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PUBLISHER POINTS by Kelli Barnes

This Christmas season, it is good to remember what the indescribable gift from God is to all of humanity. He gave his son Jesus, who was 100% human and 100% God. Jesus is seen mostly in the manger this time of year, but as the story is told, can also be seen as a toddler when the wise men finally arrived from the Orient to see the King that was promised … the Savior of the world. Why did we need a Savior? Because of sin. It is that simple, yet that profound.

Each person in our family, in our community, in our country, in our world, is flawed. We disappoint each other. We hurt each other. We are damaged, we are fearful, and we have no hope for a brighter future … but God.

I encourage you to seek God despite flawed humans and because of this flawed world. He is the real reason for the season, and the only one who can give hope, lasting peace, and a future.

Below are words of wisdom given this year from some of our newspaper contributors, subscribers, and community leaders:

For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

—James Earl White, retired schoolteacher, and former State Representative

“As we celebrate the birth of our Savior this month during an historically tough time for America, please keep up faith and hope - for we are fighting a battle He has already won.”

—Congressman Brian Babin, retired dentist, and current U.S. House Representative

“One thing we do not have a shortage of -- that’s advice. Many of the decisions you make every day are life or death issues. Where do you go when you need help? Let me give you one word of wisdom. You don’t need second-party, third-party information when you can go directly to the Source — God, our Maker. That’s why Christmas is so important. He came! Our great Creator God did not leave us alone. He is here and He has given His Word on every issue we may struggle with. Open the Bible. You can get all the help you will need. Sincere seekers only!  Merry Christmas!”

—Gloria Russell, missionary to children in East Texas

“He (Jesus) was willing to go all the way to the cross and to the grave so He could rise again and defeat death, so we could have the promise of eternal life in Heaven if we choose to follow Him.”

—Keith Bellamy, pastor Woodville Church of Christ, Tyler County

“I have been teaching the Bible for 45 years. The main thing I can say without question is Jesus is the answer to every need. He said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.’”

—James Smith, retired Sunday school teacher, Trinity County

“There is no reason that God should stoop to becoming one of us, except that He loves us with an endless, longsuffering, and divine love.”

—Dr. Dan Darby, retired United Methodist pastor, San Jacinto County

“It’s through the Holy Spirit (of God) that we are drawn to Jesus, convicted of sin, born to new life, and empowered to walk a new way.”

—Brett Lester, pastor First Baptist Church of Livingston, Polk County

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Special to the News-Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, led 13 of his colleagues in a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis McDonough following disturbing antisemitic comments posted online by Shakeba Morrad, a United States Attorney at the Office of General Counsel for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Specifically, lawmakers requested an immediate update on the investigation into Shakeba Morrad and any disciplinary actions taken.

“Antisemitism has no place in America, especially within the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Luttrell said. “Vile comments, such as Ms. Morrad’s, will not be tolerated, and there must be accountability. I will continue to unequivocally condemn all forms of antisemitism and look forward to hearing from Secretary McDonough on the actions being taken to address this.

“We write to share our strong concerns regarding Shakeba Morrad, a United States Attorney at the Office of General Counsel for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs who shared a video in which she displayed antisemitic behavior,” Luttrell wrote. “We are requesting an immediate update on the investigation and any disciplinary actions taken.”

The letter goes on to state that in a video posted Nov. 12, Morrad actively mocked the Israeli hostages being held captive by Hamas.

“On Oct. 7 of this year, Hamas committed one of the vilest terrorist attacks in recent world history,” Luttrell wrote. “During this attack the men, women, and children Hamas did not kill were taken back to Gaza to be held as hostages. Ms. Morrad’s mocking of these people and their families is unacceptable. The core values of the Department of Veterans Affairs are Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence. It is clear to us that Ms. Morrad does not embody the values of the Department and therefore has no place within it.”

Luttrell and others requested updates on the investigation into Morrad, as well as an outline of any disciplinary actions taken.

