Democrats Refuse To Accept Defeat On Bogus Biden Bill

Today on Sekulow, Democrats refuse to accept defeat on Biden's bogus bill. We'll talk about that more today on Sekulow. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. I just got to the wits end and they know the real reason what happened. They won't tell you and I'm not going to because...

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You said they know the real reason. They're not going to tell us. You're not going to tell us. What do you mean?

What's the real... The bottom line is they're basically, and it's staff driven. I understand staff. This is not the President. This is staff. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments.

Or call 1-800-684-3110. And they drove some things and they put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable. They know what it is and that's it.

And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. There you see Senator Manchin, he's blaming the White House staff, which again is a big shot for those staffers at the White House. We've talked about that a lot, that really Joe Biden is surrounded by a lot of staff that doesn't match his rhetoric. He ran on this rhetoric of bringing the country together, kind of moderation policies that the majority of Americans get behind. But his staff looks like radical left. And they go on the attack against moderates like Senator Manchin.

He is literally saying that the White House staff is the reason why he came out on Fox News and said no to Build Back Better and killed this. Now, the Democrats, like we said in the beginning, they're not giving up. They're going to force a vote on this. That means we're going to also get a clear indication of where other Democrats are.

So they think that they can put the pressure on that way. We're also going to talk about today, there are a number of big items that are still pretty liberal. They are liberal items that Senator Manchin would support piece by piece going through the legislative process.

And so the question will be is, will Pelosi, Biden, do they actually want to go that route where you're not delivering a mega package, but you're doing it piece by piece? But there's one really good news in all of this, and that is we fought very aggressively on those provisions dealing with the IRS, which would have affected everybody that's listening to this broadcast and frankly would have affected every American. And we fought back aggressively. We fought back hard. We did a congressional hearing, as I said, in the room next door.

Then I came in and did radio. And we put position papers out on this. We talked to members of Congress. Our team in Washington really went to work on this. And the end result is, and no matter what version of this ends up going, I'll tell you what I don't see going.

87,000 new internal revenue servants and agents and $80 billion in revenue is not going to the IRS. So I think we have to be clear that we've had a victory. But as Jordan said, now they're going to work on a piece by piece issue, which I think will have very serious ramifications for our economics. And the economics already, look, this has been a rough, I was going to say, this has been a rough week, but it's only Tuesday. And the President is speaking this afternoon.

For those of you that are here to tape, the lady already spoke. I'm more on the COVID situation. So we'll see what happens there. By the way, our briefs have been filed, accepted by the Supreme Court representing the Heritage Foundation and trying to get a stay of the enforcement of the mandate, understanding that the government doesn't respond until the 30th. But our team is already going to have a brief that we're working on now, ready to go literally the next day, because I think this is going to move that rapidly. So all of these issues are happening simultaneously. I'm also going to report on a Christmas case that we're working on right now because we have those even two days before Christmas.

So there's a lot going on. And again, I want to say a huge thank you to our ACLJ members around the country that are supporting the work of the ACLJ. We couldn't do this without you and we're a matching challenge. And we had a huge December of last year was gigantic, biggest month we ever had. But we're really we're behind that by a little bit by about what is 10 percent, 8 percent, something like that.

But I think we could get I think we can close that gap and actually take it over. And that sets our budget for next year. So I encourage you folks that this is the time you can do it at ACLJ.org right at the home page. Between now and the break, you have time to make that donation.

It's that quick to do it safe and secure. And again, it's a matching challenge. So you're doubling the impact your donation through the entire month of December. So I encourage you, if you go to ACLJ.org right on the home page, you'll see matching challenge and the donate button information and quickly.

And again, by the time I am done, you're listed this break. You have plenty of time to make that end of year contribution. Also, if you regularly donate to us, it's a great time to do it because you're doubling the impact your donation. And at the most critical time of the year for us as we work through the end of the year and also prepare for the new year.

We'll be right back. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive, and that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn. It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support, and the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift.

Welcome back. We are to your phone calls as well. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. So this pile on by the left. You got Bernie Sanders. They're blaming Joe Manchin.

You have the AOCs. They're blaming Joe Biden. I think the real blame here does go to the Biden staff. They have set up the President to continue to fail. Now, as a conservative, I mean, again, I don't like the country failing, but I think that this was a policy we wanted to fail. We did not support Bill Beck better. We wanted this to fail, and it was going to take a Democrat to do that.

Now, why did it fail? One, Joe Manchin is a pretty good party line Democrat. He does work to get kind of what he needs out of, but he has his own way of describing who he is.

He's socially conscious. He won't say fiscal conservative, things like that, but responsible. So in the past, he usually ends up being a vote with the Democrats. It was kind of a pipe dream to think he was going to stop things like this. Now, he has.

Now, what's interesting, though, I want to just dive deep into it so people understand. This is still what Joe Manchin supports. Okay, so it's not like he's a Republican at all. I think that he might be interested in that if Republicans take back control. That's the city because then he loses the whole power position he's in, but for instance, he still supports universal pre-K for 10 years.

