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Praise God for Troubles  April 23, 2020

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Religion, Uncategorized.
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Here we are in uncharted territory, locked up, locked down, and locked out.  Who could’ve guessed just two months ago as we struggled to hang on to a runaway economy that within a few short weeks we’d face the prospect of the new and improved Greater Great Depression?  A self-inflicted act of economic euthanasia.  Shuttered in our homes we peer through the TV and wonder, “Will my family make it through this?  Will I make it through?  Will this last so long the economy is gone?  And if it does what then?”

Some say there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.  Some say this is a train roaring down the tracks to obliteration station.  I’m here to tell you today of another light.  The light who is the Light of the world.

Just as the Bible tells us, “Do not worry,” it also tells those who believe in Jesus, “Let not your heart be troubled.”

How do we go through what we’re going through and not worry?  How do we watch the daily briefings, the climbing death toll, adjust to house arrest, looming food shortages, and the possible collapse of the American economic miracle and not have a troubled heart?

Good questions deserve a good answer, and luckily God does not leave us alone.  His Word provides all the faith, hope, and love we need to not only make it through but to help others not only survive but thrive.

From the day man rebelled and cut us off from God there’s been a plan in motion to re-unite us with Him.  By confessing with our lips Jesus is Lord and believing in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead we enter this plan.  We welcome God into our life just as He welcomes us into His.  And where do we find ourselves?  Right where we always hoped we’d be, in the beauty of His glory and grace.  The only fitting reaction to all this is to praise Him, to shout it from the roof tops.

And that’s not just in the rush of deliverance it carries over into our everyday walking around life.  So now that we’re His we should act like it.  We realize that we’re His children, in the world but not of the world.  And because of this we praise Him even when we’re surrounded by troubles.  Why should we sing praises when we are troubled?

Because we know that as long as we keep our hand in the hand of the man who stilled the sea these troubles will not crush us they will make us stronger.  Because, troubles build patience, patience builds virtue, and virtue keeps us wide-eyed and expectant waiting on God.  And as we wait, we should never feel abandoned or forgotten instead we should hold tight to the promise of the blessings He has instore for us, the blessings He pours into our spirit day after day.

Knowing from experience Christ is an on-time God.  He didn’t wait for us to be good enough.  He came and gave Himself as a sacrifice while we were in rebellion seeking to find our own way.  This makes no sense to the natural mind. We can see how a good person might give themselves selflessly for someone worthy and even inspire others to do the same.  However, God showed His true colors by offering up His Son to pay the price of our sin while we were still in rebellion and not good for anything.

Now as we walk in the light of our reunion with God through Christ there shouldn’t be any doubt that we’re His children and reconciled with Him perfectly.  Think about it, when we were at our worst, rebels and completely estranged from Him, we were forgiven and set right through the sacrificial death of his Son. Now that His resurrection has defeated sin, death, and the devil and we’ve been re-born into God’s kingdom just try to imagine all that He has in store for us.

So after the troubles have birthed patience, patience has brought forth virtue, virtue has developed a character of steadfast faith, and this faith has brought forth hope we can depend on God that this hope will not disappoint.  Because this faith is founded on the love of God which is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit He’s given us.

Yes, the world around us is in turmoil.  Yes, this pandemic is testing us as we’ve never been tested.  We see our nation, our families, and ourselves hemmed in by problems we never saw coming.  But I’m here today to tell you hold on to the hope we have in Christ Jesus.  Nothing can snatch us out of His hand.  And I’m convinced that neither death or life, angels, principalities, powers, not things present or things to come, not height or depth, or pandemics can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

 

 

 

Resurrection Reflections  April 14, 2020

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Religion, Uncategorized.
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As we hunker in the bunker and wait for the Death Angel to pass over it’s good to remember that being negative is positively one of the worst things we can do.  Not only is it a waste of time, it’s depressing.  God tells us in many ways “Do not worry” more times than He tells us “Do not steal.”  And we all know what stealing is.  Can any one of us by worrying add a single hour to our life or add an inch to our height?

As with almost anything that happens it doesn’t take long for Christians to start asking, “Do you think these are signs of the End Times?”  The Bible tells us we’ve been in the End Times at least since the writing of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament.  All I can do is repeat what Luke told us so long ago, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

Wars and pandemics shake our world.  In a moment we’re in a brave new world wondering, “Will we ever get back to the way it was?”  Things can seem so dark, so forbidding, so bleak it’s easy to lose our focus on Christ and the life He’s given us in the middle of so much sickness and death.  If we focus on the negative, we may lose sight of the positive reality: Christ triumphed over death.  He conquered it through His death on the cross where He died so we may live.

He lived a life of love and perfection.  He died a death of hate and rejection.  He rose to share joy and perfection.  Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Accept Him and find life.  Reject Him and reject life.

