Mary Pflum writes at NBCNews:

When Chris Crews prepares for church on Sunday mornings, he follows a routine. He rises early. He puts on his church clothes, a button-down shirt paired with blue jeans or khakis. Then, before leaving the house with his wife and two children, he straps a firearm -- a 9 mm or a .45 -- to his right hip.

"I don't leave home without a gun," Crews said. "It's kind of like the old American Express card ads: I just won't leave home without it."

Crews, 47, is part of the security team at Ava Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church of 300 members in Ava, Missouri. The church has no paid security guards. Instead, it counts on a team of 18 church members to keep fellow congregants safe. None of the security team members are paid and all carry handguns.

"Ava Assembly of God launched the security team 18 months ago," Pflum continues, "after the church's pastor, Buddy Boyd, received threats related to a domestic dispute involving members of the community."

"In response, and amid rising fears of mass shootings in general, a congregant suggested forming a security team. Boyd quickly agreed," Pflum writes.

"Times have changed," Boyd says, according to Pflum. "The No. 1 concern is to protect our parishioners."

Read more here. 

A.W.R. Hawkins writes at Breitbart: 

The South Dakota House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday intended to abolish the need to acquire a concealed carry permit in order to carry for self-defense.

The NRA reported the House vote 47-23, in favor of doing away with the permit requirement. The measure had already passed in the Senate.

The measure faced opposition from Democrats, some of whom contended that removing a concealed carry permit requirement would somehow boost suicides.

The Argus Leader reports that the Democrat opposition was joined by State Rep. Doug Barthel (R-Sioux Falls), who indicated he opposed the bill because his constituents opposed the bill.

"But State Rep. Tim Goodwin (R-Rapid City) told his Republican colleagues that the bill should be supported on the grounds that they all took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which says nothing about requiring a permit to exercise Second Amendment rights," Hawkins explains. 

"Then Gov.-elect Kristi Noem (R) had already signaled support for ending the requirement and now the legislation to do so sits on her desk," Hawkins reports. "Noem has five business days to act on the legislation."

Cameron Cawthorne reports at the Washington Free Beacon:

Democratic members of the House Committee on Natural Resources are in the process of eliminating the words "so help you God" from the oath witnesses recite before they testify before the panel.

A draft of the new rules package, obtained by Fox News, shows the key committee plans to ask their witnesses to recite a shorter oath: "Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" . . . 

The committee, which has oversight of national parks, wildlife, and energy, has also proposed rule changes to expand its authority over natural gas in Alaska and fossil-fuel resources.

"Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.), the House Republican Conference chair and a member of the natural resources committee, likened the Democratic Party to the 'party of Karl Marx'," Cawthorne reports.

"It is incredible, but not surprising, that the Democrats would try to remove God from committee proceedings in one of their first acts in the majority," Cheney is quoted as telling Fox News. "They really have become the party of Karl Marx."

"This isn't the first time Democrats have attempted to strike references to 'God' in official party documents," according to Cawthorne.

"The floor of the 2012 Democratic National Convention erupted with boos after a decision to restore to the platform a reference to 'God' and the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital," Cawthorne reports. "The inclusion was a reversal after they initially omitted these references."

The mainstream U.S. position on these matters is clearly not just to include God in a secondary way, but to base the entire structure of the federal government and American body politic upon The Creator. 

Thus we read in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men. . . .

In its ever-growing alienation and extremism, the Democrat Party, by choice, is removing itself root and branch from the enduring American mainstream of human freedom, liberation, dignity, and self-government. Karl Marx must be smiling -- or not. Somewhere. 

Related
What Is Mainstream America?
How the New Resistance Can Win the Culture War

Maxim Lott writes at FoxNews.com:

Politicians of all stripes make big promises to get into office -- but some of the most extravagant promises of the last century have come from socialist politicians pledging to reshape society as a utopia for all.

As socialist ideas enjoy somewhat of a resurgence among young Democratic lawmakers and their liberal base in the U.S., and troubled nations such as Venezuela and North Korea reel from the fallout tied to socialist policies, Fox News took a look back at some of the biggest promises of the movement and how they turned out.

Go here to read more on 1) Hugo Chavez "promises universal medical care," 2) Lenin "promises 'peace, bread and land'," 3) Castro "promises freedom of the press," 4) Nehru of India "promises end of poverty," and 5) Mao "promises open discussion."

