In-Depth: 4 Harms the Court's Marriage Ruling Will Cause

From Ryan Anderson, at the Daily Signal.

Grizzly Bear Climbs on Car at Yellowstone National Park

Pretty fascinating, actually.

Good thing the folks inside kept their windows rolled up, considering.

Watch: "Grizzly Bear Clambers Over Family Car."

Jeb Bush Calls Confederate Flag a 'Racist' Symbol

I don't care for Jeb Bush, but coming out so forwardly and unashamedly attacking the Confederate flag as "racist" is no doubt an extremely calculated political move.

Lots of conservatives love that flag, and in a number of important states, they'll be a crucial bloc of voters. And Jeb's blowing them off. Or, he's signaling to them that the Confederate flag's just not going to be up for debate in the GOP primaries, and if you're going to make it an issue you're going to be demonized as no different from the KKK. It's pretty harsh, but I suspect that calculation is the reality of the top brokers at the heights of Republican power and money.

At the Washington Post, "Campaigning in South Carolina, Jeb Bush calls Confederate flag ‘racist’."

Walmart Apologizes for Making ISIS Cake After Saying No to Confederate Cake

I thought this was some conservative Twitter meme at first, but it's not. Walmart really made an ISIS cake.

At ABC News, "Walmart Apologizes for Making ISIS Cake for Man Denied Confederate Flag Design."

Viviany Beleboni 'Crucifixion' at São Paulo Homosexual Pride Parade

I had to follow up on this, especially since my blog was getting some hits off this post: "Celebrate Hate? Homosexual Revelers Use Brazil Pride Festivities to Blaspheme Jesus Christ."

See Blazing Cat Fur, "After Blasphemous Gay Pride Parade, Brazil Seeks to Ban ‘Christophobia’."

And at BuzzFeed, "This Transgender Actress Caused a Huge Internet Uproar After Dressing Up as Crucified Jesus In a Parade."

Imprisoned Mobster Whitey Bulger Writes Letter to Three Teenage Girls from Massachusetts

This is pretty interesting.

The girls were doing a high school project and mob boss Whitey Bulger wrote back to them.

At the Washington Post, "Boston mobster Whitey Bulger writes letter from prison: ‘My life was wasted and spent foolishly’."

And at CBS This Morning, "Legendary mob boss Whitey Bulger expresses regret in letter to teen girls."

Apple Music's Streaming Debut

This is cool, especially if you're a super hip digital music aficionado.

At WSJ, "High Expectations Play in Background of Apple Music’s Debut."

And at BuzzFeed, "Apple Music Launches Tuesday With Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic”."

SpaceX Rocket Failure Raises Questions About Business of Commercial Space Flight

At the Los Angeles Times, "Rocket explosion is a blow to billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX":

An unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station disintegrated over the Florida coast just two minutes after liftoff Sunday — the third major failure for America's commercial space industry in eight months.

The explosion was a blow to billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX aerospace venture, which has shaken the global launch business in recent years by showing it can successfully fly rockets at a fraction of the price of other providers.

It was too early to determine what went wrong Sunday, but executives at the Hawthorne firm vowed to quickly pinpoint the problem. "We will identify the issue we experienced, fix it and get back to flight," Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, said at Sunday news conference.

The failure creates a challenge for NASA. It was the third cargo ship loaded with food, water and other supplies lost in less than a year.

"We expected … we would lose some vehicles," William Gerstenmaier, a NASA associate administrator, said at the news conference. "I didn't think we'd lose them all in a one-year time frame, but we have."

Among the Falcon 9's cargo were parts needed for a water filtration system, said Michael Suffredini, manager of NASA's space station program.

He said the astronauts on the space station have enough food and water for about four months and that another Russian resupply ship was scheduled to launch Friday.

NASA would start planning to bring the astronauts back to Earth, he said, only if vital supplies dwindled to enough for 45 days.

Musk tweeted soon after the failure that there had been "an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank."

"That's all we can say with confidence right now," Musk wrote.

The loss of another commercial rocket operated under a NASA contract comes at a time when the agency's critics in Congress are threatening to reduce funding. Among the targets has been a program under which NASA gave contracts to SpaceX and Boeing Co. to develop spacecraft to fly astronauts to the space station.

SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has also been lobbying for the opportunity to launch the Pentagon's spy satellites and other crucial spacecraft. The company's congressional critics have argued that the upstart is not as reliable as a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that has long had a lock on the military work.

