Planned Parenthood Ditches Sanger, Keeps Philosophy
Two weeks ago, while statues were being roped down and schools were racing to change their “offensive” namesakes, Alexandria Desanctis wondered, “How long will Margaret Sanger last?” Surely, in the rush to erase the racists, the founder of Planned Parenthood was at the top of someone’s list. “She was, after all, a foremost proponent of the eugenics movement — motivated by her particular animus toward poor non-whites.” Now, after more than 100 years of defending that legacy, at least one New York location has had enough.
It had been a long time coming. Just last month, Alexandria points out, 350 current and former staffers of Planned Parenthood had written the Greater New York chapter a letter condemning Sanger’s “institutionalized racism.” “We know that Planned Parenthood has a history and a present steeped in white supremacy and we, the staff, are motivated to do the difficult work needed to improve,” the letter added.
Either in response to the internal pressure — or the culture’s — Manhattan’s branch conceded. “The removal of Margaret Sanger’s name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood’s contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color,” said the chair of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York’s board.
Of course, as far as most people are concerned, Sanger’s name is easy to change. A business model that preys on minority women isn’t. In New York City, statistics will tell you, the most dangerous place for a black baby is in the womb. The Planned Parenthood abortion centers there — conveniently located in minority neighborhoods — make sure more African-American children are killed than born in the city every year.
And it’s not just New York City. As many as 80 percent of the group’s abortion facilities across the country are in minority neighborhoods, FRC’s Dean Nelson pointed out on “Washington Watch.” “And so, even if they acknowledge [Sanger’s past], they still have yet to really acknowledge that their vision of what they are still trying to do is part of [her] original eugenics plan.” When the business started closing down some of its locations in places like Hershey, Pennsylvania, it wasn’t because they were scaling back. It’s because they wanted to put that money in larger urban areas where their target market lives.
“Surgical abortion facilities are in black and brown neighborhoods,” Dean said. It’s a fact. “And you can even see that for yourself on Google Maps. So I think to me the evidence is undisputable. Whether they will acknowledge that or not is yet to be seen.”
If you want to tear down the legacy of someone who doesn’t represent American values, cancel Sanger. But don’t stop until the work that’s done in her name at Planned Parenthood topples along with her.
Originally published here.
The Oregon Trail to Anarchy
When Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) decided to throw on a mask and join the protestors Wednesday night, he found out pretty quickly that it wasn’t just Donald Trump they despised. “It didn’t go well for Wheeler,” one reporter kindly put it. Booed, chased with leaf blowers, taunted, and shouted down, the mayor looked bewildered when he said, “Some of these people hate my guts.” For the mayor, whose spent the last 56 days defending his city’s criminals, it was one way to learn: protecting the mobs won’t appease them.
Wheeler, who was probably hoping for a hero’s welcome when he joined the mayhem he’s refused to contain, was barraged with R-rated chants instead. “I want to thank the thousands of you who have come out to oppose the Trump administration’s occupation of this city,” he tried to say over the hecklers. “I think what we’re doing tonight is actually the best thing we can do right now.” That’s quite a statement, considering that “what they were doing” was trying to burn down the federal courthouse, start fires in the street, and smash through city barriers.
And, more importantly, what does this say about our elected officials that they’re willing to join this effort? These mayors might as well be saying, “Can I light your Molotov cocktail?” Ordinary citizens, watching this violence escalate, have to be horrified. Instead of protecting people’s homes and city property, “Dem officials are forming a protective circle around the mobs.” And while leftists scream about Trump deploying “stormtroopers” and “Gestapo” to U.S. cities, it’s hard to believe that given the choice between no protection and federal protection, everyday Americans would pick none.
