Nationalism Versus Globalism

Nationalism versus Globalism. Let’s explore the basics of Nationalism versus Globalism, as Clinton can easily be defined as a Globalist and Trump can easily be defined as a Nationalist. So an important question to ask is where will the Globalist agenda lead us vs. the Nationalist agenda? Please listen to a brief podcast commentary relating to this post at the bottom of the page.

Nationalism Versus Globalism

Nationalist / Trump

Sovereign nation. Protecting borders, language and culture. A restoration of the once great U.S. Constitutional Republic. We went from a Constitutional Republic (“If you can keep it” – Ben Franklin), to a Democratic System, to an Oligarchy on the verge of complete collapse into a controlled police state via Global Governance. When you look at the policies of Donald Trump you will see that he understands the importance of global trade and global alliances, however with his “America First” approach as outlined so well in his foreign policy speech, you can see that Donald Trump if elected, will strive to return the U.S. back to its roots. Easier said than done but never under estimate what one man can do and Donald Trump has and will continue to have increasing global support in my opinion. Yes he is up against the deeply rooted ruling elites NWO, I get it. But we have a choice, Clinton the Globalists or Trump the Nationalist. No Trump-No Hope.

Globalist / Clinton

One world government. One world justice system. One world military and one world currency. Globalism is the more user friendly term for New World Order since NWO has gotten its rightly deserved bad reputation over the decades. So what is Globalism? Well one definition from Oxford defines Globalism as “The process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale”. Organizations and treaties such as NAFTA, the United Nations, the WTO, The TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), Agenda 21, UN Agenda 2030 and scores of others are all part of Globalization. I covered a much more in depth analysis of this in a VI part series of posts. Here is part VI and at the end of each post you can click to the preceding posts on the subject. You see Globalism goes hand in hand with Global Governance which aims to control every single aspect of your life and have each and every one of us more and more dependent upon the government for our very survival. Learn more by reading this post as well as Global Governance By Design. Clinton is a Globalist and her agenda aligns completely with that of the NWO / Globalism agenda. With a Hillary Clinton election there is no turning back. Not for a very, very long time if ever.

The Most Important Book Of 2016

What One Man Can Do” the new Donald Trump book to help swing voters. America and freedom itself is at a crossroads. Civilization as we know it is about to change. This is the most important book of 2016. This is America’s last stand as the world awaits, No Trump-No Hope. Learn more by visiting this page. Congrats! You’ve made it this far you’re and engaged reader. What are your thoughts? Share your comments here on this blog post. I would like to hear from you. Also share this post on your social media accounts.

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

Where to Shop this Christmas

With Black Friday next week and Cyber Monday soon after, it is clear Christmas shopping is about to be in full swing. Maybe you’ve received a few Christmas gift lists, maybe you’ve sent them out, or maybe you’re left to your own devices this year for your loved ones. Whatever your situation, Christmas shopping can easily send you scrambling all over town in search of those perfect gifts, so here are a handful of stores that we suggest doing your Christmas shopping at this year.

Ace Hardware
Is there a handy guy or gal in your life that would like some new tools? Ace Hardware, rightfully coined the helpful place, is your destination. There variety of tools and helpful service make it the perfect alternative for Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Anthropologie
Anthropologie is the gift destination this year for the trendsetter in your family. The store is packed full of trendy home decor and the latest fashion. Buying their gift from Anthropologie will transform you into the ”cool one” this Christmas.

Overstock.com
Overstock is the website to check out if the idea of visiting a store during Christmas time makes you nauseated. They have everything from furniture to jewelry. If you have a long list filled with variety and in need of convenience, Overstock is a great alternative to Amazon this year.

When you’re rushed, it’s easy to forget to check 2ndVote scores to make sure your dollar is aligning with your values. That’s why we’ve made the list and checked it twice so you don’t have to stress about where to go this season. Here is our complete Christmas List:


Ace Hardware – 4
Anthropologie – 3
Bass Pro Shops – 5
Bed Bath & Beyond – 3
Dillards – 3
Hobby Lobby – 5
J.Crew – 3
Kay Jewelers – 3
Overstock.com – 4
World Market – 3


Click here to find out what stores to avoid shopping at this Christmas!


EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

Black Friday Deals That Don’t Compromise Your Values

With Black Friday just a week away, it’s almost officially Christmas shopping season.

Here at 2ndVote, we want to help you shop for your loved ones by finding the best deals possible, but we also want to encourage you to shop with your values in mind.

Along with our newly released Christmas Shopping Guide, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best Black Friday deals around to help you find the perfect gifts at rare prices. Not only are you getting great deals, but you can keep your mind at ease knowing that your hard-earned dollars won’t be funding a liberal agenda that opposes your beliefs and values.

Top Black Friday Deals For Conservatives

All of the following companies have a current score of at least a 3 (Neutral) in our 2ndVote Database:

Bass Pro Shops (5 – Conservative)

5 days of sales starting on November 25th, and a special 6-hour sale on Black Friday from 5-11am.

ACE Hardware (4 – Lean Conservative)

Black Friday sale is currently underway and will last until November 26th.

Overstock.com (4 – Lean Conservative)

Up to 70% off and free shipping for certain items.

Tractor Supply Co. (3.1 – Lean Conservative)

Numerous days of sales running from November 21-25.

Bed Bath & Beyond (3 – Neutral)

In-store customers will receive a 20% off entire purchase coupon between 6am – Noon.

