The Failure of My Homophobic Preaching

found online by Raymond

 
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

Through social media and private email, I have been in contact with a handful of the school’s students. I have apologized to them for my harsh preaching, especially my rants against homosexuality. Why this sin in particular? Three out of the fifteen students are now gay. That’s right, twenty percent of the student body came out of the closet as adults, proving that all the anti-gay preaching in the world, complete with Bible verses, won’t change who and what people are.

Evangelical preachers continue to rail against what they deem sexual sin. Few people forsake their nature. Instead, they learn to hide who they really are. In the case of teenagers, they bide their time until they can leave home. Once free of their parents’ fundamentalism, they embrace their true sexual nature. Some of them lose their faith, while others find ways to reconcile the Bible’s anti-LGBTQ stance with who and what they are. I do know this: the three people I mentioned in the post have turned into loving, caring adults. It’s too bad they had to spend years being beaten over their heads with the Bible by their pastor and parents. That any of them wants to have a relationship with me is a testimony to their kindness and character. I wouldn’t blame any of them if they spit in my face and told me to go to hell.

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Trump Kills


 
When the arrest was announced in mid-January, it was accompanied by even more sobering news. The one-time US intelligence officer, a trusted employee of the CIA had revealed to the Chinese government a list of informants within that country. These were people without any sort of diplomatic immunity. Within a week, American analysts had been able to count up some of the casualties. The Chinese dictatorship had arrested and executed at least 20 people as a direct result of that leak.

And it got worse. Investigators believe the Chinese then shared information with the regime of Vladimir Putin. New information about US methods and technological capabilities have already led to arrests and executions in Russia.

The list of the dead will grow.

The actual number of executions will probably remain murky, hidden well into the future. Intelligence agencies are cautious about such matters. Releasing the names, and even the numbers, would allow a bit of reverse engineering, giving opposing analysts a new starting point. If we know you have that numerical information, we will know that you were able to obtain it, and we may be able to figure out how. And if we are the Chinese government or the Putin regime, we will have a deterrent you in the United States will not. We can summarily hold secret executions. And we will.

It is unknown, and unknowable, how many US assets were caught and killed in the mid-1970s after CIA employee Philip Agee published the names of 250 secret employees. Only a few killings were documented, the names of the victims released. A few years later he went on to publish 2000 more names.

Getting people killed does not always require releasing their names. Information can often be gleaned out of secondary data.
Continue reading “Trump Kills”

Shutdown!

found online by Raymond

 
From Max’s Dad:

I see some old man taking a tour of the White House got to sit at the big boy desk and get his picture taken with his fake phone call….oh wait, thats an actual picture released by the White House allegedly showing the Coot in Chief “working”? This IS the funniest White House ever, well anyway 2nd funniest next to that zany Nixon White House.

This government shutdown, 100% the fault of an evil triumvirate of The Racist in Chief, a shitheel named McConnell, and a punk named Ryan, goes on and on because one Stephen Miller, the white supremacist in Trump’s ear, insists it go on

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Schumer Shutdown, DACA, and Roe v. Wade

found online by Raymond

 
From T. Paine, at Saving Common Sense:

First, the asinine and cynically corrupt fools that participated in the Schumer shutdown of the government should be held accountable with the loss of their seats of power, if there were indeed any justice left in this nation. Why these folks would vote against a spending bill which funds all the pet projects that the Democrats adore and contains nothing of substance for which they loathe is beyond me.

They have chosen, under the “leadership” of Senate minority leader Schumer to place the desires of DACA people over that of all other Americans. The truly ironic fact that displays the cynicism of these folks that care more for illegal aliens and expanding their own political power through the immigration of more future Democrats is that congressional work on DACA was proceeding well already. There was no need to attach a non-related immigration rider onto this spending bill.

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“Equal Sovereignty” of the States in the Age of Trump

found online by Raymond

 
From Jon Perr at PERRspectives:

Less than a week into the new year, the Trump administration kicked off 2018 with one of the most cynical and craven acts of political favoritism in recent American history. On January 4, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unveiled the Draft Five Year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. That massive gift to Donald Trump’s backers in the oil and gas industry would open virtually the entire coastal United States to energy exploration and drilling. Then just five days later, Zinke delivered another reward for loyalty, this time to Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott. The Sunshine State, home to 29 electoral votes, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and Scott’s likely 2018 Senate bid, would get an exemption from the unpopular drilling expansion.

Zinke made no secret as to the reason why Florida was to be so blessed.

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Another Ground For Impeachment

found online by Raymond

 
From Green Eagle:

Yesterday, Donald Trump imposed a 30% tariff on foreign components of solar energy systems, which currently make up 80% of the parts in these systems. This unilateral action on his part is about to result in a huge increase in the cost of these systems.

This action in itself is an abomination, forcing many to continue to rely on fossil fuels, which are destroying our world. However, there is another side to this which I have not seen anyone mention. This constitutes the use of the Presidency to favor a segment of industry which has massively contributed to his campaign and to the campaigns of other Republicans.

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Meanwhile, Back at Bannon

found online by Raymond

 
From tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors:

Steve Bannon has decided in all his wisdom to talk to Robert Mueller of his own accord rather than be subpoenaed to appear before a Grand Jury. This of course means that he will have his attorney(s) present, and Mueller will have the FBI present and lying to the FBI is a felony.

In effect Bannon is a man without a country: he has nothing left to lose, having lost it all, and so the real question is who will he turn on.

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The Trump Shutdown

found online by Raymond

 
From Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged:

It isn’t an entire year that Donald Trump has been president, and yet, with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, the government is now facing a shutdown because, as everyone probably should have known during 2016 but just enough failed to take into account–he hasn’t the least clue what he’s doing.

He articulated a lot of promises during the campaign about building a wall that Mexico would pay for (but it most certainly will not) and deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. That sort of thing doesn’t seem very in line with the idea of crafting “a bill of love” with respects to DACA recipients, anymore than his basically ending it by executive order did.

It really doesn’t make sense then, that Democrats should be faulted for the GOP deciding to hold both DACA and CHIP beneficiaries hostage in the continuing resolution debate. And yes, this is exactly what they had done, as Mitch McConnell, may his neck skin rise up to swathe his breathing holes, clearly Tweeted…

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