If an average person happened upon the world’s most poisonous snake and the world’s most poisonous fish engaged in battle, stepping between them would probably be the last idea to come to mind. Leaving the area and trying to find a change of underpants would be more likely.
But for experienced diver and fisherman Rick Trippe of Darwin, Australia, breaking up such a deadly struggle of nature didn’t even require a second thought.
The Australian realtor with a passion for being on the water found a sea snake and stonefish fighting each other during a Thursday trip in Darwin Harbor. He separated them with his own two hands and set them both free. The photos he posted of the encounter on his Facebook page quickly went viral, netting him emails from around the globe that probably contain phrases like “Are you insane?!?”
Trippe told CNET’s Crave blog that he and a friend had just “up-anchored from an old World War II wreck and were feeling pretty chuffed” about the fish they caught when he first noticed the sea snake.
“We were going to our next wreck when we saw something in the middle of the harbor but couldn’t make out what it says,” Trippe said. “So with curiosity, we motored over to find a massive sea snake. It was close to 2 meters (6.5 feet) long and thick. As we approached the sea snake, we saw that it had a stonefish in its mouth.” (Read more from “Diver Breaks up Mortal Combat Between Deadly Sea Snake, Stonefish” HERE)
Vanderbilt University’s Women’s Center will be hosting a week-long event dedicated to lecturing men about what it means to have “healthy masculinity.”
The “Healthy Masculinities Week” is sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, which claims to be devoted to “Celebrating Women” while “Empowering All.”
The mission of the Women’s Center is to affirm a “space for all members of the Vanderbilt community that acknowledges and actively resists sexism, racism, homophobia, and all forms of oppression while advocating for positive social change.”
The “core values” of the Women’s Center includes the idea that, “progress toward gender equality calls all of us to be champions for change” while simultaneously claiming to “celebrate the unique differences among all persons and work to build community in diversity.”
“Healthy Masculinities Week” hopes to encourage men to “[e]xplore healthy masculinity through various lenses,” such as “American society, the gay and bisexual community, fraternities, and more.” (Read more from “Vanderbilt Women’s Center to Lecture Men on ‘Healthy Masculinities'” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 22:17:352015-09-03 22:17:35Vanderbilt Women’s Center to Lecture Men on ‘Healthy Masculinities’
By Bob Unruh. A federal judge who previously has sided with arguments for partial-birth abortion and homosexual clubs in public schools ordered jail on Thursday for a Kentucky county clerk who refused to violate her faith and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Judge David Bunning said fines were not enough punishment for the Christian clerk, Kim Davis.
“Everyone is stunned at this development,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which has been representing her.
“Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she cannot violate her conscience. While she may be behind bars for now, Kim Davis is a free woman. Her conscience remains unshackled.”
Staver said Davis “is a woman of strong faith.”
“She never sought to be in this position,” he said. “She would rather not be in this predicament. But here she is. All she asks is to be true to God and her conscience. And the tragedy is that there are simple ways to accommodate her convictions. Just remove her name from the marriage licenses. That’s all she has asked from the beginning. Today’s events will escalate this debate to a new level. This is not the kind of America the Founders envisioned or that most Americans want.” (Read more from this story HERE)
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Refusal to Issue a Same-Sex Marriage License Is a Civic Duty
By Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson. Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis lost her application in the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of a federal court order requiring her to issue a marriage license to a couple of the same sex. Denial of the stay put Clerk Davis in a difficult situation. Although the nation’s press has portrayed her as lawless, this one courageous lady is standing in the gap, defending the rule of law against judicial tyranny.
As an elected official faced with an obviously illegitimate Supreme Court opinion, in a better time, a President could have explained to the American people why the Fourteenth Amendment has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, and protected her. Failing that, Clerk Davis should have been able to call on her state’s Governor to protect her — to interpose between her and the five Justices. However, Democrat Governor Steven Lynn Beshear is demanding she make a choice – either resign, or comply with his lawless instructions to implement the Supreme Court decision sanctifying same sex marriage. The Governor apparently believes in the unconstitutional Doctrine of Judicial Supremacy — that by a stroke of the pen, five elite lawyers wearing black robes can rewrite the Constitution, and that no one may question their decisions. Even worse, the Governor apparently cares nothing about the created order. He has no problem with a Court that had the audacity to try to change the Creator’s definition of marriage for all America — by pretending to find the issue hidden in the penumbras and emanations of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.
