BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS – August 08, 2024

“The State of Ohio has a legitimate government interest in protecting the health and safety of its citizens,” and the SAFE Act “is rationally related to this interest. It is limited to minors. Moreover, the medical care banned carries with it undeniable risk and permanent outcomes. Indeed, countries once confident in the administration of gender affirming care to minors are now reversing their position as a result of the significant inconsistencies in results and potential side effects of the care.” -Franklin County Judge Michael J. Holbrook

[WashingtonStand.com] Ohio’s law (H.B. 68) to protect minors from gender transition procedures and insulate women’s sports may take effect, Franklin County Judge Michael J. Holbrook ruled Tuesday. In finding for the state on four separate issues, the judge wrote, “recourse for those who are dissatisfied with the General Assembly’s determinations must be exercised through their vote as opposed to the judicial system.” (Image: Pixabay)

The Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act has finally reached smooth waters after traversing particularly perilous rapids. The SAFE Act overwhelmingly passed both legislative chambers, was vetoed after Christmas by Republican Governor Mike DeWine, and was legislatively ratified again over the governor’s veto.

However, before the law was scheduled to take effect on April 24, the ACLU challenged it in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, arguing that the law violated the Ohio Constitution on four separate counts, most of which had already been litigated in other contexts. (Franklin County contains Columbus, Ohio, the state capital.) The presiding judge issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the law from taking effect until he had reviewed its legal merits.

In a brief decision of only 13 pages, Judge Holbrook ruled in the state’s favor, even when he seemed reluctant to do so (for instance, by referring to the SAFE Act as “The Health Care Ban.”)

His seeming reluctance may be attributed to the fact that he is an elected Republican judge (although the general election is technically nonpartisan, the parties hold primaries) in a Democratic stronghold. In the 2020 election, Franklin County voted for Joe Biden by nearly a two-to-one margin (64.9% to 33.5%), while in 2022 Holbrook won re-election by only 281 votes out of 360,549 votes cast (50.0%).

The ACLU claimed the law violated the state constitution’s “single subject” requirement because it addressed both gender transition procedures and women’s sports.

However, the Ohio Supreme Court had ruled that “the mere fact that a bill embraces more than one topic is not fatal, as long as a common purpose or relationship exists between the topics.” Consequently, Ohio courts can only strike down a law under the single subject rule if they find “no discernable practical, rational or legitimate reason for combining the provisions in one Act.”

Last month, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a law combining regulation of gender transition procedures and abortion from a similar “single subject” challenge on the ground that the single subject was health care.

Holbrook’s ruling complied with the Ohio court’s interpretation. “At first glance, there appears to be a disunity of subject matter,” he wrote. “However, the law compels this Court to conclude that the Act contains a common purpose or relationship; namely, the General Assembly’s regulation of transgender individuals.”

“No matter how abhorrent that may be to some,” Holbrook added, “it is a ‘legitimate subject’ for purposes of the Single Subject Rule under the laws of the State of Ohio at this time. The recourse for those who object is not within the Court but is instead with their vote.”

The ACLU also claimed the law violated the state constitution’s Health Care Freedom Amendment, which prohibits laws that “impose a penalty or fine for the sale or purchase of health care.”

At first, Holbrook appeared to side with those challenging the law, factually, rhetorically, and legally. “The Health Care Ban imposes a penalty upon medical providers who provide gender transition services to minors. Gender transition services constitute ‘health care,'” he wrote.

But then he added, “Notwithstanding the forgoing, the Health Care Freedom Amendment unequivocally provides that its provisions do not affect laws calculated to punish wrongdoing in the health care industry. The State of Ohio has legislated that a medical provider’s provision of gender affirming care constitutes ‘wrongdoing.'”

Holbrook again redirected hostile readers’ anger towards the legislature. “Again, the remedy for those who object to the State of Ohio’s determination of wrongdoing cannot be found within the judicial system but is instead with their vote.”

