In 2014 a 60 year old school bus driver in New York was jailed for masturbating…. I guess the laws have now changed, the more harm that is done to a child the less punishment that is received!
A New York man who pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl will serve only 10 years probation and no time in jail for his crime, a judge has ruled.
Shane Piche, a 25-year-old former Watertown City School District bus driver met his young victim through his bus route last year. He bought the girl gifts before inviting her to his home, offering her alcohol and raping her in June 2018, according to the Watertown Daily Times.
Piche was arrested in September of the same year and was initially charged with second-degree rape, first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child.
The former bus driver, who pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of third-degree rape in February 2019, was handed his controversial sentence on April 25 by Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James P. McClusky.
The judge also ruled that in addition to his 10 years of probation, Piche will have to pay $1,000 to register as a Level 1 sex offender — the lowest risk designation — and cannot be left alone with anyone under the age of 17. The district attorney’s office had previously requestedPiche register as a Level 2 offender.
The verdict sparked an uproar, with many slamming the sentence’s leniency, including the victim’s family.
“I wish Shane Piche would have received time in jail for the harm he caused to my child,” the girl’s mother wrote in a statement, WWNY reports. “He took something from my daughter she will never get back and has caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety.”
Judge McClusky later justified the ruling by pointing out Piche’s previously clean record and noting there was only one victim in the case, according to the Watertown Daily Times.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a petition seeking to recall Judge McClusky had received over 9,400 signatures, 600 shy of its 10,000-signature goal.
In 2014 a 60 year old school bus driver in New York was jailed for masturbating…. I guess the laws have now changed, the more harm that is done to a child the less punishment that is received!
Assembly woman Susan Eggman stated, “You can still try to pray the gay away if you like, just not with the guidance of a bible”
According to a post written by The Political Insider Democrats in the alt-left state of California have passed a bill in the Assembly that would ban the sale of books that express Christian beliefs about sexual morality, quite possibly extending to printed texts such as the Bible. No surprise there, after all this is the same party that once tried to abolish God from their official political platform … three times.
Assembly Bill 2943, which passed by a vote of 50-18, seeks to eliminate the “sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer” that promote “sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.” Those efforts are subsequently defined as “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
The Bible instills sex as an act meant for marriage between a man and a woman. In other words, its teachings seek to ‘reduce sexual attractions towards individuals of the same sex’. Even the Los Angeles Times has raised the possibility that such a bill could lead to a ban on Bibles. “One key part of the debate centers on whether Assembly Bill 2943 would stretch beyond businesses that charge for these programs and extend to printed documents,” they wrote, “even Bibles.”
Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, seems to think it’s possible.
“A church bookstore selling the Bible, of course, selling a book about marriage or sexual purity or overcoming homosexuality or overcoming trans-sexuality,” he explained. “You could see a member of the public or even a member of the state government coming and saying, ‘Hey, that’s illegal.’”
Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, a Democrat who voted in favor of the measure, focused her attention on the gay conversion therapy aspect, already banned by mental health professionals on those under age 18 in California. She scoffed at Christians concerned about this blatant affront to free speech saying, “But you can still try to pray the gay away, if you like.” Just not with the guidance of a Bible apparently.
FYI: did you know that bible possession was once prohibited by the Catholic church? The English parliament in 1543 passed a law forbidding the use of any English translations other than the “Great Bible”. Tyndale’s New Testament was specifically prohibited, and later Wycliffe’s and Coverdale’s Bibles were also banned. It was decreed a crime for any unlicensed person to read or explain the Scriptures in public. It’s funny how history tends to repeat itself! Read about it here
“He’s obviously gone in and out of just kind of discouragement, wondering what’s going to happen, what’s the end game here,”
American pastor Andrew Brunson has been locked up in a Turkish prison for 500 days. The anniversary of Brunson’s captivity passed quietly Monday, but the American Center for Law and Justice is still aggressively working on his case.
