Can’t Use Commerce Laws to Illegalize FGM Child Abuse

John R. Houk

© November 23, 2018

Nothing to be thankful for from Multiculturalist Leftist Federal Judges that ignore the law to rule in favor of Islamic traditions over the rule of law!

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman (residing in Detroit) ruled that a Federal Law made 22 years ago was unconstitutional allowing Muslims to proceed in the child abuse of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

FGM is overwhelmingly practiced among Muslims as a matter of tradition. Multiculturalist Left Wing organizations (National & Global) go out of the way to point out that Islam theologically does not mandate FGM. The same organizations will point out that a minority of Christian and Jewish based people also practice FGM.

The only thing accurate in downplaying the Muslim practice of FGM is the abusive practice is more cultural than religious but fail to be informative of the huge number of Muslims that have a tradition of FGM and indeed associate it with their religious faith. Also the Christians and Jews known to abuse their children with FGM are culturally influenced by the Muslims in close proximity (primarily Copts of Egypt and Black-Africans who identify themselves as Jewish in Ethiopia).

So YES this is primarily an Islamic issue especially as it is Muslim refugees or Muslim immigrants from whence FGM is practiced are now flouting Western Laws in Europe and the U.S. to perpetuate FGM in the West in the name of their Muslim traditions.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), female genital mutilation (FGM), also referred to as “female circumcision” or “female cutting”, “comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons” [1]. The WHO estimates that about 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with the consequences of FGM and that every year in Africa alone, about 3 million girls are at risk for genital mutilation [1]. FGM has been documented in 28 African countries and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East [2]. However, it has also become a human rights and health issue in western countries where the practice is continued by immigrants from countries where FGM is commonly performed [3]. For instance, the German organization “Terre des Femmes” estimates that about 30.000 girls and women living in Germany have undergone or are at risk of being subjected to FGM [4].

Given the fact that some Sunni Muslims legitimate FGM by quoting a controversial hadith (a saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammed) in which the Prophet allegedly did not object to FGM provided cutting was not too severe 5, 6 and that the least invasive type of FGM (partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or the prepuce) is also called “Sunna Circumcision” [7], FGM is widely considered to be associated with Islam. However, during a conference held in Cairo/Egypt in 2006, Muslim scholars from various nations declared FGM to be un-islamic 8, 9 and, in fact, the traditional cultural practice of FGM predates both Islam and Christianity. …  According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, FGM is actually practiced by Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups. There are countries, such as Nigeria, Tanzania and Niger, where the prevalence of FGM is even greater among Christian groups [11]. In Egypt, FGM is also practiced on Coptic girls [12], while in Ethiopia, the Beta Israel or Falashas, a Jewish minority, subject their girls to genital mutilation [5].

… Yet, a Jewish minority group living in Ethiopia, the so-called Falashas or Beta Israel, practice ritual female genital surgery [15]. Buff believes that “as a persecuted and isolated Jewish enclave for thousands of years, the Falashas did not have access to either definitive Jewish texts or informed rabbinical sources” [14]. In fact, the Falashas practice an archaic form of Judaism, strictly adhering to the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. They do not speak or read Hebrew. Their bible is written in Ge’ez, which is the clerical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean orthodox church, and they do not know the other important religious scriptures of Judaism, the Talmud and the Mishnah 16, 17. The Falashas consider themselves descendants of the tribe of “Dan”, one of the 10 “lost tribes of Israel”, and were acknowledged as such, and therefore as being officially Jewish, by the Israeli government in 1975 [17]. … After their immigration to Israel, the Ethiopian Jews were converted to orthodox rabbinic Judaism. Nowadays, only a minority is still living in Ethiopia [17].

… The authors also found that the customs of FGM is readily given up by Ethiopian Jews right after their immigration to Israel, as “they see themselves a part of a Jewish society without FGM” [15].

Christian view on FGM

Literature dealing with the Christian view on FGM is very scarce, however, Christian authorities unanimously agree that FGM has no foundation in the religious texts of Christianity 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. During the 2006 conference of The East Africa Program, the attending Christian (Coptic) leaders emphasized that “Christian doctrine is clear on the sanctity of the human body” [22]. Yet, as has already been mentioned before, FGM is practiced among Christian groups, e.g. in Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania and Kenya. Although FGM is not prescribed by religious law, many of those practicing it may consider it a religious obligation, as female sexual purity plays an important role, not only in Christianity, but in all monotheistic religions. (The Jewish and Christian view on female genital mutilation; [Ingrid] El-Damanhoury, Ed.; ScienceDirect - African Journal of Urology: Volume 19, Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 127-129)

Trying to protect Islam’s reputation by claiming Christians and Jews practice FGM abuse is a bit disingenuous when undoubtedly the largest numbers clearly lay with Islam.

