Movement Protecting Kids from Gender Transition Cements Record with Texas, Florida Laws

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Laws to protect minors from gender transition procedures have made massive strides over the past three years, but two recently enacted laws mark a new milestone. On May 17, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law SB 254, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed into law SB 14 on June 2. More than any of the other bills passed in 2023 or previous years — and there were many good ones — these two laws solidify the place of protecting children from gender transition procedures as part of mainstream conservatism.

Although the common sense of laws to protect minors from dangerous, experimental procedures might be obvious, they weren’t a guaranteed success. When the Arkansas legislature passed the very first successful bill of this kind in 2021, Republican then-Governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed it, although the legislature overrode the veto. Hutchinson claimed (in The Washington Post, of all places) that the law “den[ied] best practice medical care to transgender youth” and that his veto represented “restrained and limited government.” The bill not only faced ridicule from local outlets, but even from national platforms like “60 Minutes.” With fierce media opposition and a real possibility of bumping against Republican icebergs, the first bills to protect minors from gender transition procedures were truly sailing through uncharted waters.

Another 2021 controversy over a transgender-related bill in another ruby-red state demonstrated another possible vulnerability states could encounter when passing legislation to protect minors from gender transition procedures. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, also a Republican, vetoed a women’s sports bill, citing fears that the NCAA might sue or boycott the state: “If South Dakota passes a law that’s against their policy, they will likely take punitive action against us.” Indeed, major corporations have shown themselves more than willing to win brownie points with the Left by boycotting states that pass conservative legislation on social issues.

These handicaps lead us to consider why laws protecting minors in Texas and Florida can be so influential.

Large Populations

For starters, Texas and Florida have huge populations. Texas (30 million inhabitants) and Florida (22 million inhabitants) are the second and third largest states by population, behind only California and ahead of New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Florida has twice as many people, and Texas has almost three times as many people, as the next-largest right-leaning states, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina — the next-largest states whose legislatures could conceivably pass conservative policies.

Their huge populations make Texas and Florida more costly to boycott. While major corporations have called for boycotts on North Carolina over its bathroom bill and Georgia over its heartbeat bill, they stand to lose more if they boycott a larger state. This calculation holds for urban markets as well. Texas and Florida are home to 15 of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, including Dallas (fourth largest), Houston (fifth), Miami (ninth), Tampa (17th), Orlando (22nd), San Antonio (24th), and Austin (26th). These markets are too large to abandon lightly.

Their huge populations also make Texas and Florida important electorally. After the 2020 census, Texas boasts 38 seats in the House of Representatives, and Florida boasts 28 seats — combining for 30% of a House majority. Many members of Congress embrace policies popular in their states, so this could influence congressional support for similar legislative proposals. Texas and Florida will also combine for 70 votes in the electoral college in 2024 (a candidate needs 270 to win). Historically, Florida has been an important swing state (although trending to the Right), which has voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1996 except for 2020. Meanwhile, Texas has been a must-win state for Republican candidates (but where Democratic candidates believe they can expand the map); presidential campaigns cannot afford to bypass either state on their path to victory.

Substantial Democratic Minorities

Due in part to their size, Texas and Florida are also home to considerable Democratic minorities that can maintain a critical mass to keep the Republican majority on their toes. For perspective, in the U.S. House, there are currently 13 Texas Democrats (the fourth-largest Democratic delegation) and eight Florida Democrats (tied for the 10th-largest Democratic delegation, even after Democrats lost three Florida seats in 2022). This enables state Democratic parties to mount credible challenges in statewide races; for example, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) won reelection in 2018 by only three points over Beto O’Rourke (D), and Nikki Fried (D) defeated Matt Caldwell (R) in a 2018 race for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture.

Such credible opposition prevents the dominant Republican parties in these states from ossifying, a common side-effect of one-party rule. Republicans must continue to run competent candidates to win races, which helps these states lead nationally on many issues, including protecting minors from gender transition procedures.

Demographic Diversity

Another factor bolstering the credibility of Republican leadership in Texas and Florida is the states’ demographic diversity (and, increasingly, the diversity of the Republican coalition). According to the 2020 census, approximately 40% of Texas’ population is non-Hispanic white, while nearly 40% are Hispanic, 12% are black, and 6% are Asian or Native American. Similarly, Florida’s population is 51% non-Hispanic white, 27% Hispanic, 15% black, and 6% Native American or Asian.

Obviously, Republicans could not win elections in such diverse states without substantial support outside of whites alone. Not only does this belie media narratives, it also forces the Republicans in these states not to insulate themselves. And, in fact, Republicans are successfully winning over increasing numbers of Hispanic voters in both states. This broadens the appeal of any laws that are successfully passed by state governments in Austin and Tallahassee. Republicans couldn’t maintain power in these states if they passed laws that only appealed to a narrow group of extremists.

Growing Populations

It’s also worth noting that both Texas and Florida are growing rapidly. Both state populations grew by an estimated 15% from the 2010 census to the 2020 census (twice the national average), resulting in Florida gaining one seat in Congress, while Texas gained two. It’s one thing for the media to write off a state passing conservative legislation if that state is stagnant or declining, demographically or economically. But both Texas and Florida are booming. Lots of people are moving there (which, in a free country, implies lots of people want to move there), a sign that these state governments aren’t quite as benighted as the media suggests.

Muscular Legislation

One final reason why it matters that Texas and Florida passed laws protecting minors from gender transition procedures is that these large, diverse, and growing states — where credible minority opposition keeps the majority honest — passed strong, robust legislation that offered effective protection to minors. Both bills provide multiple enforcement mechanisms for a prohibition on doctors treating minors with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, limit an exception for children currently receiving hormone treatments, and forbid the use of public funds in performing gender transition procedures on minors. Florida’s bill, in particular, is among the strongest protections for minors passed to date, and Texas’ is not far behind.

This is relevant because some of the 19 states that have enacted legislation watered down the language, pulled their punches, or failed to approach the issue comprehensively. State leaders in Utah rewrote a bill to protect minors from gender transition procedures, so that the final version contained “massive loopholes,” while at the last minute the West Virginia Senate majority leader amended that state’s bill to grandfather-in anyone currently receiving gender transition hormones. In Georgia and Tennessee, no version of the bills that passed attempted to save minors already sucked in by the lifelong hormone regimen. Legislators in Kentucky saved their bill from near failure by amending a slimmed-down version into another bill, while legislators in Nebraska excepted gender transition hormones from the prohibition to acquire the votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

Except for Nebraska (signed into law on May 22), all these states adopted their laws before Texas and Florida. That is, they voted before the two red-leaning giants had voted to adopt strong protections for minors from gender transition procedures. Earlier this year, it wasn’t clear how much traction the legislative push to protect children would achieve. With the media and hospital associations lining up against the bills, and limited information on what other states would do, it’s not terribly difficult to imagine how some state legislators talked themselves into watering down their proposals. And if Texas and Florida had imitated their lack of conviction, they would have appeared entirely justified.

Instead, Texas and Florida raised the bar. The 800- and 600-pound gorillas of democracy’s laboratory climbed up to the top shelf, inspiring or daring other states to do likewise. It turns out that mainstream conservatism (or simple American common sense) is consistent with zealously protecting children from predatory and experimental policies.

Nearly every state that passed a bill to protect minors has room for improvement in future legislative sessions — although Arkansas (2021), Arizona (2022), Mississippi (2023), and Montana (2023) stand out as laudable exceptions. Specifically, state legislatures should bar state funding for such procedures on minors, require informed consent, and set a sunset date for any exception for minors currently on gender hormones.

The legislative movement to protect children from gender transition procedures has seen some significant milestones. First, Arkansas’ legislature passed a bill over the governor’s veto in 2021. Second, in 2023 the laws exploded across the country, as at least 16 other states joined the three early adopters, indicating a spike in momentum. But not all of these bills were of equal quantity. The third milestone was when Texas and Florida, the largest and among the most influential right-leaning states, enacted strong protections for minors, signaling that this issue was now squarely embraced by mainstream conservatives.

