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?

What Is Happening with IVF?

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is still in the news – or is it again? Republicans struggle with the messaging and the legislating of IVF because there is division in the ranks about the expendability of human embryos. There are significant questions on both moral and ethical issues about how embryos are treated.

Mary Margaret Olohan reported in an article published at The Daily Signal that Representative Josh Brecheen (R-Oklahoma) sent a letter on Tuesday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asking for “transparency on in vitro fertilization practices in the United States.” In his letter, Brecheen points out that clinics in Western countries are prohibited from “practicing eugenics or carelessly destroying human life.” According to Olohan, Brecheen argued that “the U.S. does not even require IVF clinics to be transparent about their participation in these types of practices.” She reported that Brecheen wrote, “This carelessness has earned the U.S. the title of the ‘Wild West’ of assisted reproductive technology.”

After the Alabama Supreme Court protected embryonic human life, Republicans in Congress are often put on the spot “to state their position on IVF.” Olohan gave further explanation as to what was happening.

Despite media suggesting the contrary, the state Supreme Court did not ban IVF but merely ruled in favor of protecting embryonic human life. Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in his opinion that “unborn children are ‘children’” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

Experts like The Heritage Foundation’s Emma Waters have argued that the ruling brought “much-needed regulation” to the fertility industry in the United States….

Waters pointed out that only a handful of state laws actually address the “moral and ethical questions raised by the artificial creation of human life.”

“This decision ensures that the well-being of children, not financial gain, is the top priority when it comes to IVF and embryonic cryopreservation,” Waters argued.

Olohan continued with a discussion about how IVF continues to be “a complicated thorn in the side of Republicans” who have not yet decided on a successful message about abortion for the 2024 election cycle. We can be sure that Democrats will use both IVF and abortion as issues with which to hammer Republicans.

Republican candidates must have a unified and responsible position on both procedures. Since unborn embryos have been judged as “children,” they have the God-given rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. This means that government has the responsibility to protect them. The real question is how to do it responsibly and in a way that is acceptable to most Americans as well as to God.

Who Is Tulsi Gabbard?

My VIP for this week is former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) who has since departed from the Democrat Party. In an interview with Gabbard, Blaze TV host Dave Rubin asked her if she would accept an offer from Donald Trump to be his 2024 running mate.

This is the same question that has been asked of other people, particularly women. One of those women is Representative Elise Stefanak (R-NY), the chair of the House Republican Conference.

Every person that I have observed answering the question answered in a comparable manner as Gabbard: “If that call came, I would say yes” (according to Alex Nitzberg). He wrote the following in his article in The Blaze.

She indicated that getting the U.S. “back on track” would involve having courageous government figures “who care more about the country than they do about the political elite in Washington, and actually rooting out the deep rot that exists within our bureaucracies, the administrative state, the deep state in Washington.”

Blaze TV host Steve Deace noted in a tweet that Gabbard is his “prediction for Trump’s running mate.”

Gabbard, who served in Congress as a Hawaii Democrat from early 2013 through early 2021, backed Joe Biden in 2020 when she dropped her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. But she announced in 2022 that she was “leaving the Democratic Party.”

I believe that Gabbard would be an excellent choice. She is a woman who loves America. She is intelligent and can speak plainly. Like most politicians, she has authored a book titled “For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind,” which will be released tomorrow. Nitzberg explained further:

ABC News reported that Gabbard, referring to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a statement, “I met with Kennedy several times, and we have become good friends.” Gabbard reportedly said in the statement, “He asked if I would be his running mate. After careful consideration, I respectfully declined.”

Kennedy picked Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.

I, for one, am disappointed with the rift between Trump and his former Vice President Mike Pence. I thought that they made an effective team throughout the four years until January 6. Now Pence refuses to even endorse Trump in 2024. For this stance, I believe that Pence is the loser.

What Will the Supreme Court Rule on Presidential Immunity?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns presidential immunity. Special Counsel Jack Smith indicted former President Donald on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. A federal trial court ruled that Trump is not immune from prosecution, and the case, Trump v. United States, No. 23-939, is now in the United States Supreme Court.

The justices on the Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case, and a majority of them sympathized with the arguments of Trump’s attorneys that former presidents have some level of immunity that endures past the term of office. According to Bradley Jaye at Breitbart, “the ultimate question will be the establishment of a standard.” 

If the Court institutes a test, it would vacate (i.e., strike) the lower court decision that former presidents have no immunity, sending that case back to trial court. That court would then undergo a painstaking point-by-point analysis on each fact to determine if immunity exists.

That process could take months. And the Supreme Court appears likely to hold that decision itself would be appealable.

That course, if the Court takes it, would ensure the final outcome of a Trump trial in D.C. comes well after the November 5, 2024, Election Day – a stinging blow to Smith and President Joe Biden, Smith’s boss and Trump’s opponent in that election.

Justices explored several scenarios Thursday by which a president might potentially be charged with a crime.

Justice Neil Gorsuch pressed the government’s Michael Dreeben on the hypothetical scenarios of a president leading a “mostly peaceful” civil rights protests that could obstruct an official proceeding. “So a president then could be prosecuted for the conduct I described after he leaves office?” he asked.

“Probably not,” Dreeben said, arguing that such an action would not be among the “core kinds of activities” of official presidential duties.

