By Rick Moran
The former owners of an Oregon bakery who refused to bake
a cake for a gay couple's wedding are being forced to pay damages in the amount
of $135,000 and have been ordered to cease and desist "from publishing,
circulating, issuing or displaying, or causing to be published … any
communication to the effect that any of the accommodations … will be refused,
withheld from or denied to, or that any discrimination be made against, any
person on account of their sexual orientation." Aaron and Melissa Klein,
whose bakery "Sweet Cakes by Melissa" was forced to close because of
the decision, say, “According to the state of Oregon we neither have freedom of
religion or freedom of speech.”
The cease and desist came about after
Aaron and Melissa Klein participated in an interview with Family Research
Council’s Tony Perkins. During the interview, Aaron said among other things,
“This fight is not over. We will continue to stand strong.”
Lawyers for plaintiffs, Rachel and
Laurel Bowman-Cryer, argued that in making this statement, the Kleins violated
an Oregon law banning
people from acting on behalf of a place of public accommodation (in this case,
the place would be the Kleins’ former bakery) to communicate anything to the
effect that the place of public accommodation would discriminate.
Administrative Law Judge Alan
McCullough, who is employed by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and
was appointed by Avakian, threw out the argument in the “proposed order” he
issued back in April.
But today, Avakian, who was in charge of
making the final ruling in the case—and is also an elected politician—reversed
that decision.
It's mind-boggling that judges like this guy exist in America. But it
gets worse, according to the Kleins' lawyer:
“Brad Avakian has been outspoken throughout
this case about his intent to ‘rehabilitate’ those whose beliefs do not conform
to the state’s ideas,” she told The Daily Signal. “Now he has ruled that the
Kleins’ simple statement of personal resolve to be true to their faith is
unlawful. This is a brazen attack on every American’s right to freely speak and
imposes government orthodoxy on those who do not agree with government
sanctioned ideas.”
Perhaps the judge would like to set up re-education camps
so these misguided Christians can be "rehabilitated."
The Kleins aren't done yet:
In their Facebook post, the Kleins
signaled their intention to appeal Avakian’s ruling, writing, “We will not give
up this fight and we will not be silenced,” already perhaps putting themselves
at risk of violating the cease and desist.
Remember: You will be forced to care.
By Sonia Bailley
No need to worry, the recent Ramadan triple slaughter
fest in Tunisia, France and Kuwait has nothing to do with Islam. There is no
linkage between Islam and terrorism, and the word Islamic need not be used to
describe the terrorists because their murderous and barbaric ideology has
nothing to do with Islam. Islam is, after all, a religion of peace that is
being hijacked, perverted and distorted by only a small percentage of savage extremists.
Welcome to the false narrative that Western leaders,
mainstream media outlets, and academic elites are enforcing on civil society to
help shape the public’s perception of Islam so that it is always presented in a
positive light. Any form of expression that reflects badly on Islam is in
violation of Islamic law, which forbids any criticism of Islam, even what that
criticism expresses the truth. Stories that are reported according to this
narrative need not have anything to do with factual accuracy or truth. Both the
2009 Fort Hood massacre in Texas and the beheading in Vaughan Foods in Oklahoma
last September were reported as workplace violence and not Islamic
terrorism......
By Mark J. Fitzgibbons
As Americans gather this Independence Day weekend, many
will read the Declaration of Independence. When we get to the line, “He has
erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to
harass our people, and eat out their substance,” we may wish to tip our hats to
James Otis. John Adams wrote about James Otis’ fiery argument in court against
the Writs of Assistance in 1761: “[T]he child independence was then and there
born.” A 1783 eulogy poem written by Thomas Dawes described Otis as “first in
patriot fame.” The Writs of Assistance, a method of search and seizure known as
“general warrants,” were authorized by Parliament. Otis nevertheless called
these institutionalized violations of liberty “illegal.”That certainly
contrasts with the more milquetoast terms such as “lawless” and“overreach” used
today to describe government’s unlawful and unconstitutional acts.
