On today's show, we're talking all things Canada as military chaplains there are ordered not to mention God. 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. It's Friday, August 28th here with Will Haynes. It is Logan Sekulow. We got a packed show today. We got Rick Grinnell joining us later.
We got a lot of ACLJ content to cover, and we're talking all things great white north. We're talking about our friends in Canada. You probably saw President Trump make his statement saying Lake Ontario, no more.
Now it is Lake America. But that is just one of a few things that has come out in terms of Canada over the last few days and few weeks. And some of them are actually rather shocking. Look. I think a lot of our viewers, most of you are Americans or North Americans, or at least probably from the United States of America.
There's actually a good chunk of you that maybe watch from Canada and you see what's happening in your own country. I know there's a lot of you who want to push back on what's happening. There are a few topics that have happened here recently that I think we have to address.
So let's talk about it. I mean, President Trump obviously makes this statement. It's a bit of a troll. We know this. This is something he does.
What do you think about that?
Some people think it's very petty.
Some people think it's just funny.
Some people are like, yeah, let's do it. Like the Gulf of America. What do you think? 1-800-684-3110. On the other hand, There have been some things out of Canada recently that I think we need to address and honestly need to see.
You know, we don't have a Canadian Center for Law and Justice. We've discussed it before, and it just doesn't seem to be the right place for us. And some of it is because of some of these sweeping Things they have that feel sadly, very anti God or anti religious that will happen in this country. And again, this is no criticism of the people of Canada. We love the people of Canada.
We love it's really what happens within their own government. And this was a statement that was released just last month. Under a month ago. This is for military chaplains. As we know, Pete Hagseth and those here in the United States of America have certainly made it a little bit more open to explicitly religious content, especially coming from chaplains, making it more available to speak openly about their faith.
This is what's coming out of Canada. Uh Here's the new public remarks about this is the new instructions about public remarks made at any type of public or semi-public event. They shall uphold the principles of state, religious, and spiritual neutrality by not using words, actions, or symbols that are specific to a particular spiritual or faith tradition on the part of the government of Canada. And what we've been able to dive into this, this means they cannot even use the word God. It also instructs chaplains not to offer prayer at official events, including military ceremonies.
or commemorations.
So you have chaplains, military chaplains. That are being, you know, having their mouths taped right now, saying you can't mention not only your own specific religious beliefs of these things, you can't mention God, you can't pray. Why are they even there? Of course, this brings up a whole nother point. This is what's happening in other places.
I think that's why we have to always keep an eye on what's happening in the United States of America and also be very appreciative. Of some of the rules that we have in place here, the constitution that we have, that allows definitely a more robust freedom of religion.
So while we may have a sort of a, A public dispute in terms of Lake Ontario versus Lake America. Let's not forget what's going. And at the same time, this is another one, which is wild, which you're probably not even going to believe. And I'll let we'll take this one because this one has to do with the September 11th attacks. And of course, we are very closely approaching the 25th anniversary.
Of those September 11th attacks.
So they need to make sure that everything is set in place when they start talking about it.
Well, and once again, I think this goes to even that discussion about the troll from the President about Lake America. The prime minister said that naming it Lake Ontario is naming reality, it's rooted in reality.
Well, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation... Has an internal memo telling people that as they cover the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Do not describe those attacks. As terrorist attacks.
So it really seems that whether it be the chaplains or the CBC. Canada has a reality problem when it comes to words and their meanings. Yep, so you can't say God and you can't call terrorism terrorism. You can't call September 11th attacks terrorism. What do you think about that?
And of course, any of your responses to President Trump's renaming. 1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back. All right, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110, talking all things Canada, it seems like.
And we are going to be talking a lot more as well because, look, it is still back to school week, the last day of back to school week. And look, really, the last day I'm going to be talking to you. about our match right now that we have available for you right now. And I want you to do it. It's an impact match for the rest of the month, which again is only a few more days, but it's back to school week.
In the next segment, we're going to actually talk a little bit more about some of the work the ACLJ does to support students' rights. But before we get to there, we're going to keep things rolling on the Canada side of things. As we know, President Trump made his big statement, came out and said, you know, this is what I'm going to do here. He did it with the Gulf of America. The Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America.
It feels like kind of doing the same thing, but this time, even maybe more targeted as it is Lake Ontario being switched to Lake Ontario. Lake America said the next thing he needs is an ocean.
So we'll see where this goes. But it does actually. As ridiculous as it sounds, I think there are important things happening in Canada that we need to bring up. And the two that we talked about in the first segment were: number one, That chaplains, military chaplains, are being told they can't use the word God. That they can't pray openly, that they can't really express their religious beliefs in any kind of way that would be sectarian in nature, I guess, that would have any sort of guidelines between their faith.
