Easter and The Wondrous Love of God

by Newt Gingrich: This Sunday celebrates the most amazing and hopeful moment in human history.

For Christians around the world, this is the time of year when we are reminded of the deep mystery of God’s love for each and every one of us.

From Holy Thursday’s remembrance of the Lord’s Supper to Good Friday’s Passion of Jesus Christ to Easter Sunday’s glorious celebration of the Resurrection, we are invited anew to consider the meaning for our own lives of God sending His one and only Son into the world to suffer, die, and be raised from the dead.

This is not merely a vague observance.

This is not simply a remembrance of a historic act two millennia ago.

This is a day which is about hope and salvation for each of us.

The events of Holy Week probe the deepest nature of God’s wondrous love for humanity – even if we cannot fully understand or explain it.

Three events, in particular, are powerful signs that God’s love stands in stark contrast to the normal ways of the world.

During the Last Supper, Jesus tells his disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).

Because Jesus had just washed the feet of the disciples, it was clear that the love he was describing was one that joyfully served the needs of others with humility.

On Good Friday, as Roman soldiers nailed him to the cross “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, they know not what they do’” (Luke 23:34). Each of us can appeal to God for forgiveness. We all stand in the shadow of the cross.

That God’s only Son willingly accepted death on the cross so that we may have eternal life with Him in heaven is an astounding act of self-sacrificing love that confounds all understanding. Yet, it is this same extraordinary love that Christ called his disciples to have for one another. And because Christ was truly human as well as truly God, his sacrifice on the cross shows what great love of which men and women are capable.

Finally, Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday reveals that God’s self-sacrificing love conquers even death itself.

The reaction of his followers as they discovered the empty tomb – and then as he appeared to the disciples – led to such an explosion of dedicated eye witnesses and missionaries that Christianity spread with extraordinary speed across the Mediterranean and all the way to India.

The next time you see a picture of Saint Peter’s Basilica remember that it is built on the grave of Saint Peter, the spot of his own crucifixion. In the years following Christ’s resurrection, he and Saint Paul traveled and spoke throughout the Roman world. In a short amount of time, Christianity had reached the heart of the greatest empire the West has known. In fact, Christianity had spread so fast that the empire felt threatened by it and tried to kill its leaders. As you watch Pope Francis at Easter Mass in front of thousands, it will be clear the Roman Empire lost the competition for loyalty.

Today, Christianity is practiced in many rites —Catholic-Orthodox-Protestant – but among Christians of every denomination, Easter plays a major role.

It is no wonder that after the resurrected Jesus called on his followers to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Jesus had commanded, that the world was gradually and radically transformed (see Matthew 28:19-20).

Over time, men and women would no longer be prey to the strong, but they would be children of a God who loved them. They would be recognized as deserving of God-given rights that no man or government has the authority to take away, such as rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Eventually, our own country was founded on a basis that explicitly understood the role of government to protect these Creator-endowed rights and to elevate the human condition. In time, Judeo-Christian morality extended these protections to all of our people.

At this time of year, we give thanks for the transforming power of God’s love. We honor all those men and women who preach the good news of God’s love in the United States. And we pray that the U.S. always remains a place that welcomes and honors God’s love.

I wish you and your family a blessed Easter.
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Newt Gingrich is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the "Contract with America" and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. The above commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions.

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Tags: Newt Gingrich, commentary, Easter, The Wondrous Love of God To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Rep. Jordan: McCabe Lied Four Times about Leaking to the Media

Rep. Jim Jordan

by Debra Heine: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Thursday revealed that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe lied not once, but four separate times about leaking information to the press.

Jordan, who sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary committees appeared with Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday night to discuss Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision not to appoint a second special counsel to look into how the FBI and Justice Department handled the Clinton email probe and Russia investigation. The attorney general has instead appointed a federal prosecutor to evaluate those and other issues, including the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One.

Meadows and Jordan also accused the DOJ of stonewalling Republicans in Congress on their document requests. Meadows said that in seven pages of documents recently submitted to Congress there were twelve material facts omitted by the Department of Justice.

"It's time that they come clean and give Congress what we need," he said.

Sessions fired McCabe earlier this month on the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility's recommendation after the Justice Department's inspector general determined that McCabe had not been truthful during his review of the Clinton email investigation.

Both Jordan's and Meadows' offices have a copy of the inspector general's report, which has not yet been made public.

Jordan told host Laura Ingraham that McCabe lied four times to various officials about leaking information to the media.

"He lied to James Comey, he lied to the Office of Professional Responsibility, and he lied twice under oath to the inspector general," the congressman said.

Meadows and Jordan disagreed with Sessions on the need for a special counsel.

"Attorney General Sessions talked about 'extraordinary circumstances,'" Meadows noted. "Well, how much more extraordinary do you have to be when you fire the central player in the investigation?" He added: "We need to have this special counsel. I disagree with the attorney general. For the attorney general to suggest there's not enough 'there' there is just extremely disappointing."

Jordan pointed out that McCabe is just one of many FBI officials involved in the Clinton and Russia probes who have been fired or demoted.

"If those aren't extraordinary circumstances warranting a second special counsel, I don't know what the heck is," Jordan said. "I don't know why the attorney general keeps postponing this. Everyone in town knows we need a second special counsel to get to the bottom of this."

Jordan wondered about John Huber, the Obama appointee who was assigned to look into the potential FBI and DOJ wrongdoing

"How can he investigate his boss, Rod Rosenstein?" Jordan asked. "That's who he reports to. Mr. Rosenstein is involved in all this FISA abuse that we think took place." He added, "You have to have a second special counsel. I hope Jeff Sessions figures that out and names one very soon."
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Debra Heine is a Catholic, mom of six and long time political pundit. She has written for PJ Media and several blogs including her own, Nice Deb!

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Tags: Debra Heine, PJMedia, Rep. Jim Jordan, McCabe, Lied Four Times, Leaking to the Media, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

A More Competitive Arkansas

ARRA News Service: Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson addressed competition in his Weekly Address:

In Arkansas, we have worked hard to retain and recruit industry. In the past three years, our Arkansas Economic Development Commission, led by Mike Preston, has signed 338 incentive agreements, which has led to $7.8 billion in investment and to the creation of 13,000 jobs.But there is plenty more business out there, and I’m always looking for ways to get it. We have hit upon a new program that will make Arkansas even more competitive than we’ve been. This week, Mike joined me to announce the launch of the program, which will step up our economic momentum.

The program, called Competitive Communities Initiative, offers cities the chance to earn an AEDC “stamp of approval” that will help prospective businesses scout out the best places to do business.

Site selectors are looking for cities with an environment and infrastructure that allow for a speedy and uncomplicated opening.

With the Competitive Communities Initiative, our economic development team will provide a checklist so that communities can assess their readiness in many areas, from workforce to infrastructure. They will inventory physical attributes, from the number and size of vacant buildings that are available for quick occupancy to the amount of land with easy access to a water supply or a rail spur.

Once a community has identified its shortcomings, then the economic development team will assist in filling the gaps.

Four pilot cities – Hope, Helena-West Helena, Newport, and Van Buren – started the process before Christmas. Sixteen more cities have committed to participate.

