American Aid Worker Kidnapped in Niger, Official Says

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Gunmen stormed the house of a longtime American aid worker in Niger, killing two people before fleeing with the man toward the border with Mali, authorities said Saturday.

It is believed to be the first time an American citizen has been abducted in the vast Sahel region, where al-Qaida and criminal gangs have long targeted French nationals and other Europeans for kidnappings and demanded millions of dollars for their release.

“We are aware of reports of the kidnapping of a U.S. citizen in Niger,” a State Department official said after the abduction late Friday. “The U.S. Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. (Read more from “American Aid Worker Kidnapped in Niger, Official Says” HERE)

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What One Woman Is Doing to Take Down Planned Parenthood

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While Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, is celebrating its 100th anniversary Sunday, one organization is working tirelessly to put Planned Parenthood out of business.

CEO Brandi Swindell founded Stanton Healthcare in 2006. According to the Stanton Project’s website, it has branched out from a room in a doctor’s office to an international affiliate program.

Stanton Healthcare is a nonprofit medical facility that provides pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, client advocacy, and other life-affirming programs that respect the “dignity of both mother and child.”

‘Replace’ Planned Parenthood

“Planned Parenthood is coming up on their 100th anniversary and we are coming up on our 10th. We are looking to replace and outlast Planned Parenthood,” Swindell told The Daily Signal in a phone interview.

“I founded Stanton Healthcare in 2006,” said Swindell. “I had been doing pro-life work for 16 or 17 years prior and had worked on the national level and co-founded Generation Life.”

Swindell said the pro-life mission has been a driving force in her life, but a realization of the horror of abortion came during her college years.

“This cause has been a passion of mine. I was raised with an understanding of the dignity of human life. However, the realization of what abortion was really hit me in college when my roomate got pregnant and had an abortion,” Swindell said. “Through this I really understood what abortion was and that Planned Parenthood leaves a legacy of tragedy.”

In 2011, five years after opening her first office, Swindell opened another medical clinic, Stanton Healthcare Boise, next door to a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Swindell said that she faced opposition from Planned Parenthood immediately after opening Stanton Healthcare Boise.

“When we opened our doors in Boise, Planned Parenthood was not happy to see us there. We exposed their heart that they are not about true choice. Planned Parenthood claimed that we were violating HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] laws and confidentiality,” Swindell said.

hen covering this confrontation, a reporter approached Swindell and asked to hear about Stanton Healthcare’s position on confidentiality and HIPAA.

“I showed the reporter a plaque prominently displayed on our waiting room office wall that says, ‘We voluntarily comply with HIPAA regulations.’ This claim from Planned Parenthood was comical because our stance in regards to both HIPAA and confidentiality was posted for all to see,” Swindell said.

A ‘Life-Affirming’ Clinic

Looking to expand Stanton Healthcare to other areas, the very first Stanton mobile unit opened in 2013, meeting the needs of women living in rural and immigrant communities throughout the state of Idaho. Modeled after the very first Stanton mobile unit, the Stanton Alabama mobile unit will soon be serving the communities of Birmingham.

Swindell established the Stanton International Affiliate Program in 2014 with the goal to reach as many women as possible with care that respects both mother and child.

The purpose of this program is to “replace abortion businesses around the world because we believe that women deserve access to quality, coercion-free cared, and compassionate alternatives to abortion,” according to the program’s website.

Along with the training center that Stanton Healthcare is working on establishing, it will also be opening a mega-center in Idaho where women can receive first-class care.

“Our center opening up in Meridian will be the first-ever life-affirming mega-clinic. We are also working on developing a Stanton Healthcare conference center where we will be training staff from across the country and around the world,” Swindell said.

Besides offering the typical services that clinics provide, Stanton Healthcare’s Meridian location will also be offering an 18-month support program that includes “options counseling, doctor referrals, parenting classes, practical support, and encouragement. Our clients and their babies get a chance at a brighter future.”

