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly. So that his place shall never be where those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
“Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted… Now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition…” 1 Corinthians 10:6,11
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
www.HMSchoolofChristianJournalism.org
Wind Turbines Generate Mountains of Waste by Duggan Flanakin
Blade waste, other factors prove wind is no more green than solar
Duggan Flanakin
Environmentalists and wind energy opportunists (entrepreneurs who take advantage of overly generous tax credits and multiple other subsidies) want you to believe wind energy is as pure “green” as newly driven snow is white, and as cheap as Taco Bell.
They never tell you about the costs – or the environmental destruction – that they have hidden from you for decades. But neither do most governments, news media or social media.
Ars Technica science editor John Timmer says wind hardware prices are dropping, even as new turbine designs are increasing the typical power generated by each turbine. Timmer did admit that “wind is even cheaper at the moment because of a tax credit given to renewable energy generation” [emphasis added]. He cautioned that phasing out the many existing incentives could surely create uncertainties regarding wind’s future cost and dominance. But that’s about it.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2018 Wind Technologies Market Report glowingly stated: “With the support of federal tax incentives, both wind and solar power purchase agreement (PPA) prices are now below the projected cost of burning natural gas in existing gas-fired combined cycle units.”
This is despite the fact that the DOE’s own data show wind’s “capacity factor” (percent of time actually generating electricity at full capability) is only 35%, compared to 57% for natural gas plants and 92% for nuclear. In many locations, huge industrial wind facilities actually generate power well below 30% of the year. On the hottest and coldest days, it’s often close to zero. That’s why nuclear power plants actually produced 20% of U.S. electricity in 2019, despite having only 9% of the nation’s generation capacity.
In addition to being weather-dependent, intermittent and unreliable, wind turbines cover vast areas of land; affect scenic views and local wind flow, temperature and moisture; kill bats and birds of prey, with no penalties under migratory bird or endangered species laws; have relatively short life spans and require massive amounts of raw materials, especially for ocean turbines, compared to coal, gas, hydroelectric or nuclear plants; involve enormous air and water pollution in faraway countries where a lot of the mining, processing and manufacturing are done, before turbine parts are shipped to America; and more.
All this is just ignored. Similarly, you might also be surprised to learn that not a single page of that massive DOE report mentions the term “wind turbine waste.” Nor does the DOE’s Fact Sheet, “Advancing the Growth of the U.S. Wind Industry: Federal Incentives, Funding and Partnership Opportunities.” It’s as if wind turbines never die and never leave anything behind.
Typically, when turbines reach end-of-life, the project owner replaces the old turbines and blades with newer models; only a few companies have chosen total decommissioning and removal. Some states (most recently Texas and North Carolina) and localities have their own standards. But the only federal standards (overseen by the Bureau of Land Management) are for facilities on federal lands.
The DOE fact sheet provides information on four tax credit programs, three loan and grant programs, four sources for R&D grants and cooperative agreements, and five sources for technology deployment grants – plus a number of partnership opportunities with DOE national laboratories.
But it is silent on wind turbine waste, including huge concrete and rebar foundations, and blades that are up to 107 meters (351 feet) long. So are most politicians, wind advocates and wind energy publications. In fact, turbine foundations and blades are generally not recyclable, economically or otherwise.
The volume of wind turbine waste is projected to soar in years to come, with mining and manufacturing waste, service waste, and end-of-life waste the major sources. It is estimate there will be 43 million metric tons just of blade waste worldwide by 2050. China is projected to be responsible for generating 40% of the waste, followed by Europe (25%) and the USA (19%).
London-based Principia Scientific International calls turbine blades “a toxic amalgam of unique composites, fiberglass, epoxy, polyvinyl chloride foam, polyethylene terephthalate foam, balsa wood, and polyurethane coatings. Basically, there is just too much plastic-composite-epoxy crapola that isn’t worth recycling.” Until better methods are found, about landfills are one of the few options.
In the European Union, used blades are cut up and burned in kilns or power plants. But not in the USA.
A separate tractor-trailer is needed to haul each blade to a landfill, and cutting them up requires powerful specialized equipment. With some 8,000 blades a year already being removed from service just in the United States, that’s 32,000 truckloads over the next four years; in a few years, the numbers will be five times higher.
Some wind energy companies cut the huge blades into short sections before sending them to landfills, because most landfills lack cutting tools. Today’s turbine blades are 20% longer and their towers up to 200 feet taller than most of those currently being landfilled.
Turbine disposal costs are upwards of $400,000 apiece. That means $24 billion to dispose of the 60,000 turbines currently in use in the U.S. The cost and the toll on existing landfills will rise as more, longer, heavier blades reach their end of life.
Over the next 20 years, the U.S. alone could have to dispose of 720,000 tons of waste blade material. Yet a 2018 report predicted a 15% drop in U.S. landfill capacity by 2021, with only some 15 years’ capacity remaining. We will have to permit entirely new landfills simply to handle wind turbine waste – on top of mountains of solar and battery waste.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The Locke Foundation cites University of Kansas studies confirming that wind farms create unsafe flying conditions. The rotational force of wind turbines can create extreme turbulence that makes flying dangerous and landing close by nearly impossible. Indeed, a Michigan county bars air ambulances from rescuing citizens living near wind farms, due to safety concerns.
