Author Archives: Grif

Idiot Hubris – Vladimir Putin Says Alaska Really Belongs To Russia

Posted on January 30, 2024 | 5 comments

 

Putin shouts trying to look tough – and failing!

From  The Hill

By Miranda Nazzaro,

The State Department on Monday brushed off reports of Russian Presi ordering his government to look into the nation’s former “real estate” abroad, saying Alaska would be staying in American hands.

Putin signed a new decree last week to allocate funds for the research and registration of Russian property overseas, including that in former territories of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Russian state media TASS reported .

The decree, which comes amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, did not specifically mention Alaska, though it caught the attention of military bloggers, who argued Putin was using the decree to declare the 1867 Russian sale of the Last Frontier State to the U.S. is illegal.

“Well, I think I can speak for all of us in the U.S. government to say that certainly he’s not getting it back,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a Monday press briefing , prompting laughter from his audience.

The Institute for the Study of War last week noted the “exact parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russia property are unclear.”

“The Kremlin may use the ‘protection’ of its claimed property in countries outside of its internationally recognized borders to forward soft power mechanisms in post-Soviet and neighboring states ultimately aimed at internal destabilization,” the institute wrote in an assessment of the Russian offensive campaign.

It pointed to a Telegram post from a military blogger who suggested Russia could start enacting the law in Alaska and parts of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Putin, in a 2014 question-and-answer with a studio audience, called the 1867 sale “inexpensive,” and argued people should “not get worked about it.”

“We can calculate the equivalent amount, but it was definitely inexpensive. Russia is a northern country with 70 percent of its territory located in the north and the far north. Alaska is not located in the southern hemisphere, either, is it? It’s cold out there as well. Let’s not get worked up about it, all right?” he said.

While Putin appeared to downplay the sale, Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov in December hinted at Moscow reclaiming its previous territories in the future.

“Did you want a new world order? Receive and sign. Venezuela annexed a 24th state, Guyana-Essequibo. This is happening right under the nose of the once great hegemon of the United States. All that remains is for Mexico to return Texas and the rest. It’s time for Americans to think about their future. And also about Alaska,” Mironov wrote on X , formerly Twitter, last month.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev joked about the State Department’s response later Monday, writing on X , “According to a State Department representative, Russia is not getting back Alaska, which was sold to the U.S. in the 19th century. This is it, then. And we’ve been waiting for it to be returned any day. Now war is unavoidable,” with a laughing emoji attached.

~ Grif

 

5 Comments

Posted in clueless, failed state, Russia, Vladimir Putin

What is a woman? The Church of England doesn’t know.

Posted on September 7, 2022 | 7 comments

Woman def: An adult, female, human being (hotchickabus beatusyensys). Woman has been known to make Man (douffaramakus goofballferensis) do and say stupid things just by walking across the room wearing a tank top and shorts. source: Dictionary of Rational Thought and No Wok BS.

The Church of England has now gone on record saying it has “no official definition” of a woman.

What?

Really?

At first, I was inclined to think this news was a joke, something left over from from a lame April Fools Day prank. But, after a little digging, I found that it was all too true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

British journalist Gabriella Swerling, writing for The Telegraph reported ” The Archbishops and York and Canterbury attend The Synod Eucharist Commission on a recent Sunday. The Church of England has come in for criticism after Dr Robert Innes, the Bishop in Europe, said ‘there is no official definition’ of a woman. In a written reply to a question submitted to General Synod, a senior Bishop said that although the meaning of the word woman was previously “thought to be self-evident, care” was now needed.

The question was posed as institutions grapple with the ongoing debate surrounding trans rights and what defines “a woman.”

While the new stance has been welcomed by liberal wings of the Church, the comments have also provoked criticism – with gender-critical campaigners saying that “whether your starting point is biology or the Bible”, the answer to the question of what is a woman remains the same.

Rev Angela Berners-Wilson, England’s first woman priest, said that she is “not totally happy” with the answer, but added that the issue is “sensitive”.Church officials are currently engaged in Living in Love and Faith (LLF), the institution’s ongoing and landmark project aiming to tackle how questions about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage fit with the Church.

