The Brew: The National Day of Prayer
Happy Thursday
Today’s Brew starts on our knees, as we commemorate the National Day of Prayer.
“Lift Up the Word – Light Up the World”
The theme of this year’s National Day of Prayer, “Lift Up the Word, Light Up the World,” is taken from 2 Samuel 22:29-31.
For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God — his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.
Events are taking place at churches and other venues across the country throughout the day. Click here to find one near you.
Tonight at 8 p.m., A.R. Bernard, founder of the Christian Cultural Center in New York City, will cohost the National Observance Broadcast, featuring musical guest Matthew West, author and theologian Os Guinness, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, and others.
Also, Stream founder James Robison has posted a message this morning, urging us to “Let’s Ask the Father to Heal Our Land.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill establishing the National Day of Prayer on July 4, 1952. Why?
According to the National Day of Prayer website: “It stands as a call for us to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a people. The unanimous passage of the bill establishing the National Day of Prayer as an annual event signifies that prayer is as important to our nation today as it was in the beginning.”
Notice what it said: The “unanimous” passage of the bill. Would such a bill pass unanimously today? The doubt you feel about that is but one sign that we need to pray harder.
Old Glory Flies Again at NY’s City College and UNC
We’ve mentioned how the anti-Israel protesters have been tearing down American flags nationwide, replacing them with Palestinian ones. Well, on Tuesday night, in a glorious display, New York’s finest took down a Palestinian flag at City College New York and raised the Stars and Stripes in its place.
#HAPPENINGNOW: An incredible scene and proud moment as we have assisted @CityCollegeNY in restoring order on campus, culminating in raising Old Glory once again on their campus flagpole. 🇺🇸@NYPDPC @NYPD1stDep @NYPDChiefOfDept @NYPDChiefPatrol @NYPDnews pic.twitter.com/XZWFmvXcUs
— NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Operations Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) May 1, 2024
The clip has gone viral. Mayor Eric Adams, himself a former cop, said, “It’s despicable that schools would allow another country’s flag to fly in our country. We’re not surrendering our way of life to anyone.”
Meanwhile, in another heart-stirring viral moment, fraternity brothers at the University of North Carolina were seen protecting Old Glory from those who wanted to take it down.
Students at UNC Chapel Hill protect the American Flag from anti-Israel protesters who allegedly attempted to take it down.
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 1, 2024
One of the best photos of 2024 so far:
Fraternity brothers are pelted by anti-Israel protesters at UNC Chapel Hill while protecting the United States flag as it is re-hoisted following its removal by protesters.
Well done, gentleman. 🫡🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0DiBQcVLBu
— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) May 1, 2024
Fortunately, UNC’s interim chancellor, Lee Roberts, stepped up big time, personally replacing a Palestinian flag that had been raised up over the campus with the Stars and Stripes.
“The flag represents all of us,” Roberts told reporters, “Take down that flag, and put up another flag, no matter what flag it is — that’s antithetical to who we are, what this university stands for. That flag will stand here as long as I am chancellor.”
Hmm. Why Believe Them and Not MAGA People?
New York City Mayor Eric Adams claims infiltrators are responsible for taking over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University and ensuing violence there. “It was about outside agitators hijacking peaceful protests and influencing students to escalate,” he said. Indeed, Columbia says most of those arrested Tuesday night were not students, and the crowd at Columbia included professional agitation guru Lisa Fithian. As the New York Post reported, she once told The New York Times her job was to “create crisis.”
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So we can all agree organized activists and anarchists are taking advantage of the anti-Israel protests to make things much worse for America.
Here is my question. Why is it that when Adams and others talk about “outside agitators” making things escalate on campus (or for that matter, when organizations and politicians said the same thing about the George Floyd protests when they turned violent), everyone believes them — but when MAGA people who were in D.C. on January 6, 2021, say the same thing about the election protest, they are dismissed as “conspiracy theorists”?
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) makes another point. “Joe Biden’s DOJ labeled concerned parents at school board meetings as domestic terrorists. How many of the ‘protesters’ on college campuses supporting literal terrorist groups will get that label?”
Joe Biden’s DOJ labeled concerned parents at school board meetings as domestic terrorists.
How many of the "protesters" on college campuses supporting literal terrorist groups will get that label?
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) May 1, 2024
Will Fithian?
Biden Considering Bringing in Palestinians from Gaza
A bunch of pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas mobs are taking over university campuses, disrupting public events, blocking traffic in major cities, bringing chaos to the streets, and striking fear into Jewish citizens from coast to coast. So what is the White House to do? Here’s a bright idea: How about bringing in hordes of Palestinians from Gaza under the guise of being “refugees”?
CBS News broke that story Tuesday night, and the White House is not denying it’s thinking of ways to bring in Palestinians whose relatives are American citizens or permanent residents into our own nation.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis explained why this is a bad idea. “To take people from that part of the world and import those blood feuds to this country, that is not in your interest or your family’s interest. We should not be importing people from the Gaza Strip. It is not going to be something that benefits the United States.”
How do we know we won’t benefit? Ask the 22 Arab countries that don’t want the Gaza refugees (i.e., their brother Arabs, their fellow Muslims). If they know the downside of letting those people live among them, why doesn’t our president?
Do you need more evidence of the dangers of bringing in refugees from places culturally hostile to the U.S.? Two words: “Ilhan Omar.”
Biden Bails Out Art Students?
Yes, bringing in a bunch of hostile “refugees” (again) would be insane. Almost as insane as spending $6.1 billion to cancel the debt of art students. Oh wait — Biden’s doing that, too?!
Said Biden, “Today, my administration is approving $6.1 billion in student debt cancellation for 317,000 borrowers who attended the Art Institutes.”
The Arts Institute was a for-profit chain of schools that closed last summer amid allegations of fraud. The White House claims the school misrepresented graduate employment rates and salaries.
Do you go to an art school thinking you’re going to make bank? And why do taxpayers who took on a trade, paid their own way through school, or who have already repaid their loans have to foot the bill for the others?
In any event, this move just shows Biden is again ignoring the Supreme Court, which declared unconstitutional his efforts to eliminate student debt without Congressional approval.
Along The Stream
On Conversations with Christians Engaged‘s new podcast, Bunni Pounds interviews Promise Keepers leader and former LAPD cop Ken Harrison.
Stream contributor Jules Gomes wants to know, “Why Is Pope Protecting a Priest Accused of Sexual Abuse and Using His Crude Art at the Vatican?”
Plus, Al’s Afternoon Tea remains fresh: “Campus Protesters Fight While Joe Stays Out of Sight.”
Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.