It's expensive. Expanding Obamacare and billions of dollars for the Green New Deal. Which he's fine with. Which is kind of counter to a coal industry state. This is what Joe Manchin would support. Now, the question will be is do they take this out piece by piece, and the problem will be you can't use reconciliation in piece by piece because unless you put in like that IRS provision, it has to be revenue neutral. Well, none of that's revenue neutral without an expansion of the IRS and a claim that they will get all this money that they're not, that they're leaving on the table. What we have to watch out for is exactly what you said. So what we have to watch out for in all of this is right now we have killed the IRS issue, which was a big issue for most of the American public.

A Republican, Democrat, and Independent. I mean, nobody wanted that you had a $600 transaction and all of a sudden the Internal Revenue Service was in your life like in a way that they've never been in there before with an increase in budget, an increase in agents, 87,000 agents, $80 billion in increased budgeting, which they would spend not in a way that would be particularly helpful. Saying all that, though, I think this is what we have to understand. They are going to try to get this bill back through in a piece, what they call sections. They'll take different articles in different sections to make it revenue neutral. They may try to stick in that IRS provision. So what we have to be on guard for, and we are with our government affairs office, is to make sure that they don't do exactly that, that they don't put in that kind of language, stick the IRS back in there to make it quote revenue neutral because they're going to be able to pick up all the... You realize how they say they're going to pick up all the taxes. It's not by necessarily increasing your taxes. It's by increasing the IRS's ability to get into your affairs and to your life. That's what they're actually saying. That's right.

And so they'd either have to come up with another way to prove, or they'd have to put this kind of provision back. So I think that what we have to be is extremely vigilant because where Senator Manchin left opened the door is really his personal relationship with President Biden. He's blamed it on the staff at the White House. And he told this.

Listen, this is when he spoke to a West Virginia radio station about how he was treated by 22. I'm not blaming anybody. I knew where they were, and I knew what they could and could not do. They just never realized it because they figured, surely to God, we can move one person. Surely we can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough.

They'll just say, okay, I'll vote for anything. Just quit. Well, guess what?

I'm from West Virginia. I'm not from where they're from, and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they'll be submissive. Period. So, I mean, I think he wanted to make a stand there that, again, you're not going to badger me. I've got this power right now. That power is the most powerful person in the United States Senate.

Right now, but that could be gone in a year. And I think he's realized that, too. So he has to think long and hard. Does he go independent, still caucus with Democrats, but then he's outside of their apparatus, so he's not taking technically their heat? He doesn't really need the Democrat Party for his current plans in West Virginia, but I think it's still a bit difficult to see him caucuses with Republicans because of what I just went through. He still supports expanding Obamacare. Republicans aren't doing that.

Billions to fight climate change. Republicans aren't into that. Universal pre-K, but without paying for it. I mean, this is not, again, these are issues that Republicans believe states can decide if they want to offer pre-K at the state level. They can do that.

They have revenue taxes at the municipal level, state level, so you allow that to happen there. But he still supports that. So I think that, again, if they want to come out and they keep the attacks and the Hollywood left continues to attack Joe Manchin, they may push him out of the Democrat Party.

It'll be interesting to see how far they can push him. Okay, because I was going to ask you that because one of the things I've wondered here, because the pushback from the staff, from Jen Psaki and these others, has been so aggressive. They called him a liar, basically, and said he broke the promise. And they said they don't regret it.

Yeah, they doubled down on it and said they don't regret it. So here's my question. And I'll tell you with him, I wonder how much he's a game player in this, obviously. One of the best. So feeling like you got burned by him, I think they're probably, I don't have sympathy for them because I think this is a horrible piece of legislation.

And the gimmicks they were trying to use to get to it were horrendous, too. But this is a guy who could come back next week and support 90 percent of it. So, I mean, we have to be extremely vigilant because he's left open the door. He's blaming people that are really not, most a lot of them won't even be at the White House next year. Staff. Yeah, staff, not Biden. And it's a lot of what we've talked about is that Biden looks incompetent because the people that said, hey, I thought we was going to be able to work with a guy like this are being owned by the left right now.

The hard left of their party. And so that's where I think it's clear as being bullied, he wasn't going to be in that position. But if he starts, if they make him into the king again, he will embrace hard left liberal policies.

That's why I think we all have to realize. He voted to convict Donald Trump twice. Twice. He's a party line guy.

This was a rare moment. He deserves credit for it. But he is not really coming out and saying, as you and I would, that it's a real policy position. It's a personal battle that happened here. Do we have the soundbite from Nancy Pelosi or is this a statement? All right, statement.

All right, so this is what she said. I have confidence that Senator Manchin cares about our country and that at some point very soon we can take up the legislation. I'm not deterred at all. We will continue to fight to pass the legislation. It must happen and we will do it as soon as we can.

