WORLD NEWS
WEF: Ascendance Of Central Bank Digital Currencies In Five Years
There has been a long list of revelations coming out of the recent World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, but one issue that might have gone under the media radar involves comments by Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach during a discussion on the future of cross-border payments between nations.
Miebach, participating in a panel on Central Bank Digital Currencies at the WEF and hosted by the Global Blockchain Business Council, was one of the few participants that was willing to suggest that the SWIFT system, long dominated by western interests, might be made obsolete along with the proliferation of digital currencies among central banks.
Initially dismissed as “conspiracy theory” only a few years ago by the media, whispers of CBDCs have suddenly gone mainstream and blockchain technologies took center stage at Davos in 2022. The Federal Reserve has even started active public discussions assessing the case for retail digital currency products.
Few at Davos were willing to admit to the outcome that Mastercard’s CEO suggested, arguing that SWIFT would continue its prevalence for decades. Yet, almost every major central bank in the world is now pursuing a digital currency program, and the IMF has been exceedingly vocal about the need for a global digital currency system in the near future to provide “stability” in the face of national inflationary crisis events.
In the last year alone we have seen a developing trend among Eastern trade partners circumventing NATO sanctions in the wake of the war in Ukraine. After being blocked from accessing the SWIFT transfer network, which allows governments and central banks to quickly and accurately exchange data and transfer vast sums of capital, Russia and its allies are seeking alternative options. The Kremlin has talked often about using crypto and digital currencies to bypass restrictions, and China is currently establishing digital products to work around SWIFT and the CHIPS settlement system (Clearing House Interbank Payment System).
It would seem that western sanctions are only accelerating a global move away from dollar denominated structures, but of course, this may be exactly what global institutions like the WEF and IMF want. With a host of new CBDCs in play, price fluctuations may be just as erratic as they have been with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Meaning, buying power would be far too unpredictable for the average consumer. This sets the stage for groups like the IMF and WEF to “save the day” by instituting a global basket system, likely under the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) basket, in the name of homogenizing and stabilizing various CBDC markets into a single centralized entity.
WHO Forced Into Humiliating Backdown On Global Health Takeover
As most of you know, the World Health Assembly has spent the past 7 days considering Biden’s 13 controversial amendments to the International Health Regulations.
Official delegates from wealthy developed nations like Australia, the UK, and the US spoke in strong support of the amendments and urged other states to join them in signing away their countries’ sovereignty.
The first sign, however, that things might not be going the globalists’ way, came on Wednesday, the 25th of May, which just happened to also be Africa Day.
Botswana read a statement on behalf of its 47 AFRO members, saying they would be collectively withholding their support for the ‘reforms’, which many African members were very concerned about.
Multiple other countries also said they had reservations over the changes and would not be supporting them either.
These included Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran and Malaysia. Brazil in particular said it would exit WHO altogether, rather than allow its population to be made subject to the new amendments.
In the end, the WHO and its wealthy nation supporters were forced to back down.
They have not given up though – far from it. Instead, they did what they always do and ‘pivoted’.
At their request, a new working group was convened to make “technical recommendations on the proposed amendments” which will be re-submitted along with the Pandemic Treaty, at the 77th Health Assembly meeting in 2024.
There has also been lots of pushback from Republicans in the US, with a number of them introducing new bills giving the US Congress/Senate powers to override any WHO mandates or directives issued as part of any international agreements.
One, called the ‘No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act’ has 15 co-sponsors and was introduced to the Senate on Thursday by Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who said “The sovereignty of the United States is not negotiable”.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Arizona woman admits guilt in ballot collection scheme
An Arizona woman accused of illegally collecting early ballots in the 2020 primary election pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with state prosecutors that saw the more serious forgery and conspiracy charges dismissed and limited any potential for a lengthy prison sentence.
Guillermina Fuentes, 66, could get probation for running what Arizona attorney general’s office investigators said was a sophisticated operation using her status as a well-known Democratic operative in the border city of San Luis to persuade voters to let her gather and in some cases fill out their ballots.
Prosecutors were apparently unable to prove the most serious charges, dropping three felony counts alleging that Fuentes filled out one voter’s ballot and forged signatures on some of the four ballots she illegally returned for people who were not family members.
Republicans who have rallied around the possibility of widespread voting fraud in the 2020 election where former President Donald Trump was defeated have pointed to the charges against Fuentes as part of a broader pattern in battleground states. But there’s no sign her illegal ballot collection went beyond the small-town politics Fuentes was involved in.
Uvalde, Texas, police had no legal duty to act, experts say; Supreme Court precedent cited
Updated: Police in Uvalde, Texas, are unlikely to face civil liability for failing to rush in to confront shooter Salvador Ramos, 18, at Robb Elementary School last week, experts told several publications.
Even though police waited on the scene for about an hour before the gunman was shot, police are unlikely to face liability because of U.S. Supreme Court decisions and governmental immunity, report Law & Crime, the Boston Herald, the New York Daily News, the Insurance Journal via Bloomberg and WFAA.
Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the May 24 shooting. The chief of police for the school district ordered officers to hold off because he thought that the gunman had barricaded himself in the room and was no longer an active shooter, according to coverage by the New York Times.
The Supreme Court held that government generally has no duty to act to save lives in the 1989 decision DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services, according to Law & Crime. In that case, child welfare officials failed to intervene to protect Joshua DeShaney, who suffered a brain injury in a beating so severe that he was expected to remain institutionalized for his life.
DeShaney’s lawsuit, filed under Section 1983 of the federal civil rights statute, had alleged that the failure to act deprived DeShaney of his liberty in violation of the 14th Amendment’s due process clause. The Supreme Court found no violation.
“Nothing in the language of the due process clause itself requires the state to protect the life, liberty and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors,” the Supreme Court said in the case.
The Supreme Court also found no liability in the 2005 decision Castle Rock v. Gonzales. In that case, Jessica Gonzales pleaded for police in Colorado to find her estranged husband after he abducted their three children. Police didn’t act, even though Gonzales had obtained a restraining order against the man.
The husband was shot dead when he opened fire at a police station. The three children had been killed.
Gonzales also alleged a 14th Amendment due process violation under Section 1983—this time for failure to enforce the restraining order. The Supreme Court said enforcement was not mandatory under state law, and the restraining order did not create a property interest entitling her to enforcement under the due process clause.