The issue of defining what a woman is emerged in written questions to the General Synod, the Church’s legislative body, in which Adam Kendry, a lay member of the Synod and a representative of the Royal Navy, asked: “What is the Church of England’s definition of a woman?”

In response, Dr Robert Innes, the Bishop in Europe, said that “there is no official definition”.

The Bishop in Europe, who was also replying in his role as chairman of the Faith and Order Commission, said in his written response: “There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy.

“The LLF project however has begun to explore the marriage complexities associated with gender identity and points to the need for additional care and thought to be given in understanding our commonalities and differences as people made in the image of God.”

Rev Angela Berners-Wilson, who became the first woman to be ordained as a priest in England in 1994, and who has recently retired, told The Telegraph in response to the Bishop of Europe’s answer: “I’m not totally happy with it. I mean, I do think certain things like men can’t have babies just to say the complete obvious thing.

“But I think we need to be very sensitive and maybe we need to reexamine our boundaries.”

Maya Forstater, executive director of the Sex Matters campaign group, described the Bishop’s answer as “shocking”, saying that “the concepts of male and female did not need to have a formal official definition” because “they are older than human life itself”.

She added: “When the Government redefined women through the Gender Recognition Act, the Church of England could have stuck with its long-established understanding, which makes sense whether your starting point is biology or the Bible.

“It is shocking that they so readily gave up the definition of man or woman for the state to amend, as if this fundamental truth did not matter.”

However Jayne Ozanne, synod member and founder of the Ozanne Foundation in 2017 – which works with religious organisations around the world to tackle prejudice and discrimination of LGBTQI people – described the question as “passive aggressive”.

She said: “Mr Kendy’s question is sadly a prime example of a passive aggressive question that is designed to upset the LGBT+ community and particularly the trans members in our midst.

“It’s time these anti-LGBT attacks stopped and that we learnt to acknowledge that life is not quite as black and white as some appear to think it should be.”

Dr Jane Hamlin, president of Beaumont Society charity, which supports trans people, added: “I am puzzled why some people are so obsessed with defining ‘woman’. Why might this be an issue for the Church of England?

“Is it that women should be treated more favourably or less favourably? Why does it matter to the Church of England whether someone is a woman or not a woman? Surely it only matters to the individual themselves.”

~ Grif

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Posted in Christianity, clueless, God's creation, modern education, Nature, Science and Christianity, sex, The Left, woke culture

The Catholic Church is Under Attack

Posted on June 30, 2022 | 3 comments

 

The Catholic Church is under attack by radical pro-abortion terrorists who have rampaged across the country, looting, ransacking, and burning Catholic houses of worship. According to CatholicVote, there have been more than 150 violent attacks in 39 states since 2020. The most recent church burning was Sunday, (July 26, 2022) when the St. Colman Catholic Church in West Virginia was burned to the ground. The church was built in 1878 and was declared an official historical site in 1984. The church was already a smoldering ruin when firefighters from the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department arrived at the scene Sunday. The destruction was total.

In December 2021, Catholic Vote President Brian Burch wrote to
Attorney General Merrick Garland saying:

“We, the undersigned representing millions of Americans, are writing to voice our concerns over the increased attacks against churches, pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations in the aftermath of the leaked draft opinion in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,”.
“In December of last year, the Department of Justice was asked how it was investigating the repeated attacks on churches in the United States,” the letter continued.

“The Attorney General was also asked to investigate those complaints and take appropriate action as is your duty. Since that request there has been public silence.

”The letter went on to point out the remarkable uptick in violence after the Supreme Court leak.

Since the May 3 leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs, those attacks have intensified. Two pro-life organizations in Madison, Wisconsin and Keizer, Oregon have been firebombed as well as a pregnancy care center in Buffalo, New York. Seventeen churches or pro-life organizations have been vandalized with pro-abortion or anti-religious slogans. Among those, a tiny Black Baptist church in rural Mississippi was spray-painted with depictions of rape, and four churches in Olympia, Washington were vandalized on the same day with phrases like “abort the church.”

