For Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.” That’s particularly embarrassing for her because a sitting mayor is supposed to be reelected. She failed to impress voters, yet announced that Chicago moved forward during her term. Voters disagreed. Opponents pointed out the rise in crime and a consistently divisive leadership style.

So who is next up? We find out on April 4th when the top two vote-getters face a runoff election. Paul Vallas positions himself to be somewhat conservative in his approach to government. Brandon Johnson, the more liberal.

Both are experienced in the political arena. Paul Vallas is the former Chicago Public Schools CEO. He finished with almost 34% of the vote. Johnson is a Cook County Commissioner and drew 20.32% of the vote. He found heavy support from the educational community as a Chicago Teachers Union organizer.

Mayor Lightfoot finished third out of nine candidates. She garnered a weak 16.9% of the vote total. Lori was the first black female mayor in Chicago’s history and the first openly “gay” mayor.

Vallas is a family man. Paul and his wife, Sharon, raised three sons: Gus, Mark, and Paul Jr. Two of those men have gone on to public service careers.  The Vallas’s second born, Mark, died as a result of opioid abuse in 2018. Heartbreaking. His faith background is Greek Orthodox.

Brandon Johnson is also a family man. He resides on the west side of Chicago with wife Stacie and three children. He was born in Elgin. Brandon is the son of a pastor and one of ten siblings. It is said he was “raised on a foundation of hard work, faith, and service.” He ran as one of the most “progressive’ candidates on the ballot.

So both men “identify” with faith in the Christian tradition. However, that really does not tell us much. What we really need to know is how their faith shapes their worldview—which gives us a much better picture on how they will pursue political decisions that support (or do not support) healthy families.

For example, during the campaign, Paul Vallas was asked to clarify his views on abortion. To which he replied, “Fundamentally, I oppose abortion.” Then a spokeswoman for Vallas said he was referring to his Greek Orthodox faith, which opposes abortion.

When Vallas last ran for mayor in 2019, this was his posture on LGBTQ issues: “My approach has always been to embrace and support the LGBT community and let my actions speak louder than my words as I fight for rights and services for all Chicagoans.”

Here’s the other choice. On his brandonforchicago.com website, it was said “Brandon will transform Chicago into a national model for gender equity and reproductive rights, champion LGBTQ rights as human rights, and be a visible and vocal ally to creating safety and equal opportunity for the LGBTQ community.” Party line politics.

Same brandonforchicago.com website, this time on abortion. “There are three things I would like to make absolutely clear. One: abortion is health care. Two: abortion should be a constitutional right. Three: We will not accept an America – or a Chicago – that goes back in time. There is no middle ground on abortion.” He’s right on that last part!

Now the true colors are known of the moral positions of the two Chicago mayoral candidates. This defines their worldview. If you ask either candidate if they wish to govern with wisdom, no doubt they both would nod affirmatively. The writer of Proverbs makes it clear, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10, ESV)

Over the course of time in my role in talk radio, I would frequently ask political leaders or candidates this question: “What is your source of moral truth?” Several would stumble through their answer.

An important question, yes? I dare say, a critical question. Because that, in fact, identifies much about their worldview. We should not be afraid to ask our “leaders” (or candidates) about their worldview. Obviously, it will shape their public policy decisions.

What about your worldview? Does it need a tune-up? The Illinois Family Institute offers access to a number of worldview shaping events. There is one coming up on March 18th. You can find details on the IFI Events page.

The state of Illinois long ago made the embarrassing leap from local joke to national joke. The Land of Lincoln is now the corrupt, insolvent, morally vacuous, leftist dystopia of U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, Springfield mob boss Mike Madigan, Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot. I guess the lazy, irresponsible, anti-science, and morally vacuous community organizers that comprise the Chicago Teachers’ Union thought Illinois was not getting quite enough national PR, so on Sunday, they tweeted,

The push to reopen schools is rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny.

Say what? Even for head-scratching comments from leftists, that’s a doozy.

Are black and Latino families who want their children back in school learning and socializing racists?

Are mothers who want their daughters back in school learning and socializing sexist and misogynistic?

No need for defining terms, making assertions, and providing evidence that others are completely free to critique through reason and the provision of counterevidence. Just call names plucked from the intersectional name-calling toolbox.

Safety of school openings

Parents have seen the scientific evidence which clearly and consistently shows that if infected, children under 18 have a 99.997 percent chance of surviving COVID-19. These parents wonder why their children should suffer socially, emotionally, and academically from school shutdowns when the health risk of opening schools is negligible.

If the CTU opposes school openings out of fear for the safety of their union members, here are the survival rates for adults by age if they should contract the Wuhan virus:

22-24: 99.996 percent survival rate

25-29: 99.987 percent survival rate

30-34: 99.976 percent survival rate

35-39: 99.960 percent survival rate

40-44: 99.925 percent survival rate

45-49: 99.879 percent survival rate

50-54: 99.793 percent survival rate

55-59: 99.677 percent survival rate

60-64: 99.544 percent survival rate

Over two-thirds of public school teachers (71 percent) are under 50 years old, and only 17% are over 55.  According to the Illinois Policy Institute, “More than 71 percent of [Illinois’ Teachers’ Retirement System] members retired before the age of 60.” So, most teachers are at little risk of dying from COVID-19. Those employees who have co-morbidities that put them at great risk from contracting the Wuhan virus should be free to stay home.

But no teacher whose chance of surviving COVID-19 is over 99 percent but chooses not to work should not be paid one red cent. Their jobs should be filled by teachers who are rational and eager to work.

If teachers think it’s unsafe to work unless they’re guaranteed 0 percent risk of death, then they shouldn’t be working—anywhere. There’s a risk of death by driving to and from work or contracting influenza from a student or colleague. There is a risk of death from tripping over a small child or being bowled over by a strapping high school boy during passing periods. Life carries risks.

CTU tweet straight out of Critical Race Theory

The CTU’s tweet is what Critical Race Theory (CRT) has wrought in America. CRT—whose ideas are taught everywhere including in our public schools—divides society up into two groups: the purported oppressors and the purported oppressed. CRT claims that oppressors are those who allegedly have power and that the oppressed are those who allegedly lack cultural power.

So, who has no power—allegedly? People of color, women, those who are erotically attracted to persons of the same sex, and those who wish they were the sex they aren’t. That’s who. Those with power—allegedly—can’t help but oppress them.

Pastor and theologian John Piper identifies accurately the unbiblical assumptions at the dark heart of Critical Race Theory:

[A]t root [critical race theory proponents] believe a person’s essential identity is self-chosen, self-constructed, not God-designed or God-given. Or another way to say it would be that, when it comes to our own identity, we are our own god. We do not acknowledge or submit to any divine truth or morality as above us, constraining or limiting our own self-definition, self-construction.

So, if I choose to be a woman though God made me a man, I am right to do so. No God, no morality, no religion, no ideology can replace me as the self-determining, self-defining, self-deifying sovereign of my own identity. …

[The] fundamental assumption is that human identity is self-constructed, not God-given. Any group, therefore, that claims to have access to an infallible word of God that dictates human identity and human right and wrong is a manifest threat to human autonomy. Within the framework of critical race theory, the claim of biblical authority can be understood only as a group trying to seize power. …

Inside critical race theory, God is small and negligible. The Bible is small and negligible. Truth is small and negligible. And evil is big, and there is no answer for it. It is a hopeless path.

