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Does Your Child Have Access to this Experimental Mental Health App?

Jessica Schortemeyer
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Does Your Child Have Access to this Experimental Mental Health App?

What is Kooth?

Kooth. A word that you’ve probably never heard, let alone know what it means… unless you live in the United Kingdom (UK). Kooth markets itself as, “free, safe and anonymous online mental wellbeing community”, accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) that is targeted to young people within the UK. Kooth began in 2004, as an online self-referral service for those who were actively seeking mental health support. Pennsylvania children are the first people in America to participate in this mental health program.

On October 11, 2022, a $3 million grant was signed by Kooth U.S. and the Pennsylvania state Department of Human Services to pilot a digital mental health and wellbeing platform in 30 school districts across the commonwealth. In participating school districts, students in 6th-12th grade are able to sign up and access the platform for free. Kooth’s online platform has anonymous message boards, online chatting with Kooth team members, access to a library that is customized to a user’s needs, and a journaling option.

This tool is not the same as the tele or “e” health one might assume. Unlike the self-referral program in the UK, school guidance counselors refer children to this platform with the intent to replace in-person counseling sessions. There are no Zoom options or in-person sessions. There is no such thing as family counseling. Your child will be essentially communicating with a random Kooth team member via text messaging, and you will have no idea what that team member’s background is or who they are. So far, we know that Kooth is at best a social media platform geared toward mental health that encourages our youth to talk to strangers on the internet without parental consent. Angry yet? It gets better. {sarcasm at its finest}

Pennsylvania is the first state to pilot this mental health or rather social media platform to address mental health in our youth. Pennsylvania was an easy target because minor consent for mental health services in the commonwealth is 14 years and up, per our minor consent act. Said another way, children as young as 14 years old may consent to mental health services without parental knowledge. There is no opting your child out of this service if they are 14 or older.

On a side note: The School District of Philadelphia is running a Kooth Summer Wellness Campaign and are enticing students to sign up and be active in the program so they can earn points for their school. Whichever school earns the most points will earn a visit from a Kooth ambassador and Philadelphia Eagle, Lane Johnson. Wait, this sounds oddly familiar – enticing citizens with various prizes to take a ‘safe & effective’ product.

On June 28, 2023, Representative Barb Gleim introduced bill HB1537. This bill would increase minor consent in Pennsylvania to 16 years of age and hold providers liable for a minor’s decision if parental consent is not obtained.

Currently California is the only other state that has signed a contract with Kooth for 2024. Unlike Pennsylvania, the state of California is recommending Kooth to children through their State Department of Health, not through their schools. “DHCS selected Kooth to support the delivery of equitable, appropriate, and timely behavioral health services to youth and young adults (ages 13-25). Kooth will also integrate with other partners to provide a seamless user experience, including providing services and supports to children (ages 0- 12) and their parents/caregivers”. According to the representative from Kooth at the Wyoming School Board meeting in May 2023, Kooth is in talks with Kentucky, Illinois, Arizona, New York, Kansas and Missouri.

Hidden agenda(s)

After watching and attending school board meetings and townhalls of our state legislators pushing Kooth in NEPA, many grassroots organizations across the state have come together to dig a little deeper. While Kooth is busy selling their platform across the commonwealth to address the mental health crisis, they have admitted at the Wyoming School Board meeting that they will be addressing gender identity issues that arise. Children will have access to gender identity articles written by Kooth team members. Let me be the first to say, I could care less what you identify as but I have a problem that they are discussing this without parental consent and knowledge. I can’t help but ask if they have a hidden agenda?

In an article from Psychology Today, 250 families whose children experienced gender dysphoria during or right after puberty participated in a survey. This survey found that many of these children were directly exposed to one or more individuals who recently came out as “trans”. However, it doesn’t end there. Over 63% of parents reported their child engaged in a significant increase in the internet and social media. I can’t help but ask if this movement is trendy? Will Kooth be a social media platform encouraging our kids in this trend? On social media, Kooth has posted several transgender and LGBTQIA+ articles, podcasts, as posted below.

Long term safety data

When navigating Kooth’s website, you’ll find the phrase “evidence-based” used a great deal. Parents are reassured that there is a wealth of knowledge behind Kooth. However, their own studies are alarming and this one titled “Pilot evaluation to assess the effectiveness of youth peer community support via the Kooth online mental wellbeing website” admits that little is known about the effectiveness, and potential harmfulness, of online support. Read the underlined statement again. Are you comfortable with your child being a guinea pig? This particular pilot evaluation surveyed young people who first accessed Kooth and then again one month later. (If you read far enough into the study, you’ll find out they accepted teens without parental consent.) Of course, over one month they found improvements across nearly all measures. Is one month really an acceptable time frame to measure improvement and long-term success? In the article, you’ll also find “A 2015 systematic review of online peer-to-peer support for young people with mental health difficulties found improved mental health in two out of six randomized controlled trials, while the remaining four did not demonstrate an improvement.” Then what are we doing?

Charlotte Mindel, a project manager from XenZone (the company that developed Kooth), wrote an article for the BACP, titled “Gender Identity & Suicidal Ideation” in September 2019 that showed a growing trend of users presenting with suicidal thoughts and gender identity questioning. From 2014-2018 there has been a 61% increase in users presenting with suicidal thoughts. During the same time period, there has been a 552% increase in users presenting with gender identity questioning. Those questioning their identity are three times more likely to present with suicidal thoughts than the average Kooth user. Do you know what is not discussed? What happens long term to those presenting with those symptoms. There are no long-term assessments. Again, are you comfortable with your child being a guinea pig?

