Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America shake their heads at the pre-debate circus, including the Clinton campaign demanding that Lester Holt play fact checker. They also slam Ted Cruz for endorsing Trump after saying in July he would not be a “servile puppy” to someone who attacked his wife and father. And they laugh as Bernie Sanders, who ran a campaign calling for a political revolution, tells his supporters not to cast protest votes for third party candidates.
News & Politics
‘We’re in This Era Now Where Facts Don’t Matter’
A retired police officer who witnessed community chaos first-hand after a police-involved shooting in Missouri is imploring Americans to know the facts on recent cases in North Carolina and Oklahoma before drawing conclusions or engaging in violence.
Jeffrey Roorda is a retired police officer and a former four-term state lawmaker in Missouri. He witnessed the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, first-hand and wrote a book about it. His forthcoming work is “The War on Police: How the Ferguson Effect Is Making America Unsafe.”
He says Americans need to focus on the facts rather than the raw emotion in these cases.
“We’re in this era now where facts don’t matter. We’ve seen that not just in Charlotte, but in cities where people have gone berserk and acted the way we saw in those first night protests in Charlotte,” said Roorda.
Looking at Keith Lamont Scott case in Charlotte, Roorda says the Charlotte police account of Scott’s actions means the deadly police fire was warranted. Chief Kerr Putney told reporters that officers witnessed Scott brandished a gun and refused to drop it after being repeatedly ordered by police to do so.
“You tell the guy to drop the gun, drop the gun, drop the gun and now you’re in this tenuous standoff. The moment he makes any movement that appears to be raising the gun. It’s absolutely a deadly force situation,” said Roorda.
For those wondering why officers couldn’t just wound Scott, Roorda offers a window into how police train for these situations.
“This isn’t like re-runs of ‘Barnaby Jones’ where he shoots the gun out of the guy’s hand every time. That’s not real life,” said Roorda.
“It’s hard to hit to hit appendages when you’re shooting at a piece of paper that is stationary. When a guy is moving around when you’re in a high-stress situation of a standoff with an armed subject, the training – and this officer followed his training – is to fire center mass. That’s the hardest part of miss. It is the area of a person’s body where it is most likely to stop their action and end the threat,” said Roorda.
Roorda says the Crutcher case in Tulsa is far more complicated. That’s where Officer Betty Shelby has been charged with first-degree manslaughter following video showing her shooting Crutcher while his hands were raised. Through her attorney, Shelby says Crutcher refused to obey verbal commands.
Roorda says that in itself is not enough justification to shoot.
“You don’t shoot somebody just because they’re not listening to you. You shoot them because they are presenting what you perceive to be a deadly threat,” he said.
“That case is a little harder. I’m not going to deny that the video is hard to watch and it’s harder to square up. My job is to defend cops but she may have overreacted. She may have panicked,” said Roorda.
But Roorda says other details of that case complicate the picture in the other direction. He says police got a call about a person whose car was stopped in the middle of the road and who was acting as if they were under the influence of something. He says that part of Tulsa is known for the prevalence of PCP and the drug was found in Crutcher’s car, which was running and not stalled.
He says dealing with subjects while on mind-altering substances is a major challenge for police.
“Those folks are very dangerous. I don’t know how many of your listeners have ever had to fight a guy who is on PCP or meth but it ain’t fun,” said Roorda.
And he says Crutcher’s alleged noncompliance with Shelby’s commands may have led to the officer perceiving an imminent threat.
“He’s walking away from her at one point. That’s when the video picks up with his hands up. He’s still not listening. He’s still not dropping to his knees as she’s ordering him to do. He gets back to the car. He reaches in the car and she perceives that as a threat that he’s going to produce a weapon,” said Roorda.
Even if Shelby did overreact, Roorda does not believe she belongs in prison.
“Is that really a crime? Is that a chargeable felony that’s going to end this officer’s career and put her behind bars. I don’t know that squares up with our values as a country,” said Roorda.
Roorda implores the media to report all the facts of these high-profile cases and not pick and choose which details help their side.
“The media has to report all the information they have. They can’t pick and choose things that fit or don’t in their narrative. That’s for the far left and the far right,” said Roorda.
