Several U.S. states and cities have embraced the president’s policy of a wide-open southern border, which has allowed millions of illegal immigrants to flood in. Not only are they treated better than U.S. citizens in many cases, receiving taxpayer funded housing, food, education, and health care, they have also contributed to an increase of violent crimes including harassment, rape, theft, and murder — not to mention the escalation in threats from people on the terror watchlist. But these harsh realities didn’t stop Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) from addressing them as “newcomers” in a recent announcement.
In order to justify spending $45.9 million on illegal immigrants, he used the “newcomers” to help excuse the complete irrationality of the circumstances. As Denver is overwhelmed by immigrants, the multi-million package is meant to “fully fund programs … for 2024 and avoid worst-case scenarios projected by the city,” Fox News reported. But notably, the $45.9 million comes “in addition to $44 million in spending already secured for the program through previous budget moves,” which means illegals in this city are now receiving just shy of $90 million.
In a literal sense, taxpayers are a major source of this money. But in a metaphorical sense, American citizens are also paying through programs and services they have not willingly sacrificed. Johnston’s package, for instance, resulted in an $8.4 million cut from the city’s police department, which hurts public safety. The immense spending on illegal immigrants, which went from $2 million to $15 million in Denver between August and December of last year alone, requires budget cuts. And what do budget cuts often result in? People losing their jobs.
Johnston’s office said “it will avoid layoffs or furloughs of employees,” but that doesn’t seem like a promise worth banking on — especially considering the skyrocketing demands of the illegal immigrants. Countless stories have emerged from the border, proving that once the migrants get an inch, they take a mile. And if previous headlines of immigrants murdering young college students, squatting in occupied homes, and overrunning public facilities doesn’t labor the point of their persistence, then perhaps current headlines will.
On Tuesday, “Hundreds of illegal immigrants swarmed New York City’s City Hall … to demand more aid from the city as well as work permits,” The Post Millennial wrote. They also objected to being moved out of luxury hotels, where they were staying for free, to local shelters. Now they want more money? According to Bloomberg, the Big Apple has already “spent $1.45 billion in fiscal 2023 on migrant costs,” and they “expect to spend a combined $9.1 billion housing migrants in fiscal years 2024 and 2025.” But evidently, that’s not enough.
America needs to take the reins. Imagine an illegal immigrant claiming to live in your home, but when you report it to the police, you are the one arrested. Well, we don’t have to imagine, since that’s what happened to a 47-year-old woman in Queens. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh explained the woman was “dragged away from her own home — in handcuffs — because someone claims to have a lease for her property.” Walsh said the squatter couldn’t “show the lease to anyone, including the police and the media. But because he claimed he had “been living there for around a month, they arrest the woman.”
These stories are prompting some lawmakers to act, as evidenced by a new bill proposed by Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) to “stop illegal aliens from squatting in U.S. homes.” The Safeguarding Homes from Illegal Entry, Living, and Dwelling Act (SHIELD Act) comes in response to Leonel Moreno, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, who posted a video on social media “explaining how to take advantage of squatting laws in the U.S.” And according to The Daily Signal, Moreno’s videos led to an uptick in illegals squatting in New York and Pennsylvania homes.
As Meuser explained, the SHIELD Act would ensure that “if an illegal were to claim squatter rights and enter an individual’s home illegally without any rental paperwork or legitimate lease, they can be arrested and deported and prohibited from ever entering the United States again.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project also warned how election integrity efforts have been compromised by the border crisis. On Monday, they highlighted a flyer found posted throughout Mexico “encouraging illegal immigrants to vote for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election.” The page read, “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.” And even though federal law prohibits non-U.S. citizens from voting in federal elections, organizations are desperately trying to take advantage of the millions of new crossers.
As the Oversight Project emphasized on X, “Election integrity is under assault.” Now, they continued, “You do not need documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. You can vote if you simply swear you are eligible,” and the flyer in question “obviously seeks to prey on unsophisticated illegals and encourages them to illegally vote.” This is all pretty frustrating information. But as overwhelming as this issue has grown to be, it’s not where we give up.
Instead, when reading of all the horrible things happening, we have to understand that this is not a matter of getting frustrated and walking away, but of standing for truth and for what’s right. And every Christian can stand for what is right, even within this messy, hostile, divisive arena. Indeed, we are called to take our voices into the public square. Ephesians 5:11 states, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” And so, that is what we will do, even now. Especially now.
A black Chicago woman in a MAGA hat rips Mayor Brandon Johnson for prioritizing illegals over citizens as he asks for $70 million more to care for the “newcomers.” Meanwhile, a recall petition for Mayor Johnson is gathering serious momentum. pic.twitter.com/J7N3J9PX7b
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.
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This week, Jason Riley, father of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley who was brutally killed, joined NBC News in a heartfelt interview claiming that his daughter was “like an angel” and “so full of life.”
When discussing his daughter’s murderer, a Venezuelan migrant who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022, Riley told the interviewer that he might not have been in the U.S. “had we had secure borders,” in the first place. The grieving father went on to share that he feels like his daughter is “being used somewhat politically,” especially after Joe Biden’s State of the Union, when he erroneously referred to her as “Lincoln Riley.”
Riley’s interview came shortly after Laken’s mother, Allyson Phillips, wrote a Facebook post addressing the “most devastating, unimaginable loss” of her daughter. Despite her sorrow, Phillips attributed her strength to the Lord. “I would like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for being with me and my family during this heartbreaking time,” she said. “I encourage everyone to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I give Him all the glory for getting us through this.”
In the bleak weeks following Laken’s death, lawlessness from illegal immigrants has soared in the U.S., leading almost 70% of people to believe that the open borders “may contribute to the violence crime in America.” The Rasmussen poll, interestingly, found that 64% of white people are concerned about the crime committed by illegals, while among black people, 73% are worried. “And why wouldn’t they be?” Breitbart’s John Nolte asks. “[They] disproportionately live in Democrat-run cities that posture as sanctuary cities.”
Even a majority of Democrats — 51% — think there’s a connection between our border crisis and crime (compared to 84% of Republicans. “When asked if illegal immigration makes America better or worse, only 14% said better.”
And the evidence seems to be everywhere. While Riley’s murder continues to circle the news, the leader of a human trafficking ring has also been sentenced to prison for sneaking over 1,000 migrants across the southern border and then dropping them off in Phoenix, Arizona. The consequence of Martin Garcia-Velazquez’s furtive actions is 7.5-years in prison, followed by 35 months of supervised release. The Mexican native was also mandated to pay a special assessment of $5,000 by U.S. District Judge Scott Rash.
The investigation, conducted by Homeland Security, found that Garcia-Velazquez had three co-conspirators, all prosecuted in October. In a statement issued by the Department of Justice, it notes that the prosecution was an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation, which “identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States.”
Another tragedy making headlines involves a 26-year-old Haitian native, Cory Alvarez, who reportedly raped a disabled 15-year-old girl last week at a hotel housing migrants. Amidst the current chaos in Haiti, Alvarez was flown into New York City last summer by President Biden’s CHNV parole program. The program, established in October of 2022, authorizes 30,000 people each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, “to fly into the U.S. and be granted two years of humanitarian parole, which allows them to apply to work in the U.S.”
While Alvarez might have entered the U.S. lawfully, conservative leaders have criticized the current administration for their loose hold on immigration. “Biden flew this illegal dirtbag into our Country. No border, no budget. Shut it down,” tweeted Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett.
As millions of illegal immigrants flood the U.S. southern border and thousands fly over it, reports suggest that the Biden administration has financed the whole operation.
“According to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) findings by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) put hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants on planes and flew them into 43 different U.S. airports last year alone,” wrote The Washington Stand’s S.A McCarthy.
This administration’s choices regarding the border, economy, and foreign affairs are unfavorable, as only 39.8% of Americans approve of Biden’s job as president. The president’s low rating for his third year in office claimed the title of second worst. “Among prior presidents in the Gallup polling era who were elected to their first term, only Jimmy Carter fared worse in his third year.” Carter’s 37.4% rating was primarily attributed to high gas prices, rising inflation, and because U.S. citizens were taken hostage by Iran. Experts argue that President Biden’s low rating can be attributed to the flood of illegal aliens allowed into the U.S. under the current administration.
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.
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I am Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., with this year’s State of Faith, Family, and Freedom in America.
The apostle Peter wrote to believers who had been scattered because of the persecution of the early church, instructing them to “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” [1 Peter 3:15 ESV].
Notice where that hope was to reside. Not in the halls of power, the media headlines of the day, and certainly not on the stages of entertainment. Rather, that hope is to be found within us.
As followers of Christ, we have the very presence of God within us, which is our hope and confidence. And in a moment, I want to share with you the tangible results that have come from that hope, results which the godless Left and their lemmings in the legacy media work day and night to keep from you.
So, from that foundation, we look at the state of faith, family, and freedom in America.
The assault on biblical faith continues to accelerate under the Biden administration’s policies, both at home and abroad.
Religious freedom, the top foreign policy objective of the former Trump administration, has been replaced with prioritizing attacks on the unborn, promoting LGBTQ ideology, and the climate, the unholy trinity of the Left.
The Biden administration has found the ideal partner to advance this unholy trinity with the World Health Organization (WHO), which is working feverishly to advance an unprecedented global power grab through a pandemic treaty — or pandemic accord as it is deceptively called to avoid the need for ratification by the U.S. Senate.
This accord grants the compromised WHO the ability to regulate nearly every aspect of life for citizens of every nation when the WHO believes there is a health emergency. The treaty calls for censoring information that would challenge their declaration, which would include silencing dissenting voices. We saw this type of totalitarianism play out here in the United States during COVID-19; we don’t want to see a global sequel.
The consequences of the Biden administration’s misplaced priorities have rapidly manifested in global chaos and instability, along with historic levels of persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.
A case in point is the country of Nigeria, the most populous African nation. As chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom during the Trump administration, I led the commission in recommending that Nigeria be designated as a country of particular concern. This designation, which the Trump administration adopted for the government of Nigeria, allowed for economic sanctions upon the country and its leaders for allowing the egregious, ongoing, and systematic persecution of people of faith.
But, without adequate explanation, that designation was immediately removed by the Biden administration when they came into office. The result has been a dramatic rise in the death toll. According to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, more than 8,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria last year alone.
