I'm sorry you feel SOCAS is not important (1)

Generally not something I would expand upon but this "head in the sand" attitude needs to cease as it has been going on for way too long. Due to space considerations I could not elaborate as much as I would have liked concerning some points I made. So here we go, and this is gonna be long, very long!

As I noted, religionists have a troubled relationship with race and segregation.

In May 1969, a group of African-American parents in Holmes County, Mississippi, sued the Treasury Department to prevent three new whites-only K-12 private academies from securing full tax-exempt status, arguing that their discriminatory policies prevented them from being considered “charitable” institutions,,,

In  Green v. Kennedy [https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/309/1127/2096127/] (David Kennedy was secretary of the treasury at the time), decided in January 1970, the plaintiffs won a preliminary injunction, which denied the “segregation academies” tax-exempt status until further review. In the meantime, the government was solidifying its position on such schools. Later that year, President Richard Nixon ordered the Internal Revenue Service to enact a new policy denying tax exemptions to all segregated schools in the United States. Under the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which forbade racial segregation and discrimination, discriminatory schools were not—by definition—“charitable” educational organizations, and therefore they had no claims to tax-exempt status; similarly, donations to such organizations would no longer qualify as tax-deductible contributions.

What Balmer argues, Paul Weyrich used this opportunity to organize the Religious Right as the IRS began sending questionnaires to church-related “segregation academies.” One such institution which become the battleground is Bob Jones University. While the initial legal battle began in 1971, it wasn't until 1983that SCOTUS upheld the right of the IRS to rescind the tax-exempt status of the University in Bob Jones University v. United States 461 U.S. 574 (1983).


From Amanda Marcotte,

Balmer doesn't mention it, but there was one other shift in the public consciousness going on at the time. The "Stop ERA" campaign, headed up by Christian right leader Phyllis Schlafly to kill the Equal Rights Amendment banning sex discrimination, got moving in 1972. By the time male Christian conservative leaders like Weyrich and Falwell decided to make abortion a centerpiece issue, Schlafly had done the yeoman's work of convincing huge numbers of evangelical Christians that feminists were a threat to the very fabric of society. With hostility to women's equality rising, making the anti-abortion pitch was probably much, much easier.

In regards to the Bible being used as a sledge-hammer (justifying slavery and anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination), two books come to mind: Saving The Original Sinner: How Christians Have Used the Bible’s First Man to Oppress, Inspire and Make Sense of the World, by Karl. W. Giberson (2015) AND The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Peter Enns (2015). Both books explore the intellectual games used by conservative Christians to “protect” the Bible and justify their actions or in-actions.

It is in chapter 9 that Giberson explores racism and slavery. Contrary to AiG some of the most ardent racists were so-called Christians who used the Bible to support such. (I contrast with Ham and AiG as I am more familiar with their stance than any other creationist/religionist organization.) Just for shits-n-giggle, this is AiG's review of Giberson's book (abstract).

According to Dr. Karl Giberson, the molecules-to-man evolution that supposedly spawned us also made us the morally messed up creatures that we are. In Saving the Original Sinner he attacks belief in the historicity of Adam. He teaches that we are “original sinners” not as Adam’s descendants but as a result of our evolutionary heritage. Believing sin and death did not enter human history through Adam but are the natural results of evolution, he considers Adam irrelevant. Gone with Adam is the biblical foundation for understanding why the “last Adam” Jesus Christ came to die for the sins of the first Adam’s descendants. Bible-believing creationists who believe Adam and Eve were the first parents of all people refuse to accept Darwinian evolution’s explanation of human origins. Therefore, belief in Adam is a stronghold that evolutionist Karl Giberson assaults with this book, hoping to precipitate a crisis of faith in biblical creationists.

While I would have to review my copy of Giberson book to be sure, but this goes to Ham's fear of losing authority, something I have written about before - specifically The Evolution Connection.  Why he pushes so hard for creationism to be taught in schools.

As for my take away from Enns' book, while he was a bit more fluffy for my overall liking, he makes an interesting point that I believe highlights the mind-set of the Religious Right, "God never told the Israelites to kill the Canaanites. The Israelites believed that God told them to kill the Canaanites."

Again for shits-n-giggles, AiG's critique.

What we know of Jesus Christ’s love and grace comes to us through the reliable testimony of God’s Word. That simple and beautiful biblical truth, summed up in the familiar phrase “The Bible tells me so” from the hymn “Jesus Loves Me,” introduces many children to the love of Jesus. This sweet refrain also reminds adults that God’s revelation to us in His Word is the foundation for faith and the ultimate source of truth. A new book capitalizing on the familiar song—The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Dr. Peter Enns—is a collection of compromises, written for the layman. The book wastes a great deal of ink claiming that the Bible is simply not to be trusted or taken seriously. In it Dr. Enns continues his destructive influence on the Christian faith and biblical understanding through his relentless assault on God’s Word.

We are all well aware of the "clobber passages" used to justify hatred and discrimination, re-hashing them now would be a bit redundant (and make this post even longer).  What I want to focus on are some of the preachers of hate both members of clergy and pols-n-pundits.  As I said many years ago, this type of rhetoric is no longer fringe.

Sorry to say, if you do not speak out against the extremism you condone it, it is no longer fringe when it is occurs in our everyday life. To borrow a phrase from a wise friend, I leave you with this: "The religions of "love" teaching hate!!"

Scott Lively in his own words,,,

"There is no question that homosexuality figures prominently in the history of the Holocaust. … The first years of terrorism against the Jews were carried out by the homosexuals of the SA."
– The Pink Swastika, 1996

"Homosexuality is thus biologically (and to varying degrees morally) equivalent to pedophilia, sado-masochism, bestiality and many other forms of deviant behavior."
– “Deciphering 'Gay' Word-Speak and Language of Confusion," May 2002

Lively is currently running for Governor of Massachusetts, is responsible, in part,  for the "kill the gays" bill in Uganda. With author Kevin Abrams, wrote The Pink Swastika (1995); which is thoroughly debunked. Believes his advocacy helped inspire the Russian law passed in 2013 that bans “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relations among minors.”

Next comes a man who is of the opinion all gays are pedophiles and will have sex with anything, believing all homosexuals should kill themselves. (See:: America's Hate Preachers a BBC documentary, highlighted below, and this little gem.)

