The Weekly Sam: God Is a Salesman by Sam Blumenfeld

I picked up this little book the other day in a discount bookstore. Intrigued by the title,
God Is a Salesman, I started thumbing through it and came across this thought-provoking
passage.

Success in life and the ability to sell are inexorably bound. Whether you are
moving Chevies off a showroom floor, inspiring others to achieve a goal, or
spreading your philosophy on how best to engage in real estate investing, you
have to sell. You have to educate. You have to influence.
It was enough to get me to buy the book. The author, Mark Stevens, is not only a
fervent believer in God, he is also a very successful marketer who has learned to sell by
emulating The Master. He writes:

“When I say God is a salesman, I mean an influencer,
an educator, and a force that enables us to bridge the gap between what we see and what
may well be the greater truth.”

When I finished reading the book, I realized that we are all salesmen and always selling
something. As a writer, I am constantly selling my ideas to publishers, selling my books
after they’ve been published, selling my knowledge, intelligence, and experience. That
is the essential activity in a free society based on free enterprise. In a communist society
salesmanship is not needed. It is forbidden. You are told what to do, where to work,
and paid the government’s set wage.

Under capitalism, we must sell ourselves when we apply for a job. We get an education
in order to make ourselves saleable. The more saleable the better. Our aim is to earn
money by offering our services to others so that we can support ourselves. And in a free
society we have the choice of earning money by doing something we enjoy. That
requires ingenuity and creativity. Indeed, the fuel of invention is the desire to produce
something new of great value that will make us rich.

The ability of the author to combine God’s standards with human salesmanship is quite a
feat. This is the first book on salesmanship that I found enlightening and instructive
because Stevens elevates the whole concept of selling above the mundane view we have
of salesman as huckster. In other words, the salesman must have vision and the ability
to convey the true value of what he is selling.

He tells of the day he spent with Bill Gates at Microsoft, before Gates had become a
household name: “He waxed poetic about an ideal encapsulated in a vision. His goal of
seeing a computer on every desk in every home and office….There is a genuine analogy
here to religion, which sells us the ability to have meaning in our lives.” He also asked
Gates if he thought much about money. The answer was sharp: “Thinking a lot about
money is the best way to make sure you never earn a great deal of it. Far wiser to focus
on a passion, on something powerful you can do to change peoples’ lives. I have always
believed that the money will then follow.” Profitable advice for young entrepreneurs.
Even the concept of the guarantee is based on the guarantee that God will return our faith
with His eternal love and protection. That is a guarantee that the salesman must emulate
when selling his service or product. In other words, our guarantee must be real and not
conditional. Stevens writes further:

“As we seek to learn from The Master, we should think of why He is adored. It
has nothing to do with a product or service, it is because we believe God is great,
loving, accepting, generous, and moral. None of these attributes are flashy,
trendy, exotic, or expensive. Quite the opposite, they represent the staff of life,
simple goodness and inner beauty that is so rare in our world that when we see it
we are awed by it.”

Since selling is the central economic, social, and spiritual activity in a capitalist society, it
is worth noting that God has played a crucial role in the development of our modern
American civilization. It is that spiritual underpinning that permits human beings to
engage in economic activities that require trust, honesty, and integrity. Before the word
capitalism was invented, the free-market system was called the ”credit system,” whereby
entrepreneurs borrowed money to finance their businesses and paid the money back. It
could also have been called the “trust system,” because that’s what it was all about.
Indeed, the foundation of the free-market system is the concept of private property. That
is why we have a Patent Office, to ensure the private property rights of inventors.

The aim of the Fabian Socialists was the abolition of private property. Today, we have a
federal government that is gobbling up more and more property in the West, depriving
citizens of the productive use of land and resources that can build our prosperity.
The Democrats didn’t even try to sell us their national healthcare program. They simply
rammed it through a Democratic Congress despite overwhelming public opposition.

You cannot sell anything with lies. By lying you are admitting that what you are selling
is either of no value or is indeed harmful.

You cannot sell what will harm your customer, unless you lie about it. The Democrats
were not emulating The Master in selling national healthcare. Socialists are not
salesmen. They are imposers. That is why the message in Mark Stevens’ book is so
important. Salesmanship requires honesty. It requires truth. And a government that
lies to its citizens is a destructive force.

The policies and philosophy of the Democrat Party are in conflict with the principles of a
free-market economy, which requires honest salesmanship. The Democrats have been
trying to sell us socialism and slavery, which the American people are not buying.
Indeed, it is up to Americans to rediscover the importance of honest salesmanship in all
aspects of our lives, including government, based on the principles of The Master
salesman in all of history.

The Blumenfeld Archives  

 

 

Origin of Saint Valentine’s Day – American Minute with Bill Federer

The origin of Saint Valentine’s Day goes back to early Christian history.

 

Today, at a time when governments are increasing their persecution of Christians, it is important to remember that the Church was born into a one-world anti-Christian government – the Roman Empire.
In the Book of Acts 1:8, Jesus told His disciples:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, the word for “witness” in Greek is “martus,” which is the root word for “martyr.”

Eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred, with John boiled in a pot of oil but miraculously surviving and banished to the Island of Patmos.

 

During the first three centuries of Christianity, there were ten major persecutions, along with innumerable smaller ones.
Initially, Romans persecuted Jews and Christians together.
Christians met in catacombs, which were caves carved underground, risking their lives every time they met.
Government agents shut down churches, arrested pastors, sentenced believers to death, even throwing them to the lions in the Colosseum.

 

64-68 A.D.: Emperor Nero blamed fire in Rome on Christians and began first persecution;

 

69-79 A.D.: Emperors Vespasian and Titus persecuted Christians, in addition to destroying the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem;

 

89-96 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Domitian included boiling the Apostle John in oil then banishing him to Patmos, in addition to hunting down and killing descendants of David;

 

108-117 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Trajan;

 

117-138 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Hadrian crushed the Jewish Bar Kokbah Revolt and renamed the Roman province of Judea to Syria Palaestina;

 

161-180 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Marcus Aurelius killed Polycarp, the disciple of John;

 

192-211 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus;

 

235-238 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Maximinus the Thracian;

 

249-251 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Decius;

 

253-260 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Valerian;

 

268-270 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Claudius II Gothicus, during which Saint Valentine was reportedly martyred;

 

274-285 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Aurelian;

 

285-305 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Diocletian, considered the worst of them all, decimating the entire Roman Theban Legion, which had become Christian, in addition to imprisoning Saint Nicholas;

 

305-313 A.D.: Finally, the persecution under Emperor Galerius.

 

Roman soldiers raided meetings and arrested believers, dragging them before corrupt judges, and also confiscated and destroyed Christian writings, scriptures and church records. As a result of this, records of the life of Saint Valentine are scant.

 

What little is known is from the works like Eusebius of Caesarea, c.339 A.D.. and the Martyrologium Hieronymianum – Martyrology of Jerome, compiled around 460-544 A.D.

 

Passio Marii et Marthae, published in the 5th or 6th century includes a story of the martyrdom of Saint Valentine of Rome.

 

St. Valentine is mentioned in the Legenda Sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine in 1260 and in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493.

 

Though several individuals may have had that name, it appears Saint Valentine was either a priest in Rome or a bishop in Terni, central Italy. 

In the third century after Christ, the Roman Empire was being invaded by Goths.
Claudius II defeated the Goths at the Battle of Naissus, driving them across the Danube River, gaining him the additional name “Gothicus, meaning conqueror of the Goths.

 

At the same time, the Plague of Cyprian, probably smallpox, broke out killing at its height 5,000 people a day. So many died that the Roman army was depleted of soldiers.
Claudius needed more soldiers to fight the invading Goths. He believed that men fought better if they were not married, so he banned traditional marriage in the military.

 

Valentine risked the Emperor’s wrath by standing up for traditional marriage, secretly marrying soldiers to their brides.
Rome was also being torn from internal rivalries which continued since the assassination of the previous Emperor Gallienus.

 

Claudius quelled political tensions by requesting the Roman Senate deify Emperor Gallienus, so he would be worshiped along with the other Roman gods.

