Trump Signs International Religious Freedom Executive Order, Approving $50 Million for Programs

Some good news in the War on Christianity, for a change, I think

Ben Kennedy
CBN News

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump called upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution on Tuesday.  

"Because there is so much religious persecution in the world it also hurts all the other human rights," said Sam Brownback, US Ambassador At Large for Religious Freedom.

In the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order that appropriates $50 million for programs that advance international religious freedom around the world. 

"I think it can be massive, but part of my modeling in this program is wanted to have religious freedom be like the human trafficking issue," Brownback said. "It would be one that embraces everybody and it goes grassroots."

Under the order, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will develop country-specific action plans for prioritizing religious freedom.

To top that, all personnel assigned to positions overseas will now receive international religious freedom training. 

"It makes international religious freedom a whole of government approach on our basic foreign policy apparatus," Brownback said.

The executive order comes as Christian persecution and anti-Semitism are on the rise around the world. 

North Korea, Afghanistan, and Somalia top the list as the most dangerous countries in the world for Christians, according to Open Doors USA's 2020 World Watch List. 

Cuomo Issues Executive Order to Fight BDS

Photo by Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

By Jacob Kornbluh 

NEW YORK – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday signed an executive order that orders state agencies to divest themselves of companies and organizations who support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the state of Israel.

“In New York, we lead by example. We are also a place of action. We want to take immediate action because we want Israel to know that we are on their side,” Cuomo said during a speech, attended by Jewish leaders, at The Harvard Club. “If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you.”
The executive order – the first such signed by a governor – will command the commissioner of the Office of General Services to compile a list over the next six months of businesses and groups engaged in “boycott, divestment or sanctions activity targeting Israel, either directly or through a parent or subsidiary.”

Once the process is completed, all executive-branch agencies and departments will be required to divest themselves of any company on the list to be made public, according to the draft first published by The New York Times. “The State of New York will not permit its own investment activity to further the BDS campaign in any way, shape or form, whether directly or indirectly,” the order states.

“New York stands in solidarity with Israel today and always. This state will not stand for the politics of discrimination in any form, and we will continue to demonstrate our unwavering support for the people of Israel in the fight for freedom, liberty and democracy,” said Cuomo. “I’m proud to sign this nation’s leading executive order, which will help protect Israel from the threat of divestment.”

Cuomo called on governors from all states to follow his lead and take immediate action to fight the BDS movement. According to the governor’s office, Cuomo has been named as the Co-Chair of the American Jewish Committee’s Governors against BDS initiative. “This order sends the message that this state will do everything in its power to end this hateful, intolerant campaign. New York and Israel share an unbreakable bond and I pray that the Israeli and Palestinian people will find a way to live side by side and find peace, prosperity and security,” he said.

Following his speech, Cuomo marched in the Celebrate Israel parade on fifth avenue, alongside a truck blaring Israeli music. “I am the first governor in the country to sign an executive order saying we oppose the boycott of Israel. I am proud of it  and I hope other states follow our lead,” Cuomo told reporters before marching. “It is very important that Israel is strong, not just for the sake of Israel but for the sake of all democracies. Israel is an important strategic ally of the U.S. And we have to keep that relationship strong. And even in this difficult time of turmoil, I want Israel to know New York stands with them.”

Asked if he has responded to President Obama’s April letter requesting to lift state sanctions against Iran as part of the Iran nuclear deal, Cuomo said: “I would have to check. I don’t know if we have.”

Last month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott informed the Obama administration that the state of Texas would reject the administration’s request, sent to all states on April 8, 2016, to “review” its economic sanctions against Iran in order to abide by the terms of the international accord. He also urged other states to follow his lead and reject the administration’s request to lift state sanctions on Iran in a letter sent to 49 governors on May 31.

Senator Chuck Schumer on Sunday said he would seek to introduce the same idea to fight BDS on a federal level. “I think what the governor has done is an excellent idea,” Schumer told reporters. “I think that the state (of New York) should not do any business with any company that participates in BDS, and I am looking at introducing a federal law to do the same thing. BDS is a movement that is just totally unfair to Israel. They hold Israel to one standard and hold the other countries, including those who are sworn enemies to Israel, to another standard.”

