Friday, July 8, 2016

Report: Connecticut Cops More Likely To Use Stun Guns On Minorities

Hispanics shot with stun guns by police in Connecticut in 2015 were more likely to be fired upon multiple times than other racial groups, according to an analysis released Thursday of the first statewide data of police stun gun use in the United States.

In cases where police pull stun guns, the report says officers also were more likely to fire them in confrontations involving minorities, as The Associated Press first reported in January after obtaining preliminary data collected from police departments around the state. Officers fired the weapons, as opposed to merely brandishing them, 60 percent of the time in confrontations involving whites, 81 percent of the time in those involving blacks and 66 percent of the time in those involving Hispanics....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/minorities-connecticut-stun-guns


Government Makes It Harder For Wall Street To Screw Over Underwater Homeowners

On Thursday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced changes to a program for deeply underwater mortgages after criticism that it’s been helping Wall Street rather than distressed homeowners. The agency is billing the move as the “most significant improvements to date” for the program.

The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has been running the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program (DASP) for four years, auctioning off the underwater mortgages that the government took on in the midst of the housing crisis. The program’s rules are supposed to ensure that underwater homeowners get a chance to stay in their homes and that communities are protected from foreclosures and vacancies that can drive down surrounding housing prices. The FHA has sold about 100,000 loans through the program and turned a profit on mortgages that had been keeping the agency in the red.

But the success for homeowners and communities has been less straightforward....
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/06/30/3794542/hud-dasp-changes/


Thursday, July 7, 2016

Top U.S. & World Headlines — July 7, 2016

Interview:
https://youtu.be/rxms1NMpa5E

CBC News Documentary: Atheism

Interview:
https://youtu.be/cZttUccxdaQ

Darrell Issa Calls For Government Shutdown If Hillary Clinton Is Not Charged

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) once claimed that he “never voted for a [government] shutdown and never will.” But Issa is so angry the FBI recommended Hillary Clinton not be indicted for using a private server for her email that he suggested on Wednesday that he is rethinking his promise. He proposed that now might be a good time for the Republican leadership to shut down the federal government, in protest of what he called “an imperial president” who will not “enforce criminal charges against a criminal.”

In an interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily, Issa blasted FBI Director James Comey’s decision as “simply choosing to ignore a law.”...
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/07/06/3795983/darrell-issa-shutdown-government-because-hillary-clinton/


The Egregious Human Rights Record Of The Dictator Trump Praised Last Night

At a campaign in rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump revived his oft-repeated praise for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. In a line he has used many times since he launched his bid for president last summer, Trump said Hussein should have been left in power because he “killed terrorists” without due process.

“He did that so good,” he said. “They didn’t read them the rights.” He went on to claim, incorrectly, that he always opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq....
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/07/06/3795711/trump-saddam-hussein/


Donald Trump praises Saddam Hussein: 'You know what he did well? He killed terrorists.'

At a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump offered words of praise for late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein:

Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? He was a bad guy—really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn't read 'em the rights. They didn't talk. They were a terrorist—it was over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist? You go to Iraq. It's like Harvard. Okay?...
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1545426


The Orlando Shooter’s Mosque Is Helping The FBI, But Police Won’t Guard It From Racist Attacks

Ever since the tragic shooting of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida occurred earlier this month, members of a tiny mosque the gunman attended in Fort Pierce have been cooperating with the FBI and local police to assist with ongoing investigations, even as the center endures a rash of hateful visits and phone calls. Yet despite their efforts, worshippers say authorities are refusing to provide the community with a security detail.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, members of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce condemned the shooter and planned a blood drive to help the victims, releasing a statement saying they “repudiat[ed] anyone or any group that would claim to justify or excuse such an appalling act of violence.” But as the days waned on, members grew worried of anti-Muslim revenge attacks on the house of worship.

Their concerns proved to be prescient: According to Wilfredo Ruiz, a spokesman for the St. Pierce mosque who also happens to be communications director of the Florida chapter of the Center for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), it wasn’t long before mosque members encountered Islamophobic hate....
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/07/01/3794953/florida-mosque-protection/


Everyone’s Incomes Rose Last Year, But The Richest Did Far Better

Last year was a good one for everyone’s income. But it was a much better year for the richest of the rich.

According to a new analysis by economist Emmanuel Saez, Americans in the bottom 99 percent of the country’s income distribution saw their take home pay rise 3.9 percent in 2015 over 2014’s levels, adjusted for inflation, the best increase they’ve seen in 17 years. But the top 1 percent of the country far outpaced them: the wealthy’s income grew by 7.7 percent last year, reaching a new high.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/07/01/3794970/income-inequality-2015/



Pat McCrory Would Rather Defend Discrimination Than Protect North Carolinians From Zika

In a move straight out of House of Cards, lawmakers in North Carolina have moved to divert $500,000 from the state’s Emergency Response and Disaster Relief fund and use it instead on defense of the state’s anti-transgender bathroom law, HB2.

