Listen to “Ocasio-Cortez & Dem Division, Jews on a List? Trump’s ‘Clarification'” on Spreaker.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are more than happy to center another good martini around avowed democratic socialist and New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this time for sowing dissension among Democrats for her public criticism of Rep. Joe Crowley, whom she defeated in the primary. They also shudder as a state official in Austria wants all observant Jews to register with the government if they want kosher meats. And they shake their heads as President Trump’s clarification of his comments in Finland is less than credible.
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Kennedy Responsible for Some ‘Real Horrible Decisions’
As Washington gears up for one of the most contentious Supreme Court nominations in recent memory, many political figures and pundits are applauding the tenure of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, but Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver says Kennedy leaves a dark legacy on the moral fabric of America.
Shortly after the news of Kennedy’s retirement was announced, President Trump lavished praise on Kennedy.
“He’s been a great justice of the Supreme Court,” said Trump. “He is a man who has displayed great vision. He’s displayed tremendous vision and tremendous heart.”
And Staver admits that Kennedy has been a key voice and a vital vote on critical issues, including this month’s rulings in favor of Christian cake baker Jack Phillips and crisis pregnancy centers in California. Kennedy also authored a stinging dissent against the decision from Chief Justice John Roberts that saved Obamacare.
“Certainly, he was on the right side of many cases and even the most recent cases that came out of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a fifth vote in that particular case or cases and made a huge difference,” said Staver.
But he says the cases where Kennedy got things badly wrong leave a lasting impact.
“I’m going to remember Justice Kennedy for some of the real horrible decisions that he ultimately inflicted because they have caused significant harm and even death,” said Staver. “Between the LGBT agenda, culminating in the marriage decision, and particularly the abortion decisions, that really is the legacy of Justice Kennedy.”
On abortion, Kennedy ruled both for and against federal bans on partial-birth abortions, striking down the legislation in 2000 but upholding it in 2007. However, it’s Kennedy’s role in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision that deeply distresses Staver.
That case gave justices the opportunity to solidify or reverse the 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions that legalized abortion nationwide. Staver says Kennedy was initially part of a majority that would have reversed those rulings.
“For thirty days, (then-Chief Justice William) Rehnquist was writing the opinion and Kennedy was right there with him. But he succumbed to lobbying pressure from Justices (Sandra Day) O’Connor, and (David) Souter. After 30 days, he changed his mind,” said Staver.
“He flipped from the five in the majority to overrule the abortion case to flipping it and the minority became the majority. Five individuals ultimately voted to uphold the abortion decisions, albeit somewhat modified,” said Staver.
He says Kennedy bears significant responsibility for the abortions since that day.
“The babies who have lost their lives since 1992, Justice Kennedy is the reason for that. He is the reason for the people who have lost their lives and all the families that have been broken,” said Staver.
Kennedy also took the lead in multiple decisions related to the LGBT agenda. He authored the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision striking down state sodomy laws and the 2013 United States v. Windsor ruling which struck down key portions of the Defense of Marriage Act. His majority opinion two years later in Obergefell v Hodges declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
“In June 2015, he authored a horrible decision that has no basis in the Constitution, no basis in the court’s precedents – just an imposition of his will – in which he overturned marriage laws that understood the natural definition and order of marriage being between two people of opposite sex. He struck it down and ushered in so-called same-sex marriage,” said Staver.
As the Senate braces for a monumental political fight over Kennedy’s successor, Kennedy’s place on the high court also resulted from a nasty political fight. In 1987, President Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork for the Supreme Court, but the nomination went down to defeat after a fierce Democratic opposition led by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Kennedy was ultimately Reagan’s third choice. Staver says history would be much different if Bork had been confirmed.
“What a big difference the decisions would have been if Robert Bork had been confirmed instead of Kennedy,” said Staver. “If you would have had Bork on the bench in 1992, you wouldn’t have abortion from 1992 to the present. You wouldn’t have same-sex marriage from 2015 to the present,” said Staver.
President Trump will likely announce a nominee within the next few weeks and says it will come from his public list of 25 possible choices. While Staver says the list is generally strong, some are preferable to others.
“No, I’m not mostly fine with whoever the president chooses. Each one of these have to be individually vetted. Not everybody is at the same level as (Justice Neil) Gorsuch,” said Staver. “We need to have another person just like that, who has that commitment to the rule of law and the Constitution.”
Staver would not name any preferences for the nomination but he did single out one name he would be very disappointed to see in appeals court judge William Pryor.