No regulatory agency in the United States recommends online mental health support for our mental health crisis. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General just issued a social media advisory, and – let’s face it – what separates Kooth from social media? A Kooth practitioner who is trained as an “Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner”? The U.S. Surgeon General states, “The most common question parents ask me is, ‘is social media safe for my kids’. The answer is that we don’t have enough evidence to say it’s safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health. …We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis – one that we must urgently address.” Why are we allowing schools to educate our children with tablets and laptops? Why are we trying to address a mental health problem caused by social media with another social media platform with no evidence that it will solve the problem?

Data mining our children

If none of the above concerns you, maybe this will. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic right now as well. The future of Kooth is AI according to this Vox Market article titled, “Vox sector special: five companies transforming healthcare with AI”.

“The sensitive data collected from users on Kooth’s digital platform (if the user permits this) is anonymised, and as a result, Kooth can ethically use this wealth of data gathered. Using this information, Kooth then leverages artificial intelligence to improve its service and to support users of the platform in achieving the best possible outcomes for their mental health. The company notes that artificial intelligence is key to improving their services, covering projects such as early recognition of risk, matching service user needs to the most appropriate practitioner, and cutting waiting times for support.”

“The company’s CEO is explicit in their vision for the future of personalised digital mental healthcare: ‘it will look…like Netflix; guiding you to relevant content, self-help programmes, and one-to-one support based on what’s helped people like you in the past.’ The use of AI will be crucial in the company achieving this vision.”

Are you comfortable with companies like Kooth data mining your minor child’s information, possibly without your knowledge? Are you comfortable with your minor children talking to adult strangers that you haven’t met or vetted? Do you let your minor child talk to random kids on the web on a regular basis? Do you want your child to use another social media platform?

I am not comfortable with any of the above.

What can YOU do? It’s time to be vigilant! School districts across the state aren’t only allowing Kooth into schools but they are investigating bringing mental health services in for staff as well. Show up to your school board meetings and pay attention to what is going on. Ask questions and get clarification. Citizen’s Advisory of Pennsylvania members were successful at getting Berwick Area School District to back out after signing up for Kooth. So, it has been done and can be done! Start educating like-minded friends, members of your community, and school board members regarding Kooth. Start asking your legislators if they’ve heard of Kooth and educating them on the potential harmful effects of this program. If you don’t do it, who will?

ACTION ITEMS

Email your school board members. Ask school board members to keep Kooth out of our schools:

  1. Go to your school district website and look up the email address for each school board member.
  2. Prepare an email to each board member. Copy and paste this letter, “Kooth MSG to School Board” into the body of each email, personalizing the greeting for each board member and signing your name at the end.
  3. Send each email separately.
  4. Sign up to speak at the next board meeting about your concerns regarding Kooth.
  5. Discuss Kooth with your legislators. Based on a recent “Lobby Day” at PCIC (Pennsylvania Coalition for Informed Consent), it is obvious that most of our legislators don’t even know that Kooth exists. We need your help in ensuring our legislators are aware and that our school board members know Kooth is NOT the solution to the mental health crisis in our youth. The best option is to meet with your legislator in addition to sending them an email similar to This letter, “Kooth MSG to Legislators”. (You can copy and paste this letter, personalizing the greeting for either your Representative or Senator, and sign your name at the end).

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Examining ‘What is A Woman’? Part 1

Chuck Mason
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Examining ‘What is A Woman’? Part 1

Here’s to Matt Walsh and The Daily Wire for producing a documentary that can’t find an answer to one of the most straightforward questions we’ve ever asked during our collective human experience. There’s no other way to state this. What is a Woman? fails its one simple, singular purpose.

Which makes it one of the most important documentaries of the year.

What is a Woman?’s inability to find its answer confronts us with the chaos surrounding gender, revealing how radically America’s foundations are being transformed. It’s a wake-up call for the culture war, daring us to accept that we’re losing the ability to define the fundamental concepts intrinsic to who we are. It shows us that something is happening to America, something we can’t or don’t want to comprehend. It screams that we’re not in Kansas anymore, and it’s only the beginning.

Kindergarten drag queen story hour is indoctrinating our kids. Progressives refuse to define a woman; they demand that biological men use women’s locker rooms, allowing them to demolish women’s athletics, then label the rejection of this “reality” trans-genocide as Whitehouse press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did. Radicals are deconstructing the social architecture of gender in America, unilaterally rejecting the binary of male or female while imposing the radical gender spectrum on every American. Something’s rotten in the States of America.

Something happened to the mind of the Progressive Left. Matt feels it. We feel it. Something has changed, but people don’t know what it is. Matt recognizes eight minutes into the documentary:

“It’s a simple question. So why is it so hard to answer? This is going to take some serious investigation. For all of human existence, women were understood to be a certain thing. So what changed?”

So, what changed? This is the critical question. What’s causing the Progressive Left to deconstruct the traditional understanding of gender accepted by 99.5% of Americans who identify with the binary male or female that aligns with their chromosomes. What’s causing the Left to impose a new, extreme ideological position on the country, and how do we even begin to understand it?