God is so vast yet so personal, so sublime yet so simple.  We are His creation, yet He adopts us as children.  He sustains the universe and all that’s in it, yet we ask Him to find us a parking space at MegloMart.  The wisest humans who’ve ever lived could never devise a system of religious rules or disciplines that can lead us through the snare of the flesh to the liberation of the spirit.  Or, as Paul expresses it, “For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.”

In these times of stress, we need to stand strong, keep our eyes on the prize, and refuse to waver.  The government may try to become our all in all but believing that will be the surest way to fall.  We may be riveted on the daily briefings and the emergency alerts in the natural, but in the spirit we need to turn our eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face.  And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace

Don’t be misled no one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others — ignoring God! — harvests a crop of weeds.  All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds!  But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.”

Here’s some good advice from the days of a war long ago which was also based on truths from the Bible:

Johnny Mercer began his #1 hit by saying, “Gather ’round me, everybody.
Gather ’round me while I’m preachin.’  Feel a sermon comin’ on me. The topic will be sin and that’s what I’m ag’in’.  If you wanna hear my story
then settle back and just sit tight while I start reviewin’ the attitude of doin’ right”

Then he crooned:

You’ve got to accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
have faith, a pandemonium
Libel to walk up on the scene

To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the Whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do
just when everything looked so dark

They said we better
accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between.

As I reflect upon the Resurrection, I can see this is still good advice today.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

 

Trump’s Main Street Marshall Plan April 7, 2020

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.
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How it was:

Basking in the glow of renewed freedom birthed through the Trump era tax cuts and the President’s massive reversal of the regulation noose that’s strangled America for the past three years, small-business success has achieved record highs.  The best economy in half a century unleashed by the lower taxes and fewer regulations inspired small businesses to hire more employees, to pay higher wages, and then to reinvest its capital.

How it is:

This pandemic is what historians call a black swan event.  It came out of nowhere and changed our perceptions forever.  But having said that the same conditions of lower taxes and less regulation still exist.  Though currently stifled by the stay-at-home orders and self-guarantees this period of confinement and artificial limits is building a tsunami of pent-up demand.

As one of America’s main employers, the Small Business Administration tells us Main Street is the engine of our economy.  Here are some facts about small businesses in America today:

  • There are almost 21.5 million (90%) small businesses in the United States
  • Small businesses are responsible for 39 percent of GNP.
  • Small businesses are responsible for 52 percent of the all U.S. sales and contribute about 21 percent of all manufactured U.S. exports.
  • Small businesses contribute 44 percent of all sales in the country.
  • Small businesses employ 54.4 million people, about 57.3 percent of the private workforce.

Some call these small businesses the backbone of the American economy.  In this time of national sacrifice and emergency they deserve a government that addresses their needs.

What’s been done:

In response to this crisis Congress passed, and the President signed the largest direct assistance program in American history. This, the third major bill in a month includes a novel plan for small businesses.  Instead of just tax incentives or emergency loans hidden behind a hedge of bureaucracy it seeks to deliver right-now-relief through the Paycheck Protection Program.

One way to express this effort calls to mind one of the most successful government programs of all time.  This is Trump’s Main Street Marshall Plan.

Through the Paycheck Protection Program businesses with fewer than 500 employees (including startups, sole proprietors, and the self-employed) can receive 100% federally guaranteed loans for eight weeks.  Then if the loan is used to pay employees, rent, or utilities, or rehire employees who were laid off due to the virus, the loan is forgiven.  The loan term is from February 15 to June 30.

This revolutionary piece of legislation saves small businesses the endless hassle of navigating the bewildering maze of the government bureaucracy which normally stands between citizens and government emergency relief.  With this innovative plan small business owners can work with their local bank or any lender backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.   This includes farmers.  Those who feed the world can work with the same farm credit institutions they’re familiar with, the ones they already know and trust.  All this without any bureaucrats in between the lenders and the borrowers.

American small businesses can take advantage of these loans right now, the sooner the better.  The applications for these loans are located on the  Treasury Department website.

The goal of the Paycheck Protection Program is to ensure small businesses are ready to relaunch as soon as America reopens for business.  This act seeks to keep Main Street afloat by providing direct relief for small businesses and keeping tens of millions of workers on the payroll.

The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest crisis as a nation we have faced in the lifetime of most Americans.  We have a great cheerleader in President Trump.  He strives day in and day out to raise our spirits and to lead us out of this dire straight and back to prosperity and peace.

What to do:

Having said all this I have to share my belief that government, even one that is being led by the greatest crisis manager of modern times, is not the answer to America’s problems.  Only God can bring salvation whether we’re talking about an individual or a nation.

