A WordPress Blog-THE CHURCH MILITANT Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse. ALL CONTENT FROM HTTPS://RATHEREXPOSETHEM.BLOGSPOT.COM MOVED TO THIS NEW BLOG, MAY 2020
Matt Gaetz Launches An All-Out Assault On Kevin McCarthy's Time As Speaker
In remarks from the House floor, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) ripped into Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) moments after the latter announced an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Gaetz excoriated the Speaker for not upholding his agreement that won him the chair in a chaotic bid for the speakership.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: A 'corrupt criminal' is leading the government
Washington Gun Law President, William Kirk, answers one of the most common questions we've received here in the last couple of days as we have covered the grotesque incursion into individual liberties as Governor Michelle Lujan Griffin has suspended the Constitutional Rights of hundreds of thousands of her citizens because she believes she knows how to keep her communities safe. Can she be impeached? How is it done in New Mexico? Well, we actually just read the New Mexico state constitution so that we talk about all of that and much, much more so that we can arm ourselves with education.
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
The Daily Signal recognized a pattern last year with the Biden administration, and rightly termed it as an “outrageous betrayal” of Nigeria’s persecuted Christians when “religious freedom designations were declared” and “Nigeria once again was entirely ignored by Biden and company.” Genocide Watch has reported that in Nigeria, more than 6,000 Christians were killed in the 15 months from January 2021 through March 2022, and 45,644 died in the course of 13 years.
Joe Biden has now done it again. He has “reaffirmed his commitment to the longstanding relationship between the country and Nigeria……Africa’s largest democracy,” and has boasted of “the longstanding friendship between our two countries and peoples.”
Nigeria is technically a democracy, but it is a country in crisis, where Christians are suffering under the jihadist threat and the proliferation of jihad activity, and where revolutionary secessionist groups in the southeast create upheaval. It is hardly deserving of a pat on the back from Biden. His continued slap in the face to the Christians in Nigeria and complete exoneration of Nigeria’s government for any responsibility for the nation’s jihad problem is just another indication of Biden’s callousness toward Christians. But that should come as no surprise. A few months ago, Fox News reported that “anti-Christian hostility” is at “unprecedented levels” under Biden.
“Biden re-affirms commitment to U.S-Nigeria relationship — Nigeria,” by Oluyemi Ogunseyin, The Guardian Nigeria, September 10, 2023:
United States President Joe Biden has reaffirmed his commitment to the longstanding relationship between the country and Nigeria.
This was stated in a statement released by the White House following Biden’s encounter with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, on Sunday.
“President Joe Biden has reinforced our enduring commitment to the U.S.-Nigeria relationship and to the longstanding friendship between our two countries and peoples,” the statement read.
“President Biden welcomed the Tinubu Administration’s steps to reform Nigeria’s economy.
“He also thanked President Tinubu for his strong leadership as the chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to defend and preserve democracy and the rule of law in Niger and the broader region.”…..
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Despite official reports that show the New York City police force is already understaffed, the city will begin reducing overtime pay for its officers in an effort to compensate for the city’s growing migrant issues.
City Hall confirmed to the press that Democrat Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has instructed the city’s police, fire, prisons, and sanitation agencies to submit an overtime pay reduction plan and start measuring progress each month.
According to police unions, the proposal will decrease the number of officers on patrol and increase city risk.
“It is going to be impossible for the NYPD to significantly reduce overtime unless it fixes its staffing crisis. We are still thousands of cops short, and we’re struggling to drive crime back to pre-2020 levels without adequate personnel,” said Patrick Hendry, head of the Police Benevolent Association.
“If City Hall wants to save money without jeopardizing public safety, it needs to invest in keeping experienced cops on the job,” he continued.
The strategy put forward by the Adams administration also includes a hiring freeze.
City Hall acknowledged sending a letter that would inform several departments of the change, but it would not make the memo available to the press.
After Adams referred to the influx of migrants into NYC as a “financial tsunami” on Sunday, a cost-cutting initiative was implemented. He has previously stated that the immigration problem will “destroy” the city.
“We are about to experience a financial tsunami that I don’t think the city has ever experienced,” Adams said in an interview with local media. “Every service in this city is going to be impacted, from child service to our seniors to housing. Everything will be impacted.”