The ACLU next raised their claim that the SAFE Act violated the Equal Protection Clause. The Ohio Constitution has an Equal Protection Clause which is “to be construed and analyzed identically” to the federal Equal Protection Clause found in the 14th Amendment.

Here, the judge observed the Sixth Circuit’s ruling in L.W. v. Skrmetti, which upheld similar laws in Tennessee and Kentucky. The Department of Justice appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court, and the justices have agreed to hear the case. In the meantime, the Sixth Circuit’s decision is binding precedent for the states in its jurisdiction: Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan.

Applying the “rational basis” test per Skrmetti (the lowest standard of review), Holbrook found that “The State of Ohio has a legitimate government interest in protecting the health and safety of its citizens,” and the SAFE Act “is rationally related to this interest. It is limited to minors. Moreover, the medical care banned carries with it undeniable risk and permanent outcomes. Indeed, countries once confident in the administration of gender affirming care to minors are now reversing their position as a result of the significant inconsistencies in results and potential side effects of the care.”

Lastly, the ACLU challenged the SAFE Act under Ohio’s Due Course of Law Clause, which parallels the US Constitution’s Due Process Clause as the non-textual locus of parental rights. Again following the Skrmetti decision, Holbrook applied the rational basis test, and the state’s law once again passed.

Having found in the state’s favor on all four counts, Holbrook vacated his temporary restraining order, allowing Ohio’s SAFE Act to take effect. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

“WALZ just broke Federal Law: In boasting about going to a War he actually SKIPPED, Timmy Walz is in violation of The Stolen Valor Act of 2013. Penalty: ONE YEAR in Jail. Prosecute Now!!!” -Greg Kelly, Newsmax TV Host, Reporter and Veteran

[TheGatewayPundit.com] Another Democrat criminal. (Screengrab image: via X)

Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced she chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate.

Immediately after Walz was introduced as Kamala’s running mate, a video of him falsely claiming to be a combat veteran surfaced.

Falsely portraying yourself as a combat war veteran is a crime.

It is truly unbelievable that the Democrats did not discover this as they were vetting the far left Minnesota Governor for their vice presidential pick.

The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 made it a “federal crime for an individual to fraudulently hold oneself out to be a recipient of any of several specified military decorations or medals with the intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit.”… Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Continue reading and view relevant video clips Here.

“A Georgia State election board on Wednesday night voted to request that state Attorney General Chris Carr reopen an investigation into Fulton County’s counting of the results of the 2020 election…” –Just The News report 

[TheGatewayPundit.com] “Georgia owes President Trump an Apology” says election integrity expert Joe Rossi in Fulton County. (Screengrab image: via X)

More evidence came out recently summarizing the corruption and fraud in the 2020 Election in Georgia. A hearing [took place this week] in Georgia to discuss the corrupt acts that occurred in Fulton County in the 2020 Election.

…Joe Rossi discusses the fraud uncovered in Fulton County during the 2020 Election. Instead of apologizing, the corrupt politicians in Georgia are covering up their crimes and working with the corrupt DA Fani Willis to indict President Trump for claiming that the election in the state was stolen… Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Click Here to continue reading and to view evidence in video clips.

[WashingtonExaminer.com] Having withdrawn from his reelection bid and acknowledged the possibility that former President Donald Trump may succeed him, …Joe Biden has worked with Democrats and his federal agencies to lock in a legacy that won’t be easy for Trump to erase. From pumping out regulations to insulating government scientists to enshrining foreign policy commitments, the Biden administration is leaving behind policies that will be procedurally difficult or politically costly to abandon. In this series, the Washington Examiner will take a look at how Biden is Trump-proofing parts of the government. Part two will look at his regulatory push. Biden will be leaving office in January after bowing out of his reelection bid, but even if his party loses control of the White House, he’s working to cement a legacy that Trump can’t easily undo… Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here Click Here to read.