This indifference to religious freedom abroad is rivaled only by the hostility toward religious freedom here at home, as a congressional investigation revealed the FBI tracked and worked to infiltrate churches in part because of leftist propaganda from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The role of faith, the Christian faith, has been routinely undermined by President Biden’s policies. Faith-based entities focused on proclaiming truth through charitable service have been assaulted.
At the end of last year, the Biden Department of Health and Human Services put forth a new rule that would shut down Christian foster care services and exclude Christian foster families unless they surrender biblical teaching on human sexuality and gender identity. And this comes at a time when more, not fewer, stable families are needed for children in need of a family.
These policies, which are hostile to biblical truth, have fomented and tacitly approved outright acts of hostility toward churches in America.
Over the last year, there have been 436 identified acts of hostility on churches in the United States, ranging from vandalism to firebombing to shootings. Family Research Council’s recently released Hostility Against Churches Report shows an astounding 800% increase in acts of vandalism and violence towards churches since 2018.
The family has not evaded the hostility of this administration either, as radical gender policies are pushed from the Department of Education onto local schools, demanding parents be kept in the dark as their children are transitioned. Ask Jennifer and Dan Mead, whose autistic daughter was being secretly transitioned at school without her parents’ knowledge or consent. Behind their backs, teachers agreed to call her by a masculine name and male pronouns. The Meads stumbled on the truth when an education plan that detailed their daughter’s life as a boy at school was accidentally sent home. Furious, they pulled her out of classes, started homeschooling, and sued. Now, her mom says, “She’s safe. She knows her real identity.” But who knows how many other parents are living this same nightmare? Or worse, oblivious to what’s happening right under their noses.
The hostility of the Left begins at the moment of conception.
“Think about [it],” Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are persons. “Individuals, couples, who want to start a family are now being deprived of access to what can help them start a family,” she said, referring to the potential impacts on In Vitro Fertilization. “So, on the one hand, the proponents are saying that an individual doesn’t have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy, and on the other hand, the individual does not have a right to start a family.”
This faux outrage is the height of hypocrisy. The Alabama ruling did nothing to outlaw IVF, but on the contrary, ensured that parents struggling with infertility don’t experience even more heartbreak because of the carelessness of IVF clinics that treat embryos as if they are merely pieces of property. This feign of counterfeit compassion over infertility comes at the same time the Biden administration is working to overturn every state’s pro-life laws by allowing dangerous mail-order abortions without medical oversight — which is a violation of federal law. And once again, they are peddling the lie that protecting unborn children puts women’s lives at risk. Not a single pro-life law prohibits saving a mother’s life. Instead, these laws protect unborn children from being brutally torn apart.
Innocent human life must be protected, as must the mothers, many of whom think they have no alternative. That’s why Republicans are working to stop the Biden administration in its new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program from excluding pregnancy resource centers from receiving federal funding for the myriad of services they provide.
More and more families are looking to religious nonprofits for assistance in many areas as families struggle under the present tight economy, where prices have climbed 18% since President Biden took office.
Prices aren’t the only thing increasing under this administration; so has violent crime.
While the Democratic Party wants you to believe that crime has declined over the past year, the reality is that homicides, theft, carjackings, and property damage are astronomically higher than they were in 2019. Violent crimes against young people have actually doubled in the last year. Motor vehicle thefts are up 105% since the pandemic — as even members of Congress have fallen prey to carjackings. The murder rate is up as much as 30% in places like the nation’s capital and about 18% overall.
A contributing factor to violent crime is the skyrocketing illegal immigration on our southern border, made tragically evident again when 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley was found murdered on the campus of the University of Georgia. The alleged murderer, Jose Ibarra, illegally entered the country in 2022 from Venezuela, was detained, and then let loose or “paroled” into the United States. This is a man who was arrested three times but never detained. And by the way, Athens, Georgia, where the campus is located, is a sanctuary city. A sanctuary for criminals and murderers, not nursing students and law-abiding citizens.
An estimated 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed into the United States since President Biden took office in January of 2021.
Deadly drugs like fentanyl are also streaming across the border, becoming the number one killer of Americans aged 18-45.
It is not just drugs and criminals that are streaming across the border; so are terrorists. At least 342 individuals who are on the terrorist watchlist have been detained at the border; there is no telling how many terrorists have evaded authorities and are now in the United States establishing terrorist cells.
We don’t have to look back far into history to see the savagery of a terrorist border invasion. We simply look at October 7 in Israel when Hamas terrorists invaded peaceful Israeli communities and brutally tortured, maimed, raped, and killed 1,400 innocent people and took 240 hostages. And now, five months later, as Israel seeks to secure its borders and eliminate future threats from Hamas, the Biden administration is breaking with one of America’s most politically reliable and spiritually significant allies. The Biden administration has repeatedly called for pauses or ceasefires, which allows Hamas to regroup and resupply, even as American hostages have not been freed.
Most recently, the Biden administration reversed the policy of the Trump administration that recognized Israel had a right to build in the biblical areas of Samaria and Judea, misleadingly called the West Bank. President Biden has gone so far as to sanction Israelis living in these areas while giving billions of dollars to organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which has been directly linked to Hamas and the October 7 terrorist attack.
Friends, I believe America’s support for and stand with Israel has resulted in God extending grace to America despite our accelerating departure from His truth over the last half-century. America’s future is inextricably intertwined with Israel’s.
When we look at and consider these challenges, we don’t do so as people who have no hope of overcoming — to the contrary. Jesus, in the parable about the unjust judge, which is an appropriate analogy as we consider our relationship to our government, said men should always pray and not lose heart or hope.
Jesus was not laying out a prescription to simply feel good. This call to prayer was a prescription for change.
Let me give you just a few facts about the change God has brought forth in our nation because Christians didn’t give up hope but instead continued to pray, vote, and stand for biblical truth.
On June 24, 2022, after 49 years of prayerful, disciplined, and often ridiculed political engagement, Roe v. Wade was overturned, putting the ability to protect women and children into the hands of their elected representatives rather than unelected judges.
Here is something I am sure you’ve yet to hear from the legacy media. We have more Bible-believing Christians in Congress, in state legislatures, on city councils, and serving on school boards than at any time in modern history. Look at the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, a Christian, a conservative, a Republican. I know Speaker Johnson; he and I have been friends for over 25 years.
Look at the transformation of state legislatures across the country. In 1990, there were six GOP-controlled legislatures. Twenty-four years later, there are 28. And one result has been state pro-life laws have doubled since the Republican election wave of 2010.
We know that we will overcome. That is why we must continue to pray for our nation, that we will return to God and His truth. We need to vote. We need to both raise up and vote for leaders who have the qualities that Jethro laid out to Moses in Exodus 18, leaders who: 1) are able, they know what to do; 2) fear God; 3) are men of truth; and 4) are not looking to get rich; rather, they are seeking to serve.
Finally, we need to stand for truth, no matter who else is standing or not standing. And do so filled with the joy of the Lord. In John 15, as Jesus was warning His disciples of the challenges they would face for following Him, He said this: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” [John 15:11].
And we do all of this in love. Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians 16, to “watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love” [NKJV].
The state of faith, family, and freedom in America is being tested and tried to a degree that is almost unrivaled in our history. But our confidence and hope in the future has never been more solid because we’ve seen the budding fruit of decades of prayer, of biblically guided participation in our republican form of government.
We must let it be known that we will not be intimidated into silence by a weaponized government, nor will we allow Marxist tactics that seek to marginalize the Christian faith to cause us to shrink back into the shadows of society. Why? Because of the hope that is within us and the victory that is before us, it leaves us more resolved than ever to pray, vote, and stand for biblical truth.
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.
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Violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants continue to rise throughout the country, resulting in American citizens being attacked, raped, and murdered. Experts are noting that these are the same migrants who receive taxpayer-funded health care, housing, education, food, and more.
The most high-profile story making news is last week’s murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley. She was a young nursing student at Augusta University who never returned from her jog Thursday morning because she was brutally murdered by who police believe to be a man named Jose Antonio Ibarra, who is also an illegal immigrant.
Not only does Ibarra have a criminal record in the U.S. since arriving illegally, but his brother does as well. Ibarra has been charged with theft, child endangerment, and murder, among other crimes. And his brother, Diego Ibarra, along with stealing, was recently caught giving police a fake green card with two different birth dates on it. This happened after he was stopped by police for driving while drinking beer — which the migrant told the officer was his seventh since he’d been behind the wheel.
On Monday, police in Maryland charged Nilson Trejo-Granados, one of five suspects, for the first and second-degree murder of two-year-old Jeremy Poou Caceres. Before being arrested for murder, Trejo-Granados was charged with theft in March 2023.
On February 20, Angel Matias Castellanos-Orellana allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint, and on February 25, he repeatedly stabbed a man in the face and back, demanding the man give him his property. According to The Post Millennial, “He was arrested and booked on armed robbery, aggravated battery, first-degree rape, and aggravated assault and a federal ‘ICE’ detainer was also issued for him.”
In addition, last month a group of alleged illegal immigrants viciously attacked New York City police officers in Times Square. As crimes committed by illegal immigrants skyrocket, some sanctuary cities are starting to reassess their policies. In fact, it was this beating in NYC that caused Mayor Eric Adams (D) to say during a townhall meeting, “Those who are committing crimes, we need to modify the sanctuary city law. If you commit a felony, a violent act, we should be able to turn you over to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE and have you deported.”
And the Big Apple isn’t the only city backtracking. According to The Daily Wire, “The city council of Aurora, which sits just east of Denver, approved a resolution in a 7-3 vote on Monday demanding that large groups of migrants not be transported there since it is unable to fund new services for migrants or homeless people.”
In addition to a call to “secure our nation’s border,” the resolution said: “The City Council affirms remaining a Non-Sanctuary City and asserts the City does not currently have the financial capacity to fund new services related to this crisis and demands that other municipalities and entities do not systematically transport migrants or people experiencing homelessness to the City.”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said on “Washington Watch” Wednesday that these harsh and dangerous circumstances only highlight “the damage inflicted by the Left’s public policy decisions [and] their open borders.” Congressman Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, agreed, noting that these policies have allowed “some nefarious people … across the border.”
