Notes::Twataffles of the Week May 4, 2017 (#5a)

"Nikki Haley Condemns Alleged Abuse, Killings Of Gay Men In Chechnya" 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-chechnya-gay-men_us_58f625ace4b0b9e9848e8e14?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000021&section=crime 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxAKFlpdcfc
• http://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/04/25/rubio-denounces-gay-chechnya-arrests-senate-floor/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Collins
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Toomey
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Rubio
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley

See also:

• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/angela-merkel-vladimir-putin-russia-talks-chechnya-gay-people-germany-ukraine-sanctions-syria-assad-a7713511.html
• http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/news/71116/chechnyas-police-telling-parents-kill-gay-sons-theyll/

"San Antonio Mayor Suggests ‘Broken People’ Without God Cause Poverty" 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/san-antonio-mayor-poverty-atheism_us_58fd83f7e4b06b9cb917cfb8?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000021&section=crime 

• https://ffrf.org/press/logos-and-photos
• https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/29242-ffrf-denounces-san-antonio-mayor-for-inappropriate-remarks
• http://www.southtxatheistsforreason.org/
• http://www.patheos.com/blogs/accordingtomatthew/2017/04/humanist-charity-brilliantly-responds-san-antonio-mayors-anti-atheist-comments/

"Woman spars with DMV over Trump hat license photo"
http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/249853867-story

• http://reverbpress.com/news/crazy-trump-cultist-video/

"Creationist Complains Because Christian School Only Promotes Creationism, Not Young Earth Creationism" 
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/04/22/creationist-complains-because-christian-school-only-promotes-creationism-not-young-earth-creationism/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KenHam.JPG
• http://interestinghmm.blogspot.com/2014/07/creationism-in-classroom-causes-concern.html
• http://interestinghmm.blogspot.com/2014/10/were-there-dinosaurs-on-noahs-ark.html

MUSIC::
"Perspectives" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

January 8, 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

You’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. How soon do you need treatment?

When a patient with breast cancer comes in to see me, not infrequently I have to reassure her that she doesn’t need to be wheeled off to the operating room tomorrow, that it’s safe to wait a while. One reason, of course, is that it takes years for a cancer to grow from a single cell to a detectable mass. The big question, of course, is: What is “a while”? Two studies published online last month attempt to answer that question. One study (Bleicher et al) comes from Fox Chase Cancer Center and examines the effect of time to surgery on breast cancer outcomes; the other (Chavez-MacGregor et al) is from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and examines the effect of time to chemotherapy on outcome. Both find a detrimental effect due to delays in treatment.
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I realize that these two studies are about as close to “Well, duh!” studies as there are. Of course, delaying surgery for breast cancer is not a good thing. Of course, delaying chemotherapy when it’s indicated is also not a good thing. These are results that are not unexpected. However, these studies are still very important because they give us estimates of how much of a delay is safe and at what point delaying care starts to have a measurable impact on patient outcomes. Putting the results of these studies together suggests that it’s best to do surgery within about 60 days in patients not needing chemotherapy first, and that for patients with disease lacking the estrogen and progesterone receptor it’s best to start chemotherapy within 90 days of surgery.
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This sort of analysis is also yet another bit of data demonstrating that conventional treatments work. After all, if a conventional treatment didn’t work, it wouldn’t matter how long you waited to administer it. For instance, if you treated a woman with breast cancer with homeopathy right away, the results would be the same if you waited 120 days. I’ve discussed examples of patients who paid a steep price for their delaying effective treatments for their cancers, beginning with breast cancer patients over eleven years ago and a man I encountered as a resident with rectal cancer who had turned himself orange with megadoses of carrots trying to treat his disease. We also know that the use of alternative medicine as a primary treatment in breast cancer is associated with recurrence and death. Using alternative therapy for breast cancer is a good way to die when you don’t have to or to die sooner than you would otherwise. Refusing surgery also results in death.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Say God Used a Typhoon to Deliver Sand for the Building of a New Kingdom Hall

In the latest episode of the Jehovah’s Witness’ online show JW Broadcasting, construction overseer Travis Brooks explains how sand was hard to come by when his team was building a new hall. But Jehovah answered their prayers by way of a supernatural disaster.

