This is Toby Sumpter with your CrossPolitic Newsbrief for Thursday, February 6, 2020.

Wow. What a week. Where do we even begin? 

Iowa Caucus Debacle

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2020/02/05/joe-biden-calls-4th-place-iowa-caucus-finish-gut-punch/4669943002/

Well, let’s go somewhat chronologically: First the Iowa Caucus Debacle happened Monday. Well, actually, it’s still happening as we speak. It’s sort of like one of those America’s Funniest Home Videos where the wedding cake falls on to the bride and groom, who in turn land in an empty wheel chair that carries them down the steps and into a punch bowl full of bright red Kool Aid, and then the sprinklers come on, and someone caught the whole thing on camera and in slow motion. And I mean really slow motion. In Iowa, I think we’re at the part where the Kool-aid is rippling into the air, and you can see the look of terror in the groom’s eyes. 

Did my analogy get out of hand? I really don’t think so. 

Anyway, a company called ACRONYM built an APP called SHADOW, and it was like we were in some kind of comic book story, expecting Batman to show up any minute. Which is how the Democrats should have known that God was messing with them. The bottom line is that the app failed, and when everyone was waiting around Monday night to get the results, there were no results to be had. Pinko Pete claimed an early victory, as did Sanders, and when it became clear that results would be coming in at glacial speed, everyone gave themselves a trophy and went and celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese like they were in little league or something.

Anyway, as I finish this newsbrief Thursday morning, they finally made it to 96% of the results in, but there are still rumors and reports flying around about reporting inconsistencies, extra delegates, conspiracies to steal delegates from Sanders, and the only clear winner seems to be Trump. But at this minute, granting that everything could change any minute, Sanders and Buttigieg are getting 11 delegates a piece, with Pinko Pete slightly edging out Breadline Bernie in actual votes. Pocahontas looks to be getting 5 delegates, and Sleepy Joe will get zero.  

Fire Works at the State of the Union

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosis-burns-from-sotu-tear-to-title-snub-speaker-throws-shade-at-trump-throughout-address

Next up… Donald Trump gave a razzle dazzle Campaign Speech Tuesday night under the guise of the State of the Union Address, and I mean, who can blame him? And it was fireworks from the get-go. First off, when Trump came to the podium there was a brief interaction followed by Trump beginning to turn around to face congress while Nancy Pelosi extended her hand for a handshake. It’s unclear whether the President saw the offered hand or not. Some pointed out that it is customary for the President to shake the Vice-President’s hand also who sits together with the Speaker of the house directly behind the President at these events, and the President failed to shake Vice-President Pence’s hand as well, even though the Vice-President didn’t offer it. Did the President intentionally snub Speaker Pelosi? The video footage I saw was inconclusive. And it seems to me obvious that in all political matters such as this, NFL instant replay rules ought to apply. If there is no clear evidence to overturn, the ruling on the field should stand. And in this instance, short of clear evidence to the contrary, I’m inclined to think Trump just missed the offered handshake. But moments later, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi introduced the President by merely saying, “Members of Congress, the President of the United States.” Traditionally, the house speakers have said, Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.” Was this an intentional snub of the President? Call me naïve, but I’m willing to give Pelosi the benefit of th

Good morning, this is Toby Sumpter with your CrossPolitic news brief for Tuesday, January 7th, 2020.

In response to the US killing of Iranian Terrorist Qasem Soleimani last Friday, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the US had committed a grave mistake. On the day of the attack, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javid Zarif tweeted that the airstrike was an “act of international terrorism,” suggesting that General Soleimani had been the most effective force fighting ISIS and Al Qaeda. The Foreign Minister said the act was “extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation” adding that “the US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism.” “Soleimani was the international face of resistance,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement, “and all lovers of resistance will be his avengers.” He added that “harsh retaliation is waiting.” Khamenei has ordered three days of public mourning, according to the AP. 

The Daily Mail reports that on Saturday, Iranian General Gholamali Abuhamzeh, a Revolutionary Guards commander in the southern province of Kerman, threatened that Iran had itendified 35 targets for potential strikes and raised the red flags of revenge over every key mosque. Abuhamzeh said vital American targets in the region had been identified a 'long time ago', including ships in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and Tel Aviv. “The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there … some 35 U.S. targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv are within our reach,” he said, according to Reuters.