It just has to be this very neutral, spiritual, you know, generic talk. And then on the other side, you have the CBC, which is their broadcasting company, Canadian broadcasting company, saying, hey, when you are covering our reporters, when you're covering nine eleven, we know that the nine eleven, twenty fifth anniversary, is going to dominate the news here in a couple of weeks. Don't say terrorist. You cannot say terrorist attack.
So you can't say terrorist attack for 9-11. You can't say God if you're a military chaplain. And on the same time, you have the President saying they're the worst to deal with in terms of trade, and we should not be as friendly as we are to them. Of course, Canada has had a very interesting few years in terms of our relationship with the United States of Canada. Maybe the one time, definitely the most time it's been this contentious.
Uh as far as I can remember.
Well, and once again, when you're looking at what words and and what they mean, uh the dispute over the name of a lake where you have uh Prime Minister Kearney from Canada saying that, you know, naming it uh i uh Lake Ontario is rooted in reality But at the same time, you're seeing the attack on expression in Canada, whether it be through, as you said, putting duct tape on the mouths of their chaplains in their military. One, the ACLJ has done a lot of work for chaplains in the military in the United States because you've seen under some other administrations. Them try to do similar types of things here in America.
Now, we fight for it and we push back and get victories for chaplains here in the United States. But then you also see what's happening with their state media. You know, Canadian broadcasting system is a crown corporation. It operates quasi-autonomously from the federal government, but it's still state media. We don't really have that in the United States either.
I think this is a time to also show when we've talked in weeks prior about the DSA wanting to turn us into more of a parliamentary-style government. This is one clear example of why we are opposed to that, why the founders were genius in the separation of powers that they put into our Constitution. Because you have a parliamentary system in Canada like you do in England. And what have we seen over these past few years, really, since 2020? You've seen a crackdown on the freedom of expression, the freedom of speech, the love of your country.
And that's what's going on in those parliamentary systems, even though they are Western governments and they have a lot of the rooted ideals that the United States had. Our separation of powers has been able to maintain are our foundations. But now we're even seeing attacks on that, where they want it to be a more parliamentary system, a House of Representatives that's expanded and has a lot of power and has the executive branch under it. We don't want that. We want to be able to rest on the foundations of the United States.
And so when you have these disputes over the naming of the lake, it's silly on one sense because we know what President Trump is doing. And how offended they are by that. But at the same time, their state media on 9-11 i is too concerned about the term terrorist attack that they're going to have to just call it a hijacking. Because it's too politically charged to call it terrorism. Really?
I'm not really Canada. I mean, I've heard a lot of people have issues with the way, I guess, 9-11 is described. I've never heard one of them being, you can't say that it was a terrorist attack. I mean, that is like just about as normal that we've been saying for 25 years.
So it's wild they would even have to have this statement. You know, on September 11th, later on, I'm putting out a special video, and I think we're going to air it on here as well with Jon Androsic, who was from Five for Fighting, had the song Superman. And I think it's a really good reminder. Um Of what we all went through on September 11th, what it all felt like, because it has been so long that you have people who are. Completely oblivious.
To what happened on that day. Your kids now treat it obviously as history. They probably were not there when it happened, or your grandkids. I taught in a university a couple of years ago. None of my students were alive.
This we gotta think about. University students, not freshmen, university students. We're not alive during the September 11th attacks. They have not yet been bored.
So you're in. You have a whole new group of adults who did not go through what we went through. And I think you can see that. In the rewriting of history. And you can see that through something like the CBC saying that this is not what we're doing here.
And look, again, I think our Canadian viewers and Canadian listeners need to stand up and make some noise here because you don't hear that much, it feels like, in America about these issues. And I think in the United States of America, that is, about these issues. You just hear the trivial side. You just hear the sort of back and forth between our leadership that becomes very cartoony. It isn't treated with respect.
And the problem is, I don't even know. Truthfully, I don't know if. The Canadian Chaplains are upset about this. This could be something that is widely accepted. I mean, sure, there are people who are upset about it.
But I don't know if the pushback would be like it would be in the States.
Well, and once again, what you see is statements about this specifically where one member of parliament did call it unnecessary and regressive. Uh, and this directive it says if you're asked to pray as a chaplain. You are instead to offer a spiritual reflection without religion-specific language. They're policing language. They're saying you cannot be as a chaplain in our armed forces, you cannot be giving these words because that is though you are speaking for the government.
And once again, remember the backlash that came from people online when Pete Hagseth put out the list of all the different chaplains that were going to be offered and how we're going to have a list of all these different groups and denominations and trying to be even, I'd say that's even more inclusive in many ways by saying we are going to try to staff essentially everybody.
