Christmas Miracle? Macy’s No Longer Funds Planned Parenthood

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Retail giant Macy’s is no longer providing financial support to Planned Parenthood, according to corporate watchdog 2ndVote.

“We’re constantly updating our research to portray companies in the fairest possible light,” said 2ndVote Executive Director Lance Wray in a statement sent to reporters on Thursday. “Last week, Macy’s confirmed with us that the company no longer gives Retail giant Macy’s is no longer providing financial support to Planned Parenthood, according to corporate watchdog 2ndVote.and no longer matches gifts to Planned Parenthood.”

Last year, Macy’s was one of 41 companies that supported Planned Parenthood, which conducts over 300,000 abortions per year. Corporate donors now number 36, according to the 2ndVote tracker, with AT&T, Coca-Cola, Ford and Xerox also refusing to back the abortion giant.

2ndVote Communications Director Robert Kuykendall told The Stream that “corporate contributions and issue advocacy are only possible because of the dollars spent by customers in the first place. We want companies to move back to neutral because that’s how conservatives can know their dollars won’t be funding causes and advocacy organizations they wouldn’t normally support on their own.”

In 2015, Macy’s told The Daily Signal that the company funded Planned Parenthood through an employee matching program. “Our company makes no direct donations to Planned Parenthood. In our Matching Gift program, we will match our employees’ donations to any 501c3 organization. We are a company of 160,000 people, and we do match a small handful of gifts each year to Planned Parenthood organizations given that they are 501c3.”

A Macy’s spokesperson did not respond to multiple efforts by The Stream to clarify why the company is no longer matching employee donations to Planned Parenthood. The company’s official 2ndVote ranking notes that Macy’s donates to The Salvation Army, which according to its official statement on abortion “accepts the moment of fertilisation as the start of human life.” The international aid organization opposes abortion in almost all circumstances. (For more from the author of “Christmas Miracle? Macy’s No Longer Funds Planned Parenthood” please click HERE)

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Congress Isn’t Finished Investigating Planned Parenthood, Others in 2015 Videos

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Congress took significant steps forward last week in its continued efforts to hold Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue procurement companies accountable for the sale and trafficking of aborted fetal tissue.

The House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives has recommended a criminal investigation of Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast for potentially violating Texas and U.S. law in its sale of fetal tissue.

The panel also issued nine criminal and regulatory referrals for various abortion providers and tissue procurement companies located in Arkansas, California, Florida, and Ohio.

In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover investigative videos revealing the disturbing practice of trafficking in aborted fetal body parts for profit.

Planned Parenthood and its various affiliates were exposed participating in the sale of aborted fetal remains to biologic companies—most notably, StemExpress.

The videos, which have been validated as authentic and free of manipulation by an independent forensic analysis, feature conversations in which representatives from Planned Parenthood and its affiliates discuss the type of fetal organs to be harvested and negotiate the price of selling them.

Lawmakers and the American public were justifiably shocked and disgusted by both the practice of selling human remains for profit and the graphic and often flippant nature of the conversations.

After publication of the videos and the ensuing public outcry, Congress established the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives to investigate the sale and trafficking of fetal organs and tissue by abortion providers. The House of Representatives recently voted to extend the work of this panel, which is chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.

Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, receives over $500 million in federal tax money each year, despite reporting over $700 million in nongovernmental revenue in its 2014-2015 annual report and being vastly outnumbered (20 to 1) by free or low-cost community health centers.

Since the fetal tissue scandal in 2015, efforts to channel taxpayer dollars away from Planned Parenthood to comprehensive health care facilities that do not perform abortions have gained considerable momentum—though the legislative goal has not yet been achieved.

Section 289g-2 of the U.S. Code was enacted to prevent people or organizations from profiting from the sale of fetal remains.

This law prohibits the sale of any human fetal tissue for valuable consideration if it affects interstate commerce. While reimbursements for costs associated with the donation of fetal tissue are permissible, profiting from such a sale is not.

When addressing the purpose of the fetal tissue law, the lead sponsor, Democrat Henry Waxman, commented, “It would be abhorrent to allow for the sale of fetal tissue and a market to be created for that sale.”

The Center for Medical Progress videos reveal multiple conversations regarding payments and other considerations to be received in exchange for fetal tissue. This included a revealing exchange with Melissa Farrell, director of research at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast—the facility for which the select panel requested a criminal investigation.