Three Martini Lunch 9/23/16
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America help Hillary Clinton understand why she’s not 50 points ahead and enjoy the fact she’s blaming union members for her close race. They also slam Twitter for suspending Instapundit Glenn Reynolds for his controversial tweet during the Charlotte riots. And they shake our heads as Gary Johnson continues to demonstrate he’s just odd – this time speaking with his tongue out of his mouth during a national television interview.
Hillary, Trump and the Right to Work
Hillary Clinton urged organized labor officials and members to rally to her cause, promising to be a fierce opponent of the Right to Work movement and warning that Donald Trump is “100 percent” supportive of it.
The Democratic presidential nominee made the comments in a video message to the Laborers International Union of North America meeting in Las Vegas.
“I will fight back against so-called Right to Work. Right to Work is wrong for workers and wrong for America,” said Clinton.
But what is Right to Work?
“Right to Work simply means you have the choice whether or not to join or financially support a labor union as a condition of getting or keeping a job in America. It really is that simple,” said National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.
He says the message is really aimed at labor bosses.
“I think what she’s trying to convey to union officials, not rank-and-file workers, is that if she is elected president, she will stand in the way of a growing movement to free workers from compulsory unionism,” said Mix.
“I think this is the fifth or sixth time she has made this an issue in various venues about how she believes workers should be fired from their jobs if they don’t tender union fees or dues to a labor boss,” he added.
Mix also says the labor bosses are more than ready to carry the water for Clinton in the final weeks of this campaign.
“There’s no question that the union bosses across the country will spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars trying to put her in the White House so that she can stand in defense of this compulsory unionism privilege that union officials have,” said Mix.
In the video, Clinton says the agendas of her and Donald Trump couldn’t be more different and wondered why this election wasn’t a rout in the polls.
“Why aren’t I 50 points ahead, you might ask. Well, the choice for working families has never been clearer. I need your help to get Donald Trump’s record out to everybody. Nobody should be fooled. He proudly declared himself 100 percent Right to Work,” stated Clinton.
Mix says that statement helps to explain why Clinton doesn’t have a big lead in this race. He says the public is against her on this issue.
“The reason she’s not up 50 points is because eight out of ten Americans believe it’s wrong to force workers to pay dues to get or keep a job,” said Mix.
He says Trump is standing on the side of the majority of Americans who believe workers should get to choose whether they join a union and pay dues.
To date, 26 states have enacted Right to Work laws, allowing labor groups to attempt unionizing, but ultimately leaving the decision up to the employees. Mix says the economic performance in those states is stunning compared to the 24 states that do not embrace Right to Work.
“Those states that had it from 2005-2015 had nearly double the private sector job growth than the states that didn’t have Right to Work. As far as business location, site selection and business expansion, Right to Work states are leading the country in creating new opportunities and new jobs for people,” said Mix.
“Union officials ought to be happy about that. They can go into those states where the new jobs are and they can try to organize those workers. The problem that union officials have and that Hillary Clinton has is that they think they ought to be granted this government privilege to force everyone to pay them a fee,” said Mix.
It’s the federal government that granted labor unions the power to force workers to join unions and pay dues back in the Franklin Roosevelt administration. The 1947 Taft-Hartley Act kept the policy in place but allowed states to take action to remove those requirements for workers.
Mix says if Hillary Clinton wins and gets enough allies in Congress, the right of states to decide their own paths on Right to Work could be in jeopardy.
“What Hillary Clinton could do is join with her supporters in Congress and union officials here in Washington and try to repeal Section 14B of the Taft-Hartley Act and wipe out all 26 Right to Work laws in fell swoop,” said Mix.
Three Martini Lunch 9/22/16
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America get a kick out Hillary Clinton calling Tim Kaine a “terrible choice” for a running mate back in 2008. They also discuss two consecutive nights of rioting in Charlotte. And they’re puzzled at the media’s lack of interest in news that ISIS launched a chemical attack against U.S. troops.
Court Rules Christian Artist Expression Not Speech
Christian artists in Arizona are taking their challenge of a Phoenix ordinance to an appeals court after a lower court upheld the city policy forbidding businesses to refuse service at a same-sex wedding and banning business owners from posting any expressions that protected groups might find offensive.
