Columnist.
Thousands of years of human history cannot be overruled by three hours of debate before nine imperfect people. But [...] that is the best liberals can hope for in the race to upend nature's law— and nature's God. Outside the U.S. Supreme Court, where the future of civilization was on trial, people from both sides of the marriage debate soaked in the sun while inside clouds gathered over the question that's shadowed America for the last 11 years: does the court have a right to force same-sex "marriage" on every state in the union? Two years ago, these same justices argued no. It was wrong, Anthony Kennedy warned, for courts to "put a thumb on the scales and influence a state's decision as to how to shape its own marriage laws." Now, a vocal minority is asking these nine justices to put — not just a thumb, but the body of America's highest court on the scales, toppling 240 years of self-governance. If they concede, burying the nation's democratic heritage under an avalanche of judicial activism, states' rights are forever at risk.
The best barometer of what matters to voters isn't what's coming out of the media's mouth — but the candidates'. For months, the press has tried to persuade the nation that marriage is not only a settled issue, but an unimportant one. This past weekend's Faith and Freedom Coalition event blew that theory to bits, as every presidential hopeful but one almost tried to be more outspoken on the issue than the others. Polling has its place, but generally speaking, candidates don't lead the voters — voters lead *them*. And the fact that heading into a major presidential election cycle, almost every official and potential GOP candidate has publicly thrown their support behind marriage is the best indication of where voters truly stand. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who hasn't shied away from a single question on the issue, reiterated his opinion that "There is no federal constitutional right to same sex marriage. There isn't such a right. You have to have a ridiculous reading of the U.S. Constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex." Other stalwarts like Governor Mike Huckabee and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), haven't budged from their position — despite the slings and arrows from the Left.
If you thought it was expensive to *buy* a wedding cake, try not baking one! Aaron and Melissa Klein found out just how expensive [Friday], when — after two long years — an Oregon judge finally told the young parents of five exactly how much living by their beliefs would cost them: *$135,000*. Their dream of owning a dessert shop near Portland, Oregon turned into a nightmare when two lesbians refused to take "no" for an answer on their request for a same-sex "wedding" cake. Sued, harassed, vandalized, and threatened to the point that the couple had to close their doors, the Kleins still didn't budge. Found guilty by an administrative court earlier this year, the Kleins spent four sleepless weeks wondering what the government — the same one that guarantees them the freedom of religion — would charge them. Now that they've been ordered to pay up to $135,000 in fines, Aaron and Melissa have made it clear that they are willing to pay a far steeper price to stand up for Christ.
Don't look now, but the do-nothing Senate is finally doing something under the GOP! A month after Democrats drove a popular anti-trafficking bill into a ditch, Republicans finally managed to pull the measure out of the partisan muck and pass it 99-0. For weeks, the Left had been warring against a piece of routine language in Sen. John Cornyn's (R-Texas) Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act that keeps taxpayers out of the abortion business. Despite being the law of the spending land for more than 40 years, the President's party pretended that the Hyde-like ban was not only new — but extreme. It was a ridiculous ploy, even for the Senate, which has long agreed with 70% of Americans that regardless of how taxpayers feel about abortion, they shouldn't have to pay for it. Instead, they used the media as a megaphone for their fake hysteria that this legislation was somehow more pro-life than past bills.
The latest sex scandal involving federal law enforcement officials has claimed its first high-level victim, with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Michele Leonhart stepping down after a Department of Justice Inspector General's (IG) report documented that DEA agents in Colombia had participated in "sex parties" with prostitutes — in some cases hired by the very drug cartels the agents were supposed to be fighting. This comes following a similar well-publicized scandal in Colombia (where prostitution is tolerated) involving Secret Service agents, but the IG report covered problems of sexual harassment and misconduct not only in the DEA, but also in the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Meanwhile, the Defense Department continues to struggle with problems of sexual assault and pornography in the military.
The U.S. Constitution is a six-block walk from the D.C. City Council — but it's light years away from the District's policy making. For years, members of the D.C. government have pretended that the First Amendment in their neighborhood doesn't apply to their lawmaking, especially when it comes to social issues. The latest example is the city's Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act (RHNDA), which it raced through in January against the warnings of its own legal team. Under the bill, it would be a crime for groups to not only refuse to pay for abortion coverage — but to refuse to hire a pro-abortion activist. Of course, everyone is familiar with the first part of the measure, thanks to the ObamaCare mandate. But ordering groups like FRC to set aside its beliefs and hire members of the opposition? That's as unconstitutional as it gets!
The beach is usually a tranquil scene, but on a distant Libyan shore, it was anything but. Men with guns slung over their shoulders led a human chain to the sand, eventually staining the surf with the blood of more than 30 Christians. It was a gruesome sequel to their last video, when Egypt's Coptic Christians, like these men, lay lifeless on the coast — the victims of savage ISIS beheadings. "To the nation of the cross," the masked killers warn, "we are now back again." Unfortunately for the Middle East, they never left. Their march through the sandy strongholds of Syria, Africa, and Iraq, only intensifies — and other nations' concern along with it. The danger to "worshippers of the cross" — from Kenyan college students to Assyrian Christians — is bringing the genocide into sharper focus for once-reluctant world leaders, who are running out of ways to condemn the acts.