This 18-month support program is already offered at Stanton Healthcare Boise and will be expanded to all of Stanton’s affiliate clinics around the nation.

With these services available, Stanford Healthcare’s goal, according to its website, “is to be the first choice for every abortion vulnerable woman in Idaho and beyond.”

To Swindell, Stanton Healthcare is not only about providing quality health care to all women but also protecting and preserving human rights. She said:

I am primarily pro-life because I believe in human rights. Abortion has no business being in women’s health care. Planned Parenthood has sabotaged women’s health care. I founded Stanton Healthcare because I believe that Planned Parenthood has failed us and failed women.

A New Pro-Life Generation

Swindell believes that youth especially have a critical role to play in the pro-life movement.

“Stanton Healthcare has a heart for the emerging generation. Millennials are part of the Stanton revolution,” Swindell said. “We have students coming to us from across the nation that want to be part of the Stanton mission.”

The goal of Swindell and Stanton Healthcare is to reach all women with health care that respects both mother and child.

“Our goal at Stanton Healthcare is to be where Planned Parenthood is. We are setting up next to their clinics and are building a presence in Washington, D.C., and the U.N. We are the true, authentic genuine voice in women’s health care,” Swindell said.

“Women deserve better than the cold doors of an abortion facility. Pregnancy resource centers respect the dignity of every mother and child by empowering women facing difficult situations with life-affirming options,” said Melanie Israel, a research associate for the DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. (For more from the author of “What One Woman Is Doing to Take Down Planned Parenthood” please click HERE)

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Obama Involves Our Military in Another Islamic Civil War

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Forget about Syria; the new rage is Yemen.

Obama has finally found a way to get tough on Iran. He is attacking their proxy, the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. The only problem? These Shiite rebels are fighting Al Qaeda and other Sunni factions backed by Saudi Arabia. Is this the beginning of a new Sunni-Shiite dumpster fire into which Obama will send ground troops?

Over the past few days, the Houthi rebels launched two unsuccessful missile attacks on the USS Mason, a destroyer operating in international waters in the Mandeb Straight between Yemen and the horn of Africa. Late last night, according to the Pentagon’s press office, the U.S. Navy retaliated by launching Tomahawk cruise missile strikes against three Houthi radar installations. The Houthis control the western part of Yemen, abutting the key waterway between the Horn of Africa.

On the one hand, this sounds like news to celebrate. Obama is finally retaliating against Iran, at least in a very limited way, after an enemy faction attacked our Navy. This is especially significant as today is the 241st birthday of the Navy. The problem is this is the worst hill to die on as it relates to confronting Iran. Why should we side with Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in this civil war? This is similar to the approach of attacking Assad because he is an Iranian ally, while helping ISIS and Al Qaeda in Syria. Why can’t we stay out of Islamic civil wars?

Contrast this action taken by the Navy against an Iranian proxy locked in a war with Al Qaeda to Obama’s scandalous indifference to Iranian aggression mano-a-mano with the U.S. Iran has been harassing U.S. ships operating in the Persian Gulf all year, including the time they actually seized a boat and humiliated the crew, a provocation that would have been an act of war in any other era. Instead of retaliating against Iran, Obama has made them his biggest ally and has continued to violate the terms of the nuclear agreement in their favor. Meanwhile, Obama continues to serve as the Shiite air force in Iraq where our military is giving air support to Iranian-backed militias being directed by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) Commander Qassem Soleimani.

Of all times to get tough with Iran, involving our military in the Yemeni civil war — which in itself is a creation of this administration’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood Arab Spring — is not one of them.

The only thing coherent about this administration’s Middle East policy is to involve the U.S. military in exactly wrong theaters while ignoring the real threats to our strategic interests. (For more from the author of “Obama Involves Our Military in Another Islamic Civil War” please click HERE)

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Trump Hits Back at Accusers by Promising to Refute Their ‘Lies’

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Following a story in The New York Times on Wednesday that featured four women going on the record to accuse Donald Trump of inappropriately touching them, the Republican presidential nominee fired back hard during a rally in West Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday.

