The U.S. Senate passed legislation late Thursday night to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, and the bill is now headed to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The legislation passed with 17 Republicans joining 46 Democrats to suspend the debt ceiling until Jan. 2025. Five Democrats broke with their party. Ahead of the June 5 deadline, the federal government will now avoid a default on its debt.
Here Are The 17 Republicans Who Voted For Unlimited Spending:
Arkansas Sen. John Boozman
West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito
Maine Sen. Susan Collins
Texas Sen. John Cornyn
North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven
Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney
South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds
South Dakota Sen. John Thune
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis
Indiana Sen. Todd Young
After passing the legislation, Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who supported the bill, released statements detailing why they voted in favor of the legislation.
“Four months after Speaker McCarthy invited President Biden to begin negotiating a resolution to the looming debt crisis, an important step toward fiscal sanity will finally become law. Thanks to House Republicans’ efforts, the Fiscal Responsibility Act avoids the catastrophic consequences of default and begins to curb Washington Democrats’ addiction to reckless spending that grows our nation’s debt.”
On the Senate floor, Sen. Cornyn said, “This bill will reduce federal spending by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, which is a strong start in the fight to right America’s financial ship.”
However, Republicans who voted against raising the nation’s debt ceiling, such as Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had different tones.
“On the debt ceiling, my view is the most important deficit we face is the trade deficit with China. Every dollar represents jobs lost (60k & counting in Missouri), industry lost, communities decimated. We’ve got to quit making China rich & get good blue-collar jobs back in USA. This deal doesn’t do that. So I’m a no,” Hawley, who voted against the legislation, said in a statement Thursday.
Cruz said: “While there were some good elements to this deal, such as reclaiming some unspent Covid-19 funds, there were a lot of elements that were disappointing. I’m upset this agreement did not cut more, and I’m frustrated this agreement adds a lot to the debt in exchange for relatively few spending cuts.”
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2023-06-03 12:08:132023-06-03 12:09:05Here Are The 17 GOP Senators Who Voted For Unlimited Spending
Despite the influx of more presidential candidates, President Donald Trump has still maintained a solid lead over the other Republican primary contenders seeking the White House in 2024.
New polling data from Morning Consult has shown the 45th president leading his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by 34 points in the weeks following the launch of the governor’s campaign.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2023-06-03 07:34:342023-06-04 09:26:12TRUMP UP 34: No Bump For DeSantis Following Governor’s Presidential Race Announcement
Join Matt Walsh on his often comical, yet deeply disturbing journey, as he fearlessly questions the logic behind a gender ideology movement that has taken aim at women and children.
Watch “What is a Woman?” now streaming exclusively.
It’s the movie they really don’t want you to see: #WhatIsAWoman?
Many images from the laptop show Hunter in various states of undress and surrounded by drug paraphernalia. Now close your eyes and imagine if this was Donald Trump’s son.
Nearly 10,000 photos taken between 2008 and 2019 will be hosted at BidenLaptopMedia.com after a former Trump White House aide apparently spent months scanning the digital archive, redacting some images and publishing the rest.
“The number one thing we’re about … is truth and transparency,” Garrett Ziegler, who founded the nonprofit Marco Polo, told Fox News.
Among the redacted pictures are those that display private information, such as Social Security, banking, and credit card numbers.
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is obviously correct, and he could have and should have gone even farther. Not only is the investigation of Trump “poisoned” by the FBI’s “documented political bias,” but it wouldn’t even be happening at all if it weren’t for that bias.
The whole thing is a partisan show trial right out of a totalitarian regime, an attempt to destroy Trump with bogus legal proceedings so that he cannot take office again in January 2025.
If there were any actual justice in Washington, these investigations would be shut down, and new investigations begun of how the Democrats have politicized the Justice Department and the FBI.
A top Republican is pressing Attorney General Merrick Garland on the FBI’s role in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into former President Donald Trump in the wake of special counsel John Durham’s report.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, pressed Garland in a letter on Friday about Durham’s findings related to the faulty origin of the Trump-Russia investigation and the “failings” of the FBI. The GOP chairman placed Smith’s investigation related to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents incident and the Capitol riot in the context of Durham’s report, arguing that “due to the FBI’s documented political bias, the Justice Department must ensure any ongoing investigations are not poisoned by this same politicization.”
“The Special Counsel’s report serves as a stark reminder of the need for more accountability and reforms within the FBI,” Jordan said of Durham. “Accordingly, as Congress conducts oversight to inform these legislative reforms, we write to ensure the Justice Department acts to preserve the integrity and impartiality of ongoing investigations from the FBI’s politicized bureaucracy.”
Durham is slated to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on June 21. The special counsel will also speak behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee, led by Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the day prior…..
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2023-06-03 06:56:402023-06-03 06:57:43Jordan: DOJ’s investigation of Trump may be ‘poisoned’ by ‘the FBI’s documented political bias’
The nearly four-thousand-year-old association of Jewish life in Gaza is little known or honored in today’s world. Of course, people know of the Biblical story of Samson being blinded by the now extinct Philistines and how he brought down the temple to their gods in Gaza. But very few have any idea of the deep Jewish history in the following millennia.
In the Second millennium BC, Gaza served as an administrative city and residence of the Egyptian governor of Canaan. The Bible tells us that the Jewish Biblical patriarch, Isaac, dug wells in Gerar, an ancient site between Beer Sheba and Gaza, and in the 13th century BC the Philistines or Caphorites (Cretans) annihilated the Avite inhabitants of Gaza and made the city the largest of their five centers.
After the Israelite Exodus from Egypt and entry into the Promised Land, the tribe of Judah was given Gaza as a possession but did not include it fully in their territory. The Bible reports in Joshua 15.47 and Judges 1:18 how the city of Gaza, and those of Ekron, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Gat became a possession of Israel but how some of them were among those places ‘lying in the remaining country,’ i.e., not fully possessed by the Israelites.
Down the centuries, Gaza was captured by Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and later still by Alexander the Great who incorporated it into his growing empire in the 5th century BC. The strategic territory, lying as it does at the crossroads of two continents, Africa and Asia, has repeatedly fallen since earliest times to invading armies.
In 167 BC, Judah Maccabee led his Jewish warriors to victory over the Syrian-Greek pagan king, Antiochus Epiphanies. Jerusalem was liberated and the Jewish Temple cleansed from pagan occupation. The miracle of this event is now celebrated during the Jewish festival of Hanukah. But it was the Hasmonean king, Yochanan, who also liberated Gaza in 145 BC. He was the brother of Judah the Maccabee and it was their other brother, Simon, who led the indigenous Jews to repopulate Gaza and its environs.