Who really oppresses whom in America?

While virtually the entire institutional power structure in America now worships at the altar of the gods of melanin, sexual libertinism, and genitalia, the Chicago Teachers’ Union expects us to believe persons of color, the sexually deviant, and women are relentlessly oppressed.

While people can and do lose their jobs for saying they believe homosexual acts are immoral and humans with penises are not women, the powerful in society celebrate those who announce that henceforth they will pretend to be the sex they aren’t.

I wonder, if the CTU believes opening schools constitutes hatred of women, what do they believe the vivisection of minor girls who suddenly believe they’re boys constitutes?

Chicago Teachers Union squeaks “uncle”

Facing a barrage of national criticism and mockery, the CTU deleted the absurd tweet and tweeted this in hope of soothing the justifiably outraged parents:

Fair enough. Complex issue. Requires nuance. And much more discussion. More important, the people the decision affects deserve more. So we’ll continue give [sic]them that.

“Continue” giving people affected by the CTU’s activism “nuance,” “discussion,” and “more”? Does the CTU expect people to be deceived by their inclusion of the word “continue” into believing the CTU has been providing “nuanced discussions and more” to everyone affected by their actions?

Once again, the CTU reveals its disdain for the public that pays their bloated salaries and benefits.

If only the CTU, the National Education Association, and all “progressive” activists working in public schools had the humility and commitment to tolerance, diversity, and critical thinking that they claim to have, we might have a shot at making government schools places of education instead of indoctrination.

If only “progressive” educators really believed what they tell parents about “honoring all voices” instead of censoring all voices with which they disagree, schools could become a “safe space” for even conservative students and teachers.

If only “progressive” educators who use the classroom to assail the beliefs of parents who pay their salaries respected boundaries, perhaps the government school system wouldn’t need to be dismantled.

Imagine a government school system in which “progressive” teachers and administrators admitted that some other things are complex and require nuance and much more discussion and where all voices were included in those discussions without fear or favor.

Imagine a government school system where systemic bigotry against conservative ideas did not reign supreme.

Imagine a government school system in which teachers and administrators acknowledged that ideas about race and racism derived from Critical Race Theory and embedded in the 1619 Project and a host of other resources recommended by CTU members are not objective facts but arguable assumptions.

Imagine a government school system in which teachers and administrators acknowledged that teaching other people’s children that conservative beliefs on sexuality constitute ignorant, hateful bigotry is neither objective, nor factual, nor the business of public employees.

Two chances of that happening: slim and fat.

This rare semi-apology from one of the most arrogant demographics in American society—leftist government schoolteachers—demonstrates one good thing: the collective voices of the great unwashed, ugly, deplorables still have some power remaining. And that’s why leftists want to undermine the First Amendment, pack the Supreme Court, end the filibuster, corrupt elections, and allow Big Tech and Big Media unfettered control over communication.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Absurd-Tweet-by-CTU.mp3

We are committed to upholding truth while resisting and opposing the rising wave of delusional thinking and tyrannical laws/mandates that have afflicted our state and nation. IFI will continue to provide our supporters with timely alerts, video reports, podcasts, pastors’ breakfasts, special forums, worldview conferences, and thought-provoking commentaries—content that is increasingly hard to find.

We encourage you to join us in our efforts. Your support will help us to continue our vital work in 2021. A vigorous defense of biblical truth is needed more than ever in Illinois. 

By now many Americans have learned what slimy, deceitful hypocrites California governor Gavin Newsom and his wealthy, well-connected friends are. In a stunning act of arrogant “do what I say, not what I do, PEONS,” he and his privileged co-scofflaws dined at an exclusive restaurant in Napa Valley—indoors without masks—in violation of his own rules.

His co-scofflaws included Dustin Corcoran, the CEO of the California Medical Association, and Janus Norman, the group’s lobbyist and senior vice president. Apparently, some medical professionals don’t really think dining indoors mask-less with friends puts their lives at risk. Now I’m waiting for all of Hollywood, the Democrat Party, and the faux-journalists at CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post to explode in paroxysms of sanctimonious rage and primal fear at the prospect of the imminent deaths of all the people these twelve scofflaws will infect.

But don’t worry, Newsom is very very sorry he got caught.

The reality is many—perhaps most—leftists don’t believe the alarmist claims they exploit for political—that is, anti-Trump—purposes. In the midst of the first COVID-19 surge, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot commanded her subjects to forgo haircuts, while she—unmasked—had her hair done because she wanted to look good in front of the cameras and because she cares about her “hygiene”—unlike, presumably, her subjects. After the election, she joined her subjects in the street for a victory celebration and then promptly put the kibosh on their Thanksgiving celebrations saying, “You must cancel the normal Thanksgiving plans, particularly if they include guests that do not live in your immediate household.”

She followed that up with her Thanksgiving “advisory”:

– Stay home unless for essential reasons

– Stop having guests over—including family members you do not live with

– Avoid non-essential travel

– Cancel traditional Thanksgiving plans

Not to be outdone in hypocrisy or authoritarian intrusiveness, Oregon’s “openly bisexual” governor Kate Brown has issued these commands, which, if not followed, can result in  fines up to $1,250 or 30 days in jail:

• Private Social Events—limited to two households or six individuals in a closed group (including Thanksgiving)

• Wear a mask in your own home on Thanksgiving, only removing it when eating

• Don’t leave your home during the two-week shutdown

So much for “our bodies, ourselves.”

While in June Brown said “she believes the use of tear gas against protesters is unacceptable,” she is now working with “state police and local law enforcement” to ensure compliance with her Thanksgiving orders.  Think about that for a minute.

This is the same governor who allowed the creation of the potential super-spreader rebel state of CHAZ/CHOP in six blocks of Portlandia and who allowed mostly violent potential super-spreader protests to ravage the rest of Portlandia. So, does bisexual Brown really believe gatherings of ten are highly likely to be lethal gatherings?

Privileged leftists who dine at uber-swanky, $350 per person ($35-45 per glass of wine) restaurants are utterly cavalier about destroying people’s livelihoods while they do not themselves believe that socializing mask-less puts everyone in mortal danger. Newsom and other privileged Democrats wield their inordinate power recklessly, destroying countless small businesses while sating their gourmet appetites on the finest food the monied can buy.

When I refer to “alarmist claims,” I’m not suggesting that the Wuhan Red Death is not alarming or that the death rate is not tragic. I’m suggesting that the claims of leftists about the virus are alarmist in that they are not balanced by either the inclusion of all relevant statistics or by a modicum of humility about what is known about treatment and prevention.

For example, while leftists blame Wuhan virus spikes on the evil mask-questioners who walk among us purportedly like Grim Reapers, they rarely if ever discuss the worldwide Wuhan spikes in countries with more stringent lockdown and mask mandates.

When areas lock down, virus infections stall. When lockdowns end, virus infections increase. But we can’t afford the social, psychological, physical, and economic consequences of locking down forever.

Rational people understand that a contagion like the Wuhan virus will spread. What is needed are good therapeutics and herd immunity achieved via a combination of infections and vaccines. Social distancing for those most at risk of serious complications and/or death is wise. Social distancing for healthy people under 60, school closures, and business lockdowns are foolhardy at minimum and downright dangerous for many people.

