SCOTUS Taking a Power on Religious Freedom “An Ominous Sign”

I’ve long said that religious freedom is in danger in this country.  It now appears the attack on freedom of religion is further along than I thought.  In what should be an obvious case at least to consider the Supreme Court could not even muster four justices to hear Storman pharmacy case.  Here is a good video summary of said case:

In short, the Stormans, out of religious conviction, do not carry the Plan B Morning After pill, but instead refer to the multitude of pharmacies in their area that do carry it.  But that wasn’t good enough for Planned Parenthood, DemocRAT Washington State, the 9^th Circus Circuit Court of Appeals etc.  So the case went to the Supreme Court.  And since five of the SCOTUS Justices are utter cowards, to put it nicely, the 9^th Circuit ruling stands.  

You see, abortion is sacred.  Religious freedom . . . not so much.

My understanding is that when cases are declined at the Supreme Court, they are usually done so without comment.  (Lawyers, feel free to correct me.)  But Justice Alito, with Justices Thomas and Roberts concurring, were so provoked they did comment.  An excerpt:

At issue are Washington State regulations that are likely to make a pharmacist unemployable if he or she objects on religious grounds to dispensing certain prescription medications. There are strong reasons to doubt whether the regulations were adopted for—or that they actually serve—any legitimate purpose. And there is much evidence that the impetus for the adoption of the regulations was hostility to pharmacists whose religious beliefs regarding abortion and contraception are out of step with prevailing opinion in the State. Yet the Ninth Circuit held that the regulations do not violate the First Amendment, and this Court does not deem the case worthy of our time. If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.

Sadly, I concur as well.  Brick by brick, our freedom of religion is being torn down.  It is no longer a question of whether we will lose it.  We are losing it.

Post-Brexit Apologies and Links

I’ve been wrestling with energy, health, and studies lately.  So I just can’t post here as I would like.  But I have been tweeting some good links relevant to where the UK and the rest of us are after Brexit.  So I encourage you to follow my twitter feed.

I will say this video is brilliant, hard-hitting, on target . . . and fun:

Thank You, UK

I am very busy in part because of the Blessed Event overnight.  But I must say something about said Event.

Thank you to those British who courageously cast aside the fearmongering from Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and other liars, and voted to Leave the EU.

As I’ve posted, the world needs more free places.  The world needs a free and sovereign Britain.  The world needed you Leave voters yesterday.  Thank you.

Stay courageous.  In the coming weeks and months, there will surely be those pressing for you to vote again and again until you vote “correctly.”  And, yes, the financial markets do not like uncertainty and uncharted territory.  But remember that many involved in the financial markets love money much more than they love freedom.  That goes double for the super rich.  Oh, they like their freedom, but yours? 

And remember that freedom in the long run is the best economic policy as the United States once illustrated.  Don’t forget that Ronald Reagan’s reforms took a couple of rough years before they drove the U. S. economy to new heights.

Obviously more could be said.  But for now, I mainly say, “Thank you.”

MORE: 

How can I forget?  Nigel Farage deserves special thanks from all those who love the UK and love freedom.  He has his warts and certainly has his detractors.  But he led the long effort to leave the EU back when that was considered “nutty,” and he persevered.

He may not be everyone’s idea of a hero.  But he is mine.

An American’s Plea to the British: Please Brexit

I will start with several apologies.  As I’ve warned, studies prevent me from posting as fully and frequently as I would like, and this post will not be extensively linked or referenced.  Second, I fully realize that whether the UK leaves the EU is a decision for British to make, not this Texan.  So take this as a plea from the heart to my British friends.

The British, particularly the English, have given two great and related gifts to the world.  First, just being British.  Britain has a distinctive culture that is a delight to experience (at least for the most part).  Second, Britain has given to the world, perhaps more so than any nation, freedom under the rule of law.  (Yes, the UK perhaps excels the United States in that regard.  What was once was freedom under the rule of law in this country has grown from a British heritage, if a much altered one.)

Now, sadly, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and company jettisoned too much of these distinctives.  But a great deal still remains.   So why listen to Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron and throw the rest away by staying in the EU?

And do not let the Remain camp fool you.  The EU is no place for British culture or for freedom.  The EU is a profoundly anti-democratic institution and a pipeline for migrants who have no interest in furthering British culture.  Many really attack British culture and freedom as we’ve sadly seen.

And why would Britain put itself under the thumb of a German Chancellor who cares not one whit for the UK?  You suffered and fought a certain war to prevent that, and now you would do that voluntarily?

Now you may ask why should this nosy American care whether the UK stays British or stays in the EU. 

A big reason is fear.

I see my own country on the edge of throwing away its freedom, the rule of law, and the consent of the governed.  No matter who wins the election in November, we are close to making our Constitution a dead letter.  And we are close to being overwhelmed by people, foreign and domestic, who care not one whit for American civic culture or for American freedom under the rule of law, under our Constitution.