In the Book of Maccabees: 1:15, it says:
“Not a strange land have we conquered, and not over the possessions of strangers have we ruled, but of the inheritance of our Fathers that was in the hands of the enemy and conquered by them unlawfully. And as for us, when we had the chance, we returned to ourselves the inheritance of our Fathers.”
The Roman general, Pompey, conquered Judea in the First century BC and made Gaza a free “polis” but in 61 AD the Roman Governor, Gavinius, evicted the Jews. In the subsequent war against the brutal Roman occupation of Judea, between 67 and 70 AD, Jewish forces again liberated the town and its environs before suffering defeat at the hands of Rome’s legions and overwhelming power.
Continuing Roman excesses against the Jews led to the Second Jewish Revolt under the command of the charismatic Bar Kochba, known in Aramaic as Son of a Star. The Emperor Hadrian’s legions destroyed the Jewish state in 135 AD. They decimated the Jewish population in an enormous slaughter, sending thousands into slavery and exile from the Roman slave markets of Gaza.
Under the subsequent harsh Byzantine rule, Gaza’s restored Jewish community nevertheless managed to flourish and during the 4th century Gaza served as the primary port of commerce for the Jews of the Holy Land.
It is interesting to note that in 1967, archaeologists discovered the beautiful mosaic floor of a 6th century synagogue situated on the Gaza seashore, attesting to the size and prominence of the Jewish community of the time.
The great medieval kabbalist Rabbi Avraham Azoulai lived in Gaza where he authored his famed work, Hesed L’Avraham, along with a commentary on the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). The Jewish inhabitants made Gaza a great center of study and towns and villages from Rafah to Yavne sprung up as centers of Talmudic learning.
Many Jews fled to Gaza from Europe at the end of the 15th century where they joined the Jewish community by working in various trades after escaping from the ravages of the Catholic Inquisition.
During the 17th century, Gaza was again home to a thriving Jewish community, which boasted its share of prominent rabbis, including Rabbi Israel Najara, author of Kah Ribbon Olam, the popular hymn sung to this day in Jewish homes around the world every Sabbath. He served as Gaza’s Chief Rabbi until his death in 1625.
The great scholar, Rabbi Yaakov Emden, ruled centuries ago that Gaza is an intrinsic part of the Jewish people’s national heritage. “Gaza and its environs are absolutely considered part of the Land of Israel,” he wrote in his work, Mor U’ketziyah, adding, “there is no doubt that it is a mitzvah (commandment and blessing) to live there, as in any other part of the Land of Israel.”
Over the millennia Jews have been expelled from Gaza by many different conquerors but have always managed to return. The Crusaders killed many of Gaza’s Jews, leaving few survivors. Ottoman Turks ruled a vast empire from 1517 to 1917, including the geographical backwater known as Palestine. They also frequently expelled the Jewish residents but then allowed them to return. This pattern continued for centuries.
Napoleon, marching through Gaza from Egypt in 1799 failed to restrain many of his French soldiers who were joined by local Arabs in abusing the Jewish residents. As a result of Arab persecution, the ancient Jewish presence in Gaza and the nearby villages died out in the first years of the 19th century only to return yet again in the 1870s.
In August 1929, when Muslim Arab rioters threatened to slaughter Gaza’s Jews – as they had in Hebron – the British army under the Palestine Mandate forced the community to evacuate their homes. In October 1946, on the night following the holiest Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, the Gaza Jewish community of Kfar Darom was established on land corresponding to the ancestral and ancient Biblical Jewish village of Darom. It lasted just a year and a half until the outbreak of Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, when Egypt overran the Gaza Strip and occupied it.
In June 1967, in a war of self-defense, Israel liberated Gaza from Egyptian occupation, making it possible once again for Jews to reside there. In 2001, during Palestinian Authority control under arch terrorist, Yasser Arafat and his Fatah organization, Kassam rocket attacks began to pound the restored Jewish villages in Gaza.
After Arafat’s death, rocket fire continued under his successor, Mahmoud Abbas. But in 2005, Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon forcefully evicted from their homes the nearly 10,000 Jewish villagers and farmers from Gaza as part of the Disengagement Plan. At the time, Sharon explained the purpose of the Israeli pull-out:
“These steps will increase security for the residents of Israel and relieve the pressure on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and security forces in fulfilling the difficult tasks they are faced with. The Disengagement Plan is meant to grant maximum security and minimize friction between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Sharon had believed that by removing the flourishing Jewish villages and farms from Gaza, the Arab residents would build a civilized and peaceful society, thus proving to both Israel and the world that they could live in peace with the Jewish state. It was a naïve and catastrophic blunder by Sharon whose hopes now lie shattered.
In an election pushed by Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza voted eagerly for Hamas and against Fatah knowing full well that Hamas fundamentalist ideology calls for the destruction of Israel or any non-Muslim state existing in territory previously conquered in the name of Allah. Hamas will thus never live in peace with Israel, a Jewish state, even though the Jews are the indigenous and native people of the region and predate Islam by millennia.
Will the pattern that has existed for thousands of years continue; a sequence of Jewish exile from Gaza, followed by inevitable restoration? Those Jews who were driven out by the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon and his successor, Ehud Olmert, now wait as refugees for the opportunity to again return.
One such Israeli refugee from Gaza, Rachel Saperstein, spoke at a Jerusalem Conference held in Israel in 2009. At the time, she lived with her husband, a disabled terror victim, in a rundown camp along with five hundred other Jewish families driven from their homes and farms in the Gaza Strip.
In her speech, she lamented that not a thing now grows in the Jewish village she was forced to abandon during the Disengagement Plan. The greenhouses that were given freely to the Palestinian Arabs were trashed by them. She added:
“We know the reason why. Only when the Jews return to their land will the land bring forth its bounty. No Israeli government is to give away any of our land ever again … This is my message.”
Despite Gaza’s rich Jewish history, little is known of it to most people even as thousands of lethal Palestinian missiles from Gaza fired by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and by the so-called Palestinian moderates of Fatah, land on civilian targets throughout Israel.
And how many people know that since the Jewish residents and villagers in Gaza were driven out in 2005, over 30,000 missiles have been fired at Israeli civilians with hardly a day free from its looming threat of death and destruction?
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Victor Sharpehttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngVictor Sharpe2023-06-03 06:35:052023-06-03 06:36:02GAZA: A History You May Not Know
If you thought election interference was bad in 2016 and 2020, just wait.