Kay Jewelers (3 – Neutral)

Kay Jewelers is offering special Black Friday deals on a variety of their jewelry.

Academy Sports & Outdoors (3 – Neutral)

Running a variety of sales on the morning of Black Friday starting at 5am – till supplies last.

Petco (3 – Neutral)

Up to 50% off select items November 23-24 only.

Aeropostale (3 – Neutral)

60% to 70% off every item online or in the store on Black Friday.

Cost Plus World Market (3 – Neutral)

40% off all furniture with promo code FURNDEAL.

We encourage you to check out these stores on Black Friday and throughout the Christmas shopping season! To view our entire score database, click here.


Help us continue our #AnywhereButTARGET campaign and providing this important research for conservative consumers by becoming a 2ndVote Member today!


EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

The President MUST Appeal The Acosta Ruling

Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, verbally ordered the President of the United States to reinstate CNN Reporter Jim Acosta’s hard pass to access the White House on Friday.  The judge, who sits in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, has not posted his ruling yet, forcing us, at least temporarily, to rely on press reports for details.

Predictably, CNN has called the ruling a huge victory for the First Amendment.  However, according to numerous press reports, Judge Kelly took issue, not with any alleged affronts upon the First Amendment, but rather, the process used to revoke Acosta’s hard pass.  According to one news outlet, the judge said that Sarah Huckabee Sander’s “belated efforts at [answering Acosta’s concerns] were hardly sufficient to satisfy due process.”  Additionally, according to Breitbart, the judge found that in creating press conferences, the President created a public forum to which limited due process rights attach.

I disagree.  Contrary to Judge Kelly’s view, the White House press conference is an internal working of the executive branch done solely for a public relations and communications purpose and at the pleasure of the President of the United States. As such, and as reported previously by The Federalist Pageswhen the Court interferes with how the President conducts his press conferences, it is essentially intruding into the rightful powers of the President of the United States, as Chief Executive, in conducting the internal dealings of the executive branch.

Seen from this angle, which is the dominant issue in this matter, it becomes clear that the President must zealously pursue this case for the sake of the preservation of the autonomy of the executive branch.

Let’s be clear.  There is no finality to Friday’s ruling.  

The judge’s order was the implementation of a temporary restraining order against the President until such time that the case actually goes to trial.  Strategically, the President now has a couple of opportunities available to him.  First, he can let the case play out at the District Court, and if the judge should rule against him at the trial, he can appeal.  Alternatively, the President may appeal the temporary injunction as a matter of law, right now.  Either way, it is imperative that the President take the case to the next level. If he does so, it is likely that a higher court would not accept the invitation for the judiciary to intrude into the inner workings of another branch of government.  If argued as a matter of separation of powers and the comity between the branches of government, it is likely the district court’s position will not be upheld.  If it does, I am equally confident the Supreme Court will take this case because of the constitutional implications it carries to the inner workings of government, and will reverse it.

Make no mistake, although this case is being painted with a brush held by Acosta and the media, it actually represents, yet another small but significant intrusion onto the proper balance of powers; an intrusion with which the Framers, except for John Marshall, would be in total disagreement.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Federalist Pages. The featured photo is by rawpixel on Unsplash.

VIDEO: Court Orders Clinton to Answer Email Questions Under Oath

Apparently, no one in the federal bureaucracies cares to fully investigate Hillary Clinton’s email misconduct, but we are doing it, and we’re making progress.

This week U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that within 30 days Clinton must answer under oath two additional questions about her controversial email system.

In 2016, she was required to submit under oath written answers to our questions. Clinton objected to and refused to answer questions about the creation of her email system; her decision to use the system despite warnings from State Department cybersecurity officials; and the basis for her claim that the State Department had “90-95%” of her emails.

After a lengthy hearing Judge Sullivan ruled that Clinton must address two questions that she refused to answer under oath.

  • Describe the creation of the clintonemail.com system, including who decided to create the system, the date it was decided to create the system, why it was created, who set it up, and when it became operational.
  • During your October 22, 2015 appearance before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi, you testified that 90 to 95 percent of your emails “were in the State’s system” and “if they wanted to see them, they would certainly have been able to do so.” Identify the basis for this statement, including all facts on which you relied in support of the statement, how and when you became aware of these facts, and, if you were made aware of these facts by or through another person, identify the person who made you aware of these facts.

Judge Sullivan read his opinion from the bench, deciding that the question about the creation of the email system was within the scope of discovery. Judge Sullivan rejected Clinton’s assertion of attorney-client privilege on the question about the emails “in the State’s system.”

The court refused Judicial Watch’s and media’s requests to unseal the deposition videos of Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and other Clinton State Department officials. And it upheld Clinton’s objections to answering a question about why she refused to stop using her Blackberry despite warnings from State Department security personnel. Justice Department lawyers for the State Department defended Clinton’s refusal to answer certain questions and argued for the continued secrecy of the deposition videos.

This hearing and court ruling is the latest development in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, former deputy chief of staff to Clinton. The lawsuit, which seeks records regarding the authorization for Abedin to engage in outside employment while employed by the Department of State, was reopened because of revelations about the clintonemail.com system (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)). The court also granted discovery to Judicial Watch to help determine if and how Clinton’s email system thwarted FOIA.

