Daily News Brief for Saturday, May 10, 2025 - New Racist Law in Washington State / China's Updated Missionary Regulations?

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network. (https://businessmakers.network/)  Our journalist Justin Chartrey recently reported that the Governor of Washington State, Bob Ferguson, has signed a racist housing bill into law in Washington State.  This new bill, which is nicknamed the Taylor Bill after Washington State Representative Jamilla Taylor, gives huge initial downpayments and even loan forgiveness to house owners who meet a certain standard of financial instability. However, while this already sounds wonky, it gets even better. Anyone who wants these benefits must also meet the requirements of the Covenant Home Ownership Program. And if you want to be a part of the program, you basically have to be part of a racial minority. Representative Taylor of Washington State explained that this law will help balance the inequal house ownership situation between white and black families as well as continue to atone for the past racial injustice against blacks in America. Under the disguise of fighting racism and injustice, this law only supports them. If a pendulum swings one way, we all know where it will swing next. And even though the Trump administration is trying to root out these types of injustices in the government and nation, it doesn’t seem like it has noticed this new terrible law in Washington State. So, it looks like the citizens in Washington State will have to step up against these liberal policies instead in the next election. (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/washingtons-mockery-of-justice)  Meanwhile, on a different subject, China’s laws against religious foreigners are only growing worse. Well, that’s at least what many people think who don’t have actual experience in China. Our journalist B.F. Westen wrote that while Dictator Xi of China doesn’t like religion outside of the Chinese government’s approval and enacts laws to reflect this, he actually hasn’t changed the pre-existing regulations against religious missionaries in China that much. If these religion regulations were a house, then China has just repainted it and added new furniture. It’s not a completely new house just because it’s been refurnished and looks a little different. But even with this said, these laws have been slightly changed because the government has clarified them and added more text. China has spelled out a little more clearly the specific ways a foreigner can and cannot approach religion in China while also keeping some broad regulations that could apply to any situation. For example, regulation number eleven of article 29 simply states that people cannot be a part of "Other illegal activities involving religion." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/understanding-chinas-new-missionary-ban)  That’s very broad, and as our reporter B. F. Westen notes, this means that it lets China, quote, make something up when the time comes, unquote. China's government wants to cover all of its bases. So, how do these updated regulations affect missionary work in China? Our journalist B.F. Westen understands that while Dictator Xi is hostile toward Christianity and the persecution against Christians has grown, these updated foreign religion policies should not scare Christians away from China. Westen was a missionary in China, so he understands what these regulations actually mean. While there are occasions of fines and other punishments for missionaries, the persecution against Christian missionaries is much lighter than the persecution against Chinese Christians and pastors. Again, Westen actually lived in China before, and he thinks that "it is extremely rare for a foreigner to be prosecuted criminally for missionary work. The police just do not typically treat the “religious crimes” of foreigners that seriously. Instead, warnings are given or immigration rules are enforced by cancelling visas or work permits. The process feels much more like getting a ticket for a misdemeanor. I was detained, interrogated, and deported, but I was never searched or handcuffed. I was never treated like a “real” criminal, unlike faithful pastors such as Wang Yi." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/understanding-chinas-new-missionary-ban)  Our brothers and sisters living in China are actually being persecuted, so do not fall for China’s weak threats of deportations and canceled visas. China wants missionaries to be afraid of coming, but Christ is King, and we must make disciples of all nations. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as "School Districts Take up Title IX Fight" by our journalist Justin Chartrey, "The Thunder Take the Basketball World By Storm" by our reporter B.F. Westen, or even, "The Sons of Issachar mark the Tenth Anniversary of Evangelicalism’s Death" by our journalist David Fowler. Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by "Christian Business Leaders Network." If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network.  As our journalist Kevin Amundson reported, Pope Francis just died last Monday at age 88 after being Pope for twelve years. During this time, Pope Francis took an unbiblical, unchristian stance on many of the culture of the cultural issues that have gained traction around the world in the past couple decades, such as LGBTQ+ nonsense, speculative climate change, and immigration. It’s bad when a normal Christian takes a liberal view on these problems, but it’s even worse when the Pope does. However, like every ruler and person on earth, the Pope has passed away, and so the College of Cardinals has to select a new candidate. As our reporter Kevin Amundson wrote, these Cardinals and every other Christian must look back to Christ as head and remember he has authority over everything. He rules the nations, he rules the stars, he rules the President, and he rules the Pope. Christ had authority over Pope Francis, and he has authority over the next Pope, who will be the 267th Pope. Let’s