Being a white, male conservative today is equivalent to putting a giant “kick me” sign on your back, or at least that’s been Ryan Spaeder’s experience.
Spaeder has a long list of career achievements. Perhaps most notable are his contributions to Major League Baseball, specifically as a broadcaster and as a writer.
However, despite his dedication to the sport, he claims he’s “been blackballed by Major League Baseball” due to his gender, race, and political views.
“I am not welcome any more,” he tells Stu Burguiere.
Despite his ousting, Spaeder refuses to conform for the sake of acceptance.
“I’m not going to bend the knee; it’s not me,” he says.
But his courage has not been without cost.
“I have 62,000 followers, [but] it's probably cost me double that. It’s cost me jobs. I got fired by the Athletic before I even started there,” he says.
“Because of your political views?” Stu asks.
“That’s my perception,” says Spaeder, but “of course, they said, ‘it's because we overestimated our need for help,’ but then they went and hired somebody else.”
Major League Baseball “is a foundational part of American culture. They should be accepting of people on the right [and] people on the left. … Politics shouldn't invade baseball, but we've turned that completely upside down, I think to the sport's detriment and certainly to the country’s detriment,” says Stu.
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Daniel Darling — pastor, author, and former senior vice president of communications for National Religious Broadcasters — lost his job on Friday for opinions expressed in an early August editorial in which he announced that he had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and recommended that all Christians get a coronavirus vaccine.
In a USA Today op-ed, Darling said that the organization told him that his public comments "violated the organization's policy of neutrality on COVID-19 vaccines."
Following the op-ed, Darling appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," where he described how his Christian faith motivated him to receive the vaccine.
In remarks to "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough, Darling explained that his faith prompted him to receive the shot because "we ought to love our neighbor."
In getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Darling said, he was able to protect both himself and others.
He also urged people to stop politicizing vaccines.
Author And Pastor Explains Why As A Christian He Got Vaccinatedwww.youtube.com
In a lengthy editorial, Darling said that while he doesn't believe that he violated the organization's policy, he has no ill will toward his former employer.
"It was an honor to serve Christian communicators who work every day to share the Gospel around the world," he added, but pointed out that he is "deeply grieved" by division among Christians.
"In his prayer in John 17, Jesus prayed in very personal terms for the church," Darling wrote. "His desire was: 'May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me (John 17:21).' Jesus' desire was for His followers to be unified as he is unified with the Father. This, He said, would be evidence of something supernatural at work in us, a testimony to the world of the Gospel of Jesus."
Darling explained that he fully believes that that "unity" doesn't mean "papering over abuse and misconduct in our midst," which he says is a "convenient cover for malfeasance."
"Unity isn't ignoring injustice and evil in the world," he continued. "But for Christians, to be unified means that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue share something in common, our belief that Jesus died and rose again, victorious over sin, death, and the grave."
This, Darling added, is why people all over the world gather on Sundays to worship God and share one another's burdens.
"Today, we live in a very polarized nation," he wrote. "There are perverse incentives against unity among Christians, to fail to give the benefit of the doubt, to rush to judgment, to make a name for ourselves by hurting our fellow brothers and sisters."
Such perverse incentives, Darling added, are particularly noticeable amid a global pandemic, racial tension, and ongoing political division.
"The easy path for us is to yield to the temptation of the hour, to allow differences over secondary things to cause us to forget what is primary," he explained. "But the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8 that 'as much as possible' we should 'live in peace with all men,' and in Ephesians 4 to 'make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.'"
Darling added, "In other words, for Christians, this means unyielding conviction on the things that matter and open-handedness on things that don't."
To remedy the division, Darling suggested that people ought to "see those with whom we disagree not as enemies, but as neighbors."
"We should not see them as the sum total of their opinion, but as whole people, made in the image of God," he explained. "Second, while we must hold our deepest convictions strongly, we might hold our opinions on the secondary issues more loosely, being willing to hear the concerns of those who might have good reason to land in a different place."
