A blessed Good Friday to you.

Jesus Took It All

We mark the day that shook the earth. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I try wrapping my head around the notion of taking on the sins of the world. I can’t. You know how sometimes you can find yourself stressed and darkened and weighed down by the troubles and mistakes — the sins — of a friend, family member or colleague? And someone will tell you, “don’t take that on”? Jesus took it ALL on.

Mass murderers. Serial rapists. Satanists. Abortionists. You. Me. All of it. Every lie. Every cheat. Every steel. Every last drop of evil and darkness. The turning on of the gas at Auschwitz. The turning against marriage vows. The sex trafficking of children. The cursing at a stranger at a traffic light. The doctor who at this hour is preparing to cut off the healthy penis of a young boy. And everyone who calls that evil good.

All my sins. Cannot lose sight of that. I think of Mel Gibson insisting while filming Passion of the Christ that his hand hold the spike being driven into Jesus.

Think of Jesus in the Garden. He didn’t sweat the storm. He didn’t sweat the mob that wanted to kill him. Didn’t sweat anything in his three years of ministry. Yet He sweat blood when considering what was to come. Was He agonizing over the pending humiliation? The rejection? The torture? Even the nails and excruciating death? Hard to believe He’d be more worked up than his Apostles would later be when facing horrible deaths. No, He was agonizing to the point of hermatohidrosis over the “cup” that had been given him. To drink up every last ounce of sin humanity had and would ever produce.

“Yet not my will, but your will be done,” He told His Father. And took it all in. Even if that’s where the story stopped, we would rightfully be in awe. Rightly on our knees. But that’s not the end of the story.

Three days later, the greatest mic drop in the history of the universe.  

The Rest is Just Noise

Compared to Calvary and the Resurrection, everything else is just noise. Like audience chatter before the curtain rises … or is ripped in half, as the case may be.

But we can gulp a bit of Brew before heading into this holy day.

Biden Admin Review of Afghan Withdrawal Blames Who for Death of 13 Marines? One Guess

Saying Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal is redundant. “Afghanistan withdrawal” is synonymous with “abject failure.” As a result of Biden’s insistence on fleeing Afghanistan by the 9/11 anniversary, without our weaponry, without thousands of American helpers — without, in a vast many cases, AMERICANS — and to do it in a manner that made it open season on our Marines, 13 of our bravest were killed by a suicide bomber.

But the whole mess is Donald Trump’s fault. Or at least that’s what the Biden Administration concluded in a new report on the withdrawal. Trump left “difficult realities” behind for Biden, “severely restraining him.”

As Daily Caller reports:

The document criticized Trump for calling for talks with the Taliban, ordering the drawdown of U.S. troops, negotiating a withdrawal deadline for May 1 of 2021, and not giving Biden plans on how to conduct the final withdrawal during the presidential transition.

Maybe you should have asked the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Miley. I’m sure he could have spared five minutes from passing out CRT literature to share what had been in the works. (In fact, he and his top brass did share the idea that we keep the Bagram military base to support the withdrawal. They were rebuffed. Milley explained in a tweet how Biden’s cap on troop numbers made it impossible to keep both the base and embassy.)   

The Trump Campaign immediately shot back on the White House report, accusing Biden of “trying to gaslight the American people.” And rattled off a list of the consequences of the disastrous withdrawal around the world.

We get the deal. As we said recently, once one accepts that this White House will lie about anything, the veins do less popping. Inflation, Trump’s fault. The border, Trump’s fault. East Palestine, Trump’s fault. Supply chain problems, Trump’s fault. Ukraine, Trump’s fault. Iowa losing in the Women’s NCAA Basketball tournament, Trump’s fault. Charlotte walking away in tears from her true love on last Sunday’s episode of Sanditon. Yup. Trump’s fault. Politics is politics, and Biden will always put politics ahead of principle.

But we’re talking about war and peace. Forget Trump. Biden was Commander-in-Chief as of January 20, 2021. By pointing at Trump and not holding anyone in his civilian or military leadership to account, he’s begging for a world of hurt. Failure to have accountability makes further disasters an inevitability.

Latest on Trump Indictment: Where’s Mitch?

It feels silly to talk about Trump getting a raw deal from the criminal justice system … or anybody getting a raw deal … on Good Friday. How does a personal 757 to La Guardia compare to the road up Calvary?

But we can note how many enemies of Trump are blasting this week’s arraignment. Add Mitt Romney, and Van Jones to the growing list. (In fact, Van Jones had warned Bragg in March not to indict Trump and, of course, was pounded for it.) Even Stormy Daniels says Trump shouldn’t be incarcerated for this. However, Mitch McConnell is still silent.

The Hill spoke to a former McConnell advisor and some GOP strategists. They say McConnell is maintaining his desire to steer clear of Trump. University of Kentucky journalism professor Al Cross says the Senate Minority Leader doesn’t feel the pressure to rally behind Trump that other Republicans do. “He has steeled himself to resist the typical politician’s urge to talk and it’s paid off for him, you don’t get in trouble for something you didn’t say.”

Really? Hey husbands, never not say “I’m sorry” to your spouse when you should have? How’d that go?

Seriously, McConnell feels no need to defend the rule of all? To call out the weaponization of the law against the leading opposition candidate — his party’s leading candidate — even if that candidate makes his skin crawl?

I wonder. Is McConnell really benching himself just because it’s Trump, or is he still on the Disabled List with injuries far worse than has been reported? McConnell did release a statement congratulating Finland’s admission into NATO. But that could totally be the work of his staff. Remember Sen. Dianne Feinstein released a statement announcing her retirement … to the surprise of Dianne Feinstein.

Along The Stream

The Stream is posting a host of articles celebrating Good Friday and Easter. You can already catch a beautiful reflection from publisher James Robison. “What’s So Good About Friday?”

Dr. Michael Brown offers a wonderful and educational new one called, “Jesus Our Messiah and the Ancient Jewish Calendar.”

And we have reposted our “News Account of the Passion,” which we hope you’ll like and share.

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.