A little wisdom for us all

 

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I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THESE REFLECTIVE MOMENTS.

 

THE END

MOTHER GETS 2 YEARS IN PRISON FOR SAVING HER SON'S LIFE WITH CANNABIS OIL!!!

MINNESOTA MOM FACES UP TO 2 YEARS IN PRISON....

FOR SAVING SON'S LIFE WITH CANNABIS OIL....

AFTER READING THIS, ASK YOURSELF
WHO THE REAL CRIMNALS ARE...

THESE AHOS NEED TO GO TO JAIL......NOW.......

 Jan. 9, 2015

"How is taking your child's pain away endangering his health?"   

Angela Brown was charged with multiple offenses for alleviating her son’s pain. (Image: CBS News)


   Angela Brown was able to accomplish for her son what all the 'medical professionals' were unable to do for him.


WE ALL NEED TO GIVE THIS WOMAN SUPPORT AND WRITE HER STATE TO GET OUT OF PEOPLES LIVES AS THE SO CALLED MEDICAL PEOPLE HAVE THEIR HEADS SO FAR UP THEIR ARSES THE PEOPLE SEEM TO BE DOING A MUCH BETTER JOB CURING PEOPLE THAN ANY SO CALLED ALOPATHIC DOCTOR EVER WOULD....


MADISON, MN — A mother has been criminally charged for the efforts she took to save her son’s life with cannabis oil, and could spend up to two years in prison if convicted.


In 2011, eleven-year-old Trey Brown suffered a traumatic brain injury.  Trey was struck in the skull with a baseball and put into a coma due to bleeding in his brain.  When he finally awoke, he was “a shell of himself” and suffered from chronic pain, seizures, learning disabilities, and suicidal thoughts.


“I cry like every day before I go to bed,” Trey, now 15 years old, told CBS News.  “Like my brain is about to blow up, cause there is so much pressure.”

Trey Brown in the hospital due to his brain injury. (Credit: Angela Brown)

Trey’s mother, 38-year-old Angela Brown, searched for ways to alleviate her son’s agony.  He was put on 18 different pharmaceutical drugs but the problems persisted, and the side effects made him even more suicidal.   He told his mother that he “didn’t want to live anymore."


Mrs. Brown saw one final option: cannabis oil.  Recently approved for medical use in a number of states, the oil has shown remarkable results in patients with pain and seizures.  A doctor recommended the family seek the treatment in Colorado.  So, in March of 2014, the family took a trip to Boulder, Colorado, to obtain a bottle of cannabis oil legally from one of the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries.


The results were incredible.  Trey’s pain subsided and the migraines went away.  The muscle spasms stopped, too.  Trey was finally able to do better in school.


“It was a miracle in a bottle,” his mother said.


Trey continued taking the oil for about a month. The family’s good fortunate was soon stamped out by oppressive forces in their home state.  Trey’s school became inquisitive about how the teen had shown so much improvement at school.  Mrs. Brown — who describes herself as “an open book” — eagerly told his teachers about the successful treatment.


“I said ‘Well, I gave him an oil that we’d gotten from Colorado,’” Angela recalled to CBS. “‘It’s derived from a marijuana plant.’ And then you could feel the tension in the room.”


School administrators wasted no time in reporting Ms. Brown to law enforcement.  She had technically broken the law by returning to Minnesota with the forbidden oil.  The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department arrested Angela Brown and she was charged with two gross misdemeanors, including child endangerment due to substance possession (609.378) and criminal jurisdiction which contributes to the need for child protective services (260C.425).


Trey’s oil was confiscated and his treatment ceased.  The agonizing pain, swelling, and muscle spasms returned.  “School was really hard again,” he said.


Ironically, the problem is not a refusal of the Minnesota state legislature to ease up on cannabis patients.  In May 2014, Minnesota became the 22nd state to pass a medical marijuana law.  The problem is that it doesn’t go into effect until July 2015.


But with Trey’s constant suicidal thoughts, Angela Brown said that her son could not wait for relief.


“I stupidly opened my mouth to the wrong people and I got turned in,” she said. “When people ask me questions, I’m an open book. It got me in trouble. The only thing I did wrong was open my mouth.”


