Tag Archives: religious freedom

Ed Brayton’s Cluelessness on Religious Tests for Office

Ed Brayton, a long-time secularist blogger and ally of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and Chris Rodda, recently wrote a post entitled “Klingenschmitt’s Cluelessness on Religious Tests for Office.”

One of Brayton’s pastimes is keeping up with former Navy Chaplain and former Colorado state legislator Gordon Klingenschmitt, himself a prolific public speaker and writer.

Brayton quoted Klingenschmitt from a LifeSite news article in which Klingenschmitt was commenting on the decision by Tennessee state legislator Mark Green to withdraw from nomination as Secretary of the Army.  Klingenschmitt said

The bully left is now openly creating an unconstitutional religious litmus test for public office. If you believe the Bible, or quote the Bible in public, they claim you are unfit for office and apply their political labels until you quit.

Brayton mocked Klingenschmitt’s statement as “absurd,” and then followed it with his own absurdity:  Read more

Is the US Military Forgetting about Post Traumatic Growth?

A fascinating piece at the Australian military’s The Cove asks an important question: With all the focus on PTSD, are we forgetting post traumatic growth?

Highlighting only chronic illness amongst veterans however, risks creating an unhelpful sense of expectancy that illness will follow service…

This illness narrative does not align with the experiences of many veterans from both historic and contemporary operations, who have endured varying levels of trauma, but grew from these experiences.

Author Tim Robinson notes the idea has been around for awhile, and James Mattis — now Secretary of Defense for the US military — has proffered it as well: Read more

Col Kristin Goodwin to Assume Command of USAFA Cadet Wing

A terse US Air Force Academy press release notes Col Kristin Goodwin will be promoted to Brigadier General on 12 May and assume command of the USAFA cadet wing on Monday, 15 May.

Goodwin will command the 4,000-member cadet wing and a staff of more than 300 Airmen and civilians who manage cadets’ military training, logistics and facilities and daily activities, including participation in the Academy’s Airmanship Programs.

The Senate approved Goodwin’s nomination by the president for promotion and to assume command of the cadet wing, according to an April news release from the Defense Department.

Col Goodwin’s selection had been celebrated by the homosexual Read more

Heather Wilson Confirmed Secretary of the Air Force. Mikey Weinstein Cringes.

Heather Wilson (USAFA ’82) is now the first graduate of the US Air Force Academy to become Secretary of the Air Force, thus ensuring her legacy as a bullet in every four degree’s issued Contrails. She becomes only the second DoD appointee under President Trump to successfully take office, coming just after the second nominee for the Secretary of the Army, Mark Green, withdrew last week.

Even Wilson’s relatively easy confirmation was delayed, with some reports indicating an “unnamed Senator” had put a hold on her confirmation. Mark Green had cited the threat of just such a “hold” on his potential confirmation — which would have kept the Army from getting its new Secretary indefinitely — in his reasoning for withdrawing his name last week.

At one point, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein was facetiously Read more

Transgenders Privately Admit, but Publicly Deny, Unresolved Issues

Paula Neira — who served in the US Navy as Paul Neira — has helped stand up Johns Hopkins’ Center for Transgender Health this Spring.

Most articles on the new Center have said little of substance, but one report quoted Neira making a potentially unintentional but fascinating admission:

Under [his] leadership, the Center for Transgender Health will serve transgender patients, teach health professionals and research health concerns facing the transgender community.

And this last point has some urgency. Neira notes that there is still a lot unknown for transgender patients related to gender-affirming care as well as to general health. “You know — what is the health effect of testosterone dosage? What is the most effective dose? There’s all kinds of pieces of information that we want to know…”

Neira, and by extension Johns Hopkins, is essentially admitting society is Read more

Reconciling Morality: Misunderstanding Respect and the Military

US Army SFC Timothy Seppala is a Religious Affairs Specialist, otherwise known as a chaplain’s assistant. He recently wrote a few articles about the chaplaincy and one on “Reconciling your Morality: Finding the Common Ground.”

The article begins with a fairly reassuring statement that morality is “highly objective”, but it soon becomes clear SFC Seppala meant the other word [emphasis added]:

The truth is that morality can come from almost anywhere and is something that is unique to each individual.

As you can imagine, having so many sources of morality leads to many different views on what is right and wrong.

In other words, Seppala mean to say morality is subjective, not objective.  That doesn’t bode well for the rest of the article on morality.

Seppala goes on to note that social issues divide society — and the US military reflects the society from which it is drawn, even on issues of morality [emphasis added]: Read more

US Navy Redesigning Submarines. For Women.

US military defense contractor Electric Boat is reportedly laying out the designs for future submarines that will be [emphasis added]

built specifically to accommodate female crewmembers.

This may be “fake news,” since the genesis of the “women in combat” argument was that women were there already, and that there would be no actual logistical changes necessary to legitimize what was already happening.  Still [emphasis added]:   Read more

Airmen Support Minot Winter Refuge

The Men’s Winter Refuge is a seasonal homeless shelter open during the winter in Minot, North Dakota. A recent Air Force article in the Minot AFB newspaper, Northern Sentry, notes the vast majority of volunteers come from the military base:

The Minot Men’s Winter Refuge is a nonprofit men’s homeless shelter that provides food, shelter, clothing, transportation, shower facilities and basic medical care for up to 15 men per night from Nov. 1 to April 30…

To make this possible, Zimmer noted more than 80 percent of the shelter’s volunteers are from base.

“We have an amazing amount of Airmen Read more

1 … 58 59 60 61 62 … 286