Calvin Freiburger reports at LifeSiteNews.com:

Amid mounting pressure, Bishop Roger Joseph Foys of the Diocese of Covington issued a new statement Friday apologizing to a group of pro-life students the Diocese initially condemned over a confusing video from the March for Life.

The Diocese was among those that condemned a group of Covington Catholic High School students after reports claimed a video showed them harassing an elderly Native American veteran at the March for Life last weekend.

But additional extended video and firsthand accounts soon revealed the man, Nathan Phillips [Video: "Not a Vietnam Vet"] was the one who waded into the group waiting for its bus and decided to beat a drum inches from student Nick Sandmann's face, and other adults who accompanied Phillips shouted racial taunts at the kids.

Read more here. 

Ryan Saavedra reports at Daily Wire:

Minnesota Democrat Rep. Collin Peterson said in an interview this week that the Democrats should give President Donald Trump the money that he wants to build the border wall on the southern border.

Peterson, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, told KFGO's "News & Views" on Tuesday that "when I bring up what I have to say [to Democrats], they look at me cross-eyed."

"Give Trump the money," Peterson said, adding that he would "give him the whole thing . . . and put strings on it so you make sure he puts the wall where it needs to be."

"Why are we fighting over this?" Peterson continued. "We’re going to build that wall anyway, at some time."

Read more here. 

Melanie Arter reports at CNSNews.com:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that she will not allow President Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union address from the House floor next week.

In a letter to the president, Pelosi wrote, "I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president's State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened."

After Pelosi's letter was sent, Trump told reporters he's "not surprised" by Pelosi's reaction, adding, "It's really a shame what's happening with the Democrats. They've become radicalized."

Read more here. 

Celine Ryan writes at Campus Reform:

Students hoping to attend a University of California, Los Angeles event focusing on America's "gendered regimes of incarceration" may have to do so in a cloud of body odor.

UCLA's event description for "Thinking Gender: Feminists Confronting the Carceral State" in February warns attendees to "please refrain" from wearing products with fragrances, such as "perfumes, hair products, deodorants, detergents, etc."

This stipulation is meant to ensure the "health and safety" of all individuals at the event.

"Presumably, the event would permit students to wear fragrance-free variants of those products," Ryan continues. "The gathering of students will use 'feminist, queer, abolitionist, and intersectional interventions' to confront the United States' "gendered regimes of incarceration."

Read more here. 

"Every dog has his [or her] day -- even on the runway in Mumbai, India," wags the New York Post.  

Susan Jones reports at CNSNews.com:

Vice President Mike Pence, defending both his wife and his Christian faith, spoke Thursday about the liberal backlash resulting from Karen Pence's decision to return to a Christian school as a volunteer art teacher.

"To see the mainstream media . . . criticize my wife because she's choosing to return to the classroom of an elementary Christian school is wrong," Pence told "Washington Watch."

Read more here.

Lucas Nolan reports at Breitbart:

According to a recent report, the use of the word "family" caused many Google employees to freak out, arguing that the term was homophobic.

The Daily Caller reports that many Google employees were offended by the term "family" after it was used to describe a household with children when discussing a Google product aimed at kids.

The backlash against the term was so severe that a vice president at the company was forced to comment on the issue and ask employees how the company could be more inclusive.

The Daily Caller writes that one employee became particularly upset after a presenter showed a "Project Unicorn" feature that regularly used "family" to mean "a household with children."

"The employee ultimately stormed out of the presentation and posted a rant in an internal Google thread which was well received by other Google employees," Breitbart reports.

Read more here.

Gregg Re reports at Fox News:

Former Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke faced across-the-board criticism on Tuesday after an unflattering interview in The Washington Post portrayed him as equivocal and unsure on a variety of substantive policy issues -- and included a comment that seemed to question the modern-day relevance of the U.S. Constitution.

O'Rourke, 46, is widely considered a possible 2020 presidential contender, after falling only a few percentage points shy of dethroning incumbent Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm elections.

But his relative lack of experience and expertise has emerged as a central objection to his prospective candidacy.

Speaking in El Paso, Texas, O'Rourke added fuel to those concerns by repeatedly demurring when asked for a direct answer on his positions on everything from visa overstays to whether President Trump should withdraw military forces from Syria.

"At one point in the two-hour chat with The Post's Jenna Johnson, O'Rourke openly wondered whether the U.S. can 'still be managed by the same principles that were set down 230-plus years ago' in the Constitution," Re reports.

"The comment drew harsh rebukes on Twitter," Re continues. "This may make it difficult to take any future oath of office to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution'," Re quotes Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as stating.