ANDERSON: To normal people, homosexuality [and] pedophilia are disgusting. To a normal person.
LIVINGSTON: Why do you put pedophilia and homosexuality in the same group?
ANDERSON: They are in the same group! Because any man who would have sex with another man would have sex with anything. Period. Like, I’ll put it this way: Any man who would have sex with another man would have sex with an animal.
LIVINGSTON: That’s blatantly not true, though!
ANDERSON: It is true! That’s reality. Even if you don’t think it’s reality…

… LIVINGSTON: What do you think homosexuals should do, then?
ANDERSON: Kill themselves, as far as I’m concerned, because they’re horrible, wicked people. They’re just gonna keep molesting and destroying people. So I don’t have any advice for homosexuals, except to put a bullet in your own head so that you don’t molest my kids or anyone else’s kids.

Steven Anderson has been banned in Jamaica (2018), Botswana (deported - 2016), South Africa (2016), the UK (2016) and Canada.  He is known for, not only the above, but also calling on the government to execute homosexuals as well as declaring there are  “50 less pedophiles in this world” after the Pulse nightclub shooting. (Theodore Shoebat is another anti-LGBTQI+ crusader who has also advocated for executing homosexuals. Along with his father Walid "more than a few holes in his backstory" Shoebat, they are a potent hate duo.)

[Besides advocating for the death of LGBT people, Steven Anderson also made an antisemitic film and promoted Holocaust denial (“Marching to Zion.” released in March 2015 - mirror site), saying the Jews lied about the Holocaust in order to create the state of Israel, and that slave laborers at Auschwitz were compensated for their work and could buy items at a commissary.  This is a horrid little film and if you have a strong stomach, it is worth the watch.]

Next on my list is Gordon Klingenschmitt (sadly a hometown boy as he was born in Buffalo and hence my interest), this man should be a nobody but for his one claim to fame. In 2006 he was court-martialed and subsequently ousted from the Navy and sued in the Court of Federal Claims, claiming that he was wrongfully discharged from the Navy and seeking reinstatement, and arguing that his First Amendment rights were violated. (Readers Digest version.)

Now Gordon has had a fairly long career by hate-mongers standards.  While not as vitriolic as Anderson, he is anti-LGBTQI+; he's a bizarre little man. Although he has a thing for "demonic spirits". What makes Klingenschmitt so dangerous, he has served as a state legislator (CO) and is considering another run in 2018.

As Luning notes,

A lightning rod for controversy who put actual lightning rods to shame during his one term in the General Assembly, Klingenschmitt maintained President Barack Obama is possessed by demons and once performed an exorcism on him. He accused U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who is gay, of wanting to “join ISIS in beheading Christians,” although Klingenschmitt later said the remark wasn’t meant seriously. He was admonished by House GOP leadership for calling it “the curse of God upon America for our sin of not protecting innocent children in the womb” when a pregnant Longmont woman was attacked and her baby was cut from her womb.

Not only is he considering another run for office, he does have the ear of some notable if not infamous politicians. As I have sated before, Klingenschmitt is guilty of biblical hyperliteralism; it is a false way of biblical interpretation which leads to his many bigoted statements.

While Gordon is in some cases mild, not so with our next homophobe,  Kevin Swanson.  He like Anderson and Shoebat advocate for the execution of homosexuals.  What's worse is he has political clout as demonstrated by the 2015 National Religious Liberties Conference. An event he organized featuring, then, three Republican contenders for the presidency:  Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, and  Ted Cruz.

As Katherine Stewart notes for the NYT,

The comfortable thing to do would be to dismiss Mr. Swanson as just another wombat from the embarrassing fringe of American politics. But that would be a mistake. Mr. Swanson’s murderous imaginings did not interfere with his ability to attract senior Republican figures to his conference, including as a keynote speaker Bob Vander Plaats, an Iowa politician who will grant the “Most Wanted Endorsement of 2016,” according to the Conservative Review.

Mr. Swanson is the product of a significant political movement that has coalesced around the theme of religious liberty. Many of its leaders and their allies appear at the Family Research Council’s annual Values Voters Summit. Other power centers include Liberty University (now a required stop on the campaign trail); conservative policy organizations like the American Family Association and Concerned Women for America; and Christian legal advocacy groups like Liberty Counsel (whose co-founder, Mat Staver, acted as Kim Davis’s lawyer) and the Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal powerhouse behind the Hobby Lobby decision (whose president, Alan Sears, co-wrote a book in 2003 titled “The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today”).

When talking about religious conservatives in America, we might perhaps conjure up an image of a farmer in Iowa or a small-business owner in Ohio who goes to church and holds traditional values. But the leaders to whom such conservatives deliver their votes have a distinct, often different, political vision.

Speaking of Ted Cruz (and by proxy his father Rafael) let's take a look-see first at elder Cruz and his dominionist ideology, "that fundamentalist Christians should take over, well, just about everything".

It’s not hard to figure out Rafael Cruz’s basic message. He has given scores, probably hundreds, of sermons and talks at religious and political gatherings, and many are on YouTube. His primary theme is that the United States is a “Christian nation” and that only true believers who adhere to biblical principles—that is, who accept the literal truth of the Bible, as Rafael Cruz and other fundamentalists see it—are worthy of guiding the United States forward. He regularly rails against pastors and church leaders who eschew politics and do not enter the political fray to combat the enemy: secular humanism.

Rafael Cruz is an advocate of Christian dominionism, which essentially holds that fundamentalist Christians should take over, well, just about everything. Speaking at a Texas church in 2012, Rafael Cruz told the crowd that God instructed Adam and Eve to go forth, multiply, and, as he put it, “take dominion over all my creation.” He said this meant that true-believers ought to dominate all areas of life: “That dominion is not just in the church, that dominion is over every area—society, education, government, and economics.” (During that sermon, he also noted that husbands, not wives, should be the “spiritual leader” of their families.) In Cruz’s view, those who accept Christ and his word (as Cruz believes it should be understood) will prosper spiritually and financially. In that same sermon, he noted that God not only anoints priests to lead the faithful, but also anoints “kings…to take dominion.” By that, he means those who rule a nation, and, he adds, these rulers one day (and he makes it sound as if this day will come soon) will transfer the wealth of the “wicked” to the “righteous.”