“These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false,” Trump exclaimed.

He continued, “And the Clintons know it, and they know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. They’re pure fiction, and they’re outright lies. These events never, ever happened, and the people that said them meekly fully understand.”

In addition to denying the accusations made by his accusers, Trump said he had evidence that would prove his innocence.

“We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon,” he said.

This all comes on the heels of Trump’s apologizing for comments he made in 2005 while with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, where the real estate mogul bragged about trying to sleep with a married woman and boasted that because he was rich and famous, women would let him do anything to them, including grabbing their genitals.

Trump described these comments as “locker room talk” when questioned by moderator Anderson Cooper about them during Sunday’s presidential debate.

He also said it was simply “talk,” contrasting it with the alleged sexual misconduct of former President Bill Clinton, the husband of his opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump also said Thursday he believed the accusations from the four women were part of a coordinated effort to take him down.

“Now we address the slander and libels that was just last night thrown at me by the Clinton machine and The New York Times and other media outlets as part of a concerted, coordinated and vicious attack,” he said.

Trump said the timing of the allegations — matching up directly with recent document dumps by WikiLeaks that were unfavorable to Hillary Clinton — was not something that happened by chance.

“It’s not [a] coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment and all together at the same time as WikiLeaks releases documents exposing the massive international corruption of the Clinton machine, including 2,000 more emails just this morning.”

Trump’s attacks on The New York Times followed a letter his lawyers wrote to the newspaper Wednesday threatening a lawsuit over its “libelous” and “defamatory” article if it did not retract what was written about the four accusers. (For more from the author of “Trump Hits Back at Accusers by Promising to Refute Their ‘Lies'” please click HERE)

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Hidden Camera Catches Clinton Campaign Approving Destruction of GOP Voter Registration Forms

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With the help of a hidden camera, members of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff were caught condoning destroying Republican voter registration forms and making inappropriate remarks.

In the video, released Wednesday by Project Veritas Action, a journalist pretending to be a worker on the Clinton campaign spoke with Trevor LaFauci, a field organizer for the Florida Democratic Party.

The journalist told LaFauci he had ripped up several GOP registration forms, and asked if he was “OK with that.”

“Yeah,” he said.

The reporter went on to explain that he had received three Trump registrations in a row when “something in me snapped.”

“So we’re OK with that? We’re solid?” the man asked, to which LaFauci nodded and answered, “Yeah.”

When he said he was concerned about getting in trouble for ripping up the forms, LaFauci assured him it was OK and he would not be reporting the incident.

“As long as you don’t make it a habit,” LaFauci said.

LaFauci was confronted later and asked if it was alright to rip up Republican voter registrations, to which he responded, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

He denied speaking with the Project Veritas reporter about the ripped up ballots before he retreated to his vehicle and left the area.

This is not the first time the Clinton campaign has been secretly videoed seemingly condoning questionable voter registration practices.

In an earlier video released by Project Veritas, taken in Las Vegas, attorney Christina Gupana was caught saying, “Do whatever you can. Yeah. Whatever you can get away with, just do it, until you get kicked out like totally.”

The video also shows staff members favoring Clinton over the other nominees.

According to anonews.co, the video has led to an investigation into possible violations of election law.

The video released Wednesday also caught one staff member discussing what he felt he could get by with and not get fired.

“They’re not going to fire me, I would like have to grab [a co-worker’s] a— like twice …” Wylie Mao said.

He went on to say, “I think the bar of acceptable conduct on this campaign is pretty, pretty low.”

When confronted about his remarks, Mao remained silent and walked away, while the journalist was asked to leave. (For more from the author of “Hidden Camera Catches Clinton Campaign Approving Destruction of GOP Voter Registration Forms” please click HERE)

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Ex-Lobbyist Jack Abramoff Goes off on Hillary

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Jack Abramoff thinks Hillary Clinton should be in prison.

