Education

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING TO HELP THE NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES?

~ richeyjo ~ 1 Comment

(Excerpt from PBS)

Nov 26, 2019 President Donald Trump signed an executive action on Nov. 26 to address concerns over missing Native American women. The order creates an interagency task force aimed at improving efforts to find out what has happened to Native Americans who have gone missing and prevent the murders of native women. The U.S. government also plans to distribute grants to improve safety in Native American communities. “We will deliver justice for the victims, closure for the families and safety to those in harm’s way,” Trump said. Native American leaders who attended the signing ceremony thanked Trump for taking action and emphasized how murders have affected their communities. “We cannot have this happening anymore,” said Melanie Benjamin, the chief executive of the Non-Removable Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

Despite what anyone thinks about President Trump, the important thing here is how and what the various nations had to say.

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(Excerpt from U.S. Department of the Interior)

President Biden issues proclamation for missing and murdered relatives – Thursday, May 5, 2022

President Joe Biden issued a proclamation declaring May 5 as Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. “For generations, Indigenous persons, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, have been forced to mourn a missing or murdered loved one without the answers and support they deserve,” the proclamation from the White House states. “On Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, we remember these victims and their families, and commit to working with Tribal Nations and Native communities to achieve justice and healing.” “The Federal Government has an obligation to ensure that cases of missing or murdered persons are met with swift and effective action,” the proclamation continues. “My Administration is fully committed to investigating and resolving these cases through a coordinated law enforcement response, as well as intervention and prevention efforts. We are also dedicated to researching the underlying causes of this violence and to working with Native communities to address them.”

According to Biden, the Department of Justice is “working closely with Tribal Nations to develop regionally appropriate guidelines for these cases.” The apparent lack of progress in creating these guidelines had been raised in a bipartisan letter sent by key members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs earlier this week. “The Department of Justice has created a dedicated steering committee to oversee and coordinate this critical work, including an outreach services liaison for Federal criminal cases in Indian Country,” Biden states in the proclamation. The proclamation otherwise does not directly mention Savanna’s Act or the Not Invisible Act, both of which became law in October 2020, before Biden took office. Native women and their advocates have called on the federal government to implement the two laws in order to help address the crisis of missing and murdered people in Indian Country. But Biden touts his signing of the Violence Against Women Act. The new law recognizes the inherent authority of tribes to prosecute non-Indians for a broader set of crimes. It also recognizes the sovereignty of tribes in Alaska, who had been left out of the 2013 version of VAWA. “This important law expands special criminal jurisdiction of Tribal courts to cover non-Native perpetrators of sexual assault, child abuse, stalking, sex trafficking, and assaults on Tribal law enforcement officers on Tribal lands and supports the development of a pilot project to enhance access to safety for survivors in Alaska Native villages,” the proclamation states.

(Excerpt from NC Policy Watch)

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday, November 16, 2021, addressing violence against Indigenous communities.

“These efforts are a matter of dignity,” Biden said during the opening ceremony for the White House Tribal Nations Summit. “That’s the foundation of our nation-to-nation partnership.”

The executive order directs the departments of Justice, Interior, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services to create a strategy that will improve the public safety and justice for Native Americans, as well as address the crisis of missing or murdered Indigenous peoples.

“I’m proud to sign it. It’s long overdue,” Biden said while signing the order on Monday. “We’re going to make some substantial changes in Indian Country, and it’s going to continue.”

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As of today, August 6, 2022, these are just more promises made but promises not kept but that isn’t anything new when it comes to the Native American nations. What is different though is that there was a time when the news would carry and report on stories like this, but now-a-days, they are all bought and paid for by political parties, and this is why it is imperative that people become more involved and contact the various medias demanding more coverage about this problem, and to use Facebook and Twitter to spread the word. WE ARE OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER!

