The Patriot Post® · Five Things to Brace for Under Biden
Donald Trump has been a unique president for a lot of reasons, but one in particular: he keeps his promises. Anyone who’s seen Joe Biden’s priorities has to be praying he doesn’t. They make Hillary Clinton, who ran on the most extreme platform of any candidate in history, look like a Sunday School teacher. And unfortunately, Biden’s agenda isn’t a collection of radical policies we think he’ll push. These are things he’s said he’ll do. And as CNS News’s Terry Jeffrey points out, it’s a terrifying list.
Most conservatives don’t want to think about a Biden presidency — let alone what it would mean for our country. But as the clock ticks on and the election drags out, we can’t ignore what might be around the corner if the former vice president takes the reins. Based on what we’ve outlined to people over the past several months, it will be an all-hands on deck moment for every God-fearing, freedom-loving American in the country.
Now, Terry must have been limited on space, because he only highlights “five evil things” Biden plans to do as president. If you’ve read the Biden-Sanders manifesto or perused Joe’s campaign website, you know there are many, many more. For now, though, Christians, pro-lifers, and anyone who cares about freedom needs to brace themselves for these significant moments — and be prepared to fight back.
The very first, Terry explained on “Washington Watch” Wednesday, is to codify Roe v. Wade — making it impossible for states to limit or ban abortion for any reason. “Joe Biden wants a federal law that makes abortion nationwide a quote-unquote ‘right.’ Which I say is evil.” And, to add to that evil, he wants to force every American to pay for it. That’s number two: he wants to end the Hyde amendment. In other words, every federal spending bill could be used in some way to fund abortion. The pro-life Hyde, which has stood in the way of that radical free-for-all for more than 40 years would be gone.
“Beyond that, he wants to create a ‘public option’ under Obamacare, which he describes as a Medicare-like health insurance plan that would cover abortions. So in two different ways… he would make everybody who pays taxes in America fund abortions. And then he would go beyond that to force businesses, private family owned businesses to provide health insurance that covers abortion inducing drugs.”
Number three, he would reinstate the Obamacare mandate, demanding that every business and nonprofit cover abortion-causing pills and contraception in their health plans. As Terry points out, “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court never really settled that issue, [so] this is a place where Joe Biden right away could do some serious damage.”
Number four, Joe Biden says that on day one, “he’s going to force public schools and colleges to treat biological males as if they’re females. He literally says they’re going to have to let transgenders pick their own gender identity… So literally, Joe Biden will order public schools to say that anatomical males can play on the girls’ sports teams, use the girls’ shower rooms and use the girls’ restrooms. Completely outrageous, absolutely evil.”
Last but certainly not least, the Obama VP says he would order insurance companies to cover gender reassignment surgeries — not only for adults, but young, impressionable children. Similar to [the] Hobby Lobby case, he’d make family-owned businesses provide that “treatment,” which is actually mutilation.
“These issues, particularly those last two,” Terry said, “did not get nearly the kind of exposure and discussion they deserved before the election. I think there are many Americans who have no idea that Joe Biden is going to order public schools to let boys play on their girls’ sports teams and let boys use the girls’ locker rooms. To me, that’s such a huge [overreach]. And it’s not just evil. It shows a distortion of [Biden’s] mind and heart. And I don’t think there’s any way he could defend it…”
Some of these things, of course, he can’t do without Congress’s help. And that’s where you and I come in — encouraging our senators and congressmen to stand firm. Another way to stop Joe Biden’s radical grab bag of policies is by praying right now for honesty and integrity in the Georgia runoff. The outcome of that special election — and the Senate majority it represents — is going to be crucial to putting the brakes on any administration as determined to destroy lives as Biden’s promises to be.
Originally published here.
At Odds with Big Tech’s Addictive Strategy
All week, we’ve heard about how Big Tech is destroying free speech, influencing the election, and shutting down debate. But what if the dangers are even greater? What if one of the biggest threats Twitter, Facebook, and Google pose isn’t just to the public square — but to the public health? Could Big Tech be the new Big Tobacco? And if it is, can the government treat it as such?
It’s an interesting idea — one that most of us never thought of until Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) raised it in this week’s Judiciary hearing. Think back to World War II, he said on Wednesday’s “Washington Watch.” “The government would provide cigarettes to the troops, because it was a socially accepted product. We learned later on that the tobacco companies [knew] it was addictive and had health hazards associated with it. And so now we regulate tobacco. My question is — these social media outlets, did they have the ability to make their product addictive? And the answer is yes.”
