The Patriot Post® · Call Congress Now!

The House of Representatives was expected to vote yesterday on the misnamed “Respect for Marriage Act.” But the vote has been delayed.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi now reportedly plans to include the bill in “must pass” defense legislation. This move comes after House Democrats rejected efforts to even allow a vote on a religious liberty amendment.

At least two House Republicans who voted for the bill in the summer have changed their minds after realizing how it threatens First Amendment rights. This is not a hypothetical matter as the Supreme Court is once again grappling with precisely this issue. (See below.)

The Respect for Marriage Act, if passed, will only intensify the left’s assault on religious liberty and free speech.

ACTION ITEM: Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard now at 202-224-3121. Tell your representative to oppose the “Respect for Marriage Act” because it undermines our First Amendment rights.

The RINO Stampede

Suffice it to say that Republican leaders raised expectations about the 2022 midterm elections that did not hold up, and the party’s conservative base is now seriously demoralized.

So, with that in mind, what are these “leaders” doing now that they’re back in the Swamp? Well, it looks like there’s a RINO stampede.

The first thing they did was punch their most loyal base in the mouth by caving to leftist demands to redefine marriage. Some of them even went so far as to go on the Senate floor to insist they were betraying their best voters in the name of tolerance.

As I noted in yesterday’s report, the left isn’t interested in tolerance. It is demanding that we kneel to their idols and before their altars!

But wait… There’s more!

News broke Monday that Sen. Thom Tillis from North Carolina is working on a deal with Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. That is not what the American people want right now.

Our position has always been very simple: No negotiations on immigration reform until the border is secure. Period. Full stop!

Build the wall! Do whatever it takes to stop illegal immigration first. Then and only then do you even begin to talk about what happens next.

We’ve been through this before. Ronald Reagan accepted an amnesty deal from Democrats on the promise of future border security. The amnesty went through but the border security never materialized.

In 2006, after tremendous grassroots outrage, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act. It clearly failed to solve the problem.

Once again, Tillis and Sinema are supposedly trying to combine border security with amnesty. Well, we all know how that ends. Amnesties are forever. But border security is only as good as the president who is in office, as Joe Biden has proved.

We were well on our way to having a secure border before Biden took office. Now we’re being overwhelmed by record illegal immigration and record drug overdoses.

By the way, Joe Biden still refuses to visit the southern border, “Because there are more important things going on.”

Let me be as clear as I possibly can: If Republicans continue their impulse to run away from conservative values while pushing the left’s agenda, they will be committing political suicide and America will be an orphan, abandoned to the mercies of the neo-Marxist left.

Defending The First Amendment

As we reported yesterday, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court appears likely to uphold the First Amendment free speech rights of a Christian web designer in Colorado who opposes same-sex marriage.

The case, which has clear implications for religious liberty as well, is just the latest battle pitting the demands of militant homosexual rights movement against the First Amendment rights of men and women of faith.

But I want to draw your attention to a couple of the arguments that occurred during Monday’s hearing because they tell you everything you need to know about where we are headed.

While questioning Colorado’s Solicitor General Eric Olson, who was defending the state’s law, Justice Samuel Alito asked, “Do you think it’s fair to equate opposition to same-sex marriage with opposition to interracial marriage?” Olson answered, “Yes.”

There you have it, friends.

If you believe in the definition of marriage as God defined it, the state of Colorado (and many others on the left) believes you’re a bigot and the equivalent of a racist who deserves to be punished.

One way the state might go about “punishing” people is to “reeducate” them. Consider this exchange between Justice Neil Gorsuch and Solicitor General Olson:

GORSUCH: “[Jack Phillips] did go through a reeducation program pursuant to Colorado law, did he not?”

OLSON: “He went through a process that ensured he was familiar with —”

GORSUCH: “It was a reeducation program, right?”

OLSON: “It was not a reeducation program.”

GORSUCH: “What do you call it?”

OLSON: “It was a process to make sure he was familiar with Colorado law.”

GORSUCH: “Some might be excused for calling that a reeducation program.”

As I have repeatedly warned over the years, the culture war is real and only one side can prevail.

Biden’s IRS Is Coming For You

Remember all the money that got stuffed into the Inflation Reduction Act so the IRS could hire thousands of new agents? Joe Biden told us it was to crack down on billionaires who weren’t paying their “fair share.” Well, now we know otherwise.

The IRS just released new rules indicating that if you receive $600 or more in a single transaction from any electronic payment app like Venmo or PayPal, you the taxpayer must report it to the IRS.

The reporting threshold was lowered from amounts of $20,000 or more, and the transaction limit was lowered from 200 transactions to 1. Failure to report the payments could trigger an audit.

So, now we know what all those extra IRS agents are for. They’re coming after you and other hard-working Americans who are struggling in Joe Biden’s economy, not billionaires, who have armies of accountants.

Kirstie Alley, R.I.P.

For those of you who were fans of the hit comedy series, Cheers, you will recognize the name Kirstie Alley. Her death, at the age of 71, was announced Monday from cancer. Rest in peace.

You may be wondering why I am singling her out when prominent people pass on almost every day. She was a rare phenomenon — an outspoken conservative in Hollywood in a town that punishes conservatives.

It cost her big roles, but she fought political correctness, cancel culture and proudly supported Donald Trump.