On Oct. 7, 2017 Andrew Brunson and his wife, Norine, were summoned to a local police station in Izmir, Turkey. At the time, this didn’t seem like anything to be worried about. The couple, originally from North Carolina, had lived for 23 years in Turkey’s third largest city, where Andrew was the pastor of the Izmir Resurrection Church, a small protestant congregation of about 25. The Brunsons had raised three children in Turkey and had applied for permanent residency. They went willingly to the police station, thinking they were finally going to get it. Instead, Andrew and Norine were taken into custody, accused of missionary activities “against national security,” and told they would be deported. Norine was released on Oct. 9 and so far has been allowed to stay in Turkey, but more than six months later, Andrew remains locked up. On Dec. 11, he was moved to a counter-terrorism center and charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” A judge ordered that he be detained rather than deported.
“He still remains merely a suspect of alleged crimes; no indictment has yet to be handed down,” CeCe Heil, executive counsel for the non-profit organization, told CBN News.
The ACLJ is fighting on Brunson’s behalf and reports the pastor wrote a heartfelt note to his wife through an embassy official this month.
“I am very discouraged. Please have prayer for me,” Brunson wrote. “I love you – can’t handle the thought of growing old in this place, without you.”
“I think being trapped in a Turkish prison with really no end in sight has been hard on Pastor Brunson,” Heil said. “Of course he has his faith to sustain him and the prayers of faithful believers all over the world… but as you can imagine, this 500 days in prison, he’s lost quite a bit of weight.”
“He’s obviously gone in and out of just kind of discouragement, wondering what’s going to happen, what’s the end game here,” she added.
Heil said the accusations against Brunson range from membership in an armed terrorist organization to espionage and overthrowing the government. “So very ridiculous claims against an innocent pastor,” she said.
Heil explained to CBN News that under Turkish law, Brunson can remain in prison for seven years without ever being charged.
Testifying at the US Helsinki Commission hearing late last year, she said, “Pastor Brunson maintains his innocence and denies all the accusations.”
Inside of a prison in Turkey
It seems that Brunson is a political hostage of Turkey. Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to indicate that the pastor will only be released when Washington gives Turkey a Muslim cleric living in the US who is Erdogan’s rival.
“..they (the US) get up and say… ‘Give us so and so cleric,'” Erdogan said at a police academy graduation ceremony in Ankara in September, referring to Brunson.
Erdogan then brought up Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, saying, “You have a cleric there. You give him to us and we’ll give you this one.”
Turkey has been seeking the extradition of Gulen, who was once Erdogan’s ally, and whose supporters have been blamed for trying to overthrow Erdogan’s government in 2016. Gulen has denied any role in the coup attempt. Heil said Erdogan even recently talked about a swap.
“It certainly seems that Pastor Brunson has become a political pawn,” she told CBN News. “He lived 23 years in Turkey without any incident, without any problem.”
“After the failed coup attempt in July of 2016, then Pastor Brunson’s suddenly arrested as a national security threat and then remains in prison,” she continued.
“And just recently, President Erdogan has demanded a swap, basically saying a cleric for a cleric or a pastor for a pastor,” Heil said. “You have Fethullah Gulen; we have Pastor Brunson. Let’s do a swap.”
But she doesn’t believe the US will agree to the deal.
“I don’t believe that the US will ever trade prisoners; that’s not the way that we typically operate,” she told CBN News. “So I believe they’ll keep following through with Turkey, who is a NATO ally and continuing to demand his release.”
Heil said President Donald Trump has repeatedly asked for Brunson’s release. In addition, just last week, she said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and again asked for the pastor to be freed
“It seems like this meeting last week between Tillerson, Erdogan and Cavusoglu, it seems like they came out of that meeting hopeful that the US-Turkey relationship will be restored,” Heil said. “So we’re hopeful that Pastor Brunson will be part of that resolution.”
In the meantime, Heil said the most important thing people can do for Brunson is pray for him, but she also encourages taking action by signing an ACLJ petition, “Free Pastor Andrew,” which has more than 426,000 signatures so far.
“That’s very helpful because as we speak to our government as well as Turkish government and European government, it’s very helpful just to show the mass amount of people who have their eyes on this matter and are concerned about this matter and are demanding his release,” she said.
