This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The governor of New York has signed a measure that repeals a statutory ban on adultery in the state.

So, as legacy wire service AP documented, "Cheating on your spouse is no longer a crime…"

It was Gov. Kathy Hochul who just days ago signed a plan repealing the original 1907 law that made adultery a criminal offense, a Class B misdemeanor that carried a punishment of up to 90 days in jail.

"These matters should clearly be handled by these individuals and not our criminal justice system. Let's take this silly, outdated statute off the books, once and for all," she said.

The Gateway Pundit documented that more than a dozen people have been charged under the statute in recent decades, but only five convicted.

State assembly member Charles Lavine proposed the repeal.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief

Thousands of Jews flock to Hebron to the tomb of biblical patriarchs and matriarchs

This past weekend, Jews around the world read the Torah portion of Chayei Sarah – the fifth portion of the Book of Genesis. As is customary, thousands of Jews – organizers estimated some 20,000 (which was a restricted number this year because of the security situation) flocked to the Judean town of Hebron to pay their respects to the tomb of the patriarchs and matriarchs, in particular Sarah, Abraham's wife.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

"If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." – 2 Chronicles 7:14

Americans recently found out what can happen when tens of millions of normal, decent, patriotic, God-fearing citizens fervently pray to Almighty God to have mercy on their beloved but wayward nation – and to save them from falling under the excruciating rule of deranged sociopaths obviously in the grip of very dark forces.

Indeed, most Americans understood they were close to losing, perhaps forever, the greatest and most abundantly blessed nation in history.

Here's how Christian broadcaster and bestselling author Eric Metaxas put it one day after a would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania, shot Donald Trump, hitting him in the ear while missing his skull by literally half an inch – and only because Trump suddenly turned his head 90 degrees at the exact right moment:

"I have said repeatedly for months that those who hate Trump would stop at nothing to make sure he doesn't get back in to the White House, including trying to assassinate him. I have also said God's hand is on him, and would protect him, if God forbid someone did try to do that. Last night we saw that happen. His survival was nothing less than a miracle. So be assured that God is not finished with this nation.

"But we need to pray," Metaxas urged. "We are in an existential crisis, and without God, this experiment in self-government will not continue. But it is God's will that it continue. So please pray."

Today, overwhelming relief and thanksgiving for God's mercy are breathing new life and hope –even joy – into the long-suffering American middle class that delivered Donald Trump's landslide victory on Nov. 5, while rejecting the Democrats' manifestly insane agenda.

Indeed, the hard truth is that the modern Democratic Party's agenda has devolved to the point of being not merely insane – say, like its insistence that men can menstruate, get pregnant, give birth and "chest-feed" their baby. It is, in fact, increasingly criminally insane. If that sounds even slightly hyperbolic, consider that the programs pushed full-throttle by the Biden-Harris administration have included (as confirmed by recent official U.S. government statistics) intentionally allowing tens of thousands of convicted murderers and rapists to be released from foreign prisons so they can illegally enter the United States of America and wreak untold havoc on the good people of this nation. Sounds pretty criminal, doesn't it?

So it is not, as Kamala Harris liked to say, that "we have a broken immigration system." It's that the Biden-Harris regime has intentionally broken it – inviting and facilitating murder, sexual assault, terrorism, gang violence, sex-trafficking of women and children, and rampant fentanyl distribution, the No. 1 cause of death of young Americans aged 18-45.

That's not just insane. It's criminal.

Likewise, what about cutting off the breasts of 13- and 14-year-old girls and amputating the genitals of boys who have been seduced by demonically possessed social media "influencers"? Today's Democrat elite love this! Last year, would-be vice president Tim Walz signed a bill, as governor, making Minnesota a sanctuary state for transgender madness targeting children, essentially allowing the state to wrest custody of a child from his or her own parents if they didn't agree with allowing their precious child to be permanently mutilated and chemically sterilized by mad scientists.

The Harris-Walz agenda also featured abortion with no limits – literally up to the very moment of natural birth, which is de facto infanticide. And true to form, in January 2023 Walz signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options Act which stipulated no restrictions whatsoever on abortion at any stage of pregnancy – and enshrining that into the Minnesota Constitution.

Is it any wonder that the American people, who are overwhelmingly NOT interested in brainwashing their children with toxic Marxist ideologies, seeing their nation flooded with tens of thousands of murderers and rapists, killing precious human babies, cutting healthy body parts off their kids, and allowing deranged men to completely destroy women's athletics, said "HELL NO" to the Democrats' agenda and candidates in the recent presidential election?

