White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said that resuming the process of putting abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill is important so that American money “reflect[s] the history and diversity of our country.”

And while the left celebrates Tubman for being a woman and person of color, Project 21 member Donna Jackson writes that this choice can also be seen as a win for conservatives, because Tubman’s faith and conservative-compatible beliefs can be celebrated long after the left has moved on to its next crusade:

History serves as a lesson for modern-day issues. There is a fight for freedom and individual liberty being waged today, especially in a climate of overreaching government and cancel culture. Conservatives today are faced with censorship, harsh gun controls and restrictions on religious liberties. Tubman’s legacy can inspire determination in all of us to ensure that we, as a people, never lose our rights.

Donna’s commentary, which has appeared in major-market newspapers such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Kansas City Star, argues that it’s important to recognize Tubman beyond her intersectional value:

While liberals bask in the blinding glow of superficial identity politics, patting themselves on the back for replacing villainous former President Andrew Jackson, conservatives can also celebrate this choice. They can do that by looking beyond Tubman’s color to celebrate her beliefs, her life and her deeds.

In particular, Donna praises the way the abolitionist’s faith guided her decisions:

Tubman’s faith emboldened her to risk everything to aid escaped slaves, and inspired her to recognize the dignity in every life. She talked to God, and said he talked back (something former Vice President Mike Pence was mocked for saying). She said the Underground Railroad was not her idea, but rather divine inspiration from the Lord.

Donna also mentions how Tubman sought the help of other Christians – including white Christians – along the stops of the Underground Railroad:

In working with those people, Tubman was colorblind in a way many of today’s race-obsessed activists could never understand…

Tubman fought for freedom, liberty and all the rights guaranteed to us by God and the Constitution. While she probably never heard the term “conservative,” she nonetheless exhibited values characteristic of a modern conservative.

“Her example serves as a reminder to be brave,” Donna writes, “and have the courage to fight for what is right.”

To read all of Donna’s commentary – “We Should Honor a Conservative on the $20 bill. Her Name is Harriet Tubman” – click here to go to the Kansas City Star’s website.

In a letter to the U.S. Senate calling Xavier Becerra an “extremist nominee who will carry the agendas of liberal dark money groups to his administration post,” a group of over 100 prominent conservatives – including National Center General Counsel Justin Danhof, Esq. – laid out their opposition to the nomination of Becerra to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The letter states:

Becerra has shown neither the judgment, character or respect for human life necessary to lead the agency with such influence over the foundational rights of all Americans. Under his watch, we believe HHS – an agency that should protect human life, dignity, and enshrine the values of religious liberty – would be weaponized toward partisan and destructive ends.

The letter also highlights Becerra’s radicalism as a member of the U.S. Congress and as California’s attorney general. It notes his “dubious judgment” in matters such as advocating for on-demand abortion, forcing faith-based organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor to fund birth control, suppressing investigative journalism and promoting unscientific “environmental justice” policies.

Joining Justin in signing the letter are Concerned Women for America President and CEO Penny Y. Nance, former Interior and Energy Secretary Donald Paul Hodel, Alliance Defending Freedom Founder Alan E. Sears, Young America’s Foundation President Scott Walker, American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle and Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner.

To read the entire letter and see the full list of signers (using titles for identification only), click here.

It’s a sad truth. In just a few years, America’s “largest corporations have abandoned their traditional roles” and are “jump[ing] hard into politics.”

Taking a page from the Occupy Wall Street movement that he said intimidated the business community, Scott Shepard – the deputy director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project – writes in a Townhall commentary:

It’s time – it’s long past time – for us on the right to respond to this “private” pressure. So: Occupy Twitter? Abandon Amazon? Sit-in at Starbucks?

Scott says conservatives need to get “personally involved” in order to blunt the impact of the left’s years of pressure on the nation’s most powerful CEOs. He realizes this is asking a lot:

This is hard for many of us on the right. We tend to be independent-minded people who naturally shy away from group activities and from groupthink. This is unavoidable for a coalition of people whose basic uniting premises include the idea: “Leave me alone, and I’ll do the same to you.” But as the Tea Party movement early in the last decade showed, many on the right are willing and eager to get involved, while others of us can force ourselves.

