1-24-25
Monologue:
Life!
Triple Dipper:
1. ICE Storm
2. Life!
3. Adventures in Woke World!
Guests
3pm: Congressman Robert Aderholt
3:30pm: JP on Sports
Resources
1. ICE Storm
https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/23/denver-mayor-to-work-with-ice-agents/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3296529/everything-about-2025-march-for-life/
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/23/trump-address-anti-abortion-march-for-life-00200229
https://www.aol.com/chip-roy-leads-house-republicans-185110118.html
3. Adventures in Woke World
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1882672369497681929?t=2vc5uVytGDbT3rLZ7VZk-A&s=19 (if you can print the pics with this link please do)
https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1882558987109040537?t=LPfNlJ7ND_5TvaQY9B0L7w&s=19 if you can print the pics with this link please do)
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2025/01/22/evanston-firefighters-wear-trump-masks-at-work/
Rightside Way Monologue
Today is the day of the March for Life in Washington DC…..a day when people
surge to our nations capitol to celebrate the fact that life begins at conception and
that life is precious and should be defended at all costs…..we now live in a post-
Roe world where abortion is not the absolute law of the land…..the Supreme Court
saw fit to reverse Roe and send the matter back to the individual states and affirm
that there is no such thing as a constitutional right to end the life of a human
being…..I for one am decidedly pro-life, always have been…..Democrats are a
mixed bag….occasionally you will find someone who identifies as a “pro life
Democrat” but they’ve become like political unicorns, always talked about but
never seen…..the Democrat party tried to make abortion the center of their ill-fated
misguided attempts to keep control in the last election cycle but it’s an uphill climb
to convince the majority of a whole nation that things like being able to afford food
for your family, or security of your southern border, are somehow less important
than being able to terminate a pregnancy on demand…..if Democrats had their way
Planned Parenthood would open up drive-thru abortion clinics staffed with
minimum wage interns and put them on every street corner in America…..
But let me give you another thought…..let me suggest to you that while defeating
the abortion-minded agenda and overturning Roe v. Wade was huge….and it
was!....that was just a battle…..and those of us who are pro life need to make sure
that we win the larger war….and to do that we have to be pro-life after the womb
as well…..being pro life means we support living and that means that we are
providing strong alternatives and opportunities to those who felt the need to
consider an abortion in the first place…..
Occasionally I get asked what my favorite moments in the State Senate were…..
To be sure there were several highlights spread out over an eight-year period….I
can distinctly remember the night that we passed the first-ever measure of school
choice in Alabama. I recall the very first caucus meeting for the new Republican
majority when, for the first time in Alabama history, we didn’t have enough
chairs in the room to seat all of the new Republican Senators and how it moved
some of the old guys to tears. I remember passing legislation that kept a giant
green-energy windfarm from setting up on a scenic byway next to pastoral
farmland in my District. I remember a group of high school students I assisted
who made it their mission in life to name a highway in my District after the
veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq because in their words it was “the war of their
generation.” There were economic development bills, getting a raise for
deputies, balancing the budgets, cutting our own legislative pay to prove the
point that it could be done, and a whole slew of unsung moments with
constituents that just made it all seem worth it.
