[VIDEO] POLICE: SUSPECT SHOT NEAR FERGUSON RALLY CRITICALLY INJURED

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- A suspect who authorities say opened fire on officers in Ferguson, Missouri, on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was critically wounded when the officers shot back, St. Louis County's police chief said early Monday.

Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference that officers had been tracking the suspect, who they believed was armed, during a protest marking the death of Brown, the black, unarmed 18-year-old whose killing by a white Ferguson police officer touched off a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.

The suspect approached the plainclothes officers, who were in an unmarked police van, and opened fire, Belmar said. The officers shot back at him from inside the vehicle and then pursued him on foot when he ran.

The suspect again fired on the officers, the chief said, and all four officers fired back. He was struck and fell.

The suspect was taken to a hospital, where Belmar said he was in "critical, unstable" condition. Authorities didn't immediately release the identities of anyone involved, but Tyrone Harris told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the injured suspect was his son, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris Jr.

The elder Harris told the newspaper shortly after 3 a.m. that his son had just gotten out of surgery.

None of the officers was seriously injured. All four have been put on standard administrative leave. They were not wearing body cameras, Belmar said.

The shooting happened shortly after a separate incident that the chief called "an exchange of gunfire between two groups" rang out around 11:15 p.m. Sunday while protesters were gathered on West Florissant Avenue, a business zone that saw rioting and looting last year after Brown's killing. The shots sent protesters and reporters running for cover.

The chief said an estimated six shooters unleashed a "remarkable" amount of gunfire over about 45 seconds.

Belmar waved off any notion that the people with the weapons were part of the protest.

"They were criminals. They weren't protesters," he said.

The suspect who fired on officers had a semi-automatic 9 mm gun that was stolen last year from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, according to the chief.

"There is a small group of people out there that are intent on making sure that peace doesn't prevail," he said. "There are a lot of emotions. I get it. But we can't sustain this as we move forward."

Some protest groups were critical of police.

"It was a poor decision to use plainclothes officers in a protest setting because it made it difficult for people to identify police officers, which is essential to the safety of community members," Kayla Reed, a field organizer with the Organization of Black Struggle, said in a statement.

"After a year of protest and conversation around police accountability, having plainclothes officers without body cameras and proper identification in the protest setting leaves us with only the officer's account of the incident, which is clearly problematic."

Early Monday, another reported shooting drew officers to an apartment building in the area. Two males told police they were targeted in a drive-by shooting near the memorial to Brown outside Canfield Apartments. A 17-year-old was shot in the chest and shoulder while a 19-year-old was shot in the chest, but their injuries were not life-threatening, the St. Louis County Police said in a news release.

Separately, police said a 17-year-old suspect has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon and one count of resisting arrest after he fired shots near the protesters late Sunday. He is being held on $100,000 bond.

The anniversary of Brown's killing, which cast greater scrutiny on how police interact with black communities, has sparked days of renewed protests, though until Sunday they had been peaceful and without any arrests.

Before the gunfire, protesters were blocking traffic and confronting police. One person threw a glass bottle at officers but missed.

For the first time in three consecutive nights of demonstrations, some officers were dressed in riot gear, including bullet-proof vests and helmets with shields. Police at one point early Monday shot smoke to disperse the crowd that lingered on West Florissant, Belmar said.

One officer was treated for cuts after a rock was thrown at his face, and two officers were pepper-sprayed by protesters, county police spokesman Officer Shawn McGuire said in an email. Five people were arrested, according to records McGuire released.

Several other peaceful events earlier Sunday were held to mark the anniversary.

Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr., led a march through town. It started at the site where Brown was fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November.

Later, a few hundred people turned out at Greater St. Mark Family Church for a service to remember Brown, with his father joining other relatives sitting behind the pulpit.

Organizers of some of the weekend activities pledged a day of civil disobedience on Monday, but have not offered specific details.

