What Is Cohen’s Truth?

Former President Donald Trump is in the fifth week of a criminal court case in a Manhattan District Court. One of the “star” witnesses is Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen.

This week a House committee heard the testimony of former federal prosecutor Robert Costello, who testified that “disgraced lawyer Michael Cohen … told him he had ‘nothing truthful’ implicating Trump in a crime.” Katelynn Richardson reported on the opposite testimonies, one in Alvin Bragg’s court case and congressional hearing. 

Costello, who advised Cohen when he became the subject of an investigation by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, told the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that Cohen is now on a “revenge tour” against Trump and lacks credibility. His testimony challenges claims Cohen made on the witness stand during Trump’s Manhattan trial.

Cohen testified Monday that Trump both directed him to pay for a nondisclosure agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels and approved of the plan to reimburse him for the payment, which underlies the charges of falsifying business records at the center of Bragg’s case.

Cohen testified that Costello told him he could set up “back-channel” communications with Trump thorough his friend, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and the jury saw emails the two exchanged in which Costello suggested he could relay messages to Trump.

Cohen claimed that he never told Costello “the truth” about Trump’s involvement in the Daniels payment because he did not believe Costello could be trusted.

However, Costello told the House subcommittee Wednesday that he advised Cohen in 2018 that he could “get him out of his legal troubles by the end of the week” if the former Trump lawyer had truthful information implicating Trump. But, Costello testified, Cohen told him he didn’t have anything.

“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Costello said Cohen repeatedly told him.

“Throughout this two-hour interview, Michael Cohen made clear that this payment to Daniels was his own idea, designed to try and get him back into the inner circle of Trump people in Washington,” Costello testified.

“Now, after going to jail, Michael Cohen is on a revenge tour because he blames Donald Trump for the loss of his law license and the fact that he did go to jail,” Costello said. “The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York saw this and acted properly. The Manhattan district attorney took a different route to become famous and to ‘get’ Trump.”

Costello not only explained that Cohen contradicted his own statements, but he spoke also about the “lawfare” being waged against Trump.

Understand that to destroy a political rival, you need not convict that person of a crime, all you must do is leak the fact that the individual is being investigated for a particular crime, thereby destroying his or her reputation and causing that individual to incur legal fees to defend themselves. The net result is, if you can destroy their reputation and bankrupt them with legal fees, you have effectively eliminated or cancelled your opposition without ever convicting them of a crime or getting civil judgment against them.

Why Has the DOJ Gone Wild?

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) is shouting “two tier justice” and “unequal justice” as he tries to increase awareness of the differences between the treatment of pro-life activists and the crimes committed by Left-supporting activists. According to Mary Margaret Olohan, Lee said the following in a statement to The Daily Signal this afternoon. 

“The Biden administration is using the FACE Act to give pro-life activists and senior citizens lengthy prison terms for non-violent offenses and protests – all while turning a blind eye to the violence, arson, and riots conducted on behalf of ‘approved’ leftist causes,” Lee told The Daily Signal in a Tuesday statement.

The senator added: “Unequal enforcement of the law is a violation of the law, and man and women who try to expose the horrors of abortion are being unjustly persecuted for their motivations.”

Lee made his statement after he learned that Lauren Handy has been sentenced to almost five years in prison for trying to save the lives of unborn babies at an abortion clinic. Olohan stated that Handy “is the first person sentenced for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law.” This law is supposed to protect “both abortion clinics and pregnancy resource centers,” but Biden’s DOJ tends to “heavily” enforce the law against pro-lifers. Olohan included the following in her report.

The president’s critics have accused Biden and the DOJ of weaponizing the FACE Act against pro-lifers while failing to charge pro-abortion criminals for the hundreds of attacks on pregnancy resource centers since the May 2022 leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion indicating Roe would soon be overturned.

Some, among them Lee and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, have called for the repeal of the FACE Act.

“Today’s outrageous 57-month sentence for a progressive pro-life activist is a start reminder: Biden’s DOJ is fully weaponized against pro-life American citizens, and they are using the FACE Act to do it,” said Roy in a statement following Handy’s sentence. “House Republicans should defund the DOJ weaponization, repeal the FACE Act, and stand up for the freedoms that we campaign on.”

Handy’s attorneys at the Thomas More Society indicated that they will “proceed with an appeal seeking to overturn her conviction and challenge the constitutionality of the FACE Act.”

Who Is Brian Kemp?

