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BREAKING: Left Exposed in Latest Shutdown Tactic

Sekulow Radio Show / Jay Sekulow & Jordan Sekulow
The Truth Network Radio
October 23, 2025 1:14 pm

BREAKING: Left Exposed in Latest Shutdown Tactic

Sekulow Radio Show / Jay Sekulow & Jordan Sekulow

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October 23, 2025 1:14 pm

The government shutdown affects federal employees, including air traffic controllers, who are not receiving paychecks, causing stress and financial difficulties. Meanwhile, the rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses is a growing concern, and the ACLJ is working to protect free speech and religious liberty. The continuing resolution to fund the government is a contentious issue, with Democrats and Republicans at odds over its terms. The shutdown has turned on Congress, with people realizing that they are the holdouts to passing a straightforward spending bill to keep the government open.

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Today on the show, the Democrats propose a new bill, a bizarre bill. Amidst the shutdown. Keeping you informed and engaged.

Now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.

Welcome to Sekulow. Fixing the colour here, Will. You gotta, you know, look good on air here. Will Haines in studio, Jordan Sekulow in studio. We're supposed to be joined again by Jeff Balabon.

We got another update from Israel coming for you.

So you're gonna like this one. This is actually a big win from the ACLJ.

So we're excited to share that. Usually we don't have two hits from Israel back to back, but today is a very special day for our team at ACLJ Jerusalem and also at ACLJ. Here in the States.

So it's going to be one if you've been following sort of the rise in anti-Semitism, obviously on college campuses. We've got a victory to report.

So that's going to be a lot of fun coming up later. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-30110. We're looking at all the different topics we could discuss today. And the one that kind of jumped out is: obviously, there is pain. There is pain going right now if you are a member of the government.

If you are working for the government, maybe you've been furloughed, maybe your paychecks are being held. And the Republicans, of course, there was another opportunity to move forward. The Democrats once again shut it down. This is what, how many attempts? The 13th?

12th attempt? Yeah. That the Democrats decided not to reopen the government with a clean, continuing resolution. And not even really discuss it, not even have any sort of conversation.

So that's what's happening. Of course, the Democrats will say it's the Republicans. Republicans will say it's the Democrats. And the Republicans put a point together and said, hey, how about we start paying people, though? That's right.

So Senator Ron Johnson is expected to have a vote today on a bill which would pay federal employees that are still having to work. Because there are those that are furloughed, that are at home. Yeah, that aren't going to work. But then there are those, you think about the air traffic control, the military, people that still have to show up and are not going to be receiving a paycheck this Friday when payday rolls around. And so he put together a bill that those that are still having to show up should be getting paid for that.

The Democrats are trying to frame that as, well, then the President gets to pick who's essential and who's not. He gets to pick who's getting paid and who's not, which is a ridiculous argument in and of itself. But now the Democrats came up with two. Kind of competing alternatives to Senator Johnson's. If they can't say yes, then that's a good idea.

Right, they can't do that, and then they can't also look like they didn't come up with something on their own. Right.

So one is the most bizarre thing that I think I've seen proposed by a Democrat, and they proposed a lot because someone thought this is a really good idea and it's going to make us look better throughout this shutdown process. This comes out of Senator Gary Peters from Michigan. He's already, we have the text. You can see it on the screen of this bill. He's planning to announce today or to drop at the Senate today.

that would pay All federal employees, so every single one, 100%. From the start of the shutdown, up until when that bill that you see on the screen is enacted.

So essentially Hitting the reset button on the government shutdown. Reopen. Close the room. We're going to pay everybody. And then you immediately, you get your back pay, your one or two missed paychecks throughout this process, Jordan.

But then immediately you're back at zero. You're still nervous for your family. You're still worried about it. It opens a wild precedent. A horrendous precedent to open because what it does is allows the government to operate at 100% when Congress has not passed a budget.

Because now you're paying for everyone. And because you have to do it every couple of weeks, you're having to go back and vote. And if they're trying to tie Republicans, pressure Republicans into doing this, say, oh, these people need their paychecks, instead of Republicans saying they'd all be getting their back pay right now if you signed on with the majority party who controls the House, the Senate, and the White House continuing resolution, which, by the way, adds nothing new to what was already passed as law a year ago.

So no new Republican plans. Just keep things as they are. You don't have to start a precedent of funding the government, but it's technically shut down. You could literally keep the government closed. And shut down forever, but fully paid.

But then, of course, some of your services aren't getting done. It could be a disaster that they're not thinking of long term. Or maybe they are, and maybe that's what they want. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-68-430-110. What do you think about this?

We got more coming up as well. Again, support the work of the ACLJ. Could never be a more important time than to support free speech right now than at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secula. Taking your phone calls at 1-800-68-430-110.

If you have you're on hold, stay on hold and we'll get to you. Let's kind of reset what's going on because there's a lot of people who are just joining us right now, especially on our YouTube channel.

Sometimes that takes a minute for YouTube to populate across the world. And right now, we know a lot of you are joining, and they go, What could be, Will? That Big, interesting, bizarre, I think, as I said in the TV proposal. And the proposal really is to shut down or in the shutdown for about five minutes, enough for everyone to sign some paychecks, and shut them down real quick.