(Screengrab image: via 11 Alive)

Federal agencies colluding with the private sector to carry out their efforts to censor Americans who question the Establishment is a fascistic tactic … If the administrative state is willing to target even high-profile political figures, you can imagine what’s being done to ordinary Americans.

[DailySignal.com] Federal Air Marshal Service whistleblowers have exposed the Transportation Security Administration’s weaponized Quiet Skies program. (Screengrab image: via X)

The whistleblowers have come forward to the Air Marshal National Council, an advocacy council for air marshals. The whistleblowers have reported that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii—a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserve and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate—has been a target under the program, resulting in her being added to the TSA’s suspected-terrorist watchlist.

The Quiet Skies program’s purpose is to protect Americans on domestic flights from those who may present an elevated security risk. Since the TSA identified Gabbard as a “security risk,” she unknowingly had “two explosive-detection canine teams, one Transportation Security specialist (explosives), one plainclothes TSA supervisor, and three federal air marshals on every flight she boards.”

While the TSA claims that race and religion are not considered when enrolling someone in Quiet Skies, political affiliation is excluded from that policy. In 2022, Gabbard left the Democratic Party and became an independent, and she has been critical of both the party and the military-industrial complex.

Gabbard recently criticized the Biden-Harris administration and denounced unnecessary and endless wars. Soon after she made her remarks, she was unknowingly assigned federal air marshals to accompany her on her flights.

In the Biden-Harris administration, the government has weaponized its powers to intimidate and silence political opponents.

For example, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency surveilled and censored Americans on social media by colluding with Big Tech.

Click Here to view and download official reports on the current administration’s weaponization of CISA, the IRS and the FBI

The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government concluded in a report that “CISA expanded its unconstitutional practice by developing an elaborate social media censorship apparatus spanning multiple organizations, in order to facilitate the censorship of Americans’ political speech, both directly and by proxy.

“There is no constitutionally viable legal authority that allows CISA to engage in this or any other kind of censorship.”

Federal agencies colluding with the private sector to carry out their efforts to censor Americans who question the Establishment is a fascistic tactic. (Image: Pixabay)

The Biden-Harris administration has also weaponized the IRS by making unannounced visits to taxpayers’ homes to harass and intimidate them.

The committees listed some of the abuses committed by the IRS: “The IRS conducted an unannounced field visit to the home of journalist Matt Taibbi the same day he testified before Congress about government abuse … [and] an IRS agent gave a fake name and used deception to gain entry into the home of an Ohio taxpayer and then threatened her when asked to leave.”

Since such abuses by the IRS were exposed by Congress, it has stopped making unannounced visits to the homes of taxpayers.

A third example of the weaponization of government by the Biden-Harris administration occurred when the FBI targeted traditional Catholics and categorized them as domestic terrorists. The committees found that “the FBI abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists … . [T]he FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to develop its assessment, and the FBI even proposed developing sources among the Catholic clergy and church leadership.”

The administrative state finds virtuous Americans who want what is good for their families, communities, and country to be the ultimate threat.

The Biden-Harris administration is no stranger to weaponizing government agencies against Americans who want to live peaceful and prosperous lives. Federal agencies, under the aegis of the Left, have targeted Americans for opposing the administrative state.

The Federal Air Marshal Service whistleblowers have exposed the latest instance of a weaponized agency targeting Americans, and there are more targeted individuals to be announced, the Air Marshal National Council promised Sunday.

If the administrative state is willing to target even high-profile political figures, you can imagine what’s being done to ordinary Americans. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Erin Schniederjan is a research assistant for homeland security and Asian studies at the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.

The amendment bans “propaganda, promotion or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one.”

(Bulgaria) — [LifeSiteNews.com] On August 7, the Parliament of Bulgaria passed an amendment to the Law for Preschool and School Education banning LGBT “propaganda” in schools by a massive majority of 159 votes in favour to 22 opposed, with 12 abstentions. (Image: Pixabay)

The amendment was posed by the Vazrazhdane (Revival) Party and gained widespread support from political parties across the spectrum, with MPs citing inappropriate sex education brochures and books being provided to both children and teens.