Read more here. 

Allegra Thatcher writes at the College Fix:

Medical professionals who study youth psychology and treat gender-confused youth are sounding the alarm about court rulings that they claim put transgender ideology ahead of "sound science" and the law.

The Alliance Defending Freedom filed a friend-of-the-court brief on their behalf just after Christmas, in a K-12 bathroom case being appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

By questioning the scientific underpinnings of "gender-affirming" treatment for gender-confused youth, the brief seeks to halt the momentum of LGBT activists who are pressuring public schools to comply with their students' gender-identity requests.

"Gender is an engineered term," Andre Van Mol, a board-certified family physician who signed the brief, told The College Fix in a phone interview. 

"Nouns have gender. People have a different sex," the College Fix quotes Van Mol as saying. Van Mol "serves as co-chair of the Committee on Adolescent Sexuality for the American College of Pediatricians," according to the Fix.

"It's an ideological term -- this is not a scientific thing," Van Mol says, the Fix reports. "Gender went from applying to nouns to becoming a substitute for biological sex."

Read more here.

Related
Nancy Pearcey on Mike Huckabee TV: Transgenderism
Feminist Germaine Greer: Transgender Surgery Does Not Make a Man a Woman
Nancy Pearcey's Love Thy Body Challenges Secular Dehumanization, Alienation

Amber Athey reports at Daily Caller:

A 25-year-old Chicago woman with a concealed carry license shot and killed a man who attempted to rob her at gunpoint last week.

Police say the armed 19-year-old man approached the young woman at a bus stop in Chicago's Fernwood neighborhood Tuesday morning.

Surveillance video captured across the street from the bus stop shows a struggle between the two before the woman pulls out her own firearm and shoots the man in the neck.

The man took off running but was later found by police and transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"According to a report by ABC 7 Chicago, the area is known to be dangerous and women routinely arm themselves to make sure they don't fall victim to similar attacks," Athey reports.

"It's tragic that he did die, but the lady had to do what she had to do," said Bianca Daniel, who lives in the neighborhood, according to The DC.

"I'm kinda of proud that, like, that's what she did because she stuck up for herself," Daniel said, according to Athey.

"The suspect was identified by police as Laavion Goings," The DC concludes. "The woman suffered only minor injuries and police will not file charges in the case."

In this case, a good girl with a gun was able to defend herself, putting into practice the unalienable human right to life and to self-defense. 

There is gratitude that the victim escaped unharmed but no joy in the death of this young man. And yet he put his own life in jeopardy by violently accosting another human being. 

We do not know what the attacker's ultimate intentions were, and neither does his victim. Not just robbery, but sexual assault and murder could have been the outcome.

We do know that a young woman refused to be a sitting duck. She refused to be a defenseless victim.

As a significant human being, she took responsibility for being able to protect herself and those around her. Lawful and moral self-defense is an act of love. 

A young man illegally and immorally broke the bonds of human community, and for that he paid the ultimate price.

The attacker violated the liberating, civilizing, humanizing command to "Love thy neighbor." And then he died.

Related
Why Women Own Guns
2nd Amendment God-Given, Even in Pittsburgh
Venezuelans Lament Gun Ban: Allows Gov't to Dominate Them

Monica Showalter writes at American Thinker:

CNN is "news, corrupted."

Seriously, the people over there are rejecting actual news because it doesn't support their manufactured "narrative," turning down a report they themselves commissioned from local station KUSI because they didn't like the facts-on-the-ground the report contained -- or, more likely, the bigger fact on the ground that the local report supports the stance of a president who says and shows by numbers that there really is a crisis at our border.

The network President Trump calls "fake news" can't let that San Diego report get out.

Read more here. 

Jennifer Kabbany writes at The College Fix:

Rapid-onset gender dysphoria, which has been described as a "contagion," has caught up with more and more mothers who are shocked when their formerly feminine daughters suddenly come from home college with mustaches, acne, different demeanors -- even their breasts removed.

To read Pam's, Emma's, Dorothy's, and Kathy's stories, go here. 

John Binder writes at Breitbart:

During the Democrat response to President Trump's Oval Office address, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) accused the president of "manufacturing a crisis" at the United States-Mexico border.

In a fact check by Breitbart News, Pelosi's statement is incorrect. A review of the crime at the southern border, cartel warfare, drug epidemic, deaths from an open border, asylum fraud, and costs to American taxpayers reveal a startling crisis at the border.

