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Supreme Court rules Christian foster agency can’t be forced to place kids with same-sex couples

Reported By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Thursday, June 17, 2021

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the city of Philadelphia can’t exclude a Catholic charity from its foster program because the organization won’t place children with same-sex couples in accordance with religious beliefs. In a unanimous decision released Thursday morning in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, the high court ruled city officials were wrong to quit working with Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for refusing on religious grounds to place children with same-sex couples. The decision reversed a judgment of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and remanded it for further proceedings.

Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the court’s opinion, concluding that “the City has burdened the religious exercise of CSS through policies that do not meet the requirement of being neutral and generally applicable.”
“Government fails to act neutrally when it proceeds in a manner intolerant of religious beliefs or restricts practices because of their religious nature,” wrote Roberts.
“The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless it agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents cannot survive strict scrutiny, and violates the First Amendment.”

Roberts also pointed out that Philadelphia can grant an exemption from the city’s anti-discrimination policies to CSS, noting that city contracts include many exemptions.

“Once properly narrowed, the City’s asserted interests are insufficient. Maximizing the number of foster families and minimizing liability are important goals, but the City fails to show that granting CSS an exception will put those goals at risk,” continued Roberts.
“The creation of a system of exceptions under the contract undermines the City’s contention that its nondiscrimination policies can brook no departures.”

The opinion refutes the notion that fostering children is tantamount to a public accommodation.

“Certification as a foster parent, by contrast, is not readily accessible to the public,” the opinion reads. “It involves a customized and selective assessment that bears little resemblance to staying in a hotel, eating at a restaurant, or riding a bus.”
“As the City itself explains to prospective foster parents, ‘[e]ach agency has slightly different requirements, specialties, and training programs,'” Roberts wrote. “All of this confirms that the one-size-fits-all public accommodations model is a poor match for the foster care system.”

In addition to the court opinion, there were also multiple concurring opinions.

Although Alito concurred in the judgment, he expressed concern that the Supreme Court decision will not have a lasting impact on the dispute between Philadelphia and CSS.

“The City has been adamant about pressuring CSS to give in, and if the City wants to get around today’s decision, it can simply eliminate the never-used exemption power,” wrote Alito in a concurring opinion joined by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.
“Not only is the Court’s decision unlikely to resolve the present dispute, it provides no guidance regarding similar controversies in other jurisdictions.”

In 2018, Philadelphia stopped placing children in the homes of foster parents affiliated with CSS and Bethany Christian Services of Greater Delaware Valley due to the groups’ refusal to place children with same-sex couples for religious reasons. Although Bethany eventually changed its policy, foster parents and others who worked with CSS filed a lawsuit against city officials, arguing that it violates the U.S. Constitution.

Plaintiff Sharronell Fulton fostered as many as 40 kids during her 25 years of working with CSS. Fellow plaintiff Toni Simms-Busch is a former social worker who adopted her foster children through CSS. Both were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Becket argued that CSS was the “most successful” foster care agency in the city and that the city ended its partnership with the organization at a time that city officials admitted an urgent need for foster families with thousands of kids in the system.

“I am overjoyed that the Supreme Court recognized the import work of Catholic Social Services and has allowed me to continue fostering children most in need of a loving home,” Fulton said in a statement. “My faith is what drives me to care for foster children here in Philadelphia and I thank God the Supreme Court believes that’s a good thing, worthy of protection.”
Simms-Busch stressed that the justices “understand that foster parents like me share in the common, noble task of providing children with loving homes.”
“Our foster-care ministry in Philadelphia is vital to solving the foster care crisis and Catholic Social Services is a cornerstone of that ministry,” Simms-Busch stated. “The Supreme Court’s decision ensures the most vulnerable children in the City of Brotherly Love have every opportunity to find loving homes.”

The Supreme Court decision follows the ruling of a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the city in April 2019. The panel concluded that the First Amendment “does not prohibit government regulation of religiously motivated conduct so long as that regulation is not a veiled attempt to suppress disfavored religious beliefs.”

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Raffensperger’s Own Team Was Saying “Bad, Bad Things” Were Happening in Fulton County Elections — He Ignored Them and Attacked Trump Instead (VIDEO)

Reported By Jim Hoft | Published June 17, 2021

Back in January Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told “60 Minutes” the state of Georgia, “Had safe, secure, and honest elections.”

Of course, NOTHING could be further of the truth.

This was after a Gateway Pundit report exposed Georgia election officials repeateldy feeding hundreds and possibly thousands of ballots through the voting machines late at night in Atlanta, Georgia after the election observers were sent home.

Earlier this week a Fulton County Georgia election official admitted that the chain of custody documents that are legally required per state law are missing from 24% of the ballots from the 2020 election.

Brad Raffensperger, the corrupt Secretary of State in Georgia is ultimately responsible. For the first time an elections official admitted the chain of custody documents are missing in Georgia per the Georgia Star. Then today John Solomon and Just The News reported that an audit of documents found that more than 100 batches of absentee ballots are missing in Fulton County Georgia!

Later this morning John Solomon told the War Room that Brad Raffensperger’s own team was saying that “bad, bad things” were coming out of Fulton County.

Didn’t Brad Raffensperger continuously say it was a perfect election? Now we know for a fact that he knew there was all sorts of problems all along?

Jim Hoft

Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

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Ann Coulter Op-ed: The John Lewis Act Is the Dems’ Path to Permanent Power

Commentary by Ann Coulter | Posted: Jun 16, 2021

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com., and WhatDidYouSay.org..

The John Lewis Act Is the Dems' Path to Permanent Power

Source: AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File

The official position of Fox News is that the Democrats’ John Lewis vote-stealing bill is “narrower” than the Democrats’ “For the People” vote-stealing bill. (This will be an exhibit in my museum titled, “Stupid People Can Never Help Your Cause.”)

Yes, it’s “narrower” in the sense of being 1 MILLION times worse. The John Lewis bill will do everything the “For the People” bill does — and so much more! They just don’t tell us what, exactly. The language of the bill is full of anodyne, uplifting language about equal voting participation — but the details will be turned over to left-wing zealots at the Department of Justice, suddenly empowered to enforce voting rules so insane that no elected official would dare vote for them.

Inasmuch as nearly every congressional Democrat is fine with the provisions in the “For the People” bill — which are ludicrous — imagine how much worse the “You Can’t Blame Me” bill is.

It will be faceless bureaucrats at the Department of Justice who give meaning to the happy words in the John Lewis bill. Federal government employees — i.e., the people actually making the rules — cannot be voted out of office. (Or fired — this is government work.) Indeed, these are people who could never be elected to any office on account of their repellent political views and, often, repellent physical appearance.

This is how Democrats impose fascistic rules on the citizenry without ever having to cast a dangerous vote: They write laws with vague statements of high principle, then dump the actual rule-making onto a government agency, where refugees from the ACLU issue edicts outlawing private property, due process, free speech and honest elections.

Recall:

— It wasn’t elected members of Congress who ordered a nice Idaho couple to halt work on their home because it was allegedly on a protected wetland (in the middle of a subdivision with many other homes). That was environmentalist wackos at the EPA.

— It wasn’t elected members of Congress who required universities to deny basic due process rights to students accused of rape. That was feminist loons at the Department of Education.

— It wasn’t elected members of Congress who directed Obama’s IRS to target groups with “tea party” or “patriots” in their names. That was liberal ideologue Lois Lerner and other civil service functionaries.

The lunatics at these agencies look like Reason Personified compared to the DOJ’s voting rights attorneys.

In 2013, author Charlotte Allen described one fair-minded DOJ staffer, whose job it was to rewrite state voting laws:

“On the morning of January 21, [2013] just before President Obama’s second inauguration, Rep. Paul Ryan … was roundly booed by the gathered crowd as he left the Capitol to attend the ceremonies …. Within minutes Daniel J. Freeman, a young career trial lawyer with the Voting Section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division … took credit in a Facebook post for instigating the anti-Ryan derision.”

1. Paul Ryan? Pencil-necked, open borders, Never-Trump Paul Ryan? That’s the guy who got Freeman so riled up?

2. The obnoxious Freeman is no longer a young career trial lawyer at the DOJ. Now he’s a senior career trial lawyer at the DOJ.

Among the innovations dreamed up by fanatics like Freeman, Arizona was informed it could not ask for identification from people delivering more than 10 early ballots. Nothing fishy about that!

Arizona’s voting laws were subject to federal oversight because of its well-known history as a slave state and avid practitioner of Jim Crow. (I may have to check my notes on that.)

Actually, Arizona was bossed around by liberal activists at the DOJ for 40 years because back in 1972, it didn’t have bilingual ballots. Those weren’t instituted until 1974. They may as well have donned white hoods and burned crosses!

Oddly, Mississippi’s election laws were also subject to approval by the DOJ — despite the fact that blacks already voted at far higher rates than whites in that state. By contrast, Massachusetts did not require oversight of its voting laws, although in that fancy liberal state, black people voted at far lower rates than whites.

It’s almost as if only red states have their voting laws nitpicked by left-wing lawyers in Washington. I wonder if that would help Democrats win presidential elections?

Ironically, meaning totally predictably, the original 1965 Voting Rights Act was necessary because Democrats were trying to prevent black people from voting. Today, Democrats are using these new “voting rights” bills to ensure that 110% of black people vote, even if they are convicted felons, don’t live in the state, didn’t actually fill out a ballot or are dead.

It wasn’t until 2013 that the Supreme Court mercifully overturned key portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. (Citing the overwhelming Senate vote for the wonderfully named Voting Rights Act, Justice Antonin Scalia remarked at oral argument: “This is not the kind of a question you can leave to Congress.”)

While it’s great that ideologues like Dan Freeman had their wings clipped by the Court, the previous 40 years of their harassment tells you what they want to do. The John Lewis voting rights bill will put them back in the saddle!

States will be ordered to keep dead voters on the rolls, give violent felons the right to vote and jettison any voter I.D. requirements. (Interestingly, even after all the media demagoguery, black people still overwhelmingly support voter I.D. laws.)

There’s no disincentive to government lawyers pursuing frivolous cases to the end of the Earth. Even if they eventually lose, they don’t have to worry about court costs or legal fees. They don’t pay ’em. You do.

The “For the People” voting rights bill is the floor of what these petty bureaucrats will require. Those are the bare-minimum “voting rights” that will be imposed on the states by the DOJ. That’s the level of absurdity Democrats are willing to vote for in plain sight. What great ideas does Dan Freeman have that even Democrats couldn’t endorse on the record?

What is the voting “rights” equivalent of the EPA’s relentless persecution of homeowners, the Duke lacrosse case or the IRS’s abuse of power? Because that’s what the John Lewis voting rights bill will deliver.

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Enemies List

A.F. BRANCO on June 17, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-enemies-list/

AG Garland says white supremacists are the #1 threat to the Homeland while ignoring the left burning down our cities.

Garland’s White Supremacists — Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

A.F. Branco coffee table book “Keep America Laughing (at the left)” ORDER HERE

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and shared by President Donald Trump.

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WHITE SUPREMIST

Daniel Horowitz Op-ed: A group of Florida parents cultured their children’s masks and found dangerous bacteria

June 16, 2021

Commentary by DANIEL HOROWITZ | June 16, 2021

The idea of children, including preschoolers, walking around with bacteria traps on their breathing orifices all day so shocked the conscience that last summer, a bunch of internet parodies were produced illustrating such absurdity. Then, within weeks, most local governments mandated this cruel form of child abuse for an entire year without any study of the side effects. Now a group of parents from the Gainesville, Florida, area have shown that such masks are traps for harmful bacteria that potentially make children much sicker than from COVID — the virus for which the masks were required, but failed to mitigate.

In a press release obtained by TheBlaze and posted at RationalGround.com, six Alachua County, Florida, parents reported the findings of the lab cultures of their children’s masks worn in school. The parents sent the six masks to the University of Florida’s Mass Spectrometry Research and Education Center after they were worn for five to eight hours, most during in-person schooling by children ages 6 through 11. Although many students across the country likely wore dirty masks indefinitely for numerous days, the face masks studied in this analysis were new or freshly laundered before wearing. One of the masks submitted was from an adult who wore it at work as a cosmetologist.

The resulting report found that five masks were contaminated with bacteria, parasites, and fungi, including three with dangerous pathogenic and pneumonia-causing bacteria.

The lab used a method called proteomics to extract proteins from the masks and sequence them. The analysis detected the following 11 alarmingly dangerous pathogens on the masks:

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumonia)
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis)
Neisseria meningitidis (meningitis, sepsis)
Acanthamoeba polyphaga (keratitis and granulomatous amebic encephalitis)
Acinetobacter baumanni (pneumonia, bloodstream infections, meningitis, UTIs — resistant to antibiotics)
Escherichia coli (food poisoning)
Borrelia burgdorferi (causes Lyme disease)
Corynebacterium diphtheriae (diphtheria)
Legionella pneumophila (Legionnaires’ disease)
Staphylococcus pyogenes serotype M3 (severe infections — high morbidity rates)
Staphylococcus aureus (meningitis, sepsis)

“Half of the masks were contaminated with one or more strains of pneumonia-causing bacteria,” according to the release. “One-third were contaminated with one or more strains of meningitis-causing bacteria. One-third were contaminated with dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. In addition, less dangerous pathogens were identified, including pathogens that can cause fever, ulcers, acne, yeast infections, strep throat, periodontal disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and more.”

For a control, the parents submitted a T-shirt worn by one of the children at school and unworn masks. No pathogens were found on the controls.

Obviously, the naysayers will immediately jump on this and criticize it as being a rudimentary study and small sample size. But that is the entire point. Of course, this issue needs further study. But why has this not been done over the course of the entire year by our government or any well-funded institution? How can we mandate such draconian policies without studying the side effects, including the spread of pathogens? Why is this left to helpless parents trying to raise awareness of these concerns?

It’s not like these concerns are novel. On March 8, 2020, Dr. Fauci told “60 Minutes” that masks can only block large droplets, they give a false sense of security, and they cause people to get more germs on their hands by fiddling with them. Several weeks later, Surgeon General Jerome Adams punctuated this point about the counterproductivity of wearing masks in public. Appearing on “Fox & Friends” on March 31, Adams said that based on a study that shows medical students who wear masks touch their faces 23 times more often, one has to assume that “wearing a mask improperly can actually increase your risk of getting disease.”

A 2014 study of hospital workers wearing surgical masks in a Bangkok hospital found their masks to be saturated with Staphylococcus aureus (found on some of the masks in the Alachua study) and the fungus Aspergillus. Another study of hospital workers in China from 2019 observed that after more than six hours of use, masks worn by medical personnel also contained viruses, including adenovirus, bocavirus, respiratory syncytial virus, and influenza viruses. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to hypothesize that a warm and humid microclimate cultivated by a mask is going to serve as an incubator for all sorts of pathogens. Not surprisingly, studies have shown that pathogen density on masks grows exponentially after two hours of use.

To this day, Fauci and CDC researchers have never answered how those concerns were no longer valid after their political U-turn on masks, given the terrible conditions with which we’ve witnessed the entire country wearing and reusing masks. The same reason why Fauci said last summer they never planned to embark on a randomized controlled trial of the efficacy of masks is likely why they never studied the side effects of masks either. They didn’t want to discover the truth that they themselves originally understood.

These findings are important for two reasons. First, there is a need to ensure that mask mandates are never implemented again. The Boston Globe is already advocating their use for the flu season. Second, as much as the mask mandate has ended for most consumers, workers in many professions are still required to wear them for hours on end without regard for the hazards they pose. A Florida appeals court has already ruled that the mask mandate in Alachua County is presumptively unconstitutional because it violates bodily autonomy. The risk of masks cultivating and spreading other pathogens is just another reason why something this personal to the body must remain a personal choice.

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North Korean defector says indoctrination at Columbia Univ. crazier than Kim regime

Reported By Brandon Showalter, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, June 15, 2021

A North Korean defector who Christian missionaries helped escape to freedom said attending Columbia University, an Ivy League institution, was crazier, as far as its forced ideology and conformity, than the brutal Kim regime.

Yeonmi Park recounted how she came to the United States to attend Columbia after transferring from a South Korean university in 2016 and was troubled to find a culture of indoctrination, which she detailed in recent interviews about her frustration while pursuing a humanities degree at the prestigious university.

“I expected that I was paying this fortune, all this time and energy, to learn how to think. But they are forcing you to think the way they want you to think,” Park, the author of the bestseller In Order to Live, said in an interview with Fox News.
“I realized, wow, this is insane. I thought America was different, but I saw so many similarities to what I saw in North Korea that I started worrying.”

Park explained that a university staff member antagonized her when she said she enjoyed classic literature and authors like Jane Austen. She recounted the person telling her that such writers had a colonial mindset and were bigots and racists, and their messages were subconsciously brainwashing her. Similarly, gender issues, specifically as they pertained to language, also took the then-North Korean student by surprise. Each course at the Ivy League school began with students declaring the pronouns by which they prefer to be addressed.

