Will This Christian Woman Hang for Taking a Sip of Water?

It was June 14, 2009. A Sunday. It was hot and falsa berry season was in full swing. Asia Bibi decided to pick berries in a local field in exchange for 250 rupees — enough to buy flour to feed her family for a week, she recorded in a memoir about her ordeal.

It was backbreaking work, and when Asia took a sip of water from a well, the women she was laboring with refused to drink from the same source. Asia is a Christian, and the Muslim women insisted that the well was unclean after she drank from it.

An argument ensued, and the women accused Asia of blasphemy against the Islamic prophet Muhammad — an umbrella charge in Pakistan under which anyone can be accused of crime. Asia has consistently maintained her innocence.

A trial was held, and Asia was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to hang in 2010. There have been appeals through the years, but the judgment stood. In the meantime, Asia has been kept in solitary confinement in a cell so small her arms can span wall to wall.

Thursday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan will make a final ruling on Asia’s execution. Her torturous, nearly seven-year purgatory will finally come to an end. But will her life?

The German Deutsche Welle reports that “[l]egally, the judges have very little room under the blasphemy law to overturn their 2010 decision” to execute Asia, and that the “issue is no longer only religious; it is a sensitive political matter now.”

Two prominent, politically-connected men in Pakistan have been murdered for speaking publicly in defense of Asia —Salman Tasser (the former governor of Punjab and a Muslim) and Shahbaz Bhatti (former minority affairs minister, who served as the sole Christian in Pakistan’s cabinet). And a mullah previously put forth a reward for Asia’s murder.

There are voices all over the world — from Pope Francis to the European Parliament to hundreds of thousands of people in the online community — pleading with Pakistan’s government to spare Asia’s life and allow her to go back to her husband and five children. The mayor of Paris even offered refuge for her and the family.

Congressman Joe Pitts, R-Penn. (F, 52%) introduced a resolution to make the State Department prioritize the repeal of global blasphemy laws, noting that Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt sanction “particularly severe violations of religious freedom[.]” It never was brought up for a vote on the House floor.

Perhaps intense global pressure could sway the minds of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Perhaps the justices fear the potentially deadly repercussions for freeing a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.

If the 2010 judgment holds and Asia Bibi is hanged, she will be the first person executed by the Pakistani government for blasphemy laws.

As people around the world await to hear Asia Bibi’s fate, the least we can do is offer up a prayer for her and her family. As Asia tells the world in her memoir:

“I’m asking you for help. Please don’t forget about me. I need you.” (For more from the author of “Will This Christian Woman Hang for Taking a Sip of Water?” please click HERE)

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Group Claims YouTube Is Restricting PragerU Educational Videos

YouTube is restricting educational videos from a well-known conservative advocacy organization, prompting the nonprofit website to petition for restoration of the content.

PragerU, an institution that, according to its website, “presents the most important ideas in free, five-minute videos,” is currently being restricted by YouTube. YouTube has restricted 21 of the organization’s videos.

Videos are restricted on YouTube based on vulgar language, violence and disturbing imagery, nudity and sexually suggestive content, and portrayal of harmful or dangerous activities, according to YouTube. Videos that are age-restricted “are not visible to users who are logged out, are under 18 years of age, or have restricted mode enabled,” according to YouTube.

The list of restricted videos include, “Are The Police Racist?,” “Why Don’t Feminists Fight for Muslim Women?,” “Why Did America Fight the Korean War?,” “Who’s More Pro-Choice: Europe or America?,” and “What ISIS Wants.”

“Over the last several months, PragerU and YouTube have been in communication regarding a number of PragerU videos that YouTube has listed under ‘restricted mode,’” Jared Sichel, PragerU’s communications director, said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal. “That number has since grown to 21 videos. Restricted mode is something that many parents and schools use so that children don’t watch explicit adult and sexual content—not so they can’t find animated, educational videos on topics ranging from history and economics to happiness and philosophy.”

YouTube was bought by Google in 2006 and is a subsidiary company of the search engine giant. According to a PragerU press release, PragerU filed a complaint with Google executives but received a generic response.

“In response to an official complaint PragerU filed, Google specialists defended their restriction of our videos, and said, ‘We don’t censor anyone,’ although they do ‘take into consideration what the intent of the video is’ and ‘what the focus of the video is,’” the press release said.

The Daily Signal contacted YouTube about the restrictions on PragerU’s videos, but they did not respond.