Right to Life Meme Match for High School and College-aged Michigan Youth

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It is the time of year where the Right to Life of Michigan Educational Fund typically holds its Youth Infographic Contest. This year instead of continuing with the infographic contest we have decided to change its format to a meme contest. Therefore, it is my pleasure to announce the first ever Michigan Right to Life Educational Fund Meme Match.

The Right to Life of Michigan Educational Fund hosts a Meme Match for high school and college-aged Michigan youth, ages 13 to 23. Contestants create and submit an original meme (based off on a pre-selected template), and contest finalists have their works shared on Right to Life of Michigan’s Facebook page where the public will like and share the memes to help determine the winners. The contest winner will receive a prize of $400 and the runner-up will receive $100.

CONTEST RULES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION: Friday, July 10, 2020.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO COMPETE?  Prolife young people from Michigan ages 13 to 23 as of July 10, 2020, are eligible for the competition.

HOW DO YOU WIN? Finalists will be selected by a Right to Life of Michigan panel and displayed on Facebook for a public vote. The submissions will be also be shared on our other social networking profiles for show. Voting on finalists will be “open” on Facebook from Wednesday, July 15, to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29. One third of the score will be based on the number of times each entry is shared from our Facebook page during that time and another third will be based on the number of likes each entry received from our Facebook page. The final third of the score will be voted on by the Right to Life of Michigan panel. The winner will be announced on Friday, July 31.

WHAT ARE THE PRIZES? The winner will receive $400 and the runner-up will receive $100.CONTEST RULES: 1. The meme must use one of three common meme templates to make a serious point about abortion: Gru’s Plan, Finding Neverland, Condescending Willy Wonka (examples are included above.  2. The important qualifications will be used to determine finalists:

  • 1.) originality,
  • 2.) relevance of the information,
  • 3.) cleverness and/or humor.  

The panel of judges is looking for submissions to make serious points using statistics, arguments, or current events; the purpose of this contest is not merely “dunking” on abortion supporters. Submissions will be checked against popular prolife meme creators to ensure no plagiarism is taking place.  3. Submissions for the contest are due by Friday, July 10, 2020. One submission per contestant. Memes must be in a JPEG or PNG file format and e-mailed to contest@rtl.org. Contestants must include their name, address, phone number, and birthdate in the e-mail. The file size for submissions must not exceed 5 megabytes.

HOW CAN I MAKE A MEME? Many websites freely offer the ability to make memes using the three templates selected for this contest. The most common one we’ve used is imgflip.com/memegenerator.

WHY MEMES? Satire and irony have a long and glorious tradition, from Elijah, to Horace, to Jonathan Swift, and today, where memes on social media are the kings of modern satire. Many social ills and injustices have been the object of ridicule over the centuries, and there’s no reason the greatest injustice of our time—the top cause of death in the world—deserves to be spared.

If you have any questions I will be more than happy to answer them.

Emily Kroll, Education and Events Coordinator, (616) 532-2300 | RTL.org

Clearing Up Confusion About Heartbeat vs. Dismemberment

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We understand that some churches have recently received requests from the Heartbeat Coalition to make their petitions available after services.  Right to Life of Michigan (rtl.org) recommends that this is counter productive as explained in the article below.

Thank you again to everyone who signed the petition to ban dismemberment abortion. We reached our goal.  The signatures are currently being reviewed and validated by the election commission. Then the citizen initiated legislation to ban this late term abortion in Michigan will advance to the legislature where it is expected to pass and go into effect and cannot be vetoed by the governor.

Please read the following message for further information:

May 20, 2019Prolife News

On their website and in conversations with many, we’ve heard that the Heartbeat Coalition is misleading people about Right to Life of Michigan’s dismemberment abortion ban, telling people it will not save lives. The Heartbeat Coalition says the heartbeat ban they are working on with their own petition drive will save lives in Michigan. That’s not accurate.