So essentially, really making the shutdown null and void, except for the services that affect people.

Well, and as we've seen, the Democrats have failed to advance the end of the shutdown 12 times now. And so there are some people trying to come up with alternatives because the politics that they're playing in Washington are affecting real people's lives across America. And so Senator Johnson out of Wisconsin had a bill that would pay those that still have to come to work. because they're forced to, because it's essential jobs, air traffic control, the military, social security, that doesn't end, so someone's gotta be there to process that. But those people processing the paychecks of Social Security are not getting paid themselves.

His bill would pay those that are still forced to work. Even while the government is shut down, the Democrats won't go for that because they want to inflict as much pain to try to get Republicans to cave and to give in to their demands instead of passing the same continuing resolution that was passed last year and many times before that. But so they're like, we gotta come up with our own counterpoint, right? Because that's just too good. Exactly.

So there's the one that really caught my eye is from Senator Gary Peters out of Michigan. Oh, my. And he has a proposal that would pay all federal employees.

So 100% of the government From the day that the shutdown started To today or whenever that bill passes.

So, 23 days ago or 24 years ago.

So, for most people, that would be either one or two paychecks they're going to receive if this were to get enacted.

Now, also, he doesn't really want it to go through because he's not putting it to a normal floor vote. He's forcing it through unanimous consent, which try getting 100 people. That would be every senator would have to agree to move forward. Get 100% of the U.S. Senate on a piece of legislation, say, we'll pay everybody for two weeks.

And by the way, we'll come back again in two weeks and have to pay them again, or else you'll be the bet. And then, what is the impetus for ending the shutdown then? If you are a Democrat, if you could now pay the entire bureaucracy, which you love, tell the OMB they can't furlough any more people, which is, again, not the role of Congress. The executive branch, again, executes the laws that they pass. And then at the same time, they will try to use it against Republicans to say in ads.

See, we had a bill to pay you to make sure your loved one who worked for the federal government was paid. They voted no. But what they're not telling you the truth is you'd be having this fight every two weeks, which means you would never get to an end of a shutdown. And any federal employee right now who has been there at least since Trump 45, so President Trump's first term, has been through a shutdown longer than this.

Now it's getting closer, but it was 35 days. And I think we're at day 23 right now.

So I think they've been through it. They know they got their back pay. I think it's when you start getting close to the day 30, if it looks like no movement, you've got to push on something like what Ron Johnson is proposing and not be. Scared into thinking that you've got to vote for this Democrat proposal because of what ads they must run against you.

Well, and here's the other thing. The Democrats know right now it's hurting them. They tried to make it the Trump shutdown. It's been the Schumer shutdown since day one. No one believes it's Trump.

When you start looking at also, Jordan, when you get to over 30 days in, then you start running up with almost every single employee having an issue with a mortgage, with a credit card bill, with those things that are on 30-day revolving payments. That starts coming up, not just for, obviously, it can be at any point. I'm sure people, the very first point during this shutdown, had that arising. But then you've reached 100% of the federal government are starting to have those issues. Then they really start hearing from their constituents and from those that are upset that you're not paying us.

Yes, we'll get it all back pay, but that starts messing up. And we know banks are actually working with the customers because it isn't their fault. It is the fault of the federal government. Getting concerned about is this going to affect my credit score? Is this going to affect my ability to help my family, to pay for other things, to get a loan in the future?

And that is really what you're starting to look at when you get up on that 30-day delivery. I want to take a phone call because it is someone who is affected. Let's go to Mark, who's calling in Oklahoma. Watch it on Facebook. Mark, go ahead.

Hey guys, thanks for all that you do. Um today Thank you for calling. It's my thirteen year anniversary for the Federal Aviation Administration as an aircraft controller. And I woke up to will leave an earnings statement that zero. My last paycheck.

that I received was a little over twenty percent lower than the previous one. The one that I'm supposed to get this coming Tuesday will say zero dollars on it. I have been in the agency now thirteen years. That means this is the third shutdown that I've been through. I'm sick.

And tired. of being used as a political Yeah. regardless of what side of the aisle people are on. I'm I don't ask who's on the airplanes. Below control.

It doesn't matter whether I've worked with President Biden or President Trump. President Obama. on Air Force One. I do my job. And I have to be right.

one hundred percent of the time. And if I'm not right, then you guys get to watch the President of the United States hold a press conference. Right.

Look, Mark, I think e a lot of people are feeling the frustrations and concerns you are. I just wanted to take your call. I saw you calling in. I said I want to hear from you because, look, everyone needs aircraft controls. The two top areas where people wish we could just get the payments to is military and FA Because of our transportation needs, which would then cover the holidays are coming.

Um unfortunately we know is that um These are new proposals now.

Someone like Ron Johnson would want to do that because he's having to go, the FA is having to go in. And then the military is having to go in and say, if you are working right now, you should be getting paid. And that would then take care of your situation, Mark, and all the other air traffic controllers, which we realized very quickly when they tried to cut the size and use more tech, that you were not at the point yet where you still didn't need this full bank of FA folks.

