Steve Deace: Here's what will happen over the next few months

Steve Deace gives his thoughts on what will happen over the next 3 1/2 months, and what is in store for the Republican Party in the aftermath of 2016.

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MEME REPORT:

JOHN KERRY DECLARES WAT ON AIR CONDITIONERS

Chalk Board Observations 11.07.15

Religious Freedom Report 10.15.15 #religiousfreedom

The State Department released it's annual report on religious freedom worldwide, something they have been doing since 1998. The USA is not included in the report. Maybe there was an assumption that since the Constitution protects religious freedom that it would not be an issue. That was, however, in 1998. In 17 years things have changed. 

The military has been taking a lot of hits on religious freedom, mainly pushed by anti-theist Mikey Weinstein and his group. At West Point, a Tech Sgt was reprimanded for letting his superiors know that he did not support the idea of a same-sex wedding being performed at one of the base chapels citing that the chapels are a place of worship and the event would be a "mockery to God." He is right, from a Christian perspective, but many military leaders are diluting anything considered Christian and even going so far as to hire atheists to be chaplains.

Americans United for that imaginary separation of church and state, reported:
Tech. Sgt. Layne Wilson had filed claims under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the First and Fifth Amendments, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Privacy Act, arguing that his superiors had violated his rights by reprimanding him after he sent an email to a superior officer objecting to a same-sex wedding ceremony held at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Wilson, a Mormon, read an article about the ceremony taking place at West Point’s chapel and got so worked up that he decided to email the Academy’s Commandant of Cadets to protest it.  
“This is wrong on so many levels,” Wilson wrote. “If they wanted to get married in a hotel that is one thing. Our base chapels are a place of worship and this is a mockery to God and our military core values. I have proudly served 27 years and this is a slap in the face to us who have put our lives on the line for this country. I hope sir that you will take appropriate action so this does not happen again.”
Not surprisingly, the commandant didn’t appreciate Wilson’s missive. He forwarded the email directly to Wilson’s UTANG superiors, writing, “I am not sure why he wrote me – maybe he thinks I care about his opinion (which I don’t), or that I am responsible for the policy (which I am not), or that I control the facility (which I don’t), but in any event I believe he may have some problems with the lifting of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and thought that you or his immediate commander might want to further investigate.”

 New York Daily News reported of an incident that is on going in Hawaii over a sign at a Military base. Of course, Mike "Whine"stein is involved:
The Marines are known for standing firm on things, and so far, this is no exception.
According to Military.com, a religious freedom group has pressured the Marine base in Kaneohe, Hawaii to remove a sign in front of the base stating "God bless the military, their families and the civilians who work with them" on the basis that it is unconstitutional.
"This sign will remain in its present location and not be altered in any way," said Col. Sean C. Killeen, commander of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in a letter to the group protesting, Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
"This sign has the secular purpose of conveying a message of support, does not advance or inhibit religion or any particular faith, nor does it foster excessive government entanglement with religion."
The MRFF claims that the sign, erected after September 11, 2011, claims it does put those who have religious beliefs above those who do not.
The group's founder, Mikey Weinstein, claims that his group represents 72 Marines of nine different faith groups that either want the signs taken down, or additional signs that represent their faiths. He says that using "God bless" establishes Christianity as "an approved Marine solution for only one faith group."



As for the State Department report, Secretary of State John Kerry reported:
"Religious freedom extends way beyond mere tolerance.....it demands that the practitioners of one faith understand that they have no right to coerce others into submission, conversion or silence, or to literally take their lives because of their beliefs." 

In short, what this has meant in America, is that if one claims he is NOT religious, he is often being given the right to trump anything religious.

PRI reports:
The US is not one of the nations covered in the State Department’s annual report on religious freedom. But religious scholar Reza Aslan says he would give America high marks.
“As a modern democratic constitutional state, we have a commitment to uphold freedoms of religion, human rights, equal rights for all citizens,” Aslan says. “At the same time, however, these commitments are going to constantly be in conflict with some more conservative interpretations of religion.”
The challenge for the US is to uphold its secular values, “while at the same time promoting religious beliefs, even when they sometimes clash with each other,” adds Aslan, author of "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth."  