There are conversations that are ongoing, but we cannot walk away from this commitment. This is Joe Biden's signature legislation. If the House of Representatives next year goes into Republican hands, which is likely, and even a possibility of the Senate doing that, his legislation initiatives are pretty much done.

Yes, they're DOA. So what was the legislation he got through so far that meant anything? Only similar legislation to what President Trump was doing, which were funds for economic relief because of COVID. Which were the same price tag. They were a couple trillion dollars also, but they had a point. They were being used. Some of that money is still out there.

It's still being utilized. But that was the loans to businesses and they don't have to pay back if they use it a certain way and things like that. This is a structural change of the US government that, again, would have been a massive legislative achievement for the left, but they weren't able to get across the line in one piece. Now the question will be, again, could they separate this out into enough pieces, but this can be filibustered.

Or you'd have to include another kind of IRS provision that is not very popular. I think at the end of the day here, what we have to watch for is this is their last year and I think if they're being realistic, unless something significant changes, they will lose definitely the control of the House of Representatives. And you see all these retirements from Democrats who are leaving.

And even Republicans who are kind of outside the norm of the Republican Party now who haven't jumped on the more populous bandwagon that is taking the party. But this was not good for, this bill was bad for the American people. Like I said, the IRS portion of it alone was enough worthy of it to stop because it put the IRS and your business, everybody's business, in an unprecedented way. So Mission One was accomplished here, but it could be temporary. So what we're saying is our teams, and by the way, we're having to work this.

You understand this. I mean, we're a couple days away from Christmas. We've got a brief that we're going to be filing on December 31st, actually, in the mandate case. We've got right now a matter that we've sent to the Department of HUD on the issue of religious freedom at an apartment complex for a Christian nativity scene that all of a sudden they decided how to go.

I mean, days before Christmas. So we've got lawyers doing Supreme Court work, legislation dealing with the Build Back Better and the IRS getting in your life. And we're handling for an individual client her Christmas nativity scene in her HUD apartment complex.

It's administered by HUD, run by another company. All of that happens because of your support of the ACLJ. And what we want to encourage you is we are, like I said, we are closing a big gap. We had a big gap in November and December of last year with all the election stuff that was going on, and we were doing a lot of legal analysis on a lot of matters. We're great for us. Great years, thank you. This year, we're close.

I think the actual number is about 8%, 6 or 8% behind where we were last December. We can close that gap. Jordan's going to tell you how. I encourage you to do it. So you go to ACLJ.org right now, and you'll be part of our matching challenge where you double the impact of your donation. That's at ACLJ.org, our matching challenge. Again, we've got a group of donors that will match each donation that comes through the month of December. You've got to take that initial action at ACLJ.org.

We'll be right back on Secula. If you want to talk to us on the air, 1-800-684-3110. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, a play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our Matching Challenge today. Make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family.

Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. A lot to talk about too, so we're going to talk about Build Back Better, but also some of the ACLJ work that happens this time of year, which is pretty regular.

Again, this happens. So we've got an apartment building. This is in Florida, and it's mostly seniors.

Each floor... Most of these facilities are usually senior facilities. Yes, and so it used to be a HUD facility. Now it's still governed by HUD, but it's privately run.

Which is happening a lot. Most of the seniors, the people that live there, have lived there for 50 years. So they've been there for an extended period of time. The building has allowed placement of a menorah and Christmas trees. But on the Christmas trees, there can't be anything that they're considering religious. So they say the tree's not, but you couldn't put like a cross or a small nativity. Or an angel.

Or an angel. So anything that's quasi-religious. So obviously this was not the norm in this building. They said they got new young management who were trying to implement this policy, something that they've never had an issue with. So they contact the ACLJ about what are their rights. They specifically ask... They say they want to file a lawsuit. Are they right in asserting to the managers of the company that if they're going to allow the menorah, if they're going to allow Christmas trees, that they have to also allow the nativity scene and religious... To me, again, the fact that religious ornaments, they're trying to make these stupid distinctions, let's be honest, that are absurd. But again, so they said they're dealing with this new management. And they ended the contact, it came in through ACLJ.org forward slash help with, we believe and know our religious freedom is being squashed as we cannot even put up a little nativity under the tree. And they said this, we need to know what we can or cannot do legally. Please help us.

Yes. And we have. Yeah, and I want to talk about that part for a moment because I think that gets overlooked. We had this last week with a student at college that had reached out to a number of groups and we responded immediately. And we helped her get the situation resolved with doing a historical... The professor asked for her to do a report on a historical figure.

The student picked Jesus. The professor said that's inappropriate. We got that resolved. But this one's interesting because it said the new management is younger in experience and impossible to talk to.

So you could say it's a frustrated person. It's either their way or the highway. We have people here that are very upset because this is the most recent notice of religious objections.