But, he notes, it is in the best interests of conservatives and people of faith to get out of their comfort zones and get involved:

We should increase pressure on still-neutral organizations to stay in the middle of the road, while going all out – peaceably and without violation of any non-discriminatory laws, certainly – against companies that have moved left. This means borrowing from Occupy Wall Street and other effective leftwing tactics, and putting those strategies to work for the right.

How?

Consider the case of Amazon. The behemoth online retailer has deplatformed Parler, allowed the left to ban conservative and faith-based groups from its AmazonSmile charitable program and possibly cost lives by withholding its assistance in COVID-19 vaccination efforts until President Donald Trump left office. There is a way to fight back:

It would behoove us all, then, to note that Walmart now offers an annual subscription to a “free”-delivery-any-amount program that rivals the one offered by Amazon. You don’t get Prime Video from Walmart, but preserving freedom might be worth giving up Mrs. Maisel, as sad as that would be.

And while we’re at it, “[m]aybe it’s time to organize sit-ins of Starbucks shops until they agree not to discriminate on the basis of viewpoint.” Pointing out how this worked “in similar civil rights struggles,” and that the coffee retailer has decreed that people don’t have to buy things to hang out in their stores, Scott suggests those on the right “[g]et a crowd, settle in, fire up your laptops, have a lovely conversation and don’t buy a thing” until they recognize our concerns.

To read all of Scott’s Townhall commentary – “Occupy Twitter?” – click here.

The post Conservatives Should Pressure Businesses Like the Left Does appeared first on The National Center.

By William Haupt III | The Center Square 

President Ronald Reagan shakes hands with Pope John Paul II on the podium at Miami International Airport, Fla., in this Sept. 10, 1987 file photo. Bob Daugherty / AP file photo

“Socialism and Communism rob people of their liberty, freedom, dignity and security. But nobody can steal their spirit, faith and beliefs, since those belong to God the Almighty.”

– Bishop Sheen

World War II altered the world forever. Before the ink was dry on the Paris Peace Treaty, Joseph Stalin was remaking history. From 1945 through the 1960s, the USSR gutted institutions by tactically maneuvering terrorist campaigns. With political murders, outright theft of God-given rights, and the outlawing of worship, organized tyranny subjugated Eastern Europe from the world for decades.

Since Communism and religion are in conflict, Stalin immediately outlawed all religion. He attacked Christians and Jews. Clergymen were shot or sent to labor camps. Religious teaching and worship was forbidden. In 1929 at an Agitprop conference, he said religion is a weakness and all allegiance must be to him as leader of the state. Anyone refusing to follow his orders would be executed in a public square.

“There is an easy solution. No churches, no priests, no problems.”

– Joseph Stalin

During decades of Communist terror, celebrating Christmas was a crime. Stalin’s atheist regime denied our Savior’s birth and replaced Christmas with a celebration of his own birthday. Former Christian holy days were replaced with days of extra labor for the state. The word Christmas was banned, and Santa Claus was replaced by Father Frost, who gave children candy on New Years.

According to the Reds, the only wise men were the Communist party leaders in the Eastern Bloc.

Those who dared to worship did it secretly in the shadows of cellars in their meager homes. Only their most trusted friends and family were invited to attend. They exchanged UN rations as gifts.

Jews made Menorahs from matchsticks in fireplaces, well camouflaged behind smoldering logs.

But Christians never lost hope. They received packages from Americans and UN Relief Funds and tons of U.S. military rations, including candy that parents would hide and give away as gifts. Radio Free Europe brought hope at Christmas to families imprisoned within the dungeons of Russian hell.

On Christmas, Radio Free Europe would turn up their transmitters and retell how Mary and Joseph followed the shining star to Bethlehem and gave birth to the Savior of the world. Radio Free Europe assured them Jesus had united all Christians to fight for a return of Christmas to the Eastern Bloc.

“Russia can’t keep Christmas from you when we celebrate it with you on the air.”

– Georgi Markov

The Eastern bloc hoped that with the death of Stalin in 1941, that Nikita Khrushchev would allow them to worship in private on special days like Christmas and Hanukkah. But Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaign was as brutal as Stalin’s desire to cleanse the region. Khrushchev ordered his atheist army to demolish 200 Eastern Orthodox churches. His 1954 Resolution Act closed over 58,000 churches and synagogues. By 1965, the USSR was void of any reference to the Lord or to religion.