EDITORS NOTE: I wonder if Jakes, Olsteen, Dollar, Copeland, the pope and the other filthy rich “men of G-d” have signed that petition! I wonder if they even took up an offering to help support this man’s family. I wonder if they’ve even used their resources to bring any significant attention to this matter. I wonder if they held any “night vigils,” I wonder if this man will even be thought of or mentioned during “lent,” I wonder what they would do if this were Oprah, Just wondering…….
Planned Parenthood is not a healthcare organization but a political movement, intent on forcing their pro-abortion views on as many Americans as possible
“Their annual report demonstrates that Planned Parenthood is not a healthcare organization but a political movement, intent on forcing their pro-abortion views on as many Americans as possible.” -Abby Johnson
[LifeSiteNews.com] Planned Parenthood aborted 321,384 babies during its 2016-2017 fiscal year, according to its new annual report. (Photo: aborted baby/ courtesy Youtube)
This is a slight decrease from its last annual report, which revealed the company committed 328,348 in 2015-2016. Planned Parenthood’s total revenue is $1.46 billion, with $543.7 million—37 percent—of that coming from taxpayers.
Many of the contraceptives Planned Parenthood dispenses can also act as abortifacients.
Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League (ALL), said this is Planned Parenthood’s lowest self-reported annual abortion number since 2007.
“In addition to the reduction in abortions, Planned Parenthood also reported a slight lessening in its government funding (from $554.6 million to $543.7 million),” said Sedlak. “Planned Parenthood also reported lower numbers of female birth control customers, emergency contraceptive kits, PAP tests, and pregnancy tests. In fact, it reported that its total number of unique customers was the same as last year—2.4 million individuals.”
By attracting 721,000 new donors giving an average of $120 each, the abortion company added $86.5 to its coffers, according to the report.
“Our initial analysis is that Planned Parenthood spent the last year reducing medical activity and increasing its community and political organizing,” ALL observed. The group says it will release a detailed analysis of Planned Parenthood’s latest report in the coming days.
Planned Parenthood provided just 3,889 adoption referrals (exactly 1,000 more from the number it put on its last report) and 7,762 “prenatal services” from 2016-2017. That’s one adoption referral for every 83 abortions and prenatal care for one woman for every 239 abortions.
An investigation by the pro-life group Live Action released in January 2017 showed that Planned Parenthood facilities across the U.S. regularly turn away women seeking prenatal services. Only three of the 68 Planned Parenthood centers visited by Live Action investigators were able to provide women with an ultrasound for a purpose other than abortion.
The report says Planned Parenthood provided miscarriage care to just 1,182 women.
Planned Parenthood touted its support from the technology, entertainment, and fashion industries as successes. It boasted of a leading a “two-day interfaith convention with more than 40 clergy and faith leaders who support access to reproductive health care.”
“Typical under Cecile Richards’ leadership of Planned Parenthood, the abortion giant once again cut their prenatal services to almost non-existent levels, cut contraception services, and served 100,000 less people than last year, while still committing over 321,000 abortions,” said Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director who is now a pro-life advocate.
“Their annual report demonstrates that Planned Parenthood is not a healthcare organization but a political movement, intent on forcing their pro-abortion views on as many Americans as possible,” said Johnson, who now runs a ministry that helps abortion workers leave the industry.
“We’ve seen first-hand the impact that former abortion workers, especially those from Planned Parenthood, have on closing their former places of employment by helping people to leave – ensuring no one is left to run the clinics,” she said.
Planned Parenthood’s annual report also reveals it has “expanded” its focus on providing transgender hormone treatments at 17 locations.
Despite not performing mammograms last year or having any mammogram machines, Planned Parenthood reported that it did 336,614 breast exams – the type of breast checks which women are able to do on their own.
The abortion giant’s report frames itself to supporters as a leader in the “resistance” against the Trump administration and “an increasingly hostile political climate.”
It used its 50 new campus chapters as proof of what it considers to be a strong youth base. But Students for Life of America (SFLA) started “nearly 120” new campus chapters last year, according to its President Kristan Hawkins.