Lawsuits under the Texas Tort Claims Act are also unlikely because the act wouldn’t apply to the situation in Uvalde, legal experts told Bloomberg in the story published by the Insurance Journal. As a result, police will be protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Atlanta agreed in December 2020 that public safety and school officials had no duty to protect students during the mass shooting that killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, Education Week reported at the time.
A trial judge had dismissed most claims but allowed the lawsuit against school resource officer Scot Peterson to proceed because of his special relationship with students, Reuters reported in its story on Uvalde liability issues. But the judge later granted summary judgment in favor of Peterson, according to Education Week.
The 11th Circuit said defendants couldn’t be sued unless there was a “custodial relationship” or their conduct was “arbitrary” or “conscience shocking.”
“Absent intentional wrongdoing, we cannot review those split-second decisions under the due-process clause,” the 11th Circuit said.
A judge had allowed families of Parkland, Florida, victims to sue the FBI for failing to act on tips about the gunman. The U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement in the case in November 2021, NPR reported at the time.
Dan Cogdell, a Houston criminal defense lawyer, told WFAA that he thought that Uvalde police were protected from lawsuits alleging constitutional violations.
“Unfortunately for the families in this case, I don’t think their constitutional rights were violated because you don’t have a constitutional right, for example, to have speedy response to your tragedy,” Cogdell said in an interview with WFAA.
“The police were doing what police do,” said Dick DeGuerin, a Houston criminal defense lawyer, in an interview with Bloomberg. “They may have been terribly negligent in how they did it. But it’s got to be more than negligence, it’s got to be a policy fault” to establish civil liability.
Cogdell agreed with that assessment.
“Unless the Uvalde chief of police has a written policy that says, ‘Wait an hour before you go in and rescue the kids,’” a wrongful death suit won’t succeed, Cogdell told Bloomberg.
How the Anti-Gun Conspirators Miscalculated
There is a saying in the military, “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times enemy action.” But intelligence, and particularly counterintelligence officers, leave no room for happenstance or coincidences. To them just once is enemy action, and all coincidences are potentially deceptive.
So, for a counterintelligence officer, it would be highly suspicious that on May 17, just ten days before the National Rifle Association Convention was to take place on May 27-29, in Houston, Texas, there was a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. He would be even more suspicious that again, on May 24, just three days before the opening of the NRA Convention, there was a similar mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas.[1]
As if on cue, our President, who after several decades of silence surprisingly recalled God during his visit to Catholic Poland, mentioned God again:
“Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happened see their friends die as if they’re on a battlefield, for God’s sake. … As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? … What in God’s name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone? … Deer aren’t running through the forest with Kevlar vests on, for God’s sake. It’s just sick. …For God’s sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry. … Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies? … May God bless the loss of innocent life on this sad day. And may the Lord be near the brokenhearted and save those crushed in spirit, because they’re going to need a lot of help and a lot of our prayers.”[2]
It its highly revealing that Joe Biden, who has not mentioned the word God in more than 20 years of political activity, now, surprisingly, is mentioning him over and over in a speech. Did he become overnight a religious convert? Is he now a devote Christian? Most likely not. Actually, I think his speech writer just overdid it to a point that the words he put in Biden’s mouth totally lost credibility.
Moreover, I have the feeling that the God Joe Biden is mentioning is not the same God Christians worship. Forgive me if I am wrong.
Nevertheless, proving again that even the darkest cloud has a silver lining, the shooting at the Uvalde school has evidenced several things we never imagined. The first is that the current militarized policemen will never risk their precious lives to save your life or your children’s lives.
Soon after the shootings, Texas police officer Chris Olivares publicly admitted it on a CNN interview. According to him, the policemen didn’t act because “They could’ve been shot. They could’ve been killed.”[3] Obviously, the members of the Uvalde police department, who are supposed to protect the citizens. are not willing to risk their lives doing so. Moreover, the fact that a true police officer (Olivares is a Lieutenant) shamelessly recognized it without realizing the enormity of what he was saying indicates that something is very wrong in the current militarized police culture.[4]
Apparently most members of the Uvalde Police Department either forgot or never read the State’s curriculum which specifically says: “First responders to the active shooter scene will usually be required to place themselves in harm’s way and display uncommon acts of courage to save the innocent.”[5]
Seemingly, they were also unaware of what Chris Grollnek, a retired police officer and active shooter prevention expert, tells:
“The first responding officer … goes in and stops the shooter. That’s just part of the job.” … “You’ve got a ballistic vest. You know what the kids have? Crayons. You are duty-bound to do something. If someone is telling you to stay outside, you disobey that order.”[6]
The second thing the Uvalde shooting has shown is that the police see the children’s parents, not the shooters, as their true enemy. Instead of neutralizing the shooter, the police used their full strength and military weaponry to brutalize parents during the mass shooting.
The case of the heavily armed policeman threatening one of the children’s mother with his taser is highly revealing of this mentality. Bu that was no an isolated case. Videos posted on social media, recorded outside the school during the shooting, show that policemen drew weapons on parents, hand cuffed some of them and even pinned parents to the ground to prevent them from entering the building in a desperate effort to try to save their children.
An interesting fact that surfaced later was that some members of the police ran early to school to protect their children. Seemingly, by another coincidence, none of their children was in the classroom threatened by the killer.
Uvalde special ed staffer seeks to depose gunmaker for a possible lawsuit
A speech pathology clerk who hid during the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, has started court proceedings against gunmaker Daniel Defense.
It is the first reported legal action taken as a result of the mass shooting, which killed 21 children and two adults. While not a full-blown lawsuit, the filing seeks to determine if the gun manufacturer can be sued for how it promotes firearms.
“They’re marketing to people who it’s not reasonable should have guns … and we think that may be young people,” said attorney Don Flanary.
The gunman was 18 and legally purchased the weapons and ammunition used in the killing.
In court documents filed Thursday in the 38th Judicial District, the clerk, Emilia “Amy” Marin, 56, petitioned the court to force the company to sit for a deposition, as well as to produce materials related to its website, profits, lobbying, sales and marketing of AR-15-style rifles like the one used at the shooting.
