Below is my column in the Hill on the decision of Joe Biden to end his presidency with a final act of ignominy. The use of his pardon authority to protect his own family members was the final corruption of Joe Biden.
Here is the column:
With only 15 minutes to go as president, Joe Biden snatched infamy from the jaws of obscurity.
With record-low polling and widely viewed as a “failed” president, Biden completed his one-man race to the bottom of ethics by issuing preemptive pardons to members of his own family.
The pardons were timed to guarantee that the media would not focus on yet another unethical act by this president. He need not have worried. For four years, the media worked tirelessly to deny or deflect the corruption scandal surrounding the Biden family.
The pardoning of James Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John Owens and Francis Biden brought an inescapable clarity to the corruption of what is known in Washington as Biden Inc.
I have written about the Biden family’s corruption for decades. Influence-peddling has always been the favorite form of corruption in Washington, but this city has never seen the likes of the Biden family. Millions of dollars were secured from foreign sources and distributed to various Biden family members.
Biden repeatedly lied about the influence peddling. He long denied knowing about his son’s foreign clients or business. He denied ever meeting Hunter’s clients. Later, photos and emails showed that Biden had clearly met these clients and knew about the business deals. He was fully aware that his family was cashing in on his name and various offices.
Even Biden’s claims about handling the Trump cases were recently contradicted. While long claiming that he left these cases to the Justice Department and took no position on the merits, the Washington Post recently reported that Biden was irate over the failure to prosecute Trump before the election. He also reportedly lashed out at Attorney General Merrick Garland and said he regretted his appointment in light of the failure to nail Trump.
One of the most glaring lies was that he would never pardon his son. Few people believed him. Indeed, Hunter Biden’s bizarre criminal defense made no sense unless he knew that he had a pocket pardon if all else failed.
Once he was forced out of the presidential race, Biden was freed up to sign a pardon for any and all crimes committed over a ten-year period by his son. He insisted that he really hadn’t been lying. He claimed that no ordinary person would have been tried for his son’s crimes — a manifestly untrue statement. He also emphasized that he had to take this step as a father of a son who was a hopeless addict and has now been clean for years.
However, the latest family pardon shatters even that rationalization. These Bidens are not even charged with any crimes, but Biden wanted to give them cover from any possible prosecution for anything. It was the ultimate sign of contempt for the intelligence of the American public and the integrity of his office.
Biden has long exercised situational ethics and, with his powers coming to an end, the situation demanded that he cash out before his credit ended. In granting these pardons, Biden was seeking to protect not just his family but also himself. He was the object of the influence peddling and repeatedly lied to bury the scandal. This insulation of his family serves to move the threat farther from himself.
Biden, however, may have been too clever by half this time. In the final moments of his presidency, He broke into the open and exposed not just himself but his allies in the media. Reporters are now fully visible as willing dupes in one of the greatest corruption scandals in the history of this country.
In his pardon statement, Biden insisted that “the issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.” Of course, that is the very opposite of what most people will conclude. More importantly, the pardons will not end the threat to his family.
Figures such as James Biden have been accused of lying to Congress about the influence-peddling operation. He can still be subpoenaed and, if he lies, he can be charged with a new crime.
Indeed, after James Biden’s pardon, it will be argued that he has less basis to claim the right to remain silent about any alleged crimes committed during the period for which the pardon applies. (He could argue that there is a danger of state charges, but that is less credible due to the running of statutes of limitation and other factors.)
The pardons, if anything, make such an investigation even more compelling for those who want answers to longstanding questions of corruption.
Biden sealed his legacy with a finality that escapes most presidents. While his diminished mental capacity will remain an issue for historians, his longstanding lack of ethics was conclusively established with these pardons. It was Biden’s final act of corruption.
For a president who liked to call others “lying dog-faced pony soldiers,” Biden proved that, in the world of political corruption, the ponies are entirely optional.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
OT
“The Rebellion Grows!”