SFLA “now has more than 1,200 student groups on campuses in all 50 states,” said Hawkins. “Planned Parenthood reports training 750 young activists from 11 cities while Students for Life trained nearly 11,000 students from across the country. The pro-life generation clearly has more energy, passion, and motivation to defund Planned Parenthood.”
“It is vital that Planned Parenthood be defunded and student lives protected from a predatory and profit-driven enterprise,” said Hawkins. “But there is a silver lining in this release, as we can see that more students are responding to the human rights interests of the preborn than to the business interests of Planned Parenthood.”
the government must allow the enlistment beginning Jan. 1.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge appointed to the bench by then-President Bill Clinton has issued an order clarifying her recent injunction against the Trump administration’s ban on “transgender” enlistment in the U.S. Armed Forces, and has outlined that the government must allow the enlistment beginning Jan. 1.
“[The previous] order was to revert to the status quo with regard to accession and retention that existed before the issuance of the presidential memorandum—that is, the retention and accession policies established in the June 30, 2016 directive-type memorandum as modified by Secretary of Defense James Mattis on June 30, 2017,” wrote U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
“Those policies allowed for the accession of transgender individuals into the military beginning on January 1, 2018,” she continued. “Any action by any of the defendants that changes this status quo is preliminarily enjoined.” The Trump administration had asked for clarification about Kollar-Kelly’s October injunction, in which she opined that the ban on transgender enlistment was “causing … serious ongoing harms.” The government noted that Gen. Mattis had been granted time by the president to determine whether or not allowing those who identify as the opposite sex could have any negative impact on military readiness.
Kollar-Kelly ruled that the policy permitting transgender enlistment, as initially issued under the Obama administration and amended by Mattis, must move forward.
As previously reported, Trump announced his decision to reinstate the ban on transgenders in the military in July, advising that the issue is a distraction and would place a burden on the finances of the Armed Forces.
“After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military,” he tweeted. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail. Thank you.”
Weeks later, five service members filed suit to challenge the ban, with the assistance of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders.
“Because they identified themselves as transgender in reliance on [the government’s] earlier promise [of lifting the ban], Plaintiffs have lost the stability and certainty they had in their careers and benefits, including post-military and retirement benefits that depend on the length of their service,” the lawsuit read.
Kollar-Kotelly issued an injunction in favor of the complainants in October, writing in part, “On the record before the court, there is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all. In fact, there is considerable evidence that it is the discharge and banning of such individuals that would have such effects.”
After the government sought clarification on whether or not her order “prohibit[s] the secretary of defense from exercising his discretion to defer the January 1, 2018 effective date,” Kollar-Kotelly advised that there could be no postponement.
On Nov. 21, a second federal judge issued an injunction against the enlistment ban. U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis, appointed to the bench by then-President George H.W. Bush wrote that the “capricious, arbitrary, and unqualified tweet of new policy does not trump the methodical and systematic review by military stakeholders qualified to understand the ramifications of policy change.”
“The Supreme Court’s decision to let the rulings against the monument stand sends a strong message that the government should not be in the business of picking and choosing which sets of religious beliefs enjoy special favor in the community.”
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a ruling out of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that declared a New Mexico Ten Commandments monument unconstitutional. Two Wiccan women who took offense at the display had filed suit against the Decalogue placement in 2012, stating that it made them feel “alienated.”
The nation’s highest court gave no reason on Monday for its decision to not to take the case.
“This is a victory for the religious liberty of people everywhere,” Peter Simonson, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, remarked in a press release. “The Supreme Court’s decision to let the rulings against the monument stand sends a strong message that the government should not be in the business of picking and choosing which sets of religious beliefs enjoy special favor in the community.”
The ACLU had represented Wiccans Jane Felix and Buford Coone of the Order of the Cauldron of the Sage in its legal challenge against the monument, which has been on display at Bloomfield City Hall since 2011. A former city council member had proposed the monument four years prior, which was then approved by city council but paid for with private money.
“Presented to the people of San Juan County by private citizens recognizing the significance of these laws on our nation’s history,” the Decalogue read, which was unveiled during a special ceremony.
