“[Disney CEO] Bob Iger acts like he’s spent too much time in Fantasyland, because his position here is downright goofy. Hollywood deals in fiction, and Iger is reading from the left’s pro-abortion script, not a logical narrative.”
A recent article in the Washington Times has exposed serious hypocrisies in the recent corporate attacks on the State of Georgia over the “heartbeat bill.”
The Georgia law is one of the toughest pieces of pro-life legislation, and, if implemented, would prohibit abortion after a doctor can detect a baby’s heartbeat. In recent weeks, under pressure from Hollywood leftists, entertainment companies like Disney (1.7 – Liberal) and Netflix (2.1 – Lean Liberal) have threatened to stop filming projects in the state if the measure goes into effect.
However, the Washington Times reports these companies regularly do business in foreign countries that restrict abortion:
Disney CEO Bob Iger said it would be “very difficult” for the company to continue to film in Georgia if the state’s newly enacted abortion law goes into effect, though the entertainment giant had no similar reservations about shooting in Jordan.
Portions of the just-released blockbuster “Aladdin” were shot in Wadi Rum, Jordan, where women who undergo abortions except in medical emergencies face up to three years in prison — in short, a law significantly more restrictive than Georgia’s fetal heartbeat bill.
Iger’s statements beg the question: would Disney move its resort properties if Florida passes a similar “heartbeat bill”?
The article continues:
Then there is Netflix, which raised the possibility last week of leaving Georgia over the fetal heartbeat bill signed May 7 by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, even though the entertainment company announced plans May 27 to film an original series, “Paranormal,” in Egypt.
Abortion is illegal in Egypt, with exceptions for saving the life of the pregnant woman or “fatal foetal abnormality,” according to the pro-choice international advocacy group Women on Waves.
Even so, “Paranormal” comes as Netflix’s third production foray into the Middle East: The shows “Jinn,” scheduled for release June 13, and “Al Rawabi School for Girls” were also filmed in Jordan as part of what the company described as its “dedication to investment in Middle Eastern Arabic content.”
It would appear both Disney and Netflix prioritize political pandering over logical consistency. After all, given the amount of children’s programming created by these companies, how much since does it make to support an abortion industry that exists to destroy the next generation of consumers?
If you think that Disney and Netflix should end their hypocrisy, and just stick to making television shows and movies, please do not hesitate to hit the buttons below to reach out to them!
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png002ndvote .comhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png2ndvote .com2019-06-10 18:47:552019-06-15 18:36:20Disney CEO Iger Lives in Fantasyland
A small California community in shock after its beloved pastor was suspended over allegations of homosexual predation.
The case, involving abuse of young men, with evidence of at least one suicide, is exposing homosexuality and financial corruption in the Fresno diocese, under a bishop who appeared to look the other way.
Yet remarkably, the community is protecting its priest.
Hello, I’m Michael Voris. Welcome to this special report, where we’ll look at the case of Msgr. Craig Harrison, an over-the-top popular priest in Bakersfield, California, now on leave after multiple men claim are coming forward accusing him of sexually abusing them.
Harrison is a favorite son in Bakersfield, born and raised there, a priest for more than three decades, pastor at St. Francis Church for 20 years, chaplain to the Bakersfield Police Department and Kern County Sheriff’s Office.
Even a building and street are named after him, as well as being a prolific fundraiser for the diocese.
Unusually, Harrison adopted four boys and has legal guardianship over another four, many whom he met when he ran a home for troubled teens in poorer towns of Merced and Firebaugh.
The most disturbing allegations come from his time living with these troubled youth.
Stephen Brady, who has made something of a career rooting out homopredators was recently in Bakersfield.
“It’s totally inappropriate for a priest to adopt children,” said Brady. “And Fr. Harrison has a lot of money around him — different people donating vehicles to him, all the money he’s soliciting, for helping these boys, these troubled kids, if you will, and that whole scenario reeks of corruption, because what bishop in their right mind would allow a priest to adopt several children?”
Harrison had won an award for his foster care work, getting large donations helping young men get off the street and away from a life of drugs or prostitution.
But accusers say he preyed on the very boys he promised to help, using his foster care service to single out vulnerable young men — and use them for sex.
The diocese of Fresno officially learned of allegations against Harrison on April 12, involving a 16-year-old altar boy claiming the priest groped him three different times.
Three days later, they reported the allegation to police, and on April 25 Harrison was suspended from ministry.
Since then, five more men have come forward accusing the priest of abuse, one of them filing a police report as recently as May 8.
The only alleged victim to go public so far is 30-year-old Br. Justin Gilligan, a former member of Harrison’s parish, who said in a public statement, “I was in Fr. Craig’s inner circle from 2011 to 2016 and am a victim of his inappropriate touching, lies, manipulation and abuse of power.”
He goes on to say, “I witnessed him being inappropriate with children, giving gifts/money, saying sexual jokes, touching, and being alone with them. … I have also witnessed him taking advantage and controlling the lives of younger men entrusted to him that have had drug or alcohol problems.”
Harrison is denying everything, instead smearing the alleged victims calling them liars and accusing Gilligan of a drinking problem.
Gilligan tells Church Militant he is standing by his charge, which also included a prediction Harrison would attempt to destroy his reputation.
Gilligan and his family have been the target of sustained attacks by supporters of the powerful monsignor, who’s secured four attorneys to defend him.
In the face of Harrison’s denials, this isn’t the first time he’s been suspected of abuse. Police received an accusation more than 20 years ago, in 1998.
The diocese conducted an internal review, dismissing the claim as not credible. That was under the late Bp. John Steinbock 0151 a bishop with a reputation for covering up homosexual predation.
The new bishop, Joseph Brennan, installed just last month, wants the case re-opened and re-examined in light of all the allegations coming to light.
The 1998 claim involved a male teen who lived in the rectory of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Firebaugh in the early 1990s.
He claims Harrison would inspect his genitals each night under the pretext that the examination would reveal whether the boy had done drugs.
The allegation is idential to that of another boy who lived in one of Harrison’s homes for troubled teens.
Church Militant has obtained a 2004 official report issued by former FBI agent Tom Walsh, who learned from a former resident of one of the boys’ homes that “every morning Harrison lined up all the boys who were residing in the house and examined each boy’s testicles with a flashlight. Telling them that by doing this he could tell if any one of them was using narcotics.”