So if you are a Southern Baptist or you are a Presbyterian or you are a Catholic or you're Jewish or you're a Muslim, that you are going to be assigned a chaplain who represents and respects your faith, not this generic, you know, whatever. Spirituality. And I understand and respect the idea of saying, hey, we want to make sure that we are inclusive here. And I think that's what something like Pete Hexeth was actually doing. By doing that, the difference is being inclusive and actually spending the dollars on bringing in the right amount of people instead of being, eh, maybe Canada just thinks, hey, we can't afford this many chaplains.
But let's just be honest here. This is the quote here: by avoiding language specific to any one religion, chaplains respect the dignity of all and help everyone present and engage with comfort, dignity, and the sense of belonging. Nothing wrong with that, but it is a problem when you say, and. You can't mention these words, and those words are As generic as they can be, like God. Or you can't pray.
Well, it also says at public or semi-public events. What's a semi-public event? Yeah. If there's a person with an earshot, because that kind of sounds like what we saw in Texas, where we're having a fight for a teacher, where they said. You can't pray.
If a student could see you. If you're in your car, if you're on property.
So, once again, it may seem easy at this point to be like, well, that's Canada. They're a lost cause. We're America. This is different. We're not that far away from it.
We're not that far away from people trying these things here. They are constantly trying it. And we're always having to fight back. That's why you'll see in the next segment about a student. Just trying to express her faith to her friends at school.
Shot down over and over and over again by the administration saying, You can't do this. You can't do this. We're taking your literature. You can't mention God. That's what you keep seeing in America.
So it's not just Canada, but. In America, we can do something about it. All right, we get back. We are going to also take your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. Got a few lines open.
Get on the air right now, 1-800-684-3110. As Will said, we have a special video presentation coming up that we will premiere here in the next segment. Again, talking about the work of the ACLJ and how the ACLJ. Has been representing students' rights for many years, but we've been trying to focus this one. A lot of times we'll throw it back, we'll show you the origins, the 40 years ago.
These are ones that have just happened in the last few years.
So, this is the stuff that's happening in real time, and you need to be a part of it as well. Give me a call at 1-800-684-30110. But while you're doing that, and while you're going to be presented with what the ACLJ work is, I'm going to ask you to think about, pray about, supporting the work financially of the ACLJ. When you do that, it's during back to school week. It's these amazing cases that you're going to hear about.
that this team works on every day. And I want you to be a part of it as well. And all donations are doubled till the end of the month. Then you got months until we can even offer anything like this again.
So I'm going to ask you to do it today. It's the last day you're going to hear me on air talk about it. Scan that QR code or go to aclj.org. Again, go to aclj.org and have your donation doubled. I'll be right back.
Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are still open for you at 1-800-6-84-3110. As I said, it is back to school week. And we need to make sure before this week wraps up today. That we tell you about all the incredible work the ACLJ has been doing.
And look, you've seen a couple different videos we've put together. And what I like about these is we're not talking about videos or cases that happened. 30 years ago, 20 years ago, we are talking about active. cases, cases that either just recently been resolved or still Currently in the fight. And the ACLJ team, our young group of lawyers, are really on the front lines of all of this.
And I want to make sure that they get some airtime as well. To tell you about the work the ACLJ is doing.
So we come on here, we'll talk about the news, we'll give you some coverage here, we'll tell you everything that's happening. We think you need to hear, you should hear all of our different points of view. And of course, we always say we tell you the truth whether you like it or not. here at the ACLJ and here on Sekulow. But that being said, when you donate to the ACLJ, you're also donating to, of course, not only this show to make sure our broadcast stays on, but you're representing so many.
ACLJ clients Because they don't have to get a bill at the end. No legal fees are coming to them. Because thankfully, that's absorbed by you, the ACLJ supporter, who decided that this is worth your while. Of course, it's tax deductible and donations are doubled right now through back to school week and through our impact match, which is just about to end.
So you want to do it today. Just go ahead and do it and be a part of the team. With that, I do want to kick it over to this special video presentation that we put together for you here at the ACLJ. Again, another case. You're not going to believe.
It's back to school week. Backpacks, first day photos, that nervous excitement every family knows. But for one Christian family in Washington state, this past year ended with a fight for something much more basic. their child's right to hold on to their faith inside a public school. At the ACLJ, we've spent decades defending the First Amendment rights of students, the right to pray, to speak, and to live out their faith without leaving it at the schoolhouse door.
