'Cancel Culture' When it Comes to Inconvenient Truth in the Media

Fans rage at Hallmark after ‘Unplanned’ actress claims

film was cut from awards show

FILE PHOTO: Actress Ashley Bratcher and "Unplanned" co-stars accept a film award onstage during the 7th Annual K-LOVE Fan Awards at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. ©  AFP / Getty Images North America / Terry Wyatt

Fans of the Abby Johnson biopic ‘Unplanned’ were aggravated when star Ashley Bratcher, who plays the main character in the movie, alleged that the Hallmark Drama Channel cut all references to the film out of the broadcast.

‘Unplanned’ is a Pure Flix feature that tells the true story of former Planned Parenthood staffer Abby Johnson, who became a pro-life advocate after she witnessed an abortion via sonogram, where she says she witnessed the baby struggle against the procedure.

“Outraged,” Bratcher wrote on Twitter. “Movieguide awards recently aired on @hallmarkdrama & @UnplannedMovie & I were nominated. We were the ONLY nominees who were not recognized. Hallmark has ERASED us from the show and refused to acknowledge us as nominees. This is completely UNACCEPTABLE.”

Ashley Bratcher
@_AshleyBratcher
Outraged. Movieguide awards recently aired on @hallmarkdrama & @UnplannedMovie & I were nominated. We were the ONLY nominees who were not recognized. Hallmark has ERASED us from the show and refused to acknowledge us as nominees. This is completely UNACCEPTABLE. @hallmarkchannel

video 0:37

The film was nominated in three categories at the Movieguide Awards, an annual event that awards movies based on Christian and family-friendly entertainment.

One Twitter user asked the actress if she and the film were “nominated and a part of the awards, but when it was aired, you were cut.”

Bratcher replied, “Yes. That’s exactly what happened. If you watch the televised show it’s like we don’t exist despite our 3 nominations and time on stage.”

As her tweet went viral, fans expressed both their support for the movie and outrage over the alleged omission.

“Hallmark you are losing your viewers day by day,” one wrote. “Not to accept nominations that were done, it's a shame and an outrage to all of us who think that Unplanned is a movie on a very important issue of our time. And the main character deserves to be recognized as any other nominee.”

“It's almost like there's a political agenda involved…” one Twitter follower replied.

JSchmalstieg
@texrdnec
Replying to @_AshleyBratcher and 3 others
it's almost like there's a political agenda involved...


Another agreed, “Done with Hallmark!!! You are still winners to us!!!”


Laurie Hoffman
@LaurieJazzysam
Replying to @_AshleyBratcher and 4 others
Done with Hallmark!!! You are still winners to us!!!👍🏻


One fan posted a link to Hallmark Drama's tweet announcing the Movieguide Awards, encouraging fans to “ask why the blackout?”


Woke Bob Butterbur
@ersatzkulak
Replying to @_AshleyBratcher and 3 others
Everyone should ask why the blackout in the replies to this tweethttps://twitter.com/HallmarkDrama/status/1231987704872787968?s=19 …


Hallmark Drama
@HallmarkDrama
Watch the 28th Annual Movieguide Awards tonight at 11pm/10c with host @jen_lilley and for a night filled with Hollywood charm as we celebrate some of your favorite movies on @HallmarkDrama!


Neither Hallmark or Movieguide has issued a comment on Bratcher's accusations.

Hallmark has positioned itself as a channel that promotes films and television shows focused on family-friendly content, garnering a large conservative following. However, the network came under fire after they agreed to run a Zola bridal registry ad featuring a same-sex kiss. At first, Hallmark agreed to pull the ad, but reinstated it, prompting a boycott. They were criticized again for refusing to air ads regarding ‘Unplanned’ during its theatrical run.

It would appear that Hallmark has been infiltrated and taken over by LGBTQ proponents, so they no longer celebrate family-friendly content, nor do they serve their primary audience. They, like much of the media, are now only interested in furthering LGBTQ interests, abolishing Christianity, and indoctrinating people into their #PCMadness culture.

I think there is probable cause for a lawsuit.

Corruption, Clientelism and Murder - Malta Emerges as the EU's Next Problem Child

Two years after the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta's vast cesspool of corruption has become impossible to ignore. The EU's smallest member state is on the brink of failure.