The two gross misdemeanor charges could land Mrs. Brown in prison for up to two years and result in a $6,000 fine.  Her children could also be taken away.

* * * * *

FOLLOW UP 


The Brown family is now embroiled in legal problems and preparing to defend Angela’s actions in court.  Supporters have shown up to court hearings but the district attorney refused to drop the charges.


“This simply is not a situation where someone has endangered their child,” said attorney Michael Hughes, who filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of Mrs. Brown.  The judge reportedly has 90 days to decide whether to grant the motion.


“How is endangering your child taking his pain away?” said Angela Brown. “If someone answers that for me, fine, charge me, but until someone can explain to me how preventing pain is wrong, then I will continue to plead not guilty.”


“We are good hard working people that were just trying to save our son’s life. It has been a living hell since his injury and this just adds to our ever growing stress,” the Brown family stated on their GoFundMe Page — set up to raise funds for the Angela’s legal defense.


The family has indicated that they plan to move to Colorado to resume Trey’s treatment with cannabis oil.  Whether Angela will be able to join them remains to be seen. 


SEE VIDEO  http://www.policestateusa.com/2015/angela-brown/

UN Calls for National Water “Affordability Standard” in America

UN Calls for National Water “Affordability Standard” in America

As more than one billion people oppressed under United Nations member regimes struggle to live on less than $1 a day, the UN’s “human rights” brigades visited Detroit this week — where the average welfare benefits amount to almost $30,000 per year — to call for a national “affordability standard” for water. According to the planetary human-rights bureaucrats, the taxpayers and the bankrupt city government must continue to provide water even for residents who have not paid their bill in months because apparently free water services are now among the “most basic human rights.”

The UN delegation to Detroit included two operatives with bombastic titles: “Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation” Catarina de Albuquerque, and Leilani Farha, dubbed “the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing.” In apress release posted on the dictator-dominated organization’s website, the duo “expressed concern” over the water shut-offs that have been taking place in Detroit as city officials seek to collect on seriously delinquent accounts. The two had previously called for “international law” to be enforced amid what they said was a violation of the UN’s bizarre notions of “human rights.”

“It is contrary to human rights to disconnect water from people who simply do not have the means to pay their bills,” said de Albuquerque in the UN press release following the two-day propaganda visit to Detroit, apparently unaware that a recent study revealed average state and federal welfare benefits in Michigan pay $28,872 per year. “I heard testimonies from poor, African American residents of Detroit who were forced to make impossible choices — to pay the water bill or to pay their rent.”

The average rent in Detroit is about $800, which, for somebody bringing in more than $80 per day based on average welfare benefits, should leave about $20,000 per year to pay water bills and other expenses — if they live alone. According to the Detroit Free Press, the average water bill in the city comes to about $65 per month, or less than $800 every year. In other words, average water bills and rents combined should cost around $10,000 per year, leaving an average welfare recipient with more than $18,000 left to spend. Gallup data suggests that $18,000 is about twice the median household income worldwide. 

Apparently that is not enough for the UN’s dictator-dominated human rights bureaucracy, which was disbanded some years ago after Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was elected by UN member regimes to lead it. Today, the self-styled UN “Human Rights Council” includes such paragons of human rights as the communist regimes ruling Cuba and China, among others. The Saudi monarchy, which literally beheads “apostates,” serves on the council, too. It also recently added the regime ruling El Salvador, headed by a “former” communist mass-murderer who led a bloody Castro-backed campaign to overthrow the former government.  

Instead of dealing with real human-rights abuses, however, the UN body has increasingly stepped up its attacks on America and other civilized nations for protecting liberty, having low taxes, stay-at-home moms, and more. For instance, in recent years, the UN body has lashed out at the United States for its protections of the right to keep and bear arms, parental rights, the right to a fair trial, state sovereignty, self-defense rights, and much more. The U.S. Constitution and the American system of government have also been placed openly in UN crosshairs.

As if to drive home the UN’s ignorance of — or hostility toward — the U.S. system of limited government and federalism, “Special Rapporteur” de Albuquerque made a series of outlandish demands that would put the federal government in direct violation of the contract that created it. “First, we suggest that the city of Detroit restores water connections to all residents unable to pay, and also to stop any further disconnections of water in those cases,” she was quoted as saying. “We also urge the city, the state, but also the national government ... to adopt a mandatory affordability standard.” Of course, the “national government” has no constitutional authority to create any such standard.

