After being fired from FEMA for directing relief workers to avoid homes with Trump signs on them, former supervisor Marn’i Washington told an interviewer that higher-ups at FEMA were the source of that policy. Washington also suggested that the practice took place not only in Florida – as was widely reported – but also in the Carolinas. READ
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Left-leaning networks see ratings ‘nosedive’ after election
In the week since Trump won the election, CNN and MSNBC have seen their ratings plummet as both left-leaning cable news channels brace for possible future changes. On Tuesday, The Daily Mail reported that MSNBC’s post-election “nosedive” in ratings “comes as commentators and analysts continue to discuss the result - often with rants laced with ire toward the conservative.” READ
Trump announces plan to reform public education
President-elect Trump
has vowed to shepherd sweeping changes to public education during his second
term, announcing an education policy plan that includes supporting school
choice for all parents, allowing school prayer, and abolishing the
controversial U.S. Department of Education. READ
Friday, November 8, 2024
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Media scrutinized over coverage of Trump’s Cheney remarks
A chorus of observers on Friday called out corporate media sources for attempting to construe as a threat of violence Trump’s criticism of former Rep. Liz Cheney’s, R-WY, interventionist foreign policy stance. Trump had suggested – and repeated later when asked to clarify – that “warhawks” like Cheney should be given a rifle and made to face the same battles into which they send young Americans. READ
Trump promises tax breaks for homeschooling parents
Former President Donald Trump has promised homeschooling parents tax relief on their education costs, up to $10,000 per year per child. In a video posted on X, Trump stated, “When I am reelected, I will do everything I can to support parents who make the courageous choice of homeschool.” READ
Martin Scorsese series on Catholic saints coming to TV
The first four episodes of a docudrama series detailing the lives of eight saints will be released in partnership with Fox Nation on November 17, providing a way to celebrate the month that begins with the Feast of All Saints. Titled “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints,” the docuseries is hosted, narrated, and produced by the filmmaker himself. READ
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Can Harris Sell Churchgoers on Abortion and Sexual Immorality?
Presidential candidate
Kamala Harris continued her efforts to woo churchgoers on Sunday, with an appearance at the Church of Christian
Compassion in Philadelphia. Her last-minute, “souls-to-the-polls” campaign in
historically black churches comes as up to 40 million self-identified
Christians plan not to vote in the upcoming election, according to a recent George Barna
survey. Harris’s church-focused push began three days after she ejected two rallygoers who exclaimed,
“Jesus is Lord.”
The Harris campaign has
struggled to sell churchgoing voters on their candidate, in large part due to
the fact that they lack a product this audience wants. “The sole issue that
Kamala Harris has been running on” is abortion, said David
Closson, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview,
on “Washington Watch” Friday. “This really is the only issue [on which] she has
been consistent and clear and energetic.”
At a characteristic rally
in Texas on Friday, Harris took the stage with pop megastar Beyonce “where
pretty much … the main issue that they campaigned on is abortion,” Closson
described. “In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first nominee to come out publicly
and say she would be in favor of getting rid of the Hyde Amendment,” he added.
But “Hillary Clinton’s position on abortion looks tame in comparison to the
Harris-Walz ticket. They are the most ardent, energetic [abortion] supporters …
to ever run for president and vice president of the United States.”
Harris underscored her
commitment to absolute abortion in a recent sit-down interview with NBC’s Hallie
Jackson. When Jackson asked what concessions Harris would consider as president
to win codified abortion protections from a hypothetical Republican-controlled
Congress, Harris first avoided the question so obviously that Jackson asked the
question again, “So [it’s] a question of pragmatism then: What concessions
would be on the table? Religious exemptions, for example, is that something
that you would consider?” Harris finally replied, “I don’t think we should be
making concessions when we’re talking about a fundamental freedom to make
decisions about your own body.”
The question was designed
as an easy lay-up. Harris was given an opportunity to position herself as a
pragmatic, bipartisan negotiator, while at the same time planting a flag for
hypothetical negotiations next year. On the second pass, Jackson lowered the
difficulty further, signaling that this was a “question of pragmatism” and
proposing an example of a relatively painless concession that Harris could
latch onto. Yet Harris refused to budge even an inch.
“In one sense, she’s been
consistent,” responded Closson. “When she was a senator, she voted against the
Pain-Capable Act that would have provided protections for babies when they can
feel pain. She voted against a piece of legislation that would provide legal
protections for babies who survive botched abortions.”
“If Harris is in the Oval
Office on January 20th, the abortion lobby will have the most energetic
supporter that they have ever had,” he added. “Clearly, according to Kamala
Harris, even our first freedom is not as important as the sacrament of
abortion. … Abortion has been elevated to this almost quasi-religious position
in the modern-day Democratic Party.”
Abortion is the lead role
in a cast encompassing the entire Sexual Revolution. Closson noted how Harris
and other progressives in Congress support the poorly named Equality Act, a
bill “that would prioritize these contested claims of sexual orientation and
gender identity” so that they would take precedence “whenever they come into
conflict with a religious liberty claim.” When Harris first ran for president
in 2019, she wrote on a candidate questionnaire that
gender “transition treatment” was “a medical necessity,” which taxpayers should
fund for prisoners and illegal immigrants in federal custody.
This issue is less popular
than abortion, so it isn’t one Harris likes to talk about. Yet Jackson gave
Harris an opportunity to stake out a more moderate position in this election,
asking, “Do you believe that transgender Americans should have access to gender-affirming
care in this country?” Harris responded, “I believe we should follow the law.”
Again, Jackson gently pressed and Harris again deflected, “I’m not going to put
myself in the position of a doctor.”
The sexual libertinism of
the Harris campaign’s closing pitch is underscored by a pro-pornography
advertisement that Democrat-aligned super-PACs intend to run in the seven key swing
states in the final week before Election Day. In a desperate attempt to scoop
up disinclined male voters, the ad suggests that Republican politicians will
ban pornography. (This is untrue; some GOP-controlled state legislators have
merely required age verification to prevent minors — that is, non-voters — from
accessing pornographic sites.)
Can you imagine if Harris
brought this pitch to the pulpit? “Vote a blue ticket. We’ll keep porn legal.”
The parents training their 10-year-olds to pay attention during “Big Church”
would be outraged. Miss Tamara, the semi-retired potluck hostess in the stylish
hat, might faint right there in the pews. But the recently divorced young women
— perhaps some with children — whose ex-husbands refused to kill their sinful
addiction might be the most grieved of all. These are, admittedly, stereotypes;
in reality, a shift in trends means that young men are
more likely to be in church than young women.
“It’s really frightening
how many of these issues directly oppose biblical teaching,” responded Family
Research Council Action President Jody Hice. “And they’re entrenched and
embracing those things.”
“We just need to be really
clear as Christians,” declared Closson. “There are issues of clear biblical
morality on the ballot: abortion, sexuality, marriage, a host of other issues.”
The Bible addresses these fundamental moral issues in multiple places, but
Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth may be the most succinct: “Do you not
know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men
who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians
6:9-10).
“Why do we care about
politics? Why do we need to be out there voting?” Closson continued. “One, a
love of neighbor. … Can you say that you comprehensively love your neighbor if
you’re not engaging in the process that affects our basic rights and liberties
and our freedoms?” A second reason, he added, is stewardship. “God calls us to
be faithful stewards of everything he’s entrusted us with. And I think for
those of us … who live in the United States … we need to be good stewards of
our vote.”
It’s clear that Vice
President Harris is making a pitch for churchgoing voters. It’s less clear
whether it will succeed. It may come down to whether churchgoers want to buy
the vision of America that Harris is selling. After Harris’s second deflection
on the question of abortion concessions, NBC interviewer Jackson gave a
response that may prove ominously fitting, “I will move on. But I don’t know
that I heard a clear answer from you on the issue.”
Joshua
Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Missouri Amendment 3: So-Called “Fact Checkers” are Wrong
(Jefferson
City, Missouri) Thomas More Society attorneys are pushing back
against the so-called “fact checkers” trying to cast doubt on the predictions
of Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and Governor Mike Parson that proposed
Amendment 3 would reverse the Show-Me State’s prohibition on gender transition
surgeries for children, and other controversial procedures. The Thomas More
Society has released a “decoder” document to highlight the legal principles
that Missouri judges would be bound to apply when interpreting the proposal’s
troubling open-ended language. Senior Counsel Mary Catherine Martin authored
the piece to help voters read the amendment for themselves and understand its
grave consequences. Martin argued before the Missouri Supreme Court in the
lawsuit seeking to remove Amendment 3 from the ballot and she has been giving
interviews across Missouri to educate voters on the amendment.
The
document takes on the “fact checkers” by explaining that Hawley and Parsons are
right, because Amendment 3’s new right to “all matters relating to reproductive
health care” necessarily encompasses transgender interventions, including those
for minor children. The Thomas More Society notes that statements from other
sources, including the United States Office of Civil Rights, Boston Children’s
Hospital, and Planned Parenthood, also support the Hawley/Parsons
interpretation. The “decoder” further lays out how this understanding is
supported by the plain text of the amendment and by Missouri Supreme Court
precedent interpreting the words used in Amendment 3.
According
to the “decoder,” Amendment 3’s removal of restrictions on “all matters
relating to reproductive health care” would not just require Missouri courts to
invalidate the state’s current prohibition on transgender surgeries for minors
but similarly sanction all other reproductive technologies, including those yet
to be discovered. It also highlights how the text of Amendment 3 makes the
“right to reproductive freedom” a “super-right,” above every other right, even
superseding the rights of parents to guide their children’s health care. And
the “decoder” shows that the Missouri proposal is the most radical in the
country, going far beyond merely removing regulations on abortion.
The
“decoder” walks voters through the language in Amendment 3, which would disrupt
Missouri’s laws requiring parental consent for minors receiving “reproductive
health care,” prohibiting taxpayer funding for abortion, and allowing
single-sex bathrooms and sports teams. The Thomas More Society encourages
Missouri voters to interpret the actual text of the Amendment 3 proposal for
themselves, to cut through political rhetoric and vote their ballot with
informed confidence.
Download Decoding Missouri Amendment 3: A Guide to
Understanding the Language of Missouri's Amendment 3 Ballot Initiative here.
Thomas
More Society Senior Counsel Mary Catherine Martin is available for interviews
about Amendment 3 and the Thomas More Society’s efforts to inform the public
about this dangerous measure.
Harris celebrates with anti-Catholic hate group
A new ad from CatholicVote released Monday shows Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris posing with a longtime member of the anti-Catholic “drag” troupe the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI) at the San Francisco Pride parade in 2019. Numerous Catholic leaders have denounced the SPI, including Bishop Robert Barron, who describes the troupe as an “anti-Catholic hate group.” READ
22-year-old black DNC delegate switches parties, backs Trump
Audrey McNeal, 22, announced in a video posted to X Friday that after serving as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in 2020 and 2024, she is joining the Republican Party and voting for Trump. McNeal, a black woman, said she realized the Democratic Party “was no longer the party of free speech and civil liberties” and blasted her former party for “installing” Harris as its nominee. READ
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Friday, October 25, 2024
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