While COVID-infected people should mask if they must go out, evidence that widespread masking of healthy people prevents COVID is scanty. According to the New York Times, a recent, large, randomized study out of Denmark provides evidence for what many have been saying:

The researchers had hoped that masks would cut the infection rate by half among wearers. Instead, 42 people in the mask group, or 1.8 percent, got infected, compared with 53 in the unmasked group, or 2.1 percent. The difference was not statistically significant.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Henning Bundgaard, stated that his study indicated that “not a lot” is gained “from wearing a mask.”

Perhaps it’s past time for political leaders to abandon mask mandates for children and healthy adults under 60. And surely, it’s past time for the mask-obsessed among us to stop verbally attacking those who choose not to mask as irresponsible, ignorant, uncaring, selfish, evil killers.

As the nightmarish 2020 draws to a close, there are reasons for optimism. President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed has  resulted in the development of not one but two highly effective vaccines at warp speed. As of this writing, both Moderna and Pfizer have developed vaccines that are about 95% effective, and evidence suggests that vaccine-induced immunity may last years and be more effective than immunity that develops from contracting COVID-19.

So, we have reasons to believe that in a few months, life will be able to return to normal. In the meantime, school closures must end. There has never been any science suggesting that schools should have closed. If children contract COVID-19, the statistical likelihood that they will survive is 99.99998%.

Annually, about 4,000 children die in car accidents with 630 of those being 12 or younger; 800 children drown; and in the 2019-2020 flu season, 188 children died. So far about 130 children have died from COVID-19. Anytime leftists want to impose a restriction on the freedom of others, they ask, “Isn’t saving the life of even one person worth the sacrifice?” So, are we going to prohibit all children from riding in cars except for essential activities? Are we going to prohibit all children from swimming in pools, ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans? Are we going to close schools every year during flu season? If not, why not?

Those parents whose children live in homes with at-risk family members can choose to keep their children home. Those teachers who are in an at-risk group can stay home. But all schools should open. Even leftist New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof recently and grudgingly admitted that Trump has long been right on school closures:

Trump has been demanding for months that schools reopen, and on that he seems to have been largely right. Schools, especially elementary schools, do not appear to have been major sources of coronavirus transmission, and remote learning is proving to be a catastrophe for many low-income children. …

Democrats helped preside over school closures that have devastated millions of families and damaged children’s futures. … In both Europe and the United States, schools have not been linked to substantial transmission, and teachers and family members have not been shown to be at extra risk. …  Meanwhile, the evidence has mounted of the human cost of school closures.

Leftists have provided ample evidence of their poor judgment, their Faustian willingness to abandon principles to acquire power, their Machiavellian abuse of power to circumscribe liberty, their hypocrisy, and their elitism. We better hope Americans awaken from their “woke” stupor before it’s too late.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Newsom-and-Lightfoot-and-Brown-Oh-My.mp3

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We understand that we are accountable before you and God to honor your trust. 

IFI is supported by voluntary donations from good people like you.

One of the more grotesque demonstrations of leftist non-sense and hypocrisy was demonstrated a week ago following an episode of the wildly popular Disney show The Mandalorian when “Baby Yoda” eats the unfertilized eggs of a Frog Woman who is transporting her eggs to her husband so he can fertilize them thereby preventing their species’ imminent extinction. Fans of Baby Yoda freaked out, incensed at the lighthearted treatment of what they deemed genocide by the beloved Baby Yoda.

The moral incoherence and hypocrisy should be obvious. In the Upside Down where leftists live, when a human mother hires someone to dismember her own fertilized human egg—aka human fetus/embryo/baby—they demand that society affirm, celebrate, and shout the execution of those tiny humans. In fact, the voluntary dismemberment of fertilized human eggs at any gestational age is so morally innocuous and such an unmitigated public good that leftists think all Americans should pay for the executions of humans in utero.

In the Upside Down, the genocidal killing of all fertilized human eggs with Down Syndrome is at best morally neutral if not morally good, but the fictional devouring of unfertilized Frog Critters’ eggs is morally repugnant. Just wondering, if fertilized human eggs are parasites so devoid of personhood as to render them morally legitimate objects to kill, if it’s okay to dismember them because they’re imperfect non-persons, would there be anything wrong with eating their remains?

Leftists views on the slaughter of fertilized human eggs is just the most grotesque of their many morally incoherent views. Here are a few more:

• According to leftists, concerns of conservatives about possible 2020 election “irregularities”—including via computer malfeasance and malfunction—are evidence of paranoid conspiracy theories, but when leftists express such concerns, they’re sound, reasonable, and legitimate. In 2019, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden proposed an amendment titled “Protecting American Votes and Elections Act” to the “Help America Vote Act of 2002.” His proposed amendment was signed by 14 co-sponsors—all Democrats—including a who’s who of presidential wannabes: Richard Blumenthal, Edward Markey, Jeff Merkley, Tammy Duckworth, Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tammy Baldwin, Bernie Sanders, Maria Cantwell, Kamala Harris, Sherrod Brown, Michael Bennet, and Patty Murray. Wyden provided a summary of his amendment that includes the following:

Votes cast with paperless voting machines cannot be subjected to a manual recount, and so there is no way to determine the real election results if they are hacked. H.R. 1 …  mandates paper ballots.

In order to detect hacks, this bill requires election bodies to conduct audits of all federal elections, regardless of how close the election, by employing statistically rigorous “risk-limiting audits.”

There are currently no mandatory standards for election cybersecurity, which has resulted in some states operating election infrastructure that is needlessly vulnerable to hacking. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) sets voluntary standards for voting machines, but states can and do ignore these standards. There are no standards at all for voter registration websites or other parts of our election infrastructure.

• Leftists heartily endorse bodily damage and disfigurement as sound “treatment” protocols for those who experience a mismatch between their internal feelings and their sexual embodiment as male or female, but bodily damage and disfigurement of those who experience a mismatch between their internal feelings and their whole or healthy bodies (i.e., those with Body Integrity Identity Disorder who identify as amputees or paraplegics) are considered barbaric and ethically prohibited.

• Leftists condemn conservatives as “science-deniers” for disagreeing with them on the degree to which climate change is caused by human action or on how to respond to climate change. At the same time, the purported science-worshippers claim that men can menstruate, become pregnant, and “chestfeed,” and they claim that the product of conception between two persons is not a person. Anyone who refuses to concede to such nonsense is mocked, reviled, de-platformed, and fired. Just ask Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling or Wall Street Journal writer and author of Irreversible Damage, Abigail Shrier.

• Leftists claim that marriage has no connection to either sexual differentiation or reproductive potential. They vociferously claim that marriage is solely constituted by love, and that “love is love.” And yet most leftists don’t think two brothers in a consensual loving relationship should be able to legally marry.

• Leftists claim there’s no story behind or within Hunter Biden’s emails and texts that prove Joe Biden straight up lied to the American public, and yet they claimed there was a story of such magnitude and enormity within Christopher Steele’s imaginative “dossier,” that it necessitated 24-hour coverage for years.

• Leftists claim that eliminating the Electoral College and filibuster and packing the U.S. Supreme Court constitute necessary changes to enhance “democracy,” but implementing legal processes to ensure an election was fair undermines democracy.