So, how far do you think the apple falls from the tree? Rafael Cruz is not only Ted Cruz's father, he is also his closest personal and professional mentor who actively campaigned for his son among evangelical voters in regards to the 2016 Presidential election cycle. While Junior's speeches are not laden with hate like his father's, he does accept his father endorsement and council.

It's difficult to succinctly pin a direct statement like Swanson's "kill the gays" on Cruz; but he sure does attract a, shall we say, questionable crowd. For example, Mike Bickle (IHOP) has notably claimed God sent Adolf Hitler to hunt down Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity; James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who has suggested taking up arms against transgendered individuals; Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty who in 2013 had the infamous GQ interview where he stated, 

"Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men," he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: "Don't be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won't inherit the kingdom of God. Don't deceive yourself. It's not right."

Bob Vander Plaats of Family Leader,  who led a successful 2010 effort to oust three state Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of marriage equality.

Pamela Gellar, the anti-Muslim activist who claim to fame is her 2010 campaign in opposition to the Park 51 Islamic Center project in Manhattan, which she deemed the “Ground Zero Mosque”. Not only is she associated with National Security Advisor John Bolton, but Richard Spencer and Milo Yiannopoulos as well.  She is an active columnist at Breibart and WND (note:: direct link be careful!) 

Now just to demonstrate how wacked these associations are, consider this,,, Theodore Shoebat has, in the past, called for Pamela Geller to be put to death for associating with “faggots” and “sodomites” at the “Gays for Trump” event during the RNC convention noted above. I shit you not!!

The list of influences on Cruz is endless in regards to what I consider far-right crazies (for complete list.) But,,, it highlights very well that no matter how small the crazies influence, it has ramifications  for a wider audience.  In some case individuals that are responsible for making our laws. It is why I personally bitch so much in regards to SOCAS.

These are but a few individuals, some I have had personal run-ins with but most interactions have been on the inter-web.  I am going to leave with one last person, someone whom falls into the former category mentioned; Michael Brown.

(Some individuals I have mentioned for a specific reason.   Currently Ted Cruz is up for re-election in Texas against Beto O'Rourke.  While he is not well liked by his colleagues, Cruz does wield much power - w/ Mike Lee of UT - and like Mike Pence, his notion of theocratic control concerning the "Seven Mountains Mandate" is scary, the individuals listed endorse his brand of dominionism, it even scarier.)

Like Scott Lively, Brown has no problem exporting his hate nor like Klingenschmitt claiming homosexual demonic forces or some such shit. Brown is also a big purveyor of the "Christian persecution" narrative (I am a fan of JMG and use him as reference in many a posting, including this one.)  But what makes Brown dangerous, (besides his association with Lou Engle, founder of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) and leader of TheCall; a man who believes the LGBT fight for equality is a bigger threat than Islamic terrorists), he employs verbal and religious violence as a tool of thought and instruction. "[V]erbal, spiritual and theological violence will be to silence and strip all LGBT people of their legal, civil and social equality, freedom and liberty, effectively creating a theocracy governed by the principles they believe are set forward in both Old Testament and New Testament law."


IOWs, while Brown may not advocate for physical violence, his "imagery and allegory, are a threat to LGBT people, even if he and his organization are not,,, there is a thin line between violent thoughts and words, and violent actions and deeds. I believe it is this precariously thin line Brown seems to disregard,,," (From  “Jesus Manifesto,” via Interstateq.)

“Revolution means upheaval. Revolution means the overthrowing of the status quo. We dare not downplay the significance of the word. Revolution is a matter of life and death, and our revolution flows from the blood of the Savior to the blood of the martyr. We put down our sword and take up our cross, overcoming Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, and by not loving our lives so much as to shrink from death (Rev. 12:11).”

Our revolution is fueled by the power of the gospel, and the gospel does violence to the forces of hell. We must recover the fullness of the gospel of Jesus! It is nothing less than a direct assault on the kingdom of Satan, a frontal attack on hostile, spiritual powers, a mortal confrontation of light against darkness. It brings about the ultimate counterculture conflict.”

"We’re in a war, and war means conflict, hardship, and sacrifice. As Leonard Ravenhill wrote, ‘When a nation calls its prime men to battle, homes are broken, weeping sweethearts say their good-byes, businesses are closed, college careers are wrecked, factories are refitted for wartime production, rationing and discomforts are accepted — all for war. Can we do less for the greatest fight that this world has ever known outside of the cross — this end-time siege on sanity, morality, and spirituality?'”

"Our society is deteriorating all around us and even non-believers sense that something is wrong. Why? It is because we, the people of God, the army of the Lord Jesus, the messengers of liberation, the ambassadors of reconciliation, have been sidetracked by the love of this world and distracted by the cares of this age.”

Matt sums up the issue well in the comments, responding to Brown,  "my utmost concern is your verbally and theologically violent rhetoric and language. People have a right to be aware of what you are teaching and how it is being taught. People have a right to be aware of the possible threat — not from you or your group — but from others who hear your words and are unable to distinguish between your “spiritual concepts” and allegory, and real calls for physical violence."


So I will end there (I leave out Westboro as they are no longer the only player in the game), but to say I am "reeeeeaally reaching with those examples. Especially if you're trying to use them as examples in the present day," is utter bull-fucking-shit. You and your head-in-the-sand ilk need to start paying attention.  Hell even my 16y/o co-worker is more aware of the religious batshittery going on without doing a deep dive into all the religious rhetoric.

Ted Cruz's Michigan Legislative Co-Chair Wants To Ban Homosexuality | ThinkProgress

Another example of the type of people Ted Cruz chooses to "surround" himself with,,,

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has made no bones about his opposition to marriage equality throughout his presidential campaign, but the newly announced legislative co-chair of his Michigan campaign takes things a step further.

Republican Michigan state Rep. Gary Glenn — one of nine Cruz legislative co-chairs in the Wolverine State — has said he believes being gay should be a crime.
During a 2011 interview, Glenn, who also serves as the president of the American Family Association of Michigan, was asked if he supported criminalizing homosexuality. “The short answer to your question is yes, we believe that states should be free to regulate and prohibit behavior that’s a violation of community standards and a proven threat to public health and safety — including, as most of the United States did throughout its history, homosexual behavior,” he said.