Sichel said that in an effort to protest and end YouTube’s restrictions, they have launched a petition for viewers to sign.

“After months of official and back-channel communication with YouTube and Google led nowhere, PragerU released [yesterday] a petition against YouTube to stop restricting these 21 videos. That petition already has over 15,000 signatures, and it’s growing fast,” Sichel said.

“Based on our review of YouTube’s policies and user guidelines, none of our videos meet the requirements of being inappropriate, sexually explicit, or hate speech,” Elisha Krauss, director of outreach at PragerU, told The Daily Signal in an email. “Some places of employment and many libraries and schools use restricted mode to prevent vulgar and inappropriate content. So we know students and adults are being prevented from doing research and using our videos as a source.” (For more from the author of “Group Claims YouTube Is Restricting PragerU Educational Videos” please click HERE)

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Why I Serve on the Catholic Advisory Committee of the Trump/Pence Campaign

In the first presidential debate, Hilary Clinton paraphrased words attributed to the great French writer Alexis de Tocqueville: “America is great because America is good. If America ever stops being good, it will stop being great.” Those words were probably not written by him. Nor were these words,

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers — and it was not there. … in her fertile fields and bound less forests — and it was not there … in her rich mines and her vast world commerce — and it was not there. … In her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution — and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

I accepted the invitation to the Catholic Advisory group to Trump/Pence 2016 campaign because I believe these words are true, no matter who wrote them.

The American Founding

Our age is reeling under what Pope Benedict XVI called a “dictatorship of relativism.” Relativism says there are no objective truths. The American founders were not relativists. They declared independence with the bold words “We Hold These Truths.”

They affirmed that fundamental human rights were endowed by the Creator. The Catholic Church affirms these truths. But it just doesn’t affirm them in theory. It demands that we work to promote and defend them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (numbers 2239, 2240) says very clearly that we citizens have the duty to work for “the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom” as an act of gratitude for what we have been given. Then it says:

Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community. Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country.

As a Catholic clergyman, I take this duty seriously. I am grateful to my country and love the United States, and very concerned for her future. This election matters. It also matters to the Republican Party that it hear the Catholic voice strongly.

The Right to Life and Religious Freedom

First among the truths our nation’s founders declared is the Right to Life. This is not a right our nation now fully recognizes. Abortion is legal in the United States. Innocent children in the womb are being killed by surgical instruments, chemical weapons or suction, at any time and for any reason. Every procured abortion is a violation of the Natural Law Right to Life.

We have no excuse. We know these children are our brothers and sisters. We offer surgery to them. We prosecute someone who takes their lives in the commission of another crime. We take 4D and 3D images of these children and send them to friends. We know what we are doing and are culpable as a Nation.

The next president could name four Justices to the United States Supreme Court. Those appointments will determine if this horrible practice continues. Even just two could shift the balance and change the law for generations. Donald Trump affirms the Right to Life and Hilary Clinton denies it.

The Constitution protects religious freedom. It requires the government to accommodate religious faith, but now we find it increasingly treated with hostility. I don’t need to go over the examples.

Just think of the baker who can’t bake a cake celebrating a same-sex “marriage” because of her deeply held religious conviction about marriage being persecuted and fined. Or the Little Sisters of the Poor. Or the growing effort to compel Christian institutions to deny sexual difference and conform to the radical gender identity agenda. There are many more examples, and the number is growing.

Our founding fathers understood that the nation they’d created couldn’t survive without a strong religious people. In 1798 John Adams proclaimed, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. … Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Our founders understood that the free exercise of religion goes beyond the freedom to worship within church buildings. They knew it included bakers baking cakes and nuns caring for the poor. Donald Trump affirms religious freedom. He will correct the abuses unleashed by the Johnson Amendment which gags the speech of the Church and support the First Amendment Defense Act. Hilary Clinton opposes both and is hostile toward the Church and religious freedom.

Marriage and Family and School Choice

The rights of children and the common good are best secured by recognizing the uniqueness of faithful monogamous marriage above all other relationships. The family is the first society, first economy, first school, first civilizing and mediating institution and first government, and the first place for the formation of virtue and character in children. This is both common sense and my Church’s teaching.

In rejecting marriage, the United States Supreme Court in its Obergefell opinion erred. In the dissent of Chief Justice Roberts, he noted “the majority’s decision is an act of will, not legal judgment. The right it announces has no basis in the Constitution or this Court’s precedent.” He was correct.

Donald Trump will protect the rights of the Church to advocate for marriage and the family free from governmental coercion and persecution. Hilary Clinton will not.

The founders also understood the parents right and duty to direct their children’s education. So does the Catholic Church. The Catechism calls the right of parents to choose a school for their children “fundamental” and says that the government has “the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise” (number #2229).

Donald Trump supports school choice. Hilary Clinton is opposed to it.

Good Government and Economic Freedom

Finally, two other areas guided my choice to join the Catholic Advisory Group. They are matters of prudential judgement, meaning that people who hold the same principles may have different ideas about how to act upon those principles. In many cases of prudential judgment, I find myself in agreement with the Trump/Pence campaign and opposed to the Clinton/Kaine campaign.

First, I affirm the principle of subsidiarity. Governing should first occur at the lowest level and any other governing entity should defer and assist the smallest governing unit, not usurp their role.

Donald Trump will devolve government back to the state and local levels. He will recognize the necessity of supporting mediating associations, those groups like the family and churches that stand between the individual and the state, that make up what we call “civil society.” Hillary Clinton advocates increased centralization of power at the federal level and letting government over-ride mediating institutions.

Second, I believe in a truly free economy. By that I mean one that should not be controlled by either a federal bureaucracy or a corporatist class. The free economy will expand participation while promoting enterprise and awarding initiative. After reviewing the economic policies of Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, I determined Trump promotes economic freedom.

Conclusion

I accepted the invitation to the Catholic Advisory Group to the campaign of Donald J. Trump to offer the kind of policy analysis I have expressed in this essay to the campaign. (For more from the author of “Why I Serve on the Catholic Advisory Committee of the Trump/Pence Campaign” please click HERE)

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Man Wearing Bill Clinton ‘Rape’ Shirt Appears Behind Hillary During Rally

A man attending a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Detroit on Monday appeared behind her wearing a T-shirt with an image of former President Bill Clinton along with the word “Rape.”

Once the man was spotted, he was escorted from the rally by security officers, falling down the stairs right behind Clinton. Some observers believed he had been pushed.

When she realized what was going on, Clinton said, “You know, I do hope somebody follows that gentleman out and stages an intervention. He clearly has not been following this election very closely.”

The Bill Clinton “Rape” image, found on T-shirts and posters, and similar words and images have been seen at various venues recently.

A man wearing a shirt bearing the slogan attended a recent campaign appearance by Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine. The man interrupted Kaine’s speech by shouting “Bill Clinton is a rapist” several times.

A poster warning about “rapist” Bill Clinton was seen outside the campus of Washington University in St. Louis before the second presidential debate. The poster showed Clinton holding a small sign bearing the names of several women he has been accused of sexually assaulting.

On Wednesday, Bill Clinton was in Canton, Ohio, giving a speech when a woman carrying a T-shirt that read “BILL CLINTON A RAPIST” walked past the members of the press. As she passed them she remarked, “Bill Clinton is a rapist.”

After the woman was removed by security, Clinton said, “I love it when people come to my rallies.”

Texas talk show host Alex Jones recently offered up to $5,000 to any listener successful in interrupting a live television broadcast by showing up in one of the T-shirts and shouting, “Bill Clinton is a rapist.”

A young man succeeded when he interrupted a segment of Fox and Friends.

Security arrived to extract the man from the area, but he was able to briefly get free. The young man could be heard saying, “Get your hands off me,” as security was able to subdue him.

Since Friday’s leak of a tape revealing Republican nominee Donald Trump made vulgar remarks about a married woman in 2005, he has increased the spotlight on Bill Clinton’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Before the presidential debate Sunday, he posted a video in which he was surrounded by women — Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broddrick — who have accused Clinton of rape or inappropriate behavior. Kathy Shelton, a rape victim whose alleged attacker was represented by a young Hillary Clinton, was also in attendance.

Trump later said during the debate, “If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words, and his was action. His was what he’s done to women. There’s never been anybody in the history politics in this nation that’s been so abusive to women. So you can say any way you want to say it, but Bill Clinton was abusive to women.” (For more from the author of “Man Wearing Bill Clinton ‘Rape’ Shirt Appears Behind Hillary During Rally” please click HERE)

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Hillary’s Young Town Hall Questioner Sure Looks Like a Plant

…Did Hillary Clinton use a teenage girl as a plant at her Tuesday town hall in Haverford, Pennsylvania? The question that kicked off the event, as Alex Griswold of Mediaite observed, was just a little too perfect, and aligned itself flawlessly with Clinton’s recent ads attacking Donald Trump’s alleged offensive comments about women.

