Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Monday, March 18, 2024

2024-3-18 Will Title IX Protect Female Athletes Again?

My VIPs for this week are the fifteen female collegiate swimmers and track/volleyball athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA. They seek to force NCAA to stop allowing biological males from participating on women’s teams. The suit contends that the NCAA breached a federal law – Title IX – when they allowed biological males to compete against them in NCAA events. Valerie Hudson at The Deseret News wrote the following about Title IX and the new lawsuit. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 almost did not outlaw discrimination on the basis of sex. It was added to the other prohibited types of discrimination (race, color, religion and national origin) almost as an afterthought, and some even believe it was added in an attempt to kill the bill. Just as the 19th Amendment was the great achievement of the first wave of feminism, so this act, in addition to other legislation passed around the same time such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, was the great achievement of the second wave of feminism. During the 1960s, sex discrimination became official illegal in the United States.


Title IX was an update to the Civil Rights Act, though formally passed as part of the 1972 amendments to the Higher Education Act’s reauthorization. The Civil Rights Act had not explicitly mentioned prohibiting sex discrimination in education, and Title IX was meant to close that loophole. While Title IX does not even mention sports per se, its very name is synonymous with opening the doors to school sports participation for women, especially at the high school and collegiate level, because it mandated equal opportunities for men and women in all educational programs.

Title IX became the law after I graduated from high school. Therefore, I was not blessed with the opportunity to represent my school in any sport. However, my daughters and daughters-in-law had the opportunity to play on high school teams, and one daughter played on a college team. Now my granddaughters are being blessed by the opportunity to run on cross-country teams and to play on soccer and basketball teams.

I applaud the fifteen young women who are fighting for the right for all young women to participate in sports for their high schools and universities.

 

  

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Are You Willing to Fight for Religious Freedom?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns religious freedom. In his article in The Daily Signal, Tyler O’Neil stated that it was “the first in a three-part series on the movement for religious freedom in the U.S. legal system today,” and there will be two more installments. The issue in the first installment combines religious freedom with COVID-19. 

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, represents Americans in religious freedom cases who have been turned away from hospitals because they refuse to take a vaccine for COVID-19.


“It’s disgraceful to put anyone on medical death row simply because they’re not willing to take a very controversial experimental vaccine, which is now proven to be very counterproductive,” Dacus tells “The Daily Signal” podcast in an interview conducted in February at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention here.


Some of the Pacific Justice Institute’s clients need organ transplants, he says, but “a minority of hospitals” are denying them.


“Most say no problem, you don’t have to be vaxxed, but these few out there are saying yes, you have to, and it just so happens we discovered they have contracts with Big Pharma,” Dacus says.


The lawyer argues that “more than 99% of those in the hospital with COVID-19, with serious conditions, are people who were vaxxed. The non-vaxxed are not in the hospitals, and yet [a minority of hospitals] continue to push it.”


“We’re defending people based on their sincerely held religious beliefs and convictions, and – needless to say – we’re making great progress and saving thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of jobs for brothers and sisters in Christ across the nation,” Dacus says. “There has been a more than a 13,000% increase in the number of 12- to 19-year-olds who have myocarditis, a very serious heart inflammation disease.”

O’Neil continued his article by citing a 2022 finding in the British Medical Journal of “net harm” being done to young adults by booster shots. According to Dacus, Christians do not have to have particular doctrine or be part of certain churches. They just “have to have a sincerely held religious belief or conviction” against vaccine mandates to apply for an exemption to shots. One valid conviction is to be against vaccines that made with aborted embryos.

Davos also defended “the religious freedom of Christians who refuse to support gender ideology.” Davos also described the Southern Poverty Law Center as “far-left smear factory” because they named his law firm an “anti-LGBTQ hate group” and classed it with the Ku Klux Klan.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Will You Come Unto Christ?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to 2 Nephi 26-30 in a lesson titled “A Marvelous Work and a Wonder.” The lesson was introduced by the following information. 

“I prophesy unto you concerning the last days,” Nephi wrote (2 Nephi 26:14). In other words, he was writing about our day. And there’s reason to be concerned about what he saw: people denying the power and miracles of God; widespread jealousy and conflict. But in addition to these latter-day “works of darkness” (2 Nephi 26:10, 22) led by the adversary, Nephi also spoke of “a marvelous work and a wonder” led by God Himself (2 Nephi 27:26). Central to that work would be a book – a book that exposes Satan’s lies and gathers the righteous. That book is the Book of Mormon, the marvelous work is the work of the Lord’s Church in the latter days, and the wonder is – at least in part – that God invites all of us, despite our weaknesses, to participate in the gathering.