“English is my third language. I learned it as an adult. I sometimes still say ‘he’ or ‘she’ by mistake, and now they are going to ask me to call them ‘they’? How the heck do I incorporate that into my sentences?” she asked.
“It was chaos,” she added. “It felt like the regression in civilization.”
“Even North Korea is not this nuts. … North Korea was pretty crazy, but not this crazy,” Park said, adding that she eventually learned not to say anything after several arguments with professors and students in order to maintain a good GPA and graduate.

The North Korean woman made a grueling journey through Asia to escape what is arguably the most repressive nation in the world. By the time she was 13 years old, she had watched people fall dead due to starvation. At age 13, in 2007, she crossed into China with her mother over the frozen Yalu River where human traffickers captured them and sold them into slavery. She was sold for less than $300, and her mother was sold for $100.

They managed to flee to Mongolia with the assistance of Christian missionaries, traversing across the Gobi desert. Park later found refuge in South Korea. Her 2015 memoir recounts how she survived North Korean oppression and what it took to escape to freedom, which she also shared in a TedTalk in 2013.

In the United States, people “are just dying to give their rights and power to the government. That is what scares me the most,” Park, who now advocates for the human rights of North Koreans, told Fox News.

“In North Korea, I literally believed that my Dear Leader [Kim Jong un] was starving,” she said.
“He’s the fattest guy, how can anyone believe that? And then somebody showed me a photo and said, ‘Look at him, he’s the fattest guy. Other people are all thin.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, why did I not notice that he was fat?’ Because I never learned how to think critically.”
“That is what is happening in America,” she stressed. “People see things, but they’ve just completely lost the ability to think critically.”

Send news tips to: brandon.showalter@christianpost.com Listen to Brandon Showalter’s Life in the Kingdom podcast at The Christian Post and edifi app Follow Brandon Showalter on Facebook: BrandonMarkShowalter Follow on Twitter: @BrandonMShow

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Virginia school district to appeal order reinstating teacher opposed to transgender pronouns

Reported By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Wednesday, June 16, 2021

A public school district in Virginia that was ordered to reinstate a teacher punished for criticizing a proposed policy to require teachers to use trans-identified students’ preferred pronouns says it will appeal the decision to the state’s supreme court. Last week, a judge told the Loudon County School Board to reinstate Byron Tanner Cross, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School placed on administrative leave.

In a statement last Friday, Loudoun County Public Schools said that it will file an appeal of the June 8 decision, claiming that Cross’ comments were harmful. “LCPS respectfully disagrees with the Circuit Court’s decision to issue the injunction, and it is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia,” stated LCPS.
“Many students and parents at Leesburg Elementary have expressed fear, hurt and disappointment about coming to school. Addressing those concerns is paramount to the school division’s goal to provide a safe, welcoming and affirming learning environment for all students.”
The school district went on to state that while they respect “the rights of public school employees to free speech and free exercise of religion, those rights do not outweigh the rights of students to be educated in a supportive and nurturing environment.”

In May, LCPS held a meeting to discuss a proposed policy that would require students and faculty alike to use the preferred pronouns of youths who identify as transgender or “gender-expansive.”

Cross attended the meeting and spoke out against the proposal, telling the school board that he was “speaking out of love for those who suffer with gender dysphoria.”
“I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I’m a teacher, but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion,” stated Cross at the meeting.

Two days after the meeting, Cross was put on administrative leave with pay and prohibited from going onto any school properties unless given permission. In response, Cross filed a complaint against LCPS and was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit that handles religious liberty cases and has won several U.S. Supreme Court cases in recent years. ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said in a statement that he believes public schools cannot “suspend someone simply for respectfully providing their opinion at a public meeting.”

“The school district favors a certain set of beliefs on a hotly contested issue, and it wants to force Tanner to cry uncle and endorse them as well,” stated Langhofer. “That’s neither legal nor constitutional, and neither was the school’s move to place Tanner on leave.”

Last week, Judge James E. Plowman of the 20th Judicial Circuit of Virginia granted Cross’ request for a temporary injunction against the board’s decision to place the teacher on leave. Plowman concluded that punishing Cross was “extreme” and “an unconstitutional action” since the views of the teacher, even if controversial, were nevertheless “permissible.”

“The Court agrees with Plaintiff’s analysis and concludes that Defendants’ actions to suspend the Plaintiff, as well as the additional restrictions placed upon him, adversely affected his constitutionally protected speech,” wrote the judge.
“Here, it was clear that the Plaintiff was speaking as a citizen, not in his official capacity. His speech was not conducted at his usual place of employment, occurred during non-working hours and at a forum where public comment was invited.”

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White House Forced to Issue Clarification on Gesture Biden Made in Opening Seconds of Putin Meeting

Reported by Erin Coates | June 16, 2021

The White House quickly issued a clarification that President Joe Biden’s answer to a reporter’s question Wednesday in Geneva was not what it seemed. Prior to Biden’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Switzerland, the two leaders appeared together for a brief and chaotic photo opportunity, according to The Associated Press. When a reporter asked if Putin could be trusted, Biden appeared to nod in agreement.

“Inside, a pooler shouted Mr. President, do you trust Putin? Biden nodded yes up and down,” CBS News reporter Kathryn Watson tweeted, quoting the print pool. Political reporter Yamiche Alcindor added that it appeared that Biden “looked directly at the reporter and nodded affirmatively.”

The White House communications staff moved quickly to claim the president wasn’t answering the Putin question but was just giving “a general head nod in the direction of the media.”

“During a chaotic free for all with members of the press shouting questions over each other, the President gave a general head nod in the direction of the media,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told Alcindor.
“He wasn’t responding to any question or anything other than the chaos.”

White House Communications Director Kate Beddingfield offered a similar explanation, adding that two days ago Biden said “verify, then trust” in relation to Putin.

Biden has previously called Putin a “killer” and has claimed that as vice president a decade ago he looked into Putin’s eyes and told him he was missing a “soul.”

Journalists and security officers were shoving to get into the small room Wednesday, creating a bit of chaos prior to the meeting, according to the AP.

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS REPORT AT https://www.westernjournal.com/white-house-forced-issue-clarification-gesture-biden-made-opening-seconds-putin-meeting/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=aa-breaking&utm_campaign=can&utm_content=firefly

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Texas reporter who said ‘Fox Corp.’ was muzzling her during rogue live shot is fired, says station tried to squash hydroxychloroquine stories

Reported by NEWS SARAH TAYLOR | June 16, 2021

Ivory Hecker, the Fox affiliate reporter who went off-script during a Monday report that went viral, has been fired from her job at the Texas network. Hecker, who stated that “Fox Corp.” was “muzzling” her and stopping viewers from receiving “certain information,” now states that the station has been trying to prevent its reporters from covering hydroxychloroquine and its use in treating COVID-19 patients.

Hecker, a general assignment reporter, said Tuesday that she was fired after the viral report. In an interview with the Daily Beast, Hecker said that she lost her job via text after an initial suspension. KRIV-TV confirmed to the outlet that Hecker is no longer employed at the station and slammed her for going to James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas with the allegations.

In a statement, the station said, “FOX 26 adheres to the highest editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality. This incident involves nothing more than a disgruntled former employee seeking publicity by promoting a false narrative produced through selective editing and misrepresentation.”

Hecker told the outlet that she has no interest in working for another news corporation after this experience.

“I have been longing to part ways with this strange, slightly unhinged corporation since last August when I realized what they were,” Hecker admitted. “The piece with Project Veritas doesn’t touch what they did. Fox 26 knows I’m fearless. … I have zero interest in working for another corporation. They all toe the same line.”

The Project Veritas interview in question featured Hecker speaking with O’Keefe about what she said was an agenda in quashing reporting that didn’t follow the line of corporate headquarters.

According to the Daily Beast:

In one piece of surreptitiously recorded footage, Fox 26 assistant news director Lee Meier was seen explaining why the station does not do more stories on Bitcoin. In the clip, Meier said it’s “an editorial choice” to not cover the cryptocurrency because it likely would not appeal to the station’s early-evening broadcast viewership.
“I have passed on Bitcoin stories by almost every single reporter for our five o’clock audience, because that’s not our five o’clock audience,” Meier stated. “So, there are lots of reasons. If I know our numbers are tanking from five to six and in one particular segment… I may say, yeah, and Bitcoin for poor African-American audience at five, it’s probably not going to play. That’s a choice I’m making.”
Reacting to Meier’s rather mundane remarks about the incentives of broadcast news, Hecker declared to O’Keefe: “I want out of this narrative news telling! I want out of this corruption!”

Hecker also said that the station attempted to prevent her from covering hydroxychloroquine in treatment of COVID-19 patients:

In a recorded call with Meier and Fox 26 vice president and news director Susan Schiller, Hecker was told she “failed as a reporter” for not looking at the “latest research” on the drug before boosting a post from a local doctor hyping it as a COVID-19 treatment.
“You need to cease and desist posting about hydroxychloroquine,” Schiller told Hecker.
Station management’s critical comments to Hecker appear to center around an August Facebook post the reporter shared last August, featuring Dr. Joseph Varon’s claim that he used hydroxychloroquine to “good success.”
In the call with her bosses, Hecker claimed the studies downplaying the effectiveness and safety of the drug made Varon’s comments more newsworthy. At the same time, she brought up Dr. Stella Immanuel, noting that she also referenced clinical research about hydroxychloroquine’s efficacy in her story about the controversial doctor. Immanuel, who believes sex with demons makes you sick, baselessly insisted that the anti-malarial drug is a “cure for COVID,” drawing praise from Trump but bans on social-media platforms. Hecker’s reporting on Immanuel at the time was largely sympathetic, painting her as a victim of “mass censorship.”
“They sent me to interview Dr. Joseph Varon, a highly respected doctor who did 1,600 media interviews,” Hecker told The Daily Beast. “They banned me permanently — after my interview — from covering COVID-19 medical treatments.”

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Lost in Space

A.F. BRANCO on June 16, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-lost-in-space/

Biden is proving not to be equipped mentally to deal with foreign leaders on the world stage.

Biden Lost on the World Stage — Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2021.

A.F. Branco coffee table book “Keep America Laughing (at the left)” ORDER HERE

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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich Responds to Biden Admin’s Threats: “My Office Is NOT AMUSED With DOJ’s POSTURING”

June 15, 2021

Reported By Jordan Conradson | Published June 14, 2021

Last week, the Biden DOJ put their dirty hands in the wrong place, warning state lawmakers that if they proceeded to audit fraudulent elections they will be targeted.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to AG Merrick Garland clarifying that this is not a game for AZ officials.

OAN correspondent Christina Bobb tweeted the following update.

AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich steps up big time to support the AZ Senate. Sends letter to AG Garland saying “My office is not amused by the DOJ’s posturing.” Brnovich says he will protect state sovereignty.
— Christina Bobb (@christina_bobb) June 14, 2021

“AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich steps up big time to support the AZ Senate. Sends letter to AG Garland saying “My office is not amused by the DOJ’s posturing.” Brnovich says he will protect state sovereignty.”

The full letter is below.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-000 I
Dear Attorney General Garland,
June 14,2021

Late last week, you made troubling comments about the ongoing efforts in states to ensure election integrity. Your statements displayed an alarming disdain for state sovereignty as defined under
the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the election provisions in Articles I and 11.

Your comments followed a May 5 letter from Pamela Karlan of the Department of Justice’s Civil
Rights Division, on the subject of the Arizona Senate’s oversight of the Maricopa County audit. This
letter appeared more interested in supporting the hysterical outcries of leftist pundits on cable television,
rather than the rule of law.

My office is not amused by the DOJ’s posturing and will not tolerate any effort to undermine or
interfere with our State Senate’s audit to reassure Arizonans of the accuracy of our elections. We stand
ready to defend federalism and state sovereignty against any partisan attacks or federal overreach.
It is important to remember that the states created the federal government, not the other way
around. America’s founders intentionally restrained the federal government’s constitutional boundaries to
ensure each state could flourish in unique ways. Today, our federal government has largely forgotten the
Founders’ intent, but my office has not.

There are no issues more important for states to prioritize than the integrity of our elections. This
is the cornerstone of our republic, binding together the peoples’ trust in the whole of government. Today,
we see mistrust in our elections from Americans on all sides of the political spectrum. This should not be
a partisan issue. States can and should take every opportunity to reassure all citizens that their vote
counts.

My office looks for ways to work alongside the federal government to uphold our laws within the
constraints of the 10th Amendment and the election provisions in Articles I and II. As I have
demonstrated several times, however, Arizona will not sit back and let the Biden administration abuse its
authority, refuse to uphold laws, or attempt to commandeer our state’s sovereignty.

Respectfully,
Mark Brnovich
Attorney General

AZ State Senator Wendy Rogers had a similar message, threatening jail time for Garland if he lays a finger on Arizona’s election.

The Biden administration forgets a lot. They must have forgotten about states’ rights.

These goons belong in Tent City!

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Teen girl urges adults to stop being ‘cowardly,’ protect kids by speaking out against trans policies

Reported By Brandon Showalter, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Jolene Grover — **Jolene and Natassia Grover speak on Fox News about the Loudoun County Public Schools gender identity policies.**

A teenage girl whose comments before the Loudoun County School Board in Virginia went viral explained why she felt called to speak out. Jolene Grover, 14, told members of the school board last week that their policy of allowing males into girls’ private spaces, such as restrooms and locker rooms, is an affront to female students.

Sporting a green T-shirt that read “Woman is female,” the now-homeschooled student who was previously enrolled in a Louden County public school told the board members: “Everyone knows what a boy is — even you.”

“Your policies are dangerous and rooted in sexism. Boys are reading erotica in the classrooms next to girls, and you want to give them access to girls’ locker rooms, and you want to force girls to call those boys ‘she,’” she said in her remarks, as reported by the New York Post.

“You do this in the name of inclusivity while ignoring the girls who will pay the price. Your policies choose boys’ wants over girls’ needs.”

She also recounted that when she expressed concern to a guidance counselor about the policies, she was dismissed and told there are stalls in the bathroom.

Jolene said in an email to The Christian Post on Monday that though she is no longer a student in the public school system, she spoke out because she is especially concerned for her friends who are still there, particularly one who is starting sixth grade in the fall.

“I’ve known her for years, and she is like a little sister to me. I also speak out because there are too many cowardly adults who are remaining quiet about this issue. I want adults to stop calling me brave for fighting a battle that wasn’t mine to begin with,” Jolene said.
“They need to speak out publicly about this issue, not just whisper to their friends and other people who agree with them that boys shouldn’t be allowed in the girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms. Some of my friends still enrolled in LCPS have spoken to me about their concern with these policies, but they are also too afraid to speak out,” she added.

Her mother, Nastassia, who has written previously about gender identity ideology and how it threatens women’s rights, told CP in a separate email Monday that it’s important for people to boldly voice their objections.

“Outrage is important. It motivates people to speak out and to fight for what they believe in. Righteous indignation leaves no room for fear,” she said.

She added that the only solution to fix these problems is for conservative-leaning parents to remove their children from the schools. The Democratic Party is “a lost cause” on the issue, she maintained, adding that parents don’t stand a chance to win unless the Republicans make a generous school choice policy a part of their platform and act on it.

“The GOP must become the party of the common, moral working man and must do it now,” she stressed, noting that this is an issue where the conservative party will either show itself to be “the controlled opposition party that only exists to lose” or the only party that exists to fight for families and for girls’ most basic rights to privacy and dignity.

The Loudoun County mother also believes that the school system will be doubling down hard on mandatory preferred pronoun use and mixed-sex bathrooms and locker rooms, and believes state and national LGBT activist groups are driving this push.

“The puppet masters pulling the strings — such as Equality Virginia and the Human Rights Campaign — are too financially and politically powerful to ignore. They are not going to let all their hard work in Richmond go to waste because a few outspoken Christians don’t want to be complicit in lies and child abuse,” she said.

“Who Virginians elect, or have elected for them, in November and in other consequential elections will determine the final trajectory of the state. Do we continue on as Maryland-lite, or do we try to become New California, or do we turn back the madness and protect our most basic fundamental rights?”

Jolene’s words come on the heels of coach Tanner Cross, an LCPS employee, who made comments at a similar forum last month when he said he would not “affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion.”

“It’s lying to a child, it’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God.”

Because of his remarks, he was subsequently placed on administrative leave, but then he filed a lawsuit and won at the Virginia state circuit court, which ruled that he must be reinstated.

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Canadian pastor arrested for holding outdoor service after church was seized by authorities

Reported By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter| Tuesday, June 15, 2021

A Canadian pastor has been arrested after his church held an outdoor worship service at an undisclosed location after the local government ordered the church building to be closed.

Tim Stephens, who serves as pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, Alberta, was arrested Monday after refusing to abide by the order from Alberta Health Services to refrain from holding worship services that don’t comply with the provincial COVID-19 rules.

On Monday, Stephens shared on his Twitter account that “I just got a tip that the police may be on their way to arrest me.”

Shortly after that, police showed up and arrested the pastor in front of his eight children, who tearfully told him goodbye. Video footage of the arrest was obtained by Rebel News.

A reporter for the Canadian news outlet asked the police if they wanted to comment on “why Jason Kenney gets a free pass and you’re arresting pastors across the province.” The comment was a reference to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s June 1 dinner with cabinet members that did not comply with the province’s public health restrictions.

Early Tuesday morning, Stephens’ wife, Raquel, posted an update announcing that “Tim was arrested again for holding an outdoor service in violation of Alberta’s health orders.”

“He went before a Justice of the Peace [Monday] evening and refused the bail condition, so he’ll remain in custody until his next court date June 28,” she wrote.

In a statement, Raquel Stephens explained that state authorities want “Tim to tell people what to wear, where to stand, and to forbid some people from being [in] the church.”

She noted that when she asked the police officers if they had ever broken the health orders, they answered in the affirmative.

Tim “was offered bail conditional upon his agreement to abide by all public health orders,” she added. “He couldn’t agree because doing so would prevent him from faithfully shepherding the flock that has been entrusted to his care. He will remain in custody until his next court date on June 28.”
Mrs. Stephens predicted that “Tim’s imprisonment will strengthen us in the faith and embolden us to love and obey Christ, no matter the cost.”
She asked for prayers that her husband would “stand firm; that he would meditate on the love of Christ and his sacrifice for his sinners; that he would be comforted in his chains.”

The Calgary Police Service and Alberta Health Services confirmed Stephens was arrested for violating a court order.

“Stephens acknowledged the injunction, but chose to move forward with an illegal outdoor service, ignoring requirements for social distancing and reduced capacity limits for attendees,” the joint statement reads.

The news outlet notes that a large crowd gathered at an undisclosed location to worship and hear Stephens preach on Sunday. The congregation was reportedly discovered by a police helicopter. Police vehicles were seen circling the location and waited until Monday to arrest Stephens.

Stephens is represented by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.

On June 5, Pastor Stephens tweeted pictures of notices that were posted on the doors of his church proclaiming that “Alberta Health Services Has Ordered This Premises Closed to the Public” and “Alberta Health Services has secured this building as per section 62.1 of the Public Health Act.” The closure of Fairview Baptist Church will remain in effect “until such time that this order is rescinded by an Executive Officer of Alberta Health Services.”

Stephens attempted to make the best of the situation by vowing that “Fines, injunctions, imprisonment, and seizure of property will only demonstrate the folly of their actions and bring glory to Christ.”

He remarked that it was “incredible that this happened in the same week our most senior officials were photo’d flouting health orders,” referring to Kenney.

Stephens was arrested last month for holding a church service that “did not comply with public health orders, including masking, physical distancing and attendance limits.”

During his imprisonment, Stephens wrote a letter to his children asserting that “I have been arrested because I am convinced by the word of God, reason, and science, that we must gather as a church and live our lives with freedom in Christ.”

Raquel Stephens shared an excerpt of that letter in her update Tuesday morning.

According to Rebel News, Alberta authorities were forced to drop other charges against the pastor last month after discovering that Alberta Health Services never served Stephens with the court order he was said to have violated.

Stephens is not the only Canadian pastor to face legal consequences for holding in-person worship services after his church building was ordered to close.

The pastor of a church in Aylmer, Ontario, faces nearly $200,000 in fines for holding outdoor worship services after the local government shut down his church building.

Artur Pawlowski, another pastor based in Calgary, has had multiple encounters with law enforcement over coronavirus worship restrictions.

Pawlowski has angrily confronted local police and public health officials who showed up at his church in two viral videos and was eventually arrested for holding an “illegal” in-person gathering.

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com

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International Politics

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Biden Releases New Domestic Terrorism Strategy that Names White Supremacists and Anti-Government Activists as Biggest Threats

Reported by Jack Davis | June 15, 2021

The Biden administration has announced a domestic terrorism strategy that it says will focus on white supremacists and anti-government extremists who use violence to achieve their goals. President Joe Biden came into office vowing to revamp America’s domestic terrorism rules in the aftermath of the Capitol incursion. But the result, announced Tuesday, has some concerned.

Stewart Baker, a Homeland Security lawyer in the administration of former President George W. Bush, said Biden’s approach has him “deeply uneasy.”

“The administration intends to deploy the language and tools of counterterrorism against people on the far right of the U.S. political spectrum,” he told NBC News.
“Those people are certainly not all innocents. Some of them have committed mass murder, killings of federal officers and the like. But it’s hard to say that such violence has been the signature of an organization or, really, of more than one or two individuals whose beliefs border on mental illness. Preventing and punishing such violence is what law enforcement tools are for,” he said.
Counterterrorism strategies, he said, should focus on the “much more dangerous forms of terrorism we’ve seen from ISIS and al-Qaida.”

Biden’s strategy is based on his administration’s assessment that “the two most lethal elements of today’s domestic terrorism threat are (1) racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race and (2) anti-government or anti-authority violent extremists, such as militia violent extremists,” according to a White House fact sheet.

The strategy calls for spending millions to beef up the ability of local governments to prevent or respond to domestic terrorism. Some groups will come in for extra attention.

“The Department of Defense (DOD) is incorporating training for servicemembers separating or retiring from the military on potential targeting of those with military training by violent extremist actors,” the fact sheet said.

The fact sheet also said that the federal government “is improving employee screening to enhance methods for identifying domestic terrorists who might pose insider threats. The Office of Personnel Management will consider updates to the forms used to apply for sensitive roles in the Federal Government that could assist investigators in identifying potential domestic terrorism threats.”

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS REPORT AT https://www.westernjournal.com/biden-releases-new-domestic-terrorism-strategy-names-white-supremacists-anti-government-activists-biggest-threats/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=aa-breaking&utm_campaign=can&utm_content=firefly

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Texas reporter goes rogue during live shot, says station is ‘muzzling’ her. The video has been viewed more than 2 million times.

Reported by SARAH TAYLOR | June 15, 2021

A Fox affiliate reporter went off-script during a Monday report on the Texas heat wave, stating that the “Fox Corp.” was “muzzling” her and preventing its viewers from receiving “certain information.” KRIV-TV reporter Ivory Hecker said that she planned to release the information — which she’d covertly recorded — to James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas.

During a live shot, Hecker — a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor — was preparing to deliver a report on Texas weather when she began, “Before we get to that story, I want to let you, the viewers, know that Fox Corp. has been muzzling me to keep certain information from you. And from what I am gathering, I am not the only reporter being subjected to this. I am going to be releasing some recordings about what goes on behind the scenes at Fox, because it applies to you, the viewers.”
“I found a nonprofit journalism group called Project Veritas that’s going to help put that out tomorrow, so tune into them,” she continued.

Hecker did not elaborate on what she recorded or what she planned to discuss with Project Veritas.

A spokesperson for Project Veritas told Insider that Hecker “will be sitting down for an interview with the group on Tuesday evening to discuss claims of ‘corruption’ and ‘censorship’ that she has regarding her employer.”
“The spokesman added that Hecker will be, among other things, ‘blowing the whistle’ and speaking out about how she believes corporate journalism is ‘broken,'” the outlet added.

A spokesperson for the organization told the Daily Beast that it plans to publish some of Hecker’s recordings, which she says corroborates her accusations.

For a previous story, Hecker herself told Newsweek — which reported that video footage of Hecker’s remarks has been viewed more than 2 million times at the time of this reporting — that she has had issues with the network since “last August” when relations reportedly took a “dark turn” following an interview she conducted.

“They decided they didn’t like what the interview subject had said, and they went on to internally harass and defame me,” Hecker insisted. “I knew I was not working for a journalistic organization when I was called into an HR meeting in December and was told to keep my support for free speech and opposition to censorship to myself — that those were not matters to be publicly spoken about.”
“True journalism can’t exist in an environment of censorship,” Hecker added. “True journalism needs an environment of free speech.”

It is unclear at the time of this reporting whether Hecker is still employed at KRIV.

BREAKING: Fox 26 Houston TV Reporter @IvoryHecker Informs Network LIVE ON AIR That She Has Been Secretly Recording Them and Intends on Telling Her Story to Project Veritas #Fox26Whistleblower pic.twitter.com/wKbb1SaDGN
— Matthew Tyrmand (@MatthewTyrmand) June 14, 2021

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Wizards of Billowing Bovine Fodder

A.F. BRANCO on June 15, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/wizards-of-billowing-bovine-fodder/

The truth is out there but it seems Fauci, Social media, and mainstream media trying to deflect folks away from it.

A.F. Branco coffee table book “Keep America Laughing (at the left)” ORDER HERE

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Virginia parent who survived Mao’s ‘cultural revolution’ in China blasts CRT as communist threat

June 14, 2021

Reported By Emily Wood, Christian Post Reporter| Sunday, June 13, 2021

CRT — Xi Van Fleet, whose son graduated from Louden High School in Virginia, speaks about what she endured under Mao’s cultural revolution in China during a speech condemning critical race theory at a school board meeting on June 8, 2021. | | Screengrab: Twitter/The Virginia Project UAC

A woman who grew up in China during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution condemned the teaching of critical race theory in U.S. schools, saying it’s “heartbreaking” for Chinese Americans to see the communism they escaped infiltrate the country.

“I have been very alarmed about what’s going on in our schools. You are now teaching, training our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history,” said Xi Van Fleet in a statement at the Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 8 that was later shared by The Virginia Project, a political action committee working to combat what it deems as “un-American” ideologies, including CRT.

“Growing up in Mao’s China, all of this seems very familiar,” she continued. “The communist regime used the same critical theory to divide people. The only difference is they used class instead of race.”

Van Fleet, whose son graduated from Loudon High School in 2015, told Fox News Wednesday that she lived through the Mao’s Cultural Revolution until she immigrated to the United States. The Cultural Revolution was led by Mao, a brutal dictator who purged so-called “impure” elements of Chinese society. The Cultural Revolution lasted from 1966 to 1976, and resulted in the death of around 1.5 million people, while millions more were imprisoned, tortured or humiliated, according to History.com.

“To me, and to a lot of Chinese, it is heartbreaking that we escaped communism and now we experience communism here,” Van Fleet continued in her statement to the school board.

CRT, which is tied to Marxist critical theory, criticizes the U.S. and Western nations as being oppressive and promoting institutional “systemic racism” or “white supremacy.” It teaches that systemic racism is ingrained in every aspect of American life. Many opponents have noted that the ideology uses Marxist tactics of “class struggle” to divide people among race, gender and ethnicity. Critical theory, which first arose in academic journals three decades ago, is now being taught at public schools, government agencies and business training programs.

Van Fleet said CRT reminds her of growing up in Maoist China.

“They are a communist regime [that] uses the same critical theories to divide people,” she said. “The only difference is that they use class instead of race. During the cultural revolution, I witnessed students and teachers turn against each other, we changed school names to be politically correct, we were taught to denounce our heritage. The red guards destroyed everything that is not communist … statues, books and anything else.”

Evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein, a former professor at Evergreen State, was among the first to warn the public that critical theory, now CRT, was not going to remain an issue on college campuses but would later affect all aspects of society.

“The critical race theory has its roots in cultural Marxism. It should have no place in our schools,” Van Fleet said as she concluded her remarks that were met with applause.
“I just want Americans to know that their privilege is to be here living in America, that is just the biggest privilege,” Van Fleet told Fox News. “I do not think a lot of people understand. They are thinking they are doing the right thing, ‘be against racism’ sounds really good. But they are basically breaking the system that is against racism.”

CRT has received pushback and condemned as “toxic” and divisive in nature. Former President Donald Trump banned critical race theory training in federal agencies, but President Joe Biden reversed it on his first day in office. When Biden reversed Trump’s ban, Christopher Rufo, a director at the Discovery Institute, announced a new coalition to stop critical race theory and “wage relentless legal warfare against race theory in America’s institutions.”

“Critical race theory is a grave threat to the American way of life. It divides Americans by race and traffics in the pernicious concepts of race essentialism, racial stereotyping, and race-based segregation—all under a false pursuit of ‘social justice,’” Rufo wrote at the time.

Florida’s Board of Education announced Thursday that it voted 8-0 to prohibit CRT from being taught in public schools in an effort to stop the “distort[ion] historical events,” according to The Washington Examiner.

“Some of this stuff is, I think, really toxic,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said about CRT in a video. “I think it’s going to cause a lot of divisions. I think it’ll cause people to think of themselves more as a member of particular race based on skin color, rather than based on the content of their character and based on their hard work and what they’re trying to accomplish in life.”

“The woke class wants to teach kids to hate each other, rather than teaching them how to read, but we will not let them bring nonsense ideology into Florida’s schools,” DeSantis said in a statement.

Emily Wood is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: emily.wood@christianpost.com

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Suicide attempts by teen girls spiked during COVID-19 pandemic: CDC

NEWS PAUL SACCA | June 12, 2021

Suicide attempts by teen girls spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among the adolescent girls aged 12-17 years, the average weekly visits to the emergency department for suspected suicide attempts from February 2021 to March 2021 was 50.6% higher than the same period the year before, according to the CDC analysis. Boys were far less likely to show suicidal tendencies during the same time period; the number of emergency department visits for suicide attempts rose by 3.7% for males.

“In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, ED visits for suspected suicide attempts began to increase among adolescents aged 12–17 years, especially girls,” the CDC study found.

From late July to late August 2020, the average weekly number of emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts among 12- to 17-year-old girls increased by 26.2% from the same time period the prior year.

“The study likely underrepresents the real number of suspected suicide attempts because Americans were hesitant to go to hospitals during the pandemic, in fear of contracting COVID-19,” according to CNBC. “In spring 2020, there was a 16.8% drop in emergency department visits among men and women aged 18 to 24 compared with the same time period a year prior.”

The study theorized that the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic may have been toxic to the mental health of young people.

“Young persons might represent a group at high risk because they might have been particularly affected by mitigation measures, such as physical distancing (including a lack of connectedness to schools, teachers, and peers); barriers to mental health treatment; increases in substance use; and anxiety about family health and economic problems, which are all risk factors for suicide,” the CDC study said.

The CDC suggested that parents spending more time with children at home because of lockdowns may have tipped off adults to suicidal thoughts and behaviors of their children.

“The findings from this study suggest more severe distress among young females than has been identified in previous reports during the pandemic, reinforcing the need for increased attention to, and prevention for, this population,” the CDC said of the significant difference of suicide attempts by boys and girls.

States began implementing stay-at-home orders in March 2020, and by the end of March, 32 out of 50 states had locked down. The CDC noted that the increase in suicide attempts did not equate to more deaths. The suicide rate among young persons aged 15-24 from the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2020 “saw no significant change.” Earlier studies also found an alarming increase in suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts during the COVID-19 pandemic. A poll conducted in June 2020 by the CDC found that 25.5% of Americans ages 18 and 24 reported “having seriously considered suicide in the 30 days before completing the survey.”

In January 2021, a rash of suicides forced Las Vegas schools to reopen partially.

In Japan, suicides were up nearly 40% in October 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Suicides by Japanese women spiked by 82.6% in October, compared to a 21.3% increase in suicides by men.

Drug overdose deaths in the United States surged during the coronavirus pandemic, reaching the highest totals since the opioid epidemic began, according to the CDC.

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Health

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Today’s THREE Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – It’s No Cackling Matter

A.F. BRANCO on June 12, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-its-no-cackling-matter/

When is Kamala going to the border to look at the crisis the Biden administration has caused?

A.F. Branco Cartoon – School Choice-O-Phobe

A.F. BRANCO on June 13, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-school-choice-o-phobe/

Governor Walz of Minnesota is reported to be Hiding from the School-choice Groups.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Slap Happy

A.F. BRANCO on June 14, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-slap-happy/

Joe Biden demonstrates his America last attitude on the world stage at the G7 summit.

A.F. Branco coffee table book “Keep America Laughing (at the left)” ORDER HERE.

For more A.F. Branco cartoons at Legal Insurrection click here.

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END OF THE WEEK FOOD FOR THOUGHT June 11, 2021

June 11, 2021

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Republican Mark Robinson — NC’s first black lieutenant governor — tells GOP members to ‘stand up’ and fight for freedom in fiery speech

Reported by NEWS DAVE URBANSKI | June 11, 2021

Republican Mark Robinson, lieutenant governor of North Carolina, delivered a fiery speech at the state’s recent GOP convention and told his fellow party members that they all must battle against President Joe Biden and his administration turning America into a “socialist hellhole.”

Robinson — who garnered headlines in 2018 after his impassioned pro-Second Amendment remarks at a city council meeting and then followed that last fall by becoming the state’s first black lieutenant governor — told fellow Republicans that “we’ve got to run to the trouble!”

