Tag Archives: CBN News

The Cease-Fire Ended When Hamas Violated It

Posted on by

Israel used to have a policy of not negotiating with terrorists. As much as the hostages pulled at our heartstrings, that was a wise policy and might have been useful here.

On December 1st, CBN News reported the following:

Rockets fired by Hamas triggered the end to a week-long pause in the Gaza fighting in the early hours of Friday morning. The war restarted after Israel accused the terror group of violating the truce agreement.

After Hamas began firing rockets into southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces resumed bombing in Gaza City. The renewed fighting now puts the release of the remaining hostages on hold. During the halt in the fighting more than 100 hostages were freed.

On Thursday, 10 more Israeli hostages were released. Israel had wanted all the women and children to be set free, yet with the resumption of the fighting and the breakdown in negotiations, the fate of nearly 140 hostages remaining in captivity is unknown.

The article notes:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Blinken Israel’s goals for the war.

“I told him: ‘This is the same Hamas. This is the same Hamas that carried out the terrible massacre on October 7, the same Hamas that tries to murder us everywhere.’ I told him: ‘We swore, and I swore, to eliminate Hamas. Nothing will stop us.’  We will continue this war until we achieve the three goals: to release all our abductees, to eliminate Hamas completely, and to ensure that Gaza will never again face such a threat.”

Blinken repeated the Biden administration’s message that there should be fewer civilian deaths and displacement in operations in southern Gaza than was experienced in northern Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 12 is reporting Blinken gave Israel “weeks” to finish the job of destroying Hamas.

“In my meetings today with the Prime Minister and senior Israeli officials, I made clear that before Israel resumes major military operations, it must put in place humanitarian, civilian protection plans that minimize further casualties of innocent Palestinians,” Blinken stated.

Israel was not the one that started this. The allies in World War II didn’t hesitate to destroy the Nazis, Israel should not hesitate to destroy Hamas.

Sad News From Virginia Beach

Posted on by

CBN News announced today that Pat Robertson died. Pat Robertson was born on March 22, 1930. His father, Absalom Willis Robertson served in Congress as both a Senator and Representative for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

CBN reports:

Perhaps best known for offering prayer and political commentary at the helm of The 700 Club, the flagship program of his media ministry, Robertson’s rise to prominence is rooted in what he called a vision from God to create The Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded in 1960. A prolific innovator, he also started a Christian university, a legal advocacy group, and an international NGO specializing in disaster relief.

Even while promoting a worldview that believes in the inerrancy of the Bible, both his approach to business and his on-air persona were considered unorthodox by some – if not ahead of his time. Today, his influence and legacy crisscross interests and industries that have broken barriers for countless Christian leaders and laypeople.

…In 1966, Robertson began hosting a daily talk show, The 700 Club. Still on the air today, it is one of the longest-running programs in television history.

From the set of The 700 Club, he transformed Christian television. But his reach went far beyond spirituality.

By the 1970s, Robertson – who once described himself as a “newsman” at heart – had secured interviews with military and political leaders such as the late Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s prime minister, and Jimmy Carter, who was then Georgia’s governor and would win the White House with the support of evangelical Christians.

Four years later, Robertson was part of the conservative leadership that helped propel Ronald Reagan into the White House in 1980. 

The article also notes:

He expanded his political influence by bringing thousands of evangelicals into the electoral process through the founding of the Christian Coalition. He also created the American Center for Law and Justice with a mandate to protect religious freedoms.

“Pat always had this vision to go where a lot of people don’t go. When you do that, sometimes you’re criticized by people,” Pastor Laurie said. “He’s been a risk taker in the best sense of the word. A visionary. A dreamer. But someone whose message was the Gospel.”

With his return to CBN after the failed campaign, Robertson took the company globally, dramatically extending the reach of the ministry’s Christian programming to over 150 countries in more than 100 languages through satellite technology.

Pat Robertson often reminded viewers that America was based on Judeo-Christian principles of law. He encouraged Christians to get involved in politics and uphold those principles. If our current politicians followed those principles today, our country would be in a much better place.

Pat Robertson will be missed, but he left an unbelievable legacy and was an example for all of us.

Another Reason To Leave The United Nations

Posted on by

On Sunday, CBN News reported that on Friday, the United Nations voted 98-17, with 52 abstentions to have the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to advise the world body concerning Israel’s “occupation” of territories in the West Bank (biblical Judea and Samaria, including Jerusalem), maintaining that it is a form of de facto annexation. Thankfully, the United States voted against the resolution. The measure will next go to the UN General plenary in December to be officially ratified.

The article reports:

Lapid  (outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid) cautioned that the vote could prompt more violence from Palestinians. “This step will not change the reality on the ground, nor will it help the Palestinian people in any way; it may even result in an escalation,” he warned. “Supporting this move is a prize for terrorist organizations and the campaign against Israel.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan tweeted, “there is no authority that can declare that the Jewish nation is an occupier in its homeland,” and added that the appeal to the ICJ in The Hague was “the last nail in the burial coffin” of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the resolution was “disconnected from reality.”

The resolution contains language stating that Israel’s continued control of territories it won in the 1967 Six-Day War can be considered a form of annexation, and therefore is not legal. Since 1967, Israel declared sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, but military law still applies in other parts of the West Bank. 

The Biden administration had campaigned against the UN resolution and urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to introduce it. Part of Abbas’s strategy may be to cement his legacy, since the 87-year-old president has not held elections in 16 years and a succession struggle is in its early stages.

The resolution also calls for investigations into Israeli actions concerning its capital which are “aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem.” It also says Israel has adopted “discriminatory legislation and measures.”

Until the Palestinian Authority removes from its charter the goal of removing Israel as a nation, there is no possibility of a peaceful, two-state solution. The Palestinian people may want peace, but their leaders do not. We need to remember that when the Arabs controlled the Old City part of Jerusalem, the Jews were not allowed to worship there. Jews are still not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. Israel is a democracy. Arab states generally do not support democracy.

Moving Toward The Country The Founding Fathers Envisioned

Posted on by

On October 13th, CBN posted an article about an important Supreme Court decision that got lost in the chaos of the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion.

The article reports:

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade it was easy to miss, but the court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA delivered a major blow to the federal bureaucracy.

The case considered the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. President Obama couldn’t get his plan to drastically change the nation’s power grid known as “Cap and Trade” through Congress, so he famously acted on his own.

“I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward,” the president said before a 2014 cabinet meeting and on a number of other occasions. 

Working through the EPA on executive authority he expanded the Clean Air Act, written in the 1960s, to reduce toxic emissions. Instead of addressing individual power plants as the law had been applied, Obama went after the entire fossil fuel industry in a way that would have transformed the U.S. power grid, and for that, the Supreme Court called a foul.

“The court said Congress has to say specifically what they want EPA to do if they’re going to do something that has such a monumental impact,” said Derrick Morgan, executive vice president of The Heritage Foundation.

He says the court’s action is significant as presidents increasingly wield their executive pens to get their agendas passed around Congress.

Essentially, this forces Congress, elected by the people, to make the laws and be held accountable for the laws they make. The President has the choice to sign or veto the laws and should also be held accountable. This may help deal with some of the garbage regulations coming out of Washington. This ruling may also serve to protect the free speech rights that many in Congress are trying to limit.

The article concludes:

Also, look for more guidance from the Supreme Court. Chad Squitieri, an expert in administrative law at The Catholic University of America, says the court seems primed to examine whether the administrative state has drifted too far from the separation of powers which is a bedrock of America’s Constitution.

“The Major Questions Doctrine which was applied in West Virginia v EPA is sort of, I like to say, scratching at the non-delegation itch. It’s not the full-fledged non-delegation doctrine, but I think it’s something of a halfway measure and I think these types of questions – looking at different ways courts may police how Congress delegates authority to the agencies – is going to be a recurring theme in the years to come,” he told CBN News.

“I think it’s because the current court is more prepared than courts in the past to enforce the original understanding of the Constitution – what we would call the original public meaning of the Constitution, particularly the separation of powers and federalism,” he continues.

It will be a relief to many Americans who want to be governed directly by the people they elect and are eager to rid themselves of what they see as a gross overreach by unelected bureaucrats.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. This is a really good decision.

Celebrating Child Abuse

Posted on by

On Friday, President Biden gave a speech recognizing the “International Transgender Day of Visibility.” In that speech he claimed that would protect transgender people from numerous “dangerous attacks.” Just for the record, I looked up how many transgender people were murdered in 2021, as of November, the number was 45, the largest number ever (article here). Then I looked up how many people were murdered in Chicago in 2021, that number was 797 (article here). I don’t want to see anyone murdered, but it seems to me that we have a bigger problem than violence against transgenders–we have a problem with violence in general.

On Friday, CBN News posted an article about President Biden’s speech.

The article at CBN pointed out some obvious facts:

“Transgender Americans continue to face discrimination, harassment, and barriers to opportunity,” Biden said in a proclamation. “In the past year, hundreds of anti-transgender bills in States were proposed across America, most of them targeting transgender kids. The onslaught has continued this year. These bills are wrong.”

The president is referring to bills passed in multiple states that defend parental rights, protect the rights of female athletes, and protect children from irreversible “sex-change” surgeries and puberty-blockers.

Oklahoma and Arizona’s governors signed laws on Wednesday to prevent transgender athletes from dominating girls’ sports, joining more than a dozen other states with similar laws.

Preventing biological males from competing in women’s sports is not discrimination–it is common sense. It is giving women in sports a chance to compete on an even playing field.

The article at CBN News also notes:

The Christian Employers Alliance filed suit in federal court last fall, challenging two Biden administration mandates that force religious nonprofit and for-profit employers to pay for or perform gender transition surgeries, procedures, counseling, and treatments in violation of their religious beliefs

“Many religious employers – including the Christian Employers Alliance and all of its members – hold sincere beliefs that gender transition surgeries and procedures are morally wrong and contradict their beliefs that God purposefully created humans as either a biological male or female and that a person’s biological sex is immutable,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Bowman. 

The speech also voiced support for transgender children. It is unclear whether the White House will take measures to allow transgender surgery on children without their parents’ consent. I suspect that will be proposed at some point in the not-so-distant future.

This speech was a shiny object to distract us from the multiple failures of the Biden administration. As inflation eats away at our income, as we deplete our strategic energy reserves, as we get involved in an overseas military adventure we cannot afford, and as we watch our economy flounder, the celebration of the transgender movement will energize the left wing of the Democrat party and disgust most Americans who believe in basic science.

Our Religious Rights Are In Danger

Posted on by

On Tuesday, CBN News posted an article about the fight for religious liberty in America.

The article reports:

Over the weekend, President Biden declared January 16th Religious Freedom Day, honoring America’s commitment to protecting people’s right to practice their faith. However, a slew of recent cases shows religious liberties being chipped away. 

The examples are vast. Washington state high school football coach Joe Kennedy was fired for his post-game prayers. A Christian photographer was facing thousands of dollars in fines, jail time, and a revoked business license for declining to take photos for same-sex weddings. At Health and Human Services, a leaked memo revealed the Biden administration seeks to un-enforce the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 

…Brownback (former Religious Freedom Ambassador Sam Brownback) is spearheading the organization’s new National Committee for Religious Freedom. The committee’s goal is to help elect politicians at all levels, regardless of their party, who will stand for religious liberty. Each state will have a chapter.

“There’ll be a Virginians for Religious Freedom, a Kansans for Religious Freedom, Californians for Religious Freedom, and we’ll ask those local state affiliates to determine the major issues in their state and local governance that they want to look at,” explained Brownback.

Brownback says he’s hopeful that both Republicans and Democrats will support the committee, though the issue is not as bi-partisan as it has been historically.

It’s time to take back our constitutionally protected religious rights, lest we lose them forever.

The Real Story Of Thanksgiving

Posted on by

On Wednesday, CBN News posted an article about the real story of Thanksgiving. Please follow the link to read the entire story. Meanwhile, here are a few highlights:

As for verifiable facts, one for sure is that these religious reformers started building their first American settlement in the harsh winter of 1620-1621, even as half their number died around them.

But just a few months later these faithful Christians who believed in thanking God for everything were already planning the first American Thanksgiving.

“This was in 1621 after the first season here in Plymouth where they lost half their population and only had 51 of 102 people left at the end of that season,” Pilgrim role-player Leo Martin told CBN News.

…”The very first feast that we had in these parts, our governor sent four men on fowling and in just some small hours, the four men were able to take enough wildfowl to feed our company for a week,” he said. “For we required a special manner of rejoicing, the Lord having sustained us for a year and having brought in such a goodly harvest.”

‘They Are a Toothsome Bird‘

In Plymouth’s annual Thanksgiving parade, the occasional float will go by showing large, plump turkeys, the kind today’s Americans imagine Pilgrims feasted on. But in truth, their turkeys were wild, lean and mean.

“They were very skinny and they could run up to 25 miles an hour,” Martin said. “So to catch one was a challenge.”

…At the Plimoth Plantation where that first Pilgrim settlement is faithfully recreated, top researcher Richard Pickering dresses up to act out the part of Edward Winslow, one of only two Pilgrims to leave a written record of that first Thanksgiving.

…’Winslow’ said, “I find the turkeys here of New England, they are a bit different than those that live upon the dunghills back home in England. But they are a toothsome bird.”

Another sure fact: these grateful Englishmen didn’t dine alone because they knew they wouldn’t have made it without the Indians, or Sachems, as Winslow called them.

The Native Americans showed them what could grow in this radically different soil that was unkind to English seeds.

…”They felt that Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoag Indians, was so instrumental in their survival that they should invite Massasoit and his immediate family to that celebration, and they did,” Martin explained.

But Massasoit misunderstood a bit.

“While we were feasting and making of sport and exercising our arms, amongst us come the great Sachem Massasoit and about 90 of his men,” Winslow said.

Martin pointed out that could have wiped out all the Pilgrims’ supplies, but the chief and his braves brought plenty of food with them.

“Venison, turkey, fish, vegetables — and together they had enough food for a three-day celebration where they honored one another and became better friends,” Martin said.

The article concludes:

Finally, the cook would have seasoned this stuffing with herbs brought all the way from England, like thyme, hyssop, and parsley.

“We believe that the things they are growing in their kitchen gardens in the 17th century are primarily things brought over from England. They’re trying to bring home with them,” Messier (Norah Messier is Plimoth Plantation’s expert on the food of that era.) explained. “They’re trying to make New England feel like old England.”

That likely is why a man like Winslow would have preferred something better than those skinny, exotic New England turkeys.

Winslow said with a twinkle in his eye, “In truth, my greatest delight is a goose for I do love its great fatness.”

Sowing The Seeds Of War In The Middle East

Posted on by

The Biden administration has drastically changed President Trump’s Middle East policies. President Trump worked to form alliances between Arab countries and Israel. Those alliances were based partially on economic gains for the countries involved, but those alliances were also based on a mutual fear and distrust of Iran. Iran is the major funding source of terrorism in that region and around the world. The Biden administration has chosen to undo a lot of the good work done by the Trump administration.

CBN News posted an article today about the shift in policy.

The article reports:

Relations between the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and the Biden administration have shifted dramatically from the former administration of President Donald Trump.

Palestinian leaders hope to make the most of this new relationship and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh wants the world to know he’s satisfied so far with what he’s hearing from Washington.  

“Our relationship with the new American administration has been going very well based on the promises that were made by the Biden administration,” Shtayyeh told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

Just for the record, when the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister is happy with the direction things are going, chances are you are going in the wrong direction.

The article continues:

Shtayyeh said those specific promises include restoring funding to the UN agency devoted to Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), opposing Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria – what’s also referred to as the West Bank, and maintaining the status quo in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, which only permits Muslims to pray at the holy site.

A State Department official told CBN News that senior U.S. officials have been consistent in their private discussions with P.A. officials and their public comments “on all of these issues.”

“Regarding assistance, the United States is currently providing about $450 million in assistance to the Palestinian people—all of it consistent with United States law,” the official said, adding that “we intend to provide an additional $75 million in development and economic assistance in the West Bank and Gaza over the next year.”  

The official also said the State Department has “made clear both privately and publicly” that it supports maintaining the status quo on Temple Mount and that “it is critical for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution. This certainly includes settlement activity.”

Let’s look at some of the direction of these changes in American policy. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has not been a neutral player in disputes between Israel and her Arab neighbors. (article here). Funding the Palestinian Authority means funding terrorism (article here). Preventing Jews from praying on the Temple Mount (the status quo) is also not a move that creates peace or trust. Teaching young children in Gaza to become martyrs to reclaim Jerusalem and drive the Jews into the sea is also not a recipe for peace (article here).

At some point the Biden administration and those who support the idea of a two-state solution in the Middle East will realize how unrealistic that idea is. The ‘Palestinians’ do not want a two-state solution–their leaders have turned down the offer numerous times. The ‘Palestinians’ want a one-state solution where they drive the Jews in Israel into the sea. That is really sad when you consider that Israel is a democracy that allows Arabs full rights within their country. The Arabs in Israel have more freedom and a higher standard of living than anywhere else in the Middle East. You would think that the Arabs  would be trying to emulate Israel instead of trying to destroy it.

 

The Rescues Continue

Posted on by

CBN News posted an article today about an Afghan refugee who joined the American army after the 9/11 attacks.

The article reports:

An Afghan native who came to the U.S. as a refugee days before the 9/11 attacks and later served as a U.S. soldier told Fox News this week he illegally crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan about a month ago to rescue at-risk individuals and family members.

The unnamed former soldier — who spoke on condition of anonymity — said he has rescued at least 30 people from Afghanistan, including Christians and other religious minorities stuck in the midst of the Taliban’s reemergence.

He described himself to Fox as a “proud American soldier” who fought in Afghanistan before leaving due to injuries.

Some of the man’s family members in Afghanistan have faced retribution over the years due to his American military service. Those fears have intensified in the wake of the Taliban’s revival. Despite pleading for help from the U.S. government to keep them safe, he reportedly received no assistance.

In an initial interview with Fox, he said he hadn’t gotten his family members out but had rescued others in need; after the interview, though, he reportedly did successfully rescue his relatives, but challenges remain.

The family is in an unnamed country and could be returned to Afghanistan if they don’t find a permanent solution within 28 days.

The ex-soldier has also faced his own set of troubles, telling the outlet that he was at one point “lashed” by the Taliban after militants caught him.

The article also notes:

“Had they known that I had actually just helped a Catholic family get out, it would have been worse,” he said. “Far worse.”

The Taliban continue their intense crackdown inside Afghanistan, with reports that they are only allowing some girls to return to school, among other restrictions.

Our government has a lot to answer for in its handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Unfortunately, as long as the swamp is in power in Washington, no one will be held accountable.

What We Are Not Being Told

Posted on by

CBN News posted an article today about an Israeli doctor who has been doing research on Ivermectin as a treatment for the coronavirus.

The article reports:

Professor Eli Schwartz is with the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, considered one of the world’s top hospitals. For decades, Prof. Schwartz has traveled the world fighting outbreaks like Dengue Fever and Ebola. He also began the Travel Medicine and Tropical Disease Institute at Sheba. At the beginning of the pandemic and months before any vaccine, Israel’s Defense Ministry assigned Schwartz to find a medical solution for COVID-19.

“Since Ivermectin is one of the drugs that we are using in daily life in the Tropical Institute, I knew it. I know the safety profile of it. And since there was some hints of in-vitro studies, which show the efficacy against specifically, even against COVID-19, we decided to go for it.”

That meant putting the drug through a clinical trial that lasted ten months.

“Our study, which was done here, it’s a randomized controlled trial, double-blind. It’s really, I would say, this is the best method that you are doing studies. And our conclusion is that it really has antiviral activities,” Shwartz told CBN News.

From his international experience in the field, Schwartz knew Ivermectin targeted parasites. Since its development in 1987, nearly 4 billion doses with few side effects and at low cost have protected millions of people from insidious parasitical diseases like River Blindness and Elephantiasis.

That success won its developers the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2015. Schwartz’s study made headlines in Israel when his trial showed Ivermectin to also be anti-viral.  

“This is the first drug to show antiviral activity. And then, I think, there’s a good reason to continue with a much more thorough investigation to see, for example, whether people who are at high risk, may not deteriorate to be hospitalized, to be mechanically ventilated, or to death.”

Schwartz’s clinical study found that by day four, 86% of his patients who took ivermectin recovered. By day six, 94% recovered.

“The bottom line is that … Ivermectin decreased faster the viral load, and also sterilized the culture much better compared to the placebo,” he said.

Schwartz explained to CBN News this means Ivermectin killed the virus and his patients were non-infectious. Schwartz says this could save lives and reduce quarantines by days.

“It’s a huge change in life. It’s a huge change for the patient. It’s a huge change for his family. And from the economical point of view, it’s a dramatic change. You know, it’s how much money you can save for the economy of the country, if you can shorten the isolation time,” he said.

But ivermectin is not accepted by the global health establishment. A major FDA concern is that a number of people have tried to self-medicate using a form of the drug intended for livestock.

“Don’t do it. There’s no evidence whatsoever that it works and it could potentially have toxicity, as you just mentioned, with people who have gone to poison control centers because they’ve taken the drug at a ridiculous dose and wind up getting sick,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The World Health Organization advises “that Ivermectin only be used be used to treat COVID-19 within clinical trials.”

The doctor notes the problems with getting this drug into general use against the coronavirus:

The National Institutes of Health says, “Ivermectin is not approved by the FDA for the treatment of any viral infection” and that “well-conducted clinical trials are needed to provide more specific, evidence-based guidance on the role of ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19.”

For studies to be accepted by the broader medical community, it must be peer-reviewed and published in a medical journal. That’s where Prof. Schwartz hit a roadblock.

Several journals turned him down, but one is currently reviewing his study.

“It’s something really very odd. I mean, in my career, I published, I think at least 300 papers and chapters, and I never heard the story that they have with Ivermectin. I think that this kind of international campaign, anti-Ivermectin; same that we have anti-vax, anti-vaccine, we have anti-Ivermectin. I don’t understand,” said Schwartz.

Schwartz added that while many health agencies want better studies, no large-scale trials on ivermectin happened until Oxford University began one in June of this year.

“I mean, it took them 18 months from the beginning of the pandemic to try to do it. I mean, people dying all over the world. And you have drug under your hand and you have to wait so long until you get any conduction of a good study,” he said.

Now, the pharmaceutical company Merck, which developed Ivermectin, and Pfizer are in a race to produce an oral anti-viral drug for COVID that some believe is what Ivermectin could do already.

We need the answer to some very basic questions regarding the coronavirus–

Who makes money if vaccines are mandatory?

Who makes money if new drugs are discovered rather than using traditional drugs?

Who gains if Americans continue to isolate and shop online?

Who gains if small businesses in America fail?

And finally, can anyone disprove to me that the way the coronavirus has been handled can be totally understood by the phrase ‘follow the money’?

Lied To Again

Posted on by

Louisiana just experienced its first major hurricane of the season. Ida left a path of destruction–flooding, wind damage, power outages, etc. The cleanup has begun and Americans are pitching in to help those impacted by the storm. The usual voices are claiming that this is the hottest summer ever and hurricanes are stronger than they have ever been. Not so fast.

CBN posted an article today that provides some historical perspective on climate change.

The article notes:

What if what we’ve really had this year is nothing more than what folks used to call a “hot summer,” and not even close to the hottest summer this nation has ever experienced?

The Hottest Summers Were Long Before SUVs

The summer heat this year wasn’t even close to 1936.

“The 1930s were really when the terrible heatwaves were,” says Tony Heller of RealClimateScience.com.

Heller is an environmentalist who, as an electrical engineer, helped develop the modern computer microprocessor. His website has become a collection of weather history which shows it was a lot hotter 90 and 100 years ago than it is now. 

“The claims that summers are getting hotter are simply not true,” Heller said. “During 1936, 21 states had their all-time temperature records, and none set them this year.”

In the 1930s most of the nation saw temperatures over 100 degrees. Without air conditioning, it was common for families to sleep outdoors.

Many thousands died, and what would become known as the Dust Bowl forced the migration of three and a half million climate refugees out of the Great Plains and Midwest; many of them to California.

Heller said, “Places like Wisconsin were seeing temperatures of 114 degrees. North Dakota saw 121 degrees. 100-degree temperatures were very common in the Midwest prior to about 1960, but since 1960 they’ve become much less common.”

The article also notes:

But what about wildfires? News reports suggest they’re getting a lot more common. But the record shows wildfire burn acreage is down 90% from the 1920s and 30s. 

One reason wildfires seem to have increased is that the wildfire data before 1983 has been erased. 

The website of the National Interagency Fire Center used to show how wildfires were much worse in the 1920s and 30s. That has been removed. The reason given by the National Interagency Fire Center?  “Prior to 1983, the federal wildland fire agencies did not track official wildfire data using current reporting processes.” 

So now, when the media visit the website, it shows wildfires steadily getting worse. 

Heller also documents how NASA has changed its historic weather data. NASA’s temperature graph from 1999 showed the warmest temperatures in the early 1900s.

Sometime later NASA’s graph changed and now shows U.S. temperatures getting warmer.  

So what is the purpose of the lies? Left on its own, government increases its power and control. Americans have not paid enough attention recently to our government’s power grabs. If climate change can be sold as an imminent threat, the government can control how much energy you use in your house, what car you drive, how large a house you are allowed to own, and how far you can travel. That is a scary prospect, but if the idea of an imminent threat can be sold, it is our future.

Making Up The Rules As You Go Along

Posted on by

On June 7th, CBN News reported the following:

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that thousands of immigrants living in the U.S. due to humanitarian reasons are ineligible to apply to become permanent residents if they entered the country illegally. 

Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court that federal immigration law prohibits people who entered the country illegally and now have Temporary Protected Status from seeking “green cards” to remain in the country permanently.  

The designation applies to people who come from countries ravaged by war or disaster. It protects them from deportation and allows them to work legally. There are 400,000 people from 12 countries with TPS status.

Meanwhile, The Washington Times reported the following yesterday:

The Department of Homeland Security will speed up work permits for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who claim they are victims of crime, the department announced Monday, saying the current wait, which can last up to five years, is too long to make people remain in economic limbo.

More than 160,000 people were waiting for the victim visa, officially known as the U visa, as of December.

Under the new rules, U visa applicants can be awarded work permits and deferred action, which is an official amnesty for deportation, once they have filed their petition, had their fingerprints taken and are deemed to have made a good-faith claim. The process is known as a Bona Fide Determination. Until now, they had to wait until their cases were further along in the process.

And we wonder why our borders are being flooded? All you have to do as an illegal immigrant is say that you are a victim of a crime and you will get a visa that allows you to work and live here indefinitely. I suspect that when their cases come up, many illegals will simply vanish into the general population, work legally or illegally, and go on with their lives. Meanwhile, American taxpayer will be paying to educate their children and provide for their medical needs. A nation cannot survive this sort of invasion. It will collapse the safety net. Please research Cloward-Piven if you have not already done so.

Have You Heard About “The Great Reset”?

Posted on by

Logic indicates that shutdowns have not worked–we were supposed to be shutdown for two weeks in February and that was going to end the virus. Well, it’s December, and we keep doing the same thing over and over and getting the same results (the definition of insanity). If we claim to be using the scientific method, it seems like we are not paying attention to the results of what we are doing. So might there be something else going on? Enter “the great reset.”

Summit News posted an article today about “the great reset” and how Americans who have heard about it feel about it. CBN News posted an article about “the great reset” on December 8th.

Summit News reports:

A majority of Americans who have heard of ‘The Great Reset’ – an agenda to push for further globalism and technocrat control of human behavior – oppose its objectives.

A survey by Rasmussen Reporters and The Heartland Institute reveals that 53% of likely voters oppose the Great Reset, compared to 42% who support its goals. 4% said they were not sure.

While swing voters are more likely to oppose the agenda, opposition between Democrats and Republicans splits broadly down party lines, with 72% of Democrats supporting the initiative and 76% of Republicans rejecting it.

According to the survey, “Americans understand that national sovereignty is superior to global governance. Further, according to the data, Americans are wary, as they should be, about the World Economic Forum’s anti-capitalist Great Reset movement. Apparently, Americans are well-aware that globalism is not the answer to U.S. policy issues.”

As we have previously highlighted, the Great Reset, a movement started by World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, is fixated on using the coronavirus crisis to re-order the world and advance draconian surveillance technologies to track and control human behavior.

Schwab recently published a book called “COVID-19: The Great Reset” in which he said that despite the pandemic not representing an “existential threat,” it should be exploited to completely re-order the world and usher in a technocratic transhumanist dystopia.

Legacy media outlets like the New York Times are still claiming the “Great Reset” is a “conspiracy theory” even as world leaders openly announce it.

CBN News reports:

The Great Reset has been labeled a conspiracy theory and parts of it sound like a conspiracy theory, but everything we know about it comes from the global elites themselves, who have been quite open about it. 

“This is not a conspiracy theory. This is a well-documented movement among many of the world’s most powerful people,” says Justin Haskins, the Editorial Director at The Heartland Institute and a leading authority on the Great Reset, “Fundamentally, this is a radical and complete transformation of everything that we do in our society,” Haskins adds, ‘It will change the way businesses are evaluated, it will coerce businesses to pursue left-wing causes.”

The Great Reset was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where many of the world’s most powerful people go to offer solutions to the world’s problems.  They have said that the coronavirus pandemic as a historic opportunity to change the way the world operates.

Make no mistake–the election fraud that elected Joe Biden was part of “the great reset.” Right now President Trump is the major obstacle to this plan. What happens in the next month will determine whether or not America remains a sovereign nation.

We Need Much More Of This

Posted on by

CBN News is reporting the following today:

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and their international counterparts arrested 113 alleged child predators across the US and South America from Nov. 2 – 6 in what is described by the Department of Homeland Security as phase seven of Operation Protected Childhood. (OPCVII)

Working in cooperation with Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and the Public Security and the Public Security Secretariat for Integrated Operation Cyber Laboratory, the agency’s operation simultaneously targeted the distributors and producers of child sexual abuse material throughout the Americas.

Law enforcement agencies in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Panama coordinated with Homeland Security field offices in their respective countries during the sweep.

Here in the US, Homeland Security field offices working with local law enforcement officials in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, California, Colorado, and Florida executed a combined 13 child exploitation-related search warrants and made nine arrests for child exploitation offenses. 

Simultaneously, international law enforcement partners in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Panama also executed search warrants in their respective countries, totaling the following arrests: 

    • Brazil – 137 child exploitation related search warrants and 74 arrests
    • Argentina – 37 child exploitation related search warrants and 23 arrests
    • Paraguay – 2 child exploitation related search warrants and 2 arrests
    • Panama – 7 child exploitation related search warrants and 5 arrests

ICE officials especially praised Brazil for its efforts in the ongoing Operation Protected Childhood.

Thank God for law enforcement officers who are willing to search out and find the people exploiting innocent children. Please follow the link to read the entire article for further details.

Misplaced Concern For Human Rights

Posted on by

CBN News is reporting today that the United Nations has released a list of companies that have businesses in areas Israel captured as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War.

The article reports:

The list was designed to punish more than a hundred companies doing business in east Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. Israel froze ties with the council’s leader, accusing the office of serving the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanction) campaign.

Reaction came quickly after the report’s release and US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) accused the council of persecuting Israel while protecting the world’s worst tyrants. He called on the body to “investigate the crimes of its own members instead of obsessing over the Jewish state.”

The UN has a history of actions against Israel. The United Nations Human Rights Council was created in 2006. Since then, it has issued 45 resolutions against Israel, about 45% of all country-specific resolutions issued. The United Nations Human Rights Council includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Venezuela, and Libya. None of these countries are stellar examples of human rights.

The article notes:

After the release of the database Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to boycott those who boycott Israel, calling the Human Rights Council a “biased body that is devoid of influence.” His political rival, Benny Gantz, also condemned the publication, calling it a “dark day” for human rights.

Jason Greenblatt, one of the architects of President Trump’s Middle East peace plan, told CBN News the public should be pro-active against the boycott movement.

“First of all, shame on them. You know, they were working on this, they held it back and now after a peace plan is launched they go ahead and do that, shame on the Human Rights Council. The UN is a terrible place for Israel. I would actually encourage all of your viewers to write letters to [UN Secretary-General António Guterres] and protest that,” said Greenblatt.

…Ironically, any resulting boycotts would likely hurt Palestinians the most. For example, CBN News has reported how international pressure forced the SodaStream company to leave Mishor Adumim and move to Israel costing many of the 500 Palestinian employees their jobs.

“The Palestinians certainly stand to suffer if these types of measures are put in place. It will harm companies that employ Palestinians; it will harm companies that provide goods and services to Palestinians,” NGO Monitor’s Yona Schiffmiller told CBN News.

He also said the majority of the list’s information came from BDS linked groups.

“I think it’s also important to note that the activities these companies are being targeted for are completely legitimate. There is no international standard that bars business activity in occupied territories or in settlements,” Schiffmiller explained.

“Many of the companies that we’re talking about are conducting activities that are outlined in the Oslo Accords. So, these are internationally recognized agreements between Israel and the Palestinians that the UN is now completely disregarding by putting out this list,” he concluded.

The article concludes with actions that anyone can take to fight this:

Just last year, 600 businessmen and women from more than 50 countries will come to Israel to connect with and invest in Israeli business leaders for the second-annual ARISE conference.

“We’re really tackling some of the greatest crises around the world. And so, we’ve invited them to connect with Israeli businesses and meet face to face and create those connections and transactions that will help bring Israeli innovation to the world,” ARISE Founder and President Adv. Calev Myers told CBN News.

Over the last few years, various states in the US have passed laws against boycotting Israel. Schiffmiller said the international community is within its rights to stop supporting a UN body that’s potentially harming these companies.

STOP THE BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL! 
Sign the Petition
Text “STOPBDS” to 41-444
VISIT: CBN.COM/STOPBDS

Please do.

Why The Bill Of Rights Is Important

Posted on by

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The free exercise of religion will be under scrutiny in the Supreme Court this session.

Yesterday CBN News reported:

The US Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on an important religious liberty concern. On Wednesday, the high court announced it will take up two cases which could decide if religious institutions have the right to pick who teaches their religion. Or if the government gets to have the final say.

Both cases will be rolled into one case for a hearing this spring at the court. Both involve California Catholic schools that each dismissed fifth-grade teachers the schools felt were performing their jobs poorly.

These teachers were deeply involved in the religious education of their students. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned lower court rulings and decided neither teacher was so involved in religious teaching that the schools should be allowed to get rid of them.

The article concludes:

Becket ( Becket Fund for Religious Liberty) Executive Director Montserrat Alvarado stated, “Parents trust Catholic schools to assist them in one of their most important duties: forming the faith of their children.   If courts can second-guess a Catholic school’s judgment about who should teach religious beliefs to fifth graders, then neither Catholics nor any other religious group can be confident in their ability to convey the faith to the next generation.”

The two cases are Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James Catholic School v. Biel. In the Morrissey-Berru case, the Ninth Circuit agreed the teacher had “significant religious responsibilities,” but decided those duties weren’t religious enough for the school to invoke its First Amendment right to control who’s teaching the faith to its students.

The cases involve something known as the ministerial exception. It represents the idea that religious groups involved in teaching their faith can only truly be free from government interference if they have full control of choosing who teaches that faith in their institutions.

Freedom is always one generation away from extinction. We need to protect all of the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

A Sad Day In Texas

Posted on by

Yesterday CBN News reported that a jury  has ruled against a Texas father as his ex-wife tries to turn their 7-year-old son into a girl.

The article reports:

Jeff Younger has been locked in a dispute with his ex-wife Dr. Anne Georgulas who has accused him of child abuse for not treating their son James like a girl. He says she’s the one abusing their son by trying to change his biological gender.

Now LifeSite News reports a jury and judge have collectively ruled against Younger, which appears to give Georgulas the go-ahead to turn James into “Luna”.

The article continues:

The SaveJames site contends, “This suggests that the diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria should be reviewed by an independent psychologist. James has never had an independent second opinion. Medical and social intervention should be suspended until James’ father can get a good second opinion.”

Younger told the Luke Macias podcast, “I believe this is not just emotional abuse but is the very most fundamental form of sexual abuse, tampering with the sexual identity of a vulnerable boy.”

Macias says this is about the LGBT activist agenda reaching the next level in America.

“The most radical in our society have not found themselves content with expanding their own horizons and throwing off truth in regards to their own lives. They are actively experimenting on the children of Texas,” he says.

Hopefully in the process of making the wrong decision, nothing will be done that is irreversible. The child is too young to be making this decision. I can’t help but wonder how the child will feel as a twenty-year-old. Hopefully if he changes his mind, he will be physically be able to reverse what is done.

This Needed To Be Done

Posted on by

Yesterday CBN News posted an article about President Trump’s visit to the United Nations.

The article reports:

On Monday, President Donald Trump made history with a big push for the United Nations to truly focus its attention on global religious liberty. 

On the first day of a three-day scheduled visit during the UN’s General Assembly, the President’s big focus was a meeting about the worldwide persecution of religious minorities, especially Christians.

The event called a “Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom,” was attended by key evangelical leaders including Franklin Graham, Paula White, Jentezen Franklin, Tim Clinton, and Cissie Graham Lynch. The president was introduced by Vice President Mike Pence.

President Trump began his remarks by saying, “The United States is founded on the principle that our rights don’t come from government, they come from God.”

He said the facts are clear that 80 percent of the world doesn’t enjoy the same protection for religious freedom that US citizens enjoy.

Trump said it was an “urgent moral duty” for world leaders to stop crimes against faith.

“The United States of America calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution, to stop the crimes against prisoners of faith, to release prisoners of conscience,” Trump said.

The Trump administration has hosted annual meetings on the topic in Washington, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced during this year’s event that he would create an international alliance dedicated to the issue.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission includes the following members: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, South Africa, and Pakistan. In most of these countries, religious freedom is an impossible dream. In South Africa, white farmers are being murdered and their land taken. This is the United Nations President Trump is working with. I admire his effort, but I believe that the United Nations has become so corrupt that they are no longer an organization capable of working toward either peace or freedom. They need to be kicked out of New York City and dissolved.

 

Taking Away Religious Freedom And Parent’s Rights

Posted on by

On September 13th, CBN News reported that the New York Department of Education is moving to force all private schools in the state to perform as public schools. The department is reevaluating a 125-year-old law that would require private schools to offer the equivalent instruction to students as required in public schools.

The article reports:

This means all private schools’ curriculum, scheduling, lesson plans, hiring standards, and reporting requirements would have to follow all regulations as required by the state for public schools. The new regulations would also give the power to local school districts to oversee and inspect private and parochial schools. If a school was found lacking in compliance with the proposed regulations, the school could be closed. 

The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit legal defense organization, represents Parents Union for Religious Integrity of Torah Education (PURITE). The parents and rabbis who sought PJI’s assistance practice ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Judaism. They have been training their youth in small religious schools known as yeshivas for thousands of years. The schools instruct in subjects such as math and English language while focusing primarily on the Torah and Talmud. 

PURITE notes that the proposed regulations would essentially outlaw their way of life and education. Parochial school leaders and homeschool families are also concerned about the suggested rules. 

PJI attorney Kevin Snider sent a letter last week to the New York Department of Education, which had been accepting public comment. Snider’s letter explains in some detail the conflict between Torah-based education and the goals of NY public schools.

This is the precursor to a move against homeschooling. Unfortunately the American public education system is failing the students. Many students who go to college are having to take remedial courses in English and mathematics before they can actually take a college course. Our children are graduating high school with no marketable skills and no practical life skills. The have been schooled in what to think, but not schooled in how to think. As parents realize that the public schools are failing their children, they are turning to other ways to educate their children.

The following chart shows the growth of homeschooling in America since 1970. People taking their children out of public school is a threat to the education establishment. We already know that children in Charter Schools, private schools and homeschooling do better than children in public school.  That is the reason the State of New York is going after private education.

Ultimately parents are responsible for raising and educating their children. That is a responsibility and right that the government is slowly infringing on.

There Are Some Amazing People In Our Country

Posted on by

CBN News featured an article today about Orville Rogers. Orville Rogers runs marathons. That is not particularly unusual until you consider the fact that Orville Rogers is 101 years old.

The video below tells his story:

The article reports:

At 101 years young, Orville Rogers still has a spring in his step and shows no signs of slowing down. the former airline pilot still remembers the day he fell in love with flying. “I was a young boy about ten years old, and (Charles) Lindbergh circled my school house, in 1927, after his transatlantic solo flight,” Orville recalls. “That cemented my desire to be a pilot.”

The article explains why he became a long-distance runner:

He also became a long-distance runner after reading several studies on longevity and exercise.

“Dr. I Min Lee, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, complied a study and her conclusion was that people who exercise very vigorously for long periods of time, could expect to get back in added lifespan, nine hours of added life for every one hour of physical exercise. That is phenomenal.”

Orville not only ran a number of marathons; he holds two world records in the 90-100 age category. “I entered two races in Boston, Massachusetts March 23rd, 2008: the 800 meter and the one-mile run,” Orville says. “And three weeks before the race in March 2008, my wife died. I talked to my children about it and we agreed she’d want me to continue to compete, so I did. And I won the 800 meters, set a new world record. The mile record, I really slaughtered. I ran it in 9:57.”

Two years ago, Orville wrote his life story in his book, The Running Man. “It tells of my experiences in life, my flying, my running, my giving, and my family life and I hope it’s of a benefit and a help to people who may be questioning how they need to serve the Lord better.”

Please follow the link above to read the entire story. Orville Rogers is an amazing man who has led an amazing life.

Antisemitism In Ireland

Posted on by

CBN News is reporting today that the “Control of Economic Activity (in) Occupied Territories” bill is making its way through the Irish government.

The article reports:

The proposed law would make it illegal for Irish citizens to buy goods and services from Israeli citizens in what they define as the occupied territories. That would make it illegal to buy an ice cream, a postcard or a bottle of water in the old city of Jerusalem.

…The bill is called the “Control of Economic Activity (in) Occupied Territories”.  If convicted under the bill, an Irish citizen could be fined more than a quarter of a million dollars and spend up to five years in jail.   

…Prof. Kontorovich says Irish leaders may be hesitant to pass the bill.

“One of the only reasons the law has not been passed yet is because the Irish government is properly worried about the consequences it’s going to have for Irish companies doing business in America and many of the large American companies doing business in Ireland like Apple. Because America has strict laws against boycotting Israel,” he explained.

This is simply BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction) on steroids. First of all, there are no ‘occupied territories.’ That is a term invented by Arabs who still want to drive the Jews into the sea. Second of all, this is antisemitism pure and simple. America has laws against boycotting Israel because these boycotts are not morally justified. Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has freedom of religion–Jews, Muslims, and Christians are all free to worship in Israel. Also, a boycott of goods in these areas hurts the Arabs who work there more than it hurts the Israelis. Arabs commute from the Arab territories that have no commerce into Israel where commerce flourishes. When companies in the border areas of Israel close because of boycotts, the Arabs suffer.

This Would Be Beneficial On A Number Of Levels

Posted on by

CBN News posted an article today about an innovative energy source that would be beneficial for both energy production and for the environment. The article hits close to home because it involves an issue North Carolina has been discussing for a number of years.

First of all, I need to say that I know very little about hog farming and hog waste. However, it does make sense that some of the by-products of hog farming might create an environmental problem. However, there seems to be an answer that will be profitable for everyone.

The article reports:

In fact, to Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy, converting hog manure to natural gas for powering homes and businesses has a sweet smell of success.

“We think it’s a lot simpler, and we think it will change the face of how manure is handled and turned into energy going forward,” Kraig Westerbeek, senior director of Smithfield Renewables, told CBN News.

…So how does it work – turning this waste into energy? Often called biomethane, renewable natural gas is pipeline-quality gas that comes from organic matter like hog waste.

CBN News went to North Carolina to tour Circle K II Farms, a Smithfield pilot project.

“Manure actually is a positive thing,” said Westerbeek. “It creates value, and it helps fertilize crops; it helps produce energy. It’s not a bad thing. We view manure as an opportunity.”

Kraig Westerbeek explains how the process moves from the hog buildings to a huge covered lagoon called a “digester.”

“The product, natural gas, is actually a product of digestion of the solids by bacteria, so for that reason, it’s called digestion,” he said.

…The manure is funneled under the large plastic cover of the lagoon, and it’s mixed over and over. Bacteria break it down, producing what’s called biogas, which causes the cover to bubble up. That gas is 65 percent natural gas.

The biogas produced at farms then moves through gathering pipes to a gas-upgrading unit. That’s when Dominion Energy steps in.

“Where we come in – you see this plant back here – we’re gonna lend our engineering expertise to create a process that’s as efficient as possible in creating clean, renewable natural gas that customers can use,” Childress said.

At the gas upgrading system, the natural gas from the farm is refined. When it leaves there, it is 99.1 percent natural gas. It then enters a pipeline and is funneled to homes and businesses.

The article concludes:

This project involves partnering with local farmers like Dean Hilton, who’s been raising hogs for nearly 15 years. He calls it the “wave of the future.”

“After meeting with Kraig on the trial site, we realized that there’s a lot of opportunity in the fact that we can actually reduce our manure in our current lagoons, as well as turning the solids, the new solids into renewable energy,” Hilton said.

Westerbeek admits turning manure into renewable natural gas is “fairly expensive”.

“You have an investment in a digester like you see in the background, and then the gathering pipelines to gather the gas from different farms and bring it to a central location,” he explained.

“And then one of the more expensive parts of this is actually cleaning the gas from its form as biogas from this digester into pipeline-quality natural gas,” Westerbeek continued.

Both he and Childress along with their bosses believe it’s a worthy investment leading to clean energy, plus economic benefits for their companies, rural America and the general public.

This seems like a win-win situation. Now if we can just do the same thing with cows…

We Need A Wall

Posted on by

The following was posted at CBN recently:

As President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats remain at an apparent impasse over the border wall, the commander in chief is drawing criticism for shutting down the government. Others, however, insist the wall is necessary, saying the president must stand up for national security.

CBN News‘ Charlene Aaron spoke with Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney about why he believes it’s so important for the president to win this particular battle over immigration.

I realize that a five minute video is a lot to post on a blog, but it is worth listening to. Frank Gaffney has been involved in national security for a long time and knows what he is talking about.

Why All Congressional Bills Need To Be Read Carefully

Posted on by

CBN News reported today on an unnoticed item in the tax cut bill passed by Congress this year.

The article reports:

Churches and non-profit organizations are calling for the repeal of a provision in the GOP’s tax cuts law that would force ministries to file federal tax returns, and in some cases pay taxes.

Last winter, as lawmakers touted the tax savings in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts, no one mentioned this new federal tax on local churches. But for non-profits like Christian ministries, that little-known provision in the legislation has become a big cause for concern.

…Under the new tax plan, churches, hospitals, colleges and other historically tax-exempt groups must pay a 21 percent tax on some benefits they provide their employees, such as parking, transportation and other related benefits.

Dan Busby is president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. He says churches weren’t expecting to get hit with – of all things – an income tax bill, and this one could be a huge burden on groups that have historically enjoyed tax-exempt status.
 
“There are nearly 15 million employees that work in the United States for nonprofits – nearly 10 percent of the workforce – so that’s 15 million parking places. And conservatively, it’s going to cost the non-profit community as a whole up to a billion dollars,” Busby said.

That’s a lot of money for ministries that rely on donations. In response to the news, the ECFA put out a petition that churches and nonprofits can sign to protest the employee parking tax. 

“Tax practitioners who have evaluated Section 512(a) (7) generally believe that the result of this new provision is that tax‐exempt organizations that provide parking to their employees will be subject to unrelated business income tax on the cost of the parking provided. A nonprofit organization that simply allows its employees to park in a parking lot or garage that is part of the organization’s facilities will be subject to a tax on the cost of the parking provided,” the ECFA explained in a position statement available for download on its website.

This is the link to sign the petition against the new tax  –  https://www.ecfa.org/DocSig.aspx

Taxing churches on their staff parking places has to be one of the dumbest ideas I have ever encountered.

The Consequences Of Letting Everyone In The Same Bathroom

Posted on by

The bathroom bill (should be locker room bill) passed in North Carolina has caused a lot of controversy. This article is based on two articles, one posted at CBN News today and one posted at Lady Liberty 1885.

The article at Lady Liberty 1885 includes the following video (also posted on YouTube):

As the video points out, women need a safe space to change clothes or go to the bathroom. I can’t imagine thinking parents wanting their teenage daughters to share locker rooms with teenage boys.

There has been another interesting example of the fallout of this law.

CBN News is reporting today:

A former state executive director of the ACLU has resigned because her own daughters were frightened when transgendered men entered the women’s bathroom.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been a champion of transgender bathroom rights. Former director of the Georgia ACLU chapter Maya Dillard Smith says she is resigned after her daughters’ experience in a public bathroom.

“I have shared my personal experience of having taken my elementary school age daughters into a women’s restroom when shortly after three transgender young adults, over six-feet tall with deep voices, entered,” Smith wrote in a statement.

“My children were visibly frightened, concerned about their safety and left asking lots of questions for which I, like many parents, was ill-prepared to answer,” she continued.

She also said the incident highlighted the ALCU‘s “hierarchy of rights.”

She wrote in a statement that the ACLU is “a special interest organization that promotes not all, but certain progressive rights….based on who is funding the organization’s lobbying activities.”

Transgender people constitute a very small percentage of our population. They deserve to be respected and not bullied, but their desires should not be used to put the safety of other Americans in jeopardy. The transgenders themselves are not the issue–it’s the people who will use the issue for their own nefarious purposes.