When Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson was on radio and asked by Glenn Beck, "How hard is it to keep your faith in the world you live in?" Watson replied:

When you go to work, you are a Christian at your workplace. You're not a broadcaster who happens to be a Christian -- you're a Christian who does broadcasting and writes and those sorts of things. Same thing for me as an athlete. So everything I do, even just who I am . . . whatever the trials are and the temptations are in any job is not anything that is not uncommon.

The view expressed in our regressive politically correct culture today is contrary to what Watson has expressed and is the exact opposite of the humane and intregrated emphasis set forth in the Biblical data.

Secularists such as Obama, Hillary Clinton, and many Republicans, seem to want a tamed Christianity that is satisfied with forever sitting in prayer closets and having a totally privatized relationship with Jesus. Just don't bring "my faith" out into public life, as if that "faith" had anything to do with the real world of politics, public policy, social life, and all the rest.

What these regressives fail to appreciate is that the Biblical data concern the whole human being in the wholeness of life. What is given in the Christian worldview is a wholistic approach to life that sets people free to experience integrated, non-hypocritical lives in all that they do -- and not on the basis of a private "faith" but on the basis of verifiable truth-claims that can be considered, discussed, evaluated, and then applied with authenticity (not perfectly, but authentically) in the totality of the real world.

As an NFL tight end, Benjamin Watson has to make great moves on the field. But the real game-changers are the patterns of his life, made on the basis of truth that is humane, wholistic, and liberating. Not just for him, for also for the world around him.

For further reflection on these themes, please see my "Christmas in Space and Time" and my "Test Everything" Foreword to Nancy's most recent book, Finding Truth.

It seems a few details regarding the life and times of Miss Universe Alicia Machado were left out of Hillary Clinton's attack on Donald Trump in their first debate.

"All of a sudden, Machado is a very strange victim to rally the left around, and I think this thing may blow up in Hillary's face," Newt Gingrich tells Sean Hannity on Fox.

See this video for additional context and Gingrich's full response.

In comments titled "Lester Holt Spins Debate for Hillary Six Huge Ways, Plays Gotcha With Trump," Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center writes: 

Journalists got their wish. Presidential debate moderator Lester Holt hoisted Hillary Clinton’s campaign high in the air like Atlas. Holt repeatedly called out Trump, as both the Clinton campaign and the liberal media had begged him to do.

In an honest debate, a journalist-moderator would function as an impartial referee at a sports match: Refuse to take sides and consistently enforce the rules of fair play. Otherwise, what you have is not a contest, but rather skewed results at best or a rigged system at worst. 

Part of the collapse of our culture is evident in the well-nigh total breakdown of journalism as an ethical enterprise rooted in a passionate commitment to reporting news as evidenced by the facts. Facts have consequences, and so does ignoring them.

Nancy will discuss themes from her newest book Finding Truth during a "Ladies Banquet" at Grace Family Baptist Church. This time together includes a book table offering Nancy's work, plus a book signing afterward. Get directions and more details here.

The debate begins at 9 p.m. eastern time and "will be broadcast everywhere," Paul Singer reports at USAToday.

"All the major networks will have it live, the cable networks will have it live, it will be livestreamed on websites, social media platforms and even broadcast on live radio," Singer explains. Even "Facebook and Twitter will both livestream the debate."

A.W.R. Hawkins writes at Breitbart:

In response to questions from AARP Bulletin, Hillary Clinton made clear her position that to be successful, policies for ending terrorism must include gun control for all Americans. [emphasis added]

According to Hawkins, Clinton responded by making the fight against terrorism a part of the fight again "violence":

Well, these are legitimate fears. I believe that people are rightly concerned about violence. Terrorism is part of that violence, and we have to do the best job we can to keep America safe. So I've laid out a very comprehensive plan about taking on the terrorists, going after them where they operate, doing everything we can to take away their territories so they can’t mastermind attacks from afar.

And she also said, according to Hawkins:

But I'm looking at violence broadly. . . . It's also why I've advocated gun-safety reform, like comprehensive background checks, closing the gun-show loophole, closing the online loophole -- because, you know, it's not only terrorists we need to be worried about. Terrorism is part of it, but gun violence kills 33,000 Americans a year. . . . We've got to get serious about stemming violence and terrorism in every way we can.

Hawkins notes several weaknesses in Clinton's position.

First, there is the problem of California, which "has comprehensive background checks," Hawkins writes. "Therefore, the state does not have a 'gun-show loophole' or an 'online loophole.' But they did have the December 12, 2015, firearm-based terror attack and the more recent high profile murder-suicide on the UCLA campus on June 1, 2016."

Second, there is the problem of Paris, France, which "has background checks that are even more comprehensive than those in California," Hawkins states. In addition, "Paris has no 'gun-show loophole' or 'online loophole,' but they did have 12 people killed in a January 7, 2015, firearm-based terror attack and another 130 killed in the November 13, 2015, firearm-based terror attack."

Third, there is the problem of Clinton's gun-violence statistics. "Clinton consistently makes the false claim that 33,000 Americans are killed by gun violence each year," Hawkins observes. "She initiated this claim in a political ad that first ran in April. Breitbart News responded by showing 66 percent of the 33,000 deaths cited by Clinton were actually suicides."

Here's how, according to Hawkins, Clinton arrives at her inflated, misleading figure of 33,000. "The overall number of firearm-related deaths in 2013 was approximately 32,888," Hawkins writes. "Of these, the number of accidental deaths was 505, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of deaths due to actual 'gun violence' was 11,208."

"When Clinton repeats these numbers, she adds accidental deaths [505] and homicides [11,208] -- which equal 11,713 -- then adds the 21,175 firearm-related suicides," and "rounds the number off at 33,000." Clinton then "names 'gun violence' as the cause for all these things," Hawkins explains.

Hawkins concludes: "This swells the number of gun violence victims in an attempt by Clinton to justify more gun control."

Thomas Lifson writes at American Thinker:

The left is making a bet that its vote fraud efforts can be disguised from the public long enough to win this election, and then open the floodgates to ensure they permanently rule America (and complete the fundamental transformation Obama promised). 

There is every reason to fear massive vote fraud targeted at ensuring a faltering Hillary Clinton takes the election.

Read more.

According to the UK Evening Standard, London's Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan said after the NYC bombings: "Part and parcel of living in a great global city is you've got to be prepared for these things."

We're all for being prepared. But let's be clear, Mr. Mayor: Surrendering to an inhumane status quo of terror, Islamic or otherwise, is not an option. Not for London, not for New York City, not for anywhere.

No civilzed town or city or shopping mall should ever accept that terror is "part and parcel" of their lives. Such "acceptance" sounds a little too much like "surrender."

Here's a better idea. What Islamic terrorists should know and accept, and what the Muslim mayor of London should know and accept, is that evil can never be mainstreamed as the "new normal."

That evil might be wrapped up in religion, it might be wrapped up in secularism, it might be wrapped up in "tolerance," "equality," and "diversity." It could even be wrapped up in victimhood. No matter. The naked evil underneath it all is to be exposed and defeated for the ugliness and inhumanity for which it stands.     

Love of neighbor realizes that part and parcel of being human is asking questions, taking names, and overcoming evil with good. Next time you vote for mayor, London, hire a bloke or blokette who counsels victory, not surrender.

See Also
What Is Killing the Western World? (This is my Foreword to Emancipating the World, by Darrow Miller)

The Hill reports:

CNN added the word racial to Donald Trump's Monday comments on terrorism and immigration and is running headlines reporting that the GOP presidential nominee is advocating "racial profiling."

But a review of the transcript of Trump's comments to Fox News that CNN quoted, however, shows that Trump never put the word racial in front of profiling.

Thomas Lifson over at American Thinker suggests that CNN, in view of this episode plus simlilar reportorial shortcomings, "rename itself CPN, the Clinton Propaganda Network'."

Read the entire Hill story here.

Related
Albert Camus on Politicians and the Purpose of Journalism
Anderson Cooper and the Crisis of Journalism
Collaborationist Watch: The Slave Press

In an article titled "Jihad Strikes in Minnesota, Right in the Heart of Refugee Country," Daniel Horowitz writes at CR:

Just this weekend, there was a bombing in Manhattan that injured 29 people, an explosion in Seaside, New Jersey, and a stabbing in St. Cloud, Minnesota that injured nine.

While the details concerning the first two events are still murky, the attack in Minnesota was clearly an act of jihad.

Which raises the obvious question: Why does our federal government continue to seed Minnesota with more refugees from the Middle East before getting a handle on the existing problems of assimilation and radicalization?

"Since 1993, we've admitted roughly 115,000 Somali immigrants nationwide -- mostly through the refugee program -- at an average clip of 10,000 a year," Horowitz continues. "Almost 100 percent of them are Muslim."

Minnesota today is "home to at least 30,000 Somalis," which leads Horowitz to note: "Given the threat of individual jihad cultivated by radicalized communities within our country, it simply defies logic that we would continue admitting Somali refugees 25 years later and flooding areas like St. Cloud with more refugees than they can absorb and assimilate."

Horowitz concludes with a challenge: "For Congress to give Obama a blank-check budget bill this week without addressing the security problems with refugees would represent the most appalling dereliction of duty."