The other UN “special rapporteur,” Farha, played the race card, saying that mostly blacks were affected by the shut-offs (because mostly blacks live in Detroit). “Every effort should be made by all levels of government to ensure that the most vulnerable are not evicted from or lose their housing as a result of water shut-offs or water bill arrears,” decreed Farha. “Where an individual or family is rendered homeless due to water shut-offs, the City of Detroit must have in place emergency services to ensure alternate accommodation with running water is available.”

She also demanded what sounded like a parallel legal system to challenge the municipal water provider’s billing. “If you have a dispute about a bill, you need an administrative remedy to that dispute,” Farha said. “If you want to challenge the affordability of water in the city of Detroit, you need a legal mechanism to do that.” It was not clear under what supposed authority the UN bureaucrats were purporting to issue commands to local, state, and federal authorities in the United States.

Local officials, though, hit back at the UN bureaucrats. Mayor Mike Duggan’s top aide, Alexis Wiley, blasted the UN “review” as one-sided, saying the office was “very disappointed” with the “rapporteurs” and their supposed probe. “They weren't interested in the facts,” she explained. “They took a position and never once [before Monday] reached out to the city for data.” Indeed, as The New American reported in June, the same UN operatives made virtually the same claims before their “investigation” based on complaints about Detroit by radical Canadian activists submitted to the UN.

According to local officials, currently presiding over the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, the city shuts off water services to businesses and residents who are either two months past due on their bills or who owe more than $150. It also has a variety of programs to help residents who get behind on their payments, including offering payment plans to delinquent account holders. Among those whose services were disconnected: a city council member, the Joe Louis Arena that hosts the NHL Detroit Red Wings team, and the NFL Detroit Lions’ Ford Field, according to media reports.

While the UN frames the issue as a “human rights violation,” it is important to keep some crucial facts in mind. The latest UN attack on American policies comes amid a concerted global campaign, led by the UN and the globalist establishment, to redefine the very notion of rights. In the United States, as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution make crystal clear, individual rights come from God and cannot be legitimately infringed upon by government. In fact, the Founders pointed out that the whole purpose of government is to protect unalienable rights.

Under the UN’s vision, by contrast, revocable privileges are granted by all-powerful governments, which are permitted to infringe on those pseudo-rights at will. In its “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the UN even states its abhorrent position that what it inaccurately refers to as “rights” are “granted” by governments, not the Creator. The global entity also claims “rights” can be limited “by law,” and that no rights may be “exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.” The declaration also claims everyone has “duties” to the “community.”

Rather than freedom from coercion — free speech, freedom of the press, the right to keep and bear arms, the right to be secure from unreasonable searches, and more — the UN admittedly views rights in totalitarian terms, such as the “right” to the fruits of others’ labor. Like communist and socialist dictators worldwide, the UN justifies its existence partly based on the dangerous notion that taxpayer-funded goods and services can be considered “rights” to be enforced by the coercive power of government.

The difference between the visions, of course, is crucial: Real rights are freedom from government coercion; UN “rights” require government coercion. For more evidence of the UN’s view of “human rights,” simply consider the brutal assortment of communist, socialist, Islamist, and mass-murdering tyrants on the UN “Human Rights Council.” Late last year, even the regimes ruling China, Cuba, Vietnam, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Russia — among the worst violators of actual rights on Earth — were appointed to the council.

What Detroit needs is not UN bureaucrats, more welfare, or a redefinition of rights to conform to failed and murderous totalitarian models of the last century. Instead, as countless studies have demonstrated, good government, economic liberty, and protection for unalienable rights produces abundant prosperity for all — that is why the United States, Canada, and Switzerland are among the richest countries on Earth while Cuba, North Korea, and Zimbabwe are the poorest.

For now, the UN “human rights” outfit acknowledged that it has no authority to impose its wild demands. However, if Americans are not careful, that will not always be the case. Rather than continue to play along with the anti-liberty and anti-sovereignty antics of the UN — widely ridiculed as the “dictators' club,” and for good reason — the U.S. government should defund and withdraw from the outfit immediately.