They do not know the meaning of Christmas. And we believe our religious freedoms are being squashed as we cannot even put up a little nativity under the tree. And as Jordan said, we need to know what we can or cannot do legally. Please help us. So immediately, immediately, while we're getting Supreme Court briefs ready and working on legislation in Washington, D.C., immediately our lawyers, other lawyers with the ACLJ prepared, I don't know if we have this in our...

Put it up on the screen if we do. This is the letter that we sent to individuals that were involved with the... Yeah, there you go. With actually administering these facilities and the client. This went to the client to inform the client of what their rights actually are. And the important part of that is I can't tell you how many cases we get resolved just by getting the client the information. They share that information then with the management of the facility.

And you know what ends up happening? They see American Center for Law and Justice and you know what they don't want? They don't want to hear from us because the next letter is not so nice.

That's the truth. And the next letter is a lot tougher because at that point we're getting ready to go to court. So I would say 97%, 98% of these cases get resolved literally by our letters. But again, our lawyers were available for this client free of charge because of your support of the ACLJ.

Without you it doesn't happen. And it's whether it's a Supreme Court brief for the Heritage Foundation or for this client of ours in Florida that needed help on the HUD matter. We got it resolved or getting it resolved. We're still waiting for the outcome on this one. I'm sure we'll be successful. If not, they get the next letter.

It's not so nice. And that'll be today. So again, I'm optimistic that we'll get a resolution. But again, it just goes to show you without your support of the ACLJ, it doesn't happen. So while we're in our matching challenge campaign, we encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. And what happens is any amount you donate, we get a matching gift for it. Literally, if you donate $10, we get $20. If you donated $50, we'd get $100. $100 would be $200.

There are other donors that are matching that gift. So we do that several times a year. December obviously the biggest.

So ACLJ.org, ACLJ.org. By the way, the band's doing a New Year's Eve Christmas concert as we've been doing the last couple of years. So you're going to want to stay tuned for that. It should be a great performance. And that little, when you came back into the broadcast and that song you heard was from our band's Christmas CD, which is Hope of Jerusalem. And you can get that wherever you get your music. Just put that in there for our band mates did a great job on that. And we're going to have a great concert.

You're going to really enjoy it. Yeah. And I also want to let people know too. We talked about the reefs across America issue. We've got that letter out to the military. And they were able to lay their reefs at Arlington this weekend.

Yeah. And it's happening across the country, but you see, again, these radical atheist groups, they try to become relevant during holidays and they do stuff that's outrageous, trying to pressure the military into, again, taking out what private individuals raise money for this and volunteers place these reefs. And it's done in a very serious way.

It's not, again, these are reefs at graves and the families here, they appreciate it. And the idea, what these groups do is they try, they send really nasty letters that have no law on them, that have no basis. They've never won in court. They always lose. So they just cite these constitutional protections that they don't have to be someone who doesn't get offended.

They are talking about a weak group of people. Every argument they make is, does it make my stomach hurt? I get sick if I walk by a reef. I know this. Knowing it there gives me emotional illness. You've got serious problems. They said that. You've got serious problems that you need to be dealing with and maybe not be worrying about the reefs across America, maybe dealing with your own personal problems if you're literally sickened by driving across the sea in a mosque or a church or a synagogue or a reef.

For goodness sakes. I mean, because with the other case, what we're finding is that they're seeing the tree as a non-religious symbol. But if you place things on that tree, it's somehow religious, but you're still celebrating Christmas.

The word Christ is there. And again, it's just this idea, these bizarre distinctions. Sometimes these building managers, I think probably in this situation, if they're young, they're inexperienced and they're afraid that they will get sued by someone. But the truth is that no one that's been sued by any of these groups has ever lost. So all you have to do is be willing to stand up. Usually you don't have to go to court.

You just have to be willing to stand up and say, no, you're wrong. Here's the information. Notice that these groups, when they file these letters with the military, they don't cite law. They cite what they wish was law, what they hope was law. So we're still, you know, the HCLJ, I know we talked about the big issues here on the broadcast.

So Rick Grinnell and Mike Pompeo are going to be on the broadcast tomorrow. We talk to these big international mega issues. But at the end of the day, our team, whether it's working, you know, the vaccine mandate, case of the businesses, but also down to someone who's looking for an activity at their one apartment building in Florida for once a year. And we're able to respond directly because when you do, if you contact us to ACLJ.org forward slash help, it is an actual ACLJ attorney responding to you and working with you, whether it's just a simple letter, whether it's a demand letter or ultimately going to court. And that is a great reason to support our work because it's still, we're still there.

And it's always good to remind people, I think every, every year and throughout the year, we're still there for you as the individual. If you believe your constitutional rights are being violated, if you believe you're being treated wrong because you're a religious person or, and because your faith or because of the organization that you started, whether it's the IRS coming after you or, or just your building manager with bad policies, you could contact us at ACLJ.org forward slash help. And the reason why everyone's able to do that and it's treated the same, it's no cost to Heritage Foundation, it's no cost to the woman here who contacts us about her nativity because of our donors, because of your financial support of the ACLJ. That's ACLJ.org, that's ACLJ.org, second half hour coming up.

At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20, a $50 gift becomes 100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family.

Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Alright, welcome back to Sekulow. We're going to get to another issue too as well, the second half hour of the broadcast. We've been talking build back better and again the fact that Joe Manchin for now has killed that legislation through 2021. But in 2022, I think what we have to look out for is that Senator Manchin is open to some very big liberal policies like expanding Obamacare, which would have been in there, billions of dollars Green New Deal, universal pre-K at the federal level, instead of again allowing states to operate and promoting school choice and issues like that, again, federal control.

Remember, that's what that is. When they do it at the federal level, they're in control of those institutions. So which then also poses a lot of questions, and this was in the original, was that these religious schools were not going to be available to receive the funds to provide the universal pre-K and Senator Manchin to my knowledge had no problem with that.

So don't make him out to be too big of a hero. I always say if you're a conservative, he is not. He is not as liberal as where the Democrat party is today, but he is a big spender. And at a time when inflation is insane, the last thing we need is to be funding the pet projects of the radical left. And when I say that, that's the Green New Deal and in issues which, again, why not letting our instead of attacking Elon Musk, which they do all day, who created Tesla and the first electric cars that were really in production and got the price down to where they're actually affordable now, if you want to buy one. And there's other brands coming out, yeah, so he's cashing out and saying, look, I'll pay my 11 billion in taxes because Elizabeth Warren, who he calls Senator Karen, goes after American innovators. So it's not about really supporting clean energy or the electric cars and how to get that to more Americans. It's about federal control. It's about the federal government being able to tell these companies what to do. So actually it's not supporting innovation at the same time.

It's all about getting in your life. They want to control the pre-K and they're going to try to, again, in religious schools, they want to force you to go along with what their Green New Deal is at a federal level. And they want to expand Obamacare. How many pre-Ks are at churches and synagogues? I mean most. Most. I think the others are most businesses. So let's exclude them.

How does that put you in? Yeah, the other pre-Ks are mostly actual for-profit businesses. Like we have NextUs. Yeah, I mean they're all over the place too. But I mean if you exclude the religious school, because the public schools aren't set up to do that. Right.

Again, why not let communities, at the end of the day, they don't want your local community to do it. Now, interesting though on immigration, it's been a disaster issue. Obviously the illegal immigration has been a disaster for Kamala Harris and for the Biden administration. I mean it's divided them up. You have this vice President and President who don't like each other, or at least that's how it's portrayed even in the liberal media. And they're already talking about different people outside of them running for President in a couple years.

That, you know, they're already kicking Joe Biden to the curb and Kamala Harris to the curb. Well maybe it's because, can you believe, it's almost shocking to believe, but now the Biden administration, which reinstated Remain in Mexico, remember, begrudgingly, they blamed on the courts but they were actually expanding it. It was a good expansion.

We talked about that with Dan. It was actually, they expanded the policy in a way that was good. Now they're building wall. So after the news of Texas deciding, we'll take Texas lands with a few yards back and put our wall here, now Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, he's saying that they are building wall, but they're not building new miles. They're filling gaps and they're trying to, they actually blame, quote, to protect border communities from physical dangers resulting from the Trump administration's approach to border wall construction. But they're the ones who stopped the border wall construction. And they're going to fill in gaps, which they say is not building wall, even though it's building walls, but it's not adding mileage, which of course it does. I'm glad they're doing it.

But this shows you the duplicity. And that's why, and we'll get into this in the next segment, we take action at the ACLJ. And your support for us, especially right now, at this end of the year, we're at the end. This is it. What is it?

Last nine days of the month. Support the work of the ACLJ, support us on our matching challenge campaign. You go to ACLJ.org, that's ACLJ.org, and your support makes a huge difference in our ability to increase.

I mean, we had our Now More Than Ever campaign this year, and look what we were able to accomplish globally. ACLJ.org. We'll be back with more in a moment. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched.

A $10 gift becomes $20, a $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Sekulow, another issue too with the border wall. So you literally have the Biden administration. Once they re-implemented Remain in Mexico, now they're building wall.

I mean, so you're not going to hear them bragging about this. They're kind of forced to talk about, they try to explain it very Washington talk. We're filling in gaps. We're not adding miles. Well, of course, if you're filling in gaps of significance, you are adding miles to the wall. I don't, again, that is Washington talk, but they begrudgingly all of the policies that they ran against, they said were racist and xenophobic and bad and America doesn't build walls, except every country does to protect their borders where it's necessary. Some parts of the border aren't necessary. They are blaming the Trump administration for having to build more wall, but they also blame the Trump administration for building any wall. So you can't have this both ways. It's why his poll numbers and the administration's poll numbers are just in the 30s because you add inflation.