• Every gathering of leftists, including mostly violent protests, a takeover of six city blocks, trips to hair salons (Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi), a post-election street celebration (Lori Lightfoot), a holiday boating excursion (attempted by husband of Michigan Governor Christine Whitmer), restaurant dining (California Governor Gavin Newsom, CNN narcissist Chris Cuomo), a funeral/Democrat campaign event (i.e., John Lewis’ faux-funeral) are COVID-immune and justifiable. But an Orthodox Jewish funeral, an entirely peaceful protest of draconian COVID restrictions, and a march in support of a transparent and fair election are denounced as super-spreader events.

• Serial killer of senior citizens, Andrew “Quietus” Cuomo, commands citizens to “admit” their “mistakes” and “shortcomings” with regard to how they responded to the Chinese Communist virus even as he refuses to apologize for his policies that killed scores of elderly.

• To leftists, social science is the god that determines all moral truth, and yet despite social science demonstrating repeatedly that children—especially boys—need fathers, the left refuses to discuss how fatherless families may be contributing to the anti-social behavior that is destroying our cities.

• Leftists claim to value free speech, religious liberty, inclusivity, diversity, tolerance, and unity while condemning not just the beliefs of those with whom they disagree, but also the persons themselves. Many leftists share an uncharitable, presumptuous, ugly, tyrannical, oppressive, and scary desire that those who believe homosexual acts are immoral, who believe marriage has an ontology, who believe biological sex is immutable and meaningful, and who believe bodily damage and disfigurement are improper treatment protocols for gender dysphoria should be unable to work anywhere in America.

To create the illusion that they’re not hypocrites and to defend their intolerance, exclusion, divisiveness, hatred of persons, book banning, speech suppression, demand for ideological uniformity, and efforts to circumscribe the  exercise of religion—which for Christians extends far outside the church walls—leftists resort to fallacious reasoning. The fallacies they employ are too numerous to list, but two of their faves are the ad hominem fallacy and the fallacy of circular reasoning.

Ad hominem is an informal fallacy in which an irrelevant personal attack replaces a logical argument. It proves nothing about the soundness, truth, or falsity of a claim. Instead it appeals to emotion and silences debate through intimidation.

The fallacy of circular reasoning occurs when the conclusion presumes the premise (i.e., the initial claim) is true without proving it true. So, for example, leftists–ignoring their purported commitment to the First Amendment–argue that homosexual acts are moral acts and, therefore, there is no need to tolerate the expression of dissenting views. But the intolerance they are trying to defend is based on the truth of their premise that homosexual acts are moral—a premise they simply assume without proving is true.

Here’s another: Leftists assert that marriage is constituted solely by subjective romantic and erotic feelings, and, therefore, the government has no reason not to recognize unions between two people of the same sex as marriages, because such couples can experience love and erotic desire. But the premise—i.e., that marriage is constituted solely by subjective romantic and erotic feelings—hasn’t been proved.

And here’s yet another claim about marriage based on circular reasoning: Leftists argue that the reason government is involved in marriage is to grant public legitimacy or provide “dignity” to erotic/romantic unions and, therefore, the government has an obligation to recognize homoerotic unions as marriages. The problem is that those who make this argument fail to prove their claim that the reason government is involved in marriage is to recognize, provide, or impart “dignity” to unions. Those who make this argument just assume their premise is true.

After employing fallacious circular reasoning and hurling ad hominem epithets at their opponents, leftists sanctimoniously wipe the dust off their dirty hands and assert that their hypocrisy isn’t really hypocrisy after all.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ideological-Non-Sense-and-Hypocrisy-of-Leftists.mp3

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We understand that we are accountable before you and God to honor your trust. 

IFI is supported by voluntary donations from good people like you.

In the early morning hours of August 9th, looters ransacked stores along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Known for its high-end retail shops, the 13-block stretch along North Michigan Avenue filled with people, quickly descending into chaos and overwhelming the Chicago Police Department (CPD).

Early reports claimed the rioting and protests were in response to police shooting and killing a child Sunday afternoon in the Englewood neighborhood. That was quickly proven false when police reported the actual incident involved a shootout with a 20-year-old man who was wounded, but not fatally, and had fired first at officers in an hours-long standoff.

But that did not matter to leaders of the group Black Lives Matter Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times reported the group warned the City’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a statement that the unrest would not end until “the safety and well-being of our communities is finally prioritized.”

The statement continued, “The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished and our Black communities are fully invested in.” True to their word, the group has continued to hold protests around the city.

CPD Superintendent David Brown said that police have arrested over 100 people, two were shot that night, and 13 officers were injured. Brown described the looting as “pure criminality.” BLM Chicago countered that people were just “protesting.”

According to the BLM Chicago statement, “Over the past few months, too many people — disproportionately Black and Brown — have lost their jobs, lost their income, lost their homes, and lost their lives as the city has done nothing and the Chicago elite have profited. When protesters attack high-end retail stores that are owned by the wealthy and service the wealthy, that is not ‘our’ city and has never been meant for us.”

The next morning, Superintendent Brown said the shooting led to a wave of overnight looting downtown and on the Near North Side that resulted in two people being shot, over 100 arrests, and 13 injuries to officers. Though Brown characterized the looting as “pure criminality,” Black Lives Matter Chicago again claimed that those involved were protesting.

Ariel Atkins

That same day at a demonstration in the city, Ariel Atkins, a Chicago BLM organizer, encouraged looters to take “anything they want to take” as “reparations.”

“I don’t care if somebody decides to loot a Gucci, or a Macy’s, or a Nike,” Atkins said, “because that makes sure that that person eats. That makes sure that that person has clothes. That’s a reparation. Anything they want to take, take it, because these businesses have insurance.”

Atkins doubled down on her previous statement the following day, telling WBEZ radio that BLM supports the looters 100% and they should take “anything they want” as “reparations.”

When questioned about the looters who tried to break into a nearby Ronald McDonald House where frightened sick children and their parents were staying, Atkins defended them, stating, “I will support the looters ’til the end of the day. If that’s what they need to do in order to eat, then that’s what you’ve got to do to eat.”

It’s not just Atkins and BLM Chicago who feel that way. In June, CNN’s Christine Amanpour interviewed Nikole Hannah-Jones, the lead writer for the New York Times’ 1619 Project. Amanpour asked Hannah-Jones about a statement she had made about the act of taking being symbolic for restitution. Hannah-Jones replied,

When we see someone killed by the police, that is the worse manifestation of police violence,”  “but it doesn’t get to the daily violence that doesn’t end in death, or the daily degradation that black Americans face. The fact that these communities have been preyed upon by predatory lenders, it goes on and on. When we think about someone taking something from some big-box name store, it is symbolic. That one pair of shoes that you stole from Footlocker is not going to change your life, but it is a symbolic taking.

Columnist decries looters

Liberal Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell came out against the looters in her August 10th column. “Sunday night’s assault on downtown businesses was a brazen display of criminal behavior, pure and simple,” she wrote.

Countering the BLM organizer’s statement, Mitchell wrote,

The people who smashed their way into luxe boutiques didn’t do it because they were fed up with police shootings, or because they are out of work and desperate.

They did it because they saw an opportunity to steal stuff they couldn’t afford to buy and because they have no respect for the rule of law.

More than a week has passed since BLM Chicago made its demands. CPD has bolstered efforts to track down looters through social media. Officers are working 12-hour shifts and days off are canceled. Businesses downtown are boarded up and some retailers have announced plans to leave the city. And the protests continue.