It is good news that a federal court ordered Clinton to answer more questions about her illicit email system. But it is shameful that our attorneys must continue to battle the State and Justice Departments, which still defend Hillary Clinton, for basic answers to our questions about Clinton’s email misconduct.

The public and the media have a right to a full accounting about the Clinton State Department. In lieu of a much-needed, new and untainted investigation by the FBI, the continued work of Judicial Watch in the courts is clearly the only hope of bringing sunlight into the Clinton email issue and completing the public record.

EDITORS NOTE: This Judicial Watch column with video and images is republished with permission.

House Democrats Outline Gun Control Agenda for 116th Congress

With anti-gun Democrats back in control of the House of Representatives come January, now is the time to prepare for a new onslaught on the Second Amendment. Emboldened by the mere thought of controlling the lower chamber, we are already seeing the warning signs of what will come for the next two years.

First, virtually all Democrat leadership positions are likely to be filled by long-time anti-gun zealots, such as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Similarly, key committees will surely be chaired by extremists with long histories of supporting any and all legislation designed to diminish the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

In other words, if you can imagine a new, draconian restriction on guns, gun owners, firearm parts and accessories, or ammunition, expect it to not only be introduced, but to be given a hearing. Also expect the anti-gun legacy media to openly fawn over these efforts. The same goes for any old proposals that have already been introduced and rejected, or even implemented and later repealed or abandoned after proving to be ineffective.

At the top of the list, of course, will be banning semi-automatic firearms. Extremists will try to ban America’s most popular rifle, the AR15, as well as any other semi-automatic rifle. The standard magazines that come with these rifles, as well as any that are sold separately that are deemed “too big,” will also be the target of bans. Most semi-automatic handguns and shotguns will also be swept into these bans.

“Universal” background checks are also a priority for anti-gun Democrats. In fact, Nancy Pelosi even promised to support criminalizing the private transfer of firearms if Democrats were given control of the House. Pelosi and her ilk will try to exploit all of the recent tragic shootings that have taken place in order to promote “universal” background check while ignoring the fact that none of them would have been impacted by such a scheme. The firearms in all of these horrific crimes were acquired through either the federally-mandated background check, or even more restrictive state systems.

There are many reasons to not trust Pelosi, but when it comes to her pledge to attack law-abiding gun owners, you can take that to the bank.

Democrats who have been chomping at the bit for years to push their anti-gun agenda in the House have made it very clear your rights are fair game, and they have said they will not waste any time once they seize the reins of control.

Along with semi-auto bans and “universal” background checks, expect to see attempts to tax firearms and ammunition out of the grasp of the average American. Through incompetence or malice, these legislative proposals will be so poorly drafted that it will be impossible for law-abiding gun owners to even attempt to comply with their byzantine provisions.

As an example, one need only look to the most recent gun control bill introduced in Congress. H.R. 7115, the so-called “3–D Firearms Prohibitions Act.” Attentive readers will probably notice that the bad drafting started with the title: we live in a three-dimensional world; so all firearms are necessarily “3-D.” Despite the title, the bill doesn’t seem to ban all firearms, however, it’s provisions are so poorly drafted and show such a incredible lack of understanding of firearms that it likely does ban nearly any part intended for use in a modern semi-automatic firearm. Even simple pins and springs seem to fall within the provisions of the bill.

While 7115 is unlikely to move in the current Congress, it will likely be on the agenda next year. But that’s just the start.

Ultimately, the Second Amendment will likely be under a more severe attack over the next two years than perhaps it has ever seen. With some sources showing that as many as one in five likely voters in Democrat primaries would like to see the Second Amendment repealed, it’s likely that some members of Congress will attempt to oblige.

RELATED ARTICLES:

After Gov’t Gun and Knife Bans Fail, Brits Take Matters into Their Own Hands

Trump On Pelosi Speakership: She Can Always Call On Me If She Needs Votes, ‘I Would Perform A Wonderful Service For Her’ 

Gun Rights Groups File Lawsuit Challenging WA State’s Recently Passed Gun Control Initiative 

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

VIDEO: A Former INS Senior Special Agent’s take on the “Caravan of Migrants”

On November 15, 2018 I was a guest on The Daily Ledger that is broadcast on the One America News Network.  My segment focused on the so-called “Caravan of Migrants” comprised of thousands of foreign nationals that is headed to the U.S./Mexican border with the apparent goal of enabling the members of the caravan to enter the United States either by running our borders and thus evading the inspection/vetting process conducted at ports of entry or by presenting themselves at ports of entry to make “Credible Fear” applications for asylum in the United States.

Where those applications for asylum are concerned, the majority of aliens who have made such applications never followup on those applications but merely use those applications and the claims of credible fear as a means of gaming the immigration system to head for towns and cities across the United States where so-called Sanctuary Cities shield them from detection by ICE agents and where the lack of ICE agents enable them to hide in plain sight with little fear of being caught or deported.

What is being blithely ignored by the mainstream media and the globalist politicians is that aliens who seek entry into the United States are supposed to apply for and receive visas before they present themselves at ports of entry and apply for admission. The tactic of making credible fear applications at ports of entry is simply a ploy to circumvent the established laws.

RELATED ARTICLES:

PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION ADDRESSES MASSIVE ILLEGAL ‘MIGRANT’ CARAVAN A dire national security threat.

TRUMP CONNECTS THE DOTS ON DANGERS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: But the Left attacks him for the picture it creates.