“Pryor’s on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He had some bad decisions with regards to the LGBT agenda, where he injected an activist viewpoint on his particular decision,” said Staver.
He says Trump and Senate Republicans have to get this pick right, as a litany of critical issues could come before the court in the coming years.
“If they do, abortion will become history. We will stop the bloodshed of innocent children. We need to make sure we have the right person with that judicial philosophy,” said Staver. “The clash between the LGBT agenda and religious freedom and free speech, all these different things, plus more. The second amendment, so many other things. Our basic freedoms are on the line,” said Staver.
DNC Chair: Pro-Lifers Need Not Apply
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez says all Democrats should support line up in favor of abortion and calls the position “not negotiable,” a clarification for which pro-life groups are exceedingly grateful.
The issue arose after Perez publicly backed the pro-life Democratic nominee in the race for mayor of Omaha, Nebraska. After criticism from pro-choice forces, Perez released a statement insisting he and the party were not straying from their stance on abortion.
“Every Democrat, like every American, should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health,” stated Perez. “That is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.”
“At a time when women’s rights are under assault from the White House, the Republican Congress, and in states across the country, we must speak up for this principle as loudly as ever and with one voice,” added Perez.
Democrats supporting abortion is nothing new but even pro-life groups are a bit surprised that Perez would publicly such a blanket position for the party.
“I think it’s a clarifying statement but I think these are always good to really hammer home to the grassroots that there’s a huge disconnect here. There’s such an extreme disconnect about what Perez said and the way that rank and file Democrats act in their state legislatures and in the way that they vote,” said Susan B. Anthony List Communications Director Mallory Quigley.
But she appreciates Perez offering the real position of Democrats on abortion.
“He is the perfect chairman for a party whose platform says, ‘We support abortion on demand up until the moment of birth, paid for by tax dollars,'” said Quigley.
Quigley also says Democrats are stifling candidates at the state and local levels because of abortion.
“At the state level, there are still a decent number of pro-life Democrats but we see that they’re not moving up. There’s only less than a handful of pro-life Democrats in the House,” said Quigley.
She says the pro-life Democrats, like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., are buckling under the pressure to conform.
“Joe Manchin, who for a long time now has been the only reliable pro-life vote in the Senate, took a picture with Planned Parenthood supporters and said that he’s all in for Planned Parenthood,” said Quigley.
Some Democrats tried to soften the party line, at least semantically.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., claimed the Democrats had room for pro-life lawmakers. But the number two Democrat in the upper chamber told CNN that room did not extend to actual policy.
“We need to be understanding of those who take a different position because of personal conscience, but as long as they are prepared to back the law, Roe v. Wade, back women’s rights as we’ved defined them under the law, then I think they can be part of the party,” said Durbin.
Quigley says that explanation and similar efforts by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are really no different than what Perez said.
“That’s not a pro-life position. It is not enough for the pro-life movement for you to say, ‘I personally wouldn’t have an abortion or encourage an abortion, but I’m not going to do a single thing to help a baby at 20 weeks or beyond, capable of living outside the womb, and I’m not going to protect that child from abortion.’ That is not a pro-life position,” said Quigley.
She adds that the mild rebukes from Pelosi and Durbin are most likely just for public relations.
“What seems to be a disagreement is actually just a show to try to continue to obfuscate their abortion extremism because some people, like Pelosi and Durbin, know that it sounds better to allude to some sort of right to conscience in the Democratic Party, which of course is non-existent,” said Quigley.
With Republicans in charge of Congress and in the White House, Quigley is hopeful that this will be the year to move federal dollars away from Planned Parenthood and into community health centers that provide health care to women without performing more than 300,000 abortions per year. She also wants to see passage of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban most abortions after weeks of pregnancy.
She says the shifting of money away from Planned Parenthood should happen through reconciliation on the health care bill. However, with the 20-week ban needing 60 votes to advance in the Senate, Quigley suspects the GOP will need to pick up several seats in 2018 to push that bill over the finish line.
World’s Worst Persecutors of Christians Revealed
Islamic and authoritarian nations once again dominate the 2017 World Watch List of nations most hostile to Christians, and the group behind the list says persecution of believers around the world is getting worse all the time.
Compiled by the Christian organization Open Doors USA, the list of 50 nations is divided into three categories. The ten worst nations are described as inflicting extreme persecution, the next 20 nations are accused of severe persecution, while the remaining 20 are named for moderate persecution.
Open Doors USA President and CEO Dr. David Curry says a lot of factors go into the evaluation of each nation.
“What’s it like for a person in their private life? What happens if they become a Christian in the family setting or the community setting? Do they lose their job? Are the police forces after them? And of course violence is a factor,” said Curry.
