Editor's Note: From the Back Forty is Liberty Nation's longest running and most popular weekly column.
Heartlanders took a pause from discussing which side of two wars the US government is supporting, pivoting to praise an ex-con in Texas and talk turkey about Trump. But it was a brief moment in time that had tongues wagging and short videos rolling across social media platforms about Antony Blinken. As Doris Troy crooned in 1963, "Just one look is all it took" to read one man's frustrations in his high-value job.
Teflon Trump?
Judge Sarah Wallace had to hold her nose and dismiss a lawsuit that would prohibit Donald J. Trump from appearing on the presidential ballots in Colorado. Using the US Constitution's 14th Amendment, unwisely, the petitioners claimed Trump was forever banned from holding a federal office because he "engaged in insurrection."
The Trump defense team argued he did not. Specifically, "Trump's comments did not come close to 'incitement,' let alone 'engagement' in an insurrection." They also reminded the court that questions about election results were his God-given right as an American under that inconvenient First Amendment.
"Democrats are proving they're scared to death Trump will win the election," was Chad Campbell's observation from the battleground state of Michigan.
Also noteworthy is the fact Trump has not been convicted of insurrection and was, in fact, acquitted by the US Senate. And that makes Lori Love in Chicago happy as a lark: "That's my president!"
An Unsuspecting Hero
Ex-con John Lally believes that God placed him in the right place at the right time: on a Houston freeway during a shootout. Officer John Gibson and a few of Houston's finest had pulled over an allegedly stolen car after giving chase. As Gibson approached the vehicle, the suspected car thief shot him in the leg. Well, that stopped the traffic on Highway 59 at Chimney Rock.
Gibson went down, and as some say God planned, John Lally didn't hesitate and ran to the fallen officer.
Karen Araguz, in Atascosa, TX, was feeling the love. "There is a country song with lyrics' My dad was an angel with no halo and one wing in the fire.' That's how I feel about this hero."
He and another policeman drug Gibson away from the fire and to safety. Lally kept the injured officer talking and held his hand until paramedics arrived. "I'm here with you! Everybody has a purpose on this earth. It was my calling to be with you here today."
"God uses everyone for a reason," said Tina Marie Potter of Mayfield, KY. "Bless this man for changing his life to save a life. God is so good."
Death by a Thousand Cuts
(Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The sordid history of Chinese torture was evident on the face of Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Q&A session after the president met with Xi Jinping this past week. Caught on several "always watching," cameras, Blinken nearly shuddered with an eye-roll strong enough to cause temporary blindness as the Big Guy answered questions at a news conference in San Francisco after a private sit-down with the dictator. One brave soul asked if, after the love session with Jinping, the president stood by his June assessment that the guy is a dictator. "He's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," said Biden, making the short declarative answer of "yes" into a confusing, long-winded reply.
Had Biden just said yes and moved on, Blinken may not have been busted with the now-famous grimace and teeth-sucking response. Poor Blinken had just declared that "China is one of the most consequential relationships we have." That got a chuckle from Steve MacIntosh at the Foxhole Pub in Indiana, who said, "I think his soul was just crushed right before our eyes."
