www.npr.org

Ruby Franke #fundie #psycho npr.org

Ruby Franke, a Utah YouTube star who has spent the last eight years dishing out parenting advice to millions of followers, was arrested Wednesday alongside her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, on suspicion of aggravated child abuse.

Police said Franke's malnourished son escaped out a window with his arms and legs covered in duct tape, fleeing to a neighbor's house seeking food and water.

[...]

Franke is a 41-year-old Mormon mother of six from Ivins, Utah. Though active across several social media platform, she's best known for her once-popular YouTube channel, "8 Passengers."

[...]

Several other videos also show Franke threatening to take away meals as punishment.

There are also videos of Franke threatening to cut the head off her child's teddy bear, taking away the children's Christmas presents and sending her oldest boy to a behavioral camp where youth spend a minimum of 49 days in the wilderness with little gear.

Exit Only #fundie npr.org

Seems many are more concerned with whatever financial loss Britain will suffer in exchange for it's sovereignty from the EU.

Sad, to see so many willing to sell their nationalist birthright for a mess of collectivist pottage doled out by elitist bureaucrats.

Freedom costs much, but pays off for generations to come.

Why would any sane population shackle themselves to a polyglot of nations with diverse cultures and liabilities? To have leaders who have no understanding in the local affairs or concerns of a people dictate and prescribe regulations on how to run their lives and economy? The American colonists suffered this same long distance ruling by King George, and it became so onerous that they revolted against him.

One could make the same argument how much they lost financially and economically from cutting themselves off the most prosperous and powerful empire of the world. But history proved America not only survived but thrived. And I am confident the British people can not only recover, but are capable of also prospering without the EU's red tape and bureaucrats telling it what to do from their desks in Brussels.
And most economists are full of baloney. if they were so smart, how come they are not billionaires betting on the market trends they foresee? Krugman and Greenspan's adherence to outdated Keynesian fiscal theory that advocates spending one's way to prosperity is fatal to the health of the US economy. Mises had it right.


So easy to say that, and then you leave us bereft of any facts from you.

But here's an fact based on both experience and history---Large groups of people thrown together by government edict and not by choice creates friction and resentment. People are the happiest when on their own volition can how to run decide when to join and leave associations. People also don't like being told by others who share no common blood, bond, or language telling them from long distance how to run their lives. The EU is not a democracy. It is social planning by unelected technocrats.

Ireland is an case example of EU dissatisfaction. The people held a referendum leave the EU decades back. They voted as a majority to leave. But their own government refused to honor their vote. That is not demcracy. But go ahead, tell me that is a fantasy story without a telling moral to why people don't like to be forced into unions.
I concede my error on the Irish referendum, but still hold to my other position that supports why the the majority of Brits voted to leave the EU, as well as understanding why several other nations are considering to also follow suit.
I don't understand what the fuss is about. A so-called "Free market" that the EU totes as a hallmark should mean any nation should be able to trade with other nations freely. Instead, I get this vibe that the EU requires a cover charge and membership subscription to do so, which amounts to nothing less that a legalized gangster protection racket where Brussels and their favorite corporations get a cut of the action to profit themselves for permitting said "Free Trade" to go on.

Anonymous Avengers “Fan” #sexist #homophobia #racist npr.org

Brie Larson has vanished.

A star of Avengers: Endgame, one of the biggest movies of all time, was completely excised from a modified pirated version of the film — along with everything else in the film seen as feminist or gay.

An anonymous fan edited out shots, scenes and characters in a "defeminized" version circulating now on an illegal streaming site. As well as losing Larson's character, Captain Marvel, the defeminized edit is missing a scene where Hawkeye teaches his daughter to shoot. ("Young women should learn skills to become good wives and mothers and leave the fighting to men," the editor opined in an accompanying document.) The role of Black Panther is minimized. ("He's really not that important.") Spider-Man doesn't get rescued by women characters anymore. ("No need to.") And male characters no longer hug.

This particular defeminized edit is just the latest example of a trend, says Suzanne Scott, a professor of film and media studies at the University of Texas. A similar "chauvinist cut" of 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi removed key scenes of women making decisions, giving orders, having ideas and fighting in battle. So much was trimmed, Scott says, that only about 30% of the original film remained.

"It is borderline incomprehensible," she says. "It has cut out a lot of story that you need to make the whole narrative cohesive. So what's on the screen plays like an avant-garde film."

seasonya #racist npr.org

The SCOTUS recently gave their nod of approval for Affirmative action

which discriminates based on skin color with the absurd notion that white people need to pay for historical grievances


the media's anti white rhetoric also did this

of which the staff of NPR is guilty of to the highest order

they can look at themselves as the source of this tragedy


this shooting in Dallas should not have surprised anyone

Terrisa Bukovinac, Lauren Handy #sexist #wingnut #psycho npr.org

An anti-abortion group that is facing previous federal charges said it took 115 fetuses from a medical waste company and buried 110 of them at an undisclosed location.

Washington, D.C., police, which originally said it found five fetuses in one of the group members' apartments, is continuing to investigate the case.

At a news conference Tuesday, two members of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Terrisa Bukovinac and Lauren Handy, said they got the fetal remains from a medical waste company employee who gave them the box from his truck.

The two women saw the medical waste truck, from Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services, outside Washington Surgi-Clinic, which performs medical procedures such as abortions. The women said they then took the box to Handy's apartment. In total, they claim there were 115 fetuses in the boxes.

Bukovinac said in the news conference that she asked the driver of the truck if he would get in trouble if they took one of the boxes. She says he was shaken when they told him what the contents of the box were. The two women apparently told the driver they would bury the fetuses.
5 fetuses were found inside an anti-abortion activist's home in D.C.

"The driver thought for a second and he said, 'OK,' " Bukovinac said.

Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services told WUSA9 that it does not transport fetal remains and denied that any package was handed over to the anti-abortion group. The Baltimore-based company did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

Florida Senate Education Committee #homophobia #transphobia #wingnut npr.org

'Don't Say Gay' bill would limit discussion of sexuality and gender in Florida schools

Proposed legislation in Florida would restrict how teachers can discuss sexuality and gender in the classroom, the latest effort by Republican lawmakers to remove the teaching of LGBTQ issues from schools.

Supporters say the measure empowers parents who deserve to have a say in what their children learn, but critics — who've dubbed the proposal the "Don't Say Gay" bill — argue that it will strip protections from LGBTQ kids and have a chilling effect on educators.

Versions of the so-called Parental Rights in Education bill passed a Florida House committee in January and cleared a Senate committee this week.

What's in the bill
Under the House bill, a Florida school district "may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students." The bill doesn't specify how "age-appropriate" and "developmentally appropriate" would be defined.

The bills would also give parents the ability to sue schools if they believed the schools violated any provisions of the law.

Florida governor signals support
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled his support for the measure during an event on Monday but didn't say whether he'd sign the bill if it reached his desk.

[...]

The group Equality Florida, which advocates for ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, said the bill is "dangerous" and accused lawmakers of targeting LGBTQ young people.

"This legislation is meant to stigmatize LGBTQ people, isolate LGBTQ kids, and make teachers fearful of providing a safe, inclusive classroom," the group said in a statement. "The existence of LGBTQ students and parents is not a taboo topic that has to be regulated by the Florida Legislature."

Sidney Powell’s “source” #fundie #conspiracy #crackpot npr.org

A woman who says the wind talks to her and put forth claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential race that she admitted were "pretty wackadoodle" turns out to be a key source of allegations that Fox News presented, night after night, to millions of viewers late that fall.
[...]
The author of the memo in which Powell and Bartiromo put so much stock offered detailed and utterly false claims of how Dominion Voting Systems helped rig the election for Biden. She also shared a bit about herself, writing that she gains insights from experiencing something "like time-travel in a semi-conscious state."
[...]
Powell's source also volunteered that the wind tells her that she's a ghost, though she doesn't believe it.
[...]
"Who am I? And how do I know all of this?... I've had the strangest dreams since I was a little girl," the woman wrote in the email shared by Powell with Bartiromo and Dobbs. "I was internally decapitated, and yet, I live."

