Free Republic

Albuquerque, N.M., Dec 18, 2009 / 04:12 am (CNA).- Attorneys for a small photography company charged with violating anti-discrimination laws for declining to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony” are planning to appeal a New Mexico judge’s decision to uphold the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission’s ruling against them.The Albuquerque company, Elane Photography, is co-owned by Elaine Huguenin and her husband Jon. They are being represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).In 2006 a woman named Vanessa Willock asked them to photograph a “commitment ceremony” that she and another woman wanted to hold in Taos, N.M. State law does...

Over a hundred years ago the homosexual act was considered Sodomy and it was identified as an act. It still is Sodomy. IT WAS REFERRED TO AS THE HOMOSEXUAL ACT. BUT IN THE 1960’S IT WAS THEN CONDITIONED. The condition of homosexuality was redefined as a condition rather than an act. It did not change, it was just redefined. What really happened here was while you can criticize an act and you can even say it is a criminal act, how do you criticize a condition that someone suffers with? How can you criticize the act that one commits who...

Thursday December 17, 2009 Appeal to be Filed in Case of Photographer Fined for "Discrimination" ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., December 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) will appeal a New Mexico judge's decision to uphold a ruling by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission against an Albuquerque photography company. The commission ruled that the company, run by a young Christian husband and wife, was guilty of "sexual orientation" discrimination under state antidiscrimination laws for declining to photograph a same-sex "commitment ceremony."   "Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply...

Mayor’s comments on homosexuality lead to turmoil in Vallejo When Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis told the New York Times in November that homosexuals are “committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven,” little did he know his remarks would continue to reverberate in the Bay Area city of about 120,000 and lead for calls that he resign. The pro-family lobbying group Capitol Resource Institute reported Dec. 10, “Vallejo is the site of an escalating battle involving public statements and private morality.” As a consequence of Davis’ remarks, said CRI, “the community is divided in their reaction to...

A localized media frenzy has ensued after a Catholic reporter was let go from his 19-year position at a Maine newspaper for voicing his opinion against same-sex “marriage” and the campaign to legalize it in Maine. According to an article by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, Larry Grard, a former employee of the Morning Sentinel, was sent a mass email from the pro-gay rights organization, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), following the repeal of the same-sex “marriage” law in Maine during the mid-term elections on Nov. 4. In the email, Trevor Thomas, spokesman for the HRC, voiced his disappointment with the...

Folks, this according to the Thomas More Law Center: ANN ARBOR, MI – Tomorrow, December 16, 2009, at 10 AM PST, a panel of eleven judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in San Francisco will hear oral arguments concerning the constitutionality of San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s virulent resolution attacking the Catholic Church for its teachings against homosexual adoptions. The en banc panel will review the earlier opinion of a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit that upheld the resolution. Thomas More Law Center attorney Robert Muise will argue the case on behalf of the plaintiffs in...

The lawyer who handled the years-long battle by Pastor Stephen Boissoin over "hate speech" charges for a letter he wrote to the editor of a local newspaper that cited the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality is forecasting a nationwide "witch hunt" in the U.S. prompted by an expanded "hate crimes" law signed by President Obama. Gerald Chipeur,  who supervises law offices across Canada, worked from his Calgary headquarters on the defense of Boissoin, who was accused by a university professor of instigating hate against homosexuals with his letter to the editor. As WND reported, an appellate court in Canada recently reversed...

LONDON (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of England and Wales said they could be at risk of prosecution under a proposed law unless they accept women, sexually active gays and transsexuals as candidates to the priesthood. They made their claims in a briefing for Catholic members of the House of Lords, Britain's upper political chamber, ahead of a scheduled Dec. 15 debate on the Equality Bill, which aims to stamp out discrimination in the workplace. The bishops said the bill defines priests as employees rather than officeholders. Under the terms of the bill, the church would be immune from prosecution...

Christian legal fellowship groups provide a vital spiritual lifeline for law students trying to survive the rigors of law school with faith intact. Most of the more than 150 such student groups at U.S. law schools (see my lower sidebar list of links) are sponsored by the Christian Legal Society (CLS). But the ability of these groups to continue functioning at public universities has been in doubt since the University of California Hastings College of the Law's recent refusal to recognize its CLS chapter. The law school objects to the group's requirement that officers and voting members subscribe to Christian beliefs. In Christian Legal...