 My VIPs for this week is Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and the legislators in Georgia. The legislators wrote and passed a voting reform bill and sent it to Governor Kemp for signature. According to Cortney Weil, the new law, SB 189, “would require all absentee ballots to be tabulated and the results reported on Election Night.” Imagine the audacity of all involved to expect voting results on election night! Weil explained as follows:

On Monday, Kemp signed SB 189, which makes several significant changes to Georgia’s election procedures. The bill removed some possible conflicts of interest between the secretary of state, the state Board of Elections, and those involved with counting ballots; compels homeless residents to list their county register’s office s their mailing address; prevents voters from using a P.O. box or private mailbox service s proof of residency; and requires individuals who have voted or registered to vote in another state or district to re-register in their original district before they will be allowed to cast a ballot there, WSBTV.com reported.

All absentee ballots that have been verified and accepted … by the Monday prior to the day of the primary, election, or runoff shall be tabulated and the results reported by no later than 8:00 P.M. on the day of such primary, election, or runoff or within one hour of the closing of all polls in such county, whichever occurs later.

This new rule is so noteworthy that Jeremiah Poff of the Washington Examiner claimed that it “will do wonders for election integrity in the Peach State” and that “every state should pass” a measure like it. “Public confidence in elections is paramount to keeping civil order and facilitating transfers of power from one party to another. Counting votes in a timely and accurate manner is essential to keeping that confidence,” Poff wrote….

Some of the bill’s changes will not be implemented for months or even years to come, but most of them – including the new rules regarding absentee ballots – go into effect in July.

As in most of the actions performed by conservatives to strength the nation or to preserve voting integrity, many on the left criticized the new law. Fair Fight Action called it “a gift to MAGA election deniers” and claimed that it would embolden “right-wing activists in their efforts to kick Black and brown voters off the rolls.”

In addition, Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, called the bill “a step back for voters’ rights and voting access.” She continued, “This bill will require already overburdened election workers to spend time processing unnecessary voter challenges.”

What Are Bidenbucks?

The topic of discussion for Constitution Monday is Bidenbucks, critics’ term for a controversial order from President Joe Biden in 2021. According to Fred Lucas, Biden’s order “directs federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get involved in elections.” Lucas reported that the “White House and its Office of Management and Budget instructed federal agencies to use a ‘template’ for determining the cost of implementing President Joe Biden’s executive order to encourage voter participation.” 

Several members of Congress contend that Biden’s order on turning out the vote for elections could violate the Antideficiency Act, a law that has three parts. It prohibits federal employees from obligating tax dollars not authorized by Congress, prohibits officials from not spending money as appropriated by Congress, and prohibits agencies from accepting voluntary service from individuals.

Biden’s controversial Executive Order 14019 requires federal agencies to participate in voter registration activities and help third-party organizations perform those activities on agency premises.

Potentially, this could involve spending government funds, contracting with third parties for the payment of those funds, or accepting voluntary services by these “approved” third-party organizations such as Demos.

Biden’s order appears to violate at least two provisions of the Antideficiency Act, said Stewart Whitson, senior director of federal affairs at the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative watchdog group, told The Daily Signal.

But, Whitson added, to determine whether the Biden administration is violating that law, it’s necessary to know where the money is coming from, where it’s going, and what it’s being used for.

Existing posts of money, for example, could be distributed by the Department of Agriculture to state agencies to help carry out voter registration activities, he suggested.

“Even if the Biden administration were to claim that no public funds are spent to carry out EO 14019 – a dubious and laughable claim --  this effort would still violate the Antideficiency Act because it would mean federal agencies were accepting voluntary services from these third-party organizations to help carry out EO 14019, who also happen to be politically aligned with the current administration,” Whitson said.

Neither the Agriculture Department nor the Office of Management and Budget responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on this report.

Why Are Priesthood Keys Essential?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Mosiah 7-10 in a lesson titled “In the Strength of the Lord.” The lesson was introduced as follows: 

While King Mosiah’s people were enjoying “continual peace” in Zarahemla (Mosiah 7:1), their thoughts turned to another group of Nephites, who many years before had left to dwell in the land of Lehi-Nephi. Generations had passed, and Mosiah’s people had heard nothing from them. So, Mosiah asked Ammon to lead a search party to find the Nephites who had left. The search party found that these Nephites, “because of iniquity” (Mosiah 7:24), were in captivity to the Lamanites. But with the arrival of Ammon and his brethren, suddenly there was hope for deliverance.