A recurring slogan has been: “If abortions aren’t safe, then neither are you.

The signers of the letter pointed out that the “silence” of federal law enforcement officials like Garland “endangers Americans even more.” In recent weeks, police arrested a would-be assassin near the home of pro-life Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Within hours of that incident, another radical abortion group published details of the daily movements of another pro-life member of the Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

“Since May 2020 over 150 incidents have occurred across 29 states and the District of Columbia at Catholic properties alone,” the signers noted, adding that under 18 U.S. Code § 247, the Attorney General is obligated to act against attacks on religious properties, as well as efforts to obstruct the free exercise of religion.
“We call on you to publicly condemn these unlawful attacks; to commit to vigorous efforts to prevent them, and to investigate and prosecute them; and to proactively engage with the affected faith communities to ensure their concerns and security needs are being met,” the signers wrote.

“We would request a meeting with your office as well as the Civil Rights Division to discuss what plans are in the likelihood these attacks will intensify.”
The letter was signed by CatholicVote President Brian Burch, Marjorie Dannenfelser of SBA Pro-Life America, Kevin Roberts of The Heritage Foundation, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life Action, and many others.

In May, a radical pro-abortion group known as “Ruth Sent Us” openly called for abortion activists to storm Catholic churches during Holy Mass. On social media, the group even spoke of “beating” pro-life Catholics.

Earlier this week, a domestic terrorist organization calling itself “Jane’s Revenge” declared “open season” on pro-life groups. “We promised to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures,” the group stated. “Rest assured that we will, and those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti.”

A group of at least 124 House Republicans last Wednesday (June 22) sent a letter to Attorney General Garland calling on him to investigate such attacks as domestic terrorism.

“We write to express serious concerns over recent attacks targeting religious organizations and crisis pregnancy centers and request the Department of Justice respond with how its National Security Division plans to investigate these acts of domestic terrorism,” the letter said.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 8, 2022 / 06:00 am

The Department of Homeland Security warned on Tuesday that “faith-based institutions” could be potential targets amid a “heightened threat environment” in the United States.
The DHS alert followed an unconfirmed report that it had notified Catholic bishops of “credible threats” if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, is overturned.

In a June 7 bulletin from the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS), the department responsible for public security said: “In the coming months, DHS expects the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.”

“These targets could include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, schools, racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents.”

CatholicVote has created an interactive tracking report of the 152 Catholic churches that have been attacked since May 2020.

~ Grif

Tracker: Over 400 Attacks on U.S. Catholic Churches Since May 2020

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3 Comments

Posted in abortioin, Christianity, Crime, Evil, terrorism, The Left

Remember

Posted on June 6, 2022 | 3 comments

Today we remember the D-Day Landings: June 6, 1944, when Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. It was beginning of Hitler’s downfall and the end of the Nazi Third Reich. Remember the thousands who fought  and lived to march in a victors parade. And remember the thousands who remain today in graves on the beaches where thy gave the last measure of service and sacrifice.

~ Grif

 

3 Comments

Posted in military, patriotisms, sacrifice, service, Uncategorized

Russian Definition of Free Speech

Posted on March 19, 2022 | 7 comments

Russian model Gretta Vedle, 23, murdered for insulting Russian President Vladamir Putin.

Russian  model Gretta Vedler, 23, murdered for insulting  dictator Vladimir Putin.

From the New York Post

Gretta Vedler , a Russian model who called Vladimir Putin a “psychopath,” was found dead in a suitcase a year later after disappearing. Vedler’s disappearance came a month after posted an anti-Putin rant on social media.

“Vedler’s ex-boyfriend Dmitry Korovin, 23, has confessed to strangling her to death before driving her 300 miles to the Lipetsk region and abandoning the body in the trunk of a car,” the Daily Star reported. Korovin said he slept in a hotel room with her body for three nights before placing it in a newly bought suitcase.

Gretta ‘s social  media posts showed that  she was concerned over his crackdown on protests and what she saw as a desire to forge a bigger Russia.