Raif Badawi supporters to give petition to Saudi embassy in London

Supporters of Raif Badawi, the jailed Saudi activist and blogger, plan to hand over a petition with 250,000 signatures to the Saudi embassy in London on Friday [today] calling for his release.

A separate petition for the release of Badawi’s lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, will also be handed over to mark a year since Badawi received 50 lashes in a public square in Jeddah. He was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam.

Meet Marco Rubio's 'Religious Liberty Advisory Board'

Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign has announced its creation of a Religious Liberty Advisory Board that includes Religious Right legal and political activists, including academics and some big names, like Rick Warren of Saddleback Church.

The list could be seen as a response by Rubio’s campaign to last month’s closed-door meeting at which “dozens” of Religious Right leaders voted to rally behind his rival, Sen. Ted Cruz. But Rubio’s director of Faith Outreach, former Manhattan Declaration Executive Director Eric Teetsel, told World Magazine that “membership on the board doesn’t equal an endorsement of the GOP candidate, and the members could advise other campaigns if they wanted.”
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Also on Rubio’s advisory board are people affiliated with legal groups promoting Religious Right efforts to portray LGBT equality and religious liberty as incompatible, including Doug Napier and Kellie Fiedorek of Alliance Defending Freedom and Kyle Duncan, lead counsel for the Green family, the owners of Hobby Lobby, and former general counsel of the Becket Fund, which was once described in Politico as “God’s Rottweilers.”

Formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund, ADF is a heavyweight among Religious Right legal groups, and is spreading its anti-gay, anti-choice advocacy worldwide. Fiedorek argues that the “agenda to expand sexual liberty and redefine marriage” puts religious liberty in “great peril.” She has compared business owners who refuse to provide wedding-related services to same-sex couples to Rosa Parks.

ISIS’ War On Children

The reasons for indoctrinating children are both strategic and optic. By training and filming children along with its fighters, ISIS presents its brand of militancy as a family affair — and the family as integral to the state it’s created.
“Children are shown in propaganda videos for calculated psychological value,” Rachel Bryson writes in the Independent. “It aims to arouse global fear through portraying to the world that it is a powerful and fully-functioning state, fueling a multi-generational war.”

That fear seems deliberate on the part of ISIS, which has developed a specialized curriculum and camps to indoctrinate children into their extremist world view — and train them to defend it. Children of ISIS fighters and sympathizers are reared in ISIS’ ideology and trained to fight in camps far from their parents’ reach.

Marco Rubio: Gay Rights 'A Real And Present Danger' To Freedom | Right Wing Watch

Marco Rubio was the subject of a fawning profile on today’s edition of “The 700 Club,” in which host Pat Robertson hailed the GOP presidential candidate as “the Democrats’ worst nightmare.”

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody, Rubio warned that gay marriage represents “a real and present danger” to America because gay rights advocates are bent on labeling any anti-gay messages, including those from churches, as “hate speech.”

“We are at the water’s edge of the argument that mainstream Christian teaching is hate speech because today we’ve reached the point in our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage, you are labeled a homophobe and a hater,” Rubio said. “So what’s the next step after that? After they’re done going after individuals, the next step is to argue that the teachings of mainstream Christianity, the catechism of the Catholic Church, is hate speech. That’s a real and present danger.”

Dan Arel, in his OP concerning the Rubio interview, makes a good point,

If you are unfamiliar with the term “strawman” you just saw a clear definition. While the LGBT community and its allies are fighting tooth and nail to be treated equally by the federal government, it has never once tried to silence religion or apply any label to it. Rubio has invented an enemy that doesn’t exist and is attacking it.

But why would Rubio fear Christianity could be labeled hate speech? Because what he is saying again and again is, in fact, hate speech. Rubio is fighting to make sure LGBT citizens of the U.S. are given fewer rights than straight ones. He actively campaigns on making them second-class citizens.

This is also a massive insult to the millions of LGBT Christians. The thing is, Rubio only believes there is one kind of Christian, his kind, and if you’re not on his side, you’re not a true Christian.

