What is tolerance? Has tolerance come to mean moral apathy in today’s society? How can one effectively engage different worldviews and help build a society based on mutual respect rather than double standards? What are the implications for religious freedom?
On Thursday, June 5th at 7:15 PM – at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, AZ – Christian author and apologist Ravi Zacharias will appear on stage with Jewish broadcaster Dennis Prager to engage in a meaningful conversation about the broken moral compass that guides our national conversations about faith, freedom and the cultural issues that divide.
We live in trying times. Those of us who take belief in the God of the Bible seriously feel burdened by the problems that arise in our increasingly secular society. People are abandoning truth, Western culture is failing, and the lines between right and wrong are becoming irrevocably blurred.
The goal of this event is to allow two prominent voices in the public square – one Jewish (Prager), and one evangelical Christian (Ravi) – to engage in an open, honest and entertaining dialogue about these challenges we face as a nation and civilization. This is about asking and answering tough questions in a God-honoring and purposeful way.
Our moderator for the evening’s conversation will be best-selling author and lawyer, David Limbaugh.
Christ’s Church of the Valley and Pastor Mark Moore are our hosts for #RaviPrager, and Pastor Moore will facilitate a Q & A time between the audience and our speakers to close out the evening.
Tickets are $20 for General Admission seating, and $100 for VIP Reserved seating (and admittance to a catered pre-show VIP reception with Ravi, Dennis and David starting at 6:00 pm).
A police report from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona states that a Planned Parenthood counselor intentionally miscoded a sexual assault as a consensual encounter because it would be a “hassle” to report it to the police, despite the state law requirement that suspected sexual abuse be reported to police.
The case under examination involves Tyler Kost, 18, of San Tan Valley, AZ, an alleged sexual predator charged with sexually assaulting 11 girls in the period between October 2009 and April 2014. The girls ranged in age from 12 to 17. Police believe the assaults were not limited to the 11 girls; they assert that he assaulted at least 18 students from Poston Butte High School. Last December, the mother of one 15-year-old girl who allegedly became pregnant as a result of the assault by Kost told the Planned Parenthood Arizona staffer about the incident.
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office report states, “The counselor intentionally miscoded the assault as a consensual encounter. The counselor told them that they did not want the hassle of having to report the assault to law enforcement as they were a mandatory reporter.”
Planned Parenthood Arizona said they discovered their employee’s alleged miscoding from the press, and they immediately informed authorities. The organization said the “puzzling” allegations are the subject of talks with the police, and if true, would be a “serious violation” of their policies. “Patient health and safety is our top priority, and Planned Parenthood Arizona takes its role as a mandatory reporter of criminal activity very seriously, including screening for potential abuse, charting answers, and responding to indications of criminal behavior,” the statement said.
FoxNews.com heard from Laura Oxley, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Health Services, who said her office had no record of a report from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office that the Planned Parenthood employee had violated state law. She said, “There are no complaints on file.”
Speaking to FoxNews.com, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu called Kost an “aggressive predator.” Babeu said Kost’s habit was to build friendships with his victims before he attacked in various places, including his bedroom, parked cars, or a hidden area. Babeu commented, “This is a very devious individual, to be this calculating and literally have no boundaries of conduct or behavior. It’s extremely concerning, the size and scope of this investigation. We do expect other charges to be filed; we literally compare it to an iceberg.”
Babeu said Kost would not stop even when the girls pleaded with him. He said:
This is not just kids having sex. It’s very clear a lot of these females repeatedly said, ‘no, no, no,’ and physically resisted him as he removed their clothing. And it wouldn’t just end there, he would threaten them, blackmail them and threaten to ruin their reputation by making their lives a living hell.
Adding that he was “clearly troubled” by the Planned Parenthood allegations, he said, “If this is true, they should absolutely be held accountable.”