pray that this next pope will better honor Christ’s authority and headship by taking a stronger, more biblical stance, against the liberalism rooted in our culture. (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/pope-francis-dies-at-88)  On a different note, our reporter Justin Chartrey just wrote about the ongoing tax storm blowing through Washington State. And while already the tax weather is very temperamental, it looks like it could grow even worse with the newest two bills that have been proposed by Washington State’s Senate. These two bills are Senate Bils 5812 and 5786, and they will increase taxes for levies and properties. Also, as a side note, the one involved with property taxes is also connected to providing government funds for education. Yikes. Both of these bills, though, will triple the cap of the taxes from an annual growth of 1% to 3%. Our journalist Justin Chartrey showed the disastrous effects of Senate Bill 5812 by showing how it will increase property taxes: "An 1,800 square-foot home in Spokane Valley, Washington with a property size of roughly one-third of an acre has a valuation of about $350,000. The property taxes on that home in 2024 are just over $2,700. Let that sink in. A state like Tennessee meanwhile has a property tax of about $600 a year. Under the new proposed bill, combined with a 1% population growth for Spokane County; the tax increase for 2025 would push that amount to near, if not more than $3,000 a year."  (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/washington-wages-war-on-its-middle-class)  Meanwhile, the second Senate bill will increase liquor license taxes by 50%, which will really hurt many small businesses. So many taxes. Even Bob Ferguson, the governor of Washington State, isn’t thrilled about these taxes. If you’re living in Washington, now is the time to act against these terrible bills. Time is running out before legislatures make their decisions. Finally, our journalist Bill Peacock wrote an article about the new school choice rulings in Texas. Although the state’s House of Representatives in Texas debated on the issue for 11 hours, those who voted for school choice eventually won, securing a bill that will give money to homeschoolers and private schools in a few years. The democrats and two republicans tried to stop this bill, but it passed 86-61. While it is good that Texas is giving people the choice to pick their school and is backing their education decisions, there’s still something odd here. If we are finally securing a school bill from the state, doesn’t that mean we are still receiving orders about education from the government? It looks like the state still makes the standards when it comes to education, something that we don’t want. Yes, we shall be grateful for any progress, but let’s not stop at these pro-choice laws. The government in Texas isn’t gripping education in Texas anymore, but it also hasn’t completely let go. We must continue to press the advantage while we have it and fight for a government-free education. (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/texas-house-passes-school-choice-bill-after-marathon-partisan-battle)  To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as "What Happened to Parental Rights?" by our journalist David Fowler, or "Conservatives Voice Concerns over House Approval of Texas Budget," by our reporter Bill Peacock, or even, “‘Severance’ Season 2 Review” by our journalist Wes Walker. Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network. Why is the soundtrack Epic which is about Homer’s Odyssey, suddenly so popular? Our writer Clarissa Alexandria created an article about this, and we can see that there are a few different reasons that could explain Epic's success, varying from the soundtrack’s content to its audience. For example, the music itself is good and fits the story, but that’s not the only thing. It also seems like the soundtrack has become popular for both what it is saying and to whom it is saying those things to. Epic centers around the story of the Odyssey, which deals with story themes that easily resonate in our world, as our writer Clarissa Alexandria points out: "It follows themes of exile, temptation, descent, and eventual renewal that should feel familiar to anyone who has studied the Scriptures or consumed a good story of any variety in their life." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/an-epic-alternative-to-woke-hollywood) Our broken culture relates to these themes because they understand the journey of Odysseus. His character lives through their own problems and experience, so people gravitate towards his story. For example, they understand his longing for home, because so many people feel the lack of real, good homes in our world. And yet while this cultural tie is strong, Epic also contains themes that are found in the Bible, which is also why these stories are so effective. After all, they align with how God designed the world.  Meanwhile, on a different note, our reporter Justin Chartray wrote about how the State of Washington is having trouble trying to figure out how to deal with its taxes because while the liberals want to raise taxes, they are meeting opposition from the governor, even though he’s also a liberal. So, what’s going on in Washington State? Well, we can see that it has been very liberal recently in respect to their recent recognition of Muslim holidays, their attack on gun rights, and their unlawful orders against parental rights, but, as I just mentioned, its government can’t decide what to do with taxes yet. One of the reasons this tax issue is important is because Washington State needs a $12-15 billion deficit in order to uphold its current programs and bureaucracy.  