He once told us, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  And since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever we can still claim that promise.  Besides He also told us, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Trust God and He’ll bring us through.  Some may say, “What if we follow that advice and we catch the virus and die anyway?”  All I can say is if we die trusting God, no matter what the reason, we sure will be healed then.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

 

Got Hope?  April 1, 2020

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.
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My favorite president, Calvin Coolidge, once said, “The business of America is business.”  Today during the coronavirus pandemic hysteria, he must be spinning like a top in his grave.  Two weeks into our war with an invisible enemy there isn’t any business because we shut down all the businesses and if we want to have any more business we need to open the businesses again or there won’t be any businesses to do any business when we’re finally done riding the pale horse of pestilence and want to once again get some business done.

America’s economy has been the eighth wonder of the world since it first attained lift-off velocity after the Civil War, but if we keep the economy shut for too long, we run the danger of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.  That would be the oft mentioned case of the cure being worse than the disease.  At least that’s my two cents.  I wonder if anyone is buying what I’m selling?  They can if they want, but if they don’t that’s none of my business.  In the blink of an eye America the Beautiful has morphed into Apocalyptic America waiting for Mad Max to open the Thunder Dome.

When we’re finally allowed out of the time-out corner, we may well find ourselves in a new world as far as the economy, society, and politics are concerned.  However, there is one thing that won’t change.  It’s the same thing that never changes and is forever the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  God is God and we are not.

God spoke,” Let there be” and here we are.  The universe is vast.  So vast we have about as much chance of truly understanding it as an amoeba does the space shuttle.  If God had not revealed Himself to us through first the Bible and then through the incarnation of Jesus, there’s no way we can ever think our way to the truth.

And the truth is this: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Or as the Message puts it, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”

That’s it.  Sin cannot be where God is.  It’s like trying to put the wrong ends of a magnet together.  It just doesn’t work.  We all have sin within us “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Just as we can’t think our way to God and need Him to reveal Himself in the same way we can’t get to God by being good enough.  No one can be good enough.  Everyone from the greatest sinner to the greatest saint needs the same thing to stand in the presence of God: His unmerited favor or grace.

Paul explained it this way, “But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.”

No matter how this pandemic shakes out.  No matter what it does physically, socially, or economically spiritually the same door is open to us.  All we need to do is walk through and we pass from dark to light, from death to life, from being separated from God to being His child.

Don’t allow the sound bite of the day depress you.  Instead accept the Good News.  All your sins have been forgiven and you are now the righteousness of God.  “How? you ask.  In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.”

The world may be in a war against a virus, but we can be at peace with God.  The media may be blowing a discordant trumpet 24/7.  Newscasts, briefings, and special alerts may do their best to inform us, but they also do their best to keep us on edge waiting for the final shoe to drop.  Let me show you a better way:

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.  Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”

Think about that for a moment instead of the reality-show apocalypse playing out on the world’s soundstage, and then answer this question: Got hope?  I hope so.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

Fear is the Opposite of Faith  March 26, 2020

Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Politics, Politiocal Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized.
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As we wander through the wilderness of the coronavirus pandemic it’s a perfect opportunity to realize God is in control.  We may think we’re the masters of the universe but in fact we aren’t.  God is.

Humanity has built a planet wide civilization.  Our machines transform deserts, harness the wind, and connect everyone in an ever-growing web of communication and information.  Our planes fill the skies.  Our ships fill the seas.  We’ve walked on the moon, sent robot ships to Mars and the other planets, flung satellites out of the solar system, touched the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and built permanent habitations in Antarctica.  Humanity stands proudly at the apex of life on earth as we cower before an unseen enemy and wage a war against a virus.  Our leaders tell us we’ll win this war while in the back of everyone’s mind dwells the thought, “Someday we may face another virus or germ that will wipe us out.”

We live on a rock hurtling through space.  Even a brief study of geology, paleontology, and astronomy makes it abundantly clear we live in a cosmic pinball machine.  Over and over large asteroids have smashed into the earth often bringing an end to most life and signaling the beginning of a new epoch in the planets 4.5-billion-year history.  It isn’t a question of if.  It is a question of when.

And if species eliminating pandemics and globe shattering collisions aren’t enough, there are super volcanoes lurking around the planet waiting like alarm clocks to explode and wake us from our blissful dream of ruling creation.

When we ponder our current situation, it might not be too far off to say, “This may not be the end of the world, but you can see it from here.”

With that thought in mind we might want to meditate on The Living Bible’s rendition of Proverbs 19:1, “Man proposes, But God disposes.”

The coronavirus pandemic rages all around us.  The government has us isolated, locked down, watching infection charts and mortality rates wondering what happens next.  As we fixate on survival, wishing we’d been crazy enough to be a prepper before being a prepper was cool, off in the distance our mind’s eye tries to envision the New Normal the media echo-chamber tells us is on the other side.

The easiest thing to do is to allow fear a toehold in our lives.  Fear of catching the virus.  Fear of our loved ones catching the virus.  Fear of losing our jobs.  Fear of watching our carefully constructed lives wither on the vine.  Fear of not having enough money, food, hand sanitizer, or toilet paper to make it through the blast.  Fear, fear, fear seems to be all the “If it bleeds it leads” news media offer wall-to-wall 24/7.

