When several NATO nations revealed that they had dozens of Russian-made MiG-29s, the idea arose to fly them to Ukraine and turn them over to Ukrainian pilots familiar with the MiGs.
America would provide F-16s to replace the MiGs.
Poland had an even better idea. Warsaw would fly its 27 MiG fighter jets to the U.S. Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. The planes would be turned over to the Americans there, repainted and flown to Ukraine.
How to get the MiGs to Ukraine's pilots would be left to the Americans.
Congress, once again, pushed the government funding fight until the last minute. After much debate in the Senate on vaccine mandates, raising the minimum wage, child tax credits, and the massive amount of spending, the best they could do is pass continuing resolutions (CRs) until a large appropriations package could be finalized. The latest CR expires on Friday, and House lawmakers are saying they have come to an agreement.
Rumors of a bipartisan omnibus began earlier this year, but nothing came to fruition until this week. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolds, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle desire to send aid to Ukraine. House Democrats know that wrapping emergency funding into a larger omnibus bill would sway Republicans to vote in favor. The White House asked for $6.4 billion in aid, however, House and Senate leaders are asking for more. The final amount included in the House version of the omnibus is $13.6 billion.
Our overlords in the Beltway Swamp depend on you not paying attention. COVID-19 was a weapon of mass distraction for the past two years. Ukraine is the new shiny toy.
Put down their bread. Take your eyes off their circuses. Pay attention.
In the bought-off halls of Congress right now, Senate and House collaborators are preparing to send legislation to President Joe Biden that will open the floodgates to more foreign tech workers, wealthy foreign investors and foreign students -- while our own homegrown American tech workforce, American business owners and American STEM graduates are still reeling from pandemic disruptions and displacements. The Senate passed the $250 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition Act last June. The House passed a similar measure, the $350 billion America Competes Act, last month. Biden wielded his State of the Union address to push for reconciliation of the two bills so he can commence another massive giveaway to foreign and domestic special interests.
WORLD ON BRINK OF 'DIRE' WATER SHORTAGE: Growing scarcity of the planet's most "precious" resource could lead to "dire consequences" worldwide -- including the Western U.S. -- as hot, arid regions get thirstier, a troubling new report for World Water Day on March 22 reveals. The report, Water: An Increasingly Scarce Resource That Is Precious As Gold, from GFA World says global demand is expected to surge more than 50% in the next 20 years.
Shocking new report for World Water Day, March 22, says billions globally could struggle to find enough water to drink
WILLS POINT, Texas, March 7, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Growing scarcity of the planet's most "precious" resource could lead to "dire consequences" worldwide -- including the Western U.S. -- as hot, arid regions get thirstier, a troubling new report for World Water Day on March 22 reveals.
Surging global population, urban development and rising temperatures could leave billions worldwide struggling to find enough water to drink within the next two decades, according to the report Water: An Increasingly Scarce Resource That Is Precious As Gold.
Nite Line broadcasts live Monday through Friday on WGGS-TV from 8 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. The program features local and/or nationally known guests who share their testimonies and talent. Our goal is to be an inspiration to our viewers as well as inform them of Christian and community events in the upstate.
Monday, March 14, 2022: Pastor Nathan Bland welcomes Pastor Larry and Darlene Beckett to discuss their ministry, Highways and Hedges, and also share their journey of losing two hundred pounds. Matt and Hannah Forrester sing on tonight’s program.
As I am writing this, the snow is falling and making everything white around, making it look pretty again after the long past winter. Although the snow and cold temperatures sure complicate matters for our warriors at the many frontlines, for those in bomb shelters, the fleeing refugees and many volunteers striving to provide relief and support to our fighting nation. But we all agree here that we are glad it’s not the nuclear winter that befell us. As you may know on War_Day_9 (yesterday, Friday, at dawn) terroRussian tanks with heat-visors fired at Zaporizhe Nuclear Station causing it damage (this city is 60 miles south of our city of Dnipro). Previously, on War_Day_4 they did the same thing in the northern part of our country, near our capital (Kyiv), occupying Chernobyl Nuclear Station (yep, that one). All of their actions line up with the nuclear war threats being made by a madman Putin. So, at this point, the nuclear threat remains the worst and most pressing of them all.