In free societies, you just read the newspaper. In unfree ones, you understand that the meaning of one story can only be found by cross-cutting it with a seemingly unrelated story.
Sheer coincidence. And if you think it’s not, you’re a conspiracy theorist, election denier, DOJ denier and a spreader of disinformation who also needs to be investigated by the DOJ.
While the Biden admin and the Dems have mixed feelings about Manchin, they really don’t want to lose the WV Senate seat especially since, unlike Georgia, they’re not just going to be able to get it back by focusing on demographics and minority voter turnout. And that seat would prove to be quite crucial in holding on to the Senate.
What will the Biden administration and the hand inside the puppets do to hang on to it? You’re getting a taste of it.
If you thought election interference was bad in 2016 and 2020, hang on to your horses, this is going to be the big one. If the Dems can stay in power, they will transform the country. If they lose power, no one in the DOJ will actually go to jail, but some of those folks start to take the “lock ’em up” rhetoric seriously in no small part because they may not say “lock ’em up”, but they do mean it. So expect lots of investigations and the sheer operational power of their machine unleashing not just ballot harvesters but FBI agents and everyone willing to do their dirty deeds for them in exchange for a government job.
Nice life you have here, would be a real shame if something were to happen to it.
#Antifa and supporters of children’s pride events retreated following a fight outside Saticoy Elementary in Los Angeles. Mostly Armenian-American families gathered to protest the school’s pride celebrations. pic.twitter.com/bUTSYgpRLB
Republicans, snatching defeat from the arms of victory.
Are you confused about why our government can not come up with clear policies? Why no one takes responsibility for their actions? Why there is a lack of COMMON SENSE? Lack of clarity? Why all the bills are designed to make the middle class poorer.
Policies that fail to make sense but are expensive? Why Americans are ignored? Why America is ignored? Why Americans are made to feel guilty about hard work ethics? Why reading and math skills are lacking? Why is American Patriotism demonized?
This indoctrination in our schools, about 3 generations worth, instills total reliance on the government with individuals incapable of making decisions. They can only make choices of the “choices” provided by their government.
Is the new parental choice bill in Florida merely a device to monitor and control those taking the scholarship money? Our money. Common Core Standards (CCS) accomplished their goal. The Globalist, elite, evil thieves need a constant flow of bodies for trained workers. Global citizen to become the workforce. The purpose of education is: To confuse, so the child will only be capable of pressing an APP for answers. Ignorant people require less of their government. The government becomes the “NANNY STATE”, taking care of…and CONTROLLING… the ignorant populace!
How did this happen? “Why are our elected officials allowing the Destruction of America?”
The answer is simple: “THIS IS WHAT IS LEARNED IN SCHOOL.”
As Abe Lincoln said, “Whatever is learned in school today – is in government tomorrow.”
So what do our students learn? America is not special. Eliminate borders. Bye, bye, America. Americans are Evil. Evil Americans caused all of the world ills and must pay for those ills. Families are evil; It is Ok to kill, do drugs, be perverted, government public school instills American guilt complex. Therefore, America must be destroyed and replaced with a New World Order – with a One-World Government, controlled by the Communist, Totalitarian United Nations.
Paid by the American people.
There are no truths, only values made up as needed by your government. A Sacred cow is created that can become the victim who will find other victims. A non-profit NGO is formed. Donations are collected. Once the cash” donations” begin to dwindle, a new sacred cow is born. Tug that heart. Whatever group is the flavor of the month gets the attention for fundraising. You have been taught you are only as good as the group you belonged to. You are only one individual, your voice doesn’t count. You, alone, cannot make a difference. You must become the group, your new family. Everything you do is now for the good of the group. for the sake of the group…for FAIRNESS, for SOCIAL JUSTICE. We must save American democracy!
We are watching the destruction of America. We can fight back. Start off by complimenting the 71 (R) Representatives and the 31 (R) Senators who voted against giving the democrats a blank check to implements O’Biden’s green programs. The only thing that we gained from that irresponsible debt limit bill is McCarthy and the other RINOS showed us who they are. They MUST GO. They chose their donors over you. We must fight back. Go to your AG if crimes we committed in your state sue them. Sue the Department of Education for destroying our children and pushing gender change and mutilation as normal. Know your enemy. They are afraid of us getting together acting as one is their biggest fear. More boycotts. Money is all they understand. They are sick evil people and want to own and control everything you own. We were winning. They lie.
It is time for us to stop “doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. We all knew eventually Kevin and Ronna would screw us. Kevin gave the debt ceiling away with nothing in return. He gave the Marxists a blank check for 2 years. Ronna is refusing to help Grassroots organize recruiting campaigns. Stop giving the RNC money.
Our boycotts work. Bud, Target, Sales down. Retail stores sales down. Sadly we have more to add Chick-fil-A for they have gone woke. Also add Northface, Kohls and Petsmart to your list. If you want our patriots shopping list to see for yourself where these corporations give there money to ask us! 561-301-1601. Vote with our Fingers in November and with your wallet all year long. FYI: Northface, who protests against oil sells polyester clothes. We are suffering from affirmative action.
Get with your legislators to get us out of the WHO (UN communist World Health Organization). Remind them of the Supremacy clause. The Federal government has no standing. NO treaty or whatever they want to call it is supreme over the Constitution. If we allow this to happen, we will never have a fair election and we ill lose all our rights. We will always be under the UN with some emergency like: climate emergency, pandemics, race/hatred emergency. And to make it better the WHO determines what is an emergency. when to call it. The their protocol which is usually wrong must be followed.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Karen Schoenhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngKaren Schoen2023-06-03 06:07:212023-06-03 06:07:21Everything is Connected; Nothing is Random; Everything is Planned; All Plans are Based on Lies
April 19, 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally announced his 2024 Democratic presidential campaign. Early polls show he’s got nearly 20% of the Democratic vote
Democratic Party officials are doing everything they can to avoid public debates, and their media allies are not giving Kennedy the opportunity to share his views either
May 17, 2023, Krystal Ball, cohost of the online show “Breaking Point,” interviewed Kennedy. According to Ball, Kennedy’s “vaccine skepticism” and “antivaccine advocacy” is a “red line” that disqualifies him from holding the highest office
She repeatedly interrupted Kennedy with Big Pharma talking points — putting her own ignorance on public display — and didn’t allow him to answer her questions. Kennedy asked her to show him where he got things wrong many times, and she deflected with broad generalities
Several journalists and political commentators, including Jimmy Dore, Viva Frei, Kim Iversen and Glenn Greenwald have critiqued Ball’s attempted smear. In the end, the only one who looked bad was Ball herself
April 19, 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally announced his 2024 Democratic presidential campaign.1 Early polls show he’s got nearly 20% of the Democratic vote. Unfortunately, Democrat Party officials are doing everything they can to avoid public debates, and their media allies seem hellbent on not giving Kennedy the opportunity to share his views either.