Ted Cruz's Michigan Legislative Co-Chair Wants To Ban Homosexuality | ThinkProgress

Ted Cruz: Gay Marriage Will Pull Christian Broadcasters Off The Air | Right Wing Watch

Despite Cruz’s claim, legal analysts and religious groups have said it would be highly unlikely that marriage equality will bring about the end of tax exemptions for religious institutions that oppose same-sex marriage.

Secondly, the FCC issue never came up in court, and Verrilli never came close to claiming that the government will go after religious broadcasters or people who speak out against same-sex marriage.

Cruz simply made it up.

This shouldn’t be surprising, as the Texas senator also falsely claimed that the legalization of gay marriage will lead to criminal penalties for pastors who refuse to perform marriage for same-sex couples.

Ted Cruz: Gay Marriage Will Pull Christian Broadcasters Off The Air | Right Wing Watch

Paige Patterson named to Cruz advisory council – Baptist News Global

According to SNAP. this guy is a dick, "despite Patterson’s calling the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) 'just as reprehensible as sex criminals',,,'Patterson made a hurtful, mean-spirited and Trump-like effort to bully suffering victims into staying silent.   To equate child molesters to child sex abuse victims may be most vicious comparison possible.'

A Southern Baptist Convention seminary president has been named to a Religious Liberty Advisory Council created by Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, is part of a 19-member group announced Feb. 29 to guide policies to reverse what the Cruz campaign termed “unprecedented attacks on freedom both at home and abroad.”

“Religious liberty is the first freedom guaranteed to Americans under the Constitution, and ensuring the protection of that right has been a priority my entire adult life,” Cruz said in a campaign press release.

“Increasingly, renegade government officials seek to coerce people of faith either to act in a manner that violates their faith or forfeit their career. When I am elected president that will change. It is time for our liberties to be respected in Washington. The right to religious liberty built America, and denying that right is both un-American and morally wrong.”

Paige Patterson named to Cruz advisory council – Baptist News Global

Cruz: 'Disastrous' Marriage Equality Ruling Led To 'Persecution' That's 'Unprecedented' | Right Wing Watch

Cruz told Mefferd that “we are seeing an assault on religious liberty from Washington that is unprecedented,” citing a number of his favorite cases of people supposedly being persecuted by running afoul of state or local nondiscrimination policies, almost none of which have stemmed from the federal government.

Claiming that “these threats are growing and growing,” Cruz said that “much of this persecution is the fruit of the Supreme Court’s disastrous gay marriage ruling last year” — never mind that every single one of the incidents he referenced happened before the ruling and were in no way connected to it.

Cruz declared that it was “very sad” that some of his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination called the Obergefell ruling “settled law,” which is, he said, why anti-gay leaders have flocked to endorse him.

“I believe that decision was fundamentally illegitimate, it was lawless, it was unconstitutional and it will not stand,” he said. “And I would note, that is precisely why Dr. James Dobson has endorsed me in this campaign, it is why Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has endorsed me in this campaign, it’s why the National Organization on Marriage [sic] has endorsed me on this campaign and has said it cannot support Donald Trump or Marco Rubio because if we’re not willing to defend marriage, we are giving up the foundational building blocks of the family, we’re giving up the Judeo-Christian values that built this great nation.”

Cruz: 'Disastrous' Marriage Equality Ruling Led To 'Persecution' That's 'Unprecedented' | Right Wing Watch

At Ted Cruz event, Duck Dynasty star says he wants to ‘rid the Earth’ of ‘wicked’ gays – LGBTQ Nation

Is this really a man you want running the country when he has the support of jack-wads like this:

When Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson took to the stage in Iowa at a Ted Cruz campaign event, the reality star argued that evangelical Christian voters should pick the conservative candidate based on his religious values. Robertson was the center of national controversy in late 2013 for his controversial positions on LGBTQ civil rights.

Robertson sold Cruz’s religious bonafides to the crowd in Iowa City saying the Senator would restore Biblical values to the federal government. Arguing that the country’s increasing acceptance of LGBT people is unacceptable, the elderly duck hunter called same-sex marriage “evil” and “wicked.”

“When a fellow like me looks at the landscape and sees the depravity, the perversion — redefining marriage and telling us that marriage is not between a man and a woman? Come on Iowa!” Robertson said. “It is nonsense. It is evil. It’s wicked. It’s sinful. They want us to swallow it, you say. We have to run this bunch out of Washington, D.C. We have to rid the earth of them. Get them out of there.”

At Ted Cruz event, Duck Dynasty star says he wants to ‘rid the Earth’ of ‘wicked’ gays – LGBTQ Nation

See also::   Phil Robertson: 'Rid The Earth Of' Gay Marriage Supporters

ADDENDUM::Christian Activists To Debate Executing Homosexuals - Joe.My.God.

As I was putting together the previous post, three items (two articles by Right Wing Watch and one video segment by Rachel Maddow) came to fruition - make that four items now.

As RRW notes in regards to Maddow's very scary video piece, 

But, as Maddow pointed out on Friday night, while the Cruz campaign would not bother to dignify her inquiries with a response, it did quietly distance itself from Swanson and his event in mid-December, telling USA Today that "it was a mistake" for Cruz to have attended the conference:

A tipping point, [Americans United for Separation of Church and State’s Barry] Lynn said, came at last month’s National Religious Liberties Conference in Iowa, where Cruz said, “any president who doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be a commander-in-chief of this country.” Cruz was also introduced onstage by Pastor Kevin Swanson, who, earlier in the conference, quoted a passage of the Bible that he claimed justified the execution of homosexuals.

“This is over-the-top rhetoric, even for a conservative presidential candidate,” Lynn said. “There is a lot of religious fervor going on in [Cruz's] campaign.”

Tyler, the Cruz spokesman, called Swanson’s comments “reprehensible” and said Cruz has spoken out repeatedly against anyone who calls for hatred or violence against homosexuals.

“Senator Cruz is passionate about religious liberties” Tyler said in an email. “Many respected organizations were sponsoring [the conference], but, given these offensive comments, it was a mistake for Senator Cruz to appear at the event.”

