Monday, September 7, 2015
The Truth About The Arrest of Kim Davis
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Kentucky Clerk Davis Jailed
BREAKING: As expected, Davis refused to go back to the Courthouse. She communicated through her lawyers and told Judge Bunning that she would not allow her Deputy Clerks to issue marriage licenses.
Davis will remain in jail. Judge Bunning has told the Deputy Clerks to begin issuing licenses tomorrow, otherwise they will be held in contempt. 5 of the 6 agree, the hold out was Davis's son.
Davis makes $80,000 dollars paid in part by those she denied their right as defined by SCOTUS under the 13th Amendment....
Here is the oath of office that all Kentucky clerks and deputies including Davis takes before assuming their duties:
"I, -----, do swear that I will well and truly discharge the duties of the office of ----- County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees, opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God."
All hearings have ended.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Marriage is the Law of the Land
"I say this with sincere love to my many friends who are passionate fundamentalist Christians who believe that the SCOTUS’s decision yesterday on marriage equality is an abomination to themselves and to God: As a lawyer, I need to attempt to set the record straight.
Our country was created by our founding fathers very deliberately to prevent the establishment of a national religion from our governance. The Church - Catholic or Anglican - was central to almost every other country in the world historically, especially England from which our founding fathers separated. It was critical to our founding fathers that one central religion NOT be declared and NOT be incorporated into our Constitution or governance. They understood that an establishment of a national religion would ultimately abridge the very rights they believed were fundamental and were meant to be recognized and protected by the Bill of Rights and ultimately the Constitution.
Religion-based loss of basic rights had been their experience in England and they wanted to prevent that here.
The fact is that this decision yesterday was a LEGAL decision about the scope of our Constitutional rights as humans and US citizens. It was not about religion, religious beliefs or religious freedom. It is about equal rights, just as the decision in this country to give women the vote and the decision to abolish slavery were about equal rights. Any decision regarding the scope of a constitutional right (whether passed by Congress or interpreted by the SCOTUS) is a legal decision, not one based in religion or morality.
Rights are not and should not be up for a popular vote or up to the states to determine. Rights are absolute and cannot be dependent upon anything other than the fact that the person is a human being and is a citizen of the US. If those two conditions are met, YOUR belief system about what is MORALLY or spiritually right or wrong does not matter and should not. You should be glad that is the case, because it would be just as easy for another religion to take over and curtail your rights as a Christian (something that has happened throughout history).
In fact, one religious party believing they know the truth for all humans is how terrible oppression starts - that is how Naziism started, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the Klu Klux Klan, Al-Qaeda and now ISIS - the most destructive, hateful, murderous periods of human history have arisen directly out of one religious group (ironically, most of these examples were lead by Christians) believing their religion and religious beliefs were THE truth, and therefore they had the right to take away the rights (and lives) of those who lived or believed differently than them.
Our founding fathers wanted to prevent that outcome. So does our current Supreme Court. THAT is the law of the land and I could not be more grateful to be an American than when human rights are protected. I don’t have to agree with you to believe with all my heart and soul that YOUR rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should be protected against oppression or prejudice. LGBT US citizens deserve exactly the same treatment. God Bless America.
p.s. Those railing against the decision of marriage equality as a basic constitutional right are confusing the idea of constitutional (i.e human) rights with certain types of behavior (the stuff they call "sin"). But human rights are inherent in all human beings and US citizens - not doled out based on who is behaving "well" and who isn't. All US citizens should have the equal right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, regardless of the "sins" they commit. The only behavior that should curtail your constitutional rights is if you commit a crime (a felony) and are convicted. But even then, criminals can still marry, have kids, own property, work and live in our communities. The only things they can't do is vote and carry firearms. If committing a sin was a barrier to receiving basic constitutional rights in this country, we would all be in big trouble, not just the LGBT community."
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Supreme Court Just Showed Their Hand
After reading Kerry v. Din, it appears the Supreme Court tipped their hand today on where they will fall on same-sex marriage.
The opinions in the cases had an obvious undertone regarding the scope of constitutional due process rights to marriage. While the majority opinion was comprised of all the Conservative justices, Justice Kennedy and Justice Alito refused to join the opinion in whole and focused only on the judgment writing "...rather than deciding, as the plurality does, whether Din has a protected liberty interest, my view is that, even assuming she does, the notice she received regarding her husband's visa denial satisfied due process."
This rationale offered by Kennedy, having originated in Court precedent (Kliendienst), was not contested by the four liberal Justices, rather they merely disagreed that the Consular Officer's statement was not adequate for denying the visa application.
My official marriage equality prediction now sitting at a 6-3 opinion.
Oh how far America has come...