GCGOP State Executive Committeeman Stephen Brown Immediately Resigns
With the Greenville County GOP Chair barred from state GOP meetings, cops being called to the new GCGOP headquarters, Democrat as a guest speaker, GOP elected officials distancing themselves from the meetings, attempts to remove good-standing executive committeemen due to personal agendas, very long out-of-control executive committee meetings, 2nd Vice-Chair stepping down, Treasurer resigning his position, lawsuit threats being slung around, rules committee presenting non-definitive opinions, constant name-calling and derogative statements towards fellow Republicans, constant shouting and screaming during meetings that are getting out of control and now State Executive Committeeman Stephen Brown calling it quits and wants nothing to do with the executive committee he once chaired himself. We could go on and add to this list and you probably will believe we are making this stuff up. Trust me, we are not.
I wrote last week about the collapse of the Soviet Union as result of the strength, moral clarity and leadership of President Ronald Reagan.
I quoted Reagan's observation that the ultimate battle we fight, around the world and at home, is one of good and evil.
This battle never ends. Evil always seeks to advance, constantly in search of the retreat of the presence of good, as it seeks opportunities for expansion.
There simply is no other way to understand the horrible realities we confront today.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Through partners across Europe and teams on the ground, Convoy of Hope is providing shelter, food, water, hygiene kits and other necessities to Ukrainian refugees in Poland and other strategic locations. More than 1.7 million Ukrainians have fled to bordering countries after war broke out more than a week ago; the number of displaced persons could reach 5 million, according to the United Nations.
"The scenes of Ukrainians seeking shelter and refuge from the war are truly heartbreaking," said Convoy of Hope President Hal Donaldson. "Convoy is now calling on its vast experience from disaster responses to bring much-needed help and hope to people fleeing the violence."
A team from Convoy of Hope headquarters arrived in Poland last Wednesday to facilitate the distribution of much-needed aid. Since that time, Convoy has procured a warehouse in which to store incoming supplies and organize a full-scale response.
ATLANTA-- VoterGA announced at a press conference its 15-point analysis that documents clear, irrefutable evidence of how the November 2020 Fulton County election results were electronically manipulated. The analysis was based on a year-long study of ballot images conducted by an expert-laden volunteer research team. The ballot image research was made possible last year when the Georgia legislature passed SB202, which made ballot images public records. The ballot images were collected statewide by a VoterGA Open Records Request team.
The 15-point analysis that can be verified through public ballot images at GAballots.com or other sites found the following problems in Fulton County:
What western military analysts miss and we track the Russian invasion minute by minute. Follow Chris Cappy: https://www.instagram.com/cappyarmy
Day 7 of the Russian invasion and Kyiv hasn't fallen yet but the Russian regular forces are changing their strategy. Using a live update open source intelligence tool we can track the Russian military in real time.
BELLMAWR, N.J. -- Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, The Friends of Israel (FOI, www.foi.org) Gospel Ministry has been supplying significant funds to aid those impacted in both Ukraine and Poland. FOI is working with the Jewish Agency for Israel to help evacuate Ukrainian Jews to Poland. Sparing no expense to address this emergency, FOI has sent funds to its Polish and Ukrainian workers who have set up two housing locations for refugees and are transporting to safety Jewish people fleeing Russian aggression. FOI is also sending aid to small Jewish community organizations in Ukraine that are specifically serving those who cannot escape.
PHOENIX -- Longtime pro-life journalist Dexter Duggan recently entered a confidential settlement after being "shocked" by a defamatory book by well-known historian James Hitchcock, Ph.D., titled Abortion, Religious Freedom, and Catholic Politics.
The book falsely attributes statements by other clearly identified people directly to Duggan and misrepresents numerous facts. Among serious, baseless errors, it claims that Duggan, a practicing Catholic, considered "fanatically pro-abortion" U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater to be "worthy of unqualified support" -- which would be a significant sin.
"I had been an admirer of Hitchcock but was shocked at these inexplicable falsehoods," said Duggan, who entered the confidential settlement in late 2021. It's related to Hitchcock's book, but not with Hitchcock himself.