In regards to the cat-fight between Brown and the Shoebat's:

The fighting has only escalated in the wake of Shoebat's recent assertion that Jesus would have personally beaten gays to death, which was denounced by LaBarbera, as well as by fellow anti-gay activist Michael Brown.

This did not sit well with Shoebat's father, Walid, a supposed "ex-terrorist" who posted a furious screed on his website attacking LaBarbera, Brown, Matt Barber and anyone else who has dared to criticize his son's extremist views, accusing them of worshiping gay blogger Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God instead of the one true God,,,

And the last item, which is very peculiar, Cruz Spokesman Ousted After Suggesting Rubio Renounced The Bible:

In another strange development in the Republican presidential primary, Ted Cruz’s top campaign spokesman is out of his post after circulating a news article suggesting that Marco Rubio mocked the Bible.

Cruz, whose campaign has been dogged by allegations of perpetrating dirty tricks, said that his spokesman Rick Tyler committed “a grave error of judgment.”

Cruz asks senior spox who spread false Rubio story to resign. Says he committed a "grave error of judgement"

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) February 22, 2016

Now keep in mind what Maddow said at the end of her clip concerning disavowing someone like Swanson when one considers all that came before (ie Mike Bickle and, for shits and giggles, Phil Robertson) and now, this: Cruz, Carson To Attend Right-Wing Media Convention Featuring Anti-LGBT, Anti-Muslim Extremists. 

Remember, Michael Brown endorses Rafael Edward Cruz.  Don't mind me as I get my popcorn ready!! 

February 14-15 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

 Bryan Fischer: 'The Proper Christian Response' To A Gay Couple's Wedding Is 'Grief And Sorrow'

"If you have a biblical worldview, you'd be grieved for them," he said. "You'd be grieved for what they're heading into, grieved for the way in which homosexual behavior separates them from God, the risks that it's putting them at, the risk that it's going to put children to if they're adopted into that household. So the proper response would not be joy, it would not be celebration; the proper Christian response would grief and sorrow over what these two people are doing to themselves and also to others."

Although this is pre-Iowa in date, it highlights the split or implosion that is occurring within the Reich. You have evangelicals that are bonkers against Trump and say to support Cruz but yet the support for Cruz does not align with the entire GOP.


The Fate of the Religious Right May Be Foretold in Iowa

Speaking at the rally, Vander Plaats invoked his severely disabled son, Lucas, and said he was outraged to see “a candidate for president of the United States openly mocking and insulting people with disabilities.” (He was referring to Trump’s scornful imitation of the disabled New York Times reporter Serge F. Kovaleski.) Vander Plaats recalled that only a week before, at an event in Sioux Center, Iowa, Trump boasted that he wouldn’t lose support even if he shot someone.* The crowd in the packed hall hissed. “Right away I thought of John Lennon and the Beatles saying, ‘We’re more popular than Jesus,’ ” Vander Plaats said. “That’s a pride, and an arrogance, and a temperament that is a roll of the dice to be president.” 

Soon it was Cruz’s turn to speak. He promised that on his first day as president, he would instruct the Justice Department to open an investigation into Planned Parenthood. Cruz said he’d appoint judges who would overturn last year’s “shameful” and “fundamentally illegitimate” Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. He asked the assembled to pray. “Father God, please, continue this awakening. Continue this spirit of revival, awaken the body of Christ, that we might pull back from this abyss,” Cruz said. His cadences were those of a preacher.

The near-forgotten history of the Holocaust's gay victims

To this day, the number of homosexual men interned and killed in concentration camps is unknown; it is estimated to lie between 10,000 and 15,000 people, of whom at least half died in the camps.

It can’t take into account the lives of those arrested and detained for other reasons – the gay Jews, Gypsies, and ‘Antisocials’ whose sexuality was considered the least of their ‘crimes’.

In the film Paragraph 175, highlighting the plight of the Holocaust’s homosexual victims for recognition of their suffering, Heinz F. recounts his ordeal in the camps, starting with a call from the local police station.

‘”You are suspected to be homosexual. You are hereby under arrest.” What should I do?’ he says.

‘And then it was straight to Dachau. From there, without a trial, I was immediately sent to Dachau.’

Without knowing why, he spent one and a half years in the concentration camp; just days after he was released, Heinz was arrested again, on charges of homosexuality, and sent to a prison to wait for a trial.

‘I couldn’t understand all of this. And while I was there, nearly all the homosexuals were deported to Mauthausen,’ he says.

‘And nearly all of them were killed.’

Heinz himself was sent to Buchenwald, where prisoners were first labeled with ‘Paragraph 175’ on their jackets, before the pink triangle was introduced.

In the camps, a majority of gay men were supposed to be re-educated – but only Germans were spared the gas chambers.

Instead of sending them to their immediate death, the Nazis selected the Germans in their camps for slave labor, castration or forced them to take part in human experiments.

Almost two thirds of the men held in the camps died.

[Please note the film Paragraph 175 can be found online!!]

From what I can tell, this bill has been withdrawn (for now) but still important as it seeks to amend "Section 9-703 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Special Assembly Occupancies," by providing for additional types of activity to be regulated, amending the application procedures and increasing the fee for a Special Assembly Occupancy license and for Promoter registration, clarifying the role of the Police Department in approvals of licenses, and making other technical changes; all under certain terms and conditions."

This treads dangerously close to the types of censorship that Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), achieved in the 80s-90s, and continuing today.  To borrow from Frank Zappa, "the PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretation and enforcement problems inherent in the proposal's design."

New bill would create a registry of all the bands and DJs that play Philly: ‘It’s become necessary’

A new bill from Philly City Councilman Mark Squilla would require owners of nightclubs, cabarets, bars and restaurants in the city to collect the names, addresses, and phone numbers of entertainers — bands, rappers and DJs — in a registry, and to share that personal information with police upon request.

The proposal, which was introduced last week and is headed to a committee hearing, would directly involve the Philadelphia Police Department in the approval process for so-called “Special Assembly Occupancy” licenses — giving law enforcement de facto veto power over whether shows can be held at venues that hold 50 or more people.

Police spokeswoman Denise James would not comment, instead referring Billy Penn to the department’s public affairs office, which did not respond.