In the video released in August 2015, Farrell discusses the fact that because the Houston-based abortion agency is such a “high-volume” abortion facility, it provides a significant amount of fetal tissue to various biologic companies.

Farrell went on to express concern about current fetal tissue laws and explained that the books could be altered to hide the financial benefit to Planned Parenthood. Additionally, Farrell discusses the willingness of abortion providers to “alter the process” to “obtain intact cadavers.”

The creation of a for-profit market for human remains is unethical and unconscionable. The American public has been rightly outraged by the pervasiveness of this practice, and is opposed to taxpayer dollars funding organizations that participate in such a market.

A survey conducted in August 2015 by The Heritage Foundation found that 78 percent of Americans believe that government should not fund organizations that harvest and sell fetal tissue from abortions.

Planned Parenthood’s 2014-2015 report noted an increase in the percentage of services associated with abortion, while the percentage of other medical services provided by the agency decreased.

Though the Hyde Amendment technically prohibits Planned Parenthood from using federal funds to pay for abortion, there exists no method of independent accountability ensuring federal funds are kept separate.

Planned Parenthood is left to police itself, an entirely ineffective safeguard. The disbursement of taxpayer dollars to abortion providers, no matter where spent, frees up other funds to be used for abortion-related services.

The House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives is performing a valuable service to Americans in initiating criminal investigations into the practice of profiting from the sale of fetal remains. The American public has every right to know whether its hard-earned tax dollars are being spent on organizations involved in illegal and unethical behavior.

Considering Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the sale of fetal tissue, the decline of the provision of medical services outside abortion, and the inexcusable lack of accountability of federal funds received, a renewed push to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood is in order.

The funds currently being received by the lucrative nonprofit would, no doubt, be better spent supporting community health centers that provide comprehensive care to families without offering abortion services. (For more from the author of “Congress Isn’t Finished Investigating Planned Parenthood, Others in 2015 Videos” please click HERE)

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Oakland Warehouse Organizer Derick Ion Almena’s ‘Cult Like Life’ Revealed

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Details of the sinister and sometimes cult-like atmosphere around the ‘artist’ who ran the Oakland warehouse can be revealed.

Derick Ion Almena was in charge of the illegal enclave, described variously as a collective or a commune, where 36 died in Friday night’s devastating fire.

He is facing a criminal investigation into the lead-up to the fire, which happened in a warehouse filled with junk and where Almena was raising his three children with his wife, Micah Allison.

Now details can be disclosed of the power Almena exercised over those who lived in the space he illegally rented to them, to the extent that one described him as ‘a cult leader’.

Almena, who appeared on NBC’s Today Show on Tuesday in a testy exchange with Matt Lauer in which he ranted about being ‘sorry’ but offered no explanations for the conditions in the warehouse, was accused of using threats of violence to get his way, and being able to flip from charming to threatening in a heartbeat. (Read more from “Oakland Warehouse Organizer Derick Ion Almena’s ‘Cult Like Life’ Revealed” HERE)

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Make Christmas Great (Again!) with True Christmas Spirit

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The American Atheists are at it again: “Make Christmas Great Again: Skip Church!” their new billboard campaign says. The thought grieves me. I can’t imagine wishing for anything as joyless and empty as Christmas stripped of its true spirit.

The Christmas Spirit of Joy

Heaven knows our culture has been trying long enough to strip Christmas of its meaning, reducing it to a mere commercial extravaganza. The great news that kicked it all off in the beginning, however, still shines through with the spirit of Christmas joy.

Joy. That’s the quintessential Christmas word, isn’t it? When else do we use it but December? It’s a Christmas word for a reason. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King!”

Why such joy over a king? It’s because “He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love.”

If it is true — even prophetically true, as Christians believe — that the world is ruled by such sovereign love, then all our darkness is put to flight. There’s no more fitting response to that than joy.

Forms and Traditions Without the Spirit

But atheists have a different account of it. They like to tell stories of our celebration being co-opted from pagan sources, as if Christianity couldn’t have invented the birth of Christ without importing it in from somewhere outside.

Sure, we’ve borrowed some of the trappings. The winter solstice has always been an obvious time to celebrate rebirth, hope, the victory of light over darkness. Pagan and tribal religions have long made it a time of family, feasting and gift-giving.