A wise woman told me that Fear is the captain of legions of other foul spirits such as greed and selfishness.  Look at how many have responded to this crisis and you see those in bondage to Fear and its minions cleaning off shelves, ignoring shelter-in-place orders, and partying like there’s no tomorrow.

Let me show you a better way.  Fear is the opposite of faith.  Choose faith and live.

We know that most of the things we worry about never happen.  Why waste our time worrying when we can instead walk in faith and have peace?  God tells us not to worry more times than He tells us not to steal and we all know what stealing is.  There’s a formula for peace.  It’s like a recipe.  We can follow it and bake it into our lives.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

I’m a Christian.  I believe Jesus is the divine incarnation who came to pay the penalty for sin.  He lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, rose from the dead conquering sin and death for all humanity.  I believe He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of our Father the Creator, and that He’s coming again to judge the living and the dead.  I believe all that as strongly as I believe I’m typing these words right now.  This is the foundation of my reality.  This is my faith.  Faith banishes fear.

If you’re tired of living your life in fear join me in a walk of faith.  To begin a new life in Christ is easy, because the sacrifice of Christ has paid the price of admission.  All you need to do is confess Jesus as the leader of your life and believe in your heart the God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved.  That’s it.  That’s all there is to it.

I’m not saying once we confess and believe we’ll skip down the primrose path with never a problem, a challenge, or a defeat until we dance our way through the Pearly Gates.  What I’m saying is once we confess and believe we can rest assured no matter what happens we’re in God’s hand and no one and no thing can ever snatch us out.  The viruses, asteroids, and volcanoes might come but our future is secure in the everlasting promises of God.

After we confess and believe we’re still facing all the same challenges we faced before, but now we have faith instead of fear.  Now we know that when we pray God hears our prayers.  In the natural we look to the government to save us.  But the government is of the world and the world is passing away.  All things will pass. Only those things in Christ will last.  Reject the transitory dying things of the world and embrace the life that’s in the Spirit of Christ.

Embrace the faith.  Defeat the fear.  And remember the recipe, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

It may feel like prayer is all we have.  Luckily prayer is all we need.  Faith is the answer.  Prayer is the key.  Why worry when you can pray?

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

Democrats Prescribe Cure Worse Than the Disease  March 24, 2020

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Our president has taken bold and dramatic action to fight the war against the invisible enemy.  He was the first to step forward taking action to ban flights from China, the source of the problem.   The Democrats who identify as journalists and ones who infest our Congress called him a racist for that.  They were so busy trying to impeach him for seeking to  investigate Swampy Joe’s Ukrainian Quid pro quo blackmail stunt they didn’t have time to notice the emerging threat to life as we know it.

Now after the best economy America’s ever seen has stalled out because of the pandemic Nancy, Chuck, and their minions are attempting to implement Rahm Emmanuel’s cynical advice to Obama during the 2008-9 meltdown, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

President Trumpworks day and night to marshal every resource at America’s disposal while working within our federalist system in the fight against the global Coronavirus pandemic.  He’s repeatedly expressed his gratitude to our nation’s local leaders, doctors, nurses, law enforcement, and first responders who are waging this battle on the ground.  He knows they need all the help they can get.  He also knows American workers, businesses, and American families deserve immediate relief and certainty as they face this unprecedented and difficult situation.

President Trump has told Congress repeatedly to send him a bill that will protect our economy, our jobs, and our family’s futures from this global pandemic.  Senate Republicans have stood up and said they’re ready to send a relief bill to the President’s desk.  The Democrats have now voted it down twice in what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced as “absolutely mindless obstruction.”

Instead of passing a clean bill which addresses the needs of the nation Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer takes advantage of Senate rules to block passage of the relief bill.  Over in the House Speaker Pelosi unveils a monstrosity of a Christmas Tree pork laden substitute that goes on for 1,119 pages.  Here is a partial list of what the Kleptocrats want to shove down our throat:

  1. $300 million in funding for public broadcasting.
  1. Expansive new tax credits for solar and wind energy.
  1. New emissions standards for airlines and a requirement for full carbon offset by 2025.
  1. Required same-day voter registration and early voting.
  1. Bailouts for the U.S. Postal Service, the union pension fund and student loans.
  1. Retirement plans for community newspaper employees.
  1. Publication of corporate pay statistics by race, and race statistics for all corporate boards.
  1. A $1 billion “Cash for Clunkers”-style program where the government buys planes from airlines.
  1. $1.5 million to study climate change mitigation efforts in civil aviation and aerospace industries.

10.New and burdensome OSHA requirements on hospitals.

