Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Evangelist Franklin Graham slams, quits GOP
Evangelist Franklin Graham announced Tuesday he is leaving the Republican Party over the GOP-led spending bill passed last week, calling it “wasteful” and likening funding of Planned Parenthood to Nazi concentration camps.
“Shame on the Republicans and the Democrats for passing such a wasteful spending bill last week,” he said. “And to top it off, funding Planned Parenthood!”
Graham, who had previously slammed both political parties, let his frustration flow on a Facebook posting.
“Seeing and hearing Planned Parenthood talk nonchalantly about selling baby parts from aborted fetuses with utter disregard for human life is reminiscent of Joseph Mengele and the Nazi concentration camps!,” he wrote. “That should’ve been all that was needed to turn off the faucet for their funding. Nothing was done to trim this 2,000 page, $1.1 trillion budget.”
Graham, who has supported GOP White House hopeful Donald Trump as well as embraced his controversial call to ban Muslims from the U.S., said he’s lost faith in the political system.
“I have no hope in the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or Tea Party to do what is best for America,” he wrote. “Unless more godly men and women get in this process and change this wicked system, our country is in for trouble.”
Outcry in UK after Muslim family claims US officials stopped them from boarding flight to Los Angeles
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British Prime Minister David Cameron |
British Prime Minister David Cameron has been asked to intervene in the case of a Muslim family who allege they were prevented by U.S. officials from boarding a flight to Los Angeles earlier this month.
Mohammad Tariq Mahmood told The Guardian that his party of 11 people, including nine children, had been granted authorization to travel ahead of their planned Dec. 15 flight to Los Angeles from London's Gatwick Airport.
However, he said he was approached by U.S. Homeland Security officials in the departure lounge and informed that the group's authorization to travel on the flight had been canceled. Mahmood said the officials did not give any further explanation.
"It's because of the attacks on America," Mahmood told the Guardian. "They think every Muslim poses a threat."
The Department of Homeland Security has not made any public comment on the case.
Mahmood said the family had planned to visit relatives in Southern California and visit Disneyland and Universal Studios. He added that the airline, Norwegian Air, had refused to refund the cost of the trip, which totaled more than $13,000.
Stella Creasy, the Member of Parliament for the family's constituency in northeast London, claimed in a letter to Cameron that a lack of information from US authorities about why they were prevented from travelling is fuelling resentment within British Muslim communities.
"It is not just the family themselves who are livid," Creasy wrote. "The vacuum created by a refusal to provide any context for these decisions is fuelling resentment and debate."
A Downing Street spokesman told Sky News that Cameron"would consider the issues raised and respond in due course."
A spokesman for the U.K.'s Home Office, the rough equivalent of the Homeland Security Department added: "It would be the airline that would stop passengers travelling rather than the border force."
State Department chides cardinal over gay slurs against US ambassador
The State Department weighed in Tuesday on an escalating war of words between the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic and a cardinal who has leveled gay slurs against him -- telling FoxNews.com the fight "does underscore" the importance of pushing human rights causes.
U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James “Wally” Brewster, who is openly gay and married, has been mocked over his sexual orientation by Cardinal Archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez for more than two years.
It got so heated that earlier this month, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., sent a letter to Pope Francis asking him to intervene in the verbal attacks.
“Even before Ambassador Brewster’s arrival in Santo Domingo in 2013, Cardinal Rodriguez launched a personal attack against him with public statements quoted in the popular press,” Durbin’s letter said. "The Cardinal used the hateful slur ‘faggot,’ which he continues to use to this day."
Durbin added, "In a recent interview Cardinal Rodriguez again described the ambassador as a ‘faggot’ and falsely claimed the ambassador was setting out to promote ‘faggotry’ in the Dominican Republic."
The cardinal reportedly also said Brewster should “focus on housework, since he’s the wife to a man.”
