January 14, 2016::End of the day round-up

I have mixed feelings concerning whether Cruz is eligible to be President. On the one hand, I look at the "birther movement" against President Obama, and think tit-for-tat. On the other, it is for the legal eagles to figure out.

Ted Cruz produces mother’s birth certificate after both parents found on Canadian voter list

But most constitutional scholars argue that anyone with at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen at the time of birth automatically inherits that parent's citizenship. Cruz has said that because his mother was a U.S. citizen when he was born, he is a natural-born citizen.

But Grayson says there is disagreement over the issue, according to U.S. News & World Report. And because the courts have never ruled on the matter of presidential candidates who were born outside the U.S., a lawsuit could pose a serious problem for the Cruz campaign.

A curious case to say the least. Without full details - such as the employers policy concerning "lunch breaks" (ie paid versus unpaid), salaried vs hourly employment, and the like - it's hard to determine if a line was crossed by the employer.

Fired park employee sues over lunchtime baptism

A lawsuit has been filed by a former maintenance worker at Maritime National Historic Park in San Francisco for being fired after performing a baptism for a park visitor during his lunch break.

The case has been documented by Courthouse News, which said Roger Holly’s complaint against the Department of the Interior and his supervisors appeared this week in federal court.

Court documents say Holly, a Baptist minister, reported he baptized a park visitor in the ocean during his lunch break in November 2013. He reported he was out of uniform and simply “helped dunk the visitor into the ocean.”
“The religious ‘ceremony’ Holly performed did not include any outward, objective display of religion, such as reading sacred texts, public prayer, sermonizing or the like. It simply appeared that two persons were swimming in the ocean, much like other park visitors,” CN quoted from the complaint.

He then was interrogated by his supervisor, Robert Kier, who is named as defendant.

Holly reported he assured Kier he would not baptize someone while he was supposed to be working, or in his National Park Service uniform.

But he was terminated shortly after.

300,000 Low-Income Louisianians Gained Healthcare Today As Bobby Jindal Is Replaced By Democratic Governor

Acknowledging the huge problems facing the state of Louisiana, Edwards then laid out a progressive agenda to begin uplifting his citizens out of the rut that the Jindal administration had forced them to wallow in. One of his first actions will be to accept funding for the Medicaid expansion, giving healthcare to 300,000 of his citizens who desperately need it. He has promised to issue an executive order to begin expansion preparation within 24 hours, aiming to have the process complete by July 1st.

Kentucky bill looks to extend summer vacation to promote creationism

Kentucky senators have introduced a new bill, SB-50 that would “require schools to schedule the first student attendance day no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26, unless a school has adopted a year-round calendar.”

As I reported back in August of 2015, Kentucky Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, and Sen. Chris Girdler, R-Somerset had proposed such a bill to help extend the vacation season to bring more attention to the forthcoming Ark Encounter.

“Grant County is set to become a major tourist destination due to the presence of the Ark,” Thayer said. “But there won’t be many families from Kentucky visiting in August if we continue with the current calendar.”

A 2008 Tennessee study estimated that if summer was extended through Labor Day, an additional $189 million would be generated in tourist spending.