In Texas, parties can begin collecting evidence before bringing a lawsuit under Rule 202. The filing, called a pre-suit deposition, can be used to compel testimony that will be used in an anticipated lawsuit, or to investigate a potential claim or suit.
Biden calls for ban on assault weapons: ‘This time we must actually do something’
A string of deadly shootings continued with one in Oklahoma on Wednesday.
As mass shootings continue to rock the nation, President Joe Biden delivered prime-time remarks on guns Thursday evening, imploring the nation to “For God’s sake, do something.”
Rows of illuminated white candles lined the carpet of the White House Cross Hall as Biden called on lawmakers to take action, listing off reforms he’d like to see passed to curb gun violence.
“We need to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. And if we can’t ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21, strengthen background checks, enact safe storage laws and red flag laws. Repeal the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability, address the mental health crisis,” he said in an impassioned address.
The latest mass shooting on Wednesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, leaving four dead, follows a massacre of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, as well as an apparently racially-motivated attack at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, leaving 10 Black people dead.
“We spent hours with hundreds of family members who were broken, whose lives will never be the same,” Biden said. “They had one message for all of us. Do something. Just do something … After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done. This time that can’t be true. This time we must do something.”
Biden said earlier this week he was “not confident” Congress would succeed in passing gun reform legislation, referencing his own time in the Senate.
FACT CHECK: Biden Cites Mass Shootings, Claims Expanding Background Checks Would Give More Safety
CLAIM: During his Thursday night primetime speech President Biden claimed that we “should expand background checks” and talked of how such checks would keep guns out of the wrong hands.
VERDICT: Mostly False.
The United States has had FBI background checks on retail gun sales since 1998. Have those checks kept some guns out of the wrong hands? Certainly.
However, Biden’s speech was framed around mass shootings–he used examples of mass shootings in the prelude to the speech.
What are “expanded background checks”?
When Biden and other Democrats push to “expand background checks” they are pushing to require background checks for retail to be expanded so as to include private sales as well. And to make this push while simultaneously claiming that such an expansion would keep guns out of the wrong hands could give listeners the impression that mass shooters are getting their guns from private sales now, to avoid background checks. But the facts are quite the opposite.
Breitbart News has long kept a running tally of the high-profile mass shootings of the last 15 years, and every attacker but three got his guns via a background check. Two of the three who avoided background checks–the Clackamus Town Center attacker (December 11, 2012) and the Sandy Hook attacker (December 14, 2012)–stole their guns, so no amount of point-of-sale gun checks would have stopped them. Only one individual, the Midland, Texas, attacker (August 31, 2019), acquired his gun via a private sale.
The list of mass public attackers who acquired their guns via background checks includes the Uvalde attacker and the Buffalo attacker.
Part of the rest of the list of attackers who complied with background checks looks like this:
- Indianapolis FedEx attacker (April 15, 2021)
- Atlanta-area attacker (March 16, 2021)
- Parkland high school attacker (February 14, 2018)
- Texas church attacker (November 5, 2017)
- Las Vegas attacker (October 1, 2017)
- Alexandria attacker (June 14, 2017)
- Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)
- UCLA gunman (June 1, 2016)
- San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)
- Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)
- Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)
- Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)
- Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)
- Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)
- Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015)
- Muhammad Cartoon Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)
- Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)
- Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)
- Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)
- Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)
- D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)
- Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)
- Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)
- Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)
- Northern Illinois University attacker (February 14, 2008)
- Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007)
Michael Avenatti Sentenced to Prison for Scamming Client out of Book Deal Money
Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who made headlines for his anti-Donald Trump stance, was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday for cheating his former client out of $300,000 in cash from a book deal.
Avenatti was convicted of aggravated identity fraud and wire fraud in a New York federal court earlier in 2022. He could have faced two years in prison for the first charge and 20 years for the second.
During his sentencing, Avenatti acknowledged that he made a “series of mistakes” and “poor judgment” when he represented and bilked Stormy Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Previously, Avenatti said he did not want to appear at the sentencing, but the judge ordered him to.
“I will forever be branded ‘disgraced lawyer’ and worse,” he also said Thursday.
District Judge Jesse Furman said Thursday that Avenatti’s conduct was “so brazen and egregious” and said that he “took advantage of a vulnerable victim given her unorthodox career and somewhat unorthodox beliefs,” referring to Daniels, an adult film actress.
Avenatti, meanwhile, still faces a retrial in California federal court in another case in which is being accused of stealing nearly $10 million from five clients. He’s also currently serving a 30-month prison sentence for attempting to extort more than $20 million from Nike by threatening to release damaging information to the public unless he was paid.
Furman said that part of Thursday’s sentence will be served alongside the prison term that was handed down in connection to the Nike case. Avenatti will have to serve two and a half years after the Nike sentence is completed.
The disgraced lawyer also has to pay $148,750 to Daniels and $297,900 to the federal government, Furman said.
The sentencing marks another chapter in the tumultuous rise and fall of Avenatti, who was heavily featured on MSNBC and CNN during the Trump years as he claimed he would run for president while representing Daniels, who made a series of accusations against the former president.
South Dakota Governor Ready to Sue Biden for School Lunch Policy Tie to Transgender Issues
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced on June 2 that, to protect fairness in women’s sports, she intends to sue the Biden administration over an overhaul of the federal school lunch program to be more in line with Title IX.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Biden administration announced on May 5 that all state and local agencies that receive federal funding for meals, more specifically including schools, must not discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In other words, schools that receive funding through the federal school lunch program could lose the funding if they discriminate against those identifying as a different gender or sexual orientation, such as not allowing biological males who identify as females to use women’s restrooms. The basis of the changes in the federal school lunch program originated from President Biden’s Executive Order combating discrimination of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Noem blasted the Biden administration’s threat of withholding funding from vulnerable student populations in a press release on June 2:
“President Biden is holding lunch money for poor Americans hostage in pursuit of his radical agenda. He is insisting that we allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports or else lose funding for SNAP and school lunch programs,” Noem said. “South Dakota will continue to defend basic fairness so that our girls can compete and achieve. I would remind President Biden that we have defeated him in litigation before and are ready to do so again. Mr. President, we’ll see you in court.”