By Frank Hornig and Juan Moreno

Michael Vella, father of late Daphne Caruana Galizia, holding a portrait of his late daughter

at a protest demanding justice for her. Darrin Zammit Lupi / REUTERS

"There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate."

Daphne Caruana Galizia on Oct. 16, 2017, in her last blog entry, posted 24 minutes before her murder.

It's tempting to ask Corinne Vella how she avoided going crazy in the last two years. It is one thing, after all, to lose your sister to a hit job -- to learn that she was murdered in cold blood by a car bomb. But it is quite another to live with the conviction that neither the police, nor the country's government nor public prosecutors seem to have much of an interest in getting to the bottom of the crime.

Vella is sitting in the lobby of the luxurious Phoenicia Hotel in Valletta, the capital of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. Jazz is playing in the background and the waiters wear ties, at pains to serve guests from the correct side. Vella is a serene woman, perhaps even shy. But she's here because she wants to talk about her sister and the factors that led to her death. It's the strategy she uses to avoid going crazy. "Daphne basically became my job. There isn't much else I've done in the last two years."

Vella is the sister of Malta's most famous journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia. Daphne, as everyone in the country calls her, was murdered in a targeted killing on Oct. 16, 2017. She was a blogger, and her frequently extremely well reported, occasionally biting and sometimes humiliating reports were required reading on the island. Some of her entries were read more than 400,000 times. Everyone knew Daphne, many were afraid of her -- and not a few hated her.

"When Daphne was killed, people wrote on social media that the witch had finally got what she deserved," says Vella. Her family closed ranks after the murder and resolved to do everything in their power to ensure that the murderer would not go unpunished. Aunts, nieces, sons: They all protested at government agencies, got European institutions involved and spoke at journalism conferences.

The investigation, meanwhile, proceeded only sluggishly. Police arrested three suspects, ex-convicts who officials felt could have been responsible because of their criminal records and because of clues that seemed to point in their direction, but there was no obvious motive. Why should these men kill a journalist? Caruana Galizia never wrote a word about them. Who really wanted the prominent journalist dead?

Moving Quickly

Now, a bit more than two years after the attack, things have suddenly begun moving quickly. Two weeks ago, Yorgen Fenech, a businessman and a member of one of Malta's wealthiest families, was arrested on his yacht -- apparently just as the multimillionaire was preparing to leave the island. He has since been charged with accessory to murder. Despite incriminating witness testimony, Fenech continues to deny any wrongdoing. He has, however, accused a member of the Maltese government of being involved in the murder: Keith Schembri, chief of staff to the country's prime minister.

Schembri resigned last week, despite insisting he is innocent. But then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat also announced his intention to step down in January. Opposition politicians in parliament demanded that he not wait so long and vacate his office immediately. Meanwhile, demonstrators pelted Muscat with eggs.

"It has been the two most chaotic weeks in Malta's recent history," says Corinne Vella, adding that she has spent almost the entirety of the last few days on her mobile phone because of the torrent of news. For the first time, she now has the feeling that she may ultimately learn who killed her sister.

Daphne Caruana Galizia's sister, Corinne Vella - Gianmarco Maraviglia/ / DER SPIEGEL

Malta, the European Union's smallest member state, generally stays out of the headlines. Two-and-a-half years ago, DER SPIEGEL and other European media outlets involved with European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) published the "Malta Files," which revealed how German companies were able to save on taxes by establishing themselves on the island. Beyond that, not much tends to be written about the country and its 475,000 residents.

Now, though, dubious links between Maltese business leaders, politicians and organized crime have become visible, and it increasingly looks as though Malta operates by a different rulebook than the rest of the EU. The separation of powers in the country appears to be largely non-existent, with police doing the bidding of politicians and the anti-money-laundering agency joining the judiciary in turning its back all too often on malfeasance, instead of investigating, prosecuting and punishing criminal behavior.

A poster of Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat - Guglielmo Mangiapane/ REUTERS

Alarmed, the European Parliament sent a delegation to Malta a few days ago, with the European Commission in Brussels warning the country's government to refrain from exerting political influence on the investigation. The murder of Caruana Galizia, it would seem, is no longer just a problem for Maltese politics. It is now emerging as an acute threat to European values, the rule of law, the freedom of the press and a rules-based market economy. Ultimately, it is about how many banana republics the EU can tolerate within its ranks.

An Economic Miracle?

There is much more on this story at Der Spiegel.