In order to pay for all this, Republicans want the state to withdraw from areas that the government should not concern itself with, such as education and immigration. Unsurprisingly, the democrats don’t want to lower the budget this way, though. Instead, they would prefer increasing everyone’s taxes, specifically targeting property taxes and rich people. With these property taxes, Washington State's government would want to keep changing the amount of taxes in order to match the growth of society and other outside conditions. But there’s a problem here. If the amount of taxes changes continually because it is dependent on variables that frequently change, then there is no truly objective wall or limit that could stop its government from demanding very heavy taxes.  Nevertheless, these increased taxes would seem to meet the $15 billion budget deficit, but it would be through taxing people uninvolved with that deficit. However, while most of the liberals in power seem eager to adopt this strategy, the newest governor of Washington, Bob Ferguson, has rejected this plan. It appears that he doesn’t want to raise taxes to make the money they need. Despite his previous liberal actions, such as trying to sue the presidency of Trump almost a hundred times during Trump’s first time in office, Governor Ferguson is actually making a more Republican decision right now by rejecting these increased taxes. Did he change political parties? Our journalist Justin Chartray doesn’t think so: "No, Bob Ferguson has not become a conservative overnight. What he may represent is a rare callback to the previous generation of liberals; socially progressive but fiscally conservative. A dinosaur. A relic. A man woefully out of step with his progressive comrades and now, a fly in the ointment for their unending lust of the rich man’s gold." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/division-at-the-top) So, even though Ferguson isn’t a Republican or Conservative, he is still making a solid leadership move that serves the citizens of Washington State, who now have the opportunity to fight back against these unjust laws. We should pray that he continues this. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as "Severance Season 2 Review", by our journalist Wes Walker, or "Stopping Universal (Nationwide) Federal Court Injunctions", by our reporter David Fowler, or even "Is Your Pastor a Coward?", by our journalist Luke Edison.  Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.  

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network. We’ve talked about how Washington State has increased its gun laws and restrictions in previous episodes, so now it's time that we also talk about how to battle these unconstitutional fences around guns. So, how do we preserve the second amendment? Our journalist Justin Chartray wrote an article about this and reported that even though liberals may have the money, numbers, and votes, we can fight back their influence by helping the citizens of Washington State understand the true nature of a firearm. People need to know more about guns than just what popular media tells them. Jeremy Ball, a Washington State citizen who owns "Sharp Shooting Indoor Range and Gun Club", thinks that this is the best course of action to take because even though liberal influence has had a negative impact on guns, we also need to realize that many of us have not done our duty in teaching our kids how to handle guns properly. This blame also falls onto the gun industry itself. "We have not pushed back as an industry to get kids involved. We have failed to provide a positive outlook for them, and a positive outlet for teaching them safe firearm  ownership and teaching them some of the things they get to do with guns." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/a-bright-future-in-sight) Not many people are raised properly around guns anymore, so when the left says that guns are evil, there’s no pushback because guns aren’t a part of our daily life or thought. This allows the left to control the narrative. This allows them to criminalize guns. So, the first step is that we need to get guns back into people’s hands, but we still need to do it in safe contexts. For example, one of the best ways to do this is through creating trap teams in schools that competitively shoot clay pigeons. We can fight back the broad and false narrative about guns by giving people, as Jeremy Ball says, a positive way to think about firearms. While it’s hard to make changes in liberal government and legislation, we need to realize that if we want long term effects, we need to focus on how parents and families understand firearms. We need to shape how the next generation will handle their responsibility of guns in a safe way that still honors everyone's second amendment rights.  Jeremy Ball wants to preserve these rights, and he knows it will be hard. However, it’s not impossible: "It probably can be done. But it’s going to take parent(s) who are motivated to do it and to start pushing the issue. They expect gun store owners to lead the charge...but I can’t do it by myself. The approach needs to happen in the community, and if you make enough noise people will listen."  (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/a-bright-future-in-sight)  Meanwhile, President Trump just issued a presidential memorandum yesterday about the security of the Southern Border. This memorandum will give the military more power to protect the Southern Border from external threats. As seen on the White House's website, President Trump, "assigned the Armed Forces of the United States the military missions of repelling the invasion and sealing the United States southern border from unlawful entry to maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States." (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/military-mission-for-sealing-the-southern-border-of-the-united-states-and-repelling-invasions/)  President Trump wants our southern border to be stronger, so hopefully this memorandum will help accomplish that goal. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as "Severance Season 2 Review", by our journalist Wes Walker, or "Stopping Universal (Nationwide) Federal Court Injunctions", by our reporter David Fowler, or even "Is Your Pastor a Coward?", by our journalist Luke Edison. Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.

