Quote of the Day

“The triumph of American independence was the result of the most extraordinary people in history, the most extraordinary culture in history, and the most extraordinary ideas in history, all creating the most extraordinary republic ever... Liberty has prevailed here because of the culture and character of the people who declared it, defended it and preserved it. The identity of a nation is the destiny of a nation, and America has a destiny like no other because we are a people like no other.”

–U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Address at Mount Rushmore, July 3, 2026

Glenn Youngkin: America's Next President?

by Justin Soutar

Trump fans in general and Republicans in particular who were bitterly disappointed by the results of last year’s elections in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia are now eagerly searching for strong leaders who can decisively win future elections. The Commonwealth of Virginia recently concluded four remarkable years under one such leader.

Glenn Youngkin towers head and shoulders above the field of contemporary Virginia governors and their accomplishments. Confident, energetic, indefatigable, and laser-focused on achieving his stated goal of making the Old Dominion the best place in the nation to live, work, and raise a family in the twenty-first century, he accomplished more in four years than his four most recent predecessors combined. In short, he made Virginia great again.

Entering the Richmond governor’s mansion in January 2022, Youngkin inherited a state that was losing population and tax revenue, that was failing economically and educationally, where personal and religious freedoms were curtailed. As he put it, “Virginia was losing.” Governor Youngkin’s independent thinking, unfailing common sense, incredibly hard work, authentic bipartisanship, and selfless dedication to public service led to innovative approaches, smart laws, and sound policies that transformed Virginia into a beacon of excellence, prosperity, and freedom. In his final State of the Commonwealth address in January 2026, he triumphantly declared, “Virginia is winning!”

The positive effects of Glenn Youngkin’s great leadership will continue to be felt in the Commonwealth for years to come. In the course of his extraordinary administration, Governor Youngkin signed more than 2,000 bills into law, the vast majority with bipartisan support—an astonishing achievement. Furthermore, he served without pay, donating 100 percent of his salary to charities.

He cut income taxes and business regulations to stimulate investment and economic growth and handed billions of dollars in tax relief to ordinary Virginians. The $156 billion invested in Virginia during his term, which resulted in more than 100,000 new jobs, exceeded the total amount invested under the previous six governors combined. He balanced the budget and generated record revenue surpluses for the state through sales and use taxes. He raised the state minimum wage to $12.77 an hour.

He secured millions of dollars in federal funding for abandoned mine land development, turning economically struggling southwest Virginia into a hub of nuclear energy research and technology. His Energy Plan rejected arbitrary renewable energy mandates in favor of a flexible, “all of the above” approach to modernizing and expanding Virginia’s electrical grid. He created the largest offshore wind energy farm in the western hemisphere. He set policies for the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence.

He repealed misguided public health mandates imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. His “Right Help, Right Now” program made mental health care more accessible and affordable. He enacted the largest education budget in Virginia history, raised teacher pay, put parents back in charge of their children’s education, banned cell phone use in public school classrooms, and kicked boys out of girls’ locker rooms.

He distributed hundreds of development grants to communities large and small across the Commonwealth, boosting Virginia’s recreation and tourism industries to new heights. He eliminated thousands of foreign nationals and illegal immigrants from the state’s voter rolls in 2024, for which he was sued by the Biden administration’s Department of Injustice, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in his favor.

He forbade state employees from using TikTok for official business due to Chinese Communist Party control of the social media platform. And under his leadership, the Virginia State Police seized thousands of pounds of fentanyl and other illegal drugs, arrested dozens of MS-13 gang members, and investigated unlawful teen abortions without parental knowledge facilitated by a high school in Northern Virginia.

That just scratches the surface of Glenn Youngkin’s accomplishments as Governor of Virginia. None of them may have happened. As a successful businessman, a solid family man and a devout Christian running for governor of a state Biden had won by ten points the previous year, with no previous political experience and former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, Youngkin wasn’t expected to win the 2021 gubernatorial election. But former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s foolish claim in a pre-election debate with Youngkin, “Parents shouldn’t be telling schools what to teach their kids,” was wildly unpopular with Virginia parents, which helped ensure Youngkin’s surprise victory.

With a record like this, it’s no surprise that Glenn Youngkin has set his sights on the White House. If he has a canny political strategist, just as Bush had Karl Rove and Trump had Dick Morris, his presidential bid may very well be successful. Such a strategist will help him raise the campaign money he needs, increase his visibility on the national stage, and focus on key issues that really matter to voters.