Sounding very much like a preacher in the pulpit, he noted that on 9/11 he watched “people running away from those burning buildings, running away in horror” but that he also “saw policemen and firemen running to those buildings — basically running to their deaths to go help others because they saw trouble, and they knew that they were needed!”
Robinson told fellow Republicans “that’s got to be us on this day, right here. We’ve got to run to the trouble, folks!”

And in addition to the Biden administration’s socialist ways, he said the trouble is found in militant leftist groups.

“The trouble is Antifa that wants to roam the streets and beat you into submission,” Robinson declared. “The trouble is Black Lives Matter that claims to care about the lives of black people, but it’s turned a blind eye” to violence in black communities that’s “taking lives at a genocidal rate!”

He then explained why Republicans shouldn’t shrink from the challenge.

“And we’ve got all the right in the world on our side,” Robinson said. “And there ain’t no reason to be afraid. And there ain’t no reason to not take the challenge dead on. ‘Cuz I’m gonna tell you who we come from, folks. We don’t come from some weak, jelly-back, spineless people. That’s not who we come from — none of us! And it doesn’t matter what color you are, what nation your folks hailed from, how much money you got; we all share the same name: We are Americans!”

He then connected the heroism of soldiers from America’s past wars to the heroes of 9/11 “who ran toward those burning buildings. That is who you share your heritage with. You do not share your heritage with a weak and ineffective people who cower at the sign of trouble. You share your heritage with a strong and brave people who are determined to hold on to their freedom and for the freedom of future generations.”
In a kind of benediction, Robinson told listeners that “it’s time for us to stand up and be that generation. It’s time for us to stand strong and proud to remember who we are.” He added that “it’s time to put on our packs. It’s time to fix those bayonets. It’s time to get ready — because we got a fight on our hands” to save freedom for future generations.

Here’s the clip:

I encourage you all to take a minute to listen to this fiery speech by Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson.

It's worth every second. pic.twitter.com/oJ6ubGyoFJ
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 8, 2021

North Carolina’s governor is Roy Cooper — a Democrat. And while one might assume Cooper would be thrilled to serve with the state’s first black lieutenant governor, it was difficult to tell after Cooper’s recent State of the State address during which he reportedly failed to even acknowledge Robinson — who was right there presiding over the address.

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COMMENTARY: Lindsey Graham Says Unemployment Benefits Are So High People in His Own Family Aren’t Working

Commentary by C. Douglas Golden June 9, 2021

When the disastrous April jobs report came out, President Joe Biden was asked by a reporter whether or not the Democratic push to keep expanded $300 weekly federal unemployment checks contributed to the historic miss.

“No, nothing measurable,” Biden said during a media briefing on May 7, according to a transcript.
“I know some employers are having trouble filling jobs. But what this report shows is that there’s a much bigger problem. … It is that our economy still has 8 million fewer jobs than when this pandemic started. The data shows that more — more workers — more workers are looking for jobs, and many can’t find them. While jobs are coming back, there are still millions of people out there looking for work.”

That’s still the official administration line after two months of disappointing jobs numbers. The fact that the federal government is paying people not to work has nothing to do with the promised economic rebound falling flat, at least when it comes to jobs.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina wasn’t having it. As he questioned Shalanda Young, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, he said he had relatives who weren’t working because unemployment benefits were so high. Graham was arguing that the benefits should be killed before they’re set to expire in September.

“There’s a lot of jobs out there that are unfilled and will never be filled until you change the benefit structure. Does that logic make sense to you, given where we’re at in our economy?” Graham asked Young.
“I understand the logic, but I’ve also not met Americans who would prefer not to work,” Young replied. “There’s a dignity to work in this country.”

A chuckling Graham used his relatives to show why this is problematic. “I got a lot of people in my family that ain’t working because they’re getting — I’ll show you some of my family,” Graham said.

“Bottom line is I think there are people out there, they’re not bad people, but they’re not going to work for $15 an hour if they make $23 unemployed,” he added.
“That doesn’t make you a bad person. If you’re working for $15 an hour, that makes you almost a chump.”

The expanded benefits have been part of a tug-of-war between the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill and in governor’s mansions. As part of the American Rescue Plan, Biden kept the $300-a-week checks going through Sept. 6. As The New York Times reported last week, the administration has promised not to renew them, but has no plans to cancel the additional aid early.

However, many Republicans have seen enough, with 25 states having already ended the benefits starting this month.

In a Friday media briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said “that’s OK,” although the Biden administration still sees the $300 payments as an “extra helping hand.”
“Every governor is going to make their own decision,” Psaki told reporters.

That decision should become markedly easier when staring down two months of dreadful jobs reports. April is the month that sticks out; that’s when economists were expecting a million new jobs and the total was 278,000. And let’s not forget May. The 559,000 jobs added still came in below expectations of 675,000 jobs. Let’s also not forget that a roaring economy was set to be a Democratic talking point going into 2022.

Even though the Biden administration inherited a strong economy before lockdowns shuttered businesses, and even though the beginning of mass vaccinations was felicitously timed with Biden’s inauguration, the massive bounceback the White House was counting on hasn’t quite happened yet. But the weekly $300 checks have nothing to do with it, they swear. After all, who wouldn’t choose the dignity of work over getting paid to sit on the couch?

It isn’t just Shalanda Young making this argument — during the May 7 media briefing on the April jobs numbers, Biden claimed “most middle-class, working-class people that I know think the way my dad did.
“He used to say — and I know I’m repeating myself, but I’m going to continue to because I think it’s critical. ‘A job is a lot more than a paycheck,’ he’d say. ‘Joey, it’s about your respect, your dignity, your place in the community.’ More than a paycheck. It’s people’s pride. It’s about being able to look at your child in the eye and say, ‘Honey, it’s going to be OK.’”

I know, empurpled prose like that makes the tears well up in your eyes. However, if you stay at home for $23 an hour instead of working for $15 an hour, it’s a lot easier to look your child in the eye and say, “Honey, it’s going to be OK.” Yes, a job might be “people’s pride.” It’s not the kind of pride that goeth before the fall, but it’s the kind of pride that, in this case, goeth before making considerably less money for doing actual work.

Now, was Graham making a rhetorical point, throwing his family under the bus, or both? Whatever the case, one hopes they — as well as millions of other Americans — get off the dole with all due rapidity.

In a country where anyone over 12 can get a vaccine with ease and employers are desperately looking for workers, the federal government needn’t be throwing $300 a week at the unemployed in the name of recovery.

ABOUT THE COMMENTATOR:

C. Douglas Golden, Contributor,

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he’s written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.@CillianZeal

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‘Open brawl’: House Dems rip Rep. Omar for equating US, Israel, and Hamas — with some reportedly calling her an ‘anti-Semite.’ Omar claps back.

Reported by NEWS CHRIS FIELD | June 10, 2021

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) upset a lot of people this week when she equated the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban. It turns out it wasn’t just Republicans who are calling her out for her remarks. A dozen of her fellow U.S. House Democrats issued a statement Wednesday night criticizing her statements. And now a report has surfaced that the split between Omar and Democratic caucus is more significant than previously reported, with some Democratic lawmakers reportedly calling her an “anti-Semite” privately.

What did Omar say?

In a Monday tweet, Omar claimed the U.S., Israel, Hamas, and the Taliban have all committed “unthinkable atrocities” and human rights abuses.

“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” she said.

The tweet included a clip of Omar questioning Secretary of State Antony Blinken how those who perpetrate human rights abuses — including, she said, Hamas, the Taliban, and Israeli security forces — will be held accountable. Omar’s tweets and questions for Blinken came in the wake of thousands of Hamas rocket attacks against Israel in May, to which Israel responded with targeted air strikes. During the conflict, Omar accused Israel of committing war crimes.

How did her Democratic critics respond?

On Wednesday, 12 Democratic representatives, led by Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider, issued a statement condemning Omar’s accusations.

“Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided,” the statement began. “Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits one’s intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice.”
“The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups,” the dozen Democrats concluded. “We urge Congresswoman Omar to clarify her words placing the US and Israel in the same category as Hamas and the Taliban.”

Schneider was joined by Democratic Reps. Jake Auchincloss (Mass.), Ted Deutch (Fla.), Lois Frankel (Fla.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Elaine Luria (Va.), Kathy Manning (N.C.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Dean Phillips (Minn.), Kim Schrier (Wa.), Brad Sherman (Calif.), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.).

Things, however, are reportedly worse than even that statement let on.

According to Punchbowl News, the fallout from Omar’s actions “has erupted into an open brawl” and the “fight threatens to leave a deep divide among Democrats.” It could even cost Omar her seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Punchbowl reported that a group of Jewish Democratic lawmakers met on a call Wednesday and were listening to a speaker address concerns about the right’s anti-Semitism. The discussion, however, “quickly turned to Omar’s recent remarks and what they should do in response.”

This is not the first time Democrats have had to contend with Omar’s anti-Semitic rhetoric, the outlet noted, citing the March 2019 anti-bigotry resolution the House was forced to pass in response to her multiple contentious statements. Apparently, Omar’s schtick is wearing on some of her liberal colleagues, as a “number of Omar’s fellow Democrats believe Omar is an anti-Semite,” Punchbowl reported, “even if they don’t say so publicly.”

Omar claps back

The left-wing Minnesota lawmaker did not take kindly to the Democrats’ Wednesday statement about her latest remarks. She went on Twitter to rip her fellow lawmakers for their “islamophobic tropes” and their “constant harassment & silencing.”

“It’s shameful for colleagues who call me when they need my support to now put out a statement asking for ‘clarification’ and not just call,” she said. “The islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable.”

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – McFlation

A.F. BRANCO on June 11, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-mcflation/

Biden and the Democrat’s policies of paying people not to work are driving up wages and causing inflation.

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Biden’s G-7 Trip Gets Off to Bad Start as Lawmaker Says He’s ‘Senile,’ ‘Won’t Remember’ What He’s Told

June 10, 2021

Reported by Kipp Jones | June 10, 2021

Remember when the establishment media told us that our friends and foes across the world were collectively laughing at us when former President Donald Trump was running the show? Some of those people are certainly laughing now — if they aren’t fuming.

One British politician reportedly called President Joe Biden “senile” this week as he makes his first trip abroad as commander in chief to attend a G-7 summit in the U.K. The Sun reported that the globalist Democrat has already ruffled some feathers in Britain, sticking his nose into a dispute involving Brexit, the European Union and sausage.

Basically, the EU does not allow chilled meats to be imported into member nations, and Britain is no longer a member of the EU. The U.K. is unwilling to enforce a sausage blockade on Northern Ireland, so multiple parties find themselves at odds over pork.

Enter Biden, who can’t even manage an international border on this side of the pond. The president expressed “great concern” over Britain’s handling of the trade disagreement, according to The Times, and ordered the top American diplomat in the U.K. to essentially censure London — siding with the EU in doing so.

One member of Parliament — described by Politico only as a “conservative Brexiteer” — had harsh words for Biden on Thursday.

“America should remember who their allies are,” the MP said. “Unfortunately he’s so senile that he probably won’t remember what we tell him anyway. Unless an aide is listening I’m not sure he’s going to remember for very long.”

Trump ally and Brexit leader Nigel Farage also ripped Biden.

“We now have an anti-British US President in the White House. I hope all those who condemned Trump see their stupidity,” Farage tweeted.

If our friends have such nice things to say about Biden, imagine what our enemies are saying about him behind closed doors. In a matter of months, Biden has mismanaged this country’s affairs to the point where our southern border is the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis, inflation is skyrocketing and unemployed Americans are being paid to sit at home while businesses face a labor shortage.

One could make the compelling case that Biden isn’t qualified to weigh in on an overseas sausage dispute. The Brits certainly don’t need any input from a 78-year-old Democrat from Delaware.

The president’s bumbling, combined with Vice President Kamala Harris’ disastrous visit to Mexico and Central America earlier this week, makes the Biden administration 0 for 2 on international trips. The pair should cut their losses while they still have a shred of credibility left at home and abroad.

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Christian alternative to Boy Scouts sees growth amid pandemic, 70% more new members in 2021

Reported By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Wednesday, June 09, 2021

A youth scouting group formed in response to the controversial changes within the Boy Scouts of America has reported an increase in the number of chapters during the pandemic. Trail Life USA, launched in 2014 and headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is reporting dozens of new chapters and more than 30,000 members.

Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock told The Christian Post that 65 new troops have been created thus far in 2021, with over 100 in the process of being chartered.

“So far this year, we have seen a 70% increase in new members over this time last year and a 30% increase over the same period the prior year,” explained Hancock.
“Just this year, we have seen over 65 new troops started as men across the nation have stepped up to lead and make a difference in the lives of boys in their churches, their families, and their communities.”

The launching of Trail Life USA came partly in response to the Boy Scouts voting in 2013 to allow openly gay males to become scouts while maintaining the organization’s ban on openly gay scout leaders. This change prompted many churches — a significant source of support for the Boy Scouts — to sever their ties with the prominent scouting organization. Later, the Boy Scouts announced further changes, such as allowing openly gay scout leaders in 2015. BSA also expanded membership to include girls, prompting a lawsuit from the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

Hancock told CP that Trail Life membership initially “came largely from individuals who had participated in the Boy Scouts” and “churches have come to see Trail Life as a distinct program.”
“Trail Life USA is not just a program that meets at the Church. We are a ministry of the Church,” said Hancock. “We are not an outdoor program that incorporates a Christian experience. We are, at our core, a Christ-centered program that utilizes the outdoors to draw boys and their families into a closer relationship with their Creator.”
“It is a significant distinction, and we are seeing unprecedented growth. Churches are attracted to our model as a means to engage men, connect fathers and sons, impact families and grow the Church.”

Reports of Trail Life’s growth amid the coronavirus pandemic come as the Christian scouting group recently held its National Backyard Concert and Campout event. An estimated 20,000 people took part in the event, according to Hancock. An additional 15,000 people watched the broadcasted event during Memorial Day Weekend.

“The past year was a difficult time for kids and families across the country. As Trail Life USA, we realized that boys would need a safe outlet for their rough-and-tumble, adventurous nature,” explained Hancock.
“Many people appreciated our approach, and we saw growth last year. As things have begun to open up this year, families are flocking to the program.”

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Texas creates ‘1836 Project’ to teach ‘patriotic education,’ ‘Christian heritage’

Reported By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Thursday, June 10, 2021

student, books, library — **Unsplash/Banter Snaps**

Texas has passed a law creating an “1836 Project” aimed at promoting values considered fundamental to state identity, as well as the launching of an advisory committee aimed at promoting “patriotic education.”

Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 2497 earlier this week, saying in a statement posted to Twitter that “we must never forget why Texas became so exceptional in the first place.”

“The 1836 Project promotes patriotic education about Texas and ensures that the generations to come understand Texas values,” said Abbott. “Every newcomer to Texas who gets a driver’s license will also get a pamphlet that outlines Texas’ rich history.”
“The law also establishes the Gubernatorial 1836 Award to recognize students’ knowledge of the founding documents about Texas history.”

Lucy Meckler, campaign manager for the Next Generation Texas initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told The Christian Post that she supported the new law, calling it “a unique and robust way to educate Texans on our state’s founding principles, rich history, and diverse culture.”

“[The 1836 Project ensures] that all voices have the ability to participate in the creation and dispersing of Texas history and civics education to the public,” Meckler said.
“At a time when our state is struggling with a civic literacy crisis and growing rapidly in population, it is more important than ever to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to learn about what makes this state so great.”

According to the law, the advisory committee will have nine members who are “reflective of the diversity of the state,” with the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House each picking three people to serve a two-year term.

Topics that the project is expected to promote under Texas history will include: “the indigenous peoples of this state, the Spanish and Mexican heritage of this state, Tejanos, the African American heritage of this state, the Texas War for Independence, Juneteenth, annexation of Texas by the United States, the Christian heritage of this state, and this state’s heritage of keeping and bearing firearms in defense of life and liberty and for use in hunting.”

greg abbott — **Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas, U.S., June 6, 2017. | (Photo: REUTERS/Jon Herskovitz)**

Critics of the Texas law include Valerie Street, president of the Texas Progressive Action Network, who told CP that she considered it “an unnecessary piece of legislation.”

“Texas state history is already part of public school curriculum,” she said. “We agree wholeheartedly with the need for Texas students to be given opportunities to deepen their knowledge of history.”

“Our hope, however, is that the history we provide in our schools be full, accurate and whole and we share concerns that our state is still struggling to overcome a tendency toward the whitewashing of that history and a failure to bring in the lesser-heard, lesser-known perspectives that are just as integral a part of our story.”

EDUCATION DESIGNED BY THE RADICAL LEFT

Regarding the criticism of the 1836 Project, Meckler told CP that the law “does not gloss over Texas’ unique history but instead embraces it.”

“In addition, the bill specifically mentions that ‘The 1836 Project is composed of nine members reflective of the diversity of the state,’ ensuring that all voices have the ability to participate in the creation and dispersing of Texas history and civics education to the public,” Meckler said.

