If you’re looking for respect from the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton says you’ve come to the wrong place. In a damaging sit-down with CNN, the former First Lady didn’t do the Left any favors when she insisted that liberals should only act decently when they’re winning. (Something her interview may have just put on hold indefinitely.)

“You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about,” Clinton said to the gasps of plenty in her own party. “That’s why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again.” But given what we’ve seen over the last two years I don’t think the Left is even capable of civility at this point! We’ve seen leftists call for the assassination of the president, Brett Kavanaugh, and issued death threats to Senate Republicans. And instead of condemning the aggression, one of the faces of the Democratic Party is encouraging more of it.

“Seriously, Hillary?” tweeted House Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who barely survived a shooting that was inspired by the kind of hostility Hillary is advocating. There is absolutely no place, Scalise has said, “for violence or threats in our political discourse.” But as far as Clinton is concerned, these shootings, flash mobs, arrests, and threats are the price of controlling Congress.

For Kelley Paul, and other high-profile Republican spouses, it’s a price that no American family should have to pay. In an open letter to Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) — the man who urged liberals to “get up in the face of congresspeople” — she explains that she has to keep a loaded gun by her pillow, because of some in Booker’s party who’ve done a lot more than get up in her husband’s face. They’ve leaked her personal address to people who have no intention of playing nice.

“It’s nine o'clock at night, and as I watch out the window, a sheriff’s car slowly drives past my home. I am grateful that they have offered to do extra patrols, as someone just posted our home address, and Rand’s cell number, on the internet — all part of a broader effort to intimidate and threaten Republican members of Congress and their families. I now keep a loaded gun by my bed. Our security systems have had to be expanded. I have never felt this way in my life.”

“In the last 18 months,” Kelley writes, “our family has experienced violence and threats of violence at a horrifying level.” She ends the letter by asking Senator Booker to retract his statement, to “condemn violence, the leaking of elected officials’ personal addresses (our address was leaked from a Senate directory given only to senators), and the intimidation and threats that are being hurled at them and their families.” He never replied.

Instead, Kelley listened — with every other American — as another Democrat issued her own license for violence. “When you’re dealing with an ideological party that is driven by the lust for power, that is funded by corporate interests who want a government that does its bidding… you can’t overcome what they intend to do unless you win elections,” Hillary said. It was an incredible statement, since almost everything she said applied exclusively to Democrats.

Wasn’t it a lust for power that drove Senate liberals to leak a month-old letter to the press — against Dr. Christine Ford’s wishes — to try to destroy Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation? Hasn’t it been corporate America who’s done the Left’s bidding on liberal social policies like gender-free bathrooms, open borders, religious censorship, and the national anthem? Isn’t it Silicon Valley that’s working behind the scenes to suppress the conservative voice, while places like Google vow to “use the great strength and resources and reach we have to continue to advance” progressive values?

Hillary did get one thing right: you have to win elections. But in times like these, the message of “more incivility” is hardly the way to go about it. “She told CNN exactly how she views millions of Americans who hold different political views than her own,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor. “No peace until they get their way? More of these unhinged tactics? Apparently, these are the Left’s rallying cries.”

Originally published here.

Hollywood’s Real Kryptonite: Tolerance

If you thought being a conservative in America was hard, try being one in Hollywood. It takes real courage to stand up in a culture that’s suffocatingly liberal and challenge the norms on issues like ours. Ask Dean Cain. The former Superman star almost had to be made of steel to withstand the number of attacks fired his way just for doing what other celebrities are applauded for: speaking his mind.

Like other Hollywood conservatives, Dean is used to the harassment in an industry where your liberal credentials are almost as important as your acting ones. When he came to this year’s Values Voter Summit to talk about his new film Gosnell, he knew how the Left would react. For days leading up to VVS — and every week since — his Twitter page has been lit up by people who can’t understand the concept of open debate. He was threatened, harassed, called intolerant (and much worse) by a social media mob bent on forcing him to back down.

He didn’t.

“I will happily defend the things that I say, and the things that I stand for,” he told the crowd at VVS. “I take that sort of heat and abuse every single day, but it doesn’t bother me in the least…it doesn’t make me mad, it just shows people’s intolerance towards listening to another opinion. Just the fact that I’m here, just the fact that I’m here people were blowing me up all day long with the most ridiculous things that you could ever hear. Talk about intolerance. It’s ridiculous. I take heat. It doesn’t bother me, I welcome it, because I sleep well at night. I know I’m doing something that matches my convictions and my heart and I’ll happily defend the things that I say and I stand for.”

It’s been three weeks since the Summit, and some people in Hollywood still can’t let it go. Yesterday, the Hollywood Reporter leaked a video of actor Tom Arnold getting in Cain’s face for associating with FRC. “@RealDeanCain is another @realDonaldTrump loving fake Christian coward which makes Dean Cain anti-LGBTQ & racist. #complicit,” he posted (and later deleted). In person, things got even more heated.

“The onus for Arnold’s tweet,” according to onlookers, “was his objection to Cain appearing at the Values Voter Summit, hosted by conservative Christian group the Family Research Council.” In an R-rated tirade, Arnold says FRC is what makes teenagers kill themselves. “They try to keep them out of f—ing schools… Don’t be with them. If I was with Nazis, if I go to their convention, they’re like that, Dean, I’m telling you. They’re that bad. They’re hurting people.”

“I speak my mind,” Dean fired back. Both men were in a Glendale studio as part of a “Larry King Now” show, where Dean was on hand to promote his new movie, Gosnell, about real-life serial killer/abortionist Kermit Gosnell. “It’s a s—t-f—king movie,” Arnold says. “I was giving him a break by not assuming he was stupid about FRC, which I do liken to Nazis… now I see he’s one of them. He played this icon, Superman, but he’s an idiot.”

This from the “tolerant” Left! And, of course, the greatest irony is that the Nazis are the ones who wanted to exterminate millions of people. We’re trying to protect them, protect life, and protect women. If you’re looking for supremacists, try the roots of the abortion movement and the eugenics of Margaret Sanger. This pioneer of the Planned Parenthood ethic was crystal clear about her motivations. “We don’t want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,” she wrote. Even today, 79 percent of the group’s surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of black or Hispanic neighborhoods. And Hollywood is calling us racist? Planned Parenthood takes the lives of 247 black babies every day. Where is Tom Arnold’s outrage about that?

Dean Cain has done nothing but try to have an honest conversation about the state of our culture. You can help him by going out and supporting the opening weekend of Gosnell. Hollywood hates the truth — so go see the movie that helps spread it about abortion. Click here to find one of the 600 theaters closest to you!

Originally published here.

U.K. Court on a Roll with Bakery Ruling

LGBT activists used to complain that Americans were behind the times when it came to issues like same-sex marriage. Now, three years after Obergefell, it seems the U.S. is the one out of step!

Most countries, the State Department will tell you, have never legalized same-sex marriage. Only about 12 percent of the U.N. member nations even allow it. And this week, Americans got another reminder of how conservative the world is on the issue yesterday, when the U.K. Supreme Court ruled unanimously for two Christian bakers who’d been sued for refusing to make a cake with the words “Support Gay Marriage” on the top.

Like the U.S.‘s Jack Phillips, their issue wasn’t with the customer — it was with the message. As a Bible-believing couple, the owners of Asher’s Bakery explained that the idea conflicted with their faith and offered to give the client a refund. But it wasn’t a refund he wanted — it was revenge. Gareth Lee decided to file a discrimination complaint with the local Equality Commission, demanding that the bakery fill the request or explain themselves in court. For four years, the family fought for the right to live out their faith at work.

And now, thanks to the country’s Supreme Court, they can. “I know a lot of people will be glad to hear this ruling today,” Asher’s manager Daniel McArthur told reporters, “because [it] protects freedom of speech and freedom of conscience for everyone.” The result is even more amazing when you consider that the U.K. lacks a lot of the First Amendment freedoms we enjoy. As FRC’s Travis Weber said, “This is really good news. Not much good for religious freedom has come out of Western Europe in recent years, but this result is certainly promising to see.”

Originally published here.

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