 

Government mandates were issued forcing citizens to worship them by placing a pinch of incense on a fire before their statues.
It was a simple act, and some Christians caved, but since it clearly “an act of worship,” others chose rather to die in the Colosseum before they would worship anything other than the one true God.
Those who refused worship of the Roman gods were considered “politically incorrect” or “unpatriotic” enemies of the state. They were cancelled and killed.
Emperor Deccan’s persecution intentionally targeted Christians by issuing government mandates and executive orders forcing them to deny their consciences or die.
Roman Governor Pliny the Younger wrote to Emperor Trajan, 111 A.D.:

“I ask them if they are Christians. If they admit it, I repeat the question … threatening capital punishment; if they persist, I sentence them to death.”

Emperor Trajan replied, 112 A.D.:

“If anyone denies that he is a Christian and actually proves it by worshiping our gods, he shall be pardoned as a result of his recantation.”

A pietist movement began of withdrawal from the corrupt society, with some believers living in caves as hermits or joining monasteries.

 

When Claudius II Gothicus demanded that Christians worship pagan idols and statues of deified Emperors, Saint Valentine refused.
The name Valentine is derived from the word “valor,” which means, strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness and personal bravery.
Venerable Bede’s Martyrology, compiled in the 8th century, described St. Valentine being arrested and interrogated by Claudius II Gothicus.
Claudius was impressed with Valentine and tried to convert him to paganism to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Claudius was offended.

 

He had Valentine arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to die.

 

While awaiting execution, he preached to guards and other prisoners.
His jailer, Asterius, asked Saint Valentine to pray for his blind daughter. When she miraculously regained her sight, the jailer converted and was baptized, along with his entire family.

 

Right before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, encouraging her in the faith, signing it, “from your Valentine.”

 

Saint Valentine was beaten with clubs and stones, and when that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on FEBRUARY 14, 269 A.D.

 

I Timothy 4:8: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
I John 4:18 “Perfect love casteth out fear.”
In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius is credited with designating FEBRUARY 14th as “Saint Valentine’s Day.”

 

The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14.

How did St. Valentine’s Day get associated with love?
In the High Middle Ages, circa 1393, Geoffrey Chaucer, called the father of English literature, wrote a poem called Parliament of Foules – Assembly of Fowls, or Birds. “Fowl” is an old word for “bird.”
It it he described how many bird species birds, chose their mates in mid-February:
“For this was Saint Valentine’s day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate.”
He made another mention in the final chapter of The Cantebury Tales:
“The book of the Duchesse; the book of Seint Valentynes day of the Parlement of Briddes – Birds.”

 

The association of birds with fidelity in marital love came about because the majority of bird species are believed to be monogamous.
Many bird species are considered to mate for life, such as varieties of:

 

Swans,
Geese,
Ravens,
Cranes,
Blue Jays,
Owls,
Hawks,
Woodpeckers,
Ospreys,
Raptors,
Puffins,
Pigeons,
Dove,
Penquins, and
Bald Eagles.

 

After elaborate courtships, depending on the species, these birds remain together until one partner dies.
Birds that mate for life often take turns sitting on the eggs, females at night and males during the day. They have offspring that require more extensive care and instruction from parents.

 

These species mate earlier in the season which allows their young more time to develop before the fall and winter seasons of long migrations or harsh winter weather.
After Chaucer’s poems, more references appeared in literature associating Saint Valentine’s Day with courtly love, such as John Donne’s Marriage Song; and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Midsummer Night’s Dream.
This eventually developed into the 18th-century English traditions of presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending St. Valentine’s Day greeting cards.

 

People often sign Valentine cards with X’s and O’s.
Where did this come from?
To answer this, we must go back to Rome. Remember Emperor Diocletian’s terrible persecution?

 

Believers prayed and Diocletian was struck with an intestinal disease so painful he abdicated the throne on May 1, 305 A.D.

 

The next Emperor, Gallerius, continued the persecution and was also struck with an intestinal disease, dying in 311 A.D.

 

Four Roman generals fought it out as to who would be the next emperor.

 

Two were defeated and it came down to Constantine and Maxentius and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD.

 

Reportedly, the day before the battle, Constantine saw the sign of Christ in the sky, put it on his shields and banners, and won the battle. Afterwards he stopped the persecution of Christians.

 

What was the sign of Christ?

 

It is said to be the first two letters of the Greek name for Christ.
Just like we often abbreviate states with the first two letters, Greek abbreviated names with the first two letters.

 

The Greek name for Christ is Xριστό.
The first letter which makes the “ks” sound is written as an “X” and is called “Chi.” The second letter, that makes the “er” sound is written as a “P” and is called “rho.” These two letters were called the “Chi-Rho.”

 

Over the centuries, it got shortened just to the Chi or X. “X” became a common abbreviation for the name Christ.
This is why Christ-mas is abbreviated as X-mas.

 

In Medieval times, the “X” was called the Christ’s Cross, or “Criss-Cross.”
In colonial America, young students were taught the alphabet, but before it was an “X.” Children would begin their recitation of the alphabet with the saying, “May Christ’s cross grant me speed – or success.”
It reminded students that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
One of the colonial school books had the rhyme: “Mortals ne’er shall know —
More than contained of old the Chris’-cross row.”

 

The Christ’s Cross was a form of a written oath. This came down to us as, “put your X here”; or “sign at the X,” or saying, “I swear, cross my heart.”

 

Similar to the ancient practice of swearing upon a Bible, saying “so help me God,” then kissing the Bible, people would sign a document with or next to the Christ’s Cross to swear before God they would keep the agreement, then kiss it to show sincerity. 

 

This is the origin of signing a Valentine’s card with an “X” to express a pledge before God to be faithful, and an “O” to seal the pledge with a kiss of sincerity.
History is intertwined with Valentine’s references:
On February 14, 1688, William and Mary were placed by Parliament on the English throne.

 

On February 14, 1778, John Paul Jones, sailing the USS Ranger, was given a nine-gun salute by French Admiral Lamotte-Picquet. This was the first time the Stars and Stripes flag was formally recognized by a foreign nation.

 

On February 14, 1779, British Captain James Cook is killed in Hawaii.

 

On February 14, 1817, Frederick Douglass, the Republican advisor to President Lincoln, was born a slave on a southern Democrat plantation. He was separated from his mother as a child and only remembers that his mother would call him, “my little valentine,” leading him to assume he was born on Valentine’s Day.

 

On February 14, 1844, John C. Fremont was the first explorer to discover Lake Tahoe. He later became the first Republican candidate for President.

 

On February 14, 1859, Oregon became a state.

 

On February 14, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone.

 

On February 14, 1884, Theodore Roosevelt’s wife and mother died on Valentine’s Day. Depressed, he dropped out of New York politics, left his infant daughter with his sister, and went off to ranch in the Dakotas. He later came back to New York, took his daughter back, remarried and had five more children, then ran for President.

 

On February 14, 1912, Arizona became a state.

 

On February 14, 1929, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre took place during the Prohibition era. Al Capone’s Chicago mob murdered seven members of Bugs Moran’s Irish gang.

 

On February 14, 1949, the first Jewish Knesset meeting was held, with Israel’s first President Chaim Weizmann.

 

Since the Roman persecutions, Christianity has become the most persecuted faith in the world, with over 300 being martyred each day, or one every five minutes, mostly in communist and fundamentalist Islamic countries.
The Center for Studies on New Religions reported that in 2016, 90,000 Christians killed, 30 percent by sharia Islamic terrorists. Several organizations keep track of this, such as Voice of the Martyrs, and SavethePersecutedChristians.org

 

Saint Valentine’s love for Christ and his loving example of heroic valor still inspires believers to follow the scriptures:

 

Matthew 5:44: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.”

 

John 13:35: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

 

I John 4:10 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

 

I John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.”
John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate with acknowledgement.

American Minute with Bill Federer South of the Border: Mexico’s Revolutions & How they pursued former Presidents & their supporters

 

Read American Minute

Beginning with the French Revolution, Napoleon rose to power in Europe.

His soldiers invaded Italy and defeated the Pope’s papal troops in 1796 … continue reading …

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Change to Chains-the 6000 year Quest for Global Control

In 1798, Napoleon’s army captured Rome.

