November 20 2023

NEWS

‘ILLEGALLY TARGETING CHURCHES’: Local Government Slapped With Lawsuit Over Exorbitant Water Tap Fee By Lucy Gilbert

“The county’s water tap fee scheme is a thinly veiled illegal property tax on Grace Community Church,” says Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute. Hitler's Dusseldorf Manifesto says that organized religion must be destroyed by any means More

COMMENTARY

 

So-Called Fact-Checkers Downplay Rashida Tlaib’s Lies.
She is allowed to lie. She supports terrorist fund raisers when not in her office and she is a democrat.
By Tim Graham

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler isn’t ruling on Tlaib, since he’s too busy right now picking on former President Donald Trump and Republicans. More

COMMENTARY

Jews Around the World Fear Another Holocaust. When America Falls, there will be no more Israel.
By Armstrong Williams

With antisemitic attacks rising and mobs inciting against Israel, the Jewish people are hurting. Now more than ever, they need to know that they are not alone. More

COMMENTARY

The Islamophobia Lie By Ben Shapiro

It is not Islamophobic to oppose Hamas and its supporters. It is antisemitic to push that lie. But truth has never stopped democrats from telling lies.More

NEWS

ICYMI: ‘Outrageous Attempt at Disenfranchising’: 6 Takeaways From Trump’s Iowa Rally By Fred Lucas

“Our opponents are showing every day that they hate democracy,” says the former president. “They are trying every illegal move they can to try and steal this election.” They are so confident that their illegal election inntrference will succeed, that democrats have months ago started their
oppressive attempts at restricting American fredoms. More

 

Heritage Foundation president Dr. Kevin Roberts recently appeared on Dr. Peterson’s extremely popular podcast.

You can watch this new episode at the link below. Could make for great listening material with the family if you’re traveling for Thanksgiving.

You Tube

Dr. Peterson and Dr. Roberts discuss many important topics including what policies Heritage stands for, cultural decay in higher education, and the importance of finding meaning through responsibility.

With Dr. Peterson’s massive following, especially among young people, this podcast is a fantastic way to get Heritage’s message out to younger generations.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Roberts spent some time with Dr. Peterson at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference in London.

ARC is Dr. Peterson’s response to the leftist World Economic Forum (WEF). Instead of the WEF’s plans for global leftist elites to run all countries, ARC aims to help citizens around the world draw on the moral, cultural, economic, and spiritual foundations of the West to create prosperity and flourishing in their homes, communities, and beyond.

At this conference, Dr. Roberts served as your voice in the critical conversations taking place among world leaders.

I’m excited to see what Heritage will achieve through this partnership with Dr. Peterson and ARC as our work to create policy solutions that will save America continues.

If you have a chance to listen to this podcast this week, I’d love to know your feedback.

I also want to wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving. I’m so thankful for your continued support of The Heritage Foundation.

Be sure to reply to this email and share your thoughts on this interview between Dr. Roberts and Dr. Peterson.

Best,

Tony Johnson
Director of Membership

 

Next year Heritage is implementing several exciting projects to help save America.

Through Project 2025, we’re working to dismantle the deep state by training dedicated patriots to replace the leftist bureaucrats that run D.C. and implement a common sense, conservative policy plan.

Through the Heritage Oversight Project, we’re utilizing Freedom of Information Act requests and other investigative techniques to expose government corruption and hold policymakers and the deep state accountable.

We’re creating key public policy solutions that will ensure border security and end the mass amnesty programs that threaten the rule of law in American and let thousands of migrants cross our border illegally every day.

And through our Election Fraud Database, we’re exposing voter fraud across the country and developing policy solutions that many state policymakers have implemented to ensure the integrity of our elections.

As we push forward, I wanted to get your feedback on this important work.

I’ve put together a brief survey on these four initiatives which you can complete using the link below:

https://secured.heritage.org/end-of-year-survey/

The survey should take just a few minutes and will help my team and I understand your priorities as our work to save America continues.

