Planned Parenthood’s Planned Payoff for Senate Dems
Long before the president even made his Supreme Court pick, both sides knew what it would mean. And despite whatever allegations have been made, the bottom line is the same today as it was when Justice Kennedy retired.
Long before the president even made his Supreme Court pick, both sides knew what it would mean. And despite whatever allegations have been made, the bottom line is the same today as it was when Justice Kennedy retired. The battle for this seat is not about one person. It’s about 60 million — all victims of the type of assault Democrats are desperate to protect: Abortion.
This isn’t about fighting violence — this is about sustaining it against the most defenseless among us. If Americans have forgotten that, it’s because the Left served up its best distraction of all — a sexual abuse allegation it knew Republicans wouldn’t ignore because most conservatives have a genuine respect and concern for others. Now, two weeks into a methodical smear campaign that has shown no basis in fact, Democrats have proven that they’re willing to destroy a man for the “right” to keep destroying children. For the Left, Dr. Ford’s allegations are just a convenient cover for their ultimate goal: to preserve and protect abortion at all costs.
“This story doesn’t have anything to do with justice actually or even with what Brett Kavanaugh may have done in high school,” Fox News’s Tucker Carlson argued. “Underneath it all, anyone who lives in Washington can tell you, it’s about abortion. Does anyone really believe the story would have surfaced if Brett Kavanaugh had pledged allegiance to Roe v Wade? Of course, it wouldn’t have.” Remember, Tucker points out:
“Some of the very same people suggesting that Kavanaugh is a sex criminal once defended Bill Clinton when he was credibly accused of rape… And yet Clinton supported abortion in all cases and therefore the left treated [him] as a [hero], and swept — speaking of under the rug — [his] crimes into the dustbin of memory. Kavanaugh, though, may not support Roe v Wade, we don’t really know. Therefore, he must be destroyed. It’s pretty straightforward. Whatever the story is, it’s not about protecting women. Don’t buy that spin.”
If that doesn’t convince you, the money should. CNS News just uncovered this interesting little tidbit. The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who are fighting Kavanaugh the fiercest are also the ones getting the richest off Planned Parenthood’s political donations. Turns out, America’s biggest abortion business, its employees, and their families have been surprisingly busy writing checks to liberals on the committee – $29,961 this year alone. All told, Kavanaugh’s committee foes have raked in a whopping $126,886. That’s quite a coincidence, don’t you think?
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), one of Kavanaugh’s most vocal opponents, has banked $30,500 from Planned Parenthood affiliates — more than any other member of the Senate Judiciary Committee has received in the years since 1990. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who took the judge to task on Roe v. Wade during his initial confirmation hearing, has enjoyed a tidy $21,710. You name them — Senator Sheldon White House (D-R.I.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Christopher Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), they all profit from keeping a strict constructionist like Kavanaugh off the court.
While we look at teenagers’ calendars and high school yearbooks, let’s not forget what this whole nomination is about — “the super-precedent,” as Feinstein called it, of court-ordered abortion. Roe v. Wade, Casey v. Planned Parenthood, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, those are the crown jewels of judicial activism. Next to same-sex marriage, there’s nothing liberals will go to the mat for more. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s Brett Kavanaugh or someone else — Senate Democrats will never tolerate anyone, or anything, standing in abortion’s way.
To say that Democrats’ biggest concern is Dr. Ford is absurd, as Jennifer Braceras writes in the Boston Globe. “Feinstein played Ford like a pawn.” Her interests “were purely political: fire up the ‘resistance,’ bring home a high-profile scalp for the #MeToo movement, and shore up the left flank in order to fend off a progressive Senate challenger… Ms. Feinstein and her Democratic colleagues don’t care whether they re-traumatized Ford, destroyed the reputation of a faithful public servant, or destroyed the credibility of our public institutions. Because, well, abortion. Welcome to the Resistance.”
That two people’s lives were virtually ruined in the process is collateral damage the Left doesn’t mind. Because in the end, abortion is a business. And so, apparently, are the politics of protecting it.
Originally published here.
A Volunteers Opportunity from SCOTUS
There are plenty of reasons to be grateful that Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election. But one of the biggest is almost certainly on First Street, NE in Washington, D.C. At least one justice working inside that Supreme Court would be different. And the outcomes of a Clinton-shaped SCOTUS would be even more so.
