religious freedom

News flash: Religious freedom is blooming everywhere. Three SCOTUS injunctions in favor of First Amendment and LA County to allow indoor worship.

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

The US Supreme Court has issued injunctions in three different cases in three different circuits overturning lower court rulings which restrict religious freedom. (Update:  make that four.)

On top of that, the County of Los Angeles has announced it will revise its public health orders to allow worship services to be conducted indoors.

Fantastic, wonderful news for your early Sunday morning reading.

(Update: Minor corrections for grammar and typos made without identify such changes. Substantive updates identified as such.)

Update: I just read the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn ruling. Wow. The sum total of all sarcasm and ridicule I have previously brought to the table regarding religious freedom pales in comparison to the scathing comments by Justices in that ruling. When I have time, I’ll recap some of the comments. Quick summary:  it is past time for governors to stop intentionally ignoring and flagrantly shredding the U.S. Constitution. Oh yeah, the Governor of New York is working hard to fight the case and violate the Constitution.

US Supreme Court – Harvest Rock Church, et al. v. Newsom, Gov. of CA

In a 10 line, unsigned order SCOTUS vacated the ruling by the District Court for the Center District of California which ruled against Harvest Rock Church in their lawsuit to allow indoor worship.

Ruling can be found here.

The ruling was dated Thursday 12/3/20, which is 2 ½ weeks ago.

The court ordered the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to order the District Court to reconsider their ruling in light of Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Two more courts uphold the free expression clause of the First Amendment. Part 3 of 3.

It is possible the above activity might soon be protected by the First Amendment. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

This three part series looks at rulings which show courts are beginning to recognize that imposing severe restrictions on religious worship constitutes a violation of the free expression clause of First Amendment. Just in case you think I’m being too harsh in my sarcastic, ridiculing comments regarding the attacks on the First Amendment, check out some of these court rulings. When it comes to criticizing unconstitutional government rules, I’m a lightweight compared to any of these judges. These posts focus on two lower courts that re-read the U.S. Constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court started the refreshing trend of actually reading said Constitution before issuing a ruling. The cases:  

Ninth Circuit –Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak.

12/15/20 – Hill Faith – First Amendment: Court Strikes Down Nevada’s Covid Church Attendance Limits – Nevada issued rules restricting the number of people who can gather for worship to the lesser of 50% of fire code capacity or 50 people. Large number of other activities have a restriction level of 50% of fire code capacity. The 50% only limit without a numerical cap applies to “casinos, bowling alleys, retail businesses, restaurants, arcades, and other similar secular entities.” (more…)
By Jim Ulvog, ago

Two more courts uphold the free expression clause of the First Amendment. Part 1 of 3.

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Courts are beginning to recognize that imposing more severe restrictions on religious worship than other similar activities constitutes a violation of the free expression clause of First Amendment.

Just in case you think I’m being too harsh in my sarcastic, ridiculing comments regarding the attacks on the First Amendment, you really need to check out some of these court rulings.

The following rulings entail complex sentences with multiple subordinate clauses, systematic use of multisyllable words, embedded legal citations, technical legal verbiage, and subtle nuance. Hidden behind those comments are harsh and brutal critiques of the egregious violations of religious freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

In terms of criticism of constitution-ignoring governments I am a mere simplistic lightweight simpleton compared to any one of the following judges.

This series of posts will provide more background on the Supreme Court ruling that started this trend of courts on actually reading the Constitution and then discuss two more rulings. The cases:

  • Supreme Court – Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn
  • California Superior Court – Bakersfield Division – Father Trevor Burfitt vs Gavin Newsom
  • Ninth Circuit –Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak.

12/14/20 – Hill Faith – Justice Samuel Alito’s Christmas Present For America – Article calls attention to a speech given by Associate Justice Alito to the Federalist Society’s National Wires convention back in November.

In his speech he opined the religious freedom protections outlined in the first amendment are in more danger now than ever before with politicians using the pandemic as an excuse to walk all over the Constitution (my paraphrase of the article).

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Guesses, assumptions, and common sense are the “science” behind lockdown restrictions.