Via: AP

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[VIDEO] Carly Fiorina, Fox News Sunday August 8, 2015

Carly Fiorina generated a lot of critical buzz in the first GOP debates by coming out swinging against her Republican rivals and Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton. We’ll sit down with the former Hewlett Packard CEO to discuss how her performance will shape her campaign strategy.

Via: Fox News Sunday

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[VIDEO] Rubio: 'I'll Support Any Legislation that Reduces the Number of Abortions'

Via: Meet The Press

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The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog)

Reason #5 Why I Love To Blog -- August 9, 2015

Less than a week ago I posted this subject line: August 3, 2015 -- Part IV; Saudi Imports; Muscle Cars, Jeeps, SUVs Are Back.

Today, I see, USA Today has this headline and the story:  Golden age of muscle cars is now.

The golden age of the muscle car is now.

Despite strict emissions limits, concerns about climate change and unpredictable gasoline prices that would make a '60s hot rodder pull over and weep, Detroit''s modern performance cars could run rings around the classics. And they're surprisingly affordable when compared with price tags of some exotic cars with similarly high-performing engines.

"Back in the 1960s and '70s, we were looking at 300-, 325-horsepower engines. Now you've got 500-, 600-, even 700-horsepower," said Ken Gross, an automotive historian, museum consultant and journalist. "Never in my lifetime did I think I'd see the day when I could drive a 700-horsepower street car."

Even the least powerful of today's sporty cars — say a base V-6 Chevy Camaro, Mustang or Charger — could probably out-corner most 1960s muscle cars, which were renowned for their ability to accelerate, but not to turn or stop.

"We are living in the Golden Age of the performance car," said Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. "The cars from the 1960s and '70s were good cars, but basic. Not as fast or sophisticated as today's cars. With new technology, improving fuel economy and reasonable gasoline prices, there's no end in sight."

Fiat Chrysler's Dodge Hellcat engines cram 707 horsepower into the Challenger coupe and Charger sedan.

The 2016 Chevrolet Corvette ZO6 produces 650 horsepower and accelerates to 60 m.p.h. in 2.95 seconds. Watching one launch has more in common with the Millennium Falcon shifting into warp drive than the Corvettes Chevrolet sold when muscle cars and "Star Wars" were new.

Ford is about to join the party with the 526-horsepower Shelby GT 350 Mustang, which uses a radically designed V-8 engine of a type usually reserved for six-figure exotic cars from Porsche and Ferrari.

If you want to see a lot of Ferraris outside of California driving around town visit Southlake, TX. 

Via: The Million Dollar Way

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Cost of Obesity 'Will Wipe Out Healthcare'

Obesity weighs heavily on American health and wealth.

Carrying extra pounds undermines several major weight-bearing pillars of value-based healthcare, including disease prevention, population health management, and cost control. In interviews and email exchanges over the past week, a trio of obesity experts helped me gauge the crisis and suggested ways to slash obesity rates.

Jay H. Shubrook Jr., DO, a diabetes specialist and professor at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, CA, says the societal costs of obesity are becoming too great to bear.

"Our public health is at stake," he says. "We will not make meaningful headway on the prevention and treatment of chronic disease until we change the infrastructure that supports unhealthy habits. An immigrant from almost any other country who moves to the U.S. becomes at higher risk for diabetes once they live here. We have a sedentary lifestyle with an abundance of high caloric foods at our disposal."

Shubrook has been witnessing the impact of historically high obesity rates in his patients for nearly two decades.

Before moving to California this year, he served in several clinical, leadership, and academic positions at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital, a 132-bed acute care facility in Athens, Ohio. In 2013, O'Bleness identified obesity and poor dietary infrastructure in Athens County as "areas of concern" in the organization's Community Health Needs Assessment. In addition to pegging the adult obesity rate in Athens County at about 31%, the O'Bleness health needs assessment sounds an alarm over limited access to healthy foods in low-income areas and an overly high percentage of fast food restaurants among the area's eateries.

"Obesity is a crisis for two reasons," Shubrook says. "We are seeing lower life expectancy rates among our children, and we already know we can't handle the economic impact of diabetes. It will wipe out healthcare."

