Month: September 2019

Wearing mascara every day is BAD for your eyes, docs warn

Humans have been wearing mascara for centuries – with Egyptians inventing it more than 4,000 years ago. And it’s a staple in many people’s makeup bags, with many women feeling incomplete without it. However, it might be time to ditch it, at least a few days a week – as doctors warn that putting it on every day can actually do more harm than good. It comes as many makeup users are using mascara that has past its expiration or leaving it on for longer than they should. In particular, research by the College of Optometrists revealed over half of make-up users do not check the instructions to see how long they should keep their mascara on for, with almost a fifth admitting they didn’t even know that expiration information existed. Dr. Alexis Granite, consulting dermatologist for Kiehl’s Since 1851, has revealed that constantly wearing mascara can cause inflammation and infection and even loss of your eyelashes. She said: “Removing eye make-up before you go to sleep is crucial. “Any product that isn’t taken off has the potential to not only clog your pores, but also cause irritation, inflammation and infections. “Inflammation around the eyelids can also lead to lash loss.” Similarly, Ceri Smith-Jaynes, optometrist and spokeswoman for the Association of Optometrists, revealed that wearing mascara every day can cause “serious infection” and damage the “tear film.” “Generally, any cosmetic applied around the eye area can migrate into the eye in a matter of minutes,” she told the Sun Online. “Some mascaras are particularly fibrous and will irritate some patients and some cosmetics will disrupt the coating of tears, which is supposed to cover the surface of the eye as a smooth tear film. “If this ‘tear film’ is disrupted, the tears evaporate more quickly and the eye becomes dry, again leading to irritation. “Despite the preservatives in mascara, eventually the bottle is likely to become contaminated with the bacteria that live naturally on your skin – one study showed 30 percent of mascara bottles tested had bacterial contamination after just three months of use. “Adding water or saliva to thin the mascara or sharing mascara with others can increase the contamination. When these bacteria reach large numbers, infection is more likely. “I recommend paying careful attention to the symbol on the bottle (usually says 3M or 6M with an egg timer or open jar symbol) and discarding the bottle after the manufacturer’s recommended period. “Not all eye infections are immediately obvious, so don’t be tempted to lend someone your mascara wand just because they don’t have a sticky, red eye. “Demodex mites live in many people’s eyelash follicles and can be transferred by sharing mascara. “These cause gradual inflammation and irritation of the lid margin (blepharitis) and are tough to get rid of. “Serious infections of the cornea are rare but are more likely if you accidentally scratch your eye with the mascara wand. So, make sure you’re somewhere steady and don’t be tempted to apply your mascara on a moving train or in the car. “It’s worth mentioning that oil-based eye make-up removers can also disrupt your tear film and are normally needed when the mascara is water-proof.” It comes after one woman was almost left blind after 25 years of falling asleep with her eye make-up on – causing solid black lumps to become embedded in her eye.

Crazy..  For more, click on the text above..

Trump to cut refugees to 18,000, give localities veto over resettlement

The Trump administration will propose cutting the number of refugees admitted in 2020 to 18,000, and will also call for a major restructuring of the program to align it with U.S. interests, including giving localities a say in whether they can accommodate the new arrivals. The plan will also reduce the role of the U.N. in picking America’s refugees, and instead give priority to religious minorities and Iraqis who have assisted the U.S. government, and to refugees the U.S has agreed to resettle on behalf of Australia. Officials submitted the proposal to Congress on Thursday, kicking off a consultation period that will conclude with President Trump making a final determination next month. But based on past consultations, the 18,000 number is likely to hold firm. It would be the lowest cap since the modern refugee system was created in 1980, and marks a 12,000 drop from the fiscal year 2019 cap, and a major reduction from the 110,000 refugee target the Obama administration tried to set for 2017. Even though the refugee number is low, the U.S. remains a leader in humanitarian protections, with some 350,000 asylum-seekers expected to begin claims next year. Asylum is protection granted to people already in the U.S., while refugees are those requesting protections from outside the country. There’s already a backlog of nearly 1 million asylum cases pending with Homeland Security and the immigration courts. A senior administration official said they view asylum and the refugee program in tandem, and as the number of migrants demanding asylum on the southwest border has surged, it’s natural that the government would cut the number of refugees it can handle. “Given the massive backlog we’ve got in humanitarian protection cases that are already in our country, it makes sense to prioritize that caseload before we go abroad looking for new refugees to resettle,” the official said..

