(intense music)
- [Announcer] This is CBN News Watch.
- And thanks for joiningus for CBN News Watch.
I'm Heather Sells.
A recent YouTube video ofchildren having conversation
with a pro-choice activistwho had an abortion
is sparking controversy.
Mark Martin joins us now in the news room.
Mark, what is the concern here?
- Heather, the womanwho started the hashtag
#ShoutYourAbortion movement, Amelia Bonow,
is seen in the video talking with kids
about her abortion experienceand sharing her views
on the issue.
The organization, HiHo Kids,
published the video late last week.
It's entitled Kids MeetSomeone Who's Had An Abortion.
In it, Bonow compares having an abortion
to a bad dentist appointment,
and a bodily procedurethat's kind of uncomfortable.
She also tells one childthat she believes abortion
is all part of God's plan.
- When you have an abortion,what exactly do you do
to have the abortion?
- You go to the doctor, andthey put this little straw
inside of your cervix.
And then inside of your uterus.
And then they just suck the pregnancy out.
And it was like a crappy dentistappointment or something.
I think it's all part of God's plan.
- Now CBN News reachedout to Bonow for comment
on the video, and we alsoreached out to HiHo Kids
for comment, the organizationthat published it
and whose YouTube channel has more
than 2,000,000 subscribers.
They have not yetresponded to our inquiry.
Back to you, Heather.
- Mhm, all right, Mark,thank you very much.
Well in Kansas, pro-lifersare calling a recent ruling
on abortion drugs infuriating.
A judge ruled Monday thatthe state cannot stop
telemedicine abortionswhere doctors provide
pregnancy-ending pills to women they see
through remote video conferences.
This was the third attemptby Kansas lawmakers
to outlaw telemed abortions.
17 other states have banned the practice.
Mary Kay Culp, executivedirection of Kansans for Life
said in this statement, thisjudge has a long history
of taking laws designed bythe legislature to protect
unborn babies and womenand turning them into laws
that industry protectthe abortion industry.
Well Mary Kay Culp joins us now
to talk more about the ruling.
Mary Kay, lawmakers have triedthree times to pass a law
outlawing telemedicine abortion.
What is the problem in your view?
- The problem is a judge that has decided
that abortion is his agenda,and he goes along with anything
the Center for ReproductiveRights has to say.
Here's what happened.
We outlawed it in 2011 in a bigger bill
about clinical licensing.
It was enjoined by that judge.
But in 2015, that part of thebill, the telemedicine bill,
was passed again.
It was tweaked to addthe emergency language
so that it was the sameas in our other bills.
But because the entirelaw, the telemedicine part,
was passed again, it wasbelieved to be enforced.
In fact, our opponents on,I believe the website is
Rewire.com, they even said,oh, this law is in effect now
because XYZ.
Our Attorney General saidthe law is in effect now.
And in fact, the abortionindustry here in Kansas
didn't do any telemedicine abortions.
They thought it was in effect.
What happened this year in2018 is a new telemedicine bill
came along that simplyhad to do with the fact
of requiring that insurance companies,
whenever someone wasgetting some medical help
through telemedicine, thatthe insurance companies
had to treat it like theywere seeing their doctor
down the street.
- Okay, let me just cutto the chase if I can.
What do you think is theway forward at this point
for three times, you haven'tbeen successful here?
- Well, we have been success in argument.
We have been successful to the point
where the abortion peopledidn't do any of these abortions
until this past Octoberbecause in the 2018 version,
we said remember, you stillcan't do telemedicine abortions.
This is your separatebill here about parody.
That's fine, but remember thatabortions can never be done
by telemedicine.
Well they sued again, andthis time the original judge,
who's quite an abortionactivist on this issue,
a judicial activist, he said oh, no no no,
that should be back under the injunction
I had against this whole bill in 2011.
So we are looking at what inthe world we can do about this.
Someone said he's verycleverly worded his decision
on page 11 to make it sothat our Attorney General
can't even appeal this decision.
- So you're debating yournext legal ramifications
it sounded like, or whatyou're gonna do next.
Sounds like there's not aclear path forward right now.
- Wrong.
We've still got a pro-lifegovernor for 14 days.
We don't know if that'llmake a difference or not.
And so, that's where we're at.
- All right, well we are out of time,
but thank you so much foryou time, Mary Kay Culp.
- Thank you, bye-bye.
- Well there is hopefor a breakthrough today
to end the partial government shutdown,
now in its second week.
President Donald Trump ismeeting with Democratic
and Republican congressionalleaders at the White House,
but he is not backing downon his demand for funding
for a border wall to end the shutdown.