Thursday, May 28, 2015
2016 Election
When November 8, 2016 rolls around, Hillary will start... yes, START... with a minimum of 247 of the 270 electoral votes she needs to win. This is due to the "Democratic Blue Wall" (Google It). As many political strategists will say, Hillary is almost guaranteed Colorado because of the rapidly growing Hispanic population. Gaining Colorado gives Hillary 9 more electoral votes, bringing her to 256. Hillary is also likely to take Virginia because of the influx of Northerners (the D.C. crowd) who lean very left. If she pulled this off she would be at 269.
This would leave Hillary needing one vote. Yes, one electoral vote. Given that Republicans start every election with 191 electoral votes, the necessity to win the big toss up states (Florida and Ohio) leave the smaller states, of which Hillary needs one, untapped.
If Clinton doesn't need Ohio or Florida, though she would likely win at least one, she would just need Iowa, Nevada or New Hampshire to put her over the edge. And with a boatload of money and no real primary challenger, she'll have plenty of time and resources to lock up at least one of those states.
Let this sink in... 16 years of a Democratic President and 4 (I REPEAT 4) Supreme Court Nominations."
Regards
Jordan Letschert
Saturday, May 2, 2015
SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court Justice Didn’t Know Marriage Can’t Legally Involve Churches or Religion
With the first day of hearings taking place before the United States Supreme Court, an awkward happening occurred when Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts found out that both religion and religious establishments have nothing to do with the legality of same-sex marriage.
The uncomfortable exchange began when Chief Justice Roberts asked famed gay rights lawyer Mary Bonauto why she believed that we should “force churches and religious leaders to preside over a homosexual wedding that, when taken as a whole, would offend their moral conscience.”
Although she seemed taken aback, Bonauto replied with little to no hesitation.
“Well, I’d cite the U.S. Constitution, previous Supreme Court decisions, and the Treaty of Tripoli.”
Chief Justice Roberts then asked Bonauto to elaborate on her answer.
Bonauto replied, “Thomas Jefferson clearly stated that the intent and function of the 1st Amendment was that the country could never establish any laws based on, or supporting, a specific religious view. He stated that ‘the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.'”
She then continued by stating that, “This court has ruled in this manner time after time, and even the Treaty of Tripoli, which was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate way back in 1797, clearly stated that our government was not established on any specific religious tradition. Not to mention, priests and churches will not be forced to marry anyone.”
Bonauto concluded by accurately saying, “Indeed, it is a fact that all you need to get married would be another person, a trip to a courthouse, a witness, and a signed document. When people get married in a church, it isn’t recognized by the government without the legal documentation.”
It was at this point that those in the court witnessed Chief Justice Roberts begin to whisper to fellow conservative Justices Scalia and Alito. Justice Roberts then became visibly red in the face at this point and some reports even state that you could audibly hear Roberts say, “Really!?”
From www.youreadygrandma
Regards
Jordan Letschert
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Florida HB 7111
Friday, April 3, 2015
IF YOU LIVE IN SARASOTA
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Religious Rights
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Sir Elton John
Furious Elton John Calls for Boycott of Dolce and Gabbana Over IVF Comments
Sir Elton John on Sunday called for a boycott of the swank fashion house Dolce & Gabbana after the founders declared their opposition to same-sex marriage and gay adoptions in an interview with an Italian fashion magazine.
D&G, which has clothed some of the celebrity world's top stars, was founded 30 years ago by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbano. Their designs have been worn by Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, Christian Bale and many other movie stars.
But the founders, who were once a couple, told the magazine Panorama they supported "traditional marriage."
John, who married his longtime partner David Furnish last December, issued a furious retort on his Instagram account, saying he would never wear Dolce and Gabbana again and calling on others to join a boycott of the company.
The British singer-songwriter, who has two children born via a surrogate, was especially annoyed at Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbano for their comments about the children of gay couples. They told the publication that kids who aren't born into traditional families are "children of chemistry."
John responded: "How dare you refer to my beautiful children as "synthetic." And shame on you for wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF — a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfill their dream of having children."
The boycott was quickly supported by other celebs, including tennis star Martina Navratilova and musician Courtney Love, who said they were dumping their D&G clothes.
Article from NBC
Regards
Jordan Letschert
Monday, February 23, 2015
DEHART
SOOOOO... At 2:45am we wake up to our fire alarms going off... Half awake we stumble into our kitchen to find it on FIRE...
We put it out, expecting FD to arrive as our house is monitored by #DEHART... But NOOOO.. So WE call our own monitoring company to tell them we have a fire... Do they offer to dispatch FD? Ask if we are ok? NOPE... The rep says "oh we don't monitor your fire"
WELL THATS NEWS TO US AT $60.00 a month... So we, understandably so are angry , and the #dehart rep HANGS UP ON US....
He DOES NOT ask if we are ok, does not offer to dispatch ANY help ... We call back and demand to hear from a supervisor within 1 hour... That was 5 hours ago..
If you have #dehartsystems in your home YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE NOT SAFE!
BTW ITS NOW BEEN NEARLY 24 hours!
Jordan Letschert