The State Department report did isolate ISIS as being the main cause of most breaches against religious freedom on a global scale:

Islamic extremists, terrorist groups and rebel organizations are contributing to the daunting challenges for religious freedom around the world, the State Department said in a new report issued on Wednesday.
The government’s analysis gave special blame to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), whose brutal regime of institutionalized rapes, murders and slavery has targeted anyone not conforming to its narrow and extreme version of Islam. 
In other parts of the world, various militias and violent groups have cracked down on religious freedom, whether it’s the extremist group Boko Haram’s rampages through Western Africa or the Pakistani Taliban.
SOURCE:  The Hill

Jerome Socolovsky, wrote an article at Voice of America which states the obvious question in light of current events: As US Preaches Religious Freedom Abroad, Critics See Hypocrisy? 

Part of the article reads:
“We see ourselves as having achieved religious freedom, it’s something that we have,” she said. “But when it comes to other people, we need to manage it, we need to teach them to be tolerant, we need to reform them — which is something that the government, paradoxically, would never do at home.”
That’s because the U.S. Constitution prohibits government from meddling in the religious practice of citizens.
The difficulty — some say impossibility — of achieving absolute religious freedom for everyone came into sharp relief recently with the controversy over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It’s the domestic precursor of the international act, adopted as a federal law in 1993, and has since been adopted by many states.
With same-sex marriage now legal in the United States after a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, conservative Christian florists and caterers have sought to use state RFRAs to opt out of providing services for gay and lesbian weddings, triggering protests from gay rights groups.
And with regard to foreign policy, some critics of the international religious freedom effort say there’s an ulterior motive: to make the world safe for Christian missionaries.
Spreading Protestant values?
“The U.S. campaign for international religious freedom is very much a religious campaign,” Belgian political scientist Jakob de Roover wrote several months ago on firstpost.com, an Indian news website. “It seeks to spread Protestant-Christian values across the world but does so under the guise of promoting and protecting human rights that are ‘universally held sacred.’ ” Voice of America

Random Observations 10.02.15 #wordslingerfiles

According to the Chicago Tribune, 96 people have been shot in Chicago in the last week (since Sept 25). That's almost 16 per day. Chicago has very strict gun control laws. http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/shootings

Army Vet Chris Mintz tried to stop the shooter but got himself shot seven times. Mintz knew he was in a "gun-free" zone and obeyed the school's policy.

In the 12-minute Speech on Oregon Shooting yesterday, Obama Referred to Himself 28 Times.

After destroying Chicago public schools, and then working at destroying the nations schools with programs like Common Core, Arne Duncan is resigning. Obama quickly named a replacement, John King, who has spent time destroying schools in New York City with the same agenda but even more aggressively.

The good news so far is that Obama has not said "if you like your gun you can keep it,"

LA Times reporting that Oregon shooter did not like black people. Suggestion for NAACP to call for a ban of:
The Oregon flag, body armor, and I'm throwing in pancakes because he might have had pancakes for breakfast

For the record. though Oregon has a concealed carry law, the campus was still a gun-free zone. The media seems to be pushing the concealed carry narrative. In Oregon, the right to bear arms is protected by Article 1, Section 27 of the Oregon Constitution.

Three websites that are usually good to use as a way to verify news stories: Raw Story, Crooks & Liars, and PoliticusUSA.
By "verify" I mean that whatever they report as "news" means that what really happened is usually the opposite of what they report..

Wolf Blitzer claims he has never seen Obama so angry, emotional and "shaken up." Wolf needs to get out more. .

Shorter Obama: It's the nations fault (except for him because he told us just a few months ago)

A "gun safety law" = "ban" in Obamanese.

Obama is about to get on TV and tell the nation tell how outraged he is at what happened in Oregon. The details are still under investigation, but of course, not having facts has not ever stopped Obama from sharing his opinion before. The two words he will likely use most are: "i" and "guns"

 But the Oregon campus was a "gun free zone." ......

 The fact that Mars seems pretty desolate and NASA has discovered what appears to be some sort of liquid that they cannot even get to proves one thing about the planet: At one time it must of been a planet run by nothing but liberals.

