By David Chance. The International Monetary Fund delivered a stark warning on Thursday of the huge financial hole facing Greece as angry and uncertain voters prepare for a referendum that could decide their country’s future in Europe.
Days after Greece defaulted on part of its IMF debt, the Fund, part of the lenders’ “troika” behind successive international bailouts, said Greece needed an extra 50 billion euros over the next three years, including 36 billion from its European partners, to stay afloat. It also needed significant debt relief.
The assessment, in a preliminary draft of the Fund’s latest debt sustainability report, underlines the scale of the problems facing Athens, whatever the result of Sunday’s referendum on the bailout offered by creditors last month.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ rejection of what he terms the “blackmail” of EU and IMF creditors demanding spending cuts and tax hikes has so angered Greece’s partners that there is no hope of reconciliation before Sunday.
With banks closed for a fourth day and capital controls in place, the future of the left-wing government hangs on the result, given the angry mood of voters in Greece, torn between resentment of the lenders and scorn for their own politicians. (Read more from “IMF Warns of Huge Financial Hole as Greek Vote Looms” HERE)
‘Yes’ Camp Takes Slim Lead in Greek Bailout Referendum Poll
By Lefteris Karagiannopoulos and George Georgiopoulos. Supporters of Greece’s bailout terms have taken a wafer-thin lead over the “No” vote backed by the leftist government, 48 hours before a referendum that may determine the country’s future in the euro zone, a poll showed.
The opinion poll by the respected ALCO institute, published in the Ethnos newspaper on Friday, put the “Yes” camp on 44.8 percent against 43.4 percent for the No” vote. But the lead was within the pollster’s 3.1 percentage point margin of error, with 11.8 percent saying they are still undecided.
With banks shuttered all week, cash withdrawals rationed and commerce seizing up, the vote could decide whether Greece gets another last-ditch financial rescue in exchange for more harsh austerity measures or plunges deeper into economic crisis.
It could also determine whether Greece becomes the first country to crash out of the 19-nation European single currency area, membership of which is meant to be irrevocable.
The survey found that 74 percent of Greeks want to stay in the euro, while just 15 percent want to return to a national currency, with 11 percent undecided. (Read more from this story HERE)
Economic Exodus Means Two-Thirds of Puerto Ricans May Soon Live in US
By Alan Yuhas. Facing a crisis of monumental proportions at home, tens of thousands of people are fleeing a Caribbean island in search of a better life in the United States only to find hardship and struggle on American shores. Their stories sound like those of millions of migrants – poverty at home, where the economy lies in tatters – but they differ from millions of others: they’re already American.
Unable to pay its $73bn debt, Puerto Rico has begun rationing water, closing schools and watching its healthcare system collapse and 45% of its people living in poverty. Emigration to the mainland has accelerated in recent years, activists say, and data shows that from 2003 to 2013 there was a population swing of more than 1.5 million people.
“This new wave of immigration can be compared with the immigration in the 1930s and 40s,” said Edgardo González, coordinator of the Defenders of Puerto Rico, an activist group. The Great Depression and second world war spurred the so-called “Great Migration”, when tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans moved to New York every year for nearly two decades.
Now most Puerto Ricans are arriving in central Florida, González said, but many cannot find jobs or even housing. “Some might stay with family for a few weeks, but for those who don’t have family, people end up homeless because of the lack of services,” he said.
“People end up living in hotels, living in cars or on the street. Then you have people who are homeless with kids, who get in trouble with the law, and you have to get into it with childcare and welfare services.” (Read more from this story HERE)
By The Judicial Watch Blog. Following the influx of illegal immigrant minors from Central America, an official at the federal agency charged with protecting public health describes Barack Obama as “the worst pres we have ever had,” an “amateur” and “Marxist,” according to internal emails obtained by Judicial Watch.
JW got the records as part of an investigation into the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) activation of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to deal with the barrage of illegal alien minors last summer. Tens of thousands of Central Americans came into the United States through the Mexican border and contagious diseases—many considered to be eradicated in the U.S.—became a tremendous concern. The CDC, which operates under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), responded by opening an emergency facility designed to monitor and coordinate response activities to eminent public health threats.