Michael Fanone, animated anti-Trumper and former D.C. Police Officer uses F-word and S-word in revolutionary rant on CNN!
Isn’t that an FCC violation?
If it was on CNN, then no one saw it. More people tune in to the Food Network than CNN.
Point taken.
I stand corrected.
Thank you so much.
Dear Dog-Faced Pony Soldiers,
The nature of fire is to burn. The final corruption of Joe Biden will never end. .. until it is chiseled in stone and printed in the NYT obituaries.
This issue now is how best to extinguish the burning flames of corruption.
Some say the Trump Apostle has descended upon high by a ‘millimeter miracle’ and will make America great again.
“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be” ~ Trump, Inauguration
*I suspect there will be many a slip between cup and lip .. .
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1787
Presidents can pardon people but they can’t pardon money. Aren’t all of the Bidens I’ll gotten gains subject to seizure under 18 U.S.C . §§ 981 , 983 , 984 , and 985 , as well as in 21 U.S.C. § 881. Since the action is against the money and not a person pardons are moot.
What will be interesting to watch is how the family goes from living on millions of dollars in income to living off Joe’s pensions.
Ken,
It will be interesting. However, there is always the delayed payments that are promised once the crooked politician is no longer in office.
However, they will careful to have “deniable plausibility.”
I had to look it up.
Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
ig·no·min·y
/ˈiɡnəˌminē,iɡˈnäminē/
noun
public shame or disgrace.
“the ignominy of being imprisoned”
Similar:
shame
humiliation
embarrassment
mortification
disgrace
dishonor
Excellent choice of word, J. Turley.
It’s pretty funny how Turley rips on Biden for those last-minute pardons and calls him a liar, especially since he had the chance to call Trump a liar too when he pardoned those violent January 6 rioters—the same ones he claimed wouldn’t get pardoned because they were the “bad ones.” Turley would’ve been totally justified in calling Trump out, but we all know he wouldn’t go that far because his MAGA fans would freak out and turn on him. They were already getting upset when he criticized Trump for pardoning those dangerous J6 rioters who hurt police officers.
Biden’s pardons might seem shady or unnecessary, but honestly, why wouldn’t he use his power to pardon? If he was looking out for his family, that’s his call.
As for influence peddling? Who cares? It’s not illegal, and it’s not like it’s going to stop when Biden’s out of the picture. It’s probably going to get worse now that Trump’s back in office, and you can bet Turley will brush it off or make excuses for Trump while he’s in charge.
Trump’s about to waste a lot of time going after people and trying to get revenge. Most of his executive orders are already facing lawsuits.
Now that Chevron deference is out the window, any proposed rules are going to be challenged all over the place. Those new tariffs are going to hurt consumer prices, and inflation is going to rise again. The first few months are definitely going to be interesting. Will Turley actually start criticizing Trump more, or will he just sidestep Trump’s obvious missteps and focus on those random incidents to bash the Democrats?
🤮
George, you say oh influence pedaling happens all the time. The difference is that the people who wanted Biden’s influence were members of the Communist Party of China and they paid through the nose to get it. Hunter flat out said if they didn’t fork over the cash there would be big trouble. It’s not just like helping out a construction company to get a favor damn it. It’s the Communist Party of China that gave the Biden the MILLIONS of dollars. The Jan 6 protesters got years in jail for disrupting an official proceeding and Hunter Biden gets a get out of jail free card. The comparison between the two can be called nothing less than juvenile. Thanks for your comment.
Its not a crime. In fact Trump does it all the time. Did you see all those billionaires sitting with him? They all paid at least one million dollars to his inauguration fund. They paid for the privilege to influence Trump’s decisions. Tik Tok’s CEO paid and now Trump is trying to ‘save’ Tik Tok. Thats what influence peddling looks like and unfortunately it’s not a crime or illegal.
35,000,000 dollars and counting in Biden family bribes, money laundering and tax evasion. Yes, no a big deal.