Sometimes we’re like these captive Nephites, suffering because of our sins, wondering how we’ll ever find peace again. Sometimes we’re like Ammon, feeling prompted to reach out to others and eventually finding that our efforts have inspired them to “lift up [their] heads, and rejoice, and put [their] trust in God” (Mosiah 7:19). No matter our circumstances, we all need to repent and “turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart,” with faith that “he will … deliver [us]” (Mosiah 7:33).

As in most scripture blocks, there are several principles to consider, and I chose to discuss a principle found in Mosiah 8:13-19 “The Lord provides prophets, seers, and revelators to benefit mankind.” We will begin with the applicable verses of scripture but will first give the background story.

When King Limhi learned that Ammon had come to Zarahemla to find him, he told Ammon that he had sent a group of men to find the land of Zarahemla. However, the men were not able to find Zarahemla, but they did find some records. King Limhi wanted to know the information contained on the records and asked Ammon if he knew of such a person. Here we will pick up the scripture verses.

13 Now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called seer.

14 And behold, the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahemla is the man that is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from God.

15 And the king said that a seer is greater than a prophet.

16 And Ammon said that a seer is a revelator and a prophet also; and a gift which is greater can no man have, except he should possess the power of God, which no man can; yet a man may have great power given him from God.

17 But a seer can know of things which are past, and also of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be mad manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known.

18 Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings.

19 And now, when Ammon had made an end of speaking these words the king rejoiced exceedingly, and gave thanks to God, saying: Doubtless a great mystery is contained within these plates, and these interpreters were doubtless prepared for the purpose of unfolding all such mysteries to the children of men.

When Limhi heard Ammon’s testimony that the Lord had raised up a seer, Limhi “rejoiced exceedingly, and gave thanks to God” (Mosiah 8:19). Would you rejoice to learn that there is a seer on earth today? I testify to you that there are fifteen prophets, seers, and revelators on earth today. They are the three members of the First Presidency and the twelve members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Today, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sustain the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve as prophets, seers, and revelators. Those same prophets, seers, and revelators spoke to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and broadcast to the world the information that we will need for the next six months.

The Brethren testified of truths that have been restored in our day by Joseph Smith and other prophets of the Lord. Some of those truths are the nature of God, our divine identity, and the eternal nature of the family. They also testified of the blessings that come from keeping the commandments of God and the covenants made with God, such as the Word of Wisdom, the law of chastity, and the sealing of families for eternity.

President Russell M. Nelson testified that the resurrected John the Baptist bestowed the Aaronic Priesthood upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, which made possible the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ on April 6, 1830. He continued: Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys (churchofjesuschrist.org)

Then in the Kirtland Temple in 1836, the conferral of these three additional priesthood keys – namely, keys of the gathering of Israel, keys of the gospel of Abraham, and keys of the sealing power – was essential. These keys authorized Joseph Smith – and all succeeding Presidents of the Lord’s Church – to gather Israel on both sides of the veil, to bless all covenant children with the blessings of Abraham, to place a ratifying seal on priesthood ordinances and covenants, and to seal families eternally. The power of these priesthood keys is infinite and breathtaking.

Consider how your life would be different if priesthood keys had not been restored to the earth. Without priesthood keys, you could not be endowed with the power of God.

Without priesthood keys, the Church could serve only as a significant teaching and humanitarian organization but not much more. Without priesthood keys, none of us would have access to essential ordinances and covenants that bind us to our loved ones eternally and allow us eventually to live with God.

Priesthood keys distinguish The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from any other organization on earth. Many other organizations can and do make your life better here in mortality. But no other organization can and will influence your life after death.

Priesthood keys give us the authority to extend all of the blessings promised to Abraham to every covenant-keeping man and woman. Temple work makes these exquisite blessings available to all of God’s children, regardless of where or when they lived or now live. Let us rejoice that priesthood keys are once again on the earth!

  

Why Are Both Mothers and Fathers Needed?

Strong families have a mother and a father working together for the good of each child, according to Jenet Jacob Erickson at The Deseret News. Strong families are needed for strong communities, states, and nations.