The name alludes to “The 1619 Project,” a New York Times Magazine series of essays arguing that slavery continues to influence the United States in various ways. While many pundits and scholars have critiqued the 1619 Project for its historic inaccuracies, it nevertheless has been featured in the curricula of some public school districts throughout the country. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the reporter who headed the project, said in a series of Twitter posts last year that it was “not a history” but rather a challenge to “the national narrative.”

“The crazy thing is, the 1619 Project is using history and reporting to make an argument. It never pretended to be a history,” she tweeted at the time. “We explicitly state our aims and produced a series of essays. Critique was always expected, but the need to discredit it speaks to something else.”

On Wednesday, The Washinton Times reported that the U.S. Department of Education has been “inundated” with over 35,000 complaints in response to the Biden administration’s plan to urge K-12 schools to teach the 1619 Project and critical race theory.

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Employer says he has stopped hiring Ivy League grads: They’re too ‘woke,’ too ‘self-important,’ or have been trained to stay silent when it matters

Reported by NEWS PHIL SHIVER | June 09, 2021

For decades, nay centuries, America’s elite universities have produced some of the brightest minds and most influential citizens. And even those Ivy League graduates whose names did not end up in history books could count on one coveted benefit of higher education: landing a good job. But now even that might be changing, according to a hiring manager for a popular magazine.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal on Monday, R.R. Reno, editor of First Things, a well-known religious public policy magazine, explained he has largely stopped hiring graduates from Ivy League schools because they’re either too “woke,” too “self-important,” or have been trained to stay silent when it matters.

“A decade ago I relished the opportunity to employ talented graduates of Princeton, Yale, Harvard and the rest. Today? Not so much,” Reno began before elucidating his point with a story about a student strike that took place last year at his alma mater, Haverford College, a place he described as similar to Harvard.

He recalled that concerns over “antiblackness” and the “erasure of marginalized voices” culminated in an all-college Zoom meeting that accomplished little besides outing the “thin-skinned narcissism and naked aggression” of many of the students — qualities that do not make for effective employees. On the flip side, he argued, for every outspoken student activist, there are many more who refuse to speak up when it counts:

If students can be traumatized by “insensitivity” on that leafy campus, then they’re unlikely to function as effective team members in an organization that has to deal with everyday realities. And in any event, I don’t want to hire someone who makes inflammatory accusations at the drop of a hat.
Student activists don’t represent the majority of students. But I find myself wondering about the silent acquiescence of most students. They allow themselves to be cowed by charges of racism and other sins. I sympathize. The atmosphere of intimidation in elite higher education is intense. But I don’t want to hire a person well-practiced in remaining silent when it costs something to speak up.

Reno compared the hostile environment at many elite college campuses to the “dhimmitude” of many Christians and Jews living in Muslim societies, or the “mentality of those who have internalized their second-class status.“

Yet the students who counter and repel the environment have their issues, too, according to Reno:

Some resist. They would seem ideal for my organization, which aims to speak for religious and social conservatives. But even this kind of graduate brings liabilities to the workplace. I’ve met recent Ivy grads with conservative convictions who manifest a form of posttraumatic stress disorder. Others have developed a habit of aggressive counterpunching that is no more appealing in a young employee than the ruthless accusations of the woke.

As an overarching theme, students educated at Ivy League-type schools have been “socialized to panic over pseudocrises,” he lamented. They navel-gaze about “diversity,” “inclusion,” and other abstract ideas rather than put their nose to the grind on real work.

Reno says he now seeks graduates from smaller, lesser-known — though more dependable — private institutions or from larger state universities or their satellite schools.

The underlying problem for Ivy League students, he suggests, is more than likely a deficit of good role models. Notwithstanding, the result certainly appears to be unproductive employees.

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Voting Rights: It’s ‘Racist’ Not to Let Democrats Cheat

Ann Coulter | Posted: Jun 09, 2021

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Voting Rights: It's 'Racist' Not to Let Democrats Cheat

Source: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Why aren’t Republicans screaming from the rooftops about the Democrats’ plans to change voting rules to give themselves an advantage? Their sleazy election bills, HR 1, the “For the People Act,” and HR 4, the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” are intended to help Democrats win majorities in both houses of Congress, at which point they will ignore Republicans entirely, end the filibuster, and pass everything in AOC’s Dream Journal — amnesty, gun control, a wealth tax, and a rainbows and unicorns energy bill.

So it’s kind of important for Republicans to kill these bills in the crib. It shouldn’t be hard. All they have to do is tell people what’s in them.

Are Republicans counting on Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to save them? The GOP defeated Hillary Care in the 1990s far more decisively … then it came roaring back a few years later as Obamacare.

Currently, Manchin opposes the For the People bill, but supports the even more execrable John Lewis bill. Both will completely rewrite state election laws to favor Democrats, but at least For the People will be done by Congress. The John Lewis bill will give unelected bureaucrats at the Justice Department vast power to impose voting rules on the states. Based on previous such exercises of unaccountable power, 10-year-olds will soon have the right to vote. (See Title IX.)

Unless Republicans agree to ludicrous voting rules that give Democrats a partisan advantage, they’re racist. That’s the full argument. Republicans are trying to “suppress the vote” of black and brown people! John Lewis risked his life for the right to vote!

If that’s why Republicans don’t want to talk about these bills, they better get used to it. They’re going to be called “racist” a lot more if that’s all it takes to stifle the opposition.

Of course, Democrats’ own voters respond to John Lewis’ touching story by saying, Good for him, but — when is the election again? Tuesday? Yeah, that’s not going to be convenient for me.

And that’s the nub of the problem. The Democrats have a lot of what we call “unmotivated voters.” Risk their lives to vote? They won’t risk missing a couple hours of TV.

These are people who don’t pay attention to the news (that’s why they’re Democrats); don’t speak English (that’s why they’re Democrats); or don’t have a fully developed pre-frontal cortex because they’re under the age of 26 (that’s why they’re Democrats). And so on.

Consequently, Democrats have to mobilize armies of volunteers to carry their voters on gurneys to the polls on Election Day.

Wouldn’t it be easier if they had a few months to get their voters to the polls? What if their voters didn’t have to show up at all?

Why, yes! That would be much easier.

This is why the For the People bill mandates universal mail-in voting. Asking people to show up to vote is a dirty trick to “rig our democracy,” according to the left-wing group Indivisible. Litter the countryside with mail-in ballots months before an election — or you’re a Nazi.

In fact, apart from a worldwide pandemic, there’s no reason for mail-in voting. Studies show it increases voter turnout only modestly. But mail-in voting sure presents a lot of opportunities for fraud! It’s almost like Democrats consider that a feature, not a bug.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Election Data and Science Lab cited two main avenues for mail-in ballot fraud:

— “First, the ballot is cast outside the public eye, and thus the opportunities for coercion and voter impersonation are greater.”

In other words, instead of filling out a secret ballot in the presence of election officials, you will be out and about, at home, at the office, at the ballpark with your ballot, able to prove to others how you voted — to impress them, or perhaps because you’re being paid or threatened. And that’s assuming it’s you holding the ballot.

— “Second, the transmission path for [mail-in] ballots is not as secure as traditional in-person ballots. These concerns relate both to ballots being intercepted and ballots being requested without the voter’s permission.”

Not to worry! The Democrats deal with the possibility of imposters requesting mail-in ballots by … prohibiting the states from requesting voter I.D.

Huh, that’s odd. If you wanted to ensure that only eligible voters are voting, wouldn’t you want to — oh wait, I see.

Liberals will not rest until convicted felons — a key Democratic constituency — are fully participating members of our democracy. Or at least have ballots that can be filled out for them.

Unfortunately, some of our more unenlightened states believe that a person who has been convicted of violating society’s laws should be denied the right to choose who writes them. The For the People bill fixes that by forcing states to give felons the right to vote.

Speaking of felons, the For the People Act requires states to automatically register people to vote whenever they provide information to state agencies, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, public universities, and, off the top of my head, state welfare bureaucracies, unemployment offices and prison facilities.

That’s a lot of ballots for Democratic volunteers to mine!

In 1994, in response to the stalking and murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by a crazed fan who got her address through the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Congress passed the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, prohibiting state DMVs from releasing personal information to the public. One of the main sponsors was Sen. Barbara Boxer, who recited case after case of women stalked, harassed, raped and killed by men who had tracked their victims with information provided by the DMV.

With the automatic voter registration in the For the People bill, federal law would require states to release that information. Simply by getting a driver’s license or unemployment benefits, your name, address and phone number would be available to your stalker through the voting rolls. (Also to bill collectors, parole officers, process servers, etc.) Voter registration lists are publicly available for electioneering purposes.

The Democrats’ “voting rights” bill is a stalkers’ delight. But at least no one will have his vote “suppressed” by having to engage in the monstrously difficult task of registering to vote or showing up on Election Day. Your choice, America: A few pesky stalkers kill their victims, or Democrats call you “racist.”

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Special Ed

A.F. BRANCO on June 10, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-special-ed/

Critical Race Theory is unconstitutional but that doesn’t stop public schools from teaching.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT June 9, 2021

June 9, 2021

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Georgia Poll Manager: There Were ‘Pristine’ Biden Ballots That Looked Like They’d Been Xeroxed

Reported by Taylor Penley June 8, 2021 at 4:21pm

Suzi Voyles is no stranger to elections. And after monitoring voting in Atlanta-area Fulton County, Georgia, for two decades, Voyles said that the highly contentious 2020 election proved to be unlike any other. Voyles testified that as she thumbed through a stack of mail-in ballots last November, strangely “pristine” ballots printed on stock paper different from the others seized her attention.

What did these ballots have in common?

Voyles testified that each ballot contained uniformly filled-in ovals, and every one presented an identical crescent-shaped “void” inside them — indicating the ballots weren’t filled in with pencil or pen, but rather by toner ink.

“Every single ballot was absolutely identical and they appeared to be printed with some sort of marking device,” Voyles said. “And the fact that there was a little eclipse in an oval that was void in exactly the same spot in all these ballots, we didn’t see any differentiation — even when it came to the Senate candidates or when it came to some of the referendums on the back.”

“Everything was precisely the same. I’ve never seen that before in 20 years,” Voyles said. She added that these suspicious ballots had no creases or folds indicative of other mail-in ballots extracted from envelopes.

Voyles wasn’t alone in her testimony.

According to RealClear Investigations, at least three other Fulton County poll workers reported that they encountered the same enigma in other stacks of absentee ballots and have joined Voyles in “swearing under penalty of perjury that [the ballots] looked fake.”

Eight months later, we see the same suspicion resurging in the Republican stronghold that unexpectedly flipped blue for the first time since 1992. Using affidavits to convince a state judge to warrant a closer inspection of ballots for potential illicit election activity, election integrity advocates assert that Biden’s late surge of 12,000 votes was manufactured — and for good reason.

“We have what is almost surely major absentee-ballot fraud in Fulton County involving 10,000 to 20,000 probably false ballots,” Garland Favorito, poll watcher and a lead petitioner in the case against fraudulent ballots, told RealClear Investigations.
“We have confirmed that there are five pallets of shrink-wrapped ballots in a county warehouse,” he added, reiterating his claim.

As questions surrounding the legitimacy of the 2020 election outcome continued in Georgia, as well as other states, Superior Court Judge Brian Amero ordered on May 21 that 147,000 ballots be unsealed and asked that officials guard the warehouse containing these ballots until an inspection date could be set, according to the report. Unfortunately, the warehouse’s security was breached only eight days later. According to Favorito, “The front door was [found] unlocked and wide open in violation of the court order.”

County officials did confirm that security motion detectors were triggered shortly after deputies left the premises, but said the room containing the ballots was “never breached or compromised.”

Still, Favorito — and likely many others — would not be convinced and Favorito seeks to obtain security footage to supplement the investigation, the report states.

Still, all of the contention brewing in the Peach State appears to reaffirm many suspicions that have arisen since Nov. 3 — and may validate Voyle’s bombshell claims. We can’t allow our officials to ignore their obligation to ensure fair, ethical elections for all Americans.

If we do, we have surrendered the most integral aspect of our republic.

Taylor Penley, Contributor, Commentary

Taylor Penley is a government relations intern and student studying English, rhetoric and global studies. She plans to graduate in May 2021 and begin a master of arts program in political science this fall.

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Flashback: Gerald Ford’s Eerie Prediction Could Soon Come True for Kamala Harris

Commentary by Brett Kershaw | June 9, 2021

If any former president had access to an operational time machine, it may have been former President Gerald Ford.

But his foresight would not focus on the degradation of America’s international standing or the fiscal ramifications of stagflation and untethered federal spending. Rather, it would deal with how America would elect, or more precisely, promote the first female president.

When Ford visited the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa, on Oct. 18, 1989 — approximately a decade after leaving office — he was given the special chance to share with the nation’s youth the role that former presidents played in American society, after they departed from the presidency.

In this setting, the former president did not have to worry about ditching and dodging around the biting journalistic questions of the day. Instead, he was asked by one young girl, “What advice would you give a young lady wanting to become president of the United States?”

With a smile, the former president opened with, “Well I hope we do have a young lady at some point become president of the United States.” His following description would appear as if the 38th president was a part-time Nostradamus.

“I can tell you how I think it will happen because it won’t happen in the normal course of events.”

“Either the Republican or Democrat political party will nominate a man for president and a woman for vice president. And the woman and man will win, so you’ll end up with a president — a male — and a vice president — a female,” he said.

“In that term of office of the president, the president will die and the woman will become president under the law or Constitution,” Ford said, in an unknowingly foreboding sense.

Taking a quick look at the current administration, it may appear Ford was onto something.

At various times, President Joe Biden has slipped up — as he is known to do on occasion — and indicate that Vice President Kamala Harris is, in fact, his “president-elect” or “President Harris.”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ngjX4g79lK8?feature=oembedAdvertisement – story continues below

Could Ford’s fortune-telling be correct?

There are a few pathways by which the vice president could become president. In the case of an assassination or resignation, the 25th Amendment gives the vice president the authority to take the role of the executive. In other cases, the mechanism of impeachment and removal gives Congress the means to check a president’s bad behavior.

Absent a popularly held election, however, it would be interesting to see how the American people would react to a Harris presidency, as conservatives, libertarians and even some progressives and liberals have voiced their concerns over her authoritarian record.

After former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii highlighted Harris’ record as attorney general and prosecutor at a Democratic presidential debate in 2019, much of the country recoiled upon hearing that she forced prisoners to stay past their sentences and purposely hid evidence of innocence for a man sitting on death row.

As a Washington grifter, Harris’ actions do not often win the hearts and minds of the American people.

President Ford, nonetheless, left those young visitors with one last message.

“Once that barrier is broken, from then on men better be careful because they’ll have a hard, hard time ever even getting a nomination in the future.”

With everyone’s eyes set on 2024, it may be time for the guys to watch out.

Brett Kershaw, Associate Staff Writer

Brett Kershaw is an associate staff writer for The Western Journal. A graduate of Virginia Tech with bachelor of arts degrees in political science and history, he is a published author who often studies political philosophy and political history.

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Daniel Horowitz Op-ed: KY judge rules Gov. Beshear’s COVID, mask orders unconstitutional in breakthrough lawsuit

Commentary by DANIEL HOROWITZ | June 09, 2021

It took 15 months for a judge to finally apply the Constitution against the most severe and arbitrary violations of our most basic civil liberties, but it’s better late than never.Fearless with Jason Whitlock

On Tuesday, Boone County, Kentucky, Circuit Judge Richard A. Brueggemann issued a permanent injunction against all of Gov. Andy Beshear’s COVID restrictions, including the mask mandate. Unlike the few judicial victories for civil liberties over the past year, this one was broad and sweeping, as it declared these mandates unconstitutional. In granting declaratory relief to a store owner who didn’t want to enforce masks on customers, Judge Brueggemann ruled that “all emergency orders imposed by said Defendants, or that are being continued by said Defendants, are unconstitutional, void and without any legal effect.”

Although Gov. Beshear planned to let the mask mandate expire on Friday anyway, this ruling is still significant because it finally lays down the marker that such mandates are unconstitutional headed forward. The problem champions of civil liberties have had in recent weeks is that, with expiring mandates, many of the lawsuits were dismissed as moot, denying them the opportunity to prevent such restrictions form being implemented in the future, say, for the flu season.

It was somewhat defensible for judges to give leeway for the 15 days or so of the pandemic last March, but shortly thereafter, it became apparent that the situation was no longer emergent and that the restrictions netted absolutely no results in slowing the pandemic. As such, at some point, judges should have held hearings on the facts and evidence behind mask mandates and other restrictions and subjected them to an interest balancing test against the fundamental rights those restrictions infringed upon. The rights to bodily integrity and free movement have long been held as the most grounded fundamental rights that require strict scrutiny of any attempted state-imposed restriction on them.

