All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Starter Set]

Sweet mother of god, that's one seriously disturbing looking dude.

[jetengine]

One opposed to radical certainty, I imagine, but even that's debatable. I can't really imagine it either.

I mean the issue is that conservatism implies a steady hand on the wheel and no risk taking, a focus on traditionalism. Unfortunately alot of that implies doing heinous **** that suppresses people based on their religion/gender/sexuality. The only obvious bastion of non awful conservatism is Fiscal conservatives.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump-related school assignment prompts anger, death threats against Houston-area teacher: report

But we lefties and liberals are the easily offended snowflakes. Right.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Woman killed in assault rifle shooting at Main Line Wawa

The weapon of choice in that attack? The AR-15 of course. While no one else had been shot as it appears the victim had been targeted and the suspect left the store after the shooting, that could easily have turned into a bloodbath if he'd been another of those mindless spree killers who got their hands on assault weapons and went berserk. Needless to say, this **** has GOT TO FUCKING STOP!

[Tuck]

Not so much an inquisition and more like another example of the white, Christian supremacist rhetoric that makes America great!

I haven't read the link. I've little doubt there's awful stuff in there, but that is just a line from a hymn.

[PaulBullion]

Never mind that there is almost zero chance that you will find examples of sixteen felony counts handed down by a Grand Jury being dismissed in exchange for some cash and minimal participation in something like community service.

Maybe.
Or maybe charging him on 16 fucking counts was a ridiculous overreach from the beginning, based on racism and homophobia in the system.

[Ragged Maw]

Of course not to mention the Christian Bible also condones racism. Have you read the passage from the Biblical Book of Jeremiah 13:23. "Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you have always done evil." (New Living Translation) or "Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil." (New International Version)

Whoever wrote the Bible must not have liked the Ethiopians.

At the end of the day, humans wrote these so-called holy texts, not some "sky creator" (through proxy or otherwise). That's why I wouldn't reccommend it is any kind of evidence or justification for anything.

[zinderel]

I haven't read the link. I've little doubt there's awful stuff in there, but that is just a line from a hymn.

I know. It's that she uses that phrasing, that emphasis, that wording, while repeating Jesus' name something like 15 times in her prayer, as if to reinforce that he is the one everyone should REALLY be focused on, not the scary brown Muslim about to be sworn in. The timing, the emphasis, the specific wording she used, the pointed lack of eye contact with rep Movita Johnson-Harrell make it clear that her prayer was about hypocritical judginess, and was not about genuine worship or love of Christ. It was, pure and simply, a white Christian expressing her belief in her religion's supremacy over all others as bigoted theatricality masquerading as a prayer, and is a prime example of what Jesus spoke about when admonishing his followers in Matthew 6:5-7 - "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."

Of course, her sort don't really like to think about those verses, or Matthew 7:21-23 - "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Those verses - and the many many others that you never hear people like her or Mike Pence or Pat Robertson or Robert Jeffress, or any of the other radical, hate-filled 'Christian' types mention when they spout bible verses for no reason other than to show off their piousness or defend Trump's 'anointed holiness' to their gullible flocks - tend to fly in the face of fundamentalist zealotry too much.

[Malvolio]

Trump-related school assignment prompts anger, death threats against Houston-area teacher: report

But we lefties and liberals are the easily offended snowflakes. Right.

The teacher is not trying to "indoctrinate" anyone. The idea of the test is to see if the students can comprehend the meaning of the essay, regardless of whether or not they or the teacher agree with the essay. But, you know, God forbid school kids ever read anything critical of the great and almighty Trump.

[Malvolio]

I mean the issue is that conservatism implies a steady hand on the wheel and no risk taking, a focus on traditionalism. Unfortunately alot of that implies doing heinous **** that suppresses people based on their religion/gender/sexuality. The only obvious bastion of non awful conservatism is Fiscal conservatives.

But even fiscal conservatives always want to cut funding of programs that help poor people. So they're kind of awful, too.

[mathew101281]

Of course not to mention the Christian Bible also condones racism. Have you read the passage from the Biblical Book of Jeremiah 13:23. "Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you have always done evil." (New Living Translation) or "Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil." (New International Version)

Whoever wrote the Bible must not have liked the Ethiopians.

Thats a stretch. By that interpretation, are you saying he hates leopards to?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Court deals Trump second blow this week on health care

A federal judge on Thursday struck down a Trump administration rule that allows small businesses to band together and set up health insurance plans that skirt requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

The rule is “clearly an end-run around the A.C.A.,” said the judge, John D. Bates, of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia.

The ruling was the second big defeat this week for President Trump on a top-priority item on his health care agenda as he has sought to use the courts to obliterate his predecessor’s signature achievement. Another judge on Wednesday blocked Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas and Kentucky.

Mr. Trump promoted the small-business health plans as a way to save people from the “nightmare of Obamacare.” He told small-business owners in June that “you’re going to save massive amounts of money and have much better health care.”

In the economic report of the president released last week, the White House said the small-business plans — known as association health plans — showed how consumers benefit when the government reduces federal regulations and increases “choice and competition in health care markets.”

But Judge Bates said that the rule authorizing such health plans was unlawful and must be set aside because it “does violence” to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the framework for employer-sponsored health plans covering tens of millions of Americans.

[Jack Dracula]

But even fiscal conservatives always want to cut funding of programs that help poor people. So they're kind of awful, too.

While simultaneously thowing bags of money at the military budget and cutting taxes for corporations.
Any one remember Dick "Deficits don't matter" Cheney?

[BeastieRunner]

Beastie's Cartoons of the Week:

[PaulBullion]

Trump cabinet member Linda McMahon, the head of the Small Business Administration, is planning to announce as soon as Friday that she’s stepping down to spend more time with lower demons of hell.