Clerk Davis’ position is quite different. She stands on God’s law and Kentucky’s law. God’s law is clear. See Genesis 2:18-24; Matthew 19:4-6. And, according to Kentucky law,
and notwithstanding the Governor’s action unilaterally preempting the authority of the Kentucky legislature, same-sex couples simply are not eligible to obtain a marriage license. Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1, was passed by 75 percent of the voters in 2004. It states: “Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.”
Must Clerk Davis conform her practices as Clerk to those of a lawless Supreme Court and a capitulated Governor? Surely not. She decided she cannot turn back now. Having stated that her behavior is constrained by her understanding of God’s law, any retreat would do damage to the name and reputation of the Lord. She could resign. But resignation would be the equivalent to admitting that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s folly, no Bible-believing Christian or Jew can serve in public office in America. Efforts are already beginning to use the Obergefell decision to remove Christian judges across America.
Clerk Davis is constrained by her civic duty as an elected official in Kentucky, sworn to uphold the Constitution. As a lower civil magistrate, she had only one course of action – to refuse to issue the marriage license to the same-sex couple BECAUSE the federal court order requiring her to issue the license is based upon a wholly illegitimate decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that same-sex couples are constitutionally entitled to marry. Although some have tried to muddy the waters as to her reasons for resisting, this case is not a matter of her conscience or her personal religious scruples. It is about her civic duty as a civil government official. She resists illegality not because her conscience is offended, but rather it is her conscience and religious beliefs that gives her the courage to stand against lawlessness. She is well aware that she could face the court’s sanction for disobedience of a court order, perhaps including civil or criminal contempt of court.
However, Clerk Davis is bound by her oath to support the Kentucky State Constitution, and the United States Constitution – not as perversely and politically “interpreted” by the Supreme Court, or even by the Governor of Kentucky – but as she understands her oath to be. If it were to be otherwise, her oath would not be to support the Constitution, but rather a pledge of fealty to obey a higher government officer no matter how lawless that higher officer may behave.
According to Romans 13:4, Clerk Davis is a minister of God for good, and not for evil. While she is elected by the people, she is to serve the people according to the laws of God and men. As a servant of God, she has no authority to implement a court ruling that is contrary to God’s law. According to God’s law, two people of the same sex cannot marry, marriage being reserved to only one human relationship, one male and one female in a lifetime committed union. See Matthew 19:4-5. As was true for the apostles Peter and John when brought before the Council in Acts 4 and 5, Clerk Davis must obey God not men. Acts 5:29.
Therefore, Clerk Davis could not resign, and could not capitulate, so she resisted by interposing herself as a lower civil magistrate sworn to uphold the law, not just to do what a higher civil magistrate has ordered her to do. By resisting, Clerk Davis has been taken into federal custody, and could be fined. But she will be blessed of God for her righteous stand embracing the rule of law, and resisting tyrannical power. And, Clerk Davis’ courage just might inspire those in authority to have the courage of what they claim to be their convictions and join in the resistance.
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Herbert W. Titus taught Constitutional Law for 26 years, and concluded his academic career as the Founding Dean of Regent Law School. William J. Olson served in three positions in the Reagan Administration. Together they have filed over 80 briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, and dozens more in lower courts, addressing important public policy issues. They now practice law together at William J. Olson, P.C. They can be reached at [email protected] or twitter.com/Olsonlaw.
This article is part of a series on “Building Resistance to Same-Sex Marriage.” Please support this important work with a contribution to the U.S. Justice Foundation. Permission is freely granted to publish, copy, reproduce, distribute, or excerpt from this article for any purpose.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 10:16:182015-09-03 10:16:18Clerk Jailed for Religious Beliefs; Refusal to Issue a Same-Sex Marriage License Is a Civic Duty
By Jeremy Page and Gordon Lubold. Five Chinese navy ships are currently operating in the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska, the first time the U.S. military has seen such activity in the area, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
The officials said they have been aware in recent days that three Chinese combat ships, a replenishment vessel and an amphibious ship were in the vicinity after observing them moving toward the Aleutian Islands, which are split between U.S. and Russian control.
They said the Chinese ships were still in the area, but declined to specify when the vessels were first spotted or how far they were from the coast of Alaska, where President Barack Obama is winding up a three-day visit.
