Religious Liberty is a Gift from God

...not an indulgence by the state.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to exempt the nuns because it considered their understanding of their own religious beliefs “unconvincing.”

That's just the kind of thing that is going to bring this situation to a head.

UPDATE: It's not just nuns.

Coming to the fore over issues of personal identity, most saliently in relation to the gay-rights movement, same-sex marriage, and transgender rights, it has resulted in a legal battle in which the radioactive charge of “discrimination,” borrowed from the civil-rights movement of the 1960s, is wielded as a weapon to isolate, impugn, and penalize dissenting views held by Americans of faith and informing the conduct of their religious lives.

Jews are hardly the only group at risk from developments in this area of progressive agitation; up till now, its main targets have been believing Christians. Perhaps for that same reason, Jews have also not been in the front ranks of those raising an alarm. Nevertheless, the threat to them, and to the practice of Judaism, especially by Orthodox Jews, is very real. Unlike in the past, the threat comes not from private initiatives; it comes from government.

1,200 Year Old Viking Sword Discovered

This story is a month or so old, but I don't remember seeing the picture before.

While hiking an old mountain trail in Haukeli (on the border of Telemark County, Norway), Goran Olsen was surprised to discover a 1250 year old Viking sword among some rocks near the road when he sat down to rest. The sword was in excellent condition, especially considering its immense age.

I Haven't Got One Unbroken Rib on My Right Side

Since we're doing Corb Lund songs.

That's How We Do It In Dixie

Monday Night

Life is short. Raise some, while you may.

That is Straight Whiskey

Mat Best hits some notes.



It's funny to me because he's a generation behind us, and doesn't know it -- Kim du Toit was on a lot of this nearly twenty years ago, and BLACKFIVE was all about this stuff in its heyday.

Good to see the kids picking it up.

Give Me Money

Shamelessness is the new norm in Clinton's America.

The price of entry at several of the stops, such as Monday’s dinner at the Beverly Hills home of entertainment mogul Haim Saban, is $50,000 per person. On the Vineyard on Saturday, Clinton netted roughly $2 million at a single cocktail party, then darted off to a small dinner event at a billionaire’s home that generated another $1 million.

By midweek, the Clinton war chest had grown by many millions more, as Clinton hopscotched on a three-day California swing from Johnson’s house to the Saban affair and then to the home of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, where Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx and Tobey Maguire also showed up. Then it was off to the Bay Area for multiple events, including one hosted by Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook.

Just remember, if you're a foreigner who wants to buy influence, the deadline is Inauguration day. After that, there will be a timeout while we figure a work-around for you to continue to give money.

Because She Doesn't Have To

When it comes to the Clintons, it’s not only about what happens, but how they react. The fact that Clinton has not given a press conference in 264 days is far more damaging than the seeming corruption itself.

If she didn’t do anything wrong, why won’t she defend herself?

Qudosi

I happen to know Shireen Qudosi, the Muslim activist apparently permanently banned from Facebook this weekend.

The spat originated after Qudosi stood up for Clarion Project’s National Security Analyst Ryan Mauro, who provided training in San Diego to various police departments last week on what to be aware of when fighting radical Islam.

Mauro was subjected to a silencing campaign by the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which attempted to shut down the training sessions by inundating the police with complaints. CAIR was founded by Muslim Brotherhood members and was designated by the FBI as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terrorism financing trial in American history.

CAIR was designated as a terrorist organization in 2014 by the United Arab Emirates.

Qudosi is an American woman who believes that her native Islam can be reformed to respect international norms about women's rights and personal liberty. I think she's got a hard row to hoe, but I also think that if Islam is to survive it's going to have to make the kind of transition she wants for it. Banning her voice isn't going to help Islam, not in the long run nor even probably in the short run.

Fair Warning: Frenetic, Stream of Semi-Consciousness Posting Ahead

The fall semester has counter-attacked. Summer vacation has been forced to fall back and relinquish the field. While I regroup to counter-counter-attack yet again, my posting will probably be frenetic and possibly even more stream-of-consciousness than usual. Maybe even stream-of-near-unconsciousness.

At some point I'll probably post something downright dumb and I won't realize it until you tell me. Be assured: It will have sounded pretty good on not-enough sleep and maybe a relaxing adult beverage.

Meanwhile, here's another round of Corb Lund. Let me recommend a double Tullamore Dew Single Malt 10-year, neat, for accompaniment.

Hypothetically, How Does the Revolution Happen?

I was over at neo-neocon recently and the topic of a new American revolution or civil war came up. It's kind of difficult to imagine how it would begin, and since Krag and some others seem to think it's likely, I thought I'd ask for hypothetical answers.

Here are my thoughts on insurgency / civil war / revolution in the near future.

I don’t see a new civil war happening unless some states decide to secede. This isn't unthinkable (Texit, anyone?) but I think the states would at least try a constitutional convention first, and then if that failed, secede. That would be quite some way down the road.

There could possibly be an attempt at revolution, maybe in the form of a coup, but I doubt it. At least, not as a first step.

I think it’s more likely an insurgency would be the way it developed. A small insurgency would probably be quickly crushed, but a widespread insurgency could develop into either a civil war, if it could somehow gain territory and regular forces, or a revolution, if it were widespread and popular enough.

An insurgency could be where it stopped, as well. We could be looking at a situation maybe similar to Northern Ireland. Possibly the insurgency could create no-go zones for the authorities, but not get any further. I think this would eventually fail, although it could take a generation or so.

It's difficult for me to assess what would happen with our current security forces. I've read a number of commenters on various sites who claimed that the military and police would be on the revolutionaries side, but that's not necessarily true. I think Conservatives are divided between those willing to go outlaw and those whose honor is bound up in law and order, even if it ends in results they find objectionable. It's hard to say.