The 15-year-old Brennan Leach, who had a conspicuous red bow in her hair, was selected to ask the first question. “At my school, body image is a really big issue for girls my age,” she said, reported the New York Times. “I see with my own eyes the damage Donald Trump does when he talks about women and how they look.” She went on to ask how Clinton could help girls understand “that they are so much more than just what they look like?”

YouTuber Spanglevision questioned the randomness of the girl and her question, decided to investigate further, and discovered several interesting tidbits of information. (Note: The video contains mildly offensive language).

Brennan Leach is a child actor and the daughter of Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Daylin Leach. Incidentally, Senator Leach is a Hillary Clinton endorser and campaign donor. What’s more, Brennan admitted right after the Town Hall that her father helped her write the question.

Interestingly, the camera focuses on Brennan two minutes before she asks her question and she appears very nervous. Spanglevision said this is likely a camera test letting her know she needs to be ready, but why would she need to be ready if participants were chosen at random? The host, Elizabeth Banks, “randomly” picks her out of the crowd with a pert “How about you, with the little red bow?” Brennan then reads her question. She is the only participant to use a script.

When Hillary excitedly jumps up to answer the question, she says, “Thank you!” and “I think Chelsea also wants to say something about this!” She could not know whether Chelsea would want to say something about it — unless it was pre-planned.

While the Clinton campaign denies Brennan was a plant— and anything is possible — it’s not like Clinton hasn’t pulled a stunt like this before. According to Mediaite, Hillary’s campaign was forced to apologize in 2007 for “feeding question[s] to Iowa college students to ask during a rally.” MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported in 1999 that Hillary Clinton used a “prearranged question from a friendly union leader” during her New York Senate run. And according to The Associated Press, as late as this year, Clinton conducted a “careful, behind-the-scenes effort to review introductory remarks … as well as suggesting questions that happened to be aligned with her campaign platform.”

It isn’t difficult to see how Brennan could have been used to further Hillary Clinton’s purpose. It remains to be seen if the pattern continues at Sunday night’s town hall presidential debate. Half of the questions will come from participants. How many will come with scripts? (For more from the author of “Hillary’s Young Town Hall Questioner Sure Looks Like a Plant” please click HERE)

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These 4 Women Were the Real Debate Winners and the Clintons Will Hate It

Yes, Donald Trump was significantly better in tonight’s debate than the first debate. Yes, he probably won on points. It won’t matter much for his campaign. But tonight’s real winners were the women impacted by Bill and Hillary’s quest for power, who finally got the media to pay attention to them, if only for a few minutes.

Many young people voting today do not know the stories of the sexual assault victims that Bill and Hillary Clinton have allegedly left in their wake. The media has done a fantastic job — for the Clintons — of whitewashing Bill’s extracurricular activities as “consensual.” There are many women who say that is not the case. Some have even credibly accused Bill Clinton of raping them, and Hillary Clinton of covering it up.

Tonight Trump gave those women a voice. Try as they may, the media could ignore it no longer — if only for a brief moment in time.

Before the debate, four of the Clintons’ alleged victims, Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, and Kathleen Shelton, joined Trump for a press conference.

Then, on the debate stage, Trump mentioned some of those women and what the Clintons did to them. Here is the transcript of those remarks, as compiled in real-time by Vox.

That was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it. I am a person who has great respect for people, for my family, for the people of this country. And certainly I’m not proud of it, but that was something that happened. If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse, mine are words, his was action. This is what he has done to women. There’s never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that’s been so abusive to women, so you can say any way you want to say it, but Bill Clinton was abusive to women.

Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously. Four of them are here tonight. One of the women, who is a wonderful woman, at 12 years-old, was raped at 12. Her client she represented got him off and she’s seen laughing at the girl who was raped. She is here with us tonight, so, don’t tell me about words. And absolutely, I apologize for those words. But it is things that people say, but what President Clinton did, he was impeached, lost his license to practice law. He had to pay an $850,000 fine. To one of the women. Paula Jones, who’s also here tonight.

And I will tell you that when Hillary brings up a point like that and talks about words that I said 11 years ago, I think it’s disgraceful and I think she should be ashamed of herself, if you want to know the truth.

With those women in the audience, Hillary Clinton called them liars in her next breath.

