The Patriot Post® · Pelosi Uses Virus Bill to Spread Abortion
Congress’s coronavirus bill was supposed to be about saving lives – not taking them! But tell that to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who doesn’t seem to mind exploiting a global tragedy to help out her pals at Planned Parenthood. Turns out, while Democrats are bashing the president for not working fast enough, they’re bogging down the debate with secret language on abortion.
The revelations shouldn’t have caught anyone by surprise, but when a White House official broke the news that Pelosi tried to bury taxpayer-funded abortion in the stimulus bill, even MSNBC was stunned. Openly liberal host Joy Reid didn’t hold back her amazement, tweeting, “Wow… @kasie just reported that Republicans’ objections to the House Democrats’ emergency coronavirus bill include issues related to abortion. What does that have to do with COVID19…?”
Absolutely nothing, which is why so many Republicans – including the president – were so frustrated. Asked if he supported Pelosi’s first proposal, the president didn’t mince words. “No,” he fired back, “because there are things that are in there that have nothing to do with what we are talking about.” The original 124-pager wasn’t serious, he said. This crisis is not the time “for them to get some of the goodies that they haven’t been able to get for the past 25 years.” Not only is blowing a hole in the Hyde amendment the surest way to stop progress, it’s also the best way to out themselves as hypocrites. “Pelosi wanted to sneak in a billion dollars in funding for abortion programs through the coronavirus stimulus package. Don’t ever tell me the Democrats aren’t politicizing this situation,” Human Rights editor Ian Cheong argued.
Even more astounding, Pelosi had the nerve to stand in front of the press and argue that this bill was about “putting families first.” If her colleagues had objections, she challenged, they should “save it.” “We need to just make a decision to help families right now…” If she really believed that, House Minority Steve Scalise (R-La.) wanted to know, why was she trying to stuff the stimulus with “liberal fantasies that have nothing to do with the coronavirus?” Simple. Because even in a crisis, the only economy Democrats care about is the abortion industry’s.
As for the rest of the deal, “a sweeping, multibillion-dollar package that would guarantee free testing for all Americans – including the uninsured – expand worker protections such as sick leave and unemployment insurance,” Republicans are hopeful it will be the first wave of real and tangible help. Still, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) explained on Thursday’s “Washington Watch,” there are lingering concerns about what else was hurried along behind closed doors.
“Congress does its best work,” he explained on Thursday’s “Washington Watch,” “when we work in the daylight – when we hold hearings, get subject matter experts, and [testimony]. Then we make our decisions based upon facts. This,” he warned, “is anything but that. This was something written in the speaker’s office and delivered to us at 11:15 [Wednesday] night… So there are a number of open questions and we’re being asked to render judgments or opinions really without a great deal of knowledge. That’s unfortunate. And I’d lay that at the feet of the speaker. That’s not the president has caused that. That’s the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives.”
For Pelosi’s party, who’s desperately tried to turn this crisis to their political advantage, they’ve not done their cause any favors. “There is so much bad blood in Washington,” the New York Post bemoans, “and the leading Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, [have] further poisoned the well by attacking Trump mercilessly on his initial handling of the coronavirus. Right out of the gate, they sounded as if they wanted to impeach him again instead of helping him find solutions. So they, too, now face a crisis of their leadership. Will they help fight this killer disease and try to calm the nation? Or will they continue to abdicate their governing responsibilities and put their partisan interests ahead of the nation’s well-being?”
We’ll see. But their first attempts at “bipartisanship” sure don’t look promising.
Originally published here.
Open the Doors and See All the People
For pastors across the country, the coronavirus is creating a different kind of crisis. Through any other national disaster, emergency, or terrorist attack, the mission of the church seemed clear: to be a refuge, a help, a haven. Now, with governors like Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) calling on sanctuaries to close their doors, Christian leaders are facing a new challenge – how to respond when the threat is in our pews?
Like a lot of people, Kentucky’s Pastor Aaron Harvie, couldn’t understand why Beshear was singling out churches to begin with. If there’s a mandate, he said, his church would obey it. I agree. But why target sanctuaries and not schools? “I’d ask the governor,” Harvie said, “Who were your advisers?” he said. “These are areas that you’re treading into of which you don’t actually have direct responsibility or authority.” Besides, he pointed out, “If we shut down services, it would add to fear.”
To be fair, Harvie told me on “Washington Watch,” he appreciates the governor taking the virus seriously. “But… we are called upon, in his word in Hebrews 10, to gather together in His name. And that is a demonstration of faith and trust.” For his Highview Baptist Church, one of the largest in Kentucky, Pastor Harvie is stressing wisdom. And he’s right. If you’re sick or in a vulnerable group, stay home and watch online. But in times like these, it’s important for everyone come together and for the spiritual leaders of this country to project a sense of confidence that God is in control.
“We are going to be cautious,” Aaron insisted, but in the end, “We’re not going to allow fear to rule the day. We are called upon to live by faith, not by sight. If faith is trust in conviction, that leads to action… [And that action should be the] lifting up and exalting the name of Jesus… I think we can make a tremendous statement of faith by gathering together and say the Lord is in control. He has defeated sin and death and our faith and hope is resting in Him and Him alone.”
The Lord, he insisted, inhabits the praises of His people. It’s how He reveals himself. And right now, more than ever, we need His revelation. We need his peace and comfort. In these days of great anxiety, Christians – of all people – can have confidence. When churches don’t meet, the people aren’t the only ones who suffer. So does their ministry – because, as Secretary Ben Carson reminded us all on Thursday’s “Washington Watch,” the church’s role extends well beyond the Sunday worship hour.
