Author: Ethan Hay

The longest serving Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, was removed from office on June 13th, 2021. The one hundred-twenty members of the Knesset(1) voted to replace him by a narrow vote of 60-59. This is the second time that he has been removed from power. His first premiership from 1996-1999 ended when the coalition that he was leading broke apart. He subsequently resigned his seat in the Knesset and returned to the private sector(2). However, he wasn’t done with politics. In the early 2000’s, he was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from 2002-2003. He then was appointed as Finance Minister(3) from 2003-2005, helping spearhead an economic recovery by focusing on cutting regulation. Upon Ariel Sharon’s departure from the center-right Likud party to organize the centrist party, Kadima(4), in 2005, Netanyahu ascended to the leadership of Likud(5). From 2006-2009 he served as leader of a weakened opposition(6), until he was elected once again as Prime Minister(7) in 2009. He has been Prime Minister for the last 12 years, and became the longest serving Prime Minister in Israeli(8) history, surpassing the previously longest serving, and one of the founders of the State of Israel, David Ben-Gurion(9).

Some of the best and greatest stories told, in both history and entertainment are those of redemption. Namely, stories of someone who has fallen, failed, or been controlled by some substance or person, but comes back better and stronger than before. Think of the fictional characters Boromir from the Lord of the Rings, (1) and Edmund from the Chronicles of Narnia. (2) Or the actual historical figure Abraham Lincoln, whose political career, prior to his election as President, was undistinguished and full of failures, yet he was the man who helped successfully lead America through the Civil War. (3) Why mention redemption? Because the mainstream media is trying to paint Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, as someone who reached rock bottom and clawed his way back from the brink. Just look at the title of this review of his book ‘Beautiful Things,’ which was written by writer Beau Friedlander, and was posted on NBC. ‘Hunter Biden’s book ‘Beautiful Things’ pairs a wrenching tale of grief with a trite addict's diary.’ (4) But guess how many of his books were actually sold in the first week when traditionally the sales are the highest? A little more than 10,000. (5) How did Hunter respond? He’s going to write a sequel. (6) What is the definition of insanity again?

In 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state to join the United States. (1) In the early days of the American Civil War, there was only one Virginia. But there was something called the Wheeling Convention that took place in May of 1861. There were two conventions that occurred, which ultimately led to delegates from fifty-three counties in pro-Union northwestern Virginia voted to break away from the pro-Confederacy/rebel state of Virginia. (2) It was originally supposed to be called Kanawha, but they settled on the name West Virginia. Now why bring this up? The reason is simple: Greater Idaho. What is Greater Idaho? It is a movement of Oregon’s more rural counties wanting to secede from the state and join the state of Idaho. (3) One of the reasons for this movement is that due to the population density in leftist cities like Portland, many of the conservative rural counties feel as though they are not being represented. Just look at their state government. All statewide offices, from Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, the 2 US Senators are held by Democrats. Four of their five congressional seats are held by Democrats. (4) Their state senate seats 30 members, eighteen of which are Democrats, (5) eleven Republicans, (6) and one independent. (7) The state house seats sixty members, thirty-seven of which are Democrats, (8) and the remaining twenty-three are Republicans. (9)

“F*** the Jews! Rape their daughters!”(1) Antisemitism is rearing its ugly head again. It has even infected major news sites like CNN. Adeel Raja, a former CNN contributor, back in 2014 posted on Twitter the following tweet in support of Germany prior to the FIFA World cup between the latter country and Argentina (2), “The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals – Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews!” When Germany won, he followed up the next day with a tweet saying, “Hail Hitler.” When the violence began in Israel this year, he tweeted out on May 16th, 2021 “the world today needs a Hitler.” He also responded to a tweet supporting Israel from former Vice President Mike Pence in May of this year, saying “a history of creating terrorists and standing with them!” He was justifiably fired, but he wore his firing like a badge of honor, even tweeting “glad a single tweet contributed to the #Palestine cause and brought it to limelight with me loosing my job and the West’s claim of Freedom of expression and human rights!”

