Ohio Legislature Defeats Kasich’s Veto On Gun-Owner Rights Bill

Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich’s veto opposing a bill for gun owners’ rights was overturned by the Republican led state legislature Thursday afternoon. The state House first voted to overturn Kasich’s veto on the bill, which makes it easier for off-duty police officers to access guns and also changes laws regarding self-defense cases. The state Senate then voted a few hours later, 21-11, turning down Kasich’s veto on the legislation, The Associated Press reported. The bill was heavily supported by pro-gun groups in the state that pushed lawmakers to overturn the veto.

The Republican governor also vetoed a bill banning abortion if an unborn baby has a heartbeat, known as the “heartbeat bill,” which was voted on Thursday as well. However, the Senate failed to overturn Kasich’s veto. Kasich, who is known as a more moderate Republican, has been a critic of President Donald Trump, blaming GOP leadership and Democratic leadership for many of the problems going on in Washington, D.C. He has not ruled out a 2020 run as a third-party candidate against Trump.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/27/ohio-kasich-veto-gun-owner/

Trump Administration Urges Supreme Court To Protect Cross-Shaped War Memorial

The Trump administration filed an amicus (or “friend of the court”) brief Wednesday urging the Supreme Court to protect a 93-year-old war memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland, that is shaped like a Latin cross. The court will soon decide whether the cross-shaped World War I memorial violates the First Amendment’s ban on religious favoritism. The justices agreed to take the case on Nov. 3.

The Trump administration’s brief emphasizes the need for the high court to clarify its jurisprudence concerning religious displays in the public square. Since 2005 the justices applied two different tests for assessing the constitutionality of sectarian symbols in public settings. Confusion has followed in lower federal courts as to which test should govern the so-called public display cases. That uncertainty, the government says, “encourages challenges to longstanding displays like the Memorial Cross, which in turn fosters the very religion-based divisiveness that the establishment clause seeks to avoid.” “Cases like these cannot help but divide those with sincerely held beliefs on both sides,” the brief reads. “This case presents an opportunity for the Court to adopt a standard for establishment clause challenges to passive displays that will reduce factious litigation, provide clarity to lower courts, and promote consistency across cases.”

The administration then offers a solution to that problem: It urges the justices to resolve public display cases with reference to the practices of the founding fathers. The brief favorably cites the high court’s approach to a 2014 case called Town of Greece v. Galloway. In that case, a five-justice majority said the town board of Greece, New York, did not violate the Constitution by opening monthly public meetings with a prayer. The case arose when several Maryland residents represented by the American Humanist Association (AHA) filed a lawsuit seeking the memorial’s renovation or removal in 2014. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found for the AHA in October 2017, concluding that the memorial was an unconstitutional government endorsement of Christianity. “While the Latin cross may generally serve as a symbol of death and memorialization, it only holds value as a symbol of death and resurrection because of its affiliation with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,” the decision reads. The full 4th Circuit denied review on an eight to six vote, prompting several dissents, including one which warned that the panel decision imperils similar monuments in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The American Legion erected the memorial, known locally as “Peace Cross,” to honor the World War I dead of Prince George’s County in 1925. A state commission has administered the site since 1961. Oral arguments are scheduled at the Supreme Court for Feb. 27, 2019 and a decision is expected in June.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/27/trump-peace-cross-supreme-court/

48 page decision from 4th circuit court here:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5006333-4th-Circuit-Opinion-American-Humanist.html

>>4488625

Agreed, but first we have to let Independents vote in primary races. Otherwise it would be a non-starter.

UAE reopens Syria embassy, a boost for Assad

DAMASCUS/DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus on Thursday, marking a big diplomatic boost for President Bashar al-Assad from a U.S.-allied Arab state that once backed rebels fighting him. The UAE said the move aimed to normalize ties and to curb risks of regional interference in “Arab, Syrian affairs” - an apparent reference to non-Arab Iran, whose support for Assad has been critical to his war effort. “The UAE decision … came after a conviction that the next stage requires the Arab presence and communication in the Syrian file,” tweeted Anwar Gargash, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs.

The reopening of the embassy is a step toward Syria’s rehabilitation by its Arab peers. Its membership in the Arab League was suspended seven years ago. Gargash told Al Arabiya TV that its readmission would require Arab consensus. The UAE flag was raised at the embassy, shut since the early months of Syria’s conflict nearly eight years ago. The UAE Foreign Ministry said its charge d’affaires assumed his duties on Thursday. The UAE was one of several regional states to back armed groups opposed to Assad, though its role was less prominent than those of Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Turkey, rebel sources in the region have said. Emirati support has been associated with groups opposed to Islamist domination of the uprising.

Nearly eight years into the war, Assad has recovered control of most of Syria with support from Russia, Iran, and Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah. His military advances gathered pace this year with the defeat of the last big rebel enclaves near Damascus and recovery of the southwestern region. Earlier this month, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab head of state to visit Damascus since the start of the Syrian conflict, flying into Damascus airport. The border crossing between Syria and Jordan, another U.S.-ally that backed the rebels, was reopened in October. A Syrian passenger flight flew to Tunisia on Thursday for the first time in nearly eight years.

An Arab diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters last week he believed most Arab states wanted Syria to be readmitted to the Arab League, with only three or four states expected to oppose it. Arms, training and funds from Arab states were funneled to Syrian rebels through a program overseen by the CIA until U.S. President Donald Trump ordered it shut down last year. In another potential lift for Assad, Trump also last week decided to withdraw U.S. forces deployed in northern and eastern Syria in support of Kurdish-led militia. The anti-Assad insurgents’ last foothold is an arc of northwestern territory abutting Turkey, which still supports them. Assad has vowed to recoup control of the entire country.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-emirates/uae-reopens-syria-embassy-a-boost-for-assad-idUSKCN1OQ0QV?il=0