May 17, 2023, Krystal Ball, cohost of the online show “Breaking Point,” interviewed Kennedy,2,3 or perhaps more accurately, debated him herself. Ball told Kennedy she disagrees with his views on vaccines, and claimed Democratic voters by and large share her opposition. According to Ball, Kennedy’s “vaccine skepticism” and “antivaccine advocacy” is a “red line” that disqualifies him from holding the highest office.
Antiscientific Shilling for Big Pharma
In the video playlist above, comedian Jimmy Dore of “The Jimmy Dore Show” dissects Ball’s hatchet job of an interview, pointing out Ball’s “poor journalism, rudeness and irresponsible, antiscientific shilling for corporate interests.”
She repeatedly interrupted Kennedy with Big Pharma talking points — putting her own ignorance on public display — and didn’t allow him to answer her questions. Kennedy asked her to show him where he got things wrong many times, and she deflected with broad generalities.
When Kennedy pointed out that countries with the lowest COVID jab rates had far lower COVID cases and mortality, Ball insisted that there were “many other factors” that played into that, such as the high rate of obesity in America, and the fact that we don’t spend as much time outside in the sun as people in Africa.
Never mind the fact that obesity and sun exposure recommendations were never part of the COVID response. Not only did U.S. health authorities not offer any guidance on reducing obesity, but they closed parks and beaches and told everyone to spend as little time outdoors as possible.
The only solution they provided was the “vaccine.” If it worked, we ought to have far better outcomes than countries like Africa that didn’t follow our COVID response guidelines, like staying indoors and getting jabbed multiple times. But we didn’t.
Basically, Ball is admitting — seemingly without realizing it — that factors such as obesity and sun exposure were more important than the jab, because places with lower obesity rates and greater sun exposure fared better even with low jab rates.
Shocker: Ball ‘Hasn’t Seen’ Key Data
Perhaps most shocking of all, when Kennedy points out that we now have data4,5,6 showing that the effectiveness of the COVID shots rapidly wanes and becomes negative after six or seven months, so that you’re then MORE likely to get COVID, she says she “hasn’t seen that!”
How could she possibly have missed it? That by itself tells you she doesn’t know anything beyond what the Big Pharma PR departments have told her.
One consolation here is that the original “Breaking Points” video7 on YouTube only has 288,768 views as of this writing, whereas Dore’s critique of her smear job, posted the following day, has over 524,000 YouTube views.8 “Breaking Points” also lost about 4,000 subscribers in the days following this seriously botched interview.
Interestingly, many of “Breaking Points”’ own subscribers were also sorely critical of her performance. In fact, one day after the video aired, 79% of viewers had given it a thumbs-down. So, perhaps her pro-vaccine, pro-pharma stance isn’t as popular as she thinks.
Conflict of Interest at Play?
Dore also points out that Ball has an interesting conflict of interest that makes this attempted smear job look all the worse. It turns out she’s very close to another Democratic candidate running for president, Marianne Williamson. In fact, Williamson officiated Ball’s wedding.
Did Ball focus on the vaccine issue rather than allowing Kennedy to present a broader view of his platform in the hopes that voters will be attracted to Williamson instead? Would Ball challenge — and dismiss — Williamson in the same way, even though Williamson has very similar concerns about Big Pharma and vaccines as Kennedy does?
What’s more, as noted by Kim Iversen in the video below, Ball supported lockdowns during the pandemic and never informed her viewers that she was making money from long-distance education.
To her credit, Ball did list two vaccine studies in defense of her position below her interview with Kennedy, as well as one study provided by Kennedy’s team, saying people could read them and make up their own mind. Well, Kim Iversen, a former host of “Rising” who now has her own online show, did just that.
In the video above, Iversen reviews the evidence presented by both parties. The first piece of evidence Ball would like you to review is a mathematical modeling study9 of the global impact of the first year of COVID-19 vaccination. According to this mathematical model, the mass injection campaign prevented 14.4 million deaths across 185 countries between December 2020 and December 2021.
Three of the funding sources for this paper were directly from Bill Gates through his foundations, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI and the World Health Organization for whom he is also the primary funder. On top of that, Gates also has significant influence over the National Institutes of Health,10 which is another funder of this paper.
The second paper Ball thought was crucial was a Stanford paper11 published in June 2022 that found getting the COVID jab after having the infection provided additional protection. Here, one of the researchers has received grants from Bristol Myers Squibb, Regeneron and Serimmune, and five are employees of an institution that manufactures the COVID-19 vaccine.
Kennedy provided a Cleveland Clinic paper12,13 published April 19, 2023, which found that vaccine effectiveness varied from a low of 4% to a high of 29% depending on the dominant variant in circulation, and that the risk of contracting COVID increased with time since the last shot and rose with the number of doses received. The funding for this research? None. Hence no conflicts of interest. The Cleveland Clinic simply compiled and analyzed its own employee data.
‘Breaking Point’ Is Establishment Media
While “Breaking Points” is advertised as anti-establishment news, Ball’s interview with Kennedy is but one of the latest examples of why that’s not true. As noted in the Viva Frei video above (Canadian lawyer David Freiheit posts YouTube interviews under the pseudonym Viva Frei), every time “the rubber hits the road,” every time the stakes are high, “Breaking Points” stands with the corporate establishment and parrots the official narrative.
So, the “anti-establishment” façade is just that. A façade. And in her interview with Kennedy, that became really apparent. Not everyone will agree with Viva Frei on this point though.
Independent investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald (see video below), while disagreeing with Ball’s handling of the interview, stresses that he respects her journalism. Yet Greenwald also makes the case that Ball’s “red line” argument is one that is only employed by establishment figures against those who are anti-establishment.
So, he basically makes a similar point as Viva Frei. He just gives Ball the benefit of the doubt and assumes she’s been unwittingly and sort of unconsciously influenced by establishment propaganda, as opposed to being part of it.
What Views Count as Disqualifying?
In his May 18, 2023, System Update episode (above), Greenwald commented:
“I’ve long been interested in, and I’ve often written about, the idea that once a politician adopts a view that is so disagreeable that it renders them completely off limits from consideration for support, they almost get put into this camp of being crazy or a conspiracy theorist, or people just too unhinged to even consider supporting, no matter how much agreement one might have with them.
