The agricultural Israeli community of Ein HaBesor experienced a miracle on Oct. 7. Located just 3 miles from the border with Gaza and home to 320 families‚ the people of Ein HaBesor were targeted by Hamas terrorists just like so many other communities along the border that day. But miraculously‚ not a single person from Ein HaBesor was killed or taken hostage.  The community had shortly beforehand activated its security team after some theft‚ which unknowingly prepared them for the events on Oct. 7‚ as they successfully fought off the terrorists.  But the people of Ein HaBesor have been evacuated from their homes because the community is in a war zone. About 60% of Israel’s produce comes from the region‚ and without hands to care for and harvest the crops‚ all of Israel stands to be affected.  CityServe International‚ a nonprofit aid organization‚ is stepping in to help Ein HaBesor in an effort to ensure that more than half of Israel’s produce is not lost‚ and is inviting churches across America to join its efforts.  “Most people going to Israel that are of the Christian faith‚ they go there to take from Israel‚” says Todd Lamphere‚ vice president of government relations at CityServe. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just simply mean that they’re there to look at the sites‚ to see where Jesus died‚ where He was buried‚ where He was baptized‚ to get baptized in the Jordan‚ to do all of those things.” “What we’re saying is‚ let’s continue to do those‚ but let’s take three or four or five days‚ and let’s go to the fields‚ and let’s serve the nation of Israel by helping them harvest their crops‚” he said.  Lamphere joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain how Americans can either join a trip to Israel to help harvest crops‚ or can be a part of partnering with the organization as it seeks to meet the needs of the Jewish people at this time.  Listen to the podcast below: The post This Israeli Community Experienced a Miracle on Oct. 7. Now‚ It Needs Helping Hands. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

I have written in the past about the similarities of the stress and tensions in our country today to the stress and tensions that were taking place in the years before the Civil War. A free country will always have debate and differences of opinion. But that debate becomes dangerous and destructive when the differences strike at the core premises that define the very existence of the nation. When we can no longer agree about who we are‚ what we stand for‚ and why we exist‚ our very existence comes into question. As Abraham Lincoln said‚ “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Then the basic premises of our free country were challenged by the existence of slavery. The country is divided today by those who see injustice as a problem to be defined and solved by politics and those who continue to see injustice as evil defined by Scripture and dealt with through repentance and self-correction. When the issue of slavery tore apart our nation‚ most Americans were church-going citizens. The dividing line then was between those who saw slavery as a sin and those who did not. As Lincoln said in his second inaugural address‚ delivered as the Civil War raged‚ “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other.” But today the division is between those for whom religion is relevant and those for whom it is not. The latter‚ overwhelmingly‚ are on the political Left. The recent Wall Street Journal/NORC polling on national values shows the picture clearly. Of those who say religion is personally “very important‚” 27% of Democrats say yes and 53% of Republicans say yes. Of those who say patriotism is “very important‚” 23% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans say yes. Of those who agree that schools and universities have gone “too far … taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity‚” 6% of Democrats agree and 55% of Republicans agree. Of those who agree that “Businesses taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity” have gone “too far‚” 7% of Democrats agree and 52% of Republicans agree. Many are now shocked to see how politicized our universities have become. But the data shows that this is not a problem limited to our universities; it reflects broader‚ deep changes in our society. Injustice has become a problem relegated to politics as religion has increasingly been purged from our society. DEI—diversity‚ equity‚ inclusion—is a tool designed by secularists‚ who produce their own definition of injustice and then design their own quantitative tool to solve the problem they have themselves defined. This is one slice of ideology that is a subset of broader godless movements in social engineering—communism and socialism. President Ronald Reagan gave one the nation’s great speeches in March 1983 to the National Association of Evangelicals in which he called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” Reagan said then‚ “But we must never forget that no government schemes are going to perfect man. We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or‚ as theologians would put it‚ the doctrine of sin.” Speaking about the then-Soviet Union‚ Reagan said‚ “Let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State‚ declare its omnipotence over individual man … they are the focus of evil in the modern world.” With the surge to the left in our country‚ and the purge of the influence of religion‚ we have produced our own “government schemes‚” pretending they will “perfect man” and solve our social challenges. The result is the ongoing expansion of government and a burden of national debt and government spending that is crushing us. Reagan quoted William Penn saying‚ “If we will not be governed by God‚ we must be governed by tyrants.” This is where we are today. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Universities Symptom of Much Bigger Problem appeared first on The Daily Signal.

