It had to be released! The post The Genesis song that was released by force: “I had to threaten them” first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

I’ll start with an apology to those of you who crave Five Quick Things columns in this space on Fridays. I was planning on a 5QT, but that plan didn’t survive contact with the enemy. Because after the 12th vote in the Senate by which Democrats filibustered a continuing resolution that would have funded the federal government until such time as the 12 appropriations bills could be passed, which was expected to be around a month from now, the minority party also filibustered a bill that would have paid our troops, border patrol, air traffic control and airport security people, and other essential workers who are due to begin skipping paychecks on Nov. 1. Asked about the continued shutdown fight and rumblings among some of the weaklings in the GOP caucus that they would be willing to support a cave-in to Democrat demands for Obamacare subsidies in return for an abandonment of the filibuster, Johnson rejected any suggestion of compromise. (RELATED: Subtext to Shutdown: Unaffordable Healthcare) “No, we’re not going to allow Chuck Schumer to play selfish political games and hold the American people hostage,” said Johnson. “We will not negotiate with legislative terrorists.” That was on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Democrats’ House minority leader, Hakeem “Temu Obama” Jeffries, decided to offer up some of the most ridiculous projectionism anybody’s ever seen. Jeffries on Mike Johnson likening Democrats to terrorists: “That type of language is reckless, irresponsible, and it’s gonna get someone killed.” pic.twitter.com/ph1r2h24WM — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2025 This, after his party has spent well more than a year openly normalizing political violence and actually getting people killed. I’m so old that I remember Joe Biden calling Republicans “terrorists” during the 2021 shutdown. And Biden didn’t have the ammunition for his rhetoric that Johnson does, given that the Democrats’ minority whip was on TV this week, celebrating the suffering of those affected by the shutdown, given the “leverage” she thinks they gain from it. I’ve said that most of the country really doesn’t care about the shutdown. So far, the Trump administration has done an objectively excellent job of insulating the American people from its effects. This isn’t like previous shutdowns during the Obama or Biden years, when the executive branch went out of its way to maximize the effects, like essentially imprisoning tourists in national parks or actively walling off open-air monuments. The American Spectator crew congregated in Washington last week for our annual gala at the National Press Club, and we didn’t see much evidence of a shutdown at all. (RELATED: ‘Old Fart’ Thinking Is Too Much in Our Way) But next month that’s not going to be the case. Starting on Nov. 1, for example, SNAP benefits will freeze up, and that’ll mean people on food stamps are going to feel the pinch. In a very optimistic scenario, assuming the shutdown continues, the desperation that will quickly ensue when those EBT cards aren’t loaded with money will lead to something we’ve needed to do in this country for a long time, which is to start openly dissuading people from depending on a fiscally incontinent federal government with spiraling debt for basic sustenance. If you’re on food stamps, it’s in your best interest to get off — not just because there might be a government shutdown which interrupts the dole, but because it’s a crutch. (RELATED: How Did We Reach a $38 Trillion Debt During a ‘Shutdown’?) And it isn’t currently designed — as it’s supposed to have been — as a temporary helping hand. It’s designed to keep you dependent. There are other food assistance programs, particularly those run by churches and charitable groups, which lean in to help people who are food insecure stand on their own two feet. Not to mention the fact that the SNAP program is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic, which disproportionately affects poor people in this country. For that reason alone, we need to impose major changes on it, and in some states, there will be just such reforms — like banning candy and sugary drinks and emphasizing less-poisonous food for people our tax dollars pay to sustain. (RELATED: Are Sugary Sodas Going to Disappear Under RFK Jr.’s Healthy Food Campaign?) Go to a supermarket and get in a checkout line behind somebody with an EBT card, and you will invariably recognize the value in those changes. (RELATED: Three More States Join MAHA by Banning Candy and Soda From SNAP) Republicans in Congress need to remember that almost nobody on the SNAP program votes for