UPDATE::City evaluating Hasidic community’s cooperation in herpes cases | New York Post

The city is zero for six in garnering full cooperation from the Hasidic community in rooting out mohels involved in neonatal herpes cases, but Mayor de Blasio says he still needs to evaluate whether a deal with the community is “working effectively or not.”

Under the February 2015 agreement on the controversial religious practice, where mohels suck blood from an incision during a circumcision, the city eliminated a parental consent form mandated by former Mayor Bloomberg.
In exchange, the community pledged to identify a mohel after an infant contracts herpes and to have the mohel tested to determine if there’s a strain match.

Last week, health officials said just 2 of 6 mohels had been identified and that — rather than being tested — they were simply advised not to continue with the practice, known as metzitzah b’peh.

City evaluating Hasidic community’s cooperation in herpes cases | New York Post

1/26/17::End of the Day

The following was shared by author Chris Rodda (Liars for Jesus 1 & 2), "[i]t's a video that Bruce Wilson put together about the Betsy DeVos-funded project, Student Statemanship Institute. This should answer the questions some were asking about Devos's dominionist Christian agenda. This is the kind of indoctrination that DeVos wants to be paid for with public tax dollars."



As Chris notes, SSI isn't the only such program as David Barton and his sidekick Rick Green run one in Texas called "Patriot Academy." There is also the "mission" of Patrick Henry College, "to train Christian men and women who will lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding". [See also: God's Next Army https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfdFZG8lYJE Listen very carefully to part 3 and especially part 4. In part 3 they do clips of their classes, each class is like a mini Sunday indoctrination session. In part 4 they talk of the internships, listen to what the issues are that they're attacking - privatization of soc security, estate taxes - think "Jesus Camp" on steroids with much broader implications for all of us.] And who can forget Sarah Palin and the Master's Commission [also from Bruce Wilson https://vimeo.com/1679097]

This is what DeVos and her ilk believe and are striving for in our schools. They want to go the charter or voucher route as gov't oversight is very lax to begin with as well as the belief that the "gov't" doesn't have jurisdiction for oversight.


Trump's voter fraud probe could pave way for tougher voting rules

One of the biggest issues to come out of this push for an investigation by Trump into the possibility of "voter fraud", is tougher voting rules. One aspect being more restrictive voter ID laws. We'll leave the discriminatory BS out of the mix for the moment.

Regardless of the fact that Trump's claim is bogus, it is more fuel for the GOTP. Let's throw a kink in that plan and instead of waiting 2 years (mid-term elections). Whether - your Green, Dem, Independent, or whatever - let's get those without proper ID the assistance they need to secure documents needed.

It took me 10 months to replace my BC. I lived 1500 miles away from my home state and I was adopted. Because I lacked photo ID (stolen) I had to rely on my father to secure a certified copy. My roadblock was simple, for others it's not so easy.

South Dakota's antiscience bill passes the Senate | NCSE

Kentucky bill seeks to make the bible part of public school curriculum

Religious freedom bill dies in Colorado House – The Denver Post

This is a good thing people. Simply put, had this bill passed it would have legalized discrimination against LGBTQI people.

",,,a thinly veiled attempt to legalize discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. And, they fear a slippery slope — how far could someone go in claiming religious belief to justify ignoring anti-discrimination laws?"

The Reich has hijacked the phrase "religious freedom", there is no such thing in these type of bills. Remember SB1062 in AZ or the debacle in IN? It's the same.

EPA Scientists' Work May Face 'Case By Case' Review By Trump Team, Official Says : The Two-Way : NPR 

Any review would directly contradict the agency's current scientific integrity policy, which was published in 2012. It prohibits "all EPA employees, including scientists, managers and other Agency leadership from suppressing, altering, or otherwise impeding the timely release of scientific findings or conclusions."

It also would likely have a chilling effect on the agency's ability to conduct research on the environmental issues it is charged with regulating.

Ericksen's comments come just days after Trump's team ordered agencies to limit their external communications to the public. Employees at the EPA, the Department of Agriculture and the Interior Department, among others, have been instructed not to post on social media accounts. At the EPA, the staff was told not to speak to the news media.

_____

PS::  Going back to an old format to see if that will kick-start my writing juices!!

UPDATED::West Virginia House approves religious exemptions bill – LGBTQ Nation

UPDATE::  Child abuse victim advocates concerned about 'religious freedom' bill 

HB 4012,  has been defeated!!  "HRC released the following statement after a bipartisan vote in the West Virginia Senate rejected HB 4012, a shameful anti-LGBT proposal that would put LGBT people -- and West Virginians of all walks of life -- at risk for discrimination. This bill failed to advance this afternoon by a vote of 7-27."

But, knowing how the Reich operates, they will not let this matter go especially as the following article notes in regards to a recent Louisiana court ruling, "which held the sincere practice of a religious belief above the safety and well-being of a child abuse victim."

HB 4012 may be a "dead duck" for now but we will see it again which make the concerns of child abuse even ore pressing.

People who work to prevent child abuse and help abuse victims in West Virginia are concerned that a bill up for a final vote in the Legislature on Wednesday could be used to justify child abuse in the name of “religious freedom.”

The bill (HB 4012), which is similar to “religious freedom restoration acts” in other states, establishes a legal process for courts to follow when people or businesses believe the government is violating their religious beliefs.

The law would establish a balancing test for courts to use when determining whether the person is being substantially burdened by government action, and whether the state has “compelling governmental interest” in ensuring the law is followed.

Governmental actions could include civil rights laws, including local LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances, so civil rights advocates fear the law will be used to allow discrimination against the LGBT community and other historically-discriminated against groups.

Proponents of the bill have openly said support stems from opposition to same-sex marriage.

