City Says Church Is Running an Illegal Pot Shop; Church Makes This RIDICULOUS Claim

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The city of Newport Beach, California, has filed suit against a church for allegedly operating an illegal pot shop, but the church claims its use of marijuana is a form of religious expression, KCBS-TV reported.

Newport Beach police conducted an undercover operation and inspection of the Church of the Holy Grail earlier this year and found evidence that it was operating a marijuana dispensary without a state license and in violation of “numerous City laws,” according to the suit filed June 25.

The church said its marijuana business is not illegal, but rather a form of religious expression, according to court documents. . .

The city issued an administration citation that advised the group to cease its operations. Cristian L. Peirano, an attorney for Holy Grail, responded on the same day to the city’s citation.

“In this letter, Holy Grail asserts, inter alia, that its use of marijuana is a lawful exercise of religion,” Peirano wrote in response, according to the court documents. Peirano did not respond to KCBS’ request for comment Sunday. (Read more from “City Says Church Is Running an Illegal Pot Shop; Church Makes This Ridiculous Claim” HERE)

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Government Fires Doctor for Refusing to Identify Transgender Patients by Their Chosen Pronouns

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The National Health Service in the United Kingdom fired a Christian doctor who refused to identify transgender patients by their chosen pronouns.

David Mackereth, who worked for the NHS for 26 years, told the Telegraph that the British government denied him his rights to freedom of speech based on his faith.

Mackereth had been training to become a health and disability assessor for the Department for Work and Pensions when the instructor stated that all clients and patients interviewed and reported on must be addressed by their preferred gender.

“I said that I had a problem with this. I believe that gender is defined by biology and genetics. And that as a Christian the Bible teaches us that God made humans male or female. I could have kept my mouth shut. But it was the right time to raise it,” Mackereth told the Telegraph. “The tutor took me aside and said he had passed my comments up the chain to the DWP.” . . .

“I’m not attacking the transgender movement. But, I’m defending my right to freedom of speech, and freedom of belief,” Mackareth said. “I don’t believe I should be compelled to use a specific pronoun. I am not setting out to upset anyone. But, if upsetting someone can lead to doctors being sacked then, as a society we have to examine where we are going.” (Read more from “Government Fires Doctor for Refusing to Identify Transgender Patients by Their Chosen Pronouns” HERE)

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President Trump Announces His Historic Nomination for the Supreme Court

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By The Blaze. President Donald Trump announced Monday evening that he would be nominating Bret Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, likely changing the character of the highest court for generations to come. . .

Brett Kavanaugh is 53 years old, worked in the solicitor general’s office in the George HW Bush administration, and was a clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy. He also worked under Kenneth Starr and helped draft the impeachment against former President Bill Clinton. . .

Kavanaugh currently sits on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and was appointed to that court by President George W. Bush in 2006. The nomination was approved by a vote of 57-36. . .

Trump had promised to choose Supreme Court nominations from a list comprised with the guidance of the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, both conservative think tanks.

Democrats have already indicated that they would oppose any nomination by the president. Critics have pointed to what they saw as unfair tactics by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in stalling on former President Obama’s nomination, Merrick Garland, until after the election.

(Read more from “President Trump Announces His Historic Nomination for the Supreme Court” HERE)

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Trump Taps Federal Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court

By NBC News. President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge in Washington, to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

Trump made the announcement shortly after 9 p.m. ET at the White House, where he was joined by Kavanaugh and his family. NBC News broke the story shortly before the president made his choice public.

“What matters is not a judge’s personal views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require,” Trump said in the prime-time announcement from the East Room. “I am pleased to say I have found, without doubt, such a person.”

“It is my my honor to announce that I will nominate that I will nominate Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,” Trump added.

Kavanaugh then emerged, along with his wife, Ashley, and two young daughters. (Read more from “Trump Taps Federal Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court” HERE)

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500,000 Premature U.S. Deaths Expected in Next Decade – Here’s the Terrifying Reason Why

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. . .Today, like the Titanic disaster, America’s ever-growing opioid epidemic is the result of another perfect storm of cascading events and conditions. But instead of 1,500 dead, the opioid crisis has taken the lives of more than 500,000 Americans since 2000 – and some experts believe another 500,000 may die in the next decade if current trends persist. In 2016 and 2017, more Americans lost their lives each year to drug overdoses than died during the entire Vietnam War, driving Americans’ life expectancy as a whole downward.

And the epidemic is only worsening. According to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March, opioid overdoses are dramatically spiking across America.