The next step is for states to improve on the initial laws they passed this year, to more securely protect minors from these predatory practices — even as the movement continues to expand to other states.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a staff writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Moms for America: ‘We Are Going to Put the Pressure on the Senate’ to Pass Women’s Sports Bill

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On June 7, a nonprofit by the name of Moms for America held a press conference on the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. to speak out about biological men competing in women’s sports across the country. H.R. 734, otherwise known as the Protection of Women’s Sports Act of 2023 has passed the House and is waiting for the Senate to schedule a vote. Professional and collegiate athletes gathered to share their stories along with different state representatives, all united under one objective: calling on the Senate to act and pass the bill.

Tennessee State Representative Diana Harshbarger (R) stated, “I know, as a health care professional, you cannot change somebody’s DNA.” She went on to note how we are in the middle of a spiritual battle. “As the Bible says, what is looked at as evil is now being looked at as good, and what is good is being looked at as evil. That is a spiritual message that I want to send to every American. … We cannot legislate morality.”

One by one, several female athletes also shared their experiences of competing with men identifying as women. Each experience was unique, yet all shared the same conclusion: sex is biology, not identity, and females simply cannot compare to males in terms of athleticism.

Macy Petty, a collegiate volleyball player, was the first to speak on behalf of the girls. Men increasingly stealing opportunities in women’s sports is a “direct threat to the integrity of the competition,” she emphasized. Early in her career, Petty had an opportunity to showcase her skills in front of several scouts. “On the other team was a very tall and athletic man,” she stated. “I did not sign up to be in a co-ed league. … The ruling authorities decided this boy’s feelings overrode our opportunity to play in a female only league. … With his biological advantages, he wooed the college scouts. I hate to think what young lady was passed over to make room for him on their [female] college team.”

After Petty shared her experience, other female athletes stepped forward with similar, heartbreaking stories about times that they were robbed of their sports opportunities as well. To conclude the press conference, Idaho State Representative Barbara Ehardt (R) spoke about how she has been an avid voice in this fight for sports equality throughout her lifetime. “I spent years fighting for opportunities for our girls and women [with Title IX]. Now we’re going backwards,” she said.

Ehardt emphasized how the culture is claiming to make sports a place of humanity, inclusion, and community by allowing men to compete against women. “Folks, I’m telling you, that’s not it at all,” she said. “When it comes to athletics, when it comes to keeping your job, it is about winning. If it wasn’t about winning, players wouldn’t get cut and coaches wouldn’t get fired. It’s about winning, make no mistake, and we cannot compete with the male counterparts.” Ehardt concluded by expressing how her passions have heightened since Title IX was first enacted in 1964. This is not an issue that’s relevant only to the present batch of competitors, she contended. This is an issue that has been debated and fought over for decades. “People, it’s a movement. … Step up, be courageous.”

The fight for integrity in women’s sports is raging, because it questions a fundamental truth. As Kassidy Comer, former college basketball player, told The Washington Stand, “You [cannot] ignore God’s plan for who we’re made to be. You know, we were crafted in the womb in His image, and He does not make mistakes. So, when you’re looking at it saying, ‘I know I was born this way, but I feel like I might be this way,’ that is just spiritual warfare, and that is my strong belief as a Christian.”

When asked how her faith helped her be bold in this fight, Comer responded, “I believe we are called to speak truth into this world. We are called to be salt and light. Salt and light can be invasive sometimes, [it] might hurt somebody’s feelings, but we’re called to speak truth … and that is one thing I’ve really tried to do with the platform I’ve been blessed with.”

Debbie Kraulidis, the vice president of Moms for America, stated that this fight is not an easy one, but it is certainly necessary. “We are going to put the pressure on the Senate to pass this bill,” she said. “It is up to us … to protect women’s sports.”

AUTHORS

Baylie McClafferty

 Sarah Holliday

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Senator Tim Scott on ‘The View’: An Example of Civilized, Productive Debate

EDITOS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Girl Scouts Offer Special Patch To ‘Girls Of All Identities’ Who Attend Pride Parades, Complete LGBT-Themed Activities

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The Girl Scouts organization is encouraging its young members to participate in Pride Month by offering a special patch for scouts who complete a series of LGBT-themed activities.

Scouts can earn the rainbow-striped LGBTQ+ Pride Month segment of the multicultural community celebration patch by participating in LGBT educational activities and activism. Those activities include participation in pride celebrations and completion of educational assignments about gay and transgender activism.

“The Girl Scout LGBTQ+ Pride Month Celebration Fun Patch is designed for Girl Scouts of all levels and their leaders to honor LGBTQ+ history, to celebrate the diverse cultures and identities of LGBTQ+ people, and to acknowledge the many contributions of the LGBTQ+ community has made and continues to make across our nation,” the Girl Scouts website reads. “Girls and leaders have plenty of activities to choose from to earn this fun patch, and we encourage girls of all identities to participate.”

The organization offers a list of 20 activities through which scouts can earn the pride segment of their badge including attending pride celebrations, reading a book by an LGBTQ+ author and learning about LGBT history through documentaries and reading assignments. Some activities, such as watching a documentary about the creator of the Pride flag, are restricted to older grade levels, while participation in pride celebrations and several other activities are open to all levels.

The Girl Scouts organization is selling a Pride tank top with a rainbow graphic which reads “all places should be safe spaces.”

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts were pictured marching in a pride parade in a Thursday Facebook post from the group. “We center diversity, belonging, and inclusion by welcoming everyone who identifies as a girl, transgender boys, non-binary youth members, and adults of all gender,” the post read. “This month and every month, we are proud to stand in support of our LGBTQIA+ Girl Scouts and community members who continue to face hate, discrimination, and violence for living as they are. We see you, we hear you, and we love you.”

Girl Scouts did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

LAUREL DUGGAN

Social issues and culture reporter.

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

WATCH: Antifa Attacks Immigrants Who Oppose LGBTQIA+ Teachings in Schools

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‘Parents who aren’t full of white guilt and who aren’t spineless actually protect their children from sexual indoctrination and Transgender mutilation. Without apologies.’ (Twitter comment)

BREAKING: Violence between Antifa and parents ERUPTS in Glendale, California outside school board meeting over LGBT Pride agenda

“One the Antifa attacked an Armenian man and the men fought back” a parent on the scene said.
Violence between Antifa and parents ERUPTS in Glendale, California outside school board meeting over LGBT Pride agenda

By: Libby Emmons, The Post Millenial, June 7, 2023:

An all-out brawl between Antifa and parents erupted outside a Glendale, California school board meeting on Tuesday. Parents had attended the meeting to demand transparency of curriculum, which the Glendale School Board has refused to provide.

A Glendale mom who was inside the meeting told The Post Millennial that the school board refused to engage with parents, and instead of dealing with parents and giving the information parents have rightly demanded, they paraded a selection of uninformed local elected officials who had no idea what was going on or what the issues were.

“Breaking: Armenian-American men fight against #Antifa & far-left protesters outside the Glendale (CA) school board meeting. Immigrant families have been furious that elementary schools are doing pride events. Antifa have gathered to oppose the parents” TPM Senior Editor Andy Ngo tweeted.

Armenian, Hispanic, and Christian families have been protesting the Glendale school board’s Pride celebrations and the indoctrination of their children into radical gender ideology. Parents were there protesting, trying to work with Glendale Unified as to what will be taught during Pride Week. A mother who was inside the meeting filmed parents protesting.

“Basically there’s some so called Antifa or hoodlums, anti-social folks who were here, 20-30 folks, who segregated themselves with LGBTQ protesters, then they moved away and went to a parking lot, they met a group of Armenian men. One the Antifa attacked an Armenian man and the men fought back” a father on the scene told The Post Millennial.

Parents went to the school board to demand information, because the Glendale Unified school board won’t respond, and take any actionable steps to tell parents what is happening or what will be taught, a father said to TPM. “We want our voices to be heard and we want acknowledgment from the superintendent and they are not acknowledging it,” he said.

“What was obvious from inside the board room,” a mom told The Post Millennial, “was that the board members have been tapping people who have nothing to do with GUSD, like the Mayor of Burbank, who has no idea what the parents’ issues are as regards currciclum. A parent took him aside and told him the details, and and he had no idea about any of it.”

