Last Call For One If By Land, Two If By Crazy

Operation Jade Helm '15 is here! Protect your precious bodily fluids from the government!

Just in time for the Wednesday kickoff of "Jade Helm 15," a YouTube user under the handle Get Right America posted an amazing parody of the breathless, Humvee-tracking conspiracy theorists who are suspicious of the U.S. military training exercise.

The videographer filmed himself driving around the parking lot of a Sam's Club in San Angelo, Texas in a nod to one of the wilder "Jade Helm 15" conspiracy theories about its parent company, Wal-Mart. There, he found a potential hiding spot for "ninjas that can take our guns" and trucks that obviously must belong to the Knights Templar.

It's hysterical stuff.



And yes, this is what the Jade Helm "truthers" sound like to the rest of us: complete nutjobs.

The Freedom To Hate

I figure one of the first things the Supreme Court will have to deal in a couple of years (with a new President in the White House) is a case defining whether or not "religious freedom" allows you to nullify anti-discrimination laws. It might even be this case.

A Christian engineer who was fired for violating Ford Motor Company’s policy against harassment based on sexual orientation is suing the company, claiming his religious rights were violated. 

In a federal lawsuit obtained by The Huffington Post, Thomas Banks explains that he was fired after posting a comment in response to an internal Ford intranet article that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the LGBT workers rights group GLOBE. 

“For this the Ford Motor should be thoroughly ashamed,” Banks wrote. “Endorsing and promoting sodomy is of benefit to no one. This topic is disruptive to the workplace and is an assault on Christians and morality, as well as antithetical to our design and our survival.” 

“Immoral sexual conduct should not be a topic for an automotive manufacturer to endorse or promote,” he continued. “And yes — this is historic — but not in a good way. Never in the history of mankind has a culture survived that promotes sodomy. Heterosexual behavior creates life — homosexual behavior leads to death.” 

Banks was fired two weeks later on the grounds that he violated the company’s policy against harassment. 

“I was stunned to realize that I was fired over expressing my faith in a single comment,” a statement from Banks said. 

The lawsuit alleges that Ford Motor Company and Rapid Global Business Solutions “acted intentionally out of malice or reckless disregard of Banks’ federally protected rights.”

So, can you claim anti-harassment policies and laws are impinging on your freedom of religion? We've already seen the Supreme Court say that your employer's religious freedom trumps federal health care law in the Hobby Lobby case.  Where does the Supreme Court draw the line, if at all?

I'm pretty sure we're going to get an answer from SCOTUS on this, so one would hope that the next President nominating justices would be a Democrat.

If not, well...

I Think He's Taking This Rather Well, Yes?

In non-breaking non-news that will not come as a shock to anyone, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu is not a fan of the new Iran deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday after world powers reached a historic nuclear deal with Iran that Israel was not bound by it and signalled he remained ready to order military action. 

Netanyahu’s harsh criticism of the agreement came after he warned for months that the deal being negotiated would not prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. 

While analysts say unilateral military action by Israel seems unlikely for now, Netanyahu and other officials have kept the option on the table. 

“Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran, and Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction,” Netanyahu told reporters before a meeting of his security cabinet. 

“We will always defend ourselves.”

Not without US weapons and billions in US taxpayer dollars, you won't.  Might want to keep that in mind.

Netanyahu called the nuclear deal a “historic mistake”, and the accord drew strong criticism from across the Israeli political spectrum. 

“We did commit to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and this commitment still stands,” Netanyahu said earlier on Tuesday, even before the agreement was officially announced. 

He has taken his campaign to the US Congress and the UN General Assembly, but ultimately failed to block the agreement.

Once again, in order to accept Netanyahu's bluster as truth, you have to believe that only Israel correct, and that the entire UN Security Council is colluding on Israel's destruction, including the five permanent members of the US, France, the UK, China and Russia.

It's ridiculous theater, and he knows it.  Israel doesn't have a friend in the world on this.

Wait, I take that back.  They have the Republican Party here in the US.

That should tell you everything.

StupidiNews!

• A stampede at a Hindu river festival in the Indian city of Rajahmundry has killed at least 27 as crowds surged to wash in the sacred Godavari river.
• President Obama will hold a press conference today answering questions about yesterday's announced Iran nuclear deal before heading to Oklahoma for a Choctaw Nation event.
• A scheduled vote today by Greek lawmakers on a new bailout is facing stiff opposition from PM Alexis Tsipras's own Syriza party, a failed vote could collapse his government coalition.
• A new International Monetary Fund report blasts the Greek deal, saying that Europe will have to consider far more debt relief in order to prevent Greek debt from piling up for decades.
• One thing that wasn't at last night's AL 6-3 win at the All-Star Game here in Cincinnati: recreational drones, which the league told fans to leave at home.