This special emergency division was created after the 2001 terrorist attacks and has responded to more than 50 public health threats, including hurricanes, food borne disease outbreaks, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the Haiti cholera outbreak. Scientists from across the CDC are brought together to analyze, validate, and efficiently exchange information during a public health emergency and connect with response partners. The EOC also coordinates the deployment of CDC staff and the procurement and management of all equipment and supplies that agency responders may need during their deployment. (Read more from “CDC Official Calls Obama Worst President, Amateur, Marxist After Influx of Illegal Alien Minors” HERE)
128 Unaccompanied Alien Children Caught at Mexican Border Per Day in May
By Brittany M. Hughes. Data obtained by CNSNews.com from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) shows about 128 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) were apprehended at the Southwest U.S. border every day during the month of May. In total, 3,965 children were caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally during that month alone.
According to the data, May was the month with the most UAC apprehensions since the start of Fiscal Year 2015 on Oct. 1.
The monthly totals of apprehended UACs have been steadily increasing since January, when 2,119 children were caught at the U.S.-Mexico border. Since then, another 2,388 children were apprehended in February, 3,131 were apprehended in March, and 3,275 were apprehended in April.
During the same time, the Obama administration has continued to tout its newly launched Central American Minors Refugee/Parole Program (CAM).
Marketed as an effort to help Latin American children avoid the dangerous and sometimes fatal journey to enter the United States illegally, the program was set up throughout Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to reunite children living in those countries with their parents who live, many of them illegally, in the United States.
Children who do not qualify as “refugees” under the legal federal definition may be granted discretionary parole into the United States on a case-by-case basis. (Read more from this story HERE)
In January, the 27-year-old Marine Corps veteran [Tyler Truitt] planted a row of gleaming solar panels in his front yard, hauled in a 550-gallon plastic tank to catch rainwater and installed a composting toilet in the single-wide trailer that he shares with girlfriend Soraya Hamar.
It’s as close to an off-the-grid lifestyle as you can come while still living in the middle of Huntsville (the trailer sits on two wooded acres at the end of Hood Road, not far from Brahan Spring Park Natatorium).
Truitt said he and Hamar should be applauded for treading lightly on the environment, and attempting to live frugally. A Redstone Arsenal employee, he is considering returning to the University of Alabama in Huntsville to complete a physics degree that he started working on before joining the Marines in 2008.
“We’re not bothering anyone,” Truitt told AL.com. “I just wanted to have something that would be debt-free, so that if I chose to go to school full-time I wouldn’t have to worry about any bills.”
Instead of being celebrated as a clean-energy trailblazer, Truitt is being taken to court by the city. (“Local Government Going After USMC Veteran for Living Off-Grid”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-03 03:58:552016-04-11 10:59:21Local Government Going After USMC Veteran for Living Off-Grid [+video]
By Daniel Horowitz. There’s no way to sugarcoat this. This Independence Day is marred by a thick darkness that cannot be illuminated by the endless fireworks over the weekend.
This week we celebrate the birthday of the greatest nation on earth, marking the 239th year since the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress in 1776. What we are truly celebrating is not the mere creation of a new nation and the document of secession from England, but the founding of a country on the self-evident, God-given rights and ideals expressed in the Declaration. It is those ideals that gave birth to what would become the greatest nation in the world and would distinguish the American Revolution from the many other rebellions that led to the formation of new countries throughout history.
The Importance of the Declaration – even more than the Constitution
These revolutionary ideals we celebrate are self-evident truths “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That in order to protect these rights people are entitled to popular sovereignty – to form a government that derives its powers “from the consent of the governed.” The Declaration concluded “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence” for success in establishing this new nation constructed upon the foundation of God-given rights.
The subsequent crafting of the Constitution was built upon all the principles of the Declaration and any ambiguity in the law must not countermand any of the self-evident truths expressed on Independence Day.
President Calvin Coolidge noted in his July 4, 1926 speech commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration that although the Founders knew that the times and technology would change and progress, the ideals expressed in this document were to be interminable. In his own words:
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.