The former super lobbyist, who spent nearly four years in prison himself for fraud and corruption, explained why on the latest episode of “The Jamie Weinstein Show” podcast, where he also discussed the 2016 presidential race, how to fix Washington corruption and the lessons he learned over his infamous career.

Speaking of Hillary Clinton’s role in the Clinton Foundation, Abramoff said she “is the most corrupt person in the history of the United States to get this close to the presidency, including by leaps and bounds Warren Harding.”

“She’s been involved in activities that frankly I was put in prison for and that I was in prison with other people who did other things that she did,” he said.

Abramoff said Clinton was clearly “selling special access” with her and her husband’s charitable foundation. (Read more from “Ex-Lobbyist Jack Abramoff Goes off on Hillary” HERE)

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Federal Judge Forces Florida to Extend Registration for as Long as Democrats Desire

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Democrats are succeeding at another game of “never let a crisis go to waste without getting more votes.”

The federal judicial assault on state sovereignty has grown out of control to such an extent that some states might want to cancel their elections and have the judges vote in place of the people. After all, they not only decide every political issue — thereby rendering the results of elections moot — but are now determining all of the methods and procedures for elections in the first place. The latest example in the train of usurpations is a judge forcing Florida to extend the voter registration deadline for as many days as Democrat activists demand because Hurricane Matthew disrupted several days of mail and registration activity.

On Monday, Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida, an Obama appointee, castigated Florida Governor Rick Scott for not extending voter registration past the existing deadline of Tuesday night, October 11. In one of the most political decisions I’ve ever seen, Judge Walker ordered the state to keep voter registration open for Wednesday, October 12. Then after a brief hearing yesterday, Judge Walker agreed to the Democrat request to extend registration until next Tuesday, even though voter registration was only disrupted for a few days.

In this column, I’ve written about numerous cases where federal judges have nullified the most common sense state election laws, a sphere of policy over which states have near complete power. Just over the past few months, federal judges have mandated specific days for early voting, pre-registration of 16-year-olds, required straight ticket voting options, mandated extra polling stations, blocked states from verifying citizenship of voters, forced Ohio to place 465,000 dead voters back on the voter rolls, and terminated photo ID laws in a number of states. On Monday, and then again on Wednesday, the Florida judge took this judicial civil disobedience and nullification a step further by striking down Florida’s inaction! He contended that the lack of “a provision [in state law] that extends the voter registration deadline in the event of an emergency” is unconstitutional.

Earlier in the week, Governor Scott rebuffed requests from Democrats to extend the voter registration period. It’s important to remember that this is a judgement call and a political question. Voters had months to register and there is no constitutional right to any specific number of days to register, any number of days to vote early, or any special methods and procedures of mailing in forms. If anything, given modern transportation and communication, it is now easier to register to vote and cast a ballot than at any time in our history. Yet, somehow the absence of more and more registration days requested by Democrats is somehow unconstitutional.

What’s next? Are the judges going to comb through the two-year period between federal elections and determine on how many days there was inclement weather and extend the period further? October 11 is more than a reasonable registration deadline for voting four weeks later, especially given that early voting is already under way in most states. Scott was well within his right to stick to the statute and not elect to offer an extension. If voters want to punish him for that decision, they have the ability to do so, but that is a political issue, not a legal or constitutional question.

In a classic display of legal subterfuge, in an attempt to disguise his radicalism, Judge Walker asserts that he is “not suggesting that Florida has to allow voter registration up to Election Day,” even though he speaks meritoriously about the states that offer same-day registration. Wink, wink, nod, nod. In other words, for this case, it will be sufficient to deliver more Democrat votes by merely extending the registration period to an unknown period prior to the election under the judge’s discretion. But if same-day registration ever comes up in court, one never knows what could happen. In the one-directional, post-constitutional legal ratchet, a Fourteenth and First Amendment right to same-day registration might appear!

