HUD Secretary Ben Carson to ‘reinterpret’ racial and income zoning rule

Fairfax, VA - July 20, 2017 (The Ponder News) --Americans for Limited for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, for stating his department will “reinterpreting” the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule:

“HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s decision to ‘reinterpret’ the Obama era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation will hopefully take federal government bureaucrats out of the business of day to day local zoning decisions. The efforts of Senator Mike Lee and Representative Paul Gosar to keep this critical constitutional issue in front of the public over the past three years were instrumental in this important Trump Administration decision.

“It is this kind of rolling back of the Obama era administrative overreach that is the centerpiece of the Trump Administration successes. What’s more, this proposed action by Secretary Carson demonstrates his understanding of the importance of the Fair Housing Act and the need keep it from being used as a political weapon directed at local communities. This never had anything to do with individual cases of housing discrimination, which both political parties abhor and remains illegal, but instead was an unconstitutional federal power grab over local zoning.”

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Events Announcements

Gun Rights Policy Conference September 29, 30, Oct 1. Click HERE for Information!

Overflowing with Thankfulness Conference (September 7-9) Click HERE For more information

ACTION ALERTS!

Urge your senators to push for a clean repeal of Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood, and ban any funding to abortion providers.

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Are you considering Suicide? If you need help right now, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. -- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Pallone Introduces Viewer Protection Act

Washington, D.C. - July 20, 2017 (The Ponder News) --Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) introduced the Viewer Protection Act, (H.R. __), which would establish a Viewer Protection Fund to fully protect broadcast viewers and expeditiously get new mobile broadband spectrum into the hands of consumers. The bill would do that by ensuring enough funds exist to cover costs related to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s Incentive Auction repack. Introduction of the bill comes after the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force announced last week that broadcasters have requested $2.1 billion – significantly more than the $1.75 billion set aside – to cover costs related to the auction.

“The FCC’s incentive auction was the second largest auction in history, and the result of years of successful work. But with an anticipated shortfall of more than a quarter billion dollars for repacking, it’s time for Congress to step in to make sure that no viewers lose their signal,” said Pallone. “I understand how important it is to have access to local news and information—especially during an emergency. That’s why the Viewer Protection Act provides additional funding and ensures consumers will understand the coming changes, so that no consumer will be left in the dark when stations change channels. At the same time, our bill will ensure consumers of mobile broadband reap the benefits of the incentive auction as soon as possible.”

American Cable Association President and CEO Matthew M. Polka issued the following statement regarding introduction of the Viewer Protection Act by House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ):

"ACA is pleased that this bill introduced by Rep. Pallone makes more money available to the Federal Communications Commission, if needed, to prevent consumers from losing access to broadcast channels as a result of the incentive auction. ACA is particularly appreciative that the additional funds would be accessible to cable operators too so these providers have the financial support they need to continue offering the broadcast channels to their customers without interruption."

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Events Announcements

Gun Rights Policy Conference September 29, 30, Oct 1. Click HERE for Information!

Overflowing with Thankfulness Conference (September 7-9) Click HERE For more information

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Are you considering Suicide? If you need help right now, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. -- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Court halts Illinois mandate to promote abortion

Rockford, IL - July 20, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- A federal court issued an injunction Wednesday that halts enforcement of an Illinois law which forces pregnancy care centers and doctors to promote abortion regardless of their ethical or moral views. Alliance Defending Freedom and allied attorneys represent multiple pregnancy care centers, a pregnancy care center network, and a doctor and her medical practice in a lawsuit challenging the law.

ADF attorneys argue that the new law, which is actually an amendment to the existing Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act, violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution. In Wednesday’s order in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Rauner, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois agreed, writing, “It is clear that the amended act targets the free speech rights of people who have a specific viewpoint.”

“The government is out of line when it attempts to force Americans to communicate a message that is contrary to their most deeply held beliefs,” said ADF Legal Counsel Elissa Graves. “In addition, the state shouldn’t be robbing women of the freedom to choose a pro-life doctor by mandating that pro-life physicians and entities make or arrange abortion referrals. The court was right to halt enforcement of this law while our lawsuit proceeds.”

SB 1564 forces pregnancy care centers, medical facilities, and physicians who conscientiously object to involvement in abortions to adopt policies that provide women who ask for abortions with a list of providers “they reasonably believe may offer” them. Federal law prohibits the government from placing burdens on religious conscience without a compelling interest for doing so.

As the court’s order explains, “plaintiffs have demonstrated a better than negligible chance of succeeding in showing that the amended act discriminates based on their viewpoint by compelling them to tell their patients that abortion is a legal treatment option, which has benefits, and, at a minimum and upon request, to give their patients the identifying information of providers who will perform an abortion.”