The Glendale city clerk was there, she said, and was also uninformed. “The school board is trying to do damage control instead of actuallly speaknig to parents. Vivian Ekchien, the superintendent, used to be asstistant superintendent of LAUSD. “Inside the board room, they claimed the Brown Act so they don’t have to engage,” the mom said.

Read more.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Owner of Two of San Francisco’s Largest Hotels Halt Mortgage Payments, Abandons City Due to Crime

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The Democrats have destroyed this once jewel of a city. And the chief villain in the California debacle, Governor Gavin Newsom, is the Democrat party’s golden boy with the White House in their sights.

Owner of Two of San Francisco’s Largest Hotels Pulling Out of City: ‘Path to Recovery Remains Clouded’

By 

The owner of two of San Francisco’s largest downtown hotels is stopping mortgage payments and going into foreclosure on the properties, stating that the city faces “major challenges” and that reducing exposure to the market is in the best interest of investors.

Park Hotels & Resorts said Monday that it was stopping payment on a $725 million loan secured by the two hotels, the 1,921-room Hilton San Francisco Union Square and 1,024-room Parc 55.

The Hilton is San Francisco’s largest hotel, and Parc 55 is the fourth largest.

Thomas J. Baltimore Jr., CEO of the Virginia-based company, called the decision “very difficult, but necessary,” noting record-high downtown office vacancy, “concerns over street conditions,” and reduced convention business.

“After much thought and consideration, we believe it is in the best interest for Park’s stockholders to materially reduce our current exposure to the San Francisco market,” Baltimore said in a prepared statement. “Now more than ever, we believe San Francisco’s path to recovery remains clouded and elongated by major challenges – both old and new.”

The announcement comes less than a week after the San Francisco Travel Association launched a $6 million ad campaign – it’s biggest ever – to lure tourists back to the troubled California city.

Read more.

Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. Announces Cessation of Payment on $725 Million Non-Recourse CMBS Loan Secured By Two of Its San Francisco Hotels

TYSONS, Va., June 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (“Park” or the “Company”) (NYSE:PK) today announced that, starting in June, it ceased making payments toward the $725 million non-recourse CMBS loan which is scheduled to mature in November 2023, and is secured by two of its San Francisco hotels—the 1,921-room Hilton San Francisco Union Square and the 1,024-room Parc 55 San Francisco. The Company intends to work in good faith with the loan’s servicers to determine the most effective path forward, which is expected to result in ultimate removal of these hotels from its portfolio.

“This past week we made the very difficult, but necessary decision to stop debt service payments on our San Francisco CMBS loan,” commented Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Park. “After much thought and consideration, we believe it is in the best interest for Park’s stockholders to materially reduce our current exposure to the San Francisco market. Now more than ever, we believe San Francisco’s path to recovery remains clouded and elongated by major challenges – both old and new: record high office vacancy; concerns over street conditions; lower return to office than peer cities; and a weaker than expected citywide convention calendar through 2027 that will negatively impact business and leisure demand and will likely significantly reduce compression in the city for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the continued burden on our operating results and balance sheet is too significant to warrant continuing to subsidize and own these assets.

Ultimately removing the loan and the hotels will substantially improve our balance sheet and operating metrics, as net leverage is reduced by nearly a full turn, while 2022 Comparable RevPAR and Comparable Hotel Adjusted EBITDA Margin as compared to 2019 would improve approximately 800 basis points and 230 basis points, respectively. In addition, reducing the negative overhang from San Francisco will allow Park to continue to focus on our key priorities to reshape our portfolio by selling non-core assets, and recycling capital to reduce leverage, invest in strategic ROI projects, and opportunistically repurchase stock and/or acquire assets.”

For further information, please review Park’s most recent investor deck on our website, which includes the illustrative impact on certain operating metrics when both hotels are removed from its portfolio. Also included in the deck is Park’s full-year 2023 guidance that was originally provided by the Company on May 1, 2023. That guidance does not take into account financial impacts, if any, from the cessation of payment toward the San Francisco CMBS Loan as any such impacts are uncertain at this time. The Company expects to update full-year 2023 guidance as necessary once those impacts and the path forward are certain.

Read more.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLE: Owner of two of San Fran’s largest hotels – Hilton Union Square and Parc 55 – STOPS making payments on $725 million loan due in November because the crime-ridden city’s ‘path to recovery remains clouded’

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Discredited Southern Poverty Law Center Puts Moms for Liberty, Other Parents’ Rights Groups on ‘Hate Map’

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“First they came for the counter jihad, and I did not speak out—because I was not counter-jihad. Then they came for the tea party, and I did not speak out—because I was not tea party. Then they came for pro-lifers, and I did not speak out—because I was not pro-life. Then they came for Trump supporters, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Trump supporter. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” — Pamela Geller

The SPLC has smeared, defamed and libeled my work for years and designated my organization in defense of freedom of speech and equality under the law a “hate group.” We are under siege by domestic enemies hellbent on our nation’s destruction. Many RINOs joined them. Everyone sat back and thought, thank goodness, that ain’t me.  Well it is you. They will come for everyone because we let them.

Southern Poverty Law Center Puts Moms for Liberty, Other Parental Rights Groups on ‘Hate Map’

By: Jordan Dixon-Hamilton, Breitbart, Jun 2023:

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization that frequently lists mainstream conservatives alongside hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, has placed Moms for Liberty and other parental rights group on its “hate map” for being “antigovernment extremist groups.”

Florida-based Moms for Liberty was added to SPLC’s hate map along with 11 other parental rights groups, including several Virginia-based groups, according to the organization’s annual 2022 Year in Hate and Extremism report.

The inclusion of these 12 parental rights groups brings the SPLC’s total number of hate and antigovernment extremist groups to 1,225 organizations. Of those, 523 were “hate groups,” and 702 were deemed “antigovernment extremist groups,” which the parental rights groups fell under.

“Schools, especially, have been on the receiving end of ramped-up and coordinated hard-right attacks, frequently through the guise of ‘parents’ rights’ groups,” the SPLC’s report claims.

“These groups were, in part, spurred by the right-wing backlash to COVID-19 public safety measures in schools,” the report continued. “But they have grown into an anti-student inclusion movement that targets any inclusive curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination and LGBTQ identities.”

The SPLC claimed Moms for Liberty is at the “forefront of this mobilization,” and noted, “They can be spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, ‘We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.’”

Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021 and is “dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government,” according to its website.

The organization was founded primarily in response to school administrations’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, which saw school closures, forced masking, and remote learning. Since its founding in January 2021, Moms for Liberty boasts over 100,000 members and local chapters in 40 states.

Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich encouraged Breitbart News Daily listeners to start their own local chapters if there is not one readily available during an interview last year.

“The best way to get plugged in and to know what to look for is to visit moms for liberty.org, look for your local chapter,” Descovich said. “If there’s not a chapter you can click another link and … start a chapter.”

Keep reading….

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLE: Discredited But Massively Wealthy SPLC Working with Corrupt FBI to Silence Dissidents

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The Religion of the Left

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Sacred destruction and the search for lost gods.

“Abortion is sacred,” Planned Parenthood declared. Biden told Dylan Mulvaney that banning transgender child mutilation is “immoral.” The head of the Public Religion Research Institute preaches about the “sacred work of white discomfort” in defense of critical race theory.

It is a mistake to think of the Left as a secular movement. People don’t throw their lives away for a set of ideas. They don’t turn on their parents, societies and entire way of life over abstractions. Only something that touches their deepest selves and offers them that sense of purpose and meaning in a broken world that religious people call revelation and holiness summons that fire.

That leftists don’t believe in a central deity is confusing to monotheists, but what they believe in is far older, a hybrid of primitive mysticism, laboriously revived by western romanticism, and theoretical acadamese nurtured by over two centuries of dilettante students, professional radicals and assorted megalomaniacal cranks who litter the history of socialism.

What these two strands of the western leftist worldview have in common is their conviction that there is an underlying sense of order, found in sociological patterns or energy auras, theories of race or tarot cards, that explain everything and that by mastering them we can transcend and fundamentally transform the universe, and everything in it, including our societies and ourselves.

This is the continuum linking paganism, academic theories and conspiracy theories.