This is CrossPoliticNews' Weekly Roundup, sponspored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that's businessmakers.network. And don't forget that our first Business Makers Summit is happening next week on April 10th and 11th in Pennsylvannia. If you want to find out more about it, make sure to check out the link in the description and read about this great opportunity to learn from other Christian business leaders and shapers of culture.  https://businessmakers.network/events/business-makers-summit-pa/ As our journalist Jonathan Kelly reported, Dr. Owen Anderson is a professor at Arizona State University who has taught religion and philosophy for over twenty years Dr. Anderson has been criticized for one of his class in the past few years, "Introduction to Christianity", because 1) it had too much Christianity in it, and 2) he didn’t talk about issues that his department's overseers wanted to hear in the course, like decolonization or slavery. Eventually, the college took away the general education credit for this class, so the number of students in the course grew smaller and smaller until it didn’t even fit the requirement of twenty students in the classroom. Is Arizona State University just trying to be neutral with its classes and how it approaches religion? No. Dr. Anderson says that there is no neutral ground: “We’ve wrongly accepted the idea that institutions are neutral. All that really means is that they’re not Christian.” (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/the-silencing-of-christianity-and-the-battle-for-academic-freedom) We can see this because, as Dr. Anderson points out, the college offers courses that strictly oppose Christianity: "As of now, my class isn’t being offered. I checked the ASU course catalog for the fall—there’s only one class with Christianity in the title, while there are multiple courses about witchcraft." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/the-silencing-of-christianity-and-the-battle-for-academic-freedom) As we can see, neutrality is really just warfare against Christianity and God. Dr. Anderson is also suing Arizona State University because they require employees to take DEI training, because they are enforcing their own ideology on their employees. ASU should not be allowed to do this, so Dr. Anderson is taking a stand against the college. However, there is a deeper problem than just DEI training, and Dr. Anderson sees this. The deeper problem is the reality that the majority of our culture’s colleges attack Christianity: "A huge number of students enter college as Christians and leave their faith behind. But the opposite isn’t true—you don’t see students going to university and suddenly becoming Christian." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/the-silencing-of-christianity-and-the-battle-for-academic-freedom)  Dr. Anderson wants parents to really consider where they send their children to college, remembering both the fact that many colleges are anti-Christian and the fact that people don’t always need a college degree to get a good job. On a slightly different topic, our journalist Luke Edison wrote about the decline of courageous pastors in the church. Too many of them want to stay clear of political topics to try and keep the unity of the church. But the fact is, many political topics overlap with spiritual topics because many deal with spiritual issues. For instance, many pastors are shy when they have to talk about homosexual relationships, education, or Israel. They don’t want to be too strong on any topic because of the pressure they could get from culture. But, as we see in Revelation, God hates lukewarm Christians. This doesn’t mean to be rash, but, as our reporter Luke Edison wrote, "we are to fear God and God alone – not secular culture or the demands of humans." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/is-your-pastor-a-coward)  Christians need to consider whether or not their church takes a strong stance on actions condemned in the Bible, such as abortion, transgenderism, and the like. If these issues are not definite, the pastor probably can’t stand his own ground when it comes to politics and the church.   We prioritize parts of politics because of how God speaks about those subjects in the Bible. As our journalist Luke Edison wrote, God is political, but God is political in the sense that good politics will align with the Word, and bad politics will contradict it. "The topic of politics falls squarely under God’s purview and authority, and thus, while God is not political for the sake of politics, politics are moral, and morality flows from God." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/is-your-pastor-a-coward) So, when we talk about politics, we are talking about a subject that connects back to God and his commandments. Morality is linked to politics, so pastors should not be weak when it comes to defending God’s truth.  

