What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread
1. Anybody shocked?
From TheDailySignal “The Daily Signal has exclusively learned that the government agency responsible for enforcing Oregon’s anti-discrimination law appears to be working closely with a powerful gay rights advocacy group in its case against Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa.
Communications between the agency, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, and the LGBT organization, Basic Rights Oregon, raise questions about potential bias in the state’s decision to charge the Kleins with discrimination for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. In April, a judge for the agency recommended the Kleins be fined $135,000.
Communications obtained through a public records request show employees of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries—which pursued the case against the Kleins—participating in phone calls, texting, and attending meetings with Basic Rights Oregon, the largest LGBT advocacy group in the state.”
“But unearthed emails appear to challenge that narrative, and based on The Daily Signal’s findings, lawyers for the Kleins on Friday requested the case be re-opened for further investigation.”
“Communications between Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian and Basic Rights Oregon, which has actively spoken out against the Kleins, raise questions about whether the commissioner and other agency employees were using the case to benefit a political agenda, and in the process, stripping the Kleins of their right to a fair trial.”
It was as fair a process as a lynching can be.
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2. I have zero faith that the Obama admin does anything for these prisoners.
From FoxNews “The families of four Americans held in Iran told lawmakers on Tuesday that now is the time for the U.S. to demand their release.
Relatives of Jason Rezaian, Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Robert Levinson all testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, saying any leverage the U.S. has to bring home their loved ones could run out within weeks. The U.S. and other Western powers are negotiating with Tehran to drop sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for guarantees it won’t pursue nuclear weapons, and has set a deadline for the end of this month.”
“”Now is the time that this issue could and should be resolved,” Sarah Hekmati, whose brother, U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, 31, was arrested in 2011 when he went to visit relatives, told lawmakers. “For over three years, our family has been living a nightmare. We are in constant fear for his health, his safety and his life.”
Hekmati tearfully told the panel how their father is suffering from terminal brain cancer and has recently suffered several strokes.”
“Similarly heart-wrenching pleas were issued by other relatives of Americans held in the hard-line Islamist nation on charges stemming from their Christian faith to spying.
Naghmeh Abedini, wife of imprisoned Saeed Abedini, a Boise, Idaho, Christian pastor held since September 2012, detailed the hardship she and her family have endured since her 35-year-old husband was arrested for allegedly proselytizing, even though his family says he was in his homeland to help build a secular orphanage.”
I guess since the Marine is not a deserter like Bergdahl, there’s no prisoner exchange in the works.
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3. So how many other places do you think this is happening in?
From AL.com “A couple of steaks shoplifted at a Gardendale Walmart three months ago led to the biggest food stamp fraud investigation in Jefferson County’s history, and launched 11 simultaneous raids this morning at convenience stores countywide.
Led by the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, teams of law enforcement officers met at 5 a.m. for a briefing and then fanned out across the county beginning at 6:50 a.m. The officers and agents were armed with 242 arrest warrants and plans to arrest 17 suspects.
All 17 suspects were in custody by mid-morning, and investigators already today have filed for forfeiture and condemnation of those 11 stores, which totals more than $1 million in assets.
“This is huge for us,” said Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls.
The massive probe, dubbed Operation T-bone, targeted those they say have been cheating the food stamp system to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and sending at least some of the profits via wire transfer to Yemen.”
“At the heart of the operation are Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, a government-issued debit card that replaced food stamps. There are more than 900,000 people who get government assistance through the EBT card in Alabama each year, and they are allowed to use the cards for food, non-alcoholic beverages, and other basic needs, mostly through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).”
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4. Here comes the pain. And don’t forget, the employee mandate has yet to kick in.
From FoxNews “Dozens of health insurers selling plans under ObamaCare have requested hefty premium increases for 2016, according to preliminary information published Monday by the White House.
The insurers have cited higher-than-expected care costs from customers they gained under the ObamaCare’s coverage expansion and the rising cost of prescription drugs and other expenses as reasons for proposing the increases, many of which are in the double-digit percentages.
Among the market leaders, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is seeking a roughly 26 percent premium increase, while plans in Illinois and Florida, among other states, are asking for hikes of 20 percent or more. In Pennsylvania, Highmark Health Insurance Co. is asking for a 30 percent increase.
The preliminary requests were announced as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the validity of ObamaCare’s tax credits to offset the cost of premiums for lower-income consumers in most states in the country.”
“Levitt said part of the reason is that insurers will be basing their 2016 premiums on a full year’s worth of cost or claims data. That’s the first time that has happened for plans sold on the overhaul’s public insurance exchanges, which started enrolling customers in the fall of 2013.
Rates for 2015, for instance, were set based on only a few months of data collected last spring. Insurers normally want to see a couple years of claims from a patient population before they set rates.”
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5. Too funny. 🙂 You know this must drive Obama crazy. He blames the guy for everything bad in the world, and yet George is more popular than he is. 🙂
From TheHill “The CNN/ORC poll reveals that 52 percent of Americans see Bush positively, while 43 percent do not.
In contrast, U.S. voters are split on their views of Obama.
The new poll finds that 49 percent view Obama favorably, while 49 percent do not.
Those ratings for Obama are down from a similar poll in March. During that sampling, 52 percent of Americans viewed him positively, while another 46 percent did not.
Bush’s numbers, meanwhile, mark a major shift for the former president since he departed office in early 2009, CNN said.”
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Wandering Views 
#1. There was some discussion on yesterday’s Daily Thread about the acceptance of same sex marriage by young people.
This is the kind of thing that destroys a culture and brings judgment. Though they don’t account for that. It will come anyhow.
We are close to the line, may have crossed it.
#2. Maybe Obama could trade some more Gitmo prisoners.
But the Iranians don’t care about that. They just want to embarass a
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(Somehow that posted before I was finished. I was trying to correct a typo.
“They just want to embarrass America to the Muslim world”. To them, it’s about honor.
I think Obama knows that, but doesn’t care.
Obama does not love America.
.
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This was posted as a link last night on FB, and it’s an interesting premise that is worth thinking about (and one that challenges many of my own assumptions about the culture and the church’s interaction with society and the body politic at large; I grant that there is a sense that things are shifting rather dramatically and that this may pose a new role for the church within the secular culture, but I still haven’t sorted all that out yet for myself).
The author contends that Christianity’s first stage in exile in the west (from the 1960s on) was viewed by the church as akin to living in Athens. Now that the second stage is about to apparently launch, he said we need to realize that things have changed & the better analogy now is that we are living in Babylon.
In other words, the culture around us isn’t merely neutral or dismissive of Christianity any longer; it is now becoming openly hostile toward it.
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” … But here’s the problem. Exile Stage One thinking has left Christians completely unprepared for Exile Stage Two reality. There were a set of assumptions made by Exile Stage One-rs that have not lined up with what is going to pan out over the coming three or so decades if the last five years are any indication. … Second Stage exiles do not place their hope in a city here, be it Athens or Babylon, but seek a city that is to come (Hebrews 13). Second Stage Exiles do not need the approval of the culture, neither do they need to provoke the culture in order to feel good about themselves. No, true exiles can live out their time in exile with confidence, love and hope because they trust in him ‘who is able to keep [them] from stumbling and to present [them] before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.’ (Jude 1:24).
“Christian, Second Stage Exile is coming. Are you ready for it?”
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It’s an article worth reading.
http://australia.thegospelcoalition.org/article/stage-two-exile-are-you-ready-for-it
And his argument is very similar to the small book I read recently, “Thriving in Babylon.”
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Once again, Matt Walsh nails it.
http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/calling-bruce-jenner-a-woman-is-an-insult-to-women/
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