Here’s a couple of quick points explaining why:

  • The heartbeat petition drive is not organized by Right to Life of Michigan and is separate from the petition drive to bypass Governor Whitmer’s veto of the dismemberment abortion ban.
  • Michigan law already bans abortions before and after a heartbeat is detected. Governor Whitmer wants to repeal our existing 100% abortion ban before Roe v. Wade is overturned and it can be fully enforced again.
  • A heartbeat ban can’t go into effect until Roe v. Wade is overturned. Our 100% abortion ban would also then be fully enforceable, making the heartbeat ban irrelevant. A heartbeat ban can never go into legal effect or stop a single abortion in Michigan.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court can use any prolife law to overturn Roe v. Wade, including a dismemberment ban.
  • We fear a pro-abortion judge could abuse the heartbeat ban to stop our 100% abortion ban from being fully enforceable when Roe v. Wade is overturned, keeping abortion legal in the first weeks of pregnancy.
  • Our dismemberment abortion ban would take away the most common late-term abortion procedure and will save lives. There is a legal path for it to be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court if they aren’t ready to overturn Roe v. Wade.
  • Focusing on a dismemberment ban helps us educate Michigan citizens about the violence of abortion, just like the movie Unplanned.

Below is an in-depth discussion of this confusion.

Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision blocks significant abortion bans from going into effect. That includes Alabama, Georgia, and other states that have recently signed different bans into law; lower courts strike these laws down using the precedent of Roe v. Wade. A heartbeat bill needs Roe v. Wade to be overturned in order to go into effect.

Michigan is unique. Michigan has a 100% prolife abortion ban already on the books. It bans all abortions except to save the life of mother, including before a heartbeat is detected. The Michigan Supreme Court and lower courts have consistently ruled that our 100% ban is in legal effect, but not fully enforceable because of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Once Roe v. Wade is gone, our 100% abortion ban goes back into full effect.

There is no practical chance that a conservative U.S. Supreme Court would uphold a heartbeat ban as constitutional while still blocking other abortion laws from taking effect.

A heartbeat ban could never go into legal effect in Michigan or stop a single abortion, because Michigan already has a heartbeat ban, legally speaking. You can’t double-ban something!

Planned Parenthood fears our 100% abortion ban. Governor Whitmer says she wants it repealed as soon as possible. Bills to repeal it have been introduced by pro-abortion state legislators. Even pro-abortion Attorney General Dana Nessel understands our road map to ending abortion in Michigan and wants to stop it.

Despite assurances from the Heartbeat Coalition and their legal advice from outside our state, there is a chance a heartbeat ban could harm our 100% prolife abortion ban. In the hands of a pro-abortion judge arguing that the new law replaces our 100% old law, a heartbeat ban in Michigan could keep abortions legal in the first few weeks of pregnancy after Roe v. Wade is overturned, costing thousands of unborn lives. We don’t like to discourage people who are excited about making a difference, but our view is based on legal advice from constitutional attorneys who are experts with Michigan law.

If you’d like to read some of those legal opinions, please click here and click here.

We’ve tried to explain these facts to the Heartbeat Coalition and their leadership from Ohio and Indiana.

We don’t need a heartbeat ban to end abortion in Michigan! We already have the exact law we need; we just need Roe v. Wade overturned for it to fully work. If there’s no practical chance for a heartbeat bill to go into legal effect, why put our current abortion ban in any danger? The Heartbeat Coalition says their ban will help force the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, but nobody can force the U.S. Supreme Court to take up any case. They can overturn Roe v. Wade using any prolife law once they are ready, including a dismemberment ban, or perhaps the Alabama abortion ban that’s more protective than a heartbeat ban.

We appreciate the prolife fervor of the Heartbeat Coalition’s Ohio and Indiana leadership; the heartbeat ban is a right bill, but for the wrong state. Our appeal to them is to focus their efforts on another state that isn’t in Michigan’s unique legal position. For example, when Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will remain legal through all nine months of pregnancy in New York, the exact opposite of Michigan. A heartbeat bill in New York could go into legal affect there after Roe v. Wade is overturned and save so many lives. A heartbeat ban can’t legally save a single life here; it only has educational value.

