Happy Wednesday!

Let’s get pouring.

Thinking of Pastor Gus

I’m thinking of Pastor Gus from our old church in L.A. this morning. Pastor Gus was a beloved associate pastor who ran a life-altering prophetic workshop, officiated at our wedding and even appeared in several of our plays. Who didn’t love Pastor Gus? Sadly, as he approached his twilight, he became increasingly prone to nasty outbursts. For example, suddenly biting off the heads of waiters for the most trivial of matters. So out of character. We eventually learned the outbursts stemmed from early stages of dementia.

I’m thinking of Pastor Gus this morning as I read Axios’ report of how the President of the United States is so prone to explosive, expletive-filled outbursts, that staffers are reluctant to meet with him one-on-one. Add the diatribes to Joe Biden’s constant mental gaffes, incomprehensibility and confusion, and one can’t help but “go there.”

This isn’t partisan. This isn’t mocking. When you are talking about a man with the power to unleash nuclear Armageddon, you are talking about the safety and security of our families. Indeed the families of nations. And we’re talking about an individual. A father. A grandfather. Uncle Joe. With heavy hearts, the American people have to have this conversation.

Yet Axios goes out of its way to portray the temper and outbursts not as a further signal of diminished capacity, but as Biden’s natural personality and particular management style.

In fact, the report, titled “Old Yeller: Biden’s Hidden Fury,” suggests, “If Biden doesn’t yell at you, it could be a sign he doesn’t respect you.” Oh? Except, as Axios pointed out, Joe Biden has built his whole political brand on geniality. The nice guy. The guy who would restore “decency” to the White House.

“The private eruptions paint a more complicated picture of Biden as a manager and president than his carefully cultivated image as a kindly uncle who loves Aviator sunglasses and ice cream.”

So which is it? Are we dealing with a sham or a sickness? Or at this point, a combination of both, with a carefully carved façade slowly crumbling?

Again, not partisan. Not mocking.

I’m thinking of Pastor Gus, who eventually had to step down from his post for his sake and the sake of the congregation. But when you are President of the United States, who’s in a position to say, “Sir, the time has come”?

Zelenskyy Mad Biden is Nixing Ukraine in NATO for Now

Joe Biden has nixed the idea of Ukraine joining NATO for now, understanding that making Ukraine part of NATO while it’s at war with Russia means — by the terms of NATO — we would have to fully jump into the war against Russia.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenksyy is not happy. He says it’s about “respect” and putting even talk of membership on hold gives Russia “motivation to continue its terror.”

We value our allies. We value our shared security. And we always appreciate an open conversation.
Ukraine will be represented at the NATO summit in Vilnius. Because it is about respect.

But Ukraine also deserves respect. Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that…

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 11, 2023

Biden said something else curious in his CNN interview. He said there are other reasons to hold back NATO membership from Ukraine, including lack of democratization. Here are his exact words:

“But I think it’s premature to say, to call for a vote, you know, in now, because there’s other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues.”

Which is bizarre because both sides of the aisle insisted the reason we’re emptying our treasury and weapons stockpiles, and suffering higher gas prices, was to “preserve democracy” in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Biden is in Lithuania for NATO meetings, including welcoming Sweden into the fold. As we always should when a president is abroad, we pray for protection and a good representation of America.

Nearly 40% of Brown University Students Do Not Identify as Straight

38% of students who took part in a Brown University survey did not identify as “straight,” according to the Brown Daily Herald’s Spring 2023 Poll.

That would be five times the national rate. According to the poll, 18% identify as bisexual, over 7.5% say they are homosexual. The rest identified as “queer,” “pansexual,” asexual, questioning or unlisted.

The percentage of students who identify as LGBTQ has doubled since 2010.

As Just the News notes, it is unclear how many students took the poll.

Has sexuality really changed in the past 12 years compared to the thousands of years before it? Are we talking “social contagion”? The poisoned fruit of efforts to demonize heterosexuality and traditional relationships?

And how much is just going along to get along? Not that there’s any real comparison, but when I was in college you just had to say you liked this new band out of Athens, Georgia, called Rapid Eye Movement. “Oh, their lyrics were so deep!” No, they were incomprehensible gibberish.

True enough, the band did evolve into the great REM. But in those early years, saying you liked them or similar alternative rock groups was almost as compulsory as English 101. Is something similar at play in the survey, at least for a percentage of the students?

So, Does Being Fit Make You a Nazi? MSNBC Seems to Think So

I have a cousin who, even deep into his 70s, is a world-class power lifter. Had the U.S. record for seniors in his weight class. One time he asked my sister if I lifted weights. “Sure,” she said. “Knives, forks, spoons …”

These days, if she watched MSNBC she could have answered, “No. Dumbells are racist.”

On Monday, MSNBC tweeted out a story from last year, declaring that fitness is a “far right obsession” of “white nationalists.”

The far right’s obsession with fitness is going digital https://t.co/saGOFXMn64

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 10, 2023

It only takes MSNBC three paragraphs before evoking Hitler’s fanatical obsession with boxing, jiu-jitsu and physical fitness for the German people.

Who knew a Peloton was the equivalent of a V2 rocket?

Obviously, there’s a Biblical response: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

 

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.