First, let me say so much of what he just said is not right, but he gets to run his campaign any way he chooses. He gets to decide what he gets to talk about.

Her first instinct, as it has always been, was to denigrate the women who dare speak out against her and her husband. This time to their faces.

But this time, the media had to cover it, because it was brought up in the debate. The talking heads got back to calling it a non-issue, but for a few brief moments these women got their day in the court of public opinion. For that reason, they were the true winners tonight. (For more from the author of “These 4 Women Were the Real Debate Winners and the Clintons Will Hate It” please click HERE)

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Astroturf ‘Outrage Machine’ of Paid Trolls Floods Social Media to Counteract Negative News About Hillary Clinton

A significant portion of online support for Hillary Clinton is manufactured by paid “astroturf” trolls: a large team of supporters who spends long hours responding to negative news on the internet about her. The Clinton SuperPAC Correct the Record, which is affiliated with her campaign, acknowledged in an April press release that it was spending $1 million on project “Breaking Barriers” to pay people to respond to negative information about Clinton on social media sites like Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter. That amount has since increased to over $6 million. The trolls create a false impression that Clinton has more support than she really does, because one supporter will frequently create multiple anonymous accounts.

Libby Watson of The Sunlight Foundation observed that the astroturf effort goes far beyond merely defending Clinton, to targeting and intimidating those who criticize her. She told The Daily Beast, “This seems to be going after essentially random individuals online.”

Brian Donahue, chief executive of the consulting firm Craft Media/Digital, explained the troll operation to The Los Angeles Times, “It is meant to appear to be coming organically from people and their social media networks in a groundswell of activism, when in fact it is highly paid and highly tactical.” He went on, “That is what the Clinton campaign has always been about. It runs the risk of being exactly what their opponents accuse them of being: a campaign that appears to be populist but is a smokescreen that is paid and brought to you by lifetime political operatives and high-level consultants.”

Hillary’s Anonymous Trolls First Targeted Bernie Sanders

The Daily Kos, which preferred Bernie Sanders over Clinton, observed some of these tactics during the Democratic primary. One author wrote, “[T]here have been a number of diaries claiming to ‘have switched from Bernie to Hillary’ lately, and some of them have been from recently created accounts with no record of pro-Sanders remarks or diaries.” The author further called the Clinton effort out, writing, “We are on to your presumptive corporate shilling.”

The moderators of the Sanders subreddit /r/SandersForPresident wrote that the “Bernie Bro” concept was created by fake accounts in order to “establish a narrative that Bernie’s supporters are all racist, sexist young males who harass people online.” David Fredrick, co-founder and moderator of the subreddit, told The Atlantic when Sanders was still in the race, “If anyone criticizes a Sanders supporter online now there’s doubt over whether it’s a genuine exchange or if it’s something that Correct the Record is behind.”

David Brock, a former right-wing activist who now works for Clinton and started the left-wing site Media Matters which ruthlessly targets conservatives, is credited with creating the online trolling project. After the actor Tim Robbins, a Sanders supporter, received a barrage of tweets attacking him for speculating about election fraud hurting Sanders, Robbins responded to 88 different accounts with this tweet, “Dear @CorrectRecord operatives, Thank you for following today’s talking points. Your check is in the mail. Signed, @davidbrockdc.”

Clinton Staffer Adam Parkhomenko Outed as Troll on Reddit

Five months ago, the Trump subreddit /r/The_Donald warned, “We are being brigaded by Clinton super PAC shills. Quick, post pics upsetting to Hillary.” Users posted messages like this, “I saw like 4 today, new account and 40 pro hillary comments. Said she was a mom in one post and an asian student in another. Deleted account after someone called her out.”

Savvy Reddit users outed one of the Clinton staffers, Adam Parkhomenko, her director of grassroots engagement, who was apparently posting anonymously on the site threatening Trump supporters. Under the username rcMI9HXF, he wrote, “Warning- participation in this slanderous witch hunt will result in legal action. Mrs. Clinton has been made aware of your childish attempt to slander her and her supporters. There will be consequences for your actions.” When Reddit users guessed he was being paid by Clinton, he responded, “I am just an average Joe fed up with the blatant lies you people are slinging towards HRC. I’m a Bush supporter and volunteer, actually.” But when they discovered his home address, he finally admitted his real identity, “You can call me Adam. My buddies call me A.park.”