Jim McKay, state coordinator for Prevent Child Abuse West Virginia, is worried about effects on another vulnerable group — children. He wonders if “governmental action” would also include laws to protect children.

__
Amid growing opposition from the business community, West Virginia‘s Republican-led House of Delegates cleared a bill Thursday that proponents say would ensure freedom of religious expression and opponents say would sanction discrimination.

In a 72-26 vote, delegates approved the measure that would let people cite religious objections to state actions in certain court proceedings.

The bill resembles laws in 21 states that are largely modeled off existing federal law. However, newer laws have garnered attention after the Supreme Court ruled to legalize gay marriage.
,,,
On Thursday, more than a dozen Democrats voted with the Republican majority, while a handful of Republicans opposed it.

The proposal moves to the Senate, where Republican Senate President Bill Cole hasn’t taken a position on it.
“That’s going to be a tough one,” Cole told reporters Monday. “There’s no question.”

West Virginia House approves religious exemptions bill – LGBTQ Nation

Georgia governor says changes in works on religious exemptions bill – LGBTQ Nation

Georgia‘s governor indicated Monday that changes are coming to a bill allowing faith-based organizations to refuse service to gay couples without repercussion.

Supporters say it’s intended to prevent religious adoption agencies, schools and other organizations from losing licenses, state grants, or other government benefits for their religious beliefs about same-sex marriage.

The state’s business community continued to marshal opposition to the proposal, wary of the type of economic backlash Indiana experienced following 2015 passage of a broader “religious freedom” law. At an event touting the state’s booming film and television industry, Gov. Nathan Deal said his office is working with legislative leaders and declined to say whether he supports the Senate-approved version.
,,,
The measure as approved by the Senate allows individuals and faith-based organizations to decline service to couples based on religious beliefs about marriage. Senate leaders added that language, originally from a separate Senate bill, to a House bill allowing religious officials to decline performing gay marriages.

Opponents warn that the changes to the bill also could extend the legal protection to businesses with faith-based mission statements.

Georgia governor says changes in works on religious exemptions bill – LGBTQ Nation

ADDENDUM::Georgia Senate backs exemptions for gay marriage objectors – LGBTQ Nation

Please note that I am well aware that the issues in Georgia have exploded in the past week to 10 days.  While "this" may be old news for those that are aware and have been following said issue, some may be uninformed.  I am also seeking to present some sort of time line for what has occurred as not only does it present national issues but international as well in regards to business and travel.

One point that needs to be kept in mind while looking at Georgia and other states (Indiana comes to mind), this IS a direct result of Hobby Lobby.

When one looks at the decision rendered by SCOTUS it has to be through the lens of the Reich's overall agenda -  starting with a "reformed" interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause or an outright repeal of the First Amendment,  continuing with the abolition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending with the implementation of dominionist ideology in order to govern by theocratic control.  With the ruling in Hobby Lobby, the Reich will "now" be able to exempt themselves from any laws that they don’t like; that they find “religiously objectionable.” 

This is a direst response to the challenge against theocratic authority that Ken Ham and Terry Mortenson of AIG speaks of,

Georgia‘s state Senate approved a bill on Friday allowing faith-based organizations to refuse services to same-sex couples without government penalties, including loss of grants or other taxpayer funding.

Senators voted 38 to 14 on party lines, despite fear about damage to the state’s economy expressed by the state’s influential business community and opposition from gay-rights advocates.

The bill combines a Senate proposal shielding adoption agencies, schools and other faith-based organizations from penalties for opposing same-sex marriage and a House bill allowing religious officials to decline performing the unions.

Sen. Greg Kirk, an Americus Republican, initially proposed the exemption for faith-based organizations as a separate bill titled the “First Amendment Defense Act.”

What makes the bill so erroneous,

In its example of beliefs that would be protected, however, the bill cites only the view of marriage as that between one man and one woman.

Georgia Senate backs exemptions for gay marriage objectors – LGBTQ Nation

Stories I didn't get too from January 2016

These are in no particular order, nor are they vetted in any way.  In other words they could be satire and I am unawares,,,

Obama just found out about the tampon tax, and he is not a fan

President Obama is a proponent for equality in the healthcare system, but up until Friday, he knew nothing about the luxury taxes that 40 states place on sanitary pads and tampons.

The Brutalism of Ted Cruz

Eventually, the mistake came to light and Haley tried to fix it. Ted Cruz was solicitor general of Texas at the time. Instead of just letting Haley go for time served, Cruz took the case to the Supreme Court to keep Haley in prison for the full 16 years.

NYT's 'Conservative' Brooks Rips Cruz's 'Pagan Brutalism.' Here's The REAL Reason He Hates Cruz

David Brooks’ all-out assault on Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has reached unforeseen heights today with a column in which he labels Cruz “brutal” and un-Christian for his harsh rhetoric against the left. Here’s Brooks’ reprehensible, religiously bigoted attack,,,

How the Conservative Media Went Nuts When David Brooks and I Discussed Cruz's "Satanic" Tone

I don't know about Brooks, but I was besieged on Twitter by conservatives who hurled angry how-dare-you tweets at me. Some accused me of committing a hate crime (the victims: Christians). But this was yet another exercise of false right-wing outrage, and a demonstration of rather poor reading comprehension on the right.

Ted Cruz’s Faith Is Under Fire. Here’s The Story Behind His Religious Beliefs

When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took the stage at Liberty University last March to launch his bid for the White House, both the location of his announcement and the first words of his campaign made his election strategy clear: he wants conservative religious votes.

Congressman Readies Ted Cruz Eligibility Lawsuit With Eye on Mom

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump suggested this week his nearest rival for the Republican presidential nomination may be ineligible for office and won a daylong echo across the political press, despite Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s attempt to brush off the commentary.