Top Stories for Thursday, December 10th, 2009: The Marian Shrine of Saydnaya in Syria is the second most important Christian pilgrimage site in the Middle East after Jerusalem, in terms of the number of visitors, both Christian and Muslim. The increase in its importance and popularity is due to the numerous and unlimited miracles which occur upon the intercession of Mary, Our Lady, The Mother Of God - Theotokos. Saydnaya contains an icon of The Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus, one of eight painted by St. Luke the Evangelist in the 1st century A. D. The Icon’s name...

On December 1st, 2009, a standing room only crowd attended the second annual opening day ceremony for the Springfield, Illinois Nativity Scene. The display now stands in the center of the state Capitol Rotunda Building and will be on display throughout the Christmas season. The Springfield Nativity Scene Committee (SNSC), who coordinated the event, would like to express its deepest appreciation to the Chicago-based Thomas More Society who underwrote the Nativity Scene for the second year in a row. The SNSC would also like to thank the Illinois Family Institute and Isringhausen Imports of Springfield who were co-sponsors of this...

Accusing Christians in India of carrying out a campaign of illegal or fraudulent conversions is a tactic being used by Hindu fundamentalist movements for mere political reasons, says an ecumenical forum of over 500 priests and pastors from different Christian denominations in the state of Karnataka who met in recent days in Bangalore. The Forum is chaired by Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore and has denounced the attempt by the governments of some Indian states, to approve "anti-conversion" laws, offensive to the religious freedom of Indian citizens. The allegations of conversions "were exaggerated with the specific intention of creating insecurity...

Could same-sex "marriage" spell the end of religious liberty as we know it? Here is the chilling answer. As more states-like Iowa-approve same-sex “marriage,” conservatives are claiming that freedom of religion is in peril. Same-sex “marriage” supporters accuse them of engaging in hysterical gay-bating. Who’s telling the truth? Let me share some stories with you from an excellent news broadcast produced by National Public Radio. Then you decide. Two women decided to hold their civil union ceremony at a New Jersey pavilion owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. This Methodist group told the women they could not “marry”...

The Springfield Nativity Scene Committee (SNSC) will again erect a Nativity Scene that will stand in Illinois’ state Capitol Rotunda Building. Opening day ceremonies regarding the Springfield Nativity Scene (SNS) will take place between 12 Noon and 1 P.M. on December 1st in the state Capitol Rotunda located at South 2nd Street & East Capitol Avenue in Springfield, Illinois. The public is invited to attend the event. The Springfield Nativity Scene--which was originally underwritten by the Chicago-based Thomas More Society--is meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. This year the display is co-sponsored by Isringhausen Imports of Springfield and...

A group of prominent Christian leaders and scholars unveiled a manifesto Friday declaring firm opposition to current and future laws infringing upon the sanctity of life, marriage, faith, and liberty. The 4,700-word "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" was drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, including Focus on the Family Dr. James Dobson and National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson. 15 Roman Catholic bishops, including Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., were among the...

Prior to the opening of formal conversations between officials of the Holy See and leaders of the Lefebvrist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which began on Oct. 26, the mainstream media frequently misrepresented these discussions as a negotiation aimed at achieving a compromise that both sides can live with. That was to be expected from reporters and commentators for whom everything is politics and everything is thus negotiable. Alas, similar misrepresentations came from “Vatican insiders” who suggested that the teaching of the Second Vatican Council was under joint review by the Holy See and the SSPX, which only made...

In public school classrooms across the country, religious liberty is under assault. Last month in Florida, two Christian student leaders at Pace High School were barred from speaking at their graduation ceremony due to fears they might mention their faith in violation of a court order stemming from an anti-religious lawsuit filed by the ACLU. Across the country in California, UCLA administrators grudgingly allowed senior Christina Popa to thank Jesus in her graduation testimony after a widespread public backlash against their initial decision to sanitize any mention of Jesus from her statements (in Colorado, former high school valedictorian Erica...

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, told the State of New York in 1994 that it must allow prison inmates who practice Santeria to wear multi-colored beads. Santeria is a sect that combines African religious traditions with elements drawn from Roman Catholicism. In the case of Campos v. Coughlin , Sotomayor told state prison officials that their fear of a growing gang movement within the prison was less important than the right of Santeria faithful to wear religious beads. Then a Southern District of New York federal judge, Sotomayor claimed in Campos v. Coughlin that the...

British street preacher Andy Robertson says all he wants from his community in eastern England is the freedom to disagree. Police have threatened to arrest the U.K. preacher for allegedly making homophobic statements. Once a month Andy Robertson makes his way to this street corner in Gainsborough, England. He says he's been doing it for ten years as part of the Open Air Mission, a Christian organization that first began street preaching in England 146 years ago.