You add how many times, you know, having 15 shots, you're going to have to have to comply with their rules with COVID and they're not, they don't seem to have a handle on that. And the world certainly doesn't have a handle on that. We're not leading. And I think that's because we still refuse to hold the country accountable, that's responsible. And so we are paying that price every single day because we haven't forced ourselves. I mean, in a sense to go into that Wuhan lab with our own military and say, you better let us in here so we can figure out exactly what you did so we can defeat what you created in your lab.

I mean, I expect- I mean, I'm really negligently let out. But instead of talking about stopping military action from the Chinese, we're greenlighting that. You know, we hope that they don't take Taiwan in the new year. But we are- We know they're going to. We are going to. We're going to wait till after the Olympics.

We'll talk about it more tomorrow. Yeah. But we are looking towards a new year of massive military conflict.

And shift. The US is just- Geopolitical shift. Yeah. I mean, I think that you think the Russians would be talking about going into Ukraine like they are, or the Chinese going back to try to take Taiwan if another President was in office?

I don't think so. But this shows the weakness. Now, we've been concerned at the border, and this has been an ongoing problem, with terrorism sneaking in.

And we know that has happened. This is in the Biden administration here. So a potential terrorist with links to what is being called as a number of, quote, Yemeni subjects of interest was captured this past Thursday. So less than a week ago, Thursday night, after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border through the Yuma, Arizona pass, which by the way, DHS said Monday, yesterday, it will use border wall funds to close unfinished gaps in the walls at Tucson, Yuma, and El Paso.

Why can't they just say, gee, we're going to do that because it actually works? The man is allegedly from Saudi Arabia, is linked to several Yemeni subjects of interest. He appeared to be wearing, ready for this, a jacket emblazoned with an American flag badge and another that said he was a volunteer. And obviously, the group that he said he volunteered with said, we have no idea who this person is. Now, I'm saying all this because this is for real. And this is why countries, including the United States, should have border security. And I think the duplicity in the Biden administration when it comes to, well, we're not building wall, we're just closing gaps.

If you don't think the wall is necessary, just, Joe Biden, why don't you go in and take the wall out that they put in? Just move the 700 miles they put in, just take it out. They're not going to do that.

There's no way they're going to do that. They're closing the gaps because for exactly that reason, and that doesn't even address the sex trafficking issue, which is another epidemic in the country right now. Yeah, so you've got, again, they've had to acknowledge, and you know they can't stand acknowledging that the actual terrorist who's on their list.

And so we've put together a FOIA on this, even a more narrowed down FOIA, and specifically on those two issues that you just talked about. One is, why did they get rid of and cancel Operation Talent, which was the human trafficking program that the Trump administration put in place? Why is that so controversial? Is it just because Donald Trump did it?

Yes. That's why this is an administration going nowhere and can't get their legislation through. They have the House, they got the Senate, they have the White House, and they still can't get things passed.

Why? They're nasty, they're incompetent, and they're being run by the far left, so they're not who people actually elected. If you actually believe Joe Biden, why he got the votes he got, it was supposedly to bring restore calm and to put together policies that everybody could support, instead we see chaos all over the country with the crime going through the roof, inflation through the roof, our standing at the world has just plummeted, no one cares about our words anymore. You have Jake Sullivan going upstairs, not looking good with the Iranians.

What does that mean? Why do we care? Because you're still trying to get back to your point and deal. When you look at the border, they've had to reinstate remain in Mexico and expand it. Now they're building wall, but they won't tell you anything, they're still blaming it on Trump, they wouldn't have to be doing it, but like you said, they're not dismantling wall.

No. If the wall is the problem, dismantle that wall, but God knows they don't want that imagery out of them taking down wall while you got terrorists coming through. These terrorists are smart, so they know that if predominantly the people coming through there are from South American origin, Latin American origin, they can try to blend in and get these guys from Yemen, put on a jacket, and maybe they just look like they're either a government employee down there, but how many haven't been caught? Because they refuse to allow these law enforcement officers to do their job. You talk to Customs and Border Patrol, they're basically processing paper now.

Let me play for you. This is Tom Homan, who was the former director of Immigration and Customs for the United States Enforcement. This is what he had to say. When you open the border up to illegal immigration, which takes half the Border Patrol off the line, you open up to criminals, you open up to human trafficking of women and children, and you open up to terrorism. So how many of that 400,000 didn't get arrested and they're terrorists?

There you go. I mean, this only makes sense. So you would think it would be nice if the administration could actually put a policy together that also made sense. So instead what they say is, well, we're not building the wall, we're closing gaps. And this is all the previous administration's fault.

And this is nonsense. Now the President is giving a speech, if you're watching this tape delayed, he already gave it on COVID. And it'll be very interesting to see how the country reacts and the market reacts and see what he says. The messaging has not been clear.

I am, as you know, I have said this before, I'm a big advocate of vaccines. What I'm not a big advocate of is the federal government throwing out mandates that don't make a lot of sense when the agency that they picked doesn't have the authority to do it. Now that's at the Supreme Court. The government is filing their brief on the 30th.