Otis Brawley, MD, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, says obesity is one of the top cancer risk factors in the United States.

"The combination of high caloric intake, obesity, and lack of physical activity will surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer death within the next two decades. It is already a leading cause of heart disease, diabetes, and orthopedic injury," he says.

Poor dietary habits and high obesity rates threaten to cripple the healthcare industry and the broader economy, Brawley says. "It is imperative that we reverse the trend, as healthcare costs associated with [the obesity] epidemic are already dragging our economy down and eventually will collapse our economy if it continues over the next several decades."

Justin Noble, a certified nutrition coach, children's book author, and co-founder ofMyBodyVillage.com, says the healthcare industry will be unable to "move the needle" on cost of services as long as obesity and other lifestyle-related health risk factors remain out of control.

"The main issue with healthcare in America is that it is focused on treatment instead of prevention. Eighty-six percent of all healthcare spending in 2010 was for people with one or more chronic medical conditions. The gross majority of these conditions are brought about by lack of exercise, poor diet, stress, smoking, and alcohol consumption. In a nutshell, these ailments are brought on by the choices people make. If we put more effort into giving people the tools and the resources they need to make healthy choices, we will find ourselves paying less for the diseases associated with these poor choices. Until that happens, I only see the needle moving up."

Via: MedPage Today

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Seattle moves forward with “gun violence tax” on all weapons, ammo

[SO LAW ABIDING CITIZENS WON'T BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO PROTECT THEMSELVES BUT THE CRIMINAL'S  WILL STILL HAVE THE WEAPONS.]


This week the Seattle City Council moved one step closer to imposing a sweeping sales tax on both weapons and ammunition which appears to fly in the face of a thirty year old state law banning such restrictions. A committee vote took place on Wednesday and the proposal will move to a full vote tomorrow. And this is just a bad deal all the way around.

The committee voted unanimously this morning to send the proposal to the full city council for consideration next Monday, according to the Seattle P-I.com. Monday’s vote could set the stage for a legal confrontation, and there were hints that existing gun shops could move out of the city, and that gun owners living in Seattle will simply shop outside the city, thus thwarting any dreams that this tax will generate $300,000 to $500,000 annually for the city’s gun control efforts.

Waiting in the legal tall grass are the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. They’ve already advised against the tax proposal, primarily on the grounds that it will violate the state’s 30-year-old model preemption law.

Even if this move were to pass muster in terms of the state’s preemption law, it is bound to accomplish very little beyond the thinly veiled intent of punishing lawful gun owners and gun shops. A tax such as this is certain to do almost nothing to total volume of sales except for those truly living on the edge and simply shifts business from one location to another. NRA ILAsummarizes the concept.

The burden of regressive taxes like the Seattle proposal falls squarely on those that are least able to afford them. Persons of means will simply drive outside the city to purchase firearms and ammunition, while those without such options will be forced to go forego their rights or pay the tax. This is especially egregious considering how those at the lower end of the economic scale also tend to reside in areas where violent crime is the highest. One wonders whether this type of social engineering on the downtrodden is an intended feature of the legislation rather than an unfortunate consequence.

Supporters are claiming that this tax could bring in a half million dollars in revenue, but under the best of circumstances that sounds vastly inflated. It also doesn’t take into account how much it could affect the local market. As one local gun dealer pointed out, it’s a competitive sales space and they already sell pretty much on the margins. If he has to jack up the price of a ten or fifteen dollar box of ammunition by five dollars, shooters will simply go outside the city limits and buy their rounds where the tax is not applied. The same goes for new gun purchases. If sales plummet, the tax revenue goes down by default and if the shops close, the revenue disappears entirely.

