Watchmen Ministry North Idaho

(FRC) Democrats seem to have found a use for Congress again. After years of relying on the courts to do their dirty work, the far-Left has had to find other solutions after Donald Trump spent the last four years balancing U.S. benches. Now, suddenly, more liberals have seemed to awaken to the fact that there’s a legislative branch too, and they’re spilling all of their ink urging fellow abortion activists to use it. “The Supreme Court may toss Roe,” the Washington Post tries to comfort its Leftist readers. “But Congress can still preserve abortion…”

It’s an ironic twist from the last several decades when the Democratic Party turned to activist judges to change the governing policies of the nation they couldn’t rewrite democratically. Now, of course, they face an even steeper climb in 2021 — as the nation continues to become more and more pro-life.  (Read More)

(The Federalist) As several states move to ban toxic critical race theory from indoctrinating students, the state of Washington is leaning in.

The race-obsessed framework isn’t relegated to schools in Seattle, where you’d expect a victim-centered ideology like critical race theory to flourish. Thanks to the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature, a trio of bills just signed into law mandates critical race theory training for all public school teachers. Another even requires training for medical students, teaching them it’s as essential to be social justice activists as it is to treat patients.

While the critical race theory mandates go into effect in the 2022-2023 school year, many districts are already jumping on board.  (Read More)

(WND) The Burger King fast-food chain is being called out for an apparent anti-Christian bigotry over its newest promotion that promises to subsidize the LGBTQ agenda.

Steve Cortes, former President Trump’s campaign staffer, posted on social media: “First, Burger King food is terrible. Second, we should welcome the acceleration of the Great Sorting. This corporation makes it clear it mocks Christians (and other religious people) and doesn’t want our business. So be it.”

The reaction came after the company launched a promotion of a new product, a chicken sandwich, by promising to give 40 cents from each sandwich sold to the Human Rights Campaign, a massive homosexual and transgender rights campaigner.  (Read More)

(Liberty Justice Center) A group of Virginia parents filed a federal lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board, citing allegations that it violated students’ free speech rights.

The suit, represented by the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center, targets the school board’s “bias reporting” system that encourages students to report on people’s perceived biases anonymously. Defendants also argued against having only students of color and those who “expressly attest” to being allies of historically oppressed groups be eligible to participate in the schools’ Equity Ambassadors Program.

“Our kids have the right to develop their own opinions, free from indoctrination and school-sanctioned bullying. Instead of opening young minds, Loudoun County school leaders are policing them. This is not education; it is coercion,” Scott Mineo, parent of a Loudoun County high school student and founder of Parents Against Critical Theory, said.  (Read More)

(Standing For Freedom Center) Päivi Räsänen, a member of Finland’s Parliament and a former Finnish minister of the interior, is facing three charges of hate speech for stating her views on homosexuality, which she explained in part by quoting from the book of Romans.

Räsänen, who is also a medical doctor and a grandmother, is accused of “hate speech” for disagreeing with the state’s view of LGBT issues.

“I cannot accept that voicing my religious beliefs could mean imprisonment. I do not consider myself guilty of threatening, slandering, or insulting anyone. My statements were all based on the Bible’s teachings on marriage and sexuality,” she said.

“I will defend my right to confess my faith, so that no one else would be deprived of their right to freedom of religion and speech. I hold on to the view that my expressions are legal and they should not be censored. I will not back down from my views. I will not be intimidated into hiding my faith. The more Christians keep silent on controversial themes, the narrower the space for freedom of speech gets.”  (Read More)

(FRC) While the rest of America is racing to stop the transgender agenda, the Biden administration is on another planet — one where the end of males and females is the only thing that matters. On one hand, the chair he appointed to lead the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is praising the Supreme Court’s Bostock decision for trying to redefine the word “sex” — and on the other, his Department of Education is going around the backs of the American people to force schools to eliminate girls’ sports. Talk about selective hearing!

But then, five months into the Biden administration, most observers would agree that this president doesn’t care what Americans think — or what the law says. This White House is on a mission to abolish gender norms, and they’ll stop at nothing to make it happen.  (Read More)

(LifeNews) After 11 Supreme Court rulings on church closures, most government officials have realized (or been forced to realize) that their dictatorial powers to shut down churches are limited by the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights. But that acknowledgement has not settled upon Santa Clara County in California. Most churches remain shuttered in the San Jose area, because if they dare to meet in person, like Pastor Mike McClure’s Calvary Chapel San Jose has been doing since last May, they will face significant fines.