Dr. Carson, who’s part of the vice president’s taskforce on the coronavirus, thinks America’s churches should be ramping up their efforts to help the needy. And with the uncertainty over the economy, there may be a lot more needy to care about. Just a few days ago, the secretary met with a large number of pastors from all over the country. And despite everything that’s going on, he thinks there’s a lot of work churches could be doing. The hurting and suffering people in this world don’t go away when the churches close their doors. They just have fewer options. So Secretary Carson is putting together a plan to keep congregations focused on the good they could be doing.
“We will actually be rolling out, very shortly, a challenge to all places of worship to adopt one homeless person or one homeless family – with the goal of making them self-sufficient within a year.” He says that he’s already seen some examples of this in places around the country, and it’s “absolutely magnificent,” because, as Dr. Carson explains, “These congregations have a lot of expertise in all different areas. And when they adopt a person or family, they’re quickly able to find solutions that are that work and help get these people into the right position. And you know, what we have to recognize is: isn’t that one of the real responsibilities of churches? You look at James 1:27, this is pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this ‘to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’”
Well, there is certainly plenty of affliction now, as we fight for the health of our nation. Which is why, as our pastors gather Christians all around the country this Sunday, I encourage them to make this weekend a time of prayer for our nation, for our families, our neighbors, our communities. Together, let’s heed the instruction of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians and not let anxiety overcome us, but rather, let us together give thanks that we live in a nation where we can openly seek God, get on our knees, and ask Him to intervene and stop this virus.
Originally published here.
Nike: Official Sponsor of Team Transgenderism
Nike doesn’t care what happens to people in their factories, so why should they care what happens to children at home? Bottom line: they don’t. When the retail giant isn’t pumping out shoes stitched together by China’s Uyghur slaves, they’re back in America arguing that we should let kids ruin their lives because it might be good for business. If there’s one thing this brand must not care about, it’s appearances.
The last three months have been pretty revealing for the Nike crowd. As if the anti-American, phony social justice warrior act wasn’t enough, they started tackling other hugely unpopular agendas: fighting adoption, girls’ sports, and now parents’ rights and kids’ health. After turning a blind eye to the atrocities in China, which they are directly or indirectly facilitating, now the company seems intent on ignoring the dangers of hurting children. In Alabama, one of the states trying to stop children from rushing into transgender surgery and hormones, Nike is leading the corporate march to put the scalpel back in doctors’ hands.
They don’t care that there’s no scientific evidence proving these treatments are safe. They don’t care that 98 percent of boys and 88 percent of girls grow out of it. Or that it’s been called “child abuse” by the American College of Pediatricians. They don’t even care that hundreds of teenagers who’ve transitioned are pleading with adults to stop others from making the mistake. What do they care about? Nothing – except the approval of LGBT activists.
Amazingly, Nike and 39 other companies are willing to stake their public image on a bill that doesn’t outlaw transgender treatment – it just asks that minors wait to have it. If we tell kids they can’t get a tattoo until they’re 18 or drink until they’re 21, what’s the problem with asking them to postpone the mutilation of their bodies until they’re mature enough to make that decision? These brands disagree. They think we should lock children into these decisions and force them to live with the scars long after the confusion wears off. Which – as so much of the research points out – it does. What then?
Parents of the teenagers who’ve walked that path will tell you what’s next: heartbreak. “Once we have cut that beautiful body, when the voice is permanently broken, the beard is there for good, the breasts are gone, what happens if the body was never wrong to start with? What will you tell the daughters [who] realize, too late, that they have destroyed their ability to bear children, or to nurse them?”
But Nike doesn’t care about kids – a fact it proved with its adoption stunt in Tennessee. It appears these corporate giants have become nothing more than hosts for the radical LGBT agenda. So, in a letter to Alabama lawmakers, it argued that asking kids to wait until they’re 19 to permanently destroy their bodies would “harm our team members and their families.” They would feel “unwelcome,” the businesses insisted, “at risk” even.
That’s interesting, FRC’s Peter Sprigg points out, since there’s absolutely nothing in this proposal that would stop kids from making a social transition on gender. “Children are free to… change the way they wear the hair, to change the style of clothing they wear, to change their name, to ask their local school to identify them as the opposite sex, and so forth. Nothing in this bill would prevent that at all. Nothing in this bill would prevent adults who have reached the age of maturity from being able to have these radical medical transitions or medical procedures themselves if they choose to as adults.” In other words, nothing about this is radical. All it does is target extreme “medical interventions that harm the bodies of children – of minors – who really are not capable of giving informed consent to this kind of procedure.”
Nike, Apple, and Microsoft – who, ironically, are all part of the forced labor scheme in China – insist this will make “job recruitment” difficult. How, no one is quite sure. The coalition doesn’t qualify that or any of the other outlandish claims they make. “These measures,” they write, “can place substantial burdens on the families of our employees.” Which burdens, exactly? Is that what they call stopping sons and daughters from making monumental mistakes?
The fact of the matter is, the LGBT activists at Nike have become masters of economic blackmail, since they can’t persuade anyone on the actual merits. That’s how they get state and local legislators to bow to their will on public policy issues. In this case, Peter warns Alabama, “Don’t believe the lies of the LGBT activists or succumb to the arm-twisting by corporations that do their bidding. Do not sell the safety of your state’s children for an imaginary bump in its gross domestic product.” Judging by their hypocrisy overseas, that’s the last thing any of them needs.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.