Middleman Gives Details to Malta Court of Plot to Kill Reporter

Corruption is Everywhere - in Malta's Government and Business

Anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

was killed by car bomb in 2017

Thomson Reuters 

A person holds a hand on a picture of Daphne Caruana Galizia during a demonstration to demand justice

over the killing of the journalist in Valletta, Malta. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)

The self-confessed middleman in the murder of a journalist tells a court that a wealthy Maltese businessman was the brains behind the killing, but says people tied to the government might also be implicated.

Melvin Theuma received immunity from prosecution last week in return for information that would lead to the conviction of the alleged plot ring leader, multi-millionaire entrepreneur Yorgen Fenech.

Fenech has been charged with complicity over the 2017 murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia by a car bomb. He has denied the accusations and blamed former government chief of staff Keith Schembri and other top officials.

Schembri was arrested last month but later released. He has denied involvement in the killing which has shone a spotlight on allegations of rampant corruption in Malta's overlapping worlds of politics and business. Schembri later resigned.

Theuma gave a detailed account of how the 38-year-old Fenech had contacted him in 2017 to organize the hit, providing €150,000 (about $226,500 Cdn at the time) for the contract.

The plot was put on hold before national elections in June 2017 but reactivated the night the ruling Labour party was returned to power, Theuma told a packed courtroom.

"I can assure you, Yorgen Fenech was the only mastermind. Only he spoke to me," said Theuma, a taxi driver with links to the criminal underworld.

Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech has denied being complicit in the killing of the journalist. (The Associated Press)

Fenech wanted Caruana Galizia dead, because he thought she was going to publish an incriminating story about his uncle, Theuma said.

His uncle, huh? Certainly, there were people in Malta's business sector and in the government, including the Prime Minister, who were implicated for tax dodging in the Panama Papers.

He said he was called to government headquarters after agreeing to arrange the killing and that Schembri himself gave him a tour of the building, which includes Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's offices. The pair had their photograph taken.

Muscat has denied wrongdoing but acknowledged he could have handled the aftermath better and said he will step down next month.

Theuma was subsequently told he had been put on the government payroll and received a paycheque for three or four months. "If you asked me, I wouldn't know what my job was at the ministry, as I never went," he said.

He said he paid three local men to carry out the killing. The trio were later arrested and are awaiting trial, having pleaded not guilty. They sat in court stony-faced.

Theuma recounted his panic after the alleged triggermen were arrested and news emerged that one was cooperating with police.

He said he was then contacted again by an employee from in the government headquarters whom he named as Kenneth. In an apparent attempt to buy their silence, Kenneth said the three suspects would be released on bail and given €1 million, though the bail and did not arrive.

Made secret recordings

Theuma said he asked Fenech whether Schembri had sent Kenneth to him, but got no answer. Scared for his own safety, he started making secret recordings of his conversations with the businessman, which he has given police.

"I started to think they would either lock me up or kill me," Theuma said. He also acknowledged writing a note where he said both Schembri and Fenech ordered the hit. In court, he distanced himself from the accusation, making clear he had no evidence.

With Malta under scrutiny, the new head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, urged a thorough investigation without political interference. "It is crucial that all those responsible are put to justice as soon as possible," she said.

A European parliament delegation, which has spent two days in Malta to review rule of law within the EU's smallest member, recommended that Muscat go immediately.

"There has to be absolute confidence in the [investigation] and I think when he is in office, that confidence is not there," said Sophie In't Veld, a Dutch member of parliament who led the mission.

German member Birgit Sippel told reporters that even with Muscat gone, it would take time to rebuild Malta's reputation and suggested the entire government should go.

Northern Ireland Morality Lurches Hard Left - Whether It Wants To Or Not

Same-sex marriage, abortion now legal in Northern Ireland

By Clyde Hughes

Pro-life demonstrators stand outside the Supreme Court in Central London in 2018. New laws legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage started in Northern Ireland Tuesday. Photo by Will Oliver/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- A last-ditch effort by the Democratic Unionist Party to block British government reforms on same-sex marriage and abortion failed Monday, allowing both to become legal in Northern Ireland for the first time on Tuesday.

The new laws, which went into effect at midnight, ended the practice of women from Northern Ireland traveling to England to get abortions. Activists said they expect the first same-sex marriage to happen there around Valentine's Day 2020.

