After a federal judge ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to jail for failing to issue same-sex marriage licences, his efforts to create an alternative means for the county to comply with a court order to issue the licenses came up short.
U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning summoned Davis’ six deputy clerks to appear in his courtroom on Thursday, wanting them all to confirm their willingness to issue same-sex marriage licenses. While five of the six said they would be willing to do so, Nathan Davis, Kim’s 21 year old son, said he would not. The judge chose not to hold him in contempt.
Some of the clerks questioned whether they had the legal authority to issue licenses without the county clerk’s approval, which the judge conceded may be an issue.
Ms. Davis indicated that she will not grant her deputies the authority to issue licenses under her name, all but assuring she will be spending more time in jail.
As an elected official, Kim Davis cannot be fired. However, she can be impeached by the Kentucky legislature, which is not due to reconvene until after the new year. Democrat governor Steve Beshear has directed Davis to issue the licenses, but has resisted calling a special legislative session for the purpose of impeaching her or changing current law to grant authority to other county officials to issue licenses. Regardless, it is not clear if the legislature would vote to impeach Davis, whose stand is popular particularly in her part of the state. (Read more from “After Kentucky Clerk Was Ordered to Jail, Her Son Stood up in a Huge Way” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 22:34:012015-09-03 22:34:01After Kentucky Clerk Was Ordered to Jail, Her Son Stood up in an Incredible Way
Lieutenant Colonel Jason Amerine was one of the first U.S. soldiers into Afghanistan. He landed there with an Army Special Forces A-Team in late October 2001, when everyone agreed the war would be brief and the objectives were clear: Avenge the terror of the 9/11 attacks, depose the Taliban and leave. Nearly 14 years later, he went to Capitol Hill to explain why he’s still fighting his way out.
Until this past January, Amerine worked at the Pentagon, where he led an Army team ordered to bring home Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a mission that was expanded to include several civilian hostages held by Taliban-aligned militants in Pakistan. Bergdahl had been captive for nearly four years by the time Amerine got involved, making him the longest-held prisoner of war since Vietnam and a key to any end-of-war negotiations. In 2013, Amerine lured the Taliban to a series of secret talks that identified a solution, but then hit a wall in Washington’s bureaucratic maze. As he wrangled more with federal agencies in D.C. than with the Quetta Shura in Pakistan, Amerine reached out to Representative Duncan Hunter, a Marine veteran and Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Hunter wrote letters to then–Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and President Barack Obama pleading that someone cut through the interagency squabbling between the Army, the State Department, the FBI, the intelligence community and the Department of Defense. When Bergdahl was finally released last year in a trade for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Hunter complained that a far better deal brokered by Amerine was ignored. Worse still, six Western civilians, including two Canadians and a newborn child, were left behind, held by terrorist groups protected by the Pakistani government, a pivotal U.S. ally in the global war on terror.
This January, the day after an errant CIA drone missile killed one of those hostages, international aid worker Warren Weinstein, Amerine was abruptly escorted out of the Pentagon. The Army informed him that its Criminal Investigation Command (CID) had opened a case against him. His pay was halted, and his retirement was put on hold. Hunter says this was a hit job by the FBI, payback for infringing on the bureau’s hostage-recovery turf. The CID would not comment on the case for Newsweek, and the FBI redirected questions back to the Defense Department. Meanwhile, the hostages remain in Pakistan, the investigation of Amerine drags on, and an internal Pentagon investigation is investigating the CID’s investigation.
Testifying in June at a Senate hearing with the contorted title, “Blowing the Whistle on Retaliation: Accounts of Current and Former Federal Agency Whistleblowers,” Amerine did not relish his rebel status. “I am labeled a whistleblower, a term both radioactive and derogatory,” he said. “I am before you because I did my duty, and you need to ensure all in uniform can go on doing their duty without fear of reprisal.” (Read more from “Why Is the FBI Trying to Bury a Special Forces War Hero?” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 22:31:402015-09-03 22:31:40Why Is the FBI Trying to Bury a Special Forces War Hero?
One elementary school had decided to do away with boys’ and girls’ bathrooms. There will now just be bathrooms.
Miraloma Elementary in San Francisco, California is busy doing away with its gender assigned bathrooms and making them gender neutral for their young students.
Principal Sam Bass said the change was in part due to eight students who do not fit into traditional gender norms – and range from tomboys to transgender.
The school began removing the circles, triangles and stick-figure signs from restrooms at the start of this school year, according to SF Gate.
The bathrooms in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms at Miraloma, as well as a centralized bathroom, are gender-neutral. (Read more from “California Elementary School Removes Boys’ and Girls’ Bathrooms and Makes Them Gender Neutral” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 22:29:082015-09-03 22:29:08California Elementary School Removes Boys’ and Girls’ Bathrooms and Makes Them Gender Neutral
The Internal Revenue Service paid out over $572 million in excess Obamacare tax credits and sent incorrect forms to over half a million individuals due to a computer programming error, according a new government report.
The report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration on Tuesday inspected the interim results of the IRS’s verification of Obamacare’s Premium Tax Credits, which were created to assist low or medium-income individuals and families to purchase health insurance in the marketplace.
Those who are eligible to receive tax credits under Obamacare can choose to have their credits paid either directly to their health insurance provider as a partial payment towards their monthly premiums—known as the Advance Premium Tax Credit—or can receive the tax credits as one lump sum on their annual income tax return.
According to the IRS, $11 billion worth of tax credits were paid in advance to insurers for fiscal year 2014. By March 26, 2015, the IRS processed around 1.4 million tax returns that showed $4.4 billion in credits, bringing the total to more than $15 billion for 2014. Individuals claimed more than $240 million in additional premium credits and received $572 million in excess advance payments, according to the agency.
The inspection also brought to light a computer programming error that led to more than half a million individuals receiving incorrect health insurance forms. (Read more from “Over $572 Million in Excess Obamacare Tax Credits Paid Out” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-03 22:25:272015-09-03 22:25:27Over $572 Million in Excess Obamacare Tax Credits Paid Out
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
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)
54 percent of Republicans believe that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, according to a poll conducted by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) . . .
Obama’s faith first came into question during his 2008 campaign. His connections to Bill Ayers, a self-described unrepentant terrorist, and Jeremiah Wright, whose anti-American rhetoric in church made headlines, fueled the perception that Obama was a Muslim. However, Obama has made comments discussing his Christian faith, specifically during Easter and Christmas, The Hill noted.
Moreover, only 29 percent of Republicans believe that the commander-in-chief was born in the United States, an issue that was heavily promoted by Donald Trump in 2011. As for Canadian born GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz, 40 percent of Republicans say he was born in America.
Donald Trump received the highest grades among the 17 Republicans running for the presidential nomination. The New York business mogul nabbed 29 percent of the vote, retaining his first place position. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Maryland was in second, with 15 percent. GOP establishment favorite Jeb Bush of Florida finished in third, with nine percent. Carly Fiorina, one of two women running for the presidency, finished fourth with eight percent support. (Read more from “Here Are the Amount of Republicans Who Believe Obama Is a Muslim” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-02 23:35:212015-09-02 23:35:21Here’s the Percentage of Republicans Who Believe Obama Is a Muslim
After a federal judge ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to jail for failing to issue same-sex marriage licences, his efforts to create an alternative means for the county to comply with a court order to issue the licenses came up short.
54 percent of Republicans believe that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, according to a poll conducted by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) . . .