California's Bully Federalism; Fictitious Forgiveness...more

California's Bully Federalism: Travel Ban Seeks To Impose Its Policies On Other States    ...Except that California, in its superior wisdom and with its superior power, has decided that its laboratories are right and other state laboratories and cultures are wrong in this matter. California’s travel ban smacks of the sort of elitism—we will not even visit your state with our money—that has soured the electorate. And indeed, if I lived in one of those eight states, as I once did, which kind of power would I rather be subject to: federal power, where I at least have a voice and a vote, or California power, where I have no say at all? Is it really California’s place to tell Kansas what kind of policies it should have?...

Fictitious Forgiveness: Why We Cannot Forgive Ourselves ...The person who says, “I just can’t forgive myself,” may have ascended to the throne of judgment and declared himself to be his own judge. In this case, the expression “I can’t forgive myself” is equivalent to saying, “I’m in the role of Judge and will dispense forgiveness as I decide.” Such a person has convened the court, rendered a verdict upon himself, and now believes that he must grant the needed pardon. That’s the source of the problem. But, this is akin to an individual who commits a murder serving as his own prosecutor, jury, and judge. He convenes the court. He adjudicates himself for himself. But it doesn’t work this way. This is all rooted in a high view of self.

And this tactic will not solve the problem. Man is hard-wired to know that he is not the Absolute. The Bible teaches that God alone is Judge (Ps. 7:11, 50:4-6). Moral violations are first and foremost against him (cf. Ps. 51:4). Thus, the self-forgiveness dilemma is one of fictitious forgiveness. The real problem is a failure to embrace God as Judge...

UK Jewish school risks closure for refusal to teach LGBT issues   An all-girls Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) school in London risks closure after failing a third inspection in the space of just over a year by the Office of Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (commonly referred to as Ofsted).

These failures stem in large part from the school’s refusal to teach about a range of LGBT-related issues including homosexuality and gender reassignment...

CNN’s Month-Long Nightmare
The last 30 days have been nothing short of a public relations nightmare for CNN.

The network is reeling after a brutal stretch that has seen two hosts taken off-air, one story retracted and another rewritten, accusations of staged protests, the resignations of three key employees and most recently, an ongoing series of undercover videos meant to portray CNN as misleading the public about the Trump-Russia stories that have dominated media coverage of the president so far.

Late on Tuesday, May 30, TMZ published images of CNN’s New Years Eve co-host, Kathy Griffin, taking part in a photoshoot with a mock severed head of President Trump. The story quickly blew up. Influential news aggregator Matt Drudge placed CNN’s ties to Griffin front and center on his site, the Drudge Report....

Activity at the sun set to 'change form' as solar minimum approaches   The sun is heading into a period known as solar minimum, during which activity at the surface will ‘change form.’

In this time, certain types of activity, such as sunspots and solar flares will drop – but, it’s also expected to bring the development of long-lived phenomena including coronal holes.

According to NASA, solar minimum could also enhance the effects of space weather, potentially disrupting communications and navigation systems, and even causing space junk to ‘hang around.’...

Arrest made after Ten Commandments monument at Arkansas Capitol toppled, shattered   A 6-foot-tall stone Ten Commandments monument installed Tuesday on the Arkansas Capitol grounds was toppled less than 24 hours later after a 32-year-old Arkansas man drove a vehicle into the statue, apparently while streaming the act live on Facebook, officials said.

Chris Powell, a spokesman with the secretary of state's office, said he was called early Wednesday and told a man drove a vehicle through the monument. That driver — identified in an arrest report as Michael Tate Reed of Van Buren — was arrested by Capitol police shortly after, Powell said. News reports indicate Reed was previously accused of destroying a Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma...