Tag Archive for: politics

Public Trust in Churches Has Fallen. Is There Hope for Change in 2025?

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What’s a Critical Thinking analysis? 

I recently read a thought-provoking piece. It starts off by observing that people have lost confidence in the Government and the Media. Then it wraps up by discussing that US citizens are also losing faith in Churches — an even more serious matter.

Considering that the Catholic Church has a new leader (Pope Leo XIV), maybe this is a good time to give this some critical thought.

[Note: following the quoted part, I’ll share my own experience on this topic.]

The following is an excerpt of the good article:

[ … ]

“There’s one more notable area where people seem to be losing trust, Jody Hice observed. “I hate to even bring this up, but there’s also seemingly … an increasing distrust for churches, a lack of trust. What do you think this next year holds for the church? Is there anything that they can do to become a greater influence in our culture?”

“It’s interesting,” Dr. George Barna replied, “because when you look at what’s going on with churches, in some ways it’s very similar to what’s happening with government, where people have less and less trust in the leadership of their churches.”

Additionally, he explained how many Christians “feel like they’re not getting real value from their churches. And as we’ve been evaluating that, one of the things that’s become clear is that, often, that’s because they feel they’re not being given practical advice, practical guidance — real, tangible value for their life. … This comes from preaching God’s word on a consistent basis and breaking it down for people so that they know how to apply God’s truth principles in their personal life.”

But if churchgoers feel that church is not serving them, the question becomes why is that the case?

Barna contended that a lot of it boils down to how churches “evaluate their success in ministry … which is based on how many people show up, how many programs they offer, how many … people they’ve hired, how much money they’re raising, and how much square footage they’ve built out.” This is problematic, Barna argued, because “if you think about those five objectives that most churches in America consistently measure to evaluate their ministry effectiveness, one conclusion we can come to is … that they’re bound to fail as a set of measures.”*

“Why?” he asked. “Because Jesus didn’t die for any of those. That’s not what His life, His ministry, or His teaching is all about.”

At the heart of the matter, Barna contended, is that “we’ve gotten away from the Bible not only in what we’re teaching, but even in how we’re measuring success and impact in ministry. … In the last five years … half of all adults in America attending a church at least once a month on average has gone down to roughly one third of Americans. That’s a huge drop in a short period of time. And … the reason is they’re not getting biblical value from churches.”

“Wow,” Hice sighed. “This is an extremely important issue because the well-being of our whole culture ultimately comes down to the spiritual health of the culture, which ultimately obviously rests upon the health of the church. What does the church need to do to get people to come back to church? What kind of changes need to be taking place within a church body to fulfill the mission that God has given them to do?”

According to Barna, “it comes back to the whole issue of worldview. Why is it that young people in particular would say that they often are struggling with fear, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts? …

It comes back to their perspectives about how life works. When you’ve got a young adult who doesn’t believe that there’s a God who’s all knowing, all powerful … merciful … just … involved and engaged in their lives, and when you’ve got generations of people who say that they don’t believe that there’s anything that happens after they die, it’s imperative that if … churches or families want to be uplifting and … a source of strength and hope and optimism, particularly for younger adults, well, then they’ve got to get back to God’s word.”

“Our entire culture is moving in the wrong direction,” Barna warned, “and it’s up to churches and parents to raise their children up, to understand the truths of Scripture … to trust the Bible, to know God, to trust Jesus personally, and to understand that we’re sinners.”

People must understand that “success in life isn’t by your material goods. … It’s not by your fame. It’s not by your popularity. It’s not even by feeling good. It’s about consistent obedience to God.” Another part of this issue is due to a lack of discipleship, he argued, and disciples who aren’t properly equipping themselves.

For anyone grappling with fear, anxiety, or depression, Barna concluded that “Jesus is the antidote. … The Bible shows us an alternative way of living,” and “the more that we can address worldview issues, the more that we can not only rebuild the church, but we can bring back a sense of life and hope and optimism to all Americans.

*I relate to this as it is what we experienced in our NC Catholic Church.

FYI, I went to Catholic grammar school, high school, and college (Boston College), and had a good relationship with nuns, brothers, and priests. Subsequently, as an active, practicing parishioner, I’ve dealt with something like a hundred parish priests, with no significant problems.

A few years ago, we were assigned a new pastor — not a big deal. Right out of the gate, he made some major (and problematic) changes. For example, he terminated the sixth grade of our K-6 Catholic School. (I had been on the school board for years, and knew the whole situation intimately.) The new pastor never even bothered to attend any of the monthly school board meetings. When the School Board politely questioned some of his changes to our successful school, he fired all 12± Board members!

There were so many other issues (most outside of the school) that several parishioners decided to give the pastor a petition of concerns. It listed thirty (30!) items. He refused to meet with this group to discuss anything.

I was nominated to speak to the Diocesan person who oversees parishes. I called this priest and outlined our thirty problematic concerns.

Without addressing a single one of the parishioners’ concerns, he asked me: “Have the collections decreased?” I was stunned that this clergy person’s primary interest was financial, not spiritual. We immediately changed parishes and stopped all contributions to the Diocese (and told them why).

©2025   All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Over 7,750 Baptized at Huntington Beach in Largest Single-Day Baptism in U.S. History

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IG Reports Give Fuller Accounting of Biden Military Lowlights

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“The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later” (1 Timothy 5:24). This principle of biblical wisdom is just as valid in politics. Not every fault is instantly known and judged; others only “appear later” — but, rest assured, they “cannot remain hidden” (1 Timothy 5:25). In November 2024, voters knew enough about President Biden’s failure to reject his party’s successor, but the full accounting of Biden’s blunders will only come to light with time.

That accounting has now begun. Congressional committees and inspectors general had already begun investigations into the most egregious failings of the previous administration, but stonewalling tactics threw sand in the gears. As the Trump administration feels no compunction about exposing the missteps of its predecessor, those investigations will now move forward much more smoothly.

Gaza Pier

One such accounting concerns the infamous floating pier that Biden ordered the U.S. military to assemble along the coast of Gaza. The whole exercise was political — a subtle dig at Israel for insisting on screening aid that entered Gaza overland, a transparent concession to the pro-Hamas rabble that Biden sought to placate, and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that Hamas would promptly loot aid humanitarian aid that arrived in Gaza (even off the pier!)

Operation Neptune Solace, as the pier project was dubbed, required the labor of 1,000 U.S. servicemembers over several months, as well as $320 million in equipment, yet it disintegrated almost instantly. As it turns out the pier was not designed to withstand even a “gentle breeze,” which is average weather on the Gaza coast. After only 20 days of partial operation, including multiple repairs, the pier operation was abandoned.

Of course, the Biden administration tried to spin this not as a total failure, but as a partial success. The pier did deliver some aid — about a third of the aid it hoped to land — and the operation’s total casualties amounted to three soldiers with non-combat injuries, the Pentagon said.

According a new report released this month by the DOD Inspector General (IG), this casualty estimate was just plain wrong. “In response to our request and a review of records, USCENTCOM reported that 62 U.S. personnel suffered injuries during Operation Neptune Solace,” the report stated. “Based on the information provided, we were not able to determine which of these 62 injuries occurred during the performance of duties or resulted off duty or from pre-existing medical conditions.” One soldier, who was medevacked from the pier in May with critical injuries, died in October.

The loss in material was also substantial. “The Navy reported damage to 27 watercraft and INLS equipment pieces totaling approximately $31 million,” the IG recorded, while the Army’s total damage report was classified. Much of the damage was due to equipment that was punctured or bent after colliding in the rolling seas; the Army and Navy’s separate equipment was never designed to be used together. But what do 60 soldiers and $30 million matter in pursuit of political brownie points?

The Biden Pentagon could keep the Gaza pier’s devastating toll under wraps for a while, but the true impact did “appear later.”

Afghanistan Equipment

Only days earlier, another inspector general report slammed another critical failure of the Biden administration. In an ill-advised decision to withdraw from Afghanistan by a pre-determined, arbitrary deadline, President Biden ordered American forces to evacuate the country in haste, leaving behind equipment, allies, and even American citizens. More specifically, the U.S. left behind 78 aircraft, 40,000 military vehicles, and over 300,000 weapons.

Even worse, Biden’s hasty retreat kneecapped the friendly, democratic government of Afghanistan, causing it to collapse rapidly before an advancing Taliban, the very group America defenestrated from power more than two decades earlier. Even worse, it now appears that the Taliban has reverted to its old ways, allowing more than two dozen terrorist organizations to train on its soil, including at least four offshoots of al-Qaeda.

In an April 30 report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) succinctly compiled this information as follows:

“A February UN sanctions monitoring team report said that al Qaeda affiliates in Afghanistan … ‘continued to have access to weapons seized from the former Afghan National Army, transferred to them by the de facto authorities/Taliban or purchased from the black market.’ The Taliban army chief of staff said the regime planned to provide the army with more advanced weapons and equipment, but did not specify from where or whom it could come. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) reported that out of $18.6 billion worth of equipment that was transferred to the ANDSF between 2005 and August 2021, $7.12 billion remained in Afghanistan.”

From this summary, it’s not hard to infer that Biden’s disastrous withdrawal left high-tech American military equipment to the very terrorist organizations that we entered Afghanistan to destroy more than two decades ago.

Some of this came to light during the Biden administration — but it only came to light piecemeal and gradually, despite the administration’s refusal to accept (or assign) responsibility.