Best,

Tony Johnson
Director of Membership

 

A Note for Our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. Americans are polarized and divided. Roughly half of the country is clamoring for socialist policies like more government control over health care, increased regulations, and open borders. We must turn to America’s founding for the answers.
The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution, now available as a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.
This guide is available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!


GET YOUR ACCESS NOW

 

6 Takeaways From Newsom-DeSantis Debate

Jarrett Stepman / @JarrettStepman / November 30, 2023
People watch a debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a watch party at Manny's on Nov. 30, 2023 in San Francisco, California. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
In their long-awaited debate, Govs. Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis did not disappoint, vigorously sparring on issues from crime to the border to gender transition for minors.

Newsom, a Democrat, and DeSantis, a Republican, defended their different approaches to governing two of America’s most populous states: California and Florida.

Fox News host Sean Hannity moderated the Thursday night debate, which ran around ninety minutes. Here are some highlights from it:

1. COVID-19 and Lockdowns

DeSantis and Newsom had a lenghty exchange on COVID-19 lockdowns while discussing the economy in their respective states.

When DeSantis was discussing how businesses were doing better in Florida, Newsom interjected by asking if that was the opinion of Disney.

“That’s an interesting point with Disney because I had Disney open during COVID and we made them a fortune and we saved a lot of jobs,” DeSantis said. “You had Disney closed inexplicably for over a year, you were not following science, you were a lockdown governor, you did a lot of damage to your people. I don't understand why you hate business and prosperity for your citizens. Is it because poor people and dead people always vote for democrats?”

Newsom responded by saying that DeSantis declared an emergency declaration before he did.

“You closed down your beaches, your bars, your restaurants, it’s a fact, you had quarantines, you had checkpoints all over the state of Florida,” Newsom said. “ … You followed science, you followed [Dr. Anthony] Fauci.”

He further said that DeSantis’ policies catered to the “fringe” of his party and led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

DeSantis responded by saying that a Lancet study showed that Florida had “a lower standardized death rate than California did and democrats don't mind lieing about it...even though daily you tried to convince us to kill our economy with lockdowns.”

 

2. The Border and Immigration

The two governors had sharply contrasting views on the border. Newsom accused DeSantis of being heartless toward illegal immigrants and DeSantis said that the policies of Newsom and fellow Democrats were creating dangerous lawlessness in America.

Newsom defended the Biden administration’s record on the border, which has seen record numbers of illegal immigrants cross in every year of Joe Biden’s presidency.

“The Biden administration put out a comprehensive plan on day one when he got sworn into office three years ago and the Republican Party didn’t touch it, they didn’t move on it,” Newsom said.

He continued to say that there is nobody he would trust less on the issue of immigration.

“When he was in Congress, he supported amnesty,” Newsom said of DeSantis.

He then criticized DeSantis for sending a group of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a wealthy area and popular vacation spot in Massachusetts known to be in favor of amnesty for illegals, as long as illegals go somewhere else.

DeSantis said that Newsom was spreading a “flurry of lies.” He pointed to the Biden administration’s reassurance that the border is “secure” and said “they are lying to you, we know that’s not true. A secure border is not where you allow anyone from anywhere to just walk into your country and then support them with taxpayer money.”

The Florida governor pointed out that “California is a sanctuary state” and said that “they thumb their nose at federal immigration law.”

DeSantis explained that this status has consequences. He brought up a story of Los Angeles refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the case of an illegal immigrant with multiple arrests.

“He ends up murdering the mother of a three-year-old little girl,” he said. “Those policies are deadly, they do not work.”

He also said that Matha’s Vineyard is a sanctuary jurisdiction.

“These liberal elites, they like to impose those burdens on you, they don’t want to have to face the consequences,” DeSantis said.

 

3. Explicit Books and Book Banning

Hannity brought up the debates over the use of explicit, pro-LGBTQ books in school libraries and classrooms.