To make it simple for George Svelaz, who is short on intellect. Trump is going to turn around the disaster Biden created and will reinstitute MLK’s ideas of character over color. In the process, he will strengthen the military, keep us out of war and provide an excellent economy for American workers. Trump can do nothing for the dummies who can do nothing more than throw useless and worn slogans.
Do you know anything of MLK? How in the world can you use the word “character” in the same sentence as MLK. The good fellow was carousing with, not one but three women the night before his assassination, according to Ralph Abernathy. He had a family and a congregation and all he did was lie to and defraud them. He began with proven charges of plagiarism; the Board should have revoke his degree but didn’t – justice not served. This is the man with the absolute least character in my experience.
You are a racist. MLK’s words have tremendous meaning to those who believe in success, not failure. As a failure, we expect you not to understand what MLK said.
“This [the U.S. Constitution] is likely to be administered for a course of years and then end in despotism… when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.” – Benjamin Franklin
DESPOTISM INDEED!
American freedom and the Constitution held dominion for 71 years until “Crazy Abe” Lincoln’s wholly unconstitutional “Reign of Terror.” Lincoln, a fellow traveler of Karl Marx, imposed the “dictatorship of the proletariat (i.e. hired help),” supplanting the maximal freedom of the Constitution, for which he was commended and congratulated in Marx’s letter to Lincoln of 1865. Secession is not prohibited by the Constitution and is fully constitutional. “Crazy Abe” illegally denied secession, commenced an unconstitutional war of aggression against a sovereign foreign nation, imposed martial law (the president of South Korea is currently being prosecuted for that crime), suspended habeas corpus, confiscated deeded private property, was derelict in his failure to enforce existing immigration law, etc. Lincoln and his successors placed America on the path to the communism that commands America to this day.
American freedom and the Constitution held dominion for 71 years until “Crazy Abe” Lincoln’s wholly unconstitutional “Reign of Terror.”
Commie George, the Rebel Yell Confederate constitutional scholar is at it again…
The USSR spy who defected, Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov warned Americans about fraudulent “constitutionalist” commies like you, George, back when many of us were well into our work careers. That was before you were having your first Democrat wet dreams about your Democrat heroes like George Wallace and his best friend young Senator Joe Biden.
At least sign an organ donor so we can hope you make some marginal contribution to this great country at some point in your otherwise meaningless failure of a life.
Yuri Bezmenov – A Brief Summary Of Communist Ideological Subversion As Used By American Communists Like George
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJnRmvqTdEQ
FULL INTERVIEW with Yuri Bezmenov: The Four Stages of Ideological Communist Subversion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErKTVdETpw
Old Airborne Dog
Need it be noted? Well, yes, me thinks it does – a pardon would not be lawful before the court unless accepted by the recipient, to accept a “preemptive” pardon, in my mind, is a tacit admission of guilt. This of course would apply equally to those like Liz Cheney. Which speaks again to the J6 pardons as those politically railroaded. And this in America, ehh?
To be pardoned by the office of the President is an absolute confession of guilt unless innocence is irrefutably proven otherwise.
“a pardon would not be lawful before the court unless accepted by the recipient”
What would happen if one of those pardoned was charged with a crime within the requisite period, and the prosecutor and/or judge took the position that the pardon was only effective if the accused accepted it in admission of the crime, in other words, was required to confess in order to “activate” immunity. Has anything like that ever been tested?
This may seem far-fetched, but so does the idea that a president could be so corrupt and escape official exposure. What I suggest is that the fifty governors be asked to issue “preemptive pardons” of the Bidens so the federal AG (Pam Bondi) can summon them and, presumably, the former president before a federal grand jury in Delaware where many of the overt acts occurred via Delaware-registered LLCs and the personal residences of Biden and his family members. What governor would say no? If some stalwart dog-on-the-grave loyalist were to do so, they would be primary chum bait in the next election. In addition, evidence given to a federal grand jury is secret, so the states never need to learn what evidence is presented. The object would not be to indict the Bidens but to tell their entire sordid story so Congress might ensure laws to prevent it from ever happening again. The truth will set US free!