So yes, you are doing very difficult jobs. I put you almost in the realm of like service, like military, because you're keeping people alive, keeping us alive. And I think people like that should be who we're focused on first. And Ron Johnson just took it a step further and said, everybody who is still working. And that's not good enough for Democrats.

Well, and to that point also, Jordan, what Ron Johnson's proposal would do would help people like Mark, who, as he just said, has to be right 100% of the time. What he doesn't need In the back of his head, is what's gonna my next paycheck gonna look like? And that's what these people that have to be 100% of the time correct. They now have an added stress put on them when they go to an already stressful job that is essential to the function and the infrastructure of this country. Not just leisure travel and business travel, but transportation, the logistics, the shipping of this country, everything.

We have to think about that. They are putting an added stress. And what does Gary Peters' proposal do? It says, okay, you get your back pay, but that stress doesn't go away. You as an air traffic controller.

You still now have to worry about the next paycheck. And you know what they're going to do? The Senate after they vote on these today, or I'm sorry, not even vote, have unanimous consent. Go home for the weekend on Thursday. They're done.

Close up shop. They're still getting paid. And when people like Bernie Sanders are asked, he said, Well, I mean, it's a good idea, but I mean, some of these people are younger, they have families, they can't afford to do that. You can't ask the Congress to do what we're asking the entire federal government to do. How dare you suggest that?

And he's supposed to be the socialist. And it's so quickly. How they forget. Their ideology when you're asked them to do the same thing that they want the rest of the country to do. No, listen, this ends easily by just.

Passing the CR. The CR Uh, has nothing new, no new plans in it. That's why you can't, you don't hear anything from them about, oh, this is going to do this and that, because even when they try that, it's so quickly debunked. Because this legislation, the legislation that this is tied to already passed. In a continuing resolution, you can't add a bunch of stuff.

So, The Democrats just don't want to even. give Republicans a win on a continuing resolution. That's not Final, that's not like passing a final budget. This is how dedicated they are to the radical left of their party, that they think even the bureaucrats who usually vote Democrat. I think it's about 90%.

They're willing to make sure to put them in pain. in har in harm's way. Because of politics, because they don't want to be outdone by the more liberal members of their party, like AOC and others who they think they are all in a fight with, especially Schumer. And if you're someone like John Fetterman, who's actually speaking logically about this, what are they threatening to do? Primary him.

Yeah. They're about to throw him out of their party. They're going to attempt to because he thinks logically and doesn't want the people of Pennsylvania to be suffering the way. Logically, he learned what the Democrat Party was really about. And you thought he was coming in as one of the most progressive guys.

What he was coming in as one of the more common sense people, as kind of to represent the working class and as way more of an independent than they tried to portray him. And even sometimes the left portrayed him as this kind of like. activist type and and instead he's a common sense guy. All right, we happens to support Israel, which is the great Satan of the Democrat Party. We got film lines open and want to hear from you.

We're going to give you an update also on the ACLJ. We got some movement going on, some interesting cases you're going to want to get involved as well by going to aclj.org, reading all the incredible content that we have available, watching all the content. It's available for free without a paywall, but only because you support financially and give generously at aclj.org. Welcome back to Steculo. Phone lines are almost completely jammed.

We got one line open at 1-800-68-431-10. We'll definitely take some of those calls in this segment and later on.

So stay on hold. If you're on hold, we will get to you. I did want to pivot a little bit, some of the work of the ACLJ. You know, as we said, as school season kind of kicked back in, and now we're honestly headed towards the back quarter of the year in terms of your semesters. You know, a lot of people are just back from fall break.

You're going to have Christmas coming up, Thanksgiving holidays. And with that, we know comes a lot of conversations and maybe a lot of issues at schools. And sometimes it involves the teachers.

Sometimes it involves the teachers doing the right thing and being punished or reprimanded for just stating very obvious facts or being you know promoting kindness. And that is sort of what happened here. We had a teacher who it was the morning after or of the Charlie Kirk assassination. It just came up in her class. People were talking about it.

Obviously, it became something that people were addressing. And with that, they started talking about. Uh people who had been murdered, who had been assassinated for their uh Their beliefs, whether it was their political beliefs or their religious beliefs or whatever it may be.

Well, and this teacher was actually teaching curriculum that was approved by the school board, by the all of this entire curriculum was approved because this was on this day. It's an eighth-grade history teacher in Hawaii. Federally funded schools, schools that receive federal funds, have to teach about the Constitution on Constitution Day. That's a part of the federal law.

So, this was a curriculum talking about the Bill of Rights that had been approved to be taught. And they were talking about the First Amendment and talking about free speech. And the teacher was talking about how there is a difference between what is protected speech and not protected speech. A student. This wasn't even a very controversial conversation.

It wasn't even about controversy. Tell people how it went down.

So on this, she talked about that, one, even hate speech on Constitution Day, which she says is protected to an extent. Like we don't have laws against hate speech like other countries, and that it's protected to an extent before it becomes incitement. And incitement's not. But again, we're talking to kids here. And it prompted a student.

