Israeli Cabinet Poised To Approve Lebanon Ceasefire Deal, With Biden Reportedly Promising 'Relief' From Delayed US Arms Shipments

Israel is reportedly poised to sign a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah that would pause hostilities for two months, remove fighting forces from both sides of the war-torn border, and deliver "significant relief from the arms embargo imposed by the U.S. on Israel."

The post Israeli Cabinet Poised To Approve Lebanon Ceasefire Deal, With Biden Reportedly Promising 'Relief' From Delayed US Arms Shipments appeared first on .

Biden Just Invited World War 3 By Greenlighting Long-Range Missiles Against Russia

'It would substantially change the very essence, the nature of the conflict,' Putin warned in September.

'Suicidal recklessness': Biden's missile authorization against Russia prompts talk of WWIII, impeachment



Before relinquishing power in January, President Joe Biden may turn America's proxy war with Russia into a direct nuclear conflict.

Elements of the Biden administration, various lawmakers from both major parties, Ukrainian officials, and others appear convinced that attacks on Russia using American long-range missiles might put Kyiv in a better bargaining position should the Eastern nations ever sit down to negotiate an end to the war, which has lasted over 1,000 days and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

Critics have suggested not only that the move might protract the war, which the majority of Ukrainians now want to end with immediate negotiations, but that it might trigger a nuclear holocaust or at the very least prevent — by design — President-elect Donald Trump from brokering peace upon taking office.

Missiles fired

After authorizing Ukraine's use of long-range missile systems against targets in Russia — a move long resisted by U.S. officials concerned about escalation and identified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a trigger for war between Washington and Moscow — Kyiv launched six U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System missiles Tuesday morning at a weapons depot in Karachev, a Russian city 70 miles inside the country, in the Bryansk region.

'We must not fear doing more now.'

According to CNN, Russian air defenses allegedly shot down five of the ATACMS supersonic missiles, and the sixth was damaged. Pieces of the damaged missile rained down near a military facility, causing a fire but resulting in neither death nor damage.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the attempted missile strikes and suggested that these and subsequent long-range missile strikes would be interpreted as U.S. military actions.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said in a statement, "The [Russian] president mentioned this several times. If long-range missiles are going to be applied from Ukraine into Russian territory, it will also mean that they are operated by American experts, military experts, and we will be taking this as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia and will react accordingly."

In his Tuesday address to the European Parliament, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "We must not fear doing more now."

"While some European leaders think about, you know, some elections or something like this at Ukraine's expense, Putin is focused on winning this war. He will not stop on his own. The more time he has, the worse the conditions become," said Zelenskyy.

The Institute for the Study of War indicated that as of June, Putin had captured roughly one-fifth of Ukraine, with Russian forces occupying 75% of the total area of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts.

"Today is the best moment to push Russia harder, and it's clear without certain key factors Russia will lack real motivation to engage in meaningful negotiation," added Zelenskyy.

Hours later, Russia reportedly conducted missile strikes on Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernihiv, and Sumy, as well as drone attacks inside Ukraine.

The U.S. embassy in Kyiv announced Wednesday morning that it was shutting its doors, citing the potential of a "significant air attack."

Nuclear, mine policies updated

Russian state media indicated that Moscow revised its nuclear doctrine this week in hopes of "making conventional warfare unachievable," qualifying attacks by a non-nuclear state in conjunction with the support of a nuclear state as a joint attack, satisfying the need for for nuclear deterrence.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian Federation's security council, noted on X, "Russia's new nuclear doctrine means NATO missiles fired against our country could be deemed an attack by the bloc on Russia. Russia could retaliate with WMD against Kiev and key NATO facilities, wherever they're located. That means World War III."

Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that he would also respond with nukes to conventional attacks on Russia or Belarus. Russia has over 5,000 nuclear warheads and boasts a supersonic missile with a range of 625 miles.

Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, claimed that the West realizes "the revisions Putin outlined have largely undermined the attempts by the United States and NATO to achieve a strategic defeat of our nation. Furthermore, the expanded criteria for using nuclear weapons essentially rule out the possibility of defeating the Russian Armed Forces on the battlefield."

