[Creators Syndicate] "But even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten." — Supreme Court of the United States, November 25, 2020
When teaching law students about the Bill of Rights, professors often ask on the first day of class which is the first freedom protected by the First Amendment. The students invariably answer, "freedom of speech." It is not. If the framers were trying to tell us which freedom is the first among equals, they did so by listing the religion clauses ahead of the freedom of speech.
The religion clauses prohibit the government from respecting the establishment of religion and from interfering with its free exercise.
Cuomo established a color-coded system to indicate the severity of the COVID-19 infection rate by ZIP code. Red is the most severe and calls for limiting worship to 10 people per indoor venue. Orange is the next level, and it limits worshipers to 25.
Since the governor did not deem the right to worship as "essential," even though he deemed campgrounds and bicycle, food and liquor shops to be essential, he imposed his 10- or 25-person limit on all houses of worship, irrespective of the size of the venue. He imposed no numerical limitations on essential venues.
Thus, a small mom and pop liquor store could be packed to the gills with customers, but a 400-seat synagogue or a 1,200-seat cathedral would still be limited to 10 or 25 people. Perhaps the good Gov. had not thought this out carefully? Texas restrictions were 50% or 75% of capacity, with 'appropriate social distancing'.
This was such an interference with the free exercise of religion that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, and three Jewish congregations in New York City collectively sued the governor in federal court in Brooklyn. They lost. Last week, the Supreme Court interceded in a splendid 5 to 4 decision that defended religious liberty in the face of government efforts to sweep it aside. Roberts choosing to be inconsequential again.
Reading the court's decision, and particularly the thoughtful and brilliant concurrence by Justice Neil Gorsuch ‐ who wrote that "government is not free to disregard the First Amendment in times of crisis" ‐ one can see that Cuomo lost this case because while he may understand the science, he does not understand the jurisprudence.
Freedom of religion is not the first freedom by mistake. It was the judgment of the framers that this freedom is as essential to human fulfillment as are any other free choices that free people make.
By failing to recognize that natural, historic and jurisprudential truism, Cuomo doomed his executive order to the ash bin of history.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/04/2020 10:53 ||
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#1
Pehaps the good Gov. had not thought this out carefully?
Or perhaps he did. Clearly the New Feudalism requires the serfs to fill their lockdown hours with state-approved addictions: liquor, drugs, gambling, pr0n.
As opiates of the masses go, the Judeo-Christian religion is by far the most subversive. Leads to heretical notions of individual dignity, natural law, reciprocity and such. Stamp it out.
#1
I'd agree, that our elections have been corrupted and disgraced by the left. Heading towards banana republic territory.
I also noted the same website reports "Why does Bing say Gina Haspel died on December 1st in Frankfurt, Germany?" This got a lot of play for a short time. 24 hour rule.
This is debunked with the usual Scopes debunking that we have all come to not trust.
[American Thinker] Georgia’s Fulton County, the most populous in the state, claimed it needed to stop absentee ballot overnight on November 3-4 because of a burst pipe. That was a lie. There was no burst pipe, and the counting didn’t stop. At a hearing on Thursday, surveillance footage emerged showing that the ballots being secretly counted came from suitcases hidden under a table. Mother Teresa? Gandhi? A pipe wrench? Arthur Godfrey? All good guesses, but no, it's simply a duck !
Here’s what seems to have happened: In Fulton County, Georgia, the people who planned to add fake ballots to Biden’s vote count on election night had an overall good plan. First, announce that a burst pipe required everybody to vacate the building until morning and, second, count fake votes.
The planners missed two details. First, they forgot to make sure the government’s documents supported the "burst pipe" narrative. Text messages emerged showing that nothing had burst. Instead, there was a quickly contained slow leak that didn’t even generate a work order.
Second, they forgot that the State Farm Arena, where the counting took place, has surveillance cameras all over. On Wednesday, intrepid volunteers obtained the videos from the surveillance cameras in the room in which the count took place and, by doing so, may have discovered the election fraud smoking gun.
In the video below, at a hearing about election fraud in Georgia on Thursday, a volunteer narrates the video showing surveillance footage of the same room from four different angles:
#3
To the argument that this kind of thing has gone on for over a century, the answer is that it is long since time to put a stop to it — and now we have the majority, the tools to do so, and the fighting leader in Donald Trump to do so.
