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Breaking: Billy Graham Endorses Romney Then Scrubs Site Calling Mormonism A ‘Cult’

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Billy Graham last night endorsed Mitt Romney for president, and shortly thereafter, his website was scrubbed of a statement Graham or his organization made calling Mormonism a “cult.”

“It was an honor to meet and host Governor Romney in my home today, especially since I knew his late father former Michigan Governor George Romney, whom I considered a friend,” the 93-year old Christian Evangelist Southern Baptist minister said via a statement.

“I have followed Mitt Romney’s career in business, the Olympic Games, as governor of Massachusetts and, of course, as a candidate for president of the United States.”

“What impresses me even more than Governor Romney’s successful career are his values and strong moral convictions. I appreciate his faithful commitment to his impressive family, particularly his wife Ann of 43 years and his five married sons.”

“It was a privilege to pray with Governor Romney for his family and our country. I will turn 94 the day after the upcoming election, and I believe America is at a crossroads. I hope millions of Americans will join me in praying for our nation and to vote for candidates who will support the biblical definition of marriage, protect the sanctity of life and defend our religious freedoms.”

As of June 5, 2010, if not much earlier, Billy Graham’s website stated:

A cult is any group which teaches doctrines or beliefs that deviate from the biblical message of the Christian faith. It is very important that we recognize cults and avoid any involvement with them. Cults often teach some Christian truth mixed with error, which may be difficult to detect.

There are some features common to most cults:

• They do not adhere solely to the sixty-six books of the Bible as the inspired Word of God. They add their “special revelations” to the Bible and view them as equally authoritative.

• They do not accept that our relationship to Jesus Christ is a reality “by grace through faith” alone, but promote instead a salvation by works.

• They do not give Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, full recognition as the second Person of the Trinity, composed of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Some of these groups are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, the Unification Church, Unitarians, Spiritists, Scientologists, and others.

[Bolding ours]

Today, the Sacramento Bee and other media outlets, including Graham’s own website, posted Graham’s statement endorsing Mitt Romney for president, and two commenters posted a link to the 2010 Graham statement classifying the Mormon religion as a cult. Hours later, that page no longer exists:

 

A Google webcache of that page confirms its prior existence, and an Archive.org webcache first crawled that page on June 5, 2010. Here’s a screenshot of the Google web cache:

 

Additionally, a search for the word “Mormon” on Billy Graham’s website identifies six pages, yet none of those pages have the word “Mormon” on them as of this writing, yet most of them still have the word “cult” on them.

Billy Graham is 93 years old and in frail health. He’s been in and out of hospitals as recently as August.

It is unlikely that Billy Graham actually wrote the statement his organization released in his name.

Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, earlier this year was widely condemned for comments he made on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” when he strongly questioned President Barack Obama’s faith as a Christian. “I can’t say categorically,” if Obama is a Christian, the younger Graham stated.

Franklin Graham was present yesterday during the Romney visit, as the image, right, shows.

Billy Graham has been a spiritual adviser to numerous presidents since Truman. Unsurprisingly, Graham, a televangelist pioneer, is devoutly anti-gay, and in May, just prior to the North Carolina vote to ban same-sex marriage in their constitution passed, released full-page anti-gay marriage ads in 14 newspapers supporting North Carolina’s Amendment One banning marriage equality in that state permanently.

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At Faith-Based Event Trump Courts Religious CEOs, Uses Expletive, Calls Dems ‘Evil’

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During a White House Faith Office event focused on renewing America “spiritually and financially,” President Donald Trump lashed out at “evil” Democrats and used an expletive while venting about his indictments and impeachments.

The meeting was attended by about 60 CEOs and business leaders who have donated to faith-based causes, in an attempt to persuade them to invest in the White House Faith Office, according to Fox News.

“White House Faith Office senior advisor Pastor Paula White, Faith Director Jenny Korn, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler will attend the event and also deliver remarks,” Fox News also reported.

READ MORE: ‘Dumb-Dumb’: Fox News Host Declares Rising Democrat a ‘Mental Deficient’ Amid Senate Buzz

Trump was “expected to explain why the White House Faith Office is so important to his agenda,” and “encourage business leaders to help the Trump administration, specifically on programs concerning foster care and adoption, fatherhood initiatives, poverty alleviation, substance abuse and prisoner reentry.”

But the President also explained (video below) “one thing” about Democrats: “they have bad policy, they’re evil people in many ways, but they stick together,” he claimed.

Trump warned that if Republicans don’t stand together “and make the economy strong…you’re gonna literally have perhaps a depression, where you people so rich, so beautiful, so nice to look at, will be totally busted. And let’s see how long your wife stays with you, your beautiful — she’ll stay with you for about three weeks and she’ll say, ‘Darling, I can’t take you anymore. I can’t take it anymore, darling, I’m leaving you’.”

The President also denounced his indictments and impeachments.

“Indicted five times, impeached two times, all b——-, right?” he told the group. “Oh, terrible stuff, and I got impeached for making a perfect phone call.”

READ MORE: ‘Like Taking a Knife to a Gunfight’: Trump’s Russia Tariffs of ‘About 100%’ Mocked

Trump also claimed that he is “getting rid of” the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 provision in the tax code that bans  certain non-profits, including groups like churches, from endorsing political candidates. It has never been fully enforced, and no church has ever lost its tax-exempt status solely for violations of that law.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation denounced the meeting’s agenda.

“Trump is again blurring the line between church and state,” FFRF wrote. “A president shouldn’t be rewarding CEOs for promoting religion or using public office to advance a ‘faith-centered’ agenda. Government must serve all Americans — not just the religious.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Absolute Cringe’: DHS Ridiculed After Attacking CNN Report—by Confirming It

 

 

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‘Like Taking a Knife to a Gunfight’: Trump’s Russia Tariffs of ‘About 100%’ Mocked

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For the past few days, President Donald Trump and his allies have been teasing what was billed as a major announcement about Russia. On Monday, the President issued a warning to President Vladimir Putin: sign a cease-fire agreement within 50 days with Ukraine or face tariffs of “about 100%” on Russian goods imported into the United States.

