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Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Courts and the Law Headline Archives (2024)

For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2024:
Previous Courts headline archives are contained in a post at the end of each year and linked below:


20232022202120202019201820172016201520142008-2013

Thursday, June 13, 2024

This is How You Handle "Transgender" Apologists in the Media

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis again demonstrates how one should handle the drive-by media. Recently, a liberal, activist judge--U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle--ruled that the Florida law protecting children from "gender affirming care" (e.g., genital mutilation, dangerous hormone treatments, and the like) was "unconstitutional." At a press conference yesterday (6/12), DeSantis was asked about appealing the ruling. The reporter asking the question wanted to know why tax payer dollars should go towards such an effort. DeSantis' reply is masterful:

Some of the text of Gov. DeSantis' comments:

Because it's wrong to mutilate minors. It is wrong to perform a sex change on a 16-year-old. You're not allowed to get a tattoo, but somehow, you can have your privates cut off? Give me a break. This is wrong, and I would also say, this has already been decided by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. They upheld Alabama's law, which was almost identical to Florida's law. This will be reversed, there's no question it will be reversed.

Think about it. When the Founding Fathers were creating the Constitution, and when the First Congress passed the Bill of Rights, or even when they passed the reconstruction amendments in the 1860s, do you think a single person involved in that thought that there was a constitutional right to do this genital mutilation? It's ridiculous. Of course, a state can protect children.

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Courts and the Law Headline Archives (2023)

For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2023:
Previous Courts headline archives are contained in a post at the end of each year and linked below:


2022202120202019201820172016201520142008-2013

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

The Astounding Ignorance and Hypocrisy of the Idaho Statesman

The editorial board of the Idaho Statesman—Scott McIntosh, Bryan Clark, Chadd Cripe, Dana Oland, Jim Keyser and Mary Rohlfing—recently published an opinion piece condemning the actions of Christian organizations Hold the Line and Turning Point USA Faith. The Statesman editorial board doesn’t like the fact that the “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour has made its way to Boise, Idaho.

The Kingdom to the Capitol is a Christian “revival tour” that holds prayer and worship events across the U.S. Their goal is to bring praise and worship music and prayer to every state capitol in the U.S. By my count, they’ve reached 23 so far. Kingdom to the Capitol is the result of a partnership between Turning Point USA Faith and Let Us Worship (a sister organization to Hold the Line).

The title of the Idaho Statesman foolish opinion piece begins with the old and overused leftist edict, “Keep your religion out of our government.” The title concludes with the “scary” conclusion that “Dangerous activists [are] coming to [the] Idaho Capitol.”

What’s so “dangerous” about the Kingdom to the Capitol event? Statesman editorialists believe that the Christians behind the event want to “inject their brand of Christianity into government.”

Similarly, later in the opinion piece, the authors declare, “It’s no accident the rallies are being held at state Capitol buildings, as these charlatans increasingly want to inject their brand of religion into politics.” According to the editorialists, examples of injecting “religion into politics” includes restrictions on abortions as well as restrictions on so-called “gender-affirming care for transgender youth.”

In other words, it seems that the Statesman doesn’t want the law in America to protect the most innocent and helpless among us from death or permanent mutilation. Additionally, in an attempt to smear the event and its attendees, the Statesman editorialists also use the familiar “Christian nationalist” label.

Sean Feucht, a Christian singer, song writer, worship leader, and former congressional candidate, is one of the event organizers. Attacking Feucht directly, the Statesman editorialists write,

Feucht and his group are playing on the same, tired, worn-out, BS, far-right “fears” that evildoers on the Left are coming for your children, through the schools, through the libraries, at Pride festivals and drag shows. They frame the issue as a fight between good and evil, light vs. dark. Predictably, they clutch their pearls at transgender apparel at Target or popular music videos.

The last two sentences of the editorial declare, “No one is telling these groups to abandon their religious beliefs. We’re just telling them to keep their religion in their church and out of our government.”

This garbage opinion piece by the “Secular Nationalists” at the Idaho Statesman is a perfect example of why so many in America hate newspapers, and why so many newspapers across the U.S. are dying. (The McClatchy Company, which owns the Idaho Statesman declared bankruptcy in 2020.) Given that Idaho is a solidly conservative state, it’s almost certain that this opinion piece is quite unpopular with a significant majority of Idaho’s residents, and just another reason for them not to give their time or money to the Idaho Statesman.