“At the top of the list, you’re talking about places where all of the factors are in the high level of persecution, where you have national persecution, family persecution, or at the personal level. That’s part of the factors. But there should be no mistake. If you’re on the World Watch List, even in the top 50, there are significant issues there,” said Curry.
North Korea remains the worst of the worst.
“Things aren’t getting better in North Korea. Things are very difficult for Christians there. It’s the sixteenth year in a row North Korea has been at the top. In the 25 years we’ve done it, there are only a couple of countries that have been number one,” said Curry.
“In North Korea, the cultish government enforces worship of their leaders, uses the power of the government. (Christians would) be arrested and put in labor camps,” said Curry.
Shooting up the list from seventh to a very close second place is Somalia.
“In Somalia, if you’re even rumored to have become a Christian, you can be executed on the spot by mob violence, by extremists,” said Curry.
He says Islamic nations makes up 70 percent of the of the world’s worst persecutors of Christians.
“Thirty-five of the top 50 countries have Islamic extremism as a factor. It’s something we’ve continued to see. What’s different this year is the spread into sub-Saharan Africa, the growth of the extremist movement’s infrastructure, the spreading of technical expertise into some of these countries. It does not portend well into the future,” said Curry.
Curry says even Islamic nations that have dropped on the list like Eritrea and Saudi Arabia are only looking better because other countries are getting worse.
“You have countries like Eritrea, which is the government using Sharia law. They’re number ten on the list. Very difficult for Christians. Saudi Arabia is on the list at 14. They have total control, through the kingdom, of religious faith. People aren’t allowed to decide for themselves what they want to do. They can’t go to church. They can’t have a Bible. There’s not a lot of violence in Saudi Arabia against Christians, largely because there aren’t many,” said Curry.
Turkey jumps eight spots in the World Watch List to number 37 after a year of political and terrorist turmoil.
“Extremism seems to be growing there. The government is going to use it’s force against Christian churches. That would add another layer of complexity,” said Curry.
A smaller number of nations are trying to tie the practice of religion with fidelity to the state. India, the world’s largest democracy, is now up to fifteenth on the list.
“People are saying, ‘You’re not Indian if you’re not an extremist Hindu.’ Lots of people in India are Christian, millions and millions, and there is a rising tide of violence against them. There are groups that publicize they want to rid India of Christians by 2021. The Modi government has thus far done nothing to stop it,” said Curry.
China, which was much higher on the list in past years, is now ranked at number 39. Curry says there had been some marginal improvements there but things are looking more ominous as a result of nationalist impulses.
“Just last week, the president of China spoke out against the pope and basically said, ‘We would give you freedom if you’d just be more Chinese.’ They want the church to be an arm and organ of the state and to rubber stamp the cultural impact of communism. And of course the church isn’t going to do that,” said Curry.
Only two nations in the Western Hemisphere make the list, Mexico (#41) and Colombia (#50). Curry says believers there face a different problem than autocratic governments and radical Islamic groups.
“When people are living their faith, they’ll speak out against organized crime. That’s happened in Mexico. It’s happening in Colombia. As such, the cartels strike out,” said Curry.
“In one part of Mexico, a dozen pastors – maybe more – were executed for their faith when they spoke out against drug cartels,” said Curry. “Yes, you’re free to choose your faith in Mexico. But when you stand up for what Jesus is talking about, the cartels and organized crime will sometimes strike out against you.”
While the trends are bleak, there are some encouraging signs. Azerbaijan dropped off the list after ranking thirty-fourth in 2016. And even though war-ravaged Syria (#6) is still a desperate place in many ways, Curry reasons for encouragement there.
“There are some hopeful signs. One of them is the vibrancy of the church in Syria that remains and the growth of the church in the Middle East, the new branches of Christianity from people who are coming to know faith personally through the tragedy of what’s happened through the Islamic State,” said Curry.
As part of the roll-out for the World Watch List, Curry says Open Doors USA met with the incoming Trump administration to implore them to make religious liberty a priority around the world.
“What we’ve encouraged them to do is take action in the first 90 days to appoint the right people at the State Department and other parts of government, to make sure that the U.S. government is using it’s policies to support the basic human right of religious freedom,” said Curry.
But he says churches and individual believers also have a role to play.
“Every church in America should be praying through this list on Sunday morning and being heard. If millions of Christians wrote letters and let people know they cared about this, the policymakers would certainly move,” said Curry, who notes that Open Doors USA has resources available to help guide your correspondence with our elected leaders.