Patterico's Pontifications

8/24/2020

Jerry Falwell Resigns From Liberty University (UPDATE ADDED)

Filed under: General — Dana @ 3:24 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Today:

Jerry Falwell Jr. the embattled president of Liberty University and one of the biggest champions of President Donald Trump, has resigned, Religion News Service has learned.

His resignation came within hours of the publication of a news story that alleged he and his wife Becki had a years-long sexual relationship with a business associate.

Falwell had been placed on indefinite leave earlier this month after posting, then deleting, a provocative Instagram photo of him posing with his arm around a woman at a party with their zippers down and midriffs showing.

Following the Instagram post of him with the other woman and their pants unzipped, there was a wide call by former faculty members for him to resign. There had already been a list of complaints against Falwell for offensive comments he had previously made.

Just this morning, a Reuters published a story that Falwell’s wife had been engaged in a years-long affair with one of Falwell’s business partners, and that, according to the business partner, things went south, in part, when he told the couple he wanted cut ties with them and then “fell into a business dispute with them”. It’s a sordid tale of broken vows, kinky sex, and even extortion. From what I’ve read and observed of Falwell over the years, this all seems to fit: a cheap grifter masquerading as an honest broker. Or perhaps to put it in religious terms: a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Given the seedy particulars, I’m not too inclined to write much of a detailed post about the matter, suffice it to say that things fell apart in a spectacular way – as these things tend to do:

…as Reuters was preparing to publish this article, Jerry Falwell issued a statement to the Washington Examiner in which he said that his wife had had an affair with Granda and that Granda had been trying to extort money from the couple over the matter. Granda denies any such intent, saying he was seeking to negotiate a buyout from a business arrangement he says he had with the couple.

Other more recent text messages, such as an exchange from this June that Granda provided to Reuters, show Granda growing angry and frustrated as his relationship with the Falwells frayed.

“Since you’re okay with ruining my life, I am going to take the kamikaze route,” Granda wrote to Jerry Falwell. “It really is a shame because I wanted to reach a peaceful resolution and just move on with our lives but if conflict is what you want, then so be it.”

In the same message string, Falwell replied: “You should by now understand that I will not be extorted. I have always treated you fairly and been restrained in response to your threats because I did not wish to ruin your life. Going forward, stop contacting me and my family.”

Granda said that while he entered into the sexual relationship with the Falwells willingly, today he feels the couple preyed upon him. “Whether it was immaturity, naïveté, instability, or a combination thereof, it was this ‘mindset’ that the Falwells likely detected in deciding that I was the ideal target for their sexual escapades,” Granda said.

The full report leads to some interesting speculation about how Falwell’s support of Trump may have come about:

It raises an important question too about whether or not the Trump campaign used knowledge of the Falwells’ affair to pressure Jerry Jr. to endorse Trump. Former Trump legal fixer Michael Cohen told Tom Arnold that he handled a situation down in Florida in which somebody had some compromising boudoir shots of Becki Falwell that he (Cohen) had to obtain. Funnily enough, right after that, Jerry Jr., who was lined up to endorse Ted Cruz for president, flip-flopped to Trump. Amazing, eh?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Trump campaign “pressured” Falwell into an endorsement for Trump. Because as we’ve witnessed, those in Trump’s orbit – you know, the best and the brightest – often are revealed to be just as corrupt as their boss. Birds of a feather…

One another note: It’s sad to see the implosion of a marriage, even if the people involved are not individuals for whom we hold any respect. Family members and kids will be hurt by this very public moment of destruction. What a reminder to see how easily we can stray from the righteous path before us, and how far off that path we willingly wander. If the Falwells really are the believers they have claimed to be, then they face a more grueling reckoning than losing employment, dignity, self-respect, and the respect of others. Receiving the loving forgiveness of God is one of the most joyous experiences in the Christian’s life. But it doesn’t stop there. True restoration follows repentance, and it includes an incredibly painful and necessary heart surgery by the hand of God in order to bind the self-inflicted wounds, apply the healing salve, and then begin the agonizing journey toward wholeness.

ADDED: Uh-oh:

UPDATE Via Politico:

–Dana

Trump, The RNC, And The Big Week Ahead

Filed under: General — Dana @ 9:17 am



[guest post by Dana]

With the GOP convention beginning today, the RNC has decided to back the Trump agenda of “core priorities” rather than adopting a new platform for 2020. Reports says that the break from tradition is the result of pandemic protocols restricting convention practices.