“I can only assume, in my opinion, clear psychopathy or sociopathy is seen in him. For psychopaths, it is important to constantly experience a sense of fullness and sharpness of life, so they love risk, intense experiences, intense communication, intense activity – an intense and dynamic life,” she wrote, according to the Daily Mirror.

‘Given the fact that Putin went through a lot of humiliation in childhood, he could not stand up for himself due to his [slight] physical form, it is not surprising that he left after law school and joined the KGB,’ she wrote.

‘Such people are timid and fearful from childhood, afraid of noise and darkness, strangers, so traits such as caution, restraint, and lack of communication are developed early in their character.

She told her followers: ‘For psychopaths, it is important to constantly experience a sense of fullness and sharpness of life, so they love risk, intense experiences, intense communication, intense activity – an intense and dynamic life. Maybe he really wants to enhance the integrity of Russia and sincerely wishes the good for the Russians. But can he really do anything?’

She made clear she had grave doubts. ‘I think you know the answer to this question yourself,’ she posted.

Korovin told investigators that  he kept posting pictures and messages on the model’s social media in an attempt  to make friends believe she was still alive. He told interrogators that he slept in a hotel room for three nights with her corpse which he put in a newly-bought suitcase.

But a  male friend called Evgeniy Foster – a blogger in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian city blitzed by Russian forces – became suspicious and found a friend in Moscow to file a missing person case. This triggered  a search which eventually located her body. A video from Russia’s Investigative Committee shows Korovin allegedly demonstrating how he killed the model, and making a full confession.

~ Grif

P.S. Anyone who thinks this is just a coincidence, raise your hand.

Right.

Me neither.

7 Comments

Posted in Crime, Evil, The Left, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Is Your Cat a Psychopath? Probably

Posted on December 15, 2021 | 7 comments

Morning Cat

By Samantha Cole

Motherboard December 6, 2021, 11:18am

One of our cats is sitting directly behind me as I type this, screaming at the back of my head for reasons that only he knows. When he’s bored with that, he’ll stalk our other cat like prey while she tries to use the litter box. He regularly makes guests uncomfortable with prolonged, almost alien eye contact. He is undoubtedly a demon, but according to the findings in a recently published study, he may also meet the description of a cat psychopath.

A team of researchers at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University in the UK devised a survey for cat owners to find out if the hellions living with them fit the bill for cat psychopathy. They wrote a survey that includes questions like: “My cat vocalizes loudly (e.g., meows, yowls) for no apparent reason,” “My cat runs around the house for no apparent reason,” and “My cat does not appear to act guilty after misbehaving.”

The researchers used the answers to these questions given by 549 cat owners who completed the survey to create a new criteria for psychopathy in cats. They started with the “triarchic” concept of psychopathy, where levels of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition have been used to measure psychopathy in humans. These three traits also emerged as factors that lead toward a psychopathic cat, the researchers wrote, but two more factors also arose: human-unfriendliness and pet-unfriendliness. They named this new method of measuring psychopathic cats the Cat Triarchic Plus (CAT-Tri+).

“Our cats and the differences in their personalities inspired us to start this research,” Rebecca Evans, one of the researchers on the study, told Motherboard. “Personally, I am also interested in how owner perceptions of psychopathy in their cat can affect the cat-owner relationship. My cat (Gumball) scores relatively highly on the disinhibition scale—which means he can be quite vocal, proximity-seeking and excitable!”

Minna Lyons, another of the study’s authors, told Motherboard that they are all “crazy cat ladies” who among them study primates, rodents, and psychopathy in humans. “We decided to join our forces and see if psychopathy is something that is relevant in our feline friends too,” she said. “My personal inspiration is my cat Axel, a fluffy and greedy little creature.” Axel participated in a part of the study that assigned activity trackers to some cats, to watch how they move about their days. “Axel is totally bold, and known to go into neighbors’ houses, cars, and garages to search for food,” Lyons said—a sign of a feline psychopath.

