Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to The WallBuilders Show on a Friday. It's Good News Friday. I always look forward to this. David and Tim have been compiling some good news for all of us, catching us up on some of the things that are happening out there across the United States and around the world. Some of the good news, it typically gets ignored. And, you know, certainly when you're coming from a constitutional, a biblical and a historical perspective, major media does not think of what we think of as good news as being good news. So looking forward to getting these guys to share as much as possible. You can go to our website, wallbuilders.show. If we run out of time and don't get to enough good news You can find more there at our radio site wallbuilders.show and then our main website wallbuilders.com. David, Tim, let's jump in, get some good news. David, what's first? 

David Barton [00:00:47] I want to go to an article that has an interesting phraseology in there and it's talking about finding a new language and how that American students are finding a new language. Now I was kind of intrigued with what it is and what it turns out to be is they're finding cursive. Now we kind of talked before about cursive and how important it is, how schools have dropped it, but if you can't read cursive, you can read the Founding document, you can't read any Founding Fathers stuff, you can't even read your grandparents' letters. They all did cursive and somehow, we've decided we didn't need that and so what has happened in this kind of cursive thing is I was kind of intrigued with the fact that Florida recently put in a bill where they said we're going to go back to using cursive. And so Ron DeSantis signed that a few weeks ago and it was done by Representative Toby Overdorf and he did it because he said that so many financial businesses, mortgage places and things in his area were having trouble because young people couldn't sign contracts because they didn't know how to sign in cursive. And they you can't just print your name you have to sign your name. And they don't know what a signature is. And they can't sign a bank check. And he was just kind of blown away at how much trouble that was creating the lack of signatures. And so he introduced this bill to go back to that. Well as it turned out looking back over this most states do not require cursive. Now in the last 12 years or so, about 14 States have come back in and said, hey, we want to have cursive. And, and so it's interesting that really in 2010, when Common Core came in, they really started dropping in the seventies as the progressives got in all, we don't need that old stuff. We need new stuff. We're wasting time with old stuff and then they didn't care about history anyway, because progressives means never having to look back in history. And then you got into Common Core and Common Core, the two dozen or so states that introduced Common Core they dropped cursive because that was not part of what Common Core was doing. So now just in the last few years, you've had really more than a dozen states pick this up, but I was intrigued with cursive, not only that it helps us know history, but they're saying now that cursive is one of the best ways of having the early diagnosis of learning disabilities and Dyslexia and Autism. And that with cursive, it brings out a lot of the creative side of people. And I'm just really intrigued with the whole cursive thing and how it has gone away, but now it's coming back just by pragmatism. But I'm loving the fact that it's coming back because of knowing our history. And it's interesting that even from what we would consider maybe some left universities, like University of California at Riverside and even in Norway and they're saying the cursive increases brain development related to language and memory and fine motor skills. So now even Pennsylvania and New Jersey have gone back to mandating cursive and I'm just real intrigued that we're finding a need to go back to things that are going to help us with our history but there's so many other motor skills with this. And this is the problem with progressives they just always want to dump stuff that's in the past without even finding out if it's needed or necessary. And now they're finding out that this old stuff that they thought we didn't need anymore really does have some benefits. So I think that's good news that even by pragmatism we're coming back to something, but I especially think it's good new because it puts us back in a situation where you will have students, at least in coming years, who will be able to go back to original sources and can document things from original sources. And we're a big fan of not doing something just because your teacher says it's the right thing to do. Being able to think for yourself and this helps them analyze that and with the interest in history that's been revived in the last three to five years, I think it's going to be really good for the future. So I consider that to be good news. 

Rick Green [00:04:49] More people that could actually read the Declaration of Independence, right? We'll give it a read.

David Barton [00:04:53] What a novel idea. 

Rick Green [00:04:55] Good stuff! Tim, where are you taking us to, man?

