Minn. Videographers Get Big Win in Key Religious Liberty Case

This past Friday marked a significant victory for religious freedom. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down most of a U.S. District Court decision which threatened to force videographers to produce content that violates the commands of their conscience. Instead, the appeals court ruled that a Minnesota anti-discrimination law could very well be unconstitutional and that a challenge to the law could therefore proceed. The appellants, Carl and Angel Larsen, own a videography company called Telescope Media which produces commercial short-films and other video products. They first brought their case forward when they took the Minnesota Human Rights Commissioner

Case of Transgender Teen “Emancipated” from Mother Appealed to Supreme Court

The case of Anmarie Calgaro involving her son who was emancipated by several entities in the state of Minnesota without any due process for the mother has now been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here is her statement as she filed the original suit: My name is Anmarie Calgaro. Last year, without my knowledge or consent, without any court hearings or legal process, without any involvement on my part whatsoever, a legal aid group that gives free services to low income people created a “Notice of Emancipation” for my 15-year-old son. Suddenly, my son, without any notice to me,

Here Comes Big Brother: Home Visiting Laws Threaten Parental Rights Nationwide

Now that researchers and the staunchest proponents of the progressive nanny state are starting to admit that government preschool programs are failing to improve academic achievement for poor children, the big-government Left is joining with the corporate establishment to expand the even more invasive and still unsuccessful idea of home visiting. Bills are being pushed to do so in deep blue states like Minnesota, Oregon and Washington — plus, as documented by Cheri Kiesecker, in other states like Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire and New Mexico. The many problems with these programs have been documented in-depth at The Federalist and in

Parental Rights at Stake in Case of Minn. Mother and Teen “Emancipated” by State

In June 2017, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit of a Minnesota mother, Annmarie Calgaro, whose then 17-year-old son was emancipated from her by a county and several medical clinics without any due process on the mother’s part. That case was appealed in July 2017 by attorney Erick Kaardal and the Thomas More Society and heard in the Atlanta-based federal appeals court last month. As previously noted, the judge had made what the Child Protection League (CPLAction), who is supporting Calgaro’s efforts to reclaim her parental rights, characterized as a “bizarre and contradictory ruling”: “Only a court order can do

Pro-Common Core Republicans Suffer Big Losses in 2018 Primaries

Although many factors are involved, an encouraging trend for parents and grassroots activists is emerging in this 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary season. Those candidates listening to parents by opposing Common Core and federal intrusion into education have defeated or are leading establishment, pro-Common Core candidates nearly across the board. Here are three of the most prominent examples: Georgia In Georgia, Conservative Secretary of State Brian Kemp and moderate Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle emerged from a crowded and bruising seven-person primary with Cagle ahead by 13 percentage points. Cagle was far better funded than Kemp and had much establishment backing, including

SPLC Has a New Target: Parents Who Oppose Common Core

The radical Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) just can’t leave conservatives alone. Already under fire for their thoroughly discredited and bogus “hate watch” list, the left-wing group recently included former CIA analyst Stella Morabito and I as part of a recent “anti-LGBT roundup” in which they addressed our participation in an upcoming Child Protection League fundraising event — presumably marking us as “anti-LGBT.” They also, puzzlingly, criticized many parents’ concerns about Common Core standards and tests using SEL to indoctrinate, monitor, and data mine our children, implying that it is all purely uninformed conspiracy theory. There is so much to respond to

Outrageous Proposals in School Transgender “Toolkit” Alarm Minn. Parents

In a new “toolkit” approved Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Education is advising the state’s schools to “segregate” students who do not feel comfortable sharing a restroom, locker room, or hotel room with a member of the opposite biological sex; to force girls to compete against biological males in athletics; to abolish schools’ longstanding tradition of electing a homecoming king and queen; and even to change students’ identities on official school records without any documentation. The ten-page document, titled “A Toolkit for Ensuring Safe and Supportive Schools for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students,” was adopted despite much public outcry. Over

Mother Denied Parental Rights over Transgender Teen Appeals Court Ruling

Last month, I described the bizarre and dangerous Minnesota federal court decision that “emancipated” a minor child from his mother, thereby denying her inherent parental right to direct the academic, medical, and other aspects of the care and upbringing of her own son — all without any of the due process normally involved in such situations. Astonishingly, the court dismissed the case of this mother, Anmarie Calgaro, without even referencing or commenting on the Minnesota statute in question. This terrible law terminates these bedrock parental rights merely on the desire of a minor, without regard to age, if the minor

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