Seldom Balanced – Usually Fair
From The Big Empty:
Despite his supposed business acumen, Donald Trump appears to be not just a bad politician but a very stupid guy who is somehow incapable of thinking through the consequences of what he says before he actually says anything. As a result, he makes himself easy prey to any reasonably intelligent individual to tear his remarks to shreds with little or no effort.
From libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara at Principled Perspectives:
President Obama signed a bill mandating food labeling indicating whether the food product contains “genetically modified organisms” (GMOs)—that is, ingredients bioengineered to improve the quality, nutrition, or productivity-enhancing traits. I call it fraud labeling. Why do I call this fraud labeling?
Here is the definition of Fraud: “A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.”
What is concealed? The fact that GMO foods have never been proven to carry any more risk to human health or the environment than non-GMO foods
From PZ Myers at Pharyngula:
Indignant conservatives who insist on “accuracy” in television shows make me laugh. Apparently, the BBC has some show about Margaret of Anjou in which the title character is played by Sophie Okonedo, who is of Nigerian ancestry. Some people can’t get past the skin color to see the role the actor is playing.
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:
…before Israelite religion denied the existence of other Gods than Yahweh, it went through a phase of granting their existence but condemning their worship (by Israelites, at least; if the Moabites wanted to worship Chemosh, that was their business). In technical terms, Israelite religion reached monotheism only after a period of “monolatry” — exclusive devotion to one god without denying the existence of others.
This much is accepted by most Biblical scholars, including some who are believing Jews or Christians. But things get more controversial when you suggest that there was a long time when even “monolatry” was too strong a word from mainstream Israelite doctrine — a time when not all non-Yahweh gods were considered evil or alien; a time when Yahweh was ensconced in an Israelite pantheon, working along side other gods.
Yet, if you read the scriptures closely, you’ll soon see hints of such a time.
From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:
It’s no secret that the Republicans, especially those in Congress, hate Hillary Clinton. They have been trying to bring her down for over a quarter of a century now. And since she started her campaign for the presidency, their hate has turned into terror. They know they have little chance to beat her this November (particularly since they nominated Trump as their candidate), so they are pulling out all the stops in an effort to make her look bad.
They have had committee after committee investigate her over the Benghazi tragedy. That culminated in an 11 hour grilling of Clinton before a House committee — a grilling that showed them up a desperate hypocrites, and made Clinton look better than ever.
Then they repeated that with investigations of her use of a private e-mail server while Secretary of State.
From Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson:
As if southeastern Wisconsin hasn’t suffered enough in recent days, Sean Hannity of Fox News held a “town hall” event in Milwaukee Tuesday night with presidential candidate Donald Trump. It was probably modeled after the presenting of a crown to Caesar described by Shakespeare, although I doubt Trump would have had the will power Caesar did to resist.
More important than Hannity’s audition for the Trump Steaks pitch man job opening after the election, Trump ventured north by northwest to West Bend to speak to a friendly crowd about law and order.
Following the riots in Milwaukee, the timing of Trump’s speech was fortuitous, and he took full advantage.
From driftglass:
In 1587, the English tried to settle in Roanoke Island again. John White, father of the colonist Eleanor Dare and grandfather to Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, left the colony to return to England for supplies. He expected to return to Roanoke Island within three months. Instead, with England at war with Spain, all ships were confiscated for use of the war efforts. White’s return to Roanoke Island was delayed until 1590, by which time all the colonists had disappeared. The settlement was left abandoned. The only clue White found was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a tree…
The greatest missing persons mystery in American history is not D.B. Cooper or Joseph Force Crater or even the Roanoke Island colony.
No, the greatest missing persons mystery in American history happened sometime between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 when somewhere between 15 and 30 million Republicans all quietly vanished without a trace.
From Iron Knee at Political Irony:
On Monday, Trump again fell back on his old standby of spewing hatred at immigrants, and called for “extreme vetting” of foreigners before they are admitted to the US. “Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country. Only those who expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas.”
Of course, pretty much everything Trump said he would do is already being done to vet immigrants, which is why it takes up to two years to gain entry to this country.
In fact, according to Perry Rivkind, a Reagan appointee who was an associate commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and an INS district director, neither Trump nor his current wife could pass the stringent requirements to immigrate into this country.
The Self-Made Man and His Religion
Mr Trump tells evangelical Christians he is a self-made man.
He invites them to a new form of worship, that many are discovering they have been yearning after for a very long time.