Lux Lucet

While reflecting on the big story this past week, the name Mike Tyson came to mind. Now that’s a name you probably didn’t expect to see, but go with me on this one.

From those under the age of 40 or so, I suppose the name Mike Tyson evokes more snickers than anything else. But trust me, it wasn’t always so.

Tyson took the boxing world by storm back in 1985. Tyson didn’t just win fights, he didn’t just knock guys down. He didn’t settle for mere knockouts either. No, Tyson devastated his opponents. Quite simply, I’ve never seen anyone hit harder or attack more ferociously than Tyson in his prime.

By the age of twenty, Tyson was the heavy weight champion of the world.

So why do I bring up Iron Mike? Because this week James O’Keefe of Project Veritas delivered what amounted to a journalistic version of a Tyson uppercut to CNN.

In the segments released so far, O’Keefe’s exposé has caught a CNN producer admitting that the whole Trump-Russian collusion meme is a bunch of hooey (the producer used a different word) and that the only reason CNN spent so much time on it is that it’s good for ratings. CNN anchor Van Jones was caught on tape admitting the much the same thing, that the Russian collusion story is nonsense (he used a different word, too).

Just today, a third segment of the exposé was released, this one showing a producer of CNN’s morning show disparaging Trump and the American voting public.

Another segment shows O’Keefe attempting to interview CNN CEO Jeff Zucker, who takes off running for the safety of his chauffeured ride. Not that I blame him for running away. If I were him, I wouldn’t want to talk to the press either.

The effect of these segments is absolutely devastating to the reputation of CNN. Quite honestly, at this point it’s hard to see them as anything other than the kings of fake news. Their journalistic reputation is deservedly in shreds and may take years to recover, assuming it ever does.

On one hand, there’s nothing really surprising in O’Keefe’s videos. It’s been obvious for a long time that CNN is, in fact, very fake news. Back in the 90’s CNN was sarcastically called the Clinton News Network, and they did nothing to tarnish that reputation last year. For example, Democratic operative and CNN contributor Donna Brazile was caught not once, but twice, giving debate questions to Hillary Clinton. CNN let her go only after the second occurrence.

And following the election, CNN has gone into overdrive in its attempt to delegitimize the Trump administration, including, as we now know, pushing a fake news story that the producers knew full-well was fake because it drove ratings.

There are at least three lessons we can take from the sorry tale of CNN. First, lies will catch up with you. You can keep up the fraud for a time, even for a long time, but sooner or later that stuff tends to catch up with you. And even if you get away with it in this life, you really don’t get away with it. For as Jesus said, “By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”

Second, truth is powerful. A few short segments of CNN employees candidly admitting their network peddles lies for money represents some of the move compelling video this author has seen. As devastating as the video has been to CNN, so too has it vindicated Trump and his supporters who have consistently maintained that there was no collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Third, O’Keefe’s work has shown the power of the individual. Project Veritas is a small organization compared to CNN. It’s was a David going up against the MSM’s Goliath. And like it’s biblical counterpart, Project Veritas was the one that delivered the knockout blow.

For my part, I can’t wait to see the rest of O’Keefe’s series on CNN.

For commentary on O’Keefe’s work, click here for Greg Hunter’s take and here for Stefan Molyneux’s interview with O’Keefe.

The Narrative’s Dead, Long Live the Narrative

Following their defeat in last week’s special elections, in particular, their defeat in the Georgia 6th Congressional District race, the Democrats seem to have finally come to realize that the Russian collusion narrative is a dead horse, the beating of which has become unprofitable.

Even the New York Times has finally conceded the point that only 4, not all 17, US intelligence agencies agreed that Russia hacked the DNC’s servers in 2016.

But even as the final echoes of the Russian collusion narrative die away, armed with a new line of attack the hope of a Trump impeachment springs eternal in the hearts of Congressional Democrats. Trump, we are now told, is a madman.

The narrative’s dead. Long live the narrative.

Mind you, the mad man Trump narrative is not brand new. It’s been on the backburner for at least several months. But it seems to be picking up steam this week.

For example, after Trump turned his twitter guns on Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski earlier this week, the two MSNBC hosts responded by questioning Trump’s mental fitness. Brzezinski expressed her concern for the country noting Trump’s “fragile, childlike, impetuous temper.”

Joe Scarborough claimed made the claim that Trump’s inner circle is concerned about him. “Without getting into great detail I’d just say that someone at the top of the campaign said we’re really worried about the state of his mind,” he is quoted as saying.

Then right on cue, the Daily Mail runs the following headline, “Two dozen Democrats get behind bill to lay foundation for removing Trump for being mentally ‘incapacitated’ (but they’d need Mike Pence to agree).”

The story goes on to report that Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, “has proposed convening a special committee of psychiatrists and other doctors whose job would be to determine if President Donald Trump is fit to serve in the Oval Office.”

He’s mad! Mad, I tell you!

Yawn. These Dems, they just never learn. Their problem, the reason they can’t win elections, is not the fault of Mad Man Trump and his Merry Band of Deplorables. The problem is their totalitarian, globalist platform and its logical corollary, the open disdain they display for the American people.

If anyone is insane, it’s the Democrats who, fitting Einstein’s definition of insanity to a tee, continue doing the same thing while hoping for different results.

Good luck with that.