There is nothing un-Christian about adopting some of those celebratory themes. Even the American Atheists seem willing to run with some of them, if I read their “Make Christmas Great” message correctly. They’re willing to keep some of the forms and traditions of Christmas; they just mean to remove its spirit.

No “Christmas Spirit” for Atheists?

Is that overstating it? What about the “Christmas spirit,” which atheists could still call part of a “great” Christmas? No such luck. By atheists’ own beliefs, it’s a stripped-down word at best: a mood, maybe, but nothing more substantial than that. There’s no room for spirit in the material universe that American Atheists proclaim:

Materialism declares that the cosmos is devoid of immanent conscious purpose; that it is governed by its own inherent, immutable, and impersonal laws; that there is no supernatural interference in human life; that humankind — finding their resources within themselves — can and must create their own destiny.

“Interference” is hardly the word Christians would use for God’s guiding and loving participation with His creation, but there you have it. On this atheistic/materialistic view there is no spiritual reality of any sort. It’s all just matter and energy, moving wherever impersonal laws move it.

That applies to you and me, too. If natural law is impersonal and immutable throughout the universe, it is impersonal and immutable within ourselves. We’re molecules in motion. That’s it. Period.

I’ll bet you thought you are more than that! You are. We all are, believers and unbelievers alike. Atheist beliefs may be inhuman; atheists themselves can’t help being something more.

No Room for Hope or Joy

But we were talking about atheist/materialist beliefs. What room do they leave us for hope or joy? If the impersonal, immutable laws that rule all of reality rule us, too, there can be no human freedom to “create” our own “destiny.”

Do you really make your own decisions? Not if everything about you is under the complete control of natural law. Have you ever seen a light bulb deciding whether to shine after the switch has been flicked? Or a match choosing whether it wants to light when you strike it? The same goes for whatever it is that makes you and me tick. It does what it has to do, not what anyone or anything chooses it to do. Immutable natural law leaves no room for choices.

Which means it also leaves no room for hope, for hope is a sham if you can’t claim your own choices for yourself. As for joy, how real can it be if there’s no meaning to hope?

Christmas Without Christ

So I wonder what atheists think would be great about Christmas that way. Is it families trying harder for a while to remember they should love one another? That’s a nice thought, but it doesn’t often work out so well in practice. Good Christmas intentions flow into optimistic New Year’s resolutions, which fade into forgetfulness before the last bowl game has been played.

Again, what makes Christmas great? How about fueling our consumer economy for another year? I’m all in favor of keeping ourselves fully employed, but we all know there’s a commercial taint to it all. That’s not what makes Christmas great, either.

What then about the really personal touches we associate with Christmas joy? I’m thinking about the gatherings of friends and family; the children opening gifts around the tree; the festive colors, music and delicacies that brim over in our memory: all the best of Christmas traditions apart from Christ. I could imagine an atheist saying that’s all Christmas needs to be great.

It’s “Christmas” For a Reason

But Christ is in Christmas for a reason. He didn’t come to interfere in our world, but to participate in it with us. That’s the core message of Christmas. Our God became one of us. He grew up as one of us, He laughed as one of us, He wept as one of us and He died as one of us. He even rose again as one of us, leading the way to eternal life for all who will receive it from Him.

Yet Jesus’ life was a gift that only God could give and only God could live. His grace and truth (John 1:14) were evident in every interaction, never merely “balanced” but both on full display.

He was always on a mission yet never in a hurry, always in charge yet never forgetting to love, often under attack yet never acting under the gun. At the end He was subjection to the will of His executors, yet strangely in charge the whole time.

He lived the only perfectly loving, self-sacrificial life ever lived. None other like it has even been imagined. If there were ever a man like Jesus who wasn’t God he would be worth following anyway; except only God could be that great among us.

Only Jesus Christ

Which brings me back to that word “great.” How does it improve Christmas to take Jesus’ greatness away from it? The typical atheist answer, I suppose, would be that it’s not about removing greatness, but about removing foolish God-nonsense.

I could argue with them about who’s more foolish, but that’s not what’s really on my mind right now. My first reaction to their new slogan wasn’t, “How wrong!” It was, “How empty. How sad.” For the true greatness, hope and joy of Christmas is in the One after whom the celebration is named.