Read more here.

Prager writes at Townhall:

The first public thing Mitt Romney did in the year 2019 -- on Jan. 1 -- was publish an attack on President Trump in the Washington Post, which, as we know, has not lacked for attacks on Trump.

He did not even wait until being sworn in, two days later.

I campaigned for Sen. Mitt Romney when he ran for president, including a closed-door meeting with him to raise funds among wealthy Los Angeles Republicans. As it turns out, I worked to elect a somewhat foolish man with few identifiable convictions. (For the record, I would do so again, since just about any Republican president will do less damage to the country than any leftist -- and Democratic politicians are now all leftists.)

Life is filled with disappointments, and I will survive this one. But I should explain why this Romney column is so disappointing. . . .

Read more here.

Related
Election 2016: The Dream Called America Dodges a Bullet -- Now What?

A.W.R. Hawkins writes at Breitbart:

Anti-gun Hollywood celebrities enjoyed presidential-level protection by barricades, bomb-sniffing dogs, armed guards, LAPD officers, and numerous security checkpoints as they arrived for the 2019 Golden Globes. . . .

Variety previewed the heightened level of security expected around the Beverly Hilton -- the venue for Sunday night's star-studded ceremony -- by noting that the days of being able to park on the street, walk up, and get inside may be long gone. They report that "the City of Beverly Hills has cracked down on allowing crowds near the building" . . . . 

Beverly Hills public information manager Keith Sterling made clear that federal agencies would also be involved in security. Sterling said, "As you might imagine, we are prohibited from discussing the specific security plans we have in place. But this is an extensive, collaborative effort, with federal and local agencies assisting the Beverly Hills Police Department."

Hawkins concludes: "After the good guys with guns keep Hollywood's upper crust safe at the Beverly Hilton, the celebrities can go back home, and wake up Monday to start pushing more gun control for commoners."

Related
Gun-Toting Hippies vs. Boulder "Assault" Weapons Ban
2nd Amendment God-Given, Even in Pittsburgh
Venezuelans Lament Gun Ban: Allows Gov't to Dominate Them   
Why Women Own Guns

Valerie Richardson reports at the WTimes:

Boulder's newly enacted "assault weapons" ban is meeting with stiff resistance from its "gun-toting hippies," staunch liberals who also happen to be devoted firearms owners.

Only 342 "assault weapons," or semiautomatic rifles, were certified by Boulder police before the Dec. 31 deadline, meaning there could be thousands of residents in the scenic university town of 107,000 in violation of the sweeping gun-control ordinance.

"I would say the majority of people I've talked to just aren't complying because most people see this as a registry," said Lesley Hollywood, executive director of the Colorado Second Amendment group Rally for Our Rights. "Boulder actually has a very strong firearms community."

Read more here. 

Related
U.S. Marine Schools CNN: "Unconstitutional Laws Aren't Laws"
Arne Duncan: "Common Values" Trump Constitutional Right to Bear Arms

Dave Urbanski writes at The Blaze:

Typically stories about United States citizens who take to heart their constitutional right to keep and bear arms -- and who use their guns to protect themselves and loved ones -- involve civilians.

But this time the good guy with a gun turned out to be a Florida city official -- and the result was the same as it's been in so many of these instances: Bad news for the bad guy.

It all started when "Palmetto police spotted a possibly impaired driver about 10 p.m. Thursday and attempted to pull over the vehicle -- but the driver sped away instead, police told the Bradenton Herald," Ubranski writes.

Read more here.

Mr. Marcus writes at American Thinker:

Democrat Nancy Pelosi said Trump's border wall is immoral and too expensive. Hearing Pelosi lecture Trump and the American people about morality is beyond repulsive.

Pelosi, her fellow Democrats and fake news media seek to prevent our side from using the word "morality" in the political arena. Any Republican and conservative who dares bring up the morality of an issue is immediately branded a religious nut, trying to force their wacko outdated values onto the public.

Pelosi and her minions are flooding the airwaves with their absurd perverted narrative that building a wall (to protect Americans) is immoral. Meanwhile, these wicked Democrats who refuse to secure our borders live in highly secured and gated communities. Using their logic, shouldn't stopping people from invading their personal properties make Democrats immoral?

As I said, Democrats having the gall to throw morality into the face of Trump and everyday Americans who desire a secure border is pretty obnoxious. Here are examples of Democrats' twisted view of morality . . . .

Read more here.