The conduct is also identical to two other accusers who’ve recently stepped forward, saying Harrison would also inspect their genitals citing the same reasons.
Another alleged victim claims Harrison pinned him against the wall and rubbed his erect penis against him.
Most of the alleged victims are Latino males from troubled backgrounds.
The 2004 FBI investigator’s report goes on to detail evidence of at least one suicide of a boy who lived with Harrison. That suicide was independently corroborated by Br. Gilligan.
The report also notes possible financial malfeasance regarding the thousands in funds the priest solicited on behalf of his boys’ homes.
Walsh’s FBI report continues, “I have learned that there never has been an accounting of the funds. There has never been an itemization as to how the funds were spent and for what end. There has never been identification made of the children that benefited from the solicitations.”
Even today, 15 years on, issues of financial wrongdoing are still in question.
“Father Harrison has a bad gambling problem, allegedly, but this one individual I spoke to said he was with him when Harrison had $40,000 in cash in a fanny pack at a casino,” Brady said. “He said he’s a high roller, he constantly gambles, so one has to wonder where on earth does this money come from?”
Brady has also unearthed a 2004 email from a young man detailing his sexual encounters with Harrison: “I attended St. Joseph’s Church in Firebaugh while Fr. Craig Harrison was pastor. In that time, I personally had two sexual encounters and one semi-sexual encounter with him. Twice in his son Herculano’s bedroom and the other in the back of his Ford Explorer.”
The relationship ended when he walked in on Harrison engaging in gay sex with another man.
When the student confessed his sexual sins to a visiting Franciscan, he was told to remain quiet and “give it to God.”
The student said he knew about nine young men who’d had sex with Harrison.
The letter was sent to then-Vicar General Msgr. Myron Cotta, who served under Bp. Steinbock — but nothing was ever done.
Today the community continues to rally around the priest, parishioners and fellow clergy refusing to believe the allegations, even local media defending him.
Instead, the alleged victims are being blamed.
“Everybody believes the priest, nobody wants to believe this victim. They don’t pick on the judge’s son for a victim,” said Brady. “They pick on homeless kids, they pick on street kids, they pick on the individuals that can’t fight back or don’t have parents who can fight back, so his smearing of those coming forward — I think it’s just standard procedure, it’s a natural defense.”
Sources have told Church Militant even Bakersfield Police are compromised, dragging their feet on removing him as chaplain, even as the abuse allegations come to light.
Church Militant asked the Bakersfield Police Department whether any other police reports had ever been filed against Harrison.
No response to date.
This case parallels the Fr. Robert DeLand case in Saginaw, Michigan, who is now behind bars for homosexual assault.
Like DeLand, Harrison is a longtime priest, enormously popular among locals, raising a lot of money for his diocese.
Just as with DeLand, locals are rallying around Harrison, convinced of his innocence while attacking his victims.
And like DeLand, Harrison is proclaiming his innocence, even in the face of multiple accusers, many of them vulnerable young men with troubled backgrounds whom Harrison ostensibly sought out to help, but who they say became his victims.
In our next installment, another Fresno priest busted for gay predation, removed from ministry, with evidence stretching back decades of homosexual misconduct and financial malfeasance, while the bishop turned a blind eye.
Boy & girl scouts are supposed to uphold American values. These scout branches in Michigan are being trained to think of the U.S. as terrorists are being indoctrinated in Iranian regime and Hezbollah ideology.
Iranian regime and Hezbollah supporters have set up Boy & and Girl Scout branches in Michigan.
In fact, the Boy Scouts of America website officially recognizes one Islamist-linked Boy Scout pack in the state, listing a Cub Scout branch, Pack 1139, at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn.
Cub Scouts are for children from kindergarten through fifth grade.
In 2017, the Muslim Scouts of Michigan held its Waiyullah Camp where the boys and girls were taught by a radical supporter of the Iranian theocracy and Hezbollah, Sheikh Usama Abdulghani.
The sheikh preaches that Muslims must follow the commands of Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He has also said that ISIS is a secret front for Israel and the West as part of their war against Islam.
An older website for the Muslim Scouts of America, last updated in 2014, shows that it previously had a weekly program every Sunday at the Islamic Institute of Knowledge in Dearborn. This mosque has a history of honoring Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and founder of the current theocracy.
The Bint Jebail Cultural Center, which is largely Lebanese, says its Boy Scout branch was started in 1997 “through the Boy Scouts of America.” It was founded by Hajji Khalil Baydoun, the treasurer of the Bint Jebail Cultural Center’s executive board.
In 2001, it took on the name of the Muslim Scouts of Michigan. This development started:
“…bringing our religion and heritage to our scouting program. Although not an Islamic school, this is where our religion is put into practice and carried out on a daily basis through the Scout Law and Oath … All along this journey to become an Eagle Scout, our religious morals are being instilled and put into action.”
The center’s promo video says it has a class on Saturday for youth to learn Arabic and understand the Koran.
If religion is being integrated into a Boy or Girl Scout program, then it’s reasonable to ask what type of religious interpretation is being taught to these youth, especially when the camping activities include “rifle shooting.”
The Muslims Scouts of Michigan website says its weekly program is held every Friday at Great Revelations Academy in Dearborn. The Academy is literally less than 400 feet from the Bint Jebail Cultural Center responsible for the Muslim Scouts.
The Clarion Project published an expose of the academy’s support for the Iranian theocracy and Hezbollah terrorist group in April. The academy is a private school for children from kindergarten through 9th grade.
Al-Mustapha Scouts
The Muslim Scouts of Michigan also has a branch in the Detroit area called the Al-Mustapha Scouts, chartered by the Al-Mustapha Association.
Though they appear separate at first glance, the Al-Mustapha Girl Scouts’ Facebook page identifies it as part of the Muslim Scouts of Michigan.
Public records from 2017 show that the Muslim Scouts of Michigan and Al-Mustapha Association are essentially the same entity.
Mohamad Awad is listed as the president of the Muslim Scouts of Michigan. Awad is also listed as the director the Al-Mustapha Association and Al-Mustapha Boy Scouts. Additionally, the organizations list the same address in Dearborn in their filings.
