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Trump backs Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments in schools in address to influential evangelicals
Former President Donald Trump told a group of evangelicals they “cannot afford to sit on the sidelines” of the 2024 election, imploring them at one point to “go and vote, Christians, please!”
Trump also endorsed displaying the Ten Commandments in schools and elsewhere while speaking to a group of politically influential evangelical Christians in Washington on Saturday. He drew cheers as he invoked a new law signed in Louisiana this week that makes it the first state to require the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom.
“Has anyone read the ‘Thou shalt not steal’? I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It’s just incredible,” Trump said at the gathering of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “They don’t want it to go up. It’s a crazy world.”
Trump, a day earlier, posted an endorsement of the new law on his social media network, saying: “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???”
The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee backed the move as he seeks to galvanize his supporters on the religious right, which has fiercely backed him after initially being suspicious of the twice-divorced New York City tabloid celebrity when he first ran for president in 2016.
That has continued with his conviction in the first of four criminal cases he faces, in which a jury last month found him guilty of falsifying business records for what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.
A federal ban on abortion
Trump’s stated opposition to signing a nationwide ban on abortion, and his reluctance to detail some of his views on the issue, are at odds with many members of the evangelical movement, a key part of Trump’s base that’s expected to help him turn out voters in his November rematch with Democratic President Biden.
But while many members of the movement would like to see him do more to restrict abortion, they cheer him as the greatest champion for the cause because of his role in appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned national abortion rights in 2022.
Trump highlighted that Saturday, saying, “We did something that was amazing,” but the issue would be left to people to decide in the states.
“Every voter has to go with your heart and do what’s right, but we also have to get elected,” he said.
While he still takes credit for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Trump has also warned abortion can be tricky politically for Republicans. For months, he deferred questions about his position on a national ban.
Last year, when Trump addressed the Faith & Freedom Coalition, he said there was “a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life,” but didn’t offer any details beyond that.
In April of this year, Trump said he believed the issue should now be left to the states. He later stated in an interview that he would not sign a nationwide ban on abortion if it was passed by Congress. He has still declined to detail his position on women’s access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
About two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal, according to polling last year by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
While he still takes credit for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Trump has also warned abortion can be tricky politically for Republicans. For months he deferred questions about his position on a national ban.
Last year, when Trump addressed Reed’s group, he said there was “a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life” but didn’t offer any details beyond that.
In April of this year, Trump said he believed the issue should now be left to the states. He later stated in an interview that he would not sign a nationwide ban on abortion if it was passed by Congress. He has still declined to detail his position on women’s access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
In 2016, white evangelical Christians were initially reluctant to support Trump and suspicious of his image as a twice-divorced New York City tabloid celebrity who had at one point described himself as “very pro-choice.”
But his promises to appoint justices to the court that would overturn Roe, along with his decision in 2016 to name Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian, as his running mate, helped him gain the movement’s backing.
Evangelical support
According to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of the electorate, about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters supported Trump in 2020, and nearly 4 in 10 Trump voters identified as white evangelical Christians. White evangelical Christians made up about 20% of the overall electorate that year.
Beyond just offering their own support in the general election, the Faith & Freedom Coalition plans to help get out the vote for Trump and other Republicans, aiming to use volunteers and paid workers to knock on millions of doors in battleground states.
Trump on Saturday said evangelicals and Christians “don’t vote as much as they should,” and joked that while he wanted them to vote in November, he didn’t care if they voted again after that.
He portrayed Christianity as under threat by what he suggested was an erosion of freedom, law and the nation’s borders.
He returned several times during his roughly 90-minute remarks to the subject of the U.S.-Mexico border and at one point, when describing migrants crossing it as “tough,” he joked that he told his friend Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to enlist them in a new version of the sport.
“‘Why don’t you set up a migrant league and have your regular league of fighters. And then you have the champion of your league, these are the greatest fighters in the world, fighting the champion of the migrants,'” Trump described saying to White. “I think the migrant guy might win, that’s how tough they are. He didn’t like that idea too much.”
His story drew laughs and claps from the crowd.
Several Republicans seen as potential running mates for Trump were also speaking at the conference, including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, former presidential candidate and Trump Housing Secretary Ben Carson, and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake. Stefanik and Carson are among the Republicans who received vetting paperwork from the Trump campaign in recent weeks.
Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, said members of his coalition are watching them closely and looking for Trump to pick someone who shares his views.
“We’re looking for somebody who will be a champion, a pro-family and pro-life and pro-Israel champion. And we’re looking for someone who has the ability to bring some new folks into the fold and act as an ambassador for our values,” he said.
Reed wouldn’t name any of the field as strongest or weakest, calling it “an embarrassment of riches.”
Later Saturday, Trump plans to hold an evening rally in Philadelphia.
Amazon
Amazon’s biggest sales event of the year, Prime Day, is right around the corner. But you don’t have to wait for the highly anticipated sale to score deals. Amazon is offering plenty of early Prime Day deals that are available to shoppers right now, and the discounts are pretty solid.
One of our favorite early Prime Day deals is this $299 markdown on Eureka’s E10s robot vacuum and mop combo, a savings of up to 42%. This deal is a steal, as robot vacuums alone (not robot vacuum-mop combos) are quite expensive, with some models retailing for more than $1,000. To ensure you get the greatest savings on the Eureka E10, remember to add the $199 coupon before checkout at Amazon.
Thinking about becoming an Amazon Prime member? We’ve got all your Prime Day 2024 questions answered, with info on key dates and what you need to know to get the best prices on home, fitness gear, tech and more on Amazon.