He took Pope Pius VI prisoner, carrying him away to France, where he died in captivity 18 months later.

Napoleon refused to let the Pope’s body be buried for five months, using it to get political concessions.

The new Pope, Pius VII, attended Napoleon’s coronation in Notre Dame Cathedral, December 2, 1804.

In an unprecedented snub, instead of letting the Pope place the crown on his head, Napoleon took the crown off the altar and placed it on his own head.

In 1808, Napoleon’s army again occupied Rome, and annexed many Papal States.

In 1809, he imprisoned Pope Pius VII, who soon became very ill.

Napoleon then clandestinely took him by night to Fontainebleau, France, where he was captive in exile for nearly five years.

Pope Pius VII responded by excommunicating Napoleon.

In the midst of all this, in 1808, Napoleon invaded Catholic Spain in the Peninsular War.

He forced the Spanish King Fernando VII to abdicate the throne and kept him under guard for six years.

Napoleon then put his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne, to rule an empire which included New Spain–Central America and large parts of North and South America.

New Spain had been Catholic for nearly 300 years, since the initial conquest of the Aztecs by Cortés in 1521.

With Joseph Bonaparte as the ruler of Spain, many in New Spain questioned their allegiance to this secular French king on theSpanish throne, put there by his excommunicated brother Napoleon.

In 1808, Simon Bolivar began a revolution against Spain, which led to the independence of Gran Columbia, 1819-1831, consisting of:

  • Venezuela,
  • Colombia (which included Panama),
  • Ecuador,
  • Peru,
  • Bolivia,
  • northern Peru,
  • western Guyana, and
  • northwest Brazil.

In 1810, Mexico’s independence from Spain began when a priest named Miguel Hidalgo gave a speech, “The Cry of Dolores (Sorrows),” to protest Napoleon holding captive Spain’s King Fernando VII.

Hidalgo put the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a banner and rallied 90,000 poor peasant farmers to revolt against the Spanish Viceroy.

 

Hidalgo’s ill-equipped troops inscribed slogans on their flags:

“Long live religion! Long live our most Holy Mother of Guadalupe! Long live America and death to bad government!”

Hidalgo was captured and executed.

He is considered the “Father of the Nation of Mexico” as the movement he began eventually led to Mexico’s independence.

From 1821 to 1857, fifty different governments ruled Mexico.

A repeated act of unstable governments was to destroy previous Presidents and their supporters to prevent them from getting reelected.

Revolts and revolutions in Mexico usually began with class-warfare, where the poor were organized to overthrow the rich,but ended up with the revolutionary leaders themselves grabbing power and becoming new dictators.

George Orwell commented on this cyclical trend where, unless citizens have been trained in morals, virtue and self-control, the revolutions against dictators usually end up with new dictators:

“One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship …

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it.”

From 1810 to 1820, General Agustín de Iturbide fought for the Spanish Monarchy against Hidalgo’s revolutionaries, but then he switched sides to fight against Spain in 1821.

On September 27, 1821, Mexico became officially independent of Spain.

Instead of setting up a constitutional republic, Iturbide made himself Emperor of Mexico.

Following Napoleon’s example, Iturbide placed the crown on his own head in 1822.

Antonio López de Santa Anna, Vicente Guerrero and others conspired against Iturbie and he fled to Britain.

Upon his return, Iturbide was captured and executed.

A pattern in third world politics was for those who newly usurped power to exile, imprison, prosecute, execute or assassinate the country’s former leaders and hunt down their family and supporters.

For a brief time, Mexico was then ruled by a Supreme Executive Power, followed in 1824 by its first President, Guadalupe Victoria.

He was the only Mexican president for the next 30 years who would complete his full term in office.

Manuel Gómez Pedraza won Mexico’s second election, but Vicente Guerrero and Antonio López de Santa Anna staged a coup d’état by bombarding the palace.

Vicente Guerrero became next President in 1829, but was deposed and executed by his Vice-President Bustamante.

President Bustamante was deposed twice and exiled to Europe.

Between 1833 and 1855, the Mexican presidency changed hands at least 36 times, with Antonio López de Santa Anna ruling 11 of those.

Antonio López de Santa Anna, styling himself after Napoleon,finally laid aside Mexico’s Constitution in 1835, dissolved the Congress, and declared himself dictator.

He had previously told the U.S. Minister to Mexico, Joel R. Poinsett, 1824:

“I threw up my cap for liberty with great ardor … but very soon found the folly of it.

A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty.

They do not know what it is, unenlightened as they are … A despotism is the proper government for them.”

Due Mexico’s continual upheaval, in the next few years, others areas of Latin America declared themselves not only independentof Spain, but also independent from Mexico.

After innumerable battles, an area broke away from Mexico,forming the Federal Republic of Central America, 1823-1841, consisting of:

  • Chiapas;
  • Guatemala;
  • El Salvador,
  • Costa Rica,
  • Honduras, and
  • Nicaragua.

European powers, such as England, France, Belgium, and Germany lent money and endeavored to intervene in the unstable conditions of Central America and the Caribbean.

Texas also wanted to break away from Mexico.

Santa Anna decided to brutally crush these sentiments.

Major conflicts in Texas included:

  • Battle of Velasco, June 26, 1832;
  • Battle of Gonzales, October 2, 1835;
  • Battle of Goliad, October 9, 1835;
  • Battle of Concepcion, October 28, 1835;
  • Siege of Béxar ends, December 11, 1835;
  • Battle of the Alamo, February 23-March 6, 1836;
  • Texas Declaration of Independence, March 2, 1836;
  • Goliad Massacre, March 27, 1836;
  • Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836.
In 1836, Texas broke away from Mexico to become its own independent nation, similar to how countries of Central America which had broken away from Mexico eventually became their own independent nations:

  • Nicaragua, 1838;
  • Honduras, 1838;
  • Costa Rica, 1838;
  • Guatemala, 1840; and
  • El Salvador, 1841.

In 1845, Texas decided to join the Union, becoming the 28th U.S. State.

The Mexican-American War began in April 25, 1846.

It ended on February 2, 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe, signed at the altar of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Villa Hidalgo, in present day Mexico City.

For $15 million dollars, coincidentally the same amount paid to France for the Louisiana Purchase, the United States purchased from Mexico 525,000 square miles — the third largest land purchase in history.

The largest land purchase was the Louisiana Purchase of 828,000 square miles from France, and the second largest land purchase was the 586,412 square miles of Alaska from Russia after it lost the Crimean War to Britain.

The land acquired by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo became the U.S. States of:

  • California,
  • Nevada,
  • Utah,

and parts of:

  • Arizona,
  • Texas,
  • Kansas ,
  • Oklahoma,
  • New Mexico,
  • Colorado, and
  • Wyoming.

The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo began:

“In the Name of Almighty God — the United States and the United Mexican States animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war …

have, under the protection of Almighty God, the Author of Peace,arranged, agreed upon, and signed the following Treaty of Peace.”

In contrast to Mexico’s many secular governments, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo guaranteed:

“If … God forbid … war should unhappily break out … they … solemnly pledge … the following rules …

All churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, libraries, and other establishments for charitable and beneficent purposes, shall be respected,

and all persons connected with the same protected in the discharge of their duties, and the pursuit of their vocations …

Done at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the 2nd day of February, in the year of the Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.”

After the Mexican-America War ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Santa Anna consolidated power to ensure his continued rule, but this led to resistance led by Benito Juárez.

In 1853, Juárez had to flee in exile to New Orleans, where he worked in a cigar factory.

In 1854, Benito Juárez plotted the Revolution of Ayutla to oust Santa Anna from being dictator, forcing him to resign in 1855.

This resulted in a power vacuum, and the Catholic Church was caught in the middle.

Beginning in 1521, the Catholic Church in Mexico acted as a conscience of the nation, influencing elite rulers to be considerate of the poor.

The Church, though, did not actively attempt to change the status quo of the top-down political structure.

From the Church’s point of view, if they did seek to bring change, rulers would never allowed Christians into their kingdoms.

From the oppressed people’s point of view, though, it was different.