It would be terrible if we botched a golden opportunity before us to educate Michigan citizens directly about the violence of abortion. When people see a video showing how dismemberment abortions work, it changes them. The movie Unplanned has been sweeping the nation because it shows the truth about abortion. This is exactly the right moment to have those conversations.

The Heartbeat Coalition has been confusing people about our dismemberment ban. It’s true a dismemberment ban won’t entirely ban late-term abortions, but it will stop many late-term abortions. The Abortion Industry relies on the dismemberment abortion procedure as the cheapest, quickest method. By using the dismemberment method, it allows them to “donate” the baby’s organs and other body parts for experiments. Taking that barbaric procedure away from them will save lives.

Our dismemberment ban simply adds the definition of the dismemberment abortion procedure to our existing partial-birth abortion ban. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld partial-birth abortion bans as constitutional, even with Roe v. Wade. Our dismemberment abortion ban has a legal path to being upheld in the courts, even if the Supreme Court isn’t ready to overturn Roe v. Wade. If the Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, Michigan is set to ban all abortions—no heartbeat ban is necessary.

We’re strongly encouraging all prolife people in Michigan to focus on getting our dismemberment ban done by achieving the monumental taskof collecting 400,000 signatures. It would be such a waste if we fail in that effort because people were confused and distracted by a separate effort to ban something that’s already banned.

We’ve labored for 52 years to protect Michigan’s 100% abortion ban so that when Roe v. Wade is overturned, we can end all abortions in Michigan, not just abortions after 6 weeks. The end of Roe v. Wade is in sight! Let’s not risk snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Michigan. We can’t lose focus on this out-of-state heartbeat plan from leaders who won’t be here to help pick up the pieces if it works out poorly.

Let’s complete this life-saving task of ending dismemberment abortions by working alongside our long-time Michigan prolife and pro-family allies.

(Repost of Right to Life of Michigan’s May 20, 2019 Prolife News)

Make Sure to Vote PRO-LIFE!

~ richeyjo ~ Leave a comment

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Good Afternoon,

 

I hope this email finds you well. In addition to Michigan’s usual August Primary and November General Elections there is a March 10th election we wanted you all to be aware of. This election date is specifically for the Presidential Primary and will feature two ballots, one for the Democrat candidates and one for the Republican candidates. Right to Life of Michigan PAC has endorsed President Donald J. Trump for reelection. President Trump will appear only on the Republican ballot in this Primary Election.

 

However, President Trump is not alone on the ballot. There are three long-shot candidates who will appear on the Republican ballot along side President Trump. While we are quite certain in the President’s ability to win the primary any under performance will invite more opposing money and resources into Michigan to defeat President Trump come November. To surmise, we can’t take anything for granted this election year. Michigan was the closest state that President Trump won in 2016 and we need to do all we can to deliver it again for him both in November and in March.

 

Absentee voting has already begun for this election and you are currently able to request ballots. When going to vote or requesting an absentee ballot you will have to pick only one ballot to vote on, Democrat or Republican, you will not be able to vote on both. All the Democrat presidential candidates are rabidly proabortion and have staked out radical positions on the life issues. The only prolife candidate in the race for President is Donald Trump. We encourage you completely and fully to vote for President Donald Trump in the March 10th Presidential Primary on the Republican ballot. Please feel free to contact me with any questions and thank you for your time.

 

Casey Kreiner
PAC Director
(616) 532-2300 | RTL.org

2019 Annual Conference – Right to Life of Michigan

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Thursday, September 26, 2019

8:15 a.m. Registration & continental breakfast
9:00 a.m. Program
3:30 p.m. Closing

Reservations

Students $25
Individuals $55
Group (4+) $45
After Sept. 13 $65

Register

September 13 is the last day available for Conference registration refunds.