Taliban #fundie #sexist npr.org

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Taliban security forces fanned out to some universities and informal learning centers in Kabul on Wednesday, teachers said, enforcing an edict issued the night before that appears to have banned most females from any education beyond the sixth grade.

In one instance, a teacher reported security forces barging into his class, shouting at girls to go home. "Some of students started verbal arguments with them, but they didn't listen. My students left their classes, crying," said Waheed Hamidi, an English-language teacher at a tuition center in Kabul.

The move was expected – and dreaded – by observers as the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Haibutullah Akhundzada imposes his vision of an Afghanistan which is ultra-conservative, even by the hardline group's standards.

"I genuinely think that the man in charge thinks that this is what an Islamic society ought to look like," says Obaidullah Baheer, a Kabul-based lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan. Speaking earlier to NPR about Akhundzada, he said, "he had this very specific view of where women or young girls should be within the society, which is within their households. So I guess for all intents and purposes, this is a gender apartheid. This is nothing short of that."

Since coming to power in August last year, the Taliban have overseen a hodgepodge of education policies. They allow girls to attend school until the sixth grade, when primary school ends. But they have prevented most girls from attending formal secondary school education, reneging on a promise to allow them back to class in March, when the scholastic year began. Some girls in distant provinces still attended high school, however, and another, unknown number were attending informal classes in tuition centers.

And in a quirk of contradictory decision-making, the former minister of higher education Abdul Baqi Haqqani allowed women to attend universities, albeit under strict conditions, including wearing face coverings and abiding by strict segregation. But in October, Haqqani was replaced with known hardliner, Nida Mohammad Nadim, who had expressed his opposition to women receiving an education. He is known to be close to Akhundzada.

Justice Samuel Alito et al. #crackpot #fundie #sexist #wingnut npr.org

Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending right to abortion upheld for decades

In a historic and far raching [sic] decision, the U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade on Friday, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion upheld for nearly a half century, no longer exists.

Writing for the court majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 Roe ruling and repeated subsequent high court decisions reaffirming Roe "must be overruled" because they were "egregiously wrong," the arguments "exceptionally weak" and so "damaging" that they amounted to "an abuse of judicial authority."

[...]

Joining the Alito opinion were Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by the first President Bush, and the three Trump appointees — Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. [...]

[...]

Writing for the majority, [Alito] said forthrightly that abortion is a matter to be decided by states and the voters in the states. "We hold," he wrote, that "the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion." As to what standard the courts should apply in the event that a state regulation is challenged, Alito said any state regulation of abortion is presumptively valid and "must be sustained if there is a rational basis on which the legislature could have thought" it was serving "legitimate state interests," including "respect for and preservation of prenatal life at all stages of development." In addition, he noted, states are entitled to regulate abortion to eliminate "gruesome and barbaric" medical procedures; to "preserve the integrity of the medical profession"; and to prevent discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or disability, including barring abortion in cases of fetal abnormality.

Ultimately, the translation of all that is that states appear to be completely free to ban abortions for any reason.

[...]

Victoria Larsen #wingnut npr.org

Bull garbage, (Trump) won't commit "war crimes" because there is no such thing. War is bad, BUT the purpose of War is to win and there is no fair way of doing that. Like they say, War is HELL, but living under oppression is worse.

Godfrey Grosstackle #fundie npr.org

Seriously..?

Northern Ireland won't join the EU. It's too small to survive alone without the massive financial transfers it gets from London. It won't be allowed to join southern Ireland either. There is no appetite among the Irish establishment or the population to take on the massive sectarian strife still rampant there. Let alone the huge welfare costs. Taking on east germany nearly bankrupted west germany, a lesson not lost on the Irish.

Northern Ireland produces virtually nothing and is a huge consumer of welfare subsidies. It is paid massive amounts of money by London just to keep the peace. The Irish have nowhere near the capital to take on those payments and the politicians in Ireland have no desire to risk their cosy arrangements by inviting in a load of reluctant protestant politicians intent on causing trouble.

Of course the british government would love to be rid of the massive drain on their finances but Ireland certainly won't be taking them on.

As for Scotland, the EU has already stated that their application (and Northern Ireland's) can only be considered when they are fully independent from the UK. As they can't support themselves without massive subsidies from London, despite their north sea oil income, that's not going to happen any time soon. The EU knows it and have no intention of adopting any more countries like Greece.

Try getting your news from outside this place now and again.


Wrong,

Guardian.
The EU’s top leaders have said they expect the UK to act on its momentous vote to leave the union “as soon as possible, however painful that process may be” and that there will be “no renegotiation”.

The presidents of the European council, commission and parliament – Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz respectively – and Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said any delay to Britain’s exit would “unnecessarily prolong uncertainty”.

Article 50 will be filed by October.

Gov. Greg Abbot & Texas citizens #conspiracy npr.org

Texas Governor Deploys National Guard To Stave Off Obama Takeover

It's true that the paranoid world-view of right-wing militia types has remarkable stamina. But that's not news.

What is news is that there seem to be enough of them in Texas to influence the governor of the state to react — some might use the word pander — to them.

That started Monday when a public briefing by the Army in Bastrop County, which is just east of Austin, got raucous. The poor U.S. Army colonel probably just thought he was going to give a regular briefing, but instead 200 patriots shouted him down, told him was a liar and grilled him about the imminent federal takeover of Texas and subsequent imposition of martial law.

"We just want to make sure our guys are trained. We want to hone our skills," Lt. Col. Mark Listoria tried to explain in vain.

One wonders what Listoria was thinking to himself as he walked to his car after two hours of his life he'll never get back. God bless Texas? Maybe not.

The next day Gov. Abbott decided he had to take action. He announced that he was going to ask the State Guard to monitor Operation Jade Helm from start to finish.

"It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed upon," Abbott said.

David and Louise Turpin #fundie npr.org

A Southern California couple are in custody after one of their daughters called 911 and led authorities to their home on Sunday. There, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department says it found 12 of the teen's siblings inside, including "several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings."

Of the 13 siblings living at the home in Perris, Calif., officials say six were under the age of 18. The siblings ranged in age from 2 years old to 29, and the daughter who sought help was 17 — though when law enforcement officers met with her, "she appeared to be only 10 years old and slightly emaciated."

"Deputies, when they arrived inside the house, noticed that the children were malnourished," Capt. Greg Fellows, commander of the Perris Sheriff's Station, said at a news conference Tuesday. "It was very dirty, and the conditions were horrific."

Law enforcement officers arrested their biological parents, David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49. Each of the parents has been charged with nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment. Each is being held on $9 million bail.

"If you can imagine being 17 years old and appearing to be a 10-year-old, being chained to a bed, being malnourished and [having] injuries associated with that — I would call that torture," Fellows told reporters.

All 13 victims were hospitalized for examinations and treatment. Although the Riverside University Health System declined to describe the minors' condition, Corona Regional Medical Center CEO Mark Uffer said the seven adults are "stable and they're being fed."

"It's hard to think of them as adults when you first see them because they're small, and it's clear they're malnutritioned," Uffer said at Tuesday's news conference.

Fellows explained Tuesday that the parents, who have lived in Perris since approximately 2014, had been home-schooling their children. When confronted by the police Sunday — according to the statement released Monday — "the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner."

"It seemed that the mother was perplexed as to why we were at that residence," Fellows said. He added that law enforcement "had no prior contacts at that residence regarding any allegations of child abuse or neglect."

David Turpin's parents, James and Betty Turpin of West Virginia, told ABC News that they were "surprised and shocked" at the allegations because their son and daughter-in-law were "a good Christian family." They said they had not seen the family since visiting California four or five years ago.

The Los Angeles Times, citing public records, reports that the couple had moved to California from Texas several years ago and that they had declared bankruptcy twice.

