Barrying The Dead

 "Frankly, we don't think that it was God's plan to take advantage of these horrendous murders. We think that's more Mr. Obama's style."

 HopeNChangeCartoons

 

. . . "The president warmed up the crowd by reminding them "over the course of centuries, black churches served as hush harbors, where slaves could worship in safety. Praise houses, where their free descendants could gather and shout “Hallelujah.” Rest stops for the weary along the Underground Railroad. Bunkers for the foot soldiers of the civil-rights movement."

"All well and good - but it was only preamble. Knowing that there's no political hay to be made from a single racist lunatic acting alone, it was then necessary for the president to make this punk killer into something larger and more universal...

" "We do not know whether the killer of Reverend Pinckney and eight others knew all of this history, but he surely sensed the meaning of his violent act. It was an act that drew on a long history of bombs and arson and shots fired at churches, not random but as a means of control, a way to terrorize and oppress." . . . 

Family proud of son who captured Sweat

Press Republican  "Judy and Arlend Cook are beaming with pride. Their son, Sgt. Jay Cook, alone on patrol in a community he knew well, captured fugitive cop killer David Sweat."
“It’s been a very emotional day for our family," Judy said. "I still can’t believe it's over and nobody got hurt. We’re very proud of our son, and we’re very happy." Jay, who turned 47 on June 19, is a Burke native who has been with State Police for 21 years. “He’s not used to being shoved into the spotlight like this," said his mother, who was still feeling very emotional Sunday night. “He was a rover today, and he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He’s very sharp," she said proudly. “He knows the area very well; he’s been patrolling the area for years. He saw a guy, and when he got a better look, he knew who it was," Judy said." . . .

Full article here.

UPDATED: Thanks to SCOTUS and Obama, what lies in store for us?

http://terrellaftermath.com/

The Volokh Conspiracy:  Of marriage and liberty – some thoughts on Justice Thomas’ Obergefell dissent  " Of the four dissenting opinions in today’s Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, Justice Clarence Thomas’ is by far the most interesting and compelling. Thomas effectively argues that state recognition of marriage cannot be a form of “liberty” protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because liberty only includes protection of individual rights against government interference, not the conferral of government benefits. His analysis has an important kernel of truth. But it ultimately fails to prove that laws banning same-sex marriage are constitutional." . . .Much more on this subject here: The Volokh Conspiracy

The Unlikely Turning Point in the Same Sex Marriage Battle . . . "So immune are our friends to history, they likely do not know who it is they have to thank for the accelerated transmutation of this highly unlikely idea into law. As I note in my forthcoming book, Scarlet Letters, if there were a Che Guevara in this movement, it was his hysterical homeboy, Perez Hilton." . . .

Post-SCOTUS Gay Marriage: Religious institution tax exemptions at risk. . . "Interestingly, Oppenheimer doesn’t argue for abolishment of tax exemptions as punishment for holding sacred the belief in traditional marriage. So why strip churches of their tax-exempt status? To redistribute the wealth, of course; use one social issue as a guise to push another, completely unrelated issue." . . .

Update: First published in the comments section, we post here now, this response by Robert Deffinbaugh of Richardson, TX, to the tax issue mentioned previously:

1. Without a doubt, there are some (too many) “churches” or “religious organizations” that are really just a tax dodge.  In other words, abuses of the non-profit exemption do occur, and this may tempt some to punish all, rather than to weed out the abusers.

2. There is a kind of “logic” to the argument put forward regarding taxing churches.  Churches and religious organizations get an advantage not granted others.  Others do pay for benefits we receive (but then, that is what welfare does as well – with few objections).  The apparent logic here may seem compelling, but. . .

3. The founding fathers (as I recall) believed that the power to tax was the power to control, and to destroy.  The church cannot truly be free from the state when and where the state has the power to tax it.  Our government can hardly be ignorant of this fact.  Note the ever-growing power of the IRS, and their efforts to hinder conservative organizations.  (And now, the IRS runs the health care system.)  The “good” of the people (health care) may become the tail that wags the dog, and thus in the name of “good” churches will be crippled, at best, or destroyed, at worst.  All of this turns “the separation of church and state” on its head.  The power to tax the church will be a key piece in any plan to abolish it.  The more the church is perceived as unloving and bigoted, the more the public will support taxing it.

4. Jesus taught that we should render to Caesar (government) that which belongs to Caesar, and to God that which belongs to Him (Matthew 22:21).  The apostle Paul instructed Christians to “pay their taxes” (Romans 13:7), so we need to be careful in all such matters, that we are not failing to submit to government by refusing to pay our taxes.  The real question before us is, “What taxes are legitimate in God’s sight?”  What does belong to Caesar?

5.  It is my personal opinion that we can expect the taxation of the church (and the removal of claiming contributions to the church as a tax exemption) to come soon, as a thinly veiled attack on the church of our Lord.

6. Other indirect forms of opposition and persecution should be anticipated.  Legal action based upon gender beliefs and practices, fire codes, etc.  All these, in my opinion, will be leveled at the church.

7. We should bear in mind that while such “less than direct” opposition may come about soon in our country, saints throughout church history (and around the world today) are not merely being taxed, they are being imprisoned and killed for naming our Lord as Savior.

8. The way we respond to such opposition is crucial, and a matter of obedience to Christ and the adornment of the gospel – see 1 Peter 2.

UPDATE 2: Obergefell v. Hodges and Tax Exemption for Churches . . . "Polycarp was martyred about 155 A.D.  He was first burned at the stake, and then stabbed to speed up his dying.
"According to the traditional account of his death, before his final ordeal the Roman official asked him, “What harm is there to say ‘Lord Caesar,’ and to offer incense, and all that sort of thing, to save yourself?' ”. . .

 His Church, no stranger to strife, was born in adversity. It grew from its courage to resist. It matured by failing to conform.  

Alan Caruba: a voice of calmness and wisdom silenced

"After spending most of his life in Maplewood, New Jersey, Caruba died in South Orange, New Jersey on June 15, 2015 days after returning from the Tenth International Conference on Climate Change, a climate change skeptics conference in Washington, D.C. On June 10 he published his last article in Heartlander Magazine, which said: "An entire generation has grown up and graduated from college since the first lies about global warming were unleashed. That’s how long Heartland and others have labored to present the truth. If the media fails to take notice of this week’s conference, you will know that the battle will continue for a long time to come."

Warning Signs   Excerpts from one of Caruba's last articles:  "Skeptics" Gather in D.C. 
"In March, the Gallup Poll revealed that “Although climate scientists have been in the news describing this winter as a strong signal that global warming is producing more extreme weather, Americans are no more likely today (55%) than in the past two years to believe the effects of global warming are occurring.”

 

 . . . "Without your knowing it, the nine conferences that preceded the current one have had a dramatic impact on your life and wallet. For one thing, you’re not being robbed by a “carbon tax” aimed at “reducing greenhouse gases.” On the other hand, you may be at risk of losing a coal-fired plant that provides your electricity if the Environmental Protection Agency is allowed to continue its vile attack on our energy resources." . . .

. . . "The Conference will honor some of the world’s leading “skeptics”—the alarmists call them “denier.” They include Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) as the winner of the Political Leadership on Climate Change Award, sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. My friend, Robert M. Carter, Ph.D. will receive Heartland’s Lifetime Achievement in Climate Science award. Others whom you may not have heard of include William Happer, Ph.D., David Legates, Ph.D., and Anthony Watts, all of whom have been on the front lines of the battle for the truth about the planet’s climate.

"An entire generation has grown up and graduated from college since the first lies about global warming were unleashed. That’s how long Heartland and others have labored to present the truth. If the media fails to take notice of this week’s conference, you will know that the battle will continue for a long time to come."

 His wisdom and friendship will be sorely missed . TD

Politico Writer Proclaims: It’s Time to Legalize Polygamy

Sweetness & Light   "At first glance we thought this (originally 2,219 word, 51 paragraph) article was a reductio ad absurdum argument against ‘same sex marriage.’ But it isn’t. It’s written by a long time proponent of polygamy, who welcomes the ‘slippery slope.’ In fact, he says it’s long overdue.

"From the Politico:

It’s Time to Legalize Polygamy

Why group marriage is the next horizon of social liberalism.
By FREDRIK DEBOER | June 26, 2015
Welcome to the exciting new world of the slippery slope… The question presents itself: Where does the next advance come? The answer is going to make nearly everyone uncomfortable: Now that we’ve defined that love and devotion and family isn’t driven by gender alone, why should it be limited to just two individuals?
The most natural advance next for marriage lies in legalized polygamy—yet many of the same people who pressed for marriage equality for gay couples oppose it…

"Remember how the media mocked conservatives who said this was next?" . . .

jessicalikescake.blogspot.com

Don't laugh; some people are discussing this seriously  . . . "And I wouldn't use the term "gay marriage," because no one will check whether the 2 women want to have sex with each other. 2 women could marry to obtain the economic benefits of the government's legal status of marriage. Why shouldn't 2 women marry to create a household within which they could manage childcare, file a joint tax return, and get better health insurance for the blended group?" . . .Althouse

ISRAEL-HATERS: Obama Hosts Radical Israel-Haters at ‘President’s Table’ During Muslim Dinner

Clash Daily

 

"This isn’t surprising of our president anymore, but something we have sadly come to expect.