AND it is obvious to me that Federal Judge Bernard Friedman ruled laws outlawing FGM unconstitutional was an act of dhimmitude homage to one of the largest Islamic population centers in the USA namely the Detroit metropolitan area – MY FIRST REACTION.

AFTER READING MORE INFO – If I was to give Judge Friedman any benefit of the doubt, it might seem the Judge is saying legislate a better law that specifically addresses Female Genital Mutilation as child abuse rather than manipulate statutes to use Commerce Laws to illegalize FGM.

U.S. v Nagarwala Dismissal Order 11-20-18 on SCRIBD – 28 pages

Below are the details from Leo Hohmann.

JRH 11/23/18

In this current state of media censorship & defunding, consider chipping in a few bucks to keep my blogging habit flowing:

Please Support SlantRight 2.0

*************************

Federal judge strikes down U.S. ban on female genital mutilation

By Leo Hohmann

November 21, 2018

LeoHohmann.com

Dr. Jumana Nagarwala was charged in Detroit in April 2017 with mutilating the genitalia of young girls.

It is now OK in America for parents to deliver their daughters up to hack “doctors” and nurses who will mutilate their genitals and call it a religious ritual, thanks to a federal judge in Detroit.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman on Tuesday dismissed female genital mutilation charges against several doctors in the first criminal case of its kind nationwide, ruling the law is unconstitutional, the Detroit News reported.

Friedman’s insane opinion comes two weeks after defense lawyers mounted the first challenge to an FGM law passed by Congress in 1996. The law sat there for 19 years without a single prosecution until April 2017. That’s when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to prosecute two Muslim doctors, a wife of one of the doctors and the parents of nine girls who were transported to a clinic in Michigan, several of them across state lines, to have their genitals cut.

Co-defendant Dr. Fakhruddin Attar

Prosecutors said at the time that upwards of 100 girls ranging in age from 7 to 12 had been sent to the clinic, which sounds more like a Third World torture chamber.

The U.S. already allows up to 1 million babies to be aborted every year. Now our judges say it’s acceptable to mutilate young girls. What is the future for a society unable or unwilling to protect its most vulnerable?

Until Sessions’ brought this case, no one had ever been prosecuted under the 22-year-old federal law, not under presidents Clinton, Bush or Obama.

Prosecutors told the Detroit News that the girls — four from Michigan, two from Minnesota and three from Illinois — underwent the brutal FBM procedure of having their clitorises fully or partially removed. But defense lawyer Shannon Smith argued that the procedure performed on the girls was “benign” and not a mutilation. It was part of their religion and their culture and therefore should not be prevented by law.

Attorney Shannon Smith specializes in defending people against sexual crimes.

She found a sympathetic ear in the liberal Judge Friedman, who apparently found a loophole in the 1996 law in which he was able to deny that the FGM doctors and parents were engaged in interstate commerce and therefore committed no federal crime.

The doctors involved still face charges of conspiracy and obstruction and could face up to 30 years or more in prison if convicted on those counts.

Hopefully the U.S. Department of Justice will appeal this ghastly ruling by Judge Friedman. In the meantime, this should prompt Congress to go back and tweak the 1996 law to make sure it is strictly enforceable.

Dr. Jumana Nagarwala of Northville, Michigan, was arrested in April 2017 and accused of heading a conspiracy that lasted 12 years, involved seven other people and led to mutilating the genitalia of nine girls as part of a religious procedure practiced by some members of the Dawoodi Bohra, a Muslim sect from India that has a small community in Metro Detroit.

Most local members of the sect involved belong to the Anjuman-e-Najmi mosque in Farmington Hills.

The judge’s opinion drops charges against three mothers. They are:

·        Farida Arif of Oakland County, who was charged with participating in the conspiracy and having her daughter undergo female genital mutilation.

·        Two mothers from Minnesota, Haseena Halfal and Zainab Hariyanawala, who were charged last year with female genital mutilation and conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation. The allegations involve their daughters, who were 7 at the time of the procedure.

