Monday, September 04, 2017



I Was Honored to Stand Next to Him': Jeffress Recalls Leading Prayer Over Trump in Oval Office



An eloquent prayer

President Trump signed a declaration in the Oval Office this afternoon to make Sunday a National Day of Prayer for the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Trump and the First Lady will head back to Texas and Louisiana tomorrow to assess the damage and the recovery efforts.

Pastor Robert Jeffress, of First Baptist Church in Dallas, then led a prayer for the victims of Hurricane Harvey and for the president and vice president.

"I was honored to stand next to the president," Jeffress told Judge Jeanine Pirro.

Jeffress said Trump is the most powerful man in the world, yet not too "proud" to "bow his head in the Oval Office and ask God for help."

SOURCE






'Eyes Wide Shut' actress: I came out as a conservative in Hollywood. Here's the incredible story of what happened next

By Julienne Davis

About a year ago I made one of the more risky decisions of my life – one that I knew could hurt my career as an actress. I decided to come out of the conservative closet and admit to my peers that I was a conservative in Hollywood.

Yes, hard as it is for some to believe, not everyone in the entertainment industry on the Left Coast is a left-winger.

An acquaintance had asked me to write for a right-of-center political magazine. I realized I would be outing myself by doing it, but I ended up writing a few dozen articles with a right-leaning libertarian slant that were well received.

Sadly, the magazine closed and I was faced with two options.

Members of the Hollywood left don’t want to listen, discuss, or even see a dissenting viewpoint that challenges their own comfortable echo chamber. It’s ironic that an industry that constantly talks about diversity is so judgmental, hateful and utterly rigid in its groupthink.

Option 1: I could start apologizing to all my Hollywood liberal friends and associates who’d been shocked by my writing and tell them: “I didn’t really mean it … it was a paid gig and I was simply doing it for the work.”

Option 2:  I could have the courage of my convictions and continue down the conservative path.

The first option may have brought me liberal forgiveness. Let’s be honest, many of us in Hollywood “whore” ourselves out for work, a pay check and another credit for our resumes.

But I knew if I took Option 1 that I would have to never speak or post anything that even squeaked of conservatism again. I would have to nod and agree with all the constant comments and wild accusations against President Trump – “the racist,” “the misogynist,” “the one who is trying to destroy the world.” Sigh.

So, being the person I am, I chose the second option. I refused to be a coward and be untrue to myself. I believed my path to be the more honest albeit more painful option.

Since then I haven’t fared well. My “unfriendings” on social media have been many – from acquaintances and close working associates to good friends – including even my best friend. It is interesting to note that all of them just stopped calling and quietly “ghosted” me, and then later unfriended me.

Unfriendings aside, the written and very public insults from Hollywood peers on social media and elsewhere have been numerous. I’ve been attacked with obscenities, called a racist, and had one person tell me he hoped I would die.

And then there was the fellow actress attacking me with an obscene sexist insult reserved for women. Unbelievably, I had short-listed that same actress for a film I was helping to cast last year!

Needless to say, I learned to tune the abuse out. What’s interesting is that I noticed a particular upsurge in unfriendings immediately after the Charlottesville incident And of course, I know why: The media of choice for the left – including CNN, MSNBC, HuffPost, the New York Times and the Washington Post – all reported the incident in such a way as if to make it appear that all Trump supporters are Nazis.

Of course, that’s false and it couldn’t be a more ridiculous spin, but the media are, after all, giving their base exactly what it wants to hear, true or not.

Even the head of CNN International, Tony Maddox, himself has stated that President Trump has been good for business.  (At least the way they report on him.)

Predictably, the majority of people in Hollywood believe the media they watch and read to be utterly and completely true, so how can I convince my liberal friends and associates otherwise?

Members of the Hollywood left don’t want to listen, discuss, or even see a dissenting viewpoint that challenges their own comfortable echo chamber. It’s ironic that an industry that constantly talks about diversity is so judgmental, hateful and utterly rigid in its groupthink.

I actually ran into a former good friend (who had of course unfriended me and stopped calling) at a film screening recently. He told me: “Oh, we’re still friends … I just couldn’t be your friend on Facebook.”