These are difficult questions, and the answers can only be found by exploring the radical ideas of the postmodern movement that influenced the Progressive Left to break from traditional America and adopt a radical new vision of gender in society. That’s a journey through philosophy and the history of ideas to understand the profound changes to the fundamental concepts the Left use to determine what is real and acceptable in our society.

The History

The Left adopted radical ideas to define gender in society when the postmodern philosophical movement challenged the entire intellectual framework of knowledge and morality for traditional America. Postmodernity caused a quiet yet devastating intellectual revolution that’s causing more and more people to abandon the fundamental principles that are the basis for traditional America and embrace a progressive vision of society.  America is the product of the influence of logic and rational thought guided by Judeo-Christian principles; together, their influence created one of the most successful societies in human history. Yet America is by no means perfect and, like any society, has flaws that lead to very dark periods in its history. Postmodern philosophers claimed these flaws and dark periods were stark evidence that America’s reliance on rational thought and the Judeo-Christian worldview created a corrupt and oppressive society. They rejected the validity of logic, Christianity, and the traditional America they made and began their movement to deconstruct America’s intellectual foundations and institutions.

Progressives bought the postmodern narrative and began to deconstruct traditional America’s biblically influenced society.  They replaced rational thought and the Judeo-Christian worldview with radical new concepts and paradigms that they used to redefine basic principles and institutions.  These radical new ideas are precisely what changed and are the influence behind the radical gender ideology they’re imposing on America. The Left is on a crusade to create a Progressive America, free from the influence of Judeo-Christian bigotry and the narrowminded constraints of logic and rational thought.

It’s almost impossible to understand the chaos surrounding gender if you don’t understand the ideas that drive gender ideology. The only way to understand them is by taking a short journey through the philosophical transformations to understand the radical new principles the Left uses to guide them. Once we understand the transformations, we can answer the questions: What changed? And what is a woman?

The Background

For most of America’s history, Americans on both the Right and Left shared foundational ideas we used to help us determine what’s real about the world and guide us as we order society.  We agreed on a set of fundamental principles to define what it means to be a woman, which is why women have been understood to be a certain thing throughout history. We agreed on the definition because we used the same ideas and intellectual methods to define what a woman is. But the ideas people use to define the foundations of their society are subject to change; they’re never fixed. Philosophical revolutions challenge perspectives and introduce new ideas that transform concepts as fundamental as what it means to be a woman.

We’re living through a philosophical revolution that’s completely reordering the intellectual landscape of the American Left. They’ve rejected the agreed-upon methods traditional America used to define gender, adopting a radical set of beliefs and theories about what it means to be a woman that is entirely antithetical to the views accepted by humanity throughout its history. The Progressive Left uses new intellectual methods and paradigms to define gender as utterly antithetical to those traditionally used worldwide.

This is precisely why Matt Matt can’t get a straight answer (I’ll take the pun) to this simple question. What is a Woman? reveals just how radically the moral paradigm of the Left has departed from traditional America. The departure is a product of the influence of the postmodern movement that challenged the ideas traditional America uses to comprehend the world.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 of the series…

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Our Fragile Grid: The Hazards of Electric Outage

John DeSantis
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Our Fragile Grid: The Hazards of Electric Outage

There is a great deal of discussion about whether or not man-made global warming poses a significant threat. However, with the attendant push toward renewable energy and the merits of electric vehicles, there still exists an imminent danger to American society which is being largely ignored.  It  makes us vulnerable, not just to a large extra-national enemy, but to anyone with the means and will  to effect a wholesale destruction of the power grid across the United States.

Right now, our electric grid is highly vulnerable. An electromagnetic pulse, caused by an acute flare from the sun, an explosion of a nuclear device in the atmosphere, or a systematic hacking of the computers which service the grid, could result in a loss of electric power across the contiguous United States for decades.

The machinery which would need to be built to reconstitute the grid could not be manufactured without the very electricity it services. Currently, there is about a three day supply of food on the shelves of most stores. Most of the country does not manufacture its own food. Without electricity to power gas pumps and oil refineries, trucks would no longer roll. Cities would be particularly hard-hit. Hospitals would soon cease to function as their back-up generators  would begin to decline due to lack of oil or gas to power them. Water would soon cease to flow from the electric pumps that supply it.

Transportation – both public and private – would cease to move, as all forms of power would quickly dry up. The Internet, telephones and other means of communication would immediately go down. Perhaps worst of all, the nuclear reactors across the nation, whose fuel rods are cooled by electrical pumps, would quickly melt, causing multiple catastrophes far worse than Chernobyl or Fukushima.

Society would swiftly descend into chaos, as marauding bands of people, frantic to find food, would take the law into their own hands. People, even those with well-armed arsenals, would be hard-pressed to defend themselves. Those with little cash will find themselves in possession of credit cards that will not function. ATM machines at banks will no longer work. It has been estimated that about 93% of the country’s population would die within nine months to a year.

A huge solar flare that occurred in 1859, known as the Carrington event, knocked out telegraph wires nationwide at that time. This was viewed as a great inconvenience, but it did not cripple the nation. Most of the country’s population at that time lived on farms and was not dependent upon electricity as it is today. The telephone and radio had not yet been invented. But today, aside from a few communities like the Amish, most everyone would be seriously affected.

