Chris Wiener - TCSB

Is this ominous foreshadowing?

In Brazil, parents are reportedly facing criminal punishment for choosing to homeschool their children — not because their children were failing, but because the state objected to the educational process and content.

That should concern every parent in America.

Education does not belong first to bureaucrats, agencies, or national departments. It belongs first to families. Parents have both the right and the responsibility to direct the education, formation, values, and future of their children.

When national departments like the Department of Education continue to tighten their grip over state and local educational decisions, we should ask a serious question:

How far are we from a system where parents are no longer treated as the primary stewards of their children, but as obstacles to state-approved outcomes?

Educational freedom is not a partisan luxury. It is a parental right.

This article should serve as a warning — and a backdrop for why we must defend local control, parental authority, and educational liberty while we still can.

Brazilian judge sentences parents to prison for homeschooling their daughters Parents who chose to homeschool their two daughters convicted of “intellectual neglect” and sentenced to 50 days in prison in first criminal prosecution of home educators in the country. Conviction is part of a broader pattern of parental rights concerns in Brazil; ADF International is providing...

“And a l***r came to Him, begging Him and falling on his knees before Him, saying, “If You are willing, You are able to make me clean.” [Matt 8:2-4; Luke 5:12-14] Moved with compassion [for his suffering], Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” The leprosy left him immediately and he was cleansed [completely healed and restored to health]. And Jesus [deeply moved] admonished him sternly and sent him away immediately, saying to him, “See that you tell no one anything [about this]; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your purification what Moses commanded, as proof to them [that you are really healed].” [Lev 13:45; 14:2-32] But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news [of his healing], to such an extent that Jesus could no longer openly enter a city [where He was known], but stayed out in the unpopulated places; yet people were still coming to Him from everywhere.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭40‬-‭45‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Mark 1:40-45 (AMP) - And a l***r came to Him, begging Hi - Bible App And a l***r came to Him, begging Him and falling on his knees before Him, saying, “If You are willing, You are able to make me clean.” [Matt 8:2-4; Luke 5:12-14] Moved with compassion [for his sufferi

Just finished delivering the opening speech Lake Toxaway Community Center Independence Day and 250th birthday celebration.

Here is the speech:

America at 250

Lake Toxaway Community Center – July 4, 2026

Friends,

Two hundred and fifty years ago, ordinary men and women did an extraordinary thing. They declared that our rights do not come from kings, nor from governments, but from Almighty God; and that governments exist only to secure those rights.

That conviction gave birth to a Republic unlike any the world had ever known.

Its strength has never rested in its wealth, its armies, or even its leaders.

Its strength has always rested in the character of its people.

Generation after generation has been called to preserve that sacred trust.

Some crossed icy rivers.
Some stood on blood-soaked fields.
Some stormed distant beaches.

Others never carried a rifle at all. They built homes, raised families, taught children, opened churches and businesses, served their neighbors, and quietly lived lives of honor.

For the Republic has always been sustained by ordinary Americans who chose extraordinary faithfulness.

Here in these mountains, that truth is part of our own inheritance.

When liberty was threatened, the Overmountain Men did not wait for someone else to answer the call. Farmers, blacksmiths, pastors, merchants, and fathers crossed these mountains to answer the call of liberty because they believed that freedom required more than words.

Their legacy is not merely that they won a battle.

Their legacy is that they accepted responsibility.

That same responsibility now belongs to us.

For no Constitution can preserve itself.

No court can preserve it.

No president can preserve it.

Only a virtuous and engaged people can preserve a free Republic.

If we desire stronger government, we will be disappointed.

If we become stronger citizens, America will remain strong.

So let this anniversary be more than a celebration.

Let it become a covenant.

A covenant that we will prize character above comfort.

Duty above convenience.

Truth above popularity.

Faithfulness above success.

That we will teach our children not merely to enjoy our freedom, but to understand it, defend it, and pass it on.

When the fireworks have faded and the flags have been folded away, the work of preserving this Republic shall remain.

It will be found in our homes.

In our churches.

In our schools.

In our communities.

And in the quiet decisions each of us makes every day.

The Founders gave us a Republic, and challenged us to keep it.

The question before us is whether we still possess the character to keep it.
I believe we do.

Now let us prove it.

May God bless Transylvania County..
May God bless North Carolina.
And may God continue to bless these United States of America.

If only ….

"This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners"

Apparently, it is super obvious from the historical record that the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment excludes persons born in the United States who are born of foreigners. Senator Jacob M. Howard explained this intent in the 1866 Senate debate while Representative John A. Bingham served as the primary author of the relevant section.