  1. $1 billion to build on a program expanded by President Barack Obama that provides discounted phone service for low-income consumers.
  2. Publication of corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards
  3. Provisions on official time for union collective bargaining
  4. Publication and reporting of greenhouse gas statistics for individual flights
  5. Retirement plans for community newspaper employees
  6. Federal $15 minimum wage
  7. Permanent paid leave
  8. Study on climate change mitigation efforts

What does any of that have to do with helping secure America during this fight for our survival?

This power play makes it abundantly clear the Democrats in Congress aren’t interested in rescuing our country. They don’t care about rescuing our economy.  The only thing they want to rescue is their hyper- partisan agenda.  And these advocates of social engineering and personal power are willing to hold America hostage to do it.  As House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) reportedly told Democrats on a conference call last week we should exploit the coronavirus stimulus saying, “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”

Now is not time for partisan politics.  It’s not the time to play politics as usual.  And it’s certainly not the time to exploit a crisis for political gain.  Now is the time for the political class to pull their heads out of the swamp, listen to the President, and finish good-faith negotiations to deliver economic and healthcare support to working Americans.

President Trump has asked every American to do their part to help slow the spread of Coronavirus.  He’s asked everyone not involved in the critical infrastructure to stay home and to practice social distancing.  Most of us have answered the call.  Now it’s time for the career politicians to do the same thing.  No more excuses.  No more delays.  Quit playing politics with the life and health of Americans and America.  Do your job.

I urge everyone who has a Democrat for their Representative or Senator to contact them and tell them you want a clean relief package without all the giveaways to special interests passed and sent to President Trump now, today, and without delay.  If they won’t listen now remember November is coming.  Maybe they’ll hear us then?

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

 

 

President Trump Winning Admirers in Strange Places  March 18, 2020

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A global pandemic ricochets around the world.  Suddenly we find ourselves someplace we never thought we’d be.  The world shuts down, millions isolated, separated, and alone.  Basic commodities cleaned off shelves by consumers who just yesterday were laughing at preppers who now sit back calmly ready for a world turned upside down for possibly months.

Our president spent his life as a real estate developer who has changed the skylines of cities around the world.  One skill that any successful Real Estate developer, like any producer of major films, must acquire is crisis management.  Even a short course on crisis management will show that President Trump is a master at it.  He’s assembled a team of widely accepted experts, he’s taking decisive actions aimed directly at the root and branches of the current Corona virus crisis, and he’s holding regular briefings to keep all major stake-holders up-to-date on what is happening and what is being done.

Even though as soon as he’s done with his daily briefing the Democrats who identify as journalists for the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media follow close on his heels often saying he said the exact opposite of what he said the President is winning admirers in strange places.

CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash commented on the president’s Oval Office address and Corona press briefing saying, “If you look at the big picture, this was remarkable from the president of the United States. This is a non-partisan — this is an important thing to note, and to applaud from an American standpoint — from a human standpoint. He is being the kind of leader that people need, at least in tone, today, and yesterday, in tone that people need and want and yearn for in times of crisis and uncertainty.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo praised the Trump administration’s efforts to handle the corona virus outbreak on Tuesday, “His team is on it. They’ve been responsive,” Cuomo said at a press conference. “I want to say thank you.”  Going further, the Democrat governor said that he spoke to Trump on Tuesday and that the president is “100 percent sincere” in his desire to work with the state to control the virus outbreak, which has mushroomed in the U.S. over the past week.  He added, “The administration is ready and willing to help, especially on the hospital capacity issue.”

On Sunday (3-7-20) Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat and one of Mr. Trump’s most vocal critics, at a news conference praised Mr. Trump, saying of the president “He said everything I could have hoped for.  We had a very long conversation and every single thing he said, they followed through on.”  The governor added, “We are very grateful for this partnership.” Newsom also said he has received “consistent” support from Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the administration’s response to the Corona virus outbreak.

From a slightly less surprising source, the experts he’s assembled President Trump is also receiving high marks.

Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was asked by FOX News whether she was concerned that there could be patients who don’t get a ventilator — or if actual physical equipment that is needed to serve the people who get sick is out there? She answered, “And that’s why the President has taken such bold and decisive action. We’re not waiting for this to get worse. We’re not waiting for this to be a crisis in our health care systems.”

Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accompanied the president to the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta last Friday.  When he was asked to address the press he took the opportunity to lavish praise on the man standing next to him.  “First, I want to thank you for your decisive leadership in helping us, you know, put public health first,” Redfield said.  “I also want to thank you for coming here today and sort of encouraging and bringing energy to the men and women that you see that work every day to try to keep America safe. So, I think that’s the most important thing I want to say, sir,” Redfield added.

On Wednesday 3-17 at his daily presser President Trump called the Corona virus fight “a war against an invisible enemy.”  As ever sounding the encouraging note he went on to say, “One day we’ll be standing up here and say, ‘Well, we won.’ And we’re going to say that, as sure as you’re sitting there, we’re going to win. And I think we’re going to win faster than people think, I hope.”  He added, “If we do this right, our country, and the world, frankly, but our country can be rolling again pretty quickly.  Pretty quickly.”

