THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” President Donald Trump tweeted on Monday. “They will be removed as fast as they come in.”
Trump’s announcement signals that the U.S. government will finally begin real enforcement of its immigration laws. It has been common to refer to America’s immigration system as “broken,” with the need for some sort of “comprehensive immigration reform.” Perhaps the laws need to be tweaked, perhaps not, but the reality is that the biggest problem with the immigration laws of the United States is that they have not been enforced rigorously in decades.
President Dwight Eisenhower — in the 1950s — was the last U.S. president to direct a large-scale removal of persons in the country illegally.
Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution makes it very clear that it is incumbent on the president of the United States to enforce American laws — including immigration laws. The Constitution states of the president, “He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
Just because presidents previous to Trump have been derelict in their duty does not mean that Trump’s action should be controversial, but it no doubt will be characterized as cruel, and will probably be challenged in federal court. No doubt opponents will go “judge shopping” to find a judge who will ignore the fact that the president is simply enforcing present law, as is his right and duty, and attempt to block the action.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf quickly condemned Trump’s announcement that illegal aliens will be rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “If you continue to threaten, target and terrorize families in my community … and if we receive credible information … you already know what our values are in Oakland — and we will unapologetically stand up for those values,” Schaaf responded.
Some of Trump’s critics quickly used the president’s announcement of impending ICE round ups, noting that Trump administration officials had previously threatened Mayor Schaaf last year with legal consequences for alerting illegal aliens in her city of a local effort by ICE to arrest persons in Oakland who are in violation of the law.
Then-ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan, who has since been announced as Trump’s pick for “border czar” (although he has said he is still thinking on whether to accept the position), said at the time, “The Oakland mayor’s decision to publicize her suspicions about ICE operations further increased that risk for my officers and alerted criminal aliens — making clear that this reckless decision was based on her political agenda with the very federal laws that ICE is sworn to uphold.”
The criticism of Trump is unfounded, however, as it is Trump’s prerogative as president as to how to enforces federal law — it is not Schaaf’s. Schaaf needs to worry about enforcement of local laws in Oakland (a high-crime city) and doing things that mayors do. President Trump, on the other hand, has taken an oath to uphold federal laws, such as removing persons who are in the country illegally.
In this endeavor, Trump has picked a new director at ICE who shares Trump’s passion for protecting the country from the invasion of illegal aliens — former Border Patrol officer Mark Morgan. Morgan came to Trump’s attention when Morgan appeared on cable television advocating strict enforcement of all immigration laws. Morgan had already said publicly that it is his intention to not only keep out additional illegal immigrants, but to also remove those already here.
On June 4, Morgan told the press, “Our next challenge is going to be interior enforcement. We will be going after individuals who have gone through due process and who have received final orders of deportation.” Admitting that this action “will include families,” he promised that ICE agents will treat the parents and children they arrest “with compassion and humanity.”
While some have expressed that the public announcements will “tip off” those in the country illegally, and make it easier for them to avoid apprehension, others have countered that making it clear that the laws will now be finally enforced will have the effect of encouraging illegal aliens to leave the country, and discourage others from even trying to enter the country. By law, a person who is caught in the country illegally is supposed to have his chances reduced of ever being admitted as a legal resident, so some here illegally now might decide it is best to clear out.
Expect orchestrated public outrage when the round-ups start, complete with the typical sob stories by liberal reporters. The alternative is to allow the continuation of the flood of illegal aliens entering the country, with all the negative consequences associated with that.
When President Obama campaigned in 2008, he promised the “transformation” of America. While he was president, he spoke to a group of newly naturalized Americans, and told them that they were an important part of his plan of creating the “new” America he envisioned.
As America becomes increasingly divided along ethnic lines, the ideal of a United States of America becomes increasingly more difficult to achieve. Tom Woods, a noted author, explained, “The extraordinarily high rate of immigration, legal and illegal, into the United States is an indication that our country is doing something right. Currently, half the world’s immigrants come to the United States.”
Yet, to hear the Left tell it, America is populated mostly by bigots and haters. Why would so many of the word’s people want to come to a country that hates them so much?