them — and the tiny trickle of people who do are far more likely to change their lifestyle behavior to reduce their government dependence than to change their voting behavior if a prolonged shutdown interrupts those benefits. So the Democrats are inflicting pain on their own voters as a means of trying to radicalize them against the GOP. So the Democrats are inflicting pain on their own voters as a means of trying to radicalize them against the GOP. Bold strategy, Cotton. Ditto for federal employees, or at least the bureaucrats furloughed or RIF’ed as nonessential during the shutdown. Most are Democrats. Except for the troops and the LEOs. There are rumblings that President Trump is going to order the Treasury to pay the LEO and security people regardless of whether a bill or a continuing resolution provides funding for doing so. He’s already announced he’s using tariff revenue to massage the effects of the shutdown, so this could be an extension of that. There is a fair degree of hesitation one should have about this, as it’s an example of severing Congress’s purse strings and therefore altering our constitutional system of checks and balances. But if Chuck Schumer insists on breaking that system by keeping the government closed and thus starving out our military, ICE officers, border patrol and air traffic controllers, all because he’s scared of what New York City’s massive foreign-born Communist population will do to his re-election if he doesn’t, then we’re in something akin to a soft civil war scenario. Just as Lincoln suspended habeas corpus maybe Trump might need to suspend the appropriations process until things are put right. What can’t happen is Republicans going wobbly on the shutdown. What also can’t happen is Republicans tanking the filibuster. The filibuster is certainly a royal pain in the ass, particularly in a day and age when there are practically zero Democrats willing to cross the aisle to allow a final vote even on federal funding levels they’ve already approved in the past, but eliminating it just to avoid the momentary pain of a shutdown has to be a nonstarter. Under no circumstances should we play around with the idea that 50 votes plus a vice president is enough to pass major legislation through the Senate — at that point, we’re a lot less of a republic than we are even now. Solving this problem by taking on that one is a very bad trade. No. The Dems are going to have to buckle. They’re going to have to surrender. The rest of us will have to do what we can to minimize what’s coming — whether that means donating to the local food bank, volunteering in our communities, giving to legitimate charities, or whatever — so that we can win this. Those efforts might actually strengthen our communities in ways we’ve allowed to deteriorate with all this federal government dependence, you know. But what can’t happen is that Chuck Schumer, Temu Obama, and Krazy Katherine Clark get proven right when they spew about how they’ve got “leverage” by making people suffer who are mostly their voters. Johnson has performed beautifully during this shutdown. He’s beaten the Democrats again and again in the rhetorical fight. It’s been almost Churchillian, with the caveat that for most of us, the shutdown is absolutely not akin to the Blitz. But he’s only got 218 votes to work with. And that means his caucus has to stay strong, as off-brand for the GOP as that might be. I’ll even give credit to John Thune on the Senate side, as he’s held his caucus together quite well over the past 23 days. I don’t know if I would have bet on that. There are probably more Republican squishes in the Senate than there are in the House, out of essentially a quarter as many caucus members. Perhaps these guys recognize just how insane the Democrats are, and how backed up against a wall our country is, with $38 trillion in debt and a balanced budget nowhere in sight, and a manifest need to stop funding our own destruction with social services doled out to illegal aliens and willingly unproductive American citizens. I hope that’s true. It’s certainly a recognition that a majority of Americans share, and my sense is that the majority will reward Republicans in the coming election cycle if they stand strong. Johnson is the essential man here, though. If he remains iron, this fight will be won. The Democrats can’t count on their old tricks anymore. Nobody cares what NBC News says in pumping out leftist propaganda about the shutdown, and the GOP voting base isn’t going to be undermined by performative abuses as it was when Team Obama was in the White House. They will fold. And when they do, perhaps we can finally get to the point where a Republican majority begins training Temu Obama and whoever will take over for Schumer after the Left he’s been pandering to finally eats him in the finer points of legislation, minority-style. Meaning that if you want something from the majority, you’d better be prepared to bring something to the table. They don’t currently have that understanding. All they know is name-calling and pressure tactics. And this shutdown is a very good crucible in which to break them of that knowledge. READ MORE from Scott McKay: America’s Progressive Descent Into Psychosis ‘Old Fart’ Thinking Is Too Much in Our Way Feminism, the Nose-Ring Theory, and Our Potential Extinction