The organization claims that the Al-Mustapha Boy Scouts is officially Boy Scouts of America Troop & Pack 1172 and Girls Scouts of the USA Troop 48050, consisting of over 300 girls.
However, the websites for the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA do not currently list any such branches. (There is an unconnected Troop 1172 in New Mexico.)
The Al-Mustapha Association makes it clear that its ideology is intertwined with its Boy and Girl Scouts program.
“The Islamic Scouting experience is delivered by a staff carefully selected based on their passion to be Muslim role models and are trained to carry out the core values of Al-Mustapha (s) Scouts,” the website says.
The Al-Mustapha’s Girl Scouts have also held events at the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, yet another mosque with a history of radical preaching including advocacy for the Iranian regime.
A 2013 posting on the mosque’s website advertises an event with the “Muslim Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan Troop 48050.”
The Al-Mustapha Scouts have also advertised radical Shiite events on their social media accounts, such as this Mizan Institute event (see right) at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, which has a history of affinity for the Iranian regime, Hezbollah and anti-Semitism.
The instructor at the event promoted by the Al-Mustapha Scouts is Sheikh Amin Rastani, a dedicated supporter of the Iranian theocracy educated at the regime-friendly school in Qom, Iran.
The Al-Mustapha Scout leaders include devotees of the Iranian regime.
One Al-Mustapha Boy Scouts leader has repeatedly posted in favor of the Iranian regime, going so far as to make his profile picture that of Supreme Leader Khamenei.
In one post, at a time when Iranian women were bravely taking off their headscarves in public to protest the mandatory wearing of the hijab, he translated an explanation from Supreme Leader Khamenei justifying the law. It depicted the regime as a bigger supporter of women’s rights than America.
The Khamenei quote he translated and posted reads:
“Every movement that seeks to defend women (e.g. women’s rights) must have its main goal be the chastity of women. The West does not care about the issue of women’s chastity and it has resulted in a mockery … When you look around the world, you see that one of the problems of women in the Western world, especially in the United States of America, is the issue of men exploiting their power to abuse women’s chastity … Islam is aware of this issue, and for that reason, the issue of hijab has been mandated by Islam, for that very reason.”
A second Al-Mustapha Boy Scouts leader also posts videos from Iranian regime officials, including Khamenei and Alireza Panahian, a radical cleric who has called for the execution of major opponents of the regime in Iran.
At least two other Al-Mustapha Boy Scout leaders are seen in a picture with Sheikh Ibrahim Yassine, yet another radical pro-regime cleric.
In a speech from 2016 in Detroit on Al-Quds [Jerusalem] Day, Yassine referred to America as the biggest terrorist in the world and expressed how those who stand with Iran’s leaders stand with truth.
Part of the speech, given in Arabic, was translated by Clarion’s Arab Affairs Analyst and Shillman Fellow Ran Meir:
“This American administration is the one that supports terror in our area. We say it out loud and you all know that,” Yassine said. “Imam Khomeini emphasized the importance of participating in Quds Day,” he added.
The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America are meant to be patriotic organizations. The Scout oath includes a pledge to “do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law.”
Support for the Iranian regime, Hezbollah and their radical clerics who shout “Death to America” is hardly compatible with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts’ oath, mission and purpose.
The Boy and Girl Scouts should expel any affiliate or leader linked to such blatant radicalism. Islamist extremists should not be allowed to use the good names of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to push their hate-filled agenda.
These organizations are cynically indoctrinating children to become the next generation of extremists – a real form of child abuse.
EDITORS NOTE: This Clarion Project column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Clarion Projecthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngClarion Project2019-06-10 09:57:212019-06-10 09:58:31Boy & Girl Scouts Trained to Support Terror in Michigan
America is home to the feminist movement. The ideal of this movement is to make females equal to males, thereby elevating them in our culture. This led to the Women’s Suffrage movement in 1848 which resulted the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote. More recently we have seen the #MeToo movement the “anti-sexual harassment movement” to protect all girls and women.
Islamic Mut’a
What American feminists and those in the #MeToo movement don’t talk about are temporary arranged marriages in Islam for Mut’a (pleasure or lust). The Four Pillars Of Mut’a on the Al-Islam.org website notes:
The Arabic dictionaries define mut’a as ‘enjoyment, pleasure, delight’. The root form, m-t: signifies, ‘to carry away, to take away’. A ‘marriage of mut’a’ is a marriage which the contract stipulates will last for a fixed period of time. This ‘marriage of mut’a’ is referred to both in the hadith literature and, in much more detail, in the books on jurisprudence (fiqh).
[ … ]
In general the word mut’a was more commonly used than other terms for temporary marriage both during the lifetime of the Prophet and afterwards during the time of the Shi’i Imams and other Muslim leaders.
[ … ]
In some works a special term is applied to women who participate in mut’a: musta’jara, or ‘rented woman’. Mut’a is considered a kind of ‘rental’ because in general a man’s basic aim in this kind of marriage is the sexual enjoyment of a woman, and in return for his enjoyment the woman receives a certain amount of money or property. [Emphasis added]
An Ex-patriot Saudi Arabian Doctor in Canada Speaks Out
One doctor in Canada is speaking out about Mut’a (HT Vlad Tepes blog). On the One Godless Woman YouTube channel there is a video titled “Protecting Young Girls from Muta’a.” One Godless woman, who currently lives and practices medicine in Canada, states, “After graduating medical school I began my career as a medical Doctor in Saudi Arabia. I and the doctors and nurses in the hospital saw all too frequently the catastrophic medical complications and even death that arose from muta’a marriages.”
One in three women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.
One in six men will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.
39% of Canadian adult women reported having had at least one experience of sexual assault since the age of 16
Only 1 in 3 Canadians understand what sexual consent means.
Over 80% of women with disAbilities will be sexually abused in their lifetime
Sexual assault victimization rates are five times higher for women under the age of 35.
Perhaps it is time for women across Canada and America to begin understanding how Islamic Mut’a marriage is sexual assault for the purpose of satisfying a man’s lust?