Since the protest at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, the mainstream media and Democratic party have sought to capitalize on the so-called ‘attack on the Capitol.’ It began with the second impeachment of former President Donald J. Trump. (1) He had already left office at the time, and he had not committed a crime as is specified for impeachment to take place in the Constitution. (2) Not to mention that the media continues to obsess over the protest, calling it an insurrection. Joe Scarborough, of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, has even said that anyone who dares question the legitimacy of the election, which was the actual reasoning for the protest, aptly named ‘Stop the Steal,’ should ‘just get the Hell out!’ (3) That’s not all that is happening. On February 15th, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that she planned to create a ‘9/11 type commission,’ (4) and on May 19th a bill creating the commission passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 252-175. (5) Thirty-five Republicans voted in favor of the commission.

'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.'- The Covenant of Hamas (1) Since the 10th of May, rockets have been falling on the nation of Israel. These bombs were launched by the Islamic fundamentalist organization Hamas, and according to the Times of Israel, nearly 2,500 rockets have been fired. These rocket launches have resulted in the death of nearly ten people. (2) What is the cause of this sudden outbreak of violence? It begins in the small Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

May 1st, 2021. Truth Matters had the opportunity to attend the Utah 2021 GOP state convention. It was at this convention that Senator Mitt Romney and Governor Spencer Cox were booed and heckled, the latter was booed for nearly two whole minutes. (1) (2) There was also a resolution to censure the Senator, but that was defeated by a vote of 798-711. (3) The real story coming out of the convention however was the election of new state party leadership. Governor Cox, and many other state leaders, had endorsed a slate of candidates for state Republican party leadership, such as state Chair, and Vice Chair, Secretary. (4) With the exception of the incumbent Treasurer, Mike Bird, an entirely new party leadership was voted in, and the candidates endorsed by Governor Cox were defeated by a significant margin.

The indispensable necessity of complete authority at the seat of government, carries its own evidence with it. It is a power exercised by every legislature of the Union, I might say of the world, by virtue of its general supremacy. Without it, not only the public authority might be insulted and its proceedings interrupted with impunity; but a dependence of the members of the general government on the State comprehending the seat of the government, for protection in the exercise of their duty, might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence, equally dishonorable to the government and dissatisfactory to the other members of the Confederacy.- Federalist 43, James Madison (1)

"The US is the embodiment of evil, then they complain why we chant 'Death to America. As long as America continues its wickedness, the Iranian nation will not abandon 'Death to America.”-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran. (1) In 1979 there was an overthrow of the Iranian Shah, Reza Ali Pahlavi. The overthrow is officially called the Islamic Revolution, was led by Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, an exiled Islamic scholar who would become known to the world as Ayatollah Khomeini. (2) The result of this ‘revolution’ was the establishment of a theocratic regime that has based its entire legal system off of Islamic law, or rather Sharia law, a system that establishes a patriarchal system, and has historically been abusive towards women. (3) While the country does have elected officials, such as a President, a Prime minister, and a legislative body, the true power of Iran’s political system rests with the Supreme Leader, who controls the military, state run media, and the judicial system, and a twelve, person body called the Guardian council that vets, and approves of which political parties and individuals can hold political office. (4) Another thing that must be considered is that since 1984, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been labeled by the US State Department as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, on a list that includes North Korea, Syria, and Cuba. (5) Iran has also exerted immense political influence in the Southwest Asian, or Middle Eastern region,(6) even having a former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for the nation of Israel to be ‘wiped off the map.’ (7)

“The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want.”- President Joseph R. Biden As of April 9th, 2021, President Biden has signed an executive order creating a commission to study the issue of expanding the United States Supreme Court,(1) bringing to the forefront an issue that has remained largely unpopular amongst the general public since the issue was last polled in October of 2020, in the middle of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing.(2) Furthermore, the current number of Justices on the Supreme Court has not been changed for more than one hundred and fifty years.(3) However, within the first one hundred years of America’s inception as a nation, it has been subjected to changes.(4)