Our client's story is one of the clearest examples we've seen of what happens when a school forgets that. I usually just pass out these gospel tracts. It's kind of like these little booklets that share about Jesus. Several years ago, I represented a little girl who was simply trying to share the gospel with her classmates. And those school administrators decided it was appropriate to open her backpack and pull out her Christian tracts, confiscating them.
Fast forward, five years later, she's now a sixth grader at the middle school. and she was sitting in her math class like everyone else when she gets pulled out by the vice principal. and told that she has to stop talking about Christianity with her classmates and that she cannot pass out her Christian tracts anymore. They just pulled me out and said, oh, you can't pass out gospel tracts. And I'm like, why?
Because in school, you're allowed to share like any kind of belief, like any kind of like religious, political beliefs. But for Christianity, you just have to be quiet about it. And I'm like, that's not really that fair. She came home from school and the first thing she told her parents is that we need to call the ACLJ because I need to talk to Christy.
So we sent a demand letter and yet again, this district gave us exactly what we asked for and a total apology that this will never happen again. But that's not the end of this story. We got a call again from that very student that she just got out of an assembly where she had to sit crying the entire time. on something that was violating her religious beliefs. And I sat in the bleachers crying for the rest of the assembly and then after the assembly I went to my BFF and I hugged her and cried.
No other school would have a child saying, I'm not comfortable with this, and tell her, I'm sorry, you don't have any other options. You have to stay there, and you're going to stay there crying. What this child went through wasn't a one-time misunderstanding. This was the third time her school crossed the line of her faith. That's why the ACLJ stepped in.
We already sent this district three demand letters, three chances to correct the course. They took none of the chances.
So we took them to federal court. We are ready and gearing up for one of the biggest fights of the ACLJ's life because this is not just about what happened to this assembly. This is a long-standing precedent this school has set that her as a Christian will be targeted because of her faith. For them to push our daughter into something that, and she was already in tears, and to tell her, you don't have a choice. We felt that that was very disrespectful and it was very harmful to our daughter.
Schools cannot force children to sit through material that is in violation of their religious beliefs. In fact, in Mahmoud, the court held that the school is required to give advance notice to parents and allow them to opt out if there is any material that the parent has said would in some way violate their religious beliefs. She shouldn't have had to fight this hard just to hold on to her faith in a public school. And unfortunately, She's not the only one. This back to school week, the ACLJ is standing with students and families across the country who've been told the same thing a teacher told our client.
that they have no choice. That's not true. and we're making sure school boards and administrators know that. and for this student and for every other student like her. The ACLJ is here.
I know that Jesus loves everybody in my school, even the people who bullied me, even the people who tried to stop me from learning from telling people about Jesus, he loves everybody. By her standing up and being willing to send these demand letters and fight with a lawsuit, she's standing up for all children across this country because there will be precedents set after this case. The ACLJ isn't backing down. Because if this can happen to our client, it can happen to any student in any classroom in any state, including your child or grandchild. That's exactly why we fight these cases.
and at no cost to the families we represent. Help us defend the religious freedoms of this student and countless others like her at aclj.org/slash school. And Logan, I love showing these videos to our audience because you can really understand. A lot of times we can talk about it. We can describe, you know, she's in elementary school and this is repeatedly happening.
But seeing, putting, you know, the story together with that video and really understanding what's going on, these are real people. And when you stand with the ACLJ, as we fight diligently for her rights and for every other student's rights in that school system, to uphold what the Constitution and what the Supreme Court has ruled over and over and over again.
Now you know, these are real people. These are real students that are just trying to express their faith, just trying to talk to people. Uh, they're friends, they're peers, and they are. She used the word bully in there, like, just imagine that, not just from. peers, but from an administration bullying you.
Not for, you know, contraband on campus. What was the contraband? Bible tracks. What was the offensive speech that she was saying? Telling her friends about God.
When you can talk about politics in school, you can talk about offensive things that people may be offended about, but you bring up God and the heavy hand of the administration comes down. And yet, the courage she has to still live in her faith and to even talk about it. When knowing that the administration has it out for him. Look, even for the parents, I mean, that is not easy. It's not easy to go up against your school board.
It's not easy to go up against the administration. Because look, a lot of times, I don't know what the rules are in their state. If that's the only school they can go to in their area, a public school system, I don't know how that all works locally. But you're probably pretty limited.
So, you know, the word's going to get out there that you are a quote-unquote troublemaker. But that's why the ACLJ is going to get involved. That's why we've been involved in this case and will continue to get involved. And if you think, by the way, There's a chance this is happening to your kid, your grandkid. You can go to aclj.org/slash help and get in touch with somebody today.
But it is back to school week. That's why I wanted to show you that video presentation.