"This is a hugely significant moment and the beginning of a new era for Northern Ireland, one in which we're free from oppressive laws that have policed our bodies and healthcare," Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland campaign manager, said in a statement.

"No longer will those experiencing crisis pregnancy, who need to access abortion, feel they need to conceal what they're going through. Finally, our human rights are being brought into the 21st century. This will end the suffering of so many people," Teggart continued.

Not to mention the lives of thousands of babies!

DUP leadership, though, vowed to keep fighting the laws. Party leader Arlene Foster said she will examine "every possible legal option" to stop the measures.

"Until this moment, until this day in Northern Ireland, the safest place for an unborn child was in the sanctuary of its mother's womb," Jim Allister of the Traditional Unionist Voice, which also supported blocking the measures. "Sadly (now) the most dangerous place for some unborn will be in the mother's womb because the wanton decision can be taken to kill them."

Sinn Fein Party deputy leader Michelle O'Neill, though, called the last-second effort to block the new laws "pointless."

"Sinn Fein welcomes the end of the denial of the right of our LGBT brothers and sisters to marry the person they love," O'Neill said. "Sinn Fein also welcomes the end of the archaic law criminalizing women."

No wonder the secular violence has settled down in Northern Ireland, very few people believe in God anymore, nor do they fear Him. That might seem like a good thing at first glance, but in the final analysis, it will be disastrous. Turning your back on God is always disastrous eventually.

Jimmy Carter Brands US ‘Oligarchy’ & Urges Trump to Sign N. Korea Peace Treaty

Corruption - American style

As mentioned in yesterday's article, corruption is everywhere.

It is most obvious in 3rd world countries but is none-the-less

prevalent in leading countries; it is simply more sophisticated.

Former US President Jimmy Carter said the US works more like an "oligarchy than a democracy," while also lambasting Trump's “hopeless” approach to solving the Israel-Palestine issue, and the increasing tension with North Korea.

Oligarchy - Deep State - is there any real difference?

Unlimited political bribery

The former president was speaking at a ‘Conversation with the Carters’ event at his Carter Center in Atlanta on Tuesday. He said money in politics is what makes the US more like an oligarchy – run by a small group of rich people – rather than a democracy, AP reports.

This isn’t the first time the 39th president has made such comments. In 2015, he referred to the “unlimited political bribery” that has “created a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.”

"A complete subversion of our political system"

Carter was referring to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling to allow corporations to give unlimited campaign donations to political candidates, which he has previously said was “the most stupid decision” the court had made.

I'm not sure 'stupid' is the right term, I would have chosen something more sinister.

North Korea

On escalating tensions between the US and North Korea, Carter said, “The first thing I would do is treat the North Koreans with respect.”

“I know what the North Koreans want,” he said. “What they want is a firm treaty guaranteeing North Korea that the US will not attack them or hurt them in any way, unless they attack one of their neighbors.” Carter said, “But the United States has refused to do that.”

Carter said he would send his top person to Pyongyang immediately, adding: “If I didn’t go myself.” The former president visited North Korea three times between 1994 and 2011.

"Until we're willing to talk to them and treat them with respect as human beings, which they are, then I don't think we'll make any progress," he said.

Middle East

Meanwhile, Carter said he doesn’t think that Trump can bring peace between Israel and Palestine.

"I don’t think Trump or his family members are making any progress in that respect," he said, adding he is “practically hopeless” that Trump will do anything to give “justice to the Palestinians.”

Carter criticized both Israeli and Palestinian leaders for failing to be flexible, but said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “no intention at all of having a two-state solution.”

Is he suggesting the Abbas and Hamas are willing to have a two-state solution? Both want nothing less than the annihilation of Jews from the Holy Land. They annihilated them from North Africa and most Arab countries early in the 20th century, and are waiting breathlessly for the opportunity to annihilate them from Israel. Carter, for all his wisdom cannot see that. 

German Mall Shut Down After 'Concrete Indications' of Attack

Several hundred people miss a day's work; 200 stores lose thousands of dollars in business; thousands of people's lives are altered; and dozens, if not hundreds of police are called out! Welcome to the new Germany. How do you like me so far?

By Daniel Uria 

Police in Germany shut down a major shopping center on Saturday after receiving "concrete indications"

of a possible attack. Sascha Steinbach/EPA

March 11 (UPI) -- A shopping center in Germany was shut down after Police received "concrete indications" of a possible terror attack.