Republicans and Trump supporters looking to win the 2028 presidential election would do well to unite around Glenn Youngkin as Trump’s successor. While they are two different men, there are many parallels between Trump and Youngkin. His legendary work ethic, traditional family values, strong Christian faith, unsullied integrity, longtime business experience, excellent communication and debating skills, practical governing style, and promises made and kept are unmistakably similar to Trump’s.

The popular and phenomenally successful MAGA Republican governor of a Democratic-leaning state will be a strong candidate who will attract many independent and some Democratic voters, as Trump did. He is a great leader who not only can win, but knows how to win. He can be trusted to carry the Trump legacy forward into the next decade. He is also relatively young, around 60. And unlike younger presidential hopefuls J. D. Vance and Marco Rubio, whose real and alleged differences of opinion with Trump are constantly and unfairly exploited by dishonest and irresponsible secular media, Washington outsider Youngkin carries no such baggage.

Additionally, those seeking to break the current Democratic stranglehold on Virginia should not discount the possibility of Republican presidential candidate Glenn Youngkin carrying his home state and its thirteen electoral votes. In any case, America has not had a president from Virginia in more than one hundred years.

Donald J. Trump has been the greatest President of the United States since Ronald Reagan. If anyone can fill his enormous shoes, it is certainly Glenn Youngkin.

Copyright © 2026 Justin D. Soutar.

Quote of the Day

"As the holy season of Lent begins, we are reminded that the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have been foundational to our strength from the earliest days of our national story. From the Colonists who turned to prayer and fasting in the heart of the Revolutionary War to the unmatched compassion and generosity of America’s churches, hospitals, and charitable institutions, these righteous acts of faith over the centuries have always stood at the center of our identity, our heritage, and our way of life."

--U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Presidential Message, February 18, 2026

Quote of the Day

"The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will fall under President Trump's second administration. I know from my service on the 1776 Commission, during his first administration, that he will wish to celebrate it with a loud voice and a full throat. May we all go from strength to strength in recovering the meaning of that document and restoring the Constitution that enabled us to make America great in the first place."

--Larry P. Arnn, Imprimis, November 2024

Election Watch 2024: Morning in America

by Justin Soutar

Forty-plus years ago, one of our nation’s greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan, famously remarked that it was “morning again in America.” What he meant was that our country was emerging from a dark period of economic stagnation, bloated government, military weakness, and international turmoil, and was entering a new era of prosperity, freedom, security, and peace. This quote from Reagan leaped into my mind as I got out of bed on the morning after the historic Election Day of November 5, 2024 and saw the sun shining brightly. Like tens of millions of other Americans, I had stayed up late the night before watching TV newscasts to see the results of the 2024 presidential, senatorial, and congressional elections—or, at least, the results that would emerge that night. (In this new age of massive voter turnout and mail-in ballots, the results of close election contests are often not determined until a week or two after Election Day.)

To witness the spectacular triple victory of “former” President Donald Trump and his vice-presidential running mate J. D. Vance handily winning the electoral and national popular vote; Republicans winning majority control of the Senate; and Republicans on track to retain their majority control of the House of Representatives, all in a single night, flooded my heart with a sea of joy unlike anything I had experienced with any previous election. It brought to mind that memorable scene in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings in which the Ring is finally destroyed and Sauron’s mighty fortresses come crashing down. Corrupt and radically secularist Vice President Kamala Harris, her Democratic Party cronies in the Washington swamp, and their Big Media and Big Tech allies had done everything possible to destroy Trump and retain their grip on power, to no avail. After the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him, and from the American people, through massive voter fraud during COVID, and after somehow surviving four years of being mocked, ridiculed, attacked, vilified, censored, accused, arrested, jailed, investigated, sued, charged, sentenced, and even shot at, Trump, a victim of so much injustice, managed to unite and expand the ranks of the Republican Party, and ultimately and decisively emerged victorious in the 2024 presidential election. Without question, this is the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States. 

How did Trump accomplish this astounding feat? It’s really pretty simple. First, he spent his four years in the political wilderness wisely by giving speeches and raising money for his third presidential campaign. He’s a good speaker and communicator (famous for not needing a teleprompter), and as a hard worker and a successful businessman, he knows how to effectively promote his brand (MAGA) and raise money for it. He even turned the unjustified attacks on himself into marketing and fundraising opportunities, with phenomenal success. Second, Trump stayed laser-focused and maintained clear and consistent positions on the issues that mattered most to the largest number of voters: the struggling economy, persistent inflation, high taxes, unsustainable national debt, Social Security going bankrupt, illegal immigration, soaring crime rates, attempts to defund the police, Critical Race Theory and gender ideology in schools, voter fraud, loss of government respect for basic human rights and liberties, the Chinese Communist threat to our national security, and violent conflicts in the Middle East and Europe. Third, he spoke the honest truth about the critical situation our country is in, and the truth is a powerful force which tends to unite people. Fourth, Trump is a man of great courage and determination who persevered with his campaign and continued fighting for the average American despite incessant attacks by his enemies. Fifth and finally, at a time of widespread political corruption, he remained a humble and selfless servant leader of the American people, totally dedicated to public service for the true good of our nation. In short, Trump resonated and connected with voters.