I first observed this dynamic in the 2012 election … Why was Ron Paul’s pro-life position a ‘red line’ but Obama’s support for the drug war or his view that he had the right to assassinate American citizens using drones — all with no due process … the embodiment of extremism and radicalism — why was that not a ‘red line’? How was that determined? …
Given that the same argument has arisen in the context of RFK Jr’s challenge to Biden, to argue that RFK is off limits but Joe Biden, chief advocate of the war in Iraq, chief architect of the U.S. prison state, an ardent supporter of the drug war, that he, Joe Biden … has not crossed any red lines, I think is really worth exploring.
How are certain politicians declared disqualified, and whose interests are served by this framework, and specifically, who gets called crazy in our political discourse and why? [C]alling them crazy or declaring them too strange, too unhinged and too bizarre is … only wielded by the establishment against critics of the establishment.
In other words, establishment figures have all the space in the world to endorse the most deranged, the most unhinged, the craziest policies but as long as you’re in alignment with establishment orthodoxy, you will never be declared crazy, no matter how crazy those ideas are.
This is a tactic reserved only for those who question prevailing establishment orthodoxy … It’s a very potent and pervasive form of propaganda that requires our constant vigilance.
If we let our guard down at all, we’re all susceptible to being influenced by that … I think analyzing how this tactic is wielded, and how it manifested here, is of the utmost importance.”
Laymen Should Leave the Debating to Experts
Like Dore, Greenwald goes on to review several clips from Ball’s interview with Kennedy, followed by his own take on the exchanges. Here are select parts of Greenwald’s commentary in which I think he makes some valuable points:
“First of all, you can see that Krystal is explicitly acknowledging that she doesn’t have the same level of information and knowledge, she hasn’t devoted anywhere near the amount of time to this question as RFK, Jr. and for that reason, she’s explicitly saying, ‘I don’t want to actually engage with you on the merits.’
She keeps trying to switch the question to a political or punditry question of, well, look, right or wrong, there are a lot of Democratic voters out there who share my views, who think you’re wrong on vaccines. How do you intend to persuade them?
But he wants, rightly so, after having been accused of being wrong … to hear what the basis is for her view that he’s wrong, He wants to engage the substantive debate — that’s part of why he’s running.
And he goes on to say, after listening to her try and make the case, that she’s parroting establishment outlets, that she’s parroting what the health establishment and what health policy officials have just repeated over and over, to the point that I think even well-intentioned people like Krystal start absorbing it to be true. And this is what I think is such an important point.
In order to have a public platform where you opine strongly on vital issues, like whether the benefits of vaccines have been oversold, whether their harms and risks have been minimized and concealed, I really think you have an obligation to have that opinion be steeped in some very in-depth knowledge …
And so, if you’re going to come and tell Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to his face that he’s not only wrong when it comes to vaccine skepticism, but is so wrong that it’s crossed over this red line, then I think you have the obligation to be prepared to engage on the merits and to construct an argument …
He spent years working on this. Remember, RFK, Jr. was for 20 years or so a very widely regarded environmental activist working on issues of harmful waste by corporations and toxic dumping. He’s a very serious person. He is not some extremist or marginalized figure who just emerged out of the blue and started … talking about vaccines.
This is a very deeply developed view, which does not mean I agree with it. I don’t have the knowledge to agree with it or not. But what I know is this: health officials in the United States and in the West were proven to be not just wrong, but dishonest, repeatedly, throughout the COVID [pandemic] …
We also know that all kinds of claims about the Pfizer vaccine and other vaccines were false to the point of being just deceitful. There are famous clips of people they send to propagandize the public, Rachel Maddow and others, even Dr. Fauci himself, saying that the vaccine prevents transmission … something that turned out to be a complete lie …
So, whether I’m persuaded or not by what RFK, Jr. has to say about vaccines … I know for sure we benefit from having these questions debated. That’s the reason the DNC wants to pretend RFK, Jr. doesn’t exist.
They’re petrified of him for reminding Americans not only of how much we were deceived on almost every aspect of the COVID pandemic, including the vaccines, but how much damage it has done from all the policies that we enacted based on these false claims …
So, at the very least, I think that if you have a public platform, you have a responsibility to encourage and … foster debate on these most critical questions, especially when it comes from highly informed people who are challenging and dissenting from establishment orthodoxy, especially on debates where they have been proven over and over to lie and to be proven wrong.
So, Krystal Ball has every right to insist that she disagrees with RFK’s skepticism on vaccines, but … it’s a big jump to say I’m going to use the privilege and the responsibility I have with my public platform to opine on issues that I really haven’t done the work necessary to have a reliable opinion on.
I think the only default position there — if you’re going to comment on those issues without the sufficient knowledge — is to encourage skepticism. To say, I want to hear these debates. We need more transparency and [the] right to have these questions raised, rather than telling somebody that they’re not only wrong but so wrong that they’ve crossed a ‘red line.’
Which is completely in alignment with what the DNC is trying to do — to say that both Marianne Williamson and RFK, Jr. don’t even deserve to be heard, they don’t even deserve to be considered primary opponents to Joe Biden.
If you ask a DNC official, they’ll say it’s already done. Biden has no primary challenger; he’s our nominee, without a single vote being cast, without any debate being held, precisely because their strategy is to encourage people to believe that RFK, Jr. is … so wrong that no matter how much else you might like him on other issues … he shouldn’t be someone that you’re willing to get near; he crossed a red line.
This is the establishment tactic that I think Krystal Ball, in this case … [has] propagated … [H]ours of work on a question this complex is nowhere near enough to opine that emphatically, and to tell someone they’re off limits, that they’ve crossed a red line. So … I think it’s … illustrative of how this propaganda tactic functions, often implicitly.”
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00MERCOLA Take Control of Your Healthhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMERCOLA Take Control of Your Health2023-06-03 05:49:092023-06-04 07:19:19VIDEO: How the Media Hopes to Silence RFK Jr.
That is the big picture, the big takeaway so far from the war in Ukraine.
After fifteen months of war, Russia has failed in all of its war goals. It failed to topple the government of Ukraine. It failed to take Kiev. It failed to extend by much the territory it already held in the Donbas region. It failed to take Odessa. And the few cities the Russians did manage to take are today in ruins (witness: Mariopol and Bakhmut).
The Russians also failed diplomatically to deter NATO from coming to Ukraine’s aide.
If Putin was seeking to prevent NATO expansion to the East – as he has always said – then he failed big time, because NATO is now knocking on his doorstep all up and down the Finnish corridor in ways unthinkable just a few years ago.