After a community has identified and modified, the economic development team will certify it as ready to do business and will include it on the website so that potential investors can easily find a city or area that fits its needs. We can certify you as a community that has been found ready for economic development.

Here’s why this program is important. While we have had great success in developing and growing our economy by attracting much new investment, we haven’t won every competition for new partners. We still have opportunities to recruit new business and grow our existing industries.

But the competition is fierce, and other states have more than brown and green fields that are shovel-ready. They have turn-key sites with infrastructure that is ready to go.

With Competitive Communities Initiative, we are taking our game to a higher level so that when a company expresses interest and is in a hurry to get going, we must be up to speed at both the state and local level.

My father-in-law was in the tire business, and he always said, “You can’t sell tires from an empty wagon.”

What we can accomplish through Competitive Communities Initiative is to ensure that our wagon is full—that we have the computer coders, the welders, the machinists, the funding, and the infrastructure that will make Arkansas the natural state for site selectors. When companies come calling, we want them to see that our wagon is full.

With all the talk of economic development, we must remember that this isn’t just about attracting money and business. My motivation behind this is my desire to make life better for all Arkansans.

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Tags: Arkansas, Governor, Asa Hutchinson, Competion, Competitive Communities Initiative To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Objections Over The HHS Mandate: Sustained!

by Tony Perkins: When most people think of government fines, they probably think about something small like a traffic ticket. For the Catholic Benefits Association (CBA), the Obama contraception mandate gave new meaning to government penalties. A whopping $6.9 billion worth.

Obviously, the price for exercising your faith got pretty expensive under the last administration. The attack on religious Americans was so over-the-top that even the courts were appalled. And no one is more relieved than CBA. Since 2014, they'd been racking up $100 per person, per day for refusing to surrender to the federal mandate that ordered them to pay for pills and procedures they morally opposed. Like dozens of other organizations who sued their way back to their constitutional rights, CBA is celebrating a permanent injunction from U.S. District Court Judge David Russell. And while he could have just delivered the First Amendment victory for the association, he took the extra step of blasting the mandate as illegal.

"This is a tremendous win," said the group's CEO, Douglas Wilson. "The first freedom in the Bill of Rights is the First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The court has rightly ruled that employers should not be forced to violate their beliefs and cover morally problematic elective... [choices]..." And, since the association represents dozens of dioceses, archdioceses, religious orders, hospitals, colleges and universities, and other ministries, it's a victory for them too.

The decision, Russell ruled, is permanent. That means, Catholic League President Bill Donohue said, that "Catholic employers who belong to the CBA [of which there are more than 1,000] are now free from attempts by the federal government to coerce them into providing morally offensive health care coverage. This is a smashing victory for religious liberty and a stunning defeat for the pro-abortion industry and its allies."

Of course, this is a predicament no American group should have ever faced. Six billion dollars in fines for exercising the freedom that brought our founders to this country? CBA isn't the only organization that understands the real intent of that fine, either. Government penalties like that are usually for correcting abhorrent behavior, which apparently, some liberals define as thinking biblically.

The real motivation behind the HHS mandate wasn't to expand insurance coverage, it was to eradicate any entity that isn't in line with the Left. The totalitarians in the last administration had no desire to have a conversation or arrive at a consensus. Their goal was eliminating anyone who doesn't march to the beat of their radical drum. Thank goodness that Obama's mandates were so far outside the constitutional boundaries that even the courts couldn't ignore it!
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Tony Perkins is President of the Family Research Council . This article was on Tony Perkin's Washington Update and written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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Tags: Tony Perkins, Family Research Center, FRC, Family Research Council, Objections Over The HHS Mandate, Sustained To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Stop Indoctrinating Our Children

. . . New Center pamphlet features the horrors.

Peter Collier & Sara Dogan, FrontPage Mag: Editor's note: The same "progressives" who have made American higher education into indoctrination chambers for cultural Marxism, identity racism and other anti-American ideas are now targeting our K-12 public schools. For instance:

• At the Edina School District in Edina, Minnesota, all employees, even bus drivers, must take "Equity and Racial Justice Training" instructing them that "dismantling white privilege" is at the core of the district's mission. They must acknowledge their racial guilt, and embrace the district's "equity" ideology.
• To enhance "cultural diversity," students at Maryland's La Plata High School were ordered to copy the Islamic creed "Shahada" which states in part, "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." One worksheet distributed by the school states, "Most Muslims' faith is stronger than the average Christian."
• As part of transgender instruction in Rocklin Academy in Rocklin, California, a male kindergartener was reintroduced to classmates as a girl. A first grader at the school was sent to the principal's office after she called the student by his given name on the playground – apparently unaware that the five year old had changed gender.

These horror stories are not exceptions to the rule. As our important new pamphlet (co-authored by Sara Dogan and Peter Collier), Leftist Indoctrination In Our K-12 Public Schools, shows, they are happening every day in schools all across our country. You can access this work which provides crucial documentation of the indoctrination crisis in our schools here or read the full text below.

. . . One of the most dangerous developments of the last few decades has been the subversion of our universities by radicals who in the 1960s first tried to burn them down and then, after this strategy of destruction failed, decided to get on the tenure track to take them over. Their generational long march succeeded, possibly beyond their wildest expectations. With the exception of a few rear guard actions by brave conservative students, American higher education is now an indoctrination center for cultural Marxism, identity racism and other anti-American ideas.

But the left’s demolition project is not yet complete. To make the victory complete, it must take over all of American education, including the schooling of our youngest and most vulnerable students. This effort is now well advanced as radical leftists use their control of the university Ed schools and the teacher unions as a base to extend their ideological campaigns into the K-12 system. Their shock troops include teachers, administrators and textbook publishers and feature “theorists” such as former Weatherman Bill Ayers (who reinvented himself as an eminent Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois when his days as a terrorist had ended) who provide the manuals on “teaching for social justice” that target teacher training programs and ultimately children as early as kindergarten for radical indoctrination.

The effects of this systematic effort to radicalize K-12 education are being felt in school districts all over the country. No corner of the classroom is immune from indoctrination. Young students learning arithmetic are given thought problems involving homelessness and the percentage of “undocumented workers” subjected to heartless deportation proceedings. Social studies is now a race, gender and climate change-obsessed curriculum designed to frighten rather than educate. In the hands of leftist teachers, America is a nation of victims rather than a nation of immigrants.

Some concerned parents and educators appalled by this new regime have reported educational horror stories that should concern every citizen. The following give a sense of the scope and intensity of the onslaught our youngest and most vulnerable students face after the school bell has sounded.

Indoctrination on Race and “Social Justice”

*On February 1, 2018, Vermont’s Montpelier High School flew the Black Lives Matter flag for the month of February to mark Black History Month in response to pressure from the Racial Justice Alliance, a student group at the school where 18 of 350 students are African American.

*A teacher at Norman North High School in Oklahoma was recorded by a student stating in class, “To be white is racist, period.” The teacher who made the comment was white. Despite being part-Hispanic, the student who taped the teacher and her family took offense at the comments. “Why is it ok to demonize one race to children that you’re supposed to be teaching a curriculum?” her father wondered.