“A facile advocacy of open borders,” Woods wrote, “gives the central state exactly what it wants; the chance to supersede the preferences of property owners, and to provide the pretext for further encroachments on local and individual liberty.”
Woods is right, and all Americans who want America to remain a non-socialist country should hope and pray that Trump is successful in halting a key part of the plan of Obama and his fellow leftists to transform our country.
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In a 2020 field of odd candidates, Mayor Peter Buttigieg's candidacy may be the strangest because his only actual credential (gay and Obameseque are not actual credentials) is running South Bend. One of the worst failed cities in Indiana. A truly miserable place.
The media has conveniently avoided allowing any scrutiny of South Bend or its huge crime rates. My articles about them have been virtually the only ones in, either the media, or much of the conservative media for that matter.
On March 31, a South Bend grandma brought her grandson to the hospital. The 11-month-old baby boy had been shot. His grandmother’s car had also taken fire. It was another early morning in South Bend.
Around the same time, Mayor Buttigieg, was toting up the $7 million in donations from his charm offensive as his bid for the 2020 Democrat nomination got underway. The national media never bothered reporting the shooting of an 11-month-old boy in the city he was supposed to be running, but instead confined its coverage of South Bend matters to a publicity stunt wedding officiated by Buttigieg.
The horrifying shooting of an 11-month-old boy on the millennial mayor’s watch was not an unusual incident. In the last few days, even as the media was gushing over Buttigieg’s presidential ambitions, two Indiana University South Bend players were injured in a shooting on Notre Dame Avenue, a blind date ended in a shooting, and yet another shooting added to the bloody toll in the real South Bend.
Those are quite a few shootings for a city of barely 100,000 people. But South Bend is a violent place.
While Chicago is notorious for its murder rate, in 2015, Buttigieg’s South Bend actually topped Chicago’s 16.4 homicides per 100,000 people with a homicide rate of 16.79 per 100,000 people. Those numbers put Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s city on the list of the top 30 murder capitals in the country for the year.
In January, three shootings in one week killed two teens and left a woman paralyzed from the waist down. In one summer week, the casualties included a 12 and a 13-year-old. Last year, a man shot 6 people when he opened fire on 50 partygoers in a house and was sentenced to 100 years in jail.
By 2017, shootings had risen 20% on Mayor Buttigieg’s watch. Rapes increased 27% and aggravated assaults rose from 183 in 2013, the year before Buttigieg took office, to a stunning 563 assaults.
By April, the politician whose supporters called him, “Mayor Pete” had been neglecting the city where 8,515 voters in an apathetic city of 102,245 had elected him mayor. While the bodies piled up, Buttigieg and his boyfriend were rushing between upscale fundraisers and media appearances.
By the end of March, as Peter Buttigieg turned into the new Dem crush, 6 people had been shot in his city. A talented baseball player had been paralyzed and an 11-month old baby had been wounded.
"My name is Pete Buttigieg. They call me Mayor Pete," Buttigieg declared in the city he now occasionally visited. "I am a proud son of South Bend, Indiana.”
Now, the escalating violence in the city he has been running into the ground has forced "Mayor Pete" to actually head back to South Bend.
Predictably, it wasn't the multiple gang shootings that did it. Instead, it's the only kind of shooting that Democrats care about anymore.
Authorities say a man has died after a shooting involving a police officer in South Bend, the Indiana city where Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is mayor.
Buttigieg said he changed his campaign schedule to return to South Bend on Sunday and hold a late night news conference. He said that the circumstances of the death would be thoroughly investigated, and called on any witnesses of the shooting to come forward and speak to investigators.
“We will be striving to reach out to community members,” Buttigieg said.
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Troubling news emerged three months ago that Qatar, which funds Hamas and al-Qaeda, had begun a massive military aircraft project in South Carolina. The country is also reported to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars in funding the spread of Islamic propaganda and dawah through academic institutions. And now, Qatar “is set to distribute more than $10 million in aid to thousands of cash-strapped Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”. Qatar is also Hamas’ ally and has been already pumping millions into so-called aid to Gaza. “Aid” to Gaza and to the Palestinians go to fund jihad terror against Israelis. Even teachers with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have been caught inciting jihad terror and antisemitism in schools–including Holocaust denial and praises of Hitler. The money was brought into the Hamas-controlled enclave Sunday evening by the Qatari ambassador to Gaza. Some days ago, Palestinian Sheikh Abu Hanifa Awda declared from Al Aqsa mosque (the third holiest site in Islam), that an “army of Islam will set out from Jerusalem to conquer to world”.
