Rick Green

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the WallBuilder Show. We're taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective and today we're sharing a lot of the good news on those hot topics, all the different things going on in the culture. There's different battles in every area of the culture because people are waking up and they're starting to take territory back for the kingdom and actually have biblical principles reflected in business and entertainment and journalism and all these different areas. So there's a lot of good news to share, despite the fact that we're in tough times.

But that's what God uses to make us better. That's why we count it all joy when we experience various trials. So we're going to get some joy today in some good news. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach and a former Texas legislator, honored to serve here with David and Tim Barton. Tim's a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. David's America's premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders, and they have been piling up the good news for a while and we'll try to get through as much of it as we can today.

David, what's our first piece of good news today? 

David Barton

Well, Rick, with my first piece of good news I'm going to Tennessee, and Tennessee and Texas have had a pretty good relationship for a long time, going all the way back to our Alamo, where that Tennessee sent so many guys to help us win our own independence. And they're called the volunteer state because they do so many things to help. And one of the things they've done to help I think is really really significant. I think you have to go back decades, maybe more than a century, to get something like this. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has called the entire state of Tennessee to pray for a month. So he didn't issue just a call to prayer and he didn't say, hey, this is a day of Thanksgiving, let's enjoy the turkey today. Nothing like that. I mean he really got into calling for a serious time of prayer. He did so by pointing back to our history. He said our national and state founders trusted in the omnipotent hand of providence to guide and bless our land and he talked about how that so many of the founders called for prayer proclamations. And when you look back in the American founding, I mean by the time you get to 1815, just the New England states alone had issued more than 1400 separate calls to prayer, and they were issued at the governmental level by governmental leaders. So what? What Governor Lee has done here is really significant. And I want to just read you part of his call to prayer. I think it's a good thing for every one of us to join in with this and be part of his call to prayer. I think it's a good thing for every one of us to join in with this and be part of this call to prayer. Even out in California, pastor Jack Hibbs said hey, we need to all be Tennesseans right now. Let's respond to Tennessee's call to prayer, play like we're in the state of Tennessee, like he's our governor, and let's all respond and let's all be Tennesseans. I think that's a pretty good way to say it, Jack.

So here's part of the proclamation from Governor Lee. He said we recognize that God, as Creator and King of all glory, has both the authority to judge and to bless nations or states. We, as public servants, beseech him to not withdraw his hand of blessing from us. We recognize our sins and shortcomings before him and humbly ask his forgiveness. We ask the Lord Jesus to heal our land and remove the violence, the human trafficking, the addiction and the corruption. We ask that the Holy Spirit fill our halls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches and our homes with peace, love and joy. We call upon all those who are physically able and spiritually inclined to do so to join in a 30-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting as we begin a fiscal year, as a means of seeking God's blessing and humbling ourselves to receive his grace and mercy, transforming ourselves, our communities, our state and our nation.

That's a really good call to prayer and that's only part of what. And our nation? That's a really good call to prayer and that's only part of what's in there. That's part of the proclamation issue. But I think that's really good news for America to humble itself and pray, ask for God's help, his intervention, his healing on hearts, his help with all these national issues and state issues we've got going on. This is the throwback to what really made America healthy in its early days and hopefully we'll have a whole lot more of other states doing some of the same. But in the meantime, like Jack Hibbs said, let's all be Tennesseans and let's join in with this time of prayer before God. 30-day time of prayer they've called in Tennessee. This is great.

Rick Green

Well, I can go so far, David, I can do the praying thing. I'm sorry, I love Jack, but I can't be a Tennessean. I just can't do it, can't do it. My brother-in-law lives in Tennessee. He'll never let me live it down if I go along with you today on this. So I will be a transplanted Texan praying with Tennesseans, is that okay? Can I do it that way?

Rick Green

You know, I'm going to bet that they would accept that. I even think God might accept that, quite frankly. Yeah, I think he might accept prayers whatever state they come from.