According to research completed by the author, “oxytocin is a ‘bonding hormone’ that floods mothers in childbirth and breastfeeding” is also instrumental in the “bonding processes of fathers.” However, the hormone works differently in the two parents.  For mothers, the hormone involves lots of “cooing and cuddling,” but for fathers, the hormone acts as lots of “tickling and tossing.” What is more, those reciprocal patterns …[go] far beyond bonding.” Erickson gave the following explanation:

It goes without saying there is significant overlap in how mothers and fathers influence children. Both parents can provide nurturing, feeding, stimulation, teaching and guidance crucial for children to become competent adults. But research also shows that mothers and fathers have distinct physiological and psychologically influenced predispositions that contribute to different strengths and styles and styles of interaction with children. When combined, the distinctions create a oneness that uniquely fosters the optimal development of children.

With Mother’s Day this weekend, and Father’s Day next month, it’s worth bringing more attention to some of this. From birth, infants are primed to seek out their mother to form a bond of emotional communication, already knowing her smell, voice and heartbeat. Without any specific training, mothers intuitively match their infants’ emotional state and provide the optimal level of stimulation needed to lay the foundations of personality, self-awareness, attention, empathy, regulation of stress, ability to understand emotions and capacity for intimacy. Maternal sensitivity, a measure of a mother’s responsiveness, attunement and nonintrusiveness, has been identified as the strongest, most consistent predictor of a child’s cognitive, social and emotional development.

The father-child bond is also important, shaping brain development beginning in the toddler years. But fathers more often use playfulness and stimulating physical activity to connect with their children, orienting their children to the outside world, even in the way they hold them like a football. This paternal orientation likewise addresses important developmental needs in children.

In fact, a father’s influence on social-emotional capacity complements a mother’s in critically important ways. Women tend to express all emotions – other than anger – stronger than men, but also tend to be better able to regulate emotions, which bolsters specific nurturing capacities by, for instance, delaying personal gratification, which bolsters specific nurturing capacities by, for instance, delaying personal gratification and inhibiting aggressive responses.

Throughout their lives, children consequently tend to go to their mothers for comfort in times of pain or stress. When fathers respond to children’s emotional hurts, by comparison, they are more likely to focus on fixing the problem rather than addressing the hurt feeling.

This seeming “indifference” to the emotion may not appear nurturing but becomes very useful – particularly as children grow older. Indeed, children tend to seek out and share things with their dads precisely because of their measured, problem-solving responses. The less emotional response actually becomes a strategic form of nurturing in emotionally-charged situations.

Erickson shared numerous other reasons why children need both a mother and a father. If you want to learn more, click here. 

As Erickson emphasized some point in her article, it takes both a mother and a father to create a child. It only makes sense that it takes a mother and a father to rear such a child. Strong families consist of both a mother and a father, and strong families strengthen their communities, states, and nations.

Why Is China Buying American Farmland?

 China is buying American land and companies, and the “United States government is not appropriately addressing the threat posed by growing Chinese ownership of American land,” according to Jason Hopkins at The Daily Signal and a report released by The Heritage Foundation today. Hopkins reported the following: 

… The report calls on federal and state leaders to take action, such as increasing transparency and conducting more critical reviews of land purchases.

“China’s ownership of American land is nontransparent and unscrutinized, and the federal government has failed to address potential threats even as Chinese ownership of U.S. real estate increases,” Bryan Burack, a senior policy adviser for The Heritage Foundation and author of the study, told the Daily Caller News Foundation….

The federal government lacks an adequate system in place to broadly monitor Chinese ownership of U.S. real estate, due to ownership of real estate being overseen by state and local governments, the report notes. For this reason, the U.S. government has no clear picture on China’s total land holdings in the country.

“The United States should be watching land and real estate transactions from our top adversary, not ignoring them,” Burack said.

Since the Daily Caller News Foundation and other individuals or organizations have “reported extensively on Chinese companies’ land purchases in the U.S., we know quite a bit about them. Here are a few of the things reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation:

• “[T]he parent company of battery maker Gotion, which plans to build factories in Michigan and Illinois, participated in Chinese Communist Party programs that acquire technology for China’s military." 
• “The Daily Caller News Foundation also exposed the CCP ties of companies attempting to set up shop near military bases in Kansas.”
• “Smithfield Foods, America’s largest pork producer, is owned by a Chinese firm and exported massive quantities of pork to its China-based ‘sister company’ as that company stockpiled food for the Chinese military.” 
• “Chinese entities have spent over $100 billion acquiring American companies since 2010, with many of these businesses owning real estate across the country, according to the report.” 
• “In 2020, the National Association of Realtors confirmed that China was the top foreign buyer of American real estate.” 
• “The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act does give some insight into the amount of agricultural land being purchased by foreign entities. The latest Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act report indicates that Chinese investors own a relatively small fraction of the country’s privately held agricultural land, holding only 346,915 acres, or roughly 1%, of foreign-held acres of private land, as of Dec. 31, 2022.” 
• “However, Chinese-owned agricultural acreage grew over fivefold between 2011 and 2021, the report found.