NBC News went in on PragerU‚ depicting the conservative educational nonprofit as scary disinformers threatening to upend our nation’s noble and besieged public education system. But in order to do so‚ NBC News engaged in active disinformation by depicting a family of entrenched public school advocates as a regular family. “Critics say the videos are a tool to push a political agenda”‚ is how anchor Lester Holt introduced the report before going to Antonia Hylton. Hylton‚ of course‚ is a known commodity when it comes to education reporting. Meaning‚ she’s known to take the side of entrenched public school interests against parents.  After opening with boilerplate criticism of PragerU‚ infinitesimally small quotes of both CEO Marissa Streit and founder Dennis Prager‚ and a brief chat with a teacher while displaying a deceptive edit of a Candace Owens video on the history of slavery‚ Hylton turns to a racially diverse family who “say that the broader cultural war playing out in schools is hurting teachers”:  ANTONIA HYLTON: A few minutes down the road‚ families like the Reyes‚ who are a mix of white‚ Choctaw and Mexican-American‚ say that the broader cultural war playing out in schools is hurting teachers.  JOEY REYES: We trust our people‚ right? We trust our educators- like we said‚ this is the community.  HYLTON: We showed them some of PragerU’s videos designed for kids.  CANDACE OWENS: 300‚000 Union soldiers‚ overwhelmingly white‚ who died during the Civil War. HYLTON: Zoey is in fifth grade.  ZOEY REYES: What I noticed was‚ no other culture did anything. No other culture died. No other culture tried to stop slavery. Which I know that isn’t true.  LYNDSEY REYES: That’s extremely concerning to me. Because it’s‚ you know‚ so much inaccuracy. Um. With things. Mr. and Mrs. Reyes are depicted simply‚ as “father” and “mother”‚ as if their professional backgrounds were not germane to the story. I’m certain that Mr. Reyes did not fail to disclose that he is a current member of the Union‚ Oklahoma public school board and that‚ likewise‚ Mrs. Reyes disclosed her past presidency of the Union Schools Education Foundation- organizations that are equally committed to the fundamental tenets of Diversity‚ Inclusion‚ and Equity. A commitment that‚ perhaps‚ is evidently reflected in their child’s critique of the racial makeup of the Union Army. And as I wrote this‚ I imagined General William Tecumseh Sherman being told that the March to the Sea had to be compliant with DEI benchmarks. These omissions matter because the Reyeses are more than just concerned woke parents protesting “culture war”‚ but a firmly entrenched part of the local public education machine with the power to impose actual culture war on the students they purport to serve. Hylton’s willful omissions‚ combined with the myriad emotional (but by no means substantive) protestations against PragerU’s content‚ expose the “report” as little more than propaganda in service of the continued wokification of our public school system. In so doing‚ a dirty cheap shot against PragerU becomes an inadvertent but powerful advertisement in their favor.  Click “Expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on NBC Nightly News on Tuesday‚ December 20th‚ 2023: LESTER HOLT: We’re back now with America's curriculum controversy. Tonight we’re looking at an educational video series raising concerns. It’s gaining hold in a number of states‚ but critics say the videos are a tool to push a political agenda. Antonia Hylton has our reporting.  MADISON: What does it mean to be feminine? ANTONIA HYLTON: Your kids may have seen these videos online.  MADISON: Embrace the idea of being a wife or a mother. HYLTON: Educational videos on everything from culture to history to climate.  ROGAN O’HANDLEY: Without fossil fuels‚ much of the world population would starve to death in a year.  HYLTON: This is PragerU‚ not an actual accredited university. But rather‚ a pro-American education nonprofit with growing school partnerships in New Hampshire‚ Florida and Oklahoma.  MARISSA STREIT: It’s called edutainment… HYLTON: According to CEO Marissa Streit‚ their videos are an answer to an education system too focused on diversity and gender. In this Los Angeles studio‚ PragerU’s artists focus on American exceptionalism.  STREIT: They feel like they're serving on the front lines of saving the war of ideas in America.  HYLTON: Since the pandemic‚ PragerU says it has more than doubled revenue and reached nearly 10 billion views of their videos. Founder Dennis Prager has been a controversial radio show host for years.  