The Bible provides readers with glimpses into the personalities of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles‚ but little is know about the details of their lives. That can be both a challenge and creative opportunity for the actors and writers on the set of the hit series “The Chosen.”  “We know he’s known as ‘Doubting Thomas‚’” says Joey Vahedi‚ the actor who plays Thomas on the multiseason series. But the question that Vahedi says he has the opportunity to answer is “why is [Thomas] that person?”  The writers of the show‚ Vahedi says‚ “take such great liberty with bringing this human perspective to all the characters‚ because we got to remember they’re not saints yet.”  The character of Thomas is significantly developed in the first three episodes of season four of “The Chosen‚” which are in theaters now.  Season four picks up right where season three left off‚ and “I think you get to see a much‚ much sweeter and kinder side to Thomas‚” Vahedi says. “He’s out of his shell‚ finally feels comfortable. He’s ready. And on the flip side of that‚ Jesus’ message is getting so much more radical‚ to the point where it is dangerous for everybody now.” Even outside of the Apostles‚ the latest season of “The Chosen” shows how the message of Jesus is affecting everyone who hears it.  Kirk B. Woller‚ who plays the role of the Roman soldier Gaius‚ says his character is “toying with” the message he’s hearing Jesus speak.  “There’s just great responsibility to me in all of this” to portray his character accurately‚ Woller said. Woller and Vahedi join “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share their own stories of how they became a part of “The Chosen” cast‚ and the hardest and most rewarding parts of playing their roles as they develop further in the new season.  Listen to the podcast below:  Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Actors on ‘The Chosen’ Explain Joys‚ Challenges of Portraying Biblical Characters on the Big Screen appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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On the one hand‚ Donald Trump‚ the former and perhaps future president of the United States‚ seems uniquely hapless. He lost an election unlike any other before — one in which insecure mail-in balloting proliferated‚ many states made constitutionally dubious changes to their voting procedures‚ and Big Tech put a decisive and perhaps outcome-altering thumb on the scale. Even worse‚ Trump last year became the first former president to be criminally indicted — four separate times. Tough luck‚ for sure. But on the other hand‚ there is one thing that should provide no small amount of solace to Trump and his many supporters. As we are seeing unfold across the country in real time‚ Trump is truly blessed with the best enemies. For all of Trump’s bad luck‚ he is also aided right now by some very‚ very good luck. Consider some of the current biggest enemies of Trump‚ as he marches through the Republican presidential primary and looks toward a general election rematch with President Joe Biden. First‚ there is Biden himself. The nominal president of the United States is an indescribable embarrassment to the nation — physically corpse-like‚ palpably senile‚ chronically misinformed‚ utterly lacking in judgment‚ and generally clueless as to where he is and what words emanate from his mouth. He is a disgrace to his office‚ and it is a shocking public disservice that his wife and handlers even permit him to seek reelection in such a debilitated state. Special counsel Robert Hur’s report filed last week‚ in which he explained that one reason he is not recommending criminal charges against Biden is because he is mentally unfit to stand trial‚ is an astonishing open admission of the harrowing reality Democratic Party elites have frantically tried to hide. Second‚ there is former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley‚ Trump’s final competitor in the Republican presidential primary. Haley is the very embodiment of all that was wrong with the pre-Trump GOP: She is a laissez-faire fundamentalist out of touch with Republican voters’ concerns and priorities‚ a strident neoconservative personally corrupted by the military-industrial complex (viz.‚ Boeing)‚ an enthusiast for mass immigration who is guided not by voters’ clearly expressed desire to close the border but by corporations’ desire to keep it open‚ and a coward when it comes to the righteous prosecution of the culture war against the forces of civilizational arson. Haley’s caricaturable nature makes her a perfect foil for Trump. Third‚ there is Alvin Bragg‚ the Soros-funded lawyer in New York City now prosecuting Trump on the laughable grounds that “hush money” payments ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election amounted to falsified business records in furtherance of … well‚ something. Bragg’s indictment never actually stipulates what the records were falsified in furtherance of — and Bragg needs an additional crime in order to 1) overcome the falsified recording crime’s three-year statute of limitations