“Qatar to Distribute Funds in Gaza to Hamas Supporters”, Breitbart, June 17, 2019: (AFP) — Gulf state Qatar is set to distribute more than $10 million in aid to thousands of cash-strapped Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a Qatari official said on Monday.
The money was brought into the Hamas-controlled enclave Sunday evening by the Qatari ambassador to Gaza and is expected to be distributed Monday or Tuesday, the official said on condition of anonymity.
More than 100,000 families will each receive payments of $100, he added.
Disbursement of the funds from post offices had yet to begin Monday lunchtime.
Another 15 million dollars would be provided for infrastructure and cash-for-work projects, the official said.
Qatar, a rare Hamas ally in the Middle East, has been providing millions in monthly aid to Gaza since November.
The money is part of an informal agreement between Islamists Hamas and Israel that is supposed to ensure calm in exchange for an easing of the Jewish state’s crippling blockade of Gaza.
Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008…..
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Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Raymond Ibrahim, a scholar of Islam, prolific writer, and author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (2013); and The Al Qaeda Reader (2007) He has appeared on C-SPAN, Al-Jazeera, CNN, NPR, and PBS; his writings have appeared in the New York Times Syndicate, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst. A sought after speaker, Ibrahim has briefed governmental agencies, including the U.S Strategic Command, lectured at the National Intelligence University, and testified before Congress.
Introduction: On June 10, the US Army War College (USAWC) surrendered to the demands of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)—an “unindicted co-conspirator,” to quote the U.S. Dept. of Justice, in the largest terror funding case in American history, and a designated “terrorist organization” for nations such as the UAE.
CAIR’s hysterical propaganda campaign focused on presenting Ibrahim—a native Arabic speaker of Egyptian/Middle Eastern descent—as a “racist” and “white nationalist” who, if allowed to speak before the War College, would incite American soldiers to start murdering Muslims in the street. In response, the US Army War College capitulated and canceled Ibrahim’s long-planned lecture on his newest book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, which was scheduled for this coming Wednesday, June 19, at the War College, located in Carlisle, Barracks, PA.
Frontpage: Welcome, Raymond, to Frontpage Interview. It's an honor to have you here.
Let’s get right to it. What happened?
Ibrahim: Sure, Jamie, thanks for the opportunity. Here are the facts: On January 4, 2019, I received an email, portions of which follow:
Mr. Ibrahim: On behalf of the Director and Staff of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC), I am honored to invite you to speak as part of the USAHEC’s 2019 Perspectives in Military History Lecture Series. … [W]e would like you to speak about your new book, “Sword and Scimitar.” The Perspectives series attracts a wide audience including the U.S. Army War College students, faculty, and staff, ROTC cadets, Soldiers from regional military bases, university students and faculty, and the general public.
“On a personal note,” the author of the email added, “I think your new book, and a lecture based on it, will resound very well with the primary audience of our lecture programs—the students and faculty of the U.S. Army War College.”
After I accepted the invitation, my USAWC contact reiterated: “I am excited to book you, I think your topic will be perfect for my audience.”
Aside from a few more exchanges on dates and logistics, that was that -- until CAIR got wind of the event.
[Graphic on Left: A promotional image of Ibrahim’s now canceled lecture at the War College that circulated on social media in recent weeks.]
FP: And so what did CAIR do?
Ibrahim: CAIR initially tried to take the “professional” route. On May 28, CAIR’s PA leadership—namely Jacob Bender, Timothy Welbeck, Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu —sent a letter to USAWC Commandant Gen. John Kem and Provost Dr. James Breckenridge urging them to revoke “the decision of the US Army War College to invite Mr. Raymond Ibrahim to deliver the prestigious 50th Annual Lecture Series of the US Army War College.”