Conclusion

These are not the first reports exposing previous governmental misdeeds, nor will they be last. Congress this week also exposed the FBI’s deceptive mishandling of the 2017 assassination attempt of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and other Republican lawmakers. Last month, the DOJ “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” assembled the first tranche of grievances to be redressed.

The point is, grievous mistakes have a way of becoming known eventually. Sin can only hide in the shadows for so long. It is therefore wise to take the advice of Proverbs, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

American governments would be well served to frankly own up to their own shortcomings. Attempts to cover up the truth only lead to more political fallout in the long run. As Moses once warned a faction of Israelites who sought to avoid accountability, “be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Trans Is Out’: DOD Begins Removing Trans-Identifying Military Members

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

4 Inspirational Pro-Life Moms

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Mother’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the gift of life, an especially important endeavor since we live in a culture that continues to reject it in a multitude of ways, not only through abortion but in the increasingly common decision of many to intentionally not have children. In the spirit of celebrating the gift of life that mothers have given us all, here are four beautiful examples of moms who are not only championing the preciousness of every life in the culture but are also selflessly mothering their own children.

Melissa Ohden

Melissa, who was adopted as an infant, was 14 when she found out that she was the survivor of a botched abortion. In 1977, her biological mother was 19 when she was forced to go through with a saline abortion by her family. Even though Melissa was soaked in a toxic solution in her mother’s womb for five days, she entered the world alive. Melissa survived due to the heroic actions of a nurse who rushed her to the NICU.

Melissa went on to found the Abortion Survivors Network, which seeks to “share stories and data to humanize survivors’ experiences” and “promote policies that protect and serve abortion survivors, their families and friends.”

Through God’s grace, Melissa was eventually able to connect with “a maternal cousin, my two maternal half-sisters, a maternal aunt — and yes, even my biological mother!” She now has two daughters of her own with her husband Ryan.

Abby Johnson

Abby spent eight years working for Planned Parenthood, America’s leading abortion supplier. As she rose through the ranks of the business, however, she became “increasingly disturbed by what she witnessed.” In 2009, she was asked to assist with an ultrasound-guided abortion. “She watched in horror as a 13 week baby fought for, and ultimately lost, its life at the hand of the abortionist.” Abby soon quit her job and vowed to “begin to advocate for life in the womb and expose abortion for what it truly is.”

Abby went on to write the memoir of her experience at Planned Parenthood and her subsequent conversion to the pro-life cause in “Unplanned,” in which she revealed that she had two abortions before the birth of her first child. “Unplanned” was later made into a film, earning $21 million at the box office on a $6 million budget. Abby also founded And Then There Were None, a pro-life organization that seeks to “help people in the abortion industry leave their jobs and rediscover the peace and joy they’ve been missing.” As a result of ATTWN’s work, over 700 abortion workers have quit, and 48 abortion facilities have closed after these workers left.

Abby now has eight children with her husband Doug, one of whom is adopted.

Lila Rose

At the age of 15, Lila founded the pro-life organization Live Action, which began by giving presentations on the tragedy of abortion to schools and youth groups. Beginning in 2006, she conducted numerous undercover sting operations at Planned Parenthood facilities, posing as an underage girl seeking an abortion. In multiple instances, the Planned Parenthood staff was caught on video encouraging her to lie about her age in order to cover up possible statutory rape and to get an abortion.

Lila has since become one of the leading voices in the pro-life movement through her numerous media appearances and through the work of Live Action, which continues to uncover illegal activity by abortion businesses and produce cutting edge pro-life media content, resulting in “the largest online impact among pro-life and pro-abortion groups reaching over 46 million per month and over 2 billion lifetime video views.”

Lila now has three children with her husband Joe.

Bethany Bomberger

Bethany and her husband Ryan founded the Radiance Foundation, a pro-life organization that seeks to educate and motivate the culture “to put truth and love into action.” She is the author of three children’s books, which focus on the unique gift that each child is as well as the unchangeable and beautiful truth of being either male or female.

After becoming pregnant in her early 20s, Bethany made the courageous decision to choose life. During an interview on CBN, she described a life-changing moment she experienced:

“I had a defining moment. I look back and I think of February 14th, which was Valentine’s Day. It was a Saturday morning at 9 o’clock, and I had my first ultrasound. I walk into this empty room, just by myself, with the ultrasound tech, and I saw for the first time my daughter’s little beating heart. I had this defining moment as I saw in the emptiness of the room, I felt the fullness of the love of God for me, and I just felt that he wrapped my heart and her heart and his heart and just called me back to himself. And that night, I went home and God gave my Psalm 34:5, which says, ‘They looked to him, and were radiant, and their faces were never covered with shame.’ And actually that’s what the Radiance Foundation is predicated upon. But for me it was so personal, because it didn’t matter the shame of my yesterday decisions, ungodly and selfish as they were, but when God infuses you with his glory, his glory becomes what people see, and it’s not shame anymore. I always wanted for my child and for my life to walk in that.”

Bethany has since become the mother of four children with her husband Ryan, including some by adoption, and “loves to celebrate courageous birthmoms and the beauty of adoption.”

Of course, every mother is an inspiring witness to the pro-life cause for a simple reason: they said yes to life and endured hours of pain and labor — in some cases even risking or giving up their own lives — to deliver a child into the world. May our hearts be grateful this Mother’s Day for every mother who has cooperated in God’s plan for humanity to “fill the earth,” with a simple yet profound “yes” to love, self-sacrifice, and new life.

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

‘Our Revenue Hit a Cliff’: Radical LGBT Groups See Mass Layoffs in Trump Era

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As the legacy media highlight questionable polls and short-term economic dislocations to portray President Donald Trump as uniquely unpopular with the American people, some of the main financial and political movements of the Democratic Party have engaged in a series of mass layoffs — especially groups focused on promoting LGBT ideology.

GLSEN — founded by Kevin Jennings in 1990 as the “Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network” to promote extreme transgender ideology in public schools — announced in February it would lay off 60% of its workforce. The announcement came one day before the nation’s leading LGBTQIA+ pressure group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), announced it would cut 20% of its staff in February, laying off about 50 people.

GLSEN’s leader “says that the business decision was painful and necessary in response to mounting financial pressures and coordinated right-wing attacks,” which the LGBT lobby is apparently losing, reported The Advocate. GLSEN Executive Director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, whom the outlet describes as “the first [b]lack and nonbinary person to lead the organization,” announced the LGBT pressure group fired 18 employees on February 3. “We are not an injured version of the GLSEN we were before Monday. We are a new organization,” the director insisted.

But Willingham-Jaggers admitted the lack of corporate support blew a hole in the organization’s bottom line. “We hit a ceiling — and then our revenue hit a cliff because of right-wing attacks … [T]otal revenue is down,” said Willingham-Jaggers. “They saw Target back off, and then they came for us even harder.” Willingham-Jaggers chided donors that they “need to fund us like they want us to win.” In the same vein, HRC President Kelley Robinson said “the last several years” have presented “historic challenges to our progress,” specifically from “historical softening’ of HRC’s support “in institutions, out of fear.”

These moves underline “the broader financial strain facing LGBTQ+ advocacy groups amid a shifting political and philanthropic landscape,” reported The Advocate.

According to the Human Rights Campaign’s most recent financial disclosures, HRC raised $75 million in its 2024 fiscal year — a $10 million decrease from the previous year — but spent $88.9 million, cutting its total assets by $12.6 million. (HRC still had robust total net assets totaling $45.7 million as of March 31, 2024.) With HRC, too, the largest funding decreases came from “Corporate & foundation grants & contracts” (down $5 million year over year) and “planned giving” ($1.9 million).

GLSEN’s ‘Rainbow Library’ and HRC’s ‘Gender Snowperson’ Meet the DNC

Both GLSEN and HRC have long sought to indoctrinate public school students with extreme LGBT ideology. The nation’s largest public schools union, the National Education Association (NEA), instructed teachers in 33 states how they can obtain a free “Rainbow Library” from which GLSEN describes as “an initiative that provides LGBTQ+ affirming text sets to schools free of charge. We have already sent Rainbow Library sets to 8,100 schools and libraries.”

GLSEN encouraged teachers to insert transgender ideology into math problems. For instance, in one of GLSEN’s suggested word problems, teachers would ask math students to calculate how long it will take to “spread the use of the singular they/them/their pronoun” used by individuals who identify as “nonbinary.” Since “any encounter will lead to a percent of the population adopting the they/them/their pronouns as part of regular use, the students can determine how long it will take for the entire population to adopt the use.”

GLSEN also suggested inserting multiple gender identities into student surveys that traditionally ask for a student’s sex. “[T]eachers need to be sure they include both intersex and other as choices,” and if “the students want to include data for gender, a variety of choices need to be included, such as agender, genderfluid, female, male, nonbinary, transman, transwoman, and other,” insisted GLSEN.

As this author has detailed at The Washington Stand:

“HRC’s ‘Welcoming Schools” program instructs teachers to read the book ‘They, She, He, Easy as ABC’ to children in preschool or kindergarten. Its pre-Klesson plan defines ‘gender identity’ as ‘How you feel. Girl, boy, both or neither. Everyone has a gender identity,’ conducts school trainings, and creates lesson plans for teachers beginning in ‘pre-K.’ By third grade, it encourages students to use the ‘Gender Snowperson’ exercise to ‘understand the differences between gender identity, sexual orientation and sex assigned at birth.’

“The HRC … opposes laws protecting minors from transgender procedures and has denounced laws ‘allowing misgendering of transgender students’ or regulating ‘drag performances.’”