Moreover, generating just today’s U.S. electricity output with wind power could warm continental USA surface temperatures by 0.24o C (0.43o F), with the warming effect strongest at night. This is only a tenth of the warming generated by solar photovoltaic systems, but not insignificant – and the larger the wind farm, the greater the localized warming.
Back in 2013, when turbines were smaller than today, Lafarge North America said it took about 750 cubic yards (2,500,000 pounds) of concrete (plus rebar) to anchor just one wind turbine; Nextera wind admitted to using over 800 metric tons of concrete per smaller turbine. (These figures do not include the significant concrete and asphalt needed to upgrade rural roads to handle heavy turbine components.)
Furthermore, manufacturing concrete is already the third largest emitter of (shudder!) carbon dioxide – after burning coal, oil and natural gas. It also requires nearly a tenth of the world’s industrial water use.
To sum up, wind farms require a lot of carbon dioxide-emitting concrete, steel, aluminum, plastics, rare earths and other materials. They disturb natural air flows. They decimate bird and bat populations, and cause infrasound and light-flicker that impair human health, while generating relatively little electricity at low capacity and high cost. Dead turbine blades overwhelm landfills.
Yet, advocates would have you believe wind is cheap, clean, green, renewable and sustainable. The Green New Deal joke would be funny, if it weren’t so economically and ecologically expensive.
Duggan Flanakin is director of policy research for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org)
‘Climate Arson’ and Other Wildfire Nonsense by Paul Driessen
Real goal is to avoid responsibility for policies, and increase control over energy, lives, property
by Paul Driessen
In what has become an annual summer tragedy, wildfires are again destroying western US forests. Millions of acres and millions of animals have been incinerated, hundreds of homes reduced to ash and rubble, dozens of parents and children killed, and many more people left missing, injured or burned.
Air quality across wide regions and entire states is so bad people are told to stay indoors, where many have hibernated for months because of the coronavirus, but indoor air is also contaminated. Acrid smoke and soot have been carried to Chicago and beyond. Firefighters are profiles in courage, as they battle the blazes for days on end, while all too many politicians are displaying profiles in opportunism.
“If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if more of America is ablaze?” Joe Biden thundered. “Mother Earth is angry,” Nancy Pelosi pontificated. “She’s telling us with hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, fires in the West, that the climate crisis is real.”
Despite finally starting to thin out overgrown forests, California Governor Gavin Newsome resorted to the longstanding party line about his state’s wildfires: Manmade “climate change is real. If you don’t believe in science, come to California and observe it with your own eyes.” Washington Governor Jay Inslee agreed. “These are climate fires,” he said. “And we cannot, and we will not, surrender our state and expose people to have their homes burned down and their lives lost because of climate fires,”
It’s ideological nonsense, intended to deflect blame and avoid responsibility for decades of public policy errors and forest mismanagement – and to justify new laws that would multiply government control over energy, industries, jobs, living standards, lives, property, and freedom to choose where and how we live.
One could argue that people shouldn’t have built homes in and near these forests. That they should have been persuaded or compelled to live in crowded urban areas, where crime, riots and Covid run rampant. But they do live in rural areas – and our politicians, land managers and judges have a duty to implement policies and practices that protect their homes, communities and lives, as well indigenous wildlife.
Perhaps slightly warmer or drier summers have made the wildfires slightly more likely or frequent. But decades of laws, lawsuits, fire suppression policies and forest mismanagement practices have guaranteed the buildup of massive amounts of dead and diseased trees, dry brush and grass, and decaying leaves, needles and debris. With every wet spring spurring plant growth that dries up every dry summer, just one lightning strike, careless camper, gender-revealing pyrotechnic or angry arsonist can ignite an inferno.
Because timber harvesting and thinning have been banned for decades, thousands of scrawny trees grow on acreage that should have just a few hundred full-sized mature trees. As of 2017, tens of billions of scrawny trees mix with 6.3 billion dead trees in 11 Western states; state and federal forests in California alone had over 129 million dead trees. Those numbers have most assuredly skyrocketed since 2017, while steadily increasing dry brush and debris now provide even more tinder for super-heated conflagrations.
Flames in average fires along the ground in managed forests might reach several feet in height and temperatures of 1,472° F (800° C), says Wildfire Today. But under conditions now found in western tinderboxes, flame heights can reach 165 feet (50 meters) or more, and crown fires can generate critter-roasting, soil-baking temperatures that exceed 2192 degrees F (1200 C). Wood bursts into flame at 572 F. Aluminum melts at 1220, silver at 1762, and gold at 1943 degrees F (1064 C)! 2192 degrees is hellish.
Most of this heat goes upward, but super-high temperatures incinerate endangered wildlife – as well as organisms and organic matter in thin western soils that for decades afterward can support only weeds, grass and stunted, spindly trees. Western conflagrations jump fire breaks because these ferocious fires are fueled by the unprecedented increase in combustibles that radical environmentalist policies have created.
These monstrous fires generate their own high winds and even mini tornados that carry burning branches high into the air, to be deposited hundreds of feet away, igniting new fires.
