Two California boys were in critical condition after they were shot by a maniac at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo, California, on Friday.

The maniac, Glenn Litton, took a tour of the school with school administrators pretending to be a grandparent for a child who was interested in attending the school.

After the tour, the shooter headed to the parking lot but then turned around and started firing on the playground, hitting the two little boys.

One of the little boys was shot three times, and the other was hit one time. They are in critical condition.

The shooter turned the gun on himself and died on the school grounds.

The boys are in critical but stable condition.

12/5/24 UPDATE- The five and six-year-old victims from yesterday’s shooting are in critical but stable condition as they continue to receive treatment at an area hospital.

We have positively identified the suspect and are diligently working to establish the motive. pic.twitter.com/43hT12EgwP

— Butte County Sheriff (@ButteSheriff) December 5, 2024

This article originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit.com.

A journalist in the nation of Georgia has shared details about the journey to find her birth parents, including the surprise that she had already been Facebook friends with her birth father for three years.

Tamuna Museridze first realized she was adopted in 2016 when she found a birth certificate with her name, but a different date of birth. The woman who had been raising her had recently died, and Museridze began the search for her biological family. She set up a Facebook page dedicated to the search, and that was where she received a message from a woman who ended up being her first cousin.

The woman shared that her aunt had given birth in 1984 but had concealed the pregnancy and the birth. A DNA test confirmed that this woman was indeed Museridze’s first cousin, and therefore, the aunt was Museridze’s birth mother. However, the birth mother wasn’t interested in a mother/daughter reunion, as Museridze learned when she called her.

 

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“She was screaming, shouting – she said she hadn’t given birth to a child. She didn’t want anything to do with me. I was ready for anything, but her reaction was beyond anything I could imagine,” Museridze told the BBC.

About a week later, her birth mother gave her the name of her birth father: Gurgen Khorava.

“I couldn’t believe these things were happening to me. I couldn’t believe I had found them,” Museridze said.

She turned to Facebook to begin her search for her father, and quickly realized he had been following her story via the Facebook page she had set up to find her biological parents.

“[He had] been in my friend list for three years,” she explained. “He didn’t even know my birth mother had been pregnant. It was a huge surprise for him.”

Father and daughter arranged a meeting, and soon Museridze was meeting her half-siblings and cousins. “Out of all his children, I look the most like my father,” she said.

In addition to finding her birth family, Museridze also exposed a widespread baby trafficking scandal in Georgia. Over decades, parents were told their newborns had died, but they had actually been sold. It made Museridze wonder if she had been stolen as well. Eventually, her birth mother told her that she had been ashamed to be pregnant and unmarried, so she had traveled to give birth, and hid her daughter’s existence from everyone.

Incredibly, through her Facebook group, Muzeridze helped other children find their families, reuniting them with the parents from whom they had been stolen at birth.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by Live Action News.]

There’s no question that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, with their extremist ideology on the issue of abortion, the wanton destruction of unborn children, ran an administration that actually put a bull’s-eye on the backs of those who pursue pro-life goals.

They used the FBI and the Department of Justice to do that work, with charges against and prosecutions of groups and individuals who opposed the abortion industry mandates that they wanted to impose.

Now those bureaucracies have been warned by a member of Congress to keep all their records of those legal campaigns against pro-lifers.

The Daily Wire reports it is Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who has dispatched a letter to the FBI and DOJ instructing officials to preserve all records of their prosecutions of peaceful pro-lifers.

He told the FBI’s Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland there are “serious questions” lawmakers must evaluate regarding how the Biden-Harris administration turned to the “weaponization” of the FACE Act.

That law makes it a crime to block the entrance to a health business, including abortion operations.

Roy heads the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government and said, “Congress has a sacred duty to preserve the rights of the American people, including the First Amendment, against any overreach by the Executive Branch. As we examine how to best protect Americans’ fundamental freedoms, the Subcommittees must first understand how the DOJ and FBI enforce the FACE Act.”

That law is supposed to also be used to protect both churches and crisis pregnancy centers, but the Biden-Harris team used it almost exclusively to jail grandmothers and others who were defending the unborn.

Roy wrote, “Since January 2021, the Civil Rights Division has brought a total of 24 FACE Act cases against 55 defendants, with only two of these cases – consisting of five defendants – concerning attacks on pregnancy resource centers.

“You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry.”

The story of the miraculous birth of Jesus, the Spirit God who became human flesh, echoes across the entire planet this week as countless Christians crack open their Bibles to the Gospels of Luke and Matthew.

But there’s one part of the story that millions may glance over without much thought, even though it’s voicing an impressive, inspiring message.

It’s the point that the Son of God was wrapped “in swaddling clothes,” strips of cloth often used to give newborn children a sense of comfort.

Now, the author of a new book decoding the hidden, additional meaning of the actual historical events of Scripture is taking a fresh look at the magnificent passages to unlock what’s being said on the Spirit level of parables, the level at which Jesus spoke exclusively.

“There might be some surprising and breathtaking truths that can be gleaned from the accounts of the physical birth of God into man,” says Joe Kovacs, author of “Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything.”

“Because the entire Bible is more than just an accurate historical record. It’s broadcasting additional, Spirit-filled messages for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see those messages.”

Noting that Jesus “did not tell them anything without a parable” (Matthew 13:34 CSB) and that He is constantly “declaring the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10 KJV), telegraphing the conclusion of the story right from the start, Kovacs began his analysis on the two verses in Luke which mention how Jesus – or Yeshua, meaning “Salvation” in Hebrew – was wrapped.

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger” (Luke 2:7 KJV)

“And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12 NKJV)

Kovacs explains, “The shepherds who were instructed to go to Bethlehem were told that the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger was a sign. It’s not only the sign that they found the right child, but it’s also a prophetic sign, when we connect the rest of the dots in Scripture.”

“We have to remember that Jesus did not exist for the first time as a human baby. He is the everlasting Spirit Being who has always existed and that ‘all things were made through Him’ (John 1:3 NKJV).

“So is it possible that ‘swaddling clothes’ wrapping up this divine child are mentioned because the cloths are a metaphor for His new condition in the fabric of the flesh, just as all human beings are wrapped in the sackcloth of our flesh? He left His Spirit existence to become something that physically can be touched and felt, like we feel the fabric of cloth. In other words, God who was previously Spirit became someone wrapped in physical matter, a ‘material,’ like cloth.

“I’m just proffering this possibility because other Scriptures in the Bible talk about being wrapped in swaddling bands and our bodies being covered. For instance, Job mentions ‘thick darkness its swaddling band,’ (Job 38:9 NKJV)  and Isaiah tells us “darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples‘ (Isaiah 60:2 NIV). The Bible outright tells us that the peoples who are literally made up of the ‘earth‘ (1 Corinthians 15:47) are covered, as in clothed, with the darkness of the flesh while God, in His divine Spirit state ‘is light, and in him is no darkness at all'” (1 John 1:5 KJV).

The Old Testament also indicates: “The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment (Psalm 104:2 NIV).

But regarding the “clothing” for the first human beings created by God in the garden of Eden, Genesis says, ‘The LORD God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.’ (Genesis 3:21 CSB).

“In other words,” Kovacs explains, “our physical skin could represent a form of clothing on the parable level. We all have a spirit within us giving us our individual personality, but we’re all wrapped, covered and clothed with our outer darkness, known as the flesh.”

The author of “Reaching God Speed” says, “If this indeed is the case, it makes perfect sense why, years later, the physical body of Jesus is again wrapped in cloths once He was put to death at the end of His earthly ministry.

“It’s setting the stage and painting the picture for a phenomenal event, not only for Jesus, but for every believer in Him. It’s called resurrection. Complete victory over death.”

The New Testament notes: “When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb” (Matthew 27:59-60 NKJV).

But after three days, Peter and another disciple famously discovered the empty tomb of Jesus after His resurrection from the dead, with only His cloth wrappers remaining.

“He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself” (John 20:6-7 CSB).

“Not only are the gospels recording the historical event of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead,” says Kovacs, “the details of escaping the cloth wrappings are painting a fantastic spiritual picture. Because the escape from the cloth wrapper is broadcasting our own escape from our own wrappers, our dead bodies of flesh. Jesus is showing how we all can get out of our personal wrapper of the cloth of our body and become an immortal child of God, completely freed from the shackles of our physical flesh!”

“Even when Jesus raised Lazarus – whose name means ‘God has helped’ – from the dead, the same imagery is present with the man who was previously dead needing to be unwrapped from the strips of cloth covering him.”

• The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go” (John 11:44 CSB).

“The Word of God is voicing the same message over and over,” says Kovacs.

“From the beginning of the human birth of the Spirit God in Bethlehem, the child being wrapped in the metaphoric swaddling clothes of human flesh, the ultimate end is being declared. That both Jesus and we ourselves are meant to eventually escape our personal wrapping, our temporary covering of darkness, our swaddling clothes that keep us comforted for now. We’re literally going to change our clothes. We’re going to get rid of the personal sackcloth of our mortal bodies and be transformed into immortal, incorruptible children of God, becoming the ‘children of light‘ (1 Thessalonians 5:5)  as God Himself is light and wraps Himself in light.”

“Here are just a few more verses proclaiming this brilliant truth:”

“You turned my lament into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness” (Psalm 30:11 CSB)

“I rejoice greatly in the LORD, I exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation” (Isaiah 61:10 CSB)

“When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54 CSB).

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD shines over you” (Isaiah 60:1 CSB).

(Those wishing to contact or interview Joe Kovacs can email him here).

Endorsed by Chuck Norris and other Christian champions, “Reaching God Speed” is nothing short of a breakthrough work, as it probes God’s hidden messages embedded in popular movies, hit songs from (Adele and the Beatles to Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin), the stories we tell our children, everyday phrases we all say, historic news events, famous commercial campaigns, nature itself, and typical life activities such as such as inhaling every breath you take, sleeping, waking up and many more.

It features a myriad of stunning biblical revelations, as the book:

• Solves with clarity three of the greatest mysteries in Scripture, unveiling the surprisingly simple meaning of “the beast,” “the number of the beast” and “the mark of the beast”

• Easily explains how God embeds hidden messages forecasting the future in the physical, historical events recorded in Scripture

• Examines the miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding, revealing why this famous event took place “on the third day,” why water was poured into six large containers, and why its instant transformation into the most perfect wine has a sublime meaning that goes far beyond what anyone has ever discussed

• Unwraps the secret messages concerning the human birth of God, including the spirit significance of Jesus in a manger, the real reason the shepherds “returned,” and the never-trumpeted, majestic picture the entire story depicts for your own glorious future

• Unmasks the miracle of the blind man healed by washing mud off his eyes. Clue: There’s something intriguing about the mud that becomes obvious when we connect the dots in Scripture

• Reveals the incredible reason the Bible constantly mentions “three days” in both the Old and New Testaments. It goes far beyond the time Jesus spent in the heart of the earth.

• Unveils the sublime, additional meanings emanating from “Let there be light” and “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” There’s much more to the beginning than you’ve ever imagined.

• Illuminates the reason the darkness of night will ultimately be eliminated, and only never-ending light will exist

• Broadcasts the never-before-trumpeted meaning of the Exodus out of Egypt. The ancient event in the days of Moses is actually a picture of something tremendous and glorious that’s still to come in your future

• Explains the incredible meaning behind serpents crawling on their bellies

• Dishes the astounding secret behind the Second Passover, and the fantastic future it holds for billions of people

• Investigates the double meaning concerning “Doubting Thomas,” and the stunning good news it contains for everyone who’s ever doubted God or any Bible story

• Announces the unheard, spirit meaning regarding raising children

• Shines the light on why ancient Egyptians were paralyzed with three straight days of darkness, while God’s people in Goshen had light in their dwellings

• Illuminates the surprising and inspiring meaning of a “darkness that can be felt” (Hint: it’s something you can do right this second)

• Explains what Jesus specifically meant by “outer darkness”

• Clearly reveals why the Bible repeatedly mentions pagan peoples such as Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Girgashites, Jebusites and Hivites. It goes far beyond these ancient tribes with tough-to-pronounce names, as it actually refers to certain people alive today with whom you deal every day

• Tells why Scripture so often talks about thorns and thistles. They’re far more than just sharp prickers growing in your garden

• Explores the untold meaning of the conflict between David and Goliath: it has gigantic significance that Sunday-school teachers seem to have missed

• Fishes out astonishing secret messages God has embedded in the famous story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish. The scales will finally fall off your eyes when you finally see what you’ve been missing. Plus hundreds more …

The book rocketed to the #1 position in several Amazon categories both before and since its official release.

(Note: ‘Reaching God Speed’ is now an audiobook)

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Various media outlets have followed the lead of ProPublica in sensationalizing and weaponizing the idea of “preventable” pregnancy-related deaths, focusing on individual cases that have occurred in states with laws protecting preborn children from induced abortion. These outlets, however, have targeted pro-life states and ignored similar maternal deaths occurring in pro-abortion states — deaths which were also labeled “preventable.”

In this way, they have built the false narrative that pro-life laws kill women.

However, we really should be paying attention to the ‘man behind the curtain,’ so to speak. What’s hidden behind that curtain is this fact: Regardless of the state or its abortion laws, most pregnancy-related deaths are classified as “preventable.”

At a Glance:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other sources have long known that most pregnancy-related deaths are classified as “preventable,” yet pro-abortion media is using this term for shock value in its reporting on individual deaths.
• Collectively, 80% (or four in five) of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are determined to be “preventable,” says the CDC.
• Even in pro-abortion states, the vast majority of pregnancy-related deaths have been deemed “preventable.” Pro-abortion media have ignored this.
• The “leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death,” at 23%, is “mental health conditions” (including suicides and overdoses/poisoning related to substance abuse). Pro-abortion media ignored this cause, because its goal was not to prevent more “preventable” deaths. Its goal was to find specific cases they could use in an attempt to end laws that protect the most innocent and defenseless humans in society.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted in 2022 that “four in five pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable” (emphasis added) — which accounts for 80% of these deaths nationwide. And Dr. Catherine Spong at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center told Boise State Public Radio the same in 2023 — that most maternal deaths are deemed preventable by state review committees.

Both the CDC and Spong also noted the varied causes of pregnancy-related deaths. The “leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related death,” according to the CDC, include:

• Mental health conditions (including deaths to suicide and overdose/poisoning related to substance use disorder) (23%)
• Excessive bleeding (hemorrhage) (14%)
• Cardiac and coronary conditions (relating to the heart) (13%)
• Infection (9%)
• Thrombotic embolism (a type of blood clot) (9%)
• Cardiomyopathy (a disease of the heart muscle) (9%)
• Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (relating to high blood pressure) (7%)

Yet these facts are only reported by the pro-abortion media when it suits them; when it doesn’t, the media deliberately sensationalizes preventable pregnancy-related deaths to push the deceptive narrative of the day. Currently, that narrative is that ‘pro-life laws are causing women to die.’

The false rhetoric is intended to cause a collective ‘gasp’ across the U.S. that will, if it works as intended, emotionally affect compassionate Americans so deeply that they will vote to protect the intentional killing of preborn babies, and not the babies themselves.

Preventable maternal deaths in the headlines

Amber Thurman, Candi Miller, Porsha Ngumezi, Josseli Barnica, and Nevaeh Crain all died tragic and preventable deaths in states that had previously or have since enacted pro-life laws.

Though none of their deaths were provably connected to the legality of abortion in their respective home states of Georgia and Texas, ProPublica and other media outlets presented them as such, exploiting the tragic loss of their lives.

Though these deaths in Georgia and Texas were determined (by certain individuals selected by Pro-Publica) to have been “preventable,” the claim that these women died because of pro-life laws is a spurious one based largely on assumptions. None of the doctors or medical staff involved in their care were prevented by law from providing these women with the known standard of care for the medical circumstances they each faced. Nor were they prevented from acting within their reasonable medical judgment in any given situation. And yet, it appears that in most cases, the standard of care was not followed.

Georgia defines “abortion” as follows:

“Abortion” means the act of using, prescribing, or administering any instrument, substance, device, or other means with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy with knowledge that termination will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of an unborn child; provided, however, that any such act shall not be considered an abortion if the act is performed with the purpose of:

• • (A) Removing a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion; or

• • (B) Removing an ectopic pregnancy.

It also states, “In conducting an abortion, if the child is capable of sustained life, medical aid then available shall be rendered,” and adds that an act is not an abortion if it “results in the accidental or unintentional injury to or death of an unborn child…” (emphasis added)

Texas defines “abortion” as (emphasis added):

… the act of using or prescribing an instrument, a drug, a medicine, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant. The term does not include birth control devices or oral contraceptives. An act is not an abortion if the act is done with the intent to:

(A) save the life or preserve the health of an unborn child;

(B) remove a dead, unborn child whose death was caused by spontaneous abortion; or

(C) remove an ectopic pregnancy.

So why would ProPublica deceive the public about these women’s deaths? Why would it insinuate that medical professionals, who follow hospital policies, rules, as well as state and federal laws every day of their careers, are somehow incapable of understanding a state law that dictates that they cannot directly and intentionally kill children in the womb?

Perhaps the goal is to gain the compassion of millions of horrified Americans, who might be convinced that induced abortion is vital to women’s health and must be legal throughout pregnancy in order to save the lives of women facing pregnancy-related health emergencies.

Preventable pregnancy-related deaths happen everywhere… and even happened under Roe

Other than the fact that a pregnancy can end without intentionally killing a baby before delivery, there’s another glaringly obvious problem: these same preventable pregnancy-related deaths occur in every single state, including those that allow virtually unrestricted abortion.

In an example of honest journalism, the Associated Press recently admitted that women tragically die in both pro-life and pro-abortion states from causes deemed “preventable.” Preventable pregnancy deaths occurred under Roe and they are still happening in pro-abortion states today. In fact, the number of women dying in the U.S. from pregnancy-related causes more than doubled in the 20 years between 1999 and 2019 — during the reign of Roe v. Wade — according to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The legal ability to kill preborn children existed, yet pregnancy-related deaths increased. Interestingly, pro-abortion media were not attempting to associate these deaths with the availability of legal abortion, and it is no different today.

The CDC defines a pregnancy-related death as “the death of a woman during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy from a pregnancy complication, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy, or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of pregnancy.” These complications can happen anywhere.

Most states have a Maternal Mortality Review Committee that acts to analyze the deaths of pregnant women (or women recently pregnant) to determine if the deaths were pregnancy-related and preventable. According to Connecticut’s committee, “The purpose of the Committee’s review is to determine the causes of maternal mortality … and identify both medical and non-medical interventions to improve systems of care.” These committees existed under Roe as well, regardless of the state, to analyze all pregnancy-associated deaths, to determine if they were related to the pregnancy specifically, to note the causes of those deaths, and to create recommendations to prevent future deaths.

Ignoring “preventable” deaths in pro-abortion states… and downplaying a serious problem

From 2018 to 2020, two states — pro-life Georgia and pro-abortion Illinois — saw the same number of pregnancy-related deaths: 113.

In Georgia (population 11.1 million), where the law today protects most preborn children from abortion, there were 113 pregnancy-related deaths from 2018 through 2020 — before the state’s LIFE Act was in effect. 101 of those deaths had at least some chance of being prevented. That’s 89% that the committee deemed “preventable” (without the pro-life law in place).

In Illinois (population 12.5 million), where abortion is reportedly restricted at “fetal viability” but also allowed after that point for the broad “life or health” of the mother, 113 women also died from pregnancy-related deaths between 2018 and 2020. The committee found that 91% of those deaths were “potentially preventable due to clinical, system, social, community, or patient factors.” This means about 102 of those 113 maternal deaths in Illinois from 2018 to 2020 were considered preventable.

Here we have two different states with the same number of pregnancy-related deaths — but the pro-abortion state had the higher percentage of deaths determined to be preventable.

In pro-abortion New York (population 19.4 million), there were 121 pregnancy-related deaths between 2018 and 2020, and 73.6% were deemed to be “preventable.”

In abortion-friendly New Jersey (population 9.3 million), it was determined that there were 44 pregnancy-related deaths between 2016 and 2018. Of those, 91% were deemed “preventable.”

In pro-abortion California (population 38.8 million) — a state working overtime to promote itself as an abortion destination, there were 135 pregnancy-related deaths between 2018 and 2020. Eighty percent (80%) were deemed “preventable.” Demi Dominguez was one of them. She and her baby boy died, and her family sued the California hospital, saying that their deaths were preventable. California has seen an increase in maternal deaths in recent years, and the closure of numerous labor and delivery units. But the state’s plan to reverse that increase focuses on spreading awareness about the factors that contribute to pregnancy-related deaths and helping women understand their personal risks, instead of merely promoting more abortion.

Meanwhile, in pro-life Idaho (population 1.9 million), 17 women died while pregnant or within one year of pregnancy in 2021, and 16 of them (94%) were deemed “preventable,” with only nine of them being labeled as pregnancy-related. According to the state’s maternal mortality review (emphasis added):

[The] most common contributing factor in these women’s deaths was lack of knowledge regarding importance of event. The provider or patient did not receive adequate education or lacked knowledge or understanding regarding the significance of a health event or the need for treatment/follow-up after evaluation for a health event. … The most common underlying cause of death was mental health conditions, which includes deaths related to suicide, substance use disorder, overdose/poisoning, and unintentional injuries determined … to be related to a mental health condition. This was followed by infection and amniotic fluid embolism.

The Idaho report goes so far as to say, “It is important to remember that a maternal mortality review is not: A mechanism to assign blame or responsibility for any death.”

Yet ProPublica has been quick to (wrongly) blame pro-life laws. It even obtained information about Josseli Barnica’s 2021 death and had its own selected experts analyze it before Texas’ maternal mortality review committee had even completed its review of 2021 deaths.

“Reporters scoured death data, flagging Barnica’s case for its concerning cause of death: ‘sepsis’ involving ‘products of conception.’ We tracked down her family, obtained autopsy and hospital records and enlisted a range of experts to review a summary of her care that ProPublica created in consultation with two doctors,” the outlet reported.

It is clear that ProPublica is exploiting the deaths of women to provoke shock and horror among readers. After the outlet released its reports on Thurman and Miller, who died in Georgia, Georgia fired its entire maternal mortality review committee for the confidentiality breach, and ProPublica admitted that Thurman and Miller were not the only two women who died from “preventable” pregnancy-related deaths in the state.

Substandard and negligent care unfortunately exists in every state, regardless of laws. ProPublica ignores all of the preventable deaths in pro-abortion states and failed to seek out and expose such deaths prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It is clear that ProPublica’s goal was not to help women, or to prevent maternal deaths; ProPublica did indeed set out to “scour” records looking only for “preventable” deaths that it felt it could blame on pro-life laws to gain voter support for ending laws protecting preborn children.

It did not care about helping women, nor did it care to discuss the tragic deaths of other mothers from suicide or drug addiction. Instead, it has exploited women’s deaths in order to bring about more death.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by Live Action News.]

Last week, more than 110 members of the United States Congress issued a letter calling on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to research and report on all federal funding given over the past three years to specific abortion providers.

According to the letter, the group of U.S. senators and representatives is seeking a report for fiscal years 2022-2024 for “Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Planned Parenthood Federation of America, International Planned Parenthood Federation, [and] MSI Reproductive Choices” and their affiliates, as well as “FPA Women’s Health, American Women’s Services, All Women’s Health Center, [and]and Whole Wom[a]n’s Health” and their affiliates.

A press release from Senator Katie Britt’s (R-Ala.) office notes,”The GAO has prepared several congressionally requested reports on federal funding for these organizations over the years. According to its most recent report, the abortion industry siphoned off nearly $2 billion in federal taxpayer dollars between fiscal years 2019-2021.”

The letter’s signers include Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Thune (R-S.D.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), as well as Representatives Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Robert Aderhold (R-Ala.), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Steve Scalise (R-La.), Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.), and approximately 100 other Members of Congress.

They are requesting that the GAO report include information from FQHCs including “Federal obligations, disbursements, and expenditures of federal funds by or to” FQHCs for each of the three years, including “anomalies such as Paycheck Protection Program loans and loan forgiveness,” as well as “data on the number of individuals served and the types of visits provided, including preventative services provided.”

The letter also requests that the report include information from Planned Parenthood Federation of America and affiliates; International Planned Parenthood Federation and affiliates’ MSI Reproductive Choices and affiliates’ and four other abortion providers and their affiliates regarding “Federal obligations, disbursements, and expenditures of federal funds by each of these organizations in each fiscal year, 2022-2024, The funding sources for federal agencies… and any programs associated with these federal funds…. ” and “How these funds were made available (such as by direct funding or pass-through funding).”

In addition to the above, the letter seeks information from Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates regarding “Reported obligations, disbursements, and expenditures by program for the top 15 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) programs,” and “Reported obligations, disbursements, and expenditures by program from federal agencies other than HHS.”

For “International Planned Parenthood Federation (including affiliates) and MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly Marie Stopes International (including affiliates),” the letter additionally seeks to know “Reported expenditures of federal funding from USAID by funding type.”

The Members of Congress have asked the GAO to project when a report on these requests is likely to be completed, stating that the “[p]roper oversight of public funds and programs is crucial…” and “instrumental for policymakers and the public alike” when determining funding and providing transparency to American taxpayers.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by Live Action News.]

In August, the nation’s second-largest school district announced a major policy shift that caused the soon-to-be-unemployed minds at the Los Angeles Times editorial board to collectively explode last month. Why?

Because in the wake of a federal civil rights complaint filed by Parents Defending Education in 2023, the U.S. Department of Education forced the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to open up its $120 million Black Student Achievement Plan tutoring program to all students with academic need – no longer conditioning participation on skin color alone.

Read that again: a public school system – underwritten by public tax dollars – is no longer allowed to discriminate on the basis of race. In 2024.

The horror!

Just what was this program, though? Depending on a learner’s skin color, totally different courses were offered; for example, during the 2020-2021 school year, students of color were given exclusive resources including a “Black Cultural Arts Passport,” “STEM Makerspace Labs,” and “Parent Workshops and Community Fairs.” Students of other racial backgrounds, however, were left out of these learning opportunities altogether. Change black to white and this system is something the KKK would applaud.

How, exactly, was such an obviously illegal program able to take root?

Look no further than AFT/NEA affiliate the United Teachers Los Angeles, which bragged that “as part of our last contract fight, we successfully pushed the district to codify BSAP into our 2022-25 contract, winning agreements for more resources, staffing, and professional development for BSAP schools.”

To be clear, the program hasn’t been shuttered; as Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told the Times, “Our solution is one that preserves the funding, the concentration of attention and resources on the same students and same schools … We were able to reformat the program without sacrificing impact.”

Yet far too many see the end of the race-based program – which should be considered a civil rights victory –as a defeat, exposing their own support for racial discrimination in K-12 schools. Students protested at an October school board meeting, while an online campaign demanded not only the expansion of the program but also a formal apology.

Sure, excluding students from educational programming based on race is – and has been! – illegal since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and immoral since… forever. Yes, proficiency scores for all children of all races in LAUSD are below the national average. And yes, the Supreme Court ruled in 2023’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision that “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”

Man, that pesky Constitution and its insistence on “equality before the law!”

LAUSD’s revision of the race-based grant program frees up the $120 million in funding for use among needy students or those suffering from genuine socioeconomic disadvantages – of whom there are many. In 2023, more than half of California students were unable to meet grade-level reading standards, setting them up for a lifetime of failure. It would be far more beneficial to students if LAUSD’s grant was directed towards actually improving subject matter proficiency for all students – and now, it can be. This is a momentous achievement coming from LAUSD, which has an otherwise shameful track record of centering racial differences in nearly every student interaction.

Much to the chagrin of DEI activists, the program was revised in a way that brings it into compliance with federal antidiscrimination law – and not simply given a cosmetic lift, as so many similar programs receive when they are challenged outside of court.

As the saying goes, “the price of eternal liberty is vigilance” – and in Los Angeles and other cities, ensuring that the program doesn’t backslide will be an ongoing effort. In an interview with The 74, University of Southern California education professor Julie Slayton noted that “They’ll take away the language of ‘Black,’ … But it doesn’t have to change, profoundly, the way that they’re thinking about the distribution of these resources and the schools that will receive them.” Meanwhile, the much-aggrieved LA Times editorial board asserted, “There are grounds to defend the program, even in California, which bans affirmative action in the public sector. … government agencies are constitutionally allowed to use ‘race-conscious remedies’ to make up for past race-based discrimination. District leaders certainly should be able to do this.”

But remember: this complaint was resolved by a Biden Administration Office for Civil Rights – which has loudly and clearly telegraphed its support for identity politics over the past four years but still found LAUSD’s program to be a bridge too far. An incoming Trump Administration is likely to have far less tolerance for taxpayer-funded discrimination in America’s public schools. Let the administrators beware.

(TRENDING POLITICS NEWS) – Martial artist and actor Chuck Norris took to social media on Wednesday to share the news of his mother’s passing, describing her as a source of strength, faith, and inspiration in his life. The announcement offered a rare glimpse into the personal life of the action star, known for his toughness on screen but often private about family matters.

In an Instagram post, Norris wrote, “Wednesday morning, my brother Aaron and I’s wonderful mother went home to be with Jesus.” He highlighted her deep faith, calling her “a beacon of light” and attributing much of his character to the values she instilled.

Norris recounted how his mother’s love and compassion influenced his upbringing, teaching him the importance of kindness and serving others. He spoke of her as a figure of stability and faith, whose presence brought comfort and joy to their home. “From my earliest memories, she taught me the importance of kindness and compassion,” Norris shared. “I am so thankful for the countless lessons she shared and the way she embodied the love of Christ every day.”

(Read the tribute to his mother on her 100th birthday here.)

One of the most intimidating talking points in recent years used by transgender activists against parents who object to chemical and body mutilation procedures on their children is that they have a choice:

A transgender daughter or a dead son, through suicide.

But now even one of the main promoters of the transgender agenda is admitting that’s just wrong.

It is the Post Millennial that reported on the comments that came during this week’s Supreme Court arguments on the issue.

The ACLU and Biden administration are in a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee over its common-sense new law that forbids those procedures on children, as a way of protecting them.

During the hearing Justice Samuel Alito spoke to ACLU trans attorney Chase Strangio and the concerns about suicide.

That issue was addressed in a United Kingdom document called the Cass Report, an investigation into that nation’s treatment of gender dysphoric minors.

That showed “there was evidence that sex changes to treat gender dysphoria does not reduce incidents of suicide.”

The report noted, “That so-called trans youth are more likely to commit suicide should they not be given medical sex change treatment has been a persistent argument by trans activists who insist that drugs and surgeries must be available to children and teens who claim to be the opposite sex.”

Alito asked, “A lot of categorical statements have been made this morning in argument and in the briefs about medical questions that seem to me to be hotly disputed, and that’s a bit distressing. One of them has to do with the risk of suicide. Do you maintain that the procedures and medications in question reduce the risk of suicide?” Alito asked.

Strangio said yes, explaining, “I do Justice Alito, maintain that the medications in question reduce the risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality, which are all indicators of potential suicide.”

Is that clearly established? Alito asked. Can there be disagreement?

Again, Strangio said yes. “I think, as with all underlying questions of looking at evidence, there can be disagreement. I don’t dispute that, but here and sort of going back to questions about the Cass Review, for example, the Cass Review only looked at studies up until 2022.”

Alito pointed out, “I don’t regard the case review as necessarily as a Bible or as something that’s true in every respect. But on page 195 of the Cass Report, it says there is no evidence that gender affirmative treatments reduce suicide.”

Strangio explained that as being “no evidence in the studies.”

He said that’s because there are few “completed suicides” but claimed studies show there is a “reduction in suicidality.”

The report itself states, “Tragically deaths by suicide in trans people of all ages continue to be above the national average, but there is no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce this. Such evidence as is available suggests that these deaths are related to a range of other complex psychosocial factors and to mental illness.”

A powerful coalition of African American churches is calling for the suspension and investigation of MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton, alleging that donations from Kamala Harris’s campaign to Sharpton’s National Action Network have compromised the integrity of the black Church and journalism.

Last week, MSNBC admitted it was “unaware” that Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign had paid $500,000 to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network nonprofit ahead of a favorable interview with the Democratic nominee on October 20, just weeks before the election, according to Fox News.

After Harris’s defeat to President-elect Donald Trump, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings revealed that the Harris campaign made two $250,000 donations to Sharpton’s National Action Network in early September and October.

Despite the apparent conflict of interest, the MSNBC weekend host did not disclose the donations to viewers or to the network executives about the payments before or after the interview.

According to a report by the Washington Free Beacon, who first broke the story, Harris’s donation was part of a larger $5.4 million spending spree aimed at boosting her favorability among Black and Latino groups — a strategy that, as we know, fell flat.

Now, the National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), representing 27.7 million churchgoers and 150,000 churches across the country, issued a scathing press release demanding transparency about a reported $500,000 payment from Harris’s campaign to Sharpton’s organization.

The NBCI says the payment raises questions about the ethics of both Sharpton and MSNBC, where Sharpton is a prominent host.

Rev. Anthony Evans, President of the NBCI, described the situation as a “moral stain” on the black Church and called on Sharpton to provide full transparency regarding the funds.

Read the full press release:

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a coalition comprising 150,000 African American churches representing over 27.7 million churchgoers, expresses deep concern regarding allegations that a leader may be compromising our voting integrity by engaging with Kamala Harris’s campaign. There arises a critical question: what exactly did VP Kamala Harris receive in exchange for 500,000?

This situation is perceived by many ministers as casting a moral shadow over the integrity of the black Church. It is imperative for The Rev. Al Sharpton to transparently disclose the details of this 500,000 transaction—its rationale, receipt, and intended purpose.

Moreover, it is crucial to ascertain whether Rev. Sharpton personally benefited from any funds, and if so, the specifics of such transactions demand clarification.

Rev. Anthony Evans, President of NBCI, remarks, “Although Rev. Sharpton is held in high regard within our coalition, this does not obscure the significant ethical concerns he now faces—both morally and journalistically—regarding this financial interaction with the National Action Network. We continue to hold him in our prayers.”

Media outlets report that MSNBC was uninformed about this financial dealing. This revelation brings to light concerns regarding Rev. Sharpton’s ethical standing as a host on MSNBC.

Questions are raised about the potential necessity of financial contributions to his organization as a prerequisite for media coverage or favorable portrayal.

The hiring of Rev. Sharpton, who lacks formal journalism qualifications, has been a longstanding issue within the African American community, as it seemingly undermines the professional standing of other black men and women in journalism who may possess greater experience and integrity in the field.

NBCI strongly urges MSNBC to initiate a thorough investigation into the transaction or donation made by the Harris campaign and supports a suspension of Rev. Sharpton pending the outcome of this inquiry.

In discussions concerning threats to our democracy, the crucial role of a free, open, objective, and transparent press as a foundational element in safeguarding democratic integrity often goes unspoken.

The Society of Professional Journalism outlines ethical journalism as follows: Journalists should be accurate, fair, honest, and courageous in their efforts to gather, report, and interpret information. They should uphold the following principles:

• Ensure accuracy and verify information before dissemination, primarily using original sources.
• Provide context and avoid misrepresentation or oversimplification in news promotion.
• Continuously gather, update, and rectify information throughout the lifespan of a news story.
• Exercise caution in making promises and consistently fulfill them.
• Clearly identify sources, providing the public with ample information to assess the reliability and motives of these sources.
• Assess the motives of sources before granting anonymity, reserving it for those who may face harm and possess irreplaceable information, and justify the use of anonymity.
• Proactively seek responses from news subjects to address criticism or allegations.
• Avoid covert methods of information gathering unless absolutely necessary.
• Hold power to account, amplify marginalized voices, and foster open and respectful discourse.
• Maintain transparency in public affairs and access to public records.
• Provide access to source material when relevant.
• Represent diverse perspectives and seek out underrepresented voices.
• Avoid stereotypes and reflect on how personal values may influence reporting.
• Distinguish between advocacy, commentary, and factual reporting.
• Avoid distorting facts or context, including visual representations, and clearly label illustrations and re-enactments.
• Prohibit plagiarism and diligently attribute sources.

Additionally, as a minister of the Gospel, Rev. Sharpton’s involvement in this payment scenario does not reflect well on his commitment to uphold integrity, aligning with Scriptural teachings that advocate steering clear of even the appearance of impropriety.

[Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit.com]

In the “Star Trek: The Original Series” episode entitled “Operation – Annihilate!” (Season 1, Episode 29, April 13, 1967), the USS Enterprise crew discovers that a pattern of mass insanity has been spreading in nearly a straight line through several inhabited star systems in the sector of the galaxy they are patrolling, destroying the civilizations there. Deneva, with more than a million inhabitants, is the next star system in line, and no communications had been received from the planet for a year.

Upon arriving at Deneva, the Enterprise crew finds that mass insanity has come to that planet. The cause was seemingly indestructible single-celled flying parasites that hid in the shadows away from the sunlight. They sting their victims, leaving behind strands of tissue like tentacles that rapidly spread and take over the nervous system. The parasites, using intense pain to control their hosts, act as a hive mind and force them to build ships to spread to other planets, as they did in the previous ones.

Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy, while examining a sample of one of the parasites in the ship’s laboratory, discovered why they hid indoors in the shadows on Deneva: they were vulnerable to ultraviolet light. But there was not enough ultraviolet light coming from the sun to destroy the parasites. So Captain Kirk ordered that a network of satellites be set in synchronous orbit around the planet to flood the surface with ultraviolet light. As the light bathed the planet, the parasites began to dissolve and die, including those in the infected inhabitants, setting them free and unharmed.

Like the parasites in this “Star Trek” episode that used the arms and legs of their hosts to take over civilizations and pursue a dark agenda that included the destruction of those societies, the disciples of Karl Marx have sought as one of their main goals the infiltration of educational institutions to gain control of nations.

Louis Francis Budenz (1891-1972) was a member of the Communist Party USA, but in 1945 he renounced communism and became a vocal opponent of it and a whistleblower in governmental hearings. In his book “The Techniques of Communism” (1954), he wrote:

“In undermining a nation such as the United States, the infiltration of the educational process is of prime importance. The Communists have accordingly made the invasion of schools and colleges one of the major considerations in their psychological warfare designed to control the American mind.”

Marxist philosophers of the Frankfurt School that attached themselves to Columbia University in the early 1930s played a key role in the takeover of educational institutions in the United States through the students they indoctrinated and spread out like ever-expanding tentacles into society.

In his book “The Naked Communist” (1958), which describes communist strategies to gain control of society, former FBI agent W. Cleon Skousen included a list of 45 communist goals. This list was read into the Congressional Record on Jan. 10, 1963, by Rep. Albert S. Herlong Jr., D-Fla. Two of the goals included getting control of the schools and teachers’ unions and promoting pornographic publications to normalize sexual degeneracy and promiscuity.

Justin Walker, pastor of Salt and Light Baptist Church outside Louisville, Kentucky, was confronted with the results of these efforts in June 2021 when he took one of his daughters to a local public library to look for something for her to read. He was appalled at the graphic LGBTQ+ books being promoted for children.

Pastor Walker came to the realization that millions of children going to public schools in America regularly face this Marxist tactic of indoctrination from their teachers. Acting in accordance with Jesus’ description in the Sermon on the Mount of how His disciples are to be in the world (Matthew 5:13-16), from which his church was named, he sought to provide an alternative to this evil influence in the lives of his children and those in his community.

On Sept. 4, 2024, First Principles Academy, a K-6 donation-based, tuition-free Christian school, was established by Pastor Walker and his church to shine the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ onto its students along with teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. By pursuing a Christ-centered approach to learning, the school seeks to be a beacon of light honoring God and dispelling the darkness of Marxism and be an encouragement to other churches to do the same.

When Adam and Eve heeded the lies of Satan and sinned against God by eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, the sting of death entered them and spread out like tentacles to all humanity, causing our natural state to be that of separation from God and rebellion against Him (Genesis 3). Our sin nature takes hold of us and causes us to be recipients and exporters of pain, suffering, destruction and death.

Like the USS Enterprise that used a special kind of light to set free the people of Deneva by destroying the parasites that stung and enslaved them, God has provided His own Light to set free lost humanity from the sting of sin and eternal separation from the fullness of life He grants as a free gift.

“Jesus said, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.'” (John 8:12)

Jesus Christ, the giver and sustainer of life, freely grants reconciliation with God and eternal life to all who trust in Him. He is the unquenchable light that dissolves and blots out our sins and continues to shine through His church to scatter the darkness of satanic philosophies like Marxism that cause enslavement, destruction and death.

Depending on your spiritual bent, you may have been either thrilled or turned off by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy talking about his Christian faith in interviews on his way to last season’s Super Bowl.

After engineering an amazing comeback to defeat the Detroit Lions for the NFC Championship, Purdy told reporters, “When I’m down 17 at the half, honestly, I’m just thinking, ‘All right God, You’ve taken me here, and win or lose I’m going to glorify You.’ … Honestly, I think it’s just a testament to God and where He’s taken me in life.”

Some probably feel, as Beneatha Younger put it in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” “I’m just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything? … I just get so tired of Him getting the credit for things the human race achieves through its own effort. Now, there simply is no God. There’s only man. And it’s he who makes miracles.”

The media and the public are now accustomed to hearing athletes thank God for the abilities he has given them. But that wasn’t always the case. In baseball in the 1950s and ’60s, it was extremely rare to hear such pronouncements from athletes. Then in the 1970s in San Francisco, one of the great culture clashes between religious athletes, the media and the fan base erupted over a group of born-again ballplayers on the Giants who became known as the God Squad.

Giants’ relief pitcher Gary Lavelle became a born-again Christian in the winter of 1976. When he returned to the club the next year, he gradually and quietly began to share his faith with his teammates when they showed an interest. Several, including Bob Knepper, Jack Clark, Rob Andrews and Randy Moffitt (brother of tennis great Billie Jean King) came to faith, and by the 1978 season there were eight or nine professing Christians on the team.

The Giants, who had suffered through several losing seasons, came to life that year and led the National League West for much of the season, only to fade in a September swoon and finish third. In post-game interviews, the players frequently thanked God for the ability he gave them, and the press raised no objection.

But when the Giants’ fortunes faded on the field in 1979, the media were quick to blame the born-again players, claiming their newfound faith had made them passive. The press derisively referred to them as the God Squad.

The cornerstone of that accusation was a quote attributed to pitcher Knepper, who supposedly told manager Dave Bristol it was “God’s will” when he yielded a home run that lost a game. Knepper and his Christian teammates have always denied the quote, as did Bristol.

As Knepper told sportswriter and baseball historian Mike Sowell in 1995, “That quote followed me around for years, and I never said it. That incident never happened. In fact, I’m very much opposed to that type of theology, that everything that happened in my life was God’s will.”

Knepper told me, “A couple years later [after the “God’s will” manufactured quote] when I was a player rep for Houston, during our winter player rep meetings, I ran into Scott McGregor of the Orioles. When I introduced myself, he said, ‘Oh! You’re the guy who said that “Gods will” quote!’ Caught me off guard how that story followed me clear into the American League.”

Not only did the media blame the God Squad for losing, they also alleged that the Christian athletes caused division in the clubhouse and got two managers fired. These false claims spread to the national media, where prestigious columnists Peter Gammons of The Boston Globe and Dick Young of the New York Daily News repeated them. One of the more ridiculous accusations was that the Giants had two team buses to take players to the field, one for the God Squad and another for the others.

Mike Ivie, one of the God Squadders, returned to the club from a stint of mental exhaustion and sounded much like Purdy, who said his faith in God helped sustain him during his recovery from a torn ligament in the elbow of his throwing arm.

“He’ll put you through trials and tribulations, and He’ll use every resource to help you find happiness in your heart,” said Ivie. “It would have been twice as hard for me to come back if I hadn’t believed in the Lord.”

Ivie, Knepper and their teammates commonly made such pronouncements in a liberal San Francisco atmosphere and era that was not conducive to talk about faith. Cohn felt the tension and in his memoirs made this fascinating statement, “Until that day, I believed I was covering a baseball team. I was wrong. I had wandered into the middle of a deep religious debate, one that defined the Giants at that time.”

The God Squadders were spiritual pioneers who bore the brunt of attacks by the media. They paved the way for Brock Purdy and other Christian athletes to speak boldly about their faith.

Note: This article first appeared in The Vacaville Reporter. Sieger’s book is “The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978.”

Editor’s note: The following video is presented by Pastor Daniel Joseph, president and founder of Corner Fringe Ministries. Subscribe to the Corner Fringe YouTube channel here.

A constitutional expert is issuing a warning about this being the season for a “smash-mouth Santa” after a coalition of leftists launched a promotion of merchandise that celebrates Antifa.

That’s the far left ideology that is personified in militant rioters who, following the death of George Floyd, inflicted billions of dollars in damages on America cities from coast to coast, for a political cause.

It is law professor, legal commentator and constitutional expert Jonathan Turley who cited the sales gimmick, and said right now, with tensions following the 2024 presidential election, it “is not the time to go full naughty list to celebrate a group that regularly beats reporters and others with opposing viewpoints. While this may appeal to your own special smash-mouth Santa, tis the season for political violence.”

Antifa is characterized as left-wing and anti-fascist and anti-racist, although some of its agenda points would inflict more racism in order to address the racism it sees.

It has no control center, as it involves a multitude of decentralized groups that use incivility and violence to achieve their aims.

Doxing, harassment and property damage often are associated with the “left-wing ideologies” as they are described online, and their “anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, and anti-state views.”

Fox News earlier documented the products, including an “ANTIFA Baby Onesie” being offered by an organization of former staffers for Barack Obama.

Fox reported, “The items can be bought via a digital merchandise store run by Crooked Media, which was co-founded in 2017 by former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor. Oftentimes referred to as the ‘Obama bros,’ the three communications professionals co-host ‘Pod Save America,’ one of the most listened-to political podcasts in the nation, per Apple Podcasts U.S. rankings.”

The report noted the violence associated with the political agenda: “‘ANTIFA’ is a common term used to refer to far-left ‘anti-fascists’ who were at the forefront of the George Floyd protests during the summer of 2020. Many of those protests devolved into violent riots, even resulting in the deaths of dozens of people and billions of dollars in property damage because of the unrest. Following that summer, ANTIFA continued to deploy violent tactics.”

Turley said, “It appears no liberal Christmas is complete without the ultimate stocking stuffer: an actual stocking to wear over your face while rioting. While not yet selling face coverings for anonymous violence, Crooked Media … is selling a line of Antifa items for liberals wanting to make a statement against any ‘Peace on Earth.'”

He explained, “There is no apparent backlash for their support of one of the most violent groups in the world, which routinely attacks journalists and anyone who holds opposing views. Imagine the media response if a conservative site started selling ‘Proud Boy’ items.”

He explained, “As discussed in my new book, ‘The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,’ I explore the history of Antifa as a movement that began in Germany:”

That is: “Antifa originated with European anarchist and Marxist groups from the 1920s, particularly Antifaschistische Aktion, a Communist group from the Weimar Republic before World War II. Its name resulted from the shortening of the German word antifaschistisch. In the United States, the modern movement emerged through the Anti- Racist Action (ARA) groups, which were dominated by anarchists and Marxists. It has an association with the anarchist organization Love and Rage, which was founded by former Trotsky and Marxist followers as well as offshoots like Mexico’s Amor Y Rabia. The oldest U.S. group is likely the Rose City Antifa (RCA) in Portland, Oregon, which would become the center of violent riots during the Trump years. The anarchist roots of the group give it the same organizational profile as such groups in the early twentieth century with uncertain leadership and undefined structures.”

He noted the movement has threats built in.

“Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would ‘strike fear in the heart’ of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence, and its website was banned in Germany. Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer. During a prior hearing, Democratic senators refused to clearly denounce Antifa and falsely suggested that the far right was the primary cause of recent violence. Likewise, Joe Biden has dismissed objections to Antifa as just ‘an idea.'”

Liberals, this season, “can bring a small part of that political violence into their homes for the holiday to pledge that there will be no peace or silent nights so long as opposing views are heard,” he warned.

.

It was a blustery December day in Washington, D.C., as hundreds of pro-LGBTQ+ protesters and conservative activists opposed to medical gender transitions for minors clashed outside the Supreme Court. Both sides showed up Wednesday to try to influence the high court’s decision-making in a landmark case that will determine whether states can ban puberty-blocking drugs, hormone treatments, and gender surgeries for minors.

The case landed in the high court after the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state of Tennessee over its spring 2023 passage of a measure banning medically assisted gender transitions for minors. The Biden administration intervened on the ACLU’s behalf, claiming the law violates the Constitution. The case began as L.W. v. Skrmetti, with parents Samantha and Brian Williams and their trans teen, known as L.W., and two other children squaring off against the state of Tennessee, represented by its attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti.

Inside the court room Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito cited several European countries that have placed restrictions on medically induced gender transitions for minors and calmly dissected the common argument from advocates of the practice that the drugs and surgeries help prevent suicides of children and teens with gender dysphoria.

Alito asked about the Cass Review of England’s gender services for children and young people, which called for more caution in providing medically assisted gender transitions and was used as the basis to restrict the prescribing of puberty blockers to children under 18 years old in the U.K.

“On page 195 of the Cass report, it says there is no evidence that gender affirmative treatments reduce suicide,” Alito stated.

ACLU attorney Chase Strangio conceded that there are no studies showing a reduction in “completed suicides,” which he said are thankfully rare, but argued that other studies do show a reduction in suicidal ideation, which he described as a “positive outcome to this treatment.”

The obvious skepticism by the court’s conservative majority spurred headlines that the high court would likely uphold the Tennessee ban, meaning similar restrictions in 25 other states also would remain protected from legal challenges.

Alliance Defending Freedom CEO, president and general counsel Kristen Waggoner was in the room for the oral arguments and afterward appeared buoyed by the direction the decision appeared to be headed.

“We felt good about it,” Waggoner told CNN. “We’ve had a number of constitutional cases before the court, and you never want to speculate about what it will do. But in listening to the questions, I think what was very clear was that the U.S., the Department of Justice, was quickly walking back any allegation or suggestion that there’s overwhelming scientific support for this, because there’s not.”

The Alliance, or ADF, describes itself as the “world’s largest legal organization” fighting for parental rights and against abortion, censorship, trans individuals participating in women’s sports, and legal challenges to religious liberty. ADF filed an amicus brief in support of the Tennessee law, and the group also is serving as co-counsel in defending similar laws in Alabama and Idaho against the Biden administration’s challenges.

Waggoner, perhaps best known for serving on Mississippi’s legal team in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe. v. Wade, has prevailed in 13 other Supreme Court cases in recent years. Her courtroom success in arguing thorny, high-profile conservative cases has earned her plaudits among Donald Trump’s advisers and a coveted spot on the president-elect’s shortlist for key judicial appointments or even the Supreme Court, if Alito, 74, or Justice Clarence Thomas, 76, decide to retire.

Waggoner sat down with RealClearPolitics shortly after the election to reflect on Trump’s win and what it means for the cultural fights she and ADF have been waging in recent years.

RCP: Did you feel your organization played a role in the election of Donald Trump and the successful Senate races that handed Republicans majority control of that chamber?

Waggoner: I think it depends on what you mean by that. I think that our issues that we’ve been working on for many, many years, in the election and with polling seem to have been determinative for some voters. You know, to see that the issue of gender ideology played such a prominent role for many Americans was satisfying and in many ways reinvigorating. I mean, we’ve been doing this work for so long to see that people are starting to hear it, to see it, to know that there’s an ideological war being waged against our children, and that we have to put an end to it, is incredibly encouraging in this moment.

RCP: Are you and ADF playing any kind of a role in Trump’s presidential transition plans or nominations?

Waggoner: That’s not something that we traditionally talk about. There are a number of groups that are doing all they can to assist in the transition team and also to get the right people in the right places. [We’re] committed to doing all we can, not just in terms of a list of potential jurists, but in the right seats in the federal government to make meaningful change.

I think Americans are getting tired of the whiplash of different administrations and policies just changing 180 degrees, particularly in the areas that we work on with regard to parental rights, with regard to gender identity and censorship. I was pleased to hear in both the run-up to the election and after the election, President Trump continue to commit to those three areas as very significant areas for his administration.

RCP: President Trump reportedly had a falling out with the Federalist Society, an influential conservative legal organization that played a key role in helping him choose judicial appointments during his first term. Do you think ADF will help fill that vacuum and play a bigger role in those decisions during Trump’s second term?

Waggoner: My hope is that President Trump will keep the promises that he made, and those promises focus on stopping censorship and stopping gender ideology in all the ways that it plays out through the federal government and in the way that it is devastating families and children, and in reinforcing parental rights in this country. And I am hopeful that the appointments that he will make will confirm that. What I told our team and what I tell our ministry friends, is what’s most important now is what happens next. And we don’t know what will happen next. I only know what we will do, and that is that we will make every effort to ensure that those promises are kept, and we will continue to litigate, and we will continue to try to pass good laws that protect the rights of Americans, and to do all we can to encourage others to do the same. I think our track record speaks for itself in in how that will play out.

I continue to be encouraged that we are at a tipping point, and that tipping point didn’t come by happenstance. It came through intentionality, the power of Americans telling the stories and saying enough is enough. So, we need to keep that momentum going.

RCP: Can you give me an update on some of the cases you have pending at the Supreme Court right now? I know you have several petitions for certiorari, or cert petitions, asking the high court to weigh in after ADF exhausted legal options at the state level.

Waggoner: We have six cert petitions that are pending right now, which is the most that we’ve ever had at the Supreme Court. Two of those have to do with women’s sports. When we started this, not only were there no laws in place, [some of our clients were] getting brutally canceled in so many different ways. So, we’re hopeful that the court will uphold these laws where states have taken action to protect women and girls …

We also have this Skrmetti case. When we started working with state legislatures to ensure that these dangerous drugs and medical experiments weren’t taking place on minors, legislators were reluctant to stand up because they were uncertain. And of course, we want to treat everyone with dignity and respect. But I think there was a reluctance to really understand that you’re actually harming these kids, and you’re treating the women and girls – you’re disrespecting their rights.

… One caution that we have raised with anyone who would listen to us is that the federal government – it’s supposed to be a government of limited power, and that these battles will continue beyond an administration, because the federal government can’t resolve all of them, which means that it’s more important, more and more important, for Americans who now understand these issues to insist that we are protecting these rights at our state and local level.

RCP: After the election, Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and father of two girls, pressed his party to rethink its approach to transgender issues, especially as it relates to transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ and women’s sports. Do you think the Democratic Party is capable of changing their positions on these issues? So, do you think some Democrats are more amenable to working across the aisle with groups like yours on the issue of protecting girls’ and women’s sports and possibly other areas of agreement?

Waggoner: I hope there are people we can work with in that party. I long for the days when you could reach across the aisle and agree on some of these core issues. It’s deeply troubling about what it signals for the future of our nation that we can’t agree that we should all be able to speak freely, that the First Amendment means that the government can’t silence or punish dissent, that we are going to weaponize the justice system. We have to get back to a place where we recognize that there are core rights that all Americans have, including those who are opponents, and so I hope for that day.

RCP: What is your reaction to California Gov. Newsom and other blue-state governors threatening to engage in a legal war against the Trump administration when it comes to transgender rights, among several other issues? Newsom has been aggressively fighting school boards across California, threatening them with civil rights investigations and lawsuits if they pass policies requiring schools to notify parents if their children are gender transitioning at school. Newsom this year also signed two bills that punish social media platforms for allowing certain political commentary and forces them to monitor and remove the content.

Waggoner: We intend to make states pay for violating the rights of Americans. Our recent settlement in the 303 Creative case, which was at $1.5 million [and which centered on whether states’ anti-discrimination laws can force web designers and other businesses to create works recognizing same-sex marriages in violation of their religion or values], demonstrates that we will be seeking damages whenever we can in lawsuits, because this has to stop. There has to be a price to pay to silence people, to punish them for expressing their view, and California has been at the tip of the spear in terms of censorship.

Our lawsuit related to the [political satire website and X.com account] Babylon Bee, which was just a few weeks ago. We got a preliminary injunction on that. What a draconian law California passed to try to censor speech and only protect politicians as they do so. So again, we are committed to continuing to ensure that good laws are passed, but also to ensure officials and local officials have to pay a price for violating the Constitution. I think that’s the one of the main ways we’ll see this stop.

But another way is Americans have to stop being willing to be silenced because of fear of cancel culture. And that may be one of the best things that happened in this election, is that the lid is blown off, and people [are saying] I’m no longer going to be shamed for believing in biological reality or common sense, and I’m going to speak out, because there’s too much at stake.

RCP: On a more personal note, what do you think about the closer relationship developing between Speaker Mike Johnson, a former longtime ADF attorney, and President-elect Trump?

Waggoner: It’s a wonderful opportunity in this moment to ensure that we are advancing the right to be able to live and speak the truth. And I believe that Speaker Johnson is committed to that, as President Trump is. I’m hopeful [Trump] will again keep the promises that he’s made, and my hope is that Speaker Johnson will help him do that in the areas that we’ve discussed.

Speaker Johnson was an ADF attorney and on our team for a number of years. We’re delighted that he is in the position he’s in so that he can protect the American people. I hope that he stays strong and keeps his focus on the North Star, which is protecting the constitutional rights of Americans.

RCP: Your name has been mentioned in several media reports as being on Trump’s shortlist for several key judicial appointments and even the Supreme Court if a vacancy occurs during Trump’s second term.

Would that be something you would accept if offered?

Waggoner: Yes, absolutely. It’s just a privilege to be among such quality individuals who are also on the list.

David Hogg, a student-turned-antigun-activist following a shooting at his school, has begun promoting himself to a leadership post in the Democrat party, and the online trolling erupted immediately.

“This the guy who stood on the bodies of his dead classmates to be famous, right?”

“I cannot tell you how much I want this to happen.”

“Please, keep filling Democrat leadership with extremists. It helps.”

And, “HAHAHAHA. I hope he does run, this guy is a moron,” were among the responses as soon as Hogg said on television he would like to be DNC vice chairman.

David Hogg says he’s considering running for DNC Chair pic.twitter.com/pGgJQePQUa

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 5, 2024

The Washington Examiner cited how Hogg “got trolled” across social media after stating he would consider a run to become part of the Democratic National Committee.

“I’m considering it because I think that, one, obviously, I think we need a new generation in the DNC. If this election has taught us nothing else, I think we need an intergenerational coalition as a party.”

His comments came during an interview with leftist CNN.

“This is what happens when everyone gets a participation trophy!” one commenter said.

Hogg continued, “I think what the party needs to do is open its eyes and take its fingers out of its ears. We can just surround ourselves with people that agree with us a lot of the time, in terms of the party leadership and also within the party itself, and think that’s just who we need to be talking to constantly instead of listening to people who don’t agree with us.”

He said Democrats’ “condescending tone” is causing voters to see them as “out of touch” elitists.

In fact, during the 2024 presidential election, President-elect Donald Trump increased support for the Republican party in just about every demographic category, as the GOP now is considered the party of the “working man.”

Hogg has made his reputation as a gun control extremist following a shooting at his school, Stoneman Douglas High. He’s helped lead a bunch of protests, marches and boycotts.

He helped start, then left, a pillow company, and founded a political action network.

On Feb. 14, 2018, when a former student went to the school and started shooting people, Hogg hid in a closet.

After the shooting, he made himself a point person for demands for gun control.

He has claimed people have no rights to have a gun under the Second Amendment, in stark opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on that issue.

He charges that the Second Amendment is about states having a national guard.

A town council in New Jersey has apologized after facing widespread backlash from residents for adopting a rule that was reported to have effectively banned American flags from being brought into public town meetings, according to Fox News.

Joel Bassoff, an Edison, New Jersey resident, was escorted out of a town council meeting by police on Nov. 25 after bringing an American flag with him to protest a new decorum ordinance that prevents that type of item from being used while addressing the council, according to Fox News. The rules do not allow for the use of “props” during the public comment portion of town meetings, which Fox News reported would include items such as the U.S. Constitution.

Some activities that are considered an “impediment” to the conduct of the township council meetings include “the use of props” and “Comments, performances or other behavior clearly intended to cause disruption by failing to address a matter of concern to the residents of the municipality,” according to the ordinance.

WATCH:

Township Council President Nishith Patel refuted claims that the ordinance banned American flags.

“Let me be very clear, the Edison Council has never, nor will we ever, ban the American flag from our public meetings,” Patel said in a statement.

“Our nation’s flag as well as our state’s flag are both prominently and honorably displayed in our council chamber,” Patel added in the statement. “We proudly and humbly begin each council meeting with the pledge of allegiance to our flag, reaffirming our commitment and loyalty to our country and the history and values upon which it stands.”

Some of the town’s residents opposed the new rule and argued against it during an hours-long Nov. 25 meeting, as seen in the video. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said that it is considering taking legal action against Edison’s town council “to protect Joel’s First Amendment rights — and the rights of every citizen of Edison, NJ,” Fox News reported.

“That’s what I call B.S.,” Councilman Richard Brescher told Fox News Digital, criticizing the ordinance as “un-American and unconstitutional.”

“Our nation’s flag has never, EVER, been banned, nor will it ever be banned in our municipal complex or any government building that we solely operate.” Edison Mayor Sam Joshi said in a statement posted on Instagram. “We are all proud Americans who believe in the principles, morals, and values the American Flag represents. I have spoken to the Council President regarding this matter and he has humbly apologized and issued his official statement for the confusion surrounding the recently passed decorum ordinance.”

Edison’s township council president did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

‘Shame on you!’ WATCH man get booted from government meeting for daring to display U.S. flag and Constitution

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