So I'm gonna encourage you right now. We got 30 seconds left in this first half hour. We've got a second half hour coming up. Watch us live on YouTube, rumble, aclj.org, from 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern time.
We do this show each and every day, but come on. Support the work today. Let's gain the QR code or just go to aclj.org slash school. and have your donation doubled today during our impact match. Again, just go to aclj.org.
We'll be back in less than a minute. on Sekulow. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow.
Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. We are talking a lot about a few different topics here. And in the next segment, Rick Rinnell is going to be joining us.
We led with Canada. We've been talking back to school week. And I have to say, this is going to be the last day of back to school week. And I'm only happy that this is the last day of that for one reason. And that is that I don't have to say slash school ever again because it's very difficult.
I would say, if you say aclj.org/slash school, it does not, that does not roll off the tongue here, folks.
So next time, we're changing that. We're going to come up with a new, you know, we can be back slash, whatever it could be. But I cannot say it slash school again because I cannot do it. But that being said, it is still open for back to school week for the rest of the day.
So be a part of that at aclj.org. I do want to quickly jump to Robert in Maryland. He's been on a hold for a while. He's got a question, kind of related to another topic, but let's just get it. Robert, go ahead.
Yes, I wanted to ask the both of you. I think the Supreme Court recently ruled made a ruling on something pertaining to something that President Trump was dealing with. I wonder if it was due to election integrity or whether it was due to redistricting Or whether that was due to immigration.
So I wanted to know if either one of you could answer that question for me. What did the U.S. Supreme Court rule on recently? I guess it was in favor of what something President Trump wanted done. Right, Robert.
So once again, the Supreme Court's not in session right now.
So this would have been through the emergency docket is kind of what you look at. But what this actually was, was the executive order the President put forward on mail-in balloting, trying to secure that more. And then it went through a rulemaking process. And it was sued by a group of, I believe, it was 23 states that were trying to get this taken away by the court system, saying that the states have the right to run their elections, that there shouldn't be interference from the executive branch. What it did was it required states to share citizenship information with the federal government so that the Postal Service also could then develop.
Deliver mail-in ballots only to people that are citizens, things of that nature. What the Supreme Court ruled was the federal government, the Trump administration, asked the Supreme Court to put a stay on a lower court ruling that overturned this executive order.
So the states got an injunction on the order. It hasn't even gotten to the merits yet, so there's going to be in court for a while. But the injunction was put in place so the administration couldn't move forward with this executive order. The Supreme Court put a stay on the injunction, so they stopped the stop. Allowing for while it is going forward, while it's being litigated, while it goes to the merits, that it is able to be enforced, that they can move forward with this.
We don't know if it will be ready in time for the midterms. It could be. It could be a little chaotic trying to get this in place before then. But that is what they ruled on. They granted a stay through a percurium order, and they found things like you are likely to succeed on the merits, that maybe the states don't have standing to sue on this.
There's another thing about ripeness, whether or not they were suing too early. There were several different reasons why they granted this stay, but it's also not over. That still will remain in court. It'll be litigated, lower court, and probably appealed all the way to the Supreme Court again.
So that's the update there, Robert, and we'll keep watching it and we'll update you as it goes. Appreciate you calling, Robert. We got a bunch of lines still open. We have two lines open, 1-800-6-8430-110. We're headed to this next segment and talk to Rick Grinnell.
And then after that, I'm going to take as many calls as we can on whatever topics you want Friday.
So any of the topics that we talked about this week, feel free. To join us at 1-800-684-500-500-500 3110. That's 1-800-684. 3110. We're talking Canada.
I want to get your thoughts. Whether that's in Lake Ontario or Canada saying, can't call 9-11 terrorism. Chaplains. Military chaplains? Y'all are doing a good job.
Don't pray with people. Don't say God. We got rules here in Canada. What do you think about that?
Give me a call, 1-800-684-3110. Once again, wrapping up back to school week. Be a part of it today at aclj.org or just scan the QR code that you see on the screen right now. Again, that's at aclj.org. We protect students, teachers.
Parents Grandparents, be a part of it today. Welcome back to Sekulow. We're joined on the phone right now by Rick Brunel. Rick, it's Friday. We're going to have a little fun here because.
I think everyone in the Canadian government, as well as everyone on the political left here. was very, very upset about the naming of Lake Ontario, which if we're if we're naming the Great Lakes, I mean, it's bottom tier Great Lake, right? I mean, we've got Superior, Michigan, obviously top two, then probably Erie. Then, if you're fighting between the naming of Huron and Ontario, what are we even doing here? But at the same time, they're having real issues with the meaning of words in Canada when it comes to things like chaplains being able to say the word God or pray, or even the CBC.
uh instructing their journalists, don't say terrorist attack when covering 9-11. I I don't think that we've had a more full display of some wild Canadian ideals than these last 24 hours. Look, the Canadian left-wing radicalism has gone unchallenged for a very long time. I actually think Mark Carney knows exactly what he's doing. He's picking a fight with Donald Trump.