Where leftist theology starkly divides from western and eastern monotheism is in the notion of divinity not as a central intelligent point of being, but as a hidden meaning scattered throughout existence to be decoded by human intelligence and spiritual striving. That is why leftists were attracted to eastern religions before dumbing them down into New Age mysticism.

To the Left, there is no God, but we all have the potential to become gods by mastering the secrets of the universe, whether that means technotopian transhumanism or becoming one with the AI gods they intend to create, forcing everyone into an ideal society that will unlock human potential, or figuring out the right energy patterns to usher in the age of aquarius. While seemingly very different approaches, the various utopian strands of leftism speak to a common yearning that pits them against the traditional beliefs of the societies they aspire to overturn.

The Left’s intellectual pursuits are primarily aimed at analyzing how power is distributed in a society. These academic and journalistic critiques build up to justifying its own power grabs. And the Left excels at analyzing and seizing power because power is its only source of meaning.

Much as ISIS leaders boasted that their brutal executions and mass rapes were their forms of prayer, politics is the religious practice of the Left. It has become the only truly meaningful expression of its beliefs after its social experiments in implementing its way of life through cults, communes and private arrangements fell through. Such side projects have been replaced by a white collar movement embedded in the managerial class of governments and corporations.

This movement is animated by a culture war in which all morality is reduced to power. The redemption of the nation and the salvation of the planet depend on a leftist takeover implemented by a white collar cult that has put its career aspirations and wealth at the service of leftist dogma in return for the conviction that the professional aspirations and privileges of its members are redemptive. An Ivy League education, an academic position, and a corporate executive’s office are no longer just personal achievements, but a moral crusade.

Mimetic movements like the Left take on the characteristics and eventually become the thing they are imitating. After spending all that time working from within the system, they have become the system. And the system has become them. Bureaucrats and CEOs have adopted the protective coloration of leftist virtue signaling to cover their many sins much as leftists adopted the protective coloration of government and corporations to cover their agenda.

The bloated ranks of government, academia and corporate monopolies merging into one blob is a symptom of leftism. The Left always thinks in terms of systems rather than people, of rulesets rather than values (despite devoting a good deal of its cultural propaganda to asserting that it does the opposite, but the easiest way to understand leftism is to invert every one of its claims to find the truth) and it is turning societies into hives of systems and rules.

But systems are leftist forums of religious experience and moral fulfillment. A leftist church is any institution and its service is a collective takeover of that institution. But the momentary triumph of the takeover is never enough. When these systems fail to achieve their utopian promise through technocratic rulesets, as they always must, they come to serve their primary purpose of destroying everything that sinfully exists to clear the ground for a glorious tabula rasa, a blank page,and a new form of man, for a new creation.

Each leftist failure serves as evidence that not enough of the past had been destroyed to make way for the future. That is why killing or sexually mutilating children, or racism, are sacred.

Much as to ISIS and Islam, destruction is sacred, so it is to all radical movements.

When construction fails, the only path forward is through destruction. Communist dictatorships drove millions out of cities or farms, controlled everything they read and thought, and when that failed killed millions. Declaring war on whiteness or deconstructing sex are more precise and intimate forms of destruction meant to also usher in a new future.

The “right side of history” requires completely remaking mankind. And that’s an ugly business.

Construction is tedious and the Left isn’t any good at it. Building systems and rules is different than actually creating anything. What the Left excels at is taking over existing systems by exploiting their weakness. But when the Left is actually able to build its own systems and rules to implement its own agenda, it discovers that the systems and the rules don’t actually do anything. Leftist bureaucracies ossify into pointless exercises once they no longer have enemies to defeat. When the USSR was stalemated by the Cold War, its Communist Party lost any reason for being and collapsed under the realization that it had no function except stealing.

The most reliable way to kill the Left is to give it total power, but deprive it of external ambition. In real life, George Orwell’s 1984 dystopia would not have lasted for generations, let alone centuries, its dedicated sadists and fanatics, as embodied by O’Brien would have killed each other off, as the Bolsheviks did, leaving behind a cowardly bureaucracy with no vision.

The fanatical sadists are overriding the normative impulses of the professional managerial class that the leftists have become in America, as they did in the Soviet Union. Riots or mutilating children remind them that they’re not just diversity deans or think tank experts, they’re the radical vanguard of a movement that is going to achieve what all religions have failed to do.

Abortion, mutilating children and racism are sacred acts because they promise to break through the complacency of the system, the routines of a suburban lifestyle, the commute, the meetings and the minutiae of inhabiting the system with orgies of blood and pain. Like Pol Pot murdering everyone wearing glasses for being westernized, the leftist system strives to transcend itself through ritual acts of destruction in the hopes of finding the secrets of the universe.

Transgender experiments on children began out of a conviction in human malleability. If men can become women, then they can perhaps become more than men. Eliminate sex roles and the family structure, and it becomes possible to imagine an entirely new form of society. And, less ambitiously, destroying western civilization is a prerequisite to building a new civilization.

What does a post-civilization look like? Like the surgically mutilated post-men and post-women, like the children never born, like ex-Soviet ghost cities and mass graves from China to France, these are the evil dreams of things that never were because they could never be.

Religion without god is a dream that slowly becomes a nightmare, cults of personality, human sacrifice and the search for meaning where there is none. Madmen create their own patterns, they find their own truths in the burning sun and in hallucinogens, and then write them in pain and terror on the bodies of their willing and unwilling followers searching for a reason to live.

The Left is not, as it believes, a new story, but a very old one, and though it prides itself on knowing many things, true and untrue, about the world, the one thing it does not know is that which men of religion and philosophy make a point of knowing, the knowledge of the self.

Leftists correctly believe that the world is filled with meaning, but what they fail to understand is the meaning of that meaning, believing that within those patterns are the secrets to absolute power, when what actually lies in those patterns of meaning is the One who made them.

Denying that truth, they worship power and then blood, they search for paradise and find death.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

RELATED ARTICLE: Slitting the Throat of Baby Jesus

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Iran’s government is repressive at home and aggressive abroad

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Tehran exports its repressive system beyond its borders, backing Shia militia in other countries and hunting down critics of the regime.

The Iranian regime is one of the most repressive in the world, ranking 162 out of 165 on the Human Freedom Index. Additionally, on the Human Rights and Rule of Law Index the Islamic Republic of Iran scored 9.8, where 10 is the lowest.

Iranian citizens do not have freedom of expression, religious or political freedom. The rights of women, as well as ethnic and religious minorities are suppressed. Same-sex relationships are criminalized. Capital and corporal punishment are common and due legal process is not guaranteed. Tehran also exports its repressive system beyond its borders, backing Shia militia in other countries and hunting down critics of the regime.

Much of the repression within and outside of Iran is carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an official paramilitary force formed shortly after the Islami Revolution in 1979. The IRGC is tasked with defending the country’s Islamic system and protecting the ideals of the revolution. The two major components of the IRGC are the internal security militia Basij-e Mostazafin (Mobilization Resistance Force), also called Basij, and the external operations force, the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), also called Qods. In total the IRGC has between 150,000 and 190,000 personnel, while the IRGC-QF has between 5,000 and 15,000 who were selected from the broader IRGC.

The IRGC reports directly to the country’s Supreme Leader, currently Ayatollah Khamenei. As such, the Corps lies beyond the powers of the nation’s laws and courts. Even the president Ebrahim Raisi has no authority over the IRGC. It is important to note that the Supreme Leader is the head of state, while the president is only the head of government. Consequently, the Supreme Leader is essentially all-powerful and can use the IRGC to carry out his wishes.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been accused of committing various human rights abuses within Iran. The government banned all independent political parties and civil society organizations. Independent trade unions are also prohibited, with striking workers subjected to reprisals. Enforcement of these laws falls to the IRGC who suppresses dissent, leading crackdowns on political opposition, activists, and protesters.

The IRGC helped rig the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who served as president from 2005-2013. When citizens turned out to protest the faulty election, the IRGC attacked them, detaining thousands. The Corps have been known to use live ammunition, birdshot, tear gas, and water cannons to put down protests and peaceful demonstrations.