Obama, Congress, and the people of Minnesota -- and, really, any person concerned about importing terror into America -- would do well to heed these words of warning against self-inflicted pain and suffering: "Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?" (Proverbs 6:27,28).

Read the entire column by Daniel Horowitz here.

Because it is more difficult to sustain an irrational religious or secular cult -- or any other form inhumanity -- when a society affirms the God-given unalienable right to think, speak, and live free, we welcome news via Campus Reform that two unversities (in addition to the University of Chicago) are publicly bucking the cult of political correctness and reaffirming freedom of expression. 

According to Campus Reform, Washington University "affirmed its 'unwavering commitment to freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas' with a strongly-worded statement of principle by the faculty."

In addition, we have Brown University, whose president Christina Paxton in a WPost op-ed embraced "Freedom of expression" as an "essential component of academic freedom, which protects the ability of universities to fulfill their core mission of advancing knowledge. Suppressing ideas at a university is akin to turning off the power at a factory," Paxton wrote, according to Campus Reform.

The human calling to "test everything" and to bring the results of that testing out into the public square is an essential component of any society that would be enlightened and humane. 

Bravo to Brown and WashU. To transpose a phrase, may other universities see light in your light.

Go here to read the report from Campus Reform.

Served by Venezuela at the Café de Bolivar Socialism.

Newsmax and other media outlets are reporting that Donald Trump has unveiled a childcare plan that will help ensure a "better future for all Americans."

The political key to a "better future for all Americans" is for the federal government to perform its obligations as set forth in the Constitution, which is designed to safeguard the ethos set forth in the mainstream of mainstream U.S. documents -- The Declaration of Independence.

Legislating childcare out of Washington, D.C., is not among the constitutional obligations of the federal government.

To some, such an initiative may seem compassionate, fair, liberating, and so on. But even if well intended, in its strategic, real-world impact, it is none of these things.

In fact, it is like a mom who overly mothers a child. The result is infantilizing, not liberating. Enfeebling, not empowering.

In the norms of life for human freedom and dignity, there really is too much of a good thing.

Good government is a good thing, but there is a point at which good government becomes bad government when it tries to do that which is not within its responsibilities.

Hugs are good. But being hugged to death is not.

Childcare is the exclusive purview of parents and is far too important to be managed out of Washington, D.C. Real love respects boundaries.

Note: These remarks first appeared today on my Facebook page, edited for publication here.

Chuck Ross reports at the Daily Caller:

Retired Gen. Colin Powell believed that "Hillary's mafia" was trying to drag him into the Clinton email scandal, newly leaked emails show. 

According to Ross, "Hacked emails show that Powell warned" Cheryl Mills, "who had served as Clinton's chief of staff, about continuing to link him to the scandal."

"You really don’t want to get me into this," Powell emailed Mills March 7, 2015, Ross reports. "I haven't been asked nor said a word about HRC and won't unless you all start it."

According to Ross, Mills replied by saying, "Agree and that message has been clearly shared . . . . so she will not nor will anyone she controls," Mills said, "adding that 'I can't address folks who are beyond that so please ping or call me when you see anything that worries you'."

Ross explains that "Clinton's campaign and her surrogates have cited Powell's use of a personal AOL account to downplay the former first lady's email practices. But one major difference was that Powell did not host a private email server in his home, as Clinton did. He also used the State Department's classified messaging system to send and receive classified information. Clinton was granted an account on that system but opted not to use it."

Based on this email information, Colin Powell rejected attempts by 'Hillary's mafia" to force his hand, to control him, with regard to Clinton's email scandal.

Well done, Colin Powell.

Joel B. Pollak reports at Breitbart:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump surged to a 3-point lead over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times tracking poll on Tuesday. Trump now leads Clinton 45.8% to 42.8%, his largest lead since Aug. 31 and a 4.4% spike since Sep. 11.

"The improvement in Trump's numbers follows a weekend in which Clinton referred to half of Trump's supporters as a 'basket of deplorables,' and appeared to collapse at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, raising serious concerns about her health," Pollak reports.

Read more.

Peter van Voorhis reports at Campus Reform:

Students told Campus Reform that the perpetrator was Margot Lovett, a gender studies and humanities professor who has a history of controversial actions on campus. Notably, OC Weekly reported in 2001 that she had promulgated a statement by the Black Radical Congress to her colleagues blaming "U.S. Imperialism" for the 9/11 attacks.

"After ripping down the posters, video footage of the incident reveals that the professor came over to tell the students that they were not allowed to put up posters on that part of campus, because it was not a free speech zone," Voorhis reports.

This professor's actions reflect hatred for human freedom and dignity, including the freedom to speak your mind on campus and the dignity to advocate for your principles in public places.