There is more information in the article, but I have shared enough of the material to show that China is purchasing American land and companies. What do they plan to do about it?

2024-5-8 What is the SAVE Act?

Congressional Republicans acted to “save democracy” with a new bill, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act). According to Fred Lucas at The Daily Signal, is sponsored in the House by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and in the Senate by Senator Mike Lee. Here is an explanation for the bill. 

“Due to the wide-open border that the Biden administration has refused to close, practically engineered to open, we now have so many noncitizens in the country that if only one out of 100 voted, they would cast hundreds of thousands of votes,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La), said Wednesday during a press conference in front of the Capitol.

“Since our elections are so razor thin these days – just a few precincts in a few states decide the makeup of Congress and who is elected to the White House – this is a dangerously high number and it is a great concern to millions and millions of Americans. It could actually change the outcome of our elections,” Johnson said….

The House speaker noted that about 16 million illegal aliens have entered the United States since Joe Biden took office as president.

The new “legislation would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, also known as the “motor voter law,” to require that states obtain documentary proof of citizenship from someone before he or she may register to vote.” The legislation would “also require states to remove noncitizens from existing voter rolls.” Roy told reporters:

“The most fundamental thing you can do to destroy the rule of law and to destroy our republic is to undermine faith in elections and undermine integrity of elections by making it unclear as to who is voting and limiting our ability to know that only citizens are voting.” [He added:]

We are here for the proposition supported by the vast majority of the American people: that only citizens of the United States should vote, that we should have documentary proof, that we should have a system to guarantee that only citizens of the United States vote in federal elections where we have the clear authority under the Constitution of the United States, under our laws as Congress, to set the terms of those elections.

Lee and Roy are trying to protect the rule of one-citizen-one-vote of Americans, which means that every lawmaker should vote for it. Anyone who does not vote for it either wants or accepts the idea of noncitizens voting in American. However, we have lawmakers who will oppose it. 

Where Did the Feds Put the Unaccompanied Alien Children?

 According to Virginia Allen at The Daily Signal, the Biden administration has released more than “24,000 border-crossing minors to an ‘unrelated sponsor,’ a number representing over half of all 37,088 minors released to nonrelatives from January 2015 through May 2023.” More than half of all the unaccompanied alien children released in eight years were released by the Biden administration in two years. 

Allen used raw government data from The New York Times on the unaccompanied alien children crossing the border to write her article. The data chosen was found on more than 10,000 pages of information about the number of children crossing the border into America “without an adult and then were handed over to someone other than a family member.”

From January 2015 through May 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released tens of thousands of minors who crossed the border illegally to sponsors who weren’t an immediate or distant relative, raising concerns about human trafficking and forced labor.

“More children are cross the border on their own than ever before, and thousands are ending up doing dangerous, illegal jobs,” New York Times reporter Hannah Dreier wrote on X in a thread sharing the numbers with the public.

The Times sued the government to gain access to the records, which reveal more than 555,000 minors crossed the border illegally between 2015, halfway through Barack Obama’s second term as president, through May 2023, about two years and four months into Joe Biden’s presidency. From 2017 through 2020, Donald Trump was president. The data includes when each child arrived in the U.S., each child’s sex and country of origin, date released to a sponsor, relationship to that sponsor, and the ZIP code where the sponsor lives.

The data reveals that 37,088 unaccompanied alien children were released to an “unrelated sponsor,” 24,253 of which were released during Biden’s presidency between January 20, 2021, and May 25, 2023.

“Americans have the right to know that criminal cartels are bringing unaccompanied minors into our country as a result of President Biden’s failed border policies,” Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., told The Daily Signal. “The president must answer to the American people as to why he has failed to secure the border and been unable to protect these children from harm.”

The minors have been released to sponsors across all 50 states and a map created by the Times shows where the children, at least initially, were sent.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for placing unaccompanied alien children with a sponsor in America.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement has an “order of preference” for releasing the children: parent; legal guardian; an adult relative; an adult designated by the parent; a licensed program, or an adult who seeks custody when there is no one else to do so. Just to make sure that they are doing their duty, “the Department of Health and Human Services checks on all unaccompanied minors” after thirty days.