- [Trump] We are not giving up.
We have to have border security,
and the wall is a bigpart of border security.
The biggest part.
- White House presssectary Sarah Sanders says,
congressional leaders areinvited for a border security
briefing from seniorhomeland security officials,
but Fox News reports thatSanders calls Pelosi's plan
to end the shutdown a nonstarter.
Well meanwhile, at theborder, US authorities fired
tear gas into Mexicoduring the first hours
of the New Year to repel immigrants trying
to breach the fence.
The US Customs and BorderProtection Agency said
the gas was used to targetabout 150 people in Tijuana
who were throwing rocks at the fence.
The agency says it sawtoddler-sized children
being passed over, but couldnot assist the children
because of the rocks being thrown.
Agents said they respondedwith smoke, pepper spray,
and tear gas.
They said 25 immigrants were detained
while others crawled backinto Mexico through a hole
under the fence.
Customs and BorderProtection said the incident
will be reviewed underits use of force policy.
US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo is in Brazil
for the inauguration of thecountry's new president,
Jair Bolsonaro.
Pompeo met with Bolsonaro Wednesday
at the Presidential Palace in Brazil.
The new inaugurated presidentis fan of President Trump
and rose to power on ananti-corruption and pro-gun agenda.
At a news conference, Pompeosaid Bolsonaro's election
creates a unique momentfor the two countries.
- We believe that the opportunitybetween President Trump,
President Bolsonaro, andour two teams creates
a truly transformativeopportunity for our two nations,
for our two peoples.
And we in the United Statesare committed to working
alongside of you to dothat in lots of areas.
Certainly in economic areas.
Making sure that our twocountries' businesses
have great opportunities,
but also deeper collaborationon the security front as well.
- During his time in the country,
Pompeo also visited the US embassy
and met with Brazil'snew foreign minister.
Well the Russian government said Wednesday
that it has allowed anAmerican citizen held
on espionage chargers tohave access to US officials
seeking answers about his arrest.
Paul Wheelen, a former Marineand head of global security
for a Michigan-based auto parts supplier
was arrested Friday.
Wheelen was in Moscow to attend a wedding
when he disappeared.
In announcing the arrest three days later,
the Russian security servicesaid Wheelen was caught
during an espionage operation,but gave no details.
Now Russia has grantedUS consular officials
access to Wheelen for thefirst since his arrest.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said
if the detention is not appropriate,
we will demand his immediate return.
Evangelist Franklin Grahamsays he was recently
suspended from Facebook.
He says it lasted 24 hoursin response to a two-year-old
post of his on NorthCarolina's bathroom bill.
In a post about the suspension,
Graham says Facebook istrying to define the truth.
He wrote, there was a characterin a movie a few years back
who said, the truth is what I say it is.
That's what Facebook is trying to do.
They're making the rulesand changing the rules.
Truth is truth.
God made the rules and his word is truth.
Actually, Facebook iscensoring free speech.
The free exchange of ideasis part of our country's DNA.
Graham also wrote thatFacebook said his post
went against its communitystandards on hate speech.
He reposted his 2016comments and asked readers
if they saw any hatespeech in what he wrote.
You can see the full storywith the embedded post
at CBNNews.com.
Well Facebook has beenplagued with problems
and criticism from CapitolHill to Main Street America
over its moderation of accounts and posts.
CBN's Efrem Graham recentlyspoke with one journalist
who dove into the debate.
- Erin Dunne with the WashingtonExaminer joins us now.
She's written an opinion piece called,
Why Facebook Can't Be Fixed.
Erin, as we just reported,Evangelist Franklin Graham
was banned from Facebookfor about 24 hours,
and the social mediagiant even apologized.
But why do these sort of things happen?
- Facebook has expandedreally, really rapidly
into new markets, into new territory
as we use and view in different ways.
The result of that expansionis a network of information
that the company reallydoesn't know what to do with.
They've faced a lot of complaints.
They've even been on theHill trying to testify
before Congress toexplain what's going on.
And in trying to meetall of those demands,
they end up cutting content sometimes.
They say it doesn't meettheir community standards,
and has been perhapsflagged, but then later,
going back and lookingat it more thoroughly,
and actually having to end up apologizing.
And we've seen this happennot just in this case
but in other cases as well.
And that's really atestament to how Facebook
has tried to perhaps over-correctsome of its true errors
in allowing things to beonline that maybe shouldn't be
or maybe they don't wantto see on that platform.
- So why is it you thinkthat Facebook can't be fixed?