McCormick pointed out that Venezuela currently has a record low crime rate. “Why do you think it is?” he asked. It’s because Venezuela is “getting rid of their criminals” by sending them to the U.S. through the open border, he said. “Bad people are crossing the border. … We have record numbers of deaths from fentanyl. We have record amount of child trafficking, rape, [and] murder. … I’ve been talking about it for years. This is a significant problem.”
He added, “If you’re coming to this country and committing crimes, and then you continue to commit crimes and have been released, what are we doing?” A major issue facing America, McCormick shared, is that these illegal immigrants and violent criminals are being released as if they’re “regular citizens.” But “they’re not,” he said. “They’re here illegally. … This should be an ICE issue,” because when an illegal immigrant gets arrested, “they get sent back to their country. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the law. Imagine following the law.”
Perkins noted that the Left is notorious for also making claims that we shouldn’t “politicize the murder of a 22-year-old student” like Laken Riley by connecting it to illegal immigration. But, he wondered, “How else do we look at this? This is their policies. This is the outcome that we’re seeing from their open border policies. How else can you look at it?”
“There’s so many ramifications for lawlessness that we’ve allowed to take place at our southern border,” Perkins stated. And that will only end, McCormick concluded, if we continue to “fight the good fight.”
President Trump: "Joe Biden is the most incompetent president we've ever had… He is a true threat to democracy because he's weaponized the FBI and the DOJ to go get his political opponent and many other people." pic.twitter.com/gt9XE4niao
President Biden transferred more than $500 million that was earmarked for COVID relief into the pockets of illegal immigrants. This is outrageous. Read more:https://t.co/OUaQw7ynZZ
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 Council2024-03-01 16:02:422024-03-03 11:38:33Illegal Immigrants Continue to Commit Violent Crimes as Sanctuary Cities Reassess Policies
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden offered dueling speeches at the nation’s southern border on Thursday, but geography proved all they had in common. Standing on Texas soil a mere 325 miles apart, their policies came from different political universes. President Trump promised the supportive people and Border Patrol agents of Eagle Pass he would reinstate the policies that undeniably gave the U.S. the most secure border in generations. Meanwhile in Brownsville, Biden and a collection of Democratic politicians sought to shift the blame for our open border to his Republican rivals.
“You’re in a war,” Trump told those gathered at the current epicenter of U.S. illegal immigration, a town where thousands of illegal border crossings take place every week. “This is a Biden invasion over the last three years.”
Biden “has destroyed our country,” said Trump before turning startlingly specific.
“Last year, almost half of all ICE arrests were criminal aliens charged for more than 33,000 assaults, 3,000 robberies, 6,900 burglaries, 7,500 weapons crimes — this is all migrant crime — 4,300 sex crimes, 1,600 kidnappings, and 1,700 homicides and murders.” Tellingly, the legacy media’s numerous “fact-checks” of Trump’s speech found no error in these grim statistics.
President Biden had nothing to offer but political finger-pointing, fastening the blame for his administration’s immigration crisis on Republicans who opposed full-blown amnesty. “On my first day as president,” Biden said, “I introduced a bill I sent to Congress, a comprehensive plan to fix the broken immigration system and to secure the border, but no action was taken.” The bill he sent — the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, introduced by disgraced Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) — would have been the largest amnesty bill in U.S. history. Biden explained his bill would have put nearly all illegal immigrants on “a path to citizenship” or legal status within no more than eight years, spent billions in foreign aid to address supposed “root causes” of migration and expanded the visa lottery system. The American people have consistently rejected another amnesty program for two decades.
Biden then hailed a “bipartisan group of senators” on a new Ukraine funding bill, which he claims contains “the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in our country.” In reality, the bill would simply supercharge the velocity at which the torrent of alleged “refugees” would be processed — and released — into the United States.
While Biden blamed the GOP (and, implicitly, the American people) for a crisis of his own making, he said nothing about the concrete actions he took that necessitated his PR stop.
How Joe Biden Destroyed U.S. Border Security
Joe Biden has proposed or enacted a panoply of policies opening America’s border, and enticing throngs of illegal immigrants to cross the U.S. border even before he took office. During the 2020 Democratic primaries, Biden promised illegal immigrants who could reach our soil would receive health care funded by the U.S. taxpayer. He campaigned on giving illegal immigrants amnesty. He even demanded a border “surge.”
“I would in fact make sure that we immediately surge to the border all those people who are seeking asylum,” said Biden at a Democratic primary debate. “You should come.” In a rare fulfilled political promise, throngs of illegals immediately arrived in Biden campaign t-shirts emblazoned with the message, “Biden please let us in.”
Candidate Biden vowed, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed” during his presidency. President Biden instantly halted construction and welded its gates open, only to modestly reverse himself last October. In the meantime, Biden forced U.S. taxpayers to pay at least $47 million — $130,000 a day — to store the unused parts of the border wall, which he proceeded to auction off for pennies on the dollar.
Biden signed 17 executive orders on his first day in office with a keen eye to opening the U.S. border. He reinstated catch-and-release. Most consequentially, Biden ended Trump’s successful Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), conventionally known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy on June 1, 2021. He then suspended Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows rapid removal of illegal immigrants on the grounds of the COVID-19 pandemic at the same time he claimed the pandemic was still ravaging the U.S.
Biden effectively ended deportations, even of criminal aliens. In the entire Biden administration through last March, Biden deported less than 6,000 of the more than two million illegal aliens released onto U.S. streets, or just over zero percent, according to the House Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. He further gutted protections last April, reducing the number of questions border enforcement officers may ask illegal immigrants, from 40 to five.
Biden proceeded to order federal agents to cut through barbed wire keeping illegal immigrants out of the southern border and literally sued the state of Texas to stop Governor Greg Abbott (R) from doing President Biden’s job.
The disastrous results of Biden’s policies are clear.
How Americans Are Paying for Biden’s Border Disaster
A record-breaking numbers of illegal immigrants have crossed the U.S. borders (northern and southern) every year of his presidency — each year worse than the last. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded:
1,956,519 illegal border crossings in fiscal year 2021.
2,766,582 in FY 2022.
3,201,144 in FY 2023.
1,231,213 since last October 1.
When Border Patrol agents add in “gotaways,” they safely estimate a total of 10 million illegal border crossings during the Biden administration — more than the population of 41 states. That ignores the fact that Yale University researchers estimated the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. at 16 to 29 millionbefore Biden took office.
These illegal immigrants were drawn like a magnet by Biden’s offers of taxpayer-subsidized benefits and U.S. citizenship for themselves or their “dreamer” children. “We weren’t promising free education, free medical, free everything,” said Trump on Thursday. “All the promises that are made, no wonder they come.” Even if Kamala Harris halfheartedly mouths the words, “Do not come,” the Biden-Harris administration has already laid out an enticing welfare welcome mat.
Biden’s border surge includes a small-but-significant number: Border Patrol agents have encountered 1,557 people on the U.S. terror watchlist (technically, the Terrorist Screening Dataset, or TSDS) since fiscal year 2021. The 59 suspected terrorists caught this fiscal year exceeds the total number than during the entire Trump administration. The number of terror-tied illegal immigrants intercepted during the Biden administration is 10 times higher than the number that used to give Obama-Biden terror official Tim Healy “sleepless nights.”
When illegal border-crossers do not commit acts of terrorism, their crime sprees prove just as deadly to native-born Americans. In just the last few days, the category of offenses Trump deemed “Biden migrant crimes” include:
Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, a nursing student whose skull was bashed in by an illegal immigrant.
Three police officers in Washington, D.C., shot by an illegal immigrant from Jamaica.
“Joe Biden will never say Laken Riley’s name. We will say it, and we will remember it,” said Trump on Thursday. Add the fact that the Biden administration admits it has simply lost 85,000 children, possibly to abusers or traffickers, and it is hardly surprising Trump said, “The blood of countless innocent victims” is on Biden’s hands.
Biden’s border policies cost Americans their blood and treasure. Illegal immigrants posed a net cost of $150.7 billion to U.S. taxpayers in 2023 alone, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Leaving aside all other social costs, Biden spent as much money resettling purported “refugees” in his first two years in office as it would have cost to finish the border wall (approximately $20 billion). Biden chose insecurity, murder, and chaos over American lives.
While Biden’s border policies literally and figuratively bleed Americans, they have “generated historic profit margins” for the drug-and-human-smuggling cartels. The cartels that control the border earn $32 million a week smuggling illegals across the Del Rio sector of the border alone, the House Judiciary Committee revealed last month. The drug cartels to which Biden ceded authority over the border are now so deeply mired in human trafficking that it has “become central to their business model,” according to a report from the House Committee on Homeland Security.
No wonder the president of the Border Patrol union, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, said Thursday, “Border Patrol agents are upset that we cannot get the proper policy that is necessary to protect human life, to protect American citizens, to protect the people that are crossing the border illegally. We want to protect them, as well. And we can’t do that, because President Biden’s policies continue to invite people to cross here.” (Emphasis added.)
Surveying the two speeches, Governor Abbott declared, “Today is a day of an extraordinary contrast.” Biden made “an obligatory visit” to “some sanitized location in the Brownsville” area, because “Biden does not care about Texas or the border.”
Abbott recited a litany of actions he has taken — from declaring a border invasion, to erecting barbed wire fencing and orange buoys, to busing illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities, to calling in the Texas National Guard and appointing his own border czar.
In Thursday’s speeches, President Donald Trump hailed Abbott as he promised to return to the sanity of defending America’s borders, values, and laws. Meanwhile, Joe Biden dodged accountability and promoted policies that would worsen the problem.
President Biden transferred more than $500 million that was earmarked for COVID relief into the pockets of illegal immigrants. This is outrageous. Read more:https://t.co/OUaQw7ynZZ
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 Council2024-03-01 15:53:442024-03-01 17:36:48‘A Biden Invasion’: Trump and Biden’s Border Speeches Make ‘An Extraordinary Contrast’
Laken Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia. She was known as a person who was caring, driven, and the definition of a “true friend.” But when Riley went on a jog Thursday morning, she faced a brutal, untimely death.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant, has been accused of murdering the young student after “disfiguring” her skull. As Fox News reported, Ibarra “is charged with the felonies of malice murder, murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and concealing the death of another, as well as the misdemeanor of physically hindering a 911 call.”
In its story covering the incident Monday, CNN claimed “there is little evidence indicating a connection between immigration and crime,” but a variety of experts and statistics definitively say otherwise.