*Students in a literature composition class at Aloha High School in Aloha, Oregon were given a “White Privilege Survey” to complete as homework. The assignment included such questions as “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed” and “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the newspaper and see people of my race widely and positively represented.” A school district spokeswoman attempted to excuse the exercise by stating that the class covers current issues including race and that the goal is for students to “gain empathy, understanding and to build bridges,” but the father of one student in the class stated, “The way this survey is read, it almost wants to like, shame you for being white.”

*Highlands Elementary School located in Edina, Minnesota—one of the state’s highest ranked elementary schools based on standardized tests—has instituted several initiatives on racial inequality and social justice. Kindergarten classes, for instance, spend weeks participating in the “Melanin project,” which involves, among other things, coloring images of their hands which were attached to a banner reading “Stop thinking your skin color is better than anyone else’s!” Meanwhile, first graders were to write poems about social justice and fourth and fifth graders participate in a performance project that links the anti police and racially divisive Black Lives Matter movement with peace. The principal’s page on the website of Highlands Elementary School in Edina, Minnesota, effusively praises Black Lives Matter and reproduced the entry on the BLM’s own website which states, “We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages.’” The school principal also reported on her page that “students of color” had experienced 291 “microaggresions” in a 90 day period, meaning that they had been encouraged by the school’s racialized atmosphere to convert imagined slights all around them into instances of white racism and to inform on their fellow students.

*Teach for America is partnering with the organization EdX to craft a six-week online course for middle school teachers called “Teaching Social Justice through Secondary Mathematics.” A course overview states “This education and teacher training course will help you blend secondary math instruction with topics such as inequity, poverty, and privilege…” Ideas for sample math lessons include instruction on “Unpaid Work Hours in the Home by Gender” and “Race and Imprisonment Rates in the United States.” There is no lesson on violent crime rates by race so the inevitable conclusion is that if more blacks are incarcerated than their proportion in the population, white racism must be responsible.

*In February 2017, teachers and staff serving in the Rochester City School District in upstate New York received an email stating that February 17 would be designated “Black Lives Matter at School.” The email urged staff to purchase a “Black Lives Matter at School” T-shirt and included links to leftist websites featuring propaganda about why the phrase “all lives matter” is racist. The email explained that educational goals for students will include “Understands inequities based on race”; “Affirms that the lives of people of color matter”; and “Believes that we all have a responsibility to work for equity.” In other words the lesson is that inequalities are solely the result of racism, with differential abilities, application and individual talent playing little or no role in social outcomes.

*In January 2017 an activist group within the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers called the Caucus of Working Educators launched an optional lesson plan for the city’s kindergarten-to-12th grade students that included six days of “social justice action.” Children in lower grades were required to work on “The Revolution Is Always Now” coloring book; older students had science lessons about the biology of skin color. The focus in all classrooms was on imbuing children with a heightened awareness of “white privilege” while fostering feelings of racial resentment and guilt. Teachers were also encouraged to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts. Some Philadelphia teachers objected to such blatant politicization in the classroom, not to mention its racist overtones. One English teacher caused controversy by stating, “I don’t think kids should be taught that Western society is perpetrating a war on black people.”

*At Highlands Elementary School in Edina, Minnesota, one of the publications principal Kate Mahoney touts for younger students in her space on the school blog is an A-B-C book titled A is for Activist. The pages feature text such as this: “A is for Activist. Are you an Activist? C is for Creative Counter to Corporate Vultures. T is for Trans. X is for Malcolm. As in Malcolm X.”

*The Edina School District’s employees must take “Edina School District Equity and Racial Justice Training: Moving from a Diversity to a Social Justice Lens.” This includes bus drivers, who are instructed that “dismantling white privilege” is “the core of our work as white folks,” and that working for the Edina schools requires “a major paradigm shift in the thinking of white people.” Drivers were exhorted to acknowledge their racial guilt, and embrace the district’s “equity” ideology.

*In October 2016 2,000 Seattle educators wore Black Lives Matter shirts at their schools in a district-wide action. The event was organized by Social Equality Educators, a group of Seattle teachers. At Chief Sealth International High School, dozens of educators and students gathered outside the building and held up banners and signs that said “Black Lives Matter” and “We Stand Together” with logos in the shape of a clenched fist.

Indoctrination About Islam

*In May 2017, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) inaugurated an anti-Muslim bullying campaign developed in conjunction with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR is part of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist network and was named as an “unindicted co-conspirator” by the U.S. Department of Justice in a 2007 case brought against the Holy Land Foundation, which funneled money to Hamas. The San Diego campaign will include giving teachers and administrators new calendars showing Muslim holidays, creating “safe spaces” for Muslim students, and including lessons on Islam in the curriculum which emphasize prominent Muslims in history. No such educational programs exist to teach students about Judaism, although religious hate crimes against Jews are eight times greater than those against Muslims.

*Students at La Plata High School in Maryland were ordered to copy the Islamic creed “Shahada” which states in part, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Students were also made to memorize and recite the Five Pillars of Islam. Two weeks of class time were devoted to instruction in Islam while only one day was reserved for Christianity—which was portrayed in a negative light. One worksheet distributed at the school stated “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”

*Middle School students in the Maury County School District in Tennessee were ordered to copy the Five Pillars of Islam including the Islamic conversion creed, the Shahada, which states “Allah is the only god” during a unit on world history. Several weeks were spent on Islam and its doctrine compared to the much more limited and perfunctory time spent on Christianity and Judaism.

*In 2007, San Diego’s Carver Elementary School made special accommodations for 100 Somali Muslims who had transferred from a charter school that had been closed. The school rearranged recess periods to allow time for Muslim afternoon prayer, added Arabic to its curriculum, and took pork and other non-halal foods off the lunch menu. When these changes resulted in complaints from non-Muslim parents, the school removed the prayer break, but changed the lunchtime schedule so that prayer time was still accommodated.

*In 2015, a Huntington Beach, California teacher taught a class of seventh graders a song to which she had crafted lyrics supporting and romanticizing Islam. The song is set to the tune of Rachel Platten’s “This is my Fight Song.” The lyrics state: “Like how a single faith/can make a heart open/They might only have one God/But they can make an explosion.” A parent brought the song and lesson to public attention after her son came home with a notebook showing a stick figure stating “Believe in Allah! There is no other god.”

*Freshmen at Salem Junior High School in Utah were told by a teacher to get inside the mentality of a terrorist organization like ISIS. The project worksheet asked students to list “eight reasons why young Muslims join ISIS” and instructed them to create a “terrorism propaganda poster.”

*Third grade students at the Beverly J. Martin elementary school in Ithaca, New York were made to sit through a blatantly one-sided presentation featuring radical anti-Israel activists who told Hamas propaganda lies about the Israeli state. The presentation on “Palestinian human rights” was led by pro-terrorist and radical Israel-basher Bassem Tamimi who videos his own children attempting to provoke Israeli soldiers and Ariel Gold who holds “delegitimizing Zionism” as a personal goal. Full footage of the event was released only after the school district was compelled by a Freedom of Information Act request. This footage revealed that the presentation included a video made by Tamini and featuring his daughter sharing a “message for the world from the Palestinian children.” This “message” states: “We don’t like [that] Israel kill us, kill Gaza, kill Palestinian and we don’t like they to kill us [sic]” and “They [Israel] can’t be terrorists. We don’t like them to be terrorists.” After parent complaints, the full footage was released and the superintendent of the Ithaca City School district issued a Letter of Reprimand stating that the event was “politically skewed” and “inflammatory.”

