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A federal judge scolds Illinois Democrats for trying to silence abortion foes.
The Editorial Board
Democrats are eager to make their states havens for abortion, and in Illinois they’re willing to violate free-speech rights along the way. That’s the finding of a federal judge who has enjoined a law to silence groups that run pregnancy help centers.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently signed a law amending the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to sweep in pregnancy centers that counsel women against abortion. The law, drafted by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, regulates the antiabortion groups on grounds they engage in “deceptive business practices.”
The law “is both stupid and very likely unconstitutional,” federal Judge Iain Johnston wrote in an Aug. 4 order granting a preliminary injunction. “It is stupid because its own supporter admitted it was unneeded” and had no evidence supporting its claims of deception, he wrote. “It is likely unconstitutional because it is a blatant example of government taking the side of whose speech is sanctionable and whose speech is immunized.”
The speech of abortion providers is “specifically excluded from being sanctioned under the Consumer Fraud Act,” Judge Johnston wrote. Regulating pregnancy centers for deceptive practices while exempting abortion providers is viewpoint discrimination. In Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015), the Supreme Court held that laws regulating speech based on content are “presumptively unconstitutional” and violate the First Amendment.
The law was challenged by the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and others. John Jansen, a project coordinator for Pro-Life Action League, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the AG’s office seeking information about what fraudulent or misleading conduct by pregnancy centers had prompted the AG’s crackdown.
His declaration to the court says the FOIA found no patient had “ever lodg(ed) an actual complaint with the Attorney General against an Illinois pregnancy help ministry, much less for a violation of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practice Act.”
Messrs. Raoul and Pritzker know that the sidewalk counselors and pregnancy centers aren’t engaged in commercial transactions. Sidewalk counselors are typically volunteers and often from religious organizations. “There is no remuneration of any kind and there is no economic motivation of any kind,” the judge noted in his order.
Mr. Pritzker is gaining a reputation as a hard-left culture warrior who is happy to silence political opponents. He told CNN that the law is “just like the case against President Trump. You have a right to free speech, but you don’t have a right to lie.”
But special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment specifically says Mr. Trump has a right to lie. Mr. Pritzker apparently thinks that invoking the name Trump is a justification to get away with saying or doing anything. Not under the U.S. Constitution.
Hoover Daily
| by Bruce Thornton via FrontPage Magazine Shameful moral idiocy and cowardice. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I have always believed the CIA was involved in JFK"s assassination as the FBI was in MLK's. +++ RFK Jr. Unveils CIA’s Dark Secrets and Untold Story of JFK’s Assassination In a riveting revelation, Democratic presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shed light on the clandestine operations of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its alleged involvement in the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, RFK Jr. unveiled the intricate web of conspiracy that has been shrouded in secrecy for decades. Kennedy Jr. shared that his daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox, a former CIA agent, informed him about the inner workings of the agency. According to her, out of the 24,000 employees at the CIA, 20,000 are patriotic Americans dedicated to public service. However, it is the remaining 4,000 who operate in the shadows, involved in covert activities that often undermine the very principles of democracy they are sworn to protect. The CIA is divided into two main divisions – the Espionage Division, responsible for gathering and analyzing information, and the Plans Division, which carries out covert operations such as assassinations, election manipulations, and government overthrows. Kennedy Jr. revealed both his father and uncle had plans to separate these two divisions, a move that could have potentially altered the course of American history. Next, the 2024 presidential candidate discussed the controversial Warren Commission, which was established to investigate JFK’s assassination. He criticized the commission for labeling anyone questioning the Single Gunman theory as a ‘conspiracy theorist’. He further claimed the CIA had influenced over 400 senior editors in the American press to propagate this narrative In a shocking revelation, Kennedy Jr. named several individuals associated with the Miami Station, the largest CIA station at the time, as being involved in JFK’s assassination. These included Bill Harvey, David Atlee Phillips, E. Howard Hunt, and David Morales, all of whom had significant roles within the CIA. Kennedy Jr. also touched upon the strained relations between the CIA and JFK, following the Bay of Pigs invasion. He suggested JFK’s decision to halt attacks on Cuba and his growing friendship with Khrushchev may have angered certain factions within the CIA, leading to a plot to assassinate him. Despite laws requiring the release of all documents related to JFK’s assassination by 2017, thousands of classified documents remain undisclosed. Presidents Trump and Biden refrained from declassifying these documents, raising questions about what institutional interests they might be protecting. Finally, Kennedy Jr. highlighted the involvement of mob bosses like Johnny Roselli, Sam Giancana, Santo Trafficante, and Carlos Marcello, who were working with the CIA to assassinate Castro. These mobsters, who owned casinos in Havana, had hitmen at their disposal and were training sharpshooters for Batista. Some of these individuals were allegedly redirected to assassinate JFK. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s revelations have opened Pandora’s box, shedding light on the dark corners of the CIA and its alleged role in JFK’s assassination. As the nation awaits further disclosures, one thing is clear – the truth is often stranger than fiction This article appeared in The Conservative Brief and has been published here with permission. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Judicial Watch Sues National Archives for Records of Its Role in Trump Records Dispute Judicial Watch announced recently that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for records of the Archives’ role in President Trump’s White House records controversy; whether it offered Trump a secure storage location other than the National Archives; and if the Archives consulted with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding the classification or declassification procedures of any of the alleged classified documents found at Trump’s Florida residence. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Is it possible Biden and Blinken have come to their senses? +++ Biden’s New Approach to the Middle East As Iran balks, Israel and Saudi Arabia are now seen as crucial to U.S. global strategy. By Walter Russell Mead As the Biden administration offered the mullahs in Tehran a $6 billion ransom for five American citizens, it was also offering Iran’s archrival Saudi Arabia unprecedented defense commitments and cooperation on a civilian nuclear program to help persuade Riyadh to normalize relations with Israel. Inquiring minds want to know: Why is Joe Biden working so hard to do favors for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? And why is he shoveling cash to the mullahs while working to empower their enemies? These are good questions. Brokering a Saudi-Israeli peace deal will be expensive. It will cost in the region, where both Israel and Saudi Arabia will look to extract as many concessions and sweeteners as possible before giving Washington what it wants, and it will be expensive at home. The human-rights activists who dominate much of the Democratic Party’s foreign-policy apparatus will scream bloody murder if Mr. Biden embraces Bibi and MBS. Isolationists in both parties will ask why the Biden administration is deepening American security commitments in the Middle East instead of continuing to withdraw. Two perceptions seem to be driving the new Biden approach. First, while continuing diplomatic outreach to Iran demonstrates that Team Biden hasn’t given up on reaching some kind of understanding with Tehran, for now at least it is accepting that the mullahs don’t want to play ball. Second, the administration appears to have a new appreciation of the importance of the Middle East, and therefore of leading powers like Saudi Arabia and Israel, for American global strategy. Being the primary security and economic partner of the countries that dominate the world’s most important oil reserves still matters. America’s position in the Middle East gives us leverage over China’s energy supplies. It can ensure that the Middle East sovereign wealth funds prefer our tech and industrial sectors over those of our rivals. It can maintain the profitable defense relationships that help keep American arms makers ahead in a competitive arena. This was all as true in January 2021 as it is today, but after 2½ years in office the administration now seems to get it. Team Biden now appears to understand that diplomatic relations and deepening formal security ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia could be the foundation of a new regional security architecture that secures critical American interests while reducing the long-term need for American military presence in the region. Getting the Saudis and the Israelis to “yes” will be difficult, but success would be transformational. The biggest problem with the new approach is a familiar one: Iran. The mullahs will inevitably see a U.S.-backed regional security system aligning Israel and Saudi Arabia as a direct threat to their drive for regional hegemony. Iran has the capacity to cause a crisis in the Middle East any time it likes. It can accelerate the production of enriched uranium. It can attack shipping in the Gulf. It can order its proxies to launch missiles or stage terror attacks. Team Biden seems to be hunting for a mix of carrots and sticks that will keep Iran quiet as the U.S. collaborates with the regime’s most bitter foes to build a powerful regional security architecture. Pallets of cash here, Marines on foreign-flagged tankers there. Can the U.S. pacify Iran while reassuring allies? We shall see. There will be other problems, also familiar. Getting to yes will require the cooperation of two leaders who have little respect for Team Biden. Biden-era policy toward Saudi Arabia, pivoting awkwardly from icy contempt to oaths of undying affection, is a series of what my students would call “big yikes”—cringe-inducing rookie mistakes. And the chemistry between Mr. Netanyahu and the Democratic foreign-policy leaders of the Obama-Biden era has never been good. Then there are the Palestinians. Although decades of Saudi and broader Arab frustration with Palestinian political incompetence have substantially reduced their influence in the region, the Palestinians haven’t fallen off the map. Saudi public opinion, and the government’s self-respect, will not permit Riyadh to reach agreements with Israel that set the Palestinians entirely off to one side. With most of the Israeli cabinet dead-set against any concessions, and the Palestinian leadership at a low ebb of authority and legitimacy among its people, addressing this problem could be even more difficult than usual. Nevertheless, the Biden administration’s embrace of the Trump-era vision of Middle East regional security based on Arab-Israeli reconciliation with American support has opened the door to new and perhaps more creative diplomacy in a region that is critical to the global balance of power and world peace. That is a very good thing. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
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