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network. As our reporter Justin Chartray wrote, we’ve entered another spring of baseball, and the first game this year was played on March 18th between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Where did they play? Chicago? Los Angeles? Actually, they played in Tokyo, Japan. This might seem a little weird at first, but there’s some reasoning behind it. Our journalist Justin Chartray interviewed a former pitcher for the MLB named Mark Dewey, who’s also the host of the podcast In the Bullpen. Dewey has been involved in baseball for over twenty years, and he thinks that playing baseball in Tokyo is an overall good thing. For instance, he enjoys the fact that baseball is gaining traction in other places of the world as a popular sport, and so it makes sense to play the first game in Tokyo because many baseball fans live there. "“Overall I see it as a positive move. Now, if I knew the actual motives behind it, I could have all kinds of concerns.” (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/recovering-americas-pasttime)  After all, there are reasons to believe that baseball’s popularity is generally declining in America. Local networks are struggling, there are fewer people who watch it, and young boys don't seem to be playing it as much.   Why? Well, baseball is a bit more expensive and particularized than other sports that just need a ball to kick or throw. Also, people might not be as interested in baseball because it requires more attention and patience than most social media influenced Americans want to give a sport. Over the years, baseball has continued trying to keep peoples’ interest through shortening the game, by playing loud music, by including dancing girls, and by finishing off games with a fireworks finale. Mark Dewey, the former MLB pitcher mentioned earlier, notice that this overall change in baseball actually started around 35 years ago, and we’re still seeing it today. "I have no problem trying to grow the game, trying to involve more fans. But I’m convinced if baseball sets all kinds of revenue records, I would still argue that the vast majority of that has nothing to do with baseball fans. You’re not developing fans, you’re expanding a customer base.” (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/recovering-americas-pasttime)  Even worse, America is seeking globalism at the cost of its morality, much like its neighbor across the Atlantic—Europe. Terrible ideology is pouring out of America’s big colleges into the baseball diamond, and it’s slowly rotting the sport. In order to rekindle America’s love for good baseball, Dewey says that we need to start baseball again in the home and then in that home’s surrounding community. Then, along with cultivating this humbler, neighborhood mindset, we must fight the other major problems plaguing baseball and our culture, which are self-idolatry and self-obsession. This idolatry must be killed if we want to restore baseball to the iconic American game that it once was. Our journalist Esther Elliott recently interviewed Samuel Sey, a black Christian, conservative blogger who fights against and explains the ideological problems of our culture. He enjoys explaining topics through a biblical lens, and coupled with this, he also uses stories to help persuade his audience better. In this interview, Sey mentioned that while he was interested in politics since the start of high school, it wasn’t until Christians voted for Obama in 2008 and the BLM riots happened a decade later that he really wanted to explore the topic of politics more. Now, he has a blog called Slow to Write where he posts about politics and became his full-time job after it was received well around 2020. If you want to find out more about this article and read some insightful quotes about our culture, make sure to check out “A Black Conservative Perspective on Culture: An Interview With Samuel Sey” by our journalist Esther Elliott. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as "Missouri Wins Lawsuit Against China with $24B ruling" by our journalist Wes Walker, or even "The Mainstream Narrative is Not Real: Investigating the Case of Tiffany Gomas" by our reporter Luke Edison, or even “‘Severance’ Season 2 Review” by our journalist Wes Walker. Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network. You’re going to hear a lot about money in today’s episode. You’ll hear about Missouri demanding money from China in the courtroom and then also about generous donors who give lots of money to try to get rid of guns.   First, though, the money that China owes. As our reporter Wes Walker wrote, the state of Missouri had filed a lawsuit against China back in twenty-twenty two  for starting the Covid-19 virus, although then Missouri later changed its intent to prosecute China for "withholding PPE materials." (https://www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/missouri-wins-lawsuit-against-china-with-24b-ruling) The judge in this court, Stephen Limbaugh, just ruled in favor of Missouri in the past couple of weeks, so now Missouri demands 24 billion dollars from China in the form of assets, such as farmland, for damages done during Covid. China, however, had wanted to avoid all charges, stating that America didn’t hold the legal authority to prosecute them internationally, but Missouri doesn’t want China to get away like this. So now, according to the ruling, China owes 24 billion dollars to Missouri, whose own farmland and assets do not even add up to this amount of money. Still, though, the issue isn’t completely settled yet because China will probably refuse to pay by arguing that Missouri has no authority to prosecute them like this. The Attorney General for Missouri, Andrew Baily, wants more support for their ruling, asking both President Trump and the country to help them in this effort. However, as reporter Wes Walker noted, this ruling combined with the threatened Tariffs on China by the U.S. will also increase the tension between both of them. Meanwhile, about