Eureka E10s robot vacuum and mop: $400 (save $299)
Eureka
The Eureka E10s is a two-in-one cleaning device that will vacuum and mop your floors for you. The robot offers suction power strong enough to be able to lift dust, dirt and hair off the ground, making this a great option for people with pets. This Eureka model can vacuum and mop at the same time, with technology that can identify carpets and rugs. So when your robot vacuum senses that it’s approaching your rug, the mopping pad lifts up to prevent the rug from getting wet.
This robot vacuum can avoid obstacles and map out your home. For a more personalized cleaning, download the corresponding app, which allows you to set up cleaning schedules and no-go zones in your home. And if you have Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, you can control the vacuum with your voice.
The self-emptying Eureka E10s can hold up to 45 days worth of debris in its docking station. You can expect this to run for up to three hours before it needs to be charged back up again.
The Eureka E10s robot vacuum has a 4.1-star rating on Amazon. One reviewer wrote, “I have a black lab and got tired of how much hair was showing up on them despite constant sweeping. I’ve had 3 different robot vacs and this is BY FAR the best. My floors have never been cleaner. Highly recommend.”
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If you’ve been searching for an inexpensive way to borrow money lately, you may have found yourself spending a lot of time looking around. That’s because inflation, even though it’s dropped significantly, and the higher interest rates meant to tame it, have caused rates on a multitude of credit options to soar. But if you’re one of the tens of millions of homeowners in the United States right now, you still have one cost-effective alternative to pursue – your home equity.
With a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC), owners can tap into the equity they’ve accumulated in their homes to then use for any expense they see fit (or to even pay off or consolidate other, higher-interest debt). Like all financial products and services, however, home equity borrowing needs to take place at the right time for it to be truly beneficial for owners. And, this July, could be one of those times. Below, we’ll detail three reasons why you may want to tap into your home equity now.
Start by seeing what home equity loan rate you could secure here today.
3 reasons to access your home equity this July
If you want to truly optimize your home equity borrowing situation, it makes sense to act promptly. Here are three timely reasons to access your equity this July:
You may have a lot to utilize
The average homeowner has around $305,000 worth of equity right now. And while they may not be able to borrow all of that (home equity borrowing is typically capped at 80% to 85% of your overall equity), it still adds up to a sizable amount of money that can be easily accessed with a loan or HELOC.
However, the amount of equity you have is subject to change and could fall or rise in the future, partially based on economic factors out of your control. So it’s beneficial to act now, with home equity levels near record levels. If you wait, and the economics change, you’ll have less to work with than if you had acted this July.
Find out how much home equity you have to access here.
Rates are lower and could drop further
Home equity loan and HELOC rates are both under 10% right now — with the prospect for both to drop even further. A formal cut to the federal funds rate would ensure that rates on both products fall. But another cooling in the inflation rate (the next report comes out July 11) could cause lenders to offer lower rates now in anticipation of an official cut to come later in the year. So this could be an opportune time to act, particularly if you proceed with a HELOC this July, which comes with a variable interest rate that could drop even further (you’ll need to refinance a home equity loan to get a better rate).
The alternatives are (still) too expensive
As mentioned above, the search for cost-effective credit options is an arduous one right now. Credit cards come with rates over 21% right now and personal loans are around 12%. And that’s for qualified borrowers with clean credit histories and high credit scores. If you don’t have both, you may get offered even higher rates than those two averages. With these as the popular alternatives, then, a home equity loan or HELOC may be your cheapest option this July.
The bottom line
While home equity loan and HELOC rates have been lower in recent years, they’ve also been higher. And with the potential for rates to drop even further soon, this July could be a smart time to access your home equity. Not only are homeowners sitting on an average of $300,000 plus worth of equity now, the rates are still lower than popular alternatives and they could fall even further, perhaps before the end of 2024. Just be sure to go into the home equity borrowing process focused and with the ability to pay back what you owe as your home will serve as collateral in these circumstances and you could risk losing it if you can’t repay your debt.
Amazon
Amazon’s biggest sales event of the year, Prime Day, is right around the corner. But you don’t have to wait for the highly anticipated sale to score deals. Amazon is offering plenty of early Prime Day deals that are available to shoppers right now, and the discounts are pretty solid.
One of our favorite early Prime Day deals is this $299 markdown on Eureka’s E10s robot vacuum and mop combo, a savings of up to 42%. This deal is a steal, as robot vacuums alone (not robot vacuum-mop combos) are quite expensive, with some models retailing for more than $1,000. To ensure you get the greatest savings on the Eureka E10, remember to add the $199 coupon before checkout at Amazon.
Thinking about becoming an Amazon Prime member? We’ve got all your Prime Day 2024 questions answered, with info on key dates and what you need to know to get the best prices on home, fitness gear, tech and more on Amazon.
Eureka E10s robot vacuum and mop: $400 (save $299)
Eureka
The Eureka E10s is a two-in-one cleaning device that will vacuum and mop your floors for you. The robot offers suction power strong enough to be able to lift dust, dirt and hair off the ground, making this a great option for people with pets. This Eureka model can vacuum and mop at the same time, with technology that can identify carpets and rugs. So when your robot vacuum senses that it’s approaching your rug, the mopping pad lifts up to prevent the rug from getting wet.
This robot vacuum can avoid obstacles and map out your home. For a more personalized cleaning, download the corresponding app, which allows you to set up cleaning schedules and no-go zones in your home. And if you have Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, you can control the vacuum with your voice.
The self-emptying Eureka E10s can hold up to 45 days worth of debris in its docking station. You can expect this to run for up to three hours before it needs to be charged back up again.
The Eureka E10s robot vacuum has a 4.1-star rating on Amazon. One reviewer wrote, “I have a black lab and got tired of how much hair was showing up on them despite constant sweeping. I’ve had 3 different robot vacs and this is BY FAR the best. My floors have never been cleaner. Highly recommend.”