None of this has a thing to do with climate change. To say a 0.1, 0.5 or even 1.0 degree change in average global temperatures would alter these forest fire dynamics defies credibility. To say the monumental fuel buildups in our forests are irrelevant is like claiming a minimally furnished home will burn as easily and ferociously as one filled to the brim with furniture, books, old newspapers and cans of gasoline.
The solution is simple, though expensive and time-consuming at this point. Cut the red tape. Remove some of that fuel, so that fires don’t get so big, hot, powerful, and destructive. Clear wider areas around buildings, homes and communities. Create more, wider fire breaks. Build more roads that let people escape the flames. Send the timber to sawmills, to create jobs and tax revenues, and American lumber for affordable homes. Clear out brush and grass under transmission lines – and upgrade the transmission lines. Bolster rapid-response airborne and ground-based firefighting capabilities.
Up to now, all this has been prohibited, litigated and shut down in states that now have horrific fires. Radical Greens have even blocked cattle grazing that would control grass and brush in national forests.
Still not convinced? Look at recent major fires that petered out when they reached managed forests.
For years, San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation foresters chain-sawed overgrown trees, harvested better timber, improved timber stands, and used controlled, prescribed burns, weed killer and other measures to keep their forests healthy, protect sacred sites, and preserve jobs and wildlife. They even turn scrubby trash trees into particle board and sell it for furniture, as part the tribe’s timber business.
In 2017, the Wallow Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Arizona history, burned 538,000 acres – but fizzled out when it reached the reservation’s well-managed forest. A year later, the Rattlesnake Fire torched more than 20,000 acres in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest – but likewise faded out when it reached the neighboring White Mountain Apache timberlands, which had also been managed responsibly and proactively, using the same management practices that guide San Carlos Apache foresters.
Similar success stories can be found in the most unlikely place: California. For decades, the Southern California Edison electric utility employed selective logging, prescribed burns and other management strategies in its Shaver Lake Forest. This year’s Creek Fire raged through treetops and several hundred thousand acres in the Sierra National Forest. But when it reached the SoCalEd timberlands, it dwindled into a low-intensity surface or ground fire – which doesn’t incinerate big trees and wildlife.
Back in August 2013, the monstrous high-intensity Rim Fire immolated 180,000 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest. Thankfully the National Park Service (NPS) had been employing prescribed burning and other proactive management practices for years in Yosemite National Park next door. When the wildfire reached the park, it turned into a far less destructive surface fire.
The ferocious Rough Fire of 2015 roared through California’s Sequoia and Sierra National Forests, totally torching 150,000 acres. But it too became a ground fire when it reached Sequoia National Park, where the NPS had also used prescribed burns and other good management practices for decades.
A final point. The raging fires in our long mismanaged forests are not natural. They are not what used to burn with regularity through America’s forests. A century of fire suppression and fuel accumulation means they turn into superheated infernos. Manage them properly first. Then let nature work again.
The lesson? Regardless of what Earth’s climate may do – regardless of who or what may be responsible for any fluctuations – we must take responsible, appropriate, effective measures now. Doing so will save habitats, wildlife, homes and human lives today, and tomorrow.
We cannot and must let more megafires incinerate forests and people for decades to come, under an hubristic, misguided, ideological belief that we can eventually end global fossil fuel use and control planetary climate and weather conditions, thereby somehow making monster wildfires a dim memory.
Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of books and articles on energy, environment, climate and human rights issues.
The Weekly Sam: Should Christians Support Education Without God? by Samuel L. Blumenfeld
Back in 1849, when the organized Protestants of Massachusetts
debated whether or not to support the public school movement, which was
then being heavily promoted by the Unitarians, they decided in favor of
support, but with well-expressed conditions. They wrote:
” The benefits of this system, in offering instruction to all, are so many and so great
that its religious deficiencies,–especially since they can be otherwise supplied, do not
seem to be a sufficient reason for abandoning it, and adopting in place of it, a system
of denominational parochial schools ….It is however a great evil to withdraw from the established system of common schools, the interest and influence of the religious part of the community. On the whole, it seems to be the wisest course, at least for the present, to do all in our power to perfect as far as it can be done, not only its intellectual, but also its moral and religious character.
If after a full and faithful experiment, it should at last be seen that fidelity to the
religious interests of our children forbids a further patronage of the system, we can
unite with the Evangelical Christians in the establishment of private schools, in which
more full doctrinal religious instruction may be possible. But, until we are forced to this result, it seems to us desirable that the religious community do all in their power to give an opportunity for a full and fair experiment of the existing system, including not only the common schools, but also the Normal Schools and the Board of Education.”
I don’t believe that any Christian can doubt that there has been a “full
and fair experiment” of public education for the last 150 years and that its
fidelity to the religious interests of Christian children has been proven to be
decidedly negative. In fact, thousands of Christian parents, without
knowledge of what was written in 1849, have already taken their children
out of the public schools and either decided to homeschool them or place
them in Christian schools. Their responsibilities as Christian parents have
led them to make the necessary decision for the sake of their children’s
spiritual wellbeing.