Ironically, Robinson has accused conservatives who resist the forced insertion of LGBT ideology into their children’s curriculum of “launching a culture war against our kids.”

Both also have ties to the Democratic Party. HRC has crossed into the partisan sphere, hosting Jill Biden and dedicating $15 million to the 2024 presidential election. Shortly before election day, Robinson reassured her followers Republican ads highlighting Democrats’ extremism on the transgender issue “would fall flat again in 2024.”

GLSEN, too, has enjoyed ties to the Democratic Party since President Barack Obama nominated its controversial founder, Kevin Jennings, to serve as his “Safe Schools Czar.”

Yet corporations which accurately forecasted President Trump’s victory in 2024 have backed off support for his ideological, and political, foes in the LGBT movement. The president has taken swift action to defund, and at times prosecute, those who impose transgenderism in the schools. In his first 100 days in office, Trump has signed executive orders defining sex as a biological reality, protecting women’s sports, and prosecuting states that force girls to change in front of trans-identifying males for Title IX violations.

GLSEN, HRC to Focus on Schools, Workplace Policies, and Redefining Religion

Yet both groups insist they will double-down on propagandizing our nation’s youth in the schools — and changing their views of what the Bible teaches about sexual morality issues.

GLSEN’s plans for the future include a focus on young people and teachers, described as “supporting educators and students in local communities, amplifying youth voices” by The Advocate. Similarly, going forward, The Advocate reported, “HRC officials said schools and workplaces will be a primary area of emphasis.”

HRC will also attempt to redefine the position of the Christian religion on LGBTQ ideology. The Advocate reports that HRC plans to launch new “storytelling initiatives,” one of which will ask Mariann Edgar Budde — the cleric whom The Episcopal Church considers a bishop, who confronted President Trump in a service at the National Cathedral shortly after his inauguration — to provide “moral clarity on LGBTQ+ rights from a religious vantage point.”

In the future, both groups will have to implement their agenda with decimated workforces, thanks to the cultural winds ushered in by last November’s election.

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Trans Is Out’: DOD Begins Removing Trans-Identifying Military Members

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

PERKINS: For Congress, This Tick Tock Is Not about an App

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If you already battle high blood pressure, you may want to skip this next exercise. But for the rest of us, open a browser to USDebtClock.org and watch the neon-red digits spin faster than Reverend Al Sharpton when a TV camera blinks on. In the next few minutes, the display will rise by roughly $40 million, pushing the debt far beyond $36 trillion and accelerating toward $37 trillion. That’s more than $265,000 for every American household. And every added dollar is another chain of bondage for our children and grandchildren, a silent tax on their freedom and future.

Why the relentless rise? One reason is the waste, like that exposed last week by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. His report confirms that President Joe Biden’s 2021 withdrawal left the Taliban with 78 aircraft, 40,000 military vehicles, and more than 300,000 weapons — hardware American taxpayers bought for roughly $25 billion. Terrorists are now better armed than when we entered Afghanistan in 2001, funded with borrowed money

That was the Biden administration. Surely Republican leadership will reverse course — right? Not so fast. Keep your eye on that spinning debt clock.

Congress is assembling what the president calls the “one, big, beautiful bill,” a massive budget reconciliation package that needs only 51 Senate votes. Reconciliation is a rare chance to rein in spending and strip out policies that violate the GOP’s professed values —v alues that have grown hazy in the absence of a formal platform but still generally include protecting life, safeguarding children, and practicing fiscal restraint.

Yet about 20 House Republicans are threatening to torpedo the entire bill unless Planned Parenthood — the nation’s largest abortion business — continues to receive roughly $700 million a year in fresh taxpayer funding. Let that sink in: self-described pro-life lawmakers are ready to keep borrowing from your grandchildren to bankroll an organization that Congress has investigated for trafficking in baby body parts, an organization repeatedly accused of shielding sexual predators from justice.

With chemical-abortion pills now accounting for as many as two-thirds of all abortions, Planned Parenthood is eyeing its next profit center: cross-sex hormones and other so-called “gender-affirming” drugs — even for minors.

Do you really want your federal tax dollars underwriting permanent medical harm to confused children?

Here’s the bottom line: Planned Parenthood is not in the business of saving lives; it is in the business of ending or permanently altering them — about 400,000 last year alone. A Republican White House and a Republican-led Congress have zero moral or fiscal justification for sending one more dime its way.

So pray for courage — and then pick up the phone. Tell your representative to pass a reconciliation bill that cuts spending, protects the unborn, and refuses to subsidize Planned Parenthood. The debt clock is ticking, and so is the conscience of the nation.

AUTHOR

Tony Perkins

Tony Perkins is president of Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

ARIZONA: 15 Counties in Arizona Ordered to Remove Illegal Aliens from Voter Rolls

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America First Legal has won its lawsuit in Arizona, requiring all 15 counties in Arizona to remove illegal aliens from voter rolls. The idea that we have to litigate rule of law. Our taxpayer dollars have to fund litigation in every corrupt blue state, county, locality that  doesn’t follow the Constitution and rule of law.

That said, this is a huge win for election integrity and ensuring only U.S. citizens vote in our elections.

Following AFL’s Lawsuit, All 15 Counties in Arizona Now Taking Action to Remove Illegal Aliens from Voter Rolls in Major Win for Election Integrity

By:  America First, April 14, 2025:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — America First Legal (AFL) has secured a major victory for election integrity, with all 15 counties in Arizona now working to remove non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls. Following a settlement in a lawsuit AFL filed last year, all 15 Arizona County Recorders are now seeking assistance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify the citizenship status of registered voters who have not provided proof of citizenship.

AFL filed the lawsuit against the 15 counties in Arizona on September 4, 2024, on behalf of its clients, Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, known as EZAZ.org, and Yvonne Cahill, a registered voter and naturalized citizen. The lawsuit stemmed from Arizona’s unique voter registration system, which, unlike almost every other state, requires documentary proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections. The state’s groundbreaking law imposing this requirement is an important way to ensure that only eligible citizens can vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that in federal elections, states cannot impose additional voter registration requirements beyond what the federal voter registration form requires, which only requires registrants to check a box affirming they are citizens. Therefore, if someone registering to vote in Arizona refuses to provide proof of citizenship, the state is required to allow that person to vote in Arizona’s federal elections, unless the state discovers that the individual is an ineligible voter. However, Arizona law still requires proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections.

Nearly 50,000 individuals have registered to vote in Arizona without providing proof of citizenship. These so-called “federal-only voters” can only vote in Arizona’s federal elections, but not in state or local elections.

Arizona law requires county recorders to perform monthly list maintenance to confirm the citizenship of federal-only registered voters. Voter registrations of people found to be non-citizens are required to be canceled, while those who are confirmed to be citizens are moved onto the regular voter list and allowed to vote in state and local elections. However, county recorders had not been utilizing all available resources to verify the citizenship status of registered voters until AFL took action last year, notifying all 15 Arizona County Recorders of the resources available to them and their legal obligations to use them.

Two federal statutes, 8 U.S.C. § 1373(c) and 8 U.S.C. § 1644, authorize state and local officials to obtain information about the citizenship or immigration status of any individual for any lawful purpose. Until now, county recorders haven’t invoked this law to get DHS’s assistance to verify the citizenship of federal-only voters. However, on January 20, 2025, the day that he took office, President Trump issued an Executive Order requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security “to ensure maximum compliance by Department of Homeland Security personnel with the provisions of 8 U.S.C. 1373 and 8 U.S.C. 1644 and ensure that State and local governments are provided with the information necessary to fulfill … citizenship, or immigration status verification requirements authorized by law.” And again, on March 25, he issued an Executive Order on election integrity that cited 8 U.S.C. 1373(c) and affirmed that “the Department of Homeland Security is required to share database information with States upon request so they can fulfill this duty” of making sure that aliens are not registered to vote.

AFL sued all 15 of Arizona’s County Recorders to compel them to enlist DHS’s aid to verify the citizenship of voters. Late last year, the County Recorders of Yavapai and Mohave Counties settled the case and asked DHS to assist the counties in verifying the citizenship of federal-only voters. Last week, Maricopa County and the remaining 12 counties joined in sending requests to DHS to verify the citizenship of federal-only voters.

AFL is proud to have partnered with EZAZ.org and Yvonne Cahill to protect Arizona election integrity, and we will continue fighting relentlessly to ensure that only American citizens vote in U.S. elections.

Statement from James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel:

“This settlement is a great result for all Arizonans. This will help County Recorders find and remove any aliens on their voter rolls. It will also potentially enfranchise federal-only voters whose citizenship is confirmed, which would allow them to vote in State and local elections. AFL congratulates each of Arizona’s 15 County Recorders for taking this bold and important step for election integrity in the State,” said James Rogers.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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TRUMP PEACE: President Trump Announces ‘Full and Immediate Ceasefire’ Between India and Pakistan

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

On this Mother’s Day of 2025 thinking of dozens of Moms crying and carrying heavy hearts over the loss of their children to criminal illegal aliens

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On this Mother’s Day of 2025, I have become personally aware of dozens of Moms crying and carrying heavy hearts over the loss of their children, the damage and emotional scaring perpetrated upon those they nurtured, lovingly cared for in indescribable means and ways. Yes, there are moms today whose child has died in various tragedies. My words may not initially comfort or minister to them, but I pray I might bring some measure of peace. I am remembering today Moms whose children decided to seek their own path upon reaching the age of consent, choosing to not look back nor even give a measure of recognition to the person who brought them into this life, cared and nurtured them in numerous ways, arose multiple times in the middle of the night to check on them while they were sick, comforted them when they received an “F” on a test or were dropped into a lower reading group and were going to quit school; after all, it was 4th grade and I went from the Cardinals to the Bluejays having missed two weeks of classes due to pneumonia.