According to Babeu, two girls left Arizona as a result of the assaults, and one became so distraught that she no longer eats. The police report states, “As a result of what Tyler did, she moved to Texas, she no longer eats, she has thoughts of suicide, and self harms herself by cutting her arms. She hopes that Tyler spends the rest of his life behind bars, so that he can no longer hurt anyone else like he did to her.” Concerning one victim, the report records, “She was afraid of Tyler because he had an aggressive side and had told her that, if a girl were to strike him, he would strike her back. She would then lie still and not resist him.”
Kost remains jailed without bail and faces more than 300 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles will try Kost as an adult.
John Semmens: Semi-News — A Satirical Look at Recent News
Concerned that “political speech has gone far beyond the bounds envisioned by the Founding Fathers,” Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) proposes that “we amend the Constitution to correct for unforeseen deficiencies.”
“When the First Amendment was adopted the range of freedom of speech and press was more limited,” Schumer pointed out. “Even the most booming voice could carry only so far. Printed speech required laboriously setting type. Distributing printed materials over long distances was difficult and time-consuming. Today any bozo with access to a computer terminal or cell phone can blast his ignorant views around the globe in mere seconds.”
“We need to be able to insert some kind of filtering mechanisms to cut down on uninformed and ill-informed chatter that is undermining the people’s respect for their government,” Schumer argued. “The problem is that the First Amendment’s absolute ban of ‘Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech’ blocks us from making sensible changes to adapt to modern methods of communication.”
“The question is whether we want to live under 200 year-old rules written by long-dead white men or whether we shall have the flexibility to maneuver to meet evolving technologies and social values,” the Senator asserted. “Congress needs to have the authority to make the laws it deems necessary to insure that political speech is kept within civilized bounds. Some speech needs to be abridged. It’s racist, sexist, homophobic and disloyal. Allowing such vile comments to hide behind the First Amendment degrades debate. The people’s representatives in the House and Senate have a responsibility to protect society from this sort of degradation.”
President Blames Poor Poll Numbers on Slander
President Barack Obama told a gathering of millionaire donors to the Democratic Party that polls showing dire prospects for the November elections “have nothing to do with my policies and everything to do with the poisonous racism and anti-government animus of the GOP.”
The president acknowledged that “part of the problem lies in the fragmented format of our elections. I won’t be on the ballot this November. Voters will be asked to sift through a confusing roster of unfamiliar candidates and issues. We need to transform the process and make it simpler. In the meantime, if we can boil the election down to a basic ‘yes’ or ‘no’ choice for voters we may be able to navigate through these tough times. So, even though voters can’t vote for me, we can remind them that a vote for any Democrat is, in fact, a vote for my policies.”
Whether a basic “yes or no” messaging strategy would work in a “poisonous” environment is unknown. “As Senator Schumer has pointed out, there are far too many ways for the holders of disreputable opinions to get their scurrilous slanders out,” Obama lamented. “His proposed Amendment has merit, but could only have an impact in the longer run if we could get enough states to ratify it. In the more immediate run up to this November’s balloting the best I can do is remind those who oppose us that the NSA and IRS are still under my authority. I will not hesitate to exploit their full potential for curbing unwanted criticisms of my policies.”
In related news, it has been discovered that 10% of the taxpayers who just happen to have their names appear on lists of donors to Tea Party political causes were audited by the IRS. Statistically, an average taxpayer’s chance of being audited is around 1%.
Catholic Church’s Right to Oppose Abortion Challenged
In a hearing before the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) , the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) argued that the Catholic Church’s campaign against abortion is tantamount to mental torture.
In testimony before the UNCAT, CRR Vice Chairperson Felice Gaer maintained that “the Church’s uncompromising opposition to abortion is out-of-step with the values shared by all progressive nations. By characterizing abortion as the taking of a human life they are, in effect, accusing every woman who has an abortion of murdering her own child. This type of mental abuse is among the list of tortures this Committee has the responsibility to suppress.”
As a first measure, Gaer urged that UNCAT “inform the Church it cannot hide behind a claim to freedom of religion or speech to justify its nonconforming policy preferences. There is no freedom of religion or speech to deviate from the values selected through the democratic processes of the UN or its member states.”