THE THREATS POSED BY THE IMPENDING INVASIONAll Americans need to wake up and pay attention. 

THE IMPENDING ALIEN INVASION: How the Left plays the “compassion card” for destructive ends. 

RELATED VIDEO: Ami Horowitz: The Truth Behind the Caravan.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo is by Jorge Aguilar on Unsplash.

California’s Typhus Surge Is Linked to Fleas, Feces, and Bad Economic Policies

There might not be a government-backed solution to Los Angeles’ typhus outbreak, but if the city’s and state’s politicians really want to end homelessness, then repealing zoning and minimum wage laws would be a great start.


Typhus is on the rise in Los Angeles, with its epicenter in downtown, where the city’s sanitation officials are struggling to respond to the nearly two thousand “cleanup requests” they get from locals every month.

Like San Francisco, LA is struggling to clean up city streets of human waste—specifically feces—due to a lack of public restrooms and a growing homeless population.

There was an average of 700 requests in the area in the spring of 2016, but officials now claim they receive about 1,900 cleanup calls per month thanks to the number of growing homeless camps. But the growing homelessness and sanitation nightmares have led to yet another crisis: a rise in flea-borne typhus.

Between July and September, county officials identified at least nine typhus cases that originated in downtown. At least six of the infected were homeless, but central LA isn’t the only place at risk.

Officials in the city of Pasadena, also located in Los Angeles County, claim 20 residents had typhus fever this year. Typhus cases have also been registered in Long Beach and Willowbrook.

As the number of cases continues to rise, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors feels pressured to act. They recently voted on a pilot program to fight the illness in homeless encampments by adding more cleanup efforts, introducing more mobile showers, offering the homeless housing, and distributing hand sanitizer and flea repellent for people and pets.

The crisis, which has already made 64 victims this year alone, has deeper roots. At least, that’s what 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger appears to claim.

“When I drive through parts of my district and I see the living conditions on the street, it reminds me of a third-world country,” Barger said.

Perhaps the fact that California falls behind every single state in the country when it comes to fiscal, regulatory, tax, and economic policies—much like many “third-world” countries—has something to do with the current conditions residents are now forced to grapple with.

As the Cato Institute’s Freedom Index reveals, California’s suffocating regulatory environment has a series of very real and heartbreaking consequences.

When it comes to land-use freedom, for instance, cities like Los Angeles have restrictive rules regarding housing supply and rent control, keeping builders from developing affordable housing and helping to artificially increase the cost of housing across the board.

But bad housing policies are not the only cause of growing homelessness in Los Angeles. The state’s labor laws add insult to injury by making it difficult for employers to help those in need. With high minimum wage laws, no right-to-work policies in place, mandated short-term disability insurance, and prohibiting consensual noncompete agreements, job creation in California is dramatically held back, and the poor and low-skilled are unable to break into the labor market.

In addition, occupational licensing also keeps entrepreneurs from entering the market due to the extensive cost associated with obtaining the mandated training and certification to perform simple services.

With state lawmakers being so eager to get involved in every single affair, from banning straws to keeping residents on a budget from using scooters, it’s hard to see how these rules could be repealed—or at least reformed—anytime soon.

As the founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation Jacob G. Hornberger explained, the root causes of homelessness in most major urban centers across the US are both minimum wage laws and zoning, two policies that are not only in effect in California but that have been revamped and strengthened again and again over the years.

With California residents once again helping progressives stay in power in the region, we know these policies are not going anywhere. If anything, they will continue to receive widespread support from the newly-elected governor.

For the time being, there might not be a government-backed solution to Los Angeles’ typhus outbreak, but if the city’s and state’s politicians really want to end homelessness, then repealing zoning and minimum wage laws would be a great start.

COLUMN BY

Chloe Anagnos

Chloe Anagnos

Chloe Anagnos is a professional writer, digital strategist, and marketer. Although a millennial, she’s never accepted a participation trophy.

EDITORS  NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

Judge’s Ruling Adds Thousands More Votes In Florida Recount

In a victory for the campaign hopes of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a federal judge has ordered all of Florida’s elections officials to give nearly 4,000 voters — or more maybe 7,000, no one is sure — whose ballots were rejected over mismatched signatures until Saturday to fix the problem and for their votes to count.

Judge Mark Walker ruled early today that apparently all of the state’s elections offices have wrongly, or unconstitutionally, applied the state law governing how voters can fix rejected signatures on absentee and provisional ballots. There were a known 3,700 ballots rejected in the Midterm election after canvassing boards determined that the signature on a mail-in or provisional ballot did not match the signature the state had on file for that voter.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s campaign sued last week to invalidate the signature rejection process, amid a series of lawsuits attempting to change Florida voting laws through the courts and push more votes into the final tallies.

Judge Walker issued a 34-page order granting a temporary injunction at the request of the Nelson campaign, and directed the state’s supervisors of elections to gives these voters until 5 p.m. Saturday to “cure” the problem.

The law had given voters had until the day before the election to fix the signature issue. So this ruling does change state law for this election, as it allows votes to be counted after the law said they cannot be.

If these are all Democrat votes, and most of them likely will be, they alone would not be enough to flip the two major elections. But they would get it closer.

In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott is leading Nelson by 12,562 votes, or 0.15 percent. In the Governor’s race, Republican Ron DeSantis is up 0.41 percent, or 33,684 votes, on Democrat Andrew Gillum.

