Home Blog Page 3656

Physical therapist, 28, working at a senior living facility in Indiana dies two days after getting the COVID-19 vaccine

  • Haley Link Brinkmeyer, 28, died January 21 after she received an mRNA shot believed to be either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine 
  • Brinkmeyer’s death shocked her family, according to her mother Shauna O’Neill Link
  • The young physical therapist worked at North River Health Campus, a senior living community in Evansville, Indiana

A physical therapist died at her home in January just two days after she received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Haley Link Brinkmeyer, 28, died January 21 after she received an mRNA shot believed to be either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, according to the COVID Blog.

The blog, which is operated by COVID Legal USA, aims to publish articles that minimize the effectiveness of masks and vaccines amid the pandemic and helps people file litigation against companies enforcing mandatory vaccine policies.

Brinkmeyer’s death shocked her family, her mother Shauna O’Neill Link told the blog.

In what appears to be a Facebook comment to another user, Link allegedly spread conspiracy theories that the vaccine was created for ‘depopulation.’

‘My 28 year old daughter took the vaccine on a Tuesday and she was dead by Thursday,’ Link allegedly said in the comment, which was shared by the blog.

‘Autopsy shows no other red flags. Corner (sic) has assured us he will get to the bottom of this vaccine crap.’

She added: ‘Anything with Bill Gates or Quack Fauci’s name attached should be a red flag. Depopulation my folks, depopulation. That’s their objective.’

Link’s Facebook account appears to have since been deleted. DailyMail.com has reached out to Brinkmeyer’s husband, Evan Brinkmeyer, for more information and additional comment.

Brinkmeyer met her husband while attending Reitz High. The high school sweethearts were crowned homecoming king and queen and were married for two years. 

She graduated from the University of Evansville in 2018 with a doctorate in physical therapy and was a member of AOII Sorority, according to her obituary.

‘Our hearts have been broken upon the passing of Evan’s wife and high school sweetheart Haley Link Brinkmeyer. No words can express the depths of the loss being felt by Haley and Evan’s families,’ father-in-law James Brinkmeyer posted on Facebook.

‘We will put our faith in God to give us strength as we try to understand why. Please pray for Haley and Evan and their families. Lastly if you have kids give them a hug today and tell them you love them.’

The young physical therapist worked at North River Health Campus, a senior living community in Evansville, Indiana, the blog reported.

North River Health Campus posted photos and a message about COVID vaccines to Facebook on January 20, around the same time she got the shot, according to the blog.

‘Appropriately themed “Shots of Hope,” our halls were adorned with all of the colors of the rainbow. Residents and staff alike rolled up their sleeves to do their part to slow the spread of this terrible virus,’ the senior living center captioned the post. 

It was not immediately clear if Brinkmeyer received the jab at that time.

According to her obituary, the family asked for donations to The Haley Link Brinkmeyer Foundation – created to provide assistance and medicine for diabetes patients.

News of Brinkmeyer’s death was shared on Twitter by Houston ophthalmologist Dr. Richard Urso.

‘No reason for young people to feel they “need” this vaccine. IFR is extremely low,’ he posted.

Urso, who has been an outspoken proponent of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, has previously been reported to the Texas Medical Board for using it in patients, according to The Texan – a news site run by a prominent Tea Party activist.

The Texas Medical Board later dismissed the complaint and said there was ‘insufficient evidence to prove that a violation of the Medical Practice Act occurred,’ MedPage Today reported.

His Twitter feed shows that he has also called masks ‘nonsense’ and criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci as well as multiple public health agencies.  

‘DEMONIC DECEPTION’: Israeli Group Compares COVID-19 Vaccine Pass To Second Holocaust

“It’s about who will take the vaccination.” He added, “If you don’t do it, you’re wicked, you’re evil, you’re a second-class citizen.”

Radiant Israel, a special events and tour company founded “as a means to build the bridges between nations of the world & Israel” has released a video decrying the COVID-19 lockdowns and passports as “wicked” and “demonic” and compares them to a second Holocaust.

Radiant Israel founder Gilad Rosinger released a video on the Radiant Israel Facebook page decrying the actions taken by the Israeli government to pressure people to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and only allow those who have taken it to participate in society.

“Israel, unbelievably, is the leader in this global demonic deception,” said Rosinger. “There’s a saying in Israel that goes, “Never again.” Every Holocaust Day, every year there’s a day to celebrate the Holocaust, to remember, not to celebrate what happened, but to celebrate the fact that Israel has its independent state, and never again will the Jewish people be killed. Never again will the murder of innocent people take place. That is what, supposedly, this Jewish nation is founded upon.”