Trump responded on Sunday via Twitter: “Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently.... ....hundreds of Iranian protesters. He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have... ...targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!”

Many commentators pointed out that the threat to strike 52 cultural sites would seem to be a breach of international law. Others were also quick to say that this is the sort of international crisis they feared Trump would blunder into.

But Trump continued on Twitter undeterred: Quoting a tweet from Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw who asked what is so controversial about there being repercussions for terrorists attacking the US, Trump said, “They attacked us, & we hit back. If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!

Trump followed up with two more tweets on the subject: “The United States just spent Two Trillion Dollars on Military Equipment. We are the biggest and by far the BEST in the World! If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way...and without hesitation! These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!” 

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Twitter account shot back, quoting this last tweet from the President, “This Media Post will serve as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress under the United States Constitution. And that

This is Toby Sumpter with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

Three PCA Overtures from the Presbyteries Address Revoice

https://pcaga.org/resources/#overtures

Things are beginning to heat up in the PCA – the Presbyterian Church in America – the largest conservative Presbyterian denomination in the States. The 48th General Assembly will meet June 16-19, 2020 in Birmingham, Alabama and consider business from the nearly 2,000 congregations, around 90 presbyteries – comprising some nearly 400,000 members.  

Presbyteries may send overtures to the General Assembly, which are official requests for action. Three of the 10 overtures currently listed for consideration by the Assembly are related to the recent Revoice controversy in the PCA. Long time listeners of CrossPolitic will remember one of most popular interviews with Greg Johnson, the pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church, a PCA church in St. Louis, MO back in July, 2018 just days before the very first Revoice Conference. The first Revoice Conference was hosted by Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Pastor Greg Johnson was heavily involved.  

https://crosspolitic.com/podcast/family-meeting-with-greg-johnson-pastor-of-memorial-presbyterian-church-and-host-church-of-revoice-us/

Revoice was a conference organized by individuals from several different denominations, but the uniting goal: “To support and encourage gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other same-sex attracted Christians—as well as those who love them—so that all in the Church might be empowered to live in gospel unity while observing the historic Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.” The original mission statement included a plus sign and reference to sexual minorities, but apparently Revoice has closed its cold heart to other sexual perversions. 

Following that original conference Missouri Presbytery investigated Greg Johnson and 2019 did not find him or his session of elders guilty of any gross theological error. Added to this, Greg Johnson “came out” as a non-practicing homosexual in Christianity Today in May 2019. And then reiterated that identity on the floor of the 2019 General Assembly arguing against the Assembly’s adoption of the Nashville Statement, which says in Article 7, “We deny that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption.” The Founder of Revoice, Nate Collins, has said that Revoice was inspired in part by the Nashville Statement. The Nashville Statement was affirmed by the 2019 PCA General Assembly by a vote of 803 to 541. While that was a substantial affirmation of biblical sexuality, it was also a substantial vote against it. 

With Missouri Presbytery exonerating Greg Johnson and the elders of Memorial Presbyterian, it should come as little surprise that two presbyteries have sent overtures to the General Assembly for the Standing Judicial Commission to assume original jurisdiction of the matter of Greg Johnson and his elders with regard to theological error and their involvement in the 2018 Revoice Conference. Another overture is from Lowcountry Presbytery requesting the General Assembly to amend the Book of Church Order to include a new clause specifically stating that “Men who self-identify as a “gay Christian,” “same sex attracted Christian,” and/or “homosexual Christian” shall be deemed unfit for ordination in the Presbyterian Church in America. 

It’s a shame that such a thing need be stated explicitly, but given the lay of the land inside the PCA and our current cultural cesspool, this is absolutely necessary. Many have claimed that the PCA is not nearly as compromised as some think, and if that’s the case this overture should pass the General Assembly like a Lebron James slam dunk. But if this barely passes or is outright rejected, I would call for hospice. The PCA is dead. 