Rick Green

Well, you know, honestly, I think most people don't even realize you guys were the ones at wall builders. You, with your collection to um, really bring this back to the forefront. All of these public prayer proclamations, the continental congress's prayer pro, I mean all of these were kind of lost to history until your collection and you started talking about them on television and in your books. And you know, we had what was it 20 years ago maybe, when Rick Perry did that call to prayer and went to pray down in Houston? And that was because of what he learned from you, David. So I really am thankful that those documents were preserved so that we could look at those originals and learn from them, and then guys like Governor Lee could follow that example. So let's get into some more good news over Tim. What you got, man. 

Tim Barton

Well, this is also from Tennessee.

Rick Green

 No, no, no, you can't do it, man. I'm telling you my brother-in-law is going to listen to this and I will never live it down.

Tim Barton

But you know, some of the greatest Tennesseans died Texans.

Rick Green

So oh, that's good. I like the way you put that. They were Tennesseans but they died Texans.

Tim Barton

You know, with Davy Crockett, and some of our greatest Texas heroes originated in Tennessee. In fact, my wife is from Tennessee, but she's in Texas now. Right, there we go. Nonetheless, good news coming out of Tennessee that the headline of this article says no fundamental right to Change Sex on Birth Certificate a Federal Appeals Court Rule. So Tennessee had passed a law that simply said we're not going to go back and change somebody's biological sex on their birth certificate because they now identify differently. That's not what the birth certificate is for. There was a group called Lambda Legal. They're an LGBT group and they represented four men who now have become transgender, identifying differently, and they said we really need to go change our birth certificates because it's just really bothersome to us.

This case is on its way out. Well, it went before the sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals and in a two-to-one decision, the judges there ruled that this is not a violation of someone's constitutional rights to say that they can't go back and change the biological reality of their gender. There's several really interesting and maybe humorous quotes from some of the judges. One said the states have considerable discretion in defining the terms used in their own laws and deciding what records to keep. Tennessee did not exceed the discretion in distinguishing biological sex from gender identity in its birth certificate. Continuing in some of these statements, it says Tennessee's decision to abide by its longstanding approach to the issue hardly amounts to unequal protection of the law, even under the most soaring generality of those terms. That's what I was looking for, where the judge is pointing out you're making a really ridiculous claim, even if we said in the most soaring generality of the terms you're using when it comes to equal protection under the law, that still doesn't even apply here. So it's really great they're reading through the judge's decision and some of their explanations as to why they made that decision. It makes a lot of sense.

The fact that there was a judge that dissented is also a little bothersome and boggling. Saying that, no, no, they have a constitutional right that states can't violate for them to go back and change their gender, their biological sex, to identify with their gender on their birth certificate. Of course it's utterly ridiculous. But the state attorney general in New York, Jonathan I'm probably going to pronounce this incorrectly, but it looks like Scrametti. Again, I don't really know but he pointed out while other states have taken different approaches for decades, Tennessee has consistently recognized that a birth certificate records a biological fact of the child being male or female and has never addressed gender identity. We are grateful to the Court of Appeals for agreeing with the district court that any change in Tennessee policy can only come from the people of Tennessee, which is the proper role and function. Now I can't imagine even if the people of Tennessee decided that boys can be girls and girls can be boys. That still would be crazy and incorrect.

But Tennessee is the state that over this last year has done the most conservative and Biblically grounded legislation from the state level.

As we have our pro-family legislative network where we work with legislators from all 50 states, Tennessee has been the most impressive in what they've accomplished this year. It's also one of the reasons that a lot of conservatives have been moving to Tennessee, even groups like from the Daily Wire with Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles. So many of their team moves into Tennessee because, even though there are a lot of still fights going on, there are a lot of really good people and that is your mention even from the governor, with the open acknowledgement of God and going back to more of kind of the founding era kind of stuff. It's really neat to see. Well, this is coming really from the Sixth Circuit, but it's upholding a law that Tennessee did, saying that we're not going to go and change birth certificates because somebody wants to identify a different way and feels different now than their biological reality from when they were kids. So, overall, really good news coming out of Tennessee.