Of course, being unpopular doesn’t mean that one is wrong. However, as most conservatives well know, including the conservatives in Idaho, like so many opinion writers in America, the Idaho Statesman editorialists are indeed on the wrong side of the truth in some of the most important moral issues of our time.

Few things in the moral realm of the universe are more clear than what is life, and what is a male and a female. Thus, of course any society governed by the rule of law should have laws that reflect the long-known truth on these grave matters.

What’s more, the Stateman editorial writers are seemingly blind to their moral and political hypocrisy here. It seems they are fine with injecting their leftist worldview into America’s politics and laws, but don’t like the idea of Christians doing the same.

As I have long said, all law the world over is rooted in someone’s idea of morality. In other words, we either write our own moral code—which almost certainly will be grossly flawed—and have our laws reflect this moral code, or, when living our lives and when legislating, we adhere to the laws of the Law Giver.

“Keep your religion out of our government” is much like the leftist complaint of “Stop forcing your morality on me!” The proper retort to the latter is, “Stop forcing your immorality on me!” Thus, to the Idaho Statesman editorial board, I say, keep your irreligious, godless, and profane ideas out of our government!

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

Sunday, March 19, 2023

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peddles Pro-Trans Propaganda

As numerous right-minded (note: those not led by Democrats!) states take legal steps—my home state of Georgia being one of those—to protect children from radical and irreversible medical “transgender” procedures, this past Friday (3/17/2023) the largest newspaper in Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) published an article that is littered with pro-transgender propaganda.

Of course, this is completely unsurprising. Like almost every large newspaper across the U.S., the AJC has long been little more than a left-wing rag. However, it is noteworthy the steps the left across America is taking to further the evil transgender agenda.

The article is entitled, “Trans kids say they have target on their back with GOP initiative.” The authors spend many of their words detailing the lives of several “transgender” youths in Georgia, who supposedly would be harmed by legislation aimed at protecting vulnerable children. The article does rightly note that the Georgia bill “would ban health care professionals from giving hormones such as estrogen or testosterone to transgender minors. Doctors also would not be allowed to perform surgeries on children seeking to align with their gender identity.”

One of the biggest bits of propaganda that runs throughout the piece is the idea that giving hormone treatments and radical cosmetic surgery to children is “healthcare.” Few things are further from the truth. In other words, it is not “healthcare” to mutilate and disfigure children. It is child abuse and should be treated as such.

The article details children as young five years old whose foolish parents subjected them to a “gender transition.” The authors write:

Jen Slipakoff, a Kennesaw resident, said her daughter first started talking about being transgender when she was 5. Up until then she had been raised as a boy. She’s 15 now.

“We already knew exactly what was happening before she ever said anything,” Slipakoff said. “She has an older brother, so our house was full of traditional boys toys. And our daughter would play with those toys in a very different way than our son was. She would take her little soldiers shopping instead of putting them on the battlefield. She was always drawn to what we would consider traditional girls toys and traditional female clothing.”

When she turned 5, she asked her mother to change her name.

The article also reports on a family with two “transgender” children:

Someone who is nonbinary doesn’t identify as strictly male or female. Dare, a 16-year-old from Dacula who uses “they” as their pronoun, said they were about 10 when they started to think they may be nonbinary.

“I’ve always been gender neutral my whole life,” Dare said. “My mom talks about how, when I was really little, I would pick toys from the boys aisle and the girls aisle.”

Dare and their sibling, a 13-year-old transgender boy named Jay, told their parents about their gender identities about the same time in 2020. 

Imagine that! Two “transgender” kids from the same family! As historically rare as is “transgenderism,” this would be a near statistical impossibility. Unless, of course, something else is up, which of course the AJC completely ignores. On the occurrence of “transgenderism,” Kimberly Klacik recently asked an important question with a telling answer. She asked, “Why aren’t kids in the hood transitioning to the opposite sex? I know the answer, just wanted to see if you knew.”