Police would factor into their decision-making things like “crime, traffic, litter, noise, parking and hours of operation; as well as any community concerns, particularly those of neighbors in the immediate vicinity,” according to the bill. The bill even covers live-streaming of shows.

 ‘The bill will be amended’: Squilla, Oh respond after artist registry uproar

Comments from other city officials seemed to echo Oh’s words. Commissioner Richard Ross’s legal advisor, Captain Francis Healey, claimed the bill was being “misinterpreted and the department was only interested in getting advanced notice so police can be properly prepared for shows or other events,” according to a report on Philly.com.

Kenney spokeswoman Lauren Hitt told the site the Mayor would “work with the community and City Council to make any changes to the legislative language necessary to make the intent clear and assuage public concerns.”

Squilla, in his statement, stressed that “this provision is NOT intended to restrict artistic expression or any kind of entertainment, but rather is aimed at addressing public safety and quality of life issues.”

Like previous remarks he made to Billy Penn, Squilla did not cite any specific incidents that may have prompted this legislation; why collecting information on performers playing venues hosting 50 or more audience members improved “public safety”; nor why police involvement in license approval was necessary. Squilla also did not address opponents’ concerns about his proposed annual licensing fee hike from $100 per year to $500 every two years.

Home remedy for 18-month-old's case of lice ends in tragedy

Though the Head Lice Center says it hasn't been scientifically proven that mayonnaise helps treat head lice, it's an oft-used technique that many people have claimed success with. Mayonnaise is used because it contains oil, which suffocates the lice.

It's a simple enough treatment, and an inexpensive one: Spread full-fat mayonnaise on the scalp, and then cover the coated area for about eight hours. Something like a shower cap or plastic wrap would work well, but the Head Lice Center reminds parents that plastic wrap should never be used on children.

That's the fatal mistake that the unnamed Massachusetts couple made, resulting in their young daughter's death. CBS reports that the toddler fell asleep with the bag on her head. Investigators suspect that it then slipped down over her mouth. At the time of the CBS report, no charges had been filed against the parents.

The Netherlands has recognised the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a religion

A spokesman for the Dutch arm of the group said: ‘The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is since today officially registered as Denomination!

‘Our church stands for equality for all. Therefore, anyone can sign up free of charge and without obligation.
‘To express our faith we put a colander on our heads. Also on official government documents.

‘We come together in local churches and at events. Our services are especially devoted to socialising. So we eat pasta, we drink beer and discuss faith.’

Albino woman murdered in Kasungu: Malawi Police hunt for killers | Malawi Nyasa Times Malawi breaking news in Malawi

February 14-15 2016::End of the day round-up

The United States Once Sterilized Tens of Thousands — Here’s How the Supreme Court Allowed It

On the morning of October 19, 1927, the Commonwealth of Virginia sterilized Carrie Buck. Dr. John Bell — whose name would forever be linked with Carrie’s in the Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell — cut her open and removed a section from each of her Fallopian tubes. In his notes, Dr. Bell noted that “this was the first case operated on under the sterilization law.”

Carrie Buck was an average, unassuming girl who grew up around Charlottesville. She wasn’t very smart, but she wasn’t dumb either. She didn’t come from the best circumstances, but she did the best with what she had. Pictures show a plain young woman with short, dark hair, bobbed in the fashion of the time. In one photo, taken by Arthur Estabrook, an “expert” in eugenics whose testimony would help seal her fate, Carrie sits on a bench with her mother Emma at the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-minded, where both were institutionalized.

Estabrook’s photo of Carrie and Emma was taken on November 17th, 1924, the day before Carrie’s trial began. Estabrook had come to visit Carrie and Emma at the urging of Dr. Albert Priddy, the superintendent of the Virginia Colony. Priddy was building a case against Carrie, a case for her forced sterilization, and he needed a purported expert in the “science” of “inferior genetics” — a.k.a. eugenics — to testify that Carrie, her mother, and Carrie’s six-month-old daughter Vivian were all congenitally and irredeemably “feeble-minded.”

In a different time, Estabrook, with his neatly parted hair and defined features, could have become a well-known character actor, a face “in all those movies.” But Estabrook was employee at the Eugenics Record Office in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, and he was more than prepared to testify to the inferiority of Carrie and her bloodline. Most of his life had been devoted to diagnosing and describing “defective bloodlines” that, in his view, held humanity back. At the urging of Aubrey Strode, the lawyer for Dr. Priddy and the Virginia State Colony, Estabrook rushed down to Lynchburg to testify against Carrie. Strode believed that the testimony of a true expert in eugenics would be crucial to developing an unassailable legal record proving that Carrie, Emma, and Vivian all carried defective genes and, therefore, that the state had both the authority and the right to sterilize Carrie to prevent any further “feeble-minded” offspring. He needed such expert testimony if the appellate courts, and possibly even the U.S. Supreme Court, were going to uphold Carrie’s sterilization and thus ratify not only Dr. Priddy’s plans for the mass sterilization of “genetic defectives,” but also the plans of thousands of similar eugenicists around the country. Eugenics was Estabrook’s life work, so of course he came as quickly as he could.

I didn/t much like Bill Maher for his anti-vaxx stance, I really don't like him for this,,,

Bill Maher Just Promoted The Unproven Goat Milk HIV Therapy That Charlie Sheen Got In Mexico

On Friday night, comedian Bill Maher had a controversial guest on his show: Samir Chachoua, an Australian doctor who practices in Mexico. Earlier this month, Charlie Sheen went on The Dr. Oz Show and described going to Mexico to get Chachoua’s unproven HIV treatment, injections he developed after studying the milk of goats with arthritis.

Doctors and HIV/AIDS experts are shocked that Maher would promote such a dubious medical treatment to his HBO show’s audience of 4 million people.

“I was absolutely flabbergasted,” Mark Harrington, executive director of Treatment Action Group, a New York-based HIV advocacy organization, told BuzzFeed News. “To promote a quack on his show, it’s very irresponsible and can only be described as tabloid journalism at its worst.”

“This kind of high profile pumping of alternative medicine stories linked to celebrities can harm other people by persuading them to do damaging things that affect their health,” John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, told BuzzFeed News.

“This is a classic example of false hope syndrome,” Moore added. “People are persuaded to do wacky stuff that stops them from doing the right stuff.”