Marco Rubio: Gay Rights 'A Real And Present Danger' To Freedom | Right Wing Watch

Rubio Accepted Endorsement From Dominionist Who Claims Constitution Based on Bible | TWO Care

And in 2010 Barton helped to rally the dominionist Christian right behind Marco Rubio and to lift Rubio to the United States Senate, from which perch Rubio has now launched a presidential bid.

In 2010, A febrile, Koch brothers-financed, Christian right activist-led political spasm known as the “Tea Party” swept the land.

And, Christian right presidential hopefuls such as former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee began to maneuver in advance of the 2012 election. In March 2010 at the annual, arch-conservative CPAC convention in Washington D.C., Huckabee quipped that all Americans should be forced to listen to David Barton’s version of American history – at gunpoint if necessary.

The ensuing controversy failed to deter Marco Rubio. Quite the contrary. Up onstage at a September 15,  2010 Longwood, Florida political rally, candidate Marco Rubio appeared for a heartfelt endorsement from former Vice Chair of the Texas GOP and pseudo-historian David Barton (pictured). To hammer home the point Barton then posted a special 5 minute, 52 second video endorsement of Rubio.

Barton and Rubio were the main attractions at the September 15th rally according to advance publicity, with Barton billed as a “constitutional scholar”.


Little more than a month later Barton’s close friend, New Apostolic Reformation prophet Cindy Jacobs, would release a prophecy forecasting the rise of a church-based third major political party led by “righteous” politicians such as Marco Rubio. Jacobs teaches that dominionist Christians have the God-given mandate to “subdue”, “make subservient”, and “bring into bondage” all unbelievers.

The dual September 15th appearance by Rubio and Barton was almost unnoticed* by media, except for, most prominently, coverage from Talking Points Memo reporter Brian Beutler – who noted that Barton had just helped orchestrate a wildly controversial religious right campaign to revise Texas textbook standards.

Less than a year later, Barton began publicly promoting the New Apostolic Reformation’s “7 Mountains” dominionist program, which advocates that charismatic Christians should, as NAR apostle Thomas Muthee outlined shortly before blessing and anointing Sarah Palin in a 2005 ceremony, “invade… infiltrate” seven key sectors of society: government, business, media, education, arts and entertainment, religion, and the family.

[,,,]
David Barton enjoys a close working relationship with the Christian supremacist apostles and prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation, whose dominionist agenda, that calls on believers to “rule as kings”, finally gained some mainstream media notice in 2011 after a prayer rally, dominated by NAR apostles and prophets, that kicked off Texas governor Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential bid.

Rubio Accepted Endorsement From Dominionist Who Claims Constitution Based on Bible | TWO Care

Anti-Gay Policy, Exorcisms, and Creationism At Marco Rubio’s Miami Church | TWO Care

Now straddling both Christ Fellowship and the Catholic Church, Marco Rubio seems positioned to appeal both to conservative Catholics but also the anti-LGBT, demon-casting, creationist segment of the Protestant evangelical right.

Though he’s now primarily and “firmly” Catholic, Rubio has recently told Religion News Service reporter Sarah Pulliam-Bailey that he has “maintained the relationship with Christ Fellowship” and often attends services at the church.

During his Protestant years, Rubio revealed in his 2012 memoir, he nonetheless “craved, literally, the Most Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion” (of the Catholic Church.) So, the rising GOP star found a practical, buffet-style solution. Rubio divulged that on Saturday nights he brings his family to worship at Christ Fellowship, and on Sunday the Rubio family attends St. Louis Catholic Church.

[,,,]
In accord with the religious right’s increasingly tortured effort to come to terms with growing public acceptance of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights, “one of the leading experts in our country on marriage and families”, Dr. Bob Barnes, was in April 2012 brought in to Christ Fellowship for a guest sermon, “Why Family?” in which he explained that homosexuality was a form of addiction :

“Homosexual sin is no worse than heterosexual sin. There is not a hierarchy of sins. Sin is sin. But, if I find somebody that has a predisposition, a genetic predisposition, or a chromosomal predisposition toward substance abuse, it doesn’t mean I should cave in to substance abuse. There are people who just have a predisposition to addiction.”