So why aren’t people in positions of power talking about it? There are solutions to be found, but it would take a concerted bi-partisan effort on the part of our nation’s leaders. In the 1950’s President Eisenhower put his full support behind the development of the nation’s Interstate Highway System. That national network of roads, far from supplanting the existing roadways, supplemented them and allowed faster travel between distant points.

We use surge protectors that break circuits to prevent destruction of valuable equipment during a power surge caused by lightning. Similarly, during a blackout, the nation’s grid (actually a series of interconnected grids) could be similarly insulated. Using nationwide back-up systems of alternating solar and wind power, strains against the system could be mitigated and waterpower could be brought to and from areas of flood and drought via conduits installed over (or under) the existing Interstate system. Such projects would serve not only to alleviate pollution, but would also boost our economy by providing WPA-style jobs that would carry themselves in perpetuity. It would be a win-win solution.

As it exists currently, the national electrical grid system would  be unduly strained if thousands of electric vehicles were to be introduced willy-nilly into the system. We would soon experience rolling blackouts such as those that exist in third-world countries.

Sooner or later, this problem – the most pressing and imminent threat our nation faces – will have to be dealt with. Why not do it sooner rather than later? It would be much easier to deal with it now than it would later, with conditions of the late nineteenth century.

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Opt Out of The Surveillance State Matrix

Dr. Stephanie Coxon
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Opt Out of The Surveillance State Matrix

“Throughout history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities, the political, the religious, the educational authorities who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open-mindfulness; chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself.”

Perhaps Timothy Leary was onto something when he wrote this many years ago. Some of us are familiar  with this and agree with it. Others may just be waking up to the idea that we have been unwittingly part of a programed thought process that has kept us in a simmering pot like a slow-boiling frog.

The 1980s seems like yesterday. We were cellphone-free and, sometimes, still got an opportunity to listen in on our neighbors’ conversations on the “party line”. That was your biggest risk for violations of personal privacy, though it was quite enough to create fodder amongst the gossip mill. Those simpler times were even more complicated than the 1950s but, quite frankly, I’d take anything over what we have today. It appears we are indeed frogs in a slow boiling pot. We give away a little piece of our freedom, privacy – even our lives – one data fragment at a time.

Every business wants your information; and we have been mindlessly handing it over for years. I remember the first time my local grocery store offered up a discount card in exchange for some personal information; i.e. income, address, age. I didn’t mind sharing a little demographic information with them in exchange for ten cents off my pancake mix. After all, I was a college student learning about the importance of demographics in marketing and had not woken up to what the future could hold. Since then, virtually every store and every brand wants additional information in exchange for the promise of something more wonderful and/or convenient. I even had one who wanted my social security number. I passed on the discounts for that one. We are in a world that has trained us to freely give out personal information. Originally, it seemed fairly benign, but we’ve driven the car off of a cliff. This was demonstrated, recently, in a TikTok video that showed people putting their arms out, without question, to have a lint roller rolled over them. I have nothing against lint rollers, but I feel like it might be a good idea to ask “why do you want me to do that?” before acquiescing to any possible violation of my personal space. Evidently brain cells are on the decline, and it is time to begin to opt out of the folly.

In June 2023 I entered into the security line of BWI airport to assure TSA that I wasn’t a risk of hijacking a plane. (Though recently, I did get caught trying to smuggle a $6 bottle of water onto a plane in Panama that nearly caused an international incident. I must have looked very dangerous. But I digress; back to Baltimore. I noticed that the security guard asked each person to stand and get their picture taken after scanning the passport. There were no questions asked, and no information given. People were just told to stand and have their picture taken. I found this odd as I saw no notices and had never seen this before. I asked the guard if I could opt-out and with a big grin, the guard said absolutely. That was a wake-up call.

Coming back into the country and dealing with customs, the same situation happened. I again asked, “can I opt-out?” The security guard was a bit disgruntled but she responded “yes, but it will take a few extra minutes.” And then I realized “There it is!” In the beginning, we have the option to opt out, but the option seems to turn into something that is mandatory that we follow without question. So what are the pictures being used for? The answer, biometrics. According to dictionary.com, biometrics are “the automated recognition of individuals by means of unique physical characteristics, typically for the purposes of security.” This is just a small step towards the automation of nearly everything. You want a peek into the future of America, look at China and ESG – otherwise known as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). It is a set of standards for a company’s behavior, used by socially conscious stakeholders. While I am not going to take a nose dive down this rabbit hole, the information we are freely giving will be turned on us. You may not have an issue with the person or entity viewing your “profile” today, but that same information could be used against you when that person or entity deems you to be a threat, simply because you disagree with their views on anything from vaccinations to climate change to your preferred candidate for political office.

Let us look at something more familiar. How many people walk into a doctor’s office or hospital and sign the electronic pad without even knowing what is on the screen? How many of those same people also know that you have just signed away some of your ability to make medical decisions for yourself placing your decision making in the hands of a hospital. It is not the doctor making the decisions, it’s the administration of the hospital deciding the standard of care that will be applied to you whether necessary or not. The same people who are willing to medically castrate a child are the same people deciding what will happen with your body that day. I’m betting you might look at that “sign here” information a little more closely once you think about that! I certainly did.

In the name of convenience, we are giving away our freedoms. If no person would have walked into a store with a mask, no store would have required them. It is time to be aware, say no, ask to opt-out, even if it is uncomfortable. We have to question because our freedom is at stake.

In the name of convenience, we are giving away our freedoms.