Indoctrination on Gender

*Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina assigned the book “Jacob’s New Dress,” a story about a boy who prefers to dress like a girl, to all first grade classes. After a teacher launched a complaint which sparked outrage among lawmakers the decision was reversed. Instead, first graders will read “Red: A Crayon’s Story” about a red crayon who views itself as blue. The school board is now attempting to add sexual orientation and “gender identity/expression” to its diversity policy.

*New health and physical education standards created by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) became part of the curriculum for students from kindergarten through high school in the 2017-2018 school year. It required the teaching of “gender identity” and “gender expression.” Its goals were summarized as follows: Beginning in Kindergarten, students will be taught about the many ways to express gender. Gender expression education will include information about the manifestations of traits that are typically associated with one gender. Cross dressing is one form of gender expression. (One of the books kindergarteners read is “Introducing Teddy.” In it Errol, a friend of a bear named Thomas, asks why he is sad and Thomas says, “I’m a girl teddy, not a boy teddy” and asks to be called Tilly instead.) Third graders will be introduced to the concept of gender identity. These children will be taught that they can choose their own gender. Fourth graders will be expected to “define sexual orientation” and taught that they can choose their own. Fifth graders will learn about the relativity of gender roles and why such roles are “social constructs” not inherently related to who we are as male or female human beings, a fundamentally anti-scientific view that ignores the biological fact is that gender is not a choice but genetically determined. Seventh graders will be expected to “distinguish between biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.” High school students will critically “evaluate how culture, media, society, and other people influence our perceptions of gender roles, sexuality, relationships, and sexual orientation.”

*Sixth graders at Fox Chapel Middle School in Spring Hill, Florida were given a survey by their teacher that included explicit questions on sexuality and race. Students were supposed to read each of these statements and indicate how comfortable they were with the situation described:

“A friend invites you to go to a gay bar.”

“You go to the gay bar and a person of the same sex invites you to dance.”

“You discover that the cute young man/woman that you are attracted to is actually a woman/man.”

“You discover your teenage brother kissing a male friend.”

“Your two next door neighbors in your hall are lesbian/gay.”

“Your mother ‘comes out’ to you.”

When some of the children proposed bringing the survey home, the teacher told them not to show it to their parents.

*A kindergarten class in Rocklin Academy, a prestigious school in Rocklin, California was exposed to transgender instruction without parental notification. Two children’s books espousing transgender ideology were read to the class. Also a male kindergartener was reintroduced to his classmates as a girl. Later on, a first grader at the charter school was sent to the principal’s office after a girl accidentally “misgendered” the classmate in what administrators called a “pronoun mishap.” The girl called the student by his given name – apparently unaware that the boy now identified as a girl.

Anti-Trump Indoctrination

*Before the 2016 election, a teacher in an advanced placement history class at Minnesota’s Edina High School demanded that students known to be Trump supporters explain to the rest of the class why they shouldn’t be considered racist. The day after the election, many of the teachers at the school were in tears, one telling her students, “Today is worse than 9/11 or Columbine.”

*After the 2016 election, Chicago Public Schools sent students home with a letter bashing Illinois’ Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and President Trump. The letter stated, “Dear Families, Governor Bruce Rauner, just like President Trump, has decided to attack those who need the most help. Governor Rauner and President Trump regularly attack Chicago because they hope to score political points. It is shameful.”

*A high school art teacher in Seth, West Virginia, wore a profane anti-Trump patch on the back of her jacket during school hours stating, “Tuck Frump” with the T and F highlighted in white.

*Brainerd High School, a public school in Minnesota, published a 2017 yearbook containing violent and derogatory quotes from students about President Trump. One student stated, “I would like to behead him.” Another commented, “I feel like Donald is very racist and sexist and doesn’t care to give people a chance before knowing them.” Yet another stated, “I don’t like the way he comes off, he seems really rude.”

*The Wall Township Public Schools in New Jersey ordered a school yearbook to be reissued after at least three photos of students wearing clothing with logos supporting Trump were intentionally altered. Grant Bernardo, a school junior, wore a “Make America Great Again” shirt in his school photo, but the image that appeared in the yearbook was digitally altered to show him in a black T-shirt instead. A photo of a student wearing a Trump logo on his sweater vest was also cropped to erase the logo. And a quote from Trump sent in by the freshman class president to appear on her page also did not appear in the yearbook, although it was confirmed that it was received before the deadline.

*A teacher of sixth-grade English at Paulo Intermediate School in Staten Island, New York assigned students to complete a vocabulary assignment that forced them to insert words in sentences disparaging President Donald Trump. Among the phrases students were asked to complete were the following:

“President Trump speaks in a very superior and _________ manner insulting many people. He needs to be more ________.

“Barack Obama set a ________ when he became the first African American president.”

The teacher was looking for students to insert the words “haughty” and “humble” in the one question and “precedent” in the other. When the father of an eleven-year-old in the class objected to the assignment and refused to have his child complete it, the teacher docked the student 15 points for an incomplete assignment.

These are not isolated incidents but part of a national pattern. This leftist indoctrination in K-12 schools is the daily classroom experience of children around the country, a concerted assault on the values of the families from which they come as well as on the intellectual integrity of the students themselves. Under this regime, students are not taught how to think, but told what to think. And what they are told to think is racially divisive, intellectually vulgar, politically partisan, and often unscientific and simply untrue. It is little wonder that after years of such classroom indoctrination, buttressed by forced readings of anti American texts by Howard Zinn and other leftist propagandists, many high school graduates arrive at college seeing the world through the lens of grievance and victimhood, illiterate in basic civics, hostile toward the rich complexity of the American experience, and willing accomplices in the leftist political order that now controls higher education.

Combatting the Assault on K-12 Schools

The David Horowitz Freedom Center has historically taken a leadership role as an early warning system for America on the radical subversion of American higher education. It uses that experience in a new campaign designed to make K-12 schools places of objective and unbiased education rather than indoctrination. The goal of this campaign is to secure legislation in 50 states that would create a “Code of Ethics for K-12 Teachers” that would enforce traditional rules of fairness and non-partisanship in our public school systems. Among other things, the Code forbids teachers from taking partisan political positions in the classroom which include endorsing candidates or pending legislation; introducing controversial material not germane to subjects being taught; engaging in actions which impede access of military recruiters or federal law enforcement authorities to the school site; advocating either side of public controversies; segregating students by race or singling out one racial group as responsible for the sufferings or inequities of other racial groups.

In short, the Code of Ethics for K-12 teachers we have designed forbids teachers from using their classrooms as a bully pulpit for political, ideological, racial, or religious indoctrination, or attempting to use the authority of the classroom to support one side of a public controversy.

The Code, in other words, is a reassertion of the common sense principles—presenting unbiased educational materials in an unbiased way—that guided American public education from the time of the one-room schoolhouse of the 18th century until radicals began their assault on the contemporary K-12 classroom.