"SpaceX will now have to work on their technical problems and political problems simultaneously," said Greg Autry, an assistant professor at USC who follows the space industry.

The Falcon 9 rocket had flown successfully 18 times. Sunday's cargo mission was the seventh under the NASA contract.

It was the company's first failure since August 2008, when a different rocket — the Falcon 1 — did not reach orbit.

The explosion happened despite good weather. The countdown went smoothly.

After just over two minutes of flight, NASA lost contact with the rocket. Video showed it shattering apart, leaving a cloud of debris.

The success of the SpaceX mission had become more crucial after a Russian resupply ship spun out of control in late April and was destroyed as it fell back to Earth.

Before that, on Oct. 28, a rocket operated by NASA's other commercial cargo hauler, Orbital Sciences, exploded just seconds after liftoff from a Virginia launch pad.

Orbital executives blamed that failure on a fuel pump in one of the rocket's 40-year-old Russian engines. Orbital has since redesigned the rocket, aiming to begin flying it again next year.

"Orbital Sciences isn't anywhere close to being ready to fly again," said Marco Caceres, an aerospace industry analyst with Teal Group. "It will be months and months before they fly, and we're not sure then if they'll be successful."

NASA officials said that SpaceX would do its own investigation of the failure under the supervision of the Federal Aviation Administration...

More.

South Carolina Legislature Has the Votes to Take Down Confederate Flag at Statehouse Grounds

I don't know.

Leftists want it down. A majority of Americans want it down. State legislators want it down.

Shoot, the only ones that want to keep it flying are the Southern heritage folks and their KKK allies.

At the Charleston Post & Courier, "Majority of House, Senate support taking down Confederate flag":

Dam breaking? Just added another “yes” to the house, after passing 2/3rds majority in favor http://t.co/JMtM0HQqPU pic.twitter.com/XcK4cEnyqU

— Jason Emory Parker (@jaspar) June 29, 2015

The S.C. Legislature has amassed the support necessary to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, potentially ending a decades-long, divisive battle over the banner’s fate, according to a survey of lawmakers led by The Post and Courier.

he poll of lawmakers has determined that both the House and the Senate have achieved the two-thirds majority needed to take the flag down, if all supporters were to cast their votes. At least 33 senators and 83 House members say the flag should go.

“I just think that it’s time,” Rep. Mike Forrester, R-Spartanburg, said Monday. “It’s causing too many problems. ... I think it needs to be in a place of honor, but probably not on the Statehouse grounds.”

The issue has heated up following the June 17 killing of nine people, including a state senator, at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, allegedly by a white supremacist who is pictured with a Confederate flag in photos on the Internet.

Members of both chambers have been notified that they are scheduled to return to Columbia on July 6 at 1 p.m. to tackle vetoes and the flag debate. A vote in the Senate could potentially occur that same day...

Keep reading.

Ku Klux Klan to Rally for the Confederate Flag at South Carolina Statehouse

The debate continues with Stogie at Saberpoint, who has responded to my earlier post on Fort Sumter. See, "Did Lincoln Deliberately Instigate War at Fort Sumter? Yes, He Did."

Meanwhile, remember at the crux of this debate is not so much who started the war, but why the belligerents were willing to go to war. The North, of course, under President Lincoln's leadership, fought initially to preserve the Union. The South, ultimately, fought to protect states' right to own property in slaves. (The whole debate is at the search link.)

Stogie has consistently said that the South fought to defend against Northern aggression, and that the protection of states' rights to own slaves was never a cause of war.

Okay, well, I guess the KKK never got the memo.

At the Charleston Post & Courier, "Ku Klux Klan to protest removal of Confederate flag on July 18 at Statehouse":

KKK to rally for #ConfederateFlag July 18 at #SouthCarolina Statehouse. http://t.co/giUg8mqutO #scnews #chsnews pic.twitter.com/s25xBfTP2z

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) June 29, 2015

The Ku Klux Klan has been approved to hold a protest rally at the Statehouse next month against removing the Confederate battle flag, with the group calling accused mass murderer Dylann Roof a “young warrior.”

The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan applied for the permit last week to hold a rally for 100 to 200 people on July 18 on the north side of the Statehouse.

That’s where the Confederate battle flag presently flies.

Brian Gaines, spokesman for the S.C. Budget and Control Board, said the state provides rally space at the Statehouse site when space is available or previously not reserved.

The move was not endorsed by Gov. Nikki Haley. “This is our state, and they are not welcome,” she said in a statement issued by her press office.

