The Justice Department is seeking prison time for two pro-life Christians convicted of violating federal law for their roles in a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion facility. Pro-life activists Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, and Eva Edl are all set to be sentenced this week for their participation in a sit-in protest at a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, abortion facility in March 2021. The Justice Department has asked for federal judges to impose a prison sentence on both Gallagher and Idoni, while asking for Edl to be given probation.  Gallagher and Idoni were convicted in January in Nashville of engaging in a conspiracy against rights and violating the FACE Act, a Clinton-era law that makes it a federal crime to physically block access to an abortion facility. Edl, an 89-year-old communist concentration camp survivor, was convicted of violating the FACE Act in April.  In pre-sentencing filings, the Biden DOJ has asked Judge Aleta Trauger to sentence Gallagher, 75, to 20 months in prison and three years of probation, and to sentence Idoni to eight months in prison and three years of supervised release. The Justice Department will allow Idoni to concurrently serve sentences for conspiracy and FACE Act charges, but only after she completes her two-year sentence for a similar conviction out of Washington, D.C.  Trauger and Idoni are set to be sentenced on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The Justice Department has asked for 3 years of probation for Edl, who will be sentenced Thursday morning by Judge Chip Frensley. Edl was convicted in August of a conspiracy charge for a pro-life protest in Detroit and, could face prison upon sentencing.  The conspiracy charge, a Reconstruction-era law designed to counter the Ku Klux Klan, carries stiff penalties of over 10 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Pro-life activists around the country have already received over five years in prison for the charge, which was first applied to pro-lifers by the Biden-Harris administration.  During the protest over which they were charged, the pro-lifers sang hymns, prayed, urged women not to get abortions, and sat in front of doors in a hallway outside the Carafem Health Center Clinic.  Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here! The Biden-Harris administration’s prosecutions of peaceful activists are being challenged by the Thomas More Society, which is working to appeal the Nashville and D.C. FACE Act and conspiracy convictions, and convince a federal judge to dismiss the Detroit convictions.  In a video briefing Thursday night attended by The Daily Wire, Thomas More Society attorney Steve Crampton was optimistic about stopping the targeted prosecution of pro-lifers under the FACE Act.  “We’re going after FACE, we hope to knock it completely out of the water on these appeals. And we’re also going after this conspiracy against rights statute and we think we’re going get that thing knocked out of the park as well,” Crampton said.  He said that data shows 97% of all prosecutions have been against pro-lifers, even though the law was supposed to protect churches and pregnancy centers when it was passed in the 1990s. “Instead the Biden-Harris administration has brought a grand total of 25% percent of all the FACE cases ever brought since its inception in 1994 in the last two years and targeted pro-lifers,” he said.  Crampton said that he believed they would win on appeal, but that he was ready to go to the Supreme Court, which has never heard a FACE Act case before, if necessary.  Because of the selective prosecution and overturning of Roe v. Wade, Crampton argued that the law is unconstitutional.  “FACE always was about protecting one thing and that was abortion,” Crampton said. “Since the Dobbs decision and the overturn of Roe, abortion is no longer recognized as a federally protected right. So FACE is an act without really a purpose.” He also argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in Fischer, which limited the Justice Department’s ability to prosecute January 6 protesters, could be applied in the pro-life cases. In both cases, the Justice Department resurrected an old law to pursue harsh penalties against protesters in a different context than that with which the law originally dealt.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged he “messed up” by letting his companies Facebook and Meta get too involved in politics. Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whats App. Zuckerberg spoke at a podcast event in San Francisco earlier this month at which he bemoaned the fact the his companies and their employees had weighed in too much about political matters. “The political environment, I think I didn’t have much sophistication around, and I think I just fundamentally misdiagnosed the problem,” Zuckerberg said, according to The New York Times. “I think it’s going to take another 10 years or so for us to fully work through that cycle before our brand is back to the place that it could have been, if I hadn’t messed up in the first place.” Attempting to establish a positive relationship with former President Trump, Zuckerberg has spoken with him twice in the last few months. According to the Times, at a conference this summer, Zuckerberg said he “regretted hiring employees at his philanthropy who tried to push him further to the left on some causes” Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here! In an August 26 letter to Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, Zuckerberg wrote: In 2021, senior officials from the Biden administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree. Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of thus pressure. I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. Zuckerberg has hired Republican strategist Brian Baker to ameliorate his position with right-wing media and Republican officials, the Times noted. After Meta removed images of the assassination attempt on former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Zuckerberg called Trump to apologize.