Teachers in violation of the Code would be subject to penalties such as probation, suspension and loss of their teaching licenses. This Code has the potential to stop the leftist assault on our schoolchildren in its tracks.

Translating the Code into Action

The public may have become inured to the radicalization of higher education, whose appalling absurdities have become so notorious that they are now the stuff of nighttime comedy routines. But while parents may feel that the universities are at least temporarily beyond repair, they continue to be heavily invested in our public schools. It is our belief that when the public learns about the stranglehold “progressives” are trying to obtain on K-12 curriculum it will be outraged and demand action.

But while public awareness is important, stopping the indoctrination in our schools ultimately requires a legislative solution. The Code of Ethics will ban the abuses without infringing First Amendment rights. (It has already been thoroughly reviewed by First Amendment lawyers.)

The Freedom Center campaign to implement the Code will identify legislators on education committees of states across the nation who are concerned about the conversion of our public schools into indoctrination centers for leftist politics and racial views, and willing to draft and introduce statutes based on our Code of Ethics. We are simultaneously identifying think tanks and public policy organizations in those states to collaborate in generating public awareness about this issue and promoting this legislation.

We are now working with concerned legislators in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Texas and other states.

The subversion of our K-12 public schools is already well advanced. It is imperative that parent groups and concerned organizations initiate a counter-offensive to turn back this determined effort to make our schools into academies for leftist ideologies and anti- Americanism. The Center’s Code of Ethics for K-12 Public Schools will educate the public about the extent of the threat to our educational system and our essential liberties and carry the fight directly into the political and legislative arena.

A Code of Ethics for K-12 Schools

[The following Code of Ethics for K-12 teachers forbids teachers from using their classrooms for political, ideological, or religious advocacy. Teachers in violation of the Code would be subject to penalties such as probation, suspension and loss of their teaching licenses.]

Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility For Educators in K-12 Public Schools

Whereas the purpose of public education in America is to produce knowledgeable and competent adults able to participate as informed citizens in the democratic process;

Whereas education in a democracy is best served by teaching students how to think, not telling them what to think;

Whereas our country is divided over many issues affecting its citizens;

Whereas it has been established through surveys that a majority of K-12 teachers discuss controversial issues in their classrooms;

Whereas it has been established that some teacher training institutions, teacher licensing agencies, state education departments and professional teacher organizations have condoned and even encouraged this behavior under the guise of “teaching for social justice” and other sectarian doctrines;

Whereas time spent on political or ideological indoctrination takes time away from instruction in the academic subjects taught by public educational institutions including the foundational subjects of mathematics, science, English, history, and civics and prevents students from receiving the best possible public education as funded by the taxpayers of this state;

Whereas parents and taxpayers have a right to expect that taxpayer resources will be spent on education, not political or ideological indoctrination;

Therefore be it resolved that this state’s [board of education or other relevant regulating body] will promulgate clear regulations and enforcement mechanisms for appropriate professional and ethical behavior by teachers licensed to teach in this state; that these guidelines shall make it clear that teachers in taxpayer supported schools are forbidden to use their classrooms to try to engage in political, ideological, or religious advocacy.

At a minimum, these regulations shall provide that no teacher is permitted during class time or while otherwise operating within the scope of employment as a teacher in a public educational institution to do the following:

(1) Endorse, support, or oppose any candidate or nominee for public office or any elected or appointed official regardless of whether such official is a member of the local, state, or federal government;

(2)Endorse, support, or oppose any pending, proposed, or enacted legislation or regulation regardless whether such legislation or regulation is pending, proposed, or has been enacted at the local, state, or federal level;

(3) Endorse, support, or oppose any pending, proposed, or decided court case or judicial action regardless of whether such court case or judicial action is at the local, state, or federal level;

(4) Endorse, support, or oppose any pending, proposed, or executed executive action by an executive branch agency of the local, state, or federal level;

(5) Introduce into class any controversial subject matter that is not germane to the topic of the course being taught;

(6) Endorse, support, or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the lawful access of military recruiters to campus;

(7) Endorse, support, or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the actions of state, local, or federal law enforcement;

(8) Advocate in a partisan manner for any side of a controversial issue, defined as an issue that is a point in electoral party platforms at the national, state or local level. To ensure that students have the resources to make up their own minds on such issues, teachers must provide them with materials supporting both sides of the controversy, and present those views in a fair-minded non-partisan manner. Teachers may express their opinions on these matters but only in such a manner that students understand that they are free to make up their own minds and to disagree with the teacher without incurring any penalty for doing so.

(9) Segregate students according to race, or sin-gle out one racial group of students as responsible for the suffering or inequities experienced by another racial group of students.The regulations promulgated pursuant to this act shall apply to all teachers at public educational institutions, tenured and non-tenured. Moreover, the regulations shall contain clear guidelines for enforcement and provide penalties for violations, up to and including termination. The state’s [board of education or other relevant regulating body] shall provide written notification to all teachers, parents, and students of their respective rights and responsibilities under the regulations promulgated pursuant to this act and shall provide at least three hours of annual continuing teacher education instruction to teachers to instruct them regarding their responsibilities under said regulations.

Moreover, we call on the state’s professional teacher organizations and unions to voluntarily adopt an educators’ code of ethics and professional responsibility that incorporates the above principles and specifically prohibits teachers in K-12 schools from using the classroom for political indoctrination.
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Peter Collier is the Vice- President of Programs and Co-founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Sara Dogan is the National Campus Director for the David Horowitz Freedom Center. She has written numerous articles and reports about academic freedom, classroom indoctrination, and anti-Semitism on campus. [Source]

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Aging In Place In America

by Chuck Norris: There is a movement afoot in this country. Some call it revolutionary. More than 110 new age "Villages" have cropped up in the United States. There are another 120 in development according to the Village to Village Network. You probably have not heard of this grassroots movement because it is the work of old people — senior citizens.

"It's a grass-roots movement on the part of older people who did not want to be patronized, isolated, infantilized," one participant recently told NPR. "That's what we felt was out there for us. And we felt quite competent in taking care of ourselves."

The village community model combines aging in place with an interdependent support network. This arrangement helps make aging alone possible as members progressively age and need more assistance. Older members of a neighborhood or group of neighborhoods are linked with one another as well as with a network of volunteer and paid services. It is this interdependence component that separates Villages from traditional assisted living.

Studies show that most Americans would prefer to stay where they are as they get older. One AARP survey found that 89 percent of Americans would like to live in their current homes as long as possible. That number rose to 95 percent when people over age 75 were asked the question.

If you are among the Baby Boomer generation, you need to be looking carefully at this development. Before you know it, figuring out how to live independently is one of the many challenges you will be facing. You will also find that it can be mighty lonely out there; families disperse, friends are lost or fade away. Many experts believe that a loneliness epidemic is developing in the United States and the U.S. should consider following Britain's lead in making loneliness a public-health priority.

While research on loneliness among all adults in the U.S. is scarce, a 2012 study found that between 20 and 43 percent of American adults over age 60 experienced "frequent or intense" loneliness. Loneliness wreaks havoc on health because it removes the safety net of social support. Feeling lonely has been found to increase a person's risk of dying early by 26 percent. It is worse for the body than obesity or air pollution.

