Who's surprised?
Predictably, it took only a few days following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent gay-marriage ruling for published and televised reports to call for ending the tax exempt status of religious institutions.
New York Times "Beliefs" columnist Mark Oppenheimer said the ruling "makes it clearer than ever that the government shouldn't be subsidizing religion and nonprofits." Rather than try to single out the "organizations that dissent from settled public policy on matters of race or sexuality," he'd go ahead and abolish or greatly diminish the tax-exempt status. He didn't mind, he said, "if charitable giving would drop" but said the government would be getting more so all would be OK.
"We'd have fewer church soup kitchens - but countries that truly care about poverty don't rely on churches to run soup kitchens," he said.
Then Fusion senior editor Felix Salmon called for targeting churches that "remain steadfastly bigoted on the subject" of same-sex marriage. "If your organization does not support the right of gay men and women to marry, then the government should be very clear that you're in the wrong. And it should certainly not bend over backwards to give you the privilege of tax exemption."
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned such a thing would happen in his dissent to the same-sex marriage ruling.
"I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes," he wrote, "but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers and schools."
More evolving
Same-sex marriage supporters quickly echoed Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's recent opinion on the issue by describing how marriage has evolved through the years. If that's the case, Nathan Collier of Billings, Mont., should have no trouble getting what he wants.
Collier wants to force the acceptance of polygamous marriages, and he says he'll sue the state if his application is rejected.
The man's initial application was denied last week by Yellowstone County officials, but, at his threat of a suit, they said they needed to consult with the county attorney before giving him a final answer.
Collier married his first wife, Victoria, in 2000. He and his second wife, Christine, had a religious ceremony uniting them in 2007 but didn't sign a marriage license.
The three have recently appeared on the reality cable television show "Sister Wives." A potential court battle could take up a whole other season or two. Stay tuned.
The Bargain Clinton
The University of Missouri at Kansas City couldn't afford Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for the lunchtime opening of a women's hall of fame recently, so it went with a cheaper knockoff, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky.
Clinton would have cost the university $275,000, but Mezvinsky came for only $65,000, according to Townhall.com.
For their money, $1,083.33 a minute, attendees got a 10-minute speech, a 20-minute moderated question-and-answer session, and 30 minutes of photos with VIPs.
A spokesperson for Mezvinsky said the money would go to the Clinton Foundation, for which she works, though no reference was made to such a transaction in email communication between the university and her representative nor in the contract for the speech.
Organizers said the event raised $38,500 but claimed fundraising was not the goal of the event.
She's not one of us?
Campus Reform may have found the right way to reach millennials about the 2016 election. Show them a bit of hypocrisy.
The organization's Cabot Phillips decided recently to play a game called "Candidates' Cribs" with some members of the 35-and-under set in Washington, D.C. He stopped several people to see if they could guess which presidential candidate had lived in a series of mansions he had displayed on a poster.
Several guessed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, perhaps having heard of his pricey speedboat, but none guessed the actual dweller, former first lady, senator and secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Clinton, who claimed less than a year ago she and her husband were "dead broke" when they left the White House, was once thought to be relatable by a majority of voters. With her recent scandals, though, her popularity has taken a big hit.
When millennials learned the truth from Phillips, it not having been broadcast on "Comedy Central," they were shocked. "What?" "You're pulling my leg" and "Are you serious?" were among the responses. One even said "you're changing my opinion on the election a little bit," and another stated "it definitely plays a factor."