If Putin was hoping to deter NATO from aiding Ukraine for fear of escalation – possibly, nuclear escalation – he also failed.
First, it was long-range HIMARS rockets. If you send them to Ukraine, we could go nuclear.
We sent them to Ukraine and Putin did not go nuclear.
Then it was Patriot missile batteries. If you send them to Ukraine, we could go nuclear.
We sent them to Ukraine and Putin did not go nuclear.
Then it was Leopard tanks, and artillery, and Armored Fighting Vehicles, and no Russian escalation. Today it is F-16s, and they are on the way.
NATO does not seem to fear Russian nuclear threats any more. That’s a pretty big strategic fail on Putin’s part.
But is Putin willing to take a deal? First, someone has got to offer him one. Biden and the chicken hawks in Congress (think: Lindsay Graham) have to offer him a deal. And they aren’t in the mood. They still talk of total victory for Ukraine. They still dream of fighting Russia to the blood of the last Ukrainian. It’s pretty despicable, actually.
I discuss this and French President Macron’s comic efforts to dance across the world stage, and increasing Chinese security paranoia, on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Kenneth R. Timmermanhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngKenneth R. Timmerman2023-06-02 15:44:542023-06-02 15:44:54PODCAST: Russia Has Failed
Two Jewish conservative activists are pushing back against claims that criticizing left-wing billionaire financier George Soros is antisemitic by launching a new organization, Jews Against Soros, to oppose his efforts.
The Left frequently hurls accusations of antisemitism as a shield against criticism of Soros, so Newsweek writer Josh Hammer and Will Scharf, a candidate for state attorney general in Missouri, launched JewsAgainstSoros.com.
Soros’s role in funding anti-Israel activism is such that the Israeli government declared last year that criticism of him was not antisemitic. “George Soros,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement, “…continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently blamed Soros-funded groups for opposing Israel’s efforts to deport illegal aliens.
Hammer and Scharf note in a press statement announcing their organization: ”Attacking Soros for his influence on American politics, to say nothing of his nefarious agenda in Israel itself, isn’t antisemitic. It is simply a fact that Soros funds a huge portion of the radical left in this country. And he must be stopped.”
On July 13, 2020, OSF, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and its allies, pledged to donate $220 million into initiatives designed to help “build power in Black communities, promote bold new anti-racist policies in U.S. cities, and help first-time activists stay engaged.” The pledge earmarked $150 million in five-year grants for black-led “racial justice” organizations, and $70 million for a range of initiatives such as helping city governments reform policing and criminal justice by implementing a new approach to public safety that includes “moving beyond the culture of criminalization and incarceration.” “This is the time for urgent and bold action to address racial injustice in America,” said OSF deputy chair Alex Soros, George Soros’s son. “These investments will empower proven leaders in the Black community to reimagine policing, end mass incarceration, and eliminate the barriers to opportunity that have been the source of inequity for too long.” Tom Perriello, executive director of Open Society-U.S., said: “The success of this movement, the largest in U.S. history, will be measured over years, not weeks, and we cannot say that Black lives matter and not make a multi-year commitment to a strategy set by and centering Black leaders and organizations who changed America’s sense of what is possible.”
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Discover The Networkshttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDiscover The Networks2023-06-02 12:53:262023-06-02 12:55:46Jewish Conservatives Launch ‘Jews Against Soros’ to Counter Antisemitism Accusations
On Tuesday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed legislation prohibiting biological males who identify as transgender from competing in women’s college sports. The bill’s ratification marks the latest in a swath of legislation nationwide aimed at protecting fair play in women’s sports.
The Alabama law is the second measure enacted in the state in the last two years designed to protect female sports. In 2021, the Yellowhammer State put into practice legislation stating that girls’ sports in grades K-12 are limited to biological females.
According to Fox News, Alabama is one of 20 states nationwide that have put in place guidelines prohibiting biological males from competing in women’s sports in recent years. The wave of legislation comes as an increasing number of biological males are being allowed to compete in women’s sporting events, resulting in at least 30 women’s titles being claimed by biological men over the last 20 years, with the vast majority of those male wins occurring in the last four years alone.
“Look, if you are a biological male, you are not going to be competing in women’s and girls’ sports in Alabama,” Ivey said in a statement. “It’s about fairness, plain and simple.”
Alabama State Rep. Susan DuBose (R), the bill’s sponsor, was equally frank about the need for the legislation. “Forcing women to compete against biological men would reverse decades of progress that women have made for equal opportunity in athletics,” she said last month. DuBose went on to add that “no amount of hormone therapy can undo all those advantages” of being born male.
Still, some media outlets are claiming that the argument that biological male athletes have physical advantages over female athletes has “little basis in science,” as declared by the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday. But a 2020 study on transgender-identifying biologically male athletes found that even after two years of taking hormones to suppress their testosterone, they still retained a 12% advantage over female athletes in running tests. In a separate Canadian study that found similar results, the authors stated, “Testosterone suppression does not remove the athletic advantage acquired under high testosterone conditions at puberty, while the male musculoskeletal advantage is retained.”
A growing chorus of prominent women athletes and sportscasters have added their voices in support of fair play in women’s sports. In response to biological male transgender-identifying swimmer Lia Thomas’s claim that it’s “transphobic” to limit women’s sports to biological women, Grand Slam tennis champion Martina Navratilova was blunt: “NEWSFLASH Lia — it’s not fair. We shouldn’t have to explain it to you over and over. Also — stop explaining feminism to feminists.”
After ESPN commentator Samantha Ponder recently admitted that she has had “so many [people message] me, stop me in the street to say thank you [and] tell me stories [about] girls who are afraid to speak up for fear of lost employment/being called hateful,” USA Today’s Nancy Armour claimed Ponder was promoting “bigotry.” But ESPN colleague Sage Steele came to Ponder’s defense, tweeting, “Pathetic attack on a WOMAN who is simply fighting for WOMEN in sports … Stay strong @samponder ..this is a lonely fight, but it’s worth it.”
It appears that the fight is becoming less lonely, as another ESPN commentator, who has since left the network, acknowledged that “as a woman … [it] was huge slap in the face” that ESPN celebrated Lia Thomas during Women’s History Month. Meanwhile, Riley Gaines, a former championship swimmer for the University of Kentucky, has become the face of the growing movement to protect women’s sports.
Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council and a former NCAA Division I athlete, expressed support for Alabama’s bill protecting women’s collegiate sports.