the topic of guns, our journalist Justin Chartray reported that liberals have been able to advance anti-gun regulations in Washington State through emotional stories and outside financial support. So long as liberals get money to keep going, they won’t stop. However, while money is the logs that keep the fire burning, it is these tragic stories of recent mass gun shootings that act like the match that sets it all off. Yes, these shootings were horrible, but the liberals have used them as emotional manipulation so that they can lead people to blame guns as the problems in society instead of the criminals using those guns. Now, maybe it seems like all of these groups have a noble motive: that is, to save lives. However, when our reporter Justin Chartray interviewed Jeremy Ball, who owns Sharp Shooters Gun Store and Indoor Range in Washington State, Ball said that while people quickly establish these anti-gun laws to protect people, they don’t actually check afterwards to see if these laws actually work. If human safety really is the priority, and it is for many, why aren’t more people looking at the results of the various laws and regulations in Washington state? As Jeremy Ball wondered, it seems like the legislature’s goal is a moving target. And while he doesn’t believe that these activists will ultimately take away all guns, it seems clear that they aren’t done advancing gun regulations yet, either in Washington or other states. We can see this because there is still more money being donated to support these anti-gun rights groups. These groups aren’t going away yet, and they will continue to manipulate people’s emotions in order to advance their ideology and raise money. However, Ball does show us hope because in his personal experience, he has shown multiple supporters of these anti-gun groups the faulty thinking behind this type of emotional entanglement, and they have been persuaded. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as "SCOTUS Case Exposes State of Christianity" by our journalist David Fowler, where he talks about free speech and Christian counseling, or even "The Mainstream Narrative is Not Real: Investigating the Case of Tiffany Gomas" by our reporter Luke Edison, where he talks about a weird airplane incident that still remains a mystery.   Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.

This is CrossPoliticNews’ Weekly Roundup sponsored by Christian Business Leaders Network. If you want to find out more about this network and its efforts to connect Christian business leaders so that they can more effectively help their businesses and shape culture, visit businessmakers.network. Again, that’s businessmakers.network. Recently, our reporter David Fowler wrote about the legislation efforts in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Missouri to enact “covenant marriage license laws” (www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/tony-perkins-and-homosexual-covenant-marriages). in their respective states. When you first look at it, this seems like a good thing. Wouldn’t these covenant marriage license laws help our country return to a more Christian understanding of the world? We’re commanded to spread Christianity in our country and in the world, but this is actually not the way to do it. This isn’t the way to do it because these license laws place the authority of marriage beneath the state’s standard and give the government a power over marriage that it shouldn’t have. It’s not an issue of the government enacting good or bad laws, but of whether the state even has the power and ability to make laws that will give them a defining control over marriage.  David Fowler foresaw this in 1998. And then, in 2015, the Obergefell versus Hodges case showed that he was right. In the Obergefell case, there were five justices in the Supreme Court who agreed that marriage is personal, and that civil law could create one type of marriage just as easily as another.In other words, the government could declare homosexual relationships as “civil marriage” because they had the power to define what it could look like. But while we want to keep this power away from the government, we also want governments to preserve a biblical view of marriage. So, how can we do this?Our journalist David Fowler recommends that we require the government to recognize but not administer marriages. When a man and woman would get married, the government would have to, “give notice to the public of their already existing marital relationship.” If we did this, then the standard and definition of marriage would properly be outside the state's control.So, we shouldn’t want the government to enact covenant marriage license laws, but we should have it recognize marriages rightly and biblically understood. After all, if the state doesn’t recognize its proper place, then the covenant marriage license laws could also be easily exploited by the liberals. On a different topic, our journalist Jonathan Kelly wrote about the case of Navy pilot and reservist Michael Cassidy, the man who tore down the Satanic statue that stood in the State Capital of Iowa. Cassidy had turned himself in after destroying the statue, and “pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vandalism but maintained that his actions were not extremist, violent, or a violation of military conduct standards" (www.crosspoliticnews.com/news/navy-clears-michael-cassidy-rejects-extremism-charges-over-satanic-statue-incident). His attorney argued against the bias towards Christians in the military, and he also brought up the larger issue of Satanic statues in our culture because Cassidy’s actions to both Florida and Iowa voting no against installing more of these statues.Cassidy’s boldness not only tore down that one statue then, but it also prevented others from being erected. Returning to Cassidy’s attorney, though, he said that Christians have effectively been told to be quiet, compliant, and secret with their faith. As we can see, Cassidy’s actions have thankfully challenged this mainstream, unbiblical expectation. Christians should thank God that Cassidy has won his case, even we don’t know yet if the Navy leadership will allow him to be completely reinstated into the Navy. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as Bridge-Building Apologetics With Lindsey Medenwaldt by our journalist Esther Elliott, or Tier List: Trump’s Greatest Moments by our reporter Luke Edison, or even The Oscars and the Moral Confusion of Hollywood by our journalist Wes Walker. Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.