I also think that answers the claim that Conservatives have the police, military, and gun owners, so the Left can't win. I think the fighting would be done by Conservatives on both sides, outlaws vs. law-and-order types.

I think it ends in disaster for several reasons. First, I don’t think enough Americans understand or care enough about liberty to join the revolutionaries. If they cared enough to fight for liberty, they would have cared enough to vote for it before now. Many young Americans are increasingly hostile to liberty, and many of the old are risk-averse. So I don’t think it would ever be successful enough to draw in those sitting on the fence.

Another reason is, without outside help, insurgencies never win, not as long as the government is willing to keep fighting. It is only when the government decides it isn’t worth fighting anymore and gives up that insurgencies can win.

Instead, I think any insurgency or attempt at revolution would end up being just another crisis the Left would not let go to waste, and they would become more powerful from it. And we would all lose more liberty.

There are other disasters that could occur as well. The drug cartels would almost certainly get into it, and what if Russia or China decided to play by providing arms, money, advisors, etc.? What if La Raza took the opportunity and made their “reconquista” a violent insurgency as well? Bad news all around.

Anyway, what do you think? How does it start? How does it play out?

"Scientific Canon"?

Now that is an enlightening way of putting it.

Burkina Faso, Burkini Fiasco, Whatever...

Heh.

A True Heroine & Martyr

Meet Kayla Mueller, aid worker captured by ISIS, who defended her Christian faith before the face of her murderer.

Irony Abounds

Headline: "How President Donald Trump Could Ruin His Enemies' Lives."

The article makes a lot of good points, and indeed explains why the unconstrained Federal government is such a tremendous danger to the very liberty it was created to protect. Only now do they see the terror of the monster they've created.

What they also don't see is how it's been used, and is being used, in so many of these ways. In fact, if you talked to them about the IRS scandal, you'd be told that was just wild conspiracy theory.

Nor do they ponder how much institutional resistance there would be to a Trump attempt to turn a bureaucracy made up very disproportionately of Democrats against his enemies. A Clinton attempt, by contrast, would be as happily embraced as the Obama attempts have been.

Military Survival Tips with Mat Best

This guy just learned something for sure.

(Full video is here.)

Foundations

"A lot of smoke, and no fire," she says.

I feel some heat coming off of these.

Story one:

... the American people, their representatives, and law enforcement were never supposed to see these Clinton documents. She blatantly broke the law to destroy them, instead of handing them over to the State Department. “Clinton’s lawyers deleted these emails without turning them over to the State Department, though it turns out that they are clearly public records that explain just how a momentous decision was made on a major arms deal. In spite of that, the FBI recommended no prosecution[.]"

Story two:

"I have never seen a diplomatic cable that had as stark a description of one energy company trying to cheat."
— Fred Fleitz, Center for Security Policy

...While the CFIUS deliberations were taking place, people who stood to profit from the Uranium One sale donated more than $2.6 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Also, Renaissance Capital, an investment bank with connections to the Russian government, paid former President Bill Clinton $500,000 to deliver a speech -- more than his usual fee.

Even before the sale was under consideration, the Clinton Foundation received $31.3 million in donations from one person, Frank Giustra, who stood to benefit from the sale....

"I think it is a smoking gun," Gray said. "By not acting, she helped. And the only way she could have avoided criminal liability was to recuse herself, which she did not. I think it is a clear violation of ethics statutes."

Story three:

From 2009 through 2013, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had refused to designate Boko Haram as an official Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in spite of intense bipartisan pressure to do so. Why? Both Citizens United and Senator David Vitter have sought FOIA releases of documents explaining State’s thought process at this time. However, there is a major Clinton Foundation donor who had a clear interest: a Nigerian oilfield billionaire named Gilbert Chagoury.

Gilbert Chagoury has substantial oil exploration interests in Nigeria. He also pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2009, the same year Hilary Clinton took office as Secretary of State. Gilbert Chagoury is part of a small Nigerian clique that includes President Muhamadu Buhari. He was interested in seeing Buhari elected, and is reportedly the one who pushed for Axelrod’s firm to be brought in.

It would have been in the business interests of Chagoury, and Buhari to keep former president Goodluck Jonathan from initiating oil ventures in northern Nigeria until Buhari was able to secure the presidency. That would make sure that the contracts got into the right hands.

UPDATE: Pretty hot over here, too.

As This Election Season Demonstrates ...

T&P: Alternative Marine Raider Insignia

They have some suggestions. You can read about one of the things they reference here.

Honesty in Training

Apparently honesty is not always thought to be the best policy after all.

Story one: Army pulls training slide listing Clinton as insider threat.

Story two: Stanford pulls training on sexual harassment and alcohol that is a bit too straightforward about reality for comfort.

In both cases, I think these materials are among the best I've ever seen in their genres, both of which are irritating but necessary aspects of contemporary life. Read the archived drinking page for yourself. It doesn't just treat the dangers of rape (which is what caused the objection), but that women risk organ damage at lower levels and shorter periods of heavy drinking. If the intent of the training is to help young women learn how to manage the risks that alcohol poses to them, both socially and as a chemical, this is a fantastic page.

Likewise, the OPSEC slide put its finger on a serious issue that is hard to talk about: that those who outrank you, both in the chain of command and also as civilian appointees or elected officials, may themselves be the risk. You can't let someone's higher rank cause you to turn a blind eye to bad practices. It's just because the State Department lacked such a culture that some of America's most sensitive secrets were exposed by Hillary Clinton to our national enemies. If the intent of OPSEC training is actually operational security, that was a great slide.

We'll have to do with weaker sauce that leaves these risks unaddressed, I suppose.