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2019-06-10 06:22:072019-06-10 07:07:44VIDEO: Protecting Young Muslim Girls from Islamic 'Rented' Mut'a [lust] Marriages
A couple of years ago, I praised federalism in part because state and local governments would be less likely to adopt bad policy (such as higher minimum wages) if they understood that jobs and investment could simply migrate to jurisdictions that didn’t adopt bad policy.
But “less likely” isn’t the same as “never.” Some state and local politicians can’t resist the temptation to raise taxes, even though that means workers “vote with their feet” for places with lower tax burdens.
And some state and local politicians continue to mandate higher minimum wages (see here, here, here, and here), even though that means workers have fewer job opportunities.
Today, we’re going to look at some fresh evidence from Emeryville, California.
Representatives from the Mills College Lokey School presented data from its recent ‘business conditions’ survey to our City Council on Tuesday. The study confirmed what restaurant owners warned when the ordinance was hastily passed in 2015. They are struggling, rapidly raising menu prices and increasingly looking to leave. …It’s getting harder to find small food service businesses that were around in 2015 when the MWO was passed. Emeryville institution Bucci’s, Commonwealth, Farley’s, Scarlet City … all gone. In fact, nearly all the brick & mortar businesses that comprised the short-lived Little City Emeryville small business advocacy group have moved, folded or sold. …The survey also identified that “the restaurant industry is clearly struggling.” Specifically, small, independent, non-franchise establishments are having the most difficulty.
Here is some specific information on how restaurants have been adversely impacted.
…nearly all the new businesses that have opened have embraced the counter service model that requires fewer employees. Paradita Eatery, whose original plan was for a full service sit-down restaurant, cited Emeryville’s wage ordinance specifically for ‘pivoting’ to a counter service model. Counter service models require fewer employees to offset higher labor costs. …The only full service restaurant that has opened since the Minimum Wage was passed was 612One Asian Fusion which folded after just two years in business.
One of the reasons for the economic damage is that Emeryville has gone further and faster in the wrong direction.
One commenter, who identified herself as a resident, questioned why the survey did not include consumer data noting her dining frequency was altered by the drastic price increases she’s observed. …She noted that she used to frequent her local Doyle Street Cafe 2-3 times per month but last year went only twice. …Once franchise owner noted that the price increases they’ve been forced to pass along have ironically had the biggest impact on vulnerable communities that are more price-sensitive. “Our largest decrease in guests are folks over 50. Obviously our elderly, disabled, and folks on fixed incomes are unable increase their income to compensate for the price increases.”
Let’s close with a new video from Johan Norberg, which looks at the impact of minimum wage increases in San Diego.
P.S. If local communities are allowed to mandate minimum wages higher than the state level or federal, shouldn’t they also have the freedom to allow minimum wages that are lower than the state level or federal level?
Daniel J. Mitchell is a Washington-based economist who specializes in fiscal policy, particularly tax reform, international tax competition, and the economic burden of government spending. He also serves on the editorial board of the Cayman Financial Review.
EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column with videos is republished with permission. All right reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2019-06-09 07:43:422019-06-09 07:51:55VIDEO: California Town Sees Businesses Vanish Following Minimum Wage Hike
Did you know that when over a million people a year apply for the Diversity Visa Lottery in hopes of getting one of 50,000 tickets to your American town, that, in the past, applicants were not even required to show proof (a passport) that they live in the country from which they are applying.
That matters especially because some countries are barred from participation due to the large number of successful migrants to America in the previous five years.***
Readers! Our whole immigration system is one big fraud opportunity.
For over 10 years I followed the US Refugee Admissions Program and saw the fraud on our country in that legal program and everywhere you turn it seems that someone is scheming, finding some way, to milk our system and it’s not just happening at the southern border.
This story about new requirements in the diversity lottery (we don’t have enough diversity!) is being reported in the Kenyan press!
US State Department to Require Passports to Enter the Green Card Lottery (Diversity Visa Program)
The US Department of State will now require foreign nationals who enter the Diversity Visa program, also known as the Green Card Lottery, to have valid unexpired passports.
In a document published on the Federal Register on Wednesday June 5th, the State Department says the principal petitioner will need to provide his/her passport information of the country he/she is a citizen of. Such information will include the passport number, issuing country, and passport expiration date. Derivatives listed on the entry form will not need to have passport at the time of the entry submission [but like before, will need passports at the time of the interview].
The State Department says the new requirement was necessitated by the significant number of fraudulent entries for the Diversity Visa program each year, noting that sometimes criminal enterprises submit entries for individuals without their knowledge. “Individuals or entities that submit unauthorized entries will often contact unwitting individuals whose identities were used on selected DV Program entries, inform them of the opportunity to apply for a diversity visa, and hold the entry information from the named petitioner in exchange for payment,” says the State Department.
The Department says requiring passport information will lead to less fraudulent entries submitted by third parties.
For DV-2020, nationals of the following countries were ineligible to participate in the program because they have had more than 50,000 natives immigrate to the United States over the last five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
By the way, I think the DR Congo should be excluded next time because we have brought 50,000 to the US in the last five years as ‘refugees.’
Go here to see the shocking list of countries whose nationals did “win” the recent lottery.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2019-06-08 17:54:072019-06-08 17:54:07New Rules to Help Stop Fraud in Diversity Visa Program
These laws ignore our 5th and 14th Amendment rights of Due Process and I predict will result in consequences for legal, law abiding gun owners over time. I’m personally not convinced that these are “unintended” consequences either but rather another intentional chipping away of our 2nd Amendment and Due Process Rights.
Gun Owners of America have been outspoken on this subject and I recommend you consider joining GOA as I did several years ago.
I am hopeful an iron-clad lawsuit will be filed before much longer to challenge FL’s Risk Protection Order and; if not eliminating it, as a minimum require holding a hearing before seizure and not exparte except in exceptional cases where there is overwhelming evidence/probable cause of potential harm by the gun owner. As the language is currently written, it is too open to interpretation resulting in differing procedures by different court jurisdictions and potential to be used as a political weapon by liberal gun control enthusiasts.
I am a Life Member of the NRA and want to know where is the NRA-ILA on this issue? So far – Crickets – chirp – chirp.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Royal A. Brown IIIhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRoyal A. Brown III2019-06-08 15:52:172019-06-11 17:40:49Good - Short Video on Red Flag Laws
You might expect to see signs calling for the massacre of Jews on the streets of Tehran or Gaza City. But last Friday, May 31, 2019, they showed up in downtown Toronto in the presence of 100 police officers who did nothing to stop them.