TOM HENEGHAN: PROJECT PEGASUS - CIA MANUFACTURES TERRORISM WORLDWIDE

The Pegasus Unit is Now Identified.......

Sunday   January 11, 2015

by Tom Heneghan, International Intelligence Expert

source


UNITED States of America   -   It can now be reported that French Intelligence, European INTERPOL, Russian Intelligence and U.S. Defense Department Intel have identified the Pegasus Unit (controls 70% of the U.S. CIA and the United States Department of Justice) as the operational and financial lynchpin that coordinates worldwide terrorist networks and cells with an emphasis on western Europe, the Middle East, as well as the United States.


The Pegasus Unit has also been fingered in the training of Chechnyan rebels that have been linked to terrorist attacks against Orthodox churches, Jewish synagogues and elementary schools inside the Russian Federation. It gets worse!


The Pegasus Unit has also been combining these Chechnyan cells into assassination teams that are currently being funded by the U.S. State Department to assassinate pro-Russian resistance in the now NAZI Paperclip U.S. government occupied nation of Ukraine.


Note:  This all ties in to the nation of Yemen.


The Pegasus Unit, which operates in duality with the U.S. NSA, specializes in conducting worldwide espionage and scripting worldwide financial and geopolitical events.


Reference:  Massive financial worldwide currency manipulation and scripted false flag terrorist attacks that benefit proprietary trading of crooked worldwide banks.


The Pegasus Unit also specializes in the use of algorithms and scalar technology, which attacks elements of the human brain (the Medulla) with electromagnetic radiation waves that use power lines, GWEN towers for ELF, satellites and cell phones as the weapons of attack.


P.S.  We can now also divulge that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is trying to frame and indict former U.S. military General David Petreaus for allegedly leaking classified info dealing with, you guessed it, the Pegasus Unit of the CIA involvement in the Benghazi, Libya terrorist attack against the U.S. Consulate aka outpost that led to the assassination of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and patriots Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.


P.P.S. We can also report at this hour worldwide banks remain hopelessly cross-collateralized to each other in trillions of dollars of undermargined derivatives, mainly naked short positions tied to the Japanese yen.  It is therefore no coincidence that the current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is about to present his budget tonight.


Note:  The current Japanese Prime Minister has a close association with the Pegasus Unit.


Accordingly, it is no coincidence that the terrorist attacks in Paris, France took place within hours before the worldwide foreign currency bank derivatives were about to go hybrid.


P.P.P.S.  In summation, the terrorist attacks in Paris, France have two elements:

1.  A huge financial rally in both U.S. and Japanese equity markets took place after the events in France began to unravel.


2.  The terrorist attacks in France began within three days after revelations by former Florida U.S. Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, concerning the continued cover up of the 9/11 'Black Op' by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder reference his failure to release Graham's own Congressional 9/11 Report concerning 28 redacted pages still being illegally classified by Holder as national security.

Again, as reported in our last intelligence briefing, Holder is withholding documents reference former year 2000 illegal pResident occupant BushFRAUD conspiring with then Saudi Prince Bandar on the night of 9/11 itself (recorded on tape by Naval Intelligence) to fly all of Osama bin Laden's family out of the United States and discussing the use of Guantanamo Bay as a torture chamber for 9/11 witnesses that knew too much about the Bush-Saudi TREASON.


Redacted documents also show that BushFRAUD's NAZI Paperclip brother, Jeb Bush, illegally obstructed justice and refused to cooperate with the FBI when he illegally seized the flight school records of the alleged hijackers; the records showing that none of these alleged hijackers aka patsies had the ability to fly commercial aircraft that allegedly crashed into the Twin Towers.


The redacted documents also include testimony from numerous United Airlines and American Airlines pilots who testified before U.S. Senator Graham's Congressional inquiry that it would be physically impossible based on basic physics to angle and steer these commercial aircraft into the Twin Towers.
In closing, I have a special message to our greatest and oldest ally, the Republic of France:


    Jesuis Francais.... 


    We regret what took place in your nation, which was clearly an act of war  
    against your Republic coordinated by this treasonous filth.  Accordingly,
    identify the enemy and eradicate it.  It is the nation of Yemen (in which the
    Pegaus Unit operates cells and networks).  The nuclear aircraft carrier Charles
    de Gaulle sets sail tonight.


