The Weekly Sam: Writing and Arithmetic
In this lecture, Sam Blumenfeld strongly advocated the need to teach cursive first and teach basic arithmetic.
A link to an audio version:
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2022-05-14T16_27_14-07_00
Let’s Talk About Inflation: A Presentation by Gary Allen
President Biden is wrong. Putin and Covid 19 are not responsible for inflation. Inflation is nothing more than an increase in the money supply. Since Biden, his handlers, and, Congress have opened the fiat money spicket, they are responsible. Here is a timeless presentation made by the late Gary Allen in 1974:
A link to an audio version: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2018-05-24T19_37_30-07_00
The Blumenfeld Archive: Why You Must Not Put Your Child in a Public School
Sam Blumenfeld, homeschool pioneer, gave this advice in the 1980s. While far too few heeded his advice, more and more American parents are seeing how dangerous the schools have become: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2022-05-06T14_41_58-07_00
Should “Roe V Wade” Be Repealed? Dr. Mildred Jefferson Position on the Issue
Dr. Mildren Jefferson a pioneer in the Pro-Life Movement, first black women to graduate from Harvard Medical School, and a Camp Constitution instructor made these comments in 1978:
The U.S. Supreme Court Rules 9-0 in Camp Constitution’s Christian Flag Lawsuit
I received a call today at 10:30 AM from Roger Gannam, one of the attorneys at Liberty Counsel who has been involved with our lawsuit from the very beginning. He informed me that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in our favor 9-0. Since then, I have conducted a batch of media interviews. First, I want to give God the Glory. His Hand was in this case from the beginning. I want to thank the folks at Liberty Counsel that did an incredible job, and all of the people who support and make Camp Constitution possible. The main mission of Camp Constitution is to teach people the U.S. Constitution. I think that this issue has given the nation a good lesson on the 1st Amendment. Below is the news release from Liberty Counsel announcing the decision.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the City of Boston violated the Constitution by censoring a private flag in a public forum open to “all applicants” merely because the application referred to it as a “Christian flag.” The High Court stated that it is not government speech, and because the government admitted it censored the flag because it was referred to as a Christian flag on the application, the censorship was viewpoint discrimination, and there is no Establishment Clause defense.
Justice Breyer wrote the opinion in which Chief Justice Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Barrett joined. Justice Kavanaugh filed a concurring opinion. Justice Alito filed a concurring opinion in the judgment, in which Thomas and Gorsuch joined. Justice Gorsuch filed a concurring opinion in the judgment, in which Thomas joined.
In Shurtleff v. City of Boston, Liberty Counsel represents Boston resident Hal Shurtleff and his Christian civic organization, Camp Constitution. Shurtleff and Camp Constitution first asked the city in 2017 for a permit to raise the Christian flag on Boston City Hall flagpoles to commemorate Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (September 17) and the civic and cultural contributions of the Christian community to the City of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, religious tolerance, the Rule of Law and the U.S. Constitution.
“We do not settle this dispute by counting noses—or, rather, counting flags. That is so for several reasons. For one thing, Boston told the public that it sought ‘to accommodate all applicants’ who wished to hold events at Boston’s ‘public forums,’ including on City Hall Plaza. App. to Pet. for Cert. 137a. The application form asked only for contact information and a brief description of the event, with proposed dates and times. The city employee who handled applications testified by deposition that he had previously ‘never requested to review a flag or requested changes to a flag in connection with approval’; nor did he even see flags before the events. Id., at 150a. The city’s practice was to approve flag raisings, without exception. It has no record of denying a request until Shurtleff’s. Boston acknowledges it ‘hadn’t spent a lot of time really thinking about’ its flag-raising practices until this case. App. in No. 20–1158 (CA1), at 140 (Rooney deposition). True to its word, the city had nothing—no written policies or clear in[1]ternal guidance—about what flags groups could fly and what those flags would communicate,’” the Court wrote.
In addition, the Court wrote, “Here, Boston concedes that it denied Shurtleff ’s request solely because the Christian flag he asked to raise “promot[ed] a specific religion.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 155a (quoting Rooney deposition). Under our precedents, and in view of our government-speech holding here, that refusal discriminated based on religious viewpoint and violated the Free Speech Clause” (emphasis added).
