Sixth-Grade Gym Class Basketball Game Causes Constitutional Battle in Federal Court

Sixth-Grade Gym Class Basketball Game Causes Constitutional Battle in Federal Court Against Officials of Lakeview Public Schools and Jefferson Middle School

ANN ARBOR, MI — On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, the Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Lakeview Public Schools and its officials, as well as the Principal and Vice Principal of Jefferson Middle School (“JMS”) located in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.

The lawsuit, which claims willful and malicious disregard of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Michigan Constitution, the Michigan State School Code, and the School District’s own policy, was brought on behalf of Jonathon and Casandra Olbrys, and their minor son (referred herein by the pseudonym J.O.), a sixth-grade student at Jefferson Middle School.  Their son is an exemplary student enrolled in accelerated academic courses and prior to the incident, which is the subject matter of the claim herein, was without any history of school disciplinary action.

Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President and Chief Counsel, representing the Plaintiffs commented, “The U.S. Supreme Court, concerned that state schools could become enclaves of totalitarianism, famously stated in the 1969 Tinker Case that children do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.  The Court observed that the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in our American schools.”

Continued Thompson, “I am astonished at the duplicity and utter disdain these school officials had for the rights of these parents to see their son’s educational record, which they have a right to see under federal and state laws, and the School District’s own published rules.”

The constitutional battle involved in this case had inauspicious beginnings—a sixth-grade gym class basketball game and a videotape.

On the morning of January 18, 2023, the Jefferson Middle School sixth-grade gym class informally divided themselves into two groups, those who wanted to play a game of basketball and those who wanted to practice alone. The basketball game would more appropriately be characterized as “streetball” or a neighborhood “pick-up” game: no referee officiated, players called their own fouls, no rules were enforced, no score was kept, and no oversight was provided by the gym teacher or anyone else.

Players began blocking each other, bumping, boxing-out, and engaging in other forms of contact normal to basketball. The JMS Defendants contend that during the game one of the players was allegedly pushed and another allegedly punched several times.  Three players, including J.O., were instructed to write statements about what happened.  Apparently, all three were interviewed by the Vice Principal.  And all three were suspended for varying lengths of time, with J.O. receiving the longest suspension of five days and prohibited from stepping foot on any school property or attending school events for ten days.

Violation of Due Process

J.O. was never informed of the provisions of the Student Code of Conduct that he was accused of violating.  Nor was he given any explanation of the charges against him or a reasonable opportunity to respond to those charges, requirements of due process that the Supreme Court has imposed on public schools since the 1975 case of Goss v. Lopez:

“Due process requires, in connection with a suspension of 10 days or less, that the student be given oral or written notice of the charges against him, and if he denies them, an explanation of the evidence the authorities have and an opportunity to present his side of the story.”

In clear violation of his rights under the Due Process Clause, J.O. was never given the required notice of the charges against him.  Instead, the Vice Principal took a few minutes to view a video which purportedly captured the incident and hurriedly rushed to the judgment that J.O. was the one who punched one player and pushed another player to the ground.  J.O. was never allowed to see the video which was used to determine his guilt.  Beginning with his written statement a few minutes after the incident, J.O. has steadfastly maintained that he did not punch or push anyone to the ground.  Nor did the other two suspended players ever indicate in their written statements that he did.  In fact, one of the players admitted that he was the one that was punching J.O.  All the Defendants were made aware of that fact, to no avail.

Where Is the Video?  

When Plaintiff Casandra Olbrys was informed of the video in a phone call with the Vice Principal at around 12:50 pm on the day of the incident, she immediately asked to see a copy.  He refused.  As the video was the main evidence against her son, she was attempting to ascertain exactly what transpired and the sequence of events leading up to the alleged incident.  In her meeting with the Principal the next day, Mrs. Olbrys again requested to see the video.  The Principal refused.

Since the incident of January 18, 2023, Plaintiffs have made at least a dozen requests, both orally and in writing, for the opportunity to view the video.  Initially using the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as a shield, the Defendants denied access to the footage outright because images of students not directly involved could possibly be revealed without their consent. But in a good-faith effort to protect the identity of any students not necessary to the investigation, Plaintiffs offered to pay any out-of-pocket cost associated with acquiring software that would blur out any peripheral students.

After several months of assuring Plaintiffs they would have an “edited” video copy of the incident, the Principal ultimately defaulted on her guarantee and has continued to unjustly block any access to the video.

The Defendants have also refused Plaintiffs’ several requests to review and make copies of their son’s entire educational record, which would include a copy of the purported video of the incident.  Defendants’ refusal violates the School District’s own written policy which provides on page 31 of the School District Handbook that “Students and parents have a right to review and receive a copy of all educational records.”

