Ron Chambers

Vermont Wants to Amend Constitution to Guarantee Abortion

Peter Malbin -February 8, 2022

Vermont may become the first state to pass a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion and contraception.

If it’s passed, the proposed amendment, Proposition 5, will go to Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who is required to give public notice of the measure before it appears on the ballot in November, The Washington Post reported.

The proposal comes in anticipation of a key Supreme Court ruling on abortion expected this summer that may overturn or significantly weaken Roe v. Wade.

Fifteen states have passed laws preserving the right to abortion, including, most recently, New Jersey, but no other state has enshrined the right to abortion in its constitution, The Washington Post noted.

“We are hoping to be a model for other states to follow,” said Lucy Leriche, vice president of Vermont Public Policy at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. “In states all over the country, politicians are moving to take away reproductive rights, specifically abortion rights, and we could be an example of another way.”

Republican lawmakers and lobbyists in Vermont say the amendment is “extreme.”

Proposition 5 guarantees the right to “reproductive autonomy,” a term Republican State Representative Anne Donahue said is too vague, allowing future courts to interpret the amendment more broadly than legislators intended.

The amendment passed both the House and Senate in 2019 and was approved again in the Senate in 2021. Proposition 5 gained more momentum when the Supreme Court indicated its willingness to reconsider Roe v. Wade in oral arguments in December.

https://www.newsmax.com

US Troops Prepare for Deployment to E. Europe From Fort Bragg

Newsmax – February 3, 2022

Paratroopers with the U.S. Army boarded aircraft on Thursday to leave for Eastern Europe amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

The soldiers were departing from Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Around 1,700 service members, mainly from the 82nd Airborne Division, are being deployed to Poland, while 300 others will move to Germany.

“What you’re seeing out here today… is a facility that we typically use for paratroopers before they load out to conduct their operation,” U.S. Army spokesman Matthew Visser said.

“Right now it’s being used for the pre-mobilization for soldiers from 18th Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division who are fulfilling their order to deploy to Europe, both to Germany and to Poland, in support of assuring our NATO allies and our partners in deterring Russia,” he said.

The United States said on Wednesday it will send a total of nearly 3,000 extra troops to Poland and Romania to shield Eastern Europe from a potential spillover from the crisis over the massing of Russian troops near Ukraine.

Russia has denied plans to invade Ukraine. On Thursday, it accused Washington of ignoring its calls to ease the standoff.

https://www.newsmax.com

ATF Admits To Secret Database Of “Nearly One Billion Gun Records”

SHTF – February 2, 2022

What always proceeds gun confiscation historically? A Registry.

A Registry of guns and gun owners is a tool that the federal government, the DOJ, and the ATF have had on their wish list for decades now. Anti-gun politicians and lobbyists have sold a registry as a tool for stopping crime, enforcing universal background checks, and ensuring public safety.

In reality, a Registry guarantees that large-scale confiscation will happen at some point. That’s why the ATF is forbidden explicitly from keeping a searchable database by law.

Today, Gun Owners of America announced that the ATF has nearly 1 Billion records of firearm purchases, with over 850 million of those records in digital format. These records contain all sorts of personal information on gun owners in addition to the gun they’ve purchased. Important personal information, including their names, addresses, place of birth, sometimes even social security numbers, can all be found on these records.

The firearm transaction records that the ATF is referring to is the ATF Form 4473. Federal law currently states that a firearms dealer can destroy 4473 forms after 20 years. If a firearms dealer goes out of business or closes before those 20 years, federal law says dealers must hand over those forms to the ATF.

So the ATF currently is in possession of nearly 1 Billion of these records. Here’s the direct quote attributed to the ATF from GOA: “In total, ATF manages 920,664,765 OBR as of November 2021. This includes digital and an estimated number of hard copy records that are awaiting image conversion. It is currently estimated that 865,787,086 of those records are in a digitalized format.”

So over 850 million of those records are in digital format, making them easier to search. GOA claims this constitutes a “partially complete database of guns and gun owners.”

So how does the ATF justify this massive privacy invasion of gun owners? They claim that “the vast majority of criminal firearms traces are done for state and local law enforcement agencies pertaining to active investigations.” But interestingly, in true Federal Government style, they also mention that they have no idea how effective this system is and if any of the information leads to the successful prosecution of gun crimes.

https://www.shtfplan.com

DC Asks Shoppers to Start Rationing Food: Is This Just the Beginning?

Jeff Thompson – January 25, 2022

It’s begun.

We’ve kept our fingers on the pulse of supply chain issues for years now here at The Organic Prepper. Just last week we wrote about all of the impending supply chain issues which were plaguing America. Shortly after that piece was published we saw further edicts be given which banned particular Canadian truckers from coming across the border.

Say goodbye to your maple syrup.

And lo and behold, after massive inflation games, after tampering with the free market, after the deliberate creation of supply chain issues, now we have Washington DC running short on food. What’s the solution to these food shortages?

Why, telling people to not buy as much, of course.

That’s exactly what DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management is now asking residents to do, as they face a problem with keeping their grocery store shelves stocked. Self-imposed rationing is the solution.