Contrast this authentic grassroots candidate with his radical elitist opponent, Harris, who was anointed (not elected) the Democratic presidential candidate in a back-room maneuver in July, had all of three and a half months to campaign and squandered much of that time with useless celebrity photo ops, ran on “abortion rights” and identity politics, tried to buy the election with a billion dirty dollars from the D.C. swamp, steadfastly avoided media appearances, was teleprompter dependent, failed to articulate clear positions on any of the issues that mattered to voters, told frequent outright lies about herself and Trump, and obviously cared only about money and power. Despite favorable Big Media coverage and fake polls that appeared to give her a real shot at winning the presidency, she proved to be no match for a massive and energized national MAGA movement that was eight years in the making.

Way back in March 2022, I bought a “TRUMP 2024” bumper sticker on eBay and put it on my car. I’ve known deep down all along that Trump could pull off a return from political exile to serve a second term as President of the United States. The uncertainty, and thus the drama, lay in whether any of the unjustified attacks on him might be successful, effectively preventing him from winning the Republican nomination for president, and if not, whether voter fraud might again be successfully employed in swing states to steal another election from Donald Trump. Thankfully, the answer to both questions turned out to be no. Against the odds, Trump survived every single attack and won “bigly,” making the election results “too big to rig.”

History repeats itself. Yes, it is “morning again in America.” With the election of a conservative Republican President, Senate, and House of Representatives, “we the people” have taken our country back. The merciful guiding hand of Divine Providence is clearly evident in all of this. Trump was humiliated by his (our) enemies for four years, but God exalted him and saved his life because it is His will that he serve a second term as our president. During the next four years, he will work with Congress to unite and heal and strengthen our divided and wounded and weakened nation, rescuing us from perilous decline and restoring our former greatness so that we can rise to meet new challenges head-on. Our country is emerging from a dark night of economic recession, Orwellian government, military unpreparedness, and international conflict into a brilliant new day of prosperity, freedom, security, and peace. Thanks be to God!


Copyright © 2024 Justin D. Soutar.

Election Watch 2024: Good News for Trump

by Justin Soutar

There has been a great deal of encouraging news lately for "former" President Donald Trump's re-election bid. 

First, his campaign continues its now longstanding but still remarkable pattern of setting and breaking new fundraising records on a monthly basis, and this almost entirely with one, two, and three-figure donations from ordinary, working-class Americans. Unlike illegitimate Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, which is being largely underwritten by George Soros, Planned Parenthood, and the Washington, D.C. swamp, Trump's campaign is primarily a grassroots one funded by "we the people," that is, by tens of millions of ordinary, hardworking American citizens who steadfastly support him because of his record and his common-sense positions on the issues that are important to them.

Second, national polls clearly indicate that Trump is slowly but steadily continuing to win over additional new supporters in key demographic groups. For example, his lead over Harris with independent voters, who will decide the election in crucial battleground states such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina, has grown to twenty-five points. Trump is also faring considerably better with Hispanic and Black voters than he did eight years ago; in fact, it appears very likely that he will win a plurality of the Hispanic vote and at least 30 percent of the Black vote. Furthermore, whereas a majority of blue-collar workers in the rust-belt states and nationwide were formerly Democratic, they are now Republican. Perhaps most surprising and encouraging is the news that 25 percent of Democrats have decided to break with their party and vote for Trump instead!

Third, it was just revealed a few days ago that the total number of registered Republican voters in the United States now exceeds the total number of registered Democratic voters for the first time since the 1980s. This, and all of the foregoing good news, is a tribute to the fact that Donald Trump has brought more new people into the Republican party than any other American political figure since Ronald Reagan. He has accomplished this by establishing a successful record on the economy, taxes, Supreme Court appointments, crime, illegal immigration, the military, and foreign policy during his administration; by maintaining clear and consistent positions on these issues; and by his generally strong support for traditional values, including the right to life, religious liberty, marriage, and parental rights in education.