Don’t shrink your celebration down to a mere mood. Don’t diminish the true joy of the season. Do make Christmas great — again! Do celebrate Jesus. And do go to church! (For more from the author of “Make Christmas Great (Again!) with True Christmas Spirit” please click HERE)

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This Filmmaking Couple Doesn’t Want to Be Punished for Not Promoting Same-Sex Marriage

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A Minnesota couple is suing state officials to allow their film production company to celebrate marriage as a man-woman union without being forced, against their biblical beliefs, to promote same-sex marriage.

Carl and Angel Larsen, of St. Cloud, Minnesota, say they run Telescope Media Group as a way to deploy their storytelling ability and production services to glorify God.

“The Larsens desire to counteract the current cultural narrative undermining the historic, biblically orthodox definition of marriage by using their media production and filmmaking talents to tell stories of marriages between one man and one woman that magnify and honor God’s design and purpose for marriage,” the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota says.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Larsens and Telescope Media Group, which they own.

“Because of their religious beliefs, and their belief in the power of film and media production to change hearts and minds, the Larsens want to use their talents and the expressive platform of [Telescope Media Group] to celebrate and promote God’s design for marriage as a lifelong union of one man and one woman,” the suit says.

Minnesota government officials argue that private businesses face criminal penalties if they promote a marriage between a man and woman but refuse to promote a same-sex marriage, the Larsens’ lawyers at the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom say.

“Filmmakers shouldn’t be threatened with fines and jail simply for disagreeing with the government,” Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a formal statement.

If convicted after criminal prosecution under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Larsens face a fine of $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail, according to the lawsuit. They also could be ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages up to $25,000.

The Larsens, who are in their mid-30s and have been married for 14 years, are challenging the law before Minnesota officials take any action against them and their company.

The law in question is the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

“The law does not exempt individuals, businesses, nonprofits, or the secular business activities of religious entities from nondiscrimination laws based on religious beliefs regarding same-sex marriage,” the Minnesota Department of Human Rights website says.

The Larsens’ lawyers filed a pre-enforcement challenge against Kevin Lindsey in his official capacity as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and against Lori Swanson in her official capacity as attorney general of Minnesota. According to the suit:

The Larsens simply desire to use their unique storytelling and promotional talents to convey messages that promote aspects of their sincerely held religious beliefs, or that at least are not inconsistent with them. It is standard practice for the owners of video and film production companies to decline to produce videos that contain or promote messages that the owners do not want to support or that violate or compromise their beliefs in some way.

The Daily Signal sought comment from both the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Human Rights, but neither had responded by publication.

Telescope Media Group’s services include web-streaming and video recording of live events as well as producing short films.

“Telescope Media Group exists to glorify God through top-quality media production,” the company’s website says.

The company has created content for clients such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and LifeLight, an annual Christian music festival held near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

“Every American—including creative professionals—should be free to peacefully live and work according to their faith without fear of punishment,” Tedesco said in a release from Alliance Defending Freedom. He added:

For example, a fashion designer recently cited her ‘artistic freedom’ as a ‘family-owned company’ to announce that she won’t design clothes for Melania Trump because she doesn’t want to use her company and creative talents to promote political views she disagrees with. Even though the law in D.C. prohibits ‘political affiliation’ discrimination, do any of us really think the designer should be threatened with fines and jail time?

French fashion designer Sophie Theallet published an open letter Nov. 17 saying she would not dress President-elect Donald Trump’s wife, the future first lady, because of disagreements with him and urged other fashion designers to do the same.

Last week, American fashion designer Tom Ford said on TV’s “The View” that he would not dress Melania Trump, in part because “she’s not necessarily my image.”

“The Larsens simply seek to exercise these same freedoms, and that’s why they filed this lawsuit to challenge Minnesota’s law,” Tedesco said. (For more from the author of “This Filmmaking Couple Doesn’t Want to Be Punished for Not Promoting Same-Sex Marriage” please click HERE)

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The Problem with Amy Schumer Playing Barbie Is NOT Her Thick Body. It’s Her Thick Head

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Last week, several entertainments outlets reported that comedian-actress Amy Schumer is poised to star as Barbie in a new live-action comedy based on the iconic Mattel doll leftists can’t seem to leave alone. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s creators hope it will “put a contemporary spin on beauty, feminism and identity.”

