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Religious Freedom: Pastor’s Book Advocates Beating Kids. Some Were Beaten To Death.

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An Evangelical Christian pastor and his wife advocate using a “switch” and rubber plumber’s tubing as whips, and withholding food from young children as biblically-approved discipline methods, calling their tactics, “the same principles the Amish use to train their stubborn mules.” Their book, which also likens training children to training dogs, has been praised by some of the very people who followed it and later caused the death of their young children, in some cases by extensive tissue damage, malnutrition, or hypothermia.

To the pastor and his wife, their religious freedom is central to their child-rearing teachings. “To give up the use of the rod is to give up our views of human nature, God, eternity,” write the pastor and his wife, Michael and Debi Pearl, whose book, “To Train Up A Child,” has sold over 670,000 copies. The Pearl’s ministry website, No Greater Joy Ministries, boasts, “Michael and Debi Pearl were both raised in Memphis, Tennessee, in good homes, by parents who were faithful to point them to God,” and adds, “Michael has been a pastor, missionary, and evangelist for over 40 years. The Pearls’ five children were all homeschooled, and have grown up to become missionaries and church leaders.”

The New York Times today writes there is a “storm raging around the country over the Pearls’ teachings on child discipline, which advocate systematic use of ‘the rod’ to teach toddlers to submit to authority.”

The Pearls provide instructions on using a switch from as early as six months to discourage misbehavior and describe how to make use of implements for hitting on the arms, legs or back, including a quarter-inch flexible plumbing line that, Mr. Pearl notes, “can be rolled up and carried in your pocket.”

…

In the latest case, Larry and Carri Williams of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., were home-schooling their six children when they adopted a girl and a boy, ages 11 and 7, from Ethiopia in 2008. The two were seen by their new parents as rebellious, according to friends.

Late one night in May this year, the adopted girl, Hana, was found face down, naked and emaciated in the backyard; her death was caused by hypothermia and malnutrition, officials determined. According to the sheriff’s report, the parents had deprived her of food for days at a time and had made her sleep in a cold barn or a closet and shower outside with a hose. And they often whipped her, leaving marks on her legs. The mother had praised the Pearls’ book and given a copy to a friend, the sheriff’s report said. Hana had been beaten the day of her death, the report said, with the 15-inch plastic tube recommended by Mr. Pearl.

“It’s a good spanking instrument,” Mr. Pearl said in the interview. “It’s too light to cause damage to the muscle or the bone.”

Some of the Williamses’ other tactics also seemed to involve Pearl advice taken to extremes; the Pearls say that “a little fasting is good training,” for example, and suggest hosing off a child who has potty-training lapses. The Williamses have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

…

The same kind of plumbing tube was reported to have been used to beat Lydia Schatz, 7, who was adopted at age 4 from Liberia and died in Paradise, Calif., in 2010. Her parents, Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz, had the Pearl book but ignored its admonition against extended lashing or harm; they whipped Lydia for hours, with pauses for prayer. She died from severe tissue damage, and her older sister had to be hospitalized, officials said.

The Schatzes, who were home-schooling nine children, three of them adopted, are both serving long prison terms after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and torture and she to voluntary manslaughter and unlawful corporal punishment. The Butte County district attorney, Mike Ramsey, criticized the Pearls’ book as a dangerous influence.

The Pearls’ teachings also came up in the trial of Lynn Paddock of Johnson County, N.C., who was convicted of the first-degree murder of Sean Paddock, 4, in 2006. The Paddocks had adopted six American children, some with emotional problems, and turned to the Internet and found the Pearls’ Web site, Ms. Paddock said. Sean suffocated after being wrapped tightly in a blanket. His siblings testified that they were beaten daily with the same plumbing tube. Mr. Paddock was not charged.