Of course, that’s been the idea all along. This isn’t a tax intended to raise revenue for vital services. It’s a political statement. That’s why the supporters of the proposal even call it the gun violence tax. They’re not expecting to raise cash or reduce violence. They’re simply looking to show their base constituents how “serious” they are about restricting gun rights. The irony behind all of this is that the city will doubtless face a series of expensive lawsuits if the tax is put in place and they’ll probably lose. In the end they will wind up getting no revenue and the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for the court costs and associated expenses.

But hey… this is Seattle. What did you really expect?

Via: Hot Air

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The British Left’s Hypocritical Embrace of Islamism

Anti-extremist campaigner Maajid Nawaz embodies grievances that liberals claim to care about. So why is he being viciously attacked by them?

The desire to impose religion over society is otherwise known as theocracy. Being veterans of the struggle to push back against fundamentalist Christians, American liberals are well acquainted with the pitfalls of the neoconservative flirtation with the religious-right. How ironic, then, that in Europe it is those on the left—led by the Guardian—who flirt with religious theocrats. For in the UK, our theocrats are brown, from minority communities, and are overwhelmingly Muslim.

Islam is a religion like any other. Islamism is an ideology that seeks to impose any version of Islam over society. When expressed through violence, I call it jihadism. It is obvious to an American liberal that Christian fundamentalism must be made to respect personal choice. Likewise, it is as plain as the light of day to me—a Pakistani-British liberal Muslim—that any desire to impose any version of Islam over anyone anywhere, ever, is a fundamental violation of our basic civil liberties. But Islamism has been rising in the UK for decades. Over the years, in survey after survey, attitudes have reflected a worrying trend. A quarter of British Muslimssympathised with the Charlie Hebdo shootings. 0% have expressed tolerance for homosexuality. A third have claimed that killing for religion can be justified, while 36% have thought apostates should be killed. 40% have wanted the introduction of sharia as law in the UK and 33% have expressed a desire to see the return of a worldwide theocratic Caliphate. Is it any wonder then, that from this milieu up to 1,000 British Muslims have joined ISIS, which is more than joined the Armyreserves. In a case that has come to symbolize the extent of the problem, an entire family of 12 recently migrated to the Islamic State. By any reasonable assessment, something has gone badly wrong in Britain.

But for those who I have come to call Europe’s regressive-left how could Islamist tyranny—such as burying women neck deep in the ground and stoning them to death—possibly be anything other than an authentic expression of Muslim rage at Western colonial hegemony? For don’t you know Muslims are angry? So angry, in fact, that they wish to enslave indigenous Yazidi women for sex, throw Syrian gays off tall buildings and burn people alive? All because… Israel. For Europe’s regressive-left—which is fast penetrating U.S. circles too—Muslims are notexpected to be civilized. And Muslim upstarts who dare to challenge this theocratic fascism are nothing but an inconvenience to an uncannily Weimar-like populism that screams simplistically: It is all the West’s fault. 

It is my fellow Muslims who suffer most from this patronizing, self-pity inspiring mollycoddling. And just as American Muslims, with some reason, fear becoming targeted by right-wing anti-Muslim prejudice, British Muslims are being spoon-fed regressive-left sedatives, encouraging a perpetual state of victimhood in order to score their petty ideological points against “the West.” In the name of cultural diversity, aspiration is being stifled, expectations have been tempered and because Muslims have their own culture don't you know, self-segregation and ghettoization have thrived. 

Finally, on July 20 the British Prime Minister David Cameron mustered the political will to deliver a comprehensive speech setting out the UK’s approach to tackling the long rising tide of theocratic extremism in our communities. At last, Cameron named and shamed the Islamist ideology as a major factor behind the rise of such extremism. As founding chairman of Quilliam—an organization that seeks to challenge Islamism though civic debate across political divides—I was proud to have played a role in advising Downing Street on some of the core messages for this speech. I did this despite my being a Liberal, and not a member of the Prime Minster’s Conservative party. I did this because extremism affects our national, not just party-political, interests.