Fourth and finally, last week, the corrupt Biden-Harris Department of Justice sued the Commonwealth of Virginia and our Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, for mandating the removal of illegal aliens and foreign nationals from our state's voter rolls as required by state and federal law. How ironic it is that our governor is being sued for acting in accordance with the law, not for breaking it. This is a sign of just how desperate Kamala Harris is to win the most powerful political office in the world by any means necessary, including dark money and election fraud. If there was any doubt whatsoever that Harris can win this presidential election without fraud, it is gone. 

But why has Virginia specifically been targeted, and why is this good news for Trump? Because, although corrupt Democrats have successfully bought out our state for the past twenty years, they realize that the pendulum of momentum is now swinging back to the Republicans. No longer a reliably blue state, Virginia has joined the ranks of the battleground states that are up for grabs. The Biden-Harris cartel is afraid that they may very well lose Virginia to Trump without hundreds of thousands of illegal votes in their favor. In other words, they fear that Trump will win Virginia if the election here is free of fraud. They wouldn't be afraid of something that had no real chance of happening. The prospect of Donald Trump becoming the first presidential candidate to carry the Old Dominion since George W. Bush in 2004 is an exciting one!

Add to this recent good news the important fact that Judicial Watch has forced many states, including Pennsylvania, to clean up their voter rolls in accordance with state and federal election laws in the past four years since Joe Biden fraudulently won the 2020 election. It is reasonable to conclude from all of this that the 2024 presidential election will be an electoral and popular vote landslide for Donald Trump. May God and his angels continue to protect him from harm, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for his victory in this crucial election, for the good of our country and for a more secure, free, and peaceful world.

Copyright 2024 Justin D. Soutar.

Election Watch 2024: Donald Trump v. Kamala Harris

by Justin Soutar

A lot has happened in the two and a half months since I wrote the first essay for this series back in mid-June. On the 27th, "former" U.S. President Donald Trump easily won his first and only televised public debate with Sleepy "President" Joe Biden, and it was embarrassingly obvious to tens of millions of people in our country and around the world that the latter is mentally unfit to serve as President of the United States. Two and a half weeks later, on July 13th, while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump was shot in the right ear by a would-be assassin after his Secret Service guards inexplicably failed to notice that a gunman was on the roof of a neighboring building, or to act on the nearby crowd's warning to that effect. Photos of a bleeding Trump courageously raising his fist in the air and shouting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" as his security detail prepared to whisk him off to the emergency room were immediately seared into the national consciousness. For many days prior to this assassination attempt, I had a nagging intuition that if all other efforts to prevent Trump from running for president failed, his enemies would resort to trying to kill him. Consequently, I began praying regularly for his safety. The narrowness of Trump's escape from death that summer evening, and the possible consequences for the presidential election and for the nation had he not survived, are frightening to consider. If he had turned his head just half an inch more to the right when the bullet hit, he would have been killed. It was clear to me that God saved Trump's life for a reason: he wants him to be president again to save our country from economic, military, legal, social, moral, and religious disintegration.

Five days after being shot, on July 18th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump formally accepted the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States. Because of the assassination attempt, he decided not to deliver the address he had originally prepared for the occasion. His actual televised ninety-minute acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention that evening, entirely unaided by notes or teleprompter, will likely go down in history as one of the greatest such addresses ever given. He publicly credited "the grace of Almighty God" for allowing him to be present at the Convention; confidently shared what "we will do" to restore America's stability and greatness; and reminded his listeners that every moment of life is a gift from God. I was deeply struck by the positive change in Trump himself after the incident. He was a remarkably happier, calmer, humbler, more relaxed, and more peaceful man than he was before. The majority of his words were uttered in a calm, conversational tone of voice. What made his speech so powerful and memorable was that it was not about him. He was just the spokesman and representative of a grassroots national movement to Make America Great Again, and he plainly understood that. He used the word "we" much more frequently than "I." Furthermore, to say that Trump's live audience was receptive would be an understatement. He and they were one, perfectly united in an unbreakable bond of fellowship and mission. Trump was aware of this unique atmosphere too, remarking early on about "the love in the room." This has never been the case with any other presidential nominee. It was clear that Trump is not running for president for money or power, but to unite and heal our fractured and wounded nation. It was equally clear that God, family, and patriotism are the driving forces of MAGA, which is a movement of truth and love. Trump's historic address united the country even more solidly around him, and his already favorable poll numbers soared to new heights.

Three days later, Joe Biden publicly announced that he would not seek re-election, and in August, illegitimate "Vice President" Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party's nominee for president. The Democrats obviously believe that her chances of defeating Trump are better than Biden's, even though she has been his accomplice in crime and has historically been even less popular than Crooked Joe due to her flippancy, speech gaffes, and radical socialist politics. Much ado has been made of the fact that her poll numbers have risen above Trump's in key battleground states in recent weeks, but keep in mind that the Washington, D.C. swamp has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into advertising for her presidential campaign to shore up her image and get more voters on her side. They and their corrupt media allies are not above manipulating survey results and using fake polls to try to discourage Trump supporters. Bear in mind also that polls continue to show Trump maintaining a clear lead with independent voters, a growing demographic that will tip the vote balance his way in key battleground states. Seemingly favorable overall numbers can easily hide the fact that Harris' support is considerably less secure than Trump's, who has firmly won over tens of millions of Americans based on his clear and consistent positions on major national issues and his refusal to back down despite endless attacks by his powerful enemies. At a time of unprecedented national crisis, Harris brings nothing positive to the table; offers the prospect of four more years of Biden's corrupt and radically secularist regime but on steroids; and is morally unqualified to serve as president of a Christian nation.

Voters will cast their ballots in the eerily decisive 2024 presidential election based on whom they trust to govern our country. For the majority of voters, this will be an easy decision. Trump represents them, has gone through Orwellian junk and nonsense for them, and has even taken a bullet for them. Harris is a money- and power-hungry politician who represents the abortion cartel (Planned Parenthood) and the Chinese Communist Party, not the American people. As Crooked Joe did four years ago, she will use every dirty trick at her disposal to try to seize the presidency, but it won't work this time. God has brought Trump through many dangers to save America from total destruction, and he will. Please join me in praying for his safety and his victory this November.

Copyright 2024 Justin D. Soutar.

Reflections on A.D. 2023

by Justin Soutar

Looking back on the Year of Our Lord 2023, I find many things to be thankful for and some things to pray for, personally and professionally as well as nationally, internationally and ecclesiastically. Here are just a few highlights.

Photo by Justin Soutar

Personally, I was blessed to make four brief road trips this year. The first was with a friend of mine to Richmond on February 1 for the Virginia March for Life. We joined with Bishop Barry Knestout, Bishop Michael Burbidge, Governor Glenn Youngkin, Attorney General Jason Miyares, and thousands of fellow Catholics and Christians from across the Commonwealth to peacefully demonstrate and advocate for the legal protection of the unborn in our state and to support and encourage single mothers to choose life for their babies. The second trip, in mid-April, was to the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and the nearby National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes (on the campus of Mount Saint Mary's University) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The awe-inspiring Byzantine architecture and unique history of the Shrine as the birthplace of the Catholic school system, and the peaceful, prayerful atmosphere of the Grotto with its outdoor Stations of the Cross, many statues of saints, tiny Blessed Sacrament chapel, and towering gold statue of Mary nearby, renewed and uplifted my spirit as I continued to recover from COVID. 

Photo by Justin Soutar

 

My third trip was to the northern West Virginia panhandle in early July to visit a good priest friend and former boss of mine. We enjoyed an afternoon and evening together, with the beautiful scenery of the Mountain State and the Ohio River a pleasant bonus. The fourth and most memorable trip was to the historic Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on October 21 to participate with more than 1,000 fellow Catholics in the Diocese of Richmond's pilgrimage led by Bishop Knestout. It was a partly cloudy and windy autumn day, and every time the sun came back out it would pour through the many stained-glass windows onto different areas of the walls and columns and mosaics of the massive basilica. I took advantage of this opportunity to tour and photograph the many Marian chapels and mosaics adorning the magnificent Great Upper Church, and to go to confession as well as pray the Rosary and attend Mass and Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction with fellow pilgrims. The bishop's homily on the great treasure of our faith did not disappoint, and the world-class music provided by the Shrine choir and organist for the Mass and Eucharistic procession through the basilica was so glorious, majestic, and overpowering at times that I could scarcely hold back tears. I will continue to treasure this day-long visit to Mary's Shrine for years to come.

Photo by Justin Soutar

 

Professionally, from January through June, as music minister and liturgical assistant, I was blessed to continue leading Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Lexington, Virginia, through the sesquicentennial celebration of its establishment in 1873. To commemorate this historic event, the adult choir performed renowned sacred masterworks, several for the first time, including Palestrina's "Sicut cervus", Faure's "Cantique de Jean Racine", Bruno Vlahek's "Ave Maria", Mozart's "Ave verum", and Handel's "Hallelujah!" Chorus from Messiah. I was further blessed to begin leading the parish through the National Eucharistic Revival this year, highlighted by a Eucharistic healing service in April led by Father John A. Boughton, C.F.R., and a remarkably successful Forty Hours devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in October--the first such event at this parish in decades.