No wonder Americans are overwhelmingly happy at the prospect of Trump and his team rapidly reversing the destructive and perverse agendas of the Biden-Harris regime.

'Morning in America'

Some much-relieved Americans are now enthusiastically calling Donald Trump the greatest American president since Ronald Reagan, evoking the famous "Morning in America" theme of Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign. And indeed, there are many striking similarities between what Reagan accomplished after the chaotic and financially ruinous Carter presidency, and what Trump accomplished after Barack Obama's toxic and divisive eight years as president.

But of all the things common to both Reagan and Trump, and there are many – their obvious love for America, their insistence on "peace through strength" via a robust military, their enlightened economic policies, their buoyant sense of humor, and the respect they both inspired in foreign leaders – one other similarity is seldom mentioned:

Democrats compared both presidents to Hitler.

That's right. As Steven F. Hayward, author of the 2001 book "The Age Of Reagan" revealed: "Liberals hated Reagan in the 1980s. Pure and simple." For example, he wrote, "Democratic Rep. William Clay of Missouri charged that Reagan was 'trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf.'"

In truth, Democrats have long been addicted to accusing Republicans of being Nazis and their leaders of being Hitler clones, but no one has been targeted nearly as much as Donald J. Trump.

Unfortunately, accusing an American president of being like Hitler is not merely dishonest and insane, it is a de facto call for his assassination, since the most moral response to the real Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich was to attempt to kill him, and the participants in all of the many plots to assassinate "Der Fuhrer" are today considered heroes.

Yet all of this present madness is understandable in light of the biblical admonition: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" – Isaiah 5:20

Americans of every political persuasion need to come to terms with the inescapable reality that the current Democratic Party – whose leaders have descended to defaming tens of millions of thoroughly decent, moral Americans as "fascists," "racists" and "garbage" – has become the party not just of insanity, but of evil, where good is literally called evil, and evil is called good.

Fortunately, as Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has astutely pointed out, Trump has actually ushered in a radical realignment of the two main U.S. political parties: "The Democrats are the party of the elite now. But Donald Trump has made the Republican Party the party of the working men and women … of this nation – the people that made this country great."

That bears repeating: Whereas the Democratic Party has long been touted as the party of the working man, and the Republican Party as the political home of the rich and the elite (though not really true, that was how the GOP was long characterized), today Republicans are unquestionably the party of the common working man and woman, while the Democratic Party is widely recognized now as the political home of the elite, the wealthy, the super-rich donor class and globalists.

Winning the war

So, what must good Americans do to hold on to their victory – this precious reprieve God has so graciously granted them – and which may represent their last chance to restore America?

Yes, Nov. 5 represents a great battle decisively won. The sane and normal people are in charge again. But the larger war will continue.

After all, most of America's key institutions, from the "mainstream media" to Big Tech to academia are still almost entirely in the hands of the Left. "Drag queen story hour" brainwashing sessions targeting the nation's toddlers will still take place. Ivy League colleges will still be full of unhinged Marxist professors. And of course, the more out-of-view realms of power and influence – of big money, of the Deep State, of foreign plots, of would-be assassins and every other kind of opposition – are still out there. Media personalities will continue to snipe, defame and try to tear down the Trump administration whenever possible, and to turn Americans against it.

And yet, it won't work.

Why? Because the credibility of the "enemy within" has been destroyed; tens of millions of Americans simply do not believe them anymore. Reports of CNN preparing to fire "hundreds" of staffers and MSNBC's ratings falling more than 50% since the election testify to the reality that Americans have finally awakened to – and firmly rejected – the lies being directed at them daily by the Left.

In light of all this, it's reasonable to take a leap of faith and simply dare to affirm that America is back.

The dream of America as a land of unmatched freedom and opportunity goes back to the settlers who celebrated that first Thanksgiving just over four centuries ago in 1621, when it really sank in to all involved that this land – America – was truly their home, a blessed land of unfathomably great potential for freedom and brotherhood.

Many Americans today thought this wonderful dream might have been lost forever, that their once-great nation had just sunk too deep into the muck of corruption and delusion and evil. But thanks be to God, America is back.

Yes, the Almighty picked someone to lead the current charge – Donald Trump. But this blessing goes beyond Trump. America itself is back – as long as true Americans hold fast to it, and honor and protect it.