He's trying to create leverage every time he does this his poll numbers go up this is all political on both sides. And President Trump. Is playing it better. I saw today the meme that we're no longer calling them Canadian geese, they're called Donald Ducks. And I love this whole having fun with a trade policy.
All these people who are so uptight thinking. That this is going to ruin our trade relationship. I think those people need to look at the facts because the facts are. Canada hasn't paid its NATO obligations in decades, despite having. The style of Barack Obama asking them to pay, despite having the style of George H.W.
Bush. asking them to pay more despite having the style of of Joe Biden. Saying, will you please pay more? The Canadians have ignored multiple U.S. Presidents.
and their styles. And so this is not a question of style. This is a question of fairness. You look at The long list. of the way the ways that Canada puts tariffs on us unfairly.
and yet we're paying for the defense. It's the same issue with Europe. Europe doesn't pay its NATO obligations. They've got an opera house and a ballet theater on every single corner. They've got beautiful airports because they get to spend money on infrastructure projects because they're not paying for their defense.
It is unfair. to ask Americans to keep paying for others Security, safety. And economic prosperity. And it's time that we go to the mat and demand a change. And that's exactly what President Trump is doing, and I'm grateful for it.
Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Well, and I think, once again, he also knows how to bring out the most absurd protests around moves. Because the tariff discussion, the NATO discussion, those are very real things. Those are very real things that impact the lives of Americans and the economy. And he's able to so easily bait the people that are on the other side of a negotiation by doing something which on the surface is just a troll, just renaming a lake Lake America. We know exactly what he's doing.
But whether it's TDS, drum derangement syndrome, or something else, they still don't know the playbook. And that's what is so funny to me. I love the Donald Duck comment, but the fact that they still can't see through it and just ignore it. You have Hillary Clinton tweeting, it's called Lake Ontario, as if anyone cares what she thinks in 2026. And yet, she also had to turn off the comments on her post on X because she fell into the trap.
I don't know how these people don't realize it's a trap and they can't get out of it. It's a fun meme to control the messaging and the narrative, and too many people. Are missing the serious side of it. I saw Adam Kinzinger the same thing, completely melting down, defending the Canadians like somehow this was a serious rift. We have negotiations with other countries that gets very ugly.
Because these issues matter, It's economic fighting is what it is. It's about fairness. Should the Americans keep paying for economic prosperity and safety for others? Or should we look at the fact that we have a forty trillion dollar national debt and that it's time that we stop Uh valuing being liked. And instead, we value being respected.
And I think this is what Trump does. It's what he what he does really well. For the people who don't like the tactics, I think that you just have to look at the tactics of the previous Presidents, who have done it there, done it the way that some people want them to do. Act Presidential, whatever that means. Be nice.
be considerate. And guess what? You just get completely ignored When you do that, we've tried all the different styles. Canada and the Europeans have ignored all of the different Presidents' styles. It also, Rick, feels like a wake-up call that sometimes we need in the media as well, because we're not talking about Canada all that often.
Of course, we know that there's bickering back and forth between the United States of America and Canada. But President Trump does something like this, all of a sudden it brings all of us into this story because we all take maybe the bait that President Trump puts out there with sort of the trolling nature of switching something up like Lake Ontario to Lake America. But then we dive a little deeper and we find all of these other things that are going on in this country. And again, when we're talking about the country, we're not talking about the people. We're talking about their government.
I mean, look, we've been there in the last year. The great people. A lot of them support a lot of the ideals of what we stand for here. But just like any other country, they had leadership right now that doesn't value that. But if anything, this is at least a wake-up call to get this back into the press.
I agree completely. And I would even go so far as to say, this is not a fight between Canada and America. This is a fight between conservative common sense values. And the left, the radical left. Mark Carney is a radical lefty.
And I've seen a lot of conservative Canadians defending President Trump, just like I've seen a lot of very left Americans. taking the Canadian side. Not unlike what we've seen in the UK as well. I mean, you have in the UK such a loud Group of What you'd say, our guests are sort of Trump kind of conservatives who make a lot of noise, but sadly, it feels like often they get close to the goal line recently and can't quite push it over the finish. Yeah, look, I think it is a common sense versus radical viewpoint.