The past several weeks, I have conferred with moms whose child or children have been forcibly removed from their home and sent to “reeducation camps” secretively with no forewarning and detained in these out-of-state camps not able to phone, write, or use a computer, and not told where they are. Upon return to Arizona, the child is sent to live with the previously determined “non-custodial” parent; even if reports of that parent abusing alcohol, drugs, strip bars, being verbally abusive or otherwise have been an issue. There have been several “minor children” ages 16 who ran away from a reeducation camp and went “invisible” so they did not have to return and be forced to continue the horrendous system of so-called counseling and reunification to the non-custodial parent with whom they were being forced to reside. And the mom was left with her child absolutely turned psychologically and emotionally upside down. Tomorrow, Monday, May 12th, beginning at 9am and for seven hours, a joint Arizona Legislative Hearing will be held to review horrific evidence and documents further describing what I just mentioned. I will distribute recordings of the hearings in the coming days.

So, what message have I already given these moms, and what about today? What may I share on this Mother’s Day that is not preachy or naive; it is not some “feel good” message suggesting moms need to simply get over it? I felt led to share a passage from Jeremiah 31 v 15-17. Allow me to share but not with changing the meaning in any way.

The Lord speaks to Moms who have suffered somewhat as I described above. He wants moms to know that He has seen and knows of their bitter weeping. It is understandable that their weeping may be strong and heartfelt and cannot be comforted, for the child is gone. But the Lord also wants these Moms to know that He has definitely seen them, and has heard your quiet prayers, and you will see them again; they will come back to you – even from a distant land to which they may have traveled, be it physically or emotionally. There is hope for your future so turn your tears unto Me and allow Me to comfort you, not the things of this world.

Allow me to leave with this passage also from Jeremiah 29 v 11-13; “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find Me when you seek Me, if you look for Me in earnest.”

Moms are a special gift from the Lord. Their perseverance, patience, long-suffering, love, support are gifts we hardly celebrate until one day we truly miss them, and the giver of them — Mom.

©2025  All rights reserved.

Ideas of Stalinism — The Basis of New Radical Democrat Party

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The new year of 2025 was rich with interesting topics. I was intrigued with the revelation and exposure of Stalinism in America by “the Elon Brigade”. Yet, they still don’t know its origin. The vast majority of Americans even don’t know the name of Joseph Stalin, a dictator of the Soviet Union. Many of them, especially young people, have no idea of the country I am talking about. It is Russia, it is the name of the Russian Federation today. That lack of global political illiteracy happened for a simple reason—America has missed seventy years of Russian history in the 20th century. Americans don’t know Stalin’s ideology and system of Soviet Socialism, which I called Soviet Fascism. That ideology and system have been spreading globally to expand the Russian sphere of influence for the last several decades and finally reached American soil…

Do we need Greenland or Canada? Of course we do, it is necessary for their own benefits and survival. Neither of them knows Stalinism and its deadly threat to humanity. I am a former Soviet attorney, who has been writing about Stalinism for 44 years in America. Stalin made Russia a terrorist state marrying his socialist ideology with Islam, that way we got Islamic Jihad in the 21st century Mideast. The leader of the Russian Revolution 1917, Vladimir Lenin was assassinated and due to the irony of history, unknown to the world sinister dictator, Joseph Stalin has become an unlimited ruler of a former Russian Empire, spread through eleven time zones. To legitimize his power Stalin was using the rhetoric of Marxist Theory, while he was designing and building his own ideology and system of Soviet Socialism—the Soviet people called it—Stalinism

Marxist Theory was written for industrially developed European countries and was very successful in Europe. However, none of the industrially developed European countries materialized Marxist Theory, they rejected it. The first Socialist Revolution 1917 took place in Russia. “The Communist Manifesto (1848) was a pamphlet outlining the theory of historical development. Marx formulated and identified in detail the tasks, agendas, and ways to achieve them in the Theory, as follows:

  • First – the tasks and agenda—overthrowing the capitalist economic system and establishing Socialism as a basis for the creation of a classless Communist society in the future.
  • Second – how to fulfill the tasks and agenda—through World Revolution.
  • Third – the World Revolution would occur under the leadership of the proletariat.  “Proletariats of the world unite!” was their slogan.
  • Fourth – Marxist Theory can be applied only in industrially developed European countries.

Pay attention to the fourth point:” Marxist Theory can be applied only in industrially developed European countries.” The Socialist Revolution took place in 1917 Russia, an agricultural country that has never been an industrially developed European country. Due to the irony of history, Stalin has become an ultimate ruler of the former Russian Empire. The creation of his system of Soviet Socialism, which was in direct opposition to Marxist Theory—a typical Stalin’s fraud. He knew Socialism couldn’t exist without the government force. Stalin used Marxist rhetoric, while  fabricating and weaponizing his system, completely intertwined with punitive agencies. The creation of the Soviet Mafia, Socialist modus operandi, and the KGB’s Mafia/Army had been a necessity for Stalin to control and power. A devoted disciple of Stalin/Andropov, Vladimir Putin is still keeping the Soviet system of punitive agencies in Russia after the Soviet Socialism had collapsed in 1991.” Global Stability is Shaken as a Result of The Russian/Chinese Subversion of America December 15, 2024

I have been researching Stalinism for 44 years and called it Soviet Fascism. Why? Because Stalin’s ideology and system of Soviet Socialism is a fraud. Socialism and Fascism are two sides of the same coin of a totalitarian state—the regime of the weaponized Law Enforcement. The abbreviation Nazis means national-socialists. To protect the Third Right, Hitler created a law enforcement agency to guard the political regime—its name was Gestapo. Stalin did the same. Knowing that socialism can’t sustain itself, Stalin has weaponized the Soviet Law Enforcement and established an intertwined system of economic Socialism with the agency called the KGB. That way the economic system has become—Soviet Socialism. No domestic or international trade could be completed without the KGB’s approval. The power of that Soviet Law Enforcement agency has quadrupled globally for the last 30-40 years. I have been writing about how the KGB has become a global KGB’s Mafia-Army—Global Criminal Terrorist Organization—a main topic of my writings.

​Yes, the Cold War has not ended, it covertly, but smoothly moved to WWIII due to the American lack of knowledge about a real aggressor, destabilizing the world for the last hundred years—Stalinism. Pam Bondy was right: “we are in a modern-day warfare” on American soil, I would add. Because Stalinism and his system of Soviet Socialism had finally reached America through the Democrat Party—Truman’s party was turned over to Stalin’s Soviet Socialism. I have been trying to explain the criminal nature of Stalinism for forty years. I am not able to repeat it again. Yet, I’ll give you the origin of the current Drug Cartels. Here is a document by the Soviet Defense Council of 1955, the first formal Soviet decision, designed by Stalin to launch narcotics trafficking against the Bourgeoisie and especially against American capitalism:

“Soviet strategy for revolutionary war is a global strategy… narcotics strategy is a sub-component of this global strategy. …First was the increased training of leaders for the revolutionary movements—the civilian, military, and intelligence cadres.”  Russia has been drugging the world since 1955! . Read my column for detail. The Political Mafia and Soviet Fascism in America October 27, 2016. Today, in 2025 the crime has quadrupled by the Chinese Communists and the entire “New Axes of Evil” created by the Russian Intel and Military. “The New Axes of Evil” is my term for Socialist/Communist countries of the world using Stalin’s socialist modus operandi: lies, deceit, fabrication and fraud…

​Not a lot of changes occurred in Russia since the Collapse of the Soviet Union: the economic system of Soviet Socialism was dismantled by President Reagan and instead Putin created a Crony Capitalism run by the oligarchs tied to the FSB. Yet, Stalin’s system of weaponized law enforcement is alive and well—corrupt, violent, and abusive system, a highly Anti-Semitic one. Stalin’s socialist modus operandi is still intact there. Putin is a devoted disciple of the Stalin-Andropov legacy, his strategic objectives to increase Russia’s sphere of influence, whether the Ukraine or the U.S.A. Never forget it!

Yes, Putin continues increasing Russia’s influence globally including the U.S.A. Don’t forget that Europe has been under Russian influence for 70-80 years. The EU has been designed by the KGB Chairman Kryuchkov. Watch the Dems, their collective cover-up of Biden’s mental decline using Stalin’s socialist modus operandi. Just recall and analyze Biden’s four years and the Dems’ behaviors: they were lying, deceiving, cheating, and duping you all those years. Don’t you think that the Dems were using Stalin’s socialist modus operandi? Yes, they did. Some of them are also against Israel! Don’t be surprised, there is another feature of Soviet Socialism, which I called Soviet Fascism, in America…

Just watch terrorism against Tesla in nine states across the nation: intimidation and threat to Musk’s life, arsonists burning several cars, Tesla’s owners, 8 Molotov Cocktails. All of that presented organized criminal enterprise against the American republic. The words “arson and Molotov Cocktails” are the Red Flag of Stalinism. The Dems were using socialist modus operandi to stop Musk, who was exposing their fraud! Think about that!!! I hope this column will help “the Elon Brigade” to show the Dems real face, exposing some of them as the Stalinists fighting a civil war against Republicans and the Trump agenda…

​Some Dems don’t know Stalinism, but some know it well and followed for decades his major postulate addressed to all socialist-communists of the globe: “Never admit crime committed, instead accuse your opponent of that exact crime.”  The past nine years the Dems have been accusing Trump in collusion with Russia. They did it to cover up that exact crime they had committed following Stalin’s advice. Under the Dems, Stalinism infiltrated all departments and agencies of the American Government, especially Intel and the Pentagon. There are four Dems’ candidates for the presidency in 2028, I suspect three of them in ties with Russian Intel. I’ll describe only Mayor Pete, a previous Secretary of Transportation. His family came from Russia, where his Father was a lecturer of Marxism-Leninism, which could be only with the KGB’s close ties. His Father has prepared Pete for using the American transportation, and he did.