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack defended the Biden administration’s position on gender identity, sexual orientation, and fairness in a written statement:
“USDA is committed to administering all its programs with equity and fairness and serving those in need with the highest dignity. A key step in advancing these principles is rooting out discrimination in any form–including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“At the same time, we must recognize the vulnerability of the LGBTQI+ communities and provide them with an avenue to grieve any discrimination they face. We hope that by standing firm against these inequities we will help bring about much-needed change.”
In addition to the USDA’s interpretation of sex discrimination, the agency says “state and local agencies, program operators and sponsors that receive funds from FNS must investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.”
“Those organizations must also update their non-discrimination policies and signage to include prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation,” Vilsack’s statement said.
Earlier this year, Noem vetoed the state legislature’s version of a bill that would not allow biological males compete in women’s sports.
Peter Navarro: If GOP Wins House ‘I Will Lead the Charge’ to Impeach Biden
Former Trump assistant and trade adviser Peter Navarro said Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that he “will lead the charge” to impeach President Joe Biden if Republicans win the House in the 2024 midterms.
Navarro said, “What we’re talking about now, Ari, is the case law itself and the constitutionality of executive privilege, testimony, immunity. A second key issue in the case is the separation of powers. This committee, this kangaroo committee, has clearly violated the separation of powers. They’re not supposed to act as judge, jury, and executioner. They’re only supposed to pursue a legislative function.”
He continued, “Let me do this hypothetical for you. If it’s held by the courts that a sitting president, incumbent president, can strip his immediate predecessor of executive privilege and all of those aides of testimony immunity, what do you think is going to happen in 2022 when the Republicans take back the House and if a Republican president like Donald Trump gets in the White House in 2024? What do you think? Executive privilege and testimonial immunity will be obliterated as we know it. Presidential decision-making will be destroyed as we know it.”
Discussing a lawsuit Navarro filed against the January 6 committee, Melber said, “You say, quote, ‘if an incumbent can strip a predecessor of privilege, you say, just imagine what will happen to Biden and his advisers if Republicans win in 2024?’ Quote, ‘If I’m not dead or in prison, I will lead the charge.’ What are you threatening? Are you suggesting that you would be in a Republican White House? What will you do?
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) improperly gave $10 million in Chinese coronavirus funds to illegal aliens in the form of stimulus checks, state oversight officials allege.
As Breitbart News reported last year, Murphy provided the state’s nearly half a million illegal aliens with rounds of stimulus checks to the sum of tens of millions of dollars — paid for by American taxpayers — that was meant as coronavirus relief for Americans.
Now, the state’s Office of Legislative Services (OLS) is accusing Murphy of improperly allocating $10 million to fund stimulus checks for illegal aliens in New Jersey, NJ.com reports:
Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration in April made what appears to be an improper transfer of $10 million in federal coronavirus relief money, according to an email from New Jersey’s nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. [Emphasis added]
…
The OLS sent the email Wednesday to inform state lawmakers that one of those transfers “appears to violate the rules established” in the state budget for the current fiscal year. [Emphasis added]
…
The appropriations act set aside $200 million in federal funds that the governor could directly allocate to pandemic-related programs without legislative approval. But language in the bill states that those allocations are “not to exceed $10 million for each such eligible program…” [Emphasis added]
Murphy’s office insisted that they followed the law.
“Each allocation from the Governor’s $200 million set aside is made in allocations of $10 million or less, in accordance with the administration’s interpretation of budget language,” Murphy’s office said in a statement. “The Excluded New Jerseyans Fund has been expanded through a series of programmatic phases, each of which has been announced publicly.”
Report: BLM Board Chair Filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on Three Occasions, Was $120k in Debt in 2016
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s (BLMGNF) recently appointed board chair, Cicely Gay, filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy three times, with the most recent instance being in 2016, the New York Post reported.
Gay also filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and 2013, according to Post, which cites federal court documents further verified by the National Desk. A 2016 filing showed she was bogged down by $120,000 in debt, a large chunk of which was comprised of student loans ($55,000) and an $18,000 car lease.
The BLMGFN board chair completed a court-ordered fiscal responsibility class in December of that year, before “most of her debts ‘discharged’ in 2017,” the Post wrote, citing the records. It was not clear what the conditions surrounding the discharge were.
In a statement to the Post, Gay wrote in part:
In addition to engaging in a thorough vetting process, the Foundation recognized that I not only bring 20 years of extensive professional non-profit experience to the board, but I also bring personal experiences that mirror those of the people we are trying to serve. That is the work of the foundation — to break down systemic barriers to living full lives by providing the insights, tools and supports necessary for Black people to thrive.”
On April 27, BLMGFN announced that Gay and two other individuals, D’Zhane Parker and Shalomyah Bowers, were appointed to the board of directors.
The foundation stated at the time that Gay had two decades worth of “nonprofit and philanthropic experience” under her belt.
Report: DeSantis to Veto $35 Million for Tampa Bay Rays Facility After Team’s Anti-Gun Rant
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) reportedly plans to veto a bill earmarking $35 million for a Tampa Bay Rays facility days after the team went on an anti-gun tirade on social media alongside the New York Yankees.
The decision, first reported by OutKick, would have the governor nixing “$35 million legislation for a Pasco County facility that’s earmarked for the Tampa Bay Rays’ spring training,” according to the outlet, which asserted that the move is in response to the Tampa Bay Rays’ recent display of anti-Second Amendment virtue-signaling on social media.
Last week, on May 26, the Tampa Bay Rays released a statement in response to the tragic shooting in Uvalde proceeded by an anti-gun blitz on Twitter.
“This cannot become normal. We cannot become numb. We cannot look the other way. We all know, if nothing changes, nothing changes,” the statement read in part, adding that it was offering $50,000 to the Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety’s Support Fund.
“In lieu of game coverage and in collaboration with @Yankees, we will use our channels to offer facts about the impacts of gun violence,” another tweet read, opening up the platform to a series of anti-gun statistics.
“Every day, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns, and more than 200 are shot and injured,” the first fact read as administrators deemed guns the “leading cause of death for American children and teens in 2020″ with no further context in the tweet itself.
It also included woke terminology in its anti-gun blitz, stating that “Each year, more than 4,100 Latinx people die from gun violence in the U.S. and 13,300 are shot and wounded”.