Better to Let Kids Play in Traffic Than Let Them Skip Church, Christian Blogger Writes

It’s not a secret that many Christians are terrified of letting their kids make up their own minds about the question of God.

It’s not a secret that many seem to feel, instinctively, that without constant, repetitive drilling of faith concepts into their kids’ heads from the earliest possible age, they will not believe. In effect, they’re saying that the argument for God is not persuasive enough on the basis of reason, evidence, and logic, but must instead be force-fed to children from infancy before they develop a way to ask questions or form a rebuttal.

Or, as the Bible puts it, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
And while this is, I’m happy to report, not strictly true (certainly not exclusively, as myself and many other former believers can attest), it’s a pretty deeply entrenched concept all the same. To do anything less than indoctrinate kids as soon you can is to risk their soul — because children left to examine the evidence and arguments for religion on their own are children who may reject it. By not passing along your faith, you’re avoiding your greatest duty as a parent: preserving your children’s souls. In short, reason, evidence, and freethought be damned when souls are on the line.

It’s bad enough on its own, and it certainly reflects poorly on the perceived strength of religious arguments. But then you find parents justifying this bad idea with a full-on embrace, taking it to conclusions that are so much worse.

Parents like Christian blogger James Uglum, who recently wrote a piece describing why letting children skip church is a monstrous thing. Worse, in fact, than letting them play in rush-hour traffic.

Phil Robertson: 'Rid The Earth Of' Gay Marriage Supporters

While stumping in Iowa for Ted Cruz on Sunday, “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson declared that gay marriage is a sign of growing “depravity” and “perversion” in America.

Robertson, notorious for his racist and anti-gay remarks, said of marriage equality: “It is evil, it’s wicked, it’s sinful and they want us to swallow it.”

“We have to run this bunch out of Washington D.C.,” Robertson said. “We have to rid the earth of them. Get them out of there.”

Cruz followed Robertson on stage, calling the reality TV star “a joyful, cheerful, unapologetic voice of truth.”

Texas pastor begs God to smite UFC fighter ‘with a lightning bolt’ because he threatened to punch Jesus

Pastor Donnie Romero of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Texas has asked God to smite a UFC fighter who said that he would be willing to throw a punch at Jesus Christ.

During a December interview with TMZ, MMA fighter Conor McGregor bragged that not even the Son of God could defeat him in the octagon.

“There’s not a man alive that could beat me,” McGregor explained. “But Jesus isn’t alive so maybe he could come back from the dead, I don’t know. I’d still whoop his ass.”

That didn’t sit well with Pastor Romero, who revealed during a sermon last week that he would be praying for God to strike down McGregor.

February 5-9, 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

From KnowPolitical!!  It is a repeat of Kevin Swanson's so-called rally that included then presidential hopefuls Mike Huckabee, Piyush Jindal, and of course Ted Cruz.  It is important to repeat, so I am (I think):

Ted Cruz joins surreal anti-gay event with screaming pastor

"It's NOT a gay time! These are the people with the sores — the gaping sores! Don't you DARE carve happy faces on OPEN PUSSY SORES!" Last fall Ted Cruz and two other GOP presidential hopefuls joined screaming bigot pastor Kevin Swanson at his two-day religious conference where he opined repeatedly about how gay people were worthy of death— all under the guise of "religious liberty." Between blaming Harry Potter and contraception for the scourge of gay marriage, Pastor Swanson told attendees he would rather sit in front of a church, smear himself in manure and wail lamentations if his son were gay and invited him to his wedding. Swanson also spoke of how a gay kiss caused wildfires and floods in his home state of Colorado and declared that the state's socially progressive policies had made it "more evil" than communist China and North Korea.Bonus end clips: Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson campaigns for Ted Cruz in Iowa, calling gay marriage evil and wicked saying, "We have to rid the earth of 'em." Ted Cruz's evangelical pastor father Rafael Cruz stating that gay marriage was not about gay rights, but an objective to destroy the traditional family…. while also adding that evolution is a lie that goes hand-in-hand with communism. "If they can convince you that you came from a monkey, it's much easier to convince you that God does not exist." Rafael Cruz is not only Ted Cruz's father, he is also his closest personal and professional mentor who is actively campaigning for his son among evangelical voters. Rafael Cruz subscribes to Dominionist theology, a school of thought that says Genesis gives true men of faith the right to seize control of government and run the country by biblical mandates.
Posted by KnowPolitical on Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Ted Cruz Trumpets Endorsement From a Man Who Thinks God Sent Hitler to Hunt the Jews

In a 2011 speech, Bickle suggested that millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust because they didn't accept God's gift of Jesus. At this event, he read from Jeremiah 16:16 and used this passage from the Bible to explain why Hitler executed millions:

The Lord says, "I'm going to give all 20 million of them the chance to respond to the fishermen. And I give them grace." And he says, "And if they don't respond to grace, I'm going to raise up the hunters." And the most famous hunter in recent history is a man named Adolf Hitler.

 In Iowa intro, First Baptist Dallas’ Jeffress says he can’t “officially” endorse Trump, however … 

Robert Jeffress, whose First Baptist Dallas downtown the Associated Press now considers a “megachurch,” flew to Iowa over the weekend to introduce Donald Trump at a packed rally at Dordt College. It’s becoming something of a regular gig: Jeffress, you may recall, also intro’d Trump at his American Airlines Center rally in September. And when he’s not introducing Trump, Jeffress is laying hands on the man.

Jeffress once said that “no evangelical I know is expecting Trump to lead our nation in a spiritual revival.” But on Saturday, he essentially endorsed The Donald without, you know, endorsing The Donald, since that would threaten the church’s status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Trump Embraces Radical Anti-Catholic, Anti-Gay Pastor


Although I can not help financially, sharing is the best I can offer.  Many of you were able to help me, maybe you can help these folks,,,

Can't pray the pain away

Can’t pray the pain away. We’re a good hearted Atheist couple going through a rough time. A lot of people offer “Thoughts and prayers” but that doesn’t quite pay the bills. Some people told us to pray ourselves, but, of course, that would be as helpful of other people’s prayers, and pretty hypocritical. We'll stick to science and doctors.