If the Catholic Church doesn’t heed a UN-issued “gag order” Gaer suggested that UNCAT “designate it as a terrorist organization and subject it to sanctions.” One sanction that immediately leapt to Gaer’s mind was “to freeze all of the Church’s assets wherever they may be found. These funds could then be used to aide poor women who might otherwise have to forgo getting an abortion due to poverty.”
Hillary Clinton Denies any Responsibility for Boko Haram’s Terrorism
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s attempt to join in the widespread condemnation of the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram’s kidnapping spree bumped up against evidence that her efforts at State blocked this organization from being added to the terror watch list.
In her defense, Clinton contended “I had no way of knowing then that they would later kidnap 300 girls to sell into slavery. It was my impression then that Boko Haram was engaged in a campaign to uplift impoverished Muslims in Nigeria.”
In contradiction to Clinton’s assertions, the FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Department all pleaded with the State Department to have Boko Haram designated a terrorist organization. “That may well be,” Hillary said, “I don’t specifically recall. What I do remember is that Bill assured me that fighting poverty was their mission. And for that I didn’t think they deserved to be stigmatized with a terrorist label.”
Judging from its actions, the real target of Boko Haram appears to be education. For years it has been murdering teachers and students. In fact, roughly translated, Boko Haram means “education is sin.” Kidnapping school girls to sell as sex slaves seems more a blow against education than an anti-poverty program.
The former Secretary of State maintained that “whatever I did do back then is no longer relevant. I can’t undo it now. So what does that matter at this point? I want to go on record today as deploring their latest atrocity.”
Current Secretary of State John Kerry placed Boko Haram on the terror watch list in November 2013. “Much as we might want to sympathize with their anger against a world they did not make, the simple fact is that they do not offer any kind of health insurance for either their troops or the people they seek to subjugate,” Kerry complained. “To us this is a stark reminder of how barbaric they are in their outlook. President Obama has declared that health insurance is a human right. Lack of respect for this right by Boko Haram leaves us no choice but to classify them as terrorists.”
Dem 2016 Presidential Candidate Makes Major Gun Control Statement
Couching gun-control as a “public health” issue, 2016 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton called for “a major rethinking of who we allow to possess firearms in this country.”
“It seems like no news broadcast is free of reports of another shooting somewhere,” Clinton said. “It could hardly be clearer that there are just too many guns in the hands of the wrong people. Stopping this carnage has to be a focus of any comprehensive effort to improve the health of Americans.”
Clinton maintained that she wasn’t calling for an end to the right to bear arms. “I’m just saying that this right needs to be balanced with the obligation of the Government to insure domestic tranquility,” she insisted. “We don’t want people who are mentally unbalanced or potentially dangerous to have guns in their possession. A program where public authorities can review each person’s request to own or carry firearms and determine whether society would be safer with or without that person having a gun seems reasonable to me.”
“You have to admit that widespread ownership of guns really complicates law enforcement for the police,” Clinton argued. “If only the police were permitted to carry weapons it’d be clear that anyone else carrying would be a criminal. But when there are private citizens with legally allowed guns police can’t be sure whether the person they’re shooting is a good guy or a bad guy. One of my priorities when I am President will be to simplify things.”
“Even just a universal registry of where all the guns are would be a significant step forward,” Clinton contended. “That way every gun involved in a crime could be traced to its owner. And in the event of a major domestic disturbance authorities could more easily and quickly round up and sequester firearms that might conceivably be used to attack the Government.”
Senator Warns Voters against Ousting Her from Office
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La) is sinking in the polls and seems in danger of losing her seat in Congress. In a bid to stave off this fate she warned voters that “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. But what I do have is a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let me keep my seat, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will use these skills to make you rue the day you decided to defy me.”
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La) is sinking in the polls and seems in danger of losing her seat in Congress. In a bid to stave off this fate she warned voters that “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. But what I do have is a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let me keep my seat, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will use these skills to make you rue the day you decided to defy me.”
A Satirical Look at Recent News
John Semmens is a retired economist who has written a weekly political satire column for The Arizona Conservative since 2005. He says working on his satires is one of the ways he tries to honor the liberties that our nation’s Founding Fathers tried to protect.