#4
Prove is an interesting question. Consider what the video of Nick Sandman 'proved'. I don't know I wasn't there, but given the visual there is no imaginable route to not investigating it that isn't dirty. Sorry, there most certainly IS something to see here and I don't believe we will be moving along.
#7
re #3 the certain tool is that voting must be done in person and the person voting must sign the ballot. Yes, some people, travelers, etc may not be able to vote but ... tough.
[Washington Examiner] Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley has predicted a coming defense budget cliff under a Biden administration, the product of the dual impact of a struggling economy and continued coronavirus pandemic.
The defense budget challenges, he said, come at a time when investment in defense modernization must be America’s key security priority to prevent a great power war with China.
"We’ve got to do a quick reality check on the national budget and what is likely to happen in the not-too-distant future," Milley said at a Brookings Institution discussion with security scholar Michael O’Hanlon Wednesday.
"There's a reasonable prospect that they could actually decline significantly," Milley added after saying that, at the very least, budgets are expected to be flat instead of the 3% to 5% annual increases that would be required to maintain current defense needs.
Milley said the nation’s high unemployment, battered economy, and the continued fight against the coronavirus pandemic were factors that influenced his stark assessment just seven weeks before Biden takes office.
"The most important priority that you need to do is to take care of the COVID piece, get that behind us, and breathe new life into the economy," he said. "Once you do that, then you can put additional monies into military."
The Heritage Foundation was surprised that the military leader would delve into politics and guess at future budgetary decisions rather than stick to military analysis and the nation's national security needs.
#1
He who defends everything defends nothing - Frederick the Great
The man Deep State undermined understood that. He was trying to end over extended commitments around the world. However, the globalists kept on dragging their feet. Hellavalota globalists in the Puzzle Palace. Deep State doesn't care about the strata of society that still calls itself American. They and you are expendable. These are the same people who drive Californistas to using candles rather than electricity. Imagine what they're going to do to the defense budget. Hey, but you got your nice pension coming, for now.
#2
If DoD budget shrinks, where's all that gelt the MIC thought it was protecting by ousting Trump for shutting down the ForeverWars™
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/04/2020 6:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I doubt the MIC is too concerned in the short-term. The pentagon uses a Program Operating Memorandum (POM) to forecast financial expenditures based on 5 year projections. Any financial cutbacks will likely come from troops strength cuts, pensions, and benefits.
If I had a job in a PX/BX, commissary, or Class-XI store, I'd be looking for an alternate employment drop zone.
[Free Beacon] Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock has declined to authorize the release of his divinity school graduate thesis, which is under wraps at the Union Theological Seminary
... a non-denominational Christian seminary affiliated with Columbia University. An example of the rigour of theological teaching is the organized confession of climate sins a year ago to a collection of potted plants. A more pointed criticism was that of German anti-Nazi activist Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was so appalled by the determined ignorance of the faculty and students there that he preferred to return to Germany to be martyred by the Nazis.
library due to copyright restrictions.
Warnock wrote the thesis, titled Churchmen, Church Martyrs: The Activist Ecclesiologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1994 while he was a graduate student at the Union Theological Seminary. The paper is a precursor to Warnock's 2006 Ph.D. dissertation, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The dissertation is also housed at the seminary library and under copyright.
The graduate thesis, which discusses Christianity's responsibility to pursue social justice, could shed light on Warnock's ideological background. The Senate candidate, a preacher at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, has come under fire for his defense of socialism, criticism of Israel, and praise of an anti-American speech by Jeremiah Wright.
Warnock's association with the late theologian James Cone, whom the Senate candidate described as his mentor, has also drawn scrutiny because of Cone's controversial comments about race and religion. Cone, one of the founders of black liberation theology, advocated for the "destruction of everything white" and claimed that "American white theology is a theology of the Antichrist."
The Burke Library in New York, where the thesis is held, said it wasn't able to provide a full copy of Warnock's dissertation "because it is still in copyright." However, the library released a small portion of the paper to the Free Beacon.
Warnock holds the copyright, according to the library. The Warnock campaign did not respond to an inquiry from the Free Beacon about whether he would approve access to the thesis.
#1
Quoting part of the FREE BEACON article
"...under fire for his defense of socialism, criticism of Israel, and praise of an Anti-American speeches by and of Jeremiah Wright.