​This is my personal opinion, which I have been trying to convey since August 2021—the foreign power is constantly dismantling our nation from within for the last 70-80 years. I identified that power in three columns written in August 2021 for you to learn the Russian origin of the current Drug Cartels. The recent acts of sabotage confirmed it. The first act was Supply Chain disruption, the second a derailment of the train in East Palestine, and then destruction of the bridges by the ships. I think all of that has been organized or supervised by Pete Buttigieg, let alone the troubles in the department of transportation itself. I have warned the GOP in my email: Expect more plane crashes, 2,20,25. Read also my columns about other Democrats’ saboteurs.

I can’t avoid returning to Biden’s open border policy. It inflicted a gigantic harm and destruction to the American Republic that will take decades to undo. There are over 20 million illegal migrants on our soil; among them criminals from prisons and mentally ill people.  They are injuring, raping, and murdering Americans! Biden’s policy of open border surprised many and we expected some Dems to ask Biden of the reason he announced the policy. Nobody asked him a question. Evidently, all Dems had agreed with Biden. As a matter of fact, Biden has violated the American sovereignty, which is a federal crime against the American republic. Moreover, he did it with the help of foreign country, which is—treason. There are two factors that require an immediate investigation…

The recent researches and published new books are reporting the truth—Biden’s mental capacity has diminished and he was unable to run the country. Those who had eyes and ears have known that. I noticed it in 2019-2020. Now we know that Biden wasn’t in charge of the country. We also know that autopen existed and somebody used Biden’s name to exercise domestic and foreign policies. Who is he or she or who are they? The history of Stalinism can answer the question. Do you remember The Mariel Boat Exodus from Cuba 40 years ago? Many of the boats were forcibly loaded by Cuban authorities with criminals and mentally ill people plucked from institutions on Island. At the time, Cuba was run by the Soviet Military and Intel. That historic precedent gives us the name of the culprit today—Stalin’s Soviet Military and Intel…

​Just go to Biden’s team of Global Invasion to the U.S.A. from 120-160 countries 40-45 years later. President Trump is right talking again about the invasion of America by criminal gangs and mentally ill people. Compare it to the Cuban Mariel Exodus and you can easily identify the culprit—the Soviet Military and Intel. If then it was managed by the KGB, forty-five years later it is executed by the KGB’s Mafia-Army. There is another critical connection of the Dems with the Russian Intel—the real history of Stalinism in America. I expressed my opinion in August 2021: “a shameful retreat from Afghanistan has been designed by Vladimir Putin and executed by Biden’s WH.” Read my three columns dated August 2021.

Gordon Chang said: “Chinese regime is not stable.” Chang thinks that the Chinese Military is not subordinated to Xi and told us that it was the reason Xi is becoming more military aggressive to save his post. Chang is right, Stalin’s system of Soviet Fascism has been spread by the KGB’s Mafia-Army into all socialist/communist countries as a pattern of Stalinism. China has the same Soviet System the Soviet Union had and it will have the same collapse of socialism in China, which is not sustainable even if you call it communism. But I don’t know when. Several banks are bankrupt today in China…

Look at Venezuela, its regime is guarded by Russia’s army like it was in Cuba 40 years ago. It was Stalin, who bequeathed to start war against the West from Iran hundred years ago. His devoted disciple Putin, began weaponizing Iran by building the Drone factory 20-25 years ago. As a matter of fact, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and Syria are Russia’s proxies since the 1960-70s. Do you remember American Hostages in Iran? What ideology does Iran follow today, Marxism or Soviet Fascism? It is not a rhetorical question, because Republicans are fighting Marxism, a non-existed enemy and ignoring the actual one—Soviet fascism. My latest columns discuss it for years, one of them: Evil Will Do Whatever It Takes to Destroy America  7,2, 24.

Fighting a non-existed Marxism the GOP is undermining its own position and diverting people’s attention from an actual culprit—the KGB’s Mafia-Army, the real manager of Stalin’s Soviet Fascism. It is not Marxism that raised Anti-Semitism globally and nationwide. It is Stalin’s creation of Soviet Fascism did. Don’t rely on the U.S. Supreme Court, two justices are tied to the KGB and it is not Sotomayor…The South African Government is Stalinist-communist one like the Chinese Don’t waste time waiting for another attempt to assassinate Trump. It will come! And only awareness of Stalinism can prevent it from happening, awareness of the KGB’s Mafia/Army. I have been writing about Russia’s Intel for four decades. To prevent you from reading my book, the FBI made me a Foreign Agent in 2002 and consequently sabotaged and banned my book What is Happening to America? three times. On August 31 2024, I submitted the book to Amazon.com for the fourth time. You can learn about the KGB’s Mafia-Army that runs the Democrat party by Stalinism today. Please Click Here.

The issue of Stalinism is a monumental one. Knowledge of Stalinism is a Must for global peace, stability, and tranquility. I touch only a tip of the iceberg. I hope “the Elon Brigade” will do the rest. Reading the columns written by me for 44 years will arm them with all the dirty tricks of Stalinism.

Good Luck!!!

©2025 . All rights reserved.

To be continued  www.simonapipko.com and at www.drrichswier.com/author/spipko/

AWED MEDIA BALANCED NEWS: We cover Energy to Education to Elections — and more!

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Welcome! We cover Energy to Education to Elections — and more!

Here is the link for this issue, so please share it on social media.

Checkout the 2025, 2024, & 2023  archives, plus asterisked items below.

— This Newsletter’s Articles, by Topic —

This Issue’s Best of the Best:

*** Landmark study of 85 million reveals shocking surge in heart attacks, strokes, and sudden death following the notorious COVID-19 jab

*** Shingles vaccine results in having a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular disease

*** A Nation in Pain: Can New Approaches Turn the Tide?

*** Most Moms Are Happy—Despite What Parenthood Critics Claim

*** A Fifth of American Adults Can’t Read — Here’s How to Teach Them

*** PragerU Video: Emasculating Boys (in the Boy Scouts)

*** Mississippi Schools Are Better Than Yours

*** Short Video: Why Reform Teacher Education? (This info in a document)

*** Science sleuths flag hundreds of papers that use AI without disclosing it

*** A Thorium Reactor Has Rewritten the Rules of Nuclear Power

*** Just Say No to Battery Storage for Wind or Solar

*** The Spanish Blackout Shows Why the Green Dream Is Unsustainable

*** What Is Reactive Power and Why Is It Important in Power Systems?

*** Study: The effect of renewable energy incorporation on power grid stability and resilience

*** El Blackout

*** Sue & Litigate at the EPA

*** You don’t have to be a climate scientist to personally fact check misleading Climate Claims by Governments and activists

*** Carbon Capture: Costly, Useless & Harmful

*** Trump Crushes Climate Dogma as Europe Doubles Down on Folly

Secondary Education Related:

*** Mississippi Schools Are Better Than Yours

*** Short Video: Why Reform Teacher Education? (This info in a document)

*** Book: The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World

The South’s Public-Education Revival

Higher Education Related:

*** Report: University: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Funds and Fundraising

*** Report: University DEI: Status Quo and Rebrands

*** It’s time to get serious about ideological balance on campus. Here’s how

*** In Austin, a Double Shot of Academic Counter-Revolution

Linda McMahon blasts Harvard in scathing letter

Three Rogue Judges Block Trump Admin Efforts To Eradicate Discriminatory DEI From Schools

Artificial Intelligence:

*** Science sleuths flag hundreds of papers that use AI without disclosing it

Is Realty Vanishing? AI Makes Americans Suspicious of Everything on the Internet

Spain and Portugal Power Grid Failure:

*** The Spanish Blackout Shows Why the Green Dream Is Unsustainable

*** What Is Reactive Power and Why Is It Important in Power Systems?

*** Study: The effect of renewable energy incorporation on power grid stability and resilience

*** El Blackout

Spain’s blackout is a flashing warning light for our renewable energy system

Did Spain’s push for renewable energy have any impact on its mass power blackout?

