Appalling social worker racism

'Don't let them take me away': Girl, six, is taken away from her foster family of five years because she is '1.5 per cent Native American' and the family is white

Lexi, a six-year-old with one-and-a-half per cent Choctaw blood has been removed from her foster parents of five years
Protesters tried to stop government officials from taking the child from her foster parents by spending the night outside the home

Summer and Rusty Page, Lexi's foster parents, are not Native American

Due to the 'Indian Child Welfare Act', Lexi is supposed to only live with other Native American families

Summer and Rusty, from Santa Claritra, California, have been fighting for two years to adopt the child 

The Choctaw Tribe has decided to place Lexi with a person in Utah who is not Native American and does not live on a reservation

Santa Clarita social workers arrived at the home of Rusty and Summer Page and removed their six-year-old foster daughter on Monday afternoon.

Six-year-old Lexi sobbed, clinging to Rusty as he reluctantly fought through a crowd to hand the child over to the Department of Children and Families.

In a disturbing video from KTLA, Lexi screamed, begging her father 'don't let them take me away', as she was removed from her family.

As Lexi was placed in the back of a black car with government workers, Summer burst from the home screaming 'I love you, Lexi'.  Lexi's foster siblings screamed 'no' over and over, crying hysterically as their sister was taken.

Droves of protesters and reporters stood by helplessly as the family's screams continued to echo out into the street.

The horrifying scene came days after Summer and Rusty were denied an emergency stay to keep the part-Native American child.  Summer and Rusty raised Lexi for the last five years and spent the last two-and-a-half trying to adopt her with no success.

Lexi, who has only ever know the Pages as her parents, is one-and-a-half per cent Choctaw Native American. She was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her biological mother.

'Quite frankly, when Lexi is old enough to understand what happened to her, I think that would lead to resentment of her heritage, not embracing of the culture,' Rusty told ABC 7.

Protesters spent the night wrapped up in sleeping bags and in tents outside of Rusty and Summer Page's Santa Clarita home on Sunday.

On Monday morning, a crowd of more than 50 people holding signs and singing hymns still stood in solidarity with the Page family.

The demonstrators were trying to prevent the Department of Children and Family Services from coming overnight to remove six-year-old Lexi from Summer and Rusty's care.

The DCF was set to remove Lexi at 10am on Sunday, but postponed is due to the group of protesters.

Before Lexi was handed over, Rusty addressed the crowd to tell them the news. 'Despite our pleas to the county, we received word the county has every intention of taking Lexi today.  'And we will, with very heavy hearts, comply with the order and we'll be waiting here for them to come take her,' Rusty said.  Overcome with grief her turned from the crowd: 'That's all I can say.'

'The children are not going to understand the separation. This is going to destroy these children,' Tari Kelly, Lexi's foster grandmother, told ABC 7.

On Monday, Rusty choked back tears as he pleaded with Child Welfare Service not to break up his family.

'As a matter of simple human decency, we implore the county not to prematurely take Lexi from her home,' Rusty said between sobs as he read from a statement.

He later told ABC 7, Lexi and his other biological children with Summer - a nine-year-old, another six-year-old and a two-year-old - have not been told what is about to happen.

'They have no idea what's going on. I come outside to cry and go back inside to play in the backyard with them,' he said. The Pages were under specific orders not to tell the children about Lexi's removal.

'Lexi doesn't know another home. She finally knows what mom and dad means and they want to take that away from her. and we can't stand idly by while that happens,' Rusty told Fox 11.

The family took the case to court, but their most recent emergency stay was lifted.

The court decided Lexi will be sent to go live with the extend family in Utah, where her family members have been fighting for her for the last three years, according ABC 7.

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Few women show interest in infantry jobs opened to them

Three years after the Pentagon ordered the military services to prepare to open all ground combat jobs to women, few of them have expressed interest in a career in the infantry or other newly opened positions.

As part of an experimental program, 233 women who completed Marine Corps infantry and other ground combat schools are  eligible for those jobs, but none has requested a formal transfer.

The Army  sees similar results. “We’re not expecting a high propensity for infantry or armor,” said Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk, an Army spokesman.

The Marine Corps initially expected about 200 women a year to enter jobs previously closed to women, including a small number in the infantry.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said opening the jobs would improve combat effectiveness because the military would draw from a larger pool of applicants for the infantry and other specialties.

“To succeed in our mission of national defense, we cannot afford to cut ourselves off from half the country's talents and skills,” Carter said.

Military officials said the interest among women in previously all-male jobs may change over time, citing the gradual progress in expanding earlier opportunities for women in the military. “Incrementally over time, it’s been one success after another,” Pionk said.

It remains to be seen whether this time will be different. The infantry, in particular, is a job that requires carrying heavy loads over great distances and living in austere conditions for long periods. The life of an infantryman has changed little over the course of U.S. military history.