Ivan Trahan, a lawyer who had represented the couple in their most recent bankruptcy filing, in 2011, was quoted by the Times as saying that the Turpins seemed like "very nice people who spoke highly of their children" but who had fallen into financial problems.

Trahan said David Turpin had worked as an engineer for Northrop Grumman. A spokesman for the defense contractor confirmed to the Times that he was employed there until 2010.

However, Kimberly Milligan, 50, who lives across the street, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that when she first moved in she saw a woman outside the house with an infant, but eventually stopped seeing the child. Over the years, Milligan said, she would occasionally see three children who looked like preteens.

"I thought the kids were home-schooled," she said. "You know something is off, but you don't want to think bad of people."

Considering the proximity of the houses, Milligan questioned aloud: "How did no one see anything?"

Milligan was quoted by Reuters as saying that two years ago around Christmas she saw three of the older Turpin children outside and complimented them on a Nativity scene outside their house. She said they "froze [as] if by doing so they could become invisible."

"Twenty-year-olds never act like that," she told the news agency. "They didn't want to have a social conversation."

Still, authorities lauded the bravery displayed by the 17-year-old daughter in calling attention to the situation Sunday.

"I appreciate the courage that this juvenile had," Fellows said Tuesday, "to escape that house and get out there and report this to law enforcement."

Unknown Mozambicans #fundie npr.org

Bald Men Are Being Hunted Down In Mozambique

Authorities in Mozambique say bald men are being killed, allegedly because of the belief that their heads contain gold.

So far five bald men have been killed, all in central Mozambique: two in May in Milange district close to the border with Malawi and three this month in the district of Morrumbala.

Bald men across the country are afraid of exposing their scalps. Some stay indoors. Others hide their baldness with caps.

During his regular press briefing this week in Maputo, Inacio Dina, spokesman for Mozambique's general police command, said the phenomenon was new to the country. He threatened to take tough measures against those involved.

"Our preliminary conclusion indicates that the phenomenon is due to cultural beliefs," he stated. "We are currently investigating the case to find out more and to understand the dimension of the problem. The phenomenon can lead bald people to be pursued and killed. This is a serious homicide crime. Our current interest is to catch and hold all those involved responsible."

Dina accused traditional healers of conniving with the murderers of bald people because of the cultural belief that their heads contain gold. It is also possible that the goal is to obtain body parts to use in rituals aimed at bringing wealth — the reason that albinos have been targeted for their body parts in some countrie

Marcus Lamb and Daystar TV #fundie npr.org

Daystar's broadcast complex and corporate jet — together valued at $9.5 million — would be subject to property taxes in Texas if the ministry were a for-profit business. But it's exempt because of its status as a church.

According to court records, Daystar's primary revenue comes from selling airtime to other religious programmers. Its secondary income is donations. The documents show that between 2005 and 2011, Daystar took in $208 million in tax-deductible contributions from viewers through on-air pitches.

Daystar has built a public image as a generous giver to charitable causes. Indeed, the network has contributed millions of dollars to a trauma center and a home for Holocaust survivors in Israel, a hospital in Calcutta, and to ministries that support women in Moldova and children in Uganda.

Lamb trumpeted those donations in a 2009 sermon in Australia: "In the last five years, Daystar has written checks of donations to others, to ministries, to churches, to missions, to hurricane relief, to tsunami relief, to hospitals, etc., to the tune of $30 million cash!"

NPR analyzed six years of Daystar balance sheets. They show the network gave away $9.7 million dollars in direct grants to outside recipients. Not $30 million. That works out to charitable giving of about 5 percent of donor revenue.

"My concern is the disconnect between what Daystar asks that the money be used for and how they actually use it," says Daniel Borochoff, president of CharityWatch.org, a nonprofit charity evaluator based in Chicago. Borochoff estimates he's examined more than 100,000 nonprofits in his 25 years doing this kind of work. NPR sent him Daystar documents and asked him to assess the network's charitable giving.

"Daystar needs to tell people that only about 5 percent of their contributions are going toward hospitals, churches, needy individuals," he says.

In its letter, Daystar explains the discrepancy by saying the majority of viewer contributions actually pays for the costs of foreign satellite transmissions, which the network considers its "international mission work."

To see where the actual cash donations go, NPR examined six years of network giving and found that some of the money goes to family interests and ministry expenses.

According to court records, Daystar gave:
*$433,000 of tax-deductible viewer donations to Oral Roberts University, mostly during years when the three Lamb children were enrolled there.
*$53,683 to Lake Country Christian School, the high school the Lamb children attended.
*$296,091 to Gateway Church, the Lambs' family church.
*$32,200 to Family Restoration Network, Christian marriage counselors who Marcus and Joni claim saved their marriage.
*$24,026 to Lamb's alma mater, Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.
*$21,879 to Lynn Haven Nursing Home in Gray, Ga., where Marcus' father lived before he died.`

Other donations of tax-deductible viewer contributions include $60,000 to Israeli lawyers who helped Daystar get a cable television contract, according to the publisher of Teva Ha'Dvarim Magazine, who acted as an intermediary; $23,674 for a ministry trip to Asia; $60,000 in payments to "Daystar and Daystar Remotes"; and $30,000 to the First Baptist Church of Orlando at a time when the pastor was helping Daystar buy a local educational TV station, according to Daystar documents filed with the 193rd Judicial District Court in Dallas County.

Moreover, evangelists who bought airtime on Daystar or appeared as guests on the network received more than $500,000. Of that sum, $92,000 went to the Rev. T.L. Lowery and his foundation, on whose board of directors Lamb sits.

Daystar spent nondonation ministry income on expenses that included $572,154 in sponsorship and expenses for a Christian NASCAR driver named Blake Koch; a $2.3 million loan to the Rev. Frank Harber, Lamb's former special assistant and golfing buddy, to start a church that defaulted on the loan; and $97,320 spent at retail bookstores to buy up copies of Joni Lamb's autobiography, Surrender All, helping to drive it onto a best-sellers list. Daystar says the books were given away as premiums to donors.

Meghan Herning #fundie npr.org

Just four days before the release of her newest album, a letter from Taylor Swift's attorney demanding that a website retract and delete an article critical of has has drawn a sharp (but also winking) rebuke from the American Civil Liberties Union.

A letter dated Oct. 25 and addressed to Meghan Herning, the executive editor of a small California blog named PopFront, claimed that the site's article titled "Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation" was defamatory and that if it was not retracted and removed, "Ms. Swift is prepared to proceed with litigation," according to a copy of it made public by the ACLU.

(The letter's author, attorney William J. Briggs II, did not respond to a request confirming its authenticity, nor did a Swift representative respond to a request confirming that Briggs represents Swift.)

The article in question — which veers between Kanye West's interruption of Swift at an awards show, the appropriation of Swift by white nationalists, the eugenics movement of the early 20th century, World War II and American silence toward the Nazi Party, and the lyrics of Swift's recent single "Look What You Made Me Do" — ultimately argues that Swift's perceived silence on political issues "is not innocent, it is calculated." The article argues that by not tacitly embracing progressive politics, Swift "could well be construed as her lending support to the voices rising against embracing diversity and inclusion emblematic of Trump supporters."

The article's rhetorical veracity is not the point for the ACLU, however — only that PopFront was stating an opinion about Swift, not asserting any facts.

In its response, the ACLU of Northern California writes that "Ms. Herning and PopFront will not in any way accede" to the demands. Swift is a public figure — as the ACLU explains — a designation that gives critics and journalists broad protections in what they can legally write about those figures. Anyone suing for defamation on behalf of a public figure must prove both that the writer whom they're suing published false information and was aware beforehand it was false and published it anyway. In addition, opinion is, by definition, not defamation.

The ACLU writes that Briggs' letter, a "threat" according to PopFront, does not convincingly argue that the blog purposefully defamed Swift. "Criticism is never pleasant, but a celebrity has to shake it off, even if the critique may damage her reputation," reads the ACLU's letter — shoehorning in two references to Swift's upcoming album Reputation and her 2014 hit "Shake It Off," in a single sentence.