Arrest and incarceration by the IRGC occur outside of the scope of the judiciary. Prisoners are often tortured, including physical abuse, psychological torment, and denial of access to medical care. Flogging and even blinding are frequent sentences imposed on dissenters. Amnesty International reported that hundreds of people are being held in arbitrary detention, deprived of due process, among them, are “human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, political dissidents, activists, conservationists, writers, artists, musicians, university students and schoolchildren.”

The US Department of State estimates that during 2022, internal security forces killed “more than 500 people, including at least 69 children, and arrested more than 19,000 protesters, including children.”

Basij-e Mostazafin is responsible for internal security, enforcing state control over society and acting as law enforcement auxiliary. Basij is also responsible for policing morals, and suppressing dissident gatherings. Last year, Basij was accused of suppressing, arresting, beating, and torturing protestors who took part in widespread antigovernment demonstrations. In September and October, they attacked Kurdish opposition groups in Iran’s Kurdistan Region, killing a dozen people, including a pregnant woman. Numerous civilians, both adults and children were injured.

Beyond the borders of Iran, the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) serves as a tool of the Supreme Leader, exporting Islamic Revolution to other countries. The Qods have sent troops to actively fight or serve as advisors, providing training and equipment to state and non-state actors, in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine.

An additional role of the IRGC outside of Iran is targeting Iranian dissidents, exiles, and critics of the regime. Dr Sadegh Sharafkandi and three other Kurdish dissidents were assassinated by the IRGC in 1992, in Berlin, Germany. In 1994, the IRGC was tied to the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ahmad Mola Nissi, an Iranian-Arab opposition figure, was assassinated by the IRGC in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2017. The group was also responsible for the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, in New York.

Since 2003, the IRGC has been supporting Shia militants in Iraq, providing them with roadside bombs that killed Americans. In the wake of the 2011 Arab uprising, the Qods, deployed to Syria. Initially, they claimed to be defending Shia shrines, but in the end, they became a tool of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, suppressing those who opposed his regime. The Qods also fought on the frontlines, alongside Hezbollah and factions of Hamas. When the civil war broke out in Yemen, the IRGC provided Houthi rebels with intelligence support, training, and weapons.

IRGC personnel are suspected of having participated in the Russian annexation of Crimea. Recently, the EU has announced plans to sanction the IRGC Aerospace Force for drones sent to Moscow, to be used in the Ukraine War. Iran has admitted to selling drones to Moscow before the invasion of Ukraine, but claims that they have not done so since the war began. The United States, however, has evidence to the contrary. The US Department of State acknowledges that the assistance rendered by IRGC-Qods Forces to the Russian military in 2022 inflicted significant damage to non-combatants. Iran’s backing of Russia constitutes a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 resulting in the deaths of Ukrainian civilians.

The US has sanctioned the intelligence arm of the IRGC, as well as the IRGC leaders, for their roles in wrongful detentions of U.S. citizens. In 2007, The US Treasury Department designated the IRGC-QF as a foreign terrorist organization, designating former IRGC-QF Commander Qassem Soleimani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The current IRGC-QF Commander Sardar Esmail Qaani was also labelled a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2012.

In 2019, President Donald Trump designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization. This was the first time that the US had ever designated a part of a foreign government as a terrorist organization. The designation is significant because entities doing business with, donating to, or otherwise supporting the IRGC can be subject to secondary sanctions for supporting terrorism.

AUTHOR

Antonio Graceffo

Dr. Antonio Graceffo, PhD, China MBA, is a China economist, the author of Beyond the Belt and Road: China’s Global Expansion and The Wrestler’s Dissertation. He is based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. More by Antonio Graceffo

RELATED ARTICLE: Insane: Biden’s Handlers STILL Want to Make a Deal With the Iranian Mullahs

EDITORS NOTE: This MercatorNet column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Florida’s conscientious objection bill is not discriminatory

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Critics are relying on a tired caricature of doctors who refuse to perform certain procedures.

Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature is not shy of controversy. The state regularly makes international headlines for its hard-line immigration policy and its ongoing “war on woke”.

Lawmakers have recently set their sights on reforming the state’s health law. Last month, the Florida legislature passed two major health bills, one of which established a sweeping right to conscientious objection for doctors, medical students, and healthcare institutions.

The new conscientious objection law permits physicians, health providers and medical students in Florida to opt out of providing any medical procedure to which they have a religious, moral or ethical objection.

It is not limited to a narrow set of procedures like abortion or euthanasia (unlike other conscientious objection legislation). Nor does it impose referral requirements on objecting physicians. The bill simply requires that physicians give a patient notice of their objection before an appointment is scheduled.

Unsurprisingly, ethicists have expressed concern about the effect of the law on access to healthcare for vulnerable patient groups, particularly LGBTQ+ patients. Bioethicist Craig Klugman recently said that the “entire purpose of the law is to permit discrimination” and called for a national campaign against the “legislators who pass and governors who sign these bills”.

Physicians are, however, prohibited in the law from denying healthcare to a patient “because of that patient’s or potential patient’s race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin”. That is to say, objections must be to particular procedures, not to classes of patients. A doctor, then, could object to providing abortions because of a moral belief in the sanctity of human life, but she could not object to providing medical care to women, say, or to Latino patients. One media outlet erroneously stated that “the law makes no mention of protections against gender or race-based discrimination”. This is incorrect.

While the bill does not explicitly include “sexuality” in its list of protected patient categories, it does state that “the exercise of the right of medical conscience is limited to conscience-based objections to a specific healthcare service”. As such, the new law does not provide an explicit legal pretext for discrimination against LGBTQI+ patients.

But commentators are perhaps concerned with the collateral effects of this bill rather than its explicit content. The concern seems to be that health law in Ron DeSantis’s Florida is implicitly marginalising minorities – women and queer patients in particular. Commentators are worried that the law could exacerbate health inequalities in a state that already ranks poorly for healthcare access among US states. Only days ago, DeSantis signed a bill banning gender affirming care for minors. Florida has a six-week ban on abortion with limited exceptions.

Kenneth W. Goodman, PhD, professor and director of the University of Miami’s Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, went as far as to say that the law sanctions negligent medical practice:

“To deny care based on unspecified and unarticulated ‘moral, ethical, or religious reasons’ opens the door to neglect, abandonment, and suspicion…It undermines two millennia of a cornerstone of medical ethics: take care of your patients — no matter who they are.”

This is a common argument in the bioethical literature on conscientious objection, namely, that conscience laws pit physician liberties against the welfare and rights of patients, and that patients will ultimately end up second best in jurisdictions where conscientious objection is broadly permitted. The principal duty of a doctor is the welfare of his or her patient, but so-called conscience clauses give inordinate priority to the idiosyncratic views of clinicians and, indeed, open the door to “a pandora’s box” of “value-driven medicine”.

But as I argue in my recent book, Why Conscience Matters: A Defence of Conscientious Objection in Healthcare, conscience laws are not to the detriment of patient welfare and, in fact, critics rely on a prejudicial caricature of conscientious objection when they argue against these laws.

The average conscientious objector is a diligent medical practitioner who is just as concerned about patient welfare as any other doctor but who respectfully disagrees with the morality of particular socially contentious medical procedures. Their convictions are deserving of respect and legal protection.

The burden of proof lies with critics of conscientious objection to show that this is really a problem rather than a poorly evidenced, ideologically motivated campaign against religious healthcare practitioners.

Is it likely that this bill will be replicated in other states? Florida has been described as an “ideas laboratory” for the Republican Party and it is not implausible to suggest that we will see similar legislation in other states in the future.

Would this spell “danger” for health access for minorities? When it comes to heart transplants or routine antibiotics, certainly not. The real concern is precisely the kinds of socially controversial procedures that are at the centre of debates about conscientious objection – abortion, emergency contraception, gender affirming care, and euthanasia. To call this a dangerous development would be to gratuitously assume that these procedures are part of basic medical care rather than being at odds with the proper goals of medicine.