Will the mayor acquiesce to their demands? What exactly will it take for BLM Chicago to feel “the safety and well-being of our communities is finally prioritized?” Could the city see the violence get even worse as the November elections approach? Will President Donald Trump send federal intervention? Could the religious community unite and stand as one to push back the evil that’s overtaken Chicago? So many questions… no clear answers.

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Written by Dr. Everett Piper

The stories have become so commonplace that they’ve almost lost their shock value.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio singles out churches and synagogues, threatening to seize their property and shut them down “permanently” if they dare defy his orders.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (working through her city’s director of public health), declares a Romanian church a “public nuisance.” “We will shut you down, we will cite you, and if we need to, we will arrest you, and we will take you to jail,” she tells this small group of former Soviet bloc Christians who refuse to bow to her power.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas issues a stay-at-home “order” that includes a “request” that all churches which choose to exercise their First Amendment rights must provide a “record of attendees” to the city and to the state.

Andy Beshear, Kentucky’s governor, warns that any state residents attending any church services will be “forced” to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Vanita, Oklahoma, Mayor Chuck Hoskin issues a municipal order saying that anyone engaging in any church activity inside or outside, will be subject to a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.

Police in Lakewood, New Jersey, arrest 15 congregants of a local synagogue for attending an Orthodox Jewish funeral.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy responds by saying that any knowledge of the religious freedom guaranteed to these Jews by the Bill of Rights is “above his pay grade.”

Mayor after mayor and governor after governor across America have declared churches to be “non-essential” and ordered them closed under penalty of law. And yet, those who’ve haranged us for decades about the “separation of church and state” now sit in sleepy silence.

Why?

George Santayana once said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” With this as context, perhaps a bit of a history lesson is in order.

In 1791, James Madison wrote the First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Madison, thus, argued that it is an “essential” right of every church and not that of a “king.”

Madison’s premise was very easy to understand. No government official should ever presume to define the matters of the church. No politician or unelected bureaucrat ever has the power to “establish”, dictate, contradict or contravene religious belief or practice. This is not the government’s business. It is the church’s and the church’s alone. It is not the prerogative of our Congress or the courts to tell the church what to do or not to do.

Eleven years later, Thomas Jefferson found it necessary to reassure a small group of nervous Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, that they did not have to fear any government intrusion into the affairs of their denomination’s polity or practice.

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that … [the] legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”

It is from Jefferson’s assurance of non-intrusion that we get our present language of separation of church and state.

Read in context, the words of Jefferson and Madison are crystal clear. In America, unlike any other nation, the church is protected from the government. There is a “wall” that provides that protection, and it serves as a fortress, not a prison. It is built to guard the church, not to confine it. This wall is no more intended to restrain religion than the walls around your personal home are intended to restrain you. As a house has a door whereby you come and go, likewise, our Constitution has a door whereby the church is always free to enter society as it chooses, but also to lock that door and keep the government out when it sees fit.

The key here is that the church holds the key, not your power-hungry governor, or your strutting little local mayor. The door is locked from the inside, not the outside. The wall is built for your benefit, not theirs.

John F. Kennedy once said that “in times of turbulence … it is more true than ever that knowledge is power.”

The COVID-19 turbulence has exposed the radical ignorance of the left. They know nothing of our history and care little for your freedom.

Remember this in November.

You have knowledge. You have power. You hold the key. It’s time to use it.

Dr. Everett Piper, former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, is a columnist for The Washington Times and author of “Not A Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery 2017).

This article was originally published at The Washington Times.

Overt, organized violent riots over the weekend escalated in such a way that the governors in twenty-three states thought it was necessary to activate the National Guard to augment local police efforts. In Illinois, these riots were not limited to downtown Chicago but spilled over into various city neighborhoods and suburbs like Arlington Heights, Richton Park, Calumet City, Tinley Park, Riverside, Orland Park, Blue Island, and Lansing. In Dolton, rioters thought it was a good idea to throw a brick through the window of Christ Oasis Church.

Other large municipalities also saw similar violence, including Aurora, Rockford, Waukegan, Champaign, Joliet, Springfield, and Peoria,

Reports of the peaceful protests, of which there were a few, were overshadowed by wall-to-wall news coverage of violence, vandalism, looting, and arson locally and in cities across the nation. In Washington D.C., “the church of the presidents” was set on fire by godless insurgents. The damage to St. John’s Church (est. 1816) symbolizes our culture’s rejection of God. Perhaps God has lifted His hand of protection in response to our rebellion and indifference to His precepts.

It was encouraging to hear Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Superintendent David Brown confirm the suspicions of many that the attacks were coordinated. Listen to their remarks:

Similarly, Minnesota’s attorney general and left-wing “progressive” Keith Ellison told Fox News Sunday that he has “evidence that outsiders have been present and, in some cases, have played a very negative role” in the riots.

There is little doubt who led these attacks. Antifa and Black Lives Matter, both left-wing groups that hate America, were front and center. It is likely that local street gangs composed of fatherless young men who despise law enforcement were also involved.

But questions abound. Were these organized efforts funded? If so, by whom? Were some of these violent agitators paid? Were they given a list of targets to burn, loot, and destroy? I wonder where all those criminals they let out of prison early are right now? If I were a betting man, I’d wager that some were looting, vandalizing, and setting fires.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to President Trump, Vice President Pence, and our federal lawmakers asking that the DOJ begin a criminal investigation to identify and prosecute the domestic enemies behind these organized efforts to destroy our cities. The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Attorney’s office must use their resources to get to the bottom of this.

Condemning Injustice

Left-wing political operatives want to make the murder of George Floyd and victims like him solely about race. That is a superficial reading of the problem, as it goes much deeper than that. It is an issue of the human condition. 

Let me be unequivocal: Based on the horrific video clip and autopsy report, we condemn the lethal actions of Derek Chauvin and the inaction of the Minneapolis police officers. There is little doubt that their policing authority was abused and the civil rights of Mr. Floyd fatally quashed.

Additionally, we unambiguously support peaceful protests and political actions that demand justice in this case. Using the political tools we have been given to safeguard God’s gift of self-government is the way to address injustices and grievances. We do not and cannot support violence, vandalism, looting, and arson as it only spreads injustice and disunity. (1 Peter 3:8-14)

A Biblical Perspective

Jeremiah 17:9 teaches us that the “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” This is the human condition, we were born with a sinful nature (Psalm 51:5). 

In Mark 7:1-23, Jesus tells us that from our unregenerate heart

“proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.”

There isn’t one of us that is “good” in and of ourselves (Romans 3:10-12; Psalm 14:1-3; Psalm 53:1-3). Our sinful human nature has separated us from God and has us bound for hell — an eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23; Ezekiel 18:20; James 1:15).

Only through Jesus Christ can we find forgiveness (1 John 1:9), be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20), and be given a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:14-19; Ephesians 4:17-24; Galatians 6:12-16; Colossians 3:1-11).

As our culture drifts further and further away from God, we see an increase in the acceptance and practice of sin. Roman 1:28-32 tells us what to expect:

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.

Certain operatives want to use the Floyd tragedy for political purposes, to divide our country along racial and ethnic lines. Intersectionality is all the rage. Divide and conquer is not only a ploy of the “progressive” agenda, but a key tactic of the devil.

In Scripture, the Lord tells us repeatedly how important unity is (John 17:23; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:11-13; Colossians 3:13-14; Psalm 133:1; Romans 12:16). It should not surprise us that there is unseen spiritual warfare that is manifesting in the physical realm, seeking to divide us.