I would much prefer that a task force be formed to identify any crimes of State jurisdiction that were arguably committed by those Biden has pardoned, and (in red states, at least) facilitate having them indicted for those crimes. I would also very much like to see Bondi revisit the possibility of charging Michael Byrd with homicide.
“The use of his pardon authority to protect his own family members was the final corruption of Joe Biden.”
*******************************
Hardly final and not the worst of it. (See pointless, hopeless war in Ukraine that killed millions for that.) As long as this jinx breathes, he’ll be corrupt to the core and a blight on everything good.
“Pro-Trump Police Union Blasts Jan. 6 Pardons”
Policed unions can go FU-K themselves. They knew what they were doing, they didn’t give a sh!t.
Thank you cult members, you have elected the most corrupt grifter in history as President. Live with it you dumb FU-Ks
FBI Agents Association Blasts Biden For Commuting Sentence Of Cop Killer
“It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement,” the group said. “Agents Coler and Williams gave their lives in service to this nation, and their families continue to bear the heavy burden of that sacrifice.”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-agents-association-blasts-biden-for-commuting-sentence-of-cop-killer
“Obama and ’60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths,” Oct. 3, 2008
CHICAGO At a tumultuous meeting of anti-Vietnam War militants at the Chicago Coliseum in 1969, Bill Ayers helped found the radical Weathermen, launching a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and United States Capitol.
Twenty-six years later, at a lunchtime meeting about school reform in a Chicago skyscraper, Barack Obama met Mr. Ayers, by then an education professor. Their paths have crossed sporadically since then, at a coffee Mr. Ayers hosted for Mr. Obama’s first run for office, on the schools project and a charitable board, and in casual encounters as Hyde Park neighbors.
– NY Times
Proves without a doubt, Biden pardon them for the crimes they committed. The worst, most corrupt president ever.
I don’t buy that, Biden is just the one that was so dumb he surpassed the limit of public awareness. Bragged of it, nobody f?cks with a Biden. Remember now, pay your fair share!
Now, do the pardons issued on the next day.
Calm down folks….deal with this like reasonable people.
The Trump Administration has every Right under the Law to audit the Income Tax Returns of each of the Biden Family including Joe Biden and Jill along with each and every shell company all those monies flowed through….and anyone who was involved in the those transfers, loans, and gifts. The IRS, Treasury Department, DOJ, FBI, SEC, all have the various authorities to conduct audits, investigations, and reviews.
Likewise, Congress now under Republican control can conduct parallel investigations of the Biden Family’s involvement with foreign entities and make yet more Criminal Referrals where appropriate and compel full and complete testimony under Oath to those in receipt of Pardons. It and the executive branch can persuade potential witnesses to testify with offerings of immunity for testimony under Oath in Congress and/or Grand Jury proceedings and in Criminal and Civil Trials.
All that is needed is the willingness of the new administration to do so and do it in a manner that grants Due Process and fair treatment of those involved so the American People can clearly see that propriety and make up their own minds about this sordid bit of business of the Biden’s, the media, and those in government that covered up what went on.
If the Republicans do that….the next two to four elections shall be a real Red Wave….and the Democrats shall be sent into the Wilderness to contemplate their gross failures to do right and figure out how to make amends to the People of this Country.
The man who stood in judgment of Richard Nixon–the same man for whom an impeachment was launched against Donald Trump–now stands in the docket of history, and the evidence against Joe Biden is overwhelming.
Will history render justice? No. Most historians eat and spew communist garbage. This is the most pathetic generation of historians ever.
Exhibit A is the National Archives. That bunch enthusiastically played a role in the Mar-A-Lago raid, and I think that needs some attention.
When it came to Biden’s document infractions, I don’t remember the National Archives doing a darn thing. Of course, they didn’t–just like the CIA and FBI didn’t do a thing about Biden taking bribes from China.