We'll file something probably, not probably, we'll file something the next day. So this is going to move very quickly. I want to hear from you on all of these topics though in this last segment and I'd also like to know what's happening in your neighborhood for Christmas.

The Timmy scene's up. What's happening this year? You're checking your calls at 1-800-684-3110. Get your comments in also on Facebook, YouTube, or wherever you are watching us on social media, 800-684-3110. But I want to take a few minutes here, Jordan, to thank our members around the country. We sat down and had our board meeting last week and we do this end of the year board meeting because it gives you a good sense of where you are. And we've had an incredible year and we've been able to accomplish a lot. Our Now More Than Ever campaign included the hiring of Rick Grenell, the former director of national intelligence, member of the cabinet, President Trump, the former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, also a member of the cabinet for the previous administration, and they're part of the ACLJ's international team. We're going to announce in the months ahead some big moves internationally that will impact the United States as well. So we've got some really big plans for 2022.

I mean significant expansion. It's like doubling down on Now More Than Ever. But I have to say this to our members, none of this happens without you. And I will tell you, like, we're not like a lot of organizations in that we don't have, you know, we don't get a, we get some and we're appreciative of everything. We're not, we don't get regularly $10 million grants and million dollar grants.

That's very rare for us. I mean, you could, you could look at those over the course of our 20 years. I mean, our building in Washington was a large donation from a foundation. We'll never forget that.

That's been 20 years already. But it's because of people like you, lots of people like you, that make a difference. That was what we decided to do 35 or 40 years ago when we started. That it was going to be more of a, we now call grassroots model, but it was really going to be supported by everyday citizens.

The people that wanted to protect religious freedom, religious liberty, and protect our freedom and liberty as American citizens. And we have been blessed beyond anything we could imagine. We have facilities that we can't even, when I'm wearing these facilities, I still can't believe we're in these facilities, but that doesn't happen without you. So we're going to take calls in the next segment. Phone lines are lighting up, but I just wanted to stop and say thank you from all of us. There's just me and Jordan on the set today, but there's a lot of people working behind the scenes, as you know, and that we don't have a camera back there. We should really get one.

And around this entire office and our offices around the globe. Thank you. Without your support, it doesn't happen. And as we said, we're in a matching challenge campaign.

We're in the last nine days of the month. Jordan's going to let you know how to do it, makes a big difference on how we can proceed ahead. Yeah. It's very easy to do. You go to ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. Right on the homepage there, you can do it on your phone, you can do it on your tablet, you can do it on your computer.

Very quick though. I mean, by the time we come back from this break, you could have easily made the donation. And you'll see matching challenge or donate. Either one of those take you to the right page, put in your info, choose the amount you want to donate. You can choose if you want to make it a recurring monthly donation. That will still be part of the match.

People ask that all the time, and that will be part of the match. So you go to ACLJ.org. This is a great time to support our work.

As you said, we're grassroots. You know, a $25 donation is a big deal for the ACLJ. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected, is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched, a $10 gift becomes $20, a $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel Welcome back.

It's your secular. We are going to take your calls at the moment. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. If you're on our email list, you'll see an email from me today on our work with Afghanistan, with the Christians there, and the religious minorities in Afghanistan, the work we've done at the UN on that, and our interventions at the UN on that. But what is important also to point out is that we've got a series on Afghanistan, a document series, which is unique because it's one individual at a time. So it's a multi-part series instead of just a one-time documentary.

You're hearing different perspectives from people who have been involved in the war on terrorists since the 9-11 attacks, people who have fought to members of Congress, ambassadors, a whole host of folks. If you make that donation at ACLJ.org, I just want to remind you too, because I don't want you to miss it in your email. You get an email receipt, just like if you purchase something online, you get the confirmation. In that receipt, you will have the link to view that new docuseries on Afghanistan, the withdrawal.

And it was spawned by how bad the withdrawal went, but also takes you back throughout the history of that war. And so that is, again, will be available to you for anybody at any contribution level, but I want you to know it's in your email in the receipt. And so that's the way that where you go. I know that we've played parts of that on our broadcast, so you've heard some of that or watched some of it, but it's a way you can go to ACLJ. Again, if you make that donation to ACLJ.org, you'll get the receipt and the documentary link is there, and you'll get to see the entire series that way, so don't miss that in your email. All right, we're taking your calls also, 1-800-68-431-10, and we're taking on a variety of issues.

Let's take the first one. Yeah, Bill in Colorado online too. Hey, Bill.

Hi, how's it going? Good. Yeah, I was just thinking about the mandate. I'm unvaccinated.

I think that's everybody's choice. I don't really want to get into the details of it, but it seems to me that the issue the government is throwing at people right now is that the hospitals are being overwhelmed and overrun, and I'm just wondering why the focus and the Build Back Better bill or any of the other stimulus packages aren't creating more hospital beds and being more aptly prepared for a pandemic, because I think the government being unprepared isn't the fault. Well, I mean, look, I mean, I think this pandemic, let's not forget how this pandemic started first of all, okay?