“I am so grateful for the new Alabama law recognizing that it is unfair and unsafe for men to play women’s sports at the collegiate level,” she told The Washington Stand. “Sports are meant to teach life lessons, but when we allow men to play women’s sports, the only life lesson we’re teaching is that women will always come in second. I look forward to the day when all 50 states follow Alabama’s lead.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2023-06-02 12:21:532023-06-02 12:31:01Alabama Bans Biological Men from Competing in Women’s College Sports
For those who didn’t know about the Target controversy already, they likely know now.
Forgiato Blow, nicknamed “Trump’s Nephew,” released a song about boycotting Target last week, and it is rapidly climbing the charts. Blow’s music video has at least 705,000 views on YouTube, and the song has been growing in popularity ever since its reveal. “Boycott Target” was ranked #1 for top songs according to iTunes Top 10 Music Charts U.S.A. and has been a headliner in the news this week.
“Boycott Target” was released as a response to Target’s inclusion of LGBTQ products and partnership with a Satanist designer earlier in May. There was a firestorm of backlash from conservatives. Many were upset at the inclusion of over-sexualized ideas in children’s books and children’s clothing. The idea of boycotting Target went viral on social media, and many well-known conservatives have championed the revolt.
Forgiato Blow is an American rapper who has written many songs to demonstrate his love for Donald Trump, America, and conservative ideals. He saw the Target controversy as an opportunity for a hit single, and he took it. Some of his song lyrics include, “Target is targeting your kids” and “We need a clean up on every aisle, inside this store Satan resides.” The music video is filmed inside of the department store, while Blow and other featured artists wave the controversial items at the camera, clearly articulating their views on the products.
While the uproar has been ongoing in the limelight for a few weeks now, this hit song has likely brought attention to a wider, younger audience. A recent Forbes study shows that 94% of Gen Z survey respondents say that music is important to their lives. In that same study, 40% say that music plays a role in shaping their social circle.
“Now that sites have ‘trending’ features, it’s an easy way for the same ideas to be planted in all our heads at the same time,” Zach Sprouse, Regent University student and Family Research Council intern says. “In a way, it’s a good idea to reach Gen Z through trending songs and posts, because most young people are way more likely to listen to the #1 song of the day rather than turn on the news.”
So, is it beneficial for politics to merge with modern arts to impress different ideas? Studies show that this is already happening. “We ought to just embrace it and use trending features to spread our objectives,” Sprouse concludes. Music and the arts are highly influential in modeling our perception of the world. Artists like Forgiato Blow understand the ripple effect of their music and will most likely continue pushing agendas in their work in the future.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2023-06-02 12:01:382023-06-04 07:16:40‘Boycott Target’ Rap Hits Number 1 on iTunes
The head of a facility that carries out so-called “gender-affirming care” has published a study confirming that transgender surgeries do not improve mental health and make people feel lonelier than those who avoided surgical intervention altogether.
“In our study, the level of life satisfaction in transgender people was not increased in transgender people who had undergone gender-affirming surgery as compared to those who were unoperated,” says a study published Tuesday in BMC Public Health, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
“[O]ur data indicate that transgender and gender diverse people, who have undergone gender reassignment surgery feel lonelier” than transgender-identified people who have not elected to have surgery, finds a separate study by the same four researchers, originally published online May 11 in the journal Healthcare (Basel).
The researchers also reveal that people who identify as members of the opposite sex experienced greater isolation if they played sports. “[H]igher loneliness levels were significantly associated with … already having a gender reassignment surgery [and] more than 4 [hours] a week of sports activities,” as “compared to no sports activity.”
The German experts collected the data informing both studies from those seeking transgender surgery at a Hamburg surgical center. The respondents were “104 transgender people who had joined self-help groups to get and share information about the gender-affirming surgeries performed at the Division [Department] of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.” The facility carries out such common transgender procedures as “labiaplasty” and “breast augmentation,” as well as “other surgical services.”
One of the authors of both studies, Dr. Marco Blessmann, has chaired that university’s plastic surgery department since its creation in 2014.
Both studies also list co-author Katharina Grupp’s affiliation as a member of Blessmann’s plastic surgery department (although the university website refers to her as a member of another surgical department; Blessmann’s department states that it collaborates with other departments).
The most recent study finds that people who identify as transgender have lower overall life satisfaction than the general population — and young people suffering from gender dysphoria have worse mental health than older people. Blessmann, et. al., found 31% of transgender-identifying people felt “dissatisfied” or “extremely dissatisfied” with life, while 17% said they were “satisfied” and just one percent felt “extremely satisfied.” People who identify as transgender were 1,290% more likely to describe themselves as “extremely” dissatisfied” than “extremely satisfied” with their lives.
Additionally, “higher levels of life satisfaction were associated with higher age. Previously, authors described that transgender youth was associated with disproportionally high rates of depression, anxiety, suicidality, and non-suicidal self-injury.”
“Such factors are known to be associated with lower life satisfaction,” the authors write.
The latest study, released two days before the beginning of LGBTQ “Pride Month,” is sure to provoke conversation as states debate SAFE Acts to protect minors from the transgender industry and internet searches for such terms as “am I gay” and “am I trans” have increased 1,300% in 19 years, even in the most conservative states.
The latest conclusions come as no surprise to experts. “This finding is sadly consistent with other studies,” Mary Beth Waddell, director of Federal Affairs for Family and Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand. “One study showed that the suicide completion rate for those that had undergone surgery was 19 times higher than the general population.”
A study taken in transgender-friendly Sweden concluded, “Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population.”
Despite those studies, members of the transgender surgery industry often insist children will commit suicide unless parents agree to submit their children to life-altering surgeries. “A common tactic was for doctors to tell the parent of a [girl], ‘You can either have a living son or a dead daughter,’” explained Jamie Reed, a far-Left LGBT activist and whistleblower who worked for four years at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Scientists have long known mental illness and gender dysphoria are correlated. “Clinical evidence suggests that schizophrenia occurs in patients with GID [gender identity disorder] at rates higher than in the general population and that patients with GID may have schizophrenia-like personality traits,” said a 2014 study. “Toxoplasma infection, reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), early childhood adversity, and links with autism spectrum disorders, may account for some of this overlap.” A 2020 study found people who suffer from gender dysphoria are up to 636% more likely to have autism, as well.
“The only way individuals dealing with gender dysphoria will come to live happy, healthy, and authentic lives is by addressing the source of their dysphoria and pursuing healing,” Waddell told TWS. “Many of the individuals who identify as transgender do so because of trauma, abuse, adverse childhood experiences (which may or may not be traumatic), and other such reasons. Until these root issues are properly dealt with, these individuals will not be completely satisfied.”
