If you thought Secretary Kerry’s 2013 “Jobs for Jihadists” program was goofy, wait until you read about this one. 
The U.S. federal government is announcing a new program called CVE (Counter Violent Extremism) in Minneapolis Minnesota.  Under the U.S. program, authorized by President Obama, Somali Muslims living in Minnesota will be paid not to go on terror rampages. or blow themselves up. 

…”Led by a taskforce of 15 Somali Americans and a traditional community grant-making organization, the Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) program is the brainchild of the chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota, Andrew Luger. […]  The goal is to prevent youth recruitment by overseas extremist groups such as Isis or al-Shabaab”…. 

Any individual found engaged in an act of violent jihad will have their monthly payment stopped, and all federal income subsides removed. They’re calling it “crime prevention“, so there’s always that….
(VIA GUARDIAN) Hibaaq Osman has a glow that changes the energy in a room, or in her case, the energy of the restaurant her family owns in Karmel mall, the oldest Somali mall in Minneapolis. The cafe is right near the mosque on the top floor of the building, past rows of entrepreneurs selling wares in individual stalls, sipping hot drinks in small cups and chatting in Somali.
Osman retains her glow, even in anger. And after a press conference held outside the mosque, she is upset. (more…)

Hired by election and fully supported by her community, county clerk Kim Davis is handcuffed and jailed by a U.S. Marshall and federal judge.  Note that Davis is afforded no religious accommodation by the same federal government which mandates -by law- religious accommodation within the private sector for all employees.
And the social justice warrior crowd is gleeful…..

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(Via Washington Examiner) In a bow to the huge U.S. Hispanic population and the Catholic Church’s advocacy of immigration, Pope Francis plans to give his Washington mass Sept. 23 in Spanish, according to Cardinal Donald William Wuerl.
“The mass is going to be in Spanish,” Wuerl said Wednesday while previewing the pope’s trip to reporters.
“It’s a recognition of how large the Hispanic population in the United States is,” said Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. “And he’s coming as the first pope from the New World and the predominant language in this hemisphere is Spanish,” added Wuerl of the Argentine-born pope. (more…)

VICTORY !  Last month, a court in California blocked the pro-life group Center for Medical Progress (CMP) from releasing any videos regarding certain meetings of the middleman, StemExpress.
The restraining order did not apply to the Planned Parenthood abortion business or even to StemExpress in its entirety, making it so additional videos were released. However, today a federal judge ruled that StemExpress could not take possession of videos and documents in their battle to block the distribution of videos and documents.
[scribd id=274441082 key=key-czVxkQTt5uXcXM45xea1 mode=scroll]
(Via Life News) […] A Superior Court of the State of California  issued a decision Thursday in StemExpress v. The Center for Medical Progress, which prohibits a biomedical company from accessing the material of an investigative journalist exposing Planned Parenthood’s selling of fetal body parts. (more…)

They’ve never been asked to provide birth control; it’s never been a part of their health insurance plan, before, during or after ObamaCare.  It has never been a consideration or request of any individual within their religious enclave.  Yet still, the court says they must violate the essential tenet of their belief and provide it; ridiculous.

The Supreme Court has already ruled on this specific issue in prior rulings, yet the Tenth Circuit Court disregards the higher authority, and compels the Little Sisters to violate their faith.  

They’ll win in higher court, but the issue is why that route is even mandated.

(Via National Review) The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the Little Sisters of the Poor have to comply with the administration’s “HHS mandate” on contraceptives, as modified by its “accommodation” for religious non-profits. But the decision seems to directly contradict the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling. (more…)

Oh goodie, Pope Francis said he interpreted Morales’ gift through the prism of Espinal’s Marxist bent and viewed it as protest art.  I wonder if he’d be similarly accepting of “piss Christ“.

(Via The Guardian) Pope Francis has said he wasn’t offended by the “communist crucifix” given to him by Bolivian president Evo Morales during his South American pilgrimage.

Morales surprised the pontiff with the unusual gift, a crucifix attached to a hammer and sickle, when Francis arrived in La Paz on Wednesday.

The crucifix was a replica of one designed by a Jesuit priest, the Reverend Luís Espinal, who was tortured and killed by Bolivian paramilitary squads in 1980. Francis prayed at the site of Espinal’s assassination upon his arrival in Bolivia. (more…)

This is what happens when single issue activists are supported by the State and take judicial action against Christians. Not only did this couple lose their freedom of religion, but they also are forced to lose their freedom of speech.

OREGON – Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian finalized a preliminary ruling today ordering Aaron and Melissa Klein, the bakers who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, to pay $135,000 in emotional damages to the couple they denied service.

“This case is not about a wedding cake or a marriage,” Avakian wrote. “It is about a business’s refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal.” (more…)

JUST IN: #MountZionAME church fire classified as natural, SLED says #chsnews #scnews

— Melissa Boughton (@mel_bough) July 2, 2015

(link)

SCOTUS – Justice Kennedy begins his opinion for the Court with a paean to the institution of marriage:  he describes it as “essential to our most profound hopes and aspirations,” “sacred to those who live by their religions” and offering “unique fulfillment to those who find meaning in the secular realm.”

But it is also, he continues, an institution that “has evolved over time” from an “arrangement by the couple’s parents” to a voluntary agreement between a man and a woman.  Similarly, although being gay was once considered an “illness,” public attitudes have shifted significantly.

The Supreme Court, Kennedy’s opinion explains, has long recognized the right to marry as a fundamental right.  And although until today it has always done so in the context of opposite-sex couples, he continues, all of the same principles on which the Court has relied in cases involving opposite-sex couples apply equally to same-sex marriage and the recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages.  (more…)