As more states—like Iowa—approve same-sex “marriage,” conservatives are claiming that freedom of religion is in peril. Same-sex “marriage” supporters accuse them of engaging in hysterical gay-bating. Who’s telling the truth? Let me share some stories with you from an excellent news broadcast produced by National Public Radio. Then you decide. Two women decided to hold their civil union ceremony at a New Jersey pavilion owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. This Methodist group told the women they could not “marry” in any building used for religious purposes. The Rev. Scott Hoffman said a theological principle—that marriage can only...

March 26, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Don’t Know NothingA frontal attack on the Catholic Church aims at religious liberty in general. By Father Thomas Berg & Michael Augros ‘Catholics and Catholicism are at the receiving end of a great deal of startling vituperation in contemporary America, although generally those responsible never think of themselves as bigots.� With these words, the historian Philip Jenkins opened his 2003 study entitled The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Mr. Jenkins might well consider it time to produce an updated edition. In it, he might ponder whether the recent renewal of anti-Catholic politicking is...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08120046.htm Monday, December 8, 2008 Maldives: reform in politics but not in religious liberty By Elizabeth Kendal World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) Special to ASSIST News Service AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- On Saturday 29 November, Maldives' Ministry of Islamic Affairs announced that it would block a Dhivehi and English language website which it claimed was promoting Christianity amongst Maldivians. When Minivan News, an independent news source in Maldives, sought to question Islamic Affairs Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari over the censorship and the contents of the website, he refused to...

“Same Sex Marriage” and Its Threat to Religious Liberty November 29th, 2008 by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse Tactics used by gay marriage campaigners confirm believers’ worst fears. As wildfires blazed in California last week, anger at the outcome of the state’s referendum on marriage blazed across the country. After a hard-fought campaign over Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, a clear majority of California voters endorsed it, and the gay marriage lobby was enraged. Now, as same sex marriage campaigners take the issue back to the courts, it is unclear what the...

A Rabbi asked the City of Golden if he could put up a menorah near the Christmas tree and the reaction of the city is to consider banning all religous symbols. The City of Golden claims that they do not want to have any religous symbols such as the menorah on city property. City of Golen spokesman Jonathan Ashford said that "the goal here is to set guidelines. The city has had a history of having a display downtown that didn't include any kind of specific religious message or theme. We've tried to keep it neutral, very open, very inclusive."...

The Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union fired off a letter to the mayor of Thibodaux, La., warning that the small town's promotion of a city festival featuring Christian bands may be a violation of the First Amendment. The Thibodeauxville Festival, which draws nearly 12,000 people to the town whose population barely exceeds 14,000, has featured fun, food, street dancing and bands from a variety of genres for the past 16 years. But when the ACLU spied the city's seal on a flier that also promoted the Christian bands performing at the festival, it took action. Marjorie Esman, executive director of...

Redefining marriage to include same–sex unions poses significant threats to the religious liberties of people who continue to believe that marriage is a rela­tionship between a man and a woman. These threats have loomed large for several years, but recent devel­opments, including the recent Connecticut and California judicial decisions redefining marriage to include same–sex unions, have refocused attention on the issue in a new, particularly urgent way.Our society has traditionally considered marriage to be an exclusive relationship between a man and a woman based on the understanding that marriage is a fundamental social institution ordered to the common good...

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- California's high court has ruled doctors cannot withhold care to gays or lesbians based on religious beliefs.

Christian leaders gathered in Denver Tuesday in opposition to an anti-Christian censorship law that could open the door to censoring the Bible. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed the state bill, SB 200, which aims at silencing all publications that discriminate against homosexuality. "Section 8 of Senate Bill 200 is a wide open door for any judge to censor anything that condemns homosexuality, including Scripture," Colorado State Rep. Kevin Lundberg said. Many Christians fear that one day the Bible will be considered illegal in America. "I do believe that the Bible is banned, under the plain language of this new statute,"...

A federal appeals court has ruled the First Amendment rights of homosexuals at Philadelphia's taxpayer-funded "Outfest" celebration in 2004 trumped the First Amendment rights of Christians, and has dismissed the civil rights complaint the Philadelphia 11 had filed. "The city has an interest in ensuring that a permit-holder can use the permit for the purpose for which it was obtained," this week's opinion from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said. "This interest necessarily includes the right of police officers to prevent counter-protestors from disrupting or interfering with the message of the permit-holder." The decision upheld a lower court's...

(Collision might be due to growth in municipalities not accustomed to lifestyle) Among the 600,000-plus hunters heading out for last year’s gun-deer season were three Clark County brothers who were cited for not wearing blaze orange — clothing, they said, that was against their Amish religion. Members of the religious sect noted for their black felt hats, dark trousers, long dresses and bonnets are barred from wearing bright clothing. But a Clark County judge ruled last month that there’s nothing in the Amish religion that compels them to hunt deer. So each brother was fined $143.10.It was the latest in...