Rick Green

All right, guys. Well, I am nervous that y'all are going to have another Tennessee story. So we're going to end the program early today. Actually, we're going to go to break a little early and then when we come back I will have thrown David and Tim's stacks of good news in the trash and they will hopefully start over and find another state other than Tennessee. We'll be back. Stay with us. It's the WallBuilder Show and you're listening to Good News Friday.

Break

Rick Green

It's good news. Friday on the wall builder show the second half today is a new show. And no, if I do that, you might have another Tennessee story and claim that it's a new show that you're using it for anyway, I love Tennessee. I'm gonna get hate mail from Tennessee now just because I'm trying so hard to to find a Texas story here. So do either of you have a Texas story for me?

Tim Barton

And rick Obviously taking the break early just gave us more time to look through our stack to try to find it. I just want you to know Another Tennessee, yeah, I'm being honest, I just picked the next one on top of my stack. I didn't go searching, but I cannot claim that my dad did not. So I just full disclosure I'm not, but my dad can be a little ornery at times.

Rick Green

We shouldn't wait for your dad to do his and then come back and find out. We got to know what was that next one on your stack?

Tim Barton

Oh well, mine is highlighting something similar to a story we talked about last week and I think we even had interviews maybe I don't remember when it aired, but about some of the Supreme Court decisions and specifically the one that dealt with the January 6th obstruction charges. So this headlines, as federal prosecutors begin dropping January 6th obstruction charges after Supreme Court ruling. There are several people that have been imprisoned. First of all that when they were initially arrested they had a lot of their due process rights suspended because they were viewed as these insurrectionists and kind of in this terrorist category and so they don't get the same basic rights of a US citizen at that point. And then, when they went to their trial, the argument against them the prosecution brought the charge of obstruction. Well, the obstruction charged the US, the Supreme Court, in their six to three decision they delivered explaining that unless you can show that the individual you're charging with obstruction actually was there, like in the midst of the proceeding, stopping it, or they were removing papers, they were actually obstructing it. You can't use this word arbitrarily and apply it to people that some of them were very papers. They were actually obstructing it. You can't use this word arbitrarily and apply it to people that some of them were very peaceful, they walked through these open doors, et cetera, and it's not to say that there weren't some people that were doing bad things and being destructive.

But anyway, the good news now from this article and this is just from last week is that federal prosecutors are already dropping obstruction charges, so we're already seeing this have an impact, not to mention that some people that were imprisoned under the obstruction charges they are now being released and I'm sure there's going to be some legal process in that for them to be fully exonerated from all the nonsense that happened. And it's going to be interesting to see, even if they have standing, to go back and challenge some of what was done and maybe even restitution from loss of job finance, whatever that might look like. But at least and this headline is pointing out that we're already seeing prosecutors drop these charges and so now many people this was the only charge against them many people are now in a position where they're going to find freedom from some of this unjust Department of Justice witch hunts and political punishing of opponents that we've seen up to this point.

Rick Green

And I bet some of those defendants were from Tennessee. I'm kidding, I know I'm beating a dead horse.

Okay, David.

So what's your next piece of good news? Man, we skipped you to get that one from Tim.

David Barton

Well, it didn't help, because I'm going to Tennessee with this piece of news.

Rick Green

 No, you're not, you're really not.

No, are you really?

David Barton

No, I'm going to California with this piece of news.

It's a fairly short that's a little different, yeah.

But I really like it and it deals kind of with what Tim was just talking about with dropping the J rally. And so there are two white guys there and their defense was really pretty simple. As you know, the law you're charged under is called the 1968 Anti-Riot Act and you did not charge a single Antifa person under this law. You did not charge a single by any means necessary person under this law. All the groups that went in and did actual violence, all the groups that went in and tore stuff down, that created riots, that burned down cities, you didn't charge a single one of them under this law. And here we are at this Trump thing and you're charging two of us under this law. And here we are at this Trump thing and you're charging two of us under this law, and the federal judge said, yeah, you can't do that.