Similar sentiments were expressed in New York’s Times Square the same day (see video below).
What was the occasion? The Al Quds Day hate fest, held annually on the last Friday of Ramadan.
Al Quds, or Jerusalem, Day was initiated by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, ostensibly to express support for the Palestinians and oppose Zionism and Israel.
The day is “celebrated” in a number of countries around the world, replete (as was Toronto’s) with flags of Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah.
In the West, this hate fest used to be held on government properties, but some governments, aware of the day’s content, have balked, so the organizers have moved the location to the public sphere — usually in front of the US Embassy.
This is where the 2019 Al Quds Day rally was held last week in Toronto, where event organizers take their cues from the Muslim Brotherhood playbook of hate.
Most of the participants are bused to the location to raise their voices in support of Palestine, but numerous times we have sneaked into the rallies and asked the participants if they knew what the actual issues are. Not surprisingly, we found they have absolutely no idea as the majority are Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian Muslims as well as ultra-Left stooges.
Last year, my husband and I were accosted by one of the Hezbollah flag bearers who is also an Islamist spokesperson in Toronto. We were met with the vile hate being spouted about eradication of Israelis (we got in on video and put it on our website).
There is no doubt that Al Quds Day is very little about Palestinians and much more about hate for Israel and Jews. This year again there were blatant calls for destruction of the State of Israel with signs alluding to an historical massacre of Jews.
This by the way was done with 100 police officers in attendance, who did nothing to stop this hate fest.
In a letter written following the event, Michael Levitt, the Liberal MP for York Centre, said he was “greatly concerned” by this year’s rally and condemned “the blatant anti-Semitic incitement towards Jews and Israel that takes place at this event every year.”
In a diverse country like Canada where myriads of faiths and cultures live together, we work hard at co-existence and keeping communities together. It takes mutual respect and tolerance plus a total condemnation of hate, wherever it’s coming from, to make that happen.
Imagine an annual parade being held against Muslims. What part of “Islamophobia” will that fall under and what would be the government’s reaction?
As Muslims we are embarrassed and concerned by this total anti-Semitic hate fest. We have spoken out against this before, and will say it again. There is no place for hate!
As Canadians, should we follow the agenda of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian regime who use ordinary Muslims as pawns, or should we focus on our relations with each other, which needs a lot of work?
Watch the Al Quds Hate fest in New York City’s Times Square where demonstrators call for the destruction of the “Jews’ state.”
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Clarion Projecthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngClarion Project2019-06-08 06:03:172019-06-08 06:03:17VIDEO: Hate Fest in Canada, Times Square
Mark Hemingway at Real Clear Investigations recently wrote a solid piece about the “data problem” with getting clean voter rolls and eradicating voter fraud.
He’s right, there is a data problem. And a management problem. And a competence problem. After all, government runs elections and government is pretty famously awful in all of those categories. But those are manifestations of a deeper problem that is going to dog the country in 2020 and almost assuredly beyond.
One of our two major parties opposes any attempts to enforce voting laws and block illegal voting, and has even begun making overt attempts to create legal voting pathways for non-citizens.
It’s fairly clear that the Democratic Party sees electoral benefit in non-citizens voting, and rightly so because of the gargantuan number of illegal Hispanics in the U.S. and first generation Hispanics are heavily Democratic voters.
Further, Democratic leadership sees a winning issue with the base and some Independents by painting Republicans as racistly trying to suppress the minority vote in their modest attempts to clean up voter rolls — even when those attempts are mandated by law.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is not only supposedly the most moderate among the Democratic presidential candidates, he’s just as quick as any new radical or old school Democrat to play the race card against Republicans.
Race is used dishonestly as a cudgel on virtually any issue. In 2012, speaking to a largely black Virginia audience about Mitt Romney’s plan to allow some deregulation of Wall Street, Biden told the crowd: “They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
Pretty despicable, but also a hardened part of the Democratic platform in every election — and a real hot-button when connected with voting rights.
Republicans support basic voter identification laws to ensure ballot integrity. You just need to prove who you are to be able to cast that vote. This seems like it should be a bipartisan mom and apple pie issue.
But to Democrats like Biden, who supposedly represents the less radical arm of the Democratic Party, voter ID laws are an opportunity to slap down that tattered race card yet again. They purposely oppose every effort to create clean, up-to-date voter rolls.
Laws vary from state to state, but voter identification laws generally require that identification be presented before a voter reaches the ballot box. In some states, such as Florida where statewide vote margins can be razor thin, the ID must be shown at the polls, while other states only require it for voter registration. But in some states, such as Arizona, any ID, including a utility bill, will do.
Republicans say these laws protect against voter fraud by ineligible voters, including voting by illegal immigrants and double and triple voting.
For Democrats, it’s an opportunity to invigorate racial division and fear mongering. Here’s Biden at it again during a rally last month in South Carolina:
“You’ve got Jim Crow sneaking back in. You know what happens when you (black people) have an equal right to vote? They lose.”
So if Democrats see an opportunity to whip up racial tension among blacks and Hispanics that translate into more votes, they have zero motivation to actually try to ensure ballot box integrity. We’ve seen this recently in multiple states, including Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania, where attempts to make sure the voting rolls were cleaned up were met with vitriolic opposition and lawsuits.
The interesting fact is that there is no real evidence that voter ID laws actually suppress the votes of legal voters, including black voters. Even the left-of-center data site FiveThirtyEight substantially concludes this by looking at laws and voter turnout.
So does the left-of-center Brookings Institute in looking at Pennsylvania and Georgia, which both cleaned up their voting rolls prior to the 2018 election. Yet both saw huge jumps in black voter turnout — during a non-presidential midterm election.
“In fact, Georgia is one of the few states where black voter turnout exceeded white voter turnout in 2018. Moreover, its 2018 black voter turnout of 60 percent exceeded its turnout in the 2016 presidential election by 1 percent,” according to Brookings.