In his letter, Briggs points to two instances that seem to undercut any connection between Swift and far-right political movements. He refers to a Washington Post story without any Swift comment that says there is no reason to think she is a neo-Nazi; he also quotes one of Swift's lawyers as saying it was safe to say "the singer is not amused" by the allegations. Briggs' cease-and-desist itself could possibly be taken as a third denial.

In a PopFront post on Monday, both Broadly, a Vice vertical "devoted to representing the multiplicity of women's experiences," and Complex Media were cited as publishing similar articles addressing the alt-right's appropriation of Swift. Requests to both asking whether they had received similar letters from Swift's attorneys were not immediately returned.

Reputation, Swift's sixth studio album, is out on Nov. 10.

various french students #fundie npr.org

At the Pierre de Geyter Middle School in St. Denis, a largely Muslim suburb north of Paris, Iannis Roder has taught history for the past 15 years. He says the day after the killings at the magazine, the school staff knew it would have problems.

"Our pupils — a minority — didn't want to do the minute of silence because they thought that Charlie Hebdo was a newspaper that didn't have the right to make these caricatures," says Roder.

Iannis Roder is a history teacher in the largely Muslim suburb of St. Denis, north of Paris. He said some of his students considered the Charlie Hebdo cartoons to be blasphemy and believed that Islam took precedence over French law.

Roder says the students called it blasphemy and he had to explain that blasphemy is a religious concept that doesn't exist in French law.

"That was very difficult to explain because their point of view, their lives, are very religious. And they are convinced that the religion is above the law of the French Republic," he says.

Roder says nearly all the students thought the killings were wrong, but purely for religious reasons. He says he finds that worrisome.

US Border Patrol #racist npr.org

The events that followed at the Corpus Christi hospital are the latest developments in a national controversy over so-called sensitive locations. Under President Barack Obama, the Department of Homeland Security adopted a policy that immigration agents should avoid enforcement actions at hospitals, schools, churches and public demonstrations unless there are special circumstances.

The Sanchezes' 48-hour odyssey with federal agents shows the lengths to which the Trump administration will go to round up people in the country illegally, whether they have a criminal record or not.

The Border Patrol followed the ambulance, the night of May 24, as it raced to Corpus through desolate ranchland, carrying Oscar, Irma and tiny Isaac — with an IV in his arm and a tube in his stomach. Once they arrived at Driscoll Children's Hospital, the green-uniformed agents never left the undocumented couple's side. Officers followed the father to the bathroom and the cafeteria and asked the mother to leave the door open when she breast-fed Isaac.

"Everywhere we went in the hospital," Oscar says, "they followed us."

Customs and Border Protection says it is required to monitor subjects in custody "at all times" and tried to do so at the hospital "in the least restrictive manner possible."

The next morning, agents took Oscar and Irma Sanchez, separately, from the hospital to the Corpus Christi Border Patrol station to be fingerprinted and booked. They were permitted to return. Oscar says he asked the surgeon if she could delay the operation until both parents could be in the waiting room. She agreed.

Kannan Jegathala Krishnan, Nageswara Rao, Ashu Khosla #fundie npr.org

Indian Science Congress Speakers Say Newton Was Wrong, Ancient Demon-King Had Planes
January 9, 201912:56 PM ET

At this year's annual meeting of the Indian Science Congress from Jan. 3 to 7, senior research scientist Kannan Jegathala Krishnan dismissed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity as "a big blunder" and said Isaac Newton didn't really understand how gravity works.

Nageswara Rao, a vice chancellor at Andhra University in South India, said that Ravana, a demon god with 10 heads, had 24 kinds of aircraft of varying sizes and capacities — and that India was making test-tube babies thousands of years ago.

Dinosaurs were created by the Hindu god Brahma, said Ashu Khosla, a scientist with expertise in paleontology at Panjab University in the North Indian city of Chandigarh.

Not exactly the kind of remarks you would expect at an event whose mission is to advance and further the cause of science, to stimulate discussion on scientific theories and to create an awareness of science-related issues, especially among children — and that is funded by the Indian government's Ministry of Science and Technology.

Krishnan, Rao and Khosla were addressing a group of 5,000 children assembled from all over the country at the event's Children's Science Congress. Their lectures were posted on YouTube and reported widely by the press. The congress organizers were red-faced, and the scientific community in India was outraged.

The organizers of the conference were taken aback. "This is the 106th edition of the Science Congress," said the group's general secretary Premendu P. Mathur in an interview with NPR. "Since 1914, we've had so many meaningful conversations with children on science. We've hosted Nobel laureates from around the world, and yet the controversy overshadows the good when some people misuse our platform for personal and political gain."

About 15,000 scientists from India and around the world attend the conference every year, said Ashok Saxena, a zoologist and a former president of the congress, in an interview with NPR. They are a part of the 50,000-strong Indian Science Congress.

Invitations were sent to 250 scientists and researchers to speak at the various sessions of the annual event.

Among the famous attendees this year were three Nobel laureates: Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist Avram Hershko, who won the prize for chemistry in 2004; British-born physicist Duncan M. Haldane, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2016; and German-born American Nobel laureate for medicine in 2013, Thomas Christian Südhof,

Addressing the comments made during the children's event, Saxena said, "We never dreamed that some of them would spout such irrational ideas. They were invited to speak based on their science credentials."

But this isn't the first time the Indian Science Congress has been mired in controversy. In 2016, Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan famously called the event "a circus" because of the way religious ideologies held sway over science and said he wouldn't attend another session.

Many scientists believe that politics is the problem.

The rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, in 2014 meant that the ideals of the organization that it is closely linked with — a right-wing group called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — are now mainstream. The RSS believes in propagating Hindutva as a nationalist movement. The term refers to the effort to establish a Hindu way of life and glorifying Hindu beliefs.

RantingMonkey #fundie npr.org

This is unacceptable. No one can live on 15.00 an hour. The minimum wage should be set at 75.00 minimum though 100.00 is closer to a real living wage. Ya know what, now that I think about it, the basic necessities in life, food, shelter, internet, cell phones, video game consoles,and good booze are really expensive. 200.00 an hour should be the minimum just so people can scrape by. You monster! You expect people to have to work for the basic necessities of life like some kind of slave. Those things are basic human rights. (Sarcasm)

dj anderson #fundie npr.org

Assuming when a first time would gain a block vote (similar to blacks voting by party 90+% in USA) then how long before other Muslim-rich cities do the same? UK cities of Birmingham, Blackburn, Bradford, Leicester, Slough, Luton, and Manchester all have higher percentages of Muslims. Do they already have Muslims in high positions? I'd think so.

Elsewhere in the EU: The Hague, Rotterdam of the Netherlands; Brussels, Antwerp in Belgium; Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin of Germany; Paris, Roubaix, Marseille in France; Malmo of Sweden Copenhagen, Vienna & other urban areas -- all have higher percentage Muslim populations than London. In these countries where Christianity is in decline, Islam is growing rapidly. The fascination with the first this-and-that will become common place.

Islam is a powerful religion that is progressing in the EU. Muslims Immigrate, reproduce, as well, are "fruitful and multiply" which Darwin points out foretells the future.

oakspar77777 #fundie npr.org

The Left race baits for votes in league with the liberal media that is happy to gin up conflict for ratings and to help their party.

Then we get articles from the media on how the blood is not on their hands, nor on the hands of their party, despite their active work motivating events like this.

If someone on the Right MENTIONS something, they rail on how it is a "dog whistle" for violence - but they never apply that standard to themselves.

PathofReason #fundie npr.org

Mohammed is responsible for this.
You're more likely to be attacked by a democrat.
Roswell has a museum about aliens. Christianity today is a smoothed version of the harsh texts. Islam isn't smoothed. Islam is entering a period of change Christians completed long ago.


