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.

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.

[...]

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.

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."

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.

Donald Trump #quack npr.org

President Trump took the old saying that "sunlight is the best disinfectant" to a whole new level at Thursday's briefing. He had William Bryan, the science and technology adviser to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, give a presentation about admittedly "emerging" results that the spread of coronavirus could slow with direct sunlight and humidity.

[...]

Here's what the president said:

Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous whether it's ultraviolet or very powerful light. And I think you said that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you could do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you were going to test that, too. Sounds interesting.

And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it'd be interesting to check that, so that you're going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds — it sounds interesting to me. So we'll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it goes, the way it kills it in one minute, that's, uh, that's pretty powerful.

He went on to ask Dr. Deborah Birx, response coordinator of the coronavirus task force, if she'd heard of using "the heat and the light" to treat coronavirus.

"Not as a treatment," she responded.

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."

Rep. Matt Shea #fundie #psycho #wingnut npr.org

Six-term Washington state Rep. Matt Shea is accused of participating "in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States," according to a report released Thursday.

Independent investigators commissioned by the Washington State House of Representatives found that Shea, as a leader of the Patriot Movement, "planned, engaged in, and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States government" between 2014 and 2016.

The report also concluded that Shea was involved in training young people to fight a "holy war." He created a pamphlet called Biblical Basis for War and advocated replacing the government with a theocracy and "the killing of all males who do not agree."

Chat messages showed Shea, a lawyer who was first elected in 2008, condoned intimidation of opponents, political activists, government officials and Muslims. He also offered to conduct background checks on political opponents.

Following the release of the report, Shea was suspended from the House Republican Caucus — a serious form of discipline.

He was also stripped of his position as the ranking member of the House Environment and Energy Committee and will be removed from two committees.

"He should resign," Washington State House Minority Leader Rep. J.T. Wilcox tweeted.

"He cannot use House Republican staff, he cannot meet with the caucus, his office will be moved," Wilcox added.


Rep. Matt Shea has been suspended from any role in the House Republican Caucus. He should resign. He cannot use House Republican staff, he cannot meet with the caucus, his office will be moved.


But late Thursday, Shea said he will not resign.

"Like we are seeing with our President this is a sham investigation meant to silence those of us who stand up against attempts to disarm and destroy our great country," Shea said in a Facebook post. "I will not back down, I will not give in, I will not resign."


Shea maintains he was not given an opportunity to review or respond to the report.

The report states he declined to be interviewed as part of the four-month investigation.

The Army veteran was a public supporter of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who led a 2014 standoff with FBI agents in a dispute over grazing rights.

According to investigators, Shea visited the Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville for a couple of days. While there, he "developed a strategy for leadership over future Patriot Movement armed resistance against the federal government by creating" a coalition of western state leaders from Idaho, Washington, Arizona and Nevada.

The Patriot Movement is a far-right, anti-government extremist group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. A core tenet is that the government should not own public lands.

About two months after the Bundy Ranch standoff, the report notes a meeting between Shea and leaders of the Oath Keepers Militia at a restaurant in Spokane. There he was overheard discussing "militias, weapons, stockpiling ammunition, the Bundy Ranch, Special Forces and snipers."


When VA officials planned to remove weapons from the home of a veteran who was flagged by health care officials, Shea issued a call to action for Patriot Movement members. In a Facebook post, he urged them to arm themselves and drive to Priest River.

"That resulted in the use of armed militia members who blocked access to the veteran's home and prevented the lawful retrieval of the guns by the Veterans Administration," the report said.

In early 2016, Shea again teamed up with the Bundy family in an armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

The 41-day standoff between armed militia men and government officials resulted "in devastating financial, physical and emotional harm to a community and its residents; and the loss of one life."

At the time, Shea said he had gone on a "fact-finding mission."

State Rep. Laurie Jinkins, a Democrat, said the House needed time to review and digest the full report prior to taking further action.

She added: "In its 130-year history, I am unaware of House members ever having received such a comprehensive and disturbing investigatory report about another member."

The gravity of the findings prompted the Chief Clerk's Office to forward the report to the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI, Jinkins said.

"We respect Rep. Shea's right to free speech and his personal beliefs, but those ideals are not what this is about," she added. "This is about a state lawmaker who, according to the investigative findings, engaged in an act of domestic terrorism rather than choosing political or legal avenues to change laws and policies he disagrees with."

Shea could be removed from the state House entirely but that would require a two-thirds majority vote of House members, and, the nonprofit news site Crosscut reports, that "has happened only once in the history of Washington's Legislature."

Jim Bakker and Sherrill Sellman #quack npr.org

Televangelist Jim Bakker held up a blue and silver bottle, gazing intently at the label, as he questioned the woman sitting next to him.

"This influenza that is now circling the globe," Bakker said on the Feb. 12 broadcast of The Jim Bakker Show, "you're saying that Silver Solution would be effective."

His guest, the so-called "natural health expert" Sherrill Sellman, falsely implied that the liquid would likely be effective. The coronavirus impacting more than 120,000 people worldwide does not yet have a known treatment or cure.