Transgender-identified adolescents were more than twice as likely as to report childhood sexual abuse, 161% more likely to endure physical abuse, and 184% more likely to experience psychological abuse than their peers, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh. “Transgender adolescents (TGAs) exhibit disproportionate levels of mental health problems compared with cisgender adolescents (CGAs),” reported their 2021 study, published in the journal Pediatrics. “[R]esearchers should examine how more frequent experiences of abuse during childhood could contribute to disproportionate mental health problems observed within this population.”
The evidence shows the best thing parents can do for children questioning their biological identity is to prevent them from having permanently disfiguring surgeries or potentially sterilizing hormone injections. “Even the American Psychiatric Association, which supports gender identity ideology, acknowledges that a high percentage of children will desist from feelings of dysphoria if allowed to go through puberty naturally. This is why we need to pass legislation like the Protecting Children from Experimentation Act of 2023 and the End Taxpayer Funding of Gender Experimentation Act of 2023,” Waddell told TWS.
“Allowing children to go through the natural transitions of youth without interference allows them to come into their own and make wiser decisions about their future.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2023-06-02 11:39:132023-06-02 11:42:42Transgender Surgery Leaves People Lonelier, Depressed: Study by Transgender Surgery Dept. Chair
You make known to me the path of life… (Psalm 16:11)
For many in America today, the advent of June signals the beginning of what has been labeled “Pride Month” by the activist Left. Originally linked to what is called the “Stonewall Uprising,” Pride Month symbolizes glowing affirmation of LGBTQ identity.
All June long, corporations and cultural institutions practically trip over themselves to promote their involvement in Pride Month, putting many Christians (or people who simply hold to a traditional sexual ethic) in difficult spots. When we try to watch a show at the end of a workday, our entertainment platforms drive us to Pride Month content. When buying a tube of toothpaste at our local big-box store, Pride Month displays greet us. When we watch sports, teams wear rainbow patches to celebrate Pride Month. The celebration of LGBTQ identity feels ubiquitous, and belies the claim that our public square is “neutral” and closed to assertive worldviews.
We Live in Dark Days
From many angles, the entire tone of June in America has shifted. It is one of aggressive approval of a heart attitude that the Word of God rebukes in no uncertain terms: pride. To be proud in one’s natural instincts and desires is to go against God at full velocity. It is to put oneself under certain threat of eternal judgment. Sin, after all, is at base nothing other than pride — it is choosing one’s way over God’s way, and one’s instinctual desires over God’s eternal truth. How we Christians should tremble and pray for all who exult in Pride Month. How we should reach out to them, and proclaim Christ in love to fellow sinners just like us.
But we should not stop there. We have our own cause to celebrate in June. Our cause, quite simply, is life. In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the devastatingly inhumane court decision that since 1973 has enabled the destruction of millions upon millions of children. In the long annals of public jurisprudence, one can scarcely find a more wicked measure than Roe. Yet in his all-wise providence, God saw fit to strike Roe down right in the middle of Pride Month. What a rebuke! What an otherworldly intervention.
It’s hard to underplay just how shocking this development was and is. News of the coming overturning of Roe started leaking in early May 2022. Personally, I happened to be flying into D.C. for FRC meetings just as this news broke. It seemed too wonderful to be true: the most monstrously evil decision in modern American history was going to be struck down? The night after word got out, FRC staffer David Closson and I went to the Supreme Court. The tone was one of rage as countless young men and women protested the news. I scarcely knew what to do as David and I wound our way through the huge — and very angry — crowds. Was this real life?
June Is Life Month, Not Pride Month
It was indeed real life. But those days of dazed wonderment are over. Now, as in ancient Israel, have come the days of settled joy. No, the fight against abortion is not over, not by a long shot. But believers should celebrate genuinely God-given victories. We who are saved by grace would be ungrateful children indeed if we did not honor this great outcome in the public square, one akin to the ban on slavery in Wilberforce’s day. Toward that end, here’s my encouragement: all through June, celebrate “Life Month.”
We should not do so in an obnoxious way. We are not fighting flesh and blood, after all. But in days that feel so dark, God has given us a great victory. This means that June is no longer a month for exalting human pride; June is a month for exalting God’s greatness. It is a time to rejoice in God’s gift of life, natural life, and spiritual life. God is our Creator, making every image-bearer such that every single unborn child has God-given dignity, worth, and purpose. God is also our Redeemer, making dead sinners live through the gospel message (Romans 1:16).
There is no better message than this. It is far, far greater than the pagan gospel, the message that you will find true happiness by embracing your natural instincts and then finding affirmation from others in them. This is no gospel at all, in reality, and it leads to fleshly captivity. But according to the true gospel, there is a way out of this enslavement. God is not only Creator and Redeemer, but Lord. The risen and ascended Christ rules the cosmos. At present, his rule is a spiritual rule, calling us to forsake the flesh, join the visible church as members, and live by grace as salt and light in this realm. In human pride, there is slavery; in Christ alone, there is freedom.
God Loves Life
Our world loves death, for death is what following the father of lies gets you. But Christians love life, for life is what God delights to form, naturally but especially spiritually. So, in June, I encourage you: celebrate Life Month. Praise God for his grace. Share your celebration on social media. Create graphics and images, and promote them. Do podcasts about this. Don’t be silent; don’t be intimidated by our pagan culture into muteness. Speak, and don’t stop speaking. Pray, and don’t stop praying.
Start serving at a pro-life work. In fact, work against abortion any way you can, recognizing the murder of an unborn child as a genuine crime, whatever complex factors may lead to the pursuit of one. Calmly engage someone who is celebrating Pride Month, and proclaim Christ to them. Lovingly tell them the truth about sin and the hope that is in Christ. No one is too far gone for God to save them. And no one who is saved is a hopeless case, an abandoned child of God, or too much of a spiritual failure to grow in grace. I repeat myself: for all of us, there is hope, infinite hope, in Christ (Colossians 1:27).
June is Life Month. It cannot be otherwise. In June 2022, the Lord of heaven and earth saw fit to strike down the chief “right” (and rite) of the liberal worldview in the very month when that worldview was most glorified and praised. What an incredible move this was. God, you see, is not mocked. Nor is God asleep. To the contrary, the living personal God is active and working. This God is the God of dramatic reversals and breathtaking miracles. This God loves and celebrates life.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2023-06-01 15:06:042023-06-01 15:09:26PSA: June Is Life Month, Not Pride Month