Over-Reliance On Renewables Behind Catastrophic Blackouts in Spain

Yes, We Can Blame Solar for Spain’s Blackout — and if the Socialist Government Doesn’t Change Course, Expect More Blackouts

The Spanish Blackout Is a Warning to the World

Greed Energy Economics:

Pennsylvania’s ‘Price Cap’ Could Hike Electricity Bills

Unreliables Energy Health and Ecosystem Consequences:

Wind power’s eagle-kill permits are a deadly failure so permitting must stop

Unreliables (General):

*** Just Say No to Battery Storage for Wind or Solar

Green NGOs feel the heat

Renewable Portfolio Standards

Wind Energy — Offshore:

RWE ending US offshore operations

Wind Energy — Other:

*** Wind industry keeps preying on Upstate NY region

Nuclear Energy:

*** A Thorium Reactor Has Rewritten the Rules of Nuclear Power

Nuward’s New SMR Concept

Fossil Fuel Energy:

Epstein: Answers to student questions about fossil fuel growth

Electric Vehicles (EVs):

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, of Electric Vehicles

Misc Energy:

Rethinking the Future of Energy: The Real Clear Energy Future Forum

Manmade Global Warming — Some Deceptions:

*** You don’t have to be a climate scientist to personally fact check misleading Climate Claims by Governments and activists

*** Carbon Capture: Costly, Useless & Harmful

The Nihilism of Beijing’s New York Climate Radicals

UK To Experiment With “Dim The Sun” Projects To Stop Global Warming

Manmade Global Warming — The Science:

*** Trump Crushes Climate Dogma as Europe Doubles Down on Folly

US Election:

*** Most of Trump’s Election Integrity Executive Order Remains in Place

Confused about Ranked Choice Voting? View MFEI’s 4-min tutorial.

*** Video: My talk to Michigan legislators on Election Integrity (audits). (> ~ 6 min)

*** Report: A Performance Audit of Utah’s Election System

North Carolina needs better election audits

Former Colorado postal employee admits to stealing ballots ahead of 2024 election

US Federal Agencies:

*** Sue & Litigate at the EPA

What We Know About Casey Means—Trump’s New Nomination for Surgeon General

Why we need a free market in disaster insurance: the case of California wildfires

Misc US Politics:

*** Dhillon Promises Action To Enforce Trump’s Executive Orders On Civil Rights

The Unraveling Economic Order

Societally US:

*** Most Moms Are Happy—Despite What Parenthood Critics Claim

*** A Fifth of American Adults Can’t Read — Here’s How to Teach Them

*** PragerU Video: Emasculating Boys (in the Boy Scouts)

Globalism:

The Fourth Turning: Globalism is Dead, Technocracy is Reborn

Science:

*** Cardinal Robert Prevost announced as first American pope

Book: A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown: Essays for a Scientific Age

Health:

*** Shingles vaccine results in having a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular disease

*** A Nation in Pain: Can New Approaches Turn the Tide?

Heart disease death risk raised by common household products, study finds

New organization: Healing Science Policy

COVID-19 — Misc:

*** Landmark study of 85 million reveals shocking surge in heart attacks, strokes, and sudden death following the notorious COVID-19 jab

*** Children’s Nightmare No Fairytale

Canadian Government Begins Testing Inhaled Covid mRNA ‘AeroVax’

Israel/Ukraine:

Pray for the safety of the Israeli people

*** Latest Developments in Israel

Pray for the safety of the Ukrainian people

A well-rated source to make a Ukraine donation

*** Latest Developments in Ukraine

Please use social media, etc. to pass on this Newsletter to other open-minded citizens…If you’d like to be added to (or unsubscribe from) the distribution of our popular, free, worldwide Media Balance Newsletter, simply send me an email saying that.

Note 1: We recommend reading the Newsletter on your computer, not your phone, as some documents (e.g., PDFs) are much easier to read on a large computer screen… We’ve tried to use common fonts, etc. to minimize display issues.

Note 2: For past Newsletter issues see the archives from 2022, 2023, 2024, & 2025. To accommodate numerous requests received about prior articles over all fourteen plus years of the Newsletter, we’ve put this together — where you can search ALL prior issues, by year. For a background about how the Newsletter is put together, etc., please read this.

Note 3: See this extensive list of reasonable books on climate change. As a parallel effort, we have also put together a list of some good books related to industrial wind energy. Both topics are also extensively covered on my website: WiseEnergy.org.

Note 4: I am not an attorney or a physician, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or any of my websites) should be construed as giving legal or medical advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent, licensed attorney when you are involved with legal issues, and consult a competent physician regarding medical matters.

Copyright © 2025; Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (see WiseEnergy.org).

Netanyahu on Trump: “We speak every few days!”

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Netanyahu appeared in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee spoke about the media chatter that Trump doesn’t like him. 

“I heard in the media that Trump and I are parting ways. Ambassador Huckabee pointed it out. Trump and I talk every few days. He said himself that we see eye to eye. I don’t think you’re going to hear about a Palestinian state, the talk of a rupture is for political reasons.

We didn’t ask for permission to attack the Houthis, and we’re not asking for permission for our war plans in Gaza.

The Americans volunteered to get involved with the Houthis and said they would leave when it stops.”

Israel’s war is a beacon for all Middle East minorities

In the Middle East, all minorities bleed — Israel gives them hope.

It is often said that the Jewish people are hated in the Middle East. That is true — but it is only part of the story.

In truth, hatred for minorities of all kinds is woven into the fabric of many regimes and societies across the region. From the Yazidis slaughtered by ISIS to the Christians driven from their ancestral homelands, from the Kurds betrayed time and again, to the Baha’i persecuted in Iran — the Middle East has long been a graveyard for its minorities.

The Druze, Assyrians, Copts, Maronites, Armenians — they have all endured massacres, exile, and systemic discrimination. In nearly every Arab or Islamic state, minorities live in fear, silence, or exile. Their houses of worship are bombed, their languages erased, their communities scattered.

But one country stands apart: Israel.

Israel, the only Jewish state, is also the only Middle Eastern country where minorities can live freely, vote, speak their language, and serve in government and the military. Israeli Druze and Christians sit in the Knesset. Arab Israelis serve on the Supreme Court.

The Baha’i faith, banned and persecuted in its birthplace Iran, finds sanctuary and its world center in Haifa. Kurds, whose dream of independence is crushed across the region, look to Israel with admiration and solidarity.

Israel’s victory against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran’s proxies is not just a win for the Jewish people. It is a win for every minority fighting to survive in a region dominated by oppressive majorities. Every time Israel stands strong, it sends a message: You can be a minority and not be a victim. You can be free, proud, and armed with moral clarity.

Israel’s light shines not only for the Jews — but for every people who dreams of dignity, freedom, and a future in the Middle East.

RELATED ARTICLES:

After 43 years! Mossad and IDF recover remains of Sgt. Zvi Feldman

Paratroops moving back to Gaza

Shameful deaths during Hajj in Saudi Arabia

RELATED VIDEO: THE KEDAR DAILY VIDEO: Is there a moderate Islam?

EDITORS NOTE: This Newsrael News Desk column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Download the Newsrael App:  Google PlayAppStore

What Starts With The Jews Doesn’t Always End With The Jews

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Because radicalized students and agitators have been able to target Jews with little or no pushback, it should come as no surprise that progressive activists have broadened their scope to harass and abuse others with differing ideologies or political affiliations. 

I was asked during a reception at a recent speaking engagement whether I was shocked at the rise of political violence in the US – where elected officials incite it with words or condone it by silence. I responded that violence masquerading as political expression is neither new nor rare and that the current trend was presaged by the rise in violent antisemitism against Jewish university students, businesses and institutions, and by the acceptance of genocidal rhetoric as virtuous over the last couple of decades – and especially since October 7th.

Those who chant “free Palestine” are not seeking independence for a nation that does not exist, but the destruction of one that does. Indeed, the slogan is a call for extermination; and yet is tolerated with blasé acceptance – and often encouraged – by the progressive mainstream.

And these are often the same people who scream “death to America,” thus illustrating that Jews are still the proverbial canary in the coal mine when it comes to attracting frontline extremist hatred. While prominent conservative voices have condemned the recent wave of violence against Jews, many were nonetheless surprised when it spread to other targets, including Tesla owners and dealers, Republican party offices and officials, and corporate executives like UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, whose murder by a progressive extremist has been lauded by many on the left.

When purveyors of hate discovered they could harass Jews without consequence (and with the approval of many in the progressive political, academic and media establishments), they knew they could attack anybody perceived as ideologically or culturally divergent (usually conservative or anti-woke) without fear of consequence. And when anti-Jewish violence drew neither censure nor punishment from radical prosecutors or prominent Democrats, there was nothing to restrain leftist brownshirts from assaulting anyone they chose to vilify and dehumanize – even as they employed Orwellian doublespeak to accuse their victims of fascism for asserting the right to speak freely, advocating democratic principles, or condemning antisemitism.

Irony is entirely lost on useful idiots who demonstrate little capacity for moral clarity or logical consistency. And they advertise their idiocy whenever they scream “intifada now” or “death to America,” lobby in support of Hamas, or perpetrate antisemitic violence on university campuses across North America – all in the service of Islamists who hate everything these moral dilletantes stand for.

It is the height of absurdity when progressives who denounce their own religious traditions as evil turn around and embrace a radical faith-based hatred of all things Jewish and western – and all the more so when they glorify murder, rape, and kidnapping as noble acts of “resistance.”

Those who justify antisemitism, call for the destruction of Israel and western society, and endorse revisionist Palestinian Arab mythology include socialists, radical feminists, “queers for Palestine,” communist wannabes, and other extremist activists who blindly channel the rejectionist tropes of militant Islam. Without a hint of self-awareness, they legitimize religious doctrines under which they would be oppressed, subjugated, beheaded, or thrown off buildings by the same savage terrorists they regard as ideological confederates. Though they may share a common hatred of Jews and Israel, they would be among the first casualties in any Sharia state.

More frightening than the violence and unrest that have become so pervasive is the refusal of many liberals, including prominent Democratic politicians, to condemn violence against conservatives and others who oppose the woke agenda (despite its resounding rejection by the American electorate last November). In interview after interview, Congressional Democrats have refused to condemn brazen acts of arson, vandalism, or physical assault against perceived enemies of the left or violence against Jewish students and faculty that has continued unabated on college campuses.

