On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would award more than $35 million to organizations fighting human trafficking, according to the Associated Press.

Daughter of President Trump and presidential adviser, Ivanka Trump, as well as Attorney General William Barr, explained at a White House event yesterday that the Justice Department grants will provide safe housing for survivors.

Over 70 organizations in 33 states will receive funding that will allow victims 6 to 24 months of help for transitioning or short-term housing, as reported by CBN. The grants will also cover rent, utilities, and security deposits. Organizations may also use the money to help survivors find jobs or receive counseling.

Ivanka emphasized the importance of housing, particularly during the COVID pandemic. Many survivors were forced to live with their traffickers when stay-at-home orders were issued.

“COVID has really underscored the urgency,” said Ivanka. “Housing assistance is the number one need.”

Barr applauded the President for his initiative, stating that Trump has done “so much for victims that frankly, were inspired at the Justice Department.” The Attorney General also pledged to “investigate, prosecute and punish” traffickers.

Several survivors also joined Trump and Barr at the event to express their gratitude and share their stories.

“My aspirations, my personal vision for my…

An MSNBC television producer says she quit her job in late July to escape a network news cycle that is a “cancer” amplifying fringe voices and causing “national division.”  

Ariana Pekary was a producer at MSNBC and a key member of the team for The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. Formerly, she worked at NPR.

But her last day at MSNBC was July 24, she wrote on her blog. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do next exactly but I simply couldn’t stay there anymore,” she wrote. “My colleagues are very smart people with good intentions. The problem is the job itself. It forces skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis.” 

Industry leaders, she said, “will admit” behind closed doors “the damage that’s being done” to the country and to the news industry. 

“We are a cancer and there is no cure,” she said a “successful and insightful TV veteran” once told her.

The “cancer,” Pekary said, impacts all Americans, even if they don’t watch MSNBC.  

“This cancer stokes national division, even in the middle of a civil rights crisis,” Pekary wrote. “The model blocks diversity of thought and content because the networks have incentive to amplify fringe voices and events, at the expense of others … all because it pumps up the ratings.

“This cancer risks human lives, even in the middle of a pandemic. The primary focus quickly became…

Pastor John MacArthur is facing legal action after openly defying California’s restrictions on church gatherings. Now the embattled pastor is receiving special counsel from President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Jenna Ellis, and religious freedom expert Charles LiMandri.

“I stand firm with Grace Community Church, its Elder Board, and Pastor MacArthur in biblical truth and the protections American churches are provided by our Constitution,” Ellis told The Christian Post. “I look forward to advocating on their behalf and hopefully encouraging other pastors and churches to also have the courage of Pastor MacArthur to stand firm that church is essential.”

The legal support comes as Grace Community Church received a cease and desist letter from the City of Los Angeles, threatening the church with a daily fine of $1,000 or arrest, if they continue to meet for indoor worship services. 

Last month, California issued a measure that banned indoor operations, including at…

(RNS) — The White House’s deputy liaison to the U.S. Agency for International Development is leaving her post after just two months in the job, calling lawmakers who she said had criticized her views on sexuality and gender identity “radical anti-Christian leftists.”

On Monday (Aug. 3), shortly before Politico reported that Merritt Corrigan was exiting USAID, Corrigan chided her critics on Twitter, saying she planned to hold a press conference on Thursday to “discuss the rampant anti-Christian sentiment at USAID.”

In a tweet, she also outlined her views regarding gender identity and sexuality: “Let me (be) clear: Gay marriage isn’t marriage. Men aren’t women.”

She also singled out several prominent Democrats, including Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

“Senators (Kaine) and (Booker) have demanded my ouster from USAID, purely because of my Christian beliefs,” she tweeted. “I WILL NOT be bullied into submission by radical anti-Christian leftists like Cory Booker(.)”

Booker and Kaine — who are Baptist and Catholic, respectively — have been very public about both their faith and their support for LGBTQ rights.

Kaine told Religion News Service that he had a conversation with USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa on June 24, during which the official assured the senator “that bigotry would not be tolerated” at…

President Trump signed a landmark bill into law Tuesday that permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provides billions of dollars to restore national park infrastructure.

The Great American Outdoors Act, supported by a bipartisan coalition in the House and Senate, allocates $9.5 billion over five years to restore facilities and infrastructure in national parks and public lands. It also provides $900 million a year in permanent funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

“The legislation I’m signing today builds on my administration’s unwavering commitment to conserving … the grandeur and the splendor of God’s creation,” Trump said. “This is truly God’s creation.”

It was sponsored in the House by the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and in the Senate by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).

The new law, Trump said, will create more than 100,000 additional infrastructure-related jobs.

“For more than 50 years, Congress has struggled to adequately fund land and water conservation, leading to a never-ending backlog of maintenance and other critical needs in our parks and public lands,” Trump said. “… Today, more than 5,500 miles of road, 17,000 miles of trails, and 24,000 buildings are in critical need of repair; they have been for a long time.”

Trump called it “the most significant investment in our parks since the administration of…

On Tuesday afternoon, a deadly explosion in Beirut, Lebanon took the lives of at least 100 people, left around 4,000 injured and hundreds of others missing.

Lebanon has since declared a two-week “state of emergency” in an effort to recover from the explosion.

According to the Associated Press, fireworks and 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used in fertilizer and explosives, are what caused a massive explosion in Lebanon’s capital after a fire broke out around 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday. The exact cause of the fire is still being investigated.

The AP reports that the explosion, which caused a massive mushroom cloud to materialize in the sky and sent a shock as powerful as a magnitude 3.5 earthquake through the city, flattened many, if not most of the businesses and homes in Beirut. The explosion, which shattered glass in nearby cars and buildings and created a crater some 200 meters in size, was reported to have been felt as far away as Cyprus which is 180 miles from Beirut. This is the worst explosion the city has ever seen, the AP reports.

According to Lebanon’s Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi, the ammonium nitrate, which is believed to have been stored improperly, had been kept in the exploded warehouse since it was confiscated in 2014.

As of Wednesday morning, amid speculation that negligence played a part in the devastating blast, the Lebanese government…

Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church have partnered with World Vision U.S. to boxes of food to those who are in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Chron, World Vision’s Fresh Food Box Program provides enough food to feed a family of five for a week. The boxes often contain meat, dairy, and produce, which is provided by farmers who would not have been able to sell the goods because of the COVID-driven economic downturn.

Dr. Paul Osteen, who serves as an associate pastor at Lakewood, said, “We are truly grateful to partner with World Vision U.S. to get fresh food to the most vulnerable in Houston and the surrounding areas. We’ve seen first-hand the smiles and gratitude on the faces of hundreds of parents, children, elderly and medically fragile when they are handed a box of food. Through this valuable partnership, Lakewood will continue to offer help and hope to those in need in our community.”

World Vision has been actively serving communities during the pandemic. The Fresh Food Box Program has fed 860,000 people through 70 “hubs” like Lakewood Church. One of the biggest problems for the program has been finding distributors who have enough refrigerating and cooling capacity for the boxes.

Reed Slattery, the national director of World Vision U.S. Programs, told The Christian Post that the ministry had grown in their desire to serve the city of Houston in recent…