 All Teaching elders are welcome to attend and vote at General Assembly, and every

Wednesday Daily News Brief: 07/28/2021

Friends of the show. Before I get started, I want to bring you backstage behind the CrossPolitic scenes on some things. We started CrossPolitic in 2016, and never could have imagined the world we are living in now. Men can magically become penguins...I mean women...I mean uh democrats are going insane, abortion is infrastructure, and conservatives are racist because we think voter ID is a good thing. The left/right divide use to be cordial, but now it has entered into Cold War era. You see this in cancel culture, the sexualization of politics (thinking of required cake baking scenarios), and partisan voting fraud investigations. And now that cancel culture has leaped from the government/university setting into the business world, the cold war is shifting into gorilla games. I am grateful for the voice God has given CrossPolitic, and I hope God continues to bless the road we are on. Our goal for CrossPolitic and the network is really two fold: First is to speak with courage the truth in such away that it creates space for you to do the same. Courage begets courage, and when we push back effectively that creates room for thriving Christian communities to grow. This is what shepherds do, they create room for the sheep to run, to eat, and to sleep, so we hope we are doing this at a national level. Our second goal is to create a thriving Chrisitan economy. We have mentioned before, that the Babylon Bee was canceled from Mailchimp’s services, Trump was kicked of Stripe, our friends over at Gab have been kicked off 5 banks. As our platform grows, we hope to bring more and more businesses together that are like minded in our walk with God and the mission of Fight Laugh Feast. The next 20 years, I believe, are going to be quite the fight, and this is why I think building our own platform is so important. Antifragil/Cancel free. The world has their platforms, think of ABC/FOX, etc…, we need to build ours. Why doesn’t FOX host their own conferences/events? We are the only network, that I know of, that host our own events. We have to build, we have to be in community, we have to map out a game plan that hits back at a political culture that is hostile to Christ and His Church. So here are some ways you can help us build:

Share the show. Send a text. Email a friend. Get the word out. Join the clubCome to our events.If you own a business or are just wealthy, support our efforts, either behind the scenes or as a sponsor. If you have talents that could help our efforts and want to volunteer, email me at [email protected].

We are in the process of beginning to build out our club platform that will create a social media like experience for our club members. Our club members are invaluable, and we want to build a community platform for our club members to network with. We want our businesses to have access to our club platform, so we can all network together, hire each other, consult with each other, and become the dark web of resistance against our godless culture. Jesus is King, and of course we labor in vain if God does not build our house, and so as we make plans for an antifragile family network, club portal, business network, events, more shows on the network, etc… We lift them all up to God, and trust in Him to bless what directions, what plans He wants to bless. So, please consider reaching out to me, and we can’t thank you enough for you tuning in. Lord bless 

The White House tells staff to start wearing masks again, as coronavirus cases rise in Washington, D.C.

CDC wants vaccinated Americans to wear masks indoors in Covid hot spots

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/27/cdc-vaccinated-masks-indoors-500838

According to Politico:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Tuesday that Americans wear masks indoors again, particularly in crowded indoor settings.

The new indoor mask recommendations apply to vaccinated and unvaccinat

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In France, Crowds of thousands gathered at the Eiffel Tower Chanting slogans against Macron’s Resignation over New Covid regulations

Play Audio

Here’s another Clip from Colon, Madrid where Thousands Protested Vaccine Passports

Play Audio 0:00-0:05

Here’s audio from a Protest in Finland

Play Audio

But Australia Is Trying to Win the Crazytown Award 

National Rugby League families are currently in a lockdown quarantine – I suppose for the duration of the season, but new rules just came out forbidden those families from opening the doors to their balconies. 

Another headline reads that the Australian military is planning to patrol parts of Sydney until the city is vaccinated, with lockdowns likely to remain in place until then. 

Maybe that’s why their protests even got a little rowdy.

This is one of the leaders of Australia sputtering about the protests there: 

Play Audio

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 3

Audio: 0:25-1:39

This is Gabriel Rench with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Monday, April 13th, 2020.

99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says

bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/99-of-those-who-died-from-virus-had-other-illness-italy-says

According to Bloomberg News: “More than 99% of Italy’s coronavirus fatalities were people who suffered from previous medical conditions, according to a study by the country’s national health authority.

After deaths from the virus reached more than 2,500, with a 150% increase in the past week, health authorities have been combing through data to provide clues to help combat the spread of the disease.

The average age of those who’ve died from the virus in Italy is 79.5. As of March 17, 17 people under 50 had died from the disease. All of Italy’s victims under 40 have been males with serious existing medical conditions.”

AG Barr to take action against government officials threatening churches

https://www.christianpost.com/news/ag-barr-to-take-action-against-government-officials-threatening-churches.html

According to the Christian Post: “The office of Attorney General William Barr said action will be taken against officials who single out religious organizations to enforce social distancing rules in place to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus.

“During this sacred week for many Americans, AG Barr is monitoring govt regulation of religious services,” Barr spokeswoman Kerry Kupec wrote on Twitter Saturday night ahead of Easter. “While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly & not single out religious orgs. Expect action from DOJ next week!”

AG Barr is absolutely right that rules need to be applied evenhandedly. State after state has implemented arbitrary standards with little or no justification. Why can Amazon or Walmart remain open and churches closed? What is an essential job and what is a non-essential job? Why can Mayor De Blasio go workout at his local gym and threaten to close churches permanently if they hold a service? Or the Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi orders cops to ticket parishioners of a driven worship service, while the cops don’t wear facemask? 

And just this past Sunday, parishioners showed up for an Easter Service Maryville Baptist Church in Hillview, Kentucky, only to find nails scattered in the parking lot entrance. Police show up, not to investigate the vandalism, but to record license plates and place warning signs on everyone's cars. This was at the order of Gov. Andy Beshear.

https://www.theblaze.com/kentucky-church-police-license-plates-nails

Meanwhile Senator Rand Paul, you know the Republican Senator from Kentucky, tweeting this:

“Taking license plates at church? Quarantining someone for being Christian on Easter Sunday? Someone needs to take a step back here.

Kentucky Governor Announces Plan to Record License Plates of Easter Church Goers and Force Them to Quarantine for 14 Days”

Coronavirus may give President Trump a long-sought chance to privatize the Postal Service

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-coronavirus-privatize-us-portal-service-173250637.html

"Amid a cash crunch threatening to put the U.S. Postal Service out of business, the Trump administration is being accused of blocking bipartisan efforts to provide money to the agency as part of a long-sought conservative effort to privatize mail delivery.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a precipitous drop in mail deliveries, worsening a crisis for an already financially troubled service. Last week, Postmaster General Megan Brennan said financial woes exacerbated by the pandemic could cause the agency to run out of money by October.

The $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package passed on March 25 did not provide assistance for the Postal Service, despite bipartisan support for the funding, according to an aide to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committ

This is Gabriel Rench with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Wednesday, January 8th, 2020.

More on Australian Fires

Yesterday Toby reported that in the 1990s, Bob Carr’s liberal Labor government began a massive forest lock-up program. Peter Austin writes at theland.com.au, “Before that “greening” frenzy began, soon after Carr came to office in 1995, national parks and reserves accounted for some 4.8 per cent of New South Wales. Today the total area of the state, controlled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, is more than 9 per cent. In less than 20 years the area of national parks and related reserves has virtually doubled, but the resources deployed to manage this vastly expanding empire have not doubled with it. On the contrary, it was revealed last week that even since 2011, successive budget cuts have resulted in the NPWS slashing its staffing of rangers by one-third, thereby impairing its capacity to conduct hazard reduction burns. But before Carr took over, much of the coastal bushland now locked up in national park was prudently managed state forest, where fuel loads were kept down by logging programs, regular thinning and cattle grazing.” So there is that, and now more information has come out that according to the New South Wales Police Force website: 

“Since Friday 8 November 2019, legal action – which ranges from cautions to criminal charges – has been taken against 183 people – including 40 juveniles – for 205 bushfire-related offences.

Of note:

24 people have been charged over alleged deliberately-lit bushfires

53 people have had legal actions for allegedly failing to comply with a total fire ban, and

47 people have had legal actions for allegedly discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land.”

Russel Crowe, due to the fires in his home country Australia, was unable to attend the Golden Globes and accept his award. He instead sent a letter that was read by Jennifer Aniston on his behalf when he was awarded best actor for his work on the series "The Loudest Voice”. In his letter he blamed global warming for the fires. If it was me, I would have blamed the 24 arsonist. 

More on Iran

The Obama administration really was a foreign policy disaster. One of his biggest blunders, not even sure we can call it that, was the Iranian Nuclear deal. 