All of this sounds like normal cat stuff, which the researchers told me may just be the case; it’s likely that all cats have an element of psychopathy, as humans understand it, they said, as these traits make good sense for their wild ancestors whose main goals were securing food, territory, and mates. They don’t make a lot of sense in a small Brooklyn apartment where kibbles are doled out on a schedule, so to us, zooming up walls and body slamming other pets seems unhinged.

~  Grif

Evening Cat

7 Comments

Posted in animal altruism, cats, Fun, Funnies, God's creation, Nature, Uncategorized

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High Times in the Big Apple

Posted on November 30, 2021 | 5 comments

 

Lost in lethal dreams, a junkie destroys his life on a sidewalk.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is opening the country’s first “supervised shooting galleries” for junkies, a measure he believes will help keep addicts from shooting up openly on the sidewalks of Manhattan as they now do routinely. His nonprofit-run “Overdose Prevention Centers” are located in East Harlem and Washington Heights, and are expected to open as early as Tuesday (Nov. 30).

The locations were chosen based on “health need and depth of program experience,” according to the NYC Health Department. The sites will provide clean needles and social services. Addicts have to bring their own dope.
According to de Blasio, the shooting galleries are a safe and effective way to address the opioid crisis. “I’m proud to show cities in this country that after decades of failure, a smarter approach is possible,” de Blasio said in a statement Tuesday.

The mayor had attempted to create drug shooting galleries prior to the election of Joe Biden to the presidency but was unsuccessful.
The mayor tried to push the controversial proposal to open a total of four sites before, but was blocked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump, who both opposed the plan.

Opposition to the program continues today.
City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) was skeptical about the program’s effectiveness.

“British Columbia has led North America in safe injection sites, all while crossing overdose death milestones every month. How anyone can see this as a solution to a serious problem is beyond me, never mind the concerns of the neighbors,” Borelli told The Post Tuesday.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), whose district includes Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, called on the Department of Justice to block the sites, noting that under former President Trump the DOJ said such sites would violate the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Malliotakis wrote U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday urging him to “take swift action to enforce federal law.”

The congresswoman cited a Jan. 2021 Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that determined it was a federal crime for a supervised injection site run by a Philadelphia nonprofit to allow consumption of illegal drug use at its location.
“Instead of focusing on the root cause of the drug epidemic, Mayor de Blasio is enabling drug cartels that continue to break our laws, smuggle illegal drugs over our border, and prey on our children,” Malliotakis said.

“Crime and fentanyl use are at record highs because of open borders, botched bail reform, and anti-police policies that keep releasing criminal drug dealers back onto our streets. Opening taxpayer-funded heroin shooting galleries is not a proper solution. These centers not only encourage drug use but they will further deteriorate our quality of life,” she said.

~ Grif

5 Comments

Posted in Crime, drugs, Evil, Health, Joe Biden, The Left, Uncategorized

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Biden Administration to Give $450,000 to Each Illegal Alien Separated from their Family by the Trump Administration 

Posted on October 29, 2021 | 7 comments

 

main detention center for unaccompanied alien children in the Rio Grande Valley run by the US Customs and Border Protection on March 30, 2021. Photo by Dario Lopez-mills / Getty Image

  Forbs staff writer Anna Kaplan, citing the Wall Street Journal which broke the story Thursday (Oct. 28), reported that the Biden administration is in talks to offer illegal immigrant families that were separated during the Trump administration around $450,000 a person in compensation for what their advocates say is “lasting psychological trauma.”

Kaplan quoted the Journal’s reliance on unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” that several agencies are at work to resolve lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children who say the government subjected them to traumatic stress during the Trump administration.

The U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering payments that could amount to close to $1 million a family, though the final numbers could shift, the people familiar with the matter said. Most of the families that crossed the border illegally from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S. included one parent and one child, the people said. Many families would likely get smaller payouts, depending on their circumstances, the people said.

It is unclear how many people will be eligible for the settlement, but about 940 families have reportedly filed claims to date.The illegal immigrant families were separated after crossing the border from Mexico to claim asylum in 2017 and 2018 as part of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among others, have filed lawsuits against the government alleging that the thousands of children and parents impacted by the policy have mental health effects from the prolonged trauma. The Journal reports that lawyers representing families and the government are continuing to negotiate the settlement and aim to reach an agreement by the end of November.