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told the Associated Press, "I'm unfortunately not surprised by the comments the Kremlin has made around the publication of this new, revised document," adding that Russia has routinely sought to "coerce and intimidate both Ukraine and other countries around the world through irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and behavior."

The U.K. and other NATO members condemned the "irresponsible rhetoric" and reiterated their support for Ukraine.

The Biden administration had a policy update of its own.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the Washington Post reported that Biden authorized the provision of antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine.

"When they're used in concert with the other munitions that we already are providing Ukraine, the intent is that they will contribute to a more effective defense," said one of the officials.

While the U.S. is not one of the 164 parties to the Ottawa Convention, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, Biden reportedly resurrected an Obama-era policy in 2022 banning the transfer and use of American antipersonnel land minds outside Korea.

Reactions

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck suggested that the Biden administration is painting Russian President Vladimir Putin "into a corner."

"A man who is a bloodthirsty killer — you don't keep backing him into a corner, or what happens? Eventually he says, 'I'll have absolutely no credibility' [with] his people who have just been bombed with U.S. missiles, which he just said two days ago will be an act of war," said Beck. "We have entered a moment of madness. What Joe Biden did is impeachable."

'Americans do not want World War III.'

A day prior to the ATACMS strikes, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) insisted that Biden had committed "an unconstitutional Act of War" that qualified as an impeachable offense.

— (@)

Texas Rep. Keith Self (R) penned a letter to Biden Tuesday, challenging his decision to authorize Ukraine's use of ATACMS against Russia.

While Self suggested the missile systems might have proved strategically useful earlier in the conflict, at this stage in the war, their use is "counter-productive to President-elect Donald J. Trump's stated goal towards a negotiated peace."

'This is the faceless power of failing experts in action.'

"If this desperate move by your administration represents an attempt by deep-state operatives to hamstring the incoming Trump presidency, it's a dangerous miscalculation," wrote Self. "I am very concerned that this miscalculation could have catastrophic results. Americans do not want World War III."

"January 20 can't get here fast enough," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told Fox News' Laura Ingraham. "It looks like a green light for escalation on the part of Ukraine. ... What would happen if Russia would launch and retaliate missiles into the territory of a NATO member? Then our treaty obligations would be triggered. Then we're talking about a full-scale war."

Hawley noted further that the man who authorized the use of the long-range missiles against a nuclear power was considered too decrepit by his own party to stay in the presidential race earlier this year.

Blaze News editor in chief Matthew Peterson stressed that "what is happening in regard to Russia and Ukraine while we have no functional President is one of the last, most reckless and outrageous acts from the supposed 'adults in the room' who have consistently driven our nation towards the cliff the last four disastrous years."

"This is not 'democracy,'" continued Peterson. "This is the faceless power of failing experts in action: thwarting the will of the people in the midst of the final 'lame duck' period of an aging dementia patient of a President. This is a form of masochistic, suicidal recklessness enacted by weak men."

Peterson added on "Blaze News Tonight," "There is really something that I think that is despicable about the self-assured foreign policy expert in this country. Of all the different sectors of government experts who get degrees, foreign policy people dress themselves up in the suits and in the trappings of -isms and -istics, and, 'We know all this stuff and we have domain knowledge that you don't have.' They're consistently the most evil, dangerous, and really foolish sector of the entire government complex."

— (@)

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Biden reportedly clears Ukraine to take actions that Putin suggested would trigger NATO-Russia war



The Biden administration has reportedly cleared Ukraine to use American long-range missile systems against targets in Russia — a move long urged by Ukrainian officials, resisted by U.S. officials concerned about escalation, and identified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a trigger for a direct conflict between NATO and Russia.

Background

In February, President Joe Biden secretly signed off on the transfer of the Army Tactical Missile Systems to Ukraine. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Garron Garn told CNN that following Biden's approval, the ATACMS were included in the $300 million aid package announced on March 12 then delivered the following month.

The American-made supersonic missiles have a range of up to 190 miles. Ukraine also has British-made Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of 155 miles.