 We are now begging the Russians to negotiate with us ... so they don't shoot down our own airplanes. The biggest humiliation of all is that the Russians today said they are the only air force flying legitimately over Syria, because they have the permission and request of the legitimate Syrian government, and we are violating international law with our missions over ISIS. ---Charles Krauthammer

 Cecile Richards and Hillary Clinton should book a cell together in advance...you know...before any more Democrats get indicted.

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MEME REPORT:
THREE OF THE MOST INEFFECTIVE MEMBERS OF OUR AMERICAN INTEREST & DEFENSE  

Religious Freedom Report 09.21.15

 Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion held a large meeting in New York this last week:

The United States had a role in organizing the gathering and was represented by State Department Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein and USCIRF Chair Robert George. Their close colleagues in the parallel Canadian Office of Religious Freedom also pulled together the event.In an energetic speech, Saperstein urged the international lawmakers not to separate religious freedom from other issues, but to see it as foundational in every kind of policy. He encouraged them to hold hearings, to issue statements, and to attend trials for the persecuted. He mentioned that he and other officials attended the trial of two South Sudanese pastors recently, and that the pastors were acquitted of the most serious charges and released."Even a country as powerful as the United States cannot fight this battle alone," George said during a coffee break. George said European leaders, especially Germany, have "shown themselves serious about religious freedom." Now, he said, it's a matter of seeing if the group can maintain this broad base of support for religious freedom, a coalition that has disappeared domestically. 

 I'm not aware that the US is doing much at all for Christians in other countries. By  that I mean the government and not the many charitable and Christian organizations that are always active. John Kerry and Barack Obama  are so disengaged that they pushed through a horrible nuclear deal with Iran and didn't even bother to get US prisoners released that are being held there, which includes two pastors.

 Kristen Grant [The Federalist] wrote:

When Pope Francis comes to America, he will stand in Independence Hall and speak about religious freedom. No doubt he will echo the themes of his first apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium,” which declared that “no one can demand that religion should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life… without a right to offer an opinion on events affecting society.”

When he does so, he will not be asking for a special megaphone for white men in clericals, but rather reminding Americans of a fundamental right of all people—including a lot of poor, female, black, Latino, and gay people—to bring their full humanity to the public square and contend there for the future of their country.

We'll see. 

 Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo {D-Ca]and  Co-Chair of the Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus:
 
I've introduced a bipartisan bill in Congress to deliver relief and protection for religious minorities. The Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act would allow non-state actors to be designated as violators of religious freedom, granting the administration better tools to address extremism and violence in groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State. And Congressman Juan Vargas, D-Calif., is leading on bipartisan legislation to grant persecuted individuals in ISIS-held territory access to priority refugee status processing at the State Department.
Progress was made last week when the administration appointed Knox Thames as Special Envoy at the State Department charged with focusing exclusively on the plight of religious minorities in the Middle East. Former Congressman Frank Wolf, R-Va., and I championed the law to create this position in the last Congress, and this long-awaited appointment is welcomed.
The papal visit presents a unique opportunity to send a message to the world in condemning the act of genocide as the most barbaric and criminal act of humankind, and propel a global response. It's an existential crisis for religious minorities in the Middle East, and it is a defining moment for America.

Democrats aren't generally very good at protecting religious freedom. There generally has to be some other goal in mind. Or it has to be so fantastic that it creates warm feelings when its announced, but in practicality, it's meaningless. 

 The Christian Post reported:

Hundreds of Christian conservatives gathered in the blistering heat in Nashville on Constitution Day Thursday, to rally for religious freedom in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling and called on the state to uphold its definition of marriage as being a union between one man and one woman.
As a crowd of over 400 gathered for the "Stand in the Gap for Truth" rally hosted by the Tennessee Pastors Network outside the state's Legislative Plaza, a number of issues, from the Iran deal to same-sex marriage, were discussed by prominent Evangelicals and state lawmakers.
Among the speakers who participated in the event was the husband of jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, Joe Davis, the father of presidential candidate Ted Cruz, Rafael, Bishop E.W. Jackson and former Southern Baptists Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission president Dr. Richard Land.