“This would be a first in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands,” one defense official said of the Chinese ships. “I don’t think we’d characterize anything they’re doing as threatening.” The Pentagon official confirmed that the five ships were operating in international waters.
Pentagon officials also said there was no information suggesting the Chinese ships had gone through the Bering Strait, a narrow waterway north of the sea that abuts Alaska. (Read more from “Five Chinese Navy Ships Are Operating in Bering Sea off Alaska Coast” HERE)
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Obama Heads to Arctic Community on Last Day of Alaska Tour
By Roberta Rampton and Steve Quinn. President Barack Obama on Wednesday will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit a community north of the Arctic Circle, a trek the White House hopes will bring into focus how climate change is affecting Americans.
After meeting tribal leaders and fishermen in Dillingham, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, Obama will fly into Kotzebue, an Arctic town of about 3,000 that is battling coastal erosion caused by rising seas.
In Kotzebue, Williie Goodwin, 71, said he hoped Obama would see the effect climate change has had on migration patterns of animals. But he said he does not want the federal government to restrict mining and energy production because jobs in those sectors would keep the North going. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-02 23:59:002015-09-02 23:59:00UNPRECEDENTED PROVOCATION: Five Chinese Navy Ships Are Operating off the Alaska Coast While Obama Visits Nearby Kotzebue
The controversy continues in Kentucky as Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis steadfastly refuses to issue gay marriage licenses in her office despite the Supreme Court’s insistence that she relent and issue the licenses. There’s been a lot said about the clerk, but former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has brought up at least one thing that no one else seems interested in discussing.
In a letter sent to his supporters, Huckabee is asking a series of questions about Kim Davis and her situation. One thing he notes is that Kim is a Democrat, something that few are mentioning, especially those in the mainstream media.
Here is what Huckabee told his supporters.
I spoke with Kim Davis this morning to offer my prayers and support. For those of you who don’t know, Kim is the Rowan County Clerk, a Democrat, who is under fire from the left for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses in Kentucky.
I let Kim know how proud I am of her for not abandoning her religious convictions and standing strong for religious liberty. She is showing more courage and humility than just about any federal officeholder in Washington.
Kim is asking the perfect question: ‘Under what law am I authorized to issue homosexual couples a marriage license?’ That simple question is giving many in Congress a civics lesson that they never got in grade school.
(Read more from “Mike Huckabee Brings up the One Thing About Kim Davis No One’s Talking About, but Should Be” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-02 23:43:162015-09-02 23:43:16Mike Huckabee Brings up the One Thing About Kim Davis No One’s Talking About, but Should Be
This week, Hillary Clinton sent out an email asking for campaign donations and said that Republicans are going after “women’s health.” Although her email did not mention the videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s organ harvesting business, it is obvious that she is referring to pro-life Republicans who are trying to defund the abortion company.
She said, “I have to admit, I take it a little personally when Republicans go after women’s rights, and women’s health especially. Their extreme views are out-of-touch and out-of-date. We need to make sure not one of them becomes president. The way we do that is by engaging as many women in this campaign as possible.” In August, Senate Democrats filibustered legislation that would revoke $550 million of Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding, while almost every Senate Republican voted for the legislation.
The Blaze reports that Clinton’s email asked for a donation of at least $1 and said her campaign is launching “Women for Hillary.”
As LifeNews previously reported, Clinton’s spokesperson admitted that the former Secretary of State has not actually watched the Planned Parenthood footage even though she said it was “disturbing.” Karen Finney told MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, “I think that she said that she’s seen images or pictures but she hasn’t seen the videos.”
However, later she came out with a video announcing her opposition to legislation that would completely defund the abortion company. In the video, she said she’s “proud to stand with Planned Parenthood” and criticized lawmakers who are working to take away their government funding. (Read more from “Hillary Clinton Fundraises off of Videos Catching Planned Parenthood Selling Aborted Babies” HERE)
Democratic Party fundraiser and gay activist Terry Bean made sex-abuse allegations with a 17-year-old boy disappear on Tuesday thanks to a $200,000 settlement offer.
Terry Bean, 67, faced child sexual-abuse charges over a September 2013 incident that allegedly occurred at a Eugene, Oregon, hotel with his ex-boyfriend, 25-year-old Kiah Lawson, and the teenager. Lane County Circuit Judge Jay McAlpin dismissed the case when Lane County Chief Deputy District Attorney Erik Hasselman said the teenager declined to testify, the Register Guard reported Wednesday . . .