and to 2) enhance to a felony what would otherwise be a mere misdemeanor. Bragg’s is a remarkably frivolous case‚ and the fact that this is how he expends prosecutorial resources in a metropolis now in the throes of a generational crime epidemic makes him another ideal foe for Trump. Finally‚ there is Fulton County‚ Georgia‚ District Attorney Fani Willis‚ whose courtroom meltdown this week‚ and the likelihood that she lied in court about the timing of her extramarital affair with her own appointed special prosecutor‚ has crystallized what already seemed likely: The Georgia prosecution‚ which once seemed the most dangerous of Trump’s four criminal cases‚ is imploding. Willis came across as highly unprofessional during Thursday’s hearing on her possible disqualification from the case. She snapped at Trump’s attorneys‚ and she was warned numerous times by the presiding judge. At this point‚ Trump’s Georgia case is not reaching a verdict before the election; the only questions are whether a trial commences at all‚ and whether Willis ends up being the one to go to jail instead of Trump or his codefendants. It is often said that it is better to be lucky than good. Donald Trump could still be derailed by special counsel Jack Smith’s federal probe in Washington‚ D.C‚ and he is about to get smacked by an unjust verdict in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case. But everywhere else Trump looks‚ Lady Luck seems to be shining. To find out more about Josh Hammer and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists‚ visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM READ MORE: What Exactly Is Meant by ‘America First’? The post Donald Trump Is Blessed With the Very Best Enemies appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

You will likely hear little to nothing about the trans shooter with “Palestine” scrawled across her gun who opened fire in Joel Osteen’s megachurch in suburban Houston. That’s because the shooting fits none of the narratives the Left wants us to believe about guns and gender dysphoria. On today’s episode of The Spectacle‚ hosts Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay are here to talk about this latest instance of violent lefties and about the broader issue of violence and mental illness on the left. They point out not only that the Lakewood shooting was perpetrated by someone with a long criminal history and with gender dysphoria‚ but that the shooter was ultimately stopped by good guys with guns. (READ MORE: Hurry Up and Wait: Why Cops Freeze and Kids Die) Tune in to hear the story! Order Scott’s new book‚ Racism‚ Revenge and Ruin: It’s All Obama‚ here. Read Scott’s and Melissa’s writing here and here. Listen to The Spectacle with Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay on Spotify. Watch The Spectacle with Melissa Mackenzie and Scott McKay on Rumble.  The post <;i>;The Spectacle<;/i>; Ep. 71: It’s Time to Talk About Violence on the Left appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Former President Donald Trump has made news by criticizing NATO members for not paying their NATO dues. Newsweek reported Trump’s latest remarks to an anonymous leader of a presumably NATO country this way: The Republican presidential nominee frontrunner said the anonymous leader had asked whether the U.S. would protect the NATO nation‚ if Russia attacked. “I said‚ ‘You didn’t pay‚ you’re delinquent?’” Trump told the crowd on Saturday. “In fact‚ I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.” For speaking the obvious if blunt truth that NATO members should pay their NATO bills‚ all manner of foreign policy elites have dumped on Trump. But wait. Let’s recall a little NATO history. In fact‚ Trump’s views on NATO not paying its bills exactly echo the views of‚ yes‚ in fact‚ no less than President Dwight D. Eisenhower. READ MORE from Jeffrey Lord: BREAKING: Biden Pal Bobulinski New Testimony to House Committees NATO was founded in 1949 as a collective security system‚ with then-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed as the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR)‚ making him‚ in effect‚ NATO’s first leader. Eisenhower served until the British Lord Ismay was appointed NATO’s first secretary general in April of 1952. And‚ of course‚ Ike himself was elected U.S. president in November of 1952. With Trump’s critics freaking out over his criticism of NATO‚ it is worth remembering that Trump is not the first president to do so. He is following in Eisenhower’s footsteps. No less than Gen. and later U.S. President Eisenhower was not shy about criticizing the alliance for not paying its bills. Indeed‚ as president‚ Eisenhower would express his dissatisfaction to his secretary of defense‚ one Charles Wilson‚ becoming very unhappy when word of his NATO criticisms became public. In the second of his two seriously detailed Eisenhower biographies‚ Eisenhower: The President‚ historian Stephen Ambrose writes this of Eisenhower’s views on NATO (with bold print for emphasis supplied): The level of post-Korea defense spending continued to be a problem. In