The U.S. has blocked the use of such weapons in recent months over fears of escalation. However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed in September that the Biden administration was considering clearing Ukraine to start lobbing them into Russia, citing the need to adjust and adapt "as needs have changed, as the battlefield has changed."

Putin, whose nation has over 5,000 nuclear warheads and boasts a supersonic missile with a range of 625 miles, responded to Blinken's suggestion by telling a reporter, "It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia."

Putin, who invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, claims the use of ATACMS would constitute direct action on the part of the U.S. because American satellite reconnaissance would allegedly be necessary for successful missile strikes. He noted in June, "Ukrainian servicemen cannot do everything on their own and strike with this missile. They are simply technologically incapable of doing this."

He equated an ATACMS strike as the work of the Pentagon and a Storm Shadow strike as the work of the British government.

Escalation

According to Reuters, two American officials and a third source familiar with the decision confirmed that the Biden administration has cleared Ukraine to employ the missiles internationally and that the first of the long-range missile strikes are expected to take place in the coming days.

A U.S. official told CNN that the missiles will likely hit targets in the Kursk region of Russia, where Kyiv launched its summer counteroffensive and where Moscow recently deployed nearly 50,000 troops, including North Korean soldiers.

According to one official, the decision to authorize the use of the ATACMS was driven in part by the recent involvement of the North Korean troops in the fighting.

'This is an impeachable offense.'

By maintaining a foothold in Kursk with the help of long-range missiles, Ukraine might be in a better bargaining position in January should Trump bring Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy and Putin to the negotiating table. The New York Times indicated that Ukrainians hope to be able to trade territory in Kursk for Ukrainian territory presently occupied by Russian forces.

Reaction

Zelenskyy noted Sunday evening, "I am deeply grateful to all our partners who support us with air defense systems and missiles. This is a truly global effort."

"The plan for strengthening Ukraine is the Victory Plan that I presented to our partners. One of its key elements is providing our army with long-range capabilities," continued Zelenskyy. "There's been much said in the media today that we have received approval to take relative actions. But strikes are not carried out with words. These things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves."

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media, "If such a decision was really formulated and brought to the attention of the Kyiv regime, then, of course, this is a qualitatively new round of tension and a qualitatively new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict."

The Washington Post noted that the decision was not altogether unexpected in Moscow.

"The standoff will become even fiercer, and the talks will become more difficult," said Andrei Kartapolov, a former Russian Army officer and chairman of the parliamentary defense committee. "We expected them to escalate before the end of Biden's office — that was completely obvious."

The Biden administration's decision, which comes with only months remaining in the Democratic president's term, amounts to a significant escalation that has various adversarial nations, especially China — whose alliance with Russia has grown considerably since Putin's invasion of Ukraine — paying close attention.

'Ukraine can't properly defend itself if one hand is tied behind its back.'

There are presently tens of thousands of North Korean troops engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces. North Korea not only has a defense treaty with Russia but a firm mutual defense pact with China.

Despite its defense obligations, China has emphasized that North Korea's presence in Ukraine is its "own business" and has signaled a reluctance to get directly bogged down in the conflict. Nevertheless, China's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian desperately impressed upon his American counterparts the need for de-escalation.

Responding to reports that the U.S. has cleared the use of the Army Tactical Missile System by Ukraine against Russia-based targets, Lin Jian, the spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, stated, "China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear, and an early ceasefire and pursuit of a political solution are in the interests of all parties. Promoting a de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible is the top priority."

The Chinese regime also insisted that Russia, which executed a large-range missile and drone attack against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure over the weekend, should similarly pursue de-escalation.

Some American lawmakers have expressed support for Ukraine's use of the missiles, including Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who stated, "Biden's decision to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of ATACMS in Russia is long-awaited progress. But it's critical that authorized targets include Russian oil refineries, which pump out the lifeblood of the Kremlin's war machine."

Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R) similarly expressed optimism over the development, stating Sunday, "If initial press reports are true, I am encouraged at the prospect of allowing Ukraine to use long-range ATACM missiles supplied by the U.S."