Even though California’s “recalled” governor, Gavin Newsom (D) has been forced to rescind his First Amendment violations, and has even been ordered to pay millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees, the county government of Santa Clara continues its unlawful action. So why does Santa Clara keep up its open hostility toward the churches? Could it be linked to the fact that it is located in Silicon Valley and home to most of the Big Tech companies which control the local government?  (Read More)

(Post Millennial) Children as young as 11 are being made to recite the widely divisive, race essentialist ideology Critical Race Theory by their school teachers.

(The Federalist) America has been fighting a war on drugs for decades now, and for almost as long we’ve been told by the left and many libertarians on the right that the best way to end the war is to surrender. Legalizing drugs, they say, would solve a bunch of our country’s problems, including high rates of imprisonment, fatherlessness, crime, cartel activity, excess overdose deaths, budget deficits. The list goes on.

Over the past few years, a strange alliance has formed to push the legalization agenda. It includes committed left-wingers eager to better society by freeing all its criminals, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Democratic Machiavellis looking to rev up the youth vote, like foreign billionaire George Soros, and big tobacco lobbyists looking to take advantage of all their arable land and industrial rolling machines, like former Speaker of the House John Boehner.

This alliance’s biggest focus has been marijuana, but it’s not the only target.  (Read More)

(FRC) There are lots of parents today who wouldn’t think twice about sitting their kids down in front of the Disney Channel or Cartoon Network. And that, conservatives warn, is exactly the problem. Like so many other moms and dads, they’re expecting the same kind of harmless storylines they watched in the 70s and 80s. What their children are seeing is anything but.

Say goodbye to the regular plot lines of Blue’s Clues and Scooby-Doo — and hello to a 21^st century lesson in transgenderism, sex, homosexuality, non-binaries, and drag queens. That’s the new reality of radical programming on some of America’s favorite shows — especially, parents are discovering, during Pride month. Loveable animals like Arthur and My Little Pony have been commandeered by the far-Left for lessons that would make most adult’s jaws drop.  (Read More)

(Townhall) There’s a vicious pandemic that no vaccine will cure, and it’s called Critical Race Theory (CRT.) This is “wokeness” and it is invading school districts and classrooms nationwide, infecting the minds of America’s progeny from preschool through college. It’s a relentless illness, spreading racial division and distrust with a deterministic dogma that defines all whites as programmed to be oppressors and all minorities as doomed victims of that white oppression.

This is the story of what happened when this pandemic suddenly struck the Douglas County, Colorado, School District, which serves 63,000 students. Only 1 percent of those students are black, and black residents only make up 1.1 percent of the county population (with Hispanics at about 7 percent according to the 2010 census , the most recent available.) So Douglas County is simply not as diverse and “inclusive” as many woke left-leaners would like it to be. Still, somehow the county always rates at the top of those nationwide “great places to live” surveys.  (Read More)

(The Federalist) Too few people these days seem able to imagine what life would be like without freedom of expression. To put it plainly, without the First Amendment we’d have no recognized right to a private life or personal relationships. Period. Are you okay with that?

Below I’ll try to explain the connection. But first, we need to understand that the war on free speech started decades ago in America. Prince Harry’s recent comments calling the First Amendment “bonkers” is merely the latest in a long line of public beatings. Such talk should mystify any freedom-loving person, American or not. Yet the ground has rapidly softened for it.

The slogan “free speech is hate speech” has gained a lot of traction on college campuses since the 1990s. People are easily canceled today for any misplaced word. More than five years ago now, nearly 40 percent of young adults polled by Pew Research said they considered free speech dangerous. They don’t have a clue how dangerous this road is.  (Read More)

(Standing For Freedom Center) The use of CRT has become extremely controversial across the nation for its emphasis on determining someone’s character and virtue based on their race and skin color, rather than the individual’s choices and actions. As schools have incorporated it into their curriculum and parents become aware of what’s being taught and the impact on their children, there has been a growing pushback.

In response, Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen asked the state’s Attorney General Austin Knudsen to weigh in on the debate.

In a 25-page Attorney General’s Opinion (AGO), Knudsen determined that the use of CRT materials violates both state and federal anti-discrimination law, including the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Article II, Section 4 of the Montana Constitution; and the Montana Human Rights Act.  (Read More)

(LifeNews) A life-affirming commercial that shows the humanity of unborn babies will not air on three major TV channels after their corporations deemed the ad too “controversial.”