"Well, let's say it hasn't been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it has been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours," Sellman said. "Totally eliminate it. Kills it. Deactivates it."

Silver Solution "has been proven by the government that it has the ability to kill every pathogen it has ever been tested on, including SARS and HIV," Sellman continued. Four 4-ounce bottles could be yours, a message on the screen said, for just $80.

Selling a fake "treatment" for the COVID-19 disease violates state and federal law. On Tuesday, the state of Missouri filed a lawsuit against Bakker and his production company to stop them from advertising or selling Silver Solution and related products as treatments for the coronavirus.

Bakker and Morningside Church Productions have violated Missouri law by "falsely promising to consumers that Silver Solution can cure, eliminate, kill or deactivate coronavirus and/or boost elderly consumers' immune system and help keep them healthy when there is, in fact, no vaccine, pill, potion or other product available to treat or cure coronavirus disease 2019," the Missouri Attorney General's Office wrote in its application for a temporary restraining order. Bakker and his company are based in the state.

Bakker gained fame in the 1970s and '80s as the host of The PTL Club, a Christian television program he hosted with his then-wife, Tammy Faye. He stepped down from PTL after a sex scandal and later spent several years in prison after a jury found that he had defrauded his viewers out of millions of dollars.

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

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.

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

kevinp2 #fundie npr.org

Khizr Khan is of course free to denounce Trump on a political platform, but then he becomes part of the political platform for better or for worse.

If we had a media, they would point out that Khizr Khan is an immigration lawyer who specializes in immigration from Muslim countries and opposes Trump's plan to limit immigration from Muslim countries. Perhaps a conflict of interest?

Khizr Khan Deletes Law Firm Website that Specialized in Muslim Immigration
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-...

Khan has also said that the nasty Donald Trump has a "black soul" and "blackness of character", using racist imagery that is not OK to African Americans.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tru...

Khan claims that Trump does not understand the Constitution, but even as an immigration lawyer does not mention that the Immigration Act of 1952 gives the President the power to exclude "any class of people". And Khan also has a history of writing favorably about Sharia law and implying that it will supersede the Constitution.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/08...
Quote: Khizr Khan ... is an attorney who has previously written in a law journal about Islamic law. He specifically wrote about the purity of the Quran and the Sunnah over all other texts and interpretations.

All of this is fair game in a political debate. Khan has the right to say whatever he wants, and to be questioned for it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Orson Holmes #fundie npr.org

Liberals have met their Waterloo.

''It has proved impossible to do something and its opposite simultaneously''.

Richard Fernandez, The BELMONT CLUB. Jul.08,2016. ''Denial Dies In Dallas''.

Yet this is what liberals attempt.

Withdraw police [ Ferguson and Baltimore ].

Protect the community [ Dallas and Chicago ].

Demand transgender bathrooms

Guarantee without an iota of evidence that sexual harassment and even worse will not occur as a result of states embracing this policy.

Wide open borders and sanctuary cities [ chiseled in stone by Democrats in Wednesdays vote in the Senate ].

Guarantee that said borders and America are safe from terrorist incursion.

''Affordable'' healthcare.

Healthcare more expensive than anyone in the working and middle class can afford....

ISIS in Libya.

Regime ''change'' in Libya. [ courtesy of the current Democratic candidate for president ].

All Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter.

Cops are racist killers.

We need police to protect us while we work to disarm this nation.

Christians are a threat.

Islam is our friend.

Global warming is the worlds number one problem.

SUBARUs are still run by internal combustion engines...

''When you come to a fork in the road, take it''........

Yogi Berra.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Welcome To Bamsterdam #fundie npr.org

Europe/EU is not becoming non-religious -- it's simply changing its religious foundations from Christian to Muslim in a gradual, evolutionary process. Do you think the imams' call to prayer resounding through cities such as Paris and London is indicative of a "non-religious" culture ? The secular Europeans who represent the non-religious culture you refer to will be gradually supplanted in numbers, power, and influence by the ever-increasing immigration rates and immigrant birth rates from Muslim countries - it's merely a matter of arithmetic given the European fertility rates continuing to sink below replacement levels.

Given the spineless, head-in-the-sand response of European "leaders" - Cameron, Merkel, Hollande, et al., to the demographic and cultural reality of Muslim immigration and the aggressive religiosity of anti-Western Muslim clerics (e.g., Anjem Choudary) in their midst, the transformation should be complete in a few more decades.

There are about 80 sharia courts in the UK. Europe will not have a good future if it becomes like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia through Islamisation.

This network and the rest of the liberal media bombard their
listeners and readers on almost a daily basis with statistics indicating
"racial disparities" in home ownership, college attendance, disease
occurrence, unemployment, and everything else under the sun - up to and
including such allegedly profoundly meaningful statistics as National
Park visitation and Oscar nomination rates. The commentors above
simply raise the question why such "analysis" is absent when it comes to
urban crime rates.

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.

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.