On Monday’s episode of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies, said, “[W]e do need to keep in mind … that the mass migration crisis at the southern border is the ultimate stranger danger.”
He continued, “[It’s] virtually impossible to verify criminal histories of even a tiny fraction of all of the millions of people that have crossed in over that border” — a number that has skyrocketed since the Biden administration has been in office. And yet, Biden and his team have repeatedly denied that the 10 million of illegal immigrants who’ve flooded into the U.S. since his inauguration is a crisis. But Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wondered: Could Riley’s murder “finally spur this administration to address this disaster of their own making?”
Bensman and Perkins discussed the shift from immigrants who came to America mostly from Mexico and Central America to now “it’s the entire world coming across the southern border,” Perkins said. Bensman noted that we now “have the greatest percentages in American history coming over that border from 170 countries other than Mexico and Central America.”
He added that there are more Chinese than Mexicans coming into the country, with at least 45,000 in the last 36 months. There are “350 people from Muslim majority countries who are on the FBI’s terrorism watch list. … People coming from every nation on the continent of Africa, including places where there are tribal conflicts with atrocities and warlords,” he explained. “… [W]ho knows who’s coming over that border? They just say, ‘My name is Mickey Mouse,’ and we let them in.”
While the Left claims there isn’t a connection between illegal immigration and increased crime, Bensman contended that the cities facing the highest amount of migrants, particularly sanctuary cities, are seeing “new kinds of crime” as people come to the states and are unable to provide for themselves.
“Far too many crimes should not have ever happened, because those people should have never been here,” he said. But part of the issue, Bensman emphasized, is that the process for these illegal immigrants entering the country is too simple. Not only can they enter the U.S. far too easily, but once they’re in, they’re supposed to “voluntarily report into an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] office later,” which he emphasized “statistics and data” reveal “the vast majority of them never report in.”
Ultimately, he added, “When somebody is arrested for a criminal act, we are supposed to call ICE. But in the sanctuary cities, they don’t call ICE. They have a ban on calling ICE. There’s nothing more immoral [to them] than calling ICE on a criminal arrested in any of these cities.” But then, as a consequence to this way of thinking, the result is a seemingly endless cycle of crime.
Perkins asked, “What benefits are illegal immigrants getting when they come into the country?” Bensman replied, “Everything.”
He elaborated that when someone comes into this country illegally, in many cases, they get “100% support” in terms of housing, food, transportation, school, clothing, and medical care. “For example,” he said, “in Chicago, each immigrant is getting $7,000 cash a year” and other needs. Additionally, there are several ways they can work “illegally and fraudulently.”
As Representative Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) summarized: “The Biden administration’s open-border policies have fueled crime, undermined public safety and overwhelmed our federal, state and local law enforcement officers. … Illegal entry into our nation is perceived as commonplace, and it is conducted with little fear of consequences. That must change, both for the security of our nation and to help restore the dignity and importance of legal immigration in the eyes of all Americans. This crisis is fixable. President Biden must reverse his misguided policies so Congress can work to resolve our broken immigration system.”
“When I take the oath of office… we will IMMEDIATELY begin the process of fully securing the border, and removing the illegal aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully allowed to break into our country.” pic.twitter.com/rzpKvO37lW
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-02-29 05:23:452024-02-29 05:32:51How Much Crime and Chaos Will It Take for Biden to ‘Address This Disaster’ at the Border?
A new book has revealed that the Chinese government is inundating the U.S. with illegal gun parts that transform handguns into fully automatic machine guns as part of a strategy to create chaos within America. The news comes as a report has surfaced indicating that the communist regime is pursuing a plan to use weapons in space to threaten U.S. satellites.
On Monday, Breitbart revealed that a new book by Senior Contributor Peter Schweizer details how Chinese manufacturers, under the watchful eye of the regime, are shipping “thousands” of boxes of illicit “auto sear switches” to America, which are small metal devices that can convert semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic machine gun-style weapons. The devices are illegal for virtually all gun owners in the U.S.
As Schweizer argues in “Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans,” the auto switch shipments are part of the regime’s “Disintegration Warfare” strategy, which seeks to undermine the U.S.’s “national will, values, and cohesion” by flooding the black market with the devices, which then fall into the hands of criminals, gangs, and drug dealers.
After U.S. authorities began discovering and blocking direct shipments of the switches from China, Schweizer observes that the porous southern border resulting from the Biden administration’s lax policies is aiding China’s efforts to get the switches into the U.S. via Mexico, just as the crisis is also aiding the distribution of Chinese-manufactured fentanyl. In recent years, the number of switches seized by law enforcement rose “570% during a period of 2017 to 2021, compared to the previous five years.”
Illegal auto switches aren’t the only illicit gun parts making their way into the U.S. via China, Schweizer writes. He reported that a “huge influx” of firearm suppressors, or “silencers,” began to hit America beginning in 2019. “[C]landestinely imported Chinese suppressors enabled criminal gangs and drug cartels in America to get around those requirements and buy them in large quantities,” he wrote. “And over the next three years, federal officials traced an astonishing 42,888 suppressors arriving from China. Those were only the devices they traced. How many more got through?”
Despite the high volume of illegal gun parts originating from China ending up on the streets of the U.S., Schweizer noted that the Biden administration and congressional lawmakers have been curiously silent on the topic. “President Biden has pressed for gun restrictions on ordinary Americans but has never publicly discussed this problem,” he writes, nor has Biden brought up the issue with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping during his recent visits. Similarly, a bill introduced by 11 senators to restrict the switches did not propose any action against China, nor did Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in their 2021 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland expressing alarm over the switches.
Similarly, lawmakers have so far not expressed alarm over a Washington Times report published Monday that China is pursuing deploying weapons in space that threaten American satellites, including a nuclear warhead that currently orbits the Earth. The lack of reaction stands in stark contrast to what occurred two weeks ago with the uproar surrounding reports of Russia’s intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.
The Washington Times story, based off of a U.S. Air Force think tank report, details how the Chinese military has adopted a “space coercion” strategy that includes the use of both ground-based missiles “capable of hitting satellites orbiting at all altitudes,” as well as orbital missiles — including nuclear warheads — which would target “reconnaissance and early warning systems, communication hubs, and command centers; logistics systems, military-industrial bases, electric power and energy systems, and other infrastructure; and counter-force targets, including missile positions, airfields, naval bases, nuclear bases, and information warfare installations.”
While reducing conventional U.S. military power, the report notes that the biggest threat of China’s “space coercion” strategy would be its ability to undermine U.S. nuclear deterrence through a precision-strike nuclear warhead “backed by spaced-based intelligence and tracking,” which would give China’s military “a greater ability to track, target and attack American nuclear forces.”
In addition, the strategy calls for non-nuclear “electronic warfare strikes against satellites, radars, and communications nodes and computer network attacks.” These “[k]inetic attacks would be conducted suddenly, used in short duration, and limited,” according to the report.
During testimony before the House in January, FBI Director Christopher Wray gave a succinct summary of the threat he believes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses to the U.S. “The CCP’s dangerous actions — China’s multi-pronged assault on our national and economic security — make it the defining threat of our generation.”
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 Council2024-02-28 11:08:042024-02-29 04:41:57China Funnels Machine Gun Parts into U.S. while Expanding Space Weapon Arsenal
If you believe anti-Christian attacks have skyrocketed over the last decade, you’re right. Attacks on churches have increased 800% in less than six years — and more than doubled over the last year, according to a new report released today by Family Research Council. Documented acts of anti-church hostility include attempted bombings, shootings, satanic vandalism, and numerous attacks based on anti-Christian bias due to support for abortion or extreme transgender ideology. Some constituted unpunished election interference.
The report identified 915 acts of hostility against churches between January 2018 and November 2023, including:
709 acts of vandalism
135 completed or attempted arsons
32 bomb threats
22 gun-related incidents
61 other incidents, including assault, threats, and interruption of worship services.
These acts of “religious intimidation” send the message “that churches are not wanted in the community or respected in general,” Arielle Del Turco, who authored the report, told The Washington Stand. “Regardless of the motivations of these crimes, everyone should treat churches and all houses of worship with respect and affirm the importance of religious freedom for all Americans.”
The report shows that church attacks, and acts of violence, continued to explode in 2023. During the first 11 months of last year, researchers verified at least 436 acts of hostility against U.S. churches — more than double the number of attacks in all of 2022, including:
315 acts of vandalism
75 completed or attempted arsons
20 bomb threats
10 gun-related incidents
12 instances of satanic graffiti
59 churches faced repeated acts of hostility
These statistics likely understate the extent of the problem, because “[m]any acts of hostility against churches are likely not reported to authorities and/or are not featured in the news or other online sources from which we collected data,” says the report. “[T]he number of acts of hostility is undoubtedly much higher.”
Acts of anti-church hostility blanketed the country in 2023, taking place in 48 states and Washington, D.C. California experienced the largest number of incidents, with 91. Texas churches endured 62 incidents; New York had 58; and Florida had 47.
“The rise in hostility we identified in our December 2022 report has neither slowed nor plateaued; rather, it has accelerated,” says the new report. “The rise in crimes against churches is taking place in a context in which American culture appears increasingly hostile to Christianity. Criminal acts of vandalism and destruction of church property may be symptomatic of a collapse in societal reverence and respect.”
The raw numbers paint a grim picture of escalating anti-Christian action boiling over into bigoted action. The report totals:
50 acts of hostility against churches in 2018
83 in 2019
55 in 2020
96 in 2021
195 in 2022
436 in 2023
“If this rate continues, 2023 will have the highest number of incidents of the six years FRC has tracked,” the last such report accurately predicted last April.
Although federal civil rights laws explicitly ban religious discrimination, and hundreds of assailants targeted houses of worship, only “a minority were under investigation as hate crimes,” according to the 157-page analysis, titled “Hostility Against Churches Is on the Rise in the United States.”
Deadly Shootings, Bomb Threats, and Political Ideology
The report’s longest section is a robust 97 pages of church attacks, verified through 50 pages of endnotes, which show bomb threats, shootings, politically motivated attacks, and explicit Satanism.