During Biden’s first weeks in office, he vowed to reunite the families that had been separated by the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy. Starting in 2017, the Trump administration tried to prosecute all immigrants who illegally crossed the border, resulting in children who arrived with their parents being sent to shelters and border facilities.

Lawyers representing the children in lawsuits allege that children were subjected to malnutrition and provided little medical attention at these facilities. The ACLU identified approximately 5,500 children who were separated from their parents after illegally crossing the border in 2017 and 2018, according to court documents. Not all of the children have been reunited with their parents, as governmental investigations found that the Trump administration did not create ways to track the parents and the children who had been separated.Approximately 1,000 families have yet to be reunited, Family Reunification Task Force leader Michelle Brané said in an interview earlier this month. She noted that there could be more as it’s “very hard to know because there’s no record.” She said the task force has reunited at least 52 families since Biden assumed office.

~ Grif cross posted in CoDA

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Posted in Uncategorized

Oberlin College student ‘angry’ and ‘scared’ after ‘cisgender men’ installed radiator in dorms: ‘Safe space’

Posted on October 23, 2021 | 11 comments

Tinkerbell hides from Cisgenderman. “I’m fwaaaaaayed!”

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Fox News writer Emma Colton reported Tuesday (Oct. 19) that a student at Oberlin College in Ohio had described being “scared” and “angry” after the school announced a work crew would be installing radiators in a “safe space” dormitory for women and transgendered students, explaining the crew would likely be “cisgender men.”

Cisgender men?”

I had never encountered this word, most likely because it was not added to Webster’s lexicon until 2015. I looked it up. Turns out that a “cisgender man” is one who is born male and retains his male identity throughout his life. This of course, identifies practically every man on the planet.

Colton’s narrative continues:

“I was angry, scared, and confused. Why didn’t the College complete the installation over the summer, when the building was empty? Why couldn’t they tell us precisely when the workers would be there? Why were they only notifying us the day before the installation was due to begin?” Oberlin student Peter Fray-Witzer wrote in an op-ed published in the college newspaper on Friday.

The student said he grew concerned because he had not heard of the installation plans before a school email was sent on Oct. 7. He explained that the crew would likely be cisgender men entering Baldwin Cottage, which is home to a “safe space” for “women and transgendered persons.”

“In general, I am very averse to people entering my personal space. This anxiety was compounded by the fact that the crew would be strangers, and they were more than likely to be cisgender men.”

The work crew eventually showed up at the dorm, and Fray-Witzer described that he saw “immediately that they were all men. “”It was clear that the College had not made a special request that male workers not be allowed onto the upper floors of Baldwin,” the student continued.

Fray-Witzer asked a representative of the college – who he called “Polo Man” because he was wearing a “neat polo” – who accompanied the crew if he could reject getting the radiator installed. The college emissary apparently said no, and the student left for class to allow the work crew to make the dorm improvements.

“By the time I had come back, they appeared to be done, though Polo Man warned me that they would return later in the week to check the insulation. Sure enough, they were back the next day. I felt mildly violated and a little peeved.”
Fray-Witzer said he asked how other students in the dorm felt about the work crew, with many complaining about messes, noise, and other typical complaints that accompany construction projects. Others noted that they didn’t feel comfortable with how the school handled the installation.

“I understand, of course, that installations like this are routine; the College needs to improve its facilities occasionally, and who am I to stand in the way of that? After all, I get a brand-spanking-new radiator, right in time for the cold weather. But why not finish the project during the four months of the summer semester, when the building was unoccupied?”

Oberlin’s press office did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the matter.

~ Grif

~E

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Posted in Funnies, The Left

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IRS denies non-profit a tax-exemption over biblical beliefs

Posted on July 5, 2021 | 5 comments

Your government at work.

A Christian non-profit is challenging the Internal Revenue Service after the agency denied them tax-exempt status saying “the Bible’s teachings are typically affiliated with the Republican Party and candidates.”