Clinton Staffer Luke Montgomery Behind Trump Attack Site Made to Look Like it Came From Bernie Sanders

When the “Deport Racism” website popped up, showing Hispanic children using profanity in reference to Trump and beating a pinata image of him, it appeared to come from the Sanders campaign. There was a link from the site to Sanders’ campaign site, implying that Sanders was the preferable candidate on immigration. But buried in the source code were links that appeared to be left over from another site called “Bill for First Lady 2016,” which was created by Clinton staffer Luke Montgomery. Outed, Montgomery removed the link to Sanders’ website. Montgomery, who came to prominence for his AIDs activism in the 1990s going by the name “Luke Sissyfag,” also deceptively registered a PAC called Feel the Bern.

The Clinton Machine Has Used Anonymous Trolls at Least as Far Back as 2007

The anonymous fake accounts come are nothing new for Clinton. In 2007, paid campaign staffers and volunteers on her campaign were caught creating anonymous accounts to artificially inflate her support. The influential Blue Hampshire blog discovered the ruse, when several anonymous accounts were all created in succession on the site from the same Clinton campaign IP address, which then bolstered pro-Clinton diaries.

Clinton hired a campaign manager this election cycle known for his scorched earth tactics. Robby Mook started a listserv in 2009 known as “Mook’s Mafia” to share political information with associates. He says things like “smite Republicans mafia-style” and “F U Republicans. Mafia till I die.” He has also said, “First, the mafia never separates, it just continues to grow and expand and move into other states in order to destroy Republicans.” By choosing Mook, Clinton reveals the type of campaign she wants, Alinskyite tactics of do anything to win.

Perhaps all this fake trolling won’t prove to be worth it. Once outed, the trolls will have a record to follow them around on the internet forever. One of Parkhomenko’s close friends told The Washington Post that he’s been “underutilized” on the campaign and is “miserable.” At some point, making up fake identities has to become demoralizing to all but the most hardened of campaign operatives. (For more from the author of “Astroturf ‘Outrage Machine’ of Paid Trolls Floods Social Media to Counteract Negative News About Hillary Clinton” please click HERE)

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Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards Says Telling Abortion Stories Allows Women to ‘Live out Loud’

In 1973, the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade legalized abortion and America officially rubber-stamped the murder of her innocent children. Even so, aborting one’s child was not something to flaunt, to be proud of. It was a shame, like premarital sex, and women hid it to protect their reputations.

We have since stepped into total insanity and madness. Women now feel empowered to share their abortion stories, and brag about slaughtering their unborn babies as if it were something of which to be proud. We’ve begun prostituting ourselves to Molek in the name of pleasure.

Abortion “Excites” Planned Parenthood’s President

Planned Parenthood’s president Cecile Richards said she gets “excited” when she hears women tell their abortion stories, and the circumstances surrounding that decision, The Blaze is reporting. In an interview with The Daily Iowan, Richards compared the conservative public opinion of abortion to the stigma surrounding homosexuality when she was young. “For too many years, certainly for my generation, all issues about sex and sexuality were stigmatized,” she said. “Abortion was, homosexuality was. And the exciting thing to me now is that young people are telling their stories and they are living out loud. More women are telling their abortion stories, and I told mine. I think once we get out of the shadows, and I think the LGBT movement has led the way in this, it normalizes what should be an open and honest conversation.”

This is not a discussion about getting through a difficult situation. It’s not about struggling with a mental illness, losing a job or taking care of an elderly parent. This is about the raw, unadulterated, messy, factual and heartbreaking slaughter of babies — ripping arms, legs and heads from tiny bodies because mom doesn’t want a baby right now. It is the quintessential act of hedonism, of selfishness — of sacrificing one’s child on the altar of pleasure. It could be school, work, sex, or any other self-centered reason. America has begun to celebrate her hedonistic, self-fulfilling, pleasure-seeking ways at the cost of innocent lives whose blood cries out to their Creator.

Do we want to “normalize” abortion, as Richards hopes we will? Should not the murder of innocent human lives still make us tremble and weep? Shouldn’t the reality of abortion make us sick to our stomachs? When did it become okay for sin to become “normalized”? Dr. David Gibbs, Jr., attorney and founder of Christian Law Association used an illustration years ago of how sin becomes “normalized” in society. He described how to cook frog legs. If you put frogs in a pot of boiling water, they will just jump right out. But if you put them in a pot of cool water and heat it slowly, the frogs will get comfortable as the water gets warmer and warmer, sapping their strength. By the time they want to jump out it’s too late — and you have frog legs for dinner.