Interestingly, an excellent answer came from Sara Higdon, a self-described “transexual, Catholic, Veteran, minarchist/voluntaryist” who also happens to be a contributor to “Gays Against Groomers.” Answering Mrs. Klacik, Higdon writes:

Well because the typical demographic is upper middle class white kids of progressive parents. for two reasons. They have time and money to worry about such things, and have been conditioned to believe through Critical Theory that they are an oppressor and there is no way they can ever escape that status, so they see this as a way to join an oppressed class for which they are celebrated for instead of condemned. It’s the relationship between CRT and Queer theory.

Want to guess in what demographic Jen Slipakoff resides? (This will give you some clues.) The transgender craze sweeping America and various other parts of the world is not a medical phenomena but rather a social contagion, fueled by the evil LGBT arm of the radical left, and aided and abetted by the likes of the AJC.

Of course, the biggest lie behind the transgender agenda is the notion that one can change one’s sex. Almost nothing is further from the truth than the grotesque lie that sex-change is merely a medical process. The facts on who is a male and who is a female is one of the oldest truths in the history of humanity. We shouldn’t need legislation to protect children from the wicked lie that sex change is possible, but the left has brought us to this point.

Lastly, as Mrs. Slipakoff spoke before the Georgia Senate regarding the legislation, the AJC reported her saying,  

“I’m happy to report, she has never been bullied by her classmates,” Slipakoff said. “That’s not to say she doesn’t have bullies. Here in this room right now, they sponsored this bill and they’re the ones that are going to vote for it. ... She doesn’t want and she doesn’t need your protection. She wants you to leave her alone.”

Likewise, in one of the comments on the AJC article—which was a response to another comment—someone identified as “Benjamin McKoon” wrote, “Ever thought, hmmm... I wonder if this is any of my business??? Nope? Then shut the f*ck [without the asterisk] up and leave the kids alone inbred idiot.”

As the evil LGBT agenda has progressed throughout the U.S. the last several decades, “Just leave us alone!” or something similar, has been a frequent cry from LGBT activists. However, as I’ve often pointed out, “live and let live” has never been a hallmark of the LGBT agenda. This is quite evident if we only look at what’s occurred recently on the issue of “transgenderism.”

“Just deal with it,” was how a deluded Massachusetts male who’s competing as a female—and helping his school win a state title this year—put it when asked about boys competing against girls in sanctioned competitions. To help paint “transgenders” as being “targeted” in Georgia, the AJC article makes mention of how GA law, and the Georgia High School Association, requires athletes “to compete based on their biological sex.” How do you think Atlanta LGBT activists would respond to being told to “just deal with it” when it comes to this policy?

As was recently reported at Twitchy, the American left is filled with LGBT “mind your own business” hypocrites:

The radical trans Left loves to tell anyone who raises moral and ethical questions about the movement to mind their own business. Meanwhile, it’s the radical trans Left that insists on making themselves a part of everyone’s business — literally:

Georgia’s legislators, and our Governor, Brian Kemp, need to stand strong in the face of the AJC’s transgender propaganda and protect children from the hideous lies of the transgender agenda.

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

Monday, March 6, 2023

Tucker Carlson Calls Out the “Professional Christians”

In one of his monologues last week, Tucker Carlson called Merrick Garland “the weakest Attorney General” in American history. Tucker added, “Merrick Garland has presided over the most aggressive attack on civil liberties, in particular, an attack on the practice of traditional Christianity, than any living American has seen.”

Tucker’s comments came on the heels of Garland’s recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the testimony, GOP Senators Mike Lee and Josh Hawley confronted the Attorney General on the Biden Justice Department’s heavy-handed and disproportionate attacks on American Christians, especially noting the attacks against Christians who protest abortion centers.

The Senators highlighted the FBI’s shocking raid of Mark Houck’s home, where 20 to 30 agents with “full SWAT gear, heavily armored vests, ballistic shields, helmets, [and] battering ram” terrorized Mr. Houck, his wife and their seven children simply because Mr. Houck shoved a pro-abortion extremist who was harassing his 12-year-old son.