The armed services are also opening artillery, tanks and other specialties, which may prove less of an obstacle for women.

Three years ago, then-Defense secretary Leon Panetta ordered the services to open ground combat jobs to women by 2016. Carter approved the services' plans this year, which allowed women to start training and entering the jobs.

It may be an additional year before women show up in infantry units, since recruits who express interest in the jobs will need to undergo training in those occupations.

The Marine Corps, an infantry-centered force that serves long deployments aboard ships,  requested an exception for infantry, citing a study that showed infantry units with women did not perform as well as all-male units.

Carter denied the Marine request this year, saying there would be no exceptions. The Marines pledged to successfully implement the order.

Women have engaged in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and have flown combat aircraft for years but had been barred from infantry, armor, Special Forces and other jobs that require the most physical strength and endurance.

The Marine Corps and Army, which have the bulk of ground combat jobs, have conducted extensive studies to create “gender neutral” physical tests and have codified the physical requirements of the jobs.

The services say they are taking a number of steps to ensure a smooth transition and are committed to making the transition without hurting readiness. “There’s no doubt we’re leading cultural change,”  Marine Brig. Gen. James Glynne said.

The Marine Corps said it will move women into positions within infantry battalions to help mentor female Marines who may eventually enter the units.

The service  said it is sending training teams to bases around the world to begin an initiative to help with the transition. The initiative will address issues such as “unconscious bias,” Marine Col. Anne Weinberg said.

All the services have developed “gender neutral” physical screening tests for applicants and pledged that standards will not change.

Those standards are rigorous. No woman has  completed the Marine Corps’ rigorous Infantry Officer Course, although 29 women have tried. Three women have graduated from the Army’s Ranger School.

The first two women to ever be admitted to the Army Ranger School are scheduled to graduate from the rigorous training program Friday, military sources said. Unlike the men though, the women still are unable to join the infantry or other combat jobs.

Officials acknowledged that they don’t know how many women will be interested in the jobs. “We don’t think there’s going to be a lot,” said David Brinkley, an official at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, which oversees the analysis of job requirements. "But to be honest, there’s not a lot of men who want to do that either,”

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Former Lesbian: ‘Five Unelected Judges’ Made Sexual Orientation ‘Our Nation’s Reigning Idol’

 A self-described former lesbian and feminist said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court’s decision in the Obergefell v. Hodges case declaring states’ ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, created the “nation’s reigning idol.”

“When five unelected Supreme Court judges appended sexual orientation to the 14th Amendment in the 2015 Obergefell decision declaring state bans on gay marriage unconstitutional, sexual orientation metastasized from a description of perceived sexual desires to our nation’s reigning idol,” Rosaria Butterfield said in a lecture at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.

“Idols seduce,” Butterfield said. “Idols demand allegiance. “Idols steal worship from God, and idols destroy faith in God,” Butterfield said.

Butterfield, a former tenured professor at Syracuse University, converted to Christianity in 1999 and has written several books, including “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert” and “Openness Unhindered, Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Covert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ.”

“The Obergefell decision established into law the idea that our sexuality is inseparable from our spirit; that it captures the truth about who we really are and that to deny its expression violates the core of our identity,” Butterfield said.

Butterfield said she now believes God created male and female as “image bearers” and homosexual desires are outcroppings of original sin and all of its manifestations of sin suffered by all mankind.

She also said she regrets the role she played in advancing the homosexual agenda.

“Who am I, and how dare I say these things?” Butterfield said. “You see, this is not an easy conversation for me. “You see, we live in the world now that I helped create,” Butterfield said. “The blood is on these hands.

“I spent 10 years of my life – between the ages of 26 and 36 – in serial monogamous lesbian relationships and working to advance LGBT rights,” Butterfield said.

Butterfield now lives in North Carolina with her husband and their four adopted children. She describes herself today as a “full-time mother and pastor’s wife, part-time author and occasional speaker.”

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Generational Theft: Jason Stapleton Tackles Entitlement Reform

Recently I got to chat with my friend Jason Stapleton, host of the popular online show the Jason Stapleton Program, and founder and CEO of TradeEmpowered. Jason took the time to answer some important questions and shed light on the crisis regarding entitlement reform, and how the millennial generation is getting scammed out of a prosperous future.

Remso: Back in 2013 alone, the generation that turned 65 received $327 thousand dollars more in lifetime government benefits than they paid in federal taxes. On the other hand, children born in the next ten to twenty years will have a lifetime deficit on this basis of $421 thousand dollars. How are we supposed to be a free people if we are slaves to debt the moment we breathe air?