We must think about our possible loss of freedom with every signature and rewards point in exchange for information and photo identification we provide. Pennsylvania Senator Doug Mastriano established his “Walk as free people” movement and message. To be sure, there is much more behind that message than a slogan on a t-shirt. As Americans, we need to rediscover it as a way of life. Together, we have the power. Use it or lose it.

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Defeating Progressives at Their Own Game

Brian Shelley
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Defeating Progressives at Their Own Game

Dean Browning ran for election to the Pennsylvania State Senate to represent District 14 in 2022. He lost to Nick Miller by 6,084 votes. Dean realized he was beaten because Democrats went door knocking and got low-propensity voters who only voted once or twice in the last several years to fill out an application for mail-in voting. The Democrats then followed-up to ensure they mailed their ballot.

Learning from Democrat tactics, Dean helped start a grass-roots organization called Win Again to get low-propensity Republican voters to do mail-in voting. On Saturday, August 5, Dean presented his organization and ideas to a group of concerned York County, PA voter activists.

Dean and his associate Arnaud Armstrong said they don’t like mail-in voting and want to see it changed. Most attendees nodded in agreement. However, they said if Republicans don’t get out the low-propensity voters like Democrats do, there will never be a majority in Harrisburg to eliminate mail-in voting. Dean said the chance to eliminate mail-in voting can’t happen until 2027, and then only if Republicans win the House, keep the Seante, and win the governorship. Arnaud said he heard someone say, “We use mail-in ballots to get rid of mail-in ballots.” An attendee after the meeting noted in her door-knocking experience, “Many Republican voters of York County want to keep mail-in ballots. They say to me, ‘You’re not taking away my mail-in voting, are you?’ So, learning how to get more Republicans to use mail-in ballots may be the only way Republicans win local, statewide, and presidential elections.”

Dean explained that the ratio was 3:1 in November 2022 of Democrat over Republican mail-in votes. Republicans had more than a 150,000-vote disadvantage going in to election day, with many of those mail-in Democrat voters being those who rarely vote. He said this had a huge effect on county and local races being decided for Democrats by slim margins.

Arnaud and Dean explained how to talk to Republicans who rarely vote. “Explain the problem,” Arnaud said. “Don’t ask them if they’ll do a mail-in ballot. Ask them, ‘Can we count on you to vote by mail?’” If yes, the door knocker can help the voter register online by emailing RA-VOTERREG@PA.GOV, register online at VOTE.PA.GOV, call the State registration office at 1-(877) VOTESPA, or hand the voter a PA Application for Mail-In Ballot form.

“To submit the application,” Dean said, “the voters only needs to fill out their date of birth, PA driver’s license or PennDOT ID card number or last four digits of their Social Security number, then sign the form.” He said although ballot harvesting is illegal in PA, harvesting Applications for Mail-In Ballot forms isn’t illegal. The door knockers can have the voter fill out the three items on the form while they wait; the door knocker can fill out the other information and submit the form.

Arnaud said mail-in ballots may be good for everyone to use. Since 2023 is an off-year election, many voters don’t vote. “However, the elections this fall are important because they’re for school boards, judges, and County commissioners.” Those who voted by mail in 2022 should be contacted to vote by mail again.  Arnaud added, “Everyone should consider mail-in voting. On election day, Democrats can ensure Republicans run out of ballots, have a sewer break, or a machine break down.”

Arnaud and Dean talked about how to answer objections to mail-in balloting. “If a voter says, ‘I don’t trust mail-in voting,’ tell them they can track it online,” Arnaud said. “If they say they want to vote in person, tell them they can do that at the County Board of Elections or Voter Registration office. Tell them you want to vote early, and they’ll give you a ballot. Fill it out there and hand it in.” This can be done around the beginning of October due to Act 77. Some voters may worry they may change their mind and want to vote on election day. “Tell them they can take their mail-in ballot to their polling place, turn it in, and get a regular ballot to vote.” Others may worry about losing their mail-in ballot. “Tell them to go to their polling place. They’ll be given a Provisional Ballot, and they can vote. The County elections office will check to ensure the mail-in ballot wasn’t submitted.” The Provisional Ballot will count.

Arnaud said as a selling point to potential mail-in voters, if they want to research candidates, all of their names will be on the ballot they will receive weeks before election day. Arnaud and Dean presented a slide stating “The Facts” about Mail-in balloting. “It’s easier; you can track your ballot online; you can still vote in person; and it helps us win.” Their brochure says promoting mail-in balloting increases Republican turnout and gives Republicans more time to turn out voters.

Arnaud and Dean said they’re using an online app called Numinar to tell door knockers who is a low-propensity voter, which also includes a survey to ask the infrequent voter.

An attendee cautioned at the end of the presentation, “If you don’t believe in mail-in balloting, don’t pretend you do; people will see right through that.”

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Good By Definition: A Defense of Conservatism

John DeSantis
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Good By Definition: A Defense of Conservatism

The other day I was scouring the sink with Soft-Scrub, a non-abrasive bleach product that cleans without scratching. The bottle was just about empty, and though we had another unopened bottle under the sink, I added a small amount of water to the almost empty one, and found I was still able to employ what was left over in service of a clean sink. As I was doing all this, I got to thinking that I have always acted in this way, that I have always liked to conserve. If there is any left over, why waste it, why not get the most your money? And then my thoughts ran over to the meaning of conservatism. What does it mean to be a Conservative? I began to muse that I have always acted in this manner, so I guess I am conservative in many ways more than merely political and economic ones. I thought about the root meaning of the word conserve. The word itself comes from a Latin one meaning to save. Its root is also akin to the word meaning to serve or servant. It also relates to our word preserve.

Conservatism seeks above all to conserve, to save what was good from the past, to learn from its lessons, to preserve traditions that have proven themselves to work in society and to use them as stepping-stones toward ever-increasing progress. It seeks to understand what is “good” by way of a transcendent source. As a result, the interest it takes in understanding the negative attributes of the past is to ensure that those particular attributes are not carried forward. Thus “a more perfect union”. It does not wish to abandon the noble aspects of the past, its laws, its arts, its literature and its architecture. It remembers keenly the lessons of history and transmits the awareness of them to the present generations, for it knows full well that only by remembering the mistakes of the past can we avoid making them again.

Imagine an individual who awoke from his sleep with no recollection of his experiences the day before. If he burned his hand on a stove, he would most likely burn it again the next day. This may seem simplistic, but it reinforces the idea that collectively we must transmit the record of what has happened in the past, the good and noble accomplishments of human beings as well as the horrible and heinous ones. Together, in a spirit of cooperation, we can learn from the past, recognizing that certain efforts, however laudable they may seem, did not work in an earlier world, and will most likely not work in a future world.

To believe in a conservative mindset is to laud and applaud and apply those traditions and values that have worked in the past. It is to cherish those giants in our world, men and women of all persuasions from all times and cultures that have brought us to where we are, and to never be afraid to stand on their shoulders. As Conservatives, we must never be afraid to welcome progress and beneficial change if it is to improve our society. But change, merely for the sake of change, is not usually nor necessarily good or beneficial. And as Conservatives, we ought never apologize for our positions or our willingness to defend cherished values and ideals. In fact, we must contend even for our right to defend them, even to the point of offering our very lives. We must always remember those rights – rights enumerated in our American Constitution. They are enshrined in written law from the Magna Carta down to our present day – are rights that do not derive from human law, but rights afforded each individual person by a Higher Authority; rights written by that same Creator indelibly upon every human heart that has ever lived, is now living, or will ever have lived. 

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PA Mom Sues Government Over Porn in Schools

Ken Layng
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PA Mom Sues Government Over Porn in Schools
Federal Law: U.S.C. Title 18 Section 1470 – Transfer of Obscene Material to Minors
“Whoever, using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly transfers obscene matter to another individual who has not attained the age of 16 years, knowing that such other individual has not attained the age of 16 years, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
Federal complaint filed August 24, 2022: REDMAN v WOLF et al. 22-cv-03389
US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Defendants Governor Wolf, Attorney General Shapiro, District Attorney, Police Department and Great Valley School District must respond to the complaint by September 19, 2022.
Fenicia Redmon is a mom of a minor student in the Great Valley School District, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Since 2021, She has publicly appealed to School Directors, Principals, and Superintendent/Asst Superintendents to remove explicit, graphic, sexual material from the school library. Despite bringing this to the attention of the School Board at numerous public meetings, the School Board has taken no action whatsoever. No calls. No emails. Silence.
Fenicia filed complaints with our local Police Department and the Chester County District Attorney. They took no action. They have no problem distributing graphic, sexually explicit material to public school children.
She, along with others, silently protested on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol Rotunda, holding up posters showing explicit, graphic sexual material from public school libraries. The only response we received was the threat of forcible removal by Capitol Police for displaying graphic sexual images in the Capitol building. Yet, these images appear in library books available to public school children in Great Valley and neighboring School Districts.
These same posters made their way to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office, pictures below. He and his staff, no doubt, reviewed the posters and were unmoved to protect our schoolchildren from these disturbing images (see below). And when I retrieved the posters from the Governor’s office, his staff had no comment.
She needs your help to fund this federal fight, and to enjoin the distribution and publication of this graphic sexual material to our children:

Resources

Pennsylvania Mother Continues to Fight to Remove Obscene Books From Schools After Injunction Denied:
DelVal Parents Told Posters of Kids’ Books ‘Too Graphic’ to Display at Capitol:
Pennsylvania Mom to Use Obscenity Law to Get Explicit Books Removed From Schools:
Great Valley Schools Sic Cops on Parent Being Interviewed in Parking Lot:
Ban Sexually Explicit Books In Great Valley SD, Mom Asks In Lawsuit:
School Books That Show Your Child How To Perform Sexual Acts:

Fired for Being a Christian?

Ken Layng
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Fired for Being a Christian?

The Summary

  • I’m asking for help fighting back against the agenda within our higher education system that preaches diversity and inclusion, but shows no tolerance for Christianity and seeks to remove our American liberties and God-given rights.
  • I was pressured and coerced to compromise on my Christian beliefs, and ultimately fired by Penn State for standing firm against requests that violated my religious beliefs as well as my Constitutional rights.
  • I was told to submit my body to my employer in ways the violated my conscience, allegedly in order “to protect others;” I was a fully remote employee who had worked from home since 2014 (therefore I never came into contact with any of my co-workers).
  • My request for a religious accommodation was denied.
  • The HR policy that PSU had originally planned to use to enforce my termination was circumvented entirely in order to fast-track my firing.
  • I was terminated 3 days before Penn State rescinded the very protocols they used to fire me.
  • A PAHRC investigation found Penn State: a) Failed to Provide a Religious Accommodation b) Discharged me based on Religious Creed and c) Discharged me based on Retaliation
  • I’ve hired an Attorney to represent my case and to bring awareness to these ongoing egregious acts that are not just a problem at Penn State, but at most of our American educational institutions. I fight not only for myself, but for our collective American religious freedoms and bodily autonomy,
  • Please help me reach my goal of $7,500 which will help us file the initial paperwork in federal court.