Concern about the Pearls and their methods are not new, but have become heightened after recent deaths. One religious blogger, “Tulipgirl,” herself a product of homeschooling, has been writing about the Pearls since 2005, when she wrote, that people have “grave concerns” about the Pearls, and added:

The heart of the issue is that they are teaching something they claim is Biblical, but is instead based on Behaviour Modification and building a subculture. They are very persuasive, especially to young parents. I believe their underlying philosophy goes against applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our family life.

 

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‘Things Like This Take Place’: Trump Shrugs Off Mass Shooting Despite Once Being a Target

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April 17, 2025

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Two people were killed and five others were wounded in a mass shooting at Florida State University on Thursday—an attack that President Donald Trump appeared to downplay during remarks in the Oval Office, while later recommitting to defending the Second Amendment.

“It’s a shame. Horrible thing. Horrible thing. Things like this take place. And we’ll have more to say about it later,” Trump told reporters, while the mass shooting was still in progress and the death toll was not yet known. “In the meantime, it’s an honor to have the Prime Minister of Italy with us.”

Later in the Oval Office, Trump, informed of the death toll, said: “Look, I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment, I have been from the beginning. I protected it, and these things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people do,” according to CNN.

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“As far as legislation is concerned, this has been going on for a long time. I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment, I ran on the Second Amendment, among many other things, and I will always protect the Second Amendment,” he added.

After he was shot on the campaign trail in July, when a bullet grazed his ear, Trump said he had God on his side as he spoke at length about the event.

“I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump repeatedly declared.

“I’m not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here,” he told Republican National Convention attendees, speaking for ten minutes about the attack. “I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.”

“Let me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt at my rally on Saturday. As you already know, the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life.”

“I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack,” he said. “I was very brave.”

Critics on Thursday blasted what some called the President’s lack of empathy, while others noted when he survived an assassination attempt, he talked about it for months.

“Oh cool just the President reacting to a mass shooting on an American college campus like he got the wrong order at the Chic-Fil-A drive-thru,” mocked Josh Tyler, the publisher of a popular entertainment, science, and technology website.

“When he’s shot at it wasn’t ‘things like this take place’,” wrote one user on the X social media platform, “his life is no more valuable then the thousands of students who attend fsu this is a disgraceful answer.”

“Thank goodness they only shot up a bunch of college kids and no Teslas were hurt,” snarked The Lincoln Project’s Jeff Timmer, mocking the Trump administration’s use of the Department of Justice to protect the electric vehicle’s dealerships.

“Things like this DON’T just take place,” noted U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA). “No student—from elementary school to college—should fear for their lives while receiving an education. My heart is with the FSU family today. We must end America’s gun violence epidemic.”

“Devoid of empathy,” wrote Rusty Reuff, a former Obama appointee to the Advisory Committee for the Arts for The Kennedy Center, “but yet they hold him up as their role model.”

READ MORE: ‘Stunning Admission’: GOP Senator Says Colleagues ‘Are All Afraid’ of ‘Retaliation’

“Donald Trump will only put his fist up in the air and fight if it’s him that gets shot, not you or your kids,” wrote anti-gun violence activist Jackie Corin, a survivor of the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and a March for Our Lives co-founder.

Everytown, America’s largest gun violence prevention organization, wrote: “This is the 81st mass shooting of 2025 and the 18th shooting on a college campus in 2025. It’s not a coincidence that we have a gun homicide rate 26x that of peer nations, or that guns are the leading cause of death for kids in America—it’s a policy failure.”

“Gun violence doesn’t just happen,” Everytown added. “It’s the result of cowardly politicians bought by the gun lobby—like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis—repeatedly failing us while the gun industry profits.”

“What a fraud,” exclaimed attorney Paula Chertok. “Trump declares ’emergency’ almost daily to do whatever he wants—abuse power, gut the constitution, even lie we’re at war & have been invaded—all on the pretext of keeping Americans ‘safe.’ Yet does worse than nothing for actual safety from America’s #1 killer: GUNS!”