Judge Brueggemann has done just that. In this lawsuit, a restaurant owner, backed by state legislators and the state’s attorney general, claimed that the mask mandate, social distancing, capacity limitations, and time limitations for serving customers served absolutely no purpose but harming the businesses without keeping anyone safer. They also claimed that the governor violated newly passed legislation (enacted over the governor’s veto), which limited his emergency powers to 30 days and prevented him from placing restrictions on businesses. For the first time, this judge actually listened to expert testimony showing that non-pharmaceutical interventions netted zero results in stopping the virus, and he ruled accordingly.https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=BMDC6078819993

The defendants presented evidence from senior certified industrial hygienist Stephen Petty, one of the top experts in the country on exposure to hazardous materials, who served as an expert witness in approximately 400 cases relating to toxic or infectious exposure. Petty first made his national foray into the COVID mask debate on my podcast three months ago.

“He testified that both the six-foot-distancing rule, and mask mandates, are wholly ineffective at reducing the spread of this virus,” wrote Judge Brueggemann in summing up Petty’s testimony. “Masks are worthless, he explained, because they are not capable of filtering anything as small as Covid-19 aerosols. In addition, masks are not respirators and lack the limited protections that respirators can provide.”

“The Court finds the opinions expressed by Mr. Petty firmly established in logic,” concluded the judge. “The inescapable conclusion from his testimony is that ordering masks to stop Covid-19 is like putting up chain-link fencing to keep out mosquitos. The six-foot-distancing requirements fare no better.”

Moreover, the judge ruled that all of the data from neighboring states with fewer restrictions demonstrate that none of these restrictions have made a difference in the natural progression of the virus, and therefore, “the data comparison demonstrate there to be no emergency justification for continuing Governor Beshear’s orders.”

The judge also questioned the use of PCR testing as the primary means for denying people their liberties, especially given that the CDC now has a different standard of cycle thresholds for those who are vaccinated.

This invites many questions, such as why Ct values in Covid tests should differ based upon whether or not the individual being tested has been vaccinated; and, why a federal government agency has ordered labs to ‘not include Ct values on laboratory reports . . . to inform patient management,’ even though the CDC indicates that PCR Ct values should be ≤28. These are important questions. Case counts have been the poster child for the need to deprive people of their liberty.

While much of the lawsuit stemmed from the fact that the governor ignored specific bills passed by the legislature, and some states did not pass these laws, this ruling still creates the foundation for broad constitutional lawsuits against the remaining federal mandates on airplanes. This ruling establishes the fact that mask mandates can no longer withstand even a rational basis test, much less intermediate or strict scrutiny.

Aside from constitutional challenges, this ruling also forms a solid foundation for challenging these edicts – both at the federal and state levels – on grounds that they are circumventing the legislative process. The judge noted that “what has been ordered by the Governor’s emergency decrees constitute Legislation,” a charge that really applies to both the CDC and state governments.

Dr. Stack’s testimony demonstrates that he and others engage in a process of collaboration and review of CDC guidelines and other documents, the purpose of which is to impose rules on persons and businesses in Kentucky, and that in formulating these rules they tailor them to apply uniformly across the Commonwealth. This is formulating policy. He further testified that they have repeatedly amended and revised their orders, thus showing they deem to have the power to make laws and alter them at discretion. Indeed, he described the orders imposed as having a “breathtaking scope.”
It is obvious from even a cursory review that the orders issued over the past fifteen months “attempt to control” and seek “to form and determine future rights and duties” of Kentucky citizens.

Judge Brueggemann then addresses the unilateral imposition of a mask mandate by the executive branch:

These are, undeniably, attempts to control, set policy, and determine rights and duties of the citizenry. Except in those instances where the federal courts have stepped in, Defendants assert authority to modify or re-impose these orders at their sole discretion. Consider, for example, the recent modification of the mask mandate. It orders persons who did not get vaccinated for Covid-19 to wear masks but lifts that requirement for others. That is setting policy and determining future rights and duties.

Again, this charge should apply to the CDC and TSA requiring such a draconian change to one’s life without Congress enacting it (even if it were constitutional).

The lawsuit is also important in setting the standard for suing against the vaccine mandates or requirement that people wear masks unless they are vaccinated. The notion that one who is not vaccinated is a threat to one who is vaccinated is even more illogical and could not pass even a rational basis test.

We cannot afford to shy away from lawsuits and let the issue become moot even if the airplane mask mandate and vaccine mandates were ultimately dropped. The genie of wielding executive power over bodily integrity under the guise of emergency powers will not be placed back into the bottle. CNN already published an article yesterday warning without any evidence of a “doozy” of a flu season this year and how mask-wearing will help to stop it. Fauci and others have hinted at mask-wearing for the flu becoming commonplace. We must learn the lessons of the past 15 months today and begin inoculating ourselves against future tyranny now.

What the people have endured over the past fifteen months—to borrow a phrase from United States District Judge Justin R. Walker —”is something this Court never expected to see outside the pages of a dystopian novel,” concluded Judge Brueggemann. “Yet, Defendants contend that the Governor’s rule by mere emergency decree must continue indefinitely, and independent of legislative limits. In effect, Defendants seek declaratory judgment that the Constitution provides this broad power so long as he utters the word, “emergency.” It does not. For this Court to accept Defendant’s position would not be honoring its oath to support the Constitution; it would be tantamount to a coup d ‘état against it.

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Family of 8-year-old killed by ‘armed vigilantes’ during BLM protests sues Atlanta, its mayor, and others

Reported by NEWS PHIL SHIVER | June 08, 2021

The heartbroken family of Secoriea Turner — an 8-year-old girl who was shot and killed by spray gunfire during Black Lives Matter protests in Atlanta last year — has filed a lawsuit against the city, its mayor, and other officials. In the complaint filed in Fulton County State Court on Monday, Turner’s grieving parents alleged that city leaders failed to protect their daughter amid the violent riots that rocked the city in the aftermath of Rayshard Brooks’ death.

The complaint cited numerous failures by city leaders, “including that they were negligent in their duties by failing to remove armed vigilantes who had gathered alongside peaceful protesters at the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“We are forced to live through this day by day,” Secoriea’s mother, Charmaine Turner, said during a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “We deserve justice. Someone needs to be held accountable.”

“There is no dispute that this little girl was innocent — that this family was innocent, did nothing wrong. On their way home, and they lost their little one,” attorney Shean D. Williams of the Cochran Firm, which is representing the family, added.

Secoriea, who was a rising third-grader, was tragically killed on July 4 when she and her mother encountered a group of armed rioters who had blocked a street near where Brooks was killed. Police said the rioters opened fire on the vehicle as it tried to drive around the blockade, sending eight bullets into the car and striking Secoriea in the back. News of her death made national headlines, especially after the young girl’s parents delivered an impassioned rebuke of the killers following her death.

“They say black lives matter,” the girl’s father, Secoriya Williamson, said during a news conference. “You killed your own this time. … You killed a child. She didn’t do nothing to nobody.”

"They say Black Lives Matter. You killed your own." Secoriya Williamson, father of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, addressed the public during a press conf. today after his daughter was shot and killed last night while riding in a car w/ her mother in Southeast Atlanta. @11AliveNews pic.twitter.com/odowRbSXsq
— Natisha Lance (@NatishaLance) July 5, 2020

“She was only 8 years old,” the girl’s mother said before breaking down in tears. “She would have been on TikTok dancing on her phone, just got done eating. We understand the frustration of Rayshard Brooks. We didn’t have anything to do with that. We’re innocent. My baby didn’t mean no harm.”

According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the complaint requests that the family receive financial compensation “in an amount to be determined” and a jury trial “on all claims so triable.”

The crime occurred during a wave of elevated violence in the city. In the aftermath, residents have been calling on city leaders to take aggressive action to protect the public.

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Killing The Dream

A.F. BRANCO on June 9, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-killing-the-dream/

The Left is pushing Critical Race Theory the very opposite of MLK’s Dream of being judged not “by the color of our skin but the content of our Character”.

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Merrick Garland Creates Task Force To Combat Transnational Human Trafficking

June 8, 2021

Reported by SEBASTIAN HUGHES, CONTRIBUTOR | June 07, 2021

Attorney General Merrick Garland Announces Justice Department will begin Investigation Into The Practices of the Louisville Police Department

(Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the creation of a task force Monday to combat transnational human trafficking in Central America. The task force, titled Joint Task Force Alpha, is intended to target the most frequent and egregious human smuggling offenders in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico, according to the announcement. Both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will team up to address the issue.

The effort will use the expertise of numerous federal prosecutors stationed along the southwest border to assist its counterparts in the Northern Triangle and Mexico, according to the statement. The FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will also aid the task force.

“We will take action to identify smugglers and their associates to ensure that we enhance the security of the U.S. border,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to the statement.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei deliver a joint press conference at the Culture Palace in Guatemala City on June 7, 2021. – (Photo by JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

“We will work with local law enforcement to stop these crimes,” Vice President Kamala Harris said of the task force during a joint press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei Monday.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered 178,622 people attempting to cross the border into the United States in April, a 3% rise from March, according to the agency. The Biden administration has also announced plans to provide $861 million in aid to Central American countries to spur economic growth in the region and stem the flow of migration.

In the past 10 years, Guatemala has received more than $1.6 billion in aid from the U.S., but poverty has only increased in the country. Guatemala leads the world in the number of unaccompanied minors attempting to enter the U.S. in 2021, with 18,372 encountered between January and March.

“Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border,” Harris said.

Harris will travel to Mexico City Tuesday to speak with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. They will similarly seek to address the issue of human smuggling and the lack of opportunity in the region, according to NPR.

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Jason Whitlock Op-ed: Faith conquers fear, powers the American dream, and fuels my Blaze Media project

Commentary by JASON WHITLOCK | June 08, 2021

In the absence of religious faith, fear reigns and freedom recedes.

Discerning the origin of the current, fear-based American social climate is not difficult. Don’t blame scientists in China for releasing the angst virus assaulting traditional American liberties. Blame the tech engineers operating in Silicon Valley laboratories. They invented the social media apps that amplify fear and empower “cancel culture,” the nuclear weapons dislodging America from its Judeo-Christian values.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey are Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Douglas S. MacArthur ending America’s 60-year culture war with an unparalleled bombing campaign. What started with President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative is closing with repression of speech, corporate media propaganda, and an evisceration of America’s Judeo-Christian ethos.

Facebook and Twitter finished the mission of turning America secular, godless, and shamelessly immoral. The apps allegedly intended to bring us together have torn us apart. We should not be surprised. The apps urge self-worship, celebrity worship, and consumerism, which lead to hedonism, idolatry, and materialism. A secular society always produces chaos and division.

Photo courtesy Jason Whitlock

Branded as racists, Uncle Toms, coons, homophobes, transphobes, hypocrites, and misogynists, American Christians fear publicly identifying themselves by their faith. They’ve placed their political identity and racial identity above their religious identity. They’re conservatives. Or Republicans. Or nationalists, both white and black. Or libertarians. Or liberals. Or social justice activists. Or, worse, Trump supporters and Trump resisters.

They avoid saying the name that made John Brown and Frederick Douglass abolitionists, compelled Thomas Jefferson to write that “all men are created equal,” comforted Union soldiers during the Civil War, and inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. They avoid directly referring to the name that made America great in the first place, the name that forced us to overcome our superficial differences and transform those differences into our greatest strength.

Jesus.

He’s been canceled, crucified by a toxic secular culture that bullies His believers with threats to expose their sins on the Satan-con Valley social media platforms and/or the Satan-con Valley-catering corporate media outlets.

Photo courtesy Jason Whitlock. Jason Whitlock (left) and his brother James (right) sit together on Easter Sunday in 1974.

Fear is the enemy of truth, freedom, and the American dream.

I signed a contract to partner with Blaze Media on a digital media project dedicated to pushing back against the corporate-supported, systematic effort to undermine America through racial division and fear. I joined Blaze Media because I wanted to partner with people who wouldn’t look at me funny when I referred to Jesus as part of my journalistic worldview and platform. I joined Blaze Media because Glenn Beck smiled when I said Jesus is the only solution for what ails America, because Steve Deace wears his faith publicly, and so do Phil Robertson, Allie Beth Stuckey, and others.

I am not a sports journalist-turned-preacher. I’m not a finger-wagging hypocrite looking down on the people who don’t share my beliefs. I’m a sinner. I’m the same guy who wrote hilarious Pussy Galore columns for Fox Sports, the same guy who used to waste his time and money drinking and carousing inside the Spearmint Rhino in Las Vegas, Tootsie’s in Miami, Diamond Joe’s in Kansas City, and Magic City in Atlanta.

I’m someone who knows that in order for me to make better decisions — in all aspects of my life — I need Jesus. I’m someone who recognizes that any success I’ve achieved in a 30-year career is a byproduct of the values my grandmother, a tiny church in Indianapolis, my parents, and my siblings instilled in me as a young boy. My testimony is amazing. It’s further evidence of the power of faith and the availability of the American dream.

My brand and approach to journalism and broadcasting are fearless. My courage is rooted in faith.

Photo courtesy Jason Whitlock

Fear is destroying America. It locked us in our homes, forced us to cover our faces, and forbade us to worship together for more than a year. It stole freedoms we took for granted. It allowed Colin Kaepernick to polarize our national anthem. It turned rare incidents of deadly police misconduct into a fictional genocidal pandemic. It spawned race hoaxes and a generation of race-baiting grifters. It diminished sports’ ability to unify.

That’s why we are launching the Fearless platform, which will start with my show, “Fearless with Jason Whitlock,” and a second podcast showcasing my friendship with my right-hand man, “Uncle Jimmy” (Dodds), and will eventually include a Fearless writing vertical.

We’re going to fight back. We’re going to be the abolitionists of fear. From my new hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, we’re joining hands with Beck, Deace, Robertson, Mark Levin, Steven Crowder, Dave Rubin, Allie Beth Stuckey, and the rest of Blaze Media to stand as an example of what Americans can accomplish when we put our differences aside and work together.

On the surface, Fearless will look a little different from the rest of the Blaze Media family. But our love of country will be just as strong, our appreciation for this nation’s founding documents just as sincere, and our search for liberating truths just as intense.

The 400-year African American journey is this nation’s most compelling and powerful narrative. It’s proof the American dream is real and attainable. That’s why our adversaries abroad and within are perverting, manipulating, and weaponizing the African American narrative. Black Americans’ fight for freedom made the United States live up to the ideals espoused in the Declaration of Independence — the equality of man and unalienable rights bestowed by our Creator.

Our relentless pursuit of freedom was the iron that sharpened American iron.

The Chinese Communist Party knows this. The revolutionaries in Satan-con Valley know this. The editors at the New York Times know this. The trained, self-described Marxists who founded Black Lives Matter know this.

In order to destroy America, you must cripple belief in the rags-to-riches American dream and the conviction that America is a force for good. Reshaping the African American narrative into a journey that damns this nation — rather than one that illuminates our unprecedented resolve to do better — hastens our decline.

The black journey fueled American exceptionalism. The elite architects of chaos cleverly and covertly attack this obvious truth.

“Black Twitter” is not an organic construct. It’s a social media algorithm designed to paint any truth-speaking public figure as a racist or a race traitor. The New York Times’ 1619 Project isn’t journalism. It’s the companion of academia’s virus, critical race theory, propaganda designed to foster racial animus and erode black patriotism. Black Lives Matter isn’t concerned with the welfare of black men. It’s a fundraising arm of the Democratic Party and a lobbyist for the LGBTQ agenda.

The racial conflict BLM, Antifa, and social media influencers promote smokescreens a far more insidious plot — the plot to cancel Jesus and impose a cultural Marxism on the United States. Global elites prefer China’s system of authoritarian governance and worker exploitation. Backers of the Great Reset and Build Back Better prefer that America function the way China does. Jesus and communism cannot coexist. Karl Marx, the father of Marxism and the proponent of communism, explained that in his political theory.

The racial smokescreen is working. We’re losing the faux race war and surrendering the freedoms that made America the envy of the world.

We’re losing because we’ve sidelined our best soldier — Jesus. The original combatants of the Civil War drew on Jesus as their primary power source. Have you ever studied the lyrics of the Battle Hymn of the Republic?

Here’s my favorite passage:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was borne across the sea
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me
As he died to make men holy let us die to make men free
His truth is marching on
Glory, glory hallelujah

Julia Ward Howe, a white abolitionist, wrote those words in 1861. The words spurred men to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of others. Mine eyes have seen the glory of what Americans can accomplish when we come together as one nation under God, when we conquer our fears.

Your sin does not nullify your Christianity. It justifies it. Let go of that fear. Your sins, no matter what they are, do not prohibit you from speaking truth, standing on biblical principles, and being heard.

The enemies of truth, the elites rewriting history and redefining American freedom, are not silent or scared. Their immorality (sin) emboldens them. Our sin silences us. Not any more. Not if I can help it.