Not the teacher. A student then raised their hand and referenced Charlie Kirk being killed for freedom of speech, for talking. And then the teacher just asked students to name other figures in American history. Yeah, in somewhat. Pivoting.

Right.

Actually, pivoting the conversation. Pivotal history. Pivoting history.

So brought up J.F. King brought up Martin Luther King Jr. Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln. So they have conversations.

And in that conversation, someone mentioned the attempted assassination of President Trump, a student. And another student responded with something to the effect of, well, that wouldn't have been such of a bad thing. Right.

And of course, that's an abhorrent thing to say about anyone that you hoped that that assassination. Clearly, I'm sure we can know where that student's parents are politically. And the teacher's response, Was just to, again, de-escalate the situation. You can't call for someone to die. That's not hate speech.

That's just anyone to be killed for their speech. And here's why. And gave what appears to be a very nuanced. Bipartisan, not a political speech by any means. A Republican or Democratic speech or some sort of teacher, a teacher who just doesn't.

Want to really engage in on their own. She did not bring, this teacher did not bring this on herself.

So here's what happens: the school has a meeting with the social studies department. And in front of everybody, he says that there have been some incidents in certain classes that will be addressed, but teachers are not allowed to discuss, quote, controversial issues. And if that is brought up by a student, it must be shut down.

Now, then later, the teacher was called into a one-on-one meeting with the administration, and the vice principal told the parent or told the teacher that a parent of a student who wasn't even in the class. Called to complain and made it all about Charlie Kirk, not about the entire discussion and the things that were said even about President Trump.

So then. Which was really the moment of the shutting or moving on the conversation and having discussion was actually about someone, like a student responding that it wouldn't have been bad for President Trump to have been assassinated. And clearly, she or he was deciding to end this conversation and just say, no, that's not how we do things here in America.

So the teacher gets a summary of the conference memo stating what the issue is, a reprimand placed into their file, and that if controversial issues arise spontaneously without administration approval and parent notification, discussion must be put to a stop immediately. Failure to comply with the above directives may result in disciplinary action.

So this is silencing free speech. It's silencing academic freedom. And we are not going to let this go through. We have now sent a demand letter to the Department of Education in Hawaii that this be removed from the teacher's file. That they support and promote the First Amendment and the freedoms that are here.

But there are so many constitutional violations here, Jordan, that they're the chilling effect on free speech. It also just ridiculously all that controversial. It's not all that controversial that the news of the day is going to come up, and as a teacher, you have to know how to present the, you know, at least to respond appropriately. And what I'd like about this case, and sometimes you know, you have teachers that go rogue and do teach things that I think are very inappropriate. was this teacher really did the best they could.

Two. Settle down the situation and move forward. But because likely it had to do with President Trump or Charlie Kirk or conservative leaning people, right? They did pivot. Yeah, no, they pivoted as teachers, they pivoted and Exactly.

Even the demand was kind of what was met, but that wasn't good enough. And that is clearly because of the topic.

Well, it's also unconstitutionally vague, the directive, saying if something arises that's controversial, how subjective is that right there, Jordan? Just saying, I mean, you can't even, you can't talk about the American Revolution or anything in American history. Slavery in America because it's deemed controversial. The protests for women's right to vote. The Constitution, the three-fifths provision.

I mean, all these things that you should be learning about in history class as you go up in age. could be deemed controversial 10 different ways. Our history itself Has controversies. It's not, you know, as our founding fathers knew, we're not perfect. We're gonna strive to be the best we can be as a country in the world.

And I think we are, but that means always striving towards. Getting better and trying to pursue happiness, never really reaching full happiness, but pursuing happiness as a goal instead of pursuing just passion. power and government strength. But this idea, again, of just these schools going overboard. What will happen is, we'll just have no history taught.

Is that what they want? I mean, that kind of has happened before where America's best. Remember that happened a few years ago where kind of during COVID, it was like history classes got put on pause in Chicago because they were like, we don't know what kind of history is being taught here. With that being said, the ACLJ doesn't stop. And what is next is what is important, which is, of course, we are representing this teacher at zero cost to them because people like you donate and support.

And that's great because you never know when you're going to need it yourself. Because likely this teacher would not be able to afford, especially the legal minds that we have here, when you're able to be represented by the best of the best, but Jordan, I guess we could say what that next step is. Yeah, so what we're doing is they have a November 6th deadline to reply to our demand letter that says you remove the memo and that teachers, confirmation that teachers will not be forced to silence students during approved lessons and that instruction on constitutional rights will not be deemed controversial.

So they can avoid a lawsuit they have until November 6th. After that, We'll decide whether to f file a formal complaint with The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, if they want to take it to the Trump DOE, bring that on. Bring it on. With that, we want you to support the work of the ACLJ.

We have a second half hour coming up. Get it on however you get your live broadcast, aclj.org, YouTube, Rumble, whatever it may be. Find us there at later archive. But right now, This is the time to stand up for free speech and for religious liberty. And you can do that, be a part of the team, become an ACLJ supporter or an ACLJ monthly champion right now.