The order Tuesday also dismissed charges against Tahera Shafiq, 49, of Farmington Hills. She was accused of participating in the procedure involving the Minnesota girls.

“She’s done, for the time being,” Shafiq’s lawyer, Jerome Sabbota, said. “It’s wonderful. She can go about her life. These are deeply religious people, and a lot of people don’t understand that.”

Worldwide, an estimated 140 million women and girls have undergone the procedure, according to the World Health Organization. More than 3 million girls in Africa undergo the procedure each year.

The procedure has been illegal in the U.S. since 1996, and there are no medical benefits for girls and women, according to the World Health Organization.

Female genital mutilation is an internationally recognized violation of human rights.

Some members of the Dawoodi Bohra community who have spoken against the procedure say the surgery is performed to suppress female sexuality, reduce sexual pleasure and curb promiscuity, according to court records.

The procedure is most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with migrants from those regions, according to the World Health Organization. For example, 99 percent of girls in Somali have their genitals mutilated while more than 85 percent of girls in Egypt are mutilated.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control estimate that up to 500,000 women and girls are at risk of having the barbaric procedure performed on them. This high number is largely due to the increasing number of refugees, asylees and migrants imported to the U.S. from the Third World over the last 35 years. The vast majority of the refugees entering the U.S. every year, about 95 percent, are hand-selected by the United Nations.

There are four major types of female genital mutilation, including a partial or total removal of the clitoris.

Prosecutors in Michigan alleged that two girls’ clitorises were completely removed, but the evidence is lacking for at least one girl, Smith said.

Read the full story here.

_____________________

Can’t Use Commerce Laws to Illegalize FGM Child Abuse

John R. Houk

© November 23, 2018

_______________________

Federal judge strikes down U.S. ban on female genital mutilation

About Leo Hohmann 

Leo Hohmann is a veteran investigative reporter and author whose recent book, “Stealth Invasion” spent the majority of 2017 among Amazon.com’s top 10 books about immigration policy. He has spent decades researching and writing about education, immigration, crime, politics and religion. His articles have appeared at WND.com, Frontpage Magazine, Whistleblower Magazine, Jihad Watch, the Drudge Report, Refugee Resettlement Watch and many other websites and publications. Hohmann has been interviewed by dozens of local and national radio hosts including Laura Ingraham, Alex Jones, Daniel Horowitz, Larry Elder, George Noory of Coast to Coast, and Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries. His mission has always been to fearlessly report truths about the great issues of our time and connect the dots, wherever they may lead.

Donate to Leo Hohmann

Intro to 'We the People'

A Divided or Unified America

 John R. Houk, Blog Editor

© November 21, 2018

This is one of the most thought provoking submissions from Justin Smith on the state of our U.S. Government platformed by the U.S. Constitution.

I am uncertain if it was Justin’s intention but this essay provides good reasoning to reform America’s Constitution. There is as much a divide between naysayers and pro-Constitution reformers for a new Constitutional Convention for American Governance.

The naysayers are concerned about the intrusion of abusive power (both Conservative and Leftists) in government. Constitutional Reformers believe that parameters can be imposed on Constitutional delegates in the framing of a new Constitution. Frankly, in this day and age there are elements of truth that are probably valid concerns from both the naysayers and reformers.

My biggest concern based on America’s last two election cycles, is that Americans are so divided on political ideology (Conservative vs. Leftist) the atmosphere for give and take deliberation in a convention may be impossible.

If you look at American history, Americans were not exactly unified in certainty in leaving the British Monarchy for complete independence. Many Americans considered themselves British citizens living in colonial America. While many other Americans were so upset with British governance exploiting colonial life relegating colonialists conquered subjects with no self-determination in practical local governing robbed of British privilege.

The former were loyal to the Crown but still displeased with socio-political governing. The latter were so displeased with British governing that the feeling of self-governing would provide a better socio-political life based on representation. Then there were a group of colonials that were ambivalent and just sought existence.

Of course the outcome favored the self-government by representation group of colonials; however, there was enough displeasure with British governance among Crown-favored Americans that remained after the Revolutionary War that a consensus could be deliberated upon in the formation of a national government of united former colonies.

On a personal level, I have doubts such a consensus via deliberation is possible in America’s current political divide. The political atmosphere today resembles the America of the Civil War than the Americans during the War of Independence.

I suspect America’s current divide may devolve into a war that would determine the political future of make-up of the United States. Lacking a Lincoln-like individual, that make-up may or may not be a Fractured States of America.