The reason cited by CAIR to disinvite me is that “Raymond Ibrahim’s book … advance[s] a simplistic, inaccurate and often prejudicial view of the long history of Muslim-West relations which we find deeply troubling.” (A Task Force report titled, “Army War College under fire over historian’s upcoming lecture on ‘clash of civilizations’ between Islam and the West,” has the complete CAIR letter.)
Interestingly, and although my book is 352 pages, covering nearly fourteen centuries, not once did CAIR highlight a certain passage or excerpt in its letter to the USAWC to support its accusation that the book “is based on poor research.”
After media outlets began reporting on CAIR’s letter to the USAWC, the latter called and assured me that the event was still on. I also received a June 5, 2019 email from my USAWC contact saying, “We are good to go for the lecture.”
FP: Well that was promising, so what made them eventually cave in?
Ibrahim: Having seen that a formal, ostensibly rational sounding letter of “concern” would not suffice, CAIR and its allies decided that mass hysteria would have to do. On June 6, 2019, CAIR issued a number of screeds, including a Press Release and a petition addressed to the USAWC by Linda Sarsour’s Islamist group, MPower Change. The overall theme is that, if the USAWC goes ahead with my planned lecture, the “racist” military will get so riled that American soldiers will randomly begin to massacre Muslims at home and abroad. The following excerpts from the MPower petition are typical; note especially the last paragraph (bold and underlining in the original):
The U.S. Army War College invited Raymond Ibrahim—a well-known Islamophobe and disseminator of inaccurate, ahistorical, anti-Muslim rhetoric—to speak at their upcoming 50th Annual Lecture Series on June 19th.
In a time of rising white nationalism, Islamophobia, and horrific violence stemming from these ideologies, the College is endorsing and fostering anti-Muslim hate within the military by inviting Ibrahim….
Ibrahim’s rhetoric … normalizes and justifies violence against Muslims, which is already a burgeoning problem for the military….. Let’s tell the U.S. Army War College: If you don’t rescind Ibrahim’s invitation and denounce his Islamophobic rhetoric, you’re not only endorsing anti-Muslim hate, but dangerously nurturing Islamophobia and white nationalism within the military.
Just a few days ago, California Rep. Duncan Hunter—who ran an explicitly Islamophobic campaign for Congress—casually admitted that he and his unit “killed probably hundreds of civilians…probably killed women and children in Iraq.”
Tell the U.S. Army War College: Ibrahim’s lecture would push the same kind of incendiary, Islamophobic rhetoric that has led to violence inflicted on Muslim communities—both in the U.S. and abroad.
In the midst of their lies, CAIR and MPower repeatedly present me -- an Arab-American whose parents immigrated from Egypt to evade Islamic oppression -- as a “racist” associated with “white nationalism.”
Also like the original CAIR letter of May 28, the MPower petition repeatedly asserts that “his recent book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, advances an Orientalist and inaccurate view of Islam,” without once showing how; it merely claims that “His simplistic and flawed version of history -- riddled with prejudiced stereotypes of Islam -- espouses a dangerous agenda that demonizes Muslims.”
FP: That is rather telling. Considering how long your book is, couldn’t they find a single sentence to present -- by distorting it -- as “fake history”?
Ibrahim: Apparently not. Here’s the thing: although long suppressed by the Left, the history I present in Sword and Scimitar is ironclad, verifiable, and beyond well documented; with about a thousand endnotes, it is heavily based on primary -- especially Muslim -- sources, including material I translated.