Judge Pirro Jumps on Bandwagon to Hell

Judge Jeanine Pirro, Fox News host, has just disqualified herself as an honest, intelligent, political commentator

As you can read above this page, this blog is devoted to finding the truth. Truth is completely absent when it comes to the American gun culture, and highly respected conservative, Christians are making sure that doesn't change

In her opening statement on Justice, Judge Jeanine Pirro criticized President Obama for going on an "anti-Second Amendment crusade" while the nation is under threat from terrorist groups.

Pirro said that Obama's planned executive action on gun control will leave Americans "up a creek not just without a paddle, but without a gun as well."

"At a time when we face the biggest threat we have ever confronted, our commander-in-chief is on an anti-Second Amendment crusade to take away our guns," she said.

Pirro said that restrictive gun laws policies in California and France did nothing to prevent the attacks there.

"Mr. President, the issue is terrorism, not mass shootings." 

Judge Jeanine is either being dishonest or stupid with that statement! The presidents EO has to do with gun violence in the US, not terrorism in the middle east. She is evoking the fears of Americans about ISIS, even though that has almost nothing to do with gun violence in America.

Terrorism related deaths in America account for 0.8% of gun deaths since, and including 911. Since 911, terrorism related deaths in America count for 0.1% of gun deaths. 99.9% of gun deaths have nothing to do with terrorism, yet Judge Jeanine is only concerned with the 0.1%. How insane is that?

"And yet because of a political agenda, you refuse to confront the biggest danger that we face. Instead of blaming guns, start shooting terrorists."

Judge Jeanine's remarks in full:

As we venture into 2016 the most dangerous threat to Americans is President Barack Obama’s intent to use his presidential action to once again usurp congressional powers and circumvent the constitution by thinking up "new actions" this Monday with his attorney general.

Translation: together they will chip away at our second amendment gun rights.

JJ - please explain to me how this affects 2nd Amendment gun rights? Since the only thing in the EO that affects gun ownership is the expansion of gun checks - how does it chip away at your gun rights? Gun checks have been occurring for decades; why is it all of a sudden a threat to the 2nd Amendment? And since the only people who will be affected by the expanded gun checks are criminals, terrorists and nut-jobs - the only rights you are protecting are their rights to purchase weapons without a gun check. In protecting the rights of nut-jobs and criminals, you are forbidding innocent people including children, like those in Sandy Hook, to have the right to life. You are sacrificing them on the altar of NRA insanity. 

***It's astonishing, and very troubling to me that Republicans don't see a problem here***

And let's not kid each other. With history as our guide, whenever this president says one thing, we know to believe another.  Whenever he does something that makes no sense, we ultimately pay for it.

Example #1: Not to worry--ISIS is a JV team.  He would contain them.  Until he decided that he would dismantle them all the while admitting he had no strategy to do either.

The reality?  Today ISIS is the largest, strongest, most well-funded terrorist organization the world has ever seen, with not only social media savvy, but with satellites above the Muslim world.

Example #2: Al-Qaeda is on its knees--we've defeated the Taliban sufficient to bring our troops home. Maybe I missed it but apparently there's been a resurrection.

The reality?

Al-Qaeda is far from on its knees--developing training camps all over Africa and Afghanistan and the Taliban? Back in Afghanistan on the brink of controlling it again.

So looking back at 2015 when ISIS succeeded in the slaughter of innocents in Paris, and ISIS inspired militants succeeded in the slaughter of innocents in San Bernardino, it's no wonder more Americans believe the terrorists are winning the war against the United States.  It’s no wonder 64% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s approach to ISIS.

So where does this all leave you?  Up a creek not just without a paddle, but without a gun as well.

While what you say above is correct, it is completely irrelevant to the EO. You know that, yet you choose to play the charade because it's good for your ratings. How despicable!

At a time when we face the biggest threat we have ever confronted, our commander-in-chief is on an anti-Second Amendment crusade to take away our guns.

How does this even remotely compute to taking away your guns? There are 300 million or more guns in America; it is physically impossible to take them away. Plus, you of all people JJ, know that the Supreme Court would never allow that to happen in a million years. And if, by some astounding miracle the Supreme Court failed, the military would never allow that to happen. You are hyping and playing on fears that are simply absurd, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

America should be the safest country on the planet. Yet it is the least safe country in the developed world. Tell me again how guns make you safe. The deterrent theory was the excuse for developing nuclear weapons by America and the Soviet Union, until, one day, they woke up and realized how close they came to destroying all life on earth. They since have reduced the number of nuclear weapons in an unusual glimpse of sanity. Reducing gun deaths by putting more guns on the streets is no more sane than the cold war race to develop nuclear weapons.