Photo by Justin Soutar

 

Also professionally, a few months ago I learned that the publisher of my first book, America’s Back-Door Enemy (see right sidebar photo), went out of business in 2017 under a cloud of corruption and scandal. Back in 2008 when they accepted my manuscript and offered me a contract, Tate Publishing was a small but idealistic and high-quality Christian publisher located in Mustang, Oklahoma. By 2014 they had grown dramatically to become the third-largest Christian publishing house in the United States, but I was unaware that this position had been attained through the dishonest practices of senior management. I pray for the conversion of those who grew wealthy by violating the Seventh Commandment on such a massive scale. If you haven’t read this important book about American foreign policy in the Middle East but would like to, please write to me and I’ll obtain a used copy for you.

Nationally, it was a tumultuous year in government and politics, reflecting our ever-deepening philosophical and moral divide and the increasing totalitarianism of the Democratic Party leadership. Having secured a narrow majority in the House of Representatives in the 2022 election, Congressional Republicans under the capable and effective leadership of Speaker Kevin McCarthy proceeded to act in the best interests of the country while holding the illegitimate Biden administration accountable for its flagrant abuses of power; opening a corruption investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden’s shady business dealings with Communist China, Russia, and Ukraine; and launching overdue impeachment proceedings against "Crooked Joe." Congressional Democrats and eight Republicans In Name Only joined forces to brazenly retaliate by firing McCarthy as House Speaker in September. 

 

Meanwhile, "former" President Donald Trump, the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, spent the entire year preparing for his 2024 presidential campaign by traveling the country, speaking to and raising money from millions of ordinary Americans who are grateful for what he did for the nation during his first term as president and who are appalled by what has transpired under Biden's misrule. Remarkably, Trump has successfully weathered multiple violent storms of personal attacks, baseless indictments and lawsuits involving his finances and eligibility to run for president, arrest and imprisonment, and FBI surveillance from Crooked Joe and his Democratic cronies, all coupled with pervasive anti-Trump bias from major media outlets--steadily increasing his support base to the point where he is now clearly leading not only Biden, but all of the other Republican presidential candidates combined, in the polls in all of the key battleground states. May God grant this fearless champion of the American people victory over his enemies and return him to the White House in 2025.

At the same time, independent thinker and plain-spoken maverick candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. successfully connected with millions of voters disenchanted with both major parties, adding another element of interest to the early presidential contest. He promised to break the unholy alliance between Big Government and Big Business and to do an even better job than Trump of draining the D.C. swamp. Mainly an old-fashioned liberal with a handful of conservative issue positions, he will likely draw many more votes away from Biden than from Trump in November 2024. Some of his derided "conspiracy theories," such as the link between childhood vaccines and autism and the CIA's role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, are actually true (check out the books Autism--Prevention Care and Management by Marvin Anderson, M.D. and Plausible Denial by Mark Lane).

Photo by Justin Soutar

We pro-lifers were disappointed that voters passed pro-abortion laws in Ohio and Kentucky and elected pro-abortion majorities to the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, but we shouldn't have been surprised. The Planned Parenthood abortion cartel and its loyal Democratic allies poured millions of dollars into false advertising in these states to frighten and deceive voters regarding the nature of the proposed laws and to convince them to vote for Democrats. Just like the fight against slavery, the fight against abortion will not be won quickly or easily. It takes time to change hearts and minds and to defeat rich and powerful enemies.

Internationally, the tragic and devastating war in Ukraine continued unabated with the tide gradually turning in Russia’s favor, and the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict re-erupted with a brutal Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli civilians and an invasion of Palestinian Gaza by the Israeli army. Both conflicts have been viewed too simplistically by many prominent observers and ordinary people who are unaware of the complexities involved. Russia and Ukraine share a close ethnic, cultural, religious, and geographical relationship going back many centuries, and eastern Ukraine is more Russian than the rest of the country. Russian naval access to a Black Sea port is a key issue at the heart of the conflict that Ukraine has failed to address. In recent years, many Western leaders ignored the lessons of twentieth-century history, failing to realize that by siding with Ukraine and expanding NATO on Russia’s western flank, they would provoke a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. While some of Russia’s grievances and territorial claims may be legitimate, they do not justify the murderous and destructive military invasion and occupation of Ukraine. And while Ukraine has the right to defend herself against Russian aggression, there is a great deal of corruption in the Ukrainian government.