'Birther' Orly Taitz: Ted Cruz Has 'Basically the Same Issue as Obama'

"Clearly there is an issue of eligibility," crusading skeptic of President Barack Obama's birth certificate Orly Taitz told U.S. News. "It's basically the same issue as Obama has."

Proof that Ted Cruz did not become a US citizen at birth

According to the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946, also referred to as the "Act of 1947" because of its effective date, Canada did not allow dual citizenship. This was the first citizenship act in Canada to create a new citizenship status separate from being considered British Subjects. With the pride of a nation first enacting the right to become Canadian Citizens, it would stand to reason why they also chose at the time to not allow dual citizenship. According to the Government of Canada's website, the heading "History of citizenship legislation" states the following,,,

Liberty and SOGI Laws: An Impossible and Unsustainable "Compromise"

Big Business and Big Law are using Big Government to impose their cultural values on small businesses and ordinary Americans. Indiana does not need to create new laws on sexual orientation or gender identity for people who identify as sexual minorities to be treated justly. The best way to protect all Hoosiers is for Indiana not to adopt a SOGI policy at all.

BarbWire: Leftists Are Using Our Former Columnist Ted Shoebat To Unfairly Smear All Christians

Infamous Brazilian anti-gay activist Julio Severo today published a BarbWire column [http://www.donotlink.com/i436] which denounces the leftists at Right Wing Watch for reporting on former BarbWire columnist Ted Shoebat’s incessant calls to execute all homosexuals. It’s so unfair! It not like Shoebat appears in a recent anti-LGBT documentary alongside leading evangelicals and GOP presidential candidates. Oh, wait. He writes,,,

Theodore Shoebat Wants Blasphemers Burned At The Stake To Prevent Cannibalism

"That stuff cannot be tolerated," he explained, "because as soon as you allow attacks on Christianity to be enabled and to thrive, then the Christian spirit begins to decay, it begins to decline and all sorts of moral evils take place like public acts of sodomy, public acts of desecration and degenerate behavior and murder. It just spirals and it goes on and on and pretty soon you have cannibalism, pretty soon you have bestiality and pedophilia."

Theodore Shoebat Says That Gays Routinely Rape And Murder Young Boys During 'Southern Decadence'

As Shoebat explained, a fellow anti-gay activist "went out to preach against the sodomites in New Orleans" and was told by locals "about how the sodomites in the French Quarter go out and hunt for little boys, they steal little boys and then bring them to the gay bars and they rape them and they murder them in the bars."

Shoebat says that he asked for evidence of this but was told by his friend that this was simply what he had heard from the locals, so Shoebat did his own investigation and claimed to have discovered that there are thousands of reports of young boys being routinely raped by gay men while the police in New Orleans simply look the other way.

When Exemption is the Rule: The Religious Freedom Strategy of the Christian Right

The evangelical Protestant Christian Right and U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are intensifying their campaign to carve out arenas of public life where religious institutions, individuals, and even businesses may evade civil rights and labor laws in the name of religious liberty. By creating zones of legal exemption, the Christian Right seeks to shrink the public sphere and the arenas within which the government has legitimacy to defend people’s rights, including reproductive, labor, and LGBTQ rights. In this, it is often aligned with the antigovernment strategy of free market libertarians and some business interests, who for a variety of reasons also seek to restrict arenas where government can legally act.

This conservative Christian alliance is challenging a century or more of social advances and many of the premises of the Enlightenment underlying the very definition of religious liberty in the United States. Its long-range goal is to impose a conservative Christian social order inspired by religious law, in part by eroding pillars of undergirding religious pluralism that are integral to our constitutional democracy.

Since Political Research Associates’ March 2013 report, Redefining Religious Liberty: The Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights,^* a remarkable string of cultural, legislative, and legal victories by the LGBTQ community have further animated the Right’s defensive strategy aimed at exempting conservative Christians from having to accept certain advances in human and civil rights. However, the Christian Right’s religious freedom strategy is part of its long-game and is not merely an anti-LGBTQ tactic.

What the Koch brothers don't want you to know about the family money

Maybe this is what's behind the Koch brothers' mission to destroy the U.S. government as we know it—the government started it way back in 1944 when U.S. bombers destroyed an oil refinery built by their father, Fred Koch, in Nazi Germany. Yes, Koch money came in part from Nazi Germany, and that's not all. All of this is detailed in a new book from investigative reporter Jane Mayer, and examined more deeply by Gawker,,,

Concentration Camp Inmates Had To Rebuild A Nazi Refinery The Koch Brothers' Dad Helped Construct

Bombshell Reveals Nazi Connection To the Koch Brothers

Indiana Republicans Introduce The Most Anti-LGBT LGBT Rights Bill Ever | ThinkProgress

After last spring’s disastrous “religious liberty” legislation and months of chatter, Indiana Republicans have cooked up some new legislation to protect LGBT people from discrimination. Unfortunately, a draft of the new bill reveals that it is designed to accomplish the complete opposite.

The bill, which will be known as Senate Bill 100, does add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the state’s nondiscrimination laws as it claims to. However, it expends far more words to limit the extent of those protections, making them all but worthless to most plaintiffs.

,,,
In other words, Indiana Republicans are proposing legislation that creates nondiscrimination for LGBT people that is as weighted as much against those LGBT people exercising their protections as possible. Lambda Legal decried the bill as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” noting, “This doesn’t protect LGBT people — it is a road map for discrimination against LGBT people.”

Indiana Republicans Introduce The Most Anti-LGBT LGBT Rights Bill Ever | ThinkProgress

Children also have the right to freedom of religion or belief, and that must be protected

So, in my last post, I focused my comments on the "perception" that Christian Examiner author, Gregory Tomlin, wants the reader to leave with concerning Heiner Bielefeldt's statement on freedom of religion and belief in regards to children. (Document E)

GA

70th

05/08/2015

A/70/286

Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

E F S A C R

About the only thing the author got right, Bielefeldt's name and title.