The letter was signed by Reps. Eli Crane (R-AZ), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Ralph Norman (R-SC), August Pfluger (R-TX), Michael Waltz (R-FL), Cory Mills (R-FL), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Keith Self (R-TX), Randy Weber (R-TX0), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Mike Carey (R-OH).

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By Chris Edwards
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Last month, a 20-year-old woman named Lanah Burkhardt testified to the Board of Trustees of the Conroe Independent School District that, at age 11, she began a downhill slide due to a kiss depicted in a book.

Burkhardt said she “looked for other books that gave me pleasure,” after the kiss depicted in Drama, by Raina Telgemeier, which was published by Scholastic. Now, that last part is important in what follows here.

Burkhardt’s supposed struggles with an addiction to pornography, which she claimed left her depressed and suicidal by age 13, is more than likely a complete fabrication, and a PR stunt engineered by a publishing house competing for the market occupied by Scholastic Book Fairs.

Burkhardt claimed that “getting rid of Scholastic Books and their book fairs will inevitably protect kids.” The problem is, as a couple of journalists, Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby, discovered after the public testimony was reported, that Burkhardt has skin in the game of closing down Scholastic Book Fairs. You see, Lanah Burkhardt, according to her since-deleted LinkedIn profile, is a public relations coordinator at Brave Books.

Brave Books is a company that publishes children’s books by right-wing pundits and influencers and sells books to help children “withstand harmful progressive influences,” according to the LinkedIn profile of company founder Trent Talbot.

An offshoot of Brave Books, SkyTree Book Fairs, is an independent, non-profit organization, which is competing for the school book fair market against Scholastic, and receives charitable donations and is afforded tax-exempt status while pushing a culture-warring agenda.

Also, of note: Burkhardt was, as Legum and Crosby discovered, home-schooled, and likely never attended a Scholastic Book Fair.

Burkhardt’s appearance at the Conroe ISD meeting was promoted by SkyTree’s social media accounts. In a post from SkyTree: “We keep hearing ‘kids are old enough to choose books responsibly’, but this clip from a school board meeting in TX proves otherwise. Find out how one innocent kiss in a Scholastic book led this young lady to porn addiction.”

Like so much to do about the culture wars, all of this is much ado about nothing, and should be an insult to the intelligence of anyone with a stake in public education. If you pay taxes, whether you have a kid, or kids, in school or not, then you have a stake in public education.

Culture wars are never about some lofty morality battle. They’re about money, and this is a perfect, simple illustration of that. A publishing house and book fair vendor wants to get contracts to sell their books, and by using their leverage of dealing in abstract/subjective grounds, they think they can fool people. Ultimately, it’s dishonest/deceptive business practices, but other companies get away with far worse, right?

The problem I see is more abhorrent than what some other companies might get away with in the name of capitalism. Our children are, as I’ve written here before, quoting my late grandfather, our future. Our children are not pawns in some nonsensical culture war.

Getting our children to read is hard enough, and Scholastic Book Fairs help to instill in them the fun and excitement offered through books. Scholastic has run book fairs for many years. While taking a trip in the Wayback Machine down Memory Lane, I can recall with fondness how awesome those book fairs were in elementary school.

The titles published by Scholastic and curated via the company’s book fairs, have a great history of engaging young minds in fantastic worlds, but also teaching them about the very real world around them.

In elementary school, I’d be liable to pick up age-appropriate paperback collections of scary stories or fantastic fiction works by the likes of C.S. Lewis or Madeline L’Engle, while classmates might opt for the works of Judy Blume, R.L. Stine and other book fair favorites.

In graduate school, I took a course on young adult literature, and the reading list for the class was full of masterpieces that, often, demonstrated how storytelling could be used to break down sensitive subject matter to young readers. Having been away from public school for many years, and unfamiliar with what kids were reading, I was blown away by the greatness of books like When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, Toning the Sweep and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, among others.

I’ve not read Drama, but according to Brave Books’ website, the book is the reason why people should fight against Scholastic, for the company is “woke,” whatever that means.

Drama is challenged frequently in these book ban-friendly times, as the plot focuses on a theatre student in middle school who experiences many coming-of-age milestones, and the book, a graphic novel, does depict a kiss onstage.

