A new Gallup survey has found that, over more than a decade, one variable has consistently predicted whether people described themselves as "thriving": marriage. Married couples are more likely to be happy today, anticipate future happiness, and have a "strong and loving" relationship with their children than cohabiting partners.
"I'm not the same person," a 19-year-old girl known only as #13 wanted the Supreme Court to know. "I regret my abortion so much. ... I think about it every day." Taking the abortion pill "was traumatizing," she says, thinking about the tiny little person she saw. "I just died a little bit. My boyfriend and I miss our baby."
Have you ever felt lonely? Or do you know someone who is? It can be a rather miserable state of mind, often leaving us feeling hopeless, depressed, isolated, and yearning for something more. The way I see it, isolation and loneliness are not quite the same. However, they do often go hand-in-hand and have one primary element in common, namely, that the enemy loves to capitalize on both.
"Finland is the world's happiest country, U.S. drops to all-time low," the New York Post reported earlier this week. This was in response to Gallup's 2024 Happiness Report, which surveyed over 100,000 people in 143 countries. The poll was conducted over the course of three years and asked the participants to rate their lives on a scale of 1 to 10. The results shocked many, as the U.S., in 2024, dropped eight spots and now ranks 23rd overall.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a blight on higher education, but it has a simple and effective kryptonite: state legislatures with the courage to stand up and say, "Not with our money!" Florida cracked this code last year, and now they've lent the weapon to their northern neighbor. The Alabama legislature on Tuesday passed a bill (SB 129) that could slash up to $16.2 million annually in DEI spending from university budgets, enough to give about 1,350 underprivileged Alabamans a free ride in Tuscaloosa.
In a vivid reminder of the ongoing security crisis occurring along the U.S. southern border, a large group of illegal immigrants stormed and breached a security fence near the border in El Paso, Texas on Thursday, knocking over several members of the Texas National Guard in the process. Experts say the lack of consequences for illegally crossing the border under the Biden administration is only encouraging further lawlessness.
Religious leaders are calling for Europe to return to its Christian roots ahead of this year's European Union elections. A coalition of Christian organizations released a joint letter on Wednesday warning that "the importance of the Christian tradition as the 'milieu' in which today's European values were established is being overlooked," and urging politicians and voters alike to "[p]romote Christian values in the political programmes and pre-election campaigns" ahead of E.U. elections in early June.
Former President Donald Trump is leading incumbent Joe Biden in key swing and battleground states, according to a bevy of recent polls. Four Emerson College/The Hill polls released this week show Trump besting Biden in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. Last week, Emerson College/The Hill surveys showed Trump leading Biden in Pennsylvania and Georgia. According to this week's polls, in a one-on-one contest, Trump is leading Biden 52% to 48% in Arizona and Wisconsin, 51% to 49% in Nevada, and an even narrower 50.3% to 49.7% in Michigan.
Despite Joe Biden's initial empathy for Israel, along with my Israeli friends, I am increasingly shocked by the ever-increasing arrogance of America's leadership. Most amazing is their outrageous attempts to use this conflict to manipulate U.S. voters in the upcoming presidential election.
A sprawling, $1.2 trillion government funding bill includes funding for abortion facilities, as well as LGBTQ activist centers that carry out transgender injections, target minors, hold drag shows, and help illegal immigrants who identify as gay or transgender gain U.S. citizenship - a bill one congressman calls "a total, total abomination."
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman surprised New Yorkers last Thursday by signing an executive order that effectively bars boys from participating in girls' sports. The decision was celebrated by Americans who've been fighting to keep men out of women's sports, including some unlikely allies like trans-identifying Caitlyn Jenner. On the heels of Blakeman's decision is another potential victory for women's advocates - also coming from the "ultra-woke" state of New York.
Last Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and his government to be dissolved," shocking many Americans. Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, pointed out on his podcast, "The Briefing," that Schumer's statement is even more startling considering his prominent role in the Senate and the fact that he's also "often described in the media as the highest-ranking politician who is Jewish."
At Planet Fitness, you can exercise everything but your right to privacy. That's the message customers are taking to heart after an Alaskan woman had her membership revoked for complaining about a naked man in the women's locker room. The gym is a "no judgment zone," Patricia Silva was told. Well, it's about to become a profit-free zone too, thanks to angry Americans who are putting the company's stock in a $400 million dollar freefall.
As Haiti continues to experience widespread violence amid warring gangs vying for power in the streets of major urban areas, rescue flights chartered by state officials continued Wednesday to bring stranded American citizens back to the states, with hundreds more still awaiting extraction. Experts say that while the causes of Haiti's problems are diverse and complex, there is hope for the country if basic security can be restored in order to reestablish biblical principles in Haitian society.
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in a challenge to the Biden administration's "censorship-industrial complex," as Family Research Council President Tony Perkins described its methods of coercing or pressuring social media platforms to "stifle constitutionally protected speech that it viewed as misinformation or disinformation." Whatever the court decides, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) described it on "Washington Watch" as "the most important First Amendment case in the last hundred years."
A veteran Democratic senator is making a final stand for bipartisanship before retiring in January - by refusing to support President Joe Biden's judicial nominees unless they have Republican support. According to a Politico report, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voted against a slew of Biden's judicial picks this week because they didn't have Republican support in the Senate. "Just one Republican. That's all I'm asking for," Manchin quipped. "Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster. If they can't get one Republican, I vote for none. ... I said, 'I'm sick and tired of it, I can't take it anymore.'"
On St. Patrick's Day, much of the Western world pretends to be Irish - green t-shirts and shamrock socks, green beer and shepherd's pie, often topped off with bagpipes and marching bands in the local parade. On this traditionally Catholic feast day, honoring the Apostle of Ireland and first bishop of Armagh, very few pretend to be Catholic, but that's exactly what President Joe Biden did.
Nearly two out of three abortions carried out in the United States last year took place via abortion pills - a method post-abortive mothers have said inflicted "the worst physical pain of my life" and forced them to "experience the trauma again every time I used the bathroom." The abortion pills have produced so many fetal deaths and seriously harmful side effects for women that one researcher told The Washington Stand the growing number of chemical abortions represents "a tragedy."
A recent Pew Research Center poll revealed that "8 in 10 Americans say religion is losing influence in public life." On its own, this information isn't startling. Biological sex, human dignity, and science are within the list of topics becoming increasingly subjective. Truth, which is what religion is supposed to convey, seems to carry little value to many in this current climate, and biblical mandates are violated continuously. So, when "80% of U.S. adults say religion's role in American life is shrinking," the highest percentage Pew has recorded, it makes some sense. But what's surprising is that a majority of people are unhappy about it.
On Tuesday, reports surfaced that 48 colleges across the country continue to require prospective students to receive the COVID shot for admission, almost a year after the pandemic was declared over by Congress. Lawmakers and policy experts are decrying the ongoing mandates as discriminatory, unnecessary, overly burdensome, and potentially dangerous.
A guidance document recommending gender transition procedures for minors disappeared on Tuesday from the website of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), after leaked files revealed the activist organization's awareness of the dangerous and experimental nature of these procedures. The web link for the 8th edition of WPATH's transgender "Standards of Care" (SOC) remained vacant on Wednesday, generating a "Page Not Found" error message, although the 7th edition, released in 2011, was accessible.
More than a week after Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's (R) surprise signature on a controversial same-sex marriage bill, people everywhere are still trying to make sense of the decision. No one is quite sure what the openly religious businessman was trying to achieve, since the law has no practical effect except outraging the governor's conservative base. And while there's never a good time to insult your staunchest supporters, the move seemed especially tone deaf in a country moving away from the extremism he endorsed.
No longer content with rhetorically opposing pro-life laws, Democrats have introduced a bill in Congress to "celebrate" the work of abortionists, with one member of the Squad insisting, "I will never stop fighting to protect" those who take the lives of unborn children. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) introduced a measure for Congress to recognize each March 10 as "Abortion Provider Appreciation Day" in order "to celebrate the courage, compassion, and high-quality care that abortion providers and staff offer to patients and their families across the United States."
Whistleblowers are exposing that tech giant Google's internal governing policies are completely dominated by woke ideology. When Google's artificial intelligence (AI) program Gemini began generating images last month of the Founding Fathers as black men and popes as women, former Google Ventures partner Shaun Maguire said he was "not shocked at all," according to a report from The Free Press.
The U.S. government certainly faced its share of backlash from experts who disagreed with how it handled the pandemic. Even now, the scrutiny continues. A new report published by the nonprofit Committee to Unleash Prosperity (CTUP) found that "lockdowns, school closures and vaccine mandates were 'catastrophic errors' resulting in many Americans losing faith in public health institutions," Fox News reported.
"There are women and girls that spend a tremendous amount of time and effort to excel and compete in their sports that are women's sports," said New York's Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. "And it is an unfair advantage for someone who is a biological male to compete against a biological female." Blakeman made these comments in light of a unique executive order, which he signed onto Thursday that, in effect, blocks men from joining girls' and women's sports teams. And the policy has some unexpected allies.
A new investigation is revealing that Google has interfered in American elections dozens of times over the past 16 years. According to a Media Research Center (MRC) Special Report compiled by MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider and Assistant Editor Gabriela Pariseau, Google has "interfered in elections" at least 41 times since 2008. "In every case, Google harmed the candidates - regardless of party - who threatened its left-wing candidate of choice," the report states.
In the bleak weeks following Laken Riley's death, lawlessness from illegal immigrants has soared in the U.S., leading almost 70% of people to believe that the open borders "may contribute to the violence crime in America." The Rasmussen poll, interestingly, found that 64% of white people are concerned about the crime committed by illegals, while among black people, 73% are worried. "And why wouldn't they be?" Breitbart's John Nolte asks. "[They] disproportionately live in Democrat-run cities that posture as sanctuary cities."
Many Americans have a rather fuzzy picture of how adoption works in our country. Adoption impacts approximately five million American children and their families. Adoption is complicated, but well worth learning about.
The legacy media got caught over the weekend twisting President Donald Trump's use of the mundane economic phrase "bloodbath" into an instigation of violence - an act of yellow journalism that one media expert told The Washington Stand will only "further damage their credibility as self-appointed guardians of democracy and truth."
If Democratic strategists are hoping for a repeat of 2022 - when abortion saved their political bacon - things aren't exactly aligning the way they'd hoped. A repeat of the midterms seems unlikely, now that voters have two more years of Biden catastrophes to stack on top of their fears about his mental cognizance. Not to mention that, with the slight blip of the IVF debate, Americans don't seem nearly as consumed by the abortion issue as this White House.
As we plan for the events of life, whether a picnic or retirement or anything else, we are wise to consider carefully what might happen. Yet as we all know, an unexpected rainstorm can ruin a basket lunch in the park, and an economic downturn can suddenly diminish, if not destroy, long-term savings. The Bible has a lot to say about preparation for the future.
For at least two years in a row, the Army has fallen significantly short of their recruitment goals. As a result, Americans have watched the military drop standards in an attempt to increase recruitment - with little success. However, several experts have pointed out that the military's noticeable emphasis on the "woke agenda" could explain much of the downfall in recent years. Considering this leftward shift, it's unsurprising that West Point's recent announcement that it has modified the academy's mission statement has been met with backlash.
Last week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced an expanded focus on election integrity and turnout ahead of the presidential election in November. The news comes in the wake of Biden administration officials voicing opposition to what are widely considered common sense election integrity laws, such as voter ID requirements.
After falling to a historic low during the COVID-19 pandemic, marriages in the United States saw a significant rebound in 2022 and surged past the 2 million mark for the first time since 2019, new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden are actively promoting the outcome they claim to be fighting. The Biden-Harris administration has boasted in its proposed 2025 budget it has done all it can to "protect access to abortion, including medication abortion," and it has taken numerous steps to shut down efforts to halt the distribution of abortion pills. But having a miscarriage in a toilet is precisely how chemical abortion works.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins touched down in Israel on Saturday, March 9 to meet with Israeli leaders and assure them of American Christians' support. The next day, Perkins visited Re'im, the site of the October 7 attack where, as Perkins described it, "over 300 people were brutally murdered, tortured, raped, and abducted by both members of the Hamas terrorist army and civilians from Gaza who were the second wave that came in behind the fighters." Perkins reported that Hamas's October 7 attack "was not designed to be terrorist strikes, but an invasion and occupation of the various kibbutz that were attacked."
While elected officials have historically enjoyed their mingling with the brands of the common people, they stopped short of official endorsement. Elected office, it seemed, was considered off limits for the peddling of product. But that view might be changing. The sitting Republican governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, has made some bizarre posts on her non-government social media accounts, serving effectively as a celebrity endorsement for consumer products.
The human experience often reveals that feelings and emotions are both a blessing and a curse. Emotions can be so wonderful sometimes, but can also make life feel unbearable in other circumstances. And there are countless ways in which people deal with the sentiments we face. Analyzing emotions can fall simply under the category of basic human psychology and apply to anyone. As Christians, though, perhaps the conversation should have a different approach.
The division between the sexes bred by feminism initially targeted women, pressuring them to be more and more like men, especially by leaving their homes and children and joining the workforce. Of course, women cannot, by their very nature as women, be men, and thus feminism spawned a dual bitterness among its female adherents: bitterness towards masculinity for being unattainably masculine and bitterness against femininity for not being attainably masculine.
On Thursday, the House Oversight Committee announced the launch of a wide-ranging investigation into the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) efforts to infiltrate "every sector and community" in the U.S. The probe, which has the stated objective to "thwart the CCP's political and economic warfare campaign," is being initiated with letters sent to nine different federal agencies requesting reports on what the agencies are doing to counter the communist regime's efforts, along with how the agencies are coordinating their efforts with each other.
Issues surrounding transgenderism have dominated the headlines, bringing light to the fact that men who identify as women are taking over women's sports, harassing and intimidating women in female bathrooms and locker rooms, and even taking priority in the classroom. But the phenomenon of transgenderism being pushed on minors has received the most pushback, resulting in a monumental shift occurring in the U.K.
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo is currently on tour and has decided to use her stops to campaign for abortion. At her recent Missouri concert, she went full-out in the push as she announced that a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales would go to the Fund 4 Good initiative, which exists to "support all women, girls and people seeking reproductive health freedom."
As Kamala Harris became the first vice president to visit an abortion facility, the vice president denounced pro-life laws as "plain old immoral," said she wanted to "uplift" abortion, praised an abortionist as an "extraordinary health care provider," and asserted without proof that denying women access to pap smears and breast exams is one of the "potentially intended consequences" of overturning Roe v. Wade.
The NCAA has ignored Congress, its own committee members, state legislators, parents, and female athletes, but it can't ignore this. In what is being called "a day of reckoning" for President Charlie Baker, the country's biggest collegiate sports association is being taken to court over a radical transgender policy that has physically hurt, traumatized, and robbed young athletes of opportunities across America. "This is the time to speak up for all the women in the future," swimmer Reka Gyorgy insisted. "It's been two years, and nothing [has] happened. When will we change things if it's not now?"
A family of American missionaries are imploring the Biden administration for help getting out of Haiti, which has been ripped apart in recent weeks by gang violence that has plunged the impoverished Caribbean country into chaos amid gang leaders' demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. GOP lawmakers and experts say Biden's inaction in Haiti is the latest example of an administration that continually jeopardizes American lives abroad.
Last year, California passed SB 24, a low that required "public colleges and universities to provide chemical abortions, or abortion pills, in their student health centers," The College Fix reported. Within the first six months, 203 chemical abortions were carried out at the University of California, 162 at California State University, and 62 at UC Law in San Francisco.
As November draws steadily closer, yet another poll is showing support for former president Donald Trump surging ahead of support for incumbent Joe Biden. According to a HarrisX poll conducted in the days following Biden's State of the Union address, Trump is leading Biden by five percentage points (46% to 41%), with 13% of voters undecided.
For a Democratic Party so consumed with the evils of insurrection, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had no problem calling for one in Israel. In a speech that would have astounded Capitol Hill a year ago, the highest-ranking Jewish official in America demanded that Israeli voters hold an unscheduled election to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring that the man hunting down the terrorists who tortured and killed 1,200 innocent people has "lost his way."
Biden's proposed 2025 budget would place minors in opposite sex's foster care facilities, bar Christians from fostering LGBT-identifying kids, expand abortion funding, and more.
If anyone's an expert on cheating in sports, it's former U.S. Anti-Doping Agency official William Bock. The lead attorney in Lance Armstrong's case, Bill spent a lot of time investigating one of the biggest scandals in cycling history. Years later, he tried to explain to the NCAA - where he served on a key committee - that "there's a lot of crossover and similarities" between the problems of doping and men in girls' sports. No one listened. So he did what they couldn't ignore: he resigned.
A routine checkup of America's economic condition indicated a nation as hale and hearty in body and mind as that sprightly, energetic fellow sitting in the Oval Office. Let's review the details.
In late January, Florida decided that residents could no longer change the biological sex on their state-issued driver's licenses. According to USA Today, this decision was a "target" against "transgender people." Ash Orr, a spokesperson for the National Center for Transgender Equality, claimed that the measure "adds to Florida's long list of harmful policies." But despite backlash from people like Orr, many continue to argue that keeping biological sex on state issued identification is "common sense."
During a heated congressional hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Special Counsel Robert Hur testified that his February report on President Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents "did not exonerate" the president of a potential crime, despite the fact that Hur's report did not recommend criminal charges against Biden. Legal experts say the hearing further confirmed a series of illegal actions that Biden allegedly took while in public office.
Support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. has fallen for the first time in nearly a decade, according to a new survey. The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) published updates to its American Values Atlas on Tuesday, revealing that public support for same-sex marriage dropped from 69% to 67% from 2022 to 2023.
A sweeping Senate bill would radically expand in vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies for military servicemembers without regard to their sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status, promoting the creation of children outside of marriage, including between two men and their hired surrogates.
England's National Health Service (NHS) is officially banning the prescription of puberty blockers to children. The NHS's guidelines on treatment of gender dysphoria currently state, "Puberty blockers ... are not available to children and young people for gender incongruence or gender dysphoria because there is not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness." The NHS adds, "Children, young people and their families are strongly discouraged from getting puberty blockers or gender affirming hormones from unregulated sources or online providers that are not regulated by U.K. regulatory bodies."
The impact of illegal immigration fills our TV screens, crime blotters, and morgues every day. But too few Americans appreciate how lawlessness at the border advances other liberal policies. Illegal immigration gives Democrats extra votes in Congress and greater control over all three branches of government. It forces you to spend even more of your tax dollars on transgender procedures and masks the failure of big-spending government programs. Most offensively, it drowns out your voice in your own government.
In the fight over biological men being allowed to compete in women's sports, several giants in the industry, such as the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), have been hit with immense backlash due to their transgender policies.
Two errors in President Joe Biden's Thursday State of the Union (SOTU) address have prompted calls for apologies, but the president has only apologized for one. Like every aspect surrounding the SOTU, Biden's choice of apologies is a deliberately calculated political decision, one which provides insight into the conduct of the administration and his strategy for the 2024 campaign.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters that the House will vote on a bill Wednesday that would force the controversial but widely popular social media platform TikTok to divest itself from Chinese ownership within six months or be banned in the U.S. A wide bipartisan swath of lawmakers have expressed their support for the bill, which experts say would be a step in the right direction toward thwarting the threat that the communist regime poses to America.
Democrats in the Pine Tree State are quietly reintroducing legislation to prevent parents from protecting their children against abortion and transgenderism. LD 227 was introduced in the Maine state legislature as a "concept draft" containing only two lines under the title, "An Act Regarding Health Care in the State," but less than a week before the Maine House of representatives hosted a hearing on the bill, Democrats replaced the "concept draft" with a lengthy amendment, according to Maine Wire. The amendment would make gender transition procedures and late-term abortions a "legal right," block "interference" against these "rights" from parents of minors, and allow those affected by "hostile litigation" in other states to sue those states in Maine.
President Biden probably isn't the best person to give national security advice. Considering his decisions to let Afghanistan collapse, throw open the southern border to terrorists and criminals, and allow China to surveil our country with spy balloons, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right to shake off this White House's admonishments in his war in Gaza. "He's wrong," Netanyahu said bluntly about Biden's insistence on a ceasefire. If anyone knows what's good for Israel, he argued, it's Israel.
The Emerald Isle has rejected leftist anti-family constitutional proposals in a double referendum. On Saturday, Irish voters overwhelmingly opposed two proposed constitutional amendments which would legally redefine marriage and motherhood. Over one-and-a-half million Irish voters showed up at the polls.
If Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) had his eyes on higher office, his decision Friday almost certainly put those dreams out of reach. To the shock of voters across the Commonwealth, Youngkin, who campaigned as a born-again Christian and spent many a Sunday in sanctuaries like Cornerstone Chapel's, committed the ultimate betrayal - signing a same-sex marriage bill that was not only completely unnecessary but a stinging rebuke of conservative values.
Collin Hansen, a Christian journalist, once wrote that "there's significant overlap between" journalism and Christianity, because both "teach by distilling complicated concepts about how the world works. Both herald news, good and bad." But he added that one "might not know about the overlap between these callings because journalists and preachers generally don't like each other." Of course, it's no wonder why.
Last week, it came to light that the Treasury Department provided a listing of "hate groups," which lumped together mainstream conservative organizations alongside avowed neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, to major U.S. banks for the purpose of monitoring financial transactions in the wake of the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. Experts say the pattern could lead to an increase in banks cancelling the accounts of politically disfavored organizations.
The Biden administration must spend funds allocated by Congress to build a wall on the southern border, a federal judge ruled Friday. Southern District of Texas Judge Drew Tipton sharply rebuked the Department of Homeland Security for contending that, "notwithstanding the language in the statute," it had discretion to spend the money however it pleased. "Whether the Executive Branch must adhere to federal laws is not, as a general matter, an area traditionally left to its discretion," Tipton, a Trump appointee, remarked dryly.
A new report is suggesting that the January 6 Congressional Committee suppressed testimony supporting former President Trump's claim that he and his administration requested 10,000 National Guardsmen be present at the nation's Capitol. According to documents obtained by The Federalist, then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato testified in January of 2022 that his boss, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, pushed Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to request more National Guard troops ahead of the January 6, 2021, rallies, and that Trump himself suggested 10,000 troops would be necessary.
From campus-wide anti-Semitism to post-modern deconstructionism, many college and universities nationwide have become the playgrounds of liberalism, anti-Americanism, and absurd courses ("Latinx Sexual Dissidence and Guerrilla Translation," anyone?). It's time we were honest about these things, and about another unpleasant reality that has been ignored too long - what's become of college sports.
The fallout continues over President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address, and his errors, lies, and misstatements continue to pile up. Here are five more false claims Biden made on Thursday night.
It took four months, three continuing resolutions, and a couple of pig-headed parties, but Congress finally funded half the government. As usual, neither side is particularly thrilled with the $460 billion dollar package. But for Republicans in particular, the loss of some hard-fought committee wins stings. For the first time in ages, conservatives had managed to peel back Joe Biden's radical policies on everything from taxpayer-funded abortion to the open border. But the price of only hanging on to one chamber meant that most of the GOP gains had to go. "I wish I had a magic wand," Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) lamented. Don't we all.
The media is once again working hard at "labeling Christians who are involved in the political process as 'Christian nationalists,'" said Family Research Council president and "Washington Watch" host Tony Perkins on Thursday, but "we shouldn't shrink back and be intimidated by the labels of the Left." Not only can Christians decisively refute this "political smear," he contended, but we also have better remedies for our national ailments.
As believers, we know we have Christ and that He gives us hope in all things. So why is it so hard to believe that sometimes? Why do we still find ourselves feeling all alone? We know we shouldn't, but why is giving up such a strong temptation at times?
The Left claims that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is good. They insist it's meant to help students and that the Right "politicizing" it is wrong and manipulative.
A panel of experts, including famed author and psychologist Jordan Peterson, warned Congress on Thursday that potential collusion between federal law enforcement agencies and financial and other corporations could lead to unprecedented violations of the constitutional right of American citizens not to have private information handed over without proper warrants.
A Catholic bishop is rebuking Biden's Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for making a permanent rule change to allow the agency to commit abortions during all nine months of pregnancy.
Former President Donald Trump has challenged incumbent Joe Biden to a debate. "It is important, for the Good of our Country, that Joe Biden and I Debate Issues that are so vital to America, and the American People," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Therefore, I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!" The 45th president added, "The Debates can be run by the Corrupt DNC, or their Subsidiary, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). I look forward to receiving a response."
Arriving roughly 20 minutes later than announced, a frenetic President Joe Biden delivered his fourth, and potentially last State of the Union address on Thursday night. His voluminous, staccato, and aggressive remarks previewed a 2024 presidential campaign centered on expanding abortion nationwide, restricting the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, and casting his political foes as an incipient, existential threat to democracy and the United States itself. In just over an hour, Biden spoke a number of lies, false assertions, and dubious statements worth reviewing for the record.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has a long history. The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh wrote that WPATH "is the organization that major hospitals and gender clinics cite as the all-important authority on so-called 'trans healthcare.'" Controversial at its core, WPATH has faced immense criticism over the years from those who do not support gender transition procedures, while at the same time receiving strong support from those who see cross-sex hormones, puberty blocking drugs, and surgeries to remove healthy organs as "gender affirming care."
News broke on Thursday that the delegation of the terrorist organization Hamas had left Cairo in the midst of ongoing negotiations with Israel for a ceasefire in the wake of the terror group's October 7 atrocities, with no deal struck. The news comes amid seemingly contradictory demands from the Biden administration that Israel both arrange a hasty ceasefire while simultaneously "defend[ing] itself."
As parents, our dream of protecting our children from all evil is beyond our power; we are not God. We can avoid danger zones. We can erect sensible guardrails. We can forestall foolish decisions. We can offer wise counsel. We especially can pray that God would protect them. But there will come a point when our children must leap out of our slipstream into the headwinds of life. Even if we are remarkably successful at protecting our children for their first 18 or so years, we can't protect them forever. Thus, part of our responsibility as parents is to prepare our children to stand firm once they depart the protection of our roof.
With the nation gearing up for a 2020 presidential election rematch, incumbent President Joe Biden's campaign is dismissing former President Donald Trump as a "wounded, dangerous and unpopular candidate."
As a native Floridian, temperatures south of 40 degrees Fahrenheit still make me a bit nervous. Thus, when Alaska Family Council invited my colleague Joseph Backholm and me to hold one-day pastors conferences in Anchorage and Fairbanks, I immediately looked up the weather forecast for late February. With an anticipated high of -25 degrees in Fairbanks, I legitimately wondered how I would manage the cold. But the experience was incredible, and I feel a special sense of gratitude for the opportunity to have spent time in Alaska and see how God is working in the 49th state.
While Super Tuesday may have been predictable on the presidential front, it held some surprises lower down the ballot. Deep-blue cities and states are rejecting leftist policies.
The Bible teaches that sin harms all who take part in it. Three politicians who attempted to force taxpayers to fund an LGBT center that hosts drag shows for children, BDSM session for sadists, and promotes events hosted by the Communist Party's youth league are learning this scriptural principle. But their response to the self-inflicted controversy shows they have not learned very much.
This week, America First Legal (AFL), a conservative nonprofit, filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) on behalf of a high school senior who says the transgender bathroom and pronoun policies go against her Roman Catholic beliefs.
When most Americans think about Russia, the first thing that comes to mind is that nation's cruel and unjust invasion of Ukraine. This is not surprising. After more than two years, Russia's aggression shows no sign of abating and will only be stopped as Ukrainian forces have the military tools needed to end it.
Reports surfaced on Tuesday that China will increase its military spending by 7.2%, despite a massive slowdown in the communist country's economy. The news comes on the heels of a new bill introduced last week by House Republicans that is designed to counter Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) growing military aggression by reducing trade with the regime "in areas critical to national security, including telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and military technology."
On "Washington Watch," Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins underscored that voting is important not only to determine the races between candidates on the ballot, but more broadly for influencing the political strategy, landscape, and confidence that legislators can work with in Washington, D.C. That is, voters should remember that their decision at the polls (or not to visit the polls) will have an impact in the long-term, the medium-term, and the short-term.
It took Frito-Lay 63 years to build a $13 billion dollar empire. This week, 50 seconds almost destroyed it. That's how close the brand came to corporate annihilation after its Doritos team posted a short video with a trans influencer that makes Dylan Mulvaney look like a youth pastor. Turns out, 24-year-old Samantha Hudson isn't just a man pretending to be a woman, he's a sick pervert with dreams of sexually abusing children. Congratulations, Bud Light. You're officially out of the brand basement.
The rate at which illegal immigrants are coming into the U.S. is already astonishing on its own. And yet, with each new headline, the circumstances become even more flabbergasting. What has many American citizens scratching their heads is the fact that many states are treating those who are in the country illegally better than those who are here legally.
New reports are revealing that the Biden administration has not only been allowing illegal immigrants across the southern border by the millions, but has actually been paying to fly them into the country by the hundreds of thousands. According to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) findings by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) put hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants on planes and flew them into 43 different U.S. airports last year alone.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will drop out of the presidential race this morning after evangelicals and pro-life voters powered former President Donald Trump to a nearly unbroken chain of victories in Super Tuesday. The well-financed Haley, once touted as one of the Republican Party's rising stars, demonstrates the political potency of evangelical voters and the peril of abandoning the issue of abortion - an issue Joe Biden's public statement last night proves he plans to make a pillar of the 2024 presidential campaign.
As President Joe Biden prepares to give his annual State of the Union address, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins delivered a special speech on the state of faith, family, and freedom in America.
Currently, the U.S. sits at $34 trillion in debt. Despite this, Biden has continuously attempted to funnel thousands, millions, and sometimes billions of taxpayer dollars toward student loan forgiveness, Ukraine, and, perhaps most prominently, woke ideology. And many argue the latter is the worst of them all.
It was always a long shot, but a desperate Left is a dangerous Left. Swimming in a pool of grim polling, Democrats looked to an old friend - the courts - to bail Joe Biden out. Unfortunately for them, it was a leap too far for even the most liberal of justices. Trying to boot Donald Trump from the ballot for engaging in an "insurrection" earned them a Supreme slap-down, a 9-0 ruling that might be a worse result for this White House than never litigating in the first place.
After Family Research Council President Tony Perkins signed a letter demanding that Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla apologize for viral Christian nationalism comments, Przybyla wrote another article addressing the topic, which almost qualified as an apology. However, the story also reinforced suspicions among conservative Christians that the mainstream media is "stoking fear of Christian nationalism" by "crafting a narrative that the reelection of Donald Trump is going to unleash an army of Christian nationalists," as Family Research Council Action President Jody Hice put it on "Washington Watch" last week.
A leading economist is warning of the dire economic consequences of a U.S. national debt that is currently increasing by $1 trillion every 100 days.
As major pharmacy chains are set to start selling the abortion drug mifepristone, pro-lifers are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to limit access to the dangerous drug. Walgreens and CVS announced on Friday that they would begin selling mifepristone in their retail stores, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in "U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine," scheduled for oral arguments later this month and centered on whether or not the FDA's 2016 and 2021 rule changes surrounding mifepristone's availability were in violation of federal statute. Last week, Family Research Council and Dr. Martha Shuping filed an amici curiae brief in support of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, highlighting the danger mifepristone poses to pregnant mothers.
On Friday, former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade was on MSNBC and said the First Amendment makes America "vulnerable to claims that anything we try to do to regulate speech is censorship." Or as The Daily Wire paraphrased, it "makes it hard for Democrats to be able to 'regulate speech' without being accused of censorship." Experts say this is a timely statement in the context of recent headlines. Just in these past two weeks, a journalist, Shawn McBrearity, sued a high school in Maine over their attempt to censor him.
France has become the first country to enshrine a right to abortion in its constitution. In a joint session of Parliament on Monday, French lawmakers voted 780 to 72 to constitutionally guarantee "the freedom of women to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy..." President of the French National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet said that the historic vote was a message to "the women of the world," adding, "We are saying that we will support them and that we will always be at their side."
On Monday, congressional investigators finally got to examine Hunter Biden during a closed-door deposition before the House committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Accountability. Hunter Biden's testimony raised key questions about four aspects of the Biden family's business, and whether it sold foreign oligarchs access (or the promise of access) to Joe Biden. We found four moments that raise questions.
The New York Post is reporting that an increasing number of boys are rebelling against their parents' woke ideology and turning to conservative beliefs. Boys are turning to conservatism because critical theory permeates the education system and entertainment industry, accusing white boys and men of being "oppressors" of everyone else (the "oppressed"). These boys are searching for what it means to be a real man.
The Supreme Court thwarted an undemocratic attempt to prevent citizens from voting for President Donald Trump in multiple states, but its unanimous ruling unleashed new attempts to stifle the vox populi and pointed out an urgent step Congress must take to protect free and fair elections from left-wing machinations.
It was an image no mother should have to see - a long white hearse carrying the body of her young, once-vibrant daughter. A cold rain fell in Georgia, mixing with the tears of crowds who gathered to watch Laken Riley's casket leave for the cemetery - a place no one imagined she would be. "I really just have no words," her mom, Alysson Phillips wrote on Facebook. Neither do any of us. This was, as she wrote painfully, a "senseless and avoidable tragedy."
The great southern gator has ended its entire Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program in a single chomp. "The University of Florida [UF] has closed the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, eliminated DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halted DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors," an administrative memo announced Friday. With this decision, UF becomes the largest university in America to cut all DEI staff.
On Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivered an address at a church service in Selma, Alabama in which he characterized state election integrity laws designed to verify mail-in ballots, restrict drop boxes, and require voter ID as "discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary." Experts say the attorney general's comments do not line up with the views of a supermajority of Americans and that the Biden administration is intentionally undermining election integrity efforts ahead of the November elections.
In January of 2023, Family Research Council, along with 13 other pro-life groups, sent a letter to Walgreens and CVS urging them to "cease dispensing abortion-inducing drugs." FRC's legislative affiliate, FRC Action, put out a petition that garnered over 51,000 signatures "calling on the two pharmacy chains to stop selling abortifacients in their pharmacies, to keep their pharmacy businesses, a pharmacy business - not an abortion business."
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has won her first - and so far only - Republican primary, but is still lagging behind former President Donald Trump. On Sunday, Haley garnered nearly 63% of the D.C. vote, while Trump won roughly a third.
Heidi Przybyla's comments reveal the true agenda of many progressives today: to acknowledge no authority higher than the state and no legitimate rulers other than secular progressives. After all, if God is removed as the source of rights, the only source left is the state itself, governed by secular ideologues who are determined to rid our nation's legal and political institutions of any transcendent vestige.
"Everybody's a theologian." That's the title of a book written by a beloved teacher I refer to often, R.C. Sproul. At first glance, it may seem like a bold statement. But I think, in taking a few steps back, it's actually quite relevant - especially for believers.
Congress may have bought itself another week to deal with the basket of spending bills, but what are the odds they can actually finish them? Hill watchers have their doubts, since it's been more than 20 years since both sides of the Capitol actually passed the 12 agency budgets the way the Founders intended. Apart from the ticking clock, there's also the concern that flashpoints like the border and abortion may still tank the bills in the end. It's all led leaders to float an idea that seemed improbable a month ago: a year-long continuing resolution (CR).
Since the beginning of the border crisis in which millions of illegal immigrants have flooded into the country, American citizens have been affected in various ways, most notably by the spike in crime. Experts are also pointing to how illegal immigration is affecting the education system, as Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, explained on Thursday's episode of "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins."
A California school district's parental notification policy won a preliminary victory in a California state court, when a Riverside County Superior Court judge declined to issue a preliminary injunction against it in a February 23 ruling (Mae M. v. Komrosky). The judge also declined to block a resolution that prohibited the teaching of certain concepts related to critical race theory (CRT). "This is a temporary victory not only for TVUSD, but for other school districts across our state and country who are thinking about banning CRT and standing for the rights of parents," Dr. Joseph Komrosky, president of the Temecula Valley School Board, told The Washington Stand.
Young people are having less sex now that the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned, a recent study by Match Group suggests. The report surveyed more than 5,000 individuals under 50 and found that one in 10 were choosing not to engage in sexual activity due to Roe.
On Thursday, Missouri's attorney general filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for allegedly trafficking minors out of state to obtain abortions without parental consent, in violation of state law. The lawsuit demonstrates the latest example of the nation's largest abortion supplier appearing to engage in covering up the sexual abuse of minors, which stretches back to at least 1982.
Last week, Politico National Investigative Correspondent Heidi Przybyla claimed that anyone who believes their rights are derived from God are "Christian nationalists." In response, Family Research Council demanded an apology for making such an ardently false statement.
A sprawling new survey is revealing that voters are getting sick of the Biden administration, and Trump's popularity is holding strong. According to the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, President Joe Biden's approval rating is floundering, underwater at 45% (23% strongly approve, 22% somewhat approve), with his disapproval rate (39% strongly disapprove, 15% somewhat disapprove) remaining fairly steady since January of 2022.
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden offered dueling speeches at the nation's southern border on Thursday, but geography proved all they had in common. Standing on Texas soil a mere 325 miles apart, their policies came from different political universes.
Over the years, research centers have routinely polled American citizens on the topic of free speech. And with each passing year, the country seems more convinced that while freedom of speech is important, how one practices that right can be problematic.
Hill leaders may have escaped another shutdown showdown, but there'll be plenty of heavy-lifting when Congress comes back into session next week. It hasn't been easy, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said, "trying to turn the aircraft carrier back to real budgeting and spending reform." His analogy for getting back to real appropriations work was an interesting one, since Republicans seem to swing an ax at every budget but one: Defense. And maybe, one senator says, it's time to rethink that.
The Alliance to Countering Crime published an article that began this way: "Children love social media - and so do sexual predators." Unfortunately, it's a widely known fact that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is not only prominent online, but that it's growing exponentially. In late January, CEOs of major social media companies were confronted by the Senate Judiciary Committee about the rapidly out-of-control presence of online child sexual exploitation - to the extent that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the Big Tech authorities "have blood on [their] hands."
The Biden administration is paying college students to register voters and man the polls this November. Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program will now pay university and college students to register others to vote and to serve as poll workers, as part of a government effort to increase student voter turnout.
Senate Democrats attempted on Wednesday to push through a bill (S. 3612) they claim "creates federal protections for in vitro fertilization [IVF]," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, "even though it's not being threatened in reality." However, the bill would also legalize genetically modified embryos, commercial surrogacy, and the sale and destruction of human embryos.
Earlier this week, World Health Organization (WHO) Secretary General Tedros Ghebreyesus stated his hopes that a highly controversial global pandemic accord would be ready by May and would be "endorsed" by his organization. Experts say the treaty would infringe on the sovereignty of countries in how they respond to future pandemics, as well as promote abortion, increase censorship of debates surrounding health care, and promote racial discrimination and quotas, among a host of other concerns.
Violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants continue to rise throughout the country, resulting in American citizens being attacked, raped, and murdered. Experts are noting that these are the same migrants who receive taxpayer-funded health care, housing, education, food, and more.
A federal court is allowing the Hoosier State to ban gender transition procedures for minors. The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order on Tuesday staying a preliminary injunction that a U.S. District Court judge had granted last year against Indiana Senate Bill (S.B.) 480. The circuit court's order allows S.B. 480, signed into law last year by Governor Eric Holcomb (R), to finally take effect, prohibiting gender transition procedures for minors. The court heard oral arguments regarding the preliminary injunction earlier this month and promised that an "opinion from this court will follow" Tuesday's order.
Republicans have expressed gratitude, bitterness, and optimism after Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced he will step down as leader of the Senate Republicans this November after a record-breaking tenure that spanned 18 years and thoroughly reshaped the federal judiciary.
In recent years, I was saddened to learn from friends that the Artsakh enclave had been experiencing increasingly deadly attacks by Islamists from neighboring Azerbaijan. Murders, rapes, and violent incidents by armed intruders were reported. And now, in fact, some years since my visit there, Artsakh's Christian community is virtually gone.
Even Leap Year won't save Congress from the countdown clock on government funding. An extra day in February is nice, but not enough to slog through the last five appropriations bills before the March 1 and 8 deadlines. For Mike Johnson (R-La.), it's a surprisingly familiar predicament to be in during his brief time as speaker. Jammed up against an unrealistic date, with no help from the Senate's sloths, he's had to pass one spending bridge after another in hopes that one of these days, Congress will decide to do its most fundamental job: budget.
Family Research Council and Catholic Vote demanded an apology Wednesday for comments made on February 23 by Politico National Investigative Correspondent Heidi Przybyla, who claimed those who believe rights come from God are "Christian nationalists."
Texas's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against pornographic website Pornhub for failing to obey state law requiring pornography websites to confirm the age of users before granting access to their sites. Experts welcomed the news as a step toward protecting minors from sexual exploitation.
In eight months, Americans will vote for president. All available polling and recent primary results indicate that the country is looking at a rematch of the 2020 election with Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Millions of primary voters have yet to cast their ballot, and given concerns with the president's age and ability and the current lawfare entangling the former president, anything can happen between now and November 5. But, as a thought experiment, let's briefly examine one of the current trends playing out in the presidential election: the rebellion of Muslim voters.
Over 80% of Americans consider illegal immigration a "serious" problem, according to a new survey. A Monmouth University poll released on Monday found that a total of 84% of American voters consider illegal immigration to be a serious issue, including 61% who consider it "very serious." Surprisingly, 41% of Democrats now consider illegal immigration a "very serious" issue, up from 26% in 2019. A combined total of only 15% responded that illegal immigration is not a serious problem.
"This whole kerfuffle in Alabama has revealed ... the worldview of the Left, which is a worldview of death. And they're really running with this like they ran after the Dobbs decision," David Closson, director of Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview, said on "Washington Watch" Tuesday. "This is not like a one-off," agreed FRC President Tony Perkins. "The worldview has been revealed. And I think it's becoming clearer and clearer."
As of June 2023, some immigration experts estimated that roughly 17 million illegal immigrants resided in the U.S., with at least 16% of the population arriving under the Biden administration. While migrants from all over the world cite many reasons for coming, one of the biggest is that illegal immigrants are getting several benefits when they arrive. Many have argued that the well-being of those who are here illegally seems to be prioritized over those who are here legally.
The U.S. Supreme Court is deliberating on a case involving social media companies censoring the political views of users. The court heard oral arguments on Monday in "Moody v. NetChoice" and "NetChoice v. Paxton," which center on legislation passed by Florida and Texas, respectively, to prevent social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter from banning or censoring the political views expressed by users.
The Biden administration's rhetoric has condemned the October 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, but its deeds have made the U.S. one of the top contributors to terrorist incitement, according to a senior congressmen seeking to cut all financial ties to a terror-tied U.N. organization.
Transgender hormone injections and surgeries do not reduce the likelihood of suicide for people diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to a new study from the founder of Finland's first pediatric gender clinic. The cause of trans-identifying people's high suicide rate lies with existing poor mental health, often from conditions ranging from schizophrenia to bipolar disorder. The study's key finding eviscerates the most popular question posed to dubious parents by the transgender industry: "Would you rather have a living daughter or a dead son?"
In its story covering the Laken Riley killing Monday, CNN claimed "there is little evidence indicating a connection between immigration and crime," but a variety of experts and statistics definitively say otherwise.
A new book has revealed that the Chinese government is inundating the U.S. with illegal gun parts that transform handguns into fully automatic machine guns as part of a strategy to create chaos within America. The news comes as a report has surfaced indicating that the communist regime is pursuing a plan to use weapons in space to threaten U.S. satellites.
The secular Left has picked up a new hammer, so everything is a nail. "Theocracy" is the new catchphrase. "Theocracy" is the new bogeyman in the closet. "Theocracy" is the new codeword for elites seeking to communicate their superiority to those Bible-thumping deplorables. But, in their quest to find theocracy everywhere, our elites have forgotten what theocracy looks like, to the very point of mimicking what they despise.
Taking advantage of the confusion over whether the Alabama ruling prohibits IVF, on Wednesday, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) will ask that S.3612, the so-called Access to Family Building Act, be considered for passage under unanimous consent. (If no senator objects, the bill would pass without a vote.) The bill would ostensibly "establish a federal right to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technology services nationwide," The Washington Post reported. But Quena Gonzalez, FRC's senior director of Government Affairs, told TWS that a bill making IVF a "federal right" is too vague and could pose threats to other rights.
Last week, an Israeli civilian was killed and several were left wounded after a Palestinian terrorist shot at cars around the Maale Adumim settlement. In response to the attack, Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced that over 3,000 housing units would be built in the West Bank, also known by their biblical names of Judea and Samaria. This decision, however, seems to have sparked further controversy.
As Super Tuesday draws nearer, Donald Trump is leading Joe Biden in major polls. A recent Emerson College/The Hill survey found that 46% of Michigan voters favor former President Donald Trump, while 44% prefer incumbent Joe Biden, with 10% undecided. Significantly, Independent voters prefer Trump to Biden 43% to 37%. Ahead of the primary on March 5, nearly 70% of Republicans plan to vote for Trump, 20% plan to vote for former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, and 11% are undecided. When undecided voters are asked which candidate they lean towards, Trump's support increases to 76% and Haley's to 24%.
A new survey reveals a cavernous gap between teachers' unions and the views of most parents, teenagers, and teachers on whether public schools should teach LGBT ideology to students - and whether parents should have the right to opt their children out of those classes. While elite teachers' unions such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) believe schools should teach sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) classes to children, their customers - parents and students - disagree, as do many of their members, according to a series of new polls released last week.
Much is made, and rightly so, of the 19th century suffragettes who worked to obtain the right to vote for women and other things we now take for granted. What is usually unreported is that such women as Susan B. Anthony and Victoria Woodhull were also adamantly against abortion. They were joined by a now-largely unnoticed cadre of women physicians, courageous pioneers in the field of medicine whose allegiance to the cause of life merits greater attention.
Congressional Democrats are signaling that they may not certify a 2024 victory for former President Donald Trump. Senior Democrats, such as Representatives James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), have balked at the prospect of certifying electoral votes that Trump might win in November, according to a recent report from The Atlantic. Most congressional Democrats have expressed a hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will declare Trump ineligible to run for or hold office again under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a Civil War-era clause which bars traitors and "insurrectionists" from holding office.
By the time Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was sitting in the MSNBC interview chair, Laken Riley's parents were living a nightmare. Their daughter's body had been found, brutally murdered, in the woods by the University of Georgia campus where she'd gone running. Police hadn't announced publicly that they'd found the killer when Ocasio-Cortez launched into a diatribe about the Republicans' "false narrative" on the border. "We're going to keep pretending this is a crisis," the radical Democrat insisted, hours before one family grieved just how wrong she was.
No one can question that the needs of the people in Gaza are profound, and Christians need to be deeply concerned for them. As relief ministries seek to provide essential medical and food aid to the Palestinian Arabs, followers of Jesus should support them. Yet with all this said, the single greatest irony of the conflict to date is the charge that Israel has a "genocidal" policy toward Gaza's Arab population while genocide is exactly what radical Islamists have in mind for Israel.
The Democrats' war on parental rights continues in Missouri, where ideologically captured school boards shut moms and dads out of decisions regarding sexuality, on which the parents had a statutory right to give input. Now, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) has taken up the parents' cause against the school districts. "The school board has got to respect the parents' rights to determine these sorts of policy decisions," Bailey argued on "Washington Watch," and ultimately have a voice in that process."
Last week, it was reported that the Biden administration is utilizing at least one federal agency to collude with left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in an effort to conduct get-out-the-vote campaigns. Experts say the administration's actions violate federal law.
Former President Donald Trump has defeated fellow GOP presidential primary contender Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina. Trump took the Palmetto State Saturday night with nearly 60% of the vote while Haley, the state's former governor, claimed less than 40% of the vote. This follows Trump dominating the GOP primary field in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. The Associated Press called the South Carolina primary for Trump within minutes of polls closing, based on the strength of exit polling alone.
The nation's finest legal minds warn that ongoing efforts to exclude Christians from serving on juries due to their biblical beliefs is part of a campaign "relegating Christians to second-class citizen status." The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Missouri case in which potential jurors were kicked off the jury after saying they went to a "conservative Christian church" that taught that having homosexual behavior is sinful - even after assuring they could properly apply the law. Barring Christians from serving civic functions based on their beliefs "exemplifies the danger that I anticipated in Obergefell v. Hodges," the controversial 2015 Supreme Court decision that invented the "right" to same-sex marriage, wrote Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
The death of Nex Benedict is tragic. And bullying under any circumstance should never be tolerated. However, what should also never be tolerated is letting the legacy media exploit a tragedy to promote their agenda. But that's exactly what has occurred, and what we see happen far too often.
The widespread popularity of social media has fostered a powerful global connectivity that increases access to art, culture, entertainment, and news from around the world. While these things enrich human lives, social media also exposes many people to misinformation, pornographic content, and ideological tit-for-tats that sow discord, confusion, and anxiety among users.
When someone says, "The grass is always greener on the other side," it's typically a sentiment meant to reflect that there's something better out there, and it's not going to be found where you're currently at. In many circles, to believe or live by this phrase indicates discontentment in one's life. Assuming that's the case, then there's another saying people will use to deflect the implied discontentment: "The grass is greener where you water it." As I experience life, learning new things each day, I see how those cliches do, indeed, have merit.
During my lifetime, I have been privileged to get to know several prominent spiritual leaders who have now gone on to be with the Lord. Dr. Henry Blackaby, who died most recently, was one of the most humble and yet powerful men of God among them.
Thursday's widespread cellular outages gave Americans a tiny taste of the pandemonium that could result if a foreign adversary such as China ever launched a serious cyber attack, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) warned on "Washington Watch" Thursday. Users of AT&T's cellular network reported tens of thousands of outages stretching from New York City to Chicago to Houston, which lasted from 3:30 a.m. into the afternoon.
Although Americans should expect an avalanche of news related to the presidential election over the next 10 months, it is important to remember that other offices besides the presidency will also be on the ballot - including 34 U.S. Senate seats, all 435 U.S. House seats, 11 governorships, and legislative seats in 44 states. The results of these elections will have massive consequences for years to come. And the United States isn't the only country engaging in national elections this year.
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that President Joe Biden is considering using executive powers to curb the tide of illegal immigrants pouring over the U.S. southern border. In response, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others are pointing out that the president appears to be engaging in "election year gimmicks" by only now - over three years into his presidency - showing willingness to tighten the border after millions of illegal crossings have already occurred.
A deep-blue state is advancing bipartisan legislation to criminalize gender transition procedures for children without parental consent. On Wednesday, Maryland's House of Delegates hosted a hearing on House Bill 722, which would bar performing gender transition procedures - including surgery or prescription of puberty blockers or hormone drugs - on minors without parental notification and consent.
The Sunshine State is considering giving students access to chaplains in public schools. On Tuesday, the Florida State Senate's Appropriations Committee on Education voted to approve Senate Bill 1044, which would allow chaplains to volunteer to offer counseling at public and charter schools.
When patriotic Americans point out the flaws and overreach of a new World Health Organization (WHO) document about pandemics, opponents often ask us, "What harm could come of adopting it?" A lawsuit filed by the Biden administration in Tennessee shows the lengths to which the administration will challenge good policy and common sense to do the global government body's bidding.
California is once again leading the way, showing us the dark, dystopian post-America future that awaits us if the Left remains in power. The latest absurdity is that a noncitizen was appointed to office in San Francisco, the first time such a thing has happened in this country.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced a new round of federal student loan debt forgiveness, in which almost 153,000 borrowers will have their loans forgiven at a cost of $1.2 billion to American taxpayers under what the White House has termed the SAVE program. Since Biden took office, he has now canceled over $131 billion of student loan debt. Experts say the policy, which will further deepen the over $34 trillion national debt, is a "desperate" attempt to garner the votes of young college students.
March 1 probably felt like a distant deadline when Congress picked it as the target of their next spending headache. Postponing the appropriations debates seemed like a good idea in January when optimism was high that members just needed "a few more weeks" to pass the legislation. But a few more weeks have come and gone, and the bills are exactly where they were a month ago: at a standstill.
Hollywood director Rob Reiner's new documentary, "God & Country," released in theaters this weekend, warning Americans of an impending "Christian nationalist" takeover of the country. The Associated Press declared Saturday, "Many believe the founders wanted a Christian America. Some want the government to declare one now." On Tuesday Alexander Ward and Heidi Przybyla warned in Politico, "Trump allies prepare to infuse 'Christian nationalism' in second administration."
On Wednesday, Tennessee celebrated a significant First Amendment victory when Governor Bill Lee (R) signed a bill that protects public officials who don't want to perform a same-sex marriage because it violates their "conscience or religious beliefs."
There are criminals, such as Andrew Franklin, who were sentenced to 270 years in prison for sexually abusing children. Or Donald A. Moyer, who was sentenced to 132 years on the same charges. Historically speaking, the judicial system was designed to deliver justice to those wronged by evildoers in our society. Or that's what it's supposed to do, that is. In recent times, transgenderism has become the exception, bypassing any sense of justice.
Pro-lifers are alarmed by a proposed Biden administration rule that could potentially end federal funding for pregnancy resource centers and other organizations that provide free resources and counseling services to pregnant women in need.
A psychologist employed by a federal agency is being penalized for speaking out against gender ideology. Three psychologists working in the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) penned an op-ed late last month warning of the danger posed by allowing biological men to access women's bathrooms and medical exam rooms. One of the authors, primary care psychologist Dr. Nina Silander, was placed on administrative leave following the article's publication, according to documents obtained by The Washington Stand.
Indiana parents Mary and Jeremy Cox have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate lower and appellate court rulings that removed their teenage son from their home. The state's Department of Child Services (DCS) removed him not because the parents were abusive or negligent, but because their Catholic beliefs would not allow them to affirm his desire to pursue a gender transition.
Since the presence of trans-identifying men in women's competitions have increased, the number of women winning first, second, and third has decreased. The women and girls in swimming, track and field, golf, volleyball, dance, cross country, and other sports, are repeatedly defeated by men. For some, this alone is enough to demand a change. But when women losing to men isn't enough to spark change, many are asking if women being hurt by men, which has happened repeatedly over the last few years, will prove to be the final straw.
The Yellowhammer State's highest court is ruling that frozen embryos are legally children under state law. In a ruling issued Friday, Alabama's Supreme Court declared that "the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location." The relevant case involved the question of whether or not parents could sue after their cryogenically frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed by an employee at a fertility clinic.
Last week, former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov was arrested and charged by Special Counsel David Weiss with giving false information to federal investigators regarding the international business ties of President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. But a former FBI special agent, at least one congressman, and numerous observers are pointing to the suspicious timing of the charges and contending that they illustrate how political corruption has entered Biden's Justice Department.
"I documented 18 separate incidences of either vandalism, theft, or hostilities in the year 2023 alone," Rob Rotola, pastor of Word of Life Church in Wichita, Kansas, said. "And that is, honestly, with ignoring some of the smaller things that didn't even make the list."
"It's an emotional moment," Pastor Robin Lutjohann said quietly, surveying the rubble of his church. "It's been a place of worship for a number of communities for over a century," he told reporters after a six-alarm fire raged through the building Easter Sunday, destroying the Massachusetts landmark. "It fills me with sadness..." Lutjohann admitted, wondering why anyone would have such malice toward Faith Lutheran. "If and when a person is found who has done this then we will pray for the power to forgive," he insisted. Unfortunately, his congregation isn't alone in that prayer.
As the U.S. faces a rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East and a worsening crisis at its own southern border, the State Department is ensuring that staffers don't "misgender" one another. Just days after the U.S. attacked Iran-backed militants in retaliation for the killing of three American troops, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a communique instructing State Department staffers to avoid using "harmful" terminology such as "mother/father," "son/daughter," and "husband/wife."
Christians have suffered much throughout history: from the massive persecutions wrought by the likes of Nero and Diocletian to the mass murders executed by Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin to the discrimination and harassment governments and corporations level against Christians today - but few things are quite so annoying as non-Christians lecturing informed, educated, faithful Christians on what they think Jesus's words meant. More often than not, the interpretations non-Christians offer of Christ's teachings contradict Christ's teachings, or at least leave out the parts that non-Christians object to.
A record 8,222 Nigerian Christians were killed in 2023, according to a report published Wednesday by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, extending a genocide that has claimed the lives of roughly 100,000 Christians since 2009. What man intends for evil, God works out for the good of those who love him (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28). "Radical Islam is making huge inroads into Nigeria right now," Pastor Carter Conlon, who recently visited Africa's most populous nation, described on "Washington Watch."
Family Research Council's "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" program received the Television Impact Award at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) annual conference in Nashville on Tuesday. NRB is an independent international association of Christian communicators dedicated to protecting free speech in "governmental, corporate, and media sectors." NRB's mission is "to spread the life-changing truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through every electronic medium available."
A growing bipartisan cohort of lawmakers on Capitol Hill are demanding that the communist Nicaraguan government release 11 imprisoned evangelical pastors from captivity, who they say were targeted unjustly for their religious beliefs.
BlackRock and other U.S.-based investment management conglomerates have chosen to withdraw from a controversial initiative, Climate Action 100+ (CA100+), that pressured companies to "reduce greenhouse gas emissions" to "net-zero emissions by 2050 [or] sooner," in pursuit of "limiting global average temperature increase" to 1.5 degrees above "pre-industrial levels." The withdrawals follow financial and legal pressure from U.S. state officials, as well a new phase of cooperation for CA100+ that would move "from words to action."
Nature Medicine recently released a study that claimed "99.8% of abortions were not followed by serious adverse events." But with an abundance of evidence that contradicts such a claim, can the results from this study be trusted? "[A]re these claims truthful, or are the researchers in this study blind to the very real dangers of the drug to the mothers?" asked Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, on Monday's edition of "Washington Watch."
A new bill to ban conversion therapy in the U.K. is facing opposition in the House of Lords. House of Lords Bill 5 was hotly contested earlier this month when brought to the floor of the upper chamber of the U.K. parliament, with more peers opposing the legislation than supporting it.
One of the most notorious liberal legal organizations has sued a Republican administration for "focusing on the rights of parents" instead of the agenda of transgender activists in its restroom, sports, and parental notification policies. In one case, the plaintiffs argue a trans-identifying special education student dissolved into a bout of "shakiness" after a teacher refused to call the male teen by a female first name, because the teacher "objected to [his] very existence."
If you believe anti-Christian attacks have skyrocketed over the last decade, you're right. Attacks on churches have increased 800% in less than six years - and more than doubled over the last year, according to a new report released today by Family Research Council. Documented acts of anti-church hostility include attempted bombings, shootings, satanic vandalism, and numerous attacks based on anti-Christian bias due to support for abortion or extreme transgender ideology. Some constituted unpunished election interference.
Vladimir Putin's vision of religion and the state looks awfully like that of some closer to home.
Throughout history, America has been known as "the land of the free" and "the home of the brave." Or as we learned as children, America is a melting pot of different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. Yet, despite those differences, America is a land of unity. At least that's the beacon of hope, the "city on a hill" that it was meant to be and remain. However, all it takes is a glance from any news outlet to see that this country is now plagued with division.
According to Bob Iger, Disney CEO, what happened on January 6 "was fundamentally wrong and ... rooted in hatred ... and intolerance." In his view, that was the day Iger felt Disney needed to take "a stand" on political matters, which has been mostly rooted in the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. However, experts have highlighted the fact that these efforts have mostly backfired.
While the decline in marriage has eased somewhat in recent years, the fact remains that in the U.S., the marriage rate has dropped by almost 60% over the last 50 years. Social science shows that the reasons behind this decline are multi-faceted, but what has become increasingly clear is that with the precipitous decline in marriage has also come an increasingly fragmented and unhappy American society. A new book by sociologist Brad Wilcox tackles the complex and foundational reality of marriage with a simple solution for our current cultural malaise: jump in and get married.
A bill to protect minors in the South Carolina legislature is rapidly advancing, despite efforts by LGBT activists and the medical lobby to derail it. The Help Not Harm Act (H. 4624) passed the state House overwhelmingly (82-23) on January 17, and it received its first hearing in the Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee on Wednesday.
They know the underground of the U.S. Capitol like the back of their hands. "I have walked more distance in these corridors than I have in my own house," Ronen Neutra says wistfully. "I can't believe this is our life." The 135 days since her son was taken hostage by Hamas have been a sleepless nightmare. "We don't have day and night," she admitted. "... It all becomes very blurry to us." And like the other five American families waiting for word about their loved ones, there's no end in sight.
America's former top lawyer is warning against another four years of President Joe Biden. According to Axios reporter Mike Allen, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr told the Forum Club of Southwest Florida on Friday that although he has issues with former President Donald Trump, incumbent Joe Biden is significantly worse. Barr said, "Voting for Trump is playing Russian roulette with the country. Voting for Biden is outright national suicide."
With the ongoing crisis at the southern border, which has allowed millions of people to enter America illegally, the debate over the proper response to the crisis has moved beyond Congress and the political realm. As the U.S. is increasingly overwhelmed by swarms of migrants, the debate has made its way into the church. Christians are wondering what their role is in this unfolding calamity, and whether the Bible tells us how to respond.
In the gospels, Barabbas is described as a robber, an insurrectionist, and a murderer. Unlike Jesus, he was a true threat to Roman civil society. This man, in accordance with justice, should never have been set free. And you would think Rome wouldn't have let it happen. But the Jews believed hanging Jesus on the cross was true justice. They were wrong.
Few realms of public policy are as politically charged as that of women's health. That's a problem. In fact, I'd go much further: It's a tragedy. We've abandoned the wealth of evidence offered to us by science. We've abandoned women. We've become parochial and combative, altering the definition of "women's health" until it is nearly unrecognizable.
The tragic shooting at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston is another sad reminder that sin is irrational, evil, and enduring. The mayhem caused when a woman with a rifle opened fire led Osteen to say, "In the face of such darkness, we must hold onto our faith and remember evil will not prevail." That's good theology: In the long run, the God of the Bible triumphs. But that long run is much less temporal than it is eternal.
A new scare campaign among legacy media outlets is claiming lawmakers pushing back against transgender ideology have plans to "broaden [their] focus beyond children" and "are increasingly turning their focus to adults," as a 2,800-word hit piece in The Washington Post alleged Thursday. That simply isn't true.
Following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner's (R-Ohio) cryptic statement on Wednesday regarding an unspecified "national security threat," a growing chorus of Republican lawmakers and other conservatives are questioning the "suspicious" timing of the statement, with at least one congressman and four advocacy organizations calling for Turner to be removed as chairman.
The U.S. cities that have declared themselves "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants are supposed to be places where a city council or mayor declares welcoming policies for migrants coming into the country. However, many of these regions are getting overwhelmed and running out of room as they use hotels, airports, schools, and other public facilities to house the millions of illegal immigrants streaming in through the southern border. One of the most impacted metro areas is New York City, which has been overrun by the thousands of migrants.
Is the U.S. bankrolling our own border invasion? That's what an explosive new report from The Epoch Times suggests. While Americans struggle to pay for shelter, medical care, food, and schooling for the migrants who've been bussed to major cities, we may also be footing the bill for their journey here. "We're actually funding our own border crisis," the Center for Immigration Studies' Todd Bensman warned. And most taxpayers have no clue.
A federal government agency dedicated to "science" is funding programs to teach students that there are more than two sexes and genders. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has granted a combined total of nearly one million taxpayer dollars to Colorado State University, Florida International University, and the University of Minnesota to fund a study entitled "Collaborative Research: A qualitative inquiry into sex/gender narratives in undergraduate biology and their impacts on transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students."
While the Biden administration may be colluding with the D.C. government to cover-up this evidence that suggests Cesare Santangelo's Washington Surgi-Clinic performs illegal partial-birth abortions or commits infanticide, there is other evidence that the government cannot get rid of - a little boy who just celebrated his fourth birthday.
Dozens of congressmen and pro-life organizations have demanded the Biden administration stop facilitating lawlessness, and officials in the nation's capital hold an abortionist accountable for allegedly killing nearly full-term babies through illegal means.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, director of Family Research Council's Center for Family Studies, recently discussed on "Washington Watch" how childhood trauma is a common source of mental illness and may contribute to the growing trend of trans-identifying females perpetrating mass shootings, despite not fitting the profile. In the same interview, she also described a biblical approach to dealing with trauma, in contrast to the ineffective solutions offered by our culture.
Conservative critics find it "very bizarre" that sources announced an unspecified "national security threat" just hours before the House of Representatives had scheduled a vote to rein in a warrantless government spy program. Republicans said they had "no confidence" in Biden's foreign policy leadership and his promises not to use the authority to spy on U.S. citizens, including President Donald Trump. In fact, one congressman said a bipartisan faction of Congress aligned with the intelligence community "wants to keep spying on Americans."
On Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) issued an enigmatic statement requesting that President Biden "declassify all information" related to a "serious national security threat," without specifying the nature of the threat. After sources later revealed that the "threat" was in reference to intelligence reports that Russia is pursuing putting nuclear weapons in space that could potentially destroy vital U.S. satellites, experts and lawmakers say Turner's statement appears to be intentionally timed to fuel urgency for the House to pass the controversial Ukraine funding bill.
"Up until recently," mass shootings were "almost exclusively men. But something's changed," said Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, host of "Washington Watch." "Something's changed," agreed Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, director of the Center for Family Studies at FRC, "and it's been in conjunction with the rise of transgenderism."
A Christian pastor is sharing what he says would have been a more effective message than the "He Gets Us" ad that debuted on Super Bowl Sunday. Jamie Bambrick, the associate pastor of Hope Church Craigavon in Northern Ireland, posted a video to social media on Tuesday entitled "He Saves Us." The pastor said that the "He Gets Us" commercial may have been "perhaps well-intentioned" but ultimately "failed to convey anything of the gospel to the hundreds of millions who saw it." Featuring real-life public figures instead of AI-generated images of people who don't exist, Bambrick's video already has over two million views on Twitter and nearly 300,000 on YouTube.
Disturbing new details of the woman who opened fire inside Joel Osteen's Texas megachurch have emerged, painting a different picture than many in the legacy media have reported. According to those closest to her, the Lakewood Church shooter was a mentally ill former Muslim who is sometimes identified in official records by a man's name, abused her seven-year-old son for years to collect welfare payments, and could have been deported due to her immigration status.
The military has been struggling to meet recruitment goals since COVID. Reportedly, in 2023, the Air Force fell roughly 2,700 airmen short, the Army was 15,000 soldiers short, the Navy missed their goal by over 7,450 sailors, and the Coast Guard by about 4,800. The military as a whole missed their recruitment target by 41,000 recruits.
It was Day 129 of captivity for Luis Har and Fernando Simon Marman, two elderly Israelis kidnapped as hostages by Hamas terrorists on October 7. They weren't expecting this Monday to be any different, nor were the three Hamas terrorists holding them captive in a second-floor apartment.
On Tuesday, House Republicans followed through on their promise to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his "systematic refusal" to enforce border laws and "breach of public trust" amid an unprecedented surge of illegal border crossings under President Joe Biden's administration. The move came after the Senate's passage earlier the same day of a bill giving billions of additional dollars to Ukraine that did not include any funding to secure America's southern border.
Nineteen people. That's all it took to completely upend the world. Even now, 23 years after 9/11, America looks dramatically different from that sunny morning when a handful of radical Islamists slammed their planes into the beating heart of our nation's freedom, its commerce, security, and way of life. We vowed then, never again. But the lessons of the past have been forgotten under this administration, as millions stream across our open border - hundreds of them with a single goal: to destroy us.
The Biden administration has been rocked with bitter infighting over border security failures, according to insiders. Axios reported this week on a meeting aboard Air Force One in which President Joe Biden "exploded with fury" at senior staff and aides over the illegal immigration crisis at the nation's southern border. "The president lit into his team," Alex Thompson wrote. "He demanded obscure immigration data points - and vented when his staff didn't have them handy." Later on, "Biden's fury subsided, and aides scrambled for the information he wanted. People in the meeting later told others in frustration that his winding process and irritability were making it more difficult to reach decisions about the border."
Hundreds of millions of Christians suffered religious persecution in 2023, according to a religious liberty watchdog organization, but one European nation is going out of its way to assist "the most persecuted religion in the world."
The World Health Organization (WHO) is poised to promote extreme transgender ideology the same way it once endorsed abortion-on-demand.
Whatever hopes people had for a new day at the NCAA have officially died out. A year into Charlie Baker's reign and the wildfire threatening to burn down women's sports still rages - no thanks to the unsympathetic man at the helm. If anything, Mark Emmert's successor has proven to be coldly indifferent to the plight of collegiate women, refusing to even meet with victims of his transgender policy until Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) demanded it. Now, in a stunning turn of events, Baker is facing rebellion in his own ranks, as a longtime NCAA committee member resigns in protest.
The controversy surrounding transgenderism and women's sports has been a hot topic in the media and politics. But the debate has also played out in corporate advertising, as major brands like Target, Starbucks, and Bud Light raced to embrace the LGBT agenda. In 2021, Dove boarded that rainbow train. Three years later, some of that activism has come to a screeching halt.
A recent study conducted by Common Sense Media (CMS) found that America has a teen mental health crisis. Yet, with the way social media has plagued the younger generations, is anyone really surprised by this? But it goes beyond technology, as many factors contribute to the decay of younger generations and their mental health.
Yet another church shooting on Sunday underscored the dangerous environment faced by Christians today, even in places once considered "safe" for Christianity. In this environment, church security consultant Tim Miller said on "Washington Watch," churches need to take security seriously, as a matter of wisdom.
As the U.S. Senate is advancing a new aviation bill, politicians and businessmen alike are warning that it does not adequately address growing safety concerns, especially those linked to an overemphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill, touted as "deliver[ing] improvements to aviation safety and consumer protections that Americans have been demanding." However, both her congressional colleagues and numerous other public figures are concerned that the legislation does not address significant failures brought about by DEI initiatives.
Residents in cities across the United States are justifiably upset that their recently closed facilities are now being used by illegal immigrants at no charge to the immigrants. Adding to the frustration, these taxpayer-funded schools, health care clinics, and community recreation centers in low-income neighborhoods have been shut down largely because of city leaders' fiscal irresponsibility.
Congressional conservatives are warning against the Ukraine funding bill just approved by the Senate, calling it "an impeachment time bomb for the next Trump presidency." Ahead of Monday night's Senate vote on the supplemental national security bill funneling around $60 billion into the ongoing Ukraine conflict, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) issued a memo to Republican colleagues cautioning, "Buried in the bill's text is an impeachment time bomb for the next Trump presidency if he tries to stop funding the war in Ukraine. We must vote against this disastrous bill."
According to its website, the mission of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services." Yet HHS has approved numerous grants for transgenderism, which many experts do not consider "effective," "sound," or positively impacting the "health and well-being" of any American.
America's fiscal future is gloomy, according to the 10-year forecast released Wednesday by the economic meteorologists (accountants, really) at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO projected that by 2034 the U.S. federal government will run a $2.6 trillion deficit, equivalent to 6.1% of GDP, while public-held debt would nearly double from $26 trillion to $48 trillion, reaching a record 116% of GDP. These numbers are "mind boggling" and "absolutely astounding," said Heritage Foundation research fellow Jeffrey Griffith on "Washington Watch."
If anything was more unpredictable than the Chiefs game, it was the Senate in overtime. A Sunday in session is rare for the upper chamber, but a Sunday session on the biggest football day of the year? That's unheard of. And while Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) promised to wheel in TVs and stacks of pizzas, most Americans probably wished they'd stayed home and done nothing once they heard the Democrats' playbook: an end-run on Ukraine funding - without any border reforms.
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues buying Iranian oil and helping Russia fund its war with Ukraine, Xi Jinping's regime appears to be sending nationals into the United States through the porous southern border via at least one secretive camp deep in the Panamanian jungle.
Country music legend and patriot par excellence Toby Keith has gone on to meet his Maker. The Oklahoma-born singer passed away Monday night last week at the age of 62, after a years-long battle with stomach cancer. Days before he passed away, Keith shared in an interview that his Christian faith sustained him throughout his experience with cancer. "You have to have your faith," he said. "Thank God that I got it too. You take it for granted on days that things are good, and you lean on it when days are bad. It's taught me to lean on it a little more every day."
In a press conference late last week, a reporter asked President Joe Biden how he thought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has handled the Israeli-Hamas conflict. In response, the president said, "I'm of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response ... in the Gaza Strip has been over the top." His remark on Thursday received immediate backlash.
In our crumbling society, we must stand for the things God cherishes - the dignity and sanctity of life, the beauty of natural marriage, the well-being of family life, and the foundational right of religious liberty. This does not mean we cannot have hobbies, cook fabulous meals, have family game nights, or, for that matter, watch the Super Bowl. But bearing in mind that these things bring no enduring peace and purpose helps us enjoy them without seeing them as ends in themselves, as substitutes for the things that truly matter.
A record-breaking 115 million people watched the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in last night's Super Bowl, the largest number in the 58-year history of the game. Last night's NFL showdown also set another record: Experts estimate an historic 67.8 million people gambled $23.1 billion on the game's outcome - 44% higher than the previous record of $16 billion placed by 50.4 million people, set just last year, according to a survey from the American Gaming Association. More than one out of every four Americans (26%) wagered money on the Super Bowl, a 35% increase in the number of U.S. gamblers, the survey stated.
A survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) showed that 47% of over 92,000 transgender and nonbinary-identifying respondents "said they had thought about moving to another state at some point during the past year" due to bills combatting LGBT ideology. According to the results, at least 5%, roughly 4,500 people, have moved already.
Within Christian circles, the political debate over open borders has been happening in tandem with a theological debate where some appear to be arguing that allowing open borders is a matter of Christian love. On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Carlos A. Rodriguez, said, "100% of migrants beyond the razor fences were created in the image of God." The implication appears to be that image bearers of God should generally be allowed to do what they want to do, but he can't possibly mean that.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), a national professional membership organization, released a position statement on Wednesday that said, "Adolescents who have a gender identity not congruent with their biological sex have an increased incidence of mental health issues, including depression and suicidal ideation. This is particularly serious given the exponential increase in the number of adolescents identifying as 'transgender' in the past decade."
A highly anticipated report on President Joe Biden's past mishandling of classified documents has concluded that he should not be charged with a crime, despite admitting that the former vice president knew of the illegality of his actions at the time.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday heard oral arguments for and against the Colorado state Supreme Court's decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the Republican presidential primary ballot. According to legal scholars, the justices' questions during oral arguments Thursday seemed to indicate a decision in favor of Trump.
Caroline Glick, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy, joined "Washington Watch" to detail five ways in which the Biden administration is working to hamper Israel's ability to bring the war to a swift, victorious conclusion by eliminating Hamas and five consequences of a premature ceasefire.
A Republican governor has weakened proposed health, safety, and ethical protections for Ohioans who identify as transgender, increasing the speed at which the transgender industry can begin cross-sex hormones or surgeries. His administration said it watered down the requirements based on "assurances" from the transgender industry that it already self-polices its own actions in an ethical manner. Yet the state is still being sued by the ACLU for protecting those under the age of 18 from transgender procedures.
Here are four ways that Christians should respond to the epidemic of deception poisoning America's media, public discourse, and even the church. In a refreshing contrast to America's prevailing buffet of lies, here are four courses of hearty, wholesome truth - all of which were grounded in God's infallible Word.
Evidence has been uncovered revealing that the Biden administration pressured retail giant Amazon to remove listings of books related to COVID vaccines during the pandemic. On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a series of emails sent between Amazon and senior White House officials, showing that the company eventually hid listings for books critical of vaccines from being viewed by the public at the administration's behest.
The Hoosier State's top lawyer is introducing a new method for parents to keep an eye on what their children are being taught in the classroom and hold schools and teachers accountable. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) recently launched an online portal called "Eyes on Education," which allows parents to check what their children are being taught in public schools and submit examples of material that is ideologically-charged or violates Indiana state law.
Jennifer Vitsaxaki found out that her 12-year-old daughter's school, according to the district policy, was purposefully hiding the fact that her daughter was being treated as a boy by her teachers and classmates. She was referred to by a male name and pronouns, and this was being done without the consent of Vitsaxaki.
The Biden administration is using the State Department to fund LGBT activism abroad - again. According to federal spending database USASpending.gov, the U.S. State Department awarded a $15,000 grant to Washington State University (WSU) for a "public diplomacy program." The government website explains that the program is designed to train 30 "master trainers" to become "LGBTQI+ allies, followed by these master trainers training another 2500 individuals on this theme." WSU hosted its three-day "train-the-trainer workshop" in India at the end of September.
The U.S. Senate voted down a bill combining massive amounts of foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel with measures to enhance the processing and release of illegal immigrants at the U.S. border - a bill one constitutional Republican critic said contains at least a dozen misguided and counterproductive provisions further opening our uncontrolled southern border.
A nonprofit watchdog group has released a video highlighting Oreo's ties to an LGBT advocacy group that has advocated for explicit books in school and lobbied against legislation to protect minors from trans procedures without parental consent.
Despite a failed vote to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday for failing to secure America's southern border, House Republicans have indicated that the impeachment effort will be brought back to the House floor as early as next week.
Christians will not necessarily agree on issues that call for the application of wisdom, or to which Scripture does not speak clearly. Immigration policy is just such a wisdom issue. While the Bible has a lot to say on the subject, it doesn't clearly define what is a "moral" immigration policy. However, it does provide clear principles that can help to inform our approach to immigration policy. In pursuit of biblical wisdom on immigration, here are four applicable biblical principles.
The Biden administration is admitting it has little basis for claiming that gender transition procedures are "life-saving" or "necessary." According to the response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the watchdog organization Protect the Public's Trust, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is basing its claim that gender transition procedures are "necessary" on a two-page PDF entitled "Gender-Affirming Care and Young People."
"Despite these ongoing attacks," said Tony Perkins on Tuesday's episode of "Washington Watch," "the Biden administration continues to refuse to place Nigeria on its list of countries of particular concern." But earlier on Tuesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a markup for House Resolution 82 that covered the need to reinstate Nigeria on the CPC list.
An international global governance group has launched "a global power grab" in its efforts to influence the way the world's governments respond to global health emergencies - and suppress those who dare to dissent.
Glassbrook Elementary School is located in Hayward, California. It's a low-performance school that has been on the state's watch list for academic advancement since 2020. According to The Daily Wire, as of last spring, "Less than 4%" of the school's 474 students "were proficient in math, and less than 12% of students were proficient in English."
The House Foreign Affairs Committee conducted a markup Tuesday on a bill introduced last week to defund the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for its complicity in Hamas's terrorism against Israel. "My bill would totally defund UNRWA. [It] says they cannot get so much as a dime of U.S. taxpayer funding," Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said on "Washington Watch."
Only a month into this presidential election year, President Joe Biden is again warning America that we must "save our democracy" from former President Donald Trump and conservatives. In reality, during these last three years, the Biden administration and many congressional Democrats have revealed that they care very little about democracy - especially our Constitution's First Amendment freedoms of religion and speech.
One of the mainstream media's flagship publications appears to be reversing course on gender transitions for children and finally listening to the warnings issued by detransitioners.
In recent years, concerns over religious freedom increased substantially. Last week at the 2024 International Religious Freedom Summit, over a thousand people gathered to learn more about what can be done globally to protect the human right of religious liberty. Speakers at the conference pointed out that there are some areas of the world receiving less attention than others, and one of those places is Nigeria.
With our nation's border crisis worsening by the week, the legal tug-of-war between the Biden administration and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) once again exposes a false narrative: that citizens who support secure borders lack mercy. More to the point, proponents of this narrative often accuse Christian conservatives of being hypocrites who lack mercy toward undocumented immigrants.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Sunday released long-awaited text for a compromise bill to address the crisis at the southern border. Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-Wash.) filed an "amendment in the nature of a substitute" to H.R. 815, a bill that had dealt with veterans' health care. In addition to border issues, the 370-page bill also authorizes additional funding for Ukraine, Israel, the military, and other issues. A Washington Stand analysis found the bill's contents to include the following items.
"[O]ur institutions have become ideologically captured," said Vernadette Broyles, president and general counsel of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, on "Washington Watch" last week. In light of this reality, she added, now is the time to speak up. "[T]he church has no choice [but] to stand in the gap, to uphold biological truth, and to stand with parents that are otherwise sitting ducks for the wolves."
As new polls indicate that American voters remain worried about the persistently high cost of goods and have largely lost confidence in President Joe Biden's handling of the economy, a leading economist is pointing out that the economies in red states that feature free market policies are outpacing the economies of blue states.
A recent interview with the leader of an immigration reform organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has branded a "hate group" potentially shines new light on how the SPLC allegedly uses its "hate" accusations as a tactical political weapon.
A new poll is revealing that the majority of Americans support building a border wall and enabling states to defend the border in the federal government's absence. According to an I&I/TIPP survey released on Monday, 59% of American voters back the construction of a southern border wall, including 41% who "strongly" support the wall and 18% who "somewhat" support it. Only 32% oppose it, either "strongly" (17%) or "somewhat" (15%). Notably, nearly half (43%) of Democrats support a border wall, with only 47% opposing it. The border wall also has support from minorities, with 52% of black Americans and 54% of Hispanic Americans backing it.
New studies from the world's leading research institutions show that Christians who actively practice their faith are less likely to become unhappy during times of global crisis and isolation, more hopeful, and more likely to lend a hand to their fellow citizens.
Do you ever marvel that God would save a sinner like you? His character is so righteous, and ours is so twisted. His plans are so good, and ours are so self-serving. His holiness is so pure, and our lives are so messy. Nevertheless, God graciously revealed to us his sovereign plan of redemption in Jesus Christ, he has also unveiled the mystery of his sovereign counsels through his Word, so that we might silence our doubts "in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22).
To be a follower of Christ in a world that rebels against Him daily is no simple undertaking. Although, the life of a believer is the most rewarding, purposeful, joyful, and amazing life one could live. To live in service of the Lord Almighty is to live in hope of an eternity with Him in paradise. But additionally, to live for Him is what makes this otherwise mundane, dark, and harsh reality of earthly living not merely bearable, but enjoyable. A life lived for Christ is the only true life, indeed.
As the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate stalls on funding for Israel, the House of Representatives is introducing new legislation to succeed where the upper chamber of Congress is failing. The Washington Stand has obtained a copy of a letter House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is preparing to send to his colleagues. It reads, in part, "Next week, we will take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package." The letter continues, "During debate in the House and in numerous subsequent statements, Democrats made clear that their primary objection to the original House bill was with its offsets. The Senate will no longer have excuses, however misguided, against swift passage of this critical support for our ally." In the letter, Johnson declares, "Given the Senate's failure to move appropriate legislation in a timely fashion, and the perilous circumstances currently facing Israel, the House will continue to lead."
Lately, all evidence points to male athletes pretending to be women dominating women in competitions, from golf to boxing. It's no wonder since, as experts have pointed out, men have distinct physical advantages over women. In many cases, women who train day-in and day-out don't stand a chance at winning against the six-foot, muscular male competitor. To level the playing field, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) "will introduce a bicameral bill that would block biological men from participating in any U.S. Olympic Committee event intended for women," Fox News reported Thursday.
As the federal government continues to prosecute pro-lifers and January 6 protestors, a Senate staffer who filmed gay sex acts in a congressional building is not being charged.
The communist Nicaraguan regime under President Daniel Ortega has expanded its persecution of Christians in the Central American country, imprisoning 11 evangelical pastors, including three U.S. citizens, along with two attorneys in December. An American pastor who ministered in Nicaragua and is now wanted by the government is speaking out on their behalf and petitioning Congress and the State Department to work for their release.
U.N.-employed school teachers participated in Hamas's October 7 attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, according to information Israeli intelligence officials recently shared with American colleagues. Their participation strikingly parallels a radicalized streak in American education, albeit in service of a more murderous ideology.
The newest person named to the Biden administration has devised and implemented radical left-wing policies at the highest levels of government, including attempts to revolutionize the teachings of an entire Christian denomination, critics say.
It's been a week to forget for surf company Rip Curl, the latest brand to risk consumers' wrath with a pro-transgender marketing campaign. Their January post urging people to meet "waterwoman" Sasha Lowerson, a biological man in a bikini, lit a literal fire under fans, who took to the internet to burn everything from surf booties to boards. Days after deleting the reel, with international outrage at a peak, headquarters decided to do something that Bud Light still hasn't: apologize.
"I go to sleep a dead man." That's the only way Liri Albag's father can describe what it's like to know his daughter is a hostage in Gaza. He holds up a picture of his beautiful girl before captivity - and another, the unrecognizable face of his 18-year-old looking dirty, dazed, and disheveled. Somewhere, deep underground, she waits for help that has not come. "I want to show to the world," a pained Eli tells reporters. "This is the same girl - it is not different girls," he pleads. It's the face of a girl who's seen unspeakable horrors. Horrors that will not stop if Israel does.
It's been long established that the world of social media is a dangerous place - and over time, it's only grown more dangerous. While Big Tech overlords have implemented some features to guard against minors being exposed to inappropriate content, experts say it's not enough.
On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for violating 12 immigration and border security laws. The move comes as traditional defenders of the Biden administration in the legacy media are now admitting that a "humanitarian crisis" is currently occurring at America's southern border.
Last year, an ostensibly evangelical college in England sacked a professor, Dr. Aaron Edwards, over a February tweet advocating a biblical view of sexuality and marriage. The incident was only one occurrence of religious persecution in Western democracies in 2023, as noted during the 2024 International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF).
Abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood's obsessive focus on "sexual education" is a testament to the kinship between the Sexual Revolution's perversions and the slaughter of the unborn, and the corrupt corporation's latest "lesson" is an egregious example of the Sexual Revolution's hatred of the reality of nature. In a recent video available online, a Planned Parenthood "sex educator" explained that there is actually no such thing as virginity. According to Planned Parenthood, "virginity is a completely made-up concept" and "a term that was created simply to control and shame people, mainly women."
The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-La.) urged the Biden administration to take stronger action against the Chinese Communist Party as the ruling government's treatment of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority group continues to invite allegations of genocide, human rights violations, and religious hostility. Johnson addressed the crowd gathered at the annual International Religious Freedom Summit Wednesday, highlighting his background as a religious freedom litigator and discussing the threats to religious freedom worldwide.
While a day dedicated to repentance may be mocked by an ever-rebellious society, there are many faithful believers who continue this tradition. Wednesday, January 31, 2024, was the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, a guilty verdict was announced for six pro-life activists for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act at an abortion facility near Nashville, Tenn. The Biden administration's Justice Department brought the charges, which stemmed from a peaceful protest on March 5, 2021, in which a group of pro-lifers prayed and sang hymns at the entrance to the Carafem Health Center Clinic.
The American church is "desensitized," Pastor Jack Hibbs told "Washington Watch" host and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Tuesday. "And I'm afraid, Tony, we're going to have to get desperate." In Revelation 3:14-22, the Lord Jesus urged a desensitized church to recognize the danger of its own spiritual lukewarmness. "You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing," he told the Laodiceans, "not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17).
Liberal presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has come out against the WHO Pandemic Agreement, saying the COVID-19 lockdowns proved Americans should not strengthen an "unelected, quasi-governmental organization that is linked very strongly to the Chinese and the pharmaceutical companies."
There is credible evidence that at least 12 staffers of the U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were involved with the Hamas attacks of October 7 in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered. "One is accused of kidnapping a woman," report journalists Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley. "Another is said to have handed out ammunition. A third was described as taking part in the massacre at a kibbutz where 97 people died."
A father is suing a Garden State school district after his daughter's gender transition was allegedly kept a secret from him. The father, who is remaining anonymous to protect his daughter's identity, found that New Jersey's Delaware Valley Regional High School (DVRHS) had been calling his daughter by a male name and male pronouns for at least two months, after a pro-LGBT student club's staff advisor - who is not licensed to practice either medicine or psychology, according to the lawsuit - asked teachers and other school staff, faculty, and administration to refer to the girl by a male name and male pronouns and not to tell her father.
On Tuesday, the 2024 International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF) began as a means to bring awareness to the immense religious persecution occurring globally and to offer hope amid the darkness.
Younger Americans are more likely to dissociate from organized religion, according to a recent Pew Research study on religious "nones." Out of 28% of American adults who identify as "atheist," "agnostic," or "nothing in particular," 29% are aged 18-29 (Generation Z is ages 11-26), while 40% are aged 30-49. Despite their professed dissociation, these individuals are not necessarily hardened against the message of the gospel. "We have tremendous opportunity right now," urged podcaster Kyle Campbell on "Washington Watch," "particularly in the church."
Over the weekend at a campaign event, President Joe Biden pledged to "shut down the border right now" if a border deal is reached in Congress. The admission appears to signal a seismic shift in the president's messaging on the southern border crisis as polls indicate that almost three quarters of Americans say they support Texas in its standoff with the federal government over securing the border.
Religious persecution against Christians in the Western world is rising at an alarming rate, according to a new report from Family Research Council's Center for Religious Liberty.
Why are Nigeria's Christians facing grave danger? Why have kidnappings and murders of pastors, priests, men, women, and children in Nigeria continued to increase in numbers? The fact is that more Christian believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria each year than in the rest of the countries of the world combined. Meanwhile, the international response to these tragedies has for too long been virtual silence.
The Democratic Party in general, and the Biden administration in particular, are eager to hand global governance institutions more influence over U.S. health policy, said the prime opponent of a new pandemic agreement. Pro-life and pro-family advocates should be most concerned about expanding the WHO's reach, power, and prestige, as it moves to polarize global health policy in favor of abortion, homosexuality, and transgenderism, say its opponents.
A high-ranking official at the Department of Education under President Joe Biden met with representatives of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) a year before the center put parental rights groups, including Moms for Liberty, on its "hate map" alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, according to documents obtained by The Oversight Project.
Live by the transgender mob, die by the transgender mob. That message should've already made its way to most corporate board rooms, but a few stubborn holdouts seem determined to find out the hard way. Rip Curl is the latest brand to stick its toe in the unfriendly waters of the LGBT debate with this terrible idea: putting a 44-year-old man in its summer bikini campaign. Apparently, the numbskulls at headquarters thought showcasing a long-haired dude in a halter top would sell more surf gear than inspirational role models like Bethany Hamilton. They were wrong. R.I.P. Curl.
On Monday, Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) and the Congressional Family Caucus hosted an event to discuss the challenges that face the most important unit in society: the family. Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), and Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) all spoke about the fundamental truths that strengthen a society - the reality of male and female, the science that backs up basic truths, and the God who authored them.
One of today's most prominent celebrities, however, was largely silent on the subject of politics for much of her career, but now has the potential wherewithal to sway nearly a fifth of voters in 2024. According to a new survey, country star-turned pop icon Taylor Swift's endorsement would likely influence 18% of voters in America, including about 30% of voters under the age of 35.
Americans usually pay little attention to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and rightly so. The U.N. arbitration board has little neutrality and even less power, often able to award nothing more than propaganda points. But, in a Friday decision, the ICJ issued a decision that was actually noteworthy - for what it didn't say. As an organ of the rabidly anti-Israel international organization whose members overwhelmingly sided with Hamas in October and demanded an immediate ceasefire, the ICJ's decision didn't fully side with Hamas and strikingly didn't call for a ceasefire. Perhaps the evidence failed to sustain the charade.
As the 2024 presidential election approaches, election integrity experts are warning that ranked-choice voting poses perhaps the biggest threat to free and fair elections, noting that left-wing activist groups are heavily funding an effort to spread the practice throughout the country.
For the men and women stationed at Tower 22 in the Middle East, it probably feels like they're serving at the end of the world. Surrounded by miles of desert near the borders of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan, the word "isolated" doesn't begin to describe the tiny outpost. With just 350 Army and Air Force members rotating in and out of the base, no one would have expected the base to be a target - until now.
The Pew Research Center recently released data about the religious "nones" in America. The poll tried to uncover more about this enigmatic group and what it is they believe. According to the results, 28% of U.S. adults fall into the religious "none" or "religiously unaffiliated" category, with 17% calling themselves atheist, 20% agnostic, and 63% "nothing in particular."
An interfaith coalition has offered prayers of solidarity to two evangelical Christians facing their third trial for declaring that homosexuality violates the Bible, a position prosecutors call "War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity."
Apparently, it wasn't enough to steal a girls' Division I title - now Lia Thomas has his sights on the Olympics. The controversial swimmer, who hasn't been in the pool competitively since the scandal of 2022, has been outed for secretly suing World Aquatics. His goal? To burn down the fair, biologically-based rules for women's swimming.
There's no doubt that Trump is fighting for the soul of America, and not only making tremendous sacrifices to do so but having no small degree of success. But it is crucial that Trump not be (in the literal sense of the term) idolized.
Sin came with the fall and separated us from God. While redemptive history proves God had a plan to save His people from the beginning, the lives of believers in the Old Testament and the New Testament were quite different. Before Jesus paid our debt and atoned for our sins, believers appeased God's wrath toward sin through offerings and sacrifices. And this is the context we find ourselves in when reading Genesis 22.
Women - young and old - who experience an unplanned pregnancy are often terrified. I'm not ready to be a mom," they think. "I just can't afford it, especially on my own," others cry out. The sad reality is that many women who get pregnant unexpectedly do not have any form of support system. That is why Stan Yeatts, a practicing board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, created Stork Advisor.
In 1939, the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life was founded by pro-Nazi "theologian" Walter Grundmann. Located at the University of Jena - the institution from which Karl Marx received his doctorate - the goal of the Institute was to demonstrate that Jesus was actually an Aryan. Mary, you see, was a descendent of Assyrians and Jesus's real father was a Roman soldier.
Approximately 10 million illegal immigrants, which is larger than the individual populations of 41 states, have crossed the southern border under the Biden administration. In September, to the irritation of Democrats, Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) declared the mass migration "an invasion as defined by the U.S. Constitution." He added that each state has a right to secure their own borders, and "Congress must recognize" that. And Marshall is not alone in his sentiments.
The Ohio state legislature on Wednesday became the fifth to override a governor's veto to enact a law protecting minors from gender transition procedures. With every successful veto override, claims of "extremism" lodged against the bill appear more and more far-fetched.
In the opening seconds of President Joe Biden's first reelection campaign video, the third image that appears (after two shots of the January 6 riot) is a woman holding a sign that reads "Abortion Is Healthcare" in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. The video serves as a template for what appears to be the Biden campaign's two-pronged reelection strategy: to paint Republicans as "extremists" and to characterize abortion as a matter of "personal freedom."
A coalition of Republican governors is backing Texas against the Biden administration as the Lone Star State is securing the southern border. Twenty-five governors signed a joint statement issued late Thursday, supporting Texas Governor Greg Abbott's (R) declaration of an "invasion" and invocation of constitutional articles to enable Texas's self-defense at the border.
"Republicans can't outrun abortion," wrote The Intelligencer's Sarah Jones. She went on to state that those who are pro-life are of "a party that shows no mercy." Apparently, pro-lifers "like to play language games" in order to "obscure facts," which, according to Jones, has "unleashed great suffering" for women. Especially since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
It was a good idea, but it probably won't work out. Last year, Republicans offered to go along with another funding package for Ukraine, if Democrats would go along with commonsense measures to secure our own southern border. As House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said last month, "I don't think it's a radical proposition to say that if we're going to have a national security supplemental package, it ought to begin with our own national security."
In 2020, a referendum known as Measure 110 passed in Oregon, which essentially decriminalized the possession of user amounts of hard drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone, and others. But after an explosive rise in overdoses and drug use occurred in the aftermath of the measure's passage, state lawmakers are now considering a partial rollback of the law to try and stem the tide of carnage.
The governor of Texas is declaring his state has a right to self-defense against the "invasion" of unimpeded illegal immigration, and other red state governors are standing in solidarity. On Wednesday afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) issued a statement on the state's constitutional right to self-defense in light of the Biden administration's persistent negligence in securing the border. "The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States," Abbott wrote. "The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them."
The secretary-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the world could miss the deadline to ratify a new pandemic accord expanding WHO's authority. Meanwhile, pro-family advocates have formally told the Biden administration they fervently hope the agreement will never be adopted.
Gudrun "Gunna" Kristofersdottir is a Florida-based nurse practitioner who works at the CVS MinuteClinic. Or rather, who used to work there. Due to her deeply held Catholic beliefs, Kristofersdottir refused to provide contraceptives as a CVS employee, and she was able to do so through an approved religious exemption in previous years. However, CVS changed its policy in 2021 stating that it no longer grants "exemptions from ... essential MinuteClinic functions." As such, Kristofersdottir was terminated.
The bellwether state of Ohio has become the 23rd state to protect children from transgender injections and surgeries, and the 24th to safeguard fairness and privacy in women's sports, as lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to override the Republican governor's veto. Yet Democratic opponents claimed Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus Christ would have supported transgender surgeries for kids, a transgender activist changed the words of a Christian hymn to support transgender surgeries, and liberals likened withholding cross-sex hormones from children to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
"Today, I make this sacred pledge to you. The defense, protection, and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency." So said President Joe Biden during a January 5 speech at Valley Forge. That "sacred pledge" lasted about two-and-a-half weeks. At a January 23 abortion rally in Manassas, Va., Biden began, "Hello, Virginia! And the real governor, Terry McAuliffe." Thus, the self-styled defender of democracy indulged in pointless election-denialism - over an election whose results were never significantly challenged.
In a rare show of bipartisanship, a bill that would expand the child tax credit (CTC) for low-income families easily passed through the House Ways and Means Committee last Friday by a 40-3 margin, moving it one step closer to a vote on the House floor. Experts say the bill will give a substantial financial boost to parents with multiple kids at a time when the cost of raising a family has risen significantly due to persistent inflation.
Bethany Hamilton survived a shark attack - I sincerely doubt the Left can scare her. But that doesn't mean they won't try. Ever since last year, when the beloved pro surfer took a stand for girls' sports, she's been in the bullseye of the trans mob. Now, months away from a speaking gig at an organization for underserved girls, the woman at the center of one of the most inspiring true life stories of our time, is the target of a national LGBT boycott. Good luck trying to intimidate her. The Bethany we know is probably thinking, "Guys, a shark bit my arm off, and I got back in the ocean. I'm not afraid of you."
The World Health Organization is considering partnering with a radical pro-abortion group in the United States. In a December 2023 executive board meeting, the secretariat of WHO proposed that the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) be admitted into official relations with the organization. Such a partnership includes collaboration between WHO and CRR on agreed objectives and activities for a three-year period to uphold WHO's mission to "contribute significantly to the advancement of public health."
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, there's been no shortage of pain and suffering. Thousands have died, many are still held hostage, and deadly conflict threatens to spread throughout the Middle East. Amid all the chaos, death, and destruction, many wonder: why keep fighting? Caroline Glick, a senior contributing editor at the Jewish News Syndicate and host of the "Carolyn Glick Show," has an answer.
Ask 10 professional fact-checkers to rate something as true or false, and get one, unanimous answer. That's what we assume will happen based on our understanding of the word "fact" and our understanding of the responsibilities of a person who "checks" them. That assumption is incorrect, according to a recently published study that found a "low level of agreement of professionals over what is misinformation." Fact-checkers sometimes enjoy a reputation as paragons of objectivity - but, based on the conduct of many fact-checkers, the opposite conclusion isn't all that surprising.
Former president Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire primary, soaring towards a third consecutive Republican presidential nomination despite orchestrated opposition from both Democrats and the "Never Trump" wing of the GOP. On Tuesday night, Trump bested former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley by an 11-point margin, winning with 54.5% of the vote against Haley's 43.2%.
Last Thursday, two mothers spoke on Capitol Hill before the House Homeland Security Committee, sharing their heartbreaking stories about how they lost their daughters due to the actions of illegal immigrants - two criminals that, before 2021 when the Biden administration took over, most likely would have been stopped at the border and not allowed into the United States.
As the 2024 election approaches, many people are overwhelmed with a barrage of news, ads, soundbites, and social media posts. They want clear direction, asking, "Who can I trust, where can I get reliable information, and what can I do?" The following is a listing of helpful resources divided into two sections - those provided by FRC and those provided by FRC Action.
Although legacy media apologists insist the World Economic Forum (WEF) "has no authority to enforce" its mandates, the WEF claims it unites "the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas." WEF's most recent conference left no doubt that the world should resist being shaped by the secular-progressive, globalist agenda on display, included taking part in a pagan ritual, advocating for a universal and biometric ID and a global tax, "public-private" government censorship of the internet, and reining in elected officials' ability to deliver for their voters.
The closer we get to November, the more high-profile Republicans are admitting it: Silence isn't selling on abortion. From RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to the head of the House's GOP fundraising arm, the cry to get off the sidelines on life is echoing off the walls of campaign headquarters. Lt. Governor Mark Robinson (R-N.C.) is the latest to join the chorus of conservatives, telling candidates to "stop being cowards and stand up for what you believe." But know this first: the problem is as much about how the GOP is messaging as whether they do.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) "urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges on the basis of protected political and religious expression," according to a letter by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), in his capacity as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. A branch of the U.S. Treasury Department, FinCEN's job "is to ferret out money laundering, illegal activities," Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) said on "Washington Watch." "But there's a way to do that. It's called a search warrant."
Abortion has become Vice President Kamala Harris's and President Joe Biden's primary focus. On Monday, both Biden and Harris decried the end of Roe v. Wade in speech and action. As a kickoff to her abortion tour, Harris proclaimed "women across our nation are suffering" because they've been "robbed of a fundamental freedom."
A well-known Democratic senator is breaking away from his party's position to side with Republicans on illegal immigration and border control. Appearing on CNN's "The Lead" on Friday, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) quipped, "I honestly don't understand why it's controversial to say we need a secure border."
All evidence over the past two centuries leads to the conclusion that feminism has been a tragic misstep and an ugly wound in the history of Western civilizational thought. One of the most destructive consequences of feminism has been the still-unfolding and exponentially-worsening transgenderism crisis. This horrific ideology - now plaguing numerous Western nations and destroying the lives of countless men, women, and children - is a direct descendant of feminism, and it is fueled and fed by the feminism pervading every aspect of society.
Parents often concoct ways for their children to have fun growing up. Playing games such as the "Tooth Fairy" has been a tradition for many American children. The tooth fairy tradition is meant to be a harmless way for parents to engage in make-believe play with their growing children. But what happens when the lines of play become blurred with reality?
"Doing your own research is a good way to end up being wrong," insisted Washington Post analyst Philip Bump last week. Such a counterintuitive, even comical, claim cannot survive the close interrogation it richly deserves. The only reason for Bump and the Post to publish such a claim is that its implied application, outsourcing your own research to the mainstream media, enhances their own status.
The Army's Select, Train, Educate and Promote policy (STEP) went into effect in 2016 and required "noncommissioned officers to complete professional military education training courses before they can be promoted." But to relieve stress during the pandemic, the Army set up a temporary promotion policy that allowed servicemen and women to be promoted without completing the required course and training. However, since this 2021 policy has been in place, 52,000 NCOs have been promoted, but 10,588 have yet to finish the required training. And the Army appears to be doing nothing about it.
Few people have been a target of the legacy media like Dr. Ben Carson, famed neurosurgeon and former member of the Trump cabinet. Late last week, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins sat down with the longtime conservative on "Washington Watch," and the two men discussed a number of topics, including how Dr. Carson handles the Left's hostility, what the country would look like if Joe Biden hadn't been elected, and how believers can help get America back on the right track. Here's what the former presidential candidate had to say.
Last week, a male professional golfer who identifies as female was allowed to compete in a women's tournament and won the event. Hailey Davidson, a 30-year-old Scottish golfer who was born James Scott Davidson, came in first place at the NXXT Women's Classic in Orlando, Fla. The episode highlight's women's golf as the latest sport to allow biological males to compete, claim titles, and win prize money in women's events, despite growing public outrage.
January 22 marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that allowed abortionists to kill unborn children at any point during a mother's pregnancy. It is a day that forever changed America. Just as America's original sin, slavery, denied the personhood of human beings and stained our nation from its inception, so too has the unfettered murder of unborn children by abortionists.
Florida's governor has dropped out of the Republican presidential primary and endorsed former President Donald Trump. On Sunday night, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) announced that he was suspending his 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
A global government body has told nations it is "imperative" that they "counteract conservative opposition" and "enact progressive laws" that legalize prostitution and intentionally infect people with AIDS. At the same time, the international body has indicated it plans to roll out guidelines normalizing transgender cross-sex hormone injections worldwide.
On January 22, 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated the third Sunday in January as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of this significant day, when we celebrate human life, especially the lives of the unborn.
In January of 2023, WPATH had 4,119 global members. Within a year, however, membership dropped more than 60%, with only 1,590 members remaining as of January 2024. U.S. membership alone, which constitutes as 78% of the global membership, dropped from 3,104 to 1,234. "The future for gender affirming healthcare at a global level now looks rather uncertain," wrote Peter Jenkins, a member of Thoughtful Therapists.
During testimony on Capitol Hill Thursday, a religious freedom expert on China revealed the extent of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) efforts to engage in transnational repression and espionage by targeting dissidents and religious freedom advocates in other countries.
The concept of "religion vs. relationship" is something we bring up in evangelism all the time. It's meant to emphasize that one can be religious without ever developing a real relationship with God, which is very important to share with an unbeliever. However, I believe it's just as important to remind the believer of this exact same truth.
It's that time again. The time when evangelical Christians are all over the news for all the wrong reasons. No, it's not due to scandal (although evangelicals have sadly had their fair share), but it's also not it because they possess a life changing message about God, reality, and the human condition. For the mainstream media, evangelicals during this period are seen through only one lens: politics. They're a voting bloc - and for many in the public eye, they have absolutely no right to be.
As I walked through the snowy streets of Washington D.C. this morning, each step brought me closer to where thousands gathered for the 51st annual March for Life. And the closer I got, the louder the songs, cheers, and laughter became. This march wasn't just a gathering, but a beacon of light shining in a desperate and dark world.
This week, global elites are discussing the potential danger of a future pandemic at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. There, World Health Organization (WHO) Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus led a panel on "Preparing for Disease X," an objective WHO now pursues with religious zeal. Despite a pattern of new pandemics sweeping the globe approximately once a century, WHO insists on nations and individuals giving up their sovereignty and freedoms now.
For someone who's been on the job for 10 months, NCAA President Charlie Baker certainly doesn't seem to have a grasp of the important issues. While the biggest battle in modern sports boils over on campuses across the country, the former Massachusetts governor was shockingly blithe about the threat to girls' teams and privacy in his latest trip to Congress.
With a wintry mix headed toward Washington, Congress decided to plow through something else Thursday: its differences on the federal budget. Before the first flakes fell in D.C., the House and Senate raced to avert a shutdown - passing a temporary spending bill to keep the government's lights on for six more weeks. While the move buys the two chambers until early March on appropriations, it certainly wasn't the solution everyone wanted. But, as one congressman pointed out, it's better than the alternative: a rushed and bloated omnibus.
For those of us in the pro-life movement, January 22, 1973, will always be a day of great sadness, but we do not mourn as those without hope. We know that God hears our prayers, and in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization¸ decided on June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court reversed its terrible decision to allow abortion - calling legalized killing of the unborn "egregiously wrong," and once again giving Americans the opportunity to protect the innocent among us. Our rejoicing continues, but a sad realization sets in: the fight for life is far from over.
Researchers associated with the Chinese military have bioengineered a COVID-related coronavirus (GX_P2V) that "can cause 100% mortality" in lab mice modified with human DNA, according to a "preprint" - a not-yet-reviewed paper - posted online on January 4. The development "is sure to remind many of the Wuhan lab incident," Family Research Council President Tony Perkins warned on "Washington Watch," as the Chinese research team underscored the "spillover risk of GX_P2V into humans."
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signaled openness to making "significant change on the border" during a White House meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The news comes as reports surfaced that an unprecedented three million asylum cases are currently backlogged in U.S. immigration courts due to Biden's porous border policies.
The founder of an accountability software company is warning that pornography is a "civilizational crisis" which Christian leaders must oppose. In conversation with The Christian Post, Covenant Eyes founder and CEO Ronald DeHaas said that pastors "need to be talking about" the porn epidemic and especially its impact on youth.
After Saturday's historic win, Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud wanted to make sure God got the glory first. The NFL's Rookie of the Year finalist led the team to victory and was immediately interviewed by NBC to talk about the team's trip to the playoffs. "First and foremost," Stroud said, "I just want to give all glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
The world is one step closer to holding China accountable for unleashing the COVID-19 virus, which led to draconian church and business closures and substantial loss of life in 2020, thanks to a lawsuit from a Republican attorney general.
As the March for Life approaches, political pundits are recommending Republicans leave the unborn to speak for themselves. Even "pro-lifers" have argued that if Republicans want to win the 2024 election, they must "find a middle ground" on the life issue. Sadly, this path has already failed. Here are four ways Republicans can chart a different course in 2024.
According to a poll conducted by YouGov and Students for Life of America (SFLA), 65% of voters aged 18 to 42 supported some limits on abortion, and 54% believe human rights should start in the womb. Additionally, 75% "supported restrictions at or before viability, up 10% from 2023."
"The U.S. Constitution tasks the federal government with regulating immigration ... and securing the Nation's borders," a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) informed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in a January 14 letter, giving Texas until Wednesday to cease-and-desist its latest and boldest attempt to secure the border by shutting federal agents out of an illegal crossing hotspot in Eagle Pass, Texas. In other words, Texas is doing for them the job the Biden administration refuses to do, and the Biden administration is threatening another lawsuit over it.
If the election is a choice between democracy and chaos (as Joe Biden insists), then the president isn't making a very compelling case. The man who claims his biggest competition is "sowing lawlessness and disorder" didn't have to look very far to find it at his own gates. And yet, unlike 1,100 Americans caught up in the Justice Department's January 6 crackdown, this mob faced no consequences.
On Saturday, current vice president and independence advocate Lai Ching-te (also known as William Lai) was elected the next president of Taiwan, winning over 40% of the popular vote. The election drew a series of strong rebukes from China, as experts noted that Lai's victory signaled the continued resolve of the Taiwanese people to maintain their independence from the increasingly hostile communist regime.
Two Christian teachers, Lori Ann West and Elizabeth Mirabelli, were placed on administrative leave in May of 2023 for their opposition to Rincon Middle School's transgender policies. The teachers were represented by the Thomas More Society in a lawsuit against district administrators and the California Board of Education.
Ten weeks ago, I wrote of a November 4 protest at the White House in which a pro-Hamas mob "cursed the U.S. president, waved the flag of a foreign adversary, and endeavored to breach the White House compound." No one was held accountable for that vile display of hate and anti-Semitism, even from the president ostensibly committed to the extermination of these evils. So, in the least surprising development ever, the pro-terrorism protest happened again this Saturday, only bigger and bolder - and again with no consequences.
As I read through, I found that C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters" touched on several ways the enemy attacks believers that are heavily relevant today. For instance, Screwtape said to Wormwood, "Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life." Naturally, as a Christian whose career is quite literally to have her Christianity flow into her political life (and to encourage others to do the same), this single line stood out to me. A lot.
A large percentage of Americans don't know or outright disagree that marriage builds stronger families and is linked to better well-being for children, according to the annual American Family Survey. This is despite the fact that such benefits have been proven time and again. These attitudes may be due in part to nearly half of all U.S. children today spending at least part of their childhood in a non-intact family.
When considering the LGBT alphabet, I'm sure a lot comes to mind. On this, there are many factors to consider. First, as believers, we need to know what God's Word says to accurately convey it in the public square. Second, as believers, we need to know what God's Word says to appropriately behave in a way that serves as a witness to Christ, even amid the chaos of the public square.
The Founders of our country were often at odds about what kind of nation they were forming. In the summer of 1787, as the Constitutional Convention wore on and contention grew, Benjamin Franklin rose and said this to his colleagues: "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"
Former President Donald Trump has won the Hawkeye State's GOP caucuses in a landslide. On Monday night, Trump won 98 of 99 counties in Iowa, tying with Nikki Haley in Johnson County, each with 35.5% of the vote. Both the Associated Press and CNN called the caucuses for Trump within 30 minutes of votes being counted.
Alabama may resume enforcement of a law protecting minors from the harmful effects of gender transition procedures, the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled in a brief order Thursday. The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection (VCAP) Act has been blocked in federal court since May 2022 amid an unusually eventful 18 months of legal pinball and faces a hearing by the full 11th Circuit later this year. "It's been a long, hard road," Becky Gerritson, executive director of the Eagle Forum of Alabama (EFA), said on "Washington Watch."
Nobody likes a wimp - and on the issue of abortion, the Republican Party has plenty of them. After the Dobbs ruling put the issue back in legislators' hands, a shocking number of GOP candidates spent the 2022 and 2023 elections cowering in the collective corner, hoping voters would take their silence as confirmation that they had a reasonable position on life (despite the Democrats' 24/7 ads to the contrary). Now, staring down a high-stakes November where this issue has the potential to upend all of the GOP's momentum, more voices are urging the party to get off the sidelines and fight.
A newly disclosed video has revealed that the Biden administration partnered with the controversial Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to label conservative organizations as "domestic terrorism threats."
After months of campaigning, debating, and politicking, the 2024 election is officially underway. While political pundits and prognosticators focus their analysis of the Iowa caucus on which of the Republican candidates - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, and Vivek Ramaswamy - can sustain their campaigns into the New Hampshire primary, a widely distributed viral video (and one campaign's embrace of its messaging) provides an opportunity for thoughtful Christian reflection about the interplay between politics and faith.
A Republican presidential contender appeared to signal support for portions of the transgender agenda. According to The Daily Caller News Foundation, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley dodged a question on gender transition procedures on Sunday, but affirmed that "people can live any way they want..."
The team drawing up guidelines for how doctors around the world should view transgender injections and surgeries consists of numerous radical transgender activists, an author who popularizes the term "genderf*ck" in a forthcoming book of "academic smut," and someone who advised the United Nations that countries should provide an "uninterrupted supply of ... medical [hormone therapy] and gender-affirmative surgeries for trans people." Many of the "experts" have no medical expertise, and the majority of those with any medical experience belong to a group that advocates transgender surgeries and medical interventions for children as young as 10.
Birzeit University is a Palestinian school in the West Bank that considers itself a "thorn in the side of the occupation." Only three days after the terrorist group Hamas brutally attacked Israel, the university posted on X that the attack was due to the "numerous assaults of the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians, especially against its educational institutions." The post also called for the "glory for martyrs."
Today, more than 100,000 Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh are struggling to begin new lives in Armenia. Their hopes for returning to their earlier lives in Artsakh are fading, while their struggle to restart their lives is a daunting challenge. Although their plight is not widely reported in the United States, these Christian believers deserve our concern and our prayers.
The decay of Havana is, in part, the result of robbery. Almost no one lives in a house that their family built. Instead, they live under roofs stolen from their legitimate owners by the revolutionaries.
Moving back to America was a major culture shock. Among several differences, what mostly stood out was the fast-paced nature of American society. I'm not here to dissect the interworking's of this country nor the different governments we're dealing with. Simply, I'm here to say it was hard to adapt. I noticed how common it was to have a full schedule with little flexibility, as if the general default was go, go, go!
"To an incredibly dangerous extent," wrote Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, "The airline industry is in the process of actively making itself less competent and reliable." But why? It's simple. The airline industry is prioritizing wokeness - in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) - over safety and qualified personnel.
On Thursday, the crisis on America's southern border entered unprecedented waters as the Texas National Guard seized control of a key migrant processing center in Eagle Pass, blocking Border Patrol from entering the area. The move highlighted the urgency of a spiraling catastrophe that lawmakers say must be dealt with vigorously, including impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
With nothing but three years of failure to campaign on, President Biden has made it clear that he intends to use January 6 as the theme of his reelection bid. The first evidence of that was his speech in Charleston on Monday, when he told the audience, "Let me say what others cannot: We must reject political violence in America. Always. Not sometimes - always." Conservatives agree - we just didn't wait until January 6 to say so.
After a week of angry outbursts and threats, cooler heads may have prevailed in Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) Thursday meeting with Republicans. That would be a relief, considering that the first few days of 2024 haven't exactly been a joyride for the Louisianan, who's struggling to find a sweet spot on government spending that wins over his insatiable, wafer-thin majority. It's a painful exercise in the challenges of the job, which only seems to be getting more difficult with the unrealistic expectations of his party.
Much of the entertainment industry is failing; the film industry has grown stagnant, relying on unoriginal franchises jam-packed with digital effects, television shows are cancelled the second their ratings dip, and even the music industry is beginning to find itself with a bored consumer base. But comedy is burgeoning, and anti-woke humor is leading the boom.
The first thing to be said about greed is that it's not from God. The second thing to be said about greed is that it's entirely inconsistent with the desire for the truth of God. And the third thing to be said about greed is that it's a tremendously dangerous trap for the Christian to fall into.
Newly published data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that the proportion of American children living in two-parent families increased to 71.1% in 2023, continuing a slight upward trajectory since 2015. The numbers appear to contradict a popular narrative in the mainstream media that American society no longer aspires to establish households with a mother and father to parent children.
Eight months after anonymously blowing the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital's (TCH) transgender program, a surgeon has gone public with a tale of relentless persecution by the Biden administration. Dr. Eithan Haim would have preferred to remain anonymous, but he said the Biden administration's "blatant attempt at political intimidation" forced him to go public, after a federal criminal investigation buried him and his wife in $250,000 of legal fees without ever filing charges.
Since the day it began, the war between Israel and Hamas has resulted in almost nothing but significant tragedy. Thousands in Israel and Gaza have become victims of a violent war, and the death toll continues to rise. Additionally, the terrorist group wreaking havoc in the Middle East is not only a threat to Israel, but to any of Israel's allies. And in recent development, experts are warning that the Israel-Hamas conflict could trigger a broader war throughout the Middle East.
If President Biden wins reelection, his top priority on Day One would be codifying abortion protections in federal law, his deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Host Kristen Welker asked, "What would on day one President Biden's top priority be?" Fulks responded, "First of all, Roe. The president has been adamant that we need to restore Roe. It is unfathomable that women today wake up in a country with less rights than their ancestors had years ago."
There was a time when parents sent their kids off to school assuming they'd be safe - from violence, from dangerous ideas, from people undermining their authority. But those days are over, and too many families are finding out the hard way.
The state of Ohio has taken the first step to overturn the Republican governor's veto of a bill that protects children from permanently harmful transgender procedures and assures privacy and fairness for female athletes. Conservatives praised the action, while Democratic opponents accused its supermajority of promoting "a political, hateful agenda" due to "money given by radical Christian groups." One Democrat screamed, "You are literally killing our children!"
A wealthy D.C. suburb has incurred a massive legal bill in defense of a policy that mandates curriculum-wide LGBT indoctrination, without a parental opt-out option. In December, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) acknowledged its legal fees for July and August (apparently reported on a 90-day delay) were 549% higher than the same period last year "due to substantial litigation on two separate matters pending in Federal Court." The school district's top legal expense went to defending its mandatory pro-LGBT curriculum against parents who wanted an opt-out option.
Canadian police have arrested a reporter for asking a question. David Menzies of Rebel News approached Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Freeland on Monday to ask her why Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not classified as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.
For months, America has faced the devastating consequences of the Biden administrations actions (or lack thereof, many argue.) With the southern border wide open, millions of illegal immigrants have made their way - and continue to make their way - into the United States. As a result, authorities across the nation are actively engaged in the dilemma of where to put them.
In late December, my friend Andrew Walker wrote an important op-ed titled, "Can Evangelical Journalists Say Anything Good about Evangelicals?" In it, he raised what I believe is a serious issue: The virtual cottage industry some prominent evangelical writers have made in attacking, relentlessly, the real and perceived deficiencies of our faith community. Sadly, those Andrew challenged have pushed back, hard.
She wasn't even old enough to drive when she had her first abortion. At the tender age of 15, Kelly - like so many girls - was haunted by the surgery. So by 19, when she found herself in the same situation, pregnant with a child she didn't want, she decided to try something else: chemical abortion. She thought it would be "easier, less traumatic," but it wasn't. Instead, she says, "it was one of the most horrific experiences of my life."
For the third consecutive year, the Biden administration's Department of State has left Nigeria off of its list of "Countries of Particular Concern," a list that catalogues the countries around the world that have perpetrated or tolerated "particularly severe violations of religious freedom." The move comes despite the fact that Nigeria leads the world in the number of Christians that have been killed for publicly practicing their faith.
The Biden regime's National Parks Service (NPS) hurriedly withdrew plans Monday night to remove a statue of William Penn from the state which bears the man's name. The NPS claimed the plans were "released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review," after it was announced on Friday that the NPS would "rehabilitate" Philadelphia's Welcome Park "to provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors."
One of the many obstacles to solving the southern border crisis is the lack of cooperation from the Democrats, according to Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). In December, Marshall, who serves on four Senate committees, discussed on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" how the president's party had been focused on Ukraine funding rather than the border, putting progress at a complete standstill. However, as the threat to the southern border continues to swell, more Democrats are changing their stance on the issue.
The Biden administration plans to adopt a dangerous international accord that gives the World Health Organization (WHO) greater control over the way the U.S. responds to global health pandemics like COVID-19.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spent days in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Walter Reed Medical Center, and nobody knew. "The President has full trust and confidence in Secretary Austin," a spokesman said Monday. But the Biden administration's efforts to defend Austin contradict the logic of its recent attacks on Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) regarding his hold on military promotions over the Pentagon's illegal policy to use taxpayer dollars for abortion-related travel.
President Joe Biden on Friday accused Donald Trump, his predecessor, and the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, of wanting to be a dictator. Biden spoke at a community college about 15 miles east of Valley Forge, a historical site in the battleground state of Pennsylvania that Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020 to Biden. Here's a look at the accuracy of some of Biden's stronger assertions in his speech Friday, billed as the first event of his reelection campaign in the new year.
The Bayou State has a new governor - a stalwart conservative Christian dedicated to faith, family, and freedom. On Sunday, former Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) was sworn in as the state's 57th governor, succeeding Democrat John Bel Edwards. Landry was elected governor in an October primary election, winning with 52% of the vote and averting a runoff election.
With a family-pummeling economy, the worst border crisis on record, a new war in the Middle East, and ongoing protests openly endorsing genocide against Jews, this weekend President Joe Biden decided to spend his time commemorating the third anniversary of the January 6 capitol riot with a major speech. In President Biden's analysis, the embarrassing incident deserves to be remembered as a quasi-holiday on the order of 9/11 or the attack on Pearl Harbor, but a recent report commissioned by his own administration undercuts his chosen narrative.
When people criticize the Biden administration's lack of leadership, they usually don't mean it literally. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's decision to keep his days-long hospitalization a secret from everyone (including the president) has rocked the D.C. establishment. Not since the Supreme Court leaker - a mystery that remains unsolved - has the political world been so stunned by a breach of protocol. What possible "elective surgery" could have made the chief of America's military operations AWOL at such a critical time? And why on earth wouldn't he tell his team?
The startling results of a new poll have revealed that over 80% of Democrats believe that former President Donald Trump should be removed from 2024 presidential ballots. The poll comes despite the fact that Trump has not been formally charged with, much less convicted of, a crime that would constitutionally disqualify the leading Republican presidential contender from running.
It's the start of 2024, and the Biden administration is beginning the new year the same way it ended the last one: with strong opposition to states' pro-life laws.
Founded in 2021, Seven Weeks Coffee is named after the stage in a woman's pregnancy when her unborn child is the size of a coffee bean. The company supports the mission of pro-life pregnancy centers, which provide free resources and counseling services to pregnant women and families by donating 10% of its earnings from coffee sales to them.
Claudine Gay has resigned as president of Harvard. Her defenders are claiming that opposition to her continued leadership of that institution is grounded in racism or the threat to the historic prominence of European-descended persons in positions of power. So she herself claims in a defiant op-ed in The New York Times.
How often is our faith tested by waiting? We wait to find a partner, get married, or have a baby. We wait for a job or a raise. Over the course of our lives, we spend a lot of time waiting in various contexts and for various amounts of time. Some waiting periods are only a few minutes, while others spend years or their whole lives just simply waiting.
The battle for truth is, ultimately, a spiritual issue. We rationalize dishonesty even as we assuage our guilt with beliefs that soothe without saving. From "You be you" to "Truth is what you feel," we're awash in competing claims about God, meaning, and inner peace. Truth claims, including the assertion that there is no truth, call out like the seductive woman of Proverbs 5. Her lips "drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil," Solomon tells us, "but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword." So with the falsehoods swirling throughout our culture - appealing, calming, and deadly.
Ohio will not permit the transgender industry to carry out surgeries on children under the age of 18 under the terms of a new executive order announced Friday morning. Yet even as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced a series of regulations on transgender procedures, lawmakers revealed the date they plan to override his veto of a bill that would have codified even more child protections into law.
In the wake of the Biden administration's recent efforts to use federal agencies to regulate on matters outside their jurisdiction, legal experts are expressing dismay at what they say is a pattern of unconstitutional overreach by Biden's government in order to achieve political ends.
The bureaucrats responsible for bungling America's response to COVID-19 must be "brought to court and held accountable for their actions," Dr. Robert Malone argued Thursday on "Washington Watch." He emphasized the "need to rebuild public trust" before another public health crisis, which could be caused by the Biden administration's open border policies. "The only way this [restored public trust] is going to happen is through accountability," he said.
As of January 1, California is now extending free taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants. Under the program, free gender transition surgeries and hormone therapy are included in what's offered.
Nearly half of Americans believe the U.S. Capitol protestors on January 6, 2021, had a point. According to a new Suffolk University/USA Today poll, a combined total of 43% of registered voters agreed that Capitol protestors "had a point," with 37% of respondents adding that the protestors "went too far."
According to a recent study, the returns calculated by estimating current stocks held by congressional Democrats shows House Democrats yielded annual returns for 2023 of 31%, beating the S&P 500's returns of 24%.
During their trip to the southern border, dozens of congressmen saw a spectacle of human traffickers, military-aged men from terrorist nations, and the "unconscionable" indifference of the Biden administration to the cries of its own citizens. They returned ready to use "every ounce" of their influence to protect the victims they saw, said Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.).
No one has ever accused Chris Christie of being a bastion of social conservatism. But when the former New Jersey governor announced last Thursday that he'd embraced same-sex marriage, the shift was noteworthy - not because of what it says about politicians, but what it reveals about the church.
After Harvard President Claudine Gay was forced to resign for copying other's words without attribution, the Associated Press was forced to edit its erroneous spin - which it did without acknowledging any error. Both lead in fields where truthfulness is essential, yet both displayed callous intellectual dishonesty. The reason why neither seems to care is that they are pursuing an incompatible agenda: Marxist usurpation.
Israel's war against the Hamas terrorist group in the wake of its October 7 massacre has resulted in thousands of deaths, stirred much fear and controversy, and sent reverberations across the globe. Christians, in particular, may be wondering how everything happening relates to the church and our role as followers of Christ. To help answer those questions, Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, gathered prominent leaders to provide insight on the matter Thursday afternoon.
In the wake of news that a senior Hamas leader in a Hezbollah stronghold had been killed near Beirut on Tuesday, observers fear that the incident could spark an escalation in the conflict on Israel's northern border between the Jewish state and Hezbollah. But experts on the ground in Israel say the Jewish state remains resolute in its mission to eradicate Hamas following the terrorist group's October 7 massacre of hundreds of Israeli civilians.
On Wednesday's episode of "Washington Watch," Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, said, "The Biden administration's border control disaster has turned every state into a border state, and we're now seeing the strain ... on local governments." As experts are warning, this strain now goes far beyond a shortage of housing and jobs for the thousands crossing the border. In a recent development, health concerns are also on the rise.
A military officer is retiring from service in protest against the Biden administration's abortion policies. According to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), Colonel Dillon R. Patterson voluntarily resigned from his position as the commander of the 188th Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard on December 18.
While the rest of Congress is soaking up the last few days of holiday recess, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) decided to cut his vacation short, opting instead to take 60 House Republicans on a detour to the southern border before Congress resumes next week. If the goal was to remind them what they're fighting for in the standoff on immigration with Joe Biden, it succeeded.
An Ohio children's hospital that carries out gender transition procedures on minors has specifically targeted evangelical views of gender, according to a May 2022 webinar reviewed by The Washington Stand. The director of the Living with Change Center at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), Lee Ann Conard, dismissed evangelical views on gender as incorrect and proceeded to denounce as harmful any counseling that does not pressure a minor to transition.
Last week, reports surfaced that Dr. Francis Collins, the former head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) during the COVID pandemic and the current science advisor to President Biden, admitted at an event earlier last year that some government health officials had a "narrow view" of how to make public health decisions during the pandemic. Virologists such as Dr. Jay Bhattacharya are pointing out that the admission is further vindication for their initially scorned arguments against widespread lockdowns.
Today is the 132nd birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien, the famed and beloved author of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," among many other books. Although they enjoy almost-universal acclaim, Tolkien's books are especially popular amongst Christians, who keenly discern in them subtle and profound allusions to living a Christian life.
In 2020, when word first broke out about the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a nationwide flurry to stock up on food and home goods - particularly toilet paper and Lysol wipes. It was a time of "panic buying" and led to mostly empty paper and cleaning product shelves across the country. The rush to stock pantries when fear strikes is normal in real life, but what's not as normal, some would argue, is stocking up on something like abortion pills.
Politics is downstream from culture, and culture is downstream from religion. Evidence of this maxim abounds, but a pertinent illustration may be found in a well-known Republican's policy shift on same-sex marriage. At a Thursday night townhall event in Epping, New Hampshire, presidential primary contender and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie cited the Vatican's controversial document "Fiducia Supplicans" in endorsing same-sex marriage. While the Vatican document allowing same-sex couples to request certain informal blessings affirmed that it is not "changing in any way the Church's perennial teaching on marriage," Christie pointed to the document as evidence that "even the Church is changing."
After a record-breaking year for Taylor Swift, the pop star attended a Gaza fundraiser with celebrity friend Selena Gomez earlier last month. The event was hosted by Ramy Youssef on his tour "Ramy Youssef: More Feelings." While the comedian traveled to several major cities like D.C. and Philadelphia during the stand-up tour, Swift's and Gomez's presence at his Brooklyn show stirred public controversy as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East.
As Ohio lawmakers have scheduled a special legislative session that will likely overturn the governor's veto of a law intended to protect children's safety and women's sports, the bill's lead author has told The Washington Stand exclusively that "momentum is on our side, and we will see this through."
If there's one thing this Congress has going for it, it's that they can't possibly match the futility of 2023. (Or can they?) After one of the most dramatic - but unproductive - years ever, members are returning to Washington next week with a much longer to-do list and an even more unforgiving calendar to accomplish it. Thanks to the deep hole members dug with the drama over the speakership, there's a lot of ground to make up in actual legislating in this young year. And unfortunately for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), the second half of this term promises plenty of fireworks right off the bat.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's (R) Friday veto of a bill to protect children from the harmful effects of gender transition procedures has conservatives everywhere scratching their heads. Although the governor tried to explain himself, his remarks did not leave his hearers any better informed. His comments sounded conservative at first blush, but in reality, they echoed the narratives promoted by the Left and, on this issue specifically, their allies in children's hospitals.
A survey has found that only 3.4% of American journalists identify as Republican, compared to 36.4% who identify as Democrat and 51.7% as Independent. The survey also indicated a steep decline in the number of Republican journalists over the last several decades, which has coincided with record high levels of Americans saying they do not trust the media.
In March of 2023, St. Philip's College fired political science professor Will Moravits for facilitating debates on gender ideology and police brutality. In September, Moravits received a $185,000 settlement.
By the end of September 2021, the events of July 11 were a burning memory for Cubans. That July, which Cubans refer to as 11J, activists linked to a Facebook group called Archipiélago had requested authorization through letters to several provincial governments to hold a demonstration. They wanted to condemn violence and demand the release of political prisoners, respect for the rights of Cubans, and the resolution of political differences through democratic and peaceful means.
Why do we have such a hard time with making resolutions? Why does our resolve evaporate more quickly than a stain treated with Resolve carpet cleaner? I suspect that often it's because our resolutions - even if they're good resolutions - are made for our own sake. Enter Jonathan Edwards.
Pedro Luis Hernández sensed that something was wrong. The National Revolutionary Police (PNR) patrol stopped near him on a street in the Playa municipality of Havana, around 9:40 in the morning. One of the soldiers demanded that he identify himself. The independent journalist extended his card. The uniformed officers made a call, and shortly thereafter, an officer from the Political Police appeared on the scene.
I know how much we love our New Year's resolutions, so, on behalf of all of us here at Family Research Council, let me suggest a New Year's resolution that is guaranteed to change the outlook of the year to come in the best way possible. And that is to have the goal of being in the Word of God every day of your new year (and every year!).
We look at the grim world that surrounds us and see wars, grief, illness, and tragedy around every corner. Turning inward, we see anxiety, doubt, confusion, and insecurities. But when we turn to Christ, we realize He's walking right beside us. He carries us when we're weak and picks us up when we stumble. A sinful world does cause pain and affliction, but it won't ultimately defeat us, since He secured victory for those who put their faith in Him. We must focus on Christ. But is it just me, or is it really hard to do that?
If you live in one of the 37 states where marijuana has been legalized, you have likely seen the number of cannabis shops in your area multiply quickly. Even small, rural towns contain three to five shops. We see billboards that warn drivers not to "drive high" - assuming that a lot of residents are high. But even if you don't shop at cannabis stores, parents need to be aware that kids are able to buy hemp in other places - including gas stations.
One of the hottest policy questions of 2023 is what actions states should take to prohibit, regulate, or encourage the provision of gender transition drugs and surgeries to minors. "States are indeed engaged in thoughtful debates over this issue," the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote in a September opinion, in which court wisely declined to "limit accountable elected officials from sorting out these medical, social, and policy challenges." After a year-long flurry of activity, it's time to check the score.
Not to be dramatic, but five semesters at a secular university really tested me. I started my freshman year with high school credits that got me ahead, but it didn't take long to realize I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Perhaps not the best response to my external circumstances, but as someone who struggled with things outside of school as well, I was overwhelmed in many ways.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) vetoed HB 68 at a Friday press conference, just before the end of his 10-day window to do so. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins responded that he was "disappointed in Gov. Mike DeWine for buying into the false narrative of those who are preying upon the sexual confusion of children."
For over 45 years, Wildmon faithfully served the Lord in the face of severe adversity, and on December 28, 2023, the beloved founder, minister, husband, father, and friend went home to be with the Lord. Wildmon championed the belief that we had a duty to join the game of defending truth. But for Wildmon, if we were going to play, we had to play to win. "Only through adversity are true heroes born," he urged. And his life was certainly a reflection of such thinking.
One of the world's largest pornography websites is admitting that it profits from sex-trafficking. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Pornhub's parent company admitted in federal court that it profits from sex-trafficking and has agreed to pay a fine and submit to a three-year monitor as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. Formerly known as MindGeek, Aylo Holdings S.A.R.L. was arraigned on a charge of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds.
Like moms all around the world, Grace Godwin was cooking Christmas Eve dinner when life took a terrifying turn. Standing in her Nigerian kitchen, Grace's husband ran into the room and shouted at her to take the children and run. Go to the bush, he ordered after alarm spread that gunmen were in a nearby town. Everyone in the central Plateau knows what happens to Christians. In the time that it took her to gather her three little ones, they started to hear the unmistakable sound: rifle shots.
In a 24/7 news cycle, the media's existence depends on churning out an endless stream of content - but the legacy media most prolifically creates non-stories. A non-story is a news story that should never have been reported, usually a triumph of "narrative" over facts that attempts to spin away some aspect of a bad story or magnify an otherwise insignificant good story. The non-story exists to massage the news, not to report the truth. Here are 10 of the most overreported, non-stories of 2023.
Although the legacy media lift up non-stories every year, they offset the spilled ink by underreporting stories of great national importance. Here are 10 of the most significant stories ignored by the legacy media in 2023.
As the ban on Christmas and all other religious practices persists under the communist regime of dictator Kim Jong Un in North Korea, religious freedom advocates are continuing their efforts to spread the knowledge of Christianity to the North Korean people in creative ways. Earlier this week, the North Korean Freedom Coalition organized an effort to launch bottles into the Yellow Sea containing a week supply of rice for a family of four, a flash drive loaded with the Bible and other content, and a $1 bill.
In a finding that turns conventional wisdom on its head, a researcher has found that so-called "conversion therapy" aimed at reducing unwanted homosexual or lesbian attraction makes people less likely to consider suicide than those who continue to live the unbridled LGBTQ lifestyle.
Celebrities and pop stars who struggle with mental health issues or promote therapy at their concerts is not a new concept to the media, but enduring a public therapy session apparently is. A new Vice TV series - called "The Therapist" - features Dr. Siri Sat Nam Singh who "sits down to speak with musicians from the world of rap, rock, pop, dancehall and EDM to discover what lies beneath their public personas." Each episode of the show averages 22 minutes until episode seven, where Siri sits down with popstar Katy Perry.
As a committed evangelical Protestant, I feel a bit uncomfortable writing about the pope's recent decision to allow Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions. But Pope Francis's "Fiducia Supplicans" ("Supplicating Trust"), his declaration on blessing same-sex couples issued on December 18, is far more than a kindly attempt to broaden his church's reach.
Jack Brewer is a former NFL player who is passionate about ending fatherlessness in the United States. In 2006, he founded the Jack Brewer Foundation which includes, among other programs, the American Heroes Fatherhood Initiative (AHFI) which offers after-school programming and serves juveniles and adults who have been affected by the criminal justice system.
The Christmas truce of 1914 was a monumental moment of peace and unity in the middle of a catastrophic world war. But the peace and unity did not last. And to this day, we can see how moments of peace and unity here and there just don't last. Yet, we yearn for it so deeply. However, the problem is not that we yearn for these things. The problem is that we look for them almost exclusively through what is temporary.
The Australian pastor Adam Ramsey has written, "The meaning of Christmas goes miles deeper than family traditions, pretty lights, and a chance to refresh your depleted stockpile of socks." Christians know this, but do we take time to meditate on what Christmas does mean? If Christmas busyness is keeping us from taking a bit of time to quietly and calmly turn our hearts and minds to the fulness of Jesus, His life and redemption and promised return, then we're simply too busy.
When the Lord wants to teach you something, nothing will stand in His way. It is easier to recognize when He is speaking, though, when you expectantly wait on Him to move. Key word: expectantly.
It's important to remember that not everyone has blissful memories of Christmas to recall. For some, Christmas never included the things that make it "oh so wonderful." For those who grew up in poverty, abandonment, or abusive homes, the holidays are just another reminder of the cruelty of life. While everyone else sings carols and delights in good company, they sit in darkness, pain, or grief.
"The first remarkable season of the outpouring of the Spirit, which we enjoyed in this congregation, began about the middle of December, 1781," recalled Pastor John McMillan in a letter years afterward. "Many were pricked to the heart with deep convictions, and a goodly number, we hope, became the subjects of renewing grace." Thus began a revival among the first churches established on the American frontier, which was providentially timed to exert an inestimable influence on "the great Western field then opening with inviting promise to Eastern emigration," church historian Iain Murray wrote in "Revival & Revivalism."
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is reading the ghostly novella "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Written in 1843, the 31-year-old wrote the holiday classic in a mere six weeks. This incredible work of literature has become one of the most popular Christmas stories of all time. What strikes me every time I read this story is the possibility of conversion, the hope of change. It might be tempting to dismiss the wonder of it all, since you know the end of the story.
Governor DeWine, please take your cues on the Ohio SAFE Act, not from a handful of children you visited in the hospital this week, but from a medical expert, Dr. R. Kaltiala, the chief adolescent psychiatrist who developed and headed the first gender identity service in Finland and oversaw the care of more than 500 such adolescents over 12 years.
Democrats' efforts to bar former President Donald Trump from running for the White House a second time are a form of political extremism, according to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. "These provisions that were in our Constitution were put there by the Founders in this extreme circumstance where you would use them like a fire extinguisher. You don't use it every day," he insisted.
It's been over two months of utter chaos since the moment gunfire and screams began in Israel on October 7. On both sides, thousands of lives have been lost by vicious means. Families have been torn apart, homes destroyed to rubble, and nations threatened with elimination. And in the heat of the fighting are the families grieving their loved ones who are held hostage by the terrorists. With Christmas around the corner, I want to urge believers to take some time to think of and pray for the soldiers, civilians, and hostages who are spending the holidays unsure if they'll even see tomorrow.
A former U.S. president is calling out the Biden administration for targeting Catholics and discriminating against Christians. At a speech in Iowa on Tuesday night, flanked by Christmas trees, Donald Trump excoriated the Biden Justice Department for such actions as raiding the home of pro-life Catholic Mark Houck and pledged to create a federal task force to tackle anti-Christian bias. "As soon as I get back in the Oval Office, I'll also immediately end the war on Christians," the former president declared.
The Satanic Temple (TST) placed a display of a "Yule Goat" - a small tree with Satanic imagery topped by a goat's skull celebrating the Nordic pagan holiday - on the grounds of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing on Monday, December 18. "In the name of Satan, I claim the sexy satanic [sic] baphomet goat altar at OUR Michigan Capitol. Amen," wrote a House Democratic staffer, Samantha Skorka, on Wednesday.
We live for work, friends, family, and all kinds of earthly ambitions. But to live for anything or anyone other than Christ is no different than living for any crumbling kingdom. But rather than just saying that and moving on, Bonner dissects four reasons why Christ offers a "better government." In his mind, Christ's kingdom is the only kingdom worth serving, and here's why.
During Advent, we wait. We wait in the dark and the cold and the quiet for the birth of our Savior. But we don't wait in despair - we wait in hope. We wait as the Jewish people waited through 400 years of silence after the post-exilic prophets, before John the Baptist began preparing God's people for the coming of Christ. And we still wait, not for Jesus to come but for Him to come back.
On December 18, HB 68, agreed to by both chambers of the 135th General Assembly of the State of Ohio, was sent to Governor Mike DeWine's (R) desk. The bill would protect minors from gender transition procedures and also protect the integrity of women's sports. According to the Ohio Constitution, Governor DeWine has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to sign or veto this bill. Otherwise, it will automatically become law notwithstanding his signature. Thus, he has until December 29 to make his decision.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, there have been significant developments for both the pro-life and pro-abortion sides. In one regard, leaving abortion matters up to the individual states has saved over 30,000 babies from being killed in their mother's womb. On the other hand, at-home and out-of-state abortions have grown in number as well.
New government guidelines in England are urging schools to adopt parental notification policies regarding students' social gender transition efforts. Published on Tuesday by the United Kingdom's Department for Education, the new guidance recommends that teachers first wait before agreeing to a student's request to be referred to by a new name or new pronouns in order "to ensure it is a sustained and properly thought through decision. This period of 'watchful waiting' may help to ensure unnecessary action is not undertaken." If a student's social transition-related request persists, teachers are then instructed to "engage" with parents.
I want to offer my Yuletide thanks to Franklin Graham, the hard-working staff of Samaritan's Purse, and the millions who donated gift-filled shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child in 2023. Two Fridays ago, I went with a friend, my former Family Research Council colleague Peter Sprigg, to put in an afternoon working at Samaritan's Purse's Baltimore Processing Center.
Jesus said, "The meek shall inherit the earth." Dean Nelson undoubtedly will be in that number. I will miss him ferociously, and these words don't do his life justice. The 55 years of his life were a resounding testimony to God's goodness and faithfulness.
States across the country passed dozens of laws - and have debated hundreds of pieces of legislation - to protect children from the predatory transgender industry, a new analysis has found. In all, 23 state legislatures passed 84 separate laws this year preventing minors from being subjected to transgender surgeries, securing parental rights, shielding kids from sexually explicit drag queen shows, safeguarding the privacy of women's facilities, ensuring fairness in women's sports, and strengthening religious conscience rights.
As Christmas Day comes closer and closer, I can't get Kate Cox and her family off my mind. The fear in her voice haunts me from a recording I heard of an interview she gave to NBC news. I can't recall her exact words, but every mother understands the fear and exhaustion in her voice. You feel it in the very pit of your stomach as it radiates throughout your body. It goes without saying that I'm deeply sorry for the cross she has been asked to carry and the suffering that it requires.
On Sunday, reports surfaced that U.S. border officials had closed two vital rail bridges used for trade shipments between the U.S. and Mexico due to a surge in illegal immigrant smuggling. The news opened up yet another front in the continuing fallout from the ongoing border crisis, which lawmakers say will greatly harm the economy.
On January 22, Vice President Kamala Harris will launch the "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" tour to promote abortion nationwide. This event is supposed to serve as a boost to President Joe Biden's 2024 presidential campaign. According to a statement from the White House, the start date is meant to signify the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, despite the fact that it was overturned by the Dobbs decision in June of last year.
A Roman Catholic cardinal is claiming that Christ would be imprisoned in today's Western society for His position on sex, marriage, and gender. Appearing on GB News America on Sunday, German Cardinal and former head of the Vatican's doctrine office Gerhard Müller addressed the threat that transgender ideology poses to the family.
Corporate media journalists are still out for new House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) blood. This week's contrived controversy is that Johnson took his teenage daughter to a "purity ball" in 2015. But in a culture where nearly one in four children live without a father at home, people should reconsider mocking Johnson for being an engaged dad who would take his daughter to a nice dance.
It was the first time Morgan Keller told her story in public. Looking around the room of Ohio senators, she said quietly, "This week is the fifth anniversary of my first testosterone shot." She was told it would save her life. She was told, as so many young people are, that it would keep her alive, happy, and healthy. A half-decade later, after hormones and a double mastectomy destroyed her life, an emotional Morgan admits, "I wish I had been told 'no' by the practitioners I trusted. I wish I could say I'm the exception to the rule, but ... I come to you wearing the scars of this medical scandal."
Combining the legal reasoning of George Orwell and Bizarro, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that the government must prevent citizens from voting for the candidate of their choice in order to preserve democracy. This dangerous ruling, the culmination of years of Democratic planning to silence the voters' voice in their own government, violates the law, the Bible, and historic principles from the American founding and the Great Awakening.
If anyone's grateful for a break from Washington, it's Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). After a whirlwind two months that threw him in the deep end of political problem-solving for his fractured caucus, 2024 is shaping up to be even more challenging. Faced with some unexpected departures (Reps. George Santos and Kevin McCarthy to name two), the GOP's House majority - which was already dancing on a knife's edge - has all but vanished. "It's certainly concerning for our new leadership and them trying to get things done," Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) insisted.
In the wake of an astonishing poll released last week revealing that roughly 20% percent of mail-in voters admitted to committing fraud in the 2020 election, deep concerns over election integrity continue to ripple across the country as the 2024 election approaches. Experts say that the passage of state legislation aimed at upholding the integrity of elections in Georgia and Texas in recent years should be replicated in other states.
For months, transgender policies have dominated school board discussions on issues like whether teachers should notify the parents of students with gender confusion. While some schools have voted to reject these policies already, some have supported trans policies in defiance of parental rights. However, as time marches on, more districts are rejecting the policies they formerly held. Most recently, two schools in New Jersey have voted to reverse themselves.
Monday morning was rife with headlines claiming that Pope Francis and the Vatican were greenlighting blessings for same-sex unions. For all the brouhaha raised - both by pro-LGBT leftists and undoubtedly well-intentioned conservatives - one crucial fact was largely overlooked: the Catholic Church did not approve blessings for same-sex unions.
Pope Francis caused widespread controversy and confusion on Monday by appearing to allow priests to bless individuals and couples involved in unchaste same-sex marriages and unrecognized civil marriages, a decision faithful Catholics have said will "produce chaos" in people's lives "and hurt souls."
Many individuals who underwent gender-transition procedures are now warning others against using puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery. Despite these warnings and the solid empirical evidence demonstrating the harms of "gender-affirming care," there are those who insist upon mislabeling the psychological issue of gender dysphoria as a physiological disability that requires physiological intervention. One of the latest twists in this unfolding story occurred in Missouri.
Dean Nelson knew people. He was always bringing people together, always introducing that new person in the fight for faith, family, and freedom that you didn't know about but needed to. Always upbeat and on the move, he was a natural at connecting people and generous with his relationships. This past Saturday, after a quiet and graceful battle with cancer, Dean Nelson went to be in in the presence of his Savior, whom he has so faithfully served.
The GOP-controlled Wisconsin legislature forced the state university system to agree on Wednesday to cuts in its DEI bureaucracy, in exchange for nearly $1 billion in funds. The Universities of Wisconsin (UW) Board of Regents, backed by Governor Tony Evers (D), initially rejected a negotiated compromise but then approved it days later. "Anything that decreases DEI on campus is a good thing," Wisconsin Family Action President Julaine Appling told The Washington Stand. "If that's the kind of agreement we've got, which I believe it is, then this deal is a win for the people of Wisconsin, and certainly for the students."
A left-wing legal group is siding with a Christian organization in its lawsuit against the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for refusing to allow the display of advertisements on city buses in the nation's capital.
It's been over two months since the Hamas terrorist organization invaded Israel and killed over 1,000 people. Along with the attack, Hamas took approximately 240 hostages back into Gaza - some of whom have been released, with many still under the control of the terrorists in unknown conditions. Since October 7, the war has only resulted in more death and tragedy on both sides.
A Keystone State school board is banning school bus drivers from putting up Christmas decorations. On Friday, just over a week before Christmas, the Wallingford-Swarthmore school district in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, issued a memo to school bus drivers saying, "If you have decorated your bus with anything specific to the Christmas Holiday or any other decorations relating to a specific religion, please remove them immediately."
We don't like waiting because it's hard. As Tom Petty used to sing, "The waiting is the hardest part." But should hard things be avoided? The Christian life tells us that waiting is in fact integral to the created order. As we find ourselves in the final week of the traditional Christian Advent season, a time of waiting for the coming of the Savior, let's reflect on the value of waiting.
Netflix is at it again. The streaming service has developed an unfortunate penchant over the past few years for replacing white historical figures with black actors and actresses in its "original" content. The recent announcement that Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington will play Carthaginian general and military genius Hannibal (the Hannibal that marched elephants over the Alps to attack Rome, not the Hannibal who has old friends for dinner) in a Netflix biographical film has already caused a fair bit of controversy in Tunisia, the famous general's birthplace. Tunisian news outlet La Presse called the casting decision "a historical error," noting that Hannibal was of Phoenecian descent, not African, even though Carthage is located in Northern Africa.
When we view the love of God by any secular standard or definition, we flatten it. We strip it of its magnitude, and we only do ourselves a disservice in the process. Yes, to some extent, our perspectives will always be tainted by our finite understandings, but we (particularly believers) should strive to understand Scripture as it pertains to its holy Author, not by its flawed readers.
A new report from the Biden administration has revealed that teenage girls who have not had sex tend to have two things in common: faith and family. The most common reason females in their teens say they have not had sexual relations is that premarital sex violates their "religion or morals," according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released on Thursday. Living with two biological or adoptive parents also made teenage girls 60% less likely to have sex before the age of 17, the study finds.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would hear a case challenging a series of Food and Drug Administration decisions that removed safeguards governing the use of the abortion drug. Pro-life advocates and medical experts are hopeful for a victory, which they say will help protect women from significant health risks posed by the drug.
In 2019, Peter Vlaming, a French teacher, was fired from West Point High School in Virginia because he refused to cater to a trans-identifying student's "preferred" pronouns. "I can disagree with my students without provoking my students," he said. "I'm there to teach French." But even after the teacher tried to compromise by using the student's name to avoid pronouns, the school was not satisfied. In response to being fired, Vlaming sued the school. His case was dismissed by a lower court ruling, but the Virginia Supreme Court has now reinstated it.
Washington, D.C.'s professional basketball and hockey teams are reportedly leaving the city for nearby Virginia, according to the announcement of a tentative agreement made this week. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears (R) suggested that rising crime in D.C. was a factor in the move.
People on the fence of one of America's burning issues - girls' sports - will have a tough time staying there after this week. For the first time in history, a biological boy didn't just steal a woman's title or spot on the team, he ripped a four-year Division I scholarship out of a deserving woman's hands, pouring gasoline on one of the few debates in this country that's uniting all parents.
For all Bud Light endured in 2023 - crashing sales, tanking stocks, public fury, and international ridicule - at least the far-Left has their back, right? Wrong. Dylan Mulvaney's "can-gate" didn't just crater Anheuser-Busch's brand, it couldn't buy them love from the bullies they were doing it for. Turns out, selling your soul to the transgender movement won't earn you brownie points with the biggest LGBT advocacy group in America. In fact, going out on a limb actually cost them in this year's Human Rights Campaign (HRC) rankings. And they weren't the only ones.
A former Washington, D.C. Capitol Police official is declaring that the events of January 6, 2021, were not an insurrection, and alleging that government agencies have attempted to silence his firsthand testimony. Former U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Lieutenant Tarik Johnson posted on Twitter on Thursday, "I've been saying publicly for a year that J6 was not an insurrection but not many people would listen." Johnson explained that he was the commander who ordered the House and Senate evacuations that day, noting, "No one would benefit more than I if J6 was an insurrection..."
A recent study raised concerns that social media is assuming the role of parental guidance. Not necessarily because parents have stopped caring for their children, but more teens have become desensitized to the value of their parents and turn to social media to learn "life lessons" instead.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a scandal-plagued far-left smear factory notorious for putting mainstream conservative and Christian organizations on a "hate map" with KKK chapters, released a new report demonizing opposition to gender ideology as "pseudoscience" and a tool of "white supremacy" and "theocracy."
For the 63rd year in a row, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) sailed through Congress this week. Most of the good provisions House Republicans had inserted into the annual bill to fund the military were stripped out during negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate, and Family Research Council Action scored against the final passage of the bill.
Senate Republicans are pushing the Biden administration to put America first and secure the southern border before giving Ukraine further financial aid. On Tuesday, the White House signaled potential support for Republican border security legislation in exchange for a more than $110 billion emergency aid package, mostly benefiting Ukraine. This comes as illegal immigration into the U.S. rivals record highs.
In a victory for safety and privacy, Ohio lawmakers on Wednesday joined the growing list of states that have passed legislation to protect minors from transgender procedures, and to safeguard female athletes from having to compete against - or change in front of - a man.
A recent poll conducted by YouGov, although not the first of its kind, revealed one in five young American adults believe the Holocaust never happened. At least 30% of the respondents, ages 18 to 29, doubt the authenticity of the event, and about a quarter of this same group claimed the retelling of this historical account has been "exaggerated."
On Tuesday, Rasmussen Reports and The Heartland Institute released the results of a new poll indicating that one in five voters who submitted a mail-in ballot during the 2020 election admit to committing fraudulent activity in violation of federal law, including filling out a ballot for a friend or family member and submitting a ballot for a state they no longer live in. The results are unnerving election integrity experts and casting further doubt on the veracity of the 2020 election results, in which numerous irregularities were uncovered.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has to change," U.S. President Joe Biden insisted Tuesday at a campaign fundraiser, but "this government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move." Biden said Netanyahu - whom he called by his nickname, "Bibi" - should buck his own government, empower the Palestinian Authority (PA), and achieve a lasting, two-state solution, all while simultaneously exterminating Hamas. But Biden's objectives, and his reasons for elevating them, poorly reflect the true situation in Israel.
There is no doubt that parents are increasingly kept in the dark when it comes to involvement with their children's lives at school. Having been emboldened by outspoken leftist extremists, teachers and school administrators frequently abuse their power and influence over students to push radical beliefs. In fact, there is an alarming new trend, as reported by the Daily Wire, where schools are encouraging students to utilize "QChat," an online platform for teens.
For the longest time, country music was a safe space for conservatives in an entertainment industry on woke hyperdrive. But a battle's been brewing in the genre for the last few years, as young activists like Kelsea Ballerini and Maren Morris try to infect Nashville with their own brand of political extremism. By and large, country has remained true to its patriotic, freedom-loving values. And stars like RaeLynn are doing their best to keep it that way.
New research is showing that out-of-state travel for abortions has doubled over the past three years. According to a report published by the Planned Parenthood-affiliated Guttmacher Institute, the first six months of 2020 saw 40,600 women travel out of state for abortions, while the first six months of 2023 saw 92,100 women do the same. States which saw the greatest influx of "abortion tourism" were predominantly those bordering states with strong pro-life laws.
Radical, left-wing student groups at Columbia University are recruiting students for a "tuition strike" for the spring 2024 semester until the university meets a long list of demands. The agitators insist on control of the university's finances, removal of university trustees, and changes to the Public Safety department that would render it unable to control campus protests in favor of Hamas. But the student radicals may have overestimated their leverage.
It's been Christmas since July on the Hallmark Channel, but viewers got their first taste of the network's woke holiday programming Saturday. With the debut of "Christmas on Cherry Lane," management made it abundantly clear that the "heart of TV" will continue to push the LGBT envelope - despite America's towering wave of pushback. Unlike other companies who've reckoned with the shifting consumer tides, Hallmark has no plans to change course. And their refusal to read the room could cost them.
The concerns that surround Ukraine funding and the millions of illegal immigrants flooding across America's unsecure border have been a significant source of tension for some time now. And as the end of 2023 draws near, all eyes are on the Senate, where negotiations continue even as the legislative clock runs out.
As more and more evidence continues to come out regarding President Joe Biden's entanglement with his son Hunter's business dealings that appear to center around peddling influence with foreign actors, House Republicans are moving closer to opening a formal impeachment inquiry, with plans to vote on the measure this week.
As The Epoch Times has reported, "woke" progressive church policies are increasingly causing fractures among denominations. Why are some in the church bowing to the world's standards in the first place, and what can Christians do about it?
A coalition of pro-abortion politicians is urging the federal government to disregard religious liberties and force Americans to fund over-the-counter chemical contraceptives. In a letter dated last week, several state governors asked the federal government to mandate that employers pay for a new over-the-counter (OTC) contraceptive pill for employees' health care coverage.
A few days ago, the Los Angeles Times featured a photograph of now-House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) kneeling and praying with a group of colleagues on the floor of the House. It was taken in January of this year when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was enduring seemingly endless votes concerning his leadership of the House of Representatives. The accompanying article is pretty even-handed, but the larger point is that while the speaker's display of devotion to his Lord might seem to his critics anachronistic or even disturbing, it is wholly in keeping with the traditions of American public life.
The U.S. government funneled nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood and a handful of other abortion businesses in just three years, a new government report provided to The Washington Stand reveals - an action one pro-life advocate called an act of costly "cultural imperialism."
The California Department of Education (CDE) is investigating the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) over a tablecloth display, they informed District Superintendent Norm Enfield in a Thursday letter. The letter gave CVUSD until after the Christmas break to submit extensive documentation regarding its flag policy. But the new investigation only serves to extend a coordinated targeting campaign, Chino Valley School Board President Sonja Shaw told The Washington Stand. "When our staff needs to be focusing on our children, they tie them up looking through emails," she complained.
"Dear members of the Penn community," the University of Pennsylvania began in a statement. "I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania." The announcement went on to thank Magill for her service and wished her well. But why did she resign? The statement didn't say, but all signs point to the pressure surrounding her record of allowing open anti-Semitism on Penn's campus.
Kate Cox, a mother who is 20 weeks pregnant, has been in a legal battle with Texas over its law protecting the unborn. Kate's story is tragic. Her baby girl has Edward's Syndrome, a condition resulting in stillbirth 50% of the time. If her daughter survives past birth, statistically, she only has a 10% chance of living past her first birthday. Doctors have told Kate that her little one might live an hour, or perhaps, a week. They've also told Kate that she's at risk of hypertension and gestational diabetes, and that a C-section could make having more children impossible.
A major newspaper is warning Democrats that abortion may not be the "silver bullet" they think it is in elections. In an op-ed published last week, Washington Post contributing columnist Ruy Teixeira wrote that "abortion, while helpful to Democrats in 2024, might not have the potency they ascribe to it."
Politically and spiritually aware Christians often see so far ahead of current trends and events that no one believes our warnings. Two such stories occurred recently. They are bad news stories, yet they prove the warnings Christian conservatives made about the ultimate aims of left-wing ideology. Read them, share them without any bitterness or pride, and feel encouraged to continue taking your stand.
Clocking in at 3,000 pages, the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) isn't exactly light reading. "As a rule," Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) said, "Americans shouldn't trust any bill so large that it has to be delivered by handcart." And based on what's in this compromise - and, more importantly, what isn't - he's dead-right.
The fight between Disney and prominent Republicans has been lengthy and eventful. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has played a major role in - and nearly become the face of - pushing back on the woke agenda Disney happily promotes. But the intolerance for Disney's sexual engineering has multiplied as boycotts increase, sales decrease, and states such as South Carolina pull their investments from the Magic Kingdom.
Amid the divisiveness in America, Christians invested in politics and government can find some encouragement in a recent gathering in Romania. On November 25, the Alianta Renasterea Nationala (ARN) held its national conference in Brasov, Romania. The ARN is a Christian-oriented, conservative political party that champions the defense of marriage and the natural family, religious freedom, legal recognition of the right to life from conception to natural death, and the rule of law.
As the flu season kicks into gear, public health officials appear to be ramping up their level of public alarm through tightened masking and vaccine recommendations. But experts are concerned that the rhetoric could lead to an eventual repeat of what occurred during the 2020-2021 pandemic when government and school officials instituted controversial lockdowns, vaccination requirements, and mask mandates that failed to stop the spread of COVID-19, caused widespread economic turmoil, induced learning loss due to closed schools, and arguably contributed to irregularities during the 2020 election.
In September, detransitioner Chloe Cole, widely known for her testimony about the dangers of transgender operations, was censored on Instagram so that her content would not appear to non-followers in any capacity. As the warning she received stated, "Your account and content won't appear in places like Explore, Search, Suggested Users, Reels, and Feed Recommendations."
Israeli forces surrounded the house of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza on Wednesday, demonstrating just how quickly they have advanced southward. "Our forces can reach anywhere in the Gaza Strip," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
A California school district is disregarding a court's order in order to penalize teachers for blowing the whistle on a policy designed to deceive parents. According to a statement shared with The Washington Stand, attorneys with the Thomas More Society filed a request Wednesday on behalf of teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West asking a federal court in San Diego to hold officials with the Escondido Union School District (EUSD) and Rincon Middle School in contempt of court for ignoring the court's prior injunction.
Why won't so-called "women's groups" condemn Hamas terrorists for raping Israeli women on October 7? This is what a growing number of people are asking, including Former Miss World and Miss Israel 1998, Linor Abargil, who gave a very moving and emotional speech before the United Nations on December 4.
In a disturbing House hearing this week, the heads of three of America's most prestigious universities - Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - equivocated on whether calls for the slaughter of the Jewish people are acceptable.
The Chino Valley USD school board is under attack again for its pro-parent policies. On November 16, the board established a complaint process for removing sexually obscene books from school libraries. On Monday, the anti-Christian Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) wrote the school "to request that the [B]ible be removed from Chino Valley USD's school libraries based on its sexually obscene content."
When Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) finally brought down the curtain on months of military holds, a lot of people thought the debate over taxpayer-funded abortion in the military was over. They were wrong.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) on Wednesday vetoed the Help Not Harm Act (AB 465), a bill protecting minors from gender transition procedures. The law is the latest set forward by state legislatures across America to respond to a growing movement that pressures minors struggling with mental health into irreversible, experimental, and harmful procedures with little to no regulation or oversight.
A teenage boy who identifies as a girl is heading to the Irish Dancing World Championships after placing first in the U14 2023 Southern Region Oireachtas competitions. Parents of girls competing in Irish dance are frustrated and outraged, saying that they cannot understand why a boy with physical advantages is allowed to dance against their daughters.
As the number of people who have chosen to detransition out of a transgender identity continues to grow, a parallel increase in lawsuits filed by detransitioners against gender clinics and medical professionals is also occurring.
The new president of one of Pennsylvania's largest school districts was sworn into office with her hand on sexually-explicit LGBT propaganda and "banned" books. Democrat Karen Smith took up her new position Monday night as the head of the Central Bucks School District (CBSD) and immediately moved to undo Republican-led, pro-parent, and pro-family policies. For the swearing-in ceremony, Smith chose to place her hand not on a Bible but on a stack of frequently-banned books, including "Flamer," "All Boys Aren't Blue," Beyond Magenta," "Lily and Dunkin," and "The Bluest Eye."
While previous debates discussed everything from UFOs to the price of Nikki Haley's curtains, Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate focused heavily on "gender mutilation" and extreme transgender ideology's impact on children. Young women victimized by transgender surgeries called on candidates to enact stronger protections for minors, while one candidate called any failure to curtail underage transgender procedures "disqualifying." Candidates also clashed harshly over the U.S.-backed war in Ukraine and their personal integrity.
"Almost 90% of the world's population now live in countries with falling marriage rates," CNBC declared recently. In the U.S. alone, marriage rates have decreased "by 60% since the 1970s." In July, when that article was published, the primary factor in these declining rates centered around a declining economy. However, recent research shows there may be factors outside of valid economic concerns to why less people are getting married.
If Riley Gaines had it to do over again, the All-American swimmer says she'd have never raced against Lia Thomas. It would've meant giving up everything she'd trained for - but some things, she's decided, are more important than titles. "I believe everything happened for a reason, but I wish I realized what a slippery slope this was when we were told to smile and step aside so a man could have our place at the podium," Riley insisted. "My actions would be different now, and I wouldn't compete. I know it's easier said than done, but sacrifices are necessary for the greater good."
After engaging in the most rapid prosecution of the pro-life movement in a decade, the Biden administration's Justice Department promised to continue prosecuting pro-life advocates "creatively and aggressively" and lamented "the devastation wrought by the Dobbs decision."
"I see blinking lights everywhere I turn," said FBI Director Christopher Wray during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. The director was not disclosing a vision disability but responding to a question about the elevated threat of terrorism following Hamas's October 7 terror attack on Israel. Among other vulnerabilities, Wray pointed to the wide-open southwest border - a problem which House Republicans want to solve but which Senate Democrats refuse to address.
A pair of arsonists who burned down a fast-food restaurant during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots are only being given a $500 fine and no jail time. Chisom Kingston and Natalie Hanna White pleaded guilty last week to two counts of first-degree arson and one count of conspiracy to commit arson related to an Atlanta-area Wendy's they torched in June of 2020. The pair were sentenced to five years on probation, 150 hours of community service, and a $500 fine.
The American magazine Foreign Affairs published an article on November 30 jointly authored by Bonnie Glaser, Jessica Weiss, and Thomas Christensen. The piece called for the U.S. to "make clear that it opposes any unilateral change to the status quo" and to oppose any attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to take over Taiwan or any attempt from Taiwan to pursue independence. This is terrible advice.
The nation's top law enforcement agency planted agents in Catholic parishes and interviewed at least one priest as part of an effort to spy on American Catholics, according to a new congressional report.
There may not be snow on the Hill, but there's definitely a legislative flurry. Without a government shutdown to keep the two parties at each other's throats this December, leaders have settled on another ticking time bomb: foreign aid. With packages for Ukraine and Israel on ice until Congress reaches some sort of agreement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has the unenviable job of keeping his fragile coalition together. "The analogy is frequently invoked of herding cats," Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said of the new speaker. "And in some ways, that's not fair to the cats."
People experiencing gender dysphoria cannot expect gender reassignment interventions to solve other mental health issues, according to a large, Finnish study published last month in the journal, European Psychiatry. People with gender dysphoria "present with many more common psychiatric needs" than the general population, the study reported, "even when medical GR [gender reassignment] interventions are carried out." Based on their finding, the author's recommended "cautious assessment of the timeliness of medical GR and of other treatment needs that may be more urgent."
On Thursday, the Young America's Foundation (YAF) hosted an event at the University of Utah featuring detransitioner Chloe Cole, prompting professors to cancel classes for students who "do not feel safe."
The first law written by artificial intelligence was passed in Brazil. Is this our future, or is there a man behind the curtain?
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville made headlines over the weekend, when he accused Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of being a "Christian nationalist" who poses "a bigger threat than al-Qaeda." But Carville's calumniations served a deeper purpose: They point out the profound spiritual void that causes liberal politicos to dehumanize faithful Christians for believing in eternal, pre-political morals.
Heading into the 2024 election, early polling of young voters as well as public anger manifested by Muslim groups over events in the Middle East indicate that President Joe Biden may be losing ground in at least two key voting blocs that have traditionally voted strongly blue in past elections.
A recent poll conducted by Whitestone Insights asked 2,088 U.K. adults if they agreed with this statement: "Unless the offending parts can be edited out, books containing what some perceive as hate speech should be banned from general sale, including if necessary religious texts such as the Bible." The results showed a substantial amount of Brits agreed with the statement above, with 18 to 34-year-olds making up 23% of those who agreed and 35 to 54-year-olds making up 17%. These statistics reflect what we already see in the U.K.
The November/December 2023 issue of Cosmopolitan features a lengthy article promoting abortion as a Satanic ritual. The piece centers around The Satanic Temple's (TST) involvement in litigation aimed at removing Christian symbols from the public square and opposing state-level pro-life laws. While TST admittedly makes for an interesting subject for analysis, the group's virtual abortion center is relatively small and insignificant.
Israel is at war again. A four-day truce turned into eight, as the combatants took turns releasing prisoners - with Hamas releasing hostages captured in its October 7 raid, and Israel releasing three times as many security prisoners. But, on Friday, instead of delivering all the promised hostages to Israel, Hamas delivered another barrage of rockets.
It's not every day that a pop star gets a Catholic priest stripped of administrative duty, but 24-year-old Sabrina Carpenter recently managed to do just that. Carpenter's new music video for her song "Feather" has several scenes which take place in a church. Filmed at the historic 19th-century Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, the juxtaposition of inappropriate content in a sacred space has rightly caused outrage among the faithful.
For a brief moment Wednesday night, a scene out of a gritty political serial interposed itself onto a Hallmark Christmas moment. Pro-Palestinian activists descended on downtown Manhattan, intending to "flood" the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, in honor of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Hamas's code name for their brutal October 7 terror attack on innocent Israeli civilians that killed 1,200 Israelis and wounded more than 5,000. The war on Christmas looks a little different this year.
The "my truth" movement is merely subjectivity cloaked in a title I assume is meant to be empowering. But what "my truth" means is that nothing is objective, rather, everything is up to our own interpretations. It's not empowering. It's foolishness. A society living under such a mentality makes objective truth impossible. Anything is offensive if deemed offensive, anything is wrong if deemed wrong, and anything is hateful if deemed hateful. Yet, this same movement proclaims, "You can't tell me I'm offensive, wrong, or hateful because it is my truth."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday took the rare step of rebuking his own party's left flank for anti-Semitism, criticizing them for believing that the principle, "Injustice against one oppressed group is injustice against all ... does not extend to the Jewish people." Schumer usually deploys his speeches to benefit Democrats at Republicans' expense, but an increasing tally of violent anti-Semitic incidents in progressive strongholds has grown too glaring to ignore. In a Thursday conversation on "Washington Watch," Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler said left-wing attacks on Jews ultimately boiled down to their "hatred of God."
When I was in middle school, I had a flip phone meant exclusively to contact family members (and maybe a couple close friends). Half the time I didn't even want to text on it because it was one of those keyboards where you have to press the button two or three times to get the letter you want. I hardly used my phone at all, which I believe attributed to why I enjoyed middle school so much. Unlike an overwhelming number of kids and teenagers today, I was not glued to my screen.
The House of Representatives voted to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), a former drag queen accused of spending campaign funds on his honeymoon after his same-sex marriage, from Congress in a 311-114 bipartisan vote Friday morning. Santos, who stands accused of breaking 23 laws including spending campaign funds to finance his lavish personal lifestyle, has become the 21st person ever expelled from Congress - an action the House last took 21 years ago.
On Thursday, "Twitter Files" journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger detailed to the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government how the federal government pressured social media companies to suppress and censor the online speech of Americans in order to influence elections. The pair of reporters addressed the partisan, pro-Democrat nature of what they termed the "censorship-industrial complex." Taibbi said of political bias amongst organizations censoring Americans, "They all tend to drift in one direction."
On November 29 in New York, the traditional lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center Square was violently disrupted by hundreds of protestors, many in Islamic garb, chanting "From the River to the Sea..." - a call for the destruction of Israel. Unfortunately, far more than the Christmas holidays will be at risk as anti-Semitic, anti-Christian hatred continues to catch fire in the United States.
"Is it okay to have a child?" That question lay at the center of a book review titled, "The Morality of Having Kids in a Burning, Drowning World," which ran in Monday's print edition of The New Yorker magazine. By the title's framing, you might well guess that the question received remarkably serious treatment from the author, New Yorker editor Jessica Winter. The 3,000-word article pitted climate alarmism against the "private and primal" desire to bear offspring, with self-conscious philosophical ignorance framing the contest. Conspicuously absent was the Source of all truth and Standard of all morality, who has plenty to say on the ethics of childbearing.
There's no such thing as a drama-free December in D.C. - even without a government shutdown on the holiday horizon. Before Congress calls it quits on 2023, there are plenty of things for the parties to squabble over, including the mammoth National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In a city where consensus is rarer than a Santa sighting, the troop bill is probably the only area of consistent compromise. In fact, the military's budget passes so reliably that it hasn't missed a year since "West Side Story" was in theaters and gas cost $.27 a gallon. But that six-decade streak is on the line right now, and there's no one to blame but radical Democrats.
One might think a college course on Taylor Swift is a good idea: an opportunity for aspiring musicians to hone their skills in the style of a top-selling star, a chance for artists to immerse themselves in the pop icon's own ever-evolving, chameleonic approach to image, perhaps an occasion for wannabe music producers to study the artist's domination of music sales over the past few years. Yet one would be wrong.
Americans are now taking their own lives at a rate never before observed in the United States. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report revealing that in 2022, the suicide rate reached 14.3 per 100,000 people, the highest rate ever recorded dating back to at least 1941. Experts and public policy leaders are ascribing the rise to a spiritual crisis brought on by increased secularization and the continued effort to rid the public square of God and biblical principles.
Since October 7, the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas has steadily caused ruin and demise - even beyond the Middle East. In a recent development, Israel and the terror organization agreed to a temporary, four-day ceasefire, an agreement that demanded Israel release three Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released from the hands of Hamas. Major Doron Spielman, the international spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, explained on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" that this was not an easy exchange.
President Joe Biden's insistence that the military indoctrinate soldiers in left-wing orthodoxy by demanding a record-setting budget for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) proves he is "intent on destroying our military by dividing us further," a congressman says.
When Disney CEO Bob Iger sat down to talk with employees about his bumpy year at the helm Tuesday, he said, "I knew there were myriad challenges that I would face." What he didn't count on was those "myriad challenges" being millions of still-angry Americans. After management ran the brand into the ground over a popular parental rights' law last year, nothing seems to be rehabilitating the company's image. Even the second coming of Iger, who was behind the wheel for some of Disney's best chapters, hasn't brought back the magic for consumers. Now, staring down a holiday season with crashing stocks, box office losers, and even less goodwill, will Iger stop riding this polarized express?
In the wake of strong evidence pointing to the link between the declining mental health of young people and the rise of addictive social media sites, 41 state attorneys general have filed suit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for manipulative business practices that they say intentionally target kids in order to ensnare them in social media addiction.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona should have stuck to his remarks as written while addressing the Western Governor Association in Jackson Hole, Wyo. earlier this month. Instead, he ad-libbed, "as - I think it was - President Reagan said, 'We're from the government; we're here to help.'" He said it earnestly. The quotation was nearly verbatim, yet totally mistaken.
Since the George Floyd riots of 2020, law enforcement in the U.S. has taken a hit, with resignations at an all-time high, and recruitment at a dangerous low. What's causing it and what can we do about it?
A new study is showing that Catholics have been abandoning the Democratic Party as the political faction increasingly embraces abortion extremism. According to data collected and analyzed by Ryan Burge, research director at Faith Counts, the past 50 years have seen white Catholics leaving the Democratic Party and beginning to coalesce around the GOP.
A new poll is showing that a majority of Americans support school policies requiring teachers to inform parents of students' social gender transition efforts. According to a recent Center Square Voter's Voice Poll conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights, 66% of Americans from across the political spectrum - including Republicans, Democrats, and independent voters - responded that teachers should "be obligated to inform parents if their child changes their gender identification or preferred pronouns at school." Surprisingly, nearly half of Democrats (49%) signaled support for such policies, while less than a third (30%) opposed them.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies have grown so diverse that they now include policies reminiscent of the Jim Crow era. A Chicago-area school district is attempting to boost academic achievement among black and Latino students by offering blacks-only and Latino-only classes. The segregated classes are called "affinity" classes, and they aim to reduce the so-called "academic achievement gap" by making black and Latino students feel more comfortable in class.
As more hostages walk out of their underground jail to freedom, the rosy picture of Hamas's "gentle" treatment is starting to unravel. While 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz praised her captors back in October for the regular food, medical care, and beds, others tell a different story. Twelve-year-old Eitan Yahalomi was "tortured during his confinement," his grandmother says - "beaten, forced at gunpoint to watch videos of Hamas atrocities, and threatened with death when he and other children cried." Left by himself in darkness for 16 days, Eitan has trouble speaking now.
As Congress kicked back into session following the Thanksgiving break, Republican lawmakers are making their position crystal clear regarding continued aid to Ukraine: if the Biden administration wants billions of additional dollars for Ukraine's war against Russia, it must include legislation to provide solutions for the spiraling crisis at America's southern border.
The Walt Disney Company has been at the forefront of culture wars in recent years. Many became aware of their left-wing political proclivities when they aggressively opposed legislation in Florida that would prohibit schools from giving lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity to children in kindergarten through third grade. The bill, which enjoyed broad public support (even among Democrats), was dishonestly described by progressive activists as the "Don't Say Gay" bill simply because it prohibited activists from proselytizing young children.
Newly released government figures show that, in the year before the Dobbs decision, the number of abortions had climbed by thousands - including more than 1,200 abortions on girls under the age of 15 - and an expert tells The Washington Stand, "This number is undoubtedly an underreporting."
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade was dismantled last summer, the fight against abortion has largely moved to the state level. Although many in the pro-life movement argue that there is a strong case to be made for the federal government's duty to protect the lives of unborn children, leftists have shifted their focus to campaigning for abortion on a state-by-state basis, with a particular emphasis on constitutional amendments declaring abortion a "right" under state law.
For Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the season of goodwill has its limits. As his chamber flies back to tie up loose ends before Christmas, the Democrat has one thing on his to-do list: stop Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). In his post-turkey Dear Colleague letter, the Senate leader outlined a number of December priorities, including combatting the supposedly "extreme and unprecedented obstruction by a single Republican Senator" - which he claims has "eroded centuries of Senate norms." Funny, critics argue, but isn't that what Schumer's party is threatening to do?
As the U.S. economy under the Biden administration continues to underperform, White House officials continue to trumpet its praises, claiming that the economy is "moving on the right track." But amid ballooning homeownership costs, nagging inflation, swelling federal debt, soaring credit card debt and delinquency, and a decline in full-time jobs, young men in particular are struggling to find their footing.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day ceasefire which began Friday, during which Israel has agreed to release three Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage freed. As of early Monday morning, Islamist terrorists based in Gaza had released 58 hostages, including 39 Israelis, while Israel had freed 117 Palestinians. Despite alleged and real violations of the ceasefire, the combatants agreed Monday to extend the ceasefire for two more days.
Moms for Liberty, a conservative parental rights group, received a surprise package from Jane Addams Middle School in Seattle. It consisted of letters that appeared to be written by the middle school students with phrases such as "Say Gay," "Gay is slay, stop being a rat," and a repeated use of "Stop bullying." The mothers' group posted pictures of the package on X, writing, "Seattle Public Schools are spending class time indoctrinating and weaponizing your children."
Americans who believe in God and those who are married have a greater sense of meaning and purpose in their lives than unbelievers and single people, a new national survey has found. national survey has found. "Overall, religious Americans tend to believe their life is meaningful more often than do those who are not religious," the American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) Survey Center on American Life discovered.
Apparently, certain countries promote the freedom of religion, as long as it doesn't involve Christian beliefs. At least that's what two recent instances confirmed.
The people of the tiny nation of Israel have taken a historically underdeveloped region and built a thriving country. For Israel to invite people possessed by an acute hatred for the Jewish people to enter its territory would be little more than national suicide.
On February 11, 2011, members of the European and Canadian parliaments, the British House of Lords, the United States Congress, and the government of Hungary nominated Oscar Elías Biscet for the Nobel Peace Prize. A month later he was released.
This month, news broke that the Army has sent letters to many of the troops who were ousted due to their refusal to receive the COVID vaccine, which explains that soldiers can correct their records and reenter the service. The reversal has been met with tremendous backlash.
The official name of the fast led by Oscar Elías Biscet at 34 Tamarindo Street in Havana in 1999 was semantically very evangelical: "Undoing the bonds of impiety." It denoted a strong charge of what is known in the Christian world as spiritual warfare.
"No uterus, no opinion." This sentiment is common in conversations concerning abortion - the idea that men should sit down and shut up. Although it's crude and presents a fundamental misunderstanding of the pro-life issue, the demeaning argument has been effective in pushing some men to the sidelines. They don't want to appear controlling and do not see how abortion affects them, so they remain silent or even advocate for "choice." But it's all based on lies.
November is National Adoption Month, and there are millions of families all over the world that can testify to the amazing blessings that adoption brings. While my family's story is very personal, I am hoping that by telling it, I can encourage other couples who are thinking about adoption.
The legacy of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving extends to all Americans and especially to believers. In 1621, for three days, 53 English colonists entertained and feasted with 90 Wampanoag Indians at Plymouth, Massachusetts. According to Plymouth Diplomat Edward Winslow, this was to "rejoice together in a special manner after bringing in their harvest ... by the goodness of God." This feast occurred after a winter in which half of the Plymouth colonists died. For generations, American leaders looked back to and upheld the Pilgrims as a shining example of living out the American ideals of faith, freedom, and virtue.
"No unjust law should have the honor of being fulfilled." This is how Oscar Elías Biscet began his podcast series "Lawton Libre" on Radio Martí on October 20, 2018, when Cuba remembered the 150th anniversary of the Bayamo fire by the mambises, who were determined to deliver ashes to the Spanish army rather than surrender the city standing.
Events of the past few months have reminded us that much of what we take for granted is not guaranteed - at least, not in this life. Yet there are things we can rely on, which are guaranteed, and which cannot be changed by our circumstances. They cannot be modified or imperiled by war, politics, the stock market, or even a cranky relative. While we thank God for his gifts, let's be sure to include the unchangeable ones.
A San Diego pastor is filing a lawsuit against the city's mayor, alleging discrimination against his biblical views on gender and sexuality. Dennis Hodges of the Church of Yeshua Ha Mashiach in Lemon Grove, California, has been a member of San Diego's Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations since 2017. After he abstained from a vote condemning "transphobia," citing his Christian faith, Hodges was pressured to resign from his position on the San Diego County Human Relations Commission by some of his fellow commissioners.
To say that we live in a time of crisis is a quantum understatement. Wars and religious persecution abroad threaten our security and vital national interests. At home, abortion, anti-Semitism, the LGBTQ agenda, and a host of other matters cloud the country's horizon. Yet gratitude, which is never out of season, should especially fill our minds and hearts as we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Social sororities encourage and value femininity and have conservative qualities that people who did not participate in Greek life sometimes don't know about. Here are five things I learned based on my experience in a social sorority.
Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. This was two years after the start of the Civil War, fought in large part to decide the question of whether it was ever right for one man to own another. Today we are in different kind of civil war. Mercifully, this war is being fought on the internet and in legislative chambers rather than on battlefields, but that does not diminish the gravity of the conflict.
My guess is less than 5% of Americans have an accurate understanding of the Pilgrims. Religious freedom is often given as their reason for coming in 1620. However, that is misleading for two reasons. First, their purpose in coming was to extend the gospel to a land where it had never been preached. They believed themselves to be stepping stones for others to follow in the gospel's expansion. In a lot of children's textbooks, there is no mention of religious freedom in our contemporary understanding of that term.
A new report is documenting a drastic rise in anti-Christian hate crimes across Europe. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) published its annual report last week, detailing a 44% increase over the course of 2022 in social hostility towards and violent attacks against Christians as well as acts of vandalism and desecration against churches.
One out of every three women who has an abortion develops full-blown depression because of her choice, according to a scholarly review of data tracking post-abortive women around the world. In some nations, the share of women who feel depressed after undergoing an abortion is as high as 85%, noted the meta-analysis.
A new law in Italy is blocking children from accessing pornography. On Tuesday, a new directive from the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority (Agcom) went into effect, requiring all cell phone providers to install filtering software on SIM cards registered to minors.
Thanksgiving Day as we know it originated as a result of a big government initiative. How the government's view of Thanksgiving has changed over the years - as well as our own view - deserves a closer look.
Following Azerbaijan's assault and takeover of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that sits in the southern Caucasus mountain range between Armenia and Azerbaijan, fears are growing that Ilham Aliyev, the Islamist Azerbaijani president, may attempt a further incursion into Armenia.
Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." I'm sure you're familiar with this verse. After all, it's plastered on all sorts of things. We see it in the locker room as the players prepare to play in the championship game. They can do all things; they can win this game. Or on the lock screen on the phone of the mother of four. She can do all things; she can get these kids to bed. Now, I'm not here to say any of those applications of the verse are bad. However, I will say that they dramatically oversimplify the beautiful message the text proclaims.
Last week, TikTok videos about Osama bin Laden's "letter to America" went viral, with some on the platform suggesting bin Laden made some good points and was perhaps even justified in attacking the United States. Trying to process this bizarre development, some have argued that TikTokers praising the letter are simply stupid or uneducated. Yet, the problem runs deeper than ignorance and education. Too many Americans see reflected in bin Laden's words the same antipathy for the United States and the West that they have. This societal self-loathing is a grave threat.
Everyone who's witnessed the aftermath of Hamas - who's stepped inside the charred houses or walked the bloody streets of a kibbutz after October 7 - has been changed. Like so many people who've seen pictures of the destruction on news sites across America, nothing prepared Franklin Graham for the sight of real graves, of bullet-holed walls, and haunted survivors. "These communities are empty," he said somberly, but the echoes of their tragedies live on.
Our country can't keep living in a state of cognitive dissonance where we claim to support women who miscarry, acknowledging the tragic loss of their child's life, while simultaneously dehumanizing the unborn and calling them merely "a clump of cells" when they are not wanted by their mothers.
A Centennial State judge is rejecting a leftist-led attempt to bar former president Donald Trump from appearing on Republican primary ballots. Petitioners in Colorado argued last month that a Civil War-era clause in the 14th Amendment should be used to prohibit Trump from running for office.
Yonatan Lulu-Shamriz's daughter was celebrating her second birthday on Oct. 7 in Israel. Inside the safe room of their home one mile from the border of Gaza, Lulu-Shamriz's little girl was delighted that she was allowed to eat her birthday cake with her fingers as her parents had not had time to grab forks as they fled into the safe room. The child was unaware of the Hamas terrorists outside, and her parents did everything they could to ensure it stayed that way.
In many ways, it was a decision that launched a thousand boycotts. If people wanted to trace the surge of consumer activism back to its root, Georgia was probably the straw that broke the woke camel's back. When Major League Baseball decided to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta over a 2021 law to safeguard elections, fans decided they'd had enough. Everyday Americans, who were already well past their boiling point on cancel culture, hit back. Now, in a delicious turn of events, Commissioner Rob Manfred has come crawling back to the city he shunned.
Recent elections have brought discouraging news for the pro-life, pro-family Christians. Ad campaigns, as well-financed as they were deceptive, led to a small run of destructive decisions on life and recreational marijuana use over the last few weeks. Red waves turned into puddles. And hostile politicos burrowed deep into the federal bureaucracy have come out of hiding to weaponize the federal government against the voters. But the media have magnified this relatively short string of setbacks into a narrative of secular progressivism's inevitable triumph, while muting stories that would encourage the pro-life movement.
'Tis the season to boycott. At least that's what 36,000 petitioners have signed up to do with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Dating back to 1924, the parade has been a beloved kickoff to the holidays. As New York City streets are filled with floats, costumes, dancing, music, and all kinds of talent, the event has traditionally been designed for family fun. But One Million Moms (OMM), an organization of Christians, have launched a campaign against the parade for its "liberal nonsense."
President Joe Biden turned 81 years old on Monday, and he was greeted with the lowest approval rating ever recorded by NBC News at 40%. While a large part of the number is due to Democrats' disapproval of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, it's also likely a reflection of an economy that continues to struggle under the weight of persistent inflation, skyrocketing mortgage rates, a decline in full-time jobs, and ever-expanding federal debt.
Joe Biden was heralded in 2020 as a reasonable moderate Democrat, a shrewd D.C. veteran, and a return to "normalcy" after the "madness" of the Trump presidency. Three years later, with a presidential election looming and the potential return of Donald Trump on the horizon, Democrats and their media mouthpieces are suffering from buyers' remorse and, perhaps even more shockingly, no longer trying to hide it.
The holiday season is always hard for families that have endured the recent loss of a family member. But the parents of trans-identified young people have been enduring a prolonged, unrelenting loss, many times because their children have cut family ties as part of their new "gender identity." Some children have vanished entirely from their parents' lives. Some parents I know have labeled this experience an excruciating "living death." For most people, Thanksgiving is infused with goodwill and gratitude, but for these moms and dads, it's a heartache punctuated with piercing anguish.
Suffering holds the mind in anguish, in a tunnel that, hopelessly, seems without end. The reality is that this world is fallen, full of sin and depravity. To some degree or another, the effect of sin makes suffering inevitable. And a fallen world cannot be the cure for itself, nor the problems it births. The only thing that overcomes darkness is light. The world will always fall short because it lacks the only hope amid suffering: Christ.
The Catholic bishops of the U.S. are urging Americans to vote pro-life, reaffirming that abortion is the "preeminent" issue facing the nation. At their annual meeting in Baltimore on Wednesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted to strengthen pro-life language in its voting guide for Catholics, typically issued ahead of every presidential election.
On November 8, a biological male took first place in a high school girls' cross country championship meet in California. While the incident marked the latest example of a school allowing a gender confused male to compete against females and claim a title, a growing effort is underway across the country to keep the sexes separated for sports in order to foster fairness and safety.
Target's second quarter earnings report proved the company still hasn't rebounded from its Pride fallout this summer, showing a 5.4% decrease in sales - the first drop in roughly six years. The company's third quarter report was no better, revealing an additional 4.9% drop. Thanks to Target's partnership with a satanist designer and its highly controversial Pride line - which pushed transgender extremism on an audience largely of children - the backlash continues to hurt the stores' bottom line.
A Nashville suburb, under intense media fire for passing an ordinance banning sexual conduct during public marches, has exclusively told The Washington Stand it wanted to send a message that sexual activity in public is "inconsistent with contemporary community standards."
Following President Biden's and Chinese President Xi Jinping's summit on Wednesday, the communist dictator, whose government has perpetrated extensive, well-documented crimes against humanity, was warmly received with multiple standing ovations at a lavish dinner that evening in San Francisco attended by prominent U.S. business executives and government officials.
The Biden administration's "completely unfathomable" decision to free up $10 billion for the world's greatest state sponsor of terrorism even as Hamas viciously attacks Israel has congressmen perplexed, outraged, and demanding the president reverse course.
Professional sports have a way of testing the character, mental toughness, and, yes, faith of athletes and coaches alike. To the ones on the field giving it their all, the testing only intensifies when things out of their control, like a game ending injury or bad play, occur. Jobs are on the line as eager backups look on from the sidelines. A bad performance or an injury can cost a player their starting position or possibly even their career. In the world of sports, foundations are tested and character is revealed.
U.S. Capitol Police responded Wednesday night as "approximately 150 people" were "illegally and violently protesting" at the headquarters for the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The group of left-wing demonstrators disrupted a Democratic campaign event by chanting pro-Hamas slogans such as "ceasefire now" outside the building, then refused police instructions to relocate away from the building. The incident continues a trend of left-wing, anti-Semitic protests expressing anger at Democratic support for Israel and crossing the line between protected speech and violence.
After last Tuesday's dismal GOP election results, everyone is looking for a Republican to blame. The usual target is not always the right one, as Vivek Ramaswamy's crusade against RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel shows. She's a "losing leader," he's insisted over the last several days, even starting a petition to oust the recently reelected party boss. "Where is the accountability for years of losing?" the young entrepreneur wanted to know. Frankly it belongs here: with conservatives who refuse to fight for conservative values.
The nation's top medical school is billing gender transition surgeries as "essential" for future doctors to learn. Harvard Medical School is offering a fall 2023 and spring 2024 elective course entitled "Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery," which will offer students "an opportunity to participate in procedures that span the entire specialty including hand surgery, breast reconstruction, microsurgery, craniofacial surgery, lymphatic surgery, orthoplastic surgery, gender affirming surgery, and cosmetic surgery," according to a course description. The course allows medical students to practice gender transition surgeries on adult patients at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to California Wednesday to meet with President Biden amid the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, experts warned that Biden should limit direct engagement with the communist regime and should not expect Xi to keep any promises in the wake of repeated hostile actions China has taken against the U.S.
In football, you don't get to change the rules if you're losing. But in the Senate, Democrats (and sadly, some Republicans) have decided that's the only way to win against one coach: Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala). As usual, if the Left can't beat someone fair and square, they'll burn down whatever's standing in their way. In this case, it's more than 100 years of precedent.
Israeli forces have made steady progress since entering the Gaza Strip two weeks ago, but their task is complicated by efforts to minimize civilian casualties while fighting an enemy whose main strategy is to hide behind civilians.
In August, Virginia resident Angela Kilgore was barred from using the public comment portion of a Suffolk school board meeting to pray. The incident spiraled into weeks of pushback from other residents, the Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC), and First Liberty Institute, who argued that it constituted a violation of both free speech and religious freedom.
Gen Z is said to be the most LGBTQ generation in American history, but a new poll shows young people's support for a pillar of the sexual revolution has fallen precipitously. Gen Z's support for same-sex marriage has plummeted by 11 percentage points in two years, according to a new survey released last Thursday by the American Enterprise Institute's Survey Center on American Life.
Inflation remains elevated despite a brief dip, according to October's Consumer Price Index (CPI), released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The topline numbers - a 0.0% increase from September and a 3.2% increase from a year earlier - masks the true toll inflation has taken on American families. In fact, it's entirely possible that, due to rising coal prices, naughty children can now expect Santa to leave Bidenomics in their stockings this Christmas.
A Michigan judge is ruling against using an antiquated Civil War-era clause to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 primary ballot. Court of Claims Judge James Redford ruled Tuesday against claims that a clause in the 14th Amendment barring Confederates from holding public office due to their prior rebellion applies to Trump due to his contesting the 2020 presidential election results.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in San Francisco on Wednesday to meet with President Biden. The event is designed to soothe relations between the two nations. And according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, Biden is "coming into this meeting from a strong position." This is partly true.
That sound you hear in Washington, D.C. is every congressional staffer breathing a sigh of relief. For once, the Hill will be home at a reasonable time for Christmas - not staring down another government shutdown or stuffing an unread trillion-dollar omnibus down the Democrats' chimney. In the real first hurdle of Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) young tenure, the House did as he asked: they passed a budget bridge to next year that spares America a whole lot of headaches.
All nine Supreme Court justices signed a Code of Conduct included in a 15-page statement the court released Monday. The statement responds to a well-funded, coordinated left-wing smear campaign that has aimed to discredit the court - or at least its most conservative members - by manufacturing apparent corruption scandals. The court's critics remain unmollified.
"I was told there was gonna be 90 people here," said a woman as she walked among the masses. On the National Mall Tuesday, hundreds of thousands gathered from across the U.S. to stand firm amid horrendous controversy and anti-Semitism. But despite those in opposition, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) proclaimed boldly, "We are here united - Democrat and Republican - to say, 'We stand with Israel."
Law enforcement officials are exposing a sex-trafficking ring that allegedly counted politicians, military brass, Big Tech, and Big Pharma executives as "customers." According to the U.S. attorney's office for the district of Massachusetts, three men were arrested last week for reportedly operating a network of high-end, expensive, exclusive brothels, catering to the elite of Boston and Washington, D.C.
Since October 7, Israel has continuously been in our thoughts and prayers. The exposure of Hamas's brutal hatred for Israel's Jewish people continues to distress us. We've both spent considerable time in the Jewish State during different decades and for different reasons. And now, following Hamas's diabolical massacre in southern Israel and its military aftermath, we are reflecting on beloved Israeli friends - some who have passed on, and others who are still fighting today.
The current war between Israel and Hamas has created unlikely allies. On Friday, liberal journalist and founder of The Free Press, Bari Weiss, gave a remarkable speech at the conservative Federalist Society's National Lawyers Convention. One attendee said it may have been the most enthusiastically received speech in the 20-year history of the annual Barbara Olson Memorial Lecture. In Weiss's speech, titled "You Are the Last Line of Defense," she pleaded with America - and the world - to stand up against the horrific barbarism of Hamas and other evil actors and fight for what's right.
Late Sunday night, three would-be criminals attempted to break into an unmarked, unoccupied SUV belonging to the Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Joe Biden's granddaughter, Naomi. They smashed a window but fled the scene in "a red vehicle" when one agent fired his service weapon.
A constitutional expert is warning that Democrats are using "lawfare" to persecute former President Donald Trump and keep him off the 2024 ballot. Mike Davis, founder of originalist constitutional think tank Article 3 Project, spoke Monday to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins about the threat posed by Democrats violating and selectively weaponizing the rule of law to target Trump. Davis began by explaining, "This is absolutely Democrat lawfare and election interference. It is unprecedented. It is very dangerous to democracy that the Democrats pretend like they are protecting."
A Finnish parliamentarian and a Protestant church leader have been acquitted over charges of "hate speech" and violating the nation's statute against "War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity" by sharing Bible verses and traditional Christian teachings about sexuality.
Proverbs 19:3 states, "When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord." In other words, sinners have a way of causing their own misfortune, then blaming it on God. Don't get me wrong, accidents do happen. Take soccer star Megan Rapinoe, for example. On Saturday, during the National Women's Soccer League championship game, she suffered an injury likely to be a torn Achilles tendon.
There's a danger for both parties of reading too much into last Tuesday's elections. That message may already be lost on Democrats, who seem determined to take 2023's results as a mandate to turn every meaningful policy discussion into a debate about abortion. But could they be overplaying their hand? Is the average voter so enamored with the killing of unborn babies that they'd be willing to stop the military's funding over it? Apparently, Joe Biden's party is willing to gamble everything to find out.
Amid a mainstream media narrative claiming that conservative school board candidates were "drubbed" at the ballot box last Tuesday, dozens of school board candidates endorsed by 1776 Project PAC and Moms for Liberty won their races.
New House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) inherited a mess. Conservative efforts to return the congressional budget process to regular order were months behind schedule. Then an intra-party power play derailed House efforts to complete the schedule necessary to turn the group project in late, with a generous, 45-day extension. With that extension deadline approaching - this Friday - life handed Johnson a sack full of lemons, and he chose to make lemonade.
Since regaining their homeland, the Jewish people have been a stalwart Middle Eastern ally of Americans. Israel remains a counterweight against radical forces in the Middle East, including radical Islam and violent extremism. Israel has also prevented the further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the region by thwarting Iran, Iraq, and Syria's nuclear programs. This makes Israel our greatest ally and friend. Israel and America work together to ensure peace throughout the Middle East.
Fresh off a lopsided victory in the 2023 election, the abortion industry has revealed its plans to pave the way for future electoral victories - which include taxpayer-subsidized abortion, expanding transgender surgeries, stigmatizing criticism, and shifting the blame for all post-abortion regret to the pro-life movement.
On Friday, "Washington Watch" guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice had a chance to sit down with Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the coalition for Jewish Values, about the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism across the country. To push back on that astonishing wave, thousands plan to descend on the National Mall on Tuesday for a pro-Israel rally. For more on that event and Menken's perspective, check out his interview below.
There's a reason Congress hasn't passed all 12 appropriations bills since 1997 - it's a messy, tedious, and time-consuming process. But more than that, it has the uncomfortable tendency to expose a party's deep ideological cracks. Those differences of opinion can be fatal for spending debates, especially when you're the party in charge. And while none of this is news to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), it will be news if he can find a way to work through it.
You know the saying, "come as you are?" I think it's a great idea - perhaps even beautiful, as it portrays the truth of a loving and compassionate God who welcomes the broken, the poor, the hurt, the lost, and the desperate. Christianity is not for those who have it all together, it is for those who know how terribly they need a Savior. And I believe the phrase, "come as you are," portrays this well, because you don't have to fix yourself prior to coming to Jesus.
An Arlington, Virginia voter, later identified as a federal contractor, went viral on Tuesday for cursing out a Republican poll greeter outside a precinct. In video of the incident, which has been viewed nearly 12 million times as of Friday morning, the contractor cursed out Republicans as "Bible-beating bigots and freaks" and "rapists" for supporting pro-life, pro-family policies.
Even as public support for marijuana legalization reaches record levels and more states vote to enshrine recreational use, studies continue to come out showing that regular use of cannabis substantially increases the risk of serious health complications.
This past Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled "Free Speech on College Campuses," which examined the current state of the First Amendment on American college and university campuses. It also explored the rise in anti-Semitism, anti-Israel sentiment, and violence towards students supporting Israel.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, crime has precipitously skyrocketed in cities across the country, as demonstrated by a recent report published by Our America. One crime in particular, retail theft, has destroyed businesses across the country, hurting consumers and businesses alike.
The Left holds up abortion as its Holy Grail - or Unholy Grail, as the case may be. This has been made painfully clear over the past few decades, most recently in the series of elections that took place across the nation earlier this week. Democrats campaigned aggressively on abortion, while Republicans often backed away from the topic.
This past week's election results have been discouraging for the pro-life movement. The hard-fought victory in the Dobbs Supreme Court decision gave Americans the opportunity to defend the unborn at the ballot box. Yet, instead of protecting the most vulnerable among us, the 2022 and 2023 elections proved why the fundamental right to life should never be left to a vote.
Pro-choice Republicans in Congress are back. What had become a dying breed in the past couple of years, Republicans who consistently vote against basic pro-life protections have taken the House appropriations process hostage.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced Thursday afternoon that he will not seek reelection to the U.S. Senate, offering Republicans the opportunity to pick up a Senate seat in the deep-red state next year. Meanwhile, Manchin may further undermine President Joe Biden's reelection prospects by laying the groundwork for an independent bid for president in the 2024 elections.
As citizens who vote to protect life from conception until natural death, we weren't surprised to awaken Thursday morning to some buzz about the questions on abortion during the third (too many) Republican debate held in Miami, Florida. It is stating the brutally obvious to observe that Republican candidates and even avowed pro-life elected officials have been struggling to communicate a vision of life in the post-Dobbs world. They have struggled to live up to governing with life-saving moral clarity and struggle to articulate a message more descriptive than "I'm pro-life" or, if we're lucky, "I'm 100% pro-life."
An emerging stream of thought in American politics questions America's longstanding international commitments because it doesn't remember why we made them in the first place. Why is America supplying Ukraine with weapons in its war against Russia? What is America's interest - as distinct from a Jew's or Christian's interest - in securing Israel's victory over Hamas? Would America really put its own blood and treasure on the line to defend the sovereignty of faraway Taiwan?
Since President Joe Biden has been in office, over 10 million illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. through wide open borders. Yet, short of closing it, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed Biden has done "everything that he can" to secure the border. And Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, when asked repeatedly if what's occurring at the border is a crisis, refused to say it is so. Additionally, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) asked Mayorkas, "So the situation at the border, you're saying, is not a disaster?" To which he responded, "That is correct."
On Wednesday, during a briefing on Capitol Hill addressing the World Health Organization's (WHO) efforts to establish a global governance plan for future pandemics, Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) assured the audience that Republicans "are all about protecting U.S. sovereignty."
A month ago, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) never dreamed of the dramatic turn his career was about to take. Now, two weeks into what he calls a "whirlwind" promotion as House speaker, the Louisiana leader took time to sit down with longtime friend and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins to talk about the challenges, changes, and commitments he's working through as a devout Christian in one of the most powerful jobs in the world.
The White House announced Thursday morning that Israel had agreed to observe daily, four-hour-long pauses in the fighting to allow civilians to flee the area. Israel committed to announcing each pause three hours in advance and opening a second corridor for evacuations.
A new report is revealing that the federal government partnered with universities and think tanks to censor conservative Americans. A document published Monday by the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government details how the government circumvented constitutional protections of free speech to censor alleged misinformation online, by collaborating with third-party organizations - mostly universities - to police and censor the online speech of American citizens. The report states, "What the federal government could not do directly, it effectively outsourced to the newly emerging censorship-industrial complex."
Unlike a lot of things in life, losing doesn't get any easier the more you do it. If anything, the sting turns to despair, as pro-lifers, who've slogged through seven bitter defeats since June of 2022, know well. Over the last several months, the jubilation of seeing Roe fall has been replaced by a sinking feeling that the cause of the unborn is doomed in the very place the justices have entrusted it: the states. But is that true - or are we just experiencing the pains of a battle we only just started fighting?
New evidence emerged Monday that employees at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) publicly cheered Hamas's October 7 terrorist attack against Israel. The organization, which operates schools and humanitarian facilities in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere, receives a large portion of its funding from the U.S. government. For its anti-Israel sentiments, Senators Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have introduced legislation to cut off funding to Hamas through UNRWA and other channels.
On Monday, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) released a report revealing that American colleges and universities have received approximately $13 billion in undisclosed funds from foreign governments, many of which are authoritarian regimes such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. As the report and experts are noting, there appears to be a correlation between colleges that received money from Middle Eastern regimes and increased levels of anti-Semitic campus violence.
On Monday, news broke that a Jewish man died during an altercation with a pro-Palestinian protestor. Some media outlets have chosen to frame this as an uncontroversial incident, overlooking the troubling circumstances. Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish man, engaged in a pro-Israel counter-demonstration in Los Angeles with his wife when a supporter of Palestine came and struck Kessler in the head with a bullhorn. The elderly man fell backward, hit his head, and bled severely from both the back of his head and his mouth.
Pornography is one of the Left's favorite political tools. It can be used to cudgel, browbeat, castigate, and shame conservatives into silence - a potential that leftists capitalize on every chance they get. The best part about it - for leftists, at any rate - is that it's a double-edged sword, as the case of newly-minted speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) makes evident.
The pro-life cause suffered major setbacks in the 2023 off-year election, as voters in Ohio adopted a vaguely-worded constitutional amendment creating a "right" to abortion until birth and other "reproductive decisions." Ohioans also legalized recreational marijuana, while other national bellwether states defeated a rising pro-life candidate for governor of Kentucky, elected a pro-abortion Supreme Court justice in Pennsylvania, and handed full control of Virginia's state legislature to Democrats.
If there's one thing Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) probably misses from college football, it's a real team. A place where you win and lose together. Instead, the Auburn legend is in the United States Senate, where Republicans don't seem to know the first thing about having each other's backs - unless it's finding a soft spot to stick the knife in.
Nearly seven and a half months after a trans-identifying woman shot and killed three students and three staff at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., leaked pages from her diary reveal that she was motivated by "wrath" toward the school and intersectional critical theory. Local news station FOX 17 confirmed the leak to be authentic on Monday.
Despite an ongoing war in the Middle East, open borders flooding in millions of illegal immigrants, a worsening drug crisis, and increased risk of terrorist attacks in the U.S., President Joe Biden apparently has other priorities. According to an Epoch Times investigation of government spending, in the last three fiscal years, $4.1 billion "in federal money from taxpayers" has been put towards LGBT initiatives both within the U.S. and across the globe.
A growing number of states, led by Oklahoma and Florida, are rejecting public school textbooks that they say contain "woke" concepts and ideologies like critical race theory (CRT) and are instead adopting materials that "focus on the basics."
Democrats in the Keystone State are relying on LGBT issues to take control of a school board. Pennsylvanians will vote today on whether to hand the Central Bucks School District - the state's third-largest, serving over 17,000 students - to Republicans campaigning on parental rights or Democrats campaigning on LGBT issues. Republicans currently hold six of the school board's nine seats; Democrats must take four of the five seats up for grabs to take control, while Republicans only need to keep two.
Some elections have a deeper significance than choosing the policies that will guide us. They are harbingers of a spiritual and moral change taking place among our people. The election over Ohio's Issue 1, where ads proclaim that followers of Jesus should be "pro-abortion," is one such election.
"Allahu Akbar" chanted the army-sized crowd at the White House on Saturday afternoon, who cursed the U.S. president, waved the flag of a foreign adversary, and endeavored to breach the White House compound. Despite ubiquitous defacement of public property, attempted intrusions onto White House Grounds, and calls for genocide, law enforcement made only one arrest.
How can we expect to build a society with delusional people? It's a fair question - one that rocker John Cooper is asking in his new book, "Wimpy, Weak, and Woke." The lead singer of Skillet, one of the few Christian crossover bands to thrive in mainstream music, has had a rare microphone for truth in his 27-year career. With success has come opportunity, and Cooper is using his platform in the metal universe to warn Americans - "We are in dire straits."
More horror stories continue to emerge of the Christian persecution taking place in countries across the globe. Jeff King, the president of International Christian Concern, is dedicated to spreading awareness of this intense persecution that is often overlooked. "[I]n the last 20 years, 400,000 Christians have been murdered and 18 million people kicked out of their homes," he shared on "Washington Watch."
A new report has revealed that American charter schools are outperforming traditional public schools on a variety of metrics. The news comes as an increasing amount of parents are opting to educate their children outside of the public school setting amid an avalanche of controversy over gender and race ideology, sexually explicit books and curriculums, males competing in girls' sports, and more.
Liberals and Democrats are slamming California's left-wing governor for allegedly running a "shadow campaign" to take the White House next year. On his HBO show "Real Time," liberal host and comedian Bill Maher mocked Governor Gavin Newsom (D) for supposedly running a secret campaign to earn the 2024 Democratic nomination for president.
If Issue 1 passes in Ohio, it will effectively deny parents the ability to protect their minor daughters from predatory neighbors, family members, or industries favored by the Democratic Party. But perhaps its greatest offense comes in its attempt to legally dismantle parents' rights to direct, guide, or even be aware of the most consequential decisions in their children's lives.
On Tuesday, Ohioans have a very important decision to make. Issue 1 on every Ohioans' ballot will enshrine one of the most vague - and thus up to extreme interpretations - rights to "reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion ..." into our state Constitution. As this is considered a self-executing constitutional amendment and not a proposed statute, the state legislature will have absolutely no ability to amend this later down the line, unless a second constitutional amendment is put on the ballot, revising the first. So, what does this mean in real life?
Over the last two weeks, one of the many attacks on new Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) Christian faith has been the claim that he "believes in a religious litmus test for politicians." The media's exaggerations and distortions are about a seminar Mike and his wife, Kelly, taught. I know quite a bit about this - not only because I was a part of the seminar - but because the class Mike and his wife Kelly led was based on a God and government course I've taught for over 25 years.
Since Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) unexpected election to lead the House of Representatives, progressives have busied themselves levying an array of brutal and sometimes slanderous attacks against Johnson. One of the top progressive talking points seems to be that Johnson allegedly has no respect for the "separation of church and state." Yet, when properly understood, the evidence for such allegations quickly unravels.
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "American culture?" Do you have a positive reaction to the phrase or a negative one? Do you think about our culture in terms of our history or about the tendencies and values of the current generation? Whatever your reaction and whatever comes to mind, there are two facts about American culture that are undeniable: it is unique in the history of the world, and we are responsible for it.
Pastor and theologian Charles Spurgeon once said, "When asked, 'What is more important: prayer or reading the Bible?' I ask, 'What is more important: breathing in or breathing out?'" I would propose that, for the Christian, time in the Word and in prayer is no different, as they are essential to faith.
If Hamas's actions raping women, decapitating babies, and burning children alive isn't enough reason for students to condemn them, then not being able to find a job after graduation just might change their minds. Twenty-seven of America's top law firms recently conveyed this message through a letter: "anti-Semitic activities [will] not be tolerated at any of our firms." This applies to both law students and any "outside groups" involved.
"Ah, thank God for Salon, the voice of reason," said no one ever, and former "senior White House correspondent for Playboy" Brian Karem's latest article there is demonstrative of why. In a piece published Thursday and subtly, tastefully entitled "MAGA and Christian nationalism: Bigger threat to America than Hamas could ever be," Karem argues that so-called Christian nationalists pose a greater threat to the U.S. than Islamist terrorists like Hamas.
By C-SPAN standards, Wednesday night's Senate proceedings were a telenovela. The Associated Press called it an "extraordinary showdown." NBC News nearly lapsed into poetry, "In a four-and-a-half-hour floor fight on Wednesday night ...." The knives were drawn, and Senate Republicans were out to get one of their own.
Border Patrol agents have found an improvised explosive device (IED) at the U.S. border with Mexico, as security experts warn lax enforcement of immigration laws will invite terrorist attacks on American soil in the near future.
Watching the horrors unfold in Israel would be hard for anyone, but it has to be especially difficult for leaders like Mike Pompeo, who, as a member of the Trump administration, worked to ensure nightmares like this never happened. Three years removed from the White House, the world is a different place than it was when the 45th president was in power - and Americans aren't the only ones who feel it.
The state of Florida in October joined a growing number of states that have cut ties with the American Library Association (ALA) over its promotion of Marxism and sexually explicit reading materials to children. Florida's Division of Library and Information Services, a division of the Florida Department of State, issued a new rule stipulating that it would "not allow grant project activities associated" with the American Library Association or its affiliates, Politico reported.
This Sunday marks the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted, a time to remember the Christians who are experiencing the threat of danger for their faith in Christ. Praying for the persecuted can feel like a daunting task when the situations facing Christians around the world seem very complex. Even so, prayer is one of the most powerful tools with which we can support the persecuted church, including those whose names we will never know - and it does not need to be complicated.
It was May 28, 2021, when a 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in a Virginia public school restroom. Details revealed the girl was attacked by a boy wearing a skirt who was legally allowed to use the girl's restroom at Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County because it "matched his gender identity." In response to incidents like these, which resulted from school policies allowing boys into girls' restrooms and locker rooms, a growing tide of high school across the country are walking out of class in protest.
"The Biden-Harris administration will develop our nation's first National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia," Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday. Yes, you read that correctly - the Biden administration is taking steps to protect the religion symbolized by a crescent, not a six-sided star. "Even as anti-Semitic rhetoric and threats of violence skyrocket throughout the United States, the Biden administration is developing a strategy to combat Islamophobia," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on "Washington Watch."
What happens when Christian media looks ... exactly like secular media? Recent coverage of the election of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson gave us a glimpse.
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the latest draft of its controversial International Health Regulations, with the purported aim to eventually establish a global accord on how to handle future pandemics. Expert observers are continuing to express concern with the regulations, saying that they are covertly designed to take away sovereignty from countries and push contentious issues such as abortion.
Senate Democrats are targeting private citizens in an effort to manipulate the Supreme Court. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, led by chairman Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), announced on Monday that they will vote to subpoena Harlan Crow and Robin Arkley, who have donated money to conservative Supreme Court justices and Leonard Leo.
U.S. taxpayers funded life-altering transgender surgeries, despite that fact that one of the global pioneers in the field says "gender transition has gotten out of hand" and likened it to the "recovered memory" craze that hurt vulnerable patients and tore families apart during the 1980s.
Since the 2017-2018 school year, the number of parents homeschooling has increased dramatically. With the rise has come pushback from state educators like Hillsborough County School Board member Lynn Gray who said parents don't have "any understanding of education." As far as Gray is concerned, this increase in homeschooling is going to hurt society. In my view, homeschooling is not an easy choice, but it is often far more rewarding. This isn't coming from the perspective of a biased parent, but from a biased child who has experienced both homeschool and public school.
Conservatives in Congress are revealing further evidence that President Joe Biden and his family have benefitted from influence-peddling while Biden was vice president. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) announced on Wednesday that the House Oversight Committee had found another suspicious bank transfer from Biden's brother James into the president's bank account.
Before Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Middle Eastern Jews, the Biden administration had weakened Israeli defenses by diverting hundreds of thousands of artillery shells out of Israel to support the war in Ukraine. A Republican congressman says it is "unclear" Biden's actions fully complied with U.S. law.
As Israel's ground war to exterminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip begins in earnest, the world's only Jewish state faces a new enemy as the Yemen-based Houthi terror group, also funded and armed by Iran, took credit for "a large batch of ballistic and cruise missiles and a large number of drones on various Israeli enemy targets," launched Tuesday.
Ohio's Issue 1 referendum is a contentious proposal that will undoubtedly impact the future of abortion policy in Ohio for the foreseeable future. So far, groups inside and outside the state have dumped more than $40 million into debating the so-called abortion rights amendment. However, some major policies outside the realm of the abortion debate will be impacted if voters write the language of the Issue 1 referendum into the Ohio State Constitution.
Suddenly, the House speakership doesn't seem like such a great prize after all. In eight days on the job, Mike Johnson (R-La.) has been compared to mass shooters, the Iranian mullahs, even the Taliban for being a Bible-believing Christian. "Be afraid," one Washington Post headline read, almost hilariously. But maybe, given this level of hostility, we should be.
In the weeks following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel that resulted in the deaths of over 1,400, along with over 5,400 who were injured, threats and violence directed at Jewish students on college campuses have soared across the country. In response, one Catholic university has decided to declare that it will welcome any Jewish student who does not feel safe on their own campus.
Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith suffered an apparent heart attack while jogging Sunday, and Senate Democrats have blamed the medical emergency on Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). "This scary incident involving General Smith shows why it's supremely risky to play politics with military appointments, as Sen. Tuberville is doing," orated U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Law enforcement and national security officials are sounding the alarm on increased terror threats to America, but conservatives are warning that the nation's open southern border is its greatest vulnerability. FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified Tuesday before congressional committees on Homeland Security, noting that terrorism threats to the U.S. have been escalated to a "whole other level" due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
"Trans women are women," read a post from one of America's largest feminist advocacy groups. The National Organization for Women (NOW) puts on a front supporting women, and you would assume they do based on their title - but that couldn't be further from the truth. A group that explicitly labels itself "for women" supports the notion that biological men are, in fact, women. I don't know about you, but this screams oxymoron.
Justice in the conduct of war has been a moral concern for millennia. Paul the apostle warned the Roman Christians, "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). Although Paul's command dealt with personal relationships, its application to warfare is clear: Avenging a wrong is never right. On this basis, then, does Israel have a just cause in its war against Hamas?
Five days before the Iran-backed terror group Hamas invaded Israel and killed more than 1,400 Israelis, Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed the Middle East was "quieter than it has been for decades," in part because the Biden administration had "de-escalated crises in Gaza" and "enhanced deterrence ... to discourage further [Iranian] aggression." Events quickly proved these statements wrong, indicating that the Biden administration had misread the situation in the Middle East. But they were proven wrong so dramatically and rapidly that it might signal a deeper problem within the Biden administration.
A majority of world governments voted Friday for a resolution calling for "an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities" in Gaza, during an emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly. The resolution passed with 120 nations in favor to 14 nations against and 45 abstentions. "After the horrific attacks of October 7, calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas," Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded.
When the House reconvenes from its Halloween sugar high, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will be staring down his first big test: persuading members to break up the multi-billion dollar funding package for Ukraine and Israel. In sit-downs with both President Joe Biden and the media, the new Republican leader made it clear that if the Democrats want to help our allies defeat Hamas and Russia, they'll have to take two separate votes. It's not about "political gamesmanship," Johnson insisted. It's about "stewardship."
A public school superintendent in Virginia is making it clear that his school district will be focusing on improving the literacy of its students while also protecting them from being exposed to sexually explicit material while in school.
"Witches are back, and they want academic credit," said Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in a recent episode of his podcast "The Briefing." Mohler discussed the University of Exeter in England, which plans to offer a master's degree in witchcraft, magic, and occult science by fall of 2024. And they aren't alone. America's Rice University also has a Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism certificate from its Department of Religion involving magic, ritual, and witchcraft.
One of the foremost leaders seeking to expand abortion until birth has said every abortion is "essential," every city should have an abortion facility, and that "all barriers to abortion are racist" policies attacking minorities and people who identify as LGBTQ. She also seeks to legalize, normalize, and "uplift" prostitution.
Local school boards across the country have risen to prominence as they've found themselves at the center of national debates about parental rights, freedom of speech, and protecting children from pornographic material. Issues in public schools - and the school boards themselves - have led a wave of conservatives and Christians to run for positions on school boards across the country. Heather Rooks is one such Christian who earned a spot on the Peoria Unified School Board in Arizona this January. Now, that school board is at the center of a religious freedom case after prohibiting Rooks from referencing the Bible in her remarks.
At a congressional hearing about global religious persecution on October 25, some House Democrats hijacked the event to fearmonger about a small school of political thought that espouses a position its proponents call "Christian nationalism." This hearing was held by the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. Yet, rather than remain focused on the many urgent crises facing religious believers around the world - in Armenia, Nigeria, North Korea, and China to name a few - House Democrats chose to highlight the contrived problem of Christian nationalism in the United States.
The Merchant Marine Academy has initiated a new policy that will allow individuals who are in the midst of undergoing gender transitions procedures to be admitted, even if the procedures render the individual undeployable. Lawmakers have written a letter to the academy decrying the policy, saying that it "creates a dangerous avenue for exploiting our nation's prestigious service academies."
Of the 469 members of Congress who call themselves Christians, the country has decided to pick on one: Mike Johnson. Apparently, it's not a crime to say you're a person of faith - it's a crime to act like one. Unfortunately, that irony is being driven home with ruthless clarity in a nation where a majority of the population (63%) not only identifies with the new speaker's faith but continues to elect leaders (87% of the House and Senate) just like him. So obviously, the issue isn't that Johnson loves Jesus. The issue is that Johnson brings Jesus to work.
Washington is bursting with varied reactions to House Republicans electing U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as speaker - ranging from "hooray!" to "who?" - but the strangest might be allegations that Speaker Johnson will turn America into a theocracy. "Welcome to the Republican Era of not even pretending they aren't forcing their religion on Congress and the American people," tweeted U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) on Wednesday, in reaction to a clip from Johnson's inaugural speech. "This is a slippery, dangerous slope to theocracy."
The Sooner State's governor is blasting his state's attorney general for suing a Catholic charter school. Oklahoma's Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced a lawsuit earlier this month against the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board for approving what his office called "what would be the nation's first religious charter school funded by public tax dollars," citing religious liberty concerns.
As Israel began its ground invasion on the Gaza strip, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his team are negotiating hundreds of hostages held by Hamas. But in addition to this are the approximately 600 American citizens and foreign nationals who are trapped inside Israel's target. According to Sullivan, Egypt has "prepared to allow American citizens and foreign nationals to come through the Rafah gate into Egypt," and Israel is on board with this course of action, but Hamas is preventing their departure from Gaza due to a "series of demands."
A constitutional amendment that would guarantee abortion until birth is being supported by a coalition of abortionists, transgender activists, and left-wing radicals who believe in transgender surgeries for minors, legalizing prostitution, abolishing police and prisons, erasing the U.S. border, and returning Mount Rushmore to tribal activists who see the monument as "an international symbol of white supremacy." One of its key leaders boasts of "working on destigmatizing and uplifting sex work."
Italy is announcing a new initiative to raise the nation's flagging birthrate. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government approved a new budget last week, setting aside ?1 billion (nearly $1.1 billion) in funding to support mothers and families, in an effort to boost the national birthrate.
With government funding set to expire on November 17, the clock is ticking for Republicans to pass spending bills before the next government shutdown. But newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) is already hard at work. Within 30 hours of being named speaker, Johnson managed to pass spending bill H.R. 4394, the Energy and Water Appropriations Act. This is just the fourth of 12 appropriations bills Republicans seek to pass to "better the American people" and "put pressure" on President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats.
There's a new Republican leader on Capitol Hill, so as a dutiful, generic member of the mainstream press corps, I must come up with reasons why you should hate U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). After performing several Google searches, here's everything you need to know.
Later Wednesday evening, The Cooper Union issued a response that National Review writer Jeffrey Blehar described as "wretched." The official response from university administration read: "The library was closed for approximately 20 minutes late this afternoon while student protestors moved through our building. Some students who were previously in the library remained there during this time."
Over the summer, the Thriving Center of Psychology published an explosive study that found a shift in marriage expectations among Gen Z and millennials. According to the study, two in five young adults (41% of men and 52% of women) think marriage is an outdated tradition. The study also found that 61% of unmarried couples live with their partners. Although these statistics are not altogether surprising for a post-Christian culture, the survey's findings demonstrate how modern sexual mores represent a significant challenge to the pro-life movement.
On Thursday, the U.S. launched multiple strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria, which military officials say are in retaliation for drone attacks that targeted American military bases in the region. The actions come as lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for the Biden administration to step up military actions against Iran, which has direct ties to the Hamas terrorist group that carried out the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust on October 7.
Since October 7, many of us have been deeply impacted and heartbroken seeing images, hearing news, and realizing what has happened to thousands of individuals and families in Israel. In addition to sympathizing with our brothers and sisters, it has been eye-opening and tragic to see how many college students sympathize with - not the Israeli victims - but the Hamas terrorists who delighted in brutally attacking and murdering them. This reality brings to light the importance of teaching children accurate history, natural law, and, for Christians, a biblical worldview.
On Wednesday, after three weeks of dysfunction following the ouster of former-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected as the 56th Speaker of the House. Johnson's elevation to the office caps a frenetic period in which Republicans considered multiple candidates before coalescing around the four-term congressman. Although Johnson's unexpected rise to the speakership was welcomed by conservatives, the Left has predictably been apoplectic in denouncing Speaker Johnson's long-standing social conservative views.
Division has only increased across the globe amid the war in the Middle East, and America is certainly no exception. Among multiple controversies, the question of whether the U.S. should accept migrants fleeing from Gaza is a burning topic. Based on the latest surveys, Americans are rather torn on the issue. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll, 52% of Americans do not want Gaza refugees in America, 28% said America should accept migrants from Gaza, and 20% were unsure.
A federal judge is slamming elite colleges and universities as a threat to American principles. In an interview with the Washington Examiner published on Friday, U.S. Circuit Court judge James Ho faulted colleges and universities for allowing and promoting ideals that are "antithetical to America."
In an especially vicious attack, a Democratic member of Congress has attempted to tie Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to four mass shootings carried out by white supremacists around the globe. She also accused the pro-life speaker of "extremism" for stating that "everyone deserves a birthday" and opposing the "sexualization of children" under the age of 10.
While D.C. politicos scramble to figure out who House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is, here at Family Research Council, we needed no introduction. To most of us, the young-looking Louisiana lawyer represents the best the movement has to offer. "He's a social conservative's conservative," Politico pointed out in a lengthy piece about his relationship with FRC. But more than that, he's a man who deeply loves God and this country. So as senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine) turn to Google to find out who the new speaker is, we can tell you simply: he's the real deal.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, which killed approximately 1,400 people, "did not happen in a vacuum." Although Guterres claimed his statement was "misinterpreted," Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan insisted, "Every person understands very well that the meaning of his words is that Israel has guilt for the actions of Hamas." He added, "[A]t the very least, it shows his understanding for the background leading up to the massacre."
On Wednesday afternoon, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and newly-elected U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) spoke in succession on the House floor. Despite agreement on supporting Israel and quoting Lincoln, the speeches contrasted one another sharply in their themes, goals, and visions for America.
The stories and images out of Israel in recent weeks are nothing short of shocking. The initial invasion into Israel involved Hamas militants parachuting into a music festival to kill whoever they could. Those who were not immediately killed were sexually assaulted and then killed. In some cases, their bodies were desecrated and ceremonially paraded through the streets as a kind of trophy. As many as 5,000 rockets were fired indiscriminately into neighborhoods, schools, and parks.
A federal judge is blocking the Centennial State's unconstitutional ban on abortion drug reversals. U.S. District Court judge Daniel Domenico issued an order on Saturday halting Colorado's ban on performing abortion drug reversal procedures, citing religious freedom concerns.
For years, economic hardship has been the lot of those living in Gaza and the West Bank. Yet this hardship is not shared by their leaders. A Saudi Arabian publication quotes "a senior Palestinian Authority official" as saying that roughly "1,700 senior Hamas officials (are) millionaires." Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh holds an estimated personal fortune of roughly $4 billion. Another, Khaled Mashal, claims a cool $5 billion.
House Republicans have selected "a tremendous man of God," "a strong Christian," a "servant leader," and a "genuinely nice guy" by elevating Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) to the position of Speaker of the House, according to those closest to the legislator.
A month ago, the idea of U.S. troops doing live-fire exercises in Iraq would have seemed like something out of 2002. But almost three weeks removed from one of the bloodiest days in the modern Middle East, war is closer than it's ever been. With more than 18 separate attacks launched at American soldiers last week, it's clear: Israel is no longer the only target.
After weeks of silence from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on Hamas's October 7 terror attack that killed more Jews than any event since the Holocaust, the SPLC employee's union released its own statement via X, formerly known as Twitter, claiming to stand "strongly in solidarity with the Palestinian people." The statement may cause the SPLC union to meet SPLC's own criteria for an anti-Semitic hate group.
On October 20, President Biden delivered a formal request to Congress for approval of a $105 billion emergency funding package for Ukraine and Israel, which includes $14 billion for "border operations." Lawmakers are warning that the funding request for the southern border does not address failures in the Biden administration's underlying border policies, which they say have contributed to "the worst border crisis in our history."
The Peach State's highest court is upholding a pro-life law. In a six-to-one ruling on Tuesday, the Georgia State Supreme Court determined that a 2019 heartbeat law could go into effect, outlawing abortions past six weeks. In July of last year, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and pro-abortion activist group SisterSong sued against the law in state court.
As the saying goes, "These are the times that try men's souls." And since Jerusalem was my home for more than 10 years, I'm immediately wide-awake when terror and war strike there once again. Attacks on Israel are a powerful blow to the soul of everyone who loves the Jewish state and its people. Since October 7, I've been in touch with several Israeli friends and their now-growing families to see how they are coping with their current circumstances. I'll share what they've written to me since the war began.
U.S. forces in the Middle East have come under attack 13 times in the past week, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed Tuesday, and the attacks have injured at least two dozen military personnel. U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the Pentagon held Iran responsible for the attacks and warned of "the prospect for more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel across the region in the very near-term."
The Biden administration's Health and Human Services (HHS) released a proposed rule at the end of last month that would act as a blanket ban on Christians from serving LGBT-identifying youth in foster care. In addition to posing serious religious freedom concerns, if enacted, the proposed rule could ultimately create further obstacles for children in foster care waiting to be placed in a loving home.
For centuries, truth, goodness, and beauty have been under attack, and never more aggressively, it would seem, than within the past few decades. Truth has been censored, deconstructed, and diluted. Goodness has been made subjective. And beauty has been eviscerated.
There are countless testimonies of women feeling a "deep emptiness" or "trauma" after an abortion. Others have experienced nightmares and depression. From mothers who've gone through the procedure, we know that it's painful emotionally, mentally, and physically. However, testimonies have also revealed how the difficulty and agony of abortion is compounded when it's done chemically, away from the doctor's office. Pop star Britney Spears drove that reality home in her recently released her memoir, "The Woman in Me," where she details her horrifying experience with a do-it-yourself abortion.
Modern-day anti-Semites complain about the existence of the nation of Israel, accusing it of "colonialism" or "apartheid." They insist that nothing would satisfy them except the total destruction of the state of Israel. Their accusations are false, of course, and they have been refuted many times. But it's worth making them answer the question, what then? If Israel's existence infuriates them, what would they prefer instead? The history of Israel's creation helps to underscore the significance of that question.
On October 20, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Missouri v. Biden, a case that could become a landmark in the area of free speech in America. The case centers around whether agencies within the federal government illegally colluded with social media companies to censor and suppress First Amendment-protected speech of American citizens.
Americans' trust in major media outlets is at an all-time low, according to a new poll. Gallup released a survey Thursday showing that a combined total of 32% of Americans have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in mass media, while 29% have "not very much" trust in media, and a record 39% of Americans say they have no trust in media "at all."
There are times when the Biden administration expresses categorical, unequivocal support for Israel's war of survival against the Iran-backed terror group Hamas. "Enough is enough should have been the case with Hamas two weeks ago," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday. "It would be good to hear the entire world speaking clearly and with one voice about the actions that Hamas took." But then there are times when the Biden administration demonstrates all the moral assurance of a blind man on a tightrope.
House Republicans have nominated Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) as the party's latest nominee for Speaker of the House. Emmer, the third-highest Republican in the House of Representatives, beat six more conservative candidates to become the third speaker nominee.
The Southern Poverty Law Center's labor union has taken a public stance on the war Hamas started by invading Israel, slaughtering civilians, and taking hostages - even while the SPLC itself has remained silent on the issue and on some Americans' apparent support for Hamas slaughtering Jews.
Since Hamas's October 7 terror attack, it seems another professor says something anti-Semitic every time you blink. Some have apologized, some have been suspended, but all expose a campus culture that prefers some worldviews, political stances, and identities while demonizing others.
After holding a House conference with the then-nine candidates for speaker on Monday night, the caucus proceeded to a closed-door vote early Tuesday morning to select a nominee. All seven remaining candidates have earned "pretty high" rankings on the FRC Action scorecard, which revealed how members voted "with particular focus of particular interest of concern to faith, family, and freedom."
On Sunday, Family Research Council hosted an event at Village Church to pray for and stand with Israel. FRC President Tony Perkins was joined by founding Pastor Erik Estep, FRC Board Chair Michele Bachmann, FRC Executive Vice President Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, and Chad Connelly, the founder of Faith Wins. The objective was to educate believers about what's happening in Israel with two overarching themes: staying persistent in prayer and standing firm on the word of God.
On October 18, Douglass Mackey, who mainstream media outlets have characterized as a "far-right influencer," was sentenced to seven months in federal prison by a Brooklyn, N.Y. jury for engaging in "election interference" by posting fake Hillary Clinton campaign advertisements on Twitter before the 2016 election. Legal experts are decrying the court decision as an example of the "weaponization" of the Biden administration's Justice Department (DOJ), which has shown a pattern of targeting conservatives.
You didn't have to be in the roomful of international journalists to understand the sheer horror of what they saw. For all of the grisly, stomach-turning images posted online, nothing compared to the 43 minutes of torture screened for reporters on an Israeli military base Monday. Afterward, many, including Breitbart's Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollack, could only lean against a wall and weep. Replaying the victims' terrified screams in his mind, he writes, "There is no moment of redemption in the footage. We do not see the end, when the good guys arrive and save the victims." The only comfort, Pollack admits, "is the knowledge that the footage, at least, was retrieved from the terrorists after they were killed or captured."
Pro-Palestine demonstrations are escalating across the globe, culminating in violence in some areas. In New York City, a pro-Palestine rally hosted on Saturday resulted in a clash with police when some 5,000 protestors reportedly refused to leave a street they were occupying. The New York City Police Department confirmed that at least 19 protestors were arrested, following 139 being arrested the day before.
At the beginning of this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) proposed new guidance that would require virtually every employee in the United States to embrace his or her colleagues' self-described sexuality, gender identity, and "reproductive rights." Under this rule, anyone who does not conform to left-wing orthodoxy, as well as any employer who protects him or her, could be the target of a federal investigation and lawsuit.
Tabia Lee spent about two decades working in the field of education. However, it came to a halt after she was terminated from her two-year position as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) director at De Anza Community College in California. The role of DEI director, as stated by De Anza, is to provide "equity, social justice, and academic success for all members" on campus. But Lee's testimony, which is centered around witnessing "blatant" anti-Semitism, revealed De Anza doesn't really mean "all" students.
A major magazine is including a biological man on its list of the hottest women of 2023. Popular men's magazine Maxim Australia just published its list of 2023's 100 "hottest" women. Actress Margot Robbie topped the list for the second year in a row and the fourth time overall; other winners included actresses Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, and Elizabeth Debicki, athletes Sam Kerr, Kaylee McKeown, and Ariarne Titmus, and signers Kylie Minogue and Georgia Clare Flipo (better known as G Flip). Alongside these winners, Maxim Australia listed Dani Laidley, a biological male who identifies as transgender. Born as Dean James, Laidley was an Australian football player and coach. His inclusion on the list has garnered criticism from conservatives.
I've found that our culture, and even many believers, never seem to want to linger too long thinking about innocence. We tend to see it as a childish, naïve, and pointless exercise, one that is overly aloof and not "real" enough. We live in a fallen world, after all, one in which Adam and Eve screw up a mere 56 verses into a 31,102-verse story. Most of us are painfully aware of our own guilt - we can't help but feel shame and regret when we think back on the sins we've committed in our lives, while still struggling to overcome habitual, daily failings. Why torture ourselves by thinking about innocence, something we have all lost forever?
Twenty years of research continually points to the "mental health crisis" worsening around the world. While there are many factors that tie into the increased levels of anxiety or depression we are seeing, Gallup and Radiant Foundation considered that religion (as it relates to mental health) has been "largely underexplored."
While the NHL seems to have embraced some sanity on LGBT extremism, Hockey Canada's goal seems to be making the sport so radical that it's uncomfortable for kids to even play. Under a new rule that went into effect this season, all under-18 players - girls and boys - have been ordered to stay clothed in their locker rooms for the purposes of trans "inclusion."
Investigations continue into the funding and support for a pro-Palestine rally that took place in front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, before protestors took to the streets and entered a House Office building, illegally demonstrating in the Cannon Rotunda. Capitol Police arrested the demonstrators en masse, with a local NBC affiliate reporting that "close to 300" people were in police custody as of 6 p.m. Wednesday.
A televised debate on Ohio's Issue 1 about creating a constitutional "right" to abortion-on-demand until birth gave pro-life advocates ample opportunity to dispel misinformation about the controversial measure, as an abortion activist misled viewers more than a dozen times in less than an hour.
In the Middle East, thousands of innocent civilians are losing their lives in the crossfire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group. Since October 7, men, women, the elderly, children, and infants have become victims of war - and the fighting only continues. Women have been raped in the streets, babies are found decapitated, protests are breaking out globally, and the Naval Academy has decided to put their effort - not into lethal combat training - but gender and sexuality studies.
After Hamas terrorists finished raining their first deadly volleys onto civilians on October 7, they took more than 200 Israelis hostage. Not to be outdone, President Joe Biden took the entire nation of Israel hostage on Thursday night, binding military aid for Israel to a far larger package fueling his unpopular war in Ukraine. In his short speech, Biden resurrected the "Axis of Evil" ideology that mired the U.S. into pointless wars, downplayed the terrorists' religious and genocidal motivation, and turned a speech about the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust into a scolding sermon against alleged U.S. "Islamicphobia."
How should we approach Israel's ongoing conflicts from a historical perspective? Dr. A.J. Nolte, chair of the Government Graduate Program and director of the International Development M.A. Program at Regent University, sat down to discuss this and more on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" on October 19.
A professor at a prominent Catholic university is claiming that teaching a course on drag shows is compatible with the school's Catholic mission and identity.
An Oklahoma law to protect minors from the harmful effects of gender transition procedures may go into effect, Federal District Judge John Heil, of the Northern District of Oklahoma, ruled on October 5 in Poe v. Drummond. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) had previously agreed not to enforce the law until the court ruled on its constitutionality, so Heil's decision essentially put the law into effect. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) said in a statement he was "pleased with the court's decision," adding, "Here in Oklahoma, we protect our kids. Plain and simple."
Early voting is already underway in Ohio, the nation's next abortion battleground. On November 7, as polls close, votes will be tallied to determine whether or not Ohioans decided to enshrine "an individual right to ... abortion" within their state constitution. If voters check "yes" on Issue 1, Ohio will become the fourth state in the country (joining California, Michigan, and Vermont) to elevate abortion as a constitutionally protected form of "reproductive freedom."
Congressional Democrats are offering to expand the powers of the interim Speaker of the House in exchange for more of their bills on the floor. Following Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) removal as speaker, four House Democrats from the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus offered on Friday to back expanding the authority of pro tempore Speaker Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) if he allows the Democrats to present more bills on the House floor.
Missouri's attorney general is suing a school board for hiding a controversial transgender bathroom policy from parents. The Wentzville School District's Board of Education allegedly hid its deliberations on instituting a new transgender bathroom policy to avoid input and outrage from parents, according to Attorney General Andrew Bailey's (R) office.
On Wednesday, Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins met with Finnish Ambassador Mikko Hautala to discuss the high-profile court case of Finnish Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola.
Amid the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, President Joe Biden has pledged to send Hamas-controlled areas of the Palestinian Authority the same amount of U.S. taxpayer funding that Iran sends to Hamas each year. The pledge constitutes another of Biden's "numerous idiocies" that imperils the Middle East, according to one U.S. senator.
When new NCAA President Charlie Baker came to D.C. to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, the topic wasn't girls' sports. But that didn't stop conservatives like Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) from putting the former Massachusetts governor on the hotseat about it.
Late on Tuesday, Western media reported that an Israeli airstrike had killed up to 500 people, mostly civilians, at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, based on reports from the Hamas-controlled Gazan Health Ministry. But details quickly emerged suggesting Israel had nothing to do with the attack.
Despite mainstream media outlet claims of "book banning," the movement to protect children from being exposed to pornographic material in classrooms and school libraries is growing with the help of an expanding number of advocates and resources.
Amid the prospect of a possible government shutdown over the fiscal 2024 budget, the Biden administration's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced $22 million in grants for organizations to "help prepare lawful permanent residents for naturalization." The announcement drew little attention. After all, helping legal immigrants become citizens hardly seems scandalous, compared with the crises Biden's Department of Homeland Security has created. However, several organizations receiving money from USCIS through these grants actively prioritize the push for further dismantling of American immigration law.
October 7 will be remembered for years as the day Palestine-based Hamas found a chink in Israel's nearly-impenetrable armor and wreaked havoc on the embattled nation. Days later, Palestinian Muslims sounded again the cry for a global jihad, a "holy" war against Israel, the West, and all whom the Muslim world derides as infidels. This battle cry has been heard many times before, and will probably be heard again, but in these days of turmoil and fear, it is well worthwhile for Christians to recall another October 7 nearly 500 years ago, when that terrific cry was silenced by Christian bravery and the power of prayer.
President Joe Biden spoke Saturday at the Human Rights Campaign's annual National Dinner. Biden said it was his fourth appearance at the annual event, which is billed as "a national gathering for champions of LGBTQ equality." Although the 80-year-old president rarely makes public appearances before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m., he made an exception for his close allies, and he delivered a reasonably coherent address to boot.
It's taken a surprising amount of courage for U.S. celebrities to stand up and condemn Hamas's slaughter of innocent Israelis. For some, like Kylie Jenner, that courage was short-lived. But for others, only an atrocity the scale of October 7 could bring the country's out-of-touch stars into alignment with everyday American sentiment. It's just unfortunate that, in the case of big names like LeBron James, those sympathies don't extend to people suffering ISIS-like tortures every day.
In the wake of the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas terrorists that killed over 1,400 Israeli civilians on October 7, increased scrutiny is being centered on the ideology that fueled the barbarity that took place. Experts say that funds allocated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have not only been funneled to terrorists in Gaza, but have also been used to fund educational materials for Palestinian youth that is rife with anti-Semitism.
Since the 2022 Dobbs Supreme Court decision, several colleges across the U.S. have been looking for ways to provide abortion access for students. Before Roe v. Wade was even overturned, California became the first state in 2019 to enact a law that required public universities to provide students with the abortion pill. Massachusetts passed a similar law in 2022. And in New York, laws requiring students to have access to these drugs through their campuses passed in May and went into effect in August - just weeks before students resumed their studies.
America's elite institutions are shuddering from the impact of the outbursts of anti-Semitism on their campuses. Their spasms of panic are animated less by the Israel-hatred and hostility to Jews emanating from their students than by something even atheist materialist postmoderns find terrifying: loss of income.
Even before anti-American ideologues held public rallies justifying terrorist violence in the name of "decolonization," Joe Biden sought to hammer out an agreement that could force American soldiers to fight and die for Saudi Arabia. The terms could also give the Saudis, the world's foremost funders of radical Islam, access to a "civilian" nuclear program and rein in Israel's response to terrorist attacks.
First Lady Jill Biden introduced her husband, President Joe Biden, as he spoke Saturday at the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) annual National Dinner, billed as "a national gathering for champions of LGBTQ equality." Like a well-planned multi-course meal, Jill prepared the favorable audience for her husband's truth-lite entree - which will be analyzed elsewhere - with a complementary appetizer so fanciful it deserves scrutiny all on its own.
As officers stood outside the Texas Capitol Thursday evening, waves of people flooded the area for rallies. One group was clad in black, white, green, and red - the colors of Palestine - and the other with white and blue, standing for Israel. While no violence broke out between the two groups, it was a clear demonstration of the increasing division around the world caused by the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
A growing number of conservatives are warning against accepting Palestinian refugees amid rising terrorism threats and an ongoing illegal immigration crisis. On Saturday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) told supporters at a rally in Iowa, "I don't know what Biden's gonna do, but we cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees. ... You don't fly people and import them into the United States of America. ... If you hate America, you should not come to this country."
While states have successfully expanded their school choice programs, left-wing critics argue that the programs are an "existential threat" to public education. But experts are pointing out that not only do school choice programs relieve pressure off of the public education sector and provide parents with more schooling options, they are also proving to help students thrive academically and are fueling academic competition and innovation.
"I can't describe such a moment in words where you watch your whole family get taken away from you," Yoni Asher tried to explain. Summoning the courage to keep talking, he looked around the room of diplomats, U.N. officials, and other suffering families, and put himself back in the moment where his world changed forever.
In Poland, leftist politicians are preparing to oust the ruling conservative party from power in the wake of a contentious national election. According to exit polls conducted by IPSOS and updated Monday morning, the ruling Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc or PiS) party won more votes on Sunday than other parliamentary parties, but not enough to earn a majority.
A pro-life Republican who has defended pro-life laws and scored a key victory over President Joe Biden's efforts to censor social media has won election as governor of Louisiana, replacing a Democrat who had opposed legislation protecting children from the transgender industry.
It was considered one of the most beautiful stretches of beaches along the Mediterranean, but it's all but unrecognizable now. "For those who don't know," former U.S. Ambassador David Friedman explained, the Gaza Strip has "exactly the same beach as you'll see in Tel Aviv," a stunning ocean-scape that's been reduced to hellish chaos, the setting of a bloody war that was inconceivable even a month ago. But this is what comes of appeasement, the Trump diplomat said - a brutal, indescribable mess.
On Friday, the Speaker of the House chair remained vacant while Israel continued its war with the terrorist group Hamas, a battle that is steadily escalating by the day. Over 1,200 Israeli civilians have been murdered, with dozens held hostage. Security has been heightened around the world, including in the U.S., as Islam called for a "Day of Jihad." Family Research Council hosted a call with its network of pastors across America to discuss this ongoing crisis in Israel and the leadership vacuum in the House.
Only slightly less well known than the maxim, "never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line," is this one: every group project has at least one slacker. Those slackers are paralyzing Congress at a time when congressional action is urgent. Despite technically holding a majority in the U.S. House, Republicans are unable to get anything done, and the country is taking notice.
Retired NFL player Rob Gronkowski, otherwise known as a New England Patriot legend after 11 seasons and four Super Bowl wins, was recognized this week in the U.S. Capitol by a Daily Caller reporter. Meeting the stride of the tight end, the reporter asked, "Mr. Gronkowski ... should men be allowed to play in women's sports?" Gronkowski remained silent, but with eyebrows raised, he emphatically shook his head no.
The Biden administration announced Thursday that it would block Iran from accessing any of the $6 billion in Iranian assets it transferred to Qatar for humanitarian use, in light of the horrific terror strikes against Israel by Iranian proxy Hamas. "We don't know a lot," U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) said Thursday on "Washington Watch." "It's just a string of failures the Biden administration has had on a number of different fronts ... In my opinion, they really don't have any credibility."
Following Hamas's surprise attack on Israel last weekend, pro-Palestine rallies have erupted across the globe, heightening security and safety concerns in the wake of a former Hamas chief's call for a worldwide "Day of Jihad" to take place Friday.
Reports surfaced Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had implemented a policy mandating that employees of the agency must use opposite sex pronouns when referring to individuals who identify as transgender. Experts are warning that the directive could be used to target Christian and other religious employees who affirm that there are only two created biological sexes.
House Republicans acknowledge "a lot of conflict" between its factions has driven the party into "disarray," as the leading candidate for Speaker of the House withdrew his candidacy on Thursday.
The sound of footsteps echoed down the halls of the U.S. Capitol as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) tried to flee from a reporter confronting her about the acts committed by Hamas. "Congresswoman, Hamas terrorists have cut off babies heads and burned children alive," the journalist said. "Do you support Israel's right to defend themselves against this brutality?" With a heavy exhale, Tlaib gave no comment.
South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace has recently appeared on several television shows, portraying herself as a lone, sensible voice in the Republican Party when it comes to the issue of abortion. Meg Kilgannon, Family Research Council's senior fellow for Education Studies, discussed Mace's positions on a recent episode of "Washington Watch" with guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice. She addressed Mace's disingenuous comments one-by-one.
A day after murderous terrorists invaded Israel, critical infrastructure connecting frontline NATO allies was shut down as a "result of external activity" - possibly foreign sabotage - according to Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. "Russia sympathizes with us," senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in a Sunday interview on the government-controlled Russia Today TV. "One war eases the pressure in another war."
LGBT organizations are coalescing to endorse President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. Major LGBT groups the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), and the Equality PAC announced their joint endorsement of Biden for president in 2024 on Tuesday, marking the first time the groups agreed on a presidential candidate.
According to ABC News, "nobody knows" how a 6-year-old from Newport News, Virginia, obtained possession of his mom's gun and shot his first-grade teacher. This occurred in January, but court documents released in August brought this case back to the surface. Reportedly, the child "had extreme emotional issues for some time" that were passed over by the school leading up to the shooting. Incidents such as this have been on the rise since 2020. Recently released federal data revealed "the rate of murder committed by teenagers, ages 14-17, jumped a tragic 22 percent."
The Hamas invasion of Israel reminds us that while good fences may indeed make for good neighbors, but good fences don't always keep out bad ones.
Critics of Israel have been accusing the country of an "apartheid" system for years. They use this and related terms not to bring moral clarity to the confused but to confuse the clear morality of the State of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. So, Israel's Jews are an "occupying" people who "oppress" the Arabs in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank region. They are ethnic "bigots" who denigrate the Arabs' humanity and deny them liberty, hope, and opportunity. Now, some American politicians are getting into the act.
The puck dropped on the NHL season Tuesday, but the greatest win for fans came off the ice. Ten months after defenseman Ivan Provorov upended the sports world by refusing to wear a Pride jersey, the ripple effect has exploded across other players, teams, and even leagues. Major League Baseball was the next shoe to drop, quietly killing their rainbow gear after watching hockey officials painfully navigate player boycotts all spring. Now, to the surprise of a lot of people, Commissioner Gary Bettman has announced the league wasn't done. Before there could be any confusion, the front office banned something else: Pride tape.
Enough time has elapsed since Hamas's coordinated strike against Israeli civilians to uncover some of the horrific deeds they perpetrated. As of Wednesday morning, Israeli casualties exceeded 1,200 killed and 3,000 injured, most of which were civilians, according to Israel's U.S. embassy. While tragic, this gruesome carnage is not entirely unprecedented; parallels are recorded even in Israel's own history.
As Israel's government formed a unified war-time cabinet Wednesday to respond to the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists against hundreds of Israeli civilians over the weekend, questions continued to swirl about how the terrorists were able to launch a surprise attack that evaded detection from Israel's elite security services. But as an increasing chorus of Israeli officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are making clear, one key component of the attack is beyond question: the integral involvement of Iran.
"We're trying to pull ourselves together," a survivor said, looking around at the rubble, the charred and bullet-sprayed houses. What was once a buzzing kibbutz is now makeshift military base, where Israeli soldiers struggle to wade through the horrors left behind by Saturday's attack. The echoes of the massacre are all around them, in black body bags of all sizes, bloodstained walls, and the stunned look of the left behind. "We're all like zombies here," one young woman said.
As violence continues to surge amongst America's youth and both politicians and civilians hotly debate gun control, an Ohio school superintendent has decided to start arming his teachers. In a recent interview, he explained why he decided to arm teachers, even though he says he's "not a gun person."
Recently, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis wrote about the rising phenomenon of young men eschewing relationships with real women in favor of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated girlfriends. That's right, a "girlfriend" that only exists on a screen and is not a real person. It would be comical if it weren't so tragic.
Gun violence, kids in cages, sexual assault, religious extremism - Hamas's historic terror strike on innocent Israeli civilians hits all the left-wing triggers. But where is the left-wing outrage? Anti-Israel protestors even displayed the Nazi swastika in New York City's Times Square, demonstrating the historical amnesia and philosophical inconsistency of anti-Israel hatred.
Last month, Neeli Bendapudi, president of Pennsylvania State University, addressed the student body in a public video on free speech. "Without the First Amendment," she said, "your access to information would be threatened." She detailed how the university is "bound by the First Amendment," which allows "bigots" to occasionally speak on campus. Nonetheless, she made it very clear: "[R]estricting the speech of one group or individual jeopardizes everyone's rights." Four weeks later, she canceled an on-campus event featuring Riley Gaines. So much for free speech.
There's plenty of criticism being lobbed at Republicans this week by Democrats and the media (excuse the redundancy) that should stick. Overthrowing the House speaker at a time of global unrest seems like a particularly bad idea now that the Middle East is imploding. And while that decision by eight people to exact revenge on Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) does leave the world vulnerable, not everything conservatives have done is making the situation in Israel worse - including Senator Tommy Tuberville's (R-Ala.) hold on military promotions.
"This is Israel's 9/11." That simple declaration has become a repeated theme since October 7, 2023. And yes, 9/11 is a fair comparison, as news from the Middle East continues to provide details of the massive early-morning attack Hamas terrorists launched that Sabbath morning. Their targets included numerous towns, villages, and kibbutzim in the south of Israel. The vicious invaders murdered, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and tortured innumerable Israelis.
As violent conflict continues between Israel and Palestine-based Hamas, conservatives in the U.S. are warning that open-borders policies and the leftist weaponization of defense and law enforcement institutions are leaving America vulnerable to similar attacks. In an interview on Monday, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) cautioned, "We should wake up ourselves. We could have the same thing happen next week to us."
The ongoing, deadly attack on Israel by Hamas could never have taken place without the active support of the last two Democratic administrations, which have supported radical Islam in order to correct the legacy of Western "colonialism," experts say.
One side is fighting for trans-identifying men to stay out of women's sports entirely. They cite the unfair disadvantage, as these are not women but biological men who are supremely stronger and faster than their female competitors. Yet, there is also the group of individuals who claim that keeping men out of women's sports is discrimination. "You are denying that trans people exist," you may hear them say. Who's right?
It's surreal to think that while eight congressmen were congratulating themselves for upending the House speakership, terrorists a half a world away were putting the finishing touches on a plot that would rock the whole world. As the rest of the globe watched America, weapons were being loaded onto trucks that would ultimately carry out the execution of hundreds of innocent Israelis and plunge the Middle East into a war that no one saw coming. Now, with half of Congress frozen in a crisis of the Republicans' own making, there's a new urgency: fill the leadership vacuum or watch helplessly as more innocents - including Americans - die.
As Israel continues to reel from the devastating attacks perpetrated by Hamas terrorists over the weekend, the latest casualty numbers from Israeli media report that at least 57 soldiers and 34 police have been killed, with more than 900 Israeli civilians killed and 2,600 wounded and dozens of hostages still unaccounted for. Meanwhile, experts remain concerned that additional attacks could come from Hezbollah terrorists along the country's northern border.
In a novel experiment, institutional pillars of American culture chose to gamble their credibility on reinterpreting American history through the lens of neo-Marxist ideology. Now we learn that the shelf-life of the scam is about three to four years. On Thursday, New York Times columnist Pamela Paul published a piece titled, "'Antiracism' Was Never the Right Answer."
For over 500 years, Christopher Columbus was recognized and hailed as an American hero. The Italian-born navigator and explorer was revered not just for discovering the New World, but for his courage, his perseverance, his innovation, and his devout Christian faith. Never content to adhere to (and certainly not admire) age-old traditions, men of virtue, or the furthering of Christian morality, leftists now revile and demonize Columbus and his achievements.
With a looming election that could overturn months of pro-life progress and legalize abortion until birth, thousands gathered at the Ohio state capitol in Columbus on Friday to hold the state's second annual March for Life. Although polls show most Ohioans - and most Americans - support limiting abortion well before the third trimester, Issue 1 currently appears poised to legally forbid the will of the people.
Eventbrite is a widely used event management and ticketing platform. Through it, the Palmetto Family Council (PFC), a South Carolina nonprofit Christian policy organization, was set to host a discussion featuring Chloe Cole, a teenage detransitioner, to warn about the dangers of transgender surgeries. However, Eventbrite canceled the event on the grounds of a corporate policy violation, claiming the event was "hateful, violent, and dangerous."
This season, the women's swim team at Roanoke College has shifted its energy from defending titles and winning trophies to defending the integrity of women's sports.
We are naturally wired by God to want men to be strong. From the start, God called Adam to "keep" or protect Eden (Genesis 2:15). Many modern movies reflect this truth. There is almost no more common trope than that of the heroic, self-sacrificial man. A community or a family or a woman is menaced; in response, a man steps forward and puts his life on the line. Today, however, this desire for masculine strength is powerfully challenged.
By now, most readers of the Stand have heard the news of the radical Palestinian group Hamas's attack on Israel. As of Saturday, about 450 people, both Israelis and Palestinians, have been killed and an estimated 1,700 injured. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has "ordered a call-up of reservists after Palestinian militants fired thousands of rockets, invaded several Israeli towns and took hostages."
The Founders of our country believed the national legislature should be composed of the highest order of citizens, people whose maturity, character, good judgment, and life experience would enable them to make decisions beneficial to the whole country. This kind of thoughtful, nation-over-party attitude was missing from the vote against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Headlines right now are rife with variations of "Pope Francis opens door for blessing same-sex unions," leading many - even devout Catholics - to wonder what's going in Rome. The Catholic Church is beginning the final phase of its years-long project, the global Synod on Synodality. Delegates convened in Rome earlier this week to discuss, debate, and discern how the Church should respond to the ever-more-modern world and the exponential rise of liberal secularism in the West. Ahead of the meeting, a handful of Catholic cardinals submitted a series of questions to the Pope, asking for clarity on questions the Synod will be addressing.
As the deadline for the deportation of a Christian family from Germany draws near, dozens of state and federal lawmakers and tens of thousands of citizens are urging the Biden administration to reverse course and allow the family, who has sought asylum in the U.S. in order to homeschool their children according to their religious beliefs, to stay in America.
During the Trump administration, President Joe Biden made it clear he saw the border wall as a "waste of money" and "not a serious policy solution." Despite the ongoing crisis at the southern border, it was a prominent part of Biden's 2020 presidential campaign that "not ... another foot of wall" would be built. Almost immediately after Biden was sworn in, he signed an executive order to stop construction of the wall. But on Thursday, the Biden administration suddenly changed its tune, announcing the "immediate need" to add 20 or more miles to the border wall.
"Even on a good day," Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) said, "most Americans look at Washington, D.C., and they ask themselves, 'How did these people make it through the birth canal?' That's on a good day." But good days have been hard to come by lately, as the House devolves into chaos and the vacant speakership into an Emmy Award-winning soap. And while there's not much Senate Republicans can do to rescue their House counterparts, that doesn't mean they won't try.
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives took the historic step of removing the Speaker of the House in 216-210 vote on a Motion to Vacate. Eight members of the Speaker's own party sided with the minority to vacate the chair. The move was historic, because it had never been done before, but how that move will go down in history remains an open question.
This week, the American Library Association (ALA), a taxpayer funded organization, is hosting "Banned Books Week" for children, which involves reading books like "Gender Queer," a title infamously known for its pornographic content and is banned in multiple school districts. Rather than reading sexual content to kids (which ALA is and will be doing this week), Moms for Liberty seeks to take the attention away from gender ideology to highlight the many children who do not know how to read.
For the second straight year, the Army announced that it has fallen well short of its recruiting goals. The shortfall this year reached 10,000 troops, which follows a 2022 shortfall of 15,000. Experts say that the lack of interest in the armed forces among otherwise military-minded young people stems largely from the Pentagon's recent shift toward embracing controversial ideologies and practices rooted in critical race theory (CRT) and gender identity confusion.
The U.S. House reauthorized the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for one year and placed strong pro-life protections on the funding. It was included as part of the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill, which passed 216-212. "This critical legislation continues and strengthens PEPFAR for another year," said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), "ensuring that critically needed medicines - including anti-retroviral (ARVs) and other life-saving interventions - are available to those who need them in Africa and elsewhere."
So we all know Disney has gone woke, and some may even be aware of the subtle nods Disney has been giving to anti-Christianity of late. As an insular example, the adult-geared FXX subsidiary of Disney-owned FX aired a show called "Little Demon" last year, an animated comedy series following Satan's daughter, Chrissy, who also happens to be the Antichrist. The show was released on Disney+, the company's streaming platform, early this year.
Yet another Democratic official has called on President Joe Biden to divert the nation's surging illegal immigrant population to Republican states - something a Republican senator says Biden would be all-too happy to do, because the president sees an uncontrolled border as a means to "change the demographic constitution of the nation to elect more Democrats."
Family Research Council initiated Community Impact to build teams of SAGE Cons throughout the U.S. in order to incorporate a biblical worldview in the political and social landscape. But what are SAGE Cons? And how can Community Impact teams make a difference?
A Pennsylvania school board is reversing a prior decision and choosing now to ban boys from girls' bathrooms and locker rooms, following pressure from parents and students.
China's Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy, is receiving renewed scrutiny as it enters its 10th year, with observers noting that the initiative appears to be faltering amid reports of incomplete bridges, roads to nowhere, and increasing debt. Despite the setbacks, experts remain concerned that China is nonetheless forging ahead with achieving "malicious" military and financial goals through the initiative.
A school district's policy "to enable and affirm a minor student's transition to a different gender identity at school without parental consent violates parents' constitutional right to determine the appropriate medical and healthcare for their children," a Wisconsin court ruled Tuesday. "This victory represents a major win for parental rights," said Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) Deputy Counsel Luke Berg. "The decision should be a warning to the many districts across the country with similar policies to exclude parents from gender transitions at school."
In President Joe Biden's America, if you disagree with transgender orthodoxy, you might not be able to run a business. Federal law prohibits harassment on the basis of sex in the workplace, and under Biden, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission aims to weaponize that law against employers who believe that biological sex can't be altered by mere identification.
There are currently 23 states with laws in effect that protect children from gender transition procedures (GTP) and protect parental rights. To support these 23 states, Dr. Quentin Van Meter, former president of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), commented on the organization's new initiative, Biological Integrity.
Golden State Republicans are rejecting calls from moderates to drop pro-life and pro-family platform positions. On Saturday, members of California's GOP convention voted against a proposal from self-described "moderate" Republicans to drop opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage from the party's platform, additionally reducing the platform from 14 pages to roughly four.
An expert observer of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that despite the organization's own internal failure to meet its deadlines on making controversial and disputed amendments to its International Health Regulations in light of the COVID pandemic, the WHO is forging ahead with an agenda that includes plans for a global vaccine passport.
It took a record two million illegals stampeding over the border this fiscal year, but Democrats seem to finally understand there's a crisis. While New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) literally flies to Mexico to plead with migrants to stay put, his governor, radical Kathy Hochul (D) finally complained about the mess on national television. And party powerbroker Bill Clinton says she's not wrong.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) filed a Motion to Vacate the chair on Monday, which would remove Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House Speaker if successful. U.S. Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) on "Washington Watch" called it "a fool's errand" that "is only going to delay us from doing ... what the taxpayers and our constituents sent us here to do. And that's to get these ... appropriations bills passed, to pay our bills, to fund our military, to make sure that we are solvent as a nation."
Although its abortion industry has killed dozens of women and permanently injured untold numbers more, a Democratic state has taken the first step to censuring pro-life pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) for refusing to carry out abortions, a pro-life leader tells The Washington Stand.
Heather Rooks, an Arizona school board member, was elected to the Peoria School Board in January. Since the beginning of her term, Rooks has been opening her comments by quoting Scripture. "[I understand] the weight and significance of all of our decisions," she said, "and simply find quoting Scripture out loud to be encouraging to myself and to many in attendance." In August, however, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that advocates for the separation of church and state, sent letters to the school board demanding Rooks put an end to her practice.
Amid the flurry of other political news, you might have missed President Joe Biden's visit to a picket line at a General Motors warehouse in Detroit last Tuesday, where striking United Auto Workers (UAW) members demanded higher pay. There, the president "grabbed a bullhorn" and inspired the union members to "stick with it," agreeing they "should be able to bargain" for a 40% raise.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted emergency regulations Sunday to "govern the use of nonsurgical pharmaceutical gender altering treatments." The Let Them Grow Act, enacted in May, took effect on October 1 and directed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Timothy Tesmer to regulate the prescription of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors.
On September 22, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced that he was switching his political party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, citing concerns over Democratic policies that he argues have "exacerbated crime and homelessness." Johnson is the latest in a surge of public office holders to disavow the Democratic Party over what they say is a continued pattern of extremism on an array of issues that defies common sense.
In the wake of Senator Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) death on Thursday night, the Golden State's Democratic governor has selected a far-left abortion activist to fill her seat in Washington, D.C. News broke Sunday night that Governor Gavin Newsom has picked Laphonza Butler to fill the late senator's place in the U.S. Senate.
There's no doubt we are seeing an increase in progressivism in politics in the U.S. and across the globe. In recent decades, around the 2000s and onward, even casual observers have seen an increased divide in the political landscape. Those disagreements don't suggest that one party is evil and the other is not. For years, both sides shared common values on things like women's rights, a strong military, and growing economy. The term "progressivism" was a term largely absent in dialogue - but lately, something's different. The priorities between the two sides have noticeably changed.
A conservative-led stop-gap spending measure, which would have reduced discretionary government spending by 8% and partially addressed the crisis on our southern border, failed by a vote of 198-232 on Friday, with 21 Republicans voting against it. Faced with an unpopular government shutdown, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) fell back to a longer, 45-day status quo funding measure.
I can't say I've always known what it truly means to be a Christian. I can't say I have understood the gospel or salvation my whole life - its gravity or application. I certainly did not come out of the womb acknowledging sin, being a sinner, or my need of repentance and a savior. These truths were gradually revealed to me by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
South Carolina has canceled its membership in two library associations that accuse parents who believe young children should not see pornography of launching "book bans." The South Carolina State Library pulled out of the American Library Association (ALA) over its "tone-deaf ... activism," while the state's public schools exited the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) for creating a "hostile environment" against parents.
As President Joe Biden skipped an event with families still grieving the loss of 9/11, the entire nation ignored, and is in danger of forgetting, the anniversary of another terrorist attack commemorated earlier this month. Labor Day weekend marked the 40th anniversary of an airline assault that exclusively killed innocent Americans, including a sitting U.S. congressman. That congressman's life, legacy, and endless exhortations call for Americans to continue standing against the anti-American, anti-family movements that still threaten us today, at home and abroad.
As House Republicans held the first hearing of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Thursday, mainstream media outlets are insisting that there is "no evidence" that Biden abused his office or accepted bribes in relation to his son Hunter's business dealings. But observers and lawmakers are pointing out that even though the evidence-building process is only just beginning, the media already appears to be covering for the president.
Heading into Wednesday's second presidential debate, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel had strong words for her party on abortion. They needed more fight, she argued, more backbone. Under the big lights of the Reagan Library, they delivered. From Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's (R) forceful rebuke of the Left's position to Chris Christie's surprise recitation of his New Jersey record, Republicans finally took the hint that ignoring the issue won't make it go away.
Twenty-five years ago, the Louisiana Family Forum was set in motion, founded by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. The Forum is a nonprofit organization based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is dedicated to advancing life, liberty, and limited government within the state. Thursday evening, Perkins was honored at the Forum's Silver Anniversary Gala to reflect on what has been accomplished over the years.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Thursday confirmed its earlier rulings and reversed preliminary injunctions against laws in Tennessee and Kentucky that protect minors from gender reassignment procedures. While neither injunction was still in effect, Thursday's ruling establishes the laws in both states on a surer legal footing.
Democratic senator and career bureaucrat Dianne Feinstein of California has passed away, leaving behind a legacy of leftism, abortion advocacy, and destruction of American ideals.
It's official: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has launched the transgender inquisition against non-"affirming" parents that I warned about earlier this month. Yet the Democrat found a cunning way to hide it: He made news by vetoing a horrible bill he was expected to sign.
He may have a degree in Biology from Harvard, but that doesn't mean the Left trusts Vivek Ramaswamy's opinion on the scientific realities of men and women. The young entrepreneur lit up social media Wednesday night for affirming the basic facts of the sexes and declaring transgenderism, "especially in kids" as "a mental health disorder." "We have to acknowledge the truth of that for what it is," Ramaswamy insisted in the second presidential debate. But based on the Democrats' reaction, some people simply aren't ready to.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a package of four bills this year establishing 18 as the minimum age of consent for marriage, affixing her signature to the fourth bill on September 19. Yet while the governor has taken action against child marriage, she has done nothing to protect children from the irreversible, lifelong harm of gender transition procedures - if anything, she has promoted these procedures.
Recent reports show how damaging the southern border crisis continues to be, as millions of migrants stream into the U.S. illegally. Even Barack Obama's Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, admitted, "[T]his needs to be, for the Biden administration, for the U.S. government, an all-hands-on-deck, whole-of-government effort to address this crisis." It's turning "cities upside down," he insisted. Ten years ago, Johnson shook his head, "[We] felt like the world was coming to an end" when the numbers were a fraction of what they are now.
Last week, the North Carolina state legislature gave final approval for a "universal" school choice program that allows all students in the state to receive tuition assistance to pay for private school tuition. Education experts are welcoming the news as a way to expand options for parents and force the public school system to enact reforms.
Veteran reporter and cultural-cum-political commentator Tucker Carlson is declaring that the fight against abortion is in fact a matter of spiritual warfare. Speaking at a gala hosted by The Center for Christian Virtue last week in Cleveland, Carlson stated that abortion is not a "political debate" but a "spiritual battle." The ex-Fox News host said that for most of his life and career "the debates that we had in the political sphere were over competing visions for how to improve people's lives." The prevalence of abortion as a political issue is, argued Carlson, a departure from the sort of debate he and much of America has long been accustomed to.
This week, members of Congress are working against the clock to pass appropriations bills to fund the federal government for the coming year. These bills play a central role in determining how Americans' taxpayer dollars are spent - both for good and for bad. While averting a government shutdown by Saturday has been the media's focus, conservatives in the House have been fighting hard to defend life, natural marriage, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion these past few months. They have recognized that appropriations legislation that would merely maintain the status quo simply isn't sufficient under the Biden administration and have taken bold steps to push back against the administration's radical agenda.
Republican presidential hopefuls upheld parental rights, dismissed gender ideology, and challenged Donald Trump to defend comments that pro-life laws were "terrible" during an often chaotic, two-hour long debate on Wednesday night.
When Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stood in the White House briefing room and called the issue of transgender sports "complicated," she wasn't kidding. For this administration, it's never been more so. With their candidate under water, and every decimal point of polling precious, Biden's team seems to have no choice but to backtrack on some of the president's most radioactive agendas. And as most Americans will tell you, nothing says "political loser" like setting fire to Title IX.
House conservatives aim to pass all 12 appropriations bills through the House and become "the first Congress to do that in some 20 years," said Good. According to Pew Research, Congress has not passed all of the appropriations bills since fiscal year 1997. Since then, Congress has never passed more than five, and in 11 of the past 13 fiscal years, it failed to pass a single one. The U.S. House adopted a rule to advance four appropriations bills this week, setting up votes to fund Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and State-Foreign Operations before new fiscal year begins on Saturday. "This is progress," U.S. Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) argued.
As the 2024 presidential election season swings into full gear, the battle over election integrity measures also appears to be in full swing. In August, two state provisions (in Texas and in Georgia) designed to strengthen the verification process for mail-in ballots were both struck down by district courts. The rulings illustrate the latest skirmish in an ongoing partisan battle over state efforts to strengthen election integrity, which the Left characterizes as "voter suppression" and conservatives say is just common sense.
On September 26, the streets of Philadelphia became a stomping ground for rampant crime. Stores such as Apple, Lulu Lemon, and Foot Locker were ransacked. Akin to a passing tornado, there were shards of broken glass, dismembered mannequins, and whatever material goods were left lay scattered in the mess. Police were outnumbered, resulting in only a dozen arrests among the 100 looters.
Since the Supreme Court unilaterally legalized same-sex marriage in its 2015 Obergefell decision, transgender ideology has swept through America's institutions with bewildering rapidity, toppling nearly all opposition through sheer brazenness. But the pseudo-religion's weakness has always been biological reality - basic facts of human sexuality which have been understood for all of human history. Is reality finally catching up with the confidence game?
Americans removed from the U.S. military because they identified as lesbian or nonbinary have sued the U.S. military for "reparations now," saying it is wrong to deny less-than-honorably-discharged veterans the same benefits earned by those who served honorably - including college tuition, health care, restaurant discounts, and "society's admiration."