Warnock's association with the late theologian James Cone, whom the Senate candidate described as his mentor, has also drawn scrutiny because of Cone's controversial comments about race and religion. Cone, one of the founders of black liberation theology, advocated for the "destruction of everything white" and claimed that "American white theology is a theology of the Antichrist.""
It is already clear he is not Pro-America, but is Pro socialism.
Plus he has been clear in his remarks... He has RACIST Views. (yes Black people can be Racists)Anyone can pull up his continued Anti-White, Anti-Israel, Anti-Jewish comments.
Besides ANY Politician hiding their past works and documented political thoughts, should shoot up all types Warning signals to the voters. Whether you are white, black or poke-a-dotted
[RedState] There seems to be an online war raging over the Georgia runoffs within the Republican camp and the Democrats are loving every minute of it.
Trump allies Lin Wood and Sidney Powell have been attempting to convince Georgia Republicans to boycott the runoff elections. This would effectively hand Democrats the Senate, giving them carte blanche over two of the three systems of government, with only the Supreme Court being a relatively safe zone for the American people thanks to Trump filling three seats with textualist justices.
Despite this being an incredibly foolish move, Georgia Republicans have attached themselves to the idea that if Trump was defeated due to fraud then there’s no point in voting the elections anyway, and if Georgia Republicans won’t fight harder to find the fraud that defeated Trump then they don’t deserve the support anyway.
The Trump campaign and family both disagree with this sentiment and would like people to get out in Georgia to vote, but it would appear many won’t be moved.
If it’s unclear why this move is foolish then here are two big reasons why boycotting the Georgia runoff elections is just bad tactically.
#3
If the Republican party the American public lets the fraud stand, then there really isn't any point of doing anything about GA defending our Constitution or rule of law.
How can anyone swear the oath anymore? To what?
This isn't about one bad actor. This is both parties, the security agencies and administrative state, the entire newsmedia and the corporate and tech oligarchs fucking up the very foundations of the United States.
This is sabotage by thousands of well-placed Establishment insiders.
Imagine this: We all love our mothers. So what does a loyal son do when he learns his Mom's a secret crack addict who's been turning tricks on her way to the grocery store?
#4
The Red State article is misleading. Powell said:
“I would encourage all Georgians to make it known that you will not vote at all unless your vote is secure.”
Why vote using a system which is corrupted and has not been cleaned up? Giuliani has been trying to kick the decision to choose electors to the Georgia Legislature.
#6
If people don't want to vote (since voting seems to work so well here), then so be it. That is there choice.
If the GOP had someone worth a darn in the first place that didn't drive people to vote Libertarian, they might not be in this predicament in the first place.
It's Kurt
[Townhall] I’m not sure what is the most distinguishing characteristic of the Never Trump sissies. Sure, they are contemptible worms who care about nothing but extending their pathetic grifts — and it’s not like the Grima Wormtongues of conservatism have any saleable skills other than treachery. This is, of course, why these grody creatures are naturally drawn to D.C., where their loathsome skills are appreciated.
But scumbags are a dime a dozen — what truly distinguishes these geebos is their bizarre confidence that someday us conservatives are going have an epiphany that we need them back and come begging them to return to their former glory as the Republican establishment’s managers of America’s decline.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Cuomo established a color-coded system to indicate the severity of the COVID-19 infection rate by ZIP code. Red is the most severe and calls for limiting worship to 10 people per indoor venue. Orange is the next level, and it limits worshipers to 25.
[We Are The News] Our Elections are a National Disgrace. Our Elections are a World Wide Disgrace.
[American Thinker] Georgia’s Fulton County, the most populous in the state, claimed it needed to stop absentee ballot overnight on November 3-4 because of a burst pipe. That was a lie. There was no burst pipe, and the counting didn’t stop. At a hearing on Thursday, surveillance footage emerged showing that the ballots being secretly counted came from suitcases hidden under a table.
[Washington Examiner] Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley has predicted a coming defense budget cliff under a Biden administration, the product of the dual impact of a struggling economy and continued coronavirus pandemic.
[Free Beacon] Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock has declined to authorize the release of his divinity school graduate thesis, which is under wraps at the Union Theological Seminary 
[RedState] There seems to be an online war raging over the Georgia runoffs within the Republican camp and the Democrats are loving every minute of it.