A State Department official on Tuesday defended Brewster's work in a statement to FoxNews.com:
“Ambassador Brewster, like all U.S. ambassadors, advances this [human rights] policy along with many other aspects of our bilateral relationship. That there may be those opposed to the promotion of human rights in various societies around the world is not surprising, but it does underscore why this work is so important.”
In the past, the same cardinal has organized a “Black Monday” protest against Brewster where people were asked to show their opposition to Brewster by tying black ribbons on their cars.
The State Department told FoxNews.com that U.S. policy is “dedicated to eliminating barriers to equality, fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and engaging LGBTI communities around the world.”
While the Dominican Republic’s criminal code does not explicitly prohibit homosexuality, it is a staunchly Catholic country.
Brewster’s appointment has been a point of contention from the start. High-profile Catholic Church leaders said assigning an openly gay man to the post was seen as a lack of respect from the Obama administration.
"He has not considered the particularities of our people. The United States is trying to impose on us marriage between gays and lesbians as well as adoption by these couples," Father Luis Rosario, director of youth ministries for the church, told CNN in 2013.
The ambassador has also riled DR officials by voicing concerns about corruption on the island – and even accusing police officers of threatening U.S. investors, Fox News Latino reported.
For Durbin, who is close friends with Brewster and a devout Catholic, enough is enough. He wants Pope Francis to step in and make the anti-gay slurs stop.
Durbin says while the Catholic church’s teachings on gay marriage are well known, he points out in his letter that “the church also teaches us to show tolerance for those with different sexual orientations.”
“The intolerant public statements of Cardinal Rodriguez are inconsistent with that clearly stated value,” Durbin wrote.
It is unclear whether the Vatican has responded to Durbin’s letter. Calls and emails to Durbin’s office for comment were not returned.
Washington Post pulls cartoon depicting Ted Cruz's daughters as trained monkeys
The Washington Post removed an editorial cartoon from its website late Tuesday that depicted Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz's young daughters as trained monkeys.
As of midnight Wednesday, the webpage where the cartoon by Ann Telnaes had been shown was replaced by a note from the Post's editorial page editor, Fred Hiatt.
"It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it," Hiatt wrote. "I failed to look at this cartoon before it was published. I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree."
Politico reported the cartoon was in response to an online ad released by Cruz's campaign that depicted him reading politics-related Christmas stories to his daughters, 7-year-old Caroline and 4-year-old Catherine. Telnaes herself referenced the ad on Twitter earlier Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, the Texas senator criticized the Post on Twitter over the cartoon, which depicted him as an organ grinder dressed in a Santa Claus costume while two similarly-clad monkeys danced on leashes in front of him. The cartoon was captioned, "Ted Cruz uses his kids as political props."
Cruz was backed in his criticism by Republican rival and fellow Senator Marco Rubio, himself a father of four.
Telnaes, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 2001, had no immediate comment on the cartoon being pulled, but posted a link on Twitter late Tuesday to an article titled "Organ Grinders and Their Monkeys Once Entertained on DC Sidewalks"
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Baby Jesus, "Merry Christmas" banner removed from VA hospital
A manger and a banner reading “Merry Christmas” were removed from a public area of a VA hospital in Texas after someone complained about “overly religious and offensive” decorations.
“They ruined our decorations,” Vietnam veteran Ethel Holloway told television station KENS. “They threw them out.”
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Holloway said she had been putting up decorations at the Audi Murphy VA Hospital for 33 years – without any problems. This year, her yuletide banner turned out to be problematic.
“They literally took pieces from the middle of a whole train set, because the middle said ‘Merry Christmas,’” helper Grace Martinez told the television station.
The South Texas Veterans Health Care System admits they removed not only Holloway’s “Merry Christmas” banner, but also a manger along with a “specific scripture decoration.”
“During the removal of a manger and specific scripture decoration, a Merry Christmas decoration was accidentally removed and damaged,” read a statement from the VA to Fox News. “The remaining decorations were removed by the decoration donor and her representatives.”