Via: Daily Beast

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HILLARY CAMPAIGNING ON THE BACKS OF COUNTRY’S TRULY ‘DEAD BROKE’

MCALLEN, Texas — In one of the poorest counties in the nation, Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton and her supporters are set to hold a lavish banquet. Hidalgo County is home to some of the nation’s poorest families, many of whom would not ever be able to afford to attend.

In a city where the household median income is $40,636 which is about 12,400 less than the rest of the nation and more than 27 percent of the households make less than $20,000; Clinton supporters are expected to pay $2,700 per person and $5,400 per couple to attend the banquet.

Ticket for Clinton Fund Raising Gala in McAllen. (Photo: Facebook)

The event will be held in the home of Alonzo Cantu, a local developer with a long history of fundraising for Secretary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. In 2007, Cantu was profiled by the Washington Post for his ability to raise vast sums of money for his candidates. In February, 2011, Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka and Patti Hart namedCantu as one of the most powerful people in the Lone Star State.

In the Rio Grande Valley, which is right on the border with Mexico, Cantu is considered to be a political powerhouse. He has a long history of making donations to officials at the local, state and federal level in order to keep their attention.

“Because of his financial interests, Cantu’s influence over potential donors is substantial,” the Washington Post reported about Cantu’s ability to bully donors into handing over cash.” He has raised money from doctors who work at the hospital where he holds an ownership interest, from bankers who work at the bank he co-owns, and from the scores of tradesmen who contract with his primary business, Cantu Construction and Development Co. The company is one of the McAllen’s dominant residential and commercial builders.

Cantu’s vast financial network allows him to hustle his clients or business partners for campaign donations.

“When Alonzo comes through the door, you want to give to him,” the Washington Post article quotes Gerardo J. Reyna who donated money and is described as Cantu’s brother in law and the owner of a company that provides most of the floor coverings for the homes and offices built by Cantu. “The last thing you want to do is get on Alonzo’s bad side.”

Most recently, a political action committee, Border Health PAC, has been behind the efforts to create a hospital district that would be taxing entity and thus further tax the residents of the area. Cantu serves as a board member of the PAC. The district’s opponents claim that the measure is similar to double dipping since the region is expected to get a medical school through the UT System which already has funding.

As Breitbart Texas previously reported, an outspoken military vet who posted videos against Cantu’s hospital district ended up being harassed by local police.

Clinton famously said she and the former president were “dead broke” when they left the White House in 2000 and moved into their $11 million Westchester County mansion in New York. In July, 2014, she told Fusion TV’s Jorge Ramos she regretted the comment. “It was inartful,” she said. “It was accurate.” There are many “dead broke” people living in the town where she will be scarfing down elegant food and raking in large bundles of cash. Not many of McAllen’s dead broke live in $11 million mansions.

It is not known if Mrs. Clinton’s schedule will allow her an opportunity to learn from McAllen what “dead broke” really means.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and on Facebook.

Via: Breitbart Texas

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Catholics Wrestle with Teachings as Gay Employees Dismissed

Pope Francis refined his vision for the church last week when he said long-spurned divorced and remarried Catholics should be welcomed with "open doors." And he has famously parsed centuries of thought on homosexuality into a five-word quip: "Who am I to judge?"

Yet the Archdiocese of Philadelphia opened its door only briefly when married gay teacher Margie Winters, trailed by supporters, arrived Monday with 23,000 petitions seeking reinstatement to her job at a Catholic elementary school.

"The school and the Sisters of Mercy allowed me to work there for eight years. Once the diocese was notified, something changed," said Winters, who was disappointed that a security guard, and not a church official, took her petitions at the chancery door.

Winters, 50, lost her job at Waldron Mercy Academy in June after a parent complained about her 2007 marriage to a woman. Her case highlights the shifting fault lines over gays in the church — and in church workplaces — just before the pope visits Philadelphia next month for the World Meeting of Families.

Jesuit-run Fordham University is standing by its theology chairman whose same-sex marriage made the New York Times wedding section this year, while Seton Hall University, with ties to the Newark, New Jersey, archdiocese, recently dismissed a chaplain who denounced gay bullying and later came out as gay.