Here is Trump’s second-term agenda, which the campaign says “build on the incredible achievements of President Donald J. Trump’s first term in office… under the banner of “Fighting for You!” I’m posting the full list of goals:

Create 10 Million New Jobs in 10 Months
• Create 1 Million New Small Businesses
• Cut Taxes to Boost Take-Home Pay and Keep Jobs in America
• Enact Fair Trade Deals that Protect American Jobs
• “Made in America” Tax Credits
• Expand Opportunity Zones
• Continue Deregulatory Agenda for Energy Independence

ERADICATE COVID-19
• Develop a Vaccine by The End Of 2020
• Return to Normal in 2021
• Make All Critical Medicines and Supplies for Healthcare Workers in The United States
• Refill Stockpiles and Prepare for Future Pandemics

END OUR RELIANCE ON CHINA
• Bring Back 1 Million Manufacturing Jobs from China
• Tax Credits for Companies that Bring Back Jobs from China
• Allow 100% Expensing Deductions for Essential Industries like Pharmaceuticals and Robotics who Bring Back their Manufacturing to the United States
• No Federal Contracts for Companies who Outsource to China
• Hold China Fully Accountable for Allowing the Virus to Spread around the World

HEALTHCARE
• Cut Prescription Drug Prices
• Put Patients and Doctors Back in Charge of our Healthcare System
• Lower Healthcare Insurance Premiums
• End Surprise Billing
• Cover All Pre-Existing Conditions
• Protect Social Security and Medicare
• Protect Our Veterans and Provide World-Class Healthcare and Services

EDUCATION
• Provide School Choice to Every Child in America
• Teach American Exceptionalism

DRAIN THE SWAMP
• Pass Congressional Term Limits
• End Bureaucratic Government Bullying of U.S. Citizens and Small Businesses
• Expose Washington’s Money Trail and Delegate Powers Back to People and States
• Drain the Globalist Swamp by Taking on International Organizations That Hurt American Citizens

DEFEND OUR POLICE
• Fully Fund and Hire More Police and Law Enforcement Officers
• Increase Criminal Penalties for Assaults on Law Enforcement Officers
• Prosecute Drive-By Shootings as Acts of Domestic Terrorism
• Bring Violent Extremist Groups Like ANTIFA to Justice
• End Cashless Bail and Keep Dangerous Criminals Locked Up until Trial

END ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND PROTECT AMERICAN WORKERS
• Block Illegal Immigrants from Becoming Eligible for Taxpayer-Funded Welfare, Healthcare, and Free College Tuition
• Mandatory Deportation for Non-Citizen Gang Members
• Dismantle Human Trafficking Networks
• End Sanctuary Cities to Restore our Neighborhoods and Protect our Families
• Prohibit American Companies from Replacing United States Citizens with Lower-Cost Foreign Workers
• Require New Immigrants to Be Able to Support Themselves Financially

INNOVATE FOR THE FUTURE
• Launch Space Force, Establish Permanent Manned Presence on The Moon and Send the First Manned Mission to Mars
• Build the World’s Greatest Infrastructure System
• Win the Race to 5G and Establish a National High-Speed Wireless Internet Network
• Continue to Lead the World in Access to the Cleanest Drinking Water and Cleanest Air
• Partner with Other Nations to Clean Up our Planet’s Oceans

AMERICA FIRST FOREIGN POLICY
• Stop Endless Wars and Bring Our Troops Home
• Get Allies to Pay their Fair Share
• Maintain and Expand America’s Unrivaled Military Strength
• Wipe Out Global Terrorists Who Threaten to Harm Americans
• Build a Great Cybersecurity Defense System and Missile Defense System

In an unusual move, Trump will be speaking every night of the convention to defend himself and push back against the attacks made by Democrats at their convention last week. In another unusual move, the president is scheduled to accept his party’s nomination on Thursday night from the White House. Democrats are complaining about the decision, with Pelosi saying that using the White House for a political event “degrades” it. (It should be noted that Roosevelt accepted his party’s nomination in a televised broadcast from the White House.) There are also concerns that federal employees involved with preparing the President’s speech might be violating the Hatch Act:

Democrats, and even some Republicans, have expressed concerns that federal employees who would be assisting Trump with the speech would essentially be campaigning for the president, a violation of the Hatch Act.

“For the president of the United States to degrade once again the White House, as he has done over and over again, by saying he’s going to completely politicize it, is something that should be rejected right out of hand,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during an interview on MSNBC last week.

In the agency’s [OSC] initial letter, officials wrote that while Trump could deliver the speech from the White House since he is exempt from the Hatch Act, there could be Hatch Act implications “for those employees, depending on their level of involvement with the event and their position in the White House.” In the follow-up letter on Monday, the agency said it is prohibited from issuing advisory opinions on the criminal provisions of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, an apparent response to a question from the committee.

And here’s an interesting tidbit:

Also appearing at the convention this week will be:

Mark and Patricia McCloskey are set to participate in the convention on Monday…The McCloskeys garnered national attention in June for brandishing their guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home in St. Louis…Nick Sandmann, a former student of Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, is also expected to speak Tuesday…the parents of humanitarian aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was killed by ISIS in 2015; as well as Alice Johnson, a woman who was serving life in prison until Trump commuted her sentence…

In spite of all this, I am reminded:

–Dana


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