“Israel has just passed this green passport system. Do you understand what this is? This is a program where they are only allowing the people that have been vaccinated to participate in society,” Rosinger explained. “To go to restaurants, to go to malls, to go to theaters, to go to sporting events. That’s right If you do not submit to this wicked, demonic, tyrannical agenda, if you choose to say, ‘I’m not ready to participate in this experimental program’, then you are now considered a second-class citizen in Israel.”

“There is no sugar coating this, this is exactly what’s happening,” he added. “Where are the international human rights courts on this? Where are the lawsuits? Where is the outrage?”

According to The Jerusalem Post, the green passport program allows those enrolled – Israelis who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from the virus – to once again leave their homes and go to “Gyms, theaters, hotels, concerts, and synagogues” that have “registered under the green passport program” and “will be able to operate.”

“We are giving a huge line to vaccinators,” Jerusalem Post reports Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein saying earlier this month. “This is the first step back to an almost normal life.”

Rosinger decries this two tiered societal system as comparable to the years in Nazi Germany that lead to the Holocaust, when millions of Jews were killed.

“What happened that we have strayed so far into a delirious state of total insanity? Where people are actually cheering on this demonic, wicked agenda? My grandfather was the only survivor out of his whole family of the Holocaust, and this is exactly how it started: With discrimination, with essential and nonessential businesses, with people saying that Jews were second class citizens,” said Rosinger.

“Now, it’s not about Jews, it’s not about Arab, it’s not about that. It’s about who will take the vaccination.” He added, “If you don’t do it, you’re wicked, you’re evil, you’re a second-class citizen.”

Rosinger then explained the level of what he believes to be manipulation and coercion that are being employed in Israel to convince citizens to take the vaccine and become part of the green passport system.

“High-level government officials are saying you should send the police to people’s houses that aren’t being vaccinated. Release the names of people that aren’t being vaccinated,” said Rosinger. “Go to their houses? Release their names? What kind of manipulation, what kind of bullying, what kind of wicket, tyrannical agenda is this?”

“It is time to go and raise a righteous war cry. It is time for people to understand. It’s happening right here in Israel,” he urged, “This thing is coming all over the world, but what is this? This is absolute insanity. It’s anti-Christ. It’s wicked.”

“We are commanded to shine light on wicked oppressive agendas. It’s part of the victory strategy of heaven. You cannot sit idly by and watch wicked, demonic, evil systems being imposed and not say anything. You have to call it out, you have to sound the alarm. You have to say, ‘This is evil, we resist it, we rebuke it.’”

“Israel, unfortunately, has been used as a prototype for the nations. If it succeeds here, it’s coming to a town near you. It’s coming to a country near you. It’s coming to your town.”

H.R. 1 Is a Threat to American Democracy. Period.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  1. H.R. 1 would usurp the role of the states, wipe out basic safety protocols, and mandate a set of rules that would severely damage the integrity of elections.
  2. It seems pretty obvious that voters should be required to authenticate both their citizenship and their identity before casting ballots.
  3. It is past time for the states to fix these problems—and it will never be time for Congress to interfere and make these problems even worse than they already are.

There are many vulnerabilities in the American election system. These vulnerabilities need to be fixed. Unfortunately, H.R. 1—the “For the People Act of 2021,” which recently passed in the House without a single Republican vote, and is now before the Senate—is not the way to do it. Indeed, H.R. 1 would make things much worse, usurping the role of the states, wiping out basic safety protocols, and mandating a set of rules that would severely damage the integrity of the election process.

H.R. 1 would mandate same-day and automatic voter registration, and encourage vote trafficking of absentee ballots. It would eviscerate state voter ID laws and limit the ability of states to verify the accuracy of their voter registration lists. This would institutionalize the worst changes in election rules that occurred during the 2020 election. But H.R. 1 would go even further in increasing the security weaknesses inherent in the current “honor” voter registration and voting system that exists in states across the country.

Get exclusive insider information from Heritage experts delivered straight to your inbox each week.

Anyone who doubts that fraud occurs is living in a dreamland. When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s new voter ID law in 2008, it noted that America has a long history of election fraud documented by journalists and historians—and that fraudulent voting could make the difference in a close election. After all, we frequently have close elections.

The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database, which is just a sampling of proven cases of election fraud from across the country, now contains more than 1,300 cases, and we are continually adding to it. The database does not include numerous cases—such as those reported recently in New Hampshire, Texas, and California—where those charged with fraud have not yet been convicted.