Transgender violence: Perhaps the most shocking act of anti-Christian bias took place last March 27, when transgender-identifying Audrey Hale opened fire at the Nashville Covenant School, operated by the Covenant Presbyterian Church, killing six people, including three young students. Hale, who frequently identified as a male named “Aiden,” told a friend she had left a manifesto and “plenty of evidence behind” attesting to her motive. Yet, aside from a few pages pried out of police hands by conservative commentator Steven Crowder, Hale’s manifesto remains hidden.
The assault is but one example of 2023’s transgender-related anti-church violence. Last January 3, a man named Cameron Storer who identifies as female set fire to Portland Korean Church, an historic, 117-year-old vacant building. Storer claimed that voices in his head threatened to “mutilate” him unless he set the church ablaze.
Transgender activist-vandals painted the message “TRANS PWR” on St. Joseph Catholic Church in Louisville, on March 3. The attack came one day after the Kentucky legislature overrode the veto of Governor Andy Beshear (D) to enact a law protecting children from transgender surgeries. Also in March, vandals cut down crosses in the cemetery of the Friendship United Methodist Church in Newton, North Carolina, shortly after it disaffiliated with the United Methodist denomination over the denomination’s liberalizing views on LGBT issues. On June 16, vandals spray-painted the words “Stay gay, stay hard, Love is 4 everyone” on Grace Community Church in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
The report does not include incidents that took place in 2024, such as Genesse Moreno — an ex-Muslim convert to Judaism who is not a U.S. citizen and whom neighbors say has identified as “transgender” — opening fire in Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston.
Bombings, shootings, and Molotov cocktails: Christian churches faced potential mass casualties from explosions or shootings in 2023. Someone set a five-gallon drum of gasoline ablaze inside Word of God Ministries in Shreveport last January, but fire personnel’s quick response limited the damage.
Last October 29, a man purloined Holy Communion from Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in San Fransisco. “After being confronted about it, the man punched the person who confronted him and ran out. Police pursued the man, who reportedly ‘set off a pipe bomb’ and ignited a ‘Molotov cocktail’ to deter police,” notes the report. Similarly, on July 17, a man threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of Living Stones Church in Reno, Nevada. In March, four people fired 50 rounds into Clearview Mennonite Church of Versailles, Missouri.
Pro-abortion hostility: The number of church assaults peaked in June, the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade. An arsonist set the Incarnation Roman Catholic Church in Orlando ablaze on the pro-life ruling’s first anniversary, although investigators could not determine if the date figured into the blaze.
But pro-abortion attacks on Christian churches continued unabated all year long. On January 18, just before the March for Life, someone vandalized the monument to the unborn at St. Rosalia Roman Catholic Church in Pittsburgh. Eight days later, someone desecrated a pro-life banner inside a Florida Catholic parish with the phrase “Women’s body, women’s choice.” Months later, on September 9, someone splattered red paint on a pro-life sign at the Second Baptist Church in Palermo, Maine, leaving behind two messages: “Abortion is our human right” and “Queer love 4 eva.” Vandals destroyed a pro-life display of 1,000 wooden crosses, representing unborn lives snuffed out by abortion, at a display in Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Acts of Anti-Christian Election Interference
Several of Ohio’s 24 reported church attacks involved the state’s Issue 1 campaign. The controversial constitutional amendment created a “right” for people of all ages to access abortion at essentially any point in pregnancy. Many constituted acts of election interference. “In October, someone pulled the ‘Vote No’ sign at Cincinnati’s St. Monica-St. George Church out of the ground and threw it in a dumpster,” notes the report. “At St. Bartholomew Church, also in Cincinnati, between six and eight ‘Vote No’ yard signs were removed from the church’s property and replaced with ‘Vote Yes’ signs.” Additional acts of pro-abortion election interference occurred at:
Cincinnati’s Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, Cincinnati, Ohio, where vandals stole or vandalized anti-Issue 1 signs one month before the election.
At St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in the university town of Oxford, home of (Miami University), a pro-life sign opposing Issue 1 “was cut in half, and many other similar church signs were vandalized or stolen.”
At the Church of the Incarnation in Centerville, “someone spray-painted the church’s front door window to cover up a sign opposing Ohio Issue 1.”
“Americans appear increasingly comfortable lashing out against church buildings, pointing to a larger societal problem of marginalizing core Christian beliefs, including those that touch on hot-button political issues related to human dignity and sexuality,” says the report. “Attacks on houses of worship may also signal a discomfort with religion in general.”
Anti-Christian, Muslim-based hatred: Some acts of violence appeared to spring from Islamist sources. Last October, a man claiming to be with Hamas entered Sacred Heart Church in Cicero, New York, and threatened its employees.
International conflicts invaded U.S. churches throughout the year. Last September 24, vandals painted an anti-Christian, pro-Muslim slogan on St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, Massachusetts. The message — “Artsakh is Dead, Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” which was taped to the Armenian church’s outdoor bulletin board — referred to a violent Christian-Muslim feud over control of Nagorno-Karabakh (also known as Artsakh) between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
A few attacks also involved Jewish issues, including vandalizing a sign showing support for Israel and graffiti on one church denouncing “Israel’s genocide.”
Targeting minority churches: A few attacks targeted ethnic minorities. The report documents nine attacks targeting Missionary Baptist churches and six targeting parishes of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME). Additionally, on October 28, someone burned down Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, which serves the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Parmelee, South Dakota.
Some incidents straddled the line between arson and the demonic. “In June, Ascension of the Lord Romanian Orthodox Church of Hayward, California, was broken into, and several religious artifacts were set on fire, including a Bible and a crucifix. The charred items and ashes were left around an altar,” the report notes.
Whatever the purported motivation, many anti-church attackers directly invoked demonic forces in their attacks on the church, which the Bible identifies as “the Body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).
Satan: “At least 12 incidents included satanic imagery or symbols,” the report notes. It goes on to specify numerous examples:
In July, vandals broke into Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church of El Paso, Texas, and left behind satanic imagery, including writing the number “666” on multiple items. Crosses inside the church were also turned upside down, and holy oil was dumped out.
In October, someone spray-painted the words “Devil Has Risen” and a symbol like a pentagram on the buildings of Jesus Worship Center in Jennings, Louisiana.”
Last February 4, vandals desecrated the Old Philadelphia Church — the oldest church in Izzard County, Arkansas — with inverted crosses and a pentagram.
Last October 7, someone spray-painted “Their [sic] is no God” on the marquee of Miracle Faith Christian Center in Columbia, South Carolina.
A vandal spray-painted “Lucifer Lives Here” and “God No More” on Bethlehem Church in Austin, Texas, on October 29.
These attacks leave aside the largest category of anti-church hostility: vandalism.
General anti-Christian vandalism: The 315 acts of vandalism against churches include disturbing reports, including:
A man broke into the Roman Catholic Subiaco Abbey Church of St. Benedict in Subiaco, Arkansas, busting the marble altar with a hammer and stealing 1,500-year-old relics.
Last January 12, vandals attacked five churches in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. One of its targets alone, Greater Tabernacle Worship Center, suffered $15,000 of damage.
The next day, a lone vandal targeted three Roman Catholics churches in New Jersey, setting fire to a flagpole in one, and attempting to burn a cross in front of another.
In January, a vandal spray painted “Mary is the whore of Babylon” inside a Roman Catholic church in Billings, Montana, in addition to stealing $8,300 of statutes and paintings, and doing $4,000 damage.
Weeks later, a man poured bleach on a statue of the Virgin Mary and threw a statue of Baby Jesus down the stairs at Good Shepherd Church in Fall River, Massachusetts.
A woman defecated and wiped feces on the altar of the chapel inside Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati on May 13.
The Biden administration cannot plead ignorance of church desecrations and vandalism targeting houses of worship: The administration actively warned such incidents would increase for the foreseeable future. Last May 27, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a bulletin warning of “a heightened threat environment” for churches and religious institutions, thanks to “the 2024 general election cycle and legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues,” such as issues involving “the LGBTQIA+ community.” The Biden administration then opened its Faith-Based Security Advisory Council (FBSAC), allegedly to advise houses of worship on how to improve security. Biden’s handpicked FBSAC members included controversial street agitator Al Sharpton, LGBTQ activists, and “three Islamists.”
Experts say the skyrocketing number of attacks on churches mirrors the general anti-Christian tenor of the Biden administrations’ policies, at home and abroad. President Joe Biden’s “indifference abroad to the fundamental freedom of religion is rivaled only by the increasing antagonism toward the moral absolutes taught by Bible-believing churches here in the U.S.,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. The Biden administration’s whole-of-government opposition to biblical morality is “fomenting this environment of hostility toward churches.”
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 Council2024-02-21 12:22:002024-02-21 12:24:47Church Attacks Increase 800% in less than 6 Years: FRC Report
A pair of arsonists who burned down a fast-food restaurant during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots are only being given a $500 fine and no jail time. Chisom Kingston and Natalie Hanna White pleaded guilty last week to two counts of first-degree arson and one count of conspiracy to commit arson related to an Atlanta-area Wendy’s they torched in June of 2020. The pair were sentenced to five years on probation, 150 hours of community service, and a $500 fine.
Fulton County’s far-left District Attorney Fanni Willis previously said, “It is unacceptable to burn down a building in our community even in the name of a protest,” just a few months before offering the arsonists a plea deal with no jail time. She added, “We certainly know it’s one of your constitutional rights but what we do not tolerate is violent protest.”
On June 12, 2020, police attempted to arrest Rayshard Brooks for exceeding the legal limit on a breathalyzer test, outside the Wendy’s. Brooks then assaulted Atlanta Police Department officer Devan Brosnan, stole his taser, ran, and shot the taser at officer Garrett Rolfe, prompting a defensive reaction from the officer. In August last year, a Georgia special prosecutor determined that Brosnan and Rolfe “acted in accordance with well-established law and were justified in the use of force regarding the situation.”
However, media outlets reported that police had shot an “unarmed black man,” prompting riots from Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors. The night after Brooks was shot, protestors stormed the Wendy’s and began setting fire to the restaurant and nearby cars. One of the rioters explained, “We burned this one specifically because of what happened here … This goes back to what our mission is, making sure that there is justice served for the person that died over here at this Wendy’s.” White, who was Brooks’s girlfriend, and Kingston were identified by police in video footage of the riot. A third arsonist, John Wesley Wade, was also identified and has pleaded guilty to federal arson charges, having also burned several postal trucks after setting fire to the Wendy’s.
