By Daniel Davis

Daniel Di Martino grew up in Venezuela, and left the country after socialism took its grip. Now, he’s on a mission to convince young people that socialism is destructive. Our colleague and senior news producer, Kelsey Bolar, recently sat down with Di Martino to hear his story, and today we share that exclusive interview.

Plus: Great Britain is banning “harmful” gender stereotypes in advertising. That’s a move that would shock many Americans—but then again, we enjoy the First Amendment. Rachel and Daniel discuss.

We also cover the following stories:

• Iran says it will break its uranium stockpile limit in the next 10 days.
• The Supreme Court sends a wedding cake case back to Oregon.
• Nearly 2 million Hong Kong protesters take to the streets in opposition to the extradition bill.

The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at moc.l1560876915angis1560876915yliad1560876915@sret1560876915tel1560876915. Enjoy the show!

Kelsey Bolar: This is Kelsey Bolar, coming to you from The Heritage Foundation’s Resource Bank. I am sitting down today with Daniel Di Martino. Daniel is from Venezuela, grew up there, and just came to the United States recently, three years ago, to attend college.

So we have a lot to get to. Daniel, welcome to the show.

Daniel Di Martino: Thank you very much.

Bolar: Where to begin? You grew up in Venezuela. I imagine you still have a lot of family there. Tell us what your childhood was like.

Di Martino: So I was born in 1999, so for your viewers to know, 1999 was the year that Hugo Chavez became president of …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Kevin Daley

The Supreme Court lifted an order Monday that punished a Christian couple in Oregon who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, telling a lower court to reconsider the dispute in light of the high court’s decision last year involving another Christian baker in Colorado.

The decision keeps a contentious social dispute over the rights of religious dissenters and LGBT patrons off the high court’s docket in the near term.

“This is a victory for Aaron and Melissa Klein and for religious liberty for all Americans,” said Kelly Shackelford, president of First Liberty Institute, a law firm championing religious freedom that represents the Klein family.

“The Constitution protects speech, popular or not, from condemnation by the government. The message from the court is clear; government hostility toward religious Americans will not be tolerated.”

The Oregon case is in many respects a redux of the 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, which pertained to Jack Phillips, an evangelical baker in Colorado.

Though the justices found for Phillips because a state panel displayed hostility toward his religious beliefs, the court did not say whether conservative religious believers can cite the First Amendment in refusing to accommodate a same-sex wedding.

Like the Colorado baker, the Kleins say forcing them to create a cake violates their constitutional guarantees of free speech and free exercise of religion.

Monday’s dispute arose in Oregon in 2013 when Aaron and Melissa Klein, who created custom baked goods through their business Sweet Cakes by Melissa, declined to produce a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman.

The Kleins are Christians who believe marriage was instituted as a union of one man and one woman.

Cryer and Bowman filed a complaint with a state anti-discrimination panel. In turn, the Kleins argued their actions were protected under the …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Rob Bluey

Recording artist Mary Millben will perform the national anthem for President Donald Trump at Tuesday’s rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Millben headlined The Heritage Foundation’s Annual Leadership Conference in April and spoke to The Daily Signal about her love of America’s patriotic music and what it’s like to perform for three U.S. presidents. She recently celebrated the release of her debut single “Grace Will Lead Me Home,” written for the new film “The Meanest Man in Texas.” The full interview, along with a lightly edited transcript, is below.

Rob Bluey: You’ve had the opportunity to perform before three presidents, most recently at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, but also for Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. What is that experience like, to sing before the leader of the free world?

Mary Millben: Thanks for having me, it’s been a joy to be here with Heritage and so grateful to Mrs. Kay Coles James for the invitation.

I tell you, it’s pretty surreal, but I will say, a true blessing. I have loved my interfaces within the political arena. And I think every artist, when you have the opportunity to use your platform for good, and it’s certainly in the context of for the country, it’s an honor.

To have worked for President Bush and then go into entertainment and sing for President Bush and Mrs. Bush and President Obama and first lady Obama and now our president and first lady Melania Trump, it’s a true honor and a stat, I would say, in my journey that I feel blessed to have.

Bluey: Tell us about your life story, how you ended up in government, and then how you moved into the entertainment world.

Millben: In short, because it’s a pretty lengthy one, I’ll say, entertainment and politics …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Amy Swearer

Contrary to the rhetoric of many gun control advocates, the
Second Amendment’s protection of the individual right to keep and bear arms is
not a malevolent, outdated barricade to peace that must be demolished or
diminished in the name of public safety. Rather, it is a fundamental part of
the nation’s scheme of ordered liberty.

Firearms are used far more often in self-defense than in
crime.

According to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, which compiled and analyzed various studies involving
the defensive use of firearms, Americans use firearms in self-defense between 500,000
and 3 million times annually.

The agency’s own data indicates that approximately
1 million defensive gun uses likely occur every year, far outpacing the
number of times guns are used to illegally kill or injure others.

Nevertheless, gun control proponents regularly promote
policies such as limiting magazine capacity, banning commonly owned firearms,
and restricting the number of firearms a law-abiding citizen may purchase at
one time.