Bean released a statement after the decision, saying “I have been silent for almost a year on the advice of my attorney, but while I am relieved that the charges against me have been dropped, this nightmare never should have even begun,” the Oregonian reported Tuesday. “I take some measure of comfort that the world now knows what I have always known – that I was falsely accused and completely innocent of every accusation that was made.”
The Deputy District Attorney Hasselman said that while the young man refused to testify, he maintains he was the victim of third-degree sexual abuse and third-degree sodomy, the Register Guard reported.
Hasselman said he is convinced that a civil compromise offered by Bean, which is legal under Oregon law, influenced the young man’s decision. A judge had denied the offer in July. (Read more from “$200,000 Offer Ends ‘Gay’ Democrat’s Child-Sex Charges” HERE)
Warning that the constitutional rights of tens of millions of Americans are being violated, a federal judge said Wednesday that he’s eager to expedite a lawsuit seeking to shut down the National Security Agency’s controversial program to collect data on large volumes of U.S. telephone calls.
During an hourlong hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, Judge Richard Leon repeatedly urged the conservative lawyer who brought the suit to take steps to allow the case to move forward quickly by asking a federal appeals court to formally relinquish control over an appeal in the case.
Leon noted that the so-called bulk collection program is set to shut down on November 29 as part of a transition to a new system where queries will be sent to telephone companies rather than to a central database stored at the NSA.
“The clock is running and there isn’t much time between now and November 29,” Leon told conservative gadfly Larry Klayman. “This court believes there are millions and millions of Americans whose constitutional rights have been and are being violated, but the window…for action is very small….It’s time to move.”
Leon also told Justice Department lawyers that he was intent on moving the case forward and would not countenance any stalling aimed at preventing him from acting in the case before the program, aimed at aiding terrorism investigations, ends. (Read more from “Judge Eager to Re-Enter NSA Surveillance Fight” HERE)
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a conservative Christian-based organization has jumped into the fray between the atheist group Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) and American colleges and universities.
Recently, the FFRF sent letters to 15 colleges and universities, pressuring the schools to fire the chaplains of their football teams. This is because, according to the FFRF, appointing a football chaplain in a sports team is unconstitutional.
The FFRF claims that schools should abolish their chaplaincy because “Christian coaches and chaplains are converting football fields into mission fields” and that appointing football chaplains is a form of “religious discrimination.”
A report by FFRF goes on to say that schools cannot “use the coercive nature and structure of a public football program to mandate, order, or even suggest that players under their control should worship as the coaches wish.”
The atheist group suggests instead that “it is in the best interest of public universities to adopt policies that protect student athletes from discrimination and unlawful religious coercion.” (Read more from “Conservative Christian Group Defends US Schools From Atheists Who Want Football Chaplains Abolished” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-02 23:38:152015-09-02 23:38:15Conservative Christian Group Defends US Schools From Atheists Who Want Football Chaplains Abolished
Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday moved to reassure Congress that Israel and America’s Gulf State allies would be fully taken care of in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal, which Kerry acknowledged would not stop Iran’s support for terrorism, according to a letter sent by the secretary of state to lawmakers.
Just moments after the White House secured enough votes to override a congressional veto of the Iran deal, a letter from Kerry appeared in the inboxes of congressional offices across Capitol Hill.
Kerry admits that, despite the deal, Iran will continue to back terrorist groups across the globe and promises to boost military support and funding to Israel and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The letter comes in response to concerns among lawmakers, Israel, and other Gulf region allies that the nuclear accord will boost the Islamic Republic’s support for terrorism, while leaving traditional U.S. allies on the defense.
“Important questions have been raised concerning the need to increase security assistance to our allies and partners in the region and to enhance our efforts to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region,” Kerry writes. “We share the concern expressed by many in Congress regarding Iran’s continued support for terrorist and proxy groups throughout the region, its propping up of the Assad regime in Syria, its efforts to undermine the stability of its regional neighbors, and the threat it poses to Israel.” (Read more from “Kerry Promises Israel, Saudis Money in Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-02 23:36:472015-09-02 23:36:47Kerry Promises Israel, Saudis Money in Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal
If an average person happened upon the world’s most poisonous snake and the world’s most poisonous fish engaged in battle, stepping between them would probably be the last idea to come to mind. Leaving the area and trying to find a change of underpants would be more likely.