I mean, all evidence indicates that the Chinese government at least allowed it to get out or got out and they didn't stop it. That's number one. Number two, you could put money in a Build Back Better bill, but hospitals take years to build. So being unvaccinated, you're increasing your risk. That's my opinion. And I lost a family member that wasn't vaccinated, so I take it rather seriously.

So don't put nasty comments on Facebook or YouTube on how you're reviewing this. I'm the one that we're challenging the federal mandate, but I believe in the science of the vaccine. I've been vaccinated, but it is an individual choice. People make choices, but building hospitals takes years and that's usually a county or state function, not the federal government. So we don't want the federal government getting it to where they're not supposed to go. So the problem is we've got a situation right now that has to be handled. And you made a decision, that decision has consequences. Like everybody's decision has consequences.

That's just the way the world is. So you know what my view is on this. Like I said, we have one of the lead cases of, I think we're in the top eight cases at the Supreme Court right now on this mandate. We'll see what happens.

I mean, no one's quite sure exactly what's going on with that. It's an unusual procedural request that's been put in place, but we'll see. Yeah, I mean, I think this is, again, the federal government has, remember they sent out the ships, the military ships. They took over a master place like the Javits Center in New York and it wasn't really necessary at those times.

They went unused. Now if we, so there are measures available to the federal government, but I think for all of you who are conservative out there, you don't want that. You don't want the federal government federalizing every hospital and taking over the hospitals. So again, I think that there's this careful balance here in these situations. Listen, the left knows that too. This is a paragraph moment for the left. They think that you're in crisis mode, I'm talking to everybody here, and it doesn't matter if you're vaccinated or not, you're in crisis mode. And it sounded like from his call, he's nervous.

He might end up at the hospital and there's not gonna be a place for him. So the question is though, if they start controlling this, it's not your state and community, and it's not just them help having the military assist when necessary on a temporary basis. You're losing the idea of federalism in the country, and that's how they get you. It's how they get you on social programs and they get you on fear. But you've chosen to put yourself in that situation where it's more likely that you'll be in the hospital than someone who is vaccinated.

That's just the stats. Can I say something else about this whole process that we've gone through? Donald Trump, and he gets criticized a lot, and I was his lawyer, so obviously I defend my client when I was his lawyer and I continue to defend my client. But let me say something. I don't know of another President that I could have gotten a vaccine, approved, certified, out, distributed in nine months other than Donald Trump.

I mean, I think it's very impressive what was done with Operation Warp Speed. Now Donald Trump announced the other day that he had a booster, the former President of the United States, and somebody in the audience, a small group, booed. Now everybody's saying they're for personal choice.

Well, that was his personal choice. What was wrong with that? So I think if you're worried about a hospital, I just want to say this, I appreciate the caller, but if you're worried about there's not a hospital bed available for you, take precaution. Be smart.

That's all I'm going to say. Yeah, and because you start relying too much on free services, which they're not. Right now you go to that hospital bed, you're going to get an insurance bill. Yeah, exactly. So if anybody goes in that hospital and that's sick, I know this from personal experience, that because it wasn't FDA approved, doesn't stop them wanting that medicine when their life support system is failing.

But it doesn't work anymore. Right. So I mean, again, all these decisions, if you're going to make those kinds of decisions, you should not be relying on the government to save you, right?

Because that's never good. You want to be at a housing project by the federal government? No, no one's goal is to be in government housing.

They want to get out of government housing. You don't want to have the federal government making all these decisions for you or else you're losing power. So I think with all of these issues that we're talking about, it's again, allowing personal choice, personal decisions, fighting back against the overreach of the government and the responsible ways to protect the idea that our country was founded on, that there's federalism and that states and localities have a better handle on what they need to do than a mass mandate by the federal government, which would apply the same to New York as it does Idaho.

It doesn't make sense. We're a very diverse country. Our states are diverse, politically diverse. And because of that, something that works well for one city, even put in place by a Republican or state, may not be good for the next red state nearby because of the demographics and what they're dealing with.

But that's what we always are fighting for is the idea that you could have these debates at that state level. Once you give it up to the federal government, you never get it back. Look at Obamacare. It's a perfect example. Republicans still oppose it. It's a top issue, but replacing it was very difficult. Even when there was a Republican President, Republican House and Senate, they could not come up with a replacement yet.

They would say they're opposing it, but they didn't have something to come in that would still do some of the things that people liked. All that to be said, our work continues on all these issues. And whether we get into the holiday season, as we talked about, we're going to have briefs likely filed before the new year again at the US Supreme Court because they set that deadline for the 30th. So support our work at ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. We've got our matching challenge. You double the impact to your donation. That's ACLJ.org. We will talk to you tomorrow on Secular.

At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20. A $50 gift becomes $100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org.