Objective:  Turning Yemen into an ashtray (translation: cendrier)

Ron Paul: “Reality Is Now setting In For America...It Was All Based On Lies & Ignorance
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-10/ron-paul-reality-now-setting-america-it-was-all-based-lies-ignorance


These Are The Two Most Crowded Trades As We Enter 2015
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-10/these-are-two-most-crowded-trades-we-enter-2015

 

http://www.tomheneghanbriefings.com/The-Pegasus-Unit-is-Now-Identified__01-11-2015.html

Although I don't completely agree with her, she does make a compelling argument.

Owner Declares Shooting Range a MUSLIM FREE ZONE’; explains why she did.....

 

 

 

 

Jan Morgan is facing controversy after declaring her business a “Muslim free zone” Sunday.

 

The owner of Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range in Hot Springs, Ark. has drawn a line in the sand, and while critics will get angry they should read her reasons why.

 

After the recent influx of violence perpetuated by self-proclaimed Islamists, Morgan began to study the religion and discovered “109 verses commanding hate, murder and terror against all human beings who refuse to submit or convert to Islam.”

 

On her website, Jan Morgan Media, Morgan, an investigative journalist and certified NRA gun instructor, explained that her decision was made based on facts.

 

Read her ten-point reasoning that has already provoked controversy:

I officially declare my business, The Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range, a MUSLIM FREE ZONE . . .

 

1) The Koran, which I have read and studied thoroughly and (which all muslims align themselves with), contains 109 verses commanding hate, murder and terror against all human beings who refuse to submit or convert to Islam. Read those verses of violence here.

 

2) My life has been threatened repeatedly by muslims who are angry that I have studied their koran and have, over the past two years, been exposing the vileness of the Koran and its murderous directives.

 

3) * The barbaric act of beheading an innocent American in Oklahoma by a muslim

* the Boston bombings (by muslims)
* the Fort Hood mass shooting (by a muslim) that killed 13 people and injured over 30 people
* and the murder of 3000 innocent people (by muslims) on 9/11

This is more than enough loss of life on my home soil at the hands of muslims to substantiate my position that muslims can and will follow the directives in their Koran and kill here at home.

 

4) Because the nature of my business involves firearms and shooting firearms in an enclosed environment, my patrons are not comfortable being around muslims who align themselves with a religion that clearly commands hate, murder, and violence against all non muslims. Therefore many of my patrons are uncomfortable around Muslims with guns. (can you blame them?)

 

5) My range rents and sells guns to my patrons. Why would I want to rent or sell a gun and hand ammunition to someone who aligns himself with a religion that commands him to kill me?

 

6) * Muslims, who belong to and, or, support ISIS, are threatening to kill innocent Americans.

* Muslims, who belong to or support AL Qaeda, are threatening to kill innocent Americans.
* Muslims who belong to or support HAMAS are threatening to kill innocent Americans.

See a common thread here?

 

7) I not only have the right to refuse service but a RESPONSIBILITY to provide a safe environment for people to shoot and train on firearms. I can and have turned people away if I sense they are under the influence of alcohol or mind altering drugs. I have a federal firearms license…

 

The ATF informed us when we received the license that if we feel any reason for concern about selling someone a firearm, even sense that something is not right about an individual, or we are concerned about that persons mental state, even if they pass a background check, we do not have to sell that person a gun.

 

In other words, a federal agency has given us this kind of discretion for service based on the nature of the business. I can and have turned people away if I sense an issue with their mental state. So… its difficult to imagine how the DOJ could have issues with this when ATF gave us this discretion.

 

8) I have no way of looking at Islam other than as a theocracy, not a religion. Islam is undoubtedly the union of political, legal, and religious ideologies. In other words law, religion and state are forged together to form what Muslims refer to as “The Nation of Islam.” Once again it is given the sovereign qualities of a nation with clerics in the governing body and Sharia law all in one. This is a Theocracy, not a religion.

 

The US Constitution does not protect a theocracy. The 1st Amendment is very specific about protecting the rights of individuals from the government, as it concerns the practice of religions, not theocracies. It clearly differentiates between government and religion. Again protecting the individual’s religious beliefs and practices from (the state) government. In Islam, religion and state are one.