The VA hospital said they have offered to reimburse her for the damaged decorations.
“We acknowledge that the corrective action should have been to display the faith-specific holiday decoration along with multiple religious faith symbols,” the statement read. “We are currently ensuring that our staff are educated and aware of the national policy and how it relates to decorations throughout the facility.”
So the VA destroys a brave veteran’s Christmas decorations – and their response is “oops – our bad”?
“The faith specific symbols were displayed in a public area without other specific religious symbols being included,” their statement read.
I’d like to know what happened to the manger scene and the other “overly religious and offensive” decorations.
Were they returned to donors? Were they stored in a closet? Were they tossed to the curb?
The VA hospital told me they have no idea what became of Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus. There was no room for them in the inn or apparently the Audie Murphy VA Hospital.
It’s not the first time the VA has tried to cleanse its hospitals of Christmas cheer.
A VA hospital in Salem, Virginia banned Christmas greetings, “religious” carols, and Christmas trees from all public areas earlier this year.
After hospital employees staged a revolt, the VA relented and agreed to allow Christmas trees – provided the trees were accompanied by symbols of Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.
However, hospital employees are still prohibited from wishing veterans a “Merry Christmas” or playing “religious” Christmas music – even in their personal work space, according to The Becket Fund.
“I like ‘Jingle Bells’ as much as the next person, but the government can’t ban ‘religious’ Christmas carols any more than it can ban ugly sweaters or egg nog,” said Kristina Arriaga, executive director of The Becket Fund.
The Becket Fund, a religious liberty advocacy group, recently awarded the Sale VA hospital its “Ebenezer Award” “for the most ridiculous affront to the Christmas and Hanukkah seasons.”
“Our veterans stare down the most hostile threats to freedom the world has ever known,” Arriaga said in a statement. “But I’m pretty sure the words ‘Merry Christmas’ are not one of them.”
Amen, ma’am.
I reached out to the VA hospital one last time to find out what was so “overly offensive” about the manger scene. I’m still waiting on a reply.
But I suspect it had something to do with a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.
Trump brands Hillary Clinton a 'liar' over ISIS recruitment video claim
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump rounded on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton Monday, calling her a "liar" over her claim that the ISIS terror group used videos of his comments about Muslims to recruit militants.
"She's a liar!" Trump told more than 6,000 people at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also said Clinton was "crooked" and "not a president."
Trump also resorted to crude language to discuss Clinton's 2008 loss in the Iowa caucuses to Barack Obama, who went on to win the Democratic nomination and the White House.
"She was favored to win and she got schlonged, she lost," said Trump, who also mocked Clinton for returning late to Saturday's Democratic debate following a commercial break. "I thought she quit, I thought she gave up," Trump joked.
During Saturday's debate, Clinton said Trump had become ISIS' "best recruiter" adding, "They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists."
There was no evidence to back the claim, and a spokeswoman later said, "She didn't have a particular video in mind."
Still, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, asked Monday by MSNBC if Clinton would apologize to Trump, insisted, "Hell no."
Trump argued at Grand Rapids' DeltaPlex Arena that he is the last person Clinton wants to run against in a general election.
"Ask Jeb Bush if he enjoys running against me," he said of the former Florida governor who has been struggling to gain traction despite a massive early fundraising advantage.
"Ask Lindsey Graham, did he enjoy running against Trump?" he said of the South Carolina senator who on Monday announced his departure from the race.
Trump also defended the kind words he's been exchanging with Russian President Vladimir Putin, brushing off criticism that he has been too kind to the Russian president.
"That's, like, a good thing, not a bad thing," he insisted. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could get along, like, with people?"
And he made clear that he is opposed to the killing of journalists, after appearing to brush off concerns about Putin's record on a Sunday morning news show.
"I don't like that, I'm totally against that," said Trump. "By the way, I hate some of these people ... and some of them are such lying, disgusting people, it's true. But I would never kill. And anybody that does I think would be despicable."
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