When the high court kicked off its fall term on Monday, who knows what the result would have been for a state like Tennessee if Donald Trump weren’t president? Because of strict constructionists like Neil Gorsuch, the state can finally celebrate the end of a long, 18-year battle against abortion.
Since 2000, the state had been fighting to strip the “right” to abortion out of the state’s constitution. Four years ago, they succeeded, putting an amendment on the ballot that made it quite clear: “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.” The people, it went on — not the courts — “retain the right through their elected state representatives or state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.”
Fifty-three percent of the state voted to adopt Amendment 1, which helped unlock a door to more pro-life laws in the state — like longer waiting periods. Of course, abortion activists were furious and took the ballot initiative to court. After working its way up to the Sixth Circuit, which sided with Tennesseans, liberals tried the only option left: SCOTUS. To their disappointment, the justices refused to hear the case — leaving the appeals court ruling in place and handing pro-lifers a victory almost two decades in the making.
Across the state, people celebrated. “Now we have to continue to work for the day when every life is again protected by the laws of our state and nation,” said pro-lifer Brian Harris. State Attorney General Herbert Slatery pointed out that this was exactly what Amendment was all about. “This is a confirmation of the State’s position from the outset: a state, and not a federal court, should decide how votes are counted under its own Constitution.”
We celebrate with our pro-life friends in Tennessee and we congratulate the Family Action Council of Tennessee that help lead the way on Amendment 1 — a job well done! But in the celebration, pause for just a moment and imagine if Hillary Clinton had nominated another abortion activist to the Court. The majority would have almost certainly thrown the amendment out. That is, in a very real way, what’s at stake in these next few weeks. Donald Trump may be president until 2020, but his ability to confirm constitutionalists — at every level of our courts — hangs by a Senate thread. Think elections don’t matter? Think again.
Originally published here.
Violence, Threats, and the Christian Response
Being conservative is a dangerous business these days. Congressman Andy Harris (R-Md.) is the latest Republican to find that out, Capitol Police say. A clash over marijuana policy outside Dr. Harris’s office turned violent when a group of protestors stormed into Harris’s office and assaulted him. Huffington Post reporter Jennifer Bendery was there and tweeted that Congressman Harris was “trying to hold his office door closed but was not successful.” The demonstrators, she insisted, “were smoking weed.”
Across town, officials were busy investigating at least two packages of ricin that had been sent to Defense Secretary James Mattis and Admiral John Richardson. Even a pin-head amount of the poison, authorities say, can be deadly. Apparently, someone else had the same idea at the White House, where the U.S. Secret Service said Donald Trump received a “suspicious envelope” of its own. Republican Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) Houston office rounded out the scares, when a “white powdery substance” put the area on lockdown until authorities confirmed that it wasn’t dangerous.
And elected officials aren’t the only targets of this violent wave. Yesterday, University of Texas conservatives had pro-Kavanaugh signs ripped out of their hands at a rally and torn into pieces, while liberal students screamed profanity. Then, of course, there are the online threats, like transgender activist Emily Gorcenski, who asked on Twitter if everyone was going to “be down for a violent general strike” if Kavanaugh is confirmed. Followed by Smash Racism founder Mike Isaacson, who called on people to “to kill your local politicians before they kill you.”
It’s a world that seemed inconceivable just a few short years ago. Even under President Obama, one of the most divisive leaders in U.S. history, conservatives weren’t bursting into congressional offices to hurt the Democrats they disagreed with. That’s probably because we understand that democracy isn’t supposed to work that way. You don’t target and harass people to get what you want. Sure, you get involved and speak up — but not as aggressively or as violently as we’ve seen from the other side.
By and large, I think that’s because conservatives operate out of a general respect for everyone. We may not agree with people, but we don’t reduce them to the sum total of their beliefs either. As Christians, we know that everyone has inherent value because they’re created in the image of God. And whether or not liberals believe in that God doesn’t make their worth any less real.
Obviously, emotions are running high right now — but we can never lose sight of what’s most important: that God so loved the world that He sent his only Son. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be motivated politically. By all means, be passionate; be engaged. But remember that behind every issue are people who need a Savior. Never in my lifetime has that been more obvious than now.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.