While Coolidge was clearly taking a veiled shot at the progressives of his time who were beginning to alter the framework of our Founding, he was still able to confidently assert in 1926 that “America can fairly claim that it has remained true to the principles which were declared 150 years ago.”
How far have we strayed from those self-evident truths?
Standing here today 89 years after Coolidge’s seminal speech, what can we say about the state of the principles declared 239 years ago? In this era of hyper-progressivism and paganism, which Coolidge rightly observes as regressive, there is indeed no equality, no rights of the individual, and no rule of the people. Not only has our system of government been hijacked by those who stray from these principles, the ruling elite have bastardized these very principles to justify their new order – an evolving philosophy that is antithetical to the self-evident truths of nature and nature’s God.
Equal Rights and Pursuit of Happiness
Equal rights? That ideal has been replaced by the pagan Gods of political correctness, established and guided by a tiny ruling elite, which has granted special rights to selected protected groups at the expense of the individual. In one fell swoop, the Supreme Court has enshrined “disparate impact” into our Constitution, mandating subjectively equal outcomes for their favored groups in all areas of private life and punishing what the Thought Police perceive as “unconscious prejudices” – an anathema to the true ideal of equality expressed in the Declaration. The most irrational repudiation of natural law has allowed this growing trend of super-rights – invented rights granted by government instead of God – to infringe upon the pursuit of happiness and private enterprise of those who reserve just the inherent rights granted by God.
This fringe ruling class has concocted special rights for transgenderism, homosexual marriage, and other specious ideas that run counter to the laws of nature – “rights” our Founders could have never fathomed. These special rights are creating a brush fire of tyranny that is threatening to violate all forms of religious liberty with the vitiation of private property rights and the imposition of involuntary servitude.
And this assault on religious liberty to benefit a fringe libertine minority, which is unprecedented since our nation’s founding, is in itself rooted in the erosion of the ideals of civil liberty and property rights (pursuit of happiness). With the ability to tax and regulate almost every act – and in the case of Obamacare, even inaction – government, not God, has become the benefactor of those rights. It was only a matter of time before this 100-year march towards government control of private property and commerce (pursuit of happiness) would inevitably lead to the curtailment of religious liberty.
As John Witherspoon presciently warned, “there is not a single instance in history, in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.”
Life
And what about life? Once again, the culture of extirpating God from the consciousness of this nation has led to the loss of life for nearly 60 million babies since 1973. For all the talk about how they feel “progressive” values can supplant inherent rights and create new rights not expressed in the Declaration or Constitution, the Left regressively ignores modern technology that shows babies fully formed in the womb as a human life, certainly after 20 weeks.
Popular Sovereignty
What does a government that derives its powers from the consent of the governed look like? We now have a Congress that is impossible to replace through the electoral process, irrespective of their mandate from the people. Because Congress has abused its enumerated powers from its original scope as laid out in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, the cycle of money and politics allows the congressional leaders of both parties to use the boot of government to entrench their own political interests.
What’s worse, Congress has outsourced most of its legislative mandate to an unelected executive bureaucracy. They won’t even wield the power of the purse to reign in an imperial president from fundamentally transforming America through immigration, something that even King George lacked the power to implement without the English Parliament during the times of the revolution. Indeed, James Madison referred to the power of the purse “as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.” Yet, with a corrupt Congress that has outsourced their job to the executive, we now have governance without representation and a legislature that has permanently abdicated their responsibility.
Furthermore, we now have a Supreme Court that has given full license to the Executive Branch to legislate as they see fit, and in the event that they need help, the Chief Justice is more than eager to legislate himself. They have become de facto legislators, except that they have lifetime appointments with no practical way of being held accountable. Hence, a government that does not derive its powers from the consent of the governed.
The Brush Fire Against the Foundation of the Declaration of Independence
Nowhere is this rapid abandonment of the principles asserted in the Declaration more evident than with the growing brushfire in this country against religious liberty.
How ironic that the ideals expressed in the Declaration, which were rooted in the inviolable truth of natural law and nature’s God, would be countermanded 230 years later by a relentless war on God and natural law. How tragic that religious liberty – the very impetus for the creation of America – is now under assault by a powerful decadent elite who seek to eradicate religion, not just from the public square, but from private institutions and businesses – and in short order – even from one’s home.
