Good Morning!
The Fed increases interest rates to combat rising inflation; the battle over marriage continues in Washington D.C. and a beloved actor from “Leave it to Beaver” passes away at 77.
Those stories and more below, including an inspiring stand for the unborn by Coach Jim Harbaugh.
- Focus on the Family Joins Coalition Urging U.S. Senate to Protect People of Faith and Traditional Marriage
From the Daily Citizen:
This week Focus on the Family joined a coalition effort led by Alliance Defending Freedom, calling on the U.S. Senate to protect people of faith and traditional marriage by rejecting H.R. 8404, the deceptively titled “Respect for Marriage Act.”
The Act is a calculated political move to discriminate against people of faith who support God’s design for marriage.
This legislation was rushed through the House last week and passed by a vote of 267 to 157 without any public hearings.
Proponents of the measure say they are codifying same-sex marriage under federal law, but according to the coalition letter sent to the Senate this week, the Act “is an attack on millions of Americans, particularly people of faith, who believe marriage is between one man and one woman….”
Signatories of the letter say that the measure would do much more than codify same-sex marriage under federal law; it would attempt to “shut down any disagreement, silencing those with the long-held conviction that marriage between one man and one woman is essential to human flourishing….”
- Fed Drastically Increases Interest Rates to Combat Historic Inflation
From National Review:
The Federal Reserve raised its pivotal short-term interest rate by 0.75 percent for the second consecutive month Wednesday in an attempt to curb soaring inflation, which topped out at a whopping 9 percent for the 12-month period ending in June.
The rate hike, which is the largest since 1994, is designed to raise the cost of borrowing across sectors, which is expected to cool off the over-heating economy. The relevant rate, called the fed funds rate, now sits at a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent, approaching the long-run rate of 2.5 percent at which the central bank’s monetary policy is supposed to be neither accommodative nor restrictive.
At June’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, “We have both the tools we need and the resolve it will take to restore price stability on behalf of American families and businesses.” He noted that the Fed is taking a bold approach to restraining inflation, adding that it “can’t go down until it flattens out.”
While oil prices, which are included in headline inflation numbers, have been trending down lately, core inflation, which excludes the more volatile components of energy and food, is still persistently high. Core inflation historically tends to be a better indicator of the true direction of prices.
- Coach Jim Harbaugh: I Would Adopt Family’s & Michigan Player’s ‘Unplanned’ Babies
From the Daily Citizen:
As a head coach for the University of Michigan football team, Jim Harbaugh may be seen from the sidelines. But when it comes to the fight to protect preborn life, Coach Harbaugh is still very much in the game.
In a recent interview with ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski, Coach Harbaugh didn’t shy away from talking about his pro-life convictions.
Indeed, the coach said that he’s offered to his family, and to University of Michigan football players and staff members, that he would be willing to adopt any “unplanned” children.
“Let’s discuss it,” Harbaugh said. “I’ve told [them] the same thing I tell my kids, boys, the girls, same thing I tell our players, our staff members.
“I encourage them if they have a pregnancy that wasn’t planned, to go through with it, go through with it. Let that unborn child be born, and if at that time, you don’t feel like you can care for it, you don’t have the means or the wherewithal, then Sarah and I will take that baby.”
- ‘The View’ Forced To ‘Clarify’ Claims That TPUSA Event Included Neo-Nazis
From the Daily Wire:
The hosts of ABC midday talk show “The View” were forced to clarify remarks from Monday’s show — made primarily by Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar — claiming that neo-Nazis had been allowed into the previous weekend’s Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA (TPUSA).
As the hosts wrapped up the first segment of Wednesday’s broadcast, Goldberg brought the conversation to a halt so that cohost Sara Haines could read a legal note ahead of the commercial break.
“On Monday we talked about the fact there were openly neo-Nazi demonstrators outside the Florida student action summit of the Turning Point USA group,” Haines read. “We want to make clear these demonstrators were gathered outside the event and that they were not invited or endorsed by Turning Point USA.”
“A Turning Point USA spokesman said the group 100% condemns those ideologies and said Turning Point USA security tried to remove the neo-nazis from the area, but could not because they were on public property. Also Turning Point USA wanted to clarify — wanted us to clarify this was a Turning Point USA summit and not a Republican Party event. So we apologize for anything we said that may have been unclear on these points.”
- Out-of-state donors spending millions to protect abortion in Kansas ahead of statewide vote
From the Fox News:
Kansas will become the first state in the nation to vote on abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and pro-choice groups and individuals outside the state are spending millions of dollars in contributions in an attempt to influence the outcome of that vote.
On Aug. 2, voters will cast ballots on the Value Them Both constitutional amendment, which will decide whether elected representatives will have the ability to regulate abortion in Kansas after the state’s Supreme Court previously found the 1859 Kansas Constitution grants a “natural right” to abortion.