Again, I have not read the book, so I cannot comment on it in any way, but the plot sounds like many of typical coming-of-age stories that comprise so much of children’s literature.

Assuming any of Burkhardt’s testimony is at all true, like for example, if she was addicted to pornography, then should whatever books/magazines/websites that contributed to that be banned? Some people become addicted to alcohol after drinking, so should we ban alcohol…oh, wait, we tried that and it failed, once upon a time.

What is ridiculous (and sad), aside from the near-Saturday Night Live-level ridiculousness of Burkhardt’s testimony, is the fact that nationally, we have a 21% rate of illiteracy, with 54% of the population reading below a sixth-grade level, according to up-to-date statistics compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics. Texas, in these rankings, is number 47, overall, in terms of literacy ranking by state, with 81% of the state literate.

Again, our children are too precious to be another pawn in a ridiculous culture war. Let the market do what the market is going to do, with regard to demand, but keep culture warring and political footballing out of our public schools and away from children.

Burkhardt’s “Reefer Madness”-style call to arms says much more about herself than any book (again, assuming any of it is true).

Pornography addiction is a real thing, and yes, children at those ages experience sexual thoughts, but instead of shaming children experiencing such thoughts with such a testimony and placing blame on a single book for an addiction, the question I wondered when reading about this story is: where were her parents, and why was a child as young as 11 given unrestricted access to the internet?

Ludicrous stories with books as scapegoats aside, there are no “moral” or “immoral” books – there are only good and bad book, and that is all purely subjective ground left up to the reader.

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By Tony Farkas
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Years and years ago, I worked for a gentleman who essentially used the business as a personal bank account.

Over his 15 years running the show, he had bought vehicles, RVs, property, renovation materials and paid for personal expenses, all at the expense of the firm and its employees.

He eventually was investigated, arrested and convicted for embezzlement. Even so, we lived with that knowledge and the effect it had on our paychecks and (lack of) benefits for a decade and a half.

So it was with interest that I read that a sitting member of Congress ended up in a similar boat recently.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the recent development whereby George Santos, a U.S. congressman from New York, was expelled from Congress.

In an awfully big nutshell, Santos was accused of using his position for personal gain and telling lies about his background, such as where he worked and went to school.

He was reimbursing himself from re-election funds for loans that were never made, used campaign funds for such necessary things as Botox treatments, personal travel expenses and lying to donors, only to take the donations and buy things from Hermes, a high-end retailer, and OnlyFans, a subscription site for videos.

The similarities between the two examples are striking in that both people thought the money they generated, either through campaign donors or sales, was essentially part of a personal bank account and not necessarily specific to their work. Additionally, it took a lot of time for the chickens to come home to roost.

Also, it seems that the comeuppance faced by these two is rare, the exception instead of the rule.

In the case of my former employer, his claim was he only did what everyone else was doing. If you read news reports like I do, you can see that Santos most likely was just the latest example and only got caught because he wasn’t as circumspect as he should have been.

Throughout U.S. history, there have been only six members of Congress who have been expelled, three of which were done during the Civil War. That means that only three members have been found to have performed acts egregious enough to merit expulsion.

Three. That to me is nuts.

For instance, Sen. Bob Menendez, who was actually indicted on federal corruption charges, is still a sitting senator, even after a second indictment came down this year regarding classified information.

Other members of Congress seem to have used their positions to play the stock market to their advantage.

Then there’s the Biden family, which seems to have quite a bit of evidence mounting against them regarding influence peddling, bribery and extortion. So far, the only movement there is discussions about opening an impeachment inquiry.

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think there isn’t more examples of malfeasance by elected officials; if you were to add in the hired help, such as the people working in federal agencies, I’m sure there would be even more issues.

Some politicians look to ramp up oversight, and that’s fine, but that’s a dike that might not be able to be plugged. We as voters need to do our own oversight at the ballot box and not accept the status quo.

Tony Farkas writes opinion articles. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.