It’s also important to stress that, whereas none of the CAIR activists petitioning the War College have any credentials in the discipline of history, here is what actual and highly regarded historians and scholars in the fields of Muslim-Western history say concerning the book (many more can be read here):
“Raymond Ibrahim’s Sword and Scimitar is … first-rate military history and a product of solid scholarship and philological research.”― Victor Davis Hanson, America’s leading military historian and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution
“[Sword and Scimitar is] a refreshingly honest account of Islamic expansion and Christian reaction that provides useful insights into today’s problems. This is history as it should be done: allowing the past to inform and guide the present, rather than distorting the past to fit contemporary political ideologies (emphasis added).”―Paul F. Crawford, Professor of Crusades history, California University of Pennsylvania
“Ibrahim tells his story with extensive citations of primary sources … Moreover, his method reveals the religious, political, and material motivations of the leading Christian and Muslim actors in this enduring conflict of visions that seem so very different from many modern western secular sensibilities.”―James E. Lindsay, Professor of Middle East History, Colorado State University
“An accessible and well-researched examination of extremely important but often neglected cultural phenomena and historical events that have impacted several civilizations up to the present day.”―Darío Fernández-Morera, Professor of Spanish History, Northwestern University, and author of The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise
“[An] eye-opening introduction to a millennium of warfare between the Muslim and Christian worlds before the modern age.”―Thomas Madden, Professor of Crusades history, and award-winning author of Istanbul, Venice, and Concise History of the Crusades
FP: Raymond, why do you think CAIR has created such a hysterical smear campaign over a military history book, most of which deals with events that took place hundreds of years ago? They usually go after people who discuss Islamist machinations in current events, right?
Ibrahim: This is important to narrow in on, thanks Jamie.
I actually give CAIR credit in the perspicacity department: unlike many in the West, they know how important it is to control the historical narrative between Islam and the West -- a narrative which for decades has largely been in the keeping of their allies, that is, anti-Western, pro-Islamic leftist academics. Because this pseudohistory has long presented Islam as a peaceful and progressive force throughout history—certainly in comparison to the West -- all talk concerning modern day Islamic terror and extremism has invariably revolved around questions such as “What went wrong?” and “Why do they hate us?”
These supposedly all important questions that dominated public discourse after September 11, 2001 are fundamentally rooted to history. Think of it this way: If the Islamic world was a tolerant and advanced force for centuries, as generations of Americans have been led to believe, then surely its modern day descent into radicalism and terrorism must be based on other factors—hence the nonstop claims that economics, education, politics, grievances, “lack of jobs” to quote the Obama White House, etc., are the real reason.
Such logic is admittedly sound -- but only if one subscribes to its first premise, that Islamic history is largely peaceful and tolerant.
But for those who become acquainted with Islam’s true history vis-à-vis the West as recounted in the book—a millennium-long history of virtually nonstop jihad and mindboggling atrocities that make ISIS appear tame -- there is no “what went wrong?” or “why do they hate us?” to explain, only an unwavering, continuous line of violence and enmity -- one that was always, whether in its Arab, Berber, Tatar, or Turkish manifestations, articulated as jihad -- and one that went on hiatus during the colonial era but is now back in full force.
Hence CAIR’S unprecedented attack -- one described by neutral reporters as “the first time that a speaker at a U.S. military educational institution has been subject to such a campaign.” The “unindicted co-conspirator” of Hamas-related terrorism knows that the first and long unquestioned -- but ultimately false -- premise of all Muslim apologias is historical in nature, and is doing all it can to keep it safe from attack.
FP: Makes sense, thanks Raymond. Let’s get back to the War College. How did it respond to this second round of CAIR-induced hysteria dedicated to smearing you as a “racist” and “Islamophobe"?
Ibrahim: Spineless capitulation: on June 10, the USAWC caved in to the Islamists’ demands and canceled the event. In my last phone call with the USAWC on that same day, I suggested a compromise: turn my lecture into a debate, and pit me against any academic of CAIR’s choosing. Even though I was under no obligation to make such a concession, it still wasn’t good enough for the USAWC.
Perhaps the most dishonorable aspect of this entire fiasco is that, in a vain effort to save face and pretend that the prestigious United States Army War College is not surrendering to the demands of a notorious Islamist organization—whose subversive tactics and terroristic ties are well documented (here, here, here, and here, for example) -- the USAWC’s official story is that my lecture has only been “postponed,” and not because of CAIR’s demands.
As a June 10, 2019 report notes, the USAWC’s decision to “postpone” the event “comes in the wake of strong opposition from the Muslim community to the previously scheduled appearance of author Raymond Ibrahim. The Army War College on Monday, however, suggested that the postponement had nothing to do with the outcry from the Muslim community” (emphasis added).