If H.R. 1 is not stopped, then Americans may never be able to trust the fairness and credibility of future election outcomes. To assure the integrity of future elections, a far better approach is to prod states, which have primary constitutional responsibility for the administration of elections, to fix the holes in their election laws and rules to ensure both eligible voter access and ballot security. Those are the two essential principles of the election process and, unlike what the Left believes, you cannot have one without the other.

So what should state legislatures be doing right now while they are in sessions all across the country? Here are just a few “best practices” taken from a much more extensive and complete list published by the Heritage Foundation.

It seems pretty obvious that voters should be required to authenticate both their citizenship and their identity before casting ballots. Only lawful citizens can vote in federal elections. States should, therefore, require proof of citizenship to register to vote, as well as verify the citizenship of registered voters with the records of the Department of Homeland Security, including the E-Verify system.

States should require voters to present a government-issued photo ID to vote in-person or by absentee ballot—something already implemented by a handful of states such as Alabama, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Claims that this requirement constitutes voter suppression are simply frivolous; virtually every person of voting age already has such IDs, and those who do not can easily get them. Every state with an ID requirement issues a free ID to anyone who doesn’t already have one. Despite the empty howls of “repression,” states that have implemented ID requirements have seen turnout go up, not down.

Absentee ballots are ripe vehicles for fraud because they are the only ballots that are voted outside the supervision of election officials and outside the observation of poll watchers. This leaves the ballots susceptible to being stolen, forged, and altered. Those voting absentee may also be subject to coercion and pressure in their homes—something that can’t happen in a polling place. Absentee ballots should be reserved for individuals who are too disabled to vote in person or who will be out of town on Election Day and all early-voting days.

Similarly, states should ban vote-trafficking by third parties; H.R. 1 would require states to allow vote trafficking. It defies common sense to think it is a good idea to allow candidates, campaign staffers, party activists, and political operatives to obtain possession of, and deliver, absentee ballots in elections in which they have a stake in the outcome.

Just take a look at what happened in the North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District election in 2018—an election “corrupted by fraud, improprieties, and irregularities so pervasive,” the state Board of Elections overturned the results of the congressional race (and two local contests) and ordered new elections.” The problems arose because third parties were allowed to handle absentee ballots.

Voter registration lists are in notoriously bad shape all across the country, filled with registered voters who are noncitizens, have died or moved away, are ineligible because of a felony conviction, or are illegally registered at commercial instead of residential addresses. “Critical Condition,” a 2020 report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation, found over 144,000 instances of potential fraud in the 2016 and 2018 elections. It included individuals who illegally cast two votes in the same election because they were registered more than once in the same state or registered in two different states, as well as individuals credited by state election officials with voting after they were deceased.

To prevent this from happening states much design their computerized statewide voter registration lists to be interoperable, so that they can communicate seamlessly with each other, frequently exchanging and comparing information in their databases. For example, when an individual changes the residence address on his or her driver’s license, that information should be sent to state election officials so that the voter registration address of the individual is also changed to his or her new Department of Motor Vehicles residence address. States need to compare their lists with other states to find individuals who are dual registered. They should also access federal databases, such as the death index maintained by the Social Security Administration.

We should never see again what we saw last year—legally-designated election observers being shut out of the process in places like Detroit and Philadelphia. Observers must be allowed to have full access to every step of the election process, because transparency is essential to a fair and secure system, as well as maintaining public confidence. States need to strengthen their laws to punish election officials who prevent observers from fulfilling their vital function.

Finally, state legislatures must ensure that they have legal standing to prevent unauthorized state officials, such as governors or secretaries of state, from changing or ignoring state election laws—another thing we saw far too often in 2020. And private funding of election officials by organizations and individuals like Mark Zuckerberg must be banned. Such funding creates a conflict of interest and creates unequal opportunities to vote, potentially influencing the outcome of elections.

Americans want to ensure that all eligible citizens have access to the voting process. But there must guarantees that those votes are not diluted or stolen by election fraud and other problems. It is past time for the states to fix these problems—and it will never be time for Congress to interfere and make these problems even worse than they already are.

DeSantis to Biden: Thought of reinstating COVID-19 restrictions ‘insane’

(The Hill) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Friday blasted President Biden‘s warning that the U.S. could need to reinstate certain coronavirus restrictions if the public does not stay “vigilant” about defeating COVID-19.

“To even contemplate doing any type of lockdown, honestly it’s insane,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Florida, touting the state’s efforts to administer vaccines to the elderly and other populations.

“That’s not gonna happen in the state of Florida,” the governor continued, referring to reinstating restrictions. “We’re gonna continue doing what works, but under no circumstances would we entertain anything of the sort.”