Data obtained by The Times “showed that over the last two years, the agency could not reach more than 85,000 children.” This information suggests that the United States Government is the world’s largest child trafficker. Do you want your tax dollars going to child trafficking, or do want your government involved in child trafficking?

Who Are Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson?

My VIPs for this week are Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson, two teenaged girls from New Orleans. According to an article by Asia Brown in the Deseret News, the two young women created a new proof for the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry. When teacher Michelle Blouin Williams first started the math contest, she did not expect anyone to finish it. 

Johnson and Jackson proved her wrong when they figured out the answer in 2023. The two girls were then seniors at St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, a prestigious Catholic school for girls. The record for the school itself is beyond outstanding as the school has maintained “a 100% acceptance rate to colleges and 100% graduation rate for 17 years.”

The girls were first enticed with the $500 prize. However, it was their inner drive that took over once the work became difficult. The two girls worked for two months to answer the problem that took “over 20 or 30 pages” to work it, according to one mother.

Brown said that “teachers at St. Mary’s recognized the importance of [the girls’] work and submitted their proof to the American Mathematical Society for recognition at a conference in March 2023, where the students presented their work.”

In case you are wondering what the Pythagorean theorem is and what is a proof, Brown’s article gave the answer as follows.

In essence, the mathematical theorem states that knowing the lengths of two sides of a right triangle enables you to figure out the length of the third using this formula: a² + b² = c².

It’s associated with Greek mathematician Pythagoras, but evidence suggests it was known earlier, in Babylon and Iron Age India, per Britannica. Its practical uses include construction and architecture, two-dimensional navigation, and surveying.

A mathematical proof is exactly what it sounds like: reasoning that proves a mathematical theorem is true. American mathematician Daniel Kane explains proofs as being like essays, but using math.

According to the “60 Minutes” episode, “there had been more than 300 documented proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem using algebra and geometry, but for 2,000 years a proof using trigonometry was thought to be impossible.”

In 1927, mathematician Elisha Loomis said as much in his book, “The Pythagorean Proposition.” Loomis argued that there could be no trigonometric proof of the theorem because it would be circular.

Sturt Anderson, a professor emeritus of mathematics at Texas A&M University-Commerce, told Scientific American, “A lot of the basic trig ‘identities’ are nothing more than Pythagoras’ theorem.”

Loomis argued that using trigonometric functions to prove the Pythagorean theorem would be like going in circles, but the girls differed in their opinion. They said that “a trigonometric identity called the law of sines didn’t depend on the Pythagorean theorem and that they could use it to prove the theorem.”

Their accomplishment puts Johnson and Jackson into “an extremely small group” of people who have accomplished the same feat. Mathematician Jason Zimba created a new proof in 2009. After they submitted their proof for final peer review this spring, they continued to work on more proofs. Johnson and Jackson laugh at the idea that they are geniuses. They prefer to consider their accomplishment as “a great mathematical achievement.”

Why Is the Biden Administration Attacking Title IX?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns Title IX, the law that President Richard Nixon signed into law in 1972 to protect women and girls. The law has protected female athletes and allowed them to play on a level playing field for more than fifty years until biological males decided that they could win medals by pretending they were females.

Now the Biden administration is trying to take the protection completely away from female athletes. According to Virginia Allen at The Daily Signal, the Biden administration released its new rule on Title IX on April 19, and the Defense of Freedom Institute filed a lawsuit against it less than two weeks later. 

“We are asking the court to … basically stop the effect of the regulations for a variety of legal reasons,” says Robert Eitel, the institute’s co-founder and president. That’s because the rule change is “simply unlawful,” he explained.

Among the changes to Title IX, the Biden administration is attempting to redefine sex to include gender identity and sexual orientation. Title IX is an education amendment that was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972 and requires there be equal opportunities for men and women in schools across the country.

Eitel says the Biden administration’s attempt to redefine sex in Title IX is “federal overreach.”

The states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho filed the suit with the Washington-based Defense of Freedom Institute, a conservative nonprofit dedicated to providing policy and legal solutions within the spheres of education and the workforce.

The discussion about the lawsuit against the Biden administration continued in “The Daily Signal Podcast.” Eitel also explained “what should be done about the ever-growing issue of student loan debt, and why President Joe Biden can’t legally issue mass student loan forgiveness.” 