This would not be the first time DeSantis has taken action against woke organizations advancing anti-freedom ideas in his state, taking on Disney after it vowed to fight against the Parental Rights in Education bill, which bars classroom-led discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade.
“And so in Florida, our policies got to be based on the best interest of Florida citizens, not on the musing of woke corporations,” the governor said in March.
Five GOP Senators Seek Info From NIH Acting Director on Royalty Payments to Feds
Five Republican senators have asked National Institutes of Health (NIH) Acting Director Lawrence Tabak for a comprehensive accounting of every royalty payment by an outside source to an employee of the federal agency since 2009.
“We believe that the American taxpayer deserves to know 1) the degree to which government doctors and researchers have a financial interest in drugs and products they support, and 2) whether any relationship exists between federal grants awarded by NIH and royalty payments received by NIH personnel,” the senators told Tabak in a letter that was made public on June 1.
“Additionally, Americans deserve greater transparency in how the hundreds of millions in royalty payments NIH receives are distributed, and the degree to which NIH’s leadership—already among the highest-paid individuals in the federal bureaucracy—has benefited from this ‘hidden’ revenue stream.”
The five senators are Rand Paul of Kentucky, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Rick Scott of Florida. Tabak has been acting NIH chief since his predecessor, Dr. Francis Collins, resigned in December after leading the agency for a dozen years.
The GOP senators’ letter was prompted by revelations first reported by The Epoch Times based on information obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) submitted to NIH by Open the Books, an Illinois-based nonprofit government watchdog.
Trans chemicals, surgeries disqualified from state Medicaid coverage
Already, Texas officials have authorized state investigations into parents who promote their children for transgender treatment, especially body mutilating surgeries.
A court ruling even has authorized those child abuse cases to continue, after Gov. Greg Abbott, through a directive, several months ago said the procedures could be considered abuse.
That comes despite the administration of Joe Biden being 100% involved in promoting such transgender treatments for children, with one government appointee, Rachel Levine, a man who insists he is a woman, describing the treatments as “medically necessary.”
Now another state is taking action against the radical agenda.
A report at The Federalist documents that Medicaid officials in the state of Florida have found that those “experimental” and “mutilative” surgeries do not qualify for coverage.
The Federalist explained, “A new report out from Florida Medicaid finds that ‘puberty suppression, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures’ used to treat gender dysphoria ‘do not conform’ to generally accepted professional medical standards.”
And that is required for the treatments to be considered for coverage, the report said.
It follows word from Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that rejected the injurious procedures.
“As a condition of coverage, sex reassignment treatment must be ‘consistent with generally accepted professional medical standards (GAPMS) and not experimental or investigational,’” explained the report that The Federalist obtained.
“Available medical literature provides insufficient evidence that sex reassignment through medical intervention is a safe and effective treatment for gender dysphoria,” it said.
According to The Federalist, the state document finds “the available evidence demonstrates that these treatments cause irreversible physical changes and side effects that can affect long-term health.”
Those possible complications include all sorts of problems ranging from baldness to infertility, and that’s just from the chemicals involved in the “treatments.”
House Jan. 6 Committee Promises to Reveal ‘Previously Unseen Material’ in Upcoming Hearings
The House of Representatives panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach says it will reveal new material in the first of a series of upcoming public hearings.
The hearing will take place on June 9 at 8 p.m. ET.
During the hearing, the panel will “present previously unseen material documenting January 6th, receive witness testimony, preview additional hearings, and provide the American people a summary of its findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power,” the committee said in a statement to news outlets.
A spokesman for the panel did not respond to a request for more information.
The nine-member panel, which includes seven Democrats and two Republicans, has not held a hearing with witnesses since July 2021.
Four police officers who responded to the breach testified during that hearing.
The panel plans to hold approximately eight hearings in June.
Several people close to former Vice President Mike Pence, including his former chief counsel, Greg Jacob, are reportedly in talks to appear during the hearings.
Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) told reporters previously that the hearings “will tell the story about what happened” on Jan. 6.
“We will use a combination of witnesses, exhibits, things that we have—to the tens of thousands of exhibits we’ve interviewed and looked at as well as the hundreds of witnesses we deposed or just talked to in general,” he said at the time. “It will give the public the benefit of what more than a year’s worth of investigation has borne to the committee.”
The hearings will not include data the panel is seeking from the Republican National Committee and its vendor, Salesforce. The panel recently dropped its bid to get the records in time for the hearings as a court battle plays out.
Republicans have repeatedly decried the probe as partisan and unnecessary.
“Dems in Congress announced a primetime, made-for-TV hearing on Jan. 6,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House minority whip, said in a statement on social media. “What they haven’t had a primetime hearing on:
– The record-high gas prices
– The soaring inflation
– The border crisis
– The supply chain nightmares
Tells you all you need to know about their priorities.”
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Biden Administration Considering Proposal to Tax Oil, Gas Windfall Profits
The Biden administration is considering a proposal to tax oil and gas windfall profits to provide a gas subsidy for American consumers struggling with high energy prices, said Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the National Economic Council at a panel sponsored by the Roosevelt Institute think tank on June 2.
The news follows a similar move in the U.K. by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on May 26, to impose a 25 percent windfall tax on North Sea energy producers to provide a 15 billion pound ($18.9 billion) energy fund subsidy for Britons paying for soaring fuel costs.
The White House has been examining proposals from Congress that would hike taxes on energy producers in order to provide a subsidy or tax rebate to households.
“We are very much open to any proposal that would provide relief to consumers at the pump,” said Ramamurti.
“There are a variety of interesting proposals and design choices on a windfall profits tax. We’ve looked carefully at each of them and are engaging in conversations with Congress about design.”
The proposal, backed by 15 Democrats in the Senate and the House, would impose a new quarterly tax on American oil companies for crude produced domestically or imported from abroad.
The revenue would be syphoned off to consumers below a certain income in the form of a tax rebate that would amount to a few hundred dollars per year, but the bill does not appear so far to have support in Congress.
The bill is being sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who announced on MSNBC in March, “I’m co-sponsoring … a bill on windfall profits tax. We get it, supply and demand, prices go up, but profit margins should not go up, that’s just oil companies gouging.”