But what is disturbing is that most Christians still patronize a system
that is undermining the religious beliefs of their children. One wonders what
must happen before these parents realize the harm they are doing to their
children by keeping them in the public schools. The simple fact is that the present government education system has as its foundation an anti-Christian philosophy known as secular humanism. All one has to do is read the Humanist Manifestos I and II to confi rm the truth of this assertion. Humanist Manifesto I was written in 1933 by young
Unitarian ministers who believed that the spiritual power of orthodox
religion was in decline and should be replaced by a rational, man-centered,
nontheistic religion. They wrote:
“Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science
makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values ….
Religious humanism considers the complete realization of human personality to be the
end of man’s life and seeks its development and fulfillment in the here and now. .. .
Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the
fulfillment of human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control, and
direction of such associations and institutions with a view to the enhancement of
human life is the purpose and program of humanism. Certainly religious institutions,
their ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and communal activities must be
reconstituted as rapidly as experience allows, in order to function effectively in the
modern world.”
Humanism is the only religion in America that has as its purpose and
program the reconstitution of the institutions, rituals, and ecclesiastical
methods of other religions. This is an overt declaration of war against
Biblical religion. Forty years later, Humanist Manifesto II states:
“As non-theists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. [W]e can
discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species …. No deity will save
us; we must save ourselves.”
In the January/February 1983 issue of The Humanist magazine, a
young scholar by the name of John J. Dunphy expressed exactly what the
aim of humanists is in education:
“I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in
the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the
proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the
spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must
embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for
they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey
humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of educational level-
preschool day care or large state university. The classroom must and will become an
arena of conflict between the old and the new–the rotting corpse of Christianity,
together with its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent
in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy
neighbor’ will finally be achieved.”
The humanist war against Christianity is going on everyday in the
classrooms of America. But the real battle is being fought in the courtrooms
of the nation. In March 1987, U.S. District Judge W. Brevard Hand ruled in
Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County. Alabama that
the public school curriculum was based on the tenets of secular humanism,
and he thereby ordered that humanist textbooks to be removed from the
schools. Five months later this ruling was overturned by the Eleventh
Circuit Court which stated that “none of these books convey a message of
government approval of secular humanism.”
In other words, humanists are free to teach their dogma in the public
schools as long as the government does not convey a message of
approval. But that is the argument used to keep Christianity out. It is said
that the mere inclusion of anything Christian in a public school curriculum
automatically implies government approval. The notion that public schools are neutral when it comes to religion is belied by the strong prejudice against Christianity as openly expressed by such humanists as John Dunphy. What we have is not neutrality but
warfare. Until Christians recognize that the government schools are
establishments of religion, and that education is fundamentally a religious
activity, we shall not be able to deal realistically with our educational crisis.
The message for Christian parents must be loud and clear: putting a
child in a public school violates God’s commandment as given in
Deuteronomy 6 to educate a child in the love and admonition of the Lord.
There is no substitute for a godly education. In place of God, the public
schools offer evolution, sex education, death education, multiculturalism,
transcendental meditation, situational ethics, drug education, and other
forms of humanist teachings. These are the programs that are creating the
new nihilist, amoral barbarians that are devastating the lives of thousands
of parents. There is hardly a Christian family that has not lost a child to the
satanic culture that grows in the public school environment.
If Christians wish to restore America as a nation under God, they shall
have to educate their children in schools that revere Him .•
This article is from the Sam Blumenfeld Archive: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/
The Weekly Sam: Its Not About Race, Stupid, It’s About Ideology by Sam Blumenfeld
(Sam wrote this article before the election of Obama in 2008.)
Considering the fact that millions of white folks in thirty states voted for Barack Obama
instead of Hillary Clinton ought to be proof enough that the American people are no
longer negatively influenced by race when it comes to choosing political leadership.
This is true, regardless of what has come out of the mouth of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He
represents the racist past, while Obama represents the non-racist future.
But what Republicans and conservatives don’t like about Obama is not his race but his
ideology. After all, if Thomas Sowell were running for President, conservatives would
back him to the hilt. The problem with Obama is that he represents the far left ideology
of the Democratic Party, otherwise known as Socialism, the philosophy of government
that advocates bureaucratic control over all aspects of life.
When Obama advocates “unity,” he surely must be aware of the great divide that
separates the two political parties. The Democratic Party is the party of the advanced
Nanny State. The Republican Party is theoretically still the party of limited government,
low taxes, individual freedom, less government regulation of the economy, and
traditional moral principles. Thus, there is no way that the great divide between the two major political parties can be cemented over by talk of “unity.” The existence of the two political parties with
opposing philosophies of government guarantee that we shall be living in an ideologically
divided society for the foreseeable future. Liberals will continue to control the education
of most American children, thus spreading the ideas of Socialism among younger
generations, and conservatives will assert traditional spiritual and moral values by
adherence to the teachings of the Bible and the original intent of the Framers of the U. S.
Constitution.
Homeschoolers, although small in numbers, will have a disproportionate influence on
conservative politics. The astonishing success of Patrick Henry College in getting its
graduates into key positions in Congress, the media, and the judiciary, bodes well for the
future of Christian political purpose
Recent elections have shown that the see-sawing between left and right indicate that
neither political party is going to be able to overwhelmingly impose its philosophy on the
American people. This is all to the good, because it means that no one President, who is
the leader of his party, can become a dictator in a nation as divided as we are. Not even
Bill Clinton could ignore the great divide, and much as she may try, Hillary will not be
able to deliver the kind of “unity” Obama prattles about.