Recent financial reports filed by Kansans for Constitutional Freedom (KCF), a group that bills itself as a “bipartisan coalition of reproductive rights advocates and allied organizations,” revealed that a majority of the donations it has received in its fight to defeat the amendment came from individuals and groups located outside of Kansas.
Filed with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission last week, KCF’s financial report showed that about 71% of the $6.54 million in contributions it has received were from out-of-state entities. An estimated 29% of the contributions it received were from residents or groups in Kansas.
Related from the Daily Citizen: Abortion ‘Sanctuary City’ of New Orleans Might Lose $39 Million from the State for Refusing to Enforce Louisiana’s Pro-Life Laws
- Manchin, in a Reversal, Agrees to Climate and Tax Package
From The NY Times:
Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, announced on Wednesday that he had struck a deal with Democratic leaders on a domestic spending package that includes climate and energy programs and tax increases, less than two weeks after abruptly upending hopes for such a deal this summer.
In a statement, Mr. Manchin, who had been his party’s main holdout on an expansive social policy, climate and tax package, confirmed his support for the measure in a statement that did not provide detail on its precise elements. But in the statement, he signaled support for climate and energy programs, as well as some tax provisions, all of which he had previously suggested he could not support because of concerns about inflation.
It was not clear what had changed his mind about the plan, which only weeks ago he had said he could not back until he saw more economic data next month.
“Rather than risking more inflation with trillions in new spending, this bill will cut the inflation taxes Americans are paying, lower the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs, and ensure our country invests in the energy security and climate change solutions we need to remain a global superpower through innovation rather than elimination,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement.
- Iowa School District Allows Students to Spend Overnight Trips With Whichever Gender They Identify With
From the Daily Signal:
An Iowa school district policy allows students to spend overnight trips with the students who share their “gender identity.”
The discrimination policy at Linn-Mar Community School District in Linn County, Iowa, gives students a Gender Support Plan, which makes “appropriate arrangements” for students in seventh grade or older wishing to change their gender identity at school, according to the policy. Students can spend overnight school trips in rooms with whichever gender they identify with as a part of the Gender Support Plan.
Students in seventh through 12th grade can customize their own Gender Support Plan by asking to meet with any school administrator, the policy states. The student will meet with an administrator within 10 days of their request to make arrangements for the student “regarding names/pronouns, restroom and locker facilities, overnight accommodations on school trips and participation in activities.”
Students can decide whether their parents will be a part of the meeting to set up the plan, the policy says. Siblings and family members of students who are questioning their gender can also get support under a Gender Support Plan.
- Justice Thomas no longer teaching courses at George Washington following Roe backlash
From The Hill:
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will no longer teach a constitutional law course he’s taught since 2011 at George Washington University, following his SCOTUS vote to overturn “Roe v. Wade” and subsequent calls for his removal from the school.
According to a university spokesperson, Thomas made the decision to pull out of the course.
“Justice Thomas informed GW Law that he is unavailable to co-teach a Constitutional Law Seminar this fall. The students were promptly informed of Justice Thomas’ decision by his co-instructor who will continue to offer the seminar this fall,” the spokesperson told The Hill in a statement Wednesday.
Last month, school officials reportedly rejected a petition with more than 11,000 signatures seeking to unseat Thomas from his professorial lecturer position, but an email obtained by the GWU student paper, The Hatchet, later said Thomas will be unavailable to teach the course.
- RIP Tony Dow, aka Wally Cleaver – America’s Model Big Brother
From the Daily Citizen:
Readers of a certain age will undoubtedly remember Tony Dow as Wally Cleaver – the cheery, responsible, dependable, and good-natured big brother of “the Beaver,” who was played by Jerry Mathers on the legendary 1950s sitcom, Leave it to Beaver.
Tony Dow died of cancer on Wednesday. He was 77.
Making his acting debut at the age of 12, Dow quickly became a household name in America. Cast as the all-American teenager, the Hollywood-born actor starred in 234 episodes of the popular series. Although eventually directing shows later in his career, Tony appeared in a host of other programs throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, including Dr. Kildare, My Three Sonsand Lassie.
But try as he might, Dow was never able to quite shake the image of Wally Cleaver, even reprising the role in a television movie and reboot of the original show.
“It’s sad to be famous at 12 years old or something, and then you grow up and become a real person, and nothing’s happened for you,” he recently told CBS.
The plight of many child actors is a sad and familiar one. Too much money, too much fame, and all too soon, has sent many down destructive paths. While Dow never suffered any high-profile, cataclysmic fall, he did face and manage depression for nearly two decades. He also endured a season of resenting the Wally Cleaver “good guy” stereotype, though eventually came to see the role and reputation as a gift for which to be thankful.
Critics and cynics like to dismiss the Leave it to Beaver franchise, and the entire ‘50s “feel good” era, as sentimental sap – unrealistic, paternalistic, and downright cornball material that served no redeeming purpose, beyond setting audiences up for disappointment.
They would be wrong.