My primary focus in looking at the original document surrounds this statement by the Examiner: 

Bielefeldt also claimed that the traditional family is the environment in which the child best develops his or her religious ideals and first learns to express them. As a result, he said, any attempt by the state to remove the child based on the pretext that the religious opinions of the parents may be harmful is "illegitimate."

Taken at face-value, it can be manipulated to justify any number of abhorrent practices as I noted previously. It was this thought that begged me to look at exactly what was stated.  Hint: the verbiage - traditional family - it ain't in there!  Nor is word "'illegitimate'".  Tomlin, in his zeal to advance his agenda, has ascribed words, thoughts, and conclusions to Bielefeldt that are not present in the original document.

What I did find under "role of parents", the importance of the family unit or structure as a whole in the "upbringing and development" of a child as a gestalt.:

While recognizing the status of the child as a rights holder, the Convention on the Rights of the Child also reflects the awareness that the child needs a supportive environment to realize his or her rights.  That supportive environment is usually provided by the family. According to the preamble of the Convention, the child “should grow up in a family environment”, since the family provides “the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children”[6]

Further along, in paragraph 22, we have recognition of the diversity of the family unit or family structure:

Given the child’s dependency on an enabling family environment, albeit with recognition of the variety of family forms, parents have the primary responsibility for supporting the child in the exercise of his or her human rights.[7]

No where in this document does the phrase "traditional family" - in essence one man, one woman marriage - appear.

In regards to government interventions that Tomlin seems concerned with.  Bielefeldt continuously highlights the importance of recognizing "the need of the child for an enabling environment" but balances that need with not "overrid[ing], ignor[ing] or marginaliz[ing] the rights of the child." [7]  

Bielefeldt recognizes the inherent controversies surrounding the relationship between the rights of the child and parental rights in regards to government interventions, but is "convinced that such anxieties cannot be sustained on the basis of an appropriate reading of the Convention, seen in conjunction with other relevant international standards."[8]  Noting that "some State agencies could be tempted to use the child’s right to freedom of religion or belief as a pretext for undue interference", Bielefeldt does not state, as Tomlin insinuates "any attempt by the state to remove the child based on the pretext that the religious opinions of the parents may be harmful is "illegitimate.""

What he does say,

However, based on an appropriate understanding of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the fear that article 14 of the Convention could legitimize the erosion of parental rights seems unsubstantiated.  Instead of being part of the problem, the Convention can and should be part of the solution. In conjunction with other human rights instruments, article 14 can help to tackle the problem of abusive State interventions. Rather than eroding parental rights in the sphere of freedom of religion or belief, article 14 corroborates, and at the same time further qualifies, those rights by acknowledging their significance from the specific perspective of the rights of the child.[9]
,,,
Moreover, situations may emerge in which the best interests of the child may actually require State interventions to protect him or her, for example against neglect, domestic violence or harmful practices.  Intervening measures must always be carried out with empirical and normative diligence and furthermore they are connected to substantive and procedural safeguards.[10]

This overall theme of balance and restraint is carried throughout Bielefeldt's entire report,

The Convention on the Rights of the Child combines the recognition of the child as a genuine rights holder with respect for the rights and duties of parents or legal guardians in directing the child in the exercise of  his or her  human rights. However, situations can occur in which State interventions in the sphere of parental rights are necessary, for instance to protect the child from neglect, domestic violence or harmful  practices. According to article 19, paragraph 1, of the Convention, “States parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.”  In the context of the right to health,  article  24,  paragraph  3, of  the Convention obliges States to “take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children".[15-16]
,,,
As the Committee on the Rights of the Child has pointed out in its general comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration: “Given the gravity of the impact on the child of separation from his or her parents, such separation should only occur as a last resort measure, as when  the child is in danger of experiencing imminent harm or when otherwise necessary; separation should not take place if less intrusive measures could protect the child.  ”Under article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention, “competent authorities subject to judicial review” have to “determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child”. Even in such a situation, the child should be able to “maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is  contrary to the child’s best interests” (article 9, paragraph 3).[16]

Again no where in this document does Bielefeldt give parents the unfettered power Tomlin implies.  Had Tomlin actually read the report, and not just the press release, it would have been clear.  By glossing over, or ignoring, what was clearly stated in the release, “Religious community leaders should support the elimination of harmful practices inflicted on children, including by publicly challenging problematic religious justifications for such practices whenever they occur,” Tomlin lost a chance to prevent more instances of religious child maltreatment.


Children also have the right to freedom of religion or belief, and that must be protected

UN official: Children have a right to religious freedom, too | Christian Examiner Newspapers

A high-ranking United Nations official has expressed concern over the growing loss of religious freedom among children around the world, especially in places where young girls are treated as property or bounty from conquests.

Heiner Bielefeldt, a German diplomat and the UN's special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, said in a statement Oct. 23 that all governments represented in the UN General Assembly had an obligation to "respect religious practices by children and their families and support families in fulfilling their role in providing an enabling environment for the realization of the rights of the child."

On the surface, the statement might seem like an attempt to emancipate children from their parent's instruction, but that is not Bielefeldt's goal. He said parents play a key role in leading children into religious belief.
,,,
Bielefeldt also claimed that the traditional family is the environment in which the child best develops his or her religious ideals and first learns to express them. As a result, he said, any attempt by the state to remove the child based on the pretext that the religious opinions of the parents may be harmful is "illegitimate."

"As a matter of fact, in some countries, far-reaching State interventions into families in the spheres of religious initiation, socialization and education of children actually do occur — at times also by invoking an alleged interest of the child. Such problematic State interventions disproportionately affect families belonging to religious minorities, new religious movements or small communities often stigmatized as 'sects.' Depending on the country, families not professing any religion may also be under increased threat of undue State interference. In extreme cases, children have been taken away from their families, for instance under the pretext of saving them from ill-defined 'superstitious' religions — a pretext often invoked against indigenous families in the past."