Reality is clear enough: for the USAWC suddenly to postpone a long-planned event only nine days before schedule -- and just a few days after CAIR’s smear campaign -- is not a “coincidence”; it is a clear message for all.
FP: Just so absolutely pathetic.
If the War College is giving in to absurd allegations and fear mongering, is there any American institution that won’t buckle?
Ibrahim: That’s exactly it, Jamie—the most disturbing aspect of this entire incident. If an ethnic Egyptian and native speaker of Arabic, with verifiable credentials, whose extended relatives continue to be persecuted because they are Christian, can be characterized by Islamist groups with terror links as a “racist” and “white nationalist”; and if, of all places, the US Army War College, as opposed to the average “liberal” college, can so easily capitulate to such patently deceptive tactics—the true motives of which are to keep the actual and troubling history between Islam and the West concealed from the military -- the hour is very late indeed.
FP: I am so sorry about this Raymond -- both for you and for every one of us who cherishes freedom and freedom of speech.
This is a very ominous and frightening development.
Is there anything else we should know about?
Ibrahim: Yes, this incident is not over. Several concerned military and congress men and media have contacted me, and I’ll be in Washington DC this week to meet with them.
If true, here’s another disturbing development: the latest information I’m getting from people who say they live in the Harrisburg region is that, after CAIR’s hysterical campaign, there was a “disturbing tension” in the air among the Muslim community of Harrisburg, a “palpable fear” which some are saying contributed to the USAWC’s decision to appease local Muslims. For the record, I cannot independently verify any of this -- have never even been to Harrisburg -- but am just relaying what some anonymous (and apparently scared) locals are conveying to me.
It is interesting to note, however, that in support of these claims, in their May 28 letter to the USAWC, CAIR leaders Jacob Bender, Timothy Welbeck, and Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, made the following assertions, which in retrospect seem to take on a more ominous meaning:
Indeed, as word of Mr. Ibrahim’s upcoming lecture has spread, we have been contacted by Muslims and interfaith allies from all over Pennsylvania, and especially from the Harrisburg area which houses over a dozen mosques, who called us to express their shock that such a prestigious institution as the US Army War College would invite, and thereby confer legitimacy on, an individual who spreads falsehoods about their faith, the faith of 1.6 billion human beings, and the fastest growing religion in the United States and the world. (emphasis added)
In light of what I’m now being told, this reads like a veiled threat.
FP: Scary times.
Raymond, thank you for giving joining us today and for giving us the full scoop. Thank you for all that you do -- and we wish you much strength in your endeavors.
Ibrahim: Thank you, Jamie, including for the opportunity to share. ______________________________________________________________ SEE ALSO:
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he was fulfilling a campaign promise on Friday when he signed into law a bill prohibiting local municipalities from adopting “sanctuary city” laws. The new law, which becomes effective next month, also requires law-enforcement officials in the state to “cooperate” with federal ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials when they present a “detainer request” on individuals being held on criminal charges in the state. The new law also provides sanctions for law-enforcement officials who don't comply.
Tweeted DeSantis:
Earlier this year I made a promise that we would ban sanctuary cities in Florida and today we are delivering on that promise.
I am proud to sign the bill … to uphold the law and ensure that our communities are safe.
Then the governor compared sanctuary cities to “gun-free zones”:
Sanctuary cities basically created law-free zones where people can come to our state illegally and our country illegally, commit criminal offenses and then just walk right out the door and continue to do it.
Upon learning about the action of DeSantis, President Trump tweeted: “Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just signed a bill banning Sanctuary Cities … & forcing all law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Federal Immigration authorities.”
Trump added: “More and more states want to do this but their governors and leaders don’t have the courage to do so. The politics will soon mandate, however, because people … are demanding that Sanctuary Cities be GONE.”
On the other hand, Thomas Kennedy, the political director at Florida Immigrant Coalition, called it “harsh” and “horrible” and is considering suing to keep the law from taking effect.
Florida joins nine other states with similar sanctuary laws, while 10 states have declared themselves to be sanctuary states.
