Tag: Jesusland

Not a Single Member of Trump’s Evangelical Council Has Resigned

Trish

biblehands

(Updates at end of post)

So many members of Trump’s manufacturing advisory council resigned over his support of armed extremists in Charlottesville, Va. that he had to disband the group to avoid further embarrassment. One by one, until Trump cried uncle at eight, leaders of industry released statements of resignation, adding their disagreement with the president’s views on race, anti-semitism, protest, and the circumstances of the loss of life at the white supremacy rally.

But not Trump’s evangelical council. Not a single member has resigned, from former Rep. Michele Bachmann to the Rev. Jerry Falwell to James Dobson.

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Devastating Report Confirms Earth is Losing the Battle Against Global Warming

Trish
We have record high sea surface temperatures. Illustration from NOAA Climate.gov
We have record high sea surface temperatures. Illustration from NOAA Climate.gov

2016 was the hottest year in 137 years of record-keeping, and the third in a row to be so noted. That and other omens are confirmed in a new report available from the American Meteorological Society called, “State of the Climate 2016.”

The report, peer-reviewed by international scientists, describes the following “highlights.”

  • Greenhouse gases highest on record
  • Global surface temperature highest on record
  • Sea surface temperatures highest on record
  • Global sea level highest on record
  • Extremes in the water cycle and precipitation
  • Arctic continued to warm, sea ice extent remained low
  • Antarctic has record low sea ice extent
  • Global ice and snow cover decline
  • Tropical cyclones well above average overall

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Unexpected Obamacare Savings for Women Could Lead to Fewer Abortions

Trish

pregnancytest

The numbers are in for the Obamacare provision that ended women’s out-of-pocket expense for family planning, and they are huge, according to the policy journal Health Affairs, and quoted by Kaiser Health.

Women are saving a lot of money as a result of a health law requirement that insurance cover most forms of prescription contraceptives with no additional out-of-pocket costs…But the amount of those savings and the speed with which those savings occurred surprised researchers.

The study looked at out-of-pocket spending from nearly 800,000 women (sic) between the ages of 13 and 45 from January 2008 through June 2013. For most plans, the requirement began Aug. 1, 2012, or Jan. 1, 2013.

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Why Aren’t BMW and Adidas Condemning the Rebel Flag?

Trish
Now flying over the South Carolina state capitol
Now flying over the South Carolina state capitol

Both BMW and Adidas have plants in South Carolina but neither company has shown any interest in asking state legislators to stop flying the Confederate flag* over government buildings.

When these companies decided to take advantage of the cheaper, mostly non-unionized labor there, they made a decision to identify with the state. So why aren’t they speaking up? After all, it’s their state now.

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Nice Atheist Collects $125,000 Thanks to Wolf Blitzer’s Douchery

Trish

Comedian Doug Stanhope helped raise $125,000 for the tornado victim who told Wolf Blitzer earlier this year that she wasn’t thanking the lord for sparing her and her child because she’s an atheist and doesn’t go in for that sort of thing. But before you go thinking Stanhope did it because he’s a nice guy…well, watch his explanation.

Earth Rights Itself on Its Axis as Cracker Barrel Reinstates Duck Dynasty Merch

Trish
Come home, Cracker Barrel, all's forgiven. And as Cracker Barrel's Twitter team seems to be telegraphing with its images, 'This move does not imply that Cracker Barrel is homophobic (note gay married couple playing checkers with their son) or racist (note young black child learning to fire bubble gun in preparation for the inevitable real thing someday). Whoops, obviously we didn't mean that in a racist way.'

If you have not had the misfortune to dine on the meaty, greasy, and yet somehow completely flavorless fare at a Cracker Barrel, you will not know that in order to get to the chow, you must first bob and weave through the world’s most annoying gift shop. It’s filled with overpriced America-esque junk, from made in China pewter cross pendants to made in China sock monkeys.

If you’ve never been there, you will also not have been shocked when Cracker Barrel announced, after GQ published an interview with one Phil Robertson, of Duck Dynasty fame, quoting him thusly, that it was pulling DD merchandise from its stores.

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Everyone’s Missing the Point in the Hobby Lobby Lawsuit

Trish


One of the many hilarious tweets about the Hobby Lobby case. Too bad it also misses the point.

The wonderful website Wonkette dissected former Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-Penn.) defense of a case the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear, but they only rebutted the most obvious aspect.

The decor and craft merchandiser Hobby Lobby, which employs and targets mostly women, doesn’t think it should have to provide contraceptive healthcare coverage because it is a Christian-owned company. As Wonkette explained:

We are sure that Mr. Santorum would also support an exception where for-profit companies owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses won’t have to buy insurance that covers blood transfusions, and for-profit companies owned by Christian Scientists won’t have to cover anything but a trip to a Reading Room.

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Town Where Once a Man Was Killed for Being Gay Now Shields Its Residents from Westboro Baptist Hate

Trish
Photo taken by Calvin Knight of the Lakeland Ledger

Somewhere, Ryan Skipper is smiling.

No, Ryan Skipper is laughing, high-fiving, and doing the chicken dance. Or maybe that’s just us, upon hearing the recent state of affairs in Lakeland, Fla.

One person who might not have gotten the anti-homophobia message is Sheriff Grady Judd

The same place where, in 2007, 25-year-old Ryan Skipper was bound and brutally stabbed, leaving his car so bloodied that the his murderers, who planned to steal it, drove it off a dock instead — all because, as they told investigators, Ryan was gay — the very same Lakeland citizenry has now massed together to fight off the Westboro Baptist Church, known for its nonsensical hate-mongering against homosexuals.

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Rick Warren Forgives Whoever Sold His Son the Gun He Used to Kill Himself. But Should He?

Trish
Matthew Warren

That was quick. Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren wasted no time in forgiving the person who sold online an unregistered handgun with the serial number filed off to his son, who used it to kill himself.

On the Thursday following 27-year-old Matthew Warren’s death on Friday, his father tweeted:

Someone on the internet sold Matthew an unregistered gun.I pray he seeks God’s forgiveness. I forgive him. #MATTHEW 6:15

The passage cited reads, from the New International version of the bible, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Warren is no doubt using the quick logic that if his son hadn’t gotten that gun he would have gotten another, because someone who is bent on suicide will find a way. But he should slow down and, painful as the truth is, examine that idea.

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