In his Wednesday order, Judge Walker cited evidence of naturalization ceremonies being cancelled as a result of the storm, and that “through no fault of their own, they [aspiring citizens] would not have had the opportunity to vote in the 2016 election.” Where do we draw the line? What about those who might be naturalized next week or right up until Election Day? Which shouldn’t they get to vote in the election?

The legal system now believes that anything short of molly-coddling people into registering and voting under every and all circumstances is tantamount to disenfranchising voters. Yet, clamping down on voter fraud and non-citizens voting — the most profound manifestation of disenfranchisement — is rendered illegal.

Most importantly, a federal court should never have jurisdiction over basic state voting laws. At best, lawsuits against state election laws should be filed in state court.

Then again, Governor Rick Scott has nobody to blame but himself and Republicans like him. A few months ago, he declared gay marriage “the law of the land” because “the Supreme Court has already made a decision.” Scott must suffer through the judicial supremacy he legitimized. Heck, if a federal court can redefine the building black of all civilization, it most certainly can control voter registration.

When will states learn to finally fight back? (For more from the author of “Federal Judge Forces Florida to Extend Registration for as Long as Democrats Desire” please click HERE)

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As Planned Parenthood Celebrates Death, Pro-Life Groups Promote Life

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Sunday is Planned Parenthood’s 100th “birthday.” Founded by an anti-abortion woman who believed that contraception empowered women’s liberty, the organization has morphed into America’s largest abortion company, ending over 300,000 unborn babies’ lives each year.

Planned Parenthood has launched #100yearsstrong in an effort to promote its history and its work. Pro-life groups have responded with their own hashtags, fact-based analyses of Planned Parenthood’s practices and prayer. Three efforts are highlighted below.

#100ForLife

Since Wednesday, The Stream has highlighted the horrors of abortion, the hope seen in those Planned Parenthood hasn’t killed and prayerful efforts for national and individual conversion. We’re grateful to our many individual partners in this effort, and the Family Research Council for working with us to spread the truth about abortion.

Our hashtag is #100ForLife. Our weapon is God.

#100YearsOfAbuse

A coalition of pro-life groups is exposing Planned Parenthood’s many examples of wrongdoing – not just to the unborn, but also their mothers, and taxpayers.

Member groups include: Alliance Defending Freedom, Americans United for Life, Civil Rights for the Unborn, Family Research Council, Life Legal Defense Foundation, March for Life, Media Research Center, Pro-Life Action League, Radiance Foundation, Students for Life of America, and Susan B. Anthony List.

Here is their group statement:

“Planned Parenthood’s 100-year anniversary is a tragic milestone for our nation and a reminder of the millions of unborn children who will never have a birthday. We mourn these children, as well as the women who have been hurt and exploited by the nation’s largest abortion chain. Planned Parenthood was founded by the notorious Margaret Sanger, who advocated for the eradication of poor and disadvantaged, whom she considered less-than-human “weeds.” And Planned Parenthood continues to call this villain their hero by naming its highest award after her.

“In the last three years alone, Planned Parenthood has committed nearly one million abortions while receiving a total of $1.5 billion from the American people, against our will. We represent the growing number of Americans who oppose Planned Parenthood’s extreme abortion agenda and seek to defund this abortion giant.

“On its 100th anniversary, Planned Parenthood is losing ground. Business is drying up as women are empowered to choose life for their babies. Last year Planned Parenthood closed 33 facilities in 18 states, and for the first time, the United States Senate sent a bill defunding Planned Parenthood to the President’s desk. Thanks to undercover investigators from the Center for Medical Progress, who exposed the ugly truth that Planned Parenthood not only aborts children, but sells those aborted babies’ organs, more people than ever are learning the truth about the scandal-ridden abortion chain. The #100YearsofAbuse campaign is the next opportunity for us to educate the public about Planned Parenthood as we work to put them out of business and ring in the pro-life century.”

Their hashtag is #100YearsOfAbuse. Content can be seen here.