Arielle Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, commented to The Washington Stand, “Laws must not be enforced based on ideological trends, and prosecutions must never be determined by what is politically palatable for the Left.” She added, “Some have suggested that by selectively enforcing laws like the FACE Act, the Biden administration is signaling what kind of politically motivated protests will and will not be tolerated. Under Biden, the Department of Justice has brought more than a dozen FACE Act cases, most of them against peaceful pro-life protesters.”
For example, several pro-life protestors were convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act in August and were immediately remanded into custody. A total of nine pro-life activists affiliated with the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) group had blockaded a Washington, D.C. abortion facility in 2020, distributing pro-life pamphlets and advocating against the slaughter of the unborn. The PAAU members face up to 11 years in prison. Del Turco noted, “We need to think about what it means for our society when pro-lifers trying to save babies are dealt harsh punishments while leftist rioters face almost no consequences.”
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 Council2023-12-07 13:12:342023-12-07 13:16:58BLM Arsonists Receive No Jail Time, Only $500 Fine
Since the George Floyd riots of 2020, law enforcement in the U.S. has taken a hit, with resignations at an all-time high, and recruitment at a dangerous low.
In New York City, over 2,500 officers have turned in their badge this year. According to NYPD pension data, this year marks the fourth highest number of police officers who have resigned in the last 10 years. “The number of cops quitting before they reach the 20 years required to receive their full pensions also skyrocketed from 509 in 2020 to 1,040 so far this year — an alarming 104% increase,” The New York Post reported.
Additionally, NYPD plans to cancel the next five Police Academy classes. Cuts such as these are projected to bring the NYPD department down to “29,000 cops by the end of fiscal year 2025 — the lowest level since the mid-90s,” the Post added. A glance at the last couple of years, however, could very well explain this crisis.
Not only does law enforcement put their lives on the line in the fight against crime, but many police officers and sheriff deputies sacrifice time with their families and loved ones as well. What most people have heard from law enforcers in the past is that helping the community makes the risks and sacrifices worth it. But the increased resignations and decreased recruitments suggest that thousands of men and women don’t believe it’s worth it anymore. And it’s no wonder, because they are demoralized at every turn.
In a matter of years, police officers have gone from heroes to the targets of utter hatred in many circles. Especially after Floyd’s death, a movement to “defund the police” went from spark to blaze. According to The New York Times’s Mariame Kaba, police are “set up” or even designed for violence. Her view of law enforcement is that the world is better without it. While I really couldn’t disagree more with Ms. Kaba’s article, she has provided a clear example of the kind of criticism thrown at police quite often these days.
According to a report by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, lack of recruitment can be attributed to a number of influences, but it’s mostly due to the public image of law enforcement. They found, “Scrutiny of the police, cellphone recordings of interactions between the police and public, media coverage, and popular entertainment portrayals of police have led many young people to view police differently than their parents may have. Overall, a majority of police officers feel their jobs have gotten more difficult since high-profile use-of-force incidents have dominated the national conversation.”
In June of 2021, Officer Lindsay Rose faced chastisement as riots broke out in Asheville, North Carolina. She said she was spit on and yelled at. Even after she took several months off to recover, once she came back to the field, she was still met with backlash. After she came back she decided to quit, ending seven years of service. “I’m drowning in this politically-charged atmosphere of hate and destruction,” she said. What Rose shared reflects the experience of many in law enforcement.
In addition to the political backlash, crime is on the rise. Violent crime in Washington, D.C. has skyrocketed, thanks in part to lax local laws. Complicating the issue, the District also has about 400 less officers than three years ago. And of course, even when the city’s police do succeed at catching criminals, little to no prosecutions follow the arrests, which puts dangerous people back on the street to commit even more offenses.
While D.C. becomes a hive of crime, local officials have decided that the priority is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars — not on public safety — but on anti-police messaging. Just this week, the District blew approximately $270,000 worth of tax dollars “touching up its ‘Black Lives Matter’ street painting,” Fox News reported. In response, Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said, “D.C. crime is out of control but local leaders continue to waste … tax money promoting the extremist Black Lives Matter movement in the heart of Washington, D.C. that is racist, anti-police, anti-American, and often violent.” And D.C. is just one example of the rampant crime spreading across the country.
Stores continue to get ransacked, and at least nine Targets throughout four states, four Walmarts in Chicago, five Walgreens in San Francisco, and other retailers have closed or will be closing as a result. Across the board, an MPD report revealed violent crime in total is up 40% from last year.
We are clearly in need of law enforcement, but the lack of support (or rather the abundance of opposition mixed with displaced priorities) has caused the protective ranks to dwindle.
Jacob Kersey, who is currently FRC Action’s operations coordinator, formerly served as a police officer. He shared with The Washington Stand, “Law enforcement officers head to work every day knowing the risks associated with the profession.” For Kersey, there are many reasons why someone may enter law enforcement, but often “one of the most rewarding, although challenging, aspects of the job is the opportunity to give of yourself and protect your community.”
He continued, “Rarely do officers get dispatched to a scene where those present are overflowing with gratitude that the officers are there because they often encounter citizens during the worst day of their lives — which is why support from the people you serve goes a long way in making all the sacrifice feel worth it.” He concluded that with “recent high-profile incidents leading to mass negative public image of police across the nation, veterans and recruits alike struggle with justifying the risks of donning a badge and gun.”
So the question remains: What do we do about it?
Ken Blackwell, former Cincinnati mayor and senior fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance at Family Research Council, told TWS, “There is a real downside to that ‘romantic’ view of defunding the police or repurposing the police. But the pressure is on because … people are not safe in their homes, in their communities. Their kids are not safe in their schools.” For Blackwell, what we are seeing on the streets “underscores this whole embrace of lawlessness.”
It boils down to “if you turn a blind eye to bad behavior, you can’t be surprised that you get more of it,” Blackwell stated.
As for what can be done, Blackwell concluded that it’s going to take time and better leadership. Now that some cities see the consequences of their actions, changes may be in sight.
Considering the country’s police hiring woes and crime crisis authorities must deal with now, “They’ve dug themselves a hole that they’re not going to be able to climb out of quickly,” Blackwell concluded.
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 Council2023-11-30 11:44:172023-11-30 11:47:48U.S. Police Face Hiring Crisis: ‘I’m Drowning in This Politically-Charged Atmosphere’
A new report is documenting a drastic rise in anti-Christian hate crimes across Europe. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) published its annual report last week, detailing a 44% increase over the course of 2022 in social hostility towards and violent attacks against Christians as well as acts of vandalism and desecration against churches.
According to the report, 748 anti-Christian hate crimes were committed in Europe last year, 38 of which were violent physical attacks and three of which were murders. Arson attacks were also more common than in years past and churches were targeted for firebombings and vandalism, especially in France and Germany. In fact, arson attacks nearly doubled over the course of one year, rising from 60 attacks in 2021 to 106 in 2022.
The OIDAC Europe report noted that “there had been a surge of clear extremism-motivated attacks.” The majority of these attacks were committed by groups with far-left, satanic, Islamic, feminist, or LGBT affiliations. In comments to The Washington Stand, Irish Freedom Party founder and president Hermann Kelly said, “The increase in the number of anti-Christian hate crimes is truly shocking in a supposedly Christian continent. The presence of many millions of the Islamic faith which preaches hatred, domination, and annihilation of all non-Muslims has no doubt added greatly to the rise in anti-Christian violence.”
He added, “A second spike in the anti-Christian pincer movement is that of aggressive and militant secularism of the far Left. Incredibly, they find common allies and goals in the silencing of Christian public presence and influence in European society.”
In its report, OIDAC Europe also noted a growing movement to suppress religious liberty and criminalize Christian practices. In Ireland, for example, the government has been promoting what OIDAC called “Europe’s most extreme ‘hate speech’ bill.” The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Act would shift the burden of proof to the accused, who would have to demonstrate that they did not intend to “spread hate.” The bill criminalizes private materials, such as memes on a phone or books on a shelf, and could potentially outlaw Christian teachings on such subjects as LGBT ideology.
The bill, if enacted, would also allow police officers to obtain warrants to investigate suspected “hate speech” without presenting any evidence to a court. Other European nations have also seen “hate speech” legislation weaponized against Christians: two Catholic bishops in Spain have been prosecuted for repeating the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality, numerous “street preachers” have been arrested in the U.K. for allegedly causing “distress” to those who disagreed with Christian teachings, and Finish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen was charged with “War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity” for quoting Scripture.
Others have seen “hate speech” policies weaponized in areas like academia. In Ireland, schoolteacher Enoch Burke was dismissed from his post and eventually jailed for refusing to call a student by transgender pronouns. Welsh teacher Ben Dybowski was fired after being asked to share his Christian position on homosexuality and abortion during a confidential, mandatory diversity and gender awareness training session. U.K. teacher Joshua Sutcliffe was sacked for sharing his Christian views on marriage with students, and school chaplain Bernard Randall was dismissed for delivering a homily critical of the LGBT agenda.
Another area of concern is abortion “buffer zones,” designated areas outside of abortion facilities where prayer, protest, and pro-life counseling are legally prohibited. These “buffer zones” are becoming prevalent in Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the U.K. Last year, pro-life activist Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for silently praying outside an abortion facility in England. The Catholic woman held no rosary and did not speak aloud but simply stood in silence. She was arrested, tried, and acquitted, and then arrested again two weeks after the acquittal on the same charges.
Arielle Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, commented to The Washington Stand, “The preservation of religious freedom relies not just on good laws and legal victories, but also on cultural support. Sadly, we are looking at plummeting cultural support for the rights of Christians in the West and a rise of intolerance against the Christian faith, particularly when that faith is proclaimed boldly in the public square. This is symptomatic of the larger trend of secularization. As culture becomes increasingly secular, people understand and value it less. Christian beliefs about the human body, sexual ethics, or the exclusivity of Christ can be seen as offensive or even oppressive.”
She further noted, “Over time, this leads to greater erosion of religious freedom and cultural support for Christians simply wanting to live out their faith or express their beliefs.”