In its application permit, the Klan lists equipment needs as a podium and public address access. The group is headquartered out of Pelham, N.C.

Robert Jones, grand dragon for the group, said on Monday that the Klan is a civil rights organization dedicated to white culture and history as symbolized by the rebel banner.

During a phone interview, Jones gave words of support for Roof, saying he erred in going after black people while they worshipped. On the Klan group’s telephone answering machine is a recorded message that refers to Roof as a warrior.

Roof, 21, of Eastover is charged with nine counts of murder in the June 17 shooting at Emanuel AME Church.

All the victims were black; Roof is white, and has reportedly promoted white supremacist activity in his writings and on the Internet...

Interesting that this Robert Jones dude praised the suspect Roof "as a warrior," and he tacitly endorses the murders when he adds the qualification about how Roof was only wrong to the extent that "he erred in going after black people while they worshipped" [sic].

Hey, if those darkies hadn'ta been worshiping, lock and load ye whippersnapper!

I'm sure Stogie's got some canned response to the KKK's support for the suspect Roof and the Confederate flag. I mean, Southerners loved and protected their slaves, right? They protected them right up until the slightest whiff of a fugitive escape, and then slave masters would use their legal rights to beat and whip their black chattel back in line.

Democrat Party racism and violence. That's some Southern heritage, I'll tell you. That's some real sick Southern heritage.

PREVIOUSLY: "Dylann Roof, Southern Democrat Throwback, is Drug-Addled 'Wannabe Emo Anarchist' with Androgynous Haircut," and "Crazy Emo-Prog Dylann Roof Doesn't Fit the Left's 'Right-Wing Racist White Supremacist' Narrative."

BONUS: "What the Left, and Sadly, Some Conservatives Just Do Not Grasp."

Settlement Reached for Families of Yarnell Hill Fire 'Hotshots'

I blogged quite a bit about this fire at the time. Horrifying.

At the Arizona Republic, "Yarnell Hill Fire lawsuits settle for $670,000, reforms."

Also at ABC-15 Phoenix, "Settlement reached for families of Yarnell hotshots," and "Granite Mountain Hotshots remembered 2 years after perishing in wildfire."

Celebrate Hate? Homosexual Revelers Use Brazil Pride Festivities to Blaspheme Jesus Christ

From earlier this month.

At the Conservative Post, "Gay Pride Participants Mock Jesus and the Bible in a Disturbing Way."

And from Amy Proctor, on Facebook.

Gay Pride Festivities in Brazil. I've seen WAY worse in San Francisco.

I notice they're not targeting Buddha or Mohammed.... why? Because this movement is an anti-Christ movement and no Christian can support it in any way.

Choose you this day whom you will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15- "But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your choice: choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

No doubt similar blasphemy was taking place all across the U.S. this weekend. For example, at Twitchy, "#LoveWins? Bronx priest reports getting spit on after today's gay pride parade in NYC," and Gateway Pundit, "Catholic Priest Spit On at Bronx Gay Pride Parade."

BONUS: At Time, "Facebook Has a Super Easy Way to Let You Celebrate Gay Pride," and "Here's how to add a rainbow filter to your Facebook photo in honor of the gay marriage ruling."

Greece to Default on Payment to International Monetary Fund

Frankly, I still don't see Greece leaving the European Union, but this is a major development.

At WSJ, "Greece to Default on $1.73 Billion IMF Payment":

European leaders appealed to Greeks to vote “yes” in a referendum on their country’s bailout, warning that the risk of Greece’s exit from the euro was real, as Athens confirmed it wouldn’t be able to make a loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund due on Tuesday.

The Greek government’s decision to call a vote on measures its creditors demand in return for more bailout aid has cast the country into uncharted waters. As of Tuesday, Greece will be cut loose from international rescue loans for the first time in more than five years. It will also default on the €1.55 billion ($1.73 billion) IMF payment, whose deadline is the same day.

Many economists and officials fear that without further financial support, Greece may have to abandon the euro, sparking a messy departure from the bloc. The European Union also hopes to avoid contagion from spreading to other parts of the 19-country eurozone after Greece’s decision over the weekend to shut down its banking system for at least a week to prevent money from flooding out of the country.

“You shouldn’t commit suicide because you’re afraid of dying,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said in a speech aimed at convincing Greeks that the budget cuts and policy overhauls their government has rejected are actually good for their country.