Police said the mall at Limbecker Platz in the city of Essen would remain closed on Saturday due to the threat of a possible attack.

The shopping center at Limbecker Platz in downtown Essen will be closed for security reasons this Saturday," police said in a statement. "The police have concrete indications of a possible attack. In order to avoid possible danger to the visitors, they will not be able to enter the sales halls or the parking garage."

Armed police and vans surrounded the shopping center, which is one of Germany's largest with almost 200 stores. Police said it was the sole focus of the threat.

The police statement did not mention terrorism. A police spokesman told a German broadcaster the threat was viewed as a possible terrorist attack.

Police spokesman Peter Elke said officers were also searching an apartment in the nearby city of Oberhausen and questioning the apartment's owner about the mall threat.

Abortions Banned in Russian City for 1 Day in Memory of Biblical ‘Massacre of Innocents’

© Lesya Polyakova / Sputnik

Abortions have been banned for one day at all public medical institutions in a central Russian city, in symbolic memory of the biblical ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ in Bethlehem by King Herod.

The step was taken at the initiative of the local diocese and regional health authorities.

“On this day all public health institutions of the Yaroslavl Region are prohibited to perform abortions; certain events have been scheduled aimed at combating the murder of babies in the womb and protecting the priceless value of motherhood,” the press service of the Archdiocese of Yaroslavl said on Wednesday. 

The organizers behind the initiative have also urged private clinics to join the abortion ban.

I don't think that's going to happen! It's about money and religion. Abortion clinics are all about money and reject anything to do with religion.

The campaign was launched in symbolic memory of the “Bethlehem babies murdered by King Herod, who wanted to kill the infant Jesus when he was born.” 

Although there is no information about the massacre of the infants on the orders of Roman King Herod in ancient historical sources, it is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew and later Christian texts. The Bethlehem innocents are revered by Christians as saints, as they were the first to suffer for Christ. 

The Yaroslavl diocese also plans to carry out a ‘Candle of Memory’ campaign both for the infants killed by Herod and those who die as a result of abortion.

37% or 70% - It's Russia; official numbers are always wrong

According to Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs Olga Golodets, for every 1.9 million newborn babies in Russia, there are 700,000 abortions.

The head of the Women for Life movement, Natalya Moskvitina, has other figures, however – she claims some 70 percent of pregnancies in Russia are consciously aborted.

"Seventy percent of pregnancies end in abortion. Three-quarters of marriages end in divorce during the first four years of life together. Every three seconds a baby is killed in abortion clinics," Moskvitina said, referring to figures obtained in the fall of 2016, as cited by Interfax news agency. 

Rostov Kremlin, Yaroslavl Region, Russia

According to Moskvitina, “abortions are business" in the first place, and those who are involved in it tell people that it is a "principle of freedom."

"It is legalized, and every woman faces this terrible choice. No one tells her […] the norm is to fight for your child," she said.

The Interreligious Council of Russia has expressed concern over mass abortion. Last summer, the council - consisting of leaders and representatives of Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism - pointed out in a statement that Russia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, stating that "the number of the violently aborted lives in mothers' womb on various estimations totals to a million or even exceeds a million." 

In September last year, Patriarch Kirill signed a petition calling for a ban on abortions covered by Russian medical insurance. It had been launched by the public movement For Life and was backed by over 300,000 people, including Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar, Supreme Mufti of Russia Talgat Tadjuddin, and Russian Ombudsman for Children Rights Anna Kuznetsova. 

Kuznetsova, who is herself a mother of six, noted Russia already has an anti-abortion program in the form of special consultation rooms at medical centers, yet in 2015, only some 266 women consulted specialists in this program, a mere 25 percent of them deciding against having an abortion. 

Although the petition only called for abortions to be excluded from the list of medical services covered by universal healthcare, Christian pro-life activists behind it said it was only the first step towards a full ban on abortion, which they will be pushing for in future. 

However, a nationwide public opinion poll conducted soon after the petition was launched showed that an overwhelming majority of Russians are against the initiative. According to the results of the research conducted by state-owned VTSIOM, 72 percent of Russians are currently against a legislative ban on abortions, while 21 percent said that they would support such move. Only 4 percent of respondents said they considered the procedure unacceptable under any circumstances.

Yaroslavl Region, Russia