These policies not only fail to meaningfully address the underlying causes and mechanisms of gun-related violence, they also would hinder the ability of regular citizens to legally and effectively defend themselves and others. Every month this year, we’ve reported on Americans who were forced to rely on their Second Amendment rights to defend themselves or their fellow citizens.

Here are several examples from the month of May that shed light on the importance of allowing law-abiding citizens to exercise the right to keep and bear arms:

• May 1,
  Detroit. A 59-year-old woman
  defended herself and her home against three men who broke the security bars
  on her window. The woman called the police. Then, fearing for her life in the
  interim, she fired at the intruders. One intruder was wounded and all three fled.
• May 5,
  Memphis. A woman called the police twice after spotting a man on her home
  security cameras who …read more

  From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Rob Bluey

On today’s episode of The Daily Signal Podcast, we feature an interview with Julio Gonzalez, chairman of Engineered Tax Services, and Stephen Moore, a distinguished visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation and author of “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy.” Gonzalez and Moore discuss the benefits of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses. The full audio is available by clicking the link below along with a lightly edited transcript.

Rob Bluey: Both you have been strong advocates for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. You are out there on the front lines, defending tax reform. Tell us how you first connected and what that experience was like as this law was coming into fruition.

Julio Gonzalez: I was asked by the administration to be on the private counsel, to help with Congress and Senate and work through the tax reform, so I got to know [Speaker Paul] Ryan and [Rep. Kevin] Brady pretty closely, and just try to really look at the plan and look at the unintended consequences to see what could be in there, what could fail.

Because when you change thousands of pages of tax code, obviously, you can have unintended consequences, like we did in the ’80s tax reform. So really, I was there to help give guidance.

Stephen Moore: Yeah, first of all, thanks for your help on the tax bill. It was hugely important. I think this was an incredibly productive bill. I think that the economic ramifications have been almost universally positive.

We have the lowest unemployment rate now in 50 years for blacks, Hispanics, women, people who are disabled, people without high school, college degree. The economy has grown like 3% now for the first time in 20 years. …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Nicole Russell

A vast array of
corporations have come out in support of abortion in recent weeks—specifically
to oppose “heartbeat” bills that ban abortion after six weeks, such as the ones
recently signed into law in Georgia, Missouri, and Alabama.

Last week, leaders of more
than 180 companies—including MAC Cosmetics, Yelp, and clothing-maker Eileen
Fisher—signed a letter in a
full-page ad in The New York Times, saying
that “restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including
abortion, threatens the health, independence, and economic stability of our
employees and customers.”

This follows several threats made by media companies, including Disney and Netflix, to stop filming in Georgia due to the “heartbeat bill” recently signed by Gov. Brian Kemp.

Just weeks ago, things were quieter. Bloomberg pointed out last month that “the corporate silence on abortion in Georgia and elsewhere has been deafening, especially compared with corporations’ eagerness to demonstrate their support for other progressive social issues, such as LGBT rights.”

So it’s curious that nearly 200 companies would suddenly come out swinging against these bans.

It’s especially odd given that public opinion on abortion is shifting. In a January Marist poll, three out of four Americans said they supported substantial restrictions on abortion. More recently, a Pew Research poll found that nearly 40% want abortion to be illegal “all or most of the time.”

Such restrictions enjoy robust
support in some states, as reflected in the six-week bans recently passed by
state legislatures. This surge in pro-life support has the abortion lobby
worried.

No surprise, then, that the
abortion lobby had a strong hand in organizing the New York Times letter. NPR reports, “The letter is part of a broader campaign called Don’t Ban
Equality, sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood,
NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.” The purpose?
“Organizers say the letter marks the first step in engaging corporate
supporters as …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Joshua Nelson

With Father’s Day just upon us, a recent public conversation about the stigma of mental health in the black community emphasized the significant impact absent fathers have on a child’s emotional wellness.

“It’s time for us to have a conversation that’s been delayed and long overdue,” said Josh Landon, a Fox 2 News anchor, as moderator of the June 1 event in Corktown, a district of Detroit. “I want to have a kitchen table conversation on the unaddressed mental health awareness in our community. Let’s remove the social stigma and share positive reflections.”

The panel was hosted by the Detroit Police Athletic League in partnership with the National Association of Black Journalists as part of the group’s “Black Male Media Project,” an effort to help create a more positive narrative for black males in media. Each of the panelists had a background in children and mental health.

Panelist Dr. Curtis Longs, a staff psychiatrist of the Juvenile Assessment Center of Wayne County, said that almost all of the young black males he’s encountered in a juvenile detention facility had never met or barely know their father.

A 2018 report by the Administration for Children and Families shows 48% of non-Hispanic black children lived in a mother-only household, compared to 25% of Hispanic children and 18% of non-Hispanic white children.

When The Daily Signal asked Longs about the prominence of fatherless black families, he said:

The answer is it’s devastating. If I can just have a list of kids that I’ve seen and look at their record and all of this stuff, and you see this kid, they know you’re going to talk about their dad. When it’s all said and done, these kids, bigger than I am, will start crying. It’s devastating not to be in our kids lives.