This is CrossPoliticNews weekly roundup, sponsored by our corporate partner Dominion Wealth Strategists. If you want to find out more about their efforts to restore biblical financing, visit dominionwealthstrategists.com. As our journalist Justin Chartrey reported, things are looking pretty bleak for the gun store owners in the state of Washington as tyrannical legislation continues to choke their freedom and ability to sell guns.Specifically, Washington state legislation has not only focused on limiting the types of guns they can sell, but they are also attacking how gun stores sell those guns, which they can do by using what is called the FFL, or Federal Firearms License. This license gives the ATF (which is the Bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives) oversight over how gun stores sell their firearms. Our reporter Justin Chartrey interviewed a man named Jeremy Ball, who owns Sharp Shooting Indoor Range and Gun Store in the city of Spokane, Washington, and Ball said that this oversight isn’t bad in itself. In fact, it makes expectations from the government clearer and so it helps with their compliance. But even with this process, the gun store can still legally sell their firearms and conduct business after the oversight, because the FFL is not meant to stifle their business. However, neither the Obama nor the Biden administration liked these FFLs, and since Washington state has grown more progressive, these licenses have suffered many attacks. These liberals have painted these licenses in a bad light by pointing to the various shootings around the country and in Washington state. Then, they connect that violence with the licenses. But this is more than just a false narrative now because in 2023, a bill was issued called Senate Bill 5078 that brings heavy financial consequences on any gun store that sold a gun that somebody used later in a crime. But this isn’t justice. The stores are being punished for crimes they didn’t commit, simply because liberals are feeding everyone a narrative that blames these gun stores. There’s another recent bill, the House Bill 2818, that has also added many financial burdens to these stores by requiring them to have money that they just don’t have. And if all of this wasn’t enough already, Washington State has introduced its own state oversight over gun purchases along with the already existing oversight of the ATF. But this oversight from the state doesn’t want to help gun store owners run things smoothly and legally. No, it takes so long to approve gun purchases that the unfinished gun deals expire, leaving the guns unsold. And the state’s interference is only spinning a new sticky web of legalities for the stores that is so convoluted that even though the state has banned gun store owners from holding and selling AR-15s, the owners don’t have a way to get rid of them. For example, even though the state has banned gun store owners from holding and selling AR-15s, the legalities don't allow the owners a good way to get rid of them.All of these bills and regulations have led to a huge decrease in gun sales, hurting an incredible percentage of gun store owners in Washington State. Things look bad right now for these gun stores. Jeremy Ball, the previously mentioned gun store owner, said that he is trying to push back against the mainstream criminalizing narrative and attitude towards these FFLs, and he’s also fighting back legally against the unjust legislation of Washington State. But it will be a long process.Our journalist Justin Chartrey also wrote about a different topic in Washington State, though. People in its government are also talking about changing the state’s flag, which has a picture of George Washington that was originally designed in 1914. If this happened, though, it wouldn’t be the first time that a state has recently done this because in May 2024, the state of Minnesota changed its flag. The flag most recently had a picture of a man plowing his field next to a river in front of green plains, a yellow and red sunrise, and a Native American riding his horse. And this entire picture had a white frame with gold edges set on a blue background. Now, the redesigned flag has two solid blue colors with a white, eight-pointed star on the darker blue. Apparently, the star is supposed to represent the North Star. But it’s evident that the people and landscape of Minnesota have been wiped out and replaced with lifeless shapes. What happened? Well, it seems that people didn’t like the Native American in the original background, so they claimed that the flag as a whole didn’t represent the people of Minnesota well. But now, as our reporter Justin Chartrey noted, it doesn’t represent Minnesota at all. And it looks like Washington state wants to do the same thing with their flag because some people are arguing that the picture of George Washington doesn’t represent everyone in their state. However, there are thankfully a number of voices who are fighting against this disastrous potential change, asserting that this flag is part of their history. Let’s hope that these voices manage to protect their state’s flag and prevent yet another terrible result of liberal agenda. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as Investigating the "Case of Tiffany Pontes-Dover" by our journalist Luke Edison, or "The Democratic Party’s Transgender Madness" by our reporter David Fowler, or even "'House of David' TV Review (Episode 1)" by our journalist Wes Walker. Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.

