Category Archives: News

Bill Maher: Americans should learn from Canada’s failure

Normally, I do not care about Bill Maher’s occasional bouts of sanity. He’s a secular leftist clown. He doesn’t know how the world works. He chooses policies with his feelings, based on how it makes him look to other people. But this time, I really think that he put some effort into his rant against Canada. And I agree with him that American voters will vote smarter if they look closely at Canada.

This article from the Toronto Sun explains what happened:

During a monologue last week on Real Time With Bill Maher, the late-night personality compared Canada to America and carefully demonstrated how high unemployment, unchecked immigration, skyrocketing debt and lack of productivity are seeing the country falling further and further behind its G7 counterparts.

Unemployment and air pollution:

Maher then compared the unemployment rate in America (3.8%) and Canada (6.1%), and revealed that his neighbours to the north has more cities with worse air pollution than in the U.S.

Housing shortage:

“Last year, Canada added 1.3 million people, which is a lot in one year — the equivalent of the U.S. adding 11 million migrants in one year. And now, they’re experiencing a housing crisis even worse than ours and we’re sleeping in tents. The median price of a home here is $346,000. In Canada converted to U.S. dollars, it’s $487,000.”

National debt:

Maher noted that because of mortgage debt, “Canada has the highest debt to GDP ratio of any G7 nation.”

Health care:

“(It) ranks dead last [in health care] among high income countries, and access to primary health care, and the ability to see a doctor in a day or two. And it’s not for lack of spending. Of the 30 countries with universal coverage, Canada spends over 13% of its economy on it, which is a lot of money for free health care. Look, I’m not saying Canada still isn’t a great country, it is, but those aren’t paradise numbers. If Canada was an apartment, the lead feature might be: ‘America adjacent.’”

Immigration:

Jumping to immigration, he cited Sweden opening its borders to “over a million and a half immigrants since 2010” which led to “20%” of its citizens being foreign born, its education system “tanking,” and Europe’s leader in “gangland killings.”

“One result is that the far-right parties are in the government now there for the first time. To which liberals say blaming immigrants for the rising crime rate is racist. Yeah, but is it true? Of course it’s true. It’s not a coincidence the quality of life went down after the Somali gangs started a drug turf war using hand grenades. Calling it racist doesn’t solve the problem.

The Toronto Sun article then helps Maher out with some recent numbers:

Last month, the Canadian Press reported that people in Ontario and British Columbia increasingly missed payments on mortgages and credit cards in the fourth quarter of 2023, citing stats from Equifax Canada.

In Ontario, the mortgage delinquency rate was up 135.2% compared with a year earlier, while B.C.’s rate rose by 62.2%.

What do you think? Do you think that conservatives argue better when they argue from the demonstrated achievements of different countries?

The Toronto Sun noted:

On X, Maher’s comments went viral, drawing nearly 42 million views and nearly 5,000 comments with many calling the TV personality’s assessment spot on.

I think it’s a great approach. Why should America try policies that have been known to fail elsewhere? But we can’t count on the ignorant “don’t judge” public school teachers to tell voters what’s happening in other countries. We shall have to tell them ourselves. So, make sure you share this article.

Communist China interfered in Canadian elections to help Justin Trudeau

According to a recent Abacus Data Poll, the Conservative Party of Canada is now leading the Liberal Party 44% to 24%, putting the conservatives in a position to win a supermajority of Canadian ridings. But now news is emerging that foreign nations interfere in Canadian elections, and Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau not only knew about it, but he let it happen.

Here’s the story from The Federalist:

On Monday, Ottawa’s lead spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), confirmed that Communist China interfered in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections. These efforts “focused primarily on supporting those viewed to be either ‘pro-PRC’ or ‘neutral’ on issues of interest to the [Chinese] government,” a slide shown to Canadian officials reads, according to Reuters.

According to The Toronto Star, the briefing provided to the Foreign Interference Commission further revealed that, during the 2021 contest, the CCP specifically aimed “to deter Canadians, especially those ‘of Chinese heritage,’ from backing the Conservative party, then-leader Erin O’Toole, and B.C. Conservative candidate Kenny Chiu.” Conservative candidates took a hardline approach to China during the 2021 campaign, often highlighting the CCP’s brutal treatment of Uyghurs and criticizing Huawei, a Chinese tech giant suspected of facilitating spyware for Beijing.