“We have an emergency on our hands,” CDC acting director Anne Schuchat told National Public Radio. “The fast-moving opioid overdose epidemic continues and is accelerating. We saw, sadly, that in every region, in every age group of adults, in both men and women, overdoses from opioids are increasing.” In the last year, hospitalizations for overdoses jumped 14 percent in the Southeast, 20.2 percent in the Southwest, 21.3 percent in the Northeast, 40.3 percent in the West, and a staggering 69.7 percent in the Midwest.

Moreover, officials say overdose and death rates are almost certainly higher than those reflected by statistics, since many victims never see the inside of an emergency room. Indeed, fueled especially by ultra-potent substances like fentanyl, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death for Americans under the age of 50, reports the CDC.

More ominous yet, it turns out many “accidental” overdose deaths may be intentional. Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D., immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association, recently said that based on the best available data, “it looks like it’s anywhere between 25 and 45 percent of deaths by overdose that may be actual suicides.” (Read more from “500,000 U.S. Deaths Expected in Next Decade – Here’s the Terrifying Reason Why” HERE)

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LOOK: CNN Contributor Compares Christianity to ‘Sharia Law,’ Guest Walks off Show

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By The Daily Wire. Conservative radio host Steve Deace walked off the set of an HLN segment on Friday after CNN contributor Dean Obeidallah compared Christianity to Sharia law. . .

“The stakes are really high in this country,” Obeidallah said. “And there are people who want to impose Christian Sharia law in this country. And what I mean by that is that they want the Bible as the law of the land.”

Deace later fired back that any comparison between Islamic Sharia law and Christianity was “preposterous,” but Obeidallah, who is very progressive, continued to push the comparison.

“Christian Sharia law in this context is simply shorthand for turning religious beliefs into the laws of the land,” Obeidallah continued. “I’m not going through the Bible. To me, that’s what Sharia is in the Muslim world, what Sharia is here. I’m not sure why you’d be upset unless you’re advocating it. I’m not suggesting you are.” (Read more from “CNN Contributor Compares Christianity to ‘Sharia Law,’ Guest Walks off Show” HERE)

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Absolutely No Co-Existence With Islam

By American Thinker. Islam and the West cannot co-exist. I have warned of this many times, and I hope I have not been talking to a wall.

Fellow travelers, there is no “coexistence” in Islam, there is only subjugation or elimination of infidels. Islam believes in the rule of Islam, Caliphate to the Sunnis, and Imamate to the Shiites. Hence, to Muslims, all other forms of government represent the handiwork of Satan and infidels.

Therefore, one and all non-Islamic systems of government must be purified by Islamic fire. This is a fact.

Muslim jihadists live among us. It is only going to get worse. Jihadists consider themselves the army of Allah. They use violence as an instrument of policy. This continues to be central to Islam. Muslims war under the firmly-believed and widely-cherished set of ideas that are rabidly militaristic. No matter which side is killed, Islam is the victor, “You kill them, you go to paradise; you get killed, you go to paradise,” are two examples of exhortations to jihadism and war.

For the past twenty years or so, I have been warning to free men and women: Remain a spectator at your own peril. It is imperative that you take a stand, denounce the fraud of Islam, and do all you can to prevent Islamic fire from devouring our civilized democratic system. Tomorrow will be too late. (Read more from “Absolutely No Co-Existence With Islam” HERE)

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Is Hillary Clinton Secretly Planning to Run in 2020?

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By NY Post. . .Hillary Clinton is up to something.

Five times in the last month alone, she sent e-mails touting her super PAC’s role in combating President Trump. Most seized on headline events, such as the family-separation issue at the southern border.

Under the message line, “horrific,” she wrote June 18: “This is a moral and humanitarian crisis. Everyone of us who has ever held a child in their arms, and every human being with a sense of compassion and decency should be outraged.” She said she warned about Trump’s immigration policies during the 2016 campaign.

Three days later, she was back again, saying that her group, Onward Together, raised $1 million and would split it among organizations working to change border policy, including the American Civil Liberties Union and a gaggle of immigrant, refugee, Latino and women’s groups. (Read more from “Is Hillary Clinton Secretly Planning to Run in 2020?” HERE)

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NY Post: Hillary Secretly Plotting 2020 Rematch Against Trump

By Newsmax. Hillary Clinton is secretly planning a rematch against President Donald Trump in 2020, according to the New York Post’s Michael Goodwin in an op-ed Sunday.

“With the Democratic Party locked in a battle between its far left wing and its far, far left wing, no single leader has emerged to unite it,” Goodwin wrote. “Clinton is trying to play that role by being a mother hen to the fledgling activists drawn to politics by their hatred of Trump.” . . .

