Washington’s Supreme Court Imposes Its Progressive Faith on a Christian Florist

The ruling in Washington v. Arlene’s Flowers should chill First Amendment advocates everywhere.   

David French; NRO  "If you care about the Bill of Rights, the rights of conscience, or even the English language, there’s a chance that this morning you felt a disturbance in the Force — as if the Founders cried out in rage and were suddenly silenced. That disturbance was the Washington Supreme Court’s oppressive ruling in State of Washington v. Arlene’s Flowers, a case holding that a florist was bound by state law to use her artistic talents to design floral arrangements to celebrate what she viewed as an immoral event: a gay wedding.

"The pretext for overriding the florist’s rights to free speech and religious liberty was Washington’s so-called “public accommodations law,” which required the owner, Barronelle Stutzman, to provide goods and services to customers “regardless” of their sexual orientation.
"Let’s be clear, according to the plain language of the law and the undisputed facts of the case, Stutzman did nothing illegal. She had always consistently and joyfully served gay clients, including the man who ultimately decided to bring potentially ruinous legal claims against her." . . .

Related, wouldn't you say?

The Companies, Sports Teams, and Celebrity Chefs That Still Won’t Work With Donald Trump  . . . "Meanwhile, media strategist Shannon Coulter has called for a boycott of retailers who carry Ivanka Trump’s fashion line, the Ivanka Trump Collection . . ."

Wegmans facing boycotts for carrying Trump products

Obamaleaks: Suspicious Haaretz “scoop” about Netanyahu blocking “regional peace plan”

Haaretz

"Selective leaks by former Obama officials meant to make Netanyahu look bad don’t hold up to scrutiny."

Barak Ravid, the diplomatic correspondent for the Israeli daily Haaretz, has a reputation of getting great scoops, especially of the sort that makes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu look bad.
"In a story with a sensational headline that has lit up anti-Netanyahu social media, Ravid reported, Exclusive Kerry Offered Netanyahu Regional Peace Plan in Secret 2016 Summit With al-Sissi, King Abdullah.
"The sub-headline read, “Kerry’s outline included Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Netanyahu claimed he couldn’t get his coalition to back it.' ” . . .
. . .
"But there are reason to question the conclusions of Ravid’s report.
"For one thing the Ravid report omits context. In February of last year the so-called knife intifada was winding down, but there were still 107 attacks, largely driven by Palestinian incitement, in which 3 Israelis were killed. Was this really a good time to ask Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians, when its leadership was actively encouraging violence against Israel.
"For another, here’s a paragraph from Ravid’s report:" . . .

Iranian Women, before and after the Islamist Takeover

Mansour Kashfi
. . . "Iran before the Islamic Revolution (1979)


"Reza Shah the Great, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran, courageously initiated the greatest challenge of his era (1925 – 1941): the abolishment of the hijab (veil) for Iranian women on Jan. 6, 1935. The policy of “Kashf-e-Hijab” banned a very basic Islamic law, the covering of the whole woman’s body except the eyes and hands. However, avoiding hypocrisy, he commenced this task with his own family-- namely his own wife and daughters.


"His policy of forced un-veiling was a catalyst in the advancement of Iranian society and in ending women’s slavery. By doing that, Reza Shah the Great aroused a deep animosity in fundamentalist clergies who had practically ruled the country during the previous Qajar Dynasty for 136 miserable years. He rightfully considered the hijab the emblem of an obsolete tradition which aimed to hinder Iranian women from equal life opportunities. His wholehearted efforts encouraged women to pursue higher education and to work outside the home.
. . .
Iran after the Islamic Revolution


With the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran, clergies in Tehran immediately and severely curtailed the laws established under the White Revolution, including the Family Protection Law in favor of women, which was repealed. Today in Iran under Islamic law, gender equality is practically non-existent. Women are required to obey the Islamic law of wearing the hijab, otherwise they are subject to the severe punishment of lashing and days in prison. Islamic law specifies that women are banned from wearing perfume or shaking hands with males. Women who wear lipstick are detained and their lips are cut with blades or broken glass. Many women’s faces have been permanently scarred by acid, thrown in their faces by Islamic fascist secret police. Women have been barred from judging positions. Islamic laws consider legal testimony by women to be half as valuable as legal testimony by men." . . .

Israeli hospital helps deaf Palestinian children hear for first time

Times of Israel

"Jerusalem medical center carries out 16 cochlear implant surgeries as part of Peres Center for Peace project"

"Sixteen deaf Palestinian children were able to hear for the first time after undergoing a procedure at an Israeli hospital to repair their hearing, Hebrew media reported Saturday.
The operations to repair the children’s hearing, known as cochlear implant surgery, were performed by doctors at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem over the course of the past several months, according to the Ynet news website.

"The last six surgeries took place over the course of just a few days.

"Dr. Michal Kaufmann, who performed the surgeries, told Ynet that being able to perform the operations was quite difficult due to the “logistical challenge[s].”
“Many authorizations were required from the Defense Ministry,” she said, adding that “some of the children arrived without a medical record and required extensive tests at Hadassah alongside emotional and psychological treatment.' ” . . .

Trump: Hour Of Negotiations Saved More Than $1 Billion On Air Force One

Weasel Zippers

"Via Washington Examiner:

President Trump said Saturday that he has reduced the price of two new Air Force One planes by more than $1 billion after spending about an hour on negotiations.
Trump previously slammed the cost of the $4.2 billion Boeing program on Twitter as being too high and secured a personal promise from Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to complete the program for under $4 billion.
“I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion plane,” Trump said at his Melbourne, Fla., rally. “We’ve got that price down by over $1 billion and I probably haven’t spoken for more than an hour on the project. I got the generals in who are fantastic … but I told Boeing that isn’t good enough, the price is still too high.”

Keep reading…

When President Obama’s National Security Advisor Lied, The Media Laughed

The Federalist

"Lying to Us Only Matters If We Dislike You"

"Buried deep beneath the Michael Flynn hysteria this week was Judicial Watch’s release of newly obtained State Department documents related to the Benghazi terrorist attack on September 11, 2012. One email confirms—again—that the Obama administration knew the day after the attack it was not a random act of violence stemming from an anti-Muslim video. That was the excuse shamefully propagated by top Obama administration officials (including the president himself) and swallowed whole by a media establishment desperate to help Obama win re-election six weeks later.

"According to the summary of a call on September 12, 2012 between State Department Under-Secretary Patrick Kennedy and several congressional staffers, Kennedy was asked if the attack came under cover of protest: “No this was a direct breaching attack,” he answered. Kennedy also denied the attack was coordinated with the protests in Cairo over the video: “Attack in Cairo was a demonstration. There were no weapons shown or used. A few cans of spray paint'.” . . .

Stop Belittling The Holocaust With Your Stupid Nazi Analogies

"If your argument is that all deportations are, in and of themselves, the actions of a proto-Nazi regime, then I would ask: why aren’t you comparing Barack Obama, who deported 2.4 million people from 2009-2014 . . . to Himmler? Or I would say stop appropriating the horrors of history for short-term political gain and come up with a better analogy."

The Federalist  "When the Associated Press dropped a breathless piece contending that the Trump administration was “considering” and “weighing” using 100,000 National Guard troops to help round up illegal immigrants, all the usual hysterics erupted. Soon, the White House denied it had ever considered the memo (and so far there is no reason to believe they are lying). Then we learned the memo itself doesn’t even say anything about “100,000 National Guardsmen” rounding up illegal immigrants. Now, we can theorize about who leaked the story, but it looks to be the epitome of Donald Trump’s Yogi Berraism about a real story being fake news.

"Anyway, none of this stopped the shameful Hitler and Nazi analogies from immediately clogging up social media. Comparing everything to 1932 is now a big part of our national discourse. People who should know better habitually make correlations." . . .

You mean analogies like this bit of demagoguery?

US Intelligence

Michael Ramirez

An end to “gun free zones” in Florida?