The controversial law, which forbids transgender people from using public restrooms matching their gender identity and limits anti-discrimination rules protecting LGBT people, was passed in March and immediately came under national attention. Businesses and events have pulled out of the state in protest, and the Department of Justice informed North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory that the law violated the civil rights act.

In response, McCrory sued the federal government — just one of a number of lawsuits involving the law, including a federal suit against the state and a challenge mounted by transgender NC residents..

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat running against McCrory in the upcoming gubernatorial elections, has refused to defend the law in court, calling it a "national embarrassment" that provides for "broad-based discrimination."...
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/07/01/3794947/mcrcrory-boosts-disaster-funding-for-hb2/


5 Things To Consider About The Supreme Court's Decision On Texas Abortion Law

The Supreme Court this week delivered its strongest affirmation of a women's right to abortion in years. By a margin of 5-3, it struck down two key provisions of a Texas law restricting the procedure.
But where does the decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt fit in the court's long history of actions on abortion rights and restrictions? And what effect might the case have on similar laws in other states and this fall's elections? Here are five insights about the case that provide some context:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/484332807/5-things-to-consider-about-the-supreme-court-s-decision-on-texas-abortion-law?ft=nprml&f=1001


Trump Surrogate: Waterboarding Could Have Stopped Orlando Attack With Only a 'Bit of Discomfort'

Donald Trump surrogate Kayleigh McEnany suggested on Thursday that the recent terrorist attacks in Orlando and San Bernardino could have been prevent if the Obama administration had been willing to use waterboarding and put “someone in a bit of discomfort to extract information.”

On CNN’s New Day, McEnany was asked to explain Trump’s call to “bring back waterboarding” and “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”

“I think that’s all consistent,” McEnany replied. “He’s talking about expanding the law the same way the Bush administration did to use this only when needed in very limited circumstances to get information from detainees.”

CNN host Alisyn Camerota and guest Ali Velshi both pointed out that waterboarding had been proven to produce unreliable information....
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/trump-surrogate-reccomends-waterboarding


Is Pope Francis a Lone Ranger on apologizing to gays?

When Pope Francis said this week that the church should ask forgiveness from gay people for the way it has treated them, he sparked yet another round of global headlines about how his unpredictable papacy is changing Catholicism.

But more than setting the church on a new course, Francis may have exposed the tensions within his own hierarchy over how to engage the gay community — tensions that have intensified in the weeks after the horrific massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 dead.

Francis’ comments Sunday (June 26) during an in-flight press conference on his return from a trip to Armenia came in response to remarks by German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a top adviser to the pope. A few days earlier, Marx had said that the Catholic Church, as well as society, had treated gay people in a “scandalous and terrible” way....
http://religionnews.com/2016/06/30/is-pope-francis-a-lone-ranger-on-apologizing-to-gays/


31 Science Groups To Congress: Stop Denying And Start Fighting Climate Change

In a blunt letter to Congress, 31 leading scientific societies reaffirmed the reality that humans are causing climate change and only we can stop it. “To reduce the risk of the most severe impacts of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be substantially reduced,” they write.

Yes, this is the umpteenth report from scientists — see, for instance, “Climate Scientists: We’re Alarmed. Here’s Why You Should Be, Too” and “IPCC Scientists Emphasize Immorality Of Inaction By Focusing On ‘Irreversible Impacts’.” Heck, it’s not even the first letter to Congress from most of these groups — 18 of them wrote a similar letter back in 2009.

But as long as the media still gives presidential candidates (and pretty much every other major politician) a free pass on this most preventable of existential threats to America, scientists will have to keep “reminding” policymakers of the broad scientific understanding about human-caused climate change....
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/06/30/3794271/science-groups-climate-change/


The Most Common Myths About Refugees, Debunked

In a speech delivered at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power chided wealthy nations for using terrorism fears to justify their reluctance to admit more refugees into their countries.

“Ignorance and prejudice make for bad advisors,” Power said in her prepared remarks, noting that 31 U.S. governors reacted to the terrorist attacks in Paris, France last year by refusing to resettle Syrian refugees in their states. “Yet that is what is driving the ill-informed and biased reactions we have seen to these and other attacks from some in our country.”

More than 65.3 million people were displaced from their homes as of last year due to conflict, persecution, or political and economic insecurity.