The irony is that the UK has no written Constitution, yet lately is doing a better job of following the rule of law than the U. S.

America used to be where people fled to be free.  If we go down the tubes, will there be anywhere left to flee?  I look around the world, and free countries are getting fewer and fewer.

And I have no confidence that the EU would allow Britain to remain either British or free.  Just the opposite.  The pattern of the EU has been to take more and more power to itself away from member countries, and that pattern will surely continue.  Already the EU is not a safe place, if you will, for freedom, particularly for free speech.

Another British gift to the world (if a very reluctant one) was a United States that was a beacon and a refuge for freedom.  I’m afraid us Americans are throwing that gift away.  We are becoming less a safe place for freedom as we tolerate and even welcome a New Totalitarianism and tear up more and more of our Constitutional rule of law under its dictates.

Will the UK remain a beacon and a refuge for freedom?  The UK was a buttress against totalitarianism under Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.  Will it be a buttress against a New Totalitarianism and against the noxious ideology of the EU that demands Britain cede democratic freedoms to unelected overseas bureaucrats?  

Please, the world needs more free places, not fewer and fewer.  The world needs a free, sovereign and British Britain. 

I cannot vote in the referendum and freely admit it is not my place to do so.  But I beg my British friends, for the sake of the U.K. and of the world, please vote Brexit.

Post-Orlando: A House Divided

A depressing measure of how divided this country has become is our collective response to the Orlando Islamic anti-gay terrorist attack.

After 9-11, we became remarkably united as a country.  Yes, there were those who said we did something wrong to provoke 9-11.  But they were a small minority, despised when not ignored.  The unity we experienced in the weeks after 9-11 was perhaps the most we’ve had in this country since the 1950’s.  People put flags on their cars.  Texans were in solidarity with New Yorkers.  Non-church goers even suddenly went to church!  I could go on, but words would fail.  You had to be there to know and to grasp the heady atmosphere of unity and patriotism of the time.

But now?  We have roughly 40% of the country and the party now in control of the White House saying the problem is guns and the solution more gun control.  Some were also so eager to blame Christians and Republicans that when the shooter turned out to be Muslim and Democrat, they blamed Christians and Republicans anyway! At the same time, their leaders can barely bring themselves to say “radical Islam” or “Islamic Terrorism.” 

And we have roughly a very much other 40-50% of the country saying the problem is Jihadist Islam, and the political correctness, associated timidity, gun-free zones and too loose immigration enabling attackers.  And they see politicians of the first group importing and releasing Islamists and other criminals while trying to take away the right of Americans to defend themselves against the Islamists and criminals they are importing. 

And the two groups are at each other’s virtual (and increasingly actual) throats.

You can guess what group I’m in, but that is beside the point.  We have become a profoundly divided country often angry more at each other, at enemies domestic, than at enemies foreign.  And the contrast between 9-12 and today illustrate that all too well.  I’ve had acquaintances remark that once they got their necessary online business done, they were getting off the internet, the conflict is so toxic.

I think defending ourselves against Jihadism will prove easier than functioning as one country with our divisions.

I hope I am wrong.  This honest post from a gay man is a ray of hope.  It begins:

This is the saddest day of my life. I can't even wrap my mind around the horror of what happened last night in Orlando, where 50 joyful dancing queers were murdered by a religious extremist. I'm sad -- devastated, in my soul -- about that; but I'm also sad that the events of Orlando have shattered my political beliefs, as I can no longer swear allegiance to a peace-love-and-unicorns progressive philosophy that only helps to get my fellow queers killed.

Do read the rest.  And do pray for the United States.  We need it.

Brexit Election Fraud?

I’ve oft observed that Leftists have a fundamental contempt for democracy, that they only like and respect democracy when they win.  And one result of this attitude is their penchant for election fraud.

Perhaps I should say the same about the Remain camp in this month’s Brexit referendum.  After all, the EU is a profoundly undemocratic institution, really anti-democratic.  Their so-called Parliament is toothless by design.  And God help any member country who dares to elect a right of center government.  So any who wish to surrender the UK to the EU must not care all that much about UK democracy either.

And, lo and behold, there are signs the Remain camp are using nefarious means to rig the referendum.  The directions sent out for postal ballots are highly suggestive.

Yes, the correct way to cast your ballot is to put your mark in that Remain box, of course.  That’s the way to be a obsequious traitor good citizen.

But bureaucRATS insist that was not their intent at all.

Officials defended the design of the instruction leaflet, saying "the placement of a pen graphic is incidental... it could not be construed as indicating how to vote."

Noooo!  Of course not!

Then officials have been caught sending ballots to those who are citizens of EU countries but not of the UK and therefore not eligible to vote in the referendum.

I’m sure that is inadvertent as well.

By the way, my UK friends, if you vote incorrectly to actually leave the EU and manage to outvote the Poles and Germans and Swedes and French and Dutch and the rest of the Remain camp and their fraud, you will have to vote again until you vote correctly.

Ask Ireland about that.