My prayer for America is for a Lincoln-like individual for a unified future. If not, I fear America’s future will fated to foreign domination by a more globalist-minded governance.

JRH 11/21/18

In this current state of media censorship & defunding, consider

chipping in a few bucks to keep my blogging habit flowing:

Please Support SlantRight 2.0

********************

'We the People'

Or A Nation of Sheep

By Justin O. Smith

Sent 11/20/2018 9:04 PM

Americans, by and large, have not kept themselves informed, and adhered to the limits the Constitution imposes upon our government, which has resulted in more than half the problems we face today as a country. And, because the voters themselves do not know, or care, what the Constitution says, they elect candidates who have no intention, or desire, to support and defend it -- believing in "the end justifies the means".  It is a vicious cycle that repeats itself every election cycle and won’t stop until the people take the time to learn what the drafters of the Constitution intended when they wrote it.

So, as Lysander Spooner so aptly said, “But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorizes such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.” I could almost stop right there, saying that is how I feel about our system of government, and the document that established it…but I won’t.

Even though the Constitution outlined a fundamentally sound system of government, in theory, the problem is that it was the creation of a group of men who held differing views on what government should look like and what powers it should hold.

Ben Franklin explained it best when he said:

"For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another’s throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us in returning to our Constituents were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partizans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received ..." (Source: Franklin’s Final Address to the Constitutional Convention.

There were many concerns expressed by these patriots who opposed the Constitution, but the underlying theme that can be found in most of their writings is that the Constitution created a consolidation of the States into a Union under a strong centralized government.

In a more perfect union, a more perfect Republic, our sovereign and independent states would reassert the 9th and 10th Amendments more forcefully, since they have been abrogated out of existence by federal laws and judicial activism; the states should unite themselves together by a perpetual confederacy, without ceasing to be, each individually, a perfect state. They will together constitute a federal republic: their joint deliberations will not impair the sovereignty of each member, though they may, in certain respects, put some restraint on the exercise of it, in virtue of voluntary engagements. A person does not cease to be free and independent, when he is obliged to fulfill engagements which he has voluntarily contracted.

One of the primary concerns of the anti-Federalists was: Did the Constitution do away with the status quo and create a consolidation of the States into a single, indivisible Union; or Republic, or did the States still retain all powers which were not expressly given; allowing the government to intrude into and interfere with the lives and liberties of the people.

[Blog Editor: It is my humble opinion the concerns of the Anti-Federalists who opposed ratification of the Constitution is important thought relating to America’s current political divide. Here are posts with some perspective on Anti-Federalist thought:

o   Introduction to the Antifederalists

o   The Anti-Federalists Predicted Today’s Political Morass, and Can Help Us Get Out

o   The Anti-Federalists and their important role during the Ratification fight

o   The Constitutional Convention debates and the Anti-Federalist Papers]

On June 5, 1788 in a speech opposing ratification of the Constitution, Patrick Henry expressed those exact sentiments as follows:

“I rose yesterday to ask a question which arose in my own mind. When I asked that question, I thought the meaning of my interrogation was obvious: The fate of this question and of America may depend on this: Have they said, we, the States? Have they made a proposal of a compact between states? If they had, this would be a confederation: It is otherwise most clearly a consolidated government. The question turns, Sir, on that poor little thing-the expression, We, the people, instead of the States, of America.“

It should be obvious, that the people had already established republics by their having created their own State Legislatures, so they actually had no need to create another Republic for the purpose of governing them all. The purpose for which the delegates were sent to Philadelphia was to arrive at suggestions for amendments, in order to make the existing Confederation Government adequate for the needs of the country; not to toss the existing form of government in the trash heap and replace it with one of their creation.

If the powers given to this new form of government were to be exercised primarily upon the States, then why did the drafters of the Constitution demand that it be ratified by the voice of the people; as it was the States whose authority would be further restricted, or usurped, by the creation of this new form of government. However, if this new system of government was, in fact, a consolidation and a diminishing of the sovereignty of the States, then it would make sense that the people must give their consent to it.

Yet, in Federalist 45 James Madison attempted to ensure the people that the States would retain their authority over the lives and liberties of the people by saying:

“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected.

The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State."

