The Rundown: Cleveland City Officials Are Openly Disregarding the Law
Good morning, and welcome to this edition of The Rundown. This biweekly email serves as the most important political and cultural news for Christians in Ohio. This week we're talking about Cleveland City officials, woman of the year, and ESG criteria for companies. Don't forget to forward this newsletter to those who would be interested—and thanks for reading The Rundown!
Who Really Enforces the Law?
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley (cleveland.com)
What's Happening
I Do What I Want: The City of Cleveland dropped a press release on Monday stating that city prosecutors will not bring charges in abortion cases despite the fact that the Heartbeat Bill is law in Ohio. This comes after City Attorney Zach Klein of Columbus, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley stated that they won't prosecute abortion cases in their jurisdictions.
What is a Woman?: The University of Pennsylvania announced that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has been nominated for the NCAA's "Woman of the Year" award. The biological male won the NCAA women's 500-yard freestyle championship, and regularly won races by multiple lengths over female competition.
In South Carolina as it is in Ohio: South Carolina just recently passed legislation protecting doctors who have religious convictions from performing procedures that would go against their beliefs. The legislation, inspired by Ohio's law passed in 2021, protects doctors from being required to perform procedures against their moral beliefs, including abortions and transgender surgeries.
What is an ESG?: Ohio's own Vivek Ramaswamy co-wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed on how the Biden Administration is trying to tell retirement fund managers to prioritize climate change and other factors over actual return on investment. Environmental, Social, and Governance Criteria (ESG) are factors used in evaluating companies, but have become too focused on social and climate factors than the actual return on investment.
A Win for Women: A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Education Department's guidance on Title IX (which relates to discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation) over a Tennessee law keeping men from playing in women's sports. The ruling only applies to 20 states, but forces the federal government's hand in regulating state issues.
The Cost of Bad Policy: A transgender prisoner who impregnated two female inmates has been removed from an all women's prison in New Jersey. Demetrius Minor, who is serving 30 years for killing his foster father, is now suing the state to be placed back into the all women's prison.
Listen Up
What do you do when you run a Christian company, and cancel culture turns its focus on you? How do you as a consumer navigate corporations advocating for social causes that go against your beliefs?
Listen to this past week's edition of The Narrative, featuring special guest Jeremy Tedesco, Senior Vice President of Corporate Engagement for Alliance Defending Freedom.
Don't Miss
The Ohio March for Life on October 5, 2022, in Downtown Columbus.
Prayer at the Statehouse on November 10, 2022, in the Ohio Statehouse's Atrium.
Prayer
Scripture calls us to pray for those in authority, and to have confidence that God hears our prayers. Join the CCV team this week in praying for:
State Senator Bob Hackett, State Senator Frank Hoagland, and State Senator Jay Hottinger.
Doctors in states forced to provide care that goes against their religious beliefs.
Businesses and business owners who are facing cancel culture, and the direct impacts of woke capitalism.
Around the Capitol
"They write a 6,000 word document and call it a brief"
- John Hart, Center for Christian Virtue General Counsel, while testifying at the Statehouse.
That’s all we have for this week. Be sure to keep an eye out for our next edition, and don't forget to share CCV's Rundown with others.