The Ongoing Syrian Quagmire

This week the Trump administration caught nearly everyone by surprise, including the Pentagon and the State Department, by announcing that they had detected preparations by the Syrian government for another chemical attack on civilians.

Neocon UN ambassador Nikki Haley chimed in with a tweet saying, “Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people>

Sigh. Where do I start?

Haley’s tweet implies that the Syrian government of Bashar Assad has attacked his people in the past, but this is ridiculous.

First, as Seymour Hersh reported earlier this week, the US has known since April that the gas attack that took place in Syrian on April 4 was not carried out, as was widely reported, by the Syrian government. Hersh reports that, “the U.S. intelligence community…found no evidence that the Syrians had used a chemical weapon.”

This parallels a 2013 gas attack on Syrian civilians pinned on the Syrian government of Bashar Assad by the Obama administration. Obama attempted to use this attack to step up US involvement in the effort to remove Assad, but was unable to get the political support needed to make that happen.

But even though “everyone” at the time just knew that the 2013 attack was the work of Assad, more recent reports cast doubt on this.

Second, a little reflection on the Syrian conflict makes it difficult to swallow the accepted narrative that Assad gassed his own people. After all, why would he do such a thing? He’s winning the war. With the help of Russia, ISIS is on the run. He’s popular with the Syrian people, who view him as something of a war hero. Why would he gas them?

Further, there is nothing he could do that would more certainly bring international condemnation and calls for his ouster than gassing civilians. Why would he do that to himself? It makes no sense.

My read on the gas attacks from 2013 and 2017 is that they were likely false flags, a attempt by anti-Assad forces to frame Assad for the atrocities and then use the events as a pretext for brining the full force of the US military to oust him.

In the end, the US has no sound reason to be in Syria. Syria is not a threat to the US. Further, the US has no moral authority to determine who runs the country. That is a matter for the Syrians to determine.

Even Donald Trump agreed with this stance in 2013, tweeting, “What I am saying is stay out of Syria.”

Here’s hoping the 2017 Donald Trump takes advice from his 2013 self.

Antichrist Alert

They’re back. That is, if indeed they every left. I speak concerning the pedophiles of the Roman Church-State.

The news this week is that Cardinal George Pell of Australia, the Vatican’s treasurer, is the latest church figure to be charged with pedophilia.

According to CNBC, “Australian police said on Thursday they have charged the Vatican’s treasurer, Australian Cardinal George Pell, with multiple sexual assault offences. ‘Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges in respect of historic sexual offences,’ Victoria state police deputy commissioner Shane Patton told a news conference in Melbourne.”

The New York Times
reports that a book Cardinal: The rise and Fall of George Pell prompted Victoria police to weigh charges against Pell, asserting that the Cardinal’s abusive activities cover several decades.

The Roman Church-State is not a Christian church. It is an Antichrist-headed synagogue of Satan, preaching a false gospel of faith and works which saves no one. And the epidemic of pedophiliac priests, bishops and cardinals paraded before the public in recent decades is just one example of the evil fruit produced by the evil tree of Romanism.

If Pell is, in fact guilty as charged, it is my hope that his victims receive the justice due them. But even more, it is my hope that they would find salvation in the one and only Gospel of justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

Illinois Headed Toward Bankruptcy

Someone once asked Ernest Hemingway how he went bankrupt. “Gradually at first,” Hemingway responded, “then suddenly.”

One suspects that the same could be said by many who have found themselves in financial difficulty. And from the chart of Illinois bond rating below, that same pattern appears to hold in the case of Illinois.

As recently as a decade ago, Illinois bonds (probably unjustifiably) were rated AA. But look at the precipitous ratings collapse in just the past few years. The state is now just a notch above junk bond status, a distinction which is almost certainly achieve in the near future.

The simple fact is that Illinois has made it a practice to spend more than it takes in, and has done so over a long period of time. Now it’s hit the wall.

How bad is it? The state is so broke that Illinois is no longer able to sell Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets. That’s when you know things are serious.

Illinois is reported to have $16 billion in unpaid bills. Said the state’s comptroller Susan Mendoza, “It is almost hard to say those numbers out loud because they seem so insane, but that’s where we are right now.”

The Chicago City Wire reports that the Chicago police pension will be broke in 2021. Financial advisor Mish Shedlock has done some analysis on the situation and noted that one of the reasons for the oncoming pension collapse is that there are more police retirees receiving benefits than there are active officers paying into the fund!

So what’s next for Illinois. It probably can’t raise taxes very much. The state is already bleeding population. And a tax hike likely will serve to increase the departure rate.

Unlike the federal government, it can’t try to print its way out of the crisis either.

Almost certainly, the size of the government is going to have to shrink. In the long run, this is a good thing, but the process will be painful.

Unfortunately, Illinois governor Bruce Rauner seems to think that he can hike takes while doing nothing to reform the state’s out of control spending.

Illinois, as will the rest of the US soon, has hit the wall. The halcyon days of can kicking are over; tough decisions are in the offing. And yet the politicians and bureaucrats refuse to admit their mistakes and take ownership of the problem. Instead of taking measures to actually deal with the crisis honestly, they spend their energy attempting to push back the day of reckoning, preferably until their safely out of office.

This is understandable, but sad. And irresponsible as well. Those who had the opportunity to effect positive change now but refused will justifiably be held responsible in the future.