Jennifer Aniston became a victim of a Los Angeles Police Department swatting incident after someone called in a fake wellness check on the “Friends” star in the late hours of the evening last Friday. Authorities are investigating the swatting incident after the LAPD responded to the 55-year-old actress’ home in Los Angeles following a call that compelled them to perform a wellness check, TMZ reported. Police told the outlet they got a call from someone claiming that their friend was “not doing well” and reportedly alluded to depression or worse. Authorities then responded after midnight to the home, not knowing it was Aniston’s. Once they arrived and were met by the actress’ security, the LAPD realized what had happened. They also spoke to Aniston, who was able to reassure them she was fine. Jennifer Aniston’s home was swatted in an incident now being investigated by L.A. police.https://t.co/dTBFIhHXto — New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) September 25, 2024 The act of calling in a fake wellness check or active crime and getting police to respond is known as swatting, a growing trend targeting many in Hollywood, the outlet noted. It is considered a criminal harassment act, Parade magazine noted. Aniston’s address has since been noted in the system, prompting police to call her security before they will send out officers. It is not the first swatting incident that the LAPD has been dealing with. Officers have gotten similar fake wellness check calls for such stars as Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Tom Cruise, just to name a few, Parade noted. Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here! A previous Daily Wire report noted that amid a massive rise in crime in places like Los Angeles, more celebrities were hiring at-home bodyguards and personal protection due to laws that security experts say have “emboldened the criminals.” “The Citywide property crimes statistics showed a 3.5% increase in 2023. Motor vehicle thefts increased by 2% as compared to 2022,” according to 2023 LAPD end-of-year crime statistics report. President and CEO of the L.A.-based World Protection Group Kent Moyer previously told The Daily Wire, it’s not just a bump in business, but an “explosion” as more celebrities seek protection amid skyrocketing crime rates. “It’s an explosion of business,” Moyer told The Daily Wire, noting things like “home invasion robberies” being up and saying “people are afraid.” Moyer said California laws such as “Prop. 47 and no cash bail” have “emboldened the criminals.” The CEO also explained that things like “Defund the Police” have forced members of law enforcement into early retirement. Related: Jennifer Aniston Says She’s Done With ‘Cancel Culture’

'We’ll see what happens tonight'

'The workflow describes the two main steps in the process'

This will easily clear $1 million

'Finger-to-the-wind politician'

'He's just like a bug. Bzzzzz'