Highlights of "MORNING IN AMERICA" include:

* "How God blessed the USA" by David Kupelian

* "Franklin Graham compiles eye-opening list of winners in the 2024 election: 'This win is historic in many ways. Millions and millions of people were praying, and I believe God heard their prayers'" by Bob Unruh

* "'How Great Thou Art': At 3 a.m. on election night, Trump supporters celebrate 'in awesome wonder' with memorable tribute to God"

* "Trump's win: The normal people strike back. It turns out the American dream is still alive in the hearts of Americans" by Ben Shapiro

* "Our election's utter losers and winners: 'Democrats will blame everyone and everything – except themselves, who sought to drive down the American people's throat the most radical and absurd agenda of the last two centuries'" by Victor Davis Hanson

* "Who did the billionaires back for president: Trump or Harris?" by Robert Schmad

* "The Democrats' 2020 victory: A blessing in disguise. 'Most Americans now know that the Left is morally and psychologically sick'" by Dennis Prager

* "Is the Left preparing for war after Trump's victory? 'Forecasts read like paranoid fantasy, but they're carefully scripted inversions of reality'" by Lee Smith

* "The 'Garbage Saint' president: All in for the people. 'With Trumpism triumphant, many now hope for a more just world and a better future' by Hanne Nabintu Herland

* "What's behind Trump's huge gains with black men? His populist realignment of America's political parties has caused a radical shift in the electorate" by Jarrett Stepman

* "The death of Obamaism – and the historic MAGA opportunity: 'America's cultural and civilizational divide, which was reflected in this election, is … between normalcy and sanity on the one hand, and decadence and freakishness on the other hand' by Josh Hammer

* "Vivek Ramaswamy explains Trump's sweeping victory… and what it means for America's future: 'I think the revival of our national self-confidence is the most important thing Donald Trump has delivered'

* "President Trump's plan to protect children from 'left-wing gender insanity' – in his own words: 'No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender – a concept that was never heard of in all of human history'"

* "The Trump Doctrine: 'The most successful foreign policy of any president since Ronald Reagan'" by Ben Shapiro

* "Trump's stunning plan to dismantle the 'Deep State': Described as the 'most important 3 minutes of video on the internet'" by Bob Unruh

* "Global warming was the big election loser: 'Every poll in recent years has shown climate change ranks near the bottom of voter concerns'" by Stephen Moore

* "Here's what would happen if Democrats had their way and eliminated fossil fuels"

* "1 more post-election victory: Americans no longer believe the 'mainstream media': 'The establishment press are less trusted than virtually any major institution in American life'" by David Harsanyi

* "Trump's win 'isn't the finish line – it's the starting point': 'If the sea of red from the election is any indication, Americans are energized as never before to put this country back on the right track'" by Suzanne Bowdey.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – Israel is reportedly on the verge of signing a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, which could bring about a two-month pause in hostilities along the volatile Israeli-Lebanese border.

The proposed deal, still under negotiation, would involve the withdrawal of military forces from both sides and provide Israel with "significant relief" from the U.S. arms embargo currently limiting its access to critical weaponry.

Key elements of the ceasefire proposal

The ceasefire plan is a focal point for Israel's cabinet, which is set to convene to deliberate on its terms. According to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, the agreement is "close" to being finalized, though significant points of contention remain unresolved.

One major sticking point is Israel's insistence on retaining the right to strike Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, a provision that Lebanese officials have openly opposed. It's important to note the proposed ceasefire will be between Israel and Lebanon – it doesn't even mention Hezbollah.

Many people are concerned about the lack of specificity when it comes to referencing Hezbollah, which is often designated in the Orwellian language of "international speak" as a non-state actor; although it forms part of the Lebanese government, but does not constitute any part of Lebanon's army, and obviously takes no orders from it.

The Biden administration has positioned the agreement as a pathway to de-escalation while addressing Israel's concerns over Hezbollah's continued presence near the border. Reports indicate that U.S. President Joe Biden has personally assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that approving the ceasefire would ease the restrictions imposed by the ongoing arms embargo.

Specifically, the embargo has delayed shipments of critical munitions, including approximately 20,000 MK-84 bombs, which are instrumental in Israel's operations against terrorist targets. Given the Congress already approved these shipments, it seems surprising that despite some Executive discretion, their being held up has not garnered a more robust response..

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A town has been ordered by a "human rights" court to pay an LGBT activist group $10,000, including $5,000 from the mayor's personal bank account, for not celebrating the alternative lifestyle choices being promoted.

A report at Not the Bee identified the town that offended the LGBT promoters as Emo, Ontario, Canada.

The report explained the LGBT members of Borderland Pride had told the city to proclaim June 2020 as "Pride Month" and fly a rainbow flag for a week.

The town council and mayor did not, however, take up the campaign.

So the organization complained to the Ontario Human Rights Council that members were injured by the town's lack of cooperation.