President Barack Obama hosted two radical anti-Israel activists, Riham Osman and Batoul Abuharb of Houston, Texas, on Tuesday night. They both had the honor of sitting at Mr. Obama’s exclusive “President’s Table” at the annual White House Iftar dinner. Both have publicly stated that they consider Israel and its leadership to be sponsors of terroristic acts.

Riham Osman, seated at the “President’s Table” Tuesday night, is the communications coordinator for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a group founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood that has challenged the U.S. designation of Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups.

Osman herself has engaged in toxic rhetoric when it comes to the state of Israel.

The Intellectual Dishonesty of John Roberts

gulagbound.com

Peter Wehner   . . . "To quickly summarize: In King v. Burwell, the Court, in a 6-3 ruling, determined that the language in the ACA limiting insurance subsidies to “an Exchange established by the State” really means “an Exchange established by the State or the Federal Government.” Justice Scalia’s withering dissent shows how neither the plain text of the Act nor the context of the text justifies the majority’s decision. In reading the majority opinion, one senses that even Chief Justice Roberts doesn’t believe his own arguments; that even he knows that the reason the words “by the State” were included in the Act was to limit credits to state Exchanges. As Justice Scalia methodically pointed out, “Under all the rules of interoperation … the Government should lose this case. But normal rules of interpretation seem always to yield to the overriding principle of the present Court: The Affordable Care Act must be saved.”

"And so it has been, twice now, thanks to Chief Justice Roberts. For reasons that only he must know, Roberts decided to take it upon himself to salvage the Affordable Care Act by rewriting it. He decided to become a legislator in order to repair a failing law, which is not the proper role of a Supreme Court justice." . . .

United States of America Becomes the Newest Socialist Country  "The Supreme Court of the USA has now become the latest branch of the ObamaGov to legislate illegally. We no longer have 3 co-equal branches of government. As the Republicans have shown for—at least—the past several months, the people of the former USA no longer have any voice in government. Despite constituents “burning up the phone lines” to their Republican Congress members and Senators telling them to vote NO on TPA–which gives Obama virtually unlimited and unchecked power to do anything he wants with this treaty and likely those to come—they voted YES in a large majority. Like their Marxist Democrat brothers and sisters, the RINOs have chosen to ignore their constituencies and do that which benefits them—not us." . . .

Obergefell and the roadmap to drive Christianity from the public square

“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.” Cardinal Francis George:

 RedState

 

"The Supreme Court decision Friday making homosexual marriage not only legal but giving it a status superior to heterosexual marriage* was ominous (never mind that the lead defendant’s name sounded like a rank in the Wehrmacht). In his majority opinion, one which cavalierly overthrew well over 6,000 years of human history in the service of Kennedy’s vigorously, if vicariously, twitching nether regions, Kennedy laid out a road map for the eradication of the legal ability to oppose homosexual marriage. This is the key section:

“Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered.”

". . .  In Kennedy’s view, only religious organizations and religious persons would be allowed to dissent. This means that while your priest or pastor would be able to refuse to participate in a homosexual marriage it is nearly impossible for your actual church to do so. For religious colleges and universities with faculty and staff members who are not members of the denomination — this would include schools like Georgetown (though in fairness, Georgetown ceased to be a Christian much less a Catholic university years ago) and Catholic University — it would be nearly impossible for them to avoid participating in homosexual marriages." . . . More at the link.

Obama's Amazing Disgrace of a Eulogy; "Unity just isn't in his DNA."

 

Jeannie DeAngelis   "Fresh off a victory lap in the Rose Garden where the #LOVEWINS president narcissistically defined agreeing with him as “love,” President Obama segued from LGBTQ rights into racial rancor and Biblical misrepresentation during a eulogy where he also defined “God’s grace” as agreeing with him.

"Taking to the pulpit at slain Charleston Emanuel A.M.E. Church’s pastor and state Senator Clementa Pinckney’s going-home celebration, Barack ‘Can you say Amen’ Obama assumed a black-preacher cadence and began the eulogy by “Giving all praise and honor to [a] God” whose Word the president normally revises with as much liberality as he does the U.S. Constitution.

 "Pinckney was a Democrat senator representing the “Lowcountry” of South Carolina, so the president began by entertaining the possibility that the senator was unable to get resources to address inadequate schools, poverty, child hunger, and lack of healthcare because he was in the political minority.

