The Patriot Post® · Super Bowl Stirs Controversy

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/104392-super-bowl-stirs-controversy-2024-02-13

Congratulations to the victorious Kansas City Chiefs and the defeated San Francisco 49ers. That was an amazing game, particularly the second half.
 
The Super Bowl is a big deal culturally in America. It has an incredible audience, estimated to be at least 100 million viewers. That’s a big reason why Super Bowl ads are so expensive. This year, a 30-second commercial cost $7 million!
 
There were high points and low points Sunday night. As far as I know, no one took a knee during the national anthem. But that brings me to what did happen.
 
For the fourth year in a row, the NFL insisted on playing what some call the Black National Anthem. Why? The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of every American.
 
Actors Mark Wahlberg and Jonathan Roumie appeared in an ad for the Catholic prayer app, Hallow, encouraging people to pray during Lent. There is certainly a lot to pray about!
 
Another faith-based ad, however, has stirred up a lot of controversy. It was based on the theme of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.
 
The ad features a woman washing the feet of another woman outside of an abortion clinic, with pro-life demonstrators in the background. A police officer washes the feet of a minority individual. A priest washes the feet of someone who is part of the LGBTQ movement. The ad’s tagline was “Jesus didn’t teach hate.”
 
The ad looked like it was produced by some progressive “religious left” outfit.
 
The idea of humility and service to others is a biblical theme. The idea that we should forgive those who wrong us is a central Christian concept.
 
But it was impossible to watch this ad and not feel like that its message was “white conservative America” really needed to atone for its sins against minorities, the LGBTQ movement, the pro-abortion movement, etc., etc.
 
Let’s take the image of a police officer washing the feet of an inner-city resident. Police officers in the inner city risk their lives every day to protect inner-city residents from criminals and drug dealers. All they get for their service is hatred from the left and calls to defund them.
 
If the message of the ad was “don’t hate,” it should have shown an inner-city resident washing the feet of a police officer.
 
 
 
Biden’s Border Disaster
 
Axios has a lengthy report describing the “warring ideologies” and turmoil that have erupted inside the Biden White House over immigration and border security. One former senior Biden official said that “Border Czar” Kamala Harris was “ineffective at best” and only “sporadically engaged” on the issue.
 
Susan Rice, Biden’s former domestic policy advisor, blasted Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra as an “idiot” and worse (words I can’t quote in this report) for failing to act more quickly to deal with unaccompanied minors. Sadly, we know that the Biden administration lost 85,000 migrant children.
 
Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who generally supports legal immigration, explained one reason why the Lankford/Schumer bill was such a disaster.
 
Some defended the legislation as “the best we can get” on border security. It’s not even close. The four Republican senators who voted for it have some explaining to do.
 
In an interview with CNN, Rubio showed in great detail that the Lankford/Schumer bill was, at its core, a Democrat voter registration scheme.
 
Rubio noted that the bill called for hiring a small army of asylum officers who would have the power to grant asylum at the border and issue immediate work permits.
 
Rubio added, “When you have asylum, you are on a path to citizenship. When you get asylum, you are a year away from a green card and four years away from citizenship.”
 
So, this legislation was really just another quasi-amnesty bill that would have put millions of illegal aliens on a fast track to citizenship — and voting for Democrats.
 
 
 
Biden’s Fury
 
There was a shocking front-page story in yesterday’s Washington Post about Joe Biden’s growing frustration. You can bet this was an intentional leak by the White House.
 
Who is Biden mad at? Communist China for robbing us blind and threatening our interests all around the world? North Korea for waving missiles in our face? Iran for repeatedly attacking U.S. troops in the Middle East? No.
 
Biden and much of his White House staff are furious that Bibi Netanyahu won’t kowtow to their demands on how he should fight the war against Hamas. Biden’s aides are urging him to take a much tougher stand against Netanyahu.
 
Here’s what you need to know: The United States, under Joe Biden, loses wars. Israel has won all its wars because, when it goes to war, it fights to win. If Joe Biden had his way, the Israeli hostages who were freed over the weekend would still be captives.
 
Ponder this for a second. Biden is using every power he has to send tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine, a nation we do not have long-term treaty obligations with, while he throws our long-time ally, Israel, under the bus. There are constant demands for a ceasefire in Gaza, but who is calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine?
 
 
 
Too Old
 
A new ABC News poll finds that 86% of Americans think Joe Biden is “too old” to serve a second term. That’s a serious vulnerability, but we shouldn’t read too much into it. A significant percentage of those people will vote for him over any Republican we might nominate.
 
Meanwhile, I urge every Republican leader to pound the table and demand that Biden’s five-hour interview with the special counsel be released so the American people can make their own decision about Biden’s mental condition.
 
Biden’s angry press conference following the release of the special counsel’s report was knowingly filled with brazen lies, every one of which was countered in the report itself.
 
For example, Biden insisted that the classified documents were stored in locked cabinets. They were not. Some were discovered in broken-down boxes sitting out in the open. He said he never gave them to anyone. He shared them with the author who helped write his memoir.
 
Biden has made “saving our democracy” his number one issue, and “saving our democracy,” as the left defines it, means regulating information to “save” the American people from themselves. So, they censor accurate information about COVID. They hid the truth about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
 
At the same time, they have made lying about us a central tactic, whether it was the Russia collusion hoax, the Charlottesville hoax, labeling concerned parents as “domestic terrorists” or pushing the insane idea that “men can get pregnant.” The left’s whole narrative is one big lie.
 
But Biden is running on battling disinformation, and he gives a press conference where all he does is spread disinformation!
 
 
 
The Lakewood Shooter
 
There are breaking reports that the individual who went into Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church Sunday with a five year-old boy and a rifle was a transgender woman (really a man).  He also wrote “Free Palestine” on the barrel of the AR-15.
 
That fits with everything we have seen since the massacre — an explosion of anti-Semitism, radical activists disrupting Christmas events, Hamas promising more massacres, and growing calls for a Palestinian state.
 
But Joe Biden’s going to crack down on Bibi Netanyahu!
 
 
 
Back To The Hospital
 
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was rushed back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Sunday and admitted to a critical care unit. Reports indicate that Austin is suffering from an “emergent bladder issue.”
 
We pray for Secretary Austin and his family as they work through this ordeal, and we hope for a speedy recovery.