Neither is the Israel-Hamas confrontation as black and white as conservative American commentators paint it. It is not a “war,” properly speaking, between the armies of two nations, but rather a violent conflict between the Israeli army and Hamas terrorists. Nor is Hamas an entirely evil entity; it is primarily a humanitarian, social, and educational Palestinian institution with a radical terrorist fringe. The peaceful organization operates quietly, enjoying broad support among the Palestinian people for its good works, while its violent wing grabs the media headlines. Although nothing justified the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on innocent Israeli civilians, this atrocity did not justify Israel’s unilateral military invasion of Gaza with its unacceptable collateral damage to Palestinian homes, churches, hospitals, and innocent civilians either. Hamas terrorism is fueled by the situation of political and economic injustice to which the state of Israel has unfortunately subjected the Palestinian people for more than seventy years. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be resolved until a Palestinian state is officially established alongside Israel; both sides agree to respect the borderlines drawn by the UN in 1948; and Jerusalem is placed in an international zone. (For a more thorough examination of this topic, please request a copy of my book mentioned above.)

 

Ecclesiastically, Pope Francis--at age 86 the oldest pontiff in recent memory--marked the tenth anniversary of his election and continued his holy and generally wise leadership of the Church, unruffled by constant criticism from certain faithful and well-meaning Catholic bishops and media outlets, delivering insightful homilies and addresses and visiting several foreign countries despite his declining health. Some of the most powerful and memorable words he spoke this year were uttered to government leaders in Budapest, Hungary, in April:

"In the world in which we presently live, however, that passionate quest of a politics of community and the strengthening of multilateral relations seems a wistful memory from a distant past. We seem to be witnessing the sorry sunset of that choral dream of peace, as the soloists of war now take over....

"Peace will never come as the result of the pursuit of individual strategic interests, but only from policies capable of looking to the bigger picture, to the development of everyone: policies that are attentive to individuals, to the poor and to the future, and not merely to power, profit and present prospects.

"At this historical juncture, Europe is crucial, for thanks to its history, it represents the memory of humanity; in this sense, it is called to take up its proper role, which is to unite those far apart, to welcome other peoples and to refuse to consider anyone an eternal enemy. It is vital, then, to recover the European spirit: the excitement and vision of its founders, who were statesmen able to look beyond their own times, beyond national boundaries and immediate needs, and to generate forms of diplomacy capable of pursuing unity, not aggravating divisions."

In October, Catholic bishops, priests and lay leaders from around the world converged on Vatican City for the Synod on Communion, Participation, and Mission (sadly misnamed the "Synod on Synodality"), in a serious and mostly sincere attempt to first listen to the concerns of Catholics worldwide and then to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading the Church today. As with so many other high-profile events in Francis' pontificate, this worthy undertaking has been unnecessarily controversial. For example, some prominent faithful Catholics harshly criticized Pope Francis for allowing certain dissident and unfaithful Catholics to participate in the Synod, forgetting that the Synod is merely an advisory body to the pope and that Jesus himself regularly associated with notorious public sinners.

Likewise, in December, the Holy See's issuance of new guidelines for blessings for homosexual couples ignited unnecessary controversy among many faithful Catholics. The secular media didn't help by quickly spreading the lie that the Church now officially recognizes homosexual unions on a par with traditional marriage. Bishop Robert Barron's analysis of both the Synod and the official blessings document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is correct: the pope is not trying to change Church doctrine (as if he had the power to do that in any case), but rather trying to draw people who are not fully living the doctrine closer to the fullness of life in Christ.

Indeed, many things to be thankful for and some things to pray for. Let us continue to pray the Rosary for the conversion of sinners and for peace in the world as Our Lady of Fatima requested.

Happy New Year!

 

Copyright © 2023 Justin D. Soutar.

Two Letters on the 2020 General Election

The following letter to then-Vice President Mike Pence was written by members of the Virginia House of Delegates, including my own Delegate, Ronnie R. Campbell (VA-24), and sent January 5, 2021:

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Dear Sir:

This letter is written to you by elected members of the Virginia General Assembly, notifying you that we hereby ask you to nullify the Certificate of Ascertainment of Presidential Electors issued by the governor of our state. Further, we request a stay of designation of any designation of Presidential Electors from our state until such time as a comprehensive forensic audit of the November 3, 2020, election has taken place to determine the actual winner.