72% of Commenters Concerned about CBDC
Although governments around the world seem to see central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as the next step forward in the future of money, the American public appears to see CBDCs as a step backward. Of the 1,517 comment letters released by the Federal Reserve (Fed) thus far, 72 percent of the commenters called for the Fed to abandon its plans or expressed a negative opinion toward CBDCs (Figure 1).
A little housekeeping with the data reveals it may actually be 76% of commenters that oppose the idea of a CBDC (Figure 2). For instance, 46 of the comments were entirely blank and likely submitted in error. Also, there were 42 comments that appeared to be attempts by people in the private sector seeking government contracts. Removing both groups improves the view of what the general public is thinking.
A majority of the commenters were specifically concerned about the risk to financial privacy, the risk of financial oppression, and the risk of destabilizing the financial system.
In fact, over 300 commenters responded with “It can’t” or “It won’t” when the Fed asked––with its efforts to monitor for criminal activity in mind––whether privacy can be offered without anonymity. And many then expressed their concern that a CBDC would erase any semblance of what is left of financial privacy in the United States. Here are a few notable responses:
It can’t [offer privacy without anonymity], and you won’t anyway. This is the absolute reason why this is a bad idea. The “but illicit activities” excuse is too alluring, and you will end up using it en masse to review every little transaction of every American citizen. – Commenter #134
You cannot have both [privacy and surveillance]… It would be better to deal with the cause of the illicit financial activity as opposed to… attacking its financial medium of exchange because that happens to be same medium used in… 99% [of] legitimate uses. – Commenter #282
This is the catch… you can’t. Law enforcement should use other methods rather than tracking the flow of dollars explicitly. – Commenter #1117
There’s not a reasonable way to [offer privacy] with centralization. Using money as a weapon in a legal war over financial activity simply pushes users out of [the financial system]. – Commenter #554
Privacy without anonymity is an oxymoron. [A] CBDC will be used to cut off people from the financial system who the government doesn’t like, but who serve valuable roles in society at large. – Commenter #406
It’s not the Federal Reserve’s responsibility or directive to police individual actions. Invasive tracking controls will only keep people from adopting [it.] – Commenter #480
Out of all the concerns, the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) may have taken the most concise stance when it wrote, “Anonymity is not negotiable when it comes to digital cash.”
HEALTH
Rockefeller Medicine: A Poisonous Illusion?
Abraham Flexner is considered the ‘father’ of modern medical education
The 1910 Flexner Report laid the foundations of the modern medical system, dubbed “Rockefeller medicine”
Since that time, the corporate interests have established near total control of the medical field, both though pharmacology and through their impact on medical education
In the first part of the 20th century, the Rockefeller and Carnegie lobbies were up to their ears in eugenics, and it’s very unlikely that they have since reformed
During the past two years, the toxicity of the “Rockefeller medicine” have become more obvious to all
—> Watch: How Rockefeller Took Control of the Medical School System
Do You Know Your Blood Pressure? Your Brain Depends on It
Nearly half of American adults (47%) have high blood pressure, which increases your risk for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and dementia
95% of seniors between the ages of 60 and 90 have lesions in the white matter of their brains, and those with high blood pressure tend to have more white matter lesions and a higher risk for dementia in their later years
Some research suggests intensive blood pressure treatment to reach a systolic blood pressure goal of 120 mm Hg can limit the progression of age-related brain damage, thereby lowering your risk for dementia
While those in the intensive treatment group of one study suffered less brain damage (lesions) over time, they ended up losing a greater total volume of brain matter. The cause for this discrepancy is unknown, and it’s unclear what the clinical significance might be
Clinical blood pressure guidelines now call for a blood pressure goal of 120/80. Elevated blood pressure or prehypertension is defined as a systolic blood pressure between 120 and 129. Stage 1 high blood pressure is 130 and 139 systolic, and 80 to 89 diastolic. Stage 2 high blood pressure is anything over 140 systolic and 90 diastolic
COVID RELATED NEWS
New Institutes of Health Study Suggests ‘Long COVID’ May Not Exist
A new study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests that people who report symptoms of a medical condition known as “Long Covid” may actually be suffering from depression and anxiety, particularly women.
The NIH conducted the study between June 30, 2020, and July 2021. The study’s findings appear in the May 24 “Annals of Internal Medicine.”
Researchers based their findings on 309 participants enrolled within a 100-mile radius of Bethesda, Maryland. Of the total sample, 180 people had a previous COVID-19 infection with mild to moderate symptoms that did not require hospitalization.
The study enrolled 122 control participants who never had the illness.
It found participants from the COVID-19 group reported more physical symptoms associated with long-haul COVID-19 (PASC) than those in the control group.
These symptoms included fatigue, difficulty concentrating, headache, memory impairment, insomnia, chest discomfort, and anxiety.
Researchers administered individual surveys to screen for mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. A total score of 3 or higher was the recommended cutoff on each measure to warrant further evaluation.
NFL Suspends COVID Testing Regardless of Vaccination Status
The National Football League (NFL) announced on Thursday that it would no longer test players for the virus regardless of their vaccination status.
The decision, handed down by the NFL’s Management Council, was reported by NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero:
“One other note: Clubs will be permitted to require players and staff to stay in the team hotel for training camp and clubs will be permitted to hold training camp at alternate locations without prior approval.,” Pelissero added.
“In other news from the memo: No more ‘Tier’ restrictions in facility or travel party, and clubs may individually determine whether to require COVID vaccines/boosters for staff, subject to state law,” Pelissero noted. “So unvaccinated coaches who were restricted in 2021 may not be in 2022.”
In addition, the monitoring devices players were required to wear will also be a thing of the past.
The moves will be a welcome sign to fans of teams such as the Ravens and Commanders, who saw their playoff runs fade down the stretch last year due to mounting numbers of players testing positive for the virus or being ruled out as close contacts.
CANCEL CULTURE
New App Fights Hate Speech By Letting You Rat On Anyone
A number of NGOs in Europe are pushing for the population to use China-style software to report instances of racism, hate speech and “digital violence” to them.
Progressive NGOs in Europe have been enlisting the general public to assist them in their crusade against so-called hate speech, with one organisation employing a China-style smartphone app to encourage people to tattle on those in breach of social progressive norms.