"Third," Darling continued, "we should not assume malice on the part of those who disagree" and that such direction is "especially important for believers."
"1 Corinthians 13:7 says 'love believes all things,'" he wrote. "Love is not naive in a world of evil, but love also doesn't assume the worst. It gives the benefit of the doubt."
Finding unity in brothers and sisters of Christ — and across the world at large — Darling said, "involves forgiveness, the kind of supernatural, otherworldly ability to forgive those who have hurt you deeply."
He concluded, "Thankfully, this is modelled [sic] almost every day in communities around the country, where churches are full of people working through their differences in a time of great tension. We don't have to participate in cancel culture because of the one who canceled our sin and gave us salvation."
According to NBC News, Darling was fired two days after he refused to sign a letter admitting insubordination.
National Religious Broadcasters — whose website boasts that the organization "works to protect the free speech rights of our members" — did not respond to the network's request for comment as of Saturday.
The cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline was one of President Joe Biden's first actions in the White House. TC Energy Corporation, the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL pipeline project, said they would cut more than 11,000 jobs.
One of the Americans who lost their job due to President Biden's action is Neal Crabtree, a welding foreman who began working on pipeline construction as an apprentice in 1997. Crabtree, a member of Pipeliners Local Union 798, poured out his heart on how he reacted to finding out about the layoffs and how the cancellation of the pipeline will directly impact him.
"I build pipelines, I'm used to layoffs. We start projects knowing that once it's complete, we're getting laid off," Crabtree wrote in a Facebook post that has been shared 4,000 times. "We depend on these temporary projects though to make a career."
"What happened today was different," said Crabtree, who was working on a pump station for the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska. "I got laid off for political reasons and stupidity and the future doesn't look so bright."
"I've got a sickening feeling in my stomach tonight and an aching feeling in my heart that I've never felt," the 46-year-old welder from Arkansas revealed.
"At the end of every job, I always shake the hands of the people I hire and the people that are sent from our Unions out of work list before they're laid off," he explained. "We laugh and smile and are proud of a job well done."
"Today it wasn't like that, I laid guys off because the President doesn't want them to work," Crabtree divulged. "I went to my truck and literally cried."
Following the viral and heartwrenching Facebook post, the now unemployed Crabtree told his story during an appearance on Fox News.
"It's been a hot political fight, but we got started on it this year," he said of the pipeline. "As soon as the new administration came in on day one, they decided they wanted to put 11,000 people out of work."
"Well, I mean, the president was able to, you know, put us out of work by signing a piece of paper, but I'm the one that had to let these people in and tell them I didn't have a job anymore," Crabtree said during an interview on "The Faulkner Focus." "I'm the one who had to look these people in the eye and tell them they didn't have a job anymore, so if I got a little emotional, I think that's only human."
"We go all over the country and we depend on these projects to provide a living for our families," he said. "I don't know what I'm going to do right now. It's tough."
Last week, the Biden administration's Transportation Secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg told pipeline workers to find new jobs.
"We are very eager to see those workers continue to be employed in good-paying union jobs, even if they might be different ones," Buttigieg said.
Crabtree responded to politicians telling him to find a new job, "I don't consider this a job, I consider it a career."
"You spend a lifetime fine-tuning your skills and if you go start another job you're starting at the bottom," he articulated. "I doubt that these politicians would like it if someone told them to go start over and find a different job."
"Just like the rest of the country, COVID hurt us bad. We had a lot of projects canceled," Crabtree told Fox News. "We've got guys that haven't worked in months, and in some cases years, and to have a project of this magnitude canceled, it's going to hurt a lot of people, a lot of families, a lot of communities."
Crabtree believes that President Biden's decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline was based on politics, and not climate change.
"For the president to sit up there and tell the American public that he canceled this project because of climate reasons, it simply isn't true," Crabtree pointed out. "This oil is already coming into this country."
"This pipeline wasn't going to be the start of it," Crabtree noted. "It's coming by rail cars every single day. Hundreds, thousands of them."