Felix and Coone said that they were offended by the monument.
“Our clients who are not Christians, they took issue with this and it made them feel alienated from their community,” Alexandra Smith, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, told local television station KRQE.
The organization filed a lawsuit against the city in 2012, asserting that the monument’s presence on government property amounts to the government endorsement of religion. While the city argued before the court that the monument was historical in nature, the ACLU contended that the content of the Commandments themselves is blatantly religious.
“One of the commandments is thou shalt put no gods before me. This is clearly not a historical document, but is in fact religious doctrine,” Smith stated.
In August 2014, U.S. District Judge James Parker, nominated to the bench by then-President Ronald Reagan, sided with the Wiccans, declaring that the Decalogue violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“In view of the circumstances surrounding the context, history, and purpose of the Ten Commandments monument, it is clear that the City of Bloomfield has violated the Establishment Clause because its conduct in authorizing the continued display of the monument on City property has had the primary or principal effect of endorsing religion,” he wrote.
The city appealed, and in November, the 10th Circuit upheld Parker’s ruling, stating that the addition of historical monuments adjacent to the Ten Commandments did not fix the constitutional infirmities.
“[I]t was especially inadequate here because of the plain religious motivations apparent from the approval (approved alone), financing (sponsored entirely by churches), and unveiling (ceremony rife with Christian allusions) of the Monument,” the three-judge panel wrote.
“In light of those considerations, and the situational context of the Ten Commandments on the lawn, the City would have to do more than merely add a few secular monuments in order to signal to objective observers a ‘principal or primary’ message of neutrality,” it concluded. “Because we find an impermissible effect of endorsement that is insufficiently mitigated by curative efforts, we affirm.”
The city then sought an en banc, or full appeals court, review of the case, but the request was denied.
More than 20 states and over 20 members of Congress had joined legal briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the nine justices to hear the case, but on Monday the court passed on the matter. Only a few appeals are accepted each year by the nation’s highest court.
The religious liberties organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) expressed disappointment that the case would not have the chance for an appeal.
“Americans shouldn’t be forced to censor religion’s role in history simply to appease someone who is offended by it or who has a political agenda to remove all traces of religion from the public square,” remarked ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement.
“In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court had the opportunity to affirm, as it recently did, that ‘an Establishment Clause violation is not made out any time a person experiences a sense of affront from the expression of contrary religious views.’ We hope the court will take advantage of a future case to resolve the confusion that reigns in the lower courts on this issue,” he said.
City Attorney Ryan Lane told the Daily Times that Bloomfield will now work with the private entity that placed the monument to have it removed.
“Our rights come from God, so it’s only fitting that the House begins each day united in prayer.”
WASHINGTON— Congress will continue opening sessions in prayer after a challenge to the tradition by an atheist. A federal court ruled against the lawsuit brought by Daniel Barker, co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation.
He argued he has denied the opportunity to give an opening invocation in Congress although other guest chaplains were allowed to do so. U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer said in her decision that House rules didn’t allow Barker the to lead the prayer because he had left his faith.
Collyer also pointed out opening prayer has been a part of Congress for more than two centuries and it doesn’t conflict with the establishment clause according to the United States Supreme Court.
House Speaker Paul Ryan was quick to applaud the decision.
“Since the first session of the Continental Congress, our nation’s legislature has opened with a prayer to God. Today, that tradition was upheld and the freedom to exercise religion was vindicated. The court rightfully dismissed the claims of an atheist that he had the right to deliver a secular invocation in place of the opening prayer,” Ryan said.
“Recently, especially following the return of Majority Whip Steve Scalise, this institution has been reminded about the power of prayer. I commend the District Court for its decision, and I am grateful that the People’s House can continue to begin its work each day as we have for centuries: taking a moment to pray to God,” Ryan concluded.
Scalise also responded to the decision on Twitter saying, “Our rights come from God, so it’s only fitting that the House begins each day united in prayer.” Barker says Collyer’s decision was tainted by her “personal bias against nonreligious people. Collyer was appointed to the court by George W. Bush.
Babylon Today 
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