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Pastor And Christian Education Professor Arrested For Child Porn And Guns

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A married man and father of three children was arrested Thursday on charges of child pornography and illegal gun possession after Internet task force police raided his home and computers. Donald Ratcliff, 60, a Professor of Christian Education at Wheaton College in Illinois, and a Southern Baptist pastor, had bail set at $750,000, and was instructed to have no contact with anyone under 18, and not to use any computer.

“The Wheaton College professor charged with two counts of aggravated child pornography also faces charges for possession of two handguns and ammunition without a firearm owners identification card, prosecutors said Friday in DuPage County court,” The Daily Herald reports:

Assistant State’s Attorney Anne Therieau said investigators found two guns and 1,600 rounds of ammunition in Ratcliff’s home.

Dan Collins, the attorney representing Ratcliff, said the guns are “family heirlooms,” but wouldn’t comment further.

Investigators also found pornographic images of children younger than 13 on six or seven computers as a result of a months-long effort, Therieau said. She said she couldn’t comment on the number of images or whether Ratcliff had produced any of the images because the investigation is ongoing.

Several Wheaton College students Friday said the allegations came as a surprise and they called the charges “sobering” and “saddening.”

Ratcliff has been a professor of Christian education at Wheaton College since 2006 and has focused his academic research on children.

On his personal website viewed Thursday before its content was taken down, Ratcliff wrote on the subject of children and spirituality: “I appreciate children in all of their richness and complexity. They can be baffling, frustrating, delightful, and overwhelming. While I have studied child development in depth … I am particularly interested in the spirituality of children.”

Wheaton College states in its About pages:

Committed to the principle that truth is revealed by God through Christ “in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Wheaton College seeks to relate Christian liberal arts education to the needs of contemporary society. The curricular approach is designed to combine faith and learning in order to produce a biblical perspective needed to relate Christian experience to the demands of those needs.

The college, which notes that “Dr. Ratcliff is on administrative leave,” also offers 12 statements of faith, covering Adam and Eve, Satan and sin, Jesus Christ and various other biblical topics, which are “reaffirmed annually by its Board of Trustees, faculty, and staff.”

Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend, who reported on this story Friday, asked, “Is there a Pervert 101 template out there that requires the guys busted to hold pious positions in society, and whose professional life revolves around children?” Spaulding adds:

Yes, what about the children, isn’t that what they always say about law-abiding gay folks who want to adopt kids, for instance? The accused child porn devotee and “lay leader” at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Wheaton sadly fits the perv template like a T:

A graduate of Moody Bible Institute and the University of Georgia, he received a masters in educational psychology at Michigan State. Married with three children, he has served as the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church and worked for a missionary Christian radio station for several years.

What we won’t see is coverage on professional anti-LGBT sites making blanket assumptions about Christians as perverts — nor should they or anyone else — but they will be silent about cases like this, while demonizing the entire LGBT community day in and day out, often charging them with wanting to destroy marriage, children, society, and bombastically, even civilization.

Perhaps they need to look into the mirror. What about the children?

Image: DuPage County State’s Attorney

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News

‘Start the Kevin McCarthy Death-Clock’ After Biden Wins Debt Ceiling Battle: Rick Wilson

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Appearing late Saturday night on MSNBC after it was announced that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had reached an agreement “in principle’ on a budget deal, former GOP strategist Rick Wilson claimed this could be the beginning of the end for McCathy’s speakership.

Sitting in on a panel with guest host Michael Steele, Wilson suggested that McCarthy’s decision to compromise with the president to avoid a default that would spin the economy into chaos will not go over well with far-right members of his House caucus who could make a motion to “vacate the chair” to express their displeasure.

Asked by host Steel about what comes next, Wilson stated it was a win for the White House which will not make conservatives happy.

RELATED: ‘Crazy cuckoo MAGA people’ could sink debt ceiling deal: Dem strategist

“Great night for Joe Biden, great night for the White House even though I think their messaging has been kind of tentative the past few weeks” the Lincoln Project founder began. “I think though we are now going to start the Kevin McCarthy death-clock. He has certainly got a very angry part of his caucus tonight who probably burning up his phone no matter how good it is for the country not to default.”

“It’s not going to please the chaos caucus in the GOP,” he added.

Watch below or at the link:

 

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Debt Ceiling: McCarthy Faces ‘Lingering Anger’ and a Possible Revolt as Far-Right House Members Start Issuing Threats

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As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to negotiate a deal to avoid a debt crisis, members of the far-right Freedom Caucus are growing furious with him over broken promises he made to them.

According to MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen, with a slim GOP majority in the House, McCarthy is walking a tightrope to get a budget deal passed and may need help from House Democrats if members of his caucus refuse to go along with him.

As Benen points out, in order to win the speakership McCarthy agreed to an easier path for a motion to “vacate the chair” which could end his tenure as Speaker. That could come into play if the Freedom Caucus stages a revolt.

“… as the negotiations approach an apparent finish line, the House Republicans’ most radical faction is learning that it isn’t likely to get everything its members demanded — and for the Freedom Caucus, that’s not going to work,” he wrote in his MSNBC column.

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Trump in danger of heightened espionage charges after bombshell report: legal expert

Citing a Washington Times report that stated, “[Freedom Caucus members] want everything from the debt limit bill passed by the House last month plus several new concessions from the White House,” Benen suggested far-right House Republicans are now issuing veiled threats.

In an interview, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated, “I am going to have to go have some blunt conversations with my colleagues and the leadership team. I don’t like the direction they are headed.”

With Politico reporting, “The [House Freedom Caucus] was already unlikely to support a final bipartisan deal, but lingering anger with Kevin McCarthy could have lasting implications on his speakership,” Benen added, “If this is simply a matter of lingering ill-will from members who come to believe that GOP leaders ‘caved,’ the practical consequences might be limited. But let’s also not forget that McCarthy, while begging his own members for their support during his protracted fight for the speaker’s gavel, agreed to tweak the motion-to-vacate-the-chair rules, which at least in theory, would make it easier for angry House Republicans to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position.”

Adding the caveat that he is not predicting an imminent McCarthy ouster he added, “But if the scope of the Freedom Caucus’ discontent reaches a fever pitch, a hypothetical deal clears thanks to significant Democratic support, don’t be surprised if we all start hearing the phrase ‘vacate the chair” a lot more frequently.”

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BREAKING NEWS

Prosecutors Tell Trump They Have a Recording of Him and a Witness: Report

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Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial have notified the ex-president’s attorneys they have a recording of him and a witness. The notification comes in the form of an automatic discovery form, CBS News reports, which “describes the nature of the charges against a defendant and a broad overview of the evidence that prosecutors will present at Trump’s preliminary hearing or at trial.”

CBS reports prosecutors have handed the recording over to Trump’s legal team.

It’s not known who the witness is, nor are any details known publicly about what the conversation entails, or even if it is just audio or if it includes video.

READ MORE: ‘Likely to Be Indicted Soon’: Trump Might Face Seven Different Felonies, Government Watchdog Says

According to the article’s author, CBS News’ Graham Kates, via Twitter, prosecutors say they also have recordings between two witnesses, a recording between a witness and a third party, and various recordings saved on a witness’s cell phones.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case related to his allegedly unlawful attempt to hide hush money payoffs to a well-known porn star by falsifying business records to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.

See the discovery form above or at this link.

Image via Shutterstock

 

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