Religious Rights, Planned Parenthood, and Local Politics: A Morning Briefing

Religious freedom collides with public education as Chicago students win a $2.6 million settlement after being forced into "demonic Hindu meditation" practices. The shocking case reveals how teenagers were mandated to participate in the deceptively named "Quiet Time" program that included private Hindu puja ceremonies in darkened rooms. Most disturbing? Students were explicitly instructed not to tell their parents—especially religious ones—about the rituals they were being subjected to during school hours.

The fight for control over young bodies continues as Live Action's investigation exposes Planned Parenthood's concerning practices around transgender hormone therapy. Seven facilities confirmed they prescribe cross-sex hormones at first appointments, even virtually, with five locations requiring no mental health evaluation or therapy for minors. This cavalier approach to life-altering medical interventions raises serious questions about medical ethics and child protection in an increasingly polarized healthcare landscape.

Local governance emerges as the new battleground for cultural conflicts, with cities finding creative workarounds to state policies. Salt Lake City's mayor championed making the progressive pride flag an official city emblem to circumvent state bans, claiming such symbols reflect "shared humanity." Yet as I argue, "We don't need special flags to prove people matter... We already have a flag that represents everyone. It's called Old Glory." The growing divide between state legislatures and city councils highlights the importance of focusing on local politics to effect meaningful change. As red states contain increasingly blue cities, the battle for America's future may well be decided in municipal elections that rarely make national headlines but profoundly shape our communities.

What's your take on these issues? And while you're pondering the serious stuff, lighten the mood by sharing your cringiest dad joke in the comments. Because sometimes in the midst of cultural warfare, we all need to remember that seven ate nine.

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Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to anamericanistblog@gmail.com and you'll be featured on the podcast. 

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Chapters

• 0:29 Friday Morning Introduction
• 0:58 Hindu Meditation Lawsuit
• 4:27 Planned Parenthood Transgender Services
• 6:33 Local Government Focus
• 7:46 Rainbow Washing in Cities
• 9:49 Dad Jokes Question

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

All right, hello, good morning. We made it through the week. It's Friday, happy Friday. Now, pope Leo.

Speaker 1: 0:21

I'm not going to talk about Pope Leo because one I've not been a very good Catholic lately practicing Catholic and I don't know much about the man, so I'm going to let the experts talk about him. You're going to hear probably all about him today, and I know Jeffy will definitely be talking about him on Pat Gray, so let's listen to all of that Meanwhile. So by the time you get over here, though, you've already heard it. Okay, I have some stories here on my X-File. What do I want to start? I think I only have two, because I wanted to talk about some other things that I wrote on the blog.

Speaker 1: 0:56

All right, chicago public school students awarded 2.6 million dollars after being forced into demonic Hindu meditation. Demonic Hindu meditation Whoa? I don't understand that. This is from LifeSite News. I always thought Hindu was like, I don't know. I didn't think it was demonic, but I guess if it's not Christian, it must be demonic, right? I don't know, I don't know anything about that kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 1:23

The Chicago Board of Education and the New York-based David Lynch Foundation will pay out $2.6 million to former Chicago public schools, high school students over forced transcendental meditation indoctrination. This is a public school and they're forcing this kind of religion. Wait a minute. I thought what about? Where are you aclu people? Separation of church and state where's all? Where's all of that? Okay, I'm gonna leave the. I'm gonna leave the voices, the invitations to pat gray. I'm gonna stop doing as Mr Shons likes to point out about a certain female blaze host. Okay, school students over forced transcendental meditation indoctrination.

Speaker 1: 2:07

On May 7th 2025, judge Matthew Kennelly of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved the class action settlement. Well, tell me about the schools. Tell me about what happened here. The school's compulsory participation violated students' rights and even included non-disclosure agreements. What At least one student shared? How she and a classmate were instructed not to tell anyone, including their parents, about the program. Oh my gosh, red flags all over the place. If this is true, a representative from the David Lynch Foundation allegedly warned them specifically not to inform religious parents. Attorney John so-and-so represented the students. Okay, blah, blah, blah. All right, I'm trying.