The gospel principle for discussion in this post is “Jesus Christ invites us all to come unto Him             (2 Nephi 26:23-33). We will first look at the applicable scripture block.

23 For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness.


24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.


25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.


26 Behold, hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.


27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.


28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.


29 He commandeth that there shall be no priestcraft; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion.


30 Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish.


31 But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish.


32 And again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal; that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice; that they should not contend one with another; that they should not commit whoredoms; and that they should do none of these things; for whoso doeth them shall perish.


33 For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. [Emphasis added.]

All are invited to come unto Jesus Christ, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends out tens of thousands of missionaries every single year to find those who desire to know more about Jesus Christ. Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught the following about belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ. 

The final and most important element of the doctrine of belonging is the central role of Jesus Christ. We don’t join the Church for fellowship alone, important as that is. We join for redemption through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. We join to secure the ordinances of salvation and exaltation for ourselves and those we love on both sides of the veil. We join to participate in a great project to establish Zion in preparation for the Lord’s return.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Why Is Honesty the Best Policy?

Families, communities, states, and nations are stronger when all family members understand that honesty is the best policy. Children should be taught that honesty is the best policy because the truth will come out in time.

Prince William and Princess Catherine are in trouble in Great Britain because they doctored some family photographs. Even U.S. Presidents are called out for lying. Now we learn that the J6 Democrat-led committee withheld key evidence to push their political agenda. They most likely did not think that the video evidence from the incident on January 6, 2021, would ever be made public. Now the public can see what really happened in the Capitol that day, and new evidence is coming out. Marshall Cohen, Melanie Zanona, and Holmes Lybrand at CNN reported the following. 

The January 6 committee withheld witness transcripts from the public that undercut some of their most explosive claims about the insurrection, House Republicans alleged in a report released Monday.


Some of the withheld transcripts include testimony from the driver of Trump’s SUV on January 6 and Trump White House officials, who poured cold water on the claim that, while driving home after his rally that day, he physically lunged toward the front of the car to try to force his security detail to take him to the Capitol.


“The testimony of these four White House employees directly contradicts claims made by Cassidy Hutchinson and by the Select Committee in the Final Report,” the new GOP report said, referring to the Trump White House aide-turned-whistleblower. “None of the White House employees corroborated Hutchinson’s sensational story about President Trump lunging for the steering wheel of the Beast.”

Like County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia, Cassidy Hutchinson is learning that the truth cannot be permanently hidden. Jesus Christ taught that truth is required for freedom. “If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

Truth continues to come out of the dark shadows of the Deep State, consisting of one or more secret combinations attempting to destroy the U.S. Constitution and turn America into a socialist nation. If the whole truth comes out, we may yet save America.

Meanwhile, parents should be teaching their children that truth will prevail. Dishonesty of any kind cannot remain hidden. To be truly happy, we should be honest with ourselves and each other. True honesty will strengthen families, communities, states, and nations.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Will This Lawsuit Bring Back Title IX Protections?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns biological males playing on female sports teams. Female athletes are fighting back to an evil plan to put biological males and their sports teams. Brandon Poulter reported on the battle in The Daily Signal

A group of female athletes sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association on Thursday over the organization allowing “transgender” athletes to compete against them and use locker rooms for women.


The lawsuit, filed by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) on behalf of more than a dozen female athletes, alleges that the NCAA violated Title IX, a federal statute that guarantees equal opportunity for men and women in college sports. It seeks to prohibit biological males from competing against female athletes and demands the NCAA revoke awards given to “transgender” athletes who competed against women in tournaments governed by the organization.


“We’re not just fighting for ourselves; we’re fighting for every young girl who dreams of competing in sports,” Riley Gaines, a conservative female activist and former NCA athlete, said in an ICONS news release announcing the lawsuit.


“I’m thankful for ICONS’ commitment to our cause, especially their financial commitment, allowing us to take this to court. I urge anyone who cares about protecting women’s sports to help get behind us,” Gaines said.


The lawsuit highlights an event hosted by the NCAA and Georgia Tech University with Lia Thomas, the “transgender” person who competed in the 2022 NCAA swimming championships. It also states that the decision to let Thomas compete against women is based on an “illegal premise” that “testosterone suppression and personal choice alone can make a male eligible to compete on a women’s sports team.”


The lawsuit also says the NCAA’s rules allow “men to compete on women’s teams with a testosterone level that is five times higher than the highest recorded testosterone level for elite female athletes.”