Power’s speech — which also previewed President Obama’s plan for the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in September — dispelled several common myths about refugees and the supposed threat they pose to their host countries:...
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2016/06/30/3794232/amb-samantha-power-refugee-myths/


Can Marijuana Protect against Alzheimer’s?

Devotees and users of marijuana have expounded the medicinal benefits of the drug for centuries. Unfortunately, in recent decades marijuana use has been demonized by lawmakers, making it tough to sort out the vast number of potentially beneficial health claims from anecdotal ones. However now, investigators at the Salk Institute have found preliminary evidence that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other compounds found in marijuana can promote the cellular removal of amyloid-β (Aβ), a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.

"Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer's, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and Aβ accumulation in nerve cells," explained senior study author David Schubert, Ph.D., professor and laboratory head at the Salk Institute....
http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/can-marijuana-protect-against-alzheimer-s/81252898/


Ku Klux Klan dreams of rising again 150 years after founding

Born in the ashes of the smoldering South after the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan died and was reborn before losing the fight against civil rights in the 1960s. Membership dwindled, a unified group fractured, and one-time members went to prison for a string of murderous attacks against blacks. Many assumed the group was dead, a white-robed ghost of hate and violence.

Yet today, the KKK is still alive and dreams of restoring itself to what it once was: an invisible white supremacist empire spreading its tentacles throughout society. As it marks 150 years of existence, the Klan is trying to reshape itself for a new era.

Klan members still gather by the dozens under starry Southern skies to set fire to crosses in the dead of night, and KKK leaflets have shown up in suburban neighborhoods from the Deep South to the Northeast in recent months. Perhaps most unwelcome to opponents, some independent Klan organizations say they are merging with larger groups to build strength....
http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/north-carolina/ku-klux-klan-dreams-of-rising-again-150-years-afte/nrqGy/


Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Young Atheist’s Fight Against School’s Illegal Pledge Policy May Finally Lead to Change

"The student in question, for personal and religious reasons, does not wish to participate in the Pledge exercise in any manner. On Monday, April 11, he tried to remain seated during the recitation, but says he was intimidated into standing by his teacher, Mr. Romero, who reportedly used an expletive, yelling at the student and calling him “f—ing disrespectful.”...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/07/06/young-atheists-fight-against-schools-illegal-pledge-policy-may-finally-lead-to-change/

Pharma-Funded Heritage Foundation Whines About FDA Regulations

The Heritage Foundation – a group funded in part by Big Pharma - believes that the FDA is too cumbersome with their regulations. Ironically, the Heritage Foundation has helped to weaken the rules at the FDA, leaving the agency unable to prevent deadly medications from making it onto the market. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/NNRzilRd61w

FBI Says Clinton Emails Did Not Break Any Law, Sending Trump and GOP Into a Tizzy

The FBI has concluded that Hillary Clinton was careless, but she did not break any laws by using a series of private email servers when she was Secretary of State, settling a major cloud hanging over her presidential campaign even though it will remain a nagging Republican line of attack.

“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” said FBI director James Comey, in a lengthy statement explaining the FBI's investigation....
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/fbi-says-clinton-emails-did-not-break-any-law-sending-trump-and-gop-tizzy


Here We Go Again: GOPers Demand Independent Counsel For Clinton Emails

Some Republican lawmakers are now calling for an independent counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton's use of private email server while secretary of state following a public recommendation Tuesday from the FBI director that Clinton not be charged criminally, according to The Washington Post.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said the FBI was "steeped in political bias" and brought up a new favorite conservative talking point: the tarmac meeting In Phoenix last week between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, according to the Post.

"The role of the independent counsel is to keep investigations honest and prosecutorial decisions independent of the political, personal and financial conflicts of interest that undermine accountability in government," Turner told WaPo. "It is time for Secretary Clinton to be held accountable for her extremely careless actions.”...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-investigation-clinton-fbi


Hillary Clinton Isn’t Getting Indicted. Here’s Why.

Tuesday morning, FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency’s investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s handling of a private email server while she was Secretary of State has come to a close. He also added that the FBI will recommend against criminal charges for Secretary Clinton, stating that “no reasonable prosecutor” could determine that charges were warranted here. It’s an announcement that will surprise no one who is familiar with the underlying law and ordinary Justice Department practices in a case such as this one.