Speaker 1: 3:02

Hudgens, now 22 years old, was the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit. This happened a while ago. She recounted that at age 16, she was forced to take part in the program called Quiet Time. Her participation was mandatory, despite any personal objections. She described how, despite its innocuous title, the program included a private one-on-one Hindu puja worship ceremony in a darkened room, chanting religious paraphernalia and secret mantras that were actually the names of Hindu gods. She said. I was just a teenager when I was pressured into a program I didn't understand it, wasn't allowed and was not allowed to question. No student should ever be forced into religious practice against their will, especially not in a public school. I agree, the settlement is a step to Wow, I mean. So they took this to court. They won. Wow. This happened 2015, I guess through 2019, who reached age 18. Oh, wow. Anyway, if you want to go finish reading that, you can. It's on my X file, all right, we're moving on to the next one Planned Parenthood. They're still offering transgender hormones to minors over their first appointment and some of them are just even over the phone. You don't even have to show up in person. This is still happening, people, still happening in the United States of America, and remember some Republicans did not want to defund it.

Speaker 1: 4:37

Planned Parenthood may be most notorious for abortion on demand most notorious for abortion on demand, but is nearly as aggressive in supplying cross-sex hormones to gender-confused teenagers, according to a new report by the pro-life group Live Action. Alongside its abortion focus, planned Parenthood advertises itself as a safe and welcoming place to get so-called transgender non-binary hormone therapy, including estrogen, anti-androgen, testosterone and puberty blockers. According to its most recent annual report, 45 of its affiliates offered what it called gender-affirming hormone therapy in 2022. For its latest investigation, live Action had an undercover reporter place phone calls to Planned Parenthood locations in Minnesota, oregon, maine, new York, new Jersey, new Mexico, colorado and Washington DC. Do these states surprise you at all? At seven out of 33 facilities that is way too much staffers confirmed they would prescribe cross-sex hormones at the first appointment, even virtually. Staffers at five facilities said even minors did not need proof of having undergone therapy, mental health clearance or prior documentation as part of mental health assessment.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Okay, I need whoever's in charge of the government and this sort of thing to go knock on their door and shut them down. Do it. What is what? What's taking you so long? I don't understand. I don't understand. All right, we're going to move on to my Americanist blog, where I have a couple.

Speaker 1: 6:19

The last two blog entries that I have are mainly focused on local government type things. One is the Red, white and Ready. Jd Vance's brother did you know he had a brother takes on Blue Cincinnati. So it's really his half-brother. They share the same father, different mothers. Jd Vance's half-brother is running for mayor and Cincinnati might finally get a reality check. I guess the state is kind of red, but Cincinnati is blue and has been for a long time. So these big cities, and it's the same with Georgia. I think the state of Georgia is red, but Atlanta is blue, which makes it all purple. Same thing with here in Alabama. So it's these bigger cities that are blue. How did this happen? So this is what we need to focus on as a group, I think nowadays is to get into your local um cities, municipalities, whatever you call them, and start focusing our efforts there on the ground. Uh, so there's that. And then also over here y'all. I don't understand this. I hope you go read this.

Speaker 1: 7:34

My next blog entry rainbow washing how salt lake city and boys circumvented state flag bans. I wrote a big old, long art, uh blog post on that. And uh, let me just read a couple of the paragraphs to you because the mayor here's what. Salt lake city mayor, mayor Aaron Mendenhall, said, with a straight face, after pushing through the progressive pride flag as a city emblem, what they did was, I guess the state or I don't know if it's through executive orders or I can't remember if it was that or if the state actually said you cannot put pride flags in classrooms federal government. So what did the cities do? They decided to make it their city flag. These people are crazy. They will do anything to push this trans cult crap onto future generations.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Okay, so here's what she said with a straight face symbols, these flags, reflect our shared humanity and the values that help everyone feel they belong, no matter their background, orientation or beliefs. Now here's what I say oh, spare me. We don't need special flags to prove people matter. Inclusion doesn't come from a rainbow banner fluttering over the city hall. We already have a flag that represents everyone. It's called Old Glory. Over the city hall, we already have a flag that represents everyone. It's called Old Glory. The stars and stripes represent all Americans. No special symbols required. You are included the moment you exist in this country as a human being with rights, something this nation has defended with blood, sacrifice and grit. That's what I'm going to read to you. I hope you go finish reading that over there, and I need to wrap it up because I'm going long.

Speaker 1: 9:34

Here is the question of the day. All right, we're going to keep it easy. Give me your cringiest dad joke. I have some. I love dad jokes. By the way, why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine. What do you call a pig that knows karate? A pork chop? Oh my gosh, I could go on. Give me your best dad jokes. I love dad jokes. Okay, I gotta go. Have a great weekend and