It’s being called India’s first private biosphere—a 32-acre forest haven bursting with life and inspired by James Cameron’s Avatar.  Environmentalist and clean air activist Jai Dhar Gupta dreamt of a place like Pandora, the fictional planet in the film—a luscious Darwinian playground of evolution vibrant with sound and color. For the entrepreneur’s 50th birthday, he teamed […] The post Inspired by Avatar and His Asthma, Indian Man Creates ‘Biosphere’ to Connect Adjacent Land to National Park appeared first on Good News Network.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Temple Health is using tax-exempt university resources to operate a get-out-the-vote effort in a predominantly Democratic area. The university health system, affiliated with Temple University in Philadelphia, is operating a voter-registration drive and get-out-the-vote effort in North Philadelphia, which is predominantly liberal and votes overwhelmingly Democratic, according to internal documents obtained by Do No Harm and shared with The Daily Signal. Do No Harm is a Glen Allen, Va.-based nonprofit medical policy advocacy group focused on depoliticizing the health care system. The Philadelphia voter-registration effort is controversial, inasmuch as Pennsylvania may be the most hotly contested swing state in the Nov. 5 presidential election. Do No Harm obtained a video of Temple’s volunteer training and the volunteer application form, which asks if Temple students and employees are interested in canvassing in North Philadelphia, staffing a voter-registration table at a hospital, or helping with emergency absentee balloting. According to the training video, volunteers staff tables in Temple hospitals and canvass door-to-door in North Philadelphia, asking people if they are registered to vote, helping them register, helping them make a plan to vote in person or by mail, and educating them on the voting process. The leader of the training session was clear that volunteers should not share who they are voting for or share information that can be seen as an endorsement or opposition to a particular candidate or party. The mission of the Temple Health Vote initiative is to “promote voter registration and civic engagement for Temple Health patients and members of the North Philadelphia community,” a slide in the video says. Trainees learn how to register individuals who don’t have Social Security numbers or driver’s licenses. The training director informs them they are legally allowed to mail other people’s voter-registration forms in for them. Dr. Whitney Cabey, an assistant professor at the Katz Medical School, told The Daily Signal the voter-registration initiative primarily canvasses “neighborhoods that are approximate to Temple Health System.” She said health care professionals are responsible for helping patients vote. “We are out here to promote civic health, and there is ample evidence that identifies that when people are most more civically engaged, and when they’re enfranchised, it’s also correlated with better health outcomes,” Cabey said. “It’s a nonpartisan activity, and it’s a part of our responsibility as physicians, as health care professionals, and as other people who are kind of affiliated with the health institution, to help people plan to vote safely if they’re going to, and to become as informed as they need to be or care to be about their voting options.” Temple Health is tax-exempt, as it is part of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth System of Higher Education. “It’s exempt from federal taxes, from state taxes, and it gets money from the federal government,” said Dr. Kevin Williams, professor of cardiovascular sciences and medicine at Temple’s Katz School of Medicine. “It gets money from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it’s engaging in a voter- registration drive that specifically and narrowly targets North Philadelphia, which, if you look at any demographic data, is somewhere in excess of 80-plus percent Democrat now.” Voter-registration drives are often partisan, but partisan activity should not be run out of a nonpartisan, tax-exempt, tax-supported institution, says Williams, who serves as a senior fellow at Do No Harm. Other Philadelphia-area hospital systems are also registering patients to vote, including Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health, Main Line Health, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Temple has a history of partisan activity. The far-left Human Rights Campaign designated Temple as a “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” for five years. A university health system like Temple Health should be nonpartisan, Williams said. “They have to be apolitical, nonpartisan, nonpolitical,” he said. “We’re asking rural conservative voters in Pennsylvania to financially support an institution that’s doing a voter-registration drive exclusively in hyper-Democrat areas. That’s not fair.” Taxpayers support university health systems though funding federal and state programs such as Medicaid. “If people at Temple want to do a voter-registration drive on their own time, using their own resources, this is a highly American activity,” Williams said. “But what they’re doing is, they’re using the listserve at Temple, and most of their emails, if not all of them, are being sent during working hours.” “So, they’re making use of Temple University and Temple Medical Center resources to push a voter-registration drive in a hyper-Democrat area,” he addsed. Temple should be focusing on patient health, not partisan activity, Williams said. “They’re not going out to rural Pennsylvania. They’re not going out to conservative churches,” Williams said. “They’re going out in an area that that is easily and verifiably, overwhelmingly full of Democratic voters.” “I’m very concerned about the message that this sends to medical students and trainees that somehow it’s just fine to hijack an officially nonpartisan, tax-exempt and tax-supported institutions for partisan, political purposes,” he said. The post EXCLUSIVE: University Health System Organizing Voter-Registration Drives in Heavily Democratic Area of Philadelphia appeared first on The Daily Signal.