The story begins when Barbie is banished from Barbieland for not being “perfect enough,” Entertainment Tonight reported. This upsetting incident launches her into an adventure-filled journey in the “real world,” where Barbie discovers that being different is beautiful. Truly inspiring.

Liberal outlets reacted to Schumer’s anticipated new role with glee, calling it a triumph for feminism and a slap in the face for body-shaming misogynist pigs everywhere. Why, exactly? Apparently because Schumer doesn’t fit the mold of the tall, thin, hourglass-shaped toy (though I can’t think of any human being who does).

But not everyone was a fan. Despite the widespread support for Schumer, a handful of stupid internet trolls did what stupid internet trolls do and tweeted nasty comments about Schumer’s chubbier build . . .

Amy Schumer would make a terrible Barbie, but her physical appearance has nothing to do with it.

It’s not Schumer’s weight (which seems pretty average, if not for leftist Hollywood standards) that disqualifies her. The fact that she is unfeminine and crass disqualifies her.

The Barbie character wasn’t originally created to be a political statement. She was supposed to be an outlet for little girls to make-believe about their future as real, grownup women. She was, in her own way, a role model.

Schumer’s foul mouth and sexually lewd standup comedy routines are the last thing I think of when I hear the term “role model.”

Schumer manages to be self-deprecatory and self-indulgent all at once. She calls herself a “slut” and expects the world to applaud her for being some champion of women’s equality. Also, she’s BFFs with Hollywood’s favorite “nasty woman,” Lena Dunham.

The past doesn’t necessarily define a person, and actors are free to branch out and try new things. But don’t expect everyone to rally behind a woman who represents many of the things we hope our daughters will never become.

And liberal media: Don’t expect to not get called out for suggesting that anyone who criticizes Schumer is just a fat-shaming misogynist. Contrary to what Tinseltown liberals believe, you don’t have to be a hateful bigot to believe that their ideas are garbage. (For more from “The Problem with Amy Schumer Playing Barbie Is NOT Her Thick Body. It’s Her Thick Head” please click HERE)

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New York Mayor Promises City Will Pay for Abortions If Planned Parenthood Loses Federal Funding

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In a speech that criticized President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to make sure the city would pay for women to abortions in the event that Planned Parenthood is defunded.

In one of several defiant responses to Trump’s developing domestic policy, de Blasio said, “If there are threats to federal funding for Planned Parenthood in New York City, we will ensure women receive health care they need.”

Later, the mayor tweeted, “I want to be clear: If GOP threatens federal funding for Planned Parenthood of NYC, we will ensure women receive the healthcare they need.”

But as The Resurgent reported, “If the feds cut the funding, New York’s mayor says they’ll cover the costs. That means they have the money and there is no reason for federal funding to be kept.”

Responses to de Blasio’s tweet flooded social media. Many concluded that if federal tax funding for Planned Parenthood is not needed, the abortion giant should be defunded. (Read more from “New York Mayor Promises City Will Pay for Abortions If Planned Parenthood Loses Federal Funding” HERE)

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Woman Sues Abortion Center Over Violation of Informed Consent Regarding Fetal Research

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Jessica Duran is suing Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO), an abortion center in New Mexico, for giving her aborted daughter’s body to University of New Mexico for taxpayer-funded fetal research without her knowledge or consent.

Duran, who received an abortion from SWO in 2012, is being supported in her lawsuit by non-profit pro-life group New Mexico Alliance for Life (NMAFL).

At a press conference at the University of New Mexico Monday morning, Duran said “my right to choose was violated” by SWO. “They take advantage of women like me in frantic situations by not giving us all the facts and information we are entitled to,” Duran said.

According to the lawsuit filed at the Second Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, SWO provided Duran with a consent form indicating that “tissue and parts” of her aborted baby could be used in medical research. However, the center failed to inform Duran of important specifics, such as the nature and extent of how her baby would be used in research, the fact that SWO was the sole supplier of fetal tissue to UNM (several SWO staff physicians are also volunteer faculty members at UNM), who she could contact with questions about the process, or the fact that the donation of her baby’s body to fetal research was voluntary.

“I was never informed of the University of New Mexico’s collaboration with SWO for research,” Duran said in a NMAFL press release Monday morning, “which appears to have influenced SWO employees to encourage me to abort my daughter.”

Duran’s lawsuit accuses SWO of deceptive trade practices and violation of state law, which requires informed consent before providing an abortion.