But this record black turnout, exceeding white turnout, does not stop Democrat Stacey Abrams, who lost a close race for Governor, to claim that she is the real winner because of voter suppression that limited the black vote. Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris has said the same thing, both claiming to black audiences that Abrams was robbed of the victory by the GOP.
And of course San Francisco has voted to allow illegal immigrants and other noncitizens to vote in local elections. The fear by illegals that they will be identified by ICE has kept their numbers down, but the city has spent more than $300,000 in voter registration drives aimed at illegal residents. They really, really want illegals voting.
This is the undeniably glaring problem with trying to have clean, legal elections without fraud. Democrats don’t want it. They want both illegal votes of non-citizens, mostly Hispanics, and they want to fear monger blacks into high turnout while voting 90 percent Democrat.
EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Rod Thomsonhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRod Thomson2019-06-08 05:49:222019-06-08 05:49:42Democrats Pursue Voter Fraud Leading Up To 2020
Powerful special interests are joining forces with like-minded politicians to push drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens in the Empire State, even though polls consistently show most New Yorkers are opposed.
On May 29, the Business Council of New York State, which represents many of the state’s biggest businesses, publicly endorsed Senate Bill (SB) 1747, nicknamed the “Green Light Bill.” The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens. More specifically, it would:
Create a category of drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens marked as “Not For Federal Purposes,” comparable to the other states that issue licenses to them, like California and Illinois;
Forbid DMV from asking about citizenship or immigration status for the new category of licenses;
List the identity documents illegal aliens could use to apply for licenses, including foreign passports and foreign drivers’ licenses that can be expired by up to two years;
Make essentially all identifying information in a driving record, and any documents used to apply for a license, no longer public, requiring even law enforcement to get a court order, search warrant or subpoena to access them from DMV; and
Require DMV to disclose to the license-holder if any of their records or information is sought by federal immigration authorities.
The open-borders groups the Center for Popular Democracy and the National Immigration Law Center estimate that the bill would make 752,000 illegal aliens in New York eligible for licenses, of which 265,000 could be expected to actually receive one within three years. Multiple recent polls indicate that between 57 and 61 percent of New York voters oppose the idea, while as few as 34 percent may actually support it.
State Senator Chris Jacobs (R-Buffalo), who as a former Erie County Clerk worked closely with DMV in issuing drivers’ licenses, quickly blasted both the bill and the Business Council for endorsing it, saying in a press release that the bill subverts state law, destroys DMV’s ability to work with law enforcement to keep New York’s roads safe, and “open[s] up a ‘Pandora’s box’ of voter fraud[.]” The New York State Association of Police Chiefs, the Association of County Clerks as well as many other local elected officials outside New York City have lined up against it as well.
But not to be sidelined by big business, now big labor, too, has come out in support of the Green Light Bill. On June 3 it received the blessing of Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union (1199SEIU). Also known as United Healthcare Workers East, 1199SEIU is the largest healthcare workers’ union in the country, with nearly 450,000 members by its own estimate. With a budget of over $185 million and through a combination of lobbying and campaign donations, it’s become so influential and powerful in state politics over the past decade or so that it’s been called “The Union That Rules New York.”
After the Business Council endorsement, one observer noted that “the Senate appears to lack the votes to pass the license bill at this time, with some suburban and upstate lawmakers fearing a political backlash if they vote for it.” It’s even been rumored that Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), while publicly supporting the bill, had privately been telling those undecided lawmakers to kill it. But while it’s unclear so far if the union endorsement has changed any of that, it’s certainly possible.
Sen. Rob Ortt (R-Lockport) described the whole situation as “nothing more than the Albany establishment at its finest.”
New York’s legislature is scheduled to adjourn its regular session on June 19. Although the Green Light bill could be “carried over” to a future session, this latest push indicates that legislators intend to ram it through before they leave Albany.
EDITORS NOTE: This FAIR column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Federation for American Immigration Reformhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFederation for American Immigration Reform2019-06-08 04:50:222019-06-11 18:39:09Big Business and Big Labor Push Illegal-Alien Drivers’ Licenses in New York
Fortunately, he’s decided to make an encore performance. So there’s a new opportunity to puncture his pious pronouncements.
Six Falsehoods About Gun Laws
Writing for the Federalist, Ryan Cleckner debunks Obama’s fatuous statements about gun control at a recent speech in Brazil.
On May 30, former president Barack Obama was a keynote speaker at an event in Brazil. …During a conversation with a host on stage during the digital innovation event, Obama took the opportunity to speak negatively about U.S. gun laws.
He said, ‘Our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon, any time, without much, if any, regulation. They can buy [guns] over the internet, they can buy machine guns.’ His statement to a foreign audience includes six lies about our gun laws.
Here are Obama’s six lies, with the concomitant corrections.
1. Anybody Can Buy a Firearm
There are three major federal restrictions on who may purchase firearms in the United States… The first category of persons who may not purchase firearms under federal law is based on age. Persons under 21 years of age may not purchase handguns from a gun dealer, and persons under 18 years of age may not purchase rifles nor shotguns. The second category of persons who may not purchase firearms under federal law are referred to as “prohibited persons.”
This category includes, among others…Felons, Those convicted of domestic violence, Unlawful users of controlled substances, Illegal aliens, Those subject to certain restraining orders, Those adjudicated as mental defectives or committed to mental institutions, Fugitives, and Veterans with dishonorable discharges… The third major category includes non-U.S. citizens.
2. Any Firearm Can Be Purchased
Under federal law, machine guns made after 1986 may not be purchased by civilians (more on this under lie No. 5 below). Also, the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) regulates other firearms which may be purchased, but clearly not in the way insinuated by Obama’s comments (more on this under lie No. 3 below).
3. A Firearm Can Be Purchased at Any Time
When purchasing a firearm from a federally licensed gun dealer (FFL), background-check requirements must be satisfied. In most cases, this includes a background check being run through the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). …Federal background checks may only be run between 8 a.m. and 1 a.m. Eastern… Within the statement that a firearm can be purchased at any time is also the inference that a firearm may be purchased anywhere.
This is also false. For example, handguns many only be purchased in a person’s state of residence. Therefore, if a person wants to purchase a handgun while he out of his home state, that is a time at which he is not permitted to purchase a firearm. For the class of firearms covered by the NFA, such as short-barreled rifles, a purchaser must wait until certain paperwork is approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). This wait time is often up to 10 months.
