Pastor Andrew Brunson delivered the opening prayer in the United States Senate - commemorating the one-year anniversary of his release from a prison in Turkey.
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) had led the effort to get him released.
In March 2018, Senator Tillis visited Pastor Brunson in a Turkish prison where he was awaiting trial.Tillis returned three weeks later for the first hearing of the trial. On April 20th, Senator Tillis led a bipartisan letter signed by 71 senators to President Erdogan calling forBrunson’s release and Tillis spoke on the Senate floor nearly every week the Senate was in session to call for his release and bring attention to his plight. Senator Tillis took legislative action to apply pressure on Turkey, working on a bipartisan basis to secure language in the FY19 NDAA that would effectively delay the transfer of F-35s to Turkey. The Turkish Government finally released Pastor Brunson on October 12, 2018.
Pete's Prep: Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019
- From the Institute for Family Studies: "The data shows that very low fertility rates are becoming increasingly normal across the globe. Current declines are probably not just cyclical, but likely reflect a “new normal” with most countries having birth rates between 1.4 and 1.9 children per woman."
- Bob Luebke at NC Civitas buries the shiv deep into Rob Schofield's rant against school choice.
- The leftwing NC Policy Watch tried a hatchet job on NC Treasurer Dale Folwell for having the pension system invest in Chemours - as the company was polluting water down east. But the pension fund is invested in the Russell Midcap - which is a managed portfolio of the smallest 800 companies of the Russell 1000 Index. The Russell 1000 is the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies.
- From the Federalist: The federal trial of David Daleidan continues in California.