The broken bodies lie in the city's rubble, their suitcases packed for the safe haven they will never get to. In Irpin, the carnage is covered by dirty sheets -- but the world is not looking away. To the mayor's horror, an entire family, including two little children, was killed in front of his very eyes when a rocket hit the local checkpoint. "This is murder," a passionate President Volodymyr Zelensky argued. "Deliberate murder." And the Russian people, who may never have the full picture of the nightmare unfolding in Ukraine, agree.
While the West shuns their athletes, performers, artists, and vodka, thousands of Russians are spilling into the streets, desperate to stop a war they didn't start. More than 8,000 people have been arrested in the government crackdown that's sweeping through protests from St. Petersburg to Serbia. Yulia Zhivtsova was one of them, insisting -- bravely -- that NPR use her full name. She wants future generations to know that she stood up, that "I was out there, I was protesting, I was against this." She pleaded with her countrymen to join the protests, even as Russian police beat and brutalize the crowds. Silence, she argued, won't save us. "If I keep silent, I'm still not safe."
We live in a strange world. John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, helped provide the energy that powered the American century beginning in the early 1900s. Today, his grandchildren spend the billions of dollars that he donated to the Rockefeller Foundation to attack the same oil and gas industry that he almost single-handedly built. Likewise, Henry Ford's trust, the Ford Foundation, now spends millions of dollars on climate change -- as if the automobile was a sinister invention.
And now we learn from the Chronicle of Philanthropy that the Hewlett Foundation and a partner foundation will donate some $40 million "to five academic institutions" to "rethink" the benefits of free markets.
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were two of America's most outstanding entrepreneurs, co-founding their iconic computer company Hewlett-Packard out of a garage in Northern California.
After Friday's NATO summit refused to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the allies' failure to "close the skies" to Russian military aircraft gives "a green light for further bombing of Ukrainian cities."
"All the people who will die starting from this day will ... die because of you," said Zelensky to NATO, "because of your weakness."
Zelensky's indictment of NATO for cowardice came after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ruled out a no-fly zone:
"NATO is not party to the conflict. NATO is a defensive alliance. ... We don't seek war, conflict with Russia. ... We should not have NATO planes operating over Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops on Ukrainian territory."
Fortunately for the reader, this article will not be 1,225 pages long, as was the first full edition of Leo Tolstoy’s historical novel, War and Peace, published in 1869. Tolstoy’s great work, however, is not irrelevant to understanding Russia and the Russian people today. The time-frame of his historical “fiction” is centered on real European events from 1805 to 1820 relating to Napoleon’s war with and invasion of Russia. Over 160 of the people mentioned in the “novel” were not fictional but real people. The events and times brought great suffering to the Russian people, but they overcame and triumphed over their suffering and their French invaders.
Tolstoy was a Christian and a realist. Many of the chapters of War and Peace were not narrative. They were Tolstoy’s philosophical grappling with war, power, tragedy, suffering, moral dilemmas, and survival that still permeate the nobler understanding of Russian suffering.
ChinaAid works closely with sources in China to expose abuses of human rights, religious freedom, and rule of law since 2002. While not an exhaustive list of cases, ChinaAid's research represents one of the most comprehensive and accurate overviews of persecution.
Throughout 2021, ChinaAid observed escalated oppression of house churches through economic and violent means, as well as coordinated efforts against Christian education.
Bob Fu, President and Founder of ChinaAid and one of the world leaders for persecuted faith communities in China, commented on the trends:
More than three months after ignoring The Nerve’s written requests, the S.C. Judicial Department has released an updated salary list of state judges and other higher-paid court staff, which shows 141 employees making at least $100,000.
The third branch of state government responded to The Nerve only after the South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization – hired a law firm to press for the release of the records.
Under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the exact compensation of a public employee earning $50,000 or more year is a matter of public record. But unlike most other state agencies, the Judicial Department doesn’t provide salary information for its $50,000-plus workers to the online state salary database maintained by the S.C. Department of Administration.