Numerous resources have been used to house the migrants in NYC, and some of them have praised the accommodations.
Just days after Adams declared a state of emergency due to the growing migrant problem, a Venezuelan immigrant told the local press that he was enjoying his stay in a “migrant hotel” at the McCarren Play Center in New York City.
“I brought my wife and children to the pool on Sunday, and there was no problem,” Mujica said. “We all swam between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m.,” Mujica said, adding, “It’s a very nice pool.”
Adams had referenced a fight that broke out at a migrant shelter in Brooklyn last week when concerns were expressed regarding women and children sharing facilities with single males. Many felt that public safety could be at risk.
“This is not a utopia. New York City cannot manage 10,000 people a month with no end in sight,” the mayor asserted. “That can’t happen, and that is going to undermine this entire city.”
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Biden Admin Agrees To Prisoner Swap Deal With Iran, Releases $6B In Frozen Iranian Funds
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a joint press conference of the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting at the Park Hyatt on February 11, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
OAN’s James Meyers 3:32 PM – Monday, September 11, 2023
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
The Biden Administration announced on Monday that they have agreed to a deal with Iran to swap prisoners and in exchange release $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds.
In the deal, Iran will release five American citizens detained in Iran and the U.S. will release five Iranian citizens who are being held in the U.S.
Additionally, the deal will create a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions.
This comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the sanctions waivers last week, which was a month after U.S. and Iranian officials said an agreement in principle was in place.
However, Congress was not informed of the waiver decision until Monday, according to the notification obtained by The Associated Press.
The transfer of the $6 billion was the key part of the deal, which saw four of the five American detainees transferred from Iranian jails into house arrest last month.
Several European countries stayed away from the deal, due to multiple U.S. sanctions on foreign banks that engage in transactions aimed at benefiting Iran.
According to Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who focuses on Iranian security, he said that this new deal “will only feed Tehran’s appetite to keep taking hostages.”
“And as the case of the recently revealed Swedish diplomat illustrates, dual-nationals and foreign citizens are not the only targets. Tehran even intends to extort foreign government officials!” Taleblu said.
Experts of the deal anticipate that the detainees will be released sometime next week.
The American prisoners involved in the deal include Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on internationally criticized spying charges. Emad Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years, and Morad Tahbaz, who was arrested in 2018 and given a 10-year sentence, and the fourth and fifth prisoners were not identified in the deal.
“To facilitate their release, the United States has committed to release Iranian nationals currently held in the United States and to permit the transfer of approximately $6 billion in restricted Iranian funds held in (South Korea) to restricted accounts in Qatar, where the funds will be available only for humanitarian trade,” Blinken wrote.
The sanctions waiver applies to banks and other financial institutions in South Korea, Germany, Ireland, Qatar, and Switzerland.
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Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
WARNING: Liberal Logic Ahead, iStock
The unilateral action by New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham declaring a ban on civilian possession of a firearm, whether open or concealed, in public “to remain in effect for the duration of the public health emergencies. . .” is unconstitutional, unconscionable, and illegal.
But, apart from the illegality of Grisham’s Public Health Order on Second Amendment grounds and U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen rulings,,,
…the Order runs afoul of New Mexico’s own state Statutes!
This latter matter has not yet been discussed. We do so here.
We begin with the phrase “Gun Violence,” which appears in the Governor’s Public Health Order. For the longest time, the Anti-Second Amendment establishment has raged over this thing, “Gun Violence.” The idea implicit in ‘Gun Violence,’ if one insists on the expression, is that of ‘Criminal Violence’, where a criminal uses “a gun” in the commission of a crime. In that commonsensical view the phrase ‘Gun Violence’ simply denotes criminal use of guns, nothing more.
So why not eschew talk of Gun Violence for the appropriate expression, ‘Criminal Violence’?
Doing so would drive public policy where it belongs, on crime and criminals and away from the mechanism criminals sometimes employ, although not invariably, to do their horrible misdeeds.
But Democrats and Progressives don’t want to talk about crime and criminals. They don’t even want to talk about criminal use of guns. They only want to talk about guns and reducing the number of them, and that creates a real problem.
For, who is it that owns and possesses most of those “guns?” The answer is tens of millions of innocent, rational, responsible, law-abiding citizens.