Tim Barton [00:04:58] Well, this one is something that happened here in Texas just last Friday. This is the article. And as, guys, I was reading the article, there are several parts that we can chuckle at. Because this was not written by a conservative commentator. They're just acknowledging what happened. The title says, "Houston Mother's Bid for Temporary Hold on Ten Commandments Posters in Texas Classroom Denied". So there are three moms from Houston, Texas that brought a lawsuit because one of the laws that passed in Texas require that Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools when those copies are donated, then they must be displayed, et cetera. There's more details to that. But these moms sued. On last Friday, there was a judge who denied their request and... by way of background, this was, in Texas, known as Senate Bill 10. Our good friend, Senator Phil King, is the one that introduced that. And actually, he's the first one to draft a Ten Commandments Bill. Now, Texas was not the first state to get a passed in, and we have some thoughts and reasons for that. Mostly it was because of the leadership in Texas at the time, but specifically in the House, not to digress. Phil King is the guy who first introduced this idea in legislation of the Ten Commandments going on display in public schools. Other states now have adopted that. There's many more states that are going to do that in the coming years. Very exciting things that students will once again see what is known as the moral foundation of the West of law in the Western hemisphere. There's so many historic connecting points we can show, but there was a group of moms, three specifically, that were very bothered by this. And here's the guys, the funny part to me of the article. It says the mother's lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 10, this time under Texas law, other attempts to prohibit the display of the 10 Commandments in public schools under federal law. And the article is now gonna tell us why those federal challenges occurred. Primarily the First Amendment's guarantee of separation of church and state have been unsuccessful so far. Now, there's all kinds of eye roll irony when this author of this article is saying, guys, we know this unconstitutional because the First Amendment, it gives us a separation of church and state, which of course is not in the First Amendments that so wildly misconstrued, not to digress. There was a judge in Harris County that struck this down and the strategy that these moms had, which I think is very fascinating. There's actually two Texas laws, really good laws that were put in place that these parents were trying to say The Ten Commandments violate these other laws. Now guys, what can you imagine? Put on your creative thinking brain. These were good laws that these moms are arguing based on these good laws that our kids should never have to see or read the Ten Commandments. What do you think the Texas laws are they're trying to base that on? 

David Barton [00:08:03] Well, I'm not a judge, but I'm going to recuse myself because I did see this article. And so because I saw the article, I know at least one of those laws. So Rick, to you, sir. 

Rick Green [00:08:14] Well, great, yeah, see, I'm just gonna guess there's probably some law in the Texas books against murdering. I don't know, maybe don't kill other people. You know, there might even be some criminal statute somewhere in Texas about not stealing, and I bet in Texas you don't have a $900 exception like you do in California. But I don't even know if I'm on the right track. 

Tim Barton [00:08:33] No, well no and honestly Rick that probably the smartest thing would have been you know guys I read the article too, so I don't want to give away the answer. Tim tell us...

Rick Green [00:08:43] Yeah, that's what I should have done. 

Tim Barton [00:08:44] At this point, you have to go, okay, David might have read the article, but I feel like it was also a pretty clever way to get out, not to go down that rabbit hole. So the parents are suing number one under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 

David Barton [00:09:03] That's the one I didn't remember. That's what I did not remember. Okay, got it.

Tim Barton [00:09:06] So back in 1999, it declares that a government agency may not substantially burden a person's free exercise of religion. Now, how they're going to show that the Ten Commandments being posted in classrooms, and by the way, acknowledging the historical significance of the Ten Commandments, that, that the contribution, the foundation of the Ten Commandments. How does that substantially burden, a person's free exercise of religion?  

David Barton [00:09:33] Wait a minute, I've got this Tim and the article, it said what the religion was of those three folks. There was one that was a Sikh. There was. One that was the two others. There was three different religions. And I think they're going to claim that, well, the Ten Commandments is not part of my religion. And since it's not part of my region under the free exercise of religion, I shouldn't be teaching it. 