That's selective prosecution. If you're not going to apply the law, you don't apply the law, but you can't pick and choose who you apply the law to, so that, in a sense, I don't know whether these two guys are good, bad or indifferent, but you have to have equal justice under the law. Are good, bad or indifferent, but you have to have equal justice under the law. You can't pick and choose your winners and losers under law. That's why we talked about before.

Lady Justice has a blindfold on. She's not supposed to see whether you're white or black or anything else. You just if you did it, if you did wrong, then you get in trouble. If you didn't do wrong, you get cleared. Real, simple. And so that was a real simple, common sense decision by this federal judge out in California that I'm not going to let you turn this into a witch hunt by chasing some people with this law and not chasing other people that you don't like with this law or that you do like. So good, I think. A good ruling coming out of California by that federal judge.

Rick Green

Yeah, that's actually. You know, two weeks in a row We've had some good, good, good news stories that are dealing with that restoration of justice, dealing with that bringing back that blind justice. You're talking about David now. Technically, if I'm keeping up with equal time, since we skipped david to go to Tim, I should probably go for a second one from David. I don't know, David, you got a second one ready hey, hey, listen, that is that liberal stuff.

When you get into counting and judging everybody that's not the way we do equality around here, rick, you can.

You can pick and choose right, turn off david's mic.

Somebody Tim no, I'm gonna say hey, don't.

Tim Barton

Don't default to our dei hire over there right, I mean come on let's have some meritocracy in here no, in that case I going to give a piece of good news. No, I really don't have one.

David Barton

I'm going to object that DEI comment because I handle my gun much better than she did. So don't give me this DEI stuff, because I can handle the gun.

Tim Barton

You do not identify as a Secret Service agent who is hiding behind the president and can't reach the top of his shoulder with your hand right. It's a little different.

Rick Green

Just for fun. Did everybody see the Babylon Bee picture of Trump with his fist in the air? And it says President Trump comforts and carries offstage Secret Service agents who were in fear.

I just thought that was hilarious, no, but that seems pretty.

Tim Barton

I mean, that seems pretty appropriate.

They are so good.

The problem is when they have headlines that appear to be satire and you're like, wait, I think that really happened. And then you're confused because they also have the it's not the B, which they give actual headlines, and so we just live in this weird world right now where the things that should be made fun of are real life, and so it becomes a little more hard for these satire and brilliant writers to come up with something really unique, because I feel like the leftists and the Biden-Harris team have just or maybe Secret Service right. We can kind of go down these agencies and bureaucracies and departments there. They're taking all the good headlines away, right.

Rick Green

Yeah, yeah, I saw. Well, I think we even talked about it on the air one time, Tim, when Seth Dillon from the Bee posted that about you. Know, I couldn't make this. I couldn't create my Babylon Bee comics couldn't do as good as this headline and it was a real headline. I don't remember what it was, but it was like. Real life is even worse. Quick break, we'll be right back. We've got more good news for you. Stay with us. You're listening to wall builders.

Break

Rick Green

Welcome back to WallBuilders. It's Good News Friday today. Let's dive right back into that good news. Tim's got the next piece of good news.

Tim Barton

Well, this one is dealing with a another one of the Biden Harris moves, but specifically from a federal appeals court again, and we've we've seen now several things on on this episode of good news Friday coming from the courts. This is dealing with the student relief program and it was known as the. Was it the Save Act? I think is what it was, and it was a student debt relief, but it was saving on a valuable education is the title I came up with, and when this initially came out, when the Biden team said, hey, we're going to help forgive all the student debt for this certain group and class and whatever kind of qualifications there were for this, there was instantly or pretty quickly there was a court that struck down a portion of it and said, hey, this part is so obviously wrong you can't do that. But they didn't strike down all of it, and so this is an article from last week.