The information contained in J.O.’s educational record is permanent. It is made available to any educational institution that asks for it, and any potential employers who ask for consent to view it.

This lawsuit is more than pointing out the wrongdoings of the Lakeview Public Schools’ administrators and JMS officials.  According to the Defendants’ published policy (page 31 of the School District’s Handbook), parents have a right to amend their students’ record when they believe any information contained in it is inaccurate.  To avail themselves of that right, however, the Plaintiffs must first know what is in J.O.’s record, and secondly must see the video which they believe will exonerate their son.

Contrary to Defendants’ repeated misrepresentations, the FERPA rules allow J.O. and his parents the right to review his entire educational record, even though it may contain confidential information about other students.

The unfortunate part of this story is that had the video Plaintiffs requested at least 12 different times showed their son repeatedly punching another player, they would have ceased their conflict with the Defendants.

But because the Defendants’ actions were intentionally deceptive and showed a complete and deliberate indifference to and conscious disregard for J.O.’s constitutional rights, Plaintiffs seek punitive damages in an amount a jury deems sufficient to punish and deter Defendants and other similar entities from like conduct in the future.

Lastly, in a May 24, 2023 email by Plaintiffs’ counsel to the Principal, she was asked to state whether she still had a viewable copy of the video—she refused to respond.

Click here to read the 52-page Complaint (minus exhibits) filed with the Court.

©2023. Thomas More Law Center. All rights reserved.

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

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

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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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.

Biden’s Council to Keep Churches Safe Includes Al Sharpton and ‘Three Islamists’

As attacks against churches have tripled over the last four years, the Biden administration has appointed a faith-based security commission to advise officials on how to keep churches safe — a council that includes Al Sharpton, a former leader of the National LGBTQ Task Force, and a Muslim leader who held a fundraiser for a convicted cop-killer.

The Department of Homeland Security warned that churches and “faith-based institutions” face a greater likelihood of violent attacks in the coming months due to the caustic U.S. political debate, warned a May 24 bulletin. To minimize the risk, the DHS “continues to engage a coalition of faith-based and community organizations, including members of the Faith-Based Security Advisory Council (FBSAC),” which aims “to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from acts of targeted violence or terrorism, major disasters, cyberattacks, or other threats or emergencies against places of worship, faith communities, and faith-based organizations.”

Members of the FBSAC include Sharpton, “three Islamists,” a rabbi who calls abortion a “righteous procedure,” and an LGBTQ activist, among others:

Al Sharpton founded the National Action Network shortly before the racially charged August 1991 Crown Heights riots. Sharpton led crowds in chanting, “No justice, no peace” before rioters claimed the life of rabbinical student Yankel Rosenbaum. Sharpton’s “vile rhetoric incited the rioting,” said Rosenbaum’s brother, Norman. A month earlier, Sharpton challenged New York’s Jewish community, “If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.” In 1995, Sharpton would lead months-long demonstrations against Jewish “white interlopers” at Freddy’s Fashion Mart, who raised the rent of a black business owner; ultimately, a protester burned the store and killed eight people, including himself.

Naomi Washington-Leapheart most recently worked as “the Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force,” one of the nation’s oldest LGBT pressure groups, which seeks to change Christianity’s Bible-based teachings about sexuality and gender. The Task Force’s Institute for Welcoming Resources seeks to create a “paradigm shift in Christianity” to bring about the “unconditional welcome of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities and their families in the church home of their choice.” Washington-Leaphart, a self-styled “anti-oppression consultant” and “person of moral courage” who teaches Africana Studies and theology at Villanova University, led the Task Force’s “public faith messaging and advocacy and leadership development” to recruit LGBTQ advocates inside churches and religious institutions. Washington-Leapheart personally denounced the United Methodist Church as “immoral” for seeking to oust Karen Oliveto from a church leadership position “simply because she is an out and proud married [sic] lesbian.” Washington-Leapheart, who is ordained by the United Church of Christ, was “outraged” when President Donald Trump issued a 2019 conscience regulation protecting health care workers from being coerced into taking part in abortions, transgender surgeries, or assisted suicides — a rule the Task Force called “immoral.” She also endorsed the so-called “Equality Act,” which would amend landmark civil rights legislation to add gender identity and sexual preference, creating what critics call second-class, “separate but equal status” for Christians. The Task Force also operates the “Queering Reproductive Justice” campaign. “Although many people talk about reproductive health as a ‘women’s issue,’ many LGBTQ people — including lesbian and bisexual women, transgender men, two-spirit, intersex, nonbinary and gender non-conforming individuals — can get pregnant, use birth control, have abortions,” the campaign says. “Most recently, our opponents have been using religion and ‘conscience’ as a guise for discrimination against LGBTQ people and people seeking access to reproductive health services.”