“The government has no business forcing pro-life doctors and pregnancy care centers in Illinois to operate as referral agents for the abortion industry,” said ADF-allied attorney and co-counsel Noel Sterett with Mauck & Baker LLC. “A law that targets medical professionals because of their pro-life views and right of conscience is unconstitutional and unethical.”

“This decision correctly interprets the Constitution to prohibit compelled speech mandating faith-based ministries to speak a message with which they are fundamentally opposed,” added National Institute of Family and Life Advocates President Thomas A. Glessner. “We applaud this ruling that stops the state of Illinois from forcing pro-life pregnancy medical clinics to become abortion referral agencies.”

Mauck & Baker attorney Whitman Briskey is also co-counsel in the case on behalf of the plaintiffs.

ADF attorneys also represent NIFLA in a similar case out of California, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, currently being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

The Fair Representation Act Has Just Been Introduced to Congress

Fair Vote

On June 26, 2017, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced H.R. 3057: The Fair Representation Act. He was joined by co-sponsors Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). This is a historic moment. The Fair Representation Act is the most comprehensive approach to reforming congressional elections in United States history. It would truly realize the vision of the House of Representatives as “The People’s House.”

Read more...

Second Amendment Foundation Sues Michigan Agency Over Civil Rights Violations Against Foster Parents

Bellevue, WA - July 20, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a federal lawsuit against the head of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on behalf of four Michigan residents, alleging civil rights violations under color of law for enforcing restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of people who want to be foster or adoptive parents.

SAF is joined in the lawsuit by William and Jill Johnson and Brian and Naomi Mason. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleges that MDHHS caseworkers told Mr. Johnson, a 100-percent disabled Marine Corps veteran who sought custody of his grandson that he would have to give the agency the serial numbers of all of his firearms. When he questioned this, the caseworkers allegedly told him, "If you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights." This was after the state asked the Johnsons to be foster parents to their grandson.

Two weeks later, the lawsuit alleges, a Gogebic County Court judge told the Johnsons that if they wanted their grandson placed in their care, "We know we are violating numerous constitutional rights here, but if you do not comply, we will remove the boy from your home."

"The statements from the caseworker and judge are simply outrageous," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "This amounts to coercion, with a child as their bartering chip. I cannot recall ever hearing anything so offensive and egregious, and we've handled cases like this in the past. Blatantly telling someone they must give up their civil rights in order to care for their own grandchild is simply beyond the pale."

The lawsuit asserts that "the policy of the MDHHS, by implementing requirements and restrictions that are actually functional bans on the bearing of firearms for self-defense, both in and out of the home, completely prohibits foster and adoptive parents, and those who would be foster or adoptive parents, from the possession and bearing of readily-available firearms for the purpose of self-defense. This violates Plaintiffs' constitutional rights under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments."

The Johnsons and Masons reside in Ontanogan, a small community on the north shore of the Upper Peninsula, on Lake Superior. Mr. Mason has been the Pastor at the Ontonagon Baptist Church in Ontonagon for nine years. He is also the Chair of the Ontonagon County Department of Health and Human Services Board.

"This is a case we simply must pursue," Gottlieb said. "State agencies and the people who work in those agencies simply cannot be allowed to disregard someone's civil rights."

The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

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EVENT: Gun Rights Policy Conference September 29, 30, Oct 1. Click HERE for Information!


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Are you considering Suicide? If you need help right now, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. -- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Congress Should Pass the Preserving Taxpayers Rights Act

Americans for Tax Reform

In recent years, the IRS has proven again and again that it is incapable of doing its job. This failure is due to both the increasing politicization of the agency, as well as the ineptitude of IRS management.

Recently, government watchdog groups have found the IRS mispaid 31% of their employees, gave bonuses to tax delinquent employees, shortchanged taxpayers by $1.2 million, lost track of computers with sensitive taxpayer information on them, and wasted $12 million on an unstable email system.

One of the strangest blunders by the IRS was the agency’s insistence on hiring Quinn Emanueal, an elite, litigation-only, white shoe law firm to audit tech company Microsoft. The agency did so despite having the capability to handle this audit without hiring private contractors.

Already, the IRS has roughly 40,000 employees responsible for enforcement and auditing. In addition, the agency has access to the services of the office of Chief Counsel or a Department of Justice attorney, both of which would have had the expertise to conduct this kind of work without putting sensitive information at risk.

Read more...

Sen. Lee and Rep. King introduce enhanced Pro-Gun Legislation

National Association for Gun Rights

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative Steve King (R-IA) introduced companion bills to remove suppressors, or “silencers,” from federal regulation. The Silencers Helping Us Save Hearing Act of 2017 (SHUSH Act), introduced as S. 1505 and H.R. 3139, further deregulates suppressors by completely removing them from all federal regulation – going further than the Hearing Protection Act.