Please note that my comments are focused on the perception that the Christian Examiner wants the reader to leave with - that parents have unrestricted power to act, in regard to the (religious) upbringing of their child(ren), void of any governmental oversight.  In other words, laws be damned.  I have not yet read the actual document/statement and I have a hard time fathoming the following, according to the Examiner.

Does Tomlin even realize what he is implying here?   Don't want a gay child, send them off to get "conversion therapy".  Who cares if it doesn't work.  Want uneducated, illiterate children because the "rapture"?  Well you now have carte blanc.  Think religion doesn't kill?  Now you can pray till your hearts content to "cure" your child. 

Sounds like Tomlin attended the recent World Congress of Family gathering in Salt Lake City, Utah where the "traditional family" canard is highly touted.  The WCF featured speaker, Mark Regnarus, whose "research" on gay parenting has been debunked.  Or maybe he's been reading Donald Paul Sullins' flawed paper, Emotional Problems among Children with Same-Sex Parents: Difference by Definition, that incorrectly flaunts the benefits of "traditional" families.

UN official: Children have a right to religious freedom, too | Christian Examiner Newspapers

Can some big D.C. churches fight off a bike lane? They are bringing large crowds to try. - The Washington Post

WTF!!  Seriously, they are arguing over a bike lane?

I have read some fucked up stories in my time but this one has to be the most asinine thing I have ever come across.  I am loathe to even consider is a "religious" issue.  It's  fucking pure fat-assed laziness on the part of the church.

Please,,, some one explain how in the hell a bike lane would infringe upon a the church's "constitutionally protected rights of religious freedom and equal protection of the laws."

Some prominent D.C. African-American churches showed their muscles Thursday evening, bringing out hundreds of congregants to a city meeting to discuss proposals to build a protected bike lane that could cut into street parking spaces near the churches.

And the packed meeting — which was eventually broken up by city officials who said the crowd in the Shaw library’s meeting room was a fire hazard — highlighted a tension in the rapidly changing District between longtime, black residents and new, largely white residents.

“We just think we have to protect what’s ours,” said Robert Price III, a pastor at the United House of Prayer church in Shaw on the 600 block of M Street NW, referencing black churches that have left the District in recent years.
,,,
“No one is going to get everything they want; we have to find a reasonable solution,” said Alex Padro, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission representative whose district includes the United House of Prayer Church.

An interesting point to note, 

What’s sad is that the DDOT relented in a similar case, ultimately agreeing to making a bike path that could double as parking space (which isn’t ideal).

Ultimately, after a much-heated back-and-forth between the church, city and cycling advocates, the city agreed to make the bike lane unprotected in front of the church. The church was happy with the outcome, but cycling advocates warned that it could set a dangerous precedent for other churches and businesses that don’t want a bike lane in front of their establishments.

Dangerous precedent, indeed. That’s exactly what’s happening now.

In a big city where bike lanes are better for the environment and harder to come by, it’s ludicrous that one church gets to shut down an idea like this. People will adjust to the changes as they always do, and a bike lane isn’t creating some undue burden on Christians who want to worship. Worshipers will just have to get used to the new reality, whether they bike to church or park a little further away.

These Christians are whining about a common good and it’s especially galling because the church isn’t even paying taxes to help with street maintenance, unlike the taxpayers who want the bike lane.

Can some big D.C. churches fight off a bike lane? They are bringing large crowds to try. - The Washington Post

Militant group publishes global hitlist of bloggers, activists and writers | World news | The Guardian

“Our weapon is [the] pen, and we can use it without hurting anybody. We just want to make people conscious about their rights. So that nobody can use them to fulfill bad intentions.”

Ananya Azad

 
An Islamic militant group in Bangladesh has issued a hitlist of secular bloggers, writers and activists around the world, saying they will be killed if its demands are not met.

The list will raise fears that Islamic militant violence within the unstable south Asian country could take on an international dimension.

The targets in the list include nine bloggers based in the UK, seven in Germany, two in the US, one in Canada and one in Sweden. Some are Bangladeshi citizens living overseas. Others are dual nationals or citizens of the western nations.

The list was issued in a statement on the internet by the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a group that has been blamed for a series of murders of bloggers and activists in Bangladesh over the last 18 months. All those killed have been prominent critics of extremist religious doctrines, especially in Islam.

The acting leader of the ABT and two close associates were arrested earlier this month in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a secular blogger earlier this year. 

Individuals on the new list have told the Guardian they intend to keep writing and blogging.

“Our weapon is [the] pen, and we can use it without hurting anybody. We just want to make people conscious about their rights. So that nobody can use them to fulfill bad intentions,” said Ananya Azad, a Bangladeshi blogger who has been forced into exile in Europe and is on the list.

There has been no previous indication that the ABT was targeting bloggers overseas and the list will worry security authorities in Europe and the US.

Militant group publishes global hitlist of bloggers, activists and writers | World news | The Guardian

Cult NewsDoes Kim Davis believe Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz are condemned to hell? - Cult News

Well this is interesting and Rick Ross does pose a vital question, "Does the newly anointed martyr for religious freedom really believe in religious freedom? Or is Kim Davis only posing as a mainstream Evangelical when she is really from a fringe Pentecostal group that condemns Christians who disagree with its doctrine?

Let's take that one step further and also throw into the mix this comment,

You miss the point of both Christianity and the First Amendment. To the prior: “… and in all things – charity”, and to the latter freedom of religion and expression is NOT limited to only that which squares with one’s own position. So there is no Constitutional nor Christian justification for Cruz and Huckabee to NOT support this lady, even if they don’t agree with her brand of theology. This is what TRUE tolerance is about,,,

 Oh really?!  Then please explain this,

See here for a full description of the interview in question.