Please do us a favor. If you use material created by The Arizona Conservative, give us credit, and DO NOT change the context. Thank you.
Could the human muscular system really develop on its own, by accident?
Could the human endocrine system just suddenly appear out of thin air?
Could the human skeletal system happen by a freak of nature?
Could the human excretory system happen just by accident?
Could the human immune system develop without any intelligence?
Could the human nervous system just pop up on its own?
How did humans reproduce before the reproductive system developed?
Could the human digestive system mysteriously become part of the human body? How would human live have functioned before it?
Did the human cardiovascular system happen by accident? How did life function before that happened?
How was the quality of life before the human respiratory system came into being?
Did the human integument (skin) system just happen by accident?
And how do all 11 of these human systems coordinate with each other, perfectly, and in alignment, each of them incomplete without the other 10?
Think about it. There is absolutely no way the human body could have evolved in stages.
There is only one explanation. The human body — with 11 incredibly intricate systems all working together in harmony, was created by an intelligence far superior to anything explainable by earthly standards. The human body was created by God — mirroring his own image.
There is no other slightly plausible explanation. The claim by evolutionists that man evolved is completely inadequate to explain how 11 separate systems — originating simultaneously — function together in harmony to allow human life to function.
On the sixth day, God said, “Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness.” He said it. He did it. No one can explain it any better. They have certainly tried. But they failed. Man is whom God says he is.
By Cathi Herrod, President, Center for Arizona Policy
This is one of those stories you hope to never hear.
The indictment of Tyler Kost reads like a horror story. Over a span of four and a half years, it is alleged that Kost sexually abused and/or raped at least 11 different young girls, ages 12 to 17.
What’s worse is that it appears Planned Parenthood Arizona could have prevented four of the young girls from being assaulted, but didn’t because it wasn’t worth the “hassle.”
According to the police report, one of the victims became pregnant after the rape. Her mother brought her to a Planned Parenthood Arizona clinic on 12/31/13 and again on 1/4/14.
According to the police report, the victim “disclosed the assault to a counselor at Planned Parenthood. The counselor intentionally miscoded the assault as a consensual assault. The counselor told them they did not want the hassle of having to report the assault to law enforcement as they were a mandatory reporter.”
As a mandatory reporter, Arizona law requires Planned Parenthood to immediately report these cases to the authorities.
From this point in time when Planned Parenthood allegedly broke Arizona’s mandatory reporting laws and the time Kost was arrested five months later, four more young girls allegedly were abused – three of them allegedly raped.
If the allegations are true, then Arizona’s largest abortion provider’s refusal to perform its legally required duties and inform the authorities of a predator sexually assaulting this young girl caused these additional victims pain and suffering that they should have been spared.
Furthermore, the young girl who received counseling from Planned Parenthood was led to believe that she’s not worth the “hassle” of going to the police for help and protection.
There is a legal process that must now run its course. Yet the problem you and I can commit to solving today is this: every family should know that if tragedy were to strike, Planned Parenthood is not a safe or trusted organization from which to seek help.
It’s simply tragic that in this dark moment, this family sought support from Planned Parenthood.
John Semmens: Semi-News — A Satirical Look at Recent News
The revelation of Obama Administration memos proving that it knowingly perpetrated a fraudulent cover story blaming a little watched video for the attack on the US Benghazi Consulate is, according to former National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor, “old news unworthy of further concern.”
“Look Dude,” Vietor told Fox News’ Bret Baier, “all that happened like two years ago. There’s nothing anybody can do about it now. I think former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton established that it doesn’t make any difference at this point.”