Around the country, more than 50 people have reported losing their jobs at Catholic institutions since 2010 over their sexual orientation or identity, according to New Ways Ministries, an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics based in Mount Ranier, Maryland.

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, wading into the issue amid Winters' case, stressed that Catholic schools are responsible for "teaching and witnessing the Catholic faith in a manner true to Catholic belief," referring to the church's condemnation of homosexual activity. He said the Mercy officials showed "character and common sense" for sticking to church teachings.

"A great number of people like to pick apart the remarks of the Holy Father and manipulate them to drive their own agendas," his spokesman, Ken Gavin, said Thursday in response to questions about the pope's latest comments. "Keeping the doors open does not mean that basic church teachings will be changed. ... The Holy Father has not given any signals that teaching on the meaning and sanctity of marriage will be changing."

Via: NewsMax

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FreedomWorks’ Congressman of the Month - John Fleming August 2015

Each month, FreedomWorks will spotlight a Member of Congress who embodies our key principles of less government, lower taxes, and more freedom. For the inaugural edition of FreedomWorks’ Congressman of the Month program, we’re highlighting Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana. Fleming was one of the first to join the House Freedom Caucus, and has been a consistent voice for liberty in Congress, since he was first elected in 2008.

A physician by trade, Fleming has demonstrated a willingness to lead on the health care debate that many of his colleagues lack. In 2013, he worked with the Republican Study Committee to introduce the American Health Care Reform Act, one of the most conservative alternatives to ObamaCare to b seriously proposed. Fleming was also a key player in the 2013 fight to defund ObamaCare.

Fleming’s opposition to ObamaCare has not weakened. Last month, he introduced the Helping Save Americans’ Health Care Choices Act, to promote and expand the use of health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are a better alternative to third party payer systems, because they promote price transparency and competition among health care providers. When patients see where their money is going, they act to spend it more wisely, encouraging lower prices and better services across the sector.

Fleming’s bill raises the current contribution limits on Health Savings Accounts, allows spouses access to the accounts, expands the number of services covered by the accounts, and expands eligibility for the accounts. These type of reforms are essential to reduce the cost of actual health care, as distinct from tinkering with insurance markets as the Affordable Care Act and many competing proposals have tried to do.

Fleming has proved to be an uncompromising defender of freedom in other policy areas as well. Where many were tempted to accept minor reforms in large legislative packages this year, Fleming rejected the argument that we have to give up a lot to get a little. He opposed the USA Freedom Act, arguing that it did not go far enough in protecting Americans from domestic spying, despite heavy pressure from inside his own party.

Fleming took a similar stand on the Student Success Act, a reauthorization of No Child Left Behind that admittedly would make a number of positive reforms. But Fleming’s dedication to the Constitution, which provides no role for the federal government in education, led him to oppose the bill on principle, especially impressive given the Majority Whip’s personal commitment to the bill.

Fleming has also proved that he is not afraid to stand up to House leadership, being one of the Members who opposed the rule to advance trade legislation, earning the vocal ire of Speaker John Boehner. This was the same vote that almost cost Rep. Mark Meadows his subcommittee gavel.

For being a principled leader who continues to work tirelessly to reform the health care system and bring back constitutionalism to Congress, we’re proud to name John Fleming our Congressman of the Month!

Via: Freedom Works

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3 Historical Developments That Explain Our Current Religious Liberty Battles

In recent political memory, religious liberty was a value that brought together conservatives, libertarians, and progressives. As recently as 1993, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed by a nearly unanimous Congress and signed by a Democratic president. Today, the same value is a political liability. Bakers, photographers, and florists are being ruined, adoption agencies shuttered, schools threatened with loss of accreditation and nonprofit status. So what happened? Why is religious liberty now losing so much ground?

As I explain in my just-released book, Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, three historical developments explain our current predicament: a change in the scope of our government, a change in our sexual values, and a change in our political leaders’ vision of religious liberty. An adequate response will need to address each of these changes.