The mission statement of the Fearless Project is simple: We’re a digital media platform dedicated to promoting a culture of fearlessness, free speech, truth-seeking, and American patriotism. We will accomplish our mission by critiquing, lampooning, and probing the events shaping conversations around sports, race, and popular culture.

You will not have to believe what I believe to enjoy and benefit from “Fearless.” That’s the gift of a Judeo-Christian culture. It works to ensure that non-believers receive the same opportunity to pursue their dreams as everyone else.

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Frail Rider

A.F. BRANCO on June 8, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-frail-rider/

Ignoring BLM and Antifa riots, Biden says white supremacy is the biggest threat to the Homeland without any evidence.

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‘Taking back the rainbow’: Freedom March declares move of God among ex-LGBT people

June 7, 2021

Reported By Brandon Showalter, Christian Post Reporter | Monday, June 07, 2021

Freedom March 2021 DC — **Formerly LGBT-identifying men and women celebrate freedom in Jesus Christ at the Sylvan Theater in Washington, D.C., at the Freedom March on June 5, 2021. | Bree Stevens**

WASHINGTON — Men and women who once lived and identified as part of the LGBT community are confident that a “rainbow revival” is at hand. Gathered under the blazing sun with temperatures in the mid-90s at the Sylvan Theater in the shadow of the Washington Monument, approximately 200 attended the Freedom March, an event for formerly LGBT-identifying people who share testimonies of how Jesus transformed their lives.

The gathering was first held in the same location in 2018. Last year’s Freedom March was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With many sporting T-shirts decorated with rainbow flags and the words “Rainbow Revival,” march participants spoke with The Christian Post about the transforming power of Jesus.

Angel Colon, who miraculously survived after Omar Mateen shot him several times at the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in Orlando in June 2016, said the “rainbow revival” is a sign of God’s covenant.

“We are taking back the rainbow,” Colon said. “It’s His. For us, it’s something beautiful.”
“We are here and we’re loud, letting the world know that the rainbow is something beautiful,” he added. “And we shouldn’t be ashamed of what it really is.”

Colon and his compatriots are hearing from increasing numbers of people who desire to leave the LGBT life to follow Jesus, as Freedom March events have continued. He believes that the COVID-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise because it forced many to go deep with the Lord.

“Especially now during Pride month, we want to say we love you” to the LGBT community, Colon said.
“We want to tell the gay community that we love them. We don’t want to judge you or condemn you and welcome you with open arms and be a reflection of Jesus. We’re not the Holy Spirit. We don’t want to do anything but love everyone.”

Freedom March co-founder Jeffrey McCall told CP that he noticed an uptick in emails he received from people wishing to leave the LGBT life and identity behind last summer. He was especially encouraged to hear pastor Kent Christmas of Regeneration-Nashville speak prophetically at The Return intercessory prayer event in September that the Lord would bring healing and salvation to the LGBT community.

That uptick in correspondence “has never stopped since last summer,” McCall said. “We are getting more emails, more people reaching out and wanting help than we’ve ever had in the past three years,” he continued. He believes that the Church is at the beginning stage of reaching out effectively to LGBT individuals with the transformational power of life in Christ.

In some church environments in the 1980s, including the one Drew Berryessa was raised in, how homosexuality was treated was harsh and condemning. Not knowing what to do with his struggle with same-sex attraction, the Medford, Oregon-based pastor who leads A Living Letter Ministries shared from the stage how he consistently felt disqualified from God’s love.

“In 20 years of ministry to the LGBT community, I know there are many people that they were Christians, that they loved Jesus in their childhood, but they just felt disqualified from His love and grace and redemption because of what they experienced,” he told CP.
“And I’m here to say — and I know that we all are — that the blood of Jesus speaks a better word. We are qualified for His redemption and grace.”

Kim Zember, who is Catholic and on the march’s board of directors, shared with CP that the phrase “conversion therapy” is misleading.

“It’s not about ‘converting’ someone,” Zember said. “When Jesus walked the earth, he didn’t walk around converting people. He invited people to be transformed. And we’re transformed in a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
“Jesus went into the dark places,” She stressed. “He encountered those who were sick, those who were blind and broken.”

The Freedom March board member said that those who participated in the event believe they have been “touched by who we believe is the Physician, Jesus Christ.”

“He transforms our lives, not forcing us, not changing us because we have to,” Zember explained. “[It’s] not a doctrine or certain church teaching, but because Christ Himself has encountered each one of us and we want to share that, not only the transformation He has brought to our lives but [it’s] continuing as well.”

In order for churches to posture themselves effectively to reach the LGBT community, she said the Church needs an increase in humility and realize “we ourselves are broken as well and allow Jesus to mend our own brokenness.” She says churches must be “willing to be transparent with others struggling about our own battles and share about Jesus who is our only hope for complete healing.”

After three hours of sharing testimonies and worship, participants marched with a banner from the Sylvan Theater, looping around the pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial and back.

The Freedom March is one of several events in which formerly LGBT-identified people who traveled to the nation’s capital participated. Although the Equality Act appears to be stalling in the U.S. Senate, men and women with the CHANGED movement spent part of Friday speaking with congressional staffers about their concerns with the pending legislation. The movement is a cohort of formerly LGBT-identifying people who have publicly declared their testimonies of restoration through Jesus.

The legislation would codify discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity into federal law. The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House and is supported by President Joe Biden. Those who met with staffers are particularly concerned about efforts to limit counseling options for those experiencing conflicting or unwanted sexual feelings and impulses or gender confusion related to their faith. Faith-based approaches to help individuals deal with these unwanted attractions are often derisively referred to as “conversion therapy.”

Speaking at a press conference outside the Capitol building at Union Square near the reflecting pool, CHANGED movement co-founder Elizabeth Woning said it is incredibly unjust for lawmakers to outlaw such avenues for women, who have long been ignored.

Woning, a pastor with Equipped to Love in Redding, California, who helped co-host the Freedom March, said the lesbian experience was often diminished in favor of male priorities within the LGBT community.

Elizabeth Woning CHANGED — **Elizabeth Woning of the CHANGED movement speaks outside the U.S. Capitol for a press conference on June 4, 2021. | Bree Stevens**

She believes that they are the true liberals in this debate.

“A truly liberal posture seeks understanding. It seeks to incorporate multiple ideas from multiple sides,” Woning told CP in an interview Friday. “It’s constantly learning and constantly flexing and willing to accommodate multiple views for the sake of valuing another person. Truly liberal ideas are being squashed in America.”
She warned that “seeking understanding and having dialogue should not be frightening and it shouldn’t be considered abusive or harmful.”
“We should be going for enlightened discussion and discourse,” she argued.

The conversation over “conversion therapy” continues to harm many women, Woning added.

She recently spoke to a married lesbian who said she had been sexually assaulted and raped by a man. The experience impacted her entire life of sexual expression, even with her wife. The woman also acknowledged that pursuing a counseling route to resolve the trauma from being raped to recognize that there could have been harm to her sexuality that would have implicated her sexual orientation was anathema.

“She couldn’t speak of that in her circles,” Woning recalled. “She could never be allowed the opportunity to dialogue on that with the option of resolution. But what if those traumas were resolved?”

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Watch Biden’s Transgender Assistant Health Sec: I’m Here to Improve Americans’ Mental Well-Being

Reported by Andrew Thornebrooke June 4, 2021 at 2:20pm

An obese man who claims to be a woman was tasked by President Joe Biden to tend to the mental and physical health of all Americans.

This is not satire.

In a video from March 26 that went viral on Twitter this week when it was shared by talk show host Chris Stigall, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, a man who identifies as a woman, expressed a commitment to promoting physical and mental health in America.

“Throughout my career, I have focused on the intersection between medical, mental and behavioral health,” Levine said. “And as your ASH, I will continue that focus and support policy initiatives to improve Americans’ physical and mental well-being.”

Just to be clear, despite the watering down of “gender identity disorder” into “gender dysphoria” to protect people’s feelings in recent years, transgenderism certainly represents a mental health crisis in anyone desperate enough to pursue it.

Also to be clear, obesity significantly increases the risk of literally all natural causes of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Plainly, no one on earth should be taking health advice from this man.

Of course, Levine’s appointment and subsequent health advice were never actually about the health of Americans, nor even were they about Levine’s qualifications. Rather, they were about the Biden administration’s steadfast dedication to proliferating transgender ideology by any means necessary, up to and including redefining the legal definition of sex to include whatever so-called gender identity a person calls themselves at any given moment.

Indeed, if there were any question as to this administration’s priorities, Biden’s Proclamation on Pride Month was longer than his Proclamation on Memorial Day, and the president has made no secret of his belief that the nation should expand and normalize trans experimentation on children.

So what is one to do with this administration’s sham of a statement on mental health and its relentless propagation of harmful falsehoods? What is one to do with the continuous droning on of Levine who, despite everything, seems to legitimately want to help Americans while also lacking the personal fortitude to help himself?

Levine clearly needs help.

While all Americans should wish him well in that endeavor, however, the nation cannot sit around and wait for the assistant secretary of health to return to mental and physical health. As such, Americans ought to deal with this nonsense the same way they’ve had to deal with all of the administration’s other failures: Ignore it, step up and handle crises locally.

Welcome to the Biden era.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Andrew Thornebrooke

Andrew Thornebrooke is a writer specializing in foreign policy and national security. He is the executive editor of The Rearguard and a MA candidate in military history at Norwich University.@AThornebrooke

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Today’s THREE Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Tyrants’ Best Friend

A.F. BRANCO on June 4, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-tyrants-best-friend/

Dictators and Tyrants around the world can smell weakness in Biden.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Pride Before the Fall

A.F. BRANCO on June 6, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-pride-before-the-fall/

Governor Walz could have stopped much of the damage in Minnesota by Left-wing groups.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Leave it to the Pros

A.F. BRANCO on June 7, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-leave-it-to-the-pros/

Crooked Hillary Clinton must be looking at Fauci as an Amateur with his recent exposed email.

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Psychiatrist says transgender medicalization is a ‘folly’ that will ‘collapse’ like eugenics movement

June 4, 2021

Reported By Brandon Showalter, Christian Post Reporter | Thursday, June 03, 2021

transgender, gender — Getty Images/nito100

A renowned psychiatrist who was instrumental in shutting down the sex change clinic at Johns Hopkins University in 1979 argues that the contemporary “folly” of transgender medicalization will soon “collapse” similar to how the eugenics movement crumbled.

In a recent interview that covered many areas of psychiatric medicine with Public Discourse, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Distinguished Service Professor Dr. Paul McHugh explained that the bodily process of puberty is one of the most mysterious stages of human development.

Gender dysphoric youth who are given drugs in pediatric gender clinics across the country to suppress their normal puberty are incapable of consenting to such interventions, as are their parents, he said.

Unlike other animals, “[w]ith human beings, some of the most interesting individuating characteristics of themselves occur only after puberty, probably with a combination of the intellectual powers and the energy that sexual development brings,” McHugh recounted.
“I don’t think any child — and any parent, for that matter — can make an informed consent to permit the blocking of puberty and the transmission of another sex. That’s the first thing: you don’t have an idea what you’re doing. So how can you have an informed consent about it? Because nobody knows.”

McHugh co-authored a controversial 2017 report arguing that the treatment of gender-confused children with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones has not been adequately researched by the science and medical communities. He and his colleagues argued that treating kids with puberty blockers should be seen as “radical” and “experimental.” The report received much opposition from the LGBT community. Other doctors and researchers have argued that the report misrepresents the state of scientific research.

McHugh has maintained that although he is not against transgender people, he believes that they should receive psychiatric help rather than hormone therapy and reassignment surgeries. He explained in the interview that almost all children, 85% to 95%, who believe they are the opposite sex will grow out of it if allowed to go through the normal puberty process.

Yet, if a hormone blocker is introduced at age 9 or 10, only 5% to 10% of such children will refuse to go further down a medicalized pathway that may entail cross-sex hormones or body-altering surgery. He said the reason for this dramatic difference in percentages is because the pubertal processes shape the brain, and the normal signaling does not occur if thwarted by a blocker.

Transgender advocates frequently assert that puberty blockers are completely reversible, an idea McHugh says is “still very debatable.” Moreover, he continued, puberty is an incredibly complex process that is being reduced by some to appear as though it is simple. The vulnerability of scientists is that they “can be dealing with the most complex issue and try to oversimplify it and make it seem like a simple issue” despite complex brain issues, hormones and neuroendocrine relationships, he said. The psychiatrist added that he is amazed at how much money, medical institutions and political machinery the transgender movement has amassed to support its goals. But, he believes it will not succeed in the end.

“I’m absolutely convinced that this is folly and it’s going to collapse, just as the eugenics folly collapsed,” he asserted.

McHugh was the director of the psychiatry and behavioral sciences department at Johns Hopkins University and was the psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1975 to 2001. His comments come amid greater scrutiny of specific practices now occurring in some European nations. Late last year, the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom ruled in a judicial review brought in part by a young woman named Keira Bell that children under the age of 16 are unlikely to be mature enough to consent to chemical puberty blockade given the significant risks and repercussions to their health.

Bell, now 24, underwent the experimental practice as a teenager at the London-based Tavistock gender clinic. She went on to take cross-sex hormones and have her breasts surgically removed. Bell argued that she was not capable of understanding the consequences of what she was doing as a troubled youth battling depression and other social struggles. A subsequent court ruling held that parents could give consent for their under-16 children for the hormone blockers.

Earlier this year in Sweden, the prominent Karolinska University Hospital said that as of April 1, puberty blockers would no longer be given to youth younger than 16 and reference the Bell ruling in the U.K.

“These treatments are potentially fraught with extensive and irreversible adverse consequences such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, increased cancer risk, and thrombosis,” the statement read. “This makes it challenging to assess the risk/benefit for the individual patient, and even more challenging for the minors and their guardians to be in a position of an informed stance regarding these treatments.”

In June of last year, health authorities in neighboring Finland revised their professional guidelines by prioritizing psychological help and support over experimental medicine, especially for young people whose gender dysphoria came about after puberty, which is at present the most common form of gender confusion.

Although McHugh helped shut down the sex change clinic at Hopkins in 1979, the influential medical school relaunched the clinic in 2017.

Last month, an episode of “60 Minutes” aired the concerns of detransitioners, those who once identified as transgender but now regret their decisions to transition. They testified about how they felt rushed into a decision to undergo medicalized gender transition procedures.

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Biden slams efforts to protect girls’ sports in Pride Month proclamation

Reported By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter| Friday, June 04, 2021

President Joe Biden issued a presidential proclamation in recognition of LGBT Pride Month, touting the large number of LGBT individuals who serve in his administration and slamming state laws that prohibit biological males from competing in girls’ sports.

The proclamation, issued Tuesday, calls on Americans to “recognize the valuable contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals across America” and “reaffirm our commitment to standing in solidarity with LGBTQ+ Americans in their ongoing struggle against discrimination and injustice” throughout June, which he declared as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month. He reported that “Nearly 14 percent of my 1,500 agency appointees identify as LGBTQ+.”
The president specifically highlighted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as “the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve in the cabinet” and Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine as “the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate.”

While Buttigieg is the first openly gay cabinet member confirmed by the Senate, Richard Grenell, who briefly served as the acting director of National Intelligence during the final year of the Trump administration, was the first openly gay person to serve in a presidential cabinet, although he was never confirmed by the Senate for that position.

Biden lamented that “for all of our progress, there are still many states in which LGBTQ+ individuals lack protections for fundamental rights and dignity in hospitals, schools, public accommodations, and other spaces.” He specifically expressed concern that “some states have chosen to actively target transgender youth through discriminatory bills that defy our Nation’s values of inclusivity and freedom for all.”

While the president did not elaborate on the contents of the aforementioned “discriminatory bills,” he was likely talking about the efforts of states to require student-athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond to their birth sex as opposed to their chosen gender identity. Florida became the most recent state to enact such a law earlier this week, joining Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee and West Virginia.

“My administration is taking historic actions to finally deliver full equality for LGBTQ+ families,” he added. “On my first day in office, I signed an Executive Order charging federal agencies to fully enforce all federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. As a result, the federal government has taken steps to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in employment, health care, housing, lending, and education.”
After mentioning his executive order allowing transgenders to serve openly in the U.S. military, Biden asserted that “LGBTQ+ rights are human rights, which is why my administration has reaffirmed America’s commitment to supporting those on the front lines of the equality and democracy movements around the world, often at great risk.” According to the president, “We see you, we support you, and we are inspired by your courage to accept nothing less than full equality.”
Additionally, Biden vowed that “I will not rest until full equality for LGBTQ+ Americans is finally achieved and codified into law.” He urged Congress to pass the Equality Act, a wide-reaching legislative package that Democrats argue is necessary to enshrine nondiscrimination protections against the LGBT community into federal law.