Rising to prominence in the German media thanks to its role in a recent sting operation rolled out against the police, censorious NGO HateAid has encouraged the public to report instances of what it calls “digital violence” to them using the organisation’s custom-built software.
According to a report by Der Spiegel, the investigation spearheaded by television show “ZDF Magazin Royale” and backed up by HateAid, found that some law enforcement officials either did not act sufficiently quickly on — or even recorded in some cases — instances of online “hate speech” that were brought to their attention by those involved in the operation.
This exposé has since resulted in criminal complaints being brought against some officers who are suspected of not acting in perfect lockstep with the various requirements and censorious demands of German law.
The organisation has since taken the opportunity to denounce police for allegedly ignoring reports of “clearly right-wing extremist comments”, as well as issue recommendations that German forces be reformed so as to act more promptly to prosecute “digital violence” which is in breach of the law.
However, seemingly not content with how effective censorious German state officials are on their own, the group has also been pushing the public to use their “ReportHeroes” app, which it describes as a tool which allows users to combat “all forms of digital violence, whether insults, defamation, sexist digital violence, hate comments or hate speech”.
Similar to a system rolled out by the Chinese Communist Party during the 2022 Winter Olympics which allowed users to report “politically sensitive” digital content direct to the nation’s authorities, the “ReportHeroes” app allows users to report any instance of “digital violence” they find on the internet to HateAid.
The organisation claims that all information sent via the app in this way is then checked by themselves, before being forwarded directly to a section of the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor’s Office, where state authorities can then decide whether or not the netizen inm question has a criminal case to answer for.
“Very important: If you are not sure whether the comment is actually criminally relevant or not, remember: It is better to report too many than too few!” the organisation notes on their website.
GOOD NEWS
Homeschool Students Soar Above Pre-Pandemic Levels as Public School Enrollment Drops
Since the onset of COVID-19, parents have taken the reins of their children’s education and made homeschooling mainstream.
Before the pandemic, homeschool rates from the U.S. Census Bureau have been holding steady at around 3 percent since 2012.
However, data from 18 states reveals the number of home-educated students skyrocketed 63 percent in the 2020-2021 academic cycle and fell by only 17 percent during the 2021-2022 school year.
The total number of children receiving home education soared to 3.7 million in that time frame.
A drop in public school enrollment rates this year reflects the trend.
In 2020-2021, the number of students enrolled in public school fell by 3 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Yet the rates haven’t rebounded as expected this year, despite a return to physical classes and more flexible COVID-19 protocols in some districts.
Conversely, enrollment numbers dropped another 0.2 percent nationwide, varying by state and school district.
In some districts, the reduction in students attending public school was marked.
Extremely Rare First-Ever Surviving Nonuplets Celebrate 1st Birthday ‘In Perfect Health’
‘I hope God blesses everyone who doesn’t yet have children.’
The record-breaking Malian nonuplets have just celebrated their first birthday “in perfect health.”
The babies born in Morocco last year are the world’s only known naturally conceived nonuplets, and even hold the Guinness World Record for most babies delivered in a single birth to survive. The previous record was held by eight babies born to “Octomom” Nadya Suleman of the United States in 2009.
Mother Halima Cissé was flown to Morocco from West Africa by the Malian government for special care at 25 weeks’ gestation, ahead of the planned Caesarean section on May 4, 2021, while Cissé’s husband, Abdelkader Arby, an officer in the Malian army, stayed back in Mali to look after their first child, a 3-year-old daughter.
Arby and Cissé welcomed five girls and four boys at Ain Borja Clinic in Casablanca, Morocco, at 30 weeks’ gestation. The babies ranged in weight from just 1 pound 1 ounce to 2 pounds 2 ounces at birth.
The eighth and ninth babies were a surprise, according to Dr. Youssef Alaoui, the medical director of Ain Borja. Alaoui told Today Parents that the ultrasounds had only indicated seven fetuses, but luckily, the surprise “didn’t faze” the medical team, since the clinic boasts “one of the largest neonatal resuscitation services in Morocco.”
“It’s a first for the whole world, and we’re proud to have had this extraordinary experience thanks to our medical and technical expertise,” he added.
The newborn babies were placed in incubators and were cared for at the Ain Borja clinic for several months after being born, and are still receiving supportive care from nurses.
Arby met their newborn babies for the first time in October 2021 before returning home to Mali to be with their 3-year-old daughter. However, around the time of the nonuplet’s first birthday, the proud dad and daughter returned to Morocco to be with their family.
They held a small birthday party in their Moroccan home—a medically equipped flat belonging to Ain Borja Clinic where the family is currently residing—inviting nurses and neighbors to join the celebration.
“Nothing is better than the first year,” Arby told BBC Afrique. “They’re all crawling now. Some are sitting up and can even walk if they hold on to something. It’s not easy but it’s great. Even if it’s tiring at times, when you look at all the babies in perfect health … we’re relieved.
“The Malian state has put everything in place for the care and treatment of the nine babies and their mother. It’s not at all easy, but it’s beautiful and something that is comforting.”
While the family of 12 hasn’t yet returned to Mali en masse, they already have a fanbase comprising eager extended family members, friends, and followers. Arby and Cissé share snapshots of their love-filled, unusual life with the world on Instagram.
Describing parenthood as “a real treasure,” Arby expressed hope that others could one day share in a similar joy.
“I hope God blesses everyone who doesn’t yet have children,” he told the BBC, “that they can have what we, the parents of nonuplets, currently have.”
Suicidal Pregnant Woman Chooses Adoption Over Abortion, 28 Years Later Reunites With Son
A Pennsylvania woman who got pregnant at the age of 19 was at the peak of depression and felt hopeless, wanting to end her life. However, after an incredible epiphany, she realized that, although she didn’t want to live, she had no right to kill an innocent life. Choosing adoption for the infant, she then moved on with her life with faith and the support of her family.
Twenty-eight years later, her son reached out, and the pair reunited.
Rebecca L. Crist, now 74, shares her story of choosing an alternative to abortion with The Epoch Times.
Rebecca grew up in the neighboring states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. One of 10 children—four girls and six boys—she was raised as the “middle child” when a sister died shortly after birth.
At the age of 19, Rebecca discovered that she was pregnant by her steady boyfriend from high school, who was an alcoholic.