Liberty-loving Americans have watched the slow erosion of their God-given rights and Founding principles for close to a century turn into a brushfire over the past few years, threatening to destroy every principle, tradition, and civil societal institution we hold dear. With religious liberty in the crosshairs of the fringe elite, for how much longer will the patriots continue playing checkers while their opponents play chess? (“What Does Independence Look Like Today?”, originally posted HERE)
Smaller Majority “Extremely Proud” to Be an American
By Art Swift. As Independence Day approaches, most in the U.S. say they are proud to be an American, including a slight majority, 54%, who are “extremely proud.” The percentage saying they are “extremely proud” is slightly lower than in recent years and down from peaks at and around 70% between 2002 and 2004, after 9/11.
In addition to the 54% who are extremely proud to be an American, 27% say they are “very proud,” 14% say they are “moderately proud,” 4% are “only a little proud” and 1% state that they are “not at all proud.”
These data are from a June 2-7 poll. Gallup has asked this question regularly since 2001. The highest percentage saying they were “extremely proud” to be an American came in 2003, in the months after the Iraq war began and not long after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when Americans’ patriotism surged. It is likely that the aftermath of 9/11 may have produced an anomaly in the levels of “extreme pride” in patriotism.
Older Americans, Southerners and Republicans Lead in “Extreme Pride”
While most Americans are proud to be an American, certain groups are especially likely to say they are extremely proud. “Extreme pride” rises for each succeeding age group, from a low of 43% among those under 30 to a high of 64% among senior citizens. (Read more from this story HERE)
The shunning of Trump is in response to his uh, memorable presidential announcement that included comments about the alleged criminality of Mexican immigrants that were typically crude. . .
Although this isn’t anything new. The companies fleeing from Trump were happy to be in bed with him so long as it suited their business interests. Now, they are acting on what has become one of the foremost principles of American public life: It’s no longer enough to be offended, you must punish the offender.
I was skeptical Trump was really running, but now that the boats are burned behind him, watch out. He’s set to be Herman Cain squared — an early-nominating-season phenomenon with a massive media megaphone.
As for his instantly notorious Mexico comments, they did more to insult than to illuminate, yet there was a kernel in them that hit on an important truth that typical politicians either don’t know or simply fear to speak. “When Mexico sends its people,” Trump said, “they’re not sending their best.”
We aren’t raiding the top 1 percent of Mexicans and importing them to this country. (Read more from “Trump Seems to Really Be Running and, by the Way, What He Said About Mexicans Wasn’t All Inaccurate” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-03 03:58:362016-04-11 10:59:21Trump Seems to Really be Running and, By the Way, What he Said About Mexicans Wasn’t All Inaccurate
Forget Little Green Men – Aliens Will Look Like Humans, Says Cambridge University Evolution Expert
By Paul Gallagher. They are often portrayed on screen as little green men with elongated limbs and saucer-like eyes.
From E.T to the X-Files, aliens from outer space have captured our imagination for decades.
Yet a new book from a leading evolutionary biologist argues that if they exist and we ever encountered them, they would look very similar to us.
Professor Simon Conway Morris said extra-terrestrials that resemble human beings should have evolved on at least some of the many Earth-like planets that have been discovered by astronomers.
In his new book published on 2 July, The Runes of Evolution, the University of Cambridge academic builds on the principle of convergent evolution – that different species will independently evolve similar features, with the comparison of the camera eye of an octopus and a human eye a favourite example – and argues it will not just took place on Earth. (Read more from “Forget Little Green Men – Aliens Will Look Like Humans, Says Cambridge University Evolution Expert” HERE)
MOD to Release UK’s Top Secret UFO ‘X-Files’ That ‘Could Prove Aliens Exist’
By Jon Austin. The major boost for alien hunters can be exclusively revealed by Express.co.uk on World UFO Day, which campaigners are using to call for the release of all such records globally.
UFO researchers, backed by House of Lords peer, have been fighting for the release of 18 top secret Ministry of Defence (MoD) files about UFO sightings from more than 30 years ago.