Vietor also defended the State Department’s and White House’s pivot toward protecting the Administration from damaging political fall out. “While it was sad that four Americans died in Benghazi, the greater threat to the administration from the domestic insurgency led by Mitt Romney had to be dealt with in a decisive manner,” Vietor argued. “The four casualties we suffered in Benghazi was a minor setback. A loss to Romney would’ve had far graver impacts for the President and his program. Even in hindsight, I think we made the right choice.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) echoed Vietor’s perspective and called continued GOP interest in the topic “a baldfaced attempt to divert people’s attention from the headway this administration is making. They don’t want voters to know that over 8 million have signed up for the Affordable Care Act’s new health insurance. They don’t want voters to know that unemployment has dropped to its lowest level since the President took office. It’s the same old ‘dirty politics’ we have come to expect from Republicans.”
Pelosi predicted that “this scheme won’t work because I believe that the Statute of Limitations for prosecuting anyone involved in anything that happened in Benghazi has expired. And even if it hasn’t President Obama can simply pardon anyone the GOP witch hunters try to get their claws into. It’s time to move on.”
Study Said to Vindicate President’s Economic Policies
A study recently published by the National Employment Law Project reports that a plurality of the new jobs created under the Administration’s economic policies have been low-wage jobs. Data analyzed in the study indicated that while 22% of the jobs lost during the recession were low-wage, 44% of the jobs created since then are low-wage.
“If proof were needed that this president is on the side of the little guy this is it,” said Jason Furman, Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. “Expanding job opportunities for those with little education and few skills focuses on the population cohort that is most in tune with the President’s view of the world.”
“Combined with government assistance like food stamps, public housing, subsidized health insurance and miscellaneous free stuff these low-wage jobs can be an ideal situation for a lot of these people,” Furman explained. “The fact that a majority of these new jobs are part time means that a hefty share of the low-wage segment are also enjoying a highly coveted extra leisure time to spend with their families.”
“Step-by-step, the President’s policies are breaking down the preconception that each individual has to provide for himself and his family by working full time at a high-wage job,” Furman continued. “More and more people are coming to realize that a package of government benefits combined with some part time work is an attactive and viable life style in a transformed America.”
Maybe a more persuasive “vindication” of the President’s economic policies is the reported anemic one-tenth of one percent annual growth in GDP achieved in 2014’s first quarter. As bad as this is, the Administration is bragging that it would’ve been worse without Obamacare. “Without this law forcing people to pay an added 10% for medical care during the quarter GDP growth would have been negative,” Furman asserted. “Can we really dare to think of repealing this economic shot-in-the-arm?”
The Congressional Budget Office projects that this “shot-in-the-arm” will compel taxpayers to pay more than $50,000 per year for every person that has signed up for Obamacare. The CBO also predicts that within 10 years the Affordable Care Act will have reduced the number of uninsured Americans from a current estimated 42 million down to a lower total of 31 million.
VA Resolves Backlog of Cases by Purging Records
In a bid to minimize bad publicity the Veterans’ Administration purged 1.5 million unfulfilled medical orders.
“We got so far behind that we thought we’d get a fresh start by canceling all recommended treatments and therapies that were still pending after a year’s delay,” VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson admitted. “While we can’t say for sure whether any of these recommended treatments were or were not performed, if a person has already waited a year for treatment chances are pretty good that he’s recovered without treatment. So why should we have to have an unnecessary pending treatment order hanging over our heads and vilifying our reputation?”
“A smaller number will have died in the interim,” Gibson pointed out. “These persons no longer need treatment, so why keep them on the list? In the instances where a person has survived, but not recovered I’m sure that such persons will renew their request for medical care. The data purge clears the way for these renewed requests.”
In related news, Sharon Helman, Director of the Phoenix VA health system where 40 veterans died while awaiting delayed treatments, got a $9,000 performance bonus last year.
Biden Talks Tough against Russian Aggression in Europe
Contending that “20th century history has proven that the borders of European countries cannot be changed by military force,” US Vice-President Joe Biden called for Russia to “stand down or face annihilation.”
“Students of history are well aware that Hitler’s plan to reshape the map of Europe came to a bad end for him,” Biden declared. “None of his conquests stood for long. Every subjugated people was eventually set free by the triumphant intervention of the Allied nations. Putin should not forget this.”
