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Illustration: Peter Bagge Illustration: Peter Bagge Illustration: Peter Bagge Illustration: Peter Bagge Illustration: Peter BaggeThe post Comic: It's America's Founding Fake News Terrorist, Samuel Adams appeared first on Reason.com. [TheTopNews] Read More.

6/14/1810: Justice Ward Hunt's birthday. Justice Ward HuntThe post Today in Supreme Court History: June 14, 1810 appeared first on Reason.com. [TheTopNews] Read More.

Walking around the White House South Lawn these days, you notice a few things. There is the tiered platform with mics and music stands. There are the many folding seats, situated in a theater in the round, each stamped with: "WARNING: PLEASE DO NOT STAND ON CHAIR." There are the stairs branded with crypto.com. And then, above it all, there is "The Claw": the hulking, four-legged, makeshift canopy hovering 92 feet aloft, finished in red, white, and blue. There are selfies. The Trump administration on Thursday provided the press pool a preview of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Freedom 250 event that will take place on Sunday night, when an international cast will duke it out for various titles. There was no formal briefing. But the White House did set us loose to mill around for about half an hour and drink in the spectacle. Several minutes in, I passed attendees who had crowded around the centerpiece—the octagon—for self-portraits. One woman tried to mount the ring; the attempt, courtesy of an official standing nearby, was short-lived. Billy Binion UFC Freedom 250 has, depending on whom you ask, become the crown jewel of America's semiquincentennial. A series of cage matches is an unusual choice to celebrate the history of the Founding. But it is arguably the perfect event to capture this moment in history.  The story of mixed martial arts is itself a microcosm of the progression. It would have been difficult to believe the sport would have a substantial audience just a few decades ago when it was banned in 36 states, as well as on pay-per-view, which swore off cage fighting while allowing porn. Yet now it will have an audience at the White House. Its inclusion is a snapshot not just of the sport's surprising trajectory but of how political sport has evolved in parallel. The influencer most known for spreading the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory is now a credentialed member of the White House press corps, taking selfies with a fighting arena on the South Lawn. It is no longer a place where outsiders are unwelcome by the establishment. It is a place where outsiders have become the establishment. This is not just a cultural phenomenon anymore. "There are only a handful of things that bring people together in one place at one time, united by their… [TheTopNews] Read More.

Illustration: Lex Villena Few Americans have taken much notice, given the vast amount of other political news. But two Canadian provinces - Alberta and Quebec - may be holding referendums on secession in the near future. If the votes are held, the secessionists are likely to lose in both cases. But these events are still of interest to students of federalism and secession, and to anyone who cares about the future of America's northern neighbor and one of our most important allies. And history shows that secession movements often persist even after defeat in a referendum. In Quebec, the separatist Parti Quebecois (PQ) is leading in the polls and favored to take power in the upcoming October provincial election. They promise to hold a secession referendum if they prevail. Their victory is far from completely certain, given Quebec's complex five party system, and the closeness of the polls. The PQ, the Quebec Liberal Party and the current ruling party - the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) - are all within a few points of each other in recent polls. If the PQ wins, they may only get a minority government (one that has a plurality of seats in the legislature, but not a majority), which will make it difficult for them to pass a law to hold the referendum. Nonetheless, a PQ majority government could well happen - about a 35% chance according to data compiled by prominent Canadian polling analyst Phillipe Fournier at his Canada 338 site. If the PQ does manage to win the election and hold a secession referendum, the "no" side is highly likely to win, as happened with two previous PQ-led secession votes in 1980 and 1995. Recent polls indicate "no" leads by about a 2-1 margin. Nonetheless, holding a referendum would bring the issue of Quebec secession back to the center of Canadian politics, and increase tension between the provincial and federal governments. In Alberta, the United Conservative Party (UCP) government of Premier Danielle Smith has approved a voter petition to place a secession-related referendum question on the ballot this fall, scheduled for a vote on October 19. However, the question at issue is not a straightforward up-or-down vote on secession. It actually asks voters to opine on the following: "Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a… [TheTopNews] Read More.

The Pentagon recently caused a controversy by revising its list of religious affiliation codes for service members and failing to designate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian. The Pentagon found a clever way out, but the controversy reveals a deep question for liberalism: are neutral religious classifications ever possible in a deeply pluralist society? The controversy began when the Pentagon reduced its list of religious affiliation codes from more than 200 entries to 31. The purpose, it explained, was administrative. Service members identify their religious affiliation or preference, and the military uses that information, among other things, to help chaplains understand the religious composition of units and provide appropriate support. Streamlining made things more efficient. Some sort of religious classification seems unavoidable here. A military that takes religious accommodation seriously must have some idea of the religious needs of its personnel. The problem is that, in a religiously diverse society that expects the state to be neutral among religions, classifications are never simple. The first version of the revised list identified many groups as "Christian": Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and others. But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was listed separately, without the label. Latter-day Saints objected. The LDS Church understands itself as Christian. And speaking sociologically and culturally, it is surely correct to describe Latter-day Saints as Christian. At the same time, there is a real theological issue. Latter-day Saints do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity as Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and most Protestants understand it. For that reason, among others, many traditional Christian communions would hesitate to describe Latter-day Saints as Christian in the doctrinal sense. The Catholic Church, for example, does not recognize LDS baptism as valid Christian baptism. The point can be turned around. Latter-day Saints do not understand themselves simply as another denomination. They understand their church as the restoration of the original Church of Jesus Christ. That claim implies that other Christian bodies, however sincere, do not possess the fullness of restored truth and authority. So the government had stumbled into a real religious dispute. The Pentagon responded to the controversy by removing the word "Christian" from the list altogether. That clever response manages the problem but doesn't eliminate it. In fact, the problem never can be eliminated completely. Government must classify religion all the time: for tax purposes, for religious accommodation claims, for chaplaincy, for prisons,… [TheTopNews] Read More.