9th Circus strikes again. Something needs to be done about them.

Court upholds ban on in-person church services in California

By Associated Press |

PUBLISHED: May 24, 2020 at 12:17 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An appeals court has upheld California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ban on in-person church services amid the coronavirus pandemic, in a split ruling that found that government’s emergency powers override what in normal times would be fundamental constitutional rights.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in San Diego cannot reopen immediately, the Los Angeles Times reported. In this case “constitutional standards that would normally govern our review of a Free Exercise claim should not be applied,” the two judges in the majority wrote in their order.

“We’re dealing here with a highly contagious and often fatal disease for which there presently is no known cure. In the words of Justice Robert Jackson, if a ‘(c)ourt does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact,’” they wrote.

The decision is likely to further anger opponents who claim that California’s rules to stop the spread of the virus violate religious freedoms.

President Donald Trump on Friday labeled churches and other houses of worship as “ essential ” and called on governors nationwide to let them reopen this weekend even though some areas remain under coronavirus lockdown.

The president threatened to “override” governors who defy him, but it was unclear what authority he has to do so.

The ruling came the same week pastors vowed to hold in-person services May 31, Pentecost Sunday, defying a state moratorium on religious gatherings imposed by the governor, the Times reported.

In a letter to Newsom, Robert H. Tyler, an attorney representing a Lodi church that has challenged the governor’s order in court, said more than 1,200 pastors have signed a “Declaration of Essentiality,” asserting their churches are as essential as any grocery or hardware store and should be allowed to reopen.

Last week, many counties in California had received approval to reopen businesses including retail shops and restaurants as permitted in the second phase of Newsom’s plan to restart the state economy. Churches are not allowed to reopen until the plan’s third phase.

Trump-appointed Judge Daniel Collins dissented, writing “the State’s position on this score illogically assumes that the very same people who cannot be trusted to follow the rules at their place of worship can be trusted to do so at their workplace,” according to the newspaper.

Newsom has vowed to provide plans on reopening churches Monday. Some churches that have opened without authorization have been sources for spreading the coronavirus, including in Butte, Mendocino and Lake counties, according to the Times.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/24/court-upholds-ban-on-in-person-church-services-in-california/

Report: Texas Naval Base Jihadi Secured U.S. Citizenship Despite Living in Syria

by John Binder 24 May 2020

An accused terrorist who allegedly opened fire on United States Navy personnel in Corpus Christi, Texas, was able to secure American citizenship through a little-known immigration loophole, a former intelligence agent states.

Adam Alsahli, a 20-year-old naturalized American citizen, has been identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as the alleged terrorist who attempted to speed through a gate at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (NASCC) on May 21.

The FBI says Alsahli shot at a female sailor who was then able to prevent him from getting onto the NASCC base by raising a vehicle barrier. At that point, the FBI says Alsahi got out of his vehicle to fire more gunshots but was killed by security guards.

The Center for Immigration Studies’ Todd Bensman, a former intelligence agent, reports that Alsahi was able to secure American citizenship through a little-known immigration loophole that depended on his father’s naturalized citizenship:

Adam Alsahli, 20 at the time of his death Thursday, was already a U.S. citizen when he moved from the Middle East to Corpus Christi, Texas, in 2014 with his mother (and likely several siblings) at the height of the Syrian civil war, by virtue of his father’s American citizenship, according to two sources familiar with the family’s immigration status. The attacker’s 75-year-old father, Salim Alsahli, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1984, the sources told CIS, and subsequently seems to have sired a family back in Syria that included Adam Alsahli’s birth in 1999. [Emphasis added]

Although his children and their mother were born in and resided in the Middle East, the father’s U.S. citizenship conferred U.S. citizenship on Adam Alsahli, since he properly registered a declaration at a U.S. embassy or consulate office overseas. That apparently happened with Adam Alsahli because by the age of three, in the year 2002, [Alsahli] was granted an American passport that was repeatedly renewed over the years, sources said. [Emphasis added]

In 2014, at the height of the civil war inside Syria, Adam and at least his mother moved to the United States. The mother is currently a legal permanent resident who has a pending application for U.S. citizenship, the sources said. [Emphasis added]

The attempted terrorist attack comes after a Saudi national in the U.S. through a student visa program allegedly killed three Americans at a Pensacola, Florida, naval base.

In another case, unsealed by the Justice Department recently, a Pakistani doctor on an H-1B visa has been accused of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS).

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/24/report-texas-naval-base-jihadi-secured-us-citizenship-despite-living-syria/