READ: Trump pledges to cut federal funding for schools pushing critical race theory and trans ‘insanity’ 

The amendment bans “propaganda, promotion or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one.” Parliamentarians also voted on text that specifically defines “non-traditional sexual orientation” as “different from the generally accepted and established notions in the Bulgarian legal tradition of emotional, romantic, sexual or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes.”

Kornelia Ninova, leader of the Socialist Party, stated that expatriate Bulgarian families had reached out to her to warn her about the influence of “gender ideology,” which she stated is “creeping into and taking over Bulgarian schools” as well as European society more generally, citing the blasphemous “transgender” spectacle during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris as well as the recent winner of the Eurovision Song Contest Nemo Mettler, who identifies as “non-binary”… Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Continue reading Here.

[Ashlee] Bond said she coped with associated fears by leaning into Jesus, focusing on her calling and not any of the worries that the email sparked in her heart. The threats were especially concerning because the emails were delivered and addressed to each individual’s personal email—and that’s not all…

[Faithwire.com] Ashlee Bond has been on a truly captivating journey. The US-born show-jumping rider is the first Christian athlete to represent Israel at the Olympics. Bond participated in the Tokyo Games in 2021 and was in Paris this summer to once again compete in the Olympic games. (Screengrab image: via YouTube)

How Bond Joined Israel’s Team

“I am part Jewish, so … I feel right at home,” Bond, 39, told CBN News of her experience competing on team Israel.

Her journey to contending on behalf of the Jewish state started when she was 33 years old, which she considers significant considering her Christian heritage.

“I was 33 when I got my citizenship—on my 33rd birthday,” she said. “Jesus was crucified when he was 33. I have always considered myself an American-Israeli or Israeli-American—either way. My dad was born in Haifa … I still have some family that lives in Israel.”

Bond said her Israeli heritage was always “very prominent” in her life, with the culture integrated into her daily life. Ultimately, she developed a “strong Israeli character,” which helped lead her to seek Israeli citizenship in 2018.

“I just felt this calling with my faith being a Christian, being that Jesus —that’s where He was born, and where He died, and where He rose again,” Bond said. “And I had done enough for the US. team. I felt as though I had proven that I could ride for the US team. … I felt it was time for me to make that change and to help along with my other teammates to bring Israel more recognition to the top of the sport and hopefully get others in Israel excited about hopefully getting into the equestrian sport.”

Dealing With Terror Threats

There were some significant considerations for Bond when competing in the 2024 Olympic Games, though, especially after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East—events that led to increased security concerns for Israeli Olympians.

“It was definitely nerve-racking, to say the least,” she said. “I pride myself on being a pretty tough person, someone who isn’t shaken too easily.” (Screengrab image: via CBN News)

But Bond said she and others received a threatening email before the 2024 Olympics that left her stunned.

“[It] singled me out personally, along with … I believe 16 other Israeli athletes from a terrorist organization threatening our lives and saying … ‘If you fly over, you drive over, we run the airports, we run the streets, we will have blood run in the streets like Munich in ’72,'” she said, referencing the 1972 terror attack that claimed the lives of 11 Israeli Olympians. “That was a little concerning.”

Bond said she coped with associated fears by leaning into Jesus, focusing on her calling and not any of the worries that the email sparked in her heart. The threats were especially concerning because the emails were delivered and addressed to each individual’s personal email—and that’s not all… Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Continue reading, and watch the video interview Here

[Newsmax.com] When a deadly wildfire tore through Lahaina on Maui last August, the wall of flames scorched the 151-year-old banyan tree along the historic town’s Front Street. But the sprawling tree survived the blaze, and thanks to the efforts of arborists and dedicated volunteers, parts of it are growing back—and even thriving. One year after the fire, here’s what to know about the banyan tree and the efforts to restore it… Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here Click Here to read.

(Screengrab image: via AP)