Perhaps, though, Russian President Vladimir Putin is remembering that Russia made significant territorial gains during and after World War II. Russia was able to annex all of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia as well as parts of Poland, Romania and Finland.
Whether the United States has the will or the ability to fend off Russian aggression in Ukraine, or any other European country Putin may be determined to dominate, seems dubious. In a prospective conflict in the region US supply lines would be long compared to those faced by the Russians. The Europeans we might seek to defend have a notorious tendency toward pusillanimity in regard to military threats from tyrants. And while President Obama may boast of his ability to assassinate the unwary via drone strikes, he shows no sign of being competent to take on the bigger, more complex challenge posed by Putin.
Nevertheless, Biden has vowed to “grab my shotgun and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainian troops opposing Russia’s invasion of their territory. A taste of buckshot will slow these bullies down big time.”
Kerry Claims Unfair Treatment
US Secretary of State John Kerry complains that he is being unfairly pilloried for his private remarks concerning Israel becoming an “apartheid” state.
“I thought I was among friends, but someone betrayed a trust and exposed me to unwanted public ridicule,” Kerry charged. “Delicate policy matters cannot be made in a fishbowl. There has to be a respect for confidentiality. We need to be able to speak freely without fear of repercussions.”
“While I admit that the word ‘apartheid’ may not have been the best turn of phrase I stand by my concern that Israel is in danger of becoming a place with different rights for Jews and Arabs living there. Declaring that a Jew’s right to live takes precedence over a Muslim’s obligation to kill him is not even-handed or democratic. In my mind elevating the Jews like this seems very much like the apartheid we saw in South Africa.”
Clinton Says Democrats Are Trying to Replicate Jesus’ Miracles
In a bid to win over evangelicals for her anticipated 2016 Presidential campaign, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton compared Democratic support for welfare programs to Jesus’ concern for the poor.
“How can those familiar with the story of the loaves and fishes not see the parallels with current Democratic efforts to feed the poor?” Clinton asked. “How is Jesus’ feeding the multitude with a handful of bread and fish not emulated by the EBT card?”
“I’m not saying that Democrats have the magical powers of God,” Clinton said. “But from the perspective of the EBT beneficiaries it must certainly appear magical. Through no toil of their own they and their families are fed. All they are asked to do is cast a ballot for Democrats to have the power to redistribute funds unneeded by those who already have more than enough. Is this not truly indistinguishable from a miracle?”
In related news, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that in 20% of American families no one has a paid job. US Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez called the news encouraging, “We still have a long way to go, but the fact that one in five households have been liberated from wage slavery is real progress.”
A Satirical Look at Recent News
John Semmens is a retired economist who has written a weekly political satire column for The Arizona Conservative since 2005. He says working on his satires is one of the ways he tries to honor the liberties that our nation’s Founding Fathers tried to protect.
Please do us a favor. If you use material created by The Arizona Conservative, give us credit, and DO NOT change the context. Thank you
Wendy Rogers, Republican candidate for Congress, has issued the following statement:
“Talk is cheap; unfortunately, the Phoenix VA Hospital’s representative in Congress, Kyrsten Sinema, does not seem to get that. The lives of men and women who bravely served our country are still being put in danger because Washington, DC, has become used to excuses and bureaucracy instead of action.”
“Getting our veterans timely access to healthcare must be the top priority. Steps can and must be taken to reduce the backlog. The Phoenix VA needs to immediately hire 20 more primary care providers, and we should ensure this is given top priority and not buried under layers of red tape. Veterans are dying as they await follow-up appointments, which is inexcusable.”
“Not one of the Phoenix VA leadership team sounded the alarm as the situation worsened, and we must hold those responsible accountable for their actions. The Phoenix VA system director must be fired, not just placed on leave,” continued Rogers. “We must also learn exactly how big the backlog is and how extensive this ‘secret list’ has been. To ensure complete transparency and to restore the public trust in the VA system, the results of the investigation and the steps being taken to fix this problem must be made public and posted online.”