Baby boomers need to realize that middle age will soon be in the rearview mirror. What will they do then — especially if they should find themselves alone? Research shows these to be questions people between the ages of 40 to 65 tend to avoid. This even holds true when they are caregivers struggling to assist an aging parent through loss of mobility, memory and independence. They still cannot imagine themselves in their parent's shoes some day. If they did, they might look differently at the limited choices in care their loved ones face.

In her book "With a Little Help From Our Friends," journalist and author Beth Baker notes that as recently as 1900, the average life expectancy in the United States was 45. In a typical family, the father would die before the children left home. "The whole notion of empty nest is a modern concept. The notion of retirement is a modern concept. These are hugely significant developments," she writes.

Baker believes that modern society has developed a sense of ambivalence about the meaning of old age. She reminds us that older people were once viewed with respect and admiration and seen as wise counselors. The loss and frailty that accompanies old age were understood to give elders more compassion and wisdom than younger people who had not yet faced life's trials. Today, old age is viewed as a vexing problem. It is often defined by physical and cognitive decline of people who are economically useless.

Baker writes about a 2013 Yale School of Public Health study documenting extreme ageism on Facebook. It found 84 groups consisting of more than 25,000 members focused on older people. Of these groups, all but one were sites where people espoused extremely negative views of their elders. One group even proclaiming that anyone "over the age of 69 should immediately face a firing squad," while other groups described elders as "infantile" people who should not be allowed to drive or shop.

Older people were seen as no more than a problem that needed fixing. The solution included the development of tens of thousands of nursing homes, assisted living and retirement communities. To fend off the stigma of aging, a $100 billion industry of "anti-aging" products emerged. Forgotten was the lesson of the Blue Zones, those rare longevity hotspots around the world where people value their elders and keep them close.

Increasingly today — through researchers, advocates and older people themselves — there is push back against long-held ageism. Aging in place and naturally occurring retirement communities such as The Village are challenging the assumption that being old, by definition, means being frail, vulnerable, and helpless.

Research shows that older people who believe they have something valuable to contribute to their families and their communities feel healthier. They are much more likely to successfully age in place than their peers who hold more negative views about their lives.

As Baker points out, the truth is that old age is a frontier that none of us can predict until we're trekking through the middle of it. The essential question facing each of us as we age is: how can we balance our desire for independence with staying connected to others?

The end of life is a nonnegotiable thing. What we cannot lose sight of is that the quality and exact length of that life is something we very much have the power to shape.
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Chuck Norris writes for various publications and blogs at Chuck Norris News. Learn more about health and fitness via his twitter at @chucknorris and his Official Chuck Norris Facebook Page.

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Chag Sameach, Good News

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Chag Sameach – A Joyous Festival - Today is a special day when the Jewish and Christian holidays of Passover and Good Friday coincide. The two pillars of Western Civilization – the Jewish and Christian faiths – will celebrate the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus.

Jews all over the world will gather tonight to celebrate the miracle of Passover, commemorating the liberation of their people from ancient Egypt.

The Book of Exodus tells us that Moses was sent by God to tell Pharaoh to "Let my people go." When Pharaoh refused, a series of plagues were inflicted on the Egyptian people. Through it all, Pharaoh's heart hardened and he still refused to end the bondage of the Jews.

The final plague that God used to free the Jews from Pharaoh and Egyptian captivity was to kill all the firstborn males.

Forewarned by God, Jews marked their doors with the blood of a lamb, and, as a result, He passed over their homes. Pharaoh finally relented and released the Hebrew people. (Exodus, Chapter 12.) God told the Jewish people to mark the day as a memorial day and to observe it as a feast to the Lord forever.

God was with His people then as He liberated the Jews of Egypt and led them to the promised land of Israel. He is with them now.

To all our Jewish friends, Chag Sameach, a joyous festival!

Good News - Of course, Jesus and his disciples were Jews, so they celebrated Passover. And whether the Last Supper was in fact a Passover meal has been the subject of much debate.

But today, on Good Friday, Christians can set can aside such debates and any dispiriting headlines. Today we focus on the Good News, and exactly what it is that we as Christians are celebrating. (And it's not chocolate bunnies or marshmallow chicks!)

As a child, when I read the Easter story, I wanted a different ending. If only He had come down from the Cross and destroyed His enemies -- that would have demonstrated His power. That is what I thought then.

Of course, I soon learned that Christ had to die. He was the perfect lamb, He was the sacrifice for our sins.

He died so that we might have everlasting life. Romans 5:8 tells us, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

While some worship a god who commands men to die for him and to kill others for him, we worship a loving God who gave His only Son to die for us. What a contrast! What a savior!

As Charles Wesley's great hymn states: "Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?"

But Christ did more than just give up His life. He conquered death. He rose from the grave. While Christmas overshadows most holidays, ultimately it is not a birthday that we celebrate. It is the resurrection.

If Christ had not risen from the grave, He would have been forgotten as a common criminal, a rabble-rouser whose birthday would have no significance.

But with Christ's resurrection, we have confidence.

Confidence in a caring Creator, rather than the chaos of the cosmos.

Confidence in a glorious future, rather than the finality of the grave.

On Easter morning, Christians do not remember a martyr. We worship the risen Son of God!

Thank God for the Cross and the empty tomb. Thank God for the Good News of Christ's resurrection.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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March Madness . . .

. . . “March For Our Lives” doesn’t seem to care about all the lives saved by people owning Guns. It doesn’t fit their repeal the 2nd Amendment agenda.

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

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Tags: March Madness, March For Our Live, doesm't care, lives saved, by people, owning Guns, repeal agenda, 2nd Amendment, editorial cartoon, AF Branco To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Does the Pope Believe in Hell?

Dantes Hell

by Patrick Buchanan: “Pope Declares No Hell?”

So ran the riveting headline on the Drudge Report of Holy Thursday.

Drudge quoted this exchange, published in La Repubblica, between Pope Francis and his atheist friend, journalist Eugenio Scalfari.

Scalfari: “What about bad souls? Where are they punished?”

Bad souls “are not punished,” Pope Francis is quoted, “those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear. There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls.”

On the first Holy Thursday, Judas betrayed Christ. And of Judas the Lord said, “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man shall be betrayed; it were better for him if that man had never been born.”

Did the soul of Judas, and those of the monstrous evildoers of history, “just fade away,” as General MacArthur said of old soldiers? If there is no hell, is not the greatest deterrent to the worst of sins removed?

What did Christ die on the cross to save us from?

If Francis made such a statement, it would be rank heresy.

Had the pope been speaking ex cathedra, as the vicar of Christ on earth, he would be contradicting 2,000 years of Catholic doctrine, rooted in the teachings of Christ himself. He would be calling into question papal infallibility, as defined in 1870 by the Vatican Council of Pius IX.

Questions would arise as to whether Francis is a true pope.

The Vatican swiftly issued a statement saying the pope had had a private conversation, not a formal interview, with his friend Scalfari.

The Vatican added: “The textual words pronounced by the pope are not quoted. No quotation of the aforementioned article must therefore be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father.”