Cleary University, The Johnson Center, 3725 Cleary Drive, Howell, Michigan 48843
Register

General Session I:

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Jeanne Mancini
Preserving the Fire Within: Staying Energized and Joyful in the Battle for Life

Jeanne is President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, the non-profit organization committed to restoring a culture of life in the United States, most notably through the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Jeanne holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from James Madison University and a Master’s degree in the theology of marriage and family from the Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. Jeanne resides in northern Virginia with her husband, David.

General Session II:

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Brandon Buell
Jaxon Strong: Celebrating a Precious Life from a Father’s Perspective

Brandon Buell didn’t truly recognize the purpose behind his prolife convictions until the birth of his son, Jaxon, born in 2014 with an extreme and incurable brain malformation. Before his birth, hope for Jaxon’s life was nearly impossible. Abortion was suggested frequently by medical professionals who stated Jaxon may live only a few weeks—if he were to even survive delivery—and he would be significantly limited in his abilities. Through faith, Jaxon’s parents chose life for their son. Against all odds, Jaxon is now five years old.

Workshops:

Fundraising with Bill: Effective Major Gift Fundraising for Today

Bill Kean
Development Coordinator, Right to Life of Michigan

We Got More Prolife Resources Than Davy Crockett

Chris Gast
Director of Communication/Education, Right to Life of Michigan

Design 101: How to Catch the Prolife Eye

Brittany Lutz
Art & Marketing Director, Right to Life of Michigan

Proactively Prolife: A Study on Church Engagement

Reverend Christopher Thoma
Senior Pastor, Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church & School

For more information, please go to:  https://rtl.org/event/conference/

Training for Petition Drive to Prohibit Dismemberment Abortion

~ richeyjo ~ 4 Comments

Michigan Residents say NO to Dismemberment Abortion

An opportunity is before Michigan citizens. By working together, we can ban the inhumane abortion procedure known as the D&E or dilation and evacuation method. This method of abortion uses surgical instruments to forcibly remove arms and legs from a living human being in the womb.

Michigan’s Constitution allows the people to initiate legislation through a petition. The petition seeks legislation that would amend our partial-birth abortion ban by adding the equally horrific dismemberment abortion procedure to that ban. The advantage of this approach is that the bill’s language cannot be changed by the legislature, but more importantly, it cannot be vetoed by Governor Whitmer! We need to collect 400,000 signatures, and we have 180 days to do it, starting on June 26, 2019.

To learn more, read the Petition, order materials, please go to: michiganvalueslife.org/

Right to Life Volunteers Needed

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Upper Downriver Right to Life usually takes the summer off and has no meetings in July and August.  This summer is an exception.

On June 20, many of us attended the training held by Right to Life of Michigan.  We learned about the legislation that was passed that would ban dismemberment abortions.  Governor Whitmer has promised to veto it.  The state constitution provides a means to by-pass the veto.

We will join with Right to Life of Michigan and collect signatures on petitions to ban dismemberment abortion.  You can read the press release from RLM here.

For your convenience, UD-RTL will hold two special meetings of one hour to explain the situation, enlist the help of volunteers from churches and distribute petitions.  Please make plans to attend one of these meetings.
  • Tuesday, July 9 from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at the Right to Life Resource Center, 2010 Eureka, Wyandotte (734-282-6100)
  • Wednesday, July 10 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm at the same location.
Please help us recruit representatives from as many churches as possible and RSVP to wyandotteRLM@gmail.com as to which session you plan to attend.  We will have information and petitions available at the meetings.  We need your help to secure our share of the 400,000 signatures needed.  Please invite others who may be interested!

If you need a letter to a pastor, please let me know and I will get it to you.

Also, please watch our “Events” page on our Facebook account and volunteer for any of the upcoming events, or for various committees that put together an event.  Often times we need people to make phone calls, or help stuff envelopes, hand out flyers, and join us in our parades, Life Walk, Oratory Contests, Life Chain, our Yard and Bake Sale, and so many other opportunities to reach out to help.

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