That’s how sin is — creeping up on us until it’s too late. And that’s where we are in America now. The water is getting warmer — but few are moving. The abortionists are now getting bolder and more outspoken — literally boasting about what they do, and their patients boasting about what they’ve done in their pursuit of self-pleasure.

#100forLife Amid a Culture of Death

The Lord specifically warned the Israelites that if they sacrificed their children to Molek, they would be stoned. To do so profaned His name. But think about this: He also warned the community — if they failed at justice, the Lord would turn away from them and their families and cut them off from their people — God’s people.

What we do about the butchering of our nation’s babies affects God’s grace on us and our nation. Are we standing aside, allowing it to happen? Are we condoning it? Are we bragging about murder, “living out loud?” God’s grace will not stay long on a nation who, in the pursuit of pleasure, sacrifices her babies — the most innocent among us. May God have mercy on America.

Please pray with me that Christians will wake up to the murderous rampage that takes place every day and take a stand to end this most grievous sin before God turns His face from us.

And next week, please join us at The Stream for #100forLife, 100-hours of programming and prayer starting Wednesday, October 12, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Planned Parenthood, and remembering the millions of children who abortion stole of their first breath. (For more from the author of “Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards Says Telling Abortion Stories Allows Women to ‘Live out Loud'” please click HERE)

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Black Lives Matter Just Became the Latest Crusade for Socialist Ice Cream Giant Ben & Jerry’s

Ben & Jerry’s released a detailed statement Thursday explaining why the company supports the Black Lives Matter movement, and why their customers shouldn’t be “complicit” by refusing to acknowledge the “violence and threats to the lives and well-being of Black people” in America.

The statement insists that they “value and respect” law enforcement, and clarifies they do not place the blame on individual officers. But, “it’s clear, the effects of the criminal justice system are not color blind.”

According to the Vermont ice cream company, systemic and institutionalized racism within the criminal justice system are the “defining civil rights and social justice issues of our time,” and proclaiming that “All Lives Matter” isn’t enough.

“All lives do matter,” the statement reads. “But all lives will not matter until Black lives matter.”

Then there’s the portion that police officers across the country will surely appreciate:

“It’s been hard to watch the list of unarmed Black Americans killed by law enforcement officers grow longer and longer. We understand that numerous Black Americans and white Americans have profoundly different experiences and outcomes with law enforcement and the criminal justice system. That’s why it’s become clear to us at Ben & Jerry’s that we have a moral obligation to take a stand now for justice and for Black lives.”

OK, maybe they won’t appreciate that part. But Ben & Jerry’s is careful to explain why they’re not anti-police:

“We want to be clear: we believe that saying Black lives matter is not to say that the lives of those who serve in the law enforcement community don’t. We respect and value the commitment to our communities that those in law enforcement make, and we respect the value of every one of their lives.”

(But their lives don’t matter until capital-B Black lives matter, correct?)

Because we all know that the Black Lives Matter movement is all about hating “institutions,” and not police.

Speaking out for liberal causes certainly isn’t new for everybody’s favorite social justice warrior ice cream entrepreneurs, Mediaite noted, citing recent examples like the Bernie Sanders flavor released earlier this year and the climate change-themed flavor in 2015.

Founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were also arrested during a political protest back in April, as the multi-millionaire 1 percenters could not in good conscience not fight against big-money’s influence on politics.

In accordance with the $5-for-a-thimble-of-ice-cream company’s “social mission” to educate customers on the social justice wars of our day, Ben & Jerry’s also published this lengthy listicle titled, “7 Ways We Know Systemic Racism is Real.” Number 4 on that list? “Criminal justice.” (For more from the author of “Black Lives Matter Just Became the Latest Crusade for Socialist Ice Cream Giant Ben & Jerry’s” please click HERE)

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March for Life to Celebrate the ‘Power of One’ in Annual Demonstration

With the nation’s largest pro-life rally less than four months away, March for Life organizers announced the theme for the 43rd annual event will be “the power of one.”

The March for Life, an annual rally in the District of Columbia, protests the legalization of abortion in the United States with the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. It occurs each January and attracts large numbers of pro-life marchers from across the nation.

LifeNews.com estimated that hundreds of thousands participated in the 2014 March for Life. The 2017 event is planned for Jan. 27.