Biden has repeatedly vowed to not lock down the country but warned in a prime-time address Thursday night that some restrictions may have to be revisited if current downward trends change and the virus resurges.

He emphasized, though, that his administration is focused on helping the nation return to normal.

“Even if we devote every resource we have, beating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity,” Biden said. “And national unity isn’t just how politics and politicians vote in Washington, what the loudest voices say on cable or online. Unity is what we do as fellow Americans. Because if we don’t say vigilant and the conditions change, then we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track.”

“And, please, we don’t want to do that again,” he added.

Biden spent much of his address discussing the administration’s push to increase production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and touting his newly signed $1.9 trillion relief bill.

“Biden last night said that they may have to impose more lockdown-type policies in the future. I can tell you, that ain’t happening in Florida. We are not going to let him lock down Florida,” DeSantis pledged Friday.

A carbon tax is an awful idea

If there’s a visible fault line in America between the way the coastal elite think compared to other people, it has to be the carbon tax. Lionized by the former and never heard of by the latter, support for a carbon tax is a golden key letting you into the executive washroom.

But what actually is a carbon tax?

While it takes several forms, a carbon tax attempts to capture in dollar terms the size of carbon emissions from industries. “Dirtier” industries such as those involving fossil fuels would face higher carbon taxes than “cleaner” industries like writing at a Beltway think tank. You hear a lot of talk about a “revenue-neutral” carbon tax, but that’s a misnomer. “Revenue-neutral” means that any carbon tax revenues would be used to reduce tax burdens elsewhere, a kind of tax reform. In theory, carbon tax revenues could be used to eliminate the corporate income tax, the payroll tax, or, in extreme amounts, even the personal income tax itself. But I’ve never seen a national carbon tax plan that is truly revenue-neutral.

What proponents actually mean when they say “revenue-neutral” is, in fact, “budget-neutral.” A synonym for budget-neutral is “deficit-neutral.” All this means is that the government’s balance sheet deficit is the same before as after a carbon tax. In practice, this means that there is some combination of carbon tax revenues used to cut taxes and some used to give direct payments to households. As a result, every carbon tax you’ve ever heard proposed has been a net tax increase and a net spending increase. That may be budget-neutral or deficit-neutral (depending on your term preference), but it’s old-fashioned tax-and-spend liberalism at its finest.

Why don’t carbon tax plans, especially those supported by the few conservatives and Republican groups and elected officials who like the idea, adhere to revenue neutrality? After all, revenue neutrality is a form of budget neutrality, and it avoids increasing the size of government spending. There are two answers to this: seniors and the poor.

Seniors and the poor mostly don’t pay income taxes. In many cases, they also don’t pay payroll taxes (either due to retirement or refundable credits canceling out payroll taxes paid). Therefore, they would bear the full brunt of a carbon tax (proponents concede the incidence tends to be worse the lower on the income scale one finds oneself) but not have any taxes to cut as an offset.

Imposing a new tax that falls disproportionately on the poor and, to a lesser extent, seniors without any tax cut for them is politically hazardous. Carbon tax proponents (like Elon Musk recently on the Joe Rogan podcast) therefore propose a so-called “dividend,” which the rest of us might call a welfare check or a universal basic income payment. This allows the carbon tax revenues to be redistributed to 123 million households (that’s 1.5 billion payments per year from the government) roughly in proportion to the carbon’s tax cost incidence. This is to “price” a “negative externality.”

Why would we want to impose a brand new tax on people and then give them back their own money in the form of a redistribution scheme?

Well, because the gas tax is as close to a religious exercise as most of our secular elite gets. They believe in a carbon tax (or, more precisely, activist environmentalism) with truly evangelical fervor and can’t understand those of us who oppose it. But there’s a sustaining problem they can’t easily avoid: Most people aren’t going to like paying more to fill up their tanks.

Opinions On Homeschooling Have Changed During The Pandemic

It was one year ago when school buildings began to shutter and students retreated to their homes to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus. While not technically homeschooling (they were still enrolled in their school and working on curriculum prescribed by teachers, not their parents), many families got a hint of what homeschooling might feel like, and how the dynamics of their family might change were they to educate their children at home.

If you only looked at social media, you would think it a complete disaster. Numerous posts on Twitter and Facebook decrying how unprepared and overwhelmed parents were went viral, as did calls to pay teachers multi-million-dollar salaries after parents had to try teaching their kids on their own. Homeschooling, it seemed, was a bridge too far.

But were those posts representative of broader sentiment? We at EdChoice have been polling a nationally representative sample of Americans (including a huge number of parents) every month since March of last year, so we have a more holistic view of public—and parent—opinion.

A year in, let’s take a look at what they think.

Result #1: Parents are more favorable to homeschooling as a result of the pandemic.

We ask the question “How have your opinions on homeschooling changed as a result of the coronavirus?” Already in March of 2020, 55 percent of parents said that they were more favorable, and only 17 percent were less favorable as a result of the pandemic. Favorability has only trended upward in the ensuing months. By February of 2021, it was up to 63 percent. Those less favorable have trended up as well, but only up to 21 percent.

There have been some contours in those numbers over time, though. Within the favorable category, respondents can say whether they are “much more favorable” or “somewhat more favorable.” Those who identify as “much more favorable” started at 26 percent of respondents in March of 2020 and rocketed up to 43 percent by July. That figure has since ticked downward and by February of 2021, it was right back to where it started, 26 percent. The growth in favorability has come from respondents who say that they are “somewhat more favorable.” That response started at 29 percent in March, peaked at 40 percent in January of 2021, and ticked slightly down in February, to 37 percent.

Result #2: Parents are open to hybrid homeschooling.

To comply with social distancing guidelines, schools across the country have instituted “hybrid” schedules, where students attend in-person classes part-time and work from home the rest of the time. (Check out this great tracker from AEI to see what districts are in-person versus hybrid versus remote.) Interestingly, there are a cadre of schools that already used a hybrid model before the pandemic started and offered some lessons for how to homeschool part-time.

Starting in January of 2021, we have asked parents if they were open to considering a part-time schooling model in the future after the pandemic subsides. Candidly, given polling from other sources that say that parents have not been happy with hybrid learning, I expected the percentage of families who want to continue to be quite low.

I was wrong.

In January, 44 percent of school parents said that after the pandemic they would prefer a mix of in-person and at-home schooling, with two to three days at home being the most popular response. This compares to 42 percent of respondents who wanted to have their children in school full time and 14 percent who wanted their students at home full time. This preference was particularly pronounced in families who already send their children to private school, a full 64 percent of whom said they would prefer a part-time model. This is verified by our February sample. Amongst all school parents, 45 percent would prefer a mix of at-home and in-school learning. Among private school parents, it was 64 percent again. Among district school parents, it was 42 percent.

Result #3: Homeschooling parents have been satisfied with their children’s learning during the pandemic.

For the past year, we have asked parents how they feel their children are progressing on academic learning, emotional development, and social development. Homeschooling parents consistently report higher levels of satisfaction than average. When we look at the percentage of parents who say that their children are progressing “very well,” 33 percent of homeschooling parents say their children are doing so in academic learning (compared to an average of 28 percent of all school parents), 31 percent say they are progressing very well in emotional development (compared to an average of 25 percent of all school parents), and 39 percent say they are progressing very well with respect to social development (compared to an average of 27 percent of all school parents). When compared strictly to parents who send their children to traditional public schools, homeschooling edges traditional public schooling by eight points in academic learning, nine points in emotional development, and 17 points in social development.

Far from what the loudest voices on social media seem to say, the pandemic has made people more favorable to homeschooling, not less. Those who have homeschooled have found it to be a positive experience. It has even caused families to think about hybrid models that might offer the best of their homeschooling experience while still offering some of the features of traditional schooling. Watch for enrollment numbers in the fall to see if and how these preferences transfer to actual behavior.

Russell Brand: Why Are Drugmakers Who Caused Opioid Crisis in Charge of Solving the Pandemic?

It makes sense, Brand says, that some people have doubts about allowing corporations with a history of prioritizing profits over people to be in charge of solving the pandemic.

Russell Brand wants you to know that the transnational global mega-companies creating vaccines for COVID-19 are the same drugmakers responsible for the opioid crisis that has killed more people than COVID.

In his latest video, Brand cites a Feb. 3 study in JAMA Psychiatry showing that from March 2020 to October 2020, opioid overdose cases were up by 29%, suggesting that society is now “more susceptible than ever to addiction.”

Judgments like the one against Johnson & Johnson, ordered by the state of Oklahoma to pay $572 million for “aggressively marketing” opioids, have had little impact on drugmakers for whom “profits override all other considerations,” Brand says.

Is it any wonder, Brand asks, that some people might question the motives of these same companies when it comes to their role in solving the pandemic?

“I suppose what we can learn from the opioid crisis is that a situation that was already bad, i.e. mental illness and addiction, was exacerbated by the agendas of certain transnational corporations, aided and abetted by an impotent FDA and a government unwilling to intervene in practices of big businesses. And I suppose it’s interesting that these very  same companies are now charged with solving the biggest problem the world has seen for some time in the form of a pandemic.

Brand then asks the $64,000 question:

“How can you use the same mentality, and the same individuals, and the same organizations to solve that problem?”

If there’s an answer to that question, Brand says, at least you can be sympathetic when people have doubts and fears, not just about the vaccines made by these companies, but about “the power of these organizations and the manner in which they practice.”

Watch the video:

James Coates’ Wife, Erin: My Husband Is in Jail Because He Obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ (VIDEO)

Erin Coates, the wife of jailed Canadian Pastor James Coates, says of her husband, “His job as a shepherd of the sheep is to open the doors and allow people to worship according to their conscience and according to the Word of God,” Erin Coates said, “We have done that really wisely, putting many precautions in place.”

Pastor Coates will remain in jail until his trial in May after Justice Peter Michalyshyn rejected an appeal by his lawyer last week.

As a guest on Allie Beth Stuckey’s podcast last Thursday March 4, 2021, Coates declared her love for the church and her support for her husband.

Stuckey asked Coates a number of questions regarding her husband’s arrest and time in jail for choosing to “obey the Lord Jesus Christ” instead of government restrictions that forced GraceLife Church‘s indoor worship services to only 15% capacity, which led to Pastor James Coates’ arrest.

Host Stuckey focused her interview with Mrs. Coates around whether the actions of her husband and GraceLife Church should be considered religious persecution.

When the government mandated the COVID-19 restrictions, did Pastor Coates say we weren’t going to adhere to those guidelines or was he just going to give people the choice “no matter what,” Stuckey asked.

Mrs. Coates explained that her husband and the GraceLife Church elders felt like it was not their responsibility to mandate these government COVID-19 restrictions “but to allow people to worship freely according to conscience…they left it to the people to make that decision.”

Stucky asked Erin how she feels when other Christians, both Canadian and American, weigh in on their current situation and say that what they are going through “isn’t persecution” because he’s not in jail for preaching the gospel or for holding a church service, but because Pastor James violated COVID-19 restrictions.

Repeating what she said that her husband said, Erin peacefully said, “I’ll leave it up to the Lord whether it’s persecution or not. I think that people’s definition of persecution probably needs to be broadened a little bit. 2 Timothy says that “All those who desire to live godly and righteously in Christ will be persecuted.” She boldly said, “I do want to make it clear, he’s not in jail because he didn’t obey the restrictions. He’s in jail because he obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ and His headship over the church and did not restrict the gathering to anybody.”

In their area, she shared that big box stores like Costco and Walmart have thousands of people going in and out of them with no restrictions, as well as restaurants being open. Pointing out the attack from Satan her family and GraceLife Church feels currently and when people mention that restaurants have restrictions too, she said “It’s really sad because Satan doesn’t really care about whether a restaurant is open or not…he does care about destroying the local church and he does care about destroying the lives of people that comprise the local church.”

Describing what the church is when it gathers to worship, Coates said, “She is an expression of the blood-bought body of Christ and when she gathers she’s testifying to the world of the greatest and glory of God and His worth to be worshiped…restaurants aren’t doing that, the church is doing that.”

“I don’t have to wave the persecution flag, He [The Lord] can deal with all of that.”

Coates was asked if she was surprised by other Christians who are quick to discard the persecution talk regarding what is happening to their church and her husband. She responded by saying “yes” and “no,” explaining that it’s sad to see people slow to speak but quick to judgement because they don’t know all the details. Christians are at “varying degrees of sanctification” so she said she has to be patient with them because “if they’re truly saved by Christ, He’s going to sanctify them…It doesn’t surprise me, [because] there’s a spiritual war.”

“I know my husband and his heart,” Coates told host Stuckey, so the things that others are saying about him don’t bother me. “It’s not my job to defend myself or James,” she said “I’ll let the Lord deal with that. We are all going to stand before Him on the day of judgement. It’s just my job to make sure that I’m taking every opportunity to herald Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the only way of salvation.”

Coates shared that it has been challenging for her husband, James, who was in solitary confinement due to COVID-19 protocols at the time of the interview. “He has had some dark moments,” she said and continued, “You have the enemy just seeking to devour you in a situation like that…but he just says that he’s been strengthened and encouraged by reading the Word and praying.”

She said it brings joy to her heart to see people they don’t even know writing letters of encouragement to her husband and remembering those who are in prison.

Speaking of her husband, she said, “He understands that ‘God’s Will’ will be done and that nothing can thwart that. So wherever God needs to use him most greatly that’s where He’s going to put him.”