Leslie Copeland-Tune of the National Council of Churches (NCC), which has long embraced left-of-center views in the name of Christianity. Thanks to the dwindling number of mainline Protestants, beginning in 2005 the NCC received the bulk of its donations from left-wing nonprofits, including some led by George Soros, according to Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Copeland-Tune said in December 2020 that the belief that America is a Christian nation is “almost toxic” and “has really fed into the idea of white nationalism, of Christian nationalism.” In 2021, one of NCC’s “priorities” was H.R. 40, which “would explore offering reparations” to black Americans “as a matter of equity.” She judged that Trayvon Martin’s “assassination” served as “an indictment on the character of a nation.” The NCC leader, ordained in a Baptist church, said President Donald Trump’s 2018 proposed budget, which cut welfare spending as a means of reducing government dependence, “legislates evil.”

Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, commonly known as Imam Mohamed Magid, is the executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center. In March 2008, Magid spoke at an ADAMS Center fundraiser for convicted cop-killer H. Rap Brown (who now goes by the name “Jamil Al-Amin”); participants at the event described Brown, who murdered a black deputy and wounded his partner, as “a political prisoner.” Brown leads the National Ummah, whose “primary mission is to establish a separate, sovereign Islamic state within the borders of the United States, governed by Shariah law,” according to the FBI. Magid was present when federal agents raided the ADAMS Center in March 2002 as the government investigated the SAAR Network based in the “Grove Street addresses,” more than 100 interlocking Muslim organizations at two addresses that the government accused of giving material aid to terrorists; ultimately, it did not arrest anyone. Magid spoke at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004.

In 2006, Magid denied the Sudanese genocide in Darfur, telling Georgetown University students that “things escalated, and people called it genocide” merely out of “some kind of exaggeration.” The U.S. State Department called the slaughter, which reportedly claimed an estimated 200,000 lives, a “genocide” in which Arab Muslims often targeted African Christians. “The government of Sudan is carrying out genocidal practices against its religious and ethnic minorities,” Nina Shea, then a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), told Congress in 2001. Last August, Joe Biden also appointed Magid to USCIRF.

Salam al-Marayati co-founded the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Al-Marayati compared Islamic terrorists to “American freedom fighters hundreds of years ago” and described the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans as “not in a strict sense, a terrorist operation. It was a military operation, producing no civilian casualties — exactly the kind of attack that Americans might have lauded had it been directed against Washington’s enemies.” The Washington Timeshas described MPAC as “an anti-Semitic organization that has defended infamous terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.” Both MPAC and Magid have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist, Islamist organization whose membership included al-Qaeda founders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Although bin Laden’s mother said the Brotherhood “brainwashed” him into its “cult,” MPAC has stated the Brotherhood poses “long-term strategic threats to violent extremists by siphoning Muslims away from violent radicalism into peaceful political activism.” MPAC subsequently likened an Egyptian government more amenable to the Muslim Brotherhood to America’s Founding Fathers.

“Biden’s handlers would never dream of appointing someone who actually opposes jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women. If they did, there would be a huge outcry over ‘Islamophobia,’ and the appointment would be withdrawn,” wrote Robert Spencer, an expert on the Islamic religion, on JihadWatch.org. “But these guys? No problem.”

Chandru Acharya is the director of Hindu Sawamsayvak Sangh (HSS-USA), which invited Hindu militant Sadhvi Ritambhara to an event in Georgia last August 30-31. When she believed Indian extremists had murdered a Roman Catholic nun for trying to convert a Hindu in 1995, Ritambhara threatened, “If a single choti [or shika, the tuft of hair thought to bring cosmic enlightenment] or janeu [sacred thread worn by Hindus] is cut, Christians will be wiped out from the face of India.” She was also said to be “the single most powerful instrument for whipping up anti-Muslim violence” in the world’s second-most-populous nation. Critics — most of whom belong to U.S. Muslim or left-wingorganizations — say their concerns are less with Acharya “as a person” than with the HSS-USA’s purported ties to groups advocating a Hindu nationalist philosophy known as Hindutva.