Most Americans believe the Bill of Rights protects certain rights against governmental interference. That is only partially true, since the Bill of Rights are amendments to the Constitution which created our federal government; not the constitutions which framed the various State governments. Therefore, technically they only apply to the federal government. However, an argument can also be made that, since the Constitution itself is the Supreme Law of the land, any amendment to it could be implied to apply to the States as well.

Keeping things simple, let’s just say that the Bill of Rights only applies to the federal government. How is it then that the government can dictate what kind of guns private citizens may own; how is it that the Supreme Court -- which is PART of the federal government -- decides whether a State may display the Ten Commandments, or that children be prohibited from praying in school; how is it that the federal government can violate the 4th Amendment by spying upon the private conversations of every man, woman and child in this country, just to keep us safe from terrorism?

There exists a whole list of things the federal government has done which are not among the powers listed in Article 1, Section 8 as those powers given to Congress; which in case you have forgotten, is the lawmaking body of our government; not the President as so many seem to think.

This has all been done because of the concept of implied powers; something introduced while George Washington was President. That occurred because the Constitution itself did not provide specific enough limitations upon the powers it was granting government; leaving loopholes by which government has expanded its power well beyond those originally intended.

So, if that is true, then the Constitution itself failed the people as it did not provide sufficient means for the people to resist the encroaching powers of government and to ward off tyranny and oppression.

Not one individual can provide me with the Article and Clause that grants any of us the authority to arrest and charge any of our elected officials, for the crime of violating the Constitution, because such a clause simply does not exist. And, it is this oversight that has resulted in the Constitution's failure, by not providing the means to oppose a government that no longer adheres to any kind of limits upon their power and authority.

I only care whether the party that is in control adheres to the Constitutional limitations imposed upon them and seeks to protect and defend my rights…that and nothing more, and both parties have failed miserably in this duty. If government does not do this, then I revoke my consent to being governed by it.

Why do Americans still support a government that no longer resembles or represents the ideas and beliefs which led our Founders to seek their independence from a tyrant? Why do they so meekly submit to tyranny and oppression today? Is there not a drop of patriotic blood left in their bodies?

One certainly must wonder what has kept Americans from marching on D.C, with rifles in hand and sixteen feet lengths of rope, so criminals like Hillary Clinton, Obama and Susan Rice and many others could be hung from the highest tree, or the balcony of the Capitol Building; especially in light of the current double standard of "law" applied in America.

All I see is a nation of sheep who meekly obey the commands of their masters. What has become of the land of the free and the home of the brave? LaVoy Finicum was brave and he was gunned down in cold blood; with the media and the people calling him an extremist.

I seek to restore America to Her Founding Principles and more of an Originalist approach towards the implementation of the U.S. Constitution, which has been bastardized far and away from anything ever intended by the Founding Fathers. If Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson were alive today they would either have fled the country, or they would be serving time, in Guantanamo Bay as domestic terrorists, because the people of this country no longer care about limited government or individual liberty; all they care about is comfort and security, whether it's the Democrats or Republicans providing it.

And it makes me sick to death to watch.

~ Justin O Smith

______________________

Intro to 'We the People'

A Divided or Unified America

John R. Houk, Blog Editor

© November 21, 2018

______________________

'We the People'

Or A Nation of Sheep

By Justin O. Smith

Sent 11/20/2018 9:04 PM

Edited by John R. Houk

Most source links by Justin Smith. Some links are by the Editor. Text embraced by brackets are by the Editor.

© Justin O. Smith

Bill Nelson CONCEDES

Joe Esposito

I found a great post by Joe Esposito on the Facebook Group Friends Of Liberty Blog (closed group) yesterday. The post piqued my interest because the powers-that-be at Facebook censored a couple days of recent I shared on Facebook Groups which I belong as breaking Facebook guidelines. Of course that is some political hypocrisy by Facebook considering those same powers-that-be seemingly have no problem with Antisemitism, Muslim hatred of Christians, Communist admiring Leftist organizers such as Antifa & Black Lives Matter promoting violence against Conservative Americans and YOU could think of other hypocritical Facebook tolerance that apparently slips by Community guidelines for posting/sharing.

In the spirit of sharing Conservative Values that someone at Facebook could censor at a moment’s notice, I’m sharing Esposito’s post on Dem Party shenanigans in Florida during the 2018 election cycle.