Zack Rackovan was fired from Penn State University in March 2022. I had held the same (fully remote) position for 7+ years, with a stellar performance record, ironically, at the Justice & Safety Institute. Because of my Christian convictions and general belief in personal bodily autonomy, I refused to submit to the experimental covid jab and other illogical and illegal requests that my employer implemented as a requirement of employment in the fall of 2021, including masking and weekly testing.

Specifically for one example, I was required to take a test that stated directly on the label: for research only, not to be used for diagnosis. In order to take the test, I had to first sign an affidavit releasing all of my personal information (name, address, bank account information) to whomever the research facility wanted to sell it to, as well as relinquish my right to sue anyone for anything associated with the tests (which are proven to cause many various medical issues). Finally, I had to sign off on a statement saying I was not being coerced in any way. I couldn’t in good faith sign away any my rights, and certainly couldn’t validate a bold-faced lie purporting there was no coercion involved in the process when that’s entirely all that it would have been. When these additional concerns were brought up with my supervisor and HR representative, they told me they couldn’t speak to them, and also could not provide me with contact information for anyone who could; they told me if I wanted to keep my job, I had to comply.

I first notified Penn State that I had a Constitutional Right to Refuse an EUA product outright, and sent them the FDA documentation showing such. They responded that they would not respect this Constitutional right. I requested a statement from my supervisors explaining, legally, why they felt they were able to refuse me a documented Constitutional right; my requests were ignored. I then filed a request for a religious accommodation. The accommodation I requested was simple: allow me to continue working remotely, exactly the same way I had since 2014. My request was denied. I then submitted an appeal to the Penn State Affirmative Action Office, which was also denied. By law, they are required to provide proof of an undue hardship when rejecting an accommodation request, which they also refused to provide.

The only response I continued to receive was basically (not an exact quote), ‘Fall in line and do what we say, or we’re going to fire you.’ When I told my supervisors that this was my perception and feelings of their treatment toward me, I received silence or another variation of the statement above.

Three days before Penn State rescinded the anti-Christian protocols that I was standing up against, they circumvented the very HR78 policy they had enacted against me, and terminated me immediately. The HR78 policy is written for individuals failing to maintain an acceptable standard of performance, which did not apply to me to begin with. The policy also states that in a situation where acceptable standards of performance are not being met, there will be at least two Performance Improvement meetings, and a 30-day window given before termination would occur. My first (and only) Performance Improvement meeting was held on March 4. I was fired on March 18; this article was then released on the morning of March 21, rescinding the mandates I was fired for not submitting to. They gave me no response when I asked why my termination was fast-tracked.

A PAHRC (Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission) investigation found Penn State: a) Failed to Provide a Religious Accommodation b) Discharged me based on Religious Creed and c) Discharged me based on Retaliation.

I met with Penn State representatives within the confines of a PAHRC Conciliation meeting, with the desire to come to some sort of settlement agreement, but they were unapologetic and would not negotiate any type of settlement.

Because of my Christian religious beliefs, Penn State stripped away my ability to provide for my family by destroying nearly a decade of career advancement, right in the prime of my career. I’ll never be able to re-gain those years; starting over isn’t a feasible option. In addition to my monthly salary, I’ve lost job opportunities, the potential to advance along the career path I was on pre-Penn State, health insurance for my entire family, an incomparable PTO package, tuition discounts for my kids, and a guaranteed state pension retirement plan. There is no possible way for me to replace either the short-term or long-term financial security they stole away from me with their discriminatory decision.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21

The Plan

I’ve begun working with Attorney Greg Stapp of Stapp Law to fight against this act of outright religious discrimination and anti-American/ anti-Constitution sentiment. I am in a unique position being that I was a fully remote employee and that they fast-tracked my firing for no other apparent reason than I am Christian, but I know there are many others dealing with varying degrees of persecution at the hands of Penn State and other government agencies including educational institutions across the country. Despite these institutions publicly repeating a mantra of inclusion and affirmation of all creeds and belief systems, Christianity is not covered under their umbrella of acceptance. Logically, when these universities promote a “my body, my choice” philosophy, but attack our freedom to have ownership of our own bodies by threatening our livelihoods, we need to hold them accountable for this double-standard!

My desire is that Penn State would come to see the error of their ways, acknowledge their discriminatory double-standards, and realize the absence of logic and reason in their decision making protocols. My prayer is that my story and a win in court brings more awareness to these issues and more pressure on the board members and decision makers brings permanent change to a failing system.

Your donations to this legal fund will help me in my fight against the tyrannical authoritarianism of Penn State in federal court, and they and other organizations of the same ilk will re-think the way they treat their hard working employees, the way they view basic human rights, and the ways in which they ignore or re-interpret our American Constitutional freedoms!