The Government faced claims of a cover-up from conspiracy theorists when their release was stalled at the end of 2013.
Some investigators claim the files could provide key evidence of extra-terrestrial life visiting the UK and of specific information about famous controversial sightings such as the Rendlesham Forest incident – a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and the alleged landing of one or more craft in Suffolk in late December 1980.
Lord Black of Brentwood, who asked the Government for an update through a Parliamentary question, was assured yesterday – the day before World UFO day – the files would be released by the MoD to the National Archives by March next year. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-03 03:58:282016-04-11 10:59:21Leading Evolutionist Demonstrates Why Most People Believe in Intelligent Design
We’ve experienced a national tragedy recently with the Supreme Court redefining a few different terms. Like a legislative body legislating against gravity, they are ultimately showing their arrogant denial for what is, in order to try and create their fantasy of what is not. It’s a progressive, utopian agenda, based on the belief that all men should be servants to government, instead of the sovereign individuals that God created them to be, with government’s duty being to serve the citizens and protect their rights.
This in itself is not the moral decline that has been affecting our country for three hundred years; it is just a shocking reminder of that ongoing decline. It is a sign of the advancing thought process that sees government as the god who will watch over us and demands submission from us. The next step, as so many thoughtful commentators have pointed out, and as testified to by government lawyers in the latest case, is the trampling of religious liberty.
Nationally, we’ve had not only Supreme Court decisions, but have been betrayed by our Senators in their approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership fast track, with the TPP being the largest public surrendering of US Sovereignty ever contemplated. However, I’m only talking about what’s happening nationally to bring focus on the fact that real political change will only come about by starting at the local level.
While I participate in elections for our national representation and send occasional emails about what needs to be done, I certainly don’t believe that I, or most individuals, have much influence on what goes on in Washington, D.C. At the State level, especially in Alaska, we can exert more influence, and that is certainly worth putting some effort into. What I’ve seen though is that we can really have an effect on the local level.
History has often shown that a small percentage of vocal hard-working people can have a large influence on our culture and in politics. Historical numbers have shown that it is really about 3% of the population that makes a difference in elections. Just last year in Fairbanks we had a local election turnout of 16.9%, and a major ballot issue was decided by 355 votes, which was about half a percent.
Let’s look at consequences of local elections to see the long and short-term impacts they make. The negative consequences of not participating are huge as our local borough learned with a last minute tax increase of half a mill taking school district funding to record levels. A note about that funding is that the mill rate increase later went down to a quarter mill when assessments increased, but the school district had saved half of the money instead of using it, so the increase in taxes ended up only putting money into the school district’s savings accounts. The loss of property rights are another easy way to see negative results of not participating in the local elections, and in our borough specifically the loss of ability to be able to cost-effectively heat your home.
Now let’s look at some benefits of participation. A big one is the principle of interposition. This is based on a core principle of the American system where individuals are sovereign and more local layers of government are more sovereign than less local ones. This is a principle that has been used by states to stop federal government encroachment in the past. It also applies to local government vs the state or feds. This is why county sheriffs are the most powerful law enforcement agent in their local jurisdiction, and can dictate to federal or state agents. This local power has been used even here in Fairbanks to revolt against the MTBE additive the federal government tried to push on us some years ago with its usual lack of science and research. That push got the State to interpose and declare they weren’t going to obey that edict, and we ended up winning and stopping that awful agenda. As the EPA has now even decided to regulate ditches on roads, it is a ripe environment for local governments to protect their citizenry from out-of-control federal regulators.
Another aspect of local elections is that many, many state and federal politicians get their start on the local level. Ben Franklin was on the City Council, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson both began on local bodies (House of Burgesses), Sam Adams was elected Tax Assessor/Collector of Boston, and the list goes on. By taking a long-term view of politics, it is a good investment to pay attention to local elections, and helping conservatives get elected, so that in the future you can have those conservatives fighting tax increases at the state level.