“I am very disappointed with President Putin,” Trump said on Sunday. “I thought he was somebody that meant what he said. And he’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”

“I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago,” Trump declared on Monday from the Oval Office, continuing what has been a rare distancing from the Russian dictator. But in announcing his secondary tariffs of about 100%, Trump added, “I hope we don’t have to do it.”

Trump called the tariffs “major” and “very severe,” while telling reporters that he speaks to Putin “a lot.”

READ MORE: ‘Dumb-Dumb’: Fox News Host Declares Rising Democrat a ‘Mental Deficient’ Amid Senate Buzz

He also defended giving Russia 50 days notice by saying, “I think it’s a very short period of time,” and, “I’ve just really been involved in this not very long. It wasn’t an initial focus. This is a Biden war. This is a Democrat war.”

Critics disagree.

Some observers are noting that Trump ran for re-election last year on the promise he would end Russia’s war against Ukraine in one day. Some also note that 50 days gives Putin a lot of time to inflict further damage on Ukraine, although Trump also announced he is authorizing Patriot missiles to go to Ukraine.

Technologist, historian, and researcher Dave Troy, who has written extensively on Russia, noted: “Trump’s announcement on Russia/Ukraine is not significant. 1) we’re not paying for weapons, we are selling them to NATO, 2) secondary 100% tariffs isolate the US from Russia sphere of influence, a strategic goal for Putin, 3) 50 day window provides pretext for attack escalation.”

Former Obama National Security Council official Tommy Vietor wrote: “I’m glad that Trump finally figured out that Putin is a liar who can’t be trusted & has chosen to support Ukraine, but: 1) he ran on ending this war in 24 hours and failed, 2) he said sending weapons to Ukraine would lead to World War 3, but now is doing exactly what Biden did.”

Last year, the U.S. imported only $3 billion from Russia, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

READ MORE: GOP Senator Denounces Anti-ICE Democrats as ‘Pawns’ of an ‘Anarchist Agenda’

“Congress has been waiting on Trump’s green light for a bipartisan bill that would slap 500% tariffs on any country doing business with Russia,” reported Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. Later, she added that Trump appears supportive of the legislation, although he said, “I’m not sure we need it, but it’s certainly good that they’re doing it.”

“Trump’s big reveal on Russia,” observed journalist Marcy Wheeler, “is to give Putin more time than he is giving America’s nominal allies to do what he demands, 50 days instead of 20.”

Daily Beast columnist and creator of the Russian Media Monitor, Julia Davis, wrote: “Seems like this ‘major announcement’ was teased ad nauseam solely to distract from the Epstein fallout. We already knew about selling Patriots to Europe. Trump is giving Putin 50 more days to bomb Ukrainians before he considers doing anything about it.”

Rina Shah, a Senior Fellow at the Rainey Center for Public Policy, wrote: “Threatening tariffs on Russia to try to settle its 3+ year war on Ukraine? This is like taking a knife to a gunfight.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Absolute Cringe’: DHS Ridiculed After Attacking CNN Report—by Confirming It

 

This article was updated to include the quote from Julia Davis

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Trump Official: Never Mind Rising Costs, President’s ‘Leadership’ Is Making Prices Drop

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Prices across a wide range of sectors have been rising, and economists expect once President Donald Trump’s tariffs fully go into effect the increase may be substantial, but according to one top Trump official prices are dropping. He credits “patriotism” and the President’s “leadership.”

“Economists, researchers and analysts have warned that President Donald Trump’s sweeping trade policy of tacking steep tariffs on most goods that come into America will deliver a taxing blow to consumers via higher prices,” CNN reported last week, while noting that “recent months’ economic data has shown that overall inflation has remained fairly tame.”

The price of gas for example, may be down by 11.9% (yet nowhere near as low as what President Trump claims), but electricity and natural gas costs are up.

READ MORE: ‘Dumb-Dumb’: Fox News Host Declares Rising Democrat a ‘Mental Deficient’ Amid Senate Buzz

Through the end of May, food prices are up 2.9%, meats, poultry, fish, and eggs are up overall 6.1%, electricity is up 4.5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, rents are up 3.8%, and auto insurance is up 7%.

Bottom line, inflation is currently at 2.4%. The new report is due to be out on Tuesday, and expected to show significant price increases. One prediction shows inflation is expected to jump to 2.7% in the upcoming report.

White House Director of the National Economic Council (NEC), Kevin Hassett, offered a different take.

On CNBC on Monday (video below), Hassett pointed to what he says is a report from the Council of Economic Advisers “that showed that import prices into the U.S are dropping, actually dropping during all this.”

He points to what he calls President Donald Trump’s “leadership” for the decrease in at least some prices.

Hassett says his “theory” as “an economist of why that is, is that Americans, because of President Trump’s leadership, have recognized that when they buy an American product, they not only get perhaps a better product, certainly a better product, most of the time, but they’re also making their community stronger.”

READ MORE: GOP Senator Denounces Anti-ICE Democrats as ‘Pawns’ of an ‘Anarchist Agenda’

“And so there’s, I think a lot of patriotism in the data,” Hassett insisted.

“The bottom line is people prefer American products, and so therefore, the demand for imports has gone way down, down so much that even with what tariffs have been there, where people would say, ‘oh, they might increase prices at least a little bit,’ we’ve seen prices going down,” he claimed.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Absolute Cringe’: DHS Ridiculed After Attacking CNN Report—by Confirming It

 

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