Republican Rep. Mike Turner (Ohio) wrote, "Ukraine can't properly defend itself if one hand is tied behind its back. Today's news that the Biden Administration is finally allowing Ukraine to use some U.S.-provided ATACMS to strike limited targets within Russian territory is long overdue."

Turner stressed the need to "put pressure on Vladimir Putin" ahead of Trump taking office.

Other American lawmakers are less than enthused over the prospect of a shooting war with Russia.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) tweeted, "By authorizing long range missiles to strike inside Russia, Biden is committing an unconstitutional Act of War that endangers the lives of all U.S. citizens. This is an impeachable offense, but the reality is he’s an emasculated puppet of a deep state."

Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale (R) wrote, "American long range missiles being used to attack Russia? As many as 12,000 North Korean troops staged in Russia. When will Congress reclaim its authority and stop this proxy war we are entangled in?!"

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Trump’s Foreign Policy Agenda Must Start By Undoing Four Years Of Global Insolvency

American resources are limited. We must address the greatest threats from large, powerful countries like China first, then everyone else.

Establishmentarians belittle Trump's defense secretary pick — but are quickly put in their place



President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will be appointing decorated Army veteran Pete Hegseth to the position of secretary of defense, a post currently occupied by Ret. Gen. Lloyd Austin.

The liberal media and various establishmentarians rushed to criticize Trump and his selection, suggesting that the father of seven lacks the credentials and experience of past Pentagon chiefs, including President Joe Biden's pick, whose legacy is apparently a better-armed Taliban.

Hegseth, a two-time recipient of the Bronze Star, likely doesn't need help fending off those armchair critics desperate to maintain the status quo. Nevertheless, friends, allies, and others with long memories jumped in to highlight that Hegseth is, in fact, well suited to the role, not least because of the reasons that have rankled establishmentarians.

The announcement

"Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country," Trump said in a statement Tuesday. "Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America's enemies are on notice — Our Military will be great Again, and America will Never Back Down."

'The woke stuff will be gone.'

Trump noted that Hegseth is a graduate of Princeton University as well as Harvard University, where he received a master's degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Trump also alluded to Hegseth's firsthand experience with war, writing, "He is an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan. For his actions on the battlefield, he was decorated with two Bronze Stars, as well as a Combat Infantryman's Badge."

It appears that Hegseth's proposals in his recent book, "The War on Warriors," concerning how to "return our Military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence" caught Trump's eye, warranting a mention in the announcement.

Months ahead of his landslide victory, Trump told a crowd in Las Vegas to buy Hegseth's book, stressing, "The woke stuff will be gone within a period of 24 hours. I can tell you," reported the Associated Press.

"Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our 'Peace through Strength' policy," added Trump.

Bubbles in the swamp

Politico, incautious as always despite its recent false and misleading reports, rushed to attack Hegseth with an article titled "'Who the f--k is this guy?': Defense world reacts to Trump’s surprise Pentagon pick." The subtitle read, "'Hegseth is undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for SecDef in American history,' one veterans' advocate said."

The liberal publication suggested:

the pick will do little to quell fears inside the Pentagon and beyond that Trump, who jousted with his own defense secretaries, plans this time to install a loyalist who will unquestioningly carry out his policies. Trump's campaign trail rhetoric has primed fears that his second term could see a swift and divisive overhaul at the Pentagon.

While framing the 44-year-old father of seven as unfit for the position and a Pentagon overhaul as undesirable, the article revealed the kinds of people presently uncomfortable with the decision: Eric Edelman, a top policy official in the Bush Pentagon and former Dick Cheney adviser; a military-industrial complex lobbyist unfamiliar with the pick; a veterans group funded by the Koch brothers; Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, D.C.; and a former Obama official.

"I think it's a surprising pick, someone who’s a TV personality when the entire rhetoric from Trump and everyone else is that the world is falling apart and you pick someone who is not necessarily the most experienced," said former Obama official Max Bermann, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies — a think tank funded in part by the Northrop Grumman Corporation and the Raytheon Company.

Former Jan. 6 committee member and Ukraine hawk Adam Kinzinger tweeted, "Wow. Trump picking Pete Hegseth is the most hilariously predictably stupid thing."