“He promised he had stopped drinking,” Rebecca said. “After he showed up drunk three nights in a row, I told him we were finished, and he was to stop contacting me. For the first time in five years, I knew it was finally over.”
After finding out that she was expecting a baby, Rebecca was devastated, and spent three months in denial. She had just undergone serious spinal surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, had ambitions to attend college, and work. At this time, Rebecca did not want to marry the birth father, who she knew would go on to have lifelong struggles with addiction.
She had moved back to her parents’ home following surgery, and confided in a handful of people about her pregnancy, but found being around her father—an alcoholic—distressing.
One stormy night, her depression reached its peak.
“I felt totally hopeless,” she recalled. “I got in my car and took off, thinking I would just end my life. I drove and drove and didn’t know where I was.
“I was trying to decide what I could hit, to put an end to everything, when I almost hit what looked like a man walking on the side of the road. I heard a thump, and was horrified to think I may have hit him.”
Terrified with the ordeal, Rebecca pulled over and searched the area, but found nothing. Soaking wet, she got back into her car and burst into desperate tears. It was then she had an epiphany: “I don’t want to live, but I have no right to kill this innocent baby.”
“In an instant, an unexplainable peace seemed to wrap itself around me,” she said. “The tears stopped and I headed for home, feeling like everything would work out somehow.”
Rebecca, who was five months pregnant at the time, prayed the whole way home. The next day, her sister-in-law called and invited her to stay at their home in Missouri while she decided what to do; her husband, Rebecca’s brother, was a medical student.
Despite everything she was going through on her journey, Rebecca said, never once did she consider abortion. She knew she had the support of her loving family, come what may, but she didn’t want to “live with an alcoholic,” nor be forced to hand her baby off to him every weekend, “or whatever the courts might order.”
For Rebecca, the idea of adoption felt right. However, it was imperative to her that the adoptive parents be Christian, and she hoped they would love music and sports, like her own family. At the hospital, she received counseling to help confirm her choice.
For the last few months of her pregnancy, Rebecca was busy as she spent her time providing childcare for some of the medical students’ families at her brother’s medical school. She was also caring for her niece and helped her brother and his wife with whatever possible. The rest of the time, Rebecca read, played the guitar, and wrote songs.
Whenever she felt her baby move and grow, she would pray to God to keep the baby healthy and strong so that he/she could be a perfect blessing to the family that was going to have her.
“I tried to consider myself a ‘vessel’ that God was using to answer the prayers of someone else,” Rebecca said.
Due to her spinal surgery, Rebecca was booked in for a Caesarean section three weeks before her due date. Her brother would be present at the birth, and she had already mentioned that she didn’t want to know the gender of the baby.
“I guess I thought the less I knew about the baby, the less difficult it would be to get through the trauma,” she said.
However, after the delivery, an uninformed nurse exclaimed: “Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby boy!”
Rebecca recalls crying so hard that she almost fell off the delivery table, as her brother held the baby and left the room.
It was a closed adoption, as per the protocol of the time. When Rebecca sat up to sign papers the day after delivering her baby, she triggered a “spinal headache” from the special sedation she had received, and remembers having days-long pounding pain like nothing she had felt before.
“I think perhaps it was God’s way of protecting my heart from literally breaking apart because my head commanded all my attention,” she reflected.
The baby’s adoptive family was chosen by then: a banker and a college professor, both Christian, with a 2-year-old son, who had also been adopted. Rebecca’s sister-in-law, a social worker, bumped into them by mistake and claimed they seemed “so happy and excited.”
In the aftermath of the adoption, Rebecca’s relationship with God gave her strength. She prayed to find a loving life partner, and for children of their own in the future. Shortly after turning 21, her prayers were answered.
She returned to Pennsylvania and her old job. A month after her return, Rebecca received a call from a fellow high school alum; formerly a multi-sport athlete while she was a cheerleader. Surprisingly, he invited her to a Broadway show.
“He was thought to be one of the nicest, smartest, kindest, most capable young men in our school,” said Rebecca. “That date turned into many.”
Months later, Rebecca shared the story of her birth son with her new love, who assured her that she’d made the right decision. He claimed the “man” she feared she had hit on the night of her epiphany was, in fact, “an angel.”
The couple married two years later, welcomed two daughters in Baltimore, and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to raise them as they attended elementary school to high school. Every time they moved, Rebecca made sure that she sent a letter to the social worker who arranged her son’s adoption.
When her daughters were old enough, Rebecca told them about their half-brother.
“The oldest sat there and cried, and the youngest was so astounded … then said all her best friends had a brother and she always wanted one, too,” Rebecca recalled. “I told her I promised God I would not interfere in his life, but if he wanted to find me, I made it possible for him to do so.”
Five years later, after welcoming her first grandchild, Rebecca received the phone call she had been anticipating for the last 28 years of her life. Her brother informed her that her birth son, Steve, had made contact.
Steve had been recently divorced and had a 5-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. On becoming aware of the news, Rebecca felt like she had “just drunk a dozen cups of coffee and might possibly faint,” but she instructed her brother to please put her in contact with Steve.
Their first phone call lasted three hours. Rebecca discovered that her son had had a happy, peaceful childhood and was supported by his adoptive parents in connecting with his birth family.
“One of the first questions he asked was whether I considered abortion,” Rebecca shared. “I told him I never gave that a thought.”
The mother and son then arranged to meet in person a few weeks later, in the fall of that year. Rebecca was shooting baskets on the driveway when Steve and his children pulled up.
“I was very nervous and excited,” she recalled, lamenting that a chatty neighbor who knew nothing of the reunion wouldn’t leave. “It was rather awkward as we saw each other and embraced for the first time in our lives while this neighbor looked on, totally befuddled and amazed!”
Rebecca chaperoned Steve and his kids to Pennsylvania to meet his extended birth family, who hosted a party, stopping at Ohio University on the way to meet Rebecca’s daughter. Bonds were formed immediately; Steve “fit right in” with Rebecca’s funny brothers, and quickly learned where his love for sports and music came from.
Rebecca still had peripheral contact with Steve’s birth father through her older brother and his wife, who ate at the same bar where he did his “nightly drinking.” Steve’s birth father, who never knew he had a son, wanted to meet Steve, and they happily reconnected.
For Steve, his origin story had finally come together.
I
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