“Sen. Lee and Rep. King are champions for gun rights, and their joint legislation displays their dedication to restoring the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Association for Gun Rights. “Most in Congress who support silencer freedom want full deregulation, and that’s exactly what Lee and King are doing with S. 1505 and H.R. 3139.”

Previously introduced legislation, the Hearing Protection Act, would treat suppressors as long guns under federal law, still requiring a NICS background check to purchase an accessory. The SHUSH Act removes silencers from all federal control, providing the full deregulation supported by the majority of Second Amendment supporters in Congress.

“Suppressors are accessories and should be treated just like magazines, scopes or gun stocks,” said Brown. “Pro-gun Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House. Congress has the opportunity to pass this meaningful, pro-gun legislation and we should ask for nothing less. Treating an accessory the same as a gun sets a bad precedence for anti-gun legislators to further regulate other accessories in the future.”

“We’re happy and privileged to be able to work with Sen. Lee and Rep. King on this legislation, and excited to continue pushing forward,” Brown concluded.

Russian lawyer who met Trump Jr. ready to testify in Senate

Associated Press

The Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump’s eldest son during the 2016 election campaign said she’s ready to testify before the U.S. Senate and “clarify the situation behind this mass hysteria.”

Donald Trump Jr. agreed to meet with Natalia Veselnitskaya in the expectation of receiving incriminating information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian government effort to help his father’s White House campaign, according to emails Trump Jr. has publicly released. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower.

The meeting raised new questions about the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Moscow, which are being scrutinized by federal and congressional investigators. These questions have only intensified as the identities of other Russia-connected participants have become known.

Read more...

Microsoft promises to harness unused TV channels to bring ‘super wi-fi’ to rural areas in 12 states

By Heather Chapman, The Rural Blog

Microsoft says it will use the bandwidth from unused television channels, called white spaces, to deliver high-speed broadband to many of the 24 million rural Americans who lack fast internet access. The initial service will serve 12 states: Washington, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia, New York and Maine, “to connect 2 million rural Americans in the next five years who have limited or no access to high-speed internet,” Cecelia Kang reports for The New York Times.

Fast, reliable, affordable internet service has been a longtime problem in rural America. Internet service providers often can’t justify the cost of building infrastructure in sparsely populated areas. Microsoft and other companies have been testing white spaces as an alternative since 2008. Microsoft President Brad Smith told Kang that white spaces were “the best solution for reaching over 80 percent of people in rural America who lack broadband today.” For Microsoft’s blog post, click here; for its white paper, here.

White spaces technology is sometimes called “super wi-fi” because it “behaves like regular wi-fi but uses low-powered TV channels to cover far greater distances than wireless hot spots, “up to 10 miles in rural areas,” Jay Greene reports for The Wall Street Journal. “It is also more powerful than cellular service because the frequencies can penetrate concrete walls and other obstacles,” Kang reports. Microsoft stands to profit from the service because Americans who have internet access are better positioned to buy Microsoft apps and products.

Read more...

Trump administration pulls health law help in 18 cities

The Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration has ended Affordable Care Act contracts that brought assistance into libraries, businesses and urban neighborhoods in 18 cities, meaning shoppers on the insurance exchanges will have fewer places to turn for help signing up for coverage.

Community groups say the move, announced to them by contractors last week, will make it even more difficult to enroll the uninsured and help people already covered re-enroll or shop for a new policy. That’s already a concern because of consumer confusion stemming from the political wrangling in Washington and a shorter enrollment period. People will have 45 days to shop for 2018 coverage, starting Nov. 1 and ending Dec. 15. In previous years, they had twice that much time.

Some see it as another attempt to undermine the health law’s marketplaces by a president who has suggested he should let “Obamacare” fail. The administration, earlier this year, pulled paid advertising for the sign-up website HealthCare.gov, prompting an inquiry by a federal inspector general into that decision and whether it hurt sign-ups.

Read more...

Trump really wants Obamacare to fail. What I don't get is why he wants "Trumpcare" in it's place. There is no viable alternative, except to scrap it all and legislate the insurance companies.

Here is an idea: Instead of depending on the government to take care of pre-existing conditions, maybe it would be prudent to create a co-op for pre-existing conditions, in which everyone who wants to pays into it to help cover the bills for everyone. It would be voluntary, not mandated, and it would be beneficial. Insurance companies could be legislated to offer a package for that, rather than make everyone pay into it and inconveniencing those who have no pre-existing conditions. There are charities available for that.