In addition, in John 8:44 Jesus warns us that Satan is a murderer, a liar, and a deceiver:

He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

One of Satan’s goals is to divide us. (Matt. 12:25; Mark 3:25; Luke 11:17) Satan wants us to be bitter, ungrateful, angry, discontent, so he lies to us about our condition and God’s goodness. The New York Times‘ 1619 Project is a prime example of this effort to deceive Americans into a sinful attitude. Instead of being grateful to God for every challenge and circumstance (1 Thessalonians 5:18), resentment, bitterness, and suspicion are fostered. Every one of us should be thanking God for the privilege of living in this amazing country at this time in history, where the poorest among have a higher standard of living than royalty did throughout most of history.

Being the Remnant

We no longer live in a culture that has a Christian worldview. The residue of God’s blessings on this nation is wearing thin. We have been living off the cultural capital that came as a result of the faithfulness of previous generations. Nonetheless, we have been called at such a time as this to be ambassadors for His Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Faithfulness, no matter the circumstance, is required of us (1 Corinthians 4:2), trusting that He will never leave us or forsake us, trusting that His plan is better than our plan, trusting that He is our strong tower and refuge. We dare not lean on our own understanding.

As this spiritual battle waxes and wanes, our fervent and resolute prayers must intensify. We should redouble our prayers for our family members, our church, our neighbors, our state, and our nation.

Likewise, we need to be wise about how we spend our time, talents, and treasures. Are we investing in temporal goods and goals, or are we working to advance the Kingdom of God, to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven? (Matthew 6:19-20-21)?

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Written by Jerry Newcombe

Dr. Richard Land once called our country, “the divided states of America.” How apt — especially when we survey the various responses to the coronavirus. They are lessons in liberty and lessons in tyranny.

To paraphrase what a friend of mine wrote me recently, “We have 50 real-world government examples of liberty or tyranny — 50 real-time experiments in whether state governments moved towards liberty (as in Texas and South Dakota) or absolute control (as in California, Michigan and New York).” As a resident, I would add: Florida’s leadership is doing a great job.

Churches Closed, Planned Parenthood Open

Nowhere can this contrast be better seen than in how the state authorities deal with churches versus how they deal with abortion, ordering churches closed while deeming Planned Parenthood and other abortionists “essential services.”

How fitting. In her classic book, Godless, Ann Coulter postulates that abortion is the left’s “sacrament.” The sacraments of the church are out. The left’s new sacrament is in. The most pro-abortion leaders are the ones who are most cracking down on real constitutional freedoms in their states. If a politician gets abortion wrong, they tend to get everything else wrong too.

This anti-religious spirit at work is exceedingly ironic because America was born as a religious nation. In the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims explained their reason for coming: “For the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”

Our First Amendment declares our first freedom — freedom of religion. The founders stipulated there would be no national denomination and there would be no prohibition on the “free exercise” of religion. They didn’t add, “except in times of pestilence.”

“No Pandemic Exception to the Bill of Rights”

Indeed, Attorney General William Barr sides with the churches (following social distancing guidelines, etc.) in this conflict. He said, “There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution and its Bill of Rights.”

But many of the left today have used the pandemic crisis to try and shut down a lot of religious services:

• The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri was demanding that churches hand over a list of anyone who attended any of their services. When Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel threatened to sue, the city backed down.

• The governor of Illinois postulated that church services may need to be banned for a year. This is the same governor who prohibited residents in his state from traveling — while apparently his wife vacationed in Florida.

• Overzealous administrators have sought to ban churches even from holding “drive-in” church services, which follow the mandates to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

If your church parking lot permits, holding a drive-in service is a clever way to worship the Lord together. Usually, the pastor would preach to the congregation in their cars though a low frequency on the FM dial in such services.

“A Lesson to Governors”

But even in the Bible belt, such as in Kentucky and Mississippi, some overzealous administrators have tried to shut such services down. First Liberty Institute has threatened lawsuits, and the cities have relented.

The Wall Street Journal had an editorial entitled, “Caesar, God and the Lockdowns,” in which they note, “A federal court ruling on religious liberty is a lesson to governors.”

The editorial talks about Maryville Baptist Church in Louisville, which held a modest Easter service — with some worshipers inside and others in the parking lot, hearing the service through a loudspeaker.

To harass the worshipers, notes the WSJ, “The police took down license-plate numbers. The church sued.”

A panel on the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the church: “It’s not always easy to decide what is Caesar’s and what is God’s — and that’s assuredly true in the context of a pandemic. … Why is it safe to wait in a car for a liquor store to open but dangerous to wait in a car to hear morning prayers?”

The Left-Right Divide in Leadership

A new report out of Chicago over the weekend shows the lengths to which the anti-God forces will go. Wirepoints observes that the mayor sought to punish a church, Philadelphia Romanian Church, to prevent it from holding services. They stated, “On Sunday morning the tow trucks descended — not just on churchgoers, but on residents and everybody else, and on a private lot used by parishioners.”

The pastor of the church said, “The mayor is inciting hate against the church which is very sad. A lot of our members risked their lives to escape Communism, only to find it germinating in 2020 under Mayor Lightfoot in Chicago.” Lori Lightfoot is so committed to abortion rights, she helped drive out of office one of the last Democrat, pro-life U. S. Congressmen.

Wirepoints adds, “It should also be a clarion call to the churches across the city as to how far the left will go to crush the faithful of all denominations.”

Freedom-loving Americans can look at a map of the country and see how those on the left versus those on the right are delicately handling the crisis. The abortion-loving, church-hating politicians stand in great contrast with their freedom-loving counterparts in the red states.

Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is a senior producer and an on-air host for D. James Kennedy Ministries. He has written or co-written 32 books, such as The Unstoppable Jesus Christ, American Amnesia: Is American Paying the Price for Forgetting God?, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (with D. James Kennedy) and the bestseller, George Washington’s Sacred Fire (with Peter Lillback). Learn more at jerrynewcombe.com and follow him on Twitter @newcombejerry.

In an 804-word news article appearing in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, Jan. 10, the day before the Chicago March for Life, “reporter” Angie Leventis Lourgos provided these scant details about the event:

What: March for Life Chicago march and rally

When: Saturday, 1-3 p.m.

Where: Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington St. The march will head east on Washington Street, then south on Michigan Avenue and end at the Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center, 520 S. Michigan Ave.

For more information: www.marchforlife-chicago.org

Contrast that with Lourgos’ 1070-word “news” article appearing in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, Jan. 17, the day before the Women’s March, and titled “What you need to know about the Women’s March”—which presumes that someone “needs” to know about the Women’s March—in which Lourgos provided these details about the event:

What: Women’s March Chicago 2020

When: Saturday. Grant Park opens for the event at 9 a.m. and the march begins at 11 a.m. (This year’s event is a march-only format, with no formal rally or other programming preceding the march.)

Where: Main entrance at Ida B. Wells and Columbus drives. Accessible entrance at Columbus Drive and Monroe Street.

March route: The march will begin at Columbus Drive and Jackson Street, ending at Federal Plaza. The city has asked that marchers disperse immediately afterward.

Social media: #WomensMarchChicago2020, #WomensMarchChi2020, #MakeItCount

March route [online version]: Participants will gather on Jackson Street at Columbus Drive. They will march west on Jackson to Michigan Avenue, then north to Adams Street and then west on Adams to Federal Plaza. Organizers expect marchers to disband at Federal Plaza.