“We have evidence that suggests UNM and SWO have been violating women’s rights to informed consent since 1995,” said Elisa Martinez, NMAFL Director, in Monday’s press release. Martinez and Duran are asking New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas to criminally investigate SWO and UNM.

NMAFL isn’t the only group investigating the relationship between and fetal harvesting practices of SWO and NMAFL. The Congressional Select Panel on Infant Lives issued a criminal referral to Balderas earlier this year for “prosecution of various acts” by SWO and UNM.

“UNM Health Sciences Center and Southwestern Women’s Options can no longer deny wrongdoing,” Martinez said; “there are victims out there who were deceived and whose rights were violated in the harvesting of aborted babies’ bodies.”

NMAFL has launched a new website where women like Duran who have had abortions at SWO and believe their rights were violated can submit a complaint.

At the press conference, Martinez further detailed the “shocking” practices NMAFL had discovered in their investigation of SWO and UNM, including the dissecting of an unborn 7-month old brain by students at a UNM summer camp. The brain had been ordered “whole and fixed” by UNM from SWO.

Laura Rosecrans of Surrendered Hearts Abortion Recovery Ministries said that many women are re-traumatized when they learn after-the-fact that their aborted babies’ bodies are used for such purposes.

“My baby was not just a clump of cells,” Duran said in NMAFL’s press release Monday morning. “That’s the lie that is being exposed: my baby was fully human, and her body was highly valuable for the sum of her parts, for UNM research projects.”

Watch the recorded press conference from NFMAL here. (For more from the author of “Woman Sues Abortion Center Over Violation of Informed Consent Regarding Fetal Research” please click HERE)

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‘Make Christmas Great Again. Skip Church!’ Says New Atheist Billboard

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The group American Atheists is once again campaigning to keep people out of the pews on Christmas.

After featuring an image of Santa on their billboards last year, urging passers-by to “Go ahead and skip church! Just be good for goodness’ sake,” American Atheists is doubling down.

This year, the group has debuted not one, but two signs, which will be up for the entire month of December in cities such as Colorado Springs, Colo., Lynchburg, Va. and Shreveport, La. The group has even been so kind as to provide a map of their billboard’s locations (see below).

The first and more widespread billboard depicts a young girl texting a friend there’s “no way” she’s going to church this Christmas because she doesn’t “believe that stuff anymore.” And her parents? They’ll just have to “get over it.” Charming young lady.

The second billboard takes its play right out of Donald Trump’s signature campaign hat — or, one could say, right off of it. “Make Christmas Great Again,” the sign declares, “Skip Church!”

American Atheists announced the billboards last Thursday in a post on their website.

“In what has become an annual holiday tradition, American Atheists launched two billboards nationwide urging viewers to celebrate an ‘atheist Christmas’ by skipping church,” the release said.

Following the announcement, the group took to social media to share coverage of their billboards as well as to counter their critics.

“‘Anti-Christian?’ Nah,” the group tweeted in one response to a Fox News video. “Anti-church, anti-being-forced-to-do-things-you-don’t-believe, maybe. We’re happy to discuss.”

This journalist could live under a rock, but I’ve never heard of someone being forced to attend a church service before. On the contrary, I’ve come across many a parent who have regretfully informed me that their son or daughter had decided not to come to church — usually with a prayer request attached. But never “forced.”

No Belief in God? No Consistency of Message Either

Also, a quick scroll down the Twitter page finds this tweet from just last week, in response to Donald Trump tapping Rep. Tom Price, Ga.-R, for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Price is a co-sponsor of the disastrous ‘First Amendment Defense Act’ that lets people break civil rights laws they think their god apposes (sic),” along with the follow up tweet, “The re-definition of ‘religious liberty’ by people like Price has eroded the rights of women, LGBT people, and all Americans. We must fight.” That doesn’t sound very “anti-being-forced-to-do-things-you-don’t-believe” to me.

In another response to the same Fox News clip, American Atheists said, “Also: ‘War on Christmas?’ We’re literally saying that it’s fine to celebrate Xmas w/out the religious stuff. Not sure how that’s a ‘war.’” This tweet came after the group’s original billboard announcement on Twitter, which was gleefully accompanied with “#WarOnChristmas”.

The ChristianExaminer, in their report of the billboards, called American Atheists out on their misleading use of a statistic in the billboard announcement.