“You can’t have a bunch of anarchists every day trying to firebomb the Portland courthouse, federal courthouse, federal buildings," NRO’s David Harsanyi told Sarah Perry on "Washington Watch.” “I hate to break the news to people, but we have federal agents undercover all the time in this country,” he said, “the FBI with the ATF [and] the whole U.S. Marshal service. They make it sound as if this is some crazy idea that federal police officers show up anywhere. It happens all the time. In fact, many, many times when there’s some sort of racial crime, you have cities calling for federal help…” The difference here is, these mayors in Portland, Seattle, and Chicago are sympathetic to the cause. “But if these were [alt-Right extremists] doing this, you can bet that they’d have called in the federal troops a long time ago.”
If you want to sit out there all night and chant, David said, that’s one thing. “But that’s not what’s happening here… I really don’t know how to stress enough that [this] is not okay… A mayor can’t simply hand the city over to a bunch of people just because they’re mad about something… It’s illegal, and it’s violent, and people can die or get hurt.”
To those who would say this is some sort of federal overreach, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy fired back, “It is Trump’s constitutional duty to enforce federal law, and he should.” He doesn’t even need to ask the states’ permission, McCarthy insists. Besides, he went on, “Federal officers in Portland are not a military force. They are deputized law enforcement agents of the Department of Homeland Security and other federal police agencies.”
Meanwhile, dozens of retired flag officers, led by FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin, published an open letter in the Washington Times, reiterating their support for the president’s actions and insist that the failure of local leaders has left him with no choice. “We fervently hope and pray that state and local authorities will promptly restore law and order should there be further outbreaks of rioting. But if not, President Trump has the authority to take extraordinary measures under such circumstances,” they wrote. Using the military would be a last resort, they agree, but eleven presidents have done so.
For now, even the Portland police is desperate for someone — anyone — to speak out. “Condemn the violence and the burning, looting, and destruction of property,” Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner challenged city officials. “Stand up and defend Portland,” they demanded. And if you can’t, don’t pick a fight with the president. Because so far, he’s the only one trying.
Originally published here.
A Biden Bid with Sanders Substance
The Democratic Party succeeded in stopping Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) from getting the nomination. But when it’s his socialist platform Joe Biden is running on, does it matter?
To a lot of people in the Democratic Party, liberal Mark Bennett admitted, Sanders “inspires fear, anxiety, and outright terror.” But put Joe Biden’s face on Bernie Sanders’s policies and suddenly, the Democrats think they’ve struck gold. Biden won, Vox admits, “by convincingly slapping a moderate label on a policy agenda [far more liberal] than the one pursued by Barack Obama or proposed by Hillary Clinton.” And they’re hoping, in the handful of months before the election, that the majority of Americans won’t notice.
Biden’s “genius,” a lot of Democratic insiders point out, is that he’s not the centrist people think he is. The Biden-Sanders Unity Platform, a mishmash of wildly extreme policies that socialists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) gleefully support, helps keep his cover intact. Radical Democrats get what they want with Bernie guiding the vision, and moderate Democrats keep Biden out front selling it as palatable to voters who wouldn’t otherwise buy it.
They just have to hope that between now and November Americans don’t decide to pick up a copy and read it. The document, so “surprisingly progressive” that even the liberal media was taken aback, is full of ideas the general population would never support: defunding police, expanding the welfare state, opening the borders, exploring reparations, exporting abortion, killing conscience protections, redefining the genders, sexualizing the military, and more. Add to that Biden’s latest push — teaching Islam in schools — and the pendulum has officially swung.
“This is not a unity group,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) insisted. “This is surrendering to socialists.” Which is something, Bernie Sanders insists, that Biden has already done. “[Joe] promised to be the most progressive president since [FDR].”
And based on this document, he’s already well on his way. “Biden has either exponentially increased the scope of what Clinton proposed or advocated for new ideas that most Democrats would have up until recently considered fringe,” McClatchy has argued. “For a candidate who has generally kept within his party’s mainstream during his five-decade career, it also underlines just how much — and how rapidly — the Democratic Party has changed…" Alex Roarty writes.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.