“Saying ‘in the name of God’, is a bad habit all Soviets have to break.”

– Nikita Khrushchev

The Cold War lingered on for decades, and all attempts by U.S. and other world leaders could not penetrate the Communist barricade that had isolated them from religion or Western influence. They had additionally allied with other communists around the globe, who were a continual threat to world peace. When Cuba joined their axis of evil, communism became a deadly threat to U.S. freedom.

In October 1978, divine intervention would bring Christmas back to the Eastern Bloc along with a surprise gift. It was not some abrupt changes in thinking by the Soviets, international pressure or a threat of war. It was the election of the first non-Italian pope in the history of the Catholic Church. God would bring Christmas to the USSR and give them a special gift: He’d end Communism also.

When Pope John Paul I abruptly died, 120 Cardinals were called to Rome. They spent a week in prayer seeking consensus on a new pope. After seven ballots, with Italian nominees, none gained 75 votes. Cardinal Franz König, a brilliant diplomat, suggested they nominate the Polish Cardinal Wojtyla. The other cardinals soon concurred. The time was right to elect a Pope from a Communist nation.

“When we worship, God is there. Communists fear Him more than us.”

– Pope John Paul II

On March 30, 1981, in the nation’s capital, President Ronald Reagan, the leader of the free world, was shot by a would-be assassin. On May 13, 1981, in the heart of St. Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul II, leader of the world’s largest Christian faith, was shot by a would-be assassin. This divine consequence would forever unite the world’s most prolific Christian leaders and end Communism.

Reagan was the first president to form a spiritual bond with a Pope. But it was these mutual attempts upon their lives only one month apart that made them cognizant that God had appointed them to lead the army to end Communism in Soviet nations and restore the right to worship freely.

Both leaders knew the USSR was in socioeconomic turmoil, and were ready to strike at any time.

Reagan worked with Pope John Paul II on a plan to restore religious freedom in the USSR. In early 1987, Reagan met with Gorbachev, but he said. “It is not what is best for the party.” Reagan turned to Pope John Paul II for advice and he said: “Its God’s will it is done before next Christmas.”

Reagan returned to Russia June 12, 1987, to speak to the people of East and West Berlin about the benefits of uniting Berlin. He asked to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. He promised Pope John II, he would appeal directly to the people about freedom of religion and building a new free society together. As he neared the end of his plea for unification, he said, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down that wall!” Within months the wall came down, and religious freedom was being restored in the USSR.

Reagan was the first president to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Like our Savior, assassins tried to stop him and Pope John Paul before they completed their mission. The bullets that flew in Washington and Rome drew them closer. These aging statesmen had a vision: to restore religion and end Communism in the Eastern Bloc, and they did that for God and country.

Divine intervention returned Christmas to the Eastern Bloc, and their first gift was liberty. In 2012, Polish officials unveiled a statue of President Reagan and Pope John Paul II in “Ronald Reagan Park,” honoring them for bringing religion and liberty back to Eastern Europe. Each Christmas, they are honored in church services in nations that were under Soviet control in East Europe. Ronald Reagan told Pope John Paul at their final meeting, “Look how evil forces were put in our way and Providence intervened.” Pope John Paul replied, “It was God’s way of uniting our spirits for Him.”

“Those who said we’d never see the end of Soviet Communism in Eastern Europe never imagined what a Catholic Pole in the Vatican and an American Protestant in the White House would tell the Russians if they did not end Communism: Either you do it or, we’ll do it for you!”

– Ronald Reagan

 ___________

Contributing Columnist William Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition 13.

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/op-ed-divine-intervention-restored-christmas-in-the-eastern-bloc/article_c7b4a606-43a1-11eb-af8e-5b5ee1a6b755.html

 By David Catron 

Emerging information from the states render his victory less and less plausible.

During the weeks following November 3, innumerable election experts and statistical analysts have pored over the voting data upon which former Vice President Joe Biden’s purported campaign victory ostensibly stands. A growing body of evidence ranging from straightforward ballot audits to complex quantitative analyses suggests that the tabulation of the votes was characterized by enough chicanery to alter the outcome of the election. Consequently, a consensus has gradually developed among the auditors of publicly available information released by the states, and it contradictsthe narrative promulgated by the Democrats and the media. The more data experts see, the less convinced they are that Biden won.