You have to love the notion that “there is no need to buy more than you normally would.” There’s just a nationwide supply chain issue, right? It surely won’t make it so that you won’t be able to buy what you need? And is there not a taint of “the government will take care of you here” as well? Aren’t these the same people who are deliberately causing these problems?

Bare grocery stores are becoming more and more common throughout America at the moment. Keep tabs on your own supermarket. What have you seen over the past few months? What have you found is difficult to find at the moment? There are very few who could likely say their grocery store shelves remain the same as always.

There’s a reason that Americans throughout the country are posting pictures online of barren stores, food items spaced out to give the illusion of stocked shelves, and posters of food being where soup should be.

Farmers are being paid to not produce, are being ordered to dump their product to rot on the side of the road, meat is being regulated out of existence, people are being banned from trucking food into the country, and food processing plants are coercing people out of their jobs (and then facing inexplicable labor shortages).

America seems to now be facing a food shortage.

https://www.theorganicprepper.com

Super-mutant HIV strain discovered in Europe

RT – February 4, 2022

A new highly transmissible and dangerous HIV variant has been discovered in the Netherlands, confirming scientists’ worst expectations.

An international collaborative study, led by researchers from the University of Oxford’s Big Data Institute, identified 109 cases of the new ‘virulent subtype B’ (VB) variant after analyzing more than 6,700 positive samples.

The research revealed significant genome differences between the VB strain and other HIV variants.

“Individuals with the VB variant had a viral load (the level of the virus in the blood) between 3.5 and 5.5 times higher,” the scientists said. The results of their research have been published in the journal Science.

The rate of CD4 cell decline, which is the hallmark of immune system damage by HIV, “occurred twice as fast in individuals with the VB variant, placing them at risk of developing AIDS much more rapidly.”

Patients with the VB strain also demonstrated an increased risk of transmitting the virus to other people.

These conclusions confirm long-standing concerns that new mutations could make the HIV-1 virus even more infectious and more dangerous. According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, it already affects 38 million people worldwide, and 36 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic in the early 1980s.

https://www.rt.com

Bible verses now a crime: Politician on trial for sharing Scripture

Laurel Duggan – January 24, 2022

Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen went on trial Monday for tweeting a Bible verse in 2019 and challenging the Finnish Lutheran Church’s involvement in gay pride events.

Räsänen faces charges of “ethnic agitation” under the War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity section of the country’s criminal code, the Daily Wire reported. Finland’s hate speech laws criminalize the expression of opinions that “threaten, defame, or insult” others, with offenders facing up to two years in jail.

Charges against the politician are rooted in voicing opinions about marriage and sexuality in a 2004 pamphlet and a 2019 radio show in addition to tweeting a photo of an open Bible with the caption, “#kirkko [the church] has stated that he is the official partner of #seta #Pride2019 . How does the doctrinal foundation of the Church, #raamattu [the Bible] fit in with shame and sin being raised as a matter of pride?”

A medical doctor, mother of five and grandmother of six, Räsänen has been a Member of Parliament since 1995 and was Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2015, during which time she handled church affairs for Finland, according to ADF International. Police investigations into her began in 2019, and Räsänen has undergone multiple police interviews.“

I will not be intimidated into hiding my faith,” Räsänen said, according to ADF. “The more Christians keep silent on controversial themes, the narrower the space for freedom of speech gets.“

https://www.wnd.com

Texas Heartbeat Law Has Saved Over 11,000 Babies From Abortion

Michael New Ph.D. – February 3, 2022

This week, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission released abortion data for September 2021, the first full month in which the Texas Heartbeat Act was in effect. The data illustrate that the new law, which protects preborn children after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, has significantly reduced the incidence of abortion in the Lone Star State.

The statistics show that 2,197 abortions were performed in Texas in September 2021, a 51 percent reduction from September 2020. The Heartbeat Act, in other words, is preventing approximately 75 abortions from taking place in Texas every day.

Some Texas women, to be sure, are circumventing the Heartbeat Act by obtaining abortions in other states. But a survey taken by Heartbeat International in September 2021 indicates that 41 percent of pregnancy centers in Texas and surrounding states have seen an increase in clients, so clearly more Texas women are seeking assistance in carrying pregnancies to term. Data on births by Texas women from this spring and summer will provide even clearer data on the effect of the Heartbeat Act.

Overall, these new data adds to a significant body of research showing that pro-life laws and policies protect unborn children and save lives. Research shows, for instance, that Texas governor Greg Abbott’s March 2020 executive order postponing elective surgeries reduced the number of abortions in Texas that spring. Numerous studies show that a range of incremental pro-life laws in the United States lower abortion rates. Overseas, there is evidence that pro-life laws in Poland and Ireland reduced the incidence of abortion in those countries.