Since the Church was not standing up to corrupt government, the people considered the Church as co-guilty with the corrupt government for allowing injustice to continue.

Therefore, when Mexico’s revolutions began, those who blamed the Church for being silent retaliated against Church.

In 1856, a War of Reform broke out, confiscating Church property and placing limitations on the Church.

In 1858, after much political maneuvering, Benito Juárez became President.

As a Freemason, he founded the Rito Nacional Mexicano Lodge.

Pope Pius VII, who had excommunicated Napoleon, also excommunicated Freemasons in his 1821 Encyclical Ecclesiam a Jesu-Cristo: “they hold in contempt the Sacraments of the Church.”

Juárez stopped Mexico’s repayment of loans borrowed fromEuropean bankers in Spain, Britain and France, instigating European intervention.

Many in Mexico opposed Juárez.

In 1861, a delegation of Mexican leaders traveled to Europe and asked Maximillian I, the younger brother of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I, to come to Mexico to restore order.

Change to Chains-the 6000 year Quest for Global Control

Meanwhile, in order to get repayment of debts, the French forces of Napoleon III invaded Mexico, suffering a minor unexpected setback at the Battle of Puebla on May 5 — Cinco de Mayo — 1862.

The French quickly recovered and took control of Mexico.

In the United States, the Civil War was taking place during this time.

Concern arose whether the French would funnel military supportfrom Mexico to the Confederacy.

In 1864, Maximillian I finally agreed to the invitation to rule Mexico, arriving with the blessing of Pope Pius IX in 1864, being greeted by an enthusiastic reception.

Maximillian, and his wife, Carlota, proceeded to enact many civil reforms to help the poor.

After the Civil War, the United States Government invoked the Monroe Doctrine, and insisted no European power intervene in the western hemisphere.

The United States pressured Napoleon III to abandon support of Maximillian, which he did by withdrawing all French troops from Mexico.

In 1866, the U.S. began secretly supplying some 30,000 “decommissioned” Civil War rifles to arm Mexican gangs near El Paso del Norte, across the Rio Grande from the Mexican Juarista garrison.

Democrat President Andrew Johnson allegedly had the Army “lose” ammunition, as U.S. General Philip Sheridan recounted in his memoirs, that he supplied arms to Juárez’s forces: “… which we left at convenient places on our side of the river to fall into their hands.”

This increased domestic violence and insurrection in Mexico, which undermined Maximillian’s government.

A more recent example occurred during the Democrat President Obama’s Administration, “Operation Fast and Furious,” reported by Reuters, June 15, 2011:

“Agents told lawmakers … they were instructed to only watch as hundreds of guns were … sent to Mexico …

‘We monitored as they purchased handguns, AK-47 variants and .50 caliber rifles, almost daily at times,’ John Dodson, an ATF special agent in Phoenix, told the committee …

The agents complained they were ordered to break off surveillance of the firearms.”

Benito Juárez, with the threat of the U.S. clandestinely backing him, caused many of Maximilian’s supporters to abandon him.

Juárez captured Maximillian in June of 1967.

European leaders pleaded for Maximillian’s life to be spared, with even French author Victor Hugo sending a telegram.

Benito Juárez refused international pleas and, without a trial, mercilessly had Maximillian shot on June 19, 1867, even displaying his corpse afterwards.

Juárez became Mexico’s 26th President.

Following the example of previous Mexican leaders, Benito Juárez consolidated power to ensure his re-election.

This let to a revolt led by Porfirio Diaz in 1871.

Juárez brutally put down the revolt, but died of a heart attack shortly thereafter.

He was succeeded by Lerdo de Tejada, Mexico’s 27th President.

Lerdo de Tejada was overthrown by Porfirio Diaz.

Diaz was Mexico’s 29th President, for most of the time from 1876 to 1911.

Following the example of previous Mexican leaders, Porfirio Diaz consolidated power to ensure his re-elections.

This let to a revolt led by Francisco Madero in 1911, who was Mexico’s 33rd President.

In the next decade of fighting, millions died as the secular Mexican government attempted to crush the church and censor political dissent.

In 1913, Francisco Madero was murdered in a coup d’etat planned by Victoriano Huerta, who was supported by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson.

Huerta became Mexico’s 35th President, running the country as a military dictatorship.

A civil war soon followed. Huerta arranged for Germany to ship him arms and munitions on the steamer SS Ypiranga, but it was intercepted on April 24, 1914, by a U.S. arms embargo, put in place by President Woodrow Wilson.

Just prior to the start of World War I, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Álvaro Obregón supported Venustiano Carranza in a campaign to overthrow Huerta.

In 1914, Hollywood sent a crew to film the silent movie “The Life of General Villa,” starring Pancho Villa, as he fought from Durango to Mexico City.

Antonio Banderas was cast as Pancho Villa in the 2003 film “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.”

Marlon Brando played Emiliano Zapata in the 1952 movie “Viva Zapata!”

Villa, Zapata, Obregón, and Carranza forced Huerta to resign.

There was a German-infiltrated plan to restore Huerta to power, but it was thwarted. He was arrested and put into a U.S. prison, where he died, possibly from poisoning.

Carranza became Mexico’s 37th President.

Soon, Zapata and Villa turned against Carranza.

 

President Woodrow Wilson at first backed Pancho Villa, but after his raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, Wilson switched to backing Carranza.

Wilson needed Mexican oil for fighting Germany during World War I.

Wilson lifted the arms embargo on Mexico in order to supply arms to Carranza.

Carranza decimated Pancho Villa’s troops at the Battle of Celaya, April 1915.

Villa lost an estimated 4,000 men and 6,000 captured, because Carranza was using advanced World War I barbed wire and machine guns.

Carranza took control of Mexico and had a new constitution written in 1917. He then arranged for the assassination of Zapata.

Carranza, himself, was assassinated in 1920.

Carranza was succeeded by Mexico’s 38th President, Adolfo de la Huerta, not to be confused with the previous 35th President Victoriano Huerta.

He was defeated in the next election by Álvaro Obregón, in 1920, who became Mexico’s 39th President.

Obregón reportedly ordered the death Pancho Villa.

A revolt against Obregón was started by Adolfo de la Huerta, but it was crushed and Huerta fled in exile.

In 1924, Obregón was succeeded by the aggressively anti-christian freemason, Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexico’s 40th President.

He violently closed and confiscated churches, schools, convents, hospitals, seminaries, missions and monasteries.

He controlled the media and censored political dissent.

Calles imposed radical atheist “Calles Laws.” which made it illegal for clerical garb to be worn outside a church, imposed a 5-year prison sentence on pastors who criticized the government, and limited the number of clergy per state.

This began another war, as portrayed in the movie, For Greater Glory: Viva Crista Rey (2012), starring Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, Oscar Isaac, Bruce Greenwood, Rubén Blades, and Peter O’Toole.

This resulted in the Cristero War, 1926-29, where over 90,000 were killed.

Mexico’s priests, ministers, and faithful laity were harassed, arrested and murdered. Catholic women and girls were assaulted and raped.

Obregón was re-elected in 1928, but at a banquet in his honor he was assassinated, allowing Calles to return to power.

Calles was nicknamed “Grand Turk” and “Jefe Máximo”(political chieftain).

He promoted revolutionary socialism, and had Mexico host the Soviet Union’s first embassy in any country.

Calles started Mexico’s PNR party, the predecessor to the PRI party.

President Portes Gil, Mexico’s 41st President, agreed not to enforce the “Calles Laws” but left them on the books.

In 1936, Mexico’s 44th President, Lázaro Cárdenas, deported Calles and repealed the “Calles Laws,” thereby restoring a degree of freedom of religion.

On July 2, 2018, CNN reported:

“Mexico goes to the polls this weekend: 132 politicians have been killed since campaigning began per one count.”

Commenting on why revolutions in other countries are so different from America’s, Californian Ronald Reagan stated of America in 1961:

“In this country of ours, took place the greatest revolution that has ever taken place in world’s history. The only true revolution. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another.”

President Millard Fillmore stated, December 6, 1852:

“Our own free institutions were not the offspring of our Revolution. They existed before.

They were planted in the free charters of self-government under which the English colonies grew up, and our Revolution only freed us from the dominion of a foreign power whose government was at variance with those institutions …

(Other) nations have had no such training for self-government, and every effort to establish it by bloody revolutions has been, and must without that preparation continue to be, a failure.”

Mercy Otis Warren wrote in Observations on the new Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions, 1788:

“Behold the insidious efforts of the partisans of arbitrary power… to lock the strong chains of domestic despotism on a country …

Save us from anarchy on the one hand, and the jaws of tyranny on the other …

It has been observed … that ‘the virtues and vices of a people’ when a revolution happens in their government, are the measure of the liberty or slavery they ought to expect.”

Since America became independent of Britain, and Mexico became independent of Spain, there have been stark contrasts in the health, safety and economic status north and south of the border.

This is most obvious when comparing border cities:

  • San Diego — Tiajuana;
  • El Paso — Juárez;
  • Laredo — Nuevo Laredo;
  • Brownsville — Matamoros;
  • McAllen — Reynosa.

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During the same period of time Mexico has had a dozen of different governments, the United States, other than the Civil War, has had only one.

As both sides of the border have similar climate, geography, plants, and in many cases cultural-racial makeup, reasons for the disparity must lie deeper.

One issue is that Mexico has been subjected to foreign entanglements from countries like Spain, France, Germany, and the United States.

Treaties like GATT and NAFTA led to a devaluing of the Mexican currency which favored multi-national corporations and globalist financial interests at the expense of bankrupting small Mexican farmers and displacing rural populations.

Another issue was highlighted June 27, 2012, when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress for his role in supplying guns to Mexican drug gangs through “Operation Fast and Furious.”

When it was later discovered that some of these guns were used to kill Americans, Holder resigned.

Another developing issue is how fundamentalist Muslims have infiltrated drug gangs, as well as Communist China drug traffick, as evidenced by the  Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023.

Change to Chains-the 6000 year Quest for Global Control

Growing numbers of those entering America across the southern border are OTMs (Other Than Mexicans).

Many come from Islamic countries such as:

  • Afghanistan,
  • Iran,
  • Iraq,
  • Egypt,
  • Pakistan,
  • Yemen,
  • Qatar,
  • Algeria,
  • Somalia,
  • Malaysia,
  • Libya,
  • Eritrea,
  • Indonesia, and
  • Lebanon.

Another concern is China’s growing influence in Latin America, especially with the Panama Canal.

Among the political differences north and south of the border is America’s view of the purpose of government.

The Declaration of Independence explained that government was not to dominate, but rather to secure to each person their Creator-given rights:

“All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights … That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.”

America’s impartial system of rule of law was meant to guarantee there would never be rule by the whims and caprices of a dictator issuing executive orders.

President Millard Fillmore stated December 6, 1852:

“Liberty unregulated by law degenerates into anarchy, which soon becomes the most horrid of all despotisms …

We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children.”

President Ronald Reagan, who had been California’s 33rd Governor, stated in 1983:

“Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible …

The Bible and its teaching helped form the basis for the founding fathers’ abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual ,rights which they found implicit in the Bible’s teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual.”

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The Weekly Sam: America Started with Educational Freedom By Samuel L. Blumenfeld

One of the reasons why the United States of America got off to such a great start is
because we had total educational freedom. When the Constitution was written, there was
already by then a great variety of teaching institutions. The Dames Schools were colonial
preschools in which children were taught the three R’s in preparation for going on to an
academy. The academy was a private school run by an educational entrepreneur. It
prepared students for higher learning or a trade or profession. They were considered the
most appropriate educational institution for a free people. Their responsibility was to the
parents who put their children in the academy.

Home tutoring was also very common in those days. There was no such thing as
“compulsory school attendance.” Parents were free to provide their children with any
fonn of education which met their needs. Children were taught to read and write in the
Dames Schools, which were keenly aware that Biblical literacy was an absolute necessity
in a society based on the teachings of the Bible.

In New England, laws had been passed requiring parents to educate their children. This
spurred the creation of Common Schools throughout the region. Towns hired teachers to
run such schools. Their main function was to prepare the students for future studies in
the colleges. They were owned and operated by the local folks who usually paid the
schoolmasters with commodities rather than money.

The beauty of this high degree of freedom was that education was practical, its
foundation based on reality. Whatever was taught was intended to improve the
knowledge, skills, and aptitUdes of the students. The community’s basic purpose in
education was to pass on to the future generation the knowledge, wisdom, religion and
morals of the previous generation. There was no such thing as religious neutrality. The
United States was a Christian nation and all agreed that children should be inculcated in
the tenets of Christianity. And anyone who went into the education profession knew its
spiritual purposes.

But then the question arises: why did Americans give up educational freedom so early in
their history when its benefits were so obvious? Believe it or not, it had nothing to do
with economics or poor teaching. Literacy was very high and education was available to
everyone. There were even excellent charity schools that provided education for the
children of the poor. There was no need for the government to get involved in education.
.
But in Boston, the government did get involved in establishing the Boston Latin School,
an elite school to prepare students for Harvard. It was funded by the city even though the
parents of the students could easily have paid its costs. But the liberals in Boston were
already looking to government to establish an elite institution separated from the church.
What happened to create this state of mind? It was the rise of the Unitarian heresy at
Harvard among the descendants of the Puritans. Intellectual pride became the spearhead
of religious Liberalism.
T

The Unitarians no longer believed in the Trinity or in the divinity of Christ. If Christ was
divine it was in the sense that we are all divine. But while Christ was considered a great
teacher, he was not considered to be the source of salvation. The Unitarians also rejected
Calvin’s view of man as being innately depraved who needed to be saved by Jesus Christ.
The Unitarians believed that man was basically good, and that all he needed was a good
secular education to achieve moral perfectibility.

And so the Boston Unitarians launched a strong campaign to create government primary
schools in which Calvinist teachings would be eliminated. They were successful because
they learned how to influence the press, control the legislature, and get what they wanted.
As the public school movement grew, the orthodox were in a dilenuna as to whether or
not to support it. In 1849, the orthodox General Association of Massachusetts decided in
favor of support with this very important stipulation. They wrote:
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.

There is no question that the “full and faithful experiment” has been a colossal failure,
and that millions of Christian children have been spiritually harmed. While many parents
have taken their children out of the public schools, and hundreds if not thousands of
church schools have been founded, the vast majority of Christian parents still put their
children in these anti-Christian public schools. In other words, we have still to learn the
lessons of history.

 

MAAFA 21 Black Genocide in the 21st Century

We just uploaded the powerful documentary MAAFA 21 Black Genocide in the 21 Century to our Rumble channel.

“Maafa21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America,” is a documentary film produced by Life Dynamics Inc. that reveals how eugenics and population control has systematically been used to reduce Black births. Maafa is a Swahili word which means “a terrible tragedy,” referring to the time of the middle passage during the slave trade. The “21” in the title refers to the 21st century, because, in reality, the “Maafa” has not ended. It is still being carried out today.

 

                  Movies That You Aren’t Supposed to Watch

Over the years, I have authored articles titled “Books You Aren’t Supposed to Read.”  These are books that the Establishment may not have been outrighted banned but are ignored or panned by Establishment critics.     I will now begin a series of articles, on an irregular basis, concerning movies that the Establishment has ignored or smothered.   All of these movies are available on our Rumble channel-link below. They can also be found on YouTube.  We recommend that the readers not only watch the movies, but let others know of their existence.  Why not host a movie night in your home, church, civic organization, or your local library?