At the moment no Florida municipality has declared itself to be a sanctuary city, but the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (in central Florida) has declined ICE requests in the past unless they had a court order or a federal criminal warrant. As State Senator Joe Gruters, a sponsor of the bill, explained: “This is not about illegal aliens.… This is about criminal illegal aliens who have broken additional laws while they’re here.”
As a result, the impact in Florida will scarcely be noticeable, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri: “It doesn’t change anything because we’ve been doing that [cooperating with ICE] for years,” he pointed out.
The debate in the Florida legislature was noisy and lengthy as both sides made their positions known. Those opposed claimed that if the bill were passed the state’s economy would be damaged, that its reputation would be tarnished, that visitor traffic would be diminished, that relations between local police and immigrant communities (one-fifth of Florida’s residents were born elsewhere) would be negatively impacted, and local law-enforcement efforts would become more difficult. The House passed the bill 68-45 and the Senate passed it 22-18.
Florida joins Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas in passing the law requiring law enforcement to cooperate with ICE officials.
At this writing no challenges to the new law have been filed. But if there are challenges, they would likely be based on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures in the absence of a probable cause warrant. Since the Fourth Amendment originally applied only to the federal government, there is little case law to guide any court. It wasn’t until Mapp v. Ohio (1961) that the Supreme Court applied the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the Fourth Amendment to the states.
As a result the issue divides the country and is far from settled.
SPOKANE, Wash. —A Baptist pastor was arrested and jailed on Saturday after refusing to move across the street from the Spokane, Washington Public Library while exercising his free speech against a “Drag Queen Story Hour.” The event had a significant militaristic police presence, including camouflaged snipers positioned atop the roof to oversee the large crowd that stood both for and against the men dressed like women reading stories to children.
Afhsin Yaghtin of New Covenant Baptist Church was arrested for obstructing an officer as he contended with police that the South Hill Library is public property and that he should be able to speak adjacent to the facility instead of being required to stand across the street.
Video footage posted to social media shows police telling Yaghtin that if he does not support the event, he needs to stand on the other side of the street, away from the library — though those defending the drag queens were permitted to be on the same side.
“So, I can stand right here,” Yaghtin states to one officer. “No, you are going to need to go across the street,” the officer replies.
Yaghtin then speaks to another officer, and is again told to stand across the street. He asserts that the library should be considered public property as the event is solely in one room.
“This is a public library. The only event that they’ve reserved is a private room,” Yaghtin argued. “The rest of the library is U.S. property. … I have the right to free speech wherever I want to speak.”
He was soon taken into custody and charged with obstructing the police, or as reports state, “trying to enter the non-designated protest area.” Yaghtin has since been released.
According to The Spokesman-Review, an estimated 40 police officers were stationed outside of the library. Those who supported the event — approximately 400 in all — stood adjacent to library property, and those opposed to the “Drag Queen Story Time” — about 200 concerned residents — were asked by police to stand on the other side of the street.
One photo posted to social media shows a man in camouflage standing atop the South Hill Library. The Charles Carroll Society also posted photos on its website of men on the roof holding binoculars. See here and here. Sgt. Terry Preuniger of the Spokane Police Department told reporters that the police had thought people were going to bring firearms to the library.
“From looking at online conversations, police expected to see people armed on both sides, which resulted in a strong police presence on Saturday, he said, but no civilians showed up openly carrying guns,” The Spokesman-Review states.
“The police presence was a little ridiculous. They had snipers on the roofs. They wouldn’t allow us into the library,” Anna Bohach of 500 Mom Strong told the outlet.
A law enforcement dispatcher supervisor through Spokane County 911 confirmed to Christian News Network that those atop the library roof were snipers “most likely” with the Spokane Police Department SWAT team as opposed to the county SWAT team.
Photo Credit: Arlene Herndon/Facebook
Other photos of the event show three drag queen supporters dressed as “angels” with sheets for wings, appearing to do so to block out the opposition. Some present held signs such as “All hail the queens,” “God is love; why do you hate” and “Oh, look a guy in a dress reading to kids” with a drawing of Jesus surrounded by children.
“If Jesus was around today, He would be on this side,” one man who brought his son and daughter to the Story Hour claimed. His son wore a dress to the event.