“You should say ‘yes’ regardless of what the question is,” he said. A “no” vote, however, “will mean that Greece is saying ‘no’ to Europe.”

Stocks and bonds fell around the world on Monday, but there was little sign of outright panic. European stocks recovered slightly from early losses.

Bonds in Italy, Spain and Portugal—highly indebted countries seen as vulnerable to the Greek crisis—also pared losses after initial sharp falls, and remain far from the levels seen in 2012 or 2013, when banking problems in Spain and Cyprus raised doubts over the eurozone’s integrity.

Eurozone finance ministers refused on Saturday Athens’s request to extend the European portion of Greece’s €245 billion bailout by an extra month. That would have carried Greece past the July 5 vote, but likely still left the government without enough funding to pay the IMF.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke by phone with Mr. Juncker and European Parliament President Martin Schulz and asked for help getting an extension to the bailout, a Greek government official said.

“The Greek prime minister expressed the position that the democratic expression of the Greek people is hindered by the closure of banks, which doesn’t apply with the democratic tradition of Europe,” the official said.

Another government official said that some branches of Greek banks would reopen by Thursday for those who don't have a debit or credit cards.Greeks can withdraw as much as €60 a day.

Mr. Tsipras and his government are calling on Greeks to vote “no” to send a signal to Europe and the IMF that Greece wants a better deal for continued rescue loans. Mr. Juncker rejected the argument that such a vote would give the government a better negotiating position.

“Greek citizens who are being called to vote next Sunday need a clearer picture of what’s at stake,” Mr. Juncker said.

French President François Hollande issued a similar warning. “It’s a question of knowing whether the Greeks want to remain in the eurozone—which is where they belong in my opinion—or if they will take the risk of exiting,” Mr. Hollande said after an emergency meeting with top ministers and finance advisers.

Mr. Hollande also stressed that France and the rest of the eurozone are now in a better position to withstand a Greek departure. “Today the French economy is robust—much more so than four years ago—and it has nothing to fear from what could happen,” the French leader said...

Keep reading.

Also, "Greece Orders Banks Closed, Imposes Capital Controls to Stem Deposit Flight."

And at Memeorandum.

The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage

Actually, "gay" "marriage" isn't conservative, but as readers might have noticed, I accept the Court's decision and I think it's time for Republicans to move on. (There are other cultural battles to fight, but I think the economy and foreign policy will be winners in 2016.)

Be that as it may, here's Richard Grenell, at Fox News:

The conservative case for gay marriage | Fox News | http://t.co/MoG8HaqCl9 @RichardGrenell

— Amy Otto (@AmyOtto8) June 28, 2015

.@RichardGrenell is right: whatever feelings on SCOTUS SSM ruling, there's right v. wrong way to handle as GOP candidate. Walker has failed.

— Jeff B@AoSHQDD (@EsotericCD) June 28, 2015

Led by conservative Justice and Reagan appointee, Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court ruled Friday, in a 5-4 decision, in favor of same-sex marriage. Despite the often binary depiction in the media, this decision is in fact a landmark victory for conservative principles. In fact, Friday’s decision is a momentous win for the founding principle of the Republican Party: individual liberty.

Consistent conservatives should frame their views in accordance with the fundamental belief that individuals, not governments, have the right to determine the course of their own lives.

Fellow conservatives, particularly within the Republican Party, typically do a good job arguing against totalitarian, one-size-fits-all approaches to policy. What works for a family in New York City, might not work in Jenison, Michigan, or Tulsa, Oklahoma.

It is for this reason that Republicans and conservatives have embraced issues such as school choice, which gives parents the right to choose the method of schooling that best fits their child’s needs. Parents, not governments, should decide what is best for their family.

Republicans and American conservatives have also been remarkably consistent on taxation. Consistent conservatives believe people should keep more of the money they work so hard to earn—not because the vulnerable don’t deserve assistance, but because individuals can and will make better, and more effective financial and charitable choices with their money than government bureaucrats.

The list of important conservative positions, all relating back to the fundamental principle of individual choice, goes on and on: property rights; freedom of association; and freedom of speech, etc.

But when the topic of gay marriage arises, some conservatives have not been consistent.  The debate on marriage within the Republican Party has been hijacked by those who wish to dictate their beliefs onto others. Rather than professing consistent, conservative beliefs, some within the party have taken to advocating for a remarkably liberal, totalitarian approach.

This hypocrisy has not been lost on the electorate.  Millennials, possibly the most naturally conservative-leaning constituency, laugh at the inconsistencies they hear coming from “conservative” voices on issues like gay marriage.

Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is one of those inconsistent conservatives.  Walker immediately lashed out at the Supreme Court’s decision, proposing an astonishingly big-government response. Walker called for a Constitutional Amendment, ensuring that politicians will forever be able to dictate whom one should or should not be able to marry. In other words, Walker wants to cement the will of politicians into our daily lives.

Walker has taken a stunningly liberal position.  As conservative Justice Kennedy wrote in his opinion, “marriage is a keystone of the Nation’s social order. States have contributed to the fundamental character of marriage by placing it at the center of many facets of the legal and social order.” Indeed, marriage today is as much as it has ever been an important, legal contract—one which carries with it profound financial and emotional ramifications.

Walker, and others like him, seem to ignore the real-life implications of contemporary marriage, instead focusing solely on a religious definition of marriage with which they happen to agree...

Olivia Munn Practicing Sword-Fighting with Aaron Rodgers

At ESPN, "Aaron Rodgers photobombs Olivia Munn's video."

And at Maxim, "Here is a video of beautiful @oliviamunn sword fighting because Monday."

Abraham Lincoln 'Plotted' to 'Force the South' to Fire the First Shot at Fort Sumter?

Oh boy.

Stogie at Saberpoint might as well be a 9/11 truther, considering these outlandish blood libels he's spewing against Abraham Lincoln.

Now this is just downright bizarre, from the comments at Mediaite, "Memphis Mayor Wants to Literally Dig Up Confederate General and Move Him":

jim  rmiers1 • an hour ago

Very few people joined up to fight for the union to end slavery. They fought to restore the honor of a nation that had their flag torn town at Ft. Sumter and they weren't going to quit until the flag and their honor were restored. Now to many in the 21st century this sounds ridiculous and archaic but this was the mentality in the mid 19th century.

Stogie Chomper  jim • 28 minutes ago

That's why Lincoln and his staff plotted to force the South to fire the first shot -- by refusing to negotiate the peaceful return of the fort to South Carolina, by refusing to leave, and by attempting to resupply the fort with Yankee warships. People today still mistakenly believe the South started the war by firing the first shot -- but it was started by Lincoln, purposely for its propaganda value, by forcing the issue.

The truth is Lincoln pledged not to fight to reclaim Fort Sumter for the North. Indeed, he nearly let the U.S. Army forces of Major Robert Anderson run out of provisions, and then only sent supply ships to re-provision the troops there with the permission of South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens. But Pickens was an extremist who refused Lincoln's attempt to peaceably re-provision the fort. Confederate President Jefferson Davis piled on the belligerency, ultimately ordering Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard to bombard the Union forces at the fort. The North so refused to fire the first shot that Major Anderson responded to General Beauregard's demands to surrender by saying he'd rather run out of food before initiating hostilities.

These are just facts. Don't let old Stogie get away with his conspiracy bullshit. Man, this is really getting interesting. Get your tinfoil hats ready!

And check back for further iterations of the Stogie-Donald debates!

Israel Intercepts Gaza Flotilla

At Legal Insurrection, "Gaza Flotilla III flops":

Hillary Clinton is 'Undermining' the Public’s Trust in Politics

Here's Ron Fournier, from this Morning Joe, this morning:

Homosexual Marriage is Not a Constitutional Right

It is now.

It wasn't seven years ago when California voters banned it at the ballot box, in Proposition 8. The Courts overturned the will of the voters, here and elsewhere. As I wrote at the time, "Gay Marriage is Not a Civil Right."

This editorial, at IBD and seen on Twitter, is from 2013, "Forget Gay Marriage: What About The Decline of Marriage?"

The constitutional right to homosexual marriage won't strengthen the institution of marriage. In fact, it will have the opposite effect, as all manner of sexual relationships will now be legitimized and America will continue to slide down the slippery slope.

(IBD) Homosexual Marriage Is NOT A Constitutional Right - http://t.co/jDE1TWavQJ - #PJNET - #IBDEditorials - pic.twitter.com/HiX75q5Lie

— Daniel John Sobieski (@gerfingerpoken) June 27, 2015

Homosexual Marriage Symposia

I'm seeing a number of conservative roundups on homosexual marriage.

For example, at National Review, "The Supreme Court Has Legalized Same-Sex Marriage: Now What?"

Also at the Federalist, "Gay Marriage Is Here – Now What?", and First Things, "After Obergefell: A First Things Symposium."