There is a rumor going around that the NCAA stripped Lia Thomas of her titles and gave them to Riley Gaines. This site claims that the rumor was started by a “satire” article. However, Poulter’s article stated, “The international governing organizations for cricket, track and field, and swimming barred biological males from competing in women’s events in 2023.” Therefore, there is hope that sports officials in the United States could realize that their “woke” decisions are not fair. Maybe the lawsuit by the female athletes will start the waking up. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

What Is Happening in Trump’s Case in Georgia?

Judge Scott McAfee is currently overseeing the racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants in Georgia. Today, the judge dismissed six counts of indictment. According to Katelynn Richardson at The Daily Signal, the judge gave the following reasons for the dismissal. The six counts did not “give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitution and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.” 

“The Court’s concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance,” he wrote. “However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal. As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited.”


“Under the standards articulated by our appellate courts, the special demurrer must be granted, and Counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28, and 38 squashed,” he wrote.


McAfee noted in a footnote that his order does not “mean the entire indictment is dismissed.”


“The State may also seek an indictment supplementing these six counts,” he wrote. He also denied defendants’ efforts to dismiss certain overt acts contained in the indictment.


“The Court made the correct legal decision to grant the special demurrers and squash important counts of the indictment brought by DA Fani Willis,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Judge McAfee is expected to soon decide the fate of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Will she be disqualified from the case over an alleged conflict of interest?

Trump co-defendant Michael Roman accused Willis in a Jan. 8 motion of financially benefiting from appointing her lover Nathan Wade to work as special prosecutor on the case.


Willis and Wade have denied the relationship began before he was hired, though a close friend of Willis testified it began in 2019 and Wade’s former law partner supplied details about their relationship starting earlier to the attorney who filed the motion.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

What Did Hur Tell the House Judiciary Committee?

The written report of Special Counsel Robert Hur about his investigation of President Joe Biden was released recently. Today, Hur testified for six hours about his report of Biden’s mishandling of classified documents from his eight years as vice president and 36 years in the Senate.” After his vice presidency ended in early 2009. However, Hur declined to bring charges because he doubted a jury would convict Biden because of his “diminished faculties in advancing age,” including a failing memory.

As usual, Democrats and Republicans differed in their reaction to the testimony. Democrats were angry that Biden’s memory issues are in the report. Republicans were annoyed that the report does not recommend criminally charging Biden for mishandling classified information. This fact did not sit well with Republicans because of the way that former President Donald Trump was charged with keeping classified documents after he left the White House. Fred Lucas at The Daily Signal has “eight big takeaways from the hearing.” 

1. President ‘Put Memory Squarely at Issue.’

Hur said he didn’t “sanitize” his report on Biden nor did he “disparage” the president, as he fended off repeated assertions from committee Democrats that he was partisan, a registered Republican, and Trump’s appointee as U.S. attorney for Maryland.


“The evidence – and the president himself – put his memory squarely at issue. We interviewed the president and asked him about his recorded statement [to his ghostwriter], ‘I just found all the classified stuff downstairs,’” Hur testified. “He told us he didn’t remember that. He also said he didn’t remember finding classified material in his home after his vice presidency. And he didn’t remember how any classified materials about Afghanistan made their way into his garage.” …


2. ‘8 Million Reasons’

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, talked about Biden’s five decades in federal elective office and how he should know the rules and law on classified information.


“Why did Joe Biden, in your words, ‘willfully retain and disclose classified materials?’” Jordan asked the special counsel.


Hur replied: “The conclusion as to exactly why the president did what he did is not one we explicitly addressed in the report.”


Jordan disagreed, saying, “I think you told us, Mr. Hur,” then read from Hur’s report.


“President Biden had strong motivations to ignore the proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his new book,” Jordan read out loud.


“Why did he have strong motivations? Because he decided months before leaving office to write a book,” the Ohio Republican said. “Joe Biden had 8 million reasons to break the rules. Took classified information and shared it with the guy who was writing the book. He knew the rules but he broke them for $8 million in a book advance.” …


3. Report ‘Did Not Exonerate’ Biden

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked Hur about Biden: “In this case, did you reach a conclusion that this man was outright innocent?”


“That conclusion is not reflected in my report,” Hur replied.


In a follow-up question, Issa asked: “You did not reach an idea that he committed no wrong. You reached a conclusion that you would not prevail at a trial, and therefore did not take it forward. Is that correct?”


Hur responded: “Correct, Congressman.”


Hur made a similar point later when Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said that “this lengthy, expensive, and independent investigation resulted in a complete exoneration of Joe Biden.”