And a lot of times, the radical viewpoint is the one that people think is more compassionate or it's nicer. And if you look at it on face value, I think that the common sense positions, whether it's immigration, Whether it's healthcare, the common sense position is the one that has more compassion, and we shouldn't give. Any ground unceding to the fact that having immigration laws, for instance, Is not less compassionate. it is actually more compassionate for the people that live in the United States. And so I think it's about fighting, fighting for common sense and not backing down when faced with the bullying and the cancel culture that the radical left always does.
All right, Rick, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate your guidance and your advice. Always, we always appreciate hearing from Rick. With that being said, we got one more segment, and I got a lot of calls to get through.
So if you're on hold, stay on hold. I'm going to try to get to all of you. I will do my very best to get through all of you in the next segment. We'll just go in the order they came in, unless you're an ACLJ champion. That's someone that gives, by the way, on a monthly basis.
Then you get bumped to the front of the line.
So stay on hold if you are on hold right now. We'll get to you as much as we can. But again, Go to aclj.org today. Maybe you want to become a champion. Great time to do it, by the way, is during some of these match months.
Currently, we are in the Impact Match and back to school week. Your first donation that you give will still be doubled. If you decide to become an ACLJ champion, and what that does, look, it's not the mass majority. Mass majority of people, so don't feel like if you can't do it, that you shouldn't at least give something. Most of the people that give give one time, two times a year.
Maybe they give $50 here, $25 here, $75. We appreciate that. That is the mass majority of what keeps this organization afloat.
However, There is a baseline of about 20,000 of you. who have become ACLJ champions. who give a monthly basis, that can be $5 and up. And only $5 sink for processing fees. The reason we got to do $5.
$5 and up. To become an ACLJ champion helps us get a great budget item to know what's coming in. Obviously, people come and go, you can cancel anytime, but it really helps us out.
So, if you can become a champion, I encourage you to do so. That's at aclj.org. When we get back, though, Wait, we got calls about Canada We got calls that someone wants an update on the Pastor Saw case. We have just freedom of speech being respected. We got so much more.
But again. I want to thank all of you who have joined us this month. during our impact match, but it's not over just yet. We're almost there. You can taste it.
Be a part of it today. At aclj.org and look again. A few months from now is when you'll be able to hear of me talking about one of these matches again. We got a little while. Have you thought about doing it?
If you thought about making a donation to the ACLJ, It's the time to do it. We only got a couple days left. Let's make today count at ACLJ.org. We'll be right back. Your calls coming up.
Welcome back to Sekulow. We got to hop right into these calls, okay? We got so many coming in. Let's kick it off with Marion in Texas, ACLJ Champ. You're on the air.
Thank you very much. Yeah, what I wanted to mention is that we have a lot of nations around the world that don't have freedom of speech, and that's horrible. But the problem is now it's coming to our border whenever right on our border, when chaplains can't even say the word God or Canadians can't say that there was terrorism on 911, that's horrible. Then you go right in even worse than that, you have in our own country where y'all have helped a girl who three times was told she couldn't pass out tracts, couldn't talk about Jesus, et cetera. And I believe that if it weren't for companies like ACLJ that we personally would get into the realm where we no longer have freedom of speech.
So my hat goes off to your company, and I wanted to thank you all for all the work that y'all have done to try to maintain freedom of speech in our country, and that's it.
Well, and Marion, one, thank you. And that's the mission, that's the goal. What the ACLJ has been fighting for for over 35 years is specifically that: upholding the freedom of speech, the First Amendment. The freedom to worship, the freedom of religion, the freedom to assemble, all of the precious freedoms that are enshrined in the First Amendment is what we fight for, as well as other things, other constitutional issues that flow from that, but that's the core of it. And as we showed, it unfortunately was perfect timing that we were already planning on showcasing that student's case today so that people could see it.
It was a great way to end the back to school week, to show the real gravity of what we're dealing with every day. But being able to show that juxtaposition of in Canada, they're telling their chaplains, you can't do that. You can't say God. We have to fight those battles. Because if we don't, then we will go the way of Canada.
There are too many people. that are hostile to the First Amendment. that want to change it. that want to redefine it. That was even under the Obama administration.
He tried to use clever words that it was freedom to worship, not freedom of religion. Because there were specific ways that he was talking about, well, that's within your churches, within your buildings, not everywhere else. And that's what we have to keep fighting for. All right, I want to keep getting through these calls. Let's go to David in Texas.
David, you're on. Yes, hello. I got a couple of principles I want to mention. Uh can I say God or We have a constitutional right to have freedom of speech. And uh people shouldn't be ashamed to say what they want to say.
