Former President Donald Trump on Friday said on social media that a future Trump administration will be “great” for “reproductive rights,” setting off various reactions online. Democrats have been laser-focused on the issue of abortion for upcoming elections, routinely falsely claiming that pro-life laws are responsible for hurting women and telling Americans that Trump wants to outlaw abortion in all cases, which is not Trump’s position. Again addressing the issue on Friday, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” The term “reproductive rights” is used synonymously with abortion by Democrats. It’s unclear if Trump meant the same; he did post five-plus hours later about “leading” on in vitro fertilization, or IVF. “The Republican Party is charging forward on many fronts, and I am very proud that we are a LEADER on I.V.F.,” he wrote. Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing noted Trump’s pro-life legacy while deeming the “reproductive rights” post Trump’s “worst statement” since he first launched his campaign in 2015. “The worst statement Donald Trump has made since he announced for the presidency in 2015,” Boreing wrote. “For better and for worse, Trump is philosophically malleable. His first term was perhaps the most pro-life in actual effect of any administration in our history. That is his legacy – if he will keep it.” During Trump’s tenure in the White House, he appointed three of the five Supreme Court Justices who overturned the abortion ruling Roe v Wade, a feat pro-life activists have been working toward for decades. “So perhaps [Trump] will yet walk this back,” Boreing added. “I certainly pray he does.” Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you. The worst statement Donald Trump has made since he announced for the presidency in 2015. For better and for worse, Trump is philosophically malleable. His first term was perhaps the most pro-life in actual effect of any administration in our history. That is his legacy – if he… https://t.co/CAXzHQTwcx — Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) August 23, 2024 Conservative Allie Beth Stuckey commented, “Absolutely no one is thinking, ‘I’m this close to voting for Trump. If he makes one more pro-choice post, I am IN!’ I promise,” she wrote. “Winning no one and losing enough for it to matter.” Absolutely no one is thinking, “I’m this close to voting for Trump. If he makes one more pro-choice post, I am IN!” I promise. Winning no one and losing enough for it to matter — Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) August 24, 2024 Chief’s kicker Harrison Butker — who recently waded into the political space to much applause from the Right — urged Trump’s running mate JD Vance to help align the GOP with more strongly promoting life. “No party or candidate is perfect,” Butker wrote on X. “I implore my fellow Catholic [JD Vance] to help bring the Republican Party back in line with the foundational platform that all life is valuable and there can be no compromise when it comes to defending the unborn.” “However, with that said: ‘Our obligation is to vote for the lesser of two evils because voting for a lesser evil preserves the good that could be potentially lost,'” Butker added, quoting Father Chad Ripperger. No party or candidate is perfect. I implore my fellow Catholic @JDVance to help bring the Republican Party back in line with the foundational platform that all life is valuable and there can be no compromise when it comes to defending the unborn. However, with that said: “Our… pic.twitter.com/EkWg80dK1Q — Harrison Butker (@buttkicker7) August 23, 2024 “On Trump’s troubling statement on ‘reproductive rights,’ here is my prayer: if he’s elected President, he will not give any ground on this issue, but will be as effectively pro-life as he was from 2016-20,” author Owen Strachan reacted. “Trump was the most consequentially pro-life President in history.” On Trump’s troubling statement on “reproductive rights,” here is my prayer: if he’s elected President, he will not give any ground on this issue, but will be as effectively pro-life as he was from 2016-20. Trump was the most consequentially pro-life President in history. — Owen Strachan (@ostrachan) August 23, 2024 Back in April, Trump made clear that he believes the GOP should not press for federal pro-life legislation, arguing that Democrats “want this [issue of abortion] to simmer for as long a period of time as possible.” “They are destroying our country, and they don’t want to talk about inflation, a bad economy, the horrible open border, rigged elections, Afghanistan, Ukraine/Russia, or the attack on Israel, all of which would never have happened if I were president,” Trump posted at the time. “They love this issue, and they want to keep it going for as long as Republicans will allow them to do so,” he added. “Terminating Roe v. Wade was, according to all legal scholars, a great event, but sometimes with great events come difficulties. Many good Republicans lost elections because of this issue…” Related: Trump Hits Back At Graham Over Abortion, Says Dems ‘Are Thrilled With Lindsey Because They Want This Issue To Simmer’

'I’m a proud American'

'The only reason why we take him seriously is because his last name is Kennedy!'