Conservatives not going to the polls leaves the selection process to those who have a vested interest in increasing government spending. Two-thirds of FNSB assembly members elected in the last three years voted for the completely unnecessary tax increase. Ultimately, modern politics is a war between those who believe that we should be economic slaves of government and those who feel we should be able to lead our lives as we see fit. When you don’t show up for the largest battle every year, then you are just ceding ground to those who seem to despise individual, economic and religious liberty. Rome fell to barbarians even though there were plenty of men to defend its walls. The citizens of Rome just gave up and left their positions because of apathy, not caring anymore about their city being destroyed, but the end result of that was their own property and lives being decimated. The strategy of local participation is what can protect our rights, staying home on voting day is how to lose them.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-03 03:58:192016-04-11 10:59:21Local Politics Is the Strategy
It is easy for libertarians, conservatives and capitalists to be upset with popes … although it is also easy to be selective about quoting them. After all, it was Pius XI who said, as late as 1931, that “No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true socialist.”
Despite this, Catholic bishops, especially in the West, appear to be totally addicted to socialist doctrines. This is not an inconsistency of Catholic teaching, but rather an inconsistency in its application. Confiscation and redistribution by the state is, after all, a violation of the Fifth Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal”, and not only stifles, but makes a mockery, out of voluntary Christian charity.
It is from this school that Pope Francis comes. Catholic teaching on papal infallibility does not guarantee popes from error except in very limited circumstances, such as making centuries-long traditions that come into question by theologians, into defining dogma. The last time a pope used this tool was in 1870, and involved the Virgin Mary.
It has been centuries since the Catholic Church has had a weak or even a bad pope, but no Catholic can deny that there have been some lemons in the mix of the 266 Vicars of Christ since St. Peter. The problem is, criticism of popes and their often foolish remarks ought to be shared with Catholics, and even then, it would be best to allow the passage of time to pass a verdict on the legacy of any pontificate.
Tim Brown’s anti-catholic screed is hardly worthy of any sensible reply, for it repeats emotional calumnies and generalizations that demonstrate colossal ignorance about what Catholic teaching is, how Catholic doctrine is formed, or how the canon or body of teaching cannot be changed by the whim or personal predilections of individual popes.
Pope Francis, by all measurements available to us, is a confused and weak pope. His refusal to entertain scientific evidence that disdains politically correct and government-funded climate science reminds us of a child who stops his ears and talks loudly to avoid hearing something unpleasant. His invitation to abortion apologists into the Vatican as advisors, his disparaging remarks about large Catholic families, and his sympathy towards renegade cardinals and bishops, bode ill for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
But no pope is without virtues, and to hear Dr. Tim Brown decry the pope for living in a thousand-room mansion, with servants, is amazing in that Francis has made a point to live as humbly in the Vatican as he did in Buenos Aires.
Or did I miss something?
Then, too, there is the problem of selective reporting by the secular media. As a candidate for public office, and as a prolife activist, I know a little about this. Folks writing about this pope ought to read the entire interviews. Few would doubt that Francis’ remarks, especially the one about “Who am I to judge?” have been taken out of context. We might charitably expect that the same thing has been done regarding his comment on the manufacturing of weapons.
And I would remind our protestant and anti-Catholic brethren that we have homosexual marriage because it was protestants, and not Catholics, who have permitted divorce … and remarriage … and contraception … and in many denominations, abortion. All of these have, together with homosexuality, divided the marital act from its accepted and inseparable duality of procreation and spousal unity. It was the protestant churches who held this doctrine along with the Catholics — until the 1930s. It would be well to read what both Luther and Calvin said on the subject.
And, in case Dr. Brown missed it, Pope Francis has affirmed the most unpopular and controversial encyclical in centuries, Humanae Vitae, issued by the supposedly liberal Paul VI in 1968, against the majority advice of his own secular and religious advisors, and which clearly predicted the mess we are in.
In Catholic worship, Francis has also continued the “reform of the reform” begun by Benedict and John Paul: returning the sense of sacred to the Catholic Mass, rather than the false, banal and mundane “Spirit of Vatican II.” These are very, very conservative actions by a supposedly very, very liberal pope, but only a few Catholics are even aware of it.