- So Facebook can't be fixedreally because it comes down
to a question of money.
There are two different possibilities
with facing the problem ofcontent on their platform
that they don't like orthey think is adverse
to their image.
First option is to saythat we're going to have
an unmoderated platform.
That anyone can post whateverthey would like to post
on Facebook and that's going to be fine.
That however was not thedecision that Facebook went with
in part because they werefacing some very valid criticism
for the spread of disinformation,spread of violence,
and other things that weretaking place on that platform.
The other option wouldhave been to say that
we're really going to invest heavily
in having high-quality moderation.
That ends up costing a lot, too,
and like leaving content upthat brings a lot of criticism,
affects their bottom line.
In the end, it's actually too expensive
to have high-quality moderation,
and it's too expensive for the company
facing so much criticismto leave this content up.
And that means that their business model
that they're currently relyingon is probably unviable
in the long term if theywant to keep public trust
and at the same be able to have content
that people don't feel is overly moderated
or is problematic on the internet.
- What is the concern whenit comes to freedom of ideas,
beliefs, and freedom of speechwhen moderation is needed
when it comes to violence,bullying, and threats?
- Facebook is a private company.
So in the United States, we have the idea
that free speech is paramountto our democracy, and it is.
You cannot have a functiongovernment as we do
unless people are ableto air out their ideas,
even those abhorrent ones.
But Facebook as a privatecompany does not necessarily
have to have that same value,and as I mentioned earlier,
is really more concernedabout the bottom line,
and how their decisions,when it comes to what is
on their website, isaffecting costs, users,
and the information that they'reable to gather from users
which is also how they generate money.
So at the end of the day,while we would like to say
that Facebook is like a public forum,
it's like town squarewhere all of these ideas
can be heard, debated, and engaged with,
that is not the model thatFacebook is operating with
and nor should it be.
It's a private company andit can do what it thinks
is best for its shareholders.
- It being a private company,
do you believe that Facebookhas a political agenda,
or are these simply situations reflecting
the politics of the Facebook moderators?
- I think that it'sactually neither of those.
It's slightly more complicated.
A lot of what we've seen with moderation,
both in the United Statesand abroad reflects
a very loose guidelines ofwhat should be accepted.
Recently the New YorkTimes did an investigation
where they actuallyobtained 1,400 documents
that had been used as theguidelines for moderators.
And what we see there isnot a political agenda,
isn't really any kindof agenda but really,
a last-minute attempt to deal with issues
that are arising on the platformand quickly put something
in place where they're telling moderators,
this is what you should be looking for.
In the United States andelsewhere, obviously,
that's aided by userswho can flag comments
that they think are inappropriate
or against community guidelines.
And perhaps that's whereFacebook needs to do
a better job of reviewingthose complaints,
but at the end of theday, I would say that
it's not necessarily themoderators or the company
that has a political agenda,although we know that people
in a company obviously dohave political beliefs,
so much as a companytrying to meet the demands
of a society and an economythat really is upset
with their business model,and really failing to address
those concerns in an adequate way.
- [Efrem] And as we said, youcan read Erin Dunne's piece,
Why Facebook Can't Be Fixedin the Washington Examiner.
Erin, thank you for your time.
- Thanks so much for having me.
- God almighty is a God of blessing.
He always wants to bless his people.
But how do you get that blessing?
And what principleswill unlock that secret?
- [Announcer] In Miraculous Blessings,
Pat Robertson shows youhow to open the floodgates
of God's awesome blessings in your life.
- In order to have a blessing,you've gotta be blessable.
- [Announcer] Discoverwhat the Bible has to say
about God's covenant ofblessing, the laws of blessing,
and what are the hindrancesto the blessings of God?
- The words of Jesus, theyare as valid as the law
of gravity, and if we followthose laws, we will be blessed.
- [Announcer] You'llsee amazing true stories
of everyday peoplewhose lives were rescued
and transformed by God'smiraculous blessings.
- But even the doctors acknowledged
that this had to be a miracle.
- [Announcer] Call1-800-700-7000, or visit CBN.com
to become a CBN partner andget Miraculous Blessings today.
- Hello, I'm Terry Meeuwsen.
Did you know there are morethan 148,000,000 orphans
in the world today?
148,000,000.
But it was three littlegirls that taught me
about the plight of orphans.
My husband and I spentnearly a month immersed
in the daily activitiesof a Ukrainian orphanage,
as we waited to adopt three sisters.
I saw firsthand the utterloneliness, the pain of rejection,
and the overwhelming desire to be loved.