General warrants were used in England to suppress
religious and political dissent, and were also being used to regulate and
stifle commerce in favor of cronies of the Crown. Boston merchants hired Otis,
previously the government’s lawyer, to argue their case. Otis called the Writs
of Assistance“the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of
English liberty and the fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in
an English law-book.”….
By Bruce Walker
The Fourth of July is the perfect time for conservatives
to recall that we hold to our positions – or at least that we should hold to
them – not because conservative principles will help the economy or make us
safer or cause government to operate more effectively. Markets do produce
prosperity in ways that statism does not – but Adam Smith, who pioneered this
notion, did not publish his Wealth of Nations until after our Declaration of
Independence. It is a happy byproduct of our love of liberty that liberty helps
create wealth, but the men who signed the Declaration of Independence often
condemned themselves and their families to poverty because of their
value-driven conservatism.
The way to get rich quick today is to slavishly champion
the most awful leftist lies and then rake in money from government awards,
contracts, tax-exemption, and the like, or to become a lazy professor writing
expensive textbooks that trapped students have to buy…and so on. Those men who
signed the Declaration of Independence, and even more the men and muskets of
unpaid, ordinary Americans who fought the world’s first superpower, the British
Empire, certainly were not fighting to be safer. Those not killed or crammed
into ghoulish prison boats or maimed knew that a noose awaited them if their
cause lost, as most people thought it would…….Our Declaration of Independence
could not be said to make government work better, either. Our Continental
Congress was a loose, illegal group that printed worthless paper money that was
“not worth a Continental” and that was as often as not on the run from British
armies. During our War of Independence, it might fairly be said that there was
no real government in the rebellious colonies, and the Constitution was 13
years away…..
By Peggy Ryan
News that the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage
ignited joyous celebration among gays and the media. Images assaulted us on all
sides, victory parades showcasing same-sex couples entwined in ecstasy, media
gushing praise, and #LoveWins rocking the Twitter universe. They won, the
Supreme Court of the United States ruled that same-sex couples can marry
anywhere, anytime. By nullifying state laws, dismissing individuals’ religious
beliefs, and totally ignoring the Constitution, they trumped it all and won.
Except it wasn’t a gay victory, not really. Oh the gay community and their supporters
will argue it was a huge win, an in-your-face slam-dunk. But beneath all the
hoopla, behind the well-designed scenes, the gays lost. We all lost because the
real victor, the hands-down big winner is government. You see, the dirty little
secret is that gays, like blacks and Hispanics, are being used to declaw the
silent majority. Politicians have tried over and over again to stop those
constitutional nuts who keep waving the American flag and quoting the
Constitution. It hasn’t been easy, these conservatives have been the majority
since colonial days. They still are the majority, the silent majority; too
silent.…..
By Claire Hawks
The level of overreaction in this country seems to have
reached a fever pitch since the killing of nine black people in Charleston, SC
by a highly disturbed young man. First the calls for banning the Confederate
flag began, followed by calls for the removal of statuary of anyone having
anything to do with the Confederacy. Louis Farrakhan has called for banning the
American flag, and Malik Shabazz, the head of the New Black Panthers, has
called for the killing of "slave masters." The logical progression
would seem to be that there will again be legislation introduced in Congress
for reparations to be paid to black people for the enslavement of their
ancestors. Let's look at reparations logically, not emotionally.
The discussion in America has always centered on the
descendants of American slaves feeling that they are owed reparations for their
ancestors being held in slavery. There is no doubt that slavery was and is a
horrible thing. No person or persons should ever be allowed to own another. But
slavery has existed in the human race for millennia. In 1760 BC, the Code of
Hammurabi, in the first recorded instance of slavery, referred to slavery as an
established institution. No doubt there was slavery prior to this recorded
history, and, unfortunately, it exists to this day in some parts of the world.