Huckabee and Cruz should be all over this complaint by the logic presented by the comment.  But, alas, only the "right" GOD counts, ",,, By that I do not mean Allah, Buddha, etc., but rather I mean the YHWH – the great “I Am”, the God of the bible, Judaism and Christianity."

[Please note that I only use this complaint as a counter example of the Rights hypocritical stance on "religious freedom".  I have yet to read the complaint nor any documents or articles concerning this complaint other than a precursory view.  I provide Cenk Uygur's, host of the The Young Turks, break down as a preliminary overview but I do not necessarily agree with him without further examination.]

But I digress,,,

Kim Davis apparently has become a Christian martyr to some Evangelicals, including former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee and United States Senator Ted Cruz. Both men are Southern Baptists seeking the office of President of the United States.

However, what Huckabee and Cruz don’t know about the Kentucky county clerk recently jailed for her stand against gay marriage is that she believes that all Christians that don’t subscribe to her sect’s specific beliefs will be denied salvation and apparently spend eternity in hell.

Davis belongs to the Solid Rock Apostolic Church in Morehead, Kentucky. Solid Rock is a member of Apostolic Pentecostal Churches and Ministries and is listed at its directory for Kentucky.

The Apostolic Church website lists “60 questions on the Godhead,” which specifically deny the existence of the trinity as believed by the overwhelming majority of Christians, including Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz.

The Apostolic Church website also explains “Why We Baptize in Jesus’ Name,” which excludes the efficacy of any other baptism formula, such as those done in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit., which represents what Apostolic Churches consider the false doctrine of the trinity. This “formula of baptism” is essential for salvation. As the Apostolic Churches website states, “Out basic and fundamental doctrine shall be the Bible standard of full salvation, which is the absolute essentiality of repentance, baptism in water by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the initial sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.”

The Apostolic Church further concludes, “We believe the Bible teaches that the above statement to be essential and not subsequent to salvation.”

What this means is that anyone, including Evangelicals like Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz, are required to meet these requirements or they have no salvation and will apparently be condemned to hell. According to Kim Davis’ beliefs the pastor and former governor of Arkansas and the United States senator must renounce their false beliefs about the trinity and be re-baptized only in the name of Jesus and thus become true believers. Anything less is unacceptable to God according to Davis and her church.

Cult NewsDoes Kim Davis believe Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz are condemned to hell? - Cult News

UPDATE::New York City Health Board Repeals Rule on Consent Forms for Circumcision Ritual - The New York Times

The New York City Board of Health voted on Wednesday to ease regulations on a controversial circumcision ritual practiced in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, fulfilling a priority of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The vote repealed a Bloomberg-era rule requiring parents to sign a consent form before the ritual, which involves a person performing a circumcision, known as a mohel, to use his mouth to suck blood away from the incision on an infant’s penis. The practice has been linked to herpes infections in infants.

The city’s health department will instead ask hospitals to distribute a brochure to Orthodox families that warns of the risks involved in the ritual, known as metzitzah b’peh. City Hall officials said they were finishing up an agreement with Orthodox leaders so that the mohel would be tested for herpes if an infant was infected.

But those tests, and any penalties for mohels found to be infected, would not be mandated by law.

In effect, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, is betting that collaborating with Orthodox leaders — a group that has long felt alienated from government — will do more to protect infants’ health than in previous attempts to impose regulations on a cherished practice, even one linked to two deaths.

The consent forms had infuriated leaders in the city’s politically influential ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which called the requirement an infringement on religious freedom. As a candidate, Mr. de Blasio had pledged to remove them, and the mayor has noted that herpes infections stemming from the ritual had continued to be reported even after the forms were introduced.

New York City Health Board Repeals Rule on Consent Forms for Circumcision Ritual - The New York Times

Here's Everything You Need To Know About The Next Big Fight For LGBT Rights - Towleroad

With marriage equality out of the way (minus a few exceptions), it’s no secret that religious exemption laws represent one of the next major battlegrounds in the struggle for LGBT equality.

Which means that if you haven’t already, this might be a good time to bone up on which states have these laws, how they work and why they pose such a grave threat to gay rights going forward.

The Movement Advancement Project (MAP) released a report today that serves as a good primer on the subject, and as you can see in the map reproduced above, the news is not so good.

The report shows that nearly half of LGBT Americans live in one of 21 states with broad religious exemption laws, and with new proposals likely this fall, those numbers may soon grow. Already, lawmakers in 17 states have introduced religious exemption proposals since the beginning of the year, largely in response to the spread of marriage equality.

Here's Everything You Need To Know About The Next Big Fight For LGBT Rights - Towleroad

Could Something Other Than Mohels Be Giving Herpes in Circumcisions? - News – Forward.com

A former county health official claims he has identified a source for herpes infections in ultra-Orthodox baby boys — and it’s not metzitzah b’peh , the controversial ritual in which a mohel uses his lips to suction blood from the circumcision wound.

New York City health officials blame metzitzah b’peh, or MBP, for infecting 17 Jewish babies with herpes since 2000. Two of those babies died, and a further two suffered brain damage.

But E. Oscar Alleyne, the former director of epidemiology and public health planning for New York’s Rockland County Health Department, says that while MBP is a high-risk procedure, DNA investigations that he conducted show that it is not the sole explanation for such infections.

“We’ve been able to identify scientifically that [herpes infection] does occur from other point sources,” Alleyne said.

Alleyne said that by using DNA testing he was able to discount mohels as the source of two neonatal herpes infections in Rockland County in 2014. He said that epidemiological evidence points to a different source for the infections.

Alleyne, however, refused to share that source or his data. His work has not been peer-reviewed or accepted by a medical journal for publication, so his claims cannot be independently verified.
,,,
Even if Alleyne could provide convincing data to suggest an alternative source of infections, Zenilman said it did not change his assessment that MBP “is a risky practice in general and [that] epidemiological data support that.”
Zenilman added that it was unusual for an official to withhold results ahead of publication if they are of public health importance.

Alleyne said that because he has developed a working relationship with the region’s ultra-Orthodox communities, he has already given their leaders his recommendations to improve infection control practices.


Could Something Other Than Mohels Be Giving Herpes in Circumcisions? - News – Forward.com

Cruz: 'Liberal Fascism' Seeks 'To Persecute, To Punish, To Fine' Any Christian Who Opposes Gay Marriage | Right Wing Watch

Same four or five “victims” of so-called persecuted, Christianists that have been at every anti-gay event in the last couple of years: former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran, florist Baronnelle Stutzman, bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein, Mennonite couple Dick and Betty Odgaard, and former Air Force Sgt. Phillip Monk.

Cruz is desperate to up his polling numbers enough to make the cut for the next GOP debate.  It's a crowded field  dominated by Donald Trump, contenders like Cruz have to up his rhetoric just to register on the news radar.   According to the Washington Post: 

Cruz has said that 2016 will be a “religious liberty election,” and is working to woo the religious right, which has a strong constituency here, in the early voting state of South Carolina and in the rest of the South, which is set to play a major role in the Republican nominating contest.
,,,
While Cruz will be competing for the evangelical vote with candidates including former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former senator Rick Santorum and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, few have been as vociferous about the notion that religious liberty is under attack than Cruz. He brought up the issue repeatedly during a bus tour of the South last week, repeatedly promising that on his first day in office he would direct federal agencies not to meddle with people who believe they have stayed firm to their religious beliefs in the face of social change.

And so it seems that was the point of the "Rally for Religious Liberty" in Iowa, pander to the base.  Although it appears his "scripted" day did not start very well,

"What about the question about LGBT people being fired for being gay-trans?" Page asked.

"Well, what we're seeing right now, we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith," Cruz said.

"You're discriminating against LGBT people," Page said. "Well, would you use that argument in segregation?"
 ,,,
Cruz cited the Gortz Haus case where the Iowa business denied letting a same-sex couple use their wedding chapel due to their religious beliefs. The courts ruled against the couple. The couple decided to stop offering wedding rentals to all couples and then recently closed this summer.

"Now I’m happy to answer your question, but not to have a back-and-forth debate," said Cruz. "No one has the right to force someone else to abandon their faith and their conscience."

According to RRW, Cruz made his rounds:

Mickelson asked Cruz to discuss his fight against the “brazenness of the atheist Taliban” and the fact that “anytime they furrow their brow at anyone [people] fold up and go home and give them what they want.”

Cruz, who has previously railed against what he called a gay “jihad" against Christians, apparently liked Mickelson’s phrase, and took it up while describing his work fighting against church-state separation efforts.

“There is an assault on faith and an assault on religious liberty that we see across this country and it has never been as bad as it is right now,” he said, claiming that “radical atheists and liberals” are “driving any acknowledgment of God out of the public square.”

He also spoke with Ed Berliner on Newsmax to discuss what Cruz calls "liberal fascism" which has a "hatred and intolerance for Christians."

Berliner asked Cruz how he planned to bring both sides together when the Republican Party has a reputation that it "does not like homosexuals, that you are anti-gay" and that it supports anti-gay discrimination. Cruz, predictably, refused to address that issue, insisting simply that "I'm a Christian and Scripture commands Christians to love everybody" before declaring that the real issue is the supposed government persecution of people of faith.
,,,
"What we're seeing now," he said, "is this liberal fascism and intolerance where their object is to persecute, to punish, to fine any Bible-following Christian or believer that believes in the biblical definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. And that is profoundly inconsistent with who we are as Americans."
,,,
"There are some activists who, frankly, manifest a hatred and intolerance for Christians, who are persecuting Christians," Cruz said. "That is unfortunate. As I said, I think we should love everybody."

Cruz: 'Liberal Fascism' Seeks 'To Persecute, To Punish, To Fine' Any Christian Who Opposes Gay Marriage | Right Wing Watch

See also:

Ted Cruz Called God’s Candidate At Anti-Gay Rally In Iowa: VIDEO

Georgia Democrat Captures Republican Seat Running Against Religious Freedom Laws - The New Civil Rights Movement

For those that have followed my blog or have heard me speak on various internet platforms, one of my oft repeated statements is, "for those of you who say apathetically that both parties are the same, I beg to differ.  For those that say your vote doesn't count, yes it does; even if it is not for your ideal candidate."  Here is a perfect example of the importance of the so-called "non essential" elections.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Taylor's victory gives Democrats control of Fulton County’s legislative delegation, where Republicans had held a 13-12 majority. Even more important, before Taylor's win, Republicans held a supermajority in both chambers. Taylor's election now gives Democrats the ability to block an override of the governor's veto. They also have the power to keep a constitutional amendment from passing, which could be crucial should the Republicans get it into their heads to try to write LGBT discrimination into the Georgia state constitution.

Oh, and the fact that he won on the platform he did is pretty amazing as well; Taylor ran against RFRA.  As Esselink notes,

While the 80th District might be very red, it is also largely upscale, encompassing Atlanta's wealthy northern suburbs where attitudes about gays are evolving much more rapidly than in the rural districts of southern Georgia. In fact, the departing Republican Mike Jacobs was the representative who scuttled the Georgia RFRA bill last session, by offering an LGBT non-discrimination amendment. Rep. Jacobs understood his constituents in the 80th District were evolving. Taylor Bennett ran that gay evolution right into the statehouse. 

