Former White House Press Secretary and MSNBC host-in-waiting Jen Psaki broke down in tears recently when discussing parental rights legislation in the schools. She should instead save her tears for the real victims of transgenderism in the schools—parents and their children.

In her April 19 podcast, Psaki bemoaned the right of states like Florida to pass laws which prohibit teachers from engaging little kids—pre-kindergarten through third grade—in discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity. She thinks it is A-OK for teachers to ask children 5-8 if they are satisfied being a boy or a girl. This is the first step toward “assisting” them to switch sexes. Next come the puberty blockers, the chemical castration and the genital mutilation.

Psaki’s endorsement of this practice is obscene. She calls attempts to protect parental rights and stop the sexual engineering of children “harsh and cruel.” Worse, she is claiming that the victimizers are the victims.

Here is what she said about responsible parents who want an end to child abuse in the classroom.

“They’re doing that in a way that is harsh and cruel to a community of kids, especially. I’m going to get emotional about this issue [that is when she started bawling] because it’s horrible! But it’s kids who are bullied, and all these leaders are taking steps to hurt them, and hurt their lives and their families!”

This is a bald-face lie. No kids are being bullied by legislation designed to safeguard the rights of parents and protect kids from being groomed by irresponsible teachers. She has it backwards—it’s parents and their kids who are being bullied by the ruling class.

Psaki is right about one thing. This is “an attempt to win the culture war.” She and her ilk, including her “devout Catholic” former boss, started this latest chapter in the culture war. Now our side is going to finish it.

We can tell a lot about a president just by knowing something about his Cabinet picks. This takes on special significance for Catholics when we have a Catholic president.

To begin with, we would expect a Catholic president to be faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, especially on life and death matters. We would also expect that any Catholics who are chosen to be in his Cabinet would also be loyal sons and daughters of the Church.

Biden fails these tests. He is the most ardent defender of abortion rights ever to become president of the United States. That obviously means that his policies are in direct contradiction to the teachings of the Catholic Church. For the most part, his Catholic Cabinet picks also reflect badly on him. He has eight Catholics in his Cabinet.

Lloyd Austin is Secretary of Defense. He has no public record on the subject of abortion. Denis McDonough is Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He has an uneven record on abortion. The other six are all off-the-charts supporters of abortion rights.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services is Xavier Becerra; Jennifer Granholm is Secretary of Energy; Samantha Power heads the U.S. Agency for International Development; Gina Raimondo is Secretary of Commerce; Tom Vilsack is Secretary of Agriculture; and the Secretary of Labor is Marty Walsh. All of them are abortion-rights extremists.

These are the Catholics who serve in Biden’s Cabinet. Most of them work to reinforce each other’s animus against the Church’s pro-life heritage.

All abortions are tragic, both for the pregnant woman and her baby, but most pro-life people do not lump all women who have had an abortion together, treating them all the same. For example, while we cannot condone it, most understand that a 15-year-old girl who becomes pregnant, and is fearful of telling her drunken and violent dad about it, may elect to have an abortion. They are less understanding of women who have had multiple abortions.

On “The View,” recently, Whoopi Goldberg said, “Getting an abortion is not easy. Making the decision is not easy. It’s not something people do lightly.” Who can argue with that? What’s strange about her comment, however, is that she has admitted to having six or seven abortions by the age of 25. Six or seven—she’s not sure.

If the decision to abort a baby is “not easy,” it appears to become easier for those who have another. That’s a serious problem which the media do not cover.

In 2008, 50% of all abortions were done on women who had a prior one. The most recent figure is 45%. This is an enigma. Why would approximately half of all women who have had an abortion go to a clinic again and again?

Abby Johnson, who was a director at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, described how “Angie,” a recidivist, spoke to clinic personnel. “‘Could y’all just Xerox my chart and I’ll fill in the dates?’ She would jest. Once the paperwork was in order, Angie would attempt to banter with the girls in the waiting room. ‘It’s no big thing,’ she assured them. ‘I’ve done it eight times before, and I have no regrets.'”