If leftist Obama is elected, we shall see a conservative reaction that will stymie many of
his programs. But, if his victory also brings in full Democratic control of Congress, then
he may, like LBJ in 1965, be able to push through some of his ultra-liberal programs. But
in the next election, we would, no doubt, see a strong resurgence of conservatism.
Just as we have seen that there cannot be a permanent Republican majority in Congress
and the White House as Karl Rove would have liked to achieve, so it is unlikely that we
shall see a permanent Democratic majority controlling Congress. Regardless of what
happens in November 2008, our divided politics will provide a kind of equilibrium
between our warring factions. Our cultural civil war will continue but not become
physical.
Yet, each President is confronted with daunting challenges. All was peace and light for
George Bush until Osama bin Ladin gave us 9/11. We then found ourselves at war with
radical Islam. This was a new kind of war that had to be fought in a new kind of way.
Whether or not you believe that the invasion of Iraq was a good idea, we are now there
and whoever is President will have to deal with that problem. And whatever solution is
adopted, the American people will have to deal with its consequences.
The President of the United States is still considered the most powerful political figure in
the world and the leader of the free world. He projects America’s abiding ideals of
individual freedom, human rights, and benign government. He is also
Commander-in-Chief of the world’s largest and most powerful military force. And all of
that is supported by the largest, richest, and most dynamic economy on the globe.
We may already be in a serious recession. But that’s nothing new. Our economy
expands and contracts according to a whole battery of economic factors. We have a
consumer driven economy dependent on easy consumer credit. Only paper money
churned out by the Federal Reserve’s printing presses can sustain such an economy.
Inherent in such a system is the continued devaluation of the currency.
Who would have ever thought that one day the Canadian dollar would be worth more
than the American buck? These are just some of the things the next President will be
confronted with. We wish him or her good luck!.
The Weekly Sam: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Israel
Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Israel
By Samuel Blumenfeld
What makes Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama think that peace is
possible between Israel and the Palestinians so long as Iran threatens to nuke Israel, is
rearming Hisbullah in Lebanon, and arming Hamas in Gaza, which is still determined to
destroy Israel?
What makes the Obama administration think that the Palestinians want peace when they
propose that Israel no longer maintain itself as a Jewish state and insist that it take in over
three million descendants of the 700,000 Arabs who once lived there? Forgotten are the
800,000 Jews expelled from Muslim countries after the 1948 war.
All the fuss being made by Biden and Clinton over the building of 1,600 new housing
units in Jerusalem is a case of misplaced indignation. Short of Israel committing suicide,
the Palestinians under Abbas are not about to assume the responsibilities of statehood
which would require it to behave like a legitimate sovereign nation. And that is why
they have rejected every offer the Israelis have made in the pursuit of peace.
The Palestinian government is the recipient of world charity which makes it unnecessary
for it to create anything of value. As the recipient of billions in free money, why bother
to work for a living? And as long as there is no peace agreement, they can continue to
launch suicide attacks against Israel at will.
Ever since the Oslo peace process began in 1993, Israel has had to make concession after
concession in the interest of peace. The Palestinians saw this as the successful result of
their intifada waged from 1987 to 1993. Many Israelis saw the Oslo process as the road
to a real peace that would bring untold prosperity to the region.
After President Clinton’s famous Camp David summit in the summer of 2000 between
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Yasir Arafat, Barak offered the Palestinians the
most generous peace terms any Israeli government could ever offer: 88 percent of the
West Bank and most of East Jerusalem. The response? The second intifada of
2001-2002 in which over 1,000 Israelis were killed in terrorist and suicide bomber
attacks.
In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, destroying the homes, farms, and
businesses of over 8,000 Israeli citizens. Did this disengagement bring peace? From the
date of withdrawal to the 2009 war, Gazan terrorists fired about 6,000 rockets and
mortars into Southern Israel. And even after the Gazan war, Hamas is still rearming
with the help of Iran, and Al Qaida has made inroads in the territory.
In September 2008, Prime Minister Olmert offered to withdraw from 94 percent of the
West Bank and create international Muslim control over Jerusalem’s holy sites. This
far-reaching offer was also rejected by the Palestinians.
Israel’s unceasing efforts to achieve peace in order to demonstrate to America that it truly
believes that peace is possible flies in the face of the intransigent realities on the ground.
The simple fact is that more and more Israelis are beginning to acknowledge that peace,
seemingly so near at hand, yet so elusive, is in the long run unachievable. Why?
Because the pre-conditions set by the Palestinians are simply impossible to meet.
Another fact is that despite the absence of peace, Israel has not only survived for 61
years, but has become a high-tech powerhouse, achieved a high standard of living, and
has managed to fare much better than most countries during the world financial crisis.
Yet, sixteen years of piecemeal concessions made under pressure from America and the
Europeans have convinced Israel haters that the Jewish state is quite vulnerable. Thus,
Israel’s yearning for peace and willingness to uproot its own people in Gaza and the
so-called settlements in Judea and Samaria, has encouraged its enemies to go for the
jugular.
