FairAndUNbalanced.com

 

From Jonathan Bernstein:

There’s not much happening in the 2020 race at the moment. That’s when reporters start chasing dubious stories.

We’ve apparently reached the silly season of nomination politics. That’s not surprising. There is, after all, very little happening on the surface at the moment. The basic stories about most of the top candidates have been told. And there hasn’t been much movement either in the polls or in endorsements for weeks. Even the latest round of campaign-finance reports was fairly dull. As Nate Silver points out, this is exactly the formula that gets reporters chasing new — and potentially dubious — stories.

And so we get late speculation about new candidates jumping into the race, fueled by quotes from big donors who aren’t thrilled with the current lineup.

– More –
 

 

From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

Trump continues to be very unpopular. These are some of the worst numbers he has had. By a 30 point margin, voters oppose his betrayal of the Kurds. By a 19 point margin, voters think he has weakened the U.S. position in the world. By a 21 point margin, voters believe he has made the world less safe. By a 26 point margin, voters believe he was pursuing his personal interests in Ukraine, By a 12 point margin voters approve of the House impeachment inquiry. By a 2 point margin, voters believe he should be removed from office. And by a 20 point margin, voters think he is not doing a good job.

– More Results –
 

 

From Tommy Christopher:

Reporter Confronts Trump Over Escaped ISIS Fighters Seconds After He Claims They’re ‘Largely’ Recaptured

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump spoke for about 15 minutes to announce a ceasefire agreement in Syria between the Kurds and the government of Turkey. During those remarks, Trump claimed that the ISIS fighters who escaped after Trump’s snap decision to abandon the Kurds have “been largely recaptured.”

“There were a few that got out, a small number, relatively speaking, and they’ve been largely recaptured,” Trump said.

But as he exited, a reporter confronted Trump, saying “Mr President, you said that the ISIS fighters who escaped have been recaptured, but today your top envoy said that’s not true, that they don’t know where they are. Do you have a comment?”

Trump ignored the question as he strode from the room.

– More –
 

 

From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

Evangelicals believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. Sin is transgression of the Law of God (as found within the pages of the Bible). Thus, you would think that Evangelicals would be diligent in keeping the more than 700 laws, commands, precepts, and teachings found in the Old and New Testaments. If the Bible is what Evangelicals say it is, wouldn’t it stand to reason that these followers of Jesus would commit themselves to studying, understanding, and practicing ALL that the Bible teaches — even the hard things? Yet, we know that Evangelicals don’t live differently from the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. Outside of what they do with their time on Sunday mornings, there’s little difference between saints and sinners.

Every Evangelical is what I call a Buffet Christian®. Evangelicals, clean plate in hand, walk down the Bible buffet line, picking and choosing what to believe and practice, ignoring the rest. No one obeys all the teachings of the Bible. I don’t know of one Christian who even believes and practices the red words in the Bible (words attributed to Jesus) or Jesus’ most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. Years ago, I told the church I was pastoring, that Christianity would be better served if Christians shut their mouths and spent the next five years putting the Sermon on the Mount into practice. Of course, neither I nor the people I pastored listened to what I was saying. We had a culture war to fight. Jesus would just have to wait until we conquered the United States for God.

– More –
 

 

From North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz:

Not voting essentially gives someone else a blank they get to fill-in on your behalf—since you aren’t present to tell anyone exactly what your values are, what boils your blood and keeps you up at night, what matters most to you. Whatever message you imagine you’re sending by opting out, remains unspoken in your head—and you end up saying nothing.

If there’s any statement choosing not to vote makes, it’s “I don’t care if I count.”

Generations of people spent their entire lives here unseen and voiceless, millions of others have braved bruises and bullets for the right to speak, a right that you have been handed upon arrival here and now so casually decline.

– More –
 

 

From Infidel753:

Much of the traditionalists’ angst, however, has been focused on a ritual which was performed in the Vatican gardens at the beginning of the synod. This involved several Amazonian natives in traditional headdresses including a “shaman”, who prostrated themselves around a blanket scattered with various symbolic objects including two carved wooden statuettes of pregnant women. There was also a tree-planting. Several high-ranking Catholic clerics, including the Pope, were present. It all appeared very pagan, and traditionalists reacted with horror to such a spectacle unfolding within the sacred precincts of the Vatican.

