Tag Archives: chris rodda

ACLJ Rebuts Mikey Weinstein and the “Ignoramus’ Veto”

Update: Covered by the Christian Post.

costinSkip Ash and Wesley Smith of the ACLJ wrote two pieces over the past two days taking Michael “Mikey” Weinstein to task for his latest assault on Christians in the US military. Smith’s article, entitled “Military Religious Freedom Foundation: A Misnomer?“, noted that Weinstein’s charity seems to have a nobly stated purpose — though its actions are quite the opposite:

There has never been a more antagonistic and persistent adversary of religious freedom in the ranks of the United States Armed Forces…I witnessed the inordinate amount of time and energy spent responding to the numerous demand letters and threats of litigation from Weinstein and his organization.

Virtually every program designed to enhance the free exercise of religion, promote the spiritual well-being of Soldiers…, or to acknowledge that our inalienable human rights are given to us not by the government, but by our Creator, was met by the vitriol and threats of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Mikey Weinstein.

For those that have followed Mikey Weinstein’s antics and tantrums over Read more

Mikey Weinstein Attacks Air Force Chaplains, Endorsers

Former Air Force Captain Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and retired Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews are friends, sort of. They’ve spoken in the past about having dinner together at Weinstein’s house. This is despite the fact Weinstein’s MRFF is (almost) universally ideologically opposed to Crews’ CALL.  Weinstein attacks religious liberty in the US military, and Crews defends against him.

Chaplain Crews recently honored outgoing Congressman Randy Forbes as the recipient of their annual Torchbearer Award. The ceremony at which the award was presented was well attended by several members of Congress — as well as uniformed Air Force and Army chaplains.

The event has Weinstein seething and demanding the chaplains be court-martialed. It remains to be seen if the personal relationship between Crews and Weinstein can withstand Weinstein’s bigoted diatribe in the MRFF “demand” letter addressed to the Department of Defense Inspector General:  Read more

Mikey Weinstein Begs for Donations to Support Invisible Court Battles

From Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, speaking for his MRFF:

Your completely tax-deductible donation will allow us to continue our fight in the courts…

“Continue?” The MRFF hasn’t initiated a “fight in the courts” since their last lawsuit was tossed out in 2011. [Clarification: Weinstein did file a FOIA lawsuit against the US Air Force and the Air Force Academy in November 2015.] But Weinstein has been continuously begging for “tax-deductible donations” in the five years since, claiming he needs support to continue his “fight in the courts.” In that time, his MRFF has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars without initiating a single “fight” in the courts — despite his repeated quips that the US military would have to “tell it to the judge.”  Notably, in addition to those hundreds of thousands in outflow (not apparently in the courts), Mikey Weinstein has also managed to pay himself $1.95 million from donations since he founded his “charity.”

Why is Mikey Weinstein saying his donors are funding his court battles, when the MRFF hasn’t started any court battles in years? Some might say that soliciting donations for one purpose and then spending them Read more

Chris Rodda Successfully Destroys Her own Strawman

Chris Rodda seems to have returned from her apparent exile from the MRFF by posting a blog at the Huffington Post — about a really old story. In a move unusual for the normally verbose Rodda, the article was relatively concise. In typical Chris Rodda fashion, however, it relied heavily on playing loose with the truth.

Referring to a months-old controversy, Rodda’s article was entitled “Apparently, the American Legion Hates Jesus” and described the American Legion’s use of a POW/MIA remembrance table that does not include a Bible:

According to the fundamentalist Christian outrage brigade, not having a Bible on a POW/MIA table can only be the work of the most diabolical of anti-Christian organizations. Obviously, only an atheist group, or, according to Fox News’s Todd Starnes, “a special kind of low-life,” would remove God’s Word from the display!

So, I guess this means that the American Legion, with its Bible-free POW/MIA table item list, must be an anti-Christian, atheist organization, right?

As with Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, the truth is insufficiently sensational, so Rodda has to Read more

Mikey Weinstein’s Charitable Salary Total Reaches $1.95 Million

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein seems to be making a comfortable living doing little more than attacking Christians in the US military.

The most recent financial disclosures for his Military Religious Freedom Foundation (from 2014, released nearly two years later) reveal that he paid himself, as the sole employee of the “charity” he self-founded, $244,232 in compensation from the tax-deductible donations his organization received.

While it is a slight reduction from the $299,634 he paid himself in 2013, it still accounts for a sizeable 35% of all contributions to his MRFF.

Since he founded his laughably-categorized “non-profit” in late 2005, Mikey Weinstein has Read more

Robert Dorr, MRFF Ally and Columnist, Dies at 76

dorrThe Air Force Times reported that Robert F. Dorr, a prolific author and columnist for the Military Times papers, died on June 12th.

A self-described opinion columnist who eschewed the title “journalist”, Dorr’s non-book work was described as pro-military but politically liberal. He was no stranger to controversy, calling for the closing of Guantanamo, the repeal of DADT, and even shutting down the Air Force as a whole. His apparent desire to advocate for the “little guy” sometimes made his counter-authority articles popular.

Dorr was also no friend to military religious freedom. He once Read more

Air Force Backs Down over Flag Ceremony, Mikey Weinstein Gets Upset

weinflagThe Air Force has backpedaled mightily over the apparent assault on retired SMSgt Oscar Rodriguez a few months ago during a retirement ceremony. The motivation for the three NCOs involved in the incident was allegedly to prevent him from saying “God” during a flag-folding ceremony for the retiree. Initially, Public Affairs at Travis AFB said

“Rodriguez ignored numerous requests to respect the Air Force prescribed ceremony and unfortunately was forcibly removed,” a Travis official said…

However, faced with a threat of a lawsuit, Big Air Force eventually rolled in and said Airmen can Read more

Chris Rodda Caught in Lie over Military Religious Freedom. Again.

Chris Rodda, the sometime research assistant for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, seems to have a recurring problem with the truth.

In one of the more glaring examples, she once claimed Mikey Weinstein didn’t pay himself one cent — and all the while Weinstein was paying himself: more than a quarter million dollars.

In another, just last year she proclaimed the MRFF didn’t object to US troops “privately engaging in any religious activity” — just after the MRFF had objected to US troops privately engaging in a church service of all things.

Both of these untruths were intended to sway public perceptions about the MRFF: The first was an attempt to convince people Mikey Weinstein was a selfless martyr, rather than using his self-founded, self-run “charity” to line his wallet, as many now believe. The second was Read more

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