 

We are a Nation governed by laws, or the law of the land the U.S. Constitution. We are not a Nation that is governed by religion, politicians or clerics.

How then, can anyone say that, the practice of Islam is protected by the U.S. Constitution?

 

The Muslim brotherhood has a documented plan for the destruction of America from within, discovered by our own government during a raid of MB operatives in America. In addition, I am very cognizant of the civilization jihad under way in my country by American Muslims. In a number of states Muslims, through our legal system, are trying to force us to accept Sharia Law over Constitutional law. I do not wish to do business with people who stand against the Constitution and are fighting to replace it.

 

9) Islam allows Muslims to kill their own children, (honor killing) if the behavior of those children embarrasses or dishonors the family name. (did you know that dating outside of the faith is justification for murdering their daughters and this has already occurred on American soil?) Why would I want people (who believe it’s okay to murder their own children), be in the presence of other children? My patrons often bring their kids to the range to teach them to shoot. I am responsible for providing a safe environment for those children to learn gun safety and shooting sports.

 

10) In the 14 hundred year history of Islam, muslims have murdered over 270 million people. Not all muslims are terrorists, but almost all terrorists in the world right now are muslim. Since you can’t determine by visual assessment, which ones will kill you and which ones will not, I am going to go with the line of thought that ANY HUMAN BEING who would either knowingly or unknowingly support a “religion” that commands the murder of all people who refuse to submit or convert to that religion, is not someone I want to know or do business with. I hold adults accountable for the religion they align themselves with.

 

In summary, I not only have the right, but a responsibility to provide a safe environment for my customers. I do not believe my decision is religious discrimination because I do not classify islam as a religion.. It is a theocracy/terrorist organization that hides behind the mask of religion in order to achieve its mission of world domination.

 

People who shoot at my range come from all religious backgrounds… some are atheists… I do not care about their religious beliefs. I care about the safety of my customers who come to shoot here. The government allows businesses to ban me from entering their business with my gun because the property owner feels uncomfortable or wants to provide a “safe” environment for their patrons which is in clear violation of my 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, so…

 

I should be able to deny service to people on the same premise. Can my government really force me to invite someone who had threatened to kill me, into my home or business?

 

I will do whatever is necessary to provide a safe environment for my customers, even at the cost of the increased threats and legal problems this decision will likely provoke.

 

Jan Morgan- owner / The Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range

Fire Chief Sacked for Writing Book With Christian View of Homosexuality

Fire Chief Sacked for Writing Book With Christian View of Homosexuality

The Atlanta government may not yet be burning books, but they sure burned a man who wrote one. The Georgia city’s mayor, Kasim Reed, announced Tuesday that he had terminated Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran (shown). The reason?

Cochran expressed disapproval of homosexual behavior in a self-published book.

The chief had already endured a 30-day suspension without pay after the book, entitled Who Told You That You Were Naked?, was brought to light by a retired, openly lesbian Atlanta Fire Department captain named Cindy Thompson. The book, which concerns the importance of Christ’s salvation, expresses many authentic Christian beliefs, including the lines that raised homosexual activists’ ire:

Uncleanness — whatever is opposite of purity; including sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, pederasty, bestiality, all other forms of sexual perversion.

Naked men refuse to give in, so they pursue sexual fulfillment through multiple partners, with the opposite sex, the same sex and sex outside of marriage and many other vile, vulgar and inappropriate ways which defile their body-temple and dishonor God.

Penning such a book is considered contrary to Atlanta city policy, which, it seems, curiously aligns with the policy objectives of homosexual-activist groups. One of these is Georgia Equality, whose executive director, Jeff Graham, had lobbied for Cochran’s ouster. As GA Voice tells us:

Cochran’s anti-gay views could only make for a hostile work environment, Graham noted.

“This is not about his religious views but about his ability to lead a diverse work force,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this had to happen. I feel the mayor has done the right thing to ensure all employees are treated fairly.”

And Mayor Reed certainly seems to agree. As GA Voice wrote reporting on a press conference on the matter:

Reed reiterated the city’s nondiscrimination policy that prohibits prejudice based upon sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as race, color, religion, and sex.