Irene Vilar’s mother committed suicide when she was eight-years-old; her brothers were heroin addicts. When she was a teenager she married a tyrannical 50-year-old professor. She wound up having 15 abortions in 16 years, admitting that women who have had multiple abortions show a certain “recklessness.” She was 15 times reckless.

“Mary” had three abortions when she was in her early twenties. After she was pregnant the third time, she wanted to have the baby but her boyfriend did not, so she had an abortion. “I felt like we were committing murder, that I was killing something I wanted.”

Dr. E. Joanne Angelo knows what Mary was going through. She is associated with Project Rachel, a Catholic support group that ministers to women—of any faith—who have had an abortion, and are seeking reconciliation. “When a woman finds herself pregnant in a crisis situation, she immediately calculates the date when her child would be born,” she says.

“After the abortion she may feel numb, her grief over the death of her child being blunted by her strong ambivalent feelings—her tender feelings for her child, and the defensive denial of these feelings which enabled her to submit to the abortion procedure,” Angelo writes. She further observes that “her inner life is often plagued by guilt and shame, nightmares of babies being sucked down tubes or dying in horrific accidents or violent crimes….Some may become seriously depressed and even suicidal.”

If this condition is commonplace among women who have had one abortion, why is it that at least some women who have had multiple abortions take it in stride?

If, as it appears likely, Roe v. Wade will be overturned, the problem of women having multiple abortions will not go away. There needs to be more aggressive intervention on the part of the medical community and the clergy after a woman has had an abortion for the first time.

We need to end the enigma of multiple abortions. That also means we need to be just as aggressive in dealing with the impregnating men. They’ve gotten away with their irresponsible behavior for too long.

On April 30, Comedy Central star Trevor Noah hosted the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. It says a lot about those in the White House and the media that they would pick such a bigot.

On two occasions in the past few years, we contacted his bosses at Viacom (and ViacomCBS), and he initially tapped his brakes, only to start up again with his attacks on Catholics. We all know that if he had said anything like this about any other demographic group, he would not have been invited. In fact, he wouldn’t even have a job—he would’ve been fired long ago.

The following are quotes from the “Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”

