Daily Headlines | Tuesday April 5, 2022

Good Morning!  

Writing back in 2002 before he became a judge, Neil Gorsuch observed, referring to both political parties: 

“Their responsibility in picking judges is to help the nation find objectively excellent public servants, not to turn the process into an ideological food fight where the most able are mistreated while trimmers and the mediocre are rewarded.” 

 

Senate Judiciary Committee Deadlocks on Judge Jackson Nomination to Supreme Court 

From The Daily Citizen: 

A delayed plane flight led to a brief delay in a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court on Monday, April 4. Because Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., a member of the committee, was late arriving in Washington, D.C., from his home state, Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., recessed a business meeting of the committee meant for a vote on the nomination until Sen. Padilla arrived. 

When Padilla arrived, the committee reconvened and voted 11 to 11 on a motion to report Jackson’s nomination favorably to the full Senate. Chairman Durbin stated he would inform the Senate of the tie vote but took no further action as the committee proceeded to vote on other lower court nominations. 

A tie vote ordinarily fails to advance a nomination. Following the committee vote, The Associated Press reported that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., will call for a vote of the full Senate to pull the nomination out of the committee and advance it to the floor of the Senate. 

The unusual recess can be explained by the 11 to 11 split on the committee between Republicans and Democrats. The committee members are divided along party lines in their support for, or opposition to, Judge Jackson’s nomination. Democrats needed Sen. Padilla in the room to achieve at least a tie vote. 

 

RELATED: 

Murkowski, Romney back Jackson, all but assure confirmation 

From The New York Times: 

A nearly unified wall of G.O.P. opposition to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson cracked slightly on Monday as two more Senate Republicans said they would side with Democrats in supporting her, paving the way for her confirmation as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. 

Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined a third Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, in lending their support to Judge Jackson, defying deep resistance in their party to the nominee. The G.O.P. opposition was underscored anew on Monday when all 11 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted against the nomination. 

That prompted Democrats to use an unusual procedure to force the nomination out of the deadlocked panel with a vote of the full Senate, which agreed to the move by a vote of 53 to 47. 

 

Colorado Governor Signs Radical Abortion-Rights Bill Into Law  

From the Denver Post: 

Getting an abortion without government interference is now guaranteed in Colorado after Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Monday enshrining that right in state law. 

“It’s just devastating to say that in the state of Colorado we are accepting unrestricted abortions with little regard for the psychological, emotional and physical effects the abortion does to a woman,” said [pro-life advocate Giuliana Day]. 

Day said she’s not ruling out another potential ballot measure to try to limit abortions in the state, and she and other advocates are preparing to fight a ballot measure expected in 2024 that would ask voters to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution in case a future legislature wants to overturn the law Polis signed Monday. 

Although Colorado has been trending blue statewide, conservative leaders in rural counties have discussed declaring “pro-life sanctuaries” in response to the new law. In Weld County, GOP Commissioner Lori Saine, a former state representative, called for the county to adopt the designation. On Tuesday, Park County commissioners will consider a resolution declaring the county a “sanctuary county for the protection of life.” 

 

Disney Shareholder to CEO Bob Chapek: Stay Out of Politics and Get Back to Storytelling 

From The Daily Citizen: 

One Disney shareholder has a direct message for 61-year-old Bob Chapek, who currently serves as The Walt Disney Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors: Stay out of politics and get back to work! 

Disney used to be one of the companies most beloved by Americans. 

But The Daily Citizen has chronicled Disney’s slow slide into Leftist political activism over the past several years. 

The corporation has systematically included same-sex relationships in television programming, sold merchandise to celebrate Pride Month, incorporated “gender-fluid” characters in promotional material, cancelled conservative actress Gina Carano, introduced a bisexual cartoon character, and has tried to find an actress to play a “transgender girl” in an upcoming animated film. 

Yet, that all pales in comparison to the recent spate of actions that Disney has taken against Florida’s new parental rights in education bill. 

 

RELATED: 

‘Ain’t But Two Genders’ – Church Preaching Goes Viral 

From The Daily Citizen: 

In a sermon last August, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, denounced transgender ideology, abortion, violence in black neighborhoods and defunding the police. 

A portion of the discourse dealing with the falsehoods of gender ideology was posted on Twitter over the weekend, and it quickly received thousands of responses and retweets. 

In a sermon listing “things I’m not supposed to say as a politician,” Robinson said, “Here’s something else I’m not supposed to say: Ain’t but two genders. Two genders. Ain’t nothing but men and women.” 

He preached:  

You can go to the doctor and get cut up, you can go down to the dress shop and get made up, you can go down there and get drugged up, but at the end of the day, you are just a drugged-up, dressed-up, made-up, cut-up man or woman. 

You ain’t changed what God put in you – that DNA. You can’t transcend God’s creation. I don’t care how hard you try. 

 

‘Game Changer’: Social Media Erupts After Elon Musk Becomes Twitter’s Largest Shareholder 

From the Daily Wire: 

Social media exploded with reaction after news hit Monday morning that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become Left-wing social media platform Twitter’s largest shareholder, taking 9.2% stake in Twitter Inc.  

Musk recently teased a shakeup at Twitter, or possible plans to build a new social media platform that promotes free speech. 

Last month, the Tesla CEO asked his followers to vote in a poll about free speech and Twitter’s adherence to it, emphasizing that the “consequences of this poll will be important.” 

“Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” the 50-year-old asked. “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”  

 

5. If You Want America To Come Back To Life, Get Yourself And Your Friends Back To Church 

Focus on the Family’s Tim Goeglein writes in The Federalist: 

Michael Conte, a Marist poll researcher, said, “[Americans] continue to consider their religious affiliation to be a key component of their personal identity.” Many Americans still see their families, religious teachings, and religious leaders as primary sources of moral guidance — in fact, 7 in 10 respondents in the poll said America would be better off if we prayed more. 

The famous sociologist Robert Putnam famously observed we were “bowling alone” more often in America as civic association began to decline. Worshipping alone would be a sad corollary. 

If we are going to restore community in America, one of the first places to start is to get people back to houses of worship, instead of watching sermons on TV or not attending. Such a community changes the shape and form of our social priorities and focus — from self to selfless — as we become connected with others in the common bond of faith. 

Such a vibrant and renewed community will bring restoration to our current fragmented state and bring us back together again for the common good — for us and society. This would be soulcraft at its most important, and the kind of regeneration our country deeply needs. 

 

Legalized Sports Betting Opens Floodgates for NCAA Gamblers – Is God OK with All This Gambling? 

From CBN: 

With the rise in legalized sports betting, gamblers will have wagered the most money in NCAA history by tonight’s tournament’s finale.  

The gambling ads seem to come from all directions, and legalized sports betting opened the floodgates. The industry is booming with more than $52 billion wagered last year alone, according to the data intelligence agency, Morning Consult. Thirty states, D.C., and Puerto Rico have given the okay, providing access to numerous available betting platforms.  

As many as 10 million Americans live with a gambling addiction. Paul Batura with Focus on the Family says all the marketing and promotion of gambling leads to increased problems for individuals, families, and society.  

“Sports wagering is a bad bet for everyone,” Batura said. “But for Christians, it’s a particularly nefarious thing. As believers, we’re called to serve the poor, but gambling exploits the poor. As Christians we’re called to love our neighbors, but what does gambling do? We only win if the other guy loses.” 

 

7. How Teacher Unions Failed Students during the Pandemic 

From Public Discourse: 

Powerful national unions such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have represented teachers’ interests for decades. These unions have state and local affiliates across the nation that secure teachers’ influence in state legislatures and school boards. 