There are three flagpoles outside City Hall that fly the U.S., Massachusetts and Boston flags, plus a fourth flag on Congress Street, which runs parallel to City Hall. For 12 years from 2005-2017, Boston approved 284 flag-raisings by private organizations with no denials on the flagpoles that it designated as a “public forum.” Had the flag been referred to as anything but Christian, the city would have approved it. The flag itself was not the problem; it was the word “Christian” describing it in the application that was the issue. The year before Camp Constitution’s application (2016-2017), Boston approved 39 private flag-raising events, which averaged three per month. In 2018, Boston approved 50 private flag raising events, averaging nearly one per week. One included a flag of a private credit union.
The Justices commented on the longstanding test known as the “Lemon Test” which has been used to determine if a law violates the First Amendment. Its name comes from Lemon v. Kurtzman, in which the Court ruled that a Rhode Island law that paid some of the salary of some parochial school teachers was unconstitutional. This test has proven to be unworkable and has led to inconsistent and contradictory decisions on the constitutionality of 10 Commandment monuments and cross monuments like the “Peace Cross.”
Justice Gorsuch, joined in a concurrence with Justice Thomas, stated, “It’s time to let Lemon lie in its grave.”
Justice Gorsuch continued, “How did the city get it so wrong? To be fair, at least some of the blame belongs here and traces back to Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602 (1971). Issued during a “‘bygone era’” when this Court took a more freewheeling approach to interpreting legal texts, Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, 588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 8), Lemon sought to devise a one-size-fits-all test for resolving Establishment Clause disputes. That project bypassed any inquiry into the Clause’s original meaning. It ignored longstanding precedents. And instead of bringing clarity to the area, Lemon produced only chaos. In time, this Court came to recognize these problems, abandoned Lemon, and returned to a more humble jurisprudence centered on the Constitution’s original meaning. Yet in this case, the city chose to follow Lemon anyway. It proved a costly decision, and Boston’s travails supply a cautionary tale for other localities and lower courts. The only sure thing Lemon yielded was new business for lawyers and judges.”
“Ultimately, Lemon devolved into a kind of children’s game. Start with a Christmas scene, a menorah, or a flag. Then pick your own “reasonable observer” avatar. In this game, the avatar’s default settings are lazy, uninformed about history, and not particularly inclined to legal research. His default mood is irritable. To play, expose your avatar to the display and ask for his reaction. How does he feel about it? Mind you: Don’t ask him whether the proposed display actually amounts to an establishment of religion. Just ask him if he feels it “endorses” religion. If so, game over,” wrote Gorsuch.
In his concurrence, Justice Kavanaugh wrote, “A government violates the Constitution when (as here) it excludes religious persons, organizations, or speech because of religion from public programs, benefits, facilities, and the like.”
In his concurrence, Justice Alito wrote, “I agree with the Court’s conclusion that Boston (hereafter City) violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech when it rejected Camp Constitution’s application to fly what it characterized as a “Christian flag.” But I cannot go along with the Court’s decision to analyze this case in terms of the triad of factors—history, the public’s perception of who is speaking, and the extent to which the government has exercised control over speech—that our decision in Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., 576 U. S. 200 (2015), derived from Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, 555 U. S. 460 (2009). See ante, at 6–12. As the Court now recognizes, those cases did not set forth a test that always and everywhere applies when the government claims that its actions are immune to First Amendment challenge under the government-speech doctrine. And treating those factors as a test obscures the real question in government-speech cases: whether the government is speaking instead of regulating private expression.”
Justice Alito continued, “But courts must be very careful when a government claims that speech by one or more private speakers is actually government speech. When that occurs, it can be difficult to tell whether the government is using the doctrine “as a subterfuge for favoring certain private speakers over others based on viewpoint,” id., at 473, and the government-speech doctrine becomes “susceptible to dangerous misuse….To prevent the government-speech doctrine from being used as a cover for censorship, courts must focus on the identity of the speaker. The ultimate question is whether the government is actually expressing its own views or the real speaker is a private party and the government is surreptitiously engaged in the “regulation of private speech.” Summum, 555 U. S., at 467…. Consider first “the extent to which the government has actively shaped or controlled the expression.” Ante, at 6. Government control over speech is relevant to speaker identity in that speech by a private individual or group cannot constitute government speech if the government does not attempt to control the message. But control is also an essential element of censorship.”