4. Firearms Can Be Purchased with Few Regulations
…the United States has many regulations on the purchase and possession of firearms.
5. Firearms Can Be Purchased Over the Internet
It seems clear that Obama wants people to think that a gun can be purchased online and shipped straight to a purchaser’s home like any other online purchase. This is not true. It is technically true that firearms may be purchased online. However, when a person purchases a firearm online from an out-of-state retailer, the firearm must first be shipped to a local FFL, where the purchaser must appear in person to fill out the federally required paperwork and satisfy the background check requirements.
6. Anyone Can Purchase a Machine Gun
…machine guns made after 1986 may not be purchased nor possessed by an ordinary civilian. These machine guns may only be purchased or possessed by FFLs or government entities. Machine guns made before 1986 are still NFA firearms and may only be purchased after the extensive paperwork and wait times that accompany all NFA firearm purchases. Additionally, some local laws outright ban the possession of any machine guns.
It’s unclear whether Obama actually knew he was lying.
I suspect he actually thinks he was being truthful. After all, he lives in a bubble and probably never hears any voices other than those from the leftist echo chamber.
Civil Rights in Brazil Under Bolsonaro
Regardless, what makes this episode especially amusing is that Brazil is moving in the right direction on civil rights for gun owners.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has signed an executive order relaxing gun rules in the country, making it easier to import guns and increasing the amount of ammunition a person can buy in a year. Bolsonaro announced the signing of the decree at a Tuesday news conference, arguing ‘it is an individual right of the one who may want to have a firearm or seek the possession of a firearm… obviously respecting and fulfilling some requirements.’
The conservative provocateur…appears to delivering on his campaign promise to loosen gun laws. …Among the other changes, it simplifies the procedure to transfer the ownership of a firearm, and eases import restrictions on firearms, ‘allowing free initiative, stimulating competition, rewarding quality and safety, as well as economic freedom, so privileged by the Lord,’ the Brazilian government wrote in a statement. …Bolsonaro had previously signed a decree in January making it easier to own a gun in the South American country.
I’m glad that law-abiding people in Brazil now have a better chance of protecting themselves from criminals.
Daniel J. Mitchell is a Washington-based economist who specializes in fiscal policy, particularly tax reform, international tax competition, and the economic burden of government spending. He also serves on the editorial board of the Cayman Financial Review.
EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column is republished with permission.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2019-06-07 18:37:572019-06-07 18:37:576 Facts Obama Got Wrong about Guns While Speaking in Brazil
It’s only been a day since the news broke regarding Scot Peterson’s arrest, but Parkland Dad Andrew Pollack is already praising the authorities’ call for accountability.
EDITORS NOTE: This NRA-TV video is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00NRA Institute for Legislative Actionhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNRA Institute for Legislative Action2019-06-07 18:01:102019-06-07 18:01:47VIDEO: The Coward From Broward Is in Police Custody -- Watch Andrew Pollack's Reaction
An abridged version of an article from PI News, and written by MICHAEL STÜRZENBERGER
Translated by MissPiggy and much thanks for that!
Why aren’t there any Merkel bollard/Lego blocks? Muslims live safer here than the “Taxed to Max” begrudgingly tolerated old burdens without a “migration background” who before 2015, called themselves German.
Last Saturday, about three thousand Muslims carried out a “breaking of the fast” in Munich’s Luitpoldpark. With demonstrative public “praying”, flooded with light at night, with microphone sound and the praising of Allah as the greatest god. The video of the uncanny scenery was shot by a shocked Munich citizen and reminds us of the nightly marches of the National Socialists. After all, in both cases it’s all about public demonstrations of power. Among the participating Muslim organizations were the Turkish nationalist associations “DITIB” and “Islamic Community Millî Görüs” as well as the “Islamic Relief” interwoven with Muslim Brotherhoods.
The Islamic land seizure was organized by the Muslim Council of Munich, flanked by the Migration Advisory Board and supported by the Intercultural Office of the Social Department of the City of Munich. In the best of company, since Milli Görüs was banned in the modern Atatürk-Turkey because of extremist tendencies, but Erdogan abolished this after his assumption of power. In Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees this organization as an anti-democratic understanding of the state and a rejection of Western democracies.
The Turkish leader has been talking for years about “leading Islam victoriously to the West”, sees Turkey as a “world power” that should “vaccinate Europe with Turkish culture”, so that the continent will soon be “Turkish”. Stocked in this manner, it will lead to enthusiastic visions like “My Führer, give us the order and we will smash Germany”. Erdogan as a little Hitler, whose Nazi Germany he himself has already named as a role model.
Officials of the Turkish colonization authority “DITIB” therefore see Erdogan as their “Supreme Army Commander”, to whom the DITIB junior staff here in Germany organizes pilgrimages. In the “Neue Züricher Zeitung”, this organization is ascribed the apt term “parallel partner”.
In the illustrious round of fundamentalist associations during this public breaking of the fast, “Islamic Relief” is also represented, which is regarded by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an institution in the action network of the Muslim Brotherhood. Right in the middle of it instead of just being there: Imam Bajrambejamin Idriz with his “Munich Forum for Islam”, one of the biggest spiders in the German Islamization Network:
?The tolerance drunk editor Pia Ratzesberger of the Süddeutsche Zeitung is pleased about the, in her eyes, “open” celebration and quotes from the political speech of the head-clothed Seyma Yüksel, member of the board of the Muslim Council, who complains about alleged “racism” and warns against “populist” parties which strengthened in the EU election:
She says into the microphone, “We have a problem and it’s called racism.” She talks about the European elections, about the populists and nationalists who have rejoined parliament. She talks about discrimination when looking for a job or an apartment. The Muslim Council in Munich is now offering a form with which any discrimination can be reported: “Because every incident that is not reported is a loss”. And there are many of them. The form is only available online now, but she has already collected more than a hundred cases in recent weeks, Yüksel says after her speech on the edge of the stage. Above all women with headscarves are attacked, insulted and pushed at bus stops, insulted on the street. Those who wear headscarves are abused every day, sometimes several times, says Seyma Yüksel. This is another reason why breaking the fast in Luitpoldpark is so important.