After being asked how this has affected her, she shared that she knows that God brings things into her life so she would “know Him, love Him, obey Him, and therefore glorify Him” more. That doesn’t mean it is easy for her. She said, “There are times I have woken up in the middle of the night crying and can’t breathe.”

“It is hard. It’s supposed to be hard because it’s the hard and difficult things that we see our weakness in the power of God on display in our life”

Coates also briefly shared that her oldest son (18) has had some emotional moments being able to comprehend well what his father is enduring, and she said her 11-year-old son has really missed his dad. The mother of two said, “Everything is a teaching opportunity for us; we have to learn how to love and how to love Christ more.”

Her message to others listening Coates said is “share with your pastors who have opted to close the church just the damage what the lockdowns are doing to you. I receive so many messages from people that are really struggling to thrive in Christ. When you have them isolated, they are just prime target for the enemy to pounce on.”

Coates pleaded with others–especially those in Canada–to, “Open your churches to the glory of God.”

The biggest things someone can do for us at this time is “pray for us,” she said. “We are on display as a church and our earnest desire is to be faithful…this is about Jesus Christ’s Lordship over His church and whether the government can mandate how we worship Him as individuals and corporately.”

Coates asked for grace as she explained a lot of the negative comments toward her husband are not coming from pastors and that pastors will have to “stand before the Lord and give and account on judgement day for the souls that have been entrusted to them especially for GraceLife.”

You can watch the full interview here.

Fentanyl Flowing Into United States at Record Volume

The amount of fentanyl seized while coming through the southern border during the first 5 months of fiscal year 2021 is already higher than all of fiscal year 2020, according to the latest statistics from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP has seized more than 5,000 pounds of fentanyl since Oct. 1, 2020, said acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller during a March 10 media call.

“We are seeing a dramatic increase in fentanyl seizures this fiscal year, more than 360 percent higher than this time last year,” Miller said.

“Nationwide drug seizures increased 50 percent in February from January. Cocaine interceptions increased 13 percent, seizures of methamphetamine increased 40 percent, seizures of heroin went up 48 percent.”

Fentanyl is the synthetic opioid attributed to the escalating overdose death rate in the United States. It is most often manufactured in Mexico using chemicals supplied by China. It’s mixed with other narcotics to increase potency as well as pressed into counterfeit pain pills commonly known as “Mexican oxys.”

“The cartels are dominating the distribution of this poison and it’s really, really alarming,” Derek Maltz, former head of the DEA’s special operations division, told The Epoch Times.

“I do anticipate the crisis continuing on this escalating path. And to be honest with you, it’s really sad, because I’ve been communicating with a lot of parents who have lost their young kids, especially to the counterfeit pills. And it’s all coming from Mexico.”

The Rio Grande City Border Patrol station takes care of a 68-mile strip of international border in south Texas. It sits within the Rio Grande Valley Sector and in 2019 was the busiest of the nation’s 135 stations for drug seizures and the second busiest for illegal alien apprehensions.

Then-deputy chief Border Patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley sector Raul Ortiz, said in March 2019 “we’re not even probably catching about 10 percent of it [drugs].”

Border experts have said it’s likely Border Patrol drug seizures will decrease as illegal immigration surges—agents will be tied up with large groups of people rather than interdicting drugs. Border Patrol highway checkpoints are also closing in many areas as agents are sent to the border to help with processing the increased numbers.

The Biden administration has said there’s no crisis on the border and urges potential migrants not to come in illegally. But the latest illegal crossing numbers show that February hit a 14-month high with more than 100,000 Border Patrol apprehensions.

Mexico’s president has expressed concern that President Joe Biden’s policies are encouraging illegal immigration and human trafficking along the border with the United States.

“They see him as the migrant president, and so many feel they’re going to reach the United States,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said of Biden the morning after a virtual meeting with his U.S. counterpart on March 1, according to Reuters.

Maltz said, “perception is reality. People around the world look at Biden as a softie on immigration.”

“The open border is a disaster. It just increases the [cartels’] ability to move drugs freely into America,” he said.

“Also, most importantly, it allows them to get their command and control operatives in the [United States] to establish the stash houses, the distribution outlets, the money collection points, so they have lots of people in America who are able to operate freely around the country.”

Epoch Times Photo
Areas of influence of major Mexican cartel within the United States. (DEA report 2021)

The cartels control the south side of the U.S.–Mexico border and anyone who crosses illegally has to pay them. Many can’t afford the smuggling fees and become indentured to the cartels once they reach the United States. Others realize it’s more lucrative to become involved in transnational crime rather than get a job at a fast food restaurant, for example, Maltz said.

