FairAndUNbalanced.com

 
From North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz:

A Trump supporter just called me a “Beta Male.”

I was on social media, expressing my respect for survivors of sexual assault, in the wake of the President’s vile and reprehensible public ridiculing of Christine Blasey Ford—and he dropped (based on his commentary following) what he thought was some leg sweep, knockout punch, mic drop, designed to leave me in a quivering mass on the floor.

Apparently I was supposed to be insulted.
I wasn’t it.
I felt complimented.
I felt validated.
I realized I’m on the right track.

“Beta Male,” seems to be a Trump fan’s word for a man with decency, self-control, and compassion; someone a woman wouldn’t need to fear being around when alone or vulnerable.

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From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

The Labor Department has released its official unemployment numbers for the month of September. It shows that the unemployment rate dropped 0.2% to 3.7%. This was not due to a robust job creation, since only 134,000 jobs were created in September — the lowest number in the last six months. Part of it also has to be due to more people giving up on finding a decent job, and are no longer being counted by the federal government (the marginally-attached workers rose by 134,000).

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• This week’s note in Trumpian ‘Alternative Facts’ comes from The Huffington Post as Sarah Sanders defends Presidential remarks about the alleged victim of attempted rape by a future Supreme Court Justice. Seems what we all thought was the mocking of that victim was actually a simple statement of a few facts. A fair and balanced analysis, so to speak. We report, you decide.
   
• Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara reviews a Trump administration analysis of US policy that concludes any US change in emissions policy that would meaningfully impact global warning would have to be catastrophic for the US economy. Michael embraces what he sees as a definitive refutation of hysterical environmentalism.
   
  Well… the deck was a little stacked.
   
  The administration analysis was part of a series, all restricted to the effect on world-wide climate if the US acted alone. Actually, the projection would be accurate if any single country acted alone. It’s called the Tragedy of the Commons, and it’s why serious environmentalists, acting on scientific evidence, urge global cooperation to meet a global threat to all of humanity.
   
  Could be the Trump initiated study is not as scientific as Michael A. LaFerrara’s libertarian faith might lead him to believe.
   
• Infidel753 contrasts the scientific method with that of religious faith. Has to do with the relationship of evidence and conclusion. As we would expect from Infidel, his analysis is thoughtful, well researched, well presented. I confess I see a possible slight conflation of faith with fundamentalism. There is some awkwardness in that criticism since I am a non-fundamentalist Christian. Think this: You’re right, my brother, about all them other places of worship. Not where WE attend, of course. In any case, a compelling piece, worth the click trip.
   
• PZ Myers reviews a movie production that regards the choosing of Donald Trump as the divine will of God. Okay, so maybe Infidel is on to something.
   
• Dave Dubya covers the famous bromance Kanye has developed for our President and a perfect response from Chris “Captain America” Evans.
   
• Jon Perr at PERRspectives brings his usual charts and detail in reviewing the return of Spend and Not Tax Republicans. “Like a recurring biblical plague, they descend across the country.” Guy has a way with words.
   
• Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass reprises the Second Bill of Rights, including universal medical care, a job, and an adequate wage as proposed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
   
• David Brooks, the New York Times designated conservative, laments the coming Kavanaugh confirmation as a predictable reaction to decades of liberal overreach. driftglass vivisects Mr. Brooks point by painful point.
   
• At The Moderate Voice, Kevin McMahon of Trinity College observes, improbably, that Justice Gorsuch and Justice-to-be Kavanaugh are minority-minority Justices, that they have something in common with two other minority Justices, and that together the four undermine the legitimacy of the United States system of justice.
   
• Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post ties the Kavanaugh nomination with New York Times research on Trump financial history and suggests a November reaction.
   
• Andy Borowitz reports that criminals throughout the nation are asking for the FBI investigation Kavanaugh just got.
   
• Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger imagines the SCOTUS Justices donning their robes for a formal portrait.
   