A few Tennessee state representatives, including Republican Rep. Mark Pody who spoke at the rally, also introduced legislation Thursday called the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act" into the state legislature. The legislation, if passed, would "void" the Supreme Court's ruling in June that struck down states' ban against same-sex marriage.

Idaho Statesman Editorial:

We don’t believe any faith group should be forced to perform or sanctify a marriage they don’t agree with. Those judgments are the purview of the religious organization and belong in their lane of traffic. Government intervention in religious matters is contrary to everything American. Such actions deserve our immediate wrath.
Last year city officials in Houston subpoenaed the sermons and other materials of some pastors, purportedly to investigate some petitions filed against the city’s equal rights ordinance. Whatever the motives, demanding sermons is an affront to religious freedom and deserved the overwhelming criticism it received.
We as a society have our work cut out for us defining and defending the lanes of traffic that will preserve religious freedom and still provide the equal access our Constitution guarantees.

Of course, previous to this summary, the editorial condemned Kim Davis for not quitting. After all, religious freedom is important...but not more important than work (liberal 11th commandment,  I think]. 

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/09/19/3994017/editorial-our-religious-freedom.html#storylink=cpy

President Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry warns of the possible “Side Effects” that may result from the absurd agreement.

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MEME REPORT:
HILLARY TRIES THE "HUMOR" BIT

On That Iran Deal? Hillary Helped

"Though President Obama deserves ultimate responsibility for the string of concessions that ultimately convinced Iran that it could sign a deal with the U.S. while retaining its nuclear option, it was Clinton who first steered the nation down that path. Though her zeal for a deal may not have equaled Kerry, his appeasement-oriented diplomacy built on the concessions that Clinton began. It was her aide Jake Sullivan who did much of the negotiating with Iran both during her time and state and later after Kerry replaced her. Even if she now wishes to hedge her bets on the deal, it’s obvious that she deserves a considerable share of the blame for a negotiating strategy shift that made getting a deal the priority rather than stopping Iran’s nuclear program."  --Jonathan Tobin 09.09.15 [Commentary]

 

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MEME REPORT:

THE QUESTION AND THE MOTIVE

 

Leftwing Group "Faithful America" has decided what Christians are allowed to listen to

I guess it's because they view Franklin Graham as being anti-Muslim, but they want to be clear that "it's unacceptable for mainstream Christians and churches to cooperate with Franklin Graham.."  How nice of them to be the great gate keepers of what is righteous and what i snot for all "mainstream Christians." (not).

From their petition: 

Franklin Graham once hinted that President Obama might secretly be a Muslim, and accused him of allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate his administration. Now, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham has reached a new low.

Graham posted a hateful Facebook screed calling for all Muslims to be banned from immigrating to the U.S. and insisting they be treated the way America treated the Japanese and Germans during World War II.
Next month, Graham is scheduled to headline revivals in Birmingham, Alabama, and Oklahoma City. Local churches -- including Methodists and Episcopalians -- are lending support to Graham by holding classes and hosting other events aimed at turning people out to hear him preach.
We need to make it clear that it's unacceptable for mainstream Christians and churches to cooperate with Franklin Graham.

  
MEME REPORT:
THANKS TO JOHN KERRY. A NEW MOON RISES OVER TEL AVIV

Random Observations From My Seat in the Peanut Gallery 06.10.15

Obamas former press secretary, Robert Gibbs, was hired by McDonalds to help with communication. Not missing a beat, Gibbs said complaints about cold french fries or missing orders will now be blamed on the previous McDonalds administration under George Bush..

 John Kerry is telling sources that he was riding his bike just fine until he was swift-biked by some Republicans

 CNN's Erin Burnett suggested that Pamela Geller "relished the idea of being a target by Muslims." Obviously not as much as Erin Burnett relishes the idea that people think she is a credible journalist.

 Lindsey Graham has invited Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner to be a part of the Republican party. Graham will need a very strong VP candidate for him to even get close to the White House and he understands that Jenner has always been a strong runner.