And why do tens of millions of Americans wish to keep and bear guns?
Well, they do so for many reasons, all lawful, and one of which stands out as predominant: self-defense.
But little mention of this finds its way into the public square because Democrats and a sympathetic Press won’t allow it. They don’t want it. Anti-Second Amendment elements in Government, in the Press, and in the greater society have their own uses for ‘Gun Violence.’ It is they, after all, who have coined the expression.
And that phrase is the driving force behind the Governor’s Public “Health” Order.
Boiled down to its essence, the tacit message conveyed is this:
“Guns are a virus, a virulent contagion, and like all virulent contagions, must be rooted out, quarantined, and eradicated, and I, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, intend to do just that!”
The idea of Guns as a virulent contagion is not a novel idea. It goes back decades.
In 1995, in an Academic Article, Don Kates and others wrote (Guns And Public Health: Epidemic Of Violence Or Pandemic Of Propaganda?) about the strategy to deny one’s exercise of the natural law right of armed self-defense by viewing guns as a health menace. The article’s writers referred to this strategy as “The Public Health Agenda.”
“In 1979 the American public health community adopted the ‘objective to reduce the number of handguns in private ownership,’ the initial target being a 25% reduction by the year 2000. Based on studies, and propelled by leadership from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the objective has broadened so that it now includes banning and confiscation of all handguns, restrictive licensing of owners of other firearms, and eventual elimination of firearms from American life, . . . .
This follows the health advocate sages’ avowed intention to promote the idea that firearm ownership is an evil and that its elimination is a desirable and efficacious means of reducing violence.” From “Guns And Public Health: Epidemic Of Violence Or Pandemic Of Propaganda?”, 62 Tenn. L. Rev. 513, Spring, 1995, by Don B. Kates, et. al.
Viewing “Gun Violence” as a medical matter is inane. It involves tortuous use of a literary device, metaphor, as a mechanism upon which to design and implement public policy.
The metaphor is that guns are like a virulent plague and must be stamped out. And Governor Grisham’s Order is based on the metaphor of “Guns As Virulent Virus.” She attempts to apply the metaphor to law. That is absurd.
Our free Constitutional Republic is grounded on law, not metaphor.
Nonetheless, Grisham trusts that she can skate around the Second Amendment issue and the constraints of State law by focusing on guns as a public health menace. She hopes that no one will bother to notice the card trick and the use of metaphor she employs to do this.
Unfortunately, pervasive and undeniable lunacy doesn’t prevent ideological fanatics who wield immense power from thrusting their lunacy on everyone else, embroiling us all in their nightmarish reality.
So, why isn’t anyone attacking the Governor’s lunacy head-on? That is where attention should first be directed.
Grisham cites several New Mexico State Statutes. Do they offer her support? Let’s see.
“A. A state of public health emergency may be declared by the governor upon the occurrence of a public health emergency. Prior to a declaration of a state of public health emergency, the governor shall consult with the secretary of health. The governor shall authorize the secretary of health, the secretary of public safety and the director to coordinate a response to the public health emergency.”
But the pertinent question here is whether the mere possession of guns in public equates with “Gun Violence” such that this “Gun Possession” qua “Gun Violence” falls within the legal definition of a ‘Public Health Emergency’ under New Mexico law.
“As used in the Public Health Act [Chapter 24, Article 1 NMSA 1978]:
A. ‘condition of public health importance’ means an infection, a disease, a syndrome, a symptom, an injury or other threat that is identifiable on an individual or community level and can reasonably be expected to lead to adverse health effects in the community; . . . .”
So, then, Does “a condition of public health importance” include “Gun Violence” qua “Possessing Guns in Public” under New Mexico law?
No, it does not. This kind of thing does not fall within the purview of New Mexico’s “Public Health Act” and, therefore, cannot be construed as a “Public Health Emergency” under New Mexico law, as shown below.
N.M. Stat. Ann. § 12-10A-3 is the applicable “Definitions,” and Section. N.M. Stat. Ann. § 12-10A-3 (G) defines the phrase, ‘public health emergency.’
“‘Public health emergency’ means the occurrence or imminent threat of exposure to an extremely dangerous condition or a highly infectious or toxic agent, including a threatening communicable disease, that poses an imminent threat of substantial harm to the population of New Mexico or any portion thereof.”
