https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ4bvodBvYI
Friday, January 3, 2025
Apple TV+ free weekend is here, and these 13 shows are binge-worthy - 9to5Mac
Apple TV+ is kicking off a free 'preview' weekend. From Friday, January 3 through Sunday, January 5, the entire catalog of streaming shows and movies is available free. All you need is an Apple Account, and you can watch free from any device with an Apple TV app (including many smart TVs) or via the web. Here are 13 binge-worthy Apple TV+ shows to stream during this free weekend...
https://9to5mac.com/2025/01/03/apple-tv-free-weekend-is-here-binge-worthy-shows/
Driver of Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas blast had spent years in US army | Las Vegas | The Guardian
Livelsberger served over 19 years in the army – 18 of which were spent with special forces, according to his LinkedIn profile…
HERB'S CORNER | Values and Purposes - TheHumanist.com
"We have one life to live, and one chance to do something meaningful with it. We can all contribute something useful."
https://thehumanist.com/magazine//commentary/herbs-corner-values-and-purposes/
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene’s targeting of a January 6 prosecutor matters
To hear the Republican congresswoman tell it, a prosecutor should be punished for prosecuting criminals, some of whom committed violent crimes...
One dead after Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump hotel
Cybertruck was stuffed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, with authorities working to determine the motive of the incident…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/01/tesla-truck-fire-trump-hotel-las-vegas
Thursday, January 2, 2025
This is some of what we must do to reform our dysfunctional healthcare system
Let's be clear. The way forward to creating a healthy society is not radical or complicated. Many of the components that I've outlined already exist, in one form or another, in numerous countries throughout the world.
Our real problem is not so much a healthcare crisis as it is a political and economic one. We need to end the unprecedented level of corporate greed we are experiencing. We need to create a government and economy that works for all and not just the wealthy and powerful few…
Reports of ‘mass casualty incident’ in New Orleans after car runs into crowd
A vehicle has run into a crowd in New Orleans' tourist district in the early hours of New Year's Day with possible fatalities, according to US media reports...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/01/new-orleans-car-runs-into-crowd-bourbon-street
Virginia man arrested as agents find largest cache of 'finished explosive devices' in FBI history
The phrase "#nolivesmatter" was written outside the backpack, prosecutors said. No Lives Matter follows an extremist ideology and promotes mass killings, criminal activity and targeted attacks and has historically encouraged followers to engage in self-harm or animal abuse, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said…
Prosecutors said Spafford used images of the president for target practice, "expressed support for political assassinations, and recently sought qualifications in sniper-rifle shooting at a local range."…https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-man-arrested-agents-find-largest-cache-finished-explosive-dev-rcna185887
Hearing the Voices of People on the Ground - TheHumanist.com
"…Could you imagine it? If for just one week, we saw the images on the ground of the child in Gaza, the little girl wearing pink roller skates who was blown up, the grandfather hiding the mother who was trying to take her daughter to get a polio vaccine. Afraid to go outside. And for just one week, we saw those images. The people in this country would say, "No, war is not the answer to conflict in the 21st century." Democracy Now!"
https://thehumanist.com/magazine//features/hearing-the-voices-of-people-on-the-ground/
Mike Johnson protected, diversity office scrapped in new House rules
House Republicans on Wednesday released their proposed rules package for the 119th Congress, which includes several notable changes to the rules that governed the lower chamber for the last two years…
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/01/house-republican-rules-diversity-motion-to-vacate
New Orleans attack updates: Suspect identified as Army veteran, did not act alone - ABC News
The FBI said it didn't believe Shamsud-Din Jabbar was "solely responsible."…
https://abcnews.go.com/US/1-dead-vehicle-strikes-crowd-new-orleans-police/story?id=117246329
New laws set to take effect in 2025 in several states
States across the country are bracing for new laws set to take effect as early as Wednesday, including some that have stirred controversy...
Republican support wavers for Mike Johnson’s re-election as House speaker
A senior Texas Republican congressman has said that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, does not yet have the votes to be re-elected to the speakership ahead of an election to be held later this week...
An X-Rated Book: Sex & Obscenity In the Bible — Freedom From Religion Foundation
"Let us introduce you to parts of the Holy Bible which you have not heard about in sermons from the pulpit, that may shock and dismay you and should certainly convince you that the bible ought to be X-rated.