Another X user observed: “An immigrant commits a violent action, Trump builds an entire campaign around assuring it never happens again. Mass shootings occur a few times a year killing/injuring many and terrorizing thousands now scarred for life. Trump shrugs, ‘s— happens’.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Strategically Disastrous’: How JD Vance Is Harming America’s Foreign Relations

 
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‘Full Time Babysitter’: Treasury Secretary Urges Caution After Trump Fed Chair Threat

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April 17, 2025

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President Donald Trump’s pre-dawn post shook investors’ confidence on Thursday, as he railed against the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and called for his “termination.” Hours later, the White House insisted the President was not suggesting he would be firing Jerome Powell, whom he installed during his first term, but the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly is urging caution.

Pointing to news about the European Central Bank, Trump at 6:12 AM exploded:

“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!'” Trump exclaimed.

“Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS,” he insisted, although some consumers may disagree. “Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now.”

“Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump concluded.

READ MORE: ‘Stunning Admission’: GOP Senator Says Colleagues ‘Are All Afraid’ of ‘Retaliation’

The White House quickly jumped in.

“A White House official tells me today this post should not be seen as a threat to fire Powell,” reported CNBC’s Megan Cassella. “It’s more of an airing, or re-airing, of grievances and frustrations with the central bank chair. And the President is looking forward to the scheduled end of Powell’s term.”

Reuters reported that Christopher Hodge, Chief US Economist for Natixis, said: “So previously I thought the odds were very much against Trump trying to remove Powell, but my confidence has faded. Trump seems more comfortable than expected with a slowing economy and equity volatility and the tariff policies are much more onerous than anticipated, even if they have been walked back a bit. The bottom line is the parameters of potential policy outcomes has widened and while I still think Powell will be retained until his term ends, I am less certain that I was previously.”

Journalist and author Charles Fishman called Trump’s post, “a frontal attack on Jay Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, whose independence is enshrined in law—and who is one of the few forces holding the US economy together in the face of White House tariff chaos.”

“Trump can’t fire Powell. But is shouting like he might try,” Fishman writes.

Trump may try, but some say he may need help from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, barely two weeks ago, reports stated Bessent was thinking of quitting.

“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may be planning to cut and run after Donald Trump’s disastrous ‘reciprocal tariff’ announcement earlier this week,” The New Republic reported. “During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Friday, contributor Stephanie Ruhle reported that the key Cabinet member is already looking for an escape hatch.”

“My sources say that Scott Bessent is kind of the odd man out here and, in the inner circle that Trump has, he’s not even close to Scott Bessent or listening to him,” Ruhle said, TNR reported. “Some have said to me, he’s looking for an exit door to try to get himself to the Fed, because in the last few days he’s really hurting his own credibility and history in the markets.”

Last week, things apparently got more heated.

READ MORE: ‘Strategically Disastrous’: How JD Vance Is Harming America’s Foreign Relations

“Wall Street prizes stability, which is why Trump’s shambolic tariff rollout has wiped out trillions of dollars of market value,” Vanity Fair reported last week. “Executives say the on-again, off-again tariffs are evidence of a civil war engulfing Trump’s economic policy team. According to sources close to the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have been at odds over a tariff plan, with Bessent urging discipline and Lutnick encouraging Trump to go big. ‘The real war is between Howard and Scott,’ one of the sources said.”

And now, Bessent reportedly is  urging caution on firing Powell.

According to a Politico report on Thursday, Bessent “has repeatedly cautioned White House officials that any attempt to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would risk destabilizing financial markets, according to two people close to the White House granted anonymity to share details of private discussions.”

Adding some insight, Politico notes that “Bessent’s private message reinforces what President Donald Trump already knows but comes as the president’s anger with the Fed chair is growing because Powell hasn’t shown signs that he will cut interest rates soon. It also comes against the backdrop of widespread market turmoil over the administration’s far-reaching trade war.”

Not only has Powell not cut interest rates — which he historically has been very caution on doing — but CNN Business reported Thursday afternoon that mortgage rates just saw “the largest one-week jump” min over a year, and are have now climbed to the “highest level in two months as Trump’s tariffs continue to rock markets.”