'Everyone is simply shocked.'

"I confess I didn't know who he was until 20 minutes ago," said Rep. Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. "And he certainly doesn't seem to have any background whatsoever in DOD policy."

Smith was apparently concerned that Hegseth might not be able to fill the shoes of the man who oversaw the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, lied to the president about being hospitalized, watched impotently as a Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States, and failed to correct the recruitment crisis.

"What's your plan? What are you going to do?" said Smith. "How can you assure us that that lack of experience, you know, isn't going to make it impossible for you to do the job?"

Identitarian Joy Reid suggested on her MSNBC show that Hegseth was just a morning show host for Trump's "clown car."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) tweeted, "A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers. Donald Trump's pick will make us less safe and must be rejected."

'He's had a front row seat to ALL of our forever wars.'

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) reportedly said, "Wow," in response to Trump's pick.

One defense official reportedly told CNN, "Everyone is simply shocked."

Media Matters, a leftist organization founded by Democratic operative David Brock that recently pushed for the censorship of BlazeTV hosts, attacked Hegseth, suggesting he is "an anti-Muslim bigot" for daring to write, "Just like the Christian crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes in the twelfth century, American Crusaders will need to muster the same courage against Islamists today."

Bursting bubbles

Combat veteran Sean Parnell was among those who did not take kindly to the dismissive tone taken by liberal media types regarding Hegseth.

When MSNBC news analyst Jake Sherman tweeted, "TRUMP had named PETE HEGSETH to be secretary of defense. Hegseth has been a host on Fox News," Parnell responded, "I'm sorry but is this a joke? He's a combat veteran of Iraq & Afghanistan. He served in GITMO. He's had a front row seat to ALL of our forever wars. He's seen the total failure of those who sent us. He's more qualified than **any** so called DC expert & it's not even close."

'The party of DEI hires are pissed about Pete Hegseth?'

BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler shared an excerpt from the Politico piece, writing, "If the military industrial complex hates you, you may be an awesome choice for Sec of Defense."

Wheeler also shared a picture of two of the cross-dressing officials in the Biden-Harris administration, tweeting, "Leftists were cool with this creep at Dept of Energy and this groomer at HHS. But now they're outraged by ... Pete Hegseth? Lol. Ok, weirdos."

The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway wrote, "Obviously it's better to have a SecDef who'd give the enemy a heads-up before we or our allies attack," alluding to Mark Milley's phone calls with his communist Chinese counterpart.

YouTuber David Freiheit, known under his online pseudonym "Viva Frei," blasted Sen. Warren for her attack on Hegseth, writing, "It's unbelievable. Truly astonishing. They are not just rapacious liars. They are incorrigible idiots. Hey Pocahontas, do you not know that Pete Hegseth is a two-decade veteran who served in combat?"

Conservative filmmaker Robby Starbuck jumped in, noting, "Pete Hegseth is literally a combat veteran with 2 bronze stars who led a squadron in Baghdad. He's worked on veterans issues ever since and he's also a Princeton + Harvard graduate. You do NOT respect our troops or you wouldn't disrespect Pete by calling him just a Fox host."

"The party of DEI hires are pissed about Pete Hegseth?" wrote Chad Prather. "Sorry that the Harvard grad that led a battalion in Iraq and has two bronze stars doesn't paint his nails."

Extra to wanting to maximize lethality and to rid the military of paralyzing wokeness, Hegseth has signaled a desire to maintain high standards for combat roles, even if that means fewer or no female service members on the battlefield.

"It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. … We've all served with women, and they're great," Hegseth told the titular host of "The Shawn Ryan Show" last week. "But our institutions don't have to incentivize that in places where, traditionally — not traditionally, over human history — men in those positions are more capable."