Chiu ultimately lost his 2021 election bid, while Trudeau’s Liberal Party won both the 2019 and 2021 elections.

The language of the articles that interfered with the elections was similar to the language of articles published by Communist China’s state-run media:

“The timing of these efforts to align with Conservative polling improvement; the similarities in language with articles published by PRC state media; and the partnership agreements between these Canada-based outlets and PRC entities; all suggest that these efforts were orchestrated or directed by the PRC,” the CSIS assessment reads, according to the Star.

Trudeau is using all of his authority as a part-time drama teacher and former snowboarding instructor to explain why people should believe him, rather than believe Canada’s most prestigious intelligence agency:

Despite CSIS’s findings, Trudeau seemingly isn’t convinced that China’s 2021 efforts were designed to benefit the Liberal Party.

According to The Epoch Times, the prime minister cast doubt on intelligence suggesting Beijing was attempting to boost his party’s electoral prospects, saying: “While individual officials may well have expressed a preference or another … it would just seem very improbable that the Chinese government itself would have a preference in the election.”

As noted above, these remarks contradict the intelligence provided by CSIS, which highlighted the CCP’s aim to undermine Conservative Party candidates.

The next Canadian election is scheduled for October 2025, unless the Liberal Party fascists fail a no-confidence vote. So far, the communist New Democrat Party has been backing the fascist Liberal Party every time a no-confidence vote has been held, including supporting the fascist Liberal Party’s back-breaking carbon tax.

But there are signs that support may be ending, as more and more NDP voters are turning away from the communist NDP. A recent article from the state-run propaganda outlet CBC states “NDP MPs Charlie Angus, Carol Hughes and Rachel Blaney all announced Thursday that they will not be seeking re-election.”

You’ll notice from the recent poll I posted above that the communist NDP’s numbers are also declining. They know that the writing is on the wall, and a quick election is their best hope for not losing ALL of their voters. The longer that Canadian voters have to live under the poverty-inducing policies of the fascist-communist coalition, the worse the results will be for the secular left.

Peter J. Williams debates Bart Ehrman on his book “Misquoting Jesus”

I have to re-post this debate between Bart Ehrman and Peter J. Williams, because Dr. Williams just followed me on Twitter. I noticed that he had re-tweeted one of the two senators I follow on Twitter, so I re-tweeted him. I like Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley, and he re-tweeted Senator Hawley talking about free speech.

Bart Ehrman posted the debate audio on YouTube:

Details:

Bart Ehrman is the US author of the bestselling book “Misquoting Jesus” (In the UK “Whose word is it?”).  He calls into question the authority of the New Testament as scribal changes over time have changed the documents.

So can we trust the scripture? Bible scholar Peter Williams believes in the reliability of the New Testament and that Bart’s prognosis is far too pessimistic.

This post is a re-post from 2011. I have been listening to this lecture by Peter J. Williams on “Misquoting Jesus” this week, and it reminded me to re-post this debate. (I checked to make sure the MP3 link is still good, and it is)

Summary of the Williams-Ehrman debate:

Note: this summary is snarky. If you want an accurate view of the debate, then listen to it. My summary is meant to be humorous.

Ehrman:

  • I had a mystical experience in childhood and became an evangelical Christian
  • I went to Moody Bible Institute, and they told me that the Bible was inerrant
  • For a while, I was committed to the view that there are no mistakes in the Bible
  • At Princeton, I was taught and graded by professors who did not accept inerrancy
  • By a strange coincidence, I began to see that the Bible did have errors after all!
  • We don’t have the original documents written by the original authors, we only have thousands of copies
  • if the words of the Bible are not completely inerrant, then none of it is historical
  • if all of the words in all the copies of the Bible are not identical, then none of it is historical

Williams:

  • I would say the New and Old testaments are the Word of God
  • We don’t need to have the original Greek writings in order to believe in the authority of the Bible
  • I believe in inerrancy, but doesn’t mean there are no problems
  • the doctrine of inerrancy has always referred to the original Greek copies, not the translations

Moderator:

  • what are the main points of Misquoting Jesus?