Below you will find a pornographic view of sex and women, lewdness, depravity and sexual violence often ordered or countenanced by the biblical deity. Don't take our word for it-look it up for yourself…"
FFRF leads a secular resistance - Freethought Today
If the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 prevails, we already know its proposals would unite church and state by:
• Infusing "the pursuit of Blessedness" into every level of government. (Page 13)
• Dismantling nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ-plus Americans. (Pages 333, 375 and 548)
• Mandating a "biblically based" definition of marriage and family. (Pages 477–482)
• Dismantling civil rights protections in the name of "religious liberty," providing a license to discriminate. (Page 494)…
https://www.freethoughttoday.com/sections/100-front-page/ffrf-leads-a-secular-resistance/
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
How Donald Trump Plans to Take Spending Control From Congress — ProPublica
Donald Trump is entering his second term with vows to cut a vast array of government services and a radical plan to do so. Rather than relying on his party's control of Congress to trim the budget, Trump and his advisers intend to test an obscure legal theory holding that presidents have sweeping power to withhold funding from programs they dislike...
Texas book ban law causes a school district to remove Bible from libraries
Some parents and elected officials protested the removal of the religious text. In a 9 December school board meeting, Canyon ISD parent Regina Kiehne said: "It seems absurd to me that the Good Book was thrown out with the bad books."
"It just makes sense to have the Word of God in our school library," she continued. "After all, it is the book of wisdom. It is the bestselling book of all time; it is historically accurate, scientifically sound, and most importantly, life-changing."…
US Army soldier arrested over data breach extortion of AT&T and Verizon
"Roen said that prior to her son's arrest he'd acknowledged being associated with Connor Riley Moucka, a.k.a. "Judische," a prolific cybercriminal from Canada who was arrested in late October for stealing data from and extorting dozens of companies that stored data at the cloud service Snowflake…"
Sixty-mile drag mark found near damaged Baltic Sea cable, says Finland
Electricity cable link to Estonia was damaged on Christmas Day in suspected Russian act of sabotage…
US Treasury says it was hacked by China in 'major incident'
Chinese state-sponsored hackers broke into the US Treasury Department's systems earlier this month and were able to access employee workstations and some unclassified documents, American officials have said.
The Treasury Department deemed the breach a "major incident" after disclosing it via a letter notifying lawmakers to the incident...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3weye2j0e7o
What an Unregulated School Voucher Program Looks Like — ProPublica
For instance, the state never informed parents who were new to Title of Liberty and were planning to spend their voucher money there that it had previously been a charter school called ARCHES Academy — which had had its charter revoked last school year due to severe financial issues. Nor that, as a charter, it had a record of dismal academic performance, with just 13% of its students proficient in English and 0% in math in 2023…
Yet just a month after the board's decision, ARCHES was re-creating itself as a renamed, newly religious private school, simply by pivoting to accept voucher dollars. In other words, it was closed down by a public governing body but found a way to keep existing and being funded by the public anyway, just without the standards and accountability that would normally come with taxpayer money…
…Still, she said, it's "on you" to check the credentials and the criminal history of every private school founder and provider to whom you're considering paying your ESA dollars, because in Arizona, "anybody can start a private school, you have no idea." There are mostly "just rumors to rely on," she said. …
"You're putting your kid in [a school], hoping it's going to work," Cross said. "If it closes midyear, you're kind of screwed."…
https://www.propublica.org/article/arizona-private-school-vouchers-no-transparency
Remarks from Rep. Jamie Raskin and Rep. Jared Huffman - TheHumanist.com
"…And a very important reason we have the Establishment Clause is to keep one religious church, or sect or cult from seizing state power and then violating everybody else's religious freedom. And so many of the cases we've seen in American history, like Engel v. Vitale or Stone v. Graham, about the Ten Commandments resolutions, or about prayer in the schools, they're about one group seizing governmental power and then imposing religious orthodoxy on everybody else.
That's why we say the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause stand best when they stand together. They stand for the same principle, which is the right of each person, every man, every woman, every child, to make their own decisions and not to be imposed upon and coerced by an establishment church.
The value of religious freedom is one that's critical to the First Amendment and a free society. In this free society, the American founders were rebelling against millennia of established churches, religious warfare between the Catholics and the Protestants, Holy Crusades, inquisitions, witchcraft trials, you name it. They wanted to break from the nightmare of theocratic rule and the imposition of religious orthodoxy and doctrine on free citizens…"
https://thehumanist.com/magazine//features/we-look-forward-to-continuing-our-work-we-have-a-lot-more-work-to-do/
They Said What (December 2024) - Freethought Today
Women are of great service as women, not as ministers...
Ron Reagan: The past is gone, the present is now up to us - Freethought Today
Vladimir Putin doesn't strike me as a particularly pious fellow — more a poison-my-political-foes-invade-neighboring-countries-threaten-nuclear-war kinda guy. Yet, he's very chummy with the Russian Orthodox Church, promoting himself as a defender of the faith. And they, in turn, not wanting to be poisoned or nuked, and always drawn to power, have bear-hugged him back.
You know who else hearts Putin? Right-wing evangelicals in the U.S. They see him as a warrior for Christendom. Many say they'd rather he was our president than any stinky, squishy, godless Democrat...
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