Honestly, all this is kind of confusing to me. I build fire trucks for a living, not people. Surgery really isn’t my thing, but I’ll try to explain a bit. Bear with me and try to read through to the end of my ramblings.

Man who spent 22 years in prison for rape he didn't commit faces long legal battle with NYC over $18 million jury award

They took away his freedom — and now they keep trying to take away his money.

The city is doubling down its efforts to stop Alan Newton, who spent 22 years behind bars for a rape he didn’t commit, from collecting the $18 million verdict a jury awarded him in 2010.

“This is a journey that started in 1984, and it’s still going on because the city refuses to take any responsibility,” Newton told the Daily News on Thursday.
,,,
The city Law Department claims in new court papers the Second Circuit didn't weigh “whether the amount of the damages was appropriate” and “did not address the question whether the separate verdict on damages was excessive.”

All the appeals court did was decide whether the city was at fault for Newton’s wrongful incarceration, the city lawyers argue — and they now want Scheindlin to reduce the award.

Congressional GOP ‘unwilling to even talk about the budget’

“It says a lot of things, I think. It certainly does raise some questions about how serious Republicans actually are about governing the country. It also raises some questions about how confident they are in the kinds of arguments that they could make about the budget. Maybe they’re taking the Donald Trump approach to debates about the budget – they’re just not going to show up.”

"Cruz Loves God and James Madison," and Phil Robertson has a Fake James Madison Quote to Back That Up

We will be discussing this quote when Chris joins us on Beyond the Trailer Park, Feb 15,,,

This spurious James Madison ten commandments quote has been around for a long time, and, despite the fact that even David Barton, the most popular of all Christian nationalist history revisionists (and head of the pro-Cruz super PAC Keep the Promise), has admitted that this quote is "unconfirmed" and now tells the readers of his website to refrain from using it, it continues to be used as much as ever.

While others have traced the first appearance of this bogus Madison quote back to a 1958 calendar, I was determined to hunt down its exact source and prove once and for all that this quote did not come from James Madison. I began looking into this back in 2007, and after quite a bit of hunting found what I was certain was the exact source of the misquote in 2009 - a speech that conservative leader Clarence Manion was traveling the country delivering in the early 1950s. But as certain as I was that Manion's speech was the original source of this misquote, there was on little problem - one of the sources cited by David Barton for the quote was a book from 1939, thirteen years before Manion even began giving this speech. Further research, however, indicated that Barton's 1939 source was fabricated. With Barton's alleged 1939 source out of the way, there is no question that the source of the infamous Madison ten commandments quote was Clarence Manion's speech, and I'd stake the whole future of American civilization on that.


"Cruz Loves God and James Madison," and Phil Robertson has a Fake James Madison Quote to Back That Up

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

February 1, 2016::End of the day round-up

Trapped In His Body For 12 Years, A Man Breaks Free : Shots - Health News : NPR

What would you do if you were locked in your body, your brain intact but with no way to communicate? How do you survive emotionally when you are invisible to everyone you know and love? 

That's the first question asked by NPR's new program on human behavior, Invisibilia.

The first show tells the story of Martin Pistorius, who fell into a mysterious coma as a young boy. He had only one thing left as his mind began to function again — his own thoughts. Here's a glimpse into his story.

Is there pus in milk?

Dairy farmers are paid more money for milk that has a low SCC, if our cell count raises above normal levels they will dock the amount we get paid for our milk, if it raises even higher they stop taking our milk and we can’t sell it. So not only do we not want our cows to be sick, it would cost us a lot of money and could cost us our farms if we were to ignore a high SCC. Recently the dairy industry lowered the acceptable SCC level from 750 to 400. Most dairy farms aim for a SCC under 200. So does this mean that we are allowing some pus into your milk? No. All milk is going to have some white blood cells in it, that’s the nature of a product that comes from an animal, cells happen. It does’t matter if it’s organic milk or regular milk. The presence of some white blood cells in milk certainly doesn’t mean that the animal is sick or the milk is of poor quality. Again, white blood cells are normal. Additionally when you buy milk from the store it has been pasteurized which kills off any white blood cells or bacteria that are present in the raw milk.

So the anti milk folks want to you to be grossed out by milk, but think about this… A steak has white blood cells in it, because it has blood and white blood cells are a part of that. The anti milk people aren’t going around saying that your steak has pus in it because we can see with our own eyes that it doesn’t. However, since we can’t see into our milk like we can see a steak, anti milk activists use bad science to scare you into believing their view point and that’s just not right!

Instead of using facts to persuade people to not drink milk they are literally trying to make you terrified to eat or drink anything beyond what they feel you should be eating and drinking. It’s time to take back our food from the activists and let them know that it is not ok to use false information to slander a food they don’t agree with. My cows are mad and so am I!

‘Have you repented?’: Christian leaders criticize Trump’s endorsement by Jerry Falwell Jr

“The late Dr. Jerry Falwell Sr. would be rolling over in his grave if he knew the son who bore his name had endorsed the most immoral and ungodly man to ever run for President of the United States,” Stemberger said in a statement to Politico. “It is one thing to allow the free exchange of ideas, even bad ideas, among college students on a Christian campus. It is quite another to give a glowing endorsement-like introduction calling Donald Trump … This in no way represents the legacy of Dr. Jerry Falwell, Sr.”

The Flint disaster is Rick Snyder’s fault

Bush was attempting to muddy the proverbial water by portraying the Flint debacle as a failure of government at all levels. Snyder attempted the same diffusion of responsibility last week, saying that “government failed you — federal, state and local leaders — by breaking the trust you placed in us.”

But the Flint disaster, three years in the making, is not a failure of government generally. It’s the failure of a specific governing philosophy: Snyder’s belief that government works better if run more like a business. 

No doubt, the federal Environmental Protection Agency deserves blame for failing to sound warnings more loudly and publicly, and for being too deferential to state authorities, once it learned last year that high lead levels in Flint were poisoning children.

But EPA had no role in the decisions that caused the problem, nor was it supposed to. That was entirely the responsibility of Snyder’s administration and his appointees.

Ted Cruz: God Is Helping Me 'Bring America Back From The Abyss

"I fear for America," he said. "If we keep on this path there comes a point of no return and my prayer is that this awakening continues, that the body of Christ rise up to pull us back from the abyss."