Off topic, I know. Arguments “for” the 14th Amendment conferring Birthplace Citizenship are not being properly challenged, because most Americans have not ever thought about this question:
“How are the minor children of immigrants supposed to obtain US Citizenship?”
It’s called Citizenship by Derivation. On the same day the parents are naturalized, any co-residing child automatically becomes a Citizen. Derivation.
How long has this been the policy? Since the very first Naturalization Act of 1790. Was it in effect in 1868? Absolutely, it was commonly understood as the process for children.
Were the drafters of the 14th Amendment seeking to change that longstanding rule regarding children of immigrants?
That question is where we win the legal argument in the Supreme Court, not a technocratic dissection of “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”. Why? The attempt to change the meaning and impact of the Constitution by inventive, opportunistic reinterpretation of its bare verbiage is a violation of Article V. And, since the Ratifiers in 1868 were not intending to repeal Citizenship by Derivation for babies born to immigrants, and there is no credible claim that it was by the opposing litigants, then there was never any Ratification of the current dubious interpretation.
That only leaves our opponents the Wong Kim Ark precedent of 1898. But in that case, the parents of Ark were already permanent legal residents (PLRs). Clearly birthplace citizenship (jus solis) applies to the newborns of US Citizens, and that was in effect long before the 14th Amendment. The complication in the WKA case was that Ark’s parents had applied for US Citizenship and met the residency requirement, but were blocked from obtaining it by a diplomatic agreement between Washington and the Chinese Emporer that Chinese immigrants were to remain Chinese nationals, and Ark was born here and yet ineligible for Citizenship by Derivation. The Court extended Birthplace Citizenship to newborns of PLRs. That said, the Court has never extended this to illegal immigrant parents.
Let’s prepare to win the coming battle over Birthplace Citizenship — by understanding the law — Citizenship by Derivation — and its conscientious intent to NOT split immigration status within the family. How can there be two conflicting laws about how children of immigrants obtain their US Citizenships? How can SCOTUS choose to ignore Derivation Law, and instead uphold something never even Ratified that recklessly splits a family into conflicting immigration statuses?
How could they ignore what the framers of the 14th said ‘subject to the jurisdiction, thereof’ means?
SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION THEREOF
Illegal aliens and their spawn are criminals subject to deportation in the United States and are SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION of the government of their countries of origin.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14th Amendment
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
Exactly.
I appreciate your passion.
The framers of the 14th Amendment made clear that they meant the full and complete jurisdiction of the US government — legal AND political jurisdiction. The same jurisdiction current citizens are under. That’s practically a quote of Sen Howard.
test
Poll: who’s your favorite criminal, Trump or Biden?
Anonymous: who’s our favorite criminal? For Trump to descend to Biden’s depths, he’d have to organize his entire family into a crime syndicate, peddle influence from China to Ukraine, and and hide the laundered money in dozens of shell corporations. To beat Biden’s record, he’d then have to sleep with hogs.
Trump slept with a woman who does anal gangbangs in porn. Does that count?
Maybe your partner lied to you, but sex isn’t a crime.
Adultery is a crime in several states….
Sex is a crime when you are the result.
That’s something you need to take up with in your own mind. Have some public decency for God’s sake. You don’t have to be such a fool all the time. Get some counseling.
How do you know about the anal gang bangs?
That “anonymous” was a stand-in for the porn actress…
You’re bitter that Trump didn’t provide you with fantasies like Biden having his anal gangbangs in the family shower with his teenage daughter?
Preemptive pardons and blanket pardons are unconstitutional. It was not the intent of the Framers to allow such corruption. A constitutional pardon can only be issued for criminal offenses against the federal government through charge or conviction.
I’m confident if this preemptive pardon executive treason makes its way to the Supreme Court, they will rule the idea of PP is opposed to Constitution values and separation of powers.
A terrible precedent has been set by the Biden mob boss and the Biden Crime Family must be fully investigated.
Donald Trump is a convicted rapist and felon. His followers don’t care. That’s all you need to know.