Sorry, but this will not do. This does not answer the questions the pope raised in his chat. Does hell exist? Are souls that die in mortal sin damned to hell for all eternity? Does the pope accept this belief? Is this still the infallible teaching of the Roman Catholic Church?

However one may applaud Francis’ stance on social justice, on matters of faith and morals he has called defined doctrine into question and created confusion throughout the Church he heads.

In his letter Amoris Laetitia, “The Joy of Love,” the pope seemed to give approval to the receiving of Holy Communion by divorced and remarried Catholics, whose previous marriages had not been annulled, and whom the Church holds to be living in adultery.

Relying on the pope’s letter, German bishops have begun to authorize the distribution of Communion to divorced and remarried couples.

Cardinal Gerhard Muller, former prefect of the Vatican office for the Doctrine of the Faith, the position once held by Pope Benedict XVI, says this contradicts Catholic doctrine as enunciated by Pope John Paul II.

Said Cardinal Muller, “No power in heaven or on earth, neither an angel nor the pope, not a council, nor a law of the bishops has the faculty to change it.”

Four cardinals, including Raymond Burke of the United States, in a formal letter, asked the pope to clarify Amoris Laetitia. The pope did not, nor has he addressed the cardinals’ concerns.

Indeed, when asked early in his papacy about the immorality of homosexuality, the pope parried the question, “Who am I to judge?”

But if not thee, who? Is not the judging of right and wrong part of the job description?

Nor is it only in the realm of doctrine that the pope has sown confusion among the faithful.

To legalize the underground Catholic Church in China, the pope and the Vatican have agreed to ask Catholic bishops to stand aside for bishops approved by the Communist Party that seeks tighter control of Christian faiths.

The Vatican has also agreed to approve the consecration of a bishop named by Beijing, whom Rome previously regarded as illegitimate.

The capitulation is necessary for the Catholic Church in China to survive and prosper, argues the Vatican. But what kind of church will it become, asks retired Archbishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong.

The Vatican is “selling out” the Church in China, says the archbishop: “Some say that all the effort to reach an agreement is to avoid the ecclesial schism. How ridiculous! The schism is there, in the Independent Church!”

Archbishop Zen concedes his criticism of the Communist Party and the Vatican’s diplomatic efforts are causing problems in closing the rift between the underground Church and the Communist Party-sanctioned church, but makes no apology: “Am I the major obstacle in the process of reaching a deal between the Vatican and China? If that is a bad deal, I would be more than happy to be the obstacle.”

There is a division inside Catholicism that is widening, between a Third World and traditional church that are growing, and a mainstream Church in Europe and here that is taking on aspects of the Anglican Church of the 20th century.

And how did that turn out, Your Holiness?

Happy Easter!
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Patrick Buchanan is currently a conservative columnist, political analyst, chairman of The American Cause foundation and an editor of The American Conservative. He has been a senior advisor to three Presidents, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and was the presidential nominee of the Reform Party in 2000. He blogs at the Patrick J. Buchanan.

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Tags: Patrick Buchanan, conservative, commentary, the Pope, hell, Easter To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

The Abortionists' Cartoon Advice

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: Let it not be said that Planned Parenthood lacks for principles.

When Donald Trump offered a deal, last year, to fund Planned Parenthood only if the organization would stop doing abortions, the company immediately clarified the situation. “Offering money to Planned Parenthood to abandon our patients and our values is not a deal that we will ever accept,” said the outfit’s executive vice president. “Providing critical health care services for millions of American women is nonnegotiable.”

And, for Planned Parenthood, abortion is indeed critical. “The Trump administration needs to stop playing political games that would put access to the full range of safe reproductive care at risk,” said Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY), “or they will get the fight of their lives,”

Well, that fight was won by Planned Parenthood. The politician who once said he would “shut down the government” over the abortionist enterprise has caved after various roadblocks. Trump signed a stopgap omnibus spending bill, last week, which continues to funnel $500 million towards the outfit.

So, as if to celebrate, a Pennsylvania branch of the abortion mill — er, “reproductive care” service — engaged in a bit of ebullience, a “light-hearted” tweet:We need a disney princess who’s had an abortion

We need a disney princess who’s pro-choice

We need a disney princess who’s an undocumented immigrant

We need a disney princess who’s actually a union worker

We need a disney princess who’s transThis caused a firestorm.* And not because its Disney obsession was silly. The problem? The tweet showed that Planned Parenthood is really, really committed to valorizing the killing of fetuses. And that its agenda is far, far left.

The outfit should be left without taxpayer funds.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

* The Tweet was quickly removed.
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Paul Jacob is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacobs is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren - March 2018 Porker of the Month

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
Photo choosen by ARRA News Service
Editor because Warren has claimed to be
an American Indian. As 'evidence" has not
been found to substantiate "her claim,"
we acknowlege her as a member
of the "Know Nothing Tribe."

(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) its March 2018 Porker of the Month for spreading false prophesies about the wildly successful tax reform law.

On November 14, 2017, prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Sen. Elizabeth Warren cut a kitschy Youtube video with then - Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) where she proclaimed that, “We have this big problem in the country.” She went on to mock what companies would do with their share of the tax cuts, saying, “Somehow, [companies] are going to share it with all of their workers, and that’s how worker wages are going to come up. Now the problem we’ve got for that is it’s never worked that way. It hasn’t worked that way.”

Her comments did not age well. Just minutes after Congress passed the tax law on December 20, 2017, Sen. Warren was proved wrong. Companies began announcing that they were giving $1,000 bonuses to all of their employees. Other companies raised their minimum wage to $15 per hour, while others beefed up benefit packages and retirement plans. More than 400 companies and four million American workers have seen and felt direct benefits from the tax law.

All of this came as a shock to Sen. Warren, who attempted to backtrack on her gloomy prediction on Boston Public Radio on January 5, 2018, saying, “I am glad when I read that there are companies that are giving out thousand-dollar bonuses. There are companies that say they’re going to rework some of their benefit plans. I’m in favor of all of that.”
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Sen. Warren’s doom and gloom predictions clearly illustrate her deeply flawed economic dogma. Not surprisingly, giving Americans more of their own money is already resulting in positive benefits, and the best is yet to come. The tax law has laid the groundwork for substantial job and wage growth for American workers. Tax reform is working, and even Sen. Warren was forced to eat crow.”

For her blatantly false predictions about the successful tax reform law, CAGW names Sen. Elizabeth Warren its March 2018 Porker of the Month.
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Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

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Tags: Citizens Against Government Waste, CAGW, porker of the month, March 2018, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts, blatantly false predictions, tax reform law To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

What Makes Israel Such a Valuable Partner

by Armstrong Williams: Israel is known as the innovation nation, and with very good reason.

As a country merely the size of New Jersey and with no real natural resources to speak of, Israel still has the third-most companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, trailing only the much larger United States and China.

This tiny nation of just 8 million people has, through its own boldness and entrepreneurial spirit, become a renowned global leader in industries ranging from high technology to agriculture to manufacturing to tourism.

The nation’s continued success in recent years can be at least partially credited to the incredible leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is an orator of the highest order—an extraordinary communicator. The prime minister’s talents were on full display for all to see at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference, which took place recently in my beloved Washington, D.C.

