FairAndUNbalanced.com

 
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

Evangelicals are known for pleading with non-Christians to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Evangelicals have a very narrow view of the world and who will make it to Heaven after they die. Evangelicals are clear on the matter: Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Liberal Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, humanists, pagans and, well, anyone who is not an Evangelical, will end up in Hell after death. Unless these people, by faith, repent and believe the Evangelical gospel, they are doomed for the Lake of Fire. This is why Evangelical zealots plead with non-Christians to ask Jesus to save them. Evangelicals genuinely don’t want non-Christians to be tortured by God for eternity. Well, most Evangelicals, anyway. I have received countless emails and blog comments from Evangelicals who find it quite satisfying that I will one day meet Jesus face to face and be punished for my sin. Several of them have even prayed for my soon demise. Sooner in Hell the better for Bruce Gerencser, right?

So Evangelicals beg and plead with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, hoping that they will be convicted by the Holy Spirit and ask Jesus to save them. Yet, despite this pathos, we unbelievers can’t or won’t embrace Evangelical Christianity. Just because Evangelicals really, really, really want us to be saved doesn’t mean that we lay reason aside and get saved. What kind of salvation would it be if we could be argued, badgered, or emotionally manipulated into believing?

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From CATO’s Julian Sanchez:

This article appeared in The New York Times on January 26, 2019.

For many, Friday’s arrest of Roger Stone, the veteran political trickster and longtime adviser to Donald Trump, was a sign that the special counsel investigation into Russian electoral interference is entering its final phase. Yet there were also several indications that the probe may not be as near its conclusion as many observers assume — and that the true target of Friday’s F.B.I. actions was not Mr. Stone himself, but his electronic devices.

Mr. Stone’s early-morning arrest at his Florida home unsurprisingly dominated coverage, but reports also noted that federal agents were “seen carting hard drives and other evidence from Mr. Stone’s apartment in Harlem, and his recording studio in South Florida was also raided.” The F.B.I., in other words, was executing search warrants, not just arrest warrants. Even the timing and manner of Mr. Stone’s arrest — at the absolute earliest moment allowed under federal rules of criminal procedure without persuading a judge to authorize an exceptional nighttime raid — suggests a concern with preventing destruction of evidence: Otherwise it would make little sense to send a dozen agents to arrest a man in his 60s before sunrise.

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From North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz:

“I don’t recognize her anymore.”

Through choked back tears, a man shared these words today about his 74-year old mother. The last two years have seen their once-loving relationship deteriorate precipitously, now relegated to cold exchanges via text and strained small talk conversations at family gatherings—sandwiched between explosive screaming matches which are often followed by extended periods of radio silence.

He shared screenshots of his mother’s Facebook profile, littered with Alt-Right talking points, discriminatory memes, and effusive tributes to the President—always juxtaposed with hateful diatribes regarding our former President. The racism and homophobia and Islamophobia she generates every day is both shocking and devastating to her adult son.

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From Dorian Estuardo de Wind at The Moderate Voice:

Whatever one may think of Trump’s premature “mission accomplished” declaration on ISIS, a conclusion since contradicted by his own intelligence agencies…

Whatever one may think of Trump’s flip-flopping from “bringing our troops home from Syria “Now,” to doing so on a more “deliberate, coordinated, disciplined” basis as finally prevailed upon by “his generals”…

Whatever one may think of the whole issue of deploying, and keeping, U.S. military troops on foreign soil…

Would it not be correct, appropriate or, at least, “nice” to first secure approval from the host country?

Not according to the ultimate “let’s-make-a-deal-solely-on-my-terms,” self-proclaimed genius.

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From nojo:

• Trump shows up: Drink
• Trump opens his mouth: Drink
• A stream of bats issue from Trump’s open mouth: Drink
• Members of Congress, invited guests, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and attending Justices are covered in bat guano: Drink

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From Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson:

Only a moron would not understand global warming causes huge temperature swings – including really cold temperatures. Only a moron…

— Mark Pocan (@MarkPocan) January 29, 2019

However, even most supporters of Climate Change theory will point out that a single weather event is not evidence for or against that the Earth is going through a period of Global Warming caused by human activity. And, as the Wisconsin State Journal reported on Tuesday about the atmospheric changes causing our current weather pattern, “Some scientists — but by no means most — see a connection between human-caused climate change and difference in atmospheric pressure that causes slower moving waves in the air.”

WISC-TV in Madison, reporting on Pocan’s response to Trump, even quoted a climate scientist contradicting the congressman’s Twitter post. “Northern Illinois University climate scientist Victor Gensini said the cold snap is ‘simply an extreme weather event’ and doesn’t represent the global trend toward a warming Earth,” the television station reported.

However, WISC-TV failed to note the contradiction and failed to ask if the congressman is a moron, too.

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From The Onion:

‘When You Hear Me On TV Saying You Need To Be Reined In, What I’m Really Saying Is I Love You,’ Says Candidate

WASHINGTON—Sighing with resignation as he spoke to those surrounding him, Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker reportedly apologized to a coterie of Wall Street bankers Friday for all the mean things he is going to have to say about them in the upcoming months.

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From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

When asked about his agenda, he simply said it was to unite the country — but he could not explain how he would accomplish that task.

While we don’t know what Schultz is in favor of, we do know what he is opposes — covering all Americans with health insurance, raising the minimum wage, and raising taxes on the super-rich (like himself). He has also called the Democratic Party extremist (even though they are much closer to the political center than the Republican Party). How is he going to make his candidacy credible with those beliefs?

With his low public opinion and his lack of a political agenda to helpAmericans, I feel it is fair to ask just what he hopes to accomplish with his Independent candidacy. Is he just trying to help Donald Trump get re-elected? That’s a definite possibility. And it could happen.

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From Jonathan Bernstein:

A bizarre candidate for the Federal Reserve Board shows the president has learned nothing on the job.

Let’s just pause for a moment to consider all the ways that President Donald Trump’s plan to nominate pizza magnate Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve Board is evidence that he has no idea how to do his job.

To begin with: There are two open seats on the Fed board because Trump’s nominees during the last Congress, Nellie Liang and Marvin Goodfriend, went nowhere. Trump apparently couldn’t come up with candidates who could both advance his preferences on monetary policy and regulation and also get confirmed by the Senate. So the spots remain vacant. Trump’s not the only president to leave Fed seats open way too long; Barack Obama made the same mistake repeatedly. But these are important positions, and leaving them unfilled substantially reduces the president’s policy influence.

Next, Herman Cain is, to put it as nicely as possible, an unconventional choice.

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