Religious Liberty = Intolerance

Many of us who regularly battle left-wing lunacy have warned for some time that the threats to our liberty from the left's intolerance are growing. Here's the latest example of just what is at stake in this brave new world the progressive left is imposing on us.

Late last week, an influential figure said the following: "The phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance."

That remark came from Martin Castro. I doubt many Americans have heard of Mr. Castro. But, believe it or not, he is the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Yes, you read that right. The head of a government agency charged with protecting our rights is equating the First Amendment's guarantee of religious liberty to bigotry.

Think about that. Just days before the nation remembered the 9/11 attacks, in which 3,000 Americans were killed by Islamic supremacists, a top appointee of the Obama Administration is warning the country about "Christian supremacy."

I'm curious: Exactly what is this nefarious "Christian supremacy" that Mr. Castro fears?

Tens of millions of Americans in the overwhelming majority of the states exercised their constitutional rights and voted to protect the meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Homosexuals in America were not being thrown off buildings or beheaded. That is what Islamic supremacists do.

But five unelected judges on the Supreme Court decided that they knew better than most Americans and all of recorded history. They discovered a new right in the Constitution that our founders and the rest of us somehow missed.

The radical left used the courts to invalidate the will of the people and to impose its values on the entire country. That sounds like left-wing supremacy to me.

In the aftermath of that decision, Christian photographers, florists, bakers, college administrators, high tech executives, high school coaches, fire chiefs and public health directors have all found their jobs and livelihoods at risk because the left has decided that their faith equals intolerance. That sounds like left-wing bigotry to me.

Now we're fighting a pitched battle over the most absurd issue -- whether boys can use girls' bathrooms and locker rooms in our schools. That is left-wing lunacy run amok. But the left will continue to assault our values and insult our common sense until the American people demand a return to normalcy.

Iran's Behavior Getting Worse

Senior military officials are warning that Iran's aggressive and provocative behavior is getting worse, not better. It wasn't supposed to be this way. President Obama and others assured us that the Iranian nuclear deal would strengthen the hand of moderates and lead to improved relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But according to The Hill, the Navy reports that there have been "at least 31 interactions with Iranian naval forces deemed 'unsafe,' 'unprofessional,' or both." The number of such "unsafe and unprofessional" interactions has nearly doubled since last year. And that's not all.

Most "interactions" do not meet the criteria to be labeled "unsafe." But there were in fact "more than 300 interactions between U.S. and Iranian forces last year."

Iran, feeling emboldened by Obama's weakness, continues to push the envelope at every opportunity. We legitimized Iran's nuclear program and lifted sanctions. Iran seized our sailors. We paid a ransom for the release of hostages and Iran seizes another American.

This regime -- the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism, which chants "Death to Israel, Death to America" -- cannot be trusted and it must be confronted.

Fighting Obama's Internet Surrender

Barack Obama has done a lot in the past eight years to fundamentally transform America. His latest effort involves giving up American control of the Internet.

Did you know he was about to do that? If you didn't, I'm not surprised. It's not something he talks about frequently. But like Jimmy Carter's surrender of the Panama Canal, Obama is getting ready to surrender the Internet.

Today, I joined more than 100 conservative leaders in publicly opposing the president's efforts to hand over this American treasure. Read our letter and then call your members of Congress at 202-224-3121.