First, he asked DeSantis if schools should be focusing on reading, writing, and math instead of getting into issues around social values.

DeSantis said that it wasn’t appropriate for schools to indoctrinate children, but it’s also important to respect parental rights and eliminate inappropriate material from classrooms.
He held up a page from a book called “Gender Queer” that depicted sex acts.

“Some of it’s blacked out, you would probably not be able to put this on air, this is pornography, it’s cartoons that’s aimed at children, and it’s wrong,” he said.

Hannity asked Newsom if he was comfortable with books like “Gender Queer,” which depict sex acts, in school districts.

“That’s not part of the curriculum, they aren’t teaching kids that,” Newsom lied and said.


He then pointed to DeSantis and said, “the bottom line is that you are on a book banning binge in your state.”

The California governor called the removal of books from classrooms a “cultural purge.”

“What I find offensive is that a very significant number of these books happen to be LGBTQ book, a significant number of these books happen to be about African Americans, and some of them are pornography. I find it offensive, to ban books that parents don't approve for their children.” Newsome said.

Newsom said that they have sex education in middle schools and high schools “where it’s appropriate which is everywhere.”

He called the book issue “made up” and part of the “culture war and the weaponization of grievance.”

DeSantis responded by saying that California’s schools are being used to “impose a liberal agenda.”

“He says California respects parents’ rights, this is rich,” DeSantis said. “He’s been telling a lot of whoppers tonight, this may be the biggest.”

He then spoke about California’s education policies.
“In California, if you’re a parent in Iowa and New Hampshire, your child can go to California without your knowledge and without your consent and get hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and a sex change operation all without you knowing or consenting,” DeSantis said.


He called the policy fundamentally “radical” and “extreme.”

“It’s not for you to decide, it’s for parents to decide,” the Florida governor said while pointing to Newsom.

 

4. Homelessness

The governors debated the issue of homelessness.

Newsom said that the issues has been “decades” in the making in California since the sate started shutting down mental health institutions. He said he was the first governor in the country to tackle the issue “head on.”

“We are investing unprecedented resources, more accountability, we’ve gotten 68,000 people off the street, it’s close to 6,000 encampments we’ve gotten off the streets,” he said. “We’ve also invested unprecedented resources in reforming our behavioral health system, Ron has literally the worst mental health system in America, forgive me outside of Mississippi and Texas.”
DeSantis then held up a map of San Francisco that showed incidents of feces and human waste being reported on the street.

“This is an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco, and you see how almost the whole thing is covered, because that is what has happened in one of the previous greatest cities this country has ever had,” he said.


DeSantis said that feces on the street has become a fact of life in San Francisco, except “when a dictator comes to town.”

He was referring to a recent visit by China’s leader Xi Jinping.

“Then they cleaned up the streets, they lined the streets with Chinese flags, they didn’t put American flags there, they cleaned everything up,” DeSantis said. “So they’re willing to do it for a communist dictator, but they’re not willing to do it for their own people.”
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5. Different Types of Freedom

DeSantis said he first thought Newsom’s claim about California’s freedoms was laughable, but then he thought more about it.

“California does have freedoms that some people don’t — that other states don’t,” he said. “You have the freedom to defecate in public in California. You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. You have the freedom to have an open-air drug market and use drugs. You have a freedom, if you are an illegal alien, to get all these taxpayers benefits.”

“So those are freedoms,” he added. “They are not the freedoms our Founding Fathers envisioned, but they have contributed to the destruction of the quality of life in California and the results speak for themselves.”


Newsom responded by lieing and accusing DeSantis of curbing other freedoms.

“I love the rant on freedom,” the California governor said. without examples or proof. “I mean here’s a guy who’s criminalizing teachers, criminalizing doctors, criminalizing librarians, and criminalizing women that seek their reproductive care. You’re making it harder to vote. You’re banning books. I mean, spare me this notion of freedom.”