Very obscure. Look, I get it. There's a deep investment in pretending that nothing's going on in Islam, that Islam isn't retrograde and mideavel, that it's the same as Christianity. That explains things like millions of liberals obsessing over the 20 people in westboro baptist church. The liberals desparately need them; they serve an extremely important purpose.
See, here's the thing. You can find that in Christian text, just not in Christian practice. I know that's disappointing.

There's another Lib favorite on YouTube. It shows Christians being read parts of the bible picked to be extreme. It's designed to make Christianity look equivalent to Islam. Here's the thing. The Christians don't even recognize it as part of Christianity.

Now, show a Muslim a bit about the Koran having a hand cut off or being stoned and watch them nod.

Doesn't exactly make the point you think you're making.

tjrt #fundie npr.org

First, what is critical thinking. By definition - the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. If you don't think you can find books about creationism that fits this definition, I will gladly find some for you. You clearly won't be convinced that creationism is viable, but you will see where scientists and theologians meet and share in the quest for the truth.

Liberals also think Science == Global Warming. Which is outright laughable....there is a lot more science out there than just atmospheric. But because some people question the methods and mathematical models that global warming alarmists present, they are labeled wholesale science deniers....again laughable.

The derogatory labels and the attempts to snuff out opposing ideas is equivalent to taking books and throwing them on the burn pile.

ClydeMullis #fundie npr.org

The only thing Duke is "guilty" of is stating a desire to preserve the Anglo culture that America was built on and that made it great. When a Jew or black desires exactly the same thing, it is to be admired, encouraged and smiled about. When an Anglo-American does the same, it is labeled HATE, RACISM and is to be condemned. Duke has been demonized almost as much as Hitler for this. His detractors can only smear him with charges that he stole some funds some time or some such. What Duke has never done is kill anybody, shell and bomb hundreds of innocent people, shoot babies in the head, or bulldoze their homes and steal their land--something Israel does as a routine.

perrywidhalm #fundie npr.org

Before any group of people can be oppressed or destroyed they must be dehumanized. The American Left has decided to keep human beings segregated into a hierarchical color code - black, brown, yellow and white. If you are in the white category, according to the Liberal doctrine of division, nearly all the world's social ills are your fault either directly or indirectly. White equals evil in the twisted Liberal mind.

Marv fromBrooklyn #fundie npr.org

I abhor Earth Day. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the proliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity. Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic

chores. Getting children out of menial labor and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading. Development and provision of modern health care without electricity is absolutely impossible. The expansion of our food supply, and the promotion of hygiene and nutrition, depended on being able to irrigate fields, cook and refrigerate foods, and have a steady indoor supply of hot water. Many of the world’s poor suffer brutal environmental conditions in their own homes because of the necessity of cooking over indoor fires that burn twigs and dung. This causes local deforestation and the proliferation of smoke- and parasite-related lung diseases. Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. After all, that’s how the west developed. The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity. Earth Day celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it becomes an hour devoted to anti-humanism. It encourages the sanctimonious gesture of turning off trivial appliances for a trivial amount of time, in deference to some ill-defined abstraction called “the Earth,” all the while hypocritically retaining the real benefits of continuous, reliable electricity. People who see virtue in doing without electricity should shut off their fridge, stove, microwave, computer, water heater, lights, TV and all other appliances for a month, not an hour. And pop down to the cardiac unit at the hospital and shut the power off there too.

I don’t want to go back to nature. Travel to a zone hit by earthquakes, floods and hurricanes to see what it’s like to go back to

nature. For humans, living in “nature” meant a short life span marked by violence, disease and ignorance. People who work for the end of poverty and relief from disease are fighting against nature. I hope they leave their lights on. Through the use of pollution control technology and advanced engineering, our air quality has dramatically improved since the 1960s, despite the expansion of industry and the power supply. If, after all this, we are going to take the view that the remaining air emissions outweigh all the benefits of electricity, and that we ought to be shamed into sitting in darkness for an hour, like naughty children who have been caught doing something bad, then we are setting up unspoiled nature as an absolute, transcendent ideal that obliterates all other ethical and humane obligations. No thanks.

--------------------------------------------- and then there is this:

I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there, and I refuse to accept the idea that civilization with all its trade-offs is something to be ashamed of.

Prof. Ross McKitrick of the University of Guelph

winniew #fundie npr.org

No president has ever done such a poor job:

* Tried all he could to promote the elitist agenda against the brexit, and lost. EU is a failure and will be replaced by sensible trading agreements.
* "A record 94,708,000 Americans were not in the labor force in May -- 664,000 more than in April -- and the labor force participation rate dropped two-tenths of a point to 62.6 percent, near its 38-year low, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.
When President Obama took office in January 2009, 80,529,000 Americans were not participating in the labor force; since then, 14,179,000 Americans have left the workforce"
* taken the US troops out of Iraq and created a power vacuum, which has resulted in the rise of ISIS
* caused a nuclear arms race in the Middle East
* emboldened Putin to take Crimea
* emboldened Putin to weaken the US-backed fighters battling Assad, and allowing Assad to remain in power
* emboldened islamists to pursue a dirty bomb and increase terrorism
* emboldened Kim Jong-un and antagonize him to destabilize the region
* worsened relations with China, N. Korea and Russia
* has divided the American people more so than since before the US Civil War
While he wasn't destroying the world, he:
* campaigned 24 x 7, including his > $300K junket to the UK to convince the people to remain (Fail!)
* resettling thousands of Syrian refugees sneakily throughout the US against the wishes of the state's governors, none of which were resettled in DC
* spent more US taxpayer $ on travel than all US presidents combined
* played golf
* designated a LGBT landmark

Shore Break #fundie npr.org

Government must serve the will of the people, not a Jew agenda.
These smart people in the room that have supposedly shifted the curve, have given us a failed state in Libya, a cancer called ISIS where they've let their message metastasize across the globe, and a trade/economic policy that ignores the needs of the average worker...because of the necessities of globalization

They have always thought they've known better, we've had 30 years of it but nothing to show of it.
Smart indeed. That's a laugh.
The EU: We must ignore the needs of the ordinary citizen... because of the necessities of globalization.
Contemptuous elites. No wonder the Brits left.

Obama and Hillary are Jews as well.

greenpeaceholy #fundie npr.org

Muslims have the highest population on Eath and the highest fertility rate. They also have the haighest welfare recipient percentages and the highest unemployment rate percentages in UE, UK and USA. They don't assimilate into societies but impose their Sharia Law onto infidels. They occasionally turned terrorists and killed innocent people.
So, I don't blame Brits for wanting Brexit.
A petition to undo 4 million
A counter petition 4+ million
Just like the Brexit vote results, majority wins.
It's called democracy.

Travis Fonseca #racist npr.org

Baltimore Unrest Reveals Tensions Between African-Americans And Asians

In West Baltimore's Sandtown neighborhood, Asian immigrant shopkeepers cleaned up the damage caused by rioters. Also in need of repair: their relationship with their African-American customers.

[...]

INSKEEP: Since an outbreak of violence on Monday, the police chief has called the protests extremely peaceful. And the protests have spread to other cities. So that's the straightforward version of events.

The broader question is what's really happening in the more troubled neighborhoods of a majority-black city. Like any city, Baltimore has a legacy of segregation and a legacy of police violence. It also faces many class and economic differences. And those differences came to the surface during Monday's violence. In the Sandtown neighborhood, many Asian-owned businesses were targeted for destruction. NPR's Nurith Aizenman visited a street close to the scene of Freddie Gray's arrest where Asian shop owners are assessing the damage.

[...]

AIZENMAN: The window was smashed Monday night at the height of the riot. Someone also threw a brick through the front door. But that's the extent of the damage. Yvonne Gordon works at the store. She says it was spared because it's owned by black people. As soon as the door was broken, a bunch of guys from the neighborhood jumped in front to stop the looters.

YVONNE GORDON: They was like, this is a black-owned store. And we're not going to tolerate it. So go ahead and move. Go on home somewhere 'cause we're not going to tolerate it.

AIZENMAN: But she says the Korean-owned shops on the block didn't get that protection.