Tim Barton [00:09:54] Well, yeah, but still that doesn't hinder them from exorcizing their religion. Because even if their religion, even if they're religion supported adultery and murder and not honoring your father and mother, it doesn't hinder you from doing it. It just shows what the Ten Commandments were. Now that's number one. They're suing under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Number one, number two is Texas Proposition 15. Also known as the Parental Rights Amendment. But here's the catch on that one. The Parental Rights Amendment ensures that parents have the right to exercise care, custody and control of the parent's child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child's upbringing. So they're gonna say, we don't want our kids learning things like honor your father and mother, and don't murder, and don't steal, and don't commit adultery. We don't wanna our kids to know those things. Now, again, this It's kind of a crazy thought challenge. They're trying to find anything they can. And this is also where the article doesn't highlight it. I feel like if we dug a little deeper, you might find groups like the Freedom from Religion Foundation, or like Atheist United for Separation Church State, one of those kind of groups behind it trying to support and bolster this. But guys, the good news is that a judge struck this down saying, no, this is, y'all don't have grounds under that, et cetera. Now just in clarity there is a temporary injunction hearing coming up next week. So this is not over, but also we know this is happening every state that displays the Ten Commandments. There are people fighting against those displays that don't want religion is what they would say. They don't have religion to be visible. Ultimately what I would say is there's a spiritual component where the devil doesn't want God's Word or God's Commands to be seen. So I think there's a lot of spiritual thing because if you look practically, the Ten Commandments were enshrined in the legal code of all of the original 13 colonies. The Ten Commandment were cited by the Founding Fathers often when they refer to the Decalogue or the Ten commandments as the foundation of moral law. The Ten commandments were part of education textbooks starting from the very first reader which was the New England Primer in 1690. The Ten Commandments were in the McGuffey Readers, they were in Noah Webster's history book. You can go down the line, the most prominent used repeated textbooks in public school from the beginning of public school up until 1980, when the Ten Commandments, in the case Stone v. Graham, the U.S. Supreme Court said the Ten commandments could no longer be displayed. The Ten commandments were always part of public education. They were always a part of the public life and law, specifically law is important. Because even when the Supreme Court said the Ten Commandments could no longer be displayed, on their two doors, where people enter and exit the chamber, are the Ten Commandments on display. And if you go around the Supreme Court building, the most prominent imagery you will find is of Moses and the Ten Commandments. More than any other imagery, you will find the Ten Commandments. Now, the reason I point this out is because the argument that we don't want our kids to see the Ten Commandments, well, then don't let your kids ever go to Washington, DC and tour the Library of Congress, tour the US Capitol, tour the US Supreme Court, because Moses and the Ten commandments are on full display. Now, not to digress, this is part of the ridiculousness of the argument, which again is why the reason we know there's a spiritual component to this is because it's not reasonable when you think about impact, influence, and history, which is part of why the 10 Commandments are there. The reason it's opposed is because it upholds a moral standard, or at least reflects and reveals what is a moral standard, and that's why there is spiritual opposition, and that why there are people opposing it and fighting against it. But the good news is, in Texas, a judge shot down the attempt to stop this from these three moms in Houston again. There's going to be more challenges along the way, but right now the good news is the 10 Commandments are being upheld and they are still on display in public schools in Texas. 

Rick Green [00:14:08] And we need to get them in schools all across the country. Very good news. Okay, quick break, guys. We'll be back. We've got more good news for you when we return on The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:15:22] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. It's Friday, so we're getting as much good news out as we can. David, what's our next piece of good news? 