"The tribunal, whose rulings are legally binding, has determined that the township must pay Borderland Pride $10,000 and Emo Mayor Harold McQuaker has to provide the group with $5,000 from his personal finances," the report said.

The report continued, "Ontario's Human Rights Tribunal (an Orwellian sounding group if there ever was one) believes that LGBT people have the human right to a whole month celebrating their sex lives, and if a tiny town doesn't agree they have to pay a fine to an LGBT rights group and extort their mayor to pay half."

The LGBT activists claimed the town's action was discriminatory.

Members demanded that, "We're entitled to treatment without discrimination when we try to seek services from our local government."

Town officials also were ordered into an LGBT indoctrination course.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A plan for states to secede from the union of United States because they disagree politically with the majority is something that's been tried before.

Unsuccessfully, as the horrendous death tolls of the Civil War and its after-war punishments, like "carpet-baggers," document.

But Democrats in New York apparently believe it would produce a better result this time.

That's because they are considering a plan to become, along with several nearby states, a province of Canada over President-elect Donald Trump's coming administration.

It is the Washington Examiner that has reported that the rage from leftists is over Trump's plans to address the catastrophic results of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris open borders agenda.

That has left millions of illegal aliens spread across the United States, taking jobs, taking government financial benefits, taking up housing and space in schools and more. Among them are criminals and terrorists.

The report said it is New York state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat from New York City, who proposed withholding taxes from the federal government, or leaving entirely.

She is chairwoman of the state Senate Finance Committee and suggested the plans "as state Democrats only have weeks to counter President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office," the report said.

"It's not unreasonable to think outside of the box," she said in an interview with Politico.

Both proposals seem far-fetched. She hinted that if Trump chooses to send less federal funding to New York, a move already threatened against cities whose officials won't work with federal immigration authorities, the state should refuse to forward tax collections to the federal government.

The report noted former ICE chief Tom Homan, named as Trump's "border czar," already has committed to blocking federal funding to states that don't help with the national crisis.

"That's going to happen. I guarantee you," he has warned.

The Examiner noted, "A complete block of federal funding would leave New York $85 billion in the hole. As Krueger suggested, they could make up those funds by sending less in the hundreds of billions of tax dollars it receives."

Or, as Krueger proposed weeks ago, perhaps New York should join Canada.

She wanted to take Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont along.

"But that's why I thought, 'Oh, why do I have to leave this country? I love this country, and if Trump wins a second term, it's not actually my fault or people in New York.' So I thought I would suggest to Canada that instead of us all trying to illegally cross the border at night without them noticing … that they should instead agree to let us be the southeast province, a new province of Canada."

She said those states are filled with "progressive Democrats" who would fit well into Canadian ideals.

Actually, 43% of New Yorkers voted for Trump this year.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

'I would suspect that he would be removed from office. I don't know whether or not there'd be a criminal prosecution for someone resisting federal law, but he will lose'

The mayor of Denver, given the Republican sweep of the House, the Senate, and the White House, almost certainly will be losing the federal support he's enjoyed for his pro-illegal alien agenda.

And if he continues, under a White House run by pro-border security President Donald Trump, he "will lose," according to a member of the U.S. Senate.

"What he is offering is a form of insurrection," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., explained during a television interview.

Paul said, "The mayor of Denver if he's going to resist federal law, which is a long-standing history of the supremacy of federal law, if he's going to resist that, it will go all the way to the Supreme Court.

"I would suspect that he would be removed from office. I don't know whether or not there'd be a criminal prosecution for someone resisting federal law, but he will lose. People need to realize that what he is offering is a form of insurrection where the states resist the federal government."

Paul continued, "Most people objected to that and rejected that long ago. So (I) think the mayor of Denver is on the wrong side of history, and, I think, will face legal ramifications if he doesn't obey the federal law."

WND previously reported when Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was asked about helping enforce federal immigration law.

"Not. We won't do it," Johnston said. And he elaborated, that he doubted federal forces would raid Colorado seeking illegal aliens.

"I do not believe that our governor is going to let them use our [Colorado] National Guard at the state level. Unless they were planning on bringing national guards mobilized from Texas or Alabama to come invade Colorado, I don't know where they would find the forces to begin to do that."

Johnston continued, "And that seems to me like a very, very bad idea from start to finish that no reasonable American would support."

He said not only would his administration, but the people of Denver, would resist deportation procedures by federal forces.

"More than us having (Denver police) stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there. It's like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You'd have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them," he said.

The Gateway Pundit wrote about Paul's comments on Face the Nation, calling it a "stern warning" to Johnston.

The senator said, "You know, I'm 100% supportive of going after the 15,000 murderers, the 13,000 sexual assault perpetrators, rapists—let's send them on their way to prison or back home to another prison."

He did say that the better way to handle the problem created by the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris agenda of open borders is to use judges, warrants, and such.

"So, I'm for removing these people, but through the normal process of domestic policing."

The publication earlier had described how Johnston wanted Denver to be a "fortress of resistance," with moves such as running Denver as a "sanctuary" city. He even suggested civil disobedience to block border security plans and deportation efforts.

Johnston later claimed his choice of words was poor.

Asked about civil disobedience, he said, "If I believe that our residents are having their rights violated, if I think things are happening that are illegal or immoral or un-American in our city, I would certainly protest it, and I would expect other residents would do the same."

Denver Channel 9's Marc Sallinger asked, "Trump's new border czar, Tom Homan, has said that he is willing to arrest leaders like yourself for standing in the way of these policies they want to enact. Would you be willing to go to jail for these things?"

Johnston said, "Yeah, I'm not afraid of that. I'm also not seeking that. I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people on how to solve hard problems."

Earlier, it was lawyer Mike Davis, who formerly worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who pointed out Johnston's plans could make him liable for allegations of conspiracy, obstruction, and even assault on federal officers.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – The prospect of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is generating intense discussions across diplomatic, political, and military channels.

Reports suggest significant progress has been made in the negotiations, spearheaded by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein. However, the situation is fraught with challenges, as various actors within the continuing drama express conflicting priorities.

Ceasefire negotiations

Recent reports indicate Israel has agreed in principle to a U.S.-mediated ceasefire proposal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened high-level consultations with defense and political leaders to evaluate the terms on Sunday night. Preliminary approval for the agreement has reportedly been conveyed to Lebanese officials via Hochstein, though several key issues remain unresolved​.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey says a court ruling that leaves in place a state law banning child mutilation is a "resounding victory" for children.

"We are the first state in the nation to successfully defend such a law at the trial court level. I'm extremely proud of the thousands of hours my office put in to shine a light on the lack of evidence supporting these irreversible procedures. We will never stop fighting to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children," he explained.

The comment followed a decision by the Cole County Circuit Court in Noe v. Parson, a dispute over transgenderism, that affirmed a state law protecting children from "harmful, unnecessary, and high-risk transition drugs and surgeries."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

In France, part of the so-called civilized West, human rights and freedom have been protected for generations, but that nation has exited that group.

Because it now has censored speech to the point it is illegal to say that abortion, which causes the death of the unborn every single time the process fulfills its goal, is a "cause of death."

The analysis comes from free speech expert Jonathan Turley, who is a constitutional expert who has testified before Congress and represented members, on related issues.

He's also released a new book, "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage."

He points out that for generations, France's call to patriotism has been "liberté, égalité, fraternité," or Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

"However, in today's France, 'liberté' is no longer valued. Individual rights of religion and speech are routinely sacrificed in the name of 'equity' and 'fraternity," he warned.

"We have long discussed the collapse of free speech values in France as the left criminalizes an ever-widening scope of opposing viewpoints," he explained. "Conservative groups are denouncing a new such case targeting conservative media. CNEWS was fined and forced to apologize on air after a journalist referred to abortion as the world's leading cause of death."

He explained a presenter on CNEWS., which is owned by Catholic businessman Vincent Bolloré, recently broadcast a graphic on the causes of death that put abortion on top, with 73 million deaths worldwide each year.

Cancer was ranked second at 10 million and smoking followed at 6.2 million.

Turley pointed out that Arcom, the French media regulators, immediately "imposed a fine of 100,000 euros and compelled CNEWS to apologize on the air. It was the full monty of censorship, combining a penalty with compelled speech. Arcom found that the network had failed its 'obligation of honesty and rigor in the presentation and processing of information.' It declared that 'Abortion cannot be presented as a cause of death.'"

That, Turley noted, is despite the obvious, that "many people around the world view abortion as the death of a human being."

But leftists "went ballistic," and now in France "It is now a violation of law to call abortion a cause of death."

Turley said the attitude of banning the truth wasn't surprising.

"France has been a leader in the rollback on free speech in the West with ever-widening laws curtailing free speech. These laws criminalize speech under vague standards referring to 'inciting' or 'intimidating' others based on race or religion," he said.

He cited the case of the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen who was fined because he had called people from the Roma minority "smelly" and the charge against a teenager who said Islam was a "religion of hate."

Turley said free speech is in a free fall across Europe.

"The desire to silence others has now become an insatiable appetite," he said.