Liberty Counsel’s Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “This 9-0 decision from the Supreme Court strikes a victory for private speech in a public forum. This case is so much more significant than a flag. Boston openly discriminated against viewpoints it disfavored when it opened the flagpoles to all applicants and then excluded Christian viewpoints. Government cannot censor religious viewpoints under the guise of government speech.”
TIMELINE
- SEPT 2017 Liberty Counsel sends Boston demand letter following flag application denial.
- JULY 2018 Original suit filed in district court.
- AUG 2018 Court denies preliminary injunction.
- JUNE 2019 First Circuit affirms the denial.
- JULY 2019 LC files motion for summary judgment in district court.
- FEB 2020 District court denies LC summary judgment and grants city’s summary judgment.
- JAN 2021 First Circuit affirms summary judgment for city.
- JUNE 2021 LC files writ of certiorari at SCOTUS.
- SEPT 2021 SCOTUS takes the case.
- JAN 18, 2022 Oral argument set at SCOTUS.
BRIEFS OF LIBERTY COUNSEL AND CITY OF BOSTON
Reply Brief For The Petitioners
Petition for Certiorari
Opposition to Petition for Certiorari
Reply Brief in Support of Petition for Certiorari
Brief for Petitioners Camp Constitution
Brief for Respondent City of Boston
Reply Brief of Petitioners Camp Constitution
AMICUS BRIEFS:
In Support of Liberty Counsel
Brief-Amicus-(ACLU and ACLU of Massachusetts).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Advancing-American-Freedom-et al).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(American-Cornerstone-Institute).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(American-Legion).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Becket Fund for Religious Liberty).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Bronx-Household-of-Faith).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Catholicvote-org).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(CPCF, et al.).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Foundation-for-Moral-Law).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Multi-States).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(National Legal Foundation, et al.).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Notre Dame L. Sch. Rel. Lib. Initiative).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Pacific Legal Foundation).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Protect-the-First-Foundation).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Rutherford-Institute).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Thomas-More).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(United States).pdf
In Support of City of Boston
Brief-Amicus-(Anti-Defamation League).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(FFRF).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Jewish Alliance for Law, et al).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Local Governments).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(Multi States).pdf
Brief-Amicus-(National Council of Churches, et al.).pdf
READ MORE:
SCOTUS Rules 9-0 in Favor of Christian Flag Case
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Religious Viewpoint Discrimination
Supreme Court Heard Religious Viewpoint Case Today
Religious Viewpoint Case Goes to SCOTUS Tomorrow
Events Surrounding Shurtleff v. City of Boston SCOTUS Oral Argument
Religious Viewpoint Case Will Affect Everyone
LC Files Reply Brief at SCOTUS in Religious Viewpoint Case
Religious Viewpoint Case at SCOTUS Will Set National Precedent
USA and 12 States Support LC in Free Speech Case
Boston’s Christian Flag Debate Heading to US Supreme Court
Liberty Counsel Files Opening Brief at SCOTUS in Religious Viewpoint Case
U.S. Supreme Court Takes Christian Flag Case
Next Step for Christian Flag: U.S. Supreme Court
Christian Flag in Boston Before Court of Appeals
Boston Censorship Continues
Christian Flag Goes Back to Court
Boston Should Fly Christian Flag
Boston Discriminates Against Christian Flag
Stop Censorship of Christian Flag
Boston Sued for Censoring Christian Flag
Group sues Boston for banning Christian flag, approving 284 others
Boston Sued For Booting Christian Flag, While Allowing Islamic Symbols
Boston Sued for Banning Christian Flag, Allowing 284 Others
284 flags including China’s OK in Boston, but not Christian banner
Boston Sued for Banning Christian Flag, Allowing 284 Others
Banned in Boston — the Christian Flag
Stop Censorship of Christian Flag
Fly the ‘Christian’ flag? Sorry, no can do
The Point: Boston Bars the Christian Flag
Boston’s Censorship of the Christian Flag – Mat Staver – Episode 31
Explore the truth behind the blatant government censorship of the Christian faith, and learn what you can do to protect your religious freedom! – Originally premiered Feb 27, 2022 on GoodLife45 – visit https://www.tv45.org