“This year we sense that what our culture most needs is hope,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said. “Hope, and especially the impact that one person can have in building a culture of life. And so our theme this year is the power of one. The power of one person to build a culture of life in their local community, in their family, and in their world.”

In keeping with the “power of one” theme, Mancini said rally organizers will highlight the legacy of the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who she said embodied a message of hope and the difference a single individual can make in society.

Mancini said the March for Life provides a unique platform to educate society about what she calls the greatest issue of the day, namely building a culture of life.

With that goal in mind, Mancini said, she and her team “discern very carefully about what our theme should be, knowing that we’ll have the opportunity to reach grassroots pro-lifers, but also to reach Capitol Hill, to reach the White House, to reach the media on what we believe to be the most pressing issues of our time in terms of building a culture of life.”

As in years past, Mancini said her organization wanted to highlight a person who exemplifies how one individual can make a remarkable difference for the pro-life cause.

“One such person who exemplifies our theme, the power of one, is Congressman Henry Hyde,” Mancini said. “He was both a Democrat and a Republican in his life.”

Hyde, who represented the northwestern Chicago suburbs of Illinois from 1975 to 2007, “worked to pass what is arguably the most important and impactful pro-life legislation ever passed in the country,” Mancini said.

She said the 40th anniversary of a measure that bears Hyde’s name is a good time to educate others on the bipartisan nature of his pro-life witness.

“The Hyde Amendment is an appropriations rider that prohibits the use of federal funds for elective abortion or for health benefits coverage that includes elective abortion,” said Genevieve Plaster, senior policy analyst with the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

“As a rider,” Plaster said, “[the Hyde Amendment] is not a permanent law, but it has been included with bipartisan support in every annual federal funding bill, which had been signed into law by every president since 1976.”

Until this year, the Hyde Amendment enjoyed bipartisan support, Plaster said, but for the first time the Democratic Party’s new platform calls for its repeal.

“As far as we know,” explained Plaster, “every member of Congress has at some point in their career voted for the Hyde Amendment—whether it be through voice vote, unanimous consent, or otherwise.”

Because the Hyde Amendment is a rider, an attachment to a bill that modifies it in some way, it is less well-known to the American public. According to Michael New, a visiting associate professor at Ave Maria University, many do not realize that it has saved millions of lives from abortion.

“In my own research at the Guttmacher Institute, they did a literature review where they came up with about 20 studies or so. I found a few extra and I found that there’ve been probably 20-25 studies which show that public funding limits save lives,” New said. “And these are published in a range of peer-reviewed journals on economics, public health, and political science.”

The Guttmacher Institute is a policy organization that researches (reproductive health issues) in the United States and around the world.

New said that the best research that studies public funding of abortions shows that the Hyde Amendment has saved over 2 million lives in the past 40 years and about 60,000 lives per year. For those states that do not fund abortion through Medicaid, New said that one in nine people born to a mother on Medicaid owe their lives to the Hyde Amendment.

Plaster said that even though the majority of Americans may not understand the history behind the Hyde Amendment, most Americans support its policy.

“A national poll conducted by Marist in January found that taxpayer funding of abortion is opposed by nearly seven in 10 Americans,” Plaster said.

Plaster said she feels this to be the case because she believes many Americans have come to think that abortion is not health care.

“While we can’t know for certain each of the reasons that seven in 10 Americans oppose tax-funded abortion, perhaps we can safely say that Americans simply understand that it goes beyond simply access to health care,” Plaster said.

While Hyde didn’t accomplish all of his pro-life goals. Mancini said, he exemplifies what everyone should aspire to become, since building a legacy in “the power of one” will look different for each person:

My understanding is that [Hyde] had a dream of passing a constitutional amendment that would make abortion illegal and recognize the dignity of the the human person from conception. This was his dream and he felt like he was a failure because that did not successfully pass in the ’70s. And so what he did instead was he introduced a rider [that] has been the most impactful pro-life legislation, literally saving millions of lives.

Mancini said her goal is to begin celebrating Hyde’s legacy now so that by the time the 43rd annual March for Life arrives in January, attendees will be able to appreciate and aspire to replicate his witness.

“So what I would encourage as we’re celebrating ‘the power of one’ and beginning to think about that a little bit more as our theme this year, that we would take our cues from … Henry Hyde, who embodied this theme so beautifully,” Mancini said. “And so what we’re going to do is listen to him and his words.” (For more from the author of “March for Life to Celebrate the ‘Power of One’ in Annual Demonstration” please click HERE)

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