Anonymous: his followers don’t care because the Democrats were the ones doing the convicting, and they have zero credibility among a vast majority of the American people — as the last election’s popular vote proved. But you go ahead and keep busy defending Biden’s stellar record.
Sigh – he was never convicted of rape or sexual assault. Civil trial with a lower burden of proof. What the presiding inappropriately said was dicta and had no legal significance. .
I have no particular love for Trump, but at least get your slander correct
Isn’t it libel once written or do I have that reversed?
Trump was not convicted of rape in a criminal case. He lost a civil lawsuit against him in a questionable case reportedly concocted in the living room of George Conway, the case was funded by a Trump hating billionaire. It was conducted in Manhattan and required revival of a law that surpassed statutory limits. No one believes that horsech!t except deranged liberals. As far as the felon convictions, it will be overturned on appeal, or better yet he can pardon himself and have it dismissed. I would like that better, rub some Democrats noses in it!
The lies failed. The lawfare failed. Smith and Fanni Willis are out of a job. Trump is president and you aren’t. That’s all you need to be reminded of.
Pretty bold calling Trump a convicted rapist just a few weeks after it cost the Clinton’s evil dwarf George Stephanopoulos and his network $15 million dollars as the apology for pumping out that lie.
Lastly a word about Bishop Mariann Budde. The false prophet masquerading as a person of god. We go to church to seek God’s word, God’s love, God’s forgiveness, and God’s path on our way through life. Instead of we get an unpleasant, hectoring school marm tottering on her last legs. Who does she think she is, the Pope? (just as bad).
Tone death and as clear an example of a Arrogant Pharisee as I have seen in recent memory.
Why is it Christians like you sound about as unChristian as it gets?
Because you do n ot know what a real xtian sounds like
You have no ability to discern the inappropriateness of her “sermon”. You only have the capacity to dish out mean comments from your anguished soul.
GEB,
Anonymoron is a loser. You can tell by all his dumb, moronic loser comments.
Who does she think she is, the Pope? (just as bad).
The Pope is the Vicar of Christ, selected by the College of Cardinals as the Holy Spirit guided them, and is no less than St Peter the Apostle as leader of the Church.
Your comment about the Pope is offensive, based on ignorance and driven by hubris.
Estovir – I was referring to this Pope. Some have been true Vicars of Christ, others not so much. Some have been reprehensible through the ages, others have set the example of piety. Strictly this Pope is criticized. I am not Catholic so my judgement of a Pope depends on their performance and not their office.
Sorry but no apologies here.
My cousin, the Nun, was more pious than this particular vicar and lived as godly, gracious and pristine a life as any I know. She was a credit to her family, her god and her community and I was honored to represent our family at her memorial even as I treasured our contacts through the years. I criticize Protestants also, just to be even handed.
My Family is half Protestant and half Catholic and I attended mass on many occasions and my son attended a catholic high school so my knowledge of the church is far more than cursory or ignorant. And then there is the Jewish branch but this is strictly a Christian disagreement right now..
GEB: Stop being a self-righteous whiner. I’m sure you can do better.
Anonymous 3:43pm Whiner? The most prolific whiner on this blog is you. Your pen drips poison, hate and self loathing. You drop your equivalent of f-bombs on this blog all the time while delivering a paucity of useful input. So very typical of the despairing, hate filled comments you make, trying to establish superiority of mind and substance when all that is really there is your own personal abyss staring back at you. But never fear. The FDA has inhaled ketamine rushing to the market and so prior to your reappearing here you should discuss with your personal physician the likelihood of using this medication for your overweening despair and depression. Who knows we might see a whole new you.
But, like I said, talk it over with your personal physician first before any action, for your own safety. My comment is only a public service note to you.
GEB,
Well said and nice of you to recommend professional medical help. It was mentioned by several experts that our leftist friends may suffer a serious mental health crisis if Trump won the election. By the comments from our leftist friends, those experts were correct.
GEB, How long have you had the power to discern what is in someone’s innermost soul?