GORDON: Those boys that stopped them from coming in knew he was a black-owned store. But in the same instance, they didn't go across the street to the Koreans to say don't come in.

AIZENMAN: Now, across Baltimore, lots of businesses owned by black people were vandalized. But on this particular stretch - picture three treeless blocks of row houses, a lot of them boarded up - the only shops that were targeted were ones owned by Asian immigrants - mostly Koreans. Gordon says she feels really sad about that. Like pretty much everyone who lives in the neighborhood, she's black, but she considers some of the Asian shopkeepers like family, like the older Korean man who's run a convenience store across the street for decades. Still, not everyone on the block feels that way.

TRAVIS FONSECA: It's almost like payback, I guess you could say.

AIZENMAN: Travis Fonseca is a tall, muscular 24-year-old hanging out on the corner. He says the looters were justified.

FONSECA: You know what I mean? For all of the unspoken things that has happened between those businesses and our people, I feel like it was payback. I don't feel like it was the most reasonable thing to do, but it's definitely justified.

AIZENMAN: Fonseca says while some of the rioting was prompted by anger at police over what happened to Freddie Gray, for many, it was a moment to vent frustration over what they see as economic injustice. This neighborhood is so poor. There are so few decent jobs. And the few businesses that do exist are mostly run by Asians. But Fonseca says they won't hire anyone from the neighborhood. They profit off of us, he says, but they give nothing back. He points to a storefront with a yellow sign that says Short Stop Mart.

FONSECA: I had to go to work one day. I needed just a plain, white shirt for this day because I didn't have my work shirt. I came into the store, I said, man, look, I get paid Friday. I buy at this store all the time. I just need to borrow a shirt until Friday. I'll come back here. You see me all the time.

AIZENMAN: He says they told him no. And it felt like a total rejection, like he was some stranger not worthy of trust.

Max Randall #fundie npr.org

Am I the only one that sees the irony? A message board, full of people failed by America's broken education system, arguing about how to fix the problem. Since the 1960s, and into the 70s, the public school system has not been about educating our children, but indoctrinating them into a more liberal worldview. The Dept of Education must be abolished, and control should be given back to local school boards, or at least the states...Parochial schools should be supported within the problem areas, the Catholics have had more success educating those growing up in poverty, than any other organization...I can hear the various criticisms to my observation, and I will tell you that money spent per student, has practically no correlation to the quality of education...Oh, one more thing, all you folks who got a college degree within the last twenty years, should file suit against those institutions for malpractice. If the NPR message board is an example of informed discourse and debate on the left explains why Mr Trump has so much traction this year. "For every action, there is an equal, and opposite reaction." We are seeing the expected pushback by the "Silent Majority" in this country to the hard turn to the left highlighted by the Obama administration.

PhyllisCassell #fundie npr.org

Just one other reason to pull your kids out of the public school system. Sure, there are still some decent ones left in few areas, but most are liberal cesspools. Because liberals don't believe that you deserve the tax money you pay in to educate your child, they don't want you to have a voucher to educate your child in a safe place with good teachers. If you can afford it, pull your child out and find an alternate way for them to be educated. Liberals will leave the poor in failing schools with no way to get out, but it's time for the failing schools to go away. With the federal Department of Education leadership that is full of liberals, the USA is now #34 in the world in education, even though we spend more than most other countries. The money is obviously not getting to the children - more likely to the massive numbers of "administrators" that government has to employ. There are already lawsuits by transgenders against schools about this. A "girl" who still has male genitalia in Iowa doesn't like it that the school makes him/her shower behind a curtain after gym class. He wants to be treated just like the other girls, none of whom have male genitalia. This is a liberal's world of chaos. Why not separate bathrooms for Christians, Jews, Republicans, Democrats, whites, blacks, gays, transgenders, - I'm sure that liberals will come up with some other gender before it's all over with.

Shore Break #fundie npr.org

I wonder if intelligence reports warned Reagan about OBL if he funded the mujahideen? Or even the formation of a fundamentalist group once the Democrats stopped funding the operation. Not even close to likely. In Obama's case, the released FOIA document specifically warns of a Caliph formation. He proceeded anyway.

The president tells the American public an "immigration ban" is how ISIS recruits. I've seen their videos. None of them mention this. Not one piece of ISIS propaganda mentions a halt of immigration in the region as rationale to join ISIS. Of course the media, politifact and the other pervayors of "Truth" don't clarify this point. They don't mention that there is no evidence of this, there are no materials, videos, or evidence to back this simplistic claim.

dntWn6 #fundie npr.org

The Fear That 'Love And Understanding Will Never Win' is justified as long as we have people like Barack Hussein Obama and Melanie Hobsen running around the nation targeting white communities with the racist statement - -there is not enough diversity here. (NPR has pulled this comment down millions of times). People who grew up together have a right to sustain both tradition and civility without fear of gun shot wounds to the head and heart or bricks thrown their windows and looting. The President wouldn't know anything about having bricks thrown through living room windows onto a defenseless child -- I was that child -- straight As in school -- white -- and whomever did it had to drive miles to the outskirts of Detroit to find our home. Apparently black affirmative action in Detroit included finding the children who worked the hardest and excelled and trying to kill them. Fifty years later you've got a negro attorney at the Univerisity of Michigan arranging for black people (alumni) to do the same thing -- only she threatens white police officers with termination of their employment contracts if they don't do her bidding. She's younger than POTUS and has never done anything remotely world class; i know this because DOJ cut a deal with her office so they could avoid indictment. What we envisioned after the "67" riots was something like this Boblo Boat commericial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

But that's not good enough for you people. 45 years later -- 2010 --you run into our neighborhoods, trash our vehicles (the guy who ran a knife over my vehicle is Mulatto - just like the President -- like a bull invited into a china shop -- he couldn't help but destroy everything in sight. I had to call police to remove him. You invite people from India to live in our country -- let's see -- one of them pretends to be a physician and mutilated me. I repeat this here because I was informed by key executives around the nation they receive direct threats from the Secretary of Labor, and more to make sure I am not employed. Is this reverse discrimination; NO! You're covering up massive mental inadequacy through intellectual property theft worth more than the combined earnings of big pharma.
POTUS says "Change has been to slow." Does he mean he hasn't killed and robbed enough white people yet through (affordable health care -- no consent human subjects testing/torture) or data collection through web crawling and other economic espionage activities. POTUS made that statement from Poland. Poland used to be Lithuania. It used to be Austria. It used to be Germany. I don't want him in the country of my great, great ancestors. He dances on their graves. Take a look at the Boblo boat commericial. it was made three years after the 67 riots. Change is fine in social settings. But you do not have the right to break up our traditions -- of clean, quiet, environmentally beautiful forests and neighborhoods because your foreign invitees don't feel safe. All you've done is trash our nation. That black man who shot the white officers in Dallas lost his life because the white officers in Minnesota, New Orleans, and most certainly and indesputably the Ann Arbor Campus of the University of Michigan, the Washtenaw County Sherriff and former Chief of Police of Ann Arbor -- are taking they orders from a very black women -- to violate all know state and federal laws. Apparently it is "inappropriate conduct" to protest massive internal bleeding and cancer-causing implants eroding all major organs. That will get the very black attorney ordering the white DPS Chief to order a black rookie (Woods) to point a gun at your head and look up your skirt.
We understand each other just fine now. I, like many have had to suspend my belief in anything JFK or MLK intended -- because the reality is -- we've got a racist president. Forests grow like trees because that's where their seeds drop. If a tree falls in the forest -- every animal and insect hears it. And if you can't see the forest through the trees -- it does not give you the right to chop down our trees because there is not enough diversity here. God and nature got it right.