Among the analysts who question the legitimacy of Biden’s victory is Dr. Navid Keshavarz-Nia, a cybersecurity expert whose technical expertise was toutedby the New York Times last September and who has been described as a heroin the Washington Monthly. It’s unlikely that either publication will be singing his praises for his work pursuant to the recent election. His damning analysis of the electronic manipulation of votes that occurred in the early hours of November 4 appears in a sworn affidavit included with C.J. Pearson v. Kemp, a lawsuitfiled by Attorney Sidney Powell in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. His nine-page affidavit(Exhibit 26) describes how it is possible to manipulate votes, where this occurred, and sums up his findings as follows:

I conclude with high confidence that the election 2020 data were altered in all battleground states resulting in hundreds of thousands of votes that were cast for President Trump to be transferred to Vice President Biden. These alterations were the result of systemic and widespread exploitable vulnerabilities in DVS, Scytl/SOE Software and Smartmatic systems that enabled operators to achieve the desired results. In my view, the evidence is overwhelming and incontrovertible.

Dr. Keshavarz-Nia is by no means the only expert to reach the conclusion that widespread vote-tampering occurred. This examinationof the election results, for example, uses quantitative analysis to identify some very odd anomalies in the 2020 vote patterns. But it isn’t necessary to be a sophisticated statistician or cybersecurity expert possessed of arcane knowledge of how voting machines operate to see that enough ballot fraud occurred to change the election results in several states. That Keshavarz-Nia provides his findings in a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, renders him highly credible. Still, his conclusions are rather opaque to anyone without an enormous amount of training and experience in his field. This requires many of us to take what he says on faith.

Bearing this in mind, Matt Braynard of the Voter Integrity Project (VIP) approached the 2020 results in a far less arcane fashion. His team analyzed publicly available data on absentee ballots, and he explainedhis findings in a way that any intelligent voter can understand. VIP looked at suspicious ballot activity in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Among the most significant VIP findings involved people who changed their state of residence, yet voted absentee using their prior address. In Arizona, which Biden “won” by 10,457 votes, there were 19,997 questionable votes. In Georgia, which Biden “won” by 12,670 votes, VIP found 138,221 such votes. In Wisconsin, which Biden “won” by 20,608 votes, there were 26,673 such votes. As Braynard toldthe Epoch Times:

This election, it appears to me, has been decided by ballots that are highly questionable.… I can give you the list of the people who voted in this election, who filed National Change of Address cards in Georgia, moving themselves to another state.… I can also show you the subsequent state voter registrations of these individuals in other states, who then cast absentee ballots back in Georgia.… I have no confidence that Joe Biden is the deserved winner of this election.

Braynard has been asked to present the findings of the Voter Integrity Project to Monday’s hearingwith members of Arizona’s legislature. Moreover, as Braynard tweetedFriday, “The VIP findings have also been included in court filings in PA, GA, MI, WI, and AZ, including declarations we collected.” Sunday, another tweet by Braynard revealed that the FBI has proactively requested VIP findings that may indicate illegal ballots.  Meanwhile, no discussion of 2020 election skulduggery is complete without a discussion of the Democrat precincts that record more votes than registered voters. Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) tweetedthe following on that perennial topic: “According to an affidavit in the MI lawsuit, one Michigan precinct/twnship had 781.91% turnout. How does this happen?”

Good question. No fewer than six precincts listed by Rep. Posey experienced turnout exceeding 120 percent. Another 10 allegedly enjoyed 100 percent turnout. This is an insult to the electorate’s intelligence, and it happened in Democrat precincts all across the nation. From World War II through 2016 average turnout in a presidential election was about 56 percent. Yet we are expected to believe that, in 2020, the national turnout was 66 percent. It simply does not pass the laugh test. This looks to be the result of widespread Democrat chicanery facilitated by high-handed flouting of federal, state, and county election laws. Joe Biden’s victory is no more legitimate than his plagiarized rhetoric or working-class credentials. His Potemkin presidency would be no more authentic than the man himself.

https://spectator.org/legitimacy-of-biden-win-buried-by-objective-data/