 Jimmy Carter told the AARP this week that most Americans are white racists.
Carter, of course, spends his time thinking its still the 1970s, still hopes to get a second term, and is still trying to "catch them Duke Boys."

 Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee said that Hillary Clinton "is too corrupt to be president. " Chafee, of course, has no chance of winning the nomination. Not because he is so unknown, but because the Democratic Party does not nominate candidates who tell the truth.


 Hillary Clinton said last week that her candidacy will "restore faith and confidence and optimism in the future of the country we love." It's not clear which country on her donor list she was talking about.

 Truth be told, Hillary Clinton would be the best candidate the Democrats could offer. She clearly best represents everything sick, twisted, and fraudulent in the Democratic Party.

 ISIS should already be WasWas

 Why do we need guns? Because it's real hard to throw a rock 1200 feet per second.

 American Pharoah has won the Triple Crown. On Monday he will announce his 2016 candidacy for president.

Regardless of the rumors, American Pharoah does not have his own email server.

 Take notice, Tom Brady, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown without deflating any footballs.

Somewhere, Hillary Clinton is wondering how American Pharoah could have won without donations from the Clinton Foundation.

 Somewhere Karl Rove is very surprised that the Belmont Stakes wasn't won by Ohio.

The New York Times has made no effort to find any paper trail to uncover Benghazi, the IRS, or even Hilary Clintons emails. But they did find out that Marco Rubio and his wife have gotten 17 tickets. Next up: Did Ted Cruz turn in all his homework in 6th grade??..??

John Kerry to the Internet: We're from the Government and We're Here to Help

In an address to the United Nations, John Kerry told them that the internet would be safer if they would police it.  (paraphrase, mine).

“As I’ve mentioned, the basic rules of international law apply in cyberspace. Acts of aggression are not permissible. And countries that are hurt by an attack have a right to respond in ways that are appropriate, proportional, and that minimize harm to innocent parties. We also support a set of additional principles that, if observed, can contribute substantially to conflict prevention and stability in time of peace. We view these as universal concepts that should be appealing to all responsible states, and they are already gaining traction.

“First, no country should conduct or knowingly support online activity that intentionally damages or impedes the use of another country’s critical infrastructure. Second, no country should seek either to prevent emergency teams from responding to a cybersecurity incident, or allow its own teams to cause harm. Third, no country should conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets, or other confidential business information for commercial gain. Fourth, every country should mitigate malicious cyber activity emanating from its soil, and they should do so in a transparent, accountable and cooperative way. And fifth, every country should do what it can to help states that are victimized by a cyberattack.

“I guarantee you if those five principles were genuinely and fully adopted and implemented by countries, we would be living in a far safer and far more confident cyberworld.

“But even with these principles, ensuring international cyber stability will remain a work in progress. We still have a lot of work to do to develop a truly reliable framework – based on international law – that will effectively deter violations and minimize the danger of conflict.

“To build trust, the UN Group of Governmental Experts has stressed the importance of high-level communication, transparency about national policies, dispute settlement mechanisms, and the timely sharing of information – all of them, very sound and important thoughts. The bottom line is that we who seek stability and peace in cyberspace should be clear about what we expect and intend, and those who may be tempted to cause trouble should be forewarned: they will be held accountable for their actions. The United States reserves the right to use all necessary means, including economic, trade and diplomatic tools, as appropriate in order to defend our nation and our partners, our friends, our allies. The sanctions against North Korean officials earlier this year are one example of the use of such a tool in response to DPRK’s provocative, destabilizing and repressive actions, including the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures. Now, as the international community moves towards consensus about what exactly constitutes unacceptable behavior in cyberspace, more and more responsible nations need to join together to act against disruptors and rogue actors.

“As we know, malicious governments are only part of the cybersecurity problem. Organized crime is active in cyberspace. So are individual con artists, unscrupulous hackers, and persons engaged in fraud. Unfortunately, the relative anonymity of the internet makes it an ideal vehicle for criminal activity – but not an excuse for working through the principles I described to finding rules of the road and working so that the internet works for everybody else. The resulting financial cost of those bad actors, the cost of cybercrime, is already enormous, but so is the loss of trust in the internet that every successful fraud or theft engenders.”