And that is why what Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton hotly said in response to the notice
of the building in Jerusalem will provide ammunition to those who claim that it is Israel
that stands in the way of peace. Israel wants to please its American ally, but suicide is
not the most practical way to do it.
It should be noted that Israel now has a population of over 7 million inhabitants, of which
1.5 million are Muslim citizens of Israel, most of whom would object to becoming
citizens of a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, no Jews are permitted to be citizens of
Palestine. So much for a democratic, multicultural Palestinian state. There were even
Israelis in Gaza willing to live under a Palestinian government provided they were not
persecuted by that state.
Why doesn’t the American government insist that the projected Palestinian state permit
Jews to live in it? Unfortunately, the Palestinians would have to stop hating Jews, and
Barack Obama is not about to impose on the Palestinians their Allah-given imperative to
hate and kill Jews
How to Respond to Marxist Bullying Tactics by Dr. Peter Hammond
Resistance is Respected – Weakness is Despised
There is nothing communists respect more than strength. There is nothing they despise more than weakness. Those people who think that they can calm the situation by bowing to the mob, washing their feet, or brushing, or kissing their boots, not only figuratively, but literally, have no idea that all they are doing is greatly aggravating the situation and encouraging the revolutionaries to demand far, far more.
Never Bow to Bullies
In my experience, it is absolutely essential that one never gives Marxist bullies, or mobs, a millimetre. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile.
First-hand Experience
Being brought up in war-torn Rhodesia, experiencing terrorism and revolution, working in communist Angola and Mozambique, being imprisoned in Zambia and Mozambique and in so many other cases I have seen: the more steadfastly and strongly you stand, the better. The moment Marxists sense weakness, fear, or compromise, they smell blood and will only howl for more and escalate their unreasonable demands.
Meeting with Mandela
When I marched 30,000 people to parliament in Cape Town to oppose president Nelson Mandela’s secular state policies, I was summoned to the president’s mansion. The first words Mandela said to me: “So, Mr Hammond, what were you doing during the Years of Struggle?”
My response: “I was fighting people like you, Sir.” He smiled, laughed, stood up and shook my hand again and said: “I’m so glad to meet an honest white man. All the other whites have told me how they always opposed apartheid and actually supported me. I wondered how the National Party had stayed in power for 44 years, when all the while, whites actually opposed the National Party and supported me!”
My response: “Well, make no mistake Mr President, we were not fighting for apartheid, we were fighting against communism and terrorism.”
The Greatest Evil
His response: “Apartheid was the greatest evil in the history of the world…”
My response: “I cannot agree Mr president. That prize must go to your friends and supporters, the communists. They have littered the 20th century with 160 million corpses, not foreign people killed in a time of war, but their own people, killed by their own governments in times of peace. Over 66 million slaughtered under communism in the Soviet Union, over 69 million murdered in Red China. Over two Million killed under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The millions more killed under Mengistu in Ethiopia, under Samora Machel in Mozambique, and Agestino Neto in Angola and under Fidel Castro in Cuba.”
Replacing Apartheid with Abortion
At one point, Nelson Mandela expressed his surprise that we wanted to “restrict the rights of women” by opposing abortion. I responded: “Mr. President you are questioning the Christianity of people who 40 years ago justified apartheid. I tell you, sir, it will not be 40 years from now and people will question your humanity for legalising abortion. You are seeking to replace apartheid with abortion. And abortion is even worse than apartheid. Abortion does not just place the baby on a separate voter’s role and restrict where they can live or swim. Abortion takes the baby’s life. Life begins at conception and abortion is the violent taking of that life. Abortion is the worst type of apartheid, for it separates a baby from its own mother and from its life support, at its most crucial state of development. You are seeking to replace discrimination on the basis of race with discrimination on the basis of age.”
“You May Take your Photos Now…”
At the end of the hour, Nelson Mandela stood up and told us that we could now take our pictures. I did not mean to be rude, but we honestly had not even thought about that: “No thank you,” I said. He turned mouth agape in apparent shock. Perhaps we were the first delegation to meet with him who did not want to have pictures taken with him. I then hastened to add: “But, we would like to pray for you.”
Praying for the President
“No! No! That’s very private and personal.” I pretended not to hear and put a hand on one shoulder while Rev. Soon Zevenster placed his hand on the other shoulder. We prayed that the Lord would not grant Mr. Mandela any peace until he did what he knew what was right, until he introduced legislation for the protection of helpless, innocent babies from the violence and injustice of abortion. I prayed that Mr. Mandela would find peace in Christ by bowing the knee and surrendering to Almighty God to do His will.
Door is Always Open
At the end of our impassioned prayer, I handed over a book from Dr. James Kennedy and Mr. Mandela thanked us and assured us that he was “always responsive” to the “concerns” of our “constituency” and that his “door is always open” should we have any other concerns. (However, the next week senior investigators of his Revenue Service began a seven-year Audit of our mission and family!)