The Daley Gator

watcherofweasels.org

"The concept of gun-free zones has been, as a crime fighting tool, an utter failure. As with every new strategy the Cult of Gun Control comes up with, gun free zones disarmed only those who obey laws. Those wishing to commit acts of evil simply saw these zones as easy targets. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of mass shootings have occurred in these gun free zones. Florida, it seems, may be ready to end this failed policy

Florida has been the target of two mass shootings in the past nine months; the Orlando Nightclub shooting which left 49 dead and the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting which left 5 dead.

. . .  

 "Of course, the Cult of Gun Control [responded] with their usual fare. Easily refutable rhetoric. Scare mongering, and babbling about “making Florida more dangerous”

. . . 

" . . .The dire predictions of “blood in the streets”, and “Wild West shootouts” never materialized after that law passed. It has been 30 years since concealed carry became law in Florida, 1.7 million Floridians carry firearms legally, and those predictions of doom still have not come true. " . . .

A Must Read - The Untold Eyewitness Story Of The Paris Bataclan Killings

Joshuapundit

"If you read nothing else today, take the time to read this gripping interview on the November 2015 Bataclan jihad attack in Paris with Eagles of Death Metal vocalist Jesse Hughes. The interview was conducted by Gavin McInnes over at Taki's Magazine. Hughes's band was onstage when the jihad killings occurred. This is his eye witness account of what happened. Hughes feels that the media totally misrepresented the story, with details pulled out of context from his previous interviews and manipulated to support editorializing and commentary that was completely opposed to his views. 

"Hughes tells exactly what happened, how it was handled and the implications for the future in the War on Jihad.

"Here's a taste:" . . .

. . . McInnes: Do you think political correctness is killing our natural instincts and making us vulnerable?
Jesse Hughes:Definitely. There were two girls who were involved. They were at the venue and vanished before the shooting, and these women were in traditional Muslim garb. They knew people wouldn’t check them because of the way they were dressed. They got caught a few days later.
McInnes:The fear of offending Muslims is a terrorist’s greatest weapon.
Jesse Hughes:Look at the guys who bombed Brussels. They were wearing black gloves on one hand. Their luggage was too heavy to lift, but they didn’t want anyone helping them with it. Nobody brought any of this up until after the bombs went off.
McInnes:We’d rather die than be called a bigot." . . .,

Why the assassination of Kim Jong Un's brother should terrify us all

" . . .North Korea's entire propaganda apparatus for many decades has revolved around the Kim family's mystical claim to power — if you were to envisage a coup, it might be useful to have another Kim lying around to use as a figurehead. Enter Kim Jong Nam."

The Week  . . . "Even in the face of these terrifying realities, the world outside North Korea seems woefully unprepared and complacent. Whether it's China, South Korea, or the U.S., the world's strategy towards North Korea seems to be to cross fingers, close eyes, and hope for the best. I have previously argued that the world should effect a controlled demolition of the North Korean regime, so that what may be controlled can be. I realize that this is an "extreme" position, but my fear is that few contemplate with enough seriousness how truly extreme an uncontrolled collapse of the North Korean regime would be. Indeed, North Korea's collapse is coming — perhaps sooner than we realize — and we are unprepared." . . .

https://earloftaint.com/

The Resistance Is the Best Thing That’s Happened to Trump

David Harsanyi at NRO  . . . "The average Resistance fighters might dislike Trump. But they hate conservatism. By treating even the most milquetoast, run-of-the-mill Cabinet nominee as the worst thing that has ever happened to America, the Resistance gives conservatives the space to defend such long-standing political positions as school choice, immigration enforcement, and deregulation. I imagine many Republicans would happily hand over the scalp of more Michael Flynns if it meant creating a more stable and experienced administration. But they also understand that people who treat DeVos like a bigger threat to the republic than Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon will never be placated. Those who spent weeks after the election acting as if the Electoral College were some kind of trick pulled on the country are not interested in rule of law. They’re interested in Democrats" . . .

The Peoples Cube