Even such a virulent and vocal critic of the President such as Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in a series of tweets heaps praise on President Trump’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic, saying it was “incredible and the right response in this critical time.”

Omar quoted Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., as saying “unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership” adding, “we are seeing that in our country right now.”

She concluded her praise by adding, “Finally, we should never let politics get in the way of good policy.  This is a great start and hope others will be part of a united front to push for good policies that will help us work through the economic anxiety the country is feeling right now.”

Omar’s final reflections were a response to a post by The Intercept’s Lee Fang, who tweeted: “Trump suspending mortgage foreclosures, demanding cash payments to Americans, now invoking the Defense Production Act to force private firms to produce needed supplies is incredible. Kind of a shell shock for anyone who reported on any economic policies in the Obama years.”

All I can add is Amen.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

Veteran’s Benefits Aren’t Entitlements  March 10, 2020

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Federal law requires everyone who enlists in the Armed Forces of the United States to take the enlistment oath.  The oath is traditionally performed in front of the United States Flag.  Everyone who has ever worn the uniform has said:

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

When every veteran took this oath to defend our country, our Constitution, and our way of life they presented the nation with a blank check to serve and protect We the People.  That check was written with their lives, their bodies, and their sacred honor.  They pledged to give their all.  And as the saying goes, “All gave some.  Some gave all.”

Those of us who have enjoyed generations of peace need to acknowledge our country is the home of the free because of the brave.  We live our tranquil lives unmolested by hordes lurking beyond our borders who would love to pillage the richest nation the world has ever seen.  From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Normandy from Flanders Field, Inchon, Khe Sanh, Fallujah, and ten thousand nameless battlefields in-between America’s best and brightest have fought selflessly and heroically.

Often, they’ve come home and quietly taken up their lives unrecognized by those of us who reap the benefits of their sacrifice.  Sometimes they’ve been ridiculed, belittled, and even spat upon for the debt they paid for the rest of us.  Mostly they’ve been forgotten.  The benefits promised by a government swift to call and send but slow to remember were often second-rate, slow in coming, or denied all together.  Administration after administration paid lip-service to our veterans while doling out benefits with a stingy hand.

But then came Trump.

Since his inauguration President Trump works tirelessly to provide the benefits and services our brave veterans deserve.  He seeks to keep the promises made to generations of veterans.  He’s leading the charge and winning the battle to finally give our heroes the homecoming they were promised, the one they’ve earned.

President Trump has declared, “My administration is committed to taking care of every warrior that returns home as a veteran.”  As a case in point President Trump is ensuring our veterans receive the student loan and educational benefits to which they are entitled and deserve.  He has previously noted the process by which our disabled veterans apply for Federal student loan discharges is too burdensome.  Which has led to this sad reality; only half of the roughly 50,000 disabled veterans qualified to have their Federal student loans discharged have received this entitled benefit.

Consequently, on August 21, 2019 the President signed a presidential memorandum ensuring our totally and permanently disabled veterans obtain the Federal student loan debt discharges they’re entitled. The memorandum directs the Secretaries of Education and Veterans Affairs to develop a new expedited process to help totally and permanently disabled veterans have their Federal student loan debt discharged with minimal burdens.  This combined with the Forever GI Bill which the President signed into law in 2017 allows individuals to access their veteran educational benefits at any point during their lifetime.

Turning to a more general assault on the stone wall standing for too long between our veterans and their earned benefits in June of 2017 the President signed into law the Veterans Affairs (VA) Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, making it easier to fire failing VA employees and support whistle blowers.

Since the passage of this act, the VA has successfully fired more than 7,600 employees who’ve failed our veterans.  Previously the archaic rules of the bureaucratic swamp made it almost impossible to remove these roadblocks to the healthcare of veterans.   Using the new streamlined policies, the VA has instituted reforms to increase efficiency and decrease abuse.

Consequently, VA healthcare has now significantly improved since President Trump was elected and trust in VA outpatient health care has risen in all areas.

Building the foundations necessary to win the victory in his Battle for the Vets the President signed the VA MISSION Act.  This provides more healthcare options for veterans by consolidating existing programs and expanding access to care in veterans’ own communities.  Eligible Veterans can use VA health care services nationwide, including through mobile health clinics serving rural areas and via telehealth (care through a phone or computer). Under the MISSION Act, veterans have more ways to access health care.

This includes within the VA’s network and through approved non-VA medical providers in your community, called “community care providers.”  Depending on the situation for example, if a certain type of health service isn’t provided by VA the veteran may be able to go to a non-VA provider, using their VA coverage.  This is one way to break the logjam which kept so many deserving Vets waiting in line until they died.  Because of the reforms spearheaded by President Trump this is a victory for our heroes.