• September 28, 2015—While commenting on the pope’s visit to America, Noah stated that the pope’s car was small and that “somebody’s compensating. I’m saying the pope has a huge c**k.”
• June 27, 2016—After Noah made some humorous and inoffensive jokes about the pope’s quips aboard the papal plane, he referred to the pontiff as that “mother******.”
• January 5, 2017—While commenting on a McDonald’s opening near the Vatican, Noah stated that “it makes a lot of sense when you think about it—both the Catholic Church and McDonald’s have served billions, they both make people feel guilty about themselves, and both are historically bad for children, so it makes sense (emphasis added).”
• March 23, 2017—While commenting on a three-year-old removing the pope’s hat, Noah stated that “I can see why this made the news—a child undressing a priest for a change.”
• September 5, 2018—While commenting on two Catholic priests performing lewd acts on each other, Noah stated, “that sounds like a good news story to me. Two adults having consensual sex, hallelujah! That’s pretty dope.” The comic went on to suggest that the pope was “pretty stoked” about the story and introduced a dubbed-over clip of the Holy Father saying, “You want to talk about a miracle? They are both over 18. Two adults, just a midday quickie in a PT cruiser. Thank you, Lord Jesus!”
• March 26, 2019—While commenting on the pope not wanting people to kiss his ring, Noah stated that “it’s a nice change of pace to see a priest not want to touch people.”
• May 29, 2019—While discussing an alleged Catholic group selling video games, Noah provided a platform to “Daily Show” correspondent Ronny Chieng to say that “I don’t think an institution known for luring children should put out a game to lure more children. Where do you catch the final Pokémon Jesus—Father Garrity’s tickle room?”
• June 11, 2019—While commenting on the Vatican’s teachings on gender ideology, Noah stated that “the Catholic Church thinks that if you’re a girl, you’re a girl forever, and if you’re a boy, they are going to f*** you.” He then made several jokes about “pedophile priests.”
• October 9, 2019—Noah questioned, “Why is the communion wafer so bland? Jesus was from the Middle East. How about a bowl of hummus to go with it? Body of Christ, tasty.”
• January 16, 2020—While commenting on the pope’s remarks on the issue of celibacy for priests, Noah mocked Pope Emeritus Benedict for publishing a book on celibacy stating that “the old pope wants the rules to stay the same. And I get that. I mean if I had been forced to be a virgin for 92 years, I would also be out there like, ‘guys come on! Those are the rules! We agreed!'”
• March 9, 2020—While commenting on Covid-19 restrictions, Noah stated that “it’s going to be hard to take Communion seriously when the priest has to throw wafers into people’s open mouths from across the room, the Body of Christ—from downtown!”
• April 13, 2020—While commenting on Covid-19 restrictions, Noah stated that Easter Sunday would be hard for many church-goers, “but for the Catholic Church, this is a good thing—keeping priests separate from the congregation might not be the worst idea.”
• May 18, 2020—While commenting on Covid-19 restrictions, Noah stated that a Detroit priest using a water gun to bless parishioners with holy water from a distance was “a great way for other Catholic priests to explain why they have a bunch of kid’s toys in their basements.”
• March 16, 2021—While commenting on the Jesuits providing reparations to African-Americans, Noah mocked the Sacrament of Baptism by calling it “waterboarding babies.” The comic went on to do a skit where he impersonates a priest offering money to a black man “for owning [his] great-grandfather.” Noah then takes on the role of the black man and replies that “I thought this was for you guys touching us when we were kids.”

When Obama was president, they never would have allowed a white racist to host this event.

Trevor Noah claims to be offended by the white racist history of his home country, South Africa. But his sensitivity to tolerance apparently ends when Catholic priests are the victims of bigotry. Indeed, he contributes to it, leaving him no moral high ground to complain about bigotry of any kind.

Radio, TV, the internet and newspapers are all alive with stories saying that a majority of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned. Those reports are totally misleading. While the actual text of the decision does not allow for all abortions, in practice it does: to perform a late-term abortion all the doctor has to do is invoke a “mental health” exception and bingo—he can legally abort the baby.

Importantly, the American people have never been in favor of abortion-on-demand, yet this is what Roe allows. Surveys almost never ask respondents if they would support this ruling if they knew that it would allow for abortions at any time during pregnancy, and for any reason whatsoever.

The latest survey on this topic, published by the Pew Research Center, is rich in detail. It is so rich that it easily makes the case that the public wants nothing to do with Roe. Did those who wrote the report come to this conclusion? Not at all. Indeed, they spun their narrative in a way that suggests most Americans are okay with Roe.

The Pew survey, “America’s Abortion Quandary,” says that “A majority of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but many are open to restrictions; many opponents of legal abortion say it should be legal in some circumstances.” There are other conclusions that can be drawn from the data, but Pew is reluctant to do so.

“A majority of Americans say they do not agree with Roe v. Wade.” That would be an accurate conclusion, drawn from the Pew data, though it is not one that Pew prefers to make.

Only 19% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all cases. This means that 81% are opposed to what Roe allows. That is the real story. But it is not the one the researchers chose to flag. There are other provisions in Roe that the public opposes.

The report found that a majority of abortion supporters—not just those who oppose abortion—say that “how long a woman has been pregnant should matter in determining legality of abortion.” Indeed, this seriously undercuts the narrative that most Americans do not want Roe overturned.

Roe allows women to abort their baby in the first 24 weeks. But that is not what the American people want. Pew found that 43% want it to be illegal at 24 weeks, approximately double the number of those who think it should be legal (22%).