I asked him why. He said: “I have a lot of important people on my page, and I can’t be seen to have those kinds of associations.”

“Coward,” I thought.

As I try to move forward in my creative life and my career in Hollywood, it will be interesting to see how I will be able to navigate a future there.

After all, I’m a creative soul and art is art. It should be the one area where utter freedom of expression should reign, regardless of political leanings.

As for my more liberal friends who haven’t ditched me over politics, I’m truly grateful for them. It is they and maybe conservatives like me who will hopefully help to bring people together again and end this insane polarization we are all witnessing.

As for the others, I’m not going to back down and lie to get ahead. But I know that staying true to my conservative beliefs means they’ll steer clear of me so as not to be sullied with the association … much like my so-called “friends” who ditched me publicly.

Bearing this in mind, I can see that I’ll have to take my career into my own hands in trying to find producers and funding for my own screenplay to get my film cast, shot, produced and distributed.

As one very high-up industry (and closeted conservative) person said to me recently:  “Get back in that closet if you want to get that film made.”

Thanks for the tip, but there’s no going back. Wish me luck.

SOURCE





Confederate Monuments: The Problem With Politically Correct History
   
Malcolm X, as a member of the Nation of Islam, preached anti-Semitism and called the white man “devil.” After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X dismissed the murder as a case of “the chickens coming home to roost.”

In Spike Lee’s biographical drama, “Malcolm X,” a white teenage girl approaches the angry activist and says, “Excuse me, Mr. X. Hi. I’ve read some of your speeches, and I honestly believe that a lot of what you have to say is true. And I’m a good person, in spite of what my ancestors did, and I just — I wanted to ask you, what can a white person like myself who isn’t prejudiced, what can I do to help you … further your cause?” He stares sternly, and replies, “Nothing.” She leaves in tears.

But Malcolm X changed. He visited Mecca, where he saw people of all colors worshipping together. It changed the way he thought. He repudiated his anger toward whites after discovering that people were more similar than they were different. He renounced the racist ideology of the Nation of Islam, and in doing so knowingly signed his own death warrant. He was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam.

Alabama Gov. George Wallace, in 1963, proclaimed, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” at his inauguration, and later stood in a doorway at the University of Alabama to bar blacks from entering. Nine years later, Wallace took a would-be assassin’s bullet, leaving him paralyzed. Older, wiser and chastened by the attempt on his life, Wallace changed. Wallace, one day and without invitation, went to a black church where 300 black clergymen were holding a conference. He asked to speak. Wallace asked for forgiveness. He said to the church leaders, “I never had hate in my heart for any person. But I regret my support of segregation and the pain it caused the black people of our state and nation. … I’ve learned what pain is, and I’m sorry if I’ve caused anybody else pain. Segregation was wrong — and I am sorry.”

The voters in Alabama returned the former governor to office, but this time, he received black support and made several black appointments. The damage Wallace did through his actions and rhetoric was profound, and despite the assassination attempt, he lived long enough to undo some of it.

Even a Confederate general can change.

Confederate Gen. William Mahone, one of General Robert E. Lee’s most able commanders, owned slaves before the Civil War. But after the war, he led an interracial political movement. He organized and became the leader of the Readjuster Party, the most successful interracial political alliance in the post-emancipation South. In 1881, Mahone was elected to the U.S. Senate, at the time split 37-37 between Republicans and Democrats. But Mahone aligned with the Republicans, the party founded two decades earlier by Northerners trying to stop the expansion of slavery.

From 1879 through 1883, Mahone’s Readjuster Party dominated Virginia, with a governor in the statehouse, two Readjusters in the U.S. Senate and Readjusters representing six of the state’s 10 congressional districts. Under Mahone’s leadership, his coalition also controlled the state legislature, the courts and many of the state’s coveted federal offices.

The Readjusters established what became Virginia State University, the first state-supported college to train black teachers. Democrats described the hated Readjusters and Republicans as advocates of “black domination.”

What about Lt. Gen. James Longstreet? One of Lee’s favorite generals, Longstreet not only became a Republican after the war and served in Republican administrations but also fought against the racist White League in New Orleans.