However, and this is a really big caveat, it isn’t really known the total number of ballots that were rejected or mismatched signatures. Only 45 of Florida’s 67 counties had provided totals to the court on mismatched signatures during Walker’s hearing on the lawsuit last week. So it will likely be higher, but how much higher, no one knows. Some have predicted it could be 7,000.

Scott’s campaign is appealing Walker’s order. But that does not seem likely to change anything at this point.

Further, Judge Walker is scheduled to hear more lawsuits, including a challenge by Nelson to the state’s procedures for counting overvotes and undervotes. The Nelson campaign is confident they will close the gap through the overvote and undervote process, and more so if they can change the process.

The Nelson campaign is also suing to extend today’s deadline for Florida’s elections supervisors to get their recount totals to Tallahassee.

RELATED ARTICLES:

In Palm Beach County, Democrats Argue To Count Votes Cast By Non-Citizens

Republican Rick Scott Gains Votes in Florida Recount, Calls on Democrat Nelson To Concede

Rubio Exposes The Blatant Voter Fraud Democrats Committed In Florida

Florida Counties Abandon Recount As Numbers Favor Republicans

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Revolutionary Act. The featured photo is by Heather Mount on Unsplash.

VIDEO: Washington State, ACLU Aren’t Letting Up in Crusade Against Florist’s Religious Liberty

How would you like to attend a political rally featuring President Donald Trump? How about one featuring former President Barack Obama?

Even better—why don’t you attend both? You get to help decorate the stage. You can even create a banner setting forth that party’s platform.

Given our polarized political climate, it’s a safe bet that most Americans would elect to participate in one rally or the other, but not both. It’s pretty easy to understand why: The whole point of those rallies is to support political positions that, for many of us, are rooted in deeply held beliefs.

This basic, logical principle seems to have eluded Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the American Civil Liberties Union. This duo sued Barronelle Stutzman, a 74-year-old floral artist from Richland, Washington, and her business, Arlene’s Flowers, because she declined to participate in and design custom floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding ceremony.

Ferguson and the ACLU say that if Stutzman creates custom arrangements for any wedding, she must create them for same-sex weddings.

But there’s more. Stutzman not only designs custom floral arrangements for weddings, but also attends and personally participates in those sacred events. She decorates the venue with her artistic creations, attends the ceremony, and participates in wedding rituals. But doing that for a same-sex marriage squarely conflicts with her faith.

This is why, even though Stutzman loved her longtime customer and friend Rob Ingersoll, she respectfully declined his invitation to help celebrate his same-sex ceremony. Instead, she referred Ingersoll to other florists in the area who, in her words, she “knew would do an excellent job for this celebration.”

The story could have, and should have, ended there for reasons completely unrelated to whether one agrees with Stutzman’s decision. It should have ended there because it is Stutzman’s decision. Because in a tolerant society, there is room for disagreement. There is room for Democratic Party rallies and Republican Party rallies. There’s even room for Green Party rallies, just don’t expect them to feature helium balloons (or, for that matter, many people).

But the story didn’t end there, because Ferguson was unwilling to allow certain beliefs to go unpunished—namely, a religious belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Despite the fact that he received no complaint from Ingersoll about Stutzman or her business, Ferguson sued this 74-year-old grandmother in her professional and personal capacity. The latter means that all of Stutzman’s personal assets, including her life savings, are at risk.

Stutzman went on to lose her case. After several years of legal proceedings, the Washington Supreme Court later ruled in State of Washington v. Arlene’s Flowers that Stutzman must pay penalties and attorneys’ fees for choosing to live consistently with her conscience.

But the story doesn’t end there, either. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Stutzman appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which vacated the state high court’s ruling and ordered it to reconsider in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop. In that case, the Supreme Court condemned the hostility that Colorado demonstrated toward the faith of cake artist Jack Phillips.

This past Tuesday, Stutzman filed her arguments with the Washington Supreme Court, asking that it reverse the government’s punishment of her, just like the high court did in Phillips’ case.

As the Washington Supreme Court considers Stutzman’s plight once again, it would do well to remember there are people of good will on both sides of the marriage debate. The government should never be hostile to sincere religious beliefs of people of faith, and it should never seek to force anyone to violate their core convictions, especially by participating in a sacred event like a wedding ceremony.

Ours is a diverse society united by a commitment to freedom of belief, not a compulsion to uniformity of thought. A win for Stutzman will reaffirm that foundational American principle.

COMMENTARY BY

Portrait of James Gottry

James Gottry is a lawyer and writer with Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group founded to preserve and defend religious liberty. Twitter: .

RELATED ARTICLES:

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EDITORS NOTE: This column with images and video is republished with permission. Photo: Alliance Defending Freedom.

VIDEO: Rubio Promotes ‘Dignified Work,’ Decries Universal Basic Income

“America’s not an economy, it’s a nation of peoples and families and communities, and our economy works for the people, not the people for the economy,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said as keynote speaker of the Antipoverty Forum hosted by The Heritage Foundation on Thursday.

The foundation’s annual forum invites policy experts and practitioners to collaborate on how to best advance conservative antipoverty solutions in welfare, health care, education, and civil society.

“The best antipoverty program is a job,” Rubio said, beginning his speech with a quote from former President Ronald Reagan. “Good jobs are jobs that connect the work [Americans] do, not just to a paycheck, but to the dignity that comes with a productive life.”