This is a great first step, and WAY overdue.  For more, click on the text above…

Apple will build new Mac Pros in Texas amid tariffs

Apple’s insanely expensive new desktop computer will be made in the United States — not China, the company announced Monday. The $6,000 Mac Pro will be built at Apple’s Austin, Texas, plant following US trade regulators approving 10 requests for tariff exemptions filed by Apple for computer parts. “The new Mac Pro will include components designed, developed and manufactured by more than a dozen American companies for distribution to US customers,” Apple said in a statement. The Mac Pro had been assembled at the Austin plant since 2013, but Apple announced earlier this year that its new computer would be made in China — prompting furor from President Trump, who has been critical of the company’s reliance on Chinese factories. “Apple will not be given Tariff wavers (sic), or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China,” Trump tweeted. “Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!” Apple at that time said “like all of our products, the new Mac Pro is designed and engineered in California and includes components from several countries including the United States.” The new Mac Pro is slated for release this fall with an entry-level price of $5,999. It’s designed to be paired with Apple’s new $4,999 Pro Display XDR monitor, which in turn is mounted on a $999 Pro Stand. That means Apple’s new supercomputer will cost at least $12,000 before boosting any of its specs. Apple shares were up 0.6 percent Monday morning, at $219.10.

Doomsdays that didn’t happen: Think tank compiles decades’ worth of dire climate predictions

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently suggested Miami would disappear in “a few years” due to climate change. The United Nations is convening a “Climate Action Summit” next week. And climate activist Greta Thunberg is on Capitol Hill this week telling lawmakers they must act soon. But while data from NASA and other top research agencies confirms global temperatures are indeed rising, a newly compiled retrospective indicates the doomsday rhetoric is perhaps more overheated. The conservative-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute has put together a lengthy compilation of apocalyptic predictions dating back decades that did not come to pass, timed as Democratic presidential candidates and climate activists refocus attention on the issue. The dire predictions, often repeated in the media, warned of a variety of impending disasters – famine, drought, an ice age, and even disappearing nations – if the world failed to act on climate change. An Associated Press headline from 1989 read “Rising seas could obliterate nations: U.N. officials.” The article detailed a U.N. environmental official warning that entire nations would be eliminated if the world failed to reverse warming by 2000. Then there were the fears that the world would experience a never-ending “cooling trend in the Northern Hemisphere.” That claim came from an “international team of specialists” cited by The New York Times in 1978. Just years prior, Time magazine echoed other media outlets in suggesting that “another ice age” was imminent. “Telltale signs are everywhere — from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest,” the magazine warned in 1974. The Guardian similarly warned in 1974 that “Space satellites show new Ice Age coming fast.” In 1970, The Boston Globe ran the headline, “Scientist predicts a new ice age by 21st century.” The Washington Post, for its part, published a Columbia University scientist’s claim that the world could be “as little as 50 or 60 years away from a disastrous new ice age.” Some of the more dire predictions came from Paul Ehrlich, a biologist who famously urged population control to mitigate the impacts of humans on the environment. Ehrlich, in 1969, warned that “everybody” would “disappear in a cloud of blue steam in 20 years,” The New York Times reported. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Ehrlich, warning of a “disastrous” famine,” urged placing “sterilizing agents into staple foods and drinking water.” Those predictions were made around the time former President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. Since then, the U.S. has adopted a series of environmental reforms aimed at limiting emissions. Years after those initial predictions, media outlets and politicians continue to teem with claims of apocalyptic scenarios resulting from climate change. Earlier this month, leading Democratic presidential candidates held a town hall on the issue and warned about the “existential” threat posed by a changing climate. Before the end of the month, 2020 candidates are expected to have another climate forum at Georgetown University. CEI’s report came just before the U.N. Climate Action Summit on Sept. 23, an event that promises to “spark the transformation that is urgently needed and propel action that will benefit everyone.” It also came a week after Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., warned that Miami would be gone in a “few years” because of climate change. She was responding to critics of her ambitious “Green New Deal,” which seeks to reach net-zero emissions within just decades. Ocasio-Cortez, whose plan has been endorsed by leading presidential candidates, previously joked that the world would end in 12 years if it didn’t address climate change. But short-term predictions weren’t a laughing matter in the years following “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary produced by former Vice President Al Gore. In 2008, ABC released an ominous video about what the world would look like in 2015. As the video warned about rising sea levels, a graphic showed significant portions of New York City engulfed by water. Gore himself famously predicted in the early 2000s that Arctic ice could be gone within seven years. At the end of seven years, Arctic ice had undergone a period of expansion…