Responding to an ANC Demand for an Apology
On another occasion, in 1995, I was summoned to parliament to give a submission to their subcommittee on their draft publications bill, which effectively legalised pornography and blasphemy. After my submission, during question time, one ANC MP asked me: “Have you ever apologised for what you did in the SADF?” I answered: “You want me to apologise for what I did in the South African Defence Force? I am sorry we did not kill all of you. You were not Freedom fighters, you were terrorists. You did not attack our military bases, you attacked civilians. Black civilians. You burned a thousand Black South Africans with the brutal necklace murder. You planted landmines in dirt roads and killed whole families. You planted landmines in roads leading to schools and killed school children coming in school buses on their way to school. You kidnapped young children from schools and took them across the border to brutalise them and trained them for your terrorist groups, murdering many and raping the girls. You threw hand grenades through windows into Black policemen’s homes at night. You petrol-bombed the homes of Black town councillors. Car bombs, limpet mines, blatant targeting of civilians. You are hypocrites. You speak against racism and then you laugh and applaud and give standing ovations to the worst racist on the planet today, Robert Mugabe, dictator of Zimbabwe. You have no right to ever speak against racism when you so obviously applaud, endorse and enthusiastically practise it. I am sorry we ended the war before thoroughly and completely eradicating all of you communists.”
There was a stunned and awkward silence for a time and then the Chairman said: “Right, let us move to our next point…” and they never brought up the subject again. That is the only way you can deal with Marxists, guilt manipulators, gaslighters, thugs and terrorists.
Observation from the French Revolution
Napoleon observed that he could not believe the foolishness of King Louis XVI in not ordering his men to open fire on the mob. Young Napoleon, seeing the massacre of the king’s Swiss guard, determined that if he ever faced a mob, he would give them “the whiff of grapeshot” – meaning turn the artillery/cannons on them. This is what he did on 5 October 1795 which led to Napoleon becoming a leader in France and then the Emperor.
You Cannot Reason with a Mob
Napoleon Bonaparte was adamant that you cannot reason with a mob. Throughout history, it has been understood that the only way to deal with arsonists and looters is to shoot them. Those who advise police to “stand back,” or “stand down,” during threats to life and property are unravelling the foundations of civilisation. There can be nothing worse than mob rule anarchy.
Understanding the Agenda behind Defund the Police
The BLM plan to “defund the police” does not mean a police-free state. Marxists want control. Their plan is to defund and disarm, disband the organised, professional police force, which is mostly conservative and generally pro-Trump. What they then want to do is have their warlords/gangs replace the existing professional police with BLM and ANTIFA revolutionaries in police uniform. That would then be followed by gun confiscations and we know how that ends.
The Issue is Never the Issue – the Issue is Always the Revolution
The French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Cultural Revolution in China… how many more times must we see this Agenda worked out before people understand that what Curtis Bowers, documented in Agenda – Masters of Deceit is so true: The issue is never the issue, the issue is always the Revolution.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of Faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:10-11, 14-18
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
Flag Day 2020 by Dennis Jamison
The Citizen Sentinels Network has maintained a project, originally deemed the David Project since 2018. Especially, for those readers of faith, the Messages of Light originated as a genuine inspiration from Heavenly Father. It was initiated to bring Light into the dark in this time. At this time in which we celebrate Flag Day, it is appropriate to remember how our nation came to be.
If you consider the messages in our Sunday edition relevant or meaningful and know others who might value them as well, consider yourself a Light mail messenger, please pass this message on to those whom you feel could receive it. Otherwise, please receive it yourselves.
“Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them. Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful. I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” Joshua 1:6-9
Today is Flag Day as well as President Donald Trump’s birthday. Many Americans may not know it is also the birthday of the United States Army, and very few would know it is my youngest son’s birthday who is currently serving in the Middle East. It is quite a day to say the least. But, there are truly many moments in history that this single day binds together. Flag Day started before the nation was born. The U.S. Army was born before our nation was born. And I did not realize that my son was born on the same day as Donald Trump until he announced he was going to run for POTUS. Yet, when Trump announced he was running for POTUS, I was already in full swing support to promote Dr. Ben Carson for president.
It is often strange how the twists and turns of history weave together. The Continental Army in 1775 did not imagine that they would become the U.S. Army; in fact, those brave boys and men who took to arms in and around Boston in 1775 may have never conceived that they would be responsible for the creation of a new nation. The flag of the nation was created only after the commander of the Continental Army insisted that the troops had their own flag. General George Washington was that Commander, and few people at the time would have believed that General Washington would become a president of that new nation, conceived in Liberty. In addition it is highly unlikely that many today believed that Donald Trump would have made such an amazing POTUS. Unfortunately, he has become a lightning rod for all the hate in America.
With this Sunday edition, we celebrate Flag Day, the birth of the U.S. Army, and our president’s birthday. Yet, the times we are living in are more indicative of the times in which the nation was first coming to birth itself. There is a great deal of turmoil in this time, which are significantly very similar in a central theme. And, that theme revolves around the fact that the United States of America was conceived in Liberty. Today, revisionist historians and “Progressives” want to cast serious doubt upon this fact – a fact that has always been contestable, but is absolutely correct.
It is the lies of the Left that contest this fact. Sadly, from the very beginning God’s children have fallen for the lie. And, the result is that God’s children abandon their birthright and inheritance.