“To be clear, there are scenarios where Clinton doesn’t run,” Goodwin wrote. “Health reasons, for example, or a younger rival could rocket to the top of the pack and become the party’s next Barack Obama. Either way, recurring nightmares of two previous defeats would send her back to wandering through the Chappaqua woods. . .

“For now, I am convinced Clinton wants to go for it. Doubters should recall the line about pols who get the presidential itch: There are only two cures — election or death.” (Read more from “NY Post: Hillary Secretly Plotting 2020 Rematch Against Trump” HERE)

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Journalistic Independence?! Associated Press Directly Conspired With FBI to Sink Manafort

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By Politico. Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are crying foul over a meeting Justice Department prosecutors held with four Associated Press reporters last year as news organizations and the FBI bore down on the longtime lobbyist and political consultant.

Manafort’s defense has argued for months that the off-the-record session on April 11, 2017, was a potential conduit for improper leaks to the press about the probe that led to two criminal cases against the former Trump campaign chief.

Now, Manafort’s attorneys have fresh evidence they say bolsters their claims: two memos written by FBI agents who attended the meeting and documented their version of what transpired.

Manafort’s legal team paints the evidence as confirmation that journalists were given inside information about the investigation in violation of Justice Department policies and, perhaps, legal prohibitions on disclosure of grand jury secrets. (Read more from “Journalistic Independence?! Associated Press Directly Conspired With FBI to Sink Manafort” HERE)

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Mueller’s ‘Pit Bull’ Arranged Meeting With Reporters to Discuss Manafort Investigation

By The Daily Caller. Justice Department documents released on Friday confirm that the DOJ attorney known as Robert Mueller’s “pit bull” arranged a meeting with journalists in April 2017 to discuss an investigation into Paul Manafort.

The documents show that Andrew Weissmann arranged a meeting with DOJ and FBI officials and four Associated Press reporters on April 11, 2017, just over a month before Mueller was appointed special counsel.

Manafort’s lawyers obtained the documents on June 29 and revealed them in a briefing filed in federal court in Virginia. The attorneys are pushing for a hearing into what they say are possible leaks of secret grand jury information, false information and potentially classified materials from the meeting.

“The meeting raises serious concerns about whether a violation of grand jury secrecy occurred,” a lawyer for Manafort, Kevin Downing, wrote in a motion requesting a hearing. “Based on the FBI’s own notes of the meeting, it is beyond question that a hearing is warranted.”

Manafort’s attorneys have for months questioned whether Weissmann, the number two official on the Mueller team, leaked information about Manafort to The AP. At the time of the meeting, Weissmann served as chief of the Justice Department’s criminal fraud section. (Read more from “Mueller’s ‘Pit Bull’ Arranged Meeting With Reporters to Discuss Manafort Investigation” HERE)

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Democrats’ ‘Resist’ Strategy Against President Trump Is Backfiring

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Democrats’ “Resist” strategy against President Trump is backfiring. Polling data shows the extreme statements and policies used by Democrats are boomeranging back on them. Polls on fake news, immigration, and the Senate vote to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court show that the public strongly supports President Trump.

If the current trend continues, the blue wave will end up as a ripple and will deliver a devastating blow to the Left’s hopes of turning Congress to Democrat control.

The Left went all out to slam President Trump’s zero-tolerance policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrat politicians, the left-wing media, far-left activists, and Hollywood elites went wild. They fired their full arsenal to exploit the emotion surrounding children separated from their parents after illegally crossing the border.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the separation of children from their parents was “barbaric” and added “… this is not who America is …”. Senator Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign; actor Alan Alda asked if it was proper for the U.S. “to use emotional torture for border control” in a tweet; and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow cried on her show discussing the issue. Just in case the public missed Maddow’s tears live, the Washington Post wrote a story about her emotional reaction to guarantee national news coverage.

However, the Left’s hope to take political leverage over child separation at the southern border failed, according to a recent Harvard/Harris poll conducted on June 24 and 25.

The poll found that 70 percent of registered voters want stricter enforcement of immigration laws, 66 percent think illegal aliens who cross the border should be sent home, and 61 percent think illegal alien parents who cross the border with children should be sent home.

While 61 percent blamed the Trump administration for separating children from their parents, 71 percent strongly backed President Trump’s decision to issue the executive order to keep children together with their parents after illegally crossing the border.

Democrat and left-wing activists’ calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were soundly rejected; 68 percent do not want ICE disbanded.

Upping the emotional amplitude on childhood separations resulted in the public harassment of members of the Trump administration risking further alienation of the public from the Democrat Party. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen were harassed in two separate instances in restaurants by left-wing activists.