A Way Out Through Prayer

The Pro-Life Action League is sponsoring over 100 prayer vigils nationwide to combat Planned Parenthood, and to save lives. As told to The Stream:

The Pro-Life Action League has organized prayer vigils at over 100 Planned Parenthood centers, at which they’ll offer prayers of mourning for Planned Parenthood’s unborn victims. Scheidler explains: “To acknowledge the humanity of these unknown, unnamed, faceless and abandoned children is a very positive thing to do. The abortion industry and their allies in government and the media want us all to forget about these kids, but we won’t.”

Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler told The Stream that in addition to prayer, his group is offering abortion industry employees a way out – to convert from dealing death to supporting life. They’ve sent “birthday” cards that include a graphic image of an abortion victim to every Planned Parenthood nationwide, and told employees that if the image bothers them, to call Scheidler.

“It would be easy to demonize people working at Planned Parenthood, aiding and abetting the nation’s largest abortion business,” Scheidler told The Stream. But, he argues, employees “are regular people, whose consciences are often deeply troubled by what goes on behind the doors of Planned Parenthood’s 631 facilities.”

Planned Parenthood’s Corporate Sponsors

Corporate watchdog 2nd Vote listed 37 corporations as “direct” donors to Planned Parenthood. The graphic comes from the Family Research Council.

(For more from the author of “As Planned Parenthood Celebrates Death, Pro-Life Groups Promote Life” please click HERE)

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Seven Things the Donald Trump Wrecking Ball Has Exposed in Our Culture

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It was former governor Jeb Bush who first referred to Donald Trump as the “chaos candidate.” Now, Lance Wallnau, an out-of-the-box Christian thinker and businessman, has dubbed Trump “God’s chaos candidate,” writing a book by this title (with the subtitle, “Donald J. Trump and the American Unraveling”).

Wallnau believes that God is using Trump as a “wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness,” claiming, “His emergence is such a destabilizing threat to the vast deal making machinery embedded in both parties that he has the unique distinction of being rejected by both liberal Democrats and establishment Republicans at the same time.”

Whether Wallnau is right in all of his beliefs remains to be seen (I’m scheduled to interview him next Wednesday, October 19, live, from 2-3 PM, EST, and I’ll be sure to ask him lots of probing questions, since he strongly supports Trump for president), but what is clear to me is that God is using Trump as a wrecking ball of sorts, and the results are not pretty.

What has this human wrecking ball helped expose?

1) Trump has helped to expose the carnality of the culture.

It was Donald Trump who initially delighted his crowds by dropping F- bombs, and it is Donald Trump whose borderline profane tweets ignite his followers today. The crasser, the better!

But Trump is not alone in his carnality. His words and actions have encouraged his supporters to engage in the most profane rhetoric, as they not only defend him but also feel empowered by his example.

2) Trump has helped to expose the superficiality of the culture.

Candidate Trump remains a reality TV star, and much of his political appeal is tied to his rock star status.

To be sure, candidate Obama took on rock star status during his first presidential campaign, but as undeserved as Obama’s stardom was, it had a very different feel than the stardom of Trump. That’s why I wrote back in May that he was “a National Enquirer candidate for a Jerry Springer generation.”

Now, in saying this, I do not mean that Trump has not struck a chord with many Americans, for whom he has provided a voice, and I don’t mean that people are not voting for him because of his policies. I simply mean that his candidacy has helped bring our superficiality to the surface.

3) Trump has helped to expose the vulgarity of our culture.

Forget about the release of the 2005 videotape with Trump’s horrific comments about women. That’s news from 11 years ago.

We’re talking about the candidate who boasted about the size of his manhood during a debate in the primaries.

And now, with his opponent’s husband being an even easier target, the most recent presidential debate (I use the term “presidential” with hesitation) degenerated into rhetoric like, “Yeah, what I said was bad, but what he did was even worse.”

The other day, I spent a few seconds browsing the Drudge Report and then the Huffington Post, in both cases just looking at the most prominent headlines, after which I felt like I needed to take a shower to get the dirt and grime off of me. These websites were absolutely in the gutter.