“His personal religious beliefs are not the issue at all despite the number of comments and emails I have been receiving on a daily basis,” Reed said.

Yet many would say this doesn’t ring true. Note that Cochran was not accused of discrimination, which involves action, but for thebeliefs he expressed — exercising his First Amendment rights — in a book composed during his private time. It doesn’t appear that Cochran “discriminated” against anyone.

Some may note that, according to Mayor Reed, his city’s policies also include a prohibition against “prejudice,” which, of course, does involve mere thoughts or beliefs. But what is prejudice? The term’s first definition at Dictionary.com is “an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.”

There’s the rub. Even if one agrees that government should be allowed to fire someone for expressed beliefs (which seems like a First Amendment violation), are today’s public officials qualified to judge whether a view really was formed “without knowledge, thought, or reason”? And do Cochran’s positions — the norm for virtually all the last 2000 years and likely still embraced by a healthy world majority today — fit that description? Also note that we all have biases, which can be negative or positive. The only question is whether we’re biased in favor of the Truth — or a lie.

Speaking of biases, is there prejudice in determining who will get fired and why? After all, if we’re going to conflate belief with behavior (discrimination), consider that Cochran also inveighed against fornication (“sex outside of marriage”) and polyamory. Does this mean he intended to discriminate against his department’s polyamorists and fornicators? Does this also, as Graham said, create “a hostile work environment” and an inability “to lead a diverse work force”?

The reality is that the prejudices exhibited by Graham are so seamlessly woven into the secularist world view that the contradiction isn’t even noticed. Someone can express disfavor with a host of sexual behaviors and it doesn’t evoke activist animus; at most, people may chuckle and view the person as an anachronistic “Church Lady” type. But woe betide the individual who expresses disfavor with one particular sexual behavior.

This places matters in perspective. The fashionable view today is that disapproval of homosexual activity is synonymous with hatred of homosexuals and now, according to Graham and Mayor Reed, constitutes discrimination against them and warrants job termination. But given that virtually everyone in today’s secular and sexualized America engages in some activity traditional Christians label a sin, does it follow that Christians “hate” most everyone? Should they be assumed to discriminate unfairly against virtually everybody? Do they also hate themselves, since they believe they’re sinners as well? Are we back to ancient Roman times, in which the pagans called Christians “haters of humanity”?

The truth is that many today simply want a special sin-hierarchy dispensation for one select sexual behavior. But this renders the Christian model — and any traditional model — for man’s sexuality thoroughly untenable. As I wrote in October, is Christianity “supposed to say adultery is a sin, fornication is a sin, self-gratification is a sin, viewing pornography is a sin, but homosexuality is, what? A lifestyle choice, sort of like living on a houseboat?” This would create a “what’s wrong with this picture” scenario. So, in essence, what homosexual activists and their allies are demanding would lead to the total collapse of the Christian sexual model.

The fact is, everyone has a negative opinion about something. If a city official writes a book in which he criticizes Protestantism, Catholicism, communism, materialism, atheism, soccer, rap music, Mexican food, or skimpy attire, is it synonymous with discrimination against those associated with that thing? Is the only type of person who could work in such a position someone who doesn’t exist: that mythical value-neutral individual?

This is why, despite Mayor Reed’s protestations to the contrary, the firing of Kelvin Cochran had everything to do with his religious views — and the secular views and great-sexual-heresy vice of today’s big government and big ideology. It’s the same force thatcost former Mozilla CEO and pro-marriage Proposition 8 supporter Brendan Eich his job, that led to the punishment of bakers who refused to provide “wedding” cakes for same-sex couples and to the persecution of other Christian businessmen. Just as Sharia-believing Muslims enforce their code of behavior, Western modernists enforce theirs — despite railing against the imposition of moral codes. Perhaps this is why, instead, they have given us an immoral code.

How OPEC Weaponized the Price of Oil Against U.S. Drillers

If there ever was doubt about the strategy of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, its wealthiest members are putting that issue to rest.