Stepping into a tragedy that unfolds in too many lives of those returning from service, President Trump signed a new Executive Order on a National Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End Veteran Suicide (PREVENTS) to address veteran suicide prevention. The executive order creates a new cabinet level task force led by VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. The task force will create a comprehensive public health road map bringing together local government along with the private sector to improve the quality of life for our Veterans and turn the tide on the Veteran suicide crisis.

“It is about pulling together the resources of the federal government, our states and localities our charities non-government organizations and coming together with a road map and resources,” said Secretary Wilkie.

The President said, “Our mission is to mobilize every level of American society to save the lives of our great veterans and support our veterans in need.”  The President added, “To every veteran I want you to know that you have an entire nation of more than 300 million people behind you. You will never ever be forgotten. We are with you all the way.”

And remembering Ronald Reagan’s famous quote, “The best social program is a productive job for anyone who’s willing to work,” thanks to the roaring Trump economy since the President’s election, veteran unemployment has been reduced to the lowest level ever recorded.

The VA Secretary Wilke also said, “I’ve said many times that the mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs is to remind our fellow citizens why they sleep soundly at night. They sleep soundly at night because of the sacrifices of a select number of their fellow Americans.”  This is a sentiment we would all do well to ponder.

The sum of all this adds up to one thing; Veteran’s benefits aren’t entitlements.  They’re payments for services rendered and the least a grateful nation can give to the faithful few who answered the call.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

Trump’s MAGA Model on The World Stage  March 3, 2020

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We’ve all heard of the annual conference at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.  It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to the WEF website, “It is independent, impartial, and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance.  Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.”

On the other side critics such as Michael Ivanovitch, an independent analyst focusing on the world economy, geopolitics, and investment strategy describe the yearly conference in less than glowing terms.  In a recent interview Ivanovitch said, “The forum is a talking shop without any consequence for world affairs … On the economic front, you will just hear platitudes you’ve heard ‘x’ times already.”

Good or bad this is one of the major platforms in the world of international economics and finance.  Most of us out here in fly-over country may ignore it what with the Super Bowl and all, but the movers and shakers on the world stage attend or at least pay rapt attention to who’s moving and what’s shaking.  So of course, despite the ever-on-going slow motion coup grinding on in the Emerald City President Trump made his appearance as the biggest mover and shaker of all.  And he didn’t’ disappoint those of us who’re moved when he shakes up the collectivists plotting and planning to micromanage our lives.

Holding up the accomplishments of his America First agenda President Trump spoke of the rebirth of the American dream pointing to the success of economic nationalism in front of the globalist elites gathered at Davos.  The President cited the fact that since he was elected and thanks to his economic policies, America has gained over seven million jobs, currently has the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, and is experiencing rising wages and household incomes for the first time in decades.

At the annual conference in Switzerland according to the President it’s his economic nationalist agenda in a free market system that provides a successful model for the world not globalism.  In his speech, which should be the center stage for forward thinking discussion, Mr. Trump said, “A nation’s highest duty is to its own citizens.”  Trump also said, “Honoring this truth is the only way to build faith and confidence in the market system. Only when governments put their own people first will people be fully invested in their national futures.”  And, “A pro-worker, pro-citizen, pro-family agenda demonstrates how a nation can thrive when its communities, its companies, its government work together for the good of the whole nation.”

Then getting very specific President Trump continued, “Today I hold up the American model as an example to the world of a working system of free enterprise that will produce the most benefits for the most people in the 21st century and beyond.”  Speaking of how previous administrations negotiated we-lose-they-win trade deals that gutted America’s industrial base and impoverished our middle-class the President said, “I think it’s primarily the reason that I ran.”

Turning to those who tell us the sky is falling President Trump said, “We must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortunetellers.”  Once again getting specific President Trump addressed the goals of their predictions of overpopulation, mass starvation, and an end of oil based on phony science and media hype saying, “These alarmists always demand the same thing, absolute power to dominate, transform, and control every aspect of our lives.”  He went on to declare unequivocally, “We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country or eradicate our liberty.”

Highlighting who the culprits are our President took aim at the metastasizing legions of bureaucrats spreading like a festering fog around the world having the courage to say, “Today I urge other nations to follow our example and liberate your citizens from the crushing weight of bureaucracy.”  Then in conclusion he let the world know America doesn’t want to control them instead he is shining a light on a successful way forward, “With that, you have to run your own countries the way you want.”

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens

 

 

Trump Trade Deals   February 26, 2020

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President Trump campaigned on his ability to revoke, revise, or replace the bewildering myriad of trade deals previous administrations negotiated which worked primarily to the benefit of everyone except US.  Finally, after twenty-eight years of politicians selling American workers and entrepreneurs out President Trump is putting America first.

A case in point:

After dragging their feet and the nation through their impeachment/election campaign ploy the House recently passed the United States Canada Mexico Agreement (USMCA).  The Senate quickly followed suit and President Trump signed the new and improved trade deal replacing the job killing NAFTA.  This is the upgrade 21st-century America needs.