According to Fortune.com: “The U.S. announced the controversial nuclear deal with Iran on July 13, 2015. At a news conference on January 16, President Obama declared that the U.S. was lifting the first raft of sanctions against Iran. He also stated that the U.S. would return $1.7 billion to Iran, as agreed in the negotiations at the Hague. That same day, Tehran released the U.S. hostages, and the U.S. freed seven Iranians detained for violating financial and other U.S. sanctions on their home country. Hence, the return of the five Americans appeared to be one side of a prisoner exchange with Tehran.

But Obama didn’t mention that the same day, $400 million was being shipped over 6000 miles for deposit in Iran’s treasury. 

The shipment was a secret until The Wall Street Journal broke the story on August 2, 2015. Since then, Republicans from Donald Trump to Paul Ryan have assailed the White House for paying a gigantic ransom when government-paid ransom is barred under U.S. law, and for hiding the ploy from a public already highly skeptical of the U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement. President Obama denied the payment to Tehran was a ransom. The White House contends the payment simply settled a decades-long financial dispute...”

Some might call this a Quid Pro Quo, but I digress.

Our meddling in foreign affairs has been a disaster. We create problems and then we back out, we create more problems then we throw money at them, we create more problems and push democracy on them, we create more problems then we throw troops at them...rinse and repeat. At no point should conventional wisdom tell you that giving Iran $1.7 billion dollars i

CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Left Takes Aim at Conservative Judges

https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-chief-justice-roberts-must-overrule-the-judiciarys-outrageous-assault-on-the-federalist-society

Josh Hammer, Editor at Large of The Daily Wire writes: “The Judicial Conference of the United States, an arcane body established by Congress and led by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, is responsible for helping establish the national policy guidelines that govern the administration of the federal courts. Alas, the Conference is arcane no longer. Over the past week, the Conference’s Committee on Codes of Conduct, which oversees federal judicial ethics, has forced a national conversation by launching an absolute wrecking ball of a draft advisory opinion. The Committee, which is chaired by Judge Ralph Erickson of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals, has 15 total members: Eight Democratic presidential nominees, five Republican presidential nominees, and two others.

The Committee’s advisory opinion, if formally implemented by the Committee, would “advise[] that formal affiliation” with both FedSoc and the American Constitution Society (ACS), FedSoc’s (much) more overtly political progressive counterpart, “is inconsistent with” the governing Code of Conduct for United States Judges. Specifically, the Committee states that “although neither [FedSoc nor ACS] is a ‘political organization'” under the Code, “their activities nevertheless implicate [the Code’s] broad prohibition against political activity” — whatever that is supposed to mean. What’s worse, the draft opinion also holds that federal judges’ law clerks and staff attorneys must not join either FedSoc or ACS. But on the other hand, membership with the leftist, remarkably biased American Bar Association (ABA) “does not raise these same concerns and is not necessarily inconsistent with the Code.”

Hammer points out that the Federalist Society takes no positions on political issues, but exists solely in defense of an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, that is, that words have definite, objective meanings, and should be interpreted according to those meanings at the time of writing. This shared commitment leaves room for much discussion and debate among originalists. By contrast, the left-leaning legal associations, the American Constitution Society and American Bar Association frequently publish many legislative opinions across the political policy spectrum and generally hold that the Constitution is a “living document,” and may be interpreted according to the changing whims of American culture. Hammer finds the notion that the ABA does not raise these same concerns “ludicrous.” He also points out that the long term effect of something like this will discourage young conservative law students from joining the Federalist Society, leaving them with fewer networking opportunities, generally fewer jobs, and likely additional pressure to keep their opinions or questions to themselves. 

No doubt all of this is a result of Trump’s aggressive work to re-balance the American judicial landscape. To date, he has nominated 239 individuals, of whom 187 have been confirmed by the Senate. As of January 2, 2020, there were 80 vacancies, and 35 had pending nominations. Most, if not all, of Trump’s judicial nominations have been members of the Federalist Society. 

Sanctuaries for the Unborn

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/25/us/sanctuary-cities-for-unborn-anti-abortion-texas-trnd/index.html

CNN: Ten towns in Texas have voted to declare themselves "sanctuary cities for the unborn," with most adopting ordinances that outlaw abortion within city limits. At least 13 cities are considering such ordinances, and three -- Mineral Wells, Omaha and Jacksboro -- have already voted against them. 

Most of the towns that have enacted the pro-life ordinances have populations of less than 6,000 people. None have abortion clinics.

The