Standing Up for Judeo-Christian Values – Hal Shurtleff – Episode 29
As Liberty Counsel prepares to defend a religious viewpoint censorship case before the U.S. Supreme Court, it all started with the Christian flag. Hal Shurtleff of Camp Constitution joins Mat Staver to explain more on this episode of Freedom Alive.™ – Originally premiered Dec 12, 2021 on GoodLife45 – visit https://www.tv45.org
Happy Birthday Illuminati Founded May 1, 1776 Bavaria, Germany
May 1, marks the anniversary of the founding of the Illuminati. While some historians believe that the organization ended after it was banned in Bavaria in 1784, other historians believe that it went underground, was responsible for the French Revolution, that its second-generation members founded the Skull and Bones, and commissioned Karl Marx to write The Communist Manifesto. While it is unlikely that the original organization exists today, its ideological heirs have carried on its mission to destroy Christianity and create a one-world government. We know that they will ultimately fail but they have wreaked much havoc and misery over the past years and continue to do so.
There have been several books published in the early days of the Illuminati’s existence including Proofs of a Conspiracy, Memoirs of Jacobinism and Proof of the Illuminati. Rev. G.W. Snyder sent a copy of Proofs of a Conspiracy to George Washington who replied:
“It was not my intention to doubt that the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more fully satisfied of this fact than I am.”
Several years ago, while our annual family camp was in session, we took a field trip to the Rindge, NH Historical Society where I found copies of Proof of the Illuminati for sale. When I asked Karla MacLeod, the museum’s president, why this book was at the museum, she informed me that the author Rev. Seth Payson was the pastor of the Congregational Church. He wrote the book in 1802, and it was the basis for his successful campaign for state senate. Camp Constitution Press reprinted the book. A free PDF version is available here: https://campconstitution.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Proof-of-the-Illuminati-by-Rev-Seth-Payson.pdf
A paperback version is available from our on-line shop: https://campconstitution.net/shop/
NO SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE IN WORCESTER, MA
This is from our friends at the Catholic Action League. We believe that if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor in our case Shurtleff v Boston, https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/shurtleff-v-boston/ the City of Worcester and other cities run by far-leftists, would cease this activity. We salute Bishop McManus and the folks at the Catholic Action League for standing up to those who are working to destroy the soul of our nation.
AND STATE IN WORCESTERThe recent call by the Bishop of Worcester, asking a Catholic school in his diocese to forgo symbols inconsistent with their Catholic identity, has now resulted in an intervention by a municipal agency.
On April 3rd, Bishop Robert J. McManus issued a public statement questioning the display of homosexual pride flags and Black Lives Matter banners at Worcester’s Nativity School, a middle school affiliated with the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus.
The Bishop asked “Is school committing itself to ideologies which are contrary to Catholic teaching? If so, is it still a Catholic school? As the Bishop of this diocese, I must teach that it is imperative that a Catholic School use imagery and symbols which are reflective of that school’s values and principles so as to be clear with young people who are being spiritually and morally formed for the future.”
The Bishop’s due diligence in trying to preserve the Catholic character of a Catholic school was met with a firestorm in the media, defiance from the school, criticism from the state Attorney General, unsolicited advice from the NAACP, and a petition at the Jesuit administered College of the Holy Cross denouncing him as “ignorant and bigoted.”
Now, a dispute between a Catholic bishop and a Catholic school has become an object of concern by a government entity. The Worcester Human Rights Commission, an executive agency of the City of Worcester, whose members are appointed by the City Manager, has decided to involve itself in this matter.
In an online meeting earlier this month, the Commission voted to ask the city to raise the homosexual pride flag at Worcester City Hall to support the school’s resistance to the bishop. Commission member Ellen Shemitz said “Even given what’s happening with some of the news from the Catholic Church, and how that impacts some of the schools in this region, it seems like it could be timely.”