Keeping you informed and engaged.

Now more than ever. This is secular. And now your host, Luke. Logan Secular. Welcome back to Sekulow second half hour coming up.

In the next segment, we're going to head over to ACLJ Jerusalem. We're going to get an update, what's going on to Israel, and some of our cases involving students who are having issues with anti-Semitism on campus.

So we're going to have an update of that. We have an interesting update coming through. This is from Jake Sherman, Punch Bowl News, longtime D.C. reporter, but that House Democrats are calling their members back to D.C.

next week and that they are holding an in-person caucus meeting on Tuesday and events Wednesday.

Now, this could be a sign that maybe there's some sort of breakthrough between Senate leadership and that maybe they've got a way forward on the shutdown. Or it could mean that they're going to come forward and have some sort of posturing. They think they have a next wave of a PR campaign. But it is very interesting we're calling the House back. Because the House has already passed this.

then what all they would be doing is maybe introducing Additional terms to this legislation that likely Republicans would oppose.

So, again, Logan, what they're trying to do through today's actions, which we are talking about, how ridiculous that is, we'll backpay you until today. And then we'll have to go through this again.

So, we'll have shutdown all the time, is they the shutdown has turned on them. It did not turn on the President. It turned on Congress and it turned on the Dims because people realized. They were the holdouts to passing just a A really straightforward spending bill to keep the government open. And so now they're going to look like they're going to do some work by proposing some items, I believe, that won't go through it because they wouldn't need to come back on their own.

Unless it's Republicans coming back too, because they think the Senate is going to send something back.

So that's what we have to watch for. Are Republicans going to be back because they think the Senate is going to be sending something back with a few amendments that they have to then pass? What I would almost look at also, Jordan, is that this is a moment for Hakeem Jeffries, who's had not the greatest rollout with this of trying to blame the Republicans. He's the one that said, you know, we need Donald Trump to negotiate this out. Really kind of it flew in the face of their no Kings Day messaging.

But I am kind of with you. I think it's going to be now they're going to try to say, look. The entire Democrat caucus is here working. Where are the Republicans?

Well, the answer to that is many Republicans are in their district trying to help people in their district navigate the shutdown. You've seen a lot of stories of that. And when there's no business to move forward in the House, then there isn't necessarily a reason for the House to be there because they actually did their job. They passed the Clean CR and it's in the hands of the Senate at this point.

So Washington itself, at least legislatively, is kind of in a holding pattern because of the Senate. All right, let's. We got two minutes in this segment. I would like to take one call really quick because I don't want to miss downhold too long. Let's go to David.

Let's try to settle some things for people. David in Nevada, who is watching on the Salem News channel. It's a great place to watch us live. David, go ahead. Yeah, I would like to know, Eo, because you guys mentioned About the military and the air traffic controllers And social security.

Am I going to lose my social security? been working for since That's why I wanted to take you because I wanted to make it clear to everybody. If you are receiving a Social Security check, you will be receiving that Social Security check. Timing shouldn't be affected because the Postal Service is fully, they have their own fund. That's why it's a public-private partnership.

So they're able to keep working and you're going to get your Social Security check.

So anybody who tells you that that's not the case is lying and they are doing it for political purposes, trying to scare you. Or to scam you.

So be careful. And watch out for scams as well. For people that try to say, like, hey, we will loan you. We'll loan you what you'd get in Social Security if you didn't give us 20% back. That is why I wanted to take your call, David, so early because I wanted to put some people at ease.

If you're getting Social Security and you're on it, you're getting that check the same you would as before. Keep your eyes open for scammers because this is when they thrive.

So not that we give that kind of advice typically on the show, but I've seen it happen so many times.

So David, thank you for calling. Thank you. Thank you for watching on Salem News channel. It's a great place to watch our show. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110.

We get back. We are going to head over to ACLJ Jerusalem with Jeff Balabon. He was on yesterday talking about what's going on in Israel. But today, we have an update of what happened here in America, which is a student who was suffering from anti-Semitism, the rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses. And we got some great results.

That is because people like you support the ACLJ. We're going to talk about that coming up. And you have some more updates in just a moment. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow.

Phone lines are open for you, and I want to hear from you in the next segment. We're going to take as many calls as we can.

So go ahead and get on hold at 1-800-684-3110. Jeff Balbon, head of ACLJ Jerusalem, is joining us now. And though you're in Jerusalem, we're actually going to talk about something that's happening over here on the state side. Will, why don't you set us up a little bit and then we'll kick it over to Jeff? That's right, Jeff.

As we've long done here at the ACLJ, we've tried and fought successfully for Jewish students that were facing anti-Semitism on campuses here in the United States. And this is a case that we talked about a while back, but that this was at New York Law School, where a Jewish student came to the ACLJ and we represented her through a formal complaint process about some of the posts by Yeah. Anti-Israel and pro-Hamas groups on campus. Give us a little bit of background of what we did here at New York Law School. Sure.

So a student came to us and let me say at the outset There are many, many stories coming from this school as well as other schools. one student who had the courage and the Foresight to call us up and ask if we could get involved. We heard out all of the situation. And then we brought it to The law school detention, and this is after years of students trying to get the attention of the law school, especially after October 7th. when things got worse and worse.

When it became commonplace at New York Law School, as among other places, other schools, other universities. uh for students to come into class and be surrounded by other students Wearing kafiyas, the symbol of of uh showing support for the Hamas murderers. Uh and and co and Globalize the cathode, which means to bring the virus. America itself. And they were terrified, and the school didn't react the way they wanted to.

to react. And then there were posts that went out publicly, and some of them seemed to have the schools in premature. And so we brought this to the school's attention. There were many other complaints, honestly. I'm not going to get into all of it.

And we talk about some of it at the ACLJ website. But uh the school launched an investigation because they understood they had to take us seriously. And I would say that their investigators that they retained actually did take the investigation seriously. The result was, after a long, prolonged investigation, that uh action was taken that will not help the students who's already graduated, but thanks to her bravery. It will help other students at New York Low School now and in the future.

Uh shouldn't There were Mandate issue. To some of these very anti-Semitic groups, that if they don't take down certain posts and they don't change certain behaviors. They would be uh taken away from is they would lose their rights at the school, that students might be excluded from the school because of this. Um And basically, I would say this is a major victory. It's protected free speech.

We understand the universities limit speech all the time you You can't say negative things about certain about any particular group they on most Supposedly, it shouldn't be based on religion or race or national origin, and yet it happens routinely now. about Jews at universities. And they're threatened. And if you're terrified, And so there is There were things that seemed, I'll be honest about this, there were things that described. Ooh.

feel got away with because you Yeah. intent on certain things. But some very important major forward-looking steps were taken. Yeah. School is clearly unnoticed now, and this will result in a better environment, God willing, in the future at the school.

And especially the fact that they acknowledge that even things that might be detected technically if sued at because of free speech. still would never be accepted if it happened to any other uh Religious or ethnic minority. And therefore, they realized it was inconsistent with the way other students are treated, and they decided to, on a forward-going basis, to not allow that anymore. Jeff, I think that's a great update, and that's something our audience needs to hear. And it's something also that other students need to hear: that if this is happening, you can get the ACLJ to work.

And look, it gets the positive and the negative to this. Of course, as you said, it won't affect the student who had this happen to them, but it will. And it's why it's important. It's honestly even one of the options of why we're available to do this at no cost and why it's really great for us to be able to do that at no cost is because what it does is it opens up that door to have these, you know, not just conversations, but it can get hostile, it can get heated. But the results.

Can be everlasting. Results that don't just help the student that the one student that had this happened to, of course, we know it happened to more than one, but the one student we represented. These are big consequences for these schools to take notice, and it can have ripple effects throughout academia. I think our Our clients, our students, I think they're brave, I think they recognize. And we're careful.

We explained to them that it could have consequences to their careers in the school. And yet they want to move forward with it. They're very brave, and I'm very proud of them. And it does make a difference. And she knows that she made a difference.

to other students as well, and that's very important to her as well. And so this you look, I have to say, this I consider a very significant victory because the law school really is making some changes. But I also think that we are going to keep on monitoring it. And other students at the law school now know also to talk to us as things are occurring, and we will be watching the situation. And I think, Jeff, that's also the point as well.

We talk about our clients, and I'm glad you reiterated that point: how brave it is for an individual that can face repercussions from the institution, that can have social repercussions that can come forward, that they have the courage. They are the heroes in this story. They are the ones that see injustice and they know they want to fight it. And they come to the ACLJ for us to fight alongside them. And they should be proud of themselves.

that they have the courage to stand up for what's right. to know where to go, to get the resources and the backbone that the ACLJ has to fight with them so that they can make a difference, not just in their lives, but for every other student. At that at that law school. When we talk about even in high schools, in middle schools across this country, Those students that have the courage, even sometimes at a young age, to stand up for what's right. Our attorneys talk with their parents and with them about The real ramifications of it.

And when they have the courage to move forward, that the heroes in the story are the clients. And I just want to reiterate what you were saying, Jeff. The courage of those clients to come forward, when they go to aclj.org/help and they get involved and they fight for what's right, that is something to be proud of. And the ramifications down the road are so great for anyone else that could be facing that same type of discrimination going forward. 100%.

And you know, we're the American Center for Law and Justice. And the law, look, let's face it, the law is limited in righteousness and justice. But I think that. Thank God we're able to use the law to really push back against injustice. And I think that we really did.

move forward here in New York Law School. And we will continue to do this with other schools as well. And we even right now, there are other cases that we're dealing with. And there are other students at this law school because of this case who've come forward. We haven't discussed this internally yet.

But right now, through this student, have come forward. There may be other allegations of other things that have happened because of this at the same law school that are now coming to our attention. Jeff, thank you so much for joining us. Of course, our work in the ACLJ team, whether that is in New York, whether that's in Jerusalem, wherever you may need to do what you need to do. And of course, across academia, we appreciate it.

And thank you for calling in. I know it's a busy time right now and we're having some connection potential issues.