JRH 11/20/18

In this current state of media censorship & defunding, consider

chipping in a few bucks to keep my blogging habit flowing:

Please Support SlantRight 2.0

********************

Bill Nelson CONCEDES

By Joe Esposito

Facebook Group – Friends of Liberty Blog

11/19/2018 9:49am

Also posted at Price of Liberty Eternally

(under POETICALLY SPEAKING CONSERVATIVELY: Bill Nelson CONCEDES)

I THINK, THEREFORE I BLOG

Bill Nelson CONCEDES. Another DETESTABLE leftist is voted out of the Senate. He is finally REJECTED. Of course it happened a tad later than we all expected. The CHEATERS did their best to see that he would win. That caused among the GOP outrage and plenty of gripes. The Left thought that Nelson would prevail. You may be asking, “Why would they??” That can simply be answered in two words, BRENDA SNIPES. That beleaguered silver haired cretin failed and failed miserably. She called it quits. Can someone handcuff this SOB and send her off to a Federal Penitentiary?

The only Senate race that is still outstanding is in Mississippi. That should be a no brainer. It will go to the GOP. But that may take awhile for I am sure that the Democrat will not concede. This is the atmosphere that our body politic is in. The Democrats don’t take to losing. These DISGUSTING REPROBATES always expect to win. There is not a single Democrat that is worthy of any smidgen of RESPECT. NONE. NADA. You cannot find one that you can actually look up to. The way they acted during the Kavanaugh Hearing they looked like they all belonged in a DAMN ZOO. They and the media are willingly destroying anything decent in our country to attain power with the purpose of never letting it go. I despise every single one of them. If you read any of my posts it is something that you already know.

So where do things stand now? In the HOUSE the MINDLESS LUNATICS have control. It is not [legislative] Bills but endless investigations that will be their utmost priority. They will do their best to severely damage the Trump presidency. They are a HAPLESS bunch, not quite up to GOP levels, but can cause great harm. We must remain in a STATE OF ALARM. The Senate is our FIREWALL. Any bill the HOUSE passes ain’t gonna see the light of day. You can bet on it. There is absolutely no effing way. The Republicans had a gain of two seats when really it should have been more. Methinks that is a little disappointing. In the final analysis it was made clear by the electorate that a DIVIDED GOVERNMENT is what they were desiring.

____________________________

From the bottom of the Price of Liberty Eternally blog post

TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Help us spread the word about THE PATRIOT Blog we're reaching millions help us reach millions more.

‼️♻️ PLEASE SHARE ♻️ ‼️

Please SHARE this now! The Crooked Liberal Media will hide and distort the TRUTH. It’s up to us, Trump social media warriors, to get the truth out. If we don’t, no one will!

Share this story on Facebook and let us know because we want to hear YOUR voice!

Facebook has greatly reduced the distribution of our stories in our readers' newsfeeds and is instead promoting mainstream media sources. When you share with your friends, however, you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you

Lincoln and Thanksgiving: The Origin of an American Holiday

Yesterday I posted on the significance of the 1620 Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock leading to Thanksgiving and Religious Liberty. Today you will find the story of how that Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving became a national holiday for the United States of America – thanks to PragerU.

JRH 11/20/18

In this current state of media censorship & defunding, consider

chipping in a few bucks to keep my blogging habit flowing.

Please Support SlantRight 2.0

*******************

VIDEO: Lincoln and Thanksgiving: The Origin of an American Holiday

Posted by PragerU

Published on Nov 19, 2018

PragerU Page

By Melanie Kirkpatrick

The very first Thanksgiving happened almost 400 years ago—long before the nation was born. How did it evolve into America’s quintessential national holiday? Credit largely goes to two people—one, a name you know; the other, you’ve probably never heard—but should. Melanie Kirkpatrick, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, gives us the run-down on how a harvest party between Pilgrims and Indians became our oldest national tradition.

_____________________

PragerU is changing the minds of millions worldwide. Help us keep our videos FREE! DONATATE PRAGERU

PRAGER UNIVERSITY IS NOT AN ACCREDITED ACADEMIC INSTITUTION AND DOES NOT OFFER CERTIFICATIONS OR DIPLOMAS. BUT IT IS A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE FREE TO LEARN.

© 2018 Prager University

What We Do

PragerU presents the most important ideas in free, five-minute videos.

…

Our Vision

A more rational America 

Our Mission

To influence culture through digital content that advances Americanism

About Us

We take the best ideas from the best minds and distill them down to five focused minutes. We then add graphics and animation to create the most persuasive, entertaining, and educational case possible for the values that have made America and the West the source of so much liberty and wealth. These values are Judeo-Christian at their core and include the concepts of freedom of speech, a free press, free markets and a strong military to protect and project those values.

