Ted Cruz Rally to Feature “SPECIAL GUESTS VICTIMIZED BY GOVERNMENT PERSECUTION”

[DonViejo]

By Josh Voorhees



Ted Cruz will take his turn on the Iowa State Fair soapbox on Friday morning, the presidential hopeful facing a crowd that has had no trouble living up to its reputation for confrontation this year. That evening, though, the Texas firebrand will be on stage a few miles down the road preaching to his own choir.

Cruz will be hosting what he has dubbed the “Rally for Religious Liberty,” a campaign event that is expected to draw thousands of Iowans to a Des Moines venue not far from the state’s iconic fairgrounds. The Cruz- and Christian-themed festivities will be headlined by the Newsboys, a Christian pop rock band with remarkable staying power, and will feature, in the words and capitalization of Cruz’s website, “SPECIAL GUESTS VICTIMIZED BY GOVERNMENT PERSECUTION.” Bring the kids!

Who exactly are these Americans who have seen their First Amendment rights trampled under the boot of Big Government?

-snip-

Dick and Betty Odgaard: A Mennonite couple who was fined $5,000 by the Iowa Civil Rights Commission late last year for refusing to provide service to a gay couple who wanted to get married in their wedding venue, a former church that the Odgaards had converted into a for-profit art gallery, flower shop, and bistro. Rather than open their doors to gays and lesbians for future ceremonies, the Odgaards announced they’d stop holding weddings of any kind earlier this year and ultimately closed their venue last month.

Barronelle Stutzman: A Washington state florist who was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine—plus $1 in court costs and fees—earlier this year after a judge ruled that she had violated the state’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws by refusing to provide flowers for the wedding of one of her longtime customers, who she knew to be gay.

Aaron and Melissa Klein: Oregon bakers who have been ordered by the state’s labor commission to pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple for whom the Kleins refused to make a wedding cake.

-snip-

Blaine Adamson: The owner of a Kentucky print shop found to be in violation of a city law that bans discrimination based on—you guessed it—a person's sexual orientation. (...)

-snip-

Phillip Monk: A retired senior master sergeant in the Air Force who claims that he was abruptly reassigned to a new position in 2013 after he had a heated disagreement with his commanding officer over how to reprimand a subordinate who had told trainees about his own religious objections to homosexuality.

Kelvin Cochran: A former Atlanta fire chief who was forced to step down earlier this year by the city’s mayor after Cochran self-published a book that described homosexuality as a “sexual perversion” that he compared to bestiality, copies of which he had distributed to several city employees. (...)

-snip-

more
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/18/ted_cruz_s_rally_for_religious_liberty_featuring_special_guests_victimized.html?

[Vinca]

1. These people think about sex way too much. It's unhealthy.

And kind of perverted.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Those pooor pooor people, stomped on by jackbooted government thugs!

I weep a tiny tear for each of them!

(Trying, trying, huh... Sorry guys, no tears. Government must have stolen my ability to cry! Maybe I can be a special guest too!)

[NastyRiffraff]

3. Perpetual victims

Y'know, I have to wonder about the psychology of people (mostly Republicans and the religious right) who seem to love being seen as victims. Most (sane) people try to avoid being a victim.

[Fred Sanders]

4. Victimhood is the real cathedral of all religion.

[spanone]

5. no ted, these are people who willfully BROKE THE LAW.

[MiniMe]

6. And Ted, if you bothered to look, they are mostly city and state laws that were broken

Local laws that have nothing to do with the President or the Federal Government. Why don't you go after the Iowa Civil Rights Commission while you are campaigning in Iowa.

[malokvale77]

7. Ted Cruz is a snake.

With apologies to snakes. It was the nicest thing I could say.

I'm not too happy with the idiot Texans who foisted this creep upon us decent Texans and the rest of the nation.