F K #fundie npr.org

Insert socialists Gov. Brown, Hillary, Sanders, or Obama or any other rotten "progressive" for "Himmler" below - or for Hitler or Stalin or for any other despot who banned guns: "Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State." -- Heinrich Himmler
Many others as above by dictators and human slaughterers as compared to:
"The 2nd amendment is mainly so we can rise up against tyranny. No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms ." Thomas Jefferson
“What country can preserve (its) liberties if (its) rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.” Thomas Jefferson
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” Benjamin Franklin
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." - - Thomas Jefferson
"Even as it stands, the Home Guard could only exist in a country where men feel themselves free. The totalitarian states can do great things, but there is one thing they cannot do: they cannot give the factory-worker a rifle and tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom. THAT RIFLE HANGING ON THE WALL OF THE WORKING-CLASS FLAT OR LABOURER'S COTTAGE, IS THE SYMBOL OF DEMOCRACY. IT IS OUR JOB TO SEE THAT IT STAYS THERE." -- George Orwell.

I HOPE AND PRAY WE NEVER GET TO THIS SCENARIO:
“If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government - by exercising one's Second Amendment rights.” Alexander Hamilton

jwgsgg #fundie npr.org

Perhaps America:s Trump has finally taken the *be politely correct what ever the cost* away and instilled some common sense to immigration policies with European citizens and their leaders.He is responsible for the well being and safety of his country and it:s people. Leaders with this responsibility cannot afford to live in Disneyland and think that Cinderella will be all smiles and wiggles even though she has explosives strapped to her girdle.

Shore Break #fundie npr.org

I don't care how they look. If there is a high percentage of individuals from a particular region of world; regardless of religion, color, sex, or heritage, and these individuals have a higher percentage probability of a terror attack, these individuals should be excluded.

Little is known of the immigration policies during the Ellis Island days. They most definitely segregated individuals; in their case, those that might hold the probability of becoming a public charge.

The nationalist hate wave you speak of is the sound of individuals stating we don't need another "most popular flavor" of extremism to take root on our shores. Muslim anti-pluralism is the antithesis of what America stands for, and their penchant to use violence is something we would do best without.

So you're an apologist for a bigoted misogynistic religion bent on censorship and suicide-assassination by admitting less than similar examples from other religions?
Dismissing the advocates and apologists of bigotry and censorship and suicide-assassination cannot be permitted to take shelter any longer under the umbrella of a pluralism that they openly seek to destroy; and those that defend these people need to be called out.
Don't kid yourself. The most toxic form of religion is the Islamist form with the horrible idea to end up with a religion based Sharia law, with the best means of getting there is jihad. They feel they have a specific right to feel aggrieved and use all means necessary to achieve their ends.

Islam was founded by a marginally literate warlord from divine revelation and proclaim it as the last and final. Gods last word. Straight away this a temptation toward violence and intolerance. A temptation they have proven all too willing to comply with. This violent approach to achieve their ends is most definitely fascism.

Welcome To Bamsterdam #fundie npr.org

it might rain copious amounts of water but it won't stay on the mountain as ice and it will all run down at once...."

Taking your statement at face value it would seem that, given the decades of advance warning of such a scenario, reservoirs could be built to reserve the fresh water for human use before it goes to the sea. Such reservoirs were built all over the semi-desert landscape of California back in the mid-20th century before the State Gov't was taken over by envirowackos and today such reservoirs are the State's main bulwark in contending with the drought even though the population has doubled.

... and the "science" to which you refer is the doomsday scenario promulgated by grant-grubbing researchers who are paid by governments to recommend increases in taxation and centralized government power. 'Nuff said.

So various watermelon groups "cited Legates' ties to several groups that have supported or emphasized skeptical stands on climate change while they also received regular contributions from ExxonMobil..." (!)

Oh, I get -- Legates has "ties" to "several groups" who received "regular
contributions from ExxonMobil" so he is - voila! - guilty by association ! If you can add to your argumentum ad hominem by saying he has been "linked" to such groups, you might have good job prospects as a MSM newsreader.

"But when scientists brought the mayor a map plainly showing that much of Coral Gables would be underwater in a few decades...."

Hallelujah !! Scientists finally found something useful to do with all that federal grant money by inventing a "map" that can foretell the future. (And all this time I've had to rely on palm-reading by Madame Zhuzhu at the county fair.)
Where can I get a copy of one of these maps so I can find out who's going to win the World Series before Las Vegas bookies do ? ... and find out where the S&P 500 Index is going to be at the end of the year ?

All limousine liberal movie moguls who are members of the Climate Change Cult should prove their belief in globull warming by trading me their 20 million dollar Malibu beach home for my little bungalow that is safely 600 feet ASL.

SABRINA LOWE #fundie npr.org

We actually went outside and started commanding the winds because God had given us authority over the winds - the airways. And we just began to command this storm not to hit our area. We - we spoke to the storm and said, go to unpopulated places. It did exactly what we said to do because God gave us the authority to do that.

Dean Hinnen #fundie npr.org

"The part that seems crazy to me is this: republicans don't want abortion legal, yet they also want no programs to help poor and homeless children."

Bull.

Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress from January 2001 until January 2007. Please explain how all these programs not only survived all those years of complete Republican control, but actually had their budgets steadily and substantially increased each year.

This should be good. Or you can just run away and pretend you didn’t read this.

Paul, we are all products of our environment. I am routinely described as the “American Taliban” or a “Christofascist” on discussion threads such as this one, and accused of waging a “war on women.” The comments from militant feminists are frequently snide, cynical and hostile, as exemplified here by Jae Peters.

Turnabout is fair play.

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

What goes around, comes around.

various French muslims #conspiracy npr.org

In a corner convenience store, three men in their 30s are hanging out. I ask what they think about the Charlie Hebdo killings.

Al-Qaida In Yemen Takes Responsibility For Paris Attack


"I'm not saying what they did was good," Hakim Dridi says of the killers.

But, he adds, "those cartoonists shouldn't have been doing that. They know Muslims are practicing their religion and they should leave them alone. They provoked it and they knew it was coming because they had a bodyguard."

The men have been watching a video on a large computer screen behind the counter, which is showing the police assault last Friday on the kosher market, where one attacker was killed after he killed four Jews in the store.

The men watching the video believe it was staged.

They also say there's no way one of the Kouachi brothers who attacked Charlie Hebdo would have left his ID in the car.

The conspiracy theories pour out. One of the men says the two attacks were a plot by France, the U.S. and Israel to give Israel more power. They say it's unfair the world's media talk for weeks about Jewish deaths but say nothing when Muslim children die.

Their narrative seems worlds away from the "Je suis Charlie" demonstrations in Paris just a few miles away

Poupic #fundie npr.org

Expecting the Chief Islamist in Washington not to help the main Islamic state supporting Islamic terror? On what planet were you born? Kerry is just doing what his boss told him to do. To prevent a Barack Hussein 2 from being elected President first Impeach! Impeach! And then vote for Trump.

I just finished re-reading John Glubb's "A short history of the Arab people." Their history is the history of Islam and all it contains is this one overthrew this one and this one overthrew that one. Sabers and blood and very little else is this history. Sharia anyone?
The fear of the truth sayer, Mr. Donald Trump is overwhelming to the point that it is an obsession with Barack Hussein 2, Hilary. The more she attacks him for talking straight the more she show herself to be a cold fish that can’t be trusted. She had Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans to be slaughtered by Islamic terror. Yet she claimed that a video was the cause of their demise. Then to make her point she uttered these unforgettable worlds: “What difference does it make?” I would love the parents and family of those American slaughtered because of her to be present while she repeats her “What difference does it make?” Plenty! Lady! 4 Americans lost their life because you put them in an Islamic terror infested Benghazi defenseless. Your finger on the nuclear button? Not on our life you care nothing about! You having national secrets? Having Huma Abedin for Chief of state knowing full well that she is the daughter of leaders of The Muslim Brotherhood you called “Moderate?” How did you get her approved? How did you get your server approved? You didn’t? You just did it? And you expect us to vote for a careless, cold fish like you? Yuck! I will vote for Mr. Donald Trump who always says the truth and has no fear not to be not politically correct like and Barack Hussein ruled on all of us. $300,000 for one speech! Can we see the text of that speech to see how it can’t be regarded as some sort of purchase of your future behavior? How many Yuck’s are there for all to see about you, Madame? See you gone in November!