Instead of focusing on economics when discussing poverty, we should focus on those instances where “dignified work no longer allows working families the ability to provide that kind of stability in their homes or their communities,” Rubio said.

Rubio spoke of his own family’s rise from poverty to prosperity when they left communist Cuba, “trapped by the circumstances of their birth,” for capitalist America, where “through hard work and perseverance anyone … could get ahead.”

Rubio said this version of the American dream wasn’t about his family’s work ethic or the economy, but a defining feature of American life, “dignified work,” which he called a source of stability in a society.

Rubio suggested a number of possible policy proposals to reinvigorate the dignity of the millions of “missing men”—described by The Atlantic as prime-age men who are able-bodied but unemployed and not currently seeking employment—back into the labor force.

He suggested reforming the earned income tax credit to more clearly reward each hour of work, and antipoverty programs like the federal disability insurance entitlement and food stamps to mandate, rather than just encourage, work.

Rubio also said we need to also expand opportunities for working-class students, which means accrediting vocational degree programs rather than reforming student loans to support traditional four-year degree programs.

The Florida Republican pushed back against two proposals the left promotes as solutions to solve poverty, but undermine the dignity of work: a universal basic income and a federal jobs guarantee.

If the federal government were to institute a universal basic income, Rubio explained, all American citizens would receive a check regardless if they worked or not. A federal jobs guarantee would mean that the federal government would ensure all American citizens seeking employment get a government job for which they would be compensated with a $15 minimum wage, with full benefits.

These approaches, in the senator’s view, only double down on the flaw of paying low-income workers to be “unproductive.”

>>> Watch the full Antipoverty Forum event:

COLUMN BY

Troy Worden

Troy Worden is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.


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EDITORS NOTE: This column with video and images is republished with permission. Photo: Erin Granzow for The Heritage Foundation.

Diverse and Divided

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Board of Directors issued a comprehensive statement in 2006, whose combined language included helping students to connect their education to societal issues, change inequities, and to promote cultural empathy, pluralism, and diversity in a liberal education.  The key words for determining the value of today’s education, which are severely undermining western civilization, however, are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Diversity used to define the variety of learning experiences, opinions, and opportunities for a well-rounded education, but the term now applies to the students themselves – their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, and disability – and how they are to be divided and classified for acceptance into the institute of higher indoctrination.   Meritocracy, then, has been set aside for a quota system based on superficialities, which is passionately supported by the University of Michigan (U-M), among others.  Its spending for the promotion of diversity and inclusivity, reported on October 10, 2016, was $40 million per year with an additional $85 million proposed over the next five years.  Another strategic plan for an “inclusive and equitable campus community” required $17 million, and $31 million would be taken from the university’s general fund – increased tuition (by 3.9 percent), student fees, and appropriations granted by state lawmakers – more than double the rate of inflation.  Liberal programs of propaganda are indeed expensive propositions. As we shall see, the key words are a whitewash of deception, while an assault is being waged against the very education that these students hope to obtain.

Lest we assume that U-M is alone in its objectives, Colorado State University has a “Bias Hotline,” where one may report any conduct, speech or prejudice that could be seen as intimidating, demeaning, degrading, marginalizing, victimizing, or threatening to individuals or groups based on that individual group’s actual or perceived speech or behavior.  This is, of course, a violation of the First Amendment, the freedom of speech, but also a means of robbing students of coping skills they’ll need in the adult world.  In keeping with the times, the U-M also implemented a hotline for citing microaggressions, discrimination, and incivility by students and instructors alike, where one might even report an offense at not being addressed by a preferred pronoun.

Further, university President Mark Schlissel nominated the school’s first chief diversity officer to distinguish and root out discrimination, for a hefty annual salary of $385,000 (within the diversity office payroll of $11 million).  This preoccupation with denouncing someone for mis-speaking strongly resembles the Nazi HJ-Streifendienst (Patrol Force).  The divisiveness causes  suspicion and greater rifts between student groups, as well as a purposeful disconnect from school camaraderie and national unity.

In order to gain Inclusivity, however, the minority students must declare their Exclusivity, their distinction to the group with which they align. This is a regression to tribalism with an increased hostility toward others, to gain power in their common victimhood, to seek more privileges and prestige from the more numerous white, straight, Christian (conservative) males, whom they now view as oppressors and label “white supremacists.”  It is also a total disregard for E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one.  They are not accepting that America was founded by Whites, that the end of slavery was achieved by Whites, and that our nation’s growth and prosperity was realized by Whites.  England’s Shakespeare and other masters in their fields, also Whites, have been removed from many curricula, an intentional depletion of scholarship for the sake of activism and the new equity.

Additional agitators have singled out Jews as oppressors, providing the setting for racist, fascist, Klan, Nazi, and pro-Palestinian groups to isolate, boycott, and protest the existence of Israel and Jews – even with violence.  Jewish instructors have been isolated, harassed and sometimes forced to leave because of threats to their families.  Jewish students are the prey of biased teachers and antisemitic groups.  Disturbingly, the new school culture strongly suggests an alignment with the strategy of the left and ideology of Islam.