Does anyone think that if the battle for the White House was between, say, Jeb Bush and Bernie Sanders, that the headlines would be as vulgar and debased? (And yes, on Drudge, there are now accusations of impropriety directed against President Obama as well.)

4) Trump has helped to expose an unhealthy nationalism.

I certainly recognize that many Americans are deeply upset with the direction of our nation (for good reason), and Trump has appealed to their frustration and anger, promising to turn the ship around.

But Trump has also helped stir up an almost rabid, America-first nationalism (whether intentionally or not), one that can easily lead to xenophobia, racism, and more, one that feeds on these very attitudes and mindsets. In keeping with this, a White Supremacist website claimed that it was “the Jews” who were behind the release of the damning 2005 video tape.

I am not connecting Trump with this website (obviously) and I am not stating that he himself is a racist or a xenophobe. I’m simply saying that his campaign has caused these sentiments to surface with a vengeance.

5) Trump has helped to expose the corruption of the political system.

There are many Christians who feel that the Hillary vs. Trump presidential race is a sure sign of divine judgment on America, as if God is giving us over to our foolishness.

At the same time, Trump’s refusal to play the standard political game has helped reveal the power of the political establishment, both Republican and Democrat, and with that, the corruption of the political establishment. Will we ever look at these parties in the same way again?

6) Trump has helped to expose the massive divisions among evangelicals.

This is not just a matter of a difference of opinion. It is a matter of one evangelical leader claiming that any Christian who votes for Trump is guilty of idolatry and another evangelical leader claiming that any Christian who does not vote for Trump will be held accountable by God and will have the blood of the unborn on his or her hands.

One group asks, “As a Christian, how can you possibly vote for such a narcissitic, proud, vulgar, potty-mouthed, short-tempered, inexperienced man who is absolutely unfit for the presidency?”

The other group responds, “As a Christian, how can you not vote against Hillary Clinton and how can you not recognize that we’re not electing a Pastor in Chief but a Commander in Chief? God is raising up Trump!”

Again, I’m not blaming Donald Trump for these divisions (and I’ve barely scratched the surface in detailing them). To the contrary, these divisions were already there (even down to the meaning of “evangelical”); Trump’s presidential run has just helped to reveal them.

7) Trump has helped to expose the collusion of the liberal media with the Democrat Party.

I don’t doubt for a moment that if Ted Cruz was the Republican candidate, the liberal media would be doing everything in its power to bring him down, and this would have been true 10 years ago (and longer) as well as today.

But it appears that the media that gave Trump endless, free time on its networks during the primaries is the same media now seeking to bring him down, lending credence to the allegation that the liberal networks (at least some of them) helped prop Trump up during the primaries because he would be the easiest target to bring down in the general election.

Whether or not this is true, the media’s radical liberal bias and pro-Hillary sentiments cannot be denied, to the point of almost being shouted out by the moderators during the presidential debates. Or should we think nothing of a moderator arguing a policy position with Trump, as if he was debating her (Martha Raddatz) rather than Hillary?

The bottom line for me is simple, regardless of who you plan to vote for (and I don’t write this to discourage a vote for Trump): God has used Trump to expose a lot of what is wrong with America, and it is not a pretty sight. (For more from the author of “Seven Things the Donald Trump Wrecking Ball Has Exposed in Our Culture” please click HERE)

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Why Recent Polling Proves That LGBT ‘Non-Discrimination’ Laws Are Completely Unnecessary

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A new survey finds that an increasing number of Americans support a federal “non-discrimination” law that includes sexual orientation and gender identity provisions.

The “2016 Out & Equal Workplace Survey” — conducted by The Harris Poll in conjunction with Out & Equal Workplace Advocates and Witeck Communications — surveyed 2,223 adults about their views on LGBT issues in the workplace. The Harris Poll notes that there is an over-sample of gay and lesbian adults included in the sample.

What it found was that 67 percent of Americans support federal law that “prohibits discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing and credit” on the basis of sexual attraction or perceived gender.