AUTHOR

Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Human Flourishing Program in the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University. More by Xavier Symons

RELATED ARTICLE: In June the media is approaching peak cognitive dissonance over the ‘T’ in LGBT

EDITORS NOTE: This MercatorNet column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

PODCAST: Fed’s Spending Disaster and Target’s Satanist LGBTQ Collection

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GUESTS AND TOPICS

FRANK VERNUCCIO

Frank Vernuccio serves as editor-in-chief of the New York Analysis of Policy & Government, providing objective coverage of key issues facing the United States today. Frank is the co-host of the Vernuccio/Novak Report, nationally both on broadcast radio and the web at amfm247.com. FRANK also co-hosts of the “The American Political Zone,” Broadcast on the AUN-TV Network and on cable in eastern Connecticut.

TOPIC: The Federal Government’s Spending Disaster!

JUDGE PHIL GINN

Judge Phil Ginn was appointed president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in April 2021 after a distinguished career as both a lawyer and a judge. He holds a B.A. from Appalachian State University, a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Doctor of Ministry from Southern Evangelical Seminary. Prior to his appointment as SES president, Judge Ginn served as SES Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

TOPIC: Target’s Satanist-affiliated LGBTQ collection as store stock plummets!

©2023. Conservative Commandoes Radio. All rights reserved.

Florida County Republican Registrations Report—May 2023

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Florida Republicans continue the trend of making gains as Republican registrations relative to Democrat registrations increased by 19,100 registrations in May and by 182,296 registrations since the book closing for the 2022 general election. Florida Republicans now have a 488,246 relative registrations advantage over the Democrats. Republican registrations were 36.79% of total registrations and Republicans now enjoy a 3.38% of total registrations advantage over the Democrats (click here to view the charts).

The Democrats continue the Biden era phenomena of losing registrations as Democrats lost 17,490 additional Registrations in May and 141,624 registrations since the 2022 book closing. The registrations of Republicans increased by 1,610 registrations in May, and the number of registrations which are neither Republican nor Democrat decreased by 9,688 registrations in May (click here to view the chart).

Note: There have been some relatively large shrinkages in the number of registrations in some of Florida Counties. Leslie Swan, our local supervisor of elections, provided information that the law has been changed to make it easier to remove inactive voters from the voter rolls. This information solves the riddle of why the number of registrations is falling while the population is growing.

Cleaner voter rolls are a good thing. In the long term it should make for a truer reflection of the political sentiments of the electorate. It the short term it may give an over indication of just how much the electorate is changing.

Strategy Questions Based on the 2023 Jacksonville Mayoral Elections

Florida Republicans dominated the 2022 election. The 2023 Jacksonville mayoral election was closely watched by the political class as an indicator of if this Republican domination would extend into the 2024 election cycle.

In the 2015 election cycle, the Jacksonville mayoral election primary (referred to as the “First” election, but very much like a primary election) had a Democrat and a Republican as the top two vote getters to face off in the 2015 general election. The 2015 general election was carried by the Republican by a vote of 103,626 to 98,353.

In the 2019 mayoral election, the Democrats did not field a candidate. The Republican incumbent received the over 50% of the 2019 “First” election vote, and therefore, per Florida election law, retained the seat without the need for a general election.

Why would the Democrats not enter a candidate in the 2019 election? The adage (changed to fit the circumstance) is for Democrats to not interrupt when a Republican officeholder is adopting polices which grow the Democrat base, which in this case was overseeing the building of excessive amounts of rental housing. Enough rental housing was built during the Republican mayor’s tenure to bring the Jacksonville rentership rate over 43%, which is a level of rentership where Republicans will find it a struggle to compete.

Note: Rental housing only becomes a political factor when real estate markets are corrupted, which is the case in most of America. Renters become alienated when current homeowners gain wealth as the lack of new housing makes existing homes more valuable while concurrently rents are driven higher by the same shortage of housing, creating a loss of wealth for renters. Alienation inhibits Democrat voters from becoming Republican voters.

The 2023 Jacksonville general election was carried by the Democrat by a vote of 113,226 to 104,172!

The Jacksonville mayoral election outcome further confirms that excessive amounts of rental housing in non-market driven real estate markets will doom an area to Democrat control. It is past time for Republicans to start adopting applicable strategies to combat this successful Democrat strategy!

The National Senate Republican Vote Scam

Republican Senators will often vote in opposition to their Republican constituent’s wishes if they are not up for reelection. The recent raising of the debt limit had those Republican Senators not up for reelection until 2026 or 2028 casting 17 of the 19 (88%) Republican votes in support of the debt increase measure. Allowing state legislatures to recall their national senators and call for new elections would put an end to this abuse!

Donations to Candidates in a Republican Primary

Does it make any sense to donate money to candidates that attack fellow Republicans and alienate a portion of the Republican base? Please consider donating your time and treasure to efforts which grow the Republican base (an example would be to champion the creation of affordable homeownership), which had shrunk by 10 million voters relative to the Democrat voters between 1988 and 2016, and which has only worsened nationally since 2016!

©Stephen R. Meyer, Vero Beach, Florida, June, 2023. All rights reserved.

The Gift of Life

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Every beat of the human heart is a gift from God. Our founders said in the Declaration of Independence, America’s birth certificate, that it is “self-evident” truth that we have been endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights. The first right they listed, of course, was the right to life.

But in our day, abortion is a direct assault on that right to life. I am grateful that Roe v. Wade, the infamous 1973 Supreme Court decision that ushered in abortion on demand in America, has been overturned. Because of this, 60,000 babies have been saved so far. Tragically, Roe caused some

66 million unborn babies to have had their life snuffed out before they were ever born.

There are many pro-life ministries that God has raised up to address the abortion issue, including crisis pregnancy centers, which provide a loving alternative to abortion.

In May 2022, the draft to the June Dobbs v. Jackson decision that did overturn Roe as unconstitutional was leaked. Since that leak, the source of which has never been revealed, there have been some 87 attacks against pro-life ministries, such as crisis pregnancy centers. Pro-abortion forces have also attacked many pro-life churches as well.

The Biden Administration’s Justice Department and FBI don’t seem very interested in addressing these attacks. Maybe that’s because they are too busy sending out body-armor clad and long-gun equipped agents to arrest peaceful pro-life activists like Catholic writer Mark Houck—in their homes and in front of their kids.

Love Life is a pro-life ministry, that, in the words of Rev. Frank Trotta, a director for the chapter in South Florida, “serves the local church to awaken the church to the reality of abortion in their city. In doing so they help mobilize the body of Christ to ‘Love God and Love neighbor,’ by being a peaceful, prayerful presence at the abortion centers.”

As an associate minister in a local Presbyterian church in south Florida, I was privileged to speak on two separate Saturday mornings to address the abortion issue. These short speeches took place in a church parking lot, and then about 30 of us or so (including a handful of our church members) walked over to the abortion clinic a few blocks away.

In front of the clinic we peaceably assembled to pray about the matter of abortion. Our first prayers were offered up on behalf of the owner of the clinic and their medical personnel—that God would open their eyes to see the error of their ways and repent.

There are many in our time who have left the abortion field because their eyes were opened to the grisly work they have been doing in killing these unborn babies.

In fact, a former Planned Parenthood Employee of the Year (2008), Abby Johnson, a former clinic manager for the abortion giant, became instantly pro-life when she saw a sonogram of a 15-week old boy being aborted in her own clinic in Bryan, Texas, in 2009.

Fast forward to today, Abby Johnson, the author (along with Cindi Lambert) of Unplanned (with both a book and movie of that title), has begun the ministry, And Then There Were None. This work helps those involved in the abortion business to leave that business and settle in some field that “does no harm.” Some 650 former employees have walked away from the abortion industry.

We also prayed for the mothers considering abortion—praying that they won’t go through with it. But if they do, that they would find God’s forgiveness and healing for their souls. And we prayed for the church throughout the land to arise even more and address this evil of abortion.

I once interviewed Justin Reeder, the founder of Love Life for Truths That Transform, the weekly television show from D. James Kennedy Ministries. He told our viewers: “The whole mission of Love Life is to unite and mobilize the church to create a culture of love and life that would result to an end to abortion.”

One of those who is out there on Saturdays to intervene on behalf of life is Darci Schattinger. She knows firsthand the pain of abortion because many years ago, she herself had one. But later, by the grace of God, she found healing through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So far Love Life is in 17 communities, including South Florida. Lord-willing, one day it will be in all 50 states.