It was very recently that then there was a federal court. It was the US District Judge, John Ross of St Louis. He blocked the Education Department from granting any further loan forgiveness but declined to block all the program. Oh, so this is sorry, that's from last month, but then the White House vowed to appeal when they appealed. That's when it went to the federal court and the federal court struck down the rest of it. And when they struck down the rest of it, one of the things that had happened I think it was just a day or so before the court struck it down oh, here in the article it says the appeals court ruling was issued a day after President Joe Biden announced another $1.2 billion in debt forgiveness for 35,000 student borrowers under a different plan called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. So when the first one got struck down, the Biden team said hey, let's come up with a different one, we'll call it something else and we'll just keep saying we're going to wipe out all of this loan stuff. That's going on Well. Part of the SAFE program, it was an income-driven repayment plan and this is from the article that forgives a portion of student debt based on the borrower's income and family size. It was created in 2023 after the Supreme Court blocked President Biden's sweeping plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt for some 43 million Americans.

So the Biden team has just kept going after this. It's almost like they were trying to win favor and buy votes. I don't know that Democrats have ever done that before. But the bottom line good news is there was a federal appeals court once again striking down the nonsense of telling college age adults and even older that the loan they took out knowingly and willingly to pay for whatever kind of education they were going to get that they didn't have to pay for, the American taxpayer was going to pay on their behalf Totally ridiculous and unconstitutional. Good news is a federal appeals court agreed with Lydon Common Sense and said yeah, we're not making the American taxpayer pay off somebody else's college debt, even though it's what the Biden-Harris team was trying to do. So another great thing coming from a federal court of appeals and striking this down. 

David Barton

Now, wait a minute Before you go away. Do you think Biden might have done this because they recognize that these kids aren't getting the education they paid for? Maybe they shouldn't have to pay anything, since they didn't get anything out of being there for four years.

Rick Green

You mean it's hard to make a living with a lesbian dance theory degree or something like that? Is that what you're saying? It might be why would you?

David Barton

why would you go sixty five thousand dollars into debt for something you'll never use and can't do anything with? So maybe it's just a recognition of how bad education is in America and they want you to have your money back because you're not getting anything out of the education. Well, but if we're doing that.

Tim Barton

I wonder, do they start returning some of our tax dollars too? Because they've taken a lot of money for teachers and roads and bridges and I've seen some of the teachers that I drive on the roads and bridges and I've seen some of the teachers that I drive on the roads and bridges and I don't think I'm getting my money's worth out of this. Uh, so we're going to talk about where they're taking and putting our dollars in the failure we go a long way with this one.

Rick Green

Well, y'all must have not watched the press conference with um john pierre I always forget her whole name but the I just think clown show every time she comes up there. But you know she was serious. She was serious. She was like but these people are struggling. These people are struggling to pay their bills and pay their debts. So let's go take money from hardworking Americans and give it to people who took out loans to get all kinds of crazy worthless degrees. And I don't even remember there was a senator that proposed hey, if you're going to give students back their money or forgive their loans, it should be the bad product, the university that actually gives up that money and that has to pay that money back to the student or just not get the loan proceeds, which makes a lot more sense.

David Barton

Well, just to continue along that line, pointing out right now, currently only 23.6% of students are able to get a job in their degree field, so they're going about $65,000 into debt on average, and only one out of four of them can actually use the education when they get it out to get a job in the area where they were trained. So they're certainly not getting good results for it. Education is just that bad right now and hopefully with more competition it'll get better. But it is amazing that that is one of the top three Biden-Harris initiatives and it's the same for her that everybody should have free college and nobody should have to have any debt for what they get at school. And it's crazy that that's not even in the top 15 of the national issues, but that's one of their top three. Hopefully the judges keep striking this stuff down. It's just the craziness it is.

Rick Green

Well, and the striking of this may be why Joe Biden said in his speech from the White House that he wants to reform the Supreme Court. He's tired of these decisions going against him, and no longer is it that court that he loves so much and that the left loved, because they gave him everything they wanted for 50 years. Well, lots of good news today, guys. Thanks for sharing it. Folks, we'll have more for you next week. Be sure to check out our website today at wallbuilders.show. You've been listening to the WallBuilder Show.