So Politically Correct he could easily be part of Barack Hussein 2, Hilary. Mu8slis are scapegoats? Islamic terror doesn’t exist it is only “militants?” That is the way the current administration wants you to see the 9/11 Islamic terrorists, the recent California slaughter of co workers? The correct and honest way to look at the situation in Europe with the Paris slaughters, The Cologne rapes, the Sweden rapes, the no go area’s in Europe's capitals: “...Until they figure out what to DO.” This is not phobia. A phobia is based on just fear of something that never happen. Islamic terror is real. “The Muslim Brotherhood is not “moderate” the way Barack Hussein wants you to believe. It is the parent of all Islamic terror world wide.

Class A #fundie npr.org

You quit (as IF you were ever a member) when it became clear that the NRA supported gun-owners CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS...

And you oppose them. Fine.
Guess you never heard of the 2nd Amendment. Or the Constitution, for that matter.
:-D


Re: "If this were about rights" It is.
Re: "you'd be up in arms (so to speak) about "God" getting printed on all the money" No...but it seems you are.
Re: "a "speedy trial" taking years" Depends on the reason.
Re: "fines as punishment" No.

It seems that you're just glad that "gun control"-- your hobby, or coping mechanism, or symbol of strength or whatever--is back in the news for a few weeks.

If you want to amend the Constitution, go for it. I wonder how many other parts of the Bill of Rights will be lost...


But violence IS aided and abetted by gun-controllers and and their "gun free zones" like the Pulse nightclub. We need to make "gun free zones" illegal.

The "gun free zone" is the mass-murderer's best friend. All 12 of the worst "mass shootings" in the US occurred in "gun free zones", just like the Pulse nightclub. "Gun free zones" make attractive soft targets for terrorists and mass-murderers, as they gather LOTS of unarmed victims all together for the murderers' safety and convenience.

"Gun free zones" are a cancer on America. In these days of terrorist attacks, they are a national security risk.

We should pass a law that says no "gun free zones" are allowed UNLESS--as at airports--the venue provides sufficient security to keep out armed criminals. It makes no sense to disarm the law-abiding in a "gun free zone", and then just let armed criminals walk right in and begin murdering.

Dean Hinnen #fundie npr.org

"Look at the stuff that Romney, Lindsey Graham, and other top Republicans are STILL saying about Trump ..."

But none of them are accusing him of authoritarianism. Only the liars of the left-wing fringe are doing that. In fact, the Trump victory in the primaries was a triumph over authoritarianism -- the authoritarianism of the GOP establishment.

Republicans say horrible things about their rivals during the primaries. Democrats also say horrible things about their rivals during the primaries. The "Willie Horton" meme used so effectively against Mike Dukakis (D) in 1988 was first presented by Al Gore (D).

Political catfighting has never been pretty on either side of the aisle. This year, the most effective memes to be used against Hillary Clinton (D) are coming from the supporters of Bernie Sanders (D).

But the point of my post, John, is that it isn't the Republicans accusing Trump of authoritarianism. It's the liars of the left-wing fringe.

fornra #fundie npr.org

If it weren't for liberals like you the NRA could get back to the basics, but as long as you idiots keep attacking gun owners with reckless abandon and false numbers they must stand against you and that hurts all of us!
And just because I might choose guns that differ from the ones you like doesn't mean my choice is any more dangerous than yours!
As a matter of fact I seriously doubt that you ,coeumo or Jeff Hall even own a gun at all but if you do California is waiting to welcome you with open arms and plenty of restrictions!
An Abrams tank from 300 miles away!
You fail to accept the limitations of our military equipment and you underestimate the number of gun owners in America!
You also assume that our enlisted men and women will take up arms against their own family and friends, you also forget about our National Guard that is controlled by the individual states and posses far more arms than what the military does within the continental United States!
The number of gun owners in Texas alone would probably outnumber all of out military combined, and then you have 48 other states that could provide reinforcements as needed, or if needed!
The NRA leads the conversation, they call for enforcement of the gun laws that are already on the books,(something over a thousand I believe), but it falls on deaf ears!
Liberals are not interested in curbing so called gun violence, (which is actually criminal violence), they are all about control of the population which requires us to be disarmed!
You people fall for all the statistics that the liberal media choose to throw out without checking to see if it is accurate, and most of it is misleading at best!
One of their favorite lines is that America has the highest number of crimes committed with guns in the free world, although this is true in part it doesn't reflect reality in that we are not all in such danger!
If you simply remove all the large Democratic controlled cities from that equation America falls down below #40!
If you remove all the crimes committed by black men we also drop way down the list!
You see what we really need new laws to address are Democrats, black men and illegal aliens! Then we could go back the way it was when I was a child and know one even locked their doors at night!

Anthony Morris III and the Watchtower #fundie npr.org

Pew Research shows that only 9 percent of Witnesses get undergraduate degrees. That's well below the national average of 30.4 percent and the lowest of any faith group. The likely reason for this trend is the religion's official warnings against college.

Witness leadership declined to speak to NPR for this story, but Anthony Morris III, a member of the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses, outlines the organization's policies clearly in a video on the organization's website. The Watchtower Organization discourages higher education for two basic reasons.

First, higher education is spiritually dangerous. In the video, Morris warns parents that "the most intelligent and eloquent professors will be trying to reshape the thinking of your child, and their influence can be tremendous." He goes on to say that continual association with non-believers in an academic setting can "erode thinking and convictions."

Witness leadership also discourages higher education because they believe it's a waste of time. Jehovah's Witnesses have been predicting the end of the world since the religion's founding at the end of the 19th century. By their rationale, time in college would be better spent out on the streets, converting persons to become Witnesses.

Morris makes it very clear that the Watchtower organization doesn't discourage education, but rather secular education.

"If parents and young ones are motivated to pursue divine education," Morris says, "the quest for higher secular education becomes less and less of an issue."

C. Peter Wagner #fundie npr.org

WAGNER: Well, we take literally what the Bible says. We believe that Israel composes the people of God, and that they have fallen away at the moment, but that God has grafted the Gentiles into the same roots. So that's why we're very strong supporter of Israel, because we feel that Israel is the root of our faith. And so we support Israel strongly. We know that there's a - there's not really good religious freedom in Israel. We're very sorry about that.

But the Bible says that someday - and don't ask me how this is going to happen, because it seems impossible - that all of Israel will be saved, that they'll all believe in Jesus. So we just take that by faith, and none of our activities are geared toward that or anything else, but we just believe that that's going to happen. So before Jesus returns, Israel, as a social group, will acknowledge Jesus Christ as their messiah.

GROSS: So one of the reasons or the major reason that you support Israel is because you believe one day the Jews in Israel will basically convert to Christianity and accept Jesus as their savior.

...

GROSS: One thing about that, and this is something that confuses me. On the one hand, you say that you respect all religions, and that that's something our Constitution guarantees us. But at the same time, you want as many like-minded Christians as possible in positions in the arts, the media, the government, business, school. And also, you think Christianity is the only true faith. You'd like Jews in Israel to convert to Christianity. It just seems kind of contradictory to, you know, on the one hand, say you respect all religions, but to, on the other hand, say that you really want people to convert to yours.

WAGNER: Well, we - yes, we respect all religions, but we also respect the freedom of exercising our religion. And part of our religion is called evangelization. It's called presenting Jesus Christ to others and persuading them to become followers of Jesus Christ and walk into the kingdom of God. So - so we'd like to maintain our right in a plural - in religious pluralism of exercising our privilege of winning other people to Christianity.

Goforbroke #fundie npr.org

This is good news for America. Europe is already lost. Elections like this will only make their demise that much quicker. That will allow us to watch and learn from their experience. We have already learned so much from the rapes in cologne and the way things are unraveling in Sweden. Most lefties don't have the wherewithal to understand the deadly consequences of their naive policies perhaps watching Austria disappear into the abyss will help them understand.