• The Journal of Improbable Research finds a study of Olympic sports that suggests winners die earlier than non-winners.
   

 
From former pastor, current atheist, Bruce Gerencser:

I have written almost three thousand posts since December 2014, and not one of them dealt with the subject of free will. The reason for this is two-fold: first, discussions on free will always bring more heat than light, and second, I am not really certain what it is I believe about the matter. I continue to read and study the various leading voices on free will, but so far, I am not convinced one way or the other. That said, you did ask me if I believed in free will, so I will take a stab at answering it based on what I presently think on the matter.

When I look at the decisions I make day-in and day-out, it seems to me that I have free will. I am willingly and freely answering this question. Now, that does not mean that I was not influenced by outside forces or personal behavioral patterns. I have OCPD, so I crave order. I hate leaving things undone. I asked for questions all the way back in July and here I am still answering them. My mind is telling me, get it done, Bruce. Do it now. Henriette deserves an answer. Don’t delay. I also like pleasing others. I want to be well thought of, so it’s important to me answer this question. I also want this blog to be place where doubting Evangelicals can come to find answers to their questions and encouragement as they wrestle with what it is they actually believe. All of these things pressure (influence) me, leading me to take time tonight to answer this question. Yes, I am doing so FREELY, but not without influence.

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From Michael John Scott at MadMikesAmerica:

There are millions who believe the police are the enemy and millions who are sympathetic to the job they do. Most people, however, are ambivalent, unless they get a parking ticket, and then they fall into the first category.

Social media can be a dangerous place for supporters of law enforcement, particularly when confronted by the uninformed who spend their days posting anti-police videos, memes, and etc. while claiming they don’t hate cops. They are the hypocrites; liars and often criminals.

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From Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit:

Kavanaugh yelled, berated his opponents and, a time or two, openly weeps over how cruel it was that he couldn’t just step into the job that he felt that we was entitled to have.

If a woman had sat there and yelled and cried, she would have been dismissed out of hand as being emotional, hysterical and certainly not of a temperament fit for even a trial court, let alone the Supremes.

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From Iron Knee at Political Irony:

If there was any doubt that conservatives — especially social conservatives who used to champion “respectable social behavior” — have completely lost any and all moral authority, you just have to look at the current situation with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Social conservatives have been pretending to hold the moral high ground, opposing supposed sins including gay marriage, abortion, even (and especially) premarital sex. Even birth control, as if sex without procreation is a sin.

Yes, the same people who condemn birth control and premarital sex are now at best silent and at worst condoning sexual assault, claiming that if you even investigate (never mind punish) Kavanaugh for what he is accused (by multiple women) of doing, then you would disqualify all men from being on the Supreme Court.

Really?

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From The Onion:

“After painstakingly extracting, sequencing, and analyzing dozens of ancient little-boy fossils, our team has come to the conclusion that there is a strong likelihood that contemporary homo sapiens are a direct, if distant, descendant of children,” said Dr. Evan Rollins of the findings, which seem to indicate that little kids and human beings may have a genetic difference of less than 1 percent.

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From nojo at Stinque:

We didn’t watch. We couldn’t.

There was nothing to be gained from watching. What we could know, we already did — not only about the witnesses, but the circumstances. It was yet another setup, yet another event engineered to provide the appearance of legitimacy without the substance. We couldn’t watch, because we couldn’t participate in yet another sham ritual. We’re done with that.

We couldn’t watch, but we did follow. We followed the responses, followed the reaction, followed the news coverage that accepted the sham as legitimate, which is why we’re done with news coverage, at least political news. We’re too old for this. We know too much.

Here’s what we know: The Senate majority represents 18 percent of Americans.

That is a sham of legitimacy as well.

That number is not expected to improve over the next twenty years, the next generation. An illegitimate Senate approves nominations from an illegitimate President to stack an illegitimate Supreme Court for decades. The consequences will, have been, and are, real.

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