I see some distinct problems with paying reparations to descendants of former
slaves. I'm sure there are others....
By Eugene Slaven
Of all the invectives launched
against the United States by the resurgent American Left, the charge that in
America, White Privilege reigns supreme is the most insidious and culturally
ruinous. Its intent is unambiguous: leftists perpetuate the White Privilege lie
to smear America and its institutions as inherently racist, and therefore
unworthy of adulation and in need of fundamental socioeconomic transformation.
The ultimate power of the White Privilege calumny lies in its capacity to
impugn the virtue of American patriotism and the idea of American
exceptionalism. The Radical Left’s aversion to America is well documented.
Rooted in a perverse contempt for capitalism
and Western culture, leftists perennially seek to discredit the view that
America is exceptional or even good. Engraining in our culture the White
Privilege lie is an effective means to achieving that destructive end. After
all, how can a racist nation be noble and moral, never mind exceptional? What
kind of a morally and intellectually bankrupt person could be a patriot of a racist
nation?.........
By Thomas Lifson
The fragile bonds of
civilization that keep society peaceful and orderly are fraying in the face of
mobs organized online. Last Sunday, an organized mob of about four dozen people
attacked a Walmart in Macon, Georgia, intentionally doing damage to displays
and merchandise and dragging a man out of motorized cart and throwing him to
the floor. The Macon
Telegraph reports:…………The odd (well, actually quite common) thing about
this report and all the others I could find (including ABC
News and Newsmax)
is that in this age of hyper-consciousness about diversity, nobody dared notice
that in the videos taken from multiple cameras (see embedded videos below), all
of the miscreants appear to be black. This just shows the taboos that operate
in American society and journalism. The endless propaganda that holds America
to be a terrible racist place that has oppressed blacks is having predictable
consequences, and these consequences are being erased from the public's notice
insofar as possible. This sort of thing never ends well.
Videos from the store’s
surveillance cameras:……
By Rick Moran
George Takei, better known as Star
Trek's Mr. Sulu, has been a gay activist for many years. Apparently, he's a
sore winner as well. Responding to a thoughtful dissent by Justice Clarence
Thomas to the gay marriage case, Takei called the associate justice to the
Supreme Court a "clown in blackface."…..What happened to Takei's
family was inexcusable, but he never explains how the government
"took" their dignity. How can government take your dignity unless you
give it away? Thomas made the same point about slavery. Even the most vicious
mistreatment by white masters could not steal the human dignity that all people
possess if they choose not to lose it. Dignity shines the brightest when it is
challenged the most. Takei is not just wrong. He is a racist. What did Thomas's
color have to do with his legal thinking? Judging an individual by the group
like Takei has done is ignorant, and referring to Thomas as a fake black is
beyond the pale. Like all liberals, he won't apologize or back down. But he
should.
By Newsmachete
Now that we're in a new
movement to ban the Confederate flag from computer games and old television shows,
talk show host Mark Levin has jumped on the bandwagon, suggesting we ban the
name "Democratic Party." Levin says this is because the Democratic
Party has such a racist past. It was the party of slavery, after all, the party
who fought against Abraham Lincoln's efforts to free the slaves. The Democratic
Party was also the party of segregation for decades. Former Senate majority
leader Robert Byrd was an official in the Ku Klux Klan. Hugo Black, FDR's
appointment to the Supreme Court, was a lawyer for the Ku Klux Klan. FDR
himself locked up most of our Japanese-American population in camps simply
because of their ethnicity. Woodrow
Wilson, a Democrat, signed a law making interracial marriage illegal,
the army was segregated, and Wilson supported Jim Crow laws in the South.
Democrat Bill Clinton praised Democratic
senator William Fulbright, a segregationist…..
Editor's Note: After reading your picks from this list I would like for everyone to read my article of June 28th, We Are What We Stand For!
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