Moreover, a majority of abortion supporters—nearly seven-in-ten—say that those who perform abortions should be required to notify the parent or legal guardian if the woman seeking the abortion is under 18. That’s a limitation that Roe does not honor. In other words, this is another reason why the public is not happy with this decision.

Most telling is a sentence that the Pew authors wrote that seriously compromises its pro-abortion tilt. They concluded that “nearly two-thirds of the public thinks abortion either should be entirely illegal at every stage of a pregnancy or should become illegal, at least in some cases, at some point during the course of a pregnancy (their emphasis).” That makes the definitive case against the ruling in Roe.

It should be noted that the Pew researchers only mention the Roe decision by name twice; they were descriptive remarks at the beginning of the report. But they had plenty of opportunities to say to respondents, “This is what Roe allows,” and then ask specific questions about it.

Pew deserves high marks for its methodology. Its interpretation of its own data, however, reveals a bias—it put the happiest face possible on a survey that more accurately supports the views of pro-life Americans.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earned the admiration of fathers and mothers when he signed the Parental Rights in Education bill. Their rights have been slipping away, not only in Florida but throughout the nation, as sex-crazed activists, school administrators and teachers have sought to supplant them, making unauthorized and damaging decisions affecting their children.

Most people have never read the bill. If they listened to those branding it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, they would think it is a hate speech bill. This is a total lie.

To begin with, the following terms never appear in the legislation: heterosexual, homosexual, straight, gay, bisexual, intersex, non-binary and transgender (the last three categories are a fiction—they don’t exist in real life). The bill is about parental rights. It is also about protecting children from sexual engineers, namely those who treat kids as though they were a toy that they can play with to further their own agenda.

Here are some of the highlights of the bill:

• School district school boards must “reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children in a specified manner.”
• School district personnel are prohibited from “discouraging or prohibiting parental notification and involvement in critical decisions affecting a student’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being.”
• School district personnel are prohibited from “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in specified manner.”
• “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

Who could possibly object to these standards of common sense and common decency? (Most of the following comments were made prior to the bill’s passage.)

President Biden called the bill “hateful.” Disney said it “should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.” Oscar hosts slammed it, jumping and screaming, “gay, gay, gay.”

Ana Navarro whined that “the message it sends is a very chilling one for LGBTQ families.” Whoopi Goldberg said the bill is “shaming” queers and “punishing” teachers. Andy Cohen labeled it “one big dog whistle” that is “scaring people into spewing hate and discrimination at the LGBTQ community.”

Gay rights groups are just as irresponsible.

The Human Rights Campaign complained that “LGBTQ+ students may wonder if they’re allowed to even acknowledge their own sexuality or gender identity.” Nadine Smith from Equality Florida charged that DeSantis “attacked parents and children in our state by invoking hateful anti-LGBTQ stereotypes.”

Lambda Legal blasted the bill for giving “the ‘green light’ to teach intolerance, allow harassment, and fail to confront violence against LGBTQ+ youth and their families.”

An editorial in the Washington Post said proponents of the bill “invoke the bogeyman of school systems infringing on ‘parental rights,’ arguing that such conversations should be led by parents and families.”

Kara Swisher, a New York Times opinion writer, said, “Let’s call it what it is, trans- and homophobia.”

Robin Maril at Slate blamed insecure politicians who “rely on religiously based divisive messaging because it works. The theology of autocracy, meanwhile, uses the mantel of the church to promote nationalistic conformity while also channeling fear and anger toward communities that can’t or won’t conform.”

This is the kind of hysteria we have come to expect from left-wing sources.

There is nothing “hateful” about the bill. It does not “shame” queers or “punish” teachers. Nor are LGBT parents and children in any way “attacked” by the legislation. The curriculum does not teach intolerance, never mind “fail to confront violence” against anyone. Nor is there anything “phobic” about the bill. And it certainly has nothing to do with promoting the “theology of autocracy,” whatever that is.