It seems liberals have no problem condemning right-wing extremists for racism while giving leftist antisemites a free pass on faux constitutional grounds. Indeed, many invoke the First Amendment to shield progressives who spew hatred against Israel; riot in support of Hamas; call for the Jews’ extermination; repackage ancient blood libels as false claims of genocide in Gaza; harass Jewish university students without fear of arrest; or spout antisemitic rhetoric in the halls of Congress without serious rebuke by party hierarchy.

This double standard is tantamount to saying, “your bigots must be silenced, but ours have the right express themselves through words and violent deeds.”

Not only is this chutzpah, but it also mischaracterizes the First Amendment, especially when asserted to protect institutions that encourage antisemitic excess while simultaneously curtailing any speech they find disagreeable. Many (if not most) liberal universities have codes of conduct restricting speech that might offend progressive sensibilities regarding race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, pronoun usage, or any other social flashpoint of identity politics. Such restrictions are based on priorities held sacrosanct by progressives and designed to silence opposing viewpoints. Under many such policies, students and faculty can be penalized for stating simple scientific truths (e.g., that there are only two biological sexes), expressing conservative values, or defending Israel’s right to exist.

Though antisemitic demonstrators who engage in campus violence claim the benefit of Constitutional safeguards, the First Amendment does not protect incitement or criminality. This principle was firmly articulated by the US Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio, which upheld restrictions against speech likely to incite “imminent lawless action.”

Given that incitement is not protected speech – and that the Constitution has never been interpreted to shield acts of lawlessness or violence – the Trump administration was within its rights to withhold federal funds from universities that permit antisemitic activism on campus and fail or refuse to protect Jewish students. The receipt of federal funds by private universities is not a fundamental right, but rather a discretionary, conditional entitlement bestowed by the executive branch; and if recipient institutions permit violent antisemitism and deny Jewish students equal protection, the President certainly has the authority to stop the flow of funding.

It seems, however, that many Democrats disagree, as they are circling the wagons and exhorting these institutions to resist the Trump administration – and implicitly by extension, its Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. Perhaps most prominently, Harvard University rebuffed Trump’s demands aimed at eliminating campus antisemitism (among other things) – despite the threat of a multibillion-dollar funding freeze.

Rather than concede the reality of antisemitism, liberal champions of Harvard and similar institutions are urging resistance, including Barack Obama, who posted the following statement on X:

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

Such statements beg the question of how demanding the cessation of campus antisemitism and protection of Jewish students could in any way “stifle academic freedom.”

How does allowing calls to exterminate the Jewish nation contribute to “an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect”? Would Obama and others who advocate resistance against President Trump’s efforts to eradicate campus hate be concerned about stifling academic freedom if the victims were black, Hispanic, female, gay, trans, Arab, or Muslim?

It is hypocritical to claim that Trump is somehow threatening academic integrity at universities which for years have used conduct codes and threats of probation, suspension, or expulsion to stifle speech they find disagreeable when it contradicts progressive dogma. Rather than encourage the free exchange of ideas, many institutions have become incubators of intolerance, narrow-mindedness and hatred, where dissent is quashed by systemic bullying and indoctrination that evokes totalitarian excess.

Those who passionately exhort universities to resist Trump’s efforts to eliminate campus antisemitism are not defending academic freedom. In fact, they are enabling extremism, excusing incitement and violence, legitimizing anti-Jewish and anti-western hatred, and reinforcing dictatorial impulses.

Given the influence such institutions have on society and in grooming future leaders, it should come as little surprise that their role in enabling or failing to curb Jew-hatred has normalized intolerance against all. And because radicalized students and agitators have been able to target Jews with little or no pushback, it should likewise come as no surprise that progressive activists have broadened their scope to harass and abuse others with differing ideologies or political affiliations.

Similar radicalization occurred in pre-war Nazi Germany, where institutions of higher learning were often cesspools of antisemitic indoctrination and the philosophy of dehumanization provided an intellectual predicate for genocide. Perhaps not surprisingly, many American universities at the time provided fertile ground for nurturing and disseminating similar loathsome views.

Only a dullard could fail to see the symmetry between then and now; and only a fool could fail to understand that what starts with the Jews doesn’t always end with the Jews.

©2025 All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: The blindness of the west

How to Cultivate Your Sixth Sense — The Power of Intuition

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“We only believe in those thoughts which have been conceived not in the brain but in the whole body.”

W.B. Yeats, Essays and Introductions

Intuition is one of the most powerful faculties for gaining knowledge about the world. Along with reason, science, and imagination, it is one of the primary means by which we discover truth. The great psychologist William James went so far as to suggest that intuition is “the deep thing in us, the reasoned argument is but a surface exhibition.” (William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience)

In this video, we explore how we can tap into our intuition to answer life’s big questions – questions such as: What is my purpose? How do I find a meaning in my existence? Should I make a major career change? Should I end a relationship?

“Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation …The key question causes germination of consciousness. The properly shaped question always emanates from an essential curiosity about what stands behind. Questions are the keys that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.”

Clarissa Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves

Intuition is a process that works below the threshold of conscious awareness. Tapping into the innate wisdom of the psyche, the embodied wisdom of the physical self, and a lifetime of experience, our intuition utilizes these sources of knowledge to yield insights that are beyond the reach of conscious thought. How it does this is not well understood, or as Carl Jung wrote:

“I say intuition is a sort of perception which does not go exactly by the senses, but goes via the unconscious, and at that I leave it and say “I don’t know how it works.”

Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 18

While intuition is a mysterious phenomenon, there are steps we can take to help us generate the intuitive insights that can answer life’s big questions.

The first step is to clearly formulate the question. Our question should not be trivial in nature, but transformational. It should be one that if answered will have a lasting impact on the course of our life. This step is simple, but many people never take it. They don’t consciously formulate the big questions of life that beg for answers, and as Bernardo Kastrup writes in More Than Allegory, “For as long as the right questions aren’t asked by the intellect, the ultimate answers of life and reality will remain elusive.”

To put the intuitive mind to work in finding the answers we seek, it is best to get our self-reflective, reasoning mind out of the way after it has done its job of formulating the question. For just as a wise sage spends much time in meditative silence, so too the intuitive mind works best when not interfered with by too much conscious thinking. Or as Kastrup writes:

“The intellect self-reflectively contemplates its circumstances and asks progressively more refined questions, while the [unconscious] mind—nudged along by these questions—reacts intuitively with symbolic answers. As a matter of fact, this is how every creative person ordinarily operates in any area of intellectual activity, from science to business: first, the intellect contemplates the problem and iterates upon the right questions to ask. Then, you must stop thinking, so the questions have a chance to sink into the [unconscious] mind. Once they do, inspiration suddenly strikes, as if out of nowhere.”

Bernardo Kastrup, More Than Allegory

Silencing the mind, however, is the opposite of what many people do when attempting to answer the big questions of life. Due to the misconception that conscious reasoning is our most powerful cognitive tool, many of us endlessly ruminate on these questions and hope that the more we think about them, the more likely we are to discover a solution. Often, however, all we do is spin ourselves in circles of thought and we never arrive at satisfactory answers.

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In her book Extraordinary Knowing, the psychoanalyst Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer suggests that the phenomenon of having something on the tip of the tongue, is a simple example that shows how intuition works best when we stop trying to consciously find an answer to a question or problem. Or as she writes:

“. . .if you think of a time when you tried hard to remember something, you know the more you tried to remember it, the more you pushed it down within you. However, when you relaxed and allowed it to emerge, it bubbled right up. You accomplished that with no effort. That’s how intuition works. Effortlessness. It’s easier than you think.”

Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, Extraordinary Knowing

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer also emphasized how the wisdom that emanates from the intuitive mind is most forthcoming when we diminish the rumination of the conscious mind. Or as he writes:

“I have familiarized myself with the factual data of a theoretical and practical problem; I do not think about it again, yet often a few days later the answer to the problem will come into my mind from its own accord; the operation which has produced it, however, remains … a mystery to me …”

Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena

Quieting the mind can be encouraged through activities such as relaxation techniques, meditation, napping, listening to music, or walking in nature. We just need to do something that distracts us from the problem at hand. The moments just prior to sleep, or just prior to awakening are also well-known to be ripe for intuitive insights as these are times when our conscious thought is at a minimum.

Along with quieting the mind we should strive to connect to the body, for intuitive insights present themselves both as bodily experiences and as conscious thoughts. Our ability to detect intuitions, therefore, is promoted by exercises that ground us in the physical body. Or as Iain McGilchrist writes:

“Even if [intuitive insights] manifest as cognitive, they are embodied, in the sense that they are both informed by and inform the motion of our limbs, our breathing and pulse, the emotion of our heart and gut and mind. . .”

Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things

Gut feelings are one of the primary forms of intuitive communication. In his book Intelligence in the Flesh, Guy Claxton notes that “If you are told, ‘The best way to do this task is to go with your gut feeling’, you do better. Just this simple suggestion is enough to redirect your attention from more rational to more intuitive strategies.” (Guy Claxton, Intelligence in the Flesh)

In addition to being integral to our intuitive capacities, the gut also plays a prominent role in our emotional experience, or as McGilchrist writes:

“The gut and the psyche have close connexions. Anxiety, depression, and other disorders have characteristic expressions in gut behaviour – and the associations work both ways: diseases of the gut affect mind and mood.”

Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things

Recognizing the role that the gut plays in emotional processing, it will not be surprising to learn that chronically suppressing emotions impedes our intuitive abilities. When we sever our connection to the emotional signals that emanate from the gut, we also sever our connection to an important source of intuitive communication. Or as McGilchrist writes: “lack of awareness of emotions negatively affects intuitive decision-making.” (Iain McGilchrist, The Matter With Things)

Asking questions, quieting the mind, connecting to the body, and being more emotionally aware, are steps we can take to increase the chance of having an intuitive insight that can transform our life.

In her book Extraordinary Knowing, Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer interviews many individuals who display remarkable intuitive abilities. One of her interviewees was a woman named Helen Palmer, who as Mayer notes, “has written extensively about intuition and travels all over the world through her school, which teaches people to develop intuitive abilities”. To conclude this video, we will turn to Palmer’s insights for some practical advice on how to strengthen our intuitive capabilities.

“[Intuition] is a very different variety of knowing than the knowing we call rational. It’s different in kind. And you cannot, simply cannot, engage in both kinds of knowing at the same time. This degree of intuitive knowing relies on different, subtler signals than rational knowing. Those signals only become perceptible with a shift in consciousness, a shift out of rational thinking. That’s a jolt for intellectually trained people to realize. But as you learn to shift back and forth, you learn to trust it. And the shift gets easier—quicker and more automatic… Our minds resist intuitive knowing. Once you learn to relax that resistance, you can start to reclaim intuition from its suppression by the rational mind. The more you work with it, the more remarkable your knowing becomes. You free the receptive state from its armoring by the ego. You learn to live closer to receptivity.”

Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, Extraordinary Knowing

EDITORS NOTE: This Academy of Ideas video is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Every Step Forward in the Middle East is Thanks to Israel’s Fight Against Extremism

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Peace, progress, and even basic stability in the Middle East aren’t the result of diplomacy alone—they’re earned through strength and sacrifice. And more than any other nation, Israel has been the one standing between the region and a flood of violent extremism. 

From Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to Iran’s terror proxies across Syria and Iraq, Israel has consistently taken bold and necessary action to push back the forces of chaos and destruction. While others talk, Israel acts.

Take Lebanon. For the first time in decades, the Lebanese government is beginning to push back against Hezbollah. Why? Because after Israel’s relentless and punishing response to Hezbollah’s aggression in recent months, Beirut realizes that shielding a terror army could mean national collapse. Israel’s decisive action created a new political reality—one where even Hezbollah’s traditional protectors are forced to think twice.

This pattern is not new. When the Abraham Accords were signed, the world celebrated peace between Israel and Arab states. But that peace wasn’t born of goodwill alone—it came from a shared recognition that Israel was the only force capable of containing Iran. Gulf states saw that Israel fights terror with determination, not appeasement.

Israel’s technological edge and intelligence capabilities have helped neutralize terror threats far beyond its borders. Iranian weapons shipments have been intercepted, ISIS cells dismantled, and extremist plots in Africa and Europe traced back to Iranian agents—all thanks to Israeli vigilance.

Some critics call Israel’s wars against terror obstacles to peace. But without defeating extremism, peace has no foundation. Israel defends not just itself—it defends the possibility of a future where Middle Eastern nations cooperate, grow, and thrive.

Every time Hamas is degraded, every time Iran is checked, every time Hezbollah is pushed back, the region becomes a little more hopeful. And that’s not just good for Israel—it’s good for Arabs, for Christians, and for all people who dream of a freer, safer Middle East.

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EDITORS NOTE: This NEWSRAEL Editor editorial is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Infighting Among Repbulicans in the Forida House Fails to Protect Kids

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The article below is from Florida Citizens Alliance.

Infighting over the budget is also main reason why special session was called.

FL Legislative session for 2025 will prove even worse than failed 2024 session thanks to FL House Speaker Perez and Senate President Albritton along with Senate Rules Committee led by last year’s Senate President Passidomo who killed the top 10 Legislative priority bills in 2024.

This year, they really went after Gov DeSantis’s anti-woke agenda as well as his original support for Trump’s immigration plan producing a very flawed “Trump Act” (Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act) which did nothing to stop illegals from registering for and voting in elections nor assisting with Trump’s deportation efforts not to mention a $600M price tag including 80 new LE officers for RINO Wilton Simpson’s Ag, Dept, allegedly to “secure FL’s borders” rather than being assigned to DeSantis’s existing election crimes unit.

Bills which favor pro development (in face of lagging infrastructure) and declining rural areas have also passed. Follow the money.

Take a look at the Florida Tracking Report for major 2025 Legislature Bills.

Recommend you take a look at the Republican Liberty Caucuses (RLC) Freedom Index Report for 2025 when it comes out. It will show this session results even worse than in 2024.

Florida Citizens Alliance

Infighting Among The Three Branches in Florida Derail Legislative Session

Infighting among the House, the Senate, and the Governor derailed what could have been a successful legislative session in protecting children’s mental health. Many of FLCA’s priority bills that would have taken steps to empower parents, teachers, and students were also stalled on the Senate Side due to this infighting. Some examples of this were HB 1505/SB 1288 and HB 1539/SB 1692. An important bill amendment that would have taught human fetal development education starting in middle grades was also removed last second by Senator Calatayud (R-Miami Dade) on HB 1255.

Each Branch played a role in this fight, where major priorities for leadership were also stalled. It is truly amazing how all three branches snatched defeat from so many recent years of “Florida First”!

We achieved victories such as the stoppage of multiple bills that would have had bad outcomes and rolling back important steps we have taken over the past several years to protect children and drive better learning outcomes. An example of a bill we were able to successfully stop was SB 370 and HB 219, which would have required certain health screenings for students without parental approval.

Another victory we had was the passage of SB 7016, which changes the rules related to petition gathering for constitutional amendments. This bill will have a long-lasting impact on protecting our constitutional amendment process from bad actors who have taken advantage of it over the past few election cycles.

Also, while typically not in our education or child-focused lane, we also saw the passage of the gold and silver bills that passed both chambers.

For more information on the legislative session, please watch out for our first legislative scorecard. We will be releasing our scorecard early this summer.

Ryan Kennedy

Director of Policy and Advocacy

©2025 . All rights reseerved.

Army’s New PT Test Standards

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Regardless, I still am of the opinion that women should not serve in direct ground combat positions e.g. infantry, front line artillery, armor, cavalry, combat engineers nor Ranger, LRRP, Force Recon, Special Forces/Delta type operations units.

Here are the Army’s new ‘sex-neutral’ fitness standards

By Patty Nieberg

All soldiers can expect to do more push-ups, and women in combat jobs will have to pick up the pace in a two-mile run as much as three minutes faster, under the Army’s new fitness requirements.

“There are a couple of age brackets where your minimum run time, you might have to run about 30 seconds faster in order to pass. There are a couple of areas where you’ve got to do more hand-release push-ups,” Command Sgt. Major Stephanie Carl told Task & Purpose.

The Army released new scorecards Friday that lay out the requirements of the new ‘sex-neutral’ standards announced last month. The cards cover mandatory performance for all five events of the new Army Fitness test under two categories: one labeled “M/C” for male and all combat soldiers,s and another as “F” for female, which is for non-combat female soldiers.

Under the re-branded Army Fitness Test, AFT, soldiers will have to complete a three-repetition maximum deadlift, hand-release push-ups, the sprint-drag-carry, plank, and a two-mile run. The new test got rid of the standing power throw, more informally referred to as the ‘yeet’ event.

To pass the AFT, combat soldiers will have to earn a score of 350 points in total which averages out to between 60 and 70 points in each event.

“You’re required to get 60 points in each event so if I know that I’m only getting 65 points in one of my events, I’m gonna have to make up that difference somewhere else and do more than 70 in another event in order to balance it,” Carl said.

Under the old scoring card, soldiers across all ages were required to do 10 hand-release push-ups to pass the event with 60 points. Now, all combat soldiers, and all men, 17 to 21 will have to do 15 push-ups. Those between 22 to 31 will have to do 14 push-ups. Non-combat female soldiers in those age ranges will have to do 11.

To get 60 points for the two-mile run, all female soldiers between 17 and 21 previously had to run within 23 minutes and 22 seconds. But under the new fitness test, all combat soldiers will have to run two miles within 19 minutes and 57 seconds — a decrease in time for women of more than three minutes. Non-combat male soldiers will also have to run the event nearly two minutes faster than they were required to previously.

“We’ve raised the bar for combat MOSs, ensuring these soldiers are physically prepared for the intense demands of their roles,” Sgt. Major. Christopher Mullinax said in a statement. “The standardized scoring tables encourage all soldiers to achieve a higher level of overall fitness.”

For non-combat MOSes, soldiers have to score a minimum of 300 points with 60 in each event.

The Army Fitness Test became the Army’s “test of record” June 1 but soldiers in the 21 combat military occupational specialties will not face adverse actions for failing their tests until Jan. 1, 2026. If combat soldiers don’t score a 350 after their second test attempt, they may be forced to reclassify into a new job.

“We do recognize there are some events that soldiers are going to have to work a little bit harder if they weren’t training consistently,” Carl said. “If you were a soldier who was just hitting the minimum on some of these events now, well, your minimum might have gone up and so you’re going to have to work a little bit harder to achieve that minimum.”

To get 60 points for the deadlift, women in combat roles and all male soldiers 17 to 31 will have to lift 150 pounds, 10 pounds more than they did previously. Female soldiers of the same ages will still have to deadlift 120 pounds.

The time required to hold a plank remained the same for all soldiers.

©2025 . All rights reserved.