That experience changed me forever.
And out of it grew aministry from my heart
called Orphan's Promise.
Today, we're helping orphansand vulnerable children
in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Thousands of childrenare now in safe homes.
They're being educated.
And they're learning life skills.
I'm asking you to join with me
and become family to these children.
Will you call the numberon your screen right now?
Because every child deservesa chance to be happy.
- The CDC has announced theofficial start of the flu season
based on elevated levels of flu activity
in states across the country.
Last year's flu season was especially bad.
Nearly 1,000,000 people were hospitalized,
and the flu claimed 80,000 lives.
The flu can lead todeadly sepsis, pneumonia,
and heart problems, and adultsare six times more likely
to have a heart attack within a week
after getting the flu.
So CBN's health reporter, Lorie Johnson,
join us now for more, andthat's scary stuff, Lorie.
- It really is scary.
Really one of the saddestthings are the pediatric deaths.
Last year, 172 children died of the flu,
and that was the worst we had ever seen,
the highest number of pediatricdeaths we had ever seen
in a flu season.
So far, Heather, 11children of died of the flu.
- [Heather] Oh wow.
- Yeah.
- So research wise, what dowe know about the best ways
to prevent getting it?
I know everyone has their own ideas.
- That's right.
The best way is to get the flu vaccine.
And last year, we talkedabout virulent the flu was,
and it was actually the lowestnumber of people on record
had ever gotten vaccinated.
Only 40%.
And they say that thatmay have contributed
to the 80,000 deaths.
So the flu vaccine, a lot ofpeople are very wary of it
because they think it gives them the flu.
That's probably because ittakes two weeks to take effect,
so during that two week period,
you're susceptible of getting the flu.
And remember that a flu vaccineonly has three strains in it
so a lot of times you can geta different strain of flu.
Right, that's what we saw last year.
But still, doctors say that if you do get
a different strain ofthe flu and you still had
the flu vaccine thatyou're likely to have.
- [Heather] Lesser.
- Lesser and not as long of a duration.
- Okay, and when someone is feeling sick,
how do they know this is the flu,
this is maybe a cold or something else?
- Right, very tricky, becausethe symptoms almost the same.
There's the respiratoryproblems, the coughing,
the body aches, the headaches.
But the main difference is the flu feels
like you've been hit by a bus.
So the symptoms are way more severe,
and they come on suddenly.
So if you do get the flu symptoms,
you do wanna go aheadand go into the doctor's
because there are these new anti-virals.
You've probably heard of Tamiflu,
and these are very effectiveat suppressing the flu,
and sometimes evenknocking it out altogether.
But you have to act quickly,
within 24, 48 hours ofthe onset of symptoms.
- And I know the key is anti-viral
because we're all tryingto avoid antibiotics.
- Oh, absolutely.
Antibiotics don't even work on the virus.
The flu is a virus and antibioticsdo not work on viruses.
They only work on bacterial infections.
The best way to avoid the flubesides getting a vaccination
is washing your hands and you know,
we hear about this all the time.
But believe it or not, there's a right way
and a wrong way to wash your hands.
You have to lather up.
It just kills me when I seepeople sticking their hands
under water and pulling it away,
it's like, you didn't.
- [Heather] There's aprocess to do it effectively.
- Yeah, you have to latherup for about 20 seconds
and make sure you do use soap.
And then of course, handsanitizer also works really well.
Make sure that it has 60% alcohol,
and remember that theflu can live in the air
for up to an hour and onhard surfaces up to 72 hours.
- All right, well we allneed to be in defensive mode.
- Please, don't go to workor school if you get the flu.
- Right, all right, Lorie,thank you for your time.
- Sure.
- All right, well you of coursecan find more health news
right here on the CBN News Channel
with new episodes of HealthyLiving airing Tuesday nights
at 9:30 and then again throughout the week
or on demand anytime at CBNnews.com.
We'll be right back.
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(gentle piano music)
- [Male Announcer] Life.
It's meant to be lived fully.
Jesus said, I came to give you life,
life to the fullest.
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Life in your body, mind, and spirit.
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At CBN.com, we're takingwhat Jesus said seriously.
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- [Man] We had four jobsthat didn't go right,
but we didn't waver in our faith.
- That's when God put on my heart
that we needed to do the well.
(moving music)
- [Man] Within a couple ofdays, we got an insurance
refund check that wehad no idea was coming.
- And here we are.
This year, it's just, boom. (laughs)
- You go out and help other people,
and you get rewarded for it.