Nevertheless, in part because calls for a Clinton indictment were amplified by Republicans at the highest levels, and in part because of what Josh Marshall described as the media-industrial complex’s quest for “wingnut page views,” the idea that Clinton may face criminal charges has lingered for months. Here’s what you need to know about why such charges were never a realistic possibility....
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/07/05/3795414/hillary-clinton-isnt-getting-indicted-heres/


House Republicans Will Only Pass Gun Control If Obama Recognizes ‘Radical Islamist Terrorism’

This week, more than a week after House Democrats held a 25-hour sit-in and three weeks after 49 people were killed in a shooting in Orlando, the House will finally get a chance to vote on a gun-related proposal. Passing the legislation, however, would mean instructing the government to set up a department to focus on the “ideology” of “radical Islamist terrorism.”

The package up for a vote this week, the Homeland Safety and Security Act, includes a gun-control proposal similar to legislation introduced by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Senate. Both bills — the GOP’s response to Democrats’ calls for gun control after Orlando — would notify the attorney general when a person who has been investigated for terrorism in the last five years tries to buy a firearm. The Justice Department would then have to go to court to prove “probable cause” to block the purchase.

The vote is largely symbolic, as Cornyn’s bill — even with National Rifle Association approval — failed last week in the Senate.

The bill is far from what Democrats were hoping for when they sat on the floor of the chamber overnight last month, singing and chanting and telling personal stories of gun violence. Some lawmakers have expressed their concerns:...
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/07/05/3795524/terrorism-package-house-sit-in-gun-control/


Ohio May Move Forward With Voter Purge, Federal Court Rules

A federal judge in Columbus, Ohio sided with the state Wednesday night and upheld their ongoing practice of purging millions of inactive voters from the rolls.

The American Civil Liberty Union had challenged the purge, saying the Republican Secretary of State’s methods have disproportionately impacted voters of color, the poor, and Democrats.

ACLU Senior Policy Director Mike Brickner told ThinkProgress he and his colleagues are now looking at appealing the ruling.

“We believe Ohio’s current system is unconstitutional and violates federal law,” he said. “The election is coming up soon and we need to act quickly. We want to make sure they don’t disenfranchise thousands of people.”...
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/30/3794591/ohio-purge-upheld/


The Stunning, Hilarious Hypocrisy Of The Christian Right's Top Legal Team

On Wednesday, the conservative Heritage Foundation announced what appeared to be an abrupt shift in position on one of the most contentious issues in American constitutional law. Heritage now supports a “constitutionally protected right to privacy.”...
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/06/30/3794539/stunning-hilarious-hypocrisy-christian-rights-top-legal-team/


Sen. Ted Cruz holds hearing in which witness suggests Muslim congressmen have ties to terrorists

Still sore from losing the Republican presidential nomination to the only candidate in the race more rodential than he is, Ted Cruz returns to his former duties of stinking up the Senate. This time, it's to have hearings in which his invited guests warn that the only two Muslim members of Congress are probably working with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The charge was leveled by Chris Gaubatz, a “national security consultant” who has moonlighted as an undercover agitator of Muslim groups that he accuses of being terrorist outfits, and it was directed at Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Mich.) and André Carson (D-Ind.). At the heart of his accusation is the attendance by those two members at a 2008 convention hosted by the Islamic Society of North America — a Muslim umbrella group, which Gaubatz claims is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood.

“I attended a convention in Columbus, Ohio, in 2008, organized by Muslim Brotherhood group, ISNA, and both the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons had recruitment and outreach booths,” Gaubatz said in his testimony. “Both Congressman Keith Ellison, MN, and Andre Carson, IN, spoke at the Muslim Brotherhood event.”

That would indeed be compelling, if the Islamic Society of North America was in fact sekritly part of the Muslim Brotherhood and various federal departments were all in league with them because sekrit reasons. But it isn't...
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1543375


Republican Senate bows to lobby groups, shuts down judicial nominations

Conservative groups like Heritage Action gave the Republican Senate their marching orders: no more Obama judges. And Senate Republicans are toeing the line. The blockade is now full on, from boycotting hearings to preventing action to even blocking their own home-state judges.

Hardly any GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee showed up to a hearing this month to vote out a batch of Obama’s court picks. There were so many missing members the committee didn’t have the 11 people it needed to reach a quorum, which meant no one could do anything. That left the eight Democrats and two Republicans who did show up just sitting there, looking at each other. […]
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1543565


NAFTA and China Aren't Responsible for Our Steel Woes

Donald Trump stood in front of a pile of scrap metal yesterday in Pittsburgh and blasted both NAFTA and the accession of China into the World Trade Organization. He was positively poetic about how his trade policies would affect the steel industry:

A Trump Administration will also ensure that we start using American steel for American infrastructure.

Just like the American steel from Pennsylvania that built the Empire State building. It will be American steel that will fortify America's crumbling bridges.

It will be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring into the sky.