Anonymous 3:47 PM = 46 years of listening to people pour out their despair and suffering and working to help them right their ship and get to safe waters. Not always succesful.
GEB, I get what you’re saying, but using ‘Pharisee’ carries historical weight that might unintentionally offend. Could we critique the behavior more directly without invoking such a charged term?
S Meyer-I don’t think so. The only time I use Pharisee is in regards to Christ and my sense of the Pharisee at that time Approx 1-32 AD. I maintain the Bishop was acting at the Prayer Service on 1/2/2025 as a Pharisee acted in that time frame above as manifest in the King James Version of the Bible. No other time. Only that narrow context. That’s the only Bible I use.
My Jewish family members never had a problem with my use of the term but both are now deceased and I cannot discuss it with them. Much to my sorrow.
GEB, my concern is that the term “Pharisee,” even when used within the biblical and historical context, can carry unintended connotations for others, especially given its complex history and the way it has sometimes been misused outside of scripture. The Jewish members of your family may have had many reasons for saying nothing, including that your decency was evident, so they saw no need to address it. However, it’s worth remembering that over the years, the Jewish community has suffered almost continuous death and destruction, some of which is connected to the time period you mention.
I agree with your position on the Bishop’s comments.
S.Meyer-everything you say is true and I have seen the destruction of the Jewish people at the Camps when in Germany in the 1950’s (my father – a soldier in France 1944 insisted we witnessed it) and I hear the slipped in terms of fellow Christians that make my teeth grate, Sometimes thinking that I think and speak the same way they do. But in this one instance I would still use the term to criticize one particular very unchristian Christian. A single specific event. Unlikely to be used again. Your comments are respected and noted.
GEB,
In 2008, a significant number of Episcopalians formally separated from the Episcopal Church. They are now the Anglican Church of North America. Many other congregations around the world have separated from the Canterbury Communion (Church of England) as they have deviated significantly from their deep Scriptural roots. This is their mission: “The Gafcon movement is a global family of authentic Anglicans standing together to retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion.”
In a word, the current Episcopal Church is woke. Look at the National Cathedral’s website. It is shocking!
The service for a new world leader is specifically outlined in the BCP. (book of Common Prayer). The bishop clearly deviated from traditional norms.
It is a sad commentary on the decline from the standard of truth.
E.M.- A similar effect in the Methodist Church. The church split during the Civil War with the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) and the Methodist Church (South), then a few decades ago the North and South and the United Brethren combined into the United Methodist Church. Now congregations are fracturing away between Woke and Conservative, and other splinter groups and there are fights over ownership of churches and lands. A true mess. I suspected a problem in 2001 when the Central Authority of the Church condemned George W Bush about the Iraq War not being a “Just War”. I had never heard that term used in Methodism previously. It grew worse from there. War had always previously been condemned but the goal was to try to keep our souls pious in horrific times. “Just War” ! Head shake!
Christ never instructed Christians or congregations to tell governments what to do.
President Trump is ‘taking care that the laws be faithfully executed.’
President Trump is not a religious or spiritual leader.
He is our weapon against the DS, the abuses too many suffered under biden. He is our weapon against the many unconstitutional actions by the previous administration.
Igbmiel 5:21 PM-well said.
Thank you, I appreciate that very much.
“We go to church to seek . . .”
Spot on! (And I’m not religious.)
That was one of the most grotesquely inappropriate things I’ve ever seen. Trump’s a lot more measured than I am. I would have walked out.
Leave it to the Left to inject political propaganda into everything — journalism, art, education, religion.
And leave it to the Left to flout the bounds of proper behavior.
Dear Mr. Turley, what Mr. Biden in the last few moments of his failed presidency comes as no surprise. Who should be surprised are the left wing media who have covered his back side for the last 50 years.
Oh, I think the media to which you refer were fully aware of what a POS Biden was the entire time, they just cynically used their fact-free propaganda to boost what they thought was the winning (i.e. profitable) side, and bet wrong.