Wendy Rogers is a 5th-generation U.S. military officer, having retired as a Lt. Colonel from the U.S. Air Force. She was one of the first 100 women to serve as pilots in the Air Force, and she has made defending our veterans’ access to healthcare, education, and jobs one of her top campaign priorities
Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to the Tucson Unified School District Thursday that asks it to reverse its new policy of allowing children to use bathrooms of the opposite sex. The letter provides a suggested policy that addresses the school district’s concerns about discrimination without allowing the sharing of bathrooms.
The ADF letter explains that, contrary to the district’s stated reason for enacting its new policy, no law requires public schools to allow boys into girls’ restrooms or girls into boys’ restrooms. In fact, the district could be exposing itself to legal liability for placing children in potentially unsafe conditions.
“Protecting young children from inappropriate exposure to the opposite sex is not only perfectly legal, it’s a school district’s duty,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jonathan Scruggs. “Letting boys into girls’ bathrooms is an invasion of privacy and a threat to children’s safety. The school district is actually subjecting itself to potential liability if any of these children encounter any harm.”
“Instead of protecting children, the school district is needlessly adopting a policy that invites harm and violations of student privacy,” added ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “The first duty of school district officials is to protect the children who attend school.”
TUSD recently amended its Non-Discrimination Policy to include the terms “gender identity and expression” upon legal advice that federal laws like Title IX require it and require the district to allow students to use opposite-sex bathrooms and changing areas. The ADF letter explains that, in fact, no law requires TUSD to open bathrooms and changing areas to opposite-sex students and that providing such access endangers children and violates the rights of both students and parents.
The letter cites pertinent legal precedent, including a 2009 U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruling that public schools can restrict restrooms to members of the same sex for safety reasons without violating Title IX.
“Based on such cases, TUSD does not have any legal duty to open changing areas to opposite-sex students as a means to prevent discrimination. There simply is no discrimination in protecting young children from inappropriate exposure to the opposite-sex…,” the ADF letter states. “Permitting students to use opposite-sex restrooms would seriously endanger student safety, undermine parental authority, and severely impair an environment conducive to learning. These dangers are so clear-cut that a school district allowing such activity would clearly subject itself–and its teachers–to tort liability. We therefore suggest that TUSD reverse its decision and prohibit students from using opposite-sex changing areas.”
In the letter, ADF offers to defend the school district free of charge if it adopts the ADF-recommended policy and then faces any legal challenge over it in court.
WHY: Because the Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance
REALLY: Yes, Enough is Enough!
Guest: D.S. Edwards Author of Collective Retribution a look at America’s possible future with unsecured borders
TIME: 7:00PM to 8:00PM
CALLERS? Yes, it’s a live show: 602-508-0960… make your voices heard!
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Shows on 960 The Patriot/KKNT typically reach approximately 75,000 – 100,000 listeners each between Monday – Sunday, 6A-12Midnight. The syndicated and established shows naturally pull in higher audiences, as do those in prime/drive times.
The Russell Pearce show is immediately following drive-time, and on the weekend, but we follow an established show, have a host with a large valley/state following, and conduct more online advertising and promotion than any other host on the network. And, based on caller volume, the best indicator of listenership, we’re already approaching the #1 spot on this station and hope to soon be able to again call Senator Pearce Arizona’s #1 conservative talk radio show.
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Fifth, sponsors will be invited to participate live in-studio, or remotely, in shows for the duration of their sponsorship, both for issue advocacy and membership purposes (we wholeheartedly endorse using this program to drive traffic to generate new business for our friends/supporters). And, because we’re a work in progress, we’re always open to working with our friends to make the show more successful for those who support us. We’re the epitome of a small business enterprise, and where we can help our supporters succeed, we’ll go out of our way to do so.
I’ve requested demographic specifics from the station and will send those to you as soon as I get the newest numbers. Our listeners span the entire valley live, and across the entire southwest and several metropolitan centers online already (corresponding to our online marketing efforts).
Our listener call volume already matches that of established shows which have been on the air for several years, which speaks well of Senator Pearce’s popularity and “draw”, and explains how he was able to generate such great listenership volume on his previous show, despite being on a much smaller station.