It’s interesting that in Great Britain, the courts there ruled that Al Gore’s book “Earth in the Balance” is not allowed to be used in any of the schools as a textbook or resource because an analysis of that book revealed more than 13 major factual errors; assertions he either made that were factually inaccurate, OR predictions he made that never came to pass.  And yet, the enviro-wackos continue to turn to him as some authority on so-called “global warming” (or it’s latest term, “climate change”).  If only we had such common sense quality control here in America..  Kudos to CEI for putting out this report exposing the extreme liberal enviro movement, and their debunked chicken little nonsense.  We hope other credible organizations, institutions, and scientists follow CEI’s lead.

Michigan official once honored by Dems now facing election fraud charges

A Michigan official who earlier this year received an award from the state’s Democratic Party is now facing six felony charges for allegedly forging records and falsely marking absentee ballots as invalid during the 2018 election. Sherikia Hawkins, 38, city clerk for the city of Southfield, was arrested Monday after the Oakland County Clerk’s office noticed discrepancies in voter counts while certifying absentee ballots from Southfield. State police investigated and found that records had been altered so that nearly 200 voter files were improperly listed as invalid. “Our elections are the foundation of our democracy, and under my and Attorney General [Dana] Nessel’s administration there will be no tolerance for any actions that undermine that foundation — anywhere, anytime, by any person or official,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement. According to court documents, Michigan police found that 193 absentee voter files were changed in the city’s computer system to say they either had no signature or no return date, when they had both valid signatures and return dates. Police stated that after Oakland County Election Director Joseph Rozell found that Hawkins had submitted altered reports, his staff found the original ones in a trash can at the election division office. Benson insisted that the alleged fraud did not affect the outcome of the election. “All valid votes in the election were ultimately counted and the final official vote total was accurate,” she said, according to The Detroit News. Hawkins’ arrest comes just months after she was honored May 18 at the Michigan Democratic Party’s Legacy Dinner, where she received the Dingell/Levin Award. In 2017, she was listed among the “40 under 40” by the Michigan Chronicle, according to a government bio from her previous role as Pontiac city clerk. Hawkins was charged with falsifying records in violation of state election law, forgery of a public record, misconduct in office and three counts of using a computer to commit a crime. The top count carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. She was arraigned on Monday and released on $15,000 bond, according to a state press release. Hawkins has a probable cause conference set for Sept. 30, and another hearing scheduled for Oct. 15.

Another corrupt Democrat busted.  Ms. Hawkins is, of course, presumed innocent until proven guilty.  And, we will wait til she’s had her day in court.  However, if she IS guilty of this, she should be made an example of and sentenced accordingly.  That said…  Isn’t it curious how often we hear Dems say there isn’t any voter fraud?  And yet, we see example after example of voter fraud happening all the time!  Thankfully this one didn’t mean a change in the outcome of the election.  But, sometimes voter fraud DOES affect the outcome, which of course, is the goal of such fraud..  With that in mind, we support voter ID laws and other efforts to ensure voter fraud doesn’t happen, and that each legitimate, valid vote is counted….but not the votes of dead people, dogs, and illegal aliens.