The reported vote margin in Virginia between the electoral slates is 451,138 votes. In compliance with the unconstitutional 2020 Special Session legislation SB 5120 (CHAP0001), at least 215,140 ballots were deposited in unsecured "drop boxes" otherwise prohibited in the Commonwealth (39 localities, including some larger ones, were not able to provide actual counts or estimates of "drop box" ballots received).

As members of the state legislature of Virginia, we make the following findings: We find that SB 5120 (CHAP0001), purportedly enacted by our state legislature during the 2020 Special Session, was enacted in violation of the Constitution of Virginia, and thus laws which should have governed the election of Presidential Electors were not followed. SB 5120 was intended to change election laws with an emergency enactment date in violation of the Constitution of Virginia's Article IV, Section 13's requirement that "all laws enacted at a special session, including laws which are enacted by reason of actions taken during the reconvened session following a special session but excluding a general appropriation law, shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month following the month of adjournment of the special session; unless in the case of an emergency (which emergency shall be expressed in the body of the bill) the General Assembly shall specify an earlier date by a vote of four-fifths of the members voting in each house..."

We have received written correspondence from most of the 133 registrars in Virginia. There is a clear consensus among them that the last-minute changes to election law, (which were passed in an unconstitutional act of the Virginia General Assembly), were communicated poorly, required significant additional labor to execute, came with little additional funding, and greatly compromised the ability of registrars to conduct the 2020 election.

We further find that numerous changes to the laws of Virginia enacted in the 2020 session of the Virginia General Assembly led to greatly increased opportunities for massive voter fraud and election fraud. In Virginia, the race for President, the U.S. Senate race, and five Congressional races had their vote tallies shifted by large, late-night reporting from central absentee precincts, which do not provide the data necessary to establish the authenticity and validity of these counts. This is a significant issue which has not arisen in years past, as nearly two-thirds of Virginia's vote was counted in central absentee precincts. This absence of data has made the election impossible to verify. This is a serious concern, as the means, motive, and opportunity for large-scale vote fraud exists in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In the process of investigating the 2020 General Election, many additional serious irregularities have been shown to exist, including improper third-party payments to local governments, late-night ballot counting inconsistent with state guidance, untimely execution of certifications for machine logic and accuracy testing, improper political activities by registrars and at polling locations, and much more.

It is our fervent request that the date of this joint session of Congress be deferred until the completion of the forensic audit of the election.

Should you, as Vice President, announce a winner based on a tally of unconstitutionally and fraudulently elected Presidential Electors, it would create a rent in the fabric of the nation. Our Country is based on the consent of the governed, and if half of the country were to believe that their votes no longer matter, we fear for the consequences for the union.

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Here is the letter I wrote and sent this morning to Delegate Campbell in response:

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Dear Delegate Campbell:

Thank you very much for signing and sending a truthful and informative letter to Vice President Mike Pence on January 5, in which you and fellow delegates briefly summarized many grave problems with the conduct and processing of the 2020 presidential, Senate, and House elections in the Commonwealth of Virginia in violation of our state Constitution, and called upon him to nullify the fraudulent Certificate of Ascertainment of Presidential Electors issued by Governor Ralph Northam.

Like many Virginians and Americans, I have been appalled to witness an increasingly radicalized Democratic Party employ large-scale illegal voter fraud, roll out a highly sophisticated disinformation campaign through traditional and social media, and use corruption, manipulation, intimidation, blackmail, character assassination, and even impeachment to steal federal and state elections from principled Republican candidates and to silence and destroy their opponents in their unbridled greed for power and domination. And like millions of Americans, I was greatly disappointed that the Vice President, instead of upholding the Constitution of the United States in favor of the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, chose to ratify the Electoral College vote of January 6 based on fraudulent ascertainment of presidential electors from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and several other states.

It is painfully obvious to any candid observer that the integrity of our national elections has been compromised on a massive and unprecedented scale in favor of a wholesale takeover of the legislative and executive branches by a thoroughly dishonest and corrupt Democratic Party.

Amid the grave injustice of this dangerous situation for our beloved country, which continues to cry out to Heaven for redress and rectification in spite of all attempts to repress and conceal it, we the people of Virginia and the United States find great consolation in the presence in Richmond and Washington, D.C. of honest, dedicated, and God-fearing Representatives like yourself who still act and govern in accordance with right reason, the common good, and the laws of our state and federal Constitutions.

As you assume the great challenge of carrying out exemplary service to our state and our nation while fighting against the new tyrannical Democratic regime, please be assured of my continued support and prayers.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Justin Soutar

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