"A pipeline can do this safer. Common sense tells you that," he continued. "Common sense said we don't need to put American workers out of a job right now."
"Common sense says this pipeline needs to be built," Crabtree said, then criticized the Biden administration, "Common sense seems to be lacking in the early days of this administration."
Crabtree seemingly made a veiled condemnation of President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who has overseas business dealings with CEFC China Energy and Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which he was a board member of.
"It bothers me when they're overseas setting up family members to profit off the same thing they want to stop here in America. That''s definitely aggravating," he stated.
Crabtree ended the interview by saying, "I'm in the process of trying to live the American dream right now, I'm building a house – the bank may own it before I ever get a chance to live in it. So I'm definitely worried."
"I'm not giving up," Crabtree said. "We're going to keep fighting. I'm not giving up."
Laid-off Keystone XL worker shares heartbreaking message for Biden www.youtube.com
A construction manager working on the Keystone XL pipeline made clear last week that President Joe Biden's executive order canceling the key contract for the oil pipeline had an immediate impact on American jobs.
A video posted by the Washington Examiner shows a general manager working on the pipeline explain that the project was responsible for "thousands of jobs," but as a result of Biden's executive order, "hundreds of guys" had already been laid off.
The manager — who was identified by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as Josh Senk, a general manager for Michels Corp., one of the subcontractors working on the pipeline — explained that many of those who have been laid off are from Wisconsin.
"There's hundreds of guys that got laid off," Senk explained last Friday.
A manager of the Keystone XL pipeline says hundreds of workers have already been laid off because of @JoeBiden's ha… https://t.co/b7GIRygm7V— Washington Examiner (@Washington Examiner)1611609719.0
Halting construction of the pipeline was one of Biden's first actions as president, taken no doubt to appease progressive environmentalists and climate hawks.
Biden's order declared, "The United States must be in a position to exercise vigorous climate leadership in order to achieve a significant increase in global climate action and put the world on a sustainable climate pathway. Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration's economic and climate imperatives."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has been a leading voice speaking out against Biden's order.
During the Senate confirmation hearing last week for Pete Buttigieg, who is Biden's nominee for transportation secretary, Cruz grilled the former South Bend mayor about the job toll of Biden's order.
"And with the stroke of a pen, President Biden has told those 11,000 workers, those union workers, 'Your jobs are gone,'" Cruz said.
The Washington Post later fact-checked Cruz's claim that Biden's order nixed 11,000 jobs, essentially concluding that, yes, Biden did, adding the snide caveat that most of the jobs are temporary. "Cruz cited a real estimate of approximately 11,000 jobs, but he left out that they were all temporary. In the same report, the State Department said the Keystone XL pipeline, if built, would require only 35 to 50 permanent positions," the Post said.
Cruz later responded by stating the obvious, "ALL construction jobs are temporary. Presidents still shouldn't destroy them."
Unions, including at least two that endorsed Biden, have since blasted him for revoking the key construction permit.
The the Laborers' International Union of North America, which endorsed Biden, reacted last week, "#Pipeline construction has been a lifeline for many #LIUNA members across the country. The anticipated decision to cancel the #KeystonePipeline will kill thousands of good-paying #UNION jobs!"
Andy Black, president and CEO of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, said, "Killing 10,000 jobs and taking $2.2 billion in payroll out of workers' pockets is not what Americans need or want right now."
The United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters, which endorsed Biden, also condemned the new administration.
Meanwhile, even Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke out against Biden's decision.
"While we welcome the President's commitment to fight climate change, we are disappointed but acknowledge the President's decision to fulfill his election campaign promise on Keystone XL," Trudeau said last week.
On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris said she was “very proud” of the Bidenomics policies driving America’s ongoing economic crisis. The moment came during the vice president’s first sit-down interview since becoming the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee more than a month ago. Speaking with CNN’s Dana Bash alongside her vice presidential pick Tim Walz, Harris […]
A new study provides more tangible evidence as to the true effects of rising health care costs.
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