As we survey the terrain in this nation today, it does not resemble the nation that the Founders had in their more idealistic minds. In fact, there is a serious danger that Americans have allowed themselves to be lulled into thinking that the U.S.A. would last forever. Ben Franklin would not have agreed as he expressed a bit of his own pessimism when he responded to Mrs. Elizabeth Powel, in answering her query about what kind of government the delegates had given to the people. Dr. Franklin answered: “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Americans have never been closer to losing it than in this time. Much of “keeping it” has to do with how tightly or furiously American citizens will hold on to the “self-evident truths” proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.
On Flag Day 2020, “We the People” are under attack and we are again in a position to affirm and proclaim those self-evident truths. The most fundamental truth is that our precious rights come from God — not governments of men. Men can create any government they may incline themselves to, but without God and God’s blessings, the rights governments institute can also be withdrawn. Consider today that governments of men are in the process of withdrawing true protection of the law to enjoy those precious God-given rights. And will the people allow it? Will they hold on to the self-evident truths? Or, are such truths no longer true?
Flag Day is a celebration of the people’s flag – not so much the government’s flag. Today is also the celebration of the birth of the U.S. Army – which was truly only a common people’s army. If that does not sink in, ask yourself for what nation’s army were they fighting? The United States of America was not actually born until 1783! The Declaration was just a declaration of intent to form a country. It took the War for Independence and many brave people’s lives and sacrifice to establish this Land of the Free. Is this generation capable of holding on to our Republic?
Today, Rachel Toland, the founder of Remnant Rising, offers a realization about this time that she received recently in prayer. It is an important realization and it truly gets to Dr. Franklin’s point. In the speech he made to the delegates urging them to accept the new Constitution, on the last day of the Convention, this is what he said:
In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this constitution with all its faults, if they are
such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no
form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered,
and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years,
and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the
people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being
incapable of any other. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can
obtain, may be able to make a better constitution.
Franklin was prophetic in these words, and it seems we have arrived at the day he considered in his own thought. However, the day he predicted came in the middle of the 1800s. We know it as the American Civil War. The American Dream almost died in that time because of corruption and an outright rejection of America’s founding principles. It is likely that we are on the threshold of another task challenging all true American citizens. In his day, Abraham Lincoln explained the unfinished task that he saw laid before the American people:
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for
which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
I offer an article I wrote on this double or triple day of remembrance and it follows Rachel Toland’s article. We are also providing a link to an article we featured in the Citizen Sentinels
Network news from Lindsey Jensen. It is a most timely article: https://citizensentinelsnetwork.com/editorial/the-decline-of-christian-values-is-a-danger-to-america/
These words are being freely offered and are being sent to you as part of the “David Project.” Please receive this message as a gift from those who care. They are only words that are being offered, freely, but some contain a deep message of faith, or a deeper expression of heart that readers can hopefully receive into their hearts. As it was written: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18 – KJV
May we humble ourselves, seek His face, repent, and turn from wickedness – even if that may mean to become more serious about what was most important to the son of God that he urged all of those who were his followers to put into practice. May we seek to more furiously hold on to the foundation for His kingdom.
“PEACE and WAR”
By Rachel Toland
June 9, 2020
On May 20th, the Lord woke me up at three a.m. and had me read Jeremiah 22-24. Upon reading that, the Lord gave me this.
It’s interesting to note that these protests are in the name of “peace” but there is no peace.
The days of Donald Trump are a preview of what it will be like when the Messiah comes. The enemy will rage and writhe but we must prepare our children and future generations for this: To fear not in the face of intense war. One thousand will fall at our right hand and 10,000 at our other, but it does not come near us. It will look very close, but the hedge of protection that I have placed around you is greater than how close the calamity can come. The shepherds are coming that will dispel fear, discouragement in the battle ahead, for fear and discouragement will be the downfall. You will walk through the valley of the shadow of death but you must know and be able to walk without fear and discouragement.
These shepherds will do this.
They will lead, guide and show you the intents and purposes of My heart. The slippery way is greed of gain, self-righteousness, and selfishness—always needing glory. No longer strengthen the hands of the evil one through slander, bitterness and division; through resentment, fear or dismay. There will not be peace but war—but fear not, for I have overcome the world.
He has found corruption in His house: Falsehood, greedy shepherds leading His beloved flock astray. His anger has come to bring a whirlwind. Fear not you who stand in His counsel and obey His words. My Word is a refiner’s fire to purify. Prophets have prophesied and dreamed dreams for greedy gain. “No more,” says the Lord. I am separating the sheep of my pasture from the world. You will know them by their love for one another not their love for gain or glory. My Word, My identity has been stolen from My people. They no longer know who they are or Who they belong to. The love of glory is too dangerous. It separates you from Me. There are good figs who have been sent into exile for their own good and for their cleansing. And My eyes are on them for good. They go through a foreign land for their good. They will have a heart to know Me and will turn to Me with all their heart. But for the spoiled figs—They will endure the same storm, the same hardships. They will become a mockery and a curse. They will be pursued until they are destroyed, until the land is rid of them, for the land groans under them. Jeremiah 22-24