In the past, Equity meant equal opportunities for all students to rise as far as their own abilities, hard work, and talent would take them.  Today it means accepting an equal number of students defined by social issues to produce like-minded mediocrity.   The new “cultural training programs” do not address the American culture, and the “language police” are engaged to monitor and restrict the use of words deemed offensive to the diverse groups.  Their apparent purpose is to change the student’s focus – from correct to politically correct, from justice to social justice, from the groundwork for their future occupations to their groundless preoccupations.  Visiting speakers with new ideas are usually unwelcome, and aggression, comparable to the left or Islamic incitement, is promoted to shut down those who dare to impart their opposing views.

Needless to say, because the student pool is no longer the “best and brightest,” it has become necessary to change teaching methods and criteria – reduced requirements to meet reduced abilities, and to qualify for federal grant money.  Education finally accommodates Hillary Clinton’s deceptive trope, “no child left behind.”

Inclusion is now an identity-based, rather than an industry- and achievement-based, system of quotas, and students who once qualified for a university education may now be disqualified if his/her marginalized group has not gained acceptance.  For example, Harvard, among others, has sought to limit the number of Asian-American applicants when it exceeds the quota, despite that group’s exceptional achievements in scholastics, extracurricular activities and interests.  Accordingly, academia is willing to deny superior students’ entry to prestigious schools in order to offer the opportunity to less capable students who, further down the road, may be overwhelmed and obliged to quit.   As for the Jewish students, on far too many campuses, they are targets of harassment, vandalism, exclusion from campus activities, and calls for expulsion, while leftist schools protect the vandals by declaring their attacks to be “free speech.”

Once again, this “education” appears to be geared to the destruction of democracy.  The mechanism leads us through Neotribalism (breakdown of social structure, friendship and community), opposing white students and isolating Jewish students, eroding the male identity, curbing thoughts and speech, and the weakened education, as the left prepares the students for a parallel Islamic legal system.

Another example is the university’s Institute for Research on Women & Gender’s sponsoring an event in February, 2018, titled, “Pederastic Kinship: Deidealizing Queer Studies,” which focused on pederasty, that is to say, sexual relationships between an adult and underage boys.  By its mere presentation, the criminal deviancy was validated, again dishonoring masculinity, and encouraging a behavior that is tolerated in many Muslim societies.

The Jewish victimization is being addressed.  The U of M’s President Mark Schlissel and administrators  have received notification from The Lawfare Project for reports that John Cheney-Lippold, American culture professor, and Lucy Peterson, graduate teaching assistant, denied Jewish students’ their earned letters of recommendation to study abroad in, specifically, Israel.  Another student divulged that her instructor said her degree was contingent upon her watching a slide presentation that contained historic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories: one equating Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu with Adolf Hitler, and another depicting Jews as money-hungry pigs.  In fact, Lawfare is monitoring several universities across the country that have created hostile antisemitic environments, and is now demanding from the U-M immediate and concrete steps to unambiguously condemn anti-Semitism in order to provide a “safe academic environment for Jewish and Israeli students,” in keeping with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism.  The First Amendment was not established as a shield for bigotry.

To paraphrase a quote by Shannon L. Adler:  Before a student or educator calls himself any of the identities recognized by the schools’ programs, one must first learn to be human.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo is by Devin Edwards on Unsplash.

VIDEO: Californians Embrace the Second Amendment

John Von Colln: California Gun Store Flooded With New Customers. Even Californians Want to Be Safe.

Owner of Thousand Oaks VC Defense John Von Colln joins Dana Loesch to tell her why.

FLORIDA: School Punishes Teacher Who Refused To Watch Girl Change In Boys’ Locker Room

Another Florida school district is cutting parents out of the loop on transgender school kids and gagging teachers, but this time going after a male P.E. teacher who refused to observe a middle school girl who was claiming to feel like a boy and using the boys’ locker room.

Pasco County schools, a suburban county just north of Tampa, allowed a self-determined transgender female student daily access to the boys’ locker room, without providing any advanced warning to the boys’ parents or to the boys themselves.

This resulted in an embarrassing shock the first time the obvious girl entered the locker room and there were naked boys.

When the male P.E. teacher refused to watch the minor girl change clothes, a school administrator threatened the teacher with placing him on administrative leave. According to Liberty Counsel attorney Richard Mast, whose organization is involved in the situation, the threatening email said that refusing to supervise the girl would “not be tolerated.”

The Liberty Counsel is a pro-bono national law firm that protects individuals’ rights from a traditional, constitutional viewpoint.

Interestingly, a female P.E. teacher also objected to the situation, but was ignored by school administrators. She has not yet been threatened, and given the publicity now surrounding the school, probably will not be. Those are usually done quietly.

The first time the girl entered the boys’ locker room, she caught “boys (literally) with their pants down, causing them embarrassment and concern by the fact that they had been observed changing by an obvious girl,” according to the complaint letter sent to the Pasco County School District from the Liberty Counsel. Remember, these are 13- and 14-year-old boys just discovering their awkward transition into manhood.

Teachers at Chasco Middle School are banned from discussing the change in policy — not the specifics of the case, which would make sense, but the policy itself. There is no other reasonable term for that than “gag order.”

So the Liberty Counsel letter goes on to explain that the teacher refused to “knowingly place himself in a position to observe a minor female in the nude or otherwise in a state of undress.” That actually is a both moral and legally sensible move on the part of the teacher. However, school administrators shifted from the threat of administrative leave to a threat to having him “transferred to another school as discipline for ‘not doing your job in the locker room.’”