After Planned Parenthood shut down its abortion clinic in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula this April, owing to the Trump administration’s funding cuts, the peninsula was left without an abortion clinic. That is, until an urgent care clinic, Marquette Medical Urgent Care, began offering abortions. This is highly unusual. Abortions in the U.S., for the most part, take place at clinics that exist primarily for abortions, or, increasingly, at home with pills that are mailed there. Health clinics used for the general population are not typically also centers for child killing. (RELATED: How Trump 2.0 Can Get Back to Trump 1.0 on the Abortion Pill) The woman who is “director of abortion services” at the urgent care, Viktoria Koskenoja, says that this is the only urgent care in the U.S. where abortions are offered. “As far as we know,” she told Michigan Public, “we are the only urgent care in the country offering medication abortions as a service.” There is something particularly disturbing about this new model of killing paired with genuine health care. There is something particularly disturbing about this new model of killing paired with genuine health care. The kids treated at the clinic are given medical help, even as the babies treated at the clinic are given death. The health care lends a certain legitimacy to the abortions — and that’s something Koskenoja is upfront about. “People are in the waiting room with broken ankles, sore throats, rashes, and tick bites,” she said. “Not like, ‘Oh, you have to go to the bad place where people do abortions, because that’s where you have to get this done, because it’s something that’s not part of real health care.’” Worryingly, the clinic has received grant funding for this project with the goal to “create a standard of practice, so that urgent cares can recreate this model nationwide,” said Shawn Brown, the clinic’s medical director and owner. In one sense, the urgent care’s abortion “services” verify the dangers put on women’s health by the growing movement to dispense abortion pills virtually. This point was made, albeit indirectly, by Koskenoja. She explained that some women need to receive in-person medical consultation during an abortion in order to ensure their own safety. Virtual care isn’t an option, she said, for those who need ultrasounds to determine the stage of their pregnancies. (RELATED: When the Abortion Lobby Cries Wolf, They Might Just Summon One) It is extremely dangerous for women’s health and safety (never mind that of their children) for an abortion pill to be taken after the FDA-recommended 10th week of gestation. The child’s body parts could remain in the woman’s uterus, she could get an infection, or she could experience heavy bleeding. Yet women are increasingly just telling their abortion provider how many weeks pregnant they are in order to receive abortion pills. They can easily lie about how far along they are to get the pills, even as the dangers to their own life increase with each week of pregnancy. (RELATED: ‘Dr. Maggie,’ Notorious Abortionist) Also, in the case that a pregnancy is ectopic, which accounts for 2 percent of pregnancies, a woman can face grave dangers to her own life, and taking an abortion pill will delay her from receiving (actual) care and mask the symptoms. In all abortions until recently, an ultrasound was used to verify how developed a child was and to make sure a pregnancy wasn’t ectopic prior to the attempted killing. Koskenoja asserted, “The most important thing that we felt we needed to replace immediately, was access to in-person abortion services.” Yet abortion activists across the country are constantly claiming that it is wholly unnecessary for a woman to receive in-person care, and that pills prescribed virtually are all that is needed. This clinic is unusual not just for dealing death alongside healing scrapes. It also, according to Michigan Public, provides Reiki therapy. For the happily uninitiated, this is a pseudoscientific practice that claims to transfer “universal life force” from a practitioner’s hands to their patient’s “chakras.” In other words, the “health” clinic dispensing death is also peddling occult, fraudulent healing practices. Who would have