David Barton [00:15:30] Well, this one's kind of a shout out for a personal privilege to a friend. Glenn Beck's a good friend, has been a good friend for a number of years. Earlier this year, Tim and I, several weeks ago, we were together with Glenn Beck at Ellis Island, a Moms for Liberty event that they did there. It was a really tremendous event that they did, and so Glenn spoke there, we spoke there. And at the time, he talked about a story and unveiled a painting he had done. Glenn is really a good painter. And so he talked about this, we were at Ellis Island, so he talks about a particular immigrant that had come there, the last generation, and she was from a, we would say, impoverished situation. She listed herself as a domestic, so she's a maid for rich people. And she came here, and that's how she was shown. But he painted this painting, full length painting what he imagined that she looked like. And the reason he did it was Trump's mom. Now, that in itself to me was pretty amazing. I had no idea that Trump went from having his mom being in poverty, right at the verge of poverty, being a maid for other people, to him being one of the wealthiest guys in the nation and now in the world before he got in the presidency. So in one generation, you've gone from, his mom came through Ellis Island in a very poor situation. Now look at him, President of the United States. I don't think I had realized that it's only one generation from where she was, but this life-sized painting of her, as he imagined her coming through Ellis Island, really, it's a phenomenal painting. And so he sent it to the President, said, I want you to have this. And so the President called him back and said, hey, I got this, I love it. I'm gonna hang it in the hallway that leads to the Oval Office. And what made Glenn really happy was that he's taking down the picture of Woodrow Wilson's wife. Now Woodrow Wilson is the President that is one of the worst in nation's history, but certainly the one that Glenn dislikes the most. And either the bowling Wilson, not a good story either from the standpoint of influence on the culture. And so Trump has now got this painting up of his mom and Glenn did this. And so it's a great moment for Glenn, but it's also a good moment for America. And it's good story just to realize that in one generation you go from being literally in poverty to having your son as the President of the United States. Quite a story. 

Rick Green [00:17:56] Man, that's the American dream right there. We need to remind people that it's alive and well, it's not dead and we need to tell the stories. As Ronald Reagan said, if we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. So let's remember what we as a people have done and these anecdotal stories are fantastic, great stories to tell. All right, Tim, next up, man. 

Tim Barton [00:18:14] Well, this is one, guys, that is fresh in my inbox. Somebody just sent this to me, and it's a great piece of good news. It actually came out this week. The Trump administration said Tuesday it plans to implement a rule that will end the use of federal Medicaid and children's health insurance program funding for gender transition, medical care for children and adolescents. Now he posted this on Truth Social. He said, today, in my direction, Dr. Mehmet Oz announced that Medicaid will no longer fund gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors. Now, guys, there's a lot more I'm gonna read in this article. But already, just pause for a second, because if we think about as Christians, our nation, we know the founding fathers talked about this. I mean, really, from the early settlers and colonists, even before the Founding Fathers, there was a belief in early America and a covenantal system that so many of the early covenantal communities and colonies were set up in, that if they did things that honored God, they believed that God would honor and bless them. But they also believed if they do things that were evil, whether directly or indirectly, that it would bring God's judgment on them. And if you look at what we've been doing in America, and especially to children, one of the strongest corrections admonitions Jesus gave in the Gospels is when He said if you cause one of these little ones to stumble you would be better off taking this big old rock, tying it around your neck, throw that rock in the ocean which would cause you to drown. He said you would better off doing that than causing one of these little ones the stumble. And we think about what's been happening in the medical arena for years now and when we had political leaders at the highest level supporting this kind of evil, we were only setting ourselves up. Again, if you're a Christian, you believe some of these thoughts from the Bible. And again, certainly early leaders in America and certainly the early colonies and their covenantal understanding, they, this is what they believed. If you do these things, God is going to bring judgment. The reason I'm saying this and it matters is to finally have a president saying we're not going to do things that harm kids, that that's harmful to minors. He continued and I'm going back to reading from his, his post. He said, we are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm in their young bodies." He said that because of the pressure his administration had put over the last year and a half that dozens of U.S. hospitals have already ended what he called the so-called gender-affirming care. He said more hospitals are going to follow. Just think about all the young, innocent, and perhaps confused children who will be spared? This will not take effect until October 13th, but again, guys, the fact that we have a president who is acknowledging we've been doing something awful and it has to stop. That is really encouraging to me that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, they said the decision followed a Department of Health and Human Services review of US and international research. So they're acknowledging they looked at US and international and to gender transition treatment for minors and what they found was significant evidence gaps, documented serious safety concerns and therefore concluded the evidence supporting these interactions for children remains insufficient or insufficient to justify federal taxpayer funding. Meaning we can't see that this is actually doing anything beneficial for the kids. We shouldn't be funding it. Now that doesn't mean that certain states aren't going to fund it, but it does mean federally we will no longer do this. Lastly, reflecting back, Trump posted that while the Democrat party wants your kids to be able to chop off their reproductive organs before they're old enough to vote, me, and this is President Trump posting this. So me, President Trump and the Republican party say that is absurd and we will protect America's children. Guys, we obviously we had a lot of problems in our nation. We have a president that's not perfect cause nobody is. That's why Jesus came. But you have finally someone with enough courage, dignity, common sense to say, we're not going to continue to do practices that damage children for no good reason. This is really encouraging to see this step taken. 