The extremism from the Left is getting so out of hand that Democrat leaders made an effort to douse the flames before they result in voter backlash or, even worse, violence. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi criticized Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., over her comments urging public harassment of Trump administration officials.

The Democrat leaders’ effort to sway Waters failed, and she doubled down on her call for using aggressive tactics. Waters’ pushback against Democrat leaders is getting backup. About 200 black women and allies wrote a letter to Schumer and Pelosi supporting Waters.

The left-wing media’s effort to use its power and influence to harm President Trump is destroying news outlets’ credibility. According to a poll conducted by Axios/SurveyMonkey, 72 percent of adults in the U.S. think “traditional major news sources report news they know to be fake, false, or purposely misleading.” So almost three-quarters of adults believe the media is driven by politics, not the truth.

A breakdown of the results by political identification found a significant percent of Independents (79 percent) believe the media twists the facts and a majority of Democrats (53 percent) felt the same way.

Democrats’ messaging on the Supreme Court vacancy also shows that the public is growing tired of the “resist President Trump” strategy. Senator Schumer wants the Senate vote on the new Supreme Court nominee to come after the midterm elections, adding it would be the “height of hypocrisy” to hold a vote before the November elections. Schumer used the decision by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell not to vote on former President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland before the 2016 election as the basis of his criticism.

Public opinion is not on Schumer’s side. A recent NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll found that 62 percent of U.S. adults believe President Trump’s Supreme Court pick should be voted on before November.

The public is rejecting the “resist President Trump” strategy, casting serious doubt on the hope of a blue wave this fall. (For more from the author of “Democrats’ ‘Resist’ Strategy Against President Trump Is Backfiring” please click HERE)

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Thai Cave Rescue: Operation Resumes for Remaining 9 Who Are Trapped

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By CBS News. Four people were rescued Sunday from a flooded cave in Thailand where they were trapped for 16 days. The team of divers is expected to resume the mission Monday to rescue the remaining eight boys and their soccer coach.

The boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach became stranded when they went exploring in the cave after a practice game. Monsoon flooding blocked off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.

The four who were rescued were taken to a hospital in Chiang Rai for evaluation. Two divers were assigned to each child to help them navigate the dangerous, narrow passageways. The next phase could begin Monday after rescue teams replenish the supply of oxygen tanks along the route. It could take two to four days complete the mission, officials said.

On Friday, the death of a former Thai navy SEAL underscored the risks. The diver, the first fatality of the rescue effort, was working in a volunteer capacity and died on a mission to place oxygen canisters along the route.

Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osottanakorn said Saturday that mild weather and falling water levels in recent days had created the “perfect” conditions for an underwater evacuation. Those conditions won’t last if the rain resumes, he said. (Read more from “Thai Cave Rescue: Operation Resumes for Remaining 9 Who Are Trapped” HERE)

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Thai Cave Rescue: Remaining Trapped Boys Wait to Escape

By BBC. . .Rescuers decided to go ahead with the hazardous operation because of fears of rising waters. The group have been trapped since 23 June.

Activity at the dive site early on Monday suggests that the operation to free the remaining members of the group may be under way or about to resume.

At least seven ambulances have driven towards the cave entrance.

The first stage of the mission ran “smoothly” and the rescued boys were in “good health”, according to the Thai authorities.

But with heavy rainfall overnight and more forecast for the coming days, divers will need to work quickly to free those still trapped. On Saturday, Narongsak Osottanakorn, governor of the Chiang Rai province, said that teams had a three to four-day window to carry out their operation. (Read more from “Thai Cave Rescue: Remaining Trapped Boys Wait to Escape” HERE)

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Listen: GOP Rep. Receives Threatening Voicemails, Emails Because of This Facebook Post

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Last weekend, the Idaho Republican Party held their annual convention. One of the main speakers during the event was newly-elected NRA President Oliver North. Naturally, Oliver’s presence brought gun control proponents out to protest.

During one of the convention’s breaks, Idaho State Rep. Priscilla Giddings (R) walked outside and noticed a group of protestors calling for gun control. Giddings read their signs and decided to pose for a picture with them. She then shared the following post on Facebook:

Little did the girls in the picture know that Giddings, a former combat pilot and current major in the Air Force Reserves, utilized firearms during multiple deployments in the Middle East. The most ironic sign of them all was the one girl’s call to ban…artillery. . .

While Giddings says she stands with the young women and will defend their right to free speech, she said she hopes they can gain a greater understanding of the Second Amendment, which is what was meant by her post. . .

The post made its way around social media. Reporters throughout the state even threw their two cents in:

(Read more from “Listen: GOP Rep. Receives Threatening Voicemails, Emails Because of This Facebook Post” HERE)

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