My Prayer

Even if you can’t contribute, I love that GiveSendGo creates the opportunity to share prayers. The Lord hears us when we cry out against wickedness, and there is power in prayer. Please pray for provision for my family and persevering strength in this situation we find ourselves in, but even more importantly please join me in praying that through this battle and others in similar situations, that eyes would be opened and hearts would be softened to the Gospel at Penn State, at our other educational institutions, and those that have found themselves in positions of power and authority across our nation.

The Word of God says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” I pray that there would not just be a righteous remnant that rises up in America, but just as Nineveh was spared after a move of national repentance, so too America would turn from our wickedness and call out to the King of Kings to forgive us and heal our land!

The Battle To Educate The Underprivileged Black And Brown

Patricia Divine-Jackson
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The Battle To Educate The Underprivileged Black And Brown

“And we need to give parents greater choice, particularly poor parents whose kids, very often minorities, are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. This is the civil rights issue of our day”.  This statement was greeted with a thunderous applause and a standing ovation when delivered by Condoleezza Rice in a speech at the Republican National Convention more than a decade ago, August 29, 2012.

Since that speech there has been a lot of talks, articles, and reports decrying the plight of education in our inner cities and the devastating scores in reading and math since the COVID-19 lockdown. Perhaps it was within this context of poorly educated black children in failing public schools that Governor Shapiro, himself the product of a private religious school education, decided to campaign for school vouchers; and appropriate $100 million in his budget to this cause. He however quickly rescinded on his campaign promise upon pressure from the Teacher’s Unions and his fellow Democrats.

Conservatives and Progressives alike can understand the statistics: an elementary school in West Philadelphia has a math proficiency of 3% and a reading proficiency of 15%, and that many blacks in prison read at or below a 5th grade level. Both camps admit the problem, but differ on the solution.  Regarding children who cannot read and are stuck in failing schools, Republicans believe school choice is the answer, citing that private and Christian schools have a track record of educating minorities; therefore, “Give parents vouchers to send their children to private or religious schools where they would learn to read.” The Democrats say, “No,  that is not the solution; let us use the money to improve failing schools.” And the impasse continues, almost 11 years after Condoleezza’s speech.

As a black conservative Republican who does not believe that free education or free health care are rights guaranteed by God or the constitution, I strongly believe that the private sector should now rise up and help black and brown children in failing schools to learn to read and obtain a good education.

Pennsylvania is blessed to have an EITC (Education Improvement Tax Credit) program, where individuals, businesses, and corporations can re-direct their state taxes (3.5%) from Harrisburg to a private or religious school of their choice to support the school or to pay the tuition of a particular student. I believe this should start with a public declaration by Governor Shapiro and all the other legislators who believe in school choice and desire to give a black or brown child an opportunity to escape a failing school and learn to read.  They should put their money where their mouths are and encourage other Pennsylvanians to do the same. I know a medical doctor who used the EITC program to pay the tuition of an African American kindergartener. The little girl graduated as a valedictorian of her class. For those who are retired or may not be employed, but have money, they too can pay a child’s tuition or support a local private school.

With all the professional sports teams and other businesses in Pennsylvania and all the millionaires and even billionaires in Pennsylvania, it breaks my heart that children in Philadelphia are condemned to remain in failing schools because the parents do not have the money for an alternative, and their $100M voucher escape has been gutted by their representatives they sent to Harrisburg.

I confess a bias for private Christian schools where children get a strong academic foundation, girded by Biblical moral underpinnings, “You shall not steal; You shall not lie; You shall not murder, etc.”  I know a very good African American Christian school operating out of the cramped basement of a church struggling to do just that.

There is a correlation between poor education and inner city crime. Someone summed up the homicide problem in Philadelphia – and I guess in inner cities across the country: “Poorly educated, fatherless black youth murdering other poorly educated fatherless black youth”. If we in the private sector can do something to help change the first phrase,  ‘poorly educated’, then perhaps we would see a decline in the rest of the statement.

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Jan Halper: 2020 Election Still Up for Grabs

Ken Layng
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Jan Halper: 2020 Election Still Up for Grabs

As America careens toward the 2024 election, the 2020 election was suddenly brought back into the limelight. In a stunning interview Monday,  Jan Halper suggested that the 2020 election is still very much up for grabs – or more accurately, is actually decided in the other direction. When confronted with the assertion that the election had already been reviewed numerous times in the courts, Halper corrected the journalists by saying that, of all the cases that were brought, President Trump prevailed in two out of three. On the grounds of ‘standing’, none of the others were even heard.

Even more intriguing is the fact that Donald Trump retweeted the interview on his Truth Social platform.

Among the extraordinary claims that Halper  makes:

  • She is part of a DoD Task Force that would put her in a position to have first-hand knowledge of relevant election information.
  • Special Counsel Jack Smith has, perhaps unwittingly, given President Trump’s legal team the ability to subpoena witnesses.
  • Space Force, the DoD, and the military have concrete evidence that will be presented. This includes “the actual real results”.
  • Biden is only the president of a corporation called “The United States”, formed in 1871, which is now bankrupt.
  • The military removed 650 plane loads of gold from the Vatican.
  • Trump told Queen Elizabeth that the United States was dissolving the corporation known as the United States, and that the country would return to a republic, as founded.

“Magnify It” is a category of brief synopsis pieces from ‘The Lens’ designed to ‘magnify’ important stories, with a direct embed of the source.

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