We already know, he pointed out, that these companies are expertly manipulating people to get them to go back to their phone and these sites. If social media — Facebook, Twitter, and others — has an addictive element, and medical research agrees that it does (especially for young people), then it becomes destructive. “So I’m going to continue to pursue this line of thinking as to whether or not we need to regulate these social media outlets [and their business practices] from a public health point of view.”
Like the gambling industry, these companies understand the science of drawing people in and creating a dependence on their platforms. But in this case, these tech giants aren’t just hooking people on their content, they’re controlling what they see. No group in the history of the world, Lindsey argued, has had so much power over the flow of information. And that, as his colleague Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned, is a recipe for a totalitarian regime.
Apart from the addictive aspect and the toll on mental health, there’s also the long-term damage these companies are doing to Americans’ education. “When you look at where people get their news,” Graham pointed out, “more and more people are [turning to] Facebook.” And when certain perspectives are censored, it’s fundamentally altering how many of us view reality. That ought to be especially concerning to parents, who are already in competition with schools, friends, and other influences for how their children think. Now, they have to contend with social media, which has a substantial impact on what these kids see and how they think about it — even what answers they get to their searches. Millions of people are being manipulated by these platforms, and they don’t even know it.
“The challenge of my political generation,” Lindsey insisted, “is to come up with a way to control this before we lose control… I don’t want the government to pick and choose what we say, but these companies have the power of government — and something’s got to give.”
Right now, he said, we have no recourse. None. If these companies take down your content because they don’t like it, there’s nothing any of us can do about it. They can’t be sued. They can’t be fined or punished or held accountable. “They’re the only people I know of,” Lindsey shook his head, “that live under no regulatory scheme.” Twitter can flag a post, slap an “unverified” label on it, and declare that it fails their fact check. “Well, here’s a question,” Graham said, “who’s doing the fact-checking?” Because if Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey are defining the truth, God help us. “That’s the wild, wild West.”
The bottom line is: these platforms don’t just need more accountability — they need any accountability. If Facebook, Twitter, and Google want to be protected from expensive lawsuits and bloodthirsty trial attorneys, then it’s time they earned that protection by giving all Americans a voice — and a level playing field to use it on.
Originally published here.
Detroit Lyin’ about Wayne County’s Election Audit?
Monica Palmer didn’t expect to pick up the phone and hear President Trump on the other line. But after the last 48 hours, the Wayne County Republican had become a household name in Michigan — and beyond — when word leaked out about how badly she and her family had been harassed. “He was checking to make sure I was safe after seeing/hearing about the threats and doxxing,” she explained. But he might have to check in again, now that Palmer is doing her best to reverse her vote and stop the certification.
On Tuesday night, the video from the initial Zoom call of elections officials went viral almost immediately. And considering how horribly Democrats acted, it won’t do much to ease Americans’ concerns about the integrity in the process. All Monica and fellow Republican William Hartmann were trying to do was guarantee the Detroit county would conduct an audit of the election results before they certified. For that, they were viciously attacked. “Your racism is very apparent,” a liberal on the call said, “and I don’t know how you sleep at night. And because this is on the record, Monica, your daughter is going to look at you in disgust because she’s going to know and this is going to affect her because people will ask her, ‘Why is your mother a racist?’”
Now, as if that outrage isn’t enough, Michigan’s secretary of state is telling both Republicans an audit will not take place — nor do they have any legal way to rescind their votes. “Their job is done, and the next step in the process is for the Board of State Canvassers to meet and certify,” said a spokesperson for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a close ally of the radical Southern Poverty Law Center.
How convenient for the liberal Left! They intimidate, browbeat, threaten bodily harm to these two canvassers into voting to certify, and then betray their end of the deal. “I was sent statements from Secretary Jocelyn Benson… saying that she did not view our audit resolution to be binding,” Palmer said in an affidavit on Wednesday. “Democrats went off the hinges trying to suggest we wanted to suppress the Black vote, and that was not the case. As a result of these facts, I rescind my prior vote to certify Wayne County elections.”
Regardless of what happens in Wayne County, this whole spectacle highlights one important thing: the Left’s dangerous intolerance. These liberal activists don’t care about the facts or getting this election right — or even reassuring Americans that the outcome is a legitimate one. They’ll bully and steamroll anyone who dares to speak truth to power or demand integrity in the process. And frankly, the only way we’re going to be able to stand up to this cancel culture is if we link arms and fight back as one united front. When the Left comes after one of us, they have to believe they’re taking on all of us. Otherwise, this kind of ruthlessness is just a taste of what’s to come.
Originally published here.
Uniting around the Persecuted
While the world’s eyes are still on America, the Trump administration is busy building on its religious freedom record abroad. Find out what the State Department is up to in this exclusive interview with Ambassador Sam Brownback.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.