"From that point forward, the president was in full-on, pedal-to-the-metal racial-injustice mode. Quite frankly, Obama’s self-serving eulogy exploited a dead man to offer racial grievances, latent hostility, and under the guise of grace, justify a buffet of tired liberal solutions.

"After complimenting the deceased pastor/senator’s character, Obama, just short of breaking into the Holy Ghost shuffle, went into his mediocre black-minister impression with talk of the “deeds and not just words” that the man who’s always talking and never doing believes Christian faith to be." . . .  More at the link.

 

Barack Obama Takes the Charleston Funeral from the Sacred to the Profane
 . . . "But, as Barack Obama implied in his Marc Maron interview, unity just isn’t in his DNA. So after all that, the community organizer — the Divider in Chief – went to work.
"We got a laundry list of America’s continuing sins. A reference to the myth of Republican voter suppression being by far the most egregious, because he knows it’s a lie from the pit of Hell and in no way true.
"And how Johnny gets a call back for a job, but not Jamal.
"Then came a long spiel on gun control, even while he admitted that not a single one of his proposals would have prevented what happened at the prayer meeting at Emanuel AME Church.

“ 'None of us should expect a transformation on race relations overnight,” Obama declared — and he seemed determined to make sure that prophecy was fulfilled." . . .

Obama’s half-brother sells [somewhat] revealing letter from president

NY Post

President Barack Obama and his older half-brother Malik Abongo ”Roy” Obama

. . . "Malik, who lives in Kenya, also sold two other handwritten letters from Obama for nearly $15,000 each in 2013. Malik, who shares the same father with the president, has said they were best men at each other’s weddings. But earlier this year, he called Obama a “schemer” and said, “He’s not been an honest man . . . in who he is and what he says and how he treats people.”

"The amount paid for the letter was not disclosed. The White House did not comment."

Tunisia gunman ‘laughed’ as he shot victims

 As survivors’ stories brought forth, media hails Briton who took bullets for his fiancee: ‘He just told me to run’

 Times of Israel

 

"A gunman who shot and killed 38 people at a Tunisian beach resort on Friday, most of them British tourists, was “laughing and joking” as he mowed down his victims, UK media reported Saturday, quoting eyewitness reports.

One man told Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM “He was laughing and joking around, like a normal guy. He was choosing who to shoot. 

 “Some people, he was saying to them, ‘You go away,'” the witness said. “He was choosing tourists, British, French.” . . .

Look What Gay Marriage Did To The Freedom Of Speech In Canada

Chicks on the Right

. . . "In an excellent piece in Aleteia, Dawn Stefanowicz, a woman who lives in Canada and was raised by gay parents, pens a warning to the United States: We don’t want to embrace gay marriage, and Canada is proof.
"Canada federally mandated gay marriage about 10 years ago in 2005. Since then, their freedoms have eroded. 

Over and over, we are told, “permitting same-sex couples access to the designation of marriage will not deprive anyone of any rights.” That is a lie.

"It slowly creeps up, and before you know it, you can’t speak about the traditional family of a man, woman and children without authorities considering it “hate speech.” In fact, you couldn’t even have this kind of debate in Canada, because everyone would start shouting, “OMG you’re so homophobic and bigoted!” (Sound familiar?) But it doesn’t end there.

Because of legal restrictions on speech, if you say or write anything considered “homophobic” (including, by definition, anything questioning same-sex marriage), you could face discipline, termination of employment, or prosecution by the government.

"Awesome.

"Next" . . .
One of numerous comments in this post:

I haven't heard anything along those lines yet. However, Christian venues refusing to host gay weddings/receptions have been hauled before the HRC, and Christian clergy who have publicly spoken out against gay marriage have been prosecuted for "hate" speech. There are many examples of this in the articles I linked to above.
I can't stress enough how undemocratic these odious HRCs are. Like SLAPP lawsuits, the goal is to financially bankrupt the defendant into submission. Ezra Levant (a Canadian free speech hero!) has said that the process is the punishment when it comes to Human Rights Commissions.) While some may rejoice because the target today is Christians, I firmly believe it won't be long before less peaceful and tolerant religions start to use these tactics against LGBT groups. Intolerant gay rights activists would be wise to recall Martin Niemoller's famous quotation: "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a Socialist..."
It does make me wonder how long it will be before North American churches are forced to perform gay marriages or lose their charitable status, or face prosecution, or go before a kangaroo court like the ones here in Canada.
We are living in interesting times...