It will be American steel that rebuilds our inner cities.

There's no question that the American steel industry has suffered over the past three decades, thanks to cheap steel imports from other countries. But this began in the 1980s and had almost nothing to do with either NAFTA or China. Take a look:...
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/06/nafta-and-china-arent-responsible-our-steel-woes


Opinion: Chinese cyberespionage is down. That's a win for Obama's diplomacy

Almost a year after a historic deal between Beijing and Washington to curtail cyberespionage, reports indicate digital attacks from China are fewer but more sophisticated....
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Passcode-Voices/2016/0629/Opinion-Chinese-cyberespionage-is-down.-That-s-a-win-for-Obama-s-diplomacy


Following basic security measures, like leaving extra devices at home and avoiding public Wi-Fi, could be enough to protect your information while you're traveling....
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Security-culture/2016/0629/How-to-keep-criminal-hackers-from-ruining-your-vacation


How to keep criminal hackers from ruining your vacation

There’s a million things to think about when planning a trip – tickets, transportation, socks. While you’ve probably got a section on your packing list for electronics (don’t forget your charger!), you might not have thought about your devices’ security for the trip ahead.

Especially in unfamiliar environments and on public Wi-Fi, it’s important to keep your digital security in mind.

“This all kind of boils down to knowing your surroundings,” said Lysa Myers, security researcher at the cybersecurity firm ESET. “You don’t know who’s on the network with you or what their intentions are, so it’s best to air on the side of caution.”

 ...wherever you're traveling, it's not a bad idea to consider safeguarding your data. Here are eight steps for beefing up digital security both before you go....
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Security-culture/2016/0629/How-to-keep-criminal-hackers-from-ruining-your-vacation


Slain Ambassador Chris Stevens' Sister Speaks Out: 'I Do Not Blame' Clinton

The day the House Benghazi Committee released its report on the two-year-long investigation into the 2012 terror attacks that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others Americans dead, Stevens' sister said she doesn't blame Hillary Clinton.

Dr. Anne Stevens said in an interview with The New Yorker, published online Tuesday, that then-Secretary of State Clinton was "balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world."

"I do not blame Hillary Clinton or Leon Panetta," Stevens said when asked who she faults for her brother's death in Benghazi....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chris-stevens-hillary-clinton-benghazi


Evangelical Leader Backpedals On Story Of Trump’s Recent Conversion

A prominent evangelical leader is walking back his claim that Donald Trump recently became a born-again Christian, saying he doesn’t know the “details” of the alleged conversion.

Last week, Dr. James Dobson told attendees at a Manhattan evangelical summit organized by the presumptive GOP nominee that he personally knew the individual who had led Trump to accept Jesus as his savior.

“He did accept a relationship with Christ. I know the person who led him to Christ,” Dobson said, according to audio of his interview with Rev. Michael Anthony, a pastor from Pennsylvania.

While Dobson characterized Trump at the time as a "baby Christian," he seemed more circumspect about the New York real estate mogul’s newfound faith in a statement released Monday to the Christian publication Charisma News.

"Only the Lord knows the condition of a person's heart. I can only tell you what I've heard,” Dobson said. “First, Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit. I also hear that Paula White has known Trump for years and that she personally led him to Christ.”

"Do I know that for sure? No,” Dobson added. “Do I know the details of that alleged conversion? I can't say that I do.”...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/james-dobson-backpedals-trump-conversion


Canada Just Totally Puts Us to Shame When It Comes to Welcoming Refugees

As President Barack Obama pushes back against a chorus of anti-refugee sentiments in the United States, a New York Times article Thursday shows that for our neighbors to the north, “refugees welcome” is more than just a campaign slogan: it's a promise that is being kept.

“Across Canada, ordinary citizens, distressed by news reports of drowning children and the shunning of desperate migrants, are intervening in one of the world’s most pressing problems,” Damon Winters writes. In fact, as Canada aims to relocate 25,000 refugees across the country...
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/canadian-refugee-sponsorship-program-shows-right-way-welcome-refugees


Laura Ingraham: Let's Wear Diapers To Avoid Trans People In Bathrooms (AUDIO)

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham offered up a solution to listeners also in a panic about using the same bathrooms as transgender people: Try wearing diapers!