Editorial: Trump Is Right to Ditch the California Auto Waiver

The Trump administration is pushing ahead with a plan we endorsed previously. It will revoke California’s ability to set separate greenhouse-gas standards for cars — so that a single policy will apply to the entire country, and so that California can’t use the threat of a bifurcated regulatory regime to influence that policy in a way other states cannot. We are fans of federalism. But Congress, understandably not wanting automakers to have to comply with 50 different sets of regulations, has generally preempted state regulation in this area — with the exception that California, and California alone, may apply for a waiver to create its own emission rules to address “compelling and extraordinary conditions.” Other states may then adopt these rules if they choose. “Compelling and extraordinary conditions” was intended as a reference to smog. And in contrast to Californian smog, there is nothing compelling and extraordinary about Californian climate change. Climate change is happening to the rest of the country (and indeed the world) too, and climate change is what the state’s greenhouse-gas rules — as opposed to policies regulating other emissions — address. Thus the legal basis for the waiver does not apply here. Further, under the Obama administration, California leveraged the car industry’s desire for a single regulatory regime into an agreement with the federal government, under which the nationwide regulations would reflect California’s priorities. As a result, car buyers nationwide had to pay extra for vehicles meeting the state’s preferences. No single state should have such power. The waiver needs to go. And the Trump administration should continue with the other element of its plan too: nixing Obama-era rules that required fuel economy to hit nearly 55 miles per gallon on average by 2025, a far-fetched goal that could force car companies to sell electric vehicles at a loss to bring down the average fuel economy of their overall fleets. Freezing the standards after next year, as the administration plans to do, could reduce the future price of a car by thousands of dollars — and also reduce motor-vehicle fatalities, because one way carmakers increase fuel efficiency is to make cars lighter and more dangerous. It’s important to note that nothing in either policy change stops companies from making more fuel-efficient cars if Americans want to buy them. In fact, several carmakers have already struck a deal with California to follow the state’s higher standards whether or not the waiver continues. The Trump administration questions the legality of the pact, but the agreement will help these companies appeal to customers who are willing to pay for fuel economy, and also reduce the stakes of any future court battle over the waiver. It’s fine for car companies to go above and beyond what’s legally required of them. But the government should not force the industry to meet unreasonable standards, force customers to pay for it, or allow California to set national policy.

Agreed 100%!!  Thanks to the editors at National Review for that spot-on editorial.  Excellent!!   🙂

NBC Prompts Americans to Confess Their Climate Change Offenses

NBC News is prompting Americans to confess their climate change transgressions as part of a project titled “Climate Confessions.” As Democrat presidential candidates – as well as prominent members of Congress, such as members of the far-left “Squad” – continue to push aggressive forms of the Green New Deal, NBC is paralleling their concerns by encouraging Americans to anonymously admit their climate change faux pas. “Even those who care deeply about the planet’s future can slip up now and then,” NBC’s “Climate Confessions” reads. “Tell us: Where do you fall short in preventing climate change? Do you blast the A/C? Throw out half your lunch? Grill a steak every week? Share your anonymous confession with NBC News,” it adds. Willing confessants can express their remorse in one of six categories– plastics, meat, transportation, energy, paper, and food waste. Some of the confessions appear to be genuine in nature, with many anonymous individuals expressing guilt for air travel and excessive Q-tip usage. “My sister had a lot of metal straws but I thought they were annoying so I threw them out,” one user wrote under “plastics.” “I travel often to conferences (flying). I think about the emissions + try to justify it with, ‘the plane is going there anyway,’” another user admitted. Someone else confessed that they fly on private jets and “often burn an extra 500 gallons of fuel to save 10 minutes.” “I use enough Q-tips for a family of 8. I have an addiction to them in hygiene purposes, makeup application, even cleaning,” another individual confessed. “I LOVE meat. But I love the earth more. Vegan for over 4 years now,” another bragged. However, the confessions did not just come from genuinely guilty parties. Many of the “confessions” came from individuals who openly oppose the left’s climate change agenda, and they used the platform to mocked NBC’s effort. “I would rather the whole planet burn than give up steak,” one user wrote. “Kick rocks hippies.” “’Confessions’” implies I have something to feel guilty about. I don’t. I only conserve electricity to lower my power bill,” a user explained, with another adding, “I run my AC 24/7. I’m not going to sweat to appease this climate religion.” Some users decried the left’s virtue-signaling on meat consumption, writing, “I think the climate has always been changing, and I’m not going to stop eating meat because of cult-like manipulation by the left.” “I require at least half a roll of TP when wiping,” another confessed. NBC’s project follows the left’s recent push to aggressively push a climate change agenda. On Wednesday, teen climate change activists – including Greta Thunberg and Jamie Margolin – appeared before a joint hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and decried the U.S. for not doing enough to combat what they say is the looming threat of a climate catastrophe. “Solving the climate crisis goes against everything that our country was unfortunately built on — colonialism, slavery, and natural resource extraction. This is why the youth are calling for a new era altogether,” Margolin, a Seattle native, told lawmakers. She also declared that her generation should no longer be known as “Generation Z,” replacing it with “Generation GND.” “It is right here, testifying before you, that I am proud to announce the history is being made,” she declared. “You’ve heard of the Reagan era, the New Deal era. Well, youth are bringing about the era of the Green New Deal.” MSNBC is expected to host a two-day climate change forum at Georgetown University with Democrat presidential candidates, although Joe Biden (D), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Beto O’Rourke (D) are expected to skip the event.