In the aftermath of Sandy Hook, the president took 23 executive actions.  It didn't stop a thing.

No, it didn't. Nor did it take a single gun from a single bonafide owner - so where's the conspiracy?

California with some of the strictest gun control laws in the country--it did not stop a thing in San Bernardino. In France, where gun laws are among the most restrictive in the world, innocents were slaughtered like lambs.

This is cherry-picking and it is beneath you (at least, I used to think so). Yesterday, Obama quoted stats on two states where gun checks were instituted or abolished. In the former, gun deaths dropped by 40%; in the latter they rose. Those are real stats that are relevant; why did you not address them?

Mr. President, the issue is terrorism, not mass shootings.  And yet because of a political agenda, you refuse to confront the biggest danger that we face.

How is 0.1% of shooting deaths the biggest danger we face? The 99.9% of shooting deaths that have nothing to do with terrorism is the biggest danger to America. Fear of the 0.1% is nothing less than paranoia - and you are feeding it!

Instead of blaming guns, start shooting terrorists.

Good grief! You are 1000 times more likely to be shot by someone you work with, or someone down the street who can't even spell terrorist, than you are to be shot by a terrorist!

Maybe you don’t have time to focus on this because you’re too busy emptying Guantanamo and trading deserters for Taliban generals.

As a result of your dilly-dallying in leftist political ideology you should be focusing on protecting us and letting us defend ourselves. The police can't do it all.

So why do you want easy access to guns for criminals, nut-jobs and even terrorists? Why are you worried about terrorist but won't take the smallest step to make it difficult for them to access weapons? Is that helping the police?

Give your head a shake Judge Pirro. Be honest and speak the truth instead of playing up to your audience and sponsors. You just dropped completely off my list of respected political commentators.

Republicans - For God's Sake Stop It!

’I’d check the podium for onions’: 

Fox pundit questions Obama’s ‘raw’ emotions

President Barack Obama teared up as he announced his plan to use executive action to expand background checks for gun ownership. However, Fox News host Andrea Tantaros was more interested in theatrics than the substance of his speech.

During the announcement on Tuesday, Obama brusquely brushed away tears as he mentioned Chicago’s gun violence problems as an example of the need for tighter background checks.

However, the Fox panel was not buying it.

“The tears that he wiped away, again and again, you want that – I mean, we feel frightened about what’s going on with ISIS,” said Fox News co-host Melissa Francis.

And you are not frightened that 30 Americans are being killed every day? What is wrong with your heads? Were there 30 Americans killed by terrorists last year, 30 out of 10,000? That's 0.3%! Melissa is frightened of ISIS and completely ambivalent to the 99.7% who are killed in American activities like robbery, murder, and mass murder. Does that make any sense to you?

“He’s almost at the end of his term and you haven’t heard him go to Chicago and really speak out about this issue,” said co-host Andrea Tantaros.

At the end of October, Obama traveled to Chicago to discuss gun control and the importance of extending background checks. Between January 1, 2015 and May 30, 2015, there were 161 murders in 151 days in Chicago and 2,783 illegal guns recovered during that six-month period, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Tantaros said that she would “check that podium for like a raw onion or some No More Tears.”

Andrea, just because you are apparently incapable of feeling any emotions over the murder of children, doesn't mean the everyone else is faking it. If you were half as emotional over the death of innocent children as you are over the non-existent threat of losing your guns, you couldn't have made that crass remark. You ought to be ashamed.

Obama did not appear to be slicing onions on the podium, however. No More Tears is a Johnson & Johnson line of bath products designed to prevent babies from crying if they get soap in their eyes.

Tantaros and Fox News were not the only ones who weren’t impressed with Obama’s plan. A lot of the internet didn't seem to get the message, with presidential candidates, the National Rifle Association and gun owners alike taking to Twitter and getting all “up in arms.”

Ted Cruz ✔ @tedcruz
Fight back against @BarackObama's unconstitutional #2A executive actions! #ComeAndTakeIt https://www.tedcruz.org/l/second-amendment-rights/ … 

Gunning for 'drama-queen' Mr Cruz?

In the wake of Obama’s announcement, gun rights supporters began using the #comeandtakeit hashtag, which has its origins in the Battle of Gonzales in 1835, when Texas was part of Mexico.