Justices also probed if the institution of the presidency would be crippled if presidents are subject to criminal prosecution for anything they’ve done in office by anyone who might accuse them of wrongdoing – essentially creating “open season” on a president after leaving office.

Justice Samuel Alito asked if a president is in a “peculiarly precarious position” due to the nature and consequences of his duties.

“Presidents have to make a lot of tough decisions about enforcing the law, and they have to make decisions about questions that are unsettled, and they have to make decisions based on the information that’s available,” he said. “Do you really, did I understand you to say, well, you know, if he makes a mistake, he makes a mistake; he’s subject to the criminal laws just like anybody else?”

Dreeben pushed back, arguing a president “has access to legal advice about everything that he does.”

“Making a mistake is not what lands you in a criminal prosecution,” Dreeben insisted.

Alito was dubious of Dreeben’s claim that a president enjoys a level of protection because federal grand juries would not indict without evidence. Alito cited the “old saw about indicting a ham sandwich,” continuing to ask, “You come across a lot of cases where the U.S. attorney or another federal prosecutor really wanted to indict a case and the grand jury refused to do so?” …

The arguments, while positive for Trump, did not reveal the Court would universally agree with his position. There is no indication that a majority of justices would agree [that] some kind of immunity exists that would summarily end the current prosecution.

But if there is some type of standard to determine immunity, the usual practice would be to strike the lower court’s opinion and send it back down to the lower court with the test – a remand that undoubtedly would be a victory for Trump’s legal team.

In further good news for Trump, even the three liberal justices seemed open to there being some level of presidential immunity that endures past the term of office. It is possible those justices concur in part with a decision to implement an immunity test while dissenting in part.

Common sense tells us that Presidents of the United States must have some immunity for decisions that they make while in office. Otherwise, they will shrink from making tough decisions that may affect the security and sovereignty of the nation.

How Do You Serve God?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Mosiah 1-3 in a lesson titled “Filled with Love towards God and All Men.” The lesson was introduced with the following message. 

When you hear the word king, you might think of crowns, servants, and thrones. In Mosiah 1–3, you will read about a different kind of king. Rather than living off the labors of his people, King Benjamin “labored with [his] own hands” (Mosiah 2:14). Instead of having others serve him, he served his people “with all the might, mind and strength which the Lord [had] granted unto [him]” (Mosiah 2:11). This king did not want his people to worship him; rather, he taught them to worship their Heavenly King, Jesus Christ. King Benjamin understood that it is “the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth” (Mosiah 3:5), who came “down from heaven” and went “forth amongst men, … that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name” (Mosiah 3:5, 9).

The righteous kings in the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ were servant kings, not tyrant kings. They labored to provide their own homes, food, and clothing. They served the people instead of ordering the people to serve them. King Benjamin and his son, King Mosiah, were righteous kings.

The principle that I wish to discuss tonight is taught in Mosiah 2:10-26: “When I serve others, I am also serving God.” We will first look at the scripture block.

10 I have not commanded you to come up hither that ye should fear me, or that ye should think that I of myself am more than a mortal man.

11 But I am like as yourselves, subject to all manner of infirmities in body and mind; yet I have been chosen by this people, and consecrated by my father, and was suffered by the hand of the Lord that I should be a ruler and a king over this people; and have been kept and preserved by his matchless power, to serve you with all the might, mind and strength which the Lord hath granted unto me.

12 I say unto you that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this time, and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you;

13 Neither have I suffered that ye should be confined in dungeons, nor that ye should make slaves one of another, nor that ye should murder, or plunder, or steal, or commit adultery; nor even have I suffered that ye should commit any manner of wickedness, and have taught you that ye should keep the commandments of the Lord, in all things which he hath commanded you—

14 And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne—and of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day.

15 Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast, neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you; but I tell you these things that ye may know that I can answer a clear conscience before God this day.

16 Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God.

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?

19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!

20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.

26 And I, even I, whom ye call your king, am no better than ye yourselves are; for I am also of the dust. And ye behold that I am old, and am about to yield up this mortal frame to its mother earth. [Emphasis added.]

What does it mean to you to know that when you serve other people, you are also serving God? If you would like some ideas, you might like the video titled “The Old Shoemaker.” 

Sister Joy D. Jones, General Primary President, learned the truthfulness of the teachings of King Benjamine while ministering to family who were not participating in Church activities. At first, the two ministers met with rejection and disappointment. Then they reexamined the why of their service and were more capable of showing love to the family. She said the following in a talk in the October 2018 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Sometimes we may initially serve from a sense of duty or obligation, but even that service can lead us to draw on something higher within us, leading us to serve in “a more excellent way”—as in President Nelson’s invitation to “a newer, holier approach to caring for and ministering to others.”

When we focus on all that God has done for us, our service flows from a heart of gratitude. As we become less concerned about our service magnifying us, we realize instead that the focus of our service will be on putting God first.

President M. Russell Ballard taught, “It is only when we love God and Christ with all of our hearts, souls, and minds that we are able to share this love with our neighbors through acts of kindness and service.”

I testify as did King Benjamin and Sister Jones. When we are in the service of our fellow human beings, whoever and wherever they may be, we are only in the service of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.