The Daily Wire reports CBS, the Hallmark channel and CMT (Country Music Television) all refused to run the ad this spring.

The 30-second spot from the Susan B. Anthony List shows ultrasound images of unborn babies as the narrator talks about recent scientific advances that demonstrate how unique and valuable they are.

“Science tells us that at 15 weeks these babies have fully formed faces. They smile. They yawn. They feel pain,” the ad states. “Isn’t it time the law reflects the science?”

Though the ad does not mention the U.S. Supreme Court specifically, it addresses an upcoming case about a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.  (Read More)

(FRC) Woke corporations are learning the hard way that their social activism has a price. Monday, Major League Baseball was slapped with a $1.1 billion lawsuit for pulling the 2021 all-star game out of Atlanta, Georgia. The Job Creators Network (JCN), an organization that advocates for small businesses, filed the lawsuit — arguing that the MLB’s decision cost Georgia businesses $100 million in lost revenue and is seeking $1 billion in punitive damages.

Earlier this spring, the MLB announced it would pull the event out of Georgia after the Georgia legislature enacted a new law that would make voting easier and safer. The MLB’s decision was based on the media’s false narrative that the law’s provisions, like replacing signature verification with a photo ID requirement, would make it harder to vote. But, as JCN President Alfredo Ortiz pointed out, “Major League Baseball itself requests ID at will call ticket windows at Yankee Stadium in New York, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and at ballparks all across the country.” The MLB embodies the typically elite attitude in America: rules for thee, but not for me.  (Read More)

(Idaho Freedom Foundation) It should be obvious that Boise State University’s “independent” investigation into problems with the school’s mandatory racism and intolerance class known as University Foundations 200 was just a public relations ploy.

Launching the investigation got lawmakers temporarily off BSU’s back while the school’s budget was under review. Releasing a summary of the investigation’s findings last week was just clever enough for an inept state press corps to conclude that BSU is doing nothing relative to critical race theory and social justice indoctrination. In that regard, it was more than BSU President Marlene Tromp and her team could have hoped for.

Idahoans should remember that it was BSU that hired the Hawley Troxell law firm, which makes the school the firm’s client. There is, therefore, nothing independent about the firm’s review or its conclusions. No law firm is hired to conduct a review that would draw scrutiny for its client.  (Read More)

(FRC) Kellogg’s hasn’t been sugar-coating its agenda for years. But its latest venture — a “create-your-own-pronoun” cereal for kids — is bowling over parents. “Boxes are for cereal, not people,” the company insists about its new Together with Pride rainbow edition that donates $3 from every box to an extreme LGBT group, GLAAD, who’s out to recruit and confuse your children. Of course, anyone who’s been online or walked the aisles of a grocery store knows that some companies will do anything to pander to the radical Left. But this June, these brands are on a collision course with a group of fired-up American shoppers who might just eat them for breakfast.

Everyone from Coca-Cola to Major League Baseball could have told Kellogg’s it was a bad idea. After speaking out against Georgia’s election reforms, the fixture in American soda has taken a major hit — not just in profits, but in PR. Thirty-seven percent of Americans (myself included) say they’re less likely to buy Coke products now, leading several CEOs to wonder: go woke, go broke?  (Read More)

(Christian News Journal) Local school board policies that affect our young children increasingly bear watching.

Why? Because school boards, made up of locally elected individuals, have powerful jurisdiction over curricula, hiring, expenditures, and much more.

And today, as more and more school districts adopt the highly controversial “Critical Race Theory” (CRT) curricula, more and more parents across the country are standing up to what they see as rampant indoctrination of their children—not education.

It’s not just parents who are standing up to this, by the way. Last week, Chris Carr, Georgia’s attorney general, said he was joining a group of 20 other attorneys general in urging the Biden administration to reconsider proposals that would impose the teaching of CRT and the 1619 Project in classrooms across the country. U.S. Department of Education officials have woven such goals “into a proposed rule” that establishes “priorities for grants in American history and civics education programs,” according to a press release Carr put out on May 19.  (Read More)

(Creators) If you’ve seen videos of recent attacks on Jews in New York City, Los Angeles, London and elsewhere, you may have missed a very revealing aspect of those attacks. They were almost always — as they have been for decades — accompanied by curses…

Now, given that the perpetrators are almost always Muslims — whether immigrants or children of immigrants from an Arab or other Muslim country — two questions present themselves:

Why attack American or French or British Jews? And why curse “the Jews”? In other words, given that the recent wars have been between Hamas and Israel, why aren’t these attacks outside of Israel on Israelis and Israeli institutions? And why level curses at “the Jews”?