In a "new transgender updated" for "all of you who are bathroom-goers," Ingraham said, "I think a lot of people are going to be walking around with just Depends on from now on. They're just not going to use the bathroom."...
http://a2.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/ew9czglvupnsdvmfnkwq.jpg


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

F.B.I. Recommends No Charges Against Hillary Clinton for Use of Personal Email

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said on Tuesday that the bureau would not recommend criminal charges in Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information, lifting an enormous legal cloud from her presidential campaign, hours before her first joint campaign appearance with President Obama...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/us/politics/hillary-clinton-fbi-email-comey.html

Lawsuit: Religious Groups Are Denying Abortion Care to Teen Refugees

The suit accuses the federal government of paying millions to religious grantees that refuse to provide unaccompanied minors with legally required reproductive health services...
https://rewire.news/article/2016/06/29/lawsuit-federal-funded-religious-groups-denying-refugee-minors-abortion-care/


The Theology of Donald Trump

...Evangelical Christians who are enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump are signaling, even if unintentionally, that this calling has no place in politics and that Christians bring nothing distinctive to it — that their past moral proclamations were all for show and that power is the name of the game...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/opinion/campaign-stops/the-theology-of-donald-trump.html

And Now the Good News #196: 7/5/2016

Learn more about the stories featured in this video at the following sources:
 “3D Paper-Based Microbial Fuel Cell Operating Under Continuous Flow Condition” http://goo.gl/nu3XT7
 “Harnessing an innate repair mechanism enhances the success of retinal transplantation” http://goo.gl/4jrJhs
 “Scientists’ breakthrough in modelling universe” http://goo.gl/1WN14k
Interview:
https://youtu.be/hS_8ntkUN0w

Top U.S. & World Headlines — July 5, 2016

Interview:
https://youtu.be/pF4hUI3UCJU

Making the Case for Atheists (Dan Barker)

This is an excerpts from Dan Barker's debate with Adam Deen (Muslim apologist). In it Dan tries to convey the basic principles behind atheism, why he rejected his own belief in god and became an atheist, what are the main fallacies of religion in general, with a bit of focus on Islam and the Quran since the debate was in front of a Muslim audience.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/sDr9DMw9uBA

The "Good News" of Christianity - Dan Barker

A clip from Dan Barker's talk at Skepticon 4. He talks about how ridiculous the "Good News" of Christianity is, and the moral bankruptcy of hell.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/5lyxL2nx5cw

John Cena Perfectly Explains What 'Patriotism' Really Means

Professional wrestler, actor and mega wish-granter John Cena used this Independence Day as an opportunity to explain the real meaning of patriotism....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-cena-america_us_577ad0cfe4b0416464107cb3?


GOP Mega-Donor Warns Trump Would Cause ‘Widespread Global Depression’

A billionaire hedge fund manager known for contributing huge sums to Republican candidates cautioned Wednesday that Donald Trump’s economic policies effectively guaranteed a depression. 

"The most impactful of the economic policies that I recall him coming out for are these anti-trade policies," Paul Singer said during a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, according to CNBC. "And I think if he actually stuck to those policies and gets elected president, it's close to a guarantee of a global depression, widespread global depression."...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/paul-singer-trump-global-depression


Maddow BLASTS Christian Leaders For Their Horrific Remarks On Orlando

1 In 10 People May Face Malnutrition As Fish Catches Decline

There are many important reasons to manage the world's wild fisheries. We do it to maintain stock levels, to ensure biodiversity and because fish are valuable. But researchers say there's something else in need of protection: The very people who rely on fish for food.

Scientists are predicting more than 10 percent of the world's population, a whopping 845 million people, will experience deficiencies in critically important micronutrients including zinc, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and fatty-acids in the coming decades if global fish catches continue to decline.

Christopher Golden, lead author and research scientist at Harvard School of Public Health, calls it "a perfect storm" for countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, the Maldives, Angola, Ghana, Nigeria and others that rely heavily on wild-caught fish for sustenance, and cautions the findings are just "the tip of the iceberg."...
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/30/484015370/1-in-10-people-may-face-malnutrition-as-fish-catches-decline?ft=nprml&f=1001


Post Brexit, Bernie Sanders Pens Impassioned NY Times Op-Ed: 'Democrats Need to Wake Up'

Bernie Sanders penned an op-ed in the New York Times Tuesday, eviscerating the economic policies “established and maintained by the world’s economic elite” that are “failing people everywhere.” 

Discussing some of the factors that prompted British voters last week to leave the European Union, Sanders wrote that workers in Britain “have turned their backs on the European Union and a globalized economy that is failing them and their children.”

“Surprise, surprise,” he noted....
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-new-york-times-op-ed-calls-democrats-fight-global-elite


Why Some Jihadists Consider Donald Trump To Be The Perfect Enemy

With bellicose foreign policy and his hostility to Muslims, Donald Trump has fashioned himself as a major threat to jihadist extremists, but they themselves see his posturing also as an opportunity, according to analysts who study their communications.

