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Rod D. Martin

@RodDMartin

Jul 24

🧵Russia is running out of fuel. Crimea is running out of time.

Ukrainian drones have now knocked out more than half of Russia’s refining capacity. Omsk — the largest refinery, once considered unreachable — is offline.

Putin’s war machine is being starved of usable fuel. 🧵

2/ By mid-July, unplanned outages and attacked capacity reached ~4.3 million barrels per day — roughly 58% of Russia’s total refining capacity.

Actual crude processing has fallen to about 3.8 million barrels per day, the lowest level in 21 years.

Russia still has oil. It is rapidly losing the ability to turn that oil into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.

3/ Ukraine is not playing whack-a-mole. It is systematically dismantling the network.

Repeated strikes on the same plants extend outages for months. Russia patches one unit; Ukraine hits another.

Even Siberia is no longer safe. Drones flew 1,700 miles to hit Omsk.

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Rod D. Martin

@RodDMartin

Jul 5

🧵Was the American Revolution sinful?

Many Christians wrestle with Romans 13 (“obey the authorities”) and wonder if the Founding Fathers rebelled against God when they broke with King George.

The answer is no — and here’s why. 🧵

2/ Romans 13 requires obedience to lawful commands.

Unlawful orders — even from duly constituted authority — may never be followed.

In Acts 5, the Sanhedrin ordered the apostles to stop preaching Christ. Their reply: “We must obey God rather than men.”

The same principle applies when a king commands tyranny.

3/ Anglo-American government is, and certainly then, was by covenant, and after the upheavals of the 17th century was well understood to be so.

The colonies were in covenant with the King, not subject to absolute rule by Parliament in London. Their people had the same rights as any other Englishmen.

When King George allowed Parliament to impose taxes without representation, quartering of troops, blockades, and other abuses, he broke that covenant.

Read 7 tweets

Rod D. Martin

@RodDMartin

Jul 4

🧵The Declaration of Independence is one of the most Christian documents in human history.

Its famous line — “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” — is widely thought to be secular Enlightenment philosophy.

But that's only half true. It actually reflects a deeply Biblical worldview.

Here’s why. 🧵

2/ The founders asserted these rights as “self-evident” and “endowed by their Creator.”

They saw rights as prior to government — not granted by it.

If rights come from God, no government can legitimately take them away.

Senator Tim Kaine’s recent claim that rights come from government is the precisely opposite Marxist view — and antithetical to the American idea.

3/ “All men are created equal.”

This is a restatement of a key component of the Gospel: in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free.

The founders rejected hierarchies of birth or caste. They saw human dignity as rooted in being made in God’s image.

Read 7 tweets

Rod D. Martin

@RodDMartin

Jul 3

Five myths about America’s Founding Fathers.

Much of what we’re taught about the men who created the Declaration, the Revolution, and the Constitution is simply wrong.

Here are the biggest ones. 🧵

2/ Myth 1: They wanted a secular nation.

The founders saw religion and morality as essential supports for liberty.

Jefferson asked if liberties could be secure without “a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God.”

Washington and Hamilton agreed: religion and morality are indispensable.

They demanded tolerance, not secularism.

3/ Myth 2: They unanimously supported the Revolutionary War.

Even on July 1, 1776, John Dickinson argued against independence, hoping for reconciliation.

New York’s delegation abstained. Only 45% of colonists actively supported the war.

Deep divisions existed even among the patriots.

Read 7 tweets

Rod D. Martin

@RodDMartin

Jun 27

🧵Are you tired of winning yet?

Trump just scored huge victories: the biggest trade deal in history with the EU, a Lebanon-Israel peace deal, and more.

The world is being reordered in America’s favor — and it’s only getting better.

🧵

2/ Just 11 months ago, Trump signed the largest trade deal ever with the EU.

This week, the EU ratified it. For the first time in history Europe charges us ZERO. And we charge them 15%!

Europe buying $600 billion in new U.S. manufacturing investment and $750 billion in American energy over three years.

The establishment on both sides of the Atlantic said it would never happen, that the whole world would isolate and gang up on America.

Kind of like they told you Hillary would win by 12 points.

3/ At the same time, Marco Rubio negotiated peace between Israel and Lebanon.

Iran gets booted out. Hezbollah gets removed. Lebanon takes full control of its territory for the first time in 51 years.

Mutual recognition of sovereignty. Which is a bigger deal than it sounds, because Lebanon declared war on Israel in 1948 and has legally been at war against them ever since!

This could mean full diplomatic relations and Lebanon joining the Abraham Accords.

Read 4 tweets

Rod D. Martin

@RodDMartin

Jun 26

🧵Nationalism is not empire. It’s the opposite.

Nationalism is the right of peoples to rule themselves. Empire is one nation ruling others.

The people who demonize “nationalism” don’t hate bad nations. They want to replace nation-states with a new global empire of unelected elites.

Don't fall for it. 🧵

2/ The American Revolution was nationalist — rejecting rule by distant strangers.

So were the Latin American revolutions against Spain. And decolonization around the world.

America has always defended national self-determination through the Monroe Doctrine and beyond.

3/ You either believe in the Westphalian nation-state system — self-determination — or you don’t.

Reject it, and you’re left with empire, whether ruled from Brussels, Beijing, or Berlin.

There is no third option.

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