Christ Fellowship’s position is even more evident in a July 2014 sermon by Pastor Ken Weathersby, who explained that any sex outside “marriage between a man and a woman” is “not pleasing to God” and proffered,

“Scripture reminds us that we have to put aside what oftentimes we really don’t want to deal with. Impurity, evil desires, passion, greed, and covetousness… God is saying to us, we must put that lifestyle down.”

Such ever present “evil desires” can lead to addiction. Accordingly, Christ Fellowship has a men’s group that helps those so-afflicted to fight their “predisposition to [sexual] addiction”, a “Men’s Sexual Integrity” group that meets every Thursday at 7 PM.

But in the case that small group therapy should prove inadequate to the task, Christ Fellowship has another therapeutic method, exorcisms – the expelling of demons that possess people and control their behavior, by bible verse reading:

Anti-Gay Policy, Exorcisms, and Creationism At Marco Rubio’s Miami Church | TWO Care

John Kerry Obliterates Marco Rubio's Conspiracy Theory On Iran | ThinkProgress

The problem with Rubio and his cadre, they don't want diplomacy - they want war. BUT as Colin Powell's former chief of staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson.points out "If 62 percent of voters want to use ground forces against ISIS in Syria or Iraq or wherever, then I suggest we have a draft and we draft those 62 percent to lead the way." Kerry was smart to mention, ",,, we are better off trying to prevent them from getting a bomb diplomatically." Diplomacy being the key word.

Kerry added that the nuclear talks have not impacted America’s strategy in Iraq and Syria. “There is no grand bargain being discussed here in the context of this negotiation. This is about a nuclear weapon potential, that’s it.” Rubio floated his theory again, this time suggesting that America’s coalition in its fight against ISIS also believes that the nuclear talks are undermining the goal of defeating terrorists.

“Senator, that actually is flat wrong also, flat wrong,” Kerry said. “I just came back from the meeting in the Gulf in Riyadh. I met with King Solmon who completely supported what we’re doing. I met with all of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] members, they all sat around the table and they all articulated their support for what we’re doing and they believe we are better off trying to prevent them from getting a bomb diplomatically.”

John Kerry Obliterates Marco Rubio's Conspiracy Theory On Iran | ThinkProgress

Florida GOP's Quasi-Obamacare Alternative Has Signed Up 30 People

If this is the Repugs idea of repeal- and-replace, we are in deep shit,,,

This March, as an alternative of sorts to the Affordable Care Act, Florida's Republican-led government launched a health insurance website called Florida Health Choices. It had no relation to HealthCare.gov, the federal Obamacare website, and offered limited-benefit options that cover things like prescription drugs and dental or vision services.

But since the launch of the Republican alternative, Florida Health Choices has signed up 30 people, the Tampa Bay Times reported Friday. By comparison, 984,000 Floridians enrolled in private coverage under Obamacare and 764,000 low-income residents were unable to obtain any kind of coverage through the federal law because the GOP- controlled state legislature refused to expand Medicaid.

As the Associated Press reported at the time of the website's launch, it was hoped that those stuck in that Medicaid expansion gap would use Florida Health Choices. The concept actually dates back to 2008, the brainchild of then-Florida House speaker Marco Rubio, now U.S. senator. Rubio had secured $1.8 million in start-up funding at that time, according to Reuters, and the state legislature then authorized $900,000 last year to fully launch the website.

Florida GOP's Quasi-Obamacare Alternative Has Signed Up 30 People

Marco Rubio: Minimum wage plan ‘stale’ - Lucy McCalmont - POLITICO.com

Uhm, so Mr Rubio, what exactly is YOUR plan again? The only thing I have heard from you and your ilk is how you want to regulate my uterus and whom I am allowed to sleep with. I'm not so sure that helps the job market or lifts people out of poverty. All we see are your threats to eliminate programs altogether: slashing SNAP, not extending unemployment and hindering medicaid. None of this does anything to lift us out of poverty.