If that about made you vomit, you’re not alone.  You really can’t make this stuff up, folks.  And, NBC and MSNBC still don’t get why Trump and others refer to them as “fake news.”  This is beyond crazy..  Think I’ll grill a steak tonight, and use a Q-tip or two for something…  Unreal..

Trump names Robert O’Brien, hostage negotiator, as national security adviser

President Trump named his chief hostage negotiator as his national security adviser Wednesday, filling the role for a fourth time as he plots a stern response to Iran’s suspected role in attacking Saudi oil fields last weekend. Robert C. O’Brien will replace John R. Bolton, who was ousted last week amid clashes with key White House aides and Mr. Trump on topics such as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. As the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Mr. O’Brien endeared himself to Mr. Trump by working to secure the release of pastor Andrew Brunson from Turkey and Americans held in Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen. He also spoke to Sweden about rapper A$AP Rocky’s legal troubles after an incident in Stockholm. “He did a tremendous job on hostage negotiations. Really tremendous, like unparalleled. We’ve had tremendous success in that regard,” Mr. Trump told White House reporters traveling with him in California. “I think we have a very good chemistry together, and I think we’re going to have a great relationship. He is a very talented man.” Mr. O’Brien, who accompanied Mr. Trump, called it a privilege to serve with the president. “We’ve got a number of challenges,” he said, “but there’s a great team in place.” The president is promoting Mr. O’Brien as he weighs a response to Iran’s suspected role in drone attacks Saturday that temporarily shut down half of the Saudi oil production. “We’ll see what happens. We have many options that we’re considering. There are many options,” Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump heads to New York for the U.N. General Assembly session next week, meaning Mr. O’Brien could have an immediate impact. The national security adviser does not have to be confirmed by the Senate. “Robert’s a very experienced foreign policy figure with deep knowledge of United Nations, international organizations,” said Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation. He worked alongside Mr. O’Brien on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential bid. “He’s a safe pair of hands,” Mr. Gardiner said. “He’s somebody who I think has very good instincts, a very good understanding of the challenges facing the United States as leader of the free world.” Mr. O’Brien worked under President George W. Bush as a representative to the U.N., continuing in Mr. Bolton’s footsteps as a Trump official with connections to the last Republican administration. Mr. Trump has grown tired of Bush veterans. Besides Mr. Bolton, his aides included Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who sparred with Mr. Trump over immigration before her ouster. Mr. Bolton fought with top administration officials, but Mr. O’Brien is viewed as a team player. Mr. Trump, who bills himself as a deal-maker, was impressed by his track record as a negotiator. Mr. O’Brien has been “incredibly effective as the ambassador for these hostage negotiations,” said Kenneth R. Weinstein, president of the Hudson Institute. “He’s someone who has gone in, under the radar, and handles sensitive negotiations in a low-key manner.” Mr. Trump hailed Mr. O’Brien from the Oval Office in March during a welcome-home ceremony for Danny Burch, an oil worker held in Yemen for 18 months. In turn, Mr. O’Brien praised Mr. Trump for working to bring home Americans through “force of will,” without concessions or payments. Mr. O’Brien wrote a book in 2016, “While America Slept,” that was critical of President Obama’s 2015 nuclear pact with Iran and compared it to the appeasement of Adolf Hitler at Munich in 1938. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who wants a muscular approach to Iran, said Mr. O’Brien is a good choice who will keep Mr. Trump on the right path. “He understands the world for the dangerous place it is. He’s got great negotiating skills as our hostage negotiator,” Mr. Graham said. “I think he will be a very sound policy adviser to the president of the United States.” Mr. O’Brien will be the president’s fourth national security adviser in less than three years.