The situation arose in September, yet the Pasco County parents of 70,000 students in the district have still not been informed of the new policy by the school district, even though the female student still has full access to the male changing facilities. The Pasco School Board also is aware of it and has done nothing.

The reason is not hard to see. LGBTQI activists are organized, well-financed, powerful and intimidating. Very few politicians or even regular people want to be even perceived as going counter to their agenda.

The Pasco controversy mirrors similar transgender secrecy and heavy-handed intimidation on the part of school district officials in Sarasota County, just south of Tampa. (Both Sarasota and Pasco counties are politically red counties. Their School Boards do not seem to be reflecting that.)

At the recommendation of the Sarasota County School District’s LGBTQI Task Force, the superintendent issued “guidelines” to govern how the district’s 50 public schools handle transgender and gender questioning students — starting as young as kindergarten.

The Sarasota County school policy guidelines implement a full-blown transgender protocol allowing students to use whichever bathroom and locker room corresponds with the gender with which they “identify;” and forces everyone else to use the pronoun of the students’ choice. This sounds identical to Pasco’s policy — or perhaps guidelines is the technical terms as the Board did not take action on it.

But maybe the biggest affront is that the Sarasota guidelines also say that parents can not be informed of their child’s decision to identify as a different gender, because some trans activists claim the schools are a “safer” environment than the home. This again seems to be in line with what is going on in Pasco, which suggests that the administrative guidelines are being heavily influenced or even written by trans activists.

In Sarasota, the secrecy along with the general egregiousness of the policy, attracted a lot of controversy. A 31-year-old Sarasota father of a young child not yet in the school system, sent the superintendent a brief email criticizing the guidelines and keeping transgenderism secret from parents.

That parent found officers from the school district’s brand new police force at his door the next day. Nothing came of the officers’ visit, because they realized the letter was harmless. Nonetheless more showed up at the father’s parent’s home and neighbors’ home.

This is a shocking level of intimidation for a local school district, and certainly at least some parents must have got the message: Shut up, sit down and let us handle your children. Or else we may come knocking.

In Pasco, the message sent is similar, but directly to teachers. Shut up and do what you’re told. Or else.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Revolutionary Act.

Americans Should Be Grateful for a Poland That Prospers and Protects

We celebrated a significant milestone this Veterans Day: 100 years since the end of World War I.

But another noteworthy anniversary fell on that day. Nov. 11, 2018, also marked the centennial of a free Poland, one of America’s most important allies in Europe.

It’s been a rough journey, though. The road since that historic day in 1918 has been pockmarked with strife.

Being situated between Germany and Russia is the global equivalent of drawing the short straw. World War II officially began on Sept. 1, 1939, when Hitler’s army invaded Poland from the west. Only 17 days later, the Soviets rolled in from the east.

Thanks to the postwar Warsaw Pact, Poland wound up in the Soviet bloc of states, its people ruled by communists who did Moscow’s bidding.

But this state of affairs was not destined to last forever. The determined and courageous efforts of certain key leaders—from President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to Pope John Paul II (the first Polish pontiff) and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa—effected a remarkable transformation in the 1980s.

Together, they and the freedom-loving people of Poland rewrote history. Their country today is a NATO member and a loyal friend of the United States.

I was back in Poland just (some weeks) before its recent round of elections in October and met with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Once again, I was struck with what a vibrant democracy it is.

It also features an open and growing economy—the European Union’s sixth-largest, in fact, thanks in part to a strong manufacturing sector. Poland ranks 45th out of 180 countries in the latest Index of Economic Freedom. Sure, it has a couple of weak spots, but considering how long the country suffered under communist rule, that’s really a remarkable accomplishment.

Poland’s strong institutions, the index editors note, enabled it to become the only European country to record economic growth during the 2009 credit crisis.

More importantly for the United States, Poland is key to a safe Europe. It is a vital bulwark against Moscow’s geopolitical designs. As historian Lee Edwards has pointed out:

As the next-door neighbor of Ukraine and with uncertainty about Russia’s next aggressive move, Poland matters. Adjoining as it does the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—all prime targets of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imperialist design—Poland matters. As the largest, most prosperous, and most entrepreneurial member of the old Warsaw Pact, Poland matters.

Poland certainly does matter, which is why Americans should be grateful that relations between our nations remains strong. Georgette Mosbacher, the U.S. ambassador to Poland, and Piotr Wilczek, Poland’s ambassador to the U.S., just penned a joint op-ed to praise what they called “a high point in bilateral relations.”

This was reinforced in September when President Donald Trump and President Andrzej Duda signed a “Declaration on Polish-American Strategic Partnership.” According to the two ambassadors, it “emphasizes the strong ties and common interests between our countries in the areas of security and defense, energy, trade, and investment, research and innovation.”

As Walesa once said, “I am happy that Poland is returning to the road of pluralism and democracy.”

Working together with our Polish allies, let’s make sure that, over the next 100 years, its star continues to rise.

Originally published in The Washington Times

COMMENTARY BY

Portrait of Ed Feulner

Edwin J. Feulner’s 36 years of leadership as president of The Heritage Foundation transformed the think tank from a small policy shop into America’s powerhouse of conservative ideas. Read his research. Twitter: .

RELATED VIDEO: Thousands of nationalists march in Warsaw for Independence Day.


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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column with images is republished with permission. Photo: Kamila StepienLe Pictorium/ZUMA Press/Newscom.