Does the phrase “exposure to an extremely dangerous condition” that appears in the afore-cited statutory section embrace “Gun Violence” qua “Possessing Guns in Public” under New Mexico Law?
Such an idea would be a stretch—an impossible stretch. N.M. Stat. Ann. § 12-10A-2 explains why.
N.M. Stat. Ann. § 12-10A-2 (Purposes of the Act) says,
“The purposes of the Public Health Emergency Response Act [12-10A-1 NMSA 1978] are to:
A. provide the state of New Mexico with the ability to manage public health emergencies in a manner that protects civil rights and the liberties of individual persons; [emphasis added]
B. prepare for a public health emergency; and
C. provide access to appropriate care, if needed, for an indefinite number of infected, exposed or endangered people in the event of a public health emergency.”
Paragraph “C” implies the presence of an ongoing and serious chemical, biological, or epidemiological hazard, causing illness to many people. Such a health emergency is objective and the harm caused to many is measurable and extensive.
A health emergency does not include criminological problems, sociological concerns, or matters deriving from political biases or animosities.
Moreover, Paragraph “A” makes abundantly clear that any declaration of a public health emergency must be conducted in a manner that “protects civil rights and the liberties of individuals.”
The right of the people to keep and bear arms is one such fundamental civil right that requires protection when the New Mexico Governor declares, as here, a “Public Health Emergency.”
But how can the exercise of a fundamental civil right, the right of the people to keep and bear arms—that the governor implies is a public health emergency (for that is what the New Mexico Public Health Order targets), and one that must be harshly dealt with—truly be considered a health emergency under New Mexico law when that health emergency is the very fundamental civil right that must, as New Mexico law makes clear, be protected during an emergency?
The answer is: It cannot! That is the crux of the problem for Grisham and her “Public Health Order.”
Governor Grisham’s Order is legally incoherent, incompatible with State Statute, logically inconsistent, and, on analysis, overtly nonsensical.
We hope someone challenging Governor Grisham’s “Public Health Order” in Federal or State Court will make that argument.
About The Arbalest Quarrel:
Arbalest Group created `The Arbalest Quarrel’ website for a special purpose. That purpose is to educate the American public about recent Federal and State firearms control legislation. No other website, to our knowledge, provides as deep an analysis or as thorough an analysis. Arbalest Group offers this information free.
Happy Monday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Trenzino continues to feel that cheery couples on tandem bicycles have actual skeletons in their closets.
A common refrain we hear from anti-Second Amendment leftists goes something like this: “Don’t be ridiculous, we don’t want to take your guns.” It’s a way of dismissing our well-founded concerns that American leftists, if given the chance, will become fascists who won’t hesitate to abrogate even our God-given rights.
Yeah, we’ve met them.
Of course, variations on the above line are always — yes, always — offered as part of a larger conversation in which they then say something along the lines of: “OK, not all of your guns, just the ones that we’ve deemed super extra scary.”
It’s a testament to how adept leftists are at lying that they’ve been able to make claims like this while keeping straight faces for so many years.
As we know, however, they’ve all been emboldened by the success they had using the United States Constitution as a birdcage liner during the pandemic, and they don’t mind letting their masks (punish pandemic reference definitely intended) slip more and more.
According to every map that I have, New Mexico is still in the United States of America. Its governor seems to find that inconvenient. This is from Rick’s latest on the subject:
But New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is defending her order, claiming it was necessary to protect “public health,” and besides, her oath to uphold the Constitution was not “absolute.”
“No constitutional right, in my view, including my oath, is intended to be absolute,” she retorted after being asked whether her order violated her oath of office to “uphold the Constitution.”
I guarantee you that Gov. Stalin Grisham will not be the last Democrat to use the COVID-inspired “public health” nonsense as an excuse to oppress the good citizens of this country. They take to tyranny like ducks to water over there in Dem Land. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the Democratic National Committee has spun off a little think tank to ponder new ways to use public health panic to shred the Constitution.
It’s beyond naive to think that any Democrat who shrugs off fealty to the Constitution via a sworn oath won’t continue throwing rules out the window. Now, more than ever, Democrats truly believe themselves to be above and/or outside any laws they find irritating.
Like open or concealed carry laws.
