What a Baker Does in Private is None of the Government's Business

Reuters reports that the Court had ruled that freedom of religion allows you to refuse to bake a cake against your conscience.   They were careful not to challenge antidiscrimination laws in general which are so longstanding and to challenge severe racial discrimination often encouraged or required by state and local governments.   The Gaystapo is being told to stop the abuse of those who want to say " No," instead of forcing them over the counter and saying,  "Do as I say and enjoy it. "

If This Appeared in National Review, I would Not Be Surprised

But in 6/1/18 The Nation (a hard left magazine?

A glaring example, just one of many from recent months, arrived at my door on February 17. My outrage spiked when I opened to the Times’ lead editorial: “Stop Letting the Russians Get Away With It, Mr. Trump.” I had to ask myself: “Did the Times’ editors perform even the rudiments of due diligence before they climbed on their high horse in this long editorial, which excoriated ‘Russia’ (not individual Russians) for ‘interference’ in the election and demanded increased sanctions against Russia ‘to protect American democracy’?”

It had never occurred to me that our admittedly dysfunctional political system is so weak, undeveloped, or diseased that inept Internet trolls could damage it. If that is the case, we better look at a lot of other countries as well, not just Russia!

The New York Times, of course, is not the only offender. Its editorial attitude has been duplicated or exaggerated by most other media outlets in the United States, electronic and print. Unless there is a mass shooting in progress, it can be hard to find a discussion of anything else on CNN. Increasingly, both in Congress and in our media, it has been accepted as a fact that “Russia” interfered in the 2016 election.

A long and thoughtful article that demonstrates how hopelessly delusional the fascist wing of the Democratic Party (and their media pimps) really are.

Paper Maps Still Have a Purpose

My wife and I went on a ghost town exploring trip yesterday.  But how do you do this without paper maps.  Once you away from the zone where Starbucks, Facebook, and Spotify are the dominant culture, the Maps app on your cell phone does not help.  Worse, many of these now obscure and remote place do not appear on GPS-based navigation systems.

I have always had a thing for paper maps; when I was young, I had a Mercator projection map of the Earth on which I was laboriously marking the Ice Age coastlines (100 meters below current sea level) by consulting National Geographic undersea maps.  I sometimes fantasized about having a house with just a map room.  (Okay, I was a weird kid.)

When we first moved to Idaho, I bought a Delorme Idaho Atlas & Gazetteer, a very detailed and complete collection of Idaho maps.  That's what we should have had yesterday.  Now, where is it?

Why Does This Sound Like a Joke About How Conservative Texas Is?

University of Texas of the Permian Basin:  I found it in a list of university libraries.

Blogging From My Phone

So copying the URL for this video will have to wait until I get home,  but look it up for a reminder that only LEOs can be trusted to carry guns in public.  An FBI agent, obviously drunk, is dancing, does a backflip,  dropping his gun.  While trying to retrieve it, he shoots a bystander.   I would never drink while armed,  never do a backflip while armed, unarmed, drunk, or sober.  Curious is that will be any criminal charges or employment consequences.

Coconut Factory

Weekly Standard article about Portland intolerance of differing opinions when they conflict with the Divine Truth of LGBTQQ.  https://www.weeklystandard.com/kevin-d-williamson/soccer-player-jaelene-hinkle-is-protested-in-portland-for-declining-to-wear-an-lgbtq-jersey

Worth reading for the coconut factory comparison alone.

Remember, Only Police Have the Skills and Knowledge to Carry Guns Safely

6/2/18 Denver Post:

An off-duty FBI agent allegedly accidentally shot a man in the leg early Saturday after the agent’s gun fell from his holster on the dance floor of Mile High Spirits, according to a Denver police news release.

“The victim was transported to the hospital with a good prognosis,” the news release read.