Rick Green [00:22:46] Well, you know what we should start doing is a Donald Trump Good News Friday. Like once a month, we're just gonna talk about stuff the president's done because there's so many good news items as a result of this presidency. I was just talking to a group at the campus earlier today about the difference between the AutoPen Administration and the Trump Administration, and it's huge. All right, David, we might have time for two more, but we'll see, maybe just one more. Go for it!

David Barton [00:23:07] This one deals with Secretary Hegseth. And as we know, they have really worked on that military to make it a much more, as they say, much more lethal. And that is the word that I like using. That's what the military is supposed to be, is lethal, and it's not supposed to politically correct. And his term is the strongest and most lethal fighting force on the planet. And so what they've done is something I'm in favor of this is something that I talked about several months ago in terms of physical fitness. That schools, Trump had introduced this thing of going back to what JFK had had urged for schools to work on physical fitness and to work on kids getting in shape and being physically strong. And we talked even that time where the scripture talks about your body is the temple the Holy Spirit and it needs to be in good shape. You don't want a temple that's that's run down and not in good shape. So being physically fit there's some benefit to that for sure, health benefits, psychological benefit. All the studies are out there. There are so many studies that do this. Well, now they're taking that into the military. And I guess I had not realized how far the military had slid in some of these areas. So they have now come up with a new standard. They call it the waist to height ratio. And what they do is they take your height. They take the waist size that you have. They divide the weight size by the height. And you should have a ratio of 0.55, thereabouts. In other words, we're saying that if you're six feet tall, your waist size shouldn't be more than 38 inches, which is a fair size for a six-foot-tall person. And they're saying, if you are at that point in the military, we are gonna put you into some real physical training and we're gonna do some things to reduce weight and reduce size. And I've got to admit, I had not realized the military actually allowed that ratio of size to be there. Now, I was looking online to say, okay, what is considered a healthy size? And so outside the military, just across the board, if you have a ratio of .4 to .49, anything below five, that indicates very healthy for both men and women. And if you're between five and, or if you are between .5 and .6, now you're at risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, anything else. And anything above 0.6 is significant health risk. So what we're talking about is not only a lethal fighting force because someone in that range are talking about 0.55, right under, right above. That's gonna be physically hard for them to do what they need to do in the military as far as marching, moving, fighting, et cetera. So this is an emphasis on being fit again, but it's also an emphasis of having healthy soldiers. But I love the fact that the military is focusing on putting some stringent requirements there. The Bible talks about, that Paul talked about, I buffet my body and I bring in the submission. And that's what military folks do all the time with physical fitness. They work on their body and getting that into fitness. And I love that fact that that's part of what's happening right now, what Pete Hegseth says. So a much more lethal military's on its way. 

Rick Green [00:26:27] Well, we count that under the Trump Administration. So that was two good news items from the Trump Administration for sure. And Hegseth has done a phenomenal job as the Secretary of War. All right, guys, we're out of time for today. We'll have more good news next Friday. Everybody have a fantastic weekend. We sure appreciate you listening to the WallBuilders Show.