 

                                                                                                     Not Your To Give 1982

This is a short adaptation of the free market essay Sockdolager.      While the story, originally published in the January 1867  Harper’s Magazine,  is historically inaccurate, it is an excellent lesson on the U.S. Constitution and the proper role of government.  It begins with Congressman Davey Crockett discussing among his colleagues the reason why he voted against a bill to offer relief to a widow of a War of 1812 officer.  He recounts an experience he had while on the reelection campaign trail.  He stops by the farm of Horatio Bunce seeking his vote.  Bunce tells Crockett that while he thinks he is well meaning, he violated his oath of office.  Crockett asked him to explain.  Bunce tells Crockett that he gets a newspaper from Washington which reports the votes of Congress, and that Crockett voted to give tax money for victims of a Georgetown fire.  Bunce explains that the money in the U.S. Treasury was for the purpose of running the U.S. government and not to give money to fire victims. While Bunce believes in charity,  he explains that it is not a power granted to Congress in the U.S. Constitution. He explains that if Congress can give money these victims, they can give it to anyone.  Bunce ended with “It’s not yours to give,” Crockett used the archaic word “sockdolager (the original name for the story) to describe his response.   Sockdolager is defined as a forceful blow or a conclusive argument.  He realized that Bunce was right.  He told Bunce that he will be back next week and if Bunce could get some of his neighbors together, he will issue an apology and pledge not to do it again.  Crockett shows up at the Bunce’s and is shocked to see how many people Bunce is able to gather.  Crockett tells the group that Bunce taught him a lesson and that he will not violate his oath again.

How many readers know how their members of Congress vote?  For those who have no idea, please visit the Freedom Index www.thenewamericxan.org/freedomindex

 

                                                  A More perfect Union America Becomes A Nation 1989

 

Produced by Brigham Young University, the movie is a dramatization of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.  While the actors are not household names, the film does an excellent job recounting the story of how our Constitution came about.  The film focuses mainly on  James Madison, the Father of the Constitution. He knew that George Washington’s mere presence would give the convention the legitimacy and support it needed.  He referred to Washington as “the indispensable man.” Washington was initially reluctant,  but not only did he attend, he was the president of the Convention.   The movie focuses on the disagreements, arguments, and compromise between the delegates, but in the end, they gave us the greatest man-made document for the governing of free people the world has ever seen.  The film does an excellent job depicting the distinct personalities of the delegates.

                                                                                    Brotherhood of the Bell 1970

 This was a made for TV movie with an excellent cast including Glenn Ford, Dean Jaegar, Will Geer,  Rosemary Forsythe, and William Conrad.  It is the unofficial story of the Skull and Bones, the secretive and, some believe satanic organization based at Yale University.  Both John Kerry and George W. Bush are members.

The first scene has Professor Andrew Patterson, played by Glenn Ford  and his fellow Bell members initiating a new member-Phil Dunning played by Robert Pine at the fictional College of Saint George in San Francisco.   After the initiation ceremony, Dean Jagger, who plays Chad Harmon, a financier gives Andy an assignment-his due bill.”   The assignment is to convince Patterson’s friend and colleague Dr. Constance Horvathy, played by Eduard Franz, not to take a position that the Bell wants for one of its own.  If he refuses, the Bell will turn over a list of names of anti-communists from his country of origin leading to arrests and certain death.  Horvathy, feeling betrayed by his friend, commits suicide.  Patterson, full of grief and remorse, is determined to expose the Bell.  He goes to the media and tells his story of this secretive organization.   Members of the media interview Harmon who dismisses and ridicules the accusations of the Bell’s power and influence. Shortly after the interview,  Patterson  is informed that his department at the university has been defunded, and he is out of a job.

Patterson goes to his influential father-in-law Harry Masters, played by Maurice Evans,  who offers to help.  He arranged a meeting with what Patterson thinks is an FBI agent but is actually a Bell member.  The agent asks Patterson for the list of names that would have been used to blackmail Horvathy.  He gladly turns them over, giving the only hard evidence he had against the Bell. He realizes his father-in-law is gaslighting him after Masters denies to his daughter and Paterson’s wife. Played by Rosemary Forsyth that he ever set up any meeting with the F.B.I.   Patterson’s father, played by Will Geer, a successful contractor, learns that the IRS has found some fraudulent returns.   He dies from a heart attack after confronting Masters.  Patterson’s wife ends up leaving him.   Out of desperation, he contacts Bart Harris, a bombastic T.V. talk show host played by William Conrad.    Conrad humiliates and ridicules Patterson on the show.  Patterson assaults Bart on air and is arrested.

All looks hopeless until his former boss bails him out and tells Patterson that he believes his story.  He encourages Patterson to  reach out to the young initiate who agrees to help him expose the Bell.  While the movie doesn’t go into the ideology of the Brotherhood of the Bell, it demonstrates how ruthless and powerful it is.

 

                                                                                 Tomorrow’s Children 1934

This movie was an expose of eugenics and forced sterilization. The movie was banned in a number of states.  Eugenics and forced sterilization, practiced in 31 states and Washington, D.C, were policies of the so-called American Progressives. Led by the likes of racist Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, they were eagerly implemented by the Nazis-a dirty secret that the Left has done an excellent job concealing.    These two evils fell into disfavor after the world learned of the crimes of the Nazis.

The movie features the Mason family .  The parents are lazy drunks. Their children with the exception of Alice, played by Diane Sinclair, who was adopted, are physically and mentally disabled. An older brother is in jail.  The family members, being prime candidates for sterilization, are visited by a  county official who gives them the options of sterilization or lose their welfare benefits.   Alice escapes from the house to avoid the sterilization.  She is soon captured and brought to the hospital to have the procedure.  A sympathetic doctor, Dr. Brooks and Alice’s fiancé, unsuccessfully tries to get an injunction.  Within seconds before  Alice undergoing the sterilization, Father O’Brien, played by Crane Wilbur who also directs the movie, is able to prove that Alice is not part of the Mason bloodline and is saved from sterilization.

                                                                                  Gaslight 1940

 

 

This movie doesn’t expose a secret society or government cover-ups and wrongdoing, but this is the movie where the word gaslighting was made popular

Gaslighting is manipulating an individual or group using psychological methods into questioning their own sanity, memory, or powers of reasoning.  A few examples:  “The Southern border is secure.” “Inflation is under control.”  “The world is a peaceful place thanks to the Biden administration’s policies.”

There is a 1944 American version , but I prefer this version that takes place in Victorian England where gaslights were in common use.  The movie begins in the home of an elderly lady whose house is being ransacked by a man who was searching for valuable jewelry.  He murders the lady and continues to ransack the house but never finds the jewelry.  The house is vacant for a number of years until  newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move in.  Bella, played by Diana Wynyard, seems to be misplacing objects and Paul, played by Anton Walbrook tries to convince his wife that she is losing her sanity. It was Paul who was deliberately hiding the objects.  He has an affair with the maid and wants to institutionalize his wife.  A retired detective who investigated the original murder case in the house suspects Paul.

There are two floors upstairs that are closed off.  Paul believes that the valuable jewelry may be hidden somewhere in these floors. . When entering the upstairs rooms, he turns on the gaslight, dimming the lights in the downstairs rooms.  Bella observes the dimming gaslights, and Paul tells her that she is imagining it.  He is eventually arrested for the murder of the elderly women.

All of the above movies are available on our Rumble channel                       https://rumble.com/account/content?type=all

Have a movie to recommend?  Send me an E-mail campconstitutiuon1@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Null and void? If President Biden didn’t comprehend what he was doing, are his laws, orders and regs valid?

Null and void?

If President Biden didn’t comprehend what he was doing, are his laws, orders and regs valid?

Paul Driessen

Laws in every state govern wills and the transfer of estates and property upon a testator’s death. For example, Virginia statutes provide that “any individual may make a will,” except testators who are unemancipated minors or “of unsound mind.”

Unsound mind generally means not having mastery of one’s mental faculties, which could include being enfeebled enough that the testator is easily subject to improper influence by others, especially someone who would benefit from provisions of the will.

Virginia law considers someone to be of unsound mind if his or her cognitive capacity is totally impaired, meaning the person is incapable of acting rationally or understanding conversations, instructions or decisions. In other jurisdictions, impairment may not have to be “total.” Wills executed by such persons are rendered invalid, null and void.

How might these guidelines apply in other circumstances – decisions by President Biden, for instance?

Joe Biden’s declining mental and physical capabilities were apparent to many even before his election and inauguration. His Delaware basement campaign, to avoid awkward encounters with reporters and citizens, raised many questions. During his presidency, family, White House staff, legacy media, Democrats in Congress and others worked hard to hide, obfuscate, defend and excuse his infirmities, even as they became harder to deny.