Best of all is the Washington Post’s mention of “parental rights.” News Flash: There is nothing so-called about the rights of parents—they exist—and there is nothing debatable about contemporary assaults on them.

Kudos to Gov. DeSantis. He speaks for Americans way beyond Florida, including most practicing Catholics.

The law recently signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Parental Rights in Education bill, prohibits teachers from instructing kids as young as 5-years-old about sexual orientation and gender identity; it also ensures parental rights. Though it never mentions the word “gay,” it is nonetheless being dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

There are several issues here.

Why would a teacher want to ask little kids whether they are sexually attracted to those of the opposite sex or the same sex? What’s wrong with these people? Why would a teacher want to lie to little kids about their ability to switch their sex, something which is immutable, God-given and nature-ordained? What’s wrong with these people?

“It’s not like there’s no kernel of truth in that maybe kids that young shouldn’t be thinking about sex at all.” Those are not the words of a prude—those are the words of Bill Maher. Speaking about supporters of the DeSantis bill, he noted that “it’s not like you’re not allowed to literally not say gay, but they just don’t want teachers talking about it. They think it’s the province of parents.”

It’s one thing for the political opponents of the law, including celebrities, to call it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, quite another when the media do the same. To be sure, the media have every right to quote critics of the bill who characterize the bill this way, but they have no right to officially brand it this way.

We did a Nexis search of the number of media outlets that, in its headline, identified the bill as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. From March 1 to April 8, we found over 450 such instances.

What’s really wrong with all of these people is not simply that they lie about the bill, but that they really want little kids to be sexually engineered by teachers, preferably behind the back of their parents. They need to be confronted and defeated at every level.

LGBT activists have quite a tag-team going between pollsters and the media. First, the pollsters present a dishonest survey of public support for LGBT curricula in the schools, and then their allies in the media give Americans the impression that most favor such instruction.

Two such polls recently teed it up for the media to distort the truth even further. Both are being used to discredit the Parental Rights in Education bill signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: it disallows classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity for grades kindergarten through the third, and it insists on parental rights.

“A Majority of Parents Are Okay with Teaching on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in Schools, a New Poll Finds.” That was the headline of a Yahoo news story about a National Parents Union poll. The headline is deceptive. So is the news story. The headline reads, “Majorities of Parents Support Classroom Instruction about Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.”

When asked whether classroom instruction about these matters should be allowed in middle school and high school, 31% said it should be allowed but not encouraged, 25% said it should not be allowed, 7% were unsure. When asked if such instruction should be encouraged, just 37% agreed, meaning that the majority were opposed to encouraging such classroom instruction. But one would never know this from reading the story. Keep in mind that the DeSantis bill addresses kindergarten-3rd grade.

When respondents were asked about such classroom instruction in elementary school (the question never mentioned the early grades), only 30% said it should be encouraged. Similar numbers were posted about having students read books about LGBT people.

The results of a Morning Consult poll, taken for an LGBT organization, The Trevor Project, merited a positive story in The Hill, an influential Washington media source. It said the survey showed that a majority of Americans “do not support banning books on LGBTQ+ topics from school libraries or discussions about LGBTQ+ issues from classrooms.”

It should be noted that the DeSantis bill says nothing about classroom discussions—it only addresses classroom instruction. No young student in Florida will be punished for discussing anything.

Also, the DeSantis bill deals exclusively with kindergarten-3rd grade. This poll asks respondents how they feel about LGBT instruction and library books “at school” and “in school libraries.” It is not specific to the early grades.

One of the “Key Findings” cited in the survey is the following: “Most adults, including parents, feel that ages 5 through 11 are the most appropriate ages for students to be learning about LGBTQ topics at school (our italic).”

That is a gross distortion of the truth. In fact, 57% of adults, and 58% of parents, said that the most appropriate age would be 12-18. The authors of the poll came to its conclusion because 38% said the most appropriate age was 5-11. Just because that was the highest number given the age levels that respondents were asked to choose from (0-4, 5-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18), that doesn’t mean that most adults and parents agreed that 5-11 was the most appropriate age. A plurality is not a majority.