Presently, sponsorships begin at $500/month with a minimum three month commitment. This includes all of the promotions listed above locked in, including a 30-second commercial run during the show (a 60-second commercial begins at $650/month with all the additional promotions, also with a three-month minimum commitment). We also offer weekday advertising discounted at our rate during the weekday syndicated shows on the Salem Radio Network.
We can certainly modify that amount and work with anyone willing to help and support the Show and our effort to keep critical issues in front of the public and good honest debate on issues facing our great Republic. We are in the middle of our 2014 election and will be vetting the candidates for all the offices.
Once we’re more established, we’ll start pricing packages out individually (commercials, websites, live show promotions, etc), but for now, we’re offering everything discounted and under one umbrella sponsorship package.
Thanks in advance for your consideration — and please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Has a unit of Mexican Army soldiers who patrol right on the Arizona border gone rogue?
This small group has attacked U.S. citizens, and even challenged U.S. federal agents within the U.S. A News 4 Tucson investigation into the dangerous world of rogue soldiers in Mexico’s military.
In January, soldiers from this lonely outpost of the Mexican Army drew their guns on U.S. Border Patrol agents just 50 yards into the United States. Then in March, they opened fire on Javier Jose Rodriguez, a young Tucson man visiting family in Sásabe when he was driving around the town early on a Saturday morning after drinking beers with friends. Rodriguez was shot in the arm and in the side, he spent three weeks at University of Arizona Medical Center.
The United States’ reaction has been tepid, angering people who live and patrol along the Arizona border.
U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) revealed details of the January encounter between soldiers from this base and the Border Patrol. In a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Coburn said a lone agent encountered two Mexican soldiers 50 yards inside the U.S. The agent and the soldiers drew their weapons; the soldiers carried G-3 rifles.
“From what I understand, this has happened hundreds of times before,” says Sylvia Longmire, a border security analyst whose recent book, Border Insecurity, details the challenges and failings of some Homeland Security operations along the Arizona-Sonora border. The soldiers told the agent they’d gotten lost while pursuing a drug smuggler.
“However, I believe there was some confusion as to whether that’s what the Mexican Army was doing because there was no evidence found by the Border Patrol of any drug smugglers in the area,” Longmire said.
Reports obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act show that members of Mexico’s Army have crossed into the U.S. at least 300 times over the past 18 years.
On a Tuesday morning, KVOA’s Lupita Murillo spoke with the commander of the base. He said the last unit rotated out and that an entirely new unit took its place.
But reports show that across the entire border, soldiers have driven into Texas, landed helicopters in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and encountered Border Patrol agents within the United States.
The injured Rodriguez says he wants justice. His medical bills are now over $43,000. He says he intends to pay those off when he goes back to work. He also thinks it’s wrong that these soldiers crossed into Arizona and threatened American federal agents.
“I mean, it’s very nerve-wracking,” said Art del Cueto, President of the Border Patrol’s union in the Tucson Sector, Local 2544. “A lot of these encounters happen in the middle of the night where, you know, the lighting is low and you don’t know who you’re encountering. You’re sitting there and seeing a group of guys coming up to you and they’re all carrying long-arms, you don’t know what you’re encountering.”
Sources in the U.S. State Department say they believe Mexico’s Attorney General is looking into that March attack. But nobody is investigating why these soldiers cross into Arizona.
Arivaca resident, Ronald Ayers said in 2006, a Mexican Army helicopter in the area crossed the border and landed in the U.S. about 300 yards across the border.
“A helicopter flew very low. Flew around behind the barn, landed and then several men got out all clad in black with masks over their face and body armor, carrying what looked to be full automatic weapons,” Ayers recalls. What frustrates him, even now, is that he never heard another word about the incident after he was interviewed by both the FBI and Customs and Border Protection.
Sen. Coburn ordered the Homeland Security Department to produce answers into the Mexican Army incursion by early February. A senior senate aide tells KVOA News 4, as of this week, the agency hasn’t responded to the senator’s demand.