While Mr. O’Brien’s credentials as a hostage negotiator, and accomplished attorney, are very solid, we do have some reservations about him taking on this new role as the President’s National Security Adviser.  Mr. O’Brien’s only military background was in the Army Reserves as a JAG officer (military lawyer).  So, not exactly much in the way of a national security background.  Raised Catholic, he converted to Mormonism in his twenties, and with this new appointment is the highest ranking Later Day Saint in our federal government.  We wish Mr. O’Brien all the best in this extremely important role.

Joe Biden wants ban on ‘magazines that can hold multiple bullets’

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden either called for the banning of most handguns or displayed basic misunderstanding of the simplest of firearms terminology. Campaigning Monday in Iowa, Mr. Biden demanded the elimination of “magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them,” calling such a ban so obvious that only ill motive could explain it. “The idea that we don’t have elimination of assault-type weapons, magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them is absolutely mindless. It is no violation of the 2nd Amendment. It’s just a bow to the special interests of the gun manufacturers and the NRA,” he said at a Labor Day picnic in Cedar Rapids. The phrase “magazines that can hold multiple bullets” raised eyebrows, though. Ryan Saavedra of the Daily Wire explained why, while posting the clip. “Joe Biden makes the most extreme gun-control push of all the 2020 Democrat presidential candidates: Biden calls for banning ‘magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them.’ All magazines hold ‘multiple bullets,’ that’s the point. This call from Biden would ban most handguns,” Mr. Saavedra wrote. With the exception of old-fashioned revolvers, whose basic design concept has remained unchanged since the six-shooters of the Old West, modern-design handguns store multiple bullets in magazines.

Crazy ol’ Joe is the gift that keeps on giving..  Honestly, he’s not firing on all thrusters these days, and really should just retire.  He’s trying hard to pander to his liberal constituency during this primary season, and in the process making verbal gaffes like this on an almost daily basis.  Even his handlers are getting frustrated trying to get him to stay on script.  We just hope Joe continues to run his mouth and say things like this.    🙂

Arizona Supreme Court rules Christian artists can’t be forced to make same-sex wedding invitations

A pair of Christian artists can’t be forced by the city government of Phoenix to make invitations for same-sex marriages, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, the owners of Brush & Nib Studio, were accused of violating a local anti-discrimination ordinance. Monday’s 4-3 decision reversed a lower-court ruling that favored the city. “An individual has autonomy over his or her speech and thus may not be forced to speak a message he or she does not wish to say,” the court’s majority decision read. Duka, a calligrapher, and Koski, a painter, were threatened with six months jail time and $2,500 in fines for every day they were in violation of the ordinance. They are now celebrating their judicial victory as “a huge win for religious freedom and freedom of speech.” Duka and Koski told “Fox News @ Night” last year they “serve all people” and decided to challenge the law to defend “the right of artists to create freely.” “Joanna and Breanna work with all people; they just don’t promote all messages,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Jonathan Scruggs, who argued on the pair’s behalf, said in a statement. “They, like all creative professionals, should be free to create art consistent with their convictions without the threat of government punishment.” Writing for the majority, Justice Andrew Gould concluded that the city of Phoenix “cannot apply its Human Relations Ordinance” to force Brush & Nib to “create custom wedding invitations celebrating same-sex wedding ceremonies in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs.” “Duka and Koski’s beliefs about same-sex marriage may seem old-fashioned, or even offensive to some,” Gould wrote. “But the guarantees of free speech and freedom of religion are not only for those who are deemed sufficiently enlightened, advanced, or progressive. They are for everyone.”

Exactly!!  And well said, your Honor.  We applaud this outstanding decision by the AZ Supreme Court.  Like the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of a Colorado baker for a similar situation, this is a BIG victory for freedom of speech and freedom of religion…some of our most basic values.  Excellent!!   🙂