Georgia Democrat Captures Republican Seat Running Against Religious Freedom Laws - The New Civil Rights Movement

Ted Cruz says there is no biblical opposition to interracial marriage so you can’t compare it to same-sex marriage

It is mind-blowing that these politicians cannot see the similarities of this debate and still see race as something you are born with and sexual orientation as a choice.

Does Cruz think we need to fight a bloody war to finally realize that same-sex marriage is a right, just as he thinks we needed to do in order to understand slavery is wrong?

Ted Cruz says there is no biblical opposition to interracial marriage so you can’t compare it to same-sex marriage

Restaurant That Refused Gay Weddings Closing For Lack Of Business - The New Civil Rights Movement

Although the Odgaards refused to admit they discriminated against the couple, they agreed to pay a $5,000 settlement, and then chose not to hold any weddings at their restaurant, so they wouldn't have to host scary gay ones.

The free market chose and they chose not to spend their money in an establishment that discriminates against gays.  I for one shed no tears,,,

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Back during Rachel - the early years, when the MSNBC star was still an unknown quantity, Rand Paul, who was running for the Kentucky senate seat he now holds, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show. That interview is a prime reasons that Rachel is feared by Republicans and revered by Democrats. Rachel asked Libertarian Paul this question:

"Do you think that a private business has the right to say we don't serve black people?"

Candidate Paul hemmed and hawed and declared himself disgusted by racism and did everything but swear and oath to the baby Jesus that he himself would never discriminate, but in the end he said yes; a businessman has every right to serve those he chooses and turn away anyone who displeases him for any reason. Rand said he believed in the market, and that if anyone were foolish enough to turn away Black customers, outrage in the marketplace will soon either force the business to change, or to close it down.

The very scenario Rand Paul described is happening right now in Iowa. Restaurant owners who refused to host gay weddings are being forced to close up shop because people stopped coming. Dick and Betty Odgaard, owners of the Görtz Haus Gallery Restaurant, in Grimes, Iowa, announced this week that they will be closing.

Restaurant That Refused Gay Weddings Closing For Lack Of Business - The New Civil Rights Movement

When in Doubt, Religify! Fear Mongering about Religious Liberty | Political Research Associates

I have been sitting on this article for almost a month now.  Not quite sure as to how to introduce it, or where exactly the issue addressed falls in the grand scheme of thing.  But Clarksom, in his initial write up, mentions two recent rulings:

The Institute draws on detailed understandings of recent Supreme Court cases as sources for this legal groundwork against the coming siege. They point particularly to the 2012 case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which disallowed a discrimination complaint by a teacher, declaring that her role was part of the ministry of the church, and her employer therefore was exempt from employment discrimination laws. The decision is widely seen as having opened the door to a wide range of religious exemptions from civil rights and labor laws. The Institute also points to the 2014 decision in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. & Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell, which for the first time endowed “closely held” for-profit corporations with religious rights under the First Amendment.

And, that took my mind back to something I wrote last year in regards to the Hobby Lobby ruling:

When one looks at the decision rendered by SCOTUS it has to be through the lens of the Reich's overall agenda -  starting with a "reformed" interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause or an outright repeal of the First Amendment,  continuing with the abolition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending with the implementation of dominionist ideology in order to govern by theocratic control.  With the ruling in Hobby Lobby, the Reich will "now" be able to exempt themselves from any laws that they don’t like; that they find “religiously objectionable.” 

As Clarkson notes, "most of our attention is directed to larger-than-life marriage equality dramas being played out in courtrooms, legislative chambers, and major media outlets, the foundation is being laid for massive resistance to marriage equality and much more."  The faux persecution complex, the so-called fight for religious liberty, and so on.

What has gone unnoticed in all this, the Reich has realized that they are losing in the court of public opinion.  They may not admit it but as Clarkson states in his companion piece for LGBTQNation "they foresee as a long siege against conservative Christian churches, businesses, and organizations."  Hence the issue at hand:

Major Christian Right legal agencies have begun issuing manuals for conservative churches and other organizations to inoculate themselves against private lawsuits and government enforcement of civil rights laws.

The national Christian Right legal network Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, one of the primary groups behind the legislative agenda to redefine religious freedom into an affirmative right to discriminate) joined forces with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to issue one such handbook, and the Texas-based Liberty Institute has issued a similar manual.

The ADF and Southern Baptist handbook (titled, “Protecting Your Ministry from Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Lawsuits: A Legal Guide for Southern Baptist and Evangelical Churches, Schools, and Ministries”) anticipates needing to “engage a hostile social and political culture… amid the gathering spiritual darkness.”

The Liberty Institute sees it as “not a matter of if but when religious institutions will be faced with damaging, anti-religious legal attacks.”  To prepare, the Institute advises institutions from churches and synagogues to fraternities and for-profit corporations to “religify.”  [Emphases in the original.]

Both manuals urge religification by revising all of their institutional documents, from employee job descriptions to facility rental agreements. Workers and volunteers are reclassified under a broad redefinition of “ministry”; and institutional functions are cast specifically in terms of religious doctrine. The goal is to be seen by the courts as qualifying for broad “ministerial exemptions” from the law in as many ways as possible.

As I mentioned last July, Hobby Lobby was a test and as the Rev. Terry Fox declared, in regards to what has now amounted to a renewed push for state RFRAs, "We are not going to let it die. We are very committed. The Body of Christ is a powerful movement when it comes together."

And just as Fox asserted, "These manuals demonstrate that Christian Right leaders of the culture war intend to fight LGBTQ Rights and marriage equality in the states, in the towns and cities, and in many kinds of institutions, no matter what the federal government and the courts may say."

When in Doubt, Religify! Fear Mongering about Religious Liberty | Political Research Associates