So I'm going to let you go from there, Jeff. I did want to go ahead and also pivot off real quick and move a little bit back to the talk of the government shutdown. We've had one call that's been holding for about half an hour. And again, it's another one of these situations where people are calling in with their frustrations, and I want to make sure that they're heard. Cheryl in Indiana is watching on Facebook.

Cheryl, you're on the air. Thank you. I just called to shine a light on a group of people that are basically being ignored during this shutdown, and that is the Federal Bureau of Prisons. My daughter has to go to work every day with dangerous criminals, and she's not getting paid. And my suggestion is maybe Congress would like to trade places with them.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, that is the conversation that's happening a lot. People are saying, yeah, they're playing games, it feels like, with a lot of people's future. I don't know if, and your daughter, because the federal prison system, but even some federal prison systems, they contract out the actual employees or certain employees there. But government contractors also aren't getting paid right now. And those big companies, and that might be one that employs your daughter.

Those big companies are used to this. And then, and so they know how to get through it. It's their employees that have the tougher time. It's not the companies that get the giant contracts. They know it's coming back in a couple months.

It's the employees themselves.

So, yes, after a few weeks of this, it starts to really hurt everyday people, you know, because you didn't just miss one paycheck.

Now, you might have missed two paychecks, especially when there's like not a lot of hope on the horizon.

Well, and to Cheryl's point as well, just like the air traffic controllers, prison guards, people that work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They are already in a very high stress job. and a very essential job. Why does the Senate feel like it's a good idea, these Democrats in the Senate that don't want to pass the clean CR, to say, let's add another stress to their life, like where they're going to buy groceries or how they're going to pay their mortgage or how they're going to cover basic expenses for their family while still making them do. That high stress and very high risk in many cases job.

But we're not gonna let them get paid. Yeah, they'll get back pay. It's fine. They can handle, you know, 30 days without pay.

Well they'll get it eventually. It's ridiculous. That's all I've got to say on a Logan. I'm very fired up by this topic.

Well, maybe you've fired some other people up. Phone lights are open for you, and I want to hear from you. We're headed to a last segment of the day. Moving by fast. And I want to hear from you because you're the most important voice in this room.

We got three lines open for you right now, cleared some lines out, so 1-800. 684-3110. Stay on hold. If you're on hold, we'll get to you. 1-800-684-3110.

Of course, it can never be a better time to support the ACLJ than doing so right now. It's important time in the world. You gotta support freedom of speech. You gotta support religious liberty. If you're able to, you can become an ACLJ champion.

That's someone that gives on a monthly basis. I'm gonna ask you to do that. You heard about the big victory we had for our students. And of course, working with that teacher, we need your help. Go to aclj.org.

We'll be right back. Hey, phone lights are jamming up right now, so I'll let you know if they open up, or you can just keep calling at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, I want. To hear from you, I always do. But with that, let's go ahead and jump into some phone calls.

Let's go to Cliff, who is an ACLJ champion. One of the benefits of being a champion, of course, you're supporting on a monthly basis. We really could not thank you more, Cliff, for doing that. But I like to bump those calls up to the very front of the line.

So, Cliff. Thanks for staying on hold. Of course, you didn't have to stay on hold as long as a lot of people did because you're an ACLJ champion. Just a little unofficial perk that we offer here. But go ahead.

Oh, you hear me, right? We can hear you. All right, great. Here we go. I just want to get right to it, and thanks for everything that you do.

It's like I feel like I'm in a great novel. Or or a great movie. And I just want to fast forward or change Follow the pages to the end to see what happens. But meanwhile I'm stuck in this great novel or movie And and and I've been here before. We it seems like for decades we're in the same spot in the same games, the same players are doing the same thing over and over and over again.

I'm not worried about what's going to happen because I know like with a lot of you there, you're knowledgeable what's going to kind of happen, you Yeah, because I think people. Again, it has nothing to do really with policy, it has to do with. One political party tried to inflict pain on another political party because they've got. Issues within their political party were harder left. That's what's happening with the Democrats right now.

So they need to look, the current leadership needs to look very tough, even when they're in the minority, even when the legislation adds nothing new by Republicans. That already had passed the House, the Senate, and would just keep the budget going so everybody gets paid. They had to take a stand and say, no, we want a trillion dollars added to this. And they're the minority party. Let's figure it out.

They don't get to add a trillion dollars to anything. I think that's also very important to remember and to remind people that this is a continuing resolution. This isn't new appropriations. This is saying we're keeping everything at the current levels. That doesn't mean this is a 100% Republican-backed bill that is all their spending priorities.

It means that. It's everything. In the federal government.

So every Democrat-supported program, et cetera, is in that as it has been. From the past year. This is the end of the fiscal year. They need a continuing resolution to keep it going. Basically, status quo.

And it's the Democrats that are trying to exploit it at this most tough time because it is the end of the federal government's fiscal year to try and act. things to it. That is what makes it different is that it's not like Republicans are getting reshaping government in their image by this continuing resolution. It's just keeping the government open and the Democrats are the ones that are trying to change it and make it an appropriations bill. And I think people feel like they're being used like that last caller.