But one day when I was speaking to a group of students and one of them asked
me point blank what was my most favorite thing; the MOST favorite of all….. I
knew what it was, and it may surprise you: Senate Bill 280, that amended section
22 of the Alabama Code during the 2012 Regular Session…..so here’s the story:
Some very good friends for many years to my wife Charlene and me are Cris and
Karen Mahy….. Cris has been on Rightside Radio with me several times to talk
about the ministry that they have to Ukraine ….their calling to the people of
Ukraine dates back a number of years and began with the impact a tour of a
Ukrainian orphanage had on their hearts….. My friends were the first family I
ever met who went through a foreign adoption…. As they saw the children in
that orphanage they felt compelled (called, really) that their next child was
already born and living in Ukraine….. She was and her name is Karina….The
Mahy family went through all of the bureaucratic machinations, legal wrangling,
state department approvals and multiple trips overseas….. They hired
interpreters and foreign lawyers and after what seemed like an eternity, they
were able to bring Karina home to Alabama. They went through all that it takes
to not only make her a part of the family but to ensure that her US citizenship
was established. Everything that it takes to adopt a child multiplied by a factor
(and expense) of 10….. But they discovered that there was still more to do….My
friend Cris came to see me in my capacity as a lawyer in 2011 because it turned
out that Alabama was one of the few states that had laws on the books that
required what was known then as the re-adoption process. I discovered because
of the Mahy family that Alabama law made the foreign adoption process more
difficult by requiring that every parent who adopted a foreign child had to do it
twice, including all of the legal costs of doing so. Why? Who knows?.....So I
handled the issue as their attorney and was proud to stand with them in the
Probate Court and celebrate Karina’s second adoption….. But next came that
MOST favorite thing I ever got to do in the Alabama State Senate just a few
months later. I drafted a Bill that became Senate Bill 280, and we passed it into
law with a unanimous bipartisan vote……Upon taking effect on January 1, 2013
the new law did away with the archaic need for a second adoption and
streamlined the adoption process for countless adoptive parents. To further
crown the moment, my colleagues agreed that Section 1 of the Act should state:
“Be it enacted by the Legislature of Alabama … this act shall be known and may
be cited as Karina’s law.”
It was a great day when Governor Robert Bentley held a special bill signing in
the Old House Chamber in the Alabama State Capitol and the Mahy family, with
Karina Mahy present, looked on and had their pictures made with the Governor
while he signed a bill into law to codify a step forward to build stronger families
in Alabama, and named it after their daughter….. It was a moment I will never
forget…..I tell that story for the simple but profound reason that Karina’s Law is
a clear indication that the legislature can (when it wants to) take actions that
impact the families that they serve in ways that go beyond budgets, and schools,
and Medicaid, and all of the other functions of typical governance…..And right
now, in the post-Roe world, adoption needs to be front and center again.
For 50 years pro-life conservatives have been fighting against abortion…. They
carried the fight forward despite the fact that the abortion industry is a big-
money special interest….. They fought despite the fact that the left demonized,
doxed and demonstrated against anyone who dared to question whether life in
the womb was really life in the womb….. They fought, and they won, despite
political paralysis that saw many politicians become indifferent over
time…..While not entirely a Republican matter, the fact remains that the
Republican Party maintained the right to life in its party platform and it was
largely Republican-led efforts in the legislative processes that kept the political
side of the fight alive, including here in Alabama….. The Alabama Republican
supermajority is now like the proverbial dog that chased cars every day and then
one day finally caught the bumper. Now, the question is, “Okay, we won. So,
what now?”
Let me suggest that we dispel any of the Liberal talking points that say that
Conservatives don’t care about children and families by not taking action that
furthers life after birth. We should work now to extend the pro-life movement to
not only preserve life in the womb but to enhance the quality of life for children
after the womb. One of the chief means that we can do just that is to take the
extra steps to streamline the adoption processes in every state…..Let’s make sure
the laws on the books are amenable, agreeable and workable for the average
person…… States can reduce the costs for filing fees on the legal processes
required to adopt….. Legislators should work toward allowing incentives like tax
credits, adoption scholarships, early childhood healthcare credits and more…..
The State Bar Association can work with Alabama attorneys who handle
adoption cases and incentivize them to handle them pro bono, or to allow for a
tax credit for doing so….. Doctors who practice in the realm of pediatrics can be
incentivized to do prenatal and early childhood wellness checks for families that
have chosen to forego abortion and choose adoption…… The opportunities are
endless and, in truth, one omnibus adoption bill could do all of this at once.
The Bible says in multiple places that we should bring justice to the fatherless
and that God upholds the fatherless. Jesus said to allow the little children to
come to Him….. We as a state should do those very things with that very
sentiment…… As more and more young mothers realize that abortion is not a
solution, and in some states, it is not an option, let’s make sure that pro-life
means pro-living and that we have done all that we can as a state to promote life
both in the womb and after birth.
It is possible to further promote life in a post-Roe world.
That’s a wrap for the Rightside Way……