 

How Can We Watch Ourselves, Our Words, and Our Deeds?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Mosiah 4-6 in a lesson titled “A Mighty Change.” The lesson was introduced with the following information. 

Have you ever heard someone speak and felt inspired to change your life? Perhaps you decided, because of what you heard, to live a little differently—or even a lot differently. King Benjamin’s sermon was that kind of sermon, and the truths he taught had that kind of effect on the people who heard them. King Benjamin shared with his people what an angel had taught Mosiah 4:2). Because of His message, they changed their view of themselves (see Mosiah 4:2), the Spirit changed their desires (see Mosiah 5:2), and they covenanted with God that they would always do His will (see Mosiah 5:5). This is how King Benjamin’s words affected his people. How will they affect you?

As usual, there are numerous principles in this scripture block. The principle that felt impressed to discuss is found in Mosiah 4:29-30, “I must watch my thoughts, words, and deeds.” We will first look at the scriptures themselves.

29 And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.

30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

These verses tell us that God does not give us a list of every possible sin that we could commit. Instead, He tells us to be careful in our thoughts, words, and actions. Our thoughts, words, and deeds affect ourselves and other people. They also affect our individual relationship with God. You may be asking how a person can “watch [yourself].”

The late President Spencer W. Kimball wrote the following: “The curse of the earth is sin. It covers every area. It takes numerous forms and dresses itself in many kinds of apparel, depending on factors such as the stratum of society in which it is operating. But whether man calls it convention or business, or uses any other euphemism, if it offends God’s law it is sin.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 39). 

Prophets tell us that we can avoid temptation by changing our thoughts. If we have evil thoughts come into our minds, we should quote a scripture or sing a hymn. I learned in my class this semester that we can change our feelings by changing our thoughts. If I entertain thoughts about how much I hate someone, then I will feel hateful feelings about that person. If I cultivate thoughts about how much I love someone, then I will be more likely to feel loving feelings towards that person.

The same thing applies to all sin. If we ruminate about a sin, we are more likely to commit that sin if we think about it long enough. We can avoid most sins by refusing to entertain them in our thoughts. 

Why Does God Command Us to Seek Learning?

Education strengthens individuals and families, and strong families strengthens communities and nations. Education is important to God. He commands that we gain as much knowledge as possible in this life because knowledge is the only asset that we can take with us into the next life. However, education can be obtained in many different ways and places.

As valuable as education is, we must be careful about the education that we make available to the next generation as well as for ourselves. This includes being choosy about the individuals that we allow to teach members of our families. The elite universities are currently showing us that they have professors who should not be teaching American students. Victor Davis Hanson published an article in The Daily Signal about education in America and its current status. 

Elite higher education – long questioned as globally preeminent – is facing a perfect storm.

Fewer applicants, higher costs, impoverished students, collapsing standards, and increasingly politicized and mediocre faculty reflect a collapse of the university system. The country is waking up to the reality that a bachelor’s degree no longer equates with graduates being broadly educated and analytical. Just as often, they are stereotyped as pampered, largely ignorant, and gratuitously opinioned.

No wonder polls show a drastic loss of public respect for higher education and, specifically, a growing lack of confidence in the professoriate.

Each year, there are far fewer students entering college. Despite a U.S. population 40 million larger than 20 years ago, fertility rates have fallen in two decades from some 500,000 births per year.

Meanwhile, from 1980 to 2020, room, board, and tuition increased by 170%.

According to Hanson, this high cost for higher education is caused by more than just inflation. Expanded administrative staffs at the universities and lightened faculty teaching loads add to the cost. The costs also rise because the number of students is shrinking despite universities offering more luxuries, such as “loco parentis counseling, Club Med-style dorms and accommodations, and extracurricular activities.”

As with almost everything else in our lives, education comes at various levels of expense. Community colleges and state universities offer education at lower tuition rates than due the elite universities. There are also trade schools where students can learn an important trade for less money and time.

There is also life-long learning that can take place on the individual level. Our children must go to some kind of after-high school education. Their education should be in fields or trades where they can learn enough to provide good living. Then they should continue to study and learn in areas that will improve their lives. People will good educations strengthen families, communities, and nations.

Will the Protests at Universities Bring Good or Bad Changes?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is that freedom of speech goes only so far. Activists on college campuses from coast to coast have used freedom of speech to stage pro-Hamas, anti-Israel occupations on the campuses. At first, the activists were tolerated, but they pushed too far.

