CTV News Update CTV Memo November 22, 2019 California Judge Rules Against Pro-Life Journalists Both Judge and Jury have found the Center for Medical Progress, and its primary investigative journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt liable for damages that could reach into the hundreds of thousands. In his instructions to the jury on Tuesday, Judge William Orrick III related that “ [he] had already found that the defendants trespassed when they attended, undercover, Planned Parenthood conferences in Miami and Orlando and met with Planned Parenthood executives at Planned Parenthood facilities in Colorado and Texas. He instructed the jury to only concern themselves with the damages that the defendants are liable for that trespass, both punitive and actual. Further, he instructed that defendants breached contracts with Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation and the jury should award damages because of those breaches” (Source) Judge Orrick’s connections to Planned Parenthood had previously been noted by CMP (Source) At one point, the judge helped an organization open a Planned Parenthood clinic that was run by the same organization that is involved in the suit. He was also responsible for a gag order that prohibited David Daleiden from speaking on certain portions of the case to the public. Lawyers for the Center for Medical Progress feel that this is a misrepresentation to the jury and to the public as a whole. Investigative journalism, undercover or not, has been protected historically by the courts under the First Amendment. However, Judge Orrick determined that the First Amendment does not provide any kind of protections to the Center for Medical Progress in this civil suit, making them open to damages incurred by Planned Parenthood. You can read more here. Right to Life Petition Update: Deadline Approaching Our friends at Right to Life of Michigan have released an estimate that they will reach the deadline for the Dismemberment Ban petition with approximately 363,000 of 340,000 need signatures. Petitions should be postmarked no later than December 13th to allow adequate time to be counted. We ask that everyone continue to circulate petitions so that Right t Life can reach their goal of 400,000 to provide a cushion in case some signatures are not valid. Please join us as we reach the final push to ban the horrific practice of dismemberment abortion in Michigan. Please click here to request petitions. Face Scanning and Fingerprint Technology in China's Churches It is often easy for those of us who live in the US to disregard world news because it “isn’t in my backyard”. Long afforded protections by the Constitution, religious freedom has flourished in America since its inception as a nation. Elsewhere in China however, Christian believers who wish to enter church must submit to face scans and fingerprint recognition. This is part of a much larger effort by the Chinese government to control religious gatherings and meetings. These devices have been installed at several government run churches, called the Three-Self church, which only allows reading of government approved texts and the singing of hymns that praise the state and China’s history. Unfortunately this reality is what can occur in the absence of safeguards of fundamental and unalienable liberties. Our founders constructed the Constitution to acknowledge that rights do not flow from government, but rather from an external source: God. The Constitution exists to restrain the government and empower the people. CTV continues to advocate for an understanding of our rights and freedoms rooted in a Judeo-Christian understanding of the law.” You can read the full story here. Democratic Socialism in America The following is taken from a commentary posted on our website. You can read the whole article here. Excerpt: "...the pursuit of socialist policy is the integration of government into citizens personal and public lives. It seeks to ultimately tame the most destructive force known to man: man himself; this through full economic control. This observation leads to the next fatal assumption: the infallibility of man. Democratic Socialism assumes that if central economic power is vested in the state, the people would be fully able to dispose of a leader that abuses that power. However, this follows in the same progression of fallacy that Karl Marx and many others have accepted: they reject the ultimate notion that man is aggressive in his pursuit of power, always seeking to exert influence and control over others. Paul Johnson notes that “…[power]…will not disappear when one system is transformed into another, but will be enthusiastically exercised by those in charge of the new one.” DONATE TO CTV Citizens for Traditional Values relies on the support of grassroots activists and concerned citizens who care about preserving, protecting, and promoting traditional values in Lansing and our local communities. Click here to donate now. Citizens for Traditional Values | PO Box 80295, Lansing, MI 48908 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | About Constant Contact Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with Try email marketing for free today!