I could wreak havoc about protestants, their inconsistencies, their historical records, and their doctrines … but Christian charity, the need for Christian unity, genuine friendship and dare I say need in these benighted times, prevent me from doing so. I would hope that Joe Miller’s excellent Restoring Liberty website will, in the future, more carefully screen the offerings that it chooses to post for the rest of us to digest.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-03 03:58:092016-04-11 10:59:21On Pope Francis: A Response to Tim Brown’s Anti-Catholic Screed
Each Fourth of July and throughout the year, Americans express their support for the freedoms they enjoy and for the unlimited opportunities they have to improve their station in life because of The Free Enterprise System. The Fourth of July is also an opportunity for each Patriotic American to celebrate a second birthday.
Countless generations of Americans fought for and under the American Flag. The American Flag symbolizes the unity of the American people, is flown on national holidays, and symbolizes the principles upon which the Founding Fathers established the Republic, in signing the Declaration of Independence 239 years ago.
On the Fourth and every day, Americans continue to demonstrate their support for Military Veterans, members of the US Armed Forces who swore to protect and defend the US Constitution, and proudly served in the defense of the Republic, under the American Flag.
At one point in their lives, Americans who served in the US Armed Forces, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including their lives.” The courage demonstrated by Combat Veterans who served in the defense of the Republic, can be appropriately described by a quote, made in 352 BC, by King Philip of Macedonia: “Here is courage, mankind’s finest possession. Here is the noblest prize.”
High Alerts have been issued by US Intelligence Agencies because of threats of attacks by ISIS terrorists on the United States during Fourth of July celebrations. We encourage all Americans to respond to those threats by flying the American Flag on the Fourth of July weekend, and by continuing to join with their fellow Americans to celebrate the Fourth of July in the same way they have done so in the past. (“Happy Fourth of July, God Bless the USA!”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-03 03:57:542016-04-11 10:59:21Happy Fourth of July, God Bless the USA! [+videos]
Credit – Getty ImagesBy NPR. Ted Cruz has some unsolicited advice for the states not specifically named in last week’s Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage: Ignore it.
“Those who are not parties to the suit are not bound by it,” the Texas Republican told NPR News’ Steve Inskeep in an interview published on Monday. Since only suits against the states of Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky were specifically considered in the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which was handed down last Friday, Cruz — a former Supreme Court clerk — believes that other states with gay marriage bans need not comply, absent a judicial order.
“[O]n a great many issues, others have largely acquiesced, even if they were not parties to the case,” the 2016 presidential contender added, “but there’s no legal obligation to acquiesce to anything other than a court judgement.”
While Cruz’s statement may be technically true, federal district and circuit courts are obligated to follow the Supreme Court’s precedent and overrule all other states’ same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional.
The Texas senator then went on to suggest that Republicans who have called for following the court’s decision are members of a “Washington cartel” and are lying when they say they do not support same-sex marriage. (See more from “Sen. Ted Cruz Tells States to Ignore Supreme Court Ruling” HERE)
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Megyn Kelly Grills Ted Cruz Over Supreme Court Fix; ‘You Want to Rewrite the Constitution?’
By Michael Schaus. Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz tangled with “The Kelly File” host Megyn Kelly Tuesday, defending his proposal to give American voters the power to remove Supreme Court justices through the ballot box.
Kelly challenged the Texas senator’s plan, saying his plan to “rewrite the Constitution” would result in a court that was even more political than it is now.
Justices are now appointed by the president with the confirmation by the Senate. Barring impeachment, they hold lifetime terms. And since only one Supreme Court justice has ever been impeached (Samuel Chase was acquitted by the Senate in 1805 and remained on the court), they serve in effect until they die or choose to retire.
Cruz, who has been vocal in his outrage over the court’s decisions last week upholding Obamacare and making gay marriage a constitutional right, argued that a amending the Constitution to allowing citizens to vote on retaining judges is the only way to keep the court in check . . .
“How would an electorate that twice elected Barack Obama create a court that you like better?” she asked. (Read more from “Megyn Kelly Grills Ted Cruz Over Supreme Court Fix; ‘You Want to Rewrite the Constitution?'” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-07-02 03:51:212016-04-11 10:59:22Senator Ted Cruz Tells States to Ignore Supreme Court Ruling on Homosexual Marriage