The slogan used to be "An Army of one." And if the military isn't careful, that's exactly what they'll have. America's soldiers are more disgruntled than ever, a new report in a depressing string of outcomes shows. Of the branch's 777,000 soldiers more than half (52 percent) are unhappy — or worse, "rarely count(ing) on good things happening" to them. Almost as many — 48 percent — explain that what was once one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet is now anything but. Dissatisfied and disrespected, hundreds of thousands of soldiers say their commitment is waning. The warning signs have been there all along, but only recently have the surveys started to confirm what most long suspected: that this administration's radical policies are having a catastrophic effect on the troops. Only 28 percent of the Army and National Guard feel good about what they do — a low-water mark for one of the nation's proudest traditions: military service. Two-thirds, USA Today reports, are "borderline or worse for an area called 'catastrophic thinking'" — despite six years of an "optimism program" meant to make soldiers resilient. At $287 million, the campaign has been a dismal failure.
Angie's can take one thing off its list — CEO Bill Oesterle. After a rough few weeks at the center of the Indiana RFRA debate, the Angie's List boss surprised everyone by stepping down. The decision, which comes less than a month after conservatives launched a nationwide boycott against his company, caught the local business community off guard — especially since Oesterle had been at the helm since he co-founded the subscription service in 1995. Of course, his rockiest time at the wheel was this spring, when the one-time GOP advisor gambled his company's reputation on the Left's view of religious liberty — namely, that Christians shouldn't have any. Oesterle jumped on the Left's misinformation bandwagon, using his company as leverage in the fight against religious liberty. At one point, he threatened to pull a multi-million dollar office building from Indianapolis over the measure — which, reporters later discovered, was on hold for other reasons. Turns out, the city was already worried that Angie's List's track record (specifically that it has never posted an annual profit) was a bad investment. When Indianapolis didn't bite on the idea — which would have cost it millions of dollars in subsidies — Angie's List had no choice to put the plans on the backburner.
If this President gets his way, the meek won't inherit the earth — the U.S. government will! That's because our current tax code never says die, even when the person it's taxing does. Thanks to the "death tax," Americans have been mourning the loss, not just of their loved ones, but of the assets they spent their whole life building. To cushion the blow, the new Republican majority is doing its best to give America some relief by introducing the "Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015." Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) in the House (Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. has the companion bill), Congress would permanently roll back the estate tax that's hurting so many middle class families and businesses.
The presidential election is still 19 months away, but the GOP field is as crowded as a D.C. sidewalk during cherry blossom time. And fortunately for conservatives, there aren't many duds among them. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) proved that [Monday] with a solid rollout of his 2016 campaign. Drawing from his strengths as a young (the youngest, so far), principled alternative to the current President, the bilingual Cuban-American proved that he's just as fluent in social issues as he is in foreign policy. While some Republicans run for cover, Senator Rubio stood and spoke unapologetically about his values. Standing in Miami's Freedom Tower, Marco was a stark contrast to the opponent he called "a leader from yesterday," Hillary Clinton, who spent a good portion of her candidacy ad cheering the deconstruction of the natural family.
When Memories Pizza reopened late Thursday afternoon, everyone wanted a slice of the action! The Walkerton restaurant became the biggest story of the Indiana religious liberty debate when its Christian owners were asked a hypothetical question about catering a same-sex "wedding" ceremony. When Kevin and his daughter Crystal O'Connor answered truthfully that they wouldn't, the tiny town was overrun by protestors. The threats from the "tolerant" Left were so vicious — everything from burning down the pizza parlor to killing its owners — that the O'Connors closed the store and went into hiding. Fortunately, the Blaze got a hold of the story and rallied tens of thousands of people to their side. Through a GoFundMe account, donations started pouring in to the family at a pace no one expected. In just 48 hours, supporters blew past the original $25,000 goal into an $842,000 explosion of generosity for the O'Connors — stunning the mainstream media and turning the narrative of marriage and the notion of nationwide acceptance on its head.
On the eve of Good Friday, big business leaders jingled some silver in front of Indiana's elected leaders to entice them away from defending religious freedom and sadly they took the silver. After huddling with CEOs and LGBT groups, the legislative leadership unveiled a new law that not only guts the state's newly enacted Religious Freedom Restoration Act but imposes punishing fines on people who follow their beliefs about marriage. While most were expecting some kind of 'clarification,' few expected the proposed law that outrageously contemplates criminal prosecution for business owners who decline to be a party to a same-sex ceremony. The proposal doesn't directly create criminal punishment, but for the first time establishes that if the legislature were ever to adopt criminal penalties in the future, a religious freedom claim would provide NO DEFENSE against imprisonment. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty describes the proposed language as making "specific allowances for criminal prosecution." But the intolerant left isn't waiting on lawmakers and the governor to sort out what punishments might be imposed. They have turned their fury on Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana all because a co-owner of the restaurant told a reporter, who was asking local small businesses if they would service same-sex weddings, that she would not cater a same-sex 'wedding.' The restaurant temporarily closed its doors [Wednesday] "due to the volume of calls and threats it had received."