The Catholic Action League called the Commission’s interference “an unheard of, unprecedented, and unconstitutional intrusion by a government bureaucracy into an issue of church doctrine.”
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “For generations, the political Left has never missed an opportunity to lecture Catholics about the separation of church and state. Now, a city agency takes sides in a church dispute, and the same civil liberties crowd which sees school bus transportation for Catholic school students as a threat to the Constitution, is silent.”
“The Attorney General of the Commonwealth, Maura Healey, has inserted herself into this controversy, saying ‘Nativity and other schools should be allowed to fly those flags,’ adding ‘…I speak as a Catholic…’ Healey, of course, is a partnered lesbian who once confessed she owed her electoral success to Planned Parenthood.“
“What is happening here is a crude, unconcealed, and heavy handed campaign of intimidation. If the media, the government, and powerful interest groups can combine to expose a Catholic bishop to universal reprobation, for exercising his lawful authority in his own diocese, then freedom of religion becomes, at some point, academic.”
“The anti-Catholic Left has power and is willing to use it, and has totalitarian instincts, and is willing to act upon them. Catholics must relearn what our immigrant ancestors understood, but what modern generations of Catholics have forgotten—that anti-Catholic bigotry is a reality in American society, and Catholics must be courageous in resisting it.”
On April 27th, C.J. Doyle appeared on Greg Kelly Reports on NEWSMAX TV, defending Bishop Robert McManus.
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Copyright © 2022 Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
PO Box 112Boston, MA 02131-0004
The Weekly Sam: Why Johnny Can’t Read
Sam Blumenfeld gave this timeless presentation back in the mid 1980s. Sam first became aware of America’s reading problem in the early 1960s after Sam’s friend, Watson Washburn, a New York City attorney who founded the Reading Reform Foundation.
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2022-04-30T16_40_20-07_00
Camp Constitution at Mass HOPE Homeschool Convention
After a two-year hiatus due to the unconstitutional lockdown, Camp Constitution returned to Mass HOPE’s (Massachusetts Homeschool Organization of Parent Educators) annual convention which was held in Sturbridge, MA this past weekend. This year marked our 10th year of participating in this annual event where we have met and made many friends. In addition to our information table where we distribute literature about Camp Constitution, the Blumenfeld Archives, books, and pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution, we challenged those who stop by the table to take our ten question quiz on the U.S. Constitution. We also had quill pens and had children use these pens to sign their names, and our friend Alan Belanger spent Friday making balloons for the children.
We also held two “workshops” which were well attended and well received. Rev. Craft’s workshop was “The Christian Response to Critical Race Theory”‘ and mine was entitled “The Sam Blumenfeld Legacy. The late Sam Blumenfeld was a regular attendee at the even.t and many on hand had fond memories of Sam. We believe that this convention was the most productive of all the conventions we have attended. A special thanks to Rev. Steve and Mrs. Edith Craft, Alan Belanger, the Krutov Family, Adrian Villa, and the good folks at mass HOPE https://masshope.org/
Camp Constitution’s “Early Bird” Registration Deadline is May 1
Camp Constitution’s “Early Bird” Registration” deadline is May 1, and rooms are filling up fast.
Camp Constitution’s 14th annual family camp will be held at the Singing Hills Christian Conference Center in Plainfield, NH https://www.singinghills.net/ from Sunday July 17 to Friday July 22.
This year’s instructors include Catherine White of The Constitution Decoded; Professor Willie Soon, one of the world’s top atmospheric scientists; Rev. Steve Craft, and Pastor David Whitney of the Institute on the Constitution, Mrs. Edith Craft will run our Junior Camp for children 5-11. In addition to the classes, we have field trips to local historic sites, swimming, hiking, basketball, volleyball, chess tournaments, marksmanship, and martial arts.
The cost is $300. For attendees 12 and older, $200, for attendees 11 and under, and children 4 and under accompanied by parents are free. We offer a $50. “Early Bird” discount for those who register before May 1. Applications are available on our web site https://campconstitution.net/camp-registration/