After the Civil War, Longstreet moved to New Orleans, where he urged Southerners to support the Republican Party and endorsed their candidate, Ulysses S. Grant, for president in 1968. He commanded blacks in the New Orleans Metropolitan Police Force against the anti-Reconstruction White League (a paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party) at the Battle of Liberty Place in 1874. He was shot and held captive for several days. He accepted political appointments from Republicans, and even dared criticize Gen. Lee. For this “betrayal,” white Southerners pronounced Longstreet a “scalawag” and “leper of the community.”

Where does this viewing of history through the prism of modern-day feelings end? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once gave advice to a gay young man that today would be heresy. King suggested he battle his feelings, strongly implying that the young man needed therapy and sexual re-orientation. Today, that kind of advice gets one branded a Neanderthal. President John F. Kennedy, frustrated with a high-profile Democrat who hadn’t supported his election, threatened to banish him by giving him an obscure ambassadorship to one of the, as Kennedy put it, “boogie republics” in Africa. Tell that to Black Lives Matter.

History is complicated. And history requires perspective and understanding, something sadly lacking in those who seek to erase history by imposing today’s standards of right and wrong.

SOURCE





Political Correctness Run Amok - or - Only an Intellectual Could Think This Was Smart

On August 29, 2917 Katherine Timpf posted an article, Catholic School Removes Jesus, Mary Statues Because They’re ‘Alienating’ to Non-Catholics, saying: "The San Domenico School, the first Catholic school in California, has removed all but 18 of its 180 religious statues in an effort to be more “inclusive” and “forward looking.”

Several parents have complained about the decision, according to Marinij. She goes on to note: "Articulating an inclusive foundation appears to mean letting go of San Domenico’s 167-year tradition as a Dominican Catholic school and being both afraid and ashamed to celebrate one’s heritage and beliefs,” one of these parents, Shannon Fitzpatrick, told the news source. “In our time here, the word ‘Catholic’ has been removed from the mission statement, sacraments were removed from the curriculum, the lower-school curriculum was changed to world religions, the logo and colors were changed to be ‘less Catholic,’ and the uniform was changed to be less Catholic,”

Of course the first question I had was - If all of this "Catholicness" was so offensive to students of other faiths - why is it 80% of the student body isn't Catholic?  Apparently they and their families weren't offended.  Apparently - it seems to me - they wanted their children to be a part of this institution because it was Catholic.  Or is that too obvious for this school's board to grasp? 

They're now justifying this action because this school is "an “independent” as well as a “Catholic” school".  Well, this of course puts a different light on the subject!  Right?   Wrong!  It's a school that was a Catholic school and is now an education center run by Catholic heretics, and if I miss my guess - it will soon find it's going to be independent of a large number of students.

Whether one is a Catholic or not, whether one is a Christian or not, whether one is an atheist or not - this should be disturbing as it shows just how easily it is for heresy to seep into a religion, or any group for that matter, and destroy the values of a particular society and replace it with semi-religious secularism. 

It's easy to agree with Dan Greenfield's article  - The Left's Values Are Our State Church - when he says leftism is now the state sponsored - and in some cases - imposed religion.   Catholics, Jews and Protestants all have their heretics - the Republicans have their RINO's - and the United States has the Federal Judiciary - all undermining the values that made our society great.

Make no mistake about this - this isn't about "offending" others.  This is about Political Correctness run amok.  Political Correctness is fascism masquerading as concern for common decency.  PC is dangerous because it imparts stupidity by destroying the ability to define an issue properly.  And it's definition that leads to clarity.  Without clarity of thought there can be no decisive thinking or action.

Since they pulled this stunt after everyone signed up for this year's enrollment - it will be interesting to see what happens next year.  If what happens what I think is going to happen - this school's board will soon have clarity imposed on them.

Definition leads to clarity.  Clarity leads to understanding.  Understanding leads to good decision making.  Fire the heretics, replace the RINO's, impose term and age limits on the federal judiciary and all elected officials.  Because good decision making leads to harmony!

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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