They feel like they're a pawn in a game that we're not even playing. Because they are. That's what I mean. Like it's a show. It's a performative piece the government shut down.

Because we know for non-government employees. The pain is very little. Right.

The pain is public parks are closed or national monuments, those things, which is not fun. I'm not saying it's great, but for most people. That's not a daily issue they're running into. Exactly.

But for the people that it does hurt, we've heard from them today, and they're on the verge of tears saying, I've been working as an air traffic controller for 15 years of my life, and now I have a page stub that says zero, and my job is literally life or death that people take for granted because they look at it and go, oh, we're just used to it being there. And of course, it's one of those things. People always want to say, you got to limit the federal government. We believe they do. That's one of those places you do not.

want to because they're not just talking about air traffic control you got to think about all the things that are in the air birds you know all the things they have to do to stop all of this so we can all fly safely and as most of us fly without even thinking of what the air traffic controllers and the faa is doing But those people are literally calling into our show in tears. They're being played and they're being used, and it's very sad. And I really hate it. And we should be thanking them for still showing up and doing their job. Uh, and even you can maybe have a little bit more understanding for those that aren't showing up and aren't doing their job.

I don't like that part of it because it is an essential need, obviously, but I understand the frustration. Uh, let's go to Marion, ACLJ champion, gets bumped up to the front. Marion in Texas, go ahead. Yeah, I did. Even have to wait two minutes.

Thank you. Yeah, I've got a solution to the problem. I think that the Republicans should go in and say that they want to pass the law. That no government I mean, no congresspeople or senators are going to get paid as long as the shutdown is in effect. And then what's going to happen is there's no way that the Democrats are going to Go along with that.

So then the Democrat, the Republicans are going to say, well, even we're willing to have our salary shut down. And the Democrats are the ones that don't want it.

So they'll be the ones that are putting blame. Look, Marion, we had Bernie Sanders yesterday saying, because someone suggested it on the view, and he said, well, well, they got young families. You can't really do that. A lot of them can't do that. And of course, not talking about all of the people who have called in today who have had all these problems and issues and their own staff.

And of course, you do also have some senators and some saying they are not taking their paycheck. Katie Britt, some of these who I remember have put out statements early on saying, you know what? We're not getting paid if they're not getting paid.

So you know what? There are some people who are doing that.

Now what that actually looks like, who knows? But they've at least made that claim. Moving on though, Marion, thanks for calling. Becky, Texas, you're on the air. Yeah, I was going to say the same thing.

If they would not pay Congress, then they would settle this thing quickly. But I'm wondering how it's going to affect like retiree, like government retiree paychecks. Are they going to be withheld also? Let's answer that question for you, Becky. One, I think we could quickly answer: can they do any sort of, because this is the second call to come in, I know it's kind of a little tongue-in-cheek, but.

Is there anything they could actually do in terms of stopping their payments? Congress has broad authority with writing legislation. I don't think it violates the Constitution in any way. It's not like here is, it's not like Election Day that mandated in the Constitution. You know, they get paid on these days.

So I feel like they could in theory. It's never going to happen. You're never going to get that many votes to say, yeah, don't pay me because their self-interest, they hold above the American people. All right. We have two minutes.

Let's go to Eddie real quick in New Mexico. We'll try to get both calls. I don't know if we'll be able to teach you both, but stay on hold either way. Eddie, go ahead. Thank you.

I was wondering why isn't it that All these people that are just out. Small face lying about stuff. Why aren't they being called out? Because you know, when they asked Pelosi the other day why they didn't pass the clean bill. She said it's not clean.

Well, of course, any because it's point of view. And this is a little bit different here. I understand your thought going, well, how can they just bold-face lie?

Well, of course, they're saying, well, from their point of view, they're not lying. Look, we do have freedom of speech here. It's very protected. It's very hard to, especially when you talk about nuanced politics here, to say one side is lying and one side is not. Of course, we can tell you what we believe is true, but they can also push back on that.

But yeah, it is what it is. With that being said, Let's see, we got one minute. Randolph in Texas. You got like 10 seconds. Go ahead.

Twenty seconds. Two things. I'm a disabled veteran. My wife has no insurance whatsoever. If they do not act on this insurance thing, my wife will have no insurance, and she has a lot of issues with her medical issues.

Second thing, if we keep fitting Democrats with Republicans, get ready for civil war because that's where we're headed. And God help us if we go there. Yeah, Randolph, if that does not happen, can we answer that question for Randolph or something we can? Yeah, I mean, listen, I think when you've got a situation there where his wife is not under his plan, which I'm not sure I can't explain all of that. Usually you would be because you take advantage of someone who had a veteran's plan.

Families do that. That there are some cost issues right now. Those could be solved with the continuing resolution. Yeah, so hopefully, Randolph, if it does not come to that, we can obviously get this all handled soon and maybe with some. Yeah, of course, that's a good thought.

With that, that's going to wrap up today's show. We only got 10 seconds. I'll just say, think about supporting the work of the ACLJ. Go to ACLJ.org, take advantage of all the great free content. And of course, that only happens because you support us.

Talk to you tomorrow.

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