Jayapal went on to talk about other issues.


Hur said, “I would take note of a word that you used, ‘exoneration.’ That’s not part of my task as a prosecutor.”


During crosstalk, Jayapal said, “You exonerated him.”


Hur replied: “I did not exonerate him.”


Several other Democrats insisted that Hur’s report exonerated the president.


During another exchange, Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., asked, “So a reasonable juror could have voted to convict based on the facts that you presented?”


Hur responded, “Correct.”


4. Gaetz: Biden’s ‘Elevator Doesn’t Go to Top Floor.’

Several Republicans on the committee asked whether, had Biden been younger, the special counsel would have reached a different conclusion about criminal charges. Hur declined to speculate.


Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., more bluntly, said Biden got off on a senility defense. “You find in your report that the elements of a federal criminal violation are met, but then you apply this ‘senile cooperator’ theory that because Joe Biden cooperated and the elevator doesn’t go to the top floor, you don’t think you can get a conviction,” Gaetz told Hur. “I actually think you got to the right answer. I don’t think Biden should have been charged. I don’t think Trump should have been charged.”


Hur disagreed on one point.


“One of the elements of the mishandling statute is the intent element,” the special counsel said. “What my report reflects is that, based on the evidence, I would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that intent element.”


5. White House Pressure to Change Report

Under questioning, Hur said the White House sought to change and edit his final report on the president before it went public.


“Did the White House get the report before the report was made public?” Jordan asked.

Hur cautiously responded.


“We did provide a draft of the report to the White House counsel’s office and members of the president’s personal counsel team for their review,” Hur said.


Jordan followed by asking: “Once they got the report, before it went public, did the White House try to weigh in with your investigation on elements of that report and, frankly, get that report changed?”


Hur responded: “They did request certain edits and changes to the draft report.” …

 

6. ‘Any Reason to Believe That President Biden Lied to You?”

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, noted that Trump has been charged with trying to obstruct the FBI’s investigation into classified documents stored at his Florida estate.


“At any point in your investigation, do you have any reason to believe that President Biden lied to you?” Nadler asked, then seemed to be surprised by the answer he got from Hur….


“I do address in my report one response the president gave to a question we posed to him that we deemed to be not credible,” Hur said….


Later in the hearing, Gaetz, the Florida Republican, asked more about the matter, reading aloud from the transcript in which a federal prosecutor questions Biden.


“Mr. President, why did you share classified information with your ghostwriter?” the lawyer on the special counsel’s team asks.


The president answers: “I did not share classified information…. I guarantee I did not.”


“That’s not true, is it, Mr. Hur?” Gaetz asked.


“That is inconsistent with the evidence of the findings in my report,” Hur responded.


Gaetz followed by asking: “It’s a lie is what regular people would say, right?”


Hur smiled, but didn’t answer directly.


Gaetz read again from the transcript, quoting Biden as saying: “All the stuff that was in my home was in filing cabinets that were locked or able to be locked.”


“That wasn’t true either, was it?” Gaetz said.


Hur replied: “That was inconsistent with the findings of our investigation.”


“Another lie, people might say,” Gaetz said.


7. Schiff vs. Hur

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who was removed from the House Intelligence Committee for making unfounded statements about Russia, attacked Hur for including information in his report about Biden’s memory.


Schiff accused Hur of being partisan and said he would be “naïve” to think Republicans wouldn’t use the report against Biden in the 2024 presidential campaign.


“What you did write was deeply prejudicial to the interests of the president,” Schiff said.

“You must have understood the impact of your words.” …


Hur said he wasn’t going to make political considerations.


“What you are suggesting is that I shape, sanitize, omit portions of my reasoning and explanation to the attorney general for political reasons,” Hur said.


8. Raskin vs. Spartz

During the hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said this matter and House investigations of Biden are only about getting Trump reelected, which Raskin suggested would end democracy.


“This is a memory test, but it’s not a memory test for President Biden. It’s a memory test for all of America,” Raskin … said….


Later in the hearing, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., who grew up in Ukraine when it was under Soviet control, took exception to Raskin’s trivializing comments on communism.


“Mr. Raskin mentioned about us not remembering communism – I actually grew up under communism, and I have a very good recollection of what it is,” Spartz said.


“Unfortunately, it appears on the march and on the rise, as you said,” she noted.


“Unfortunately, they’ve been involved with President [Barack] Obama and now President Biden too. Unfortunately, our government’s Department of Justice really now resembles a tyrannical government. It is aid for me to see that.”