Brush & Nib owners Breanna Koski and Joanna Duka filed a pre-enforcement suit against Phoenix earlier this year, meaning they were not accused of violating the ordinance but challenged it on first amendment grounds.
At the center of the debate is § 18.4(B) of the city code, which “bars public accommodations from discriminating on the basis of a person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability and from making any communication implying people will be discriminated against or are objectionable because of these protected traits.”
Koski and Duka were generally fine with the language until they understood it to mean they could not opt out of providing work for an event that conflicts with sincerely-held religious beliefs and being unable to display work expressing their beliefs in their shop.
The City of Phoenix vigorously defended the ordinance and on Monday the Superior Court of Arizona for Maricopa County agreed.
“The plain language of the ordinance prohibits only the conduct of refusing to sell and the conduct of publishing that refusal to sell. Conversely, the only thing compelled by the ordinance is the sale of goods and services to persons regardless of their sexual orientation. There is nothing about the ordinance that prohibits free speech or compels undesired speech,” ruled Judge Karen A. Mullins.
“The logic of the court was that when our clients create paintings and write words on their artwork that they’re not expressing any message at all, that it’s not speech at all,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Jonathan Scruggs.
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Brush & Nib in the case.
Scruggs says Mullins seemed to side with the two primary arguments made by the city.
“One argument (from the city) is that our clients are not speaking at all. Even though they are writing words and creating artwork, none of that conveys messages. It’s just conduct the city can regulate, just like if our clients were making a sandwich and selling it. That’s just not true. Words do express messages,” said Scruggs.
He says the other contention from the city is equally galling.
“Another disturbing argument is that it’s essentially no big deal when our clients have to celebrate same-sex wedding ceremonies because all our clients have to do is write words down. You just have to write one word and not the other. Therefore, you’re not being burdened at all,” said Scruggs. “That pretty much nonsense.”
He says anyone with a basic grasp of the first amendment should know that argument doesn’t hold water.
“When you have to affirm a belief, a ritual, an idea that you don’t believe in. That really goes to the core of what freedom is,” said Scruggs.
The second dispute with the ordinance centers on forbidding businesses from expressions that might offend others.
“It’s a part of the law that basically says our clients cannot issue any type of communication that implies someone is unwelcome or not solicited or undesirable. The language is very broad and very vague and could apply to anything. Almost anything could make someone feel unwelcome,” said Scruggs.
“If businesses and individuals can’t put things up on their website to express their beliefs, then where can they put it? So it’s really a strong attack on religious and expressive freedoms in our country,” said Scruggs.
Scruggs says the ordinance violates his clients’ rights of free speech and expression from both directions.
“You can’t win here and you can’t win there. You are forced to convey messages you don’t want to convey and you can’t convey the messages that you do want to convey. You’re simultaneously being silenced and being compelled to speak against your beliefs,” said Scruggs.
He says the logical conclusions of this policy are “scary.”
“If these two artists can’t do that, in theory that should mean other artists can’t either – and other writers and other speakers can’t. That’s a scary notion that the government gets to decide what’s legitimate and what’s not, what’s permissible and what’s not,” said Scruggs.
Scruggs says his clients are in strong position on appeal.
“It’s clearly wrong and we’ve already appealed that decision to the appellate court of Arizona. That’s the next step in this process,” said Scruggs.
In addition to arguing the case on constitutional grounds, Scruggs says the Arizona Supreme Court’s recent actions also give him reason for optimism.
“In 2012, just four years ago, the Arizona Supreme Court specifically said that a tattoo parlor engages in expression when it tattoos words and images on somebody. This is just common sense. If being tattooed with images and words is speech then certainly what our clients do when they write on a piece of paper with words or they put it on a website, that has to be speech too,” said Scruggs.
Arguments before the appellate court are likely to come in the next few months. If Brush & Nib lose there, the case will be appealed to the the Arizona Supreme Court.