Millions wondered just when President Biden became cognitively incapable of leading the United States and Free World. His inability became so obvious during the June 2024 Biden-Trump debate that Democrat Party leaders pushed the 46th president out of the race. But what about before that?

An article published shortly before President Trump’s 2025 inauguration revealed that House Speaker Mike Johnson knew Mr. Biden was no longer “in charge” of the White House, presidency or country long before his cognitive incapacities were finally acknowledged by those whose jobs, prestige or political agendas depended on him being “the best Biden ever.”

During a January 2024 Oval Office meeting with President Biden, the Speaker particularly wanted to discuss a Biden Executive Order that blocked liquefied natural gas exports to Europe. Russia’s war with Ukraine, the likelihood of renewed European dependence on Russian gas if US LNG exports were terminated, and the extent that would enrich Putin’s war machine made this a serious national security issue. Johnson wanted to know WHY Biden had signed the EO just weeks earlier.

“I didn’t do that,” Biden insisted. But in fact, he had.

Johnson suggested that Biden’s staff print the EO, so that the two of them could read it together. Biden finally, but vaguely, acknowledged signing the order. But as PJ Media columnist Matt Margolis noted, it soon “became evident that the President had no grasp” of actually having signed the EO, or of the implications of having done so.

“I thought, we’re in serious trouble. Who is running the country?” Margolis quoted Johnson. “I don’t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know,” either, Johnson added.

“This exchange underscores a chilling reality,” Margolis wrote. We had a president who not only was “struggling to remember critical decisions” but was also “unable to engage fully in high-stakes discussions with national security implications.” Biden was clearly “not fully in charge.”

When did that incapacity actually set in? And what does that imply for dozens, perhaps hundreds, of executive actions, regulatory sign-offs and presidential signatures enacting legislation into law?

Are they still valid? Or have some (or many) been rendered null and void, because President Biden was no longer in control of his mental faculties? Or because he was enfeebled enough that he was subject to improper influence by staffers who were pursuing agendas even more radical than the president would have agreed to, had he actually been “in charge,” including staffers who might benefit from certain presidential decisions?

Executive Orders can be reversed by EOs signed by a successor president. President Trump did that with a flurry of signatures during his first week in office. Formal rulemakings must go through a more lengthy  and thorough process but can still be undone or rewritten by another administration.

That will certainly be the case with the Obama EPA’s “Endangerment Finding,” declaring that plant-fertilizing, planetary-life-giving carbon dioxide “endangers human health and welfare.”

\However, the Biden Administration promulgated 3,248 final rules and regulations – a record 107,262 Federal Register pages. They reflect President Biden’s determination to exert federal control over nearly every aspect of climate change, “equity and social justice,” economic and environmental issues, and our daily lives – including “efficiency” rules for cars, stoves, dishwashers, furnaces and water heaters.

Many of these rulemakings will undoubtedly be examined and reversed under the Congressional Review Act. Others will fall outside its purview and require more than Trump Executive Orders.

And what about Biden’s pardons, many of them murderers and hardened criminals; others convicted offenders like his son; still others people who haven’t yet been charged or convicted of crimes but were given preemptive pardons, in case prosecutors later decide no one should be above the law?

Still more complicated will be legislation, such as the multi-trillion-dollar, pork-laden, Green-New-Deal-subsidizing Inflation Reduction Act, the $1-trillion infrastructure law, the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and many others signed by Mr. Biden.

If they merit revision or recission, must Congress and President Trump go through an entire legislative process – and overcome almost certain Democrat “resistance” – to change or cancel them?

Or do some of these Biden Era laws (and regulations and pardons) fall within the parameters of a wills and estates “unsound mind” analog? If so, at what point was President Biden too cognitively impaired to know what he was agreeing to or signing? Who makes that determination, and on what basis?

It’s definitely a case of first impression, and the outcomes are far from easy, ensured or predictable. But it’s also another way for President Trump and Republicans to reexamine extreme Biden Era decisions.

I went to law school, was licensed in two states, practiced mostly legislative and regulatory law, even wrote a couple of Supreme Court briefs. But mostly I’ve been a policy wonk – pondering, developing, promoting, opposing, and implementing or rejecting public policies.

The Biden cognitive issue reminds me of humorist Will Rogers’ answer to the threat of World War I German U-boats that were savaging Allied shipping. Rogers proposed that the US Navy “heat the Atlantic Ocean to the boiling point. Then, when the ocean gets too hot for them German subs to stay underwater, they’ll have to come to the surface” and we can “pick ‘em off one by one.”

Of course, he averred, some admirals were likely to ask how they were supposed to boil the ocean. Rogers had an answer. “I leave that to the technicians. Myself, I’m a policy man.”

Like Will Rogers, I’m just presenting policy ideas. It’s up to President Trump, Congress, courts and neuropsychologists to figure out how to implement them.

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.

Contact me: pkdriessen@gmail.com

The Weekly Sam: Making Creative Use of YouTube By Samuel L. Blumenfeld

I recently discovered YouTube, this incredibly fascinating Web site that shows hundreds of
thousands of video clips from all over the world, produced by ordinary people. Launched in
May 2005 by two young geeks, Steven Chen and Chad Hurley, the site now pumps out over 100
million short video clips—ranging from 1 to 30 minutes or more—and takes in as many as
65,000 new ones every day. It draws more than 34 million viewers a month. I assume it must
be a favorite site with homeschoolers, since many of them have produced a great variety of
video clips. Take a look and add one of your own.

According to Forbes magazine (10/16/06), Steven Chen, born in Taiwan, studied at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Hurley was a design major at Indiana University
of Pennsylvania at Indiana, Pennsylvania. They met at Paypal, the online payment site acquired
by Ebay in 2002, and formed a partnership to launch YouTube.
They conceived of YouTube after experiencing frustration when they tried to swap, online,
video clips from a party they had attended. Their aim was to keep the site simple enough so
that amateurs could use it. They used their credit cards to finance the scheme, until the site
grew so big that they had to seek financing from venture capitalists. They were able to raise
$3.5 million from Sequoia Capital.

The great potential for profit will not come from those who submit video clips, but from
advertisers. But how do you insert advertising in YouTube? That’s where the creativity of
YouTube’s founders have come into play.

But for homeschoolers with camcorders, YouTube provides a wonderful way to reach
thousands of people—homeschoolers and others around the world at practically no cost.
That’s how Ron Paul reached thousands of potential contributors. YouTube is also a wonderful
way to take a trip around the world. Just type in the name of any city or country on the globe
and someone will have sent in a video clip about that place.
There are many video clips on Global Warming from different points of view. You can make up
your own mind. Or write in Havana, Cuba, to get a glimpse of what it’s like in the Communist
dominated city. I got a great kick watching a wonderful half-hour interview of journalist Mark
Steyn at UC Berkeley.

If you are a lover of classical music, you can watch the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra play
Holst’s spine-tingling Jupiter led by an emotional Japanese conductor, or watch exuberant
Leonard Bernstein conduct Tchaikovsky and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, or watch aging Sir
Edward Elgar conduct Pomp and Circumstance. And you can actually watch the great
performance of the legendary Jacqueline du Pre playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with young
conductor Daniel Barenboim leading the orchestra. What an incredible treat! The musical clips
alone are a tremendous source of great entertainment. Of course, don’t expect high definition
TV from some of these old clips.

There are also many fascinating clips on religion: Christopher Hitchens in debate with Denesh
D’Souza on the existence of God; Hitchens addressing the Atheist Alliance conference; a brief
interview with 84-year-old Antony Flew, atheist convert to deism; stories of Muslims converted
to Christianity (Muslims4Jesus).
One can easily spend hours browsing among the thousands of video clips. The clips note their
running times and the number of viewers who’ve seen them, plus viewers’ comments. Anyone
can join and start sending in clips. You can start as amateurishly as you’re likely to be, and
develop better technique in future endeavors.

“Video democracy is here,” Chad Hurley says, “and falling costs of transmission and a growing
audience eager for the offbeat have empowered anyone with a laptop to create, review or alter
almost any piece of digital entertainment in competition with the big guys. Hollywood will
always bring great content,” he adds, “but amateurs can create something just as interesting—
and do it in two minutes.”