thought? And that’s not to mention the ketamine infusions. ***** People are apparently highly motivated to increase abortions in the Upper Peninsula because a new ad campaign was just announced to encourage women in the U.P. to obtain abortion pills in advance so that, in the case they get pregnant, they are ready to kill their children at a moment’s notice. The two advertisements will air on television across the Upper Peninsula between October and November of this year. One of the ads features a teenage girl who takes abortion pills and is supported by her friends as she bleeds and cramps. Another shows an overwhelmed single mother with two other children who finds hope and happiness by taking the pill and avoiding having to give birth to her child. They are, to put it simply, incredibly disturbing. Accompanying the ads, which were created by Detroit filmmaker Na Forest Lim, will be a billboard outside Marquette encouraging women to get abortion pills virtually. Evidently, abortion activists are dead-set on doing everything they can to increase abortions, especially in rural areas like the U.P. But this new tactic — providing abortions as a normal part of health care that can be received at a doctor’s office — presents especially concerning possibilities. Possible methods for stopping this new tactic would be for conservatives to refuse to receive treatment at such clinics, as well as for funding for these clinics to be stopped. But perhaps no conservatives were going to this Reiki-providing clinic to begin with, and the grant money from an abortion fund is hard to stop. READ MORE from Ellie Gardey Holmes: Praise God for Glenn Youngkin Whitmer Says America Is Ready for a Female President Oberlin Students Revive Criminal Anti-Israel Protests, Police Respond

U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday, October 22, and held a press conference at the new international Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in the southern city of Kiryat Gat. Vance reiterated the White House’s commitment to the current ceasefire framework and outlined a three-step plan to recover the remains of hostages still in Gaza, the creation of an international stabilizing force, and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Within the concrete walls of the CMCC’s industrial complex, military personnel from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Jordan, and the UAE work in coordination with Israel to implement this mission under the direction of Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and the military oversight of U.S. Central Command Chief Admiral Brad Cooper. (RELATED: Trump in Jerusalem) The foreign military presence in Kiryat Gat is by Israel’s invitation. During a later meeting in Jerusalem, Vance emphasized that no foreign military will be forced on Israel against its will, and, contrary to circulating headlines, Israel is by no means a “client state” of the U.S. while implementing President Donald Trump’s peace plan. (RELATED: The Trump Peace Plan: Promise, Pause, or Illusion) Hamas has repeatedly violated the ceasefire terms, and Israel alone seems to be the only party taking corrective measures beyond floating a “tough talk” rhetoric. The optimistic foresight over the CMCC’s three-step plan, however, ignores the fact that in just over one week, Hamas has repeatedly violated the ceasefire terms, and Israel alone seems to be the only party taking corrective measures beyond floating a “tough talk” rhetoric. (RELATED: Surprise! Hamas Has Already Doomed Peace) On Tuesday, Trump urged Israel to refrain from using “heavy force” on Hamas in the hope that the terrorist group “will do what is right,” meaning, abide by the ceasefire terms they’ve signed. “If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL.” While banners thanking Trump for brokering the hostage release deal last week still flutter from Jerusalem high-rises, the saying “Trump blathers” has gained new credence in Israel as many have lost faith in Trump’s “tough talk” rhetoric over Hamas, having seen little to no action backing up his promises to “unleash hell” on or “destroy” the terrorist group. So far, Israel — the only member of the CMCC coalition with real skin in the game — has been the only regional player risking everything to keep terrorist violations from Gaza to Beirut at bay. Although the 20 living hostages were returned to Israel on Oct. 10, Hamas has blatantly failed to uphold the other stipulations required of them in “Phase One” of Trump’s peace plan. Israel is still waiting to receive the remains of thirteen dead hostages still in Gaza and claims that Hamas is intentionally withholding them for negotiating leverage. (RELATED: The Failing Cease-Fire) Hamas has also blatantly refused to disarm. Although this was