Three Martini Lunch 9/21/16
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy hearing a debate audience in Florida burst out laughing when Charlie Crist says Hillary Clinton is honest and then we discuss just how low her trustworthy numbers are. They also fret as two seemingly safe GOP Senate seats are suddenly very close. And they rip Pres. Obama for his UN speech suggesting the U.S. give up some freedom in order to help bind the world under international rules through the UN.
‘Making Sense of God’
The numbers of Americans expressing no religious affiliation is rising dramatically in recent years and the Christian perspective on various issues is met with much louder disdain than in previous generations, but one of the nation’s most respected pastors says the numbers also show some good things and he says believers need to be ready to engage skeptics with humility on matters of reason and faith.
Dr. Tim Keller is founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He is also author of “Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical.” In the book, Keller addresses the rise of secularism, identifies the key issues that confront every life and details how Christ is the answer to those questions.
Keller says explaining the explosive growth of people who want nothing to do with the church is “complicated” but there are some clear reasons for it.
“Some of it’s got to be the failure of the Christian church. It has to be. We cannot possibly imagine that Christianity would be declining without failures on our part, failures to live a godly, Christian life,” said Keller.
“There are also a lot of other factors. There are people who really resent the church. They want the church out of public life. They are doing everything they possibly can to marginalize the church,” he added.
But Keller is not wringing his hands. First of all, he says there are some hopeful signs in those same surveys showing millions abandoning organized religion.
“While parts of western Europe and America will be more secular in the future, overall studies have shown that religion is growing faster than the population. So a higher and higher percentage of people in the world will be religious. Therefore, the future is not secular,” said Keller.
He also says the data show it’s liberal and mainline denominations that are seeing smaller congregations while conservative denominations and congregations still see growth. In addition, secular people tend to have fewer children than believers, leading to another demographic advantage for the faithful.
Keller also challenges the notion that people refusing to identify with a religion don’t adhere to one.
“We all use faith and reason to get to our position. If you don’t believe in God, you can’t prove there’s no God. You use reason, but you also use a certain amount of faith to get there because nobody can prove there’s no God finally to all rational people,” said Keller.
He encourages Christians to engage respectfully with skeptics, armed with one quality in particular.
“Patience. Make sure you don’t answer questions they’re not asking. Make sure you find out where their objections are coming from, because there’s a lot of different experiences they’ve had. Their experiences have more to do with their doubts than probably the logic. So really try to be patient and really try to get behind and find out what they’ve been through and where their questions are coming from,” said Keller.
In his book, Keller says people of all faiths wrestle with some of life’s biggest questions, one of which is whether their lives have meaning. He says nonbelievers will often say their job, their children or their grandchildren give their lives meaning. He agrees, but adds that those meaning can be shattered in an instant.
“Is it as durable as the meaning you find in God and will it help you face suffering?” asked Keller.
“I have grandchildren too. If my meaning in life is my grandchildren and something happens to them, then I’ve lost all meaning in life and suffering destroys me. If my meaning in life is God and I lose my grandchildren, it would be devastating but it wouldn’t be the end of my life because it wouldn’t be taking my meaning away,” said Keller.
He also highlights the difference between created meaning and discovered meaning.
“Christianity gives you a meaning that can handle suffering. Without that, you have a created meaning, which you make yourself, rather than a discovered meaning where you discover Christ. Created meaning is not as durable and it will not handle suffering,” said Keller.
“Making Sense of God” delves into other philosophical concepts as well, but Keller says there’s only one way to find that true meaning in life.
“You’ve got to get to know Jesus. Christianity is not a set of bullet point propositions. Ultimately, it’s not just a set of doctrines. I’m not saying Christianity doesn’t entail doctrines. Of course it does. Ultimately it’s taking you to a Person and the story of His life that really happened. He came to earth. He died on the cross,” said Keller.
Keller says getting to know Jesus requires spending time in the Bible.
“You need to actually read about Him in the gospels and start to feel the attraction of Him. He is so unique. He is so different. His words are amazing. His attitude is amazing,” said Keller.
“Christianity doesn’t offer you a watertight argument. It offers you a watertight person, Jesus Christ, against whom, in the end, there can be no argument,” said Keller.