I mean, as long as it's, you know, Moral or, you know, good. And uh those who You know, authority figures who might do harm to those who get him in speech. go to court. It gets allowed to do that. Yeah, David, of course, you know, we're talking a lot about what's going on in Canada, but this happens in the United States of America as well.
You know, we hear about it all the time. The ACLJ team is constantly defending religious freedoms.
Now, thankfully, our Constitution is pretty clear about religious liberties, but a lot of those we've had to take all the way to the Supreme Court. To make sure. It is confirmed as law. And that is why our team is there. I think we should go to Rick online five.
Rick in Nevada. Nevada. You said it right. I always say it right. I actually made reference to that yesterday.
I say it wrong. Rick, you're on Sekulow. Excellent work on the pronunciation. There you go, he does. Pastor Kow, I'd like to ask for progress on Pastor Cow's case.
And I'd like to ask if people are familiar with the case of Bishop Thaddeus Ma de Kin, who whom the woke Pope has abandoned. Yeah, I'll take a look at that. I'm not sure about that second one. We actually had some technical difficulties there, so you got a little muffled there, but we'll find out about it and we can make sure our team looks into it. As an update on Pastor Saw in China, of course, this is the pastor who was arrested, was sentenced, and served out his sentence, and now just wants to return home to America.
But cannot currently does not have a passport, cannot leave. And we've been fighting for him for a decade, or it feels like a better part of a decade now. But now we are at a turning point because of the fact that he has a very aggressive and rare form of cancer. And time is limited potentially right now. I mean, we pray for him, but hopefully not.
We want to make sure he can get home, see his grandchildren, all that. But Will, you got a quick update. That's right. And those of you that have signed that petition, those letters that are going to the Secretary of State and to the President as well, those have been sent. You can still sign the petition, aclj.org/slash saw.
That's C-A-O. It's pronounced SAW, but spelled C-A-O. You can still sign that. We'll update it as we go along. But we have received notification that those have been delivered both to the White House as well as to the State Department.
So those letters that all of you signed, over 330,000 people signed asking the President and the Secretary of State to make this an issue with China as we know that Xi Jinping. Is visiting the United States next month. Yeah, we got to turn the pressure on.
Okay. Don't let off. If you want to support it, you can still sign that petition as Will said. We'll update the number. Let's head over.
somewhere near. A Canadian border, I believe. Let's go to Bobby in New York, Bobby. On the Canadian side. New York, on the Canada side.
Bobby, go ahead. No, on the American side. That's right. That's right. Yeah, we got you.
Okay, listen, I think Canada and its people and its politicians are turning away from God. That's the problem. And I would think that they would have a fear of doing that. And I wonder how much is the British and European influence to Canada? Because in 1957, there was a song out by Jimmy Rogers called Honeycomb.
And because he mentioned the Lord in that song, the BBC band playing the song. And that's my take for today. Great song. Did not know that. That's a rock and roll fact that I'm going to keep it at honeycomb.
Was banned? By the BBC. By the BBC. That's wild. I think, yes, I think a lot of Canada is very similar to the way that the UK has gone.
A lot of that is that they have a shared history, but as well as that parliamentary system. Is that it tends to go where the culture goes and doesn't have that strong foundation? Because the executive flows out of the more people's house, the larger body of their legislature, that is how that goes. It's when a wave of populism or popular ideas come in, then everything flows downwind from that and downstream from that.
So that's what you see in Canada. That's what you see in almost any parliamentary country is that it's really hard to stick to your foundations because it's just mob rule at the end of the day. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much.
Honeycomb. I love that you're like everybody wants a wife like honeycomb. There you go. All right, let's go to Rachel in New York, line one. Yes, hi.
Thanks for taking my call and also for your work. And I too live near Lake Ontario.
So that's kind of like in my backyard. But at any rate, my question to you guys is Is they really, what are these DSAP and the leftists, what are they so afraid of? Our country getting back to our Christian roots? And what are they so afraid of? I think we can be it's pretty clear.
Well, because socialism, what the DSA wants, is specifically atheistic. That is the entire Marxist elites: to reject a higher power, reject God. They make the state their God. They make the government and the people their God.
So that's what they're afraid of, not getting their ideas across. I feel bad, Damon. I wasn't able to get to you today. I know you're on hold for quite a while. I appreciate you calling in.
If you call in Monday, we'll get to you first thing, or we'll do our best. But again, he was saying he didn't think the Prime Minister of Canada is being very honest in this whole situation. Look, I think this is all a bit of a troll, but it leads the door. It opens the door to so much more conversation that can happen. But hey, before we wrap up, 30 seconds left.
Back to school week, everybody. Be a part of it. Wrapped up today. Be a part of the end here. Make us end strong.
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