Street closures: Columbus Drive from Monroe Street to Ida B. Wells Drive, and Columbus to Lake Shore Drive will be closed from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, according to the city. Once the march begins, rolling closures will be implemented along Michigan Avenue from Randolph Street to Van Buren Street, and closures on Jackson Street are expected to be implemented as far west as LaSalle Street. Additional street closures might be implemented to ensure public safety.

Public transportation: Metra isn’t adding any service but conductors have been notified that more patrons with disabilities might be traveling. The Chicago Transit Authority will have longer trains on the Brown, Blue, Orange, Green and Purple lines, as well as more frequent service on the Red Line. There will be additional bus service on the 147 Outer Drive Express route.

ADA Paratransit drop-off/pick-up: The location for participants with disabilities is on Monroe Street, east of Columbus Drive.

Ride services: Drop-offs and pickups are prohibited on Lake Shore Drive, and the city says this will be strictly enforced. Ride-share vehicles can’t stop, stand or park in bus or bike lanes, sidewalk crossings, bridges or any other areas.

Weather: Forecasts say several inches of snow accumulation is possible Friday. On Saturday, the high temperature is expected to be 37 degrees, with rain possibly mixed with snow showers before 2 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications has arranged for four CTA warming buses to be available at the event if conditions warrant.

Security: The Chicago Police Department will have uniformed and plainclothes officers at the event to ensure the safety of participants, pedestrians and motorists. The Office of Emergency Management and Communications will also be monitoring the event.

For more information: www.womensmarchchicago.org

Wowzer. Lourgos evidently thinks readers need to know a boatload of details about the Women’s Strut for Slaughter. Point of clarification, the word counts I provided do not include the details for each event.

Ironically, the Women’s March this year will “honor marchers with disabilities”—you know, those with the kind of imperfections that pro-feticide marchers use to justify killings in the womb.

Eric Tenfelde and wife

Another irony: Lourgos begins with a quote from a man—you know, the humans who are told by feticide-celebrants that they have no right to an opinion on the legalized slaughter of the unborn. I guess if men are all warm and tingly on the inside and spout creepy, unmanly stuff about celebrating human slaughter like Eric Tenfelde does, they have permission to speak. Here’s how he describes his first Women’s March:

Being outside in January and feeling warm on the inside from energy and people around me expressing their American freedom. Expressing myself with costume and signage and celebrating everyone else’s expressions. Praising others and being praised. Leading chants and shouting the chants of others.”

Andrew Clancey, another marching man like Tenfelde, demonstrated his unmanliness when recalling his first Women’s March three years ago at which he held a sign that said, “I [heart] Nasty Women.” He told Lourgos that “one of his favorite march memories was taking a picture with a woman wearing a shirt that said ‘Nasty Woman’ on it.”

Word to Tenfelde and Clancey, men are supposed to protect children—not celebrate the right to have them killed. And men are supposed to honor the dignity of women—not celebrate their “nastiness” or their slaughter of their own children—children who have fathers too.

Lourgos reports that “the march will also be led by many elected female politicians,” including lesbian Mayor Lori Lightfoot; eager recreational pot-purchaser Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton; and hate-crime hoax ally Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

Well, at least no one can say our unscrupulous Chicago leaders lack diversity.

Lourgos included this tweet from Lightfoot—not in the article about the Women’s March—no, not there. There were no quotes from anyone critical of the Women’s March or its destructive goals. Lourgos included this quote from Lightfoot in her article about the March for Life:

I support a big tent but there’s no room under the flaps for anyone who is actively seeking to deny women control over our bodies.”

Lightfoot conveniently omitted mention of the other bodies—the tiny bodies of vulnerable innocents in the womb. Lightfoot’s tent is so small and so exclusive that only those who shout and celebrate the dismemberment of humans in the womb are allowed in. Do civilized people really want to set foot in a tent drenched in the blood of those deemed unwanted, inconvenient, or unworthy of life?

And Lightfoot pretends to support the marginalized among us. Yeah, right.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Chicago-Tribune_Shill-for-Human-Slaughter.mp3

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As most breathing people now know, the Hallmark Channel, known for airing movies that families with intact moral compasses can watch with their children, upset its apple cart last week by secretly tossing in a poisoned apple for the kiddies to feast on. The apple came in the form of a commercial for the wedding planning website Zola that depicted a couple standing together at a glittering, Hallmark-worthy wedding altar at which they say their I do’s and then kiss. The poison was the smoochers were two women.

To be clear, I am not arguing that homosexual persons per se are poisonous. I am arguing that a glossy, prettified image of a deeply sinful type of union is poisonous to the minds and hearts of children who are especially vulnerable to propaganda.

Not surprisingly, parents and grandparents with intact moral compasses were shocked and angry. They felt blindsided and betrayed by a channel they had, heretofore, been able to trust. They expressed their anger and disappointment to Hallmark, many via a petition started by One Million Moms, a division of the American Family Association, which asked that Hallmark “reconsider airing commercials with same-sex relationships” and to refrain from adding “LGBTQ movies to the Hallmark Channel.” Hallmark removed the ad, and then the “LGBT” lobby took aim. Somehow, in just two days, those oppressed, silenced, marginalized, persecuted, powerless homosexuals we hear so much about were able to persuade Hallmark that it owes more to them than it does to conservatives.

On Sunday, Hallmark reversed course again and issued a sycophantic apology to men and women who mock the institution that God created to represent Christ and his bride, the church; who engage in erotic acts that the creator of the universe abhors; who indoctrinate children with a perverse sexual ideology; who seek to wash the public square clean of moral cleanliness; and who seek to punish those who hold fast to truth.

In a statement Mike Perry, Hallmark Cards president and CEO, said,

We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused. … We have LGBTQ greeting cards and feature LGBTQ couples in commercials. We have been recognized as one of the Human Rights Campaigns Best Places to Work. … Hallmark will be working with [the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands.

Note, there was no apology to theologically orthodox Christians whose identity is found in Christ and who are striving mightily to protect their children from ideas and images that violate what Scripture teaches.

This is what happens when people without an intact moral compass lead. They are buffeted about by the cultural winds and their own love of money.

After Hallmark (momentarily) pulled the ad, foolish people lost in spiritual darkness said and tweeted dumb stuff.  For example, California governor Gavin Newsome tweeted, “Same-sex marriage is the law of the land. There is no one way to love and be loved.” There is a kernel of truth in his tweet. There is not one way to love and be loved, and some of the ways to love and be loved should not include erotic acts.

Chicago mayor and lesbian Lori Lightfoot tweeted,

The holidays are a time of family, generosity and decency. @hallmarkchannel should reconsider their misguided decision to ban an ad featuring a same-sex couple. Representation is important in all forms of media—even advertising.

Lots of nonsense to unpack.

First, referring to same-sex couples as decent is indecent and, therefore, ironic. While each person in the couple may possess admirable qualities, the erotic aspect of the relationship is intrinsically indecent. Whatever love the partners feel for each other is corrupted by the misuse of their bodies.

Second, commitments to generosity do not require humans to affirm everything that other humans feel, desire, think, and do. In the spirit of generosity, would Lightfoot affirm the feelings and beliefs of theologically orthodox Christians on matters related to sexuality? In the spirit of generosity, would she agree to allowing even one streaming service to decline to show ads or programming that depict images of homoerotic relationships?