Once homeschoolers know that you are on YouTube, you’ll draw more and more viewers. So
make your videos interesting and relevant. Do a video of a homeschool convention in your
area. Or show off the sights in your home town. Or interview an author or politician. Why not
show off your favorite hobby?

YouTube is also an incomparably fascinating source of information. Take advantage of it, and
get on the high-techie road to video creativity.

(The above article was written about 15 years ago.  YouTube is an excellent source of information.  Camp Constitution has a channel with close to 17k subscribers, over 1,500 videos and close to two million views.  We have many videos of Sam Blumenfeld.  Please subscribe and share our content:  https://www.youtube.com/@CampConstitution

American Groomer: An Interview with Elena Barbera

 

Camp Constitution’s Hal Shurtleff had the opportunity to interview Elena Barbera, producer of the powerful documentary American Groomer.   In this short call to action documentary, Elena goes into the history of groomers, and who funds them from Alfred Kinsey to the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) to today’s groomers who have access to promote their perversion in many of our nation’s schools.   From her website:

American Groomer is a documentary revealing the disturbing truth about sexualization of children in American schools.

The average citizen is totally unaware of the societal, physical, emotional, and behavioral dangers of this appalling, astonishing fetish.

Kids are being introduced to kink, taught incomplete science behind STDs, and are being encouraged to make dangerous choices.

And in the majority of states, it’s perfectly legal to show your kids the filthiest porn available in school. Yes, really.

Please join our mailing list below for behind-the-scenes updates on filming, release dates, and more.

Produced by Elena Barbera (of SonnyFaz and Elena The Based Mother on YouTube and Rumble).

https://americangroomerfilm.com

(A link to an audio version of the interview:  https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2025-01-31T15_26_38-08_00      

We encourage readers to host showings of this documentary.

Mine, baby, mine! Western and Alaskan mineral exploration is key to American defense, security and resurgence



President Trump is determined to make America not just energy self-sufficient, but energy dominant. The USA already produces more oil and gas than any other nation, and he intends to unleash its full potential – for energy and for petrochemical feedstocks for 6,000+ pharmaceutical, plastic, paint, fabric, cosmetic and other products. As he puts it, “Drill, baby, drill!”

Abundant, reliable, affordable energy is the lifeblood of modern industrial societies. But they also need hundreds of metals and minerals, because nothing can be manufactured or grown, and no wells can be drilled, without them. That’s why the President has also launched similar initiatives for those treasure troves in Alaska and the Lower 48.

That call to action is “Mine, baby, mine!” and before that “Explore, baby, explore!”

The Stone Age didn’t end because our ancestors ran out of stones, nor the Bronze Age because they exhausted copper supplies. They ended because societies needed weapons and goods that were better, stronger, more durable – and innovators discovered iron substitutes, iron deposits and techniques for converting ores into finished products.

Indeed, every technological transformation throughout history required finding and mining previously unknown and unneeded metal and mineral deposits that suddenly became essential for progress.

Trump-47’s Executive Orders for drilling and mining – and ending offshore wind, Green New Deal and electric vehicle mandates, subsidies and programs – will dramatically reduce the need for millions of tons of copper, steel, cobalt, lithium, rare earths and other materials. However, they won’t end that need.

But now America can simply build more coal, gas and nuclear power plants – instead of 10,000 wind turbines and 10,000,000 solar panels, backed up by fossil-fuel generators … or huge battery warehouses like the one that recently became yet another conflagration in California.

However, today’s rapidly evolving server, artificial intelligence, aerospace, military and other technologies still mean we must find and produce materials that almost no one ever mined or even heard of until recently: rare earth elements, cobalt, lithium and scores of other critical strategic minerals.

China controls 60% of global rare earths production and processes 90% of it – including ores mined in the USA and other countries. It also controls cobalt and lithium production and processing, and almost all the processed graphite used in lithium-ion batteries for cell phones, EVs and grid-scale backup batteries.

That means the United States is dependent on this adversarial nation for numerous technologies; even Navy SEAL equipment requires 20+ minerals that are at least 50% imported, many from China.

This untenable situation was underscored last December, when China severely restricted exports of antimony, gallium and germanium, especially to the United States, because they are essential for both civilian and military technologies. The Middle Kingdom could block many more such exports, using exports as a weapon of diplomacy, extortion or war.

The situation makes no geologic sense either. The plate tectonic and geologic history of Alaska and the western states in particular have blessed America with countless, often enormous deposits of metals and minerals across the periodic table of elements. Some are well-known, while others have yet to be discovered, mapped or developed to serve changing, growing and increasingly strategic needs.

Even the 1964 Wilderness Act recognized this. Section 2 permits prospecting to gather information about mineral resources and requires “planned, recurring” mineral surveys, if those activities are conducted in a manner consistent with preserving “the wilderness environment.” There is no “end” date for this work.

Section 3 permitted mining claims and mineral leasing, exploration, drilling, roads, production, mechanized equipment, and other necessary operations and facilities, until midnight December 31, 1983. The only stipulation was that disturbed areas be reclaimed and restored “as near as practicable,” once mineral extraction had ceased.

However, federal bureaucrats ignored this clear language and stalled, stymied or prohibited all requests for permits to conduct such work, including recurring government mineral surveys and assessments.

Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Rupert Cutler’s comment to me in 1978 encapsulates their attitude, then and now. “I don’t think Congress should have enacted that provision,” he said. “But Congress did enact it, and you are obligated by your oath of office to follow the law the way it was written, not the way you think it should have been written,” I responded. Dr. Cutler simply walked away.

Successive generations of federal land managers – in consort with preservationists, courts, presidents and legislators – have banned or severely restricted even minimally intrusive exploration in huge wilderness, wilderness study, wildlife refuge, Antiquities Act, and even undesignated forests, deserts and grasslands –  regardless of critical national needs or clear legislative language.

National parks should be off-limits. In most cases, these other lands should not.

By 1994, when I helped prepare perhaps the last detailed analysis, mineral exploration and development had been banned in federal land areas equal to Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming combined. That’s 420 million acres – 19% of the USA; 66% of all federal/public lands.

It’s gotten “progressively” worse, even though processes unleashed by plate tectonics, volcanism and other forces created some of the most highly mineralized deposits in North America, and the world.

State and local legislators, regulators, judges and activists have treated non-federal lands the same way. Even world-class deposits have been deep-sixed, often on questionable grounds.

This cannot continue. These areas must be surveyed and explored by government agencies and private companies. Vital and high-quality deposits must be made available for mining, under sound environmental principles, to meet the requirements of current and future generations.

Failure to do so violates the most fundamental principles of national defense, national security, responsible government and societal need.

Alaska’s Pebble Mine prospect has an estimated 55 million tons of copper ore, 3.3 billion tons of molybdenum, plus other metals needed for wind turbines, solar panels, EVs and other technologies; yet Biden’s EPA rejected permit applications even before mining plans were submitted. Other world-class Alaskan deposits of copper, cobalt, zinc, titanium, gold, silver, zinc and other metals also sit in limbo.

PEBBLE PROSPECT — Photos from around the Pebble Prospect Alaska

taken in March 2008.


Biden officials also reversed mining permits for the world’s largest copper-nickel deposit, in Minnesota, and President Biden himself banned all mining in 225,000 acres of the state’s Iron Range.

The fate of the Kings Mountain lithium deposit (possibly 5,000,000 tons of Li) in North Carolina is likewise uncertain, as is that of many other excellent prospects, even though modern US laws and technologies would ensure far better environmental practices than elsewhere worldwide.

Some concerns are certainly valid, others exaggerated, still others reflective of a determination to block mining anywhere in the USA, or even de-develop and de-industrialize America and the West.

However, environmental and other considerations must always be balanced against needs for critical metals, minerals and energy to sustain modern societies and living standards. Making America Great Again – and responding to today’s national security threats and needs – requires changing federal and state perspectives, policies and laws to recognize this. It’s a simple matter of reality and common sense.

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. 

Contact me: pkdriessen@gmail.com