Christians Engaged describes itself as educational, Christian, and non-partisan, and operates out of Garland, Texas. Its three main goals, as described by the non-profit, include:

To awaken, motivate, and empower ordinary believers in Jesus Christ to: pray for our nation and our elected officials regularly, vote in every election to impact our culture, and engage our hearts in some forms of political education or activism for the furtherance of our nation. Katherine Hamilton, in a June 29, 2021 article for Breitbart, wrote:

The non-profit works to show Christians how to “civically engage as part of their religious practice” but does not promote specific parties or candidates or earn money for political causes, according to the organization’s appeal letter to the IRS.

The non-profit first applied to become a 501 (c)(3) in late 2019. They received a rejection letter on May 18, 2021, from Exempt Organizations Director Stephen A. Martin saying the group “engage[s] in prohibited political campaign intervention” and “operate[s] for a substantial non-exempt private purpose and for the private interests of the [Republican] party.”

Martin alleged in his letter that the group does not meet

requirements for tax exemption because biblical causes tend to favor the Republican Party:

“Specifically, you educate Christians on what the Bible says in areas where they can be instrumental including the areas of sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, biblical justice, freedom of speech, defense, and borders and immigration, U.S. and Israel relations. The Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican Party] and candidates. This disqualifies you from exemption under IRC Section 501(c)(3).”

The First Liberty Institute, which is representing Christians Engaged, sent an appeal letter to the IRS on June 16, saying Martin’s decision mischaracterizes the nature of the non-profit and infringes on first amendment liberties.

“From its religious perspective, Christians Engaged provides nonpartisan religious and civic education, focusing on encouraging and educating Christians to be civically engaged as a part of their religious practice,” according to the appeal letter.

Lea Patterson, who is representing Christians Engaged and serves as counsel with First Liberty Institute, said the decision from the IRS is strange and not in line with their past practices. Patterson said the IRS is discriminating based on religion.

“If the IRS going forward thinks that Bible teaching is Republican-affiliated, then that could endanger the tax-exempt status of many religious organizations — including potentially churches, which obviously teach the Bible with some frequency,” Patterson told Breitbart News.

In the denial letter, the IRS pointed out that the leadership of the organization is or has been heavily involved in other Republican organizations in the past. However, these affiliations are separate and do not intersect with Christians Engaged. President Bunni Pounds is a former congressional candidate, 15-year political consultant, and a motivational speaker. Vice President Trayce Bradford is the former president of Texas Eagle Forum – a statewide pro-family advocacy group, former prayer leader, and an organizer for Promise Keepers.

“We just want to encourage more people to vote and participate in the political process. How can anyone be against that?” Pounds said in a release.

In the appeal letter, Patterson pointed out that the IRS has approved 501(c)(3) status for several other organizations that behave almost identically to Christians Engaged. Most notably, the letter mentioned a non-profit Michelle Obama started called Civic Nation, whose “When We All Vote” initiative says its mission is:

[T]o change the culture around voting and to increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap. Created by Michelle Obama, When We All Vote brings together individuals, institutions, brands, and organizations to register new voters across the country and advance civic education for the entire family and voters of every age to build an informed and engaged electorate for today and generations to come. We empower our supporters and volunteers to take action through voting, advocating for their rights, and holding their elected officials accountable.

“Denying tax-exempt status for Christians Engaged while recognizing the exempt status of other organizations who encourage civic engagement from different viewpoints demonstrates the IRS’s impermissible viewpoint discrimination,” Patterson said in the appeal letter.

Patterson also noted that Martin is not following protocol when he assumes that Christian values belong to one political party.

“The IRS states in an official letter that Biblical values are exclusively Republican. That might be news to President Biden, who is often described as basing his political ideology on his religious beliefs,” Patterson said.

Going forward, Christians Engaged must wait while the IRS goes through its official internal administrative appeal process over the next few months. If they are denied again, the IRS and Christians Engaged could end up in federal court, Patterson said.

“Our client’s hope is that they get approved and recognized as a 501(c)(3),” she said.

~ Grif

 

 

 

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Posted in Christianity, Finances, Uncategorized