Talib M. Shareef serves as imam and president of the D.C.-based Masjid Muhammad, “the nation’s mosque.” The mosque was founded by W. Deen Mohammed, the son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Mohammed. Shareef hosted current NOI leader Louis Farrakhan at the mosque’s 75th anniversary in 2013. In 2018, Shareef was arrested alongside extremists Linda Sarsour and Nihad Awad outside then-Speaker Paul Ryan’s office while demanding the extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty program.

Jonah Dov Pesnerdirector of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), has dependably promoted left-wing causes, often while citing the Bible. He called abortion a “righteous procedure.” He “vehemently condemn[ed]” the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which he asserted would “undermine the religious freedom of people … in the Jewish tradition” — a view denounced by many Jewish and rabbinical authorities. The rabbi is a board member of the liberal NAACP and says he supports “LGBTQ+ equality,” including “celebrating” last year’s passage of H.R. 8404, which critics called the “Disrespect for Marriage Act.” He also decried “anti-LGBTQ+ bills” primarily aimed at protecting young people from life-altering surgeries. Yet Pesner invoked the words of the prophet Isaiah, Genesis, and Proverbs to support Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill while standing amid a crowd of mask-clad Religious Left leaders at an outdoor press conference in December 2021. Upon his appointment to the FBSAC, Pesner said he will not necessarily call for police to guard houses of worship, especially in minority areas due to “a real danger of overpolicing.” Recent polls have found 81% of black Americans want the same or greater levels of police presence in their neighborhoods.

Julie Schonfeld, the former CEO of the Rabbinical Assembly, gave the closing benediction at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and founded Jewish Women for Joe [Biden] during the 2020 election. While leading the Rabbinical Assembly, which guides synagogues affiliated with Conservative Judaism, in 2011 the rabbi “involved gay rabbinical students” (the “treasured members of our community”) in the production of a Jewish service blessing same-sex couples. The RA adopted the rite blessing same-sex Jewish couples to establish “a true and faithful Jewish home” 13-0 in 2012. After the Supreme Court’s Windsor decision struck down the pivotal section of the Defense of Marriage Act, Schonfeld said conservative Judaism “celebrates marriages, whether between partners of the same sex or the opposite sex. We therefore celebrate today’s decisions on gay marriage.” In 2020, she called on clergy to promote the COVID-19 vaccine.

Few FBSAC members represent the majority view of churchgoers on social issues such as abortion and marriage.

While Moshe Hauer of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America criticized New York state’s overbearing regulations of Jewish religious schools (yeshivas), the rabbi thanked Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) for offering a “religious liberty” amendment to the Respect for Marriage Act that most faith-based groups found legally useless. His response to the Supreme Court’s pro-life Dobbs ruling proved muted. “The Orthodox Union is unable to either mourn or celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade,” the group said.

Pastor Gabriel Salguero of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition led more than 100 pastors in urging the Democratic Party to oppose abortion and uphold the biblical definition of marriage. He stands closer to Biden on immigration, as the Orlando-based pastor supports amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants and opposes a bill by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) to punish nonprofits that knowingly aid illegal immigrants, adding that sometimes his ministry drives illegal immigrants “to their lawyer.”

The FBSAC also includes representatives from the Salvation Army, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (which endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act), and the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church.

The president specifically chose these members to “ensure equity, maintain openness and transparency, and fully restore the trust of the communities we serve,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas when he installed the 25 FBSAC members last September 19.

It is unclear how the council, which advises the DHS on keeping churches and “faith-based institutions” safe, responded to the escalating attacks on U.S. churches and pro-life pregnancy resource centers, many of which are affiliated with churches. Arsons, desecrations, and vandalism of U.S. churches nearly tripled in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022. There have been 353 attacks on U.S. churches between the beginning of the Biden administration and March 31, according to documentation in two separate reports by Arielle Del Turco of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty.

The DHS faith council’s left-wing orientation is reminiscent of President Biden’s short-lived National Parents and Families Engagement Council, which was formed last June 14 after a year of parental backlash against extreme gender ideology and critical race theory in public schools. After an exposé of the council by The Washington Stand, three conservative legal organizations — America First Legal Foundation, Fight for Schools and Families, and Parents Defending Education — sued, saying the parents council’s makeup violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires advisors to be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view.” Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and three other U.S. senators wrote that the family council had “forgotten to include any actual families” in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona dated December 2.

Three days later, the Biden administration dismantled the council, less than six months after its formation.

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor 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.

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

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

‘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

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Armenian, Hispanic Parents Clash With Antifa, School Board Over LGBTQ Agenda

Move Over Ladies, Miss California Is a Man This Year

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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

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

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’

“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.” 


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

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

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

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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

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

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

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

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

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.