Panelist Karlin …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Nayeli Riano

Hispanics and pro-life advocacy go together naturally,
in no small part because of Hispanics’ Christian faith.

Studies have shown that most Hispanics are
religiously observant, with about 83% of them affirming a
religious affiliation. More important than statistics, however, and more indicative
of their views on the issue of abortion, is the emotion with which they explain
their culture and views on life.

Pilar Sanchez, 46, a resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey, responded with a finger pointed up at the ceiling. “Firstly, it is an offense to God,” she said.

She has lived in the United States for less than
10 years, in a city where 61% of the population
speaks Spanish. She perceives the pro-choice culture a greater threat here than
it was back in her native country of Colombia.

“I’m sure things have changed on the political [front]
since we left [Colombia]. [Abortion is] legal now there, too, but inside the
home, things will always be the same. Our families always taught us about what
it means to be a family. It means
children come first,” Sanchez said.

“I don’t think Latino families will stop
teaching their children to value the family, just because legislation is passed
to permit something that is intuitively wrong,” she added.

Sanchez views it as her duty to raise her
children with her Christian values, no matter what they are taught outside of
the home.

Polls show that Hispanic public opinion on abortion is almost evenly split, but Sanchez said that polls and legislation do not reflect the views of most people like her who aren’t politically active, since they have heavy work schedules, yet are no less resolute in their convictions.

Sanchez smiled while stating her view on
abortion directly but kindly. “Definitively and completely against it,” she
said.

She shifted her hand gestures from pointing at
herself to pointing at her children, who were sitting with her at …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Carmel Kookogey

Live Action’s Pinterest account has been permanently suspended for violating Pinterest’s policies on “misinformation.”

Alison Centofante, Live Action director of external affairs, tweeted about the incident Tuesday as the organization appealed Pinterest’s decision.

BREAKING NEWS: @Pinterest appears to have intentionally added “https://t.co/WLqSFeV3cL” to a list of blocked pornography sites. https://t.co/AluDa9WTIQ pic.twitter.com/729hNCbClF

— Alison H.Centofante (@AlisonHowardC) June 11, 2019

“LiveAction.org” is the only pro-life website included on Pinterest’s list of banned websites, Centofante said in a tweet. The nonprofit educates on, reports on, and investigates the abortion industry, according to its webpage, and seeks to inspire others in the pro-life movement.

Project Veritas, an undercover investigative journalism nonprofit, received and published information from Pinterest employee Eric Cochran, revealing the social media platform added Live Action’s website to a list of sites blocked for pornographic content. The whistleblower has since lost his job at Pinterest, and was interviewed Wednesday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” about his decision to speak out.

“I saw a big tech company saying quietly behind closed doors that they believe Live Action shouldn’t have a platform to speak…I want them to have to say this explicitly,” Cochran told host Tucker Carlson.

Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, told her Twitter followers Wednesday that though Live Action was initally put on Pinterest’s pornography blocklist, Pinterest later changed its story, calling Live Action’s content “inaccurate.”

Pinterest is a social media website that allows users to share or “pin” photos, recipes, videos, and other content they collect to their account. When Pinterest bans a website, its users are blocked from creating or sharing any content that links back to that page.

“What exactly is Pinterest attempting to block?” Centofante said in a tweet. “Inspirational messages to pregnant mothers, ultrasound images …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed

By Adam Michel

Lawmakers intended with the 2017 tax cuts not only to
promote economic growth, job creation, and allowing American families to keep
more of their hard-earned money, but also to make the federal tax code more neutral
toward state tax policy.

But state-based tax credit scholarship programs got
unintentionally caught up in the broader reform.

Now available to more than 270,000 students in 18 states, tax credit scholarship programs allow state taxpayers to receive a full or partial credit against their state tax obligations if they contribute to nonprofit organizations that grant scholarships to eligible children so they can attend a private school of their choice. They are an important and growing tool for expanding school choice.

Treasury just saved them from what could have been a
crippling blow.

The new tax law placed a cap of $10,000 on the amount
taxpayers could deduct from their federal taxes for state and local taxes,
which advanced the bipartisan goal of treating similar taxpayers similarly, by
diminishing the previously unlimited subsidy for high taxes in states like
California and Connecticut.

To implement the cap as intended by Congress, the Treasury
Department released proposed regulations that disallowed use of new state
schemes set up to game the charitable deduction and circumvent the cap.

But legitimate state-based tax credit scholarship programs
were included in the rule, which means the ability to donate was limited for
the 10%
of taxpayers who itemize but don’t max out their deductions for state and
local taxes. In some cases, the cost of donating would increase from zero to as
much as 37 percent of the donation amount.

In the final regulation and accompanying notice,
Treasury fixed the problem and re-established the federal tax system’s
neutrality toward state tax credit programs, as recommended by The Heritage
Foundation in a public comment.

The notice allows donors to scholarship programs to still
take the deduction for state and local …read more

From:: Daily Signal – Feed