The battle raging in the U.S. Senate to redefine marriage is far from over.  There will be another critical vote this coming Monday on the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act. 
 
Senator Mike Lee and 20 of his GOP colleagues are fighting hard to ensure that religious liberty is adequately protected.  And we must stand with them now.
 
As you know, 12 Republican senators broke ranks and supported Chuck Schumer’s effort to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. 
 
They did so after they stupidly trusted the Democrats to safeguard religious liberty.  Seriously, what were they thinking?!
 
This is not a hypothetical issue.  Prominent progressive politicians are not shy about threatening the tax-exempt status of churches and faith-based institutions that do not affirm men “marrying” other men.
 
Monday’s vote involves the rewritten legislation with the Democrats’ version of religious liberty protections.  They are too weak.  (You can read more here.)
 
They do not protect individuals and small businesses, and we have already seen too many individuals and small businesses get dragged through the mud because they refused to compromise their deeply held religious beliefs.  (Here, here and here.)
 
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops blasted the legislation as a “bad deal for Americans of faith,” and warned that its so-called “religious liberty” protections are “insufficient.”
 
The National Religious Broadcasters called the legislation a “betrayal,” adding that the “bipartisan amendment that purported to remedy the bill’s lack of religious liberty protections failed to address the critical issues.”
 
The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, warns, “This bill, even as amended, does not provide meaningful protection for those that maintain a traditional view of marriage. This amendment invites further confusion and litigation.”
 
We need at least three of the 12 Republican senators listed below to change their votes.  The following links will direct you to their Capitol Hill and state offices.  Please call both! 
 
Roy Blunt (MO)
Richard Burr (NC)
Shelley Moore Capito (WV)
Susan Collins (ME)
Joni Ernst (IA)
Cynthia Lummis (WY) – Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Rob Portman (OH)
Mitt Romney (UT)
Dan Sullivan (AK)
Thom Tillis (NC)
Todd Young (IN)
 
If these senators represent you, you must make your voice heard on this critically important issue.  Melt their phone lines down! 
 
Tell the aide who answers that you expect your senators to protect religious liberty.  Tell them to support the Lee Amendment, and to oppose the Respect for Marriage Act until the Lee Amendment is adopted. 
 
 
 
Garland’s Partisan Prosecutor
 
When Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith as a special counsel to investigate and potentially prosecute Donald Trump, he said that Smith would be “independent” and “impartial.” 
 
As we noted yesterday, Smith’s record isn’t exactly reassuring.  He was involved in the Obama/Biden IRS scandal that targeted conservative organizations, and one of his most high-profile public corruption prosecutions was overturned unanimously by the Supreme Court. 
 
Here’s the latest development: Smith’s wife, Katy Chevigny, donated thousands of dollars to Democrats, including Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.  She also donated to Rashida Tlaib, one of the most rabid anti-Trump Squad members.  And she was a producer of a documentary about Michelle Obama.
 
If Merrick Garland was serious about ensuring fairness and impartiality, there’s no way he would ever select Jack Smith. 
 
It’s hard to imagine how Smith was chosen for this assignment unless partisan hacks at the Justice Department were specifically looking for another partisan hack to prosecute Donald Trump.
 
House and Senate Republicans should immediately demand that Smith step down.
 
 
 
Media Malfeasance
 
Did you see Monday’s “bombshell” report by CBS News?  Brace yourself – this is huge!  CBS News has just confirmed that Hunter Biden’s laptop is real and not Russian disinformation.
 
Are you kidding me?!  Two years later, CBS finally gets around to verifying the laptop?
 
By all accounts, CBS National Security correspondent Catherine Herridge is one of the better journalists in the mainstream media today.  But I honestly don’t know how she managed to get through this report without venting some frustration at her superiors.
 
Someone at CBS News should be fired for this crass partisan coverup and blatant malfeasance!  And I suggest they start with Leslie Stahl!
 
Who can forget her combative October 2020 interview with former President Donald Trump?  Stahl repeatedly dismissed Trump’s comments about Hunter’s laptop, saying, “It can’t be verified.” 
 
Well, it was verified – even back then.  Stahl and other so-called “journalists” just didn’t want Americans to know about it. 
 
The FBI and the “mainstream media” interfered in the 2020 election by censoring real news to protect the corrupt Biden family and to deceive the American people.
 
 
 
Biden’s Climate Reparations
 
When I was in school years ago, I remember studying about the incredible damage caused by monsoons in Asia.  Pakistan was hit hard this year, and the damage is being cited as evidence of climate change, which has always been happening.
 
But now you’re going to pay for the damage in Pakistan because you supposedly caused the world to warm up. 
 
That’s right – Joe Biden just signed us up to pay climate reparations to “developing countries” because we became wealthy using fossil fuels.  Biden just gave $20 billion to Indonesia to wean that country off of coal.  Evidently, he was just getting started. 
 
And guess what?  Communist China is still considered a “developing country.”  So, we could soon be paying communist China climate reparations, even though it is building one new coal plant every week and produces far more pollution than we do. 
 
This is foreign aid on steroids.  It’s a massive redistribution of wealth.  It’s socialism on a global scale, and all in the name of fighting climate change.  It’s yet another example of Joe Biden and the radical left putting America last.
 
Speaking of “green” socialism, Greta Thunberg remerged recently to declare war on capitalism, which she claims is defined by “colonialism, imperialism, oppression and genocide.”  Thunberg is not unique among environmentalists, and that tells you everything you need to know about the radical environmental movement.
 
By the way, nearly $4 trillion has been spent over the past ten years on renewable energy, and it has made virtually no difference in terms of fossil fuel consumption.
 
Meanwhile, because of “progressive” energy policies, Great Britain is begging its citizens to turn their thermostats down this winter, Germans are buying up generators, other Europeans are hoarding firewood, and more and more Americans are struggling to pay their energy bills.