DENNIS PRAGER: If you're spending a good part of the day teaching kids about preferred pronouns and other what we call “woke issues”‚ then you’re really not teaching them.  HYLTON: What I hear from teachers of every background is they are slammed from block to block. They are underpaid. They are underappreciated. And that they don't even have time to talk about pronouns‚ gender theory‚ critical race theory.  PRAGER: I don't believe that they are telling you the truth. I actually think they’re lying to you. HYLTON: In Oklahoma‚ some teachers like Gabe Lilly are using PragerU in the classroom. We watched Prager’s video… CANDACE OWENS: Here’s the first thing you need to know. HYLTON: …“A Short History of Slavery” together.  OWENS: After centuries of human slavery‚ white men led the world in putting an end to the abhorrent practice.  HYLTON: She's giving credit mostly to white people right now for ending it before- before the acknowledgment of the pain that some of your students might actually know about and feel in their families‚ right? LILLY: Right. And there's a lot of content that we cover that does cover that aspect‚ but what we almost never talk about is the reality of slavery happening‚ almost since the beginning of time‚ to the end of time.  HYLTON: A few minutes down the road‚ families like the Reyes‚ who are a mix of white‚ Choctaw and Mexican-American‚ say that the broader cultural war playing out in schools is hurting teachers.  JOEY REYES: We trust our people‚ right? We trust our educators- like we said‚ this is the community.  HYLTON: We showed them some of PragerU’s videos designed for kids.  OWENS: 300‚000 Union soldiers‚ overwhelmingly white‚ who died during the Civil War. Zoey is in fifth grade.  ZOEY REYES: What I noticed was‚ no other culture did anything. No other culture died. No other culture tried to stop slavery. Which I know that isn’t true.  LYNDSEY REYES: That’s extremely concerning to me. Because it’s‚ you know‚ so much inaccuracy. Um. With things. HYLTON: What would a good American education system look like to you?  PRAGER: Like it did in the 1930s‚ minus anything that was offensive. HYLTON: All the bad things going on in the 1930s? PRAGER: Yeah. Yeah. You’re right. Minus the bad things. Yes‚ that's correct. HYLTON: A vision he’s now trying to bring to schools nationwide. Antonia Hylton‚ NBC News‚ Los Angeles.  

Democratic-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that all Americans should feel "troubled" by the Colorado Supreme Court's decision that former President Donald Trump should be blocked from appearing on the presidential primary ballot in the state. "Every American should be troubled by the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to remove President Trump from the ballot‚" Kennedy tweeted. "The court has deprived him of a consequential right without having been convicted of a crime. This was done without an evidentiary hearing in which he is given the basic right of confronting his accusers‚" he wrote. "It's time to trust the voters. It is up to the people to decide who the best candidate is. Not the courts. The people. That's Democracy 101‚" he noted. — (@) GOP presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to withdraw from the Colorado Republican presidential primary if Trump is not permitted to appear on the ballot. "The Left invokes 'democracy' to justify its use of power‚ even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds‚" Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis‚ who is also currently seeking the GOP presidential nod‚ tweeted. "SCOTUS should reverse." — (@) "Accordingly‚ we conclude that because President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three‚ it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list President Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. Therefore‚ the Secretary may not list President Trump's name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot‚ nor may she count any write-in votes cast for him‚" the Colorado Supreme Court's decision declares."But we stay our ruling until January 4‚ 2024 (the day before the Secretary's deadline to certify the content of the presidential primary ballot)‚" the court noted. "If review is sought in the Supreme Court before the stay expires‚ it shall remain in place‚ and the Secretary will continue to be required to include President Trump's name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot until the receipt of any order or mandate from the Supreme Court‚" the decision reads.Some justices dissented.Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement‚ "We will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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