In some quarters of the dark internet, where supporters of the Islamic State and other extremist groups linger, the presumptive GOP nominee has emerged a rallying point of sorts. To them, he is the “perfect enemy,” as one Islamic State defector told a researcher interviewed by TPM, and they are using his posturing to advance their own agenda, according to another analyst....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-extremist-web-forums


Watchdog Groups File FEC Complaint Over Trump Emails To Foreign Pols

Two watchdog groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, said they will file Wednesday a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, arguing that the Donald Trump campaign has broken federal law by sending fundraising emails to foreign elected officials.

"Donald Trump should have known better," Paul S. Ryan, the deputy executive director at the Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement. "It is a no-brainer that it violates the law to send fundraising emails to members of a foreign government on their official foreign government email accounts, and yet, that's exactly what Trump has done repeatedly."...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fec-complaint-trump-emails-foreign-fundraising



Hannity misleads about stand-down order, clothing change in Benghazi attack

Was the United States’ military response to the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, hampered because the State Department couldn't decide what the troops should wear?

That's one of the suggestions that Fox News host Sean Hannity offered in summarizing the Republican-written report on the crisis, released June 28 by the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

"During the attack, a stand-down order was given, and our troops were told to change their clothes four times, and we needed, you know, permission from the Libyans to actually save Americans, and that's what they were discussing" in Washington, Hannity said on his program that evening.

For this fact-check, we'll look at the alleged stand-down order and whether troops were told to change their clothes four times while the attack was under way....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/30/sean-hannity/hannity-misleads-claim-about-benghazi-stand-down-o/


Michael Cohen: Says Hillary Clinton "presided over $6 billion lost at the State Department, sold uranium to the Russians through (her) faux charity, illegally deleted public records, and murdered an ambassador."

Donald Trump’s lawyer accused Hillary Clinton of incompetence, treason, breaking public disclosure law and murder. A week after his client delivered a major speech knocking Hillary Clinton, Trump Organization executive vice president and special counsel Michael Cohen used his client’s preferred social media platform, Twitter, to paint "Crooked Hillary" as a disaster for national security....

Each claim is either misleading or outrageously wrong. We'll explain why....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/30/michael-cohen/pants-fire-trump-lawyer-tweets-meme-accusing-clint/


Pope Francis' Sham Apology to LGBTQ Community: Why Being Sorry Doesn't Cut It

Say what you will about Pope Francis, the guy sure does know how to work the media. Take, for instance, his remark on Monday that the church owes gay people an apology. It’s just the kind of vague, feel-good rhetoric at which the pope excels, leading the media to present him as a liberal, and progressives to embrace him as one of their own.

Except he’s not. He can apologize all he wants; it does nothing to to change church teaching on queer folk that describe us as “objectively disordered” and practitioners of a kind of love that is “intrinsically evil.” He’s made it clear he does not accept same-sex marriage as legitimate. He’s yet to censure individual bishops, such as Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus López Rodriguez, who referred to the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic as a faggot, or others in his charge who wage jihad against gays....
http://www.alternet.org/belief/pope-francis-sham-apology


Donald Trump: Says Hillary Clinton’s State Department "approved the transfer of 20 percent of America’s uranium holdings to Russia, while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation."

Hillary Clinton’s eponymous nonprofit foundation provided ready-made fodder for a series of attacks from Donald Trump.

In a major speech last week, the presumptive Republican nominee recited a number of claims from Clinton Cash, a 2015 bestselling investigation into donations to the Clinton Foundation.

 Among them: "Hillary Clinton’s State Department approved the transfer of 20 percent of America’s uranium holdings to Russia, while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation — $145 million dollars."

We wanted to vet this charge of Clinton engaging in pay-to-play politics. Trump’s claim is a reductive version of his source material’s findings and runs into several problems....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/30/donald-trump/donald-trump-inaccurately-suggests-clinton-got-pai/


'Never Been A Time Like This': Alarmed Muslim Voters Mobilize To Stop Trump

Friday prayer service was winding down at a mosque in northern Virginia when the group's president made his way to the front of the room and made an announcement he typically reserves for the final weeks before Election Day.

“The beauty of this country is that we have a voice,” Ehsan Islam began as he looked out onto a room so crowded for Jummah that some of the men were on a tarp outside. “We live in a state that is a swing state, that is a very important state, and all the candidates are going to be fighting over this.” 

“We can decide the outcome,” he told congregants at the Dar Alnoor Islamic Community Center in suburban Washington, D.C.