Ehrman:

  • we don’t have the originals of any of the books of the New Testament
  • we have copies that are much later, sometimes even centuries later!!1!
  • the copies we have all differ from one another – they were changed by scribes!!1!
  • we have 5000 manuscripts in the original Greek language
  • there are hundreds of thousands of differences!!1!
  • most of the differences don’t matter
  • some differences are significant for meaning or doctrine
  • errors are propagated because the next scribe inherits the mistake of their source copy
  • a large gap between the time of writing and the first extant copy means more errors have crept in

Williams:

  • the reason we have so many variants is because the number of manuscripts is large

Angry Jesus or compassionate Jesus in Mark

Ehrman:

  • most manuscripts say that Jesus was compassionate when healing a leper, but one says he was angry
  • it makes a huge huge huge really really big difference if Jesus is compassionate or angry
  • the whole Bible needs to be thrown out because of this one word between different in one manuscript

Williams:

  • this variant is important for understanding the passage, but it has no great meaning
  • the change is probably just an accident – the two words are very similar visually in Greek
  • it’s just an accident – it emerged in one manuscript, and it impacted a few more
  • the tiny number of manuscripts that have the error are geographically isolated
  • I’m pretty sure that WK prefers the angry Jesus anyway – so who cares?

Ehrman:

  • no! someone changed it deliberately! it’s a conspiracy! you should buy my book! it’s a *big deal*!!!!!1!!1!one!!eleventy-one!

The woman caught in adultery in John

Ehrman:

  • it is isn’t in any of the earliest manuscripts
  • this is an apocryphical story that some scribe deliberately inserted into the text
  • most people don’t even know about this! it’s a cover-up! you need to buy my scandalous book!

Williams:

  • that’s right, it’s a late addition by some overzealous scribe
  • and it’s clearly marked as such in every modern Bible translation
  • the only people who don’t know about this are people who don’t read footnotes in their Bible
  • and in any case, this isn’t a loss of the original words of the New Testament – it’s an addition

Grace of God or apart from God in Hebrews

Ehrman:

  • well this is just a one word difference, but it makes a huge huge really really big difference!
  • the words are very similar, so it’s could be an accident I guess
  • but it wasn’t! this was a deliberate change! it’s a conspiracy! it’s a cover-up! scandal!
  • buy my book! It’s almost as good as Dan Brown!

Moderator:

  • hmmmn…. I kind of like “apart from God” – why is this such a big scandal again?

Ehrman:

  • you don’t care? how can you not care? it has to be inerrant! or the whole thing is false!
  • Moody Bible Institute says!

Williams:

  • yeah Bart is always saying that every change is deliberate but it’s just an accident
  • the words are very similar, just a few letters are different, this is clearly an accident
  • I have no problem with apart from God, or by the Grace of God
  • please move on and stop screaming and running around and knocking things over

Moderator:

  • but what if pastors try to use this passage in a sermon?

Williams:

  • well, one word doesn’t make a big different, the meaning that appears is fine for preaching
  • it’s only a problem for people who treat the Bible as a magic book with magical incantations
  • they get mad because if one word is out of place then the whole thing doesn’t work for their spell
  • then they try to cast happiness spells but the spells don’t work and they experience suffering
  • the suffering surprises them since they think that fundamentalism should guarantee them happiness
  • then they become apostates and get on TV where they look wide-eyed and talk crazy

Ehrman:

  • hey! are you talking about me? a lot of people buy my books! i am a big success!
  • it is very important that people don’t feel bad about their sinning you know!

Is Misquoting Jesus an attack?

Williams:

  • it’s rhetorically imbalanced and misleading
  • it tries to highlight change and instability and ignore the majority of the text that is stable
  • he makes a big deal out of 5 or so verses that are different from the mainstream text
  • he says that scribes deliberately changed the scriptures, but he doesn’t prove that
  • it’s just as likely that the differences are just scribal errors made by accident

Ehrman:

  • well, maybe the variants aren’t a big deal, but what about one angel vs. two angels?
  • that’s a significant issue! significant enough for me to become an apostate – a rich apostate
  • if one word is different because of an accident, then the whole Bible cannot be trusted
  • it has to be completely inerrant, so a one word difference means the whole thing is unreliable
  • we don’t even know if Jesus was even named Jesus, because of one angel vs two angels!!!1!
  • buy my book! you don’t have to read it, just put it on your shelf, then you’ll feel better about not having a relationships with God – because who’s to say what God really wants from you? Not the Bible!