While some will see this and wonder why these laws don’t exist, the numbers actually show why Americans don’t need these so-called “SOGI [Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity] laws.”

Last week, in response to a grossly misleading video segment about North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill” on “The Daily Show with Trever Noah” — where two guys rent a food truck in the Tarheel State to deny service to people just because they can — Reason.com’s Scott Shackford addressed the absurdity of some claims made by the Left in regard to the so-called “permission to discriminate,” and the misnomer that it represents:

The possibility of this kind of discrimination has been around all along because it hadn’t been forbidden. The segment also incorrectly states that discrimination against LGBT people in the state will be legal for as long as HB2 is on the books. It will remain legal even if HB2 is repealed (at least on the state level) because, again, sexual orientation and gender identity are not considered protected classes by the state.

With this reality, the two men in the “Daily Show” segment had to create their own scenario to prove what could happen — rather than an actual reflection of circumstances.

“If there were a serious, widespread problem with discrimination against gay people, they wouldn’t have had to set up a fake food truck, would they?” Schackford continues, arguing any actual discriminators would have been caught and shame-filmed.

“But they didn’t. They had to fabricate a Seinfeldian Soup Nazi-style environment to try to present an exaggerated possibility […] Yes, discrimination exists, but there is no widespread conspiracy to exclude gay and transgender people, and there is so much more cultural pressure that can resolve it positively without getting the state involved.”

And the same is true of the calls for federal non-discrimination orders. There is no majority effort or a massive cultural push to keep people out of jobs, housing or health care simply because of sexual orientation or issues of gender identity. If there were, you can guarantee that such instances would get just as much (if not more) hyped mainstream media coverage as police-involved shootings.

If a business were to actually fire someone for being gay anywhere in America, we need not try too hard to imagine the witch hunt that would ensue.

Take, for example, the case of Brendan Eich, who was effectively forced to resign from his Mozilla CEO post in 2014 for donating a paltry $1,000 to a pro-natural marriage cause six years before. Or Memories Pizza in Indiana that had to close down as its owners went into hiding during the RFRA fight last spring from arson and death threats. The pizza shop owners’ crime? Saying they hypothetically wouldn’t cater a same-sex wedding ceremony.

And, going back to North Carolina’s HB2, 72 percent of respondents in the 2016 Out & Equal Workplace Survey said they were more likely to buy from businesses that opposed the law.

Whether these trends are good for the wellbeing of American society, the natural family, or human ecology as a whole is one thing. What they do show is just how unnecessary government involvement is.

These kinds of SOGI laws that people say they’re in favor of are what Alliance Defending Freedom’s James Gottry calls “a subversive response to a nonexistent problem.”

Discrimination against these populations is not significant, Gottry says, because the vast majority of Americans already respect each other and “because anyone engaged in baseless discrimination faces the prospect of social and financial consequences brought on by public pressure and boycotts.”

“SOGI laws,” Gottry counters, “use the full force of the law to punish individuals who seek to live peacefully and to work in a way that is consistent with their consciences.” And we’ve seen this time and time again as these sorts of ordinances have endangered or destroyed the livelihoods of people across America — whether bakers in Oregon, a photographer in Arizona, or a florist in Washington, or countless others.

In light of these conditions, federal statutes like the Equality Act and both prior manifestations of Employment Non-Discrimination Act would function not as a seawall against widespread discrimination against gays and transgendered people, like their advocates would argue. Rather, they would function but as heavy mallets to crush whatever conscientious objection still remains to our hypersexualized, hyper-sensitized culture.

Using federal-government hammers to bash any and all dissenters out of the market and public square is not the habit of people in a truly free society. While most Americans have the best intentions in their support for SOGI laws, asking the government to mandate “equality” in this case is little more than further legitimizing anti-conscientious government tyranny. (For more from the author of “Why Recent Polling Proves That LGBT ‘Non-Discrimination’ Laws Are Completely Unnecessary” please click HERE)

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