This cycle – with Republican nominee Donald Trump proposing a ban on Muslims entering the country and threatening to shut down mosques–Muslim Americans have are urgently aware that they need to mobilize against him....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/american-muslims-trump-mobilize-elections


As Adults Legally Smoke Pot In Colorado, More Minority Kids Arrested For It

Marijuana is legal in Colorado — as long as you're 21 or older. It's still illegal for kids to possess, so juveniles are coming to dominate the marijuana arrests in Colorado. But another startling trend also has developed: Arrest rates have risen dramatically for young blacks and Latinos....
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/29/483954157/as-adults-legally-smoke-pot-in-colorado-more-minority-kids-arrested-for-it?ft=nprml&f=1001


Monday, July 4, 2016

Fireworks For The Fourth: No, The United States Was Not Founded To Be A ‘Christian Nation’

Today is Independence Day, and many of us will be meeting up with family for cook-outs, picnics, reunions and other events.

While I’m certainly not recommending that you get into an argument with your Uncle Lou who watches too much Fox News, I acknowledge that it might happen. If it does and the topic of America as a “Christian nation” comes up, here is some information you might find useful.

Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does that document state that America is a Christian nation. This is kind of the slam-dunk argument because it’s fatal to the Christian nation advocates. If our founding document were intended to promote Christianity, it would say that front and center. It doesn’t.

It’s telling that Christian nation proponents rarely talk about the Constitution. Instead, they point to obscure 19th century court opinions, proclamations by politicians or comments by figures who lived years after the Constitution was adopted. Why don’t they talk about the Constitution? Because that document is wholly secular....
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fireworks-for-the-fourth-no-the-united-states-was-not-founded-to-be-a-0


Dem Rep. Slams Trump: 'He's Not Even Sincere About The Bigotry He Espouses' (VIDEO)

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) on Tuesday night railed against Donald Trump, painting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee as insincere and hypocritical.

During an interview on MSNBC's "All In with Chris Hayes," Ellison noted that Trump criticizes trade even though he has outsourced his own products and pointed out that the candidate has changed his position on barring Muslims from the United States throughout the campaign.

"Was he wearing a Trump tie made in China when he made this denouncement of trade? Was he wearing one of those Bangladesh Trump T-shirts that he imports into our country and has made in Bangladesh, where there's been very serious labor policies?" Ellison asked.

"He's just a complete fraud....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/keith-ellison-trump-trade-rape-disgusting


Trump botched math, civics, and law all at once

After several days of silence regarding the Supreme Court's ruling against a Texas anti-abortion law, Donald Trump on Thursday finally weighed in on the decision and claimed that such a ruling would not occur if he were to appoint the next Supreme Court justice.

"Now if we had — Scalia was living or if Scalia was replaced by me, you wouldn’t have had that. Okay? It would’ve been the opposite," Trump told conservative radio host Mike Gallagher.

To be clear, the Supreme Court voted 5-3 against the Texas law, and a ninth justice would not have been enough to change the court's opinion.

In the case, the Supreme Court struck down Texas provisions that required abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to nearby hospitals and mandated that the clinics meet the same standards as surgical centers....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-scotus-abortion-texas


Trump says plane might be Mexico attacking

Donald Trump stopped talking about his views on free trade Thursday to surmise that a random plane flying overhead at his campaign rally was Mexico "getting ready to attack."

Trump, speaking at a rally in New Hampshire, pivoted his discussion to talking about Mexico and trading with the country.

"Mexico, and I respect Mexico, I respect their leaders, what they've done to us is incredible. Their leaders are so much smarter, so much sharper. And it's incredible," Trump said.

Then, a plane could be heard flying overhead. "In fact, that could be a Mexican plane up there — they're getting ready to attack," he said....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-mexico-attack-plane


Four Countries The United States Can Look To When Fighting Homelessness

Homelessness is an issue for nearly every country. In recent years, the United States has increased efforts to end homelessness around the country. As the U.S. looks for new methods of handling the homelessness issue, here’s a few examples of how other countries have lowered homelessness rates....
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2016/06/29/3791831/homelessness-solutions-from-around-the-world/


The NRA Is Spending $2 Million On An Anti-Clinton Ad Pushing Benghazi Conspiracy Theory

The National Rifle Association’s political arm will launch its first ad campaign in support of Donald Trump, featuring a Benghazi survivor attacking Hillary Clinton for allowing his friends to die in the 2012 terrorist attack in Libya.

The NRA’s Political Victory Fund will spend more than $2 million to air the 30-second spot, making it one of the largest independent expenditures on behalf of Trump so far this election. A convicted Ponzi schemer’s $50 million campaign and an almost $3.8 million expenditure by the Great America PAC are the only two larger expenditures listed so far for Trump....
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/29/3794042/nra-benghazi-ad/









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