It is often thought that religious liberty means a strict separation of church and state, but that view is out of tune with the proper understanding of the role religion and morality play in the civic and public life of a self-governing people. A more compelling model is that of America's Founders, who advanced religious liberty in a way that would uphold religion and morality as indispensable supports of good habits, the firmest props of the duties of citizens, and the great pillars of human happiness.Origins of Religious LibertyThe story of religious liberty in America begins with religious persecution in...

Pope Addresses Group Promoting Principles of Christian Democracy in World Membership made up of political parties mostly from Europe and Latin America By Meg Jalsevac ROME, Italy, September 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This past Friday, Pope Benedict addressed the attendees of the annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the international political group, Centrist Democratic International.  In his address, the Holy Father encouraged the leaders to continue to strive to promote the "basic principles" of the Christian European tradition such as "the centrality of the human person, a respect for human rights, a commitment to peace and the promotion of...

THE “DECLARATION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY” (VCII) The traditionalists have a difficult time with VCII’s teaching on religious liberty because they feel that non-Catholics do not have the right to promote their religion or creed publicly as was often the case in the past centuries under numerous Catholic monarchs. The traditionalists, as well as many past Popes, believe that only the truth (Catholic) has the right to be promoted publicly. It is interesting to note that an important American theologian, Father John Courtney Murry, was silenced by the Vatican (Cardinal Ottaviani) to write or speak publicly on this issue during the...

In December 1944, American soldiers were fighting desperately against the last great German offensive of World War II, the Battle of the Bulge. Men were dying in large numbers. The counterattack had bogged down in mud and rain. Planes could not fly because of low clouds. General George Patton, commander of the Third Army, called his chaplain into his headquarters and said.... An editor's footnote in Patton's memoirs tells what happened next: "The day after the prayer was issued, the weather cleared and remained perfect for about six days. Enough to allow the Allies to break the backbone of the...

Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and Richardson Church versus Eugene Shubert Do Seventh-day Adventist pastors ever abuse their authority and silence individual church members they don’t like? Do they ever disfellowship believers without even granting them a semblance of a church trial? (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 6:1-4). Would an Adventist Christian ever join a conspiracy to silence a true believer with threats of arrest for criminal trespassing just for showing up at church? I believe that most of the pastors of the Seventh-day Adventist church favor using threats and intimidation and a direct appeal to the state for immediate prosecution,...

Gay rights vs. religious beliefs http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/15345126.htm Posted on Thu, Aug. 24, 2006 Commentary By Roger T. Severino Live and let live. A simple concept, to be sure, but can we apply it to the growing conflict between gay rights and religious beliefs? The answer increasingly seems to be no. Recently, Philadelphia ordered the local Boy Scouts of America chapter (the nation's third-largest) to renounce the national organization's ban on openly gay members or begin paying rent on its city-subsidized headquarters of 78 years. Some thought this issue was settled by the Supreme Court in 2000, when the Boy Scouts won...

In a speech to the Notre Dame student body during the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign, New York governor Mario Cuomo addressed the issue of church-state relations and the growing activism of the so-called Religious Right. The governor said: “Are we asking government to make criminal what we believe to be sinful because we ourselves can’t stop committing the sin? The failure here is not Caesar’s. This failure is our failure—the failure of the entire people of God”1 As a conservative Christian pastor who seeks to uphold biblical morality before two congregations on a weekly basis, I find the above question...

The ACLU Is Not Evil http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/005/22.64.html And neither are many people with whom we disagree. by Stephen L. Carter | posted 05/11/2006 09:30 a.m. I would like to say a word in defense of the American Civil Liberties Union. Christians—including me, both in the pages of CT and elsewhere—often criticize the ACLU for advocating separation of church and state in ways that seem less grounded in the Constitution and in history than in an ideological desire for a religion-free public arena. On the other hand, I shudder when fellow Christians blithely dismiss the organization as fundamentally biased against them. Some...

Garland Simmons was excited when the Cowboy Church began meeting at his place on Horseshoe Bend Road in late March. It appears, however, that somebody did not share his enthusiasm. Simmons was notified by Bedford County officials that the Cowboy Church meetings violate county zoning regulations. "I got the notice certified through the mail, Monday morning," Simmons said. The notice consisted of two letters. One was from Gary McIver, the county's building official. McIver wrote that, by hosting the Cowboy Church on his property, Simmons is using it in a manner contrary to its agricultural (AR) zoning. He also wrote...