Students, on the other hand, are represented by their parents. Parents obviously care deeply about their kids’ education, but they often don’t have sufficient time or the requisite background to effectively reform the public education system. This means that teachers’ unions typically have the upper hand in schools. Unions are armed with full time staff to protect their members’ jobs and interests. Meanwhile, parents are often encumbered by various responsibilities like work and caretaking, and just don’t have the resources to effectively campaign against union interests. 

Many individual public school teachers, of course, entered the profession for admirable reasons and truly want to help students. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made clearer than ever the total dissonance between what teachers’ unions want and what’s best for students. 

 

Perspective: Why African Americans hold fast to their faith 

From the Deseret News: 

The religious faith of African Americans is generational, historical and spiritual. Our lived experiences of incessant afflictions, suffering and injustices have seen Christ’s redemptive grace, healing and faithfulness. He has shown us that he is the promise-keeper. For many of us, our hope is built, anchored and bound in the salvific power of Christ. 

That’s why I was not surprised to learn from two recent studies that African Americans have the highest religious engagement of any group of Americans. We say grace and pray more with our families than other racial groups: 69% report doing so, compared to 42% of whites, 41% of Hispanics and 31% of Asian Americans, according to new research from the Survey Center on American Life. 

And according to new Deseret News/Marist Poll research, nearly half of African Americans say they attend church at least weekly and two-thirds pray every day. Three-quarters of African Americans believe in God as described in the Bible, compared to just half of whites and Latinos. 

There is a correlation between our faith and our struggle. The journey of African Americans is replete with immoral treatment, degradation and humiliation by people who saw us as inferior, unworthy or a threat to their prosperity. Historically, we have not had wealth and connections. We have not had the law on our side. All we had was Christ. And we had biblical promises speaking to our suffering with inspiring scripture such as Psalm 30:5 — “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” — and Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” 

 

Positive Drug Tests Among U.S. Workers Hit Two-Decade High 

From the Wall Street Journal: 

The percentage of working Americans testing positive for drugs hit a two-decade high last year, driven by an increase in positive marijuana tests, as businesses might have loosened screening policies amid nationwide labor shortages. 

Of the more than six million general workforce urine tests that Quest Diagnostics Inc., one of the country’s largest drug-testing laboratories, screened for marijuana last year, 3.9% came back positive, an increase of more than 8% from 2020, according to Quest’s annual drug-testing index. 

That figure is up 50% since 2017. Since then, the number of states that legalized marijuana for recreational use grew to 18 from eight, plus the District of Columbia. 

Despite the increase in positivity last year, fewer companies tested their employees for THC, the substance in marijuana primarily responsible for its effects, than in recent years, said Barry Sample, Quest’s senior science consultant. 

 

10. 9-Year-Old Girl Goes from Foster Care to Golf Champion at Augusta National 

From The Daily Citizen: 

The first round of this year’s Masters Tournament begins on Thursday at Augusta National – but tears of joy were already flowing this past Sunday amidst the blooming azaleas and lush green carpet fairways of the famed Southern country club. 

Autumn Solesbee is just nine years old and the winner of her age group in the annual Drive, Chip and Putt golf tournament. She attends Southlake Christian Academy in Huntersville, NC. 

Founded in 2013, the free competition brings together the best golfers between the ages of 7-15 who have advanced through qualifying regional rounds across the country. 

Each of this year’s victors have a story – and Autumn is no exception. 

Prior to being adopted by Donnie and Jamie Solesbee at the age of seven, Autumn spent a good portion of her early life in foster care. But when she was welcomed into her new forever home, she made, at least up until that point, the most important decision of her life. 

“She came from some troubled times in her life and decided she’s going to be a happy kid.” Donnie Solesbee said.  

“Our daughter Autumn didn’t choose the circumstances of her birth or where she spent the first years of her life,” Donne and Jamie wrote last November. “She didn’t get to decide how long she’d be in foster care or whether someone would adopt her. But she did make a decision that was all her own. She decided to let hope and joy define her.”