Tucker also noted the incident involving Paul Vaughn, a pro-life father of eleven children:

In March of 2021, Paul Vaughn and 10 others were peacefully praying at an abortion clinic in Tennessee. They didn’t damage any property. They hurt no one. More than a year after they dared to do that, to pray, Merrick Garland sent the FBI to terrorize Vaughn and his 11 children at their home…

Paul Vaughn and his co-conspirators now face more than a decade in prison.

After highlighting these gross injustices against American Christians, Tucker makes what I believe is his most important point:

You have to wonder when you see a tape like that, where are so-called Christian leaders? Where’s Russell Moore and all the other breast-beating Christians as that happens, as the U.S. government cracks down on Christianity, on prayer? Silent. 

The “People’s Republic of Canada” has been even more hostile to Christians. Things have gotten so bad for Christians in Canada, that in February of last year Senator Hawley reiterated his call for Canada to be placed on a special watch list of religious liberty violators. Senator Hawley’s statements were mostly due to Canada’s then ongoing treatment of Pastor Artur Pawlowski.

A day after Fox News reported on Senator Hawley’s call, in a piece entitled “Free speech and the Bible on global trial,” The Washington Times reported,

Canada’s recently unanimously passed law, C-4, prevents its citizens from spreading Biblical views on marriage and sexuality. Canadian parents, faith leaders, and citizens who hold traditional views of marriage and sexuality will now face up to 5 years of jail time for providing spiritual guidance to those seeking counseling.

As a horrific assault on civil rights, Canada’s egregious policy directly targets faith and has effectively placed targets on the backs of many of its own citizens.

Likewise, in the same monologue referenced above, Tucker Carlson declares “Canada has now become an atheist, totalitarian state with amazing speed.” Tucker adds,

And in Canada, it’s now a crime to object to sexualized drag shows for children. You’re not allowed to say a word. Late last month, a pastor in Calgary was violently thrown out of an all-ages — in other words, for children — drag queen story hour for daring to object to the sexualization of children. 

And Tucker again asks the important question, “Where are all the professional Christians?” Tucker again names names:

You have to wonder that again. Where’s David French and Beth Moore and Tim Keller and all these people who are defending Christianity as actual Christians are being arrested for being Christians? Hmm. Not a word. 

I’m not sure whether Tucker calling out Russell Moore, David French, Beth Moore, and Tim Keller is completely fair or not. I don’t know everything they’ve had to say on the crucial issues that Tucker points out. But I do know this: As a follower of Jesus, and as an astute observer of our media and culture, I can rarely—if ever—recall those “professional Christians” Tucker named drawing attention to themselves for speaking the truth on what are some of the most important moral issues of our time.

Additionally, as high profile as are those “professional Christians,” and given the relatively large platform with which they are blessed, we can be almost certain that if they were speaking the truth on religious liberty, the evil LGBT agenda, and the like, the godless press in America would take note. “Truth makes the Devil blush,” wrote English historian Thomas Fuller. If you make the Devil blush, he’s most likely going to come after you, and one of his favorite tools is the American media.

Tragically, Russell Moore, David French, Beth Moore, and Tim Keller are far from alone. As I’ve noted multiple times in the past several years, whether “professional Christians,” “Christian celebrities,” pastors and priests, Tucker Carlson, or everyday Christians, for far too long, far too many Christians have sat on the sidelines when it comes to the grave moral issues that demand our attention. Thus, in a matter of just a few short years, we went from a near nation-wide rejection of same-sex “marriage” to a widespread—and now often legally enforced—embrace of it.

We’ve gone from debating what is marriage to debating what is a male a what is a female. And now we are having to debate whether or not those who want to sexually groom children should be allowed to do so, and whether or not this evil should occur in our tax-payer funded libraries and schools!

As I’ve noted before, some things have been settled for all time. This is especially the case on sex and marriage. It’s past time that more Christians realized this, and started living their lives accordingly, and using their voices to say so.

(See this column at American Thinker.) 

Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the 
The Miracle and Magnificence of America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com

 

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Courts and the Law Headline Archives (2022)

For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2022:
Previous Courts headline archives are contained in a post at the end of each year and linked below:


202120202019201820172016201520142008-2013

Friday, December 31, 2021

Courts and the Law Headline Archives (2021)

For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 


2021:Previous Courts headline archives are contained in a post at the end of each year and linked below:

20202019201820172016201520142008-2013