… READ ENTIRETY

Thanksgiving Whine, Followed by some Historical Cheese

John R. Houk

© November 19, 2018

This year in 2018 Thanksgiving falls on November 22. If you are a Baby Boomer I am confident you are aware of the cursory history of whence Thanksgiving in relation to American history. Even though a large chunk of that history learned in school is largely legend more than actual history.

I have a suspicion the Thanksgiving story as it relates to our American heritage is largely ignored at least Public School today. Why? The centrality of the story of that Thanksgiving story was Religious Liberty and thankfulness to God Almighty. Today, Leftist propaganda and the impact of a Leftist activist Judiciary turned Freedom OF Religion into Freedom FROM Religion. Which first showed up when the Courts made it illegal to pray in school (irony – no more giving thanks to God for your school lunch in class unity). AGAIN, thanks to the activist Judiciary re-writing Constitutional interpretation accepted for nearly 200 years, prayer at Public School football games has been stripped before and/or after the game.

This Leftist forced reinterpretation of separating religious faith (in reality – separating Christianity) from anything that receives taxpayer support (mythical Church/State Separation revised interpretation) is contrary to everything representative of the credited first American Thanksgiving. This is the reason I have doubts the true nature of Thanksgiving is taught in Public School.

Now that you have consumed a little of my personal whine in reading thus far, I have a little historical cheese that you may find of interest – especially for anyone born after the Baby Boomer generation.

I found some history about the Christian Pilgrims (Separatist Puritans) of the Mayflower that landed on Plymouth Rock (in present day Massachusetts) that led to America’s beloved Thanksgiving. The article is by Bradley Birzer found at Intellectual Takeout. Even some Baby Boomers might find history that they had no awareness.

JRH 11/19/18

In this current state of media censorship & defunding, consider

chipping in a few bucks for enjoying this Blog.

Please Support SlantRight 2.0

********************

My America, 1620

By Bradley Birzer

November 16, 2018

Intellection Takeout

Mayflower, 1620

In 1620, an extraordinary thing happened.

At a small landing on the extreme western edge of the Atlantic Ocean, a boat named “Mayflower” rested just off shore of a rock, soon to be named Plymouth. Lost, but not mortally or dreadfully so, roughly 100 “sojourners” and 30 “strangers” arrived on November 11. With Autumn full blown and winter approaching quickly, the 130 had to figure out how to live with one another, how to survive a New England winter, and, most importantly, how to create a permanent community.

We all know the story. It’s been told repeatedly in every grade school in America for the last 155 years, and, in New England, since 1620 itself.  Every school child dresses up as either a pilgrim or an Indian, and we celebrate the harmony of it all. Those of us well beyond the age of school children remember the days of our dressing up as a moment of just and happy innocence, when America really was about peoples coming together, worshiping together, and loving one another without hesitation. We hunted and cooked the turkey, picked the sweet potatoes and cranberries, sat around a table together, and we broke bread with one another.

In November of the year of our Lord, 2018, we would do well to remember all of this not with mere nostalgia, but with moral intent. Gender confusions, LGBTQ questions, racial hatreds, social media rages, protesting dissensions, mass shootings, and authoritarian bullyings plague every aspect of our current American society. Some—on the so-called Left and so-called Right—even claim a second Civil War is coming. While this latter seems too extreme and horrific to contemplate, it is worth noting that we as a people have not been this violent or divided since 1968. Maybe it’s time to remember something that we all have in common.

Of the 130 members of the Mayflower, roughly 100 were “sojourners”—that is, those who considered themselves Puritan. Even among the Puritans, though, they were an odd sect. To be exact, they were “Separating Puritans.” That is, they believed that England and the English Church had become so corrupt (read: Catholic) that, at any moment, God might declare His mighty and just wrath by wiping the English isles off the face of the globe. As “Separating Puritans,” the Pilgrims could create a new society, one based on a proper understanding of the Gospels, as they interpreted them, as well as based on the early Church as described in St. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles.

Mainstream “Non-Separating Puritans”—who were numerically far superior to the “Separating” variety—considered the latter to be not just wrong but downright dangerous. With love as the highest virtue, the vast majority of English Puritans believed themselves a part of a larger Church, no matter how corrupt or Catholic that Church might be. To separate was to divide the body of Christ unnecessarily. Thus, they feared and despised their separating brethren. In what became Massachusetts, the non-separating variety would so out-populate and demographically surround the separating variety as to make the separating variety rather meaningless within a generation or two of initial settlement. All Puritans became one large New England family, more or less.

