Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, released a memo yesterday outlining a series of financial transfers to the Biden family and Biden business associates from Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh oligarchs.

The financial payouts occurred when Joe Biden served as vice president in the Obama/Biden Administration, and they total more than $20 million. Multiple Biden family members, including grandchildren, directly benefitted from these foreign payments.

In a statement detailing the big bucks foreign oligarchs paid to the Biden family, Chairman Comer declared:

“During Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as ‘the brand’ to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself…

"It’s clear Joe Biden knew about his son’s business dealings and allowed himself to be ‘the brand’ sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States.

"The House Oversight Committee will continue to follow the money trail and obtain witness testimony to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, [whether] President Biden is compromised or corrupt, and [if] our national security is threatened.”

Faith Under Siege

Like many states, Massachusetts is facing a crisis when it comes to placing children in foster homes. Many children are forced to sleep in hospital hallways or state offices because the foster care system is so overwhelmed.

So, kudos to Mike and Kitty Burke who stepped up to be foster parents in Massachusetts. Mike is an Iraq war veteran and Kitty is a former paraprofessional for special needs children.

But after going through a grueling process that included multiple home visits, the Burkes were stunned to find out that their foster care license was denied.

Why? Well, much of the interview process focused on their Catholic faith and involved questions about sexual orientation, marriage, and gender dysphoria. Not surprisingly, this Catholic couple holds traditional Catholic beliefs.

The state of Massachusetts rejected their application because, as one reviewer put it, “Their faith is not [LGBTQ] supportive and neither are they.”

“We were absolutely devastated to learn that Massachusetts would rather children sleep in the hallways of hospitals than let us welcome children in need into our home,” the Burkes said in a statement.

This is yet another sad example of the decline and fall of America’s commitment to Judeo-Christian values.

Not long ago, virtually every state had restrictions on open homosexuals adopting children or being involved in foster care programs. There was a consensus in society that children should be raised by mothers and fathers. There were also concerns about the risks of exposing children to “alternative lifestyles.”

Those restrictions began to fall as the LGBTQ movement gained strength, which it did largely because of clever arguments about “tolerance.” And when the Supreme Court wrongly redefined marriage to include same-sex couples, any remaining restrictions were wiped out.

As I have repeatedly argued, no society is built on total neutrality or tolerance for all values. Every society has decided that some values are good and noble, and it promotes those values, while it discourages other ideas.

So, here we are in 2023. The all-in progressive state of Massachusetts is now declaring what values are good and bad, which values it will promote and discourage.

Massachusetts has decided that it is the Christian lifestyle and the Christian worldview that children must be protected from because that lifestyle and that worldview will lead to “debased and bad outcomes.”

By the way, some bureaucrats in Massachusetts want to put parents in jail if they refuse to affirm their child’s gender delusions.

And, of course, the same movement that made libertarian arguments based on love and tolerance, is now imposing a discriminatory intolerance to force Christianity into the closet that it successfully vacated.

Men and women of faith cannot be passive bystanders in America’s raging culture war. The radical left has no tolerance for our values and it has no intention of letting us “live and let live.”

2024 Update

The latest Morning Consult poll of Republican primary voters finds the latest indictment against Donald Trump has done nothing to dent his popularity. Trump leads 59% to 16% for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. No other candidate received double digit support.

Speaking of popularity, a new poll of New Hampshire Republicans finds Trump at 43% with no other candidate receiving double digit support. Ron DeSantis is tied with former New Jersey Gov. Christie at 9%, followed by Nikki Haley (7%), Tim Scott (5%) and Vivek Ramaswamy (5%).

Most importantly, however, 62% of New Hampshire Republicans said they would vote for Trump even if he were convicted of a felony, and 57% said they would vote for him even if he were “serving time in prison” on Election Day.

Fox News hosts were shocked and flummoxed by these results, and therein lies the chasm between the grassroots and the GOP establishment that is totally incapable of understanding the forces that led to Donald Trump’s rise.

Those forces are the millions of Americans who were sick and tired of being mocked and smacked down, of having their children stolen from them by the culture and having their economic prospects kneecapped while globalists on Wall Street, in the DC Swamp and in Silicon Valley got rich.

Out of nowhere came a billionaire from New York who was willing to spend a considerable amount of his own wealth to be a voice for these people. Who knew that they would actually feel a sense of loyalty to him?! Who could have possibly guessed it?! (Sarcasm Alert!)

If someone’s biggest fear is that we might lose access to Chinese markets instead of whether we are losing our country, they are unlikely to understand why so many Americans remain loyal to Trump.

Another Disconnect

While we’re on the subject of cultural disconnects, an heir to the Anheuser-Busch empire has some harsh words for the woke corporate executives that are destroying his family’s legacy.

In a recent interview, Billy Busch, the great-grandson of Adolphus Busch, said:

“My ancestors would have rolled over in their graves. They believed that transgender, gays, that sort of thing was all a very personal issue. They loved this country because it is a free country and people are allowed to do what they want. But it was never meant to be on a beer can and never meant to be pushed in people’s faces.

"People who drink beer, I think they’re your common folk … the blue-collar worker who goes and works hard every single day. The last thing they want pushed down their throat or to be drinking is a beer can with that kind of message on it.

"I just don’t think that’s what they’re looking for. They want their beer to be truly American, truly patriotic, as it always has been. Truly, America’s beer, which Bud Light was and probably isn’t any longer.”

Defending Faith, Family & Freedom

In this week’s “Defending Faith, Family and Freedom” podcast for the James Dobson Family Institute, I talk to my good friend Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, about the next chapter in the pro-life/pro-personhood movement.