In Part 1 of this series I asked the question: What impels a young man to embark on a life of missionary service to his LORD and Savior? It became clear, during my research, that John Birch received his “calling” to be a missionary from his Savior, Jesus, and he received that calling at a young age. He never turned back from serving his Savior, nor did he hesitate from going into harm’s way many times during that service. John was characterized by Robert Welch as “a simple, but highly intelligent man, who worked hard to serve God, spread God’s Word, andfought for the freedom to do so.” Many times during his wartime service, Birch longed for the day when he could farm his own land, marry and raise a family, and continue to serve God in his own way.
She's become the face of Ukrainian mothers, a Kyiv tour guide who now wonders if anything will be left of the city to visit. Now, she's underground, doing emotional interviews with American media with her two boys and a baby in her lap. Her husband, like all men his age, has joined the country's defense force, and she has no idea if her boys will still have a father when everything is over. People ask why she didn't leave. It's my home, she replies. "If I stay here, [my husband] will fight better, because I will inspire him to be super strong -- like he inspires me to be super strong."
On Wednesday, she seized a rare moment to take her kids home for a quick bath and stock up on things most moms take for granted: diapers, drinking water, and warm clothes. She tried to encourage the kids to play, but in a heartbreaking moment that revealed how much things had changed in her country, they wanted to leave. "They were afraid to stay at home. They were asking all the time, 'Are bombs flying?'" It's a terror the adults like Olena understand. "There is the feeling, the constant fear, like it is somewhere in my stomach... somewhere in my heart."
We mind our personal investments, but do we mind how our investments are invested? Many of the state pension funds and personal retirement accounts are farmed out to large investment houses, such as Vanguard, Fidelity, or BlackRock. Those three companies have trillions of dollars of assets under management and, thus, enormous power and influence in the marketplace.
For example, the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, is explicit in his embrace of “Environmental and Social Governance”, which seeks to use social justice ideology and the supposed “threat” of climate change to force public companies to change how they run their businesses. He is pushing oil companies to go green, even though “green” energy costs more in energy than it produces. Vanguard and Fidelity have also bought into ESG and both investment houses use ESG scores to evaluate the companies in which they invest.
The "Welcome Truckers To Washington" trailer display -- Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House is shown coming out of a giant garbage can marked "Government Property" -- President Joe Biden is big dummy with "Mandate Boss" on his chest.
By Lynz Piper-Loomis, candidate for U.S. Congress, SC-01
War has been waged upon our soil. It has seeped in through our children's education, political parties, churches, borders, business, medical care, and through venues unimaginable. We are in a crisis unlike the public opinion of my opponent.
I know we are all used to hearing the career politician stand up and tell us how awesome they are, feed us the same boring cliches we have heard a million times before, and explain why we NEED them in Washington.
How well has that worked for us? Clearly, those sentiments are a disappointment to every single American.
Look around at our world today and ask yourself the tough questions:
As South Carolina motorists over the past year have been paying more in state gasoline taxes – on top of skyrocketing gas prices – the surplus from revenues generated under the 2017 gas-tax-hike law jumped by nearly $300 million, records show.
As of Jan. 31, the cash balance of a special fund created with the law stood at $1.05 billion – $297.9 million, or about 40%, more than the total surplus a year earlier, according to state Department of Transportation and comptroller general records. The increase was $46 million greater compared to the previous annual growth in the reserves.
Looking at it another way, the current surplus equals about $260 for every driver with a regular South Carolina license.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has been the world's dominant force. Marked by relative peace and prosperity, it's been an amazingly successful period for America and for the world. Certainly, measured by world historical standards, the U.S. has little to apologize for and much to be proud of. The first four decades of this period were defined by the Cold War. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the U.S. became the unchallenged power in the world. As much as this was celebrated at the time, America's actions since then have eroded this advantage. Having squandered a historic opportunity, Washington is now faced with a challenge unlike any other before it.
When Hungarian rebels arose in 1956 to overthrow the Communist regime imposed by Joseph Stalin, President Dwight Eisenhower refused to send U.S. forces to aid the Hungarians.
Ike would not take America to war with Russia over a small country in Central Europe.
While the Hungarians were heroic and inspirational, Hungary was neither a member of NATO nor a vital U.S. interest. Moreover, it was on the Soviet side of the Yalta line dividing Europe, and agreed to by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill at Yalta in 1945.
For similar reasons today, President Joe Biden has refused to send U.S. troops, ships or planes to attack Russian forces invading Ukraine.