Challenge Number Two Defending God in the Public Square There is no attack on American culture more deadly and more historically dishonest than the secular Left’s unending war against God in America’s public life. The decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to rule unconstitutional the phrase “one nation under God” was the final straw. A court that would destroy a Pledge of Allegiance adopted by the Congress, signed by the president (Eisenhower), and supported by 91 percent of the American people1 is a court that is clearly out of step with an America that understands that our rights...

American adherents of a Brazilian religious sect have won their battle to use hallucinogenic tea in their worship services. In a unanimous ruling with major implications for minority religious groups in America, the US Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right of religious organizations to claim exemption from certain laws that undercut their ability to practice their faith. At issue was a clash between US drug laws - which ban the hallucinogenic substance in the sect's sacred tea - and a 1993 religious freedom law that requires the government to grant religious exemptions when possible. Although the central issue in...

ATLANTA - An election-year flurry of religion-based proposals are cruising through Georgia's Legislature this season - even as critics say they may land the state in court for tinkering with the line between church and state. A push to teach the Bible in public schools, a renewed take on displaying the Ten Commandments at courthouses and even a measure ensuring government employees and students can say "Merry Christmas" without repercussions have won support from members of both parties. All three measures have passed at least one chamber of the Legislature by overwhelming votes. National civil rights groups, though, say they've...

Law Center Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Take Up Hostility to Religion Case Ann Arbor, MI—The Thomas More Law Center, a national, public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court, asking the court to review an Establishment Clause case involving a religious display that was hostile to Catholics. In addition to asking the high court to revisit its confusing and inconsistent Establishment Clause jurisprudence, the petition notes that this would be a case of first impression. The Supreme Court has yet to decide a “hostility to religion” case under the...

Not since Berlin, 1989, has a big wall taken such a big fall. This time, it was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that blew the trumpet, effectively collapsing the false construct of the so-called “wall of separation between church and state” that for more than 50 years has been the cornerstone of the American Civil Liberties Union’s anti-religion agenda. This wasn’t one the ACLU saw coming. Their case—a suit to prevent Mercer County, Kentucky, officials from including a copy of the Ten Commandments in their display of historically significant documents—seemed tight enough, especially since the U.S....

Zoning ordinance does not prohibit worship, prayer at home ORLANDO, Fla. - A rabbi slapped with two code violations for holding prayer and worship in his home is no longer under threat from local authorities. A federal district court ruled Friday that Orange County's land use ordinance could not be applied against Rabbi Joseph Konikov to prohibit residential religious meetings. "Americans have the right to meet in their homes for prayer or to study religious materials without government interference," said ADF-allied attorney Rick Nelson, head of the American Liberties Institute. "We are pleased the court has recognized that the county's...

A pro-family legal group is warning elementary schools in New Jersey and Colorado that their censorship of Christmas may warrant federal lawsuits. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is considering whether to sue on behalf of a parent whose daughter attends Canfield Avenue School in Mine Hill Township (NJ). The parent claims his daughter was told the words "Merry Christmas" could not be written in the classroom, and that she could only speak those words in Spanish. ADF attorney Mike Johnson also notes that in the school's concert this year -- titled "The Xmas Files" -- the words to the carol...

The Separation of Church and State by David Barton In 1947, in the case Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.” The “separation of church and state” phrase which they invoked, and which has today become so familiar, was taken from an exchange of letters between President Thomas Jefferson and the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, shortly after Jefferson became President. The election of Jefferson-America’s first Anti-Federalist President-elated many Baptists since that...

Kevin Seamus Hasson is busy this time of year. The founder and president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm dedicated to protecting religious liberty, Hasson is busy with numerous challenges to Nativity scenes on public property. Author of the new book The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America (Encounter, 2005), Hasson once worked under Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. He spoke to Register correspondent Joseph A. D’Agostino. Some will argue that if we continue to allow Christmas trees and menorahs, some day we will have Islamic crescents, Wiccan...

Brit Humes excellent piece is on now. I'm glad because I missed it the first time.Merry Christmas to all.

On New Year's Day, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson received a gift of mythic proportions. Amid great fanfare, a mammoth cheese was delivered to the White House by the itinerant Baptist preacher John Leland. It measured more than four feet in diameter, thirteen feet in circumference, and seventeen inches in height; once cured, it weighed 1,235 pounds.The colossal cheese was made by the staunchly Republican, Baptist citizens of Cheshire, a small farming community in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. The religious dissenters created the cheese to commemorate Jefferson's long-standing devotion to religious liberty and to celebrate his recent electoral victory...