I know I picked five great stories for Friday Five, but I wanted to add an extra one that ends the week on an especially good note.

Dear Jack,

I know I picked five great stories for the Friday Five newsletter we sent out earlier today, but I wanted to add an extra one that ends the week on an especially good note.

It’s a huge pro-values victory.
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On Thursday, a federal judge in Kentucky ruled in favor of protecting girls and women from discrimination and being forced into unsafe situations. Per the New York Times ([link removed]) , the judge struck down the Biden administrations Title IX rewrites, “ruling that the Education Department had overstepped and violated teachers’ rights by requiring them to use students’ preferred pronouns.

The ruling, which extends nationwide, came as a major blow to the Biden administration in its effort to provide new safeguards for L.G.B.T.Q. and pregnant students, among others, through Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. It arrived just days before those protections were likely to face more scrutiny under a Trump administration that is expected to be hostile to the new rules and could refuse to defend them in court.

In a 15-page opinion ([link removed]) , Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky wrote that the Education Department could not lawfully expand the definition of Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, as it had proposed last year ([link removed]) .

‘The entire point of Title IX is to prevent discrimination based on sex,’ he wrote. ‘Throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless.’”

To read more, check out this article from the New York Times ([link removed]) and Fox News ([link removed]) .
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Dear Jack,

Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your friends and church families.

We would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25, or $10 today ([link removed]) towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square!
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** 1. THE HILL: Congress Formally Certifies Trump’s Election Win
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"Congress on Monday certified President-elect Trump’s electoral victory, officially cementing his win over Vice President Harris ahead of his inauguration with no objections from any lawmakers as a tally of states was read on the House floor.

Trump captured the presidency with 312 electoral votes to Harris’s 226 — a total that was confirmed during the certification Monday, marking the final step in the election process before Trump formally takes back the White House on Jan. 20."

Read more: [link removed]

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** 2. CAROLINA JOURNAL: New NC General Assembly Sworn in as 2025 Long Session Begins
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"The North Carolina General Assembly’s 2025-26 biennium began on Wednesday with the swearing-in of all 170 state legislators who will represent their constituents in the state legislature in Raleigh for the next two years."

"Both chambers are adjourned and will reconvene on Jan. 29, 2025."

Read more: [link removed]

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** 3. FOX NEWS: Meta Ends Fact-Checking Program as Zuckerberg Vows to Restore Free Expression on Facebook, Instagram
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"Meta is ending its fact-checking program and lifting restrictions on speech to 'restore free expression' across Facebook, Instagram and Meta platforms, admitting its current content moderation practices have 'gone too far.' 'We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,' Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning. 'More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.'"

Read more: [link removed]

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** 4. WRAL: NC Supreme Court Could Now Decide Who Should Win the Election for a Seat on the Court
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"The North Carolina Supreme Court might soon get to decide who should win the election for one of its own seats, potentially giving the court's Republican majority a chance to expand the party's control over the judiciary. The lawsuit had been in federal court, where judges at multiple levels have already rejected the legal theory behind the lawsuit seeking to change the results of 2024's state Supreme Court election. But on Monday a federal judge sent it back down to the state Supreme Court."

Read more: [link removed]

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** 5. NPR: McDonald's Says it is Revising Some of its Practices
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"McDonald’s says it is changing some of its inclusion standards, becoming the latest large company to announce it is rolling back some of its diversity practices. In its statement, the company said it will no longer set 'aspirational representation goals' and instead on continuing to embed inclusion practices' that grow its business. Additionally, it is temporarily suspending external surveys to shift its focus internally, the company said."

"In making the announcement on Monday, the U.S. multinational restaurant chain became the latest to shift its practices on diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Last November, Walmart said it would roll back some of its DEI policies."

Read more: [link removed]

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** Weekly Prayer: Family
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LORD, we cry out to you as Father. You are a model of the love, mercy, and authority of the perfect parent. We thank you for modeling for us what every parent should strive for, and for creating this wonderful institution called family.

LORD, we thank you for creating us with a basic nature designed to not be alone. You made us to desire the intimacy of relationships, and it is here where we experience joys indescribable: the joys of marriage, the joys of having children; the joys of seeing our children have children. What a blessing and mercy you gave us in the family! In it we find our first teachers, our first guardians, and our first authorities.

LORD, we recognize how deeply you love your children, and how deeply it pains you when they go astray. Alongside our adoration and thanksgiving, we pray in confession—as individuals and as members of larger communities—over any sins we may have committed that undermine your beloved institution. Forgive us when we endanger your institution through selfishness and arrogance. Forgive our communities and nation for attempting to redefine some of the most basic and deepest parts of being human—being made male and female, having lifelong marriage vows and responsibilities, and having parental rights over educating one’s children.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-17)

Amen

Sincerely,

Tami & Team

NC Values

Disclaimer: Paid for by the NC Values Coalition. Not paid for by any candidate or any candidate’s committee. Financial information about NC Values Coalition and a copy of its #SL006654 license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at (919) 807-2214 (tel:(919) 807-2214) . The license is not an endorsement by the State. Donations to NC Values Coalition and NC Values Coalition PAC are not tax-deductible.

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