How many Americans know that we are importing a lot of oil from Russia? Not only did Biden beg OPEC to produce more oil, he doubled the amount of oil imported from Saudi Arabia from December of 2020 and October of 2021 and we’ve also tripled the oil from Russia from what we were importing from February 2019 to September 2021.

In May of last year, Biden surged the Russian oil imports by 23 percent to 844,000 barrels a day from the prior month, which was almost 10 percent of all our oil imports for the month. The only country we import more oil from is Canada. Exactly why are we importing and dependant on such an adversary?

MacCallum pressed Sullivan, asking if he does concede we are no longer energy independent, “and we were before.” His answer is very revealing.

“What I would say is that the U.S. is investing massively in being a leader in an energy transition in which – yes, for now we continue to use fossil fuels – but over the course of years and decades, we become a clean energy superpower.” He claimed that’s where the “strategic advantage” would lie.

Just to summarize that: he’s admitting they’re killing our energy position on purpose. That’s what he just said, because of their insane “clean energy” goals. That’s all just cool to them, if we help Russia now, as Russia menaces us and their neighbors. //

MacCallum had the best response. “Some people would look at that answer and say that Russia and China could feel like they were in a “pretty good position,” MacCallum said.

Exactly. Russia and China are probably looking at all this and laughing that we could put these horrible folks that help them in office. And the Democrats called President Donald Trump a Putin stooge, when he was dropping bombs on Russians’ heads and making us more energy independent. These actions make no sense, unless you are insane and/or are trying to help Vladimir Putin. They hurt our ability to defend ourselves and our allies. They hurt every American.

Christians have lamented the shift away from businesses observing Sunday sabbath for decades. In CT’s early days, evangelical leaders complained about the uptick in “Open on Sunday” signs in grocery stores, theaters, and other businesses.

“Too largely the Sabbath day has been reduced from a holy day of spiritual replenishment, instruction, and correction, to a mere holiday for pleasure seeking or to just another day of merchandising,” Charles W. Koller, president emeritus of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in 1963, two years after the US Supreme Court ruled that “blue laws” restricting Sunday commerce were constitutional.

“Christ made allowance, within the spirit of the law, for works of mercy and of necessity, and for taking care of the occasional ‘ox in the ditch,’” Koller said. “But the moral responsibility of unnecessary Sabbath violation is not to be lightly regarded. Immeasurably greater is the moral responsibility of coaxing others away from Sabbath observance to the marts of trade. Still more serious is the policy of denying to employees the possibility of observing the Sabbath.” //

Sabbatarian Protestants—which fall in traditions ranging from Presbyterians to Pentecostals—schedule work, travel, and other activities around being at church on Sundays, avoiding what the Westminster Shorter Catechism calls “recreations as are lawful on other days.” While some fellow believers see such commitments as legalistic, Sabbatarians see it as a joyful chance to take advantage of a day set aside to draw near to God.

See here is the problem, Trudeau thinks he is your boss, and he has got it backwards, you’re the boss. That is why I’m running for Prime Minister, to put you back in charge of your life. //

Poilievre goes on to talk about restoring freedom in a number of ways and mentions that “Smaller government makes room for bigger citizens,” which seems to be spot on.

A lone U.S. hacker who goes by the handle “P4x” is claiming responsibility for shutting down the entire North Korean internet twice last month.

The anonymous hacker says that he was taking revenge for a North Korean cyberattack on Western security researchers carried out by North Korean spies last year. He says he was frustrated by the lack of response from the U.S. over the attack and decided to take matters into his own hands.

https://www.wired.com/story/north-korea-hacker-internet-outage/

It’s doubtful that P4x’s actions had any effect on the North Korean state or government. Only a tiny fraction of their people have access to the internet. And the hackers that disrupted P4x’s work on security systems, for which he was exacting revenge, are probably not even located in North Korea. They are probably based in China, where Beijing has its own cyber warfare group, PLA Unit 61398.

Nevertheless, striking a blow against America’s enemies is always welcome — no matter where it comes from.

The elites told us that Joe Biden would protect black people and believe black lives mattered. They also said he would ensure the community’s prosperity and success. Here’s the problem: His presidency has been the antithesis of all that. //

What about black prosperity? In the Trump era, African-American unemployment had reached the lowest on record — 5.5 percent in September 2019, shortly before the start of the pandemic. There had never been so many African Americans who were part of the workforce. This was essentially thanks to the economic policies pushed by Republicans. Tax cuts, wage increases, and GDP growth helped create an economy where everyone benefited.

In the Biden era, Joe takes credit for a lower unemployment rate. But what he won’t tell you is that the rate is lower now thanks to a decline in labor participation among African-Americans. This is nothing to celebrate. If anything, it’s one of the most significant indicators of black poverty.

But the idea that Iran “returns to its commitments under the JCPOA” is ludicrous. Those commitments are beyond salvaging, including Iran restraining its enrichment activities not to exceed 5%. Today, they have a stockpile of enriched uranium at the 60% level. They have also vastly improved the efficiency and modernization of their centrifuges and have yet to promise to supply the IAEA with data they refused to hand over that was denied the agency for nearly six months. //

Which country is going to take possession of Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched beyond 5%? Russia stepped forward last time — a dubious choice considering it’s in Russia’s interest to strengthen Iran against the U.S. But what about those ultra-modern centrifuges? What kind of access will be granted to the IAEA? And what to do about many unresolved nuclear issues from the past decades?

Those questions are irrelevant. Joe Biden is in deep, deep, political trouble and needs an international “success” to bolster his standing and give the Democrats a shot in the arm going into the November midterms.

And his new friends in Tehran will be more than happy to oblige.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has guts.

While speaking with the Federalist Society in Florida on Friday, he did not mince words when discussing the certification of the 2020 election.

“There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress, I possessed unilateral authority to reject electoral college votes. And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to ‘overturn the election,'” he said, according to the Hill.

“President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” he added. //

“Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election. And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024,” he continued on.

3. A Temple Mount banquet hall
   A luxurious public building located next to the Temple Mount has been excavated and opened to public tours. Part of the building was first discovered by British archaeologist Charles Warren in 1867, and the site was partially excavated in 1966. Now that the excavation is complete, archaeologists have dated its construction to A.D. 20—during the lifetime of Jesus.

The building contained two identical chambers, separated by an elaborate fountain. The luxurious nature of the facility and its adjacency to the Temple Mount indicates it was probably used by the elite members of the first-century Jewish community, the families of the high priests, and other leading religious figures.

Archaeologists say it was damaged by an earthquake in A.D. 33, then later rebuilt and reconfigured into three vaulted halls. The destruction date suggests possible evidence of the earthquake recorded in the Gospel accounts at the crucifixion of Jesus. //

We know that King Solomon fed his guests beef, lamb, venison, and poultry, in addition to bread, cakes, dates, and other delicacies. But … bananas?

The amount of water needed to grow bananas makes them an unlikely fruit in ancient Israel, but a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported some unexpected remains were scraped off the teeth of Canaanites and Philistines who died in the late second millennia B.C., the period of Solomon’s reign. Teeth don’t lie: They ate bananas.

The dietary evidence indicates “a dynamic and complex exchange network connecting the Mediterranean with South Asia,” according to the report. Christina Warinner, a Harvard anthropologist and one of the lead investigators, said the imported fruit may have been dried, like modern-day banana chips.