Three Martini Lunch 9/20/16
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America groan as yet another terrorist offered clues that he was increasingly radical but nothing happened. They also shake their heads as George H.W. Bush reportedly tells a Kennedy that he will vote for Hillary Clinton. And they react to the liberal hysteria over Donald Trump, Jr.’s Skittles illustration to explain the threat of terrorists coming to the U.S. through the refugee program.
Kushner Talks Bombings, PC Political Reaction
Terrorism expert Dr. Harvey Kushner is dismissing the reactions of President Obama and Hillary Clinton to the terrorist attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota as politically correct spin and says the U.S. must get much more aggressive against those who seek to harm the United States.
On Saturday, an explosion rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, injuring 29 people. A second device was later discovered before it detonated. Those acts of terrorism took place after a pipe bomb blew up in New Jersey, along the course of a race designed to help the families of military service members. A second, intact device was also found in New Jersey and all of the news came on the same day a terrorist stabbed eight people at the Mall of America in Minnesota.
On Monday morning, just hours after authorities put out word that Ahmad Khan Rahami was a suspect in the bombings, he was shot and taken into custody by police in New Jersey.
In his first comments since Saturday’s attacks, President Obama Monday assured Americans that the terrorist threat is waning because ISIS is losing territory in Iraq and Syria.
Kushner is not at all convinced by that logic.
“I doubt that very much,” said Kushner. “Recruiting is not just because of a geographical area. It’s on the web and there are so many people here that have allegiance to ISIS inside the United States.”
And Kushner says the Obama administration is failing to take proper diligence in screening who enters the country, particularly when it comes to refugees.
“We have a refugee problem which, in my book, needs to be looked at in a different light. How do you vet so many people coming in from an area of the world that carries such political baggage,” said Kushner.
He also believes Obama’s assurances are falling on deaf ears.
“He’s going to put his spin on things because we have an election upcoming. But the public is smarter. I think they understand that this is an issue,” said Kushner.
Kushner was also disappointed in Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton blaming Donald Trump’s rhetoric for helping ISIS recruit and giving “aid and comfort” to the enemy. Kushner says that might make for an interesting intellectual debate, but the stark realities of our enemies don’t back up Clinton’s claims.
“The overwhelming idea that that is a contributing factor is insulting. Those in law enforcement and intelligence gathering and the general public know better than this,” said Kushner.
“I might not agree with Donald Trump’s approach and I certainly don’t agree with Hillary’s approach, but that’s using a bad situation to feather one’s own bed during a political campaign,” said Kushner.
Instead of pointing the finger at political adversaries, Kushner says the United State must get much more serious about defeating radical Islamic terrorism.
“We have to be very aggressive in a world in which there are many jihadis out there, ranging from Al Qaeda to ISIS to individuals who want to do us harm. We need to identify who the enemy is . The American public is not fooled by this. I think they’re understanding now the political correctness has run amok to the detriment of the safety of our public,” said Kushner, noting that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday night there was no reason to suspect terrorism, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it terrorism at the same press conference.
Kushner says one avenue to get a better lock on terrorists is through data.
“We need to be much more aggressive in terms of looking at what’s available out there by public data. I’m not saying to get inside somebody’s own personal life but there’s so much public data that advertising agencies use to market their products. We have to be much more sophisticated in doing this in trying to get a handle on who out there wants to do us harm,” said Kushner.
Kushner says the available evidence on the weekend bombings leads him to suspect Rahami was part of a cell and not a lone wolf. He’s also glad Rahani was taken alive and hopes helpful information can be extracted.
“It’s my experience from looking at this for many years that individuals of this type, when they’re captured this way, generally talk. That might be of interest. It could lead to other cells. Is there a connection outside the country? Where has he traveled? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered here,” said Kushner.
In the wake of such chaos on Saturday, Kushner says the speed at which law enforcement zeroed in on suspects is impressive.
“The speed with which law enforcement in the New York metropolitan area were able to apprehend this person is quite remarkable,” said Kushner.
Kushner’s advice going forward for all Americans is to live your lives while keeping your eyes open, nothing the woman who stumbled across the second bomb in New York City and contacted police.
“If you see something, say something, but you know what? The streets are yours. This is our country, which prides itself on total freedom. You can’t let the terrorists win and I would go about your daily activities,” said Kushner.