According to the announcement,

A recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute shows that a quarter of Americans and almost 40% of young people are atheist or non-religious. This billboard campaign is specifically aimed at that growing population, especially those who no longer believe but still occasionally attend religious services or call themselves religious despite their lack of belief.

“Presumably, they believe a good number of that group is atheist. But they aren’t telling the whole story,” the ChristianExaminer writes.

The “nones” are comprised of those disenchanted with religion, those apathetic to it, and those who are “unattached” to a denomination or church. Among the apathetic and unattached, a significant number still claim to believe in God. The number of true atheists still hovers around 11 percent of the U.S. population.

The American Atheists billboards came right as the Freedom From Religion Foundation released their own December activism plan, dubbed “Heathens’ Greetings — FFRF’s Winter Solstice Survival Guide.” In the release, the FFRF announced the beginning of its “annual “War on State/Church Separation” and called for activists to “create a little controversy” — possibly with the group’s Bill of Rights “Nativity” displays. (For more from the author of “‘Make Christmas Great Again. Skip Church!’ Says New Atheist Billboard” please click HERE)

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Early Christmas! No Draft for Women and Philosopher Warfighter Nominated for SecDef

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One could almost feel sorry for President Obama. Practically moments after confirmation that there wasn’t enough Senate support on either side of the aisle for drafting women, we see headlines that “White House announces support for adding women to military draft.”

Obama can do nothing to make this so. Only Congress can, and their decision is already made. The statement was little more than a head-pat to his base. America’s daughters will not be drafted for combat with ISIS, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, or any other woman-stoning, gay-murdering enemies.

No Military Draft for Women

This is a victory for our military’s combat readiness and America’s young, able-bodied women, who should not be forced into being infantry replacements — the stated purpose of the draft during a large-scale war. Drafting them would require signing up equal numbers of women in all jobs — anything else wouldn’t be “equitable.” Only a tiny portion of the female population qualifies for the military as it is, and they, even having made the cut to join up, suffer an average of 2-10 times the injuries of their male counterparts.

It would be a bureaucratic nightmare for nearly no return to sift through millions of young women in order to find one or two who might be able to make men’s infantry unit standards but would still be at a stark disadvantage for survival in combat. Doing the same number of pull-ups also won’t mitigate the higher rates of injury, the fact that women are higher-value targets to our current enemies, or the other disproportionate risks women face.

Having equal rights under the law does not mean that men and women have the same obligations for the nation’s defense. Drafting women would mean more casualties, more coming home in body bags, and more missions lost. It would compromise our country’s security.

Now Congress can get back to hashing out other provisions in the military appropriations bill like the categorization of the sage grouse. In a world where this is in the spending bill for our national defense, it’s a wonder that common sense prevailed.

Secretary of Defense Mattis

Another early Christmas gift is the news that President-Elect Trump has chosen Marine Gen. James Mattis to serve as Secretary of Defense. Those who know the legendary general couldn’t be happier, and enemies of freedom the world over have every reason to fear. Mattis is a bold and plain-spoken warfighter, but also a well-read and philosophical student of history and warfare.

He is for American engagement around the world, but not endless military engagements with no clear plan for victory. He has a keen understanding of foreign policy and a deep affection for those who serve in America’s defense. He has not hesitated to name the enemy and believes in confronting even the most complicated military and foreign policy problems head on, rather than letting them fester for the next generation to handle.

Though some are concerned over his opposition to women in combat units, and his rejection of the idea that combat deployed troops are victims broken by their service, those who care about our military’s readiness to fight our merciless enemies and the welfare of those who do so know there is no better choice than James Mattis. He takes war extremely seriously and won’t be frivolous in recommending military operations.

He cares deeply for those who, as he puts it, close in on the last 600 yards of foreign policy, and their families that support them and endure their loss, injury and sacrifice. He believes in reason over impulse, in not repeating the mistakes of the past that have been learned in blood, and working with our friends and allies across the globe to ensure that savages like ISIS don’t prevail.

Making America great again includes restoring a credible military able to withstand any test — and we will be tested, probably sooner than later. For reversing the decline of the military and her material, and making her combat ready again, there’s no better man for the job. Indeed, we have much to be grateful for this holiday season. (For more from the author of “Early Christmas! No Draft for Women and Philosopher Warfighter Nominated for SecDef” please click HERE)

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