One drag queen, who goes by the stage name Katie Rockswell, read a book to the children entitled “A Family Is a Family Is a Family.” The short story is about children having different parental situations, as some have a mom and a dad, some have two “dads,” some live with their grandmother, and some are split between both parents.
Those who opposed the event preached in the open air, held signs or sang songs. Signs included, “Teach your kids to love their DNA. Gender fluidity is a lie,” “Read the Bible,” “Drag = misogyny” and “Only Jesus saves sinners from Hell.”
According to reports, an estimated 50 children attended the event with their parents.
“May God use this for His glory and His glory alone,” Yaghtin said of his arrest on social media following his release. “God bless all my supporters and friends and those who inspire me to stand strong for the Lord Jesus by their godly example!”
"Drag queen" perversion story hour is coming to our public libraries, including Spokane, WA, where sodomite drag queens are going to read gender-fluid propaganda to 3-8 year olds. Exposing the sexual assault, pedophilia and misogynistic agenda of "drag".
Contact the Spokane South Hill Library Directory, Ellen Peters BELOW:
Phone: (509.444.5386), Email: epeters@spokanelibrary.org
Preached by Afshin Yaghtin, New Covenant Baptist, http://newcovenantbaptist.org
Church & State: Sit-In/Protest of "Draq Queen" Story Hour, Spokane
With the promotion of virtue-signaling the goal, Yale secured its two finest practitioners in their respective fields. At the event, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto presented DICK’S Sporting Goods CEO Edward Stack with the “Maverick in Leadership Award.” According to a press release from Peduto’s office, the award was for Stack’s “work on behalf of common-sense gun safety measures.”
The choice of Peduto to present the award to Stack was inspired. In his pursuit of gun control, Peduto has breached his duty to the public by advocating for local anti-gun measures that are illegal under Pennsylvania law. It can be argued that Stack has deviated from his duty to shareholders in order to indulge his political predilections.
No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.
Moreover, the matter of local gun ordinances had already been settled by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In a 1996 case involving a local ordinance that restricted commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms, Ortiz v. Pennsylvania, the court determined,
Because the ownership of firearms is constitutionally protected, its regulation is a matter of statewide concern. The constitution does not provide that the right to bear arms shall not be questioned in any part of the commonwealth except Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where it may be abridged at will, but that it shall not be questioned in any part of the commonwealth. Thus, regulation of firearms is a matter of concern in all of Pennsylvania, not merely in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the General Assembly, not city councils, is the proper forum for the imposition of such regulation.
Despite the statute and clear precedent, in April Peduto signed legislation restricting the “use” of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms and standard capacity magazines within the city. NRA immediately filed suit against Pittsburgh to vindicate city residents’ rights.
In February 2018, Stack announced that DICK’S and its affiliated Field & Stream stores (no relation to the publication of the same name) would stop selling commonly-owned semi-automatic rifles and would no longer sell any firearms to young adults ages 18-20. Stack also made clear that DICK’S would encourage lawmakers to pass a host of gun control measures, including a ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms and standard capacity magazines, a ban on firearm sales to young adults ages 18-20, and the criminalization of private firearm transfers. The company went on to destroy its existing stock of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms and hire corporate lobbyists to push its anti-gun agenda.
While Stack’s subsequent appearances in the national media might have boosted his ego, the CEO’s gun control push didn’t boost his company’s bottom line. In August 2018, DICK’S blamed sluggish sales partly on, “negative reactions to our policies related to the sale of firearms and accessories.” In December, DICK’S noted that it may close its hunting and fishing-focused Field & Stream stores. In March, DICK’S announced that it would stop selling firearms entirely in 125 of its stores. Later that month, Bloomberg reported that “Dick’s estimates the policy change cost the company about $150 million in lost sales…”
Given the acclamation Peduto’s anarchic behavior has received in the legacy press and gun control circles, look for the lawless mayor to receive some dubious “award” for his gun control advocacy in the coming months. Hopefully Stack will be on hand to present the award and complete the promise of this mutual admiration society. With their haphazard attack-gun-rights-at-all-costs approach, Peduto and Stack deserve each other. Sadly, their constituents and shareholders don’t deserve either.
About:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