never stipulated in the “Phase One” hostage exchange, it is the singular hurdle preventing the rest of Trump’s peace plan from moving forward. Since the ceasefire last week, Hamas has been systematically eliminating potential political and military opposition among the Palestinian population in Gaza through barbaric street executions that have passed largely unreported in world headlines. Fatal clashes also broke out between the terrorist group and the Israel Defense Force (IDF) over the weekend. IDF forces operating east of the Yellow Line, as per the ceasefire deal, came under RPG fire and sniper attacks from several terrorists who emerged from a tunnel. Similar clashes were reported east of Rafah and in Khan Younis and Nuseirat. Israel responded with extensive airstrikes and artillery shelling to destroy the tunnel openings and buildings where terrorists were located. In one video released by the IDF, several armed terrorists were eliminated by an IDF drone as they crossed the Yellow Line and advanced towards IDF troops near Beit Lahiya. Over 20 Hamas targets were hit by the IDF on Sunday afternoon. Hamas denied any involvement. “We have no connection to any events taking place in those areas and cannot communicate with any of our fighters there,” the group’s military wing stated. Hamas’s blatant violations of last week’s ceasefire-hostage exchange stem from the fact that the group’s leadership does not look at Trump’s peace plan as a comprehensive package but as separate, disconnected agreements. For Hamas, the exchange of 20 living Israeli hostages for over 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners last week was not contingent on any other points in Trump’s plan — especially the point to give up its political and military authority. Hamas is strategically violating the ceasefire terms to prolong the peace process and retain as much power and leverage to ensure a place at the negotiating table for Gaza’s future. Although Trump’s gracious hand of leniency — hoping that Hamas “will do what is right” — is admirable, it also costs lives, especially when there is a lack of understanding of who your enemy is. The regime in Tehran and the terrorist organizations in Lebanon, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Yemen have no intention of playing by the rules, even when they have given their word or signed on the dotted line of a ceasefire deal. This was first witnessed last June. Two hours after Trump had announced the ceasefire ending the so-called 12-Day War, Iran violated the terms by launching a massive missile barrage against Israel that killed a family in the southern city of Be’er Sheva. The belligerents in Tehran received no retribution, and it was Netanyahu whom Trump berated for jeopardizing the ceasefire by launching a counterstrike. According to Itamar Eichner at Ynet, “The Americans, now firmly in charge [in Kiryat Gat], want to know everything happening in Gaza … with their own intelligence network, they often instruct IDF to cancel operations they view as endangering the cease-fire.” Two IDF soldiers were killed over the weekend as a result of Hamas’s ceasefire violations. The CMCC team and their American leaders need to come to grips with the fact that the only endangerment to the ceasefire is players who blatantly violate and reject the terms, not those who risk their lives to enforce them. Otherwise, CMCC runs the risk of becoming another UNIFIL and UNWRA — an international observation coalition that remains on the sidelines when action against terrorism is needed and makes allowances for treaty violations. READ MORE from Bennett Tucker: Trump in Jerusalem Real Peace in Israel Lies Beyond the Two-State Solution Israel Faces Increasing International Isolation Amid European Delusion

by Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project: (The Last American Vagabond) Despite their stark differences, both partisan reactions stemmed from deeply held beliefs expressed with intense emotion. Many of these beliefs concerned the biggest threats facing the United States. The mainstream right-wing reaction generally reflected a narrative familiar to their worldview: the evil left killed Charlie […]

by Mac Slavo, SHTF Plan: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to disarm the terrorist group Hamas and demilitarize Gaza. Netanyahu made the comments during a speech before the Knesset on Monday, as Palestinian officials arrived in Cairo for further peace negotiations. The Israeli ruler added that he expected to forge additional peace agreements […]

Kenny and Dierks are bringing a country soundtrack to College GameDay this weekend — and Nashville fans are ready for it. Continue reading…

Mamdani is making promises he has no intention of keeping

Custom dreams do come true. ?