Whatever one thinks of the theology of the “sojourners,” their very attempt and survival in 1620 is nothing short of astounding. Imagine landing in a world completely unlike your own and with winter quickly approaching. There is no “escape.” To return to England would mean a cold death on the high seas. To move into the wilderness would mean settlement with even less knowledge of the land and much greater danger than life on the coast. Further, imagine landing hundreds of miles north of any known European settlement. There is no law, no authority, and no established way of life.

Yet, then consider what the Pilgrims really accomplished. Armed with scripture, the English Common Law, some weapons, families (for social stability), and an audacity rarely witnessed in the history of human kind, the Pilgrims made a go of it. To establish the import of the moment of community creation and to solidify their fragile community itself, the Pilgrims wrote a covenant, now incorrectly labeled the “Mayflower Compact.” While the re-naming of this document demands its own essay, suffice it to note here: New England historians and archivists employed the name “Mayflower Compact” for the first time ever in the early 1790s. Attempting to define American history from Plymouth Rock, not from Charleston or some other southern port of entry, the New Englanders of the 1790s renamed the document so as not to put off non-religious Americans. Compact, after all, was more acceptable for a secular, liberal, and Lockean people. Its original name—the Plymouth Combination—made its authors too much into exactly what they were—a radically religious sect of people. When the Pilgrims used “Combination,” they meant it quite literally. Combination was the English term for “covenant.”

It’s worth reproducing here:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

Once again, just imagine the audacity. With no king, no judges, no lawyers, no bureaucrats, and no bishops, a small group of people asserted the right to govern themselves as they saw fit. Though only half of the sojourners and half of the strangers made it through the winter of 1620-1621, it would be impossible to call the experiment a failure. After all, half did survive, rule themselves, and established the pattern for almost all settlement of what would become the United States.

This glorious November as the election cycle brings even more bitterness, more anger, and more division, it’s well worth remembering a time that we all share in common—the real founding of America by a group of ordered, well-armed, and determined Christian families. Though I’m a Kansan Roman Catholic born in the Summer of Love, I can state with certainty, as I remember the audacity of the “sojourners” and “strangers,” this is my America.

This article has been reprinted with the permission [to Intellectual Takeout] of the Imaginative Conservative.

_____________________

Thanksgiving Whine, Followed by some Historical Cheese

John R. Houk

© November 19, 2018

_____________________

My America, 1620

Copyright © 2017 Intellectual Takeout. All rights reserved. | 8011 34th Avenue South, Suite C-11 - Bloomington, MN 55425 

About Intellectual Takeout

Like you, we are deeply troubled by the growing divisions within America. Discussions today quickly become heated, emotional yelling matches that drive people further apart. Many of us even fear making our opinions known, lest we be ostracized, threatened, fired, or even physically assaulted.

  

How did the land of the free and home of the brave come to this? Frankly, we see a couple of significant contributors: Breakdown of the education system and the collapse of family and community.

Decades ago, parents could count on the local schools to train students in logic and ensure that they would be historically and culturally literate. No more. Meanwhile, the ongoing collapse of community, family, and faith leaves a large and growing number of Americans feeling lost, lonely, and adrift.

These changes, combined with smart phones and social media, have created a perfect environment for propagandists preying upon emotions to drive their agendas that threaten our very way of life.

While the times are indeed grave, there is hope. Every day the staff of Intellectual Takeout come to work eager to help restore and improve our great nation. We interact with millions of Americans each week, publishing numerous articles each day and then promoting them through vast social media and e-mail networks. Additionally, we host events, publish a monthly newsletter, provide commentary for traditional media shows, and give speeches to groups of all size.

Through it all, we have seen a great thirst for the work we do. As Eleanor W. wrote and told us:

“Reading the posts from you all every day is as refreshing as water to a desert traveler.”

It’s why we exist: To serve as a refuge for those who want to pursue truth, rediscover the wisdom and traditions of the past, discuss ideas calmly, and apply what’s been learned to their own lives and networks.

Now more than ever, Americans need a refuge for rational discourse, a place to peacefully pursue truth. To support Intellectual Takeout with a tax-deductible donation, please click here.