The enforcement of the Texas Heartbeat Act came at a very good time. After years of decline, abortion rates in Texas, like many other states, had slowly begun to increase. In the first eight months of 2021, there were over 39,000 abortions performed in the Lone Star State, an increase of more than 11 percent from the first eight months of 2017. While the Heartbeat Act will continue to face legal challenges, the new statistics are encouraging, because the law has undoubtedly succeeded in protecting preborn children. Other conservative states seeking to protect preborn children would do well to follow Texas’s lead.

https://www.lifenews.com

NEW REFORMATION – Over 100 Catholic Priests “Come Out” As Homosexual, Demand Everyone Bow Down To Gay Agenda

Mark Van der Veen – January 26, 2022

In Germany and the United States, parishes and ministers also began blessing same-sex unions in lieu of marriage, with growing calls for bishops to institutionalize gay marriage.

However, in response to formal questions from a number of dioceses on whether the practice was allowed, the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) made clear it wasn’t, ruling: “negative.”

In Germany, gay Roman Catholic priests are coming out, literally, and demanding that it is time for the world to see the ‘true diversity’ of the Roman Catholic church, and to demonstrate that the Body of Christ is ‘wonderfully queer’.

More than 120 LGBT priests, teachers, and Church volunteers in Germany have launched an initiative – OutInChurch – and demanded that Catholic higher-ups toss away their long-standing disdain for homosexual relationships and grant them greater freedoms within the Church.

The members of the church community published seven demands on social media under the “OutInChurch” initiative. These demands range from queer people saying they should be able to live without fear and have access to all kinds of activities and occupations in the church without discrimination.

They said their sexual orientation must never be considered a breach of loyalty or reason for dismissal from their occupation. They ask the church to revise its statements on sexuality based on “theological and human-scientific findings.”

Besides asking for equal rights, employees also put down demands that the church takes accountability for their discrimination against people of the community throughout history, calling on the bishop to take responsibility on behalf of the church.

https://www.rightjournalism.com

Russian ships, tanks and troops on the move to Ukraine as peace talks stall

Andrew Roth – January 23, 2022

Russia has sent troops more than 4,000 miles to Ukraine’s borders and announced sweeping naval drills as Moscow expands its preparations for a potential attack on Ukraine as negotiations appear at a deadlock.

Six Russian landing ships capable of carrying main battle tanks, troops and other military vehicles travelled through the Channel en route to the Mediterranean last week in a deployment that could bolster an amphibious landing on Ukraine’s southern coast if Vladimir Putin orders an attack. Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed that Russia is hiring mercenaries and supplying its proxy forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with fuel, tanks and self-propelled artillery in preparation for a potential upsurge in fighting.

And a large military force, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, elite spetsnaz troops and anti-aircraft batteries, has arrived in Belarus from Russia’s eastern military district, an extraordinary deployment that western officials and analysts say could enable Moscow to threaten Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

The new deployments have worried US officials. “What concerns us is the total picture,” said a senior state department official in a briefing last week. “It is the amassing of 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders combined with moving forces into Belarus over the weekend … these numbers are beyond, of course, what we would expect with regard to a normal exercise.”

The new forces in Belarus, the official added, represent an “increased capability for Russia to launch this attack, increased opportunity, increased avenues, increased routes”.

The US president, Joe Biden, last week said that Putin himself may not know what he plans to do. But the results are either reckless brinkmanship or preparations for a large-scale military operation.

https://www.theguardian.com

Can the President Constitutionally Restrict His Nomination to a Black Woman?

Alan M. Dershowitz – January 28, 2022

Imagine a president announcing that since no Muslim has ever been appointed to the Supreme Court, he pledges to nominate the first Muslim justice. That would undoubtedly be unconstitutional since Article VI of the Constitution specifies that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” The spirit of that prohibition — coupled with the 14th and 19th amendments—would certainly seem to apply to race and gender as well. It is wrong, and perhaps unconstitutional, for a president to impose a racial or gender test for nomination to the Supreme Court. If a president were to announce that he intended to nominate only a white male, constitutional scholars would rightfully object. So, what is the difference?

Supporters of President Biden’s announcement will argue that there is a big difference between prohibiting a person from serving based on religion, race or gender, and affirmatively giving preference based on these criteria. That is sophistry. By limiting his choice to a Black woman, President Biden has disqualified every non-Black woman and man in America. There are a considerable number of highly qualified Black women, and I would applaud the nomination of any one of them. But that is not the issue. The issue is exclusion.

The Supreme Court has a long history of exclusion. For more than a century-and-a-quarter after the religious prohibition was incorporated into the Constitution, presidents excluded all Jewish candidates and most Catholic candidates. The Supreme Court was an institution reserved primarily for white Protestant males. That was wrong and unconstitutional. But two wrongs, even if one of them is a “good” wrong, do not make a constitutional right.

The Black woman who is eventually nominated for the job will suffer reputationally from the president’s announcement. She will not be regarded as the most qualified person to be nominated, but only as the most qualified Black woman. That is insulting, even if not intended to be.

Senator Charles Schumer compounded President Biden’s error by announcing that regardless of who the president nominated, she will be confirmed by the Democratic controlled Senate. That, too, politicizes the Supreme Court nominating process. The Senate is supposed to deliberate on the qualifications of each nominee and confirm or reject her or him on the merits, not on the basis of who nominated her.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org