Responding to Politico’s report, hedge fund founder and chief investment officer Spencer Hakimian writes, “Bessent hating his new job of being a full time babysitter. Just cleaning up Trump, Lutnick, Navarro, etc. diaper all day long.”

READ MORE: ‘Willful Disregard’: Judge Finds ‘Probable Cause’ to Hold Trump Admin in Criminal Contempt

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‘Stunning Admission’: GOP Senator Says Colleagues ‘Are All Afraid’ of ‘Retaliation’

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18 hours ago

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April 17, 2025

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A prominent Republican U.S. Senator delivered candid and heartfelt responses to leaders of nonprofit groups in her state expressing concern over the massive and sudden cuts to federal agencies, programs, and the federal workforce—along with President Donald Trump’s tariffs, executive orders, and legal battles.

“We are all afraid,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), apparently referring to both her colleagues in Congress and her constituents, before pausing in thought (video below). The Anchorage Daily News first reported her remarks.

“It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. And I’ll tell ya, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right. But that’s what you’ve asked me to do. And so, I’m going to use my voice to the best of my ability.”

Murkowski, a moderate Republican who has held her seat for nearly a quarter of a century, also said that she “is just trying to listen as carefully as I can to what is happening and how it is happening and the impacts it is having on the ground.”

READ MORE: ‘Strategically Disastrous’: How JD Vance Is Harming America’s Foreign Relations

She admitted that “we don’t have all the answers, but we’re trying to unlock at different opportunities and in different ways as much as we can. And it is as hard as anything that I have engaged in in the 20 plus years I’ve been in the Senate.”

Explaining that she is trying “to figure out how I can do my best to help the many who are so anxious and are so afraid,” Murkowski, an Alaska native, shared stories of encounters with constituents and others.

“I’ve been an airports, I’ve been in meetings, I’ve been in hallways, and in my own office, in Washington, D.C., or where people have shared shared what has happened within their world, where they end up in tears, in tears because they thought that they were in a profession they’d given so much to, and thought that they were doing well and literally no notice whatsoever are terminated and told that their work performance was not not satisfactory,” she noted. “Which was not true, and [they] didn’t know what was going to happen.”

The Anchorage Daily News also described Murkowski as being “exceptionally candid” when “criticizing aspects of the Trump administration’s approach to implementing policy measures and service cuts, some of which she described as ‘unlawful.'”

Murkowski also shared that she has heard “fear” from “people who have said, ‘I’m afraid to, I’m afraid to talk to my coworkers about the status of where we are, because will I be viewed as questioning my my supervisors or my commitment to the agency here.’ These are unscripted moments where I am not soliciting them, and people are not planning on sharing them with me, almost serendipitous in an airport. And so these are real emotions, these are real people, these are real fears, and they need to be heard.”

Republican former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock, responding to Murkowski’s remarks, wrote: “This is real. I and so many members – present and former – have heard these conversations privately, so it is refreshing to hear it publicly.”

READ MORE: ‘Willful Disregard’: Judge Finds ‘Probable Cause’ to Hold Trump Admin in Criminal Contempt

Attorney Alex Morey also weighed in, calling it a “stunning admission by a sitting U.S. senator. Senators speak for their constituents, with an oath to defend against ‘all enemies, foreign and domestic.’ Any threat to her ability to do her job demands transparency, bravery, and action — not self-interested self-censorship.”

Columbia University professor of history Simon Schama called it “extraordinary” that a Republican Senator was admitting to being “afraid of her President and government.”

The Senator also acknowledged that the GOP-controlled House and Senate are not fulfilling their oversight responsibilities.

“It’s called the checks and balances. And right, now we are not balancing as the Congress,” she said.

Just last week in a speech on the Senate floor, Murkowski told her colleagues, “I think it’s time for Congress to reassert itself. We owe that to those that we represent, as well as to this institution, for the long-term good of the nation.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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