Before delivering a moving speech on policy, Netanyahu first dove into an impromptu discussion of the Jewish state’s unique ability to lead on a global scale, highlighting the country’s remarkable gains in recent years and its impressive economic standing.

For 15 minutes and without any notes, the prime minister paced the front of the stage at the packed Washington Convention Center where 18,000 pro-Israel activists sat with undivided attention while he delivered a cogent and memorable presentation on the innovative spirit that is just one aspect of what makes Israel so incredible.

Israel’s true power, Netanyahu underscored, is not in its natural resources, but rather in its “human resources.” He provided tangible, real-world examples of this phenomenon by citing a number of innovative Israeli companies that have been recently acquired by giants of industry in leading business hubs like Silicon Valley and beyond.

He pointed to cutting-edge Israeli institutions such as the Volcani Institute, which produces a staggering 75 percent of all agricultural innovation.

I can personally attest to his glowing description. I have been to Israel over a dozen times and have had the opportunity to see the remarkable country and its innovation at work firsthand. I can tell you from these experiences and from my conversations with the country’s leaders that Israel offers an immense strategic value to the United States as a key partner and friend in diplomacy.

The economies of our two countries are intrinsically linked, and this provides both our nations with immeasurable benefits and advantages. This value is underscored by the fact that some of the biggest and best companies in the United States, including Google and Intel, chose to build their research and development facilities in Israel, because the country has no peer when it comes to technological talent.

In the years to come, look for Israel to build upon its reputation for excellence and become a worldwide leader in an increasing number of growing industries, such as cybersecurity.

Israelis have an innate talent for using modern technologies to revolutionize existing industries, as well as for creating entirely new ones based on the ever-evolving global needs. This drive to innovate and improve the world around them is an invaluable skill that will continue to define them as a global leader for the foreseeable future.

As we all know, Israel’s origins date all the way back to the time of the Bible, where it was described as the land of milk and honey, blessed by God, and promised to the Jewish people. Today, more than ever, the Jewish people in Israel are fulfilling this promise and destiny.

In many ways, it is a mirror of the United States on a far smaller scale. Both countries are champions of the same core values. The Jewish state and its people are truly living out their mandate to be light unto the nations.

When it comes to U.S. leaders, Israel has found no greater friend than President Donald Trump. He has already acted to correct a historic wrong by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announcing his intention to move the U.S. Embassy there.

I personally cannot wait to visit the new embassy in its rightful place in Jerusalem. This critical and momentous change marks the beginning of a new era that will further strengthen the invaluable ties between our two great nations.

As Israel continues to establish its dominance alongside the U.S. as a global leader in technology and business, we should welcome new and increased opportunities to grow together for the good of both our countries and the entire world.
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Armstrong Williams (Arightside) is a columnist for The Daily Signal and host of “The Armstrong Williams Show,” a nationally syndicated TV program.

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Repealing the Second Amendment Would Call into Question the Entire U.S. Constitution

by Aaron Simms: Some are calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment, such as former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. While this is unlikely to occur, it at least gets to the core of what some in this country really want. Therefore, it is worthwhile to think about the relationship that the Second Amendment has to the Constitution as a whole.

In the lead-up to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution by the various States, there was concern that the proposed federal government would become so powerful that it would overwhelm the rights of the States as well as the liberties of individuals. Two main sides emerged in the debate. The Federalists argued for the need of a strong central government; the impotent government enabled by the previous Articles of Confederation proved as much in their minds. On the other side, however, the Anti-Federalists feared what a strong central government might do to the States and the people. They opposed the ratification of the Constitution as it stood, while some in this Anti-Federalist camp argued that - at the very least - a Bill of Rights was needed in order to ensure that the innate rights of people were protected from the power of the government. On the other side, the Federalists stated that a Bill of Rights was unnecessary since the federal government only had the rights granted to it by the Constitution, while all other rights were retained by the States and the people.

In order to secure ratification of the Constitution, however, the Federalists had to accede to the concerns of the Anti-Federalists and include a Bill of Rights consisting of Constitutional Amendments 1 through 10 (in fact, number 10 expresses the feelings of the Federalists concerning who retains power in the new governmental arrangement).

As a whole, the structure of government envisioned in the U.S. Constitution was modeled on the old Roman Republic in the sense that it created a Republican form of government with various checks and balances to limit governmental power and create friction so as to blunt the potential for tyranny at the hands of imperfect men and women.

The Founders saw the Second Amendment, in particular, as essential to securing liberty for their posterity. Without the ability of the people to challenge their government, there was no ultimate check on governmental power. The shooting phase of the American Revolution, in fact, had begun when the British government attempted to seize American arms. The American colonists knew that this would mean the end of all hope of liberty and therefore fought back, sparking the war which ended in American independence.

The point for the present time, however, is that the only reason the Constitution achieved ratification was because the Bill of Rights were included. Without the Second Amendment, or any of the original Ten for that matter, there would not have been enough support for ratification and the form of government we have today may very well have been modeled more on the Articles of Confederation, with a weaker central government, than what we have today.

One can argue about whether or not the Second Amendment is relevant in our present age (I would argue that it is and always will be relevant until humanity is no longer flawed), but not whether or not it was relevant for the Founders. Without the Second, none of the Constitution would have been ratified. Courts and laws have limited, at times, the protections afforded by the Amendment, but the fundamental right of Americans to have arms with which to defend themselves against criminals and tyrants has remained intact. To remove this protection calls into question the compact we have with one another as States and as American people in this experiment we call the “United States.” One might as well call for the dissolution of the Union, for that’s what a “repeal of the Second Amendment” actually means.

This is to say nothing of the fact that the Bill of Rights is meant to protect individual liberty; it does not grant rights, but rather acknowledges that there are certain innate rights we have - simply by virtue of being people - that deserve special protection from the potential of governmental overreach. Think about what the Amendments are really saying:

• We have the right to say what we want, believe and worship how we want, print what we want, and seek our goals in the political process (Amendment 1)
• We have the right to defend ourselves effectively (Amendment 2)
• We have the right to the independence of our own homes without governmental interference (Amendment 3)
• We have the right to be secure in our homes and privacy without undue government snooping (Amendment 4)
• We have the right to be secure in our lives and property with due process (Amendment 5)
• We have the right to a fair trail by a jury and to receive a just punishment if guilty (Amendments 6, 7, 8)
• We have rights not mentioned in the Constitution and are not giving up those rights just because they’re not specifically mentioned (Amendment 9)
• The States and the people retain the powers which they have not delegated to the federal government (Amendment 10)

This is a compact of sovereign states and a free people, not of subjects. Repealing one of these Amendments destroys the whole foundation on which our system of government rests and by which the Constitution was ratified. It also does not negate the fact that the right meant to be protected by the Amendment still exists, even if the Amendment itself is removed. Perhaps a reminder of why our Founders created the Constitution is in order.

From the preamble of the Constitution:We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.From the preamble to the Bill of Rights:The Conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution.-------------------
Aaron Simms @simmswrites is an author, writer, pastor and blogs. H/T The Resurgent

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