Disarmament is the endgame for every Democratic politician who blathers on about “assault weapons,” the “need” for an AR-15, or the odious “common sense gun reforms.” They’d prefer to enact tyrannical agendas on a populace that is meek, compliant, and unable to resist. Ambitious commies like New Mexico’s pantsuited nightmare chief executive know that people who are heavily invested in the First and Second Amendments won’t merely roll over and play gulag for them.
At present, the overreaching anti-2A zealots eventually run into a judge or a court that says, “Yeah…no,” to their attempts to turn legal gun owners into criminals overnight. If they get another few years to tweak the judiciary, the Bill of Rights will become a museum piece.
There is a saying that states the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This is true, but it represents only one form of insanity. Most of the other types are exhibited on a daily basis by those radical leftists who claim to be woke when in reality they are anything but awake.
For instance, the Western Heights School District (WHSD) in Oklahoma City, Okla., in June of this year named a drag queen to be the principal of John Glenn Elementary School. I guess this is the woke method of honoring the first American in space.
Dr. Shane Murnan, a fifty-two-year-old gay man who moonlights as a drag queen who goes by the name Shantel Mandalay, has been placed in charge of elementary school students. The hiring has caused a huge backlash and rightly so. Any man who mocks women by dressing in outlandish costumes and flamboyantly conducts themselves in a sexually inappropriate manner, should not be in a position of authority around impressionable young children. For that matter, he should not be in a position of authority over any underage child or young adult.
Ryan Walters is the Superintendent of the State of Oklahoma. He has openly criticized the hiring, correctly calling it “insanity.” He went on to say, “It’s outrageous to have a drag queen running a school, you know, here in Oklahoma. That doesn’t line up with Oklahoma values. I hear from parents every day who are concerned with this woke left-wing indoctrination of schools, and this gender theory that continues to be thrust upon our kids. It’s completely inappropriate.”
In addition to his propensity to dress in drag, Murnan was also charged with child pornography twenty years ago, although those charges were dropped when the images could not be substantiated as minors.
The school district stated that they were aware of Murnan’s past charges, but still defended hiring him based on what they refer to as his great qualifications and outstanding reputation. A statement released by the school board said:
“Dr. Murnan has been serving the field of education for more than 25 years and has an outstanding reputation. He comes highly recommended by previous supervisors, colleagues, and educators. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, a Masters of Education in Educational Administration, and a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration. We welcome Dr. Murnan to Western Heights, and we are very excited about his vision for John Glenn and the community.”
WHSD Superintendent Brayden Savage released this statement:
“According to news reports at the time, those charges were dismissed by the court, and the record of the charges has been expunged. Since that time, Dr. Murnan has continued to be certified as an elementary school teacher and principal, including having his certificate renewed in April of 2023 and signed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters.”
At face value, his background appears impressive. However, the man works as a drag queen at a den of iniquity called The Boom. His vision for the school and community should be considered troublesome, as he has already conducted book readings at libraries dressed in drag.
Walters, who we can only guess was not aware of Murnan’s history until this appointment, believes that this fits perfectly into the liberal left’s agenda.
“Their end goal is to absolutely break down a child’s mind, break down the classroom, break down the family, and you see the results that have come from this. They want kids to turn on their parents and only listen to their leftist ideology.”
He then continued, “And how do you do it?’ You start… breaking them apart and say, listen, you’re gender-fluid. Listen, you can change your pronouns… Look at the sexual material. When the kid takes it home and their parent is outraged by it, the kids turn on their parents.”
“This is absolutely trying to break down that family unit, so the kid is more susceptible to the most radical Marxist gender ideology we’ve ever seen, to pit groups of people against each other, and frankly, it’s to create Democrat voters.”
“No parent wants to send their kids to school knowing that they could be exposed to this radical gender theory in any capacity. This woke war on our kids has to stop. We will not allow it in Oklahoma. This is the liberal insanity that every parent wants out of the classroom.”
“We will not allow our kids to be part of their radical-left game for pushing ideology and furthering their end goal, which is creating social justice warriors instead of students that understand how education is a path to success for them. We will not allow it. This will stop.”
The real danger to this community is the people behind this hiring. Murnan only represents the empowered, self-righteous tool that they have implemented to advance their disgusting agenda.