Gun sales hit record highs in the lead-up to Obama's announcement, the Washington Post reported. While the gun lobby protests against stricter regulations, people’s fears that their continued ability to purchase such weapons is under threat leads to an upsurge in gun sales.

Tim Dickinson @7im
this is legit terrifying from Ted Cruz, holy hell 

Terrifying? It's terrifying that mentally ill people should be prevented from purchasing assault weapons? What's really terrifying, Mr Dickinson, is that you want them to have access to assault weapons!

Your 'terror' almost certainly comes from the fear that the government is going to take your guns away from you. That is stupid beyond belief! It's a lie that the NRA and gun manufacturers and merchants hype so that you will be opposed to a simple, innocuous executive order that will certainly save the lives of many people, including children. 

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and other Republican presidential candidates promised that, if elected, they would reverse any executive orders.

Carly Fiorina called for Obama to enforce existing gun laws. The former HP CEO has said those on the Terror Watch List should be able to buy guns. “If somebody is a suspected terrorist on a watch list, they can be indicted at any time, and once you’re indicted, you cannot own a firearm,” she told MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ following the San Bernardino attack.

NRA ✔ @NRA
No other organization in the world has done more to promote firearm safety than the  #NRA #2A  #Obamapresser
9:10 AM - 5 Jan 2016

If that's not the most ridiculous statement ever made on the planet, I don't know what is. Tell me you were not behind the Dickey Amendment that prevents the federal government from funding research into gun violence in America! How is that promoting safety? How is opposing an order to qualify all gun purchasers promoting safety. The blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans is on your hands - you could at least try to wash them once in a while.

The National Rifle Association boasted about its good work. The NRA's Chris W. Cox released a statement on Tuesday accusing Obama of attempting "to distract attention away from his lack of a coherent strategy to keep the American people safe from terrorist attack."

Paul Ryan ✔ @SpeakerRyan
My statement on President Obama's Executive Order to Undermine Second Amendment → http://spkrryan.us/1Sxzn1k  #2A 

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) issued a statement saying that Obama's word does not trump the Second Amendment.

I take it back; this could be the stupidest statement ever made on this planet. Background checks are mandatory in most gun purchases now; how is extending that to all gun purchases any different? If the existing policy of background checks does not undermine the 2nd Amendment, how can extending it do that? That's completely irrational!

There have been 147 gun-related deaths in the US in the first five days of 2016. None of them were committed by terrorists! Americans need to stop worrying about militant Islam and start worrying about the terrorist who lives on your street, the one who will walk into a school this month or next month and murder your children. That is a far, far more likely event than any serious Muslim attack.

America will never be defeated by Islam through any military assault. Islam is patient. Islam is watching America destroy itself from within. Islam will wait until America explodes in insane violence and then just walk in and take it.

The arguments made by 'outraged' Republicans are hyperbolic, inflammatory, and often have nothing to do with the executive order. Too many Republicans cannot bring themselves to speak the truth - they are political cowards; dishonest, disingenuous cowards. And most of these people will call themselves Christians. There is nothing remotely Christian in any of the quotes above; so please stop selling yourselves as such. You are not Christians, and you make me sick!

Obama Executive Action to Expand Background Checks on Gun Sales

Here we go!

President Barack Obama said Monday he will use his legal authority to issue executive actions to close loopholes in the country’s gun laws.

Obama said he will move forward on requiring background checks for guns purchased from dealers, whether bought online or at gun shows.

Earlier in the day Obama said from the White House that gun violence has taken a heartbreaking toll on too many communities across the country, with “more than 100,000 people…killed [over the past decade] as a result of gun violence.”

Obama said many of the crimes “were committed by people who never should have been able to purchase a gun in the first place.”

The FBI will overhaul its background check system as a result of the executive orders and hire 230 more examiners to process the checks, offering the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The administration is also proposing a new $500 million investment to increase access to mental health care.

Under the executive actions, the Social Security Administration will report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System on beneficiaries who are prohibited from possessing a firearm for mental health reasons.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services will remove the unnecessary legal barriers preventing states from reporting information about people prohibited from possessing a gun for mental health reasons.

The president also directed the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security to conduct or sponsor research into gun safety technology.

I fully expect the NRA to go ballistic and attempt to flex their considerable muscles. I sincerely hope Christians will tell the NRA to back-off. This is the very least that should be done to address the absurd number of shooting deaths in the US - more than 30 per day since 2006. 

Christians should support it for if they don't they will have to give their reasons for not doing so when they stand before Jesus Christ.