First, government has changed. The progressive movement gave us the administrative state. Limited government and the rule of law were replaced by the nearly unlimited reach of technocrats in governmental agencies. As government assumes responsibility for more areas of life, the likelihood of its infringing on religious liberty increases. Why should government be telling bakers and florists which weddings to serve in the first place? Why should it tell charities and religious schools how to operate and which values to teach? Only a swollen sense of unaccountable government authority can explain these changes.

Second, sexual values have changed. At the time of the American Revolution, religion and liberty were so closely linked that Thomas Jefferson could affirm, “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.” Meanwhile, his French contemporary Denis Diderot, expressing sentiments that would culminate in a very different revolution, declared that man “will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” In our own time, however, the sexual revolution has shattered the American synthesis of faith and freedom, setting religion at odds with “liberty”—or more accurately, license. Now bakers, florists, adoption agencies, and schools that uphold what Americans have always believed about marriage find themselves at odds with the law.

Third, religious liberty has changed. Our Constitution protects the natural right to the free exercise of religion. But some liberals are trying to drastically narrow that right by redefining it as the mere “freedom of worship.” If they succeed, the robust religious freedom that made American civil society the envy of the world will be reduced to Sunday-morning piety confined within the four walls of a chapel. They have even gone so far as to rewrite the U.S. immigration exam to say that the First Amendment protects “freedom of worship” rather than the “free exercise of religion.”True religious liberty entails the freedom to live consistently with one’s beliefs seven days a week—in the chapel, in the marketplace, and in the public square.

These three changes represent a rejection of the American Founding. Progressive politics and a radical view of human sexuality are combining to coerce compliance at the expense of a bedrock human right. And of course much of this has been enabled by judicial activism, as in Obergefell.

S

o how do we fight against this onslaught? We start by fighting for courts to interpret and apply our laws fairly. Without a sound judiciary, no amount of public debate can ensure sound policy on issues like marriage and religious liberty, for the courts will always be able to refashion or discard what the people (through their representatives) have achieved. This is why the work of groups such as the Federalist Society, which opposes such judicial activism, is so important.

Outside the courtroom, our best strategy for fighting governmental overreach is to fight for more limited government. The less power government has, the less room there is for abuses of power. The alliance between social and economic conservatives is not just a marriage of convenience. They share important principles, and they face a common enemy—the expansion of government beyond its proper scope. This is why the work of an organization such as the Heritage Foundation, which opposes ever-expanding government, is so important.

Limited government and religious liberty are best served when human laws reflect the “laws of nature and of nature’s God,” as the Declaration of Independence puts it. All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with a right to life. Mankind is created male and female, and marriage, by nature, is the union of man and woman. Only by redefining these concepts according to desire rather than nature is it possible to concoct a “right to choose” that extends even to the killing of an unborn child or an endlessly malleable concept of “marriage.”

Restoring a sound understanding of human nature and the laws of nature will be the work of the many organizations and groups—churches and synagogues, primary schools and universities, for example—that constitute civil society. Among these groups, public interest law firms such as the Alliance Defending Freedom have an important role. We need groups like this to push back on the sexual revolution and remind people of the law written on their hearts—a law that points the way to true, ordered liberty, not license, when it comes to human sexuality and the family.

B

oth the Bible’s moral principles and reason require us to conform our desires to transcendent moral truths grounded in our nature as human beings, rational animals. The followers of postmodernism seek to re-create nature in accord with their desires, while the followers of progressivism use the power of government to make everyone else con- form to the desires of elites, who know best. These ideologies promote the satisfaction of desire even while trampling true natural rights and liberties like the free exercise of religion. And that’s where the work of groups like the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty proves so crucial. They insist against limiting religion to worship, and they defend its free exercise against encroachment in the name of untrammeled desire.

So the three steps that have undone core elements of the American Founding—progressive government and the administrative state, the sexual revolution’s elevation of desire, and the whittling of religious free exercise down to the freedom to worship—all need to be countered. Political organizations, religious and civic organizations, and legal organizations will have to play their roles in empowering the citizenry to reclaim their government and culture. I offer a roadmap for these groups to follow in Truth Overruled.