Hegseth, who has a tattoo of the Jerusalem cross as well as a tattoo of the Latin phrase for "God wills it," indicated in his book that he was sidelined for his religious views.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

What They Learned From the Last War

When the First World War broke out, Joseph Stalin was as far from the corridors of power as it was possible to be. Exiled in Siberia, this penniless middle-aged Marxist with a flair for bank heists and political assassinations was a failure and he knew it. Likewise, in Germany, another nondescript and undistinguished misanthrope was scraping a living together as an artist. Adolf Hitler greeted the eruption of war with ecstasy, exploiting the chaos to transfer his allegiance from Austria-Hungary to Germany and marching off to the front. In Italy, an enigmatic socialist editor also used the outbreak of war to switch identities. After initially fulminating against the fighting, Benito Mussolini quickly flipped, emerging as an impassioned cheerleader for Italian intervention. When Italy joined the fray, Mussolini was enlisted and witnessed first-hand the catastrophic conflict that he had helped embroil his country in.

The post What They Learned From the Last War appeared first on .

Thank You To All The Men Who Voted ‘For My Daughter’

Men did 'step up' for their daughters and for women everywhere, but not in the way that these sobbing women on Instagram demanded.

Forget climate — nukes are the real threat to humanity



Plenty of things will kill you, but one will do it the quickest, and since August 1945, that’s been nuclear weapons. Climate change? Sure, it’s a concern. But the climate has been changing since Noah loaded up the ark. If we’re talking about what could literally wipe humanity off the map before we even get to debate the weather, then we’ve got to deal with the nukes first.

Donald Trump was dead-on in his appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience" that nuclear disarmament is crucial, and he understands that every dollar we pour into foreign conflicts could be better spent protecting what we’ve got here at home.

Seek peace, be strong by practicing restraint, and use what we have to build up our communities.

The truth is that our foreign policy today is more about profit than patriotism. You’ve got the Federal Reserve churning out funny money like there’s no tomorrow, funding wars that fill the pockets of fat cats who’ve never seen a battlefield. The most decorated Marine in U.S. history said it best: “War is a racket. Always has been.”

Fiat dollars are no longer backed by the decades-long exclusive use in the oil trade. These increasingly borrowed dollars fuel military-industrial schemes that create more conflict than solutions. Defense contractors rake in billions while average Americans watch their tax dollars go up in smoke — sometimes literally — thousands of miles away.

In several recent cases, we’ve seen a meme come to life before our eyes as Israel launched U.S.-made missiles to intercept Iranian drones and Hezbollah rockets that were effectively paid for with fungible U.S. dollars released by the Biden-Harris administration.

Psalm 135 says it plainly: When you worship gold and silver, you lose your soul and your reason. In our case, it’s worse, because at least gold and silver have inherent value. Fiat money is worth less than the paper it's printed on, except to those who put their faith in it.

I’m not saying every Democrat is worshiping a golden idol in his or her basement, but a foreign policy that constantly chases profits abroad looks a lot like a false god to me. By prioritizing war over peace and intervention over independence, the left has handed over the treasury to the corporate media and many bad actors within the military-industrial complex, both of which profit from every bomb dropped and every soldier and sailor deployed. This is a bipartisan problem in Congress, but there’s an unmistakable, stark policy difference between Harris and Trump that will be decided this week.

Our first step out of this mess? Elect leaders who see the whole picture, who understand that de-escalation should be our top priority but that we must also be strong and secure at home. We need folks in office who put American lives and well-being ahead of corporate interests and war contracts.

Trump’s call for nuclear restraint, and a foreign policy that prioritizes our own soil over endless foreign wars, is one we’d do well to heed. He has talked about these ideas for the better part of a decade. What I’ll be hoping and praying for is that he has, in fact, learned from his first term about the importance of hiring the right people to enact his vision of U.S. foreign policy and not warhawks like John Bolton.

But for the long haul, it will take more than a president with a responsible foreign policy. As a nation, we need to stop chasing false gods, whether they come in the form of cash or influence, and start asking ourselves what Jesus would have us do. The answer is as old as the hills: Seek peace, be strong by practicing restraint, and use what we have to build up our communities. That’s how we may save first our country, maybe the world, and also our souls.

FACT CHECK: Does Viral Tweet Show Recent Hamas Attack on Israeli Tank Unit?

The image used to illustrate this attack is outdated and does not depict a recent incident