October‚ to Eisenhower’s great irritation‚ Wilson leaked to the press the Administration’s plans to sharply reduce personnel. The Europeans‚ fearing reduction in American combat strength in NATO‚ immediately protested to [Gen. Alfred] Gruenther [who had risen to the position of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe]‚ who passed along their alarm to Eisenhower. In response Eisenhower began by complaining about Wilson‚ saying that “some people have more trouble in controlling their tongues than they do their wives.” But he also told Gruenther to remind his European friends that the stationing of American troops in Europe was always intended to be on a “temporary or emergency” basis. When Eisenhower was SACEUR he had frequently expressed the hope that American boys could go home in three or four years. Now he reminded Gruenther that the United States could neither build nor afford to maintain “a sort of Roman Wall to protect the world.” He also worried about the troops themselves; how long‚ he wondered‚ before European gratitude for their presence would turn to hostility toward foreign troops on their soil. When Gruenther passed along some more European criticism‚ Eisenhower began to lose his temper. “I get weary of the European habit of taking our money‚” the President wrote‚ “resenting any slight hint as to what they should do‚ and then assuming‚ in addition‚ full right to criticize us as bitterly as they may desire. In fact‚ it sometimes appears that their indulgence in this kind of criticism varies in direct ratio to the amount of help we give them.” In fact‚ the whole thing made him mad as hell‚ and “makes me wonder whether the Europeans are as grown up and mature as they try to make it appear.” Ambrose also writes: The Europeans‚ meanwhile‚ were telling [Eisenhower Secretary of State John Foster] Dulles — and Eisenhower’s special representative to NATO‚ William Draper — that they could not afford to spend any more on defense…. Thus early patterns were established. Eisenhower was determined to force the Europeans to spend more on defense‚ and to achieve political and military unity. Bottom line? Clearly former President Trump’s critics of his views on NATO paying its share of the bills are utterly unaware that Trump is‚ in fact‚ following exactly the thinking of NATO founding Gen. and later U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. That would be the same Eisenhower rated today as a great president. With reason. The post Trump: The New Eisenhower on NATO appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

“Hell is Empty and the Devils are All Here”. William Shakespeare‚ “The Tempest”‚ 1623  “By now‚ it should be clear to all of us what is being gradually and‚ in many ways‚ imperceptibly […]

In 2014‚ William E. Simpson moved to a remote hillside near Yreka‚ California‚ close to the California-Oregon border. He was trying to get away from his previous buzzing internet business‚ seeking isolation in nature. It didn’t take him long to notice that he wasn’t alone: He was sharing the hills surrounding his humble cabin at the edge of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument with bobcats‚ coyotes‚ elk‚ mountain lions‚ wolves‚ bears and more than 120 wild horses. At first‚ the horses kept their distance‚ just like all the other wild animals.  But eventually‚ a skinny‚ pregnant white mare with a foal in tow approached him. Simpson had once studied veterinary medicine‚ and his training kicked in. “I thought she was probably suffering from parasite overload and fed her some oats with an anti-parasite I had on hand‚” he recalls. A few days later‚ the mare brought her entire family. Over the years‚ the horses have come to him with injuries‚ such as cuts from the barbed wire abandoned farms had left behind or gashes from mountain lion attacks. William E. Simpson has become closely acquainted with the horses that roam the land surrounding his cabin. Credit: Michelle Gough “It’s all voluntary‚” Simpson says. “They are wild. You can’t put a halter or anything over their head. They just come and present their injuries. Some let you do more than others.” When the 38‚000-acre Klamathon fire tore through the hillsides in 2018‚ he had an “aha” moment. He and his wife Laura defied evacuation orders and helped the firefighters navigate the remote dirt roads. They stayed to defend their small ranch‚ but also to watch the horses. “I wanted to see how the horses reacted to the fire‚” Simpson says. “Would they panic? Run the opposite direction and get entangled? Nobody had ever really done a study about that.” The horses remained calm and kept grazing. “They are used to fires‚” Simpson realized. “They have been here for two million years.” He now attributes the fact that his cabin and the surrounding hills were largely spared by the fire to the horses. “Each wild horse consumes about 30 pounds of grass and brush a day‚” Simpson has observed. “They reduce the wildfire fuel‚ keeping the wildfire risks at bay.” The post Could Wild Horses Help Fight Wildfires? appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.