A majority, 55%, said parents should have “the ultimate say” about whether their transgender child receives gender-affirming medical care.

The average American has no idea what kinds of things are being taught in LGBT curricula and what kinds of books are being made available to students.

On March 1st, Bill Donohue sent a letter to Donna Orem, president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), asking her to substantiate a story about the organization that was published by Breitbart, an internet media outlet; copies were sent to members of the board of trustees. She has not replied, thus Donohue went public with his concerns.

NAIS is the national accreditation association for private schools across the country. In his letter he refers to its “queer-inclusive curriculum,” one which constitutes manipulative and highly objectionable fare. Moreover, it does so in secrecy, intentionally shielding parents from its contents. Many Catholic parents who send their children to a private non-sectarian school would be horrified to learn what the curriculum entails, as would non-Catholic parents.

At a NAIS conference in 2020, a staff member explained to teachers in a training session what children will be taught.

“Starting in Pre-K we talk about their bodies, the parts that they were born with, about penises and vaginas and whether they make somebody a boy or a girl. But also their feelings, what do they feel like inside, do they feel like a boy or a girl? What does their head say? Do their heart and their body match up?” Vocabulary lessons include words such as “the vulva and the labia.”

After leading these children to question their status as a boy or a girl, the schools will then proceed to encourage those who are in rebellion against their nature. “Students ready to socially transition may initiate a process to change their name, pronoun, attire, and access to preferred activities and facilities,” the latter meaning locker rooms and bathrooms.

Books that students can access in their library may include Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. It includes illustrations of boys performing oral sex.

All of this is to be done behind the back of parents. Worse, their children may be expelled from school if parents voice “strong disagreement” with the curriculum. To top things off, teachers are being instructed how to deal with “puritan” parents who object. The condescending attitude is typical of educational elites.

“Puritan Speak” includes phrases such as “That’s my job.” “They’re just not ready.” “They’re too young to know that.” “Won’t they lose their innocence?” “But, what if my child is not ready?” “You’re just trying to put ideas in their heads.” There is nothing “puritan” about these concerns—they are merely expressions of responsible parents.

What these educators are doing to children is child abuse and what they’re doing to parents is parental abuse. This is not sex education: it is sexual engineering, and it is violative of the rights of mothers and fathers.

If there is one good thing that the pandemic yielded, it is the extent to which unsuspecting parents have learned just how morally debased some teachers and administrators have become. The pushback must continue.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams inherited a mess created by his predecessor, Bill de Blasio. Most New Yorkers had high hopes that he would turn things around. Instead, he is off to a bad start.

New York City has the highest unemployment rate of any city in the nation. It is also witnessing a mass exodus of people to other parts of the country—Manhattan leads the nation. This is driven in large part because of the spike in violent crime, made possible because of morally bankrupt D.A.’s and an insane bail reform law. The high cost of living is also making it impossible for many to live here anymore. To top things off, the public schools are a disaster.

And what is Mayor Adams doing? He is spending the taxpayers’ hard-earned money on billboards in Florida to convince non-heterosexuals who live there to come to New York where they can “say and be whoever you want.” As if that is a problem in Florida.

Adams is abusing his office and the trust of the people. He was elected to solve the fiscal crisis in New York City and make our city safe again. Instead, he is inventing problems in other states that he purports to solve. His misuse of public funds is a disgrace.

If he actually thought this through, he would know that one of the reasons why New Yorkers are fleeing in record numbers—in all the five boroughs—is precisely because of the kind of irresponsible leadership that de Blasio offered. He was supposed to fix things, not play games.

Ironically, they are leaving en masse to Florida, a state with low taxes, low crime rates and good schools. And believe it or not, those who live there can actually “say and be whoever they want.”