Without a return to the principles of the American Founding— ordered liberty based on faith and reason, natural rights and morality, limited government and civil society—Americans will continue to face serious and perplexing challenges. The dilemmas faced by bakers and florists and charities and schools are only the beginning.

Ryan T. Anderson is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and author of the just-released book, Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, from which this essay is adapted. Follow him on Twitter @RyanTAnd.

Via: Daily Signal

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[EDITORIAL] : Decision-making stalls

On the same day this past week that The New York Times devoted much space to exploring a debate among counterterrorism officials as to which poses the greater danger to the American homeland, the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, and The Washington Post ran a long article about how foreign policy decision-making has slowed to a crawl under a swollen National Security Council staff in the White House.

Gee, is there a relationship between the two topics, d’ya think? Well, decision-making is a mess on subjects that don’t have the president’s personal attention.

Carping about White House dominance and interagency conflict is nothing new. President Kennedy often dealt directly with third-echelon and fourth-echelon officers at the State Department. The never-settled struggle for control between the State and Defense departments greatly harmed U.S. policies in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The NSC staff was 25 under President Carter but 200 under President George W. Bush. President Obama added even more. White House micro-management, said former Defense Secretary Bob Gates after leaving office in 2011, “drove me crazy.”

Now White House meetings are said to march over old ground again and again. Example: Aside from nonlethal aid like food and tents, Obama has not decided yes or no after a year of discussion whether to send arms to Ukraine.

As for terrorism, military officials are said to emphasize al-Qaeda’s ability to mount massive long-distance attacks anywhere in the world; civilians see a greater threat in fanaticism the Islamic State inspires in young men. Conclusions — if there are any — help determine how funds and staff are allocated.

Are such decisions necessary? Both organizations are highly dangerous; trying to decide which is worse seems almost a time-wasting theological exercise.

Presidents can’t steer bureaucracies, but they need subordinates who can. Gates was good at it. We’re unlikely to see his like in the Obama crowd again, 

Via: Boston Herald

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7 Key Measures of California’s Transportation Challenges

1. CA’s gas taxes are the 4^thhighest in the nation.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, California’s 61-cent-per-gallon gas taxes are the 4^th highest in the nation, behind only Pennsylvania, New York and Hawaii. This does not include the recent addition of extra cap-and-trade taxes resulting from bringing fossil fuels under California’s AB 32 law.

2. CA’s gas prices are the nation’s highest.

According to AAA, the current national average price for a gallon of ‘regular’ gasoline is $2.63. California’s current average price is $3.69 per gallon (as of 8/5/15).

3. CA’s gas tax & transportation fees yield $10.6 billion annually.

According to the State of California, Department of Transportation, Division of Budgets, 2014/2015 Fiscal Year estimates, the State brings in at least $10.6 billion in taxes and fees “dedicated to transportation purposes.”

4. Caltrans spends just 20% of that revenue on state road repair & new construction.  

Last year, Caltrans spent $1.2 billion in state road maintenance & repair, and $850 million in new construction.  Similar amounts are planned for the 2015/2016 CA State budget.

5. Caltrans wastes half a billion $$ annually on extra staffing.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report on the review of the Caltrans’ Capital Outlay Support Program found that the agency is overstaffed by 3,500 positions at a cost of $500 million per year.

6. CA’s roads rank near the bottom in every category, including:

• 46th in rural interstate pavement condition
• 49th in urban interstate pavement condition
• 46th in urban interstate congestion

7. Poor road conditions cost Californians $17 billion yearly in vehicle repairs.

34% of CA’s major roads are rated to be in “poor” condition. Driving on roads in need of repair costs California motorists $17 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs – $702.88 per motorist.

Originally published by Fox and Hounds Daily

John Moorlach is a California State Senate, 37th District

Via: California Politcal Review

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