Secret photo of scientific research supporting lockdowns. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

News reports are emerging which explain the double-blind, peer-reviewed, easily replicated science behind various lockdown requirements is assumptions and guesses. Oh, and in Virginia the hard-core science supporting a curfew is the governor’s “common sense.”

Consider:

  • Medical doctor on the White House coronavirus task force says there is no science behind concept of banning outdoor or even indoor dining.
  • Research studies which are cited to prove restaurant dining is dangerous are seriously flawed.
  • Only support for a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew in Virginia is the governor’s common sense.
  • Senior WHO official suggests not using lockdown as primary tool to fight the virus becuase of the severe side effects.

 

(Might want to get a fresh cup of coffee – takes lots of words to deliver this double dose of ridicule)

12/9/20 – Red State – Video: CA HHS Secretary Admit Outdoor Dining Ban Is About Control, Not Science – Coverage of the story is a bit thin. My brief research shows major news outlets are not discussing it.

The point? There is no evidence to support the idea of shutting down outdoor dining. None.

12/8/20 – Fox News – White House Coronavirus Task Force members Fauci, Giroir at odds over California lockdowns – In the Monday meeting of the task force, Admiral Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services said it is important to limit indoor crowding but also said, as quoted, that he has not yet seen

“Any data that says you need to shut down outdoor dining or outdoor bars.”

The Admiral is also a medical doctor.

He also said:

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Lockdowns kill people. Also, it’s not your imagination that the lockdown is ‘making you crazy.’

You are not the only one who is struggling. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Clear trends and solid statistics are not presented in modern news stories unless there is a specific individual who illustrates whatever point is being explained.

So, in accordance with modern journalist standards, this post will provide a specific story of a specific teenager who killed himself specifically because of the lockdown. Then we will look at overall statistics showing the lockdowns harm mental health. In other words, we will look at actual science.

So, here is the story: Lockdowns kill people.

Check out the following:

  • Lockdown led one teenager to take his own life.
  • Lockdowns are reducing the number of people in good or excellent mental health.
  • Lockdowns are depressing elementary school children.
  • Lockdowns are causing increase in binge drinking.

Power-hungry governors and economically ignorant, science-impaired public health officials, please take note.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

Good news for California churches from the Supreme Court ruling regarding New York State.

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Okay, this will take a bit of explaining. Short version is there will be a hearing on whether the California restrictions on church worship services are constitutional or not.

Longer version is Harvest Rock Church sued the state of California over restrictions on worship services. The District Court for the Center District of California ruled against the church. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to issue an injunction upon the church’s appeal.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago

When, oh when, will we see an end to rule makers blatantly ignoring the rules they demand we lowly peasants follow?

image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

If our ruling overlords continue on their current path, I’ll have to order an extra terabyte of pixels to keep covering them.

I’m about to exhaust my quarterly budget of pixels covering the flaming hypocrites who don’t bother to follow the rules to which you and I must bend the knee.

(Bending the knee is a medieval practice of getting down on your knee in front of the monarch to show you are meekly submissive to his unquestionable, divine, royal authority.)

 

If my ridicule is dripping off your screen and you can hear through your speakers what vaguely sounds like my laughter, you know the rest of this post will discuss the foolishness of those high and mighty leaders who have taken it upon themselves to decide how we must live our life.

Please join me in laughing at the following:

  • Another French Laundry party.
  • Mayor chastises citizens for leaving the house…while he is vacationing in Cabo. He also can’t quite recall whether he got a Covid test upon his return and he “generally quarantined” when he got back.
  • Judge signs order to extend pandemic restrictions then immediately goes to his grandson’s birthday party because he misses the little guy. Earns a Class C misdemeanor conviction for ignoring his own court order.

I will dial back the ridicule for the rest of this post.  Of course, since the above mayor is my role model for today, the pointing-and-laughing will be “generally” dialed back only those times I “recall” making said plan.

 

Rich hypocrite, French Laundry edition:

12/1/20 – San Francisco Chronicle – S.F. Mayor London Breed had her own French Laundry party – the night after Gavin Newsom’s – The “rules for thee but not for me” stories keep surfacing.

This time it is San Francisco Mayor London Breed who also attended a private dinner party at the ultra-elite French Laundry, with eight people attending in total. Presumably that is four households.

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By Jim Ulvog, ago