Representatives of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait stressed a dozen times in the past six weeks that the group won’t curb output to halt the biggest drop in crude since 2008. Qatar’s estimate for the global oversupply is among the biggest of any producing country. These countries actually want -- and are achieving -- further price declines as part of an attempt to hasten cutbacks by U.S. shale drillers, according to Barclays Plc and Commerzbank AG.

Crude fell 48 percent last year and has declined 35 percent since OPEC affirmed its output target on Nov. 27. That decision, while squeezing revenues for OPEC members in 2015, aims at preserving their market share for years to come.

Oil Prices

“The faster you bring the price down, the quicker you will have a response from U.S. production -- that is the expectation and the hope,” said Jamie Webster, an analyst at consultants IHS Inc. in Washington. “I cannot recall a time when several members were actively pushing the price down in both word and deed.”

Holding Out

U.S. crude production totaled 9.13 million barrels a day last week, up about 1 million barrels from a year ago and 49,000 from the OPEC meeting in November. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in underground shale rock have boosted output by 66 percent over the past five years. Exports, still limited by law, reached a record 502,000 barrels a day in November, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

The group will stand by its decision not to cut output even if prices fall and wait at... Read More

The four Middle East OPEC members are counting on combined reserve assets estimated by the International Monetary Fund at $826.4 billion to withstand the plunge in prices. Petroleum represents 63 percent of their exports. At least 10 calls and several e-mails to the oil ministries of all four countries on Jan. 7 and yesterday weren’t answered.

The price decline will cost all 12 OPEC members a total of $257 billion in lost revenue this year, according to the EIA. Venezuela has a 93 percent chance of defaulting on its debt over the next five years, according to CMA, a data provider owned by McGraw Hill Financial Inc. President Nicolas Maduro said Dec. 13 that “there is no possibility of default” and on Jan. 7 that the country has “the capacity to obtain the financing” it needs.

Maintain Course

OPEC won’t reverse course even if oil prices fall as low as $20 a barrel or non-OPEC countries offer to help with production cuts, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said in an interview with the Middle East Economic Survey on Dec. 21. The kingdom may even bolster output if non-OPEC nations do so, he said. The global oversupply is 2 million barrels a day, or 6.7 percent of OPEC output, Qatar estimates.

The group will stand by its decision not to cut output even if prices fall and wait at least three months before considering an emergency meeting, U.A.E. Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said Dec. 14. He said clearing the surplus may take years, Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National reported Jan. 6.

OPEC has no plans to meet before its next scheduled conference in June, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali al-Omair said on Dec. 16. Prices will recover in the second half as oil producers with the highest costs are compelled to scale back operations, he said.

‘Swift Fall’

It wouldn’t be the first time U.S. drillers are caught up in an OPEC battle for market share. In 1986, Saudi Arabia opened its taps and sparked a four-month, 67 percent plunge that left oil just above $10 a barrel. The U.S. industry collapsed, triggering almost a quarter-century of production declines, and the Saudis regained their leading role in the world’s oil market.

“It seems in their interest to have a swift fall rather than a slow, grinding fall,” Miswin Mahesh, an analyst at Barclays in London, said by phone. “A swift drop in prices would bring more changes to non-OPEC supply,” while a more gradual decline would let companies in other oil nations “merge and become more efficient.”

Not all share this view. UBS Group AG analysts said that hastening a price slump isn’t a practical strategy because oil demand and supply respond too slowly to price changes.

Undermine Prices

“I doubt that they target a lower price,” Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS in Zurich, said by e-mail on Jan. 5. “Supply and demand are quite inelastic in the short-term.”

Brent for February settlement decreased 85 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $50.11 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It’s the lowest close since April 28, 2009.

Saudi Arabian oil ministers sought to undermine prices in the 1980s and 1990s with their public comments, according to Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director of energy and sustainability at the University of California-Davis. The tactic was used to pressure other OPEC members into agreeing to quota changes, she said.

There are signs that OPEC’s approach is starting to work. Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. declined for the sixth time in seven weeks, by 17 to 1,482 last week, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website on Jan. 5. There will be a serious decline in U.S. shale oil investment in 2015, Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency in Paris, said on Dec. 22.

“Some OPEC countries, most specifically Gulf states, obviously think that it’s best to get unpleasant things over and done with,” Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG, said by e-mail from Frankfurt. “The recent wordings showed they are still firm about this strategy.”