This is such an obvious improvement that even normally virulently anti-Trump labor leaders led by the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka have come out in support of the new deal.  In an op-ed for CNN Trumpka said, “Because of our patience and perseverance, the USMCA now includes strong labor rights and a viable mechanism to enforce them. … We also secured a separate enforcement mechanism that allows for inspections of factories and facilities that don’t live up to their obligations. This was an important priority for the labor movement because it ensures that working people in all three countries have greater protections under this new agreement. … The deal isn’t perfect, but that it is a far cry from the original NAFTA, and that is a huge win for working people in North America.”

United Steelworkers President Thomas Conway said, “The revised deal is better than the original USMCA and certainly better than NAFTA. It should be adopted. The leaders of all three countries must diligently enforce the provisions, however, and we intend to hold them accountable to ensure that workers, the environment and consumers are protected.  …  Outsourcing won’t end as companies continue to search the globe for places where they can profit off of the hard work of others, spoil the environment to improve their balance sheets and raise prices for basic needs. The fight for fair trade won’t end with this agreement, but it’s an agreement worth passing.”

And it isn’t just labor leaders expressing their appreciation for the types of trade deals President Trump is working to secure, which replace the giveaways previous administrations imposed on us that transfers American wealth overseas.

Lori Wallach of the left-wing Public Citizen organization which tracks globalization’s impact on American workers, referred to USMCA saying, “It sets the floor from which we will fight for good trade policies that put working people and the planet first.”  When comparing Trump’s USMCA to former President Obama’s failed Trans Pacific-Partnership (TPP) Wallach said, “The unusually large, bipartisan vote on the revised [USMCA] shows that to be politically viable, U.S. trade pacts no longer can include extreme corporate investor privileges or broad monopoly protections for Big Pharma and must have enforceable labor and environmental standards, in contrast to the 2016 Trans-Pacific Partnership, which never got close to majority House support.”

Breitbart News sums up the situation this way, “Decades-long free trade deals, NAFTA, and China’s entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) eliminated about five million American manufacturing jobs and 50,000 U.S. manufacturing plants since 1994.  American manufacturing is vital to the U.S. economy, as every manufacturing job supports an additional 7.4 American jobs in other industries.”

John Binder of Breitbart added, “Free trade advocates, such [as] former Vice President Joe Biden, claimed at the time that NAFTA would create a million U.S. manufacturing jobs in the first five years.  Instead, nearly a million American jobs have been certified by the federal government as being lost directly due to NAFTA, according to data gathered by Public Citizen.  These are only the U.S. jobs that the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program recognizes as being lost to free trade and does not indicate the actual number of jobs lost.”

Moving from the general to the specific let’s look at an example of how one American entrepreneur looked at the USMCA agreement and why he thought it was so vital to his industry and his state.

Before the passage of USMCA Jason Wilburn, president of Foerster Instruments, a manufacturer of equipment for the nondestructive testing of materials and components, along with other manufacturers from around the country converged on Washington to tell lawmakers to support and ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.  In an editorial published on Triblive.com Wilbur stated, “Just like the unseen parts used to make automobiles and airplanes work, the contributions of the Keystone State are often experienced — even if not always seen — every day around the world. The products manufactured in Pennsylvania help make the world function, but all of that could slow down if a critical trade agreement with our North American neighbors is not approved by Congress.”

While saying previous agreements providing for free trade throughout North America have been beneficial Wilburn added, “NAFTA is now more than 25 years old and in need of an update. That’s why the leaders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico negotiated a new and modern agreement to replace it.”  He went on to “explain the importance of tariff-free trade to my business and how the USMCA would build on previous trade deals and provide less onerous requirements to ship manufactured goods to our North American neighbors.”  In addition, the small manufacturer from Pennsylvania made this ringing cry for a level playing field, “that, without tariff-free trade across North America protected by a strong trade agreement, our state’s manufactured exports to Canada and Mexico could be hit with as much as $1.7 billion in extra taxes.  Costs like that are enough to devastate any business.  As a result, many of Pennsylvania’s manufacturers and the workers and communities they support would lose sales as competitors from Europe and Asia swoop in on our missed opportunity, steal our business and, along with it, the American dream.”

Ending his well-stated and impassioned plea for the passage of USMCA as the House dithered away the year in its relentless efforts to impeach President Trump Mr. Wilburn wrote this, “We need to cut the red tape and the arduous regulations that make it harder to do business. The USMCA does this for small manufacturers.  If the USMCA is ratified, businesses like mine will be able to continue doing what we do best: create highly sophisticated components and provide constant innovations in products to our global customers.  That’s good for Pennsylvania and it’s good for our country.”

And there you have it. President Trump works tirelessly to make America great again.  Now it’s up to us to see through the fog machine of artificial scandals and baseless charges and cast our votes to keep America great.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens