No wonder there are so many anti-Trump protests. Apparently, there’s good money to be made in joining them! Barely a week after his election, Donald Trump is already creating jobs. Thanks to Planned Parenthood Action, Americans can make a good living joining their phony demonstrations against the president-elect. Craigslist ads like “STOP TRUMP — up to $1,500/week. Hiring immediately. Call today, start tomorrow! $15-18 hourly rate + bonus + overtime, up to 77 hours per week!” have been running in major cities like Denver and Philadelphia for weeks. Clearly, the end of the election has only been the beginning of another phase of manufactured outrage.

“I wouldn’t be shocked that this group is going the extra mile to undermine the legitimate transfer of power,” said former senator Scott Brown, who watched the marches sweep through his own city of Boston. “It comes to question whether they are using taxpayer money appropriately or even legally. This goes above and beyond their duty and ability to provide services for women.”

Of course, questions have been swirling around Planned Parenthood’s use of taxpayer dollars for years. And while it’s illegal for Cecile Richards’ group to spend a penny of the government’s money on political advocacy, a full bank account certainly gives them the flexibility to. The reality is this: Any group that can afford to spend $30 million influencing an election doesn’t need a half-billion in taxpayer assistance. For too long, Americans have been on the hook for the group’s corruption while women who need honest and safe care take a backseat to Planned Parenthood’s politics. (And unpopular politics at that!)

In the meantime, talk about an embarrassing display of the Left’s crumbling support. Cecile Richards’ group is so desperate for “followers” that it has to invent some. The Craigslist ads are exposing this movement for the mirage it is. This is exactly the kind of deceptiveness that we’ve come to expect from the Left. In this just-finished election Americans had a front-row seat to the dirty tricks liberals were using to disrupt Trump rallies — and worse, cheat the system. Thanks to undercover videos by James O'Keefe, voters learned that liberals were even willing to pay the “mentally ill” to disrupt Trump rallies in many cases with the full knowledge of the DNC and Clinton campaign.

A report by Fox News, based on arrest records of those arrested during a demonstration against Trump in Portland, showed that less than half voted. Something isn’t right when people will go to the trouble of protesting — and even getting arrested — but they won’t exercise their most basic and fundamental right as a citizen to vote. The bottom line: Don’t allow the manufactured outrage of the Left to mislead you into thinking that this effort is anything more than a vocal, well-funded minority.

Originally published here.

Florist Puts the Petal to the Mettle

Same-sex marriage isn’t about building homes — it’s about destroying them. Ask Barronelle Stutzman. The Christian florist has been struggling to hang on to a lot more than her business for following her faith on marriage. Three and a half long years into her legal battle to preserve Arlene’s Flowers, Barronelle took her turn at the Washington Supreme Court [Tuesday], where she hoped to undo the damage done by a lower court that found her guilty of “discrimination” for politely declining to make the arrangements for the same-sex wedding of a longtime gay customer.

Although she was more than willing to sell the couple flowers, Barronelle carefully explained that using her talents to celebrate the union was a violation of her biblical beliefs. “I waited on Rob for nine years and created flowers for him on all types of occasions, but when it comes to my faith, marriage is between a man and a woman, and that’s where the line is drawn. I cannot create something for him in good faith; I wouldn’t be honoring God’s Word.”

Now, the lifetime florist and grandmother risks losing her shop, her home and her freedom under the state’s strong-arm tactics. Fortunately, in this fight — not just against the state, but, in an unusual step, the state’s attorney general — she has Alliance Defending Freedom representing her. During oral arguments, her attorneys, including Kristen Waggoner, made the case that no citizen should be strong-armed to create expressions against their will. As Barronelle said, “I wasn’t offered a settlement. I was offered an ultimatum: ‘Either you will do as I tell you to do; you will think the way I think; you will perform the way I think you should perform and create. And if you don’t, I’m going to destroy you.’”

Outside the courtroom, supporters held signs that read, “Let Freedom Bloom.” Inside, the bench went back and forth on the line between “discrimination” and “religious liberty.” At one point, Justice Steven Gonzalez asked “if a new agency of government is needed ‘to decide which beliefs are sincerely held and which are simply bigotry’?” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who took the rare step of suing Barronelle personally, said “I believe she is engaging in a form of expression” but insisted that “it is not compelled speech.” What part of “serve this couple or lose your home” is not compelled? Meanwhile, in a powerful piece for the Spokesman-Review, called “My Case Should Concern Everyone,” Barronelle explained what’s at stake for every American.

“I’m not asking for anything that our Constitution hasn’t promised me — and you: the right to create freely, and to live out my faith without fear of government punishment or interference. Does anyone really believe that a government that gives itself the power to force people to believe (and not believe) things and can order artists to create state-sanctioned messages will only use that power to bend one small-town florist to its will – and then leave everyone else alone? If not, then I respectfully suggest that, even if you don’t agree with my faith, you should still hope I win this case. For your sake, as well as mine — because all of our freedoms are at stake.”

Originally published here.

NC Liberals: Out for the Count

If you can’t win the election, steal it! That’s been a strategy of some on the Left for decades, and in North Carolina plenty of voters are wondering if the same hijinks are taking place in the hotly contested race for governor. For conservatives, who watched incumbent Pat McCrory (R) take a sizeable lead well into the counted precincts, it was a shock to see the last minute, inexplicable surge for his opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper. Later, voters learned that because of some “technical glitches,” a heavily Democratic Durham County had petitioned to stay open later — a clear advantage for the trailing liberal. An emergency appeal to the state Board of Elections demanding that polls stay open an extra hour was granted, resulting in a flood of last-minute Cooper ballots.

As if that weren’t fishy enough, the county already has a history of foul play. “A Superior Court Judge was recently quoted as saying, ‘Durham historically hasn’t figured out how to carry out an election properly.’ Also, the State Bureau of Investigation has opened up an investigation of the processing of provisional and absentee ballots.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only inconsistency in an election separated by barely 5,000 votes. “In the final days of the campaign, the NAACP won a court order for thousands of North Carolinians to be reinstated on voter rolls,” Bloomberg pointed out.

[Tuesday], deep into a statewide recount that may not yield a winner until Thanksgiving, officials are uncovering even more suspicious activity. In Bladen County, the plot is thickening as “hundreds of fraudulent Cooper ballots were discovered.” In a race where the slimmest of margins separates the candidates, every vote counts. And to ensure that those votes are legitimate ones, the legal counsel of Gov. McCrory is protesting. “With hundreds of fraudulent votes found in just one North Carolina County for a straight Democratic ticket, close examination of this election is required to make sure the true winner of this election is properly determined… The staggering evidence of voter fraud in Bladen County and the number of similar PACs that the North Carolina Democratic Party donated to shortly before the start of early vote requires close examination throughout the state.”

As Susan Wright points out, “[T]he ballots were reviewed by a forensic handwriting expert, who corroborated that the ballots were filled out by the same people. It gets even shadier. Absentee ballots require two witnesses to sign off on their authenticity, unless a notary signs as witness. The witnesses who signed off on these ballots have all received financial compensation from the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC, for ‘Get Out the Vote’ efforts, according to financial disclosures.”

As conservatives know, North Carolina has been crucial — not only for its impact on the presidential race (which may have very well decided it) but for its significance to the entire safety and privacy debate forced on the country by Obama’s bathroom mandate. There’s nothing the Left would like more than to knock out a stalwart like McCrory, whose courage in this H.B. 2 firestorm has sparked a national movement of pushback. We continue to pray for a fair and honest result in North Carolina, where standing for freedom and well-being of the state is rewarded.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.