If anyone looks like a fool this April 1st, it's corporate America. They're not only drawing a line in the sand on religious liberty -- they're standing on the wrong side of it with the intolerant Left! After weeks of spewing misinformation, liberals have managed to whip the entire country into a pointless frenzy over a perfectly reasonable religious liberty bill that is almost identical to one heralded by Bill Clinton. Their propaganda machine has been particularly effective on corporate CEOs, who have spent the last several days firing off indignant press releases about pulling their business from the state -- but not before engaging in some epic hypocrisy of their own. Turns out, the companies most outraged by Indiana's law are the ones contributing to *real* and sometimes deadly discrimination!
The only March Madness sweeping through Indiana is the hysteria over the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). And in the clash between the facts and fiction, truth is the overwhelming underdog. After 22 years of living under the same legislation Governor Mike Pence (R) just signed, most people want to know what, exactly, has changed? When President Bill Clinton put his name on an almost identical piece of legislation, his party cheered. Now, two decades later, this same concept of religious freedom is sparking a nationwide panic. Businesses are boycotting Indiana; governors are banning state-funded travel there, and the media is giving in to a perfect storm of distortion from national liberal groups -- all because Indiana wants what the Founding Fathers did: to let every American live and work according to their faith.
Indiana is more than the "crossroads of America" -- it's the crossroads of the entire religious liberty debate. The Left made sure of that, fabricating all kinds of baseless outrage over the state's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). What started out as a harmless affirmation of the First Amendment turned into a blow-up of national proportions -- with "truth optional" journalism leading the way. Unfortunately for Governor Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the hysteria started well before last Thursday, when he officially inked the bill into law. Instead, the Left's propaganda machine has been out in full force all month, working to deceive people into believing that this measure will somehow give Christians the ability to "discriminate."
In the Senate, members are usually spending pork -- not eating it! But a barbeque dinner was one of the few perks of [Thursday] night's vote-a-rama, the closest thing to a Senate sleepover there is. After working well past 4 a.m., members and their staffs were just leaving their offices [Friday] morning when most Americans were headed to theirs. Sixteen hours, 784 amendments, and gallons of coffee later, the weary 100 finally made their way to the exits for a two-week Easter break. By dawn, 42 amendments were actually voted on in the unique budget free-for-all -- which, for all the frenzy, isn't even legally binding. As it has for years, the Senate uses this crazy process to map out a budget blueprint. The benefit is that, unlike other legislative business, leaders can offer an unlimited number of amendments without worrying about filibusters. That usually means senators will take the opportunity to make a political point -- or try to get their colleagues on the record on an issue that they can use to their advantage in campaign ads later on.
The only thing worse than a soldier abandoning his post is a commander-in-chief who abandons his duty to keep the nation safe. When Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl left his unit behind, we had a President willing to leave the law behind in what could go down as the most dangerous prisoner swap in U.S. history. I say "could," because the five terrorists this White House released are already trying to reconnect with their Taliban networks in an effort to reengage in the war against the West. FRC's Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin -- like most military leaders -- saw this coming. "I hope that this does not come as a surprise to anyone. It was predictable and many of us said so at the time of the release. The only surprise for me would be if it was proven that the other (two terrorists Obama freed) are not doing the same thing. I bet you that they are."
When it comes to his latest military maneuver, the President isn't asking -- but leaders are telling their concerns. Military officials may finally be saying, "enough!" to the President's radical social policies. Last month, it looked like the commander-in-chief might finally have a partner in his social experiment, new Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Barely four weeks into the job, the Pentagon's latest boss said he was on board with the President's last military makeover: lifting the ban on open transgenderism. "I don't think anything but their suitability for service should preclude them," Carter told reporters late last month. "I'm very open-minded about (it)..."
If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em! That's the President's new approach to climate change skeptics in conservative states. The Obama administration is apparently so desperate for support that it's willing to blackmail governors into adding global warming to their disaster planning -- or block their federal funds. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the conform-or-pay rules would go into effect next March. In the meantime, governors have a choice: they can bow down to the Left's faulty science or lose millions of dollars in FEMA relief planning. Under the new regulations, only states that tackle the effects of "changing environmental or climate conditions" in their long-term "hazard-mitigation plans" will qualify for funding. Specifically, governors must "identify tools and approaches that enable decision-making to reduce risks and increase resilience from a changing climate." It's a shocking amount of political arm-twisting, even for this administration.