Critics of the legislation argue that the Equality Act’s prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity will require schools to allow boys who identify as females to compete in women’s sports despite the inherent physiological advantage males enjoy over females in athletics. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the Equality Act, but opposition from both Democrats and Republicans has prevented it from passing in the Senate.

“During LGBTQ+ Pride Month, we recognize the resilience and determination of the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically,” he concluded. “In doing so, they are opening hearts and minds, and laying the foundation for a more just and equitable America. This Pride Month, we affirm our obligation to uphold the dignity of all people, and to dedicate ourselves to protecting the most vulnerable among us.”

Biden also asked the American people to “recognize the achievements of the LGBTQ+ community, to celebrate the great diversity of the American people, and to wave their flags of pride high.” In recognition of Pride Month, the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican is flying the rainbow flag despite the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

In response to criticism over the government’s endorsement of a political movement, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., has introduced the Stars and Stripes Act, which would limit the flags that can be flown at diplomatic or consular posts to the American flag, the flag of the country where the post is located, the flag of a particular state or territory in the U.S., a “departmental or secretarial flag,” the flag of an Armed Force, or “a flag designed to honor persons who are classified as prisoners of war or missing-in-action.”

In addition to outlining his administration’s vision on LGBT issues, Biden’s presidential proclamation highlights the history of LGBT activism in the United States, from the Stonewall riots of 1969 that he argued “sparked a liberation movement” to the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com

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Star volleyball player — a conservative Christian — sues U of Oklahoma, claims coaches punished her for her views, violated her free speech rights

Reported by NEWS DAVE URBANSKI | June 04, 2021

A star volleyball player and conservative Christian has filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Oklahoma, claiming coaches on the women’s volleyball team punished her for her views, excluded her from the team, and violated her free speech rights.

Kylee McLaughlin — who was the team captain and a first team All-Big 12 player for the Sooners in 2018 and 2019, according to OU Daily — named head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton, assistant coach Kyle Walton, and the school in the suit for a minimum of $75,000 in damages for financial loss, humiliation, and mental anguish and suffering, KFOR-TV reported.

The suit said that during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the death of George Floyd, the team “emphasized discussions about white privilege and social justice rather than coaching volleyball,” the station reported, adding that players were required to participate in discussions and watch a documentary on racism and slavery. OU Daily said it was the Netflix documentary “13th.”

When Kyle asked McLaughlin for her opinion on the documentary, according to the suit, she replied that while slavery was wrong, the film was slanted “left” and was critical of then-President Donald Trump. When asked for more input, the suit says McLaughlin replied with commentary directly from the documentary — that black people were incarcerated at a higher rate than other racial groups despite representing a smaller overall percentage of the population.

Following that discussion, a teammate accused McLaughlin of racism in a social media post, the suit says.

The suit adds that Gray-Walton in a 90-minute phone call “ordered” McLaughlin to remove a social media post that used a laughing clown emoji in regard to the University of Texas wanting to abolish its fight song, “The Eyes of Texas,” due to its alleged racist content and history. In addition, Gray-Walton told McLaughlin she needed to identify the “white privilege” inside her, the suit says.

Days later, the suit says McLaughlin was called a “racist and a homophobe” during a Zoom meeting with incoming seniors, coaches, and a representative from the school’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. And despite McLaughlin’s attempt at an apology, the suit says it wasn’t accepted since it lacked sufficient “feeling.”

McLaughlin later called the University of Texas volleyball team to apologize for her “Eyes of Texas” post, the suit says.

During another Zoom meeting with Gray-Walton and other OU staffers, the suit says McLaughlin “was told she did not fit the culture of the program, and they could not trust her based on comments she had made (according to teammates) in the past …” — and she was given an “ultimatum.”

The suit says she had three choices:

1) keep her scholarship, red shirt, practice only with the coach and not the team, and receive diversity training;

2) keep her scholarship and just be a student;

3) transfer to another college “with only two weeks left before volleyball started for fall semester.”

After the meeting, the suit says McLaughlin cried for three days, could not sleep, and refused to eat. The suit added that McLaughlin initially choose to red shirt but then decided to try to transfer to UCLA, which was unsuccessful — and that a UCLA assistant coach is a friend and former assistant coach of Gray-Walton.

What’s more, the suit says that after McLaughlin tested positive for COVID-19 last September and was quarantining in a hotel, Gray-Walton contacted one of McLaughlin’s roommates and asked if she was “doing okay” living with McLaughlin and her other “conservative” roommate. The suit adds that Gray-Walton and other volleyball coaches later helped two of McLaughlin’s roommates move out of the apartment they shared while McLaughlin was in class and without any notice.

In addition, the suit says McLaughlin was given a “growth plan” from the school’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that included training about unlearning “classism,” “ableism,” “trans and homosexual negativities,” and “sexism.” The suit also says McLaughlin was forced to take courses on diversity and identities and privilege and race — all designed to “condition” her to “be woke.”

Soon she transferred to the University of Mississippi, the suit says.

KFOR’s report on the controversy included an interview with Oklahoma City criminal defense lawyer Jacqui Ford, who seemed decidedly unsympathetic to McLaughlin.

“What I see is that her feelings are hurt, and she’s filing a lawsuit because her feelings are hurt,” Ford told the station in what one might characterize as a condescending tone.

Image source: KFOR-TV video screenshot

Interestingly, a profile on Ford published at the hight of last summer’s rioting indicated she’s a member of the “OKC Protestors Lawyers Coalition, to serve as legal representatives for peaceful protestors arrested in Oklahoma City while exercising their First Amendment rights to free assembly and free speech.”

Ford also said in the KFOR interview that “when [McLaughlin is] creating a situation that is a hostile environment for some of her other teammates, then the coaches must act to the benefit of her team.”

The attorney added to the station that “from what I can tell she hasn’t suffered any damages. She was given options to remove herself from the situation, so she’s not damaged. I think that’s gonna be a huge obstacle for her and for her lawyers to overcome.”

OU told the station it’s aware of the suit but will not comment on pending litigation. KFOR also said it contacted McLaughlin’s attorney for comment but hadn’t received a response.

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Fauci-Gate

A.F. BRANCO on June 4, 2021 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-fauci-gate/

Fauci’s recently uncovered emails expose lies, deceit, fraud, and flip-flops regarding COVID.

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Ex-BLM leader exposes ‘ugly truth,’ says group has ‘little concern for rebuilding black families’

June 3, 2021

Reported By Emily Wood, Christian Post Reporter| Tuesday, June 01, 2021

A Black Lives Matter chapter founder in St. Paul, Minnesota, has shared a video exposing what he calls the political organization’s “ugly truth,” arguing that it shows “little concern for rebuilding black families” and improving the quality of education for black students.

“I believed the organization stood for exactly what the name implies,” Rashad Turner, who founded the St. Paul BLM chapter in 2015, said in May 26 video posted by TakeCharge Minnesota.
“Black lives do matter. However, after a year on the inside, I learned they have little concern for rebuilding black families, and they cared even less for improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis.”

**Minnesota Student Union’s Rashad Turner speaks in a video posted on May 26, 2021 Minnesota YouTube Video Screengrab | YouTube/Minnesota**

Turner is now the president and executive director of the school choice advocacy group, Minnesota Parent Union, which helps parents move their children from failing schools to successful schools.

Turner, a Minneapolis native, believes in the power of education. His grandparents raised him after his father was killed and his mom could not care for him.

His grandparents told him if he was going to change his life for the better, education was the answer, he shared.

“Success is possible,” Turner said. “Just look at me and the hundreds of children and families we’ve helped to pursue a great education, break the chains of poverty and lead a life of success.”

Turner worked hard in school and was the first in his family to earn a college degree and a master’s degree in education.

“I am living proof that wherever you start off in life, quality education is a path to success,” he shared. “I want the same success for our children and in our community.”

Turner resigned from BLM after a year and a half but said he has not “quit working to improve black lives and access to a great education.” Turner said he eventually realized BLM did not care about improving educational opportunities for black children.

“That was made very clear when they publicly denounced the charter schools alongside the teachers’ union,” he said. “I was an insider in Black Lives Matter, and I learned the ugly truth. The moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the black family, but it does create barriers for a better education for black children.”

BLM reportedly deleted its webpage that listed disrupting “the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure” as one of its core principles, according to Fox News.

The Christian Post reached out to BLM for comment on Turner’s video. A response was not received by press time.

BLM-led protests erupted across the nation in response to George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020. The group was founded in 2013. While many have resonated with the idea that black lives matter, many have objected to BLM being an overtly political movement that stands for more than just racial equality. BLM is supportive of defunding the police and advancing the LGBT agenda. The organization was founded by three women, two of whom identify as queer. BLM recently came under fire for calling for “Palestinian liberation” and standing in “solidarity” with Palestinians as Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets into Israel last month.

Some evangelical leaders and organizations have argued the BLM organization supports a “godless agenda” and that many of its positions are “explicitly anti-Christian.”

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who has described herself as a “trained Marxist,” announced on Thursday that she is stepping down from leading the global organization as executive director after helping to launch the organization. Cullors said her resignation has been in the works for over a year and has nothing to do with the recent personal attacks she has endured in the past weeks, according to ABC News. Cullors came under fire when it was reported that she purchased four luxury homes, which sparked criticism and questions over her finances.

“Those were right-wing attacks that tried to discredit my character, and I don’t operate off of what the right thinks about me,” Cullors said regarding the criticism.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Emily Wood is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: emily.wood@christianpost.com

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62% of Americans oppose allowing boys who identify as female to compete in girls’ sports: Gallup

Reported By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter| Thursday, June 03, 2021

Track and field — Athletes compete in the 5,000-meter final during the Oregon Relays at Hayward Field on April 23, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. | Getty Images/Steph Chambers

A new Gallup poll reveals that a supermajority of Americans oppose allowing boys who identify as female to compete in girls’ sports.

The poll, released last week and conducted between May 3–18, assessed 1,016 American adults’ views about transgender-related issues. The survey had a margin of error of 5 percentage points. One question asked the respondents if “transgender athletes should be able to play on sports teams that match their current gender identity (or) should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their biological gender.”

Just 34% of Americans believed that trans-identified athletes should be allowed to play on sports teams that correspond to their gender identity. Support was highest among self-described liberals (63%), Democrats (55%), women (43%) and college graduates (40%).

Meanwhile, 62% of Americans expressed support for requiring trans-identified athletes to play on the team that matches their biological sex. Support was highest among Republicans (86%), self-described conservatives (85%) and males (72%).

The release of the Gallup survey comes as several states have worked to pass legislation requiring student athletes to compete in sports that correspond with their biological sex. This week, Florida became the most recent and most populous state to enact a law banning boys who identify as female from competing in girls’ sports.

According to the Women’s Liberation Front, an organization that supports such legislation, seven additional states have enacted bills designed to prevent female athletes from having to compete against biological males who have inherent physiological advantages over them: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee and West Virginia. State legislators in more than two dozen other states have introduced similar bills that are still pending.

Meanwhile, at the federal level, congressional Democrats are pushing for the passage of the Equality Act, a legislative initiative billed as a necessary measure to enshrine protections for the LGBT community into law. Critics of the legislation on both sides of the aisle warn that its provision preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity will require allowing athletes to compete on teams that correspond with their gender identity.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Beth Stelzer of the grassroots organization Save Women’s Sports, warned that with the passage of the Equality Act, “women’s sports will fade away” because “it will not take long until all of the records will be held by males.”

While a majority of Americans were lukewarm to the idea of allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports, allowing transgenders to serve openly in the military registered much stronger support. Overall, 66% of Americans said that they had no problem with the idea.

Although the support for letting transgenders serve in the military was substantial, support has decreased since Gallup last conducted a survey on the matter in 2019. The previous survey found that 71% of Americans supported letting transgender Americans serve in the military. Earlier this year, in the time between the two surveys, President Joe Biden signed an executive order reversing former President Donald Trump’s ban preventing transgender individuals from serving in the military.

In the 2021 survey, the demographic subgroup most supportive of letting transgenders serve in the military was self-described liberals, 92% of whom think that the military should allow transgenders to serve openly. Majorities of self-described moderates (73%) and independents (66%) agreed, as did a large number of self-described conservatives (43%) and Republicans (42%).

Besides conservatives and Republicans, majorities of all other demographic subgroups expressed support for allowing transgender military service. There was a noticeable gender gap, with 57% of men and 74% of women believing that transgenders should be allowed to serve in the military. Support declined with age, registering at 74% among those between the ages of 18 and 34, 66% among those aged 35-54 and 61% among respondents 55 and older.

The Gallup survey also asked people if they knew anyone who identified as transgender. Overall, 31% of respondents answered in the affirmative, with 69% saying that they did not personally know any transgender individuals. Forty-six percent of younger Americans said they knew someone who was transgender compared to just 19% of respondents in the oldest demographic subgroup.

A previous survey conducted in 2019 by Rasmussen found that a smaller majority of Americans (51%) opposed allowing biological males who identified as females to compete in women’s sports. However, support for allowing boys who identify as girls to compete against women has remained mostly flat, registering at only 29% in 2019 compared to 34% in 2021.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com

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Critical race theory sparks flurry of resolutions for annual SBC meeting, Denny Burk reveals

Reported By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter | Wednesday, June 02, 2021

Morgan Bush, a messenger from Alabama, brings a motion during the 2019 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting on June 11 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Ala. | Matt Miller

In what is shaping up to be a historic annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, this month, the denomination’s Resolution 9 acknowledging critical race theory as a useful tool to explain how race has and continues to function in society is the target of multiple resolutions seeking to strip it of its power.

Denny Burk, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, revealed in a blog post Friday that he was aware of nearly 60 resolutions being submitted to the Resolutions Committee asking SBC messengers to condemn critical race theory.

“I am aware that a number of people have submitted resolutions relating to CRT. I know of at least three that are opposed to CRT (here, here, and here) and one that is in favor of CRT (here). As I write this, it looks like there are about 57 people submitting the exact same resolution as Mike Stone’s proposed resolution,” Burk wrote.

Mike Stone, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, and one of three nominees vying to become the next president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, recently proposed a resolution asking the denomination to condemn the theory. The proposed resolution also seeks to affirm the controversial portion of the November 2020 statement from the Council of Seminary Presidents that states, “affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message.”

“And these are just the ones I know about because they’ve been publicized on the internet,” Burk added.
“I have heard through the grapevine that there are other proposals that haven’t been publicized and that we won’t know about until the Resolutions Committee reports on them at the convention. This means that the committee is not going to be able to please all sides and likely won’t try to. It also means that they have their work cut out for them.”

Regardless of what happens, Burk expressed confidence that SBC messengers “won’t leave Nashville without a strong resolution against critical race theory.”

“I have heard of at least one effort to rescind 2019’s Resolution 9. If that came to the floor of the convention, I would support it, but I’m not sure if it’s possible under the rules (someone else who knows more about Robert’s Rules can weigh-in),” he wrote.
“But I’m also not sure that it’s even necessary. If the convention passes a strong resolution against CRT, it would serve as a de facto rescinding of Resolution 9 (sort of like subsequent resolutions became a de facto repudiation of the SBC’s infamous pro-choice resolution of 1971). For me, the priority is getting a strong statement against CRT. That is the main thing.”

The professor expressed support for a resolution proposed by Stephen Feinstein, a pastor at Sovereign Way Christian Church in Hesperia, California, and a chaplain in the United States Army Reserve.

“What I like about this is that it defines ‘institutional racism’ not as CRT does, but in terms of willful discrimination,” Burk explained.
“In CRT, no human agency is required at all for racism to be present in a given institution or system (as I have written about here). CRT says that racism is everywhere all the time and that all white people are racists whether they choose to be or not. Any racially disparate outcome is racism even if no one willfully discriminated against anyone.”

Burk argues that such an argument is “completely incompatible with what scripture teaches about sin and judgment, but this resolution fixes that.”

“It recognizes that sinful partiality can affect institutions and systems while not alleging that all institutions and systems are racist by default (as in CRT),” he wrote.

Any member of a cooperating Southern Baptist church can propose a resolution for adoption by the SBC. However, the SBC Committee on Resolutions may decline to recommend properly submitted resolutions to the convention for adoption.

Prominent Southern Baptist Pastor Dwight McKissic, who founded and leads Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, warned earlier this year that if Resolution 9 is rescinded, he would leave the SBC. His threat came after he quit the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention after leaders adopted a “strongly worded, anti-CRT policy that denounces all aspects of critical race theory.”

McKissic’s declaration also came amid an exodus of prominent black Southern Baptist pastors, such as Ralph West and Charlie Dates, over the Council of Seminary Presidents’ renouncing critical race theory and intersectionality.

The 2021 annual gathering of the Southern Baptist Convention is set to take place in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 15 and June 16. More than 13,000 messengers have pre-registered for the event, according to Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee. Only four other conventions have attracted at least 10,000 messengers since 2000, he said.

“This could be one of our largest gatherings since 1995 in Atlanta, when we had 20,654 messengers,” he recently noted.

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