No one would deny this professor's unalienable right to free speech. A free society, however, in no way can allow her to trample upon that very same freedom when affirmed and practiced by those with whom she disagrees.

The professor may be unaware of it, but she has intrinsic dignity because she is made -- and factually knowably so -- in the image of God. Her actions are deplorable because they war against that image.

Her actions are an attack on the freedom and dignity of the human being as human being.

If allowed to reach their natural theoretical and practical conclusions, her political correctness would result in great and gross inhumanity (for example, see the Soviet gulag, Pol Pot's killing fields, the socialist concentration camps of the Nazis, America's abortion industry, and more).

I wish the professor had left that sign alone. Let it stand. Let it speak. Be thankful, and glory in, the fact that you are human being.

"Baracktrema obamai" -- And the scientist apparently means it in a good way.

I wonder if the next parasitic worm needing appellation can be named after the federal government. In a good way, of course.

Charlie Spiering reports at Breitbart:

Former President Bill Clinton ridiculed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for his slogan "Make America Great Again" suggesting that it was a false promise to American voters and racially motivated.

"That message, I’ll give you America great again -- If you’re a white southerner, you know exactly what it means," Clinton said.

Pathetic, of course.

But the truth behind it may be this: The Clintons are in panic mode, one of the chief reasons being that "National Poll Shows Donald Trump Surges Among Hispanics, African Americans."

Someone might want to warn Spain. Here's the story.

Walter E. Williams writes at CNSNews.com:

Some are puzzled by the dishonesty, lack of character and sheer stupidity of many people in the media. But seeing as most of them are college graduates, they don't bear the full blame. They are taught by dishonest and irresponsible academics. Let's look at it.

"A Clash of Police Policies," a column written by Dr. Thomas Sowell, presents some readily available statistics: 'Homicide rates among black males went down by 18 percent in the 1940s and by 22 percent in the 1950s. It was in the 1960s, when the ideas of Chief Justice (Earl) Warren and others triumphed, that this long decline in homicide rates among black males reversed and skyrocketed by 89 percent, wiping out all the progress of the previous 20 years."

Read more.

Dan Zeidler reports from Santiago for LifeSiteNews:

In a massive rejection of the government's insistence on pushing through legislation to open the country to "legal abortion," Chileans from all walks of life, social status and religions amassed this past Saturday in downtown Santiago for a "Celebrate Life" rally.  

Evangelical Christians along with Catholics and others denounced the legislative push by President Michele Bachelet and other elected officials which calls for legalizing abortion of unborn children conceived in rape, or who are determined to have a medical condition incompatible with life, or where there is danger to the mother's life. 

"Many of those present at the rally are particularly concerned with members of the Christian Democratic Party who are supporting the pro-abortion legislation," Zeidler reports.

"It is a mockery that members of a party that calls itself Christian dare to legalize the killing of the innocent," said Carmen Croxatto of Chile's Pro-Life Pro-Family Network, according to LifeSiteNews.

"Pro-life leaders promise to make this the key determinant in the upcoming elections, declaring that any candidate or party who supports this legislation will not get their vote," Zeidler reports.

"We do not want to follow the other countries of the world which have abandoned the protection of the weakest members of the human family, starting first with so-called 'only limited abortion' and ending up with even more horrific consequences and all the damage that comes in the wake of abortion to society in general," Elizabeth Bunster of Proyetco Esperanza said, according to LifeSiteNews.

A Minnesota teacher and his "husband" are "dead in an apparent murder-suicide, after both were placed under investigation for molesting several children," Blake Neff reports at The Daily Caller.

The two homosexuals "apparently lured in their victims by offering to 'mentor' gay youth and instead molesting them," the DC reports.

To build one's life upon a lie is to die. That's bad enough, that's sad enough -- and it's so much worse when you drag other people into your self-created Hell-on-Earth.

Yes, these unfortunate men lived a life of perversion. A life of perversion enabled by irrational happy talk about "diversity," "tolerance," "love," counterfeit "marriage," and a propaganda system designed to advance their unfortunate, unhealthy, immoral agenda.

So yes, they were "liberated." From reason, from ethics, and ultimately from life itself. To build one's life upon a lie is to die. To lie is to hate truth. To hate truth is to choose death. So sad.

Steve Weatherbe reports from Melbourne for LifeSiteNews.com:

A Catholic theology student and mother of 13 is the first person charged under the State of Victoria's new bubble zone law for distributing pro-life material to clients at a downtown abortion clinic.

Kathleen Clubb, 50, wrote on the website devoted to raising funds for her legal defense that she planned to challenge the law, which was passed last year and took effect in May. "I intend to pursue this case to the High Court to prove that the 'Safe Access Zone' amendment is unconstitutional because it burdens the constitutional freedom of political communication."

Read more.