In its conclusion, the OIDAC Europe report stated, “As freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is a cornerstone for free and democratic societies, we hope that states will not compromise on the protection of these fundamental rights, and thus ensure an open and peaceful climate in our societies.” Hermann Kelly forcefully added, “Only a return to Christian faith, family, fecundity, and education will give culturally and demographically dying Europe the chance of a 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 Council2023-11-27 14:00:222023-11-27 14:04:37Anti-Christian Hate Crimes Spike in Europe
Our nation is in crisis. It isn’t a gun crisis. Or fentanyl crisis. It’s not a border crisis — or even a government funding crisis.
It is a moral and spiritual crisis.
A sickening video that went viral last weekend fully displays it. The video was of two 17-year-old males, who were apparently identifying as heartless, demon-possessed thugs, recording their joyride in a stolen car. The video shows the two cheering as they ram and force one car off the road.
Then they spotted 64-year-old Andreas Probst, a retired police officer, taking his morning bike ride. The driver asked his passenger if he was ready to capture their feat on camera.
Swerving into the bike lane behind Probst, they blew the horn and then plowed into the back of him, throwing him onto the windshield, over the car, and onto the pavement as they accelerated. The punk in the passenger seat turned to catch on camera Probst bounce onto the road, who died of his injuries that day.
The driver was arrested shortly after and taken to the juvenile detention center. The Clark County District Attorney’s Office has announced it will try the teenagers as adults.
Don’t expect the White House or others, who see violent crime as little more than justification to grab more power over law-abiding citizens, to pay any attention to a drive-over killing. However, this crime is so shocking some are asking how we arrived at such a place where cold-blooded murder is callously carried out like a virtual video game.
But should we really be surprised? As a nation, we’ve pushed God to the outskirts of society. Instead of teaching our children that they are created in the image of God and therefore have value, we are telling them they come from animals, and then we are shocked when they act like animals.
This is a moral and spiritual crisis. But don’t expect political leaders, especially on the Left, to acknowledge that fact because they refuse to look beyond the symptoms.
Take the Mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, who is calling for city-owned grocery stores to be placed in neighborhoods that have become what he calls “food deserts” after Walmart and Whole Foods shuttered their stores because of unsustainable losses.
Retailers nationwide are going under and shutting their doors because of a $100 billion-dollar shoplifting epidemic. It’s gotten so bad here in Washington, D.C. that almost everything is behind locked plexiglass.
Commentators and conservatives point to lax policies like California’s Prop 47, which reduced theft from a potential felony to a misdemeanor. These lenient policies only compound the lawlessness fostered by depleted and demoralized police departments in the wake of the Left’s Defund the Police movement.
But it’s not just civil government that has facilitated this moral and spiritual crisis that threatens the future of our country. I’ve often been asked this question while in conversation with political leaders. “Tony, why do pastors want us to vote on and speak about issues they won’t preach about from the pulpit?”
To be sure, many pastors are preaching on these issues; some were at Family Research Council’s recent Pray Vote Stand Summit: Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, Cornerstone Chapel’s Gary Hamrick, Bishop Vincent Mathews, and others. But far too many fail to see their God-given role to not just preach the truth but challenge people to live by the truth in every area of life. In the church, pastors must rediscover their prophetic voice to address this moral and spiritual crisis.
Yes, the lawless, anti-God policies of government have fostered this violent and deadly environment, and the church has, for the most part, only whispered its objections. But where are the parents?
I know the government has usurped the role of moms and dads in many ways, hiding critical information from them about their children’s mental and spiritual well-being at school. In some cases, they’ve refused to allow parents to get counseling for their children if it is not in lockstep with leftist ideology.
But a recent report from King’s College London suggests parents in the United States are not concerned with their children being civil or even obedient. Coming in nearly dead last in the two dozen surveyed countries, only 21% of American adults said obedience was a priority for children. What did rank near the top of priorities? Tolerance.
There was little tolerance for Mr. Probst.
To 21st century ears, it is archaic to quote a Founding Father. But considering that they did craft what has become the longest-surviving written charter of government in the world, maybe we can learn from them how to keep this experiment in liberty going.
John Adams, America’s second president, warned, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
In other words, if we don’t go beyond the litany of crises facing our nation, which are just symptoms — whether it be the border, fentanyl, guns, or stolen cars used to run over innocent people — to see what is truly at the heart of this crisis, we will lose this country as we have known it, because we will miss the moral and spiritual crisis confronting us.
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 Council2023-09-28 05:55:502023-09-28 12:04:14An America with God on the Outskirts
In 2022, the Daily Caller’s debut documentary, “Damaged,” exposed the gut-wrenching truth about children victimized by the transgender movement. But the trans social contagion is just one of many crises in American life today. Now, the Daily Caller is undertaking a new venture to expose the failed policies and corrupt ideology of our ruling elites. Our new feature film, “Lawless,” debuts Oct. 26 and will expose the real cost of the “Defund the Police” movement.
There is an epidemic of violence in cities across America. Millions of Americans feel unsafe commuting to work, enjoying public spaces or even just leaving their homes. The most beautiful cities in America have been consumed by brazen crime, mental illness, violence and drug use.
Tent cities, once a hallmark of the third world, are now all too common from New York to San Francisco. Once-thriving commercial districts have collapsed, leaving local communities impoverished and isolated. Subways and buses have transformed into mobile homeless shelters, filled with the stench of human decay. People living in America’s major cities put their lives on the line every time they go outside.
This decline is not fate. It is not inevitable. It is, in fact, a choice — a choice made by progressive leadership across the country since 2020. With the help of our dedicated Patriots subscribers, the Caller will help show America that we do not have to live this way any longer.
“Lawless” will expose the true human cost of turning against law enforcement. We are traveling across the country to discover the terror that has been unleashed upon American cities as a result of the “Defund the Police” movement. We will uncover how the movement became as powerful as it did and give a voice to the forgotten men and women who bear the brunt of the violence in their daily lives. We will reveal the true stories that the corporate media has worked tirelessly to conceal since the “mostly peaceful” riots began in 2020.
More importantly, we will investigate the impending crisis that is yet to unfold. The “Defund” movement is still fairly recent and its effects are just beginning to be seen. But its proponents have entrenched themselves in the system and settled in for the long-haul. They are determined to abolish the police altogether. We will uncover just how much worse things could get as a result of this depraved movement while we strive to empower citizens with the facts and foresight they need to resist the madness.
In 2020, the most radical elements in American society found the opportunity they had long been seeking when Devin Chauvin was recorded with his knee on George Floyd’s neck. The incident was said to represent the worst of America, a truth that had long been obscured — that America’s institutions, including the police, are shot through with racism.
Amidst the chaos of the 2020 election and COVID-19 pandemic, the “Defund the Police” movement was born as millions of well-meaning Americans were bullied into submission by anti-police ideologues. Chant the slogans, wave the flags, take to the street — from corporations, to celebrities to the government and media, every power center in America issued the same commands. Americans accepted — or at least were too afraid to speak out against — the idea that a mysterious, ever-present racism plagued our society and that the system itself must be “reimagined.”
Facing unprecedented hostility and abuse from local officials, police officers around the country are quitting their at a “rate never before seen,” according to the Fraternal Order of Police. While liberal elites can hide in their gated communities guarded by private security, the most vulnerable communities suffer.
If we stay on the current course, younger generations will no longer remember what it was like to live in safe and vibrant communities. Already, too many have adapted to this “new normal,” accepting that chaos is just the price of life in a big city. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can reject this new normal and strive for better. The Daily Caller aims to help America do just that.
The Daily Caller’s documentary productions are made possible by our faithful Patriots members, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without them. For the best political analysis in the business, please consider subscribing.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2023-09-28 05:41:192023-09-28 10:34:32America’s Cities In Crisis: Daily Caller’s ‘Lawless’ To Expose Fallout Of ‘Defund The Police’
In an astonishingly brazen heist that occurred in Woodland Hills, Calif. on August 12 in broad daylight, approximately 50 individuals mobbed a Nordstrom store, stealing about $300,000 worth of merchandise and destroying display cases in the process. Experts say “smash and grab” or “flash rob” crimes like these as well as grocery shoplifting have been steadily rising in Democrat-controlled states and cities across the country due to policies that reduced the penalties for committing crimes.
The Nordstrom robbery is merely the latest in a string of incidents in California in recent weeks. An almost identical heist occurred on August 8 in broad daylight at a Yves Saint Laurent store in Glendale, in which about 30 thieves also stole $300,000 worth of luxury goods. The previous week, nine men raided a Gucci store in Century City.
It’s not just high-end merchandise that is being routinely pilfered from stores with little consequences. In Washington, D.C., a popular Giant Food store may be close to shuttering due to $500,000 worth of products being stolen as of late. Despite upgraded security measures and a record amount of stopped suspects, thieves continue to steal “everything,” according to Giant president Ira Kress, who noted that shoplifting at the grocery chain’s stores have “probably increased five to 10 times in the last three years.”
The growing thievery is part of an alarming trend in the nation’s capital, in which homicides have risen 25% since August of last year. Councilmember Trayon White (D) has called on Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to enlist the National Guard in order to reduce crime.
Lawlessness has become so entrenched in places like San Francisco that officials recently advised staff at the downtown federal building to start working from home. The skyscraper has offices for Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Departments of Labor and Transportation, as well as staffers of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Yet due to open-air drug use and transactions, homeless individuals using the streets to relieve themselves, rising gun and knife assaults, and unruly youth fighting and committing crimes in nearby shopping malls, HHS officials advised workers to “maximize the use of telework for the foreseeable future.” Popular chains like Walgreens have resorted to locking freezers with chains as shoplifting has risen 20% over the last three years.
Experts are pointing to policies implemented in Democratic strongholds as a primary culprit in rising lawlessness. As noted by National Review’s Charles Cooke, California’s steadily climbing crime rate is arguably rooted in measures like Proposition 47, which turned nonviolent property crimes that did not exceed $950 from felonies to misdemeanors:
“And, would you believe it, the result has been a massive increase in nonviolent property crimes whose damages do not exceed $950! Couple Proposition 47 with the rise of prosecutors who do not prosecute — a national problem that is particularly acute in California — and you get that most inexplicable of outcomes: a diminishment in public order that was consciously approved by the state’s voters.”
Meanwhile in Oregon, voters enacted Measure 110 in November 2020, which decriminalized the possession of highly addictive drugs like heroin and methamphetamine. The purported goal of the measure was to establish a “humane” approach to drug addiction by providing “access to recovery services, peer support and stable housing.” However, Oregon ranks near the bottom in states with access to drug treatment facilities, and Measure 110 contained no language to establish more treatment facilities before allowing drug decriminalization.