- [Announcer] Get PatRobertson's latest teaching,
Miraculous Blessings.
- New studies estimate thatcharities and nonprofits
such as churches will see bigdrops in donations in 2019.
The National Council ofNonprofits in Washington, DC,
says the drop in charitablegiving could be as much
as $20,000,000,000 nationwide.
The reason, new taxlaws that are affecting
nonprofits across the country.
Experts say more people willtake the standard deduction
as opposed to itemizing.
And Dan Celia leads FinancialIssues Stewardship Ministries,
and joins us now with more.
Dan, why will these new taxlaws have such a strong effect
on giving and donations this year?
- Well I think they're gonnahave an effect on nonprofits,
Heather, as it points out in the study,
because there's a lot ofpeople that don't give
for the same convictionthat you and I might give
to our church.
And they're giving for tax reasons.
Well if they get those tax reasons,
those tax issues satisfiedby getting a much larger
standard deduction, thenit's not gonna be really
worth their while to gothrough and itemize their taxes
like they normally would,
including all thosecharitable contributions.
The end result's gonna bevery close to being the same.
- Same tax incentive there.
What is your advice to nonprofits then,
to those ministries that dependon donations to encourage
giving at the same levelsthey've been enjoying?
- Well I think the bestadvice I could give
to those ministries isto encourage and remind
their donors of the mission.
And help them understandthat you are giving
not for a tax deduction, I hope,
but you're giving eitheras part of your commitment
to the kingdom work thatthose ministries are doing.
I think the nonprofitsalong the lines of Red Cross
and some other, not thatthey're not doing a great work,
but they might struggle a little bit more.
So the best thing thatthe ministries can do
is continually remindpeople of what their gift
is being used, why they are giving,
and help raise awarenessthat we are giving
from a faith-based standpointbecause of the kingdom work
that particular ministry is doing.
Not for a tax benefit.
The tax benefit is nice, butthat's not why we give, I hope.
- Right, so we just have about 30 seconds,
but I wanna ask you.
A lot of people are strugglingwith debt this time of year
after spending all thatmoney on Christmas presents.
What advice do you have forpeople who are struggling
with their finances atthe beginning of the year?
- Right now, be sold outcommitted that this is the year
you're gonna start pecking away.
All through scripture wehear little by little.
Little by little wealth grows.
Little by little we peck away at our debt.
Just a little bit moreextra to the principle
of that debt and be committed to it,
maybe even sacrificing a few things,
is gonna go a long way togetting rid of that debt.
And then staying away fromit, that's another story.
- Right, all right, well Dan Celia
with Financial IssuesStewardship Ministries,
thank you so much for you time.
(moving music)
- [Announcer] When yougive, smiles grow bigger.
When you care, homes are heavier.
When you comfort,
the hurt goes away.
When we all come together to love,
miracles happen.
- Hello, I'm Terry Meeuwsen.
Did you know there are morethan 148,000,000 orphans
in the world today?
148,000,000.
But it was three littlegirls that taught me
about the plight of orphans.
My husband and I spentnearly a month immersed
in the daily activitiesof a Ukrainian orphanage,
as we waited to adopt three sisters.
I saw firsthand the utterloneliness, the pain of rejection,
and the overwhelming desire to be loved.
That experience changed me forever.
And out of it grew aministry from my heart
called Orphan's Promise.
Today, we're helping orphansand vulnerable children
in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Thousands of childrenare now in safe homes.
They're being educated.
And they're learning life skills.
I'm asking you to join with me
and become family to these children.
Will you call the numberon your screen right now?
Because every child deservesa chance to be happy.
- Hello?
Is this thing on?
Hey kids, do you love games?
(cheering)
And do you love discovering things?
- [Kid] Yeah.
- Well, do you?
(kids cheering)
- [Announcer] Then you're gonna love this.
It's the new freeSuperbook Kids Bible app.
You can play games, watch videos,
find answers to your questions,and a whole lot more.
The new Superbook Kids Bible app.
(kids cheering)
Free downloads available oniTunes and Google Play now.
- Pope Francis rang in thenew year in a unique way.
The Pope watched a circusperformance during his first
weekly audience of 2019 atthe Vatican on Wednesday.
The group of acrobats andjugglers from a Cuban circus
dressed in colorful clothesperformed a short show
on the stage.
After the show, Pope Francis gave a speech
calling the gospel revolutionary,
saying it does not leaveus quiet, but pushes us.
He went on to say love has no borders
before wishing everybodypresent a happy new year.
And that is all for today.
We hope that you'll join usnext time, have a great day.