The answer is this: The Muslims who seek Israel’s destruction do so because Israel is Jewish, not because Israel occupies the West Bank or Gaza.  (Read More)

(Standing For Freedom Center)“Let’s talk about politics…”

For many, that phrase garners groans, eye-rolls, and sparks of intense anger. Political discussions easily and often devolve into name-calling or fiery debates in which each side is seemingly competing for whose ego is stronger than granite. It’s been said that “politics is a nasty, dirty game.” But does it have to be?

Although that may be the design of the world, that is not the practice we as believers should follow. We are called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ —  regardless of our differences and disagreements.

As followers of Christ, we are called to live by the Matthew 5 exhortation to be “salt and light to the world.” If believers sit on the sidelines and refuse to get involved in the political process, then who will lead?  (Read More)

(Faith & Freedom) A federal judge ruled Wednesday that students of the opposite biological sex must be allowed to share shower spaces and dorms at a Christian college in Missouri.

LGBTQ+ activists have been celebrating Biden’s election as a “big win”—“of great significance.”

Pressure is mounting against the most basic, historical understanding of humans being identified as “male” or “female.” And against every institution that teaches that universal Truth.

Whether it’s a small Christian college in Missouri or Baylor University, Biden and his activist allies have placed a target on them, and the biblical beliefs they hold.

Be informed, not misled.  (Read More)

(Madison Liberty) Last week was the end of the 122-day 2021 legislative session, the longest in Idaho history. The session, which has been full of strong arguments, legislative proposals to advance liberty, and many to tear it down, ended with more of the same last Wednesday. Usually, at the end of the legislative session, the House and Senate both “Sine Die,” a Latin term that means to adjourn or conclude indefinitely. However, with the potential for Idaho to receive more federal American Rescue Plan Act funds (“COVID-19 relief”) during the remainder of 2021, the Idaho House of Representatives felt that they needed an alternative to the usual Sine Die process to be prepared to fulfill their role as the body constitutionally responsible for appropriations. With that in mind, the House sought to recess until a future time this year when they may need to return to address important issues.  (Read More)

(Standing For Freedom Center) Perhaps no people group on the planet has experienced the persecution and oppression that the Jewish people have faced for thousands of years. In virtually every time period and in places across the globe, anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head, leading to atrocities like the Holocaust. Today, it is a tiny nation that has found itself the target of a cabal of Middle Eastern countries and terrorist groups. In the times of American slavery, many African Americans felt a kinship with the ancient Israelites, who had also experienced slavery and oppression.

Yet in the worldview of cultural Marxism and intersectionality, Jews and the nation of Israel aren’t oppressed but are labeled as oppressors and “colonizers.” This mindset is seen in BLM’s most recent statement of support for Palestinian liberation. On Monday, the organization tweeted, “Black Lives Matter stands in solidarity with Palestinians. We are a movement committed to ending settler colonialism in all forms and will continue to advocate for Palestinian liberation. (always have. And always will be).”  (Read More)

(LifeNews) Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost led 21 Republican attorneys general last week in threatening to sue the Biden administration if it forces American taxpayers to fund the abortion industry through the Title X program.

In a letter dated May 17, the attorneys general outlined their opposition to President Joe Biden’s proposed changes to the Title X family planning program, the Washington Free Beacon reports. The letter was addressed to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, a pro-abortion radical who recently lied about the ban on partial-birth abortions.

“Title X reflects a compromise. It funds services that large numbers of Americans support while withholding that funding from services that large numbers oppose,” the attorneys general wrote. “The Proposed Rule tramples that compromise, by intertwining family-planning services with the divisive issue of publicly funded abortions.”  (Read More)

(FRC) There may not be rockets flying over Gaza, but there are certainly verbal grenades being lobbed on Capitol Hill. While the Middle East embraces a fragile peace, the ceasefire in Israel hasn’t managed to stop the internal war here at home. For the first time in generations, a major political party is openly challenging our alliance with Israel. And the fallout, as our allies know, could be deadly.

Joe Biden’s muddled messages on the two-week barrage were unfortunate — but they were nothing compared to the anti-Semitic rants of his party’s radical wing. In Twitter tirades and floor speeches, the “jihad squad” (as they’re appropriately being called), took their hatred of the Jewish nation to new levels — calling Israel “terrorists,” “racists,” and “extremists.”  (Read More)