And what exactly is "opportunity inequality?" Sounds like a catch phrase for doing away with minimum wage, something your handlers would love. You haven't offered any solutions just more whinny rhetoric,,,

“The president’s focused on income inequality, the difference between the rich and the poor and the gap that’s grown, and that’s the wrong focus. It doesn’t give you a complete picture,” the Florida senator said.

Instead, Rubio says “opportunity inequality” needs to be the focus of reform and proposes control of anti-poverty programs should be handed to the states as the current government programs do not help people emerge from poverty.

“I do not believe, in fact, I know that Washington and its one-size-fits-all approach is not conducive to finding the kind of innovative solutions it will take,” Rubio said Thursday on CNN’s “New Day.”

Rubio also has the Democrats in his cross hairs, saying their focus on unemployment benefits rather than finding long-term solutions “is indicative of the flaw in their thinking.”


Marco Rubio: Minimum wage plan ‘stale’ - Lucy McCalmont - POLITICO.com

Days After Shutdown Ends, Rubio Introduces Legislation To Delay Obamacare | ThinkProgress

I have been pretty hard on Texas and their politicians, so guess I shouldn't leave out Florida. This from Presidential hopeful, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL):

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will introduce legislation to ***delay the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate*** by six months, arguing that Americans should not be penalized for failing to buy coverage they cannot easily access through HealthCare.gov.

“How are you going to go after people next year using the IRS to punish them if the thing you’re forcing them to buy isn’t available for them to buy because the website is not working,” Rubio asked during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Tuesday. “The law I’m going to introduce basically delays that requirement until the GAO [Government Accountability Office] certifies it has been up and running for six months consecutive.”

WTF!! Confused I did a we bit of digging, considering the debacle that just occurred, Rubio can not be continuing this line of thinking/action. I did find the source with the video segment attached. Although he states that he believes ACA should be repealed; his issue, in regards to the legislation he is proposing, is with the IRS penalty and the healthcare.gov site. BUT what he and many others seem to forget, the website is NOT the only means of applying and by using the excuse that the website is down absolves people from taking personal responsibility.

For example, if you neglect to pay your phone bill because your phone company's website is down, it's on you if your phone service gets turned off, because you could have called them, mailed a check, or shown up at one of their offices. Or, if you overdraw your bank account because your bank's website was down when you wanted to check your balance or transfer funds, that's your responsibility. You could easily have called them, or gone to a local branch or ATM.

Also, he forgets that unless you receive a tax refund, the IRS cannot subject citizens to penalties or criminal charges. As stated in the ACA: "The penalty will be paid as a federal tax liability on income tax returns and is enforced by the Treasury. Individuals that fail to pay the penalty will not be subject to criminal penalties, liens or levies"

And the deadline is March 31, 2014 for ACA sign up, thereby putting off this "penalty" until 2015. So either Rubio doesn't understand how our federal income tax work or he's lying to sow confusion about next years returns. I really need to find a copy of this legislation to see what it actually says!!


Days After Shutdown Ends, Rubio Introduces Legislation To Delay Obamacare | ThinkProgress

Bryan Fischer’s Big Fail at Science and Reality | Truth Wins Out

Rushing to Rubio’s rescue, the virulently anti-gay and morally feral Bryan Fischer (pictured) of the American Family Association weighed in with an article entitled, “Help for Marco Rubio: scientific evidence for a young earth.” Fischer bragged that “A full 46% of the American people, according to Gallup, believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years.”

[,,,]
Most Americans do not understand the difference between a ‘theory’ as a hunch, supposition, or speculation and the scientific definition of a theory which is “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment,,,

[,,,]
Bryan Fischer proves he is clueless about scientific theory when he states: “ And these theories about the age of the earth and man are just that, by the way, theories, since nobody was there to watch it happen.”

Bryan Fischer’s Big Fail at Science and Reality | Truth Wins Out

Marco Rubio Drops Some Science About the Age of the Earth

Wondering how this stance will change as we get closer to the 2016 election cycle,,,

"I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all,,, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries."

Marco Rubio Drops Some Science About the Age of the Earth