Jason: That’s a fair question. I think too often we fall victim to the lies politicians tell. That’s what Social Security is. It’s a promise the politicians made that they never intended to keep. The idea of the “lock box” for your benefits never materialized. It became a giant fund government used to draw on. “The debtor is always slave to the lender” so to speak. The more we borrow the deeper in debt and more enslaved we make our children. So to answer your question directly, we cannot be a free people as long as we are slaves to an ever increasing national debt.

Remso: What needs to come first in order to push for serious entitlement reform?

Jason: I think the first thing that needs to happen is we need more liberty-minded people in local office. These days we’re all focused on the national election and each year we hope that by electing the right congressman or president that it’ll put us on a path to recovery. But that’s not where the healing begins. It starts in your local city council. Your school board, your county sheriff or city mayor. The more liberty-minded people we put in positions of power at the state and local level the greater our chances for real entitlement reform.

How incredible would it be for a state to simply say, “We’re done paying these outrageous entitlements for medicare and medicaid? You don’t need the federal government to change, you just need the states to refuse to comply. That only happens if your state representatives feel like they have the support of the cities and towns in their districts. It starts with a foundation built on local leadership. That’s how we change Washington.

Remso: How can young people solve this problem if men like Bernie Sanders are seen as a viable option for governing and Rand Paul is silenced?

Jason: I think Bernie's message will always resonate with people who have nothing. There will always be a group of people looking to benefit for the labor and human capital of their neighbors. It doesn’t help that the youth of today have been coddled and sweet talked their entire lives. That type of upbringing brings with it a sense of entitlement, something Bernie Sanders knows how to capitalize on.

In terms of Rand, I think the reason more young people didn’t move toward Rand had more to do with his messaging than his message. One thing I’ve learned in my years in business is that messaging is everything. Not just to your prospects but to your employees and team as well. Knowing why you’re there and presenting people with a compelling future is what separates good messages from bad ones. I don’t want to be to critical of Rand because I like him but I think his team did a poor job of giving people a vision of the future they could get behind.

Remso: Senators such as presidential candidate Ted Cruz have discussed an opt out for millennials from social security while keeping the promise of the program to those that have paid a lifetime into it. What are your thoughts? Should the program be scrapped entirely?

Jason: It’s a funny thing about contracts. They need to be honored. Those who have paid into Social Security deserve to have their agreements honored. But the worst thing you can do is continue to perpetrate a lie promising young people they’ll have a check waiting for them when they retire. We need to give power back to the individual and that starts with giving him control of his own money. You should have the right to plan for your future as you see fit. The government is not your mommy or your daddy. It’s not government's responsibility to make sure you’re provided for in old age. I am in favor of any plan that allows an individual to keep more of what they justly earned.

Remso: It's easy to say we should raise the age for retirement as a short term solution, but what do you say to the blue collar class that can't take a proposed ten year extension?

Jason: Well, I think it’s wrong to break a contract. If I hire you to do a job and tell you on X day I’m going to pay you X amount of money you expect to be paid. I don’t get to show up on payday and say, “Sorry, I’ve been really irresponsible with my money and I can’t pay you. You’re going to have to work a bit longer.” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with Social Security and I wish our government had never made promises it couldn’t keep, but the solution should not be to punish those who have worked their entire lives under the assumption their contract was good.

Remso: What entitlement program do you think is the most divisive, and which one do you consider the two parties could take on together bipartisanly?

Jason: Oh I don’t know... Progressives cling to every entitlement program they have. In most cases the fight is over how much to expand the program, not whether to cut it. And it’s not like the Republicans are dying to cut entitlements. They know who votes. It’s not the young Bernie Sanders college crowd. It’s the 68 year old retiree who loves his Medicare part D. So in my estimation there isn’t much the current congress can do to reduce entitlement spending. I think the best we can hope for is a slowdown in the rate of growth.

Remso: None of this can be done without comprehensive tax reform at some point. What tax plan (progressive, consumption, flat) do you think would help most Americans?

Jason: Well if not getting taxed is not an option then I would choose a form of oppression that punished everyone equally. So a flat tax or a consumption tax could both be used. I like the idea of people feeling the tax. Taxes on goods and services are taxes you feel. You see the sticker price of $14.95 and when the cashier swipes your item it rings up $16.44. You put a 15 or 20% tax on everything you buy and people are going to realize real quick how much they are actually paying in taxes. One of the best ways to reduce tax burdens it to make people aware of just how much their being fleeced.

Remso: What is your message to millennials?

Jason: My message to millennials is the same message I give to retirees. If you want a better life for yourself your friends, your neighbors and your children you need to support and advocate for principles that have created the most wealth, opportunity and prosperity in history. The principles of limited government, individualism, peace, tolerance and free markets. To millennials specifically, if you want an economy flush with job opportunities and a wealth of employers vying for your skills you must turn away from the socialist/progressive ideas being preached by men like Bernie Sanders. Those ideas, far from leading people to prosperity have always lead to starvation and death. The message is liberty. Always liberty.

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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