The result has been a record number of drug overdoses in Portland in 2022, which was topped in the first eight months of 2023. In addition, shootings in the city have tripled, vehicle thefts have doubled, property crimes and burglaries have risen, and homelessness has jumped 50%, all since the measure was enacted. The once flourishing downtown has been transformed “with scenes of drugged-out people passed out in doorways or roaming downtown like zombies, babbling to themselves, and pushing around carts filled with junk.” As restaurant owners struggle to stay in business due to continual break-ins and vandalism, the flagship stores of REI and Nike, along with the last two Walmarts in Portland, have all closed.
Ken Blackwell, former mayor of Cincinnati and undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was unsurprised by skyrocketing crime rates in Democrat-controlled cities.
“If you reward bad behavior, don’t be surprised if you get more bad behavior,” he told The Washington Stand. “So the lax attitude that these big city mayors, particularly in these blue cities, have towards punishing bad behavior, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they’re going to get more of it. … The criminals will push the envelope until they meet resistance.”
Blackwell, who currently serves as senior fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance at Family Research Council, went on to note that “as a mayor [who worked] with Rudy Giuliani when he was mayor of New York City, we worked on the theory of the broken window. If people see one broken window unattended to, then two, then three, then four, the disrespect for law and order will grow like wildfire. … It’s pretty straightforward in terms of human behavior.”
“It starts with this assault on innocent life, when people of all ages have disrespect for innocent life, that’s going to have consequences, whether it is a rash of violent crimes where life is disrespected, or whether it’s an assault on the notion of private property,” he concluded. “You have that in combination with victimhood when people are told over and over and over that they are victims, they feel that they can do anything without retribution.”
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 Council2023-08-18 06:48:022023-08-18 06:49:14Brazen Crime Wave Hits Blue Cities amid Decriminalization Efforts
After combing through thousands of financial records linking a web of shell companies and foreign interests to the president’s family, a congressman has come to a conclusion: “The Biden family is a syndicate,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) told “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” on Thursday.
“You could liken this to Watergate,” Fallon said. “The more we investigate, the more we find.”
Earlier in the day, the House Oversight Committee released a 36-page memorandum, its second on the Biden family’s bank records.
By the numbers, the committee reviewed thousands of records tracking $10 million sent to 21 different shell companies and received by at least nine members of the Biden family. What, if anything, the Biden family offered in return remains unclear.
“If you’re doing honest business one, first and foremost, we’ll know what your business offers — what service or product it provides. We still don’t know what Hunter Biden and the Biden family ever provided anyone,” Fallon, a member of the committee, told Perkins. “And then when you have payments to you, they’re made to your company, not to 20 different companies.”
The committee found that the Biden family and its close business associates had set up 21 limited liability companies (LLCs), all but two founded during Biden’s years as Barack Obama’s vice president.
A total of $10 million flowed through those LLCs, often with its source in such foreign nations as China, Ukraine, or Romania — nations then-Vice President Joe Biden oversaw for the Obama administration. The same funds would often pass between multiple LLCs in an attempt to disguise its foreign origin, the report says. In another attempt to cover their tracks, rather than receive a large check made out to the Bidens directly, “the Biden family received incremental payments over time to different bank accounts.” Many of the payments involve Hunter Biden’s D.C.-based professional corporation, Owasco P.C., the report notes.
Nine members of the Biden family benefited from these business deals, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said at a press conference Thursday: Joe Biden’s son, Hunter; Hunter’s current wife, Melissa Cohen; Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; Hunter’s ex-girlfriend and Beau Biden’s widow, Hallie Biden; Joe Biden’s brother, James; James Biden’s wife, Sara; and three children of the president’s son and/or the president’s brother.
Scores of questionable transactions took place when Vice President Biden controlled the Obama administration’s policy portfolio for Eastern Europe and other regions of the world, including having a strong voice in China policy. The committee documented “170 suspicious activity reports that were generated by financial institutions, which they have to [issue] by law when they suspect fraud or money laundering,” Fallon explained.
“The Committee has uncovered evidence indicative of influence peddling and financial deception,” the report adds.
Among its new revelations, the memorandum includes fresh details of potential Biden family fraud involving Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu. His Bladon Enterprises sent $3 million to Robinson Walker LLC, a company run by Hunter’s business partner Rob Walker, in the 18 months between November 2015 and May 2017. Walker transferred $1,038,627.08 to Hunter Biden, Beau Biden’s widow Hallie Biden, and an unnamed Biden family member.
“I think this is the tip of the iceberg,” Fallon told Perkins.
“We’ve only subpoenaed bank records for four of the 12 banks we believe the Biden family was involved with — and only through some of their known associates,” Fallon continued, adding, “We have not subpoenaed Joe or Hunter Biden’s bank records yet, because they’ll just lawyer up.” He believes the president’s immediate family’s primary “mission is to put this off until November of 2024,” after the next presidential election.
The FBI is currently stonewalling another piece of evidence that emerged during the 2020 presidential race: an interview that alleged that Joe Biden took bribes as a sitting vice president. Although the whistleblower disclosed the existence of the FBI report to the House Oversight Committee, the FBI has refused to turn over the report, form FD-1023, an unclassified informant report that was created or changed in June 2020.
“Right now, the biggest obstacle for me getting the facts is our own government, is the Department of Justice, is the FBI. And that’s unacceptable,” Comer has said. Fallon shared his frustration.
“I was really, really angry [Wednesday] when I found out that they refused to release it,” Fallon told Perkins. “If there’s nothing there, and it’s not credible, then release it. And if it’s highly credible, what have you been doing sitting on it for all this time?”
Bribery allegations could have nation-impacting repercussions, other Republican congressman have declared, including President Biden’s impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors. “You can’t prosecute a sitting president for crimes, so the only recourse — if this document exists, and we believe it does — is for the House to bring articles of impeachment,” Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, told The Daily Signal last Friday.
“Article II explicitly states that bribery is an impeachable offense,” tweeted Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
During a recent interview with Just The News, Comer multiplied the potential crimes his investigation suspects took place. “What about money laundering? Multiple banks in those violations implied that there was money laundering going on. What about racketeering? Racketeering is when you create shell companies and fake companies that serve no purpose other than to launder money,” he said.
If any Biden family member received a dollar from China, it would contradict Joe Biden’s statement to the American people during the second presidential debate in October 2020. “My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China,” Biden said, claiming that Donald Trump had actually benefited from nefarious financial deals with Beijing. “Nobody else has made money from China.”
New polls show that President Biden, whose popularity has been sliding throughout his presidency, has largely lost the corruption issue in the court of public opinion. A new Rasmussen report found that 69% of voters say the Biden influence-peddling case represents “a serious scandal,” including 72% of independents and 49% of Democrats. Similar margins believe that Biden engaged in a “pay-for-play” scheme as vice president, and that the proceeds benefited the entire Biden family.
The second bank records memorandum adds to the evidence presented in the first memo, released on March 16, as well as records obtained from Hunter Biden’s misplaced laptop disclosed by New York Post reporter Miranda Devine in her book “Laptop from Hell.”
The story has always been about The Big Guy, she said. “The laptop’s really not about Hunter Biden, even though it’s his laptop. Its value is in what it tells us about Joe Biden, Joe Biden’s corruption, and the history of it dating right back to his early days in Delaware,” Devine told this author in an exclusive interview shortly before the book launched.
“Hunter, who would have preferred to be an artist or a writer, was assigned the role of paying the bills for the rest of the family through lucrative grace-and-favor jobs and sweetheart deals facilitated by Joe’s network of connections in Delaware and, later, throughout the world,” wrote Devine in her book.
The Biden lifestyle required prodigious amounts of cash, which Hunter produced with the help of his father’s political ties, she said.
Hunter Biden famously netted $83,333 a month as an advisor for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings Ltd., although he had no relevant expertise. Burisma cut his salary in half after Joe Biden left office as vice president, according to records on his laptop.
Hunter inked the first deal between his company, Bohai Harvest Rosemont (BHR), and China in 2013, as he accompanied his father on a trip to Beijing, a trip the elder Biden made in his capacity as vice president.
That equity deal proved slow in producing funds, so Hunter Biden engaged in a second deal with the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), which helped the Chinese Communist Party build its energy reserves. The Biden family earned millions, according to the laptop. Originally, this deal would be brokered through a company called Sinohawk. An email written on May 13, 2017, broke down the structure of Sinohawk’s ownership:
“The equity will be distributed as follows,” wrote [James] Gilliar, listing the shares in percentages.
“20 H [Hunter] “20 RW [Rob Walker] “20 JG [James Gilliar] “20 TB [Tony Bobulinski] “10 Jim [Biden] “10 held by H for the big guy.”
The Big Guy was then-Vice President Joe Biden, according to two of the people named in the email: Tony Bobulinski and James Gilliar.
Hunter Biden further described his role as the family’s financial underwriter in an email to his oldest daughter, Naomi, in 2019:
“I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry, unlike Pop, I won’t make you give me half your salary.”
Other Biden family members openly signaled business deals with them would influence policy. “Don’t worry about investors,” James Biden reportedly told investors during a 2006 meeting for his hedge fund, Paradigm Global Advisors. “We’ve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden.”
James Biden had reportedly invoked his brother’s status to cement numerous deals in Delaware long before Biden’s eventual rise to the vice presidency and, ultimately, the presidency.
Similarly, another of President Biden’s brothers, Frank Biden, ran a series of casino and real estate deals in Costa Rica after his brother’s 2009 trip to the Central American nation, for which the vice president oversaw policy for the Obama administration.
James Biden reportedly told onetime business partner-turned-whistleblower Tony Bobulinski that the Biden family’s dubious deals have evaded scrutiny so long thanks to “plausible deniability.” But investigators believe they have denied the family any legal cover.
“Joe Biden is not the man he says he is,” Devine told this author. “He is deeply corrupt and a congenital liar.”
With eight more banks and numerous more Biden family members to investigate, a third memorandum — or formal charges — seem inevitable.
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 Council2023-05-15 14:20:092023-05-15 14:23:02‘The Biden Family Is a Syndicate’: Congressman Compares Influence-Peddling Scandal to Watergate