“This didn’t start under Donald Trump. It didn’t start under Barack Obama. It didn’t start under George Bush. This drug crisis has been escalating for years,” he said.

“But they’re doing it at levels that we’ve never seen in the history of the country.”

READ: ‘Why fentanyl is deadlier than heroin, in a single photo’

High School Caught Asking Students About Their Sexual Activity Without Parents’ Knowledge (video)

Many parents assume the purpose of sex education is to teach children how to make responsible decisions about their sexual health.

But when the curtain is pulled back, some parents have found that public schools are not equipping their sons and daughters with the necessary tools to help them avoid risky sexual behaviors. In some cases, parents have even discovered the school’s sex education curriculum involves exposing minors to inappropriate material, drawing condemnation.

A recent sex health survey administered to tenth-graders in a health class at the Brookfield Central High School in Wisconsin has prompted such criticism from parents, according to WISN-TV.

The survey gave students the option of revealing information about their sexual activity in real-time through the digital platform Poll Everywhere. After submitting their responses anonymously, the survey results appeared live on-screen to the rest of the class in the form of a bar chart.

Students were asked to provide answers to statements like, “I have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs when having sexual intercourse,” and “I’ve had sexual intercourse with 4 or more people.”

The survey also allowed students to disclose whether they had ever participated in “oral or anal sex,” or if they had engaged in sexual activity without protection.

While participation was optional for students, their parents were not warned about the survey’s content ahead of time.

During an Elmbrook School Board meeting on Tuesday, however, a few parents took the opportunity to voice their concerns.

“This should not be asked of our tenth-grade children or any children underage,” Heidi Harrison, a Brookfield mother, said. “I asked the school board this, ‘How would you like it if I asked you these questions? How would you feel?’”

“Those questions have no place in high school. This questionnaire should be illegal, [in] my personal opinion,” the mother added. “They are asking for sexual information from a minor.”

In an anonymous statement to The Daily Wire, one family revealed that the survey made their child “uncomfortable.” According to the family, even though the survey was optional, everyone still had to sit through the presentation.

Brookfield Central principal Brett Gruetzmacher apologized to parents in an email, citing the district’s respect for “the primary role that the family plays in developing values, attitudes and behavior.”

Gruetzmacher also assured parents that the school would not present such material to students again.

“Unfortunately, in this instance, these expectations were not followed. No student-specific information was recorded during this survey and the survey … will not be used again,” Gruetzmacher said. “I am sorry and disappointed that this happened and will take the necessary steps to ensure that this does not happen again.”

Brookfield Central did not immediately respond to The Western Journal’s request for further comment.

Still, many parents expressed skepticism about the school’s apology. The parents explained to The Daily Wire that it is difficult to opt their children out of controversial lessons, as they do not always know when the topics will be discussed in the classroom.

While the parents want to see more transparency from the school district, few are hopeful that the district will be receptive to their concerns.

“They’re just going to keep doing the same thing,” one parent said. “They’ve never been held accountable for anything.”

This is not the first time that a school has been caught teaching inappropriate sex education material to students.

As The Associated Press reported in May 2019, parents objected to the state of California’s decision to implement a controversial new sex education program in schools. The program’s framework informed teachers on how to educate kindergarteners about their gender identity and provide middle-schoolers with tips on how to masturbate.

Patricia Reyes, a mother of six children, made her objections to the curriculum clear during a California State Board of Education meeting at the time.

“It’s just scary what they are going to be teaching. It’s pornography,” Reyes said. “If this continues, I’m not sending them to school.”

In another incident that WRAL-TV reported on in October 2018, parents in North Carolina showed up to a Cumberland County Board of Education meeting to protest the “Get Real” sex education program.

Their efforts were successful, but if the schools had implemented the program, 11 to 14-year-old students would have been taught how to explore their sexual identity and use various birth control methods.

Schools should not expose minors to graphic sexual content without their parents’ knowledge. If sex education is to be taught in schools, it should encourage open dialogue between kids and their parents.

When schools like Brookfield Central attempt to teach controversial sex education material in secret, they remove the crucial role of the family in delicate conversations about sex.

Students deserve exposure to educational material that strengthens their personal relationships instead of undermining them. Children also should not be encouraged to explore heavy sexual topics without their parents’ guidance.

If sex education programs have to be taught in secret, then administrators and school board members should probably take that as a sign that something is not quite right with the curriculum.

1...3,6553,6563,657...3,689Page 3,656 of 3,689
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2023 American Faith News Media. All rights reserved.