This is CrossPoliticNews' weekly roundup, sponsored by our corporate partner Classical Conversations. If you want to find out more about their efforts to forward classical Christian education, visit ClassicalConversations.com. Right now, it’s hard to tell whether or not America’s allies feel comfortable with all of her recent political changes, and we can see this attitude whether we consider Vice President J. D. Vance’s speech in Germany or even the most recent national hockey league games of Canada versus America. For example, as our reporter Justin Chartrey noted, while the Star-Spangled Banner began to play at the NHL (or national hockey league), people in the Canadian crowd began booing the song, most likely angry at America for the tariffs that President Trump wants to enforce on Canada. And then, when the whistle blew and the game began, there were immediately three fights between the players of the two teams in the first nine seconds. We don’t necessarily know that these fights were provoked by the booing of the crowd, but it seems evident that a tension filled the stadium between America and Canada. Meanwhile, as our journalist Jonathan Kelly reported, President J.D. Vance recently gave a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, and the topic of the speech wasn’t quite what Europe expected. Instead of talking about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia or the rising power of China, Vance addressed the internal problems that currently plague the nations of Europe, infections that eat them from the inside out. Vance criticized the willingness of Romania to stall elections because of possible interference from Russia, and he critiqued the swiftness of German authorities for executing punishments on people who used “hate speech.” Vance even rebuked the U.K. for unjustly treating a man named Adam Smith Connor by prosecuting him for praying silently nearby an abortion clinic. All of these actions, according to Vance, stifle the democracy of Europe’s nations. “The fundamental principle of democracy is the ability of people to express their views, even if they are unpopular. Yet across Europe, we are witnessing a systematic suppression of dissenting voices, all in the name of combating misinformation or extremism.” – J.D. Vance Additionally, Vance also attacked the willingness of Europe’s nations to allow illegal immigrants to enter their borders, yes, allowing illegal immigrants to come into their land, despite the harm done to their own citizens and despite their citizens’ longing for security. In his speech then, Vance took this opportunity not to point out the problems that arise for Europe from other countries, but to show Europe the problems that they are creating themselves, the sickness that they don’t want to see. Vance gave his speech as a call for action and hope, but we will have to see if Europe repents, if they turn around, or if they clench their fists and refuse to listen. Just like tension filled the hocky stadium, we can sense the tension that is filling the nation of Europe. To discover more news, check out some of our other articles, such as “Can We All Acknowledge That Pope Francis is a Progressive, Globalist, Heretic Yet?” by our journalist Luke Edison, or “Rick Warren’s Politics Isn’t the Worst of It” by our reporter David Fowler, or even “Gen Z Christians On The Rise: Interview With Noelle Fitchett” by our journalist Esther Elliott. Here at CrossPoliticNews, we want to faithfully deliver you unbiased news from a Christian worldview.  For more content, you can find us on YouTube at CrossPolitic News, follow us on X at cpnewsusa or cpnewsaus in Australia, or head to our email list and find us at CrossPoliticNews.com.