Totalitarian political Islam uses the terms “tolerance”, “welcome culture”, “diversity”, “participation” and “freedom of religion” propagated by the left mainstream of Western free societies in order to spread and creep into majority positions. Until Muslims can then finally step to the sole seizure of power that their “religion” compellingly prescribes to them.
As in 1933, Germany falls into the stranglehold of a fascist ideology and once again only a minority notices what is going on. When the catastrophe comes, many will again say that they “knew nothing” about it. History can repeat itself in a similar form, but does not have to. If all the people who know the facts now uncompromisingly and intensively strive to enlighten the still largely unsuspecting majority society, the apocalypse can still be stopped this time.
RELATED VIDEO: Ryan Mauro, Clarion’s national security analyst, exposes the Islamic Online University for what it really is – a jihadi training school!
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Vlad Tepes Bloghttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngVlad Tepes Blog2019-06-07 17:39:092019-06-07 19:02:59VIDEO: Islamization is not taking place in Germany?
During a Fox News townhall Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) was ask about stopping gun violence. In her reply she called the National Rifle Association (NRA), “the worst organization in the country.” Watch:
To begin with, I want to be very clear that I always have and always will believe that the correct interpretation of the 2nd amendment is that it applies to an individual’s right to carry guns, and does not apply generally to the National Guard or a group of individuals in a State. Moreover, I do not believe that public housing authorities should have the right to ban firearms by people living in their homes. Not only is this discriminatory, but it violates the right of citizens living in their homes.
On the question of outright banning certain firearms for cosmetic features, bullets of an random size, or banning magazine holding an arbitrary number of cartridges, I am adamantly opposed and do not believe that laws should be based on random limits just for the sake of limiting gun ownership or usage. Furthermore, the attempt to limit the purchase of firearms to arbitrary time periods – such as “one-gun-a-month” – will not solve any crimes and will only curtain the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens. I share your concerns about these and other attempts to that could contribute to the slippery slope of government confiscation of people’s firearms based on the arbitrary whims of politics and public opinion.
[ … ]
Lastly, I agree with the NRA that sportsmen should be allowed to hunt on federally-owned lands and that we need to do all we can to create more hunting lands. I even authored an amendment to the Farm Bill to provide matching grants to local communities that want to buy land to provide sportsmen and women.
I appreciate the work that the NRA does to protect gun owners rights and I look forward to working with you for many years in Congress.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2019-06-06 08:43:282019-06-06 08:46:53Remember when then Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand loved the NRA?
Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker (Ill.) swore he would make Illinois the most extreme state in the country on abortion. And right now, he’s one signature away from succeeding.
No one thought an abortion law more radical than New York’s was possible, but the Land of Lincoln is proving everyone wrong. In an astonishing move that sweeps away every possible barrier, Governor Pritzker is about to make history by allowing any kind of abortion, at any time, for any reason. Gone is the state’s partial-birth abortion ban, its protection for newborn survivors, its conscience rights, and parental consent. Of all the similarities to the New York law, though, one stood out — and that’s how elated liberals were to pass it.
To most people, that’s astounding. According to a new Harvard Center for American Studies poll, only six percent of the country sides with the Pritzker and the 2020 Democratic candidates on infanticide. And the number who agree with third-trimester abortions is just as miniscule at eight percent. Officials like Pritzker who think this barbaric new crusade is a winning strategy are kidding themselves. Even local Democrats — more than 140 of whom have voted with pro-lifers on state bills — can’t stomach the extremism seeping out of places like Washington. In Illinois, one of the bluest states in America, six Democrats voted against their own party. Four others voted “present.”
Maybe they were as upset as the Republicans about how low Chicago Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy had to stoop just to get the chamber to consider her proposal. Believe it or not, Illinois’s bill was so controversial that she had to take a completely irrelevant measure, gut it, and add this abortion language at the last minute. Everyone knew: Cassidy’s bill was in limbo for a reason — it didn’t have enough support to push it through the regular process.
Ironically, the day after liberals proclaimed victory on their “Reproductive Health Act,” a local pastor was asked to open the legislative in prayer. It was with that tragic backdrop that Cory Musgrave from New Beginnings Church in Fairfield offered a passionate plea for God’s forgiveness. “God, none of our evil actions have been hidden from You. You see everything,” he prayed. “Lord, You have told us those things which You hate, and among them are hands that shed innocent blood. I stand here in this House, in this high place in Illinois, and ask You, O God, creator of Heaven and Earth, if there is anything more innocent than a baby that is being created in the womb.”
Musgrave quoted Psalm 139 and then explained that pro-lifers have tried to be “a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves as You have commanded us,” Musgrave went on. “Those appeals were denied, but we have one final appeal left and that is to the courts of Heaven… I ask you to rise up, God, and judge Illinois for the sanctioned destruction of the innocent unborn. In this House, I pray for justice to roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty river.”
When FRC’s Sarah Perry talked to Pastor Musgrave about the prayer on “Washington Watch,” he explained that he’d been invited back in February, long before the abortion debate exploded. He’d gotten instructions a week before from the clerk not to proselytize, but when he saw what the chambers had done, Pastor Musgrave knew: he couldn’t let the moment pass by.
“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Sunday night in the last week of the legislative session, they pulled this bill back out. It had been shoved back in subcommittee. They had a rigged committee hearing where they had very limited debate. They give the Republican side one hour’s notice, [and] they call it on a Sunday evening. And they decided to push that bill through. And as I sat there and watched that and heard what they were doing, it broke my heart that we are allowing this in my state.”
During the prayer, he found out later, five liberals walked out of the room. Others turned their backs to him. How did he take that, Sarah asked? “Well, I was focused on praying… I was unaware of it until after it was over. Also, someone who was standing up there with me, they said there was a discernible hiss from the crowd. But I was just focused on praying to God. My prayer was not to them it was to God.”
What an exercise in courage! Let’s hope there are other pastors and Christians out there who hear Cory’s story and are encouraged to be just as bold as he has been.
Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
EDITORS NOTE: This FRC column with podcast is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2019-06-06 07:18:042019-06-06 07:18:04The Most Dangerous Place in Illinois: The Womb