Third, Lightfoot does not really mean that all human phenomena or even all types of relationships should be represented in all forms of media. What she means is all phenomena or all types of relationships that she has concluded are morally acceptable should be represented in all forms of media.

The perpetually ignorant Chicago Tribune “lifestyle expert,” Heidi Stevens, wrote,

Movies and commercials are family-friendly when they include all sorts of families and when they acknowledge that love isn’t reserved for straight people.

Does Stevens think that in order for movies and commercials to be family-friendly, they should include polyamorous and polygamous families? What about families where the parents are two brothers who experience Genetic Sexual Attraction?

Stevens really ought to give wide berth to strawmen. No one argues that love is reserved for straight people. Many people, however, believe that sex is not only reserved for male-female relationships, but it can only occur within a male-female relationship, and they also believe that erotic acts should be reserved for only male-female relationships. Further, the source of that belief is not self-serving desire. The source of that belief is God’s holy word. And God’s word is no less legitimate than Steven’s self-originating blather.

Without defining love or proving that “love is love,” homosexual activists and their regressive allies either intentionally or ignorantly fail to distinguish between types of love. Those types are philia love (i.e., friendship), agape love (i.e., the love of God for man and man for God), storge love (i.e., familial love), and erotic love. While Stevens, GLAAD, Gavin Newsome, and all the entertainers squawking about “homophobia” last week may believe that sexual differentiation is irrelevant to erotic love, their views carry no more moral weight than the dissenting views of conservatives. What these oppressors carry is political power that they wield with gleeful abandon to stigmatize and “other” others.

In every society, some group will be oppressed. Some beliefs will be deemed anathema. Some actions will be viewed as immoral and stigmatized. There will never be a time or place when “judgmentalism”—that is, making distinctions about the rightness or wrongness of ideas and acts—will cease. Now, as faith in the one true God wanes in America, increasing numbers of people walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the seat of scoffers.

Let’s see how Hallmark fares in the next year or so with only the “LGBT” crowd and its allies to support it. Oh wait, Hallmark is going to start offering family-friendly homosexual fare (now there’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one). With assistance from the “LGBT” division of Hallmark Cards, the Hallmark Channel shouldn’t find such brown-nosing too difficult.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Hallmark-Channel-Lesbians.mp3

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He’s a well-known socialist. Not the chic, hipster socialist making a comeback these days who hangs with the cool kids. No, he’s a dyed-in-the-wool, cherry-red socialist.

His first job out of college was as an organizer with the United Steelworkers in North Carolina. After moving to Chicago, he became a teacher and his wife worked for Haymarket Books, an independent publisher run by socialists.

Over the last several years, he was a leading member of the International Socialist Organization prior to its dissolution in April 2019. In July, he chaired a plenary session (“Welcome to Red Chicago”) at Socialism 2019, which brought together “hundreds of socialists and radical activists from around the country to take part in discussions about Marxism, working-class history, and the debates and strategies for organizing today.”

Most remarkable, though, is that he’s now the current president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). Meet Jesse Sharkey.

Like a bad case of déjà vu, Sharkey and the CTU have voted to authorize a strike for the third time this decade. Some 25,000 teachers have said they will walk off the job on October 17 if their demands for more money, more staffing and lower class sizes aren’t met.

In addition, the unions representing bus monitors, special education assistants, lunchroom workers and Chicago Park District employees (who cared for students during the 2012 strike) are threatening to strike at the same time. That would make it tough for mayor Lightfoot to keep the schools open for some 360,000 displaced students.

As a result, parents will be under pressure to arrange care for their children. And because strikes are open-ended, there’s no telling how long the kids (and parents) will be forced to wait for their education to resume.

The CTU wants a three-year contract with annual pay raises of 5 percent and a decrease in employee health care contributions. In addition, they are demanding a nurse and librarian at every school, more social workers and class size limits.

In response, CPS has offered teachers a 16 percent pay raise over 5 years, including 3 percent raises in each of the first three years and 3.5 percent in the last two. There would be no increase in employee health care contributions for the first two years but increases totaling 1 percent over the last three years. CPS claims the average teacher would see a 24 percent raise over the life of the contract.

What’s not to like? But the union flatly rejected the offer, with Sharkey declaring, “We’re about more than just money. We’re trying to get an agreement that is both fair to people in the schools and people who go to the schools.”

While that may sound noble, there’s more going on here than meets the eye. The CTU is making its demands at a time when CPS has a junk status credit rating. While financially better off due to a 2015 tax increase, CPS deferred much of its required annual pension payments and is now about $11 billion in the red. A pay increase and hiring more staff will only dig a deeper hole.

Add to that the underachievement of CPS students (only 28 percent met or exceeded the PARCC assessments), a substantial shortage of teachers, the elimination of a requirement to pass a basic skills test to be a licensed teacher, and fifteen years of declining enrollment—and the union’s demands begin to seem unreasonable.

That’s not to say there’s no merit to what they’re asking for. Adequate numbers of school nurses, librarians, social workers and manageable class room sizes can all contribute to a better experience for students. (You can see some of how some of the big questions are progressing here.)

Given the current financial condition of CPS, though, the union’s call for increased pay, teachers and staff plus reduced classroom size (requiring more teachers), is disturbing. Why make demands that will only drive up taxes or push a financially-troubled district further into debt?

In case you slept through your social studies class, socialism is a political and economic system in which the means of production (i.e., businesses) are owned by the laborers. In a capitalist society like the U.S., socialists pit laborers—the working class—against business owners—the capitalists—because capitalists take for themselves the profit the workers produce instead of the workers owning it themselves.

Socialists believe such an arrangement is unjust. Therefore, socialists engage in a “class struggle” for equality: the proletariat versus the bourgeoisie. To do this, they organize. And the largest, most organized sector in the United States is education.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) have nearly 4 million members between them. Public schools dot every county, city, town and village in the country. By virtue of the role they play in society, educators are connected directly to the working class: students and their families.

That brings us back to Sharkey. In addition to classroom demands, the CTU is also making “social demands,” including sanctuary status for illegal alien students and increased affordable housing. While those issues have nothing to do with collective bargaining, they have everything to do with galvanizing the working class’s support.

If you listen closely, you can hear the socialist undercurrents.

“Sharkey has warned that if teachers strike, it could end up being a ‘massive labor movement’ that could have ripple effects throughout the city. The CTU is timing the possible walkout with two other unions, one representing other school staff, such as security guards and custodians, and another representing Chicago Park District workers. Both of those unions already have voted to authorize a strike.” (Emphasis mine.)

Sharkey is pitting the laborers, i.e., teachers and support staff, against the owners, i.e., the city and school administration. It’s a power struggle and a strike is the most effective weapon the union has.

That’s why Sharkey and the CTU rejected the city’s five-year deal, even though it offers more money. Five years is too long to wait until they’re able to use a strike again to advance their interests.

The most effective lies dress up as truth. “For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

On the surface, Sharkey’s claim that “we’re about more than just money” is true. But don’t be fooled. Under the surface, he and the CTU are masquerading as “servants of righteousness” using Chicago’s unwitting children and their families as pawns in a class struggle.

A Night With Rev. Franklin Graham!
At this year’s annual IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st. You don’t want to miss this special evening!

Learn more HERE.