Particular concern has focused on the pregnant statuettes, several of which are now set up in various places in the Vatican. Synod officials have been vague about what they represent, but they’re widely believed to be idols of “Pachamama”, a “Mother Earth” goddess worshiped in a number of native Amazonian cultures. Comment threads on traditionalist Catholic sites have been rife with calls for them to be removed from the Vatican and destroyed — by force and against the will of Church officials, if necessary.

Well, yesterday these calls were answered. Two men entered the church of Santa Maria Transpontina near St. Peter’s Basilica, removed five of the statuettes, and threw them in the Tiber river. They posted a video of the act and a short statement reading in part “Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, his Blessed Mother, and everybody who follows Christ, are being attacked by members of our own Church. We do not accept this! We do not longer stay silent! We start to act NOW!”

– More –
 

 

From The Onion:

Scientists Discover Oil Originally Buried Deep Underground By Early Humans Desperate To Shield Humanity From Its Consequences

“Despite their cognitive limitations, Paleolithic humans could reason well enough to understand this mysterious fuel was plunging their world into chaos, so they used their primitive stone tools and dug as far down as they could, often hiding their oil in remote, inhospitable locations such as deserts or the Arctic wilderness. Of course, they assumed no person would ever be foolhardy enough to unseal the unspeakable evil they had buried.”

– More –
 

 

From PZ Myers:

It’s been a long time since I last glanced at VDARE, the racist website, and there’s a good reason for that — it’s a slimy sewer with a lot of incredibly bad articles, and, surprisingly, is used by racists as a justification for the scientific basis of their beliefs.

(Narrator: There is no scientific justification for their racism.)

Anyway, what caught my eye was this brazen hack job against Emily Grossman, the British science popularizer. I like her work, so it was strange to see an article titled Extinction Rebellion’s Emily Grossman Is A Type—As Nutty As You Would Expect. How “nutty” was I supposed to expect? I guess I’ll find out.

I did quickly discover that the author was a “nutty” science denialist who rejects the evidence for climate change and misrepresents the positions of those lobbying government to address climate concerns. OK, way to put your credibility worst foot forward, guy.

These “rebels”—motto: “Rebel for Life,” because, they claim, based on falsified climate science data, that a “mass extinction” will begin in twelve years—have vowed to continue their insurrection until their demands are met.

And then he launches into a long tirade against Grossman specifically with what he thinks are damning facts against her. It’s a strange assault because he keeps writing these things that are apparently supposed to make us hate her, but I’m just reading them and saying, “So?”

– More –
 

 

From Andy Borowitz:

The fighters can qualify for the group rate by presenting proof of isis membership and their recently freed status, Trump said.

Trump declined to say whether he would extend the same group rate to Kurdish fighters in Syria. “I’m not a fan of the Kurds,” he said. “Where were the Kurds in 1776 when George Washington took control of the British airports?”

– More –
 

 

From author John Scalzi at Whatever:

A Twitter thread I wrote on what Marvel films are, in the wake of both Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola dumping on them (and Coppola in particular calling them “despicable”). Archived here for posterity and conversation.

1. Since we’re on the subject, here’s my opinion of the Marvel films in general: They’re highly competent entertainments, whose individual installments range from underbaked (Iron Man 2) to superior pastiche (Winter Soldier). Brilliant? Generally, no. Despicable? Nah, bro.

2. Marvel films are to Disney over the last decade as musicals were to MGM in its heyday, or monster films were Universal, or gangster films were to Warner — a reliable economic engine, pitched to the masses. Easy to gripe on esthetically, but difficult to assail economically.

3. Will any Marvel films be “classics” 30 years down the line? Possibly, and in the same ratio as the MGM musicals or the Warner gangster films: a few remembered, the rest down the memory hole. But most films of any sort aren’t made to be classics, they’re made to make money now.

– More –