'Welcome home'

A federal court ruled last week that an Ohio school district violated the First Amendment rights of a Christian teacher, which experts are hailing as a victory for free speech and religious liberty. Hired as a full-time English teacher at the end of the 2021 academic school year, Vivian Geraghty had resigned from her position in 2022 after being told to use a student’s “preferred pronouns.” The argument she gave in her lawsuit was that the use of pronouns that didn’t reflect the child’s biological sex “would force her to embrace the concept of gender identity against her religious belief that God created two unchanging sexes, male and female.” According to district court Judge Pamela Barker, the Jackson Local School District “compelled Geraghty to use the students’ preferred names and pronouns.” In doing so, it forced the teacher “to utter what was not in her mind about a question of political and religious significance.” Sarah Parshall Perry, senior legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, posted on X that the court’s decision is “good news for freedom of belief.” “Schools cannot force teachers, administrators, or students to use ‘preferred pronouns’ when doing so would violate their beliefs—religious or otherwise,” she added. “Gender identity makes a rotten foundation for case law. More victories like this one are certain to come.” Thomas Jipping, also at The Heritage Foundation, further noted that this is “further evidence that … these gender policies are NOT related to curriculum or administration where schools receive deference. These are ideological policies schools are choosing to impose on kids and families.” Arielle Del Turco, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, shared with The Washington Stand, “It’s good to see the court affirm this teacher’s First Amendment rights in this case.” Ultimately, “Teachers should not face compelled speech in favor of one ideological perspective which violates their deeply held religious beliefs. This is what the school did by trying to force a Christian teacher to use preferred gender pronouns that did not correspond with students’ biological sex.” Schools are meant for learning, Del Turco contended, so they “should stay out of the business of forcing ideological conformity.” Thankfully, she added, “religious freedom has consistently won in the courts.” But “it is discouraging to see school districts keep putting that to the test. We need a restoration of respect for religious freedom and freedom of speech in the culture, not just the courts.” David Closson, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, gave a biblical analysis to the situation Geraghty found herself in. “The pernicious lie of LGBTQ ideology is causing irreparable harm amongst so many young people today,” he said. “I commend Geraghty for her bold stance against an ideology that is destructive and responsible for sowing harm and confusion amongst children in classrooms.” Since the case is not the first of its kind, and it likely won’t be the last, Closson emphasized the importance of dissecting the case from a biblical worldview to better prepare for when it comes up again. The fact is, he observed, “God created male and female and the idea that someone can change their gender is not only nonsensical from a scientific perspective but has no grounding in the Bible or Christian theology.” And while “it is never easy to take a stand for truth, the consequences of not taking this stand could potentially cost many lives of the next generation.” As such, he contended, Christians need to be fervently praying. With the start of a new school year, “Christians everywhere should be in prayer for teachers and especially believers who are serving in the classroom”—particularly believers who teach in public or non-Christian schools. For them, Closson pointed out, “the pressure to conform to gender ideology is stronger now than it ever has been.” And so, “We need to be praying for teachers to have the courage of their convictions.” Not simply so that “their own civil rights are protected by school administration officials, but also so that they may “be light and salt in the environment that the Lord has them in.” In addition to praying for teachers, Closson emphasized the need to pray for the students. “It’s important to remember that between kindergarten and 12th grade, a student will spend 16,000 hours in a formal classroom environment.” This means believers need to pray “for the Christian students facing thousands of hours of instruction that often undermines a biblical worldview,” he urged. Pray, Closson concluded, “that they will be able to separate truth from lies and take a stand for God’s Word when everything around them is going to be encouraging them to embrace unbiblical ideologies and worldviews.” Originally published by The Washington Stand The post Court Rules in Favor of Christian Teacher Forced to Use Trans Pronouns appeared first on The Daily Signal.

What Does It Take to Get Publicly Disavowed By the Kennedys?

After an unsuccessful appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins tried the late night comedy circuit again on Friday as she joined HBO’s Bill Maher on Real Time to recap the Democratic National Convention. During their conversation, Maher argued that CNN’s coverage was “the same as The View,” while Collins desperately tried to claim that “we call bullshit on every side.” Maher recalled, “I know what the conservative side of America thinks, and I don't blame them. I watched Kamala's speech last night, it ended at 8:09, or, I guess, 11:09 in the east. It wasn't until 11:23 ‘til the one conservative guy, what’s his name?”     As Collins informed him it was Scott Jennings, Maher continued, “Lonely Scott, I call him.” Collins also cited David Urban, but Maher wasn’t buying it, “Wait a second, wait a second, I watched from 8:09 to 8:23, it was just gushing about how great a speech it was, and I think she did fine, I didn’t think it was as good as they were making it out to be, but if I'm a conservative in America and I'm watching CNN, just for the straight middle-of-the-road, that's what I hear for 15 minutes is 'it's great' and then Lonely Scott. When you see -- it does look like tokenism. It's, kind of, like, the same as The View, it's like, it’s almost better to have nobody there like MSNBC.” Defending her colleagues, Collins claimed it was natural to have Democrats opine on the Democratic Convention first, “I don't think you can say it's better to have nobody there than also lament the fact that you don't think that conservative guy, Scott Jennings, who is great and we have him on my show all the time, spoke up early enough. I think it was a Democratic Convention, they turned to Democrats, people like David Axelrod, who ran successful presidential Democratic campaigns first, for their analysis of this, and I don't think you can say that CNN is anything, but fair.” Whatever one thinks of that defense, what followed was less defensible, “I mean, look at, we covered President Biden's exit from the race very closely, the pressure on him to get out and I feel like I could speak with authority on this -- I'm from Alabama, I'm from a very red state, I have a very conservative family, a lot of them are Trump voters, they watch my show every night to and I think they know that they can trust me, that we call bullshit on every side, not just whatever leaning our audience may be, and I think that's something people want more of his to hear from that.” Sure, a broken clock is still right two times a day, and Collins will occasionally call out Democrats, but on the whole, CNN goes much softer on Democrats, and sometimes their anti-GOP fact-checks aren’t even accurate, forcing Republicans to have to turn the tables on CNN. Collins proceeded to unwittingly undermine her point, “I think Scott's voice is really important, but I think other voices are important to hear from, and everyone who was speaking last night, it’s not like they were all Democrats. I mean, Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, Abby Philip, all my amazing colleagues giving analysis.” Maher concluded the CNN-DNC portion of the interview by pointing out the problem with that, “They come across that way. They came across that way in a moment like that. It was like five-to-one, it always looks like five-to-one.” Here is a transcript for the August 23 show: HBO Real Time with Bill Maher 8/23/2024 10:12 PM ET BILL MAHER: I'm talking about the people on CNN and I know what the conservative side of America thinks, and I don't blame them. I watched Kamala's speech last night, it ended at 8:09, or, I guess, 11:09 in the east. It wasn't until 11:23 ‘til the one conservative guy, what’s his name? KAITLAN COLLINS: Scott Jennings. MAHER: Lonely Scott, I call him. COLLINS: David Urban was there too. MAHER: Wait a second, wait a second, I watched from 8:09 to 8:23, it was just gushing about how great a speech it was, and I think she did fine, I didn’t think it was as good as they were making it out to be, but if I'm a conservative in America and I'm watching CNN, just for the straight middle-of-the-road, that's what I hear for 15 minutes is “it's great” and then Lonely Scott. When you see -- it does look like tokenism. It's, kind of, like, the same as The View, it's like, it’s almost better to have nobody there like MSNBC. COLLINS: I don't think you can say it's better to have nobody there than also lament the fact that you don't think that conservative guy, Scott Jennings, who is great and we have him on my show all the time, spoke up early enough.  I think it was a Democratic Convention, they turned to Democrats, people like David Axelrod, who ran successful presidential Democratic campaigns first, for their analysis of this, and I don't think you can say that CNN is anything, but fair. I mean, look at, we covered President Biden's exit from the race very closely, the pressure on him to get out and I feel like I could speak with authority on this -- I'm from Alabama, I'm from a very red state, I have a very conservative family, a lot of them are Trump voters, they watch my show every night to and I think they know that they can trust me, that we call bullshit on every side, not just whatever leaning our audience may be, and I think that's something people want more of his to hear from that. I think Scott's voice is really important, but I think other voices are important to hear from, and everyone who was speaking last night, it’s not like they were all Democrats. I mean, Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, Abby Philip, all my amazing colleagues giving analysis. MAHER: They come across that way. They came across that way in a moment like that. It was like five-to-one, it always looks like five-to-one.

Ari Fleischer Spots the 'Dem-Media Industrial Complex in Action' After Harris Convention Deception