Friday roundup

Senator Corey Booker uses the confirmation hearing for a new Secretary of State to get into some identity-politics grandstanding and expose his own disdain for Christianity:

On Thursday, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) offered a bizarre critique of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Pompeo wasn’t sufficiently enthusiastic about homosexual sex.

Yes, this is a real thing.

Booker asked Pompeo, “Do you believe gay sex is a perversion?”

Pompeo is a religious Christian, so presumably he does. He answered, quite properly, “When I was a politician, I had a very clear view on whether it was appropriate for two same-sex persons to marry. I stand by that.” He also informed Booker, “My respect for every individual regardless of sexual orientation is the same.”

Booker was outraged by Pompeo’s reply. His time ran, however, before he could grill Pompeo on whether he enjoyed Brokeback Mountain sufficiently or cried at the end of Moonlight.

This is anti-Christian bigotry from Booker. It’s that simple. Religious people of all major faiths — Christian, Jewish, Muslim — believe homosexual activity is a sin. Full stop. The Bible is quite clear about this in both Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the New Testament is clear about it in Romans and Corinthians and Timothy. The Koran isn’t shy on the issue, either. None of that means that religious people thereby want the rights of gays and lesbians violated. I, for example, am fully libertarian on same-sex marriage, and have been for years. Religious people think lots of things are sins, and also think that people have a right to do the wrong thing. The same logic undergirds support for the First Amendment: I hate racism, but people have a right to say racist things. I may dislike sin, but a government dedicated to stamping out sin rather than preventing violation of rights is called tyranny. 

But according to Booker, you must celebrate sin in order to believe there is a right for people to commit sin that has no externalities in a free society. This makes sense from a Leftist point of view, where government is the great instrument of the good, not a mere protector of rights — the same people who try to stamp out dissenting thought through “hate speech” legislation are likely to believe that religious Americans feel the same way about using government to stamp out sin. But they’re wrong. And they’re religious bigots.

Worse, Booker’s shtick is unconstitutional if it were to be applied legally. The Constitution forbids religious tests for office. What Pompeo thinks about sin has nothing to do with what he thinks about public policy, unless Booker has evidence otherwise. If not, this is simple intolerance. Ironically, Booker would go on to essentially admit that point a few minutes later when he ripped into Brigitte Gabriel for supposedly expressing bigotry for questioning the compatability between Islam and democracy. 

Speaking of identity politics, students at Hobart and Smith Colleges disrupt a motivational speech about overcoming adversity to prattle about "structural racism":

Super Bowl champion and NFL legend Burgess Owens — who dares to be conservative— took a lot of hate for speaking out “against” his “own people” during a speech he gave at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in March.

Owens is 66, and has personal recollections of when there actually was structural racism in America. And he lived through it and overcame it. But that message didn't mean squat to the snotnosed jackboots in the audience:

During the Q&A panel, a female attending the lecture asked Owens his thoughts about police brutality.

“What was your name again?” the unidentified female inquired.

Owens told the woman his name, to which she quipped, “Thought it was Tom,” which seemed to point to the controversial nickname, “Uncle Tom.”

Clearly put off by Owens’ remarks, the woman then left the auditorium.

“There goes our biggest problem,” Owens said. “The minute you start calling names, you’ve already stopped the debate. You’re not looking for answers. You’re looking for ways of insulting, and that’s not how Americans do it.”

A male audience member went on a loud rant about the school bringing in “xenophobic” speakers like Owens.

When the lecture’s moderator stepped in to shut down the inflammatory and irrelevant line of questioning, others students rallied and began shouting for the male to be able to continue speaking.

“Why is it OK to bring people to talk against their own people?” the male erupted, and began shouting about “structural racism.”

I rather resonate with this Steve Berman post at The Resurgent entitled "I'm Tired and I Have a Headache."

There was recently a piece at Medium on how California, which is losing residents and businesses in droves, is the model for an inevitable blue America. It is real short on substantiation, but long on the self congratulation on how much leftists caaaaare that is their signature trait. They really think Cali-style collectivism has such appeal that the GOP will wither on the vine and most of its members will gravitate to the Dems. David French at NRO provides a resolute takedown.

Scooter Libby is pardoned.

Nikki Haley gives Russia a proper smackin' at a UN emergency meeting.