The Church of Jesus Christ, in its various branches, is often on the front lines in the abortion issue. And yet in some ways, the Church is like a sleeping giant on this issue. It’s gratifying to see ministries like Love Life, trying to arouse more and more elements of the sleeping giant.

©2023. Dr. Jerry Newcombe. All rights reserved.

What Does the Future Hold for the United States?

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The Lord God, Jehovah, has never been shy about describing Himself to the human race. He is the creator of all that can be seen even though HE is not visible to our human eyes. Faith is required to reach into the spiritual realm and understand Who He really is and how He administers the universe He created. Without faith, His character cannot be ascertained, and without faith it is also impossible to PLEASE Him (Hebrews 11:6).

God (re)created the earth and gave its administration over to the man He created in His image, but He has always maintained His ownership of the earth and its fulness (Psalm 24:1); He has the authority to determine who will rule in the kingdoms of the world and the Bible makes many references to that fact:

1 Chronicles 29:11—“Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all”

Psalm 22:28—–“For the kingdom is the Lord’s And He rules over the nations”

Psalm 47:2——-“For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth”

Psalm 66:7——-“He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah”

Isaiah 40:17—–“All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity”

Psalm 110:6——“He will judge the nations … crushing the rulers of the whole earth”

All Nations Will Answer to His Authority

The final state of every nation on this earth is in the hands of Almighty God. Nothing and no one on earth can change that fact. The above scriptures are sure and certain because, being God’s word, they cannot fail, He WILL NOT change them and man CANNOT change them. The only input mankind has is in the manner in which their nations, and their nation’s leaders, conduct the business they are selected to do. And even though God sees all, and knows EVERY deed done by men and nations, there is one primary way in which God determines how those deeds will greatly affect that nation’s future.

Speaking to Abraham, the human being chosen by God to be the father of the people from whom His only begotten Son, the Messiah, would come, He said: “I will bless them that bless you and Him that curses you, I will curse” (Genesis 12:1-3).

After some word study, I have determined that (for me), the better translation of these words is: “I will bless them that bless you and he that disrespects or makes light of you, I will utterly despise and destroy”. I suggest a careful word study, using a good Strong’s Concordance,  of the Hebrew words “bless” and “curse” as used in those verses and it will be seen that God’s actual statement is much stronger than the simple word “curse”.

This is what many consider to be God’s foreign policy towards all people who interact with the Apple of His eye, the Jewish people. As such, it stands to reason that His policy will have a major impact on how and when God delivers His sentence on nations in light of the manner in which they treat the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, and the way in which they accept and/or honor His Son, Jesus Christ. No evil deed done by man will go unpunished and ALL will face His righteous judgment.

I will NOT be surprised to see this formerly great nation ‘demoted’ to a ‘third world nation’ status before all the great final prophecies are fulfilled. God promised that He would bless those that bless Abraham (Israel), and curse him that disrespects, or curses Abraham, and at this point, the US stands in the disrespectful/cursing line, awaiting the just recompense of reward.

The Changing State of the USA

I was born in the United States, in the southern state of North Carolina, and have considered myself to be a patriotic American citizen all my life. In 80 years, I have seen a lot of changes take place that have reshaped our nation so as to make it nearly unrecognizable. I started an article several years ago titled “I No Longer Recognize My Country”, but put it aside as being too depressing to think about.

I have been a “Pledge of Allegiance reciter” all my life and assumed it really meant something important. As a child, I memorized the words having no idea what the pledge meant, but I did gain that knowledge as I grew up and learned the history of the United States of America. I was always thrilled to place my hand over my heart and say those amazing words. It was always a ‘feel good moment’ that stayed with me all my life.

Eventually, it became obvious to me that God was behind the many blessings bestowed on our nation. As the gospel flowed from the US to the world, the blessings increased as did the pride of being such a rich, prosperous and blessed nation. The abundance of pride, along with the failure to credit God with our prosperity began to change the nation, and NOT for the better. When sin multiplies, God will NOT bless those who promote and engage in the sins; at some point, it appeared that God became absent from the American scene.

However, I am now trying to see the situation in a different light, from the perspective of a Bible-believing Christian who, though still concerned about the state of my birth nation, is open to seeing whether or not God is actively working here behind the scenes to change the status of the country I still love, to return her to her former glory.

Political Drivel

I hear nearly every politician, when running for office, bloviate, seemingly endlessly, about the value of being an American, working on the heartstrings of their constituents to pull out the ‘patriotism’ from their listeners, speaking about “their love for this great nation” and how much they want to solidify and strengthen our ‘democracy’, how they are the only ones who can make things better again, but I have yet to hear one politician (with the possible exception of Trump) in the past 40 years mention our REPUBLIC; it’s always about our ‘democracy’ and democracy was NOT the intention of the Founding Fathers.

I thoroughly believe many Americans are still holding out hope that a man will arrive and be the person they have awaited who will restore our nation to its previous glory. I had some small portion of that hope when Trump won the presidency in 2016, but it faded into despair in short order with the political war of words setting the nation on a course toward failure.

The Cause of the Fall

Many may be wondering just what happened to the US to bring us to this place in time. I reflect on the word of God describing what happened to Lucifer (means ‘Lightbearer’) who was perhaps God’s most beautifully created and powerful archangel. He was described as  being “the anointed cherub that covereth”, and as having music ‘built into him’, and God said of him: “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:13-15). Here was the most perfect archangel that God created, he had his own earthly kingdom, but he was not satisfied with all that God had given unto him. He became prideful and wanted to rise above God and usurp the authority and power that God alone possessed. In his pride, he was brought down low and his earthly kingdom was stripped from him. Sound like a nation you know?

Consider the prideful state of the deluded souls in the US who now believe they have the authority to determine who will live and who will die. They decide the fate of millions of unborn humans each year, in effect destroying the very future of the nation. They have placed themselves in the same position as Satan/Lucifer in desiring to have an authority not granted to them by God. Just as Satan told Eve when tempting her in the Garden of Eden, telling her that if she ate the forbidden fruit, her eyes would be opened and she would be ‘as gods, knowing good and evil’. Indeed her eyes were opened and she instantly realized she had made a grievous error, CHOOSING evil over good. Such is the national state of the United States now, having seen both good and evil, and unfortunately choosing the evil over the good.

This nation was NOT created perfect but it was blessed abundantly by God from the first day it was born as a nation. Over time, the so-called leaders of the US began to think more highly of themselves that they ought, pride entered into the national levels of government, with the credo, “The USA is the greatest nation on earth”, or “The US is the greatest nation ever”. When have you ever heard a national politician give credit for the success of this nation to Almighty God?

Only God has the authority to determine what is righteous and what is an abomination. The recent decisions made by the Supreme Court regarding what constitutes a “marriage”, or at what point a pre-born infant can be legally killed, have set this nation on a downward path from which there may not be a return.

If Satan, the highest archangel of God was stripped of his earthly status and authority because of pride and greed (yes, Satan WAS  greedy) why would God spare this nation? The multiple national sins mentioned earlier, coupled with greed, desiring to be the world’s leader in EVERYTHING, establishing an American military presence on every continent and in nearly country, have placed this nation in God’s crosshairs  and virtually caused the downfall of the “GREAT United States” and the future is now a foregone conclusion.

Unfortunately there are still many who think more highly of themselves than they should and they still promote the idea that the US is ‘special among the nations’.

What Does the Future Hold for the US?

There are now more questions than answers about Russia’s involvement in the war with Ukraine, and the many statements from western leaders who want to see Russia destroyed, militarily and economically indicate there is more to this event than what the media ‘shares’ with the public.

Most Christians who have ever done a thorough study of end-times prophecy are aware of Russia’s involvement in the end-times clash with Israel, which indicates that Russia will NOT be destroyed in this Ukrainian mess, but WILL prevail and exist long after and WILL be on the scene in the Middle East when God puts His hooks into the jaws of Gog and pulls him down to the face to face confrontation with Almighty God.

On the other hand, the nation that appears so desperate to see Russia defeated, the United States, has absolutely NO presence in any of the end-times events in the Middle East and specifically Israel.

So what does that mean, given that the US is still considered the major power in the world today?

To me, it means that, between now and the time when the earth-shaking end time events prophesied in the Bible in and around Israel begin to occur, the US becomes far less prominent and visible on the world scene than she is right now. There could be many explanations for that but for those who believe that God is Who and What He claims to be, the most likely is that God decides who will be present and actively involved in HIS great event: the day(s) of His judgment on the world especially those who malign Israel. That being true, and in view of the events of the past 22 years, since the disaster of  9/11 in 2001, what should we expect to see in the future in the US?

Based on the multitude of sins committed by the people of the United States, such as approving homosexuality (an abomination in God’s eyes), same-sex marriage, abortion on demand (murder of the innocent in the mother’s womb), stealing the wealth of one person, or group of people to enrich others (unfair and unconstitutional taxation) and mainly, the apostasy of the Church, turning away from God to worship a multitude of idols, judgment MUST come on the United States. The early fathers of the US were firm believers in the God of Israel and were aware that He keeps and honors His word. Thomas Jefferson was quoted as saying, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever”.

We appear to still be in a period of God’s ‘sleeping justice’ and can only speculate as to when that awakening may occur. To only look at the events occurring here in the US to try to determine when that judgment will occur is a serious mistake. God’s timepiece is NOT the United States; in fact, there are a great many people who have this misplaced notion that the world revolves around the USA, so everything MUST be about the condition of our nation. They are very sincere about this belief but they are very sincerely wrong.

The Bible fact is that God is orchestrating the alignment and placing of all nations where He wants them to be as He conducts the final movement and brings all nations to the Valley of Megiddo where He will judge them in righteousness.

God’s timepiece is the tiny nation of israel and specifically Jerusalem, the city where God said He placed His name. To understand what the really important events are, one must constantly, and carefully, watch Israel and the nations of the Middle East. Events are occurring that signal a soon-coming major clash between israel and Iran, along with most of the Arab nations surrounding Israel. As these events occur, God’s “timepiece” is signaling that time is short and the opportunity to seek the shelter of God’s secret place is fading away.

How Close Are We?

How close are we to seeing the culmination of God’s ‘cursing on the US’? One can only speculate, but watching how the nations of the world are now being realigned in preparation for the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word, with those nations spoken of in Ezekiel 38-39 coming together in an alliance which will attack Israel, and with the US embroiled in another ‘unwinnable war’, this time between Russia and Ukraine, with much of the US’s resources being poured into backing Ukraine, possibly the most corrupt government on earth, it is not too difficult to see where this situation will leave our nation. Already morally bankrupt, with financial bankruptcy following close behind, I am not at all hopeful that a change for the better is coming. The only advice I can offer is to seek God, repent, and pray that His mercy will continue to abound toward a nation that has all but forgotten Him.

Maranatha

©2023. Bud Hancock. All rights reserved.

States Protect America From Foreign Adversaries

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A relatively new national security issue has emerged in the past 6 months; one largely being addressed at the state level. State legislatures have moved to tackle the issue of America’s foreign adversaries acquiring land in the United States. While much of the media focus has been on the acquisition of agricultural land, the national security implications are far more multi-faceted.

In discussing foreign land ownership, it’s worth noting that the designation “foreign adversary” is defined in federal regulations as, “foreign governments or foreign non-government persons who have engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons.”

The ongoing campaign is not some broadly protectionist or xenophobic movement. Canadian, German, and Italian firms all own millions of acres of U.S. farmland as part of our productive agricultural industry. Instead there is a recognition that land ownership by nations like Communist China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, and North Korea carry fundamentally different risks and challenges from commercial relations with friendly or allied nations.

The case of Chinese efforts to acquire U.S. land are perhaps most instructive on this point.

Communist China has been waging a highly unconventional conflict against the U.S. in the form of what People’s Liberation Army (PLA) doctrine terms “Unrestricted Warfare.” This has included:

  • A massive military build-up aimed at the U.S.,
  • Aggressive, dangerous, unprofessional maneuvers by PLA Air Force and Navy units,
  • Bellicose threats directed at the US and our allies,
  • State-sponsored, serial intellectual property theft,
  • Rampant espionage against both government and corporate targets,
  • Currency manipulation and unfair trade practices,
  • Violations of American airspace

Part of the “Unrestricted Warfare” doctrine includes strategic acquisitions by state-backed Chinese companies and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members of US companies, real estate, and especially agriculture land.

China has been particularly active in attempting to acquire land in the US. From 2010 to 2020 Chinese ownership of US farmland increased from $81 million to $1.8 billion, including properties in North Dakota, Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Florida, Utah, Virginia, Colorado and Oklahoma.

Every Chinese company—without exception—is majority owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party or the People’s Liberation Army. In other words, there is no distinction in China’s hybrid communist political and crony capitalist economic system. And while many Americans, especially business leaders, remain locked into an old paradigm that presupposes China’s willingness to reform its economic and political systems, the reality is that the Chinese regime in recent years has reasserted the importance of Maoism in its philosophy and policies, even to the point of declaring a Maoist renaissance.

Not coincidentally, Mao Zedong, was the biggest mass murderer of the 20th century, responsible for more deaths than Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot combined, and was well known for strategic use of famine against his opponents.

There have also been instances of Chinese nationals buying US land who are later discovered to be high-ranking members of the Chinese Communist Party. That is exactly what happened in Texas where a former officer in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and official in the Chinese Communist Party named Sun Guangxin acquired 140,000 acres of land in the same county as Laughlin Air Force Base, a major pilot training installation. That prompted the Texas legislature to block Sun’s project and in 2021 Governor Abbott of Texas to sign the Lonestar Infrastructure Protection Act into law to prevent such projects.

One might presume that the federal government is adequately managing such national security concerns. Unfortunately, the federal government’s response to this has been inconsistent at best.  When a Chinese entity sought to acquire a corn mill near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which has a responsibility to examine and rule on potential national security implications of foreign investment, declined to weigh in. Fortunately, sanity prevailed when the US Air Force finally issued an official statement that stated that Chinese ownership of land in the immediate vicinity of the base was a threat to national security.

The language of many of these bills recognizes that when a foreign adversary like China makes a move to acquire land, it’s not the Chinese government signing contracts and agreements. It is done through holding companies, foreign cut outs and fronts.

Good legislation must be structured in such a way as to effectively police these activities and entities. Just as importantly, good legislation should hold harmless realtors, land title attorneys and landowners in such transactions and expressly not hold such private individuals and entities accountable to be the enforcement arm of government. That is a job appropriate for state attorney generals.

It has been speculated that it would be impossible to know if a foreign adversary moves to acquire land, but that is not necessarily so. Under existing law, foreign purchases of agriculture land, as an example, must be reported to the US Department of Agriculture, in recognition of the fact that foreign control of land and our food security is a major concern.

Critics have falsely claimed that these bills impact every foreign national or even every foreign national of a foreign adversary, or that they are racially discriminatory against Asian Americans. The ACLU has even sued the state of Florida over their version of the bill, alleging it discriminates against Asian immigrants. Yet most opponents either have not read the bills or else ignore that these bills, for the most part, do not apply to legal permanent residents in the United States. Furthermore, in several states Chinese dissidents have testified in support of bills restricting foreign adversary ownership of U.S. land, urging that more be done to confront the Chinese Communist Party and its horrendous human rights record. These brave dissidents recognize that it is because of China’s communist regime, and its behavior as a rogue state which makes it essential they not control any portion of our food security and not occupy or control land near US military installations.

Despite all of the attention focused on this issue recently due to China’s aforementioned actions, this is NOT an entirely new issue. According to the National Agriculture Law Center, 21 states already have restrictions or prohibitions against foreign land ownership. Others require permission for such purchases.

Among those states are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

America needs government willing to prevent our potential adversaries from buying our arable land and to prevent those adversaries from controlling even a portion of our domestic food supply. We also need to prevent foreign adversaries from owning and occupying land near military installations. Unfortunately, we cannot depend upon Washington to protect us, which is why responsible state legislatures are acting.

Food security is national security. If Americans don’t act, China will.

AUTHOR

Christopher Holton

Senior Analyst and Director of State Outreach.

RELATED ARTICLE: Securing America – Is the Biden administration undermining U.S. sovereignty?

EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.