According to Joshua Arnold in his article published in The Daily Signal, there were “at least 1,641 arrests at 33 colleges and universities in 23 states” between April 19 and May 1. However, the number of arrests is decreasing. Arnold found “several noteworthy trends” in the progress in the way that universities are responding to the occupations of campuses. 

There were several noteworthy trends in this progression: 1) universities are acting more quickly to disperse illegal encampments; 2) more universities are calling in police to make arrests; 3) the numbers of those arrested is dwindling; and 4) increasing attention is being drawn to the presence of outside agitators.

These trends suggest several developments. First, university administrators are watching what is happening at other universities. They are witnessing the recalcitrance of pro-Hamas activists, as well as the headaches and monetary damages they have caused at places like Columbia or Cal Poly Humboldt where they were not dealt with quickly.

Administrators also have witnessed the example of the University of Texas at Austin and other schools that have successfully prevented a campus occupation through vigilant policing. These factors motivate university administrators to put an end to protesters’ illegal occupation tactics.

Second, the force of the pro-Hamas wave has dwindled as it has expanded. Protests at elite, radically progressive schools had high energy and significant student involvement. But protests at smaller or less elite schools have seen less student enthusiasm. Arrests have been in higher numbers, and there has been a larger proportion of unaffiliated agitators.

Third, even the most radical protesters can behave rationally. Essentially, they would rather not face consequences for their actions….

Fourth, outside agitators have become involved to an alarming extent. Police made arrests at 22 universities from Saturday to Tuesday; in 11 out of 12 instances where the numbers are known, they arrested more outsiders than students. In multiple instances, these outside agitators participated in illegally occupying campus buildings.

Arnold noted that it is “unacceptable that a handful of activists, with no connection to a university, can seize its property and hold it hostage to absurd demands.” It is also unacceptable for professors and other university personnel to participate in such activities. Arnold ended his article with a statement that “the activists have gone too far.” Even though many of the school officials were slow in responding to the revolutions, the universities have fought back by making mass arrests.

Why Is George Soros Allowed to Keep American Citizenship?

It appears that the saying, “Like father, like son” is true. According to Rachel Ehrenfeld, George Soros was the bad guy for decades because he funded “progressive, neo-Marxist leftist groups as well as groups and individuals that reject the existence of Israel.” Now his son, Alexander, runs Open Society Foundations, which is “funding, directly or indirectly, pro-Hamas demonstrations and Hamas-supporters’ encampments on university campuses across the United States.” 

For decades, Soros has been funding attempts to destroy America, Israel, and Jews everywhere. Now the aged George has turned his evil empire over to his son. The current occupations of university campuses remind many people of the winter 2004-2005 encampment in Maidan Square in Kyiv. In 2014, he supported demonstrations of the Maidan Revolution and received Ukraine’s Order of Freedom from Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, the candidate that Soros supported.

When Hamas “took over Gaza in 2007, Soros criticized Israel for refusing ‘to recognize the democratically elected Hamas government.’ He deliberately ignored the fact that the Islamist terrorist group’s explicit and well-advertised objective is the elimination of the Jewish state of Israel.” Did Soros honestly expect Israel to support the exact group calling for the end of all Jews as well as Israel itself?

George Soros was born in 1930 in Nazi-occupied Hungary and moved to Britain after World War II. He later moved to New York and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1961. He made his fortune in America in the field of investing.

Directly or indirectly, Soros has funded “Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Arab leftist groups, as well as media outlets, that oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” In addition, he generously fund “Palestinian-led groups, along with pro-Palestinian Jewish, Christian, and Muslim organizations that promote boycotts, divestments, and sanctions against Israel.”

Among the groups funded by Soros’ organizations are Students for Justice in Palestine and U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. These groups are responsible for many of the “violent demonstrations on college and university campuses.

According to Ehrenfeld, “More than a few organizations [which are] backed by Soros’ foundations have well-documented links with the U.S.-designated terrorist groups.” They all “support the elections and appointments of anti-Israel activists to Congress, the administration, and international nonprofit organizations.”

I have often wondered why Soros has not lost his American citizenship and been deported. One reason is that the Open Society Foundations continue to deny that their funding comes from Soros. The fact remains that Soros obviously hates Israel and all Jews as well as America. Why should America continue to host a billionaire who hates America so much that he is funding our destruction? Obviously, he has support from the secret combinations who run the federal government. Besides hating America, Soros hates all Jews. Did I forget to tell you that George Soros is a Jew? Why is he so against Israel and Jews?